Living Alive

snow

As I pulled out of the driveway the other day, it was white.  Everything.  Snow was falling gently, steadily.  I love the way it clings to evergreens, turns the bleak winter landscape to newness of life. 

As I shifted into drive, a verse came to me: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).  Our God is a God of forgiveness.  I’m thankful for snow.

Snow covers a multitude of sins.  The garbage in the gutter, covered.  The brown, dry grass in my yard, covered.  The dead flowers around my mailbox, buried.  The oil stains on my driveway, gone.  Behold, all things look new, on a snow day.

As I shoveled my driveway, I took time to think about a multitude of my own sins that God’s grace has covered… covered completely, like snow.  Pride, covered.  Envy, buried.  Greed, gone.  Lust, put on ice.  Have you ever taken time – no, *really* taken time – to contemplate the sins that God has forgiven you? 

When you do, you’ll be thankful too, for snow.  For God’s snow, the snow of Grace, covers all.

At the Prayer meeting at church the other day, someone dropped a bag of fruit in front of me and said, Here, honeybells.”  “What’dya call me?” I quickly quipped.  I’d never heard any fruit by that name.

How well do you know your fruits?  Honeybells are special orange, “tangelos” from Florida – with distinctive taste.  Originating thousands of years ago in Southeast Asian, they’re a mix between tangerines and pomelos (hence the funny name, “tangelos”).

How well do you know your Spiritual fruits?  Galatians 5:22 tells us that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

If that’s true, then how’s it growing?

One special characteristic of a tangelo is great taste.  As a Christian do you have “good taste”?  That is, do you exhibit goodness in what you choose.  People with good taste not only mind their manners (which is always a plus in polite company) but more importantly choose their words carefully.

How many struggles & disappointments may have been avoided by stopping to think before we speak?  Much of the “fruit” we bear grows from the words we choose.  When the Bible says “bear fruit”, it’s about how we treat & talk to one another.

So… How “tasteful” are you?

Bear spiritual fruit:  love, joy, peace, hope, faith, patience, perseverance, faithfulness(cf. Galatians 5:22).

“Why?”  Paul Young’s best-seller seeks to answer this age-old question common to all humanity. If you haven’t read The Shack, I’d ask you, “Why not?”

God seems to be working through this new book.  Millions have bought it, mainly through word-of-mouth, as no marketing money has been spent.  Many people have remarked how it has touched them deeply.  I enjoyed the read myself, though I admit that I have some reservations with it theologically.

This fictional heart-tugger describes an experience of God.  In so doing, the story depicts God as approachable, personal, relational, and Trinitarian (just as historical Christianity believes: God in three persons; Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  Some may raise their eyebrows at the character of God the Father appearing as a black woman.  I think that’s a healthy imaginative thought – especially since so, so, so many Christians imagine God as a white male. Where did that come from?  Hey, don’t ya enjoy a challenge, a change?

The Shack makes a strong point about God’s presence.  Often God meets us in the place of our deepest pain.  The main character is called back to an abandoned shack where years before his worst nightmare had come true.  It’s in this dark place that God comes to him.

More than anything, I think the book makes a strong case for forgiveness  - especially as Christ taught, to forgive & to love our enemies.  Forgiveness is not a cold command.  Forgiveness is a mark of the character of God, a window onto the heart of our Savior. 

In the book, God says, “Forgiveness is first for you, the forgiver…to release you from something that will eat you alive”(225) and “it’s about letting go of another person’s throat”(224). 

Forgiveness is a Christian theme that the church has not taught (or practiced) enough.  The main character, Mack, finds full-bodied forgiveness in that he (painfully) learns to forgive the perpetrator, himself, and even God.

If nothing else, The Shack may motivate many to forgive others and to turn to God.

The trees covering the Blue Ridge Mountains along I-66 shine with silver limbs. A light coating of ice made the whole hillside a surreal white winter wonderland. It’s a beautiful drive; I slow down not simply to be safe on a slick road, but to “smell the roses” (that is, to enjoy the sight).  Simple thoughts of God come to me, reflected in the glistening natural landscape: Beauty. Mystery. Cold.

It’s cold. These days of the “bleak midwinter” may be short in daylight but seem so long in passing.

There is something about life that we have no control over – the climate. (Lay aside all our talk about “climate change” and human consequence.)  What I mean is, often – like the weather – the climate of life comes upon us without any say-so from us.  When the cold descends upon your life, when sleet & freezing rain fall upon you, how do you respond?

The trees shine.

So, I notice them – and all the trees are doing is standing still.  I like the trees as teachers.  Heat of summer, dead of winter, storms or sunshine – trees stand.  Exodus 14:13 calls us to “stand firm.”  The Bible often advises us  - no matter the circumstance – “stand.”(If ya can stand it, take a look at Romands 11:20; 14:4; 1 Cor. 15:1; 15:58; 16:13 & more!)

Stand for what you believe, and when the weather is bad, and the cold closes in, and the ice piles up on you, may it make you shine.

Cold makes me uncomfortable. But it’s in the cold, uncomfortable times of life that God tests our mettle and teaches us faith.

So, in the midst of the uncontrollable climate, in the uncomfortable cold, may you stand; may God touch you with beauty – though it be like ice – and may you shine!