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Wednesday, 11 June 2008

The parable of the river and the rope

In the deep countryside, sometimes there are places where people need to cross rivers where a bridge has not been built yet.

These places are usually places of relatively shallow water, with outcroppings of rocks for people to step on as they make their way across the river. Water rushes over the rocks in places; and when people step on those rocks, or step into the spaces between the rocks, they lose their balance and fall into the river. Sometimes, they just fall down, but sometimes they get swept away and drown. So they use the rope that stretches from one side of the river to the other, to hold onto as they cross the river.

Because even if the currents cause them to slip and fall, they have the rope to hold onto, to keep them from being swept away.

In this way, life is like a river.

As we cross this river, we make our way by means of stepping on the rocks, which are like people and the things of the world. The dangerous current is Satan. The rope, is Christ. Satan comes and washes over the rocks that we walk on to cause us to stumble. If we put our faith in our own balance, we will slip and fall. If we put our faith in the rocks themselves to support us and keep us steady, we will slip and fall. But if Satan comes while we are holding onto the rope of Christ, however, the current does nothing to us.

Maybe it occasionally makes us slip and lose our balance for a moment, but otherwise because we are clinging to the rope, we who cross the river of life reliant on the rope, are sure to cross safely. When crossing the dangerous current, Satan, who engages us daily; we cannot rely on our own abilities and we cannot even rely on our friends, family, or even our church. The one and only salvation and the one and only means to cross the river safely is by holding onto Christ Himself.

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

On Suffering: The forging of the sword

Sometimes, the greatest blessings from God come in the form of suffering.

I look back on this year, and see a year of complete destruction. Losing my wife. Losing my home. Losing my mind because of that. And then losing my friendships and losing a successful business I had built with my own hands over the last ten years. Finally, losing my physical health too. Everything I was and everything I had, the Lord destroyed piece by piece until I had nothing left.

Yet, I look back on this year; and know that this year was the best year of my life. Many verses come to mind here to explain why; but I will share only three and then share a parable that I like to use to explain myself:

"We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28),

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11),

"Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back." (Isaiah 38:17).

And now, the parable of the sword and the swordsmith:

There are three ways to make a sword. All three ways can produce a sword that is cosmetically beautiful, and worthy of display on a wall plaque. The first way, is to cast a sword shape by pouring hot metal into a mold and removing it when it cools to polish up and sharpen. The second way is to stamp a sword shape out of a flat sheet of metal before going through the same finishing. Both of these swords appear to be swords of quality by the way they appear, but both of these swords would bend, break or shatter if used as a sword is intended to be used and cannot hold a permanent edge.

The third way to make a sword, is by forging. A sword made by forging starts out as an individual block of iron. That block of iron is taken by a swordsmith, thrown into a fire until red-hot, and then removed and beaten with hammer against anvil. The sword is put through trials and tribulations, over and over, to assure that it is of the finest quality. The swordsmith repeats this process over and over, adding carbon to strengthen the iron into steel; and then flattening and folding the sword over onto itself, doubling the layers of steel in ths sword with every folding. Some of the finest Tamahagane Katana produced by master swordsmiths in Japan have over 10,000 layers, take an entire year to craft, and are regarded as the strongest, most beautiful, and most valuable swords ever produced.

These Katana are so well made that in the hands of a skilled swordsman, they can cut a man in half in one stroke through armor, flesh and bone all at once; unlike the first two types of swords, which would break, bend or shatter when used to strike with. To the naked eye, these swords are all the same. The truth is, they are vastly different.

Now, imagine the process of forging from the point of view of the sword being forged.

That sword being forged would be in constant suffering. It would see itself being thrown into the fire, only to be removed and beaten with hammer against anvil. And if that wasn't bad enough, it would be smashed flat, and then almost at the point of breaking, it would be folded in half and thrown into the fire again before being hammered flat again, for months and months, over and over, while it looked at the first two types of swords -- wondering why it couldn't be one of the first two types, whose creation and refining were so simple before they became swords. Instead, this sword being forged sees itself suffering the wrath of this swordsmith, who seems to have nothing better to do than throw this sword into the fire and beat on it all day long.

This sword does not understand why it is being subjected to such difficult trials and harsh tribulations.

What this sword does not realize is that this swordsmith is not subjecting this sword to suffering and wrath, but is instead forging this sword from a simple block of iron into something far stronger, and far more beautiful, and far better crafted, than any of the other swords; and it is only through this refining fire, and by hammer against anvil, with the Love and care and precise timing and knowledge of this master swordsmith that this sword is forged into a sword destined to be held in the hand of a King.

Too often we forget that blessings not only come in the form in which we recognize as good, but also in the form of suffering. As we suffer, we can know that God works for the good of those who love Him; that He has a plan for us, to prosper us and not to harm us; and that it was for our benefit that we suffer such anguish.

Do we not liken ourselves to these swords being forged?

We look around us as we suffer, and we wish we could not suffer like those around us -- as the sword being forged looks at the first two types of sword, and wonders why it cannot be as they are. What the sword does not realize, and what WE do not realize, is that by the process of forging, we are strengthened and refined, and when our Swordsmith is done with us, we become such beautiful swords that when we are used for His purpose, we bring glory to our Swordsmith, who is our God.

I lost everything this past year.

But I thank God endlessly, every single day, because in truth... I have gained Everything. I thought I was suffering, but I was being Loved. I thought I was being broken, but instead, I was being forged. I thought I was being destroyed, but in fact -- I was being made.

I close with this -- with a word that we use often when we talk about our relationship with God as being "on-fire": Passion.

When we use the word "passion" to describe our relationship with God, we often use it without knowing what it means, and what it entails. The word "passion" comes from Latin passus -- "to suffer"; and is used properly in context of the Passion of the Christ, to mean "the 'suffering' of the Christ" -- to have passion for God is to suffer for God. When we are passionate for God, we suffer for Him, because that is what it takes -- as humans who are naturally depraved and shun God, to have passion for Him is to suffer in His Love. We just need to realize that what we perceive to be suffering is in fact His Love.

When we suffer, rejoice. For our Lord God is forging us. Rejoice, because He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. Rejoice, because He has a plan for us. Rejoice, because He works good for we who love Him as we have been called to be forged according to His purpose. Rejoice, friends -- for as Hezekiah says, surely it is for our benefit that we suffer such anguish.

I stand here today in the ashes of my life; with all that I had known before gone and washed away by His mighty waters -- and as I stand upon this Rock, I can only cry out to God in joy and sing praises of thanks-giving to the Lord for what He has done.

Rejoice, I say... rejoice. For this has been the most difficult year of my life.

Monday, 09 June 2008

Saying Grace

Do we actually know what we're saying when we say Grace?

Even more, do we actually believe what we're saying when we say Grace? Or do we just close our eyes, fold our hands, and rattle off a bunch of dogmatic nonsense; of which we don't actually even think about or fully realize what we're saying?

I had a conversation recently with a friend, and they were shocked when I told them I didn't always say Grace before eating. In general, most Christians are shocked when they discover that I don't always say Grace before eating; and if it wasn't for their need to keep the happy-smiley Christian face on, I think they'd cast me into the pit of Hell themselves for such a trespass. Until I ask them several questions in return and ask them to ponder them.

Do you say Grace?

When do you say Grace?

Do you say Grace before you eat a candy bar? How about a dinner mint?

Do you not say Grace before you eat a dinner mint because you said Grace at the beginning of the meal?

Then why doesn't the Grace you said for breakfast apply to dinner?

Can you say Grace at the beginning of the day and have it last all day?

Do you say Grace when you drink water?

Why don't you say Grace when you drink water? Are you not thankful for water?

Usually by this point, people either become hostile or convicted -- in which case, being a six-foot tall, two hundred pound cagefighter type usually helps; because really, even if this guy is wearing a black priest suit with that little white thing on his neck and carrying a bible, one can never be -too- sure that he's not going to deliver some wrath upon thy face in response to hostility. We are, after all, all susceptible to sin at any moment, you know.

Here's my point: We say Grace to thank God.

Growing up with Christian backgrounds, we're taught to say Grace before meals as a ritual -- as a reminder to thank God; because otherwise, we would probably never thank God, and therefore saying some words before we eat is better than saying nothing at all. Right?

Wrong! Be Hot or Cold, not lukewarm. Jesus spits you out like the Church of Laodicea. Ptoo. Right there in Revelation 3:16. Say it and mean it, or don't bother. Our Lord doesn't like empty words.

If we get Baptized or partake in Communion without the full devotion of our hearts, the full knowledge of our minds, the full obedience of our bodies, and the full conviction of our souls, these rituals we perform are meaningless and empty.

Saying Grace is also a ritual, and the same applies.

Now here's the thing -- if we are children or are leading children, or if we are new Christians and learning how to say Grace and how to be thankful, by all means, just say the words and let the Spirit come into us and teach us. But if we are longtime, mature Christians, sitting at a table and mouthing off some dogmatic nonsense in the guise of being thankful to God while not TRULY being thankful for what He provides for us is nothing short of insulting and blasphemous, seriously.

Now consider this:

Would God rather a person have a thankful heart all the time and not say Grace? Or would God rather a person not be thankful, but say that he is?

The answer is obvious, I think. And in case it's not, here's Matthew 21:28-31.

"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. Which of the two was obeying his father?"

Have a thankful heart, ALL THE TIME.

Not just when sitting down to a meal. God may not have made my meal with His own hands and delivered it to me like Manna appearing at dawn, but He surely blessed me with the means to buy the ingredients to make it, as well as -- here's the key: AS WELL AS THE SKILL.

Nothing we have and nothing we do, none of our skills are of our own; but are gifts from God. EVERYTHING. God surely doesn't expect us to bow our heads and fold our hands before we brush our teeth, even if the toothbrush, toothpaste, and even the health of our teeth are blessings; or for that matter, before doing everything we do during the day -- BUT what God does expect of us, is to have a thankful heart.

Be thankful, for without God, we are nothing.

And if we do say Grace, because it's a ritual we want to perform, by all means say Grace -- but do so with full understanding and knowledge of what we are doing, with the whole of our hearts, with the obedience of our bodies, and with the conviction of our souls. Don't just blurt out some holy sounding words.

If we do, we are no better than the hypocrites in Jerusalem standing on the street corner praying loudly with their arms outstretched for people to hear us and think we are holy. Matt 6:7 (HCSB) "When you pray, don't babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they'll be heard for their many words."

Be thankful, all the time. For without a truly thankful heart, the words we speak when we say Grace are empty and meaningless. Instead of saying Grace just before each meal, say Grace all the time.

For it truly is by His Grace alone that we live.