The Elephant in the Room

This is the second in a series of "rants" about the state of the evangelical church today.

The “the elephant in the room” of the evangelical church is this--In spite of sincere efforts to convert the culture to our side, we have managed to alienate most of it.  This group includes a sizable number of our own children, friends, and neighbors. We are focused on converting the culture, but at the moment the culture seems to be doing a far better job of converting us. 
I’ve been an evangelical for roughly half a century. My experience has encompassed Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Salvation Army churches. I cannot tell you how many sermons and articles I have read about the need to tell others about the Gospel. Even so, there is far less practice of Christian virtues among evangelical Christians than there were fifty years ago.  The moral, ethical and spiritual teachings of the church have much less impact on the way people live today, in and out of the church. It does not take a prophet to foretell a future of evangelical churches if these trends continue. Millennials are the least religious generation in American history, and the ones coming after them will be even less interested, if this trend continues. 
The elephant in the room is this—that modern evangelicalism is still about five miles wide, but it is only about an inch deep.  Most people in church leadership acknowledge this, but there is great debate as to what to do about it.
Speaking of elephants, do you remember the old story about the four blind men who stumble across an elephant on the road?  Each one touches a different part of the beast and comes to a different conclusion.  One blind man touches the ear and thinks it is a banana leaf; another touches the leg, and thinks it is a palm tree; a third touches the tail and thinks it’s a rope, and the fourth, touches the side and thinks it is a house.   Each one, seeing part of the beast comes to a logical conclusion it’s nature, but none of them see the whole.
Let me suggest that when it comes to the shallowness of modern evangelical Christianity, we fall into the same kind of trap. Each of us, coming at the problem with our preconceptions and perceptual biases, recognize the need for change in the church, but none of us see the whole picture.  We see a part of the elephant, but not the whole.
One tradition within the modern evangelical church examines the head of the elephant and concludes that there isn’t much there.  They perceive the problem to be the modern Christian mind.   They look at the theology of the modern evangelical church and see it as woefully inadequate.  In appealing to the broadest possible common denominator of people, we have dumbed down Christianity to the point where it loses all appeal to people above junior high school level. 
Mark Noll once writes that the problem with the evangelical mind is that there isn’t much of an evangelical mind.  For more than a hundred years, evangelicals have not been known for the depth of their intellectual thought.  Most evangelicals know very little about the faith or history of the church beyond the basics. Many hunger for the greater intellectual depth. This I believe is the reason for the growth in interest in Calvinism, Puritanism, the early church Fathers, and even Thomas Aquinas. There is a growing hunger for a deeper grounding in the rigorous thinking of older generations.
Another tradition touches the heart of the elephant and finds it barely beating. These are the pietists, Pentecostals, and charismatics. They aren’t worried much worried about the mind as they are the passion of the church. The evangelical church concerns itself with doctrinal conversion and skips heart conversion.  The Holy Spirit has been replaced by business-school planning techniques.  The church talks endlessly about developing leaders but hardly at all about following the leadership of the Spirit.  Modern evangelicalism has bought into a practical deism that says God gave us commandments but left us alone for us to come up with our own practical plans on a daily basis.  We have no faith in a real, living Christ who can lead us day by day by the power of the Spirit. We would rather trust in our own planning an cleverness than to rely on a daily leadership and power of the Spirit.
We know God through His word. But His Word was given two thousand years ago. We fail to recognize the living presence of God in our lives right now. 
A third tradition stumbles upon the trunk of our elephant—the practical, working part of the animal—and realized it is weak.  They conclude that there is too much talk and not enough action. They conclude that evangelicalism has concentrated more on souls the souls of people, but neglected the poor and needy.  Our outward lack of human concern seems to be the problem.  Not only that, but evangelicals have failed to recognize that their own lifestyles are heavy on consumerism and consumption and short on simplicity and sacrifice. If we are not willing to live like Jesus, we will never be able to attract people to Jesus.
The fourth tradition stumbles on the elephant and notices that its feet are not rooted in the ground. If our desire to be contemporary and new,  we have lost sight of the importance of history and tradition.
One valid criticism of the modern megachurch movement is that megachurches frequently do not last for more than one generation. That is because they are usually based on the personality and initial vision of their founders. Once the church leadership passes, there is nothing to sustain it.
Traditional churches are no nearly so personality-driven. They are rooted and grounded in the past, freeing them from the tyranny of the present.  They are like oak trees instead of flowers. Flowers are prettier, more attractive and fast-growing, but they don’t usually last for more than a season. Oak trees last for a long, long time.
I once asked a class of students to trace their church historically back to Christ and the apostles.  One student wrote that Christ founded the church and passed it on to the apostles.  Then the true church was lost for nineteen hundred years until her pastor came along and rediscovered it.  I wanted to ask her if that meant that Luther, Calvin, Francis of Assisi,  Mother Theresa and Billy Graham were all going to Hell.  I fear would be.
People seek connections with something larger than themselves, that will last for more than a generation. That is why a growing stream of believers are leaving evangelical for Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican. Traditional Reformed and Messianic Jewish groups.  There is a longing in many evangelicals to connect with something classic and timeless, that was not invented yesterday.
Regarding these four traditions, it is not my intention to condemn or criticize them, any more than it is to criticize those who are not part of any of them.   But the elephant in the room remains, and each of these four traditions has correctly discerned a part of the problem. I am just not convinced though that any of them see the whole picture, any more than I claim I do myself.  The shallowness of modern evangelicalism is not in one area of life but affects the head, heart, actions, and traditions.
Maybe it’s time to stop thinking about evangelicalism as a culture that is complete in itself, but as a piece of a larger mosaic called the Body of Christ, which includes many perspectives and approaches. In our day,  it is not one part of the church that is threatened by secularism but all of it.
The elephant in the room is this—that we have forsaken the imitation of Christ, and made Christ into an imitation of ourselves.  We have not focused upon the totality of life built around Him and made our own interests primary in our lives.
The process of sanctification or theosis is the process of becoming like Christ in every way, in our head, heart, hands, and habits.  It isn’t a question of where we have failed be like Jesus, but whether we are seeking to succeed. We will never be perfect, nor should we expect to be. But that doesn’t mean we should stop seeking to be like Him in all ways. If we lose sight of Jesus and just focus on our own failings, we will continue to do them over and over again. But if we keep our eyes on the totality of Christ, we are in a better place to become more like Him in every way. 
This blog, the Faith Matrix, has been making the case that we need a balanced approach to the Christian life cannot just grow in one place--we must grow at all.  We need to study pray, work, and seek the wisdom of the past. Instead of emphasizing our distinctive, it is time to start learning from one another, if we ever see the whole of what it means to follow Christ. 

Give me your feedback.  Do you agree or disagree?  I love to hear your feedback.   Also, if you like this blog, share it with your friends, and subscribe.

Breaking Out of the Evangelical "Three-Step"

(Note:  this is the first of a series of 'rants' regarding the state of the church today. My intention is not to be critical of all the good Christians and churches who are working hard to present the Kingdom, but to express some heartfelt concerns about the direction of American Christianity in general.  I claim no infallibility--in fact I am sure I am wrong somewhere.  Neither do I claim these 'rants' to be balanced.  I merely offer my perspective.  Others may see things differently,  and they may very well be right as well.  I only merely offer my thoughts to provoke conversation.)

Ever since I was a teenager, I have self-identified as an “evangelical” Christian.  While people use the word “evangelical” in different ways, for me it means taking the Bible seriously as God’s Word and taking seriously the task of telling the world about Jesus.

Evangelicalism is more than just a statement of belief--it’s a culture in which I feel at home.  I’ve lived in that culture for a half century. It’s my spiritual home town and I’m comfortable here. 

Living inside a culture makes it hard to view it objectively because so much of what we think and feel comes from our environment.  We are unaware of our perceptual bias.  We cannot imagine other ways of looking at being Christian besides that of our own experience. But if we take seriously the Biblical teaching that we are all sinners, then we must believe that our evangelical world isn’t perfect. The world around us certainly sees our faults, even if we don’t.  If we wish to present the Gospel creditably, we must believe that even the evangelical tradition has its problems.

George Marsden’s book Fundamentalism and American Culture makes an astute observation about the fundamentalist/evangelical culture. He points out that it is a religion based on a never-ending campaign. We are good at crusading for salvation and various social causes.  But we have been historically unsuccessful holding ground. There have been tremendous revivals which have brought thousands to faith in Jesus, yet many of those converts disappear when the fires of revival die down.

But if we look at the two-thousand-year history of Christianity, short-lived revivals were not the norm.  People who were converted stayed converted. In the first three hundred years of the faith. The Roman Empire was converted to Christ despite fierce persecution.  Puritans and the Lutherans transformed the face of Europe.

Even so, American evangelicals are rapidly losing ground.  We are seeing a whole generation  turning against us rapidly—not because they have not heard the Gospel, but because they have not seen its benefits. Maybe it’s time we asked ourselves why.

The problem isn’t Jesus—it’s us. There’s something missing in our interpretation of the Gospel. 

One of the most quoted verses in evangelicalism is the Great Commission--Matthew 28;18-20, “Go into the world and make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.”  We are good at keeping part of this commandment, but not the rest.   We have gone into all the world.  There’s still more to be done here, of course, but there are now Bible-believing churches on every continent and in nearly every country.  Now, much of our effort is aimed not at spreading the Gospel where it has never gone, but trying to reclaim parts of the world where the Gospel was once widely known but has been waning for years. Places like South Korea, Latin America, and Africa are now sending missionaries to us. We are still good about bringing people to the edge of discipleship. We still teach people to pray, read the Bible, share the Gospel and give to Christian causes.  Christian churches talk incessantly about the need to bring their friends and neighbors to church.

We enfold them into the organizational church. We sell them Christian T shirts, bumper stickers, music, and a wide variety of simple “Bible” studies which tell them how to be better fathers, mothers, workers, etc.  Most of what these “Bible” studies give is advice that is not very different from what they would could get from non-Christian experts, but with illustrative material from the Good Book.

We still stress the need to “witness” to others.  Witnessing is usually defined as being a nice person, inviting friends to church and telling them about Jesus. When we are successful in our efforts those people are then enfolded back into our churches. 

Over and over we dance the evangelical three-step—1) win them to Jesus, 2) give them basic training, and 3) send them out to win others.  “Discipleship” is defined as a short-term process or rudimentary training, culminating in training in stewardship and evangelism. Winning others to Jesus is seen at the sole work and purpose of our belief, and getting people into the church is our goal.  Then, if our churches are attractive and entertaining enough to keep people coming back, and if the cost of discipleship is not presented as being too high, they may keep coming back, and the three-stage process can be repeated many times before people start to tire of it.

Eventually though, people do get tired of it, and start to fall away.  We hardly notice at first, since new people keep coming. One by one, the old converts drop out, and we hardly see them.  People come in but are not permanently changed. They still do not forgive their enemies, love their neighbors, or turn the other cheek. They are what they always were, but now they are doing it with a Christian label.  The longer the dance keeps up the more they tire of dancing, and the harder it is to get others to join in.  Christianity, which is supposed to be lifechanging, becomes a multilevel marketing scheme guaranteeing salvation for the next life without bringing about lasting change in this one.  Eventually, society gets wise to it and stops responding.

The Great Commission is true, but we never finish it.  The last part of the Great Commission says, “Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you.”  The Great Commission doesn’t end with conversion and baptism--it begins there. After that, we begin the process of learning to do what Jesus commanded in every area of life.

Winning the world to Jesus isn’t all the Great Commission says—it’s not even the main point. The Great Commission is about establishing God’s Kingdom on earth by living like Jesus told us and having an ongoing day by day walk with Jesus. If everyone found out how to go to heaven but did not change on earth, the Great Commission would still not be fulfilled.  Letting people think it’s okay to hate others, ignore the hurting, stay unforgiving and live basically selfish lives because God forgives us is not the purpose of discipleship. 

The kingdom of God is wherever God rules. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for His kingdom to come on earth.  Whenever we in our lives submit to the rulership of God, the kingdom has come to us individually.  When we commit to being under God’s tutelage and seek to live like Him, we are in His Kingdom of God today. 

The problem with the way we are presenting the Gospel, is that we’re selling condos in an unfinished building.  We invite people to dine on meals of undercooked food. We are inviting people to join us in living a life we’ve barely tried ourselves.  It’s good to invite people to know Jesus, but all the while we should be seeking to know Him better ourselves. The Kingdom of God needs to be completed in us by learning to obey all that He commanded. We must complete the Great Commission in ourselves by learning to obey what He commands, if we are to produce lasting fruit.

Discipleship isn’t something we do for a few weeks or even years, but it is a lifetime pursuit. It isn’t just something we do to prepare people for membership and service, but for a lifetime of being formed into Christ’s image.

 The process of discipleship is first laying aside our past ways of thinking and feeling, as well as our sins and habits.   The second part of the process is becoming one with Christ in our wills, thoughts, feelings, and behavior—imitating Him in all things.   We evangelicals tend to measure progress by how much we have laid aside of our old life, instead of how much we have put on of our new life in Christ.  We focus on transforming everyone and everything else around us while the one mission field over which we have absolute control—our own inner lives—goes unevangelized. We win the world—we just don’t win ourselves. To help others, we must complete the Kingdom in ourselves.

Being a witness is not something we do, but something we are. When we are like Jesus, then we are a witness.  People who look at us, see our sins more than they see Jesus. We are not world changers or conquerors, but empty vessels unless we are transformed by the Spirit. 

Here are some questions we need to ask ourselves and our church.

Ø  Do we really “take no thought for tomorrow” or do we worry about the future?

Ø  Do we love our enemies, and pray for the welfare of those who don’t like us?

Ø  Are we committed to being like Jesus, or comfortable in our own hidden sins and hypocrisies?

Ø  Do “abide in His love”, knowing that God likes and knows us personally?

Ø  Do we have empathy for our neighbors, or do we ignore them?

Ø  Can we trust in God when we don’t have all the answers?

Ø  If we don’t experience God’s unconditional love in our souls, how do we expect to give it to our non-Christian neighbors?

What do you think?  Are evangelical churches strong enough in teaching us to observe what Jesus commanded?  Are churches too shallow in what they teach?  Let me know what you think, and join us here for the follow-up blog in a few days.

If you like this blog, please share it and subscribe to this blog.  There are more “rants” on the way. 

The disciplines of Hope

How do we develop hope? Here are some activities may help:

Being Thankful

“In everything give thanks,” Paul wrote “For this is God’s will.” (1 Thess. 5:18) This isn’t a suggestion but a command.  He does not say to give thanks if we feel grateful, but to give thanks whether we feel anything like gratitude or not.  It is wonderful if our heart can be involved, but it is not necessary. In time our heart will catch up with the rest of us, and we may feel something like gratitude, but it isn’t necessary. Give thanks anyway.

Thankfulness helps to orient our mind towards ultimate purpose and destination.  It is an acknowledgement that is or can be part of God’s great satisfaction. Thanksgiving lifts us out of the tyranny of the moment and helps us see the vistas around us 

In the novel The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins his friends are stuck for weeks in a dark, foreboding forest.  Despairing of their predicament, they send Bilbo to climb one of the highest trees and look around.  Once above the treetops he feels fresh air and sunlight again and is greatly encourage.  More importantly, he sees their destination, the Lonely Mountain, is not far away. 

Thanksgiving gives us a glimpse above the treetops. We may be stuck in the muck of today, but it reminds us that we are actually making progress. Thanksgiving is the assurance of our souls that we are holding to the right course. 

We thank God for small blessings in the middle of major disasters.  Terminally ill patients can sometimes be filled with hope, not of a long life, but of seeing a loved one again, going to a graduation, or feeling a sea breeze. Small thanksgivings can be ours in big disasters.  The discipline of thankfulness reminds us of our many blessings.

We thank God for big blessings in the middle of minor disasters. When we are late for work,  our car breaks down, or we are caught in a rainstorm,  we can easily forget that life for us is actually pretty good. When we feel bad about something we forgot to do, we forget that God has redeemed us and still loves us, wholly and completely. Giving thanks for big blessings helps us deal with small disasters. 

Affirmation

Affirmation is the practice of self-reminding.  We sometimes forget who we are and where we are going.  The daily practice of affirmation helps us remember this. 

Affirmation is not magic. Reciting to ourselves “I am a good person” does not really make us a good person if we are not.  No, affirmations must first all be the truth to have power. 

A good affirmation is based on our position in Christ. It is a statement of how Christ thinks of us, and what He can do with us. It is not a statement of our own abilities, but of His 

Here is an example of an affirmation I have written and used for years.

“Today, I will remember that I am forgiven

“Today I will remember my worth in God's eyes.

“Today I will remember to give others my honesty and friendship

“Today I will remember that I am already loved enough

“Today I will remember that I can do all things through Christ

“Today I will remember the shortness of life and to live inthis moment

“Today I will remember to be thankful for all things

“Today I will remember that I can trust Him

“And in trusting, hope, and in hoping, know

“And in knowing, rejoice.”

A good way of writing an affirmation for yourself is a “beloved covenant” described in Trevor Hudson’s book Discovering our Spiritual Identity:

 Sit down in a quiet place and recall your favorite verses from the Bible.  If you aren’t familiar with the Bible and are just starting out reading it, just thumb through and write down a few promises.  Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to verses that stand out to you.  After you have a few verses,  read them over and over slowly.  Don’t look for things to do or to pray for—look for what God says about you, and His relationship to you.  Take these verses and write them down.  Then go back over them for about ten minutes a day for a few days.  Let these statements sink into your soul. You will find that it really helps to build confidence and hope to know just what God thinks of you.

Patience

We usually think of patience as a gift, but it really more of a choice. It’s knowing the reasons for hurry, but choosing to ignore them-- a hundred times a day, if necessary. 

I may be in a hurry to get home, but I choose to slow down and be safe instead of speeding up, because I know that home will be there when I arrive.  I want to buy a new car, but I choose instead to save my money, because I believe in the future I can afford it. I think that school is too hard, but I choose to do my homework, because I hope to graduate one day. I make these choices because of hope for the future. By choosing to say “no” to my immediate impulses, I am expressing my hope of future reward. 

Do not confuse impatient feelings with impatient actions. We can still be patient even when we feel impatient. Worry is resistible, and the act of resisting it is what we mean by patience. In time, the feelings of impatience will give way to peace, but it will not happen until we choose to be patient.

Use your Imaginations

Sit down, and make a list with three columns on it.  Label the first  “1year from now”,  the next “3 years from now” and the third “10 years from now.”

Now, close your eyes and use your imagination. Picture yourself one year in the future, with God in absolute control of your life and your situation.  What would your life be like in the best possible future with God in control, at these three points in the future?  Don’t focus on what your occupation will be, whether you have accomplished your occupational goals.  Don’t imagine a life without enemies, struggles or opposition, but instead concentrate more on who you will be inside,  and what your attitudes and inner realities will be.  Not so much what your will be doing at this time but who you will be inside.  Then pray over the lists and save them. Look back over them from time to time as you approach the future.

Hope is faith for the future.  In order to have hope future, we must see God there.  This requires a sanctified imagination. We need to have an image of our future selves with God in control, and what our lives would be like if we were.

A pessimist envisions the future and sees all the things that can go wrong. This is useful, since we all know that things can go wrong and it is good to be prepared. But pessimism alone cannot motivate us to do anything good. The more we imagine bad things happening to us,  the more we are that our negative imaginings will actually happen.

An optimist envisions the future and sees what can go right.   Hope arises from these positive imaginings. But we must be careful where our positive imaginings take us. If we divorce our hopes from our faith they are just wishful thinking. Our hope must come from God, and His power to change us.  If we just hope to be a better, kinder person without being a more Godly person, there is no real reason to believe we will succeed.  If we see ourselves conquering our present calamities and we do not see God in charge and getting all the glory, then our real hope is not in Him but in ourselves.

Real hope is not imagining a future without problems, but imagining a future with God’s sufficiency. It is unrealistic to think we can live in a sinful world and find everything easy and uncomplicated. But it is realistic to imagine that in the future we may be better equipped to cope, when we pursue a deeper relationship with God. 

Circumstances are guaranteed to change for us, but the relationship we have with God, who is the provider of all things can get stronger with every passing day. With His help, we will better be able to cope with life changes because we learn to trust Him daily,  The struggles of today will make us more able to trust Him in the future.

We cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves.  In changing ourselves we learn to better  cope with the world. 

the Virtues of Hope

“Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.” Martin Luther

On a certain day each week, the convenience store in my neighborhood has a line stretching almost out the door as the lottery tickets for the lottery go on sale.  Never mind that the chances of winning are only slightly better than being hit by a meteor, the hope of sudden riches keeps them coming back.

Lotteries run on hope, but not realistic ones.  If a person had real hope for a win, they would sell everything they owned to buy tickets. Their hope is just a happy fantasy. Real hope demands the surrender of our souls.

Christian existence is a hopeful religion.  Our faith is not based on one hope, but on three: 

First, the ultimate hope of heaven.  The heavenly hope is that we will attain heaven in the next life.   If we lose our lives in this world, we have a new life in the next.  This hope has sustained martyrs and missionaries for centuries.

Second, the hope that the world may be improved.  This hope has spurred social renewal wherever the Gospel has gone. This hope keeps Christians active in evangelism and social change.

Third, the hope that we may become more like Jesus. It is the one that is most essential to spiritual growth—not the perfection of the world, but that we may attain a greater resemblance to Christ.    Our hope is for peace and assurance. for an inner life so strong that neither poverty or prosperity matters, not or the absence of personal problems, but for the ability to survive and thrive.  We place our faith in Christ in order that we might become like Christ, sharing in his Divine personality and nature.

 The Bible puts it this way:

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! . . .  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Rom 8:29

The goal of the Christian life is to be Christ-like, not in one area of our lives, but in all of them. 

What does a hopeful person look like?  He or she will exhibit four characteristics—perseverance, patience, planning, and flexibility.

Perseverance is the ability to keep on course, no matter what. A persevering person does not expect instant gratification, but is willing to continue without seeing results for a long period of time, in expectation of future benefits.

Consider the perseverance of a fisherman.  He may make cast after case with his bait, waiting for a big fish.  He may be out for days without the slightest nibble. Or consider perseverance of a salesperson.  She makes one cold call after another, getting yelled at, cussed out and hung up on countless times.  But when she makes a sale, it is worth the effort. Or consider the perseverance of a bodybuilder.  Day after day he strains his body to the breaking point. All he gets for his efforts are sore muscles.  Only after weeks of effort does he start to notice significant changes. Anything worth accomplishing only happens through frustration and discomfort. 

Patience is passive perseverance. It’s not what we do, but what de don’t do for the sake of accomplishment.  We feel we must do something, anything, but wisdom says wait for God’s voice.  We have hope that God will give us discernment and direction.  We are often tempted to jump at anything, but patience shows us the right time.

How do we discern when to wait, when to leap, and when to stay the course?   It isn’t easy. Patience is not waiting forever, but waiting on the Lord.  We must be attuned to hear His voice and His will. While we wait, we pray and be attentive, learning to recognize His voice when He calls, and keeping always before us the hope of God’s promise.   

Planning. While we wait, we plan.  Here we must make two distinctions about planning

First of all, planning isn’t worrying.  Worry approaches the future fearfully, anticipating all the bad things that can go wrong.  Planning is approaches the future hopefully, anticipating  how things may go right. Worry look at problems in big pieces, dreading how hard the whole task will be. Planning looks at the future in small segments. It doesn’t focus on the top of the mountain, but on what handholds and footholds we might try in the next few feet, and where we might attach our ropes. 

Flexibility. No plan ever goes smoothly. Nothing goes exactly as planned. Plans are always tentative, subject to God’s higher plan for us. Our plans need contingency plans, in case we need to go another way.  But they all should lead to our ultimate goal--conformity to the image of Christ.

We must not invest too heavily in our own correctness.  We are certain to be wrong at times, so we had better be prepared to change courses.  An inflexible person approaches his target like a bullet.  Once he is committed, there is no changing course, he will either hit or miss.  Most of them time, inflexible people miss their target. But a flexible person approaches target like a predator drone, guided intelligently to change course and make correction in her flight.  She has a much higher chance of hitting.  A flexible person bent on conformity to Christ’s image cannot miss in the end, since he or she has a distant target, and cannot help but come nearer to it at every moment.   

The hope of a Christian is certain, but the steps to that hope are uncertain. We need to keep our eyes on the hope, and not get bogged down in the details. Just keep moving towards our ultimate goal, which is to be like Christ. 

How do you maintain you hope?  What keeps you persevering.

I would love to hear from you, about how you maintain hope in your life. 

The Limits of Heritage

Since I’ve passed my sixty-fourth birthday,  I find myself doing what I swore I’d never do.  I am becoming nostalgic.  I love the music of the past, the items of the past, even the toys of my past.  Nowadays, the only place I find those things are in antique stores. 

That love of the past is nostalgia. It’s purely personal and depends on when I was born, where I was raised, and by whom.  

Nostalgia is a constant danger to Christians.  It is a form of perception bias that makes us think what we loved in the past is somehow qualitatively better than what there is today.  It causes us to judge more harshly the people and trends of today.

In one church I pastored, an old-timer shared a story he heard from his fathers about their church bought their first musical instrument—an organ.  There was a long, hard, and angrily debated.  When it was over, one of the elders shouted, “you can keep the Devil’s squeezebox!” and stormed out of the church, never to return. Today, the thought of an organ being a worldly instrument is far out of their minds—its music has been sanctified by nostalgia.

The old songs of today were the new songs of yesterday and were opposed by the people who thought they were dangerous innovation. Isaac Watts was savaged by his contemporaries for ruining the metrical psalms.  Choirs were looked upon as sinful by many churchmen of the Middle Ages.  Perception bias based on nostalgia keeps us anchored to the past and prevents our moving in the Spirit.

Think of tradition as the tail of a kite. It gives weight and stability in a hard wind, but if it is staked to the ground the kite will never soar.  Think of it as an anchor. An anchor is very important, but we must raise it to move. It’s important to understand the difference between a living heritage and pointless sentimentality.  Tradition is an enrichment to our faith. Traditionalism is an idol and competitor to faith. 

Tradition worship is a constant danger to Christians.  Those who worship tradition seldom realize they are doing it, or that there is anything wrong with it.  Traditionalism is when we cannot tell the difference between the house we worship in, and the church itself.  Traditionalism is when we believe all worship music must be in some traditional style, or that church building must have the same architecture, or that people should dress a certain way in worship.   It confuses cultural bias with faithfulness. It is when we cannot imagine that someone outside of our tradition can love God as much as we do, or that God can be pleased with people who look or sound differently.

We shouldn’t assume, however, that this is a problem only with “traditional” churches.  The tendency to confuse form with faith is at least as pronounced among “contemporary” churches as it is among the old-school churches.  The contemporary “seeker-sensitive” church has already become a tradition, and those who have grown up in it naturally assume that their worship style is “blessed” while old-fashioned traditional churches are not, based on their own biases and prejudices. In many contemporary churches, worship style is as heavily regimented as it is on old Protestant churches. 

Music is the language of the heart, but it is not a universal language.  If we use a musical language that is not understood or appreciated by those who listen, we may as well be praying in tongues.  We need to constantly remind ourselves that just because we understand or appreciate a musical or worship form does not mean it is bad, nor should we insist that people who cannot understand our musical language to be required to agree that ours is better.  To say that traditional or contemporary music is more “godly” is like saying that English is a better language than Spanish.  Our insistence on the spiritual superiority of whatever we enjoy is the sign of spiritual immaturity.

No matter how much we love the past, we still must live in the present. That means sometimes we must leave there safe place of our heritage and start something new, or reform it. Traditionalism can sometimes lead us to hang on too long to a church we should have left.   If our denominational has changed, or if we have, it may be to our mutual advantage to part.   The argument that “this has always been my church” is a weak one since the church never did belong to us.

A man once approached Jesus and offered to become a disciple.  He said he would follow him anywhere, once he had buried his father. Jesus’ response was gruff and brutal.  “Let the dead bury the dead, come and follow me.” Jesus wasn’t being unloving—He was just clarifying priorities.  If we cannot love God more than our past connections, we cannot be His disciple. Most of us may never be called upon to leave our family behind, or even the comfort of our church, but if we are we must be willing to go.  Our heritage and our faith may travel far together, but sooner or later our paths will diverge. Sometimes God will say, “leave your father and mother, and follow Me.”  When He does, we must throw aside nostalgia and be ready to go.

Do you lean towards the past or towards the future?  Are you ready for new things, or do you want to hold on to the old?  

How do we separate what is actually God’s working in the past from our feelings of nostalgia?  Are you willing to embrace new thoughts and ideas?

Write a comment and share. I’d love to hear from you.

The virtues of heritage

Once it took a trip to Israel and stayed at the famous Seven Arches Hotel on the Mount of Olives.  The Seven Arches is the place where most of the panoramic pictures of Israel was taken. It is just feet away from Bethpage, the beginning of the Palm Sunday road.
What a place it is!  There is the temple mound before you, and Mount Zion. There are the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt by Saladin the Turk along the foundations of the original walls. The Garden of Gethsemane in the valley below, and a little sign pointing down into the vast white sea of tombs in the great cemetery by the Eastern gate.  The sign says ‘the tombs of Haggai and Zechariah.”  The enormous sense of the ages long past is in that place as you are taken up in the realization of your own smallness and insignificance in time.  I have never been to the Grand Canyon but it must be a similar experience. You see your own place in the great scheme of creation there. But standing on that mountain in Israel, you cannot help but be overwhelmed by your place in the great scheme of creation, the heritage of Biblical history.
But what is history to us?  If we don’t have the eyes to see it, it is nothing.  A lizard crawling on that same spot would feel nothing but a hunger for its next meal. But God gave us the ability to appreciate what has come before us, and what will come to pass. This gives us the ability to appreciate what God has done, is doing and will do. 
But this sense has to be developed, just like every other sense.  To learn from history we must develop the virtues of heritage, so we can sharpen our connection with the past.  These virtues include memory, honor, and fidelity.
Memory is the second virtue of heritage. We need to remember the past.  The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 143:5 
“I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
And consider what your hands have done.” 
Deuteronomy 32:7 says:
“Remember the days of old;
Consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
Your elders and they will explain to you”
Our modern church suffers from a kind of Spiritual Alzheimer’s, which can be almost as devastating to the soul as the real thing. To have memory is to have wisdom. We are told in Proverb repeatedly to remember the voices of the past. 
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
Prov 1:8-9
My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
Prov 3:1-2
Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a boy in my father's house, still tender,
and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said,
"Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. 
Prov 4:1-4
Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.
Prov 4:10
This small sampling of verses is enough to show how important memory was to the writer of Proverbs.  Listening to our heritage gives us the gift of wisdom, prosperity, success, and a long life. 
“Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.” Proverbs 22:28. Once removed, it’s almost impossible to reset. We cannot fully appreciate why that boundary was there in the first place until it is gone.
Honor is a recognition of the debt we owe people of the past.  A person may be dead but that doesn’t mean we owe them nothing. We still need to see that their work is carried forward.  The fifth commandment states “Honor your father and your mother, that your days be long upon the earth.” This commandment is considered the foundation for all human social relationships.   The Westminster Shorter Catechism elaborates by saying that included is this command is “preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.”
Honoring the past means submitting in love to the wishes and desires of those who have gone before, whether they are dead or alive.  Honor to the past does not mean we should slavishly copy the past. Sometimes it is imperative that we go against the wishes of our ancestors, as they found it necessary to go against the wishes of their own. Honoring them does not mean slavish obedience but respect and love. 
The Hebrew word for “honor” is "kebed", which means “weighty.”  To honor our ancestors is to place weight on their wishes.  Honoring our historical roots gives us the wisdom to face our current challenges.  Our parents left what wisdom they could behind, to show us how to survive.  To place no value on the wisdom of ancestral tradition hurts ourselves.  We must remember that we will someday be ancestors to others, and we will want to leave some of our own traditions behind, too. 

Fidelity goes beyond honor and memory. It is being faithful where we are placed. In Matthew 10:11, Jesus gave His disciples some unusual travel instructions.  "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave.”
 But what if, while we are staying at a home, someone gives us a better offer?  What if the family down the street offers you a bigger room and better meals?  Why not just leave them and go where the house is bigger and the food better?
That’s where fidelity comes in.  To change houses is to insult our host. If we were led to stay with one hose, don’t change until there is a clear calling of God to go elsewhere.
St Benedict, in his rule for monks, called this stability. When a monk entered holy orders, he stayed at the house where he was called unless sent out for mission work. There was no reason to change location until God called them elsewhere. They stayed loyal to that one house.
Loyalty is a precious commodity in our world.  Most people change careers two or three times in a lifetime. They change churches several times. We even change spouses! 
But in our constantly changing lives, we miss the value of a deep, long-term relationship with the same people over time.  After many changes, we lose all sense of history. We become like the lizard on a rock in the Holy Land, who can only see what is before him, missing the grandeur of God’s working through the ages.  
Don’t ignore your heritage. Go deep in it.  In the next blog, we’ll talk about how.

Do you think that heritage is undervalued or overvalued in the church?  What purpose does heritage serve in the church.  I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what you think.

Aspects of Faith--Community

“Let those who will not be in community fear being in community.

Let those who will not be in community fear being alone.”

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together[1]

The story goes that evangelist Dwight L. Moody once stopped at a country inn f where one of the patrons tried to engage him in a theological argument.  The man said that he was a Christian, but that he did not believe in going to church.  After all, isn’t one’s religion a personal matter?  Why should we have to be in company with others? 

Moody was too tired to argue.  Instead, he took a poker to the coal fire in the fireplace.  He pulled out one coal and set it on the hearth.  They watched as the coals in the fireplace remained hot, and the one on the hearth turned black and coal.  “That, sir,” Moody stated simply, “Is why we need a church.” 

Community living is like a dance between porcupines—we are drawn together out of loneliness, but we can’t help trading barbs.  It would be easier to live in isolation, but we can’t—we really do need each.  

Robert Bellah wrote in Habits of the Heart,

“We find our (true) selves not independently of other people and institutions but through them.   We never get to ourselves on our own.  We discover who we are face to face and side by side with others in work, love and learning.  All of our activity goes on in relationships, groups, associations, and communities ordered by institutional structures and interpreted by them.” [2]

Kenneth Boa writes:

“Life in Jesus is not meant to be solitary and individualistic but shared and collective.  . . . the nurture of the community of faith is designed to prepare us for our everlasting life with the Lord and with one another.”[3]

Christian community is not a goal to be achieved, but a present reality created by Divine command, not human effort.  We do not “achieve” community—we already are a community. Any effort to “achieve” it is bound to fail, since we cannot do in the flesh what already been done in the Spirit.   Jesus called the Christian community ecclesia, or  “the called-ones.” When anyone responds to the call of God to become a participant in His kingdom through surrender to Christ,  that person, no matter how different they may be from us becomes our brother or sister.  We did not choose who we are called to love. We are called to love all who believe in Him, and so we already exist in community with them.

This must have been terribly hard for the first generation of Christians were common fishermen from the same town—business competitors. Matthew was their tax man.  Simon Zealotes was a member of a terrorist group that murdered tax men.  One of their number was a traitor and a thief.  Some were young and some were old.  Some were married and others single.  Some were wealthy and others poor. Some were educated and others illiterate. Yet Jesus they became closer than brothers, willing to die for and with each other.

Individualized faith isn’t just incomplete, it’s mostly imaginary.  We can’t live as Christians without obeying Jesus’ one new commandment- “love each other.”  Isolated Christians are easy targets for temptations, but joined together we reinforce can have great strength.   Whatever knowledge and experience we think we have, the community has more.  Our combined strength is greater than the sum of its parts.

Living in community keeps our faith real. In it our feelings, attitudes, and behavior are exposed. If we act in any other way than what we proclaim, the community will discover it and we are “outed” as hypocrites. If we are serious about living as a Christ-follower, we will welcome this exposure as a means of purification. But if we keep our faith alone and to ourselves, there is no one to expose the places we need correcting.  When we walk with others we walk in the light and grow strong in our faith. 

The virtues of Community

The first virtue of community is presence. Despite computers and social networks, we still need whenever possible to come together face o face.  A computer screen of smart phone is not sufficient when a person is hurting. Facebook messages and well-meaning texts cannot hold our hands when we are hurting, or hug us when we are feeling lost.   We may be spiritual creatures but we inhabit animal bodies,  and need the touch of other bodies.   There is no substitute for a sympathetic smile, a warm touch, and a listening ear. 

Being in community is messy, but being out of community is worse. Augustine wrote, “Without the church, there is no salvation.”  While that statement may be debatable, it is undeniable that we need each other to lead us to the full life of Christ.  

The second virtue is empathy. Empathy is the ability to move out of our own thoughts and feelings and into the thoughts and feelings of others.  Of all the attributes, of community, this may be the most important.

Recently, I met a small-groups director from one of the largest churches in the country,   His job was overseeing one hundred and ten small group leaders—and there were two more men who had his position with just a many groups! He never met the groups—only the leaders.  He was a small group leader himself of newlyweds in their twenties.  It is no stretch to say that these groups had tremendous empathy for each other.  After all, the people in these group shared the same age, views, and social strata.  It’s easy to have empathy for people like ourselves.

My current church is small—fifty or sixty people on a good Sunday—but it is diverse.  Old and young, black and white, rich and poor, new believers and mature believers meet together, sharing the work, the jokes, and the tears.  There is nothing wrong with either church,  but I must ask the question—if our goal is to grow empathy with people who are different, in which one are we most likely to happen—in a place where everyone is the same, or a place where we are forced to listen to people who are different? Empathy is learning to appreciate our differences and see the hearts of people beneath the superficial differences. 

The third virtue is Accountability. We grow in community not so much from mutual enjoyment as from exercising grace through conflict. The sword and the whetstone lie peacefully together only when rusting in the drawer. It’s in the sharp exchange of ideas and feelings that true communities are forged. 

Paul makes it clear that we should value other members of our community as better than ourselves.  Each member, offers something to us, something from which we may benefit. We learn only if we sincerely seek to see their perspectives. This requires a humility, taking the stance of a learner, not seeking to instruct, but to be instructed.  

It’s not always easy to stay together, but that doesn’t mean we should forsake the company of brothers and sisters who irritate us.  Proverbs says “As iron sharpens iron,  so does one man sharpen another” When iron strikes iron, sparks fly.  The only way we get sharp is through tough, honest interaction.  Through argument, emotional response, forgiveness and reconciliation we chisel each other into the shape God intends.  

The fourth attribute is commitment.  Community requires a bond of trust.  There must be no deceit or hidden motives. The higher the level of intimacy required in a relationship, the deeper the commitment we need.  

In Matthew 10: 11-13 Jesus told us “whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.”   In other words, change homes because someone else has a nicer house. Don’t be looking for greener pastures, stay and learn to love who’s here. This is the principle of stability, or blooming where we are planted.

Commitment to a local body of believers is essential to community. This commitment is something we enter not because we deserve but because they don’t. Commitment is recognizing that community is not for us, but for all of us together.

Jesus asked Peter in the last chapter of John, “Do you love me?”  He asked three times and Peterr told Him three times “You know I love you.”  Each time Jesus answered the same way  “Feed my sheep.” They way we express love to Christ is to care for those Have cares about.  We have to see our identity as part a community of faith, and not as solitary individuals. As we feed they those around us,  their faith feeds us, and we grow in faith together.

How about you?  How does your self-awareness connect with the community of faith around you?  How do you keep your connections with God strong through your community with others?  Would you be interested in building connections with other Christians online or in person? I’d love to

Hear from you about it                                                                                                    .

If you like this blog, share it, subscribe to it,  and comment. Refer your friends to it, too.  Contact me at the connections given on this page. 

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[1] Dietrich Bonheoffer  Life Together (Harper & Row, New York) 1954, p.  77. 

[2] Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart, quoted in Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks, p.  236.

[3][3] Boa Conformed to His Image, p.

The Disciplines of Self-awareness

 There are many ways of learning about ourselves. Here are a few methods which have proven helpful.

Journaling

Journaling is perhaps the best and oldest method of self-examination. Journaling can be written or recorded on audio tape or video.  Most practitioners of journaling still prefer to write them,  since the process of writing is slower and causes us to weigh o

Journaling not only records our reflections, but helps us uncover our emotions. In telling the story of each day, we do what every story teller does—we assign meaning to what is most important. When we adopt a prayerful attitude, we learn to assign that meaning in the light of Christ.

Journaling was widely used among Christians of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries.   The journals of Wesley, Whitfield, John Owen, and others provide for a rich record of God’s work in individual lives, and provided a source of stability in the lives of the authors. 

Donald Whitney writes:

“More than almost any other discipline, journaling has a fascinating appeal with nearly all who hear about it.  One reason is the way journaling blends biblical doctrine and daily living, like the confluence of two great rivers, into one.  And since each believer’s journey down life’s river involves bends and hazards previously unexplored by them on the way to the Celestial City, something about journaling this journey appeals to the adventuresome spirit of Christian growth.” [1]

In our journals, we write down what happened during the day, and what we felt about them. But in Christian journaling we take it one step farther.  We ask the question—where was God in our day?  God is a living presence in our lives every moment.  How is He reacting hour by hour and minute by minute to what we are thinking, doing and feeling?  Where was God in our struggles? What blessings has He given us?  How is He revealing Himself in our lives?  Journaling is not just and inner conversation, but an upward conversation to Him.  As we speak in our journals about Him, we often experience His voice talking back to us. 

Examens

Examinations are means of laying our thoughts, actions, and emotions against the authority of Scripture.  The practice is very old, going back to the Old Testament.  Psalm 119:9, for example, says  ‘How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word’.

Paul recommends Scripture-based examinations in 2 Tim. 3:16-17,   “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We often focus on the semantic issue of what he meant by “God-breathed” and miss the very practical issue of what he is asking us to do—submit our thoughts, lives, and behavior to the correcting, rebuking, and training the Scripture.  We talk about the Bible as God’s word, but we don’t treat it as God’s word.  It becomes an object of debate, but not obedience.

Examens are practical applications of the Bible to our lives on a regular basis.  Here’s an example.

Begin with a passage of Scripture—the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) for example,  or the Beatitudes (Matthew 5).  Read it several times slowly, each time asking yourself one of these  questions:

What is there for me to do or believe in this passage?

What promises are here for me?

Where have I fallen short?

Where do I need to change?

We should not become discouraged when discover our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are far short of what they should be. Growth takes time. Just accept God’s forgiveness and move on. 

Many times, we discover that we have not disobeyed God in big things--we’ve committed no murders or have avoided adultery--but we do find in ourselves harsh, cynical attitudes, or small slights towards others. When we find this, we should confess them and deal with them.  This is not because God is such a petty perfectionist that He would cast us out of His kingdom over littering or jaywalking, but because God wants us to improve ourselves, and get stronger. 

Effort given to small sins increase our ability to resist big sins.  A small weight lifted a hundred times will build as much muscle as a large weight lifted ten times.     The small, daily victories of God’s grace in our lives, when told and recorded, will strengthen our faith daily. 

   The word “examen” comes from St. Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises.  It has been adapted for the modern world many times. One such modern form is found in Jim Manney’s excellent little book A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer: Discovering the Power of St.  Ignatius Loyola's Examen.  He suggests five simple steps done daily:

“1. Ask God for light. 

“2. Give thanks. 

“3. Review the day. 

“4. Face your shortcomings. 

“5. Look toward the day to come.[2]

Every self-examination needs to be accompanied with an assurance of God’s forgiveness.  If in our zeal for improvement concentrate too hard on our faults and our need for improvement, then our thoughts wander from Him and towards ourselves.  The only way to perform an examen profitably is keep the Cross in mind.   Our failures are due to our sinful nature; our successes are due to His grace.  Remembering this helps us to keep perspective so that each recognition of our osn limitations becomes a reminder of His unlimited forgiveness. 

Questions for Self Examination

Do I journal my thoughts on a regular basis?

Is a spiritual self-examination part of your devotional life?  If so, how is it working for you?

What methods of self-examination work best for your life?

If this blog has meant something to you, please share it with your friends.  Also, go back and read my other blogs in this series, and if you are interested in knowing more on the subject of the Faith Matrix, subscribe for the latest updates.  

Check out my YouTube channels, too, especially the faith matrix channel.  You might also check out my sermon blog, billsmessages.blogspot.com.  

One more thing—comment on the post. I crave feedback.  If you don’t want to comment publicly I can be reached on Facebook or directly by email at pastorbill@comporium.net or bfleming2@windstream.net. 

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[1] Whitney, Donald S.  (2012-01-05).  Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life with Bonus Content (Pilgrimage Growth Guide) (p.  221).  Navpress.  Kindle Edition.

[2] Jim Manney A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer: Discovering the Power of St.  Ignatius Loyola's Examen (Kindle Location 1).  Kindle Edition.

The Virtues of Self-Awareness

We get self-knowledge the same we acquire any other knowledge--by applying ourselves to study the subject. We do this by setting aside time alone to meditate on our own history,  goals, and basic nature.  

But self-study is considerably harder than studying mathematics, astronomy, or psychology. It is hard to see ourselves objectively. We need God’s help, along with the help of of people close to us. But once we have come to understand who we truly are in God’s eyes, then that self-awareness can help us overcome anything the world throws at us.

Joseph the Patriarch was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and unjustly imprisoned.  But after he was released and promoted to a position of great power, he told his brothers “you meant it for evil, but God intended it for good.” (Gen. 50:20) It was his self-awareness of his own place before God that enabled him to survive and thrive.

Paul was beaten, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, and left for dead, but in reflecting on his life story said.  “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Cor. 12:20) His confidence in the face of suffering came from His awareness of himself before God.  He interpreted his life story through the lenses of God’s love, and His confidence before Him.

This kind of confidence only comes by daily struggling to establish daily practices of self-awareness.  These practices are based upon the developing certain basic virtues of self-awareness.  These include:  honesty, introspection, expression, remembering, and forgetting. 

1. Honesty.  Before we can know ourselves, we must be honest about our thoughts, feelings and actions.  This honesty means not only recognizing them to ourselves but acknowledging them to others.  John calls this “walking in the light” in 1 John 1: 5-7:

 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin

To walk in the light is to live honestly and transparently. We must reject the old adage “fake it till you make it.”  We cannot present one side to the world and another side to God. We must show our true--not without fear of what others will do, but trusting God to defend us.    

2, Introspection.  Self-awareness also requires self-examination. This means we must have a regular habit of self-appraisal on an ongoing basis. Only by practicing regular self-examination can the Spirit make us aware of our personal shortcomings as well as our personal assets, so we can improve the former while maximizing the latter.    

We all put on masks in front of others.  The biggest masks we wear, though, are the ones we wear when we look in the mirror.  We refuse self-examination and so we lack self-awareness.  We have reasons for this neglect.  We tell ourselves we don’t have time to look inside, and dismiss introspection as pointless navel-gazing. Sometimes this might be true, but more often we just don’t want to be bothered by a need for change. We often whitewash our real motives and conduct and make excuses for behavior for which we ought to be ashamed. 

But if we are ashamed of the past, it is only because we do not yet have the mind of Christ.  God has forgiven our past sins through Him.  We no longer stand condemned by God. We do not look back in shame, but to learn how to live in the future.

 Confession and recollection of our sins is like doing an autopsy on a dead animal. It nat be unpleasant but it can be helpful. Our past sins are dead, they can no longer harm us, but they can show us what to avoid in the future. We are free.  We can honestly assess our past, since we are no longer bound by it.   To hide sin is to give power to it.  Nor do we need to pretend to any kind of perfection, since in acknowledging and confessing sin, we have already acknowledged our imperfection.

3. Self-expression.  Have you ever had the experience of speaking and suddenly becoming aware that you were saying too much?  You find yourself expressing irritation at something you thought was already over.  Later, you say to yourself “Why did I ever talk like that?”   We do this because speaking is like turning on a spigot to our inner thoughts and emotions.  We may think we know what is us, but we are often surprised at feelings that rush out. 

Learning to express ourselves, both through journaling and speaking is necessary to really know ourselves.

Counselors call it “the talking cure.”  By getting a client to tell their story over and over, they process it in their mind. Each time we say or write what we have thought or done, we learn something new. We are not only speaking to others, but to ourselves.    

Sometimes words are not enough.  Art is a means of self-expression that reveals ourselves to ourselves. Any activity kind of creative activity opens up a window to our own soul. 

4.  Remembering.  Rabbi Joshua Heschel once wrote “Much of what the Bible demands can be compressed into one word—remember.”[1]  We need to remember events of ancient times, but we also need to remember where we came from, where we are going, and what God has done for us along the way. Telling the story of our faith journey helps us understand who we are, and to become aware of what God is doing in our lives. 

There are two kinds of memory—long term and short-term. One is the long story of where we were and where we are headed, of  answered prayers and moments of joy.  These memories sustain us through hard times. 

Short term memory is important when we get lost in the big tragedies of life.  They focus our attention down, like the lens of a microscope, on the daily blessings of today.  Remember the little blessings of this morning or last night helps us give thanks for the daily things when life seems long and hard.

One of my daily prayers each morning goes like this “Holy Father, maker of all things, thank your for Your universe.” It reminds me that God made all things to be enjoyed. When I fail to notice the beauty of my surroundings, I remember that the One who made all things for a good purpose.

5.  Forgetting.  Forgetting is just as important as remembering.  We should be aware of all things, but we do not dwell on all things.  I can choose lay aside those memories that are not profitable to me.  Intentional forgetting is not a denial but a choice to not allow those negative parts of my story to become important to the overall ending.  I choose to forget sins against me--not because they didn’t occur, but because I simply do not dwell upon them. 

Christian self-awareness comes from examining and interpreting our lives in the light of Christ. We put aside the elements of our past that we lead away from Him, while remembering what lead us to Him.  In this way, we surrender our story to the grace and mercy of Christ.

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[1][1] Quoted from Trevor Hudson’s Discovering our Spiritual Identity,  IVP press, 2010, p. 35.