Living with Praise

“I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. The good critics found something to praise in many imperfect works; the bad ones continually narrowed the list of books we might be allowed to read. The healthy and unaffected man, even if luxuriously brought up and widely experienced in good cookery, could praise a very modest meal: the dyspeptic and the snob found fault with all. Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.”
(C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms)

If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not trustworthy. There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true. . . .How can you believe when you accept each other’s praise and do not look for the praise that comes from the only God? 

(John 5:44, ISV)

And so they accused Jesus. . .

He gave a simple fact:

“I cannot be my own witness.

Not even to myself.
And yet . . .

there is One
who does testify
in my favor.”

It was true for Jesus,
and because of Jesus
it is true for me.

And here is where his story presses on mine.

Even when someone speaks
in my favor,
it only counts
if it agrees with the truth.

Like John was a brief light
to shine on Jesus,
even these witnesses
only matter
when they support
a weightier
Witness.

The true Witness
gives a will to the worker,
gives a word to the messenger,
and that is his testimony
to his servant.

The true Witness
has a real voice,
uses the Scripture well,
and overcomes death
with life.

But
we refuse.

Rather than accept
God’s love for us
in our hearts,
we accept the praise
of people
as the only real
testimony,
looking for love there.

We leave the Father
who longs to praise us
as his children.

And what child
does not seek
his father’s
praise?

Perhaps this is how
we know who
we belong to—
where we seek our praise.

Are we children of
this world,
trusting passions
as our guides?

Are we children of
the Father of lights,
seeking His praise,
just like our older
brother Jesus?

He is full of praise,
while this world
lives on criticism
and skepticism.

When we seek praise
from the world,
we will only find ourselves
accused.

And why not?

Our systems are mostly run
by the Accuser—
naming worth,
assessing value,
handing out praise
only to take it away.

Jesus is full of the praise
of God
and of us.

He does not let
a smoldering wick
go out.

He does not let
a bruised reed
snap.

Gentle and truthful
is his praise:
water in a dry land,
manna in the desert,
a strong hand to hold us up
when we are going under.

Oh, seek his praise!
Seek his praise!

Then this childhood we live will be full
of wonder and delight,

going hand in hand

and eye to eye

with our Maker.

---

Epiphany Experience

So our year begins.

How many of our resolutions
seek the world’s applause?

How many of our inner promises
are born out of the fear
of rejection and abandonment?

Isn’t this just another way
of seeking the praise of people?

What if we sought out
a kind Father to please?

What if our nature
demands such seeking?

What if our nature
inevitably forms
around such praise?

We need to seek God’s praise
because it is true.
We may also need to seek
God’s praise
because it is formative—
helping us to grow up in love
rather than tearing us down
through lies, distrust,
and empty flattery.

Today, quietly write down
three or four praise-worthy things
about your life—
small or large,
obvious or easily overlooked.

Think about gifts and opportunities
you have received
gratefully and whole-heartedly.

By welcoming God
and his goodness
into your life,
you will find God’s praise.

Live in these things
even as you live
for these things.

---

Prayer

Gentle Father,

Your praise comes
as we live
in your goodness:
the truth of it,
the rightness of it,
and the beauty of it.

Save us from our accusers—
within us and around us—
who wrongly define
what is praise-worthy
and then beat us
over the head with it,
molding us into this world’s
wickedness,
loneliness,
and mockery.

Lord, let your praise
be on our lips:
the praise of you,
the praise that comes from you.

Let it transform us
into the likeness of Jesus,
full of peace, love, and joy.

Amen.

God's Hidden Timing

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27) 

Advent begins not with spectacle, but with hidden timing—God waiting for faith to mature in quiet places before acting openly. Elizabeth stayed in seclusion for five months. The passage begins by drawing our attention to God’s timing: “In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary.” There is something deliberate and revealing about this timing. God’s action with Mary seems responsive to Elizabeth’s long season of hidden waiting.

Perhaps Elizabeth waited to see if this baby would survive. Perhaps she had known miscarriages before and wanted to confirm God’s word to her while living quietly with silent Zechariah. Both of them waited—maybe with doubts in their hearts. Perhaps they were familiar with this kind of anxiety and had learned disappointment from it. In the quiet, God seems to allow Elizabeth’s faith and hope to ripen, both for herself and for her coming meeting with Mary.

Elizabeth’s recorded words may reflect a slow recognition of God’s faithfulness to Zechariah. They may be the joy that finally emerged at the end of her seclusion: “In these days of seclusion he has shown his grace to me!” Now she could step into the joy of pregnancy rather than hide with the pain of loss from friends and family.

At this sacred moment in Elizabeth’s life, God sends Gabriel to Mary with both warning and hope. Mary is told that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her—echoing the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep at the beginning of creation. A new creation is beginning. God is gentle with his prophets and his people. He speaks with them before he acts, preparing them for what is to come. Mary’s faith was not blind; it was invited, informed, and sustained by God’s words to her.

Gabriel also gives Mary a gift of confirmation and companionship: “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age.” Another miraculous birth. God strengthens Mary’s faith not only with promises, but with signs, and not only with signs, but with companions. She would not walk this path alone. 

Advent often unfolds this way for us as well—faith growing quietly, out of view, before joy is ready to be shared. Much of God’s work in us happens before we feel permitted to rejoice. 

---

Prayer

Lord, you favored Mary with clear communication and faithful companions on her path of obedience. Favor us as well. We need your voice to make sense of our lives, and we need companions for the journey we walk with you. Meet us in our hidden seasons. Open our ears to your words and our eyes to the friends you place along our way. Amen.

---

Advent Action

You may not see an angel this season, but today listen carefully for God’s message through your conversations and encounters. Ask God to open your eyes to companions who are walking the Way of Jesus alongside you. Consider writing down one moment today when God’s message came through another person.

We Have the Mind of Christ

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,

if any comfort from his love,

if any fellowship with the Spirit,

if any tenderness and compassion

then make my joy complete

by being like-minded,

having the same love,

and being one in spirit and purpose.

(Paul, Philippians 2:1-2)

 

Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Paul, Romans 12:2)

 

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of  God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may know what God has freely given us. . . . We have the mind of Christ. (Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:11,12,16)

 

 

The gospel has many expressions of the same reality. Some are more familiar than others. "God is light and there is no darkness in him." "For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son." "Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions." Perhaps we may also add this little phrase: "We have the mind of Christ."

True, we have much more than the mind of Christ. But we must be sure that we know that we do not have less. We do not merely have his deeds. We do not merely have his great intentions. We do not merely have his company. We also have his mind.

The mind of Christ is the entry point of discipleship and salvation. A disciple needs to do more than parrot his master, he needs to begin to share the master's thoughts and feelings if he is to have any hope of true imitation. Deliverance from this world is first and foremost an inner deliverance of the mind and spirit or else we end up with a merely external, behavioral faith.

The mind of Christ is the focal point of our discipleship and salvation. The watchword for the kingdom of God is "repentance" - metanoia- a turning, a rethinking about our thinking. This is how Jesus changes hearts. He enters through the mind, our thoughts and feelings. Our continuing repentance is a conversion of our thoughts and feelings to the thoughts and feelings of our Lord, our Master, Jesus.

We are given many of Jesus's thoughts through the Bible. If we want to know how and what Jesus thought, we need to become honest and open students of the Bible. There is no better resource. The Bible under the superintending Spirit will open up Jesus's feelings to us as well. Although the fruit of the Spirit is more than feelings, we recognize this fruit by the effect it has on our feelings: love that is joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, good, and self-controlled.

The problem with many current efforts and discipleship is the tendency to make our conformity to the mind of Christ a servant to another master, such as self-improvement, church attendance growth, material success, recognition by other people, relief from guilt, etc. When formation into Christ-likeness from the inside out becomes anything but the center and the only foundation, we end up pretending Christ-likeness while striving toward other goals. Our faith becomes hopelessly external.

 

The reason that "We have the mind of Christ" is such good news is accessibility. Through our special relationship with God opened up through Jesus, we have access to his mind. Through this access we experience deliverance from sin, wisdom for our days, direction for our life, and companionship through conversation. We find that Jesus did not come just to do something for us, but to open up his life to us to be with us even now.

 

How does enter into the mind of Christ? How do we become disciples who think and feel like our Master? What are the consequences if we neglect this access to the mind of Christ? What are our alternatives?

 

Lord Jesus, we know there are so many things that fight for our attention, some good and some not so good. We find ourselves like children, running here and there, maybe just playing in our lives instead of finding real meaning, joy, and rest. Open our hearts to the needed renewal of our minds and give us space to rest, learn, and grow. We look forward to great things from our Master! Amen.

Unexpected

Resurrection

is the answer

we weren’t expecting

when we called out

for relief.

New life

is not the hope

we looked for

when we wanted to rebuild

the old one.

Abundant life

is not getting our heart’s desire

but a new heart instead 

learning to desire

so much more.

This gift

may not be 

the expected one

but it is Jesus’s life

we are given

this day.

Finding Certainty

   “Keep that light before your eye, and go directly toward it, and then you shall see the gate, at which, when you knock, you will be told what you are to do.”

    So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door when his wife and children, perceiving his departure, began to cry out to him so that he might return. But the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on crying, “Life, life, eternal life.” So he did not look behind him, but rather fled toward the middle of the plain. (Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress)

 In the Gospel of Luke he begins, "Many have undertaken. . . ." In spite of the many, we all need to undertake this brave venture for ourselves. In spite of the many, we must draw up our own accounts of what has been fulfilled in our lives, what our lives have been filled up with. In the end we all will enter into the account that Luke started from those who saw and heard God made flesh. Our accounts will tell of what we thought of that one account.

So we see that Luke explaining, "I myself have carefully investigated." So, we find we do not undertake this venture in spite of the many before us, but informed by them and even spurred on by them. This venture begins and continues with careful investigation. Those who seek will find. For those who knock, the door will be opened. We do not seek mere facts in order to be right, but signs of God's graceful hand in order to be rescued. And his work shines most brightly in the life, words, and presence of Jesus among us.

All of this, "so that you may know the certainty." The end result of this investigation is not only faith in God, but knowing God the Father and Jesus, whom he sent. Only then will we know we have been taught well. Only in this intimate relationship with Jesus can we find the certainty we long for, a place to stand in a sinking age.

What is the account of your life with God? Is he a forgotten memory, a distant light, or a true friend? How might Luke's account affect your account? What sort of things do you carefully investigate? What motivates you? Are you certain of anything? Do you think you can find certainty in anything?

What Binds It All Together

Your strong love, O True God, is precious.

     All people run for shelter under the shadow of your wings.

In your house, they eat and are full at your table.

     They drink from the river of your overflowing kindness.

You have the fountain of life that quenches our thirst.

     Your light has opened our eyes and awakened our souls.

(Psalm 36:7-9, The Voice)

The pursuit of satisfaction in a world where immediate gratification is top priority seems like it would be easy. If you want it, you not only can get it, you should get it. There is a moral imperative to getting it all. It is now right, good, and even healthy. And yet, we remained unsatisfied. Desire only leads to more desire.

The only way desire can lead to satisfaction is by taking a back seat. The two primary methods of pushing desire back are the essentials of the worship of the true God: thanksgiving and sacrifice. With thanksgiving we take our eyes off of what we want and what we have received to admire and take pleasure in the Giver of all such things. We can experience his love and find true satisfaction. 

With sacrifice, we have our desires frustrated by our own hand or by someone else's. Instead of responding with resistance and anger, we let go of the desire and cling to God the Rescuer. He saves us from run-away desire and focuses our eyes back on him and his ability to take care of us and fill us. We can experience the deep satisfaction of surrender to the One who loves us and that we adore.

All of this is only possible when God's love is the most precious thing in our lives. This is not love as a concept that we admire nor is it a transaction that we cash in. This love is an active experience that we live. We daily find shelter in this love. We sit at the table of conversation with this love. We find continuous kindness that quenches our thirst for deep acceptance. It is the fountain of life. It is the light in our eyes. This is what binds all the pages of desire and experience together into meaning - one soul, one life.

Nothing is sweeter than love,

Nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger,

nothing more joyful, nothing fuller,

and nothing better in heaven or on earth.

For love descends from God,

and may not rest finally in anything less than God.

A lover of God flies high, runs swiftly, is merry in God,

is free in soul, gives all for all and has all in all,

rests in one high goodness above all things,

from whom all goodness flows and proceeds.

The lover of God beholds not only the gift,

but the giver above all gifts.

(from True Serenity, selections from The Imitation of Christ)

The Staff in Your Hands

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:10-14)

photo credit: AMBOO WHO?/FLICKR

The gospel
        sings from the pages
        of the Bible
        even in the Exodus:
"The Lord will fight for you;
you need only be still."

Why can I not
be still?

Be still, my child
         my beloved,
         my joy.
Be still and know
     that all you need is already there,
     that the battle's already won,
     that your life is a victory,
                          not a defeat.
Be still and know that I am God:
      I intend what is good

                    to be done in great ways.

      Your salvation today

               is part of my masterpiece

               as well as my master plan.

      Your enemies are real -

               they oppose you and me

               but you will overcome them.

               My wind is at your back,

               my staff is in your hands,

               their trap will become my path

               their army will become my triumph.

Lord, why can I not

          be still?

Your war has taken your peace.

Your fear has taken your hope.

Your doubt has taken your trust.

Your worry has displaced your prayer.

Surrender to the peace only I can give.

    Remember your hope.

        Build your trust.

            Come near in prayer.

And your stillness

                will lead you forward

                                      into victory.