Posts in Category: down to earth believer
“A Marginalized God”
Many New Testament scholars have noted Jesus’ ministry to those on the margin: women, the poor, and so on. Luke is especially insistent about Jesus caring for those whom society considered outsiders.
Those of us who believe that Jesus was God embodied believe that Jesus’ concern for those who are outsiders reflects the very heart of God. Even if you believe that Jesus was only a great man, prophet, or teacher, but not God-in-the-flesh, you probably hope that there is a God like that—a God who cares for the outsider. And don’t we all sometimes at least feel like outsiders?
But what if God Himself is marginalized? What if God is the Ultimate Outsider? That God is love is an old idea. Yes, it is ever fresh and deep, but it has been around for a very long time. And the idea that God loves especially those who are not loved by others is an old and venerable idea as well. And if we believe that God loves those on the margins, we might extrapolate to our own responsibility: We also are called to love outsiders. But God being marginal? That’s a new idea—or at least it is to me.
Now you may say, “Wait a minute! Isn’t God the center of everything? How could the creator and sustainer of the universe be considered marginal?”
The simple answer is “Yes, God is the Center.” But, as with almost all simple yeses, this yes must be nuanced. In this case, nuance means asking myself questions that I don’t want to ask, because I already know the answers and don’t like them. Here are the questions: Is God an outsider to me? Do I marginalize God? Do I sometimes (often?) act as if there is no God? Am I, practically speaking, an atheist?
My own belief is that faith is not simply a matter of the intellect, the emotions, and the will. Faith is action as well. So the question that cuts like a knife is this: Do my actions suggest that God is in the center of my life or on the margins of my life?
Oh God, you are The Center. Help me to treat you that way today. Please.
“Moving Being a Shell of a Man”
My nephew gave me a wonderful metaphor for becoming a fully functional man. He said that men are just little boys. We are only a shell of a man. But a good wife can draw a good man out of that shell.
I don’t know if that is universally true. Probably not. However, I do know that it is true for me. My wife has most definitely loved me into becoming a much better, more mature, more loving version of myself. She has done more than give birth to our children. She has also given birth to me!
In a general sense, that is what we are called to do, isn’t it? We do not become anything good alone. Of course, I believe that God works directly to help us with this business of coming out of our shells. However, God also frequently works on us through others.
We are all, male and female alike, young and old alike, designed and called to help one another become the truest version of ourselves.
It takes time, patience, and acceptance to become our real selves. It takes time, patience, and acceptance to help birth one another. And let’s be frank: Time, patience, and acceptance are rare elements these days. Perhaps we are all shells until someone draws us out of those shells. We need to let other people help us to unshell ourselves. And we need to help others to unshell as well. My spell-checker doesn’t like the word “unshell”, but I do. I am adding it to my dictionary. You might consider doing so as well.
“A Mindset of Happiness”
A friend sent me the following from his daughter. It is so good that I wanted to pass it along to you.
“Happiness is a mindset, a conscious choice we make every day. It isn’t about having a perfect life, but about finding joy in the little things, cultivating gratitude, and focusing on the positives, even in challenging times. While circumstances can influence our mood, true happiness comes from within—it’s an attitude that allows us to see the beauty in imperfections and to appreciate what we have rather than what we lack. By choosing to embrace a mindset of happiness, we empower ourselves to live more fulfilling lives, regardless of the ups and downs that come our way. Happiness is not something to chase; it’s something to create from the inside out.”
I would add just two things to this. The first one is a comment by a friend the other day in a twelve-step meeting: “For me, happiness is having more blessings than problems.” Yes indeed!
Second, it is my conviction that real joy comes from knowing and loving God and knowing that God knows and loves me. There is a little praise song that I learned some fifty-plus years ago that I really appreciate. It goes like this:
“Verse 1
Happiness is to know the Savior
Living a life within His favor
Having a change in my behavior
Happiness is the Lord
Verse 2
Happiness is a new creation
Jesus and me in close relation
Having a part in His salvation
Happiness is the Lord
(Bridge)
Real joy is mine
No matter if teardrops start
I’ve found the secret
It’s Jesus in my heart
Verse 3
Happiness is to be forgiven
Living a life that’s worth the livin’
Taking a trip that leads to heaven
Happiness is the Lord
(Ending)
Happiness is the Lord
Happiness is the Lord”
“Never Too Late”
“Joel 2:12 ¶ “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.” (English Standard Version.)These are the You Version verse/s of the day for August 20, 2024.)
It is never too late to repent and turn to God. I am struck by the first three words of verse 12: “Yet even now”. We sometimes say, “It’s just too late for me.” God never says such a thing. Instead, God says, “Yet even now!” One of my twelve-step brothers said, “It’s never too late to become the man you always wanted to be.” He spoke the truth.
There needs to be sorrow for the person that I was and the harm that I’ve done. There needs to be a broken heart. It is only the broken heart that can be healed.
But there is good news. Indeed, there is astonishingly good news. God is in the heart-healing business. God is full of grace and mercy. He doesn’t get angry quickly, and he overflows with a love that will not be dammed up.
No, dear friend, it is not too late—not for me, not for you, not for anybody.
“Judgmentalism”
“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” (Romans 2:1, English Standard Version)
“You spot it, you got it.” (Twelve-step saying.)
In the verse from Romans that starts off this post, Paul is continuing a thought that he had begun in the preceding chapter. There, he had begun to speak of the stunning love and grace of God, but Paul begins his discussion of God’s love and grace with a list of the sins that God’s love and grace have to deal with. It’s not a pretty list.
When a person gets to the end of that list, he/she might be inclined to say, “Boy, I’m sure glad that I am not like that!” If so, Paul immediately pulls the rug out from under us by saying, point-blank, that when you judge others, you judge yourself.
Now, here is my problem: Judgmental people are the worst, in my opinion. I really believe that people who are judgmental are destined to live forever in the downtown heart of hell.
See what I did there? I just pulled the rug out from under myself! I like to think of myself as a very non-judgmental person. Why then do judgmental people bother me so much? Because I’m a judgmental person, of course.
In fact, there are a lot of other sins that I judge. Am I enmeshed in them too? Yep!
I read an interesting saying in a 12-step book this morning. “You spot it, you got it.” The fact that I am so good at spotting the character defects of others means that I have a massive amount of work to do.
How about you, valued reader?
“People Matter—A Lot!”
“Love God and love people.” (The words are from a Danny Gokey song, but are based on Jesus putting together loving God and loving people.)
I just received two emails from two different college alums. The first informed me that my fellow-student’s nephew had lost his battle with cancer. Here was my reply to my classmate, Zac’s Uncle Bill:
“Dear Bill,
Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. Life is such a fragile business. We need I need, to cherish every moment and live flat-out for Jesus.”
Shortly after I had sent this email to Bill and the rest of the Asbury Patriot Class prayer group, I received the following email from Colleen, another Asbury alum. She invited me to sign up for the prayer newsletter and said that she doubted that I remembered her. She was right; I didn’t. Probably should have.
“Dear Colleen,
I would be delighted to receive the newsletter.
I’m afraid that I didn’t get to know very many people well when I attended Asbury. I transferred my junior year, was too focused on my studies, and was dating a girl (now my wife of fifty-one years) who lived about 90 miles away. We were married my senior year and living off campus.
I now regret that I did not get to know more of the exceedingly fine people who were at Asbury when I was there. Knowing “stuff” is important, but knowing people is crucial.
There is an old saying that “We get too soon old, and too late smart.” Amen to that!
Thank you, Colleen, for your vision for the prayer group. Perhaps it’s never too late to connect with people you ought to have known and loved better a long time ago.”
What people is it not too late for you to get to know better and love more, dear reader? Why not start today?
“All the Alls of God”
“Psa. 145:1 I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
Psa. 145:4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Psa. 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The LORD is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
Psa. 145:10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The LORD is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.]
14 The LORD upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The LORD preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
Psa. 145:21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”
In Psalm 145, there are a lot of “alls” and “everys”. There are also some “forevers” thrown in for good measure. Here is, I think, what it all boils down to: God is always good to all, with only one exception: the chronically wicked (verse 20b).
I was in a foul mood this morning, but I made several good decisions. I read Psalm 145, I tried to pray, I attended a virtual 12-step meeting, I admitted I was in a foul mood to people who care about me, especially my wife. (No doubt she was already aware.) I worked on some worthwhile tasks, got some exercise, and took a nap. Guess what! I am going to bed soon, after a wonderful day that did not start out well at all. Well, truth to tell, it was I who did not start out well. Psalm 145, the kindness of a lot of good people—and yes, even my own efforts—turned the day around.
God is good and kind and merciful all the time, even when I am in a foul mood. I need to remember that.
“Good News! God is Watching Me!”
I asked God for a proverb to live by today. I believed that God guided me to Proverbs 15:3.
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3, English Standard Version)
When I was a young boy, I used to think that God was watching every bad thing I did. What I did not realize was that he was watching every good thing I did as well.
There was another problem. I thought that God was just waiting for me to screw up, so that God could yell at me. I am still struggling to recover from this bad-theology addiction.
What if I have it mostly wrong? What if God is watching both the good and the bad that I do today? What if God is rooting for me? What if God is pleased when I do even some very small thing that is good? What if God is not so much angry as sad when I do something bad?
Jesus said that God notices and commends even things that seem tiny to us (Matthew 25:31-40). In fact, when we do these very small things for others, Jesus considers it to be done for him. What if I lived today as if that is true? What if you lived that way today, too?
“A Weeping God”
“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
When I was growing up in church, at the beginning of our worship service the children’s Sunday School classes would have to stand and recite a Bible verse. I never figured out why the adults didn’t have to do that. I always thought that they needed to pay more attention to Bible verses than we kids did, but . . .
One of the most often-recited verses was John 11:35. Since it is the shortest verse in the Bible at two words, if we hadn’t memorized something else, John 11:35 was easily popped in the microwave, even if microwaves weren’t really a thing when I was little.
I’ve decided that John 11:35 actually is a wonderful verse to memorize. The context is that Jesus’ good friend Lazarus has died, but even though it seems crazy way too late to do anything but mourn, Jesus shows up for the express purpose of raising his friend from the dead. And yet, just before Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave and back into mortal life, Jesus wept. Why? Why weep when Jesus knew that within a few minutes, Lazarus would be alive again?
The Scripture is very cagey. It doesn’t often answer all our questions. More often, the Bible questions all our answers.
Could it be that Jesus cried because this whole thing of dying and death was a problem that we humans created back in the Garden of Eden? Was Jesus crying because of how painful and unnecessary this whole business was?
Or was Jesus crying because life is difficult and now, Lazarus had to get back to the tough, frustrating business of living? Lazarus had to come back to the same problems that death had temporarily allowed him to escape.
Perhaps Jesus was crying because that is what Lazarus’ family and friends were doing? Yes, Jesus was going to raise Lazarus, but grief was the present reality, and Jesus entered into that reality with absolute abandon.
We are not told why Jesus wept. We are simply informed that he did. We can’t help asking why, and perhaps it is wise to simply live with the whys, and allow these whys to make us wiser still. But when I read about Jesus’ tears, I also think of John’s overall way of portraying Jesus. For the writer of the Gospel of John, Jesus is God in the flesh. To see Jesus is to see God. And to see Jesus cry is to realize that God also cries when we lose someone we love. We have a weeping God.
“You are Heard”
“Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.
“They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” (Malachi 3:16-18, English Standard Version)
A friend of mine who is greatly loved by his wife and who greatly loves his wife sometimes feels “unheard”. That is a common feeling in marriages and everywhere else, I suspect. Especially with folks we are with for a long time, we tend to think we’ve heard it all before or that we know what people are thinking even before they speak. Being unheard—or even feeling unheard—makes us feel less than human.
On the other hand, knowing that we are heard makes us feel treasured. In the passage from Malachi that leads off this post, I am struck by the fact that the LORD paid attention and heard those who spoke of him. Apparently, God keeps record of the conversations we have about God. And he treasures us for thinking of him. Why? Perhaps because God feels treasured by us.
Another friend pointed out to me the Tri-Health slogan: “Be seen, be heard, be healed.”
We are healed by being seen and heard. We become healers for others by seeing and hearing them. Whom will you see and hear today, and every other today?
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- God’s Specific Likes about Us April 25, 2025God pulled off a surprise love attack on me this morning. God lured me into the trap in a quite trivial way. I thought I would start my day, not by grading students’ assignments, but by reading and meditating on some Scripture. By the way, I am not saying that reading Scripture is trivial. The […]
- “Strange and Wonderful Creatures” March 28, 2025I did not sleep enough last night. Five hours of sleep may be enough for some, but not for me. However, when I tried for a while to go back to sleep after waking up at 1:00 a.m., I realized that it was not going to happen. I might as well get up and work […]
- “Even Computers Need a Rest Sometimes!” February 11, 2025Jumpy cursor! I was trying to grade student assignments, and my cursor was jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean. I would start typing something, and then I would be on a different line. Here is the sort of non-sentences I was ending up with: be Please see my respolownse video. Of course, what I […]
- “Lives as Well as Lips” February 5, 2025“Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD, or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!” (Psalm 106:1-3, English Standard Version) […]
- DTEB, “The Wanna-Wanna Method” January 29, 2025“. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Phil. 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12b-13, English Standard Version) In a text exchange with a friend, he confessed that he really, really wants to make some bad […]
- “Fun, Cat Videos, and Transformation” December 9, 2024“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, English Standard Version) One of my twelve-step sponsors suggested that I need more fun in my life. He knows me well, but on this one, I was determined to prove him wrong. […]
- “The Enemy is Perfectionism” December 6, 2024“The good is the enemy of the best.” (A common saying.) “The best is the enemy of doing anything at all that is good.” (My take on the saying and my reality.) Some of you have been wondering why I haven’t been posting any of my musings in the past way-too-long. I am tempted to […]
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
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