Get beneath the surface

"Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24) These words struck me this morning as I was reading the account of Jesus going up to the Feast of Tabernacles and the people hearing his message, amazed at his depth of teaching though he was not a 'scholar' of the Law of Moses. They are in awe of his wisdom and well-grounded instruction, but miss the point that he is the living, breathing Messiah. Jesus assures them his message is not his own but comes from is Father - "Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies." (vs. 17-18) Though speaking the truth, they could only see the things they knew about Jesus - that he was a son of Joseph, a carpenter, born into a village without nobility or honor. They could not see beneath the surface, so they were not making a 'valid' judgment about who Jesus really was.

This is the problem for us at times, isn't it? We see only the surface and never really get beneath the surface - beyond the things we think we know to the things that we could come to know. If we want to really understand the things of God, we have to be willing to 'dig beneath the surface' in order to really get to know him. That might look a little like us having to 'dig beneath the surface' of the front we put out there for everyone to see, as well! What? We get to know more about Jesus by getting beneath the surface of the 'superficial image' WE portray to the world? We get to know more about Jesus when he gets to touch us at more than 'surface level'. Ever wonder why some very solid biblical teaching never really does much to change our character or behavior? It is because we only 'interpret' it on the surface level - we don't allow it to really penetrate into our hearts and minds.

We all go through life making judgments of one sort or another. Some will be rather superficial, like which cut of meat to buy at the supermarket, or which roads we will travel on a journey. Others require just a bit more introspection, such as who we will choose as a soulmate, best friend, or spouse. While some of the judgments we make are okay to be made with very superficial knowledge, such as choosing the gas station on the same side of the road as we are driving on when both sides of the road offer the same price, we cannot always go through life only being 'surface deep' with our actions. At some point, we will need to 'look beneath the surface so we can judge correctly'. Notice, correct judgment is not always 'intuitive' - sometimes it requires a little more effort.

We may go through life seeing things as 'good' that 'tickle our fancy' and other things as 'bad' because they kind of repel us, but are we interpreting things correctly? The adage to not judge a book by its cover comes to mind here. What do you see when you look at yourself? What do others see? It is likely they see what you want them to see, but not always what is truthfully going on inside of your heart, mind, emotions, and struggles of the will. When we allow ourselves to begin to see with Christ's eyes, we begin to make better judgments in life. When we allow ourselves to be seen as Christ sees us, we become examples he can use to draw others to him. Just sayin!

Living small or living large?

I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! (2 Corinthians 6:11-13)

Small spaces can be quite confining. I learned much about caves, caverns, and the formation of stalagmites and stalactites while on vacations and cave exploring. The magnificence and beauty of these spaces buried way underground is truly awe-inspiring. In those moments of taking in those beautiful displays of crystalline-like beauty, I just wanted to break out in hymns of praise! I am not an experiences spelunker. I did breathe in deeply and just sigh loudly at the amazing beauty of our heavenly Father's creative power - even when it is buried deep within the hidden spaces of this earth. Being some 200-250 feet below ground didn't even concern me. Some don't like being in those types of environments. Why? They cannot stand the thought of being in confined spaces. In those confined spaces, there was something I realized - we often feel very "confined" in our lives, but it is not the way God wants us to live. He wants us to experience the openness of what we experience when life is lived "above ground"! "Below ground" we find confined spaces, often providing pressure we don't necessarily see. Confined spaces are limited - there is a restriction in what "fits". When we are feeling "confined", we feel as though we are unable to leave the place we are in - it is as though it has a hold on us. Truth be told, we live much more "confined" lives than God would want us to live. We just don't bring into the "open" what he declares to be free! "Above ground" we enjoy the freedom of open spaces and fresh air. The pressure is different above ground, isn't it? There is still pressure, but it is not as "confining" because the walls don't seem to hold it in. Walls confine - remove the walls and what seems so limiting takes on a different light!

What do the caves all have in common? A lack of light. Until light is "brought into" the confining spaces of those caves, there is no light - the spaces are dark, dank, and overwhelmingly confining. As soon as light begins to be brought into those spaces, some of the most confining "feeling" spaces begin to open up into the widest expanses you might discover - but they are still "below ground". When the light is spent, the spaces return to darkness once again and the impression of impending confinement can return. Maybe this is why it is so important to God that we allow his light to bring into the open what has been confined "under pressure" deep within each of us. Wide-open, spacious life - what does that signify to you? Having lived in Alaska, I have experienced the "wide-open" and seen the majesty of God's handiwork in the night storms. The landscape seemingly changing overnight. I think God may just work this way in our lives once in a while - bringing a change of "landscape" into our lives in ways our minds cannot understand or fully take in at the speed it is happening. 

Newness and freshness. This is what God does for us by bringing what is "under ground" in our lives out into the openness of his light. I appreciated the glimmer of sparkling crystalline-like formations, but when they were brought to the surface, exposed to the light of day - WOW! The many facets of their beauty were able to be admired in a new way. Confined, they had beauty - but exposed in the "above ground" view, they took on majesty and splendor not previously recognized! Some of us have a tendency to live life in a "small way" - not really aware of God's intention for us to live in a "grand way" as he sets us free from all that confines us. We need to allow lasting light to bring out the beauty of what he has been creating "under pressure" in the confines of our inner life. It is only when what has been created "under pressure" is allowed to surface and be exposed to the brilliance of his light that it shines as it should! Let God display all the beauty he has created - "above ground".  Just sayin!

A little look within

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. (2 Corinthians 5:16-20)

Do you know just how conscientious you have to be stop looking at the "surface stuff" in someone's life that you observe with the eye? It is easy to think you know the "real" someone just because you see them act a certain way or say certain things. We aren't really getting to know the "inner struggles" of a man or woman until we get beneath the surface. Surface-reads only tell us so much, don't they? Sometimes we just need to stop long enough to really recognize the heartache, reach out to the emptiness, and re-energize the weak. To do this, we have to look 'within'. Looking within gives us a different perspective, doesn't it? Look out from any window in your home and what might you see? Other homes, some landscaping, a fence or two, some cars, a bird, a neighbor's cat - infinite possibilities because even what seems "normal and customary" changes on the "outside" doesn't it? Now, go outside your home and look inside through the same window. What do you observe from that side? If you stand back a bit, you might just see a reflection of some of those things you saw when looking out, right? Get closer and you begin to see rooms, hallways, furnishings, and even maybe a few people. Why are those people there? Isn't it because someone let them in? Why are those furnishings arranged as they are? Isn't it because it meets some need of those who have to make use of them? We don't really know what is on the inside until we begin to get close enough to see more than a reflection of what is on the outside!

Try as I might, I cannot "convince" someone to change the way they are feeling, or to fill the emptiness of their lives with something which really makes a difference. I can set an example, but I cannot do the "convincing". You don't convince someone to enter or change, but you do convince them that what awaits them presents a pretty convincing argument that they SHOULD enter or embrace change. We look "inside" past the reflections we see on the outside of an individual and what we observe indicates to us they need something specific in their lives. We might even point it out. Remember, it is not our part to convince them TO change, but we can show them the possibilities of what change might look like by presenting an example for them to see in the way we "arrange" and "live out" our own lives! I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I got this wrong in my own life. I'd be looking INTO someone's life and then go about trying to rearrange their life for them. Only God really has the right to do this in another's life. Admit it, we don't like it when someone actually does this to us, so why do we go about doing it in anyone else's life? Am I the only one who has ever interjected myself INTO someone else's "space" without specifically being "invited in"?

The purpose of anyone looking "inside" is to really begin to see another for who they are, as life has made them through the series of events and choices they have made over time. When we look "inside", we might just begin to see Christ at work within - rearranging what needs movement and has become stagnant or stale in their lives. Me might see him cleaning away years and years of "built up" dirt, giving a sense of freshness and purity. There he is at work making places for others to enter in and to find a place of special purpose where other relationships left gaps or holes never refilled again. It is his work - we are only observers of his "life change". I don't have many who I have really "let in" to see me as I am, but when I have let them in, they see more than a reflection - they have come to recognize it is Christ in me setting things right - convincing me of the need for life change. Others have been content to see the reflection of what is on the outside, never getting close enough to really look inside. I am okay with that, as long as they don't judge me by what they see on the surface, because sometimes I can present a pretty picture "out there", but I am pretty much a mess on the inside! To really get to know each other, we need both vantage points, but most importantly to see each other for what God is doing on the inside! Just sayin!

Keep to the script!

Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy.  Keep to the script: whatever you learned and received and heard and saw in me—do it—and the God of peace will walk with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 VOICE)

Paul was the kind of guy many might think of as "Ivy League". He was considered to the be the Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Jewish Rabbi, high up in the ranks of "religious zealots" of his day.  We might liken that to being "top of the class" - or lettering in a varsity sport - getting a name for yourself - or even being in the spotlight. He excelled in the study of the Law of Moses and practiced it down to the smallest instruction. He was too good to walk on the same side of the street as the leper, and too righteous to associate with sinners of any kind. He took issue with this new-found "Christian" movement into which many who followed Jesus' earthly ministry seemed to be "taking up a position". In essence, he was kind of pretty much "into himself" and felt pretty sure of his standing in this world, certain his opinion of his "interpretation" of truth was the best, carrying the most weight, and being the only "standard" by which one should live their life. His life was lived in zeal, but was exclusionary in focus, determinedly biased to one way of seeing truth, and pretty "judgmental" of those who didn't adhere to his way of believing. Saul would have aligned himself with others of similar beliefs, but distanced himself from those who didn't see things as he did. 

Does this way of living sound vaguely familiar to anyone today? The circumstances may be different for many of us, but if we look closely we see one group pitting themselves against another, judging each other through whatever "colored lenses" we each wear, and really trying to justify our position through some misguided belief our "stand" is the best. In truth, there is but one standard by which each of us will be judged - one example by which our lives will be measured - Jesus. It took a while for Saul of Tarsus to realize that very thing, and a pretty dramatic encounter with the Divine to set him straight, but once he understood the only standard by which we all live is that of grace, there was no turning back for him. He got knocked down a few pegs in order to become "all things to all men" - in order to enter into their lives, not as judge and jury, but as one who is equally as much in need of God's grace as the next person. We might do well to recognize this truth, as well. None of us is "Ivy League" in our beliefs - none of us is "fit" to be judging the actions of any other person. All of us need grace - none of us is without sin. As good as we may be, as different as our actions may be from another's, we are all standing in need of God's grace to set our lives "right".

As Paul realized, his thinking had to change - not because he believed "bad stuff", but because the stuff he believed set him apart as an "elitist" and made it almost impossible for others to see anything good in being in relationship with God. The facade he put up of being a religious zealot only masked over his intense need for God's grace - and that facade kept others at a distance. In essence, the robe of his "self-righteousness" confused others into believing they could never "measure up" to the standard by which he lived. It took him getting knocked down a notch or two to realize the zeal he had was only creating confusion for those who had genuine hunger and need in their lives. The leper didn't need to be judged for his spots - he needed to be healed of his disease and embraced as a valuable part of society. The prostitute didn't need to be looked down on because she walked the streets at night - she needed to be shown there was no sin to deep, nor any choice too wrong to be out of reach of God's grace.

We might not be so judgmental of others if we'd learn to see what I think Paul saw that day on the road to Damascus - that "there, but for the grace of God, go I". Just sayin!