The Phil Files

As I was reading from Colossians, recently, I ran across two words that jumped off the page and into my heart. I was actually using our Search God’s Word online Greek/English Bible and the Greek words used convicted me. The three words are areskia — “pleasing” (Colossians 1:10 NRS), eudokeow — “good pleasure” (Colossians 1:19 NRS) and hikanoow — “to qualify someone” (Colossians 1:12 NAS).

I remember old souls praying in times of worship many years ago asking that God would find our “worship pleasing in His sight.” Now, however, I hear so much more about whether or not worship pleases the worshipers — “I’m not sure I got a lot out of that?”

This latter point of view assumes that we are quaified — qualified not only to worship, but also to render an opinion on the “pleasing” worth of the experience. It’s almost like we’ve shared the fruit that Eve and Adam ate in the garden rather than body and blood of the Lord’s Supper. Instead of remembering the grace given us by Jesus at such a high cost, we assume we have the knowledge that makes us little gods that know all and that need to be pleased. If we aren’t pleased, in our opinion, worship isn’t a blessing … to us, to others, or to God. Rather than recognizing the amazing grace of being invited into the presence of God, we assume that we deserve to be in this moment of Holy Presence.

For me, it is incredibly convicting and sad that the first thoughts of many — oftentimes my first thoughts as well — are not, “How blessed I am to be with these people, in this moment, accepted and loved by our incredible God!” Instead, we often resort to the thinly veiled criticism, “I’m not sure I got very much out of that today.”

What difference would it make for us to approach our worship times as an awesome gift, an invitation into the presence of God, with people redeemed by the blood of Christ?

How do we more deeply appreciate being “qualified” to be a part of God’s family and being found as “pleasing” to God?

On the opposite extreme, how do we hear God’s words of acceptance and grace and not the doubts and self-criticism that the evil one would love to have us hear?

Several days ago, I sat with a friend who was sick from a powerful chemo cocktail. This was the second round of this person’s battle with cancer. Though a person of strong faith, that faith was a battle every day because of the the physical illness, weakness, and emotional roller coaster caused by the combo of powerful drugs.

Several days after our visit and frank, but tender conversation, I found the image below. I was drawn to it for many reasons. One reasons was because we battled for years to find images of faith that pictured people of color — I have often used this as an example of “institutional racism” that us white folks often don’t notice. This image, however, is a powerful statement of faith, and it caught my eye immediately. A second reason I love the image, is the lighting — if you have ever been in a battle of life and death and experienced the grace of God’s light invading your darkness, you know what I mean. Finally, my meanderings around in the Psalms led me to this powerful verse (Psalm 49:15), which seemed to articulate for me, the prayer and faith hidden in the image:

But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.

Here is a small version of the image. It doesn’t really do it justice, so I’ve included links to the full sized images that are prepared for Heartlight.org and the free Scripture graphics there.

You can find three versions of this image, Text (pictured above), Title (my personal favorite of the three), and Plain (only the image on a black background, but still very powerful).

You might, at first, think of this as a verse of resignation — giving up and saying, “OK, God, I know I’m going to die, but I trust you will bring me to yourself.” And granted, it can mean this and should offer us comfort. God will not abandon us to the grave. He will bring us to himself. Faith in the face of such things is a powerful and comforting blessing.

But I also think of Hezekiah, who found out he was going to die and then prayed with Isaiah, and God redeemed his life and granted him fifteen more years of life (2 Kings 20:1-6). I am also reminded of my friend, Saundra, whose liver tumors vanished “without explanation” between the time other malignant material was removed from her and her trip to MD Anderson in Houston to one of the few surgeons who could do the surgery she needed at the time. She is still alive today nearly two decades later.

Yes, we are all going to eventually die. But my whole being believes that God does redeem our lives from the power of the grave. He does this sometimes by rescuing us from immediate death and brings us to himself, bringing healing and granting us more years on this earth. He also does this sometimes by rescuing us through death and bringing us to himself to await the glorious day of Jesus’ return. Paul says it well, and I will end today on this note:

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christi and to die is gain (Philippians 1:18b-21 tniv).

Today, we’re also joining Randy Elrod with Watercooler Wednesday — How to Recycle a Church?

The LORD is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
  The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

  When the wicked advance against me
    to devour 1 me,
  it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
  Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
  though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

  One thing I ask from the LORD,
    this only do I seek:
  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
    all the days of my life,
  to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
    and to seek him in his temple.
  For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
  he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
    and set me high upon a rock.

  Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
  at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the LORD.

  Hear my voice when I call, LORD;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
  My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
  Your face, LORD, I will seek.
  Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
  Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
  Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the LORD will receive me.
  Teach me your way, LORD;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
  Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

  I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the LORD
    in the land of the living.
  Wait for the LORD;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the LORD.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 27: I will see the goodness of the LORD! — \o/

The LORD is my light, my salvation, and the stronghold of my life. I believe that. I build my life upon that assurance. I trust this is true.

Even in times of distress, I want to be able to say with integrity and confidence, just like the psamist here, I will see the goodness of the LORD in the Land of the living. I believe the Father not only has a place prepared for me with Him eternally, I also believe that the LORD is working in my life to bless me now. Sometimes, however, I miss seeing those blessings because I am impatient or want them to come to me in different ways.

Yet for me to fully appreciate God’s blessings, I must be willing to wait on the LORD’s timing and grace. I need to be strong and take heart. I can do this, because just like the apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12 TNIV).

So the challenge for me today is to wait … to trust … and to be faithful, all while anticipating the LORD’s blessings in my life. I will wait on the LORD!

Vindicate me, LORD,
    for I have led a blameless life;
  I have trusted in the LORD
    and have not faltered.
  Test me, LORD, and try me,
    examine my heart and my mind;
  for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
  and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

  I do not sit with the deceitful,
    nor do I associate with hypocrites.
  I abhor the assembly of evildoers
    and refuse to sit with the wicked.
  I wash my hands in innocence,
    and go about your altar, LORD,
  proclaiming aloud your praise
  and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

  LORD, I love the house where you live,
    the place where your glory dwells.
  Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
    my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
  in whose hands are wicked schemes,
  whose right hands are full of bribes.
  I lead a blameless life;
    redeem me and be merciful to me.

  My feet stand on level ground;
    in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 26: My feet stand on level ground! — \o/

OK, I admit I would like to be able to recite the words to this Psalm as my own. BUT, to put it in cornbread English, I just aint that good. I love the LORD and want to serve Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, I fall so short. I could never make these boasts before the LORD. The only righteousness I can claim has been given me by Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).So what I take from this Psalm — very much a claim to live the life advocated in Psalm 1 — is a desire to be more what the Father wants me to be and do what the last line of the Psalm says, “In the great congregation I will praise the LORD” for God has been so gracious and loving and merciful to me.

After going to a school night with Donna — something I actually enjoyed quite a bit more than I anticipated — I was blessed to have a long-time friend come into town. He drove over from Dallas where he had spent the week on business. My friend, Danny, used to live a few minutes up the road from when I lived in Pflugerville — say that three times in a row without spraying someone nearby. He now lives closer to our kids in Kentucky.

Danny and I met at Tuscany’s, a local coffee place, where we visited for about three hours. We laughed and joked. I shared with him about my trip to Uganda with Compassion and showed him pictures and the video of my visit to Doreen. Then we talked about serious stuff.

One great blessing with some friends, and it is this way with Danny and me, you can just pick up and start where you are in your life right now and the years melt away — the love, the respect, the friendship is still there, the easy-ness in conversation comes back and it’s as if you hadn’t been apart. Tonight was a great grace.

As we visited, we both noticed that most of the folks in the place were younger than most of our kids. Some of them looked at us kinda strange, like, “What are you two old geezers doing in here at this time of night?” But we didn’t worry about it, we had become friends in Austin where the famed “Keep Austin Weird” t-shirts reigned supreme. We felt right at home with the local version of the t-shirt, “Keep Abilene Boring.”

While much of Abilene may have felt bored on a fairly innocuous Friday night, Danny and I both felt blessed. Friendship is a taste of heaven, a time and a place where all of our relationships are perfected and we are in the presence of the Lord. For a moment, I got to re-visit what that expectation means in real time. As much as I like the diet Tuscan Sunset, a lemonade, tea, and raspberry drink, the taste of heaven was better.

Stubbornness is not often counted as a positive character trait. I know most of the things over which I display my stubbornness are usually not worth the hassle it causes other people and myself. But there is a kind of stubbornness that is a holy trait. We’ll call it “God stubbornness.” (BTW, today’s insights come from yesterday’s daily Bible reading, Acts 5, I’m a little late on this because I traveled out of town for a funeral yesterday.)

Being God-stubborn means being stubborn for the same things God is — loving the world, faithfulness, loving-kindness, merciful, not wanting people to perish, and willing to do anything to communicate His care. It took awhile, but the apostles of Jesus began to demonstrate some God stubbornness in their lives. Acts 5 gives us a glimpse at one of these times:

//Inspiration: Acts 5:29Peter and the other apostles replied [when threatened with persecution and possible death], “We must obey God rather than human beings.”

//Incarnation: Do I love the things God loves? Am I willing to stand up for what God wants and where is His heart is? Am I willing to do it even in the face of threats? Are bringing people closer to God and sharing the message of Jesus the most important things in my life?For me to ever experience the power of God in the ways the early believers did, I’ve got to be able to live what these once fearful followers of Jesus do in the book of Acts: share God’s love with boldness, conviction, passion, love, and God-stubbornness.

//Invitation:O Holy Father, you are the Almighty, and I am your servant. Make me courageous and compassionate so that I can share Your grace with others with the same grit and determination, a real G0d-stubbornness, that Jesus demonstrated and the apostles followed. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.