Peace: I Heard the Bells

 "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

The world is in a rush these days, only rare moments spent in stillness, rest, relaxation, releasing the pent up pressure of daily life. Must go here, must do this. Must live up to expectation and obligation. Peace seems an illusion, something out of sight and too difficult to grasp.

"I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

God speaks into the hurry of the world, "Rest. Sit. Listen. Be with me." His cry echoes down through the ages, speaking from his Word and in hearts. "Come. My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Have we a moment to grasp this offered peace?

"And in despair I bowed my head:

'There is no peace on earth,' I said,'

For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.'"

"What peace?" the world replies and we hasten to the argument. Where is peace in worldwide conflict, daily violence, hateful diatribes close to home? Where is peace in our personal lives, in the hustle bustle of the day to day? Peace is a mirage, a temporary, ethereal concept, too fleeting for much substance.

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.'"

Ah, but hope can spring from a despairing heart! God has not abandoned those He loves. He lives and he acts in the lives of men. The good exists because he is goodness. He is just. Wrong will face its penalty and righteousness its victory. God's peace to man will not fail.

"Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

Rest. Sit. Listen. Silence the cacophony of worldly chatter. Hear the peace extended to us from a gracious God. Be with him. Recall his words and truth. He will prevail. We can let go into his arms, trusting him to bring to pass our good. Peace is our reality, a moment here, but an eternity in the soul comforting realm of God's heaven.

("I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a song drawn from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a man who suffered much and faced the doubt of peace on earth, yet held onto the truth and hope of God's peace. To hear the classic version of this song by Burl Ives, click here. To see Longfellow's story, click here.)

Hope: Welcome to Our World

 

"Tears are falling.

Hearts are breaking.

How we need to hear from God.

You've been promised,

we've been waiting.

Welcome holy child."

The first Sunday of Advent focuses on hope. I don't know about you, but the darkness of this world has been dimming my light for some time the last several months. Reports of so much evil and death take their toll. In my own life I have faced dark moments this year and I am still facing some. I need something to pierce the darkness: Hope.

"Hope that you don't mind our manger.

How I wish we would have known.

But long-awaited holy stranger,

Make yourself at home.

Please make yourself at home."

Where does hope come from? Is it something we can conjure up within us? Perhaps it is more of a yearning, a refusal to see darkness as all there is. Perhaps it has been crafted within us by our maker so we would seek that which breaks the darkness.

"Bring your peace into our violence.

Bid our hungry souls be filled.

Word now breaking heaven's silence,

Welcome to our world."

We can patch wounds, we can weep as one, we can pledge ourselves to service, but we cannot demolish sin. Sin is ever existent in our world. Darkness has been and is and will continue to be until it is swallowed in victory at the end of time. Where is our hope while we wait? What does heaven have for us who suffer below?

"Fragile finger sent to heal us.

Tender brow prepared for thorn.

Tiny heart whose blood will save us.

Unto us is born."

A baby enters our world. He is unassuming, seemingly simply human, yet his destiny invades the darkness. He alone will enter darkness to destroy what we cannot. Sin will meet its match through whip and thorn and nails.

"So wrap our injured flesh around you.

Breathe our air and walk our sod.

Rob our sin and make us holy,

Perfect son of God."

He who is God-man takes on our own weakness and evil, walks among us and confronts the results of our submission to sin. He, perfect, lays down himself to bring us light. Sin is brought low, we are lifted up and his righteousness pours over us. This is hope. And I welcome it to our world.

(The quotes above come from the song "Welcome to our World" by Chris Rice. You can listen to it here.)

Everyone Should Do What I Do...Or Not

Recently I read a familiar passage in Romans where Paul describes the body of Christ, saying that just as a person's body has many parts and they have different functions, so the body of Christ has many members, but not all have the same function. He goes on to give examples of different gifts: "if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness" (Romans 12:6-8). It's evident that not everyone has the same gift and that's okay.

But it's not okay in the eyes of some. I have noticed that some Christians get so excited about their particular gift they think it should apply to everyone. Or so excited about their particular ministry they think everyone should be involved in it. It's great to be excited about the gifts or ministry God has given you and share about them. The trouble is when we start thinking that others should be doing what we're doing and if they aren't, well, they certainly aren't doing what God really wants.

I guess it's just human nature to consider the things we do more important than what others do. After all, we see everything from our perspective. Some of us, however, get way too pushy about our particular ministries, so much so that some blogs I have read or books I have seen imply that others aren't really Christians if they aren't doing what the author is doing. You aren't a real Christian if you aren't going overseas on mission trips. You aren't a real Christian if you choose to live in the comfortable suburbs. You aren't a real Christian if you aren't helping the homeless. You aren't a real Christian if you aren't fostering children. And so on.

Now the blogs and books are the most vocal, but this attitude can often be found in a heart and not vocalized. We secretly wonder why all Christians don't see the vital need for our particular ministry. We rail about it in our minds, that if all Christians would just do what we do the world would be so much better. We imagine other Christians refusing to obey God and get involved in what matters (to us). We forget that we are a body.

Paul talks about the body in another passage, 1 Corinthians 12:17-20, 29-30: "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body...Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"

The answer to the last few rhetorical questions is "no." Everyone doesn't do everything. Everyone hasn't been gifted the same way. Everyone doesn't have the same ministries. Each person in the body of Christ can reach different people with the truth of Christ. If everyone went on mission trips overseas all the time, there wouldn't be ministry (or money for it) to local people. If everyone lived in the inner city, the suburbs wouldn't be reached. If everyone poured their efforts into the homeless, those who have a home would be neglected (yes, people with homes also have needs). If everyone put their resources into fostering children, they wouldn't have them for other outreaches like sponsoring children in other parts of the world.

I think the problem is that sometimes we think that there is just one real cause that matters to God. We tend to see the ministry we are involved in as the ministry that matters most to God. It might sound something like this in our minds: "Obviously, God wants missionaries to reach everyone in the world. People are dying and going to hell! We need to all be going out into the world." "The inner city is neglected. Its people are ignored and marginalized. God loves marginalized people all over the Bible. Obviously, God wants us to live in the inner city to reach them." "The Bible constantly shows God cares about those who are poor. The homeless have nothing. God obviously wants us to spend our time and efforts reaching them." "God considers true religion to be helping orphans. If the church would just get its act together there wouldn't be any orphans. Obviously, God wants everyone to foster and adopt children."

Before Paul launches into his discussion on the body in Romans 12, he says this: "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned" (v.3). It's a warning that our temptation in our gifts/ministry is to think more highly of what we have been given to do than what others have been given to do. What we need is humility. We need to take joy in what we have been given to do, share about it, get excited about it, yet at the same time appreciate what God has given others to do, too, without judgment that really, what we do is more important.

We are a body. We aren't all an ear or a hand or a foot. We're a mix. We reach the world with our varying gifts and ministries. So let's remember not to judge when others don't seem as on fire as we are for our ministry. Let's not guilt trip others for not having the same gifts we have. And let's all thank God for the part he has asked us to play in his body.

The BIG Mantra

My moms group is reading Jen Hatmaker's For the Love this term and I read one chapter yesterday that made me say out loud "Amen!" and "Yes!" at my daughter's gym/cheer practice. Seriously. What she wrote was so right on, I had to agree verbally no matter where I was.

One concept that so irks me in American Christianity is what I call "The Big Mantra." It's infected us like a disease, pretending to be what Christianity is not and making us believe a lie. The Big Mantra goes something like this: God wants you to get out of your comfort zone. Don't be content where you are. Do something big for God. Get out there and be radical. It often comes with suggestions, too: get out of the suburbs and live in the inner city. Go overseas. Start a service organization. Save the world. Do something big. And it also comes couched in terms of if you don't go big, you aren't living a Christian life. You're a comfortable, sorry excuse for a Christian who can't get off your butt for God.

Man, do I detest this mantra. I detest it because it is so biblically untrue. And it assumes that whoever is saying these things knows exactly what God wants you to do and God just never calls people to do "small things," things small in these people's eyes.

Jen Hatmaker takes on The Big Mantra in chapter 3 of her book. I wish I could quote the whole thing, but here are some snippets. She says it in a much better way than I can and is right on.

"It has taken me forty years to assess the difference between the gospel and the American evangelical version of the gospel. Those were one and the same for ages—no take-backs, no prisoners, no holds barred. I filtered the kingdom through my upper middle-class, white, advantaged, denominational lens, and by golly, I found a way to make most of it fit! (It was a complicated task, but I managed. Please be impressed.) But then God changed my life, and everything got weird. I discovered the rest of the world! And other cultures! And different Christian traditions! And people who were way, way different from me! And poverty! Then the system in which God operated according to my rules started disintegrating. I started hearing my gospel narrative through the ears of the Other, and a giant whole bunch of it didn’t even make sense. Some values and perspectives and promises I attributed to God’s own heart only worked in my context, and I’m no theologian, but surely that is problematic.

There is a biblical benchmark I now use. We will refer to this criterion for every hard question, big idea, topic, assessment of our own obedience, every 'should' or 'should not' and 'will' or 'will not' we ascribe to God, every theological sound bite. Here it is: If it isn’t also true for a poor single Christian mom in Haiti, it isn’t true."  YES!!!!!

"Theology is either true everywhere or it isn’t true anywhere. This helps untangle us from the American God Narrative and sets God free to be God instead of the My-God-in-a-Pocket I carried for so long. It lends restraint when declaring what God does or does not think, because sometimes my portrayal of God’s ways sounds suspiciously like the American Dream and I had better check myself. Because of the Haitian single mom. Maybe I should speak less for God."

"Ah yes, 'The Calling.' This is certainly a favorite Christian concept over in these parts. Here is the trouble: Scripture barely confirms our elusive calling—the bull’s-eye, life purpose, individual mission every hardworking Protestant wants to discover."

"In many ways, the perception of calling is a luxury of the privileged. A life’s purpose need not be authenticated by a business plan, a 501c3, a website, a salary, or an audience. We get to labor over our 'calling' because we are educated and financially stable, so many of us eschew the honor of ordinary work and instead fret over the perception of wasting our lives. Our single mom in Haiti entertains none of this. She works hard because she has to. She isn’t attempting to discern an elusive calling. She is raising her babies, working for a living, doing the best she can with what she has. Her purpose may not venture outside the walls of her home. We will never know her name. She probably won’t step into leadership or innovation or advocacy or social revolution. Yet she is also worthy of the calling she has received. A worthy life involves loving as loved folks do, sharing the ridiculous mercy God spoiled us with first. (It really is ridiculous.) It means restoring people, in ordinary conversations and regular encounters. A worthy life means showing up when showing up is the only thing to do. Goodness bears itself out in millions of ordinary ways across the globe, for the rich and poor, the famous and unknown, in enormous measures and tiny, holy moments. It may involve a career and it may not. It may include traditional components and it may not."

"Maybe we can exit the self-imposed pressure cooker of 'calling' and instead just consider our 'gifts.'"

"Calling is virtually never big or famous work; that is rarely the way the kingdom comes. It shows up quietly, subversively, almost invisibly. Half the time, it is unplanned—just the stuff of life in which a precious human steps in, the good news personified."

Whenever I hear "The Big Mantra" I think of Tabitha from the Bible. Here's what the Bible says about her:  "Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, 'Please come to us without delay.' So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, 'Tabitha, arise.' And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord" (Acts 9:36-42).

Tabitha lived in a comfort zone: Joppa. As far as we know, she didn't go on a mission to other parts of the Roman Empire. As far as we know, she didn't start a social organization. Tabitha could make clothes. So she did. For widows. She took her gift and made garments for them. That is all that she is specifically credited with in this passage. She didn't do anything "big" for God. At least, in the eyes of many American Christians today. But let me tell you, what she did was big enough for God. She used what gifts she had for his glory right where she was. And when she died, people were so moved by her life of serving the Lord with her gifts that they wanted Peter to come and God to bring her back. And he did.

Do you feel you are somehow less of a Christian because you aren't doing anything "big"? Let the guilt go. There is nothing elusive out there waiting for you. If God wants you to do something, he'll let you know. Right now, right where you are, live. Use your gifts. Whether a mom, or businessman or laid off employee or homeless, you can use what God has given you now. Let's stop with "The Big Mantra" and just determine to live for God in any circumstance we are in. God will use us no matter what.

If You Check Your Phone First Thing in the Morning, You Don't Love God

Did that title catch your attention? Did it rub you the wrong way? I hope so, because it's absolutely false. One of the areas I find Christians often fall into the role of modern day Pharisees concerns the "quiet time" we are supposed to have with God. And recently, I have read in more than one place the idea in the title above. I'd like to confront in this post some of the works-based ideas we force onto "quiet time" and then give some out of the box ideas about how to communicate with God in our day and age and season.

I'd like to preface by explaining what I mean by works-based ideas. The ways of having quiet time below are not commanded in the Bible. In fact, the Bible never commands a quiet time at all (more on that later). The ways of having quiet time below are works-based when someone says that you must do these to be with God or someone looks down on those who do not do these or we think if we don't do these, we haven't been with God. The points below have often been turned into extra works we must do to really love God.

1. Checking your phone before reading your Bible shows God isn't a priority in your life.

I really want to see the scripture that says if you choose to do something before reading your Bible you don't care enough about God. If you wake up hungry and eat before reading your Bible, I guess that means you don't have a good relationship with God. If you wake up and finish a chapter from the non-Bible book you were reading last night, I guess that shows God means nothing to you.

This idea is so ridiculously Pharisaical. It reminds me of when the Pharisees chastised Jesus' disciples for picking and eating grain on the Sabbath because the picking and rolling it to get the grains was working. I've always loved Jesus' response: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Jesus' point is that the Sabbath is not supposed to be some ruling over us works day. It is a day of rest and is made so man can relax. It is not supposed to be a day where we feel oppressed and controlled. The Pharisees had added all kinds of rules to the day, turning it into oppression. Saying that if you do anything else in the morning before reading your Bible you don't have a good relationship with God is just like the Pharisees. It's turning "quiet time" into something that should control and dominate, a work done for itself, not a work done to draw us closer to God.

It may be that you are a person who is being controlled by your technology. If that's the case, it might be beneficial to rearrange priorities to put God back in place above that which controls you. That said, if you check your phone before you read your Bible, that does not automatically mean you don't love God.

2. Journaling.

When I grew up in the 80s, journaling was pretty much synonymous with having a "quiet time." If you didn't write down what you were learning or what God was telling you, then how could you look back and know what God had done for you? And if you weren't journaling, you certainly weren't interacting with God's word.

Journaling is a tool. Journaling is not necessarily "quiet time" with God. It can be beneficial, but it is not a requirement. Confession: I rarely write down my thoughts when I read my Bible. I've tried journaling. I will for a while, then I stop. It's not for me. And that is perfectly alright. It doesn't mean God has stopped giving me Biblical insight because I don't write it down. Christians can become enslaved to their journals, feeling guilty if they can't think of anything to write or upset if they miss a day. If you are doing that, journaling has begun to rule over you and become a work in your life.

3. You must read this devotional!

There are certain Christians who are convinced that if other Christians read the devotionals they are reading, they will be closer to God. Even further, there are some Christians that think if another Christian has no desire to read the devotional they love, they are missing out on God. I have seriously seen some Christians look askance when they gushed about a devotional when someone said they were not interested. You can read the message in their eyes: "You are missing out. God would move so much more in your life if you read this."

Here's the thing: we are all different. God doesn't make carbon copies. What you might find inspiring in your spiritual walk might not be the way God speaks to someone else. For me, devotionals never work. I've tried to read so many of them, but I always quit in less than a week. These just don't do it for me. And that's fine. I am not somehow missing out on all God has to offer because I am not reading a certain someone else's thoughts on God. By all means, recommend a devotional, but be okay when someone says that isn't their thing.

4. If you don't meet with God in the morning, you aren't starting your day with God.

I guess if you don't have a "quiet time" in the morning, God looks down from heaven and says regretfully, "How sad. I guess I can't be present in so and so's life right now." Um, no. God is always with us. The Holy Spirit is alive in us. When you wake up, he is already with you. You don't have to conjure up God with a "quiet time."

This also ignores the fact that some people don't do their best thinking in the morning. Some people are afternoon or night people and if they find they interact with God's word better at those times, great.

But Jesus did it! The insistence on morning quiet time usually relies on this verse: "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35). But there is no command here to have a "quiet time" in the morning. In fact, what about this verse: "And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone..." (Matthew 14:23). Jesus met with God all hours of the day and we can, too.

5. You aren't stronger than Jesus, are you?

I seriously read this online. Someone used this in a "quiet time" diatribe. The implication is if you are not having a "quiet time" then you think you're better than Jesus. This is silly. Jesus never commanded "quiet time." Never. Not one place in the Bible commands "quiet time." Not having a "quiet time" doesn't mean you look down on Jesus and you think you are better than he is. All it means is you are not having a "quiet time."

Jesus did go alone to places to pray. At the most, this is an example for us, but it is not a command. And Jesus did recognize the need for rest in his disciples: "And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat" (Mark 6:31). We need rest as well, but this doesn't say anything about a "quiet time."

Spending time with God is a good thing, even something to be desired. But not having a "quiet time" doesn't mean you are not interacting with God. And it is not a sin not to have it. Laying this idea on Christians, saying that if they are not having a "quiet time" they are not being good Christians, is awful for those in seasons where "quiet time" is next to an impossibility. There are times we may not be able to get away for time with God. And that is alright. He hasn't left us then and he doesn't abandon us because we don't have the ability to find a place of solitude.

6. Quiet time has to be quiet.

You might have noticed I've been putting quotes around the phrase "quiet time." That's because time with God doesn't have to be quiet. I hear all the time, "Our world is so noisy and distracted. If you want to get real with God, you've got to get to a quiet place" as if God can't make himself heard over our world. You can hear God in the midst of noise. You can hear him as you talk to your child about his stories. You can hear God in the car through a song. You can hear God in the middle of a busy street when you hold the hand of a needy person. God is not restricted to quiet. Yes, quiet can be beneficial. Tuning out the busyness of the day can be a relaxing moment with God. But it is not a requirement to meet with God.

We have to be careful not to turn Pharisaical and insist that Christians who are not doing the above six things are not meeting with God. We also shouldn't look down on Christians not doing the above. Looking down on them is tantamount to saying, "You aren't a good Christian like me." We then act like the Pharisees chastising Jesus' disciples for not following their own made up rules regarding the Sabbath.

Now I want to be clear, I think spending time interacting with God's word is vital to walking with him. You can't live the word if you don't know what it says. And I think we should take advantage of the fact that we live in an age where people can hold the Bible in their individual hands. But there are many ways to interact with God and we don't have to force people into a mold. When I hear Christians lament that they don't have time to read scripture, I advise thinking outside the box. Most of the time I find we think we don't have time for scripture because we have been told by Pharisaical Christians that meeting with God has to look a certain way and we've come to believe that ourselves.

If you are finding it difficult to meet with Jesus, consider some other ways to do so: download a devotional app, a Bible app or a verse of the day app. If you are more connected to your phone, this will make it easier to read scripture. One of my friends who is incredibly busy takes a picture of her verse of the day and makes it her screen saver so she reads it every time she turns on her phone. She doesn't have time for a whole chapter, but she can think about that one verse all day. I think that's great!

Listen to sermons or Christian music. There are radio stations that you can turn on and hear the word all hours of the day through sermons and music. There are apps for radio programs and Christian music. God speaks through pastors and through singers. Especially if you are an audio learner, these ways can work well for you. You can also, of course, listen to the Bible from an app or from a CD.

And of course, prayer is always available. You can pray at anytime, anywhere. You don't need an extended time. You can talk to God all throughout your day. Don't feel you have to limit talking to God to a particular time of the day.

The most important thing is that we interact with God. However you do that, it's okay. Don't fall into the trap that you have to meet with God a certain way. And if you are in a season where you cannot manage a "quiet time" at all, throw out the guilt trip. It's okay. God has not left you or abandoned you. He is always there no matter what.

God Owes Me!

I recently read a parable in Matthew 20 that if we are honest with ourselves probably exposes two things within us: our selfish natures and our tendency to rely on works. A summary of the parable is thus: In the morning, a landowner went out to hire laborers for his vineyard. He hired some workers and promised to pay them a denarius for the day. The third hour he hired more workers and said he would give them what was right if they worked in his vineyard. He does the same at the 6th, 9th and 11th hours. At the end of the day, the landowner has his foreman pay the wages from the last workers hired to the first workers hired. The 11th hour workers are paid a denarius. When the first hired are also paid a denarius, they get upset, saying, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day." The landowner responds, saying, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?"

Before Jesus told the above parable, Peter had basically said, "We left everything to follow you, Jesus. So what will we get?" Jesus tells him that the disciples will be rewarded, but also says that many who are first will be last and last first. He then tells this parable and concludes it, saying, "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

As I read the parable, it hit me that the workers hired at the beginning of the day do two things. First, they focus on themselves as they compare themselves with all the other workers. When generosity is given to the 11th hour workers, they are incensed. It is unfair, they think. Those workers have not done as much so they should receive little. I should get more. But the landowner has not treated them unfairly. He has given them what he promised to give them.

Second, the first workers are looking at their works to measure what they should get. We have been here all day in the heat! We have worked all day long. That means we should get more! They are measuring themselves and the other workers by the works they have done.

I asked myself how this applies to us. The obvious interpretation is that those who are saved early in their lives and those who are saved later will both receive heaven. Receiving the gift of salvation is not dependent on works, but on the generosity of the landowner, the Lord.

But I believe we can view this parable also in light of our earthly lives. Jesus starts this parable by saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like..." And he has been preaching that the kingdom of heaven is here. He has been telling the disciples all throughout Matthew that they should be humble servants in the kingdom.

If we are honest, we might admit that we often look at others, comparing what they have to what we have. And if we are even more honest, we might admit that this thinking can turn on God, accusing him of being unfair. "God, I have done this and this and this for you. I have given up this and this and this. But that Christian over there? She hasn't done this and this and this. And look at the way she lives her life. She doesn't act like a Christian. How could you give her this and so?"

Walking in works does not happen just in regards to salvation. We can make works the avenue through which God "owes" us something. We can grumble and whine and complain that God give us what we think is equal to our works. When we do so, we act in selfishness and what we are truly doing is getting upset at the generosity and grace of God towards others. Hear that again. We are upset that God is generous and gracious. We don't want him to be generous and gracious to those who are "worse then us." It isn't fair. But, Christian, grace is not fair. If grace were fair, you would not get it at all.

I think this parable can serve as a catalyst for us to scrutinize our own lives, to ask if there are people we are jealous of because God has given them so much. To ask if we have made our relationship with God quid pro quo. To ask if we are upset that God has kept his promise to us, but has not given us all the extras we think we deserve for being so faithful. To ask if we are angry at God's grace and generosity. And if we are, to expose our attitudes, repent and change.

Get Rid of the Stumbling Block!

Matthew 18 begins with the disciples asking Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It's always been a little funny to me how concerned the disciples seemed to be over the status of everyone in God's kingdom. Jesus sets them straight each time, and in this instance uses a child as an object lesson, telling them that you need to be like a child or you will never get into the kingdom. It is the humble, Jesus says, that is the greatest in the kingdom.

He then goes on to say that anyone who causes "one such child" to stumble would be better off having a great millstone fastened to his neck and drowned. Contrary to the way this verse is used out of context, the "one such child" is not referring to literal children. The context of the passage makes it clear this refers to disciples of Christ. And why the millstone? The context is Jesus talking about receiving a disciple in his name. Someone who causes a disciple to stumble would be rejecting Jesus. In other words, the rejector is headed to somewhere worse than being drowned with a millstone: hell.

Next comes the verse that I read recently that made me think: "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!" (Matthew 18:7). Woe is a term that announces judgment. The gospels often talk of the world as broken and in need of salvation (John 3:16), but here Jesus announces woe to the world because of it causing people to stumble. To stumble means to sin. As Jesus notes, stumbling blocks, temptations to sin, are inevitable. But woe to those that lay them down in front of people!

We live in a world full of stumbling blocks. Often these stumbling blocks are not only laid down to fall over, but praised. Many stumbling blocks are called good and right and brave. I thought of Romans 1:29-32, which says of the unrighteous, "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." Sin is lauded and praised. Sin is declared good. Sin is called normal and right. And many stumble because they have been led to the stumbling block.

This begs the question, am I in any way placing a stumbling block in someone's path? Are you? Taking Romans 1:29-32 as our examples, we ask these questions:

Do we engage others in gossip? Do we eagerly join in and listen to gossip?

Do we slander others? Do we like statuses where people slander others?
Do we act prideful, looking down on others? Do we commiserate with other prideful people and put down those who aren't like us?
Do we disobey our parents? Do we encourage others to dishonor their parents?
Do we withhold love and mercy? Do we give a thumbs up to the harsh, unloving words and actions of others?

We need to evaluate our own lives. It's a hard question to ask, but one in light of Matthew 18:7 I believe must be asked. Do I hold a stumbling block in my hands? Have I set it in front of anyone? How can I remove it? Jesus was quite clear that we should do all we can to remove stumbling blocks. In hyperbole, Jesus says it would be better for us to cut off our hands or feet that cause us to sin or tear out our eyes than the be thrown in hell intact. I believe this is a call for us to evaluate ourselves and to do what it takes to remove sin from our lives. And to stop being a stumbling block causing others around us to sin.

Are you stumbling? Are you the source of the stumbling block? Today, throw it away. Today, get rid of the block. May it not be said of us that we are the source of someone's sin.