I'll Be Mad

Maybe you've had one of them too. I'm talking about those conversations with people who tell you that they're going to get mad if certain conditions exist. "If so-and-so does thus-and-such ... I'm going to be mad!" Or maybe they say something like, "I'm gonna be really mad ....!"

Have you ever thought about what this really means? The individual tries to anticipate the behavior other people, and then predicts their own reaction. Or possibly they're just informing you of a decision they know that they'll make. Really, can you do that? I mean can you decide a decision before you actually make it?

I guess you can. You can set up some parameters and decide ahead of time how you'll handle things inside and outside of those parameters. Marital fidelity might be an example. I decide ahead of time about the commitment I have to my wife. Then should I run across a temptation to sin against her, I've already determined what my response will be.

So it could be just setting boundaries and deciding how you'll enforce those boundaries --- or what you'll do when they're honored. But I'm not so sure that this works when it comes to emotional responses like anger. In fact, I'm rather persuaded that anger is one of those things in humanity that acts like a double-edged sword. As such, anger can be constructive or destructive.

Jesus got angry. (Did you know that?) His anger was generally displayed in one of two instances though. Jesus got angry and acted on His anger when God didn't receive the proper respect that He deserved. An example might be when the money changers were in the temple. Jesus also got angry when the poor, the children, the weak and other underdogs were being taken advantage of.

So I like to think of Jesus' anger examples as illustrations of righteous anger. And the thing is, I've not been able to find other examples of righteous anger. It seems that the most common appearances of anger even within myself have sin as their motivator. Ugh!

So if I didn't get treated fairly, or if I don't think someone held up their end of he deal, I can get angry. But is that really righteous anger? No, I don't think so. For you see, it's born of my sinful nature. It comes from my sense of entitlement, my self righteousness or even my pride. It could come from my selfishness or self-centeredness or inflated view of myself. It could come from my unloving attitude towards others, my unforgiveness or simply my unrealistic and inappropriate expectations.

Jesus set the tone for anger. And I've concluded in my own walk with Christ that He meant for His followers only to experience righteous anger that defends the honor of God and takes up a loving advocate for those who cannot defend, speak or provide for themselves.

Love God and love others, Jesus said, for these are the two most important commandments and everything else rises on their foundation. Who knew that He was talking about anger?

So the next time you're tempted to get angry, or you feel the emotional response of anger rising up within you, stop and check your motive. Why exactly are you mad? What has happened or not happened that stimulates you so?

Can you line it (your anger) up with loving God and loving others? If not, then you must put it down. Immediately. The Bible tells us not to sin in our anger, but the simple truth is that if our anger is not checked with God's priorities - or backed with God's purposes, then sin is written all over it. Any questions?

Encouraging Examples

Maybe it happens to all of us at one time or another. You've made a commitment for Christ, and you're doing what you imagine is your level best to submit to and obey Him. Still, there are those days when you really feel as if you're missing the mark.

I'm always encouraged when I read the Apostle Paul's dilemma in Romans 7:15-24, where he talks about not doing the things he wants to do, doing the things he doesn't want to do and finally exclaiming what a wretched man he is. That totally resonates with me. I thought I was the world's worst sinner, until I found the Apostle Paul had already claimed that title (1 Timothy 10:15).

I am encouraged by that because I find solace in the fact that my own human experience is not unlike that of spiritual giants like Paul. I mean, if there's hope for him then there's hope for me too!

Nevertheless, there are days when I am examining my ways and testing them (Lamentations 3:40) and not liking what I find. Maybe there is a time in our human psyche when we want to walk away from unrighteousness and ungodliness. Unfortunately, they are not easily abandoned.

So I tend to smile when I read stories about spiritual heroes in the Bible like Paul whom were good and righteous people, but whose sinful nature and spiritual poverty are clearly evident. This week I stumbled upon three such stories. The spiritual giants are Noah, Abraham and Lot. Let's take a look at the spiritual poverty that these men revealed despite their righteousness and calling from God.

Noah was the last righteous man on earth. Literally. God told him to build the Ark, and then destroyed all of the entire human race --- except for Noah and his immediate family. They were the only righteous ones left. Still, we find that after the flood, life settled into something of a routine where Noah got so drunk that he passed out naked. His children found him. One of them gossiped about it, and the other two covered him up without looking. When he sobered up and learned what had happened, he cursed the son that had seen him in his naked, drunken state and gossiped about it. It was definitely not really one of old Noah's best moments!

Abraham was God's chosen man to bear a whole new nation through whom God would save all of mankind. He was definitely a righteous man of amazing faith. Unfortunately he repeatedly lied and told the government that his wife was his sister ... opening the door for other men to claim her as their wife. Apparently Abraham did this because she was so beautiful and he feared he might be killed to get at her. So he willingly gave her up. Let's see: liar, coward, didn't trust God to take care of him. These aren't really some of father Abraham's best character traits.

Lot, Abraham and Sarah's long-awaited miracle son, was told by God's angel to flee Sodom and Gomorrah with his immediate family (wife and two daughters) because they were the only righteous ones left and God was fixing to destroy everyone else. God told them not to look back, but Lot's wife looked back and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt. (I imagine Lot was a bit ticked at this.) Anyway, Lot then takes his daughters and moves into a cave, becoming a recluse. He was afraid, so he stayed in the cave. Finally, the daughters were so desperate, that they each got their father drunk, had sex with him, and bore him children. If you missed that, this was incest. Again, it's not the best picture of the only righteous man God could find in the cities He'd had to destroy.

Source of Encouragement
So why are these tragic glimpses of such men's lives encouraging? I guess mainly because their level of unrighteousness and spiritual poverty were revealed well after God identified them as holy and righteous. God made them holy. He didn't vaporize their sin nature. He didn't remove their challenging circumstances. So there was still plenty of room for them to fail, displease God and exhibit their own human failures. But God said they were holy.

Did you know that holy people - declared so by God Himself - could still be liars, cowards, drunkards, etc.? Even in the Old Testament, as Paul explained in the New Testament, we aren't holy or unholy based on what we do or what we experience. Rather we are holy because God says we are. He makes it so. So when God declares you and I holy, nothing we can do or experience will change that. Because it's not based on what we do or don't do. It's based on who He is.

I have to say that's just about the most encouraging news ever. So when I face those times that I don't feel so holy, I can look at these heroes of the Bible and see that their holiness was never defined by their behaviors and actions. It's defined by God. And my holiness today? It's also defined by God. So nothing that I do can change that. Wow!

On Suffering

And what of my suffering? Where does it come from? Is it simply the consequence of my own sin - or my own poor choices? Is it my pathetic perspective to a normal life - which wouldn't pain others nearly so much?

Is my suffering a case of Satan trying his level best to keep a good man down? I suppose it also could be God Himself testing me - or even punishing me for my sins or the sins of my ancestors. (Really now!)

Perhaps the cause of my suffering in life is my pride. It makes me want to seize the explanation that Satan just wants to keep me from being the man God calls me to be. That'd be an excellent explanation, wouldn't it? It would certainly keep me from having to take any personal responsibility. I could just claim the victim card, and wave it in front of my suffering!

There is this dynamic about suffering. Most of us want to know why. Would knowing why really change anything? I doubt it. Our reaction to suffering could be the same whether we know why or not. Said differently, it would seem that I can take the same actions without knowing why I suffer as I could or would take with knowledge that explains my suffering.

Can I lay aside the question? Can I just look at suffering as something "is what it is" and move through it? Is that what the good Lord would have me do with suffering?

I'd like to say that I'm an expert on suffering - because I've done so much of it. But I'm sure there are many other people who could easily top my level of suffering in so many ways. They would be the experts.

The thing is, I am becoming more convinced the older I get that being an expert at suffering doesn't get you any brownie points. The answer is never to just be a better sufferer!


So perhaps a Christ-follower needs a paradigm shift when it comes to suffering. Perhaps we're asking the wrong questions about suffering. Most likely we have the wrong attitude about suffering. Curiously, human beings have always had the attitude that the suffering needs to end. And yet, across thousands of years ... God has never, ever agreed with us to end it. Why is that? What is it that God knows about suffering that we are missing?

Maybe the questions we need to ask about suffering should be different than the ones we've been asking for centuries. Instead of asking how we can end the suffering or why the suffering exists, for example, we could ask whether Jesus is really enough for the suffering. Are His arms wide enough? Are His shoulders big enough? Is His love powerful enough ... for my suffering?

If I get to the place where my answers to such questions are positives, it strikes me that suffering loses much of its power. And suddenly, I become a much better steward of my suffering. And God is glorified.

Father in heaven, let us look upon suffering with your eyes. Let us consider it with your mind. Let us not be intimidated or controlled by it. Help us to put it into its place. And strengthen us to walk through it with Jesus' heart.

Darkness & Light

Did you ever have someone come into your life who actually changed you --- or at least changed your thinking? Maybe it was a school teacher or college professor. Perhaps it was a boss or a colleague. For some of us it might be a neighbor. For some it might be a pastor, a coach, or maybe a client.

Whoever they turn out to be, I'm becoming more and more convinced that these people exist. I never know where they'll turn up. And of course they aren't all people. I meet lots of people through business and social endeavors. I'm sure they're all wonderful people. But some of those meetings turn out to be a little more profound than others. The interesting thing is that I usually don't even know that until later, when I look back and realize that meeting was profound!

I met a guy last fall in a CR Step Study that I'm leading. (He's a pastor.) Quite a remarkable fellow, actually - there have been several things about him that have impressed me. The first was his leadership. This guy is unabashedly leading. I think I might be drawn to those people who lead boldly. They know who is in charge and aren't afraid to take command. I don't know, maybe it's a character defect that drives them (control issues or something). Nevertheless, I find myself drawn to that.

He has other qualities that seem to stand out. I can't say I admire them or wish them for myself. I really don't think it's like that. But I notice them. His faith and his passion for his God are remarkable. I've known a lot of pastors, and pretty well too. Few have exhibited this passion for the Lord. I get the sense that this guy would really walk through fire, go to his death or do whatever else it might take to serve his God. Call yourself a Christian, or a Jew, or a Catholic - but really, how many of us serve a God like that?

As you might have it, my new acquaintance and I are becoming good friends. Occasional coffee's with no particular agenda help us learn more about each other's hearts and minds. It may be that we're finding things in each other that we like --- for those meetings tend to happen more often and last longer than I expect. Somehow I suspect that despite the proximity we may have or not have in each other's lives, the impact he'll have in my life will be enduring.

One of the things he's said recently that really got me to thinking has been about light and dark, good and evil. The Bible is clear that darkness cannot stand in the face of light. It's equally clear about the fact that evil will never prevail in the face of righteousness and holiness (which come from God). But my friend pointed out that most people who believe in God tend to act as if the darkness were more powerful than the light. He's observed (and rightly so, I think) that people of faith tend to behave as if they're afraid of evil.

It makes me wonder. Could it be that even believers in the Most High God of creation still fear evil more than they fear Him? Is it possible that we lose conscious sight of the facts about darkness and its nature? And if so, what would cause such a phenomenon?

I certainly agree with my friend. Like I began this blog, it seems God is using him to shift some of my personal paradigms. (I'm still figuring out which ones those are too!) It is painfully obvious that even the most spiritually mature people can become rattled by their circumstances. A solid man of faith gets nervous when there are layoffs at his work. A godly mother falls apart when her child is seriously ill. A Christian business owner acts like a frightened sheep being pursued by wolves when there is a business downtown or a client sues him. What's up with these things?

Have we lost sight of the power of light? Do we forget that righteousness and holiness are the ultimate victors in this game of life? Or can we become deceived about the power of darkness? Can darkness somehow convince us that it is invincible? Does evil mock us and make fun of us, beating us into the submission like the playground bully when we were kids?

Light a candle in the darkness and see what happens. The darkness retreats. But try to bring darkness into the light of day and see if the daylight retreats. (It doesn't!) Isn't this how we are supposed to live our lives ... based on these two simple truths?

Evil doesn't win, good triumphs, holiness prevails, and righteousness endures. Darkness fades, despite its intimidating and menacing nature. And those things of the world that make us nervous, that cause us to worry or fret or even be scared? They aren't so powerful really. In fact, their ability to control us is really a farce. It's just not there!

On one of my trips to Africa a couple years ago, I heard a woman say she was not going to tell God about her problems, but instead would tell the problems about her God. It seemed like a simple statement, and yet profound. I'd like to introduce her to my new pastor friend here in Texas. I suspect God is using both of them to speak truth into me!