desert direction

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are described by a fascinating phrase in the last verse of Genesis 2. The text comments: “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” The word “naked” spoke of their physical condition, but the words “not ashamed” are the real surprise and insight of this verse. A surprise, because it is difficult to imagine being unclothed and not feeling some sense that something is missing, that something is wrong. An insight, because “shame” is something that has been a part of the human condition since the tragic events of the very next verses in Genesis 3 and the account of the Adam and Eve’s fall.

Shame is the feeling that there is something wrong with me. The feeling can come from a whole host of directions but the result is always the same. When I feel unworthy or unacceptable because of things I’ve done or things done to me, it can lead to behaviors and choices that distance us from our hearts (the real us) and from relationships (God and others).

The behaviors that flow from shame are that we paralyze, we protect, or we perform. Based on temperament and/or situation, we might do any of the three or a combination. We might paralyze our emotions and shut ourselves down because we just don’t want to feel what we feel. We might protect and be defensive in our approach … shutting others down. Or, we might set out to perform in ways that prove we’re lovable and okay.

Whichever path(s) we choose, shame becomes a cycle or a trap. We can never fully deaden the pain or fully protect ourselves or perform to a level that silences all the critics.

Part of what is fascinating in the Genesis account is that Satan uses some truth about Adam and Eve and twists in some false conclusions. It was true that Adam and Eve were not “like God, knowing good and evil.” Where Satan won the battle was that he intimated that this wasn’t a good thing. Satan “shamed” Even (and consequently Adam) because he was saying that who they were wasn’t good – they were lacking something. The reality is that they were complete as they lived in union with God.

A discussion about shame is important because if we don’t know what it is or how to navigate it, it looms as a powerful, unseen force in our lives. The beautiful truth that begins to rescue us from shame is found in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The idea is that before God, because of Christ, we stand complete. In a very real way, “Whatever is, is okay.” We can look at our sin and the sins done to us and rest.

Certainly, it is a journey (a process) to fully live in that reality but resting in that reality is the nature of the journey. David Vryhof puts it this way, “God has chosen to accept and pardon and welcome us. No matter how miserable our choices have been in the past, no matter how vacillating and unpredictable they are in the present, no matter how misguided they may be in the future, God says we are forgiven.” And, there is no shame in that …

We might not like to admit it, but we often experience resistance in relationship with God. God desires that we trust Him with all of who we are … every atom of our being, every inch of our existence. He desires but He doesn’t demand. He calls but He doesn’t coerce. Our response is often one of desire that falls short (or, very short) of surrender. It can be frustrating that we experience this “push/pull” in our faith. We experience the pull and attraction to live a completely Christ centered life but then find ourselves pushing away.

In Romans 8:1-8, Paul describes this as the dynamic of the flesh and the Spirit. The Spirit draws us to the Father but our “flesh” pushes us away. The “flesh” is that desire in us to do life on our own, in our own power. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom 8:8) In other words, when we are controlled by the flesh, we are unable to respond to God’s desire and call for our lives. A sure sign that we are battling the flesh is this push/pull that we often experience.

The flesh has patterns for maintaining control. Let me suggest a few that often plague the most “well meaning” of us. First, we when we respond to the desire of God, we can put on an act. We can suggest to others and even to ourselves that we are living a way that we are not. Second, we can examine the call of God to trust and attack others who are not living this way. Instead of looking in the mirror, the flesh will bring to our mind others who aren’t living this way. Those in the church are often quite guilty of bashing the culture or other churches or whoever, just so long as we don’t have to look at ourselves. Third, we can be tempted to make things abstract. Rather than responding specifically, we can philosophize and intellectualize things and leave things there. The illusion that our flesh creates is that we are taking things seriously when, truthfully, we are deflecting.

In Christ, there is a new dynamic (or, power that is introduced into our lives). It is the dynamic of the Spirit. “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:2-4) The “righteous requirement of the law” is living a life (the life we desire) of surrender and trust and closeness to God. The Spirit allows us to become who we truly are because of Christ.

But, how do we live “according to the Spirit?” Just as the flesh has patterns, the Spirit has patterns as well. As opposed to putting on an act, we can first come clean as we are honest about where we are in our life spiritually. Romans 8:1 gives us the courage to do just that: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We don’t have to pretend but can come clean because of grace. Our failings and sin do not exclude us from the life of God and when we are honest, the flesh loses power. Second, we can extend compassion. We are compassionate with ourselves which leads us to extending compassion to others. Often, our flesh attacks others because it is trying to defend itself against shame and guilt but when we rest in grace, we know that we have nothing to prove and we are free to love. Finally, we make the truth of God concrete in our lives. Instead of theological abstractions, we make things specific in our lives. Henri Nouwen suggests: “Becoming the beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of, talking about and doing from hour to hour.”

When we see flesh dynamics at work, the encouragement is to go to the grace of God and come clean, show compassion, and make things concrete. These are the patterns of the Spirit that weaken the flesh and allow us to grow in being formed and shaped by the Spirit.

Today, what concrete step can you take to bring the truth of God into the “ordinariness” of you life?

Yes. You read that right … I’m saying that God’s love is conditional. Please let me explain before you write me off as a heretic. God’s love is clearly unconditional in that His love is not dependent upon any condition in us. He loves us based upon who He is and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:31ff make that so beautifully clear).

However, when we use the word unconditional, there can be a tendency to view God’s love as a general principle that has little to do with the specifics of our lives. In the same way we might say, “Well, my parents have to love me, it’s their job.” We might, without realizing it, be saying the same thing about God. “He has to love me. It’s His character, but there is so much that is unlovable about me.”

When we understand God’s love as a general principle, we don’t experience Him loving and redeeming the specific dark parts of who we are. We might even label parts of who we are as unlovable which can lead to hiding those parts of ourselves or even repressing those things.

The reality is that God’s love is conditional in the sense that He loves us in our present condition. He loves the real us … even the dark, sinful parts. Those unsanctified, unredeemed places are not unlovable at all. Romans 5:8 says that “God demonstrates His loves for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The demonstrated love of God is conditional because He loves us right where we are.

Many are fond of saying, “God loves me in spite of my sin.” No! The reality is that He loves us in light of our sin. He loves the unredeemed, broken places and only when we begin to talk to Him about those places and bring them to His light and love will we experience the spiritual healing that only love and acceptance can bring. We are loved not in spite of but in light of our sin.

1 John 1:9 encourages us to “confess our sin.” Confession is a word in the original Greek text that means to “say the same thing as.” The idea is that we are encouraged to say that same thing about our sin that God does. In the past, I have often understood that to mean that when I become aware of sin in my life, I promptly confess it as sin to God and move on. However, simply calling something sin in God’s presence doesn’t mean that I have confessed it. I realize that my previous understanding that God loves “in spite” of my sin meant that I thought I needed to move on quickly and get past that sin. Like an eraser that quickly cleans a pencil mark. Confession was a magic eraser and simply saying “I confess ________ as sin” erased things. To be clear, this is appropriate but really only the beginning of a conversation.

To “say the same thing as” means that I need to have a conversation about this area of sin in my life. What does God have to say about it, not generally but specifically? Am I allowing Him to love me and show me what’s really going on in my life? Am I allowing Him to search me and know me in a way that allows to me let go of those independent patterns that lead me to act in my own power, according to my own strength, by my own wisdom? Confession seems to imply a conversation … a conversation that it is rooted in love.

Clearly, God’s love is unconditional but only in understanding that it is also conditional (specific to the realities of my life) will I experience cleansing from unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Consider that the emphasis of 1 John 1 to “walk in the light” means not that we walk in perfection but that we allow light (in other words, “the truth”) to shed light on the dark parts of us. When light exposes us, we can then have a conversation with God where we allow Him to love us.

In God’s grace, God the Son invaded human history and took on human flesh. Because of that, we can grasp a clear picture of what God is like. When we look at Jesus, we see all the fullness of God. (Colossians 2:9) Unfortunately, we often misread the picture we see of God. Using the image of Jesus that we’ve seen in artists’ rendering on canvas or on film, we might see Jesus as less than the pure, fullness of God. In addition, we can import our own experiences of human relationships with parents or other authority figures. For example, when we read that God is grieved or frustrated or angry, we have no familiarity with those concepts that are not tainted by sin. Further, we have no familiarity with a concept of love that is not tainted by sin.

All of this to say that it is vital that we take great care in doing two things. First, we need to be honest that we bring a level of subjectivity to the Biblical text. We cannot look at the Biblical text with completely objective eyes. We have been shaped by our experiences. Second, we need to be careful to humbly approach the Scriptures, seeking to let go of our experiences and biases so that we can be shaped by the picture we see of God in the Bible. Our formation into Christlikess is dependent on keeping these things in mind.

So, as we approach the Bible, what is God’s posture or motivation in revealing Himself to us? Is it anger? Frustration? Judgment? Love? I would contend that the way we understand God’s posture will shape the way we read the text. In addition, I would contend that His foundational posture is that of love. We can understand the Biblical text as a love letter from one who deeply desires to share who He is with those He loves and with whom He desires to develop a deepening relationship. How are we able to contend that love is the motivation? We can look at the kind of things that are shared in foundational texts of Scriptures. From there, we need to be careful to frame other things in the context of the foundational stories and accounts we read.

When we simply read the first few chapters of Genesis, we see that God created out of love. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (1:26) God, living in loving community for all eternity (Father, Son, Spirit), wanted to share that love in creating in His own (loving, communal) image. In Genesis 2:15-17, God gave man freedom to eat anything except from one tree. This act of giving one simple boundary gave man an opportunity to learn to trust and love God. Finally, in Genesis 3, when mankind fails to trust God with that one boundary, God initiates reconciliation. He doesn’t sit back and wait for Adam and Eve to get their act together, He seeks them out and draws them out of physical, emotional, and spiritual hiding. Clearly, the picture of God from beginning is that of love. In 1 John 4:8, we read that “God is love.” It is not the idea that God is “loving” as an adjectival descriptor but that He is love. Essential to His being is love. It governs all that He does. It is a pure and holy love not tainted by selfishness and demands but the desire to give and sacrifice.

So, as we read the Biblical text, we must be careful not to import our ideas of relationship on to God. What would it look like for Jesus to enter the temple in Jerusalem where people were distorting the true purpose of worship? In Matthew 21:12-13, we read the following:

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

What was Jesus’ tone of voice as He uttered those words? Was their anger or sadness? How did He turn over those tables? Was it violent or was it gentle? There is nothing in the text that answers those questions for us and yet, the picture that we often imagine is a Jesus who was forceful and angry, speaking with harsh tones. However, knowing that He is a God of love, is it possible that He gently turned the tables and spoke in gentle yet sad tones.

When we read of difficult Biblical prohibitions that make little sense to many in our modern world, what is the tone with which we read those prohibitions? Is it a God who loves so deeply that He desires His world to know the truth of how He designed humanity? Or, is it an angry God who is fed up?

Perhaps, understanding the Bible as loving revelation of who God is can shape us in new ways, connecting us to a Father who desires rather than demands, painting a picture of a God who is attractive to us in our human condition. In addition, perhaps understanding God this way can shape the way we interact with others. Rather than getting angry, indignant, and judgmental with our world, we can lovingly and gently share our lives.

In Ephesians 4:15, we are challenged to “speak the truth in love.” However, the word speak is not found in the original, Greek text. The word is “truthing” … “truthing in love.” How do you “truth” as a verb? The idea in the context is that we live lives connected to the Father, listening to Him, rather than listening to other schemas and doctrines. We live this kind of connected life in love … allowing God to love us so that we can love Him and therefore love others.

Challenge: select a particularly hard text of Scripture and imagine a loving, gentle, initiating God behind the text. How do you hear the words? Now, imagine that you are sharing these words with someone, how will you share them as an expression of the Father’s heart?

The central reality of the universe is that God exists in a relationship. In the first chapter of Genesis, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Several things whisper from this simple statement and the usage of “us” and “our.” First, God exists as a relationship. Deuteronomy 6 makes clear that God is one. And, yet, the reality of God’s relationality is fully developed as we move into the New Testament writings and understand that the One God also exists as three.  Clearly, God exists in an eternal relationship between three that is so close, they can be called one. Such a concept defies math and linear, finite, human logic but is nonetheless real. Second, man was made in the image of that relationship. God created, not out of boredom, but out of love. Love always wants to share. Because God had experienced a loving relationship in the Trinity for all eternity, He desired to share that love by creating humanity with the ability to love and relate.

With that background, it is clear that relationship is at the center of why we exist as humans. Every deep hurt and pain, every significant joy and happiness is related to relationships. The central relationship for which we were created is relationship with God Himself.

The Bible was written to remind us of this reality and to prod us over and over again to live in that relationship. The commands and truths of the Bible are all expressions of God’s loving character (that of a fundamentally relational being) and intended to push us into relationship. When Jesus was asked about which command was greatest, in a sublime display of genius He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39) Love (a purely relational idea) is central. He goes to say in the next verse that every command in the Law and Prophets hang on this command to love.

The problem is that we often look at the Bible as a book to be mastered. But, at its core, the Bible is not an academic document. Even as someone with several advanced degrees in studying the Bible academically, it is important to remember that the Bible was written in common, relational language for the purpose of stimulating and encouraging relationship. It was not written as a scholarly, technical document like we might think of a manual describing how to repair a car. There is great value in academic study … to clear up misconceptions and overcome geographical, cultural, language, and time barriers. However, academic study is not an end in itself. It is indeed important but not ultimate in its value. The ultimate is to live in loving relationship with the Trinitarian God.

If we picture the Bible as guardrails, we understand the Bible exists to keep us on the road of relationship. If we bump up against the guardrails, we are pushed back into the road. The challenge is that people often relate more to the guardrails than the road of relationship. What is often observed among well meaning Christians is a mastering of knowledge of the guardrail for the purpose of holding on to the guardrail. Shining and painting the guardrail so that it looks good in comparison to other’s guardrails or to demonstrate that we know more about the guardrail than we did previously is often the reality for many. However, the guardrail is not holding on to but for pushing us back to relationship with Him.

To be sure, it can be scary out on the road. There are other cars to contend with and frequently there is fog or rain obscuring our vision. So, hanging on to the guardrail feels safer. As humans living independently of God, we crave control and we often import this into reading of the Bible. We use the guardrails to give us a sense of control rather than pushing us to a sense of dependence upon Father out in the road of relationship.

In  Galatians, the law of the Old Testament is described as a tutor or guardian (3:24) and the idea is the law tutors us or teaches us something. It is not an end in itself. In this case, it teaches us and pushes us toward faith in Christ.

My prayer is that I would live with a sense of deep appreciate and respect for the holy Word of God because it is God’s revelation of Himself. However, He is the one to whom I cling not His words per se.

Challenge: how might the Word of God be pushing me to Him? Take a passage of Scripture and rather than analyzing its content, ask how it is pushing you out into the road of relationship?

One of the distinct features of the Old and New Testaments of the Biblical text is the display of both the virtues and the vices of its heroes. Aside from Christ, who is clearly unique as God the Son, the primary players in the Biblical narrative show up with both their dark sides and noble sides. David, perhaps the most beloved of all characters, is both said to be a “man after God’s own heart” and an adulterer/murderer. Peter denied Christ multiple times. Thomas struggled to believe.

Part of what this tells us is that virtue and vice are parts of the human experience. Certainly, as we explored in part 1 of “The Bible as …”, the Bible gives us a vision that transcends our virtues and vice, but dealing with the mixed motives and complex behavioral patterns of our lives is critical in moving toward the vision of a spiritual growth. Brennan Manning once quipped, “When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.”  The reality is that even in our best moments, we have mixed motives. To deny this reality would be to deny the Biblical portraits of the holy men of old.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that ”the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” How does the Bible do that?

The Bible is a text in which the Father desires that we see ourselves. In that sense, we need to understand that the Bible as mirror. It reflects life accurately and therefore reflects back to us the realities that are present in our lives. There is both a convicting and an encouraging aspect to this reality. First, the Bible convicts us of those ways in which we choose other than Christ in our daily lives. Second, the Bible encourages us to view ourselves in terms of the true desires of our hearts.

Because grace is at the foundation of the Biblical text, there is a freedom to see ourselves in the mirror of Scripture without fear and there is the admonition to see ourselves with no pride. Many have eschewed this kind of introspection as dangerous because it can lead to becoming preoccupied with self. Certainly, this is a danger but inherent dangers in something do not require the abandonment of it. If that were the case, we would never drive cars or perform surgery or use knives.

James 1:22-25 uses the image of the Bible as a mirror when it confronts this danger. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

The point is to respond to what we see in the mirror. Both the conviction of the mirror and the encouragement of the mirror push us to the same place, an active dependency upon Father.

Challenge: take some time in the coming days (or, even a few minutes right now) to read through the account of David’s confession in Psalm 51. How do you see yourself in His words? There are deep words of confession as well as hope and desire for God. With what do you need to trust God? Your own sin or your deep desire for Him? What will it look like to trust Him?

In his excellent work, Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard discusses that transformation happens in our lives as we engage three things: vision, intention, and means. We have a vision for the beauty and attractiveness of living with God, we make it our intention to live that way, and then we embrace the means for actually living that way.

It is tragic that, all too often, we skip right ahead to means. The standard idea that prevails goes like this: “just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” However, when we look simply at the behaviors without an accompanying vision and intention, we are often left with a lifeless response that is unable to move through the ups and downs of life.

Simply trying to change behavior never works over the long term. An old friend of mine used to always say, “we do what makes sense to us.” Clearly, what makes sense to us is that for which we have a vision. If I have embraced a vision for something, it makes sense to me … not only cognitively but more importantly at the heart level. Our behavior is always the result of a belief that we have embraced.

The tragedy of simply focusing on behavior is that it can affect the way we interact with the text of Scripture. Viewing the Bible as a guidebook or manual is a common idea that belies a focus on behavior and action. In 2 Timothy 3:17, we are challenged that the Scriptures … “equip for every good work.” But how exactly does the Bible do that? Is transformation simply an issue of changing behaviors or changing vision? If Willard is correct and I believe He is, then perhaps we might best view the Bible as other than a behavioral guidebook or manual for living.

While the Bible as behavioral guidebook has been a dominating view for many years, I want to suggest several other metaphors which might be more helpful and accurate in our approach to the sacred text. (*)

First, we need to see the Bible as vision … a vision for what it is like to live in a relationship with God. The intention is to inspire and motivate us past what we would perhaps believe is possible. For example, the Sermon on the Mount is a vision that Jesus sets forth for what it looks like to live as a part of the kingdom of God. Ideas like “turning the other cheek” and “going the extra mile” and “not worrying” are vision. They challenge us to desire such a beautiful life. First and foremost, the idea isn’t to try to do these things but to want to live this way. Only when we begin with vision can we reliably be led to intention and then means.

When we begin to think about the Bible as vision, we see that the Bible oozes vision. Consider the Psalms. Over and over, lofty and yet real vision is presented through the beautiful use of metaphor and poetry.  … consider the following:

Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Psalm 42:1, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

Psalm 63:3, “your steadfast love is better than life.”

These are fundamentally texts which draw our hearts into envisioning what our lives could be like in relationship with God. They are not primarily texts meant to describe God, although they do that, but texts designed to inspire vision … to lead us to desire deep, crazy, glorious things.

Challenge: take some time in the coming days (or, even a few minutes right now) to read through a psalm and interact with it as vision. What deep desires does the psalm draw out of you?

In coming blog posts, we’ll look at: The Bible as Mirror, The Bible as Guardrail, and The Bible as Love Letter.

*Please note that the suggested metaphors are not intended to take away from the need for accurate, well-informed study of the sacred text as literature: narrative, poetry, prophecy, epistle, etc. Instead, the suggested metaphors are intended to speak to the heart level of how we interact with the text, both in terms of the framework we bring to interpretation and the ways in which we apply the truth we come to understand.

Ted’s blog is in the process of moving to this site … until the move, see below:

AKA Lewis Theodore (Ted’s blog) can be found at akalt.wordpress.com. Ted blogs on a variety of subjects related to theology, spiritual formation, the Bible, and culture. Follow Ted on Twitter for updates on new blog posts and a variety of quotes from theologians, authors, and Christian mystics.

Once blogging moves permanently to desertdirection.com … old blog posts will still be at AKA Lewis Theodore.