WHERE IS THE UNITY?

So yesterday I brought up a sticky question regarding Jesus' prayer for unity among believers in John 17. It seems there are only two possibilities:

1) God granted His prayer.

2) God didn't grant His prayer.

The second option doesn't make sense theologically. That would be God refusing His own request.

But the first option - at first glance - doesn't seem possible either. Church history is littered with splits. 

Major splits. 

Permanent splits.

The denomination I grew up in - the United Methodist Church - is currently weathering a separation. It may take a few years for the dust to settle, but in the end there will be the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church. Not to mention a few more independent, non-denominational congregations who prefer to distance themselves from both sides.

I have been watching this particular split from the sidelines. I have seen enough posts on Facebook to assure you that both the UMC people and the GMC believe they are on the right side in God's eyes. And each side is frustrated with the other for stepping outside of God's will for His Church. 

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, struggled with the concept of unity among believers. He concluded that unity of opinion was never going to happen and was not what Jesus had in mind when he prayed.

Wesley believed that the unity God did grant among believers, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, was a deeper and more crucial unity: the unity of heart. 

In considering unity among Christians, it is important to pause and remember that not all who call themselves Christians are truly disciples of Christ.

Perhaps not even a majority.

(Do you agree? Or do you hold a different opinion? 😉)

A PRAYER PUZZLE

Here's a conundrum to chew on:

What do we make of Jesus' prayer for unity among his immediate disciples in John 17:11 (Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name ... so that they may be one as we are one) ... 

And for all future disciples in 17:20-21 (I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you)? 

This brings up two questions. The answer to the first seems obvious. The answer to the second is a challenge.

Question #1: Were Jesus' prayers for unity among believers heard by his Father?

The obvious answer: Undoubtedly.

Question #2: Were they granted?

There are only two possible answers. But "No" seems inconceivable theologically and "Yes" seems inconceivable experientially! 

If "No", we have Jesus asking the Father for a good thing which seems to be in perfect alignment with God's will - but then the Father fails to honor the prayer.

If "Yes", we have the Father granting unity to modern believers - who we notice are split up worldwide among the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox branches, which "boast" an estimated 45,000 different denominations* between them!

What's your answer? How do you resolve this?

 

* According to The Center for the Study of Global Christianity

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

I packed my suitcases, finished my to-do lists, and got to the airport on time this afternoon. But my trip to Ghana was a no-go.

I missed the fine print that stipulated the Covid vaccine had to be received at least 14 days before travel. Mine was only 11 days ago. And the customs people are sticklers, apparently. 

(The weird thing is that all this is self-reported. You would have to be blind to not see how easy you could forge a vaccine card. The whole system professes to be about saving lives ... but it is predicated entirely on people's honesty.)

I am kicking myself for dragging my feet over getting the vaccine for this trip. If I had taken action at the beginning of the summer when I first felt confident that this trip was really going to happen, none of this would be an issue today. I would be at JFK by now.  

I can't tell you how disappointed this leaves me. 

Sarah, on the other hand, is glad to have her math tutor around for the time being. 

And, although Melissa had to drive to the airport twice after school today, she doesn't seem all that disappointed either. 

There's always an upside. 

TRAVEL PLANS

Tomorrow (Monday) I will be on a flight out of Indianapolis bound for New York City and then on to Accra, Ghana. By Tuesday afternoon, God willing, I will be driving to Tema with Emmanuel Akorli, Mission Resource's man on the ground.

Tonight, I am nearing packing panic mode. I have my toiletries together and I have my passport handy - the rest of it is still up in the air.

None of it feels like reality yet. I will be saying goodbye to Sarah before she leaves for school in the morning, but my flight is late enough in the afternoon that Melissa will be able to drive me to the airport after her school day ends.

So I will keep this post short since it is late and my mind is already somewhere over the Atlantic ... 

I would appreciate any prayers you could send on my behalf! 

CHURCH OF NO RETURN

I wrote a few poems while I was a student at Wabash College. Today, as I rummaged through a box full of old papers, I came across this one that I kind of liked. 

For your reading pleasure: a poem that hasn't seen the light of day for 30 years - 

The Church of No Return

Pews display their heavy burden -
folks all clad in Sunday best.
Pews distress the congregation -
hardwood is averse to rest!
In this church filled with empty people.

Choir stands to sing an anthem,
a worn-out song with lifeless beat.
Choir strains to feign rejoicing;
no one claps or stomps his feet 
in the church filled with empty people.

Pulpit draws the eyes upon it -
sermon time once again.
Pulpit drones for half an hour;
major theme: It's wrong to sin.
In the church filled with empty people.

Altar dressed in soft silk linens;
there's need to fill the church's tills.
Altar draws the ushers forward;
silver plates bring dollar bills
from the church filled with empty people.

Spirit finds it hard to move here;
this House of God is not a home.
Spirit flies to some new dwelling,
He cannot reap what's not been sown
in this church filled with empty people. 

REVISING MY TEACHING

If I were to step back into a high school English classroom, I would make significant changes to my teaching on writing.

First, my definition of strong writing would be different. 

Strong writing would be clear and to the point.

I would make sure students knew how to identify adverbs - so they could eliminate them from their writing. 

I would teach them to give serious thought to who their audience is, knowing that their audience is less rational than they think. 

(And much more emotional than they imagine.) 

I would de-emphasize "academic writing" and practice more real-world writing. 

I would teach students how to write an email that cannot be misunderstood ... and then how to respond when their audience misunderstands it anyway. 

I would teach the "rules". Test over the rules. Then teach how and when and why to break the rules. 

And I would show them the beauty of revision.

One thing might remain the same: me being just one step ahead of my students. 

MY OWN TEACHING FAIL

Since I was griping about the failings of other teachers yesterday, today it is only fair for me to confess one of the biggest mistakes I myself made as a teacher.

I did this over and over again and never even realized I was wrong until after I left teaching.

(I am truly embarrassed by this now. I wish I could go back and correct this failing.) 

Are you curious? 

Here it is: 

I told my students time and again that I "knew" none of them would be going on to a career as a writer, but they should learn how to write anyway because it is a valuable skill in most professions.

The second part of that sentiment is true and I stand by it. But why did I assume that none of my students would ever go on to get a paycheck through writing professionally?

I wouldn't find it unusual for a math teacher to play up careers in math or a science teacher to encourage students to pursue careers in science. 

But me? For some reason, I shot down the possibility of writing as a vocation. 

I wasn't even aware of the possibilities. I knew nothing of copywriting, editing, ghostwriting, etc.

A few months ago I changed some of my LinkedIn settings so that I would get notifications for writing jobs. Now I get notifications on a daily basis for "30 new jobs in copywriting". Good paying jobs.

If I were teaching high school English these days, I would require them to research writing professions. And I would have my students checking out Upwork and Fiverr, two popular websites where freelance writers can get experience and start to build a portfolio. It would make a fantastic afterschool job for some of the better writers.

Maybe even the beginning of a career!

TEACHER FAILS

Teachers have a tough job and I am willing to give my kids' teachers a lot of grace.

But there are certain practices that I have little patience for. Here are three:

• Making negative blanket statements to the students about their class as a whole. "You all are just being lazy." "Did any of you study for this test?"

• Directing sarcasm at students, either individually or as a group. "Wow. You all got that answer correct - I knew eventually we would find a question you knew the answer to."

• Being unable to admit that if you give a quiz or test that everyone bombs, the fault is yours alone. You have failed as a teacher: either the test was poorly designed or the lessons were poorly delivered. Instead of shaming the students, you should be apologizing to them. 

(In my teaching days I was sometimes guilty of the first two, but never the third.) 

As a parent I can see this more clearly than I ever did from the front of the classroom: if a child leaves your room feeling stupid and defeated, you have fundamentally failed as a teacher.  

FIRSTHAND

This morning I drove to Indianapolis to get my Yellow Fever vaccination. This was another requirement for travel to Ghana. 

So far, no side effects. And that's a relief - this is a traditional vaccine and the doctor said about 1 in 8 recipients have a mild form of the disease for a couple of days, with fever, aches, and lack of energy. 

I am both nervous and excited as my first opportunity to visit Ghana fast approaches. A week from now, God willing, I will be four hours ahead of you, standing shoulder to shoulder with our Ghanaian director, Emmanuel Akorli, as he introduces me to people whose lives have been bettered by the loans they have received through Mission Resource. 

I look forward to visiting businesses enabled through our ministry, but I also anticipate seeing a lot of need. It's been two and a half years since we left Haiti, and it is super easy to slip back into a general lack of awareness of true poverty. 

The other thing I expect to see in Ghana is a handful of tough challenges facing Mission Resource as we look to the future:

• We shipped some OrganiLock fertilizer to Ghana months ago and it is still tied up in customs. This stuff could work miracles for gardens and small farms. We are anxious to see how it performs in the local soils. But we have to get it through the port first.

• Emmanuel says he has a waiting list for loans. If we could provide him an extra $100,000, he would have it distributed and working in the local economy in weeks. I need to meet some of these people so I can share their stories. 

• We have a half-built Ministry Center where construction has been stalled by lingering bureaucratic red tape. If we aren't able to finish the project soon, the weather might weaken the structure in unanticipated ways. 

• There is a second site in country where the Lord may be opening a door for Mission Resource to expand its impact. Taking over that operation and keeping its doors open is going to be another fundraising challenge! 

I am praying for wisdom and discernment as I get a firsthand look at both the joys and the challenges of this important work in Ghana.

CASTING VOTES

In Atomic Habits, author James Clear writes:

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it actually is big. That's the paradox of making small improvements." (p.38)

This feels true. And if this IS true, consider the implications in respect to spiritual disciplines. 

If you call yourself a Christian and yet you do not pray or read your Bible or fast or tithe or attend worship, it is not just your outer witness that suffers. The inner voice is bound to make the accusation: "Hypocrite!"

On the flip side, once you begin to establish a habit of prayer, you are casting a vote for becoming "a prayer warrior".

When you start to read your Bible on a regular basis, you are becoming "a student of the Bible". 

And this is why the spiritual disciplines matter more than we would like to admit: It's very difficult to convince yourself that you are a serious Christian if your actions provide no evidence to that effect. 

But when they DO provide evidence that you are indeed a Child of God? 

Watch out, world! 

"Ultimately, your habits matter because they help you become the type of person you wish to be. They are the channel through which you develop your deepest beliefs about yourself. Quite literally, you become your habits." (p.41) 

SCATTERING

Melissa and I are physically and emotionally drained tonight. It was one of those weekends that you wish would never end and then when it does - you're so glad it's over.

Yesterday was the "last hurrah" of summer for our family. Samuel and Caleb were finally home after their summers away, but the two of them and Hannah were all scheduled to leave for college today. So in the midst of packing and shopping, we got a few hours to relax and enjoy each other's presence at an extended family event at a barn out in the country: my brother-in-law and his wife renewed their wedding vows after 25 years of marriage.

It was a joyful event and a beautiful August day - a perfect calm before today's storm of loading cars and saying goodbyes. 

Melissa and I spent today helping Hannah get moved into a new apartment just off campus at Olivet Nazarene University. It's over 3 hours drive each direction. 

Hannah is ready to start her junior year, Samuel starts his sophomore year at Ball State, and Caleb is a SENIOR at Wabash. 

Tonight the house feels half empty.

And I am harboring a bit of guilt about leaving for Ghana in a week - just as we should be settling into a new routine around here. 

Routine will have to wait. 

ON THE VERGE

Perfectionism is a problem.

And part of the problem is that saying "I am a perfectionist" feels a bit like a brag.

We would like to think it's like saying "I won't settle for anything less than giving my best". 

But in reality ... perfectionism isn't about high standards. It's about fear - specifically, the fear that our performance will be judged by someone else as "not good enough". 

There's a part of us that wants to believe we can achieve perfection if we just try hard enough. But that part of us is in battle with the much larger part of us that fears we are just not good enough. 

And we're on the verge of being exposed as an imposter. 

WITHOUT A (RATIONAL) REASON

In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus ponders the reaction of so many of the Jews towards his habits of speaking the truth and performing miracles: "They hated me without reason." (John 15:25)

So many people seemed incapable of simply dismissing Him and His ideas and walking away. Instead, they actively hated Him. 

(Why do we get so agitated toward someone with an opposing viewpoint? Sometimes we feel ourselves moved even to the point of violence or hatred.)

Jesus says this hatred is why they are "guilty of sin" - 

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father." (John 15:22-24)

Jesus taught and showed the people that they were sinners. They didn't want to admit that was true. So their response was: "We are not sinful people ... and we HATE you!" 

Proving themselves to be guilty of sin. 

But the irony was lost on them.

Cognitive dissonance is nearly impossible to spot in your own self. 

FIRST SHOT

My flight to Ghana is nailed down* and finalizing that ticket has forced me into a decision I have avoided for at least 18 months: 

Ghana officially requires foreigners to be vaccinated against Covid 19. 

I'm not an "anti-vaxxer". I'm a procrastinator. One with a measure of distrust for Big Pharma and Government. 

(And a dislike in general for being forced by others to do anything I feel is unnecessary.)

After all, I am in much better health than at least 90 % of the people my age. And I wasn't spending time around older and more vulnerable people during the height of the pandemic.

So I dragged my feet, waiting to see if the anti-vaxxers were right about the vaccines doing more harm than good. But nothing really happened. In time, Covid passed from the daily news and I figured maybe I had procrastinated long enough to avoid the whole issue.

Now I have the opportunity to see Mission Resource's work firsthand in Ghana and the price tag is the vaccine. I could take a chance that officials at the airport in Accra will not really be enforcing the rules, but I don't want to risk being turned away.

I feel called to work with Mission Resource, called to Ghana, and called to this trip. 

A number of well-intentioned friends have warned me against getting the vaccine. They say it's too risky. 

But from my perspective, getting the Covid vaccine is hardly the riskiest thing I have done in obedience to God's call on my life. 

_____________

* I leave a week from Monday!

PRIORITY

Your priorities are what you do each day, the small tasks that move forward the second and minute hands on the clock: these circadian endeavors are your musts. Everything else is simply a should. You have the same amount of time as everyone else who has ever created a masterpiece. We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day. So “I don’t have time to write” really means “writing isn’t a priority.”

                                            - Joshua Fields Millburn

A few years back, Joshua Millburn, along with his friend, Ryan Nicodemus, started a blog, podcast, and movement called "The Minimalists". They seek to get to the heart of things that matter in life and clear away all of the clutter.*

Joshua also teaches writing and his lessons are succinct and insightful.

When I saw the quote above, it struck me that what he says about writing is true about anything.

Take a second look at that quote and remove the word 'writing':

 "I don't have time to ___________" really means "__________ isn't a priority." 

What would you put in that blank?

• Prayer?
• Bible Study?
• Spending quality time with my spouse? My kids?
• Exercise?
• What?

We want to believe we have a time problem ...

It's hard to admit we have a prioritization problem. 

______________________

*Check out theminimalists.com ... when you have the time.

THE SHORE

My students used to get so mad when I would call them "ignorant". They thought of "ignorant" as an insult. 

A synonym for "stupid".

(The irony was delicious.)

But, no, ignorance is not at all the same thing as stupidity.

Sure, both involve not knowing something. 

But unlike stupidity, ignorance holds out the hope that whatever the unknown is - it could in time become known. 

Not because of intelligence, though. 

I suppose the deciding factor is the presence - or lack - of humility. 

“As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.”

​— John Wheeler

STRENGTH

As I get older and the hearing starts to go and the eyes grow weak, I take great comfort in Paul's words to the Corinthians:

"Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16b)

This makes physical aging more bearable. 

It is possible to have both physical strength and spiritual strength throughout most of your life, but the physical strength has an expiration date.

If I had to choose, I would much rather be strong spiritually than physically anyway. 

RECURRING DREAM

I have a recurring dream. But unlike most, this one is a pleasant repetition.

I am outside - either on a path or in an open grassy field - and I am running. 

As I move, my strides become longer and stronger - even as I grow aware that I am putting in less and less effort.

Now I am gliding through the air, a few feet above the earth. I am flying, but I don't question how.

I just enjoy the sensation. I am weightless - both physically and mentally.

It's natural to wonder what in the world is going on in our subconscious to produce various dream scenarios. 

And this might sound goofy, but my best guess at interpretation of this recurring dream is that it represents a longing for heaven. 

I am looking forward to it. 

How about you? Do you have any recurring dreams?

PRONOUNS

I have a suggestion for anyone who is asked these days for his or her pronouns: Just respond with "I/me" and "you/your".

First and second person pronouns work great for all of us. No need to change a thing. 

Acceptable: "Hi. How are you doing?"

"I am fine. Thank you."

"Would you like a donut?"

"Heck, yes I would!"

On the other hand, third person pronouns are only used when you are talking about me.

Why would I attempt to dictate that you use "he/him" when I am not around? 

For instance, if you say to your friend something like, "Did you see Steve's hair? It looks like he cut it himself!", why would I presume to exercise control over your speech to somebody else? 

The words other people use about me are just one aspect of life over which I have zero control. 

I have come to terms with that. 

I think it would be healthy if everyone did. 

GIVING AND GETTING

For the last ten months I have been working at meeting with some other guys from church on a weekly basis for Bible study. It has been difficult to start a group and equally difficult to build it. 

Guys are busy. They often commit early on and then quickly fade away. And brotherhood is simply not instantaneous.

I think there are spiritual forces working against anyone seeking to develop a habit of weekly spiritual conversations. I feel it in myself even. I don't really look forward to meeting with the guys until it is under way and then I think, "This is awesome". 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about his desire to get together with them face to face:

"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong - that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." (Romans 1:11-12)

There is something truly beautiful for me in meeting together with brothers in Christ on a regular basis. 

I give and I get. 

CAREER DREAMS

Relentless blogger and author of Atomic Habits, James Clear has these questions for those who are looking to start a career or change jobs:

• What career would you realistically pursue if you wanted the most money?

• What career would you realistically pursue if you wanted the biggest impact?

• What career would you realistically pursue if you wanted to have the most fun?

• What career offers the best mix?

Those are three interesting lenses through which to consider a career choice. 

The qualifying word "realistically" needs to be given careful consideration; skills and personality traits will definitely narrow the scope of possibilities for each individual. 

But Clear's questions got me thinking about my own career choices. In my case, impact and enjoyment have always played much larger roles than making money. But as I grow older, I am starting to question the wisdom of my tendency always to downplay and even neglect questions of income! 

Don't get me wrong. I can't complain - I and my family have never been destitute. Far from it. God has always provided what we need (sometimes quite miraculously) and I have no reason to doubt that He will continue to do so. And I would not trade our years in Haiti for the income we sacrificed to do it. We have no regrets.   

Still, if I were able to make some extra money some day, I have two dreams - and neither involves a bigger house or a slicker car: 

1) Taking my wife and kids on a 2 or 3 week vacation to Europe. (Before the kids all scatter for good. Or they start finding spouses and having their own kids - which is only going to raise the price of the trip. 😉)

2) Being asked to make a donation toward some Kingdom cause and being able to pull out my checkbook and ask, "Would $10,000 suffice or do you need more?"

HANDS-ON EDUCATION

Even though I am not with the kids and teachers heading back to school this month, I have been on a steep learning curve of my own.

Ministry among the poor of this world is like so many other things in life: there are a million ways to do it wrong and a handful of ways to do it right. I joined the Mission Resource team last January because I felt Mission Resource was doing it right. 

So I have spent the last few months asking questions, watching my boss work, and reading everything I can get my hands on about meeting the financial needs of the poor. As I have been reading Banker to the Poor, Created to Flourish, and From Dependence to Dignity, I am more convinced than ever that Mission Resource is on the right track. And doing essential Kingdom-building work.

In the next few weeks, God willing, I will get firsthand experience with our partners and clients in Ghana. It will be like moving from a textbook to the lab.(So much more fun!) And, I expect, an even steeper learning curve.  

I would appreciate your prayers as we finalize travel plans for early September. I am a little nervous because my passport is in the mail right now on its way to the Ghana Embassy for a travel visa. (The embassy is in Little Rock, Arkansas of all places!)

And it looks like I will finally need to stop procrastinating on getting a Covid shot if I want to be certain I can enter Ghana without hassle. 

THERE'S A WORD FOR THIS...

John Wesley once preached the following about 'begging' for the poor: 

“You might properly say in your own case, ‘To beg I am ashamed;’ but never be ashamed to beg for the poor; yea, in this case, be an importunate beggar.”              (From his sermon On Visiting the Sick)

I had to look up Importunate: 

“urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so” (dictionary.com).

__________________

Samaritan Radio is a Christian station in Kenya launched 3 years ago with the financial and prayer support of Mission Resource International out of Columbus, Indiana. Small but mighty Samaritan is broadcasting the good news of Jesus Christ every day within earshot of 30 to 50 thousand Kenyans.

That message would not be going out if Mission Resource and its supporters didn’t exist. This is a big part of what inspired me to join the MR team last January – we are doing essential Gospel work in areas within developing countries where other resources are slim or non-existent. Maybe you already know about our approaches and the needs that we seek to meet through Mission Resource: small, short-range investments in individuals and businesses in the developing world as a means to empower people to support themselves and to grow in faith.

Currently, I am trying to avoid having my salary cut into the further work MR could be doing in Kenya, Ghana, Haiti or anywhere God calls us in the future. With the current worldwide economic difficulties, the demand for the microfinance services MR offers is greater than ever.

So I am attempting to get myself to the point where I can be a “tentmaker”, earning enough $ through writing and preaching on the side that I can devote my primary time to Mission Resource without need for a salary.

I am not there yet. 

In the meantime, I am again turning to brothers and sisters in Christ - like you - who may be willing to support me as a missionary. So many friends, family members, and even strangers gave sacrificially to put me and my family in Haiti for 7 years. Our time there was fruitful then and continues to be fruitful now* and we are forever grateful for the generosity that was shown to us and the Kingdom work we were a part of.

I hope you do not think I am being too forward to ask again for support. If so, please know that I am only willing to “beg” for the benefit of the poor. This is a calling God has put on my life and I know of no other way to fulfill it here in the short run.

So I might get importunate.

I have been with Mission Resource for 7 months now and I know it to be a trustworthy and Spirit-led enterprise from top to bottom. Within the next few weeks, I will be traveling to Ghana to see our operations there firsthand – expect my enthusiasm to skyrocket. 😉

Would you please pray about giving a special gift or even monthly support to Mission Resource to support me as a missionary? Then, if the Spirit leads, our website makes it easy for you to offer support at https://www.missionresource.org/donate.

God bless you and thank you for your time and consideration.

(Currently there is not an option to click on to designate a donation for "Steve Gross", but we are a small enough operation that we will be able to track it easily.) 

 Here's me in my little corner of the Mission Resource office:

 __________________________________

*We had opportunity recently to catch up with three of our former students (Maxiane, Keven, and Keren) who are now in the States for college. I was so impressed with all three - their futures look bright! Praise God. He is faithful!

ACCEPTING JESUS

"Three kids accepted Jesus at VBS last week". 

When I hear a church announcement like this, I celebrate, of course. 

But ... there's also something about that phrase - "accepting Jesus" - that makes me cringe.

It feels like the wrong word. We "accept" the "things we cannot change". In grade school, we are taught to "accept" everybody. If we compete and win, we might "accept" an award. 

For an action word, it has a strangely passive vibe.  Synonyms include allow, endure, and tolerate. 

So imagine my surprise this morning when I found out it was biblical. Straight from the mouth of Jesus even:

John 13:20 - "I tell you  the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me."

If it was good enough for Jesus, who am I to quibble, right?

But I still wasn't quite ready to accept this phrasing, so I investigated. 

The Greek translated by the NIV as "accepts" is lambanon. Almost every other translation uses "receives" for lambanon. "Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (A handful use "welcome".)

Lambanon/Receive is a word that describes the decision you make when someone knocks at your front door. 

You come to the door and you either send them away or you receive them into your house. 

Talk of "accepting Jesus" just doesn't do justice to the reality of what happens when we receive Jesus into our lives. 

LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE HEALING

Some things in Scripture are meant to be read literally, and some figuratively. 

To me, the most fascinating aspects of Scripture are those passages meant to be read both literally AND figuratively.

In other words, through so much of Scripture there are two levels of meaning. And most often, the figurative is the more important. 

Because the figurative points to spiritual truths.

The Egyptian slavery is a figure of human slavery to sin.

The lamb sacrificed at the first Passover – during the worst and final plague – is a figure of Jesus.

Crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land is a figure of baptism.

Moses is another figure of Jesus. The mysterious priest Melchizedek who visits Abraham is also a figure of Jesus. 

Even the snake raised on the staff by Moses is a figure of Jesus. (One of my favorites because of its simplicity.) 

Jonah in the belly of the fish is used by Jesus Himself as a figure of his death and resurrection.

Noah’s Ark is a figure of the church, a place of refuge in the midst of a wicked generation doomed to destruction. 

This trend continues in the New Testament.

Jesus takes a handful of literal fisherman and tells them He plans to turn them into figurative “fishers of men”.

In my opinion, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John picked his four stories of healing based on their figurative significance to Jesus' true mission. 

4 HEALINGS

I have often heard that the Gospel according to John is quite different from the other three gospels. In fact, scholars refer to Matthew, Mark and Luke as the "Synoptic Gospels" - the term "synoptic" employing the Greek syn meaning "together" and opt "to see". Matthew, Mark, and Luke share a "common view" of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. 

Although in some places John's Gospel does share common ground with the Synoptics, he often skips over their stories and relates his own, not found elsewhere. 

This is obvious in the accounts of the healings Jesus performed. The Synoptic Gospels tell of many miraculous physical healings:

• A man with leprosy
• The Roman centurion's servant
• Peter’s mother-in-law
• A paralyzed man lowered through the ceiling
• A Canaanite woman's daughter
• A boy with a demon
• A woman with chronic bleeding
• Various demon-possessed men
• A deaf mute
• A man with a shriveled hand
• Ten men with leprosy

Strangely enough, John's Gospel doesn’t mention any of these.

John focuses on just four particular healings and each is a story found in no other Gospel:

1. The official’s son at Capernaum – who is healed from some non-descript disease at a distance
2. A sick man at the pool of Bethesda - who is described only as an invalid who cannot move himself. 
3. A man born blind - whom Jesus heals with a blend of dirt and spit. 
4. And Lazarus raised from the dead. 

Now, obviously, Jesus healed many people during his 3 and a half years of public ministry, so all the Gospel writers had plenty of material to choose from. 

As John himself points out towards the end of his Gospel (21:25), "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

So he had to pick and choose carefully. 

So why do you think he chose those particular 4? 

COMPETENCE

Comedy legend John Cleese of Monty Python fame was being interviewed recently. Like a stream of consciousness, the conversation roamed across numerous topics. 

At one point Cleese said he was seeing a therapist years ago and was thoroughly impressed with the guy's professionalism and knowledge. So Cleese asked him, "What percent of people in your profession would you say really know what they are doing?"

Without hesitation, the therapist answered, "10%." 

Yikes! Think of how influential a therapist can be. And then consider the possibility that 90% have no clue what they are doing.

After that surprising answer, Cleese made it a habit to ask people in various professions the same question over the next several years. He said the answers never rose above 20%.

Maybe I am an optimist, but even 20% seems pretty low to me. I think there's a good chance that when people answered his question, their pride and biases got in the way.

Still ... it's an interesting thing to ponder: exactly how much competence/incompetence is there around us day by day? 

Is it better than 50/50?

How would you answer Cleese's question for your profession? 

WITH THE HEART

In speaking of the people's unwillingness to place their faith in Jesus, the Apostle John says,

"For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere (in Isaiah 6:10):
'He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn - and I would heal them.'" (John 12:39-40) 

Understand with their ... hearts? Doesn't he mean "minds"?

I don't want to make too much of a single passage in Scripture, but it is interesting that John and Isaiah speak here of people comprehending the Gospel with their hearts.

Christian author James K. A. Smith says that we often miss the mark in communicating the Gospel or Scripture in general because we conceive of human beings as "brains on sticks". 

If we just make a convincing argument and have all our facts in line, people should assent to the Truth, right? 

But it seldom works that way. 

For better or worse, we humans - you, me, and everybody else - are simply not as logical as we would like to think. 

And if the Gospel does not hit people on the level of emotion and desire - things of the heart - they will not likely "understand" it at all. 

WILL AND DESIRE

Yesterday I offered Dr. Chris Bounds' definition of love as "the alignment of the will with the desire for union, oneness, or fellowship with someone or something". 

His point being that genuine love requires both will and desire.

When it comes to loving God, there are two pitfalls we must avoid:

1) A "love" that is all desire and no will. 

    We love the idea of God, but really have no intention of following His ways. We find it much too difficult to obey in our day to day lives.

    We love Jesus, but ... Don't gossip? Don't complain? Forgive others? Remember the poor?

    Exhausting! I just don't have it in me. 

2) Or a "love" that is all will and no desire. 

    We end up like the Pharisees who were all about following the rules to the letter, but without any real heart for God. 

    Go to church. Tithe our income. Don't cuss or drink too much. As long as we try our best to obey God, that will earn His approval and get us what we really want: eternity in heaven. 

The two pitfalls are equally dangerous.

Because they both miss the true beauty of the love relationship that God intends for us. They leave us outside of God's best. 

In ourselves it is impossible to combine our will and our desire in perfect love for God: heart, soul, strength, and mind. 

But we don't have to rely upon ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us both to will and to desire.

Phil 2:13 - "For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him." (ISV)

DEFINING TERMS

We all know the two greatest commandments: 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself."

If we are to have any hope of living out these commands up to God's standards, we had better make sure we know what "love" is.

When the world talks of love, it means something along the lines of "unconditional acceptance" or "desire for another". 

But neither of those definitions really cut it, do they?

One of my professors, Dr. Chris Bounds, pointed out that genuine, biblical "love" involves one's will along with the desire.

"Desire alone is not love," he says. 

Dr. Bounds defines love as "the alignment of the will with the desire for union, oneness, or fellowship with someone or something". 

So for example, if a young man says he loves his girlfriend and desires to spend his life with her, but acts in a way that is out of alignment with her will, then it's not really love. Let's say he drinks too much or he puts sexual pressure on their relationship. 

That clearly is not love which he is feeling. 

It's the same with our relationship with God. 

When we say we love God, what exactly do we mean?

Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." (John 14:15)

Our desire must be accompanied by a realignment of our will. 

KILLING TIME

"When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection." - A. W. Tozer

In the past, I killed a lot of time. Since I hit my 50s, not so much.

It still happens, I suppose, but rarely am I tuning out of life and responsibilities for extended periods of time these days.

(Except for those darn Tik Tok-style videos that show up on Facebook and Instagram. They sometimes suck me in. Human behavior is fascinating!) 

Anyway, as I reflect on how you and I don't have time to waste, this classic poem by Longfellow comes to mind:

A Psalm of Life

                    By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait.