Saturday, October 4, 2008 · living the life ·
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I concluded my last post with the idea that Jesus’ wisdom in dealing with difficult people was the result of filtering their actions and His responses through love — what I termed a “love filter.”
I should note here that a love filter isn’t rose-colored glasses; choosing to filter people and the world through love is not choosing to ignore problems or act as if none exist. We saw last time that Jesus didn’t ignore problems; rather, He had the wisdom to know when to confront and when to overlook.
So the question becomes, “How do we love as Jesus loved? How do we develop that wisdom?” This is by no means an exhaustive list, but here are two things that are helping me.
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Wednesday, October 1, 2008 · living the life ·
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Getting an eternal perspective on annoying people helped some, but it didn’t solve the problem. For the last few days, I’ve been having fantasies of telling this person — let’s call him Alan — of telling Alan off: kindly and gently, but still telling him off.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008 · living the life ·
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I was writing in my journal yesterday about my frustration — my anger, really — with a coworker, using ink on paper as a way to vent and perhaps to find some perspective. I wrote,
“I feel like he is often — always? — judging me. And he is arrogant — and insecure, and well-intentioned. But he doesn’t extend grace to others. Should I expect an atheist to be grace-full? I suppose not.”
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008 · living the life ·
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In honor of Mary Magdalene’s feast day, I reviewed what the Bible actually says about this most controversial of Jesus’ disciples. As I noted, this Mary has enough to recommend her to our consideration without the speculations of prostitution or marriage to Jesus.
Perhaps the most obvious lesson from her life is that God heals and restores. Both Mark and Luke note that Jesus healed Mary of seven demons. Some scholars take this literally, while others suggest that seven is used to symbolize the severity of her physical, non-demonic illness. Whatever your view of demonic activity, Mary had a serious problem and Jesus solved it. Completely.
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Monday, July 21, 2008 · meditations ·
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July 22 is the feast of Mary Magdalene in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches. Because of the popularity of The DaVinci Code, this Mary has received a lot of attention in the last few years, though most of it has been based on poor scholarship or fabrication of “facts” about her (this article in the Wikipedia gives a good run-down of the various ideas about Mary Magdalene and their origins).
Among Christians, it is commonly — and mistakenly — believed that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet; she’s also often identified with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Much of this conflation of different women is based on a sermon given by Pope Gregory I in 591; as an aside, it’s interesting to note that one man’s misunderstanding of Scripture could have such a widespread acceptance. I remember hearing in Sunday school or sermons that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute who anointed Christ. However, the Gospels don’t support this idea at all. So what do we know about Mary?
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Saturday, July 19, 2008 · meditations ·
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I got a package a few days ago. Packages aren’t that unusual for me, because I order from Amazon fairly often (too often!), but every time a box shows up at the door, the kids are excited — especially Isaac, who always asks if it’s for him (unfortunately, it rarely is, which makes me think that I ought to mail something to him just because). This package, however, was unexpected, and it wasn’t from Amazon, so I was excited. And, it came while Teddie and the kids were out of town, so it was doubly nice to get a surprise when I was home alone with Haley (our dog). I have had some health problems over the last year or so that have been a little challenging (well, truthfully, more than a little — but that’s for some other time). So my sister Jennifer sent me hope.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 · living the life, prayer ·
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Okay, I couldn’t not write about this week’s prayer, specifically the first part:
Lord, make me have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name
While I respect the desire expressed in this prayer, I confess that I’m troubled by make me each time I read it. We recently sang a song at church that expressed a similar sentiment: […]
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Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP ). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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