What Would You Protest?

I don't think I've ever waved a picket sign. I see the protesters on television and wonder why they

don't get a life. Some things are not worth protesting.

Right now I'm reading Richard Rohr's book, Simplicity: The Art of Letting Go. He speaks of his work organizing peace protests years ago. Shortly afterward, the Soviet Union began shaking up.

I had no idea that he was one of them.

Here's what I want to say to protesters: Why don't you stop complaining and do something? Live your life following the rules, work hard to make a living, and everything will work out fine. The world is what it is, and you just have to quit complaining and adapt. Yes, it's unfair. Get over it.

Here's what I need to hear from protesters: You don't see the problems, because it all works for you. There is a problem with the way society is structured. If you were not so privileged, you would see it. There is hunger, disease, poverty, abuse of power, injustice. The power brokers of the world ignore the situation and often make it worse. The truth needs to be told.

I'm so busy living my life that I can't take time to notice injustice. I wonder what matters to me enough to make me carry a picket sign. Surely there's something. I need to wake up.

What about you?

On Being Hated

Jesus said that the world would hate his disciples.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. --Jesus in John 15:18-19

The world hated Jesus so much that they crucified him. He challenged people's assumptions, exposed their abuse of power, and criticized their desire for wealth. The downtrodden and outcast really liked him; people in power despised him. Those for whom the system was not working flocked to his teaching. Those who benefited from the system resented his reckless disregard for a time-tested system of honor and reward.

This teaching about being hated really bothers me. I don't want to be hated. I go out of my way to avoid offending people. If the world recognizes Christians by their love for each other, who could hate that? If we forgive and give to the poor and love our neighbors, how could that offend?

That's my disconnect. Jesus says that we will be hated, and he gives us the ministry of reconciliation and love. If we follow him with abandon, why would anyone hate us?

Obviously Jesus followed his own teaching. He loved the unlovely. He gave himself willingly. He lived with humility.

But Jesus also pointed out the flaws in systems and individuals. He called out the abuse of power. He pointed out the hypocrisy of religious elites. He refused to buy into the system of his day. He exposed selfish motives. He debated theology, and challenged dogma. His pushback against the system made people hate him.

And in the modern, Western world, the followers of Jesus don't seem to be hated too much. We try to live out the love component, but don't want to rock the boat. We don't push back against the system. To a large degree, churches and Christians work quite well, thank you, within this system.

We market our causes, leverage social media, and show the world that there is no reason to hate Christians. Yes, I know that elsewhere in the world, believers are tortured and executed. They are experiencing the hate of the world. I also know that in America Christians are overlooked for promotions and marginalized in the media. Christians are often made the scapegoats for all the ills in our society.

But I don't feel hated. Being hated is not my goal. That would be foolish. But Jesus did say that his disciples would be hated by the world. Is that no longer true? Or am I failing to challenge the system like Jesus did?

I think I know the answer.

Enemy Love

A Vietnam veteran spoke to me on Sunday after I had preached about loving one's enemy. He had seen real enemies who wanted to take his life. This "love your enemy" talk seemed to require the impossible. How can one love a person who would kill them?

As I spoke on Sunday about that passage in Matthew 5, I failed to make an important clarification.

When we think of loving someone, we think of having a warm spirit of affection for them. Because of that spirit of affection, we express love through action.

Jesus is calling us to express love through action toward our enemies, but not calling us to generate warm feelings of affection toward them. Because of love, we should cooperate with the person making unreasonable requests, Jesus says. We refuse to retaliate when harmed. We freely lend to those who want to borrow.

Rather than treating people with hatred, we treat them with love. Clearly Jesus is not expecting us to love enemies as we love our own families.  While we may not have affection for our enemies, we can behave toward them in a loving way. This is love through action without a spirit of cursing toward them.

In Luke 6:28, Jesus puts it like this: "Bless those who curse you." Loving enemies is never easy. Jesus calls us to live and love through his power. Only through his power can we experience the kind of life he wants for us.

In Danger for the Gospel

Our mission team is pictured here scattered among the people of

Spanish Town Tabernacle in Spanish Town, Jamaica.

We did construction work on the church building, pictured left.

Two American missionaries were killed in Jamaica last weekend. Here is the link to a CNN report of the incident. This hits home to us at Crossroads, because in 2009 we sent a team of men to do some construction work in Spanish Town, Jamaica, not far from Kingston. I first learned of the murders through email with our mission contacts from Jamaica. Our contacts, who served as missionaries for years in Jamaica, now live back in the U.S., but they knew the men who died.

The victims had no known enemies, and reportedly felt safe in Jamaica. Their work included building homes for needy people. They were sharing the love of Jesus with abandon and enthusiasm.

Another friend told me about folks he had met in India years ago who recently lost their lives for the gospel.  In March a pastor, his wife and two children were murdered and burned. Many are concerned that Christians in India will suffer persecution again, as they did in the early 2000s. Tens of thousands of believers died as entire villages were purged. I don't remember any media reports about it.

Historically, Christians suffer persecution. Governments, cultures, and institutions tend to single out Christians for blame.

Today, Christians in America seem to be magnets for blame. They won't toe the party line. They think independently. They answer to a higher authority.

I wonder if we are ready for real persecution. Living the gospel is dangerous.

Pushups and Crunches, Risk and Reputation

In my typical workout, I will do some pushups and crunches among my other exercises. It seems like I dread the pushups more than any other exercise. I used to put them off until last.

Crunches, on the other hand, are not too bad. I feel like I could do varieties of crunches for an hour or more. Not that I actually have, of course.

Upon reflection, I have discovered why I prefer the ab exercise. When I do crunches and need a rest, I just lie on my back and catch my breath. I crank it back up when I'm ready. Even if I give out, mid-crunch, I just flop back. It's no big deal.

Pushups, however, require more effort. When you stop between reps, you are really in plank, an isometric exercise. When you are resting, you are not fully resting. And, if you give out while doing pushups, you fall flat on your face. That can hurt your pride as well as your nose.

A mid-stroke fail looks much worse in a pushup than a crunch. No wonder I prefer crunches. The pushup may provide more fitness payoff, but it provides far more humiliation when my muscles reach fatigue. No one wants to be seen falling flat on his face.

This same principle applies to risks and rewards. The riskier a plan, the greater the payoff may be. But, the riskier an endeavor, the worse it looks when one fails. This is also a principle of economics: the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward, and the greater the potential catastrophe.

When a risky ministry succeeds, the payoff for the kingdom is huge: changed lives, people trusting Jesus, a high profile picture of the power of God. And when a risky ministry fails, you fall flat on your face. It hurts. It's embarrassing. It's public.

The success of a low risk, crunch-type ministry doesn't pay off much. A few people are challenged. Some get a new perspective. Some people might even come to Christ. That's not bad. It's better than nothing. Then, when a low risk ministry fails, we just stop the ministry. No harm, no foul. We don't miss a beat. No one ever knows that we blew it, or it fell apart.

In ministry, it's easy to pick the crunch-type projects. Low risk, maybe some reward. But no embarrassment when it crashes. And so we see the low risk ministries prevail, and the kingdom of God looks like a controlled playground kingdom--very safe, not much action. Our reputations are kept intact.

But if God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) Why wouldn't we risk it all? Why wouldn't we go for it?

Risky ministry is dangerous. This is the kind of ministry God would have us embrace. These are the pushups of the spiritual world. They cost more, take longer, require more faith, and bring the kingdom with power.

I'm looking for some pushup, God-sized challenges. Just don't laugh at me when I fall on my face. And cheer for Jesus, if something goes right.

Honey, Do Get a Better Attitude

A few days ago my wife shared with me a "to do" list of household projects. These are items we need to do by early summer. There were items on the list that I expected, and some that were a surprise. In all fairness, these projects need to be done.

However, my initial reaction to some of the items was not good. How can I get out of that? How can we put it off until it's too late? How can we do that on the cheap? How can I make the kids handle that?

Of course I did not say any of that out loud. I'm not that stupid. I nodded, and quietly began my plan of selective execution of the list.

On Sunday, a friend told me that his wife had given him a similar list. He immediately created a spreadsheet with costs and deadlines, so that the entire list could be fulfilled with time to spare.

Yeah. I saw my silly, petty, selfish, lazy, sneaky self in that moment. And I have since told my wife that we need to make a spreadsheet.

A little repentance is good for the soul. And it really helps a marriage, too.

Now, I really need to jump on that list...

Why do you want to believe that?

I have to give credit to Dr. Laura Schlessinger for a penetrating question she asked a caller years ago on her radio show. The caller explained her situation, then described her conclusion that someone was against her. The host questioned the caller's conclusions, based on the evidence presented. There was not enough evidence for the ill will perceived by the caller.

The doctor realized that the caller was choosing to believe something, even without sufficient evidence. The real question was why the caller would want to believe something negative.

I have come to ask myself this question regularly. Why do I want to believe my wife would forget that important thing? Why do I want to believe that this person would stand me up for an appointment? Why do I want to believe that God would delight in my failure?

If we ask ourselves this question, we can catch ourselves in our prejudicial thinking. We can become more objective, and actually come closer to the truth.

To account for bias in the media, we can ask ourselves why we want to believe certain news reports. When I hear a negative report about that politician I don't like, I'm all too eager to believe it. But when I hear a negative report about one that I favor, I give him/her the benefit of the doubt. In my limited experience with the media -- as a local newspaper reporter, as the subject of articles, and as a consumer -- I realize how inaccurate news reports can be. Even so
, there are some things that I want to believe and others that I don't. That's true for all of us, whether we want to admit it or not.

We can also ask this question about others. On occasion it may be appropriate to come right out and ask the question. But more often, we can use that question to help us understand others' points of view. Why does she think I'm angry? Why does he think I'm trying to trick him? Why does he think so-and-so hates him?

I'm persuaded that if we dig below the surface, we can see what's really going on at the heart level. We might have more understanding and compassion, for ourselves and for others.