We spent seven hours last Saturday trapped on I-77 in West Virginia--it wasn't snowing and as far as we could tell the roads were reasonably clear, but someone had apparently decided we couldn't go, so there we were in a long line of cars and trucks, unable to go anywhere and with no idea when traffic would start moving.
This was, as you can imagine, a very frustrating experience! As we sat hour after hour in the same place, I thought about the poorest of the poor, "The Bottom Billion" that economist Paul Collier writes about in his book of that name that (coincidentally?) I had just finished reading. These folks are also trapped, not just for a few hours in reasonable comfort as we were, but for a lifetime in living conditions that are deplorable.
Jesus talked about "the least of these." Those of us who claim to follow Jesus (speaking for myself) are often both woefully ignorant about the poorest of the poor and too self-focused to think about what God may want us to do to help change the status quo.
Reading Collier's book has helped with my own ignorance and--after having a small experience of being trapped--I am hopefully a little more motivated to be a part of what God is doing to make a difference in the lives of "the least of these."
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Witness to God's Faithfulness
Some thoughts on what it takes for me to be a witness to God's faithfulness
Listen to God
What do I hear when I read the Bible? John Stott has written that “...sometimes we hear from Scripture only what we want to hear—the soothing echoes of our own cultural prejudice—and then we miss the thunderclap of his Word as he challenges us to listen.” In my work with university students, I've seen Chinese with no prior exposure to Scripture observe details in a passage that are missed by Americans who are so familiar with the Bible that they do not carefully read a passage because they are sure they know what it says.
I also reflect on the difficulty I have in making a quiet space so that I can hear what God the Spirit is saying to me. “Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.” (Eugene Peterson'sparaphrase of Proverbs 3:6)
Wrestle with God
While we may primarily think of Jacob in this context, the psalms and prophetic writings are full of examples of those who wrestled with God. Our tendency is to want to find the correct answer to the difficulties of Scripture and of life.
But the secret isn't to emphasize correct answers. As Jesus teaches in Mark 4:10-11, he wants us to bring our questions and difficulties to him. As we wrestle with God we get to know him in a deeper way. And it is this knowledge of God, the experience of him as we wrestle with him and see how he loves and cares for us, that helps us with what we don't understand.
Work for God
We cling to the truth of Eph 2:8-9 (salvation by grace through faith and not by works) but too easily forget Eph 2:10—that we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Whatever I do, whether teaching from the Bible or fertilizing my lawn, is to be done heartily for the Lord (Col 3:23).
Jesus is Lord of every part of life (Php 2, Rev 1); the idea of a “sacred-secular divide” is not Biblical. A gospel message that is reduced a kind of fire insurance, as though what really matters is that my soul is saved from hell, is a gospel with a huge hole in it. God wants me to work for him in way that brings the whole gospel to the world he loves.
Listen to God
What do I hear when I read the Bible? John Stott has written that “...sometimes we hear from Scripture only what we want to hear—the soothing echoes of our own cultural prejudice—and then we miss the thunderclap of his Word as he challenges us to listen.” In my work with university students, I've seen Chinese with no prior exposure to Scripture observe details in a passage that are missed by Americans who are so familiar with the Bible that they do not carefully read a passage because they are sure they know what it says.
I also reflect on the difficulty I have in making a quiet space so that I can hear what God the Spirit is saying to me. “Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.” (Eugene Peterson'sparaphrase of Proverbs 3:6)
Wrestle with God
While we may primarily think of Jacob in this context, the psalms and prophetic writings are full of examples of those who wrestled with God. Our tendency is to want to find the correct answer to the difficulties of Scripture and of life.
But the secret isn't to emphasize correct answers. As Jesus teaches in Mark 4:10-11, he wants us to bring our questions and difficulties to him. As we wrestle with God we get to know him in a deeper way. And it is this knowledge of God, the experience of him as we wrestle with him and see how he loves and cares for us, that helps us with what we don't understand.
Work for God
We cling to the truth of Eph 2:8-9 (salvation by grace through faith and not by works) but too easily forget Eph 2:10—that we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Whatever I do, whether teaching from the Bible or fertilizing my lawn, is to be done heartily for the Lord (Col 3:23).
Jesus is Lord of every part of life (Php 2, Rev 1); the idea of a “sacred-secular divide” is not Biblical. A gospel message that is reduced a kind of fire insurance, as though what really matters is that my soul is saved from hell, is a gospel with a huge hole in it. God wants me to work for him in way that brings the whole gospel to the world he loves.
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