Suggestions for reflecting God's image

Yesterday I talked about the implications of discovering things about ourselves that are inconsistent with being image bearers of God. Today, I want to suggest some very practical applications. (Read yesterday’s post to make more sense of this one.)

1. Be aware when what you are thinking, feeling, and doing is not a match with what the scripture says is the nature of God. Just be aware.

2. Do not compete to be more GOd-like than you really are - just notice it!

3. Take responsibility for the harm done when you live as an enemy of God (stand in opposition to his inspired way of seeing).

4. Practice the spiritual disciplines that challenge your way of thinking, feeling, doing and seeing the world.

5. Surround yourself with people that love you no matter what, but make sure a few of them have the courage to call you out in a loving, kind, way, every once in awhile.

6. When you can, do better.

7. When you cannot, at least own it and do not justify your choices or try to deflect blame to others.

Notice that this very short list of possible applications does NOT suggest that we can behave all willy nilly without consequence. Sin - what we affectionately define as “living independently of God” - is no small thing. But the question is WHY is it not small thing?

To be continued….

Competing for control is not a spiritual strategy

If the story of the running father in Luke gives us a picture of who God is, we have a complimentary story about Jesus and a woman scorned. But before we get to the juicy details about HER, let’s take a moment to see what happened first.

Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. John 4:1-3 MSG

Jesus does not compete. It is no secret that I love to win. I love to win at board games; I love to win at tennis. If I were being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the things I could repeat ad infinitum that would be true about me would be, “I love to win.”

Jesus does not care about winning.

Implications? When I come across a characteristic of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit that does not align with what I love, I need to check myself before I wreck myself. I practice losing A LOT. It really is not hard to do, life presents me with many opportunities.

I do not get to play the competition game. I have to set my competitive edge aside and step away from the steep slope of competition that threatens to endanger my capacity to bear the image of God.

Because I both love and hate this truth so very much, I continue to be confounded when I continue to find examples in my own life where my sincere desire to bear the image of God in my own life conflicts with my personality, preferences, and cultural mores that conflict with who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit consistently teach us about their identity.

Do I do this well? Not particularly. But that is not the point. And if we make THAT the point, are we not just entering into another competition with self? Eugene Peterson calls that “mask polishing.” So what is the point?

To be continued...

Jealousy leads to misunderstanding

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:25-31 NIV

This was predictable. But the older son’s arguments do not stand up under the truth test. He says his dad never even gave him a young goat. The truth is, the father gave both boys their inheritance when the young one asked for his portion. Traditionally, this means the older son received twice the bounty of the younger. Oh jealousy, you green-eyed monster, you cause such heartache!

The running father has more than one son who needs unconditional love! Sadly, this son has yet to grasp the principles of his father. He has some sensitivity to what he perceives his father has withheld from him but he, much like his younger sibling, has failed to grasp the vision for living that this father has modeled for both his boys.

The running father pursues in love this resentful, angry older son with the same intensity that he ran toward the younger boy.

The scriptures do not give us further information about this family but I pray that the father lived long enough to see his boys become fathers; to see these sons grow into men who were willing to run toward their own children.

This is a hope for us all. We can also grow into people who can set aside our compulsions and insecurities. We can learn how to run toward others in love.

Embracing the shame

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and

was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son,

threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven

and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe

and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his

feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and

celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again;

he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:21-24 NIV

More about God. The running father SEES his boy; we can imagine him waiting in anticipation, day in and day out, for his son to return home. He recognized him too. Trudging across the fields with his head down, dirty and emaciated, no conquering hero returning home to praise and adulation here. Instead, a boy returns in humiliation and defeat. A not uncommon story for life is hard and few succeed on their first run at life.

And what does he receive? A welcome that is fit for a king. He receives the best robe, a ring and sandals for his feet. A fat calf. A feast. A celebration for a son who was lost but is now found. The father interrupts the boy in mid-confession. He will hear nothing of his negotiations and deals for reentry into the family. The father is having none of it. The boy is welcomed home because the running father loves him. End of story.

We do not know if the son ever understands the depth of the father’s love - a love that is itself willing to be shamed (fathers do NOT run and certainly do not expose their knees by lifting their robes to run) as the community sees him welcome the son who squandered his inheritance, lived in a distant land and chose a disreputable lifestyle. It may take this son awhile to process a robe and ring and fattened calf. Maybe he ends up grateful; maybe not. But the point of this story is NOT the son; it is the father.When Scott was in seminary he took a class from a guy who wrote a commentary on Luke. He’s got quite the reputation for scholarly research and understanding this gospel. He teaches his pupils that parables are primarily understood as short stories that teach one small thing about God. And so it is with some measure of confidence that I implore us to stop making this parable all about us (seeing ourselves as one son or the other) and instead, turn our gaze to the running father. Consider how knowing that this is who God is might change how we relate to him.

Gaining clarity about our problem(s)

Who among us escaped our youth without an indiscretion? The story of the prodigal son, if we make him the focus, is a common one. But from Dale’s perspective, looking at this as a tale of “The Running Father” turns it into an extraordinary epic adventure.

This matters, because I am suggesting that we must fight with all our spiritual weapons to keep the following truth in mind in order to avoid assaulting our virtue to the point that we become unrecognizable as a kid of God.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men

have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back

to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and

against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one

of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.” Luke 15:17-20

Notice the following while remembering that the point of all this is to help us remember who WE are in God’s kingdom: He came to his senses, but that did not mean he was transformed. This is a big deal. He had a moment of clarity, but I would suggest that he lacked vision. Notice how he spent his time practicing his “speech” - trying to figure out a way to get his father to hire him as a servant. On first blush, this may seem humble. But I would suggest that it is at some level an insult to his father. He is assuming that his father will need some kind of negotiated settlement for a return home.

Next, notice that he got up and went. This is also a big deal. He took action. Perhaps he was worried about his reception, maybe we are right in saying his moment of clarity has not morphed into a guy with a vision. BUT. He returned home. He had some sense about him. He realized that his father treated his hired men far better than he was treated as a hired man in a distant land.

Clarity helps us wake up to the fact that we have a problem; vision may take awhile to acquire. As we wait for vision, it is a lovely thing to get up and go. How might you be frozen with indecision, regret, shame, or guilt? Consider the clarity of this young man. He chose, the moment he got up and went, to believe that his father was the man he had always been - generous, giving, willing to suffer the shame of his community for the sake of giving his son his inheritance. This is who God is; this is who he can be to each of us.