A Lesson in Humility

How does God speak to you?

I often find that it's through the same message popping up in several places.

I found this as the verse of the day the other day:

So then, my brothers and sisters, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

-Rom 12:1-2 

(emphasis mine)

I had just listened to a great sermon on humility (found here), all about Jesus's parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector going up to the temple. The Pharisee says "thank God I'm not like all these other people" and the tax collector is so ashamed he can't even look up to God. I've never said the Pharisee's words, but the pastor pointed out you don't have to say those exactly - if you segregate yourself from people in church by hanging out only with your friends, if you've ever looked at say someone dressed poorly or with tattoos, or say a "street person", or the local outspoken atheist walked into church and you felt uncomfortable and stayed away from them or had the attitude of "what are they doing here?" - you are like the pharisee.

(By the way, I'm not trying to pick on anyone here. They're only examples of types of people that bother some people).

Conversely, the people walking in also may separate themselves due to shame. Jesus has a message to both - I love you all. In fact, many of his parables carry messages to both groups of people - hope for the "bad" in society, and a warning to those too standoffish who consider themselves better than some people.

So, now, which are you more like - the Pharisee or the tax collector?

I find myself, when put that way, more like the Pharisee. I grew up with a strong rule system, and a strong teaching on good vs. evil. And so my tendency is to be comfortable within rules, and be quite uncomfortable with people who break them, and yes, consider myself slightly better for following the rules. Because that's what we're taught as children - following the rules is good. It was always easy, once I learned the rules, to follow them.

Getting back to the Bible passage, which I saw that same evening.

As Christians, we're supposed to be growing to be more like Christ. The New Testament has pretty radical teachings on morality that really explore loving your neighbor in a way we haven't even fully embraced today. But you can't be more like Christ (something we all want) and stubbornly cling to your same mindset as your identity. In other words, if you want a different end product, you have to be willing to change. And just like in a marriage, it's not always you want to change, or even think you need to change.

In other words, the Pharisee's real sin was not his thoughts (we all get uncomfortable sometimes), but his unwillingness to be changed.

So this week, ask yourself - how willing to be changed are you? How open are you to the idea that your whole mindset could be wrong?

One great test is when you hear ideas that are politically polar opposite of yours - do you immediately discount them as wrong or do you consider that they might be right? Do you feel any sort of antipathy or negative judgment about the person holding them? If you do, you are not open minded. Even if you're liberal, the traditionally "open-minded" party.

The flip side is that if you do let yourself become open minded, you can know the will of God. How powerful is that?!! Spouse and I always discus how you can practically  know God's will for you.

The first step is willing to be changed.

Romans 14: Just because you're a "good Christian" doesn't mean you're a better Christian

Romans 14 is all about judgment, or judging one another as Christians (particularly judging someone as "less Christian" if they do certain actions).

This was only driven home recently as, driving through Florida, there were billboards spaced every few feet along the interstate with a Jesus message. Some were Bible verses, but some were condemning. One in particular had the message "Lust leads you to Hell."

Unfortunately, this message is patently false and has no relation to Christianity.

In reality, salvation (or whether or not a person goes to Heaven) does not depend on their actions. We cannot do certain actions to earn salvation (without having Christ), and with Christ, we are guaranteed to end up in Heaven. No bad actions we take along the way can lose that.

So that message is false because if the person has Christ, even if they are lustful, they will reach Heaven, and if they don't have Christ, they could be the most unlustful person you know, and they still won't reach Heaven.

Christ is the deciding factor, not our actions good or bad.

Now, the New Testament does talk about certain actions as "bad" and others as "good". But, if they don't affect whether a person goes to Heaven or not, they must be for our own growth.

Simply put, if we do actions that are bad for us, it limits us from growing into a person. Our bad habit may hurt others or hurt ourselves (newsflash: the world is full of hurt. This idea of self hurt or hurting others is what Christianity calls "sin".)

Bad actions are "bad" because they limit is from reaching our full potential.

In some ways, this is easy to see. The Bible advocates working hard; if you are a person who procrastinates, or has trouble self-motivating to work (*me, right here! or, at least I used to), it's clear you won't accomplish as much in your life. In other areas, like with the Bible's stance against lust, it's harder to see the bad effect, but just because we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. The Bible talks about many issues we can see (like loving your neighbor, working hard, being fair, standing up for the poor and lowly and underadvantaged in society), where we can clearly see the bad or the hurt from the negative, so we need to trust it in the situations where we can't see the clear outcome. After all, God has clearer vision than we have, and those truths have lasted for such a long span of time that it's beyond our comprehension (He has longer reaching vision, whereas our lifespans are so short in comparison, and it's hard to think our modern pithy achievements are even nothing compared to the great monuments some rulers and civilizations erected, but even those far beyond our capacity testaments God scorns as nothing compared to His own achievements).

Romans 14 isn't directed at non-Christians, however; it's directed at fellow Christians. And as any Christian knows, infighting between Christians is far worse, more bitter and vehement than that directed at non-Christians. It's why there are so many denominations.

The sad part is, many Christians are convinced their denomination is the One True Right Way and all the others are going to Hell.

The basic message of Romans 14 is "Do all things in your life for God, and if someone does them differently, still know they're doing them for God too, just in a different way." As long as you're both doing everything out of love for God, you're good.

Now, that brings up another whole set of issues. Do I really live every moment of my life for God? No. I want to, but I don't. In fact, some days I don't think of God at all, I have to remind myself to do so (I'm working on that). But that is what we should aspire to. Kind of like how in Star Wars, at first opening yourself to the Force takes practice, but over time, it becomes more and more of a habit until you're doing it continuously without effort.

Verses which stood out:

The one who [drinks alcohol] is not to regard with contempt the one who does not [drink alcohol], and the one who does not [drink alcohol] is not to judge the one who [drinks alcohol], for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls...and he WILL stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Rom 14:3-4)

The drinking alcohol issue has always bugged me. How can some Christians be against it, and so adamantly that they write it off as unbiblical? After all, Jesus turned water into wine, not grape juice. Yes, this very same chapter talks about not doing things which encourage weakness in others (such as drinking in front of an alcoholic), but to take that to "you should not drink at all" is drawing to exaggeration...and then to take that position and say it's the Biblical one is absurd.

Our tendency as humans is to believe in a just world - or that certain actions lead to a certain outcome. "If I just follow these rules, I'll get this result." So, over time, civilizations create arbitrary rules which you just have to follow. Jesus condemned this in the Pharisees, because this action unfortunately focuses more on the rule itself, while sometimes the feelings behind the rules are forgotten - or even contradicted! However, the Bible makes very clear, faith in God is the #1 important thing. Not rules.

If you think of a Christian, you probably naturally associate a set of rules. Christians don't drink, don't smoke, don't have tattoos, don't have sex, don't swear, etc. However, again, these are rules, and in Christianity, rules don't get you to Heaven or even make you more righteous than the next person. Yes, some of these are suggested in the Bible, but again, it's to make you a better person. God sees all sin, and thus all sinners, as the same in His eyes...and so if you swear, drink, have tattoos, have sex, etc., you're viewed just as highly as someone who goes to church all the time and is straightlaced.

The drinking issue is the first issue that came to mind with the above verse (notice I changed the words, from the word "eat" in the original text to "drink alcohol" which I think aptly applies), but I'm sure there are other issues. To me it's clear, with lines such as "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food" (Rom 14:20), that the anti-alcoholers do not have a leg to stand on. How can they combat this passage? Do they just ignore this chapter of the Bible? I've heard that some even combat the Jesus turning water into wine by claiming he instead turned it into grape juice. But I think the following line makes it clear that what you eat and drink is so trivial to God...God's much more concerned with your emotions, and your heart pursuing the right things, than whether or not you drink alcohol.

Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14: 16-17)

We have a tendency (some more than others) to want to tear down others, or find the negative. Instead, let's work to find the positive.

Questions:

1. In what ways do I feel judged by other Christians?

• by Christians who don't drink looking down as "better" on those who do
• as a Catholic, because of all the different practices, seen as a heathen to be converted
• immersion baptism as the only "true way" and infant baptism not counting
• by those who do a greater number of Christian events or who grew up in church from a young age vs. people who didn't - they're viewed as Christian celebrities if they attend more Bible studies or volunteer at church, listen to Christian music and bands exclusively, attend all the worship nights, have done SWORD drills, etc. Does this make them better Christians? NO. It's exclusively between you, Christ, and God. God knows your faith. Just because I've never heard of most of the bands in their main popular listening circle and have no interest in listening to crappy Christian music doesn't mean I'm any less of a Christian.
• In some circles, if you don't read the King James Version of the Bible, some people think you're reading a lesser version of the Bible and look down on you! True, this tends to be older people in more high-tradition mainstream Protestant churches, but it's still Christians looking down on other Christians.

2. In what ways do I judge other Christians?

•  By the music they listen to - yup, I'm a reverse judger. So those Christians whose only music is Christian music and particularly all the latest bands, who dress alike and quote Bible passages in their everyday speech as if it were common knowledge, whose entire hobby list seems to be the church event list...I tend to put them into a certain box. I call it Cultural Christianity (although it's more of a Youth Cultural Christianity than the other meaning, of growing up in a culture where Christianity is entrenched and going to church is expected but more a part of tradition than anything to do with your personal belief). I in general really dislike Cultural Christians, mostly because I associate them with blindly following the rules I stated earlier and taking the rules as important, and standing for hateful things against people I love. However, not everyone who listens to Christian music or reads the Bible often is like this, and no one fits into a box really, so I need to not judge them.

Luckily I've gained some great friends in the past few years who are very Christian and at the same time very practical, uncoventional people. I'm still struggling to integrate this Christian faith with real life, and those people (rather than many Christians who sweep issues they don't like or don't know how to emotionally handle, like science or depression, under the rug and trying to ignore it) give a great example of how to live, move, and deal in the real world and still be wholeheartedly (and undoubtedly to all around) devoted to God. That's my example and ultimate goal.

Real Life Application:

My goals in this regard (and yes, this chapter caused me a bit of guilt as well as frustration, as it pointed out some things I too need to change!):

• Do each of my actions in my day wholeheartedly for God
• Realize every Christian is doing the things in their life for God, and don't judge them. Similarly, don't let myself be judged by them. We're all shoulder to shoulder in front of God.
• Don't fall into following the rules just because it's the easy path. God transcends rules, and wants me to focus on Him.
•  Work on learning to build others up. The Bible commends encouraging others, helping grow their strengths and develop as people. Everyone has some negative, but focus on helping them get ahead, not on pulling them behind.

Romans 13: Obey the government, without badmouthing, unless it contradicts God

Dear Lord God, I seek you today.  I open my heart to you, God and father of all, on high on Your throne. I ask you to do with me as you will today, to use me, for I am willingly your servant. I am looking for you, God, trying to find you, searching for you. Trying to hear Your answers. Please rest heavily on me today, your hand across my shoulders, steering me with your wisdom, guiding me with your words. Whisper to me today, Oh Lord. Don't let me search in vain. You say you are like the northern light for those who search for you, that if I search, there you will be found. I pray you guide my study today. I pray you would turn me in the directions you want me to be turned.

Dear Lord God, I pray for [the gift of] your presence today. I'm seeking you and I pray that I would find you. I pray you guide my study today and turn me in directions according to your will. Renew my heart, Lord; refresh my heart and mind with the everlasting light and goodness and peace of your waters [spirit]. Conform me to your will. Help me to be a good person today, a servant and representative of you Lord. Along with your messiah and servant Jesus, I humbly ask this. Amen.

I finally moved on to Romans 13, after getting stuck on Romans 12 and reading it again and again...and again. You know what I'm talking about: you sit down at your computer intending to read the Bible, the last passage you read (Romans 12) is up so you decide to start with that to summarize and get your mind in the mood before moving on to the day's reading, and then someone interrupts you before you get to the end. This has been my life for the last several days.

So, on to Romans 13.

The summary: obey the governing authorities, because they are put in place by God.

I'm not sure what to think of this passage. This immediately brings to mind Divine Right, where kings used this passage and others to justify doing whatever they want (usually bad things). I think the message is quite clear from the rest of the Bible that you're supposed to follow your conscience over any rules, that you're supposed to stick to doing good, and not do evil, even if commanded to do it. In fact, this passage draws the distinction between good and evil also (see verses 3-5), with the idea that the rules that are not expressly evil are good.

So, this passage means we should follow rules, even rules we think are trivial or stupid, as long as they don't violate God.

One great example (and story I'm reminded of) is the story of Daniel. In it (see the Book of Daniel in the Bible), 4 Jewish youths are taken away to a foreign land (Babylon), to serve a foreign king (Nebuchadnezzar). The new land has lots of new laws, some of which contradict what they must do for God. How do they continue to worship God properly?

In this age, too many Christians seem to give the answer of "replace the government with one we like, and disrespect the one in power." Talk bad about the president and about how he's "ruining the country". Ignore or fight most laws, even laws that have nothing to do with them. However, this is not the example we see of Daniel and his friends (or of Joseph, another story of someone struggling to follow God in an environment of non-Godly (as in not following the Jewish God) ruler and laws.

In both cases, Daniel and Joseph, both humbly follow the laws of the land, unless it contradicts a direct decree of God. Instead of personally badmouthing or ignoring laws or rulers they don't like, by contrast, they are very quiet on the subject. When asked, they refuse to say anything bad, and in turn, they not only survive in a foreign culture that does not place their God at #1 (read: America, which is as it should be - in a land of freedom of religion, secular laws should not place the Jewish God at #1 even if I believe in him but instead should be focused on equality), they actually thrive. They both move up the governmental ranks until they reach pretty much the highest possible positions in their societies, second only to the king himself.

Now, some can argue it was only because God had a specific plan for His people in each case which required them to be in high positions, so that is why they survived and advanced. With only two examples, we'll never know for sure. However, the whole point of the Bible is not just to tell stories of how God interacted with His people in the past (which then makes it historically interesting but not relevant to our lives, a thing of the past only), but to be a living document, or relevant to us today. Usually this is taken to mean we should use the stories in the Bible as examples for us, a clear lesson to be learned.

If that is the case, then we should follow in Joseph and Daniel's example, and follow the rules set by our governments, with no complaining, as long as they do not violate one of God's directives. And when they do, we disobey them quietly, continuing to do as God commanded, but not stirring up trouble. After all, much of the New Testament condemns initiating strife, instead commending keeping peace.

Many Christian conservatives want to make the government of the U.S.A. a Christian government. This will never, and should never, happen. Mostly because when it comes down to it, churches can't even agree on the rules within themselves, which is why we have different denominations. So many Christians want the laws to be the Laws of the Bible/God, yet they can't agree on what they are (plus, this is an aside, but any time there are set laws, human tendency is to start to force people to rigidly follow them, such that the laws become important but the spirit behind the laws or the original intention is forgotten or even opposed! This is exactly what Jesus fought against - in His words, it's clear that the intention behind the law, and God, is much more important than the specifics of the law itself).

How do I apply this?

So, how does this fit in to Star Wars? How does this fit in to being a Jedi (or Jedi in training, even if I'm not one yet?) Theoretically, as a Jedi, I'm devoted to helping all people, to ensuring basic rights for people and protecting the innocent, regardless of if I agree with their views or not. A Jedi should also theoretically be humble, not bragging about their skills (see Romans 12: fits right in!), and I believe not stirring up strife. But how do you stay quiet if you disagree? Is it wrong to express your views? And if you express your views once and people ignore or brush them off, then what? I don't think staying silent is the answer, but I do think expressing your views in a polite way is required. But then if people ignore you again? At some point, continuing to express your views (even if polite) becomes a nuisance, or can stir up strife. What then? Some of the greatest changes were brought about through civil disobedience (politely but repeated efforts). I'm not sure how to reconcile the two.

In any case, I'm sure humility is key, along with politeness and respectfulness. You should try to see where the other party is coming from, but that doesn't mean you can't still have your own views. You should always express them politely.

I guess the answer is, even if you think something is ineffective and wasteful, don't oppose it unless it has the potential to hurt people down the line. And then, both as Jedi and as followers of God, we are supposed to stand for all our fellow men, especially the downtrodden and poor, so we must oppose it. Often, these directives will hurt someone down the line. Otherwise, even if we don't like it, we must calm ourselves and learn to accept it. In some sense, accepting things we don't like is part of entering adulthood. I guess that's what meditation is for.

Romans 10-12

My heart's desire and my prayer for you is for your salvation. You have a zeal for God, but are living in a fantasy, not the real world.  You sought to establish rules of righteousness, but they're your own, not God's, so you're not following God's rules of good. Christ is the answer, and completed the rules which lead to good -  He is the new good.

How do I apply this to my life? Is God speaking to my last post? Does this mean we shouldn't have rules we try to live our lives by?

But then, if we don't, it's easy to go off track. Hard and fast rules give you something to stick to, and help eliminate shades of grey.

The rest of Romans 10:
Believe in Jesus. Confess that he's the Lord and believe God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved, regardless of if you're Jewish or not.

Evangelism is important, because people can't be saved if they don't hear. And yet, there will be those who do hear who refuse to believe.

Romans 11:
As Christians, don't be arrogant towards Jewish people who don't accept Jesus, because God saves who he wants to (there is a remnant that will be saved). They were God's special people first. And if they then decide to believe, then they too will have eternal life with God.

-I don't feel like this message is directed at me, but I do like messages of unity.

Romans 12: all about the betterment of ourselves.
Live purely and holy, renew/open your mind. Build towards good. Be humble. Use what faith you're given.

God has made everyone to be different, so accept those differences, and use your own gifts to help. Some gifts are: the ability to speak God's mind/will, the ability to teach, to be generous, leadership, mercy.

Devote yourself to others, and be humble.

Be sure to have mindfulness of your own actions/perseverance, fervent towards the Lord, serving him, rejoicing, continuing in hard times, praying often, helping others in need especially other Christians, and generally being hospitable to everyone.

Do and speak good to those who cause you hardship instead of cursing them. Feel with others - celebrate with their joys and mourn with their losses. Bring peace. Don't take revenge (let things go). Pursue good, and you will overcome evil.

-Love this. Romans 12 is pretty much the Jedi passage of the Bible. It's all the good directives of the Jedi in one passage. Do good to others and don't meet evil with evil but instead with good. Be constantly transformed/renewed (and how else do you do that except by 1) continuing to learn and trying have an open mind, open to being changed by new experiences and knowledge, and 2) constantly staying in touch with God so He can fill you and enlighten you?)