Fairness

I have read the book of Habakkuk many times over the years. I took my first really close look at the book about a year ago when I helped develop a discussion guide for my LIFE Group. After our group completed our study of the book, I had not given the book much thought. That is until a little over two weeks ago.

You see, the book of Habakkuk is about a man who followed God and had a strong faith in God. But he also struggled with God. There were things going on in the world around him that did not seem fair. There was great injustice in society around him. He knew God was there but God seemed to be silent.

A little over two weeks ago, my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After consulting with a neurosurgeon, we came to realize that the situation was bad. The MRI showed a tumor that measured about 2.4 centimeters. The doctor told us that it appeared to be a highly aggressive, malignant tumor. After surgery, we found out that the tumor was much larger than anticipated. It was about the size of a tangerine. The pathologist confirmed our worst fears. It was a grade four (highly aggressive) glioma (malignant) tumor.

My mother is an active 59 year old woman. She just completed her bachelors degree a few years ago and had just taken a new teaching job a few weeks earlier. She is one semester away from completing her masters degree. She has had an almost perfect 4.0 GPA through all that. She has four grand-sons. She derives as much joy from “her boys” as any grandmother I have ever seen. She has a set of twin grandchildren on the way. They will no doubt be as precious to her as the others. I could point out many other things, but I am sure you get the idea.

This should not have happened to her. She has followed Jesus for a long time. She has given much of her life to service along side my dad in the church. Her trust in and reliance on God has been unwavering through circumstances both good and bad, easy and difficult. As far I can understand fairness, this is not fair. Not even a little bit.

But I need to rethink fairness. When I do, I realize that I don’t really want fairness. If God were completely fair, he would completely punish all of us. God does not always treat us fairly. He does much better than that. He treats us graciously. He has graciously kept my mother for 59 years. He graciously let her tumor be diagnosed in time to operate. He graciously gave her a skilled surgeon and others to provide medical treatment. He graciously gave her a large family that loves her and supports her completely. The Bible says that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from God and only God. There are some gifts from God that we would deem as not being good. Again, I think this is due to our not having a complete understanding of what “good” is. The Bible also says that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. That perfectly describes my mother. I cannot comprehend how this awful illness will work for her good, outside of taking her to heaven, but I trust God and his word that he will somehow work things together for her good.

It is the last few verses of the book of Habakkuk that bring me the most comfort and peace during this time. Even though the prophet still does not understand the mysteries of the way the Lord chooses to work, he still has confidence in God. He describes the devastation that he sees coming and expresses his faith. I pray God will grant me that faith as the storms of confusion and doubt come. Habakkuk 3:17-19 says: “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”

Pastors Referring Counselees

For the follower of Jesus Christ, especially the follower who is a member of a local church, the pastor or other local church leader should be an option as a counselor should the need arise. In order to increase his effectiveness as pastor, including as counselor, the pastor will necessarily have to refer some cases. I will address three themes: why refer, how to refer, and who to refer to. This is a summary of my position on referral and my referral procedures.



Any counselor, including a pastor, will sometimes find it advisable or even necessary to refer a particular case to someone else. There are many good reasons for this. In one way or another, most of these reasons relate to limitations on the pastoral counselor. The most obvious limitation would be a pastor’s ability or expertise in a particular area. For example, the areas of substance abuse or sexual issues certainly include spiritual elements that the pastor may be equipped to handle, but they also are specialized enough to warrant the counsel of someone trained in those particular areas. In my opinion, the most important limitation on the pastor that would require him to refer cases is his time. The pastor’s primary responsibility is not counseling; in fact, that is only one element of his pastoral duties. Even in the typical church, the pastor could schedule a full-time counseling load. He must not do this. He must guard his time to be able to fulfill his primary functions of study, prayer, and teaching. There are other limitations which are related to these, such as: ability to lead necessary programs for some cases, training in a particular area, or even conflict of interest.



Once the necessity of referrals is established, we can look at how to go about referring a case. If an individual has met with the pastor for some time, he/she is likely emotionally attached. This makes referral difficult. I think the pastor should approach the subject with the client honestly. Admit that he does not have the training or resources to appropriately handle the situation. Reassure the counselee regarding their mental health (as far as he can tell). Reassure the client about their relationship. While the counseling relationship may be ending, the pastoral relationship is not. The pastor should work to maintain that relationship. Appropriate ways to do this may be through telephone calls, email, notes, and visits.



The pastor should work hard to form a network of sources to refer counselees to. The pastor has a responsibility to know the variety of professionals to whom he might refer. These should range from psychiatrists to Christian counseling programs. He should be careful not to overlook addiction recovery and marriage enrichment programs. The pastor will want to know some things about the counselor or program he is utilizing these include: reputation, training, experience, professional supervision, network of other professionals or hospitals to call on, and faith commitment or appreciation of such a commitment in the client.

Christian History (Part 1)

Recently, I was given a one year daily devotional centered around Christian history. Honestly, I love this stuff. When I received this book, I had just turned in my assignments for a Christian history class I am taking. Because of this, I had been giving some thought to what the value is of studying the history of the church. Today, I want to post some of my thoughts on this. I will post the end in the next few days. 

In my opinion, one of the greatest areas of ignorance in our society today is the knowledge of our own history as well as the history of the human race in general. This is a very sad state of affairs and I find it especially bad when it is the case with Christians. We who claim to be Christ’s followers should, more than anyone, have a general understanding of history – especially that history which relates to the events covered in the New and Old Testaments and our own religious practices. As followers of Christ, we do have a history. It is a rich, colorful history. One important thing to note about history is that – especially for Christianity – our history determines our future. In The Story of Christianity, Justo Gonzales writes: “Without understanding that past, we are unable to understand ourselves, for in a sense the past still lives in us and influences who we are and how we understand the Christian message. When we read, for instance, that ‘the just shall live by faith,’ Martin Luther is whispering at our ear how we are to interpret those words – and this is true even for those of us who have never even heard of Martin Luther.” (pg. xvii)  In light of this, I think there are several reasons why we as Christians should make knowledge and understanding of history an important part of our lives.

The first reason for the importance of studying history is that God is the creator of history. History is not just something that self-absorbed humans came up with. God Himself created history when He gave us an inspired account of our own history in the Old Testament. If the creator of the universe thought it important enough for us to understand where we came from and the importance of past actions on our lives today, then it is certainly a subject that we ourselves should pay attention to.

 

Another reason to study history has to do with Christian orthodoxy. Just as having a proper hermeneutic depends on understanding the historical context of the Bible, so does orthodoxy and an understanding of orthodoxy depend on historical knowledge and understanding. Orthodoxy in the Christian community is having an understanding of the truth as it has been developed and established in the past and staying faithful to it. This of course requires that you have an accurate understanding of those who have gone before you, what they believed, and the context under which they lived.

"Laminin" email and Snopes.com

i am sure many of you have seen the email that is circulating about laminin. i have received it at least three times. (thanks sean, for one of those!) the writer of the email tells of being on the treadmill watching a message from louie giglio and being completely blown away by the description of and picture of laminin proteins.

this morning, i was reading my weekly email from snopes.com. i love snopes.com. this laminin email was the topic of one of their new articles. the article even includes this video:





as a side note: in the video, giglio refers to being near the end of their tour in tyler, texas, when he was told about laminins. i was at that concert. i am not the molecular biologist.


the crux of the story is that laminins are the proteins that hold the different cells of our bodies together. they are like the glue that keeps us from falling apart. this is a reminder of colossians 1:15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (emphasis mine; english standard version)


oh, yeah. i almost forgot. this is a scientific diagram of a laminin protein:

to me, and probably to you, this looks quite a bit like a cross. when i see this i have thoughts that go something like: "wow! before you created adam, you knew that it would be through the cross of jesus that that our very lives would be held together. and you represented it in our very cell structure! you are an amazing god!"

when snopes saw this, they said: (my response in italics)

1. the structure of laminin antedates by many thousands of years traditional christian accounts of the life of jesus. i know. that is one of the wonderful things about this. god knew from before the beginning that the cross of christ would be our hope and salvation.

2. a cross-like shape is a very simple structure that is commonly found in elements created naturally or accidentally. which one is this, natural or accidental? if it is natural, god designed it that way from the beginning. if it is accidental, how is that possible. this is the protein that holds us together. this is an accident? that is another post.

3. it is uncertain whether the form of the original crucifixion device was a stake, a t-shape, or the familiar cross of modern christian iconography. does it matter? god knew we would recognize the cross as a symbol or reminder of who jesus us and what he did for us. god chose to place this representation into our very cells.

4. one could find the shape of laminin to be reminiscent of a variety of common symbols aside from the cross. some viewers say it reminds them more of a caduceus. (the caduceus is the symbol for modern medicine.

this symbol is taken from the old testament story of the children of israel wandering in the wilderness. in numbers 21, god sent serpents to punish the people. when the repented of their sin, god had moses craft a bronze serpent and put it up on a pole. when the people looked on the bronze serpent, they were healed. jesus referenced when he was talking with nicodemus in john 3. jesus was looking ahead to his own death on the cross when he said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (english standard version) the caduceus represents, at its very core, the healing at the cross.

i am glad that snopes.com has put this on their website. i am alright with them trying to discount the symbolism. they have put a video greater than six minutes long describing that our god is the creator and savior of the universe. they have put up a number of illustrations that god is our designer. they have put this before a larger audience than you or i likely ever could.

The Iron Works

about two and a half years ago, a good friend of mine believed god was leading him to start meeting weekly with a group of men. he had been very positively affected by his own involvement in a men's group and he wanted to have a similar impact in the lives of other men. i absolutely think this is what god would have us to do. this is multiplication of ministry. this is what paul meant when he said to teach faithful men so they may teach others. so a group of us banded together to invest in the lives of one another and we called this group "the iron works". we did a lot of great things together, but i believe god does many or most (maybe all) things in seasons. we have gone through a number of changes recently and the remaining core of us think it is a new season. so we are trying something different. we are trying video driven series. we have started with one called "hostage" produced by craig groeschel and the folks at lifechurch.tv. last week's topic was bitterness. craig did a good job of talking about the causes of bitterness and how to root it out. he pointed out that hanging on to bitterness will ruin your life. tonight, we are looking at worry. there is one line that i particularly like: "worry is the sin of distrusting the promises and power of god." is this really not the point? if we truly trust god, will we worry? i do not mean that nothing will concern us. i am talking about real worry. if we have trust and confidence in the god that created us and saved us, what is there to worry about?

what do you worry about? do you think your worry is caused (or allowed to exist) due to a lack of trust and confidence in god? what can you do about this?

Holy Week

as we begin holy week, or the week leading up to easter, i have been spending some time really considering what the death and resurrection is all about. this is the simple truth of the gospel. mark batterson summed it up beautifully in his blog today. here is what he said:

On a personal note, I went through a season in my early twenties when I explored lots of different religious traditions. And I was impressed with some of the concepts and rituals and practices. But it also cemented this core belief: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one else lived a sinless life. No one else died for my sins. And no one else was raised from the dead. My faith isn't anchored in concepts or rituals or practices. My faith is anchored in a person who was fully human and fully God.

this is the power and grace that only god has the authority to shower on us. this is the jesus that gives us access to god the father. this is the god that saved me. this is the god we give our lives to. as the week goes on, i will plan to share more of my thoughts on its significance.