Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV)
The other night at midweek Bible Study, we practiced prophecy. Though common in charismatic churches like the one I attend, it was new for many of us, since there are a lot of newer Christians at our church.
For the uninitiated, prophecy is communicating what God is saying. Without context, that may sound odd. But when one considers we believers have the mind of Christ1 and also an anointing from the Holy One who leads us into all truth,2 and further that we are sheep who hear his voice3 that we might follow Him, it is not odd at all. If we accept what the Bible says that we hear God and receive truth from him, prophecy is no more than hearing God on behalf of another.
Some wonder why prophecy exists at all. They say, “Why do we need prophecy when we have the Bible?” The answer I suppose is that the Bible is the very thing that tells us we need prophecy. If you read what the apostle Paul has to say in his letter to the Corinthian church, it is clear prophecy is vital and that we should practice it. Saying “Why do we need prophecy when we have the Bible?” then, is sort of like saying, “Why do I need to make coffee if I have the espresso manual?” You need to make coffee for the benefit and pleasure it brings, and the manual tells you how. It is the same with prophecy. We practice prophecy, just like we practice prayer or worship, because the Manual tells us it is vital.
Still others are uncomfortable with prophecy because it can be misused. But I have always found the best way to ensure something is not misused is by getting good at using it properly. It is for this reason I drive a car to work every morning.
But prophecy to some believers remains a source of deep concern, as though it were a form of sorcery. And God knows no upright believer wants to be found practicing sorcery. They are quick to quote the verse that there will be false prophets in the last days,4 which is true. But the very fact Jesus warns us about false prophets and calls them false and tells us we will know them by their fruit is because there is such a thing as true prophets; otherwise, He would have just said watch out for prophets, and that we would know them by their prophecies.
We should not practice sorcery, of course. But at the very least, we should probably do what the Bible says and practice prophecy. God is speaking all the time. And since he is good, He has very good things to say.
Last weekend as I sought the Lord, an unusual verse came to mind:
Revelation 2:20-22 (NIV) Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
As I read, something equally unusual came over me: a holy fear. Not as in “I am afraid of God” but a recognition that he cares about how we conduct our lives and that the Christian life, though profoundly beautiful, is also high-stakes. There are things God has a strong opinion about. I found myself taking inventory of my life and reconsecrating myself to his plans and purposes.
As a general rule, we (that is, most of the believers I interact with) are afraid of God’s holiness. We fear a God who may have a strong opinion about anything. At the same time, however, most of the believers I run with take the Christian life very seriously. It is almost as if it is okay for us to have strong opinions about the Christian life but not God, which really does not make sense. A servant cannot be greater than his Master; if we have strong opinions about any aspect of the Christian life, whether his nature or our role in it, it is likely because he has strong opinions about it.
The question then is not whether God is allowed to have strong opinions but how that translates to our interaction with him. As far as I can tell, the modern fear about God’s holiness stems from the belief that it will result in a relationship with him where God may be angry with us at any moment, and therefore we will constantly live in fear of him. But this is not so. It certainly is not so about any other relationship we have. Does the fact your husband or wife or close friend have strong opinions about things mean you live in constant fear of them? You do if you do not know them. But as you come to know them, what they care about most becomes an opportunity to love them well. And if you treat lightly what they care about most deeply, things do not go well.
So it is really not the fact God cares about things deeply that is really the issue. We do not need a God who cares about very little to feel safe with him. We simply need a God who reveals to us what he cares most about as we draw more deeply in intimate love with him. Understanding the extravagant goodness of God, I feel, is vital to the Christian life. But let’s not use it as a shield to protect us from God, but rather as an invitation to love him well.
Myreward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
— Revelation 22: 12
Most, I would hazard to say, are comfortable with the idea that we are rewarded for what we do. It seems to be a basic fact of life that we get out of life what we put into it. If I sit idly, I may starve. If I go out and get a job, I won’t. If I apply myself and work hard, chances are I will make a comfortable life for myself. Continue reading “Eternal Rewards”→
Last year, I found myself sitting in a counseling office. The counselor was explaining to me that children of dysfunctional families tend to gravitate to different roles for various reasons: The rebel, the clown, the hidden one, the hero, etc.. As he described each one, I suddenly realized, “My God! I think I am the hero!”
Now I do have to issue a disclaimer here. I have a rather ambivalent relationship with counselors and counseling in general. I think they can be of tremendous help. I mean that. The problem I have found is that they tend to take the place of the Holy Spirit. That is the best way I can describe it in ten words or less. I mean, in my case, I had suffered an emotional crash larger than I ever had in my life, and in my oldest daughter’s words, I needed to know “I was not crazy and everything was going to be okay.” And my counselor did an amazing job with that. But when it came to me understanding where God was in my crisis and what He was saying — which I just assumed was the goal in every season, especially a season like this — I was greeted with silence.
Nonetheless, the idea of me being a hero rang through my ears. I was what you might call a conscientious child. I was the child who always wanted to do the right thing. I was very sensitive to make sure that I did. We tend to like conscientious children. They are extremely well-behaved and never cause problems. They make parents and teachers proud. They give everyone hope that perhaps there is good in the world after all.
The problem with the conscientious child is that on the inside, they are a nervous wreck. They do not do what they do because of inherent goodness. They certainly do not do what they do because of love. They do what they do out of fear. They believe the world rests on their shoulders — or at least their self-worth does. Their whole point of existing seems to them to be to make the rest of the world happy. Otherwise, they are nothing. That is a lot of pressure, my dear reader. And working from this place of fear has become a way of life for them.
It does not take a counselor of course to realize this is no different from any other form of brokenness we find in the world. And one, of course, Jesus has an answer for.
A little over a year ago, I was about to cross the street outside the office where I work, when the Lord said to me, “You have spent your whole life trying to prove to me how much you love me. But what if the whole point of life is for Me to prove to you how much I love you?” That was a new thought for me. “Love is this: Not that we love God but that He first loved us.” What if the whole point of life was not to love, but to be loved?
Huh. Such a life would not be a life where I was the hero. But such a life would not be a life where I needed to be, either. For the first time in my life, I caught a glimpse of freedom. And it came with a good dose of fear and trembling.
There is a place for heroes. We need them. But heroes do what they do out of love, not fear. In this sense, there is perhaps only one Hero, and those whose lives He has touched.
I will admit to you: I still want to be a hero. I want to leave the world a better place than when I found it. I want to fulfill my purpose; I want this life to matter. But not out of fear I am nothing, but from that perfect place of assurance that in the eyes of God, before whom I am nothing, in truth I am everything. Because He is the hero.
In the meantime I will take up my Cross and with a good dose of fear and trembling do what seems to be the hardest thing on earth for us to do: Allow myself to be loved.
I had the privilege of attending a family reunion last week. It was over-the-top good, which is not always easy to say about family reunions.
Below is a poem I crafted to commemorate the event. A few words about it: Since this was Catherine’s side of the family, I believe it is safe to say the backdrop of the event for everyone was the processing of sorrow for her absence and our loss. Continue reading “Reunion”→
D. Patrick Collins 