Hate the Sin.

Christians should “hate the sin but love the sinner.”  It may be a cliché, but I can’t find anything wrong with it.  Activists have no problem with the suggestion that Christians ought to LOVE THE SINNER.  Jesus LOVED THE SINNERS.  He ate with sinners, visited the homes of sinners, surrounded Himself with sinners.    

It is harder to hate the sin.  We hate murder, rape, and pedophilia.  We hate seeing the rich and powerful take advantage of the poor and helpless.  We hate obvious, egregious sins. 

We also hate the sins that do not tempt us.  It is easy to hate gluttony if you have never been tempted by food.  It is easy to hate lust if your real problem is greed.  It is easy to hate pride if your secret sin is an addiction to wine. 

But God calls us to hate ALL sin.  To hate our own sin.  Can you hate your tendency to gossip? Can you hate your selfishness, ego, greed, lust?  Are you willing to hate those times when you are judgmental? When you “write off” those who sin in areas where you believe yourself to be strong?  We ALL sin.  We ALL cross the line. Can you see that sorting people into “acceptable” and “unacceptable” based on which lines they cross is sinfully placing yourself on God’s throne, as though you were the One True and Holy Judge?

The Christian life is not about staying within Christian lines, or adopting the right beliefs.  God is not PRIMARILY interested in your politics, your religious doctrine, or your views about pop culture, though those things matter.  The Christian life is PRIMARILY about becoming conformed to the image of Christ, Romans 8:29.

Are you becoming more like Jesus?  Does it show in your heart and your actions?  Do you hate your own judgmentalness enough to be kind?

“Hate [your own] evil, you who love the Lord” Psalm 97:10.

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This is a Rescue!

John Eldredge compares the saving work of Jesus to the work of Tom Hanks and his cohort in the film SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.  Jesus is not the Fuller Brush man, knocking on a housewife’s door to sell her a new broom.  He’s not the ice cream man, trolling the neighborhood, offering something sweet to anyone who might care for it.  Jesus is a WARRIOR.  And His saving work is “a daring rescue behind enemy lines.” Coming to earth to battle the enemy and die for those He would save—that is no casual thing.  Have you seen the pitiful paintings of Jesus—a pale-skinned, effeminate man with his head in the clouds like some Eastern mystic, an ascetic too skinny to stand under his own power, much less work as a carpenter?  Jesus was never that guy.  He was a warrior!  “The Lord is a WARRIOR!” Exodus 15:3. 

David understands the daring rescue by a powerful warrior.  Read this paraphrase and consider what a different picture of God David paints here from the Shepherd of Psalm 23:

The waves of death engulfed me, the floods of destruction terrified me. Death had me tangled in its ropes, trapped and drowning. In my distress I cried out to God and He heard me. “Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations of heaven were trembling” because He was angry. Smoke snorted from His nostrils, fire raged from His mouth, kindling everything. He bent the heavens and came down, He rode on a cherub and flew.  “The Lord thundered from heaven,” He shot arrows and threw lightning. He split the earth to its foundations. He reached down and took me and drew me out of the waters and rescued me. “He rescued me, because He delighted in me” 2 Samuel 22:5-20.

Now THAT is a rescue.

God loves you—and He is the WARRIOR who fights for you!

God, help us love you as our tender shepherd, and revere and fear you as the warrior who rescues us—even from our own bad choices.

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Fresh Start.

I was a pouter. As a child, I could get mad about something at night and hold on to it till bedtime. But no matter how determined I was to stay mad, I knew that when I woke up it would be gone. Some nights I got mad at myself that I couldn’t STAY mad!  Every day was a fresh start, even if I did not want a fresh start. The whole family was that way—no grudges. I would walk into the kitchen on a cold Monday morning—angry that I had to get up and go to that place that felt like jail—and my dad would look up from the newspaper and practically shout, “Well, Good MORN-ing!” I would barely mumble a reply.  I was the worst at mornings.

But my father’s warm greeting mattered.  It let me know he had forgotten whatever happened the day before. I knew I was starting the day with a clean slate. My dad would NEVER hang on to something from the day before.

Our Heavenly Father is the same way. He is not Santa Claus, making a list of every naughty thing you ever did. Do our sins matter? Yes. Do our sins cause suffering? Yes, to ourselves and others.  Do our sins have consequences? Yes. 

But if you have surrendered your life—all of who you are including your gifts, talents, dreams, plans, and ambitions; and everything inside you, including mind, body, soul, and spirit; and all of your past and all of your future, including your eternity—if you have truly surrendered ALL to Jesus, then your sins are gone. When God looks at you, He sees not your sin, but His own holiness.  And He is pleased to show you favor.

“His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime” Psalm 30:5.

God, thank you for your mercy and forgiveness! Help us to walk in grace, holiness, and purity, to know that you are pleased with us, and to make better choices because we are no longer burdened by sin and guilt.

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2020 Bingo.

What a year: a pandemic. Shortages of toilet paper, milk, meat—people began pretending it was all a crazy bingo game, and with each new revelation, another meme comes out: “Okay, who had ‘Murder Hornets’ for 2020?” And there have been many: a COIN shortage; warnings about hungry rats because there is no restaurant garbage; a lab monkey stole COVID samples; Poland invaded the Czech Republic—by accident; a star that had been studied for 20 years disappeared….

As of today (September 29, 2020), 1M have died due to Covid-19, millions have lost jobs; depression and addictions are skyrocketing. And no one younger than college is learning anything in school right now. For children, online learning is a joke. I have never seen a year like 2020.

But God was not surprised by the pandemic.

God has NOT changed. Lamentations describes a desolation so complete, jackals are prowling Israel:

“But You, Lord, are enthroned forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation. Why have You forgotten us forever, Lord? Restore us to Yourself, so we may return; renew our days as in former times.” Lam. 5:19-21.

No matter what happens, God will not change. He is the God of Holiness, Mercy, Justice, and Grace. “God is love” 1 John 4:8, and the source of all JOY and HOPE. Praise Him—that means, tell Him about Himself and His great attributes.

And talk to your soul, like David[1]:

“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the Help of my countenance and my God.”

Psalm 42:11.

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[1] The psalm is attributed to the Sons of Korah, but Spurgeon’s commentary says, “Although David is not mentioned as the author, this Psalm must be the offspring of his pen; it is so Davidic, it smells of the son of Jesse, it bears the marks of his style and experience in every letter. We could sooner doubt the authorship of the second part of Pilgrim’s Progress than question David’s title to be the composer of this Psalm.”

Thirst.

Have you ever been insane with thirst? Parched? Famished? So thirsty you daydream about water, lemonade, tea, and snow cones? We never experience that kind of thirst because there is water everywhere. But it would only take two days in the desert or the wilderness and water would become the only thing on your mind—your every thought would be water. You would drink water from a hoof print, or suck the moisture out of mud, or lick the leaves of plants, each one holding a single drop of water. I heard about a man who squeezed the dew out of Spanish moss, just to drink the brown, dirty water.

You should thirst for your Creator—your Savior—the same way.

“As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul thirsts after You, God. I thirst for God, the living God” Psalm 42:1-2.

The Message paraphrases it:

“A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive.”

The Passion translation:

“I long to drink of you, O God, drinking deeply from the streams of pleasure flowing from your presence. My longings overwhelm me for more of you!”

The Voice says:

“My soul is dry and thirsts for You, True God, as a deer thirsts for water.”

Or as we sang it in a youth chorus:

“As the deer panteth for the water,

So my soul longeth after Thee.

You alone are my heart’s desire,

And I long to worship Thee.”

–As the Deer, the Maranatha! Singers.

Pray. Dear God, help me to thirst for you. Fill us with a deep love for you, with a hunger for your word, and a thirst for your heart. Help us to be obsessed with knowing you better every day. Help us desire more and more and more of you! We love you, Lord. Make us love you more!

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Leadership.

Leadership is difficult.  A leader must inspire confidence—and that can’t be taught. A second challenge is constant conflict; many hate conflict. 

But the hardest part of leadership may be knowing what needs to be done.  This is where black-and-white thinking will let you down.  A leader must develop a nimble and flexible mind, able to ADAPT to unexpected circumstances and unforeseen dilemmas.

(For example: How should we respond to a pandemic?)

King David had an open mind. When God sent a famine, He told David it was because of Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites. David went to the Gibeonites and asked what he could do to atone for that sin. They said “Give us seven of Saul’s descendants that we can hang in Saul’s place.” David did so. Rizpah, one of Saul’s concubines camped out by the bodies to shoo away birds and wild animals. For weeks, she guarded the bodies as they hung there decaying, an emetic vision of oozing gore, twisting and dripping in the breeze.  When David heard what Rizpah had done, he honored her by having the bodies removed and buried in Saul’s tomb.  Then God sent rain and ended the famine.

Whose side was David on? First, he let foreigners hang seven Hebrews to atone for Saul’s sin. Then he honored Saul’s family when he buried the men in Saul’s tomb. 

The truth is, politician David pleased the Gibeonites, then found a way to please Saul’s family.  Most importantly, he pleased the Lord and God ended the famine.  2 Samuel 21:1-14.

THAT may be the key to godly leadership: the ability to take bold, public action even when it appears to contradict your previous action, because you are willing to consider different sides of the issues.  Leadership requires a nimble, flexible mind—an open mind.

“He opened their minds, so they might understand the scriptures” Luke 24:44.

“I pray that your minds may be opened to see His Light” Ephesians 1:18.

God, give us DEEP ROOTS in your word. And give us the courage to have an open mind when we face hard questions.

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God Loves You in Your Infinite Smallness.

A journey across the country can make you realize how small your life is.  Your home, your city, even your state can seem small after driving to destinations a thousand miles away, places with entirely different altitude, weather, and plant life.  Perhaps you have stared into a night sky filled with countless stars and discovered your own infinite smallness.  God is everywhere and all-powerful and all-knowing, and what are we, that we think so highly of ourselves?

Yet, God loves us.  It is beyond comprehension, but it is true:

“He does not take His eyes off the righteous” Job 36:7.  “He numbers the hairs on your head” Luke 12:7.   He examines us every morning and numbers our every step Job 7:8.   He saves your tears in a bottle” Psalm 56:8.  “You hold my right hand” Psalm 73:23.  God longs for the creature His hands have made Job 14:15. 

(Imagine that: God LONGS for you!) 

Not only that, God delights in His children so much that He SINGS over them:  “The Lord your God is WITH YOU.  The Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take GREAT DELIGHT in you.  He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with SINGING” Zephaniah 3:16.

God calls you the APPLE OF HIS EYE, and He protects His children the way a warrior would protect his vision. 

“He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye” Zechariah 2:8.  “He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye” Deuteronomy 32:10.

God loves you so much, it is as though He obsesses over you like a doting parent.  Do you see that?  He counts your steps, He counts the hairs on your head, He never takes His eye off you.  He cherishes and saves your tears.  He holds your hand.  He longs for you.  He sings over you.  And He cherishes and protects you like the apple of His eye.  Nothing means more to Him than YOU.

David sums it up:

“The Lord thinks of me” Psalm 40:17.

Amen!

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Layers.

Childhood emotions come in single syllables: mad, sad, glad.  You laugh, cry, pout, fume.  Adulthood is complicated.  You feel pensive, ambivalent, bittersweet.  Adult emotions have more layers than a wedding cake. 

David understood.  This poet who killed giants, this warrior who was a music therapist, this military tactician who cuddled lambs—David understood complex emotions.  For years, he sang to help King Saul’s emotions.  Then he spent years running from the king.  And though he could have killed Saul, David refused, and when others did, David grieved the loss of his mentor-turned-enemy. 

David’s life was like that, one weighty drama after another.  If his life was a television show, I would scoff, call it a soap opera, and shut it off.

But what I am impressed with is David’s ability to INHABIT his emotions.  Like any good writer or musician, the psalmist can sit there and live in that place, fully feeling his emotions and then using his creative skills to express them in words and music.  (By the way, how amazing is it that Israel’s greatest warrior and king is also one of its most creative and prolific writers?)

When Absalom leads a revolt, moves into the palace, sleeps with the concubines—most kings would write the son off and hate him forever.  Not David.  David fights back, regains the throne, but commands his men to show Absalom mercy.  When Joab kills the usurper, David is broken.

“Absalom! My son, my son!  Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! Absalom, my son, my son!” 2 Samuel 18:23.

At a time when David’s soldiers should be cheering, the king’s grief ruins the celebrations.  But—FEELINGS.  It’s COMPLICATED, right?  Where many men would try to ignore the loss and be happy to pick up the crown and scepter, David remains a father who loves his children.  He is not afraid to INHABIT his emotions.  This man’s-man feels everything. 

And why does that matter?

Because David was “a man after God’s own heart” 1 Samuel 13:14.

God, teach us to FEEL emotions, not fear them.

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How to Improve a Bad Day.

Ever had one of those days? Everything’s going wrong and it’s all catching up with you? Here’s a solution that is guaranteed to work. (See Isaiah 55:11.)

Consider David’s prayer in Psalm 3. He has just been betrayed by his son Absalom, and he took his 600 men and is running for his life. Because his SON is going to kill him and take his throne. Imagine how that hurts a father.

David goes to God and says LOOK AT MY ENEMIES! LOOK AT THIS HORRIBLE SITUATION! And then:

“But You, Lord, are a SHIELD around me. You are my glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord, and He ANSWERS me from His holy mountain” Psalm 3:3-4.

Here’s what you do: Talk to God about the verse—and pray the words TO God. Then:

  1. Copy the verse down in your own handwriting.
  2. Put the piece of paper in your pocket.
  3. Take the paper out and read it and re-read it whenever you feel discouraged. Every time you think about the things that are making you feel depressed and upset, read the verse.
  4. Also read the verse over and over and try to memorize it.
  5. Then—make sure you actually DO memorize it.
  6. And keep going over the verse tomorrow and the next day, and every day when you think about the things that are challenging you.

And THAT is how God’s word will change your life. Slowly, gradually, it will move out the bad, negative thoughts and replace those thoughts with RIGHT thoughts, with CORRECT thoughts. Soon you will fill your mind with GOD’S THOUGHTS on every subject.

And that will totally revolutionize your life.

I challenge you: write down this verse or another that encourages you, put it in your pocket, and re-read it all day long. Soon you will feel much better. I have done it hundreds of times—I can promise you that it works.

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Non-Toxic Masculinity.

American culture exalts a narrow view of manhood: you gotta be rugged, strong, and unemotional, like pickup trucks banging up and down mountains in TV commercials, chewing up boulders and spitting out gravel. 

But the ads are fake.  If you treat your truck that way you will not only destroy the suspension, you may void the warranty.  Bob Seger singing “like a ROCK!” should not be taken to indicate you can drive your Chevy directly into rocks.  And it may be built “Ford Tough,” but it’s not that tough. Remember Sam Elliot’s “Guts, glory, Ram”?  Guts and glory are fine as long as you stay in your lane.  

Men were not built to chew up boulders and spit out gravel either.  Even the toughest among us have feelings, and when those feelings are ignored, problems result.  But what is proper behavior for a man?  David may be the best example.

Samuel reports that God called David a man “after God’s own heart” 1 Samuel 13:14. What do we know about David’s heart?  He was bold and courageous, brilliant in battle, a powerful king—and he never lost touch with his emotions.  He felt EVERYTHING.  He reminds me of Macduff, the fictional hero of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who grieves the loss of his family and is told to bear it like a man.  He answers: “I shall do so, but I must also FEEL it as a man.” 

David, this man’s man, with a heart that God tells us is like God’s own heart, FEELS EVERY EMOTION.  (See Psalm 3:4, Psalm 13:5-6, Psalm 55:4-5,17.)

Yet we hide our emotions.  Some of us hide from emotions.  There are times when responsibility requires we avoid emotion, but we are wrong to always avoid negative feelings.  We are wrong to demand little boys never cry (though not wrong to teach children age-appropriate self-control). 

Dear God, our compassionate Father, teach us to inhabit our emotions, to feel them, put them into words, and face them courageously.  Make us more like David, a strong man who embraced all his emotions.

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