The Crooked made Straight

The Crooked made Straight

What if there were a medicine that would straighten out all that is crooked? The toothpicks fall out of the box on the floor, and there they lay in all directions. What would it take to make them straight? I think of the crookedness as disarray; as things not being the way they are supposed to be. And sadly, there is much that is not the way it is supposed to be.

What if gratefulness straightened out all that was crooked? Suppose you are near-sighted, or far-sighted - it does not matter which - something is wrong, and there are things you can’t see clearly, whether near words or distant birds. What if, through the regular practice of gratefulness, your vision could improve?

It actually does, you know. Oh, I don’t think for a minute that gratefulness improves your physical vision, but what about your spiritual vision, your ability to see the goodness of God in every corner, and what is important over against the trivial, and the value of persons made in the image of God and loved by Him. That is pretty good vision, and many of us find ourselves shortsighted.

What if the regular practice of thankfulness could rid ourselves of aberrant cells in our body that threaten to reproduce and create a cancer that seek to destroy us? Again, God can cure cancer, but your thankfulness cannot. But your thankfulness can cure cancers of the soul, such as bitterness, or apathy, or selfishness, or resentment. And while I do know that there will be no cellular cancer in heaven, I believe that we should not be content to live with spiritual cancer in the meantime. And a regular practice of thankfulness may be the medicine that we need.

You may regard yourself as a thankful person. I hope that it is true. Do others hear you complain? That would be a red flag, wouldn't it? Do you find in yourself patches of soul-ish illnesses mentioned above: bitterness, apathy, selfishness, resentment. I mention them because I find them in myself. Do you find them in yourself? They are dead patches in the green lawn of gratefulness, and the dead patches are generally more noticeable than are the green areas.

Do you brush your teeth? Of course you do. I’ll leave flossing aside, since it seems to be a different matter, but we all brush our teeth, probably twice a day. Do you spend some time in thankfulness twice a day? Perhaps that is more like flossing, something you do once in a while. But do we really think that soul decay is less a problem than tooth decay? Yes, a bad tooth really hurts. But a bad soul carries a pain that is worse, though different. Soul pain may actually affect more those around you than yourself; soul pain is keenly felt by the Father, the Giver of such good gifts, while we may be oblivious.

Come, ye thankful people come, be thankful, and be healed.

Three-in-One

Three-in-One

The wonder and mystery of the Godhead is beyond us, and yet God has revealed Himself as the Three-in-One. One God, and yet three Persons. All illustrations are lacking, but here is my attempt:

In the mind of the Father is the most beautiful color that exists. The beauty of this color exceeds anything else that you could find in creation. If you were to see it, it would take your breath away. If you were to behold it, it would change your life. But, you cannot see into the mind of the Father. That which your heart desires and your soul seeks - it is beyond your reach, deep in the mind of God.

But God (oh, that little phrase), - but God - was unwilling to keep this beauty to Himself. He desired that it be shared, and that you see, and be changed. And this is where the second Person of the Trinity comes in. You see, it is the Father’s place to conceive the color that is beyond the beauty of any other color. But it is given to the Son to communicate the color. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory (that color), the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (the beautiful color of grace and truth) (Jn 1:14, less the parentheses). When we see the Son, we something of the being of the Father, not physically, because the Father is Spirit. But we see something of who He is, His character. And, it is beautiful beyond words.

We see the beauty of the most majestic color hidden in the mind of God when Jesus speaks, and when He refuses to speak. We see it when He confronts, and when He overwhelms; when He forbids, and when He welcomes. We see it in all the ways that He lived; and we see it in the one way that He died. We see the beauty of the Father in the face of the Son. It takes our breath away, and we are changed.

When you are told of the beauty in the un-open-able can of heavenly color, you wonder. And when the lid is taken off the can, you see and believe. But it does not end there, does it? Because there are not only two members of the Godhead, but three: Father, Son, and Spirit. They are together God, and they are each one, God, one God. Their beauty is/are functions of all Three.

The beautiful color of paint in a can is indeed beautiful. But God never intended for that color to be observed, as in a museum. He intended for it to be displayed, to be expressed, to be worn. And so the Spirit applies to the lives of those who believe the beauty of the color that is demonstrated in Jesus and conceived of by the Father. We are adorned with such beauty, frail and foolish creatures that we are, and we are able to then continue to share what God the Father willed to have shared, as displayed by Jesus, with the assistance of the Spirit. The hidden beauty in the mind of the Father is revealed in the Son, and then applied to those who believe by the Spirit. It takes our breath away, and we are changed.

Grasping and Grabbing

Grasping and Grabbing

When Eve gave birth to Cain, she gloated over what she had gotten from (in spite of) the Lord. This is not how the text is rendered in NASB or most of our translations, but it would be a literal rendering. God had said, “You will surely die!” And she said, “Oh yeah! Not only didn’t I die, but I gave birth to another life!” Cain’s name is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for “get.” She “got” what she wanted. It seems to me a tale of grabbing and getting, grasping for what one wants, and it usually comes at a cost.

Another re-translations of mine is in Philippians 2, where Christ considered that equality with God was not something to be grasped. On the other hand, He “took the form of a servant.” But the word “took” is also translated in the active sense “received.” He didn’t grasp; He gave up something of great value. He did not “take” as if to steal what was not His. He received that which no high and holy King would ever want.

Jane and I have had both kinds of experiences, just in normal daily life. One category would be the purchase of a car. They cost money, you know. And at times, not having all that much, you decide what you can afford, and then you borrow. But in our case, there have been times when we have waited, and God has supplied something, not necessarily free, but on the cheap. And we enjoyed it as a gracious gift. Grace is so much better than grasping or grabbing.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," the saying goes, and that applies to those vehicles for which I was most fond. That first Isuzu Trooper, damaged on three sides in a car accident, was a treasure. I got it for cheap and found replacement doors and had a blast with it. The Chevrolet Cavalier that was rear-ended received new life when a new body was given and the old engine placed in it, for free, by friends - more miles of grace and kindness. Other cars, when we “got” what we wanted and paid the price - not so satisfying. I am not sure how to categorize every case, but you know grace when you receive it.

The way of Jesus is in being given, and in giving; not grasping and grabbing. Salvation is not grasped or grabbed. It is received. Service happens as we step away from something that is nice for something that is better - hot chocolate at home vs. sitting and listening to a broken soul. Jesus did not call us to “get ahead.” If He would have done so, we would still be stuck, guilty in our sins. But He stepped aside from the most glorious to the mean and gritty. He did not grasp, but He gave. And He expects His followers to do the same.