A Life Worthy

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.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell  (Matthew 5:29-30).

Now we see where the phrase, “Cut that out!” came from.

I think it’s safe to say that Jesus is not literally suggesting self-mutilation as a behavior modification tool.

But

he is slamming home the seriousness of sin.

Beloved, let me ask you a question that I am afraid to ask myself: What sins are you putting up with in your life?

…

… (this is me waiting while you think)

…

Yeah, those sins.  

How much do you want them gone?

There is a scene in the C.S. Lewis book The Great Divorce that I love and hate and fear. In this scene an angel encounters a man who has a lizard sitting on his shoulder.  The lizard, which represents a particular sin, whispers all manner of evil nastiness into the man’s ear. The angel offers to free the man from the evil nastiness by killing the lizard.  The man wants to be free of the lizard–or so he says–but he is unwilling to have it killed. He is afraid that in killing the lizard the angel will also kill the man. After much anguish and debate, the man decides that he wants the lizard gone, even if it kills him.

Brave man.

Beloved, you don’t have to cut off a hand or gouge out an eye to get right with God.

But…would you?  

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.  Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5:25-26).

Yesterday, Jesus talked about how strife with others will hinder you spiritual life.

Today, we see that it can get in the way of other aspects of your life as well.

Yeah, so maybe the key is to take care of your interpersonal issues right away, hmmm?  Don’t let them problems brew, or you’ll end up with Trouble Tea.

Get it?  Brew…tea…ya?

When you were a kid, did you ever build a tower out of blocks? The goal, of course, was height; you wanted your tower to reach the stars.  So you started stacking one block on top of another, going for the record. The problem was, before your tower got too tall it started to wobble.  If you didn’t act quickly, it would collapse. The way to strengthen your tower, to keep it from wobbling, was simple:

Make it wider.

As a child you learned that vertical must be supported by horizontal or…crash.

True for blocks, true for relationships.  Your relationship with God does not–cannot–exist apart from your relationship with others. Those relationships are where you put into practice all that you learn from your walk with God.  It’s where the abstract becomes concrete.

What people issues do you have to deal with today?  Deal with them in as quickly and Christ-honoring a fashion as you  can.

Stack those blocks wide, Beloved.  Build your tower tall.

Happy Friday

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’is answerable to the court, but anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell (Matthew 5:21-22).

Dang it.

I was doing so well, too.

I mean, I can honestly say that I’ve never murdered anyone.  And as for saying Raca, well, I’m not even entirely sure how to pronounce it.

But now, it seems, that’s not good enough.

Frankly, Beloved, it never was.

Happy Wednesday.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

We call them Old Testament and New Testament

when really

we should just call it Testament.  

When I was a little kid, I thought that the God of the Old Testament was a totally different guy from the God of the New Testament.  Later, I figured it was the same God, but that he had matured through the eons. You know, he had stopped zapping people with lightning, and had kinda grown from the Rule-giver into the Grace-giver.

Yeah…I didn’t get a lot of doctrinal training early on…

The point is, it’s all the same God.  And his plan didn’t change. It’s not like Jesus was Plan B, after the whole Mosaic Law thing didn’t work out.  The Law worked out. It was perfect. It did exactly what it was supposed to do–show Man that he could never reach God on his own, and provide the framework for the perfect sacrifice that would, finally, bring peace.

Behold the Lamb of God, Beloved.

Happy Monday.