Not Sure What to Call This

I was reading Jeremiah, from the Bible, this morning. I don't often turn to this book but today my bookmark happened to be slotted there and so I started reading. I came across a verse that grabbed my attention in Jeremiah 3:2 (ESV):

"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see!
   Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
   like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom."

First of all I'd like to say that I haven't studied this passage so I'm sure my comments below could use much deeper extrapolation.

Secondly, I'd like to say that I'm sure there is a cultural reason for using Arab's in this verse. I don't know that cultural reason but I know that anytime the Bible picks out specific cultures it is to emphasize a point to the hearing audience rather than to jab at another culture. Times have changed and this passage was not written in this time. So don't get caught up on that phrase but look for the overarching truth behind it which again could use a deeper look.

Thirdly this passage caught my attention because of the word, "whoredom." I think it's a great word but for some reason spell check wants to underline it with a red squiggly! Common spell check, live a little.

While this verse is just a snap shot, and I believe the main thrust (possibly a whoredom pun), of Jeremiah and the opening theme is chasing after other god's. God makes a case for why Israel should trust Him as God has shown miraculous favor to them for many generations. And yet they continually chose to follow powerless idols when times of trouble come.

Here is a mocking word for those who have turned their backs on God and who have chased useless idols. Jeremiah 2:26-28:

“As a thief is shamed when caught,
    so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,
27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
    and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
    and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’

28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
for as many as your cities
    are your gods, O Judah."

I can't help but think of all the ways that I/we whore ourselves to idols, although we would never call them that. Whether it's physical appearance or fitness or wealth or sex or the pursuit of happiness or pleasure or public favor or comfort or __________ (fill in your own blank) we often turn to other sustainers other than that of the sustaining power and delight of God. And then in times of trouble we wonder why God is not found. As I/we have whored ourselves out to everything else then we wonder why our first love, God, seems distant. 

Our Creator knows us, the creation, well. We are not hiding anything from Him. For those of us that claim to be Christ followers then today lets pick up our cross (Luke 9:23), stop whoring ourselves to others (Jer 1-3), and let us fix our eyes on Jesus who has already overcome (John 16:33, Heb 12:1-3). 

I'll close here with the revelation to the church in Laodicea (Rev 3:15-22) which I think can often be echoed for us today.

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor,blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, andwhite garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Grace and Peace,

Personal Reflections from the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

These are my personal reflections that I did for a class but thought I'd share it with others as well as I enjoyed the insights that I gleaned from it. 

The book is well worth a read if you want to grow emotionally more mature as a Christian. Enjoy.

Author: Peter Scazzero

Title: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2006

“I have quoted Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s inspiring quote about ‘loving one person at a time,’ and Thomas Merton’s revelation that people ‘were walking around shining like the sun.’ But I have found that telling people to love better and more is not enough. They need practical skills incorporated into their spiritual formation to grow out of emotional infancy into emotional adulthood.” (p. 178).

My greatest self-awareness in this entire course was that of self-sufficiency. It always feels good when people compliment us and to this end I am no different. It makes me feel stronger, more competent and just plain better to which I try often to attribute to God but much too often I end up claiming for myself. The author seems to have a similar past that hung on for too long. It brought him to the wall where he was given the choice to continue to do ministry on his own or to start “being with God instead of doing for God.” (p. 31)

It seems that in my life and in many of my colleagues this seems to ring true in us as well. After all most often leadership is given to those who are most capable and most of my life I have been very capable. I am good with people, funny, insightful at times and I have been said to have a “booming” voice that can grab the attention of a group well. I have developed into a good public speaker that can share stories well and so I have often been given leadership opportunities.

As I feel as though Scazzero would have shared a similar path he came to a place where personal skill and achievement was no longer enough. It had fooled him and the crowds for a long time but it never fooled God. Christ was not the head of His bride. His bride had been deceived by a good looking substitute and so his bride drifted. (That’s it! Even just writing that now brings new vocabulary and insight into what I’ve been experiencing and thinking). In many ways I have deceived the bride of Christ to follow me and not in the sense that Paul shared in his letter to the Corinthians, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 11:1). It’s simply been my example with hints of Christ.

This brought about alarm in Scazzero, as well as me, to be far more intentional in our dependence on God, daily. Luke 9:23 quotes Jesus as saying, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” How often does my day start with God? How often do I reflect on the day with God at days end? How often throughout the day do I acknowledge my Maker, Redeemer and Sustainer? The cold hard truth is not very often and I’m supposed to be a shepherd to others!

“Almighty and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders…” (Common Prayer Canada, 1959, p. 4-5).

As I confess my past so Scazzero gives hope to a future that is more Christ reliant through intentional spiritual discipline. The one that caught my eye most severely was that of the daily office. This was the first time that I can remember being challenged with such a concrete idea. Of course I had been suggested to to rely on God throughout my days but I can’t remember being given such a concrete tool to do so. That is why I have better explored a tool that a former pastor had faintly introduced me to called the Book of Common Prayer. It is an old Anglican prayer book that leads one through a sort of daily office. I am in the midst of learning how to use it better as well as look at other alternatives as well.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality talks about learning to accept with discernment our feelings towards and with God to which I have often had a difficult time doing. I think that I’ve seen others in the past as well as experienced in myself deception through the following of feelings and so this makes me leery. I think that some of these cautionary feelings come from such activities most often in my youth such as retreats or times at camp where I experienced several “highs” that were not sustainable with the tools that I was given. They seemed to be emotional responses to an extended time of worship and teaching. These points probably eventually moved me into a greater understanding and depth of understanding of God but also made me suspicious of accepting emotional responses to God quickly or at all. Never was I actually given the tools to sustain my faith but rather this created in me a dependence towards the next big event and to the next speaker to fire me up again. What this really created in me was a dependence in the church rather than a dependence on God. Yikes! Again I confess that I have most likely done this with others as a leader. Lord have mercy.

All of this to say that I am excited to continue to bring concrete goals and strategies to integrate into my own life to recreate, or maybe truly for the first sustainable time, a plan to be more Christ centered in my own life on a consistent basis and then to also lead those in whom I have been given spiritual leadership over into that same direction.

I pray that longevity and intimacy might be born and that it all would be done in and out of Love rather than any smell of obligation or coercion. I am very thankful for these insights. 

To Those Who Don't Want It To Be Valentine's Day

This is meant especially for all those married couples that might not be loving Valentines Day so much this year.

Marriage is tough! It's a commitment for life that in our time and in our culture is so seemingly easy to run away from. I know that sometimes if feels like the worst thing in life is our marriage but it's worth it to stick in there. These times come to all of us, they did to our marriage as well just a short few years ago, but you can get through them. Yes, it will take an unwavering resilience, a tenacious spirit and a gracious heart. It often takes reaching outside of your own marriage for help either to good, trusting friends or maybe to a professional counselor. But it's worth it! Every dollar spent is worth it! Every minute spent is worth it!

Don't look to the fault of your spouse. That is a cancer to the heart. Look at your vow to pursue your spouse, to be patient with them and to love them in the good and in the bad! Look inside yourself to see what you can do to once again woo them as you once did. Revive the love that can still be there. Your love has only been hibernating, wake it up! It's not dead.

Our spouses were never meant to complete us but they are there to compliment us and when spouses work together then that is one of the most beautiful things that humans can be a part of.

I personally think that faithfulness is best exemplified through the example of Jesus. If you don't know his example then go and seek it, but beware, it will change everything including your marriage. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1&version=NIV

For all of those struggling my heart goes out to you. We were there just a short while ago. When the walls seem to be closing in and it's hard to breathe, I understand. But don't give up. I know the mess and I know the pleasure. Some of your close friends might as well. Reach out. Ask for help. Continue to pursue the love of your life. It's worth it!