Courage

Comparisons

My wife does most of the shopping in our family, especially when it comes to buying produce. However, last week my wife asked me to buy some cucumbers.  As I came across the bin, I had to ask myself, how do I know which cucumber is the best, so I began squeezing them, thinking that if one were less squishy, it probably would be better.  I personally have no interest in biting into a squishy cucumber. 

I suppose we do that with most of the things we buy.  Comparison is the main method by which we decide things.  Which bag of milk is freshest?  Which car gets the best mileage?  Which laptop is a Mac?

What interests me though is how we compare ourselves to others.  Thomas Shadwell, a 17^th Century Poet said that “No man is happy but by comparison”.  Strange words for a poet that was born 100 years after Shakespeare. 

I disagree with Shadwell.  It all depends on whom you compare yourself to.  If I compare my looks to Bradley Cooper or Brad Pitt…or some other Brad, I’ll probably be unhappy.  But if I compare myself to Shrek, I’ll probably feel good about myself.

Isn’t the same thing true with my finances, or dancing ability? This is especially true when it comes to morality.

This is an area where we almost always compare down isn’t it?  I may not be perfect, but at least I’m better than that guy who drinks and drives.  Of course, the drunk driver is saying that he’s better than the his neighbour who beats his kids. 

But what if we compared ourselves to perfection?  In all my years of youth ministry I’ve only ever met one kid who thought he was perfect…and everyone around him could tell you that he was wrong.

So how do we do when we compare ourselves to Jesus, whom the bible tells us was perfect?

It really doesn’t matter who happens to be worse than me when I realize how I compare to Jesus.  And when I compare myself to perfection it highlights how far from perfect I actually am.  I feel like the squishiest cucumber in the bin.

But I don’t think God wants us going through life feeling like squishy cucumbers.  He gave us the gift of life and He wants us to experience it to the full.  That’s why Jesus gave up Heaven to come to earth.  He lived a perfect life so that He could die for all of MY imperfections…and yours too. 

The bible tells us that if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouths that Jesus is who He says He is; then we will be saved.  When that happens Jesus’ perfection covers over our imperfection.

So I’ll ask you what I’ve asked hundreds of teenagers.  How do you compare to Jesus?  And is there any reason why you wouldn’t want Him to cover your imperfections?

"Equality" isn't "fair"

 My wife and I love to read.  Even more, I love that this enjoyment of reading has been passed on to my children.  Even my youngest, who can’t yet read, loves to curl up with a picture book.

Over the past few years I have read through longer novels with my son.  We’ve gone through C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, which I would highly recommend, and now we are working our way through L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time”.  This is a book that I’ve been aware of for years, but never got around to reading.  I can’t say I’m finding it as enjoyable as Narnia, but it’s decent.

Last night we read a scene in chapter 9 in which the main character has an epiphany that: “Alike and Equal are not the same thing at all.”  Another way to say this that “fair and equal are not the same” and this is a truth that our family has had to learn to appreciate over the years.  I imagine yours has as well.  Usually these lessons are preceded with the statement: “No fair”.

An example:  My son is 9 years old; my daughters are 7 and 5.  They are different in many ways, and we don’t try to treat them as though they were the same.  We endeavour to treat them fairly, but that doesn’t mean we treat them equally.  Bedtime is a good example.  We’ve always tried to get our kids to bed reasonably early.  We usually start the process around 7:30 and my daughters, who share a room, go through the routine and we turn the lights out.  My son goes through the routine, and then we let him read until 8:30, depending on certain variables.  “No fair!” cries one of the girls.  We haven’t treated them equally, and that seems unfair.  Rather than using the adage “life isn’t fair” which, although true, wouldn’t really help the situation at that moment, we try to explain that “fair” doesn’t mean “equal”.  Because he’s older, it wouldn’t be “fair” to treat them “equally”.

Another side of this discussion is when we bring the idea of “Value” into the equation.  Just because we let our son stay up later, doesn’t mean we “value” him more than our girls, it simply means that they are different and it’s fair to treat them differently.

There has been a lot of discussion in our culture lately about equality.  And I think that there is a confusion that suggests that if people aren’t treated exactly the same, it means they aren’t valued, when really; it just means that there are differences that should be considered.  Again, an example:  Men and Women are different.  It seems that some would even question that statement; some would suggest that gender is in our imagination.  I don’t have the space in this post to tackle that subject, but I would suggest that there are very clear differences between Men and Women, certainly physically, and arguably otherwise as well.  Men and Women should not be treated equally in all circumstances.  They should be treated fairly in all circumstance, but fair doesn’t mean equal.  Every person should be treated as equally valuable, because in God’s eyes each person is so valuable that He was willing to trade His Son, Jesus, for them.

As a Christian, I am called to love everybody, to treat everyone as valuable.  That doesn’t mean that I’m supposed to treat everyone equally.  That wouldn’t be fair.

Joy & Pain

In 1988, Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock released a song called Joy & Pain.  It’s a classic tune that holds up quite well today.  I don’t dance, but this song makes me wish I did  Seriously, give it a listen.  If you don’t like this song, you don’t like 80’s hip-hop…but that’s not really what this post is about.

Our church has been working through a series on the book of James in the Bible.  One of the strangest verses at first glance is James 1:2.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.”

Seems strange doesn’t it?  Why would anyone be joyful about trouble?  Well, James goes on to say that when trouble comes, it’s an opportunity for growth.  When pain comes, it’s an opportunity for joy.  It’s not the pain that brings us joy; it’s the way we react to the pain and the results that come about because of it. 

I’ll take it a step further; at the same time taking a step back.  Hey, maybe I can dance after all. 

First, to step back; most of the Psalms in the bible were written about 1000 years before James was alive.  The Psalms speak a lot about joy.  They also speak a lot about pain.  The author of Psalm 43 connected joy and pain long before James did.  Now here’s where we step forward.  Psalm 43:4 says:

“There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.

I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!”

James tells us that pain leads us to the opportunity for joy.  This Psalm tells us how it works.  Pain drives us to our knees.  Pain drives us towards God.  God is the source of our joy. 

C.S. Lewis wrote about this almost 2000 years after James.

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that God causes our pain.  The amazing thing is that God is present regardless of what we’re feeling.  We just tend to be more aware of Him when we are hurt.  We have a choice about how we respond to our pain.  We can blame Him for our pain, or we can come to the realization that we can experience joy despite the pain.  We can come to the realization that our circumstances don’t dictate whether we experience joy or not.  Joy is the natural result of closeness with God, through Jesus Christ.  Joy is the natural result of having the Holy Spirit in our lives.  If your pain drives you towards Jesus, then celebrate the pain. 

This also means that our joy isn’t dependent on other people.  People can rob your joy, only if you let them.  This doesn’t mean they can’t hurt you, but again, people don’t dictate whether we experience joy or not.  Only our response to Jesus will decide whether we have joy.

So, when you experience pain, let it drive you towards the One that is the source of all our joy.  Let Jesus carry your pain, and you can dance with joy!