wisdom

We all want to be wise. We want the ability to make right choices. My kids attended a Vacation Bible School last week that had James 1:5 as its theme: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God…” There’s a connection between wisdom and our relationship with God.

So what keeps us from being wise? The same thing that keeps us from God: lack of humility, i.e., pride. Pride isn’t thinking that I know it all or that I know more than God. It’s merely thinking that I know more than someone else.

I’ve spent my life trying to know more than other people. It’s one of the reasons I try to read so widely. Knowledge in itself isn’t a bad thing. In Proverbs 8:12 wisdom speaks and declares that “I possess knowledge.” The problem is not in the knowledge itself, it’s when I use the knowledge as a shield or a weapon. It can become a shield, keeping me from getting to know someone else because I’m trying to prove that I know more than her/him. Or it can be a weapon that allows me to emerge victorious from an argument, but impoverished because I have lost the opportunity to listen and to learn from someone with a different perspective.

Pride severs relationships. It’s the cause of disunity. It quenches the work that the Spirit of Christ is seeking to do in and through his church. Pride doesn’t have to be all-encompassing to be destructive, it just needs to get between me and one other person.

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’" 1 Peter 5:5

persecution

Yesterday Dale preached on how the early church fled persecution in Jerusalem and as a result the gospel was carried to Samaria and even into Ethiopia. The day before, 10 members from a Christian aid organization were murdered in Afghanistan.

As I listened to the news reports today, I was outraged. I heard how members of this organization had left their own countries to serve the medical needs of a country in need. Some had raised their families there. But then I asked myself, what motivated them to serve and to give up dreams of comfort and prosperity in such a risky environment?

Even though the early Christians seemed to leave Jerusalem in the interests of self-preservation, they continued to take great risks for the sake of the good news. Samaria was a hostile place for Jews, yet the early Christians (all Jews at the time) went there, Philip preached, and as a result a whole town turned to Christ.

Where would I be willing to go to declare the good news? To my neighbor’s house? To the cubicle next to mine? To a family gathering with my anti-Christian relatives? Do I really believe that I have good news?

worshiping together

On Aug 1 we worshiped together with Foothill Covenant Church and Alum Rock Covenant Church. What happened?

We had a great time in worship. There’s something invigorating about worshiping with twice as many people as you have on a typical Sunday. And Foothill’s sanctuary is beautiful, a wonderful setting for re-telling, re-living, and re-creating God’s gracious work in and through us.

The kids made a bunch of money for LemonAid, raising money to bring fresh water to needy villages in Africa. And it was a beautiful day for lemonade and conversation on Foothill’s spacious front patio.

But the most important thing that happened was somewhat intangible. It was the bringing together of people with a shared mission, the mission of God in Silicon Valley. We tend to think of ourselves as islands of God’s light in a sea of secular darkness. It was good to realize that although our common mission takes on different expressions in our various church communities, we still have a common experience of God’s grace in Christ. Our light shines brighter when it shines together.

anti-

Yesterday a judge ruled the California ban against same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. This made headlines on a lot of the major media outlets. I’m not going to add my opinion to the many already out there. But yesterday I learned that Anne Rice has said she has left the Church (but she hasn't left Christ). Why? She wants to distance herself from a group that is anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-science, and anti-Democrat.

OK, I’m a little behind on my news, since Anne Rice made her announcement on her blog back in July. But I couldn’t help putting the two news items together. It’s disturbing to me, too, to have to be associated with a group that is defined more by what they’re against than what they’re for. Admittedly, the definition may be coming more from people with a bias against Christians than from people who know Christ. I hope this is a reminder to all Christians to define ourselves as Christ said we should be defined: “If you love one another, everyone will know you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NIRV)

thoughts on friendship 3

Imagine being friends with the President of the United States. Now imagine that he’s given you something important to do, something that he doesn’t want done by paid state functionaries, but by a trusted friend. How would you respond?

Jesus said that he calls us “no longer servants, but friends.” And he’s the King of the universe. Now he has some very important things for us to get done. Not that he’s abandoned us: “I am with you even until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Being present is a mark of a good friend.

thoughts on friendship 2

I was on a jury last week and after we finished deliberating on the case we were actually a little sad that we wouldn’t be spending more time together. We’d only known each other for a week, but we’d learned a lot about each other (listening to each other questioned in the jury selection process). Still, it had to do with more than knowing about each other. Somehow the mix of people was right: some were quiet, some were outgoing, some knew how to crack a joke at the right moment, some kept us resolutely on track. We respected each person’s contribution and worked together (through several disagreements) to achieve our common goal.

Sometimes we gain friends through circumstances, rather than our own intentions. This isn’t to say that such people aren’t friends. But something good can be gained. In a sense, that’s what the body of Christ is like. We don’t choose who is in the body of Christ, just as we don’t choose our parents or siblings. God places the members in the body as he chooses. But by being together over time, we can learn about each other and then learn to respect and even enjoy each other. And we can get some very good things done.

thoughts on friendship 1

This past week President Obama announced his selection of a nominee for the Supreme Court. In the fourth sentence of the AP news report I read, it said that Pres. Obama referred to Solicitor General Kagan as “my friend.”

Did Pres. Obama need to nominate a “friend”? What sort of friends are they? Did he friend her on Facebook? OK, that sounds pretty ridiculous, but on the other hand have they had deep heart-to-heart talks so that they have a connection of like-mindedness, support and loyalty?

I don’t know how he was using the term in this case, but I’m guessing that even the President of the United States needs friends in the same way that I need friends. Case in point: he has guys that he plays basketball with. And that’s comforting to me. I need to have people that I trust and with whom I’ve shared some of my life to give me truthful critique and caring support, or the weight of my responsibilities as a husband, a father, and a church leader will literally depress me. I doubt if Pres. Obama can share state secrets with his basketball buddies, but I’m sure they help keep him balanced. In fact he may have shared a different kind of “state secret” with them.

What are my “state secrets”, i.e., the secrets about the state of my soul? With whom do I share my state secrets? If I’m to stay internally balanced I need friends who know my state secrets. Those aren’t the sorts of things I’m going to share on Facebook. Those are the things that I’ll share with someone I’ve known for a while, with whom I’ve cultivated a friendship over time so that when the occasion comes s/he can be there for me. S/he will give me insight into the state of my soul, and pray for me and support me as the Holy Spirit does his transforming work (which is often painful).

I’m not great at developing and maintaining friendships. I guess I have a kind of ADHD about relationships. Somehow I let work and other things distract me. But I’m learning that if I don’t entrust my state secrets to friends, the state of my soul is in jeopardy.