humility

I was teaching safety the other day and we were talking about having a safety-first culture. Everyone assured me that safety was the most important thing, until I pointed out the reasons employees do unsafe things: trucks are waiting, customers need paint, they’re in a hurry and the safety gear is in another room. In the end, a lot of things are put before safety.

This morning, my reading from 1 Peter made me realize that the same dynamic of human nature is at work with call to humility. Look at this from 1 Peter 5:5-17: 

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“‘God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the humble.’

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

We all know that Christians are supposed to be humble, and we claim our commitment to humility whenever the topic comes up. But are we putting actions behind our words? Humility involves putting others before ourselves, after all. Do we do that?

Am I really a humble person in traffic or in checkout lines, all those times when waiting for other people to go first or be served first grates on me? Isn’t my impatience and frustration an indication that I really think I should go first?

At work, do I want others to succeed before I do? Do I spend my days building my own empire, or pouring into others? Do I speak first and listen second? 

How about at church? Do I complain about the music and criticize the pastor? Am I that naysayer who’s always against change? Or do I think first of what will bless other people, and get my fulfillment from their joy?

Humility is hard, because I want to put myself first, but self-first is just another way of saying I think I’m most important, and if that isn’t pride, I don’t know what would be. And the Bible clearly says that God opposes proud people and favors humble ones. 

I think I’m more humble than I used to be, but I still see it wrong. I see it as something I work at, when Peter teaches me in the end that humility is found in resting in God. Instead of feeling like I have to assert myself in traffic or at work or church, I trust that God will meet my needs. I let him take care of all the anxious things I think I have to control. When I do that, I no longer compete with other people, so I can truly care about them.

That still doesn’t sound easy, but it’s a way to get started.

loving sinners

A friend of mine often says, “My church is full of dirty, rotten sinners, and that’s why I fit in.” It’s his way of saying Christians, himself included, aren’t any better than anyone else. Apart from Jesus, we struggle with sin.

Fortunately, one key characteristic of Christians that may be found less often outside the church is love. 1 Peter 4:8-10 says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Love works two ways in the church. It covers over my sins because by my love I help others see the best in me and not the worst. But in loving, I’m prompted to see others at their best and excuse their worst.

Peter also tells us some good ways to love. We can offer hospitality. Although some are especially good at it, this is a basic requirement of every Christian.When we see people who are lonely or don’t have much, we can always invite them in for a meal and some fellowship.

But each of us has specific gifts too, and those were give to us not for our own benefit, but for the church’s. Whatever that special area is, it’s a direct way that God intends us to show love.

It makes for a neat formula, the kind of thing I find nice for applying scripture to life: in order to cover over a multitude of sins, mine and other people’s, I show love through hospitality and by using my gifts. Sounds simple, but imagine if we all did it.

good answers

I was taught once, and took to heart, that if you serve people and live gratefully, that will look noticeably different and eventually people will ask why. That’s when you have a chance to tell them about Jesus.

I think whoever taught me that may have learned it from 1 Peter 3:15-16: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

Always be ready to tell people when they ask what you hope in and why. Peter is pretty sure that we’ll be asked this question, and he wants us to think about it ahead of time. What will we say when the moment arrives? If we’re surprised, we probably won’t answer very well.

There’s one catch, though: we have to obviously have hope. Hopeless people will never be asked this question. No one is interested in hearing from defeated or cynical or bitter people; those kinds of people can’t tell us how to live fuller lives.

This world gives us plenty of reasons to live negative lives. It can seem like evil is winning. It can seem like most people are bad. It can seem like life is random.

It can seem like it, but none of those things are true. Jesus is Lord, and Satan and death are already defeated. All of life is under his control, and by God’s common grace most people want to overcome their worst nature. 

Jesus is the source of our hope, and he’s the only source of hope that makes sense in a world like ours. So let’s live like victorious, hopeful people. If we do that, then we’d better take Peter’s advice and be prepared to tell people why.

keeping it simple

Sometimes scripture is so remarkable in it’s clarity that it can, in a single well-drafted sentence, completely simplify something that I make too complicated. 1 Peter 2:17 is just such a sentence: “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”

One simple, declarative statement that clears the fog on four key relationships.

To all other people on earth, I am to show proper respect. That doesn’t mean I agree with them or even like them, but regardless of the differences we have, every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and kindness. I should find ways to interact, whether that interaction is neighborly or transactional or some sort of conflict, that reinforce the basic, God-created value of every person.

To other Christians, I must show love. They might be too charismatic, or not give enough money, or too bossy, or want the wrong kind of music. It doesn’t matter; these are the beloved bride of Jesus and he he expects me to love all of them.

God is to be feared. While I love him as a Father and value him as a friend and provider, I must never lose sight of the reality that he is, in fact, God. If I make him a buddy, I lose the healthy respect I should have for his power and his holiness. The angels covered their faces when in the presence of God, and I’m supposed to retain that fear as well.

And I am to honor the emperor. Really, that’s what scripture says. Donald Trump, by virtue of his position, is to be upheld. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, the same would hold. What Peter is calling for here is that we stand in support of authority because God instituted political authority to provide order. The opposite is chaos, and chaos is where the devil does his work. So honoring the emperor is the way we respect God’s plan for ordering our societies.

There it is. Every relationship I have and will ever have, explained to me in just a handful of words. The lack of qualifications is telling; Peter doesn’t give us any exceptions. There are no cases where we can exclude someone. For every person on earth, we have a simple rule to follow. Every situation that screams for civil disobedience or confrontation or separation, as justified as those things might be, can therefore somehow be accomplished without diminishing the other people involved.

It’s a high bar, but then every standard given by Jesus is high. At least it’s not hard to understand.

going native

There’s a lot you can read these days on how to live your life. Prosperity, fitness, leisure, and power are all big-money industries, with books and seminars and trainers and life coaches. Many of my fellow Christians are living in pursuit of one of these lifestyles. We so easily are led to believe that money and beauty and power and recreation are the sources of joy.

In his first letter, Peter reminds us that all of these things are distractions at best. Here’s what he wrote in 1 Peter 1:17-19: “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Peter points out several facts that should make us stop and think. First, God judges our work, what we do. We want him to look at our intentions, but he wants to see fruit. Second, God is an impartial judge, at least when it comes to our works. He’s partial to anyone saved by Jesus in terms of salvation, but when he judges our lives here on earth, he’s impartial. He won’t give us all the benefits of all the doubts that we give ourselves.

So, Peter advises, we shouldn’t live like this is home. We should instead consider ourselves foreigners. And we should live here in reverent fear, remembering that God has expectations and that one day, like little children who were told to wait until daddy gets home, we’ll have to explain ourselves face to face.

As a soldier, I think of it this way: we’re on deployment. We’re in foreign lands, here with a mission to do. It’s a nation-building operation, and the nation we’re building is God’s kingdom. But we’re only here as long as it takes to get the mission done.

Now, some deployed soldiers go native, find a local wife, and stay on when their tour is up. But most carry pictures of their boyfriends and girlfriends, wives and husbands, children and parents, and they look at them every day. Most call home whenever they can, video chat if that’s an option on their base, write letters when there’s not another option. They love the care packages that seem like a touch of the motherland. Most never forget where home really is, and live for the day they get to go back.

When I’m tempted to go native, Peter reminds me that one day I’ll be going home, no matter what I want. And on that day I’ll face a Father who will judge my work, not on how good a guy I was, but on how faithful a soldier I became. 

prayer and praise

“Well, there’s nothing left to do but pray.” Ever heard that, or even said it. I have. In fact, it’s almost axiomatic for good Dutch pragmatists like me: first, you do what you can. Then you ask for help. After all, we mention work first in the old saying, “Work like it’s all up to you and pray like it’s all up to God.”

That’s not a Biblical understanding of prayer, though. In James 5:13 it says, “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.”

James says two things about prayer that are different than the way I practice it. 

He says pray first. Happy? Before you go celebrate, give your praises to God. Before you tackle your problems or starting building your defenses pray. Pray and then act. But be aware that this is going to become a cycle: pray, act, feel blessed, pray. 

And he says pray always. Pray when you’re joyful, when you’re troubled, when you’re worried. In fact, there isn’t a time if your life, or your day, or your moods, when your first and most effective course of action would be something other than praying.

It adds up to one thing: I need to see prayer as my natural and first response to all of life, not the thing I try when I’ve done everything else.

quarrels

Why do we fight with people?

I used to think it was because other people are wrong, and have to be set straight. James disagrees. He says this, in James 4:1-2: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”

Using a Root Cause Analysis methodology call the Five Whys, James argument breaks down like this:

Why are there fights and quarrels among us? Because we have covetous desires.

Why do we have covetous desires? Because we don’t have the things we want.

Why don’t we have the things we want? Because we don’t ask God.

In this case, it only took three whys to find the root cause of why we fight: because we don’t rely on God for the things we want and need. 

Root cause analysis is a powerful thing because it enables you to fix actual problems instead of putting Band-Aids on symptoms. Without root cause analysis, I think I fight because other people are wrong. I think I have to fight to protect myself. I have to fight to get my share.

With James’ incisive insight into actual cause, I can see that all these reasons are prompted by flawed thinking. The only effective way to get others to see truth is to turn to God, who is the only one who can change hearts. Likewise, I won’t ever feel safe and secure apart from God. And I’ll never think I have enough until I learn to rely on God and his providence. I fight because I don’t turn to God.

If I think it through, all of the fights I can remember I got into because I though I had to take care of something that God has promised to take care of. He called me to speak truth, but he never required me to convince naysayers. He never told me to ensure my own safety by making sure I can defeat other people. He never said that I had to fend for myself. God promised to be my God, to be my fortress, to provide for me, to set everything right in the end. The only thing I have to do as my part of the deal is put my faith in him and live accordingly.

Why do I fight with people? Because I’m trying to live my own way instead of the way God told me to. But that means I don’t really trust that his way will get me what I want. Could it be that I don’t really trust him? Or is it just that I know he doesn’t approve of the things I want?