by RobertCummins | Oct 13, 2015 | 41. Brokenness
Brokenness – Luke 22:24-34
In the article I read, the writers had borrowed from the best of sociology to demonstrate that the world has not been, nor would it ever be, changed by good theology and sincerity. The world they were observing had been changed by society’s elite – cultural icons whose ideas find their way into the main stream, effecting group thought and ultimately human behavior. I found The article intellectually compelling yet deeply troubling.
Their research revealed that in the two millennium they have been applied, neither piety nor prayer has changed the world. This Christian writer was proposing that they never would. It was even implied that putting any confidence in piety and prayer might be a form of insanity. I was stunned! I wondered if the author had bothered to imagine what the world would look like without Christianity?
Another stream within the church which also aspirires to change the world has made the same observation; that atop seven particular arenas of human activity, dwell the mind-molders – the elitists who shape the world. If Christians want to change the world, they must set their sites on these summit and begin their ascent. This presentation too was impressive yet troubling. Why? They had left Jesus at the base of the mountain …
Let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant…..I am among you as the one who serves.
This passage teaches that those with aspirations to climb, may already be hampered by altitude sickness and its symptom of fuzzy thinking …
And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be the greatest.
I can almost hear the rebuttal of the world-changers: “But we have a mandate to climb. We won’t succumb to the same pride and pettiness as Jesus’ disciples”. Really?
Peter was giving similar rebuttal as Jesus was trying to show him he had already been affected by altitude delusion and that Satan liked this arrangement. Peter’s attitude was, “No Jesus. You don’t understand. I really can do this!”
Lord with You I am ready to go to both prison and to death!
We know what happened next. Peter had to be broken before he could lead. He had to discover that he had grossly misjudged himself. Can you imagine the painful awakening that began for him when the cock crowed three times? This was both Peter’s lowest point and the trailhead of his revival. It was from the bottom Peter ascended to the high place of leadership in the early church.
As I watch Christian thought swirling around me, mostly free of any currents of of brokenness, I wonder, are we not dreaming that water flows uphill? Can one really lead without being broken? What are the losses within the body of Christ and to the Kingdom of God caused by unbroken leaders?
We recall God’s original instructions to take dominion over the earth but, does that mandate equate to setting our sights directly on the summits of earthly influence? I would hate to miss it, but I have not heard any call to scale any Everests. I don’t believe the scriptures direct us to change the world. I do read that we are slated for change. I believe we have been directed to build God’s kingdom by sharing in his sufferings. Perhaps after we aspirants to power are broken, we will then be equipped to serve and then ascend.
You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you (the kingdom).
There are little-t truths and big-T Truths. Changing the world falls into the “little t” category of truths for me. It’s real. It’s vital. It’s a worthy aspiration. However, I believe the kingdom of God is the big-T reality. In its eternal nature the kingdom of God is a vast mountain range which dwarfs the Seven Mountains of Society. One day God’s broken kingdom leaders will hike up and beyond the offices of this earth’s movers and shakers. From their lofty places, they will ultimately rule and judge this world (see vs 30) with love and wisdom. Then we will see the world changed in earnest. Whether you are a world-changer or a kingdom-builder, grab a copy of Hind’s Feet on High Places (see warning below). This is Hannah Hurnard’s trail guide to climbers..
And if we are tempted to abandoned piety and prayer, just remember, Satan has requested permission to sift us too. So, as Jesus’ instructs us …
Don’t abandon prayer.
Father, we see the winds of your Spirit blowing. We don’t know where they are taking us, but we do know that we are to gird ourselves as you did, to love and to serve our neighbor. Help us to identify with the needs of those around us. Help us take our next steps downward that we might ascend. Amen.
Warning; Hannah Hurnard will not pass the doctrinal check point. The bible police have stopped her and will stop you too, if you are caught with any H.H. contraband. They will show you her rap sheet and prove she was a heretic. They will reveal she drifted into universalism in her later life. They will fail to mention though that with Hinds Feet on High Places, she wrote a theologically sound allegory, describing the unlikely pathway to authentic influence.
by RobertCummins | Oct 12, 2015 | 41. Brokenness
Brokenness – Psalm 51:1-19
What is the deepest and truest thing about you? I have observed that part of my family in Christ believes they are, in their essential make up, wonderful. The other part believes they are wretched. Welcome to the bi-polar Body of Christ.
Whether we are wonderful or depraved is not typically found in the print of a group’s doctrinal statement. However, it is easily found in the believer’s heart. If you listen carefully to the conversations and to the music, you can hear what we think of ourselves. One group sings, “My heart is prone to wander.” The other sings, “God makes beautiful things”. How well I understand.
For three decades I was wholeheartedly committed to the idea that I had a Jeremiah 17:9 – heart – one that is deceitful, desperately sick and beyond understanding. I thought, “Thank God my heart was like David’s, whose sin (like mine) was ever before me! Thank God my heart was like Paul’s – wretched (Romans 7:14-25)!” Then, there were the two confirming witnesses; my thought life and my behavior – they were always ready with their affirmations of my depravity. Even though I was dying inside, I was proud that I was mastering Psalm 51– brokenness and contrition, which God so loved. Spiritually speaking, I was flying pretty high but in a very low sort of way.
The assumptions I was making about my nature drove me with an intensity, similar, I believed, to my hero David – that man after God’s own heart. If you could have listened in on my heart-to- heart conversation with God, it would have sounded like this:
“Oh Lord, my sin, which naturally springs up from my heart, is ever before me. My heart is not clean, and believe me, I know! Oh God, create in me a clean heart, renew a steadfast spirit within me! and please, please, please, do not take your holy spirit from me!”
If I would have had ears to hear, I would have heard God’s response to my dirge, “Oh Rob, I did create in you a clean heart and furthermore I have no intention of taking my Spirit from you. Oh Rob, stop praying this. OK?”
However, being dull, yet zealous of heart, I believed if I could adequately establish this lifestyle of brokenness, if I could just repent deeply enough, if I could just seek him with more discipline, then I could finally know him and I would not be such a perpetual problem child. (Note; if you would like to construct a religious treadmill; this paragraph should provide a pretty good blueprint.)
I was being driven by an “if-then” legalistic caveat. I was not being drawn by a loving being. Where was all my intensity and desperation coming from? My sense of depravity was producing mega-wattege of shame and guilt driven energy. I was dead serious about God. I was perfecting the dark night of the soul as a lifestyle. I was so zealous I thought God might just snatch me up in my own personal rapture like Enoch. My family would say, “Rob was…..and then he was not”. (I am only barely exaggerating). God’s reply? “Oh Rob.”
In the midst of my dead reckoning approach toward God, some events transpired that served to modify my identity – how I viewed myself. Today, as I read Psalm 51, I see a snapshot of David’s thinking in the midst of a season of deep repentance. It was taken after he had taken ownership of his actions as a murderer and adulterer. I don’t believe a moving picture of David’s heart would reveal that Psalm 51 characterized his lifestyle any more than I believe Romans 7:14-21 characterized Paul’s.
When I read Psalm 51 today, I am at peace that God has cleansed me of my sin therefore it is not continually before me. He has purified me and washed me whiter than snow. He has made me to hear joy and gladness. He has not hidden his face from me. He is not threatening to take his Holy Spirit from me. He has restored to me the joy of my salvation. I don’t believe a dirge about my old nature is the song I was destined to sing. A dirge coming from a new creation is not music to God’s ears.
As the beneficiaries and heirs of a new covenant, we can sing songs of rejoicing which acknowledge our newness in Christ. Our deepest reality is that Christ lives in us and we are temples of the Holy Spirit. The deepest and truest thing about us is that we have been grafted into the Vine. We are rooted permanently into God through Christ. Exclusively, by God’s scandalous grace, we are in a wonderful place. God thinks we are wonderful and I find that I am agreeing with him on this point more and more.
David has reminded us that we were conceived in iniquity – so there is a depravity component to us. Even though we have been buried in Christ and raised up with Him, this aspect of us seeks expression. But, are these impulses proof positive that our fallen natures define us? Isn’t it plausible that giving our fallen natures so much credit empowers them to have more influence than they should?
When I get caught in a cross-fire within our divided family, I just tell my story. I now believe there are little–t truths, and there are big-T truths. Our fallen nature is a “little t” truth. It is not as large as the big-T truth, our new identities are built upon. Welcome to the New Covenant.
This is my story. This is now my song. I am praising my Savior, now, more than ever, all the day long.
Father, may Your opinion and big-T truths prevail. Help us to renew our minds with your opinions about us. Restore to us our identities as children of light, truth, joy and freedom. Cause us to be those whose songs and behavior validate, not contradict, the Good News you came to bring. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 12, 2014 | 41. Brokenness
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3
Earlier this week, I referenced a “kingdom come, Thy will be done” – moment that came from the movie Patton. It was so potent it seemed prophetic to me. I will share it again in light of today’s passage;
Patton: (intensely introspective) “I’ve always felt that I was destined for some great achievement, what I don’t know.”
Aid: “Yes, sir.”
Patton: (musing – with GREAT pathos) “The last great opportunity of a lifetime – an entire world at war, and I’m left out of it?!”
Patton: (with GREATER passion still) “God WILL NOT permit this to happen!”
Patton: (and finally, with VIOLENT resolve) “I WILL be allowed to fulfill my destiny!”
Patton: (with deep reverence as if this has now become a settled matter in the cosmos) “His will be done.”
I recall a season a few years ago when I regularly attended church and was heavily invested as an elder in nearly everything it did. And yet….I felt as though I was a benchwarmer in the grand scheme of things. How could this be?! I preached. I taught. I led worship. I administrated. I tried to share my angst with my co-elders but I discovered what we had then was a failure to communicate. I was driving these poor men crazy and I was mad with them because they were returning the favor. Looking back, I better understand what was going on. I didn’t know it then but I was learning a different language and becoming more fluent in it as I interacted with others (outside my immediate church family) who assured me that I was not crazy. (Oh these precious souls!)
One day I got a call from an internationally known speaker and author. With my international network, hampered as it was by my city limits, my response was, “WHO?!” He said a mutual friend had suggested we make contact. “WHAT?!” Putting it mildly, I was all ears. The conversation deepened quickly. I had found someone who was listening and understood. My angst spilled out; “WHY?!” It was like an out of body experience. I heard myself just going on and on about my flirtation with insanity. As I blabbed I recall thinking, “Would somebody please shut this guy (being me) up!”
Strangely though, my VIP caller would respond at the end of each cathartic burst, “Excellent.”, “Oh that’s superb!”, “Oh yes, this is sweet.” His bizarre responses made me wonder if he wasn’t the crazy one! I finally said, “You don’t understand. I”m loosing my flipping marbles!” He assured me (or he tried to) that all was better with my soul than I perceived. He said we needed to get together face to face. What would you say, “Well…let me pray about this and I’ll get back to you?” Not me. I was not turning down people at that time who were giving me hope of my sanity, especially not if the hand being extended was from a true spiritual father. My flights were booked immediately. (Speaking of flight) I pledge to get this one back to our passage. Even now, we are entering a steep banked turn.)
I must fast forward through my time with this prestigious saint and say that he was part of a corp of men (and women) whose council and prayers assured me that God was in the midst of my circumstances. (Oh these precious people!) This season of blessed disorientation has radically impacted my heart. I am no longer driving my co-elders crazy although I did unintentionally wound some of them as I was trying to keep my marbles in one basket. And, I no longer feel like a benchwarmer or a sideline observer.
General Patton frustrated his superiors but he knew who he was – a man who was born for such a time as that. His exploits are now legendary and he indeed made an essential contribution in defeating Nazi Germany. Jesus frustrated the religious experts too but knew He was. He was not going to be deterred from his mission ……
….. to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
After processing my inner storms and ending up with a settled understanding of who I was as a beloved son of God and a friend, I too found myself almost militantly reclaiming my destiny which was not ministry per se. It was to simply live life where God had strategically placed me. My ultimate contribution to the great battle is yet unknown but I know this, you and I are on the front lines every day we get out of bed and our mission is simply to learn to live in Christ who is our life. If we do this, it will one day be said of us….
They bound up the brokenhearted. With their lives, they demonstrated liberty to prisoners of religious bondage. They showed that God was always favorable to heal, to save and deliver. To those that mourned over the kingdom of God, they supplied joy which fueled an awakening of God’s life on this earth that resulted in gladness, joy and praise.
Father, may we be a generation with ears to hear just how favorable are each of the moments you entrust us with. May you expose and deliver us from all of the lies (however sacred we believe them to be) which keep us glued to the pews. Establish our identities and commission us afresh as kingdom sons and daughters. May our legacy be akin to your own as catalysts to the Father’s never ending kingdom. So be it.
by RobertCummins | Oct 11, 2014 | 41. Brokenness
Psalm 31 (Since Isaiah 61:1-3 was recently used, today I am keying off of this weeks’s Psalm)
For myself and for all those I know and care for, I deeply desire that we enjoy the deepest revelation and friendship possible with God. When I am writing to you, I am doing so with a confident passion that it is God’s desire to help us personally receive His most valuable of all gifts – His Fatherhood and His Friendship. I also write with a painful awareness that for many of us we do not see this happening and we really don’t know why. We feel stuck. Left out. I sincerely pray that my words today will be filled with grace to move us off of our religious-high centers where we may be hung-up and spinning our wheels.
We looked in on Jacob earlier this week, at his all-night wrestling match with God which I think is a picture of our own lives. I was thinking how much like a psalm it might sound if we were to have a move-by-move account by Jacob during this struggle and how beneficial to our walks that would be. As I read Psalm 31 today, I believe I heard David doing this very thing, offering color-commentary on his life and relationship with God. In his words I hear pain yet also a childlike presumption that God is aware of the troubles of his life.
When David says, “In Thee O Lord, I have taken refuge…be Thou to me my fortress“, I hear Him saying, “Lord, it is you and me together in this life. I have no other plan, no other recourse. My strength is gone. I am in distress yet my times are in Your hand”.
Recently I wrote, “If we will lean into our lives (wrestle, if you like) with the understanding that it is with God with whom we have to do (Heb 4:13) and that in Him, we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28), we will eventually discover that all the give and take; all the pressures of life, from wherever they come, are a part of our prolonged struggle as well as our unprecedented opportunity. I am persuaded that for those of us who will persevere in working out our lives face to face with God, that He is going to restore our identities which are essential in the fulfilling of our destinies.” I am persuaded it is only in perseverance we personally discover the all-things- work-together truth of Romans 8:28 and the count-it-all-joy truth of James 1:2.
From personal experience, I think I have at least a partial grasp of why we struggle in our relationships with God. We work overtime to avoid brokenness by going around it as opposed to going through it. At some level we feel our pain, we know our weaknesses and failures but we learn how to keep them at bay. We figure out a way to cope, how to make life work. The paths around our issues are typically busy schedules, drugs, hobbies, really anything will do as long as it keeps our minds off the gnawing unresolved issues of our hearts. The more religious ones of us dream we are pressing on as we read the books, as we go to the conferences, as we get the training, as we fast and pray and as we attend and serve in our churches. (It is no wonder silence is a pathway for saints back into the heart of God.)
And yet we zealots too, often stay the same. Many of us not only stay the same but our disappointments metastasize into debilitating, usually well-managed anger. From this place we just try to move on and hide away our dissapointment and despair. If we don’t go through our pain, we will just go through the motions; and if we just go through the motions our hearts are doomed to entanglement with religion.
My working definition of religion is any system of thought or practice whereby the doing of it causes me think that I have gained the favor of God. If we are just going through the motions of attending church or even leading the church, why are we doing it if we don’t think we are gaining favor or blessing from God? It is easy, very easy, to make life work in the church. We can go to work serving the Lord with the unresolved issues of the heart serving as the unseen and unholy driving motivation of all we do. There are plenty of benefits available to those who will work hard in Christianity; gold stickers, awards bibles, social acceptance, titles, offices, tasks to keep us busy and distracted from the real issue of our wounded and insecure hearts.
However, If we are just going through religious motions in our serving, what has happened in the temple of our hearts where Truth aspires to reign and liberate us from every lie the enemy has sown into our lives? If we are busy going through the motions, reinforcing our identities in Christian activity, we have been trapped. The good news? For some of us, in His mercy, Jesus will come into the temples of our heart and kick over the money changer’s tables where we are engaged in the unholy and enslaving commerce of religion.
The irony is that our pain and our sense of failure, when entrusted to God, face to face, as the One with whom we ultimately are dealing with, over time, builds the relationship of security and confidence with God we have wanted all along. The encouraging news is that God wants that even more than we do and has made a provision for us to receive it. Facing the unholy things that drive us (wrestling with, if you like) face to face with the Lord, is the primary way that He transforms us from glory to glory.
I am not saying that award bibles, titles and offices are inherently wrong but they can be if we haven’t been moving through our painful core issues face to face with God, move by move, as did Jacob and David and most (if not all) saints who have come to know God well. Our pain is not evidence of His absence as we wrongly perceive. Our pain is crucial to our growing intimacy with God. Our pain often is indication where lies have become embedded in our lives. Our pain can become our place of encounter with Him – the One who is well aquatinted with pain and sorrow. It is our destiny to tell our story of how he transformed us from glory to glory – our own personal discovery of how He has been in the midst of our darkness with us and led us out into the marvelous light of His Truth.
While it is natural to flee the thing that brings us pain, we must do something counterintuitive. We must hold onto God by letting go. (Please forgive the cliche.) We must intentionally entrust all that we are, however bad we think that may be, to God. Those who follow this course ultimately have a story to tell of the goodness of God in the presence of their dire circumstances within and without. These saints can look backward and see the good and strong hand of God taking the worst events of their lives and building things that will last for eternity – all born out of intimate relationship with Him.
So, the seeking is in the resting. Over time, just living out our lives, especially in those times where we are wrestling, our hearts gradually prove, through our life experience with God, that He is patient, powerful, loving, kind and altogether trustworthy. Again, the irony; the heart would have never gained this eternal revelation without those trials. Whether the trial is a “test” or an “attack”, I don’t think it matters. If we process life, and all it brings us, face to face with Jesus, discovering Him as our life, we will have an overcomer’s story to tell. Our testimony will emit light and enemy strongholds will be exposed and conquered. His kingdom will have come and His will will have been done.
Father, thank you that today is the day of salvation. Help us to receive Your love right now, not at some future date when we think we will be more worthy of it. In the give and take of our lives help us to lay hold of that for which You laid hold of us. Help us to even now embrace You in the midst of our circumstances. Grant us Your eternal perspective on our brokenness that we may press on to know You and to make You known. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 9, 2014 | 41. Brokenness
Isaiah 53:1-12
Who is God and what is He like? I believe our response to this question forms the foundation of who we are and what we are like. If someone came to me and asked me this question I think I might say…
“Well….because I assume your question is in earnest, I want to put you on the best trail to find your answer. I suggest that you read Isaiah 53. Then read the gospel of John. These are two people who can help in your quest. I also suggest, as you read, write down your impressions. Once you have done this, let’s get together.”
I would guess most of those who believe in God or a God probably have at least a few common assumptions about Him. Most probably assume Him to be powerful. I wonder how many of them would imagine Him as vulnerable? I imagine many would see Him as a ruler. I wonder would how many conceive of Him as a servant? Perhaps many would see this king as one issuing forth decrees. Would they be surprised at His silence? His questions? Most would think of God as far above and beyond us. How many would be surprised that He came and took a position beneath and along side us?
Ultimately, I think our hypothetical inquirer, if he were a reasonable person and an earnest seeker, would conclude that the God revealed in scripture is beyond human invention and, if he exists, would be a God worthy of their worship. And, if He would permit it, he would be met with that initial gift of God’s grace which expresses itself as faith, that faculty enabling the heart to say, “yes” – the first word of a brand new language.
Father, permit us to meet those around us that You are drawing into Your great heart. Anoint us as catalysts to stir their hearts with the wonderful news of who You are and what You are like. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 8, 2014 | 41. Brokenness
Genesis 32:22-32
Once upon a time, I viewed brokenness as my cross to bear. I saw it as a gauntlet of custom divined, painful experiences created to refine my character. My understanding of the cross was that it’s intensity correlated to the degree of work that needed to be done on my wicked heart. There have been seasons where the intensity of things suggested that (at least with me) God was working on a wretch of a bit higher order.
I believed that to make it to the finish line it would require a passive (fatalistic) kind of acceptance of each thing that touched my life. I could tell you precisely why I believed this was true scripturally; but unfortunately, not very joyfully. My future, given the health, relational and (at times) vocational / financial trends looked bleak. Perhaps this sound familiar? If so take courage, there is hope!
Jacob’s future was very shaky as well. He was about to meet up with Esau, a sibling he had swindled, who would likely kill him and plunder his belongings. Just before Jacob was to encounter his estranged brother and realize his tragic end, he is left alone at the ford of the Jabbok River. It was there he entered into a prolonged struggle with God that lasted until sunrise.
This scene fascinates me. Jacob, whose life is similar to our own, in that his future was uncertain, was anything but passive and fatalistic. No, there was NO WAY Jacob was going to waste this much energy without a benefit!
Then God said, “Let me go. for the dawn is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I WILL NOT let You go unless you bless me“.
This reminds me so much of a scene from the movie Patton. Listen to the dialogue between Patton (played by George C. Scott) and his chief aid, William Meeks……
Patton: (intensely introspective) “I’ve always felt that I was destined for some great achievement, what I don’t know.”
Aid: “Yes, sir.”
Patton: (musing – with GREAT pathos) “The last great opportunity of a lifetime – an entire world at war, and I’m left out of it?!”……..(with GREATER passion still) “God WILL NOT permit this to happen!”……(and then with VIOLENT resolve) “I WILL be allowed to fulfill my destiny!”
(with reverence as if this has now become a settled matter in the cosmos) “His will be done.”
I was taken with this scene because it so closely resembles the latter part of a season where I had just about expended the last of my reserves in a prolonged struggle with God – a long exhausting season of just trying to endure the obstacle course I believed that He had set before me. I can’t explain precisely why, but something VERY strong rose up from within me that said, “I WILL NOT permit this season to pass without the specific blessing of understanding God’s heart”. I know this may sound egocentric, but I felt (with a peculiar certainty) that I too had a great destiny; that the last great battle was before me and it was my destiny to make a contribution. I cannot tell you how foreign this tone was at that time to my spiritual ears which had been tuned into a more passive acceptance and fatalistic band width.
And God said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob”. And God said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
I feel confident that God approves of our aggressive and steely resolve to realize our identities and to fulfill our destinies. I believe that this is actually a part of our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ. I can hear the spirit of this in Paul’s words….
I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ.
If we will lean into our lives (wrestle, if you like) with the understanding that it is ultimately with God with whom are wrestling (Heb 4:13) and that in Him, we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28), we will eventually discover that all the give and take, all the pressures of life (from wherever they come) are a part of our prolonged struggle as well as our unprecedented opportunity. I am persuaded that for those of us who persevere in working out our lives face- to-face with God, that He is going to restore our identities which are essential in the fulfilling our destinies.
I don’t think of brokenness in the same light as I once did. It has definitely been a part of me and I think it remains within me to a degree. (perhaps similar to Jacob’s limp). I do think the brokenness that comes from the cross, changes the heart’s orientation to God. While character reform is surely a byproduct of the path God has us on, I am confident His higher objective is simply to reveal to us His own affection and provision.
Father, help us to see how enjoined and inseparable our lives are with Yours. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
