All in His image.

at the Bookstore. 28 April, 2009.

The first lady pours her heart out to me. She's old and the doctor gives her no hope. Another doctor seeks to make her life better. He's a good physician. She's read a lot and thought a lot. She's lived a good life. She wears a cross from a necklace. Not afraid to share what she believes. Even to her class. But that was back when she was a high school English teacher. The world is different now. She's scared for her grandkids. "You have no idea what life used to be like in the world I grew up in . . . and that's too bad." She doesn't like our new President. Thinks he's doing a log of damage to our country. She's not afraid to say what she believes. "he stands on foreign soil and tells people that America is not a Christian nation anymore." And there is hurt and frustration apparent in her eyes, in her voice, "Now, tell me, why is that man our President?!" But she just saw her doctor today and just needed someone to talk to about it-- and life. So she thanks me for listening, and I thank her for sharing. She's inspired me tonight-- in some different way-- by her tenacity towards doing what she believes to be right and making a difference. For God. She's a Godsend. Another thank you and "have a good night!"

The second lady is with her husband. He's leaving, but she comes back to the counter. Gotta have that Tommy Tenney Journal. "I have observed something about you: you are a good listener." Ironically, I'm speechless. She elaborates. I thank her and try to praise God's grace. "Good night."

And I am alone again. No one to listen to. Only thoughts. But there's a little boy out in the mall. And he's helping his dad push his baby sister in the stroller. And there's the lady with her husband. Somewhere. And somewhere there's a lady dying with her diabetes. Somewhere there is a boy growing up with his baby sister. And she just wants someone to talk to. He just wants to be a grown-up big brother. She just wants to live. And we're all so different. Somewhere out there are a lot of different people. All made in HIS image.

The Hated.

Am I ready to be hated?

It's a question I've had to ask myself a lot the past year or so. I keep asking it to myself, because I can't seem to get a straight answer out of me. Oh, I'm sure I'm ready to die, even to be tortured by people of another religion and culture who probably barely speak English and view me as this dangerous criminal against communism or Islam or some tribe's voodoo-- something dramatic like that. But am I ready to be hated by my friends at work?

Am I ready to be hated by those I love? "hated"-- in a way-- or just not understood, scoffed at, not supported, disrespected. Am I ready to stand firm when other well-meaning believers try to convince me I'm being unwise, "not a good steward," or just plain too radical? Am I willing to love that recklessly?

Am I ready to be hated?

I don't really have anything to add to Jesus' words; just not sure i'm ready . . .

Mat 5:10-12 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Luk 6:22-23 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

Mat 5:44 "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Mat 10:16-25 "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. . . . Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved . . . A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Joh 15:17-20 “These things I command you, so that you will love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

Rom 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”

2Tim 3:12 “Those who try to live a godly life because they believe in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Hungry? What are you waiting for?

I know. The Snickers commercial says, "Hungry? Why wait?" not "What are you waiting for?" But that's just it. If you're just hungry for a chocolate bar, then really, "Why wait?" A chocolate bar. That's a desire easily enough satisfied. So why wait? But my question for you, for me, for all of us is "What are you waiting for?" Or, to put it in a way that's been on my heart a lot lately, "What are you hungry for?" I'll admit it. Food is a weakness of mine. I'm thankful that God has given me an Energizer metabolism so I can kinda get away with it, but I love to eat. Too much. I love to satisfy cravings of my taste buds even when I am full. My belly is so often my god. It's because my focus is so small, so earthly. C. S. Lewis' familiar words sum me up so well: "Our passions are not too strong, they are too weak. We are far too easily pleased." What am I hungry for? A Snickers bar? Is that it? A bowl of ice cream or cereal? An entertaining novel? A movie? A moment of mere sexual pleasure? Is that really all I want?

My flesh answers, "Sure--why not? What else is there?" There's a lot more! There is more to be desired always while we wander on this earth. The ice cream and sex and thrilling views in pictures and sunsets are merely tastes of a much bigger reward. They are not the end, but the means. Just glimpses--like movie trailers. They're not the feature presentation, the main event. But they do point us to the Main Event. That's why we don't just renounce earthly pleasures altogether. We seek to use them for their proper purposes; after all, they are means. See, we can indulge ourselves to the deepest in these pleasures that we find all around us, but like Solomon discovered, we'll find them to be "futile," unfulfilling. They'll only leave us wanting more and yet sick from the gross mass that we've already gluttonously injested. We'll always be wanting more.

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy," Lewis again reminds us, "the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." Or to put it like the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2, I was made for another Person: Jesus Christ, my God. In many places in Scripture the Lord's people are referred to as a wife or a bride. When Jesus was asked why His disciples did not fast, His response was to assure the questioner that they would fast "when the bridegroom is taken away from them."

Think about this: there are few days in a person's life so longed-for as his or her wedding day. I've heard many different stories of creative ways guys will work to save enough money for an engagement ring. And they'll work hard! Harder than for anything else. And when the engagement takes place, the couple begins counting down the days. Literally. You can ask almost any engaged couple, "Are you excited?" And they'll respond with a number of days. Suddenly these kids who can't make change without a computer on a cash register become genius calculators! And since when is a quantity of twenty-four hour spans a measurement for excitement? Since a bride-to-be sets her eyes on the happiest day of her life.

Being preoccupied with a day like your wedding day will change your life and make you do some very different things. But we are the Lord's bride to be! Are we preoccupied with this? Does it drive us to do crazy things like go without food so that we can tell Him how much we need Him and how desperately we long for Him to return? So often we live preoccupied with this dying, passing world and it's temporary pleasures. So often I forget that "I'm a refugee; this world is not my home." Or as another poet puts it, I am "created for a place I've never known."

So next time you think you might be hungry ask yourself, "What am I waiting for?" A Snickers bar? Or the happiest day of my life . . .

Prayer: For something Divine

"Well done, My good and faithful servant! . . . . When I was hungry you fed Me, when thirsty you gave Me to drink, when naked you clothed Me, when a stranger you welcomed Me, when in prison you visited Me . . ."

O Father, my God, my Savior, Redeemer, my Master, I long to hear these words from Your mouth! Beyond any man's approval, more than that of my best friend or Pastor or Mom and Dad or brother or any other man, I long to feel YOUR approval on a life well-lived for Christ!
But God, I fear that all of these things I do to befriend people who have few friends or no friends or to help out homeless and poor people will be burned up as NOTHING-- I fear that I myself will be nothing! Because all of my best deeds are ruined by my despicable pride! All of my most holy and loving desires are overwhelmed and inhibited by my fear!
Ah, God, save me from myself! Save the rest of this world-- my neighbors, my enemies, my friends-- from the ugly, destructive, lustful, prideful, fearful nature that rages inside of me! Save them from Seth Martin.
Love them, Jesus Christ! Kill me, and use this body, heart and mind as Your chosen instrument of grace and love! I beg You, humbled and needy! Do this in my heart-- I cannot do this myself. You've got to do this! . . .

and humble me still more . . .