How does Jesus love you?

Have you ever reflected on how Jesus loves you?  In other words, have you ever considered the specific ways and methods he uses to display his affections for you personally?  When you care for someone you generally don’t give them gifts that they don’t like. Hopefully, you try to find ways to show them your love that are significant to them.  If you are in any sort of meaningful relationship you probably put effort into figuring out how to bring joy into the life of the other person.

Those of us who are Christians are in a very real relationship with Jesus, and it’s not just about us showing our care for him.  It’s also learning to acknowledge and appreciate the many ways he shows his care for us.  Foundationally it’s an appreciation for the cross and the empty tomb, which are the greatest expression of love.  In addition to that I believe there are ways he displays his love to us as specific individuals.  In small ways, Jesus shows his love to me differently than to you – because he knows me intimately.

I’m on a mission to help other people realize what those displays of love from Jesus look like in their lives.  As part of that quest I’m fishing for examples from friends and peers.  So how does Jesus love you?  What ways does he display his affections in your life that you appreciate but others might not?

The Gospel

“Our gospel is not the gospel unless it is good news to everyone.”

I think this statement has caused me to examine my faith more than anything else I’ve ever come up with or read.  Very likely I stole it from someone smarter and wiser than me but it has sunk to such depths in my heart that it compels me to find people and places that challenge my gospel with their culture, condition, and personality. It leads me to ask questions like: Can my gospel be presented to the rich and the poor? Is it freedom for those oppressed by corporate America and those who will die of starvation today? Does it matter to the urban poor and the middle class? Is the language of my gospel accessible to an un-churched, Hispanic, junior high youth?  Is it hope to the mentally handicapped?

I’m still not able to answer very many of those questions, but I’m trying.  There are a few things I have figured out. The gospel we present must be simple and deep.  It must be refreshing to the weary and freeing to the burdened. It must be the explanation and invitation into the gift of the crucified and risen Christ.  We have to present it out of excitement rather than requirement, and if we aren’t excited about it then we need to re-engage the story through prayer and scripture until we burn once again.  Those who hear our message should walk away knowing that they have heard a deep message of love from someone who cares for them about a God who cares even more.  Conviction is a work of the Spirit, and I believe it comes when a soul is laid bare in front of incomprehensible grace.  We proclaim that grace – the Spirit lays bare the soul.

My brothers and sisters, we are heralds of the good news.  Sharing with others should be exhilarating rather than debilitating.  It should be a natural outcome of a life abandoned to Christ.  And calling disciples into Kingdom living should be a natural product of the church reaching out in love to places where only the Gospel can give hope.  I say this mostly to invite you into my personal struggle to make the previous three sentences a reality in my life.

The Future

For those of you who don’t know, I’m going on a bit of an adventure starting next month. I have resigned from my position at DPC and don’t have a clear vision for the future. I know that it will include another short trip to Uganda (at least 3 weeks in July), and some time in Washington DC (northern Uganda Lobby Days at the end of June), but other than that it’s up in the air. For the fun of it I decided to write a quick list of possibilities that have entered my mind:

1. Take off my shoes, empty my wallet, grab my Bible and just start walking.

2. Start a non-profit to promote radical unity within the body of Christ.

3. Wander around Africa as the Spirit leads.

4. Join forces with my brother to bring the gospel to unreached people groups.

5. Start a church in Selma.

6. Intern with Jesse and help him push the cart so he can retire.

7. Find a way to get paid for being Matt Naylor.

8. Live off of the generosity of my amazing friends and encourage them in their walks with God.

9. Offer to work for food and housing for any ministry who just needs a little extra help and encouragement.

10. Become an internet phenomenon (this may be closely related to #7).

11. Walk through whatever door God opens when I’m in Uganda.

12. Pray and wander until I have seen how God is at work in the following places: Guatemala, Thailand, India, Swaziland, Australia, and throughout East Africa.

13. Keep writing until I get something published.

14. See if I can get kicked out of a seminary. Preferably for loving Jesus and believing the Bible rather than for anything related to #10.

15. Find a wife who is willing to join me in any of the preceding ventures.

Old man in the alley

The old man staggers along, hurting in ways unseen by any but himself. He mutters streams of profanities under his breath, mixed with phrases like “better than this”, and “not who I am”. Screaming into the dark alley, he smashes his glass judge against the bricks of the narrow passage. Even in this action he knows all too well that the next day – when things are a little too much, when a certain friend fails to show up, when no one is watching – the bottle will be resurrected.

“ENOUGH!” he yells the well-worn refrain. He shouted it not to his inner darkness or to that of the alley, as so often in the past. This time the old man shouted to the darkness that is found in the shadow of a cathedral. A darkness which shouted back. Not words, but a pain even worse than before. His entire chest seemed to collapse inward with grief and he fell backwards helplessly. It felt as if someone were shoving a rugged four by four into his chest, and the weight was unbearable. He imagined clawing at the foot of the roughly processed tree, but his fingers were useless against such penetration. Realizing the futility of his efforts, he released a sigh of defeat. As the old man softly vocalized his impotence against the tree now planted in his chest, his body heaved forward, tearing a new flesh from the old. The new man emerged with such force that he went immediately from his back to his knees.

“Why? Why now?” he questioned in heaving sobs. But this was not the time for answers, it was the time for change. A change longed for, yet not fulfilled. As he raised his head from the asphalt he saw his hands in the light of the new day. Hands transformed to those of a youth. Yet behind him he could still hear pitiful whimperings and the sickening sound of tired fists pounding in protest against the splintered post.

Easy to say, hard to grasp.

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

John 17:23 (ESV, emphasis added)

Jesus was perfect, and the Father loved him perfectly.
We are imperfect, and the Father loved us perfectly.

Wow.

The Uncontrolability of God (Reflections on Psalm 78:65)

“Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.”

Psalm 78:65

I invited you into my ponderings of this passage a few weeks ago and I thought I would share where my personal reflections went.  I was initially disturbed by the image of God portrayed like a drunk because one who is under the influence of alcohol is usually considered as operating outside of their own control.  However, as I talked this out with people I thought of my internal reaction to being in the presence of a strong, loud, drunk.  I’m a little guy, and I thought of times when I had been around a person a foot taller and over 100lbs heaver than I when they were full of strong drink.  There was no reasoning with this person.  If he decided to do something I was utterly powerless to stop him.  No eloquent words, or impressive argument, or physical threat would have the slightest impact on his decision.  That thought captivated me in relationship to this passage.  What if part of the reason for this image of God was to remind us of our inability to influence God?  God described in similarity to being big, loud, and drunk is bringing a new dimension to the reality that God is fully outside of my control.  That when He chooses to act on His own I am utterly insignificant in halting His actions.  All illusions of control are taken away.  It’s scary enough to realize there is nothing you can do to stop a person who is drunk.  It is terrifying to realize that when God chooses to act without us we really are powerless to stop Him.  I’m growing in the conviction that to fear God rightly is to realize His potential to act without us and His divine grace that invites us into co-labor with Him.

Just my thoughts at present.  Reactions or responses?

Affectionate Almighty (A poem)

Affectionate Almighty
Extends trembling arms
Grabs hold of the wayward
Envelopes divine progeny

Enamored Eternal
Melts at lover’s return
Infidelity forgiven
In forever’s embrace

Uncomfortable images of God

Every once in a while I come across imagery of God in scripture that stops me in my tracks. Images that are at great tension with my understanding of God. This morning I read Psalm 78:65:

“Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.”

Think about that choice of images. Not only do we have God waking up as if he were sleeping (contrast that with Psalm 121:4 where God never sleeps nor slumbers), but next He is presented as a loud, angry drunk. I freely admit, that makes me a little uncomfortable. Then again, I like that about scripture as the Living Word of God. In processing his own grief, C.S. Lewis observed that part of the loss of his beloved wife was that her presence was no there to shatter his misperceptions. Her reality could no longer break down the incomplete image his mind held. When we approach scripture in humility, God’s reality will constantly challenge and break down our misperceptions of His character. If we are willing to sit for a while with the uncomfortable images instead of quickly rationalizing and justifying them, I think we might soon find that God is bigger than we give Him credit for.

You are valuable, significant, and loved.

If anyone reading this blog has ever had any questions as to weather or not they have significance, I invite you to spend some time considering birds – sparrows in particular.  Jesus brought the simplicity and depths of God’s affections for us to light using these seemingly insignificant creatures.

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”  Matthew 6:26a (ESV)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  “  Matthew 10:29-30 (ESV)

In both of these sermon illustrations Jesus was pointing to God’s care of birds to make specific points to the people listening, but I invite you to stop and ponder what it means for God to care for sparrows.  Often we quickly move on to the applications of not being afraid and not worrying, and fail to dwell in the weight and intimacy of the Father’s care.  Sitting in the reality of God’s care for birds readies the heart for considering God’s interest in you.  In our economy scarcity determines value, but Jesus points to the numerous sparrows and says that God has value for each of them.  He takes notice of their needs and of each time one perishes.  Keep that in mind as you read this next passage.

“Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise!”

Psalm 84:3-4 (ESV)

The altar was the place of worship, the place of sacrifice, the place where man was able to approach God.  Because of what happened at the altar, the temple was the place where God’s presence was pleased to dwell.  At that sacred place, near the heart of God, the Father made room for the sparrow.  The sparrow he fed and clothed.  The sparrow whose death would not pass un-noticed.  Having considered that Jesus rhetorically asks, “Are you not of more value than they?” and later proclaims “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 6:26b, 10:31).

God’s invitation into His presence is ever an invitation of love.  A love that is passionate, caring, intimate and satisfying.  A love that massively outshines, yet still exists alongside, His sustaining care and concern for birds.  More importantly, a love that will exist fully independent of whether you accept it or not.  But make no mistakes – accepting that love will destroy your life in the best way possible.

The righteous and the poor

I tried to teach through Amos with the youth at my church this past summer.  It failed miserably.  I got stuck in the middle of the second chapter and my mental and spiritual gears are still grinding on one short phrase.   In Amos 2:6 the righteous and the needy are placed side by side in a way that captured my attention:  “…they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals…” Amos 2:6 ESV.  Other translations use the word innocent instead of righteous – but best I can tell with my limited resources is that the Hebrew word being translated means just, lawful, and/or righteous (H6662 in Strongs).

This is a powerful statement in my mind.  God is casting judgment against Israel for their perversion of justice – but in it He doesn’t shake his finger at the “righteous” telling them to attend to the cause of the poor.  We actually find that the righteous are right in the middle of the injustice, side by side with the needy.  The righteous are oppressed in a way similar to the poor.  That linkage got me thinking about other places where language of poverty and righteousness find themselves next to each other.  What came to my mind first was the Beatitudes.  (If that’s where your brain went too, great! You can stop reading now and go do your own meditations.  If you’re thinking something along the lines of “The Beati-whats?” keep reading.)

The Beatitudes are a series of blessings that Jesus made during his sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5:2-12 and Luke 6:20-23.  When reading through it with Amos 2:6 in mind I was struck by the poverty and righteousness wording.  For poverty there are the words: poor, mourn, meek, hunger, thirst.  As for righteous language there is: righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers.  The two themes crash together in the middle when poverty language buts up against righteousness in Matthew 5:6 , “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (ESV, Emphasis is Mine).  Later oppression becomes blessing for the righteous when in verses 10 – 11 when Jesus speaks blessing to those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

Those connections in mind, I’ve been challenging my self – and my youth – to seek out poverty and find ways of joining with it.  To find a place where there is lack, be it relational or financial, and find a way to walk along side it in truth and love.  With my passion burning to see Jesus’ prayer John 17:20 – 23 realized as soon as possible – this approach to joining with poverty makes any lack within the body inexcusable (detestable might be a better word).  If there is lack within the body of believers anywhere in the world – we as brothers and sisters must give every effort to fulfil what is lacking.  Be it medicine and food to our family in Africa and Asia or friendship to the lonely that fill our churches here in America – we need to join with poverty until there is no more or untill we are all suffering joyfully together in a way only possible by being one just as Jesus and the Father are one.  Because by that unity the world will know that Christ was sent by God, and that the Father loves us (his children) with the same, perfect love he had for Jesus (John 17:20-23).