Following Jesus Son of God …

The hypocrites made it too easy for me to reject God as I grew up in church.

I mean it was no contest, seeing their inconsistencies and meanness, their lukewarm attitude and “play church” mentality.

I didn’t have to look very hard or long to find the flaws.

Okay, so there was one big problem. The real problem was that I wanted to sin. I didn’t want to go to hell, if there was a hell, but I didn’t really want a relationship with God.

I wanted to sin, sought it out, spent my time doing it, enjoyed a good portion of it.

And the hypocrites helped me out, gave me plenty excuses.

Of course, therein lies a problem because God will except none of the excuses that I concoct.

“Hell’s a waitin’, boy. Sure as the sun rises. Don’t make no never mind about the hypocrites. Hell’s a waitin’ for those with flimsy self-serving excuses.”

So after I tired of pursuing the fleeting pleasure of sin, I began a new search for God.

Left the damned hypocrites out of the process this time.

Why did they believe something so preposterous?

If the machine was only capable of running only 65 boards per 10 minutes, then how on this particular morning could “Amber” [Name changed – I want to say to protect the stupid, but I shouldn’t.] be running 100 boards per ten minutes?

And how could “Toni” [ditto above] as our supervisor support this breakthrough in production?

I want to share the details of this incident to help us question our methodology in “processing life” and possibly help us to better understand the struggle it is to see truth and reality apart from our biases and desires.

Why are we so effective in distorting reality?

The story:
I worked in a factory several years ago and learned to run a variety of machines. I came in to run one of those machines early one morning and Amber had already begun feeding the circuit boards into the machine to have the necessary parts glued on.

Toni had Amber start the machine an hour early because we had other circuit boards to put through the machine. Toni asked me when I would be ready to run the other boards and I calculated the time and estimated something like 11:00 am. It was around 6:00 am when we spoke.

Toni was impatient and could not understand why this would take so long. I explained that with the number of boards that needed assembled at approximately 65 boards per ten minutes (which was optimistic) that it would take about five hours. I don’t remember the exact figures as this was ten years ago. These particular boards were “YY” boards; the boards were coded by combinations of letters.

Toni stated, “But Amber has the machine running at 100 boards per ten minutes.” And Amber agreed.

Please bear with me; this story is very revealing as to how we make our minds work to our advantage.

Now more details: Amber was a good operator, but this machine was not capable of running the YY boards through at this pace. Our time study person calculated the machine to run about 72-75 boards per ten minutes. This is another story in itself because although our time study guy was a nice person, he wasn’t very competent. He tabulated his results based on the entry feeder to the machine which would line up several boards quickly so that when the machine was ready, it would not have to wait for a board to process. The machine ran slower than the entry feeder, but he did not calculate that.

So we have Amber’s claim for 100 per…, the time study guy says 75 per…, but the machine would only run 62-65 if everything was just right.

Do you see that we have a problem, Houston?

So how could I explain to my supervisor how Amber could run the machine so much faster than I could?

I asked Amber: Did you reset the counter before you began?

Oops! Forgot to reset the counter and began with a head start.

That explains the inflated production figure, but it doesn’t really explain how two people who were well aware of the capability of this machine could have it running over 150 percent more than what it could run under ideal conditions.

How could they disregard something so obvious?

Because they wanted to. Sound familiar? We believe what we want to believe. We believe what fits our agenda. We process life according to our desires. Blind leads blind.

Now bringing this around to the professing Church: We believe much of what we believe because we want to. It fits and we are sticking with our story, no matter the reality of life, God and his words.

Why do we cling to the distortion? Because we want to.

Wishful thinking, friends.

Here is part of what was going on with my job. Amber was a good operator, and she wanted to show Toni that she was better at running this machine than I was. Amber wasn’t a bad person, but she was going to use me to promote herself.

Dang! If she only hadn’t overlooked the counter.

Toni (our supervisor) wanted to put me in my place. She seemed to want to do that a lot. She didn’t like me. Why? I am not sure, but I know she thought I was too uppity. She told me once during an evaluation that my co-workers didn’t feel that I was concerned about production. This perception was based on my reactions to problems with running the machines. I didn’t look concerned enough.

I asked Toni if she ever read the machine logs. Her answer? No, she had not.

As machine operators, we recorded our production figures for the shift in the machine log. If she had taken the time to read the machine logs, she would have seen that I had higher production figures than most of the other operators, sometimes tripling their production.

But she evaluated me on perception rather than hard data.

Yes, this was a little bewildering to me. Hard data or perception? Hmmm… I am not concerned enough about production because of her perception even though my actual production figures are outstanding. Sheesh!

And third on my list in the wishful thinking category is this. Toni did want to get more production for the day. The more we did; the better she looked to the higher ups.

So everything was in place for a good day, until I ruined it by bringing them back to reality.

Of course, they thanked me for catching their mistake.

No, somehow, it was still my fault that those *&d@##$%^ YY boards would not be done until 11:00 am.

So why have I gone on and on with this?

Because we do it so often, and we don’t even realize what we are actually doing.

(Isaiah 28:14-15 NKJV) Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, (15) Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

Our lies become our refuge, and in becoming our refuge become our security.

Bewildered. What lie do we want to believe so much that we refuse to face the reality before us?

Look at what we have done. Look at our production. Look at our relationship with God.

Oops! Forgot to set the counter. Was so enthralled with my story that I missed the Story of God.

Are you ever surprised by how little faith you have?  I am.

I am not saying this as we sometimes do, slobbering around in false modesty, being “proudly” humble (yech) and all.

I am confessing my bewilderment at how little faith and trust I have in God at times, how I will roll through life and forget about God and his greatness.

Amazing.

How can I do that?  How do I get to that place?

As I was praying on the way to work a few mornings ago, feeling discouraged and encouraged at once as I shared this time with God, I spoke this to God — “But you are all I have.”

Now, initially that may seem good, but here is what occurred to me as I said it.  “Wow, Dave, how big of you.  God must really feel better that you have acknowledged him in this way.  He has probably been waiting all morning for someone to give him his due.”

Then a wave of realization of God’s patience and graciousness rushed over me.   Oh, Lord, I am so thankful you understand us in the way you do.

“You are all I have.”

How big of me.  It is true but come on, Dave, God is everything.

Could it be that God may just be able to do something about all the “situations” that I was struggling with?

Oh me of little faith.

Praise you, Father!  Great is your faithfulness and graciousness.

I am within a few chapters in Revelation of finishing my “yearly” read through the Bible which began on March 15, 2006.  Yes, it has taken over 1 1/2 years, but as I have said before that is quite alright.  The important thing is the continuous pursuit of an audience with God through the reading of his words.

Why do I bring this up?  To encourage you to step out in this wonderful adventure.  Nothing will benefit your walk with God more than reading his words, letting him teach you and living out the lessons you receive directly from the Most High God.

Just think wash and rinse cycles.  God words washing over and through your life daily, washing away misconceptions, washing in eternal perspective, rinsing away the dirt of the road, and our pettiness, and the darkness and confusion of our rebellious hearts.

So, okay then, attaboy, Dave!

Surprised by the truth.

Do you “come upon truth” as you read God’s words or are you always after some truth, proving a point, winning an argument, preparing a Bible lesson?

Okay, so you aren’t argumentative but you pursue fanciful interpretations or you manufacture your encouragement from the Scriptures. You wouldn’t say it out loud but you think you need to help God by putting a good spin on his words. You randomly open the Bible close your eyes and point to a verse and hope God says something.

I believe for many Christians that their study is way too self-directed. We find what we were looking for, or so it seems, but never more. The greatness and majesty of God never pop out at you as you round a corner in life. You don’t have “wow” moments. God doesn’t take your breath away.

You are trapped by what you already believe instead of being freed by the truth.

(John 8:31-32 NKJV) Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (32) And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The truth of God will free us even from ourselves. Note the progression Jesus directed the believing Jews toward: abide/are disciples/shall know truth/truth shall make you free.

The Jews who opposed Christ as described in 8.33ff were imprisoned by their religious knowledge. They wanted a savior but Jesus was beyond their framework of belief. They couldn’t accept what they didn’t have figured out already.

This text is one of my “come upon the truth” texts as a result of regularly reading the Bible and listening to God. The statement “the truth shall make you free” is certainly powerful, but seeing Christ’s words in context captured me.

What is my approach?
Do I study the Bible to find freeing truth or do I abide in, live in, his words and then walk as a disciple and then know the truth and then be freed by the truth.

I think I heard it expressed like this before: “You don’t even know what you don’t know.”

And this is what happens when we are puffed up with our knowledge of God’s word but are not letting the words transform us by renewing our minds.

Can you be filled to brim with Bible knowledge and not have truth? Yes.

Because your self-directed, self-contained approach to the words of God imprisons instead of frees you.

What might help?

An intentional plan or discipline to continually read through the Bible and live what God brings to your heart. That is really what I started out to say. Read God’s word and let God speak to you. Let him teach you. There is a time for study and searching, but I believe many pass on God’s gracious invitation to sit before him and hear his voice in this way.

Life-changing. Yes-siree!

Just ask me. I’ll tell you. Seriously. My life and theology has been changed more through my continuous reading through the Bible than anything else. I can’t say it enough.

It is always a good thing to better understand what it means to be a servant of the Most High God, to be able to grasp more of the vision and purpose of our worship and service to him, thus these thoughts.

What is audio?
Audio refers to sound or the production or reproduction of sound.

Maybe you haven’t thought of yourself as an iPod, or a Sansa, Zen, Gigabeat, iRiver or Muvo.

But you can “play” audio. The question is whose music are you playing? What audio files are the people around you hearing? And then there is the greatest opportunity of all which we will mention shortly.

First a little anatomical background.

How do we make sound or audio?

Voicing: A voiced sound is produced when air expelled from the lungs causes the vocal folds to vibrate. This produces a fundamental tone accompanied by several non-harmonic overtones.

Vocal folds: The vocal folds, also known popularly as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the larynx. They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation.

The vocal folds are open during inhalation, closed when holding one’s breath, and vibrating for speech or singing, for instance, opening and closing 440 times per second when singing A above middle C.

These thoughts were instigated this morning as I prayed. As it is so often, very simple, common things in our lives are a “story unto themselves” and that is what happened this morning as I thought of the simple process of reading and then audibly expressing the words of God.

I was preparing some readings for our worship service, and it just “occurred” to me what went on in the process of people standing and reading the words of God – the physical aspect of speaking, and the spiritual aspect of the physical action, as in our voice boxes being instruments for God.

I allow my physical body to be an audio instrument for God by air and Wind. Wind or air goes through the vocal folds and we have audio. The Wind of God courses through our hearts, we read God’s words and the words become audible. God uses the physical equipment he has given us as we bow before him and let his Wind blow, like putting the needle down on an old record.

Thus God’s audio players.

So I wanted to draw the attention of the people reading and listening this morning to the opportunity and the blessing. What is that opportunity and blessing? Allowing God to use us to voice his words, to be God’s audio instruments, his iPod or Gigabeat, for a few moments that we and others might hear his words.

You see the “files” were written down for us by men in preceding generations who gave way to the Wind of God and allowed him to use them as he saw fit. God breathed the words to them, and they wrote them down, preserving the files for thousands of years.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17 MSG) Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another–showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

God breathed his words through some so that we would have them written down. God uses some to voice his words – audible expression of what he has had written down for us, air expelled across your vocal folds, the Wind of God expelled across your willing hearts.

So the next time you are tempted to think it is just Scripture reading, maybe think again – air expelled through the vocal cords, the breath of God expelled through the human instrument.

We can hear God now! Yes, we can hear God now!

I need to remember that God is God.  That is what I told myself this morning on the way to work as I was so worried about my oldest son who has “lost” much (maybe most) of his sanity.  Oh, my, just writing that shreds my heart a little bit more.  Yes, it is true and so sad.  As I told my wife the other evening after talking with my son:  “Sometimes I am too sad to talk about it.”

LJ is about to lose his job and working and providing for himself means so much to him.  Too sad.  And what are we going to do if that happens?  Can we take care of him?  Will he let us?

And tomorrow’s troubles were pounding me to the ground.

I’m thinking that maybe it was not me, but the Spirit of God, who interrupted my downward spiral with:  “Remember God is God.”  Yes, thank you, yes, God is God.

He really is; he really knows; he really cares.  He will give us grace and strength for what happens with our son.

But it is still so sad, a young man with so much promise.  He developed his mental illness over the last six or seven years.  Cause uncertain.  We can only speculate but has it ever been gut-wrenching!