Tag: King Jesus

When You Can’t Believe, Let Your Friends Faith Carry You

Let’s face it, believing in God isn’t always easy. Especially when you or those you love are in pain, and there are a mounting pile of unanswered prayers. It doesn’t help that we can’t see, hear, or hold onto God either.

It’s unique really, in our age, to be in a position to doubt the divine like we do. In the 7,000+ years of recorded history, humanity has been deeply religious, our lives oriented around the will and whims of the heavenly beings. Only in the past few hundred years have we been able to construct a reality where it’s plausible to doubt the existence or the effect of gods/God. It’s harder to believe in God then it used to be.

When my brother Matt was killed in by a drunk driver, you can probably imagine how angry at God I became for letting this happen. This was back in 2001, right after Christmas, in my late 20’s. I’d been a pastor for a few years, grown up in the church my dad pastored, and had gone to Christian school’s most of my life. For all my knowledge and love of God, I was decimated by this death. What kind of God lets this stuff happen? It’s hard to believe in God when life takes excruciating turns.

Looking back fifteen years later, I can see that at times it was my friends faith in God that carried me through those dark days, weeks, months, years. Sometimes you need your family and friends to believe for you. Sometimes the only way towards healing and hope is for your friends to hold on to faith on your behalf for awhile.

We see this in a New Testament story, retold by Mark in his gospel about Jesus Christ. paralytic-lowered-to-jesusIn this story a paralyzed man is lowered into Jesus’ presence through a hole cut in the roof; it is the attempt of friends to get their friend healed amidst the crowds amassed around the house where Christ is preaching. An astonished Jesus, wiping dust off his face and standing up as the paralyzed man comes down, looks up at the friends and sees their faith. He remarks, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” And then, to make a short story shorter, Jesus heals him.

Isn’t that fascinating? It’s the faith of the friends who carried the paralyzed man that made this moment possible. Maybe the paralyzed man protested the whole way there, pointing out the futility of their efforts, doubting God and depressed about his situation. But his friends didn’t give up on him. Or Jesus.

Are you feeling paralyzed? Are you doubting God’s existence, his goodness, his relevance? Are you wondering if your sins are forgivable? Are you wounded from the sins done to you? It may be that you need to let loving friends come around and carry you for awhile to get to a place of forgiveness and healing.

walking-with-friends

Maybe you’re in a dark place, kind of like where I was after my brother was killed, and you’re not sure what to do next, not sure what to believe anymore. If you have any strength left to pray, pray for God to send you a friend who can believe for you, and help you find healing and hope again. And if you don’t know if you can pray that prayer, let me know if it’s okay if I pray it for you.

I don’t know what’s next for you, but following the forgiveness and healing of the paralyzed man, the people were amazed and praised God, saying “We have never seen anything like this!” It reminds me of the old hymn Amazing Grace –“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” May amazing grace find you and the faith of your friends carry you – not because you believe in it or deserve it, but because you are loved.

And if you’re the friend with faith, stay faithful.

What’s Your Why?

Sometimes success can be your worst enemy.

Success, getting what you want, can be good, especially when it results in the flourishing of those connected to your life. But success can be toxic when it comes at the expense of those around you. Success becomes your enemy when you hold on to it, become afraid that you can’t maximize it, or exceed it, or live up to it in the long term.

Success – good and bad – reveals your “why.” Do you ever stop to reflect on what is your why? Do you take time to contemplate on what success is for you? Where does your why come from? Is your why worth it? Who wins if your why is successful?

We see in the gospel of Jesus (according to the disciple Mark) that Jesus was crystal clear about his why, about what success meant for him and those connected to him. For Jesus, success was traveling to Israelite villages preaching the good news of the arrival of God’s kingdom while driving out demons and healing the sick. “That is why I have come,” Jesus stated, to his disciples.

the-gospel-of-markIt’s interesting that following a long night of driving out demons and healing those with various diseases in Capernaum, while still hungry and exhausted, he slipped out of the house while everyone was still asleep. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Success has it’s draining cost and distracting temptations. You can probably relate.

Following the mass-healing in Capernaum, Simon sought out an exhausted Jesus, excitedly telling him that “everyone is looking for you!” The implication being: we’re successful, let’s set up shop here and make the most of it. This was the kingdom breaking in, let’s set up the kingdom right here, right now!

But that is not why Jesus came to preach and heal. He came to announce the arrival, to embody the arrival, to evoke allegiance to the arrival. He didn’t come to establish the kingdom according to the imagination of everyone else. Jesus knew his why, and he wasn’t going to let others hijack it, nor let success derail it.

Have you ever wondered, what did Jesus pray when he got away to a solitary place? As a Jewish male, in first century Israel, he would have likely prayed daily the Shema, probably the Amidah, many of the Psalms (like 100, 145-150), and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus included the Lord’s Prayer.

jesus-prayer8Sometimes we think prayer is always asking God for stuff. For safety, for security, for success. But for Jesus, prayer was about presence. It is about being present with his Father, the one who revealed his why to him, who sent him with his why to embody the healing gospel to the children of Israel.

Prayer can be that for us; a time and a place where we dwell with the Lord in silence, with his Scriptures. In that way, we will discern our why, we can gain clarity on the why we are sent with, and how to stay connected to that why when success tempts us.

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Feeling frustrated that you haven’t achieved success yet? Don’t make success your idol. Let success flow out of your why, and let your why flow out of your prayers. A why that emerges from dwelling on the Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 145 would be a powerful why in the world.

White paper in a red background

Sensing that success might be one of your enemies? Becoming afraid that your past success can’t be repeated or exceeded? Reconnect with your why, with why Jesus has sent you to this place and time. Start your mornings with him. Be reminded of why you were sent here: for the flourishing of all.

Let me know if you want to learn how to pray as a way to learn your why and join Jesus in his gospel-work in the world.

 

Feeling Unlucky Lately?

Listening to NPR on my morning commute to the office, I heard a brief news story about the founder of Instagram, who quipped about how luck is what drives the world. He mused that maybe life was about recognizing luck when it was around you, and acting on it. Something like that.

Then I pulled into my parking spot and realized I had forgot my laptop at home. So much for feeling lucky this Monday morning!

the-gospel-of-mark

In the gospel story this morning, we read about Jesus heading to the home of his disciples Simon and Andrew for dinner and rest. Seeing as Jesus was homeless, he was always grateful for the hospitality of others. When he arrived at their home, he was told that Simon’s mother in law was ill in bed with a fever.

Fortunately for her, this was her lucky day! Jesus went up to her, sat at her bedside, gently took her hands, prayed over her with great love, and then helped her up to her feet. Now it was Jesus’ lucky day – she was ready to throw a huge feast in gratitude for his healing touch.

peters-mother-in-law

But word got out, and Jesus never got his dinner – so much for luck. The village of Capernaum found out that Jesus was there at Peter’s house, and as the sun set over the Sea of Galilee everyone brought anyone they knew who was sick, diseased and demon-possessed.

It was lucky for the townspeople that Jesus was there and able to heal, but unlucky for Peter’s household, as their whole evening was disrupted. Sure, the whole town got healed, but what about their dinner!

What is luck? I don’t know. But for Jesus, every day, every moment, was an opportunity to be good news. Luck is usually something good that happens to us, maybe unexpected, but also hoped for. But Jesus is more than just lucky, and way more than a bringer of luck. He comes to bless. On purpose. With a plan. For the flourishing of all.

You feeling lucky? Unlucky? Ready to ground your Monday mornings and future hopes on something more than luck? For Christians, everything good that happens ought to be received as a gift, as a blessing.

We don’t get “lucky” with God. He is loyal to us more than we can imagine! He gives sunshine and rain on the righteous and the wicked – which is another way of saying that he gives us goodness even when we don’t deserve it. That’s more than luck, that’s love.

Is everything bad that happens to you a curse, a sign of being unlucky? Or, is God at work in everything, and bad things that happen to us might actually be a doorway to some of the greatest blessings we’ve ever received? Maybe, with Jesus, even the worst things that happen to us, even our most unlucky Mondays, could be the gateway to great opportunities to bless, love, and cherish?

You don’t have to wander aimlessly through life, hoping for a lucky break. Join a Jesus-community that will help you see what God is doing around us, and what he is inviting you to do. Break bread with a close friend, share a cup over prayer, and together submit your grief to the Lord.

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Next time you feel unlucky, maybe even cursed – take a moment to pause and say thanks – this may be your moment to stop and get ready for a moment to bless someone unexpectedly. Sometimes our own healing comes from blessing others amidst your pain.

Life is more than luck, it’s a gift. May you take it all as a blessing, even if at first it feels like you’re unlucky, late, and forgetting your laptop.