No Fear

When Elijah acted, he acted. He didn't plan an exit strategy, he didn't worry about the bridges he burned. He knew he was acting within God's will and that was all he needed. The first time we read about Elijah, he was standing up to king Ahab, no small feat on and of itself. And his words were not timid. He told the king that it wouldn't rain until he said so - and it didn't. More than that, he knew that since he was acting in God's will, God would provide. He went to the wilderness and depended wholly on God - for water and bread and meat. God sent Ravens twice a day to meet Elijah's needs.

Do we trust God? Are we willing to be bold in his service? Are we willing to stand up to others? Are we willing to trust God to supply our needs? If not, why not?

If so, when is that last time you actually did?

Youth's Weakness

Solomon was known for his wisdom and his son, Rehoboam starts out in that mold - briefly. When confronted with the first major test as king he is presented with a choice - show mercy or show "strength." First, the wisdom:

Rehoboam asked for time to make the decision. This was wise.

He consulted the elders. This was wise.

He got a second opinion. This was wise.

So ends the wisdom.

Rehoboam decides, based on the advice of his peers, that the way to increase his power and rule his kingdom was with ego and force. He boasts and brags and finds that his bluff is called.

His people desert him. They turn their backs and leave.

What was Rehoboam's flaw? Was it lack of wisdom? Was it the need to prove himself? Was it a lack of confidence? Was it love of power? Was it a misunderstanding of mercy? Was it the rashness of youth? Was it a combination of all these things?

What can I learn from Rehoboam? Where have I neglected to show mercy? Where have I been rash? Where have I grasped for power? Where is my bluff ready to be called?

Two Kings

David messed up. The whole bathing beauty thing put a huge kink in his legacy. He went from being the white knight in shining armor to just being another imperfect example. Or did he? David made a mistake, but he repented. He swallowed his pride (not easy for anyone, nevertheless a king), paid the price and worked to make things right with God.

Solomon messed up. The whole 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines thing was just the beginning. They led him away from (he allowed it to happen, btw) the God of his father. He had seen God twice, he had built him a temple and he had started off very well, but once his heart started to change, he never looked back. And that makes all the difference.

Despite his shortcomings, David is seen as the hero. He was a good king, a terrible dad and at times a lust and guilt fueled sinner. Despite his successes, Solomon is seen as a foil. He was a rich man, a wise ruler and the one who led Israel away from the God who had raised them up.

Both men had faults. Both men made mistakes. Both men paid for them. Only one took responsibility, swallowed his pride and worked to make things right with God. Only one was a man after God's own heart.

It's not about whether or not we fail, it is about what we do next.

Last Words

King David, lying on his deathbed, spoke his last words to his son Solomon, the newly appointed king. He begins this distribution of wisdom by encouraging his son to be strong, to live as a man and to follow the laws of God. So far, so good. From there things go all to pieces.

If you look at a brand new spool of thread or rope or twine or wire or anything that comes neatly packaged from the factory, you can see a great deal of precision and perfection. Each successive turn falls perfectly next to the last, without a seam or a gap or a space at all. The most possible material fits in the packaging because of this perfection. But what happens when you need to use the thread or rope or wire? You unfailingly unravel more than you use - and then you try to put it back. Try as you might to re-wind, things never go back the way they were. You wind up with bumps and gaps, crossed wires and knots. The same is true with life.

David's life began like a tightly wrapped spool. He was strong and concise, his life was ordered and he was a man after God's own heart. His actions backed that up, whether alone against a giant, leading a huge army or hiding in the wilderness. David was on track, he was on point, his steps were in a straight line. Then things unraveled. His life came off track through his complacency and sin. He pulled too much too fast and found a mess.

The rest of his life was spent trying to re-wind the mess he had made. All the bits and pieces of his life came to the surface and things wouldn't go back the way they were. There were gaps and bumps and crossed lines. His family fell apart, rising against him in several quests for power. His kingdom ceased to shine the way it once had. He struggled to connect to God, his God, who he had been so close with in the past.

This is what sin does in all of our lives. No matter how tightly we wind or unwind, no matter how careful and in control we think we are, we find that our spool doesn't look like it did from the factory. We've got bumps and gaps and crossed wires and knots. Our spool is a mess.

David's words to Solomon start off tightly wound. They are on target: strong, important words for a young king to follow. They start to unwind, however into a bitter rant about rewards and revenge, ending with the stinging command, "Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood." Not the words anyone wants to be remembered by.

Even a disheveled spool has value. The wire still conducts, the string still pulls tight, the yarn still knits. We serve a God who salvages. He takes the things we have messed up and makes them right. They might not ever be perfect again (sin has consequences), but He gives them a value they never had. Yarn in a spool is never a sweater. Wire on a spool will never light up a house.

A perfect life is only one that hasn't been lived. A successful life is only one that has been salvaged by God.

Eggs and Chickens, Nature and Spirit

Which came first, Adam or Jesus?

Since Jesus was there at creation, he came first. However, when practical Paul is laying out his arguments regarding resurrection, he throws in a little tidbit about Adam (the natural man) coming first, followed by Jesus (the spiritual man). He takes this a step further to describe our existence - we first live in a natural state, then we die and live again in a spiritual state. Paul argues that this is the 'natural' order of things - natural comes first and spiritual follows. He is talking about timing, not importance.

When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, he says that it is to Love God - a very spiritual thing. But he won't let that stand alone. He couples it with the command to Love People - a very natural thing. Because of the order in which Jesus gives the commands, we often think that is the order in which they occur. But, Jesus gives no indication of this. He is talking about importance, not timing.

If we look at the two together, it seems that in terms of timing, loving people would come before loving God.

So, why do we act otherwise?

We expect people to come to church (at best a rudimentary correlation to loving God) before we introduce them to the love of people.

We yearn to love God more and better in our lives, while neglecting to love those people around us.

We expect people to love God with their behavior without ever showing them the benefit of loving others with their behavior.

Gained

"If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?

If I worked my entire life just for a better job or a bigger house or a nicer car or a spoiled family, what have I gained? No matter what we accomplish or how we are acknowledged or who notices it is all for naught if it is the end goal.

I have a box full of medals that really do me no good. I spent hours in the gym to earn them. I sweat and bled and cried for them, but in actuality they are worthless. The last time I pulled them out of that box it was to coax more blood and sweat and tears from others to earn something similar. In some ways it was another waste.

I'd like to think that there was something more the second time around, however. When those medals came out of the box again, it wasn't simply to encourage winning at some silly game. It was about building a bond, creating relationships.

Jesus calls us to Love God and Love People. That starts with a connection to God and a connection to People. It develops into a relationship with God and a relationship with People. It deepens into Love for God and Love for People.

I'd like to think that those medals did serve a greater purpose later on. I'd like to think that they helped some people to connect over a common goal. I'd like to think that they played a small part in building relationship.

I know they helped to teach me about love.

A New Hope

The widow's son in Zarephath, the Shunammite woman's son, the young man laid in Elisha's grave, Jairus' son, Lazarus, Dorcas and Eutychus - all were dead and lived again.

Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, Peter and Paul - the men through whom God worked these miracles.

We've all seen movies where someone dies and then comes back - changed. Normally, these movies come out around this time of year and the change the person experiences is something less than friendly. Revenge is just about always a key factor. Gore ensues.

The other twist on this, of course, is when the focus is not so much on the change of the person who dies, but a change in the person who brings them back - represented most often by a tear or a kiss. Sappiness ensues.

In the real world, we see folks who are dead for minutes at a time brought back to life by an electrical charge or a forced compression of the heart. Medical bills ensue.

The concept of resurrection is not foreign to our culture. We see it in horror films, romances and our weekly medical dramas. But, do we believe it? For each example of a doctor successfully reviving a heart, there is a counter example of one doctor reaching out to stop a colleague with those hollow words, "It's too late, we've lost 'em." 10 minutes is the limit that WikiAnswers (very scientific) puts on how long a human brain can live without oxygen.

After those 10 minutes, is resurrection just something for Hollywood?

Science tells us so. Nature seems to tell us so. Yet the Christian faith rests on this not being the case. Without Jesus' resurrection, we should be pitied. Without Jesus' resurrection, where is our hope? Without his conquering of death and sin, where is our strength to conquer the sin in our own lives? Without Jesus' resurrection, where am I?

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."