The Patience of Faith

Hebrews 6:1-12
Patience is not always something I do well. I find it irritating when I have to wait, especially when I have no control over a situation. Slow moving traffic and long checkout lines are among the things I dislike the most. As much as I hate to admit it, waiting for God is also on that list. Here, too, I can get impatient to the point of exasperation. At various points in my career I’ve felt that God was not responding to me quickly enough, not giving me a sense of call or direction at the speed with which I wanted it and I became very agitated. (Ironically, I’ve even gotten impatient with God today as I wrestled with this blog post and found the writing to be slow going.) Maybe all of this is why the reading from Hebrews today struck a nerve with me.

“And we want each one of you to show the same diligence,” we read, “so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12). The writer of Hebrews presents us with a dichotomy between spiritual inactivity on the one hand, and diligence, faithfulness, and patience on the other. Put another way, those who, in the words of Isaiah 40, “wait for the Lord” will be sustained in their effort while those who do not are apt to fall away. As is so often the case in scripture, patience is shown to require effort because it is hard work which deserves our full attention.

When I become impatient with what God is doing, I risk turning away from the divine will for my life. I might take matters into my own hands, which is bad enough, but I also might fall into lazy spiritual practices. That doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything. I might be busy with all sorts of activities, but it is what I do to further my spiritual life that determines whether or not I am “sluggish” in the way that the writer of Hebrews uses the term. How do we avoid the trap of impatience with God? According to Hebrews, we work at it “diligently” which I believe could include fervent prayer, acts of generosity and compassion, the study of scripture, regular attendance in worship, participation in the community of faith, and the willingness to share the good news of the gospel just to name a few. This is what it means to actively wait. This is also how our spiritual patience is deepened and any tendency to become sluggish is turned back.

Yes, I get fed up by waiting. Yes, I want things to move more quickly. Yes, I would appreciate it if God moved with a little more urgency as well. But if I am to serve God faithfully I need to live with patience so as not to become sluggish.

Prayer: Almighty God, give us the strength to stand firm in the faith and to await your will to be done. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Do We Feel the Need to Defend God?

Note: This post concerns a passage from the daily readings for January 15, 2013. Due to technical difficulties I was unable to post it until today.

Isaiah 40:25-31
I find myself wondering sometimes about the need to take up for God, to defend God, whether that’s a task that I as a minister or even as a person of faith should undertake. Does God need me to somehow defend or protect the divine name? On the one hand, I believe I have been called through Jesus Christ into a relationship with God and that I bear the responsibility to live in faithful obedience to God’s will. But on the other hand, does God really need my protection against even the most cynical and sinful aspects of our culture? Is that what faithfulness is all about? Is God really that vulnerable?

The prophet Isaiah has a word for us on the subject. “Have you not known?” he asks. “Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). For Isaiah there is no question as to the roles God plays: as Creator, bringing the world into being; as Sustainer, strengthening the powerless and empowering the weak; and as Redeemer, answering “those who wait for the Lord” with what they need in order to rise above their challenges. In other words, God does not need me—or anyone—to offer protection or to somehow safeguard the presence of God. Indeed, it is God who is at work in the world, who creates us, sustains us, redeems us.

The reason I bring this up is that from time to time I have become aware of Christians who act as though God is being beaten or overwhelmed in the public sphere. Their concerns often center around particular social views that they believe are in opposition of God’s will. They may very well be correct. Much of what happens in our world is ungodly. The danger is that when we build a wall around God and what we perceive to be God’s intentions we are really setting limits on our own spiritual growth, our own willingness to be led by God to a new understanding of what it means to be God’s people. That’s when we must seriously wrestle with the difference between where we think God may be leading us and where we feel certain God would never go.

This is not an easy problem to solve, but I believe it is made somewhat easier when we stop defining God’s limits, stop trying to defend God and what we feel God is all about, and instead allow God to defend us, and to lead us, and change us, and transform us. As Isaiah might say, once we decide to “wait on the Lord,” we will find God lifting us to new heights and new perspectives according to God’s will.

Prayer: Almighty God, lead us in your path according to your will and give us the strength to answer your call in our lives, wherever it may lead us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Extending the Gospel

]1 Peter 1:13-25

“‘All flesh is like grass,’” we read this morning from 1 Peter, “’and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ 
That word is the good news that was announced to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25). Using a quote from Isaiah 40:8 the writer of 1 Peter essentially claims the prophet’s words as a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, extending the gospel back into the history of Israel. From a Christian perspective this is very appropriate. As the gospel of John reminds us, “In the beginning was the word…” (John 1:1). Now 1 Peter is using Isaiah to demonstrate the eternal nature of what has always been.

We are approaching the season of Advent, a time when our attention is drawn to the coming of Christ, both as a baby born in Bethlehem and with the dawning of God’s reign. Our culture would like to distract us with lights and sounds and consumer goods, but that same culture, like the grass of the field, will wither and fade. God’s word, God’s will, God’s way continue forever, from the beginning to the end, as the alpha and the omega. 1 Peter helps us remember that there is but one word, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Anything else is destined to fade.

Prayer: Lord God, your good news is everlasting and eternal. Help us to live according to your word and to but our confidence in your alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cha-cha-cha-changes…

Hebrews 1:1-14

I remember my favorite pair of jeans from my childhood. They were actually green and had large holes at each knee. I thought they looked very cool and that I looked very cool when I had them on. But they finally wore out so much that I had to quit wearing them.

Worn out clothing is the metaphor behind a portion of our reading from Hebrews today. The writer of Hebrews actually quotes from Psalm 102:25-27 in speaking about God: “(The earth and the heavens) will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing; like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same…” (Hebrews 1:11-12). These words are very reassuring. The knowledge that God will remain even after creation has worn out lets us see that we will never be alone. Civilizations may come and go, planets may cease to whirl in space, suns may go dark, but God is still there, still sovereign. Like my favorite jeans the earth may become worn beyond use, but still God is!

But the flip side of this statement is also true. Our lives are subject to the ebb and flow of time, to the march of years, but God is not. The one who created us is immune to the various factors that dictate the number of our days. “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8), and not just God’s word, but God’s very self. God continues on long after creation. David Bowie’s line from the song “Changes” is a bit cryptic, but nonetheless apt. “Time may change me,” he sings, “but I can’t trace time.” We come and go, he seems to say, but time continues on. And the writer of Hebrews would surely add that God, who stands outside of time, cannot be fully comprehended or “traced” either.

It all comes back to God, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the one who is and always shall be. Flowers may fade, grass may wither, time may roll on until creation itself becomes like a worn out garment, and yet God remains.

Prayer: Thank you God for the wonders of creation. And though the world itself may dissolve and time cease to flow, we rejoice that you remain steadfast in your love for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.