What do you do when someone who was influential in Christian circles walks away from the faith?
Joshua Harris recently announced he no longer saw himself as a Christian. It was a bit of a shocking thing - even after all that has happened with him in recent years. Changing his stance on much of what he had written about dating and relationships with opposite sex.
I recently wrote a post about "How the Purity Message of my Youth was Incomplete". When I look back, whether directly or indirectly, Joshua Harris was one who had a big influence on what that message was. His voice was one of the loudest at that time.
When the statement of his regret over what he had written in his book, "I Kissed Dating Good-bye", came out, I was both relieved and angry. Relieved that the damage that message had done was finally being acknowledged. Angry because in many ways it felt like too little too late for me and others I know. We were already well aware of the consequences of his message - because we're living them.
When I heard this latest news, I was saddened. Somewhere along the way doubts gained control for him. And he is walking off the right path.
Harris has also recently announced that he is divorcing his wife - a wife he found following what he laid out in his book that seemed to promise a great marriage if you followed this same path. His own marriage ending in divorce could be seen as something he deserves, but that would help no one and is hardly the response we should have as Christians.
Once again, this is something that saddens me.
I've realized that my anger does no good. And actually continues the harm I've felt was done through his message on purity and dating. I've had to let that go - give it to God and choose forgiveness.
So, what now?
When someone in leadership falls it can shake us.
When someone influential in the Christian world walks away, it can leave us with more questions than answers.
Even if we weren't necessarily a fan of that person or the message they spoke or wrote.
So, how do we respond?
I think it's a two part response.
First, we pray. For the specific person and for all others, including ourselves, who are impacted by what has happened.
Second, we find people and places where we can talk about our questions arising from this, about how we're dealing with it if it's had an impact on us.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Love Your Neighbour
The Parable of the Good Samaritan.
If you've spent any time around church or reading a Bible, you probably know this story pretty well. It's one we talk about pretty regularly as Christians.
Luke 10:25-37 records this parable and the rest of the exchange that goes with it. Before you go with this post, please read it again. Click on the link, or look it up.
Read it slowly . . . every word.
When I read it recently, I was challenged by some of the questions that came to mind:
What made the priest and Levite cross to the other side of the road as they passed the man who had been beaten and robbed? Why were they so careful to avoid him? Where was the compassion for those in need we expect religious leaders to have?
I think Jesus is being intentional in using the specific people He does in this story. The priest and Levite were religious leaders. We don't know exactly why these men were travelling this road. Since they were going from Jerusalem to Jericho we could guess they were returning home after service in the temple.
As religious leaders in the temple, they would have been well aware of the religious requirements and what would make them unclean and unfit to serve in the temple, even if only temporarily. Rather than help their follow Jew in need and risk becoming unclean, they chose to avoid him completely.
In reality, they missed the point of what God was trying to show His people through the law. Religiously, they were clean before God. But their hearts weren't in the right place, and God is pretty clear that matters more to Him.
We easily get caught up in the exact same things. We may be doing everything right religiously, but if our hearts aren't moved with compassion by the same things that move God's hear, we've missed the point completely.
In this parable, Jesus used the Samaritan as the example we should follow. The Samaritan was moved to compassion and action by what he saw. He was willing to pay a personal price to love someone society told him he shouldn't love.
As I reflect on some of the issues currently a major focus of discussion in our society, I'm left with a few questions:
How are we doing, as Christians, at actually loving our neighbour in the way Jesus describes in this parable?
What would it look like if we all actually allowed our hearts to be broken by what breaks God's heart and them moved to action because of it? What kind of impact would that actually make in our society?
I'm not saying it's easy. I know it's hard. I know it's dangerous to pray a prayer asking God to break our hearts for what breaks His.
About eight or nine years ago, I realized my heart was no longer moved by the brokenness and pain I saw everyday. I walked past a couple of interactions and activities that shouted about the pain and brokenness of those involved. I had been working at my job for a few years and things like that had become commonplace.
As I sat in my office later that day, I told God I didn't want my heart to become hard to what I'd seen. I told Him I wanted to see each person I walked past through His eyes. They I prayed the "dangerous" part. I told God to do whatever He needed to do to soften my heart again.
The answer to that prayer came a few days later. Without sharing details that could identify this person, I found myself in the position of returning money to someone I'd grown up with knowing he was likely going to go spend it on drugs as soon as he left. But, it was his money and there was nothing I could do to stop him. As I handed him the money I looked at him and reminded him of God's love. To date, that's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
A couple months later, another person I'd known growing up crossed my path at work and they weren't doing well. I knew the potential they had and I was watching them seemingly self-destruct for a couple weeks.
I with I could say these stories had happy endings, but the truth is, I don't know what has happened with either of them in the years since. I don't know if I'll ever know.
But, those two interactions definitely answered my prayer for God to soften my heart. And I realized that a soft heart is one that loves at great personal cost. When we see the pain and brokenness of others, if our heart breaks for what breaks God's heart, we will care and we will take action.
If you've spent any time around church or reading a Bible, you probably know this story pretty well. It's one we talk about pretty regularly as Christians.
Luke 10:25-37 records this parable and the rest of the exchange that goes with it. Before you go with this post, please read it again. Click on the link, or look it up.
Read it slowly . . . every word.
When I read it recently, I was challenged by some of the questions that came to mind:
What made the priest and Levite cross to the other side of the road as they passed the man who had been beaten and robbed? Why were they so careful to avoid him? Where was the compassion for those in need we expect religious leaders to have?
I think Jesus is being intentional in using the specific people He does in this story. The priest and Levite were religious leaders. We don't know exactly why these men were travelling this road. Since they were going from Jerusalem to Jericho we could guess they were returning home after service in the temple.
As religious leaders in the temple, they would have been well aware of the religious requirements and what would make them unclean and unfit to serve in the temple, even if only temporarily. Rather than help their follow Jew in need and risk becoming unclean, they chose to avoid him completely.
In reality, they missed the point of what God was trying to show His people through the law. Religiously, they were clean before God. But their hearts weren't in the right place, and God is pretty clear that matters more to Him.
We easily get caught up in the exact same things. We may be doing everything right religiously, but if our hearts aren't moved with compassion by the same things that move God's hear, we've missed the point completely.
In this parable, Jesus used the Samaritan as the example we should follow. The Samaritan was moved to compassion and action by what he saw. He was willing to pay a personal price to love someone society told him he shouldn't love.
As I reflect on some of the issues currently a major focus of discussion in our society, I'm left with a few questions:
How are we doing, as Christians, at actually loving our neighbour in the way Jesus describes in this parable?
What would it look like if we all actually allowed our hearts to be broken by what breaks God's heart and them moved to action because of it? What kind of impact would that actually make in our society?
I'm not saying it's easy. I know it's hard. I know it's dangerous to pray a prayer asking God to break our hearts for what breaks His.
About eight or nine years ago, I realized my heart was no longer moved by the brokenness and pain I saw everyday. I walked past a couple of interactions and activities that shouted about the pain and brokenness of those involved. I had been working at my job for a few years and things like that had become commonplace.
As I sat in my office later that day, I told God I didn't want my heart to become hard to what I'd seen. I told Him I wanted to see each person I walked past through His eyes. They I prayed the "dangerous" part. I told God to do whatever He needed to do to soften my heart again.
The answer to that prayer came a few days later. Without sharing details that could identify this person, I found myself in the position of returning money to someone I'd grown up with knowing he was likely going to go spend it on drugs as soon as he left. But, it was his money and there was nothing I could do to stop him. As I handed him the money I looked at him and reminded him of God's love. To date, that's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
A couple months later, another person I'd known growing up crossed my path at work and they weren't doing well. I knew the potential they had and I was watching them seemingly self-destruct for a couple weeks.
I with I could say these stories had happy endings, but the truth is, I don't know what has happened with either of them in the years since. I don't know if I'll ever know.
But, those two interactions definitely answered my prayer for God to soften my heart. And I realized that a soft heart is one that loves at great personal cost. When we see the pain and brokenness of others, if our heart breaks for what breaks God's heart, we will care and we will take action.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Getting Into the Pain & Brokenness of People
Everywhere you look in the gospels, Jesus is doing things that upset and angered the religious leaders of His day. He didn't do it just to make them mad. He was revealing the places where they were missing the point.
Somewhere along the way, the religious leaders had gotten more caught up in the rules about things rather than the heart of the reason why God had created that law in the first place. The is what Jesus pointed out in Luke 6:1-11. The religious leaders were more concerned about what Jesus' disciples were doing on the Sabbath than what God created the Sabbath for in the first place.
Just a little bit later, Jesus challenges the Pharisees on how they treat people. Luke 7:36-50 records an encounter with Jesus and a conversation with a Pharisee that I think we sanitize when we read it. We picture at least a somewhat presentable person coming into Simon's house and anointing Jesus with perfume, and weeping at his feet, drying them with her hair.
We understand it was a costly jar of perfume she used and we talk about the cost to her. We talk about Simon, the Pharisee, whose home Jesus was visiting when this occurred. All are good things to notice and learn from. But, I think in our version, we miss something important.
Jesus honours and values this woman, who was seen only as a sinner by society. Jesus saw who she really was and called it out in her.
When Luke writes that she was a woman who lived a sinful life, he's not talking about the sin that, although we know it's still sin, we have somehow deemed acceptable to struggle with. This woman was a prostitute. She lived a life that went completely and openly against God's laws. She would have been pushed to the outskirts of society - excluded and looked down on, often treated poorly.
Put yourself at the table for a minutes. You've been invited to have dinner with Jesus. Everyone at the table lives a good life. You all follow the rules and do everything you're supposed to. While you're eating dinner, someone comes into the home you're gathered in, uninvited.
For the sake of helping us understand this, this person is homeless - their hair is unwashed and messy, their clothes are dirty from sleeping outside in a tent for months, they're carrying all their personal belongings with them. Everyone at the dinner party knows who they are - they have a reputation in the community.
When this person enters the room, they offer Jesus their most prized possession and fall at His feet weeping. They've created quite the scene and everyone is watching Jesus to see how He responds.
What will Jesus do? Will He send the person away? Will He reprimand them? Will He try to ignore them?
But, as you all watch, Jesus reaches down and wraps His arms around the person. He embraces them and lifts them up. Instead of the disdain this person is used to experiencing, Jesus has love in His eyes and on His face as He looks at this person. Jesus seems not to notice or care about the appearance or reputation of the person.
Jesus begins to speak like - to point out the good in this person, to identify the beauty and image of God in this person that society doesn't see. Jesus doesn't condone the poor behaviour and choices that have led to this person's reputation, but neither does He talk only about it.
When I look at how Jesus treated the woman in Luke 7 and so may others in the gospels, I have to think that Jesus would have spent His time in the middle of the broken, hurting and lost people in our society. He wouldn't have been looking down on them trying to give them a negative label.
Think for a moment. When I started describing the person who came into you dinner party with Jesus, what words came to mind as how you labelled the person?
Junkie . . . Hopeless . . . Just an addict . . . Lost cause . . .Dregs of society
I hope not. I hope reading those words was as difficult for you as it was for me to write them.
I think I'm pretty safe to say those wouldn't be the words Jesus would use. Labels like that destroy people. They don't love them the way Jesus modeled for us.
What about the words . . . man/woman created in the image of God . . . loved by God . . . value . . . worth . . . I think these are what we need to see when we look at people like this person who intruded on our dinner party with Jesus.
Where would Jesus be in our society?
Jesus would be in the middle of the pain and brokenness. Yes, that includes the illness, death, family breakdown, job loss, etc of those of us who have homes and aren't looked down on by society. But, we can't keep operating like those are the only places Jesus would be.
Jesus would also be in the middle of the pain and brokenness of those who we generally see as outcasts in our society. Instead of judgement and anger and disdain, Jesus would be loving them and speaking life and identity to them. He would be inviting us to come alongside and love these people. He would have, and still does, expected His followers to be an active part of the solution.
If you're still with me, thanks. I hope I've challenged you. This been a challenging post to write and I've had to wrestle with what this looks like in my own life. I don't get it right all the time. But, I think we have to allow ourselves to be challenged by Scripture if we claim to follow Jesus.
Somewhere along the way, the religious leaders had gotten more caught up in the rules about things rather than the heart of the reason why God had created that law in the first place. The is what Jesus pointed out in Luke 6:1-11. The religious leaders were more concerned about what Jesus' disciples were doing on the Sabbath than what God created the Sabbath for in the first place.
Just a little bit later, Jesus challenges the Pharisees on how they treat people. Luke 7:36-50 records an encounter with Jesus and a conversation with a Pharisee that I think we sanitize when we read it. We picture at least a somewhat presentable person coming into Simon's house and anointing Jesus with perfume, and weeping at his feet, drying them with her hair.
We understand it was a costly jar of perfume she used and we talk about the cost to her. We talk about Simon, the Pharisee, whose home Jesus was visiting when this occurred. All are good things to notice and learn from. But, I think in our version, we miss something important.
Jesus honours and values this woman, who was seen only as a sinner by society. Jesus saw who she really was and called it out in her.
When Luke writes that she was a woman who lived a sinful life, he's not talking about the sin that, although we know it's still sin, we have somehow deemed acceptable to struggle with. This woman was a prostitute. She lived a life that went completely and openly against God's laws. She would have been pushed to the outskirts of society - excluded and looked down on, often treated poorly.
Put yourself at the table for a minutes. You've been invited to have dinner with Jesus. Everyone at the table lives a good life. You all follow the rules and do everything you're supposed to. While you're eating dinner, someone comes into the home you're gathered in, uninvited.
For the sake of helping us understand this, this person is homeless - their hair is unwashed and messy, their clothes are dirty from sleeping outside in a tent for months, they're carrying all their personal belongings with them. Everyone at the dinner party knows who they are - they have a reputation in the community.
When this person enters the room, they offer Jesus their most prized possession and fall at His feet weeping. They've created quite the scene and everyone is watching Jesus to see how He responds.
What will Jesus do? Will He send the person away? Will He reprimand them? Will He try to ignore them?
But, as you all watch, Jesus reaches down and wraps His arms around the person. He embraces them and lifts them up. Instead of the disdain this person is used to experiencing, Jesus has love in His eyes and on His face as He looks at this person. Jesus seems not to notice or care about the appearance or reputation of the person.
Jesus begins to speak like - to point out the good in this person, to identify the beauty and image of God in this person that society doesn't see. Jesus doesn't condone the poor behaviour and choices that have led to this person's reputation, but neither does He talk only about it.
When I look at how Jesus treated the woman in Luke 7 and so may others in the gospels, I have to think that Jesus would have spent His time in the middle of the broken, hurting and lost people in our society. He wouldn't have been looking down on them trying to give them a negative label.
Think for a moment. When I started describing the person who came into you dinner party with Jesus, what words came to mind as how you labelled the person?
Junkie . . . Hopeless . . . Just an addict . . . Lost cause . . .Dregs of society
I hope not. I hope reading those words was as difficult for you as it was for me to write them.
I think I'm pretty safe to say those wouldn't be the words Jesus would use. Labels like that destroy people. They don't love them the way Jesus modeled for us.
What about the words . . . man/woman created in the image of God . . . loved by God . . . value . . . worth . . . I think these are what we need to see when we look at people like this person who intruded on our dinner party with Jesus.
Where would Jesus be in our society?
Jesus would be in the middle of the pain and brokenness. Yes, that includes the illness, death, family breakdown, job loss, etc of those of us who have homes and aren't looked down on by society. But, we can't keep operating like those are the only places Jesus would be.
Jesus would also be in the middle of the pain and brokenness of those who we generally see as outcasts in our society. Instead of judgement and anger and disdain, Jesus would be loving them and speaking life and identity to them. He would be inviting us to come alongside and love these people. He would have, and still does, expected His followers to be an active part of the solution.
If you're still with me, thanks. I hope I've challenged you. This been a challenging post to write and I've had to wrestle with what this looks like in my own life. I don't get it right all the time. But, I think we have to allow ourselves to be challenged by Scripture if we claim to follow Jesus.
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