Coffee With The Lord

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Bible believing Christians (perhaps its more accurate to say months and years)! Values godly people embrace and hold dear have been trampled upon by a secular, Christ-rejecting, independence asserting culture. Violent people in the name of a religion have killed innocent children and Christ followers. Biblical values have been flaunted and trampled upon with godless glee. Injustice has had a heyday. Outright lies have been told with the excuse, “Oh, that’s just politics.” How bad can it get?

How should a Christian respond? How should godly people live? What to expect moving forward? This morning in my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord” I think I got at least a partial answer from what imprisoned Apostle Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in Philippi as they faced the challenges of living out their faith in Christ in the ancient world…

He told them… “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ!” (My comment? Christians live by a completely different set of values – let us never forget it!) He went on to say, “May I hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents!” (May God help us to avoid the trap of disunity – fighting with one another rather than focusing on presenting the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to a hurting world in the power of the Holy Spirit!) Then he reminded the Philippian Christians, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake!” (It is so easy to forget this fact… suffering for the Lord, for His cause, for the sake of righteousness [i.e. for the right reasons – never the wrong] has always been the lot of those who faithfully followed Christ!) (from Philippians 1:27-30 ESV)

Hey Paul… Just want to say, “Thank you for reminding me!”

Scrupulously religious people always run a risk… The risk of hypocrisy, one of the worst sins of all! They begin to focus on external religious acts and ignore the heart. Ritual becomes more important than authentic righteousness – “inside-out righteousness!” They begin to “play to the crowd” rather than sustain a genuine, heartfelt relationship with the “Living God!” Ancient “Pharisees” within Judaism became synonymous with this kind of hypocrisy. They were scrupulous about tithing, ceremonial washings, formal public prayers, what they ate (or didn’t eat), religious rituals of all kinds, and wearing the right liturgical garb… The condition of their heart (and what they did in secret), however, was an entirely different matter! They purged out every vestige of ritual “leaven” (symbolic of evil), while all the time their heart was full of it!

So this was the warning Jesus gave to his followers… “Beware of the ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy! Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” (Luke 12:1-3 ESV)

Scarey eh? Listen… I don’t know about you, but I want to righteous “inside-out!” I know myself all too well… I’m a “recovering hypocrite!” I find it all too easy to turn my Christianity into a “public performance” and neglect the matters of the heart – the real kind of Christianity – “inside-out Christianity!” The cry of my heart? Lord help me have and exhibit “the real thing!”

I want the words of Apostle Paul (that I also read this morning in the Bible) to become the living motto of my life… “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death!” (Philippians 1:20) “Beware of hypocracy!” – Good warning for Christ followers, don’t you think?

Our eyes are a very important part of our bodies!  They make it much easier to function and carry out our daily duties – even those that require precision and delicate tasks.  They fill our lives with wonder and delight.  They are protective organs that help keep us away from danger and even death.  We will expend great effort to shield and protect our eyes from harm.  People spend a lot of money maintaining and correcting their eyesight…

Jesus spoke about the importance of spiritual eyes… (I read about it this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord”)…

He said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body.  When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.  Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.” (from Luke 11:34-35 ESV)

What a challenge!  Maintain “healthy eyes!”  I do my best to do that with my natural eyes, paying attention so that I don’t look at anything that can damage them, having regular eye exams, doing my best to keep dust and debris out of my eyes, and sometimes even having surgery or corrective (or protective) lens to help me see better.  Hey, just a lot of lessons there that apply to my spiritual eyes wouldn’t you say?  Healthy “spiritual eyes” … a very important thing to have and maintain.

Now the second part of this passage has always puzzled me a little… I don’t know if Jesus was accommodating himself to the perspective of ancient culture regarding eyes or whether He was just making a theological leap and claiming our “spiritual eyes” could actually become a source of light for us in world of moral darkness… Kind of a spiritual “night vision” or even “X-ray vision.”  Here’s what He said, “If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”  (from Luke 11:36 ESV)  I believe Jesus was saying it is possible for your healthy “spiritual eyes” that provide light in moral and spiritual darkness!  You could call that “discernment” or “illumination” I guess.  I don’t know about you, but in the kind of world we live in today – a world characterized by moral and spiritual darkness – never has this been more important!

So after my Bible reading today I talked to the Lord – my heavenly ophthalmologist – and asked him how I could protect my spiritual eyesight.  I also scheduled regular checkups and signed any waver necessary for Him to correct my spiritual eyesight.  Then I went the whole way and asked him to work “spiritual night vision” in me – to give me “discernment” and “illumination” as I walk through the moral darkness of this world.  Believe me, I need it!  And so do you!