Year: 2016

Fun acquaintance, True friend

​”Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.” – 1 Samuel 18:3 ESV

True, valuable friendships aren’t made in the parties and the celebrations, they are made in the trenches. 

In the trenches of World War I, the norms of tactile contact between men changed profoundly. Mutilation and mortality, loneliness and boredom, the strain of constant bombardment, the breakdown of language and the sense of alienation from home led to a new level of intimacy and intensity under which the carefully constructed mores of civilian society broke down. As historian Joanna Bourke has documented in her exciting work on First World War and masculinity, men nursed and fed their friends when ill; they bathed together; they held each other as they danced, and during the long winter months, wrapped blankets around each other. These moments were often grounded in experiential reality, the nature of these encounters – men on the verge of death, under fire, or being ill – giving them an emotional nakedness and intensity that not only outlive their contingent nature but that continue to grow in emotional value and resonance. It is debatable whether these relationships were those of “comradeship” or personal “friendship” or trench “brotherhood”: each of these relationships had its particular nuance and value, though it is difficult to straitjacket human relationships and feelings, especially in times of physical and emotional extremity. Moreover, they were all forms of male intimacy during crisis with inevitable overlaps or continuity at times and touch seems to have cut across the range of these relationships. The conditions of trench life dictated that there could be moments of perilous intimacy between relative strangers: the trench journal Poil et Plume (October, 1916) records an incident where a severely wounded man fell on an unknown stretcher-bearer and said, “Embrace me. I want to die with you”. On the other hand, W. A. Quinton recalls how one night, as he lay shivering, “old Petch put his overcoat in addition to my own over me, taking care to tuck me in as a mother would a child.” A. F. B. notes, in The Third Battalion Magazine, that Smalley was the great favourite of the Third Battalion for “his heart was as big as his body – his strength like a lion’s – his touch to the wounded as a woman’s.” 

– revised extract from the chapter ‘Kiss me, Hardy: the dying kiss in the First World War Trenches’ in Santanu Das, Touch and Intimacy in First World War Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

These days, the combination of social media and political correctness and so many other divisive and isolating societal factors seems to leave us with a wealth of acquaintances who might know about us to the surface level, but very few friends (if any) with whom we have deep, meaningful, trusting, and truly loving relationships. These types of relationships come as a result of costly commitment, not conditional companionship. They are the result of lIves intertwined  that bear the frayed edges of a worn life of bearing the weight together. 

And if you have this type of friendship and love with someone, it is to be so highly valued amidst the things of this world that most of us call treasure, favor, or blessing. And if we don’t have it, our hearts long for it and hope for it, not knowing if we could ever actually find it. But how does one find such a thing? 

Many of us have been hurt and betrayed enough times that we have given up hope in finding someone that we could trust at that deep and meaningful level. so we stop stepping up to the plate because everyone has failed us,  because everyone at some ppint has fallen short and let us down, so we let ourselves slip into isolation. We decide to develop singular coping mechanisms for dealing with our problems,  which really end up being us burying them and housing them to fester and take root deep within. 

There is something that can’t be explained in the freedom of sharing our faults and struggles with a fellow man or woman and to have them hold us, tell us that they are there for us,  pray with us, and weather the storm by our side. Yes, this is a treasure. And it starts with our being willing to bear those burdens for others ourselves. It starts with us stepping into the messiness and discomfort of someone else’s personal struggle and not just offering to bear the weight, but stepping in and lifting them up and caring them, even in those times where they put up a fight at first. This is what love looks like. 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.

John 15:12‭-‬14 ESV

http://bible.com/59/jhn.15.12-14.ESV

Lord, send us about your work today. strengthen us to build those books that are strong and true and trustworthy because they are made of the stuff of your Holy Spirit. Bind us together and heal us by the commitments and faithfulness that are lives serving and encouraging, and even correcting and holding each other accountable in that true love that isn’t judgemental expectation,  but is hopeful, unwavering trust that comes from two or more gathered together truly seeking your touch, your counsel, your will. We love you, Lord. Let us walk together with You,  close together, seeing your very character and nature showing itself to us in those who love you and who love us – and rising that they might catch a glimpse of the same in us. Amen.

Familiar friend, Close enemy

​For it is not an enemy who taunts me— 

then I could bear it; 

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— 

then I could hide from him.  

But it is you, 

a man, my equal, 

my companion, my familiar friend.  

We used to take sweet counsel together; 

within God’s house we walked in the throng.  

Let death steal over them; 

let them go down to Sheol alive; 

for evil is in their dwelling place 

and in their heart.  

But I call to God, 

and the Lord will save me.  

Evening and morning and at noon 

I utter my complaint and moan, 

and he hears my voice.  

He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, 

for many are arrayed against me.  

God will give ear and humble them, 

he who is enthroned from of old, 

Selah 

because they do not change and do not fear God.

Psalms 55:12‭-‬19 ESV

There are so many warnings in the Bible about trusting in men. Check out this link for some of the top verses:  https://www.openbible.info/topics/trusting_man

And even with all of these warnings, most of us rely on men more than we do on God. Most of us are satisfied “hearing from God” through a man once a week instead of seeking God close and personal. Even those who seek God many times fall into relying on theology and systems and denominations and traditions instead of maintaining an open dialog with God through the Holy Spirit. 
I wonder how many of us take the warnings of Micah to heart:

“Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;  for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.  But as for me, I will look to the Lord ; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” – Micah 7:5‭-‬7 ESV

I see men around me that I once considered friends that I know will stumble me if I walk in their paths. I see men that once tried to teach me and their apparent hypocrisy and pride, and their apparent lack of fear of God, and either their lack of mercy or of warning others of the wages of sin, and their apparent abundance of love for the world or tradition or the honor of self — leads them along cliffs that I dare not walk with them.

And even though I know these men of flesh and blood are not themselves my enemies, I fear how many might be proven as used by my true enemies?

So I look to God as my refuge and as my safe harbor. He alone is trusted to be faithful and true. Not the traditions of pagans gathered by the religious to incorporate into their celebrations – even your days and weeks and months and practices seem to all have been touched, corrupted, perverted at the hands of men who want to put God safely inside a box of their own liking. 

I do understand the redeeming power of Almighty God to turn all things to good,  even those things meant by the enemy for harm – but the more that I discern, the more that I examine and question my own heart. The more that I see “not quite right” in myself, the more that I see it in those around me. I am learning to hate so much of this fallen world even while learning to live those trapped in it. 
And all I can do of any true redeeming value is draw closer to the Lord, serve Him through my opportunities to serve others, share this Good News, and remain steadfast awaiting His return. 

Who do I trust? 

God. He is not my enemy. 

Or if He were, what hope would I have anyways? 

So there lies my trust. 

Eloquent Lives

​And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” – Luke 2:20 ESV

In C.H. Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students, he comments:

It is remarkable that the only church history we have is, “The Acts of the Apostles.” The Holy Spirit has not preserved their sermons.

 Throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the majority of the content is telling about the lives of people. And it isn’t about their lives inside a building performing rituals, it is about their day to day lives and how God impacted the world around them in their day through their faithfulnesa (or through their disobedience). What is recorded isn’t as much about their religion — their “playing church” or “offering sacrifices” or “singing praises” — but is about their lives, about God’s abiding presence and its affect on them and thode around them. 

The Shepherds weren’t great orators. They didn’t put together perfectly planned out entertainment packages and expositional doctrinal teachings in front of those who would gather around them. No, they had seen Jesus — so they went along their lives and daily responsibilities, changed deeply by this experience, and sharing and rejoicing with all they met. 

Lord, help us to live eloquent lives of praising and glorifying you, not just practiced, familiar words spoken, but a life lived as our reasonable service. Acts of Christians, not just sermons of preachers. Amen.

Not “only human”

​”to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24 ESV

How often have we used the excuses,  “I’m only human…””or “I’m just a sinner…” to justify our continuing to not walk in obedience? That is not profitable, friends,  nor is the example that the Word of God lays out for us. 

There is a word that Jesus used to describe those who talked about God and who attended religious services but who had no real interest in living close to God. Jesus called them “Hypocrites”.

You hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders), rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said,  ‘This people honors Me with their lips ,  But their heart is far away from Me .  ‘But in vain do they worship Me ,  For they teach as  doctrines the precepts of men .’” – MATTHEW 15:7‭-‬9 AMP

We are not meant to just “play church” on Sundays and then return to “real life” the rest of the week. Our tithes,  our songs, our saying amen to the points of a sermon, out confessing our sins yet again – these are not the weekly sacrifices that God wants from us so that He will leave us alone and forget about what we’ve done once again. No, that is the mind of a lost, religious person who is far from God and desires no real relationship with God, even though they understand and recognize the difference between right and wrong. 

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” – 2 Peter 2:20‭-‬22 ESV

Grace is not an excuse to remain in sin. If this is your concept of grace, one that pushes you further and further away from God’s will,  I encourage you to examine yourself.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – 2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

We who are His, who are called Children of God, who hear His voice and follow Him, who He abides and walks and talks with, who walking in Spirit and Truth not in flesh and confusion – we have a purpose and a calling today, and it is not to be proven children of disobedience who cry out “Lord, Lord” but, who have no intention of loving and serving God.

“Not everyone who  says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will  enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who  does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ – Matthew 7:21‭-‬23 ESV

So if we say we believe, let it be true. Let it be evident in our lives, not so that we would look religious and be honored by others, but so that we might bear the fruit of a surrendered life. 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 ESV

And let’s encourage one another with our love of God, love of His instruction, and love of our fellow brothers and sisters. 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 10:23‭-‬31 ESV

Let’s live it out for His glory,  as our reasonable service,  the result of our grattitude for this undeserved gift of grace. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:1‭-‬2 ESV

Lord, focus our hearts and minds on your purposes today. Lead us along the path of righteousness for your own name’s sake. Deliver us from evil and prove yourself victorious through the living testimony of our living and serving you today, Lord. Help us to see past the tricks of the enemy and to set our eyes firmly upon you today,  Lord. We believe,  Lord, we are yours with Christ as our solid foundation – we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and we believe that He is risen from the dead to sit in authority and power to judge between the born again and the dead. Prove us to be alive with your Holy Spirit. Bring us through the fiery trials of this life and show the see aroma of your presence, your peace, your Love, your very nature and character, alive and evident in us today. Demonstrate that we are not “merely human”, but are born again,  new creations. Amen.