A Life Worthy

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (Matthew 5:46-47)

It’s nice to be nice to the nice.

–Maj. Frank Burns, M.A.S.H. 4077

Beloved, let’s face it–some people are easy to love, and some are not.  We are called by the Lord of the Universe to love them all.

Period

It’s not the way I would have designed it, which is yet another in the ever-increasing pile of reasons to be glad I’m not God.

But consider, Beloved, that if God chose only to love those who were lovable, you and I (mostly I) would be ever so deeply doomed.

We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

I would pray that God would give you many opportunities to love unlovable people today, but then you might come for me and hurt me.  Then I would have to love you when you are being unlovable, and it would all get messy.  How ‘bout this: I pray that God grants you the grace to show His love to everyone he brings your way today.  Does that work for you?

It works for him.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:43-45).

Jesus said this.

Sometimes, I wish he hadn’t.

It’s just so stinking hard, you know?

Trust me–I just tried, a moment ago.  I prayed for someone who has caused me great, undeserved grief.  The prayer barely escaped my clenched brain and, frankly, was not as heartfelt and authentic as one might hope.

Jesus is just so much better than I am. Jesus prayed for those who mocked and beat and crucified him, even as they were doing it.  

I can’t love like that.

Honestly, I don’t even want to.

Yet

But I want to want to, and I trust that someday, by His grace, this shrivelled old heart will flow with his love and his compassion and his forgiveness and…him.

The Potter, as it happens, is not yet finished with this particular lump.

Thank God.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

You have heard it said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:38-39).

The concept of Eye for an Eye has been misappropriated.  The way I understand it, the idea was one of limiting punishment, not intensifying it. The rule fit the punishment to the crime, and kept the offended party from going on a revenge rampage. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that people were actually taking eyes and teeth and limbs; God was simply establishing an upper limit on retribution.

Somewhere along the line, the idea devolved into, “You hurt me–I hurt you!”

With much growling and grunting and flaring of nostrils and gnashing of teeth.

As you may have noticed, that’s not what Jesus is about.

The world teaches us from an early age to stand up for our rights, and not to let anyone walk all over us. And here is Jesus, telling us the opposite.

What do we do with this?

I want to be really careful about speaking for Jesus, but I think there are a couple of points to keep in mind here.  First, this is a general principle, not meant to cover every encounter. I don’t think Jesus is counseling the battered wife or the abused child to keep absorbing punishment.  Nor do I think Jesus wants us to stand by passively while another is hurt or abused. The need to stand up to evil is deep within us, and I think that desire is from God.

The principle here is that we do not belong to ourselves.  When we get consumed with our rights and our hurts and what we deserve we forget that we have been bought with a price. We are not our own.  Jesus, as he spoke these words, was preparing to face greater personal pain and loss and humiliation than you and I can imagine.  But he wasn’t going to call for vengeance. He was going to trust the Father–who loved him and cared for him and was totally capable of protecting him–to use this nightmare for his own glory. Which was what Jesus lived for.

It’s not about you, Beloved.

It’s not even about me.

It’s about Him.  

Happy Monday.

It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Matthew 5:31-32).

People use these verses to formulate or justify their views on divorce and adultery and remarriage and that’s fine, because the verses address that,

but  

they’re really about so much more.

Remember, Jesus is talking to those of us who get caught up in the minutiae.  Those who want to dot the “I” and cross the “T” and thread the needle and ignore the big picture.

Jesus never ignores the big picture.

Jesus is the big picture.

Marriage is more than the relationship between husband and wife, as important as that is.  It is a picture of the relationship between Jesus and his Church. As such, it is eternal. Today’s society can be pretty flippant about marriage.  If a couple “falls out of love,” if they “grow apart,” they can get a divorce and go their separate ways. Jesus is making sure we understand that marriage is not something to casually toss in the wastebasket.  Two become one; tearing them apart is a kind of death.

Look, I know that divorce happens for a lot of reasons, and it’s not always an easy choice. Sometimes people are not given a choice. I’m not trying to minimize that, nor am I throwing blame on anyone.  We live in a world that is broken, and that brokenness shows up in relationships. When it does, it brings pain and fear and loneliness and aching emptiness.

In a way, I think those who have suffered divorce can come closest to identifying with Jesus on the Cross.  The relationship that is closer than any other has been ripped from you, often without your desire or consent.  You are left broken and exposed and very, very alone, wondering

Why have you forsaken me?

Take comfort, Beloved, in the fact that there is One who will never leave you, never forsake you, never divorce you. He chose you long ago, and he never makes mistakes or changes his mind. You are his, and he is yours, now and forever.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28).

Well, isn’t this a lovely thought to start your day?

Jesus is talking about the relationship between husband and wife, and telling us that fidelity is a matter of the heart and not just the hands.  On its own, that message is as timely today as it was in the first century. But Jesus is addressing more than the marriage relationship here. He is refocusing the philosophies that his listeners had grown up with.  The Mosaic law that the Jews followed was external–what you ate, what you touched, where you went. Jesus is saying that God requires so much more than that. Love in God’s eyes is a matter of attitude, not just action.  Jesus is continuing the process of, “Not abolishing…but fulfilling” that he began way back in verse 17. And he’s just getting warmed up.

Fasten your seat belt, Beloved.

This might get bumpy.

Happy Tuesday