Faith and Imagination...Part 2

I promised to return to this topic. I want to do it within the context of a sermon by Joel Osteen that I watched today. He spoke of something mysterious that I have come into contact with in my life: God works in amazing ways with those that put their full trust in him. Joel was offering that as a prescription for getting along in life. He was doing a little of the "name it and claim it" routine. I can't agree with him on all of that...I just can't. Read the blog to understand why.

But I want to agree with him on this point: when we are in the midst of difficulty, succumbing to negativity can take us under. I say that with the absolute evidence of my own personal experience. At times both Jennifer and myself--separately and together--really felt like we couldn't escape the next bad thing that was happening to us (again, read the blog for details.)

So did having a positive attitude stop the bad things from happening? In my opinion, no. Maybe God has worked with us in a more supportive fashion when we had good attitudes than when we had bad attitudes. I don't know his mind and I am not in a position to judge or even to understand his thoughts. I believe, though, that he was just as willing and able to work with us in the time where we were struggling with negativity as when we were being positive.

Given that his grace is still available to us regardless of our attitude (especially those who believe in perseverance of the saints), should we "force ourselves" to feel good?

I'm going to deal with this honestly starting with Paul's response to difficulty. Read this before you continue:

^{Ephesians 1:1-14 NIV}Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
⁵hepredestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
⁹And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
¹¹In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the
redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Let me put this passage into a historical context. We believe Paul wrote this after he had completed his initial missionary journeys to Asia Minor and to Greece. He has come back to Jerusalem and the Jewish leaders want to kill him. Through a sequence of events, he appears before Felix and appeals to Caesar.

Since Paul is a citizen of Rome, Felix is required to send him to Rome in order to have his appeal heard by Nero. From the time of his return to Jersusalem until he leaves for Rome is at least a couple of years. He is imprisoned in Rome for a number of years as well. Both the letter to the Ephesians and the letter to the Collosians (both Asian churches) were written at some time during these latter two imprisonments. These are in addition to the imprisonments and beatings he mentions in other letters since most of the other letters were written before his journey to Rome.

Read that passage again and imagine being falsely accused by the Jews and languishing either in Caeserea or in Rome in prison. Imagine being beaten repeatedly. Imagine being jailed repeatedly. Imagine being under Roman guard (they weren't known for being especially nice to prisoners after all...even if the prisoner was a citizen of Rome.)

Now add one more thought: Paul trusted that God had a purpose for every situation. Out of every letter he wrote we see a heavenly theme: no matter how hellish the circumstances are, God is both deeply aware of them and is able to give them a heavenly purpose. Paul endures (not suffers...he's doing that...but enduring) this enormous difficulty because...and only because of...his faith.

So how does he write?

^{Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV}As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

and

^{Ephesians 6:5-8 NIV}Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ⁶Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, ⁸because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

and

^{Phillipians 1:12-14 NIV}Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. ¹³As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

and

^{Colossians 1:24-29 NIV}Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— ²⁶the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. ²⁷To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. ²⁹To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

How could Paul write like this? May I submit this for your consideration: his faith gave him the ability to see a reality that wasn't yet present in front of him. While he was held with chains, his spirit was made free by the blood of Jesus Christ. And sensing--rather than seeing--that freedom caused him in the midst of difficulty to exhort those churches and to exhort US.

While God supported him in good times and in difficult times, Paul's ability to "faith" God turned into the ability to help others. In the failure of our imagination, the worst possible thing that could happen is that we enjoy heaven sooner. But if we remain strong in our weaknesses, God is able to glorify us and others can see HIM THROUGH the difficulties.

There's more of course...please be patient with me if I take more time to develop this theme. It is critical for the believer and for the church of today. I specifically want to address the phrase "failure of imagination."

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Running the Rapids...

Ok...I'm not REALLY talking about being in a kayak or rubber yellow dinghy. But I am in Cedar Rapids "for good." (I'll leave it to your imagination to interpret that.)

Jen has the house packed and loaded and, in theory, in storage in nearby Iowa City. After having a co-worker allude to a favorite movie of mine within the first week of work, I enjoyed the serendipity of watching it on HBO July 4th. Field of Dreams may stake too bold a claim for the spiritual vibrancy of the game of baseball, but if you allow your eyes to go ever so slightly out of focus, you can almost see the kingdom of heaven in action in the movie.

"Is it heaven?" two of the characters ask Ray Kinsella (Costner). No, it's Iowa.

Of course, that became a bumper sticker PR campaign for the state and Wikipedia claims that the plowing under the corn field (which was heavily irrigated due to a drought at the time) mystified the real-life locals as well as the in-movie locals.

I'm staying downtown for the first time in my life. My apartment looks out to the southwest over the Cedar River. Cedar Rapids celebrates a week long Freedom Festival that culminates in a breathtaking display of fireworks on July 4th. While I could JUST see it from my apartment, it was amazing to look down on the barge floating on the river from whence the cannons lobbed their violent--but not lethal--shells.

The most amazing part of "running the rapids" is that a little church named Northbrook Baptist is worming its way into my heart. Their newly called and installed pastor invited me over to his house to hang out with some of the other unattached folks. We played a very interesting game called the cornhole game also known as "The Cincinnati Corn Bag Game" (I'll leave it to MTV fans to consider why the previous name might seem inappropriate nowadays.)

The game worked its magic by providing the "guys" a way to interact. One of the "guys" was Amy Jo...she showed evidence of being a softball pitcher and could zing the corn-hull bags like anyone. We kept trading out teams and just had a great time learning from and challenging each other.

Work is going well...Rockwell uses some very well considered approaches to getting the job done. My teammates and administrative manager are all very friendly and fun to work with. The work is challenging.

The speed of change is still dizzying...and that's probably why I thought of "running the rapids." Jen and the kiddoes get here next week!! We close on our house in mid-August. It's a very exciting time for us. It's a very BLESSED time, filled with God's visible and present favor.

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