Category: discipleship

This Intense Moment

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“He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8, ESV

“The principal thing is to stand before God, with the mind in the heart, and go on standing before Him unceasingly day and night until the end of life.”

Theophan, 1815-1900 (Russian writer and monk)

This intense moment is almost always present tense. We have yet to experience the future, and the past has already been ‘played out.’ The present is this moment right now, and we live in this time.

There is a certain simplicity to all of this. What happens ‘right now’ is crucial in our walks with Him. Anxiety and guilt can be a result of not living right now. These are obviously to be avoided. The past with its guilt, and the future with its anxiety can corrupt the now.

Micah was given a simple commandment to proclaim, it involved this ‘arena of goodness.’

  1. To do justice, right things
  2. to be in love with kindness,
  3. and then to walk in a humble way.

All of these are to be done in the presence of God. We’re called to this simple way of life. For the person who is living somewhat confused and chaotic this is good news. Those of us who are mentally ill understand chaos. Life becomes complicated when we try to juggle more than this.

This should be a certain relief for many a weary pilgrim. These things Micah declares can be liberating when seen in this moment. There is a freedom for each who follow. If it seems like we’re trying to juggle chain-saws we are doing something wrong.

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Tangled Up in Sin (and Death)

vines-statue18 “Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love.

19 Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”

Micah 7:18-18, NLT

These verses speak of the sin and guilt of God’s people. But even more importantly we hear of the extravagance of God to forgive so readily. Micah speaks directly to us who need to understand exactly what has been done for us. He knows what God is really like, and encourages not to give up hope.

I find that people as a whole understand sin. As they survey their lives, they are conscious of many flaws and shortcomings. Although we resist the label– ‘sinners’– we all admit a certain failure. It is this that Micah is speaking of. The Bible tells us “that all have sinned.” From the lost wino to the president of the United States, we are all cut from the same cloth. All means everyone. And we each have the same problem.

We are all in need of someone who will save us from our sin. These verses speak of the greatness of God to intervene. Without His intervention we are all buried in our sin. In a colorful way (so typical of Micah), we visualize God trampling down our iniquities, and forgiving us of so much sin. This is no small task. Generally, people are grateful for the intervention.

Like intertwined and tangled vines cover a marble statue, completely enmeshing it, we plead for release. There are many attempts at extricating ourselves. (Some rather heroic efforts). But nothing ever really works.

The wonder is that God has already done this. He has cut us free and trampled our sins underfoot. He has gathered up all our iniquity and dumped it in the Marianas Trench. We are now free to go. Our sin is forgiven. What a wonderful God!

Upon release we are free to help Him free the others. Isn’t this is what ‘evangelism’ is all about? What a noble task it is to assist the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve.   1brobry-sig

Hear The Rod

Shepherd with his rod
Shepherd with his rod

“The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.”   Micah 6:9, KJV

“The voice of the Lord calls to the city, and the wise person honors him.  So pay attention to the rod of punishment; pay attention to the One who threatens to punish.”  Micah 6:9, NCV

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There is necessary train of thought we all must board.  It involves traveling to a destination that we deep-down, absolutely abhor.  It is that idea that we are open and vulnerable, especially to his analysis of us–that we are more open than we think to His eyes.

We’ve entered into a spiritual transaction that doesn’t mollify our personal desires.  We are confronted by such a personal evil that just seems to percolate out of our hearts.  There exists something akin to “Pharaseeism,” where we project righteousness when we are really graves or tombs of the dead.

Micah announces that we must “hear the rod.”  Pay attention, become aware, understand deeply– there is a rod (a whip) that pounds everyone who comes to him.  Granted, the only thing necessary is to be aware that this difficult process exist.  We step up, and enter the grinder, with great fear, not really convinced of its efficiency and its capability.

There is no question of his deep and profound love for us.  He is fanatically absorbed in you.  There is a hungry passion for your attention and focus.  You are behind his shield.  You’re treasured far, far beyond what you think.  He sacrificed His own Son, to save your soul.

“Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”  1 Cor. 15:23, ESV.

There is a mandatory factor that informs us that we cannot continue moving through life intoxicated.  Smashed on the wine of pride, stupefied on the brandy of selfishness.  We are called to sober up, and start living a truly terrific Christian life.  In Micah’s words– to listen!  Perhaps that is our greatest weakness in the Church today.  We have become deaf to the voice of God.

I guess that means we must make some adjustments.  To take up our Phillips screwdriver, and start ‘tweaking.’  We need to start the solid work of “tuning in” and becoming aware.  There is a rod, and the Father will use it on those who he loves.  A few whops from that rod will usually bring us to an awareness.

 

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Sinful Inside

“More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil
and cannot be healed.
Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9, NCV

“Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou has taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners.”

Martin Luther

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The Bible in its tremendous insight, never ever makes humans to be wonderful creatures. I think we would all volunteer to be that way. We are not. Rather the opposite is quite true. We are manipulators, rascals, liars and sinners. There is not a single iota of evidence that we can become exceptionally kind, loving and holy people in any sense of the word.

Somehow we generate a lot of self-deceit. We trick our own hearts into believing that we are such noble believers. We ignore evidence that would convict us otherwise. The prophet spoke to his generation in Jeremiah 17. He would speak directly to people who thought they were true and good. Jeremiah called this a lie, a serious miscalculation (especially when the opposite was true.)

“The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?”

Jeremiah 17:9, NIV

This is not the way “to win friends and influence people.” So many pastors, priests, elders, and leaders have a desire deep down to be acceptable and relevant. But God says, we are rascals, tricksters, phonies. Something inside is sick. There can be no human remedy. We simply cannot become religious enough to surmount our profound sin (against God and against others).

I must tell you the truth, you’re terminally ill. You are quite sick, in the most essential part of you. As a boy living in Northern Wisconsin, on a farm somewhat. We found one of our dogs killing our chickens. He was a nice dog, quite friendly and very gentle. But when he started in on the chickens my dad decided to intervene. One of the dead chickens was recovered. My father wired that dead chicken to our dogs neck, nice and tight. The dog wore that rotting chicken for several weeks. Finally the dog laid down, foaming and tongue lolling, eyes rolled back– so sick. So Dad cut off the decaying remains.

It’s one of my more vivid memories. The dog would never again chase a chicken, or even think of killing one. But even so, our sin is disgusting to God. We just seem to do evil without considering Him or others we effect. It’s all about us, as we think we can just skate through this “problem” without any issues. But Jeremiah tells us we are rotting inside.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. “

Matthew 5:3-4, NIV

I suppose this is what it will take. To see ourselves as destitute beggars when it comes to spiritual matters. We very much want to work past this state. We will very often feel that that is Christian discipleship– conquering our deep sin and awful weaknesses. But really, folks, what the Lord really wants is for us to admit our poverty, and be saddened by our sinfulness. We hurt so many.

“Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.”

–Henri Nouwen

We are a broken lot of confused people, and we have never solved the mystery of our own iniquity. In those rare, fleeting times we step into clarity, we are ashamed and disturbed by what we see. Our awful sin needs a wonderful Savior. Jesus does what we could never do. He has died to destroy our sin.

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