The Year I Was Supposed to Grow Up

We only have a few traditions here at A Chicken in a Cage with a Ferrett. (1) Being awesome. (2) Playing Christmas music in December. And (3) Writing a year-end recap of my life. At the end of each year, I like to reflect on some of the major themes and currents in my life, as well as some of the major events. And as 2011 comes to a close, I think that this last year was theoretically one when I was meant to enter adult life. I'll let you decide if I succeeded.

One way in which adulthood crept up on me this year is that all my good friends started getting married. In fact, that's how the year started, when last January 1st, I was the best man for my friend Ryan's wedding in Idaho. And recently, I was the best man again when my friend Charlie was married in Indiana. (Women talk about being "always a bridesmaid, never a bride." I guess I'm always a best man, never a....man?). Through all of this, I did discover how good I look in a tux. It's out of control. I should wear one every day. It's kind of an odd feeling when your best friends all start getting married and becoming domestic and watching the evening news. Adulthood is so domestic. But I do really like visiting friends when they have wives who are willing to give me baked goods.

In May, I donned my goofy cap and blue dress and walked across the stage to receive my college degree. Graduating college is an exciting time, of course, but it's also kind of sad. You gain calligraphic piece of paper but lose a home. I loved my time at Ozark and often wish that I was still there (you can read my ode to my alma mater here.) What's even more depressing, though, is that Ryan once read my a passage from a book on Christian marriage that said that if you graduate Bible college single, your chances of finding a wife decrease drastically. Again, that's why I need to wear a tuxedo around.

May 22nd became one of the more distressing days I have experienced in a long time. I remember browsing facebook and seeing a status update from a friend in Joplin, Missouri saying that he was in Walmart and that it had been locked down because of a tornado warning. Those things happen in the midwest, so I didn't think of it too much. Then I got a call from another friend telling me that the tornado was a bad one, and I began to see news reports showing the chaos that was left in the wake of the twister that ripped through the middle of a city I love. Now, I'm not going to pretend that this event was as impacting for me as it was for those who were there and lost loved ones or houses. But even so, it's a difficult to see a place that you lived for five years torn to bits. So continue to remember and pray for Joplin. The picture below is the satellite image that you can see on googlemaps, and you can see the brown stretch moving from west to east where the tornado went through.

In August, I moved away to a mythical land--Cincinnati, Ohio. This has brought with it a number of different challenges. Paying for rent and utilities. Cooking some and trying not to set my kitchen on fire in the process. It's like I have real responsibilities or something. It's funny. People might spend a long time dreaming about the day when they move out on their own, ready to carve their own path in the world. But it's really not all it's cracked up to be. I miss the days of having other people cook for me and clean up after me. And even though I have all these new responsibilities, I don't really feel like a true adult. It's like I'm playing house or something, and I worry about being "found out"--that someone will discover that I'm just a kid who really has no idea what the crap he's doing.

So maybe adulthood is more than I've imagined it before. Growing up, I looked at my parents and thought, "Man, there must be some point in life when you just 'get it.' When the world makes sense, and you always know the right thing to do, and you have all the answers." But if that's how it works, I'm certainly not there. I think it's more likely that we never really reach the end of our development. We're are people who are just trying to find our way through life, from the time we're born till we die. There is never a moment when someone gives you a certificate and says, "You're an adult now." We grow into it.

At the end of these kinds of posts, I like to write a little something that looks forward to what's going to be happening in the next year. But this year...I really don't know. Right now, it looks like it'll be more of the same...hanging out, going to school, watching Netflix, eating frozen pizzas.

What about you? What have been the highlights of your year? What are you looking forward to in the next?

What God Looks Like

If you're anything like me, then at some point while you were growing up, you thought, "What does God look like?" It's not a bad question to ask. As human beings, our identities are intertwined with our appearance. Other people know us by the way we look. So what about God? What's he look like?

The issue with asking this, though, is that God is not like us. He doesn't exist in a physical body. God is spirit. So any image we create of God's appearance is only our own attempt at making sense of a personal being who is spirit. In the Bible, we find a lot of really cool descriptions of God, but even they aren't really what God looks like. Isaiah sees God on a throne in the temple while angels sing. But it's a vision. It's how God reveals himself to Isaiah in a way that Isaiah's finite mind can get some sort of handle on. 

In Exodus 33, Moses asks to see God's glory. It don't think this request was out of place. After all, Moses had already done a lot of things at God's direction. He went to Egypt and faced off with Pharaoh. He raised his staff while on the banks of the Red Sea and watched as the waters were pushed back. He had been leading a grumpy, discontented nation through the desert. So maybe he just wanted to see God's face as a reassurance that he was on the right track. But God's doesn't really give Moses what he wants. God says that no one can see his face and live, so instead, he puts Moses in a cleft in the rock while his glory passes by, and then allows Moses to see his back.

No one could see God's face.

And through all time, people have tried to put a face on God. I suppose the most common is to think of God as a giant man with a long white beard, wearing a toga, as if he were some sort of cosmic grandfather. Or maybe you think of God as a bright shining light. I don't know how you envision God. There might be a million different ways.

Today is Christmas Eve. And this weekend, we remember how, a couple thousand years ago, people did see God's face. You could look at God. And he looked like a baby in a feeding trough. I imagine he was probably crying because he was hungry or he was cold or because, well, that's just what babies do. 

It seems so....ungodly. Where's the giant white beard? Where's the golden throne? Why isn't he throwing lightning bolts around like javelins? God as a baby. It makes no sense. And that's the wonderful beauty of it. At Christmas, we celebrate how the Creator stepped into his creation to save his creatures. We were floundering in sin and guilt. Jesus entered the picture when "long lay the world in sin and error pining." We couldn't do anything to save ourselves, so God became enfleshed (or incarnate, I guess you could say) to save us. And the God whose face we couldn't handle, who stood so far above and beyond us that our descriptions of him were woefully inadequate, came near in Immanuel. 

Thirty years later, the picture doesn't look much more glorious. Instead of just being a shivering child in a manger, Jesus becomes a beaten, bloody body nailed to a wooden cross. Again, it seems so ungodly. God dies. The one who had legions of angels at his command allowed nails to be driven through his wrists. Why? Because he loves us. Because we had made a mess of things and were unable to pull ourselves back up. 

This Christmas, I hope you remember to take time to worship and thank God for what he has done in Christ. How wonderful that the baby in the manger would become our sin-bearer! That our Lord would serve us! That the one who deserves all of the worship and praise would give himself up for us! And while, for a time it all looked anything but divine, we look forward to the day when Christ returns in a way that seems more fitting. Even now, his eyes are like blazing fire, his feet are like glowing bronze, and his face is shining in brilliance (Rev. 1:12-16). And he'll come back and make our salvation complete. And we'll see him face to face. 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy your roast beast.

An (Un)Normal Day

I watched a movie a couple weeks ago called "Life in a Day." It was a pretty interesting concept for a film. National Geographic had regular people throughout the world film the happenings of their day on July 24th, 2010. Then the filmmakers gathered all of the footage and put it together to create a documentary that shows what life was like on that day, from beginning to end. You see all sorts of things in the movie. You see people getting married. You see people riding their bikes around the world. You see people fighting cancer. You see people praying. You see women in third world countries carrying jars of water on their heads.

What I find to be really interesting about Life in a Day is that it is a film that cannot be remade. When you're filming something in a studio, you can re-shoot a scene if you don't like how it turns out. Just shout out, "Cut!" and then roll it again. And when you do this, the different takes look really similar. It's basically the same thing: the same words are spoken, the same camera angles are used, the same facial expressions are made. But with this documentary, that's not how it works, because it shows life as it happens on a specific day, and it's a day that will never be repeated.

Last month, a lot of people made a big hoopla about November 11th, because the date was 11/11/11, and that won't happen again for another hundred years. And that is pretty cool, I guess. Maybe when the clock struck 11:11, you made your ultimate wish. I hope it came true for you, I really do. But the truth is that every single day is a day that will never happen again. Today is the only day it will be December 20th, 2011. Ever. And once today is over, it's gone forever. It can't be recaptured. And all of the events throughout the world that took place today will never occur in the same combination ever again. Every day is a period that is here for a while and then gone.

I feel bad for people who talk to me on a regular basis, because it seems like whenever someone asks me, "So how was your day today?", I answer, "Oh, you know. Just a regular day. Same old, same old." That's how days can feel, I suppose. Especially when you work a job that is pretty repetitive, for all you fellow cashiers or bricklayers. But when you really think about it, there is really no such thing as a "just a regular day," because each day is a little different. No day in your life has been an exact carbon-copy of another day. Each day is filled with new conversations, new thoughts, new experiences, even if they seem like insignificant ones. Each day is entirely new and different.

Not only that, but every day holds the potential of being something remarkable for you. For many people, today was the very first day of their lives. And for many others, today was their last. Today someone got the job promotion he has been working hard to achieve. Today some kid learned to ride a bike. Today some guy got down on a knee and proposed to the love of his life. And today, some other guy totally blew it with the love of his life.

I often have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. For one thing, it's just so dang warm under my blankets! But for another, I can think, "Well, time to start another routine day." And maybe you think the same thing. But honestly, today might be anything but routine. Today could be the best day of your life. It could be the day you hear back about a job that you applied for weeks ago. It could be the day you happen to bump into your old bank teller at Barnes & Noble. It could be the day you discover a new favorite band or watch the greatest movie ever made. It could be the day you meet your best friend. And it could be the day God puts the final period on the story of the world and drops the curtain on the whole thing. Every sunrise sheds light on a new world of possibilities.

And that makes every day a little more exciting, I think.

Symptoms of a Disorganized Life

It's been a while since I've written anything. You might have thought that I finally ran out of things to write about. That may very well be true. But fear not, because even that won't put the brakes on this train. The reason I haven't been writing is that I have been BUSY! Today was my last day of the semester, but that meant that the last few weeks have been full of studying and researching and paper-writing. Plus, I've learned that December can be a pretty busy month for Walmart cashiers, so when I haven't been doing work for school, I've been getting into fisticuffs with crazed holiday shoppers. Unfortunately, the one who has lost in all of this mess is you, O Faithful Reader. Or maybe you consider it winning. In that case, congratulations, and I'm sorry to rain on your parade.

A while back I read a book called Ordering Your Private World, written by Gordon MacDonald. It's a pretty good book, and I would recommend it. In one part of the book, MacDonald is writing about how we can better manage our time, and he provides a list of "symptoms of disorganization." As I said, I have been pretty busy lately, and when I look at this list, I realize that just about every symptom applies to me. So, I thought that I would share them with you. I won't really tell you how to fix any of these situations. If you want to know about that, I guess you'll have to go buy the book. Anyways, here's what MacDonald identifies as symptoms of a disorganized life:

A cluttered living and working area
When life becomes disorganized, it shows up in certain areas of one's environment--a desk, the top of a dresser, etc. MacDonald writes, "In fact almost every horizontal surface in the path of my daily travel becomes littered with papers, memos to which I have not responded, and bits of tasks that are unfinished." As I sit here in the chair in my apartment, I can look around and see the clutter around me. The coffee table in front of me is filled with loose papers, junk mail, and not one, but two empty Chick-fil-A cups. If I look to my left, I see more papers, old receipts, and some empty wrappers from Little Debbie oatmeal cakes. Now, I could get up and clean off these areas. It would take about 28 seconds. But I keep leaving it, saying, "I'll clean up later."

A dirty car
This one might sounds pretty petty, but I think it's accurate. When one is living an organized life, the condition of his car might suffer. It goes unwashed, the backseat becomes filled with drive-thru bags and old church bulletins. You keep driving well past when you should have gotten an oil change, saying that you'll do it next week. I once heard a senior minister at a megachurch say that, whenever his church is considering hiring a new staff member, he wants to first ride in their car so that he can see the condition of the interior, because a messy car implies a messy life.

Diminution of self-esteem
I'll just quote MacDonald here: "I feel the slightest tinge of paranoia, a low-level fear that people are going to discover they are not getting their money's worth out of my labor, that they are going to come to the conclusion that I am not half the man they thought I was." I can relate to this much of the time. I don't alwas feel like I am the person I could be, but maturing and developing just sounds like so much work. That can wait till another day.

Missed appointments and deadlines, and messages that have not be replied to
When life is disorganized, you think you're coasting along alright until you think, "Holy crap! I was supposed to be at so-and-so place to meet with so-and-so person to talk about so-and-so half an hour ago!" Or, you continually fail to respond to emails, voicemails, or facebook pokes. I'm really bad about this, actually. Almost every time I get a message that I need to respond to, I put it off till later, really for no reason.

Investing energies in unproductive tasks
An unorganized person has trouble focusing on priorities. Instead, they spend time doing what's easiest. Instead of studying for a test, it's easier to sync your iPod. Instead of writing a sermon for Sunday, why not doodle on a notepad? Of course, this only leads to further lack of organization, as you get further and further behind what needs to be done because you've used your time on things that aren't really that important.

Feeling poorly about one's work
We all want to churn out quality production. The problem is that many of us have a difficult time feeling like we've done so. For example, I don't think this is my best blog post. Heck, I didn't even come up with the main ideas. A disorganized person recognizes that they haven't turned in their best work. This is related to the previous point. Because you might spend your available time in meaningless distractions, you don't spend the time required to bring quality to what you do.

A lack of intimacy with God
Disorganization doesn't only affect one's work. It can have a negative impact on one's relationship with God. When life is disorganized, it becomes difficult to work in time in Bible study and prayer. You might neglect involvement in church life. After all, how can you give yourself to such things when there is a stack of memos on your desk and a ever-growing to-do list in your mind?

A lowered quality in relationships
The relationship with God isn't the only one that suffers in a disorganized life. In such a state, it's common to spend less time with your spouse, kids, friends, siblings, etc. There's just no time for relationships. But the thing is, relationships require time. They can't grow without it. They stall out, or, even worse, are weakened. Conversations become shallow, and you might become irratible around others because you feel that they are intruding on your busyness and hustle.

Maybe some of those symptoms describe how your life is looking right now. As I said, just about all of them show up in mine. If so, it would be a good idea to deal with the issue--to budget time, create a list of priorities, and stop procrastinating.

Speaking of procrastinating, I have yet to buy any Christmas presents for my family. My family is difficult to buy for, and I'm not sure what to get. So I thought, "Why not get some input from my best friends--the people who read my blog?" So, digital world, what idea do ya got for me?

You Were Right, Dietrich

I feel like I need to offer a disclaimer at the beginning of this post. If I have to do that, I suppose it means I shouldn't write it at all. But I'll keep going. What I want to say, though, is that this post can easily be read as though I'm throwing some sort of pity party. I don't mean to do that here (though I'm not above doing it on other occasions). I do believe, however, that we can learn lessons from the different stages of life, and we can learn from one another, so those experiences are worth sharing.

It's been four months since I moved into an apartment by myself. For the five years before that, I had lived in a dorm on a floor with 20 other guys. And for the 18 years before that, I lived with my family. So having my own place has been a pretty big shift. Whereas I used to sleep ten feet away from a roommate, I now have a whole 500 square feet space to myself. And while I used to sit in my colleges dining hall at a long table filled with my classmates, now I usually by myself at a little table or on the couch. And after a few months of this, here's the conclusion I've reaches: Living by yourself is kind of a drag.

As people, we need one another. It's imperative to have contact with one another, and to have it regularly, not just once a week at church or in class. We don't do so well in life when we try to navigate it solo, and this truth has been more evident to me over the last few months.

There are a lot of reasons that we need others. For one thing, other people keep us mentally sharp. In some ways, this is different from things I have said before on this blog. I have written before about how important it is to read widely because this enhances our thinking and makes us deeper people. We have a lot to learn from those who have gone before us and written down their insights, or from our contemporaries who see things differently than we do, or from twenty-somethings who write blog posts on their couch while watching football and drinking off-brand soda.

But that's not enough. Even if you sit and read all day long, your mind will get dull if it's all done in isolation. We become deeper not just by the ideas and information that we take in, but also through our interactions with each other. Since living by myself, I have done a lot of reading about ministry and theology. But I haven't talked with others about ministry and theology very much--at least not as much as I did when I was in undergrad. And having those conversations was important in my own development. We need challenge each other, to discuss together, and to question each other. This makes us more complete individuals. It makes us more reflective thinkers and more engaging communicators.

Not only that, but as we become duller in isolation from one another, it becomes even harder to meaninfully connect with others. Our ability to relate with others is like a muscle that needs to be worked out or else it atrophies. In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller writes:

When you live on your own for a long time, however, your personality changes because you go so much into yourself you lose the ability to be social, to understand what is and isn't normal behavior. There is an entire world inside yourself, and if you let yourself, you can get so deep inside it you will forget the way to the surface. Other people keep our souls alive, just like food and water does with our body. (152)

Another reason that we need each other is that a lack of community magnifies life's other problems. All of us deal with situations that we are difficult. I don't know of anyone who never has any worries or stresses. But we are able to deal with such things most effectively when we are living in community with others. For example, there were times in college when I was going through some crap--the stress of classes, uncertainties about my future plans, girls shooting me down. But at the end of the day, I would be sitting in a booth at Taco Bell with my friends, and all of a sudden all of these problems didn't seem so bad. On the other hand, if you're not experiencing that same sense of belonging, then your lousy job seems lousier, your lack of money seems more lacking, and the football player who's dating the girl you like seems even bigger.

I've come to believe that human beings weren't meant to live alone. We're designed to be together. And by that, I don't even just mean to do life together in the sense of being in a small group or meeting a friend for lunch every once in a while, though I do think those things are important. But when I say that we're meant to live together, I mean it in a literal way. I don't think it's good for a person to be the only one in a place of habitation. We are born into families--a natural set of housemates. And for the rest of our lives, it's good to be under a roof together, because that's where the benefits of community can happen on a daily basis. After all, no one wants to grow up to be a lonely cat lady.

In that same chapter of Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller goes on to write:

Jesus does not want us floating through space or sitting in front of our televisions. Jesus wants us interacting, eating together, laughing together, praying together. Loneliness is something that came with the fall.

If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide in which state we would like to live. (173)

What other benefits of communal life are there that I didn't mention? What do we gain from doing life together?

Sweet Spot

I suppose I should start this post by first of all making it known that this idea I'm presenting is not one that is original with me. I heard it in a presentation that someone gave at school a few weeks ago, and he heard it from a guy in his church, and that guy read it from a book, I think. But, if that many people keep passing it on, then it must be a good idea. Maybe you too will share it, and you can say, "I heard this from a blog, but the same guy also wrote that he only wants to date a girl who lives in a barbecue restaurant, and that's just ridiculous. Maybe he's not really worth listening to."

Anyways, the speaker at this presentation was talking about how we can most effectively utilize the time that we have--about what projects, duties, or responsibilities we should give the most attention to. He talked about finding your "sweet spot," which is where your proficiency, passion, and purpose all come together. You can think about it as a venn diagram. The sweet spot is where the three circles come together, and this is where you want to spend most of your time. You want to dedicate yourself to the things that you're good at, you have a passion for, and that help fulfill your purpose.

There might be something that fits your purpose, but that you honestly aren't very good at. It's probably best to delegate that to someone else for whom that task fall into their sweet spot. Or, there could be something that you're good at, but you just couldn't care less about. Again, that's something that someone else might love to do and could do better than you.

This "sweet spot" principle can go a long way in shaping how we spend our time in ministry, in jobs, or just in life in general. It might be helpful to look at all of the different activities you do throughout the day and see where they fall on this chart. Of course, sometimes we all have to do things that don't fall in our sweet spots, but hopefully the bulk of our doings are there. But you may find that most of the things you do are somewhere else on the chart. If that's the case, you might need to do some reevaluation, delegate some responsibilities, and see if there is a way to adjust what is expected of you.

So are you good at baking cookies? Do you enjoy baking cookies? Do you feel like it's your purpose to be a kind and generous person? Then bake some cookies and send them to me! Thanks, you're a peach. I'll be looking in the mail for them.

How to Shop

Sometimes you don't understand all of the dynamics that make up a situation until you are on the other side of it. For example, sees things that happen at a school that a student doesn't. You might spend twelve years in school as a student, but if you become a teacher, you become aware of things that you were completely oblivious to before.

For the last couple months, I have been working as a cashier at a major retailer. Now, we all have plenty of experience as customers. You've gone to the store to do a little shopping, and you've watched the cashier scan your items and put them in plastic bags, and you've handed over your money and received your change. But when you're on the other side of your transaction, you begin to see all sorts of things that you never saw before, and many of them are negative. And so, in the spirit of Black Friday, I'd like to give you a few tips that can help you be a courteous and responsible shopper:

Make sure you have money to buy what you pick up
I think this is a no-brainer, but apparently not everyone else does. You can't buy things if you can't pay for them. Now, I understand if you might be cutting it close with what funds you have available to you, so you might grab and item or two that you'll have to wait on for another time. But it amazes me when customers come up to my register with a large order and say something like, "Let me know when my total gets to $30," and that total is reached only halfway through their cart, so then they say they don't want anything else. This is especially problematic when the unwanted merchandise includes cold food such as meat or milk. If a customer brings a package of hamburger up to the register and then says they don't want it, we can't put it back on the floor for purchase because of health concerns, and that meat is just thrown away. So when you're shopping, make sure you can pay for what you grab.

If you do change your mind about buying something, put it back or give it to an employee
When I worked at a library, there were signs all over the place tells our visitors not to try to reshelve books that they had pulled off the shelf. Why? Because the Dewey Decimal System can be a little complicated for some people, and it's important to make sure things get put back in the same place. In a store, many people don't care at all if things are where they're supposed to be, so you see all kinds of items in random places. Just in my check-out line, I always find cans of green beans, packets of underwear, or spiral notebooks. Once I found an entire set of pajamas jammed up where the gum is. That's not where pajamas go. They go in the pajama section. So take them there, or give them to someone who can.

Put a hold on your family drama until you get outside
Families quarrel from time to time. All of us have gotten into arguments with family members. You've probably even shouted once or twice. But please, when you're standing at the register buying your products, establish a momentary truce until you leave the store. You might not think it's that big of a deal to cuss at your significant other or to yell at your kids how then need a whoopin', but when you do it while the cashier is trying to bag your merchandise, it's awkward as heck for that person.

Don't eat what isn't yours
This one really isn't that big of a deal. I think it's kind of funny actually, because it's just not how I've grown up operating. But sometimes, when I'm ringing up someone's merchandise, an empty bag of chips or candy will come along my conveyor belt, and the customer will say, "Oh yeah...I ate that." What?! Here's the thing: you don't own anything in the store until you pay for it. Up until that point, it belongs to the store. So don't eat it. If you're really hungry, take it to the front and buy it. Otherwise, it's like going into a strangers house and rummaging through their cupboards for Little Debbie cakes.

When the cashier hits on you, just go with it
You wouldn't believe how many times I've winked at a pretty customer and tried to get her number, but she just totally shoots me down. No sense of common courtesy.

Don't expect every employee to be an expert on every product
Now, in a lot of stores, you should expect that the people working there have some knowledge about the things they sell. Especially in a smaller, specialty store. However, I work in a store that sells just about everything, and it would be absurd for me to know everything there is to know about all of the items in our store. And yet, this is what people often expect. It's okay to ask, but don't get frustrated if the person you ask isn't really able to help. I don't know which kinds of chewing gum are safe for dentures. I don't know of that pan will be big enough for the turkey you bought.

Have you ever worked retail? Do you ever see any other behaviors that customers do that can be obnoxious?

Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church

Over the past several weeks, I've been writing about the letters Jesus dictates to John for the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3. If you've reading these posts, I hope that you've been able to relate in some way to the messages that Jesus is giving to these churches. There are a lot of good things about these churches, and hopefully those qualities are present in our churches as well. But there are also a lot of areas in the believers' lives that need correction, and I would bet that many of us need the same words of warning and challenge. This might be especially true in the seventh and last letter, and probably the most well-known, the letter to the church at Laodicea. Here's what it says in Revelation 3:13-22:

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

There are a lot of tough words in this passage. Jesus isn't being overly delicate here. In my posts on the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia, I pointed out that those letters are unique in that they are the only ones where Jesus gives no rebuke. Well, Laodicea is unique in the opposite way. Jesus gives no commendation. He doesn't say, "Here's the good things you've done, but here's some ways you need to do better." He just says, "I know your deeds," and it's pretty much downhill from there.

So what are these deeds that Jesus reprimands the Laodiceans about? He says that they are lukewarm. I remember when I first read this passage when I was younger, I thought this just meant that the Laodiceans were sort of committed to God, but not all the way. To be "hot water" would be good (like being "on fire" for Jesus), and being "cold water" meant you had a pentagram tattooed on your forehead and could quote passages of Thus Spoke Zarathustra from memory. But now I don't think that's what the image of lukewarm water is getting at, because the truth is that both hot water and cold water are useful. You can use hot water to bathe in or to cook, and you can use cold water to drink or to play in the sprinkler in your front yard. But lukewarm, tepid water...it's not really good for much of anything. It's useless. And that's what Jesus is getting at, I think. He's not saying, "I would rather you be a Satanist that be lukewarm." But he does blast the Laodicean church for having become useless to the kingdom. And what's the threat if this situation remains the same? Jesus says he would spit them out of his mouth. Literally, the word means to vomit. There's not really anything in the world I hate more than vomiting, and I imagine it would be even worse to be the vomit. But that's what Jesus says would happen with the Laodiceans if they don't repent.

But why had the Laodicean church become useless? The rest of the letter explains. They depended on their own wealth and security and failed to recognize their need for God. That's the thing about Laodicea: the city was absolutely loaded. In A.D. 60, an earthquake had destroyed the city of Laodicea. When the Roman government showed up and offered to help with the rebuilding, the Laodiceans said, "Thanks, but no thanks. We can handle it." Can you imagine a city today doing that--turning down governmental aide after a natural disaster because they are wealthy enough to rebuild on their own? The Laodiceans had a lot money. They had enough to navigate life pretty well on their own. The problem with the church however, was that this security found in riches caused them to also tell God, "Thanks, but we've got this."

The believers in Laodicea were deceiving themselves, though. The truth was that they weren't alright. They thought their bank accounts gave them security, but Jesus strips away their inadequate veneers are reveals their true state. They are "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." They thought that because of their wealth, they were spiritually self-sufficient, but in reality they are a total wreck. And instead of trusting in their gold, clothing, and eye salve (three products that Laodicea was known for), they needed what only God could give them.

There aren't many passages of the Bible that are more relevant to the American church than Revelation 3:14-22. A lot of people shy away from the book of Revelation because they think it's all these crazy visions that no one can understand, so it doesn't matter anyway. But Revelation was written to seven churches in Asia in order to guide them as they followed Christ in the world, and those seven churches dealt with a lot of the same things we do today. Laodicea was rich. They depended on wealth instead of on God because, well, it seemed like they could get by doing that. And that same temptation exists in our own culture today. We are the richest nation in the history of the world. We can provide for ourselves the things that we need. And if there's some kind of emergency, we've got savings accounts and insurance policies and contingency plans to bail us out. With so many resources at our fingertips, we might in effect say to God, "Thanks God, but we can handle things here. We've got it taken care of."

In a lecture on this passage, my old Revelation professor Shane Wood asks, "If the Holy Spirit left your life, would your life change? If the Holy Spirit left your church, would your church change?" Do we really rely on God? Our wealth can make that difficult. That's the thing about being poor. A poor person recognizes their dependence. He understands that he needs something that he is unable to provide for himself. And that might be why Jesus said the poor are blessed (Lk. 6:20), and James says that the poor are actually in a high position while the rich are in a low position (Jas. 1:9-10). If we are going to be the disciples and the church that Christ calls us to be, we need more than anything to recognize that we can't go anywhere without him.

I think Jesus is trying to get our attention. He's pounding on the door, trying to rouse us from our comfort and lethargy. When we talk about Jesus knocking at the door, we tend to think of it in evangelistic contexts, and we tell unbelievers that God is knocking on their heart, so they need to let him in. But it's interesting that in the context of Romans 3, this image is spoken to the church! Jesus wants in the church! And far too often, we leave him out on the front step. It's time we bring him in for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week and that you get to spend it with family and friends. And if you plan on going shopping on Black Friday, please be kind to your cashier. If you're a guy, give him a high five. If your a lady, give him your number and a wink. He could use it.

Philadelphia: The Resilient Church

This is what Jesus says in the sixth letter of Revelation, this one in Revelation 3:7-13:

To the angel of the church of Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

I feel like I really don't have a whole lot to say about the letter to Philadelphia. Not because it's not a wonderful and beautiful letter. But it's actually pretty similar to the letter to Smyrna, which I wrote about just a few weeks ago. The letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia stand out among these seven letters to the Asian churches because they are the only ones that are completely positive. In the other five, Jesus reprimands the churches for some area of failing, but all he does is commend Smyrna and Philadelphia.

And why is Philadelphia commended? Because they've been holding on in the midst of adverse circumstances. They've been feeling the pressure of persecution. Those who belong to the "synagogue of Satan"--possibly Jews who have been stirring up trouble for the church among the Roman leaders--are trying to snuff the church out. But in spite of this, the believers have held on. They're resilient. They don't cave in to the threats and abuse that are poured out on them.

Why was the church at Philadelphia able to endure in this kind of situation? Why did the not crack in the shadow of persecution, while we might remain quiet about Christ for fear of what our co-workers might think of us? I think that the Philadelphians had laid hold of the hope that exists in the Christian life. In times of tribulation, that's often the only thing that can get us through--a knowledge and trust that things will change. When I'm in the trenches of the day as a cashier at Wal-mart, I can get through it because I know that at the end of the day, I'll be able to go home and eat a frozen pizza. And in a much more real way, the church won't be trampled on forever, because Jesus will come back, and his church will be vindicated.

That's the promise that Jesus makes to the church at Philadelphia. In verse 11: "I am coming soon." Those had to be such comforting words to the Philadelphians. They are reassured that they haven't been forgotten or abandoned by Christ. He's on his way. And he promises us too that he will come. So what does the church do in the meantime? "Hold on to what you have." We grip to the hope we have in Christ. We don't let it go for anything. That hope is like a rock-climber's rope.

A hope rope.

Hey, that rhymes!

Sorry about that. Anyways, that hope is like a rock-climber's rope. So we hold on to it for dear life. Because without the hope of Christ's return and the consummation of his kingdom, there isn't really anything to keep the church from falling off the cliff into despair.

Thankfully, our hope isn't one of those wishy-washy hopes that we usually have, sort of how I hope Katie the bank teller is sitting in the Cincinnati Chick-fil-A the next time I go there. No, our hope in Christ is sure, because he's the one with the "key of David" (v. 7) This is reference back to the description of Jesus in Revelation 1, where it is said that he holds the keys to death because he was dead but now is alive (1:18).

And it don't get more real than that.

Sardis: The Sleeping Church

I'm not much of a morning person. I really like to sleep. When I was a kid, my family was staying at a motel during a road trip, and in the middle of the night the smoke alarm in our room malfunctioned and went off. I didn't even wake up. Even just today, my alarm went off at 8:00, and I proceeded to turn it off and stay in bed for another hour. Especially as it's getting colder, it's tough to get out from under my nice warm blanket and get on my feet. That's inertia, right? An object at rest stays at rest. And when I'm at rest, I'm not apt to get in motion.

That's what was happening in one of the churches in the first century, but their spiritual laziness was a real danger. Here's what Jesus says in the fifth letter of Revelation, in Revelation 3:1-6:

To the angel of  the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have no soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The church at Sardis looked pretty good on the outside. But Jesus knows their true state. They're asleep at the wheel. Even worse, he says that even though they look like they're alive, they're really dead. They might have the outer fixings, but they are internally weak.

An interesting bit of historical background is that, in Sardis' history as a city, there were a couple of times when the situation Jesus talks about literally came into play. Sardis was an exceptionally fortified city. It should have been nearly impossible to overtake militarily. And yet, not once, but twice, the city was overtaken because the guards were sleeping on the job. The city's enemies (Cyrus in the 6th century B.C. and Antiochus III in the third century B.C.) would send someone to climb up the city's walls and open the door to let the army in. The city was also captured on another occasion by Alexander the Great simply because they were afraid to face Alexander, even though they had what should have been an impenetrable fortress. So in a very literal way, Sardis had gotten into major trouble because they had been asleep, even though they looked strong on the outside.

The church in Sardis is spiritually asleep. But what is it about them that is evidence of this slumber? I think the answer is in verse 2: "I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God." The church as Sardis had only gone halfway. They perhaps had made some promises about how they would follow Christ, but they just didn't make it to the finish line. They were like the hare from the fable--fast out of the gates but settling down for a nap part way through the race. So what does Jesus say to them? Wake up! Get out of bed! Finish what you started!

If I can be honest, I feel like I relate more with the letter to Sardis than any of the other letters in Revelation 2-3. I'm a chronic non-finisher. I like to start projects and give them up after a while. About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about making goals to be the person you want to be, and when I made my own list, I included things like "Do the dishes every night" and "Clean my apartment every weekend" and several other simple practices that I wanted to get into the habit of doing. A few days ago I looked back at my list and realized that I kept up with only a few of my goals.

Those are small things. It becomes a bigger problem when that tendency affects our life in Christ. We dedicate ourselves to a certain task. We say that we'll set aside time every day to spend in Bible study and prayer. We promise to invite that coworker to church. We vow to get into an accountable relationship so that we can rid ourselves of a sin that keeps dogging us. But not long after, these tasks that we had undertaken remain undone. Our deeds are complete. And even though we might look pretty good on the outside ("That guy goes to church every Sunday. He must be a thriving Christian"), we've flatlined on the inside.

I think that Jesus would give many of us the same instruction that Paul gives to Archippus in Colossians 4:17: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord." I don't know what it was that Archippus was supposed to bring to completion, and I don't know what it is for you. I only know that, as Christians, we can never say that we have arrived. At least not until the day when Jesus returns and takes us home. We are always growing and maturing. God always has more work for us to do. I have heard it said that a Christian who is not growing is dead. There is no coasting in the Christian life. Or, as Craig Groeschel puts it, "If you're not dead, you're not done" (The Christian Atheist, pg. 137).

Here's an unrelated sidenote: At my church this last week, we had the chance to be visited by Mary Kamau, a Kenyan who directs a mission called Hope Missions International. Hope Missions reaches out to one of the slums in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi. It was really cool to be able to listen to Mary and hear about the incredible work that is being done in one of the most destitute places on the planet. Hope Missions is one of the most holistic missions I have heard of. It's involved in church planting, business training, micro-loans, education, AIDS awareness, community development, and several other works. It's meeting individual spiritual needs, individual physical needs, and community needs. It was such an encouragement to hear how God is blessing this mission, which started just over ten years ago with a school for less than 50 children and now includes eleven schools with over 3000 children, plus all of the other programs. Anyways, I would encourage you to check out the mission's website at www.hopemissionsintl.org and to keep their work in your thoughts and prayers.

Thyatira: The Compromising Church

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will striker he children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come. 

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations--"He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like potter"--just as I have received authority from my Father. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev. 2:18-29)

Jesus has a lot to say to the church in Thyatira. And honestly, a lot of it sounds pretty scary. He's pretty fired up about some of the things that are going on in Thyatira. He commends them for their love and faith. They're not doing everything wrong by any means. But there are some ways in which they aren't living up to what Christ has called them to be. Namely, they're compromising with the culture around them.

An important background fact about Thyatira is that trade guilds played a special role in that city. Basically, a trade guild was an organization of workers in a specific trade, kind of like a union today. The commercial life of Thyatira was built on these trade guilds. If you weren't part of the guild, it was hard, if not impossible, to make a living.
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This presented a problem for the Christians in Thyatira. As with most things in the ancient Roman world, the trade guilds were intertwined with idol worship. The guilds paid homage to certain patron gods. Thus, to be part of the guild, you had to go along with the idolatry, including its sex-charged worship through temple prostitution. (It's a good thing that unions today just make you sign a piece of paper and pay dues.)

It seems like the church in Thyatira was compromising with the everyday reality of idolatry around them. They were being influenced by "Jezebel"--a reference to perhaps the most despicable figure from the Old Testament. Jezebel was the queen of Israel and the wife of Ahab. Her claim to fame was in propagating the spread of idolatry throughout the kingdom, which eventually led to its annihilation at the hands of the Assyrians. And in this letter, the Christians in Thyatira are being tempted to compromise and be drawn away after idolatry and sexual immorality, just as the Israelites had been drawn away after Jezebel and her gods. To do otherwise was financial and social suicide. Surely God wouldn't blame them for caving in a little, right?

But God's reaction to such compromise isn't very cheerful reading. There's talk of a bed of suffering, intense suffering, and children struck dead. Not the kind of things that you would put on a banner and hang up in your church's sanctuary.

In his book Revelation's Rhapsody, Robert Lowery writes that in Revelation, we can see two dangers that the Asian churches faced. Two ways that Satan tried to get them to stumble. The first is persecution, which is a common theme throughout the book. We've already looked at that in the letter to Smyrna. But Satan's other tactic, and probably the more dangerous one, is cultural seduction. He wants to get the churches to conform to the world around them. That's what we see happening in Thyatira, and that's probably the more relevant threat to the American church today.

Christians should look different from the rest of the world. There's is a lot of talk in the church today about how we can be more relevant. And that's an important talk to have. We need creative and engaging ways to relate to the world around us. We shouldn't be afraid to change methods and styles so that our message can be heard. But let's not let go of holiness. Relevance doesn't mean we conform to sinful culture. If we don't that, we become the opposite of what we want to become. We become irrelevant because there is no longer anything that distinguishes us from anyone else. To the world, a message that doesn't change us isn't really worth listening to.

The call of Jesus in this letter is the same as we find in several of the others letters in Revelation 2-3: Repent. Turn around. Stop compromising. In Revelation 1:6, we are called a "kingdom and priests"--a description that God had used before of the nation of Israel (Exod. 19:6). As the church, we are God's holy people. We don't look like everyone else. We're aliens and sojourners. So let's dedicate ourselves to the holy lives we've been called to.

Pergamum: The Tolerant Church

Don't you hate it when you get a song that you don't even like stuck in your head? Maybe it comes on the radio while you're driving to work, and then you find yourself humming Ke$ha to yourself the rest of the afternoon. You kick yourself the rest of the day, thinking, "Jiminy, why didn't I just turn off the radio once it came on? Tik Tok. Why did I let myself listen to it for a whole three minutes. But the party don't stop."

In the third letter of Revelation 2-3--this time to the church at Pergamum--Jesus points out that they were allowing themselves to listen to some of the wrong people, and there is great danger in that. Here's what Jesus says in Revelation 2:12-17:

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live--where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives. 

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

The letter starts out with a commendation for those in the church at Pergamum: They've remained faithful under pressure. They live in a city that is opposed to Christ. It's a city where "Satan has his throne" (a possible reference to an altar to the Greek god Zeus that stood on top of the mountain in Pergamum). The pressure on the church was so great, in fact, that one of its members, Antipas, has lost his life. But in spite of all of this, the believers in Pergamum stood pat and didn't retreat from Christ.

But the church there is also playing with fire. They've been tolerating some dangerous voices within the church. There are some who "hold to the teaching of Balaam" (cf. Num. 22-25). The also permit the Nicolaitans into their midst. We don't know much about what the Nicolaitans taught, but it seems like they advocated antinomianism (no law), claiming that freedom in Christ might freedom to engage in whatever sin one chooses.

Basically, the church at Pergamum had become tolerant.

I hesitate to use the word "tolerant" because it's such an common one in our day and age. I read somewhere that tolerance has become perhaps the most important "virtue" in contemporary culture. We are told over and over again to be tolerant of others, and to be labeled "intolerant" is a major slam. It can seem like the message of our culture today is that no one is really wrong, only different. So every belief, characteristic, or lifestyle must be accepted and celebrated.

Of course, such unqualified open-mindedness doesn't mesh well with Christian truth. As a result, some Christians glory in their intolerance. It's almost as if they are boasting in intolerance, in effect shouting, "Yeah, I think you're wrong. I'm intolerant. So bite me."

That may not be the best approach. As Christians, we should hold unswervingly to the the truth of God's word, but we still need to approach issues with grace and love. Otherwise, we come off like jerks.

All of that is a diversion, however. The point is that the church at Pergamum had become tolerant of some teachers in their midst who were espousing falsehood. And instead of correcting this errant teaching, the church was letting it slide. They weren't standing up for truth. They were taking a "live and let live" attitude. What they needed to do was to draw a line in the sand and firmly say, "This is unacceptable teaching." But instead, they kept listening to things that weren't good for them.

Tik Tok.

I think the letter to Pergumum is an important warning even to us today. It warns us about being careful who we listen to. We can tend to tolerate people who spout out all sorts of ideas that are contrary to Christ, whether they are friends, authors, radio personalities, politicians, professors, or whoever. And while being open to all new ideas and seeking greater general understanding is important, there comes a point when we need to say, "Enough is enough." Because not every idea is a good idea, and not every teaching is worth listening to. Tolerance of such garbage only gets it stuck in your head, and things stuck in your head start to work their way into your actions.

But the party don't stop.

Crap. Now it really is stuck in my head. 

Smyrna: The Tested Church

This is the second post I'm writing in a series about the letters to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3. Last week we looked at the letter to the church at Ephesus, and today it's on to the church in Smyrna. Here's what Jesus says in Revelation 2:8-11:

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.

The letter to the church at Smyrna is an interesting one. In most of the letters, there is some kind of warning given in which Jesus tells the church to repent and change in some way. But in two of the letters--Smyrna and Philadelphia--there is no such warning. In this letter, Jesus doesn't say "I know your deeds" and then go on to explain how the church isn't living up to what it should be. Instead, he says, "I know your afflictions."

Smyrna was a church under pressure. They were suffering. They were persecuted. They were afflicted. They were following Christ, and Satan was coming at them because of it. They were slandered by others in the community and even faced the prospect of death because of their faith. And yet, in spite of this, they had continued to hang in there. They endured.

But Jesus knew what they were experiencing. He says, "I know your afflictions." I think there may be a couple different layers to this. Of course Jesus had knowledge that the church at Smyrna was suffering. But he knew their affliction in a deeper way. He knew it because he too had experienced it. He too was slandered and accused and beaten. He was even killed in the most gruesome terms. Jesus hasn't asked his church to go where he hasn't already blazed a trail. He knows the church's suffering because he has suffered and is present with us in our suffering. And that's a comfort truth, I think.

Another comforting truth is that there is something else on the other side of suffering. The church's afflictions aren't the end of the story. The beginning of this letter identifies Jesus as the one who had died and come back to life. The cross wasn't the end of Jesus' story because he bust out of the tomb three days later. And suffering isn't the church's end because there is a crown of life waiting on the other side. In verse 10, Jesus said that the Smyrnans (?) would suffer for ten days. This is a symbolic number drawn from Daniel 1, where Daniel and his three friends, while captive in Babylon, are tested for ten days of eating only vegetables. The meaning? Ten stands for a period of testing that has a limit. The testing doesn't go on forever. And just as Daniel went through ten days of testing to come out successfully on the other side, the church at Smyrna would go through persecution for a time to burst out in glory on the other side.

It's really difficult for me to draw very good applications from this passage for the contemporary American church. The church at Smyrna experienced some serious persecution and suffering for their faith. Their lives were literally at stake. It seems a little presumptuous for me to compare my own conditions to theirs. American churches are facing the same situations that they were.

But nevertheless, even American believers do suffer. It might look different than it did two thousand years ago. But being a follower of Jesus always comes with a cost. It might be vocational, relational, or financial. A person's reputation might be spoiled because of a decision for Christ. It might mean leaving behind a life of comfort and ease for something less cozy. When we face these kinds of circumstances, what comfort can we draw from the letter to Smyrna?

Jesus knows our affliction. He's right there with us. And he's been there before. He can guide us through it because he knows the way. He can strengthen us with the same power that brought him back from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20). We can get through the crap of life because God gives us a vision of what's waiting for us.

And everyone looks better in a crown.

Ephesus: The Orthodox Church

I've decided to try a little experiment. For the next few weeks, I will be writing a specific series of posts on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. I've done series of posts before, but never one that will take this long. But these seven letters in Revelation are really interesting I think, and they're definitely worth taking a good look at. So for a little while, I'll be looking at each letter at a time, trying to see how our churches, or even our personal lives, might look a lot like these ancient churches, and also trying to see how these letters challenge, encourage, and guide us in our own lives and faiths.

One other note: a lot of my thoughts on Revelation are due to the Revelation class I took under Shane Wood at Ozark.

The first letter that Jesus gives through the apostle John is to the church at Ephesus. Here's what it says in Revelation 2:1-7:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

As in several (but not all) of the letters in Revelation 2-3, this one starts with a commendation. The Ephesians are commended for their perseverance and hard work. They are careful to test those who might be false teachers. They guard their doctrine closely. It seems like the leaders there had taken seriously Paul's warning to shepherd the church and be on guard against "savage wolves" (Acts 20:25-31). The Ephesians staunchly defend the faith against those who seek to distort it, including the Nicolaitans that are mentioned in the letter.

But not everything in Ephesus is as it should be. They are criticized for having forsaken their first love. It's not entirely clear what this means, but it's likely that it includes both love for God and love for others--two loves that go hand in hand anyway (1 Jn. 4:19-21). After all, this is at the center of Christian ethics. Jesus himself the injunctions to love God and love your neighbors as the two most important commandments. And the Ephesians had forgotten that. They were doing great on maintaining the truth of their faith, but they had forgotten to practice love. And without love, the good things we do really aren't that helpful (1 Cor. 13).

So what can we learn from the letter to the Ephesians?

You can have all your doctrinal ducks in a row and still be missing the big picture.

The Ephesians had their doctrine down. They were orthodox. But they were missing love. And there's still churches like that today--who do an awesome job of defending sound theology and doctrine but who do it with a hardened heart. And maybe we do that as individual Christians. I think that Bible college or seminary students are especially susceptible to this. You begin your academic career filled with a passion for God, for his Word, and for serving the world. But after a few years of study, you've forgotten your "first love," even though you dedicate great energy to writing sound doctrinal sermons or critiquing the latest theological fad.

Jesus' word to the Ephesians, and maybe to us as well, is to recapture the love. This doesn't mean that we abandon sound doctrine. No need to throw out the baby with the bathwater. But we may need to take a step back and remember why it is that we do what we do. It's out of a love for our Creator and for his creatures.

And what's the promise to the Ephesians if they repent and get the love back? They get to eat from the tree of life.

It is autumn, after all. Who doesn't want a good apple? Or pie....or cider....

Snack time.

Child of God

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"
-1 John 3:1

I think that verse from 1 John is one of the most wonderful statements in the entire Bible. We are children of God! It's actually a pretty common description of our relation to God that we find in Scripture. God is our Father, and we are his sons and daughters. Over the past week or so, I have been thinking about all of the various implications of this truth.

When approaching this topic, it's sadly necessary to point out that a lot of people have major problems with the idea of God being their father because they then view God in light of their own biological father, who may not be a good person at all. But thankfully, the fatherhood of good isn't based on the crappy fathers that exist in the world. God is what a father should be. A lot of fathers come nowhere near this, but this doesn't diminish the wonderful truth of the kind of father God is and what it means for us to be his children. So here's a few ideas that are associated with our identity as sons and daughters of God:

God's love for us isn't based on what we do or don't do
A child shouldn't have to earn his father's love, and thankfully, we don't have to try to earn God's love. In fact, it is impossible for us to earn God's love. Nothing we do or fail to do merits God's favor. But he loves us in spite of the things we do. Our sin doesn't disqualify us from God's love. That's what it's like in a strong parent-child relationship. A child might spit in his dad's face and do anything he can against him, but the father still love him because he is his son. It's like the the father in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The son takes a good chunk of his father's money and quickly loses it in what the Bible delicately calls "wild living." When the son comes back, dirty and ashamed, the father rushes out to him, wraps his arms around him, and throws a party because his lost son had come home. The disrespect the son had shown the father didn't affect the father's love. How liberating it is to know that we don't have to earn spiritual merit badges to get our heavenly father to care for us.

God's love doesn't stop
At no point does a good father stop and say, "You know what? I used to really love my child, but I think I'm over that." A father's love lasts forever, regardless of what happens. There isn't an expiration date on his love. That's how it is with God's love for us too. There is nothing that can stop God from loving us. Even if we don't care about his love, he continues to love. Even though the world is a big crazy place and he might have a lot of crises on his plate, he loves us. Paul famously writes in Romans 8:38-39 that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can come between the Father's love for us. It reminds me of the movie Taken and how the Father never stopped searching for his daughter, regardless of who or what got in his way. Getting between that father and his daughter was a dangerous place to be. Satan may try to separate us from God's love. But I don't think it'll work out too well for him either.

God doesn't guilt-trip us
When a good father looks at his child, he doesn't immediately think about all of the way that child has disappointed him. A father forgives, and then that is the end of the matter. He doesn't say, "Now Billy, remember how you took those cookies from the cookie jar and then lied about it four months ago? Don't you still feel bad about that?" And yet, some people think that's exactly what God does. They think that God is always there to remind us of the ways we have messed up, and this live with an unbearable sense of guilt, even though God has forgiven them. But I don't think that's God's voice pouring guilt into their ears. It's Satan, the accuser. As children of God, we can live free from guilt because Jesus Christ has already paid our penalty. Romans 8:1 says that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." God has removed our guilt, so that now there is no one there to accuse and condemn us (Rom. 8:33-34).

We have an inheritance
Galatians 4 has a lot of incredible material about what it means to be a child of God, and one of the points that it brings out is that children receive an inheritance. In this chapter, Paul contrasts children with slaves. In Christ, we are no longer slaves, but are rather made sons and daughters of God, and he writes in Galatians 4:7, "So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." Later in the chapter, he uses an allegory that considers the son of Hagar (a slave) and Sarah (a child of promise). Verse 30 says that "the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." As God's children, we look forward to "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--dept in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4; cf. Matt. 25:34). Our Father won't leave us out in the cold. And that's something to get pretty dang excited about, I think.

We can approach God without fear
A child should have no qualm about coming to his father about anything. There is an intimacy between father and child, and Scripture tells us that, because of Christ, we have that same kind of intimacy with God. Galatians 4:6 says, "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.'" We can come to him with any problem at any time, and he welcomes us with open arms. A child doesn't have to go to a "professional" to take a request to his father for him. He doesn't have to go through a mediator. An amazing truth is that God wants us to come to him. He is always ready to hear us. He wants us to communicate with him freely and openly. Hebrews 4:16 says we can "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." The creator of the universe is also our loving Father. Sweet.

We should begin to look something like God
Before you come to apartment and drag me out so that you can take me to the street corner and denounce me as a heretic, let me make it clear that I'm not saying that we become gods or anything like that. But as God's children, we should begin to resemble him in some ways. We use phrases such as "Like father like son" and "A chip off the ol' block" to talk about how children resemble their parents. For an example, here's a picture of my dad and me. As I have gotten older (and decided to also grow a goatee), a lot of people say that we look alike. (Which I take to mean that we both look freakin' good in a tux.) When people look at me, they can see something of my father in me. And as Christians, when the world looks at us, they should see something of God in us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48; cf. 1 Pet. 1:15-16). As God's Spirit works in us to sanctify us, we are molded and shaped so that we reflect the holy character of God.

What are other implications of being a son or daughter of God? What benefit of being God's child are you most grateful for or astounded by?

On a final note, if you have some time check out the story that ESPN's Outside the Lines did about Joplin here, and continue to pray for Joplin. I love that city.

The D-Heff Show

If you're anything like me, sometimes you watch a TV show and think, "Man, it would be pretty awesome to be a character on that show." That's the appeal of television, of course. All of these shows portray an imaginative image of life. Even what we call "reality shows" are anything but real. No matter how much you might want it to be so, the truth is that real life just isn't like your favorite sitcom. Here's a few ways in which this is true:

1. Real conversations aren't full of memorable witticisms

I think a good sense of humor is one of the most important qualities a person can have. I like to be around funny people, and I hope that at least on occasion, people find me humorous as well. But no matter how funny your friends and you might be, you're not funny all the time. But that's not how it is in a sitcom. In a sitcom, a conversation consists of perfectly timed puns and wisecracks. Awkward smalltalk doesn't exist in a sitcom. No one wants to watch a group of friends sitting around a table and talking about how there's construction on I-75 or about how it's been an unusually warm weekend for October. But in reality, such conversations are common. You have to talk about such mundane things sometimes because, well, sometimes there just isn't much else to say. Every other sentence can't be a clever joke. Which leads to the second point:

2. Sometimes you'll say something you think is funny, and no one will laugh

We've all been there before. You're at dinner with friends, and you formulate some quip in your head that you just know is the most hilarious thing that has ever been uttered in human speech. In your head, it's amazing. But once it leaves your mouth, you realize that it's not funny at all. It's moronic, in fact. It doesn't even make sense. And instead of standing and taking a bow to the uproarious, you sit in shame as everyone gives you an uneasy glance and continues with their conversation as if you had said nothing. Of course, an even more embarrassing situation is when no one laughs at your joke except you. You don't want to be the guy who laughs at his own corny jokes. On a sitcom, though, this isn't a problem. After any moment that is intended to be funny, the laughtrack gives its approval. Wouldn't it be nice if real life came with a laughtrack? Maybe I should keep a speaker in my back pocket so that whenever I say something no one laugh at, I can hit a button and receive that immediate affirmation of a kind laugh. It would be a real ego-booster.

3. You have responsibilities and a job

Now, most characters in a sitcom also have a job. But have you ever noticed how rarely they are actually there? (Not including shows like The Office, of course). Sitcoms don't show their characters are work, sitting in a cubicle pushing paper all day. The people in sitcoms are always hanging out in apartments or bars or going on roadtrips. They're never too busy. They don't spend their evenings going to meetings or taking kids to soccer practice or going grocery shopping. They spend them sitting around with their friends or getting into zany predicaments. But that's not what your life is like. You get up at 6:30, go to work all day, and when you get home you're too tired to do much besides sit around and watch a sitcom. Then the next day, you do something similar. You don't have time to spend five nights a week just hanging out with friends. But for a sitcom character, it really doesn't matter much how much time is spent at work. And yet....

4. You don't have unlimited cash flow

For rarely going to work, it seems like very few sitcom characters have major money problems. When one character says, "Hey, let's all go out for a drink," you never hear another character say, "You guys go ahead. I'd better sit this one out. I only make minimum wage, and I haven't paid my electric bill yet this month." I guess old show The Honeymooners would be an exception to this rule, but that's an exception. For the most part, sitcom characters have no worry about finances, and they all live in trendy apartments with a large main room so that all the other characters can come over for parties and the camera can still fit everyone in. They never live in little one-bedroom jobs with absolutely nothing on the walls like I have. 

5. Real world problems can't all be solved in 22 minutes

This is the typical format of a sitcom episode: some situation arises (a crazy inlaw is coming over for Christmas, one character's favorite restaurant is closing, or Cory and Topanga's relationship is on the rocks), then the characters spend the episode trying out futile (yet comical) methods for solving the problem, and in the end everything works out. All of this is contained in a nifty half-hour slot, so that after watching, you are able to go on with your day stress-free. But that's not how real life is. Real life is complicated. Some situations are complex. Your spat with a significant other might last for days, or even weeks. Your jerk boss might continue to be a jerk as long as you work there. Real problems don't all have a definable beginning, middle, and end, all with a snazzy bow on top. Life is messy, and its problems don't all come with commercial breaks so you can go use the restroom before having to deal with it again. Sometimes you just have to hold it.

What are some other ways that life isn't like a sitcom?

Where Friends Come From

A couple months ago, I moved to a new city where I knew next to nobody. As I have written about in previous posts, since then I have been trying to adjust to a new period of my life, and one significant change is in my social life as I have needed to meet new people. In this time, I have thought some about exactly how friendships happen. Do you ever think about that? Take a moment to run through a list of some of your friends, and ask, "How did that person and I become friends?"  You normally don't think much about how your various friendships have developed. You just know that you have friends, and you don't stop to think about how that happened in the first place.

But the truth is that any friendship has to have some sort of beginning. Relationships are created ex nihilo.

So how do friendships happen?

That question is probably asked by more people than one might realize. I would suspect that there are a lot of people that just don't know how to build friendships. (And by "out there," I mean "sitting on my couch and typing on my computer"). I did a little Google search on the topic just a bit ago and found a site that covers "How To Make Friends and Get a Social Life" (www.succeedsocially.com). People want to know how to make friends. So how does it work?

I think it's different for different people. We all have different ways that we tend to make friends.

There are some people who talk their way into friendships. When I say that, I don't mean that they're deceitful or anything like that. I simply mean that there are some who create friendships simply through conversation. They can sit with someone at a coffeeshop and talk and talk forever, and then the two people walk out the door as best buds.

That's not how I roll. Now I try my best to make good conversation with people. I just feel that I'm not all that great at it. I (once again) relate to Donald Miller's sentiment when he writes in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, "I can get tired when I talk to somebody new, because if there is silence in the conversation, I feel it's my fault." Of course, that isn't a necessary way to feel, but I think it might be a common one for a lot of people. It's an awkward and uncomfortable thing to be around people you don't know well with nothing to do but make conversation. It works for some people, but not so well for others.

What I have come to realize is that, historically, I tend to begin most friendships by sharing a common experience. It happens by doing something together--playing basketball, playing ping-pong or cards, going bowling. (Or maybe it's just that I really like games....) But for me, it's difficult to sit in a room and make small talk for very long. I simply run out of things to say. I need an activity to go along with it.

So what about you? How do you tend to make friends? Are you one of those people who can do it by just by conversing? Do you also prefer to have a common activity with someone? Or do you just stare at someone across the room for a while? Or maybe you just randomly add strangers to your Facebook friends list. (Or maybe you're Google+ list? I'm not cool enough for that yet).

Or maybe it's by reading someone's blog and then sending him Chick-fil-A gift cards. I hear that's a pretty popular method.

The Power of Prayer

Recently I have been reading through Luke's gospel, and the other day I noticed a contrast that is made that I had never noticed before. That probably means that I'm reading more into the text than there actually should be, but even so, I figured it's worth sharing.

One of the reasons that Luke's gospel is interesting is in its structure and the way that Luke arranges the narrative. Luke 9:51 is a turning point in the book: "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." From that point on, Jesus' eyes are fixed on Jerusalem, where he would be arrested, tried, and crucified. For half the book, then, the story is pushing continuously toward Jerusalem and the cross. Jesus has a determined spirit. He is constantly moving forward to Jerusalem, and even though he continues to teach and heal, the story is directly mainly on what would happen at the cross. So from Luke 9:51 on, we see the incredible determination and resoluteness of Jesus as he heads to the cross.

Jesus isn't the only one who had this sense of resoluteness, however. We see the same attitude in his disciple Peter as well. After all, Peter had made some major sacrifices in choosing to follow Jesus. He had left behind his family, friends, and business at the call of Jesus. He brings this truth to the service in Luke 18:28, when he says to Jesus, "We have left all we had to follow you!" And in the upper room on the night before Jesus' crucifixion, Peter even says that he is ready to go to the cross with Jesus. In Luke 22:33, he boldly declares, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." At this point in Luke's narrative, Peter shares the same determination and unflinching steadfastness that Jesus has.

But not long after this, Jesus and Peter look much different in their readiness to go to the cross. Jesus is arrested and continues to demonstrate the resoluteness that characterizes his actions and words throughout Luke. When asked by the priests if he is the Son of God, he says simply, "You are right in saying I am" (Lk. 23:70). Then, when Pilate asks him if he is the king of the Jews, he replies, "Yes, it is as you say," (Lk. 23:3). A defense attorney would probably say that Jesus isn't doing a very good job in defending himself. He doesn't try to dodge around the charges that are presented against him. Instead, he faces the whole ordeal with apparent confidence. He continues to demonstrate great determination. He knows his mission, and he carries it out without turning aside to other possible paths. The Jesus whose eyes had been fixed on the cross since Luke 9:51 carries that cross through the streets, knowing that is why he had come.

Compare that with what happens with Peter. Less than 24 hours earlier, Peter had pronounced that he would go with Jesus even to death. But that's not what happens. Peter doesn't end up on the cross next to Jesus. Instead, he's found in the courtyard of the high priest, and when a little servant girl suspects that Peter is one of Jesus' disciples, he adamantly denies it. Not just once. Three times. The Peter in the courtyard looks a lot different from the Peter in the upper room.

So why the change? Why does Jesus maintain his determined spirit, but Peter forgets his promises and denies Jesus?

I think the answer to these questions comes down to Gethsemane. Between the upper room and the courtyard, Jesus and his disciples go to the Mount of Olives in Luke 22:39-46. And that's where the actions of Jesus and Peter are very different. Jesus spends the time in fervent, intense prayer to his Father. He asks that if it possible, he not need to go to the cross, but he still submits himself to the Father's will. His prayer is so intense that Luke even writes that "his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." On the night before his resolve will be tested most strongly, Jesus spends significant time in prayer with the Father.

Peter's prayer in Gethsemane doesn't quite look like Jesus'. When they first get there, Jesus tells his disciples, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." But it's late at night, and the disciples had had a long day of preparing for the Passover, so they were naturally tired. When Jesus goes to them after his prayer, he doesn't find them in prayer. He finds them sleeping, and he has to kick them awake and remind them to pray.

I wonder how Peter's story might have been different if he hadn't slept through Gethsemane. What if he had spent the time in focused prayer as Jesus had? Would he still have denied Jesus in the courtyard? Or would that time in prayer have given him the strength to move forward with the same resolve that Jesus has the next day?

I think we sometimes forget about the power that is available through prayer. It was Jesus' prayer that gave him the inner strength to carry through with the plan God had for him. That night of prayer was like the time it takes for a knight to put on his armor. Peter, on the other hand, neglected that time of prayer, and he was unprepared for the challenges that awaited him.

In his book Power Through Prayer, E.M. Bounds writes, "Prayer is one of the eminent characteristics of strong spiritual leadership. Men of mighty prayer are men of might and mold things. Their power with God has the conquering tread."

The good news for Peter is that his denial wasn't the end of the road, and it's interesting to me to look at how some of the "big" moments in his later ministry were accompanied by prayer. Acts 1:14 says that Peter and the other believers in Jerusalem "all joined together constantly in prayer." Not long after that, Pentecost happens, and Peter preaches a sermon that resulted in three thousand people coming to Christ. In Acts 3, Peter and John are going to the temple to pray when they bump into a crippled beggar, whom Peter then heals. In Acts 10, Peter is on the roof praying when God gives him a vision that leads to him going to Cornelius and sharing Christ with the first Gentile Christian. And in Acts 12, when Peter is miraculously brought out of prison, it is when the "church was earnestly praying to God for him."

I hope we don't neglect the centrality of prayer in our own lives. Whether you preach in a church, help with the youth group, or just strive to be a godly family member and friend, you need prayer. In prayer, we gain the strength to do what God has for us to do. Ignoring prayer is like trying to run a marathon without water. We won't get too far.

Believe me. I run marathons all the time.