Spiritual Blind-spots

Jesus shared a powerful parable:

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.  Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.  Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.   For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” (Matthew 21:28-32)

How is it that we can be so blind to the simple obedience Jesus calls for?  Our words can be so lofty and pious and express such commitment, but our follow-through can be so lacking!  For some reason, according to Jesus, the more "religious" we are, the more we are prone to do this.

How can this happen?  How do we allow these huge blind-spots to form in our lives?

I think it starts when our spiritual words become divorced from our hands-on, simple obedience.  We say the right Sunday School answers, but have no real idea what to do next or, if we do know what to do, we have no intention of doing it.  On top of this, we forget that life in Christ and obedience to Jesus' commands requires commitment and sacrifice.  If we are unwilling to sacrifice we are never going to be willing to obey.  There is always a cost involved with obedience.  I also think we over-complicate things, whether by accident or on purpose.  Most of what Jesus calls us to do requires little or no advanced planning, just a simple willingness to trust and obey.  In that regard it would be better to act with the best of intentions and miss the mark sometimes than to wait around and not act at all.

What do we do?  Here is a start:  Talk less . . . obey more . . . and ask God for help to first see and then remove all the spiritual blind-spots in our lives.      

What do you think?  How have blind-spots formed in your life?  What have you done or what do you need to do to move forward?   

Running To or Hiding From

Last week I heard a message from a Dallas pastor named Matt Chandler.  He was addressing the issue of burnout and discouragement that often happens in the life of ministry leaders, including pastors.  Here is a line he shared that I hope never to forget:   

A ministry is a stupid trade-off for a lack of intimacy with Jesus!

Now on the surface that sounds like such a basic truth that we would all say, duh.  But we all know of many stories of pastors or ministry leaders whose lives are somehow exposed to be hollow shells of Christ-likeness filled instead with darkness, sin, woundedness and despair.  More than anyone, they should have known what to do and who to go to, but they didn’t.  More than anyone, they should have listened to the words of their own teaching, but they didn’t.  Instead of running to God or getting the help they needed, they ran and hid only for the darkness, sin, woundedness and despair to fester and grow.  All that was left, then, was to protect their image, their status and their ministry position. 

I wish those were isolated issues, but they are not.  Let’s go a bit deeper.  As he spoke I thought of this line:

A pristine church reputation is a poor trade-off for a lack of intimacy with Jesus!

There is nothing unique about pastors and ministry leaders when it comes to trading intimacy with Jesus for something else.  We all do it.  We are all tempted to keep doing it all the time.  We spend huge amounts of time, effort and energy trying to maintain a perfect image and reputation even though our lives are being slowly (or rapidly) hollowed out spiritually. 

For some reason we don’t live by the Good News we say we believe!  Here is what I mean: 

1.       Jesus loves us just as we are, not as we should be and nothing can separate us from this love.  Even at our worst, Christ willingly died to save us. – John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 8:35-39

2.       God’s forgiveness is completely dependable and universally available no matter what.  Our Christian brothers and sisters are God’s gift to us to help us experience this healing.   – 1 John 1:9, James 5:16

3.       God adopted us as His sons and daughters.  He chose us because He wanted to.  He loves us! – Romans 8:15

None of this is dependent on us and what we DO.  All of it is dependent on God and what Jesus has ALREADY DONE!  If we don’t really believe Jesus is making us clean or that His love for us is really unconditional, then we have only one option – to run and hide.  But when we come to really believe – at the heart level – in who Jesus IS and what He has DONE and will continue to DO for us, we can run to Him.  That is where true intimacy and union is found . . . and anything and everything else is a poor trade!

What do you think about all this?  Why do we settle for poor trade-offs and miss out on the real thing?

 

Planting not "Hard Selling"

Last Sunday night I had the opportunity to stand by the bedside of someone minutes away from passing from this life to the next.  I had never met her before and knew virtually nothing about her.

How did I get to that room?  She was the friend of one of our church member's neighbor (Yes, I know that is a bit confusing.).  As she approached death she was full of fear and asked to speak to a pastor, but this family knew of no pastor to call.  However, the friend knew her neighbor was a Christian and she called him and he called me.  That started the ball rolling. 

I had the honor and privilege of sharing the Gospel with this woman and leading her in a prayer to receive new and eternal life through Jesus.  Although she could not speak back to me, I could tell through her tears and her gaze that something got through.  She died less than five minutes after we prayed.  I don't know for sure if she received Christ or not, but I sure hope and pray she did. 

That was a powerful moment, but here is what I want us to reflect on and discuss.  It is a profound truth that we all overlook everyday: None of that would have happened if Larry had not been planting seeds in his neighbor's life long before.   It was the neighbor connection that got me to the hospital that night.  Those seeds haven’t brought the neighbor to church yet or even prompted her to make any direct moves toward God, but they are there and God used one of them to prompt her to contact Larry for spiritual help when her friend was near death.   

THAT is a piece of the evangelism work we are ALL called to! 

We plant seeds through kindness, love and service that points to Jesus and trust God for the rest.  God WILL use us!  There is no telling who or how many will be changed as a result!     

Do we need to be prepared to share our story and explain the Gospel in a simple, clear way when we have the opportunity?  Absolutely!

However, I wonder if we are missing a couple of critical things:  

1. Evangelism is everyone's work, not just the expert's job.  Everyone has a role to play.
   
2. Most people are led to Christ through several links in a divine chain of relationships and encounters with Scripture and truth.  Oftentimes the different people and events have no direct connection or even awareness to one another.  The only common link is the unseen Holy Spirit directing the process.   
   
3. Our primary job as Christians is to lovingly plant seeds of the Gospel that point to Jesus, not try to "hard sell" the Gospel as if it all depended upon our words and actions right at that moment.

What do you think about all this?  How has God used you to plant seeds?

To read or to be read!

When you approach the Bible do you read the text or does the text read you?  What I mean is: are you looking simply to come to a conclusion about what the text means so you can log it away somewhere or are you looking to see where God is speaking to you and directing you through the message of Scripture? 

Those two positions are very far apart. 

Some of the smartest people in the world, with degrees from the most prestigious schools and all kinds of accolades, know a lot about the Bible, but they don’t know God.  They can read the Bible in its original languages and speak intelligently about all the different theological arguments throughout history, but they have never given their lives to Jesus.  They have never come to God as a sinner in need of forgiveness and grace.  They don’t live with God’s righteousness in their hearts.  They do not really seek for God to change them.  In fact, as knowledgeable as they are, they are as lost spiritually as someone who has never picked up a Bible in their life, maybe more so.

Then there are others who desire to please God with their life.  They desperately want to know God in an intimate way.  They pray like David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

These people know that apart from God and the grace offered through Jesus they have no hope.  They have come to God as sinners.  They have been forgiven of their sins.  They have been given new life in Jesus by grace.  The Holy Spirit lives in their hearts and guides and directs their lives.  They see their lives changing more and more.  Now, with everything they learn, their desire is to be changed and transformed by it.    

I could go on, but you get the difference.

One of the ways to ensure we stay connected with God is by making sure we don’t just read the text, but instead – and more importantly – that we let the text read us.  We open the pages of Scripture not just to do our devotions, complete a task or hear a sermon, but to engage with God.  We want to hear God speak to us and the primary way He does so is through the Holy Spirit speaking to us through Scripture. 

Are you reading the Bible or is it reading you?  Are its teachings informing, shaping, challenging, convicting and leading your everyday life?  That is what we are looking for as Christians.

How are you doing on this one?  What insights can you offer the rest of us?