"You Can't Handle the Truth"

Lately I've been revisiting some old movies with my youngest son.  He's seeing these movies for the first time, and I'm enjoying "watching him watch" the movies.

We recently saw A Few Good Men, about a Navy lawyer who questions a Marine Colonel during a court martial.  Since then, at least once a day, my son sort of sneers at me and then repeats that famous line:

"You can't handle the truth!"

I started going to a baptist church when I was eight.  I learned that there was a God who created the world, that He gave us rules to follow, that Jesus died and rose again, and that the Bible is full of history, miracles, and teachings.  

And then I went to college.  From my Christian classmates, I heard about: evangelism, purgatory, speaking in tongues, healings, and so on. 

All during my college years and for years afterwards, I frequented Christian bookstores looking for the truth and trying to find out what this Bible really said and what the Christian faith should mean to me.

A lot of the books I read, even those that purported to be Bible study books, were actually "How to" books:  how to raise children, how to manage time and money, how to pray, how to get the Holy Spirit.

I also listened to Christian radio, and I regularly read my Bible.  Like Tom Cruise's character in A Few Good Men - I just wanted the truth!  

Now, when I think about all those teachers and writers, I'm sure that their intent was and is to help people.  But I wonder, "Do they know the truth?"  Or maybe it's that they think their readers "can't handle the truth."

The truth of the Christian faith is, I sin, and I'm dead in my sins.  We all are.  Because of our sin, we're like zombies, the walking dead.

And it's hard to hear and it's hard to handle that truth.  I want to think of myself as good, as honorable and hard-working.  But I know that I'm just like Paul.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Romans 7:15 

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Romans 7:24

This truth that's often lost, even in Christian circles - it comes in two parts.  God's law convicts me of my sin, tells me how bad I am.  When I hear that part, of how bad my sin is, my tendency is to make excuses and to justify myself.  

But when the gospel of Jesus, that He paid the price, died for my sins on the cross, and freely gives me forgiveness - when that Truth is given to me, right on the heels of God's convicting law, it's then that I know the Truth.  That Truth comforts and assures me.  It gives me hope.  It's a Truth I can handle.

Martin Luther is known for saying that he preached the gospel to himself every day, because he was prone to forget it.  And the more I hear the gospel, the Truth every day, the more evident and precious it becomes to me. 

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  1 Timothy 1:15b

What's Your Agenda?

I enjoy watching Star Trek shows, but not to see the science fiction and special effects.  I like that Star Trek's writers take our human condition, our everyday issues and cultural problems, and highlight them in a distinct way, in a different environment, and in a way that makes me think.

Lately I've been re-watching episodes of Star Trek - Deep Space Nine.  Deep Space Nine is unique in that it portrays an alien culture's religion as an integral part of the story line.  

And I'm also intrigued with some episodes where characters talk about agendas.  It goes something like this:

Your agenda will color how you perceive a situation and how you respond.  Everyone has an agenda.  So what's your agenda?

I keep thinking, "Everyone has an agenda, so what's my agenda?"  

I guess I have a two-fold approach.  I want to look back on my life and have no regrets.  And I want other people to have a good experience with whatever I'm involved in, whether it's at work or serving a meal or just having a conversation.  It's probably part of my military training in preparing for the unexpected. 

And to me, that all sounds good and honorable.  But when dealing with the human condition, with my condition and my sin, I know that my selfishness abounds.  Insecurity abounds.  Wrong perspectives abound. 

I know that part of my approach is based on self-protection, as in I don't want to be the cause of problems.  I don't want to worry about hurting other people.  But living in this sinful world, I can't escape problems and bad feelings.  And I hurt people.  So much for my agenda!

But Jesus had a different agenda, to glorify His Father.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.  John 17:4

While on this earth, Jesus taught and preached, and spoke truth about God.  He loved people, He healed them and fed them, and He even raised some from the dead.  

But His agenda was clear; He came to do the work of His Father, to save people from their sins, to give them peace with God.

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem.  Luke 9:51

Jesus set His face to Jerusalem, where He would die the death of a prophet, die as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

In fulfilling His work, His agenda, Jesus frees me from my own selfish ways.  He frees me to know His love and forgiveness and to love other people.   

And it's not easy, but His help and His Word are always available to strengthen me and to bring me back.  

My prayer is that, in the midst of this world, the troubles I face, and my own sins...my prayer is to remember Jesus's words to His disciples and to make that my way of looking at the world.  Jesus's looked at the world and tells us to...

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.  John 4:35

On the Death of a Friend

This week, my classmate and friend Danny passed from this life and this death into eternal life.  I met Danny 40 years ago in July 1980, when we both entered the United States Naval Academy as members of 2nd Company.  

When I picture Danny, two visions come to mind.  First, I see him in uniform, seriously relating an issue, an Academy event, or some 2nd Company happening.  But I also picture him sitting and talking, with that comforting and familiar grin on his face.  

Last fall, Danny and I reconnected at our class reunion.  We talked about our lives, our family, and our faith.  Afterwards, we exchanged several e-mails as he updated me on his struggles with leukemia.  The last line of a message he wrote in April, before he was hospitalized, was:

Please keep the prayers coming, thanks for thinking of me, and stay healthy – I think your walk is a fantastic idea.

Our Second Company journey began in 1980 with 35 of us; and, in 1984, 25 of us graduated.  We lived together, seeing each other all the time - having 3 daily formations, eating meals together, having classes, parades, sports, and just too much to remember.  We were and are family.

And as I think of Danny and my reunion, I have regrets.  College life is a challenge with many facets.  And life at the Naval Academy, it's crazy - totally new, tiring, always too much to think about and do, and to keep up with.  I became good at two things - time management and sleeping whenever possible.  

After graduation, when I was a 2nd Lieutenant and a Battalion Supply Officer, one day I looked at my Marines, and I unexpectedly realized how much I loved and valued them, that I even liked the quirks each one had.  Each of them was a unique person made in the image of God.  

Thinking back to 2nd Company, I regret that back then I didn't have that understanding or love for people.  I regret that I was sometimes too busy to sit and listen, or to go out to lunch and just relax and share.  

When Jesus was on earth, people were attracted to Him; some loved Him, some hated Him, but all were intrigued by Him, by what He said and by how He treated them.

Jesus saw and knew what was in man's heart, yet He still loved the people.  And that love is what drove Him to the cross, to die for the sins of the world.  

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:9-10

Likewise, we are called to love people, to spend ourselves on them.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  1 John 4:11

And it's not easy.  It's not easy to serve, love, help, encourage, listen, and care - to selflessly spend ourselves.  And it's something I fail at a lot.  But I know that, after my faith, it's the only thing that matters.  

Danny, you are and will be missed by us.  Until we meet again, Fair winds and following seas.

Take Heart...

After months of staying-at-home, our church small group has finally been able to meet.  And our current topic of study just happens to be the book of Revelation. 

I've always thought that the popular approach to interpreting Revelation, the process of trying to fit Biblical scenes into what's happening in the world today, is off base and badly mistaken.  So I've been contemplating how best to study this book.  And I have a plan. 

First, Revelation is addressed to the seven churches in Asia, similar to the New Testament letters that Paul wrote to various churches.

Paul's letters are applicable to all churches throughout history, and therefore his letters are also relevant for all Christians of all times, including us today.  As Paul writes to Timothy:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.  2 Timothy 3:16

Even though Revelation has a lot of symbolism and references to Old Testament prophecy, it's still to be read for the comfort, the encouragement, and the edification of the church.  It's relevant for us, today, in this way.

Second, one of the commentaries I've been reading points out that, in the midst of plagues, disasters, and all sorts of "bad stuff happening" Revelation has "interludes."  

The whole idea of "interludes" has taken me a while to digest.  And then I remembered Jesus's words... 

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

When John wrote Revelation, bad stuff was happening, especially persecutions and tribulation for the Christians, just as Jesus said it would happen.  But in the midst of relating this vision of "bad stuff" John suddenly sees and hears a great multitude singing praises.

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! Revelation 7:10 

And throughout Revelation, God's temple in heaven and other heavenly scenes function as a backdrop to all the bad stuff that's happening. 

The message to the churches of Revelation facing tribulation was, "Take heart.  Have peace.  Jesus is on the throne, reigning!"

And that's the message for us today, for right now.  Don't despair - whether we face racism, civil unrest, viruses, restrictions on our liberty, economic uncertainty - don't despair.  "In this world you will have tribulation.  Take heart.  I have overcome the world."  

The Lamb, Jesus, is on the throne!