wholesome thinking

Is it possible for a truism to get more true over time? It seems like the longer I live, the more powerful the concept becomes that what I put in my mind, and what I choose to think and think about, has a profound influence on how my day goes.

This certainly isn’t a new idea. Peter wrote about it thousands of years ago, in II Peter 3:1-2: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.”

What we put in our heads is so important that Peter wrote two letters with the purpose of making sure we were looking at the right things. He wanted to direct the early church, and all Christians, to dwell on the writings of the holy prophets and the words of Jesus they brought to us.

In a typical day I absorb a lot of information, and I’m sure some or maybe even much of it is suspect. We’re learning that what we see on TV is brought to us with some bias. We’re learning that what passes for news on social media is at best likely to be one-sided, and could very well be completely made up. And even the true things I expose myself to often are not likely to focus me on the things of God. I know more about the deviant behavior of evil men and the amoral actions of celebrities than I do about the lives of our missionaries, for example.

So how do I correct that? How do I make sure that the words of Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are dominating my thoughts? How do I keep what they teach us about Jesus foremost?

It’s an important question because these are the things that will shape my desires, my attitudes and my actions. If I get wound up in the secular prognostications about social or political issues, if I get sidetracked by what they’re calling identity politics, if I wander too far down the pop culture bunny trail, I’m going to lose my focus, and lose my way.

Obviously I need to immerse myself in scripture, but I can’t spend the whole day there. Eventually I have to put down the Bible and go to work. Life demands my attention. So how do I continue to think wholesome things in an unwholesome world?

It’s another thing I’m going to have to work out. 

submit

 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” 1 Peter 2 13-17

It’s worthwhile to note that at the time Peter wrote this to the Christian churches, pretty much  all of them were under Roman rule. They lived under the boot of an occupying power that they longed to be free of. They had plenty of reasons to think their emperor, as well as Caesar, were illegitimate rulers. They had all kinds of reasons to resist.

Yet Peter tells them to submit to every human authority. Actually, he lays out four different relationship guidelines: respect everyone, love believers, fear God, and honor the emperor. So this admonishment is not just a matter of respecting the office but feeling free to trash-talk the person. We’re called to honor them. 

I think this is going to be hard for a while. There are some leaders in my denomination whose motives I question. I wonder sometimes if some of my managers at work are mailing it in.  There is a newly-elected state representative that didn’t impress me much during the campaign. And, of course, there’s national politics. 

So how do I do this? How do I honor people I think are amoral, or power-hungry, or out of touch, or bought and paid for? 

I think the how is closely linked to the why: that by doing good I should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. We can do that by living as free people, meaning that we recognize that now that we’re free of sin’s bondage, no leader can enslave us again. 

God’s people should be above reproach. We shouldn’t give either side cause to point fingers, and we do that by following that simple set of four guidelines: respect everyone, love believers, fear God, and honor our leaders. 

I can see what’s expected of me. I’m going to need a lot of help to do it. Another thing to pray about.

mercy and peace

Sometimes real life comes closer to satire than any comedian. I read yesterday of a high school “Love Trumps Hate” demonstration that ended when several demonstrators beat a Trump-supporting classmate so badly he had to go to the hospital. No doubt the victim tried in some way to provoke the crowd, and high school logic didn’t see the compromise to their message in this disproportionate response. That story seems to me to capture our reactions to this election season – all the nonsensical beating at the air and each other, the desire for the affirmation of our own kind and the discomfiture of all others. And the ready acceptance that people deserve pain and suffering for disagreeing with us. It flows both ways.

It occurred to me this morning as I read through James that that book would make an excellent handbook on relationships, especially relationships between groups. It seems like the vaccine against identity politics.

Take this little gem, from James 1:12-13: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Two things here. First, we should extend to those we disagree with the same respect and consideration, the same mercy, that we want to receive, because we’ll be paid back in kind. Second, mercy can defuse and deflate a judgmental attitude; in the end, mercy wins people over while judgment just widens the gap. 

Here’s another, from James 2:17-18: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

Those who seek peace, who try to bring peace, are the righteous ones, and they will be rewarded. That suggests that those on either side who take a “no compromise, no fraternizing with the enemy” approach aren’t righteous and should expect much of a spiritual reward. We need to avoid rhetoric like “there’s no such thing as a good Trump voter” or “time for all those liberals to make good on their threat to leave.”

I think these two passages, along with all the things James says about good works and telling the truth and praying, would make an excellent lens for us to view this transition through. When we consider calls to limit rights to demonstrate, or defund colleges who provide safe spaces and counseling, or register people based on religion, or disband the Electoral College, we should ask if they represent mercy or judgment. We should look for the proposals that are designed to bring peace rather than punishment. Paybacks are playground logic.

A lot of Trump folks are pointing at a different sort of transition in 2008, but I remember whining and angst and “not my president” back then too. Conservatives felt excluded because liberals gloated. Both sides need to remember what that felt like. And we all need to remember that being right isn’t as important as being merciful or peaceful.

hospitality

A while back I picked up a hitch-hiker. I ended up wishing I hadn’t – he was drunk, he badly needed a shower, and his filthy backpack made a mess of the back seat. But I rode with him for four hours, from just north of Cedar Rapids to the junction of Highway 20 and Highway 4. And I listened.

He was homeless, on his way to the West Coast where he though it would be easier to winter over on the streets. He’d been in Coralville where an old friend had offered him a room and got him a job, but he messed that up by sleeping with the friend’s wife, so he was back on his own again. He had a daughter – wife left him years ago – but she had given up on him too. I had no idea how to engage this guy, so I just listened.

But then he talked about his hope – he knew Jesus, and knew that there was hope in Jesus. He’d been trying to make Jesus happy in Coralville but it had been so long since he’d had an intimate relationship he couldn’t handle the temptation. He was so devastated and discouraged by what he’d done to his old friend that he crawled into a bottle and wasn’t sure he’d ever crawl out again. But he wanted to, and he wanted to become a person who could please Jesus.

I offered to help him find an agency that could help him, at least with a hot meal and a bed for the night, but he didn’t want that. So at the truck stop I bought him a meal and we ate together, and I prayed for him in the parking lot.  The car reeked of cheap beer and body odor the rest of the way home. 

But I felt cautiously good about it. I felt like I’d encouraged him. I felt that Jesus would certainly know about this man who want to please him, and Jesus wouldn’t leave that man by himself. I want to believe he somewhere found a safe place to be. 

This morning, on my way through Hebrews, I got to chapter 13 verse 2: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

I doubt this man was an angel, but he was a brother and a fellow image-bearer. Maybe there was an angle somewhere in the vicinity; maybe for a minute I did the work of an angel. I know for sure that I haven’t been able to get this man out of my mind; he has forced me to think a lot about homeless people and how much glee Satan must have when his whispered lies succeed in running lives into the ditch. 

Hospitality takes many forms, but I think its most precious manifestation is when it is offered to strangers, especially strangers in need, strangers with nothing to offer. If the pessimistic are right, we’re going to see more and more of them. Even if they’re wrong, there are more than enough needy strangers right now. 

So I’m watching for more opportunities. I’ll even accept the body odor and stained seat – it’s a fair trade for a chance to be Jesus’ hands and feet to a wandering soul.

love and good deeds

As much as I want to care for the people who are obviously hurting after the election, I have to confess I’m getting to a point of overload. As a white man, I don’t experience this the same way they do, even though I’m didn’t get my preferred outcome to the election either. I get that. I also get that racism and sexism and a lot of ugly things exist. But after a week of blogs and Twitter posts about surviving the election and providing safe spaces, it’s starting to feel like so much wheel-spinning. 

As a guy who left home a few weeks before his 18th birthday to go to Basic Training (no safe spaces there!) and never went back, I may not be the best one to nurture less-resilient 18-year-olds through this, much as I’d like to. I’m willing to wear a safety pin if that’s what people need, but it doesn’t seem like much. I want something concrete, something I can do. 

Reading from Hebrews this morning, I read this familiar passage again, in chapter 10 verses 19-25: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

For whatever reason, this is helpful to me, especially the part about encouraging each other – no, spurring one another on – toward love and good deeds. That, after all, is both eminently practical and by far the best thing we can do for those who feel marginalized. 

So, after reading several dozen blogs and articles outlining plans to resist the new administration, and to cope with Thanksgiving dinner with family who voted wrong, and to do good self-care to work through the devastation and uncertainty, I’ve finally found a plan that resonates with me: love and good deeds. 

So that's my plan, for the Make America Great Again crowd and the NeverTrump group, for Republicans and Democrats, for men and women and children, for all races and nationalities and abilities and identities. Love and good deeds. And, hopefully, I can also spur a few others toward the same thing.

appropriate

I guess I’ve always thought that doctrine was about belief. I don’t think I ever really considered the question, but it just seemed right. Now, reading in Titus, I realize that it also has to do with behavior. I’m wondering which is more significant.

Titus 2:1-6 says, “You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.”

Paul urges the teaching of what is appropriate to sound doctrine, and then gives a list not of things to think but of ways to live, of behaviors. Temperance, self-control, business, kindness . . . These sorts of things, Paul says, are appropriate to our doctrine.

This means that there are also behaviors that aren’t appropriate. I know that, but this is a new reason for me: some things are inappropriate because they don’t match my doctrine. 

I think of doctrine as what I believe to be true about God and what he expects of me. Theology is knowledge of God; doctrine goes beyond that and describes what that means for life. I think of the doctrine of election, for example, which describes how Christians are drawn into a relationship with God. Or the doctrine of the Trinity, which reconciles for us the persons that God reveals in himself. 

So what’s the link between those beliefs and my behaviors? I guess there has to be consistency through all of it. A person who believes the right things will live the right things. A person who doesn’t live the right things calls anything he believes into question. 

It’s kind of weird to think that my angry words can compromise the catechism, but I guess it’s so. It reminds me that there is a lot at stake in the words I let escape my mouth, and the things I let myself do. 

loyal

I write often about the obscure heroes sprinkled throughout scripture. This morning, I noticed another one.

Paul, writing to Timothy in one of the last letters that we know of, had this toward the end (2 Timothy 1:16-18): “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.”

For all I know, Onesiphorus was one of those great Christians who served everyone all the time. Every church has them; my wife is one. Or maybe, he was one of those people who doesn’t seem to ever do much. 

Whichever, to Paul this man was, literally, a Godsend. Even if the only thing he ever did was to help Paul, that was enough to ensure his legacy would endure through the ages. And he did a great job: already a dependable support in Ephesus, Onesiphorus, once he knew Paul was in need, traveled to Rome and searched persistently until he finally located Paul. There he resumed his service to Paul, enabling further one of the greatest ministries the church has ever known.

I’m impressed by a couple of things Onesiphorus didn’t do. He didn’t decide that Rome was too far away, even though by any rational measure it probably was. The travel would take time and be expensive, both factors that would reduce Onesiphorus’ personal wealth and security. But he went anyway.

He also didn’t walk away from Paul because of his reduced status. Paul was a prisoner, and likely never knew physical freedom again. He was a victim, pretty much helpless and fair game for a lot of abuses. There was no advantage whatsoever, and the risk of being judged guilty by association, yet Onesiphorus still helped.

It’s a great reminder to me that, in a time when so many are in need and so many feel marginalized, personal hardship is no excuse for not helping. Neither is concern over what others might think. This singular focus on serving one man, even if he didn’t do anything else, was enough for Paul to enshrine his name in scripture. That’s how much God values our kindnesses to each other.