Choosing to Enjoy Real World Fairy Tales

Suggested Reading: Isaiah 58:10-14

One of my favorite Disney movies from recent years is Enchanted, starring Amy Adams as Gizelle. Gizelle literally lived a fairytale life, cartoon form and all, waiting for her Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. But when he finally did, the prince's evil step-mother exiled Gizelle to the real world, depositing her on the cruel streets of New York City. One of the reasons I find the movie so enchanting is that Gizelle, even as she learns lessons about the cruelty of life, continues choosing to have a good attitude. She cleans the apartment of the father and daughter who have taken her in, singing and happily directing the real world animals that have answered her call to clean. She adamantly refuses to accept that true love doesn't exist and wills it into existence. Her attitude infects everyone around her and makes the ordinary tasks of life more enjoyable.

One of the problems Jesus faced with the Pharisees, and that we often face in our churches today, is the number of people who go through the motions but lack any real excitement about their walk with the Lord. Things like going to church, attending a Bible study, or making time to serve our neighbors fail to be things we enjoy and become burdensome duties, taking up time we could be using to do other things.  We may go through the motions, but there is no enjoyment, no sense of life.

In Isaiah chapter 58, God was speaking through the prophet, warning His people about the reasons for their current problems. They had been going through the motions of religious life very dutifully, but it affected their day to day walk very little and they were not experiencing God's blessings. So God advised them, "Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!" (Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT). The phrase that jumps out at me? Enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day.

God commanded his people, not just to keep the Sabbath, but to enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight. Instead of grumbling about the work they were missing out on or the recreational activity they could enjoy instead, God ordered his people to enjoy it and speak of it with delight. Essentially, he was commanding his people to choose to have a good attitude about the Lord's day and God promised that if they would choose a good attitude, if they would choose to speak of it with delight then the Lord would become their delight. Just as we sometimes rekindle "that old fire" with our spouses by choosing to act as if it is already kindled, we can rekindle our love for God and experience delight in God by speaking and acting as if it is already the case.

Is there an area of your walk with God that has become burdensome or dreary? Do you avoid going to church or engaging in "religious activity" because you would just rather spend your time doing other things? Try choosing a good attitude about those activities. Try speaking of the Lord's Day with delight and, like the passage suggests, throwing yourself into it whole-heartedly, setting everything else aside. Choose to act like the Lord is your delight and, soon, you will feel like the Lord is your delight.

The Ethics of Batman Begins

Suggested Reading: Mark 2:23-3:6

The movie Batman Begins relaunched the adventures of the Dark Knight in a much more compelling fashion than the Batman movies of the previous decade. At one point in the movie, a young Bruce Wayne has missed his chance for revenge against his parents' murderer. A childhood friend, who is also Batman's love interest, shows him a place where everyone knows the city's biggest crime boss hangs out but adds that no one will touch him. She makes this statement (paraphrased), "All it takes for evil to win is for the good people to do nothing."

In Mark chapter three, Jesus finds himself in a setup by the Pharisees. A man with a withered hand is in the synagogue while Jesus is teaching. Jesus had already taught that human life was more important than religious regulation, including the observance of the Sabbath, and now the Pharisees were watching how Jesus would respond to this man's presence. Would Jesus really break the Sabbath in order to heal someone? But Jesus turned the test around on the Pharisees by asking them a question: "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save a soul or to destroy it?" (Mark 3:4, HCSB). By asking this question, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of their own traditions and interpretations of the law which equated the refusal to do good with doing evil.

We often hear people make the statement, "I'm not that bad," and we agree with them because they don't kill or steal or cheat people. But we cannot judge ourselves by the evil things we avoid doing. Jesus basically said that to choose not to do good when we have the ability to do good is evil. The book of James actually spells it out for us. "So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it" (James 4:17, HCSB).

We cannot judge ourselves solely by the evil things we don't do. We must also judge ourselves by the number of chances we have to do good and how often we actually take those chances. How often do we see someone stranded on the side of the road and choose to ignore them? How often do we see someone in need and choose not to share what we have? How often do we see the defenseless attacked and do nothing to defend them? How often do we fail to pass on the vital lessons of the faith because we're too tired to bother?

As followers of Christ, it is never enough that we simply avoid committing evil acts. We must never refuse to do the good we are capable of doing. Choosing not to act when we are capable of doing good, Jesus argued, was the same thing as doing evil.

Fried Bananas and Self-Denial

Suggested Reading: Leviticus 16:29-34

Once, on vacation, my wife and I took the kids to a Brazilian steakhouse. What is unique about these restaurants, if you've never been to one, is that they serve all-you-can-eat meats of various kinds, but they bring them to your table and cut them off the grilling skewer right there. Most of these places also serve a specialty that I have never really enjoyed: fried bananas or plantains. If you know me at all, you probably know that for most my life I have despised bananas. Believe it or not, I have banana horror stories (which, granted, are probably only horrific to me).

Though bananas no longer make me sick, I still try to avoid them. But I also know that, for people who like bananas, these Brazilian fried bananas are supposed to be amazing. So when they brought them to the table, I wanted my kids (who love bananas) to try them. But my son, who is not an adventurous eater, didn't want to. So, because I knew he would enjoy them if he tried them, I practiced a little self-denial and I made him a deal: If he tried the fried bananas, Daddy would try the fried bananas. I didn't enjoy the banana, but my son did (even though he tried to deny it behind that big ol' grin he couldn't keep off of his face), and I enjoyed that.

While we as Christians often claim to observe something similar to a Sabbath, the people of Ancient Israel understood the Sabbath a little differently than we do. We tend to think of the Sabbath as a day off, as a day to stop and relax and enjoy life. We might go to church, if we practice it on Sunday. But mostly, today, the Sabbath is a day of relaxation and enjoyment. For the Ancient Israelites, the Sabbath was something else entirely as demonstrated by Leviticus 16:31 which reads, "It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute" (HCSB). You see, for the Ancient Israelites, the Sabbath was indeed a day of rest and a day which they enjoyed, but that wasn't the point of the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was a day to cease from the normal day to day activities and focus on God, not themselves. It was supposed to be a day completely devoted to worshiping and meditating on God. They weren't supposed to cook or warm up food, they weren't supposed to fix something that was broken. They weren't supposed to mow the lawn or engage in sports (which were considered work). They weren't even supposed to engage in marital relations (which would make them ceremonially unclean). They were supposed to spend the day putting aside the normal activities of life and focusing on God.

As busy as our lives can be, some of us can work very hard to carve out a little time just for us, to relax and enjoy ourselves, to let go of stress. But how often do we really set everything aside and focus on God? How often do we practice self-denial and turn off the tv, eat leftovers, set aside the chores and spend the day focusing on God? How often do we focus on God even when we have "pressing" matters to attend to?

We need those times when we stop and read God's word and listen for God's voice, when we don't think about work and hobbies and TV shows and books. We need those times with nothing to do but ponder the mysteries of God and consider the personal and practical applications of God's Word for our own lives. We need those times when we are open enough that God can correct our course because we've started to stray. We need to treat God like we really do love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We need to practice placing God above everything else, even if we have to start with just taking a morning here or an afternoon there and work up to a full day.

We all need holidays and times of relaxation. But, more than that, we all need a Sabbath.

One of the Surest Proofs of Freedom

Suggested Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15

I recently watched an episode of Stargate SG-1 where the entire team really needed to take some time off but no one really wanted to take it. Only when the team was accidentally addicted to an alien device and they were forced to spend three weeks in a palace on an alien beach being weaned off of the addictive device did they relent and take some forced "time-off." If you’re anything like me or my wife, you probably know exactly what that situation is like. We often push ourselves too far and only end up taking time off when something takes us out of the game, usually an illness that could have been avoided by more rest. While laying in bed sick, unable to do anything productive, the statement is usually made, "Well, I guess this is God's way of telling me to slow down."

Time-off is often something we think of as a privilege, as something we have earned once everything that needs to be accomplished has been. Variations of the statement "There will be plenty of time to rest once I die" abound. But rest is not only a very Biblical concept, it is a command.

In the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, God gives the Israelites two distinct reasons for observing a day of rest, a Sabbath every seven days. The first reason is given in Exodus 20:11: For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (NIV).God provided the example for us to follow in God's own work of creation.  Many of us are aware of this reasoning and many of us dismiss it.  "That was God, we can't get things done like he can." "We're no longer under the law." And so on and so forth.

But there is a second reason God gives to the Israelites for observing a regular day of rest in Deuteronomy 5:15. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (NIV).  God's second reason for observing a regular day of rest essentially boiled down to, "It reminds you that you are free because God has redeemed you." 

Rest is not a priority for which a slave can set aside time. Rest is not a luxury a slave can count on. However, rest can be a sign that one is free in a world where too many of us are slaves to schedules and bills and obligations. No matter how bogged down we may feel, no matter how many weights may push us down, God commands a day of rest so that we can be reminded that we are free, so that we can practice being free.

The next time you decide that you are unable to have a day of rest, think about your freedom. What are you choosing to be enslaved by? What is keeping you from taking a day of rest? Are  you acting like a slave or will you practice being free? 

Playing the Gospel Gotcha Game

If you've ever watched political debates, you may have noticed a pattern. Rather than dealing with the issues at hand, each of the candidates chose to find ways to turn the questions into an opportunity to bash the opponent. Oh? you're asking about how what I said was wrong? Think about this thing the other guy actually did. Oh? You want to know why I constantly lie? Let's take this opportunity to talk about the other guy's less than winning personality. The entire debate, and the entire campaign really, has boiled down to attacking the other person for their sins and downplaying one's own sins. There is little attempt to discuss policies. It's all about delegitimizing anything the other one says be destroying the opponent's character.

Jesus had a couple of opportunities to fall into the same trap in Mark chapter 2. In the first instance, the scribes of the Pharisees criticized Jesus through his disciples by asking why Jesus was eating with "Tax collectors and sinners" as if they were perfectly righteous and upright themselves. Jesus didn't respond as I would have been tempted to do by saying, "Well, you're really not as righteous as you think" and then proceeding to list all of their sins (like he was capable of doing). Instead, Jesus responded by addressing the core issue in the discussion: his purpose on earth. "Those who are well don't need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners" (Mark 2:17, HCSB). Rather than destroying his "opponents" as he was capable of doing, Jesus addressed the core issue that swept away the heart of their criticism, essentially saying, "Sinners are the ones who actually need me."

The second opportunity was just a few verses later. Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain-field and his disciples plucked a few heads of grain to eat. The disciples of the Pharisees then accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath (presumably by reaping). Now, I had always assumed the disciples did break the Sabbath until I did some research recently only to discover that plucking a head of grain as you are walking through the field in order to eat it right then was not considered "work"  which violated the Sabbath by many Jewish authorities. When the Pharisees accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath, Jesus could have stopped and declared, "Technically, according to Rabbi so and so, what they did is ok so leave them alone." Jesus could have pointed out the incorrect portion of their argument and addressed the Pharisees' gotcha moment. But Jesus didn't. Instead, Jesus addressed the real issue: the nature of the Sabbath. Jesus quoted an example of someone breaking temple regulations in a time of need and summarized by declaring, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28, HCSB).

In both cases, Jesus' critics tried to get Jesus bogged down in a "gotcha moment," where a technicality  or an incident that could be made to look bad might be used to derail Jesus. But instead of giving in and addressing these little things, Jesus chose to address the core issue which would sweep away these smaller arguments. Jesus chose to address the heart of the problem rather than get caught up in playing the game.

As we try to share our faith with people, or even just as people criticize us, we cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by a game of "gotcha." Rather than giving in to an initial gut reaction and addressing each little nit-picky point, we have to look for the bigger issue behind  their objections and criticisms. We can't allow ourselves to get distracted with the minor arguments that never really move the discussion forward. People's minds never get changed in the gotcha game; people only play it to reinforce their own beliefs. Instead, we must allow the Holy Spirit to point us to a person's larger concern that, maybe, they haven't even fully articulated to themselves yet.

Don't get distracted by the gotcha game. Look for the big picture and address the heart of the issue.