Seeing

Jesus looked at him and loved him. Mark 10:21

Before we can struggle with loving others like Jesus loves them, it might be best to begin by first looking at them. Sometimes our lives have become so self-absorbed that no matter what we might see with our eyes, in reality we are merely looking at ourselves. Jesus looked at him. Truth is, if you read the text you’ll notice that even this man was looking at himself (“what must I do to inherit eternal life?” he asks). Jesus tries to get him to look at the poor around him and yet he went away sad because he was unwilling to look away from the “me” that was him. The love of Jesus is found in this, He looked away to look at us – at you – and in seeing you couldn’t help but love you. Not because you deserved His love – heavens no! But rather because seeing you He noticed how much you needed His love. Jesus, help us to look at others and see the same. Amen.

Self Denial

Here is something to wonder about. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves (Mark 8:34). The problem though is that you can't really deny yourself while you're thinking about self denial. Everytime I focus on denying myself I end up back at thinking about and focusing on me - the very one I'm trying to deny! Rather than trying to and praying for self denial, I find that the call to self denial is really a call to totally and completely (yes, I know these words mean the same thing) have my heart turned AWAY from ME - to the Lord and those whom He so dearly loves.

Lord Jesus, rather than helping me deny myself, I desire to put all of my hope and trust in You and your grace and mercy and love, and to walk with you as you bring that grace and mercy and love to the world around me. In your name. Amen

Wedding Season

If you have enough time, read Revelation 21.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2

Anyone attending a wedding this summer?

I still remember my own wedding – 15 years ago last month.

I was a lot younger, a lot skinnier, had more hair on my head, and a lot more naïve – scratch that – clueless about life.

While I have several strong memories about the wedding the one that sticks in my head the most is the first moment I saw my bride step toward me from the back of the chapel. Now you have to understand that we were very traditional and hadn’t seen each other all day (granted it was an 11am wedding). You also have to understand that we were married at the chapel of our school (two weeks after graduation, mind you), Valparaiso University – which just happens to be the largest university chapel in the country – and one of the largest in the world!!! (Seriously, it is.)

And so, there she was about to take that first step toward, of all people, me – as I waited, standing there at the altar of my Lord. Because of the length of the chapel she looked miles away (the chapel is actually 193 feet long – glad I didn’t have to walk that far!) – and yet I could see her perfectly and, like many a groom I suppose, I was overcome with the emotion of my love for her and her love for me.

Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my love for her then would actually increase year after year after that first step – and yet this is exactly what has taken place (though I don’t suppose I’m as teary-eyed about it anymore).

Now before you all go “awww, isn’t that sweet” – as sweet as it was for Kathy and me then, this is the image, the picture that the LORD presents us with in regards to His relationship with us!!!

One of the hardest things for people outside of the Church is to comprehend a God who is so head over heels in love with the people of His creation – so much so that He describes us as the bride for whom He so eagerly and excitedly waits. In fact this groom that is Him has gotten so excited that He has run down the aisle to meet us there – and help us Himself to the altar!

I say that this is a very difficult picture for those outside of the Church to comprehend, but even for those who are walking hand in hand with the Groom, on the way to the altar, today – this is difficult to comprehend.

And to think that THIS is the very point of my life (and not everything else that can be so distracting!)!

And even more to imagine that it only gets better after this!!!

Well – if you happen to get to a wedding this summer take a moment to reflect on the one which even now is taking place.

Prayer: Jesus, no matter how many doubts I have about your love, no matter how far I still feel I am from the altar at times, no matter how much fear I have because of the human relationships that have not lived up to hopes and dreams, no matter… help me to learn to appreciate, to recognize, to receive, and by your grace even to reflect your sacrificial, whole hearted love and devotion to me. In your name. Amen.

Little League Lesson

If you have enough time, read Romans 5.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us….For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5: 8, 10

I’m not saying what I did was wrong (and I certainly can’t imagine you telling me that it was) – but it sure made me think and wonder.

What did I do, you ask?

What I did was this – I cheered for my son at his baseball game last weekend.

The score was even – 2-2. The fourth of six innings came up and Coach decides to put my son in as pitcher – for not one, but two innings. Might make many a dad proud – but made me stomach-churning nervous. This being his first year with this 9-10 year olds league, and his first year pitching – YIKES – I really didn’t want him to give up the go ahead run and end up losing the game!!!! Go son go! You can do it! You can get them!

Oh, was I ever hoping for him to get that team out!

It wasn’t until afterward that the irony which my vocation beckons me to notice came to light.

Here I am – a father – cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was I even praying as well??) for my son to beat all these other kids on the opposing team while at the same time trying to serve a Father who sent His Son to lose so that the opposing team might win.

(…when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.)

While I was cheering for my son, did I have a single thought about what a homerun, or even a hit might mean to one of the kids coming up to bat? What a win might mean to them, to their team, to their families – to that dad on the other side who was cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was he even praying as well?) for his son?

Of course not! I was concerned mainly, if not solely, with my own.

And yet in our Heavenly Father we find a Father who is willing to give up His own for the sake of everyone else – AND a Son who desires the same!

Hey Son, I’ll be so proud of you if you go out there and get creamed.

How strange it seems.

And then the response – absolutely Abba (Dad), Father – that has always been our plan, hasn’t it?

And strangest yet – mainly because it hits home – is when that Son turns to us and says, Now I want you (who have now been made children of God, yourselves) to love others in this same way (John 13:34).

Thankfully I’ll console myself with the thought that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been talking about baseball at the time since it wouldn’t be played for another just less than two thousand years. (Though it does seem that long since the Orioles had a winning season – but I digress.)

Anyhow, living as the son or daughter of God who lives in partnership with the Father and Son in a life of suffering, giving, dying, - losing – for others (yes, even those on the opposing team) might actually be easier on the ball field than in “real life”. And yet that is what we are called to do – for that is what true, real, pure LOVE is.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those how love them. Luke 6:32

And yet, as I continue to wrestle with my own call to love I can only become that much more amazed at His love for me.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us to trust in your promise that the love we live out by daily dying for the sake of others only leads to resurrection, theirs and ours. And as we don’t have such love within ourselves, give us your love that we might actually live it. In your name. Amen.

OH YEAH – I forgot to tell you – though several batters got on base, no one scored and my son recorded six strikeouts. Then after our ace pitched the last inning the game ended in a tie. This Saturday you’ll find me at our first playoff game – and yes, I’ll still be rooting for my son and his team – but maybe in a little different state of mind.

How Much Longer?

If you have enough time, read Psalm 6

How long, O Lord, how long? Psalm 6:3

Ten days – normally not considered a “long time” – can seem to never end, depending on the situation. Looking for a missing child. Waiting for a diagnosis. Suffering under the symptoms of the swine flu (alright, I don’t know if the swine flu is that bad or not).

There were ten days between Jesus ascending up into heaven, having just told his disciples to wait for the “gift”, and the actual giving of the “gift” on the day of Pentecost. (Did you know that Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to ALL believers, will be celebrated this Sunday, May 31?)

I wonder how long those days seemed to them. Maybe they went by like a breeze. Maybe they seemed like an eternity.

I don’t know about you, but “waiting on the Lord” is not something I normally look forward to. And yet it sometimes seems as though so much of life involves just this.

How long, O Lord, how long? (Are you still here? Have you forgotten me? Are you EVER going to do anything about this?)

And yet as trying and painful as the waiting can be, to put the wait aside and try to “fix” things myself – well, even in my short life thus far I have become disappointingly aware of how well my fixing fixes things.

How many years, generations, centuries, millennia did the Israelites (not to mention the world) wait for the Messiah?

And yet, at just the right time, in just the right way – He came.

How long, O Lord? I ask.

Until the time is right - of course! He answers (with a SMILE!). And then to add insult to injury, He adds, Would you really want it any other way?

Prayer: O Lord, if we have to wait, at least use our waiting to draw us closer to, to give us a greater yearning and desire for, to turn our trust and our hope ever more so to YOU. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Blameless Love

If you have enough time, read 1 John 4:7-21.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

I didn’t tell anyone at the time, but for Lent this year I gave up “blaming others” – both blaming others in front of someone else as well as even in my own thoughts (this latter part obviously being the more difficult of the two).

I don’t know how well I did overall, but when I was able to catch myself it really made an impact on me. On the one hand, this was no easy task as I have always enjoyed and been good at coming up with excuses for things gone wrong – and quite often the fault would lie with someone else. And yet, as much as others may have been involved in the problems around me, without letting myself blame them, I became that much more aware of my own role – and the blame that I rightly deserve. (Sometimes so much that I thought: boy, what a stupid thing this was to give up for Lent!)

Love can be this way.

When I have trouble loving someone, how easy it is to place the blame on them?

The argument is that they are just not “lovable” (or at least not to me).

Rather than recognizing my own problem with being “able to love”.

Our Lord Jesus could come up with endless reasons why we don’t deserve His love. (And He would be right!) And yet He has shown us that love is never “deserved” – rather it is merely “given”.

I don’t love them because they hurt me…
I don’t love them because they bug me…
I don’t love them because they are so different from me…
I don’t love them because they….

Or maybe it is because of me.

And if it is because of me (it is), then I need the change, rather than them.

Prayer: O Lord Jesus, thank you for not using me as an excuse to keep your love from me. May your undeserved love have its way in my relationships with others as well. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Daily Bread

If you have enough time, read Matthew 6:5-15.

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

If you are one who prays the Lord’s Prayer regularly, you’ve been praying this line from this prayer for years. If not, be careful before you start, without first knowing what you’ll be asking for.

While we’ve always understood the “bread” to mean all the basic necessities of life (everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, Luther), and this part of the prayer as not only asking for these provisions but also as a reminder to us that these things (which at times seem SOOOO important to us) are in fact ALSO important to the Lord (otherwise, why would Jesus have us pray about them?) … WELL, it was the “daily” that put me into a bit of a shock not too long ago.

Had the good Lord been tricking me into praying this prayer this way?

Since when have I wanted merely my daily bread? What about planning for tomorrow, next month, year, - heck, is it too soon to start counting down toward retirement?? If all I’m getting is my daily bread, how can I ever trust that I’ll have enough in the future???

Unless of course, His point is that our trust rests not on the bread, but on the One who gives it. (Ouch! That sounds something like “faith”.)

When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. Hosea 13:6

Could it actually be better at times to only receive my daily bread – and no more??? I’ll keep praying the prayer the way the Lord gave it to us even if I’m not sure if I agree with it – just in case He knows best.

Prayer: Truth is Lord, you do give us well beyond our daily bread. Let what you give us, though, never take us away from the One who gives it – the same One who gave Himself – YOU, Lord Jesus. In your name. Amen.