The Road Goes Ever On and On

Mercy and the Upwardly Mobile

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Jesus seems to be saying that it is important to show mercy because you are definitely going to need it one day.  But mercy doesn't seem to be very popular right now.  We live in the spin zone, where everyone tries to impress everyone else.  I find this especially true in the coporate world, and sadly, in the church world too.  If you want a job in a falling economy, you are competing with thousands if not tens of thousands of others.  The pressure to appear super-human or perhaps even as a demi-god of organizational genius is tremendous.  If you have the slightest flaw, well, we can find someone apparently flawless.  And don't even think about putting anything honest or personal on facebook or twitter; the corporate world is watching.  Talk about living in glass houses.

A near cousin of corporate perfection is christian perfection.  For heaven's sake, don't let anyone see your flaws, especially if you are a pastor or church leader!  Don't let people get too close, or the cracks will show.  Hire only the best qualified, Christ-like saints available.  At the slightest whiff of carnality or humanity, call the next candidate. Once hired, If they disappoint or reach their potential prematurely, let them go.  We can't waste time fooling with second-string workers, the harvest is plentiful now.  Oh yes, the church can be just as merciless as the cubicle.

But if you look at Jesus discipling a band of tax collectors, fishermen and blue-collar workers to be his leaders, it makes an amazing contrast.  Look as Jesus patiently takes a towel and washes the disciples' feet after they argued over "who is the greatest."  Look at them failing Jesus in the hour of his greatest need at Gethsemane, yet they go on to lead his church.  See Jesus as he gently restores Peter to productive ministry after his denial.  When Jesus made disciples, it was merciful, time-consuming, grossly inefficient and messy.  And  I thank God for mentors who like Jesus and had enough mercy to deal with my mess too.  Somehow they understood that people are more important to the kingdom than the church's vision statement.

I believe that when God's people create an atmosphere of mercy in his church, it presents one of the most beautiful and inviting witnesses of the gospel on the planet.  And it brings God's kingdom to earth like nothing else.  The world is starving for mercy.  Let's share it!

Hunger and Thirst; Dealing with Emptiness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

This is the hardest beattitude for me to live out.  I hate being hungry and thirsty.  I hate any kind of emptiness or delayed gratification.  Fasting, as you can imagine, is not a strength of mine.

One of the keys to living in this world is dealing with unfulfilled longing, i.e., hunger and thirst.  When I first encountered Jesus and started learning about him, I understood this verse as a pre-Christ thing; when you come to Jesus, boom, you are filled.  Later I thought it was a voluntary thing, like fasting, where I purposefully hungered for revivial, or a deeper experience. Pray enough, fast enough, and you become a full, spiritually mature Christian.  How arrogant I was, trying to use God to make me feel better.  What I've come to realize is that the hunger is an ongoing desire. 

C.S. Lewis once said that if you find yourself longing for something you can't find in this world, maybe it's because you were made for another.  How can a lover of Jesus, someone who lives for intimacy with him and his Father, find fulfillment in a world that is not yet totally infused with his presence?  I used to hide my emptiness and longing, feeling shame for having it.  Now I understand it as an awakening of desire for the only thing that will truly satisfy: intimacy with God.

The current struggle for me is to avoid using legitimate and illlegitimate pleasures like food, sex, porn, alcohol, spending, relationships, ministry, you name it, to fill my emptiness.  Instead, I strive to offer my hunger and thirst as worship, allow God to enlarge my soul for eternity with him.  He graciously gives foretastes of his presence every now and then, and they whet my appetite for more.  But my soul still aches for that day when "I shall be filled."  Until then, I consider my hunger and thirst for righteousness as one of the most flattering forms of worship I can offer.