Over the shoulder reading

You ever sit on an airplane and read over someone's shoulder? I did on Thursday, flying back from South Carolina. The guy across the aisle was reading some interesting sounding book on leadership -- a few words I saw told me it was a Christian book. Anyway, just as we were landing, I saw a "headline quotation" in a box. It read "Any fool can find fault; it takes a winner to find solutions!"

Barometers of Authenticity

In some cases, the Bible tells us plainly -- it other cases, it alludes to them -- barometers or markers of an authentic spiritual life. They include:

* Our mouths -- "out of the heart, the mouth speaks." It shows me up for what I am, especially in those unguarded moments when something pops out!
* Fruit -- certainly including the character issues (the fruit of the Spirit); Jesus said that we could recognize the spiritual reality of people by the kind of fruit they bear.
* Humility, the one particular fruit unknown to the Flesh -- Jesus made Himself of no reputation and took on the form of a servant. Chip Ingram mentions in Good to Great in God's Eyes one of the books that marked him was The Beauty of Holiness: Humility. How easy, and how common it is to let pompous pride pervade the spiritual life (at least the 'public' forms of it) and so grossly ignore Jesus' example. We are not greater than our Master.
* Use of money -- my attitude toward it and my use of it; Jesus said my heart and my money are going to occupy the same place. What a character revealing commodity money is!
* Relationships marked by love -- by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. God's gracious spillover -- love, mercy, grace, kindness, gentleness and forgiveness; they are His basic attitude and behaviors toward His children, therefore, "as God in Christ has ...." we are to take on the same toward each other.
* Being people of influence -- certainly a marker of maturity, but no doubt also one that points to authenticity. "For by this time you ought to be teachers, but you have need of someone to teach you!" We reproduce what we are, not what we profess or proclaim.

The ever present religion of the Pharisees

Out in South Carolina, sitting, reading and reflecting one morning this week, I thought again of how much man desires to take on both the attitudes and approaches of the Pharisees when it comes to the spiritual life. It would help us to remember that Pharisee-ism in its essence includes:

1. Religious micturation contests (the guys will understand what I mean!) It's "I can do religion better than you can!". Comparing and contrasting with others, it is legalistic and bogus "spirituality" at the expense of others. "When they compare themselves with themselves, they show that they are without understanding". 2 Corinthians 10:12

2. Religion by the rules; "just tell me what's required!" Discipline (as good as it can be) -- to the pompous heart of a religious heart equals authenticity. But in God's economy, you never get authenticity through discipline alone. "a Pharisee....blameless!" Paul wrote in Philippians 3:6, 7

3. Religion without a heart; Jesus came quoting His Father in the OT prophecy where He declared, "this people praises Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me". (Matthew 15:18)

4. Religion with no reality; Jesus said they "place heavy burdens on others which they themselves do not carry!" He said, do what they say, but don't do as they do! These were the guys who were so "committed" that they'd dedicate certain possessions or resources "to God", resources which then could not be given or used to help their own parents! (Mark 7:11) The incurably religious are void of compassion toward people.

Father's Day

Howard Hendricks called children, “God’s little spies.” I don’t totally know what he meant by that, but I’ve thought that it at least includes the truth that children are a major tool in God’s hands to test us as parents. Through their differences as individuals, through the incredible joy they bring and through their foolishness and various kinds of behaviors God will:

Test your character. You’ll never know how impatient you are until you have children. Your challenge as a parent will always be to love them -- unconditionally over and over – even when they don’t meet your expectations and certainly as they get older -- even they disappoint you. Your challenge will be to treat them as God has treated you – in love, forgiveness, grace and kindness, again and again, showing them God’s character.

Test your perseverance. At times you’ll want to beat them, give up on them, put them down and show them you’re bigger and smarter (which will only exasperate them). But God’s test to you in those times will be – can you hold back… can you keep still…. and again, will you love them anyway?

Test your faith. You will repeatedly need to trust God to work in their lives – sometimes it will be through you – but very often it will be directly – through His Spirit. That means, you won’t be able to always direct them, certainly not always rescue them, or always get them to do what you want them to do. But God, in mercy, grace, love and His own discipline -- can and will work in their lives. Ultimately, your role will be to entrust them to Him, to pray for them and to always demonstrate to them that the One you follow is the God of all grace.

Schaeffer to the current generations

I read recently that Francis Schaeffer likely speaks more to the present generations that he did even to his own. His own testimony would certainly be of that nature. He said he almost abandoned the faith for two reasons: the lack of reality in the lives of believers and the lack of beauty in the way Christians treated each other. If we had a renewed church today, certainly authenticity as Christ-followers and solid biblical relationships would be what we'd notice.

Schaeffer on a Loving Church

The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the
dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, "By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." In the midst
of the world, in the midst of our present culture, Jesus is giving a right
to the world. Upon His authority He gives the world the right to judge
whether you and I are born-again Christians in the basis of our
observable love toward all Christians.
Francis A. Schaeffer, The Mark of The Christian

"Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means." - Francis Schaeffer