Giving the world what it needs

If you spend even a few months attending church services, you’ll likely hear someone say a phrase similar to “Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches”.  What they’re quoting is from John 15, where Jesus is teaching His disciples as they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane.  The apex statement in the section is found in verse five:

John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

But did you know…that God had previously used the vine analogy to describe His relationship with Israel?  Take a look at what the prophet Isaiah said about 700 years before Jesus:

Isaiah 5:1-2
I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one’s vineyard.  The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines.  He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there.  He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

And then God speaks:

Isaiah 5:3-6
So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard.  What more could I have done for My vineyard that I did?  Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes? 

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.
I will make it a wasteland.
It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up.
I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

And to make sure the people understood the analogy, Isaiah says:

Isaiah 5:7
For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant He delighted in.  He expected justice but saw injustice; He expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.

The best explanation of this passage that I’ve found comes from G. Campbell Morgan, in his book Great Chapters of the Bible:

Two words in this interpretation reveal the Divine purpose and ideal.  They are the words righteousness and judgment.  The Hebrew nation was created in order that all the nations might be given righteousness and judgment.  In other words, the Divine intention was that through the nation the principle of life which is righteousness, and the consequent practice of judgment should be revealed to humanity as a whole.  In its history the nation had entirely broken down in this matter.  Within its own borders, instead of righteousness, oppression existed, and for lack of judgment or equity, the cry of the oppressed was heard.  Therefore the nations of the world were not being supplied with the things essential to their being, and their well-being.  Because of this failure the nation was rejected as the vine of God.

Jesus’ statement of I am the vine; you are the branches wasn’t just a little teaching illustration.  I’ll let Morgan explain further:

Thus He stood in the midst of human history and declared that God’s purpose was not failing, that His intention would be carried out, that He was the Vine through Whom these things would come to complete fulfilment.  The majesty of the claim is self-evident; and the high privileges and responsibilities of His own are revealed in the fact the He incorporated that group of men with Himself as the instrument of Divine realization as He said, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches”.

Where Israel failed, Jesus declared that He would be the one to show the world what God’s design for true righteousness and justice looked like.  And…the most surprising part of it…is that Jesus has included His disciples (and us) in this work.

If we believers are to show the world what righteousness (i.e. – living rightly by God’s design) and justice looks like in our own lives, then we must remember Jesus’ warning: you can do nothing without Me.

We must stay connected to Him.  We must be talking with Him often and learning to walk as He walked.  We cannot manufacture righteousness and justice by our own efforts and programs – throughout the centuries, Christians have tried to do so and have failed miserably each time.  We can only produce the fruit of the vine when we are connected to it.

Are you intentionally staying connected to the Vine?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

At His lowest moment, they needed Him

How close are you with your cousins?

I wasn’t all that close to mine, mainly because we lived so far apart that it was unlikely we’d see each other more than once a year.  However, I have met other people that tell me they are so close to their cousin, they may as well had been raised as siblings…even to the point that their cousin knew and understood them better than their actual siblings did.

Did you know Jesus had a similar family situation?

Growing up, and even into His ministry, Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in Him (John 7:1-9).  Can you imagine having a literally perfect older brother?  Yeah, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with him, either.  But Jesus did have a cousin whom He was close with.  His name was John.

John was born six months earlier than Jesus, but even in the womb, he recognized who Jesus really was (Luke 1:44).  John’s mission was to announce to the nation of Judah that the Messiah was coming (Luke 3:1-6).  He was even given the honor of baptizing Jesus (Luke 3:21-22), signifying that a new era in God’s relationship with mankind had begun.  John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, those chosen by God to point the people toward the coming Messiah and King.  But John was the only prophet to actually know the One he was pointing people to.  John knew better than anyone on the planet what Jesus had come to earth for, giving up his own opportunity for fame and fortune among the Jewish people.  His understanding is wholly encapsulated in his statement:

John 3:28-30
You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom.  But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice.  So this joy of mine is complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease.

John’s mission as a prophet wasn’t just to announce the Messiah, but to also bring the people to recognize their need for the coming Messiah.  His teaching routinely convicted people of their sin – some wanted to know how to deal with their sinful state, but others wanted to hide from it.  And John wouldn’t just call out the average citizens…he had no issue calling out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and political leaders for their selfishness.

As you can imagine, this caused John some trouble.  At one point, King Herod arrested John and had him thrown in prison.  Then through some shrewd political maneuvering, others manipulated the King into beheading John (Matthew 14:1-12).  This act shocked the people and word spread quickly to Jesus.

Matthew 14:13
When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone.

I don’t blame Him one bit.  You find out that your closest friend – your cousin that’s practically your brother – has been murdered on the King’s orders.  The person who understood your life’s mission the best has been violently taken away…and all Jesus wanted was some time to Himself, some time with just Him and the Father.  But that’s not what He got:

Matthew 14:13-14
When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns.  When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd

How deflating that must have felt.  Jesus wants to grieve, but even in His lowest moment, the people still needed Him.  They were still drawn to Him.  So much so they ran around a body of water to chase down His boat, in the hopes of meeting Him on the other side.

I admit that if I were Jesus, I would have been mad at that scene as I brought the boat into shore.  Too emotionally tired to explode with anger, I likely would have shut down in depression.  Every instinct in my body would have been to turn the boat around and go drop anchor in the middle of the lake…and I’m pretty sure I would have given in to doing so.  My internal dialogue would have been screaming, “Don’t they know how broken I feel right now?  Can’t they see I need to get away!”

Instead, this is how Jesus saw them:

Matthew 14:14
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

Jesus had compassion on them because He still saw them as they were, instead of viewing them as hinderances to His own desires.  They were sheep without a shepherd.  They were listless and leaderless.  They were drawn to Jesus, even if they couldn’t fully explain why.  They just knew He had what they needed.  Jesus did get His time alone with the Father a little while later (Matthew 14:23), so He could properly grieve and process the loss of John.

Therein lies the challenge for us.  When life punches hard – and it will happen – are we going to see people through the lens of our suffering or through the lens of compassion?  When you’re ready to leave and your classmates or coworkers ask you to help them out again…or that little hand reaches under the bathroom door when you just wanted a minute to breathe…or you’re in a rush at the store and down the aisle comes an elderly lady with a lost and confused look on her face…how will we see them?

I hope we choose compassion.  We cannot go wrong when we see people through that lens.  Even when we’re low, we can still compassionately connect and even meet some needs.  When we do, I’m convinced God will grant us the time we need to rest and process.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Have you seen the stars?

My entire adult life has been spent living in cities.  Whether it was Colorado, West Virginia, or North Carolina, my time in college and places for work have always had me in either the city or the suburbs.  And honestly, I really do enjoy the amenities and events that only cities can bring. 

However, where I grew up in southern Nevada was much more rural.  Not nearly as many people, and everyone was spread out across the valley.  While I don’t necessarily miss the summers that blazed with temperatures reaching and exceeding 110 ℉, there are several scenes which are permanently burned into my memory.

The smell of the sagebrush after a good, hard rain – it’s tough to describe, but there is a warm spiciness to the air.  The smell doesn’t last long, as any appreciable rain tends to evaporate quickly under the desert sun.

I’ve seen sunsets in nearly every kind of setting – over the ocean, behind the mountains, and through the forest trees.  You may have a hard time believing this, but nothing – absolutely nothing – beats a desert sunset.  The blendings of reds, golds, and oranges against a dark blue, nearly black sky…is stunningly beautiful.  Desert sunsets are completely unlike anything else you will find on the planet.

However, after the sun goes down is when the desert reveals a beauty you can’t find in any city.  In fact, being in a city will prevent you from ever seeing this.  Away from the streetlights, the porch lights, and any other sort of artificial light, you can look up and see the true vastness of the heavens.  The stars shine so bright and full, you’re instantly amazed by the sheer volume of them.  The constellations are easily found, and when you observe the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy stretched across the pitch-black sky, you become mesmerized as you struggle to take it all in. 

When we step away from the veil of artificial, man-made light, we are confronted with the truth of how massive the universe actually is…which, in turn, reminds us of how small we are.  Is it no surprise then, that in Scripture, God often points us to look at the heavens to remind us of the difference between Him and us?

Isaiah 40:25-26
“To whom will you compare Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number, He calls all of them by name.
Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

In the Milky Way galaxy alone, scientists estimate there are between 200 and 400 billion stars.  We humans struggle to identify them all, resorting to naming systems which consist of nothing more than alphanumeric codes and designations. 

But God calls all of them by name.  Pause a moment and let that sink in – by name.  He knows exactly what they are and where they are – because He put them there! 

So tonight, step outside – Look up and see!  Even if you’re in a city and can only see a few stars, remember…if God knows them by name, then He certainly knows your name, too. 

And, best of all, He wants you to know Him.  The master Creator – who has no equal – wants you to know Him.

So tonight, when you step outside and look up, say hello and ask what’s on His mind.  Go ahead and share what’s on your mind.  Enjoy the lightshow of stars He created.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Dermatology appointments and discipline

As I have grown older, I have added to the number of medical appointments I must attend.  Long gone are the days of being asked “Who is your primary care physician?” and me smirking while answering, “I don’t have one.  Don’t really need one.”  Now, I do have a PCP, an Ortho Doc, and a Chiropractor that are all seen at least semi-regularly.  The most recent one I’ve added, though, is my dermatologist.  Nothing to be alarmed about, but I do see him annually.

At my last visit, I had a short list of things I wanted to ask him about.  A bump here or a discolored mark there…again, nothing painful or serious, but I thought I may as well ask.  And he dismissed every single one of my questioned spots.  “That’s normal”, he said, “When we get to be our parents’ ages, this kind of stuff happens.”

However, there were three spots I didn’t ask about that he did attend to – all on the left side of my face.  He froze a spot on my temple, another on my cheek, and a third spot at the top of the backside of my ear.  “Again, nothing to worry about”, he assured me, “all three are precancerous, but it’s best to get rid of them now before they become a problem.”

I wouldn’t have guessed any of those spots were even worth questioning…and two of them used to stare back at me in the mirror each morning!  I had no chance of seeing the one on the backside of my ear, though.  So, overall, I’m thankful for my dermatologist’s expertise and observation skills.  Even if that freezing spray stings a bit in the moment, and my skin ends up all red, tender, and semi-squishy as I healed over the next week.

Receiving discipline can be a little like that, can’t it?  We want to work on our 3-point shot, and coach has us doing dribble drills.  We want to go out with friends, but dad says it’s time to mow the lawn.  We expect our boss to put us on one project, and instead, we end up doing something completely different.  We go to the gym because we want stronger arms and legs, but our instructor has us spending a lot of time working on our core and back muscles.  What we expect as our next step isn’t always what we need to work on next.

I certainly believe that God works this way, too.  If I start hitting all the red lights and get stuck behind slow people in the grocery check-out line, my immediate thought is, “Funny, I don’t remember praying to have more patience.”  When I’m made aware of situations and organizations needing assistance that I am able to provide, but I wasn’t thinking about giving away my time or money…I suddenly have a choice to make.  When I get “that call” I’ve been dreading…how will I respond?  When I am confronted with the suffering of a broken world, and despair threatens to soak my brain and weigh down my heart…where will I turn?

Towards the end of his letter, the author of Hebrews had this advice:

Hebrews 12:7,9-12
Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline? ...Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them.  Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.  No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Sometimes, God is working on areas of our lives that we wouldn’t have chosen to work on next.  He’ll use circumstances to challenge and grow us…or grow our dependency on Him.  And it’s not fun in the moment.  However, we can’t be surprised when God’s path and plan are different than ours.  After all, He sees a bigger picture than we do.  His constant goal is that we grow so we can share His holiness – and this goal goes above and beyond our small, selfish desires for comfortable circumstances. 

God uses suffering as discipline, frequently working in the areas of our lives we think are ‘ok’ for the moment.  His work on us and with us right now through painful situations can be like treating my pre-cancerous spots.  While they’re not a huge issue at the moment, let’s just take care of them now while they are small, before they become a larger, more life-impacting problem later.

We just have to trust that God knows what He’s doing.  Even if it stings in the moment.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Fulfilling our need to be reconciled

I was sitting in church recently, when the pastor included a familiar passage in his message.  When this situation happens, it’s an easy trap for believers (especially if they have been taught from the Scriptures for a few years) to think, “Oh that passage.  Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.  I know what that means.”

And while it is 100% true that God’s meaning of His word does not change, the depth of our understanding and ways in which we apply the truth of God’s word most certainly can change.  Often these two arrive hand-in-hand – when we understand better, we can become better at applying.

That’s what happened as I sat there listening.  Our pastor was discussing what we share as believers by being a part of God’s family, and he took us to the familiar passage in Paul’s second letter to the believers in Corinth.  This is where Paul says that we share a mission to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world, specifically reaching out to others with the message of reconciliation:

2 Corinthians 5:18-20
Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.  That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us.  We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

Now, I’ve heard a number of sermons cite this passage, and they typically emphasize each believer doing their part in getting the good news about Jesus out into the world.  Those sermons focus on Paul’s use of the word ambassador and the ambassador’s job to represent God and His interests, purpose, and design for human life.

However…my mind went somewhere else.  I made a connection that I hadn’t thought of before…one that left me both stunned and (honestly) a little agitated.  It wasn’t about the job of an ambassador; I understand that part.  Instead, it was realizing exactly how God expects us to do the job of an ambassador. 

Let me take you through my thought process:

C.S. Lewis famously said in Mere Christianity that “Every Christian is to become a little Christ.  The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”  God’s plan for our lives is to make us more and more like Jesus, such that when the world encounters us, they have the opportunity to see Jesus.  And if, according to Paul, Jesus reconciled the world to God the Father THROUGH HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS…and I, as a Christ-follower, am to become more like Jesus…who has given the message of reconciliation to us…

THEN…for me to be an ambassador that clearly and correctly represents God…I have to be willing to die, just like Jesus was…and whatever God asks me to let die, for the sake of others being reconciled to Him, I need to give up – just like Jesus did.

As this conclusion dawned on me, sitting in church…my immediate, raw, and unfiltered thought was “Oh, come on!  Really?” 

I mean, I get that we need to be “good ambassadors”, play nice, and be good neighbors in the world…but that’s not what we’re called to do, is it?  No, after becoming the new creation through Jesus’ free gift of eternal life (John 3:16), He then calls us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24-25).  The cross is an instrument of death.  We’re not supposed to just carry the cross, we’re meant to use it.

So, ever since this realization, the question I’ve been pondering is “What in me has to die so others can be reconciled to God?”  I’ve grappled with a few ideas…several of them are hard to let go of.

That’s a tough question, isn’t it?  What about you?  What in you has to die so others can be reconciled to God?  What has to die so you can become more like Christ?  Here are a few options:

Our need for validation from others.
Our self-centeredness.
Our shame.
Our suspicions of people not like us.
Our desire to appear like we have it all together.
Only seeing people as tasks or obstacles.

I’m sure you could add something of your own, too.  I suggest picking one and taking it to God.  Tell Him you want to be a better ambassador, and that you’re willing to give up what He asks of you so that others will be able to hear the good news – Jesus sets us free and gives us eternal life, all we have to do is believe in Him for it.

The question still stings a bit, but we can trust that God’s answer is for our good and His glory:

What in me has to die so others can be reconciled to God?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The ultimate prayer rhythm

Daniel lived a pretty crazy life.  When he was a teenager, King Nebuchadnezzar sacked the nation of Judah, and Daniel was abducted from his home by the conquering Babylonians.  After being marched east across the Asian continent for months, he and the other captives arrived in the nation’s capital, Babylon.  Then he and his friends were subjected to a 3-year re-education program for the best and brightest young men taken from foreign countries. 

He and his friends made waves in the Babylonian culture and government many times – and each event was caused by them sticking to their trust in the God of Israel instead of following the gods of Babylon or the various edicts of the Babylonian government.  Their first test came during the re-education program, when they opted out of the prohibited diet provided from the royal food and drink.  Daniel interpreted dreams that no one in the king’s realm would even attempt to decipher.  Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (aka Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) defied the king’s orders to worship a golden statue representing the greatness of Babylon.  For their disobedience, they were thrown into a fiery furnace.  After they were rescued by God, you’d think King Nebuchadnezzar would understand that he wasn’t the center of the universe, but no…he had another lesson to learn.  Daniel saw the king go insane, act like a wild animal, and then, some time later, regain his senses after acknowledging God for who He is.

Daniel had a front row seat for all these events as well as many others.  In total, Daniel lived and served under six different rulers!  But what of the most famous story of Daniel’s life…when he was tossed into a lions’ den?  That event happened after the Persian empire defeated the Babylonians.  Through a crazy set of circumstances you can read about in Daniel 5, Daniel had just been pulled out of retirement when the Persians took over.  When King Darius set up the new order in the captured Babylon, he appointed Daniel to be one of his administrators.  But get this…Daniel is 80 years old at this point!

To make it even more interesting, at 80 years old, he’s still running circles around everyone else:

Daniel 6:3-5
Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm.  The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom.  But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him. 

Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”

And that’s exactly what they did…they went to King Darius and convinced him that no one should petition or pray to anyone except the king, lest they be thrown into the lions’ den.  There were a lot of political undertones to their proposal, but we can’t get into them here and now…the end result was that Darius signed their proposal into law.

What I want to ask is…what would your response be?

If everything you have earned and built in your 20, 30, 40, or even 80 years was suddenly in jeopardy if you get caught simply whispering a prayer, what would you do?

Would you stop praying altogether?
Would you pray only when you’re certain no one is looking?
If someone asked you pointedly, “Did you pray today?”, would you lie?

Those are tough questions.

So, what did Daniel do?

Daniel 6:10
When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house.  The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

The most incredible phrase in that verse is likely the one you didn’t notice.  I can say that because I didn’t notice it either, until recently – and I’ve heard the story of “Daniel and the lions’ den” countless times since childhood.  It’s the last phrase that is the most striking: just as he had done before. 

Daniel wasn’t praying out of defiance to the king’s order.  He wasn’t praying in a panic, looking for God’s guidance because his circumstances were suddenly more than he thought he could handle on his own.  Daniel’s prayer time – his conversations with God – were a normal part of his daily life. 

Daniel’s three-times-daily appointment was so important that he was willing to risk everything just to keep meeting with God in prayer.

I marvel at that.  I want to be like that…but I haven’t always been that way.  “Just as Ken had done before” wouldn’t be an accurate description of my daily time talking with God.

But it can be for me…and for you…if we start today.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Imagining Jesus

Imagining Jesus
Originally posted on August 07, 2015

When you think of Jesus, what comes to mind?

Shoulder-length brown hair with a neatly trimmed beard?
Does he have a “I just want to be your buddy” attitude?
Always ready to have people gather around for talk?
Not very authoritative, rather subdued?
Just “ok” with whatever we want to do?

The assumptions we make about Jesus will not only affect how we approach and communicate with Him, but our perception of who Jesus really is will be demonstrated in the way we live.

In the beginning of his letter, Paul reminded the Colossians who Jesus is – in relation to the Father, in relation to creation, and in relation to the church.  These verses contain seven specific truths about Jesus – can you see them?

Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation;
because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities –
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have first place in everything.

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself
by making peace through the blood of His cross –
whether things on earth or things in heaven.

He is the image of the invisible God – No one can see the Father, except through Jesus.  He is our tangible connection to God.

He is the firstborn over all creation – The firstborn had the responsibility to govern, maintain, and prosper the family and family’s property.  Jesus fulfills that role for all creation.

He is the Creator – This is why Jesus can claim the rights of the firstborn over all creation, because He was the one who invented all of it.  He is the architect and builder.  Nothing visible to our eyes, and nothing invisible to our eyes came about unless Jesus set it up. 

He is the head of the church – Jesus established His church as the family for all who would trust in Him for forgiveness of sin and for eternal life.  Jesus loves the church body as a groom loves his bride, and Jesus willing leads His people.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead – Jesus was the first to come back from the dead with a glorified body.  He truly is the beginning of the newness we will obtain in Him.

He has the fullness of God dwelling in Him – Jesus is not part man/part God.  Instead He is fully God and fully man, which makes Him the perfect mediator between God and mankind.

He is the reconciler – Jesus’ mission was to reconcile us rebellious sinners and the fallen creation back to Himself.  Through His death on the cross, He brought us the ability to have peace with God.  It’s important to remember that our reconciliation happened both on His own initiative and on our behalf.  We could never have been reconciled without the cross.

Is this how we view Jesus?  Is this how we see our King?

Don’t just laze around in the comfortable Jesus-stereotypes.  Remember who He is…and then be overwhelmed at the truth that he knows us fully and still desires an eternal relationship with each one of us.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Was Jesus short?

Was Jesus short?
Originally posted on August 05, 2021

When our boys were young and prone to get in to trouble, I would sometimes tell them that the average height of a Jewish man in Jesus’ day was 5’1”.  If that warning didn’t click with them right away, I would then remind them that their mother is also 5’1”…Which means, boys, that your mom sees eye-to-eye with God – so don’t mess with her!

Most estimates have first-century Jewish men ranging in height anywhere from 5’0” to 5’5”.  The Bible doesn’t say anything about how tall Jesus stood.  It’s not like the Bible totally ignores physical descriptions of people – whenever there is a unique feature about a person, it’s acknowledged: Esau was red and hairy (Genesis 25:25), Saul was head-and-shoulders taller than everyone (1 Samuel 9:2), and David was “ruddy” and handsome (1 Samuel 16:12).  While the gospels may tell us about what Jesus taught and how He lived, they give us no clue as to how we would pick Jesus out of a crowd.

The only approximate description of Jesus comes from the prophet Isaiah, when he gave a rather unheroic description of Jesus’ appearance:

Isaiah 53:2-3
He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for us to come to Jesus because He “looks the part” of what we want in a savior.

Instead of what Isaiah detailed, our modern-day pictures of Jesus align more with today’s standards.  Have you ever noticed how our portrayals of Jesus have him about 6’1”, a solid 210 pounds, and the tallest person in the picture?  In all media – paintings, movies, color book pictures, Bible covers – He always has long hair and often looks Swedish.  When in reality, Jesus was probably around 5’1”, had short dark hair, a middle-eastern complexion (likely much darker than us Westerners assume), a round face, and average-at-best looks.

But why even bring this up, right?  Does how we visualize what Jesus looked like make any real difference?  Honestly…yeah, it could…because it’s the start of a very slippery slope.  You see, whenever we imagine Jesus having physical traits more “like us” instead of what’s true, it is a very short trip to begin taking other aspects of God and making them in our image.  When Jesus is “like us”, we immediately assume that all those not-like-us or not-liked-by-us are the ones who aren’t acceptable to God.

I love Todd Agnew’s song My Jesus, as it challenges many of our assumptions.  Here is a portion of the lyrics:

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins.
But the Word says He was battered and scarred or did you miss that part?
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him.

'Cause my Jesus bled and died.
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these.
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable.
So which one do you want to be?

'Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church.
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet.
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud,
And I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd.

How we imagine Jesus strongly influences how we expect to partner with Him in the here-and-now.  Let’s make sure that our portrayals of our hero, high priest, and king accurately reflect who He is – and not some picture of the American dream.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Is Jesus boring?

Is Jesus boring?
Originally posted on April 19, 2018

One of the keys to good parenting that I’ve discovered over the years is to be so predictable that I’m boring…at least when it comes to discipline and behavioral expectations – first for myself, and then for my children.  While it may have looked ‘boring’ at a surface level or even felt ‘boring’ to me, the consistency of my character provided the foundation for relationship with my children.

Especially through their younger years, our relationship always seemed to go smoother when I was most consistent.  It’s as if they took a measure of comfort in knowing not just the boundaries, but who their dad is as a person.  When I was out of sorts, they could sense it, and they became unsteady.  Looking back, the season when I was traveling extensively for work certainly took a toll on our family dynamic.  Dad wasn’t consistently there, and it showed.

However, the flip side also rang true.  The times when I was consistently tuned in to both who I am with God and what my purpose is for my children – those seasons have resulted in some of our best family memories.  (Notice I didn’t say easiest, I said best…and there is often a difference)

My consistency came directly from my connection to God.  He is our ultimate example for the parent-child relationship, such that His consistency of character (from the surface level) may even appear ‘boring’.  But when we lean into His consistency of character, we find the things we cannot achieve anywhere else in life – identity, perspective, foundation, and purpose.

But it’s hard to rely on God for those things.  We struggle with the idea that we must earn everything, including relationships.  We don’t want to admit dependency or, quite frankly, our inner-most need for it.  And this is where the recipients of the letter we call Hebrews were in danger of slipping.  The author had already shown them Jesus’ fulfillment of Mosaic law and superiority over its decrees, but there would be the temptation for them to go back to trying to build a relationship with God based upon what actions they choose.

The author addressed this concern both as a warning and an encouragement:

Hebrews 13:8-9
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited.

The author says his readers cannot establish their relationship with God due to the ceremonial foods they would eat, or rituals they follow.  The people’s activities were shadows that pointed to Jesus and the relationship with God only He could provide. 

Jesus hasn’t changed.  Jesus doesn’t change.  Who He was in the Old Testament, who He is in the New Testament, and who He will be in eternity future is the same Great God who loves us unconditionally, entirely based upon grace.

If you come across any teaching that even suggests otherwise, don’t be led astray.  Reject such foolishness.  We cannot earn God’s love, by cash now or on credit later.  We cannot do enough good things today to earn the start of a relationship with Jesus.  We cannot do enough good deeds later to justify His investment of eternal life in us.  No matter what we’ve done, are doing, or will do – our standing with God is entirely established by grace.

We will not find His consistency boring; rather His consistent character will show us our true identity, proper perspective, a solid foundation, a life’s purpose, and a heart established by grace.  Most of all, His consistent character shows us…Him.

Don’t be led astray.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Believe me, I swear!

Growing up, it seemed like any time another kid wanted to be believed, he would say something like, “I swear on my mother’s life” or “I swear to God”.  It was because he wanted to be seen as telling the truth, no matter how outlandish his claim was.  Even still now, among adults, I hear similar phrases like, “That’s the God’s-honest truth” or “May God strike me down if I’m lying” or simply “On God”. 

These qualifiers have always seemed to me as, well, a little weird to say.  And apparently, so did Jesus’ half-brother James:

James 5:12
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.  But let your “yes” mean “yes”, and your “no” mean “no”, so that you won’t fall under judgment.

Another translation for so that you won’t fall under judgment would be so that you won’t fall into hypocrisy.  Ouch.  No one wants the stigma of being viewed as a hypocrite.  This thought isn’t unique to James, either.  Because his big-brother Jesus covered this same topic in His Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:33-37
Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, “You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord”.  But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.  Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.  But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’.  Anything more than this is from the evil one.

How bad of a look is it if we’re “swearing” by heaven or by earth…and we are actually wrong on whatever it is we’re trying to convince others about?  We have no control over the heavens, the earth, or what color our hair naturally grows out as.  So what does all this “swearing” mean?  A whole lotta nothing, honestly.  But wow, phrases like this are commonly said in today’s culture.  It’s as if we’re so used to people not following through that we need an extra layer of promise to get people to believe us.

It might not seem like a big deal to simply let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’, but the difference is that it will stand out in comparison to what people have typically experienced.  If that statement sounds far-fetched, I would have likely agreed with you, if it weren’t for a recent experience at work.

I was given a small task of updating a few accounts, so I contacted each of the account owners via email on a Friday, telling them that their account credentials would change on the following Wednesday afternoon.  Then, on that next Wednesday afternoon, I communicated their updates.  I thought nothing of the task until I received an email back from one of the account owners with the following statement:

Thank you for making this process so smooth!

I was pretty surprised at getting a “thank you”, but also really surprised at being told that I made the whole thing “so smooth!”  All I did was follow through with what I said I would do – and that apparently stood out to this particular person, enough for him to feel the need to express his gratitude to me.

It was still just a small thing…or was it?  If we are to be Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), then it is appropriate for us to be reliable ambassadors.  If we’re not following through on the “small things” or we have to “swear” or “On God” what we say…how will they believe us when the opportunity comes to talk about the most important thing they could ever know?

And it’s really just as simple as James and Jesus made it out to be – let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’.

Keep Pressing,
Ken