Who We Are

What About Earthly Power?

/ Susan W. LaVelle / 2 Comments

The Apostle Paul, whose name started as Saul, was a sinful man full of pride and willing to see believers in Jesus killed; interestingly enough, though, he was extremely religious, and he had committed everything he had to follow a wrong thinking about the Old Testament law.

As a proud Pharisee, a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” he strictly followed the law in all its forms, and even persecuted to death those who stood in the way of that wrong belief. But Saul met Jesus on the Damascus road in Acts 9 and he become a Christ-follower. As Paul later wrote in Ephesians 3:8, he counted all his worldly and religious success as “dung” (yes, he used the sh** word). All his religiosity and superficial attempts to be holy and right were as dung. His worldly values—to be thought highly of, to be perfect in the eyes of men and God, the zeal for position, his rule-following prowess and commitment—all of it, became as low in value to him as excrement. (Yes, the word he used to describe his former ambitions, is sh** in Greek, but it often gets cleaned up in our English Bibles, translated as “nothing,” “loss,” or “rubbish,” “garbage,” “dirt,” or “trash.”)

Anyway, you should get the picture that he thought all that worldly ambition was as low as it could be and as far from what he wanted in his life when he became a Christ-follower. He was a different person, and eventually, he used a new name, Paul (see Acts 13:1-11).

Recently, someone tried to use Saul/Paul as an example to me of how God uses the worldly and powerful to get his work done on the earth. You can imagine the sort of political point this person was making. The person who said this seemed to think that Christians should emulate Paul because of his position of power. I feel that the words of Paul himself here show how wrong-headed that sort of thinking is. Paul called all his zeal and ambition to accomplish actions for God outside of God’s plan in Jesus as dung, excrement, valueless, something to repent of, something to shun, something to avoid as if you were touching manure.

Paul is only an example to us because he repented and completely submitted his all to God and followed Christ. He changed and became a new person, the old was past. The old was not excused. It was not an example. The heart of the “old religious Saul/Paul” was, as how Jesus described it:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Matthew 23:27

As such did Jesus describe religious people who think themselves better than others and who thought that by their “activities for God” they were pleasing God, even though what God is interested in is a pure heart and our inside motivations.

Jesus’ showed His value system in His very strong diatribe against religious hypocrisy throughout what he said in Matthew 23. No doubt this made the religious crowd in charge and in power angrier at Him than they already were. He nonetheless spoke it out strongly for them to hear. We need to take this into account because He was not just speaking it out to the religious leaders—although, the power of our leaders to lead astray is judged more harshly because they bear responsibility for the truth and other souls—but all of us must take to heart the call away from religious pride, hypocrisy, and as Jesus put it,

“Woe to you…hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

Matthew 23:25-26

In this day and age, like all ages before us, we must take it seriously to be following what Jesus said and doing what Jesus would have us do and say and think in the world we live in. We are called to be light and truth for Him and Him only, not for political persons or worldly ideas. Some of our worldly ideas might seem to be based on our faith or Christian teachings, but we must at all times examine ourselves to see if we really are in line with the truth, justice, and what Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Philippians 4:8

A Living Sacrifice

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

“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

These verses in Romans are a picture to us of what it means to become a Christ-follower. What Paul is talking about when he refers to a “living sacrifice” is those animals placed on the altars of the Old Testament temple in Jerusalem, offered as a dutiful sacrifice to God. Here, in Romans 12, we are commanded to place our own selves on the altar of sacrifice in worship to God, similarly to how the sheep or doves were placed on the temple altar. The animals were no longer “their own,” so to speak—no longer doves flying freely in the sky or lambs frolicking in the grassy meadow. The lives that those animals had lived were no more. They were dead: dead to those things. Dead to that life. Their lives were no longer their own.

In a similar way, we are told to think of our duty to worship God as leaving behind ownership for the life we knew, to take up a different kind of life. We must present ourselves to God’s altar just like the sheep and doves were presented by the faithful worshippers at the Temple. We are not killed, but live. And we don’t atone for sin in this sacrifice. In fact, the atonement for sin of the animal sacrifice in the Old Testament Temple was God painting a picture in advance of Jesus’s atonement for sin. Jesus accomplished the real atonement on the cross.

This picture of atonement and sacrifice was also a picture to help us understand our own worship. Here, we are told clearly what constitutes worship for Christ-followers: worship is not about how often we go to church, pray, read the Bible, sing hymns, or talk about our faith. We are not physically dying like Jesus or the lambs and doves, but rather, we are to live continually as if we were laying on His altar at all times, dead to self, a “Living” sacrifice, alive, but dead to self. The life we knew is no more, if we want to follow Christ.

Additionally, we are told that it is by the “mercies of God” that we can and should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. The sacrifice is not a punishment or deprivation, but rather, our response to what Jesus has done for us. God has allowed us to be on his altar, offering ourselves to Him, and that is how we worship Him. This privilege is also a command. We do this daily, continually, living it out.

Now, many people don’t think of the Christian life like that. Too often, people think that following Jesus is a wonderful way to fulfill ourselves and feel good, to lose that “Guilty feeling.” Other people think that becoming a Christian is a way to punch our ticket out of hell to free ourselves from the condemnation of sin. One of these views make us feel like God “owes” us a nice happy and comfortable life; the other, might lead to us thinking of ourselves as better than all those who don’t follow Him.

But, if our emphasis on the Christian life is on experiencing miracles, financial provision, answered prayer, or blessings of some kind, or on being part of the exclusive “in-crowd” of God, we are missing the point here and actually, according to this, not really worshipping Him in a holy or acceptable way. True, it sounds unpleasant to realize that worshipping God has to do with crawling onto an altar and not getting off, but that is what is said here. Christ-followers are to stay there and live there, belonging no longer to ourselves, but to God.

If we find that we have been thinking of the Christian life mostly as something to benefit from, a way to answer our prayers, provide health or financial favor, or just basically to keep us out of hell when we die, then we need to come back to this verse. And the good news about presenting yourself as a living sacrifice is that you can start now to do it. Present yourself to God right now and always. Take the next verse seriously: “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.”

How do we test this? By seeking our the answers in the Bible, by becoming more and more familiar with the teachings of the New Testament, particularly, the things that Jesus said and did in the four gospels, and by asking God to help us become more and more open to hearing correction and repentance, as shown through the Word and Holy Spirit.

Log-in, Log-out

/ Susan W. LaVelle / 1 Comment

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew 7: 1-5

An amazing fact that happens when someone mentions following Jesus to Christians, the first thought often is on how other people don’t. We look at “all their sin” and bad actions, attitudes, and problems, then start judging them. You will notice that in the above verses, which by the way are preceded by Jesus telling the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount (including all his disciples and followers): “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

The “who” he is speaking to here—beyond everybody else—is you and me! He wants us not to judge others and specifically came up with a truly clear and understandable, no-excuses sort of analogy. Log in the eye; speck in the eye.

I have heard this explained like this: a speck in your own eye will make you see specks everywhere.

Jesus wants us to apply His words to ourselves. Yes, He does make the point that we are then to help others with the specks in their eyes, but how many of us simply brush off that point? It is very easy to think to oneself, “Yes, I have looked at my life already and know myself quite well. I don’t really have any logs there. I would know it.” A thought like that is the core of what makes up our blind spots in life.

We all know what a blind spot is when driving alongside a semi-truck, right? There are certain spots alongside a truck that will hide your car from the truck driver’s mirrors. This is why they have special mirrors to help them see everything on the side, including your car. They are called among other things, “Blind spot convex safety mirrors” which you have to add on extra to your truck or car to see the blind spots. I think Jesus is adding here such an accessory for us to use to see our own blind spots.

Jesus says that the measure we use to judge others is the measure that will be used to judge us. Perhaps a useful tool here would be to keep track and attentive to ways that you yourself respond in judgement of others around you, both the non-Christians and Christians, so that you can firstly see how (i.e., “how” not “if”) you are being like that yourself. Applying the Word to ourselves is likely to keep us so busy we will not have as much time to be judgmental to others.

Perhaps we will then have more time to pray, have compassion, and do, think, and speak like Jesus did, in a world that definitely needs more WWJD.

What’s the Context?

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

Although the “Whatever Happened to WWJD?” FB page posts one or two verses every M-F, it is very important for us to look at the verse’s context, in other words, the rest of what is said surrounding a particular verse as well as the whole book and Bible. Obviously, a simple blue square can only hold so much text that can be seen and read by you! Reading, studying, and memorizing single verses is a great practice and really helps the words of Jesus stick in our memory to be used by the Holy Spirit as needed to speak to our innermost thoughts—or to be spoken to someone else.

Nevertheless, when you only look at one verse at a time, separated from the context of the rest of the chapter, you might miss some important issues or even misunderstand the verse itself. A case in point was one of the verses that was shared this last week, Revelation 3:20. Probably all of us have heard that verse before used to speak to people who are not yet Christians to encourage them to come to Christ. However, the context of the verse is much different than that. (Not to say it is wrong to use it to encourage people to come to Christ, because the verse is true for everyone.) Revelations 3:20 is the warning/promise part of the angel’s letter to the 7th church, Laodicea, starting with verse 3:14 

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Revelation 3: 14-22

The seven letters in Revelation are from God to seven churches that an angel brought to the Apostle John while he was exiled to the island of Patmos. The churches are local congregations in far western Turkey, relatively nearby to where John was. 

Everyone wants to be thought of as being in the Church of Philadelphia, where the congregation is commended for being patient, enduring tribulation, and completely faithful, with nothing to rebuke. However, the verses of 3:20 are part of the letter to the church that is called “lukewarm, wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Yet, that church was told to “buy gold refined from fire” and to “cover their shameful nakedness” and to buy salve for their unseeing eyes. Even that church was offered the “knock on their door” to come in and sup with the Lord. It seems that they have a choice to change and the offer is there for them.

As is often noted, in the famous picture by William Holman Hunt of this verse, the doorknob is on the inside of that door, waiting to be turned by those inside. Christ doesn’t force His way in, He knocks and asks. What will we do? Those who want to walk the way that Jesus would have them, will do as the letter to the angel of Laedicia says, “Be earnest and repent.”

The King’s Heart

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will.”

Proverbs 21:1

This verse is really not directed to a king, but is directed to us who are reading it. Who is it that needs to understand this? Those who look out upon the king and government and want to turn the “tide” of what is happening around us. The Bible is clearly pointing us toward seeing that change or turn in its proper perspective: Look to the hands of the Lord.

How do we as Christians today, living in a world where we have some choice as to who will be the “King” and government that represents us? Sorry to say, but it is the same answer: The hands of the Lord. What that means for us is to pray.

How many people spend as much time praying about this as they do complaining, posting comments, and other worldly efforts to bring about their will for elections? Been there done that myself over the years. However, we as Christians—very specifically to those in the US, but it applies everywhere—must take this very seriously. Our witness to the reality of what we say we believe in is on the line. Do we really believe that it is the Lord who will change hearts, both the hearts of the king and government, as well as the people in our communities and world? Or do we believe that we should use any means necessary to accomplish what we think is the right sort of government and leader for our country?

Proverbs 21 as a whole is extremely instructive about how God sees this issue. I would strongly encourage everyone to take some time and really think through each of these verses in Proverbs 21 in the context of how God views us in our world. Please avoid the sort of binary view that so many people take today, where they look at every condemnation as a strike against “the other guy, that person whom we are not for” and not as a chance to self-examine the hypocrisy out of their heart. Clear your own preconceived mindset and read Proverbs 21 to see what God thinks is important. Doing so may change your viewpoint.

Changing our viewpoint to better match God’s viewpoint is what it is all about when it comes to WWJD. Sometimes we are very ingrained in what we think God wants and we miss what He actually does want. The most important thing for us is to always, everyday, bring ourselves back to the place where we rest at His feet our ideas and take up His. Unless we do that, our efforts to accomplish a Biblical life might not actually be very Biblical.

small boat on a lake or river at sunset

Mirror

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

When you first wake up in the morning, you glance at yourself in the bathroom mirror on your way to do “other things” and maybe don’t look at yourself too hard. Maybe you aren’t even wearing your glasses yet and can’t see yourself very well. By the time you are getting ready for work, school, or your day-to-day stuff, however, you look more closely. It’s time to put on your contacts, brush your teeth, deal with the mess of your hair, button that shirt, tie that tie. Mirrors are how we see where the lost contact lens went, whether our faces are clean or not, whether our part is crooked, whether we have missed a button or our zip is undone. Mirrors—very important!

Reading the Bible and applying what we read is the mirror for our soul. No matter how many times you have heard or read James 1: 23-24, if you don’t pay attention to what it says, you are still not applying it.

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

James 1: 23-24

There is a way in which we fool ourselves—or to be kind, we are fooled by familiarity—into thinking, “Oh, I know that verse about mirrors and I have that down. I am a good Christian who knows that verse and lots of verses, so I don’t need to think about that.” That sort of thinking (or non-thinking) goes on all the time and is why we often appear hypocritical to people around us, maybe our children, our parents, neighbors, co-workers, friends, fellow church friends, strangers. We can think we are one way, but those who look at us see us differently—the way we really are.

It certainly can be scary to be willing to take a look at ourselves the way other people see us, but isn’t it for the best? It certainly is Jesus’ best for us. Which is why this verse appears in James, who by the way, tradition tells us, was Jesus’ brother from none other than the family of Joseph and Mary. Just think of that! The man who lived and grew up in the same home as Jesus, wrote this about self-examination through the word of God. Examine yourselves and apply His words to your life! I wonder what that meant to James, who would have grown up hearing Jesus’ words. Even James, Jesus’ brother, had to deal with the idea that we often think we are applying the words of Jesus, but aren’t. Doesn’t that make it clear how important it is for us, we who didn’t have that experience of personally hearing those words, to take the care and time to apply them to our lives?

It’s back to our Hear. Read. Study. Meditate. Memorize. Apply.

Pass it On

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Phil. 4:9

This verse is about the need for passing on the kingdom life and truths of Jesus’ words to others, specifically, to the next generation of believers. Paul has stated here that watching and listening to his words and life are the ways for fellow Christ-followers and disciples to learn the way they should go and how they should live. What makes Paul so bold to say this? He knows that is the way that Jesus taught His followers. Paul knew that this was Jesus’ plan for spreading His kingdom and bringing maturity and discipleship to Christ-followers.

This verse, Philippians 4:9, doesn’t stand in isolation. Importantly, the earlier part of chapter four—indeed, the whole book of Philippians and as well, all of Paul’s writings—flesh out how the disciple of Jesus, the Christ-follower, is to live. Take for example, going backward in the earlier part of Philippians 4.

Verse 8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Verses 4-7: ” 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Here, the peace of God, which is referenced in verse 9, is described in more detail.

Philippians 4: 4-8 ESV

Paul is stating some critical points for us to ponder about what messages we are sending to those who come after us. We need to study and apply this more thoroughly as Christ-followers.

Pass it on when you have others who need to hear the words of Jesus.

Under Scripture

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

This statue of Swiss reformer, William Farel, in Neuchâtel, Swizerland is one of my favorite images to represent what the Christian life is about in relation to God’s words and instructions in the Bible. The reformer holds the Bible above his own head to make a statement: all people, no matter their state, are under the word of God and no one is above it. No matter whether someone is rich or poor; king or peasant; pastor, priest, or layman; leader or follower; believer or non: each individual is measured under the Bible and no one is above it.

The other point with this image—the main point that brings it into this WWJD discussion—is this: The Bible speaks to the individual and it is the individual who must be under it. You will notice that the reformer is not pointing the words outwardly for the world to see, or hitting anyone with it, or having primarily an outward focus to it, bur rather, the Bible is first and foremost having its effect upon the individual under these words.

For us to make a difference in the world, we must see this as the crucial point. We must measure ourselves by the words of the Bible, not us measuring the words of the Bible by ourselves. IF we live our lives in a WWJD way, then we will be able to make an impact on society. If all we do is measure everyone else by the Bible, pointing out how they need to be more like Jesus (oftentimes to people who don’t even believe in Him or have interest in the Bible), without having the Bible have its full impact on our own lives, then we will only be fooling ourselves and not having the impact on the world we wish to.

Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise;
    apply your heart to what I teach,

for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart
    and have all of them ready on your lips.

So that your trust may be in the Lord,
    I teach you today, even you.

Proverbs 22: 17-19
Statue of reformer William Farel, from Neuchatel Switzerland holding the Bible above his own head

What is a human being?

/ Susan W. LaVelle / 1 Comment

Psalm 8: 1, 3-4

“O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?”

In this Psalm, David asks the question: Who is a human being, that the great Creator God would take notice? Why is mankind important in the great wide universe?

We see here that we are made by God, that we are a certain kind of being. We have gifts and responsibilities. Our actions have consequences. Our choices matter. Let us make the choices that bring us into alignment with this great God and get to know Him through the revelation of His son, Jesus. That is what being a Christ-follower is all about. That is why it matters that we know what Jesus would do today.

Hear, read, study, meditate, memorize His word to become more like Him.

Become more and more like Him!

Peace

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

Look around and be distressed,

Look within and be depressed,

Look to Jesus and be at rest

– Corrie Ten Boom

In this day and age we can find lots to be distressed about. However, that has always been true. Certainly, it was true in the days when Jesus walked the earth. There was hunger and disease, poverty, violence, war. An evil empire in the government. Same as today, just worse.

But what did Jesus tell His disciples? “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” John 14:1

And further on in vs 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Why do we look to earthly peace, earthly governments, men’s plans, politics, and other worldly efforts to bring ourselves comfort in these times? Be a good influence for those around you, of course, if what you are doing is bringing people closer to Jesus. But to trust in those things for peace and comfort? That is not Jesus’ way.

Don’t let fear guide your path or decision-making. Look to Jesus and trust Him only. That is where true peace is and where to find the help that all of us need in this and every age.

Pray, “Jesus, show me how I can trust you more. Show me how I have trusted in myself, in men, in politics, in earthly efforts, instead of You. Show me how to change and be a Christ-follower again. Amen”