Note: I wrote this post as an editorial for the Baptist New Mexican News Journal.
Christians agree that they should love one another and love the world. Critics are hard pressed to find anyone in the faith community opposed the idea. Yet, a sizeable gulf lies between holding a view and practicing the Christian life. In church and convention meetings, certain topics start heads bobbing in agreement and stir clapping and muted calls, “Amen,” and “That’s right.” In fact, the right preacher calling for communities of love can really work up a crowd. Years ago, a preacher at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference energetically called churches to renew New Testament fellowship from house to house. His rousing delivery stimulated visible participation in His sermon. Everyone seemed “into” his message. Afterward, when the session recessed for dinner, hundreds of people flooded through doors headed for the exhibit hall and the parking lot. The only sound was rustling feet. No one conversed. Few appeared to be gathering groups for biblical fellowship over the mealtime. It resembled an evacuation. The aura of Christian connection faded. Seemingly, the balloon of enthusiasm for New Testament fellowship deflated as we covered the quarter of a mile from our seats to our vehicles. That is the gap. Sometimes, it is harder determining how to do what we believe than it is to believe it. So far, I have discovered five components that form the love to which the New Testament calls us. They depict how we do love. They aren’t conceptual, but rather are behavioral. Love takes action. It isn’t invisible. In fact, the Bible clarifies, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Not only God can see our love. The whole world sees it, or does not! I made a bookmark listing the five components. I pray over them and ask God to help me do them. First, I ask for genuine desire. Those who love others genuinely desire to be with others. They arrange opportunities to meet. Genuine desire frees me from avoidance and anxiety. It makes others comfortable around me. They can sense whether I want to stay with them or escape. They need me to stay. Second, I ask God to give me real affection for others. Real affection is the feeling of personal delight I experience when I interact with others. All of the components of love interact. It is easier to desire another’s company when I delight to be with them. So, I ask for that delight. Third, I ask God to make me unshakably loyal to others. Granted, there are times when I have to take issue with other people’s ideas or practices. But, in the other times, they should know that they can count on me. Faithfulness is a virtue. It is also part of loving people. Fourth, I ask God to create in me a rousing concern for others. If He can create a new heart in me, this is in His power, too. Rousing concern describes both feeling concern and acting upon it when I encounter others burdens and needs. Rousing concern creates involvement and intertwines our lives. When I love people, I take meaningful action to help them. Finally, fifth, I ask God to give me lavish generosity. I am asking Him to help me joyfully devote my attention, time, energy, and resources to other people… willingly! There is no way to be forced into joy. It takes transformation. While I pray for these five components, I place myself in situations that demand love. God calls me to love Him, to love my fellow Christians, to love my wife and children, to love my parents and to love the whole world – even my enemies. It’s all the same love. I know all about the gap between belief and practice. I believe I should love people. With these five prayers, God is closing my gap. What are you asking for? Previously, I’ve explained how stories matter, especially stories of God at work. They harbor magnificent power. But, stories do something, too. They affect us when we take them to heart. Sure, every reader occasionally realizes he or she has no idea what the previous paragraph said. But, when readers intentionally engage stories, they invite change. Stories’ potential to ignite change helps answer, “What good is a story?”
Consider this. Each issue of the Baptist New Mexican is filled with stories, averaging two thousand words of stories per page, sixteen thousand words in an issue. The number of words emphasizes the question, “What good is a story?” Why print and distribute them? How do they affect us? The answer either gives meaning to story telling or exposes its folly. I’m speaking about factual stories, stories that tell about real events, stuff that actually happened. I’m also specifically talking about stories that tell of God’s work among His people and in the world. Since, deep inside, I’m an analyst, I analyzed stories. I love fiction, but that’s not the subject under scrutiny. Here’s what I learned about myself and other readers. When readers engage with stories at the most basic level, they gather information. They absorb cold facts, data, statistics, figures, pictures, descriptions, history, and such. Readers absorb massive amounts of information from true stories. They recognize this has happened when they repeat a story, detail by detail. They absorbed information. Then, like a wet sponge that releases its water when squeezed. They recall and repeat the information as they tell the story. Information in. Information out. Stories increase the amount of information people possess. They help readers know more. But, knowing, alone, is insufficient. God intends more. God purposefully reveals Himself. Readers can engage stories more deeply. Stories can stimulate activity in a reader’s heart. Experiences when a story’s mere hearing stirs feeling are common. These stirrings lie at the heart of inspiration. Inspiration leaves us feeling good, hopeful, joyful, encouraged or entertained. People enjoy inspiring stories. Some stories try to inspire, others do it naturally and effortlessly. Yet, readers, too, play a role in inspiration. Reading too fast and reading amidst distractions limits inspiration. Inspiration needs a comfortable setting and time for readers to canvass stories for golden, moving moments. They need time to read again, maybe again. Inspirational stories take heightened concentration. But, when stories inspire, the investment feels small. Beyond the joys of encountering inspiration lies an even deeper engagement with a story. At some point, readers consciously ask of a story, “So what; why am I reading this.” Inspiration often begs that we reach further into the story and into ourselves. Stories influence readers who brave asking, “What should I do with this?” Action that responds to inspiration and uses information causes change. Compelling stories shape opinions, stimulate imaginations, and alter behaviors. “Compelling” may be a quality of the story or a result of the way readers read. Readers influenced by stories expect to be influenced. Expectation changes the way we read. Read with expectation, stories can awaken possibilities and illuminate choices that we either never knew or had long neglected. Informing people is a laudable, commendable goal. Inspiration is, too. But, only stories that become influential cause change. Though not Scripture, stories of God at work in the lives of believers and among churches are powerful. We need their details and information. We need their inspiration. Mostly, we need the results of their influence upon us. So, what good is a story? When read with intention and expectation and when read in the right environment and given time, stories can literally alter lives, our lives. Imagine 16,000 words of influence every week. That could stir up God’s Kingdom. Such influence could ignite a movement, a revival, a spiritual awakening. The life-changing power of stories lies, not in the words, but in God. The Holy Spirit uses them to alter the way we see and hear. The stories of the Baptist New Mexican are sufficient to inform, inspire, or influence our readers. What happens isn’t an editorial decision. Recently, we’ve added a brief “Editors Take” to the end of certain stories to guide readers in the direction of influence. The New Mexican staff works hard at the tasks of composition, design, and circulation to put stories in readers’ hands. Then, we pray. The rest is up to our readers and God. Enjoy reading this issue. See what happens! A couple of weeks ago, I traveled with my family to Silverton, Colorado. Along the way, the road crosses two beautiful, high mountain passes. Because it was early in the spring, snow still covered the scenic pullouts. Spring in the mountains assails visitors with unmistakable beauty. It was one of those days: family, mountains, amazing views. Can it get any better?
As we rounded one corner headed up the mountain, I noticed a car stopped along the downhill side of the road. Unusually for the road, along that segment, and on the uphill side, a gentle meadow sloped gently upward from the right of way for about one hundred yards. There was room to pull over. I usually don’t. That day, God’s Spirit suddenly grasped my attention. Just beyond where the car was parked, a national forest road snaked upward on the same side. It offered just enough room for me to slow and make a U-turn. I knew God was calling. I pulled over. For the record, I make even small trips with everything but the kitchen sink packed in the car. You never know what will happen. I drive used cars. …Get the picture. The driver, Amber, was college-aged. She was heading home to visit parents when her right front tire blew out. What had caught my eye was the driver, her, leaning over the hood of the car staring at a cell phone, just like she was reading instructions. She was. She had never changed a tire. Her spare was almost flat, too. Of course, I travel with a small compressor. So, we aired it up. Also, the lug nuts on the tire had never been loosened since the tire had been mounted. It was completely bald; I mean smooth, really smooth. So, it had been mounted for a long time. Those lug nuts were incredibly stuck. The trip was part of a first family outing with one of my daughters and her new boyfriend from college. It became a bonding experience. He and I struggled to free the shredded tire. In the soft spring dirt of the right of way, the car shifted and smashed the jack. Her tire iron was damaged, too. Of course, I also travel with spares of those. So, the new boyfriend and I hauled them out and kept working. It was a chore, no easy job. Why am I telling you all of this? Amber became very receptive to conversation. She called her parents and gave them a play-by-play of our efforts and progress. My wife and daughters engaged her in conversation while we worked. It took a while. The time allowed rapport to grow. At the end, we loaded her shredded tire into her trunk and sent her along her way. But, I did something before we departed. I told her who I was, a Christian, Baptist Pastor. I gave her a tract. I share the Gospel with her. She took it, and was genuinely appreciative. All of this was outside my normal boundaries. I don’t engage strangers easily. But, I’ve surrendered to God’s callings. And, he called me to pull over. I don’t know what pulling over means for you. But, it may mean changing what you’re doing at a strange and inconvenient moment. It may happen in an inconvenient place. Yet, when I think of all that I had that we needed, I can’t help but recall that God has provided every saint with everything needed for life and godliness. So, we can obey in any situation. We’re usable, not because of our skills and abilities, but because of who wants to use us. As you consider crossing the lines of your life boundaries into places and opportunities God is calling you. Consider more than the opportunity. Consider who’s calling. If He wants to use you, He’s already arranged everything to work out just right. It’s difficult to describe the soaring feeling I experience every time I revisit my memories of that afternoon. There was more that made it perfect than family, mountains, and amazing view. It was God along the way. I hope you’ll let that make you soar, too. I’m certainly glad I pulled over. As a college student, I traveled with the Continental Singers and Orchestra (a Christian ministry organization) across the United States and through Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary. During those days, eastern Europe was controlled by the old U.S.S.R. I grew during that tour in surprising ways.
At the end of our European journey, God spoke directly to us (that’s another story!). The message was clear: “I have brought you here to change you; you will never be the same.” It was a spiritual message that described how God had altered our lives while working among us. Change closely follows those who draw close to and seek God. Occasionally, we resist change. Yet, I’m glad God changed my eternal destination. I’m glad He changed the core of who I am. I’m glad God changed who lives in me. When God works, embrace His change. The outcome usually transforms you and your world! God's will entices the faithful toward its discovery. Seekers desire not only His presence, but also His will and His ways. Our earnest peering upon His majesty seeks both His face and His heart. We're not looking for the surface of God, for a reflection of sorts or for an image, but for all of Him. Make no mistake, the longing of a follower for God's direction is a deep yearning. In one's moments of greatest decision, the thirst for His clear revelation, His guidance, feels nearly unquenchable. Locating the center of His will represents the greatest of quests. And, every journey there varies.
The revelation of God's will may burst into one's life like a shooting star, stark and clear against the dark background of the sky, sudden and bold in its appearance, and unmistakeable. At other times, it better resembles the opening of a bud, mundane in its first appearance and unremarkable. But, slowly, it opens. Its grandeur appears at a different pace, delightful in its own right, but far less dramatic. It reveals petal after petal at a subdued rate. All is not visible, initially, its final form not immediately apparent. First, it parades it's color, then gradually displays its extraordinary shape. Once fully unfolded, one marvels at what has just occurred. In either case, followers bask in the lingering majesty of God's movement as they internally replay, over and over, how He spoke to them. The process by which all of this occurs is remarkable, stunning in itself. I can wish for either. But, God (not I) chooses how He unfolds His plans. He uniquely crafts His revelation to His own purposes and His own glory. I am left to observe, marvel, then obey. Traveling such a path falls to me as a privilege. What wonder God grants me to gaze upon such things. What honor He bestows when He carves out space in His workings to include me, however He does it. "Almighty God, in wonder and amazement we consider what it means to be included by you... in anything. Thank You for cracking the curtains of heaven and allowing rays of Your glory fall upon us. We enter their pools of light to please You. They transform our lives. Sharpen our vision to see when they fall nearby. Move us always within their boundaries." |
Crossing the LinesThe ideas behind this blog emerged from my study and preaching of a message I titled "A Single Step." It was an unexpected message out of Philippians 2:12-18. I'm the one who was surprised. I had a whole different idea of where the sermon would go. Then, I got into the text and followed it. That led, eventually, to the response by individuals after the message. God worked in me and in our congregation. He's still at work. Categories
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