students of jesus

You know you’re really sick when the doctor does for you what you cannot do for yourself: you receive anesthetic, they cut you open and fish around inside your body, and later you wake up a changed man. That’s one kind of “healing.” It’s the kind none of us want, but sometimes need.

The other kind of healing comes when we visit the doctor’s office, receive advice or medicine, and go home to apply the remedy to ourselves. “Change your diet and lose some weight,” says the healer. Or: “Have this prescription filled and take the medicine until your condition goes away.”

In the first example our need is critical and we are powerless to effect the remedy ourselves. In the second, our need may be just as great, but we are able to participate in the change. A good doctor has the skill to heal the first way, but prefers to use the second. He knows change runs deep when we participate in the cure. Of course, God is a good doctor. Consider these instructions:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (2 Peter 1: 3-9)

Can you see the interplay between the two types of healing? There is a dynamic difference between what God alone can do and what we can do in cooperation with him. Both bring healing, and both are critical. A week of meditation on the difference between the two could transform our lives.

Have you ever been moved to an act of radical generosity? Really radical, say, like the woman who poured out perfume worth a year’s wages on Jesus’ feet?

Earlier this week two of my friends flew to Seattle, Washington. They paid extra for their luggage: two bicycles. Over the next few weeks they will ride those bicycles to Bar Harbour, Maine. The 4,100 mile ride will raise money for children in Kenya, providing one meal a day for children who are forced to choose between going to school or begging for food.

Who would give their summer for children they do not know? Who would engage in a radical act of physical courage to draw attention to others in need? Who would raise thousands of dollars in order to change someone’s life forever?

The answer is: Mark and Sarah Tiu. Husband and wife, Mark and Sarah Tiu ("Chew") have embarked on a crazy plan to change the lives of thousands. Can you imagine biking a hundred miles a day, crossing mountains and prairies, camping in the middle of nowhere all in order to show practical love? In my opinion you should read their story--better yet, in my opinion you should support them with your own radical act of generosity.

Wouldn’t it be a shame to stay married to the same spouse for a lifetime and not be changed by the process of sharing life together?  Or raise children for twenty years and fail to grow in patience, grace, and kindness? Our most important and personal relationships touch us deeply. We find ourselves transformed into different people. The rough edges rounded, the abrasive surfaces rubbed smooth: changed into our true selves.

And then there’s Jesus. Wouldn’t it be a shame to take the identity of “Christian” for most of our adult lives and somehow remain unchanged?

A marriage which does not impact our personality is no marriage at at. Raising children without experiencing vulnerability and risk is to fail at parenting. Friendship without open give and take is only a shadow of real relationship. Yet year after year we find ourselves in the same spiritual shape. While promoting a recent blog post I used Facebook to encourage others to visit this site. The “teaser” in my status update was this sentence: “Wouldn’t it be terrible to be forever forgiven, but always unable to change?” One of my Facebook friends responded with the comment, “That pretty well sums up my life.” How many of us could have posted the same comment?

Any true relationship carries the power to transform us at the deepest level. Do we have a relationship with Jesus, or an arrangement? For many believers he’s the one who paid the price for our sin, paved the way to eternal life--and the one who left the planet a long time ago. The average believer in North America knows how to appropriate the legal exercise of God’s forgiveness, but has no real expectation of becoming “conformed to the image of Christ.” (Romans 8: 29) Scriptural promises of transformation are pushed into the future, as if they will magically happen at the second coming.

I’d like to suggest three earth-bound agents of change God can also use in our spiritual lives. In marriage, family and friendships we find ourselves transformed by love, commitment, and constancy. These three pillars of human relationship can also become the means by which the Holy Spirit works in our lives.

Love: The reason I am less of a jerk after twenty-five years of marriage is simple: I love my wife and don’t want to purposely cause her pain. When I act selfishly toward my wife she pays the price. I witness first-hand the grief I cause and because I love her I determine to think of her before I think of me. I’m still a selfish man, but am I less selfish after twenty-five years of trial and error? The same can be true of my relationship with Christ. If Jesus is simply the Divine Defense Attorney who rescues me from hell, he has no claim on my life. If, however, Jesus is the passionate love of my life, I will joyfully conform my actions to those things which give him joy. This isn’t about following the Law, it’s about pleasing my beloved. Of course, the first question is--do I love him, or do I merely want to use his sacrifice?

Commitment: Insanity is hereditary--you get it from your kids! How many times in one day can a two year-old push you buttons? Why don’t we just walk that toddler to the front door and say, “That’s it, pal. I’ve had enough. You’re on your own!” Raising children comes with a twenty-year commitment to the unknown. We stick with our children when they drive us crazy. We continue to pour our lives into them even when they are ungrateful and egocentric. We remain true to them even when we don’t understand them, simply because we are committed to them. Commitment stands firm even when love wants to run and cry. If we learn commitment from raising our children, how much more will commitment serve us as a means of grace with God? Even when we feel He may be against us, commitment can hold us firm. Of course, the Almighty is no petulant child, but there are certainly times when we do not understand his actions. His commandments can run counter to our desires, but commitment can steady us until we come to our senses again and his wisdom. That commitment can also strengthen our resolve to order our lives around his priorities.

Constancy: Life is so daily. We do the laundry this week, knowing we will do it again next week. Repetitive tasks threaten to overwhelm our desire for whimsy and adventure. Yet those who neglect the everyday matters are regarded as immature and irresponsible. The constant parade of days and weeks, months and years builds faithfulness into our souls. Could we become like Tolkien’s hobbits: those quiet little folk demonstrated unseen reserves of strength. What if the everyday-ness of life reveals something of God’s grandeur? Our resolve to listen for his voice in the mundane, to sense his presence in the quiet of the house, to discover his faithfulness reflected in our meager faithful tasks can open us up to change at the deepest level. What if we are the hobbits of his kingdom?

Spiritual transformation begins with relationship. The real question whether our relationship with Jesus rises to the level of our most cherished human ones. No one should settle for marriage, family, or friendship without significance. Why should we settle for less with God?

I spent some time this morning looking for the verse that says “Nobody’s perfect.” I couldn’t find it. Now wait, I know you’re expecting the Sunday-school answer (“Jesus is perfect”) but before you click away to the next blog I want you to know I wasn’t thinking about Jesus. I was thinking about you and me.

What about it? Why aren’t you perfect?

The time-tested answer usually comes from verses like Romans 3:23 (“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”) or Paul’s creative use of the Old Testament just a few verses earlier at Romans 3:10 (“There is none righteous, no not one.”)  But I’m not asking about sin, God’s glory, or even righteousness. I’m asking about perfection.

The purpose of the Monday Memo is to provide a meditation for the rest of the week. May I suggest we could meditate on perfection without resorting to Cliches, chapter one, verse 29? Consider these startling verses:

• “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 48)  That Jesus--such a kidder!
• “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.” Philippians 3: 15 Apparently Paul was in on the joke.
• “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1: 4) James--Jesus’ half-brother--also inherited the family sense of humor.

These verses come from the New American Standard Bible. Clearly they got the translation wrong, along with the guys who did the King James Version. The New International Version suggests the word “mature” a couple of times, but even they didn’t feel comfortable changing Jesus’ words in the Matthew five. These verses (and others) are enough to send us running to our favorite commentary, but be careful--truth is that the scripture can shed a lot of light on the commentaries.

So here’s today’s meditation. It’s enough to last at least a week:

What is Jesus’ idea of “perfection?”
Why is his standard higher than that of the Scribes and the Pharisees?
Does God have expectations of those who claim to follow Jesus?
Could God be really be serious?
And me--will I settle for cliches, or meditate on mind-blowing inspiration from the scripture?

Sometimes you discover a treasure so rich and full that it must be shared. Today's devotional from Dallas Willard's wonderful Hearing God Throughout the Year should be a gift to the whole world. So I'm doing my part by sharing this treasure with the seven readers of this blog. In my opinion everyone should own this devotional classic:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8

From Hearing God Through the Year by Dallas Willard. ©2004 by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.