It May Take Time

Usually my devotionals push us toward the Saturday Night Sermon, but I thought today I would take a small diversion from that practice. I have been working a lot with Forgiveness. Each Wednesday Night I have been gathering with a great group of people and we have been wrestling with what forgiveness means in our daily lives. It is a question that isn't far from many of our hearts.

Today as I was reading through some scriptures, I encountered again the story of Joseph. Here is a guy that really got the raw end of the deal. He was betrayed by his brothers, cast into a well and alienated from relationships, taken into exile from his family and friends, framed by a "desperate housewife", and tossed into a bondage of someone else's doing. It wasn't his fault! If there was anyone that had the right to bitterness, it was Joseph.

I have no doubt that throughout those years many moments of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, anxiety, and even rage invaded his heart and mind. With every wasted day in exile, he grieved lost relationships and a place at his family's table. With every day he was in bondage he would have been reminded of the wicked actions of his brothers that put him in this predicament in the first place.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of being wounded is what I call "Closed book syndrome." If our lives are stories--much of which are yet to be written, the sin of others on our lives has a way of slamming shut the book. We then live completely determined by what happened to us. We can't see any hope of this story turning out in a good way. We are imprisoned by the past events, pain, and betrayal of others.

What we forget is that God is not done in our stories. God is the eternal author that is ever-present, even in our exile and bondage. I am deeply challenged by the story of Joseph. Late in the story, Joseph encounters his brothers. After imprisonment, Joseph had come to a place of favor (even in exile) and then his brothers come seeking his favor. Remember, if there was anyone that had a right to bitterness and unforgiveness, it was Joseph. He could have said to his brothers, "Let me treat you like you have treated me."

But...Joseph had experienced a God that wasn't done writing his story. In fact, Joseph had so allowed God to continue writing his story, he was able to find the redemptive providence of God even in exile and bondage. Listen to what Joseph says to his brothers, 19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Now, remember this statement took time. There were moments when he would have wanted them dead. But there is an openness to Joseph. There was an openness to experience the ongoing providence of God in the midst of broken moments of life. There was the openness of the story...one that reminds that no moment is so completely determinative and enveloping that it cuts off any hope of a future.

I wonder what forgiveness might look like in our lives if we took the time to wait upon God to continue to write a redemptive and hopeful future out of the exilic and bound up moments of our past.

What's Your God Look Like

One of the most convicting statements I have ever heard is this, "People believe about your God what they see in your life." Ouch! Have you ever stopped to consider the ramifications of that statement. Many people claim to have a belief in God. But, if this statement is true, then I see all sorts of God's around me.

The gods I see people believing in, if I were to look at their actions, are the gods of greedy consumption, the gods of unfair expectations, the gods of rash anger, the gods of hurtful words, the gods of jealousy and rumors, the gods of selfish ambitions, the gods of sexual objectification...and really the list goes on.

See, the bible says we were created in the image and likeness of God. Now, theologically that is a loaded statement. But whatever that means, it means that in our very lives we are to reflect God in this world. Sin becomes a problem not so much of bad action but of distorted image. In our sin, we present a god that is not really the God of Creation, Redemption, Love, and Salvation. We present a selfish, intolerant, impatient, self-righteous God. Oops.

What would it look like for the church to show the world the God it believes in. It might mean that we go out and hang out with the lowly and the downcast like Jesus did. It might mean that we seek justice for the oppressed like God does for the Israelites in Exodus. It might mean that we live patiently in a world full of sin, refusing to point the finger of condemnation and instead present the open arms of love.

So let me ask you...how would the people close to you describe the God you believe in?

A Difficult Thing

Recently I was speaking with a Christian Professor named Leonard Sweet. One of the pearls of wisdom that he mentioned to me has really stuck. He said, "Why is it we are so obsessed with imitating Jesus?" "If it was possible to imitate Jesus, then we wouldn't need Jesus." Wow...that's dead on. When I speak to people, I often hear, "I just need to act more like Jesus would act." For most of us, that means pulling up the bootstraps and giving it the best go possible. Unfortunately, too often our attempts fall short.

The life of a Christian is not about simply imitation. It is the life of participation! And boy is there a difference. Imitation is an act of the will. Participation is an act of Communion and Grace. The way of Jesus in this world is not something that comes naturally for us. If it were then we wouldn't have needed the rescuing and redemption that He brought to this world. Instead, what we are called to do is live "in Christ." We are called to enter into the very being of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Paul says, "it is not I that live but Christ that lives in me." Paul is saying, "Listen church, Jesus isn't some courageous moral example!" Jesus is the One through whom God's Divine Plan is manifest! Jesus is the one that institutes in this world what it means to be completely human! Jesus is instituting for us a new way!

This new way is not achieved through our action. It is experienced and lived out as our lives are surrendered to the wonder working power of God's Spirit that makes possible the impossible. When we ask the famous question, "What would Jesus do?" Our answer, in deep humility should be, "probably not what I would do, nor am I capable of doing, but! with God all things are possible."

My friends, be set free from the need to imitate. Instead, step into the divine space of God's grace that compels action in our world that shows Jesus and not our great, courageous, moral attempts.