What Has He Said?

You’ll run across a variety of theological opinions on social media, some of it good and some of it not-so-good. One writer I ran across on FaceBook the other day – a self-professed Christian – opined that God speaks only to and through priests. The laity can receive theological and moral guidance only from the clergy.

My knee-jerk response was to shake my head in frustration at such an immature understanding of God. My next response, when I calmed down, was to feel sorry for him. Such a view of God toward all His children is wholly and demonstrably untrue. God is love, and inherent in love is the desire to communicate directly with the beloved.

Jesus said of Himself:  . .¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me . . . and they will hear My voice . . and they follow Me. (John 10:14-17)

A few chapters later He continued: But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13)

I am convinced that FaceBook writer does hear God’s voice. He just doesn’t recognize it – probably because like most of us, he expects it to thunder from heaven and knock him to the ground amidst an explosion of flashing lights.

But from what we find in Scripture, God rarely speaks in such dramatic tones. Most often His voice comes in the form of a gentle nudge, or a whispered, “This is the way, walk ye it”. In my experience, God speaks most often as I read His scriptures.

In his Summa, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that it was the “task of every preacher and of each believer” to teach and to lead others to Christ.” (emphasis mine). The Catechism of the Catholic Church also assures us that God speaks to and through all Christians, and not just to and though the clergy:

" . . . . [lay people] have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward their pastors . . . .  (CCC paragraph 907, my emphasis).

On the Day of Pentecost  (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit poured Himself out on not only the 12 apostles, but on 120 believers who waited in that upper room. When the crowd outside accused them of being drunk, St. Peter stood up and quoted from the prophet Joel:

‘     And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18) 

   

     It is important that we note the promises the Holy Spirit gave the entire Church through Joel’s prophecy:  

     1. God will pour His spirit on ALL mankind.

     2. Their sons and daughters (the laity) will prophesy. 

     3. Their young men shall see visions of God. 

     4. Their old men shall dream dreams given by God.

The Scriptures and Church teaching are impeccably clear: God not only speaks to us (most notably through His word), but God also grants each of us the privilege to tell others what He wants them to know – so that they might be saved.

The idea that the God who sacrificially loves us would not communicate directly with His beloved defies not only Scripture and Church teaching – it defies the very nature of love.

And so, Christian, what has God said to you lately? 

My First Thought

I published this essay about trusting the Lord in my latest book, Learning to Lean. I thought to repost it again here.

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Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. (Isaiah 40:15-17)

When I finally leave this body

and stand in the presence

of my Father's glory,

when He reaches from His throne

and draws me to His lap,

when I then understand

what I could not understand

in life –

the enormity

of His incomprehensible power,

the limitlessness

of His reign

over every fiber

of eternity,

that no creature

in heaven

or on earth

can open

what he shuts

or close

what He opens,

that the totality of creation

throughout countless galaxies

bow at His presence . . .

I think my first thought –

when I realize where I am

and in whose arms I rest –

my first thought

will not be shrouded in sorrow

for my many sins,

for things I did

or did not do

in life.

I think I will be most sorry

that I didn’t trust Him more,

when I had so many chances

to do so.

Patience and Trust

While in prayer this morning I asked the Lord to do something for me which, in the grand scheme of life, could be considered quite minor. So, recognizing the comparative ‘insignificance’ of my request, I said something to the effect, “When you can get around to it.”

 

Then almost immediately I thought how dumb was that comment.  God is able to multitask 1,000,000 tasks at the same time as easily and as effectively and as efficiently as He can do one thing at a time.

 

Isn’t it odd (and sad) how often we ascribe to the eternal and omnipotent God human capabilities?

 

So delays to prayers do not suggest God is too busy with the affairs of this planet to get to us now. Delays simply mean either, “No; but trust Me.” or “Now is not the best time for you; but trust Me.”

 

Lord, help me learn patience and trust.

 

Forget What's Past

Brethren . . . one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [i.e. mature], have this attitude . . . (Philippians 3:13-15)

As I read St. Paul’s words, the Holy Spirit again reminded me, “Be mature in your confidence in God’s mercy. Don’t live in the past with all your regrets. Press forward toward Jesus. Forget those things you’ve confessed and are now covered with the blood of eternal forgiveness. Put them behind you, those things now hidden by the blood of God’s eternal forgetfulness.

“Richard,” He reminded me again, “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Perhaps the way the Holy Spirit used that text to again reassure me, you also will find comfort in His promise to not only forgive, but to forever forget.

Christian, forget the past, and press on toward Jesus.

The Jackass and the Prophet

The religious leaders said to those they’d sent to arrest Jesus:

“Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?  But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” (John 7:45-50)

You gotta shake your head at the hubris of that Jewish clergy. And if you have lived long enough, you’ve met the same kind of people. They’re the ones with the advanced theological degrees, the ones with the ‘credentials’, the ones who know it all and won’t be told by the person in the pew anything about God.

I wonder if they remember the story of Balaam and his donkey. You can find it in the 22nd chapter of Numbers. Written nearly 3500  years ago, it still makes – like all of God’s word – it still makes for us an important spiritual lesson:

God used a donkey to rebuke a prophet.

And so if God used a jackass to rebuke a person too smart to recognize his own error, does anyone think God cannot use the person in the pew to do likewise?

A man much wiser than any of us once said:  A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction.  (Ecclesiastes 4:13)

Jesus Did Not Come for Everyone

"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  (Mark 2:17)

Many think Jesus came for everyone. For men. For women. For everyone.

But that is not true. He Himself said He did not come to call the healthy, but the sick; He did not come for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. He did not come for those who say, “I see”, but for those aware of their blindness. 

He did not come for the self-important, but for those who hunger for God.  He did not come for those proud of their lives and lifestyles, but for those who know they need a shepherd.

He did not come for those who think themselves, “Good enough”, but for those who beg of Him, “Be merciful to me, the sinner.”

Jesus did not come for everyone.

Did He come for you?

Nadab, Abihu, Uzzah -- and Me?

But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him. (Habakkuk 2:20)

My wife and I attended another church for Mass last weekend.  The Gospel reading was from John 6 where Jesus fed the 5000. I’ve heard an exposition of this passage by many pastors over the years. This time, I heard something new.

When the priest said the apostles “stole the bread and fish from the little boy and gave them to Jesus,” I believe he was simply trying to be ‘cutesy’ to add some humor to his homily. I thought his comment was an engaging – albeit, novel – way to introduce that story. The priest then went on to make the larger point about giving what we have to Jesus that He may multiply it.

But my comments now are not about the priest. 

They’re about me.

It was not until later did I realize what I’d done wrong. And I wonder – even now as I write this – if my relationship with the absolutely Holy, Holy, Holy God is in danger of slipping into a casual one, one that takes His utter and impeccable Holiness for granted.

I think that’s what happened to Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron the High Priest. After they’d eaten with God on the mountain, they offered “strange fire” during their sacrifices and were summarily killed by God. I think they’d become presumptuous about their relationship with the Holy One and had lost their respect and reverential awe of His holiness. (You can find their story in Leviticus 10 and Exodus 24:9-10).

I believe something similar also happened to the priest Uzzah. The Holy Ark of the Covenant had been in his home for 20 years (1 Samuel 7:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 13:1-5). And because ‘familiarity’ often leads to presumption, perhaps Uzzah no longer took holiness of God seriously – and died as a result (1 Chronicles 13:9-10 and 1 Chronicles 15:12-15).

As I thought later about my attitude during the homily I wondered how it can be that I did not take offense at the flippant remark about the apostles stealing the loaves and the fish. Why did my spirit not immediately take umbrage with the implicit idea that the holy apostles would steal, and that the Lord Jesus Himself would be party to it?

Maybe like Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah, I have unconsciously lost my sense of God’s absolute holiness. I know about His holiness in my mind. But I wonder if it has slipped – even a little – from my heart.

We Really Do Need Each Other

"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ . . . For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? What then is Apollos?" 

 

"And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth." (1 Corinthians 3:1-6)

 

I have an idea – not that I haven’t had the same idea before . . . but here it is again:

 

In light of the present and growing threat of increasingly sinister persecution against Christians in America and across the globe, how about if we as Christians do this –

 

Instead of Catholics telling Protestants, “You’re wrong. Come over to our side”, and Protestants telling Catholics, “You’re wrong. Come over to our side” – how about if we each instead say to the other: “Grow deeper in love with Jesus. Read the Word of God every day. Study it. Memorize it.”

 

And then let’s trust God to cause the growth.

 

The growing animosity against Christians regardless of label will only increase.

 

And we really do need each other.