We have met the enemy and he is Comfort

I lead a comfortable life.

I like comfort.  I could even say I dislike discomfort so much that I’d do anything to avoid it.  But, I am becoming more aware that a comfortable life leads to shackles.  For one thing, it seems that comfort becomes addictive; the more you have, the more you want.  You get to the point where the least bit of discomfort is the most awful thing you can imagine.  Anything that could be the least bit uncomfortable (like telling someone about Jesus) is out of the question. 

Probably worse of all, living a comfortable life leads to an unnatural fear of death. Our lives become so comfortable that we can’t imagine anything beyond that could be any better.  This is when comfort becomes a barrier that keeps us from Jesus.

I sometimes am lead into a weird impression of the early days of the Church and think that they had it so good… after all, their lives were so uncomfortable that it was “easy” for them to focus on Jesus, and life eternal.  How comfortable of me, thinking I have it so bad being so comfortable.

Comfort is not bad, but it makes things harder for a Titus 2 man.  A comfortable life leads to a familiarity with the world that we were never meant to have. And, a love of the world and our comfortable life makes us less excited about the prospect of Heaven, and the unspeakable wonder of being there.  Worse of all, we stop seeking Jesus and trying to be like Him, our motivation evaporates.  Is it any wonder that in the comfortable societies in the world, the culture of “living in the moment”, “he who dies with the most toys wins”, in short, selfish, man-centred idolatry is flourishing?

Paul offers this about heaven, in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4:

“I know a man in Christ fourteen years before (whether in the body, I do not know; or outside of the body, I do not know; God knows) such a one was caught up to the third Heaven.  And I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I do not know; God knows), that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not allowed for a man to utter.”

And that’s third heaven, imagine seventh heaven!

Paul says that there is something beyond this comfortable life that is so wonderful, we haven’t even invented words that can describe it. The desire for that and for the One who lives there and died on a cross to make it possible needs to motivate our lives, not what we have here.  The desire for us to be with Him in heaven motivated Jesus to go to the cross, the apostles to go to horrific deaths, and so many Christians throughout the ages to endure so much.  It wasn’t because their lives were so terrible, it was because they knew, and sought, something better, someone better. We need to seek Him as well, and not seek comfort.

Heaven

What do you think of when you think of Heaven?  Yeah, me too.  I think of a place where every dream has come true, every worry has been erased, where everything I wanted out of life but never got, is.  I get to shed 30 years, 20 kilos and I get to eat my favourite foods and not get fat, see my deceased pets,  and see all those people that went before me that I miss so much.

But, it’s recently become apparent to me that I might have the wrong idea about Heaven.  Heaven is a place for spiritial beings, and to be there, I need a being guided by my spiritual self, not my carnal self. That calls into question the need to have everything I've ever wanted but didn't have on Earth.

Heaven is where God lives, and is a place absolutely drenched in His perfect love.  Perfect, selfless love, as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.  And, Heaven is filled with angels and saints, beings that were created to and learned to love God as He should be loved, as He seeks to be loved, and to love others in that same way.

Jesus said there were two commandments and that everything else hangs on these: love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love others as you love yourself.  Jesus made this clear because that’s what He is like, and that is what the place He lives is like.  And, if we are to go to Heaven, we must learn to do these two things, because that’s life in Heaven in a nutshell.  If we don’t want to do that here, why would we want to go to Heaven anyway?

It’s not that we suddenly change and these desires magically go away, it’s that when we truly grasp His love in the light of our salvation and what He did to secure it, seeing Fluffy and having a guilt-free burger and seeing Grandma again just won’t be as important.  It will be pleasant, joyous, to be sure, but it will be more the icing on the cake.  But, if the only reason you want to go to Heaven is to have all of your fleshly desires fulfilled continually, you really won’t like it once you get there.  You can't live on icing alone.

Heaven is where God lives and I get to be with Him forever. And, that’s enough for anyone.

Submission

If there is one Bible verse guaranteed to be disliked by at least 50% of the population it’s Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord”. Is Paul the biggest sexist of the first century?  Well, not really.  If you look just before this verse, at Ephesians 5:21, you find “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So, guys, you’re not off the hook in this submission thing.

This would probably be a good point to talk about the word submission and what it means.  In military terms, to submit is to put yourself under the command of your superior officer. A private will do what his commander in the battle wants him to do, as battles are won with teamwork, and doing your own thing can get you and your whole platoon killed. In our daily lives, we submit to our superiors: bosses, coaches, traffic cops, even in checkout queues, because doing so brings order, and order is the cornerstone of civilization.

But, how does this work in marriage?  Does this imply a hierarchy within marriage, with the man as the leader?  And, if so, can a woman trust the man to be the “superior officer”?  Lack of understanding in the meaning and nature of submission within a marriage has caused enmity between man and woman and has reaped untold heartache through the ages.

Paul addresses the idea of submission as well as the nature of submission between married couples in the context of the Ephesian church.  The key to his explanation is in understanding what he means by submission. The best definition I’ve heard for submission in the context of Ephesians is “to come up from underneath to support”. With this meaning, it becomes easier to understand that submission is not the giving away of liberty or power, but rather something that naturally happens when you love someone. Indeed, if we go just a bit further in Ephesians 5, starting at verse 25, we read that the man must love his wife just as Jesus loves His church.  Ladies, if you think you got the raw deal by being told to submit, the man got the far harder job: look at what Jesus did to show He loves His church!

If a man loves his wife as he should, then the wife need not fear that submission will lead to her degradation or having to do something that is not in line with the will of God, for Jesus would not love His church in this way.

So, if submission means loving your husband/wife as you love yourself, then why did God make the distinction (woman: submit, man: love)? It has to do with the different natures and motivations of men and women. As He pronounces the curse on Adam and Eve for the disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit, God defines the post-fall characteristics of man and woman in Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said "…Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."”  In Ephesians 5:33, Paul further explains this, when,  in speaking to the man, he says:  “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Btw: this distinction provides yet another scripture that defends marriage as being between a woman and a man.

Man’s basic need from woman is respect (to rule over). The woman submitting to the man fulfills this need.  Likewise, a woman wants to know she is loved (her desire for her husband), and man’s love for her fulfills this. Both get what they need by submitting one to the other, in the context of love.

Within the beauty of this formula is the secret principle that can heal any broken marriage.  All you need is for one to play the part ordained by God, and the nature of the other will draw them in. When a man feels respected, he is drawn into love for the woman, and when the woman feels loved, her respect for the man naturally flows.  But, if you are looking for someone to start the process, remember that Jesus first loved the church:  “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The man is given Jesus’s part in the equation, and the leadership role, for a reason.

This plan for marriages puts the focus on each of us to play our roles, and not worry about the other playing theirs. This negates the “blame game”; within this plan, there are no “irreconcilable differences”. We take our eyes off what the other one is doing and put them on Jesus, and following Him. 

Obedience to God brings marital harmony.  And it all starts with submission: one to another, and both to God.

What do you want me to do for you?

The story of Bartimeus in the gospel of Mark (chapter 10, verses 46 through 52) is a beautiful tale of the faith of man and the grace of God.  But one part puzzled me is in verse 51: “And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight."”

It seems a bit odd for Jesus to ask Bartimeus what he wanted, it seems obvious.  But, Jesus knew, and wanted to make sure that Bartimeus knew, that he was facing a choice when he encountered Jesus. It seems a simple choice, when we have a problem, to ask to be healed by someone who has the power to do that.  But, the choice for Bartimeus wasn’t quite that simple.

Every choice, especially a choice involving Jesus, has consequences (Jesus goes into this in great detail in Luke 14 27-33).  For Jesus to restore Bartimeus’s sight has an obvious benefit, but regaining his sight meant that he would, in effect, lose his job.  He could no longer beg for a living, he would have to find another (and almost certainly, a more physically demanding) line of work.  This may have also been true of Bartimeus’s relatives, as they may have been supported by his begging.  And, after the initial rejoicing, how long would it be when the attention he received after regaining his sight was gone, and he was just another guy. He used to get a lot of attention and sympathy when he was blind.

Jesus asks each of us that same question.  He starts with what He has done for us: saved us, taken away our sins, died on a cross for us.  Once we accept that, accept Him, and became aware of who we are and how far our behaviour is from what He desires it to be.  It’s at this point He asks us "What do you want me to do for you?".  And, on the surface, the answer seems obvious: “Heal me, Lord”, for just as Jesus had the power to restore sight, He also has the power to restore and reform our lives. But like, with Bartimeus, there are consequences. There are parts of our lives that are in conflict with Him, but we have grown comfortable with and have grown to like.  Choosing Jesus, choosing life and light, illuminates and identifies our areas of darkness, which can be quite confronting. But, if we want Him, we must throw off the old life just as Bartimeus throws off his cloak as he makes his way to Jesus.

This is why Jesus asks the question.  We need to consider the consequences carefully before answering, but we cannot let the consequences stop us from asking for His help, because our lives will always be so much better when He heals them.

Captain Kirk and the Gospel of John

Being an avid Star Trek fan, I saw Star Trek Into Darkness twice over last weekend.  Not to give away too much, but in the middle of the movie, the good captain discovers that he is actually fighting two enemies, and believes that to save his ship and crew, he will need to side with one of the enemies against the other.  Spock, as you would imagine, questions the logic of this course of action.  This leads to one of the memoral lines of the movie. Kirk says: "I don't know what I am supposed to do, I only know what I can do". 

At the end of John's gospel, Peter finds himself in Kirk's shoes.  He had an idea of how the kingdom of God should be (now, with Jesus in power, and without Jesus crucified), only to have Jesus say "get behind me, Satan" (Mark 8:27-33). He thought he was the loyalist of the apostles, only to have Jesus tell him that he would deny Him three times (John 13:38) and to have that come true (John 18:25-27).  Then, Jesus was crucified, dead, gone, and Peter's view of ther kingdom died with Him.  But, then, He rose again and Peter saw this for himself (John 20:2-9). Talk about not knowing what to do next!

This is where John picks up the story in John 21. Peter doesn't know what he's supposed to do, but he knows what he can do, so, he decides to go back to Galilee and go back to fishing (John 21:3).  Then, in a plot twist that any Hollywood writer would envy, Jesus re-creates the moment that Peter first chose to follow Him (John 21:5-11, compare to Luke 5:4-7).  He then asks Peter to reaffirm his love for Him three times (because he had denied Him three times) and gently puts Peter's feet back on path by reinstating the original mission He had given Peter ("feed My lambs, feed My sheep), and gives him a glimpse of what he would encounter on this mission (which wasn't pleasant).  Peter then does what many of us would do, he looks at John and says "what about this guy"?   Jesus then defines for Peter and for all of us what He wants from us (John 21:22): "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

So often we're looking at what the other guy is doing or not doing for the Lord, instead of what we've been called to do.  What about those other denominations?  What about all those hypocrites over at my church?  What about that tribesman in Africa who's never heard of Jesus?  What about the Jews or the Muslims?  Jesus's reply to us is "What is that to YOU?  YOU follow me!"

It is God's place to correct those who are wrong and to insure that the gospel is heard by everyone, it is our job to follow him.  When we don't know what we're supposed to do, that is the one thing we always can do.