Russell A. Cardwell Online

A footnote to last week’s Messy Meditation on Discipline and Stuff. This doesn’t sum it up; it merely adds another point of view. Maybe it only contributes to the messiness, but here goes:

When we love and care about someone, we care about the things that are important to them. Relationships are built on communication and caring. We want to share the things that matter to us with the other person. And we want to hear about the things that matter to them. We may not otherwise care about those particular concerns at all. But because we care about the person, what concerns them concerns us.

This is one of the primary reasons Christianity won over the Roman Empire. A tiny foreign religion from a remote, backward province completely displaced thousands of years of paganism in a relatively short time. The notion of a god who loved and cared about humanity, who wanted a relationship with each person as an individual, who called his followers friends, and adopted them into his family as sons and daughters and heirs—such a god was completely unheard of. To call this idea revolutionary is a drastic understatement. Despite millennia of tradition, despite deep entrenchment in the culture (Mediterranean and Mid-Eastern culture was built on paganism from its prehistoric inception), despite all the power and authority of establishment, government, wealth, and law— Despite all this, paganism could not compete.

Why? It was all about love. The pagan gods did not care about human beings, and certainly didn’t love them. The only thing those gods cared about was being propitiated with the proper ceremonies and sacrifices. At best, they viewed humans as amusing pets or playthings, and at worst, as vermin to be eradicated. The notion of a god that loves and cares for people as individuals was a very new thing upon the earth, and it was an irresistible force that conquered the Roman Empire. “No weapon forged against it could prosper.”

God went to a great deal of trouble to tell us about the things that matter to him—to communicate his message over the course of 1500 years, and to preserve it for the next 2000 years. As I said above, when we love and care about someone, we want to share the things that matter to us with them. This is what he has done. And he wants to hear about the things that matter to us.

When a little girl comes home excited about how yellow and blue make green, and gleefully demonstrates that over and over, her parents get excited, too. Not because it is any new revelation to them, but because they love their daughter, and what she cares about matters to them. When a little boy falls off his bike and skins his knee, his parents know it’s no big deal. But they care about it because they love their son, and it matters a lot to him.

When we truly love God, we want to hear about the things that matter to him, about the things he wants to share with us, and studying scripture is not a burden, but a natural response stemming from our love. Likewise we want to pray and share with him the things that concern us, because we know that he loves us and wants to know what is on our hearts and minds.

A final thought: “Love your neighbor” is not so much an additional commandment, but a logical corollary of the premise, “God loves us.” The Bible tells us over and over that God loves us. For example:

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
—1 John 3:1a (NIV)

If God loves all of us, then everyone you meet is God’s beloved. To despise your neighbor, no matter what his or her relationship is to you—friend or foe, family or stranger—is to despise God’s own beloved child. Much of 1 John 4 is devoted to the development of this theme. Matthew 25 also drives home the connection between loving God and loving your neighbor. But nowhere is the direct logical significance made clear. Perhaps it seemed self-evident at the time, but it is not so obvious to today’s readers.

Look at it this way: If you have a child, how do you feel if somebody despises your child? How do you feel if someone rejects your child? How do you feel if someone hurts your child? You take it personally—very personally! It wasn’t you that was harmed, but it affects you a great deal—perhaps even more than if they had done it to you. Remember that every person you meet is God’s dearly beloved child. How you treat your neighbor, or how you talk about your neighbor, matters a lot to God. He takes it very personally.

If you were stupid enough to throw a rock at a lioness, she might just ignore you, or even walk away. But hit one of her cubs with a rock and see what happens! Don’t mess with the Lion of Judah.

• Messy Meditation on Discipline and Stuff
• Meditate » Mutter

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.
—Psalm 27:4 (NASB-U)

In this verse, the word translated as meditate is the Hebrew word baqar, which means inquire or seek. This image is not of a person sitting passively, awaiting inspiration, like a Buddha in an eastern Temple, but of a student or disciple eagerly probing, asking questions, seeking after truth.

This calls to mind the Biblical scholars of the Reformation. These were not aloof and cloistered eggheads, but men of passion, conviction, and courage. Think of Martin Luther risking his life to translate the Bible into German. Or William Tyndale who did lose his life for translating the Bible into English. I think of the team of scholars and printers who labored to create the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the first complete original language Bible, and forerunner of the parallel Bible. Planned and financed by Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros, Spanish statesman, cardinal, and philanthropist, (he was the friend of Queen Isabella who provided the funds to send Columbus on his historic voyage) the top religious scholars of the day spent 15 years obtaining numerous rare manuscripts from around the world and comparing them to determine the most accurate readings. The printers had to carve and cast lead type for the Greek alphabet. There were no Greek fonts available. (And the typography was so elegant that it is still in use today. The Greek Font Society distributes a computer font called GFS Complutensian Greek.) When it was finished, Pope Leo X blocked it’s publication. It seems that a few months earlier, a Dutch printer had learned of the project, and realized that the first one to publish a complete original language Bible would make a mint. So he had secured the services of the only scholar of Classical languages he knew locally, the noted Humanist philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus, to arrange a publishing coup. Erasmus obtain the few manuscripts available locally, and where there were no Greek originals available, he translated the Latin of the Vulgate back into Greek to finish the job. This was not critical edition, or work of scholarship. From idea to publication took less than six months. And in the meantime, the printer had secured from Emperor Maximillian and Pope Leo X, exclusive publication rights for the Greek New Testament. The Polyglot was eventually published, but Cisneros did not live to see his masterpiece in print.

Greek scholars were outraged by the outrageous number of errors in Erasmus’ version. Nevertheless, it was a runaway best-seller. Its success prompted him to deal with the countless complaints about the text, and he published five more revisions during his lifetime. Later editors produced many fore revisions over the next century until his edition, which had come to be known as Textus Receptus, fell into disuse. And despite the problems, controversy, and corruption, the Polyglot was published, and first editions are still in existence. And though, neither of these is used for the translation of modern Bibles, the work these scholars started continues in the Nestle-Aland, the IBS, and the Byzantine Majority—the original language Bibles used by modern translators and scholars. And most important, the fruit of their labors made the dreams of Luther and Tyndale possible. Bibles are now available in practically every human language, and anyone who wants to seek out God’s truth can learn it directly form the source. Anyone who has the desire can now “meditate (baqar=inquire, probe, seek) in His temple.” And through the restoration of the Word to the people, the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone was rediscovered. The Dark Ages were over and the Light of Truth dawned.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
—Ephes. 2:8 (ESV)

• Meditate » Mutter
• What is Lectio Divina?

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
—Psalm 1:1-2 (NASB-U)

The word translated as meditate here is the Hebrew hagah. It means groan, speak, declare, utter, growl, or muse. So the image here is not of a person who silently ponders and thinks about God’s Word, but who speaks it aloud—perhaps reciting scripture from memory, declaring it to others, or softly uttering favorite passages under his breath.

To me, this calls to mind William Wilberforce, who in his later years lived fifteen minutes walk from Parliament. He had memorized Psalm 119, the longest chapter of the Bible, and recited it every morning on his way to work. It took exactly 15 minutes to recite. I picture this lawmaker slowly making his way through the London fog, bent and twisted by the disease that was distorting his body, reciting the Psalmist’s ode to the glory of God’s perfect Law. Traveling the same route every day, each phrase would become associated with a landmark along the way. I find it ironic that the first verse of Psalm 119 is about walking with integrity. The Hebrew word tamim translated as integrity or blamelessness, literally means straight, upright. And although his flesh could not walk straight or upright, who in history has walked a path more straight, more steady, more steadfast? Wilberforce had committed prodigious swaths of scripture to memory. Some have even said he could recite as much as a fifth of the Bible from memory. While this must surely be an exaggeration—one of those legends that grows up around people of greatness—there is no doubt that his intimate and detailed scripture knowledge and his incessant meditation (hagah) upon it was the source of his greatness. He was only a little over five feet tall, and appeared much shorter because he could not stand upright. Yet he towered over his peers. Truly a giant in the land.

• Meditate » Inquire
• What is Lectio Divina?

My old truck had developed belt problems. The squeaking was driving me crazy. I pushed on each of the belts to see if one was loose. Sure enough, it was the one you would expect it to be: the one in the back, behind all the others. It obviously would require removing the whole engine to change that belt, so I took the easy way out. I squirted it down good with belt dressing. At least it wouldn’t squeak. Not for a few days anyway.

I knew I was postponing the inevitable. But the inevitable needed postponing from my point of view. (I hate when people say, “You’re just postponing the inevitable.” I always want to say, “Why are you walking around breathing and eating and all that? You know you’re going to die. You’re just postponing the inevitable. Why not drop dead right now? Don’t you want to go to heaven and be with God? What are you waiting for? Quit procrastinating and get on with it.” But I don’t say that. Some people are overly sensitive and might take offense.) Inevitable or not, I wasn’t ready to take the truck apart to change that belt. I tried tightening it. I loosened the bolt on the air-conditioning compressor, lifted it with a crow bar and re-tightened the bolt. It worked. But in a few days, it was loose again.

I made several attempts at tightening it, and went through two cans of belt dressing before the belt finally broke. That belt went around the air-conditioning compressor and several other things, and the truck would not start or run at all without it. Result? Dead truck. I was at work when it happened, and hadn’t the tools, the time, or the patience to fool with it. So I had it towed to a shop down the street. Using whatever sort of cranes and arthroscopic mechanic tools it took, they managed to get it apart and put a new belt on. But they couldn’t get it tightened up either. To make a short story longer, they ultimately discovered the cause. There was another bolt, under the compressor and behind some other stuff where it could be neither seen nor reached by mortal man, that had worked itself loose and fallen out somewhere on the road. Somewhere they scrounged up a bolt that fit, sprayed it with something to keep it from working loose, and replaced it.

The labor charge was horrific, but they charged nothing for the bolt—it was just a spare one they found lying around. After all, the bolt itself was not worth anything. But without that bolt, it was impossible to tighten the belt. And without that belt the truck would not run. In other words, that bolt was the key component that made the difference between a nice, smooth-running truck, and an expensive yard ornament. That one bolt made all the difference. Sounds to me like a bolt of tremendous value.

Oddly enough, it was Psalm 139 that brought this to mind. Especially verses 13-16:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
—Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)

I have heard it said that God knew the end from the beginning. But I think it would be better to say that he knew the beginning from the end. Better still, he knows the end and the beginning because he is present at both. He doesn’t have to look ahead to the future to see the end, because at this moment, he is already present at the end of time. Just as he does not think back to the beginning of time because at this moment he is present at the beginning. God exists outside of time, and to him the end and the beginning are one.

Like a mother bird hovering over her nest, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and he imagined the universe he was about to speak into being. In that moment, before time began, he imagined you. He imagined the color of your eyes. He imagined the shape of your toes, the creases on the inside of your wrist. He imagined the DNA it would take to make you who you are. He imagined the kind of parents you would need to have. He imagined the gifts and intelligences, the drives and desires it would take to make you the unique person he needed you to be. Because God has a plan for the universe, that is unfolding in time. And he has a purpose for your life. He needed someone just like you to fill a vital role in carrying out his plan to completion.

He planted desires in you that will only be fulfilled when you are carrying out his plan. He made you for that specific purpose. He is hoping you will discover your calling and use your gifts the way he intended. If you don’t, God will still get it done with the spiritual equivalent of belt dressing, crowbars, and a substitute bolt. But it will not be the perfect plan he imagined. And you will not live the life he created you for. It will not be the life of joy, meaningful work, purpose and fulfillment that he wanted you to have. It will not be the life of your dreams, the life he dreamed of for you.

Your role may not seem important or visible. But that bolt in my truck was not visible, and didn’t seem important. Yet, without it, the truck was nothing but scrap metal. Just so, the universe would not be the same without you.

I don’t know how better to say this:

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
—Psalm 37:4 (NIV)

He gave you those desires to guide you. Follow them.

• Toothache and Nails
• Let God Sort ‘Em Out
• The Greatest of These
• Work With Love
• Paradise Improved?

I have not been able to sleep for the past two nights because of this toothache. The whole roof of my mouth hurts, and now it has spread to my throat. Here it is just a few days before the Chrysalis weekend, and I already have more to do than I can manage. This is so typical of Satan’s tricks. Sometimes I just have to laugh at his attacks. It’s as if he doesn’t even bother to try coming up with something new. It’s always the same old stuff over and over again. There’s no subtlety to it at all.

I keep thinking about C. S. Lewis’s depiction of Satan in Perelandra. Contrary to popular conception, he said, Satan is no gentleman. Nor is he the somber tragic figure from Paradise Lost. Satan picks up reason and intelligence like a soldier picks up a weapon. Bayonets or bombs are tools a soldier uses, and are of no interest to him beyond their utilitarian purpose in helping him accomplish his ends. Similarly Satan uses reason and intelligence as part of his arsenal when he needs them, but they are not part of his nature. When you focus on Satan himself, and not on the tools he has picked up, what you see is more like “a monkey or a very nasty child.”

Deep within, Lewis said, there is “nothing but a black puerility, an aimless empty spitefulness content to sate itself with the tiniest cruelties, as love does not disdain the smallest kindness.”

So a part of me looks with scorn on the childishness and monotony of his attacks. And a part of me is thankful that I am not dealing with some grand and subtle design. But another part of me is disgusted and somewhat chilled at the thought that something so petty and childish as giving me a toothache before and important event could be so damned effective.

I’m glad that God knows what I need. He knows my thoughts even as I am thinking them. He knows my feelings better than I know them myself. Anytime I turn my thoughts toward God, no matter what time, night or day, God is already thinking about me. And long ago, he prepared for this day. Satan was defeated once and for all when those nails pierced my Savior’s flesh. Is that awesome or what?

I hate to admit it, but it reminds me of an old Willie Nelson song. Remember “Always on My Mind“? Well, when it comes to God, it really is the truth: You are always on God’s mind.

• God’s Palms

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them.
—John 14:23 (GW)

Abba Silvanus was one of 4th century Christianity’s desert fathers. An ancient Coptic text called The Paradise of the Desert Fathers holds some accounts of his life. In his monastery at Scetis, he had a disciple named Mark who was widely known for obedience. Silvanus developed a great love for the devoted disciple, and this was the source of much envy among his other eleven disciples. When the elders heard about Abba’s favoritism, they came to chastise him. When they arrived, Silvanus gave them a tour of the monastery. As they followed, he knocked on the door of each cell and called the disciple who lived there by name, saying, “Brother, come out, I have work for you.” None of disciples responded or appeared quickly.

Finally he knocked on the door of Mark’s cell, and simply called, “Mark.” Immediately, Mark answered and came forth. Silvanus sent him on an errand and showed the elders into Mark’s cell. He picked up the manuscript Mark had been working on. The last letter he had written was part of an omega. His desire to respond to his master’s voice was so powerful, it would not let him finish even a single letter before he hastened to obey. The elders then understood, and said, “The one you love best is also the one we love, for he is God’s favorite, too.”

I have noticed that God blesses some people to a much greater extent than he does others. One of my ongoing projects has been to study the characteristics that distinguish those whose lives God blesses greatly. One of the primary traits I have identified is obedience.

How quickly do you jump up and hasten to obey when you hear your master’s voice? I’m afraid I am not always very prompt about it. In fact, I sometimes resist his call, thinking of many excuses why it won’t work: It’s not the right time. I’m not equipped for the task. I’m not the right person for it. Are you sure you have the right guy, God? Did the heavenly switchboard maybe connect you through to the wrong number? I suspect I have more in common with Jonah than with this young disciple of Silvanus.

God loves all his children, but his special favor more naturally flows onto those who are most responsive to his call. We have no right to complain about God’s favoritism if we are not all that quick to answer and obey. If his voice is not at the top of our priorities, if our response is not immediate and enthusiastic, if we do not run eager and joyful to do his will, then we cannot expect his special favor and his most extravagant blessings to pour out upon us.

“His master replied, ‘Good job! You’re a good and faithful servant! You proved that you could be trusted with a small amount. I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and share your master’s happiness.’
—Matthew 25:21 (GW)

What is God calling you to do today?

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
—Rev. 3:20 (NIV)

• Used for God’s Love
• Wonderful Word—Grace
• Lord, Where Is Your Smile?
• Begin It
• Obeying God or Disobeying God