Accepting The Best and the Worst in People

Even as an adult, I find children's books are so comforting to read. The bad guys are always bad.  The good guys are always good.  By the end of the book, evil is soundly defeated, and nobody is sorry when he (or she) is dead and out of the picture.

There is rarely this fuzzy grey area where the good guys do something so off the charts wrong that you recoil from the pages to say, "Woah.  I'm not sure you really are the good guy if you could do something like that"

Reality, though, isn't quite like that.  Humanity isn't at all like that.  People sold out to the cause of Christ and to doing a lifetime of good are still going to shock and disappoint us with actions that are the complete opposite of mercy, grace, and righteousness.

In Scripture, God tries to show us this truth through stories of amazingly righteous individuals who fall flat on their face into the tar pits of adultery, legalism, cowardice, lying, murder, and everything in between.

Even those listed in the spiritual hero hall of fame of Hebrews 11 are far from completely righteous.  These individuals sprinkled throughout the pages believed God, demonstrated their faith time and again in the fruit of their actions....and then they would do something so obviously immoral that we must pause, maybe even question their commitment to God.

We easily remember David who murdered one of his subjects after having an adulterous relationship with the man's wife. We remember Abraham who lied twice, telling both a neighboring king and a pharaoh that his wife was his sister.

Somehow, though, in reading the story of Queen Esther, I have always thought of her as some devout little Jewish girl, one bubble of light growing up in the dark paganism of Susa in Babylon.

Anyone who would say "And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish" and then act on those words to potentially sacrifice her life in order to save all Jews had it all together, surely (Esther 4:16).  And so, I mentally put her in the "righteous" column while firmly placing Hamaan, King Xerxes, and the rest of the pagan citizens of Babylon into the "unrighteous" column.

Never did I once consider that no matter how hard Esther's adoptive parents tried to instill in her heart the Jewish ways of faith in Yahweh alone, perhaps Esther wasn't so lily white.  Perhaps she had materialistic longings like other young girls in Babylon--to be rich, to be loved by the king...maybe to even be queen.

In Angela Hunt's newest book Esther: Royal Beauty, she begins with this assumption that young Esther heard the siren's song of Babylon with all its worldly beauty, color, an pageantry.  Calling her by her Jewish name--Hadassah--she fictionalizes the Bible story through first person narrative, presenting parallel, intertwining stories told through the lips of both Esther and the King's head eunuch, Harbonah.

Hunt's book begins, "You may think you know me, but how could you? Others have related my story, and most of them paint a pretty picture. But unless a woman is allowed to speak for herself, no one will ever fully understand the events of a lifetime..and the secret recesses of a woman's heart" (p. 7).

From page one, she challenges the vision of Esther presented in the popular movie One Night with the King, instead, presenting a more complex girl who struggles to come to terms with the Jewish faith of her childhood and the strong lure of the world of Babylon.

Unlike the Esther held up on a pedestal in my mind, Hunt's Esther is more real.  She is one I can relate to.  She is a girl who wants to be true to God and the tenets of her faith but who, likewise, wants to be a part of Babylon, too. 

In a way, Esther must confront the choice presented in Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.."  

Esther must choose the world of the flesh or the world of the Spirit.

As Paul says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please" (Gal. 5:16-17).

Paul's words seem so easy--Just. Choose.......only it's not as simple.  The fight against the flesh is a life-long endeavor called sanctification.  We will not be free from sin, from this battle against unrighteousness, until we leave behind this life and enter the next realm.

These Bible-time heroes of the faith are as equally human as our modern day heroes of the faith.  When they sin and become mired in their unrighteousness......and when we sin and become mired in our unrighteousness--may we come alongside them in love, extending mercy and grace as we would have them do to us.

Not even the Godliest man or woman has arrived at perfection yet.

Whose Thought Just Went Through My Head?

The word was never used, but the diagnosis was terminal.  Our soft-spoken musings and uncertainty was hushed by a new scan that revealed a shot-gun blast of tumors throughout her body.  There would be no miracle, only a few weeks to get her affairs in order, ensure her heart was right with God, and manage the pain as best as modern medicine can.

Little family. No children. No real property to speak of.  Just four cats, her babies.

Her one request was that her cats all go to good homes.  It's the irony of death's immediacy--only when there's nothing else we can do for ourselves do we turn thoughts completely outwards, towards what we love most.  On her death bed and in tremendous pain, she worried most about her fluffy children being separated, voiced a desire for them to be kept together.

When my mother told me the news, my gut reaction was insta-pessissism.  It would be hard enough to find a new home for four individual cats, much less all four to one owner.  I envisioned her pets going off to the pound, thought of looking up no-kill shelters in the area.

The problem was I had met and loved on at least two of these cats.  One was a stocky deep-chocolate Siamese who liked to head-but you for attention while his motor rumbled as loud as a truck on the highway.  Then, there was the Persian-like dreamsicle cat with his unruly locks and sweet yet shy disposition.

The next afternoon as I stood waiting at the end of the driveway after school for my oldest son's bus, my mother-in-law stood beneath the front live oak, her crouched over and weeding/pruning something in anticipation of Spring's arrival.

She spoke over her back at me about seeing a mouse scampering across the yard.  Then, the words moved towards her thoughts of getting more cats.  Did I know where she could get some?

On a farm, the ebb and flow of barn cats is inevitable.  Sometimes, there are several litters.  Then, those litters succumb to age or the coyote's prowl, meet their end by the yellow and white line running past our house, or simply disappear.

As I stood there and counted, I realized that over the past year, the farm had lost exactly four cats--the nearly-mummified Susie, the orange twins Taffy and Caramello, and the ever-elusive Tuxy who preferred my daughter to anyone else. God had taken away four good mousers and I knew of four more cats looking for a together home.

My mother in law was thrilled.  Yes, she'd take them all.

In my own fleshly desire to be appreciated, to feel important, I would love to take credit for thinking of the dying lady's four cats when my mother-in-law asked that out-of-the-blue question.  My mother could just as easily take credit for being the one who thought to tell me the cats' plight in the first place.

But we all know better. 

God caused my mother to remember to tell me of a problem she couldn't fix on her own.  God then caused my mother-in-law to have that desire in her heart to find feline replacements...now, not later.  And God caused me to remember one of a million tidbits of information that flows through my cerebral cortex each day.  We were merely tools in the master's hand.

The more of Scripture I read, the more I wonder how many thoughts are actually mine and how many are implanted by the Holy Spirit working within me for the glory of God the Father.

Scripture records numerous instances of this happening.  For instance, in the latter half of Ezekiel, the prophet tells of a coming battle wherein the Chief Prince of Gog and his allies will come up against a peaceful Jerusalem: "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages.  I will go against those who are at rest...'" (Ez. 38:10-11).

The Chief Prince of Gog will believe he has dreamed up this plan to attack an unprotected Israel and to seize its spoils.  Yet, God says a few verses later, "Thus says the Lord God...I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog" (Ez. 38:14,16, my italics).

Although man thought the idea initiated within his mind, the germ of that idea actually began in the mind of God.  The reason?  To sanctify His holy name, to glorify Himself, and to make Himself known to the entire world.

The same type thing happened with Assyria, which God used to judge Israel for its sin.  In The Message Bible, God says that Assyria is a "weapon of my anger. My wrath is a cudgel in his hands!  I send him against a godless nation,  against the people I’m angry with.  I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them. But Assyria has another agenda; ...Assyria says, ‘Aren’t my commanders all kings? Can’t they do whatever they like?’” (Is. 10:5-11).

Much like the Chief Prince of Gog, Assyria's movements were controlled by God.  Here, though, Assyria does not acknowledge its submission to God's will.  Instead, Assyria is puffed up, arrogant, asserting that it is acting of its own free will.  

God makes it clear that such arrogance will be punished: ^" When the Master has finished dealing with Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he’ll say, “Now it’s Assyria’s turn. I’ll punish the bragging arrogance of the king of Assyria, his high and mighty posturing, the way he goes around saying, ^'I’ve done all this by myself. I know more than anyone. I’ve wiped out the boundaries of whole countries. I’ve walked in and taken anything I wanted.'  Does an ax take over from the one who swings it? Does a saw act more important than the sawyer? As if a shovel did its shoveling by using a ditch digger! As if a hammer used the carpenter to pound nails!" (v. 12-16).

Assyria, Gog--they were both tools in God's hand to ultimately sanctify and glorify His holy name before the entire earth.

God says something similar later in the book of Isaiah when He prophesies of King Cyrus long before he is ever born:

"Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings...:'I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;...I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these" (Is. 45:1-7).

Here, The whole point of God guiding Cyrus' actions was so "men" would know that He is the Lord.  It's the same concept--to glorify His name and cause others to know Him.

Later, as Isaiah prophesied, Cyrus did send the Israelites home to their land and support their building a new temple: "He [Cyrus] will build My city and will let My exiles go free, Without any payment or reward" (Is. 45:13).  But, though Cyrus' hands did the freeing, the idea began in the mind of God.

No, I can't mesh together the concept of free will with the idea of God directing my thoughts and actions, but I do believe Scripture to be true, and when both opposing points seem to be true, I must trust God's heart and simply realize that my human thoughts are just not high enough to understand how the seemingly incongruent thoughts really are congruent.

Still, what these passages do clearly tell me is to ward against personal arrogance.

That wonderful idea we had to do _____ or create _____? That spur-of-the-moment decision we made to go _____ or visit _____?  It may not have been our thought at all. Rather, the idea may have initiated in the mind of God...to fulfill His purpose of glorifying His holy name, of causing the whole world to know Him.

One day when I get to heaven, I expect to be shocked at how many ideas I thought to be my own brilliance were actually God's ideas implanted in my mind.

This is a call to humility, to remember that the mightiest of the mighty in Scripture were merely hammers, axes, and saws in God's hand.  God forbid we become puffed up with pride over our own intellect and actions.

It's all about pointing the way to Him, not to ourselves.

Being a Sign to Others: When Your Family Doesn't Celebrate Christ in Christmas

A single day remains before we gather round friends and family to celebrate Christmas Day.  Most of us have plans of exchanging gifts as well as shared meals, laughter, and joy.

We will linger long over pie and coffee, say our good bye's more than once before we finally tear ourselves away from each other and part ways, all knowing that these few precious moments may be the only ones throughout the whole year when we will sit in the same room as our loved ones.

Perhaps some of these friends and family do not celebrate Christ's birth, deny his deity, or simply  deny Him as master over their lives.

We know they are lost, that need to claim Him as Savior and Lord.  Yet, we don't want to beat them over the head with the gospel each time we meet together, especially when they have heard the Word of God and have made it clear to us they don't want us "preaching" to them.

What can we do? When we are given this opportunity to meet with them face to face, one that we may not have for another 365 days.  Or maybe never again.

Do we hold our tongue? Hesitate to mention Christ at all because we fear offending others?

I'm not advocating starting a confrontation or family feud at your Christmas gathering.  Yet, a Christian can still use the opportunity to act as a sign to others.

The book of Ezekiel takes place approximately 593 years before Christ's birth.  In its pages, the Lord makes Ezekiel mute unless the prophetic word comes directly from above and out his human mouth.  Ezekiel's very life was to be a sign to others through his actions.

Honestly, Ezekiel's actions seem really odd.  Even to those in his day when allegories and living metaphors were more easily understood, I'd be willing to bet he got some really strange looks and his name mentioned more than once behind closed doors.  Still, he obeyed God and lived his life as a sign.

For example, in Chapter 4, Ezekiel creates a model of Jerusalem, builds a siege wall, and begins using battering rams against it.  As the Lord says, "This is a sign to the house of Israel" (v. 3).

Later, the Lord says, "Load the baggage on your shoulder in their sight and carry it out in the dark.  You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel" (Ez. 12:6).

In both instances, Ezekiel uses his life, his actions as a testimony concerning Jerusalem's pending destruction at the hand of Babylon.

Several chapters later, God takes Ezekiel's wife but commands him not to mourn her death.  The Lord says, "Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done you will do; when it comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God" (Ez. 24:24).

The chapter ends with God telling Ezekiel he will regain his ability to speak when the prophecy of Jerusalem's destruction is fulfilled and captives come from Jerusalem: "On that day, your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and be mute no longer. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord" (v. 27).

And in those two preceding verses is the key to why Ezekiel's actions are so important--you will know that I am the Lord God.

Ezekiel's actions were to act as a sign for all others to see in the hopes that they would see the truth, turn from their wickedness, repent, and truly know Him as their Lord.

Likewise, our family and friends need to see Christ in us who claim Him as Savior and Lord.

Even if we never open our mouths to speak one word of Scripture to "preach at" them, on Christmas day and throughout the year, our family should be able to see Jesus in our actions, hear our personal love for Jesus always spilling from our very lips.  When asked about our past year, we should be prepared to give God the glory for all He has done, all He has brought us through.

Even if our families won't listen to the plan of salvation, we are still given an opportunity to share Christ with our very lives, our words, our gestures.

It's an opportunity on Christmas Day and every other day of the year.  It is a lifestyle of godliness, holiness, and purity to point a lost World to Him who can save them.

We must decide.  Are  we prepared to be a sign to others?  Are we prepared to live a life that testifies to the entire world that God does require a different standard of living?  Are we willing to make that level of commitment?

Or will we simply compromise when our friends ask us to, stay completely silent for the sake of political correctness?