Fruitful Politics: Meekness

"The meek will be taking over the earth, so gently that the powerful won't notice until it's too late." (Simply Jesus, by N.T. Wright)

While some translations call this fruit of the Spirit gentleness, there are other Greek words better suited to be translated as such. The word in this verse is praus, meaning "strength brought under control." The Greeks used the term to describe a wild horse brought under the control of a master by the use of a bit and bridle.

The parallels to the life of a Spirit-filled Christian are obvious, but often ignored. The meek are not easily provoked, not easily panicked, and not easily distracted.

One reason why we so often fail at the gentle art of meekness is that we fail to keep our focus on the true mission.

If I've allowed the world's thought-machine to convince me that the most important purpose I could possibly pursue in in this election season is keeping illegal aliens from taking our jobs, corrupting our country, or importing terrorism, then the part of meekness that always takes its directions from the master has already been set aside. The same is true if I've concluded the most important goal for the few days remaining before election day is to convince as many Facebook friends as possible that Donald Trump is a danger to the country and to our women. Or that his opponent is a dangerous socialist and will lead our nation to ruin. Or that former president Obama is a Muslim. Or that George Bush and the CIA engineered the 9/11 attacks so they could hand over to the NSA the keys to American's privacy.

If you've become convinced that any of those goals, or any other political agenda, should be the driving motivator of your behavior, you've slipped the reins and broken out of the stall.

There is no cause that might capture the imagination and energies of a Christian that is more important than the cause of representing the kingdom of God by being salt and light in the world. Not conservatism nor liberalism. Not libertarianism nor nationalism. Not Making America Great Again or Medicare For All.

No candidate or principle is more important than the gospel.

Also, there is no amount of "rightness" of a cause that justifies a representative of Christ Jesus setting aside the righteous character the Lord wants to work out in our lives.

Meekness requires that even if I find myself emboldened by an adrenaline rush when I hear or read some comment by a politician or one of his or her followers, I'll still allow my reaction or response to be under the control of the master. I'm no longer a maverick, running wild on the political range, picking fights with rivals. I'm an energetic and powerful steed for the Holy Spirit to ride in pursuit of God's mission, regardless of the direction or manner in which I'd like to take off at a gallop.

What does it profit a Christian if he gains the White House and ensures the right Supreme Court Justices are named or the wrong person's finger is not on the nuclear panic button, but, in the process of pushing for that political goal, loses his soul and the souls of his non-believing friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers?

God's mission does not require spinning the truth, passing along political gossip, or sharing rude Facebook memes.

When God wants to change the world, he doesn't send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God's justice, the peacemakers, and so on. Just as God's whole style, his chosen way of operating, reflects his generous love, sharing his rule with human creatures, so the way in which those humans then have to behave if they are to be agents of Jesus' lordship reflects in turn the same sense of vulnerable, gentle, but powerful self-giving love. (Simply Jesus, by N.T. Wright)

Psalm 119:162 Treasure

 

I rejoice in your promise
like one who finds great spoil.

Psalm 119:162

The Bible is not a treasure map.

The Bible is a trip diary diary and the people who wrote it are regaling us with true stories about the treasure they have found and how they found it along the one road of life. They have been there and done that and found that.

David tells us about the treasure he has found in the promises of God. But there's an unexpected aspect to this tale of where and how he found this treasure. It's unlike nearly every other story of found treasure you've ever read.

The treasure is still there to be found by you and me!

All any of us has to do is get on our feet and put on our walking shoes and start moving down the path God has set out in front of you.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

God has called you to a purpose. The treasure is in pursuing that purpose, all the while knowing God is working alongside you toward that purpose

Just like David did. Just like Paul did. Just like Jesus did.

Psalm 119:161 Trembling Heart

 

Rulers persecute me without cause,
but my heart trembles at your word.

Psalm 119:161

My heart TREMBLES. Why?

The Hebrew word is pachad, to dread.  Persecution by people in power might cause you to tremble with dread, but the Word should cause even greater dread. 

I suspect anyone who spent their childhood as part of a church remembers the visiting missionaries. They would come to the church and speak about their mission, often with a slideshow with pictures of exotic foreign places and people (with an obligatory sunset picture at the end). It was exciting because they had been there and done that, unlike me - and unlike most of the people in my church. We hadn't been anywhere or done much of anything, by comparison.

The part I always liked best was when they told stories of persecution. They had been there and experienced that. I still remember the stories of people smuggling Bibles across the border of the iron curtain. When I was young I pictured an actual iron curtain between one country and another, with communist soldiers hiding in the curtains like a cheesy murder mystery.

The stories of what would happen and what did happen to God’s smugglers if they were caught made my heart tremble. Even now when I read stories in The Voice of the Martyrs magazine about people in other countries being persecuted, I'm tempted to think of it as reading an adventure tale where everything is going wrong for the hero. I'm sure it's not much of an adventure for the real people in the stories, a realization that again causes my heart to tremble with second hand fear.

Jesus makes a backhanded sort of promise to his disciples that because the world will hate them because the world has hated Him. That could be unnerving for those of us who seek to be serious about following Christ.

When I fully invest my imagination in reading the stories of someone like Stephen, inserting myself into the story, standing before the Sanhedrin alongside him, falling to my knees in front of the people holding large stones, my heart trembles.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

     “For your sake we face death all day long;
      we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

Words like these make my heart tremble a bit, because it seems so daunting. But when I read these promises and others, my heart trembles at the words of God.

My heart trembles when I read the scriptures because their promise is so amazing, so life-altering.

My heart trembles with the sure knowledge that in the adventure God has set before me He will be standing beside or kneeling in the dirt beside me, no matter where God's mission takes me to.

I don’t need some politician to pass laws to protect me from persecution. My first line of defense against my persecutors isn’t a good lawyer.

When I am actively doing the things God has tasked me to do, when my heart is trembling and I feel a hand on my shoulder, I can trust that it’s not the hand of my persecutor. It’s the hand of my Savior

Fruitful Politics: Faithfulness

I was pleased when Bob Dylan was named the recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." He's been the poet laureate of my generation, telling tales of the life of a rolling stone and painting pictures of the world seen from his unique perspective.

I have many favorites among his works, but the one that always sticks with me is from his 1979 album, Slow Train Coming:

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Serve Somebody was the most successful of the songs from that album, a collection he created during his spiritual journey of the late 70's. Arguments can be made about the degree of Dylan's faithfulness to the Lord of Lords, but these lyrics have brought Jesus' words to life for many.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:24

Jesus applied the principle, at that moment, to the danger of loving and serving money. The principle holds true for many other things that can threaten to become a master that competes with God, including politics.

How can you tell if your faithfulness to politics has pushed aside your faithfulness to God? 

Consider these thoughts:

• Are you willing to spin the truth about your chosen candidate, lying to others and to yourself about their flaws, while amplifying the flaws of the opponent? The Father of Lies would welcome your faithfulness to his agenda.

• Are your political obsessions distracting you from the mission of God? Are they distracting the seekers and skeptics around you from the faithfulness of God?

• When someone asks you the reasons for your political stance, do you remember to mention your faith and the name of the One who motivates everything you do? Or would a missional approach conflict with the tone and tenor of your vehement response?

• Do you see the fiercely devoted followers of the "other" candidate as distasteful or deplorable or snowflakes? Or do you see them as people who need to rediscover the image of God within themselves?

• Are you so fearful about the possible outcome of the election that you're on the edge of panic? Or do you understand that God is faithful and will work for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose?

• Are you faithfully sharing the good news in season and out of season, or are you too busy sharing your hot takes on the latest developments during political season?

• Have you considered whether your freedom of political expression might interfere with your ability to be heard when you talk about Jesus?

Are you remembering to be loyal and faithful to the God who will always be loyal and faithful to you, even when you forget about him during political season?

He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Psalm 91:4

If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. II Timothy 2:13

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. I Corinthians 10:13

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.  I Timothy 1:12

You're gonna have to serve somebody.

Psalm 119:161-168 Sin/Shin

Rulers persecute me without cause,
 but my heart trembles at your word.
I rejoice in your promise
 like one who finds great spoil.
I hate and detest falsehood
 but I love your law.
Seven times a day I praise you
 for your righteous laws.
Great peace have those who love your law,
 and nothing can make them stumble.
I wait for your salvation, Lord,
 and I follow your commands.
I obey your statutes,
 for I love them greatly.
I obey your precepts and your statutes,
 for all my ways are known to you.

Psalm 119:161-168

It's a long road.

To a young person, the road of life can seem so long there is no end. It matters little what you do right now or whether you keep your focus on the road at all. There are plenty of miles and numerous years to go before it makes a difference.

At my age, now in my 60's, the end of the road is always there ahead of me. It could be just over the next rise or around the next curve.

Or not. A year and a half ago I thought the road was going to end any moment as the blood vessels in my chest burned like they were flowing with acid and the EMTs loaded me into the ambulance.

There were so many things that came to mind in those moments, things I wished I had done better before reaching the end. So much time wasted on trivial pursuits.

And yet not once was I afraid about what comes after the end.

This is not a brag on myself. It surprised me to discover this to be true. Because even as a lifelong believer, you still wonder whether your faith will be strong at the end of the road.

I know why my faith didn't hesitate. I've spent my life allowing God to write His Word on my heart.

My parents began the process, teaching me to value God's Word above everything. As I've written before, some of the ways they and the church taught me to cling to the Bible were excessive and misguided. Some of their best efforts were misappropriated by me. But nevertheless, they started me off right, with an extremely high opinion of the Word.

That devotion to the Word has stayed with me throughout the journey. I've been a student of the Word, a debater of the Word, an experimenter with the Word, a challenger of tradition because of the Word, a counselor from the Word, a lover of the Word.

And the Word has never failed me.

Long is the road that leads me home
And longer still when I walk alone
Bitter is the thought of all that time
Spent searching for something I'll never find

Take this burden away from me
Bury it before it buries me
. . .
Steady is the hand that's come to terms
With the lessons it has had to learn
I've seen the things that I must do
But Lord, this road is meant for two
So I am waiting here for you

So take my hands and set me free
Take my burdens and bury them deep
Take this burden away from me
Bury it before
Bury it before
Bury it before it buries me

from "Cold is the Night" by the Oh Hellos

Psalm 119:160 Tethered to Truth

All your words are true;
 all your righteous laws are eternal.
Psalm 119:160

How often can you count on words to be true? In the 21st century, less often than ever.

During the past few months the facts and stories we've been told about the coronavirus pandemic have been shifting around faster than most of us can keep up. From one day to the next we watch as scientists contradict other scientists, politicians interpret the science according to whatever fits their political agenda, and the internet and social media are full of intentionally misleading and alarming pseudo-news aimed at sowing seeds of chaos and panic.

It's not new with this current crisis, though.

Increasingly over the past few years it's become common to see tweets and hear official statements from political leaders that are contradictory to verifiable fact or are the opposite of what the record shows they said previously. It's become a regular feature on Twitter and other platforms for some enterprising person to dig up a previous tweet or video clip of a politician making the exact opposite statement of "fact" or declaration of "principle" as whatever they're now saying.

But it's soon to become even more difficult to count on words being true.

arstechinca.com: Adobe demos “photoshop for audio,” lets you edit speech as easily as text

Adobe has demonstrated tech that lets you edit recorded speech so that you can alter what that person said or create an entirely new sentence from their voice. It seems inevitable that it will eventually be referred to as "photoshop but for audio."

The tech, dubbed VoCo (voice conversion), presents the user with a text box. Initially the text box shows the spoken content of the audio clip. You can then move the words around, delete fragments, or type in entirely new words. When you type in a new word, there's a small pause while the word is constructed—then you can press play and listen to the new clip.

Here's a video of the demonstration.

Thank God - literally - that we can trust in His words. All of His words are true.  And they will remain true for all eternity, no matter how much our culture is cut loose of any tether to truth.