A Mirror of Humility and Honesty

 Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  The simplistic answer to how to fix this view is Jesus. 

Throughout Jesus’ life and teachings we are being shown how to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God.  At the center of his teaching we find the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17 - 49).  In my opinion these passages contain Jesus’ primary teaching material.  When he would travel from village to village some form of this is what he taught.

There are many lessons to learn from these passages but it all starts with what we call  The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3 -12 & Luke 6:20 - 23).  This section is a difficult mirror to look into.  

When we look at ourselves through the mirror of the Beatitudes we see ourselves for who we truly are.

Pride and shame causes us to hide all our weaknesses and put on a veneer of having it all together.  Instead Jesus teaches us not to hide when we are poor in spirit, when we mourn, when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Jesus also teaches us to be meek, to be merciful, to be pure of heart and to make peace.  When we live out these qualities the culture around us will look down on us or persecute us.  These are perceived as weaknesses because our culture is based on selfish power.

Honesty and humility are the mirror that leads us to admit we have the qualities in our life.  Jesus holds this mirror up for us to look at ourselves.  We are blessed when we step out of our hiding place and expose ourselves to the LORD.  Instead of a life with ourselves a god we follow Jesus’ example letting go of our selfishness and obediently acknowledging the LORD as the true God! (Philippians 2:6 - 11)

It is a harder life to live but it is only way to live a blessed life!

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.

 Why do we need a new life with Jesus?

The simplistic answer is sin.

Sin is not just our willful disobedience of the LORD it is a simplistic way to describe the fallen brokenness of the world around us.  This fallen brokenness extends to all of our relationships.

Our relationship with the LORD is broken

Our relationship with ourselves is broken

Our relationship with others is broken

To understand how our relationship with ourselves is broken we have to go all the way back to the beginning again.  When Adam and Eve are in the garden not only was their relationship with the LORD perfect but their relationship within themself was perfect.  We understand this because pride and shame had not entered the world.

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  Pride causes us to believe we are above or better than others.  It also causes us to believe others should not have it as good as we do.  Pride is unhealthy competition and fuels our desire to win when there is nothing to truly win.  We see this when people disagree just to disagree or won’t admit when they are wrong or at fault.  Our prideful selfs love to point this out in others but the list of modern people guilty of pride is long and includes our own names.

Shame on the other hand is not guilt for sin but an uneasiness about our ownself.  Shame causes us to feel we are less than others.  When Adam and Eve felt shame about being naked nothing about them had actually changed.   Eve wasn’t ashamed of Adam and Adam wasn’t ashamed of Eve.  They were ashamed of themselves for being who they were created to be because their relationship with themselves was broken.

Shame is also what causes us to hide when we know we did wrong.  Adam and Eve hid from the LORD because they had disobeyed the LORD.  Instead of facing the truth and dealing with the consequences they hid trying to avoid what they deserved.

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  The simplistic answer to how to fix this view is Jesus.  A more complex answer is what we will explore next week.

Simplistic Answer to "Why we need Jesus?"

Why do we need a new life with Jesus?

The simplistic answer is “sin”

Sin is not just disobedience it is replacing the LORD as the God of our lives with ourselves as god.

In the beginning we see this with Adam and Eve.  In the beginning they were created in the LORD’s image.  (Genesis 1:27)  In the beginning they were obedient to the LORD.  They lived for a long time in the garden.

Sometime later the Devil tempted them to be like God. (Genesis 3)  In other words they could be their own gods.  Instead of choosing obedience and rejecting temptation they choose to take the fruit.  In doing so they tried to make themselves gods.  The sad fact is they were already like God being created in the LORD’s image.

In doing this they broke their relationship with the LORD.  In doing this their relationship with the LORD died.  This dead broken relationship has been passed down to us.  (Romans 5:12 - 20)

We are powerless to repair or resurrect this relationship; this is why we need Jesus!

The truth of this story is not that it happened once but that it happens everyday.  Everyday in our lives we have a choice.  Do we acknowledge the LORD is God of our lives or do we try to make ourselves god of our lives.

As a new year begins this is a great time to start a new relationship with Jesus through faith and baptism.  It is also a great time to renew your relationship with Jesus through confession.

Reflections from the Road

Reflections from the Road

During the Summer of 2010 our went on a cross-country family road trip.  During that trip I had a lot of time to drive, think and reflect.  The following are some my thoughts I wrote in the middle of that trip as a Family Life article.

“I have thought about how important it is to have a good map.  We have a large trucker map.  It is easy to read.  It has some good details.  This map in combination with a gps has made finding our way easy.   The map and gps have oriented us and given us the direction we needed.  The Bible does the same for us.  While it is not an exact map of our lives, as we read, study and meditate on the truth, we find in it we find direction.

On this trip we have stopped and visited friends along the way.  It is a long drive across this country and it was really nice to stop at a friend’s house.  It was nice to relax.  It was nice to eat real food.  It was nice to catch up with people I haven’t seen in a while.  The community or church we belong too are those friends along the way that help us.  We encourage each other.  We eat together.  We experience life together as we travel down the road of life.

Finally it is important to keep your eyes open and be aware of what is coming at you.  In Kansas City we had to dodge a bouncing tire coming our way down the highway.  If we hadn’t been paying attention our trip would have ended early!  There are distractions out there that cause us to stray from the direction the LORD is calling us to go.  With the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to overcome these distractions and keep our focus where it should be.”

#2 Cain and Able: Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11

Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11

Cain and Able

“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” - LORD God (Genesis 4.6 & .7)

Cain and Able are Adam and Eve’s first two boys. Cain works out in the fields. Able works with livestock. One day both of them bring an offering to the LORD. Cain just brings some of the fruit of the soil. Able brings the fatty portions of the first born. The LORD accepts Able’s offering because it is the choicest parts being sacrificed. While Cain’s offering is just normal everyday food. Cain is upset by this and the LORD warns him that sin desires to have him but he must master it. What a warning!

Now if the LORD spoke directly to me with a warning like that I think I would listen to him. If the LORD spoke directly to me every time my own evil desires were tempting I think I would listen. I think I would know better after some help like that.

But to often like Cain we ignore the warnings and walk through temptation and into sin. We knew better but went ahead. We knew the Holy Spirit was pulling us away but we did not control ourselves. We allowed sin to master us.

Self-control is not easy but I believe it is a defining characteristic of a follower of Jesus Christ. Self-control is about being self-aware and thinking ahead. When we master ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit then the LORD is our master not sin.

#1 Don't Follow god but Follow God

Don’t Follow god but Follow God
First in a Series of Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Narrator (Genesis 1.27)

“You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” - The Serpent (Genesis 2.4 &.5)

The truth of the first 11 chapters of Genesis is not just that they happened that they still happen. Each and everyday the same temptations, righteousness, sin and victory occur. We are given a choice. We can either follow god or the LORD GOD.
The Serpent tempts Adam and Eve in the garden with the idea that they can be like god knowing good and evil. They see this temptations as something they desire. The desire to be like god gives birth to sin. The sin to pridefully and selfishly be like god leads to death. This is a death of their, and our, relationship with the LORD GOD. Death of their life in the Garden. Death of the joy they were to experience. Death of who they were created to be. Eventually, their own deaths as they were cut off from the Tree of Life.
What they forgot was they were already like God. When the LORD GOD creates us He created us in His image and (wait for it) LIKENESS. We were already like God but we believed the Serpent’s lie! The lie that we can be like the god of our creation not the God of creation
We were created by the LORD GOD to be in His image and likeness. We will only find who we are truly created to be when we stop following god and follow GOD.