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Cling To What Is Good

We are wired to cling. Touch a newborn’s palm, and tiny fingers will curl around yours. With every timid or confident step, we hold on tight–to something.

As I write this post, many of us wait in self-quarantine as COVID-19 ravages the planet. In this new normal, habits change, priorities reset, and a fresh set of verbs dominate conversations. Shelter, distance, avoid, wash, wipe down, hoard, steal, price-gouge, blame, panic, pray….

Looking for somewhere to cling

For all battered by failed promises, drenched by negative forecasts, and afloat with fatigue and fear, I offer you the third verb of our Alphabet of Life: Cling.

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul unfolded a pattern for hope in the midst of any storm:

Hate what is evil:
cling to what is good.

These words from Romans 12:9 come alive in the original Greek. Let’s take a look:

Hate

The Greek word apostugeo means: to abhor, loathe, detest utterly. We are commanded to hate! Is this horrifying to you, or welcome permission? Keep reading…

Evil

The Greek word, poneros, is commonly translated: evil, or bad, but literally means “pain-ridden”— for misery always follows when evil has its way. The Greek language has other words for evil, but this word refers not so much to malevolence, as worthlessness. In the New Testament (references are cited below), poneros is used to describe:

  1. A tree bearing only bad fruit.
  2. A servant, shown astonishing, undeserved mercy by his master, then refusing to extend even a hint of mercy to another.
  3. A servant, entrusted with investing his master’s treasure, instead buries his gifts in cowardly fear.
  4. Christians favoring the rich and powerful, and dishonoring the poor.
  5. People preferring darkness over light, for fear their [worthless, pain-bringing] deeds will be exposed.
  6. Leaders encouraging selfish ambition, disorder, lies, slander, envy, boasting, and financial greed.

What do all six examples have in common?

  • All deny their true vocation and design.
  • Each increases the world’s suffering instead of promoting healing and joy.
  • Together they embody the lie that God is a worthless, cruel, stingy, corrupt, and greedy tyrant–no different from us.

So, if you love God, you will also loathe and utterly reject evil in yourself, and in others. God offers no middle ground for ambivalence. A familiar line in Lord’s Prayer could translate, “deliver us from all that is worthless” (Matt 6:13). Pray it often! And renounce your own worthless ways. But we are still only half way…

Cling

The Greek, kollao means: to join, hold fast, cleave to, be “super-glued” to. Cling is the opposite of hate. This is important, for most of us find it easier to cling to our hatred instead. God commands us to turn from evil, and grab hold of something else…

Good

The word, agathos can be translated good, useful, sound, serviceable, beneficial, correct, gentle, brave, capable. agathos is the opposite of poneros. Good is everything evil can never be.

Because only God is truly good (Luke 18:19), all goodness originates from him. Therefore, as we live out his “very good” design for us, we will bless and benefit the world.

But, when we submit to an alternate pattern, to our fear-driven, self-serving, (and so worthless) impulses, we become agents of pain and suffering instead.

O God, give us new hearts, transform our thinking, cure our blindness so we will cling to your goodness:

  • bees hovering near a fruit tree in blossom,
  • birds singing to a golden dawn,
  • whales breaching through clear, clean water.

In other words, all of creation joyfully obeying the Creator’s intended design. Will you join in?

When fear comes knocking…

  1. Keep your radar alert to all that is cruel and pointless–don’t close your eyes in indifference or fear. Confess and grieve your own complicity. But don’t make your home there. Instead…
  2. Cling with all your strength, focus all your attention on the goodness of God, reflected in the world he created and loves. And then…
  3. Choose a life of worth and blessing. Determine each day to be a gentle, brave, capable, useful, conduit of true goodness, in every way you are able.

As poet Thomas Chisholm urged, one hundred years ago, “Join with all nature in manifold witness to God’s great faithfulness, mercy and love.”

Where do you see evidence of true goodness around you today? I’d love to hear your stories!

*Matthew 7:17; 18:32-33; 25:14-30, James 2:1-7, John 3:19-20, 1 Timothy 6:4-10

Thanks for joining us here! You can subscribe to this series by scrolling to the very bottom of this page. Next time in our series, Alphabet of Life: Delight

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Bible Faith Life

Change And Become Your True Self

baby birds hatching, become something new

“We are all rough drafts of the people we’re still becoming.”

Bob Goff

To be, or to become–which is the question?

Be: Life is a state, a fate, an accomplishment, a fortress we defend, a task from which we escape.
Become: Life is change, constant movement, a journey, a path we travel, a dance with ever changing steps.

Be: Life is a true or false test, with one chance to pass.
Become: Life is a story, and its end will astound us all.

Be: I am what I am, and nothing’s going to change.
Become: Change your mind, your habits, your distracting allegiances, and become someone new–today.

But We Fear Change

But change alarms us. Consider this powerful, poetic insight: “We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.” W. H. Auden

  • We love our illusions–our shiny self-image, our cocoon of comfort, and elusive security.
  • We fear our crosses–refusing to die to rampant self-interest, our ravenous egos, the whimpering voice inside demanding certainty and control.

The truth is, there is no neutral ground. By default, we become something, in response to what we love or fear. We are changed by our choices (or the strongest voices), over time feeling more at home with Heaven or with Hell.

We Become Addicted to Change

I recently read a thoughtful (and, in some ways horrifying) interview with Mark Zuckerberg. Without a doubt, this brilliant young man has single-mindedly changed the way we do relationships–not to mention, how some of us vote. Evidently, the informal corporate motto for Facebook has been, until recently, “Move fast and break things.” As one top manager admits, “We believe in the religion of growth.”

Well, the gods of growth have granted them favor, judging by the number of us with phones glued to our hands. The population of Facebook now exceeds the number of Christians in the world.

Certainly, there’s a problem, as a former Facebook executive candidly shares. “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works–no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth…I feel tremendous guilt.”

In the New Yorker interview, Mr. Zuckerberg seems genuinely puzzled as to how to fix what his team so merrily broke. Which algorithm could restore us? Sadly, as history reveals, human effort can make us great–but even the brightest Tech thinkers don’t know how to make us good.

And greatness without goodness makes monsters of us all.

So, Change and Become Your True Self

In our series, An Alphabet of Life: Wisdom Learned in the Verbs, we continue with another common human question: “Who am I?” The Bible answers the bigger question behind it first, and then responds to ours:

  • Bigger Question #1: What is God like? Can I trust him today, and always?
  • Our Question #2: Who am I? Who am I meant to become?

We find the answer to the second question hidden in the answer to the first. What do I mean? Here’s an example.

An Example from Psalm 103

Question #1: What is God like–can I trust him? Answer (a brief summary): God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He’s the good and true Ruler and Judge over all heaven and earth, who heals, forgives, and redeems; a compassionate Father who “remembers that we are dust.”

Question #2a: Who am I? Answer (a summary): Like grass and wild-flowers, you are fragile and fleeting, yet surrounded by, crowned with, the faithful, generous love of God (as described in answer #1).

Question #2b: And, who am I meant to become? Answer: God’s beloved child, strongly resembling him (as described in answer #1).

Do you see how human identity and purpose come wrapped in the character of God?

The Key

But, how do we become like God, rather than his opposite? We return to the first question, “Can I trust him?”

For instance, when faced with a choice, what scale weighs your decision? The approval of others? The best financial outcome? What feels most pleasurable, comfortable, or secure?

The scales we use reveal who we really trust. And, who we trust determines who we become.

God, may my choices reflect your loving plan for this world, and in this way become my true self.

Thanks for meeting me here! You can subscribe to this series by scrolling to the very bottom of this page. Join us next time for Cling in our Alphabet of Life.

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Bible Culture Life

Act Justly: An Antidote For Outrage

An antidote to outrage

“There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.”

Saint Frances de Sales

Addicted to Outrage

The topic of outrage is a researcher’s dream–no need to search far for examples. Today, even mild offense at perceived injustice erupts into viral disgust. According to recent studies,

  1. Anger is addictive. After an anger adrenaline rush, the primordial area of our brain begs for more. We find courteous, moderate discussion chemically boring, so we reach for another unhappy high.
  2. Anger can be dangerous. Medical research proves that chronic anger can lead to heart disease, diabetes, eating disorders, and mental/emotional ill-health.
  3. Anger is profitable as well as entertaining. The growing “Outrage Industry”, centered on crude, demeaning rants about public figures or topics, is turning bullies into billionaires, at our blood pressure’s expense.
  4. Anger often leads to a sense of moral superiority–when the people around us refuse to join in.
  5. Anger is selective. Blame-throwing is so much less painful than admitting our own complicity with injustice.
  6. Anger is contagious. According to social media research, strong emotions travel faster online. But nothing moves faster, and is “shared” more often, than outrage.

Except for Awe. When we encounter something bigger and better than ourselves–more beautiful, more kind, more just, more redemptive–the natural response is to stop… and to share. Researchers discovered that awe is even more contagious and addictive than anger, and so much better for our health.

So, how do we cultivate awe?

Act Justly

In our series, An Alphabet of Life: Wisdom Learned in the Verbs, we begin with the question facing every human being: “What is the good life? In a world so angry, so broken and confused, how do I not only stay sane, but thrive?

The ancient prophet’s answer is ever new: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

The good life is not found in our powerful emotions–it is something we are caught in the middle of doing.

  • Angry? Act justly in every thought and encounter, even when the world around you is unjust.
  • Disgusted? Love kindness, invest yourself whole-heartedly in mercy, and never trade it for darker thrills.
  • Horrified? Walk humbly with God, obeying his voice, in certain hope his justice and mercy will prevail.

Choose Life or Death

Life: Because God delights in human flourishing, his justice bends toward the vulnerable and powerless, the alien, and the poor–the unfortunates most often despised.

To heal, save, transform, redeem, repair, restore, defend, plant, uplift, encourage–these are biblical verbs of life.

Death: The devil, the self-proclaimed ruler of this world, delights when humans, made in the image of God, diminish. So, our world teaches us to favor the rich, the powerful, the self-sufficient and self-made.

To destroy, discourage, deface, demean, devastate, despise, divide, deceive, humiliate, exploit–these are biblical verbs of death.

Read the verbs, slowly, again.

Every time you act, think, listen, and speak, you choose either life or death–not only for yourself, but for the rest of us.

Team Human

Earlier this year, my husband and I were in line to board our airplane. The terminal space provided was small and crowded, making it impossible to avoid the conversations clamoring around us. The topics and opinions shared were neither uplifting nor reasonable. Everyone was angry about something.

My husband looked at me, his eyes wide with dismay, and I almost blurted out, “I don’t think these are our people.” Instead, I heard God’s almost audible whisper, “Forget pasting labels and choosing sides–I want you to root for Team Human.” Just like that, everyone in the terminal became my people, simply because they are His.

Further reading: Psalm 33: 4-5 Psalm 103 Psalm 106:3 Proverbs 11:2 Isaiah 56:1 Jeremiah 9:23-24 Jeremiah 22:3 Matthew 5:7 Matthew 23:23 James 3:13-18

Sources:

Join me next time for Become in our series: An Alphabet of Life: Wisdom Learned in the Verbs.

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