WISHFUL THINKING OR FAITH-FILLED HOPE

BY STEVE DUNN

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for ... These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,  since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. - Hebrews 11.1-2, 39-40

A lot of us live by wishful thinking.  We say and do things that reflect a basic denial of reality.  I cannot tell you how many times as a pastor I heard someone say,"I know what you're saying, but my experience is different.  I am an exception to that rule."  Usually what they were saying was, "I want to do what I want to do, but don't want to be held accountable for my choices.

Before someone accuses me of being a hypocrite or Pharisee,I need to confess something.  Diabetes runs in my family.  Almost 20 years ago my doctors dropped the adjective "borderline" from their diagnosis.  They told me how to combat it, particularly the importance of diet.

I really didn't make that many changes, except to slow down on regular soft-drinks. I would eat carefully for a few days and then in times of boredom or at buffets, I would abandon all boundaries.  Now hundreds of milk shakes later, I find myself taking drastic measures to get that diabetes under control.

Wishful thinking can be very dangerous, especially when God has made it clear that only His way works.  There are no exceptions to his rules.

But one of his rules is "with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  In our faith life some of us are so grounded in being practical or realistic that we think that only the things man controls are to be pursued.  Comfort zones are where we choose to live.  Walking on water is for Jesus and foolish humans. After all, look what happened to Peter.

The problem with that is that God Who always keeps His promises feels no need to provide instant gratification and whose rewards which are eternal start closer to eternity than the present moment.

Be careful of wishful thinking.  If it is contrary to God's word or way of acting - it is foolishness, often tragically so.

But when God says let go, look beyond, follow me - the foolishness is in our comfort-zone, control-obsessed response.

© 2016 by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com 

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

BY STEVE DUNN

“… be filled with the Holy Spirit.” – Ephesians 5:18a

      We often make statements that to others appear as self-deluding.  When I was growing up, such statements were greeted with the comment, “You are full of it.” (We will have to stop there because the etymology of that expression refers to something very nasty that you are full of.) But for Christians, being full of something refers to being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
 

     Some Christian groups use this command as a code word for a specific kind of religious experience or as a litmus test of a certain type of Christianity that they believe to be superior to all other forms of Christianity.  I tend to disagree with both usages but that is a theological issue beyond the scope of what I want to say today.

     We fill our lives with many things — jobs, family, and even religion.  All in pursuit of happiness or fulfillment or meaning.  But those things are often delusions because they are expressions of a delusional belief that say, “It’s all about me.”  For too many our highest aim is self-satisfaction not significance.  We believe our lives have meaning when we get to be who we want to be.

     Such an attitude ultimately requires us  to ignore our neighbor, be indifferent to our community, and abandon any true responsibility for our world.

      The one true antidote to this outcome is not saturate our lives with self but to let the Spirit indwell us shaping us and empowering us to be people whose lives are immeasurably and whose impact brings God’s wholeness to all.

(C) 2014 by Stephen L Dunn

MOVING ON AND MOVING UP

BY STEVE DUNN

Dianne and I are in our 41st year of marriage.  This was our first home--for all of three weeks.  Both of us were college students, getting married in late August so we can earn money all summer and then squeeze in a honeymoon before the first day of class.  We rented an apartment in town from a landlord who became one of our greatest encouragers. 

The summer of our marriage will be remembered in central Pennsylvania as the year of Agnes--before Sandy the most powerful hurricane/storm to hit the Middle Atlantic states.  A whole lot of things were disrupted and delayed by Agnes--including the finishing of the place into which we werre to move.  So for three weeks we rented an Airstream trailer near town.

It was cramped.  It had a bathroom with a shower where you could not stand up.  And if you leaned too far forward on the toilet, the shock absorbers of the trailer might flex and send you tumbling forward.  It was heated by propane gas in a tank (which I later learned in the middle of the night needed to be refilled).  The pilot light, which was reachable only by laying on my back on the floor and extending my arm under the kitchen stove, went out frequently.

It served us well, but only for a time.  We could not have lived there very long, even as students.  There was barely enough room to open a textbook, let alone set up a book shelf.  We could never have raised four kids there.  I could go on.  You get the point.

It was what it was--but it could not have remained what we needed to live.

When it comes to spiritual matters, human beings tend to want to remain where they first began.  They are often comfortable with the place where they first enter the faith.  It's simple.  It's familiar.  It has its limits, but it also has few expectations that require change or sacrifice.

Lent is a time of reflection--confession, repentance, and renewal.  Moving on from where we have been spiritually and moving up to where God wants us to be. 

The Apostle Paul writes: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you." (Philippians 3.12-15)

Are you moving on and moving up?

(C) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

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HOLY BOREDOM

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46.10

“Holy Boredom”

By Stephen L. Dunn

Recently Dianne and I were blessed with the gift of four days at a rustic cabin in the mountains of Fulton County PA.  We were celebrating our 40^th Anniversary with some special time together.  It was also a chance to escape a house that was almost neck deep in boxes as we were in the midst of packing up our house of eleven years to move.  (Did you ever notice how much you collect and then forget you ever owned until you have to move it to a new location?)

Our hosts, Dennis and Jean, graciously introduced to its comfortable amenities—which included being at the end of a lane in an area where the very few neighbors are very friendly, but things are quiet enough that you are likely to see deer standing in the field right outside your front door or hear a car on a road over two miles away.  It had a microwave and dishwasher so no one needed to spend much time in the kitchen.  Comfortable furniture inside where it was air conditioned.  Windows strategically placed to see the beauties of nature in every direction.  A front porch simply to rock and relax.

It also had no television or internet.  The nearest place with Wiifi was a McDonalds eleven miles away.  If you are a communications junkie, you were isolated beyond your wildest imagination. If you were hooked on ESPN or Rizolli and Iles, you were simply out of luck.

And that also made it incredibly quiet.

It was a place where media junkie or someone who always required the background noise of a TV to function—it was a place to be bored out of your skull.  There were times that even the nothing I was doing got old and I would seek something new to do from a selection that leaned towards stasis.

Most contemporary Americans find silence unnerving and boredom tends to be the unforgiveable sin from the day we are born.  We fill our days with many things to do, too many things usually to be done sanely if accomplished at all.  We find meaning in activity and worship accumulation as a measure of accomplishment—which is the measure of our self-worth.

It is interesting then that we hear these words from our Creator, “Be still and know that I am God.”  God rarely shouts or engages a publication relations firm.  He chooses silence at times to deliver His most compelling messages.  He tends to wait until we are ready to listen.

Busyness is the enemy of the soul because we rarely stop to hear God at all.

Perhaps a little holy boredom is God’s way of getting our attention.  That is, if we don’t rush to escape that boredom.

It’s a lesson that I, as a not-so-recovering workaholic, am trying to learn.

© 2012 BY STEPHEN L DUNN

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FIREWORKS

 

He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. - Matthew 12:39

Americans are fascinated by fireworks. From the kind you buy at road side stands and ignite in your drive way, to the six figure extravaganzas that light up the night skies over celebrations, baseball games, and outdoor concerts.  They will endure mosquito-infested riversides, bumper-to-bumper traffic, political speeches, a high-priced concerts in order to share in the experience.  They will talk about it for weeks ahead and days afterwards.  And no matter what the venue or what precedes it, fireworks always seem to be a good show, worth the "price" of admission.

Unless, of course, you are in San Diego, California on July 4, 2012 when the fireworks show, albeit as spectacular as any, is over in fifteen seconds. I suspect that a whole lot of people had their day "ruined" by the computer glitch that ignited the entire show at once.

But fireworks are like that even if they last longer.  Even at best they are over in 25-30 minutes.  They may attract your "ahs" and "ohs," but when it's over what you are left with is a night sky, smoking drifting away, a strain in your neck - and only a  memory.  It may be a powerful memory, but somehow the night sky is not quite the same if your has been filled with these spectacular pyrotechnics.

People seem to always want fireworks before they believe.  And often those fireworks more resemble the fizzled ones in San Diego--over in a hurry and soon forgotten.  Jesus said our desire for spiritual fireworks was more a symbol of our sinfulness than our righteousness. A desire for entertainment rather than life transformation.

Ultimately he gave a most spectacular sign--the sign of Jonah--the Resurrection from the Dead.    Curiously, even that sign does not seem to move many of us faith or keep us in the faith during difficult and dry times.

The sign we should really be seeking is the love of God at work unconditionally and unrestrained in our lives.  When we see God at work within us--that's the sign we should we seeking and trusting and sharing.

(C) 2012 by STEPHEN L. DUNN

HOW WOULD THEY KNOW?

"By this sign shall all people know that you are my disciples,

that you love one another." - John 13:35

Over the years, I have encountered some very unlovely people.  Actually, I didn't meet them - at least knowingly; but I heard of their activities.  I'd really like to meet them - face-to-face - and to rebuke them in the name of Jesus. One them I will call an agitator.  In a meeting I told a group, in the absence of a staffer, that I was going to step back and give a place normally reserved for me to that staffer.  The reason, to do their job effectively, they needed to have visibility.  My job could be done in anonymity. The agitator went from the meeting and told the absent staffer that I said they needed to be more visible, an implied criticism in the manner of its delivery, and that was exactly the way my staffer took it.

Another I will call the reporter. This person "reported" to one of my elders that the pastors only visited people in their inner circle, ignoring everyone else.  When asked to be specific and share who had made such a charge (which the elder knew to be both unfair and ridiculous), the reporter said, "I am not going to tell you." If bringing healing between the pastors and the offended person was the goal, this person made it impossible.  So clearly, healing was not the goal of the reporter.  One can only guess the goal.

And those were just people within the church.  And leadership was the recipient.

Then there are the persons who gossip about brothers and sisters, or who report rumors as facts, or who spread rumors without bothering to find out the facts.  Or the people who speak rudely or dismissively at people within the church who are not a part of their circle or their worship service or whatever dividing line they have chosen to recognize.

There are times that one need look no further than the Body of Christ to find evidence of the depravity of humanity.  And that is not what God desires.

People need to see - when they see the church of Jesus -- well, they need to see Jesus within us.

That's why the disciples are told, "By this sign all people will know you are my disciples, that you love another.

So who are the agitators and reporters and gossips and rumor spreaders, the rude and condescending showing themselves to be disciples of?

(C)  2012 by Stephen L Dunn