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.

The Curse of Superficiality

Superficiality is the curse of our age.  The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem.  The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.  (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline)

I have glossed over this introductory statement in Foster's book many times.  I am afraid that I have usually thought of it in superficial ways.  I have thought of it mostly individualistically, as a way to my own deeper growth.  I have looked at it with hurry, scanning over the ideas so I can get deeper quickly.  Ironic, isn't it?  I can be superficial about getting deeper.

The last couple of times I have found that first phrase rather poignant.  When I think of the blessings and curses pronounced in Deuteronomy 28, I see that this "curse of our age" seems to explain a lot of things.  Curses are the opposite of blessings.  When something is blessed, a lot of good comes from relatively little effort.  That's grace.  With a curse, very little good comes from inordinate amounts of effort.   That's the flesh at work.  Superficiality is a whole lot of work generating very little good.

The particular face of of our curse, according to Foster, is superficiality.  It is a resistance to the depths of life.  As another modern writer puts it,

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

 The curse is that we find our desire too weak to carry us beyond the shallows of human existence.  We long for more than what we are given in life, but cannot obtain it, because the superficiality takes us to the wrong places in the wrong ways.

The Primary Doctrine

The primary teaching that supports the curse is one of "instant gratification."  The teaching is that instant gratification is the ideal circumstance, the best outcome, the only real goal. We want answers now.  We want things fixed yesterday.  The bigger, faster, more intense it can be, the better it must be.  Unfortunately the first part of the doctrine, "instant," flies in the face of one of the most basic rules in a deeper life: "Love is patient."  Love and the deeper life may be patient and only comes through patience, but we see impatience is the current road to "happiness and fulfillment."

Another problem with the current prevalent doctrine is that of gratification.  Life is gratification and nothing else in our current culture.  "What do you really feel like?  What do you really want?"  These questions are often the deepest ones asked when dealing with marriage, vocation, and even morality.  Unfortunately they happen to be the same questions asked at the front of a fast food line as well.  When life comes to a halt, we often find ourselves wondering, "What do I want now?" Questions from our depths are shunned because they require self-denial and perseverance.

Although some of us are willing to forgo the "instant" part of "instant gratification," we find gratification hard to ignore.  One of the primary reasons is not so much our hedonism, but our desperation.  It is pain that drives us more than pleasure.  It is emptiness that scares us more than just missing out on something fun.  Unfortunately gratification only puts off pain and emptiness and then intensifies them, only to make us go back to gratification once again.

The Real Need

Instant gratification reveals our fear of the depths.  We may flock to intelligent people and gifted people, hoping to find some way out of superficiality.  We want answers.  We want wonders.  These do not pull us out of our tailspin, however.  Intelligence without depth only justifies our empty superficiality.  Wonders without depth dazzle the eyes and ears, but do not touch the soul.  This is not a new problem:

Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:22-24, ESV)

The depravity we face today is one of superficiality.  It is the sign of our inward decay, our corruption.  This is one mode of perishing.  "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  (John 3:16)  The life we are meant to live is a deep life, a life like God's.  The apostle Paul describes such life: "We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."  (2 Corinthians 4:16)  Instead of inward decay and corruption, we can find continual inward renewal.

The Celebration of Discipline, then, is the celebration of a deeper life, one of continual renewal.  The disciplines described are the ways in which Jesus and his followers live a deeper life.  We may approach them wrongly and superficially, as I have, and find them wanting.  But we will not be able to approach a deeper life without them.  Disciplines go beyond deep thinking and deep feeling and "meaningful" action into deep living.  Deep people are people who live from the depths of themselves and of God.  Disciplines are the practice and enjoyment of that deeper life.

Made by God and Loving It

It is not an abstraction called Humanity that is to be saved.  It is you, . . . your soul, and in some sense yet to be understood, even your body, that was made for the high and holy place.  All that you are. . . every fold and crease of your individuality was devised to fit God as a glove fits a hand.  All that intimate particularity which you are can hardly grasp yourself, much less communicate to your fellow creatures, is no mystery to Him.  He made those ins and outs that He might fill them.  Then He gave your soul so curious a life because it is the key designed to unlock that door, of all the myriad doors in Him.  (C. S. Lewis, penciled in the flyleaf of his copy of von Hugel's Eternal Life)

What if Lewis was writing not to some imaginary hearer, but to himself?  What if he was reminding himself of his particular worth to God?

I could see myself doing this.  I spent a long time in college saying to myself, "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made and Your works are wonderful."  (Psalm 139:14)  I guess that shows one of my struggles: low self-esteem.

Yet even that low self-esteem has been a place where God can grow something.  My self-loathing exposed to the light of my loving wife and kids brings me pain.  I realize that I "enjoy" it in some strange way, but in the eyes of my family it becomes something terrible and hurtful.

Self-examination and honesty are good.  I guess there is a limit, though.  The limit is where I want to determine my own identity on my own, rather than in the loving arms of God.  I have been long in avoiding him.  It's time to fall.

Lord, why do I try so hard to figure it out on my own?  Why do I purposely plug my ears to your help and encouragement?  Forgive me.  I am tired of being a self-made martyr.  Make me lie down in your green pastures, lead me beside your still waters, restore my soul.  Amen.