"And now these three remain......"

(Written May 16, 2012)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
- I Corinthians 13:13

I am absolutely entranced, enchanted, fascinated and insatiably intrigued by the way the Bible WORDS things. It has a way of reaching out to your heart, pulling you by the heartstrings and saying to you, "isn't this the truth? and how did I know you were thinking about this?"

The context of this absolutely pivotal and significant verse is what Paul has been saying to the Corinthian church about love. It yanks the word out of the miry depths into which the Corinthian world had buried it, and sets it up as an unreachable ideal, stressing that unless we aspire to the unreachable, we will get nowhere. When Paul is done with what he has said about love, love has become such a pure thing that the reader will want absolutely no impurity to be associated with it. It is an "aha" moment for the Corinthian church.

This verse has been on my mind for a few months now, very strangely. I even went out and searched for a song that specifically explains this verse, which I hope to do with our church choir soon:)

One of the things that slowly came clear to me is that these three are 1) inextricably linked to each other, and none can truly exist without the other 2) Neither faith nor hope can truly breed if there is no love 3) All three are intangible. I believe that these thoughts have important implications for me.

There can be no faith without love; there can be no love without faith. And both faith and love need to exist, if there is to be any (tangible) hope at all. Faith and love are handmaidens; together, they inculcate a sense of hope which is so powerful that it helps us overcome handsomely ANYTHING the evil one throws at us.

Faith without love is suffocating legalism. Love without faith is hypocritical. Faith or love without hope is inhuman. Hope without faith and love is impossible and a delusion.

If we have faith, it is because God first loved us. If we have hope, it is because we have faith in God who first loved us. If we have love, we have faith in God and hope for the age to come.

In the Corinthian church, probably mooring the word "love" inextricably with its two handmaidens faith and hope was a totally new concept. It was absolutely an eye-opener to realise that true love cannot exist unless we have faith in God, and that this gives us hope not just for this world but also in the age to come. The Corinthians were well-known for their purely earthly definitions of 'love'. In their view, it was possible for love to exist all by itself. By mooring love with faith and hope, Paul was indeed opening their eyes to new vistas and an altogether heavenly vantage point.

We need this so much today too!!!!! Why?

Because in our world today, if something is intangible, it is assumed to not exist. If it cannot be observed, described, measured, proven, demonstrated, seen, touched, felt, in fact, if it doesn't show up on any dial, scientific or even emotional, then we are exhorted to consider whether it exists at all.

Notice a few things about these three intangible things - 1) all of them have to do not only with the age we're living in, but more primarily in a future time and place 2) though intangible, they are the only things that "REMAIN" (v.13) - that is, when all is said and done, and our lives on earth are complete, all that will truly 'remain indelibly' for future generations is whether we had faith in God who loved us, and whether we attained our hope in Christ. Three intangibles, inextricably linked, are all that remain from our lives for eternity.

Lots of us think our world is WYSIWYG - 'what you see is what you get'. We do not suspect that there might be any reality beyond the physical that we see. Though there is evidence that God exists, that a spiritual reality exists, that the evil one exists, and there is a cosmic spiritual battle going on, which affects life on earth in many significant ways, the average person does not consider the existence of an unseen spiritual reality. And yet, faith, hope and love ultimately have to do with the spiritual reality. It is there that they become tangible. In the physical world, they cannot be proved to exist as entities. In essence, Paul is also exhorting us to consider our spirituality. Do we have faith? if so, in whom or in what? Do we hope for true eternal life? And do we respond in love to God's unfathomable, first, amazing love for us? If not, what do we achieve in our physical lives that will ultimately "REMAIN"?

Sometimes I feel Christianity is extremely simple. Have faith in God, who provides an imperishable hope for us through His love for us in Christ Jesus. If we live this way, we will impact life on this planet significantly and our faith, hope and love will REMAIN as testimonies to those who come after us.

The "greatest" of the things that "REMAIN" is LOVE - God's love for us in Christ Jesus, and whether we responded to His love so lavishly poured out on us through His grace. God's love is the greatest, because it is the point where we come in to the picture. If we did not know His love, it would be difficult to have faith and understand the hope God provides for us in eternity. God's love is also the greatest, because it is the only remotely tangible thing among the three - faith cannot usually be proved, there is no guarantee of hope realised, but we can feel, know and respond to God's love while we live.

Consider His love. Consider how He steadfastly searched for us (remember the lost coin? the lost son?) and remember where and how He found us. Consider how He places His arms around us and carries the lambs among us upon His shoulders.

Look up beyond what you see. Can you feel God's love? Do you have faith in God? Do you know the hope He provides for us in eternity?

In the verses just before verse 13, Paul says, For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

This speaks of a spiritual reality where we will fully know, as we ourselves are fully known. There will come a day when the only reality we know will be the spiritual one. In that day, our faith in God, hope for eternity and God's love for us and our response will be all there is, because only these three "REMAIN". Are we ready for that day? That's the only question that matters while we live in the physical realm.

Jesus meets the zombies

Today's ominously sinister age - beyond worldviews

Thank God for our Christian apologists! They stand up to a world that's determined to make short work of us Christians; and that is a very tough calling indeed.

Last week I obtained a copy of Ravi Zacharias' latest book Why Jesus?, and I began reading it immediately. I've read and loved many of Ravi's books, some of them so finely crafted that they minister so tenderly to people like me.

Ravi and others of his ilk - John Lennox, William Lane Craig, Stuart McAllister, Alistair McGrath, just to name a few - their area of maximum effectiveness, in a manner of speaking, is the marketplace of "worldviews". They do address people, yes, but they appeal to a person's heart through his or her worldview. It is true that every person HAS a worldview, a set of ideas, tenets, beliefs, whatever, that they really do consider inviolable and (dare I use the word) sacred, and which form a lens through which their world is interpreted and becomes comprehensible to them. Worldviews are shaped right from infanthood, actually, and begin to take rather unshakeable forms close to middle-age.

With all due respect to Ravi and others like him, though, and giving God His due in raising up men like Ravi, there is something that I find profoundly sinister among people today. There was an age when worldviews were held fondly and people would discuss them, even be fervent about them in public debate and private living. Frankly, however, that age seems to have moved on.

I'm not saying people do not have worldviews anymore; they certainly do. The frightening thing today is that people are beginning to forget this and live like they don't have a worldview. This is an age for being passionate about SELF, yes; but it is a sterile self which neither cares what it believes, nor how the world looks to it - it is a self determined to do what it wants no matter who or what gets in the way.

There is really no such thing as a "cause" anymore; people can rationalise just about anything. People will get very upset if any person's views are violated, except when they are doing the violating. In an age where "tolerance" is paid very vehement lip-service and is considered something to protect at any cost, there is very little real tolerance for anyone except self. Anyone who thinks differently from me really doesn't matter to me, really, till I see SOMEONE ELSE being intolerant to that person. When I am the one being intolerant, "tolerance" is just a platitude to me.

There's worse. Today all people do is live for themselves. Okay - I agree this was always the case with human beings ever since Genesis 3:6. But at least there was some respect for others. Today there is none. I am not saying people are NOT respectful anymore. I am saying that today respect itself is not something we even know or care about. We do not respect the elderly; if we did, we would not dump them in old-age homes. We do not respect young people; if we truly did, we would be very careful indeed what messages our lives gave them. We do not respect peers anymore; if we did, we would be learning from each other a lot more.

Today's average working person has emasculated all passion from his or her life. There is nothing so worthwhile as to sacrifice something for it, except my own peace of mind and well-being. There is nothing worth talking about to anyone anymore, unless we can manipulate that person to give us something we want. There is nothing "noble", really; if someone tries to act noble, you can be sure it's either self-serving or an obvious sham. In the end, we really will watch the news and see "things" happening; we will not care to call these things "bad" or "good". Good and evil will not exist, at least in our minds and hearts. That frightens me, because it is the ultimate heart of stone which nothing on earth can melt, no emotion can reach. It will be robot-like; we will start to live like automatons. We would have truly lost OURSELVES! At that point, distinctions such as "YOU" and "ME" will be obliterated, because I am like you and you are like me - encased in hearts of stone.

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Hearts. Of stone.

How do you tell automatons about Jesus? What apologetic can cut through the radiation-resistant lead fortresses that block up hearts today? Ravi Zacharias can make a dent, perhaps, if a person admits to a worldview. How will you reach a person who doesn't care if he has a worldview or not?

This is not to say Jesus CANNOT penetrate hearts of stone - it's His specialty and indeed a small thing for Him to do. I am only asking, what apologetic can we use? It might have to be direct Divine intervention alone - time for the Lord to do what He said He would through the prophet Ezekiel:


I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)


In James Cameron's Terminator II - Judgement Day, the automaton called the T800 finds the little boy whom it is trying to protect crying, and sees his tears. It asks him, "what is wrong with your eyes?" The boy answers, "Nothing", too hurt to explain. On another occasion, the automaton asks him, "why do you cry?" and the boy answers saying human beings cry when they hurt; the automaton tries to assimilate this as best it can. Cameron's film was made not in this century, but in the previous one, mind you.

It's not very far to the day when we will ask each other that, in all sinister innocence. Will we then be able to explain why we hurt? The truly chilling thing is, if asking the question is frightening enough, the failure to answer it will be even more terrifying to contemplate.

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The flicker on the dial

Let's get closer home. Is there anything at all that really moves you today? Forget mere emotions and feelings. Is there something that you want BEYOND what you can get for yourself in this world? Can you recognise that some longings are truly eternal and they are in you for a purpose?

Do you feel purposeful about your life? Or do you think there is no such thing as "purpose"? If you were asked to name the ONE THING (only one, to the exclusion of all others) you believe you are living for today? First of all, would you answer the question honestly and candidly or with small talk? Secondly, would you tell the truth? We must soberly recognise that when we lie often enough to others, there is all the danger that we ourselves will ultimately believe our own lies and not know it.

What do you really think about people out there? Do you think about them at all? The lonely, the homeless, the diseased, the destitute, the hungry, the despised, the rejected, the depressed, the insane? Is there anything at all you can do that you really want to do but haven't done yet? Or do you only think about the normal course of your own life - study, work, marry, have children, get them educated and married? Oh yes and the most important thing - seek your comfort and prosperity? A little greed perhaps? A little greed goes a long way in this world, you know.

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Jesus is His own best apologetic

Now we're almost home.

Jesus.

I can guess many don't want to come to this point. Jesus is equated with religion and since we reject religion as the one thing that divides human beings (how did we suddenly start feeling strongly about something like that? I wonder...), Jesus is bracketed with religion and rejected as a package deal.

Have you ever thought about this God-Man? Who He is, what He came to do, how He lived among us, things He said. Does He fascinate you? Do you see anything unique about Him at all?

Think about Him. I challenge you. Think about Him seriously and then see if you still have a heart of stone.

A word here. Forget what the preacher said. Forget what the church says. Go back to the Bible. See for yourself. Let no one deceive you. I myself here, in this piece of writing, will write nothing to prejudice your thinking.

Meet Him.

Isaiah 40:11

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

How shall I bless your people, O Lord? How shall I minister?

Among the ruins

Somehow I feel we need the warmth of the un-encompassable love of The Lord, painted in vivid words across time, through His servants the prophets, and eternally in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Too many of us live among the ruins, desolate, cauterised, the nerve-endings of our emotions severed, never to dream again, never to feel again, never to open our hearts again.

Others live in tears that flow day and night; whether in remorse or in regret, or in rejection, hearts broken beyond mending, our sighs sinking empty into pillows each night.

Some of us live in loneliness among the desolate ruins. People stopped wanting us too long ago to remember what it felt like to have friends. People do what needs to be done for us to maintain our existence, but no more than that. We exist; we do not live.

A lot of us find it impossible to believe we are loved by God, because we are only too painfully aware of how sinful we are.

If we aren't any of these I just described, we're on our way into one of them.

If you are one of the fat, sleek ones who feel no lack of just about anything, I guess I am not writing this to you and you can stop reading it. There are some of us like that; indeed, many.

It is a cold age; an age of fierce individualism which treads over the weaker ones. The also-rans are not just left behind, but they are mowed down into the dust. The shrill strength of the individualist beats down the average Joe. Small beginnings, little dreams, tender steps.....are sitting ducks for the achievers. Come to think of it, it's always been this way with mankind - from the ages of kings and empires down to the reign of money in this age.

And among us, in this age, come the words of the Lord to Isaiah.

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It isn't over until The Lord says so

Tender, faltering steps. Fragile, slender courage. Barely learning to stand. Still feeling the pain of the past. Wisps of hope finer than the filaments of a spider's web. All but just about to give up.

Are you there today? Thinking it is over? If you are, I want you to meet a God for Whom it is never over. It is never too late. It is never too far gone that it cannot be redeemed. 

I want you to know what our destiny is, we who trust in God. Believe me, we need to know this, because it is precisely what our oppressor does not want us to ever find out.

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Hearts of stone

Isaiah 40 is a unique chapter in all of the Old Testament. It is one bubbling wellspring and a beacon of hope for all who read it and take it to heart. If you ever want to start reading Isaiah, you will be blessed if you begin at chapter 40.

Here God comforts His people.

Living as we do in this apathetic, indifferent, insensitive, chilly age, we have forgotten what it means to be comforted. Our wounds have scarred over and the scabs are set like granite. Our hearts are of stone (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26). What does this mean?

It's not good news, I'm afraid. Tears are a sign of wellness, much as they are hard to bear; pain that is felt is a sign of life, much as it is hard to endure. But a heart that does not feel any emotion is a heart of stone; it is a heart cauterised, where the nerve endings to both physical feelings and emotions have been severed. In such a heart, wounds are not acknowledged, or bound up. A hard, bitter, pragmatic exterior scar hardens into a granite scab. We are "self-made", individualist, hardened mercenaries. The only way we know to live is for ourselves; we feel neither our own pain nor the pain of others.

Does this sound extreme? It actually is not. It is the way most of us in this age normally live, only no one has called our bluff so far. Many indeed are the rationalisations - "God helps those who helps themselves", "we need to be tough because no one will do it for us", and the list goes on.

Alas! How cold and hard is a wounded, crushed heart that does not know it needs to be comforted! 

Isaiah 40 is for hearts of flesh. Hearts that feel the wounds and come to God to be comforted and healed. Its everlasting words of hope and healing are for the tender-hearted. For the weaker ones.

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Tender God

The picture of a shepherd and his flock is a kind of logo, almost, all over the Bible. Now it won't make much sense until we understand the relationship between an Israelite shepherd and his flock.

We must learn to compare ourselves to sheep, first of all. God uses the most perfect analogy when He speaks to us likening us to sheep. Sheep are interesting creatures, so like human beings in their behaviour and temperament that the comparison is uncomfortably close and scary.

To start with, sheep are easily led. In fact, without leading, they go astray and run riot. If you want an orderly flock, you need a shepherd.

Curiously, sheep are also highly individualistic. The stronger ones tend to keep butting the weaker ones out of their way. They keep trying to get the best for themselves.

Even closer to human territory, sheep instinctively know where the good things are, and importantly, they trust a shepherd to lead them to the good things. In fact, sheep know when the shepherd calls them. They know the shepherd's voice. In one sense, they know authority and respect it; they can tell the voice of the hireling from the voice of the shepherd, like Jesus said in John 10:1-6.

Sheep are also highly dependent on the shepherd. They need the shepherd to do part of their thinking, and will trust without reservation. These are the good side of being easily led.

Sheep cannot resist danger and temptation too much. We do know the famous picture of a shepherd reaching out for his lost sheep that has wandered off the top of the cliff.

The relationship between a shepherd and his flock is far more intimate than we understand in this age, inured as we are to anti-establishment and individualistic leanings.

The shepherd knows his sheep individually. He is aware of the minutest wound; he knows who the strays are and how to woo them back; he knows the ones who struggle; the fat, sleek and overfed ones; the rejected ones. He knows where to lead the sheep, where the grass is sweet, where danger is minimal and where water is abundant. He knows how to protect his flock from danger.

Does this sound merely "symbolic"? I was in fact speaking of a real shepherd and his flock; not really of the symbolic picture of an Israelite shepherd and his flock as it is used innumerable times in the Bible. The analogy is from the actual to the symbolic; not the other way round. The Biblical passages about shepherds and sheep must be understood from the REAL point of view first before they can be understood as symbolic of the relationship between the Lord, our Shepherd, and us His flock.

Isaiah 40:11 is a grand, intricate piece of art which tempts us to believe how real it is and how close at hand it is. It is an end-time prophecy and must be understood as such. How can an end-time prophecy comfort us? We may not even live to see the end times. So must we wait till after we're dead and gone to know our God the way Isaiah 40:11 paints Him?

Yes and no. In one sense, for the present, it is immensely comforting to know that Someone is indeed keeping track of our lack of nourishment, our child-like dependence and our difficulties. And it is eternally comforting to know that this Someone Who knows us so minutely is indeed our Lord! Are you living among the ruins today and scraping your wounds with a shattered piece of glass like Job did? God knows it. Have you given up? God knows it, and He does not give up. Wherever we are today, let's know that God's love reaches us there.

In eternity, Isaiah 40:11 will still be true, in fact, more true than it is today, at least in perception if not in reality. How often we lose out on the promised future restoration! It is not one of Christianity's pipe dreams; it is not pie in the sky; and not merely a "ticket to heaven".

Isaiah 40:11 is the REALITY of eternity. Because we have hearts of stone, we may not perceive that our deepest human longings are eternal both in scope and fulfillment. Our deepest HUMANITY is eternal. We will not, indeed CANNOT, be comforted except our God Himself comfort us. And Isaiah 40:11 is the promise of our God that He understands and has made provision not just now but in eternity, in REALITY, for our deep longings. No temporal human agency or comfort will be a balm to us like Isaiah 40:11.

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We know the God of Isaiah. We know the God Who spoke Isaiah 40:11.

Isaiah 40:11 must be read from the King James Bible, which rightly speaks it in FUTURE TENSE, because it is primarily a FUTURE promise, just like the rest of Isaiah 40 and the remainder of the book of Isaiah.

Today, we must take this grand verse to heart. If indeed the Holy Spirit in our hearts is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, we must rejoice, for what is Isaiah 40:11 but a glimpse of our inheritance in Christ Jesus? The Lord will indeed feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm and carry them close to his heart; and those with young he will lead gently. Are you a special sheep with special needs? Are you a little lamb, perhaps the littlest? Or do you feel like just one of the flock, an ordinary one? Whoever you are, He will feed you; envelop you in His arm and carry you close to His heart, and will gently lead you.

When Isaiah 40:11 is fulfilled, we will be there to see it; if not, prophecy has no meaning. What is it that you long for the Lord to do today? Wait a little; be patient. Since you wanted it, He has taken it to heart; and when He fulfills you, you will know He has fulfilled it; and you will know HE and no other has fulfilled it. Whether it is in this life or in eternity, YOU will know that to hope in the Lord is not to hope in vain; He will do that which He has purposed for you, and your heart will be comforted never to grieve again.

We tend to take restoration a little glibly, underestimating how deeply we need it and how impoverished we are without it. All effects of having hearts of stone. We must think about how fulfilling The Lord's fulfillment will be. He has taken note of our suffering, beloved; He has seen our hearts. Now let us look to Him for His comforting, whenever it comes.

I hope I have been able to convey how deeply Isaiah 40:11 has blessed me; but I suspect strongly that my deepest heart, where this prophecy touched me, has not been revealed. Never mind; I only meant to provide a glimpse of how deep, how wide, how long, how high, and yet how tender, sensitive and gentle God's love is, painted across the ages for us.

We know the same God Isaiah did, beloved. And He has not changed towards us in 2013!

May God's grace be lavished on each of us abundantly.

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Resources

Other important pictures in the Bible of shepherds and sheep that you can study to understand how God speaks to us using this theme:

• I Samuel 17, specifically v. 33-37
• Psalm 23
• Ezekiel 34
• Zechariah 10:1-5; 11:4-17
• John 10
• Numerous others

He came...He saw...He SURRENDERED ALL....

He came, He saw, He surrendered all......
- Michael Card, "The Nazarene"

During the Holocaust, there were times when some brave Jews chose to die for their fellowmen. They willingly chose to give up their lives so that others would be saved. In Roman times, during Nero's reign, Christians did the same when thrown to the lions - some willingly laid down their lives for others. In Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton chose to die for his friend Charles Darnay. There are numerous times when human beings have chosen to lay down their lives for ones they loved, sometimes even for strangers - like in the Holocaust.

Jesus Christ claims to have laid down His life for us all. What makes His supreme sacrifice different? Is it different at all?

Many times, people do choose to die for others who were in some sense and in their perception, "worth it". That is, the ones who sacrificed their lives really thought that the worth of the person they were dying for, was more than their own worth. "It's probably better for me to die rather than him; he can give the world so much, I cannot give that much. If he can live only if I die, so be it." In one sense, that was the thinking. It is possible that for someone 'good', a few people could be found who are willing to die.

The point is, we as human beings value life very highly. When it comes to death, we value each life equally, even though in life, we might possibly discriminate about the value we place on some lives compared to others. We view the death of a human being as a serious thing. We would all like to avoid or prevent having to die; we might ultimately resign ourselves to it when we have no other option left. But to willingly forfeit our lives for someone else? The cause that makes us choose such a course must be a very, very noble one indeed - an almost sacred, divine thing. And we value the one for whom we might choose to die as precious beyond our own lives, should it come to that.

Would we choose to die in place of a serial killer? Would we choose to die, say, for someone who intoxicates himself with alcohol mixed with the blood of snakes, and then sodomises a 11-month old child? Do we consider it worth dying for so that such a one could be saved? (Saved for exactly what? To do more of the same?)

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ laid down His life not only for the philanthropist who lives only so that others may be empowered to lead better lives; He laid down His life for the serial rapist, the suicide bomber, for Otto Globocnik, Adolf Eichmann, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Stalin and for Nero.

That is, Jesus placed no premium on the 'worth' (in human perception) of a life. He thought I was precious enough for HIM to die, even if I was a serial rapist or a sadistic paedophile.

Why?

Why would He do that? What could have been gained, for example, if Pol Pot would have been justified and someone died in his place?

Let's look at this from a different point of view. In December 2006, India gave the world something all the serial killers would probably have blushed at. In a lonely bungalow in Noida, a man raped, killed and then cannibalised many young women, over a number of years. Let's suppose I was willing to die so that this man might live. Now the judge said 'you cannot die for this man, you are innocent. Besides, there are others for whom you might possibly have to die who are far more deserving, for whom your dying would be your bounden duty - your immediate family.'

Let's now suppose that this man showed no remorse, and remained unaffected at my offer to die for him. Let's say he was only thinking how many more women he could mutilate, once he was free.

What would I be risking in dying for such a man? The very real danger that he might never change; and due to that, the number of other innocent lives I would be putting at risk, not to mention my immediate family, who need me as a bread-winner if nothing else. Would I risk ALL OF THIS, hoping he may see the error of his ways, swayed by my sacrifice? What would be the odds? Would it, in human perception, be 'worth it'?

Now let's suppose that I risked everything. Willingly, without counting the cost. Let's even suppose I sought this man out specially so I could die for him. Let's go even further to suppose my sacrifice still went in vain. This man walked free, never looked back, and increased his body count.

Would I consider all of this before I actually lay down my life? It's a rhetorical, stupid question. Of course I would! No human being would make that supreme sacrifice for such a man.

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

Sometimes we miss the fact that Jesus had everything to surrender in laying down His life - all of His heavenly Glory. If I was God, would I die for that man in Noida? Would I even care? Would I risk all of heaven for that man?

I think of our carefully considered, cautious, measured, calculated charity. So much for my needs, and so much for yours. Our vigilant, fully alert preponderances over our giving. We even want to check if our giving is indeed paying off.

Jesus never counted that cost - He wasn't thinking of guarantees, assurances, stamp duty, legalities, when He surrendered Himself on the Cross. He did it with no conditions and no guarantee. And He never checks up to see if His sacrifice was 'worth it'.

I also think of our obsessions with careers. What am I going to do with my life? And the answers we want are always in terms of ourselves - our degrees, our accomplishments, our philanthropy, our, our, our. I'm not exactly saying we should risk our careers and lives without counting the cost. I'm just saying that the career and the life of the One who laid down His life for us, was that He should lay down His life unconditionally and with no guarantee. He came into this world prepared to die; we enter the world prepared to live, and prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve our lives. Do we appreciate that that's how we are when we think about our lives? That's all I am saying.

Jesus died - for you, for me, for us all. Whether we knew it or not. Whether we cared or not. Even though we might never ever know. He died no matter how I lived - for others or for myself. He died for me simply because He loved me.

In fact He really doesn't ask anything from me - He doesn't even ask whether I believe Him, whether I consider His sacrifice or not. He only waits for me to think through it......and do what I would have to do, having thought about it.

Maybe I will decide He was a fool to die - He was God, and yet He did it for a worthless person like me. Maybe I will be overcome for the rest of my life when it fully hits me and my life will be irrevocably changed. Maybe I will never ever care and just never think about it.

What do you think?

The Nazarene had come to live the life of every man
And He felt the fascination of the stars
And as He wandered through this weary world
He wondered and He wept
For there were so few who'd listen to His call

He came, He saw, He surrendered all
So that we might be born again
And the fact of His humanity was there for all to see
For He was unlike any other man
And yet so much like me

The Nazarene could hunger
And the Nazarene could cry
And He could laugh with all the fullness of His heart
And those who hardly knew Him
And those who knew Him well
Could feel the contradiction from the start

He came, He saw, He surrendered all
So that we might be born again
And the fact of His humanity was there for all to see
For He was unlike any other man
And yet so much like me

- Michael Card, "The Nazarene"

A safe place

A shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, 
from the burning of the noontide heat, 
and the burden of the day.
- Elizabeth C Clephane
Indeed, the world we live in is all of those things - a weary land, a wilderness, just a way, the sapping, burning shimmer of noontide heat, a burden every day.
The Cross of Jesus is also indeed all of those things - the shadow of a mighty rock, a home, a rest. The most grisly scene on earth, is still all of those things. It's probably like that, because the Cross of Jesus is the ultimate answer to intimidation, brute power, cosmic violence, unbridled tide of red evil, the hot breath of hatred, and the purposes of the pit of hell itself. Imagine all of these spent over one frail human body. And one human life - mute, resigned, resolute. No talking back, no comebacks, no defense, no rationalising, no duplicity, no making it palatable. Nothing. Just mute resignation.
It amazes me that there were no words from heaven, or from earth, on that fateful day. There was no voice of validation, confirmation, victory or assurance from heaven; there were no words from down here as well. It was mute.
Wordlessness.
That comforts me, because the victory is obtained in silence. In solitude. In loneliness. In one single life fighting alone. No one can really come there with you. Only God can. And in those silent times, God impresses victory. There may never be words. Victory actually needs no words. Neither do joy, or hope, or love, or freedom. Their very power to give life is in wordlessness.
And in wordlessness I come to the cross. It is not the part of me that says things, that comes to the cross. The heart actually is wordless. And it is the heart which comes. And there, what I see shuts out words. Shuts out voices. Shuts out sound. I can imagine what Stephen felt in those last moments. Wordlessness. Soundlessness.
And then, a strange, almost eerie, unreal calm. With a refreshing cool breeze which has the power to soothe and rest. To rejuvenate, refresh, percolate breath and life back into choked veins, and hearts, and minds.
The Cross of Jesus calms me. No earthquake can touch it. Because all the horrors the world can concoct, were met, and neutered, on the Cross. There was no enemy left standing, however loud, however brute, however powerful, however inexorable. No one was left. And this was done wordlessly, soundlessly. In the dead calm of pin-drop silence.
Permanence. Purpose. Resolute resilience. For all time. No marauder or invader would render the Cross a ruin. It can never become just a sign; it will stand for all time no matter who or what came against it. The battle would rage all around it but he who came to its foot would not be molested.
The ultimate, ultimate safe place. The one fortress in this world no one can conquer. Its sanctuary is eternal; its protection irrevocable. No one who enters will ever be taken to his doom by force. The ultimate unstormable citadel.
Come away to the foot of the Cross of Jesus. Let the battle rage around you. Let the heat of the day burn unquenched. Let the burden bear down. None of these will touch you. Because you are in the safest place you will ever find.

"Out of my stony griefs....Bethel I'll raise"

Among all the patriarchs, Jacob intrigues me most.

He seems to have had a strange initiation into faith. Of course, the strangeness was of his own making; he literally (almost) had to be carried across the Jordan and into faith, kicking and screaming for quite a while before the assurance of faith brought peace and contentment.

Still, his story of faith is very instructive and very comforting, because though many of us would disagree, faith is actually one of the hardest things to come into!!

I think Jacob was a silent, introspective, morose man, though he was absolutely practical about life - he found no reason to go after fancy, whimsy and philosophy. If the power to obtain something was in his hand, so be it; if not, he wanted none of it. He seems to have been the kind of man who laid his plans deliberately and with great care, to the point of scheming and out-thinking anyone who came in his way.

And God definitely had to show him, through the experiences of his life, 'you can't double-guess Me! Whether you like it or not, I exist. What's more, I have a plan. I have purposes you cannot fathom. And you will obey Me, no matter how long it takes Me to get you to. The history of the whole world depends on you! And you will do My will.'

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God exists. He has plans and purposes. Did you think you got your life all planned out? You might want to re-think that and hold that thought - God has plans and purposes for you. He also knows how to get you where He can bless you and take His plans forward.

Jacob thought, if I could get hold of what's really important - the rights of the first-born -  I got it made for life. God said, think again. Jacob HAD to re-think what he thought he had all worked out. After gaining the rights of the first-born by subterfuge and deception, he found himself running for his life - and all his resourcefulness would not be of any use this time. Esau was out not just to regain his rights - Esau was out to make sure there would be no question of Jacob's ever regaining ANYTHING - he would ensure Jacob didn't exist anymore. And Jacob fled for his life (Genesis 35:1)

And here, in his hour of darkness and gloom (literally, 'because the sun had set', Genesis 28:11), he had nothing but a price on his head and a stone for a pillow (Genesis 28:11); an uncertain future in a faraway land, far from home and family, a life on the run. And here....in this hour, The Lord finally gathered up the pieces of Jacob's life, in a place Jacob would later lovingly call Bethel, translated 'the house of God'.

At Bethel, The Lord recommissioned him; nothing was said about the sordidness of the past, the deceptions, the lies, theft....only a new day was promised. Holy anointing was given. The prophetic promise given to Jacob at Bethel is still in force today; The Lord's purposes would stand no matter how weak human beings were and how obstinately they withstood Him. Hear this:

"And behold, the Lord stood over and beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father [forefather] and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying.

And your offspring shall be as [countless as] the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and by you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed and bless themselves.
 
And behold, I am with you and will keep (watch over you with care, take notice of) you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you."
 - Genesis 28:13-15
 
Jacob now had an unforgettable shot of heavenly medicine, as it were; he was just beginning to understand what it meant to rely not on his own scheming, but on Someone who never had to scheme because He was always in control!
 
But much more than that, there was something Jacob had never thought about in his wildest dreams - an anointing, a swearing-in ceremony - his own (totally against his own inclinations at that point), as the one through whom God would bless the whole world! Acutely aware of his own guilt, this must have come as an inexplicable shock to Jacob - how could the God of the whole world, the God of his fathers, lay aside his scheming and guilt, and what's more, commission him with all the rights of the first-born? And hey!!!!!! IS THIS WHAT I WAS AFTER WHEN I ROBBED ESAU????? Gosh, I could never have dreamed! And now I'm so scared I'm not sure I want this! I had just thought of having it made for life - a little plot of land, a pleasant life, blessing, quietness, peace all round....I certainly didn't think about the whole world!
 
The whole idea seemed to Jacob so outlandish, that the severely practical Jacob immediately came to the rescue. He thought, tremblingly, okay.....never mind the whole world. That's God's business. For now, let me just have God in my life, for all the things I need to do for myself. See what he asked God:
 
'Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear,
 
So that I may come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God;
 
And this stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument) shall be God's house [a sacred place to me], and of all [the increase of possessions] that You give me I will give the tenth to You.'
 - Genesis 28:20-22
 
This was tentative faith, if ever! God says, I will bless the world through you, and Jacob says back to God, for now, just give me food to eat and clothes to wear, and take me back to my family in peace. THEN, and only THEN, You will be my God.
 
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I love the fact that Jacob STRUGGLED to believe, because it shows me that my own struggles to believe are not at all freak events. At every turn, Jacob's trust in God was for practical things; for things he could see, touch, feel and which existed before his eyes. Isn't that how we all are? It's so hard for us to see past our present struggles at God's big picture and God's Great Big Plan; at the same time, we are incredulous that God just credits our measly faith and looks past our horrendous record of sins. We find this so incredible that we have constant trouble believing it. We go back into the past, digging out new evidence; sometimes, like Jacob, we just give in in exhaustion, saying, God, I don't want anything, just food to eat, clothes to wear and a family.
 
And yet, God creates BETHEL for us.
 
There is a great big picture, a great big plan......our little lives are nowhere NEAR being the kind of amphitheatre God wants them to be, a great big arena where He can do things the world only dreams of. While we are busy cleaning our porch and our inner rooms, He is busy transforming our little hovels into a great big wide mansion where he can triumphantly display what He wants to achieve in us.
 
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Let's take heart from Jacob's "step-by-step" approach to God. At Bethel, all that Jacob would say was, okay.....let me trust just a little bit. I've relied on myself long enough; I don't even know whether I will live to see tomorrow. Let me just trust God, and let Him provide for me.
 
Small as it seems, even this step eludes many of us. But Jacob took it; and he never forgot Bethel. He came back to it whenever he needed assurance all over again.
 
Sometimes all we have may be just a little faith, exhaustion and no strength to see the big picture. Our pillows may turn to stone. Our pasts may haunt us, threatening to cast an evil shadow on an uncertain future.....and may be our sun has set like it did for Jacob at Bethel.
 
Then, THEN, let us sleep the blessed sleep of Jacob......and God will come to us to recommission us, to reassure us, to promise to provide forever our needs....to untangle our pasts. For now, let us just trust for the day-to-day....and He will soon take us to where He can show us what His big picture for us means.
 
Bethel, to you and me, is any place where we come to the end of our own stubborn strength, our own fierce self-independence, and our constant digging in our pasts, looking for evidence to condemn us. Bethel is where trust is born, maybe as a wobbly toddler, on spindly legs, but who will ever grow into full adulthood!  Bethel is where God tells us, do not be afraid. Your future is in My hands, and it is a glorious one. TRUST ME.

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I want to bring into focus, before I close, a wonderful hymn by Sarah F. Adams, which wonderfully puts Jacob's possible thoughts at Bethel into words:

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear steps unto heav'n;
All that Thou sendest me in mercy giv'n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Then with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upwards I fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
 
The song wonderfully expresses all the deathly darkness of Jacob's condition, his utter physical and emotional exhaustion with his condition, and his inability to even come into the little faith that he needed. I hope and pray that, as many of us that identify with the struggles of Jacob at Bethel, we will take heart, knowing God has not left us destitute, but is fully able and willing to bridge the gap that our little wobbly faith leaves unfilled, and to bring us into the light of His blessed promise for us!

The "great trees of Mamre"

The feeling of "home" is not a simple one.

Where do you feel "at home"?

When we really think about it, it has many levels. It has to do with immediate surroundings. It has also to do with neighbours and neighbourhoods. It is God who certainly keeps us no matter where we live, of course, and there's no denying that. In that sense, it really SHOULDN'T matter where we live.

Of course, most of us don't even have the luxury of thinking about where we'd like to live, on this earth. Where our temporary "home on earth" is or will be isn't something we always get to choose. Often, most of us don't even think about where we live. We just live where we live.

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 "the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground."

"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Sometimes life on earth is merely just that - life on mere old earth. The temporal, impermanent, itinerant, transient feel of it permeates everything.  The feeling of it being just a passage into something beyond cannot be shaken.

Abraham had been called out of his ancestral home without much preamble. He actually was a man who lived in tents all his life, never putting down roots. God had actually said to him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." 

If Abraham had liked, he might have just said, "Oh well, it's all mine anyway. So let me put down roots, build myself something nice, peacefully grow a family, take my ease." It is very instructive that he never ever thought this to himself. He lived in tents all through. He, strangely, felt, even though the land was his, that he was an alien and a stranger on earth, no matter where he lived. He was looking for some place that would never change, some place where he could actually live forever. In fact, when we look inside ourselves, we look for the same qualities in a place we would call "home". And Abraham knew there could never be "home" on earth.

And the writer of Hebrews was absolutely right to say what he said about people like Abraham:

"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

We spend most of our time here on earth putting down roots. That's because we have closed our eyes to looking beyond earth. Everything about earth screams out to us, "TEMPORAL!!!" But we still refuse to look up beyond the horizon.....to the land beyond. Abraham was a man who lived entirely for the land beyond earth.

I'm not saying we must not build homes and houses, or grow families. I'm just saying it shouldn't be the only thing we do.

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For a time, Abraham did live for a long time in one single place. In fact, he got so attached to it that he even came back and bought land there, to bury his wife Sarah there. The Bible introduces this wonderful place for us for the first time in Genesis 13:18:

"So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD."

The King James Version calls this place the "plain of Mamre".

Abraham felt at home at this place much more than in any other place he lived in. In Genesis 18, The LORD appeared to Abraham at Mamre as he "sat in the tent door in the heat of the day" (Genesis 18:1); and this was the first time The LORD spoke to him about the birth of Isaac, the son of the Promise.

Mamre, traditionally, was a place between the Bethel and Ai of those days; Abraham did not feel at home with the Canaanites who lived in these cities, and he just wanted to stay apart. Besides, I do feel he wanted a place which afforded gentle shade, with the only trees around for miles and miles in a very hot plain. The trees at Mamre are legendary; there is still a gnarled old oak that the Israelis call "Abraham's oak", very near where Mamre was supposed to have been. The trees were said to be the terebinth and the oak.

The picture of the "great trees" is refreshing when one thinks of the phrase in Genesis 18:1, "the heat of the day". The "cool of the day" refreshing of Genesis 3:8 had now come full circle - the wages of the fall - to "the heat of the day".

Abraham appears to have felt the loneliness and the isolation of being an alien and stranger, both literally and figuratively, in his wanderings. Loneliness and isolation have far deeper moorings in us when we keenly feel the effect of being strangers on earth, where we can call no one friend and no place home. Even while we look ahead to the heavenly city, the weariness of wandering and frugal living, and the terror of not being secure shatter our peace and take away our repose.

For Abraham, on temporal earth, there still was a safe place he could go to, to find refreshing and life-green, where The LORD ministered to him - and this was Mamre.

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I find that throughout our lives (and I can testify in my own case), God provides refreshing little oases on the way. It might be a place, or a person, or even just portions of the Word, sometimes even a song. Whatever it is, it becomes Mamre to us. That's what safe places are meant to do - provide the temporary refuge with all the comforts of being near The LORD, fully able to tap into His infinite resources for our needs. God somehow knows we need these safe places.
 
Let us come aside to our retreat day after day, within the garden where He comes to meet us....or stand at the entrance to the tent, "in the heat of the day", as Abraham did. And our God will come and refresh us.