Meditation: The Impossible Mentor

Like any writer, the narcissist in me believes you would enjoy a peek into the book I plan to release this fall, The Impossible Mentor. Advance praise for this book comes from my wife, my children, and the stray cat we keep feeding at the back door. They all agree: this will be the finest book on spiritual formation ever to come out of Campbellsville, Kentucky. Just because these witnesses are deeply biased doesn’t mean they are wrong, it just means they will buy the first thousand copies.

This week and next I’ll share the opening passages of the first few chapters. Today, a bit from the opening of chapter one:

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Thunderstruck by Power, Glory, Goodness, Promise

Most of us are keenly aware of the qualities we lack as followers of Jesus. We possess the assurance of our weakness instead of the assurance of his faithfulness. The very first believers knew little of such introspection because they directed their gaze toward Jesus. They saw him flash like lightning in the dark sky of human effort. The more clearly they saw him, the more they discovered that his overwhelming love empowered them to become like him.

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Meditation: Abiding Hope

Sometimes words change faster than Bible translations. Some words morph faster than politicians change positions. Worse still, some words are taken captive and forced into the labor of deception. They end up communicating the very opposite of their truest meaning.

For example, the simple word hope has come to mean something unsure and doubtful. Everyone hopes for the best, but prepares for the worst. When we talk about hope in everyday language we are really talking about our insecurities: who knows how things will really work out?

It’s not always been that way . . .

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From Servant to Friend to Family

Our decision to follow Jesus includes the promise of Heaven. Even better: it also includes a miraculous transformation to become part of God’s family. He entrusts us with the task of announcing his kingdom, and making disciples fit for the king. He does not entrust this task to servants: he gives it to brothers.

Jesus began with a master-disciple relationship between him and the twelve. It morphed into one between friends, and after his ascension, the relationship is described as family: “the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (Hebrews 2: 11) The call to come and follow is actually a call to join the family business. Not as a hired hand, but as a child of God.

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Meditation: What Captures God's Heart?

The Creator of the Universe is not easily impressed. Some theologians suggest that because God knows everything, he cannot be moved, but I think some things can capture God's heart. Not power or intellect--those are the things that impress fools like us. But imagine the King of the Universe sitting up and taking special notice of you because something you thought, said, or did stirred his heart. I think it's possible.

Based on my reading of the scripture, here’s my simple list of what caught the Lord's attention. I’ll bet you could add a few more:

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Jesus, Friend of Pharisees

A young girl named Mary told us what was coming. Jesus would specialize in turning things topsy-turvy:

“he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

     and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and the rich he has sent away empty.”

We rejoice as the scene is played out again and again: Jesus lifts an adulterous woman up from the dust after her accusers have been silenced; Jesus shuts the mouths of the lawyers and scribes by asking them questions they cannot answer; Jesus screams “Woe to you” seven times at the those who think they have special insight into the ways of God.

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Meditation: The Next 39 Days

So Easter Sunday has come and gone. Followers of Jesus all over the world have marked the most significant day in history. But what about Monday? Is the singing and shouting over? Jesus encountered the disciples on Easter Sunday, but what about Monday, or Tuesday, or beyond? The first eleven verses of the book of Acts provide at least five mediations for us in the days ahead.


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The Welcome Interruption

When is the last time your day was interrupted by impossibly good news? We suffer interruptions all the time. We plan our day and set our tasks, then the interruptions come along one after another. Yet some interruptions are a good thing: Luke 24 reminds us that when we least expect it, Jesus himself would like to break in.

You know the story. Two guys, despondent over the death of Jesus, make the long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They are leaving the city. Worse: they are leaving their dreams as well. They had dared to place their hope in someone else, and those hopes have been crushed. They were returning to the routine and the mundane, each convinced that they should never let their hearts get carried away again. The road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is downhill. It’s not a difficult walk, but then, the pathway to despair and broken dreams is always downhill.

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Meditation: Where there are no answers

My children have eaten their fill every day of their lives. They’ve never missed a meal, never gone to bed hungry. So last week, when I quoted Psalm 37:25 on Twitter and Facebook, (“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”) it was an act of praise and thanksgiving.

Then I received a private note from a friend in Africa. “I have seen righteous men and their children begging. What do I do with that?” I know his voice. There was no argument in his observation. He was not trying to one-up me or pick a fight. There was nothing public in his response. His question was genuine.

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