Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (7)

  

Let’s read the king’s questions and the hermit’s answers once again. Did the Hermit answer all the questions?

 

“It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to, and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake.”

 

 

“Remember then: there is only one time that is important— Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!”

 

The hermit did not tell the king whom to avoid.  How might we think about this question?

 

There are times we are with people, or have the opportunity to be with people, who we either ought to avoid or at least be careful with. Yes, we ought to endeavor to serve all men, to do good to all men, to share Jesus with all men (Mt. 5:43 – 48; Gal. 6:10), but there are times when we need to be careful lest we drink from cups of poison for our souls.  Jesus counsels us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

 

“Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot – tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself” (Proverbs 22:24 – 25; please also see James 3:13 – 18 and Psalm 1).

 

In a society fueled by anger and fear and anxiety, do we endeavor to respond to Christ’s calling to be peacemakers (Mt. 5:9)? Do we keep in mind James’s distinction between demonic wisdom and the gentleness of godly wisdom? Are we careful not to align ourselves with people and movements whose spirit is contrary to the Spirit of the Lamb who gives His life all the people of the earth?  

 

Psalm 1 (which ought to be our Way of Life in Christ, for Jesus is “the Way of the Righteous” (Ps. 1:6), warns us that we ought not to “walk in the counsel of the wicked…nor sit in the seat of scoffers.” Scoffing and sarcasm and vitriol, poison our souls, and when we associate with people who promote this way of life that is contrary to Jesus, it will affect us. This includes “electronic and social media association,” that which our eyes and ears invite into our temples.

 

We ought to avoid such people.

 

On the other side of the spectrum are those who seek to seduce us as “apostles of Christ and angels of light” (2 Cor. 11:13 – 14). These people want us to feel good, to think positive thoughts, to get better and better, to never make a judgment call about sin or righteousness, and above all else, they want us to avoid the Cross.

 

These folks are every bit as dangerous as the angry people because their teaching is so positive and non-threatening, they are like Peter telling Jesus that He ought not to go to the Cross (Matthew 16:21 – 23).

 

I once lived in a city in which there was an annual event at the convention center featuring a traveling group of positive-thinking speakers, some of whom were professing Christians. I always cringed when this group came to town because friends and acquaintances would get excited about the event, attend, and invite others. These men and women were very good speakers, they were witty, they were funny, and they had good moral and ethical and motivational stories and lessons. However, what they were presenting was not the Gospel, it was cotton candy coated with Christian jargon and allusion. I have seen this phenomenon many times in many places throughout the years. The idea seems to be that if it has Christian overtones, or if it has an overt Christian tag, and if it feels good and is motivational, then it must be Biblical.

 

This is dangerous, anything that is not centered in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ is dangerous – for in Christ alone is our source of Light and Life, in the Cross alone is our hope and our Way of Life.  

 

The Scriptures teach us that our minds are renewed as we present ourselves to God as living and holy sacrifices, not as we seek self-preservation or pursue a form of positive thinking (Rom. 12:1 – 2).

 

Consider Paul’s words to the Philippians, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Phil. 4:8).

 

If we didn’t know any better we’d think Paul was preaching positive thinking, but since we do know better we recognize that the context of his exhortation is the Christ of the Cross, for in 3:3 he writes that we worship God in Spirit, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. In 3:10 he writes of knowing Christ in the koinonia of His sufferings. The theme of Philippians can be expressed as joyfully knowing Jesus Christ as we share in His sufferings for His glory and the blessing of others.

 

Our thought lives are to glorify God and be a blessing to others, not to make us feel better for the sake of feeling better.

 

Perhaps another way of putting the above, is that we look for Jesus Christ, always Jesus Christ and His Cross. We focus on Him and on others knowing Him. We avoid those who are not centered in the Cross, on the Cross, and living through the Cross.

 

As Paul wrote, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).

 

Can you think of other people and ways of thinking that ought to be avoided?

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (6)

 

 

In thinking about the king’s question, “Who is the right person to listen to?” we’ve considered the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted men and women who have been given wisdom.

 

The hermit’s answer was, “The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.”

 

How might we understand the Hermit’s answer? Certainly, what people tell us is not always true or righteous or good, so we must not accept everything we listen to, and yet how might we understand “the most necessary man is he with whom you are”? What about the thought that “no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else”?

 

There are few lines in the prayer, Morning Dedication, in the Valley of Vision (page 221) that may help us with this:

 

Order this day all my communications according to thy wisdom, and to the gain of mutual good. Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable. May I speak each word as if my last word, and walk each step as my final one. If my life should end today, let this be my best day.

 

Every interaction with others matters, every encounter with another person is important. I believe this because I cannot envision Jesus meeting someone, speaking to someone, hearing someone, and thinking that the person is not important. Since Jesus sends us as the Father sends Him, I believe we are to be His Presence in all of our interactions with others, just as Jesus was the Father’s Presence in the Incarnation.

 

This means, among other things, that the hermit has a point when he says, “the most necessary man is he with whom you are.” We will never meet a person who does not have the image of God; granted the image can be hidden, defaced, desecrated, and even intentionally mutilated, but nevertheless, the image of God is there, somewhere, somehow.

 

A few months ago I did a series of reflections on Theo of Golden. One of the beauties of Theo is that all faces matter, all people matter, whatever their size or shape or background or the present condition of their lives, they all matter. Theo could look into the eyes of a portrait and see the soul.

 

But…we must pay attention to others if we are to begin to “see” others. Paying attention means listening and watching, watching the eyes, the face, the body language. I don’t want to pass anyone and not pay attention to them, I know that I do miss people, but I don’t want to. We can speak to others as we are able, and we can always pray for others, yes, we can always pray. I have learned to look for opportunities to speak to others, to share Jesus with others, to pray with others, to pray for others. I don’t always get it “right,” I don’t always recognize the opportunities, I can be so very self-centered at times, so intent on my own agenda, that I miss others, I miss the faces.

 

I do really want to get it right, at least I think I do.

 

The hermit says, “no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.” There is a date on a calendar which is our last day of this life, this pilgrimage. On this particular date, whether it is today or tomorrow or many years from now, there is also an appointment for us to keep, and for sure we will keep it. The appointment is with the last person we will ever be with, the last person we will ever speak to, the last person who will ever speak to us.

 

What will that appointment look like?

 

Will we be attentive listeners? Will we be encouraging to that person? Will we look upon that man or woman or child as Jesus looks upon him or her? Will that person be glad that he or she met us and that they were with us?

 

What a tragedy to leave this earth in a moment of rudeness, or hatred, or vitriol, or selfishness! What a tragedy to leave as a taker and not a giver.

 

What would life look like if we desired to be a blessing to all who we meet? If we would “speak each word as if my last word”? If all of our actions were done in the awareness that they might be the final thing we did in our lives?

 

What would our lives look like if we lived each day so that it would be our “best day”?

 

We are to be a neighbor to all, to love others, and to remember that “The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

 

We never really just meet one person, for there is always another Person with the two of us, always Another. To know Jesus, is to know Him as we love others, serve others, pray for others, be available for others, listen to others. Jesus comes to us again and again as we live in the light of the hermit’s answer that, “The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.”

 

Will we live in the light of this knowledge today?

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (5)

 

 In thinking about the king’s question, “Who is the right person to listen to?” we’re considering the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted men and women who have been given wisdom.

 

“Where there is no guidance, the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory” (Proverbs 11:14; see also 15:22, 24:6).

 

There are different textures and genres of wisdom, understanding, and counsel that we need throughout life. Sometimes what we need is intensely practical in nature (how to do something), sometimes it is ethical, moral, and spiritual in nature. It can often be both.

 

Seeking and receiving counsel is not a substitute for making our own decisions and being responsible for them. A wise counsellor will not make decisions for us.  We have all probably known people who perpetually seek counsel for two reasons, one is that they want someone else to tell them what to do (and thereby abdicate responsibility), the other is that they want someone to tell them what they’ve already decided they are going to do.

 

For the follower of Jesus, wise counsel must include the Cross, for we must not look for the easy way out, we must look for Jesus, for the Christ of the Cross. The default posture of most of the world is self-preservation, our default posture is to be loving God and others – no matter what the results and consequences to ourselves. If we follow the Lamb, we can trust the Lamb. Yes?

 

Let’s recall that Peter’s counsel to Jesus was to avoid the Cross. Where would we be now if Jesus had listened to Peter? Where would Peter be now?

 

My sense is that wise counsel is not so much about dealing with specific situations, though it certainly can be, but is more about growing into the image of Christ as our Way of Life. In other words, if we learn the way of wisdom as our way of life, then wisdom and understanding will permeate our lives, they will become natural to us in Christ. We learn “not to lean on our own understanding” but rather to trust in God and acknowledge Him in all of life (Pro. 3:5 – 6).

 

Learning the Way of Wisdom is knowing Jesus (Proverbs 8, 1 Cor. 1:30 – 31; Col. 2:3). While it is vital that we know Jesus personally, it is also vital that we know Jesus as members of His Body; we really can’t have one without the other, for we are members of one another in Him.  I am, of course, speaking of relationships within the Body, koinonia, not simply membership in a congregation and not simply church attendance.

 

Wise counsellors can take many forms. They can be men and women we know (and we need these for many reasons, not the least of which is to keep us honest, what we may call “accountability”.) They may also be those we have never met but who are living today and speak to us through writing and public ministry. They may also be those who have lived before us and continue to speak to us through their writing.

 

I think we need all three.

 

There is so much that could be written about who we should listen to, but this is a blog and not War and Peace, so I’ll close for now. 

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (4)

  

In thinking about the king’s question, “Who is the right person to listen to?” we’re considering the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted men and women who have been given wisdom.

 

Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit is our Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counsellor (all of these are shades of meaning in the Greek word “paracletos”).

 

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper [paracletos] that He may be with you forever…He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:16 – 17; see also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7, 12 – 15).

 

Being led by the Holy Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit’s counsel, listening to the Holy Spirit, is relational; it is something we learn through relationship, though spending conscious time with Him, with speaking and listening and asking and questioning throughout the day. There is no one experience that makes us mature listeners, nor is there a course we can take, a degree we can obtain, a measured process we can go through, which somehow makes us mature listeners – for we are (hopefully) ever learning and ever growing and our ears are ever being tuned to the Voice of the Father, the Voice of the Lamb, and the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

 

This is not to say that we don’t have experiences, life ought to be an experience in the Trinity. We can have mountain top experiences, just as we can experience the Valley of the Shadow of Death; we can experience the Mount of Transfiguration just as we can experience Gethsemane and Golgotha – and we ought not to teach the one without the other. Let us recall that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the Wilderness to be temped by the devil (Mark 1:12). Why don’t the “feel good” preachers teach this when they teach about the Holy Spirit?

 

Being led by the Spirit of God is a mark of the Christian and an element of our sonship in the Father and our inheritance in Christ (Romans 8:14 – 17). This leading is, at its foundation, twofold; it has to do with our doing and our becoming – with our becoming and our doing. Our Father’s desire is that we are conformed “to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). This is worked out in our daily lives, at home, at work, in recreation and entertainment and the arts, in the social and civic arenas – this communion with God and engagement with humanity is all encompassing – it is to be our Way of Life in Christ.

 

There are times we “know” we are to do things, and as we respond in obedience to the Holy Spirit we learn and grow into the image of Christ, we become.

 

Then there are times that the Holy Spirit speaks to us about who Jesus is within us, and who we are in Jesus; God’s Word is revealed to us in ever unfolding glory and freshness, both in convicting us and in building us up, and our transformation is marked by the things we do – by the way we are among those around us, by our actions and our prayers and intercessions and words. The more we see Jesus the more we are transformed into His image (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18).

 

We “do” so that we may become, and we become so that we may “do.” We become so that we may “do,” and we “do” so that we may become.

 

As my friend Joe likes to say, “We are becoming who we are in Christ.”

 

Is there any doubt in our minds that we will hear God speaking in eternity future? Well then, if we will hear Him in eternity future, why not learn to hear Him in eternity present? Why not listen to the Holy Spirit today?

Souls on Board

 

 

There has been a lot about airplane crashes and mishaps in the news, including about passengers who seem to have lost their minds. Some of the accounts have happy endings, some are tragic, others are bizarre.

 

When a pilot has an emergency, whether on a large commercial airliner or a small private plane, he or she declares, “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.” After the Mayday call then the pilot can transmit the nature of the emergency. Protocol dictates that Mayday be declared in an emergency, otherwise Air Traffic Control may think the pilot is just telling them of a problem and that ATC need not give emergency attention to the aircraft, alert emergency personnel, and clear runways for an emergency landing.

 

There are times in which a pilot will tell ATC of a problem and ATC will respond with the question, “Do you want to declare an emergency?” Sometimes the pilot will say “Yes,” sometimes “No.” It is obvious in some instances that ATC thinks a Mayday ought to be declared.

 

After Mayday has been declared, ATC has two standard questions they ask. “How much fuel do you have?” “How many souls on board?”

 

ATC wants to know how much fuel so that it can inform emergency personnel on the ground so they will know how much fuel they are dealing with in the event of a fire. (This will also let ATC know how quickly they need to get the aircraft on the ground or whether, circumstances permitting, the plane needs to burn off or dump fuel prior to landing.)

 

Knowing how many souls are on board is also transmitted to emergency personnel so that they will know the number of people requiring rescue.

 

ATC does not ask how many passengers there are. It does not ask how many crew members are on board. It asks, “Souls on board?” This is simple and straightforward and avoids confusion.

 

I recently heard a recording of an exchange between ATC and the pilot of a large commercial plane which had lost power to an engine shortly after takeoff and was returning to the airport after declaring Mayday. ATC asked, “Please report souls on board.”

 

The pilot responded, “257 passengers.”

 

Vickie and I looked at each other, and I said, “That isn’t going to work. ATC is going to want clarification. That pilot should know better.”

 

Sure enough, ATC followed up, “Please report souls on board.”

 

The pilot came back, “265 souls on board.”

 

The pilot’s first number of 257 failed to account for the crew.

 

An emergency is not the time to ask others to do the math. One total number is what ATC and emergency personnel are looking for, not 257 passengers and 8 crew members.

 

Where did this practice of “souls on board” come from? It seems a bit archaic in our society of nihilism where we are nothing but the products of time, plus matter, plus chance.

 

“Souls on board” is maritime term, a carryover from the world of ships and their crews and passengers, just as we use the maritime terms captain, first officer, and crew in aviation.

 

I suppose at some point “souls on board” will be replaced by a sterile term that fails to acknowledge that we are people who matter. Maybe it will be, “Please advise how many identification numbers you have on board.”

 

When God formed us in His image, he breathed into us “the breath of life” and “man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).  Now I think there is much glorious mystery in the Beginning (Christ) in Genesis, and however it is that we sense creation unfolded, we ought not to be distracted that it occurred in and through Jesus Christ and that God made us in His image, and that we are not the products of time plus matter plus chance; we are valuable, we are loved, we are more than our physical parts – we are souls! We are mysterious beings whose genesis is rooted in God.

 

We are so mysterious that, as Pascal and others have observed, one moment we can be as angels, and the next moment devils. We are so mysterious that we have a sense that we ought to be something more than we are. Again, to reference Pascal’s thinking, my dog has never wanted to be a lion or anything other than a dog, the same with (as far as I can tell) cats, cows, and hamsters. Why is it that men and woman generally desire to be more than what they are, than who they are? Why do we have a sense of “greater things”?

 

Might it be that this reflects a sense of loss and that we have a void that we need to fill?

 

A beggar would not know what it is to experience the loss of a throne. A king who had been deposed would know, would remember, would desire restoration to the glory he once had.

 

We are not human resources, we are not commodities, we are not identity numbers, we are souls…even in our confused state, we are souls. We are not accidents looking for a place to happen, nor should we be duped into eating whatever we are given as hogs devour what is thrown into their pens. We are women and men created in the image of God…we are loved…let us recover the truth about who we are and how deeply our Father loves us.

 

To demonstrate the maritime roots of “souls on board” we can gain inspiration from Captain Arthur Henry Roston of the Carpathia. While another ship actually saw the distress flares of the Titanic and ignored them, when the Carpathia picked up Titanic’s distress radio signal Captain Roston had no doubt what he and his passenger liner would do, they would speed to the rescue through dangerous waters. After giving the necessary orders, Henry Roston was observed praying, he knew the danger ahead for his vessel, and he knew the danger facing the souls of the Titanic.

 

Every person whom we meet today is a soul, a person whom God has given life to, a person for whom Jesus Christ died. He or she is not a human resource, is not a commodity, is not even a conservative or liberal or a particular skin color or ethnic group or economic group – but rather a soul created in the image of God – no matter how deeply and sadly that image may be marred and desecrated.

 

I am reminded of Betsy ten Boom telling her sister Corrie that perhaps they would remain as prisoners in the concentration camp until the guards could be taught to love. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had much the same perspective on the guards in his Soviet prisons, he saw how they were victims and had been dehumanized – beneath their callousness they were still souls.

 

Here is what is written on the tombstone of Captain Arthur Henry Roston:

 

In Loving Memory of

My Dear Husband

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron

K.B.I. R.D. R.N.R.

Aged 71 Years

Also Of

Ethel Minnie

The Beloved Wife Of The Above

Aged 69 Years

Sir Arthur Rostron

Captain of R.M.S. Carpathia

Saved 706 Souls From

SS Titanic 15 April 1912

 

There are souls on board all around us.

 

What will be written about us?  

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (3)

 

The king’s second question was, “Who are the right people to listen to, and who should he avoid?” The hermit’s answer was, “The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.”

 

It doesn’t appear that the hermit answers the king’s question. What do you think? Is the king asking, “As I live my life, who should I listen to, pay attention to, receive counsel from, and who should I avoid?” Or is he asking, “In a given moment who should I listen to?”

 

The hermit seems to be saying, “The most necessary man to listen to is he with whom you are.” Again, what do you think? Is the hermit answering the king’s question?

 

Let’s look at it both ways, for both ways are important.

Who should we be listening to as a way of life? The answer is a threefold cord, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted and wise men and women. To be sure we can learn from many types of people, and we ought to always be learning, but in terms of listening, that is something else. When we listen we receive, we allow into our souls what we are hearing as we allow food into our bodies – at least in our present context. (There are different levels of listening.)

 

While we must not separate the Holy Spirit from the Word of God, because we are human we will first consider one and then the Other – but let us keep in mind that they are a unity, just as Jesus Christ and the Word are One – divine mysteries!

 

“Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24). The NASB marginal reading for “my” is, “the men of my counsel.” In other words, the author of Psalm 119 has formed a relationship with God’s Word, or we might say that he has been formed into that relationship by the Holy Spirit. The testimonies of the Lord are personal to the man who wrote Psalm 119, so personal that they speak to him and he listens to them.

 

Looking at Scripture this way, we can say that the woman or man who meditates on Scripture and learns the Word of God has a council of sixty-six members who can always be trusted, who will always point her or him to Jesus Christ.

 

Paul writes to Timothy that Scripture is able to “give us wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” and that in Scripture we may find “teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness” (see 2 Tim. 3:14 – 17).

 

No matter who or what else may be speaking to us at any given time, we want to hear Scripture, we want our hearts to be tuned to the Word of God. All of life ought to be heard and seen and responded to through the Word of God, through Jesus Christ. Only in Jesus can we see and hear things are they really are.  

 

It is one thing to look at music on a page, it is another thing to play the music. Too many professing Christians carry the Book of divine music but have never played the sixty-six scores they carry. We could also say that God has given us sixty-six instruments to play, some small like the piccolo, others large and weighty; are we learning to play them? Whether it is Obadiah or Isaiah, the Holy Spirit will teach us to play both the instrument and the music.

 

Looking at it another way, in the Bible I have sixty-six friends, trusted counsellors, who all speak to me of our Great Friend, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Friend who demonstrated His “no greater love” by laying down His life for us (John 15:12-13).

 

All of the foregoing is why I believe it is essential to begin each day with the Bible, in the counsel of our dear Lord Jesus. The world throws too much at us. A little thought for the day or a devotional is not enough, deep engagement with Jesus Christ is what we must seek. Yes, devotionals can be helpful, but in and of themselves they are no substitute for a deep and abiding relationship with the Word of God. We will either be formed by the world, including the religious world, or by Jesus Christ and His Word. Which will it be?

 

Who, or what, are we listening to today?

 

For many of us the answer is a particular news outlet, a political leader, an economic leader or economic indicators, entertainment or sports stars (as much as we might deny this), or even religious headliners. This is just as true of professing Christians as of the world. To know the truth of this just listen to what we talk about, we do not speak of Jesus and His Word, we speak of other things, other people, but seldom of Jesus.

 

Perhaps there will be two types of people who arrive at the New Jerusalem, those who have to learn how to see Jesus and listen to Him for the first time, and those for whom the conversation will simply continue.

 

Which of these two people am I?

 

What about our congregations?

 

What about you?

 

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (2)

 

The king’s first question is, “When is the right time to begin everything?”

 

The hermit’s answer is, “There is only one time that is important— Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.”

 

What do you think of the answer? Are there elements that are true, and others perhaps not true?

 

Is it true that we have power? What do you think about that?

 

Jesus asks us, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” (Mt. 6:27).

 

Jesus tells us, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Mt. 28:18). If this is true, do we really have any power?

 

To say that we have power, or possess power, is to say that we operate independently of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we claim to follow Jesus, this is a problem, for without Jesus, the Vine, we can do nothing – and nothing means nothing (John 15:5). If we have not yet met Jesus and we claim to have autonomous power, we are deceiving ourselves and others.

 

Christians who operate independently of Jesus Christ build with wood, hay, and straw (1 Cor. 3:12), the foolishness of their independent lives will be manifested on that Day.

 

On the other hand, Jesus does gives us power and authority to be His ambassadors and His Presence, the Holy Spirit clothes us with power to witness to Jesus Christ and to be a blessing, in His Name, to the world and to the Body of Christ. However, this is not our power to do with as we please, it is His power and His authority to be exercised under His Lordship; we are stewards, we are not owners.

 

Jesus, as we especially see in Gospel of John, did nothing on His own initiative, all that He did was “out of” the Father. This is, in some measure, part of the Great Mystery of kenosis that we read of in Philippians 2:7, Jesus “emptied Himself” in the Incarnation. As we abide in Him, the Vine (John 15:1ff), He teaches us to allow His life to live in us and flow through us, so that we learn to do nothing out of ourselves, but rather live by His life, “doing” as we see Him do within us and through us. This is a learning process that unfolds in our relationship with Him.

 

One thing we do have “now,” always “now,” is opportunity to listen to Jesus, see Jesus, respond to Jesus, and be a blessing to others according to the grace given to us, a grace that typically has a pattern of moving us onward and upward into Jesus, leading us out of ourselves, our comfort zones, and into Him.

 

This opportunity includes the marriage of word and deed; we must speak as Jesus and act as Jesus. Paul writes to Timothy that “in season and out of season” Timothy is to be sharing the Word in its many facets (2 Tim. 4:2). So it is with us, for we are commissioned to make disciples of all peoples, “teaching them.” Those who constantly wait for the “right time” to live and speak as Jesus spend all their lives waiting. Those who wait for the right time to do the right thing will die having never done the right thing.

 

I had a friend, Harvey, who used to say, “There are two thieves always trying to steal the “now” from us, the past and the future.” He meant that if we are always looking backwards or always looking forwards – often fretting about the past or worrying about the future – that we will miss what is right in front of us, we will miss the people who are with us, who need us, and who we may very well need.

Yes, as Christians we look ahead to that City, we seek growth in ourselves and others, we desire (hopefully) to alleviate the suffering of the world; we desire that tomorrow be a better day than today for others and ourselves. However, such desire and hope can only be fulfilled by living today, by living right now, in the I AM THAT I AM, in Jesus Christ.

 

Paul writes, “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13b – 14).

 

Perhaps we could substitute the Hermit’s word “power” with the word “opportunity.” Now is the only time we have opportunity. Opportunity to know Christ, opportunity to be a blessing to those whom we are with, opportunity to pray and intercede for others, opportunity to touch others.

 

Learning to recognize the nature and form of opportunity takes time and practice, and it also takes desire and love and compassion, and a willingness to obey our Lord Jesus by offering ourselves to Him without reservation, in surrender – and surrender means unconditional surrender, we reserve nothing for ourselves, we give all to Jesus and for Jesus, laying down our lives for Him and others.

 

There will be times when we could have done things differently, there will be times when it seems as if we’ve made mistakes, but this is part of life. And let me please suggest, that if we love people and desire to serve them, that our love will be the thing that they remember – our imperfections are what they are, but our love for others will remain.

 

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor. 4:7).  God’s greatness dwarfs our imperfections! As one of my professors used to say, “Be yourself and forget about yourself.”

 

As I wrote about surrender above, I realized how foreign that word is today among Christians. How can this be? The nature of our life in Christ includes surrender to Him, a continuing offering of ourselves to Him on the altar of sacrificial living (Rom. 12:1 – 2). Yet today we hear little if anything of surrender in our teaching and preaching. We are inundated with self-centered messages, self-improvement messages, “how to” messages – but we hear nothing of surrendering our lives, our hearts, our minds, our souls, our bodies, to Jesus Christ.

 

“Now” is the most important time because “now” is when we are to surrender to Jesus Christ.

 

A life of sacrificial “nows” in Jesus, a life of intimate “nows” in Jesus, a life of “nows” in which we give our lives to others and for others, this is our calling as sons and daughters of the Living God.

 

What other Bible passages speak to us of “now”?

 

What other thoughts do you have on “now”?

 

Most importantly, how am I living now?

 

How are our congregations living now?

 

O yes, and how are you living now?

Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (1)

  

“It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to, and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake.”

 

Thus begins Tolstoy’s short story, Three Questions. What do you think of the three questions? What do you think of the king’s motive for wanting to know the answers to the three questions?

 

If you’ve read the story, which I hope you have, what do you think of its ending?

 

“Remember then: there is only one time that is important— Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!”

 

I enjoyed this little story. I admire good short story writers and tellers, to be able to draw a listener into a succinct and tight storyline, to take the reader on a journey, and to leave an impression, with no wasted words or actions, this is masterful. Let us note that not only did Tolstoy write short stories, but he also wrote War and Peace!

 

As with many others, I can think of no greater short stories than The Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. The Master is indeed the Master of the short story.

 

What of the first paragraph? What do you think?

 

What was the king’s motive in wanting the answers to the three questions? Is the motive realistic? Is it desirable?

 

If Tolstoy had written, “The king sought the answers to the three questions so that he might be a better king, serving his people,” then I’d have a different take on the king’s motive, and while that may indeed have been the motive underlying the stated motive of never failing, we’ll simply consider the motive of never failing because we don’t know anything for sure beyond what is written.

 

I’m reminded of Solomon asking God for wisdom so that he might better serve God’s people; but I’m also reminded that, having received great wisdom from God, Solomon led his people into idolatry. When we fail to hold the gifts of God in trust as stewards, when we start to think that we are owners of God’s gifts and may do with them as we please, then we have embarked on a slippery slope and both we and others will pay a price.

 

Isn’t failure one of the building blocks of life and learning? Don’t we, or at least shouldn’t we, learn when things go awry? Is not character forged in both suffering and failure?

 

Furthermore, perhaps there is a complexity to failure that we fail to appreciate. Perhaps there are times when failure is not failure, but a prelude to victory, to overcoming, to attaining a goal.

 

If I am a leader who never fails, then I am missing opportunities to teach my people how to work through failure. If I am a parent who hides his failures from his children, then I am forfeiting opportunities for my children to learn how to handle disappointment and setbacks. When is the last time you heard a politician, church leader, academic leader, business leader, or other prominent figure admit failure and mistakes (not to mention wrongdoing!) and ask forgiveness if appropriate (before they are called to account – which is seldom)?

 

Lincoln saved the Union, but not before a resume of failure after failure.

 

Churchill saved Britian, and in saving Britian likely saved democracy, but not before failures in the Admiralty in WWI, early WWII, and in his political life, living in what is known as his Wilderness Years in which he was blackballed from the BBC. Not all of Winston’s failures turned out to be failures, for example, while his warnings about Hitler resulted in ostracization from those in power, and therefore were considered political failure, they later made him one of the few politicians with credibility when his warnings proved to be all too true.

 

When we think we see failure, we may very well be looking at a prelude to victory. Our eyesight is often not very good.

 

The Apostle Paul had a long resume of apparent failure, just review 2 Corinthians 6:4 – 10 and 11:23 – 29, and let’s not forget 2 Timothy 1:15; this is hardly a recitation of success. How many people, Christian or otherwise, thought that this man, executed by Rome, would still be leading and guiding the People of Christ 2,000 years later through his divinely inspired writing and the example of his life?

 

I recall, in my business career, spending about $35,000.00 of a client’s funds, with his approval, in an attempt to find a solution to a complex mechanical problem. Had we been successful it would have been “a game changer,” to use the client’s own words. However, not only was the attempt unsuccessful, it was a logistical mess and took longer to complete than we had anticipated. I looked at the attempt as a failure.

 

A few months after the project, I said to the client, “Looking back, I’m sorry we made the attempt.”

 

With a surprised look he said to me, “O no Bob, don’t think like that. It wasn’t a failure. Look at everything we learned, and it cleared the way for us to make better decisions.”

 

No wonder this man was a leader in not only business, but also in the philanthropic and political communities of our region and nation. To him, the only possible failure was a failure to learn.

 

While most of us don’t associate C. S. Lewis with failure, we may be surprised to learn that while he held the position of Fellow, and tutored at Oxford University from 1925 – 1954, that he was never elected to a full professorship. He only became a full professor when Cambridge University created a special position just for him. As with Paul, this is a reminder that failure is not necessarily a matter of fault, it may be the result of unrighteous opposition or of other elements.

 

From time to time I’ll use baseball as an illustration, so here we go again. The best batters in baseball make more outs than they get hits and walks. They fail to get on base more times than they get on base. Every player in the Hall of Fame made more outs than they got hits. Yet, in the Hall of Fame they are enshrined as the best of the best.

 

For the man or women who follows Jesus Christ, life is not a matter of success or failure, it is a matter of loving God and others, a matter of living in Christ and doing His will (Mark 12:29 – 31; John 15:12 – 14; 1 John 3:16).  When we love God and others and obey Christ there will be times when apparent failure will be the outcome, for our guide is Christ and not the idol of success or even of self-preservation.

 

I lost the best job I ever had because I told the truth about a situation. But could it have really been the “best job” if, in order to keep it, I had to keep my mouth shut? Was my inability to keep my job a failure?

 

Is it better to fail doing the right thing, or to succeed doing the wrong thing?

 

These are just some thoughts, some ponderings; they are meant to stimulate thinking and exploration.

 

Perhaps the only real failure is the failure to learn and grow in character.

 

What lessons have you learned from failure?

Three Questions by Tolstoy: PART II

 Good morning,

Here is Part II of Three Questions. I will follow this up with some reflections. What do you think of this story? What is it teaching us? Can you think of Biblical teachings that speak to the story? If you were to present this to a small group, would you provide supplemental thoughts? That is, would you add anything to it?

Much love,

Bob 

 “You are tired,” said the King, “let me take the spade and work awhile for you.”

 

 “Thanks!” said the hermit, and, giving the spade to the King, he sat down on the ground.

 

When he had dug two beds, the King stopped and repeated his questions. The hermit again gave no answer, but rose, stretched out his hand for the spade, and said: “Now rest awhile—and let me work a bit.”

 

 But the King did not give him the spade, and continued to dig. One hour passed, and another. The sun began to sink behind the trees, and the King at last stuck the spade into the ground, and said: “I came to you, wise man, for an answer to my questions. If you can give me none, tell me so, and I will return home.”

 

 “Here comes someone running,” said the hermit, “let us see who it is.”

 

 The King turned round and saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the King, he fell fainting on the ground moaning feebly.

 

The King and the hermit unfastened the man’s clothing. There was a large wound in his stomach. The King washed it as best he could and bandaged it with his handkerchief and with a towel the hermit had. But the blood would not stop flowing, and the King again and again removed the bandage soaked with warm blood and washed and rebandaged the wound. When at last the blood ceased flowing, the man revived and asked for something to drink.

 

The King brought fresh water and gave it to him. Meanwhile the sun had set, and it had become cool. So the King, with the hermit’s help, carried the wounded man into the hut and laid him on the bed. Lying on the bed the man closed his eyes and was quiet; but the King was so tired with his walk and with the work he had done, that he crouched down on the threshold, and also fell asleep — so soundly that he slept all through the short summer night.

 

When he awoke in the morning, it was long before he could remember where he was, or who was the strange bearded man lying on the bed and gazing intently at him with shining eyes.

 

 “Forgive me!” said the bearded man in a weak voice, when he saw that the King was awake and was looking at him.

 

 “I do not know you, and have nothing to forgive you for,” said the King.

 

 “You do not know me, but I know you. I am that enemy of yours who swore to revenge himself on you, because you executed his brother and seized his property. I knew you had gone alone to see the hermit, and I resolved to kill you on your way back. But the day passed and you did not return. 

So I came out from my ambush to find you, and I came upon your bodyguard, and they recognized me, and wounded me. I escaped from them but should have bled to death had you not dressed my wound. I wished to kill you, and you have saved my life. Now, if I live, and if you wish it, I will serve you as your most faithful slave and will bid my sons do the same. Forgive me!”

 

The King was very glad to have made peace with his enemy so easily, and to have gained him for a friend, and he not only forgave him, but said he would send his servants and his own physician to attend him and promised to restore his property.

 

Having taken leave of the wounded man, the King went out into the porch and looked around for the hermit. Before going away he wished once more to beg an answer to the questions he had put. The hermit was outside, on his knees, sowing seeds in the beds that had been dug the day before.

 

 The King approached him, and said: “For the last time, I pray you to answer my questions, wise man.”

 

 “You have already been answered!” said the hermit, still crouching on his thin legs, and looking up at the King, who stood before him.

 

“How answered? What do you mean?” asked the King.

 

“Do you not see,” replied the hermit. “If you had not pitied my weakness yesterday, and had not dug those beds for me, but had gone your way, that man would have attacked you, and you would have repented of not having stayed with me. So the most important time was when you were digging the beds; and I was the most important man; and to do me good was your most important business.

 

“Afterwards when that man ran to us, the most important time was when you were attending to him, for if you had not bound up his wounds he would have died without having made peace with you. So he was the most important man, and what you did for him was your most important business.

 

“Remember then: there is only one time that is important— Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!”