Sweet Words from Maine

Creation’s story

Another awe filled Downeast sunrise brings thoughts of Creator God and how beautifully He reveals Himself to us. The Psalmist’s ageless poetry affirms that God is evident to all people through creation:

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork./Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge/There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard/ Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy/Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (Psalm 19:1-6)

That psalm leads into others thoughts of how one can know God and His purposes for us.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward…” (Psalm 19:7-14)

That God’s revealed Word revives the soul, brings wisdom to one’s life, rejoices the heart, and enlightens the mind are bold and powerful assertions that run throughout both Old and New Testaments.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Even more breathtaking than discerning human faults and bringing wisdom to life, Scripture offers a redemptive solution for our sinful souls. “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ” (Colossians 1:19). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

Such claims are not only unique but have transformed the lives of millions. They warrant thoughtful consideration by each of us during all the sunrises to which we awake!

“For what can be known about God is plain (to people) because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they (people) are without excuse.”( Romans 1:19-20)

From where you sit…

From where you sit, do you see what I see?

Probably not!

We live in the same world, maybe in the same neighborhood, or even in the same household but still can have very different perspectives on life. What we learn and the way we learn and experience the world can be very diverse. So, our stories, expectations, and values will vary…some in insignificant ways but others in widely divergent views. Our focuses may differ. Some of us are caught in the weeds and entanglements of daily living. Others view the distant hills of opportunity and imagination.

In fact, our constructs about meaning, purpose, values, ethics, morality, politics, religious beliefs, and understandings of the universe become so deeply personal and ingrained that we are not readily open to evaluate different or opposing views or even consider established facts if they defy what we believe or what we want to continue to believe. We effectively respond with, “Don’t confuse me with the facts! They are too challenging, too unsettling, too disruptive for me to even consider. I am comfortable with my view of things.”

That is the kind of thinking Jesus faced. He was opposed because his message was both extraordinary and countercultural and demanded some introspective evaluation. There was then, is now, and always will be skepticism and cynicism related to Jesus, his origins, his claims, and his mental health. He said he came into the world to expose it to truth, that in truth He is Truth. However, the Gospels repeatedly tell us that although many believed in him, many did not.

He was wildly different from centuries of expectations and imaginations garnered from ancient, sacred, prophetic documents about who the Messiah would be and what he would do. His claims stretched believability, but more importantly he faced preconceived ideas about his social background and his identity. A poor, itinerant Rabbi from Nazareth did not fit the perceived mold.

Blinded to his character, discounting his miraculous works, and ignoring grace filled teachings, the religious leaders could only see him as a blasphemer, a usurper of their authority, and a danger to their security. Rather than attempting to understand him, they opposed him by trying to undermine, ensnare, and eventually murder him.

The difference in people’s receptivity to Jesus not only depended on their attitudes but on their encounters with him. To know somebody requires interaction and openness to “hear” and “see.” Jesus said as much. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “ He who has eyes to see, let him see” (Matthew 13:9-16)

We may be skeptics or cynics or just uninterested, but in fairness to Christ, we should attempt to get to know him before making a judgment about him. The only way to do that is to meet him first. The New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) chronicle his conversations, teachings, activities, purposes, and claims. Investigating Christ will not allow one to be neutral about him. Either he is who he claimed to be, or he is a very disturbed individual who has duped millions of believers. He is either Savior or a hoax. It would seem crucial to make a well considered decision about him.

Running Shoes and Eagles

Eagle, Scanning the River, Sullivan, Maine

Some obscure sage named Agur was so enthralled by the sight of a soaring eagle that he wrote that the way “an eagle glides through the sky” is one of three things that amazed him. (Proverbs 30:18-19)

Although this beautiful raptor with its stern, disgruntled, uninviting, disturbingly scary face seems an odd choice, America’s founding fathers were impressed enough to make the eagle the official seal of America. President John F. Kennedy expressed his approval when he wrote that “the founding fathers made an appropriate choice when they selected the bald eagle as the nation’s emblem. The fierce beauty and proud independece of this great bird aptly symbolizes the strength and freedom of America.”

Those powerful wings which carry eagles to soaring heights are biblical metaphors for the indescribable awareness, amazing love, boundless mercy, and constant providential care which God gives His children. He is “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions.” (Deuteronomy 32:11). That encouragement comes from the ever present God, who reminded Israel of His history with them and why He had stuck with them. “ I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exodus 19:4)

Those are poetic sentiments for God’s humility and grace and for His the victorious saving, lifting up, and restoring of His faltering children. They speak to the undeserved mercy and supernatural intimacy we may have with a sovereign, almighty, compassionate, care-taker God, whose heart cannot contain His love because He is love.

In mixed metaphors, Isaiah puts this into perspective for us: “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

What humility and grace! Such radical love! Those promises are literally embodied in Jesus, who willingly and unabashedly embraced humanity. He opened his arms to die on a Roman cross in order to take humanity’s rightful condemnation for missing the mark. He not only rescued us, he empowers us to live with meaning and lifts us up with the confidence of a promised, glorious resurrection.

That knowledge of God’s loving character and merciful intervention leads to belief, but trust gives us our running shoes to run faith’s race.

From Disorder to Order

We live in a magnificently beautiful, physical world from which we gather inklings and snippets of something even more grand, but these glimpses quickly fade because something is wrong!

We do not live in Eden. We live with imperfections—dead trees, decaying vegetation, fading colors, dark clouds, dangerous mountain passes, rocky shores, raging waters, and tragic weather events. Frequently, our personal spiritual “world” mirrors the material one. We are more in-sync with stress and turmoil than we are with peace and order.

Religion has failed to bring order and grace. In fact, forced religious domination leads to oppression and cruelty. The justice system provides social and moral structure but does not make people moral. The Enlightenment failed to make people better, more peaceful, or kind as was proven by horrible war devastations throughout the 20th century. Science and technology raise ethical dilemmas. Moral relativism, cynicism, and disillusionment are tearing society’s fabric apart. Poverty, hunger, injustices, and violence are persistent and widespread throughout this world. Our wisdom, our knowledge, our understanding are limited and faulty. Try as we might, we can not bring our restless dysfunction to complete emotional and spiritual calmness or gentleness of spirit.

Why is there no peace? Why is there so much pain? The startling answer is that we are at to blame! We have good desires, but they have become corrupted, and destructive. The world would be going to sleep with full stomachs, and poverty would be nonexistent if not for greed. Willful, unrestrained, arrogant racism, radicalism, and demands for resources and power cause wars. Control would mean self restraint imposed by the Moral Code and not attempts to make right and wrong conform to what we want it to be. Pleasure would be pleasure if it were not for the excesses of lust which lead to debilitating behaviors and addictions and disintegrating personalities. We would experience self-fulfillment if it were not for unbridled selfishness that covers and mars the image God gave us. Our reasoning is limited at best and faulty at worst. We are unable to self-correct or avoid folly.

Some would say that our dysfunction is due to hurriedness, lack of human intimacy, fear, control loss, uncertainty, insecurity, or technology. However, we are disordered because we do not know God or perhaps even desire to know God as we should even though He is the Author of life and Creator of order! He is the One who holds the material universe together and balances the moral universe.

He brings grace and redemption to rebellion, love and mercy to justice, comfort and purpose to suffering, power to weakness, peace to pain, joy to tears, strength to humility, exaltation to lowliness, courage to fear, assurance to anxiety, endurance to faltering, truth to delusion, meaning to quandaries and conundrums, calmness to trouble spirits, confidence to desperation, forgiveness to folly, and eternal life to dying people.

Everything changes when God enters our circumstances. He intervenes and introduces order to our chaos if we allow Him to. Christ’s cross and resurrection assure us of that. Through His grace and mercy and our trust, we receive forgiveness and healing. By taking our sin penalty and giving us his righteousness, Christ realigns us with God’s good purposes and a meaningful life free from condemnation and fear of death. And then one day, there will be justice and restoration:

“Every valley shall be lifted up/and every mountain and hill be made low /the uneven ground shall become level/ and the rough places a plain (Isaiah 40:4).

The Same Boat!

In the distance, gulls vie for bait as they circle a lobsterman pulling his traps. In the foreground a party boat carries its passengers to a picnic. The photo captures a moment where markedly different lifestyles briefly intersect. An unnoticed man is toiling at back breaking work in a smelly old lobster boat as others are chatting and photographing each other while enjoying a leisurely ride in an almost identical but “spruced up,” private launch.

Circumstances, opportunities, preferences, resources, abilities, education, skills, and choices lead to many different ways we may live or are forced to live our lives. Despite the concept that both work and leisure were intentionally planned as God-given, good and pleasurable gifts for humanity, we delineate, label, and segregate each other by social and moral norms. Drawing on these norms, we develop images of who we believe we are, or who we would like to be, or who we want others to believe we are, or who we pretend to be! We minimize or inflate the importance of certain characteristics and behaviors. We categorize and put values on rich or poor, blue collar or white collar, scandalous or pristine, impressive or common, powerful or weak, educated or uneducated, and “local” or sophisticated. Our judgments spiral us into divisions, disappointments, envy, greed, biases, competition and arrogance, Status, wealth, power, intellect, beauty, philanthropy, and a moral lifestyle may give one a warped sense of inflated superiority and righteousness or by comparison diminish the self perceptions of those who have less or are more limited in these areas.

Jesus confronts us with a different view. He shows us a better way. There are no ethnic, racial, gender, geographic, socioeconomic or moral distinctions from God’s loving perspective. All souls are valued. Jesus noticed and encouraged the unnoticed…women, children, the poor and disadvantaged. He touched infectious lepers. He valued the immoral, forgave adulterers and prostitutes, and ate with tax collectors who were considered traitorous low life in the Jewish society of Jesus’ time.

Although we admit we have weaknesses and are imperfect, we are deeply offended at the suggestion that we are the sick and needy, that we are on par with the unclean lepers, immoral prostitutes, and offensive tax collectors, that we are the disconnected, the lost, the outcasts, the sinners in need of forgiveness regardless of our self made image, that we all fall short of righteousness and cannot save ourselves. We are those whom Jesus came to seek and save and willingly and wonderfully does so…because we are the deeply loved!

Although lifestyles may differ, our dissimilarities disappear as our manufactured, protective layers are peeled back to expose our naked core. Despite our efforts, all humanity has missed the mark of uncontaminated righteousness, of pure attitudes and behaviors, of love for God above all else and of love for neighbors as much as we love ourselves. Isaiah called us out when he said that self righteous efforts are like filthy rags in God’s eyes (Isaiah 64:6).

There are no social criteria, no righteousness requirements, no racial distinctions, no approval ratings to receive God’s mercy. There are only people to be loved and redeemed. The crucial element for us is personal belief, trust. Whether working on the lobster boat or riding in the party boat, we are all “in the same boat.” “Whosoever wills ” is welcomed into God’s grace because of Christ’s righteous sacrifice on our behalf.

Pleasures Now and Forever?

The Catch, the Joy of Lobstering, Sullivan, Maine

We were created as sensual beings with the capability and expectation that we should know the pleasures of our world. Experiencing pleasure comes in varied ways and forms: tastes, colors, styles, textures, books, art, recreation, music, ideas, and relationships. We have preferences but also enjoy others’ achievements and successes. We admire accomplishments, fulfilled aspirations, achieved goals, realized dreams no matter how small or grand. It might be a freshly baked cake, a newly mowed and manicured lawn, an artistic accomplishment, a negotiated deal, an ingenious idea, or just catching a lobster! We celebrate each other’s “pulled up by the boot strap” stories, victories over adversity and addictions, recoveries and wholeness after abuse, and resilience after suffering. Our pleasure may be felt with a simple self congratulation or by a widespread, shared, exuberant joy. Properly experienced and expressed it becomes a manifestation of godliness.

Contrary to the belief of those who envision God as stern, distant, and judgmental, pleasure emanates from God. Scripture reveals that God appreciates His creation, loves its creatures, and responds to them in intellectual and emotional ways. He expressed His pleasure at the end of each original creative act and exclaimed His approval as he crowned His glorious work with humanity. “It is very good,” He said (Genesis 1:31).

God’s wonderfully creative, good pleasure became our blessings then. And God’s plans become our blessings now…a future filled with peace and hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

What pleases God? Redeeming us! Although man separated himself from God by marring the glory and messing up the environment given him, God has gone to the utmost extremes to redeem and restore His groaning creation and it’s suffering people. He has extended amazing grace and extreme mercy by touching humanity in Jesus, who came to “seek and save the lost.” Scripture tells us there is rejoicing in heaven when the scarred, wandering, and weary turn to Him and that ultimately all wrong will be made right.

What pleases God? Faith does! Scripture is clear that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:1,6).That makes sense. How can one be pleased with or relate to somebody who neither believes that you exist or that you are trustworthy if you do? Although faith involves a set of beliefs and confident convictions surrounding God’s character, knowing that God loves us graciously, mercifully, and without bias is the basis for trust. Jesus showed us that we can not be loved more.

What pleases God? To make us His children! “Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1) He sought us! He chose, purchased, atoned for, forgives, and restores us when we believe. We pray to Our Father who is in heaven. He is our powerful, present protector who shepherds our souls with good plans even through life’s fiery trials and raging storms. He nurtures us to spiritual health. He empowers us to resist evil and to move mountains with all heaven’s resources.

What pleases God? To bless us! To be with us. To give us the desires of our hearts! Scripture is rich with statements, exhortations, phrases, images and stories that address our inner desires which God grants us as we continue to ask, seek and knock on heaven’s door for the good gifts. Only good and all that is good is promised us from Him. Jesus talked about happiness. He called it being “blessed,” but did he get it right? Blessed by poverty not wealth? By mourning not joy? By mercy not revenge? By persecution not safety? These blessings come in our posture of dependence upon God, who in spite of our circumstances fills our spirits with love, joy , peace, grace, patience, self control, and generosity as he walks with us.

He desires to fill our lives with joy. The Psalmist not only opened his heart to this truth that God is the source of life’s pleasures but to the even grander, more magnificent possibilities with God: “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Psalm 16:11 (NLT2)

Jesus has shown us the way of and to life. He lived and taught and died so that our “joy might be full (John 15:11, 17:13). He promises that trusting him brings the joy of God’s presence and the expectation of life with Him forever. (John 14:6)

Is it Wash Day?

Whether by some personal, habitual imperative or by an impulse, it is wash day! Despite the fog, the laundry is clean and hanging out in fresh, soggy, salty air. Maybe optimism or urgency will force the sun to shine? But sun or no sun, the wash is done!

Clothing is a familiar biblical metaphor because God is in the laundry and cleaning business. He “neither slumbers or sleeps”, is open to our need 24/7, and doesn’t care what time of day, stage of life, or weather condition when we bring our dirty laundry to Him. In fact, he urges us to become clean at the moment of realization that we need forgiveness. (2Corinthians 6:2; Isaiah 45:22)

Garments are used as spiritual symbols for sin or righteousness depending on their dirty or clean condition. God invited Judah and Jerusalem to consider their sinful, oppressive injustices and lack of compassion and to be washed clean: “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. (Isaiah 1:16-20)

Israel needed God’s interventional scrubbing to make them clean, to make them righteous. Righteousness comes through the activity of God within men and women who respond to Him in repentance and belief. That is a foundational doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology. All self effort, all human “righteousness, is just like a bag of “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6-7) King David understood this as he invoked God to renew his spirit and “create a clean heart” within him. (Psalm 51:10)

We are capable of doing good things, being kind and just and generous and gracious and merciful, but from human hearts flow not only goodness but corrupt attitudes and behaviors which need cleansing. (Mark 7:21-23) Those thoughts are carried into the continuing redemptive story recorded in the New Testament where the early Church knew that “Not by works of righteousness that we have done but by his mercy he has saved us.” We miss the mark of righteousness and need Christ’s perfect, sacrificial intervention at the cross for us.

Jesus told his disciples that they had become clean or purified by responding to his message calling for belief and repentance. (John 3:16; John 15:1-4)(Luke 15:5) (Mark 1:15) The Apostle John recognized that redemptive process when he said that Jesus’ sacrifice (meaning the actual shedding of his blood to take our condemnation) atones, and “ if we confess our sins to (God), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:6-9)

Is it wash day? Every day is! Every moment of every day God is ready to do our washing. We just need to take it to Him.

The Plot

A photo captures a second and holds it still forever. It is a glimpse of an unfinished story without words or plot. The “because”, the “why” are left to our imagination.

In contrast, we live through vanishing seconds while searching for the plot of our incomplete but developing stories. From these fragmented experiences, we compose a picture of who we think we are, or who we want to be, or who we display ourselves to be. All the while we hide our brokenness behind the pages of our own making…our good deeds, our brilliance, our beauty, our status, our resources, our morality, our smiles.

Jesus entered time to help us grasp the true, glorious plot into which God wrote us at creation. We marred the story and our characters by attempting to control the narrative because we did not trust the Author’s intentions. Jesus helps us understand and deal with those realities, the ” why’s” and the seriousness of our brokenness and our need for redemption and restoration.

He is the Truth teller (John 18:37), the Seeker of the lost (Luke 19:10), the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), the Savior of mankind (1Tim 4:10), the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1Peter 2:25), and the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 5:9). He is the Alpha and Omega who knows the beginnings and the endings. He redirects the script and completes our stories with the best possible never-ending when we trust him to do so.

The Psalmist expressed it this way: “Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives,” and then we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23).

When the Light Changes…

A bright light shines between the thunder storm and the fog.

Experiencing life often seems like living within weather patterns. Our joy, our moments of contentment and security are caught between the abrupt and distressing, between storms and mysteries. We are vulnerable to relentless change, some of which is expected and good but frequently is surprising and unpleasant. We seek stability and look for excitement and adventure only when we want it. However, what happens is often not our choice because it turns dark and painful or mysterious. And when we look for meaning but hear and see only silence and emptiness, our default positions are hopelessness or “faith.”

We all live within the realm of “faith” when it comes to whether or not we believe in God. That thought raises the knotty question of whether there is an enduring, consistent Reality who providentially lights the way through our earthly experiences? The voices of nature, morality, intuition would suggest so. Revelation, and Jesus speak loudly in the affirmative.

God is a steadfast, unchanging reality: “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6a). His purposes are good (Isaiah 43:1). His Word is true and ” a lamp to guide (our) feet and a light for (our) path” (Psalm 119:105). Those qualities are established, eternal, and meaningful to us. Even when we do not understand fully, His character is consistent. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8) (Matthew 24:35). Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

Not only is He reliable, the Apostle John wrote that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). James describes God as the creator of all the lights in the cosmos but “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Daniel (of lions’ den fame) knew Him as one who reveals “deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light (Daniel 2:22). The Apostle Paul spoke of Him as living in “unapproachable” light, perhaps meaning that our imperfections do not allow us to approach His holy character apart from His mercy and grace (1Timothy 6: 15-16). Those thoughts speak to God’s omniscient, pure, dependable character and the reality of His just but grace and mercy filled purposes for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Justice and mercy are the reason He sent Jesus as “the light of the world.” He shows us our need and it’s cure and has begun righting the wrongs (John 8:12). “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… (The light) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:4-14).

During a recent visit to a children’s museum, I saw a sign that said “Hope begins where there is truth.” We can have full confidence in what is true. Jesus claimed to have come from the God who is true, that he is Truth and Life, and that one must come to God through him. (John 7:28; 14:6) He stated his mission: “I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true” (John 18:37).

Those claims should not be summarily dismissed but carefully considered because not only does Christ reveal God and our redemptive needs to us, he does something about it. He relates to us so deeply that he died for us and took the condemnation for our sins. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”(Romans 5:8). There could be no deeper love or act of love.

So, even when the clouds threaten with ominous rumblings or lingering doubts and questions roll into our minds and dim the light, God’s sovereignty and faithful goodness will sustain us. It is faith that taps into that power and guarantees His presence where His love is immeasurable and unwavering. (Hebrews 11:6)

The Psalmist lived in that light even in when surrounded by difficulties. He did not fight the darkness alone: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Psalm 46:1-3).

God’s promises are rock solid. His redemption is sure and eternal. A future with Him is forever. All honor, power, and dominion are His. He is unchanging Light.

Lighting the Way

Lighting the way at Prospect Harbor, Maine

The Psalmist considered God’s instructions and encouragements to be a blessing. They were true, not to be neglected, or rebelled against but were a “light” in a difficult and harsh world where he groped for meaning. They led to knowledge, understanding, wisdom and the power to live as God intended him to live —honoring God and his fellow humans in healthy, loving ways.

God’s words do that. They are amazingly impactful because they are “living and active” and so sharp that they judge the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. If we listen, they will confront us and then guide us into what is what is right and best.

They lead us to redemption.

May we experience that kind of a week!

(Psalm 119:105) (Romans 8:22; 12:1-2) (Hebrews 4:12)