Taking control of one's life situations

Welcome to the world of a frustrated problem solver.  That's been my strength for years, from mathematics to a myriad of other specific situations.  Consequently, it is also one of my biggest frustrations with other people, when they won't seek to solve their own problems once it has been indicated that they have a problem.

Now, this does not mean one should not ask for help. Asking for help is a trait that is practiced too little by many in case they should appear to be weak.  No, this is the result when one has asked for help, been given help and assistance, but a new problem arises that the prior source for help can not address.

Scenario 1: I never have any "free time".  This situation is common in my work environment. By "free time" an individual means, time to do what I want to do when I want to do something. As a "problem-solver" I can sit down with them and assess their "required time" when others expect them to be somewhere and help them understand that their "free time" is any time not required by others.  The problem they sense is due to their misuse of the "free time" that they already have and not managing their free time.  However, rather than use this information and take control of their life, they continue allowing others to schedule their free time and they continue to complain.  They need to solve their own problem now.

Scenario 2: I just don't have enough money.  The person has money to eat out, to drive randomly around town, to stop for a 'coffee' or soda several times a day, but can't accumulate enough money to pay for a repair or buy a book!  I can sit down and identify their money leaks, but I can not change their actions. They have to make the changes personally.

You may be wondering what this has to do with the Bible.  It has a lot to do with the biblical teaching of Jesus. The problems listed all have at the center of the issue the capital letter "I".  All the excuses, all the scenarios, all the complaining begins with "I".  The problem is that due to the impact of sin, the effect of sin and how sin affects (one is a noun, the other a verb!) our selfhood. The Bible teaches in several different ways that the "old I must die" and a new I be raised from the dead.  Because our culture so dramatically separates the 'spiritual' from the 'physical' we don't see how they have anything to do with one another. But they do!

The transformation process Paul addresses in Romans 12.1-15.13 is not limited to some non-physical or non-material realm.  It does not just have to do with our thoughts and attitudes.  In fact very little has to do with our thoughts and attitudes.  It is not that these are not important, they are.  However, the transformation has to do with more than the mind.  Rom 12.3 discusses how we think, but then 6-8 all deal with actions. Rom 12.16 deals with the mind, but the remainder of the chapter is what we  do.  Romans 13.13 says (NASB95) "Let us behave properly".

Transformation encompasses our entire life, just as death encompasses our entire life. We don't just die with Christ in our thoughts so that we can be raised to new life in our thoughts.  We die to Christ so that we can be raised to new life!  No one else can solve our problem. We have to address it and take control of our new life, control that comes by giving up control-not to others-but the the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Reason for Discipleship (Kansas Style)

Why follow Jesus every day? There is only one reason: nourishment!

Having said the only reason to follow Jesus is nourishment it now becomes my privilege to explain why. The normal analogy given for a time with Jesus described as intimate, enlightened, spiritually informed, etc. is that of a mountain top experience. We go to the mountaintop to meet Jesus much as Moses did in the book of Exodus, although anyone who has read Exodus knows Moses went up to meet God. We spend our requisite 40 days on the mountaintop or some appropriate amount of time sufficient to refresh, refill, or renew our soul. Then we begin the long trek downward until we reach the valley and we do fine in the Valley for a period of days; until the sun rises on a morning when the refreshment, refilling, or renewal of our soul is no longer perceived. We then begin to look longingly and reflectively at that time when our soul was fresh and full and refer to that time as a "mountaintop" experience. The analogy works fine for anyone who's ever traveled to the Western part of the United States or might be fortunate to live in or near the Appalachian mountain range. However, for those who live in the great Midwest plains the mountaintop analogy simply does not suffice.

A Kansas analogy for the same experience has been lived out in the period of the last 30 days. During the month of August Kansas received an over abundant amount of rain for this time of year. Consequently, grass needs mowing, mosquitoes are abundant, and gardens are producing plentiful amounts of green beans, squash, and other vegetables. However, in the last few days the typical August weather has returned, there has been no rain, and the grass is beginning to show the stress of heat. Where grass is nonexistent the ground is cracking because the soil has not received sufficient nourishment to counteract the heat.

Why follow Jesus everyday? There is only one reason: nourishment! When we follow Jesus day by day, look to Jesus for nourishment, and engage in those practices that put us in contact with the spirit of God, then our souls are refreshed, the fruit of our life is abundant, and the soil that provides nourishment, location, and the foundation for our life is moist and healthy. When we follow Jesus for a shorter time until our soul is refreshed, refilled, or renewed and then take a break, step aside, and seek no nourishment we find our soul to be dry, empty, or expired. Yet somehow we still think that we can produce fruit, spiritual fruit, when there is no nourishment  in our own life. Without further rain, spiritual rain,  the fruit of our life begins to wither on the vine.  Cracks begin to form in our foundation  allowing vermin  that for content to remain in the ground come forth seeking water, seeking food, seeking to be seen.  The nourishment of Jesus  transforms our soul in such a way that not only do we bear fruit but the vermin of our life are transformed, and redirected, in a mysterious fashion such that our lives in their totality bring glory to the transforming power of God.

Bringing in the New Year

The end of one period of 365 or 366 days and the start of another is a time for looking back and for looking forward. The looking back has its own therapeutic value, considering the good, positive, and beneficial moments and giving thoughtful meditation on those moments that would be considered negative.  The looking forward and the resolution process has fewer benefits, especially when any "goal" setting is limited to the "goal" with no consideration given to the "means" to achieve that goal.

So why does this day of the year get more attention than any other day?  Does the increase of a single integer hold such influential power? The biblical perspective would challenge this social practice. Matthew 6:34 records the word of Jesus saying, "do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (NASB)  Is it possible that the current focus on the past and on the future is an attempt to forget about today?

I have heard Kingdom living described as living each day fully in the present.  The failure of individual believers to live in the present culture where God has placed him or her prevents the Kingdom from influencing their culture.  Perhaps the best New Year's Resolution should be focused on living today within the kingdom and allowing tomorrow to care for itself.  This is not a denial of goals coupled with means, but it is an affirmation of living fully in the present with the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

For a modern philosopher's take on the new year see:
http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/pickles/s-1249770