Month: January 2018

Acts 5:33-42

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            People talk about things which are important to them.  Even quiet and introverted individuals will speak at length, barely taking a breath, if you get them on a topic they are passionate about.
            Today’s New Testament lesson has the Apostles speaking incessantly about someone they love to talk about.  In fact, the Apostles (the original disciples of Jesus) talked so much about what they loved that the Jewish ruling council of the time (the Sanhedrin) wanted to shut them up by killing them.  But a wise member of the council saw the foolishness of this and persuaded them against it.  Instead, the council gave the Apostles a thorough whipping, warned them to stop talking all the time, and let them go.
            There is a time to listen, and there is a time to speak.  The Apostles could not keep silent.  They considered their beating an act of solidarity with their Lord Jesus and went right on talking.  The text says: “Every day they spent time in the temple and in one home after another.  They never stopped teaching and telling the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
            The joy of knowing Jesus – crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again – is such a full experience that one cannot help but talk and speak about him incessantly.  Even in the face of persecution, the ecstasy of knowing Christ transcends physical pain and suffering.
            Consider the Apostles, and think about the church today.  There are places throughout the world where the scenario of constant chatter about Jesus is taking place with joy, despite the presence of persecution.  There are also places, mainly in America, where talking about Jesus does not even take place in the church building where believers gather to worship, let alone out in the public square.
            The great tragedy of the contemporary Western church is that you can talk about only the weather, the latest sports, political happenings, and get away with never speaking about Jesus.
            Today, allow two different emotions to sway your prayers and speech.  First, allow the joy of the Lord Jesus to fill you and give you freedom to speak his Name and the grace he gives to others.  Second, allow a sorrowful lament to rise from your heart and speak it out loudly before God concerning the great silence of the church in the West.

 

Loving Lord Jesus, you save completely those who come to you by faith.  Thank you for the work of forgiveness and healing that takes place in your Name everyday in the world.  Yet, I also lament the many confessing believers in your Name who never speak of the good news in their everyday conversations, even at church.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy, and grant us peace.  Amen.

The Shadow Self

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment

20171020_081145

In my line of work, I meet a lot of different people.  Some folks are a delight to be around, others not so much; some people talk a lot, some barely any words, at all; and, many people are nice and civil in conversation, and some can be brutal with their words concerning others.  For the most part, I know what I’m walking into when I engage with another person because there are some common types of people.  But, once-in-a-while I find a person who is as rare as blood type AB negative (which is only 1% of the world’s population).  That person is one who has no shadow.

Even Peter Pan had a shadow, even though it usually wasn’t anywhere near his body.  Everybody has a shadow.  When the light strikes us, a shadow is created beside us.  The shadow is not so much us, but the dark reflection of us.  Now I’m not talking about physical shadows, but the common condition of people who only let others see their shadow, the nebulous reflection, and not the real self.

Here’s an admission: One reason I don’t go to very many Christian conferences, and even some churches, is that there is so much preening, posturing, and pretending going on.  Far too many people only show their shadow selves and only present a silhouette of their real selves.  Pastors’ Conferences, I might add, are the worst.  Shadows are everywhere.

The shadow self thinks the dark reflection is who he/she is.  The shadow has grandiose thinking, and believes that external behavior is who you are.  The shadow needs to be the up-front show for all to see, as to disguise what is creating the shadow.  When a person is overwhelmed by her weaknesses and has a difficult time looking at the real person in the light, she looks to the shadow self to serve her.  Keeping up the shadow for others to look at, instead of the real deal, becomes the modus operandi of life.  Other folks just rabbit hole themselves in an imposed solitary confinement and don’t come out.  They literally hide in their homes.  That way no one will see them, and they won’t have to deal with other people’s shadow selves.

Let’s get a solid biblical theological truth out there in the light for you to see, without any shadow: God likes you.  God loves you, cares for you, knows you intimately inside and out, and still likes you, a lot.  God created you in His image and likeness, and, despite any weakness, ignorance, and imperfection on your part, has demonstrated his enduring commitment by sending his Son, the Lord Jesus, to teach, save, and empower you in life.  God’s love is not only for other people, but for you.

The love of God is the light of the world – manifested, fulfilled, and demonstrated by Jesus.  The light shows all the imperfections, flaws, disobedience, and rationalizations.  The light exposes everything, but also creates the shadow.  This is where your choice comes into play: Will you embrace the light, or turn and face the shadow?

The true self knows God in her, and knows herself in God.  She believes she is united with Christ.  She doesn’t need to prove anything.  This rarest of person can say with peace and confidence, “I am who I am, just me, warts and all, with no window treatments around me.”  The laws of physics are suspended; there is no shadow.

To live into the true self is to be fully detached from your shadow, your self-image, and live into God’s image within you – which embraces both the good and the bad.  It is the peace and serenity of knowing that I don’t have to present a different self before others, and especially to God.

Evil relies upon denial and disguise, and lives in the shadows.  Righteousness trusts in the love of God, the person of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The shadow self improvises with personal ingenuity.  The true self plans to risk all on the grace of God in Christ.  The shadow refuses to change; it is always a dark reflection. The real person is a transformed person; like Moses, their faces shine with the glory of God.

The only way to live without any shadow is to be completely open to God, full face in front of him, and vulnerable to others.  When we enter a vital union with Jesus, his very rare AB negative blood is given to us and new blood engorges our spiritual veins.  Christ changes us.  Where there is fresh blood there is life.

20180112_080015

You will meet a lot of different people, maybe today, maybe over the course of the next months and years.  Who are you to them?  Who are they to you?  What kind of self is there?  Are you in a place of shadows?  Will you live in the light?

Psalm 46

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            We possess the unconditional presence of God.  Yes, there is never a time when God is not with us.  Wow! What a wonderful and radical thought.  But that’s not all!  God helps us.  He doesn’t just stand by and watch us squirm in tough situations.  Because God is present with you, He is able to help you in times of trouble.
            The psalms, as Hebrew poetry, were designed with a certain structure.  Unlike the way we arrange things with a thesis statement said right up front, Hebrew poetry has the most important statement smack in the middle of the psalm.  What comes before that statement is a growing crescendo that is meant to highlight the central idea.  Everything that comes after is the decrescendo pointing back to that idea.
            So, what do we have in the middle of this psalm? What is the important statement of truth that the psalmist wants to draw attention to?  “The LORD All-Powerful is with us.”  Boom!  This reality is meant to drop its weight on us so that we will feel the impact of God’s presence and power.
            Today is a good day to use the statement, “The LORD All-Powerful is with us,” as a point of thought, contemplation, and deep consideration.  When you’re waiting in line, driving in the car, in-between meetings, or just sitting at home, repeat that statement many times to yourself and to God.  Then, allow God’s Spirit to bring the truth of it home to the depths of your soul.  There is no better security, no better hope that to know that God is with us.

 

God Almighty, great upheaval in this world does not make you nervous because you are above it all.  Thank you that you are with me in all the great upheavals of my life, as well as all the little small things of adversity.  Even if all around me changes, you do not; through Christ my Savior.  Amen.

Jeremiah 20:14-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Perhaps you feel as though you must put on a good face, a decent front for others to see.  You don’t like other people seeing you upset or cry because it can be embarrassing.  Sometimes you might even put up a front with God.  Maybe you think God wants everyone to be perpetually happy and always come to Him with joy and gladness.  That would not be an accurate view of God.
            One of the most faithful people in Holy Scripture, Jeremiah, freely and unabashedly lamented before God – to the point of wishing he were dead.  That’s right.  Jeremiah, the incredible prophet of God, was so despondent and ashamed that he wished he were never even born.  “Why did I have to be born? Was it just to suffer and die in shame?”
            To say that Jeremiah had a difficult ministry is an understatement.  He had the ministry from hell, ministering and prophesying to people who neither liked him, nor his message to them.  In the middle of it all, Jeremiah through up his hands and let out his complaint to God.  Jeremiah was in such misery doing his ministry that he wished he was stillborn.
            Jeremiah, however, is not alone in the Bible.  David had no scruples about letting God know how he felt about his dire circumstances.  Job, likely the most famous sufferer of all, spent time doing nothing but lamenting his terrible losses for months.  What all three of them have in common is that they openly grieved with great tears, but never cursed God and did not forsake Him.
            Lamentation is the sacred space between intense grieving before God without blaming Him for our losses.  I would even argue that lamenting and grieving before God is a necessary spiritual practice which needs full recognition in the Body of Christ.  Please think about that last statement, and consider how it might become a reality in your own life and context.

 

God of all, you feel deeply about a great many things.  As your people, we also feel a great depth of emotion when our lives go horribly awry from our dreams and expectations.  Hear our lament as we pour out our grief before You; through Jesus, our Savior, with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.