Shadows of Heaven

I see so many things that remind me of God. My wife often teases me because I claim to see theological implications in the most mundane details of life. I'll admit, some of my ideas may be a little far-fetched. But not all of them. I believe that Earth as we know it is a reflection of Heaven. A tainted, dim, fallen shadow of Heaven. This is why I often see evidence of Heaven on Earth. It reminds me of that verse in Colossians, "These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."

Lately, one of the things I've been thinking about is sleeping. Yes, I see theological implications in our sleep patterns. Let me explain...

We wake up. We feel good (usually). We are renewed, refreshed, and ready for what the day may bring. We shower, we get cleaned up. We work, and work, and work some more. We pray, we eat, we relax. We get tired. Really tired. We sit down, we lay down. Our eyes get heavy. We get ready for bed, we are ready to go to sleep. We fall asleep.

Sound familiar? It sure does to me. Do you see anything else?

I believe each day we live is a condensed version of our entire lives. We wake up [we are born], we work [we grow up], we lay down [we grow old & sick] and we fall asleep [we die].

One verse of Scripture that really makes me think about this is Matthew 9:24. When the synagogue leader told Jesus his daughter had died, he was hoping Jesus would come over and lay his hands on her. The synagogue leader believed this would heal his daughter and bring her back to life. Jesus said to the man, "The girl is not dead but asleep." Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. Jesus 'woke up' a dead girl - a girl he referred to as "sleeping."

Jesus referred to death as being asleep, and Matthew 9:24 isn't the only reference to this. In John 11:11, after Jesus' friend Lazarus had died, Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

It is so interesting to me that the Lord of Heaven refers to death as being asleep. Actually, it makes me feel so much better about death. After all, as believers, when we die we are just taking a nap until the Lord Jesus wakes us up again. And when he does, oh what a day it will be!

I hope he has coffee.

To Know and Be Known

I've heard it said that the basic longing of every human soul is to know and be known. I guess that's not surprising - we are relational beings. All of us are generally happy when our relationships are fulfilling, or generally sad when our relationships are broken. When we're connected to friends & family, life seems to be more enjoyable. It's kind of funny if you think about it - if something is challenging in my life, the challenge is more bearable for me if others know about it. Has anything changed regarding my challenge? No. But somehow, the challenge is more bearable if others are with me on the journey. It's like something magical happens when we share our burdens with others, even if others are not directly helping us. Just having them know about what's going on in our lives helps get us through it. It's encouraging. It's affirming. It's validating.

Nowhere is this more apparent than on Facebook. Sometimes people post the most mundane details of their lives - things like "Heading to the grocery store - wish me luck". Why? Because just having other people know about it is validating. In that moment, it quenches their desire to be known.

And, there will inevitably be at least one person who follows it up with a "Like". There really isn't anything likeable about heading to the grocery store, but somehow it warrants a "Like". I think for the 'Liker' it's less about likeability and more about encouragement. It's kind of like saying, "Oh, you're heading to the grocery store? I know you and now I know you're going. Go for it!"

But then I started thinking to myself, Am I spending more time getting to know others, or more time trying to be known? It's really a lesson in self-centeredness. My pastor has put it this way: "Am I a 'here I am' kind of person, or a 'there you are' kind of person?" We all know them - those 'Here I am' people who walk into a room and expect everyone to notice them and give them attention. They tend to suck the life out of the entire room. Contrast that with the 'There you are' people who breathe life into the room by showing interest in others. They take attention off themselves and put it onto others, which affirms and encourages everyone they interact with. Ironically, it's the 'Here I am' people who are trying to be liked, but it's the 'There you are' people who actually succeed. People tend to love those who show interest in others. Why? Because people want to be known and you are showing interest in knowing them.

For me, the challenge isn't showing an interest in others but rather continuing to show interest after I realize they are a 'Here I am' person. They lack the conversational intuition to know when enough is enough, and they latch onto me until all my grace is gone. It's kind of like I don't want to encourage their selfishness by continuing to listen. It boggles my mind how some people will just take and take, but never give back - even among my Christian friends. I'll ask them question after question about their lives, but some of them almost never ask me a question about mine.

But, I'm sure from God's point of view I also appear to be a 'Here I am' kind of person. Most of my prayers center around me - my needs and my desires. Thank God for being an endless source of grace - He never runs out of grace to shower me with. I wish I could be more like Him. Thankfully, He is providing me with more and more reserve tanks of grace - extra measures of grace & patience which help bring me a little closer to a 'There you are' kind of person. Do I still relapse back to impatience? Sometimes. Do I still get frustrated? You bet. But, at least it's getting better.

Image of God

I often think about how the Bible describes the creation of man. In fact, since I've had children I think about it more and more.

The Bible says, "And God created man in his own image: in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

Because we often associate the word "image" with what we see with our eyes, a common sense interpretation of this would be that God made man to look like Him. But, the Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and I definitely don't look like a Spirit so it must mean something else entirely.

Since I've had children, God has really been teaching me what it means to be created in His image. In fact, I now believe He intends for us to understand this through the raising of our own children. It's through this relational interpretation of the "Image of God" that we start understanding things like the essence of love, selflessness, commitment, patience, rebellion, discipline, forgiveness and true joy. Since my two boys have been born, those words have taken on whole new meanings. I honestly don't think I understood words like selflessness and joy until I had children of my own. Now, those are more than words - those words actually hold memories for me.

Since I've had children I've come to understand that my children's relationship with me is a reflection of my relationship with Jesus. In this way, I am made as a reflection (or image) of God. God's intellect, will, emotion and relational attributes are reflected off of me and onto my children. I am therefore a reflection of God to my children - an image of God.

This is both inspiring and scary for me. Inspiring because I'm reflecting God's character to my children; and it's scary for the same reason. If I'm walking closely with Jesus, God's image becomes clearer for my children. If I turn away from Jesus, that image is obscured.

Lord, may the fruit of your Spirit, your true character, be evident in my life. May my life closely resemble your image for my children.

Audience of One

I've always been envious of the people in church who can let it all hang out. I wish I could get to the point of just blocking everything else out and going for it. Don't get me wrong - sometimes I'll do something crazy like close my eyes. Sometimes I'll join in on the clapping. Sometimes I even get a little teary-eyed. But for the most part I just take it all in and claim introversion. Maybe it's my Lutheran background. Maybe it's my Scandinavian descent. I don't know - maybe it's my insecurity. One thing I do know is that they just don't care what other people think, and I envy that.

It's easy to compare yourself to them, isn't it? I mean, they must have a really good relationship with God, for them to raise their hands up like that. Right?

I don't know. But for them, their audience consists of just One.

Dump or Dunk?

A couple years ago a friend of mine asked to meet me for lunch. I was somewhat surprised, as we never had lunch in the past and we typically didn't hang out very much. We sat down, and he mentioned he had some spiritual questions he wanted to talk about. We talked about a number of things, mainly related to the Bible and the difficulty of aligning our wayward lives with the teachings of Jesus. He came from a Catholic background and had never really connected with God in the past. When I met with him he was attending a new church, and for the first time he was really connecting with God. Our conversation went very well and we ended up meeting a few more times after that.

I saw him last week at a social gathering, and he told me he was still attending the new church and that he recently chose to be baptized in a nearby lake. I was thrilled for him and encouraged him in his faith. Another girl who is Catholic overheard us and asked, "Weren't you baptized as a baby?" My friend said that he was, but he chose to be baptized by immersion with his new church. The girl looked a little confused...

It's funny how something like baptism can be seen so differently by different people - people who all consider themselves to be Christian. The issue of baptism has divided churches, friends and even families. It's sad to think that something like baptism can be so divisive. After all, it's just water. Right?

If you haven't heard, Christians are baptized one of two ways: the sprinkling of water on the head (normally as a baby), or immersion in water (normally as an adult). I won't engage in the discussion about which method is proper, because I see it as less about the method and more about the age of the person being baptized. Why? Because in the Bible, baptism always involved a personal decision and babies can't make decisions.

So what exactly is baptism, and why do people do it? In the Bible, baptism symbolizes the beginning of a new spiritual life. It's not magical, it's not a get-into-heaven free card and no special water is needed. It's an outward symbol of an inward reality. After accepting that Jesus is who he said he is and making a decision to follow him, sinking into the water symbolizes the death of our old life, and when we rise out of the water it symbolizes our new birth into a new life with Jesus Christ. I guess at that point we could refer to ourselves as a "born-again" Christian because at that point, our new life begins and sin begins to lose its grip on our lives. As a new creation we will learn to crawl, then walk, and one day run! We may stumble, but God promises we will continue to grow. In Romans chapter 6 it says, "We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." 

So how did infant baptism get started? Infant baptism had its beginning in the early stages of what is now the Catholic church, which has influenced other denominations such as Lutherans, Presbyterians and Anglicans. Catholics in particular believe that the act of baptism is more than just an outward symbol of an inward condition - they believe that baptism holds power - the power to wipe away the original sin of Adam & Eve. Since everyone is born with a 'sin disease' that they inherit from Adam & Eve, Catholics believe that the act of baptism heals babies of this disease. More specifically, they believe baptism wipes away the guilt of this disease. In other words, they believe babies move from guilty to innocent in the eyes of God. Sadly, there is absolutely no biblical basis for this. The Bible is clear: the only way to be in right standing before God is to believe in Jesus - to trust that He suffered the penalty for our sins - ALL sins (original sin, our past sins, our present sins and our future sins). The Bible says Jesus is the key to being forgiven, not water. Does this mean that babies won't go to Heaven if they die? Absolutely not. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:13-14). He also says, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). God loves your children more than you do!

Also, a Catholic understanding of baptism doesn't work. As children get older, the ugly effects of original sin begin to show. For example, children start to lie. They become rebellious. They are self-centered. Not that this is any of their fault - they are just affected by the disease of original sin. Sprinkling water on their head doesn't change this.

Nor does baptism by immersion change this. The point of baptism isn't the cancelling of sins, it's simply symbolic of new life. It's a point in time that believers can look back on which marked the beginning of their new life with Jesus Christ. To say that baptism wipes away sin discredits Jesus. It discredits his death for us and it discredits his authority over us. It 'takes' the keys to Heaven away from Jesus and throws them into a basin of water.

It's this line of thinking that takes the focus off Jesus, and puts it on things we do rather than things Jesus has done. As this line of thinking progresses, we start focusing on 'religion' rather than the condition of our hearts. This is what led Jesus to say to the Pharisees, "Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:26-28).

Jesus can't stand it when people 'go through the motions' rather than focusing on letting Him change them from the inside out. "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Personally, for me it's a constant struggle to remember this. Our spirituality is the only facet of our lives that isn't performance-based. It's counter-intuitive to me. My job evaluates me on my performance, others judge me based on my performance and if I'm honest, I also judge others based on their performance. Isn't it great to know we have a God who loves us unconditionally? What a relief! A loving God certainly wouldn't expect a civilization of fallen ragamuffins to earn their way back to Him by the sprinkling of water, jumping in a lake, eating bread or drinking wine. No way. He wants our hearts back.

A Heavy Anchor

While in high school I worked at a marina on Lake Waconia. We stayed busy, selling bait & tackle to fishermen, renting boats and pumping gas. But on cold and rainy days it was pretty slow, so I would just sit in the bait shop and stare out the window at the lake. It was hypnotizing.

About 50 yards out from shore were sailboats. Customers would pay to keep them there, anchored to the bottom of the lake.

On cold & windy days I would stare out and watch the high winds pound the sailboats around their anchor buoys. Sometimes the storms got so strong and the wind blew so hard that the sailboats would pull their anchor buoys right out of the water, exposing the rusty chains that held them to their anchors at the bottom of the lake. I remember thinking, wow, those must be some heavy anchors. They never budged.

Our spiritual lives are much like those sailboats. When the waters are calm we may feel the occasional tug of our anchor, but for the most part we just float around, bouncing from one wave to the other. But when the storms come, we cling to our anchor, praying that it keeps us from blowing to the rocky side of the lake. Without an anchor, we are at the mercy of the storms. Even worse - we are controlled by the storms.

The Bible calls this "Meaningless - a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). To be tossed and turned by the circumstances of our lives brings us to no real destination. One day we go this way, the next day we go the other. It's meaningless - a chasing after the wind.

Contrast that with what Hebrews 6:19 says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." The hope referred to in this passage is the promise of God - the promise of the continual presence of Jesus' Spirit in our lives. It's the promise that He is with us through the storms of life, He is with us in calm waters, and He will be back - making it all worthwhile.

I don't know what storms are going on in your lives right now, but I would encourage you to remember just how heavy your anchor really is. Sometimes the storms get so strong, and the wind blows so hard that is pulls our anchor buoys right out of the water, exposing the rusty chains which bind us to Christ. But, they are strong chains, and He is a heavy anchor. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.