What if: "Forgive them Father..."

When Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they do."

I always approached it from the good cop bad cop perspective. Good Cop -- Jesus, was telling the Bad Cop -- Father, to take it easy.

But what if this is just a reaction that tells us A LOT about Who Jesus is, personally. Despite all the abuse heaped upon Him, the shame, and the pain He naturally, unconsciously, talks of forgiveness. Squeeze something, and you'll find what's inside. Crush something and you'll see what it's made of.

Yeah, but it's directed at Father, so Jesus is trying to get Father to not do something.

Or, or, or, it could be Christ is communing with and talking to someone Who He loves and needs in the midst of trial. Remember, Christ's relationship with Father is so intense and really real that He's before Father in the midst of all the ugliness. It would be surprising if He didn't say such.

Jesus' natural inclination is to always protect -- which is not to say He fears Father hitting the reset button -- but He just cannot help but express love.

You know what else is interesting? Jesus is not telling Father anything Father doesn't know. Father knows the intents and thoughts of those all around.

So what?

Nothing, it's just that it, in a small way, points to something important. God is interested in a relationship with us. It's not the information content that God desires, it's the heart. When a little kid, whether son or daughter, cousin, nephew, tells you something. How often is it new to you? RARELY. But it's more special, more precious than a broker stating how much you are worth today, because you've got a relationship, a heart, and not information.

How often do we relate to God just as information transfers. "Father tell me what to do." Or "Father, this is what I did for you today." It's sterile and has no life. Yes, there are transfers of information in relationships, but that does not encompass the fullness of the relationship. Unfortunately, we often approach God just this way, sterile, lifeless, perfunctory, and professional...in other words, fake.

What if: Sensitivity

What if love, agape love, frees you to actually be sensitive to the needs of others?

Can you be sensitive when you are worrying about yourself and your needs? Can it be that out of fullness we find sensitivity. When we are full of His love we are now free to be sensitive to others because we are not looking to get something out of others.

Rambling Thoughts: Obstacles to Loving One Another V

So, interestingly...or perhaps now, obviously. We will not have time for loving one another.

And worse yet, one another, we are rivals. Your success diminishes my success. Your attention diminishes focus and valuation placed on me. Spending time with you detracts from building up my value in the eyes of others.

This whole spiral of busyness is because we are "seemingly" bereft. We are without. We must do, acquire because we do not have. And here we come to love. You do not find love in bondage and in want -- for this is the environment of use.

There are three types of love in Greek I am told. Eros, which is self for self love. "I love because of what you can do for me." Or "I desire the highest and the best for myself." There is phileo, brotherly love, which is self for us. "I desire the highest and the best for you and me." Then there is agapeo, which is self for others. "I desire the highest and best for you." hat tip: Paul Anderson-Walsh of The Grace Project.

This is why agape is self-sacrificial because you are not in the picture. It's the other's highest and the best, not your comfort, not your validation, not your success, not your needs. It's self sacrifice and it's done freely because there is no impediment by the self.

Well, according to the "playbook." God is love (agapeo). Now wait a minute, what does that mean? That means He's NOT the Manipulator. A Manipulator is a self for self lover, it is Eros love. So He is the provider, He is the communicator, He is the Wisdom, He is the Way. He is the Giver and He is the one who values. We are not orphans.

No longer a playbook, the Scriptures are also reveal that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were before there was a creation. And it reveals that God is not changing. And we see in the Gospels a Father who is totally in love with the Son. And we see the Son completely intent upon the highest and the best for the Father. The Father was giving to the Son and the Son was giving to the Father, both with no thought to themselves.

In eternity past, they were the same. They needed nothing for themselves but just completely gave. God needs nothing, He is FREE to give. And Christ on earth trusted in the Father, and He was free to give because He did nothing except by way of the Father.

And in an immense act of love for us. Father and Son and the Holy Spirit have grafted us into their relationship.

All the things we need are covered IN HIM. There is nothing from others that we really need. We can REST IN HIM. We don't have to earn His affection. We have it no matter what we do. All our needs are covered and more. We can now give. We are now free to choose to give. We are now freed to follow Him in giving. We are now free to listen to Him in giving of our most precious possession. The only thing we cannot acquire more of...time.

Rambling Thoughts: Obstacles to Loving One Another IV

So we've seen that perhaps we see Father as untrustworthy, therefore not a provider, and not worth having a close relationship with, and not one who is worth listening to without reinterpreting.

So we are left with this identity. We are orphans. We have to do all ourselves. And there is a limited amount of time in the day to do. We need our 5 hours of sleep to just make it to the next 5 hours of restless dormancy.

We are alone and abandoned. Now, I'll take a turn, instead of going towards selfishness, I'll take the route marked insecurity.

What is insecurity? It's shame. One way to look at shame is a belief in one's worthlessness. We're orphans, so our Father, that Manipulator, doesn't value us, except perhaps what He can extract from us. But He's a Manipulator, so He values what He can extract more than us the containers themselves.

So the only option we have is our own valuation of ourselves, and others valuation of us. And how can others value us except by what they can see? And how can they see anything except by what we do? You are what you do, right?

Our value is based upon what someone else values. The Manipulator abandoned us, so all that is left is our fellow orphans. They too are left in the same predicament we are, so they too toil. And sense our value is based upon what others see, then we must toil too.

And now we move to fear. We cannot always keep up. We cannot know everything. There are so many ways in which we can fail. Ways in which we can lose value. We are sure of it, especially since it has happened so many times before.

We are orphans, the Manipulator is not there for us, so if whatever it is in the future
requires more than we have, we will definitely lose.

Rambling Thoughts: Obstacles to Loving One Another III

See perhaps our mistaken impression of our Father also brings something else related to busyness. Alienation.

We are not close to great manipulators. We are estranged, and it's a funky estrangement because the mask is one of closeness and affection. A heinous estrangement indeed.

So we don't believe He can be relied on, trusted, etc... And so we don't want to truly grow close to Him, we think we should look like we want to grow closer to Him, because the Bible says so. And we'd rather have a relationship with the Manipulator's playbook, than with the Manipulator himself. But that's just reasonable.

We'll read the playbook, because it's intelligence, it's like an accidentally unclassified document. "I can't believe He left this out. That's how we get what we want out of the Manipulator."

The Manipulator still speaks, but because we believe He is the Manipulator, we don't listen. And perhaps what we do hear, we filter into the paradigm of the Manipulator. He says, "I love you" but we twist it into, "Here's what you have to do to get my affection."

So we have to work hard finding our own way because we don't hear the way He goes. And forget actually walking the way with Him. We'd rather redefine walking with Him to something else, to following a path without Him. Because if the way is where ever the Manipulator goes, then it's best to follow another path. Of course if the Manipulator does randomly drop some goodies to those who do follow, perhaps we can follow Him, but way back. We'll run up when He drops something valuable. But walk with Him, no thank you. The closer you are to a manipulator, the more you are mesmerized into being manipulated.

Rambling Thoughts: Obstacles to Loving One Another II

Selfishness.

We are often busy because we need to provide for ourselves. We say God is our Father, but it's just aping what particular verses say. We think that by saying something from the Bible or agreeing with something from the Bible that that will in fact create belief in us, or even worse, create the reality we seek. But Scripture isn't a magic book. It's a love letter and a letter of introduction. The Old Testament was a letter of introduction of Christ -- of course the "highest" and the "best" and most "learned" missed that, and didn't see Christ whom it was all about, standing directly in front of them.

The New Testament is a love letter, inviting us into a tremendous relationship, with stories about those in that relationship, with revelations about Who this Person we're in love is.

Okay, enough of that rivulet of thought, back to busyness.

For some, we don't believe Father can nor will take care of us. And that's true for financial, emotional, psychological, and spiritual things. So we work hard on ALL of them.

But our experience says that He has not.

Does our experience actually say that? Or is that our interpretation of our experiences?

Say you find yourself with a relationship with a person whom you believe is manipulative and always has an agenda that leaves you holding the bag. Would you not second guess everything the person does? If the person was doing something that required three steps to complete. Would you not expect and believe evil of the very first step? And that would color the second step, and that would color the third step. Even if the final step was for your own good. You already have a history there in step one and step two.

Perhaps we do the same thing with God in His provision. And we are not taught any different either, even by well intentioned authorities. We are taught God is someone to be played, especially since He plays us.

If our father is someone to be gamed, then we will interact with him, not in love, but in manipulation. And since we assume He is manipulative too, it's a relationship of mutual manipulation. Manipulators don't provide, they only use.

Manipulation also requires a great deal of work to pull off. You have to have all the right plates spinning to keep it going.

What if Satan's a Defeated Foe III

the conclusion...

Heb. 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Things that can be seen are seen with the eyes. Things that are unseen, are seen by faith. Faith is like a spiritual camera. Yeah, it's hokey, just flow with the metaphor for a second.

When the enemy looms large it means one thing. The autozoom on your faith camera is off. Or perhaps you need to focus on something else. Say you are in that immense and beautiful jungle. You see a beautiful flower bush on a ridgeline a ways away. You set your camera up and zoom in to take a picture. But as you are getting the focus just right suddenly your whole viewfinder is filled with an orange and black form.

What you see (faith) is fully the Enemy. Here is what really isn't that effective. Focusing in FURTHER! And then analyzing the sinews and power in its legs and jaws.

Zoom out completely! See that the tiger is just a roaming item in an immense jungle.

Besides, the tiger is an immense camera hog. Why serve it with what it wants. There are other things to look at in the jungle. Come back to the bush later, it's not going anywhere. The tiger is. It's restless, frustrated, and knows its time is short.

Duty in Loving = Using

A friend has been wrestling with the John 15 upper room discussion on love.

What the passage seems to suggest is that loving God is connected with loving my brother. Plus you throw in the verse that says how can one say one loves God if one hates one's brother, and you have a very good case.

So...let's play with this a bit and see where it leads us?

The basic premise seems to be then that to love God I must love my brother. Or perhaps more forcefully said, I had BETTER.

But what has creeped into this is duty -- not the noble self sacrificing duty (if there is such a thing, I'm not completely convinced there is). What do I mean? I mean this, use of another.

In order for me to love God, I have to use you. Therefore I love you so I can love God. Well that begs the question, am I loving you? My love for you is a tool for my ultimate goal which is loving God. A worthy goal, I'm sure, but something seems to stink a bit, no?

From the root, we see the fruit. I'm using you to get to God...or at least to love Him. So... it's all about me. My interests are greater than yours, because I'm getting to God. Well if that's the root, then who's to say that getting to God, loving Him, is the value? Could I not say that getting to love Him is a tool as well?

If the using of another is not love, then my "loving" my brother is not love. And therefore I am not loving God. And even if I could get away with this "loving" would I even be loving God? Could I not be using Him too, all for my gain?

Rambling Thoughts: Obstacles to Loving One Another I (TIME)

A wise friend posited that there are two obstacles to loving one another: time and selfishness. Another wise friend desposited fear and insecurity as well. I'd have to wholeheartedly agree. And then I must approach it from a different perspective. They are two sides of the same coin. And travelling down this road we may run into an interesting perspective of what love is...

For the most part love requires time, time is the environment where love is manifested. (Any connection between God being eternal and God being love?)

Why DON'T we have time?

Because we're busy.

Why are we busy?

Because we're forced to be busy...ah but we are not. Therefore we choose to be busy.

Rather than stopping there and condemning ourselves, or going off on a rant about how evil, vapid, and selfish we are, let's go deeper.

Why do we CHOOSE to be busy? Or better yet, to do busyness.

See, we choose to do something because we think doing it will be better than things will be if we DON'T do it. Specifically, things will be better for us. And incidentally, that which we choose is better than all the other options we are aware of at the time of choosing.

Interestingly enough, I submit that at the heart of our busyness are the other issues we've mentioned: selfishness, fear, and insecurity.

What if Satan's a Defeated Foe II

...continued...

Before the Cross

Satan was like the Tiger in the bathroom. He stirred, we screamed.

After the Cross

A declawed, detoothed Tiger in a jungle. His power hasn't changed. He is still the most powerful created being. But the environment in which we are in is different. Satan is eclipsed by the immensity of the jungle. What is the Tiger to a rainstorm? To a Typhoon? What is one Tiger to 200 square miles of jungle? What is Satan to the immensity of Christ, our Father, the Holy Spirit? What is the toothless and clawless to the magnitude of God's love and the inheritance which is our relationship with Him?

What's the take away here? too be concluded...

What if Satan's a Defeated Foe

What if Christ actually did what He claimed to have done on the cross?

What if our fear of Satan would be like fear of the army of the Third Reich, right now in 2006?

Sure, once, for a time, was a powerful foe. But was defeated. The remnants of the defeat are fringe and fight through baneful bombasity and prolix propoganda.

How can this be so? too be continued...

What if: IF & THEN are done away with?

Old Covenant

If...

• You do this
• You don't do that

THEN...

• You get the goodies (blessings)
  
• You get the relationship

New Covenant

BECAUSE...

• Of what God has done
• Who He has made you
• He loves you
• He has made the way open to you
• You have the goodies

THEREFORE...you are free to truly love and truly live and move and have our being.

Feelings and Signals

We have a tendency to live in search of feelings rather than see that they indicate or signal something.

"I want to be happy." But dig deeper and what we usually mean is that we want to feel happy.

But feelings indicate realities that may not be visible.

Physical pain indicates realities that you may not be aware. If a spinal disc is out of place, you may experience GREAT pain. But if you adjust your life to eliminating that pain, feeling the absence of that pain, then you are skipping down the wrong path. The pain is BECAUSE something maybe amiss.

THE PAIN ISN'T THE POINT. IT IS POINTING.

This is true with physical pain the same way it is true with emotional or spiritual pain.

"Arg, but you are merely denying my pain!"

Quite the contrary. Your focus on solely eliminating the pain denies the pain. Pain's point is to point. You may be saying pain's point is to be removed. Pain's not there to disappear. It is suppose to disappear when the not-easily-seen reality is back to good.

"Ah, so you're saying pain means that I should stop wallowing in it and fix it!"

Actually, that's not what I said. I just said it points to an unseen reality. I'd hate to break it to you, but not every reality can be handled by your strategizing, planning, scheming, charm, whining or general manipulation.

Suppose you fell and received multiple fractures on your leg and arm. Does that say you have to set and fix your injuries?

"Well no, but I have to ask for help. And I'd better ask nicely."

Okay, why do you have to ask nicely? Because you are dependent upon another to help you, right. So really this issue is not what you need to do/act. But, that you need to trust.

So, the pointing is not always about you. Perhaps the pointing is toward another. Perhaps it's not a pointing to condemn. Perhaps it's pointing to indicate where you may need to rest your trust.

Hiatus MAY be over

It's almost six months since my last post. Since I had a strong urge to write anything.

Seems the theme and crux of what empassions me now is knowing God as He truly is.

Whether I do or not, never really sure. I'm bigger on knowing Him for Him, rather than knowing Him to be right about things about Him. Does that make any sense?

I'm finding out He's actually worth knowing and that having a relationship is worth it even a part from all that He can provide. Though I must admit I still need convincing and reminding of such. I have found though that I'm not so hard on myself about my mess ups as I used to be.

I have found I'm less motivated by what other people think about me. So much so that I tend to want to test those limits, especially when those limits seem (in my mind) to have a religious tinge to them. Perhaps with time that irksome edge, that subtle shock that I try to send will mellow.

What I thought would be happening now is for me to be more relational. But I've found I'm not much more so, seemingly. But I'm confident He knows what He's doing, so we'll see what He's up to in all this. He's the Author and Finisher, I'll rest in that.

Of course, that doesn't preclude driving people absolutely nuts in the process -- but I figure He's got that under control as well.

There is so very far to go, but I'm not anxious about the distance. He has some amazing treasures in the voids between the concrete events of maturation.

And so six months seems to be the length of time I can keep these fingers silent. I'm interested in seeing what wisdom can be dredged from my incoherent puffery. And puffery it is, because who could encapsulate the king in the vagaries, vanities, and vagueness of human language?