euphemos

Weird Al has a talent for taking the popular and making it absurd(ly funny). My “talent” is for taking and seeing the other side of things. Consider Barlow Girl’s song “Never Alone”:

I waited for you today
But you didn’t show
No no no
I needed You today
So where did You go?
You told me to call
Said You’d be there
And though I haven’t seen You
Are You still there?
I cried out with no reply
And I can’t feel You by my side

I’ve been where she is, and it stinks, but I can’t help but wonder how many times that is God’s song to me. How many times does He call for me, and I don’t answer? How many times do I miss an opportunity He carefully crafted? How many times have I denied Him and not even realized it?

I wanna show up when He calls.

My friend Adam often mentions that he has a curse of clarity upon him. I’m not sure if I share his blessing or have another entirely. Either the world is fuzzy when viewed with sufficient clarity, or I have the curse of ambiguity.

On the one hand, I have this deep-seated desire to know and do what is “right”. Most people are content to follow in the tire-tracks of other drivers on a snowy day; I want to drive where I know the lanes are. In a parking lot where the lines are mostly worn away, I would rather find a partial space marking and use that to estimate where I should park than park an appropriate distance from the nearest car. Good enough… isn’t; I want to be right.

On the other hand, I have a strong tendency to see both sides of everything. At work, that’s a good thing. A significant part of solving any problem is to identify the problem, and that’s my area of expertise. It also means that I am  uncritical of other people. Unfortunately, I have a hard time ever letting something be complete or being satisfied with anything because it can always be better. I have to deliberately avoid the trap that James McMurtry’s Johnny fell into: “He opened up his eyes and he snapped out of the groove He saw both sides of everything and found he could not move.” (James McMurtry, Candyland)

I don’t know if this means I have an unwavering desire to pursue excellence, or if it just means I’m anal-retentive; I suppose the ambiguity is appropriate.

Jesus Says that we will know the truth, and that the truth will set us free (John 8:32). It is easy for me to allow differences in interpretation or understanding to drive a wedge between myself and others. I become confident (conceited?) my own understanding, and separate myself from those that “refuse to see the truth.”

Thankfully, “the truth” has nothing to do with what I know or understand. Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). Knowing Him even sets me free from the tyranny of my own desire to understand and to be right, and turns that terrible master into an excellent servant. He has the answers, and He gives them to me when He knows I need them, but it is more important that He is the answer than that He has the answers.

In this season of intentional thanksgiving, I am particularly thankful for the experiences of the past few years that have taught me to be less confident of my own understanding, cling less tightly to my own ideas, and recognize that being right is impossible, but that by allowing the Holy Spirit to make me like Jesus, I get “right” as a fringe benefit.

Luke 4:38-39 relates that Simon’s mother in law was ill, so they asked Jesus to heal her. He did so, and she immediately got up and served them. The first time I noticed this it seemed strange that the sick woman was immediately serving. Upon reflection, however, it makes perfect sense.

After experiencing the miraculous intervention of the Lord, our tendency is to congratulate ourselves for our effective prayer (I must be on the right track since He responded to my prayer), bemoan our former misery (ohh, it was so difficult), coast over-long on the experience, or seek another vice (a demon cast out returns, finds the house empty, and takes up residence with 7 more wicked than itself).

When the Lord heals us from our physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual infirmity, he does so in order to make us fit for service (2 Timothy 2:19-21). He doesn’t polish pots to hang on a pot-hanger, he cleans, repairs, restores, and remakes us in order to fill us with His Spirit and pour us out to those around us for His glory.

The more we become like Jesus, the more similar the tactics that our enemy uses will become to those he used against our Lord. Fortunately, Jesus has already overcome our enemy, and provides both the wisdom of His tactics and the strength of the Holy Spirit to ensure that we also will be victorious.

Consider the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and then being tempted by the Devil (Luke 4).

Satan opened up, as he often does, with an attempt to plant doubts and sow the seeds of distraction. His opening gambit was “who are you?” “IF you are the Son of God…” Jesus responded with “…man does not live by bread alone…” He made it clear, first of all, that He was here as a man. Yes, he was fully God, but He was here as a man. As such, He made Himself subject to the guidelines for success that God placed, and was focused upon the Word of God. It is important that we also know who we are. We don’t have to control everything, and it isn’t all up to us. We don’t have to be God, we just have to obey Him. If we keep our focus on Him, and on His Word, we will have life.

Even if we know who we are, our enemy would love to make us forget to whom we belong and distract us with the cares of life. His first attempt a total bust, Satan moved on to this next tactic. Jesus again made it clear that He knew to whom he belonged. “You shall worship the Lord Your God and serve Him only” What do we say when Satan distracts us with the cares, pleasures, successes, failures, and treasures of this life? Do we allow them to become idols, taking the first place in our heart and mind, or do we keep that first place reserved for “Him only”?

The third temptation boils down to one question… “Ok, you worship God, but does he love you back?” If you’re stupid, will he make everything all better? Should you test Him to make sure? How will you know He’ll be there when you need Him if He doesn’t prove He loves you on demand? Jesus had a response for this too… “You shall not put your Lord your God to the test”. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, where the command continues with “as you did at Massah”. Massah is the place where the Children of Israel whined about how poorly God was treating them and worried aloud that he’d led them out in the wilderness to die (Exodus 17). As with the Children of Israel, God has led us out from Egypt, and he isn’t going to drop us off in the middle of nowhere to die. He loves us. Never forget how much (John 3:16), and that he makes everything work together for our good (Romans 8:28).

The Devil left Jesus for a season, but he continued to oppose Jesus, and will continue to oppose us. Open opposition must be faced with strength. Letter vs. spirit of the law conflicts and other subtle conflicts between believers with openness, integrity, and reason. As we become more like Jesus, we may even find that evil hides from us (Luke 8:28), and can be assured that if we submit ourselves to God and resist the Devil, he will flee from us as we fight in the strength of the Lord.

When our mutual enemy cannot get a wedge between us and our God, and when he cannot oppose us directly, he will attempt to use others. He thought to use Judas this way, but just as love demonstrated through self-sacrifice allowed Jesus to turn this final assault into His greatest victory, it will do the same for us.

God in his mercy is good to provide us with the strength to overcome and examples of the appropriate strategy to apply. Identifying the problem is 80% of the solution. I pray continually that He will give me the wisdom to discern the challenge and apply the appropriate solution.

Daddy: Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t it be someone else?

Sammy: Because He is the only one who is holy and has blood.

Dude. . . ummm. . . wow.