Way-Finding Friends

While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:2-5)

I don't know about you, but I want these kinds of friends in my life! I want friends who will 'bare-handedly' remove rooftops for me! I want to know that regardless of my ability or faith, they are right there when I have needs I may not be able to handle on my own or even recognize I have a way to have to have those needs met outside of the 'normal' way of meeting them. How about you? Do you have those kinds of friends? Do they recognize a need in your life even before you recognize it yourself? If you do, you are truly blessed!

The crowd wasn't too much for them - they saw the need of their friend and it would take an army to stop them! They dug a hole in the roof - nothing was stopping their friend from getting in front of the Lord of Lords. We actually don't need namby-pamby, wishy-washy faith friends. We need 'roof removing', 'get 'er done' friends - nothing being too great of an obstacle to get our need before the Lord. One thing I have observed to be true - faith isn't obstacle free. If we want our miracle, we are likely going to have to get past some obstacles in our path.

Seeing their faith - it wasn't the man's faith that Jesus took note of - it was the faith of the four friends. There are times when my faith is nothing to speak of - it wavers just like it does for you on occasion. When it doesn't match the faith needed to 'get 'er done', we'd actually do well to 'lean into' the faith of those God has provided as our spiritual companions in this journey. Why? They aren't affected by the intensity of our need - the intensity that actually paralyzes us and makes it difficult to bring ourselves before God on our own. They find a way where we see no way. 

I want 'way finding' friends. If you don't have those type of friends in your life, isn't it about time you find them? Just askin!

Another type of campaign

It never ceases to amaze me all the things people will 'protest' against these days.  Whether it be taking an open mike at the county or state government meeting, or carrying pickets outside the offices of our legislators, there are groups "advocating" for some "right".  It could be the right to work for a wage they determine to be better than the present wage, the controversy over which restroom to use at a public establishment, or even that dolphins don't belong in the Arizona desert!  We have coined this "advocating activity" as taking a stand for what we believe.  Our country was founded on the principle a person's opinion mattered - hence we get the laws around the freedom of speech.  Yes, we do have the freedom to advocate or protest, but the real question is if we are "taking a stand" for the right things?

Stand up for the poor and the orphan; advocate for the rights of the afflicted and those in need. Deliver the poor and the needy; rescue them from their evil oppressors. (Psalm 82:3-4 VOICE)

I have to be truthful here - I don't usually listen to any of the presidential debates, really focus on their campaign messages, or put much faith in what the written media reports about them.  Why?  I am put off by the lack of respect we actually allow within these so called "campaign" speeches. Any more, campaigns are run as "mean" as they can be - working hard to uncover the "dirt" in someone's past or focus on their inadequacies rather than to focus on the needs of our country and how they themselves will work with others to see those needs met.  People are busy "taking stands", but are they taking a stand for things which really matter?

God tells us to stand up for the poor and the orphan.  The poor are "impoverished" in some manner - it could be their inability to find meaningful employment which allows them to provide for their needs, or their life circumstances which have left them reduced into a place of suffering all the time.  The orphan used to just describe someone without parents - no one to care for their needs as they grew up in this world. In today's sense of the word, it would be anyone (or anything) who has been "cast away" as of little value or worth.  If you are an animal rights advocate, you would see the abandoned or mistreated animals as "orphans" who need someone to stand up for their rights.  Regardless of how you interpret the orphan or the poor, the idea is that of contending for their deliverance, ensuring they are defended and protected. 

Too many focus on "taking a stand" and completely ignore the second part of the command - deliver and rescue them. It is one thing to press for the rights of the poor and orphaned. It is another to actually be the one to make a way for their deliverance or rescue from whatever it is they presently endure.  Plato said, "Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a harder battle."  You never really know just how an act of kindness can be the best means of "standing up for" the poor, needy, or orphaned in our world.  Jesus challenged his disciples to never look beyond the need, but to meet it whenever possible.  We don't need to take up picket signs, pounding the streets in protest, as much as we need to pick up our hands and extend them to meet the needs of the ones we care so passionately to defend!  Just sayin!

You good at asking?

Did you ever stop to consider why the God of the Universe, the one who made all things and knows all things, requires us to ask for whatever it is we need or want?  It seems contradictory to who he is, doesn't it?  To have to ask when he knows already seems kind of foolish on the surface, but if you stop to consider what "asking" entails, you may come to a revelation of the true purpose of asking.  You see, asking requires us to humble ourselves, not to mention allow for a clarification of our wants and needs.  Have you ever sought one thing, only to find when you received it the "thing" did not do for you whatever you hoped it would?  I have and it was then that I realized just how much I didn't really need what I asked for - it was just something to "fill space" in my life, but that "space" really should have been occupied by something else (or someone else).

This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’ (Jeremiah 33:2-3 MSG)

Asking is a process - not a one-time thing, but a developing process.  To truly understand what is behind our "asking", we have to understand the process:

- It entails us having either a want or a need.  The difference is that one of these is sort of like icing on a cake.  Cake alone is good, but put the icing on it and it is great.  A need is like the cake - it provides what will bring satisfaction.  The want is like the icing - it provides that little bit of "wow" into our lives which we long for in some way.  

- It involves knowing the difference between the two.  As long as we are confused as to the difference between a want and a need, we will constantly be asking for our wants rather than our needs.  A steady diet of icing will only put us on sugar-overload!  Although there may be a little "high" from having the want met (just like you get from a sugar high - that sudden burst of energy), it is short-lived and soon we are "let down" by it (as when your body adjusts to having expended that short-lived energy boost).  What we need is what will sustain us for the long-haul.

- It requires us to be humble enough to ask.  This is often the place of "rub" in our lives.  We will do almost anything in our own effort BEFORE we ask for help!  It isn't until we have failed to bring about what it is we need that we humble ourselves enough to ask.  What is up with that?  I think it is our humility God may be after in this "asking" thing - because he wants us to learn to rely upon another, not just ourselves.  Too many of us start out thinking we cannot be "dependent" upon anyone for our "success" in life.  In time, God will bring all of us to the same conclusion - life lived "independent" of his care and protection is just not life lived to its fullest!

- It begins with us putting into words whatever it is we have need of.  This is the second biggest "rub" in this process because we often have a hard time articulating what it is we need.  We just cannot find the words to express it - or we just plain don't know.  I think this is why Jesus tells his disciples that they can rely upon the Holy Spirit to give them utterances even they don't understand themselves.  Just because we don't know how to put into words what we have need of doesn't mean God doesn't need to hear from us - he provides the Holy Spirit to "utter those inner needs" directly into the ear of our heavenly Father.  

- It calls for us to be open to hearing.  Therein is the next "rub" in this process of asking - for it is much easier to speak about what we need and then so very hard to be quiet long enough to actually hear how it is God might plan for us to have that need met!  Part of asking is being quiet - putting the need out there and then resting in our position of humble waiting.  Waiting is not the strong-suit for many of us - me included.  So, this process of waiting and listening is difficult and requires sometimes more of us than the actual "asking" does in the first place!  Yet, it is the part of the process where we get clarity and begin to see God at work in our lives.  Apart from hearing, we have just "us" in the picture!  Hearing allows God to be "brought in"!  Just sayin!

All I want for Christmas is....

Having raised two children and seeing the grandchildren moving up the grades in school, I am well familiar with the tendency to heart those words "I want" more than I care to have heard them.  Most parents deal with this "I want" phase of childhood by trying to sculpt their children's desires into realistic and meaningful ones rather than indulging each and every "I want" as though it was an immediate need which required being met.  If we did meet every one of their "I want" demands, we probably raised pretty spoiled children!  More importantly, we never helped them realize the world isn't all about them! There are times when our "wants" are really demands and they are all based in this belief of us being the most important one in the picture at the moment.  There are probably very few of our "wants" which actually equate to "needs" in our life - but isn't it amazing how loudly our "wants" proclaim themselves?  

You’re all I want in heaven! You’re all I want on earth! When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful. Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again. But I’m in the very presence of God—oh, how refreshing it is! I’ve made Lord God my home. God, I’m telling the world what you do! (Psalm 73:25-28 MSG)

There is one definite "need" in life which actually is a truthful need - the desire to know God on a deeply personal level.  Unfortunately, some don't ever see this as a need, content to just "know of" God, but never really coming to "know" God.  I think this might be related to how we perceive our needs in life - if the needs we have are all about what is in it for us, we miss the important point that this is a two-way relationship between us and God. As with all other relationships, one-way relating does not go very far toward developing intimacy and true communication.  If all we do is tell God all our "wants" and never allow him to refine them into what we actually "need" versus what will bring us immediate pleasure or satisfaction, we are truly missing the boat.

When God has the "authority" to filter our "wants", we are actually saying we give God permission to show us where we are still in the control of our lives. This may not seem like much at first, but if we allow another to help us clarify what it is we "need" vs. "want", we are really saying we trust that person to help us make decisions which will affect our lives.  This is the first step toward deep intimacy in relationship - being open and honest enough with another to be "vulnerable" in what is shared and in what may come back to you in the form of feedback.  Sometimes what we don't see in our "wants" is the very thing which keeps us in bondage to something or someone.  At other times, our "wants" are just about us - there is no foundation of considering the needs or wants of another, it is all about us.  Either way, we have much to learn at the feet of Jesus when it comes to deferring to his help on refining our "wants" and showing us what are actually our true "needs".

As David pens this prayer to God, he is finding himself caught off-guard again by how easily he can get distracted in life.  He opens with the idea of almost missing out on God's movement in his life because he was looking the other way.  Now, when we are so focused on our "wants", it is easy to get our focus totally misdirected.  He found himself envying what others had, did, and enjoyed.  He got his focus on the other guy - comparing what they had, how easily it came into their lives, what they could do because they had what they did, etc.  Sound familiar?  This is the basis of almost all advertisement on the TV these days - showing us what we don't have, creating in us a desire to get it, and then telling us how "fulfilled" we will be if we get it!  It doesn't matter if it is the potato chip which proclaims we cannot eat just one, or if it is the automobile commercial which makes all driving of their sleek automobile look like an Indy 500 race.  You can count on this - the schemes of Satan's heart are designed to get our eyes off of what God wants for our lives and onto what it is we can be duped into by his schemes as "needs" and "wants" promising immediate fulfillment.

Most of us recognize the futility of getting our eyes on anything other than Christ, but how many of us actually recognize how much "drift" we allow in our focus.  If you have ever sat still for a moment, looking at something in front of you, then found yourself gradually looking all around at the stuff around what it was you were looking at, you understand this idea of drift.  Our eyes were designed to pick up in the periphery - we see stuff that isn't even in our direct visual path.  This makes focus more difficult to maintain sometimes. We actually have to concentrate to stay focused!  This is why I actually make a list before I go to the grocery store!  If I don't want to spend way over my budget for groceries, I need the list!  Why?  I get caught up in what my eye beholds!  Before long, my cart holds what my eye beholds!  Drift has occurred. There is this same thing which occurs in relationship - when we aren't focused on living with intent, we allow for drift!

Our psalmist describes this whole battle within which is pretty much what all of us deal with - we see what we want, start to go after it without really thinking if it is what we need, and then when we get a little ways into the pursuit of it, we might just have a little remorse about the pursuit.  In the end, we find ourselves appealing to God to get us out of the mess our "wants" have lured us into.  He even describes the sheer "headache" of trying to figure out the difference between what he was envying and what he really needed to be pursuing in life.  I appreciate the honesty of David's heart to tell us how much it actually "hurts" to make unwise decisions!  There is a whole lot of "headache" and "heartache" with drift!  Where is it he finds clarity and gets hold of how much he has drifted?  In the sanctuary of God!  Nothing brings clarity quicker than to come into the presence of God and just sit quietly before him in worshipful thought.  All those "wants" become clear to us as either false promises, or as luring temptations.  In his presence, we get focus again.

Sometimes the toughest part of our Christian walk is just maintaining focus. The single-most difficult thing to do "independently" is live righteously!  We need each other, the Holy Spirit, and the Word to help us with focus and to bring us into revelation about what we truthfully "need" in this life.  "Wants" are innumerable - but as we finally get centered on our "need" for deep relationship with Jesus, our "wants" begin to pale in comparison to this single "need"!  When HE becomes the center of our focus - he becomes all we "want" in this life!  Just sayin!

Principle 1: The Poor and Weak Cannot Be Ignored

Wouldn't it be nice if someone gave us a list of principles to incorporate into our lives which would help us to walk uprightly and consistently find favor in the eyes of God?  Well, guess what - Solomon did that for us!  He gave us a list of 30 principles to guide us along the way.  Here is what he had to say as he introduced them:   Listen carefully to my wisdom; take to heart what I can teach you.  You’ll treasure its sweetness deep within; you’ll give it bold expression in your speech.  To make sure your foundation is trust in God, I’m laying it all out right now just for you.  I’m giving you thirty sterling principles—tested guidelines to live by.  Believe me—these are truths that work, and will keep you accountable to those who sent you.  (Proverbs 22:17-21 MSG) Now, if someone is willing to take the time to outline these principles for us with the intention of making sure our foundation is trust in God, doesn't it seem like we should probably explore these principles and see how we can incorporate them into our lives?  In fact, when we begin to outline these for ourselves, we find they will provide a foundation by which we will be held accountable for our actions.  Now, that is something we all need!

Don’t walk on the poor just because they’re poor, and don’t use your position to crush the weak, because God will come to their defense; the life you took, he’ll take from you and give back to them.  (Proverbs 22:22-23 MSG)

Principle number one deals with the "poor" and the "weak" and our attitude toward them.  It seems odd that Solomon would start with how we deal with the poor and the attitude of heart we truthfully have toward their need, but if we examine this one closely, we might just see this as an appropriate place to begin.  He is pointing us toward our heart attitude - how we see ourselves in comparison to others and how we use that perception to either meet or ignore the needs of those around us.  God's command to us is to love him first, then to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  How we view another in "comparison" to how we view ourselves can tell us a lot about our attitude of heart.  If we see ourselves as more fortunate, better positioned, or even "above" another, we have some work which needs to be done in our hearts. No man or woman created by our heavenly Father has any better or worse "position" in God's eyes.  We are all his creation - we all have needs - our needs just differ.  To judge another by their "position" or their intensity of "need" is just not what God wanted any of us to do.  Rather, he wants us to be sensitive to the needs of others - regardless of their "status" in this life.

When we see another's need as something we have an opportunity to meet, we are serving that individual as Christ would expect us to.  When that need is outside of our ability to meet in the material, physical, or emotional sense, then we still have an opportunity and obligation to bring that need before the throne of God on behalf of that individual.  There are varying degrees of being "poor" and / or "weak".  Being "poor" simply means we are lacking in something we have need of - it could be material (such as finances), physical (such as a place to live), emotional (such as a friend to walk alongside us), or even spiritual (such as when we just need someone to help us connect with God on a matter).  To ignore the needs of anyone who has a "lack of what is needed" is to "walk on them" as scripture puts it.  When we walk on another, we are treating them as though their need is beneath us - not important to us or to the Christian community at large.

We all have varying degrees of weakness, as well.  To ignore another's weakness is to open many a door to issues within our community.  For example, if I know your weakness to be a struggle with alcohol and I continually offer you a glass of wine when we dine together, I am being insensitive to your area of weakness in your life.  You may be in the process of being redeemed from your struggle with alcohol, but my insensitivity to your "former" area of weakness is really showing an attitude of being uncaring.  We have an obligation to understand the areas of weakness another may struggle with in life - for only then may we step up to be an encouragement and a life-line for their healing and recovery.

Yes, we have "poor" and "weak" all around us and at times, the finger points at us, as well.  Our attitude of heart is manifest in how well we interpret their need and our responsiveness to meet that need if it is within our ability.  If not, then we are at least under an obligation to bring their need before God for his intervention.  What Solomon starts with is the sense of "community" we all need to build - not ignoring anyone within our influence.  If we maintain a heart ready to reach out to those in need or just simply weak in some respect, we are standing ready to serve as Christ's ambassadors.  This indeed is what will thrill the heart of God.  Just sayin!

You...God....You

There are very few things in this life we can actually be sure of - most of which are totally out of our control as Benjamin Franklin once said in the old adage:  "Nothing is certain but death and taxes."  If we were to be totally honest, I think we might just be able to add a third one to this list:  Mistakes. It is totally human to make mistakes, so it stands to reason we can count on it as a "given" in life - something we can count on happening.  If there are things we can know for sure will happen, we have a different mental focus about them, don't we?  For example, I don't even think about the taxes coming out of my paycheck until someone asks me about them, or I go to prepare my income tax statement every year.  Why?  They are a "constant" I can count on, so no amount of worry will ever change the fact they are coming out of my paycheck.  It is as though they just "happen" - they are out of my control.  I can try to manage them by taking the legal amount of deductions to minimize what comes out of my paycheck, but if I don't do this well, I may actually owe more at the end of the year.  I may have "manipulated" the situation, but I don't change the fact I still owe the taxes.  In reality, there is something much more important we can count as "certain" in our lives, but which we frequently need a lot of reminders to actually believe:  God will take care of everything you need!  Yep, everything!

You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity.   (Philippians 4:19-20 MSG)

This passage is not written as a "maybe" God will kind of proposal, but as a statement of fact - "God will take care of everything you need" - period! Here's the kicker - we try to manipulate things so we figure out a way to take care of what we need or what we actually don't need, but maybe just want pretty badly.  We are master "schemers" - manipulating things so we can either accomplish them outside of God's timing, or get what we want regardless of what it will do to us once we have it.  It is kind of like cheating on your taxes, though - you still owe the taxes, you just found a way "around" paying them. When we don't rely upon the certainties God tells us we can count on, it is like we are "cheating" on God!

Our writer points out several things we need to stand on in order to not operate outside of God's timing, or "cheat" on him by manipulating things to go the way we want them to go.

- YOU can be sure...  This passage begins with us - you and I - it is about what we think, say, and do.  

• YOU - the person being addressed in this passage is not someone else, it is us - the readers
• CAN - you have the ability and the power to do this; you know how to; you have the means to; but most importantly - you have the right and qualifications to
• BE SURE - you have the right and qualifications to confident, fully assured, certain beyond question, and free from doubt as to the qualifications and reliability of God's desire and reliability in providing for your needs

- GOD will take care of everything you need...  Although the passage begins with US, it quickly directs US to GOD.  

• GOD - really this is God - Elohim - the creative one, the governing and sovereign one, in possession of absolute power and authority, and the one who enters into "covenant-relationship" with is creation.  At first, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is - because "covenant" is unbreakable in God's eyes.
• WILL - not maybe, but is totally disposed toward, without any hint of regret or unwillingness on his part
• TAKE CARE - he will pay serious attention to that which he promised, simply because he doesn't take his promises lightly
• OF EVERYTHING - easily said this literally translates as "every thing" - the total amount, all things wrapped up into one
• YOU NEED - he brings it back to us - starts with us, turns it to him, and then refocuses on us.  It is about our NEEDS, not someone else's - it is what he finds to be necessary in our lives - but may not be "every thing" we want in our lives.  Here's where we need to learn to trust God, because he knows whether our wants will present things which will only add worries and trouble to our lives.  We don't know this - maybe that is why I added "mistakes" to our list of things we can count on!

It is good to recognize God's generosity.  It begins with grace - for none of our actions warranted his mercy, but in his generosity, he reached for us with the gift of grace.  It continues with growth - for none of us is able to grow without oversight and protection.  It blossoms with gratitude - for God examines the intentions of the heart and the responsiveness of our spirit. We can count on him to be there - no matter what the circumstance.  We cannot always see his hand in action, but we can know for sure it is IN ACTION.  Just sayin!