Well, I meant to write a post about sensitivity and discernment, but I have several other things I'd rather write about right now so I'll just leave it at this: sensitivity and discernment are both essential parts of wisdom. Wisdom does not just mean knowing and speaking truth; it means knowing truth and being able to respond appropriately (i.e. with sensitivity and discernment). Okay, moving on.
Yesterday was a double whammy: first, Andy Stanley, then Janni.
Installment 1: Yesterday was Tuesday, and because it was Tuesday I exercised in the afternoon after Greek class, chapel and Greek homework, but before Hebrew class. Normally, I use this time to walk and talk with my dear friend, Jennifer, but yesterday she was swamped with homework so I rode the exercise bike by myself instead. I took the opportunity to listen to Andy Stanley's podcast "Be Rich: Do More. Give More." The passage of Scripture he used was Luke 6:27-36 and he unpacked the teaching of Jesus in a way I'd never heard before.
Jesus basically begins this part of His sermon with a series of extreme statements to totally deconstruct the attitudes and knowledge of His hearers: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." Think about it--this is crazy talk! These commands, coming from Jesus' lips, are completely contrary to normal patterns of human behavior, attitudes and belief. Immediately when we read or hear His words, our response is excuse (e.g. "I don't really have any enemies," or "Surely He didn't mean everyone who begs...") and our behavior is largely unchanged. This, Andy says, is because we are focused entirely on the people we are supposed to be serving/loving/giving to. Of course, if we measure them based on our own standards for how much mercy they deserve, we won't give them very much.
Then Jesus takes it up a notch: "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount." Jesus has just begun to move our focus from those we are called to love and serve; in this first reframing thought He moves it to us. Me, you, we, us. If we were the ones who needed a cloak, or who cursed or abused others or needed anything, surely we would want others to give us a cloak, love and forgivness and other needs, trusting us that our need was real. But Jesus does not stop there, even though a refocus on our own (possible) need(s) is helpful. It is not the ultimate foundation for our love or service.
The climax of Jesus' exhortation and reframing deconstruction is this: we do not love or serve others because we have more than them, nor do we give to or serve others because we ought to--we love, give and serve because our heavenly Father has loved, served and given to us. The Most High God has bestowed His mercy on us and so we, in gratitude for that mercy, show it to others. He is the ultimate grounding for love and service and as such removes all our excuses, all our self-centered behavior and all our stingy tendencies. No longer does it matter if people express gratitude to us for our service, no longer does it matter if people's lives are changed (although we still hope and pray for that!); what matters is that God Himself has bestowed and bestows infinite mercy--and as His grateful children we are to thank Him by being like Him.
"He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
Installment 2: Yesterday evening, being Tuesday evening, I spent time with another dear friend, Janni. As we chatted, Janni said something like, "Sometimes I just want to be able to see myself through God's eyes; how He sees all of the mess but somehow over that He sees the beauty, too....God's mercy is such a mystery." Yes, it is.
It is a glorious benevolence that I do not fully understand; but as I pictured myself, a slimy shadow, full of stench and rot yet somehow bright, beautiful and completely delightful in my Father's eyes, mercy became a little bit easier to give away.
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