God Hugs

"Hey man!" the guy says getting my attention. Without invitation he invades my personal space and gives me a comforting hug. "You look like you needed a hug!" I did need that hug, and I appreciated it very much. Yes, two grown men hugging is cool!

As I've mentioned before, I think God likes to surprise us with hugs, especially for those of us who show and receive love through touch. What I cherish about God hugs are the disguises in which they come. Here is a brief list of God hugs I've received lately:

• An actual, meaningful hug
• A person told me that they'd been praying for me (without me asking!)
• I watched the wind sneak through a forest
• I heard the apt words of a prophet to me
• A killer, awesome food gift given out of the blue
• I found out that someone talked good about me behind my back
• I watched my kids point their friends to Jesus

God wants to hug you! He has probably done it many times over today already. He disguises himself so well that we have to spend regular time becoming more familiar with them. How have you experienced God's hugs lately?

Apologetic Heart

As a word guy, I have sporadic moments where words just come to me. Lately, they have been manifesting themselves in poetic attire. A few days ago this poem appeared.

-----

It comes in moments
You and I apart
I taste God's love
And am cut in heart

Apologies are hard for me
I must admit and you know
It pains me the humility
But to the cross I must go

I'm sorry for my slacking
In the humble leadership we need
I'm sorry that I hurt you
In word, in thought, in deed

I love you because of God
And your captivating beauty a perk
I commit to you again this day
To love you like God and kill the jerk

Love Your Enemies

"You have heard that it has been said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven because his sun rises on the evil and good and it rains on the righteous and unrighteous." Matthew 5:43-44

I hear the radical call to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I wonder who Jesus had in mind as he calls his followers to a perfect, mature righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). I wonder if we are misusing this text?

Is my enemy a national enemy I've never met deemed an enemy by a particular government? Perhaps. That is certainly the assumption behind those who use this text to support the call to love a national enemy. (btw...I'm certainly okay with giving Bin Laden the 'enemy' label!)

In the midst of all the buzz however, I'm compelled by Jesus' little sermon to consider a more personal application. I wonder if this statement forces me to see my enemy as a person I know, Joe Smith, who does everything he can to slander me, speak all kinds of evil against me, insult me, and work against me?

Jesus' words here are rightly considered as we hear of Bin Laden's death. I am just a little hesitant to see those who work against America as "my" personal enemies. While, as a US citizen, I am bothered when others attack us, I refuse to directly equate America's enemies as my enemies. It frustrates me when any allegiances to America (or lack of allegiances) are equated with allegiances to Christ. I consider Jesus Lord rather than America. If I understand the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, my prayers need to desire God's kingdom to come on the entire earth, even to the exclusion of America.

So, in light of Bin Laden's death, my allegiances to Christ may compel me to pray for the Iraqi moms who continue to lose their sons in war against my nation. My allegiances to Christ may help me to consider the possibility that Bin Laden was equally made in God's image. Was he even a child of God? That kind of perspective (and just the question itself) may be blasphemous to some. At the same time, I wonder if this is exactly the perspective of another perfect righteousness Matthew points us toward?

Glory Appears Again

I was listening this morning to scholar, teacher, and Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright, talk about a book of his (Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense) and take questions from the audience (its a 7-part lecture I would suggest listening to). Its been out a while now, but I've never read it, so I gave it a whirl!

As he was lecturing about beauty being one of those things that we just get. It is hard to explain and even not completely agreed upon, but we understand that this thing (whatever we are talking about) is just beautiful. There is a glory to it, a mystery to it, an attractiveness to it. Some are so attracted to it that they want to begin studying it much like a musician, enamored by the glory of a symphony, is draw to understand the intricacies of music. They go to college looking to dive deep into this mystery and find that the glory has disappeared. Wright says that it sometimes takes years for the glory to appear again, if at all.

At this point in his lecture, I was struck. I couldn't help but think about how this happened to me in grad school with my theological studies. The attractive glory and mystery of God disappeared for me. I was no longer captivated by Him as I once was.

Oddly enough, when I'm being captured by these thoughts, Wright says something like, "While this is a whole other study, this same thing [about music] happens with theological studies."

Having been removed from my theological studies (proper) now for 4.5 years, there is a small element of rediscovery happening in my soul. God's glory and mystery is reappearing. The glimmer I got recently was in a conversation about my life in college. I spoke of being caught up in the Spirit, spiritual warfare, trusting God, speaking to demons, and more.

Here it is: As I recalled the glory of God being revealed in my life during that time, I then realized (or God revealed to me) that I have lost God's love; I haven't been loving the other. My heart, as Bernard of Clairvaux would say, was loving self for self's sake. Clairvaux might contend that I was even in the second degree of love where I was loving God for self's sake, but I realized (once again) that my love was not motivated from a deep desire for God, but for self.

I wonder what would happen to this campus ministry if I would let God's glory be exactly that...His. What does that look like? I wonder what would happen if I began to love the other deeply, to long after the mystery of God, to groan for his people, to rest in his love above all else. How will God use this? Well, I'm going to try it out and see what happens!

Will you join me?

God did it!

As I was growing in the Lord, I felt like lashing out at God at times. At least those were my initial thoughts, but then I came to my "spiritual senses" and refrained from saying such things against God.

This morning when I read Job 19, I am confronted with a man who could truly blame God. God was the one who did it. Here Job says it. "...God has wronged me and drawn his net around me....He has blocked my way so I cannot pass...he has stripped me of my honor...he tears me down on every side...I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth...the hand of God has struck me."

Unlike my comments recently about Ruth, the story of Job tells us that it WAS God who did all these things. So Job is rightly directing his comments toward the divine.

I am encouraged to direct my objections toward God...no matter how harsh they may seem. God can handle it. I am honestly opening my whole self to him. I am not acting as if I don't think these thoughts. In time, because of my honesty, I might understand more of what happened or I might not.

A word of caution about honesty: I have seen people use 'honesty' as an excuse to continue to be bitter and hateful, even reject God altogether. Honesty as I see it always needs to be accompanied with love. I love God; therefore, I am honest with him (even when it hurts). I don't think the bitterness and hatred should remain in a healthy relationship with God...that will produce a chasm that might hurt the relationship. Honesty is a by-product of the love in the relationship. Bitterness and hate can be there...it just doesn't remain.

Gotta address this: The question of 'why' continue to linger throughout the story. Job demands an answer of God, though he will never get one. In the end we see Job saying...never mind...I don't want an answer. Perhaps we can get to a place in our relationship with God where we say the same. I probably say more about this as the story continues.