Monthly Archives: July 2016

"Therefore, do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." Matthew 6:34

Jesus had more to say about trouble, anxiety, worry, etc. in the Sermon on the Mount than any other single topic. 6:25-34 focuses exclusively on this theme and 6:19-24 serves as a foundation to describe the causes and solutions.

An aside here: somewhat surprisingly we do not find in the Sermon on the Mount much material that constitutes what might be thought of as "traditional theology." Jesus did not discuss God's nature and attributes, or the Spirit's activities, or even His own atonement. His topics were very life-centered, aimed generally at the things that get between us and God.

Trouble is certainly a common obstruction. Whatever the trouble is we tend to think of it as a referendum on God or ourselves. That is, if God cared enough for me He would remove the problem. Or because He has not removed the problem then perhaps He's not all He's cracked up to be. Or because the problem remains I must not have enough faith. These three options are all very bad, but common, theology. Perform a little soul-searching right now and see if any of these bad ideas have taken hold. If so, it's time to be free of them and this section of the Sermon shows the way.

This topic of being less susceptible to worry can take volumes to address, but let me try to shed a little light on the most important ways we can positively approach trouble and be more free from worry. The teaching in 6:16-24 sets the foundation for Jesus' extended treatment of worry. He used three illustrations to make the same point.

First, we are to store up treasures in heaven as opposed to earthly treasures (6:16-21). We surely know this is true, but having a roof over our heads, a car that starts, and the latest smart phone clamor so loudly for our attention. Jesus always emphasized relationships over things. Finding a way to serve someone today will be far more eternal than purchasing another gadget.

Physical needs always shout louder than spiritual necessities. An unfortunate side-effect is the accompanying anxiety over our things or our lives or the people we care about. All of these, by the way, almost always work out. Of course some truly bad things happen, but don't live your life by the exceptions. Give too much power to your problems and you will soon lose sight of the solution. God gives enough blessings to get through each day and these blessings are almost always found in the people around you. God is relational, and all good theology is founded on our relationship to Him and others. So serve someone, or ask God to help you be aware of the people He sends to serve and encourage you.

The second illustration concerns having a "sound eye" (6:22-23). The word literally means single, so the focus is literally on focus. Our main spiritual task may be summed us as becoming "aware." God is active. Father, Son, and Spirit are always loving, always smiling, always there. Again in a terrible irony, the world screams, God whispers. Or to change the analogy to light: the world is Vegas, God is a starry night. Spiritual listening and watching requires some quiet and stillness.

The final illustration concerns dedication and obedience (6:24). The choice is binary: God or mammon. Nothing in life makes sense without a primary commitment to serve God. The great fault of American Christianity is that we try to mix in a little mammon with our faith, or more often a little faith with our mammon. Then we wonder why we still feel so unsatisfied.

So if we can now we give our highest and best to God, then we're ready to respond to trouble and the worry that accompanies it. According to so many teachings in every strata of the Bible, God simply will not allow trouble to overtake you. As He provided manna daily (and only daily) He will provide a grace that is sufficient for the trouble you face today. There is simply no way around this immutable fact.

Our problem, in the main, is stretching our cluttered minds into the future and envisioning countless scenarios in which God is effectively absent. Again, on the one hand our imagined apocalypse almost certainly won't happen, and even if it did it certainly will not be beyond God's ability to provide help. If we live by faith then we are running in a race that we've already won.

So you will have a trouble today, a little or a lot. Focus on God, take a deep breath of the Spirit, and reach for the hand of Jesus to get through. You will.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

July 31, 2016

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." Romans 12:2

What are you thinking about right now? I'm flattered if you say you've devoted your full concentration to this devotional, but I want you to consider what your mind drifts to when in neutral. In other words, when you're engaged in a task that requires no mental effort, like mowing the grass or dusting furniture, what do you think about?

Honestly, my mind often gravitates to negative experiences, perhaps a personal conflict or disappointment. Without realizing it, or without consciously choosing the topic, I can find myself in a mental court of appeals thinking about what I should have said or should have done in a particular event. My hurt, anger, resentment, disappointment, fear often bubbles to the surface, and I suddenly realize that for perhaps the last fifteen minutes I have been mentally wrestling with something or someone. I'm not alone in this kind of experience.

Psychologists call it "rumination," the obsession and over-thinking of a life event. It magnifies or perhaps is even a chief cause of a host of psychological problems (e.g. anxiety, depression, and ptsd) and negative behaviors (e.g. binge drinking or eating). Brain scans reveal that consistent negative thoughts and emotions have a tremendous effect on the brain and the neural circuitry that shapes our perception of ourselves and the world. What you think about matters enormously.

The mind, it seems, is a battlefield, where we must fight to think of things spiritual. This fact is constantly recognized throughout the scripture. Meditation is well-represented in the psalms. Psalm 1 sets the tone for the entire psalter, and its opening exhortation is to meditate on the law of the Lord. Psalm 119, the lengthiest chapter in the Bible, is essentially an encouragement to think about the goodness of God's laws.

The Bible in many ways charts the movement from an early emphasis on external behaviors (Leviticus) to the inner life of meditation and motive. The highpoint of Jeremiah's prophecy is God's promise to not only put His law in the hearts of His people but to be known by them, from the least to the greatest. God desires not a second-hand acquaintance, but a deeply personal relationship.

In the New Testament, with its intermingling of Greek concepts, we see not only the fulfillment of this prophecy but an intensified focus on the mind. Perhaps most significantly is Jesus' version of the ancient Shema and His addition of loving God "with all your mind." That's not in Deuteronomy, but it is on the lips of Jesus in all three of the synoptic gospels.

Paul, with his deep Greek roots, had a great deal to say about the mind. When we add his references to "the heart" and "the psuche" (soul or life) as the origin of our thinking the evidence mounts. The Romans 12 passage above is perhaps his clearest reference to the Christian mandate to have a transformed and renewed mind in order to experience God.

Notice the passive voice of "be transformed." Paul did not say "transform yourself." He recognized that this renewal is a work of God, far beyond our strength and ability. My thinking that often gets me in trouble, is not sufficient to get me out of trouble. I need help, and God genuinely delights in stepping in and making this transformation.

But of course, God, in my understanding, doesn't do much of anything to us without our consent and cooperation. Prayer and meditation have a vital role in clearing up and strengthening my mind. I must practice good neural hygiene, and I can do that by consciously challenging my old mind's tendency to ruminate when I'm mowing the grass! Better still to develop some good practices before I fire up the mower.

What the Bible has given us poetically or intuitively, science confirms prosaically. Modern brain scans (over the last 20 years or so) have led to a whole new area of study called neuro-theology. That's just one of the coolest terms I've run across lately. It's the idea that we strengthen areas of our brain based on our prayers and meditations. Certain areas of our brains (areas associated with higher functions) "light up" in scans of praying and meditating priests and nuns. Coincidentally, the areas associated with fear and anger cool down.

Very practically, this all means that you can change your brain by careful attention to spiritual practices. What you focus on makes a difference in the way you think and consequently how you feel and live.

In his book, Spiritual Evolution, Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant writes of the importance of positive emotions such as love, joy, faith, awe, gratitude, and others. These emotions are part of our genetic wiring. These are also a common denominator of all major faiths. Any Christian is bound to recognize in Vaillant's list the echoes of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

God has put within my grasp the means to having a more pleasant grass-mowing experience. Whenever I'm assailed (or assail myself) by the negative emotions of fear, anger, resentment, etc. I can make a conscious commitment to focusing on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I must also intentionally set aside times to pray and meditate in the quiet watches of the night or early morning.

An analogy: if you were concerned about the weakness of your biceps muscle, a physical therapist might tell you that if you did curls with a small dumbbell in three sets of 10, both sides, once a day, you will have a stronger arm. It's a physiological certainty.

I can assure you, based not only on scripture but also on the latest developments of neuroscience, that a consistent life of prayer and meditation, perhaps 12 minutes a day, will inevitably strengthen the "spiritual" areas of your brain. It will change your mind, and give you an entirely different outlook on life, your joys, your problems, your highs, your lows. You will have stronger spirit. It's a theological certainty.

Find or write prayers (it's not that hard) that highlight gratitude, trust, joy, compassion, and forgiveness. The Prayer of St. Francis is a wonderful example. Pray them. Say uplifting passages of scripture repeatedly. These practices tune your mind to God.

With all the negative emotions flooding us regularly, we desperately need a spiritual revival to turn the tide. Begin with you. Think about, meditate on, and pray to the God of grace, peace, and love. Your will life will be transformed.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

July 24, 2016

"Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:8

My hometown of Baton Rouge last week joined a host of other cities torn by a raw combination of anger, fear, and lament over the latest shooting of a citizen. These are the emotions I have felt. Anger at the entire matrix of evil and danger so many people live in each day and into which we send our police. Fear that this evil will screech its way into our lives in ever-more vicious ways. Lament that a man is dead, a family is hurting, and that the life of the police officer who pulled the trigger has been altered forever.

Please understand that I do not know if the victim had a gun and tried to pull it in his scuffle with the officers. I do not know if the police officers responding to the original call of a man with a gun had a scintilla of racism. I'm not assessing blame, guilt, or motive of the individuals involved.

I'm simply stating the obvious, but usually forgotten fact, that what we see in these situations is the visible irruption of pervasive evil in a particular setting. And when a problem is spiritual in nature, then the solution is spiritual as well.

But of what practical use is this? What do we DO? What is a spiritual solution? Any thoughtful Christian, any thoughtful spiritual person of any persuasion, wants to be an instrument of peace. What does that look like?

In a word, the answer is love, but what a word that is! If we could recapture, if we ever really had it, a vision of what love is, what it can do, and how it can transform us from within then we will have discovered divine fire. Here's what I think love looks like and how it conducts itself in these complex and intractable situations.

First, let's admit our limits. I don't know what it's like to be a black man in this society. I don't know what it's like to live in an impoverished neighborhood (and I've worked to repair homes in these neighborhoods enough to say that there are likely people within a few miles of you living in conditions of stunning poverty, indifference, and violence). I don't know what it's like to be a man in those conditions who feels he needs a gun for protection. I don't what it's like to be a policeman charged with working in a dangerously hostile environment. I don't know a lot about the conditions that much of anyone else lives in.

This frank agnosticism is important because of our tendency to focus on one sliver of an issue, prescribe what should be done (usually how another person should change), and then pronounce the matter settled. Love means admitting my limits to understanding another person and their situation. I have to put down my gavel. The moment I start judging is the moment I stop loving.

Second, love means inviting the Spirit to survey my mind. Dark thoughts and emotions well up in me with a frightening speed. I can sense in my spirit the shadows of racism, anger, violence, selfishness, fear, resentment, and hatred. I can't possibly love if I grow comfortable with those corrosive contemplations.

Related to this is my words. The Hebrews had a great insight into the power of speech. They believed that a spoken word had a certain energy to it. The spoken word accomplished something in the real world. The genesis of this idea is most certainly Genesis itself where God spoke creation into existence. God said, and there was the universe and the earth with all of its wondrous variety. Interestingly, the only part of creation God did not speak into existence is man and woman. These He formed with His hands, a powerful and indelible illustration of God's commitment to a personal relationship with us.

Our words also create. I believe that every spoken word mysteriously either contributes to God's loving will in this world or detracts from it. No speech is void. So I must be constantly aware of how I speak about other people, and when my words, public or private, block the flow of grace in this world then I need to repent (literally change my mind) and speak in a different way about situations and especially people.

I've devoted quite a bit of space to the inner spiritual qualities of love because those are the most accessible to us. We can change the way we think and speak. Love begins with that.

Of course, love is ultimately an action that extends beyond our spirits and minds. We do need to DO something. A minister whose preaching has come to mean quite a bit to me lately urged us to get into the community, make friends with people of other races, find ways to be of service, and generally be less insular.

You may not know what to do or how to love in this setting. Try this: simply ask God to make you an instrument of His peace. Pray it daily. I assure you God meets our willingness with His purpose. Every time. Never, never underestimate the power that God releases through the prayers of His children. People are hurting deeply. Our prayers somehow enhance the work of the Spirit (most likely through making us more available to God).

I've focused solely on one particular incident here in Baton Rouge. It was repeated in Minnesota. And the horror of Dallas highlights how the grotesque tendrils of evil can spread. Sadly, we will have other incidents like these because the problem is evil.

I simply want to be more deeply on the side of good. I want to love better. I want to rededicate myself to the powerful and positive forces of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. These qualities endure. And I have hope. "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail. The right prevail. With peace on earth, good will to men."

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

July 10, 2016