• Years ago I became convinced of the usefulness of Prov. 18:17: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” Implied in this is the universal and, unfortunately, profoundly deep problem of human self-deception. You can hear it in the ideas that follow the verse above, especially verse 19, “ a brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.” Few of us are emotionally prepared to consider either of these: that our version of things is neither the whole story nor the whole truth, and that because of our implicit (and foolish) belief in ourselves, we are entirely unyielding when offended. Christ’s Spirit may have given us a heart of flesh, but it turns to stone when we feel criticized or wounded — things we feel all too quickly and easily.
• Paul said, “when reviled, we bless. ” The reason he wasn’t offended when reviled was not that through discipline and diligence he had built up a super-human immunity to insults. It wasn’t even that he was indifferent to what people said about him or did to him. The reason was that the love of Christ — love for a man who thought of himself as the Chief of Sinners— had re-mapped his heart, re-wired his brain, re-ordered his world. “ I have died,” he said, “ and it is now no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. ” Whatever was back there in his past, whatever remnant of himself he would have gotten all agitated and defensive about, now seemed to him “rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” He wasn’t so much emptied of himself as filled with Christ.
• The author of Hebrews says Jesus, “endured the cross, despising its shame. ” Those words make the cross seem almost trivial relative to what comes next, namely that he is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Students of the literature of Scripture will tell you that this phrase (“seated…” ) is a rhetorical device meaning “ the work of redemption was complete.” In other words, enduring death on the cross was a matter of having a vision that transcended both life and death, a vision of restoring God and his people, and Jesus himself being restored to the throne-room.
• If you are the touchy type, cannot be corrected, prone to passion whenever the citadel of self is threatened, your recourse is probably not self-denial — or at least not only self-denial. The real problem is you have no vision greater than yourself. Whatever place Christ has in your soul, it is not deep enough, real enough, or powerful enough to re-order your passions. Don’t despair; there is hope.
• God hauled Paul off to Asia for ten years to teach him this. There was a lot of giftedness and pride in that man. We can still see both in the book of Acts. But eventually, from the inside out, he came to see his self-centered identity as garbage. You can feel him laughing at his own folly, even as he falls on his face before Christ. And this is the next step: fall on your face before Christ. The creation of a new vision begins with the death of the old one. Repent of your years of self-worship and let them fall off of you. Feel the weightless joy and release of no longer having to be devoted to yourself. Then tell Jesus, tell the Father, tell the King of kings and Lord of lords: “ I ask that you make all matters pertaining to the self seem as garbage to me; and all matters pertaining to yourself to be as a treasure for which I would sell all else that I own.”
• One important thing and two trivial things: first the important — please pray for Murray Swanson. He has been diagnosed with cancer. He has tests next week that will tell us more. Pray for recovery, pray that his own as well as the doctors treatments would be effective, pray for his comfort and union with Christ in these coming weeks. Also, he and Myra are taking a trip soon — pray that would be a wonderful time.
• Also — and here’s the trivia — I’m getting more desperate about selling my old desk, which is sitting out in the office in the way (I just don’t have anywhere else to put it). It’s listed on Craigslist, but no luck so far. I am now very flexible on price. Stop by for a free showing! Second, my son has patellar tendinitis and needs to have exercise besides running. We would like to cycle together, but he needs a mountain bike for just a few months (he leaves for seminary in January). If you have a medium-sized bike with front suspension (or full-suspension) that is just sitting in the garage collecting dust, we’ll dust it off for you! (Such a deal.) Thanks for considering.
• Pray for Presbytery (begins today).