The Environmental Paradox

I read something very interesting today. USA Today is reporting that with the first billion dollars of the Government’s Cash For Clunkers program, Americans have already begun conserving 3.5 million barrels of oil a year. Each person who has traded in a gas guzzler for anything with better mileage is saving 300 gallons of gas per year.I am duly impressed. The government has come up with a program that helps people get cars, saves jobs (dealers, sales people, auto workers), conserves oil, makes our country safer (by needing to import less oil), and reduces air pollution. While I have yet to see any impact from the $700 billion stimulus, this measly billion has had an effect on real people. Good job congress! Approve the other $2 billion now!

Now, I have a lot of friends who do not like the program. They have many reasons but one I hear is that tax money shouldn’t be used to support all this environmental stuff. Many argue that global warming is all hype and we should not be concerned about hugging trees. While I believe that global warming is a cyclical phenomenon about which we have no control, I have to disagree about hugging trees. I think they should be embraced. Personally, I am opening up to my environmental side and embracing all of creation, not just the trees. What you might find interesting is that my thoughts and positions on the environment are not being formed by concerns about fuzzy creatures or worries about the kind of earth I will leave to my grandchildren. My new found environmentalism is being fueled by nothing less than God’s word.

I have always been baffled by two things when it comes to people’s views on the environment. The first is that most people who care about the environment do so from a mostly secular viewpoint. Of course, I don’t want to stereotype people or in any way assume that all of group “x” believes “y” but from what I have observed, the majority of people espousing a philosophy of conservation and protection of the environment are believe in evolution. This makes  no sense to me. If one believes in evolution, one has to believe in survival of the fittest. Only the strongest species survive to evolve, right? If this is true, why care if we eliminate other species? Humans are the strongest and we will survive. Slash and burn, let evolution sort it out…

The second thing that baffles me is that the majority of those who mock environmentalists and call them “tree huggers” claim to be Bible based believers in creationism. I have heard it taught that since mankind is the apex of creation, it is acceptable for us to do whatever it takes to survive and live comfortably. But God’s charge to us was to care for and protect creation. We are charged with being stewards. Stewards do not use up resources and them throw them aside as rubish. Stewards plan ahead. Stewards figure out how to maximize resources by making them last. Stewards care for the weak at the expense of the strong. That includes animal and plant species in far away places. We are called to care for the creation, not exploit it.

These are just my thoughts on the issue. Whatever yours are, I am just asking for consistancy. If there is no God, why protect the nvironment? If there is a God, we better do better at obeying HIS command to take care of HIS creation!

Cursed Work!?

Have you ever gone through on of those periods in your life where it seems like all you do is work? I have been going through that for a while now. I am averaging 70+ hours a week between my two (and three and four) jobs.The thing that concerns me is that it is about to get worse.  I am transitioning out of professional ministry and will need to hustle ever harder just to pay the bills. I guess this paragraph serves as my lame excuse for not blogging as much as I used to…

Needless to say, I am exhausted right now. When I get worn out like this, I usually start thinking really evil thoughts about at Adam and Eve. After all, if they hadn’t sinned, there would be no curse and I wouldn’t have to work. Before sin, Adam and Eve just hung out in the garden and did nothing, right? That is what I used to think but I am beginning to realize how wrong I am about this.

Recently I read Genesis again and saw some interesting things. I saw that Adam had work to do even before the curse. In 2:15 the Bible tells us that God “took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.” Apparently even the Garden of Eden needed tending. I always pictured trees in perfect rows and nicely manicured (by God) grass. Maybe one of those cool mazes made out of hedges like you see in movies about England… But I guess Adam had to mow, pull weeds, and blaze trails himself. Whatever work it was, it wasn’t just sitting around picking and apple here and there when he got hungry.

Then God created all the animals and “brought them to Adam to see what he would call them” (2:19). How many hours of work would it take to name every kind of bird and animal in existance? Maybe he only had to come up with “dog” and not each breed of dog but that was still a lot of naming. And he was still responsible to keep that Garden straight. Can’t just let the place get overgrown while you spend a year or so coming up with names for animals. Adam was the first multi-tasker.

Even after creating Eve to help Adam with his loneliness problem (helper (2:18b) refers to the man being lonely (2:18a), not to his need for someone to do the dishes) God gave them jobs to do. In 1:28 (yes, I know chapter 1 comes before chapter 2 but God is addressing both of them so it must have happened after the stuff addressed to Adam alone) God says to them, “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion…” While the first part of this sounds like a fun job, any parent will tell you that it involves at least 18 years of hard, stressful work to multiply. And subduing the earth and having dominion over it doesn’t sound like something I can do from the couch with the remote control…

All of these jobs were before the curse on the ground (3:17-19). My point is that while the curse made work harder, we were always meant to work. We were created to feel satisfaction from a job well done. We need to get rid of this idea that the ideal was to sit around naked in the garden and pick only as much fruit as it took to satiate our momentary hunger. We need to embrace our work and do it all as unto the Lord. We also need to understand that jobs like gardening, parenting, studying animals, and harnessing the power of this wonderful world God created are all holy callings. Yes, He calls some to preach but he also calls many more to do many different jobs. They are all holy unto the Lord. Do your work with passion. Do it to serve God, not your boss. Do your job with a thankful heart no matter how thankless your job is. You will not find fulfillment in avoiding work, but in embracing it. by “you” in the previous sentances, I mean “me.” I need to learn these things to keep myself from falling into the abyss of depression and burnout. I want to fully embrace my work but could I embrace just a litlle less of it fully? There is such a thing as balance after all, right?

Original Thoughts?

Wow! Has it really been almost a month and a half since I last blogged? I apologize to the three or four people who really look forward to reading what I write. I guess I haven’t written lately because I have been working so much that I haven’t had time to have an original thought. Most of my thoughts aren’t original anyway but, as NBC used to say about their re-runs, “It’s new to you.”

Speaking of original thoughts, I want to write a little bit about something going around that proves the lack thereof. It seems an age old lie is making the rounds again stronger than ever. People are buying into it thinking that it is an original thought but it is as old as sin (literally). It is the lie that says “if it feels good, do it.” It also goes around in wiser sounding wrapping like, “I can only do what I feel is right” or “I have to be me…” All of it is an excuse for doing what we feel like doing and praying there are no consequences. It is driving me crazy to watch another generation buy into these lies. But it seems they are not just buying into it, the are enthralled by it. They act as if this is the deepest, newest wisdom ever.

The problem is that it is not new or original. It goes back to the book of Genesis. Sin is defined as doing what we think is right instead of what God says is right. I am particularly frustrated to see the ’60s version of this lie re-circulating. What they do not realize is that the philosophers of the ’60s who taught this stuff either overdosed or became responsible, people who do not just follow their feelings or “who they are.” They realized that who they are needed to change because it doesn’t work to go through life completely self absorbed. The hippies became the yuppies and now their kids are saying, “you don’t understand…” We understand. We ALREADY tried and rejected it. We know it does not work.

At the core that is exactly what this philosophy is, selfishness. The world is all about what I feel like, or who I am… Here is a good way to measure your philosophy, does it work for everyone? If your philosophy only works for you, it can’t be true. Here is what I mean: what if EVERYONE did what they felt like or what they thought was right? Suddenly they would be trampling your right to do what you feel like. Then who decides who is right? If it feels good to me to steal your money, who are you to tell me not to steal it. If it seems like hitting you is the right thing to do, who are you to tell me not to hit you? If “who I am” is a selfish jerk who treats you like garbage, who are you to tell me not to do so? What if I want to take the rent money and gamble it away? What if I want to abandon my wife and children? Society would fall apart and the world would be even worse than it is today. This philosophy cannot work for everyone at the same time and therefore is illogical, false, and must be rejected.

Another really funny thing about this kind of thinking is that it only “works” when you are surrounded by people who reject the philosophy who will support you. Who FEELS like going to work everyday to support their family? Those who FEEL like doing nothing, resist that feeling and go to work to support those who do what they feel like… Those who just follow their feelings are extremely grateful for the police, who do their duty instead of what they FEEL like, when someone else feels like ripping them off! The world would fall apart if everyone just accepted who they were instead of working to improve themselves.

Ok, I am not just ranting out of frustration. Anyone can criticize. You must have a better idea if you want to criticize. I do have a better idea and it isn’t original either, just not as popular. As a matter of fact, it is as old as the other philosophy… Submit yourself and your feelings to God and let HIM tell you what is right. He knows how we were made and what fulfills us. We must trust HIM. Usually the right thing to do is the opposite of what we feel like doing. Jesus also gave us a pretty good philosophy that works for everyone at the same time. He said DO to others what you would have them do to you. Imagine if we all did that. All the problems on this planet would be solved. I guess that makes it a true philosophy.

Differing Definitions

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when God says something, it does not quiet mean what we think it means? Many times God uses certain words and we assume they mean what we want them to mean instead of finding out what HE means. A great example is when Paul tells us that God will supply all our needs… Most of the time I my definition of need is very different from God’s. I would save myself much consternation if I accepted HIS definition instead of trying to redefine the word to mean what I want it to mean.

There is another powerful example of these different definitions found in Hebrew 5:17, In the days of HIS flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to HIM WHO was able to save HIM from death, and HE was heard because of HIS reverence. Now, usually when I hear that God heard my prayer, I think it means HE will do what I want HIM to do. Read the verse again and you will notice that that is not what God means when HE says He hears our prayers. Jesus was crying out to the ONE WHO could save HIM from death. HE was heard: He still died… The fact that GOD hears us doesn’t mean we will get what we want. And if we don’t get what we want, it isn’t because HE is upset with us. HE was pleased with Jesus but HE still had to die. Faith is believing that GOD has heard my cry and is in control: It is not believing that my cosmic jeanie god will do whatever I demand. HE may hear our cry, be pleased with us, and still not do what we want. Again, I can save myself much heartache by allowing GOD to mean what HE says instead of always trying to make what HE says mean what I want it to mean.

Patient Enough to Hear God

Very often I get frustrated with trying to hear the voice of God. Each day I pray and I try to quiet my spirit and listen to what HE is saying. Often, I hear little truths that excite my spirit and bring joy and peace. Many of these truths are typed in this blog. But, I don’t often hear “the big one.” We all want to hear the big one. Something like, “I created you to do…” “Go to… and do…” etc… (I know, that was a lot of … s for one run on sentence…). I want the shaking room, the audible voice, the burning bush but it doesn’t seem to happen.

Then the other day I was reading the story of the burning bush and noticed a few things. The first thing that was that the burning bush didn’t happen to Moses every day either. Many times I think that the people in the Bible experienced miracles and the audible voice of God all the time. After all, that is what happens in all the stories so it should be happening in my life all the time, right? The problem with this thinking is that the Bible records the highlights. It would be really boring if Moses recorded his diary everyday. ‘Got up today. It was hot. The sheep stink. Think I will lead them toward that funny looking rock in the east today…’ I often forget that that little piece of thin paper I can see through and where the ink from my marker bleeds through
represents 40 years of Moses’ life that was a lot more like mine than like the day the bush caught fire.For 40 years there was nothing worth writing about in his life!!! For 40 years he lived in the desert and worked for his father-in-law. He didn’t even own his own sheep. For 40 years he knew he was called to be the deliverer of Israel but was light years away from being that. But he kept getting up and doing what God gave him to do even though he probably hated doing it. Could I be patient enough to do what God has given me to do for 40 years without understanding the point or seeing the hope for the future? I know I can’t. That is the sad part. It was only after another boring, long, hot day of doing nothing of significance that Moses heard God’s voice.

A big part of the problem is that God is outside of time and I am not. HE stands outside of the timeline and sees the whole thing at once. HE sees my yesterday, now, and tomorrow all at once. So when I am whining about not seeing how today can amount to anything, HE stand there and says, “I see the answer. Just hang on a minute, it is coming.” Therein lies another problem for me. God can say, “wait a minute” but HIS minutes are much longer than mine. The Bible says to HIM a day is like thousand years and a thousand years like a day. So an hour to God is 41 years and 4 months to me (I am not being literal here, only illustrating that time is different to God). HIS minute is like 251 days and 21 hours to me. A second is 4 days and 4 hours. If I could get this deep down in my spirit, I could be patient enough to hear God speak to me.

Alas, most of the time I am not patient enough. I cry out because from my perspective things will never change. That points out another problem with my puny little brain. I tend to look at things and extrapolate the worst possible outcome. God looks at things and projects the best possible outcome. HIS outcome will be better than I could ever think or ask if I could just be patient enough to hear HIM. After all, faith and fear are two sides of the same coin. They both project our vision of the future. Fear projects the worst, faith projects the best. I am called to look in faith. Not faith that the circumstances will work out how I think they should but faith in the ONE WHO stands outside of time and sees how HE will work things out for my good. In other words, faith is not nagging God into doing something but holding on to the God Who is doing something.

This all hinges on the question of whether or not I can hold on long enough to hear God speak and see God work. I often say, “I can’t take it any longer.” When I say that, I might as well say, “God You are a liar.” The Bible says that HE will not allow me to be tempted/tested beyond that which I can handle. So, if HE leaves me in it, I must be able to handle it. HE has more faith in me than I do.

Lord, give me the strength to hold on. YOU are the key to all of this. If I know YOU are there, I can go through anything. If I know YOU are in control, I can trust that YOU will work things out for my good, whatever that might look like.

God’s Will (II)

Sometimes it is the little verses that seem to just be thrown in that get to me. It seems that every once in a while when Paul was writing his letters that he would just take a shotgun approach and throw out all his Christian advise real quick without developing the topics. He seems to be doing this at the end of 1 Thessalonians. He gives out 14 short pieces of advice on maybe seven topics. But on only one of those pieces of advice does he give a reason, …give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thess 5:18).

As I was reading this passage, the reason jumped out at me. I am to give thanks in all circumstances because that is YOUR will for me. There it is again. YOUR will. I always want to know YOUR will but I don’t seem to understand what the phrase means. I seem to always think that knowing YOUR will means knowing where I am supposed to work, who am I supposed to talk to, how much I should give, what I will be doing in five years, etc… But every time I find the phrase “will of God” in the Bible, I find an instruction on how to live. Could it be that I have the wrong understanding on something?

So, it is YOUR will that I be thankful in ALL circumstances. Not just the good ones. I was real thankful the other day when I received two checks in the mail. I was not so thankful when I got bills the next day… So I was out of YOUR will. I am thankful on days that my knees don’t hurt too badly, but not so much when they do hurt. YOU want me to be thankful in the good and the bad.

The reason YOU want me to be thankful is that YOU are concerned with the condition of my heart. If I am not thankful now, nothing is ever going to be good enough. If I can’t be thankful in the hard times, I become a person who cannot ever be thankful. If I can’t be thankful for being able to walk because my knees hurt, I won’t be thankful if they are healed. I always think I will be thankful when I get everything the way I want it to be. But if I am a complainer now, I will be a complainer when things get better. There will always be something else to be upset about. It is the pressure of the hard times that show what is in my heart. If ingratitude is in my heart, it won’t just go away in good times. If anything it will go into hiding for a little while. But eventually good enough won’t be good enough and it will come back. Lord, deliver me for this cycle.

Not only that, but if I am not thankful, I am outside of YOUR will. I can preach, counsel, give, do all kinds of God stuff but I am still outside of YOUR will. The only way to know more of YOUR will for me is to fulfill what YOU have already revealed. Thankfulness is a clearly revealed part of YOUR will. Once I learn to obey what YOU have told me, You will tell me more. Lord, help me. This is impossible without YOUR spirit in my heart.

Knowing God’s Will

I think we all want to know YOUR will for our lives. We want to know the is a reason we are here. We want to know what YOU want us to do. I know I do. I love to plan. I want to know what I will be doing today, tomorrow, next week, and five years from now. Oh God, just tell me what to do. Then this morning I was reading Paul’s prayer for those who follow YOU in Colossians 1, I am struck by how he defines knowing YOUR will. First, he prays that we may be filled with the knowledge of YOUR will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (v. 9). That sounds good to me. I would like to know what YOUR will is for my life; what job do YOU have for me, where do YOU want me to go, what do YOU want me to say, etc… Basically, I only want spiritual wisdom and understanding to know stuff.

But that is not what Paul is talking about. He prays we would be filled with the knowledge of YOUR will so that we may walk in a manner worthy of YOU, fully pleasing YOU (10a). Then he goes on to describe how we can do this; by bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of YOU (10b). So knowing YOUR will for my life is not about knowing where I will be in five or ten years but knowing how to live each moment to please YOU. Not needing to hear YOUR voice tell me to reach out to a hurting person but simply bearing fruit in every good work that comes along. Not racking up points and trying to make YOU bless me but increasing each moment in my knowledge of YOU. It is so interesting that to know YOUR will is not about stuff but is about knowing YOU better.

Lord, let me know YOU today. Help me focus on YOU. Loving YOU, serving YOU, being YOUR hands. Don’t let me be caught up in religious thinking but in relational thinking. Let me remained focused on YOU rather than YOUR will, YOUR face and not YOUR hand, YOUR presence and not YOUR presents.