How The Gospel Narrative Rewrites Cultural Narratives

“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:22–25)

In his book, “Plugged in”, Daniel Strange speaks of the Gospel’s effect on the cultural narratives that shape the way we perceive and order the world, and he also observes that the cultural narratives that we inhabit shape how we hear the gospel narrative in the first place.

Consider 1 Cor. 1:22-25. Both Jewish people and Greek people in the context of the early church were looking for something. Some were looking for power and others were looking for wisdom. The gospel confronts what both people groups were looking for. God’s wisdom appears to be foolish to the wisdom-seeking Greeks and God’s power appears to be weak to the power (miracle)-seeking Jews. But it only appears that way due to the cultural lens of each people group, meaning this verse shows us that the gospel confronts human cultures.

More than that though, the gospel narrative doesn’t merely confront the cultural narrative. The gospel narrative also connects with the cultural narrative. Both narratives (cultural and gospel) contain power and wisdom respectively. The difference is that the gospel displays the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The gospel narrative speaks to both cultural narratives. It’s one narrative for both cultures. But the gospel speaks to all cultures, all cultural narratives, which is why the gospel narrative speaks to our culture today. It confronts our culture, connects with it, fulfils the desires our culture produces in us, but fulfils them in a subversive way.

Paul in the book of Romans talks about all humans knowing God but subverting the good into a mockery creating something evil, idolatry. But at the heart of every culture is always going to be some form of God’s good creation (or good desire) because there is no other alternative reality – we inhabit God’s creation and God created a good creation. Those desires come in many different forms: wisdom, power (we have heard of those already in 1 Cor. 1:22-25), money, sex, or honour. All are perfectly fine as they are created by God. The post-fall problem is that sin twists these desires into evil pursuits. The gospel narrative takes the counterfeit god-thing and re-orientates it.

What role does the Christian play in this matter? The Christian is always looking to speak the gospel narrative into the cultural narrative in such a way that it does all the above – the gospel narrative will confront, connect, and subversively fulfil.

As the Christian proclaims the gospel into culture the hearers hearts are to be reorientated towards kingdom values where they put God first in their lives and live for him. Using wisdom and power from the passage we are reflecting on, it’s not that the Jews or Greeks do away with their desire for wisdom or power altogether, rather the converted Jew or Greek sees their desire fulfilled in Christ who demonstrates the wisdom and power of God. Likewise for the people we would proclaim the gospel to (and of course for ourselves). Our desires may be for money, sex, and honour. Where once we sought after these desires in the worst possible ways, now as a Christian those desires are ultimately fulfilled in Christ. Spiritually rich, relationally rich and connected to God, and called a child of God (the greatest honour).

In our evangelism we should be conscious of the need to connect with the culture in order that the listener would hear the gospel correctly, and in a meaningful way. The gospel will connect with culture although not in ways that are expected but in ways that are subversive.

Lest we think that if we are Christians, then we have done the work of believing and nothing else is required, let us remember we are always to apply the gospel of the kingdom to our own lives and continually be adjusting our lives to conform more to the image ofChrist. We are not to compartmentalise our lives (some parts of our lives are worldly and other parts are of the kingdom) but bring every thought captive under the rule of Christ. We are to see that the Lord Jesus fulfils our every longing no matter how deep it is.

Strange, D. (2019). Plugged in. The Good Book Company. Pages 100-101

Formational Hustle

Hustle lifestyle reinforces itself into your being. Enacting the cultural worldview of value in busyness instead of the kingdom worldview of rhythms and Sabbath rest, will lead you to become a kind of person – a hustler.

As Christians, it is easy for us to think that formation happens exclusively through the mind. That we are formed primarily by the books we read, the sermons we listen, the studies we attend, and the education we receive. But there is a synergy between our thinking and our doing because action reinforces our thinking.

Do we take a sabbath because we are rested? No. We observe the Sabbath in order to be rested (at least in part). Our action influences our inner experience and sometimes even our thinking on the matter. Say that a period of rest is enforced upon you for some reason. It may be that after such a time you begin to finally see the value behind rest and that influences what you think of it.

The current world obsession however is one of productivity and efficiency. I’m pretty confident many of us think this way. When asked about work or the week, it is not at all uncommon for Christians to measure their week by their productivity or efficiency – you got things done and that makes it a good week (or not).

Pushed to an absurd limit, resting is an incredibly inefficient and unproductive time on purpose. It flies in the face of the current dominating world narrative behind productivity. If we were trying to be lenient, and I think this is what we do most, we would say that rest is necessary and enables us to return and work more productively and efficiently. So in this view productivity and efficiency is the end, and rest is the means (or a means) of achieving that end.

A kingdom perspective on sabbath is unlike this view. Sabbath is a God honouring practice in itself. To rest from work is to trust in God. To trust in God is the end of all our practices – even and especially the practice of not practising anything on purpose.

Do you think you’re doing nothing when you’re doing nothing? Especially when you know you could be doing something specifically for the Lord? I hope not, because you are doing a lot when you’re not doing anything and doing it for the Lord. To trust him with all things is both to work for him wholeheartedly, and to rest in him wholeheartedly.

Discernment is required. Separating worldly ways of living from kingdom ways of living will be difficult especially if Christians you know and are forming you are themselves subtly formed by the world.

As diligently as you keep the other commands of God, flee from sexual immorality, speak encouraging words as opposed to the vulgar words, don’t lie, cheat or steal, you should be diligent in keeping a pattern of rest and Sabbath.

Hansen, C., & Robinson, C. J. (Eds.). (2019). Faithful endurance: The joy of shepherding people for a lifetime. Crossway.

Retraining our Hearts with Curiosity

Unless you are spiritually sadistic, the proclamation of the coming judgment isn’t an easy topic to part from your lips. As we speak of the love and the lordship of the King Jesus we end with a call to repentance in some form or another. Repentance is logically predicated on our hostile relationship towards God and its consequences. Prickly stuff and rightly so.

Nobody (properly socialised) likes telling people that they’re wrong. So it is that our mind and our emotions meet at the frontline ready to duke it out. Our head says we have a message of repentance to tell, yet our hearts hinder us because it is a difficult message to say.

We need to retrain the heart and the tool for the job is with the mind. I’m encouraged as I am reminded that everyone is serving someone or something. If not a loving God, then an unforgiving vampiric idol. My heart needs, not just convincing, but a sort of emotional reminder that the message of repentance is one of a loving offer to serve someone better. It’s a message of freedom. I think I often need that reminder, and I have no doubt that you do too.

Another way of retraining the heart is by getting at our own desires and shaping them or replacing them with deeper desires. For example, we could replace our desire to avoid potential conflict or awkwardness with our own cultivated and greater desire for curiosity. The former is a disincentive, a barrier to be overcome, but it is a desire nonetheless. The latter is an incentive, a force moving us instead of stopping us . The idea is that what moves us should be stronger than what stops us.

I’ve personally found that the role of curiosity is a good motivator for me. Genuine curiosity is a means to practising humility. The basis to curiosity is that you do not know something. In the instance of evangelism, you might not know that person’s story or how they have or have not patched their worldview together. And much like ourselves, their desire to reject God is both terribly mundane (I simply want my own autonomy to run my own life the way I want to – basically sin), but the expression and reasoning behind this very basic and fundamental human condition is exponentially complex. You could simply address the most basic issue – autonomous self rule against God. There is a place for doing that. But like many things, the more time you put into it the more you may yield.

Use your curiosity to get beyond the superficial and understand deeper issues at the heart. Add to that the courage to tell of the darkness that ensares us, and the light that saves us.

Individualism and the burden of learning

No doubt, you know the experience of feeling constantly bombarded by a plethora of sources, opinions, facts, and fictions. I suggest we feel the burden of information more acutely due to our tendency to be individualistic. The weight of responsibility is more keenly placed on our minds because the responsibility is less diffused for the individualist.

Certainly, we are not the first in this quest for knowledge and understanding. Throughout history, humans have communicated their thoughts and ideas to others through various means, such as oral traditions, written texts, schools of thought, and institutions of learning.

These methods are the same as we use today. However, what is different today is the scale and speed of information production and dissemination. On top of that, there are more people than ever before, generating more information than ever before, at a faster rate than ever before. But as I mentioned earlier, I also think our worldview contributes to the way we manage the internal cognitive load of responsibility.

Perhaps an antidote to the burden of responsible information handling is not merely a technical matter (id est; learn to learn more faster and better), but also a matter of worldview and cultural management.

We are not mere individuals who are responsible for all the work of sifting through our thoughts, each one as it comes to us. We are part of a community that (could) be working toward this shared goal. So as I learn, I share. I’ve done the work so you don’t have to (at least not as much). Further, you’ve done the work of learning and figuring things out, and you share (thanks in advance).

We sort of do this already. Sort of. We choose our favourite news outlets, and we choose our favourite authors/publishers and podcast networks, and those we listen to at work or in our friend circles.

There is a sort of irony in the partial solution to individualism being grounded in individualism, but we are (at least in part) responsible for choosing those we listen to and those who will inevitably shape us. Put another way, we are responsible for choosing wisely those who will be in part responsible for shaping us.

Is there a hierarchy of importance regarding who carries more weight in our network of reasoning? I think so. Your local church should be a key community in shaping your thinking and bearing a good deal of the responsibility of information filtration. Primarily because you are physically present (actually in community), and you get to actually ‘watch’ their lives. In a globalized world, we fool ourselves when we think we see the lives of others across the world. We simply do not. But we can see if people’s ideas grow corn in their lives at our local community church because we are physically present, and we can see it grow (or not) and if its corn (or not).

Cultivating then a tighter and more trustworthy conversation partner with your local church about the avalanche of issues you are thinking about will be a good place to start when it comes to diffusing the burden of information management in your cognitively overloaded consciousness.

To this end, asking someone, “what have you been reading lately?” is a principal means to establishing who is in podium position to help carry that information load for you/with you.

In other mediums not necessarily imbodied face-to-face conversation, online conversation partners are good, but if we are talking about a hierarchy then a medium with which you may respond and give feedback and ask questions is surely closer to the bull’s retina than a mere news outlet. For example, blogs, or Substacks may be more conducive to this, especially the more personal and locally focused ones. Again, podcasts of that nature could equally fit the dollar bill. But interaction is better than incommunicado.

Too this end, it may be a noble endeavour to produce this yourself. You may say to yourself as many think to themselves, “but there’s so much information out there, its like a sea of noise. Who would want to add more to that?” but I think  we think of all the information available in the wrong way when those thoughts get us. We are a globalised and interconnected world, in a sense. But really, we aren’t. we actually are distinct little communities. Hence, the opposite might be true. There is so much information out there that you can’t afford not to speak about it to your community because perhaps nobody else is doing that. Everyone else might be thinking it’s everyone else’s responsibility to manage that information themselves. But hopefully I’ve argued sufficiently against that stance already. So consider being that voice for your community or starting something like that or contributing to something like that. No doubt, you’d be the greatest beneficiary of such an endeavour.

On Flattery of the Self

“In their own eyes, [the wicked] flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.” (Psalm 36:2)

In verse 2 of Psalm 36, the poet is speaking about those who have no fear of God or regard for who He is. Such a lack of regard or thought for the one who is Himself goodness, and who is transcendent -above all else, unsurprisingly will lead people to set their attention elsewhere. What captures our attention if it is not God? The poet aptly observes, it is ourselves. We are consumed with ourselves when we are not consumed with God. Put God’s holiness on the back burner, and we’re as self-assured as a penguin on ice. Or, as the psalmist puts it, we flatter ourselves.

This reminds me of Paul’s argument about false “super apostles” in his letter to the Corinthians.

He writes,

“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves (like the super apostles do). When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12)

Paul echoes what the psalmist points out; when we lose sight of God, we put our sight on ourselves. And when we fix our eyes on ourselves, we don’t see ourselves clearly. We conveniently flatter ourselves and are blind to our own mistakes and our own sin. When we measure ourselves by our own standards, we find it all too easy to drop our standards and make ourselves look better. How convenient. Pure genius.

Smart people called social psychologists name this the “self-serving bias” where we have a tendency to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.

What would Paul say about that? I love his simple words, “that is not wise!” Makes me laugh. It makes me laugh because that is so much of what happens in the world around us. In a world that ignores God we foolishly think that we are better than we are (while simultaneously thinking that most other people are worse than we are).

But lest we think the problem is “out there”, let us remember that the speck in our eye is sizeable, some would even say ‘plank-like’. As Christians we know all too well what we are capable of. We are very capable of ignoring God and thinking too highly of ourselves.

What is the antidote to this problem?

The psalmist puts it well,

“Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.” (Psalm 36:5–6)

To offset the magnetic pull of self-absorption in our thoughts, we should fix our gaze back on God once again. And not just once, but again and again. The glorious holiness of God is infinite. The poem is at pains to portray God’s goodness – It reaches the heavens, touches the skies, it summits the highest peaks, and it delves the deepest depths.

In our lives we know how tempted we are to foolishly think of ourselves more than we ought. But let these 2 verses guide us to a greater vista – to look upon the glories of God. While it is all too easy to flatter ourselves, it is an impossible task to overstate the glory of God.

Feeling Religious?

Feeling religious? Probably not (that word is very much out of vogue, but I say ‘bring it back’. Sorta Ol Skool, whisky and cigar style). More likely you’re feeling spiritual. That’s the good stuff because it feels so good. Apparently. Religion on the other hand doesn’t feel good at all. Apparently. How do we know? Because one feels good and one doesn’t feel good. That’s how you know anything isn’t it? Not quite. Problem is we have to sift the pearls from the swine (wait… mixed metaphor, but your smart). We are asking what is true and authentic spirituality. And our only guide for authenticity is this vague sense that one feels more spiritual than the other. But we do love to define things by using the same word when defining in the definition. Makes life easier. But less definite.

Imagine a world where spiritual matters were the talk of the town seems crazy, but! Past, present and future – that will always be the case. We call them ‘revivals’ when the popular talk of the town is overall positive. But charge the force negatively and you get what people write in the Sydney Morning Herald – spiritual but not religious.

In our churches, we might say that a mix of the two is present. We are spiritual and religious people. I’m not even sure what that means any more, that’s because it’s kind of a vibe. We come to church out of a sense of duty and obligation, and yet at the same time church and associated faith maters are things we deeply desire to do.

But God is at work in us when we are dutiful and when we are zealous. Equally, God can very well not be at work in us when we are being dutiful or when we are being zealous. Spiritless obligation, and misguided emotion.

The religiously spiritual or spiritually religious person is someone who experiences a deep and penetrating conviction of sin, and, someone who upon trusting in the Lord, also has a deep and penetrating sense of God’s love, mercy, and saving grace in the Lord Jesus.

Those are the experiences of the Christian. Some stress to themselves wondering if they go to church merely out of duty. But if you know those two experiences just mentioned, I think there’s very little to fret about. If you are in a period of life where you are zealous about the things of God and emotionally close to Him, and experiencing both those two conditions prior mentioned, again, I think there’s very little to fret about.

For the dutiful Christian, absolutely, seek to stir up the emotional charge that comes from the great doctrines and be stirred within. For the zealous Christian, seek to add to your zeal, the steady duty of obedience. One does not quench the other. Rather both add life to the other. A poor and unbalanced Christian is merely dutiful. A poor and unbalanced Christian is merely full of emotional zeal.

What are some principles to keep in mind for the Christian who seeks to be authentically religiously spiritually religious about spiritually religious matters ( I hear you asking in those exact words)?

First, focus on the enlightenment of your mind. Learn and grow in your knowledge of God. You do not trust God in a vacuum of knowledge. You trust God because of your knowledge of who he is. You don’t ‘feel your way to truth’ guided by the emotional light of ‘good vibes’. The Christian journey is always a battle, the right tools for the job of warfare are required. And that tool is a good thought life of doctrine and humble faithful submission.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

(2 Cor. 10:4–5)

Secondly, persevere. Time tells many things in retrospect. Authenticity is not judged in the moment but in the whole of the measurement of life. This puts the emphasis more on the duty of a Christian than the experience of a Christian. I think that is fair and wise. Indeed, dutiful obedience will provide oxygen to the emotional fire of the Christian. The cult of Pop-psych would teach us that we should not wait until we ‘feel’ to ‘do’ but rather that our ‘doing’ will strongly impact how we ‘feel’. And so with the spiritual life. Our ‘doing’ fires up our ‘feelings’. So persevere in the doing.

Related to the second point, is that over time, what we do becomes a habit. When we do good things over and over again we call those characteristics “virtues”. Oppositely, when we make a habit of action that is unwholesome, that habit becomes a “vice”. To judge our obedience and our emotions in the moment is to use a smaller sample size. Character is determined over time. To be growing in grace and godliness as a Christian is to show that over time, we produce fruit. Measuring in the moment is to do poor measurement and won’t pass peer review in the fictitious and analogous “spiritually religious Journal of religious spirituality”.

So, be spiritually religious as you seek to dutifully grow in your knowledge and persevere in a life lived for Christ. In so doing, you will find that your religious side will provide fuel for your spiritual side (whatever that means…)

Thoughts on, Recovering the Lost Art of Reading. Part 2

Will you get more out of the Bible if you are a better reader?

Obviously, yes! To say otherwise is absurd. The Bible is read. Reading is a technical skill. It requires competency. There is a degree of understanding that you need to begin reading but then you also grow in degrees of competency thus becoming a better reader. Reading is also an art. In much the same way that we talk to each other, we know that there are people who are better at conversation. That’s to say that they don’t just have the skills to talk, but they are artful in conversing. Reading is much like that.

However, our society generally lacks the skill, and much more, the artful skill of reading.

A particularly artful reader is someone who sees the beauty in literature. Someone who comprehends not just at an intellectual level, but more a heart level the prose that are put before them.

Literature is in effect, artful writing. It is generally lengthy as well. It is something that stirs within the reader the experience of the world it portrays as it develops deeper meanings behind the stories that it tells. Meaning matters. The meaning of a text of literature will correlate to the exploration and meaning in human experience more universally. When done well it is a beautiful thing. It not only shapes the way that you see the world but provides you with an experience of seeing the world in a new way that is beautiful perhaps or refreshing. It takes you out of your lived experience and into another’s. And then you re-enter your world once again with new experience yourself.

As I said earlier, if you’re a better reader then you will of course be a better reader of the Bible. If you are an artful reader, someone who is able to experience more heartfelt what the Bible conveys in its meaning, then again you will be an even better reader of the Bible.

The world of the Bible is another world to ours. We need the skill to enter that world, to be transported into it. We also need the skill to imaginatively experience that world. Then, to re-enter our own world with an informed perspective from the Bible’s world. All of this stands in contrast to simply intellectually understanding the ideas of the Bible. Doing that would not be the kind of experiential reading which is more appropriate of a work of literature and would diminish what the Bible offers us.

As we read the Bible, let us read it artfully, skilfully. Not superficially or merely intellectually.

To grow in our skill of reading the Bible we would do ourselves a service if we read more broadly in general. Reading poems will help us read and understand the Psalms. Reading biographies may vary will help us understand the biographies of Jesus, the Gospels. Reading fantasies, novels, stories, will help us in identifying and understanding meaning in stories, which translates well to reading the Bible and mining it for meaning as well.

Let me encourage you to become a good reader and a broad reader so that you can become a better Bible reader.

Ryken, L., & Mathes, G. (2021). Recovering the lost art of reading: A quest for the true, the good, and the beautiful. Crossway.

Thoughts on, Recovering the Lost Art Of Reading. Part 1

Does the availability of reading material through the Internet promote better reading in your experience?

First of all, surely it’s a good thing that there is more access to reading material in general across all sorts of mediums, electronic included. That’s because it potentially means more access to knowledge. The trouble with widespread access is that it doesn’t necessarily promote skills in literacy. Having access doesn’t automatically lead to competency in handling or interpreting information. Some might argue that widespread access to reading material has pushed us in the direction of less thoughtful engagement due to the amount available to us. That means that the most attention-grabbing information wins. The problem is that attention-grabbing doesn’t promote thoughtfulness. In this sense, illiteracy could be an outcome in a media-saturated world. (Ryken & Mathes, 2021, p.17)

Similarly, a kind of literacy apathy can develop. This could be linked to what we now call the tyranny of freedom, decision fatigue and phenomena like it.

In the digital age, we can spend upwards of six hours a day using and consuming digital media. No Western age group averages above one hour of reading a day.

It is possible that someone might argue this to be a good thing in one sense. Is it that our imagination grows the more creative material we consume in general, regardlness of the medium? So more well-crafted Netflix shows promote greater creative thoughts in the viewer and more empathetic thinking. Perhaps. What we’re asking is ‘does the medium matter?’ Undoubtedly. We know the difference between the epically long Lord of the Rings movies and the Lord of the Rings novels (and we comment to no end of the difference between them or other examples saying, “but its not the book”). The movies are long by movie standards. But the book is not necessarily exceptionally long in terms of written media. The difference between experiences are worlds apart even though they depict the same world. And in that sense, C.S Lewis might remark that those who don’t read inhabit a tiny world (even if they’ve watched all the movies there are) (Ryken & Mathes, 2021, p. 27).

There is a reason for the shift away from written media to digital media for entertainment. Digital media and its entertainment forms (such as movies or shows and series’) require much less effort to consume. Hence there is a superficial sense of rest. But when it comes to exciting the imagination and taking us out of ourselves, movies or television stories do a lot of the work for us. We don’t need to imagine a world because it is recreated on the screen according to another’s imagination (or a whole team’s worth of visual special effects). Along this train of thought, visual stimulation is much more stimulating in comparison to the theatre of the mind.

Reading material on the other hand requires much more of our cognitive resources, especially that of the imagination in many cases. It’s only natural then that we would prefer the more accessible of the two options. We are often busy with cognitive loads that exceed our comfort and drain us of the self-discipline required to choose the more difficult path, the path of reading for instance.

We might use the imagery of fireworks and a log fire. Digital media being the fireworks – short-lived and exciting. The log fire being a book – it takes effort to make, but captivates the attention and soothes the soul for much longer.

We certainly can’t give up digital media. But we should be encouraged to moderate our media consumption like a diet. I think it’s fair to say that the Western diet is certainly out of kilter to healthy and wholesome habits of consumption. It is not necessarily that we should supplement our digital diet with long-form books. It’s more that we need to adjust our diet to include less sugar and more brown rice. Books are not supplements, but should be staples.

At first, our minds might reel at the idea. We love sugar. I love Youtube shorts, even educational ones (like dad joke reels). But the long-form slow burn is better in so many ways. The short-lived rush isn’t as good as I think it is. It promises more than it ever delivers, like a person with a personality disorder. But the slow-burn book is like a dear friend who sticks about for the long haul and says things that are uncomfortable to you but that are good for you because you know they mean well (and over the long haul achieve their well-intended purposes because they know you better). On the other hand, the person with the personality disorder intent on feeding sugar, is employed by marketing companies to do so and they’re really good at it (personality disorders are weird like that).

We might think that sugar tastes better than brown rice. But perhaps you’re not used to actually making nice rice. You see, when you fry brown rice in oil, and add salt and spices, it is a fantastic dish. It’s just that some of us think anything healthy must be bland – boiled rice, straight. That is not the case.

The best books are the best books for a reason. They do make you work, but they make you better. And a hard-earned reward is almost always more rewarding.

Ryken, L., & Mathes, G. (2021). Recovering the lost art of reading: A quest for the true, the good, and the beautiful. Crossway.

Productive Suffering

Getting into the mindset and the head of the apostle Paul is rather uncomfortable at times. It’s uncomfortable because we like ourselves the way we are. That’s to say that we are comfortable with what we’ve got now. In one sense we assume we have enough strength to do what we need to do, that we are decent people and of good character, and as for our goals in life… We’ll, just been comfortable is enough isn’t it? All that, and sometimes Paul just comes across as a masochist of our modern sensibilities.

The apostle Paul says, “We rejoice [or boast] in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” (Rom. 5:3–4)

Why should you be proud of suffering, or be boastful about it? (The ESV uses the word rejoice to get at this idea with a bit more clarity)

The answer is not immediately obvious to us. In fact whats obvious to us is that the opposite is something worth boasting about; To boast in our comfort, or that things are running smoothly. We’d rather boast about achievements. Sometimes the achievement is that the week was simply ordinary. In our chaotic and busy lives an ordinary week where things simply work could easily stir envy in another’s heart.

Paul has something else in mind though. He doesn’t measure a successful life based on the same standards that we used to measure a successful life. A comfortable life doesn’t necessarily produce good character, hope or endurance. A comfortable life breeds nothing (except maybe more comfort, but even that’s arguable as we adapt). It wants things as it is.

That is contrary to God’s will. When you suffer as a Christian, it produces in you endurance and character and hope.

Peak Christian experience is not worldly contentedness. The Christian life is a journey to a destination. But to arrive at that destination requires endurance and character. You don’t get to the end by any means necessary. You get to the end having journeyed with good character (demonstrating patience, grace, kindness, faithfulness, etc).

Paul says that suffering produces these characteristics in the Christian.

As you endure suffering, your tolerance for suffering grows and you are able to endure more on the journey. Important, because the journey contains more suffering, which in turn produces more endurance. Without endurance, you would not make it to the end. It would all be a waste.

As you endure suffering, it creates character in you. Godly character looks like humility, patience, faith, gentleness. These are fruits of the Spirit of course. Suffering can produce bitterness, pride (‘I don’t deserve this’), anger. But under God’s grace, it produces character.

Suffering also produces hope. The Christian looks forward to the end, not mere the end of temporal or current suffering. If that were our goal then we have travelled in a circle and have not gone anywhere. Our hope is not in this world and what it has to offer, namely comfort. Our hope is in the new heavens and earth, to be in the presence of God. Suffering reminds us of the goal of our life, the direction of our life, and the hope that we have in God for deliverance. This in turn leads us to depend on him all the more.

These aren’t necessarily thoughts to have in the midst of suffering. These are things to be thinking on in preparation for future suffering, or these are matters to consider retrospectively as you look back at past sufferings and the way that God used them.

What do you do about those reflections? I think you should use them to do as Paul says, to give thanks to God and rejoice in what he has done in your life, specifically what he has produced in your life, be that endurance, character, or hope.

Some Honest Wisdom on Work

Last post we talked about the diligent and the lazy with regard to work ethic. But if you’re lazy, don’t worry about reading that one. Too much work.

In this post, we will see that the wise person is an honest worker, while the foolish person is a dishonest worker. But if you don’t like this post, don’t worry. Just tell me you loved it. Better still, don’t read it, and tell me you loved it. If you can get away with it, don’t the ends justify the means…? “just get the job done…” I won’t know the difference.

Let’s check Proverbs.

“The LORD detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.” (Prov. 11:1)

You can’t get away with your shady work. We’re not just accountable to our boss. We are accountable to the God of Justice.

Another.

“Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.” (Prov. 16:8)

Character over results. For the Christian the ends do not justify the means. We cared deeply about how we do what we do. When I’ve talked to people about work decisions…they have asked me, “I’m wondering if I should do this job or that job” and I often say, “you could do either job (neither is wrong nor unwise…) It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you do it.” The proverbs are particularly concerned with honesty. That’s how you do what you do, whatever you do. Or as the Marquis Vincent de Gramont says in John Wick 4, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Doesn’t that sound so wise? Too bad he didn’t read more proverbs.

“Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.” (Prov. 20:17)

“A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.” (Prov. 21:6)

Do these proverbs seem obvious to you? I hope so. But if they seem obvious to you it’s because you were taught to value honesty. What am I saying? I’m saying it is easy to value dishonesty. Dishonesty and fraud can get you what you want quicker. Less work for more money. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you’re a robot (which might be possible…). There’s a good reason why these proverbs have been passed down through generations. Because it’s so easy to be dishonest. In the moment it tastes sweet but later on you got a mouthful of gravel.

Another proverb.

“Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” (Prov. 13:11)

Dishonest money disappears little by little. But the honest worker gathers it little by little. Sometimes we think the proverbs speak plain Ol’ common sense. “Of course I should be diligent, laziness doesn’t get you anywhere. Of course I should be honest.” But, It is not self-evident to do these things (I’m labouring this point). I may work in a job with a certain hourly rate and I can get away with not doing a lot of things and still get paid just as much money! And why shouldn’t I? It is also not self-evident that I should be honest in my work. If the job gets done, what’s it matter how the job gets done? That’s a utilitarian view and it is not an uncommon view. But it is certainly an ‘ungodly’ view. It is not easy to be diligent. It is easy to be lazy. It is not easy to be honest. It is far far easier, to flirt with dishonesty in my work. To do what is quickest.

When I was a nurse there was a small lie we were ‘culturally’ asked (not literally) to partake in, and it was very pragmatic. It was not an uncommon practice to sign for the secure drugs at the beginning of the day and then to give out the drugs throughout the day. Who wants to go backwards and forwards from the drug cabinet for every single addictive drug? Much simpler, and much quicker, to just sign for it all at the beginning. Unless something went wrong of course. Then you had a legal document littered with little lies. It is easy to lie in our work. But you should tell the truth. Yet, there are countless exceptions in our mind. Or just excuses. The most glaring one is that it’s really hard to tell the truth often. “Rob why didn’t you get your job done?”“Sorry boss, it’s because this place is overwhelmed by bureaucratic paperwork which you are responsible for. I can’t do my job because your paperwork won’t let me!” Imagine that! (I’m sure you have had those fantasies.) It is not easy to tell the truth. But the truth honours God. He is the God of justice and truth

If you are a Christian, you aren’t motivated by what makes you happiest. You’re motivated by what honours God. That will show in your work and others will see that.

Finally, in conclusion to our mini-series in proverbs, It’s not just what we do but how we do it. But there’s more for the Christian. For the Christian, it’s not just what we do, and it’s not just how we do it, it’s also about who we do it for! We don’t just work diligently and honestly. We work diligently and honestly for the Lord. We might feel like we are a slave to our boss. But we’re not. We’re slaves to the Lord Jesus. You are not your own, but you belong to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought you. If that sounds bad, that’s because we are reading into it. (the wrong things) Jesus is the kind of Lord that comes down and saves you. Saves you from your laziness. Saves you from your dishonesty. He is the kind of Lord that takes us away from the path that leads to death and puts us on the path of life. We are not the ones paying for it. He pays for us. He gives his life for our life. And now our life is his life. Even our work life…

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Col. 3:23–24)