How Will They Know?

I was in an international airport recently.  It was interesting observing the different people—like I’m not different in my own ways—but you see quite a big mix of people in an airport, especially an international one.  What really started me on this was seeing a father who appeared to be Arabic washing his young sons’ hands.  I was impressed that he was probably of the Muslim faith since he was so intense about not touching anything after their hands were clean.  My mother was very big on cleanliness and not touching things which I had no idea of where they had been, but the intensity of this father went well beyond that of even my mother as he barked his instructions to his young sons.  It definitely implied a concern well beyond one about germs, hinting at the religious.

After that I noticed other people whose dress, demeanor, or practices seemed to give me insight into who they were or how they wanted to be perceived.  I saw many people wearing articles—hats, shirts, jackets—which proclaimed their allegiance to one sports team or another.  There were people in international dress which I could not identify, but which identified their place of origin.  A student of this could probably not only discern what country they were from, but what province or region.  I could not.  I just knew they weren’t from around here. 

Then there are accents and linguistic colloquialisms which also help identify a person.  I should know about this.  Having been born in Oklahoma, but having lived in many parts of the United States and ending up in Minnesota.  I have actually had Minnesota people tell me they don’t talk with an accent, to which I simply reply, “Oh, yah, sure, you betcha.”  Being quite a few years and miles removed from my roots, I don’t realize that my speech still belies my place of origin, but more often than I want to admit, people in my current place of residence ask me where I’m from.  In fact, where I’m from and most Southern states have a common phase that expresses it best, “you ain’t from around here, are you.?”

One last input on this note is that while in that airport, I was ultimately going to end up visiting a friend in Texas.  I’ve lived in Texas twice and to be honest, the dress and accents between natural born Oklahomans and Texans give a clue to their geographical proximity, though I would be strung up by representatives from either side of the Red River for saying it out loud.  But as I said, I was born in Oklahoma and have lived in Texas twice, so I like cowboy boots and know how to wear them.  I have a nice pair of Tony Lama cowboy boots which I cherish more than a man should, but I brought them with me, along with a pair of Lee boot cut jeans on this trip so I can wear them in Texas and look the part.

So, hopefully, without stepping over the political correctness line, my point is, it’s not hard to look at a person or listen to a person and get a hint of who they are and where they are from. 

This brings me to a question that came to mind as I observed all the different people in this airport.  How do they know we are followers of Christ?  I had also seen in this airport a young woman wearing a T-shirt with a Christian message on it.  I’ve seen many cars drive by me with fish symbols, or bumper stickers with Christian messages on them.  As a young Christian, I wore a shirt with a big Cross stitched on the back in an attempt to identify me with my faith and my Lord.   What’s disappointing about all of this is seeing someone sporting such identification, and then seeing them acting in an un-Christian way.

I have been a “Christian” for many years.  I accepted Jesus as my savior at a young age in a church group that was very big on outward show.  A Christian went to church regularly—meaning every time the doors were open.  A Christian didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t go to dances and was only allowed to go to movies that were deemed acceptable.  A Christian dressed and made their self up very conservative—my penchant toward long hair was always an issue here.  Christians had their own language which included a lot of “Holy” phrases which helped identify who they were.  And when someone was “saved” they had to take on this mantel and walk, talk, and dress the same way.  That way people would know who and what they were.  Groups of faith have historically pushed an outward show of their beliefs through faith in an attempt to identify them with their beliefs and set them apart from the rest of the world.  Some of the most radical that come to mind are the Amish, here in America, which have eschewed as much as possible any connection with the “sinful” world—very plain dress, plain colors, no buttons, head coverings, beards but no mustaches, etc.

Whether a nationality, a sports fan, a regional resident of the United States, or a religious group, we seem to have a need to visually state to the world who we are.  But the question comes once again, how will the world know that we are followers of Christ?  Should we get “God Team” merchandise to wear?  It seems many people do that, but does that really tell the world who we are?  You can put a pair of cowboy boots on a city boy from the East, but that doesn’t really mean he’s a Texan. 

What about the way we talk?  Christians don’t really have a regional accent, per se.  They do, however, have “Holy Talk”—phrases and words like “Praise the Lord”, “hallelujah”, “I feel so blessed”, etc.  These and any number of utterances like them have been developed and grasped on to, in a seeming attempt to make certain Christians feel holier and to  identify them and their faith.  Does this “Holy Speak” really show the world we are followers of the Risen Lord?  Having lived in Minnesota long enough, I can actually put on a fairly good Minnesota accent that will fool many people, but does that make me a born and bred Minnesotan?  I can put a hood ornament and leather seats on my wife’s car, but that won’t make it a Jaguar or a Mercedes (she can keep wishing, though).  It would just be a Chevy Impala with a fancy hood ornament and leather seats.

There is only one way that our Lord says the world will know we are truly His followers.  That is love.  That should not be surprising.   He stood out in His world because of His love.  He did not preach condemnation.  He did not preach judgment, except on the misguided religious rule of the day (which was full of dress, talk and outward showiness).  Jesus loved.  He loved the down and out.  He loved the disenfranchised.  He loved those who were considered unlovely by the current world and religious view—tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, the poor, the lame, people of non or mixed Jewish decent, even Romans.  Jesus loved and taught us that God is love.  He even taught us that any man, even an evil man will love his friends and brothers, but to truly reflect the person of the Father one must love his enemies to the point of honestly praying for them. 

As I said earlier, in a couple of days, I will be visiting a long time friend of mine in Houston.  We have a long history and I can honestly say I love him.  I would do anything within my power for him, but what about the noisy—the term “white trash” comes to mind—bunch of young women who were disturbing me while I tried to write this yesterday?  Though I try not to, I do have some old prejudices from my past that pop up at some interesting times, and my Lord is saying to me, “Yes, even them too.  Yes, they stand right beside you at the foot of my cross.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can fit that all on a T-shirt, and if I could it wouldn’t mean much, if anything.  At present, I am wearing a T-shirt that identifies me as one who attended a big classic car show.  I have many T-shirts that say a lot about me.  I have Harley T-shirts.  I have a Harley.  I have tourist type T-shirts that say I have been to many places, including Marguritaville in Key West.  I have a T-shirt from the 2012 Sturgis Bike Week Rally, though I wasn’t even there, but I wear it like I was.  I even have a T-shirt that I received from my daughter and son-in-law that says, “These are my church clothes.”  Love is not a garment I can put on, however.  Love is not a cross we stitch to the back of a shirt.  Love is a cross that we willingly allow ourselves to be nailed to in the name of our Lord.  And as Jesus gave up his last breath in loving sacrifice, the guard at the foot of the cross was heard to say, “this truly was the son of God.”  Love, even to the cross identified Jesus for who He truly was.  That same love is the only thing that will truly identify followers of Him for who we truly are.

Putting on a T-shirt, hat or jacket is easy.  Slapping a bumper sticker on the back of my car is easy.  Speech is relatively easy to learn.  Taking up a cross of love and allowing ourselves to be nailed to it for any and every person around us is, to use a southern term, “a might bit harder.”  But that, is the only way the world will know we are truly followers of Christ.

Lessons From a Mixed Up Humming Bird

My wife had recently told me about this humming bird in our yard acting strangely, but as she described it, I couldn’t really picture it in my mind until I saw it.  So the next day, I was sitting on our deck and something caught my eye.  It was a humming bird buzzing around our very large elm tree.  It may not sound too weird until I explain it.  This humming bird was buzzing around the gnarly bark of the elm tree like it was a flower and there was some nectar to be found.  He didn’t seem to find anything there, which I doubted that he would, but he just kept on buzzing around the tree.  He’d buzz and buzz, then rest in one of the low branches for a short while, only to continue this strange attempt at finding some humming bird nourishment from an old tree trunk.  To my mind this was very strange behavior.  This little bird was messed up!

The fact was that less than 20 feet from him was a number of hanging baskets on our deck loaded with nectar bearing blossoms that he could feed from.  Another 20 feet further was a humming bird feeder nearly full of nectar we had provided free for any of our little buzzing bird friends.  Instead of coming to the source of nourishment that was freely provided by God and us, custom made for their high energy needs, this mixed up bird kept buzzing around a tree trunk that offered nothing to him at all, except pure frustration.  It was then that a truth hit me pretty hard, right up side my head.

I had recently been struggling with the disappointment of a big letdown.  I had hoped for a certain position that had come up and I wasn’t chosen for it.  In this situation, I felt very qualified and couldn’t really get a grasp on why someone else was chosen and not me.  The emotions that hit me, hit me very hard and were based on feelings of rejection.  This incident and the resultant feelings seemed to bring back all of the times in my past that I hadn’t been chosen for something going all the way back to grade school.  I was really slammed by this and I couldn’t explain it. 

It was while struggling with these feelings, that I saw this mixed up humming bird hopelessly trying to find nourishment from the trunk of an elm tree.  I wanted to scream at the bird that he was wasting his time, there was nothing there for him, and that if he’d only open his eyes and look around, he would find nourishment custom made for him only feet away.  That’s when it hit me.  I too had been buzzing around an old elm tree trunk trying to get what I thought I needed from it.

What is my old elm trunk?  It is the approval and acceptance of humans.  My disappointment and all of the emotions that came with it were based on my need to be recognized by humans.  A lot of us have this same problem.  I grew up a performer.  I realized early on that this was the way I got positive attention.  I got good grades.  I was the “good boy”.  I performed musically because I had the talent and it gave me positive feedback.  I have even tried performing religiously to get positive feedback from men and from God (God doesn’t care about performance, but old habits die hard).  When someone lives for approval by man, then that which can be perceived as disapproval, like not being recognized or chosen for something, brings with it the flip side of the emotional coin—the extreme opposite of the elation one feels when they are recognized and “chosen”.  This perceived disapproval can be a crushing blow.

This is what I was feeling, and it took God speaking through a mixed up tiny humming bird to show me how totally insane it was for me to try to get  my worth and spiritual nourishment from the approval of men.  In that very moment I realized that in the realm of spiritual things I looked just as stupid and messed up as the humming bird, and I heard God telling me to open my eyes and look around and find the true spiritual nourishment that is custom made just for me which I can only get from him.

Jesus taught about getting acknowledgement from men in Matthew 6.  His bottom line is, if you do things to be recognized by men, that recognition is the only reward you get.  That reward, given by men is nothing but a gnarly old tree trunk compared to the sweet nectar God has for us.

I wonder if the Pharisees realized that to God they looked as stupid as a humming bird buzzing around the trunk of an old elm tree.  I know it finally hit me.

What Does It Take To Get God To Act?

My wife and I were discussing a life situation we were struggling with lately and a common question came up.  It was, to paraphrase it in general, “How do we know we’re doing the right things to get God to act in our lives?”  To put it another way, “How do we know we’re in God’s will?” or again, “am I doing the right things in relationship to God?”  This question takes many forms but it all boils down to the same thing.  When we desire God’s direct work in our life situations, or seek a specific answer to prayer, what does it take to bring that about?  Is there something I’m not doing that He wants me to do?  Is there something I’m doing that is preventing His work in my life.  These last two questions are not wrong to ask ourselves and God.  There may actually be something that is preventing God’s work.  If there is, God does not hide that from us, He usually lets us know pretty clearly when we ask.  It is up to us to be faithful to act on these convictions.  But, what if there is no word of conviction one way or another from God and it seems He is still distant, or our desires and even needs seem unmet and our prayers unanswered?

When this question came up, I smuggling and half jokingly said there is an answer to the bottom line here, and I pointed to Ecclesiastes 12:13

      Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
    Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.

To paraphrase this in New Testament language, “the bottom line is:  Love God and do His will.”

The “Preacher”, the writer of Ecclesiastes, which we take to be Solomon, had spent the whole book going over his search for ultimate meaning in life.  He chronicles all of the things he has pursued with the conclusion that all but this one thing is vanity and chasing the wind.  Jesus reflected this bottom line in His teachings and His life.

Our discussion went on from there because of the common question, “How do I know I am in God’s will?” or “How do I know I’m doing everything in God’s will?”  It was then that my mind went back to the Mount Carmel incident between Elijah’s God and Baal (I Kings 18).  As the story goes, a challenge had been posed to prove who the one true God was.  The challenge was to see which of the gods represented would send fire down from heaven to light an offering on the top of the mountain.  Elijah, being very confident, gave the prophets of Baal the home field advantage.  He let them go first and let them have first pick of the bulls to be offered.  So they set up their altar with the offering on it and started praying, then begging.  That didn’t do it, so they started dancing and crying louder.  That didn’t even do it, so they started cutting themselves with swords and spears until blood was freely flowing.  They did this for hours.  In fact they did this starting in the morning, through noon, until evening with no results. 

When I look at the cutting themselves part, I am reminded of a song by the Rolling Stones, “I Know It’s Only Rock and (But I Like It)”.  This song is a slam at all of the stage theatrics that were going on in pop/rock music at the time.  Some of the lines are, “If I could stick my pen in my heart
and spill it all over the stage,” and “If I could stick a knife in my heart, suicide on the stage.”  Then the question is posed, “Would it satisfy you?”

The question, what does it take to satisfy God?  The prophets of Baal served a false god.  Baal was an idol made by man out of their own imagination—an idol which supposedly had power, but had to be appeased with any number of hoops to jump through to get him to work.  With such an idol there was a progression of antics that the follower had to go through to gain favor and produce action by this god.  As in the Mount Carmel incident, it started with prayer.  On that day, prayer obviously wasn’t enough, so they went on to more fervent prayer and shouting.  Not good enough today, so dancing was in order.  Dancing usually did it, but obviously Baal was not so easily pleased today.  That left only the final resort which meant cutting themselves.  From the narrative it can be conjectured that the cutting started small, but we see that it progressed until blood was freely flowing from the wounds.  I am sure the prophets of Baal were asking themselves and their god, what does it take to get you to do this one thing?

Elijah had a little fun with them while this was all going on.  He taunted them, “maybe he can’t hear you,” or “maybe he’s just busy,” “maybe he’s deep in thought, or asleep.”  Elijah actually went so far as to say, “maybe he’s in the bathroom.”  Sure this sounds funny, but it shows us a great contrast between a god conceived by man and the one true God of the universe.  The psalmist tells us many times that our God has none of these anthropomorphic qualities or limitations.

After their failed efforts, we know that Elijah built the altar and even flooded it with water.  He then prayed once and the fire fell from heaven, burning up the sacrifice, the wood and even the stones of the altar, the water and even the dirt around it.

I look at this story and have to remember that my God, our God is not an idol who is fickle, or so caught up in himself that he would toy with us humans.  He doesn’t have the human failings, quirks, shallowness, or frailties that an idol like Baal was seen to have.  Our God is all powerful.  Our God is ultimately and constantly attentive.  Our God is love.  We don’t have to bargain with Him, dicker with Him, manipulate Him, and the only way we can appease Him is to love Him and trustingly follow Him.

So what can we say about the times when it seems God is far away, or He has reserved or withheld His activity and working in our lives.  God didn’t always answer Elijah’s prayers immediately.  In fact, right after the altar incident on Mount Carmel, Elijah prayed for rain.  This whole incident had come at the culmination of a three year draught which started when Elijah had prayed that it stop raining because of the sins of Ahab and Jezebel and the nation following after Baal.  God, before this showdown had promised to give rain again, so after the great victory, Elijah faithfully prayed for rain.  He prayed once and sent his servant to look for signs of rain.  The servant brought back a disappointing report, "nothing.  Not even one tiny cloud."  The was repeated a total of six times with the same disappointing results.  It was not until the seventh time (I won’t go into numerology at this time) that Elijah prayed and his servant brought back the report that there was a tiny cloud, “as small as a man’s hand, rising from the sea.”  Wow, seven times of praying for something that God had already promised, and the result was a tiny cloud no bigger than a man’s hand?

Sometimes it works like the altar incident, but sometimes it works like the cloud incident.  What we don’t see is Elijah begging, wailing, dancing and cutting himself.  We see him simply continuing to pray in faith.  I believe he would have continued praying in faith, trusting God to work as He had said.  Why didn’t it come on the first prayer?  Was God hard of hearing, or in deep thought, or involved in something else at the time?  Was Elijah not doing something right, or not doing enough?  No.  We don’t know why it didn’t happen immediately this time.  What we know is that faithful prayer of a believer does bring about the work of a God who is the one true God and is faithful and always at work in our lives even when we don’t see it. 

What about the timing, though?  I can't say much, but God's timing, though often undiscerned by us is usually the right timing (tongue in cheek, of course).  Refer to the seven times of praying for support in this area.  I know, I said I wouldn't go into the numerology, but I couldn't help myself.

I know it’s only faith and prayer, but God likes it.

I Don't Need Rest! Do I?

I got a chance to rest recently.  I needed it.  I have been feeling like I’m teetering on the edge of burn out.  I could tell because any time I would run into a situation that I could normally handle with determination and minimal stress, I would, instead react with panic, fear, and emotional duress.  What brought it about was a combination of a number of things, many totally out of my control, but some I had put on myself or accepted not knowing the pressure they would add to me and my emotional/physical being.  They included extra responsibilities in different areas that I saw as good and had accepted for myself, some were even ministry opportunities.  Some were personal projects stacked one upon the other, that I truly wanted to do, however not realizing the stress and pressure that always accompany such endeavors.  Anyway, I had come to realize that I really needed some rest.

Getting rest was not that simple, however.  I had used up my available time off from work, due to slow business and taking care of my Father.  I didn’t think I could afford unpaid time off due to my wife still being unemployed.  So, there I was, feeling really in need of rest, but stuck in not seeing a way I could accomplish it… then I got it.  During the week of July 4^th, work was so slow that I had absolutely nothing to do.  The boss had hinted at us taking time off during the holiday week, but again, I had no available vacation, but I volunteered to take it off anyway.  I did so for two reasons; one, as I said, I needed it, and two, I had been impressed by an Old Testament story of a guy who got rest and replenishment when he didn’t expect it or even know he needed it.

I Kings 19

 ¹Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

³ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night.

I have read this account many times.  I’m sure I’ve preached on it more than once.  It’s funny how we look at Elijah in this account.  We wonder how “did he end up here?”  He had just come from one of the greatest showings of God’s power to mankind; the fire from heaven burning up the sacrifice, the wood, the water, and even the stones of the altar in the face of the failing prophets of Baal.  Instead of riding high on the glory of that great spiritual victory, we see Elijah running for his life.  The man who so strongly believed in God’s power somehow lost his nerve at the threats of Jezebel.  The faith and trust that brought the fire down from heaven in the presence of an adversarial mob was now, not strong enough to stand up to one angry queen. 

I will deal with the whys and the wherefores of this in another writing, but for now let’s just look at the account and how it unfolds.  For whatever reason, one of God’s most faithful finds himself beat down, bedraggled, and in the dumps.  Man, was he in the dumps.  He ran for his life and was trying to commit suicide.  Some may not realize it, but Elijah was trying to commit the equivalent of what I would call Hebrew suicide.  He ran to the wilderness, left his servant and went a full day’s journey deeper into the wilderness, whined a lot and laid down to die.  He didn’t take his own life per se, but put himself in a situation where his life would be drained from him with no food, no water, and no one to save him.  As he did this he cried a prayer of despair which basically put the responsibility of his actions on the Lord.

If Elijah had died, would it have been the work of the Lord as he had asked?  “Oh, well, God let me die so it must be on His hands.”  Duh!  Elijah had put himself into a situation akin to a modern day person taking a load of pills and asking the Lord to take his life.  God, in this situation, really had nothing to do with his hope for death.  If I were God, which I definitely am not, I would be saying, “Don’t you put this on me.  You’re the one trying to kill yourself.”  Of course, I am not God and it’s probably a good thing.  God acts differently than I would in this case.

What does God do?  Does God get all up in his face and say something like, “And I thought you were a man of God.”  Or, “Get up you loser and get back to work.”  No, God realizes that Elijah was in no shape physically, emotionally, or spiritually to even face and/or hear from God at this time.  So, God does not judge him or deride him.  God does not even speak a Word to him.  God does something that seems out of character with the false god that many of us were raised with, God gives him rest, sustenance, and recovery.  God let him sleep and not willing to let him starve, gave him food.  I see this as God giving him recovery.

It seems obvious from the account that this is what Elijah needed.  He had spent much of his ministry butting heads with King Ahab and especially the one who wore the pants in that family, Queen Jezebel.  When a person is in a state of constant struggle and fight, it wears on them.  Elijah was definitely a hero of faith or he wouldn’t have continued to the point of the big clash on Mount Carmel, but Elijah wasn’t immune to exhaustion, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  He shows that as he begs for release through death in the wilderness.  God knew his child and knew he needed recovery first and he gave it to him.

After recovery, Elijah needed more from God.  Recovery only brings us back to normal.  God knew Elijah needed more, so God gave him more.  God gave him more rest and more food because God was not done with Elijah or the ministry He would bring to His world through Elijah.  The Angel of the Lord who brought the food also brought a word, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 

Yes, the journey is too much for us sometimes.  The journey gets too much many times when we are trying to make the journey in our own strength or even not relying fully on God’s power and strength.  (I will deal with this in another writing in which I plan to deal with the I’s and You’s of the story.  It’s interesting to look at.)  The story goes that Elijah did get up and eat and drink and with the rest and the food given him, he made a forty day journey to meet the Lord, deliver his complaint, here God’s word, and have his call renewed and redefined. 

None of this was possible in his previous state.  There are times when we are so worn out and beat down and bedraggled by what we have been going through that we cannot serve God any more.  We get to a point to where all we can see is the forces and the obstacles against us.  We get to the point that we can’t even recognize God and we cannot hear a word from God.  At these times we too often despair.  God knows that and God knows what we need.  We need rest.  We need sustenance.  We need recovery.  We need building up.  We need strength.  And God is there to give it to His child.

I would advise any reader to hear this story from this light and ask yourself, am I worn out?  Am I beat down?  Am I running on empty?  Am I like Elijah and need rest, sustenance, recovery, building back up and strength?  Let God, the loving Father give it to you.  Accept it from Him.  You may be of little use to Him until you do.

The Power of Storms

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said. (Matt 14:28-29)

 

We all know how this turned out. Peter started walking on the water, but the waves and the storm got more of his attention than Jesus and he started to sink. He finally cried out to Jesus who was still standing firm on the water and Jesus saved him with a bit of a rebuke.

“Little faith;” Yes I admit it. It’s not natural to walk on the water. It’s hard not to see the waves. Peter, a fisherman, knew what the waves could do. He had faced them many times in his life. While in the boat, he and the others had been straining at the oars against the waves. They had been tossed around in a sea worthy boat by the waves. He did not yet know, however, what Jesus could do and the power that was in him. He did not yet know that this same power was available to him in faith.

I understand Peter. I want to walk on the waves. I want to have victory over earthly reality, but I also know what the waves can do.

At this time in my life, my wife and I are going through a bit of a storm. She is out of work and finding a job has been quite difficult and frustrating. And with this, the waves have started building. The waves of financial stress… the waves of future security doubts… the waves that we have dealt with before. You see, we know these waves. We’ve seen them before. We’ve struggled against them and been tossed around by these waves before. You might say we have faith in what the waves can do and it scares us, or at least it’s starting to scare me. Yes, I have to admit I am, like Peter, at this point in my life, of little faith. I hate it. I really do. I want to keep my eyes on Jesus and walk calmly and victoriously on the storm. If it weren’t for those darned waves and what I know they can do.

It’s not that I am not convinced of God’s power and ability. It could very well be that I am not fully convinced of God’s love and providence in my life yet. My view of God is distorted I know, though I am trying to let Him heal that view. God will provide, but how much of the storm will I have to endure before He does? How much sea water will I have to swallow before I am lifted up? From spiritual insight into this story, I will only have to swallow as much as I want to. I will only have to swallow sea water as long as I struggle in my own power and acknowledge the power of the waves instead of my Lord.

Peter got a rebuke from Jesus, but in all of these rebukes that Jesus gave to the disciples, I don’t see a nasty derision. Jesus did not reflect that type of attitude anywhere else in His life and ministry. Jesus never let his followers fail without teaching and growing them. I see everything that Jesus did as a teaching moment. In another storm record, Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?”

For many of us, like Peter and the disciples, our faith is too often in what we see and know. It took them quite a while to “know” Jesus and the power of God in Him. Through the incident of this storm, Peter got a chance to know this truth more. Growing is hard. Waves are truly scary. My Lord has power over all of the storms of life. I don’t really like the taste of sea water.

Lord help me trade my acknowledgement of the power of the storms for acknowledgement of Your power in my life.

KNEE DEEP IN FISH STINK

(or we might call this, The Anatomy of a Call) 

(You may see by the date of this post that it has taken me some time to come up with this follow up, but it finally came.)

As I said at the end of the post on the anatomy of a miracle, I am sure that my job is a miraculous work of God.  In fact, it has gotten even more miraculous since that post with my being hired full time at a higher level and higher pay than I could dare to dream.  That falls very much in line with God’s miracles that He works in people’s lives.  When Peter did what Jesus instructed him to do, even though it made no sense, he not only got a “catch” of fish (we realize in this story that Jesus was understating the forecasted outcome greatly), but the nets filled so much they couldn’t pull them in.  In fact, upon calling their partners out to help them, the nets were bursting and the “catch” was so enormous, it was swamping both boats.  Now that is a catch of fish. 

Though we, as humans are greatly talented at explaining away the miraculous work of God, He does go out of His way to make sure that those for whom it is meant definitely understand the work.  Peter understood.  The Scripture says that he and all the others were astounded, but Peter reacted in a very special way.  He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.”  When Peter saw what had happened, sheer and totally drained humility was his response.  We know from later accounts that Peter is not fully aware of who Jesus is at this point, but he is aware enough to know that Jesus is of God and that in His presence, Peter’s own short comings trumpet loudly.  In this realization, Peter confesses his sinfulness upon his knees, presumably in a pile of fish.  Most if not all Biblical accounts of an honest man coming into a realization that he is in the presence of the Holiness and Power of God relates that man confessing his inability to measure up.  “Woe is me,” cried Isaiah.  Falling upon one’s face is common, and fearing death in the presence of The Holy is also a frequent response. 

Peter, at this moment realized as best he could at this point in time whom he was faced with.  He realized his own inadequacies in relationship to this Holiness and Power.  He responds to this in the most common way known in Biblical accounts.  He begs Jesus to go away from his sinfulness.  As stated in the earlier post, God doesn’t do miracles for miracle’s sake.  He doesn’t do them just to prove He’s God.  He usually has a deeper purpose for his miraculous work, and many times, it is in relation to calling a person to a special task or ministry.  Moses saw a burning bush.  Peter got a pile of fish.

As Peter begged Jesus to depart from him, giving Him what seem to be acceptable reasons for the Son of God to depart, having nothing more to do with this sinful man, Jesus did the opposite.  He did not depart, at least not until he gave Peter a call. 

Jesus’ first response is the same thing that God has been saying to men in Peter’s position throughout history, “Do not be afraid.”  In fact I am writing this less than two weeks before Christmas, and I am reminded of the Angel’s words, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy!”  Man’s right response to the presence of God is contrition.  A usual response is fear.  God says to not be afraid.  A contrite man has nothing to fear from God.  A confessing man has nothing to fear from God.  God’s response to these men is always, “Fear not,” and “I love you.”  Jesus answered Peter with “Do not be afraid,” then he gave him a combination invitation/prophecy.  In Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts, Jesus is recorded to have said, “follow me and I will make you fishers’ of men.”  Luke’s account just says, “from now on you will catch men.”  The difference in wording doesn’t change the call or the prophecy.  The call is implied even in Luke’s account, and we know that Peter left the fish behind and followed Jesus.  Peter left that whole big, unbelievable catch behind and followed Jesus—that catch that would make him a legend among fishermen—that catch that would pay all of his bills and possibly go toward a start on retirement.  He left it behind and followed Jesus right then and there. 

So what’s going on here?  What are we to gather from this story?  I believe it has to do with identity.  Peter was a fisherman.  Jesus said from now on, you will be a fisher of men.  Being a fisherman was Peter’s worldly identity.  It produced worldly results.  It produced a living which is not bad at all in and of itself.  Don’t get me wrong, work and vocation, providing a living and shelter are not wrong in God’s eyes.  What is wrong in God’s eyes is when we find our identity in these things.  Being a fisherman produced recognition, especially after having hauled in such a big catch.  It produced camaraderie.  For Peter it was in the form of partners, James, John and Zebedee, as well as membership in a group made up of a common trade, fishermen.  Just think of the comradeship of the group on the sea shore or in the local inn as they regaled each other with their stories of catches and trials at sea. It wasn’t God telling Peter that this wasn’t enough, however.  Obviously for Peter, however, all of this was not enough.  It seems that for Peter, this identity was missing something.  Even with the most astounding catch known to man at that time, Peter must have felt an emptiness.  Somehow, the great catch of fish had turned into one big pile of fish stink for Peter.  That’s what happens to every honest human when they find their self worth and identity in the temporal.  Peter was ready to find true identity and meaning in his life.  He was ready to shed the hollow and/or shallow identity that is found in worldly pursuits and take hold of the identity found in following Jesus. 

The problem for all who have not heard and taken up that call to truly “follow” Jesus is that we, as Peter find our identity in temporal or worldly things.  We find our identity in parenting, in our relationships, in our jobs, in our hobbies, in the groups and clubs we belong to, even our religious groups and churches, etc.  These are all temporal and worldly.  

The call from Jesus is “come follow Me, and get your identity from Me.”  That’s what we see in Jesus’ call to Peter.  Jesus was saying, “follow me and I will make you who you truly were meant to be.”  The call from Jesus is telling us that whatever we see as our identity in this world is only a shadow of what God, the Father created us to be.  I’ve heard sermons preached on this passage with the bottom line being that we are all called to be fishers of men.  I don’t buy that now.  I am not a fisherman by nature.  By nature, I am a fixer, a builder and a rebuilder of things.  I have an old Harley Davidson that I bought as a very derelict basket case and spent four years gathering parts and putting it back together.  Later, I bought another basket case.  This time it was a 1952 Ford Pickup.  It was in as bad or worse shape than the Harley—really nothing more than a big pile of parts, but now it runs and I have fun with it.  I also build things from scratch, like musical instruments and tube type guitar amplifiers.  I seem to have a need to always be doing something like that.  My vocational career at this time is that of designing and building machines for the manufacturing world.  If someone were to look at me, they would say that this is the core of my identity.  I would tend to agree, but I have, of late, found that identity to be a bit shallow.  I still find myself unsatisfied deep down.  One accomplishment after another still doesn’t do it.  It is in this quandary that Jesus speaks and says, “Follow me and I will make you a fixer, a builder and a rebuilder of men.” 

Lately my wife, Gayle and I have been going through some deeper learning and growing with a special group in our Christian lives.  The idea of getting one’s identity from Christ has been a very strong concept in our teachings.  At a time or two, I had to admit that I was nervous, even scared to press on, because I was honestly afraid of losing the identity that I had come to know as me.  Who would I be without it?  Others may judge me for this, but I am being honest here.  It was, however, while I was once again contemplating this fish story that I saw the light. 

Jesus didn’t say to Peter, follow me and I will make you a fixer of men, or anything else of men.  Jesus wasn’t going to make Peter into something he wasn’t.  Jesus was going to take the dim, shadowy identity that Peter found in this world and transform it, clarify it, and perfect it into his true Kingdom identity.  I now see that this is what Jesus wants to do with me.  That’s what he wants to do for all of us, and his call is, “follow Me, and let Me take that big pile of fish stink that you have accepted as a substitute identity in this world and transform it into what God, the Father always meant it to be.”  I think I understand now and am ready to truly follow and find my identity in Christ.