St. John Studies

The ordinary heart.

Pastor Mark Labberton’s book The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor says the ordinary heart gets in the way of loving our neighbors, seeing our neighbors through the eyes of Jesus.

The ordinary heart that we all have is not the reason we don’t act to help others as much as the ordinary heart gets used to overlooking the needs of those around us. Labberton says ordinary human hearts accommodate apathy; they allow it.

Evil hearts allow injustice and suffering; in fact they cause it. The root of tyranny and oppression comes from an evil heart. When we hear of bullies, their acts come from an evil heart. To my way of thinking, most of us don’t really have evil hearts but almost all of us have ordinary hearts.

Our hearts don’t consciously overlook the needs of others. Most of us just get caught up in the immediacy of life.

We know we need certain things to live and in order to get those things we have to have income. We get wrapped up in the process of generating income and that becomes our main, everyday focus. Sometimes the process is all consuming and that weakens our hearts further as we begin to acquire more than we really need. Possibilities occur that we never thought possible and we convince ourselves we cannot live without certain items which are really not that necessary.

Add to this the desire we have for equilibrium, normalcy if you prefer. We like a stable life which allows us to function without much upset. We hear of others who suffer from the panic of drug addiction. We hear of others who find themselves victims of crime. We hear of others who are victims of sexual abuse and we distance ourselves. Whew, that is not me; the still small voice says “and I am glad.”

Labberton says “Our hearts become benign…our hearts may not lead us to do injustice, neither are they strong enough to drive us to seek justice….That is, we don’t have hearts that actively, courageously will and pursue justice, even for the truly vulnerable…Our hearts do demonstrate our capacity to be determined and focused enough to will some things for ourselves and those we love most: prosperity, education, comfort, safety.”

And then we hear of Tara Gower, a Houston EMT who asked neighbors to form a human chain so Annie Smith could get through high floodwaters during Hurricane Harvey. Annie was in labor and had to get to the hospital. She made it by clinging to her neighbors’ backs, taking her to a waiting truck on the high ground. At the Route 91 concert in Las Vegas, thirty-year-old father of three, Jonathan Smith raced toward the concert venue where America experienced its deadliest mass shooting. Smith pushed twenty people to safety when they were frozen on the ground by fear of the gunman’s bullets. He picked one woman off the ground, carried another one who had fallen and roused many others to start running. Smith took a bullet to lower left side of his neck but he kept trying to help others. Ian Grillot was in a Kansas bar watching a basketball game when a gunman walked in, pulled a gun and told a pair of Indian men to “get out of my country.” When the gunman opened fire, Grillot decided to take action and subdue the shooter. A bullet pierced his hand and entered his chest but he stopped the shooter before he could take more lives. He did manage to kill one of his targets, a thirty-two year old engineer. Grillot said “I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t do anything.”

We all know of the “great commandment:” “Lord, help me to love you with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind and with all of my strength. Help me to make this the number one priority in my life. Help me to love my neighbor as myself.”

At the center of the great commandment is a love relationship we are supposed to have with Jesus but that love overflows to a love we are supposed to have for those around us.
That love is not the love of the “ordinary heart”.

It is something more, an extraordinary love that seeks to help those less fortunate.
Edmund Burke said “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men [and women] to do nothing.” God calls us to do more; He wants us to do more.

I believe He wants us to have an extraordinary heart.

Good authors want to start their books with a bang, not a whimper. It is what authors do to catch the reader’s attention. Mark Labberton does just that.

He starts with a story of Doris, an eighty-something grandmother who is kidnapped.
She has pulled up to her church and intends to go inside with a basket of oatmeal muffins; she leans over into her car to get the basket when she is pushed from behind into the passenger side of her vehicle. It is a young man who needs money for drugs. His way of getting money this day is to drive Doris’s car around to her bank atms where she will withdraw her daily maximum amount after he intimidates her into giving him her password.

I imagine my eighty-something Mom in this situation and it is very frightening. How do you expect a normal person to react?

You see, Doris does not seem to be a “normal” person. The first thing she does is ask the young man his name and then she starts talking to him using his name: “Jesse what are you doing?” “Jesse what are you going to do with my money?” [She has read that you need to be on a first name basis with your attacker].

After finding out he needed a hit, she got honest with him: “It is not good to be a drug addict. This is not how you should be living your life.”

She knew she needed to talk to him and she wanted the conversation to be honest. She took a risk; she said that the young man needed help from God, who really loved him and understood him. She told him he needed a drug rehab program. The young man listened and then Doris told him her intentions: “Jesse, I am going to pray you get caught for doing this because it is wrong and you should not be doing this to people. When you get caught, I will testify that you did it but I will plead with the judge that you need a really good drug rehab program. You need God to give you the strength to get off drugs and have a better life.”

Jesse left Doris that day but not after helping her out of her car, walking her around to the driver’s side and putting her seatbelt across her.

When Doris’s pastor [Mark Labberton] went to visit her, he was amazed. He figured she had suffered such trauma that she would be terribly upset but she wasn’t. When he said to her, I am sorry this terrible thing happened, her reply was “The horrible thing is Jesse’s addiction to drugs.” Labberton said “It is awful to get attacked and kidnapped like this.” Doris replies “Why not me? It happens to thousands of people every day.”

All Labberton could say was “Um…yes.”

When Labberton asked if Doris needed prayer, she said of course, but she requested prayer for Jesse, so he could find God’s help for him to conquer his drug addiction.

The story concludes with Doris in the courtroom testifying against Jesse and asking for drug rehab help for the young man, just like she said she would do.

The story also concludes with a pastor who admits that Doris pastored him instead of the reverse.

How did she do it?

She loved her enemy, but even more than that she saw her kidnapper/thief as a human being who had serious problems. She did not focus on herself and her victimhood. Of course she was violated but she faced her situation with courage and honesty. The most important words I think that could be applied to her are Doris seeks to understand her abductor and empathizes with him. Most of us would be so scared that we would automatically throw up defensive walls all around us. Doris saw commonality. Most of us would focus on our loss and feel anger. Doris saw Jesse as the one with the biggest losses [he was losing his life]. Most of us would think about how unjust this situation was; Doris refused to do that; injustice just happens in life so focusing on that does one little good.

Could this situation have turned out very differently? Of course it could but God was with Doris that day, showing her that attempting to understand others is so important in life.

This episode was so important to Labberton that he substituted different letters in WWJD. He began to think WWDD (What would Doris do?). This episode was so important to Labberton that he included it at the beginning of his book, as a wonderful example of loving your neighbor.

I don’t know about you, but put yourself in the place of Doris and ask “What would I do?”

Would you love your neighbor because you can see him through the eyes of Jesus?

John Carter Allen passed away on December 2, 2017. John did not feel well these last few years. He had several serious health problems and toward the end of his life, his slow movements became even slower.

John was what I call a “character.” I got to know him over a twenty year span of time and one of his favorite repeated expressions was “I get my hair cut and my beard trimmed twice a year, whether I need it or not.” You would see him in public and sometimes he just did not wear the best looking clothing. Coupled with his long gray hair and the long gray beard, he often looked unkempt.

The way he approached life flew in the face of what many believe. There is an unwritten rule in business and communication that first impressions are super important. Impressions are formed in the first seven seconds of meeting someone. Once a person makes a less than desirable impression, it is almost impossible to reverse. Experts report that seven percent of the first impression is formed by the words one speaks, thirty-eight percent of the first impression comes from vocal tone and the remainder [fifty-five percent] comes from appearance and body type.

In short, in our society, looking good counts.

John spent a lot of time helping people less fortunate. You know how that goes. People who are homeless, maybe mentally unbalanced, people who have taken a wrong turn in life. He served many years in many capacities for Habitat for Humanity. He served as the first director of Micah Mission Center where people who need basic necessities gather for help and a warm place on a frigid night. At St. John United Methodist Church in Hopkinsville Kentucky he was a devoted volunteer on the mission team where he implemented a “food box ministry” which helped disadvantaged families at Christmas.
John never was bothered to be around folks less fortunate. It was almost like he could see beyond their outward appearance.

We know that God doesn’t focus on our outward appearance. It is what’s on the inside that matters most to Him. The Bible tells us that God’s focus is on developing our inner beauty so that it can be reflected in everything we do and what we are.

1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (NIV)

Certainly it is that inward person that counts for God. All of us have a Holy Spirit and John seemed to be able to look to that in everyone, not getting turned off to a person’s smell, clothing, or body shape.

It is with great reverence that I dedicate the study of Labberton’s book The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor to John. When I was picking out a book near the end of Good or God?, John passed away and based on my knowledge of his life, his passing steered me to Labberton’s book.

Today, it seems that so many in our society are obsessed with appearance. Television and print media are full of ads touting products to help us with our appearance. Unfortunately, we do live in a superficial world where people do judge on appearance. We would all love to say that we are not in the majority and that we all look beyond what’s on the outside, but virtually all of us are influenced by appearances.

Labberton’s subtitle is “Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus” but how can we do that if we are focused on outward appearance? Some of the people who have the greatest needs are those who don’t make that good “impression.”

John may have struggled with that too, but maybe not. Maybe he knew something the rest of us should know—that we take our eyes off of God when we focus too much on outward appearance. Maybe no one should have been distracted by his appearance; he was certainly a substantial man of God, doing the best he could to help those less fortunate.

He lived the words of Matthew 25:35-40, you know those words from Jesus asking us to help the less fortunate: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

John knew those words; more importantly, he lived those words.

It was many years ago and as we all know the memory plays tricks on us.

But here is how I remember it:

I was in my college library. I used to get out of the office from time to time and go to the library just for some peace and quiet. I would take one book with me so I would not suffer from the distractions of the phone, the computer screen, knocks on the door, stacks of papers that needed to be graded or many ideas in other books that I needed to track down.

From time to time, I just needed to focus.

In this case, the focus was on a subject that I was not teaching. I was asked to teach speech class but the more I began to know about the academic discipline of speech communication, the more I began to see that “communications” teachers did not just teach how to get up in front of audiences and talk.

Don’t get me wrong. Teaching students to speak in front of groups is an admirable task. Many claim that man or woman’s greatest fear is speaking in front of groups [aka stage fright]. But that day, the one book I took to the library was an interpersonal communication book, a course that was not offered at my college. As I began to explore the chapters I was captivated, especially by the chapter on perception.

I knew people did not see “eye to eye” about much in the world. One person goes to a Stephen King horror movie and really likes it; another thinks the same movie is dumb and a waste of time and money. One person comments on how much they like their teacher, he knows his subject matter and makes it interesting and seems to really care about students. Another student thinks the same teacher is a creep. A Los Angeles Rams fan is really impressed with the team and tries to tell his feelings to his friend; “they are really going to contend for the Super Bowl.” The friend replies “That’s ok but I don’t believe that, and let me tell you, the great performance I saw at the Kennedy Center Honors was superb. That is my idea of impressive. I think football is awful.”

These conversations happen all the time and as I began to study the chapter on perception, I saw very clearly why people did not understand each other. Everyone [and I mean everyone] has their own unique way of processing information in this world. Some of us select information because it is intense, big or little, contrasting, repetitive, in motion, familiar or novel. The bottom line is that we all don’t select information the same way. Our sensory organs affect selection; some have acute sight or poor hearing. Some respond to touch in a negative manner while others have a strong sense of smell. After we select, we organize information and guess what; we don’t organize the same way. That is a unique process also. Finally, we interpret what we perceive or put meaning to it and that interpretation can be as different as night and day.

Interpersonal communication is the process of sending a message from one person to another [interpersonal or person to person]. When communication occurs, success or failure of the message is how well the thought of the speaker is recreated in the mind of the listener. I knew I wanted to teach this subject because I wanted to help people overcome some of the barriers that can cause us to be different. I wanted to help people understand other people despite all the ways we are unique.

With all these words devoted to my deep dark past, how does this relate to Mark Labberton’s book The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor?

When I read the Bible, I see a Jesus who has a great deal of empathy, He understand other’s perspectives. He knows the woman at the well is a sinner and He understands her sin but He also understands that her condemners are sinners too. Let he who is without blame cast the first stone. He knew they would drop their stones for they all sin. When He was told that He should spend less time with little children, He knew that they have pure hearts and He told them they are welcome. They don’t have the complex agendas of adults. When He was warned not to eat with tax collectors and other sinners, He knew that He was right where He was supposed to be. He says in Mark “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It seems so obvious to me that to be like Jesus [a goal we might want to strive for] we need to be able to understand the barriers between people and work to overcome them. None of us is the same. Given the nature of our perceptions, it is a wonder that anyone can understand anyone else. How can we hope to help others that come from different perspectives?

We have to; that is our calling. As Christians, that is our number one job. Sure the barriers exist but we have to find what makes us alike, not focus on what makes us different.

Recently, I sat across the table during a lunch with one of my best friends. We have shared so much over the years, yet we are very different. I know it and he knows it. What he said that day meant so much to me because it showed me that differences can be overcome. He said “We don’t think alike on many things but we do on the important things; we both love the Lord and we both love our country.” It meant so much to hear him say this. We are connected.

We know that barriers exist but maybe they can be overcome.

The premise of our new book [The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor by Mark Labberton] is that no matter who is in need, if we perceive the need and we can meet it, we should do so. We should do our dead-level best to help others less fortunate than ourselves.

This is a common message in the Christian faith, but do we heed the words of God?

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” This is only one verse that calls us to help particular persons who have suffered. Obviously children who have lost their parents need help and women who have lost their spouses need assistance. James is saying that love needs to be shown to these special people.

Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Sharing what you have is the right thing to do especially if you know of someone who does not have what you have. Hebrews states that doing good is pleasing to God and we must not neglect to do it.

First John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” This admonition is even stronger as John states if we don’t help our brother in need, God is not within us.

Matthew 25:35-40 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” This Scripture may be the most famous directive for our faith as the words of Jesus state that if you assist the needy, you are assisting Him.

We could go on and on but you get the point. A “real” Christian is a generous, loving, sharing person who takes his or her resources and helps other people.

This is our calling.

This is what we are supposed to do with our faith.

This is the love we are to show to others; this love is based on fulfilling the needs of those less fortunate.

Labberton has written a book that we sorely need in our time. Some think that Christians help only themselves. Others think that Christians help only other Christians. My reading of my Bible says Christians are supposed to help human beings who are struggling in life. Labberton states “Jesus didn’t see a sick woman, He saw a daughter of God. He did not see an outcast from society, He saw a child of God. He didn’t see a sinner, He saw a person in the image of the Creator.”

How can we see the way Jesus saw; how can we see others with the eyes of Jesus?

Labberton states that seeing “rightly is the beginning of renewal, forgiveness, healing and grace. Seeing rightly is the beginning of how our hearts are changed.”

Our Christian faith is radical in that it calls all of us to love all of mankind. We all know this is hard for there are many in our world who are “unlovable.” Many who have dire needs do not run in our circles; they are members of a lower social strata. We may be uncomfortable associating with them. Many who have dire needs are not of our race; their skin color is different from ours and their reality is very different due to that racial perspective. Many who have dire needs may not have the same political views that we have and God knows that America is a divided nation right now. Can people of differing political viewpoints lay aside that divide in time of need?

Surely we must.

God tells us to forget our differences and help one another.

God tells us that we must aid those who have great need. Go back and read James, Hebrews, 1st John and Matthew above. The message is clear. If the need is there, we have to meet it or God is not in us.

“As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

That is so clear…

So challenging, but so clear.

It is hard to explain, you know those blessings that come from unusual places. After discussing ten books and posting 667 times, I have to admit that blogging on Christian literature has been a big blessing. John Bevere’s book Good or God? has been one of the best books I have written about, one of the best blessings I have had since I began blogging.

Since I began writing on December 30, 2014, I have had some “up days” and some “down days.” That is the way ordinary life is; you have some of the good and some of the bad. Some of the books I have written about have been better than others but all of the books have taught me something. You might say I have discussed some good books on St. John Studies and I have discussed some much better books.

Most of the days I write, I look forward to writing. When I began blogging in 2014, I tried to write every day but after a year of doing that, I found that more people find my blog if I try to post every other day. That is the target I set for myself. Lot of times I hit that “target.”

As I wrap up another year of writing, I come to a time of transition, a time of ending a book and starting another, a time of ending a year and beginning another.
Good or God? is hard for me to end.

My good friend Pastor Roy King of Bridge of Hope Fellowship in downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky recommended the book to me in June of 2017 and it has been a slow page turner. What I mean by that is the best books I write about can stimulate an idea for me in a page or two. I can cover a chapter in two or three posts in a weaker book; there is just not much “meat” there. Thanks Roy for the recommendation of this book. I had no idea I would grow so much as I wrote about it. Good or God? certainly has a lot of “meat.”

When I begin to consider what books to blog on I often go to Amazon to see how they have been received by readers. Many people will review books and you can see the percentage of positive reviews and even read comments if you so choose. The number of reviews for this book was not overwhelming [592] but the percentage of five star reviews was amazing [93%].

Why is the response to this book so positive?

First of all, I think that for whatever reason, many people in the Christian community have settled for less. They literally are happy enough with the good things of life and are not aware that God offers so much more. Good or God? explains that there is more for us and Pastor John Bevere tells us how to go about getting it.

Secondly, life is so complex today that many Christians are ensnared in a web of distractions. When contemporary life has so much to do, we forget what we should do. We don’t zero in on the main things, the daily worship of God, the study of His Word and a full-throated fearful reverence for Him. It is so easy to shrug off what we should do with what the world tells us we can do.

Thirdly, in the clatter of life, there is no quiet place where we can hear God’s voice. Many Christians report that they believe in God but God really does not communicate to them. Maybe He is communicating with them but they cannot hear Him. They are too busy. They don’t take time to hear a still small voice; either they are not interested in stopping to hear that voice or maybe they feel that their life is so full they can’t find a quiet place.

The last thought about this book is the need we all have for truth. Right now our world seems to be clouded with relativism. People have their views and it seems that none of us agree. On top of this, no one is setting boundaries. Of course there is right and wrong; after all, life is about choices but today the lines seem blurred. In John Bevere, you have a pastor who desires to teach the whole counsel of God. Grace is not merely a means to “cover” our sins; grace is a means to empower us to live more abundant lives.
People need to have boundaries.

In my many years with my professional educator wife, she has proven to me over and over again that the best students thrive when they know the expectations.

I think the same is true for all of us. We need to know there are rules. Too often Christians view the New Testament as the only guide we should have and the New Testament is all about love and forgiveness of our sins. Of course it is, but it is also about Jesus coming to fulfill the law. He did not come to abolish it. Like my wife’s students, we will all thrive if we know the expectations.

Yes, John Bevere’s book Good or God? has been a blessing but everything comes to an end and it is time to move on to another book. My next post will introduce the next book and I will explain why I picked it. Like so many of the books we have studied, it will probably be a blessing too.

In the previous post I joked around with the “out of sync” Judas Iscariot. For a person like that, we may want to put some distance between them and us. I was joking about Jerry Springer and the idea that some people who watch that show may say things about the people on the show like “I’m not a very good person but at least I am not that bad.” Outrageous behavior gives us a reason to feel good about ourselves and if it is extremely outrageous, we don’t want to be associated with it at all.

We want some distance…

It seems to go both ways. We know of people who are so nice that sometimes their niceness intimidates us. Maybe they seem to be holy and their holiness is beyond our reach. Maybe we feel some distance from those people because we cannot reach their level. And yes, there are those people who scorn very good folks because they resent how good they are. They believe they don’t have a chance to emulate their behavior. Those folks are just “too good” and they feel they are just “too bad.”

Bevere uses Abraham as a perfect example of a man who is so holy that he seems out of reach. He is a man who has Godly fear, a man who chooses God over good.

Where is the evidence that Abraham is the man Bevere claims him to be? First of all, Abraham obeys God instantly. He may have had doubts about killing his only son Isaac but he prepared to do it and was ready to carry out God’s command. He was ready to obey God even though God’s command did not make sense to this man who was given a son so late in life. In a worldly sense, God made no sense but as Christians we have to accept that God’s ways are not our own. Abraham was feeling pain over this command yet he was willing to carry out God’s wishes anyhow. Abraham did not see the benefit but he was willing to obey. Finally, Abraham was willing to carry out God’s command all the way to the finish. You know the story, the knife was in his hand and he had drawn his arm back to kill Isaac when God intervened.

How is it with so many Christians today?

We have to see the benefit of obeying God before we actually obey. It works that way in life in many circumstances. I spent a good deal of time early in every semester proving to students that they would benefit from studying human communication. Salespeople work hard to get customers to see that buying their product will enhance life, increase their status or even fulfill dreams. Authors who want to sell their books point out personal advantages to the reader in a title, subtitle or on the book jacket.

Should personal benefit be the ultimate criteria in obeying our Lord and Savior?

Sadly, most of us want to fit in with societal standards so much that we choose the world over the Kingdom. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” [John 15:19]. “Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” [Romans 12: 1-2]. “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever” [1 John 2: 15-17].

This is just a sampling of Scripture that speaks clearly about choosing God over the world; choosing God over “good.”

Yes, Abraham is a daunting figure in the Bible. I can’t imagine what I would do if God said I had to sacrifice my son [I too have only one child]. Could I obey God without question?

I couldn’t.

But that does not mean that I have to create distance between this Godly man and myself. Why not admire him? Why not let his love for God inspire me to be a better man? Why not learn from his Godly example…

Why not let Abraham teach me to choose God over good…

When I was at choir practice last night, the man who was working to make us sound the best we can used a phrase that we often hear in everyday life.

“The sound of the choir was ‘in sync’ with the environment that we are singing in.”

In sync: “working well together, in agreement.”

He was saying we were sounding as well as we could sound in the space we were in. It was a good comment, what a choir director and choir want to hear.

The Bible is full of all kinds of people who are in sync or “out of sync” with God. Examples of out of sync behavior abound: Saul comes to mind and his insane jealousy of David and inability to lead the Israelites in a Godly manner and Samson and his brawn and his feelings that he was the source of his own power, not God. The most extreme example of being “out of sync” comes from the life of Judas Iscariot. John Bevere* makes a very strong point about how we can be so distracted by ways of this world that we can even work against God.

Sometimes I think of Judas as a visitor to the Jerry Springer show, you know those people who behave badly and display their bad behavior for all to see on the television screen. We smugly watch the show and say “I may have my faults but I don’t act that badly.” I may be a bad person but I am not as bad as Judas Iscariot!

Maybe Judas just got too wrapped up in his role. He was the disciple who was in charge of the Jesus’ ministry’s money and he became so money-minded that he lost his judgement. Money became his god and he lost his fear of doing wrong.

The result of this showed in his embezzlement of funds from the treasury, lying to Jesus, and lack of interest in caring for the poor. We all know of the story of the wealthy woman who poured a whole bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus. The hypocrisy was so evident when Judas complained that the worth of the perfume should have been exchanged for money and the money should have been given to the poor. Judas declared the act as “bad” and “fleeting.” Jesus called the act “good” and “lasting.”

This is truly an example of a disciple who is “out of sync” with God.

It is right after this act that Judas decides to betray Jesus to the authorities. He thinks Jesus is on earth to set up God’s kingdom and Judas is pushing Jesus to act. If Judas forces Jesus’ hand, He will take over and Judas will have his rightful place in the new Kingdom on earth. Bevere goes into the mind of Judas with these words: “I’ll speed up the process. I’m not waiting any longer. I want my place of power, influence and riches. I’ve had enough of being a target of ridicule and persecution by the leaders. I don’t want to be viewed as the companion of a lunatic any longer. If I turn Him over to the leaders, He’ll finally show off His power and set up His kingdom, and I’ll have my place of prominence” [p. 235].

How could Judas be so wrong? Why does he think that he knows God’s plan? How could he be so bold that he feels he can assert his will over God’s Son?

He lost the fear of God and was so desirous of money and power that he could not hear the voice of God anymore. He had succumbed to the “siren song” of the world.

Where are we in this story?

Well, we don’t need to be smug and say, I could never be as bad as Judas. The truth of the matter is that we can get very weak in our dedication to the Lord. Our lives are full of snares that can take our hearts far from God. We have weaknesses that Satan can prey upon every day, desires that are not helpful for our relationship with God. Our own judgement can be easily clouded when we get distracted by the news of the day and the behavior of others.

We can be so distracted that we lose that special ability to hear the voice of God, discernment. Sadly, I would venture to say that some Christians have never experienced discernment, just reacting to life without waiting for God to direct their feelings, thoughts and acts. Many of us have had periods of time when God has been pushed aside for the “bad and fleeting”.

Why not wait for some confirmation that our decisions are Godly?

Why not wait for God’s voice?

Why not wait for the “good and lasting?”

Why not wait for discernment?

*from Chapter 15 “Discernment” in Good or God?

June of 2017…

That’s when I began to blog on John Bevere’s book Good or God?

Since I began commenting on various selections of Christian literature, I have moved through some books very quickly; the content was just not that thought provoking. That’s ok. A person should not have to have brain strain all the time.

That was not the case with Good or God? Every two or three pages, I had some serious response regarding this book; I felt I should try to explain some of his main points. I felt Bevere’s main points were important points.

As I begin to close out my discussion of this book, I want to review big ideas that he has discussed in hopes that my review will help me to reemphasize his work in my mind and maybe yours too.

The first “main point” is Bevere’s emphasis on discernment. Today in Sunday school class I asked my class what discernment means. It is a term that is tossed around in Christian circles but I have never heard too many people really explain it well. The reason it is important in Bevere’s thinking is that discernment is the key to determining whether you are responding to the siren song of our culture, your social group and coworkers or are you hearing from God and doing His will?

My class responded to my question with answers like “wisdom” and “common sense.” Those are not bad answers but I am afraid they don’t capture the full meaning of the word discernment. The Christian can have discernment if they have the gift of discerning spirits [one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11]. When I was in class and listening to their answers, I kept saying “Holy Spirit Wisdom” and “Holy Spirit Common Sense” to their responses, emphasizing that the Holy Spirit is very much a part of the discerning spirit.

Every Christian can have discernment and in fact some would argue that born-again believers have a certain amount of this ability but some people have more discernment than others. The ones who have the most discernment are those who mature as Christians. Sadly, many people confess a belief in God but they stay “babes in Christ.” The maturing believer uses discernment as a means of empowerment, not only using it for determining the difference between good and evil but going way beyond, having the ability to determine what is good from what is better.

One might ask specifically what is this unique ability and how does it manifest itself? For many this can be confusing because this “Holy Spirit Wisdom” or “Holy Spirit Common Sense” goes beyond what is seen or heard. Discerning Christians speak of discernment as feelings in the heart or will say things like “God spoke to me.” That in itself can be a turn off to some people who don’t believe that God speaks today. For Christians with discernment, they know that God does.

A discerning Christian acknowledges the worth of God’s word. The Bible is a main source of spiritual growth for Christians who want to mature. Serious disciplined study of the Bible will pay off for any Christian who believes in the power of God’s word. Hosea 14:9 says “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” To grow in righteousness, one must read God’s word.

My wife had a conversation with a pastor one day [many years ago]. She had several questions of the man [she loves specific answers]. At that time in her life, she was making moves in her spiritual life that would lead to her becoming a born-again Christian, but at that time she wanted all the answers to all her questions to make perfect sense.

God does not do that for us. His ways are not our ways. Some things we will never know until we are with Him. Mature Christians accept that, exercise their faith and go about their lives. I will never forget the pastor’s answer to her that day, his response to her request for specifics. He knew she was on the verge of becoming a “baby” Christian but at that time, she did not have a great deal of discernment.

He did not say this in a condescending way but it makes a solid point about immature Christians: “some people just need a billboard.”

They won’t understand any other way.
discernment…

I was hurt, in fact I was crushed. Someone I truly admired had betrayed me and I just could not believe it, but it was true. I feared my life with them would never be the same.

I remember the day I found out. In fact, I will never forget it. As I walked our cocker spaniel in the neighborhood that morning, I talked…not to the dog but to God.
I asked over and over again “What do I need to do?” “What is my next move?”

My first instinct was to make someone pay, to hurt others as much as I was hurting. I could have easily revealed my problem to friends and family and ruined reputations. I even wanted to do violence to another person when violence was not my normal nature.

Then it happened.

The next move was revealed.

I heard a distinct voice, “Go to work and act like nothing has happened. I will take care of this.”

Ok readers, you are thinking right now that David Carter has gone off the deep end. He is revealing that God has spoken to him. Well, that is what I felt that morning, that God had told me what to do.

It was not the easiest thing, to act like nothing had happened. God asked me to mask my pain. God asked me to not take action at all.

You might ask, why do I think this was God’s directive to me?

John Bevere’s book* gives some insight.

God’s directives need to be obeyed instantly and I did that. I took the command and immediately implemented it. I did carry on with life, acting like nothing had happened.

Obeying The Father is important even if it does not make sense. What God asked me to do did not make sense at the time; some would have told others and would have become violent. That is how many problems are handled but not this time. God said do nothing.

Obey Me even if it hurts. It was hard on me to obey God. Stuffing pain inside does take a toll and I did not understand it but I did it anyhow. It is not on the same level but when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, how do you think Abraham felt? He cried out “What! How can you tell me to do this! You promised me that nations would come through him!” There was no response from God but the next morning he saddled his donkey and took his son to the site of sacrifice.

Obey Me even if you don’t see the benefit. Now here is the catch. After years have passed from this episode, I have definitely reaped benefits. I could not see them on my day of pain but they are real. The list is long of the life lessons this episode taught me. The greatest benefit was the strengthening of my relationship with God. You see, before that day, I never had a word from God, a directive. I guess I thought people who had such experiences were kooks.

Now I knew differently.

Obey me to completion. This outward obedience to God was hard too but it was important for me to do this. You see, going to work and acting like nothing happened was the first in many steps that He wanted me to take. Life did not return to normal just because I did this first thing. I kept asking God what He wanted me to do and He put people and things in my life to help me along the way.

I had a need, a need to know God, a need to know how to be a follower and step by step He revealed all that I needed to know Him more intimately.

I have written about this time in my life before, this falling in love with Jesus. It was just like I felt when I met my girlfriend [my wife]. I thought about Jesus all the time. I wanted to talk about Jesus all the time. I wanted to learn about Jesus so I could know Him even more.

Baby Christians are like that. They sense that God has come into their lives and cleaned them up and it is truly a miracle. You can’t get enough Jesus in your life.

Well, today the hurt has healed. You might say there is a scar but where the scar is, I have a new strength. The scar will never go away but like real scars, the skin where the wound was inflicted is pretty strong, about eighty percent as strong as the original skin. I am not sure I want the scar to go away, the reminder of where I was on that day when I asked God what to do, what my next move was to be.

Without the wound, I would not have encountered God. Without the wound, other areas of my life would not have developed. This is what John Bevere calls “proof of Godly fear.” When God calls on us to obey His commands rather than follow our primal instincts.

The true benefit is hearing God say “I will take care of this.”

All I had to do was obey…

*Good or God?