The pathos of God is on the prophet. It moves him. It breaks out in him like a storm in the soul, overwhelming his inner life, his thoughts, feelings, wishes and hopes. It takes possession of his heart, giving him courage to act.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

You know how when you are in a conversation with someone and stumble upon some topic that they are really into, and they start getting all passionate and animated, and it makes you take a step back and say, “OK, tell me how you really feel about that.” Well, I believe for God, that issue is justice or what we might more precisely call biblical justice.  Biblical justice is the more precise term that I prefer, mostly because it reflects the range of justice issues that I see God clearly and deeply cares about, as witnessed in scripture and in my own experience.  The issues of biblical justice are social, economic and environmental.  They are also intertwined and interconnected.

The U.S. Government’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons recently released their 2009 Trafficking in Person Report. At the release, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton remarking on the ramifications of the current economic downturn said, ”Economic pressure, especially in this global economic crisis, makes more people susceptible to the false promises of traffickers.” While that is entirely true, it is only the initial one-off assessment of interconnectivity.  My own research into human trafficking has followed the river further upstream from the horror of human trafficking and beyond the economic pressures of poverty to the heart of the environmental crisis.

I first encountered the interconnectivity when I was doing some research on migration crises from countries like Cuba or Haiti to the U.S.  I was researching mass migration and looking at the typical “triggers” that people point to (i.e. natural disasters – such as hurricanes – and civil unrest) that cause people to make choices.  I quickly realized things like natural disasters and civil unrest were only triggers because there were other issues placing people in desperate situations in which a natural disaster or civil unrest was the final trigger to their leaving their home for something, anything else.

The desperate situations and issues before the final trigger included issues like health and immense poverty.  The fact is, most victims of human trafficking were all ready living with the consequences of the environmental and economic crisis when lured into that life.  As I continued to dig further in my research, I found that it was indeed an environmental factor that had set off so many people’s trek down this treacherous pathway into the vile clutches of human traffickers and those who prey upon the weak.  With little or no economic hope for even subsistence farming due to de-forestation and soil erosion (those are interrelated, especially in a place like Haiti), farming communities cannot eek out a living.  Compounding the environmental degradation is the loss of generational-knowledge of good farming techniques due to the decimation of HIV/AIDS or the push of “advanced agricultural techniques” wanted or unwanted on the farming communities from “advanced countries”.

The primary cause of Haiti’s environmental degradation has been caused by Haitian’s need for energy. With an electricity sector that only covered 10% of Haiti’s population in 2006, chronic energy shortages have contributed to Haitian’s search for alternative sources of energy.  Unfortunately for Haiti’s natural environment, wood became and continues to be the principal energy source for most of the populace, accounting for 70 percent of energy consumption in 2006.  This has directly impacted the environment with the steady deforestation  with an estimated 6,000 hectares of soil lost each year to erosion.

These factors contribute to increase poverty as people leave the countryside - the place of their relational community core, family and support – for the overpopulated urban environs.  Poverty – both urban and rural – and the risk of disease place people in desperate situations, even to the point of believing (whether they really believe it in their heart) that their children are better off having a chance elsewhere.  They are more susceptible to being blinded by the lies and false promises of a better life, a way out of their present life, for themselves or their children.  This vulnerable situation is preyed upon by human traffickers, and desperate people sell themselves or their children who may starve tomorrow into labor trafficking slavery (they call them restaveks in Haiti) and as household servants of the urban and suburban wealthy, where eventually they might become a sex slave or be sold into sexual slavery and/or more labour trafficking slavery and brought into the U.S. or other wealthy nations.  We must realize the market-aspect of this activity of injustice.  It is the wealthy nations like the U.S. which are the major destination-countries of human trafficking, including Europe or Japan. Human traffickers are bringing their commodities to the marketplace. Justice is being trampled in our streets.

But the dots were connecting for me, seeing illegal immigration and human trafficking connecting to the situation of extreme poverty, in turn rooted in an environmental crisis.  As I was talking to my boss at the time about my research, I told him, “If we could get to work on the root ‘push’ issues of poverty and environmental crisis (while still working on the “pull” issues of sexual dysfunction and deviation in the U.S.) … if we could do something about them, these ‘homeland security issues’ might evaporate…” Then he looked up at me and said, “Steven, please, we’re not the Church; we’re just the government…”

This struck me as a very astute assessment.  It was one of those “a-ha” moments where all the brain-work I had been doing took the elevator to my heart and began working there.  I realized something.  I walked away from my time in government fighting against human trafficking with the firm conviction that my boss was essentially correct:the Church has to fight against this and be the place where the broken walk toward healing in community in Christ.  But we have to also realize that it’s really difficult – nay, impossible without God – to do justice, while still loving mercy, not to mention walk humbly with our God.

If you’re interested in learning more about how issues of justice are interconnected and what you can do about it, join us for the RE:FORM Conference 2009 in the Baltimore, MD area on Sept. 16-18. For more information, visit the RE:FORM website at www.Reform-Now.org

Lately a spirit of unity has been sweeping over the youth ministry community where I live. It seems that we’ve all come to the conclusion that if we don’t work together we’re like people swimming alone up a swift river, working really hard and not going anywhere. More than that, I think we’ve come to realize that in a city like Boulder, unity in the faith community speaks volumes to people seeking truth in their lives. Boulder is a place of deeply fractured belief systems. There is no one dominate world-view, and people are precisely attracted to living here for that reason. Being united in belief and practice stands out in sharp contrast to the world around us, and the power of cooperative truth can be a strong magnet to people looking for the Lord.

The last thing we need to have is a fractured Church. I think we’d all agree with this statement, at least in spirit, and I know that there are many people who have heartbeats driving them to promote unity in the Christian community. That is wonderful—and needed. I’ve been wrestling with this idea though, and I’m constantly confronted with the question of why. Why is unity so hard in practice? More importantly, what does Christ mean when he calls us to be one as he and his Father are one?

As I’m being led to work in unity with the people around me, I’m realizing just how hard it can be. I’m beginning to understand how little differences can actually become huge barriers in the process of gaining momentum. To begin the process of understanding each other and moving to a place of true undivided ministry, we can’t just expose the areas that we disagree on and attempt to reconcile them.  This approach is many times impossible and even dangerous. We will always disagree. In fact, we should disagree—it’s healthy. Homogeneous ministry approaches and worldviews can lead to blind-sided organizational structures and will miss out on reaching/communicating to whole groups of people. Without disagreement, it is impossible for us to improve, restore and grow each other as iron sharpens iron. An iron sword standing alone becomes dull and useless, as do we when we aren’t opening ourselves up to the criticisms (and even the slightly off-base ideas) of others. This leads us to the conclusion that it is not disagreement on its own that is causing so much strife within the Christian community—it is something much deeper.

Something is present in conflict that tries to take our differences (that which are inherently beautiful and part of our creation) and turn them into ugly irreconcilable monsters that threaten the very fabric of our being. Mistrust has a way of dividing and conquering the body of Christ. Mistrust acts like a cancer cell in our spirit. It breeds on itself and multiplies until it takes over whole regions in our lives. It takes away the freedom and beauty that comes when the Christian community acts in a healthy way.

Mistrust is developed in two major ways as it relates to the ministry community: It comes from our own insecurities around who we are in Christ, and it comes out of a misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. When we forget the darkness that Christ called us and redeemed us out of, we can quickly forget that the Lord takes us first as we are and then begins the process of transformation within us.  He takes all of our shortsighted ideas, our less-than-holy lives, and our brokenness, and in turn he gives us life.  He lets us on to his team; he asks us to join his ‘club’. We forget that we are imperfect sinners called to live deeply in grace, and then we project impossible standards of perfection on to those around us that are still actively falling short.  When they don’t stand up to those standards, we call them heretics and accuse them of watering down the gospel. Couldn’t this be what Jesus was partly rebuking the Pharisees for in Matthew 23:4 and Luke 11:46 when he mentions the burdens that they place on people without lifting their own fingers to help them as they stumble? It seems that one of the problems of the Pharisees was that they pictured a kingdom of heaven without the broken, messy, and redeemed people of the world. They were the epitome of mistrust. They didn’t trust each other, let alone other Jews and Gentiles. When Christ called lowly fishermen to be his disciples, heal, teach, and start his church, it raised more than a few angry fists.

All this to say, as we live in a kingdom of crazy, broken, and sinful people, we can’t let disagreements (however right and just we may be in the situation) become a foothold for disunity.  Instead, we should act like Paul encourages us to in Galatians 6:1—restore each other gently.  We need to pick our battles and any time we begin to worship the clarity of our theological pool, we have to remember that Jesus just might come walking through it with muddy boots on.

One of my traditions, done each year with a few hiccups, is to take some quiet hours on New Years Eve or sometime before I start back to work and review how life is going in the major areas I care about. This year when I looked, the glaring truth was that there was way more on my plate than one human could possibly do. Hearing the echoes of my friends’ voices telling me this same truth for a number of years in a row while I said “yeah, yeah”, I have spent the last six months looking at this, ignoring it, coming back to it, and slowly, surely beginning to understand how I tick.

Over my vacation I did a couple of things. I took a two-day personal retreat and just sat in the quiet and solitude and thought long, slow, reflective thoughts. I had a chance to grieve some of the losses from two moves, first the home where I raised my children, and then the home where I was raised. I had a chance to think and pray over all the pieces of my life now – my calling to leadership in the church and in our community of churches; my almost-30-year marriage with Steve, my 3 now-grown children and one son-in-law, my 91 year old mom who now lives with us; and the part I call “being nice to Cindy” – caring for my well-being, doing stuff that’s fun for me, giving myself little free spaces to dawdle, to ponder, to make music, to pray, or to do nothing and just see what comes of that.

Then at the end of my vacation I used some tools I’ve gleaned from several different organization books to deal with my life-long habit of thinking of time as a big bag made of elastic fabric, into which an infinite amount of stuff can be, well, stuffed. I am learning a terrible but helpful little question: “How long will it take?” How long to “just check my email”? How long to make the phone call to the airline on which I have a ticket I have to use up before September? How long to get my sermon for Sunday ready to go? I find I am terribly unrealistic! I now have my big-picture goals that I’ve thought about and prayed about up on my desk where I can see them, and I’m working to get to where they dictate what my time gets invested in. I’m working to leave the office with a little buffer of time so I can sit and visit with mom before I start dinner. I’m working to get up and have a half hour in the morning while the house is quiet to read and pray. I’m chucking some stuff, even perfectly good opportunities, overboard. And I’m taking the time to talk to myself as lovingly as Jesus talks. Doing that has been revelatory for me.

Rome was not built in a day, as the saying goes, but I have more confidence now that I won’t fry out before I retire, that I will actually do the stuff I really feel called to in these years when I have maximum influence and have the insight that’s borne of 30 years of doing adult life, marriage and ministry. And that I will like myself and will be a likeable person when I’m 64, and beyond!

Life change happens best in Sunday school? Small group? Deeper discipleship classes that teach people to be self-feeders? The church in America has been wrestling with this question for several decades. We’ve been trying to find the right “program” to make, mature, and mobilize disciples. Every 10-20 years a new model comes along and claims to be the “master plan” of discipleship. Church leaders point to models like Sunday school, small groups, and now discipleship classes as the place where life-change happens best. However, years later we discover that the model is not working. More and more statistics confirm the fact that the church in North America is slowly dying. Why? Perhaps the solution to the discipleship dilemma is not the need for a new relevant model but for renewed emphasis on disciple-making.

Is a new model the answer? It’s my belief that the problem is not the model of discipleship but the ultimate message the model sends. One of the significant reasons the Sunday school and small group models have fallen short is they both forgot the essence of their message—spiritual reproduction. They both started out as disciple-making ministries but eventually became the social outlet for the life of the church and produced consumers, not disciples. People focused on their spiritual development for their own sake. Isn’t the “Master’s plan” for every follower of Christ to grow to a place where he or she can disciple others in the Christian faith? What would the church look like if we emphasized this message? What if every disciple was told at the beginning of their spiritual journey that the purpose of Christian education (Sunday School, Small Groups, Discipleship Classes) was to train and equip them to disciple someone else? Like the disciples who followed Jesus, at some point, they would be sent out in groups of 12 or 72 to preach and teach others about the kingdom of God. Perhaps the reason the Reveal Study shows Sunday school ministries and small groups become less appealing to the mature believe is because the mature believers need to be encouraged to instruct others.

In Matthew 28:16-20 the church receives God’s great commission—make disciples. This message is intended for every Christian, not missionaries or pastors. All of us who follow Jesus are charged with this call. In the book of Acts we watch as this plan unfolds and the Church grows exponentially. For example, Paul after his conversion experience spends time with the followers of Christ in Damascus and Jerusalem and then spends a number of years Caesarea being discipled. Once Paul is further grounded in the faith, then God launches Him out to make other disciples. As Paul leads others to faith in Christ like Timothy, he intentionally brings Timothy with him to shape this young man’s faith—and not for the sake of Timothy alone. Paul grounds Timothy in Christ, so Timothy then grounds others in Christ. For men like Paul and Timothy, the purpose of spiritual formation was not only for themselves but also for the sake of others.

The Bible does not call us to start Sunday school programs, small groups, or discipleship classes rather it says we are to make disciples. If the Church is going to reach the next generation then we need to intentionally emphasize spiritual reproduction. We need to challenge our people to not only have spiritual children but even spiritual grandchildren because the real sign of reproduction is when our children reproduce. As I said earlier, it’s not the model that’s important, but it’s the message the model sends. Imagine what the church would look like if every Christian desired to mature to a place where they can walk someone else through a spiritual growth process. Children Sunday school classes would be overwhelmed with parents volunteering because they would want to take ownership of their child’s spiritual development. Student ministries would have a waiting list of potential leaders, because mature Christian men and women are eager to share their faith and ground the next generation in the gospel. Small groups would not resist multiplication, they would intentionally move toward it. Finally, deeper discipleship classes would focus on preparing the believer to be launched out into their city, neighborhood, and workplace for the purpose of making other disciples.

Regardless of our approach or model for Christian formation, the one proven “master plan” of discipleship is reproduction. Disciple-making is not for some Christians—it’s the call of every Christian. In fact, if we think disciple-making is only for a few gifted Christians, or if we only focus on personal spiritual development then 10-20 years later we will watch another model run its course.  However, when we start to teach the timeless truth of spiritual reproduction, and this becomes our central message, then we will honestly be able to say life-change happens best when we become disciple-makers.

God’s path… God’s path… God’s path… I find myself always repeating that quietly. What feelings are common during the repetitions? Guilt, happiness, firmness, confidence, optimism and even failure, why? Because, sometimes it’s difficult to follow God’s path. I am challenged everyday to follow God’s path and I fail many times, however, there are many times I’ve succeeded.

The agony of defeat sometimes outweighs the thrill of victory, so I pray.

My prayers always lead to the fact that I need to be deeply rooted in Christ. What does that mean? Am I supposed to just walk with Christ? Colossians 2:6-7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” In this passage, three words pop: walk, root and built. Does this describe the foundation of a relationship I should have with Jesus?

I translate “walk in Him” to walking with Jesus to heaven. He is only way to get there and if you don’t believe or walk with him you can’t get there, period.  And, the thing that may haunt people is that it’s your choice to walk or not to walk. Jesus doesn’t send you to hell, it’s your responsibility to get to heaven. Jesus has already saved us we just have to walk in Him.  Easier written than done, huh?  I know.

It is not what you profess, but what you possess that makes you Christian. “He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12). Do you just believe in Jesus or do you have Jesus in your heart and in your life?

How do we walk in Him?

Since God is love (1 John 4:16), we walk in love (Eph. 5:2).

Since God is light (1 John 1:5), we walk in light (1 John 1:7).

Since God is true (2 Cor. 18), we walk in truth (3 John 4).

Another way I translate “walk in Him,” is that your lifestyle must be Christ centered and you must view the world in a biblical worldview.

The definition of worldview is unstated assumptions. It is the mental universe we live in. Philosophical worldviews are, obviously, built on philosophies. For example, the sexual revolution in the 1960s. What were some of the outcomes from the sexual revolution?

According to the CDC:

• 3 million new cases of Chlamydia are reported each year
• 356 thousand new cases of Gonorrhea reported in 2007
• 33 million live with HIV/AIDS worldwide
• 468,578 people live with AIDS in American in 2007 (20,000 more than 2006)
• 3,792 of those living with AIDS are under 13-years-old

That’s life and death y’all. Other things that have been affected by the sexual revolution are the increased numbers of divorce rates, single-parent households, fatherless children, teenage pregnancy and social acceptance of pornography.

The bottom-line is that your philosophies on the world around you will influence – or dare I say – dictate your decisions and lifestyle. Majority of your mundane and even difficult decisions are based on what philosophies you subscribe to, i.e.: Liberalism, Materialism, Conservatism, Transhumanism, Taoism, child discipline, the death penalty, Vegan, etc. Whichever one or many you subscribe to dictates your decision-making process.

Philosophies are basically ideas, and all ideas have consequences, bad ideas have lethal consequences. The sexual revolution ultimately was a bad idea because of the lethal consequences we face today. A philosophical worldview is based on human condition and is a substitute for Christ. A philosophical worldview (1) takes you captive, (2) the idea is empty and it’s (3) deceptive.

What is a biblical worldview?

A biblical worldview is based on the infallible Word of God. When you believe the Bible is entirely true, then you allow it to be the foundation of everything you say and do. That means, for instance, you take seriously the mandate in Romans 13 to honor the governing authorities by researching the candidates and issues, making voting a priority.

Do you have a biblical worldview? Answer the following questions, based on claims found in the Bible and which George Barna used in his survey:

Do absolute moral truths exist?

• Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
• Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
• Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?
• Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?
• Is Satan real?
• Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?
• Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?
• Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?

Did you answer yes to these? Only 9 percent of “born- again” believers did. But what’s more important than your “yes” to these questions is whether your life shows it. Granted, we are all sinners and fall short, but most of our gut reactions will reflect what we deep-down, honest-to-goodness believe to be real and true.

I believe in order to “walk in Him” we must have a biblical worldview. In order to be deeply rooted in Christ we must trust God. That will be part 2.

References

Nathan, Rich; “What is the Greatest Threat Facing America Today?” May 30, 2009 sermon based on Colossians 2.1-8

Tackett, Del; “What’s a Christian Worldview?” retrieved June 5, 2009 from www.focusonthefamily.com.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Beyer, Douglas; “Growing in my walk” retrieved June 5, 2009 from www.christians.org.

Many pastors I know are subject to the mental cruelty of their own rumination.  Oh, it’s the bane of pastoral ministry! Rumination, like a cow chewing her cud, swallowing, regurgitating to chew some more, ad nauseum, pun intended.  It’s as unpleasant as it sounds when it happens in your head: going over and over the same thought, the same problem solving inner dialogue, the same rehearsed conversation for extended periods, ad nauseum, no fun intended.

Jesus had rumination in mind (I think) when he told his disciples not to worry beforehand what they were to say when dragged before councils and kings.  He knew, perhaps by personal experience with his own brain, that the neurological alarm system is powerful and it can stimulate the frontal lobe to think in circles, like a dog chasing its tail, to no end.

Overthinking, a counselor called it when I was driven by a mild depression to get some help with my brain.   Overthinking!  As soon as he uttered the word it was as if a disease had been named.  Oh, what a relief!  Maybe it’s not just me.  Maybe something’s wrong that can be fixed!

The diagnosis helped my praying brain, that’s for sure.  I began to recognize the symptoms of overthinking and realized that much of what I took for prayer was rumination.  No wonder I had to use all my willpower to pray!  I was occupying the mental landscape of pious anxiety much of the time, thinking this was the “labor” of prayer.  No, it was the curse of rumination.

Silence was the cure for my ruminating brain.  Be still, and know that I am God.

It took me a while, but in time, I learned to value silence inside the cranial cavity.  It begins by teaching yourself to ignore the swirling thoughts rather than egg them on.  To let them run ahead rather than chase after them.

It proceeds by meditating on Scripture, not just reading it.   Taking a word or a phrase and returning your focus to that world or phrase as your jittery brain bounces from thought to thought.  In time, the thoughts do slow down.  They become less persistent and insistent, like voices from the side of the swimming pool when your head is under water.

“For God alone my soul in silence waits.”  (Ps. 62:6)   Silence.  As if there’s something out there more valuable than my thoughts.  Oh, freedom! Let me listen for that silence!

Young pastor teach your soul to wait in silence.  Begin by craving a little silence.  In the din of your thoughts, seek it out, behind them, beneath them, beyond them.

Practice this daily. Begin with a minute. Build up to ten minutes.  Take months if necessary.  Be satisfied with a whiff of silence heard, a moment of stillness in the brain between thoughts.  Renee Descartes was wrong.  I think, therefore I am, he said.  Close, but no cigar.  I am, because He is.  I am, because You are.  I am more than my thoughts. There’s a me beyond them, as important as they are. There’s a You, beyond them to be known with and without them, so wonderful is He.  There is an irreducible Us, within which I am embedded.

I’m waxing philosophical, I know.  But I’m not kidding.

Are you ruminating often, such that when you place a moist finger on your forehead you hear a little sizzle sound?  Maybe you too are over-thinking.

Get some help.  Talk to someone who understands how to lead the ruminating brain out of it’s bovine existence.  Unless you enjoy the misery.

I’ve devoted my life to doing ministry work, so of course everything I do is for God’s glory, right?  So why then did I feel so angry and resentful at a leader appreciation event when my work and ministry went unrecognized?  Andy why do I get so frustrated when ministry work isn’t going at my pace or in the way I think it should go?  And most painful, why do I sometimes (or often) feel like I am the only one who can do the work necessary to fulfill God’s vision?

I pray constantly that God’s will, not mine, be done.  But when His will means that my ministry isn’t growing fast enough or big enough to get attention, I find myself feeling discouraged and frustrated.  I love it when “God things” happen at our church.  But I love it most when “God things” happen in my ministry.  And that’s not something I’m proud of.

Examining my heart and my motivations . . . really examining . . . is not on my top 10 list of enjoyable things to do.  It is easy for me to slip into the trap of thinking that because my job is working “for” God, that I must really be working for God alone.  But, too often that is not the case, and what I’m really working for is recognition or advancement.

My self-prescribed antitode?  Failure.

When I fail at something, I am forced to assess whether I was working to please God or working for success.  If I fail by worldly standards, but can say that I was doing what I truly felt God wanted of me, then I have to accept that I have not failed.  God does not ask for or promise success.  He asks for obedience and promises blessing (which is different from success) for those who obey.

God, help me to long for failure for you over success for me.

In my earliest years I attended a parochial school. I remember second grade distinctly because the “character theme” one month was humility. At the end of that month, in an assembly before the entire school I was named the winner of the “Humility Award,” but they took it away from me because I actually accepted the award!

OK, perhaps the story is not true, but it does illustrate the conflicting ideas Christians entertain regarding what it means to be humble. Where do we get our ideas about humility? If God “gives grace to the humble,” how can I eagerly pursue his best for me without falling into mere self-interest?

In Matthew 11: 25-30, Jesus’ words point to an important revelation: Jesus invites anyone who would follow him to come under his instruction and learn his way of life. Surprisingly, his first reason for calling us to follow him is that he is “gentle and humble in heart.” Even as he offers the benefit of rest, he highlights his own personality–a gentle and humble man. The Teacher does not want to impart merely information, at least not first and foremost. His first lessons are his very own attributes–gentleness and humility. It is a bold offer to follow him, and perhaps the boldest aspect of this offer is the unimaginable possibility that we can learn to become like him.

Jesus uses the image of a yoke. This image was common enough in his day: A yoke is a large collar which places the strength of an ox or horse at the disposal of someone else. We are the ones placing our strength at his disposal. He will not conquer us, we must bow before him as a matter of choice. The path to becoming like Jesus starts with his invitation, “Come to me;” and after he speaks we can choose to accept that invitation by only one method: to humble ourselves.

In fact, on four separate occasions Jesus employs this phrase: “the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” These passages are not simply repetition caused by the gospels re-telling the same story–each passage is unique (Matt. 18:4, Matt. 23:12, Luke 14:11, and Luke 18:14). Four times Jesus lays out the challenge: humble yourself. But how?

I invite you to read each passage and meditate on each setting. I would like to suggest that each passage teaches us the “how to” of humility:

Matthew 18: 1 – 4. Lay aside dreams of greatness and embrace dreams of dependency. This is the highway of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said that among men there was none greater than John the Baptist, yet the person who was “least” in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than John. Living in the Kingdom requires God’s intervention every day. We cannot “make the Kingdom happen,” we can only proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is breaking in, and then depend on Him to invade the ordinary with his presence and power.

Matthew 23: 1 – 12. Lay aside the thrill of recognition and find the joy of serving. If we are honest we will recognize ourselves in the people Jesus describes–those who strive for recognition by the way they dress, or where they park, or by the titles they hold. It is thrilling to be noticed, to be selected from among the crowd for recognition. Meanwhile the servants come and go in the midst of all the clamor, quietly attending to the Master’s business. But in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus reveals that the Father is the one who “sees in secret.”

Luke 14: 7 – 14. Lay aside the thirst for honor from others and seek to honor others instead. In fact Jesus tells us to honor those who cannot repay us. True, there is a time of reckoning and a place to receive repayment, but it is not here and now; it is later. Can we delay gratification or does our thirst drive us to be satisfied now?

Luke 18: 9 – 14. Lay aside self assessment and depend on God’s mercy. Jesus draws a picture of two men at prayer. The first begins with “thanks” but quickly tallies up the score of the game he has been playing. He has been keeping score all along and reminds God that he is the winner. The other man starts with God’s mercy instead of self assessment. Score-keeping (and judgment) belong to God. Let’s be careful. If we have a measuring stick, we will eventually be asked to stand next to it!

These four passages are the very words of Jesus. Later his disciples would encourage all followers of Jesus to stand in the grace which comes to us as we choose to humble ourselves. It’s how we take the yoke. It’s how we position ourselves to learn from him.

One of the most powerful tools in healing the walking wounded is what the Bible calls repentance. What is biblical repentance? Put simply, it is when sinfully destructive behaviors and attitudes are first abandoned and then replaced by ones that are constructive and godly. True repentance has an emotional component of sorrow and remorse, though it is not defined by emotions but by behaviors. While feelings of regret about things we have done or left undone may move us towards repentance, these feelings are not enough. Like an unopened bud on a flower, repentance is not in full bloom until new attitudes and behaviors have replaced old ones. To repent is to purposefully remove sinful, injury-causing agents from our lives and replace them with God-given changes that bring healing, reconciliation and renewal. Quite simply, repentance begins with a sincere “I’m sorry” and is completed by the adoption of new actions and attitudes.

Sometimes, people confuse true biblical repentance with vague attempts to try harder. But this does not produce the kind of changes called for by true repentance. Rather than be vague, we must target specific attitudes and behaviors that offend God and bring harm to ourselves or to others. The sign of true repentance is when new lifegiving, constructive and God-honoring behaviors have replaced what the Bible refers to as “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1; 9:14). Note the way in which the Apostle Paul demonstrates this in addressing how new believers in Christ should now live: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need” (Ephesians 4:28). We can see here that true repentance asks more of a thief than feelings of sorrow or remorse. Instead, with God’s help, Paul calls upon them to replace thieving behaviors with constructive and honest work.

When I was still a young teen, I had an opportunity to experience the difference between regret and repentance for myself. It went like this: my friends and I cooked up a scheme to go door-to-door throughout our neighborhood and sing Christmas carols. Then, before moving on, we would solicit “alms for the poor” from our audience. Before long, we had collected a significant amount of cash. And at the end of the night, we split the take between us and went home.

A couple of years later when I gave my life to Christ, a funny thing began to happen: I started to grow a conscience. From time to time I would remember things I had done—things I knew God was not pleased with—and experience a compelling need to do what I could to make things right again, if possible. One day, while passing by one of the homes we had worked during our Great Christmas Ripoff, my heart began to burn with shame and conviction. I knew I had to do something to reconcile the wrong I had done a couple of Christmas’s before, but what?

Since I didn’t know the people who lived there, I was at a bit of a disadvantage. But I did recall them being especially generous to us during our unholy scam. I determined to simply march up to the door, confess my deception, ask for their forgiveness and repay them my share of the loot. Every time I tried to do so, however, no one would come to the door. At first, I felt relief. Maybe God saw my sincere efforts, I reasoned, and was letting me off the hook. But in my heart I knew better. So, I decided to try a different approach.

I composed a note which I put in an envelope along with some money, and taped it to their front door one day. It read something like this:

Dear Neighbor,

A couple of Christmases ago, some friends from my street and I came to your door and sang holiday carols. You kindly invited us to come into your home and sing for your party guests as well. Afterwards, we asked you all for “alms for the poor” and you generously donated some money to us. I am ashamed to admit that we lied to you about helping the poor. We actually kept the money for ourselves. Although I cannot recall how much we collected from you at that time, I believe my portion of the proceeds came to about $20.

Recently, I became a born again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ whom I love with all my heart. I feel He wants me to confess my lie to you and give you this money as a token of my desire to make right the wrong I have done to you. Please accept this with my sincere apologies. Thank you.

To this day, I do not know what happened after I left that note. I only know that I had “produced fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8) and walked away feeling lighter, brighter and cleaner than before. It began when I admitted to God that I had behaved in sinful ways toward my neighbors. I know at that point, He forgave me for my sin. However, the removal of that which had caused me injury could not be complete until I took action to make things right with those I wronged. When I did so, I could feel the healing in my soul.

Bill Faris has been a professional pastor, counselor and writer throughout his adult life, and is the author of a new book, How Healed Do You Want to Be? Finding hope and wholeness in a sharp-edged world. Currently, Bill is a part of the professional counseling staff of Marriage and Family Matters in Mission Viejo, California. In addition, he serves as the Director of the Vineyard Community Mission Network (VCMN), a network of house churches based in Orange County, CA that is affiliated with Vineyard USA. Bill and Robin, a gifted nurse, have been married for over 30 years and have four children.