Hollywood Week at the Red Sea

Suggested Reading: Exodus 14:5-18

At one point in time, just like many American families, our family loved the singing competition American Idol. During Hollywood Week, when the contestants got to move on based only on the word of the judges, I was very surprised at the number of people who came out on stage crying because they were going through stressful situations or were having issues with the pressure. Instead of taking practical action, some of these people just stood there crying. These contestants faced a life or death situation (career-wise) and they just stood there paralyzed, crying.  It was enough to make me want to reach through the television and slap some sense into them, yelling, "Pull yourself together, man!" Maybe that demonstrates a lack of compassion on my part but I'm sure the judges were sometimes tempted with the same thing.

That dynamic is echoed in Exodus 14, when the Israelites are escaping from Egypt. They had camped at the edge of the Red Sea when Pharaoh and his army caught up with them. The people panicked and cried out to the Lord but they just stood there crying and taking no practical action whatsoever. So The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground (Exodus 14:15-16, HCSB).  Did God lack compassion, demanding to know why they were standing there crying out to him instead of doing something? No. They were facing a life or death situation and God was grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them while yelling, "Pull yourself together!" God could part the sea for them, but it would do no good if they were paralyzed by their fear and refused to move forward.  

Each of our lives will be threatened with tragedy and disaster. Each of us will face times and events that attempt to overwhelm us, to glue us to our spots crying out to God but paralyzed and helpless to do more. When those times come, God will provide help for us, but we must be able to take a deep breath and then move forward. Cry out to God but don't panic. Don't allow yourself to become paralyzed by fear. Watch for God's escape route or accept the strength God provides and be ready to keep moving.

When disaster threatens you, don't just stand there crying. Trust God enough to take a breath and then to take the next step. God will provide a way for you to survive. Be ready to take it.

Algebra Tests and Good Intentions

Suggested Reading: James 1:19-27

My brother told me once me about an algebra teacher that he used to drive crazy. My brother would calculate exactly how much homework he would have to do to get a 72 for the grading period, if he got a 100 on each of his tests. Then he would do exactly that much. No more and no less. My brother knew how to do the algebra and he proved it by doing just enough to manipulate his grade to be a 72. But my brother never got any more than a 72 because even though he knew how to do the algebra homework, he never actually did it. In terms of his grade, what my brother knew didn't matter. What he actually did and turned in was what got him the grade.

Sometimes, we confuse what we know with what we do. That is one thing James, the brother of Jesus, was dealing with when he wrote the words, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works — this person will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22-25, HCSB). James understood that sometimes we confuse hearing and knowing with doing. Beyond that, sometimes we confuse good intentions or compassionate feelings for good behavior. But  in the end, our feelings, intentions, and knowledge mean nothing if we don't use them to actually do something.

Far too often we confuse studying God's word with living out God's word. We confuse having the intention of helping someone with actually helping them. We mistake feelings of compassion for acts of compassion. In short, we credit ourselves with good works because of our knowledge, feelings, and intentions when we should be focused on our behavior. As James said, we deceive ourselves.

Intentions, feelings and knowledge are worthless without actions flowing from them. Don't start feeling good about yourself because you know how to live the Christian life or because you want to live the Christian life. Focus on actually living the Christian life. Until your knowledge and intentions are paired with actions, they aren't worth much.

Being a Redheaded Christian

Suggested Reading: John 13:31-38

If you ever see me or my wife in public with our kids it is impossible to not know who our children belong to. Both of the kids have the same bright red hair as my wife and the same facial structure that runs on my side of the family. Even if they wanted to, my children could not deny who they belong to. When we go out to eat with large groups, it is very easy for our waiter or waitress to know exactly who belongs on our check.

In a similar way, the people we interact with should experience the same kind of certainty that we belong to Jesus. But how, exactly, does that work? It's not as if people can look at us, like they look at my children, and notice the physical resemblance. So what is it that people can see that lets them know we belong to Jesus. I'm sure we could come up with lists of things: compassion, caring for the poor, righteous living, honesty, integrity, loving our neighbor as ourselves. All of those things are important, of course, and we should be characterized by those things. But none of them are the thing that causes people to recognize our affiliation with Jesus when they see them.

In John 13, immediately after Jesus' last supper with the disciples before his crucifixion and after Judas had left to betray him, Jesus told the disciples, "I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:34-35, HCSB). According to Jesus' words here, there are two important things necessary for people to recognize that we belong to Jesus. First, they must see us, as believers, loving one another. Of all the things that we can do, Jesus pointed to this one thing as the primary marker that would let everyone know we belong to him. Not being loving in general. Not even loving our neighbors as ourselves. Not being non-judgmental. But loving each other - our fellow believers. Is it any wonder that the world doesn't believe we belong to a resurrected Lord when we are often better known for fighting each other and arguing with each other than for loving each other?

But the second thing Jesus's words require if people are to recognize that we belong to him is that people must see us together. We cannot be seen to love each other if we are not seen with each other. More than that, we cannot be seen to love each other if we are not seen to love being with each other. Do you really believe that people love each other when they never want to be around each other?  Is it even possible to love someone if you are never together? At least in a biblical, unconditional, love-is-a-choice-not-just-a-feeling kind of way?

Do you want to convince the people in your school or office or neighborhood that Jesus is real and that you belong to him? Let them see you with other believers, actively loving each other the way that Jesus loved us. By this all people will know  that we belong to him.

Who Wants a Safe Lion?

Suggested Reading: Exodus 33:12-23

In C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy meet the talking Beavers upon entering Narnia together for the first time, Mrs. Beaver begins to tell them about Aslan, the great Lion, the Son of the Great Emperor across the sea. When the children ask if Aslan is safe, Mr. Beaver responds, "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." Though the Beavers knew that Aslan was not "safe" they longed for his return anyway. Not because he was safe, or even because he was powerful enough to save them from the wicked White Witch, but because he was good.

In Exodus 33, Moses had just returned from the mountain where he had received God's law to discover that the people had already built themselves an idol and begun to worship it. Moses was rather harsh with the people, killing many of them in retribution for their betrayal and idolatry. After a time of uncertainty, Moses was reassured by God that God would continue to accompany them to the Promised Land, but then Moses made a request of God: "Please, let me see your glory." To which God responded, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Exodus 33:18-19, HCSB).

I don't know what Moses had in mind when he asked God to show him God's glory but the opportunity allowed God to teach Moses something very important. God's most magnificent attribute, God's glory, is not God's miraculous power, God's might, God's wisdom, God's sovereignty, or even God's perfect justice. God's most magnificent attribute -- God's glory -- is God's goodness, God's capacity for being gracious and compassionate.

As followers of Christ, we are called to be perfect, just as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), but even this command of Jesus is given in the context of loving enemies and tax collectors. Our call to be like Jesus, to imitate our Father in Heaven, is not just a call to be holy and just. Our call is to imitate God in all God's glory -- to be good and gracious and compassionate, to love the enemy and the sinner. We are to follow the example of Jesus from John 8 who, confronted with a woman caught in the act of adultery, did not condemn her, but saved her from the self-righteous and scheming mobs and then told her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore" (John 8:11, HCSB).

If you want to be like Jesus, if you truly want to be conformed to the image of Christ, then do not be satisfied with being wise, or just, or even having Spirit-enabled abilities to heal and prophesy. Strive to be good. Then, maybe when the world sees us, they will know that we don't condone the sin they live in, that being around us is not "safe" because their world may be turned upside down, but they will also yearn for the Presence that comes with us because they can tell, through us, that God is good.