How does fear of death enslave us?

Death presses upon us the idea of finite existence, enslaving us to problem of limited time. This perceived lack of time is the source of multiple stresses. The drive for efficiency, the temptation to take short cuts, the urgency to experience maximum pleasures with our few years--and all the foolish sacrifices we make to meet these pressures--are driven by the race against time.

But imagine that our lives go on forever...would we still have the same priorities we have now? Would we make the same choices that we've made? When Jesus conquered Death, he demolished the ticking pressure of the clock and all its associated complications.

Take for example the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. The landowner paid everyone the same wage no matter how late each worker began their day's work.

Many sermons focusing on the generosity of God have been preached on this story--which is fine--but note that the parable both follows (Matthew 19:28) and concludes (Matthew 20:16) with the this thought: 'So the last will be first and the first will the last.' Perhaps Jesus is simply saying God doesn't operate on the basis of our temporal values. In God's kingdom Death is not an issue therefore time is not an issue.

If we seriously take hold of Jesus' defeat of Death, we will shake off the old expectations that had been ingrained in us, shift our paradigm and develop a new 'normal' where time is not our slave master.

'Begin with the end in mind'

This is Habit #2 from Stephen Covey's National Bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey is right in that we don't think enough about how we want to end; if we want to win a game, we need to map out a strategy that will lead us to victory. For the game of life, Covey suggests that we imagine our own funeral--imagine how we want to be remembered by our family and friends, then chart our life accordingly.

Frankly his suggestion doesn't motivate me very much. So what if all my loved ones think well of me after I die? I will still be separated from them; what they think of me at that point will mean very little.

Death takes away the incentive to do right and to live right. If all ends with death, and if nothing else exists beyond the grave, I might as well focus on having a good time while alive! That to me would be the smartest thing if everything ultimately ends in death. But does everything end in death?

Most religions and our own intuition point to 'no; there is life beyond death'. Jesus came to prove it (Matthew 28: 16-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:1-8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Some of us aren't afraid of dying, but even the brave still make choices in life under the shadow of its reality. What Jesus did on the cross undermined the effect impending death has on our psyche (Hebrews 2:15). His defeat of death is ours to hold; we are therefore called to live in liberty and think eternally.

Covey is right to have us look ahead. I just think we should think further than our funerals; and live in a way that such forward thinking merits.

Becoming one of us

Years ago, when I was still a fresh new Christian, one of my brothers challenged me with this question: "You mean to tell me that God, who is supposed to be all powerful and mighty, had to hang on a cross to save us? That is absolute absurdity and you buy into that?!?"

It had never occurred to me that a powerful being dying for humanity was absurd. As a teenager, I thought dying was the grandest love gesture that anyone could make: think Romeo and Juliet--what was wrong with that?!

But God didn't just die for romantics, He died for practical people too.

Much later, I found this answer to my brother's question, written clear as daylight in Hebrews 2:14-18: "¹⁴Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. ¹⁵Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. ¹⁶We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. ¹⁸Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested."

God is not our Santa (2)

Santa looks at our wish list and gives us what we want; God doesn't always give us what we want.

It's not that God doesn't want to make us happy. The problem is: we don't know what really makes us happy--deep down, and for the long haul. We are generally too short-sighted to know what's most valuable for us. And we are fickle; our desires ebb back and forth according to the whims of our culture and the current trends pursued by our neighbours.

Santa doesn't care about the shelf life of his gifts. God cares very much about the longevity of His gifts; He has eternity in mind. (James 1:17)

God is not our Santa (1)

Santa asks whether we've been naughty or nice...God already knows the answer to that question yet He doesn't decide whether to give gifts or not based on our behaviour.

This is counter-intuitive. We are used to thinking we deserve love, gifts and good things in life because of what we've done--because of us. Isn't that how most parents motivate their children to behave well?

We like the idea of being good in order to get something; this gives us a sense of control. If we do well, we can be proud of ourselves. But if we fail? Then we don't feel good about ourselves...this can be punishing.

God is forgiving--Santa isn't. Yes, God wants us to be good too, but even as we constantly fall short, His love toward us doesn't change. (Romans 5:8; Romans 8:38-29; John 3:16)

Give like the original Santa

St. Nicolas of Myra was the first and original Santa Claus. He lived during the 3rd century under the Roman Empire in modern day Turkey. His habit of secretly giving to the poor was how he became the original model of Santa Claus. St. Nicolas lived out this command of Christ: "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret" (Matthew 6:1-4)

Things have changed since then; our Christmas gifting today is neither focused on the needy nor done in secret. That's not to say charity doesn't happen, it just hasn't been the main theme of our giving. Culturally, we exchange gifts with friends and family, it is a sign of mutual friendship and love rather than charity.

Giving can be loaded with pressure: Is this gift good enough? Is it too expensive? Too cheap? Showing too much eagerness to please? Or not pleasing enough? All this pressure comes from attaching ourselves too much with the gift we are giving. When we are thinking these thoughts, it's a sure sign that the gift is more about us than about the recipient of it. It is ironic, but giving can be a self-centered act.

In contrast, following St. Nicholas' model has this effect: giving anonymously to the needy breaks the power of self-centered thoughts and brings pleasure of being generous.

We, the chosen

The Bible tells us that Jesus' followers have been chosen by God before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4-14). We are no different than Mary and Joseph in that God chose all of us and has given each of us a role to play in His master plan. (1 Corinthians 12:12-26)

Like Mary we receive the news of Jesus and welcome his life into our own. We sense his presence and know there is change happening inside us that is not our own doing. He enlarges our hearts, he stretches our faith and he gives us peace that we never had before.

Like Joseph we hear his word and call to action. We are restless until we act upon his call. For every action or decision we make out of obedience, we find affirmation that his word is true. And so, the birth of Christ in us yields faith, and faith bears its fruit eventually.

We are not chosen because we are good, quite the contrary, we are chosen to be made good, so that we can bear light in the world that God loves.

Joseph, the other chosen

I have always wondered what the relationship between Jesus and Joseph was like. Whenever Jesus uses the word "Father" in the Bible, it was always referring to God. What about his earthly father? Did Joseph love him like a son? I can't imagine he considered Jesus a bastard child, but Jesus wasn't his; what was it like? Did Joseph even live long? He was rarely mentioned in Scriptures. What we do know is that he was a righteous man to whom God entrusted Mary and Jesus when they were most vulnerable.

Joseph's faith is no less amazing than Mary's. Mary knew her pregnancy was immaculate, but Joseph had plenty of reasons to doubt. God sent Mary an angel with news; but he spoke to Joseph only through dreams. Mary just had to receive the news and things were happening to her while Joseph had to believe the messages in his dreams and take actions accordingly.

Matthew 1:20-25--He took Mary to be his wife in spite of her mysterious pregnancy.

Matthew 2:13-14--He took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod's sword.

Matthew 2:19-21--He returned to Israel after Herod died.

Matthew 2:22-23--He avoided returning to Judea and took the family to Nazareth instead.

Without Joseph's active response to God's call, our picture of the nativity might be a different one today. Joseph is a neglected hero in the Christmas story; he is an example of faith in action, an essential response to the Christian's call.

What kind of script are we writing with our faith?

Mary, the chosen

In the first chapter of Luke we read about the encounter between Mary and the angel Gabriel, who gave her the news that she will give birth to Jesus even though she was a virgin. Mary has been credited with extraordinary faith for two millennia because of her accepting response to this news (Luke 1:28).

We tend to forget that when angels appear, in the Bible at least, people are deeply frightened; they become weak with fear. Yielding, with a compliant response, can almost be expected; how else would a teenage girl react to the overwhelming presence of a mighty angel?

It is true that the "Magnificat" (Mary's song recorded in Luke 1:46-55) reveals Mary's faithful heart. The song, sung in response to Elizabeth's affirmation (Luke 1:42-45) and long after her meeting with Gabriel, is a hymn of thanksgiving and praise to the God who chose her. Her own words reveal that she was a passive recipient of God's favour and little action was required of her to accomplish His plan. God's choosing her preceded Mary's response of faith to Him, not the other way around ...

We often forget Jesus' other earthly parent--Joseph. He too was chosen, though his required response was rich with action. Joseph will be the focus of my next blog.

Angels and demons

Whenever angels appear in the Bible, the first thing they usually say is "Do not be afraid"; those they appear to often fall face-down in fear. It seems angels are terrifying beings. In contrast, demons aren't very intimidating in Scripture. They're more of a nuisance, manifesting themselves in familiar people--poor souls whom they love to frustrate. We seldom find the word demon in the Bible without also finding the word "possessed" in the same sentence.

This is directly opposite to how we think of angels and demons today. Our images of angels are soft friendly winged cherub babes while demons are scary brutes that wait in dark places to destroy us. Renaissance paintings of angels and demons have us fooled--as do our Halloween stories and horror films.

Why is this detail relevant? Because we need to know the real strategy of our enemy. The Devil does the greatest harm to us not through scare tactics, but through deception and disguise. He is the father of lies (John 8:44). For centuries he fools us into thinking that he looks scary while he actually does the most damage masquerading as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Evil is a parasite

I've come to the conclusion that evil always works through people. That's why we need to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44); they are just tools.

Think about it: whenever the Bible talks about demons they are always spirits, lodging themselves in people or animals. These spirits seem to have no material form; they must possess someone else's life to manifest themselves. For example, in the account where Jesus casts a whole group of demons out of one man, the spirits begged to be sent to a herd of pigs (Mark 5:1-20).

There was even one occasion where Jesus rebuked Satan while talking to his disciple Peter (Matthew 16:23). In this instance, Peter was not possessed with the bad spirit, but he uttered thoughts and words that were from Satan and Jesus was none too pleased with him.

How does evil influence us? Thoughts. If we are not careful, these thoughts take root in our being and lead us to commit evil deeds. Jesus resisted the Devil when he was being tempted. Because of Christ's Spirit living inside us, Christians have great power to resist evil influences too.

Moreover, Jesus encourages us to exercise that power not just in our own lives but also on behalf of others who can't resist--this, I think, being the force of His command to pray for our enemies.

"All you need is love"

The Beatles' song says it and Jackie DeShannon's song says it too: "What the World Needs Now is Love". Pop culture is full of music and movies that both explore and exploit our appetite for love. But what does the word mean to most people? Our sexualized culture has us associate love with affection, attraction or passion. Hollywood's depiction of love is often just a picture of people getting naked in bed together.

We need to redefine the true meaning of the word love.

John 3:16 says "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." In the biblical sense of the word, love is sacrificial, outward-bound and has an enduring quality.

In the Bible's love chapter--1 Corinthian 13, we find this description: "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."

Love like this is rare but that's how God loves us. When I realize how much he puts up with in loving me, my heart enlarges a little making room for others. God's love is supernaturally perfect and it is transferrable. We have to first receive it and then we know how to turn around and love others the same way.

Getting hosed with a purpose

Matthew 5:39 "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well"

If we only read this verse, it would seem like Jesus advocates that his disciples be doormats, allowing others to walk all over them. And in our minds we think "weak and stupid people can't say 'no' or defend themselves". We don't want to be weak or stupid and so we're repulsed by the idea of 'getting hosed'.

But Jesus does not advocate weakness or stupidity; he is saying choose to give even when we sense the other person is manipulating or mistreating us. If we follow our natural inclination to build up defences, our hearts would end up being hard and cold. We are actually in the position of strength when we choose. A deliberate choice to remain vulnerable to people is an act of love.

Jesus didn't innocently or foolishly trust people (John 2:23-25). But He loved them.

Getting hosed, boundary and love

Every now and then, the concept of maintaining boundaries pops up in church circles. That may be because some believers are prone to guilt trips and have trouble resisting requests for help even when they are not reasonable.

Being aware of boundary issues is important, but some of us have built such fortresses that any personal interaction becomes heavily guarded. Frankly, being around people with this type of 'boundary' is awkward.

Boundaries becomes much less important when there is love. Take children for example, they are pretty creative at getting what they want--from being cute to fake crying to acting out; loving parents meet their kids' needs despite the method they use to get their way. In almost every love relationship, there will be some form of getting the other person do what 'I' want and vice versa; doing the bidding of a beloved is a pleasure and not something that needs to be guarded against.

If Jesus had decided to build a boundary against self-serving people, he would have avoided mankind all together. Instead we read that the incredible demands tugging all around him did not produce a fortress or barrier. He was free to feed, to give, to heal and to teach. His love was deep and wide, covering over a multitude of wrongs--including all the ways people disregarded his boundaries.

What if life is about getting hosed?

One sunny day some years ago, I was walking down the street with a friend. We were minding our own business when a young man approached us for money. He looked clean and tidy, but you could tell that he was a street kid--and a smart one because he spoke well. We quietly listened to his plea for cash and promises to only use it for groceries rather than drugs or booze. Under normal situations, I would have just said, "no" and walked along...I hate being manipulated.

But that time was different. Something or Someone came over me and it felt more important to affirm this young man. So, I gave him a five-dollar bill with a blessing. Two things were at work: (1) I felt God's love for him and (2) I felt released from the irritation of being manipulated. In that moment I gave freely. And the freedom felt incredible inside.

We can say that Jesus made himself vulnerable to others' desires to manipulate him. Everybody wanted something from him. The mass of followers wanted food and healing. His close disciples wanted power in the Kingdom of God. Even his mother wanted wine from water. We're much the same today; most of us want blessings of some sort. Yet he doesn't just say no and get rid of us. He's patient with our mixed motives--and calls us to love the same way.

Vancouver Life

Silent night, silent night

All is bright with city lights

Many searching many lonely

Online we find some soothing sites

Facebook, Twitter and Blogger alike

Google, comment, read and write

'Friends' propagate, free and plenty

Though still in want--a bosom buddy

Tammy Faye Bakker

The Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker scandal in the 1980's really gave Christianity a black eye. Many judged them as utterly fake, manipulative and crooked people. That was my impression too until I saw a documentary entitled, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye".

The film helped get me past the thick mascara and my own prejudice, revealing a woman who wore her heart on her sleeve, embracing gay people before it became fashionable and supporting AIDS patients before Princess Diana made it cool--someone full of love who saw everyone as equally loveable.

The film also opened my eyes to the enormous trials she faced before, after and even during that period of remarkable success in the late 70s and early 80's. I came to think that through her rise and fall and through the many trials along the way her faith in God remained solid, her kindness did not shake, her confidence didn't shrink and that her forgiveness for her adversaries was abiding. Was she guilty and deserving of the scandalous accusations? Probably...though we don't know to what extent. To have reached that kind of success and fame would have brought temptation beyond what most people can handle; who are we to judge? The fact is, I came to think her faith in God was real...

This prompted me to Google the rest of her story. Turns out she finished strong. After an 11 year battle with recurring forms of cancer, and with just 65 lbs on her frame, her last words on Larry King Live, the night before she died, were a declaration of love to her fans expressing her deep desire for them to get to know Jesus: "I'd like to say that I genuinely love you (fans), and I genuinely care and I genuinely want to see you in Heaven someday. I want you to find peace. I want you to find joy..."

This woman embraced those that society shunned, had tangible faith in God during life's worst trials and pointed toward Heaven as her life drained away--she turned my attention toward Jesus. I hadn't expected that from Tammy Faye Bakker.

I don't know who I am when I am doing nothing

Look how many 'I's' are in that sentence; my high school English teacher would have been horrified. Avoiding bad writing style is one thing, there's something more insidious to look out for here. Experience tells me the frequency with which someone uses 'I' in their speech or writing often indicates their mental well-being.

Of all the addictions that can trap us, we tend to be the least aware of this 'I' obsession and its damage upon our psyche. Secular society may not even think of it as a problem, because for many this life is it--get the most for 'me' now. Yet, psychologists and counsellors make their living off the disease.

Habitual self-absorption is hard to break. We are born with it to a certain degree and then 'life happens', getting us even more stuck. But the Bible has a remedy for it, using a surprising word to label this sickness: sin.

If God calls self-absorption sin, it is no wonder then that His most important commandment to us is "to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind"(Luke 10:37). Jesus goes even further to say that "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). And there's the cure: if we make Jesus our sole obsession, he will replace all other addictions, to set us free even from ourselves.