I spy with my little eye.....

If you have ever tried to judge the contents of a book simply by looking at the cover, you may have been somewhere into the first couple of chapters only to find what you thought the book may have been about turned out to be something totally not like expected!  You may have been very disappointed in your initial "assessment" of the book, even leaving it unread any further just because you weren't interested in it, or it was way too poor of a read. Once I get into the "heart" of the book, and I find what I hoped was contained there is missing, or falls short of what I expected, I usually abandon it, never to pick it up again. What I hoped was a "good read" leaves me a little disillusioned. Sometimes there are things in life that look like they will be a 'good thing', but once we find ourselves in the midst of them, they aren't exactly turning out the way we imagined!

Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.  (Proverbs 27:19)

While each of us are definitely not "books", we do "reflect" a certain image or 'cover' to the world by how we conduct ourselves, dress, and what appears on our face. I am often called on the carpet because my face betrays my REAL feelings toward some decision or situation that is evolving. So many people today have become proficient in "putting on a happy face", but deep underneath, they seethe in anger, wallow in disappointment, or are bubbling at high heat with absolute discontent. I am a people-watcher and you can often observe me just watching others. I like to observe how they walk, what they do with their hands, how they posture, where they position themselves in a group, etc. It tells me a lot about that person, but it never tells me the whole story. In fact, to really get to know the individual, I need to study their eyes. Within their eyes, I can often see hurt, fear, folly, or any number of other emotional connections that give me some insight into the individual. That insight either entices me 'into' relationship with them, or it repels me. It isn't that I want to offend them, but it is like I get a short way into the book and find it doesn't 'match' what I hoped to find in the pages within!

Windows to our soul - eyes are windows - and it is quite true if you consider what the eyes 'betray' about an individual. They often betray our true response to a situation quicker than any other part of our being. They also act as the "gateway" by which a whole lot of stuff affects us! What we behold with our eyes often determines our response to the situation.
When I am tired, and maybe even a little beat down by life, my eyes are dull - they don't reflect much life or enthusiasm at that moment. When I am energized from within by the Holy Spirit that resides within, there is a vitality evident in my eyes, despite the physical fatigue my body may feel. I have seen men and women in their last days of struggle with terminal disease, bodies consumed with disease and pain, with eyes aglow with the joy of the Lord. If I only looked at the "cover" of their book, I'd see an entirely different story than what is really contained within the pages of their heart! We often discount a 'good read' by the cover!

We need to become proficient at "reading" what is reflected in the eyes. Even if someone has become proficient at wearing the "masks" of life, simply covering over what is affecting them at the moment, their eyes are visible through the mask! The eyes are a true reflection of what is happening deep within the heart - as we 'read' the eyes, we are gaining insight into the individual's heart. The heart is the seat of our emotions - emotions are affected by much and by their very existence, they motivate or hold us back. Learning to go beyond the "cover" story will allow us to minister to others in ways that only God can do. It will also allow them to minister to us when we aren't willing to put forth the 'true' picture of where we are at that moment in our own life's struggles. Just sayin!

Counterfeit or real?

Counterfeit - not genuine; purposely set forth so as to look like the original, but pretend in all ways.  Wow!  I have to ask myself how many times I have put forth "counterfeit" love - you know, the kind where I tell someone something, but I honestly mean something quite different from what I tell them!  I think there are times when we are just not honest with ourselves, let alone others.  We put up a good front, for one reason or another, but really it is still a "front" - it is pretend.  The problem with "pretend" is not in the amount of sincerity behind the "front", but in the intense work it takes to maintain the front!

The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven’t the remotest idea of what they’re holding forth with such imposing eloquence.  (I Timothy 1:5-7 MSG)

Paul writes to Timothy, encouraging him to live a life "out in the open" - not holding out some "imposing" and "impossible" lifestyle of "faith" like the religious leaders of the day had done for quite some time.  The idea of genuineness, even when it came to admitting one's failures, was almost foreign to a truly "religious" person of the day.  Paul's idea of not being "counterfeit" is really a term quite similar to being "two-faced" - behaving one way out in the open, another behind closed doors.  Look at what he says about the one who chooses to live a "counterfeit" life:  They wander off into cul-de-sacs!  Do you know what a cul-de-sac really is?  It is a situation in which no further progress can be made!  So, Paul's instruction is designed to keep Timothy from facing dead-ends in his life!

Truth be told, we all need to hear how it is we live above "dead-ends", don't we?  We have a tendency to head into places which seem okay for the moment, but we soon find they are really avenues where we can no longer make any progress in our lives simply because we are boxed in by the limitations of our choices!  Paul tells us as long as our focus is off of ourselves, with our lives lived out in the open, we should be able to avoid some of these "wrong turns".  

I know there are times when I have chosen a "wrong turn" in life, then found ways to blame others for the turn I clearly took!  If you have tried the same, you are probably in good company - for a lot of us venture into the "convenience" of shifting the blame for our bad decisions to another on occasion.  I think we do this because it helps us with our "front" - we take the focus off of us, so we might keep the appearance of "being okay".  Whenever we work so hard to maintain the "appearance" of being okay, we are presenting an impossible "religious front" - a counterfeit to the real.  It becomes an "imposing" lifestyle which makes it seem impossible for others to ever attain themselves.

When we are not real with others, we are presenting an image of God's love which may make it just too hard for others to grab hold of.  You see, most people look to God's kids to display God's love and to connect his grace and love to our needs in life.  He made us for this purpose.  Whenever we display an image of being "perfect" all the time, others see only the "perfection" we display and not the true tragedies of life which are brewing just beneath the surface.  Those tragedies, and how God works within them to bring us out of them, are what connect others to the love and grace of God.  

Real people attract other real people - with real life issues, real life tragedies of their own.  Real people connect other real people to the resources of God's love, grace, and peace.  Real people spot the counterfeit a mile off.  They become good judges of the real!  Just sayin!

Fullness in the emptiest of places

I came across a quote the other day which kind of made me take a moment to contemplate what the author must have meant when the words were penned. The origin of the quote is unknown, but it states, "Life is like a flute.  It may have many holes and emptiness, but if you work on it carefully, it can play magical melodies."  I would like to point out it is not the work "I" do on my life which produces the melodies which are pleasing to the hearer, but the works "GOD" does in my life!  He is the only one capable of bringing melodies out of our empty places, not by "plugging the holes", but by covering them with his grace and love.  

I will always show you where to go.  I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. (Isaiah 58:11 MSG)

To be fair, I cannot pick this passage out of Isaiah to stand all by itself without giving you the preceding couple of verses.  They outline some "conditions" God outlines for our right living.  Here is the "rest of the story", as Paul Harvey would have said:  "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight." (vs. 9-10 MSG)  How is it God will always show us where to go - when we begin to walk in the way he has called us to live.

Unfair practices have no place in a Christian's life.  You could call these anything which "place a yoke" upon another.  In other words, you place another in bondage to do or be what you want them to be by what you demand of t hem.  I think God was aiming at the idea of placing demands upon others we would never place upon ourselves.  As a child, I would often think someone got to go first in line, had he biggest piece of cake, or simply got to swing first, all the while thinking how "unfair" life was!  Isn't it amazing how we "judge" the fairness of life by the standards of who goes first, gets the most, or has the best ride?  I think this passage deals with matters a little bit deeper than who got the biggest piece of cake, though.  It deals with the attitude of heart which places another under obligation - holds another in a place of being oppressed.  The instruction to us is to get rid of the unfair practices - to stop placing demands upon others and to start living above the demands others have placed upon us.  We are to live free - serving but one master - and he doesn't place a yoke which oppresses!

Blaming victims?  What on earth could this mean?  Well, I think it might deal with the tendency we have to tell someone "I told you so".  It is easy to see we might even do this with ourselves on occasion.  When blame victims for what happens to them, we might just be placing them under a yoke of burden they were never intended to bear.  Pointing the finger is an easy thing to do - realizing the remainder of the fingers are actually point back at us is much harder!  The old adage "it takes one to know one" might just apply here.  We are not in a position to judge the hearts of another - we can see their actions and even observe their emotion, but we cannot judge their hearts.  Only God can do this.  Whenever we try to even judge our own heart, we fail - because no one knows our heart as well as God.

Gossip is an action which is dealt with multiple times in scripture - more than most of us would like to admit.  Looking at the progression of what Isaiah has penned here, we can see he is dealing not so much with the actions or deeds of another done toward us, but the actions and attitudes of our heart done against another.  It is an easy thing to gossip about another's short-comings. It is quite another to allow those short-comings in another to begin to unveil the same short-comings in us!  When we stop talking ABOUT another, and start praying FOR another, we might just realize how closely our own actions and attitude mimic those we would most like to criticize in the other!

Instead of unfair practices, blaming victims and gossiping about the sins of another, we are instructed to begin to "give into" the lives of others.  The first three actions "take away from" the lives of another - the instruction to live generously, not only in terms of our material stuff, but in terms of the expenditure of our lives, actually "gives into" the life of another.  Isaiah is pointing out the difference between justice and injustice.  One builds up - gives into - another's life.  The other takes away - tears down.  We are called to be "builders" - to live in a way which exemplifies the generosity of a great God who has redeemed us with the most valuable of things he possessed - his Son.  In this way, the tides are changed in the lives of the oppressed and the victims - and we play an active part in the changing of this tide!

The end result of this "shift" in our way of responding is an ability to shine in darkness.  Instead of creating darkness, we actually allow light to be shed where only darkness once dwelt.  This brings us to our highlighted passage - being filled to overflowing in even the emptiest of places.  If you have ever wondered how it was someone could face the most horrific pain, endure the greatest loss of their life, or face terror with boldness, it was probably because they had this type of "grounding" in their lives.  God is the only one able to give us a full life in the emptiest of places.  We all will face some of these "expanses" in the course of living on this earth - places where the emptiness becomes so apparent it hurts.  In those moments, God brings fullness.  God is a God of the opposites.  He sees hurt and gives healing.  He hears defeat and gives courage.  He encounters emptiness and fills the space with his presence.

I don't know about you, but emptiness is a challenge for me.  If you look closely, you will find I have tried to mask those empty places in my life - but no amount of "masking" will ever bring fullness out of emptiness!  It is only when I reveal my emptiness that I am able to have it filled to overflowing!  How about you?  Need to remove some "masking" from your empty places today?  It might just take some getting used to, but when you are willing to live without the mask, the emptiness has a tendency to get filled with the best of stuff!  Just sayin!

Overalls anyone?

I saw a sign the other day which read, "Love is faith in overalls".  Let that one sink in a little, but don't lose sight of the image it conjures up, as well.  Think of you in overalls.  When I thought about overalls for a moment, I envisioned two types - the ones made of denim worn as the replacement to pants by a farmer, and the ones which slip over your clothes.  They are different, aren't they?  One is actually the "clothing" you wear - without them, you'd be a little naked.  The other is only a covering "over" our clothes - we don't actually take off our clothes, but are protecting what is underneath by this outer layer of cloth.  Now, back to our quote - which type of "overall" would you equate with love?  The type you wear "over" yourself, or the type which becomes what you might refer to as what really "clothes" you?

For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. (Galations 5:6 MSG)

I think the author of our quote might really have been saying what Paul said here to the Galation church - faith expresses itself.  There is action to faith - not just some set of rules, ethereal beliefs, or standards by which we live.  There is a definite "outflow" from what is on the inside.  Paul was really dealing with the idea of the two sets of overalls - one merely covers over, the other becomes that which clothes us well.

We often attempt to equate love with something other than faith - but the two go hand in hand.  Our society has a very distorted idea about love, so understanding it from the perspective of scripture is important.  Love is not a set of emotions or something we "fall into".  It is indeed a deeply-rooted "outflow" of something within us.  If we remember this, we might be less inclined to "fall into" it, but rather allow it to "flow out" of us!

Paul's focus is on the interior of our lives.  The type of overalls I described the farmer wearing is worn very close to his body.  There is not a whole lot between his nakedness and the outside world!  I think this is the kind of faith God looks for in us - the kind which is not afraid to be genuine.  The world needs genuine people - those who admit their mistakes, don't give an air of perfection, but rather reveal both the genuineness of their humanity and the reality of their connection with Christ's forgiveness.  The farmer's overalls don't mask his nakedness.  I think of those overalls as doing what grace does in our lives - they provide a covering for our sin or nakedness.

Too many times, we seem to settle for just "covering up" the things which we think the world doesn't need to see.  We wear our "faith" like a pair of "coveralls" - merely covering over all the other "layers" of stuff underneath.  We never really get genuine with people - choosing instead to mask what it is we "wear" and "bear" under an outer protective barrier.  The one who dons the mechanic's coveralls wants nothing more than a barrier - hoping to strip them off and see everything just as it was when he put them on.  The problem is that we never really allow others to see us as we really are.

The farmer gets his overalls on knowing he might just get a little dirty, wet, and even a little sweaty in his daily dealings - he will be "real" in his activity and his activity will produce "real" outcomes which might just affect him a little, as well.  He also knows he can take these overalls off at the end of the day, bathe, and be as fresh as a daisy.  In other words, in being genuine, we might find ourselves affected by what we touch.  In the end, we can always return to the place of grace - the place of cleansing and renewal.  Love isn't afraid to get itself dirty - the genuine expression of faith in action.

Some time in the 70's bib overalls were "fashionable" for a brief period of time.  We chose to sport them as our clothing because they were "cool".  Some sewed all kinds of patches on them, making various statements.  Others embroidered things on them, jazzing them up.  Still others wore them just as they were.  They came in colors - not just the plain blue denim.  They were the "thing" we wore.  It was short-lived, as most fads are.  But...there is something I remember about those overalls - they were really comfortable to wear!  You felt very relaxed in them - movement was easy, there was plenty of room in them, and you just knew you could do almost anything in them. 

There is something about grace which allows us to move freely, almost as though we had "room" to be real.  When love is met with love, genuineness is easy.  Maybe it is time for us to consider which type of "love" we are "wearing" - the type which only covers over who we really are underneath, or the type which reveals the genuineness of our person.  Just sayin!