But What About THEM!

We seem to talk a lot about “they” and “them”.  You know you’ve heard, “Well, THEY think...” or “THEY said….”  Who are THEY anyway?  And all of us remember being asked to do something, like wash the dishes, or clean our rooms, or take out the trash, only to respond, “But what about THEM!”  Those “T” words remind us that there’s someone else out there, and it’s not us!  But what does it really matter what THEY think, or what THEY say?  And why do we focus on THEM when we are asked to perform some task or service which will benefit someone we care about or serve our collective good?  It’s a common problem, but is there a solution?

It’s always good to get Jesus’ opinion on anything, but He does speak directly to this kind of issue in dealing with the apostle, Peter, in the book of John in the New Testament:

So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them. (This is his friend and fellow disciple, John – my note)… ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord—what about him?”  ²² “If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? As for you, follow Me.”  John 21:20-22

If you go back and read John 21:15-19, you’ll discover that Jesus had just challenged Peter to commit to carrying on the work that Jesus had begun with the disciples.  It was a huge commitment, and honestly, Peter was sort of hesitant to make it.  He had already denied Jesus three times before His crucifixion, and now, Jesus challenged him three times to “fish or cut bait”, as Peter might have understood the colloquialism.  (Jesus didn’t use those words, but Peter understood the challenge.)  It was time for Peter to act.  So what was his response?  “Hey Jesus, what about HIM?”

WHY DO WE DO THAT?  Do we imagine that by shifting the focus to someone else, we are relieved of the expectation?  Do we actually suppose that the one making the request will respond by reassigning it to the person to whom we’ve shifted attention?  Do we expect that by pointing to THEM we can get lost in the crowd?

Jesus’ answer to Peter should pierce our hearts when we try to waffle under a request to perform.  Our conscience should speak His words, “…What is that to you?”  You see, each of us is INDIVIDUALLY responsible to live out the challenges life places in front of us. Oh sure, we are placed in families, and we have classmates, co-workers, and fellow parishioners to rely on.  But when it gets down to it, what do THEY or THEM have to do with what God is doing in and through you?  Nothing.  And that was Jesus’ point to Peter. 

Peter wasn’t responsible for EVERYTHING, but he was responsible for HIS thing.  And so are you.  What, but the way, is YOUR THING?  What is it that your family really needs from you now?  What do folks rely on you to do at work that you should be doing, but aren’t?  What does GOD expect from you?  It’s important to know that, in life, you can’t just point your finger at someone else and shift away your responsibility.  Jesus saw to that.

Working hard at doing “my thing”,

Jacob

Ready for Witness Protection?

You’ve seen it in the movies or TV shows.  Someone is in the right or wrong place at just the right or wrong time (depends on your perspective).  They see something that implicates some criminal and they agree to testify.  But the someone they’re testifying against isn’t very happy and wants to do them harm to stop them.  So law enforcement puts them into “Witness Protection” and gives them a new name and relocates them to a safer place.  They have to say good-bye to all their friends and family and give up their old life completely to save what’s left of the life they hope to have.  Sounds complicated.  And risky!

The Bible is full of folks who went through name changes for a variety of reasons.  Sarai became Sarah; Jacob became Israel; Simon became Peter; and last but not least, Saul, who went through a name change to become Paul (not exactly 007  top-secret agent stuff here).  Paul had recently been instrumental in the conversion of Sergius Paulus, who might have been his very first Gentile convert.  Perhaps to honor that milestone, Paul might have adopted his new moniker and, at the same time, put some distance between him and his old persona, Saul.  Why would he want to dump the old name and become someone new?  Witness Protection!  So he and his cohort, Barnabas, could make an impact with the Gospel and escape his past reputation as, well, read it for yourself:

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.  Acts 8:3

Saul was not the dude you wanted to mess with.  He was out to “destroy the church” and everyone had heard about him.  How could he become the champion of the Gospel to the Gentiles with that rep?  Witness Protection!  So Barnabas and his newly-named partner began to “testify” all over the place about what they knew:

After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and persuading them to continue in the grace of God.  ⁴⁴ The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the message of the Lord.  ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him.  Acts 13:43-45

Paul’s enemies were hurling insults at him!  Not bad compared with the rocks he had encouraged others to hurl at the first martyr of the church, Stephen.  The name of the witness has already been changed.  This is where we get the “relocation”:

So the message of the Lord spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews incited the…women…and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district. ⁵¹ But they shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium.  Acts 13:49-51

Being a witness for Jesus is going to bring name-calling, insults, and persecution.  Jesus promised that would happen in Matthew 5.  So if you and I are going to make a difference for Christ by being witnesses to the Gospel, just expect it.  Call yourself anything you like, and go anywhere you must to share the Truth.  But by all means, remember the Holy Spirit is there to empower you wherever you go.  And that’s the best kind of Witness Protection.

Jacob

Breaking Comes Before Blessing

As I’m getting older, I find that my parts don’t work as well as they used to.  While I’m blessed to be able to go walk five miles if I wish, just getting my joints working again after sitting for a bit can be a challenge.  I suppose it’s like trying to drive your car when your engine is cold.  My warm-up seems to take longer than it used to. 

Jacob, the patriarch of the Old Testament, wasn't quite so lucky.  It seems Jacob had an encounter with God that forever changed his walk, both literally and spiritually.  As Jacob waited for a face-to-face with his brother, Esau, not knowing whether he would live or die, Jacob came face to face with God Himself:

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. ²⁵ Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. ²⁶ And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”  But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”  ²⁷ So He said to him, “What is your name?”  He said, “Jacob.”  ²⁸ And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  Genesis 32:24-28

Jacob was touched by God, and even after being physically broken by Him, Jacob wouldn’t quit until he also received God’s blessing.  The Creator made something new that morning – He fashioned a nation from the broken remains of an unscrupulous liar.  Jacob became Israel; his fit body forever sentenced to limp as a reminder of his makeover; his spirit eternally grateful for the change.

Over the years, Jacob became the father of twelve sons whose descendants included David and Solomon; the apostle, Paul; the priests of Israel; and even the Messiah, Jesus.  Jacob’s final legacy was much different from his beginning.  Isn’t that what we all hope and strive for?  In Jacob’s final days, he even had the opportunity to pay forward the blessing of God.  Imagine the old-man version of Jacob, limping through the great hall of Pharaoh after being summoned into the regent’s presence by his son, Joseph.  Can’t you just hear the clop-clop-tap, clop-clop-tap as Jacob hobbled along with his staff so that he might come face-to-face with still another king?

Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ …Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen….”  ⁷ Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  Genesis 47:5-7

Don’t miss that last phrase!  “Jacob blessed Pharaoh.”  It is ALWAYS true that the greater blesses the lesser.  God had blessed Jacob, and now we see Jacob blessing the emperor of Egypt.  This is the man who held the power of life and death in his hand, as far as the descendants of Jacob were concerned.  They were in Egypt because they didn’t have food to eat in their own land.  And soon, after God poured out His blessing so richly on the Israelites (we can call them that now), the Egyptians became jealous and the reigning pharaoh enslaved them until Moses could become their champion.  But today, it was the broken old man who brought a blessing.  That’s a legacy I hope to live up to, don’t you?

Broken and blessed,

Jacob

The Majority Isn’t Always Right!

Though I am going to make a political point to introduce this post, please don’t assume this missive is political.  But to learn the lessons we should, I want to take you back to High School Civics class.  The United States of America IS NOT governed as a pure democracy.  Before you criticize me as a traitor, I hope you remember that the USA is instead a constitutional republic.  In a democracy, the majority rules, no matter what.  Yet in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, they protected the rights of the minority by NOT establishing a pure democracy.  Instead, those who are chosen to represent us – a republic is a “representative democracy” – vote to protect the interests of ALL of us.  But even then, those chosen representatives aren’t always right.  Take a look:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”  ³ So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.  Numbers 13:1-3

The setting?  The Israelites have just fled from bondage in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and are now moving across the Sinai Peninsula on their way to the land promised to them – modern day Israel.  They needed to take the land, so Moses sent a reconnaissance team made up of the best guys Israel had to offer.  Before you suggest that maybe Moses should have sent women, I’d offer that perhaps he didn’t have any he could afford to lose!  This was enemy territory, after all.  Well, these brave fellas came back with this report:

Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel…Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large…³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”  ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”  Numbers 13:26-31

“Mr. Moses, the majority of the committee (the vote was 10-2) finds our venture into the Promised Land to be more than we choose to risk at this time.  We would prefer not to take the land promised by God, even though He swore to be with us.  Thank you.”  The majority had spoken.  And they were dead wrong.  Literally.

You see, only the two men who voted to follow God’s lead into the “land flowing with milk and honey” actually got to go back.  Because the rest of the “leaders” died in the wilderness of Sinai.  It only took Moses a couple weeks to move the millions in his flock to the edge of the promise of God.  But instead, they were forced to wander around Sinai for 40 years – until everyone who failed to follow God’s lead had died.  Even Moses perished in the desert. 

So the next time someone wants to influence your direction by telling you that the majority “thinks this or that”, remind them that the majority isn’t always right.  It’s always better to vote with God, even if you’re the only one. 

Jacob