Posts in Category: down to earth believer

“THE MATTER OF WORDS MATTERING”

On August 5, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

A few days ago, I did a post on gratitude. In it, I used the word “supernature” (https://www.downtoearthbeliever.com/?p=2157). A friend of mine, who is a loyal reader of these posts, asked a really great question about this word “supernature”. Her question and my attempt to answer it is the basis for this post. (I mention, in a positive way, Buddhists in this post. No, I am not a Buddhist, but I do value certain things that some of them say.)

Dianna wrote,

“Good morning,

It’s good to have an attitude of gratitude. What do you mean by supernature? Tried looking it up, but only found a weird song.

Thanks,

Dianna”

My reply was as follows:

“Dear Dianna,

Thanks for reading and thanks for being a close reader!

Sometimes, I just use the wrong word. At other times, I am using a noun intentionally where an adjective should be used. (It jolts me and hopefully readers out of my/their verbal lethargy.) At other times, I just make up a word.

In this case, I was thinking to myself, “Well, we have the adjectives “natural” and “supernatural”. Why not have the word “supernature” to balance “nature”? I had never heard the word “supernature” before, but I decided to use it anyway.

Sometimes, I also use an all-embracing noun where a more specific one might seem more appropriate. For example, I will say/write that I am anger instead of angry. I learned this from some of the Buddhists I hang out with. Some of them hold that you are whatever you are thinking or feeling at any given moment. So, if I am angry, I am at that moment anger. This helps me to take ownership of whatever I am thinking or feeling in the moment and to realize the importance of whatever I am thinking or feeling in the moment.

Good catch and good question! What we say and how we say it matters. And it is good to be held accountable for how we use our words.

With your permission, may I use your good question and my response as tomorrow’s post?

Daryl”

And permission was graciously granted! But, of course, I was too busy piddling around to write the post right away.

I really do believe that our words—my words—matter. My mom (like most moms, quite likely) used to quote the old saying,

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words will never hurt me.”

My mom was an honest person, but I think she was not speaking the whole truth on this one. I tend to change one word in the saying. I think that it better reflects reality.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words will really hurt me.”

Jesus said that we would give an account of every idle or useless word (Matthew 12:36). How much more so, words that are harmful!

If it were not for Jesus Christ, for his redemptive death on behalf of all humanity, and the forgiveness of sins, my words alone would send me to hell. I’ve said a lot of useless and harmful words across my lifetime.

So, my intention is to be careful with my words today. Care to join me?

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“Our Forty-Eighth Wedding Anniversary”

On August 4, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Today is a very special day for my sweetheart and me. We were married on this day in 1973. I love her so much more than I did the day we married.

I wish that I could tell you how wonderful it is being married to this smart, funny, creative, thoughtful woman, but I can’t. I am a person of words. I love words. I cherish them. But, for some things, there simply are no words.

As love grows, so does joy. We enjoy such little things together these days. For example, last night we had a lot of fun with cherry tomatoes. She was tossing them to me, and I was trying to catch them in my mouth. Between her lousy pitching and my equally lousy catching, one poor tomato had been thrown and missed and washed and thrown again so many times that it was practically tomato juice when my love gently put it in my mouth.

There is a proverb in the Bible that says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22) Yes indeed!

I love you babe. I have a lot of friends who read my posts, and I appreciate them all. But you . . ., you are the best! When I struggle to believe in the grace and goodness of God or my own worth as a human being, I think of you. The dark doubts melt away and the sun throws both legs over the horizon. And I know it’s going to be a good day.

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“Being Gratitude”

On July 28, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Here is a prayer that I just prayed by recording it in my journal:

“Today, my God, I am not making a list, but instead I am simply speaking my gratitude to you.

For the coming dawn, I thank you. Thank you for nature in all its convenient and inconvenient manifestations. Thanks for supernature as well. Thank you for all the blessings of life and for the blessing of life, too. Thank you for giving me life and for giving me new life in Christ. Thank you for recovering me from this terrible addiction. Thank you for Sharon and our dog, for children and grandchildren, for extended family, for friends. In short, thanks for everything!

Now, help me to live a life today that reflects my gratitude, a life that is attractive to others, a life that is pleasing to you. Whether that means scholarly work or weeding the flower beds and garden or taking care of my wife who isn’t feeling well, may I enjoy your presence, and may you enjoy my presence.

May I not simply be grateful today, LORD. May I be gratitude.”

I hope that you too, dear reader, will find a way to be grateful today. Even if you’re having a really difficult time, you might find something for which to give thanks if you look hard enough. If nothing else, you can come over to my place and help me weeding the flower beds and garden!

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“Making People Walk the Plank or Loving People as They Are?”

On July 22, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

You gotta love people as they are, not as they aren’t. If you love people as they aren’t, you aren’t. That is, you aren’t loving them.

I read a story today as part of my addiction recovery work. The story compared recovery to sailing. People were setting sail for the Island of Serenity onboard a ship named “Recovery.”

It was a good analogy, but I got off-course—of course. I said to myself, being cooped up on a small ship with a bunch of selfish, obsessive, compulsive people—yep! That sounds like recovery!

In fact, it sounds like the church, family, my softball league, my new chess club, and every other group of which I’ve ever been a member. If you put two or more people together in anything for any reason, then you have two or more selfish people. The closer the proximity the more that selfishness will wear on everyone.

There is only one person on the ship that I can do much about, and that is me. The others, I have to learn to put up with. Putting up with others isn’t the same as loving them, but putting up with them is a necessary precondition for loving them.

So, before you and I make anyone walk the plank, we might want to remember that we need all the crew members if we are to reach our common destination. It might help also to reflect on the fact that there are many times when others have wanted us to walk the plank.

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“But I Will Recognize You.”

On July 21, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“I probably won’t recognize you,” she said, looking me squarely in the eyes.

I returned her steady gaze and said, “But I will recognize you.”

Rewind the story by about forty-five minutes.

I was sitting outside a small coffee shop near my home. I had taken a book along to read, just in case my friend was late. He was more than late; he forgot completely. But it was a nice day, cool with a gentle rain. The coffee was good and the Danish pastry was delicious. I was content.

It was Lynne’s book that I noticed as she walked toward the door of the coffee shop. “Watcha reading?” I asked.

“Still Alice,” she replied. “It’s about dying and Alzheimer’s,” she said, staring at me with a steady gaze. “A fun read,” she added.

“Regular beach reading,” I commented.

“Yes,” she said.

While she was getting her coffee inside, I decided to hazard a serious and personal question. The lady and I appeared to be about the same age. I am genuinely interested in the stories that are people. Also, at my age, I don’t have time for chit-chat. Serious questions are the order of the day.

So, when she came out, I asked the lady my ultra-serious question. “So, are you dying, or do you have Alzheimer’s or both?”

She stopped and looked at me to see if I was being cruel or just trying to be funny. She saw that the question was a serious and compassionate one. “Both,” she said.

Her name was Lynne, and she had been dealing with her diagnoses for several years. The forgetting was getting worse. She had given up her volunteer work because she was afraid that she might harm someone. She was still driving, but only locally where she was familiar with the streets.

She had been a librarian. Now, she had to read the same page over several times. If she did that, she might remember something.

We sat and talked for a good while. Her life sounded as if it was worth several books. When we left, I said, “I’ll probably see you here again.”

“I probably won’t recognize you,” she said, looking me squarely in the eyes.

I returned her steady gaze and said, “But I will recognize you.”

In a letter to a church which the Apostle Paul had founded (and which was, in Paul’s opinion, drifting into serious error), Paul reminds them of their past when they were ignorant of God (Galatians 4:9). Paul also reminds them that they now do know God. At least, they know God in some measure.

However, right after saying that the Galatians now know God, Paul corrects himself. “Now that you know God, or rather, are known by God . . . .” (emphasis mine)

Knowing God is important. However, according to Paul, the thing that really matters is that God knows us.

Whether we have Alzheimer’s or are simply forgetful, it is a wonderful thing that God looks us in the eyes and in the heart and says, “But I will recognize you.”

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“Wake Up and Be Awesome!”

On July 19, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Public restrooms are not usually the sort of place where you find wisdom scrawled on the walls. However, the other day I saw something that woke me up better than two cups of strong coffee. It was an admonition on a plastic block:

“Wake up and be awesome!”

Appropriately enough, it was in the restroom of a local coffee shop.

I don’t find it easy to be awesome, but then I don’t find waking up a walk in the park either. I’m not talking about waking up physically. That I can do. But living an awake life—well, that is a different matter.

Henry David Thoreau said that very few people live lives that are truly awake. I am just awake enough to remember that Thoreau said that. However, having one eye open (or remembering that someone said that we ought to be awake) is not being fully awake.

The Scriptures speak of being awake too. Here are a few of these wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee verses:

Isaiah 52:1

“Awake, awake,

Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion;

Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

For the uncircumcised and the unclean

Will no longer come into you.”

Ephesians 5:14

“For this reason it says,

‘Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.’”

Revelation 3:2

“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”

Romans 13:11

“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

Psalm 57:8

“Awake, my glory!

Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn.”

May you and I have an awake day!

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“. . . As Far as the East is from the West . . .”

On June 30, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“as far as the east is from the west,

       so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12, English Standard Version)

I am in the middle of a war. It is a civil war, in which I am battling my own past. But, like all civil wars, this one tends to spill over the borders and to affect the present and other people. Every day, I put on my fatigues and pick up my weapons. Some days I think I’m winning the war. Other times not so much. There are days when I suspect that shame and regret are winning.

But today, I was wandering through a bit of a scholarly work when I encountered an unexpected ally in my private war. It’s a verse from the Old Testament. It is also a good example of how other ancient Near Eastern literature can enrich our reading of the Bible. Commenting on Psalm 103:12, here is what I read. “In an Egyptian hymn to Amun-Re the deity is praised for his judgment of the guilty. As a result of the god’s discernment the guilty are assigned to the east and the righteous to the west.”[1]

Psalm 103:12 may well be using part of this Egyptian hymn. However, notice the twist: The God of Israel doesn’t separate the guilty from the innocent. Rather, God is praised for separating the guilty from their own guilt. And we’re not talking about some minor infraction that results from ignorance or inattention. No! The Hebrew word that is used, pashaˀ is the word for willful rebellion.

For those of us who, like me, have done great wrong in our past, this is radically good news. To realize that God has judged our wrong-doing and removed it—well, words have not yet been invented to describe the wonder of a such a thing. What it would cost God to remove my wrong-doings, our wrong-doings, would become apparent at the cross of Christ. There are days when I believe that my war—and the war we all fight—was won at the cross. Maybe it’s true whether or not you or I or anyone believes it. Maybe I should eliminate the maybe.

[1] John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP Academic 2000), 548.

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“God Only Helps in the Present”

On June 24, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“For he says,

             ‘In a favorable time I listened to you,

                        and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’

 Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

In my journal this morning, I wrote the following:

“I am not happy with myself right now. Eating too much (and the wrong stuff), playing a lot of computer chess, not pulling my weight around the house and yard. In short, I am not being the kind of man I want to be.

Help, LORD! I can’t do this on my own! Apparently, I’m not very good at it, even with your help!”

And I felt that God was responding to me, in a very kind and tender tone of voice, as follows:

“Child, I am with you every moment, and ready to help you with whatever you need. The problem is that you are usually not here with me in the Holy Present. You are either in the past or in the future. Even I, God though I am, cannot help you in the past or the future—only in the here and the now.

So, whether you are getting ready to field or hit the ball at softball, eat a meal, work on your article for the new periodical, talk with your wife, play a game of chess, or put together your bagger for the mower, stay with me in the present moment. It is only there that I can help.”

Thanks, God. I will be present. (Did you mean it when you said that you would help me put together the bagger? I’m lousy at putting things together.”)

“Yep!” replied the Almighty. “I meant it. And yes, you are lousy at that sort of thing.”

Staying in the present, where God is, is not an easy thing to do. However, it beats the alternative by a country mile.

“Eyes in the Front of Our Head”

On June 7, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

There is a reason why we have eyes in the front of our heads. We were made to look forward and to move forward.

Yet I struggle with a tendency to keep looking back. I’ve had this tendency since I was young. However, now that I am old, the tendency is on steroids.

My twelve-step affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by God’s grace, I am looking forward and moving forward toward the man God wants me to be. When I do this, I am the person God wants me to be.” As I usually do, I included this affirmation in my report to my sponsors.

One of my sponsors wrote back with some very thought-provoking questions:

“So, what does the man Daryl wants to be look like? Is this different than God’s wants?

Does God get what God wants?

I think you’re the man God wants you to be.”

The questions are probably more important than the answers. There are some questions that can and must be answered, but the best questions are those that continue to poke and probe and even haunt us.

As a would-be Christ-follower, I think that the answer to what God wants me to look like is found in Romans 8:29. Many Christians are familiar with and love Romans 8:28. Many have even memorized it.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, (English Standard Version)

But not as many of us are as familiar with vs. 29. That is most unfortunate, because verse 29 gives us the purpose that is mentioned in verse 28. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (ESV)

Being a brother or sister of Jesus—what a hoot! Way beyond a hoot! It is an amazingly gracious calling. Difficult? Yes! After all, Jesus lived and died for others. But still, it is an amazingly gracious calling.

So, what God wants is for me to bear a striking resemblance to Jesus. Am I there? I am most definitely not! However, I do believe that God is a little further along with me than he used to be. Conformed to the image of God’s Son? No, not yet. I am very much a work in progress. But that is what I want in my better moments. I have more of those better moments these days.

And God loves me right where I am, right now. I believe that for myself. I believe it for you too, dear reader. Life is a journey, not a destination, as the saying goes.

Yes indeed it is!

So, again, here are my sponsor’s questions, along with my right-now responses:

Q: “So, what does the man Daryl wants to be look like?” Jesus!

Q: “Is this different than God’s wants?” No, at least, not right now!

Q: “Does God get what God wants?” Today, I intend and plan for God to get exactly what God wants.

“I think you’re the man God wants you to be.” I dare to think so too.

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“God’s Love for One, God’s Love for All”

On June 6, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I am reading a very fine book right now, Old Testament Theology: Reading he Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture, by R.W.L. Moberly. Moberly is an excellent biblical scholar, theologian, and writer. These qualities do not always go together. In fact, this combination probably occurs less frequently than flipping a coin and having it land on its edge.

Struggling with God’s choice to love Israel, Moberly writes,

Generally speaking, one of the recurrent notes that is sounded by a responsive individual recipient of love is an astonished “Why me?” This is a question that always looks for more than actual reasons and explanations, however much some reasons and explanations may indeed be given. The question expresses sheer marvel at the gratuitous wonder of being loved (gratuitous, because even the most admirable personal qualities are no guarantee of being loved by another). The reality of love surpasses the realm of reason. In this sense love is a mystery, not in the sense of a puzzle to be resolved but in the sense of a reality whose dimensions grow as people engage with it; . . . If this note of astonished wonder at the unpredictable gift of love is lost, then a significant dimension of understanding the nature of divine choosing is thereby also lost.[1]

For someone—even another human being—to choose to love you is a wonderfully baffling experience.

But what does this mean for those who are not loved or chosen? What of the outsiders? And who of us has not been or felt like an outsider at one time or another?

I haven’t finished this chapter in the book, so I don’t know how Moberly intends to resolve the tension of God’s love for all with God’s particular love for Israel. I personally do not believe that there is a way to resolve the tension. Some tensions have to be embraced rather than resolved. However, I will hazard an illustration that might help us as we struggle with the apparent contradiction of a God who loves us all, and yet loves us particularly.

My wife is one of the most loving people I know. She is thoughtful and kind and loyal. It takes a great deal of courage and toughness to love me. It really does. And she demonstrates this love on a daily basis.

On the other hand, despite the fact (but is it really despite?) that she has chosen to love me, she also loves many others. Does her love for me compromise her love for others? I don’t think so. Does her love for others compete with her love for me? I used to think it did. I was wrong.

Perhaps that is an analogy for God’s love for us in our particularity and God’s love for all. Perhaps my wife’s love for me is even more than an analogy. Perhaps it is a reflection of God’s love for the particular and God’s all-embracing love.

Part of the proper response to my wife’s love for me is, of course, to love her in return. But there is more to an appropriate response to that love. Her love calls, and leads, and pushes me to become a more loving person in general.

Being chosen and loved means that I am free to choose to love both her and others.

[1] R. W. L. Moberly, Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 44-45.

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