Live Generously

Two weeks ago I started this post with the intent of finishing it up that evening…needless to say that didn’t happen, but now I’ve got a few minutes before I leave for class so I’m going to try to finish it up here.

I left off in 1:9, having just looked at the phrase, “…asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…”, and I had talked about how the practice of community with God and the practice of spiritual disciplines fills us with a sort of “spiritual wisdom and understanding” that can then be applied outwardly in our daily lives.  Continuing on now with verse ten…

“…so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work…” wow, that’s a lot.  That being said, it nicely answers the question “what’s the point?”, or, more specifically what is the point of the things that we do in our lives to ‘grow in our relationship with God?’ The reality is that truths that we pick up from the Bible, from theology books, from sermons, etc., isn’t meant to just be brain candy, but instead is meant to inform the way that we live our lives (yes, I know, I’m the first person ever to come to that conclusion…that’s a profound insight ;-)). I mention that simply because I think the temptation exists to see our spiritual lives as a sort of lesson in obligations that don’t really mean anything.  When we fall into that trap, spirituality becomes stale and religious, and we deny ourselves the privilege of allowing  God’s Word to actually inform our lives in the real world.

Perhaps the word that most catches my attention in verse 10 is the word “worthy”.  That seems crazy to me that Paul is even implying that “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord,” is possible.  And yet that is his prayer for these people, that their lives would be something worthy of their Savior.  That is a high calling, to be sure. Paul goes on to say that evidence of a ‘worthy’ life is that it is  ‘bearing fruit in every good work’. We must remember that, as it says in Ephesians, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Thus our commission is not to condemn the ‘works’ of others, nor is it to embrace a sort of hollow ethereal spirituality that makes us feel good but doesn’t really make any sort of difference in our lives.  Instead, our call is to simply do good works.  Failure to do so is failure to tap into the purpose of our lives.  This shouldn’t be something that causes us guilt, but instead it should be something that is at once empowering and liberating.

The verse ends with the phrase, “and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Part of the Christian life as well is actually increasing in what we know to be true about God.  I can say with absolute certainty that I think differently about God now than I did when I was a silly 18-year-old fundamentalist (and that is being generous).  I feel I have a better understanding of God’s heart for social justice, God’s heart for peace, and God’s heart for issues including but extending far beyond personal holiness. Furthermore, I understand God’s Word a lot better than I did then.  I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m making progress  I look forward to continuing to increase in the knowledge of God for as long as I have breath.  But, just as increasing in the knowledge of anything else takes some effort, it takes effort to increase in the knowledge of God.  it doesn’t just happen.

So then the final answer to the question of “what’s the point?” is that there is external value in cultivating an internal relationship with God.  Such a relationship is meant to inform practically the way that we live, and it is my strong conviction that when we fail to do that we fail to fully engage ourselves in participation in the Kingdom of God. That being said, it is pretty phenomenal to know that God does call us not only to be filled with the knowledge of his will, but also to put it into action in a way that both pleases God and blesses the world.

I’ll admit it…I’m a big fan of the quotes on the sides of Starbucks cups.  You know, the “The Way I See It” quotes?

There, I said it.

As someone who probably has close to half a dozen meetings at Starbucks every week, I always look forward to reading the quote on my cup.

Maybe that means I’m inquisitive.  Maybe that means I’m a raging dork.  I’m not really sure.

At any rate, I liked the quote on my cup this morning. It related to a lot of issues I have been thinking through lately.  I am becoming increasingly annoyed with what I perceive to be a lack of fair-mindedness in our culture.  In other words, I am finding in several different arenas that there is a growing intolerance for differing opinions, and there is a growing tendency of those with one particular perspective to demonize and mischaracterize those who do not share this perspective.  In other words, public dialog has been replaced, in many cases, with intolerant, dogmatic preaching.

This became especially clear to me about two years ago when I briefly subscribed to Sirius Satellite Radio.  The main reason I subscribed was to listen to talk radio in an effort to stay informed about what was going on in the world.

I lasted two weeks.  I couldn’t stand it.  I actually found that I showed up to work angry in the morning after 20 minutes of political talk radio.

On the conservative stations all they could do was talk about how liberals are idiots that are consciously conspiring to destroy America.  On the liberal stations all they could do was talk about how conservatives are idiots that are consciously conspiring to destroy America. There was no dialog.  There was no attempt at mutual understanding. And it was flat out intellectually dishonest.

I find this sort of rhetoric in the “God” debate as well.  Those in the new atheist movement characterize people of faith as deluded and feeble-minded people who are living in denial of plain evidence, and they often use words like “extremist” to describe Christian or other faith-based organizations.  Then again, their Christian counterparts characterize atheists as, well, deluded and feeble-minded people who are living in denial of plain evidence, while using words like “militant” to describe outspoken atheists.  This sort of condescending and disrespectful rhetoric is, again, intellectually dishonest, and it does nothing to encourage understanding between the differing perspectives. Something that I appreciated at Francis Collins’ book The Language of God was that I felt he avoided this sort of argumentation. He certainly had a particular point of view, and he sought to assert that point of view’s superiority, but he did so in a way that clearly was not seeking to belittle those of differing perspectives, be they atheists/agnostics or young earth creationists.

I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with fair-mindedness when it comes to issues that I am passionate about.  There are numerous political and moral issues where I find the alternate perspective to be badly wanting.  I am learning, however, the importance of listening, and the importance of being teachable.  I certainly am not saying it’s easy, nor am I saying that the answer is to become wishy washy in our beliefs and convictions.  I suppose all I’m trying to say is that there is value in being willing to listen to other perspectives (and respecting the humanity of those with such perspectives), whether the issue is the war in Iraq, abortion, the existence of God, presidential candidates, or the best team in the National League West.

I find it somewhat ironic that while our society is becoming more and more pluralistic, as individuals we are becoming more and more dogmatic. In college ministry I personally am struggling with how to help students and others fully understand and live out their faith while also learning to understand and dialog with other perspectives.  In other words, our goal is that all of us have living and active relationships with God that we can express and live by without appearing dogmatic and judgmental. I should say that, while it is a struggle, I fully believe that it can be done.

All that being said, here’s the quote from the cup that sparked all of these thoughts:

“You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking.  Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length.  Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.”