The Lie of Reward

I have recently witnessed a common attitude in two families close to me; and one that disturbs my heart. This misguided form of spiritual pride occurs when people are materially blessed - AND then assume that the blessing is a reward for their behavior. I believe this is closely related to the "prosperity teaching" in some churches. The assumption is that if I'm living in a Godly manner, doing everything right, and therefore deserve it, then God will bless me abundantly. Logically, if I have already been blessed abundantly (in a material sense) then I must be doing everything right!

Which of the lies buried within the previous statements should we debunk first? I hardly know where to begin... but here's an attempt.

(1) God does not operate under a system of rewards - He gave us the greatest reward there has ever been, i.e. His very self, while we were still sinners. He did not wait until we were "perfect" in order to reward us with salvation. We never could have earned it, nor can we now. There never will be another reward from God, because none is necessary.

(2) If God gave us what we deserved, we'd all be condemned to hell forever.

(3) If number (2) made you think, "Not me", then you are more deceived than the rest of us.

(4) God sees us all, every single person, exaclty the same. Consider your own children, and attempt to answer the question, "which one do I love most?" He is not able to favor one over another, but loves each of us the same. There is no way to "earn" greater love or blessing from God than He already has for you. However, you can learn to receive it better, in truth.

(5) You will never be doing everything right. Forget that line of reasoning, it's a lie.

(6) When you experience a crisis in the midst of your prosperity (not if, but when) - then what will you say about God? The converse of the above logical statement is that God is punishing you. What if you've done nothing to be punished for? What then? God just stopped loving you? He ran out of rewards? Job was, in the words of God himself, a righteous man - and very wealthy. He lost everything.

(7) God's definition of "blessing" is very different from ours - and likely has nothing to do with material possessions or comforts. Does God want you to be happy? Sure He does! Is he going to give you a lot of stuff to accomplish that wish? Probably not. To Him, blessing you means putting people in your life who love you for who you are, giving you ample opportunities to bless others, healing your relationships with friends and family, and giving you internal peace and contentment. The size of your house, the amount in your bank account, or the model of your car is not nearly as important to him as the state of your heart.

These are some difficult truths. In our human-ness, we want to believe that we can earn good things with good works. That is just how we are - but that is the human system, not the God-system. He is all about grace, compassion, love, mercy, and peace. The immaterial is His substance, and it is with these qualtities that He reaches into our lives and blesses us beyond measure.

PROGRESS

Time progresses forward,
Leaving the past behind as it was,
Fading into wisdom,
The clarity of the present
Prevailing over memory’s loss.

Invention pushes forward,
Building on the past in vain hope,
Faster, stronger, smarter -
Perceiving not the limit
Of the mind’s potential.

God invents the time,
Embodies the source of life itself,
Reaching, extending, moving -
An ever-breathing vine carrying us,
The growing dependent.

The future waits mysterious,
Not meant to be foreseen
But discovered, experienced
As the perpetual crawl of being
Continues its inspired journey.

HERE YOU GO

Here’s what we will do for you,
Nothing that you want us to
‘Cause all your lies were never true
And we have been created new.

Here’s what we would care to hear,
The words of love and not of fear
That proceed from the caring tongue
Of spirits made to live as one.

Here’s what we choose to believe,
The truth of words that God has breathed,
And not your whispers of the dark,
Casting doubt in trusting hearts.

Here’s the way that we will fight,
Always, ever for what’s right
In constant opposition to
The likes of evil, hateful you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORDS

They all say their lines in perfect style,
Delivering words like fountain pennies,
Heaping their cheapened utterance on tired ears
That beg for valuable silence.

No one takes them seriously anymore,
These thespians of the modern age
Who speak for the sake of filling time
With sound lest they’re forced to think.

We’re buried in a lack of meaning,
Saddened that gone is the day when art
Was all about communication,
Well-crafted and designed to impact.

If I wax poetic it is only because
I love the careful combination
Of symbols we call language,
This powerful tool for sharing ourselves.

The words existed before mankind,
Forming in the vortex of space and time
Until they could not help but create,
For words become what they define.

LOST TO FOUND

I don’t know why you love me,
I don’t know how you could,
Except that God above me
Made you so you would
Shelter and protect me
From the evil world around
With the strength to let me
Make the leap from lost to found.

I can’t begin to tell you
For I can’t pretend to know
The reasons why He thought you
Could depend on me to go
All the way to heaven with you
Through the valleys and the tears,
But I thank my God He picked you
And has kept us through the years.

I haven’t been the best one
In the ways I haven’t shown
And I wish I wasn’t just one
So you’d never be alone,
Though apart we’re still together
I can’t stand to feel your heart
In the pain of what I never
Should’ve caused you from the start.

I still believe in both of us
And what the future holds,
The past is but a ghost to us
Whose haunting’s dead and cold
And now that we have cast away
Unto a better shore,
I pray our love will find a way
To dream like once before.

The Innocents

These are the kids
We had together
In earlier times
When we got along better

These are the ones
Who suffer most
From all the failures
Parents boast

These are the purest
Hearts of all
Corrupted by
Our selfish fall

These little minds
Can’t understand
Why love can’t always
Last as planned

These precious souls
Were meant to be
Both innocent
And trouble free…

BURIED

My mind can’t seem to wrap around
The truths now buried deeper down
Below the ranting of the mind
Distracting me from trying to find
The peace I know that should be there
Along with spirit’s kinder fare
Compared with this thing ominous
That tries to pull away from love
Its rightful blessing only for
A chance to try and wound some more.

Needs

Lately, I've been thinking about needs. I find it interesting that when our needs are being met, we don't think about what they are. When they are not being met, we still don't think about what they are - we just lament this or that which is missing in our lives. It is probably not good for us to focus on what our needs really are - we are supposed to let God take care of that [Phil 4:19 My God will supply all of your needs, according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus]. He made us, for Pete's sake! He understands us best, loves us best, cares for us best, feeds us best, cries with us best, and supplies us best.

I don't really think I can put into words what my needs are, especially the emotional ones. I just know that when they are met I feel important, understood, worthwhile, needed, successful, and intriguing. When they are not met I feel insignificant, clumsy, unsuccessful, unfulfilled, misunderstood, and isolated. Isn't it amazing that one person can experience these 2 extremes in the same lifetime? It is all related to connectedness, and fellowship with others who share our passion and perspective on life. Without others to love on us, we are unmotivated to do our best.

I am not sure what the point of this post is, except that we should take the time to connect with others every single day - and tell them how great they are, how much we love and admire them, and how much we need them, too. Everyone likes to feel needed, even God - who already knows that He is. I am grateful for those He sends to meet my needs, even when I'm not sure what they are...

Old Growth

The past falls away
Like stricken branches
Of mighty, ancient trees;
Slowly dying over time
Until no growth remains.

Even still it stays in place,
The fruitless arm
Too frequently used
By convenient visitors
Hiding from runaway storms.

Only when death is complete,
Nothing living holding on,
Does the stubborn, hardened
Proof of past existence
Succumb to anonimity and fall away.

Puzzled?

Try to imagine a puzzle made up of a million pieces. If you’ve ever put together a 1000-piece puzzle, this would be 1000 times that size and number of pieces! Where would a puzzle this size be assembled? Could it ever be completed without losing a piece or two? How many people would it take to put it together, and how long would it take them? When finished, the puzzle would certainly be too large for any one person to handle, whether lifting, turning, or moving it. How would a puzzle like this even be manufactured in the first place? There would be no machinery capable of stamping out such a huge pattern.

Suppose that you were looking at the giant puzzle completed. Would you be able to pick out one individual piece? Suppose that one single piece was missing… then would you be able to clearly see it, apart from the others? Suppose that two, five, ten, or 100 pieces were missing – how much more would that become obvious with the picture now incomplete?

What do you envision as the subject matter for this great puzzle? What does the picture look like? Are the pieces large or small, and with what kind of contours? Are there many colors, or a single color with slight variations? What is the theme?

What if, after such a great feat as assembling this 1-million-piece puzzle, you wanted to preserve it? How would you go about turning it over and gluing the pieces together? What kind of planning, specialized tools, crews of people, and careful execution would be involved?

It is daunting for us to think on such a grand scale. We can hardly wrap our minds around a puzzle of such great size and number of pieces. It seems impossible to us that it could actually be assembled or manipulated without some major challenges and likely catastrophes. To our perception, it would seem to be unrealistic, unfathomable, impossible.

God made a puzzle of even larger scale than the one mentioned above - He made the universe. He conceived of the picture, decided on each detail of its appearance, created each individual piece, shapes each piece to fit exactly into His vision, put the whole thing together in reality, and is constantly searching for the pieces that are missing. His puzzle is called The Kingdom of God. It is too big for us to ever understand, too lofty for us to attain. The picture is more detailed and creative than any work of art ever made with human hands. The pieces are each totally unique, fitting perfectly into their special place in the puzzle. But what is even more amazing about God’s Kingdom is that it is dynamic. The puzzle which God created for us to be a part of and for Him to manage is constantly changing. It would be like working on a puzzle and then realizing that some of the pieces you had already placed were now a different size and shape – the other pieces around them also having to change to fit correctly, and a total reworking from that focal point would be necessary. Once again, an unfathomable feat for us.

This is what God does every second of every day – he maintains the greatest puzzle on earth as it dynamically changes. He seeks for the lost pieces, he glues all of the pieces together with His Holy Spirit, and ultimately it forms a picture of Jesus. Jesus us the subject matter – for all things were created through Him and by Him and for Him. I don’t know about you, but I am honored to be a part of the puzzle, and very thankful that I’m not a lost piece.