Misfits

As we go through life, we meet a few people that seem to have “it”. But, what is “it”? That’s a good question. There are those schools that you want your kids to attend and the businesses that people huddle in mass to buy from. They seem to have “it”. Mentors and leaders that attract larger gatherings of followers because of their charisma. They must have “it”. Could it be the groups of kids we think of as cool or the “in crowd”, the popular ones with which we long to associate? It can be Scouts, sports teams, school programs, or church groups, all of these offer their approval of you when you are allowed to join. We work so hard to make ourselves look the part of their advertised membership traits. How often do we look at our effort to belong and find that we have become something very unlike who we really are?

Throughout the years, one of the personality traits that I have worked on the most in myself has been being genuine. It isn’t always the prettiest journey, many times I do it completely wrong, with far too little tact, love, and compassion. My quest to be genuine has at times turned into a mission to help everyone else realize their faults instead of correcting my own. That is definitely not the way to work on your own personal character flaws, by showing others theirs. I am so embarrassed and ashamed when I realize that I have done that. I have used my own desire to change and belong to something better, to judge others. So wrong, and sadly so common.

Self-worth doesn’t come from the groups or clubs we belong to. Even the best of us have faults, and surely focusing on those isn’t the way to live a happy and productive life. In fact, the Bible talks about our inability to do what’s right, saying, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. That’s not a reflection of our worth, it’s just a fact that we are born into an imperfect world. Our worth, if we measure it by the people and things around us, can fluctuate wildly with circumstances.

There is no way we can find a stable idea of inner value if we allow that which surrounds us to dictate our standing.

In fact, many of us might think, “Hey, I’m a good person, look at what I do in the community” or “I volunteer at church or the shelter, so at least I’m not like those people who don’t”. It becomes very easy to set yourself aside from others as better than some, or not as good as most. I’ve spoken to people from both ends of that argument; Sadly, discussing anything but that false belief often leads to arguing the age-old question, where does self-worth come from? Who decides?

Class warfare isn’t all about weapons and a physical battlefield. It's often a struggle of thought and attitude. It's one of my pet peeves when a group of people thinks of themselves as a “higher” class of person than another group. In history, this has made for some of the greatest divides between societies, creating the perceived haves, and the have-nots. I’m not writing necessarily here of the political separations so much, as the spiritual ones. During much of history, the religious elites held high prominence over the average person, dictating how people could come to God for their needs, how they could be healed, and who was worthy of God's love and who was not. If you haven’t heard, Jesus came to reveal that those ideas of segregation among the children of God were no longer going to be acceptable in His church. It’s my belief that He sought to repair the relationship between man and the Creator. To encourage conversation and faith from us, toward a God that has always wanted to be personal and connected to each of us. This isn’t possible when we allow ourselves to feel beyond the reach, mercy, or forgiveness of Him. And it becomes far too easy to let arrogance slip in when we think we’re doing it right, and others just don’t get it.

Jesus taught us about worthiness and knowing our place of honor in the kingdom by relating a parable. While sharing a meal and in the presence of the church leadership of the day, they were discussing which of them should have the most prominent seating. The discussion must have reflected a lot on the class difference that existed among the Jews of the day. Those who had attended religious learning and knew the Torah and all its laws and the difference between them and the working class Jew, barely scraping by and working night and day to provide for a family. Why had wealth become a factor when it came time for the blessing of God? And why would men educated enough to read and write consider themselves to be more blessed than someone that was hard working, providing a home, and raising a family? This is what happens when we allow society to choose our worth. Jesus had just warned them that the people they choose as worthy friends to associate with would easily disappoint them when their priorities didn’t align with each other. He told them to beware that when you place too high a value on a certain group, they may not live up to your expectations, especially if your outlook on value and worth is skewed by worldly ideals such as money and position in society, or the church.

When one of the men boasted a little about enjoying his place and position, Jesus followed up with the following story. He said, “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’ “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’ “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’ “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’ “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’ “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’ “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”

What a great life lesson Jesus gave to them and us with this short story. The invitation went out to the destitute, the corrupt, anyone and everyone, come and enjoy my banquet. Certainly, this was not just talking about how you and I should make dinner plans. It made one thing pretty clear, the message of grace and hope, the message of forgiveness and salvation was not merely for the Jews, the highly educated or religious elites. It was for everyone, equally. Jesus taught them, don’t just invite your wealthy and distinguished friends, invite the lost and the hurting. This is the message for today just as surely as it was for them.

In the church, we often lose sight of those that have made mistakes. It may be a  former member that crossed us or worse. It might be someone who was once a church member that was cast aside for falling from the pedestal they were expected to stay firmly on top of. Perhaps, someone that has a societal blemish of poor judgment or obvious sin. You see, back in the days before Christ, just like now, there were sins that were private, only God knew, and there were sins that were public, everyone knew your story of failure. It always seems like the public sins get ridiculed and harshly pointed out, especially in the church, but the less obvious ones such as pride, lust, envy, or love of power; so many times these stay hidden, without public judgment or scrutiny. What I think Jesus was telling us here was that we are all misfits. I’ll say it differently, we’re all sinners. He didn’t assign a class hierarchy to sin. He invites all of us to His banquet, His grace, His perfect gift of salvation.

So as Christians, and as churches, we need to remember that there is no value greater than another child of God coming to the table of the Gospel. We are all ragamuffins, soiled by our bad choices, our poor performances in life, our hurtful words, and our lack of understanding of perfect love. I speak to me as much as any of you, only Jesus can deliver us from the mess we’ve made. And when we find a table set such as the banquet of salvation that Jesus offers, free for everyone and as simple as a prayer for Him to come in and change our lives, we should leave not one stone unturned trying to find every misfit and ragamuffin we can and show them where to find the bread of life.

Luke 14:15-24 MSG

The Compassion of Christ

I’m sure many of you have seen the popular movie known as Passion of the Christ. It made box office history a few years ago by telling the story of our Lord’s journey to the cross. Jesus betrayal and public execution began the turning of the tide in Jerusalem, His love and sacrifice were put on gruesome display as this film portrayed the last days of Christ as a flesh-bound man on Earth. However, I want to cover a different viewpoint of His life’s work in this message, one that meant the world and eternity to those that it touched. The compassion of Christ.

Years ago, when my son was small, while I would do yard work, he would bring his little plastic lawnmower and follow me in the yard. He was probably only four or five years old and as I would use the real thing, he would follow in my footsteps making the noises like a little kid’s version of a walk behind mower. A few years later when he was older, he took over for me while we were again outside doing yard work. This time he took the reins of the real mower and I quietly watched from the side. He went straight down the line of cut grass turned around and kept going back and forth. As he mowed, small pieces of grass were left uncut here and there where he wandered back and forth. Like little cowlick hair follicles, they stuck up here and there across the yard. When he was done, he approached me and said, “how’d I do”? My answer was, “you did a great job”. We talked several times that day about how good he had done and how proud I was of him. For the next few days, I told anyone that would listen how good he had done and how he had stepped in to mow my yard. I was a proud bragging dad.

I think God looks at us with those same eyes, ears, and heart. He sees his children toiling about here on Earth with our trials and our hurts, and then we turn to him and we ask for help; we plead, we read books, we pray to connect to him, and sometimes we feel that what we do isn’t good enough, that our efforts somehow have to look polished or refined. That not spending enough time in the church might make God not want to listen to us, or by failing to have enough faith that he sometimes won’t answer our prayers.

I’m reminded of all the times that Jesus showed compassion and not judgment, which would have been his right, but was not His mission. Something that stood out the other day in my reading was his mother at the wedding party where he performed his first miracle. His mom knew that the party had run out of wine, which in those days would be a major insult to the wedding party and host. She directed the people serving to fill the jugs with water and present them to Jesus so he could bless them and presumptively do something “out of the box”. Jesus politely reminds his mother that it’s not his time and almost recuses himself of her request. But then, it seems, he does the compassionate thing and proves his mother’s faith and belief in her son to be well-placed. He not only turns the water into wine, but he turns it into the very best wine. In fact, Jesus publicly shows his compassion many times over the course of his ministry. Matthew the tax collector, a highly educated man in a hated position among the Jews. Come and follow me he told him, most assuredly against the “good judgment” of His current followers and the onlooking eye of the temple leadership. He dealt with Peter a notorious hotheaded fisherman and the rest of the disciples who at times could hardly understand his direction and teachings. He even stopped to discuss dangerous accusations with a woman on the street one day, noting that her accusers had all left once he asked them which one of them was without sin. He showed compassion on this woman all the while knowing that she had failed, not condoning her failure or telling her it was okay to keep on failing, but telling her to go and do it no more.

On his last day in the flesh here on Earth, Jesus used his final few breaths to show compassion to a man who had also been beaten and publicly humiliated that day. The thief on the cross who begged Jesus to forgive him and remember him when he came into his kingdom was there during the last minutes of Jesus life here on Earth. As his strength failed and his breathing became more and more difficult, he spoke to the thief and in compassion reassured him that “today” he would be with Him in Paradise. I want to impress on each one of us, Jesus was always first to dispense compassion, grace, and love on those who many times seemed unlovable. He taught us that the ambition of all Christians should be to learn to love one another, to show love as he had loved them, as He loves us.

 This is the way that we will stand out from the rest of the world, by our propensity to love, when loving isn’t easy. They will know that you follow Me, by your love.

Jesus could have come into this world to judge and condemn wayward people, to create a kingdom of servants and followers, but he didn’t. We often think with horror of the torture and pain that Jesus endured during his last few days before he was hung on that cross, and rightly so, it was our actions that nailed him there. He could have called any number of angels or changed a single heart or circumstance to overcome His ruling of execution. But he didn’t. Jesus did not come to rule over a kingdom of servants, he came to save a world who were and are His children. When he looks at your life and mine, he sees that poorly mowed yard with the stitches of grass still sticking up here and there and the edges not sharply mowed. He sees the feeble attempts to paint the beauty of nature with the wrong colors, the areas where we’ve gone outside the lines. When we fail to love as we should or find the good in others and say the wrong things. When we seek possessions and power instead of loving our neighbor or giving the gift of compassion. When we step on the weak to get ahead in our own lives. When we push others out of our gatherings because they don’t look like us or act like us. When we think thoughts of lust for things that are not ours. When we finally and shamefully come to the realization that we have wronged others, ourselves or God and come before him with hearts that are broken, beaten, worn and trampled on; like a proud dad would, he gives his sons and daughters a big hug and tells us what a great joy we are. He encourages us to keep going, keep learning, keep pursuing and running the race.

It’s hard to imagine why God would continue to pursue us in His loving, patient way when we run so very hard in the other direction, but He does. No matter whether you’re the hated tax collector. No matter whether you are a hard-headed and hot-tempered person. No matter if you are involved with infidelity or sexual sin. No matter if you are a thief in your last few hours of life, Jesus has compassion and acceptance for you. Forgiveness is waiting for you if you’ll only ask for it, it’s definitely a step into the abyss of faith. You see the story of this thief and Jesus in those last hours on the cross did not go like this, ‘Jesus reached out to the thief and ask him if he wouldn’t please consider one last time believing in him’. No, the thief saw one last opportunity and took it. Paradise was his that day because he decided that the message of the Gospel was not a fantasy or just for those who were cleaned up and in the right club. His life in eternity changed direction on that day because the thief spoke up in faith, took that difficult first step and believed in the compassion of Christ.

John 13: 34-35

ShoeBox Thoughts- Kindle Give-Away

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Thank you for sharing the stories of the ShoeBox.

~ Randy