why people?

Love God and love people.  This is what we're told to do somewhere in Matthew.

I guess I don't have much to add to this, so this will be short.  Mostly, I'm just going to pose this question: why are people so important?  Everything we believe hinges on a personal relationship with God.  That same idea was central to Luther's revolution.  I might even go so far as to suggest (for the sake of argument) that salvation would be easier without people.  If there were no other people to deal with, would we struggle with sin as much?  There would be no cause or occasion for gossip, offense, stealing, adultery, murder, etc.  This is not to say there wouldn't be sin (Adam and Eve did a fine job sinning without other people around), but there would be fewer opportunities for it.  

However, there would also be fewer opportunities to grow!  Every uncomfortable, unpleasant, and seemingly unnecessary interaction with each other is what gives us the chance to learn how to love.  Someone once said (sorry I can't attribute this properly) that our time on earth is practice for heaven.  If that's true, then I say let's have a good practice! 

There may be more about this topic to come.  This was all kind of on the fly, based on a conversation I had last night.  Let me know in your comments why you think people are so important.  Oh, and the answer to my cheesy riddle on the last post is the Fibonacci sequence.

Jeff

 

half of an insight

Last night I had a thought about the David Crowder song "We Win!" we've sung during services a couple of times now, and the associated story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.

I think we probably all know the story: after the 40 year wilderness wandering, the Israelites cross the Jordan River and encounter the city of Jericho, the first obstacle to claiming the Promised Land (besides the Jordan River itself). God tells Joshua to take the fortified city by marching around it 7 days in a row (accompanied by soldiers, priests, and the ark of the covenant, of course), and on the 7th day, to make 7 laps. After the 7th lap, God instructed Joshua to have the priests blow their horns and the people "shout with a great shout." Simple enough.

What I realized last night, for the first time (and believe me, I have heard this story many times) was the order in which the events take place. In our modern culture, which Daniel talked about a few weeks ago, we have a very linear way of thinking. Think about it: "I" before "e" except after "c." Don't eat your dessert before the main meal. Don't try to get the cart before the horse. Work before play. We are a read-from-left-to-right society, and we approach everything with that perspective. We think that's organization.

That's why the Jericho story sticks out to me. God had them do it backwards! He had the Israelites shout their victory before the walls came down. Just like Crowder's song lyric: "We're gonna shout loud, loud until the walls come down." What!? "Until" implies a lack of finality. What did they have to cheer about? The walls were still standing when they shouted for victory. Can you imagine a sporting event where fans cheered before the big moment? Try. You know those moments in a football game where the running back gets the hand-off? He busts through the defense. . .an amazing dodge here. . .a spin with some fancy footwork. . .and he's off. . .30 yd. line. . . the fans stand. . .20 yd. line. . .the fans murmur, anticipation growing. . .10 yd. line. . .will he make it?. . .still a few more tackles to dodge. . .wait!. . .the crowd's gone crazy!. . .the announcer calls the touchdown!!. . .the fans are shouting and hugging each other for joy!!!. . .the sound of their cheers is deafening!!!!!

Sounds bizarre to me, but that's exactly what God had the Israelites do. He had them shouting for victory before anything happened! Apparently, God didn't understand that you have to wait for the victory before cheering. . .

Wait, God already knew the outcome, didn't he? And He let the Israelites enjoy the thrill of certain victory, for a whole week. That must have been pretty satisfying.

I don't really have any more insight into this (hence the title of today's blog), but it really struck me last night. Can someone help me out with the relevance? The only thing I can think of right now is somehow we've got to get out of this reactionary, linear type of thinking. God is bigger than that. Why wait for the outward sign of victory (i.e. the "walls" flattened) before celebrating the victory? We've already won. We've already won! And because of that, we have hope that does not disappoint.

Other interpretations are welcome. And you will get extra points if you can detect the method to my mad use of exclamation points in the last 4 lines of the 4th paragraph. :) The answer is forthcoming.

But in all seriousness, be encouraged. We win!

Jeff

a look in the mirror

Okay, it's confession time.

About a week-and-a-half ago on Sunday morning, we played the song "Undignified." I blabbed a bit about the biblical context of the lyrics and challenged us to push the limits of our typical patterns of worship. It was all relevant, and I'm not a bit sorry for saying any of it, but I admit I feel a little bit hypocritical making the challenge behind the safety of my guitar and mic.

What am I confessing here? That I am unbelievably challenged in the area of demonstrative worship! I used to chalk it up to the introverted personality and unemotional demeanor. But last week I was thinking about how big God is, and how small our words of praise really are. Song lyrics have incredible meaning, and when sung with the right attitude must be beautiful to God. BUT THEY'RE STILL JUST WORDS. They can't possibly capture all of God's glory. We sing them because that's all we have.

Or is it all we have? I'm beginning to realize that worship must involve every part of our being. Singing words and being cognizant of their meaning is important. But so are our emotions! And emotions are demonstrated through action. David chose to demonstrate emotion by dancing around in a linen ephod. To his wife, he looked like a moron. But I'm pretty sure that is closer to an attitude of true worship than I have ever had, and that's an incredibly humbling thought. I wonder what it's going to take for me to be okay with appearing undignified before people.

Well, I'm glad to have that off my chest. Can anyone relate?

Since we're on the subject, what's the one thing you feel "pushes" your comfort level in worship? Mine is raising hands. . .makes me feel very uncomfortable. Someone might see me, you know. :)

Jeff