Baggage claim

 

What kind of baggage do you have?  Is your baggage heavy and difficult to manage like those  carry-on bags people shove into the airplane’s overhead bins? You know the scene.  A passenger drags this unwieldy bag down the aisle of the plane, bumping the elbows of seated passengers.   Once at the correct seat, the bag gets wrestled upward, awkwardly, nearly decapitating the passenger in the seat below, and then,  with much grunting and pushing the bag is finally shoved into the bin and the door to the bin is smashed repeatedly until it finally clicks shut. Voila! It should be an Olympic event!

I sometimes wonder what is in that overstuffed bag.  What is so important that the person can't check it through but chooses  to drag it along and heft it into the bin so it can remain close by. 

Do you ever do that with your  personal “baggage?”  We keep it close, always nearby.  Barely glancing in the bag, but very aware of what it holds.  We  know it is hard to look at, heavy to carry and with us always. It is our bag of issues.

Recently , the Lord showed me that I had some stuff in my “carry-on bag” that was weighing me down.  It is interesting when God directs us to examine just what it is that we are carrying around.  My heavy load was packed way down in the bag, had  been there for years, and was way past its Sell by date!  It was thoroughly rotten.It was anger.

You might say it was a simmering coal of anger, but what a heavy weight to my soul.

Have you some old weight that has been burning and slowly weighing you down?  Perhaps you understand then.

My anger is years, even decades old.  It  was directed at people I haven't seen for ages. People I probably couldn’t pick out of a Police LineUp. 

I was angered by something they said or did, but they didn’t know about it. They had no clue anymore, I was angry and since they were not mind readers, they knew nothing about it. Heck, I had no clue by this time, either,  just the simmering anger.    So I was just angry and carrying that anger along, having imagined conversations with these people.  Conversations in which I always was logical, calm and made perfect sense so they had to admit their wrongdoing!  A rich fantasy life!

But carrying anger is dangerous and  it is destructive.  Carrying that  anger leads to it  becoming resentment, it is like a slow poison.

I tried to fix it and get rid of it, claiming to myself that I forgave them, praying for them and that really was helpful, but still that burning coal of anger smoked and was a fatiguing burden..  I really wanted to be free of the burden of the anger and resentment, much as we all do. It is a very heavy and awkward load to carry.

But how can I , how can you, finally set down your overstuffed bag?  All of us carry memories, good and bad.  All of us carry experiences, relationships, words that have affected  us. Often, our baggage is full.  

Did you know that God offers a burden buy back program?  It is in the Book of Matthew 11:25-30.

We read this:

5 [a]At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight. 27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.

28 “Come to Me, all [b]who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find [c]rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”

What is offered here?  An exchange- or more like an abandoning of our baggage.  We come as those to whom God has revealed His wisdom, and we are as infants, babies, helpless.

We come to Jesus, the Son, Who reveals to us the wisdom of The Father.

But notice our situation as we respond to Jesus’ invitation to come.

We are Weary-  which is to say, tired, worn out, exhausted, fatigued by work.  Are you tired of toting that anger or resentment or jealousy or unforgiveness or whatever it is that you are carrying? Have you had enough of the struggle?

I know I am tired of it.  What has it benefited me to remain angry? Why would I want that anger any more? Am I any more at peace? Do those forgotten incidents mean anything any more?  Am I a stronger person for remaining angry?  Am I wiser, holier?  Not at all!

Notice, too, that we are characterized as heavy laden.  That is describing  overloaded pack animal, weighed down with too large and heavy a load.A load we cannot possible manage alone.   ( Describe Nica horses pulling carts)

What a picture!  Here Jesus invites us to come to Him  and we show up overworked, overloaded and exhausted people, barely able to put one foot in front of the other!  

And the offer of Jesus to us is: these three things:

Rest,            an easy  yoke,               a light burden.

A yoke is that crossbeam that joins 2 oxen together so that they walk the fields in unison and plow in an orderly manner. .  We are offered the yoke of Jesus-to be joined to Him,  in His field.  And He is a gentle and humble master. He is not overloading us.  He is not overworking us. Why?   Because Jesus makes his yoke an easy yoke. It is  not difficult and heavy.  It is easy, kind and gracious.  It is a yoke to draw us close to Him, to walk His field in His way.  

 Furthermore,  the idea expressed here by the word burden  is of  a useful, grace filled work or service.  A service that is meaningful and purposeful.  It is not carrying the burden of  old pain, ancient anger or forgotten slights. It is not the continual striving to prove ourselves, to justify ourselves, to defend ourselves. 

This Burden from Jesus is a burden but it  is not  a heavy burden: it is light.  In this verse we hear Jesus offer us the opportunity to serve with Him and to serve Him.  The language is poetic and repeats the idea of work and service for a gentle master.  A master who is kind and caring. 

The end goal being yoked with Jesus is to find rest and  learn from  Him. The easy yoke and light burden results in us knowing Him better.  It results in our being able  to see his grace and his humility and to experience the joy of being with Him.  We can finally  drop our load and take up His yoke  because He has already taken our heavy baggage on Himself. In that gracious action, when He laid down His life for mine, for yours, we find there the rest for our souls.  We don’t have to carry our personal baggage of anger or bitterness,or whatever you are carrying,  because we are able to give it to Him to dispose of. 

Jesus offers us His presence and He gives us purpose.  The Father gives us His wisdom and The Spirit calls us to put down our heavy bags and step up to the easy yoke of Jesus.  And in this new yoke, this easy yoke, that  is where we finally  find rest, rest for our souls. 

Anhedonia And Joy

 

  I wonder where the joy went.  Do you notice it’s absence as well?  In the grocery store, in the local Walmart, walking along the sidewalks, people don’t  look at one another; no one looks up at the passerby.  When shopping, everyone I see seems intent on studying the floor in front of them.  Angry scowls or depressed visages are on the majority of the facesI see when I am  out and about.I can go through a large store and count on one hand the number of people who look as though they are happy to be alive.  It is exceedingly sad.

  The world at this moment in time is, admittedly, not exactly a  picture of an Eden, but followers of Jesus have more than the current moment on which to rest their disposition.  We know a few things.  We know that this is not our home, but we are called to be here as ambassadors.  We know that we represent our King, and we know that His Spirit gives us power and gifts so that we can faithfully represent our Home and our King.  

 It is a battle, though, isn’t it?  Fighting the urge to give into the sadness and depressive state that seems endemic to our lives.  Who hasn’t had a rough time, a time of loss, a major setback? Are you tired?  Are you angry at the world and the way people treat each other?  Are you fed up with your own life? There are so many reasons to be sad and depressed. 

  Even still,  as those who follow Jesus, we are called to take the long view, to believe Him when He says that we are never without Him.  We are called to believe that He knows what is happening and we can trust Him with our future. And we called to believe that His power works in us through His Spirit.  And we are told that He is praying for us.  The Savior is right now in the heavens, praying for you and for me.  That is amazing  !  It is more than amazing, it is phenomenal!  

 There is a word I recently learned that describes the way life seems now. The word is anhedonia. It means the inability to feel pleasure.  Is it not sad to think that a person can view a beautiful sunset or a gorgeous mountain view and feel nothing about it. To feel numb when seeing the wedding of a friend, or when you see a new baby,or witness a graduation is a dreadful situation. Certainly this numbness is not good at all. It indicates how very low we are, how we live in sadness and anger. I wonder if we have gotten so low that there is nothing in which we find pleasure, nothing that can give that spark of joy? 

 For us who are in Christ,anhedonia is impossible, because we have the Spirit within Who gives us JOY.  That gift is one that, in these days of anhedonia, should be decidedly visible.  Joy, that calm delight,that feeling of great happiness and pleasure,
is what is needed in our gloomy days. The  joy that comes as a gift of the Spirit is one gift we must cherish, encourage and display. Welcome this gift of the Spirit and cultivate it.  Find In the world around you those things of beauty that the Creator has scattered boundlessly and enjoy them.  Smile at the grumpy people around you in Walmart.  You might be the one to make their day.  If you truly believe that God is ruling, then act like it.  He is God, He has rescued us, He is returning to take us home.  Live the truth. 

Three Suppers

 I love a good novel.  I especially enjoy a story that is well thought out and well written.  A story that shows the author has thought through the plot from beginning to end.  The chronicles of Narnia are like this, as are the stories by JRR Tolkien.

The author fits together all the parts to create the effects desired.  Reading it you can tell that the creator of the story intertwined all the aspects and characters to fit the storyline.  So then, it should not surprise us that the Author of the scriptures knows the story through and through.

I want to look at three suppers highlighted in the bible, The Last Supper, the Lord’s Supper and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Since I am writing this in the  season of Lent, many are probably  more aware of the intensity of Jesus’ life at this time, the meaning of what He was doing and what He had to say.

To begin, look at what is known as the Last Supper.  It was the Passover meal, celebrated yearly to remember how God had rescued His people, Israel, out of Egypt.  The Last supper followed the pattern of the meal as laid out in Exodus; lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, wine.  Jesus and his disciples gathered in an upper room in the city and ate the meal, prepared by the disciples.  It was a meal of remembrance , of recalling the great work of deliverance by God in taking a people and making them His own possession.  God made an agreement, a covenant, with the Jews to be their God and they His people and He rescued them from their oppressors. .  

Jesus interrupted this traditional meal when the hour had come, as Luke says, to let His disciples know that was His last Passover meal.  He says, in Luke 22 that  He will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.   Strange words.  Then Jesus took bread, unleavened bread, and broke it into pieces and passed it around.  He said to His disciples : "This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me.”  Strange words.

Once the meal was done, Jesus then took the cup, a cup of wine, and said, “ this Cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Strange words.   

This second supper, this new ritual, a new covenant had what the Last Supper, the last Passover had: blood and bread, a covenant, a remembrance.  But it was new, and Jesus was putting His blood and His body in the place of the Passover Lamb. He soon went out and showed His followers what He meant when He said His body would be broken and His Blood poured out.  Strange words taking a horrible shape on Calvary.

Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians 11 reminds us that this new covenant meal is to be done in remembrance of Jesus.  The Lord’s Supper,  to  Remember.

The third supper is called the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.  There is very little written about it, but the book of Revelation tells us that it is a marriage of the Lamb and His bride.   As we saw in the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is the Lamb.  We know  marriage is a joyful occasion.  We are also told that it is a blessing to be invited to this supper.  In addition,  know that a marriage supper, a wedding reception, takes place after the wedding, it is also a celebration and a time of anticipating what is to come. 

The bride and groom have left their past,their single lives and embarked on a new lift together. The marriage is also a covenant, an agreement to love and honor each other.  The wedding supper celebrates this accomplished fact. 

So we have 3 meals, 2 covenants, what to make of it?  How do these honor God and encourage us?

I would suggest 3 things.

First the Last Passover supper and the Lord’s supper both are looking back to an event and remembering it and calling to mind the purposes of God in the lives of His people.THese two suppers are milestones along the way, the destination is as yet unreached.   By contrast, the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place after everything has been accomplished and the work is done,the destination has been reached.  The time to celebrate has arrived. Rejoicing is the mood, good cheer is the order of the day.  For us  this means we  need to believe God, to trust that His plan will come to a joyous crescendo.  

Second, the intricate weaving of the Exodus, the passover, the incarnation and the sacrifice of Jesus, the rescue of sinners by the spilled blood of Jesus are  all leading to the restoration of God's world, God’s creation.  Certainly, this  complex story has an author that not only knows the end from the beginning but indeed makes certain that it comes out the way He intends.  This all  speaks to the fact that God is ruler, and is sovereign over all.   

Third and finally, all the remembering of God’s work in the past  would have no purpose unless there was a future, a goal, a New way of being human.  A way where sin and evil have no power, where death is no more.  A place where truth and beauty are really truthful and beautiful.  And is this not the hope of each one of us?  Do we not long for the time when time will not steal our lives away, when death is not even a bad memory?  Have we even considered how grand it will be to not fight within ourselves against the evil that is in our hearts, the sin in our minds, the foolishness of our desires?  But we do have that Hope, we have been invited to the MarriageFeast of the Lamb if we are united to Christ. . This is a  feast that celebrates the eternal present, the glorious life bought by the blood of the Savior, and  the presence of the bridegroom in the midst of New Heaven and the New Earth.  

Trust in the Sovereign God and hope, believing in the promise that our King is indeed coming for us.

Forget Not

 

What was the name of your third grade teacher?  What street did you live on when you were 15?  Do

you recall the face of  your childhood best friend?  The memories I have of Mrs. Fenn, or my friend

Donna are  firmly set in my brain and while I don’t think of these things everyday, if I want to recall

them, I have only to remember.  

Psalm 103 begins  “Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name.

                                Bless the Lord, oh my soul and forget not all His benefits.”

Why does the psalmist tell us to ‘forget not’?  Why not just say Remember all His benefits?

There can’t be much difference between an injunction to remember and one to  “forget not.”

I would contend that in order to not forget something, it has to be available to remember. In other words, we have to have something in our minds in order to not forget it.  It is similar to a call to remember something, but in a more forceful, pointed way.  

We are told to not forget all the benefits of the Lord, but do we even know the benefits?  Have we stored them in our memories so that we can recall them and not forget?  And where can we learn all the benefits of the Lord?  If the psalmist tells us there are benefits for us from God, we can be certain that God will show us what those benefits are. 

 Since God has chosen to reveal Himself in the scriptures, that is the place to find the accounting of all He has given us.  Think of it as His letter to the creatures He has made and read it as such.  Avoid the trap of imagining what He has done for us and read His own account.  There is no substitute for hearing about Someone from their own lips. 

Do you find it amazing that God has given us benefits?  In fact this psalm goes on to list at least five things which are to our benefit from the hand of God.  The amazing undertaking of God to aid  His creation, to work for the good of it is astonishing especially in light of the great gap that is between us and our maker. 

Yet that is just what God has done.  We can  know and appreciate these benefits, but it will  take both our  time and our  effort. 

 If you take the opportunity to get to know God and all that He has done for us, a second step is to put those benefits from God into your memory, to commit to memory all the benefits. Memorize the scriptures, read them over and over, repeat them out loud. Don’t place yourself in a position where you might forget.  To work on remembering what God has said and the benefits He has given you is to fill your heart and mind with all that is good and beautiful.  It will only build you up in the faith and give you the peace of knowing that you can “forget not all His benefits.”

Friendship Comfort Zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever had a friend for ages and then you just drift apart?  Or circumstances in life change and suddenly, you don’t see a friend regularly?  The loss leaves a hole, and sorrow.  The loss leaves you with time you did not have before.  The loss leaves you with the opportunity to allow God to bring new people into your orbit.  New people, whose life has also been upset and who have also experienced the same type of loss of friends as you have.

 

For many of us the restrictions placed on us by the governing authorities in an attempt to protect us from the Covid virus have had the effect of separating us from old friends and old patterns.  These actions have lead to new patterns in life, which do not always allow the same depth of interaction with some old friends.  Like a door closing, we have been forced to move on, leaving a bit of our hearts behind. 

 

That leads to the question of whether you believe if God is, indeed, in control of all things, even friendship.  Does the sovereignty of God include the realm of friends?

As much as we may claim that God rules over all aspects of life, we balk at the idea that

He could oversee something so personal and necessary as whom our friends are.  Don’t we get to choose our friends?  Does God not have bigger things to do than select the people we pal around with? 

 

Of course you and I both know that He is ruler of all things, large and small, important and unessential.  If the circumstances of life have caused some friendships to draw back, look for the new people God is bringing into your sphere.  While we may not understand what the reasons, we can still welcome the new friends.  The challenges new friends bring can lead to our growth.  The experiences of new friends can open our hearts to become more sympathetic and more joyful. 

The world is filled with people who are made in God’s image, for His purposes.  As we are forced out of our “friendship comfort zone,” receive the gift of new friends.  Friendship is an adventure, given us by God.  Let Him direct you.  And realize that you, too, are a new friend to someone.

Due Diligence

 

 

 

The opinions are multitude on the person of Jesus.  A politician claims that Jesus would be thought a radical if He came to the U.S. capitol; probably right but for reasons different than she thinks.  A pop singer opines that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a love affair going on, singing songs about it to promote the idea.    Authors portray current day followers of Jesus as mindless people, unable to think or reason.  Popular lecturers claim His entire life a myth.  Where does that leave the honest seeker, the honest follower of Jesus?

 

The source of information about the one we follow is as important as the information itself.   Finding the most honest and truthful source is important in evaluating the accuracy of the facts you are seeking.  We do not turn to plumbers for information on effective cancer treatments, and we would not ask an oncologist how to repair a leaky pipe!  The question to be asked then is why do we look to those with only a fleeting acquaintance of Jesus to explain Him to us?  And especially puzzling is why ask others when He has left us four accounts of His life and words?

 

Some will say that Jesus welcomed all people.  That is indeed true, but look at the accounts of His life and you will find that He not only welcomed them, but also challenged them on what He called their sin. 

 

Some will say that Jesus took the side of the downtrodden and poor, which is true.  However in His life story, He also took the side of the rich and ruthless tax man, who repented.  He expressed love for the rich young ruler, who sought answers.  He voiced respect for the Roman soldier whose faith was strong.   The rich, the poor, the oppressor and the oppressed could all find a welcome, but it was at the feet of Jesus.

 

Some will say that Jesus was a mild mannered, soft spoken teacher.  His story includes several episodes of Jesus as wildly angry, destructive and loud.  Injustice, hypocrisy, foolishness and pride annoyed Jesus and He had no problem expressing that.  He was not always patient, He was never tolerant of sin.  He let his hearers know what he was about and in strong language.

 

The Person of Jesus is introduced to us in the gospels.  The accounts were written or dictated by people who were there, who saw and heard Jesus.  Furthermore, the Spirit of God superintended the writing and made it exactly as it should be.  That is why it is the place to begin learning about Jesus and the place to go to fact check anything you hear from others about Him.

 

Don’t make the mistake of listening to gossip about Him from those that have not known Him.  Don’t go following the opinions of others who have altered His story.   Go to the source. Do your research.  Life eternal is forever; don’t rely on the words of a politician.    

Unity

                                            

 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”  Eph 4:1-3

 

 

It seems that the effects of Covid-19 are more than just physical.   Followers of Jesus Christ are arguing, publicly, about church closures and the state mandated  restrictions for  church goers.  One viewpoint says churches should open while observing reasonable precautions.  Another viewpoint says churches should stay closed relying on internet church services until there is a vaccine or sure treatment.  A third viewpoint holds that churches should open but obey whatever mandates the state requires; for distance, masks, corporate singing and the like.

These three viewpoints, and there may be others, are not similar.  They divide us as the body of Christ on earth.  And while suspending the gathering together of the saints has many drawbacks that is not the whole of it.  Rather the blemish is how we are treating those with whom we disagree, our brothers and sisters. 

 On social media, fellow Christians are treating each other with disdain.  They are using words to degrade the intelligence and morality of each other, calling into question the legitimacy of the other's  faith.  Churches are taking confrontational stands against each other, not seeking to understand but to humiliate the other and boost their own position.  And this is for the entire world to see.  How did we come to this?   How did we come to scorn our brothers and sisters and discredit other churches?

 I believe the primary point of departure for all of us is that we have neglected practicing grace.  That sounds a bit awkward, but grace is missing in the bulk of these circumstances.  SO back to the beginning we go.

 “It is by grace you are saved.. and that not of yourselves,” Paul writes.   And again he says; “When you were dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins…” 

 We, in the body, were all at one time traitors to God, idolaters having turned our backs on Him so that we could do whatever we jolly well wanted; and it left us dead.  Dead to goodness, dead to joy, dead to love, dead to beauty and dead to hope.    That was who we were.   We existed in the place of darkness, evil and wickedness.  But then the very God we had discarded reached out to us.  He reached across the infinite gulf of our inherent evil and because He loved His creation, He rescued us.  He rescued us from our sin, from the evil in which we lived.  In His holiness, He sought us out and judged us as sinners and then sent His Son, Jesus, to serve the mandatory sentence due us; death.  

The holy, perfect Creator, Lord and King of all that is seen and unseen stooped down to us to offer us all a way out of the destiny that our sin had carved out for us.   

 And we, having a disagreement with a fellow sinner, find it difficult, if not impossible to extend grace.  I fear we open ourselves to the condemnation that fell on the unmerciful servant, who sought repayment of a tiny loan after receiving total forgiveness for his huge and impossible loan.   We are urged by Jesus to forgive each other from the heart and to do that as often as needed.  And further we are instructed to be unified.  You may ask, “how can I be unified with those who call me foolish or frightened or worse?’  You do that by recognizing that Jesus has put us into the church, His Body, through His death, His painful, torturous death.  You do that by realizing that grace has been lavished on you, the little creature that sought to oust God from His throne.  You do that by realizing you are not enemies with those of other viewpoints on Covid-19.  You have an enemy, but it is not your fellow believers.  You do that by remembering what you have in common with other believers, namely you are sinners saved by the grace of God for His purposes, not yours.  And then you repent and behave in  as Christ like a manner as you are able through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Even if the others are wrong, even when you disagree, we are called to unity in the essentials.  And the reaction to Covid-19 is not one of the essentials.