Tag: The Christian Life

How You Respond To Adversity Matters

The first century Stoic writer, Seneca, made this comment about Christians:  “In the midst of the flame and the rack, I have seen men not only not groan, that is little; not only not complain, that is little; not only not answer back, that is too little; but I have seen them smile, and smile with a good heart.” Seneca was not a Christian, but he was watching Christians and he noticed a difference.

There is something to be said for style in enduring adversity.  I blogged on this point some time ago in relation to the martyrdom of Polycarp. The Apostle Peter said trials give the Christian the opportunity for demonstrating the “proof of your faith.” (I Peter 1:6-7).  The quote from Seneca above shows that that proof is not just for the believer but also for non-Christians who are watching.

Next time you are going through a tough time, remember that others are watching you. You are an ambassador for the kingdom of God and it’s King, Jesus.  What proof will you give them of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you? GS

Pee-Wee Herman Speaks Truth

“You don’t want to get messed up with a guy like me.  I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.”  These are the words of Pee-wee Herman, spoken in his Oscar-worthy performance in the classic drama, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. The line is funny because it drips with irony and is delivered dead-pan by the innocent man-child in the gray suit and bow tie.  Though not intended as such, the line is also Truth.

We (Pee-wee included) are all rebels, and it starts from the day we are born.  We come out of the womb crying, not out of empathy for our mother and the pain she just endured in giving birth but because we want our needs to be met.

This continues for years until we learn to mask our self-centerdness with superficial social skills.  Though we try not to show it, we still believe we are the center of the universe. We believe, like Donald Miller who wrote in Blue Like Jazz, “Life was a story about me because I was in every scene.  In fact, I was the only one in every scene.”

Our selfishness is rebellion toward God because it puts us and our desires before Him.  And we are all guilty.  We are all rebels, including Pee-wee.

Fortunately, we don’t have to stay that way.  Jesus said, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:25).  By dying to ourselves and surrendering to Jesus we take ourselves off the throne of our lives and put Jesus there, where He belongs.  We denounce our rebellion and come into agreement with Jesus regarding His identity and lordship.  We cease from being enemies of the kingdom of God and pledge our loyalty to King Jesus. It is only then, in response to Pee-wee’s famous rebel declaration, that we can say to him, “I know you are but what am I?” GS

4 Reasons I Love Sundays

Courtesy (c)Royalty-Free/Corbis

I love Sundays. In fact, Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Here are 4 reasons I love Sundays:

1.  It’s a day of rest. I’ve been accused of being a workaholic, and I do work hard.  But I learned back in law school to observe the Sabbath. In law school the professors assign students more reading than they can possibly do. They say this teaches the students to handle stress and meet deadlines. I’m not so sure. My colleagues studied 7 days a week. I decided to take a step of faith and trust if I honored the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11), the Lord would make my studying more productive the other 6 days. I carried this habit into my career as a lawyer. This means I’ve worked many Saturdays until midnight, but the blessing has always far outweighed the sacrifice.

2.  It’s a day to worship the Lord. There is nothing like being led by a music group in praise and worship, and there is nothing like experiencing the presence of God in a tangible way.

3.  It’s a day to recharge. My job is high stress. If I didn’t have one day a week with down time I would burn out. I’m sure this is why so many trial attorneys and others in high stress jobs do burn out, develop health problems or end up abusing alcohol or drugs.  There is nothing worse than starting work on Monday exhausted. I don’t, and it’s because I’ve developed the habit of observing the Sabbath.

4.  It’s a day of blessing. For all these reasons, Sunday is a day of blessing for me, and I think this is why Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)  I look forward to Sundays because I know I will not be working but relaxing, worshipping the Lord and recharging. How could it not be my favorite day of the week? But it’s only a blessing if you honor it. If you repeatedly misuse it to catch up at work or earn a few extra bucks it will no longer be a blessing, just another day.

Life in the kingdom of God is a blessing, but only if you obey the King.  If you’ve not developed a habit of observing the Sabbath, I challenge you to try it for the next 4 weeks. By the second or third week you will find yourself looking forward to it, and Sundays will become a blessing in your life. After that it will be easy to make it a habit. GS

Book Burning And Terrorism

Perhaps you’ve read about the pastor  who plans on publicly burning a Quran on September 11, 2010. Unfortunately, he’s received much media attention, including his 15 minutes of fame on CNN.

I wish, if the pastor really felt the need to burn a Quran, he would have done so privately because his pyromanic plan neither advances the cause of the kingdom of God nor impedes the advance of Islam. What it  does is reveal something about the pastor.

Does the pastor think any Muslim will reject Islam because he burned their book? I don’t think he’s that dumb. So, he’s not doing this for Muslims.

Book burning in the Bible happened when the Ephesians, once converted to Chrisitianity, rejected their pagan practices and brought their books together to burn, demonstrating their renunciation of their former belief. (Acts 19:18-19). In other words, Biblical book-burning–if there is such a thing–is for the benefit of the person who owns the book.

I don’t think the pastor is a Muslim or has recently been one, so I must conclude he is not toasting the Muslim text as a public manifestation of his decision to break with a former belief.

This must mean he is flaming the Quran for other Christians or non-Islamic, non-Christians. But what benefit does he think non-Christians will get from that? If they are non-Christians, they will not have a better opinion of Christianity as a result of the pastor’s conflagration.

And I can’t imagine he thinks he is benefiting Christians by scorching the Muslim script. The only thing I can think is he is trying to inflame them against Islam and Muslims. If this is the point, and regardless, it will probably be the result, then the pastor’s incendiary impulse is seriously misguided.

The best explanation of terrorism is that it’s “a response to powerlessness.”  In other words, those who feel powerlessness to obtain what they desire within the normal and accepted means of society resort to terrorism.

Burning a Quran I suspect arises from a similar impulse. Feeling impotent to respond in any other way, the pastor responds with a public  warming of the Islamic writ.

I’m not calling the pastor a terrorist or suggesting what he is doing is terrorism. I do suspect both acts arise from the same feeling of powerlessness. And while both may give their instigator a momentary feeling of power, both are equally ineffective to achieve their desired results.

What do you think? Is what he’s planning to do a good idea? GS

The 20% Rule

I pride myself on being a good tipper. In college I worked at a nice restaurant as a waiter to help pay my way through college, so I appreciate the challenges of earning a living on a base pay of $2.13/hr. plus other people’s generosity.

I almost always tip at least 15%, and often tip considerably more than that, but there is a certain time when I almost always tip at least 20%, and that is when our server has overheard us talking about the Lord at the table. I call it “The 20% Rule.”

Talk to anybody who has waited tables for any length of time and they will tell you the Sunday religious lunch crowd are the worst tippers. When I was a waiter, no one wanted to work Sunday lunch for this reason, and from what I’ve heard, not much has changed over the years. The word is out: religious people are terrible tippers.

The problem is that when Christians are bad tippers, whether it be at Sunday lunch or any meal where they’ve given their server an indication they are Christians, they are representing to the world that Jesus is stingy. It’s called being a bad ambassador for the kingdom of God.

So, I created a personal rule some years ago that if I we talk about religious matters at the table and suspect our server has overheard, I tip at least 20%. I’m representing King Jesus and life in the Kingdom; I want to make sure I represent both truthfully. Very simply, Jesus is generous, so I should be generous. The 20% Rule helps me remember to do so. GS