bible

Measuring Up

/ Susan W. LaVelle / 2 Comments

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Luke 6: 37

I know that when I have thought of this verse, it has been in the context of giving a tithe to the church. The idea that when you give something, you will have it returned to you in abundance is appealing. There is nothing to say that it doesn’t also apply to giving, but the context of this is all about measuring other people, not our own good deeds.

This verse is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, following after the Beatitudes and the “Woes to you” section. In the preceding section, Jesus is talking about “Loving our enemies,” “Turning the other cheek,” even lending to our enemies “without expecting to get anything back.” “Be kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.”

All of that sounds pretty different from the discourse of our day, at least in the USA, when it comes to the church calling out in the political sphere. Doesn’t it?

What is that about? Why does the church call out against helping others, the weak, or those in need? Why is it the church that most stands faithfully against showing love or mercy to its supposed enemies? Why do people in the world associate Christians with ideas of isolation, self-protection, me-ism, and anger toward those that disagree with them? Why are Christians seen as judgmental, lacking in compassion, and expecting to be paid back in full? Is this not an affront to what Jesus taught in His most important sermon?

If we want to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do in this world today?” we need to take a hard look at how we measure ourselves up to these verses. In fact, following the above verse 37, in verse 40 Jesus said, “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.” How much more WWJD could that command and promise be?

Additionally, following, in verse 42, He says, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (See my previous post, “Log-in, Log-out”) and then, in verse 42, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.”

For those who call themselves Christians—for true Christ-followers, anyway—the Sermon on the Mount and these verses are cornerstones of our living out the Kingdom of Christ on this earth. We must go back to examine ourselves—our actions, words, and thoughts—in the light of this, so that our witness to the truth (which we say is so important to us) measures up to what Christ is telling us here. Only then will changes happen in the people and world around us.

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

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?

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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

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“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

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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

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“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.

The Wise Builder

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Jesus pointed out several ways to discern if we are actually applying His word to our lives or not.

Here we see His test for the outcome of putting His word into practice versus the outcome of only fooling ourselves. The difference is clearly shown by His example of the Wise and Foolish Builders in Matthew 7: 24-27. The “Therefore” here (which we want to make a practice of looking for why the “there” is there, whenever Jesus says “Therefore”) refers to the previous chapters, Matthew chapters 5-7.

These are the concluding verses to the Sermon of the Mount:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 7: 24-27

You will notice that both types of people—those who build their lives on His word solidly and those who do not—will face the same dangers, difficulties, and decisions. The storms, winds, and waters will be there for everyone. However, Jesus points out that in this life, those who put His words into practice and are consistent and serious about it (in other words, you have to actually build your house on the rock, not just go for a visit to look at the scenery), will be wise and have a house that doesn’t fall.

These verses are about how we live out the Kingdom life and live out WWJD every day in our lives here on this planet where Jesus walked.

Wise builders versus those who build on the sand. These houses collapsed against the winds and storms of the sand.

Peace

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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”

The Incarnation

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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1, 14

When we think about the coming of the baby Jesus to earth, too often we are thinking only of the cute little baby, the gentle mother Mary, the faithful father Joseph, the animals in the barn, the hay, the star, the angels. But do we think about it as the incarnation, the coming of God into the physical realm of the body and the earth, to bring His deity into a place and time, to walk among them as they walk in history, sharing the physical world with the very creatures He had made?

That angel choir at Jesus’ birth sang one performance in all the history of the earth, and who was the audience? Sheep and simple shepherds, not musical elites. God’s highest values are to the lowly and humble, and He paid attention to the individuals of that particular moment in space and time. This shows God’s sense of values and His character more than we like to think.

Through the specifics of the incarnation, we can feel invited in, from our own specifics and our own locality, into the flesh and blood specifics and the locality of the manger of Bethlehem. God started His walk on earth as a man, in a place that was not one of perfect genetical ancestors, nor godly governmental institutions, nor perfect circumstances, according to anyone’s ideas of what that might mean. The DNA of Jesus’ genealogy was full of badly behaving and weak people, just as much as it was full of kings and leaders. Yet, the God of the universe chose to become man in that DNA, in that family, in that place in time. Despite that humble beginning—or because of it—He accomplished His purposes.

From all of this we can be sure that as we walk out our lives on the earth in our space and time, we can follow Jesus, the God who went before us. In following Him, we can walk like He walked, do what He would have us do, speak and think as He did. Why can I say that?

Because He came and put aside His riches of glory and walked in the most humble and not-perfect of circumstances, in a specific locality in space and time—a real place, with real people. Childhood playmates, family, friends, tasks. Someone sat in chair he made as “the carpenter’s son.” He ate food: some He liked, some He did not. Some of the girls He grew up with probably hoped that someday they might become Mrs Jesus.

He lived out a life for 30 years in a body that was just like ours, but He had a divine purpose for doing it. The wonder of it, is that God wanted to come and be like us in our weakness so that He could serve our sentence for us before the justice of God.