We Are Not Entitled

November 20, 2013

My wife came home from a volunteer service talking about a conversation she had with a woman from the area. Someone who knows my family, I guess.

The woman was complaining about everything. Just from one thing to another. She talked about how her daughter had limited career choices because of policies coming from Washington. “There is no financial reason to become a doctor because of Obamacare.” How not everyone who wants to cannot attend college. “We’ll be just like Europe where they have to take a test to get into college.”

And there was more. So my wife came home with questions.

People have been complaining about lack of financial incentives to become a medical doctor for at least 20 years. First it was liability insurance, then payments from insurance companies. Frankly, if anyone tells you they know everything about Obamacare, they are lying. I don’t think a single person is in existence that can understand complex legislation that makes it through our Congress. Especially a Congress person. Especially someone who gets their information from a neighbor or TV news.

I put all her comments together and thought two things. One, she would be one of those people who says, “I’m entitled to my opinion.” Second, she is among the many in America who believe they are entitled to happiness and anything their heart desires. Heck, there are even people who think they are entitled to opinions on Scripture without ever having studied it. Do you know people who cite Bible verses that aren’t even in the Bible? Happens all the time.

Sorry to break this news, but we’re not entitled to our opinions—unless they are based on facts and deliberate reasoning. And faith. In fact, we’re not entitled to anything.

Paul, writing in Romans, begins by telling us that we are all sinners and not entitled to anything except going straight to Hell. Then he reasons from the facts of his Scriptures and Jesus’ life and teachings. And he concludes there is no hope except for God’s grace.

With God’s grace, we have the freedom to live a good life. We have the freedom to become a disciple of Jesus, living in service to others leading them to discipleship in their turn.

Take TV news. Last night at my birthday dinner at Subway after our Yoga class, my wife points to the TV displaying a suicide and attack on his father and asks, do we really need to know that?

Exactly. We fill our minds with useless junk and then want to spout meaningless opinions on topics of which we have no knowledge.

We are not entitled. We are expected to partake of God’s grace, study His words, become disciples and guide others toward becoming disciples. I don’t think you’d like it if you got what you deserved.

Be careful with negative talk that will turn people off and ruin the opportunity to teach them about a life of freedom in Jesus.

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Respect for Humanity

November 18, 2013

Some years ago, there was an executive of a major corporation who made himself (with the aid of some skilled public relations people and a couple of books) into a “god” for managers. He had only a couple of big ideas. One was that every manager should rank every employee on a bell curve and fire those who ranked in the bottom 10% regardless of their actual contribution.

Last week, another CEO of an American technology company was exposed of implementing that same philosophy at her company despite the fact that this management philosophy has now been long discredited and dropped by many of its former followers.

The first executive is Jack Welch of GE. He built a house of cards that took his successor several years to fix. Yet many people still extol his “virtues” even until this day.

The second is Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo. She is trying to turn around a failing company. That is hard enough, but she also faces strong competitors and a shortage of skilled people. Seems like she would be better served by doing things to lead her people into greater performance.

Bell curves, as all of us who endured the education system know, inevitably force people to compete with one another. That is certainly not the way of modern, high-performance organizations.

Toyota has long held three principles as its core value: Customer First, Respect for Humanity, Eliminate Waste. Hmmm, Respect for Humanity. Think Mayer missed the plane when that idea went.

When Jesus came along (and you have to read the entire New Testament in this light), the main and only organization was Rome. Its CEO, if you will, was the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace–Caesar. The only value Rome extolled was power. Life was all about who had power over whom.

Jesus turned the entire Roman world on its head. He reversed every Roman teaching and replaced it with Love first. He who would lead must be a servant.

Many of us in management roles have tried to live this one out. Obviously many have not. Even in Christian organizations, power seems to rule over humanity. And where God is in all that, I guess God only knows as the saying holds.

Thought for the day: How are we treating others?

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The Still Point

November 14, 2013

Someone once asked how I come up with these thoughts. Some are derived from reading or listening to teachers. Some from news or observations. And then I think about the idea and try to relate it to a deeper teaching.

Focus is the  hard part. Last week I traveled three days beginning with a 6 am flight which meant rising at 3:45 in order to shower, pack my laptop bag (aka briefcase in the old days) and drive to the airport. On that trip I arrived at the destination, met my colleagues, made some sales calls, had a business discussion over a long dinner, and then get to my room after 10 pm. Up early for meetings, driving around, another business dinner.

It’s about the same this week. Now, it’s four days in Houston rather than three in Philadelphia.

I’m not looking for sympathy. I chose to do these trips. When I’m home, I have a normal routine which includes 15-30 minutes of quiet time to read and contemplate. Sometimes on business trips, I don’t carve out the time. It is a failure of focus.

This morning I decided to carve out some quiet time. When I do that, my body slows down, my thinking slows down, and I can focus on a topic. It’s all about focus and attention.

T.S. Eliot, a quite misunderstood poet, wrote in Burnt Norton (one of the Four Quartets) about the still point–at the still point of the turning earth, there is the dance, and there is only the dance. Eliot was a contemplative and understood the value of slowing down, focusing, achieving that still point.

Today, I switched my focus to, well, focus itself. I became close to the still point. The day will go much better because of that.

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Those Who Love To Tell Others What To Do

November 12, 2013

There are two types of people–there are always two types of people, I guess. The two I thought I’d talk about today are those who love to tell other people what to do and those who do not like to be told what to do.

I’m proudly in the second camp.

I don’t know how that came about. Maybe I was born that way. Or maybe because neither of my parents were self-confident enough to order us around. I’m not positive about my brothers, but I think they are not the ordering around type either.

When I teach, I prefer to guide. When my kids were growing up, I preferred to guide and suggest rather than order them around (after that early stage of discipline where you have to set the limits and provide strict guidance).

That is some of the problems that Jesus initiated with his message. Since the time of Moses, the Jewish religion was primarily a religion of laws–people ordering other people to do certain things in order to be right with God. There were exceptions, of course, but this passing on of strict laws was the norm.

Jesus came along and said the important thing is not simply obeying a set of laws made up by other people who loved telling others what to do. Jesus said what matters is what is in your heart–that is, what matters is your own attitude and motivation.

Paul tried to explain this, but his explanations often became a little complicated. Then other people came later who tried the first method of developing laws out of Paul’s words and then ordering people around. The whole process started again–this time under the guise of being Christ-followers.

Let’s just go back to where Jesus was. If your attitude and motivation are to live with God, then you will naturally live a good life (allowing for the sins that come through the fallibility of being human). Jesus came to redeem us from a life of being bossed around, and from a life of guilt and shame from our shortcomings (sins), and to release us with love to live with-God and for others.

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God is the Same Forever

November 11, 2013

I have been reading Genesis and Exodus with a small group this year. It’s easy to see how misconceptions arose from partial readings of the text over the years. But when you read the entire text and digest it, there are many interesting things to absorb.

Abraham and his progeny were not the only followers of the One God throughout that time. Abraham met others occasionally—note Melchizedek for one. So did Moses. It was just that one tribe was singled out to be the torchbearers for God. Let’s just say there were mixed results.

God was far more merciful than some teachings would suggest. God was also then, as now, intolerant of sin and worshiping of objects as gods.

God’s message to the people through his prophets changed somewhat as the social and cultural circumstances changed. When Moses was trying to forge a people out of the group of former slaves, God was concerned about keeping them pure—uncorrupted by those surrounding peoples who worshiped a number of other Gods. Therefore, he ordered them not to conquer a city and intermingle with the people. He rightly perceived that especially the women would bring their gods into the households of the Hebrews and corrupt the worship of God.

By the time of the prophets after David and throughout the time of the Babylonians and Persians, the world was becoming multi-cultural and the Hebrews had to learn to live in a more hostile world where they were not a dominant force in the land. By the time of Jesus and the early church, it was accepted that the world was multicultural and that Christians needed instruction on how to live in such a world while maintaining their moral practices.

I guess I’m thinking about this because I was brought up on a theology that the “Gods” of Old Testament and New Testament are different. That, of course, is an untenable position. God is God—never changing since before the universe was created and after the universe has passed away.

God does speak to people in the context of their environment. Our societies have become ever more complex. Population keeps growing. We travel and mingle with people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds more today than ever before. God’s message to his prophets necessarily changes to give answers to different questions.

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I am Worthy or Am I Worthy

November 6, 2013

Jesus is surrounded by people. This usually happens to him after he had performed many miracles of healing and had taught with such authority. His attention is disrupted by a delegation of Jews from another village. Seems that there is a Roman Centurion who has a request for healing for a servant.

“He is worthy,” said the delegation.

They said this to convince Jesus to come to his aid. This is actually shocking. The Centurion was Roman, not Jewish. Jesus was seen as a rabbi, a teacher in the Jewish tradition. Most Jews had as little interaction with non-Jews as possible. Especially if they were the religious ones.

This group said that the Roman was worthy of Jesus’ attention. So, Jesus turned his attention on the problem of the servant. He started to go to the home of the Roman, thinking as they all were that his physical presence was required.

But the Centurion sent another messenger. “I am not worthy.”

Huh? He is worthy. He is not worthy. This also is a strange comment, that an important Roman leader would say that he is not worthy of a visit by an itinerant Jewish teacher and healer. Is the world turning upside down?

“I understand authority,” the Centurion continued. He accepts commands from his superiors in the army and he issues commands to those whom he leads. And all those orders are obeyed.

He expects the same from Jesus in the spiritual realm. He sees Jesus as under authority from God and having authority over the spirits that were ailing his servants. “Just say the word, and he will be healed.” And Jesus did, and he was.

Jesus used this as an example of faith that he had not even seen from Jewish people.

I’m interested in the concept of being worthy in this story from Luke 7. The Roman had many Jewish friends and he had even contributed to their causes. The friends were afraid that Jesus would shun a non-Jew. They didn’t yet understand that Jesus’ message was for everyone. Non-Jews. Women, even.

For the Roman to say he was not worthy of a personal visit is a remarkable admission. We in the US, some in Western Europe and I think increasingly around the world are living in a time of self-absorption. We have been raising kids to think they are always worthy of everything.

But, we are all under the authority of God whether we realize it or not. And if we do, we can say we are not worthy, but please use your authority to bring us to wholeness (a sense of the word to heal). To say we are not worthy does not mean that we psychologically unhealthy in a low self-esteem way. It just means that we recognize the chain of authority and where we fit.

I believe this is a most misunderstood concept. To be humble does not mean to be docile.

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So That You May Bear Fruit

November 1, 2013

“You may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…”

Paul wrote to the Christ followers in Colossae that he prayed for this for the people. I know of people who think that this is the end of the sentence. The purpose of life is to be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Some of these people live as though they have achieved this state and this gives them permission to tell others about how they have not achieved such a state. They either implied or stated boldly that this made them better people.

Do you know people like that? I certainly do. And Jesus met them every day. Back then, they were called Pharisees. And he told many stories about how they were wrong.

How wrong? Well, Paul finishes his sentence, “so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in knowledge of God.”

So that! The end is not wisdom and understanding. These are only the foundation, the means, the tools, for living a life pleasing to God.

And what is a life pleasing to God? Paul tells us. “Bear fruit in every good work” and “grow in knowledge of God.”

What are good works? One story Jesus told was of a man beaten by robbers. Three men passed by him as he lay bleeding. Two were from the higher ranks of Jewish society–they did nothing (and they were listening as Jesus told the story). One was an outcast in the eyes of Jewish society–a Samaritan. The Samaritan took care of the man. That was a good work–as well as a teaching that our neighbor to be helped is whomever we find along the road of life.

Another good work comes from Jesus’ words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew where he tells us to make disciples. Preaching at people does little to no good. Helping them through example, teaching, love, mentoring to be like Jesus is what our work in life is.

What will be your so that today? Will you recognize it?

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Discipleship Means Changing Your Life

October 31, 2013

Jesus tells a story, actually an analogy, about wineskins and new wine. He said that you put new wine in new wineskins and old wine in old wineskins. If you put new wine that is still fermenting and therefore expanding into old wineskins that are stiff and fragile, then the skin will break and all will be lost.

He was talking about his message as the new wine. If he talked to people who were set in their ways and unwilling to change, then the message would not have any effect and all would be lost.

If the message entered people who were fresh and new and receptive to it, then they would grow with the message and the message (fresh wine) would be useful.

Parables, or stories, are almost always about people and their relationship to the message Jesus was teaching. This teaching is an important life lesson–even for us older people.

It is actually possible for us to age, yet remain fresh and receptive in our outlooks. We can try to remain open to new facts, experiences, knowledge. Even as we grow, we can continue to be mentally and spiritually fresh. Or, we can become rigid in our beliefs, unable to accept new ideas. Then the message will lose its impact and we are in danger of becoming Jesus’ enemies–the Pharisees. These are the people who put laws ahead of love; put knowledge ahead of spirit; put ritual actions above living out God’s will.

One of the reasons to practice Spiritual Disciplines is to find ways to remain fresh and receptive to God’s message. Daily prayer, meditation, study and service help us to live God’s message as a part of our daily lives. Not because there is some law that orders us to do certain things. But because we are living with Jesus every moment.

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Curiosity Is a Good Thing

October 28, 2013

We took our young grandchildren to the zoo Saturday and then on a walk along a river on Sunday. Such unbridled joy at learning something new, explaining what they already knew and curiosity about everything. Wooly worm caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, snakes. And that was just the walk.

People were curious about Jesus. Who was this guy who healed people and confronted the establishment? But many were merely curious without the learning part. Many combined curiosity about how to live in God’s Kingdom–enough so that they started a movement. We are the beneficiaries of that movement today.

I think about the people to whom Paul wrote his letters. Many were curious about the contents of his strange message. Some became teachers and leaders. But they remained curious. They accumulated many questions to bring to him for guidance and instruction.

There was Timothy, to whom Paul wrote at least two letters. Epaphras of Colossae who probably instigated the letter to the Colossians. They were curious people who let their curiosity lead them into learning and eventually understanding and then leadership.

Do you take a walk and just walk? Read and then forget? Watch TV endlessly?

What joy to discover the wonders of nature just where you are. To learn a new concept or idea. To learn about new people.

Curiosity is just asking questions and discovering. Knowledge comes from seeking answers to those questions. Then thinking about those answers. With a mind open to the possibilities of wonder, knowledge, growth.

I far past 6 years old, but I’m still curious about just about everything (except pop culture). How about you? Time to kindle that flame of curiosity? Time to learn and grow?

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Study Bible Commentators With Discernment

October 25, 2013

The professors, especially in the humanities but also in science and math, told us what someone wrote about someone else. So there were always about two layers of separation between the student and the text.

One of my more embarrassing (for an introverted geek anyway) episodes was when a philosophy professor was quite off track discussing the Theory of Relativity. You see, I had been studying Einstein’s thought experiments that led to the breakthrough and then the math that he worked out as a proof. So, it was on my mind. I raised my hand and began to explain what he was attempting to talk about.

“Would you like to teach this class, Mr. Mintchell?” Professor Dr. H asked. I should have said yes some of my classmates said later. But he shut me up. But at 19 years old, I already was unhappy with living in that separation from the text.

Hal Lindsey was a popular theologian in the early 70s with his gift for story telling while attempting to interpret the Bible. I read The Late, Great Planet Earth and thought it was interesting, if a bit flawed in its understanding of politics. Then I read his next book which was a commentary on Hebrews. I kept thinking there was something wrong. So, I got out my 8-translation New Testament and read the book again testing his translation with those of many scholars. I have no idea where he came up with his translation which neatly fit his theology, but it didn’t match any I had.

I really like reading new commentary on the Bible. But I always keep mine close by to double check translations and context. Just like when Malcolm Gladwell began a passage with “some scholars think”, you need to be careful and not believe everything you read–even this.

And go back to the source text often.

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