The Overflow

What we say and how we say it is very important in our culture. And that varies greatly from place to place. Growing up in a holiness church we were not allowed to say “golly” or “gee.” But hearing “Did you hear what so-and-so did?” was not uncommon. I experienced the cultural importance of language in Jamaica; when preaching one day I nearly lost the entire congregation when I pointed out that our son was a “stinker,” only to discover that this was one of the most profane words on that island. (Other words I considered profane were a normal part of their daily vocabulary.) We can be so focused on the cultural significance of language that we forget the moral and spiritual power of our words.

King David described the people who live in God’s presence, who can never be shaken, this way: They is the one “who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others” (Psalm 15:2-3). A person’s words reflect the moral condition and spiritual health of his heart. That’s why David could sincerely pray, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight” (Psalm 19:14). What if he wanted to receive blessings from the Lord? “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies” (Psalm 34:12-13). His commitment was simple. “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth” (Psalm 39:1), and “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

The prophet Isaiah saw the power of sin primarily in terms of the use of his words. When he saw a revelation of the holiness of God he responded, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips” (6:5). When God then pronounced his forgiveness for Isaiah we read, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for’” (6:6-7). How could the atonement for Isaiah’s sins be accomplished by touching his mouth with the fire of holiness? Clearly our words have more significance than we know.

Jesus explained it most clearly: “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). Other translations bring further clarity to what Jesus was teaching. “It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words” (Msg.) “For whatever is in your heart determines what you say” (NLT). “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (KJV). It’s helpful to note the context of this saying. The Pharisees had been claiming that Jesus was driving out unclean spirits “by Beelzbul, the prince of demons” (v. 24). Jesus responded by warning them of the possibility of blasphemy, but concluded that it was really impossible for “you who are evil [to] say anything good” (v. 34). Because their hearts were evil, the effect of their words would always end up being destructive.

There is really no way to overstate the power of our words, for both good and ill. The true condition of our hearts will always eventually overflow in our words. If our hearts are filled with self-pity and self-centeredness, it will ultimately be heard in our words. If our hearts are filled with fear and worry, our words will reveal it. If faith is filling our hearts, that too will be – and must be – evident in our words. The apostle Paul wrote, “’The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:7-9). Our words literally participate in our salvation – our deliverance and life of faith and overcoming. In fact, more than anyone else, you need to hear words of faith and hope coming out of your own mouth! Your words enter into your ears and mind first – you are the first partaker of the power of your words. Your words will participate powerfully in your spiritual health, growth and fruitfulness. “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech” (1 Peter 3:10). After all, our words are simply the overflow from our heart.

When I was a kid I learned a little poem: “Sticks and stones may break my bones / but words can never hurt me.” I can’t imagine anything further from the truth. Broken bones will heal but words haunt us every day of our lives. All of us have experienced the power of words. “You’ll never amount to anything” has kept untold people from experiencing growth into their potential. On the other hand, “I believe in you” has liberated many, giving them a sense of permission to move ahead into all God had in store for them. The power of life and death is literally in your mouth, in your words. How will you use that power? 

Mañana

Here’s a Spanish language lesson: Mañana simply means “tomorrow,” and sometimes “morning.”  In common usage it can also mean “later.” In its cultural context this word expresses a certain value and an attitude: “Why worry about something today when it can be put off until mañana?” It reflects an easy-going approach to life that can sound very inviting – especially on a hot summer day. What a great idea! Don’t worry! Be happy! There is just one problem: it is actually the opposite of what Jesus advised. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). In other words, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be accomplished today.”

Because God has created all things, everything we have is a gift from God. Our very lives are a gift. Our friendships are a gift. Our resources are a gift. Our time is a gift. Every new day – every hour, every minute – is God’s special, intentional gift to us. As managers (stewards) of our lives and every good gift from God, we have a clear mandate from heaven to make productive use of our time – to “redeem” the time. The apostle Paul said it this way: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17). Verse 16 has been translated in a variety of ways: “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (NKJV); “Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days” (Phillips); “It’s a scandal when people waste their lives” (Msg).

Seeing our time the way God sees it is so very important. Moses wrote a song in the book of Psalms that contains a meditation on time. He begins by describing God’s experience of time: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (v. 2); and “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (v. 4). God essentially exists outside of time and space, since both things have been created by God. He is God “from everlasting to everlasting.” While we are limited, created, finite, time-bound creatures, our experience of time is not a limitation to God. In fact, our experience of 1,000 years is like a three-hour watch in the night. However, time means something differently to us: “You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals’” (v. 3); and “Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered” (vv. 5-6). Compared to God our temporary, mortal journey on planet earth is a brief moment in time. Days come and go in a steady, rapid march toward the end of mortality and into an unhindered experience of eternity. Moses stated, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures” (v. 10). If a 1,000 years in God’s sight is like our experience of a 3-hour watch in the night, 70 years is 12 minutes 36 seconds and 80 years is 14 minutes 24 seconds in God’s sight. Not even enough for a decent coffee break.

Understanding the brevity of this mortal journey puts each day into its proper perspective. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Wisdom comes from understanding our experience of time. Seeing each day as a gift from God motivates us to take advantage of every day. Our commitment before the Lordship of Christ is to being wise, productive stewards of God’s gifts – of God’s gift of time. So don’t put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today – tomorrow is not guaranteed – you only have today.

As human beings, we experience time on a daily basis. Now that I’m in my sixth decade I’m sometimes aware of the fact that there are fewer days before me than behind me. We observe that youth suffer from “an illusion of immortality” while older folks have various kinds of identity crises (mid-life and otherwise). The simple fact is this: any sense that anyone has more or less days than anyone else is an illusion. Everyone is only guaranteed one amount of time: Today! A person in their 20s has been given today; someone in their 40s is alive today; an individual in their 60s is experiencing the gift of today; a brother or sister in their 80s woke up this morning and discovered that “this is the day the Lord has made!” No one has more or less time than this day! Being young without having learned to “number our days” will tend to result in an unwise, unproductive use of each day. Being older and assuming that there are few days ahead, forgetting that each new day is a gift from God, will also tend to result in an unwise, unproductive use of each day.

How many times have you heard someone give the excuse, “I don’t have time for that”? The fact is, everyone has the exact same amount of time. You have 24 hours in a day; the President of the US has 24 hours in a day; a homeless man trying to survive on the street has 24 hours in a day. The difference is in the use each one makes of their time. Everyone has enough time to do what they really want to do. Here’s an interesting experiment: Keep a log of your time (maybe in one hour increments) each day for seven days. Then take time to reflect on how your use of time reflects your priorities, your values, the way you view the meaning and purpose of your life. Finally, ask God to adjust your values and priorities and adjust the stewardship of your time accordingly. 

Who's In Charge Here, Anyway?

We’ve been set up! The human race finds itself in a deep pit with seemingly no way out.  But that was not in the original design. God created human beings to freely receive and return his love, and to freely share in his creative work and authority. But the temptation to disobedience was just too great. In the garden our first parents chose to launch out on their own and to attempt to experience their full potential independently of their Creator. The resulting separation and alienation, hostility and pain, has been the human story ever since. The real question in the Garden was a question of authority, a question of control. Was it possible to find real satisfaction and fulfillment under God’s control, living a life of loving obedience to God, or was it necessary to be “autonomous” and independent in order to be fully human? Did it require the first humans to find a way to be in control of their own lives?

A good friend of mine once said that “all sins are control issues.” Who’s in control? Who’s in charge here, anyway? Our very human nature has become warped by an instinctive resistance to submitting to God’s control. We have a fundamental need to feel like we’re in control, while real control is never really possible – resulting in a variety of compulsive, self-centered, self-indulgent behaviors – addictions. “Addiction” is usually defined as “dependency, habit, obsession with, enslavement to.” All of us tend to be “addicted” to some core desires/compulsions:

Addicted to the need to be in control. Our choice to live independently from God and God’s control results in an overwhelming need to feel like we are in control. This is such a strong compulsion, feeling like we are not in control, feeling like our life is out of control, is a primary source of depression. The attempt to control our lives can spill over into attempts to control the lives of others.

Addicted to the need to feel powerful. Those who are relatively powerless in society have to find other ways to feel powerful, to engage in behaviors that give at least a temporary sense of being powerful. This might even include attitudes of prejudice or hate toward others. It could also include abusing substances or people. Addiction to anger is an expression of the need to feel powerful.

Addicted to adrenaline. Some have claimed that almost all addictions are really addictions to adrenaline, including most of the “aholics.” Workaholics, those addicted to living dangerously, “on the edge,” those addicted to gambling, stealing, lying, even “drama queens/kings,” are all addicted to adrenaline. After all, adrenaline helps a person feel powerful, and therefore to feel like they are in control. (Sexual additions involve a combination of all of the above.)

Addictive, compulsive behaviors present a couple of overwhelming difficulties:

1.  Simple decisions to “stop” are not adequate. Because they arise out of the core of our sin nature, addictive behaviors are reinforced by our souls and our bodies. Even those who have established a pattern of overcoming realize that their brains remember those behaviors and look for opportunities to start them back up.

2.  These self-centered, self-indulgent behaviors are ultimately self-destructive. The irony is that our desire to realize our own potential by establishing the control of our own lives only leads to death and destruction, in our lives and in the lives of others.

3.  The Enemy of our lives - Satan - works to reenforce our bondage, holding chains in place, taking advantage of us at the point of our weakness. The victory must be won in our spirits, as well as our bodies and souls. 

There is ultimately only one cure to our tendency to develop compulsive behaviors – the decision in the Garden has to be reversed. The only solution is a moment-by-moment decision to fully and absolutely surrender to God’s authority and God’s control. Absolute surrender has the power to detach us from those things we have become attached to instead of God. Full surrender is the only thing that can lead us into a life of peace, contentment, rest and fulfillment. The Bible refers to this as “Sabbath Rest.” The Psalmist often sang, “Truly my soul finds rest in God” (Psalm 62:1, 5; see also 91:1; 116:7). The Lord offered through the prophet, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest” (Isaiah 28:12; see also 30:15; 32:18). Jesus invited the crowds, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The writer to the Hebrews stated, “The promise of entering his rest still stands” (Hebrews 4:1). Finding a place of complete surrender to God’s authority and control goes against every element of our sin nature and is only possible because of the grace and forgiveness provided us in Christ. Do you long for peace and fulfillment? All your attempts to find it on your own will only lead you further down the pathway of self-destruction. But there is a rest waiting for you. Ask God to give you the power to fully surrender to him and give up all control of your life. That is the way to the abundant life Jesus longs to see you find. 

All Things New

Forgiveness is one of those subjects we as Christ followers feel we have mastered. Even psychologists with no reference to Scripture or Jesus have come to understand the therapeutic benefit of forgiveness. At the same time, it’s important to recognize that true forgiveness is always a miracle and is simply humanly impossible. The power of unforgiveness is to keep us trapped in the past, unable to move forward into the future. The power of forgiveness is the power to make all things new.

To begin with, what is forgiveness? In the Old Testament “forgiveness” is a translation of the (Hebrew) word nasa’, and paints a picture of something being lifted up and let go or released. I like to picture someone holding a bird in the air and allowing it to fly away. In the New Testament “forgive” is the (Greek) word aphiemi, a rich word that means to let go and send away; to cancel, remit and pardon; to leave and give up. It paints a picture of a courtroom where all the evidence has been presented, convicting “beyond a reasonable doubt” a criminal of guilt and calling for appropriate punishment. In the face of the guilty verdict the judges chooses to set the prisoner free.

The basis for all forgiveness is the reality that every human being stands convicted and guilty before God. Sin – our choices to live independently from God – has separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). No amount of good deeds can offset the verdict of “guilty” as we stand before God, calling for just consequences. The only hope for humanity calls for a voluntary offering of a ransom sufficient to offset all the sin of all humankind. It would take something like God pouring himself into humanity and offering his pure, spotless life as payment, making “redemption” (buying out of slavery) possible. Fortunately for us, that is exactly what God has accomplished in Christ. Infinite sin against an infinite God has been forgiven as a result of the infinite sacrifice and of the infinitely pure Lamb. “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

Now, an infinite foundation of forgiveness experienced by turning to God in repentance and faith calls for a lifestyle of forgiveness. Forgiveness flows like a river and is experienced only as we release it through our lives to others. So how does forgiveness work in our personal experience? First of all, it requires someone to have actually committed a sin against you – evidence can be offered that would clearly show that person to be guilty, calling for an appropriate punishment. But instead of exacting punishment, instead of demanding justice, you choose to release that person from punishment and to release them from their guilty verdict. True forgiveness not only takes place in outward circumstances, it must also take place in the heart. Have you ever forgiven someone but kept rehearsing the “evidence to convict” in your mind? If so, you haven’t really forgiven them yet. The problem with unforgiveness is that it blocks forgiveness coming into our lives from God. And unforgiveness can eventually lead to bitterness that poisons our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with.

To be honest, true forgiveness “from the heart” is always a miracle. It assumes that we have received forgiveness from God, and it also assumes that God’s grace and presence are working in our hearts, empowering us to release forgiveness to others. How do you know whether or not unforgiveness has a place in your heart? Let me suggest a couple of possible indicators:

Rehearsing the evidence. Do you find yourself revisiting the offense committed against you (or someone close to you)? Does your mind automatically go back to those scenes and those words? Unforgiveness has found a foothold in your heart.

Low grade anger. Does the sight of that person (or even their name or the sound of their voice) stimulate irritation, anger, or some kind of emotional upset? The power of unforgiveness is still polluting your soul.

Imagining the punishment. Do you think of ways that person should rightly be punished if they had not been forgiven? Then you haven’t really forgiven them. Ultimately forgiveness is not only the release from guilt but also from just punishment.

Forgiveness (and unforgiveness) are so powerful and have such a profound effect on our souls, and especially our relationship with God, Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Jesus went on to teach, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). Even though we don’t deserve it, even though we are guilty and deserve only punishment, God has forgiven us as a result of the work of Jesus. Forgiveness is the basis for our relationship with God. For that reason, not extending forgiveness to someone else is literally a sin against God, and therefore separates us from God. Maybe we should begin by asking for forgiveness for the sin of unforgiveness, and then extending that miraculous, supernatural gift to others. Only in this way will we experience the newness that God has for us in this New Year. “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).