Who Do You Adore?

ἁγιάζω : I sanctify: I revere, adore in such a way that dispels all fear of man.

So, I’m blogging away about idolatry, rejection while preparing a talk on I Peter 3:15 – “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart always being ready to make a defense for the hope that is in you.” Or, as I’ve learned from my study of the Greek: “Revere and adore Christ in such a way that dispels all fear of man.” In the context of the chapters and verses leading up to this it’s clear that the process of setting Christ apart as Lord has a lot to do with relating to people. Not always, but quite often. Hmm, what a coincidence.

I think it’s safe to say that sometimes, due to sin in relationships we rebel against Christ’s lordship. We refuse to call Him Lord. We suffer for the sake of doing wrong rather than the sake of doing the right thing for Him. We are convinced that if we relinquish control then He’ll ask even more from us. We dig our claws in even deeper and hang on to our low-budget version of the “good life” – we don’t want to let go of the reins.

Sometimes we’re reluctant to submit to Him. We don’t feel loveable, we believe the lie that slinks around in the shaded corners of our hearts and accuses us of being worthless. We are quite certain that every pair of eyeballs does the once-over and decides, “She’s a loser.” Why do we believe the lie? He calls us to something so much more.

Sometimes we’re resistant. It’s easier to throw a pity party than celebrate the beauty of perfect grace and love. We settle for a poorly painted facade of happiness; we risk nothing and protect ourselves from a deeper satisfaction. We’d rather stay mad. “I deserve to be treated thus and so.”

The cadence of I Peter beats with God’s grace, forgiveness, resurrection, sacrifice.

HIS for us.

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense, to give an account, for the hope that is in you.” The hope Peter describes, repeatedly, as living, and forever and is elsewhere characterized as never disappointing,  a sure and steadfast hope in the now and the not yet, anchored in Jesus Christ.

Are you rebelling, reluctant, resistant…?

Sanctify – revere, adore in such a way that dispels all fear of man – Christ as Lord.

On Rejection

It occurred to me that often the reach for approval is often motivated by the fear of rejection. We keep the Idol of Approval perfectly placed, front and center, to remind us to work hard to avoid the “brush off.” Very few of us enjoy being on the outside of the crowd, the last one chosen for the team, some guy’s second choice, or the after-thought for a party invite.

In recent days I’ve had to wrestle with rejection. I’ve felt confused, hurt, angry, sad, small, and like an outsider. I’ve wracked my brains, “What did I do?” I feel stupid for not “reading between the lines” all along.

I’ve been praying for wisdom while in my dark heart I flip-flop between extending grace and feeding the root of bitterness. My flesh wants to abandon ship, walk away and never turn back.

But, the Spirit urges me to a deeper place. “Sanctify – set apart – Christ as Lord in your heart” (I Peter 3:15). “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit, unwavering and without hypocrisy or fraud” (James 3:17-18). “Be devoted to one another in love” (Romans 12:10).

The Lord calls us to a life far different than the world around us. The life of the believer is one that is transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit and is able to persevere, to love, to extend grace in the face of rejection.

Experience tells me we will come to intersections like this throughout our lives. We will face situations where we must acknowledge the idol and the temptation to bow down, to give in, to serve our flesh. When we do we must remember: When we are weak He is strong.

“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou has brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by the mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox, that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that the bear the cross is to ear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the depper the wells the brighter thy stars shine; let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my povery, thy glory in my valley” (Taken from: Valley of Vision-A collection of Puritan prayers)

 

 

Of Mouse & Monaco

Last night while reading about general revelation I sensed movement in my periphery. “Surely not,” said I to myself. But, I glanced, only to see the perfect silhouette of a medium-sized, smokey grey, long-tailed, mickey ear’d mouse against my ivory covered footstool. The irony.

I froze. The mouse darted under the stool, and then I hollered (I refrained from screaming), “BAHHHHB?! Can you come here for a minute? I saw a mouse!” He came quickly and stood in the doorway, safely and at a great distance from the sighting, and asked me if I was sure it was a mouse.

With my knees tucked under my chin, my eyes darting to and fro, my skin crawling, I answered, “Yes I am sure” (my eyes just rolled).

You see, we live in a new, third floor condo. Our first floor neighbors have had some mouse troubles lately, so we weren’t completely surprised…but still. I started thinking the worst, “Where there’s one mouse there’s 20 more.” I envisioned families of mice crawling between the walls in search of a warm, snuggly place to nest. I did take solace in the fact that there’s almost no food in the house.

Anyway, Bob sought our neighbor’s advice and borrowed all their devices – traps that simply trap the rat…I mean mouse, a plug-in thingamagig that makes noise only a mouse can hear, and hates.

After we gingerly overturned the stool, inspected under every piece of furniture, and used our CSI flashlight to inspect the most obscure corners, shook out our shoes, we slathered the traps with peanut butter, positioned them strategically, and went to bed.

At about 1:30am the trap clicked and our victim was caged. Creepy.

This morning brave Bob took it with him on his way to Walmart (where he bought steel wool to fill any holes and poison for future intruders). Our little pest was released into a whole new field. Lucky duck.

Bob returned home and sealed a nice sized hole behind the stove, and we hope that’s the end of it.

So, I got up at 5:00am because I didn’t sleep much after the little bugger was captured. Bob never went back to sleep. Then, I got to school late, forgot my glasses, took a Greek quiz and could barely see. Last evening and today was completely thrown off-kilter — all because of a tiny weeny little mouse.

But, we are getting to know our neighbors!

I found this little saying that doesn’t give me a whole lot of comfort, but it did make me laugh: “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”

Topple the Idol of Approval

For weeks I’ve been unable to shake a comment I heard on talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, “on loan from God (so he says)” with some sense of sincerity said that he wished he could give all of his friends the gift of “not caring about what others think.” He, of course, doesn’t struggle with approval (or so he says) BUT, what struck me squarely between the eyes is the fact that I’ve been given the gift of God’s approval, through Jesus Christ, who is the one and only source of God’s approval. In the grand scheme of life and death and eternity, His approval is the only thing that matters.

Nearly every day I fight the Idol of Approval. Did I do well enough in class to gain the respect of my professor? Am I doing as well as the kid sitting next to me? Will Bob be frustrated with me if I don’t perform in school? Do the women in my small group think highly of me? Do I dress trendy enough, is my hair styled the right way? If I park in the spot closest to the door will my neighbor dislike me? Does the other neighbor think I’m weird?

I may not have an idol carved from wood placed carefully on a shelf to remind me to worship approval. I wouldn’t be so obvious, instead I kick it around. I try to hide it, but it’s there tempting me and my thoughts – especially my thoughts. It comes easily for me, and I hate it.

Why do we care what other people think? Why isn’t enough to know that God Himself loves us? Well, we have to face it, we are at our very core narcissistic, shrink-wrapped in self, the kings and queens of our domain. It’s the natural way we lean, it’s proof positive that we are sinful.

I hate to admit it, but I’m convinced the Lord used Rush Limbaugh (of all people) to rattle my self-centered cage. As a child of God I have every reason to rid myself of the idol of approval. Rush Limbaugh can’t ever give anyone that gift, but Jesus can and did because he deserves 100% of my worship.

So, I confessed my sin, again. Then, I’ve begun to simply replace the lies with the truth. I’ve been taking my thoughts captive instead of letting them dominate. So, when I start clenching my teeth, obsessing about something I said or did, replaying conversations in my head – I start reciting Scripture. Trading the lie for the truth…the truth about me in Christ, but more importantly, the truth about Him and who He is. Can I say – it has made a huge difference. Scripture sets my mind on Him, which brings relief and freedom.

He alone is worthy of all worship, and glory, and honor, and praise.

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together. (Colossians 1:15-17 NLT)

He toppled the idol at the cross.