Jimbadical

Monday, April 07, 2014

Holiness

Hey, can I make you a smoothie?

Many smoothies are made at our house. On a typical morning, the Magic Bullet blender sounds more like a Magic Machinegun, spitting out concoctions purple and green. There are mild arguments over the best (and worst) ingredients. Some think anything goes, from spinach to yesterday’s leftovers; others follow a strict regimen of favorite fixings.

I like to create my smoothies as the spirit leads – my spirit, not God’s, though the results might be considered inspired. I would gladly make one for you. How about frozen blackberries, almond milk, half a banana, crushed ice, dash of ice cream, swig of maple syrup, dollop of french vanilla yogurt – and my special secret ingredient! Ready for it?

Just a little bit of dog poo.

Don’t worry. It was collected fresh this morning from the friendliest of pooches. And it is so very tiny a fragment of feces. You won’t even taste it, I guarantee. What do you think? Should I get started?

Of course not! Who do you think I am? The thing is revolting, even if the poo can’t be tasted. It would make you sick, if not physically then at least by the very thought of it.

“Holy” is a word misplaced in our vocabulary. How did you or I last use it? “Holy cow!” perhaps. I recently watched an amazing clip of some orcas chasing a pod of sea lions, and all the people in the boat could say was “holy shit!” over and over. What an odd oxymoron.

I think we are losing sight of the holiness of God. John says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” None, not even the tiniest little bit. To God, darkness is as disgusting as any quantity of dog poo in a smoothie. He will tolerate none of it, not even the smallest hint.

God does not shrink from sin; it is sin that cringes and crawls and finds a shady spot - if it can - in the blinding, blazing light of his glory. Darkness flees, powers concede defeat, and one day every knee will bow – willing or no – at the feet of the Holy One.

“Be holy, as I am holy.”

Seriously, God? Do you see where we live? Who can help getting their feet dirty as we walk about in a fallen world? Staying perfectly clean is a lost cause.

Granted. But that is not the point. Holiness is not something we can do perfectly; however, it is what we must be. Here is the difference: Be holy, and when you act less than holy you will know it and feel it – deeply. You will not put up with it long; you will do business with God and be made clean again.

John goes on to say, “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Light is holiness. When we walk with God in the light, though we inevitably stumble, our sin is quickly exposed for what it is and can be quickly confessed.

Our holy God is compassionate toward the worst of sinners. He does not bear a “holier than thou” attitude, even though that is what he is. Walk with him in the light and you will find yourself in the darkest places on earth, among people who can’t find their way.

God does not shrink from sinners; they flee from him until his love overwhelms and conquers them. Like Paul, to whom Jesus later said, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

So holiness neither makes us perfect nor sets us above our fellow man. But neither can holiness tolerate sin, any more than you can tolerate poo in your smoothie.

We have become accustomed to the taste of poo. Have grown to rather like it really, though it sickens and weakens us and corrodes our resolve until our concessions and compromises make us not very unlike the cesspool in which we live. The world has very many convincing arguments for the taste of poo, the rightness of poo, the right to poo, that poo should be acceptable to any lover of mankind. And we are listening.

But light and darkness are not two sides of the same coin. The room I am sitting in has a light switch, but no darkness switch. I can bring the light of Jesus into the darkest places, but I cannot walk in darkness and find myself in the light.

If that was confusing, here is an example. Your generation of believers has fewer scruples than mine about entering the dark places – the pub, the club, the party of a friend, your cousin’s gay wedding. Good on you! But when you are there, remember why you are there. If it is not to be light – holy, different, wholly other, redeeming, exposing, full of grace – you are probably simply walking in darkness.

Another example: You are better than my generation at dialogue with those who don’t share your Christian worldview – the atheist, the amoralist, the secular humanist. Well done! But what fellowship can light have with darkness? Be respectful, take interest, ask good questions, but stand for truth and expose the lies and evil scheming of your real adversary, who is not flesh and blood.

Be holy, as he is holy. Be so other than the world around you that they can’t help but feel a bit exposed by your presence, though you have uttered not a word of judgment or condemnation, and on the contrary have exuded grace and compassion and interest. Be so other that they see you as they saw Jesus, “a friend of sinners,” but no friend of sin.

That is holiness.

Can you add that word back into your vocabulary?

Monday, December 02, 2013

Warp Speed, Mr. Sulu (reprint from 23-Nov-09)

This is for all those who, like myself, are frustrated with time. Like the famous rabbit of Alice's tale, I seem to be endlessly running, always late for some very important date. If I'm not late, I am waiting for someone who is, until we are both late. There is never enough time.

Quite on my own, I came up with a theory: Not only does it feel like time is going faster, but it actually is going faster. I later found some scientific backup for my hypothesis. Edwin Hubble, who later had a telescope named after him, discovered by observing galaxies moving away from us that the universe is expanding, and since space is the measuring stick of time, time itself is accelerating. Einstein's theory of relativity included the idea that the expansion of the universe should slow down at a constant rate, though he was unable to account for some factors in his theory. Then in 1998, researchers discovered that the expansion of the universe is actually speeding up, not slowing down.

What does that mean? The fact that the expansion of the universe is accelerating means that time itself is speeding up at a greater rate than previously thought. The problem is that our means of measuring time is also expanding. It's like trying to measure your height with a tape measure that is growing at the same rate as you - it always reads the same, though you have a strong suspicion that you are taller than you were before. Likewise, time is speeding up, and the only way we can tell is that it feels faster every year.

Whether you like my speculation or not, you likely share my frustration with time.

I have wondered what it was like for Jesus, who stepped out of eternity into the thing called Time that his Father created. He had a first breath, and a last. He experienced "waiting," and learned patience. His carpentry jobs had a deadline; he was perhaps often late for lunch. He could not be everywhere at once, nor did he have the time to do everything he wanted. His appointed time had no cars, cell phones or dishwashers; everything he did, from traveling to working, required a good deal of time. After 33 long years, Jesus could finally say, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you."

In the world that God made,

Yet God placed in our hearts something that tells us that time is not all there is. This morning as Kristie and I prayed with a student, Kristie said something in her prayer that got me thinking about time (again) this evening. She said that our frustration with time points to the fact that we were made for timelessness.

Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3 continues, "I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." C.S. Lewis put it this way: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

So my frustration with time is understandable, yet not excusable. Jesus entered time, yet he seemed to have all the time in the world. Though the world swirled around him, demanding signs, seeking healing, requiring answers, he seemed to march to the beat of a different Drummer. When told that everyone was looking for him, he could say, "Let's go somewhere else." As important people waited on his verdict, he could draw in the sand with his finger. I am told that by faith I can walk in this world as Jesus walked.

And there will be an end to time. Jesus said repeatedly that certain things would take place, and then the end of the age will come. Maybe sooner than science supposes: "If dark energy density rises rather than falls, the universe will eventually undergo a 'hyper speedup' that would tear apart galaxies, solar systems, planets and atomic nuclei, in that order" (Scientific American, September 23, 2008). Or as Peter pictured it,

Hang on a minute! Rewind! "...as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming..." What on earth? We can speed up time? We can make the end of time arrive sooner? How? Peter tells us in this same chapter.

We can live holy and godly lives. The Jewish nation has always understood that repentance - turning from sin and turning to God in their attitudes and actions - would precede the coming of the Messiah.

We can join God in bringing people to repentance. "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." This is what he is waiting for, if it can be said that God waits.

We can anticipate and long for the Day of the Lord. One of the early prayers of the church was "Marana tha," which means, "Our Lord, come!" Jesus' model prayer for his disciples also started this way, "Your kingdom come!" There would be no reason to pray this way if it had no effect on the timing of his coming.

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation..." Oh, he knows patience. He knows waiting. He has experienced time, wrestled with it and won. Time is now all on his side. And one final day, we will stand with him and watch Father Time squeeze the sun like an orange.

May you speed his coming. Marana Tha!