Our Vanilla Flavored Christianity

Maybe the illustration doesn't work, but our Christianity is much more vanilla than it is 31 flavors. Most days are the same flavor. Only occasionally does a thrilling new flavor of the day enter our worlds. For most Christians most obedience is of the vanilla variety.

Here’s a thought exercise for Christians, “What acts of mundane obedience to our Lord do you strive to obey consistently?”

A Trip Down Memory Lane

It’s been a long forty years wandering around the desert, but finally, under new leadership, the descendants of Jacob are ready to enter the land God promised first to Abraham 500 years prior. The Old Testament book of Joshua records the taking and the occupying of the land.

The first twelve chapters read like a thriller. Page after page records over the top results as the people obey God when he instructs in extreme circumstances.

There is the river crossing when all the people with all their stuff obey God’s instruction to step into the swollen Jordan River with only the promise from God that he will hold back the raging waters. True to his word, the Lord brings his people to the other side after they obey him. It was the only time God directed them to cross a river without aid of bridge or transportation.

There is the complete annihilation of the Jericho fortress when the people oddly march around the walled city day after day, blowing trumpets on the last day, and finishing their battle plan with a unified shout. Then, Jericho’s walls fall. True to his word, the Lord defeats Israel’s enemies after they obeyed him. It was the only time God directed them to do laps around an enemy city.

Unusual commands lead to unusual outcomes until the land is conquered. Then comes the second half of Joshua. By contrast to part one, part two is B. O. R. I. N. G. The rest of Joshua reads like a plot book at the land surveyor’s office, “Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which is before Rabbah…”

Humdrum Acts of Obedience

Old Testament narrative writers use repetition to draw our attention to important ideas. The writer of Joshua uses the tool in chapter 14 when he records the distribution of the land, commenting, “As the Lord had commanded” (vv. 2, 5). The distribution of the land and the conquering of the land are two sides of the same coin. One side is flashy; the other is dull. One is exciting. The other is uninspiring. One side palpates the heart. The other side is mundane. Both are extremely important to the life of God’s people.

A Thought Exercise

Most of our obedience to our Lord is in the course of routine life. Occasionally, the Lord will ask us to do something unusual, but for most of us, obedience on March 7, 2023 does not look all that different from obedience to the Lord on March 7, 2022 or 2021 or 2020…

So, again, the question: “What acts of mundane obedience to our Lord do you strive to obey consistently?” Here are some of mine.

• Tell the truth in all situations. The Bible says, “Put away lying; speak the truth” (Ephesians 4:25). Every day, I want to obey the Lord by only speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Truth telling is a mundane but vital act of obedience.

• Gather with God’s people. The Bible says Christians must not neglect gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). With only the rarest of exceptions, I am committed to obeying Christ by joining the church when she comes together. Sunday church attendance is a mundane but vital act of obedience.

• Restrain my tongue. To Christians the Bible says, “No foul language should come from your mouth” (Ephesians 4:29). Daily, I want to obey the Lord by refusing to use cuss words, words loaded with innuendo, or language that gives my verbiage a PG-13 rating. Refraining from foul language is a mundane but vital act of obedience.

There are more, but you get the idea. Curiously, the amount of space in the book of Joshua given to the mundane distribution of the land in obedience to God is similar to the amount of space given to acts of obedience that bring the conquest of the land by miraculous events. It is almost like the Holy Spirit wishes to emphasize to us the importance of mundane obedience to the commands of God.

If you have been a Christian for any amount of time, you realize that following the leadership of our Lord Jesus Christ is mostly monochrome. Eugene Peterson calls our discipleship “A long obedience in the same direction.” That sounds right. Our obedience to Christ today will likely look very similar to yesterday, and our obedience to Christ next week will not be much different than our obedience to Christ this week.

To what mundane acts of obedience are you committed? Not sure? Identify a Bible text and connect your routine obedience to it. It’s that simple…ordinary…mundane, but exactly what Christ calls us to.

May God grant us all daily grace to live “as the Lord had commanded.”

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

My Top Two Parent Practices

Young parents do a lot of dumb things. I know because I was one. I think I could go on for hours about the dumb stuff I did when our boys and girls were in diapers or learning to drive. I’d like to think most of the errors were made in ignorance. In my defense, this was my first time being a parent. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and what I thought I knew wasn’t what I knew. It’s complicated.

On the other hand, in God’s grace there were some things we got right. Brenda may recall, but I do not - somewhere along the way we picked up two critical practices we incorporated into our parenting. These are at the top of our list of what parents must teach and expect of their children.

1. First Time Obedience

We have a good Heavenly Father. His instructions are neither grievous nor arbitrary. When he speaks to us, he expects us to obey, the first time we are told and without hesitation or complaint.

What God expects of all humanity is what he directs in parent / child relationships. He says, “Children, obey your parents,” but small children cannot read. The Word of God must be read to them and taught to them. Obedience to parents is the first instruction of God a child needs to learn and a parent needs to teach. When we teach our children to obey parents, we are training our children how to respond to God – immediately and without complaint.

Obedience is a submission of the will. We humble ourselves before God who has the authority to direct. In his wisdom, God has delegated authority in the home to parents. Curiously, all too many parents have abdicated their positions and handed them over to four, five, and six-year-olds. We’ve all seen the meltdown when a child does not get his way. We’ve all witnessed a 28-pound, cute as a button, curly haired princess control the actions of four fully grown humans. It’s only funny when it’s not your kid.

To gain compliance, many parents resort to negotiation tactics. Remember longstanding political policy, “We do not negotiate with terrorists”? Your child is not a terrorist, but we do not negotiate with children to gain their compliance. Negotiation teaches authority can be shared and gained by tactics and ploys. This is not God’s wisdom for your home.

When children resist parental instruction, ask the child, “Are you going to obey God by obeying mom…dad?” The question elevates the problem to the real issue: this is not first a power struggle between the child and the parent but a power struggle between the child and God. Junior is faced with his responsibility before God. His repeated failures to obey God open the door for gospel answers. “I don’t know why I can’t obey” turns to “You cannot, but Jesus did.”

The earlier you institute this expectation in your home, the better. Forming patterns of obedience is easier than breaking patterns of disobedience. Still, if you have not taught your older children what God requires, it is not too late. Seek God’s forgiveness for missing the mark, communicate with your children what God expects, then graciously and patiently enforce God’s expectation. Your children will be better for it.

When we do not require first time obedience, we teach our children that parental authority is arbitrary and by extension, God’s authority is arbitrary too. First time obedience is not a sign of weakness but an expression of maturity that understands I am not the king of my world. God is, and I will obey him.

    2. A Righteous, Verbal Response

We’ve all witnessed it, the exasperated parent who belts out, “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” and “This is the 100th time I’ve told you this, and you still haven’t done it.” And we know the adolescent responses, “I didn’t hear you” or “I didn’t understand what you meant” or “I thought you wanted me to do something else.” That’s a tricky situation in parent / child relationships. You might have your suspicions, but how do you know your children didn’t hear you or how do you know your child understood your direction? The requirement of righteous, verbal response positions the child for obedience. All three words are important.

Righteous

“Yes ma’am” is a response. So is a sigh, a slammed door, or stomping away. The latter responses are natural. A righteous response is taught.

Our oldest never, and I mean never, told us no when we gave him an instruction. He “was more cunning than any” of the other children. When his mom gave him a directive, he would routinely tell us of his sudden leg pain. Rubbing his pants, he would offer, “My leg hurts.” The translation is, “Yeah, I’m not going to do that right now.” His younger sister, on the other hand, would look you square in the eye and tell you, “No!”

Verbal

How do you overcome the “I didn’t hear you” and the “I didn’t know that’s what you meant” and the rest? A parent needs to hear the child’s submission to authority and his acknowledgment that he understands the assignment.

Response

Each family must decide what works best for them. For us, we wanted something less formal than “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.” In our home, a righteous, verbal response is “Yes, dad,” “No, dad,” “Yes, mom,” and “No, mom.” When all was going well, the child offered this freely. On days when the flesh was stronger, we would ask for the response. “Will you give a righteous, verbal response?”

I am convinced a righteous, verbal response follows the pattern of Jesus. Do you remember his garden prayer? “Nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” Determine the righteous, verbal response that works best for your home, then stick to it.

Being a parent is great, but parenting is hard. Our God has given us the responsibility to train our children. Training for first time obedience and a righteous, verbal response honors the Lord.

Keep at it, parents. Your labor is not in vain.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

And Down He Goes

It happened so fast. Last month I was visiting a church member at a fast-food restaurant close to the church building. I parked on the north side of the restaurant, not thinking about anything else but lunch and our conversation. When we finished, I took two steps out the door onto the shaded asphalt. Before I knew it, I was face up on the ground in the drive through lane. Bruised but not broken. Thankfully, the mom in the SUV was ready for anything.

No one has ever called me clumsy or uncoordinated, but then yesterday happened.

The back parking lot at the church building slopes toward the church garage. Every winter, the freeze – thaw – freeze cycle creates a thick sheet of ice in front of the garage doors. Don’t get ahead of me; let me tell the story.

Early Monday morning, I penguin walked across the ice, opened the large doors, and backed the church van out of the garage. Between the time I took the van out of the garage and drove it back into its stall, we received a quick two inches of sugary snow, covering the ice sheet.

My phone was to my ear as I exited the church van and closed the big garage door. I turned and took one step. In a moment my phone went flying. The precious McDonald’s coke splashed on the fresh snow. My wallet and keys spilled from my pockets, and my jacket and pants were covered. There I was again, face up on the ground.

It’s ok to laugh at the image.

This time my bum hurt and my right shoulder was not happy with the current status. It’s odd the things that cross the mind when laying on the ice, hoping nothing is broken, but sensing everything hurts. Truthfully, my mind flashed “take heed lest you fall.”

I memorized 1 Corinthians 10:12 as a kid, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” The verse that immediately follows instructs, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man…” (10:13). Obviously, Paul is not talking about slips on the ice and falls from a ladder. He’s talking about spiritual falls that come from neglect to carefully consider our surroundings and the danger that exists in the moment.

The point is obvious: if Christian men and women think temptation and sin are no risk to them, in a moment, they will find themselves in a world of hurt.

For the interested the CDC has some wild numbers in their Facts About Falls.

• Over 800,000 patients a year are hospitalized because of a fall injury.

• One out of five falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury.

• At the current trend, by 2030, seven will die every hour from a fall.

• Each year about $50 billion is spent on medical costs related to non-fatal fall injuries and $754 million is spent related to fatal falls.

Interestingly, falls often are preventable. Stay off the ladder or step stool. Don’t climb on a chair to reach something. Pay attention to the ice covered driveway or parking lot and do the penguin walk.

According to 1 Corinthians 10, spiritual falls are also preventable. No one has to sin. Those who do are either careless or arrogant. Like the CDC facts about physical falls, spiritual falls have consequences. Ask Peter about the guilt and shame he experienced from his horrific fall. Ask King David about the generational impact and the high cost of his fall that left him face up on his bed. At a minimum, spiritual falls leave us embarrassed, hurting, and bruised. At the extreme, spiritual falls leave us bearing lifelong pain, permanent disability, and even death. The sin that leads to a fall is never worth the consequence.

I didn’t intend to fall when I did, but I could have taken measures to prevent them. If we listen to the apostle, there are measures we can take to prevent falls.

• Pay attention to your surroundings (1 Corinthians 10:12).

• Walk carefully in this world (Ephesians 5:15).

• Stay off ladders (Romans 13:14).

• Read the warnings (Psalm 119:11).

One last thought: what should we do if we fall? What do we do if there was a moment of careless inattention or foolish overconfidence? We listen to the Proverbs.

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again (Proverbs 24:16).

We get up from the fall. We confess our sin and determine to live faithful to our Lord by his grace. We learn from our error. May our Lord keep us all upright.

When I'm finished writing, I'm headed to the church garage. We'll see how it goes.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Pucker Up

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have you kissed anyone today…has anyone kissed you? I hope so, but if not, there is still time to do some good kissing, with our Lord’s approval and to the benefit of the kisser and the one kissed.

If you didn’t know, there is a lot of kissing in the Bible. With notable but rare exceptions, kisses are genuine forms of affection, loyalty, romance, and restoration. I realize the Bible stories are a long time ago and reflect a different culture, but the act of pressing lips to skin of another seemed common.

Now, I’m not here for all of it, and I’m guessing my sons-in-law aren’t either. Remember Jacob? He’s the guy who wanted to marry Rachel (whom he kissed rather quickly after meeting her – Genesis 29:11) but ended up marrying her older and far less attractive sister Leah when their dad pulled a fast on Jacob. Well, before Daddy Deceiver passed off Leah as Rachel, Laban gave his future son-in-law Jacob a kiss (Genesis 29:13).

The Bible records a few times where the kisses of an enemy are deceitful (Proverbs 27:6). We all know about Judas kissing our Lord when Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. There’s a crazy scene in 2 Samuel 20 where Joab (one of King David’s generals) lays a kiss on a dude seconds before he slits the man’s belly with his sword. Another time, David’s son Absalom kisses citizens after they show allegiance to him when he’s plotting to take David’s throne. So, there is a lesson here than not all kisses are what they seem to mean, but I’ll leave that for another time. Back to the good kissing.

In Genesis 45 Joseph kisses his brothers when he reveals his identity to them years after they sold him into slavery. The kiss expresses restored relationship.

In Ruth 1 the widow Naomi kisses her widowed daughters-in-law. The kiss expresses shared grief and self-sacrifice.

In 1 Samuel 20 Jonathan kisses David and David kisses Jonathan. The kisses express loyalty to each other in the face of King Saul’s rage.

In the Song of Solomon, the bride kisses her groom and the groom his bride. The kisses express their beautiful and exclusive passion for each other.

In Luke 7 a woman known in the streets to be a sinner comes to home where Jesus is having dinner. There she kisses our Lord’s feet. The kisses reflect her humility that Christ would forgive and accept her.

Later in Luke 15 a longing and joyful dad kisses his prodigal son when his son comes home smelling like pig slop. The kiss expresses a father’s unconditional love.

Five times the apostles Paul and Peter instruct Christians to “greet each other with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).

I can’t tell you the Bible commands you to kiss people like the Old Testament examples, but I can say the Bible examples show us kissing and physical affection is really good for relationships. So, let’s turn up the physical affection, and here’s some suggestions:

• If you’re married and you’re home when your spouse walks through the front door, wouldn’t it be great if the first thing that happened before anything else was a welcome home kiss! The kiss says “Whatever happened in your day or mine and whatever needs to get done around this house, there’s nothing more important to me than you.” I am here to tell you that one of the best things you can do to improve your marriage is to kiss your spouse every day, multiple times a day.

• If you’ve got kids, a great practice is to greet them with a kiss when they come home from school or a friend’s house or to give them a kiss when you come home. The kiss says, “I’ve missed you and I’m really happy to be back with you.”

• When you kiss or hug your older dad, mom, or in-laws, you do more for them than you can possibly know. The kiss says, “I’m not a child anymore, but I love you because I am your son” or “because I am your daughter.”

• When you embrace a fellow Christian, your embrace conveys unity because of Christ and a relationship that will be eternal.

• When you hold your wife’s hand or when you take your husband’s arm, your touch reminds each other that you are not merely roommates; you are lovers.

• When your kids see you and your spouse kiss and hug and hold hands and sit close to each other, they see an example to follow, and they breathe the joy of their parents’ love.

There a more examples, but you get the idea. Most of us could do a lot of good to those around us by doing a little more kissing, a little more hugging, a little more hand holding, and little more cuddling.

But what if you have no one to kiss and no one who will kiss you?

Psalm 2 instructs the kings of the world and all the people of the world to “kiss the son.” It is a reference to our Lord Jesus. A psalm is poetic literature so the reference is not to a physical act but is a visual expression of one’s approach to Jesus. To kiss the son is to express to him love, loyalty, submission, gratefulness, and worship. That he receives our kisses further demonstrates his love and loyalty to us.

Let’s do the work of Christians and give a holy kiss.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Briefly, Part Two

Brenda and I are away celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. This verse has been important to me in the last 35 years of our marriage.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22).

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.