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“Fear is the path to the dark side” — Yoda

06 Sep
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear lead to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda

Dear God, I know that George Lucas wasn’t referencing you with all of the “force” talk in Star Wars, but there is some truth in it. I think Jesus tried to teach us something similar about hate and loving our enemies

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor,’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45a)

So why does it feel so good to give in to the hate? Why do I find myself wanting to sink into the news and hate people who are on the other side of the political spectrum than me? It feels so good to see them experience pain or disappointment. It feels so good to try to prove them wrong. Before I know it, I’m reading news articles that will bring me good news of their destruction. 

It’s interesting that Yoda stars with fear in that quote above. Is there something I’m afraid of that drives my fear. Is my disease fear and the symptom is hate? I’d say that line from George Lucas is pretty brilliant and probably right. There are all kinds of verses about fearing not. Jesus goes into it several times, talking about how we worry about things over which we have no control. Consider the lilies of the field, and all of that. 

So what scares me and why does it scare me? Am I scared of someone being president? Am I scared of threats to the economy? Am I scared of other nations? Am I scared I won’t get my way? 

Father, reveal to me where I am scared and not trusting you. Help me to pray for both men currently running for president. And do with our nation what you will. You know the path you have for us. You know what you want to happen in the world. Help me to do my part in making that happen. And please help me to love my enemies and let go of my fear and hate.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 6, 2020 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Mark 10:32

15 Mar

Mark 10:32
32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him.

Dear God, there seems to be a throwaway line here in the middle of this passage: “…and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear.” I looked up several different translations, and I really didn’t get a better description of why these people we so afraid. Or maybe another way of looking at it is to wonder why the twelve were not afraid. Why did Jesus keep having to explain his impending suffering and death to them?

But back on the people following being “overwhelmed with fear.” I wonder why they kept following. They apparently had enough perspective to sense the danger ahead (maybe the twelve were too close to it to see it). Yet they pressed on in their fear. Maybe it was their faith in Jesus that propelled them on. Maybe it was morbid curiosity. Maybe it was a sense of calling. I wonder what happened to them on that Good Friday/Passover evening after Jesus was dead. I just realized I’ve used the word “wonder” several times this morning. I suppose that’s what I’m left with at this point, just to wonder.

As for me, even now, I have things about which I am afraid. I have challenges at work, with my children, with family members, with friends, etc. And that doesn’t even count politics, societal issues, and what’s going on around the world. Yes, there can even be times when I am “overwhelmed with fear.” But I follow because there is no other hope for me outside of you.

Father, I have a lot of things to do today, including one very important thing that I have to get right. Please give me wisdom and discernment as I evaluate my options Thank you for putting options before me in the first place. A week ago at this time I felt like I was at square one. But I prayed to you and followed a path, and it feels like you have brought the right person to me. I just need to figure out which one it is. Be with me as I have lunch with a friend who is battling cancer. Thank you that what he has is very treatable. Be with my wife’s and my time with our daughter tonight as we celebrate her birthday. Give her a sense of your love for her and our love for her through our time together. Help her to make the decisions that are in front of her as well. And I guess, going back to the passage today, I pledge to you that I will take my fears, lay them at the foot of your cross, and take up your yoke. You are my only path to a peace that passes understanding. Thank you for being my God.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2019 in Mark

 

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He Has Borne Our Griefs — Isaiah 53:1-6

28 Feb

IMG_1692
The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The image was created by Ned Bustard and is called “En Agonie (after Rouault).”

Isaiah 53:1-6 [NLT]

1 Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

Dear God, in so many ways I feel like a failure. I normally write these at the beginning of each day, but I ran out of time this morning and I was having trouble finding a scripture upon which to meditate, so I just went to work. Then something happened this afternoon that has caused me a lot of sorrow and even some fear. My tendency is to try to push through this pain and solve my problems in my own wisdom. But there is no peace in that. There is usually only foolishness.

So I sat down and opened up my new favorite book to find a Bible story and see what I can learn from how an artist has interpreted this passage. The passage itself is familiar to evangelical Christians, especially charismatic ones. The last part of verse 5 is often translated, “by his stripes we were healed,” and a lot of people praying for healing will quote this passage, although I personally believe they are using it out of context.

Anyway, the part of this passage that struck me this evening was verse 4: “Yet is was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!”

I had someone give me a compliment tonight that I absolutely felt like I did not deserve. He complimented what I consider to be a weakness, and I think if he knew me better he wouldn’t have complimented me at all. In fact, I told him as much. But it was that weakness that Jesus carried too. It was this sorrow I feel tonight that He carried as well. It wasn’t His sin. He had no sin. No, it was all about me and all of us.

Now, I want to turn my attention to the image that Ned Bustard did for this passage. It took me a while to see it, but it’s Jesus on the cross, from the waist up–or maybe just below the waist. It’s rough. Jesus arms are up on the cross, but his head is down. If He is not yet dead, he will be soon. His arm and pectorals are represented as being straight and stretched. There is a small horizontal cross in the middle of His chest. Is that intentional? His abdomen is done in circles as are his nipples. And I think His nakedness is showing. How often we forget that there was no loin cloth for modesty. Our God was hung naked for this sorrow. For my wickedness.

Father, this is the cross at which I am supposed to lay my burdens. This is the cross that is there to hold my sorrows and fears. I’ve been talking to people about how much you did for us last year, and how providential your timing was in some of our needs. Do I believe you can do that again? Am I prepared to seek you as much now as I did then? Well, it starts now. I give you this pain. I pray also for the others involved who are also in pain. Help them. I give you my fear. I pray also for the others involved who are fearful. I give you my worship. I pray that the others involved will worship you as well.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 

 
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Posted by on February 28, 2019 in Isaiah, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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Emails to God – “So do not be afraid…” (Matthew 10:24-31)

09 Jan

24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Dear God, it is interesting that verse 26 starts out, “So do not be afraid of them…” How are they not supposed to be afraid of them? You just finished telling them that they will be arrested, flogged, put before governors and kings, etc. Now, you say, “…do not be afraid of them…” So what emotion are they supposed to feel when they are in these situations?

Am I ever supposed to feel fear? Is there ever a time when you think it is reasonable for me to be afraid? My first instinct is to say, “Sure. There are lots of times when I should be afraid.” But then I start to think about the various things that would normally bring me fear and I think that, in each of them, right down to losing my own life or the lives of my family members, you are not calling me towards fear, but faith that it will all be okay in the end. Sure, it’s okay to grieve. Sorrow was part of your life. And I think that Jesus battled fear in the garden the night he was betrayed. But in the end he didn’t leave that garden with fear. He slayed it and said, “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

Father, THAT is the prayer you call me to: “Not my will, but Your will be done.” It kind of goes along with the man earlier asking for healing who told Jesus, “If you are willing…” Those are my prayers, in combination: “Father, if you are willing…Not my will, but Your will be done.” Help me to live these prayers and to be at peace in the midst of any storm that brews around me and heads my way.

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2012 in Matthew

 

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