Trees and Things

Dear Readers,
I've been meditating for the past couple of days what it means to be saved by faith. Or more specifically, saved by faith and not by works. The Bible says a lot about works - both the Old and New Testaments stress both good deeds and righteous living. This is seen in the OT with laws and regulations, living life according to the moral code. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, a song about the glories of God's law: "I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you. . . .Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain" (Ps 119: 11, 36).

But why is that? If we are saved by faith, which is the free gift of God (Eph 2:8-9), why work for anything? And why emphasize works in the first place? And what do we do with James, who writes: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? . . . So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:14, 17).

Works are important. Faith is important. What it boils down to is: which comes first.

Let me give you an example: the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a religious sect within Judaism, one of the three main sects at the time (the other two were the Sadducees and the Essenes). Their basis of religious life consisted of the law, and nothing but the law. They had rules and regulations for how many steps you could take on the Sabbath, the right ways in which to wash yourself, how to dress, how to eat, etc. This rigorous adherence to the law gained them righteousness. But Jesus calls them out on it: he says they have a false righteousness: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Mt. 12:33-34). It's pretty clear: purify your heart and then your body!

Works can't get us into heaven. That phrase I've heard often: As long as I'm a good person.... And lets just put aside the fact that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). But what if we could make it to heaven on our own merit? But see, therein lies the problem: our own merit. It is for God's own glory that He saves us, not for ours. And by attempting to make it to heaven with our own hands, we put ourselves in God's place. We hold our hand up and say, "That's enough Jesus, I can take it from here."

But the thing is, we can't! Not in the least! There is nothing that can give me eternal life, eternal happiness, eternal pleasure, endless joy other than accepting and sharing in the love of the Father for the Son. It reminds me of a scene in the movie Ever After, when the king, enraged by his petulant son, declares: "Then I will just deny you the crown, and live forever!" We laugh at that part, for we know that this is impossible: obviously the king has spoken before he has thought. Its like trying to make the freckles on your nose disappear or your legs grow longer - you have no control. We cannot save ourselves no more than we can make our hair turn grey.

But that's the great thing about Easter: Jesus does. He descended to earth, humbled himself and took the form of a man, died on the cross for my sins, and rose from the dead. He conquered death so that I might live. And that's why I have faith. Faith as a core, belief as a statute. Works spring forth from a pure heart, but are not the source. "Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:44-45). Amen.

People

Dear Readers,
Its almost been 6 months since I last posted.

That feels refreshing to admit. My writing has almost completely deadened for the moment, with the exception of a few crappy poems. I still feel this love for writing, like if I could only write down to the foundation of who I am, I could hold the world in the palm of my hand. Maybe I should become a cloistered nun, like Julian of Norwich. She found that kind of peace. But I don't think I'm the cloistered type. I like people too much.

And that's what I've been discovering these past 6 months - I like people. There aren't many things I do well, and fewer things that I feel absolutely passionate about. Working with people is one of the few that fits both of those categories for me. And it sucks too, because people hurt. They scratch and bite and frown and cry. But I love them anyway. And that's why I'm feeling more and more of a draw to work in the church long-term. Taking two of my greatest loves - God and His creation - and combining them.

We'll see.