Cultural Engagement and Loving Our Neighbor

“I can’t go to church,” he said to me.

“Why not,” I ask.

“Because I wouldn’t be accepted.”

“What do you mean?”

“If people found out that I’m……..”

Have you ever had this conversation?  If so, then feel free to fill in the blank.  If it helps, cast the last sentence thusly, “If people found out that I’ve….”

I think many people are interested in Jesus but are turned off by Christians.  There is significant data from Barna and others suggesting that Christians are seen as judgmental and hostile to those things that aren’t Christian.  For instance, there may be a person in our sphere of influence that is interested in our faith but is afraid to approach such a conversation because they know their lifestyle or their view on the sanctity of life is different than mine, seeing as I’m a Christian and all.  So they shy away from all things Christ so as not to either spark my ire or endure another berating of how wrong I think they are. 

While the stigma against Christians is often over-reported, there is still ample data we should take heed to.  Is our hostility toward those who hold a different worldview winning many lives to Christ?  Are we winning the eternal battle for people’s souls by being belligerent?

Throughout the history of the church, popular culture has waged war against Christianity; so recent onslaughts by various special-interest groups ought not to surprise us too much.  Yes, there are certain groups pressuring Apple to remove certain applications from their iStore, and yes there are court battles to remove crosses from public places, and yes, the sanctity of life is being fought out in many state houses nationwide.  These are stark reminders that we live in a fallen world, a world that increasingly calls what is bad, good; and what is good, bad.  But what’s important for Christians is how we respond to this.

I’m not saying we don’t state our points and properly fight for what is right, but perhaps it isn’t the fight that is as important as how we fight.  And perhaps “fight” is the wrong word; perhaps the better word is “engage.”  How do we lovingly, yet firmly, engage a culture that we know is continuing to slip into moral oblivion? 

Jesus clearly taught that we should first love God, and then we should love our neighbor as ourselves.  In light of this, I suggest that being overly concerned about engaging our culture has overshadowed our need to love God with all our heart.  If we genuinely seek God with all our heart, then we will be more receptive to what the Holy Spirit is directing us to do and to say.  As we love our neighbor as ourselves, then more people will turn to the Lord regardless if crosses stay up on hills or get torn down. 

Personal Prayer

“Lord, may my joy be full,

may my peace be deep,

may my love be real,

and may I walk in the personal power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.”

I pray this every day, regardless of my circumstances.  My current trials seem trivial when compared to the many other tragedies in the world today; but still, my family and I are enduring a couple of challenging trials.  But even so, I still pray the above prayer. And there are pertinent Scriptural references for each item:

·         Joy:  1 John 1:4 and Galatians 5:22.

·         Peace:  Philippians 4:7 and Galatians 5:22

·         Love:  1 John 4:7 & 11 and Galatians 5:22

·         Indwelling Holy Spirit:  Ephesians 6:10.

Granted, there are several other pertinent references, but I want to give a brief list for now.

I think some may consider praying the same prayer daily, or even at various times throughout the day, to be nothing but rote recitation or vain babbling. That may be so for some folks but not for me because this particular prayer reminds me that God is always with me regardless of how I feel or what my circumstances are.  What’s more, it also reminds me that only by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit will I actually realize and then exude genuine joy, peace, and love. Without the Holy Spirit working in my life, these items will be merely surface-level veneers to be ripped away when the storms of trials assail my soul.

But when I really seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He is always there to comfort me. Another good point to remember is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is available to all who believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead (see Romans 10:9 for more on how to be saved).

What prayers are meaningful to you?  Feel free to post them via the comments portion of this post, perhaps your prayer will be the one that touches someone else’s soul!

True Love, Haiku and a Coach

An enduring love
        besting tests of tempest time;
                                       blooms anew daily.

This is a poem dedicated to my dear wife who not only loves me but also puts up with me.  I like writing and reading haiku because if done right, the verses are not only short (typically 5-7-5), but they make a point without a bunch of belaboring reading. Haiku is also fun because you want it to end with a little bit of a twist or with something to trigger a little more thinking.  This haiku is attempting to play two thoughts against each other, "enduring love" and "anew daily."  In other words, I'm trying to say that genuine love endures through the long haul because it is intentionally renewed as brand new every day. 

In between the "enduring" and "anew daily" is the line about "tempest" or storms.  Any relationship, especially marriage, will be hit with storms of many types and varieties, and only the strength of will between the two lovers will determine if they will make it through the storms together or not.  Each person in the relationship must be determined that nothing will break their love for their mate, and if each person has the same commitment to each other and to their marriage, then the storms will come and go but the marriage will endure. 

As a special note for husbands, since we men like to use tools, here's a tool to really help us in our marriages: 

"And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church, He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word" (Ephesians 5:25-26, NLT). 

So how did Christ love the church?  Read the Gospels and find out.  Here's a suggestion though, especially if you're familiar with sports, look at Jesus as a coach to husbands and you'll begin viewing the Gospels in a whole different light!  Jesus was definitely a man's man and the epitome of endurance, faithfulness, and love. 

I realize all of this commentary is a bit much to draw out of one haiku, but inside the poet is a deeper motive, and that is to help marriages endure while also drawing people to Christ.  So hopefully these many words will draw your gaze upward and your heart toward the one you love.

God and the Ocean

I love being at the beach.  I love to hear it, see it, smell it, and even taste it via the salty air.  The ocean never ceases to amaze me and to fill me with awe.  Nothing in nature reminds me more of God than the ocean.  Even mountain ranges, as beautiful as they are, still don’t evoke the same sense of awe as the ocean.  I guess because there are so many metaphoric and symbolic connections between the ocean and God.

For instance, we can turn our back and leave the ocean, but it’s still always there.  The same is true of God, while we may turn our back on Him, He is always there.  Another thought is the expansiveness of the ocean; standing on the shore the ocean seemingly goes on forever.  God, of course, does indeed go on forever—He is the always was, always is, and always will be God.  The ocean is deep, and God is deeper still.  The ocean is powerful, and, obviously, so is God. 

There’s other symbolism reminding me of God.  Consider Jesus calming the stormy seas of Galilee (Mt. 8:23ff).  The disciples were terrified and fearful of capsizing and drowning right there and then.  Periodically, squalls would come up on unsuspecting fisherman, engulfing them in raging storms, often claiming the lives of all on board the small fishing vessels.  Matthew 8 is just such a squall. 

Adding even more intrigue to this record is the fact that Jesus is sleeping through it all.  When He was awakened by His panicked disciples, He replied, “You of little faith, why are you afraid?”  Then He did the unthinkable, He calmed the storm, a jaw-dropping experiencing for the disciples to say the least! 

Keeping this record in mind, another element of the beach, at least on this current trip, is the wind.  In fact, I ran yesterday on the beach in winds gusting up to near 60 mph, that’s some heavy wind.  And yet it was exhilarating (perhaps only runners can understand this)!  Wind is a great reminder of the Holy Spirit (see John 3:1-21).  Jesus referred to people being filled with the Holy Spirit as being similar to the wind and in Acts 2:2 the entre of the church is ushered in by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and is documented as being like a rushing wind.  Imagine the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This same Holy Spirit, with this same power, can calm the seas between our ears; so as the storms of life assail us, may we remember that just as Jesus calmed the physical storm, the indwelling Holy Spirit can calm the stormy seas in our souls.