Child-like in Old Age

 Even to your old age and gray hairs

  I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

  I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isaiah 46:4)

I may not be in my old age, but I have my share of gray hair. I guess we may never completely outgrow the desire to be someone's child. Although that can create a childish person, it may also be able to make someone more child-like.

As I get older I have had more obvious examples in which I have needed someone to sustain me, even someone to carry me and rescue me. Sometimes a sickness has taken all sense of pride from me with pain or incapacity. Sometimes I am faced with horrible problems in my family that I cannot face or fix. Sometimes I am hardly able to get out of bed in the morning from sheer weariness or despair. I find I can enter such moments in childish ways or in child-like ways. I can throw tantrums and kick and scream or I can grieve and cry out for help and comfort. They can be similar in appearance, but my heart is radically different in the midst of them.

Growth into child-like humility involves letting go of outcomes without giving up. It involves having a place to stand apart from my desires without disowning them. It involves learning how to love reality more than the illusions I weave. The God of peace can be found if we know how to seek him. 

The Band of Survivors

Once more a remnant of the house of Judah

  will take root below and bear fruit above.

For out of Jerusalem will a come a remnant,

  and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

  will accomplish this. (Isaiah 37:31-32)

Man, I like this. I like calling the remnant a band of survivors. It speaks not only of desperate times, but of desperate people. People desperate for God. People in a real war. The remnant then and the remnant now will not just drift into survival. It will take some real effort.

I also love how this band of survivors takes root below and bears fruit above. There's a tenacity to following Jesus that grips the earth with both hands and will not let go. No floaty, air-headed kind of faith. If it's real, it's got to grab life and not let go. It is actually people who don't seek Jesus in life that are in the illusion, caught in the matrix of this nonsensical thinking of this world or in the empty dreams of empty religion.

These survivors also bear fruit above. Like a tree planted deeply, their branches and fruit stretch above mediocrity. The fruit is the overflow of their life. This super-abundance is not found in pain-free living, great ambitions, or impressive credentials, but in rock-solid character that holds out to the very end without ending up cruel or indifferent. The fruit is lasting and deeply satisfying to everyone who tastes it.

Most importantly, the band of survivors only survive because of the Lord's zeal. Their near-escapes, their struggles against the impossible, and their lonely deserts are not mostly a testimony to their great skill or endurance, but a story of a great love that will not let them go. The Lord wants not only survivors, but overcomers. This band does not go it alone. They go together. They go with God.

 God's gifts and call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

This passage does not say that God's gift and call are inevitable. For the people of Israel it wasn't. This is the idea that is often misquoted that "God works all things together for good." The verse says that In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) For people who don't love God and live into their calling will probably find life somewhere between difficult and intolerable. Many things happen that God does not want, but nothing happens that God cannot redeem or overcome by his graceful power through our trust in him.

The good news about God's gift and call is that he does not take them away from us. We can refuse them, though. Over time our choices become our destiny. I was told once that God's will is infinitely malleable, but the will of human beings is not. God can always be willing to accept, forgive, hope, and help, but human beings will eventually come to a place of no return for good or ill. So we are told to seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:12)

God has wonderful things in mind, great hopes and joys in store for each of us and all of us. Our greatest challenge is trusting that fact and forming a life based on it. We cannot do it alone, but that is why God sends his greatest irrevocable gift to us: Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. 

 

New Birth for the World

We were with child, we writhed in pain,

  but we gave birth to wind.

We have not brought salvation to the earth,

  we have not given birth to people of the world. (Isaiah 26:18)

Going through pain and suffering only to find out that it was all for nothing is a terrifying prospect. I can see why it would make some people determined above all else to avoid pain. The picture of giving birth to wind - nothing. The struggle to conceive, anticipation during pregnancy, and the endurance of the pain of birth is all for the life to be born. The new life that comes out of the struggle is what brings meaning to the struggle. This is redemption.

Redeeming is buying back the years of toil and slavery. It is the deliverance from slavery to a promised land. It is the joy of comfort after abuse. It is the laughter of relief when we realize that the war is over. It is freedom, a birth of a life with God.

The opposite of redemption is judgment. It is realizing that the only way to deal with pain is with fear or denial. It is constantly ducking the blows of neglect and abuse. It is realizing that there is no relief, but only worry about when the next war begins. It is enslavement, the emptiness of a life without God.

What if the good news of the followers of Jesus falls on deaf ears because we live more under judgment rather than redemption? We give birth to wind in our own lives and are surprised that other people do not want to share in such a salvation with us. Of course the best is yet to come, but that does not mean that we need to live the worst way now.

Here's the thing: what if eternal life starts today? What if what changes primarily at the death of our bodies is just our setting, but not the kind of life we live? If all that is self-centered, fearful, worried, angry, and suffering gets burned away when we move on into the next life, what will be left of us? What if we are starting to build the home we will always live in right now?

I have had moments of fear about this, but the God I know is not trying to keep anyone out of the place he dwells, but trying to help each of us find our place there. The most obvious, glorious, and desirable thing about heaven is God himself. If we are interested in him, wanting to know him, or wanting to spend time with him now, what makes us think that the death of our bodies will change that? He will take whatever spark of interest we have and fan it into a fire to warm us and a light to guide us, but he will not run over us.

The salvation of new birth and new life is something we need to hear about, no doubt. But even more, it is something we need to see and hear and feel and believe. Even in an immature form, it is the light of the world. This life of redemption is simply this: The opportunity is here. Let go of whatever you think brings you life and trust this good news instead: God is working in you and on your world for good and he is as close as the air you breath. (Mark 1:15, paraphrase)

The Springs of Life

 Above all else, guard your heart,

  for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

We are still searching for the fountain of youth. All the temples to "abs" and "buns" testify. The diets, the meds, the meditations all point to this obsession. What if the source of life is not in what we do or what we consume, but in who we trust?

Perhaps the truth is that where our hearts go, our life will follow. I mean not so much our feelings, but our will. The center of our being. What does my life revolve around? The sad thing is that we often confuse the fountain of youth with the appearance of youth and then we end up with the foolishness of youth and an obsession with self-care.

However, I find myself more concerned lately with people who want to seem humble and wise enough to abandon such selfish self-care. They confuse self-hatred and self-negation with self-denial. Self-denial values the self enough to say, "No" to the self. Self-negation says, "Don't think about yourself or you'll be selfish." But instead it ends up fussing and fuming about other people or becoming obsessed with some ideology. Rarely does it come out at becoming a truly humble and kind person.

The heart, like a garden, needs care, not neglect. There are some people who do not believe in bugs and pests in this garden. They dump on the fertilizer and then guess what grows up there? But there are others who think that this garden is "stronger" if you leave it to bake in the sun with no water or care. Funny, but you still end up with bugs and weeds. Care involves protecting and weeding as well as cultivating and feeding.

Do you want to know what is springing up from your heart? It's actually not too hard to find out. What do you think about? What comes out of your mouth in unguarded moments? Likely, that's what's in your heart. That's where your life is headed.

I find I need to guard my heart because stuff starts growing there that I don't want. Stuff I don't want for myself or for other people or for God. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Neither does covering it up with will-powered efforts at getting better or looking good. No, changing the heart is a different matter.

I find that it begins with making some choices about what I think about regularly, my mental diet. That is where my first freedom lies: what I think about. I would recommend this as a great starting point: Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned from Jesus and those learning from him, or seen in them - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

The Rising Sun

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

  shining ever brighter till the full light of day,

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

  they do not know what makes them stumble. (Proverbs 4:18-19)

First thing. Note that it is the path of the righteous, not the path of the self-righteous. It is unfortunate that righteousness has such a bad name nowadays. Really the thing that is so unsavory is self-righteousness. Being in the right is not necessarily a bad thing, but most people do not handle it very well.

Recently my wife had a sprained ankle. It is a re-injury. Parts of her ankle and foot have become weak over time. The bones in her leg have shifted. She is having to learn how to walk rightly again with the right support and exercise. This is what righteousness is like. Training. Recovery. The joy of such training is walking rightly. Less pain. Greater freedom and strength.

In this case the freedom is expressed as the coming dawn. I like this quote from Dallas Willard: "As you grow older, the soul beings to function like a storehouse." For most of us, it is easy to store up anxiety and regret and dark thoughts. But I am happy to have even just a little glory being stored up in my life. Sometimes it is something good I was a part of, someone really good that I met, or something wonderful I've seen. I know when I'm on the right path when smaller and smaller things bring greater and greater praise and thanksgiving from my heart and mouth.

Wickedness is like a steamroller over the innocent. We always have such good reasons for it too. In the end it is constant instability and anxiety and frustration. It is not only stumbling, but running into horrible things you never quite expected. It's like bleeding in the middle of a frenzy of sharks. The language of the wicked is complaining and arguing and accusing. It takes less and less to make me more and more frustrated when I'm headed into darkness.

In the end, we will follow our teachers. Into light or into darkness we follow them. It reminds me of a prayer my family says during Advent season: "O Rising Sun, come to us from heaven and shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, and guide our feet into the path of peace." 

The Master's Happiness

 Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness! (Matthew 25:21)

The reward I think many people want is not being in charge of many things, but being relieved of any responsibility at all. It seems many of us would rather have the reward of the person Jesus called the rich fool: "I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.'" (Luke 12:19) Perhaps one of the biggest problems we have with seeking the kingdom of God is that we do not want to share in the master's happiness. We would rather hold on to our own version, our little illusion.

Both persons have plenty of good things. One has doubled the wealth given to him from ten to twenty talents, the other has to build bigger barns to keep all his wealth he thinks he has made. However, one is a servant working with his master's wealth. The other deems himself a master ready to to be served. One is living for his master and given charge of many things. The other is ready to live off the wealth he has earned and devour many things.

Apparently the master's happiness is not just taking life easy, but in making life good. The heart of the rich fool is the same as the servant who buried his talent in Jesus's parable. Both were afraid. Both saw the master as a hard man with unfair demands. We find ourselves wanting to be master because we fear the Lord God is hard and unfair.

Ironically, God wants us to master our lives, taking the little we have been given and offering it up to him rather than hoarding it for ourselves out of fear and distrust. We offer it up is many ways, but all of them involve letting it go. Whether the wealth leaves our hearts or our hands, we have to give it up and work with it. This is life: sacrifice. We cannot sacrifice if we have nothing to give. We also cannot sacrifice if we will not give it up.

God does not want us to merely bury it or throw it away. He wants us to increase and learn how to share out of our increase. We must learn how to move from loving our gifts and wealth to loving with our gifts and our wealth. Only then will we be able to enter into our master's happiness, marrying great power with great love.