Monday's Meditation: Watering the Soil of Our Hearts

Just because we have heard something before doesn’t mean we should pass it by. Watchman Nee observed that patience in the face of the familiar is a sign of spiritual maturity. I need to ask your patience as I revisit and revise a post from April of last year, because it’s on my mind again:

“The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." Mark 4: 14 – 20

Let me tell you about the first time I ever heard this parable. The night after I became a follower of Jesus a speaker used this parable to challenge us to put our roots deep into this new life. I just naturally assumed I was the good soil. How could I be anything else? Sitting next to me that night was a friend from high school who had also just turned to Jesus. After the message she wept and wept, and wept some more. Finally she composed herself enough to sob, “I just don’t want to let Jesus down. I’m afraid I might turn out to be one of those other types of soil.” I had assumed that I was the kind of person who was naturally good and would bear fruit, while she was moved to tears, crying and asking for the grace to live up her calling. At that moment I realized after just one day she was already way beyond me in her walk with Jesus.

This isn’t just any parable--it’s foundational. Jesus asked his disciples, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” (v 13) He cautioned his students that this parable was critical to receiving the Kingdom of God (v 11).

As a young Christian I thought Jesus was describing a fixed reality: too bad for those with hardened hearts, rocky soil, or lives full of weeds, I thought. Thank God I was the good soil! It never occurred to me that his words were a call for me to tend my own heart, or that he was describing a continual process of every time he speaks into our lives. Over the years I’ve discovered I’m never further away from the Kingdom than when I think his words are for someone else, but not for me.

This week I invite you to ask, What about me? Have I watered the spoil of my heart with tears that cry out for his continued grace in my life?

13 Thanksgiving Meditations

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ~ G.K. Chesterton

"Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it." ~ William Law

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” ~ John Milton

“A thankful heart cannot be cynical.” ~ A.W. Tozer

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice." ~ Meister Eckhart

"We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?" ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“A sensible thanksgiving for mercies received is a mighty prayer in the Spirit of God. It prevails with Him unspeakably.” ~ John Bunyan

"Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. I can choose to grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly." ~ Henri Nouwen

"If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled." ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Receive every day as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life; meet every rising sun with such sentiments of God's goodness, as if you had seen it, and all things, new-created upon your account: and under the sense of so great a blessing, let your joyful heart praise and magnify so good and glorious a Creator."  ~ William Law

"I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed." ~ Matthew Henry

"When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time.  Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?"  ~ G.K. Chesterton

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” ~ Paul, the Apostle: I Thessalonians 5: 16–18

Here's last year's list, too. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday's Meditation: Can We Choose Our Emotions?

I’ve always been intrigued when the scriptures command an emotion: 

• Let the priests, the Lord's ministers,weep between the porch and the altar (Joel 2:17)
• Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
• Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

We’re not responsible for our emotions, are we? It turns out, perhaps we are.

Some events--and the emotions that go with them--are beyond our control: unexpected loss, good news beyond all expectation, hurt inflicted from a loved-one. Yet in the everyday-ness of living, I believe that our emotions are largely the result of our habitual thoughts. If we could discern the map of our heart and mind, I suspect we would discover the well-worn pathways of our thinking and feeling. Expressed another way, we train ourselves to think and feel in certain predictable ways.

(This is where I should cite studies from the Journal of Psychiatric Studies or some such authoritative-sounding publication, but no: I’m just going to share what I’ve observed about myself and others during my few decades of living.)

I believe the reason we find repeated exhortations in the scripture to think and feels certain ways is because God has given us the capacity to rule our thoughts and emotions. Consider his very telling exchange between God and Cain, just before Cain chose to murder his brother:

“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4: 6-7)

Genesis, the book of origins, tells us the story of our first encounter with anger, jealously, and feelings of rejection. Contained in this story is revelation about our own psyche: we are responsible for our emotions, and each of us has been given the capacity to choose a healthy emotional response. In this story are the seeds of hope for a fallen world: God comes to us in our anger or hurt, and encourages us to choose wisely. He believes in us more than we believe in ourselves.

Is there any better meditation for the week of Thanksgiving? Is is possible that we can redirect the pathways of our heart? If we give ourselves time and space in this holiday, I believe we will hear the voice of our Father encouraging us, “choose thanksgiving--it’s the best thing for you.”

Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion: About Thanksgiving Movies

Is there any subject Hollywood hasn’t covered? Genres multiply faster than starlets coming to L.A. Except in one area: Thanksgiving. So this Saturday morning, as a service to the readers of Students of Jesus, I offer a handful of Thanksgiving-themed movies.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: John Hughes’ 1987 tale of two misfits trying to get home for Thanksgiving still fits like a pair of bedroom slippers. Steve Martin plays Neil Page, an uptight businessman thrown by outrageous fortune into the care of the eternally traveling salesman, Dell Griffith, played by John Candy. The two men bond in ways both manly and true. Beyond the comedy is a yearning  for home, and the final scene of the film not only welcomes both of them to the banqueting table, but us as well.

Pieces of April: A wayward daughter invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. In 2003 Katie Holmes, (before she became the subject of Scientological speculation) plays April, who discovers that family means more than she imagined. Patricia Clarkson, the best-kept secret in movies, plays the dying mother. The final sequence presents a view of family that shows all of us at our best. And for one day--Thanksgiving--they all get the relationships right.

Home for the Holidays: Jodie Foster has only directed three movies in her career, and she chose this tale of a dysfunctional family’s annual gathering at Thanksgiving. Holly Hunter loses her job, makes out with her ex-boss, and heads home to face the music, wonderfully supplied by Anne Bancroft, Robert Downey, Jr. and Charles Durning. This film, by the way, has one of the most interesting opening-credit sequences I’ve ever seen. It will also make you genuinely grateful for your family, because next to this crew of misfits, nearly any family looks great.

Come Christmas time I’ll suggest a list of Christmas feel-good films--like Die Hard--but until then everyone’s entitled to my opinion about Thanksgiving movies, and these three are the best of a very small bunch.

Thanksgiving and the Will of God

Thanksgiving posts always seem to sound like such a scolding: we ought to give thanks. 

Think about all the things you have and all other people who have nothing. 

There, now: give thanks.

Don’t concentrate on what is missing, be grateful for what you have.

There, now: give thanks.

Ungrateful people are losers.

There, now: give thanks.

The problem is, guilt is a terrible motivation for giving thanks. When I read Bible passages instructing me to give thanks, it can sound the same way:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 18)

On my grumpy days I feel like talking back to the scripture, “Don’t tell me to be happy! Do you think I could put it on from the outside?” (Here’s a happy-coat, why don’t you put it on?) And yet, giving thanks is the will of God. So if it’s the will of God shouldn’t I simply try harder, be obedient, and say thank you?

For example, frequently we teach children to say please and thank you as a matter of courtesy--as a way of teaching them how to get along in society. It’s the price they must pay to get their milk and cookies. We’re more concerned with the outward performance of good manners than we are with true gratitude. 

As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States this year, I’m beginning to discover there’s a difference between giving thanks and having a thankful heart. I’m also beginning to discover that the Father cares more about thankfulness that flows from the inside out than obedience we wear like a cheap suit.

Paul’s words in Thessalonians have something to teach us about the will of God: does the Father want outward compliance or a heart capable of expressing his will and doing it naturally?  Of course, it’s always better to obey than not to obey, but I think he’s after more than mere obedience--he knows thankfulness is the best thing for us. He knows that when our hearts respond with prayers of joy and gratitude to the situations of life, we are responding out of Christlessness and not simply parroting the company line. 

Rather than hearing thankfulness as a command, perhaps we can hear it as an invitation:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3: 15 - 16)

God is not honored when we tell him what we think he wants to hear--even though we don’t believe it. He knows better. He is honored (and we are healthiest) when our hearts and minds flow naturally with his. In this season we do well to recognize that included in the flow is a heart-condition called thankfulness.

Monday's Meditation: The Thanksgiving Diet

There are just 10 shopping days left until Thanksgiving! If that sounds strange, perhaps it’s because everywhere you look retailers have moved on from Halloween to Christmas. I don’t blame them--their job is to sell product, and retailers promote Christmas in November because they understand it's hard to sell stuff to people filled with thankfulness and contentment.

I promise this isn’t the standard “isn’t it a shame Christmas starts so early” rant. It’s not a rant at all, it’s the non-standard “do we understand the importance of giving thanks” meditation.

There are more than a hundred scriptural references to giving thanks. Consider just two Old Testament verses:

• Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. (Psalm 100: 4)
• Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever (Psalm 107:1)

These verses are more than poetry. There reveal the crucial importance of the spiritual discipline of giving thanks. Yes--giving thanks is a spiritual discipline, a practice, a habit, developed by those growing in God’s grace.

We enter the gates of God’s courtyard by giving thanks. The image is drawn from the Temple in Jerusalem: a massive structure whose courtyard was open to nearly everyone. The Psalmist instructs us, though, that the only way in was through thanksgiving. Not the mere attitude of gratitude, but the active giving of thanks: outward, vocal, and communal.

The Psalmist also teaches us that the proper response to God’s goodness is giving thanks. If we can catch the smallest glimpse of his goodness, it will generate thanks. Conversely, if we are not in the habit of giving thanks, perhaps it’s because we have not seen his goodness. And since his love endures forever, our thanks should be unending, and always new.

Thanksgiving is where Students of Jesus begin. The measure of our spirituality is not how much scripture we can recite. It’s not whether we can heal the sick. Nor is it prophetic insight worthy of Jeremiah. It is, simply, to see God’s goodness and respond in the appropriate way: with thanksgiving.

Finally, the good news gets better. In the U.S. we have a holiday devoted to the giving of thanks. Why wait until the fourth Thursday of November? Our Thanksgiving diet can begin today, by meditating on his goodness and giving thanks.

Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion: About A Boy

Lately I’ve been intrigued by “non-traditional” family. I decided it takes more than biological links to create a family. Any two fools can make a baby, but fathering and mothering are very different issues. I know--this is no great revelation, but on Saturdays everyone’s entitled to my opinion, and today I’d like to suggest we could learn a lot about family from Hugh Grant.

Not really, he’s just the lead actor in a very good movie, About a Boy. The real teacher is British novelist Nick Hornby, who wrote the book and assisted on the screenplay. A 12 year-old named Marcus is the teacher within the film--a boy attached to a clinically depressed mother, a boy who is shunned on the playground even by the nerds, and a boy who possesses neither talent nor good looks. Oh--did I mention this is a comedy?

Hugh Grant’s role is the smarmy professional single guy named Will Lightman who discovers an untapped market--”single Mums.” Lightman is way too smooth to spend time on Marcus’ train-wreck of a mother, but still manages to meet and (surprisingly) befriend Marcus. I don’t know if “bugger off” counts as cursing in the U.K., but Marcus refuses to bugger off, and Lightman is saddled with his only true relationship in life. By the end of the film we’ve discovered that the title applies not only to Marcus but also to Will Lightman. Family, we learn, is about relationship, not biology.

That's it. Go get the movie. Like right now--hey!--did you know Netflix streams movies via the interweb? It’s amazing--now their library is closer than your closet.

Our True Destination

And then there’s the story about the guy who believed in predestination: after he fell down a flight of steps, he picked himself up and said, “I’m glad that’s over with.”

Monday’s Meditation discussed a common, everyday word: that. Today we invite spiritual whiplash by talking about predestination. There . . . did you feel it? Heaviness just entered the discussion. Nostrils flared as people began to dig in their heels because they already have strong opinions about this subject. The other sound you heard was the slamming of the door as right-minded people said, “Predestination? I’m outa here--who needs another argumentative blog post?” They are probably right to run. I’d leave, too, except I live here.

Is there a way to talk about about God’s sovereignty without small minds taking big positions? Probably not. Calvinism has become shorthand for predestination. Greg Boyd has been labeled a heretic for suggesting Open Theism. Most of the folks who hold to Arminianism are surprised to learn there was actually a guy named Arminius.

So join me in the deep end of the pool. If I start to sink, perhaps your comments will save me in the end. I’ve been thinking lately.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8: 28 - 29)

When you cut through the ten-dollar theological words in these verses, I think Paul means simply that God takes care of his children and wants every one of them to look just like Jesus.

This passage reveals that our destiny is to become conformed to the image of His Son. Pre-destination means someone in charge has determined where we’re going before we get there. The Father has determined that the place to be is Christlikeness--that’s home! What if predestination isn’t about a place, but instead about a condition?

Instead we’ve fixated on who’s in and who’s out. We’ve become protocol experts checking credentials at the door of heaven. The Apostle Paul considered Christlikeness to be the outcome of the gospel:

• “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4: 19). When Paul mentions the pains of childbirth in association with their growth, he’s telling the Galatians that spiritual formation is just as important as spiritual birth. After the new birth, he says, something is supposed to be formed in each one of us. That something is the image of Jesus.
• “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me." (Colossians 1: 28-29). When he mentions admonishing and teaching, Paul is describing a process. Being conformed to the likeness of Jesus is the result of applied supernatural wisdom. It not reserved for super saints, this passage says clearly, “everyone.” In verse 29 Paul sets his efforts and God’s energy side-by-side, describing a partnership between God’s empowerment and our strenuous response. Our spiritual DNA can come only from the new birth, our transformation comes our response and his continued grace.

Sometimes the scripture asks us to believe good news, news so good it stretches our faith and reaches way beyond our understanding. Part of that news is our destination--a destination pre-determined by the very heart of the Father: it’s not a place, but the possibility of becoming conformed to the image of Christ. The Father believes it about each on of us, do we believe it about ourselves?

The Father wants a big family. The First Son was born into the family. Since then sons and daughters have been adopted, and apparently he wants all the children to have a family resemblance.

Monday's Meditation: What is "that?"

Sometimes the smallest word can hold the largest things. In this case, four little letters--just one common word, “that,”-- hold all of our future days on earth, and perhaps beyond. Do you see it? 

“Not that I have already obtained [resurrection from death], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12)

One of my friends used to ask people, “Do you ever wonder what Jesus has in mind for you next?” Fewer than 25% of those he asked had ever considered that Jesus might have something “next” for them in this life. In other words, three out of four believers couldn’t see the connection between their faith for salvation and their everyday life. Their faith pointed them only to heaven. These people may have had personal plans for their life--career, family, even ministry, but the idea that Jesus had something specific in mind for them? Not so much.

Paul understood that Jesus paid the price for his sin and that Jesus had secured a place for him in heaven. But wait, there’s more: Paul understood that Jesus had laid hold of him for some purpose in this life as well. Jesus had a grand mission for this world, and wanted to partner with Paul to achieve that mission. Further, Jesus used a guy named Barnabas to make sure Paul found a home in the church (Acts 11: 22 - 26). 

John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard movement, used to teach that there were actually three conversions needed for every Christian: conversions to Christ, to his cause, and to his church. Wimber wasn’t inventing some new doctrine, he was pointing out that our relationship with Jesus begins with the new birth and that the Lord himself has purposes in mind for us. He’s not only saved us from something, he’s also saved us toward something, something so grand it takes a community of believers united under the Lordship of Jesus to accomplish. In our day, if our gospel does not ask the question, “what’s next?” then our gospel is too small.

Here’s a week’s worth of meditation: in my life, what is the that for which Jesus has saved me?

Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion: About Infallibility

I'm visiting friends in the far-away land of West (by God) Virginia today, so I'm letting Dallas Willard sit in for me. That's good news for the reader--you're trading up!

"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor." Proverbs 18: 12

Someone may ask, "When will I be sure that God is speaking to me and sure about what he says? Could I not still be mistaken, even though I've successfully heard and understood his voice many times before?" Yes, of course you could still be wrong. God does not intend to make us infallible by his conversational walk with us. You could also be wrong in believing that your gas gauge is working, that your bank is reliable or that your food is not poisoned. Such is human life. Our walk with the Lord does not exempt us from the possibility of error, even in our experienced discernment of what his voice is saying. Infallibility, and especially infallibility in discerning the mind of God, simply does not fit the human condition. It should not be desired, much less expected, from our relationship with God.

REFLECT: Consider why it might be so important to be infallible in discerning God's voice. How can your ability to discern God's voice become a source of pride? Is your spirituality about this ability or is it about trusting a God who is infallible?


From Hearing God Through the Year by Dallas Willard. ©2004 by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson

The Fellowship of Low Expectations

Across the spectrum of Christian worship, our churches are filled with individuals who do not believe Christlikeness is possible.  Individual believers have camped beside the river of God’s grace and drink daily of his forgiveness, unaware that this same grace can can provide spiritual transformation into Christlikeness.  Discipleship, they suppose, is for those few super-saints called into the ministry.

Perhaps even more striking is the number of church leaders who have largely abandoned the task of making disciples.  In the first years of my work as a pastor I attended a weekly breakfast “prayer meeting” of local pastors.  I was looking for practical help in fulfilling my vision of equipping every believer to do the work of the ministry.  Assembled were church leaders from a variety of faith traditions, both liturgical and Evangelical, representing a variety of the American denominational spectrum.  In two years of regular meetings with these shepherds of the flock, the only subject which drew complete agreement was their low opinion of the people they were called to lead.  Each pastor shared story after story of petty arguments and disagreements, all to the same point: the people were impossible to lead!  Clearly, I had fallen in with the wrong crowd.  It will come as no surprise that by the time I celebrated my fifth year in the pastorate, every single pastor who attended the prayer breakfast had moved on to other churches or left the ministry.

Our difficulties embracing discipleship occur not only at the individual level, but also at the level of Christian leadership.  Pastors rarely describe their task in terms of reproducing the character and power of Jesus in the people of their congregations.  Nor do the people of the church expect their pastors to be spiritual mentors.  Sadly, many pastors do not think the image of Christ is reproducible in their charges.  As a result, leadership in Christian churches looks less and less like the Biblical model and more and more like models drawn from the secular world.

Individual Christians struggle in their relationship with Jesus, and his call to become like him. Pastors struggle with the same thing: the idea that Jesus calls each one of us to become like him.  When pastors do not have a realistic expectation that every Christian can live up to the example of Jesus, pastoral ministry becomes about something other than making disciples.  If pastors are not convinced of the Christlike destiny of each person in their charge, the role of Christian leadership drifts away from the Biblical example toward any number of earth-bound substitutes.  These earth-bound substitutes may each be a moral good in their own right, but they will miss the high calling of developing a royal priesthood capable of demonstrating the glory of God to a watching world.

How many pastors carry the vision Peter expressed for the people in his charge?

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (I Peter 2: 9 - 12)

These four verses express high expectations for the assembled people of God.  Consider this partial list drawn exclusively from these four verses:

• The people are chosen by God to do ministry;
• God has a regal view of his people;
• The people are ordained to represent God;
• The people are the light-bearers for the world;
• The people have a new identity with one another;
• The people have a reason to embrace life-change.  

Peter presents a vision that the everyday conduct of “average” Christians will elicit praise for God from those who are not yet believers.

In my personal experience pastors rarely present such a high view of those they are called to shepherd. Many pastors lack the vision of a church filled with mature disciples. Is it any wonder the church at large is powerless? 

Monday's Meditation: Discovering the Word of God

I love the Word of God. Now I just have to figure out what it is.

As a young Christian someone told me the Bible was the word of God, and they were right. I began to internalize the words of the scripture; they became a source of life, empowering me to toward a life of purity.

Then I read the magnificent words opening John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” and discovered Jesus himself was the word of God. I was startled to find that even when Jesus wasn’t saying anything, he was still the word of God. Asleep or awake, cooking or working, the Word was among us, himself made of flesh and bones.

One day I stumbled across the notion that his voice flashed over the waters, electrified the forests, and caused pregnant animals to bear their young right on the spot; I saw and heard his voice in the heavens, shining and singing continuously day and night; like Augustine, I heard his words in the sing-song of children who were unaware their words spoke like the Ancient of Days. (Psalms 8, 19, & 29)

I looked into the creases of my wife’s smile and met the word of God; I felt the warmth of my children’s breath and heard his message; and I stood motionless alone in my house, encountering the word of God in the sounds of silence.

Even apart from the discipline of meditation it has dawned on me like the morning sun that the whole earth cries, “Glory!” They are only echoing the sound of heaven.

This week I pray you fall more in love with the Word of God as well.

On January 1st 2012, Students of Jesus moved to a new address.