Under New Managment

The sermon on Sunday got me thinking about Jesus talk about prayer in Matthew 6.

I would outline it as follows:

1. Prayer is not for managing people.
2. Prayer is not for managing God.
3. Prayer is for getting under new management.
4. Which shows up by becoming a forgiving person.

Jesus says that hypocrites pray so that others might see them. The heart of this is not public/private prayer, but the use of prayer to manage others. Prayer can be on the top of manipulative language. We are tempted to use it to get people to do what we want. We may want them to honor us or avoid us. It may be so that other people will line up and shut up. This is not about God, but about us.

Our desires play a role in prayer. Jesus would not have it otherwise. They can't play the biggest role, however. Otherwise we end up using prayer to manage other people.

Jesus says people who don't know God pray with many words so that God might hear them. The God who is absent - whether because he does not exist, or is just far away - is a source of fear. Prayer to such a God is more often a way of keeping him away rather than drawing near to him. We need such a God at times, but we don't really want him around. Instead of talking to him, we talk at him. So we might hope that our many words will somehow keep him distant while getting us what we want.

Asking is so important in prayer. But when we assume that God does not care or is not listening, we heap up "empty phrases" rather than talk with him. Asking becomes either conjuring or just a formality.

We must let go of managing other people or managing God in order to really pray. In prayer we adopt new management.

• Our Father in heaven: It's a family business. We are learning the trades of the heavens from our Father who works there.
• Hallowed be your name: The business of God has a name. We have a name under it. We long for the name of this work and the One who works to be honored, respected, and loved by all. When people hear the name of our business with God, we long for it to be a joy and relief to them.
• Your kingdom come. . . : Things on earth are not like they are in the heavens. The work and message we bring is how business is done in the heavens with our Father. The kingdom is not absent nor is it limited. There are just other kingdoms allowed to compete with God's work and Christ's business. We work to bring his "goods" to all people.
• Give us today our daily bread: Not wages. Our needs and wants fulfilled each day as we seek God and his work. We ask not because he is unwilling to give to us, but because we are often unwilling to receive from him.
• Forgive us. . . : The heart of our business on earth is our character. We come to offer forgiveness even as it has been offered to us. Forgiveness is central because all other goods from heaven come with it. Grudges destroy whatever good we hope to bring or to receive.
• Lead us not into temptation: The "competition" leads people into temptation and delivers them into evil in order to get what they want. To follow God and learn his work is to leave temptation behind and be delivered from the evil it will take us into.

I believe that basically the joining God in his business can be boiled down to one part of the prayer: "Hallowed be your name." On this all the other requests stand or fall. No other name can be sweeter than "Father." Where His name is not hallowed, there are other kingdoms which compete with his. His name is hallowed because he daily provides, forgives, and leads us.His name is hallowed because he teaches us to provide, forgive, and lead others as he would.

The final indication that we are in God's business is whether we are forgiving people. We forgive when we have the resources to forgive from our Father. We are under his management when we know his provision, his forgiveness, and his deliverance from temptation and evil. Without these we will not be forgiving, but hold grudges.

Perhaps the most obvious evidence of our lack of forgiveness is our anger and contempt for other people. A forgiving person is not an angry person. Nearly all of our reasons for anger do not have anything to do with forgiveness. They are self-justifying. Our anger indicates that we are not in God's business, but on our own, needing to "make it happen." This is why unforgiving, angry people are not praying people.

The Long Ad

Commercials and ads have found their way onto YouTube and Facebook so that whatever is free isn't exactly free anymore.  Media seems to always drift into advertising as its primary goal.  When I have subjected myself to these ads, I find that the bottom line is my attention.  The advertiser does not care what I think of the product, but only that I think of the product.  Whatever silliness, lies, sexual innuendo, or supposed seriousness will get my attention is what must be pushed onto the screen before my eyes and ears in order to occupy some of my mental landscape.  Fill the mind, get the heart.  This is a good picture of how the world works.  One big, long ad.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’  (Matthew 11:13)

I think of Jesus sitting and eating with tax collectors and prostitutes.  He must have seen and heard all kinds of things, many not particularly good.  It did not seem to matter to him what he saw, but what he sought.  Looking would not make him sin, but what he was looking for.  In this I see how he had mastered being in the world, but not of it.  What we see does not matter much, only what we seek.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  (Matthew 6:22-23)

I think of Jesus listening to all sorts of questions and accusations concerning himself and his work.  Not only were people skeptical, they were trying to trip him up in his words and catch him doing something wrong.  He heard them, but he did not listen to them.  Many voices came to him, but the only one he heeded was the voice of his Father speaking to him and through others.  What we hear does not matter much, only what we take to heart.  "Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."  (Luke 8:18)

For some people every comment, question, or statement has to do with some theological controversy, some political bend, or some new diet or health trend.  Certain words or favorite quotes or songs or hobbies will indicate whether the person is "for us or against us."  People with minds consumed with such ideas lie and wait for something to prove whether a person is reliable and right or untrustworthy and wrong by their use or misuse of certain "code words."  The burning question in their minds is "Are you for us or against us?"  Then they know how to deal with you.  Such a life has been filled up with reactions so there is not any room left for any real actions.  "They preach, but do not practice. . . .  They do all their deeds to be seen by others."  (Matthew 23:2-3)

When we are in the world but not of it, we see, hear, and react to all sorts of things, many of them not of God.  But those many things that come pounding down upon us do not necessarily decide in themselves what we will seek, what we will take to heart, or what our actions will be.  What will make the difference is what we look for, what we listen for, and how we act when no one else cares.

Jesus looked for the Father at work and joined him there.  Jesus listened for his Father's voice for comfort and direction and authority.  Jesus acted when the time was ripe and right, both personally and in his whole earthly vocation.  It is not what we look at, but what we look for.  It is not what we listen to, but what we listen for.  It is not how we react to people and events, but what we do when no one else cares what we are doing.  When our attention is on Jesus and his Father, then we can be in the world, but not of it.  "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  (Matthew 6:19-20)

Hallowed

It is your name

Your name alone

that calls out to me

even as I call it out.

Not to me, not to me,

but to your name

be all the eyes and ears,

cries of joy, thankful tears.

Let the burden roll off my back

Into an empty tomb:

that weight off my frame,

that drudgery of my empty name.

When the sound of your name

fills my breath, passes my lips,

It is not just words, but your heart,

that entrances me into self-forgetfulness.

Your name, your name,

never the same.

Always teaching, always healing

always commanding, always walking beside.

Let it be your name,

your name alone,

that haunts my house

with its unseen presence 

of joy.

I dropped my name.

I let it fall,

when yours came by

and filled my sky 

with hope.

It is not the syllables, the sounds,

the tunes, the rhymes that make it live,

but finding you never more 

than a breath away

in your name.

I bury my face in your robes,

I touch the hand that touches me.

Can I say it without shame?

Can I speak it with truth and love?

Your name.

Life According to Jesus

Faith is not " believing in spite of evidence," nor "believing what you know isn't true," as some have cynically suggested.  Rather it is an open-eyed adventurous affirmation that in and through things is a Good Will, and that Good Will is God.  Therefore faith relates itself to that Good Will by betting its life on it.  (E. Stanley Jones, Is the Kingdom of God Realism?)

WORRISOME STORIES ABOUT LIFE

Two false stories about life cause a great deal of worry.  The first is that life is about sowing and reaping.  Planning and results.  Doing and getting.  Although we do know that life has definite cause/effect chains, this is not what life is about; it is not the whole story.  "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."  (Ps. 126)  There is an incongruency about life.  We do not always get what we deserve.  We thank God for it.

Another false story is that life can be "stored away in barns."  Somehow we can save up for later.  We work so we can retire.  We save so we can spend.  We do good so that good will be done to us.  Although we are encouraged to "store up our treasures in heaven," the reason is not so we can get to them later, but because where our treasures are, that's where our heart is.  "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."  (Ps. 16:2)  Life must be lived and cannot be kept for later.  Many things are best left behind anyway.

THE BIRDS' STORY

The birds live the true story of life by instinct.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."  (Mt. 6:26)  Life is about being fed.  The birds are not fed if they remain still, but they do not worry.  They do not live the "sowing/reaping" story nor the "storing away in barns" story.  They live the story of being fed.  What the birds do naturally, we must do by faith and choice.

Life is more important than eating and drinking.  It is more important than sowing and reaping and storing away in barns.  Life is about hungering, but not for food.  Life is about thirsting, but not for drink.  "I am the bread of life." (Jn, 6:35)  "The water I give to him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (Jn. 4:14)  Life is about hungering and thirsting for Christ and being satisfied by him.  Not just by what he said or what he did, but by him.  It is about our daily bread.  It is about the heavenly manna that spoils if it is not eaten that day.  (Ex. 6:13-23; Jn. 6:32-33)

The systems of human life set up against Christ promote sowing and storing up.  Both stories are about a world of scarcity.  In such a world the first thing we think in the morning is how we didn't get enough sleep and the last thing is how we didn't get enough done.  Shame is the whip that keeps us going.  (Brene Brown, The Power of Vulnerability)  Conversely, life according to Jesus is set up on trust (faith).  We trust that there is enough time to finish what God has given us.  We trust that he will give us the resources to do so as we ask him.  Massive systems of propaganda speak against such trust.  Part of us rebels at the thought of such trust.  But it is before us, as plain at the birds in the air.

Don't Worry, Relax in God

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Relax.

Relax and worry will leave you.

The value of your life is so much greater than the food you eat or the happiness you get.  The beauty of your body is so much more than the clothes you wear or whatever you accomplish.

Soar like an eagle on the breeze.  With ease and confidence.  God will carry you like the wind carries that bird.  God will feed you like he feeds each bird.

When you work, do not work for mere food.  God will take care of that.

Remember, worry cannot add anything to your life.  It only takes away.

Turn your face to the sun like the flowers.  They do not need to work for its warmth and energy.  God will shine on you like the sun.  His light will reveal the beauty and accomplishments of what you do.

When you work, do not work for mere outward appearances.  God will take care of that.

Remember, worry does not show your care, but your faithlessness.

First things first.  Worry gets it all mixed up.

First, make it your business to know God's business.  Nothing escapes his notice.  He cares for birds and flowers.  He cares even more for your life and your body.  His business is to watch over you.  Let yourself be watched and known to him.  We do not owe him.  This is just what he does.

Align yourself with his watch-care.  Let your life be his to care for.  Know that his care extends to everyone.  Everyone needs to let themselves be known and cared for by this God.

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When we are cared for, we can relax.  Relax with God.  Relax with each other.

When we are cared for, our life and our bodies are provided for.  We all can find sustenance and happiness.  We all can find protection and significance.

Relax and tomorrow will not be scary.  Be cared for and today's challenges will not be overwhelming.

Relax and worry will leave you.

Relax in God's care.

(Meditation on Matthew 6:25-34)

Seen and Heard

Do not be like the hypocrites.

They are missing out.

               They pray to be seen by people

               rather than by their unseen Father.

               Filled with the recognition they seek,

               they miss the eyes of the Beloved One.

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He goes unseen,

              hidden from the view of pride,

              invisible to the self-absorbed.

              He sees and is seen by

              those who close and lock the door

              to be alone with him.

Father, may I be seen by you,

              may your eyes light up my soul,

              may your gaze fill me.

“I see you,” he says.  “I see you.”

Do not be like those who don’t know God,

                         trying to move him with words

                         when he is already moved on their behalf,

                         covering all their bases

                         when only one thing is necessary,

                                           sitting at his feet.

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He waits in silence

               in silence he is heard.

               When I am drowned by many words,

               silence is the ark that stays afloat

               and makes room for his re-creating word,

                                                   his call for deliverance.

Father, close my mouth and ears

              as you did the door of the ark.

              May the flood of noise

              always be outside our place.

“I hear you,” he says.  “I hear you.”

I am seen.

I am heard.

         What else would a father do?

             The heavens are open to me.

        I need not make a name for myself,

             only call out yours.

        I do not have to make things happen;

             I need only be remade.

        Each day you care for me

             as one who knows what I need before I ask.

        As long as people owe me recognition,

             I am collecting.

        Allow me to let it all go

             so I am free to seek your recognition.

        There are many things that shine,

                         many things that call,

             but only you are worth seeing and hearing

                         in everything.

I am seen.

I am heard.

I am free.

( A meditation on Matthew 6:5-17 for my fellow Embers)

Hope in the Kingdom of God: The Gospel

Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. . . .  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  (Romans 8:24b, 25, 26b)

This then is how you should pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. . . .  (Matthew 6:9)

The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 14:17)

Hope and prayer are tied together.  As Paul writes, "Who hopes for what he already has?"  It is no accident that his next section deals with prayer: "We do not know what we ought to pray for."  The prayer of faith springs from the hope that delivers me:  "That faith and hope that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel."  (Colossians 1:5)

Without hope, faith has no basis.  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1, KJV)  As an idea gives birth to an invention or a feeling sprouts into a desire, faith stands on hope.  Hope waits for and eagerly anticipates what is not yet seen.  It is not wishing, but joyful anticipation of what is yet to come.  Faith naturally springs from hope as its consequence in the present.  What is truly hoped for is trusted in.

One of the truest expressions of faith in God is prayer.  It acknowledges trust.  If I do not trust, I do not pray.  Prayer without trust, without faith, is just religious babble.  "And do not keep on babbling as the pagans do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  (Matthew 6:7-8)  How does God know this?  It is not so much because he his omniscient, but because he loves each person so deeply that he knows them so well.  This is the prayer of faith: knowing the God who knows me as a dearly loved child.

Such prayer also springs from hope.  If I do not hope, I do not pray.  Prayer without hope is just fatalism.  It takes the words "Your will be done" in the wrong way.  Instead of joyfully anticipating the work and will of God in this present age, hopeless prayer anticipates abandonment instead of deliverance, predictable outcome instead of joyful surprise, keeping the trinkets of this world rather than acquiring the treasures of God's kingdom, turning away quickly in disappointment rather than waiting patiently for the wonders of God.

Hopeless prayer is like a king's servant who was commanded, "Put this money to work," but on the return of the king says, "I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man.  You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow."  The conclusion of the king: "I will judge you by your own words.  To everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away."  (Luke 19:11-26)  Hopeless prayer receives little and even that little is lost.

So my prayers express my faith and my faith is the substance of what I hope for.  Jesus focuses my hope on the kingdom of God in his model prayer.  His kingdom is not a matter of external matters like food, drink, or mere religious practices, but of living with and in his Spirit who "intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will," in accordance with God's kingdom.  I think that the Lord's prayer is an expression of what I am to hope for.

The good news according to Jesus is this: "the kingdom of God is near."  This is not opposed to other expressions of hope, but stands in concert with them.  Another famous passage of the good news is 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, which can be summarized, "Christ died for our sins.  Christ raised.  Christ appeared."  The King is near as is his kingdom.  He redeems each person from his slavery to sin, defeats all sin and evil through his resurrection, and appears to each person to invite them into his kingdom.

Lord, I have often neglected the hope you have given.  I have wondered about where my faith goes in trials and temptations.  I see now that it goes where my hope lies.  I find myself like a lot of people: without hope.  I see that is also without God.  Please deepen my hope, so I can eagerly await what I do not see.  Amen.

Faith is opposed to sight.  Hope that is seen is no hope at all.  This means not that I need to live in complete ignorance.  Faith is not opposed to knowledge, nor is hope without knowledge, since it lives in those "who have the firstfruits of the Spirit."  No, faith and hope are opposed to sight because what is seen is temporary and passing away.  What is seen holds no hope since it will leave me empty.  It is the God who is unseen that I hope in and his kingdom that rules over all and yet remains holy and hidden in these days.

Hiding Things from Myself

There is a fine line between "Let your light shine before men" and "They do everything to be seen by men."  One is glory, the other hypocrisy.

The spiritual discipline of secrecy is not so much about hiding good deeds from other people, but hiding them from myself.  "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

The Good Thing, the Bad Thing

Good deeds do not always lead to God.  There are good deeds that can take us away from God.  This is a tragedy in life.  One of the main reasons that Jesus died was because he pointed this out repeatedly and severely.  He pointed out the difference between the "good" deeds of the Pharisees and the good deeds of many of the sinners.  In one of his teachings he said,

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven.  Many will come to me one that day and say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons and perform many miracles?"  Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!"  (Matthew 7:21-23)

It is possible to do "good" things, but not the good thing.  As a matter of fact, many "good" things keep people out of the kingdom of heaven and away from God.  What keeps us out of the kingdom is the idea that there are some things that are good in themselves apart from being with God.  Jesus came to say, "Only God is good."  There are no actions or intentions performed by people on their own that oblige God to allow their entry into his kingdom or his life.

Since no "good" deeds can oblige God to bring us into his family and into his life, we can only enter by grace, God's strength and undeserved favor.  Grace is opposed to earning.  "Good" deeds that do not lead or contribute to a personal relationship with God are efforts to earn.  This is why Jesus constantly pointed out that the "sinners" of his day were entering his rule before the "good" people.  They were not doing "good" things to earn (demand) God's approval, but instead were seeking to be near to Jesus and follow him.

From this we also learn that there is no bad deed that can exclude us from God's kingdom.  If bad deeds lead to regret, sorrow, rethinking how we think (repentance), and seeking Jesus, then they become good.  Bad deeds become bad when they separate us from God (which they do), but can become good if they lead us to confession and repentance and doing truly good things.  "Bad" people can find God sooner than "good" people because of repentance.  For most of us, we find it easier to repent of the bad things we have done rather than repent of the "good" things we have done.

Really, there is only one good deed:  Jesus' death on the cross.  Anything good must come out of this goodness.  Any "good" thing done outside of this goodness as competition to it, as evidence that I don't need it, or in willful ignorance of its necessity end up taking me away from God and his plans for me and all people.  When my good deeds come from gratitude for the cross, praise to the God who planned such a deed for my sake, and desire to imitate the cross in my life by putting to death the things that come "naturally" but lead me away from God, then they are truly good because they come from the good of the cross.

Perhaps there is also only one bad thing.  Perhaps that is what Original Sin is about.  All bad things come from that first willful act of disobedience and distrust of God.  There is nothing new under the sun.  Bad things can look surprisingly "good," but when they lead us from the loving arms of God they are bad.  Such bad things can be unrepentant actions of self-service that hurt ourselves and others, or they may be acts of self-righteousness that ignore our daily need of God in our life.  Either way they come from a lie that is told: "You don't need God; you can be your own god."  They come from a world living out that lie to its fullest.  They come from an inward propensity to "make it on my own" and "do what I want to do."

Certainly, God is merciful.  He will not turn away people who want to be with him, even at the last moment.  The thief on the cross stands as an icon of hope.  Our good deed may not be much, but when it is turned toward Jesus as our hope and deliverance, it is enough because of the grace poured out on all of us through the cross.  There have been people reported in the Bible who have been delivered by God without knowing much about him: Rahab the whore, a Syrophoenician idol-worshiper, and a thief on a cross.  This shows the kind of God we might serve.  One who is "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love."  (Psalm 103:8)

However, we must be honest about each of these people.  Rahab was one of an entire city.  The thief was one of a great crowd who gathered to see Jesus die.  Many will not come to grace.  The gospel is God's power exerted to save people, his last, best word of mercy and grace, his effort to open up his kingdom to everyone and anyone.  God's mercy to people who do not know Jesus is not the good news primarily, but a loophole of his kindness.  The good news is that we need not guess nor do we have to wait until we are at death's door to draw near to God.  We can see his mercy and live in it through Jesus.  The good news is that the good deed is done and that we merely need to live with it and live by it and live in it.  The kingdom of God has always been, since God has always been king, but now we see that his rule is one of grace and mercy and those who can accept this through Jesus can enter.

The reason we know we are delivered is that we can live with God's voice in our hearts and God's presence at our side daily.  He will not abandon us to death any more than he abandons us in this present age.  The life we begin with him will continue and grow, just as existence without him will also continue and degrade.  The gospel, the good news is that we can start living with Jesus and like Jesus now.

So not all "good" things lead to God and not all bad things lead away from him.  What is needed is a will set on choosing Jesus and his way rather than our own.

Lord, may I learn to see and live in your goodness rather than my own.  May I allow my sins to lead me to your feet.  May I live by the cross so I might be raised with you in every aspect of my life.  Amen.

Spiritual Exercises as Part of Jesus' Yoke of Grace

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

In my last post, I wrote about the means that Jesus gives so that people might come to know God.  Certainly, these means provide for a great beginning to knowing God, but they are also the places where friendship with God can really take root.


Strangely, I hesitated to bring in prayer as one of those means.  One reason is that I do not consider myself a really great pray-er.  I do not find myself asking for a lot.  I kind of have to make myself ask.  I have been given much, but I think that more of that comes from an ingrained sense of self-sufficiency that makes the humility of asking foreign to me.  I am working on it.

Another reason for not involving prayer in the introduction to knowing God is that prayer is so easily misconstrued for other things.  Although scriptural meditation and contemplation have their places in the realm of prayer, prayer is most fundamentally asking.  Prayer without request is not Christian prayer.  Certainly asking can be simply directed toward the fulfillment of my desires, but it also encompasses interceding and confessing.  The point is that it is directed to God and not merely to a state of mind.  The many fashions and misunderstandings of prayer make it a minefield when seeking God at first.  Not everything "spiritual" is good.

Also, prayer is so common and subjective that it is difficult to hear God initially amid the many other inner voices and feelings.  My prayer needs a lot of help from the outside.  I need the Bible, the church, and the creation in order to find and hear God.  Without them, I would find prayer to be very confusing and disheartening.

That being said, without prayer, the Bible, the church, and the creation are extremely limited in their own ability to present the knowledge of God.  They may present many facts and even truth, but without prayer, they are a table set without a feast.  Jesus sets the table that I might be nourished and filled, yes.  Even more, though, he sets the table that I might be filled with the company of God himself.  Such a feast is designed to be shared, not merely hoarded or admired.

This sharing of the feast is what spiritual exercises are about.  They are the ways in which each person can partake of the means that Jesus has provided for our friendship with himself and the Father.  In essence each spiritual exercise is one of prayer and one of practice.

Spiritual exercises are all prayer in that they are yearning for God.  Without the yearning and asking for God and his good gifts, spiritual exercises are useless and possibly harmful.  Whatever is done is done for the sake of knowing God and Jesus, whom he sent.  This is the fundamental reason for Christian spiritual exercises.

The "classic" exercises of solitude, silence, fasting, study, worship, etc. are the tried and true methods with thousands of years of practice behind them.  They are the means for feasting with God.  Each can be used to serve other purposes which can widely be understood as looking good or feeling good.  These are covered in the Bible by Jesus when he says, "Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness to be seen by men.  If you do you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."  (Matthew 6:1)  James covers the other aspect of incorrect motives by saying, "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."  (James 4:2-3)

This does not mean that spiritual exercises are all drudgery.  They are feasting with God and should be understood that way.  On the way, a person may find that they "look good" or "feel good," but these are not the primary motives.  When they take the place of seeking and knowing God and his goodness, then they become diversions and shows for other people.  Jesus' advice on prayer can be used with spiritual exercise in general: "Go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is unseen, will reward you."  and "Do not keep babbling on like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  Talking about spiritual exercises is dangerous if it does not lead to practicing them.  Doing spiritual exercises for the sake of reporting to them instead of seeking God is dangerous.  What is exciting is that God rewards those who seek him and he knows my needs deeply and intimately, so that I so not need to try to secure rewards and pleasures from other people or my own impulsive desires.

So if I practice silence, it is with the hope and expectation that God will be with me.  If I study the Bible or creation, it is with the hope that I will hear God and know him more fully.  If I serve other people, it is with the goal of them seeing what I do and praising God for it.  The only thing that enables me to get through the "dry" times is the goal of seeking the best for God in each circumstance (that would be his "glory").  If I slip into seeking pleasure or others appreciation, then spiritual exercises quickly fade.

Most importantly, prayer depends on God.  The Holy Spirit is who enables all actions toward God.  The "burden" of seeking God and knowing him is too much for any person to carry on their own.  Asking God through prayer for his help makes the burden "easy and light" because he is at the other end doing most of the lifting.  My task is small in term of lifting the yoke, but necessary in term of shouldering the yoke and putting in my own effort.  The yoke of spiritual exercise is "easy and light" because it is performed in and through prayer, but spiritual exercises are a yoke because they take genuine effort.

This effort component to spiritual exercise is practice.  The most dangerous kinds of "spiritual exercises" are ones that remain mere topics of conversation or interest.  It is tempting to remain a spectator in the sport of spiritual exercises.  People can talk about them, study them, and even admire them, but without practice they will not really be spiritual exercises, but only spiritual wall hangings in a person's life.

It is necessary to talk about them and think through them, but only as a precursor to doing them.  The talk and thoughts of a person intending on making a trip around the world is different from a person who just talks about going around the world.  The first one plans while the second one merely wishes or pretends.  Intention takes the vision of spiritual exercise and turns it into action.

Another part of practice is starting small.  While inaction is on the major causes for failure in the practice of spiritual exercise, not far behind is the tendency to do something "big."  It is not enough to be still five minutes in a day, I must try to spend eight hours in silence.  It is not enough to study and memorize Psalm 23, I must outline the whole book of Psalms.  Usually, this tendency to do "great" things stems from more pride than devotion.  This is not to say that moving toward eight hours of silence is not good, but it takes practice to do this successfully and usually, starting with what a person can do rather than what they think they should do.

My own experience in memorizing scripture demonstrates this.  When I started my kids on the task of memorizing Bible passages, I did not start with Romans 8 or the Sermon on the Mount.  We started with Psalm 23.  Just like when I first started to memorize scripture recently, I found one of my main difficulties was knowing that I could and that the effort was good.  I had been not merely saved by grace, but paralyzed by it, thinking that all effort was seeking to earn God's favor.  This came from a misunderstanding about spiritual exercises being merely works of the flesh or natural human ability.  I found that what made them works of the flesh was not that they were work, but when they were merely of the flesh.  Depending solely on my own abilities and talents when performing such work meant that I was not doing them in prayer but by sheer "willpower" or pride nor was I practicing them as much as performing them.

I return to Jesus picture of the yoke that is easy and the burden that is light.  Strangely enough, the yoke of spiritual exercises is best taken up by those who are "weary and heavy laden," more than those who sense and trust their own power and ability to accomplish things.  To practice them, I must first come to rest and stop doing what I have been doing to better myself and run my life.  Jesus begs the weary to come to him and find rest.  Spiritual exercises are all about that rest.  The passive part of them is releasing the results to Jesus, who carries most of the burden.  Ironically the release takes real effort.  Who would have thought that letting go could be so hard?  Yet this is the rest that Jesus invites me into that involves a yoke and real effort.

Rest is trust.  Rest is humility.  Rest is effort in the right direction for the right things.  Fortunately, rest is possible because God is always at work.  The heart of rest is prayer for grace, asking God to do what I cannot do.  Such rest only comes through practice, since even grace freely given must be received.  In this way when Jesus calls me to rest, he calls me to pray to him and practice life with him under his yoke of grace.

Wow.  I never thought that the yoke Jesus was talking about was grace, but now I see it clearly.  It is the favor of God that I might work with Jesus, learning to be gentle and lowly of heart through practice.    Also, it is taking on his burdens and resting from my own.  Finally, it is continually relying on and asking for the favor of his strength to do what I cannot, bear the yoke.  And so grace is the easy yoke of Jesus: resting from my work, practicing his work, and praying for his continual lift in the process.

Lord, please let me take this yoke and leave my own behind.  Let me shoulder your grace, which is your rest, your work, and your salvation for my hungry soul.  When I say, "Give me your grace" or "Have mercy on me," help me to remember taking on this yoke that you offer to the weary and heavy-laden.  That is what I am, so this is what I so desperately need.  Amen.

Good for What?

Goodness is not defined by action.  Actions can only be good if the intention is good.  For example, One man gets a second job to earn money so that he can send his child to school.  Another man gets a second job to earn money so he can support a drug habit.  Both men have the same actions, but their intentions are different making one man's actions good and the other man's actions evil.

Goodness can only be declared and administered by God.  Only he is able and fit to take such a position.  No other governor of moral law is possible, whether by rule or consensus, since people always lack perfect knowledge and differ in their views and feelings.

Goodness does not exist because God wills it or because God created it or because God performs it.  Goodness exists because it is what God is.  He cannot rule by any other means; he cannot create in any other way; he cannot act with any other intention.

So the very basis of goodness in human life is the goodness that God is.  This alone is the only ultimate intention that makes "good" actions good.  As defined above, it is intention that makes an act moral or good, not the action itself.

Jesus described the only real good intentions this way: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself."  The love of God, the affirmation of his intrinsic and essential goodness, will alone guide and correct all other actions and areas of human life.  Without this inner admission of God's goodness, good cannot be done, because goodness is always defined by intention.

Similarly, the love of our neighbors affirms the essential goodness of God since they are made for his love and his benevolence.  Denying love to our neighbors denies the that intentions of God for good in this world, since that is what the creation is made for: people.  People (as well as all creation) have value and goodness because they are made by and for a good God.

In this age, the more typical command is: "Love yourself with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love God and your neighbor when it serves your self-interest."  So rather than goodness being the foundation of action, personal desire becomes the foundation.  The fundamental question switches from "What is good?" to "What is good for me?" or "What's in it for me?"

For example, one person goes to church, volunteers at a soup kitchen, and teaches their children to do what is right so that they will not be punished, but will be rewarded by God, or so that other people will see their goodness.  Another goes to church, volunteers at a soup kitchen, and teaches their children to do right because they love God and their neighbor as themselves.  One is a hypocrite, the other is devoted.  The ultimate intention is what makes the action good.

A popular notion is that a person can just love their neighbor and not love God.  The question would be, "On what basis can a person love their neighbor as themselves except with God as the source of goodness?"  Invariably, such love picks out which people deserve love and which people can be overlooked.  It must take from one group and give to the other.  This is because without God as the foundation and administrator of goodness, personal preference and desire rule.

In the end, the question becomes not "What is good?" or "Who is good?", but "What is a person good for?"  Is it for God's sake, so his goodness and light might be known and acknowledged?  Or is it for the more typical reason: self-interest?

As Jesus said, "Many will come to me that day and say, 'Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons and perform many miracles?'  But I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.  Away from me you evildoers!'."  (Mt. 7)  This loving God with all that we are is more than just knowing about him, it is a person-to-person, conversational relationship that underlies the good intentions we are to have.

Another person to describe this is Paul when he wrote, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."  (1 Cor. 13:1-3)  The love Paul is speaking of is the love that Jesus described: "Love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself."  Without this foundation and intention, no actions are beneficial or good.

Goodness flows from the intention to serve God because he is good and kind and loving.  This is where most of my time is spent.  In an age where people spend their days denying and hiding from God's goodness and seeking their own desires, I must take special time and constantly remember to affirm and seek God's goodness and love.  From this "cleaning the inside of the cup, the outside becomes clean."  From this rooting and planting by streams of living water, fruit grows.  From this desire to imitate God, goodness flows.

Ironically, people have a internal story that says, "If I get what I want, then I'll be happy."  This, of course, is a lie, disproved many times by many lives.  Usually, we find if we always give people what they want they get "spoiled."  The true story goes, "Seek God's goodness and love and influence and happiness will be thrown in, too" or as Jesus says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."  (Mt. 6:33)

(My thanks to Charles Finney's Systematic Theology.  This blog entry is not intended to prove, but to provide reasons to have confidence in God and his goodness.  Also this entry is not intended to argue, but to clarify, most of all for myself.)

Lord, let me be good for you, or I will find that I have been good for nothing.  Amen.

Hearing Before Seeing

The eye is the lamp of the body. (Matthew 6:22)

As I thought about the scripture immediately preceding this one - "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth. . . , but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven" - I realized that just as lust and greed stare at objects and "store them up" for continued reflection and enjoyment, devotion and virtue can also use the eyes to store up things for reflection and enjoyment. Staring and focusing one's eyes is a method for storing things up in ones heart. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I do not think it is accidental that Jesus teaching about the lamp of the body follows this treasure passage in the Sermon on the Mount. My eyes can store things in my heart and illuminate my body. The body can be a very dark place, full of unpredictable actions and confusing feelings, when the eye is turned away from the light of God and is focused on the desires of the body. I find myself quickly conflicted and frustrated.

When the eye is turned to the things that feed the soul with peace and order, such peace is stored in the heart, and then the body becomes a fully lit room. Instead of tripping over the body and its desires as in a dark room, the light gives such desires their place in my life.

What is this light for the eyes? Eyes are hungry. They long to see. They can be filled with words and images of God's goodness or with words and images that inflame the body and heart to lust and anger. The eyes fill the body with light or with darkness. They take in what the body enjoys and what the heart stores and ponders. I see that such light is not only perceiving things with my eyes, but really "seeing" them. I do not merely look, but I take in certain things and let them settle into my heart.

I must learn to use my eyes to see the Creation. I hear words, really. But I see what they create. I see ideas, inventions, and intentions from words. These are creations, too. When I connect the words to what I see, then I understand. Seeing is the completion of hearing. I hear, "Let there be light" and then I see, "And there was light." My eyes bring to light what words have been spoken in and through myself and also in and through others.

Dallas Willard says, "Faith is not opposed to knowledge, but opposed to sight." Blindness, however, does not necessarily increase faith. It is a matter of precedence. I do not see to believe, but rather I believe so I can see. Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:14). Then the eyes are the lit lamp that illuminates the body and all creation.

Lord, let me learn how to hear so I can see. Let my seeing fill my body with light and store up treasures in my heart that cannot be stolen or fall into decay. Let my eyes be the lamp of my body. Amen.

The Sort of Person Who Prays

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. (Psalm 23:1)

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

I haven't usually thought of the beginning of Psalm 23 as having to do with prayer. Lately, though, God has been teaching me about prayer, so it has been on my mind. Why shouldn't it be about prayer? Prayer is the primary means by which God desires to fulfill my desires.

Prayer is not just about my desires, however. A mistake I have made, though, is that I have often assumed it had nothing to do with my desires. Somehow praying God's will had become mostly praying, "Not my will." My desires need an overhaul, but ignoring them or pretending that they don't matter is not God's way of changing them. He wants to redeem my "wanter" so it is in line with his will.

I see this as having desire that are my own and yet also within his will. I do not think that God merely wants to control me anymore than I merely want to control my children. He wants to teach me and help me grow into Christ-likeness, where all I do is in unity with him and also fully my own.

I felt joyful at the realization that the first part of this growth is realizing that he wants to give and provide for me completely, so that I will have no unfulfilled desire - "I shall not be in want." What else would a loving father want?

Then I understood that the end of the Lord's Prayer may not only be a word of praise, but a recognition that God will answer all my requests because he has the kingdom, the power, and the glory, and he wants to share them with me. He wants to give his kingdom without end, his power without limit, and his glory without diminishing.

Really, I find that God wants pray-ers as well as worshipers (aren't they the same, really?). He seeks those who pray because he wants to give them what they ask for. Whatever barriers I have can be overcome with this desire: to become the sort of person who prays and is answered. This is God's will, his desire, and I can share it with him.

Lord, let these words be written on my heart: "I shall not want" and "For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever." You have so much to give and yet I receive very little. Increase my faith and hope in your good promises. Change my heart into a faithful one that walks with you. Isn't this what belief and trust are really about? To stay with you, I need to know and trust your goodness, Father. Impress such knowledge on me. Amen.

The Reward of Fear

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. (Ps. 19:10)

Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Mt. 6:19-20)

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore, stand in awe of God. (Ecc. 5:7)

In the first part of Matthew 6, Jesus takes pains to explain that I must "be careful not to do [my] acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them." The motivation is for keeping them secret is missing out on the "reward from [my] Father in heaven." What is this reward?

Jesus gives a clue that the reward is in heaven by immediately following the three "acts of righteousness" with instruction on where to put my savings account: heaven. "Build up a savings in heaven and you'll never face a recession or loss or robbery." My ears are accustomed to hearing that savings as mere after-life promises.

Not that such promises are empty. They just do not cover the whole plan. The savings is not only a 401k, available only after my final "retirement" from this age. It is an active reservoir from which I draw each day, which is why Jesus confidently explains that I need not worry about my life or my body in the face of such abundance. (Mt. 6:25)

The reward that God promises is incorruptible. It does not fade or fail. It is permanent. In this sense, it is much more than a savings, which is kept for special occasions or rainy days. This reward is meant to be used like a spending account and enjoyed, not hoarded, because it cannot be lost.

So what sort of reward does secret and sincere giving, praying, and fasting yield? What sort of reward dissipates with seeking of people's approval or the fear of their criticism? The reward is the fear of God. It is pure and endures forever. It is meant to last and meant to be enjoyed.

Fear is the seeking of someone's approval, and, by implication, avoiding their disapproval. With impersonal objects, like lightning and gravity, I place myself favorably with the force so that I do not incur its "wrath." Similarly, with people, fear is a positioning of myself in their favor so as to avoid their displeasure. When people's approval becomes important, desire for God's approval disappears. Similarly, when God's approval is most important, the need for people's approval disappears.

If the fear of God is pure, it is free from any foreign object. The fear of God shares no other fear. When someone fears God, they do not need to fear anyone or anything else. I need only position myself favorable with God and nothing else need worry me. It alone beings a singleness of mind, a true focus. All other fears bring distraction and a fragmented life. This favorable position with God, that is, having his approval, is based solely on my relationship with his Son. He says, "This is my Son. Listen to him!"

The fear of God endures forever. It cannot rust, rot, or be stolen. This seeking of God's approval remains strong beyond all other forces because he freely grants his favor to those who seek him. The reason the "fear" endures is that God's favor and love are everlasting. I seek his approval and he grants it and shows how I might live in it more and more. God grants immediate favor for anyone who seeks it. Yet he has so much more to give. His pleasure and delight in me are endless. So as I seek his approval in my life, I find God shows me more of his goodness and also shows me more of my goodness in him.

This continuing fear places me in right relationship with God. I seek him. I listen to him. I avoid his displeasure. I do what pleases him. My greatest satisfaction is in pleasing him. Such fear is the heart of the humility that opens God's kingdom to me (Mt. 18:3). Through the knowledge of his Son, I know that God is on my side, walking with me and helping me always, even as Jesus did in his earthly life. Such fear leads me to die to my own desires when they conflict with God's even as Jesus died. My old life dies and a new one is born where I do not live for myself, but for God. The resurrection shows that the way is clear for this life even past the death of this body.

Such a reward outweighs all others. The treasure of bringing a smile to God will never pass away. Giving, praying, and fasting please him not because they are religious, but because when practiced well, they open my heart to fearing God. Through them I learn to see and desire his approval above everything else and avoid his disapproval with all that I am. They teach me of his love and his ways, so that his smile is my smile.

Lord, I long to fear you more. Let this seeking of approval not be one of seeking to make you like me, but one of pleasing you as you already like me. You are my friend and my companion as well as my Father, who I long to please. I am so glad you already approve of me thanks to Jesus, my companion. Let me come with him to you and hear you say that you are well-pleased. Amen.

Many Words and a Hasty Heart

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart, to utter anything before God. (Ecc. 5:2)

They think they will be heard because of their many words. (Mt. 6:7)

As I was driving to work, I was arguing with some people in my heart. I planned the words I would say in response to their thoughts and arguments. I laid out my own arguments in my mind to make sure they contained no holes.

Then as I pondered some scripture God spoke these verses to me. I could see plainly that I was planning on nothing other than being quick with my mouth. The context in Ecclesiastes is making vows to God. They must be sincere. And yet Jesus expanded these such vow-taking to include all of my speech: "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.'"

I sought to become quick with my mouth. I used a hasty heart. A hasty heart is an impatient one. My impatience is with other people. I planned to corner them with my mouth. Such impatience and arguing does not only fail when I come before God, it also fails when I talk with other people.

The Lord deepened his warning to me in with another verse. Again, this verse is addressing prayer to God specifically, but it addresses a general mode of thought that Jesus labeled "pagan" or simply "unbelieving." The thought is that my words will save, protect, and bring me a hearing and understanding from God and from others. If I don't take care of myself, no one else will. This is the heart of unbelief, a lack of trust.

Again, this is not only untrue in prayer, it also is untrue with words in general. I feel compelled to say so many things to defend myself or make myself look good, but in the end such a torrent of words actually does the opposite. The plans of my hasty heart become obvious because I stop listening and keep talking. I stop listening to other people in the eagerness to control, manipulate, or please them. I stop listening to myself in the eagerness to defend, justify, and appear good. I stop listening to God in the presumption that I already know what he wants, or in the fear that he may want something other than what I want.

As an encouragement, God placed a longing in my heart. The longing was for him and his words to me. Then he told me something else. He said that the longing I have for him he has for me. It is mutual. My words melted away at this. I saw he also longs for each person in this way. Instead of thinking I will be heard because of my many words, I wondered if I might be heard because of the longing behind my words.

What prayer would reach my Father's ears better than "Abba! Father, always near. Nothing is more special than being in your reality, in your presence!" And similarly, with myself, "I praise God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world." And with other people, "Let me bring you to Jesus, when you are weary and heavy-laden. He will bring you rest." Not just the words, but the longing and love behind them are what count. They go together. A mere sentiment is not enough, but neither are mere words without a life and loving intention behind them.

I need to practice this longing and loving. I need to see the delight that brings God such joy. I need such longing to be a permanent resident in my heart.

Lord, help me to exchange arguing for blessing, worrying for thanking, forgetting for praising as I learn to long for you and your ways in my life. Let this longing and love be what overflows from my heart instead of impatience and the many words that I have. Let me rest in this: You know what I need before I ask because you long for me and are close to me. Father! Be near to me. Amen.