As far as it depends on me...

The following is an excerpt from my personal journal dated October 30, 2015.

Romans 12:18

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

           Reading these words this morning, the first thing that jumps off the page to me is the word “if.” A tiny word with big implications. “If” is a conditional term. It implies that a cause-effect dynamic is at play. If this happens, then that will happen as a result. If  you do this, then  I will do that. We sometimes use the word “if” when laying out a possible course of action, should the worst befall us. “If all else should fail…” It cautions us to be prepared.

           The next word is “possible.” Possibilities are by their very nature not guaranteed. When combined with the word “if” it conveys a sense of contingency. “If possible” implies that it may very well not be possible. When it comes to peace in relationships, how do we know when it is still possible or it has become impossible?

           “So far as it depends on you.” When I have done all I can to keep peace and the other party continues to seek conflict, then I know it is impossible so far as it depends on me. But never should peace between persons break down because of me. I once read in a book that, while you cannot control how another person acts/reacts, you can control how you act/react. The author said it like this: “My response is my responsibility.” That has always stuck with me. Not that I have perfected the practice of that ideal yet, but the truth of it is undeniably resonant within me.

           How many times has a discussion about a decision or a situation between me and my wife turned into a “knock-down-drag-out” battle because my response was angry, self-defensive, or critical? (Too many. “Too many” is the answer to that question!) This is where the spiritual fruit of self-control is so crucial. Peace between people is only realistic if at least one party decides that, come what may, they will respond with kindness, graciousness, gentleness, calm, humility, and self-control. “So far as it depends on you” means that you cannot wait until you are in the heat of the moment to decide you want to try out this self-control thing. It must be something you are committed to from the outset. And it takes a daily crucifying of the flesh and presenting of the self to God on the altar as a “living sacrifice.”

           However, this does not always mean pacifism. Sometimes, having done all that can reasonably be done “so far as it depends on you,” peace is just not possible. For example, in the case of abortion, when a follower of Christ (or anyone else who holds life precious and sacred) has done everything to reason with and peaceably discuss the issue, and the other side remains staunchly insistent on the right to murder unborn children in the name of  “freedom” or “women’s rights,” then there is no reconciliation possible. The two positions are polar opposites, based on completely different and opposing worldviews that are in no way compatible. It doesn’t excuse violence, but it does mean there can be no peaceful resolution between the two ideals.

           Sometimes – many times, with increasing frequency and intensity – following Christ takes the option of peaceful relations off the table. I will not compromise what God has clearly commanded in scripture. I will not water down, back down, or in any way betray my allegiance to the Kingdom of God. If the prospect of peaceful relations requires I offend my Savior and dishonor His Name by living contrary to His revealed will, then the price for that peace is too high and I will not pay it. Not now. Not ever.

           This is why Paul adds the caveat “if possible, so far as it depends on you.” This is why Paul doesn’t merely tell the Roman church to “live peaceably with all.” Can you imagine the chaos that would cause, the confusion as they struggled with how to maintain integrity before Christ and be at peace with everyone? What happens when the government demands that you accept the sin for which Christ went to the cross as normal and even desirable? What happens when certain groups insist you adopt their beliefs and values and forsake Christ… or else? Sometimes peace is simply not possible, no matter how much we wish it were. Ask Israel. They know a thing or two about when peace is not possible.

            

Father, I walk out into this day clothed in the righteousness of Christ, in the power of Your Spirit, and covered by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for me. Grant me the supernatural ability to control my tongue and my actions, as well as reactions, today. “So far as it depends on me,” help me to live peaceably with all. Especially those who hate You, or hate me because of You. Help me to know when peace is not possible. But even then, let my responses never be harsh, angry, or violent in any way. Let my response always be truth spoken in love. Grant me boldness to never back down or compromise my faith in You. And grant me the grace to express Your love gently, calmly, and peaceably to all.

           I am incapable in my own strength and will power. I cannot simply resolve to do this. I need Your power, Your Spirit working in me, God. Love others through me today, for Your Kingdom’s sake. In the name of Jesus, my Savior, my Lord, my King! Amen!

South Africa Mission Trip Opportunity!

Hello friends!

   Can you believe it? In all our years of ministry and marriage, we have never had the opportunity to go together to serve our Lord on the mission field in another country. This year as we are celebrating our 30th anniversary we will also be planning and preparing for our 1st mission trip together! We have been invited by Hope2Africa to join their team this September to teach discipleship and leadership classes to a group of 28 teens in Mkholombe, South Africa.

Hope2Africa is a ministry out of Woodstock, GA that trains African youth living in Squatter Camps in using the Creative Arts to give the story of Hope through Jesus to their own people, in their own languages. Our team will be specifically focusing on challenging and training the youth to minister in other countries as well as their own towns and villages. Cheryl will be co-teaching classes on prayer as well as teaching a group of teenage moms to care for their babies and young children in body, mind, heart, and spirit. Jerry will be teaching the main discipleship sessions every morning in addition to co-teaching a class on re-telling Bible stories using various creative arts. We want to cast a big vision of a Great God telling a Grand Story that is still unfolding and help them to see the unique roles each of them were created to play in that Story.

What better way to celebrate 30 years of marriage than to lock arms as a couple and help cast this God-sized vision for these kids? It could literally have Kingdom impact for generations, all over the world! If you have ever been in one of our marriage classes then you know one of the first things we teach is that “Marriage is a God-ordained, God-sized MISSION requiring His power to thrive.” The mission to bear His image throughout the world was first given to a married couple. There is nothing more exciting to us than the idea that our marriage could be invested in something of eternal value for the Kingdom of God.

Would you help us celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary by partnering with us to serve the youth of South Africa through H2A? Because we were invited to join the team later than usual, we are behind the game a bit on raising our funds. It will cost us each $2800 to go. Please pray about partnering with us financially to meet this goal by our anniversary. (August 29th)

Also, we need prayer support. Many of the youth we will be training live in tragic poverty and face extremely difficult situations at homes. Most do not have in-tact families with a father and mother. Nearly all live in little more than shacks made of corrugated tin and pieces of plywood nailed together. HIV is pandemic in the area. Teenage pregnancy is rampant. The average life expectancy there is only 55! The need is desperate and the time is short. We need your prayers!

Thank you for your investment in us! We will be praying that the Lord uses it to change us and change the people of Mkholombe!

Jerry and Cheryl

For online giving:www.hope2africa.com On designation line put: Davison Sept. trip

To mail your donation make a check payable to Hope 2 Africa and mail it to us at

Jerry and Cheryl Davison

416 Clonts Road

Douglasville, Ga 30134

Ephesians paraphrased!

     Recently, I had the pleasure of studying the book of Ephesians with my small group Bible study at Church at the Ridge. One of the exercises I regularly do when studying through a book of the Bible is to paraphrase the section I have just studied as a way of making sure I comprehended what I just read. I take into account all the background information and context when I do this to have a well-rounded understanding. I have done this with a few other books (James & Colossians).

     Please make no mistake, I am not claiming to be a Bible translator or scholar, this is just my own paraphrase that came out of my personal study. However, it has not only proven helpful to me but to a few others I have shared it with. So I am making it available via this blog. I am not looking for critiques or to start doctrinal arguments. If you want to read it, then read it. If you don't then don't. If it's helpful, great. If not, forget it. If you disagree with my interpretation, let me encourage to not waste time arguing with me about it; make your own paraphrase. It's an excellent exercise for deeper comprehension of the text and the flow of them and though throughout. But be assured that if you go to the trouble of writing a lengthy commentary here, I will not bother to read it at all. I will in fact delete it unread. That is not the point here. The point here is to encourage and equip the family of God, not to quibble and quarrel.

So without further ado, follow this link to my Ephesians paraphrase. Grace and peace! -- Jerry

Some thoughts on "Genuine Love".....

The following is an excerpt from "The Brown Book," my personal devotional journal, dated Sept. 17, 2015.

Let love be genuine. (Romans 12:9a)

           “Genuine.”

          

           As opposed to what? Disingenuous? Feigned? Faked? Counterfeited?

          

           There are many tings that pass for love in our world that are not real. They are superficial. They are counterfeits. They look like love at first glance but, when you get beneath the surface, they have little to do with real love the way Jesus describes it:

• Laying down your own life so that another can live his or hers. Not just physical death, but the far greater challenge of daily dying to our own wants, desires, and wills so that our families flourish, our neighbors flourish, those in need whom God brings across our radar may flourish. In our own wills, we may manage to muster a level of compassion and generosity but genuine love pushes past temporary feelings of altruism to become an ongoing state of being, the perpetual death of our wills for God’s and for those whom He loves. Paul called it a “living sacrifice” just a few verses earlier (Romans 12:1).
• Loving our enemies. Real love doesn’t reserve itself only for those who love us back. It pushes past the natural borders of comfort and even common sense. If I am to follow Christ, that means that once someone has made himself my enemy, he has become a target for intentional love and blessing. This absolutely requires the Holy Spirit. Some days I don’t even like my friends, much less love my enemies.
• Loving our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus defined the word “neighbor” for us in the parable of the Good Samaritan, just in case there was any confusion or in the unlikely case we would attempt to rationalize away our responsibility to love genuinely when it cost us something. That was the whole reason He even told the parable, to answer the rationale disguised as a question, “Who is my neighbor?” Apparently Jesus thinks of our neighbor as anyone who comes across our path, regardless of race, religion, social status, sexual orientation, or any other reason we might make an excuse to move on down the road and ignore their need. This means allowing God to interrupt our tightly packed schedules of busyness. It means going out of our way to help when it’s not on the way to where we are going in such a hurry. It means getting involved in a messy situation we’d rather stay out of. It might mean risking our own safety to rescue someone from a dangerous situation. We will almost definitely be misunderstood and criticized by someone. Maybe even by everyone. But certainly by someone who means well and is likely very religious.

           Another great picture of loving a neighbor is the cross of Christ. Who gave up more to go out of His way to get involved in a mess that wasn’t His own in order to rescue someone else at the risk of being maligned and hated for it?

           What we call love today is a pitiful, limping, wimpy counterfeit. We think that because we tolerate and validate every foolish life choice anyone makes without speaking up and telling the truth that we are being “loving.” Sometimes loving genuinely means speaking out when everyone else would rather you keep quiet. Love may require us to go against the flow and risk the hatred of everyone else around us. Genuine love is risky these days....

• We tolerate abortion because we don’t want to seem “unloving” to women or disrespectful of their rights. But who is loving the unborn? Who is defending their rights?
• We support gay marriage because, we are told, it’s the “loving” thing to do. After all, shouldn’t everyone be free to love whoever they want? But what about when scripture is clear that those who choose that life will not enter the kingdom of God? What about the part where it says that those who are not part of God’s Kingdom will suffer His wrath on the earth and separation from Him for all eternity? If that's true -- even remotely -- how is it “loving” to stand silently by and even affirm their choice to expose themselves to that fate? How badly would I have to hate someone to let them launch out into eternity on that trajectory without saying a word?
• We remain silent about the gospel because respecting other people’s beliefs (or unbeliefs) is the “loving” thing to do. Respect, yes. Silence, no. Jesus demands our witness in the public square. We are His chosen vehicle to bring the gospel of the Kingdom to this world. How dare we care more about offending other people than offending our Savior? How is that love? Love for God – whole-hearted, soul-captivating love – is the first and great commandment. That means if the world we live in forces us to choose our loyalties, then we choose Jesus. Every time. Without exception. And we express that to the people around us with real love – not that cheap, fake stuff the rest of the world sings about, makes movies and TV shows about, or glamorizes on Facebook.

         When I read this yesterday, the image that came to my mind was of those big, chocolate Easter bunnies I used to get as a kid. It looked amazing – all big and chocolaty, with the candy eyes and the candy bowtie. But when you bit into it, you quickly discovered that it’s hollow. Just a paper-thin shell with chocolate flavored air inside. If you melted the whole thing down, it would barely make a decent-sized candy bar. The solid milk chocolate bunnies are harder to come by: rare and therefore more costly. But imminently more satisfying.

       When I read, “Let love be genuine,” I think, Be the solid bunny, not the hollow one. Be the one whose love goes all the way through, to the deepest places where it’s needed most. Don’t be the one that looks great at a glance, but is really hollow and superficial.

        God, help me to love genuinely today, in Jesus’ name!

Extravagant Honor

The following is an excerpt from my personal devotional journal dated September 25, 2015.

Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10b)

            “You’ve really outdone yourself!”

            We say this when we recognize that someone has gone to extreme measures to accomplish something. We say they went “above and beyond,” or “over the top,” or that their efforts were  “off the charts.” What we mean by all these clichés is that the person making the effort went to extravagant measures and exceeded all expectations.

            People these days are extravagant in a lot of things: sports, cars, decorating their house at Christmas, food, parties, weddings… you name it. For many, no effort is too great, no expense too costly in order to “outdo” themselves… and everyone else. Most of the time we waste extravagance on stupid things that are foolish or self-indulgent. Occasionally, you may find someone who is extravagantly generous or compassionate or kind. But normally it’s used to gratify sensual craving or temporary pleasure. Then, here comes this first century Jewish Christian church planter with a radical notion: take that bent towards extravagance and use it to benefit another person. Specifically, Paul says, to “honor” one another. Other translations render this verse “give preference to one another (NASB),” “take delight in honoring (NLT),” and “practice playing second fiddle (MSG).”

The dictionary defines honor as “high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank.” In a letter to the church in Philippi, Paul instructed them, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, emphasis mine) This runs counter to our deepest nature. Ordinarily, we jockey for position, clamor for recognition, crave applause, bask in glory, and will normally step on anyone who gets in our way in order to get it and, having gotten it, to hold on to it as long as possible. In America in particular, it is ingrained in us from childhood that we have “certain inalienable rights” that are due us, and woe to anyone who violates them! We sue each other, drag each other into court, publicly shame and defame anyone we think is trampling our precious rights.

The Christ follower has no such illusions. We call Him “Lord” which literally means “master,” as in the owner of a slave. If we call Him Master, then what does that make us? We left our rights behind us with the fishing nets and tax collector’s tables.

To show extravagant honor then demands from me extravagant humility. It takes being a “living sacrifice” to be able to “count others as more significant than myself.” I once heard Andy Stanley teach on that passage in Philippians: “It means that we treat everyone else as the most important person in the room.” Think about it this way: suppose the President of the United States walked into the room. Or your favorite pop star, or athlete, or movie star, whatever. You would probably make a big fuss over him, offering your seat, offering to serve him, making yourself lower so that he or she could be regarded as higher. Honor. Impossible without humility.

I love John the Baptist’s reply to his disciples when they complained that everyone was leaving him to follow Jesus:

“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:27-30)

This is remarkable. In a day and age when everyone is trying to build up their ministry and draw huge crowds in multi-million dollar facilities to see major productions that we call “worship,” John the Baptist saw success as losing all his followers to Jesus! The whole point of his ministry was to get people to leave him and follow Christ. John considered his ministry successful only when everyone had left his “church” to join Jesus’.

Look closely at John’s words. Here’s what he basically said:

·      I only have what God has given to me. It’s His grace, not my talents, which even put me in this position. Therefore, I don’t hold anything too tightly. Nothing is mine; it’s all God’s and He can do with it as He pleases.

·      I am not the Christ. It’s not about me. The whole point of my ministry was to get people to follow Jesus. He is the hero of the story, not me.

·      I know my place and I know my role in God’s plans and purposes. For me to try to grasp at power or hold onto people for my own pride would be like the best man at a wedding trying to steal the bride away from the groom. That’s not his place. She doesn’t belong to him.

·      I get joy from Christ being glorified. It means I did a good job. It means my ministry was a success. I will be completely happy when every last one of my disciples has left me to become a fully devoted follower of Christ.

That is extravagant honor. Holding this low view of myself and a high view of God results in showing honor to others:

·      If I regard nothing as mine, and everything as a gift from God, then I can be extravagantly generous to others and share freely from what God has given me to show them honor.

·      If I understand that the point of my life is to get others to follow Jesus rather than me, then I can be humble in an extravagant way so as not to block the view of Christ. “Down in front!”

·      If I know my place and understand my role in God’s plans and purposes, I am free to let go of selfish ambition and insistence on my rights, and extravagantly join God in His work around me.

·      If my joy comes from decreasing so that Christ can increase, then there is nothing that can ever steal such extravagant joy!

Father, this is my prayer: I must decrease, Jesus must increase. Use my life to point others to Christ. May I be forgotten and lost to obscurity to make Christ more known. Forgive me for my pride, my selfish ambitions, my grasping for personal rights, and my insistence on recognition and admiration. Help me in humility to regard others as more significant than myself. Form in me the mind of Christ for the glory of God. In Jesus’ name! Amen!

You have need of endurance...

The following is an excerpt from my personal journal dated September 11, 2015.

 

            A few weeks ago, my wife and I were celebrating our 28^th wedding anniversary at a beautiful log cabin nestled in the north Georgia mountains. My wife loves the outdoors, so we went on a few hiking trails nearby. One of them was Raven Cliff Falls trail. It’s a 2.5-mile hike through shaded woods along a creek with several lesser falls and pools. It was cool and a bit rainy, so it was an enjoyable hike.

            As we were nearing the end of the hike, we heard a noise behind us. We turned to look and it was two women, an older woman and what appeared to be her adult daughter. They were walking briskly, probably for exercise. I told Cheryl, “At the pace they are moving, they will pass us by in a few minutes.” We had been in no hurry; we stopped several times along the way to explore a side trail, to take a picture of a flower or a section of the creek we thought beautiful, or to check out one of the many campsites in case we ever decided to come back with the rest of the family. Sure enough, within a few minutes, the pair passed us by and disappeared around a bend in the trail ahead. I figured we would see them at the falls when we reached them shortly.

            But not too long after, we spotted them ahead, stopped along the side of the trail, huffing and puffin. They looked tired and out of breath. They were looking at one of the larger falls along the way to Raven Cliff itself. As we passed, I asked them, “Catching your breath before the finish?” The older woman panted, “No… we can see it from here.” She pointed to the waterfall. “Close enough is close enough,” she said with an exhausted smile. I thought to myself as we walked on. Wait, does she think that’s Raven Cliff Falls? Does she think they were there?

            The actual falls is an impressive sight. Two massive, towering cliffs of solid granite, with a waterfall that gushes through a break between them, ending in a secluded cave with a pool of icy, cold, fresh water to splash around in and be refreshed by. It’s definitely worth the two and a half mile walk.

            The waterfall the two women pointed to was nice… but it’s hardly a substitute for the real Raven Cliff Falls! I found myself becoming anxious for them as we walked on. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they would continue on and come to the real falls. “I hope they aren’t going to turn back,” I said to Cheryl. “It would be a shame to come so close and stop just short of the payoff.”

            Sure enough, after just a few minutes more of walking, we turned a corner on the trail and it opened up to the majestic granite cliffs and the towering waterfall. It was hidden from sight by the twist and turns of the trail; you could not see it until you were there. Excited and spurred on by the prospect of getting up to the water, Cheryl and I scrambled up an incline littered by roots and limb and loose rock. In fact, the most arduous and strenuous part of the whole trail was right there at the end.

            Once we reached the falls, I looked back once more to see if the two women were coming. No sign. I whistled loudly. Everything in me wanted to shout, “Don’t stop now! Keep going! You’re almost there! It’s worth it! Just keep going!”  

The two women never came. We never saw them again, not even on the way back. Cheryl and I talked on the return trip about how they must have thought that they had seen all there was to see, were unimpressed and turned back, disappointed and probably a little bitter. “Really?! This is what we came all this way to see? We suffered and wore ourselves out for THIS?!” We imagined them going back home and telling their friends, “Don’t bother with Raven Cliff Falls. What a waste of time! We did it and it was nothing special.” How many people would never get to experience it because they believed their report? How many people would never even start the trail because they didn’t finish it?

It’s not hard to see where I am going with this. All weekend Cheryl and I joked that every trail was “rich with metaphors” for following Christ. I believe He wanted to join the conversation about trails and paths and enduring to the end. Raven Cliff Falls was His statement on the matter.

            Rewind about two weeks before our hike to the falls. I had been listening to a podcast by John Eldredge. He was talking about his practice of asking God for a word or theme for the upcoming new year. He usually does this on New Year’s Day, he said. I had heard this idea before and it intrigued me. But it’s August already, I thought. It’s too late to get a word from God about my year. At the exact moment I had that thought, John Eldredge said on his podcast, “It’s never too late to ask God to give you a word for the season of your life you are in now.” Ha! Ok, then.

So I prayed, “Father, do You have a word or theme for where I am right now?” Immediately, in my mind I heard, as clear as day, the word, “Endure.” It resonated in my heart. It lined up with so much that I had been reading in the Word and experiencing in my life. It rang true in my whole being, right down to my soul.

That night, I told Cheryl I had asked for a word. She said, Wait, don’t tell me. Let me ask about your word and see if God confirms it.” She sat silently praying for a moment. “OK, what was your word?” she asked. “Endure,” I said. She jumped and slapped my leg playfully, a big smile on her face. “No way! That’s exactly what I heard, just the way you said it just now… ‘Endure.’ ” So I began looking everywhere for what God might be saying or revealing about enduring. The word began cropping up in almost every passage of scripture I read in my prayer times.

So when we had that experience at Raven Cliff Falls, God got my attention. There are promises to those who endure to the end. There are rewards. There are also dire warnings for those who don’t. Here are a few things I believe He said to me about endurance in connection with our hike on the trail:

Faith is crucial. If you don’t believe that what’s at the end of the trail is worth whatever it takes to get there, you will give up before you find out. You will never know.

Pace yourself. Don’t be in such a hurry that you miss beauty and wonder and joy along the way. Take time to rest and catch your breath. Draw strength and encouragement from the journey itself. If you put your head down just to soldier through, you may burn out before you get to the end and find yourself settling for something less, becoming disappointed and cynical and bitter. You may actually discourage others from ever starting by your failure to finish.

Don’t walk alone. Two are better than one on a journey. There is great value in sharing the adventure with others who want to finish with you. Allow other voices to encourage you when you lose your desire to go on. Allow them to share wisdom on how to best handle obstacles on the trail. Another pair of eyes can see things yours might miss. It’s wisdom.

Look for the trail markers. They have been put there to guide you by the ones who blazed the trail before you. When my wife hiked part of the Appalachian Trail the year prior, she noticed that occasionally there were these white rectangles called blazes painted on trees along the path for when you needed to know you were still going in the right direction, or when the path took a weird turn or seemed confusing. Just when you might be thinking, Am I lost? Did I make a wrong turn? Did I wander off the trail somehow? there was a blaze to reassure you and direct you to the next section. But you have to 1) know what they look like, 2) know what they mean, and 3) keep your head up and your eyes open so you don’t miss them. Comfort can be a distraction. It makes us lazy and less aware of our situation. Stay alert.

It gets hardest at the end. The hardest part of the trail is often that last little bit. You know you’re close, but it’s been a long walk. You’re tired, you can sense it’s almost over, and then you face the steepest, most strenuous climb. Don’t quit! Endure. It’s worth it. Jesus warned His followers that the closer they got to Him, and the closer they got to His return, the more they would suffer like Him. If I am not experiencing this, I have to ask myself, “Have I stopped moving forward? Am I camped along the trail in a cozy spot, no longer even on the path?”

You can’t see it from a distance. Like the trail to Raven Cliff Falls, close enough is not close enough. It doesn’t cut it. You never see the falls until you reach them. It’s not something you can admire from a distance to save yourself some trouble. You have to keep walking all the way or you will never even know what you missed.

Tell people about it. Show them where the trailhead is. Describe the falls. Tell them what you saw and how it made you feel. Get them excited. Offer to hike with them. Point out all the cool stuff along the way. Encourage them to endure to the end.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, emphasis mine)

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14, emphasis mine)

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, yet a little while, and the coming One will come and will not delay; ‘but My righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:36-39)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2, emphasis mine)

Stooping is the New Standing

 The following is an excerpt from my personal journal dated July 4, 2015.

“…but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” (Luke 4:11-12, ESV)

     The resurrection of Jesus Christ still seems like an “idle tale” to many “...and they did not believe.” In our cynical, reality-obsessed culture, we gravitate towards the gritty. We are suspicious of happy endings. Real life isn’t tied up neatly with pretty ribbons and bows. The resurrection seems to us like a fairy-tale finish to an otherwise powerful and poignant tragedy. It’s too good to be true, so we dismiss it as false.

     The disciples apparently felt the same way. Jesus was dead. That was real. They saw it. They knew it to be true. It must have seemed a cruel joke in poor taste for these women to come barging in with wild, “idle tales” of a risen Jesus. Yet there was one man among them who dared hope their words were true, enough to get up and go see for himself. 

     Peter’s last encounter with Jesus ended badly. Betrayal. Vehement denial that he even knew Jesus. Cowardly self-protection at the expense of His Lord. Worst of all, Jesus had known him better than he knew himself. He told Peter he would do this.

     But He also said, “When you return…” He knew Peter would deny Him, yet offered him hope that there was a way back. So when Jesus was killed on the cross, that hope had died. Jesus was gone and Peter never got the chance to make it right again before He was killed.

     Until today. If He was alive, then maybe… He got up and literally ran to the tomb. And here’s the part I personally love in the text, the specific word picture Luke uses: “stooping and looking in.” To stoop means to bow down, to get low. It means to make yourself smaller so you can enter. It’s a humbling of self. Had Peter refused to make himself lower, all he would have seen was the stony outside of a garden tomb. But “stooping and looking in, he saw…” There is a whole different perspective awaiting the one who will stoop and look in. You have to want it bad enough. Peter did.

     Ordinarily, it would be nothing special for a person to bend down in order to see into a small, low space. But there was more going on inside Peter. The action was pregnant with spiritual implication. Peter, whose pride and self-preserving instincts wouldn’t let him risk his own safety to identify with Jesus just a few nights earlier, now had to lower himself to peer into a tomb to know if there was any hope for him beyond his own death.

     Did he see Jesus? No, and that’s a good thing. If Jesus had been in the tomb, then all hope for redemption was lost – for Peter and for us. Instead, he saw the shell of empty grave clothes laying there, no body to fill them, as if to shout, “I couldn’t hold Him! He is too strong! I was no match for Jesus!”

     Maybe the reason the story seems like an “idle tale” to so many is because they will not stop to look in for themselves. Maybe they are afraid of what they will see if they do. If they dare get low in front of all their peers and take a hard, honest look inside that tomb, it might really be empty. And if it really is empty, then Jesus might actually be alive. And if Jesus rose from the dead, then He has claims on their lives that they cannot shake. No, it’s too risky. Better to stay home with the scoffers. It’s safer that way.

     Safer. At least until the sky cracks wide, and that Risen Jesus returns in triumph to claim His place as rightful King over all. The those who rejected Him, who refused to stoop and lower themselves, who dared not look inside for fear of what they would – or would not  -- find there, they will cry out for the mountains to fall on them and for the rocks to cover them. Anything to escape the penetrating gaze of that “Idle Tale” turned “True Story.” For them there will be nothing left but the wrath of a Holy God who did everything in His power to save them except force them to love Him.

     For the Christ follower, stooping is the new standing. It is a permanent position of humility before a glorious Savior. Jesus stooped far lower than He asks any of us to do. Yet stoop we must. Lower ourselves we must. If we want to see for ourselves what is true and live a life of freedom, hope, and victory, then we must do it from the stooping position.