Having grown up in southern California, I hadn’t experienced much of the seasons until I moved to Iowa for seminary. What I’ve noticed since living in the Midwest is the effect the seasons have on us. Right now the leaves look painted (predominantly in reds, oranges, and yellows) and the air is crisply dry. It’s a pretty scene, and yet it gives everyone here a strange feeling. Despite all the beauty, things are dying. Winter, which is long and dark and cold, is coming. We’re entering a time when are spirits are brought low.
What does this change of the seasons and the affect on our mood have to do with the Christian life? Let me explain. During times in which our spirits are low and our moods are decidedly negative, God’s greatest commandments (to love Him above all else and to love our neighbor as ourselves) show themselves to be increasingly impossible for us. This isn’t just limited to winter: our spirits can be brought low by all sorts of things, like poor health or the loss of a job. Regardless of the cause, having a low spirit makes love of God and neighbor into an unbearable burden.
Often the solution to the problem of low spirits involves a tremendous effort to lift ourselves up. There are a number of approaches, some more effective than others: celebrations (Thanksgiving and Christmas are great for this), a few glasses of wine, moving to Florida or Arizona for a few months of the year (think of the “snowbirds”), etc. None of these efforts is a bad thing in itself and some are quite effective at lifting our spirits, though it is worth noting that some can lead to even bigger problems when pursued to excess.
The problem, however, is the erroneous thinking that having high spirits means that we are thereby fulfilling the commands to love God and our neighbor, or that having low spirits means that we are failing in these Christian duties. We must recall that faith, hope, and love abide. In other words, true faith, true hope, and true love do not depend on our moods or feelings. They are duties, and if they are to be fulfilled then they must be fulfilled continuously.
So what does this mean? If love of God and neighbor is our duty to be fulfilled continuously, then do we respond by gritting our teeth and doing it against our will? This, however, is not Christian love any more than the kind of love that loves only when it feels good. Because true love is free, to love God and our neighbor against our will is not love at all. Such love, just like the love that depends on having high spirits, fails to fulfill the command.
True Christian love of God does not depend on things going our way in life. Likewise, true Christian love of neighbor does not depend on our neighbor being lovable. To put both of these statements together: the fulfillment of the two greatest commandments does not depend on whether our spirits are high or low. Rather, true love depends on God’s gift.
Here we must note that God’s Word speaks of love in two ways: as a duty that we must fulfill, and as a gift to be received. Many are aware of the duty; few are willing to hear that love is a gift of the Spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 13, in which love is identified as the greatest gift of the Spirit.)
If love is not first received as a gift, the duty will remain impossible. When our spirits are brought low (here comes winter, my friends), we will notice that our so-called love disappears. Or when we come across someone we dislike, we will notice that our so-called love is limited to the lovable.
Apart from God’s gift, true love remains an impossibility. How, then, do we get this gift? The only way to get this gift is to receive it through faith. Said differently, we receive the gift by surrendering unreservedly to God.
As I said in my previous post, this faith looks much like that of Mary. When told “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,” Mary responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Through such faith, the impossible happened: the Virgin conceived and bore a Son. When told “you shall love the Lord your God above all else, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” we can only say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And through such faith, the impossible will happen: despite lowliness of spirit we will nevertheless have love.
In summary, to love God above all else and to love one’s neighbor as oneself are impossible tasks, especially when life doesn’t go our way and our spirits are brought low. However, by God’s gift, this impossible love becomes not only a possibility but a reality. It is just as the angel said to Mary: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Here am I, the Servant of the Lord
The last two posts on this blog have centered on faith. Actually, every post in this blog is related to faith. Truly, Christianity can be neither understood nor lived apart from faith.
With that said, I’d like to hold up Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a beautiful example of faith. It is written in the first chapter of Luke that Mary “found favor with God” and that the angel Gabriel said to her, “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Of course, this is a curious thing to say to a virgin. Mary thus responds, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she will bear Christ to the world has been referred to by the Church as “The Annunciation.” What I’d like to highlight especially is Mary’s response, which is a wonderful example of faith:
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary is told the Word of God, and her response is simple. Her response is to believe the Word, to trust in it. In other words, Mary entrusts herself to the Word that is spoken to her. It is through such faith that Mary bears Christ to the world.
God’s Word to us is just like God’s Word to Mary: we are called to bear Christ to the world. How do we do such a thing, which seems as impossible as a virgin giving birth to a child? Let us be like Mary, whose words signify simple faith and obedience to God’s Word. Let her words be ours: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
With that said, I’d like to hold up Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a beautiful example of faith. It is written in the first chapter of Luke that Mary “found favor with God” and that the angel Gabriel said to her, “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Of course, this is a curious thing to say to a virgin. Mary thus responds, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she will bear Christ to the world has been referred to by the Church as “The Annunciation.” What I’d like to highlight especially is Mary’s response, which is a wonderful example of faith:
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary is told the Word of God, and her response is simple. Her response is to believe the Word, to trust in it. In other words, Mary entrusts herself to the Word that is spoken to her. It is through such faith that Mary bears Christ to the world.
God’s Word to us is just like God’s Word to Mary: we are called to bear Christ to the world. How do we do such a thing, which seems as impossible as a virgin giving birth to a child? Let us be like Mary, whose words signify simple faith and obedience to God’s Word. Let her words be ours: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Sunday, October 17, 2010
What is Faith?
In my previous post, The Assurance of Things Hoped For, I wrote of faith as that which overcomes sin and, on the Last Day, will overcome death. Faith receives God's promises. Said more fully, it receives the Holy Spirit, who is our guarantee of such promises.
Often faith is conceived of as a paltry thing, as an idle knowledge of facts that makes no real difference in our lives. This is not true faith. What, then, is true faith? Perhaps the most complete definition I've come across is in Martin Luther's Preface to Romans:
Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, "Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven." The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, "I believe." This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement.
Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn't ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn't do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn't know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.
Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.
Often faith is conceived of as a paltry thing, as an idle knowledge of facts that makes no real difference in our lives. This is not true faith. What, then, is true faith? Perhaps the most complete definition I've come across is in Martin Luther's Preface to Romans:
Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, "Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven." The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, "I believe." This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement.
Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn't ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn't do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn't know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.
Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.
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