The Enemy of Best

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently what which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker

Everyone at sometime in their life has found themselves at the end of a long and arduous process. Completion in hand, victory only a joy away, only to find out that the project was unnecessary. Perhaps it was poor planning, perchance it was ultimately unwanted, but for whatever reason it was superfluous. There can be no greater defeat. Yet for many it is a way of life. The reason; they have chosen what is good over what is best. John Wooden said, "Never confuse activity with accomplishment." Many times we are just being busy, accomplishing nothing. The enemy of the best is many times what is good. We fail to take time to find our if what we are doing is the best thing we can do, or just something good.

Life on the Vine has but one purpose, to please the Father. Obviously only what is pleasing to Him is what is really best. There are many other things that are good we could be doing, but doing what He desires is best. The only way to know that is to hear it from Him. Fortunately prayer offers us that path. The believer will find it best to spend time in prayer seeking what is best over what is good.

Idealized Past

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past. - Robertson Davies

A Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor, Robertson Davies was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters." Also a knowledgeable theologian he left the Presbyterian Church for the Anglican Church in a disagreement over Calvinism. He was not however a pastor, but from the quote above showed the insight of a one who leads a congregation.

The Apostle Paul addressed the same issue in Philippians when he said, “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.” It is hard for us not to think that the “good old days” were not better than they were. We easily idealize those days and think of them as more simple, more moral, and more wholesome. Whether they are or not is not the question for Paul. For him there is only one way and that is forward. What lies ahead is the only thing of any matter.

In churches it is much more common to look to the idealized past. A time, when seen through rose colored glasses, was the epitome of the best of times. But Paul cautions us not to dwell on the past, but to look to the future. The Lord’s work is always before us, not behind. “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Gospel According to Lynda

Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke.
- Lynda Barry

As a remarkably successful cartoonist Lynda Barry is able to bring humor to a hard life. Her clear understanding of the outcast and the underdog brings a realistic look at life. Through artwork full of words and deep thought she brings out the pain and occasional successes of those she has created from a life of observation. Her words, as noted above, are as full of pictures as her art.

In this wonderful quote Lynda expresses the true picture of love. Not a fanciful romantic naive love, but the love that every person desires for their own life. It is a love that demands a risk and reward that are both attractive. She paints a picture of a love that is worth the effort. In this love the venture is on the part of the smoker, not the cigar. No return of that love can be assured. It is the great leap of faith. Faith the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. True love is a love that can be unrequited, unreciprocated, completely unreturned. True love does not depend on the response of the one loved, but is the action of the one who loves.

This is the love of Jesus Christ. It is described in these words, “Greater love has no one than this; that one lay down his life for his friends.” The love that Christ demonstrated was “while we were yet sinners” not after we cleaned our lives up and came to Him. His love was not conditioned on our response; it was totally dependent on His love for us. This is the love that His followers are commanded to love others with. How different would your relationships with others be if your love were not predicated on the response of others? It would make you free to love all, not just the ones that love you. Indeed love is indeed the exploding cigar that we all should willingly smoke. Thanks be to God that His Son willingly went to the cross.

World According to Man

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite. John Kenneth Galbraith

The intellectually as well as physically imposing (6’9”) Galbraith had a great knack for statements intended to be both profound and amusing at the same time. Certainly no one individual has more influenced the modern economic history of the United States. Serving in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; author of four dozen books, countless articles; awarded the highest civilian awards of three nations, and professor at Harvard University there are very few people who can boast such an impressive array of achievements and influence. Certainly he would be an authority on economic realities of the world of man.

His statement reveals the deepest motives of men who have given themselves over to the systems of the world. You can substitute any world system for capitalism and communism in the statement and the results are the same. Democracy and Socialism, Republics and Monarchies, Religions and Humanism, Monetary and Bartering, Management and Labor, Pragmatists and Intellectuals, Conservatives and Liberals, Libertarians and Dictators all are human systems. These systems are intended as substitutes for what really is needed. They are the best that humans can design and implement, but all are far cries from the truth. Why? Because each one is constructed in such a way that control is in the hands of men. They are ways of saying that I will be in control and you will not. Therefore I am free to exploit you for my own purposes. Though said in a humorous way, the man who understood the world of man better than probably any man, stated the truth. The end result of any human system is the exploitation of other humans. It is nice when those who understand best do understand. Yet it is sad when they do have not answers from their understanding.

One of the joys of Living on the Vine is an intimate relationship with the One who created the world and all that is in it. Included in His design for man was a system of unique qualities that is the only system that will work. It was included in the Kingdom of Heaven that His Son introduced to the world when He arrived. The Kingdom of Heaven is a theocracy where God is in control of all things. “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done” is the prayer that most often uttered by His followers. Instead of supply, demand, price, government intervention, labor availability, capital and myriad of other factors there are only two principles that have effect in the Kingdom: (1) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and (2) your neighbor as yourself. Exploitation of humans by humans is an impossibility in the Kingdom. When mankind embraces the Kingdom and its theocracy then man will no longer exploit man.

Proof of Love

Passage for Today: John 8:41-42

"You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

How many people believe in God? I would guess that close to 98% of the entire worlds population believe in a god. It might be a god or a group of gods, or a god consciousness, or even a single God. The God’s name could be Allah, Brahma, Jehovah, or any of a pantheon of names. But the bottom line is that there are very, very few people in this vast world that do not have a deity knowledge or even belief.

So how could we know that our God exists, that our faith is valid. Well Jesus simply answers this question for us. “If God were your Father, you would love Me.” He can say this because He came directly from, proceeded forth from God. The essence of God is Him and you would certainly love the essence of the God you believe in. Jesus shows this logic again in John 14 when He says, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” It would indeed be impossible for someone to know God as their God, and not love the one that is in everyway like Him, and is in fact Him.

But in back handed sort of way it is an indictment against the Christianity we see today. If we are of God then we love His Son. The proof of our faith in God is the love of His Son. Well you may say I love Christ. Then he makes this statement. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) He takes the proof to the bottom line: do you keep My commandments? In fact it is unnecessary to say whether or not we believe in God or in Jesus. The very fact of whether we keep His commandments says it all for us. If we keep them, we love Him and God, His Father. If we do not keep them, we do not love Him and God, His Father.

So the question for me today is not do I know, love, acknowledge, appreciate, follow, embrace, worship or even care about God. The question is do I keep the commandments of My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Does my life reflect in behavior, speech and thought the obedience that He asks? Talk is cheap, thoughts are even cheaper, but performance and behavior are the great evaluators.

Light of Life

Passage for Today: John 8:12

"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
Have you ever had friends help you out with your problem? Of course you have. Their heart is good, but many times they don’t understand all of your problem. Yet that does not preclude them from giving their advice. Such was the problem with Job. Most of Job’s problems were easily seen, but the cause of those problems was not. So his friends begin to share what they thought the source of the problem was. They conclude that it is because he has sinned. But Job refuses to accept that he has sinned.

The youngest of the group of friends is Elihu. In his first speech his anger with Job’s unwillingness to confess his sin is very clear. Then at it conclusion he draws the portrait of an angel who would come to men, canceling their death sentence and setting men free from the sin that has trapped them. “Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men, To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life.”
(Job 33:29-30) God enlightens with the light of life. God gives truth to men about their condition and solution through the light of life.

It is said of Jesus in John 1, “In Him was life, and life was the Light of men.” This light is the truth about who we are and where we are, but it is also the solution to that condition. Jesus is the light that gives everyone who follows that light, life, true life. What we see around us is a shadow or darkness of life. But when the light shines we see and can receive the true life, the kingdom of heaven.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” How many are still in darkness despite a shining light? How many have accepted darkness for light even though the true light has come? It is heart breaking how many will accept a form of light, which is no more than darkness, rather than the light. Lord I pray today that you allow me to live more and more in the light of life.

Solitude

Passage for Today: John 7:53-8:1

Everyone when to his home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Ever wonder how Jesus was able to always be on top of His game? He is never caught off guard, never fooled, never even made to look in anyway like He was not completely in charge. And how is it that He always had something new to say to the people? Think of the countless times that He taught and how on every occasion it was fresh and enticing. He never wanted for a crowd, which says that it was never stale or boring. What gave Him that constant focus that would be required to continue with His word despite the distractions?

It is only a Sabbaths day journey (1/2 to 3/5 of a mile) from the temple to the Mount of Olives yet it measures the vast gulf between an interested participant and disciple. It is the same distance between a person who seeks to devote their life to one ideal, one cause, one course and someone who just lives life. The same thing is said of the gym rat like Pistol Pete Maravich. When everyone else went home, he was still playing basketball in the gym. The same thing was said of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. The same thing was said of Hudson Taylor and Adoniram Judson. Each and every person who has passionately sought an ideal, cause or course, would have the same thing said about him or her - “They were always alone with their passion.”

Jesus was like this. When everyone else went home He went to the solitude of the garden to meet with His Father. No books, no group of followers, no fanfare, no distractions, just alone with His Father. That is why He could claim, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 5:30

Solitude is a passion for intimacy with God. It differs from prayer and Bible Study, though includes both. It involves meditation, but includes dialog and monologue. Though being alone it does not mean inactivity. In fact there is an activity that involves every fiber of your being that is required. It forces you beyond your limitations, takes you further than your imagination, it is indeed a desire to reach a union with our Lord that produces only His will your life. It bends the body, soul and mind in the direction and object or our desire. It allows for the consuming of the follower by the Master. It eliminates all things that would corrupt, confuse, or change what the Lord would desire the pupil to know.

Dear Lord take me aside. Lead me to a time alone with you that will place a discipline in me to be like your Son.