Daniel Darling's Blog, page 69

The Limits of Outrage and the Need for Joy

Yesterday I read this blog post by conservative political columnist and radio host, Erick Erickson. I have mixed feelings about Erick. Even though I find that I agree with many of his political views, I find his tone and style of politics is not my particular style. Still, he’s a gifted writer and this time he shared something I think Christians need to hear. His point is that while he cares about politics and advocates for his point of view, outrage is not all there is to life. Erickson writes:

I’m sorry, but I can’t live my life constantly fixated on the political outrage of the day and I can’t be outraged about every  . . . thing under the sun. I go out with friends and talk about stuff other than politics, I play with my kids, I love my wife, I cook gumbo and make fantastic ice cream, I watch a bit of TV, don’t read as much as I should, I go to church, and I try to focus on the good in a world filled with sin and bad and evil . . .

There is such a word here for Christians. A word for me, particularly. While it is good and right to be outraged at injustice in the world, we can’t live on outrage. While it is good and right to roll up our sleeves and make a difference in the world by our lives and our actions, we can’t live on activism. You see, the narrative of the Scriptures is not just about what’s right and what’s wrong in the world and in our own hearts. The grand story is that there is good news available. God didn’t ignore the evil that the Fall produced by sin. He spoke by the entrance of His Son, Jesus, into the world (Hebrews 1:2). When Jesus cried those anguished three words on the cross, “It is finished,” it signaled the beginning of the end. The power of sin and death, which so strangles the human soul, which ravages the planet, which obscures the glory and grandeur of our great God–this has been defeated, and like a helium balloon, is dying a slow death. Evil, my friends, is not winning. The story of the Bible is that there is hope in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Perfect One, the Son of God.

This is why Paul, in his letters, didn’t speak with outrage about the world around him. Do you notice that about him? Take Phillippians, written from imprisonment, an unjust one. And yet in this letter he lifts high the risen and glorious Christ and commands Christians everywhere to rejoice. He doesn’t use this as a diatribe against the despot, Nero, who used Christians as torches to light his dinner parties. He doesn’t vent his frustrations at the Christians who were embarrassed by him and turned their backs on him. Nah, Paul doesn’t do that. Neither does Peter in his letter to the “strangers and foreigners” of the 1st Century, a church marginalized by his culture. Now, he instead calls them to courage and faith and joy. Yes, joy. The same word used by the very first pastor of the Jerusalem Church, James. He says to his people that they could find joy even in the worst of persecutions (James 1).

This is not to be confused with as sort of happy clappy, saccharine Christianity devoid of proper lament. This is not to replace the brokeness that God does in the heart of Christians as he sees the state of the world. Think of Jesus who wept over Jerusalem. Think of Jeremiah, the tear-soaked prophet of God’s people. Think of Habakuk who asked God, “How Long?” Lament is a good part of the Christian life. Grief is a necessary function of processing life in a fallen world. Even Jesus wept at the fruit of sin, the death that stole away the best years of his friend, Lazarus’ life.

To find joy, to live for joy, to extol the beautiful Christian story of hope is not to adhere to the prosperity-gospel of “everything turns out fine” mentality, because everything doesn’t really turn out fine in this life. But to find joy means to process everything in life: death, headlines, politics, evils, injustices, bad diagnoses, car breakdowns, corrupt leaders, wayward churches, divorce, foreclosure, abuse–all through the lens of the gospel story. After all we are citizens of another kingdom, we are people who look for a new city, whose builder and maker is God. This is what our Bible’s tell us is reality.

Life was once perfect. Sin messed it (and us) up. We need a rescuer to save us who is like us but is not like us. That Savior came. He demands our allegiance, but offers us free grace. And those who put their faith in Him are part of a new people, a new way of life, a new kingdom.

So yes, it’s good to be outraged at what is going in the world. It’s vital to let our brokeness move us to action, joining the work of God already in progress. But more importantly it’s incumbent on those who’ve tasted His joy to make the grand gospel our melody. Let’s find the silver linings, the good things in life and use them as evidences of God’s good grace. They are all around us, everyday, if only we look for them. Let’s be as intentional about finding joy as we are about fomenting outrage.

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4

 

Activist Faith-Interviews and Blogs

Yesterday my book (cowritten with Dillon Burroughs and Dan King), Activist Faith released from Navpress. I wanted to share some of the conversations around this book from the web:

I wrote a guest post for Micah Fries, on the subject of crisis pregnancy centers:

While we are waiting and praying for Roe versus Wade to be overturned, there are opportunities to snatch babies from the precipice of death—in our own neighborhoods, one life at a time. And we have an opportunity to apply the grace of the gospel to young unwed mothers, helping them care for their children well after they give birth.

I’ve had the chance to work with a crisis center in our community. I’m amazed at the compassion, the love, and the effectiveness of this outreach. Though most young evangelicals might not see it this way, to serve and support a local CPC may be the most missional thing you can do. Not only are you shepherding a young girl through the biggest decision of her life, it provides an opportunity to share the good news of God’s love with someone who may feel as though their choices have left them ineligible for God’s grace.

Read the rest of that blog by clicking over to Micah’s site.

Then, I did an interview with Michael Kelley. Here is a portion of that interview:

1. What specifically made you want to write a book regarding Christian involvement in issues like these?

I’ve always had my ear to the ground when it comes to political issues and even dabbled in elective politics, helping some friends run for Congress a few years ago. But in the last five years I’ve served as a pastor and I feel it is part of my duty to help God’s people think clearly about the issues in our community, our country, and our world.

What strikes me is just how effective the Church can be when it mobilizes in a community. We can and should engage these issues on a political level (voting, speaking out, etc), but much of the work in solving issues is done on the ground, one person at a time, in very nonpolitical ways. I wanted to highlight these opportunities, so I invited my friends, Dan King and Dillon Burroughs to get involved. The idea is pretty simple: If you are particularly arrested by an issue, yes you should vote accordingly, but more importantly, there are ways you can help alleviate the problems, right  now, in your local community. I’m amazed at just how the way God designed the Church to uniquely respond to social ills in a way that no other institution can.

You can read the whole interview by clicking over to MIchael’s blog

Then, Trilla Newbell interviewed me for CBMW:

Q: Why did you decide to write this book?

Dillon and Dan and I had the idea a couple of years ago. I’ve been a follower of politics most of my life and as a pastor, I’ve seen the impact of God’s people, motivated by the gospel, to meet human needs in their community. What strikes me is that after the elections are over and, regardless of whether your guy has won, there are needs you as a Christian can meet in your community. And if you look at almost every major social issue, there are followers of Jesus actively meeting those needs, on the ground, in a quiet and productive way. So the purpose of this book is really to help people leverage the concern they have for particular issues and connect them to ways they can help in nonpolitical ways in their local communities. So, for instance, if you’re hacked off about abortion–yes vote accordingly and speak out–but in the meantime, roll up your sleeves, open your wallet and support a local crisis pregnancy center. You can actually save real babies and help real women in your town.

Read the whole interview here

And if you are available, I’d love to invite you to a special webcast with The High Calling at 2PM Eastern Time.

Live What You Are Trying to Lead

Today for Leadership Journal I had the privilege of speaking with Bryan Loritts, lead pastor of Fellowship Memphis and the son of Crawford Loritts, the popular author and pastor. Bryan has written extensively and spoken on racial reconciliation in the church and pastors a congregation in one of the most racially tense areas of the country. One question I asked him was this:

How can pastors and church leaders, of any race, promote racial reconciliation in their churches?

First, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Paul writes Ephesians chapter 2, before he gets to our horizontal reconciliation in verse 11, he deals with our vertical reconciliation with God in verses 1-10. As he would say to the Corinthians, being reconciled to God through the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ is of first importance.

Second, be intentional. Race is a human social fabrication. Biologically there’s no such thing (just one human race). However, the social construct of race has been woven so deeply into the fabric and psyche of our nation, that we cannot be passive when it comes to matters of racial reconciliation. We have to be deeply intentional, the same kind of intentionality we find in Christ who by his blood “ransomed” people from every nation tribe and tongue (Revelation 5:9-10).

Third, live what you are trying to lead. This is Leadership 101 and applies to everything, especially matters of race. Again, we see this in Paul. Notice the people he hangs out with. In Romans 16, Paul gives a shout out to his friend Rufus…Rufus! That ain’t a Jew! Paul did life with people who were ethnically different than him. If the leader isn’t experiencing ethnically diverse relationships how can he with any sense of authenticity tell people to do what he’s not doing?

via Out of Ur: Friday Five Interview: Bryan Loritts.

Activist Faith Releases Next Week

It’s hard to believe, but that moment the every author dreams of is here. My fifth book, Activist Faith, is releasing next week with Navpress. This is unique of all my books for several reasons, not the least is that its my first collaboration. I cowrote Activist Faith with my two friends, Dan King and Dillon Burroughs. Dan is a gifted writer, blogger, activist. Dillon is a multi-published author, speaker, and professor. The idea behind this book is simple: let’s take twelve hot-button issues in the culture and a) explore why Christians should engage them and b) offer ways that individuals and churches and help solve these issues, locally and outside of politics. We’re not advocating a retreat from the public square by any stretch, but we’re simply reminding Christians that there are great ways to solve problems that don’t involve campaigns and picket signs and Facebook posts.

If you’d like to find out how you can roll up your sleeves and live out the gospel in your community, you’ll want to preorder the book today.

I also invite you to check out the Activist Faith website, but first here is some more info about the book:

“Evangelicals are rethinking their involvement in politics, so this is a hot topic. It’s a discussion worth having, and Activist Faith is at the cutting edge of the conversation.”

– Matt K. Lewis, senior contributor, The Daily Caller

“The challenges facing our country and world are many. Daniel Darling, Dillon Burroughs, and Dan King provide thoughtful, biblically guided analysis of several of the most pressing issues of our day, challenging the church to let Scripture be our primary guide as we advocate for those who are vulnerable. Read this book, but don’t stop there: Let it move you into prayerful action.”

– Matthew Soerens, U.S. church training specialist, World Relief; author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion, and Truth in the Immigration Debate

“Authors Dillon Burroughs, Daniel Darling, and Dan King do a great job of luring much of the American Christian church to a conversation already taking place among far too few Christians. It is a discussion about ‘elephant in the room’ issues that usually reside with us for far too long without resolution. Read this book and take responsibility for these same such issues and for their solutions as you encounter them in your town, church, and home.”

– Charles J. Powell, founder of Mercy Movement, Mercymovement.com

“Twenty-first–century Christ followers stand committed to reconciling the vertical and horizontal planes of the Cross: sanctification with service, holiness with humility, conviction with compassion, and righteousness with justice. In Activist Faith, the authors exhort us to find a cause greater than ourselves, one that marries the promise of salvation with prophetic activism. For a generation seeking to live out our faith, this book is a must-read.”

– Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

“This generation has more tools than ever before to help them live generously. Activist Faith explores the fundamental connection between the desire to engage in the world and the realities of what it will cost. More than anything else, it empowers you to do good work for the sake of the gospel.”

– Mike Rusch, COO, PureCharity.com

“As Christians, we are called to make a positive impact on our world—to make it a better place. Activist Faithis one of those amazing resources that educate people on the issues and equip them to make a difference. A must-read!”

– Jen Hatmaker, author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

“The authors of Activist Faith challenge all who take their apprenticeship with Jesus seriously to closely connect what they profess on Sundays with how they live the life of true discipleship on Mondays. Combining an engaging blend of biblical principles, captivating stories, and practical ideas, the authors give a compelling picture of how the gospel speaks to some of the most challenging issues of our time. Taking this helpful book to heart will encourage you to be a more faithful presence in God’s good but broken world.”

— Tom Nelson, author of Work Matters

“Activist Faith is a compelling book that deals with some complex global issues. It is filled with stories of hope and struggle, helping the authors wrestle with what it means to have a faith that cares deeply for those who suffer. This hope-filled collaborative work will help us all learn what it means to love our neighbor.”

– Chris Marlow, founder and CEO, Help One Now

“There has been a huge need for a book to give the theological background for why Christians should engage in social justice. Activist Faith fits that need perfectly. It provides solid biblical reasons  we should care about the poor, immigrants, and modern-day slaves as well as practical steps for how to take action.”

– Sean McDowell, educator; speaker; author of Apologetics for a New Generation

“Activist Faith meets the need of our time, offering examples of Christians responding to the social concerns of our world in ways that make a genuine and significant difference. In a culture where criticism of Christianity is often the norm, these pages provide a fresh perspective of what God’s people are doing to help those in their community and around the world.”

– Brian and Heather Pugh, actors; founders, Team Hollywood

Between Eden and Heaven

When I get to do leisure reading–reading that isn’t for ministry or school–I usually choose biographies. While I love to read about a wide variety of people, my favorite are American Presidents. I just got back from vacation where I consumed the very interesting book, Ike and Dick, a recent work focusing on the relationship between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

I know. It’s an obsession without a cure. I’m a nerd this way. But indulge me for a moment and let me tell you what energizes me about reading presidential biographies. Reading history reinforces to me the grand narrative of the story the Bible tells. Here are three reasons:

First,I’m reminded that nothing is accidental and that God is gathering all of history to Himself. Even if all you study is American history, you realize how fragile it is. A few different choices, a few votes here or there and history would be completely different. I’m reminded of the turbulent sixties. Had JFK listened to the Secret Service and not rode through Dallas with the top down on the car, he’d likely have finished out his term. It’s likely he wouldn’t have escalated the Vietnam War as LBJ had–mainly because he didn’t suffer from the same insecurities as LBJ. Which means LBJ would not have been president during this tragic war. Or take for instance, the simple decision Robert Kennedy made to leave a Los Angeles hotel through the kitchen instead of the typical exits, where security was better. He likely would not have been the victim of an assassin’s bullet, which means he would have likely won the Democratic nomination for President instead of George McGovern. Had RFK been the nominee, he would probably vanquished Richard Nixon, whose unlikely political resurrection was due, in part to McGovern’s anti-war candidacy and the fissures in the Democratic Party.

This is just one time period. But American history is full of so many close calls. Actually all of history is like this. It turns on a dime. But it turns, according to Scripture, on the axis of God’s sovereign will. So reading history, to me, enables me to read today’s headlines with less fear and trembling, knowing that Christ is Lord over even today’s bad news.

Secondly, I realize that there is nothing new under the sun. I often get agitated at the unproductive partisanship displayed at all levels of leadership. There is a tendency to think that this is a new thing: men and women leveraging whatever they can to gain more power. But power plays, corruption, money grabs, and character assasinations are as old as sin itself. In fact, sometimes I wonder if the acrimony of earlier times in American history was worse than we find today. The way candidates sniped at each other, the way biased media dug up personal stories and had no fear in libeling those of other ideological persuasions. No, sin, sniping, strife predates even the American experiment. It stretches back to the first conflict in the very first family, where jealousy and self-righteousness led Cain to spill his brother, Abel’s blood. The motivations in the hearts of men have not changed in the millenia since the Fall. And so this reminds me that no movement or election or man-made effort can do what the gospel of Jesus Christ does in every generation: regenerate dead and black hearts. We an all try to be nicer to each other, but ultimately we’ll fail unless we are transformed from the inside out. This is why I love the gospel story. Without it, there is no hope in the world (Ephesians 2:12. And we are, of all men, the most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Third, I don’t have to long for the good old days nor put hope in a false future. If you look behind every social movement, there are one of two motivations. Either we are trying to reform–bring things back to a perceived golden era. Or we are trying to progress: shape a more hopeful future. This longing, I believe, is God-given. It’s rooted in the Biblical narrative. Though our nostalgia may, on the surface, point to the 1950′s or some other seemingly golden era, it’s really veiled longing for our original home: Eden. This idea we have that things were once good–told so often in our best tales–hails back to the Garden where man and woman walked with God in innocence, where evil was absent and life was as it was intended to be. This instinct we have that something messed it up is answered by Genesis’ account of a snake, an enemy, and a poison. Sin destroyed what man once possessed and now we are left longing for the place where we are no longer welcome.

And yet we have a yearning for things to get better, to improve. This desire for utopia, often warped by the evil imaginations of cruel dictators, is what fuels our political activism, is it not? We vote because we don’t like the status quo. We look for another political savior, put our trust in him or her, and then express our disappointment four years later when they turn out to be human. This is not new. Israel thought a king would solve their problems. And they soon realized that a king could often be the source of their problems.

This instinct, to yearn for something better, is also answered by the biblical narrative. What we’re longing for, a utopia where things are as they should be, is Heaven. Only we can’t create utopia. We can and should try to make life better, to alleviate human suffering, to create environments for human flourishing. But every generation fails at perfection. Every generation falls short of the glory of God. Followers of Jesus live with the real hope that Christ has defeated the sin that destroyed our Eden and has vanquished death. He’s coming back one day to reign as King and restore what sin destroyed.

So, Jesus’ followers should avoid the pitfalls of both overealized nostalgia and overrealized eschatology Returning to a mythical golden era (that never existed) denies the unique calling to live on mission in the time and place where God has uniquely called us. And the messianic impulse that says “we are the ones we have been waiting for” not only supplants Jesus as the ultimate agent of change, it sets us up for the frustration every generation of world-changers experiences: unrealized expectations.

We’re between Eden and Heaven. We don’t have to mourn the sin that kicked us from the Garden because the Savior vanquished it on the cross and in His resurrection. So our mission is to declare the good news of the gospel, roll up our sleeves and serve our communities, and keep our eyes on the city coming, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). We love our neighbor, not because we, or our movement, is his solution. Not to earn merit points with an angry deity. We do what we do, out of love, reflecting in some small and fallen way, the love of the perfect One, who is both Savior and Lord.

Only this gospel answers both our longing for what we have lost and the hope for a better future.

Tie Your Flag to the Gospel Mast

Today, for Leadership Journal, I interview Owen Strachan, former director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and current Assistant Professor of Christian Theology and Church History at Boyce College. Strachan is also the executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Strachan is an extremely gifted and often provocative writer. I’ve enjoyed his essays on sports, manhood, and a variety of other subjects. One of the questions I asked him was the question I typically ask my interviewees:

You’re a college professor. What is one piece of advice you’d like to give to a young man or woman considering a full-time ministry commitment? 

I can’t give just one coherent thought. Sorry.

1) Read up on Luther’s self-sacrificial “theology of the cross” as opposed to a self-exalting “theology of glory.”

2) Read Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor and take away from it a deeply counter-cultural ministerial spirit, one grounded not in numerical success or contextual benchmarks but in love for God and love for people.

3) Commit yourself to reading theology now, and promise never to think that theology and practice are disconnected. When tempted not to deepen your understanding of Holy Scripture through reading and study, remember that obedience to the First Commandment involves loving God with your mind.

4) Tie your flag to the gospel mast, and don’t ever let the culture or anything else alter biblical truth.

5) Have a bit of fun. Root for the Boston Celtics; run a marathon; roast your own coffee beans. Enjoy God’s good gifts. The best ministers are those who seem like, and upon closer examination actually prove to be, real people.

You can read the entire interview here:

How to Think On These Things

I just got back from spending a few days away with my beautiful wife of ten years. Our agenda for the four days was simple: do nothing. We slept in, went out for dinner, read, watched movies, and sat by the pool. In a very busy season of life, this was a welcome respite. For me, it was nice not have to be somewhere or do something, though it was hard to discipline myself away from email. I mostly did okay, but at times Angela had to tell me to put the blasted phone away. For Angela it was nice for her to simply relax, not having to cook, clean, do laundry, counsel women, separate kids from fighting, make sure the house is in order, shuttle little people to birthday parties, and/or do some kind of children’s ministry at church. She could simply rest. And rest we both did.

One of the things that struck me, while I was away, was just how hard it is for Christians to enjoy the good things in life. Perhaps its an overactive conscience or the lies of the enemy. I’m not sure. But every time we do something we enjoy, like eating a great meal or enjoying a movie, we have that little twinge of guilt that says, “We shouldn’t be having so much fun.” Or we have to come up with a thousands justifications.

But if we believe Paul’s words to Timothy: “God has given us all things freely for us to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17), then we should live like it. Sometimes God chooses to bless us with things we enjoy. Not because we are special or faithful or worthy, but because we are His children and He likes to give us good gifts. Prosperity theology is wrong, but so is a theology of poverty.

Perhaps some of our inability to enjoy the good things of life stems from guilt. We see with our eyes the human suffering in the world. It rightly disturbs us and we want to be part of God’s plan to bring restoration and healing. This is good. We should be generous, live below our means, and give our lives away for the gospel. And yet, in doing this we don’t have to be insufferable. We don’t have to apologize when the Father rains down blessings. We can be both radical and appreciative. We can be pricked to action by human suffering AND enjoy the good things God allows us to have.

This was brought into stark relief one night on our vacation. Angela and I were looking for a good seafood place in Orlando. One of the staff at our hotel overheard our conversation and then offered to help us. He happened to be restaurant critic for Yelp and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the restaurants near us. He not only recommended a restaurant, he arranged for free transportation to the restaurant, courtesy of the hotel. We rode in a brand-new Cadillac Escalade like VIP’s. For the rest of the night I kept asking Angela, “Why did this gentleman do this?” We didn’t give anything in return. In this I was reminded that sometimes God simply allows or arranges things for us, not because we deserve them, but because He loves us. And our asking ourselves why and feeling badly about is almost an insult to God. We should just respond with simple gratitude and worship.

I think of Paul’s words written to the church at Philippi. Paul was writing from house arrest, his freedom taken by the Roman government. Life in this season was not altogether very good. And yet he says, in parting, to “think on what is good and beautiful and orderly and of good report” (my paraphrase). We do well at finding and hilighting the bad things in our world, the corruption in high places, the evil around us, the problems in the Church, the suffering we can’t escape.

And yet Paul says we must discipline ourselves to find the good amidst the bad. The glimpses of heaven on earth. This, it seems to me, is a discipline. We must fight for joy. Sometimes that means smiling when you are in prison.

Sometimes it simply means taking time to enjoy the pleasures of life as they come. This, too, is an act of worship.

Play to Your Strengths

Today for Leadership Journal I interview the wildly popular author, speaker, and blogger, Jon Acuff. Besides being the proprietor of the very funny Stuff Christians Like blog, Jon is the author of several bestselling books, including his latest, Start. It was a wide-ranging interview in which Jon gave me some great thoughts. The first question I asked him was this:

You’re known for writing humor that pokes fun at the evangelical culture. How important is humor for church leaders in their speaking ministry?



I think it’s important. I would caution people this way: if you’re not funny or if it is not a gift, don’t feel you have to do it. If you’re not comfortable talking with a white board when you are speaking, don’t feel like you have to use one, even if it becomes popular. Play to your strengths.

You should always use humor to some degree. But I would never tell somebody, “If you are not as funny as Matt Chandler, you are not doing it right.” He has a natural gift of humor and he uses it.

It’s similar to what comedian Chris Rock says, “There are some topics people will not listen to unless they are laughing at the same time.” I use humor as a release valve, a permission builder. There are times as a leader that you don’t have the equity in the relationships to share something hard. For me, when I give a speech or preach, I use humor to build that relationship. People can relate to humor. It’s part of what makes us uniquely human, something God wired us for.

Satire, to me, is just a vehicle for truth. Look at shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Younger generations are going to those shows not just for humor, but also for news.

You can read the rest of the interview here:

Don’t Judge Me By My Worst Day

I was driving home the other day and flipped on the local sports radio station here in Chicago. I enjoy listening to sports talk–particularly ESPN 1000, WMVP. For the most part the talk is lively, there are good interviews, and the discussion is about something that takes my mind off of the other pressing and important things of the day.

On this particular afternoon, the hosts were interviewing the Chicago Cubs’ President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein. Now if you’re a sports fan (and if you are not, I’ll allow you time to repent right here), you’ll know that Theo is the Great Hope of Cubs nation right now. We haven’t won a title in over 100 years. We’ve had our hearts ripped asunder by near misses in the playoffs, particularly the unforgettable, trama-inducing 6-outs-away-from-the-World-Series game that featured Steve Bartman and the ball interference in 2003 against the Florida Marlins. We’re a resilient, rugged bunch of longsuffering fans, we are.

Theo was brought in by the new owners who bought the Cubs a few years ago, the Rickets family. He came from Boston for a high price. He is a renowned baseball guru with a top-flight staff. Our hope is that he’ll do for us what he did in Boston–give a longsuffering fan base a championship. We’ll see. Right now we’re in the midst the long slog of rebuilding.

If you’re not a sports fan and you waded through those three paragraphs, don’t worry. There is something good here for you. Theo Epstein said something in his interview that made me think about the way we Christians love each other. He was asked about his evaluation of a potential draft pick, particularly about a poor choice this kid made right before the draft. Did this factor into their decision whether or not to pick this player? Theo said something like this, “Not at all. We look at the entire composite of a player’s life and factor in good and bad choices. We never evaluate a player based on his worst day.”

We never evaluate a player based on their worst day. What if we did this with our fellow believers? What if we said, “I’m not going to judge that person based on the worst thing I’ve seen them do or say or tweet or write.”?

It seems Jesus does this. I think of his words to Peter, when predicting Peter’s future failure in Luke 22:31-32. Jesus told Peter that he would let Him down in a big way. But it’s the words that come after that are stunning, “But when you return, encourage the brothers” (my paraphrase). Not if you return, when you return. When you comeback after your big fall, encourage others.

Jesus didn’t evaluate Peter by his worse day. And Scripture seems to have this theme of grace. I see this in Hebrews 11, the passage we often call the “Christian Hall of Faith.” Did you notice that of all of the men and women mentioned, nothing is given about their many flaws? Flaws we know about well from other parts of Scripture. You don’t hear about Abraham’s ill-fated journey to Egypt. You don’t hear about Moses’ striking the rock instead of speaking to it. You don’t hear about Gideon’s moral failures. Seems God is saying about these men, “I don’t judge them by their worst day.”

In fact, we know and we revel in the fact that because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we are not judged by our best day or our worst day. We’re judged by Jesus’ worst day–the day the Father look away from him, when Jesus bore the full punishment for our sin.

God doesn’t see our worst days. He sees Jesus. Perfect. Sinless. Victorious over sin and death. So my question to myself and to you is this: why can’t we see others like this? Why do we tend to think of our spouses by their faults instead of their strengths? Why do we keep an unlimited reservoir of the sins of those we love?

Imagine how our relationships would change if we followed this simple maxim: Don’t judge someone by their worst day? Imagine what would happen if we saw others in the light of God’s redemptive love for them. And we evaluated their lives by the good and not the short clips of bad.

Maybe we’d stop fishing for embarrassing Youtube clips of preachers we don’t like so we can drive traffic to our blogs.

Maybe we’d stop supporting a brand of politics that finds the faults and magnifies them before the world.

Maybe we’d stop saying to our friends and loved ones, “You always do this.”

Maybe we’d stop trying to score rhetorical points and start engaging people in meaningful conversations.

Maybe we’d look at the entirety of people’s lives and respect them for the good they do.

Because, if the president of a baseball team can do this when it comes to his players, can’t we Christians do this when it comes to those we are called to love?

 

The Invisible Line

This post was inspired, in part, by an ironic blog post I recently written by a progressive evangelical on a controversial subject. You can guess which subject it is and when you guess, you will be right. But what was funny, ironic, and sad at the same time was this idea: The Church is too quick to declare certain behaviors right and wrong. That’s judgmental and just plain . . . wrong.

So let me get this straight: You are absolutely sure that its wrong, sinful, terrible to tell someone that their behavior is wrong. This, my friends, is the new tolerance. I’ve seen this repeated over and over again in the last few weeks/months/years by people who want to help the Church shed it’s stuffy reputation. And I get it, in some ways. I think there are areas where the Church needs to repent, times when the Church has been hurtful, wrong, and on the other side of important issues. Made up of humans, sinners, we’ve often, in our checkered 2,000 plus years of history, strayed from our gospel moorings.

However, it’s interesting, this discussion we are having in our culture. If you bend your ear to hear what many people, most people are saying: you shouldn’t judge someone’s personal behavior (usually sexual preferences). You should respect their choices and give them the widest possible berth. They should be afforded all rights and privileges to practice the behavior they choose. That’s what we are saying.For you to draw the line where you draw it, based on your belief system, is just plain wrong. This is what we are told.

The only problem is that we don’t actually believe this, do we? For instance, it’s considered wrong now to tell someone that they are engaging in wrong behavior. If you follow an orthodox, biblical position on sexuality, for instance, you are usually labeled a bigot, insensitive, and well, ironically, wrong. If you stay that your basis for conduct is the infallible, inherent Word of God, well then you are considered narrow, not really open-minded, and well, ironically, wrong. If you declare that God is love, a love that expresses itself in right justice against sin and if you declare that everyone is a sinner, you are considered judgmental and, ironically, wrong. If you declare that God passionately pursued sinners by sending Jesus Christ, the only God-man and that his death, burial, and resurrection are the only way back to God, to eternal life, and to spiritual wholeness, you are considered intolerant and well, wrong.

But here’s the problem underlying all of this tolerance: it doesn’t work out. In order to definitively declare something wrong, you are acknowledging that there is a basis, somewhere, for actually deciding right and wrong. It tells me that while you don’t like where I put my line, you clearly have a line. You’re not as tolerant as you might think. You have a value system that determines what is right and what is wrong. Because you have just told me that I’m wrong for thinking the way I do. Nobody actually believes the idea that truth is relative, that my body of truth that works for me is okay and your body of truth that works for you is okay. Because what happens when they conflict? What happens if my body of truth says that its okay to steal your iPad? How does that test your tolerance? All of a sudden we’re pretty big on “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” We’re not advocating “conversations” and talking of a God who is “less black and white and more shades of gray”, at least when it comes to my truth that says it’s okay to steal your iPad.

Do you see where I’m going?

You may think you are the most progressive, nonjudgmental, hip, non-legalistic cool Christian out there, but you have a line somewhere. The question is, where do you draw it and on what basis? If I say that I take my code of right and wrong from the Bible, that may sound a bit archaic or old-fashioned. Fine. So where do you get yours? Is it the consensus of the prevailing culture? That’s fine, but here is the problem with a majority-opinion type of value system. It depends on the goodness, the virtue, the character of the culture. And you don’t have to look far into history to see cultures, many, whose values systems would make us recoil in horror. For most of American history, the majority considered black people to be less than human. It considered them, at times, 3/5ths human, worthy of buying and selling like property, and for a long time, not worthy of voting, holding office, or even sitting at the same lunch counter as whites. If, during that time, you allowed culture to determine your value system (as many Christians, sadly did), you’d think it was okay to treat your fellow man in this subhuman way. So you see the futility of drawing the line where culture determines the lines should be drawn?

Perhaps culture is not your measuring stick. Maybe it’s tradition. Maybe it’s your own upbringing or experiences that shape your belief system. My point is not so much that you should accept the God of the Bible as the best arbiter of right and wrong as I do. My point is to help you see that, like me, you too have a system of right and wrong. You draw the line somewhere. And you base it on something, a set of core beliefs. You may not like me saying you have a set of core beliefs, but you have a set of core beliefs. I know at least one of those core beliefs: thou shall not steal my iPad. Am I right?

The question is to ask yourself and for me to ask myself: who determines who makes the rules? Who determines where the line should be drawn? What constitutes good and evil, sin and charity? What shapes our definitions of these things and how justice is served?

All of us are making judgements, whether we realize it or not. To declare someone intolerant is, in it’s own way, a judgement about someone’s values. It’s a statement, based on some kind of belief system.

As a sinful, fallen, gospel-loving Christian saved by God’s grace, I choose to anchor my value system to something timeless: God’s unchanging revelation of Himself in His Word. I may not always interpret the Bible clearly because I “see through a glass darkly”, but I’ve found that it’s a more reliable standard than the changing whims of human emotion, popular culture, and social science.

All of us are planting our flags somewhere, whether we admit it or not. I’m planting mine here.