Does God have the Right To Choose His Character?

We live in a world consumed by our rights. We have groups that have fought for their rights because they needed to. We have groups that think they are entitled to special rights, but are not. We have movements, seminars, discussions, arguments, legislation, protests and all manner of things, all about rights. Why?

Because we are a people that love self-determination. We want what we believe should be ours.

That concept also bleeds into our character. We believe that we have the right to be and do whatever we want to do. And to an extent we are correct. God gives us the right of self-determination. We choose our character, He does not force it on us. The rub comes when we arrive at the point that we believe whatever character we choose should be approved and celebrated by God. Much like the rights we fight for, where we believe that everyone should agree that we are correct in pursuing these rights.

There are really two issues that we have to deal with when it comes to our character.

1) Who determines the standards for our character?

2) Who do we answer to for our character?

Our character is our choice, and we are accountable for how we act. As children, we were accountable to our parents, to teachers or coaches. As we got older, we became less accountable to parental authority and moved into the work world where we were accountable to managers and company executives. As children we are more intimidated by authority figures, there is more of a powerless feeling. As adults we bristle against authority figure, complain about our bosses, yell at our bosses and quit our jobs… wait, that does sound like a child doesn’t it?

If we get right down to it, we never really have liked people telling us what to do. We, either in rebellion or in maturity, want to have the right of self-determination.  Further, we want what we believe to be our standard, accepted and approved by others. If we want to have an affair, who’s to say we are wrong. If we want to show prejudice and hate, nobody has the right to tell me I am wrong. If I believe that everyone should like a particular presidential candidate, then everyone who disagrees is stupid or isn’t thinking.  So… we love self-determination.

Unfortunately, we take this a little too far when we project this onto God. If you have watched the news, you have seen the group from Kansas who carries signs that say “God hates fags”, and other groups who say that God “does not send anyone to hell”, and yet other groups who say that God is love and there is no such thing as sin. I always find it interesting when people try to speak for God, as if they have the authority to set God’s character.

God has spent ages revealing Himself, consistently and openly. His people have written it down, recorded His works, scribed His words. God is perfectly capable of revealing Himself… just like you and I do with people that we love and want to know us. God has the right of self-determination. If He has said that only people that believe in and receive Christ into their life can go to heaven, then that is what He has determined to be the standard to get into His heaven. If I were to walk up to you and demand the keys to your house, what would you say? (be nice…) Why would you refuse?  Because it is your house and I have no inherent right to live there. Heaven is God’s, He has every right  to determine who gets in and who doesn’t. We love to exert our right of self-determination, we just don’t like to give it to others… especially God.

Allowing God to express His character and His ways, is a matter of humility. I have to recognize God’s position, His power and His place… above me.  I cannot “tell” God who He will accept or approve of… what sin He doesn’t care about or what isn’t sin at all…what I can act like. In fact, taking the position that I can “tell” God that having sex outside of marriage isn’t wrong because everyone is doing it… well think about it, “God, I’m going to have sex with this girl, and not apologize for it”.  Wow.  I’m sure that God has been put in His place. This is the height of…Arrogance?  Selfishness?

The church and the Christian community has in large measure lost the value of humility. We don’t see it as a virtue, as a character trait that is desirable. We believe that real strength is in self-determination, well, only our own self-determination. We have fights in church because we value our right to determine our preferences of music or Bible version or temperature of the building… and everyone better agree with us. That is not strength, that is being in the flesh. If we want strength, spiritual strength, then we must be humble. We have to be willing to allow God, to be God. To recognize His right to determine His character.

“Lord, forgive us where we have overstepped our bounds, and not been humble. Help our hearts to want to know you for who you are, not who we say you are or want you to be. Help us to respect you for being Holy. You are wonderful in all your ways, although we do not fully understand all you are and everything you do… we love you.  We don’t need to know it all to know that you are a great God, indeed Lord, increase our faith to trust you.”

More Character, Less Reputation (Part 2)

As I was writing my last post on Character or Reputation, a thought came to mind that I tucked away for a part two. There is a lot of discussion about this topic today, with “character” education in our schools, sensitivity training in our workplaces and the homogenization of faith systems and their codes of conduct in society, we wonder what counts as character, Godly- Christlike character, and what is really just fluff.

Having a reputation is something talked about in many ways today. Reputation could be the “gossip” about a celebrity. Reputation could be the act you put on for other people so they will think well of you. Reputation could be your online persona, filled with lies and grand ideas of who you would like to be, but are not. Brad Paisley wrote an awesome song called “Online” that captures the idea of  loving someone you would like to be, a reputation you would like to have, but aren’t…

I work down at The Pizza Pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I’m five foot three and overweight
I’m a sci: fi fanatic, mild asthmatic
Never been to second base
But there’s a whole ‘nother me
That you need to see
Go check out Myspace.

‘Cause online I’m out in Hollywood
I’m six foot five and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati, I’m a black belt in karate
And I love a good glass of wine
It turns girls on that I’m mysterious
I tell ‘em I don’t want nothing serious
‘Cause even on a slow day I can have a three-way chat
With two women at one time.

I’m so much cooler online
I’m so much cooler online.

It is one thing to have a healthy desire to be better than you are and to want to be smarter, thinner, taller, wealthier… but there is a line we cross when what we want to become overtakes who we really are.

Here is something to think about…

Reputation is what we love about ourselves

Character is what God loves about us

To some that may seem a little overdone. God loves us faults and all, that is true. But God does not always like what we do nor does He put His stamp of approval on just any act or thought we have. Reputation is loving us for what we believe will gain us advantage or favor with others- i.e. If I was thinner, more people would look my way, if I was only funny more people would like me- and then we try hard to be that person. Not necessarily because it is who we truly are or who God wants us to be, but because we would love ourselves more if we were like that…

Another thought…

The first commandment was to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The second was to love our neighbor as ourselves… not impress our neighbor, catch our neighbors eye, not fool our neighbor about who we are… love them as we love ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us loathe ourselves, not because we lack Godly character, but because we feel that our reputation does not match up to what the world expects or at least the little group of people that we want to like us. I can’t love my neighbor if I loathe myself and I can’t really love God the way I should either.

What this boils down to is a question- “who are you really trying to make happy?” Be honest. The answer can be telling. For most of us, we have to admit, much of what we do, and say, has to do with how other people will receive us. For me, I am an extrovert, talkative, love a good laugh… and have been in public speaking for nearly 20 years. So yes, I am very aware of how people respond to me. And yes, I have been guilty of letting people’s response to me to drive what I say or how I say it. And each time it happens, I don’t like it. I want to be more aware of what God is wanting from me each day. It’s not the “What would Jesus do” thinking. It is simply realizing that I want to make God happy, and that comes when the fruit of the Spirit, the true character of Jesus flows through my life.

This isn’t deep theology or pop psychology, it is a love relationship, the kind where I want my wife to be happy with me because I love her and show her that I love her everyday, not because I can impress her by flexing my muscles. The kind of love relationship where I love my kids by doing what is best for them, and consistently disciplining them to help them grow up, not buying them everything they want and letting them do whatever they want so they will like me. This kind of character is deep, rooted in our relationship with God, not shallow and hallow reputation that can go away in the blink of an eye.

More character, less reputation. More love, less lust. More compassion, less judgment. More help, less well wishes. More giving, less talking. More encouragement, less criticism. More sharing, less taking. More God, less us.

Character or Reputation?

I was combing through some old files the other day and ran across this, I don’t remember where I got it or who wrote it, but it struck me as something that in this day and age we need to be reminded of…

Do You Have Character or a Reputation?

Reputation is seeming; character is being.

Reputation is manufactured; character is grown.

Reputation is your photograph; Character is your face.

Reputation is what men say you are;

character is what God knows you are.

Reputation is what you need to get a job;

character is what you need to keep it.

Reputation is what comes over you from without;

character is what rises up within.

Reputation is what you have when you come to town;

character is what you have when you go away.

Reputation is what is chiseled on your tombstone;

character is what the angels say about you

before the throne of God.

When I think about the situation that I am going through now, as we make our transition to a “new” place. I will meet new people and encounter new opportunities to live out my Christian life. As I do this, will I encounter people hoping that they will be impressed by the reputation I have or will I allow the character of God to show through?

What is the difference? If I can take some literary license from the quote above..

*  Reputation is what I want people to think of me, character is who God wants me to be…

This is the issue that so many of our politicians and leaders find themselves in today, they are more interested in the latest poll than what is right or good or holy. But before we feel all smug, we need to take a good look in the mirror- is that us as well. Do we laugh at jokes that God would not find funny, just to fit in? Do we want to be liked so much that we will work the gossip mill, so that others won’t think we are a prude?

* Reputation is word around town, character is The Word working in your life…

So if everyone likes you, that is really good?  Well if you are running for office it may be, but not if you want to live a Christian life.  Why you might ask? Doesn’t Jesus call us to be nice to everybody and make a good impression? Yes, but also remember Jesus’ words- “if they hated me, they will hate you”. The only group of people that the Bible describes as wanting the approval of everyone was the Pharisees. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be classified with that group. If I live a Godly life, I can expect some push back from the world. The evil in this world will not like it, and it will show through in the disapproval of some people. If there is one thing that I have learned in almost 17 years of ministry- there is no such thing as pleasing all the people, so quit now and live to please God.

* Reputations change with our circumstances, character is consistent

As I have gone through this last 7 months or so with my family being in financial difficulty, God has shown me that stress is a symptom not a cause of my circumstances. Often we blame “what I am going through” for a lack of Christ-like character. Yet God is not looking for a convenient excuse, in fact He is not impressed with excuses. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin that said, “I have never met a man who was good at making excuses, that was much good at anything else”. If your reputation is good when things are going good (I give when I have extra money, I attend church when I have time, I serve when it is convenient…), then your doing is not based on Christ-like character, it is merely the work of the flesh, doing what you want to do. Character does what it is supposed to do, and more, because it is motivated by a love of God first and foremost (Jesus said that loving God is the first and greatest of all commandments)

* Reputations take work to maintain, character flows from who you are

Do you know people that have to lie or comment or go somewhere or see a movie or like a group or don;t like a person or (fill in the blank) because it makes them look better in the eyes of those they are around at the moment?  Reputations have to be maintained because they are based in the moment and are motivated by the people that are around or the situation that is happening. That takes work. That takes manipulating the moment and keeping up with what you said earlier. Your life, your life of living with Jesus coming through, should flow. You can’t manipulate Holy Spirit living, you have to let it flow. The reason many Christians struggle is that they try to take the same approach to Christian living as they do to the office- “have to say the right thing, have to be in the right place, etc”. You can’t manipulate your way through the Christian life- you will be miserable.

No endearing words as we close, just think to yourself, or better yet ask God, “Lord, do I have a reputation or do I truly have Christ-like character?”

People Matter

Are We Missing the People of our Mission?

When was the last time you were in a store somewhere or at the mall or on a highway or at your office building… and just noticed all the people.

One of the interesting things that I see in the gospels about Jesus is that He noticed the people. He didn’t miss anybody. From the woman at the well by herself to the blind man on the side of the road to the mass of people following Him, He noticed them all. That is really contradictory to the way that we live today. We drive, by ourselves to our workplaces where most of us sit at a desk, by ourselves, then go home and shut the door so that we can have some privacy. No one better knock on our door or call us on the phone and disturb our solitude.

If Jesus were walking in your life, how would He engage your world? Would he carpool to be with others? Would He be the one to bring snacks to the office so that He could converse with His co-workers? Would He walk his dog in the neighborhood and attend block parities to meet His neighbors? Would He be involved in aerobics at the gym? Would He become a regular at a restaurant to get to know the people there by name? Would He attend the office Christmas party (read John 2)?

These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves. But the one question I constantly hear from people is “Where would I find the time to do church and be on mission?”. That is the real beauty of the incarnation of Jesus. He stepped into the world and walked in it. Look at His life and think about His lifestyle. Did Jesus attend the synagogue? Yes, by all indications He regularly attended synagogue as an observant Jew. He worshipped and yet through the activities of His life, He encountered the lost and the hurting.

We can live the same kind of life, if we would do it with purpose and with mission. I have heard and read some emerging church critics talk about how they no longer worship in an “institutional” church and how church activities are a drain on our time to live the mission. I couldn’t disagree more. Our worship and discipleship growth are a key to empowering us for the mission that we will live. Reading one blog, the writer said that he skipped church one day and went to the park, only to discover that a lot of people weren’t at church. Well, what a revelation (note extreme sarcasm). Those same people who are at the park on Sunday are also at your workplace on Tuesday, in your favorite store on Friday, in their front yard on Monday, at the baseball field on Saturday and at the PTA meeting on Thursday. You don’t need to skip worship and discipleship and fellowship to encounter lost people, you just need to live life.

The mission is the people. The missionary is you. The missionary needs to be equipped, empowered, energized and experience the fellowship of the church so that they can engage in the mission of reaching the people that they encounter on a daily basis. To be like Jesus, an authentic follower of Christ, means that we will worship, we will learn and we will fellowship with the church and we will engage the world in mission wherever we go. This is not an “either or” but a “both and”. We need to worship with other believers. We need to study together and pray together. And we need to engage the world in mission and be out among those who need Christ.

Thanksgiving reflections?

A man opens the door for a lady, she thinks to herself “now there is a real gentleman, I wish there were more like him in the world”… as she walk by him, he thinks to himself “well your welcome I guess, you could have at least said thanks. I wish people were more grateful.”  What’s the problem here?  No communication.

Thanksgiving is a time that we set aside to be thankful, not merely reflect on our blessings. A reflection is something that, according to Webster’s is, “a thought occurring in consideration or meditation.”.  We often reflect on our blessings- every time we appreciate that paycheck we just received, when we get that timely hug from our spouse or an answer to prayer arrives. We reflect, we think about how blessed we are and how good life can be, but we have yet to enter into thanksgiving.

The Biblical understanding of thanksgiving is not just a thought or realization that we are blessed. My wife can bless me, as she often does, and I can think to myself “I am one fortunate man to have such a wonderful wife”… and that is alright. But if I want to really be thankful, I will tell her (and need to more often), “honey, I love you and I am really blessed to have a wonderful wife like you.”  Too sappy for you? Well, let’s just say, that the sap is never too sweet for her because she gets to hear from the person that she is loving, that her love, her effort to show love toward me, is noticed and appreciated.

Thanksgiving is only thanksgiving when it is given- expressed and communicated. Thanksgiving can be spoken, it can be written, it can be expressed in action, it just cannot be silent. Never (and if you are a spouse in particular) ever assume that someone knows you are thankful and grateful. I am a country music fan, and the lyrics to a Blake Shelton song come to mind here. In his song ‘She Wouldn’t Be Gone” he is regretting the fact that he didn’t express his love to his girl more often, and now she has left.

Red roadside wild flower if I’d only picked you
Took you home set you on the counter
Oh, at least a time or two
Maybe she’d thought it through.

Yellow sunset slowly dipping down in the rear view
Oh, how she’d love to sit and watch you
I could have done that a whole lot more
If I hadn’t been so stubborn, been so selfish
Thought about her more, thought about me less
Joked and made her laugh, held her when she cried
A little more that.. maybe I…

Wouldn’t be driving like hell flying like crazy down the highway
Calling everyone we know stopping any place she might be
Going any place she might go beating on the dash
Screaming out her name at the windshield tears soaking up my face
If I had loved her this much all along, maybe maybe, yea maybe…
She wouldn’t be gone.. she wouldn’t be gone..

His mistake? He assumed she knew. He assumed that he didn’t have to express love and appreciation. And because he assumed, he paid for it.

Does God assume that you are thankful… or does He know it?

Does your spouse know that you are thankful… or do you just assume they know you are?

If you have not said it, written it or expressed it in real action, do not assume that they just “understand”.  The Bible says that in worship, we are to come into God’s presence with thanksgiving. We are to come into God’s presence expressing our gratitude for things that God has done- past, present and future. 

I can always find something to complain about– always. But complaining only expresses my frustration that things are not going the way that I want them to go (major emphasis on the “I”). Thanksgiving is just the opposite, it focuses on what others have added to you. That means you need to be humble enough to recognize that I need others, that others bless me, that others add to me, that I would have less and be less if it were not for others. Thanksgiving reflects a heart that is humble enough to say “thank you, you bless me and I appreciate it”. If you have problems saying thank you, you might want to check your pride meter- you are running a little too high.

This Thanksgiving, find ways to express your gratitude- in small ways and big ways. Don’t assume your wife, family, employer, friends or anyone else knows that you are thankful for them. Say thanks to those in your life that have been a blessing to you. Remember however to start with God, James 1:17 says “every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes from the Father of lights”. 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good”- Psalm 107:1