Fashionable Doubt

I have been rereading the accounts of the crucifixion and the resurrection this morning. I always try to put myself in the sandals of those who were a part of the story. I can't imagine being one of those ladies who went to the tomb on that Sunday morning expecting to find Jesus' body, only to be met by a couple of angels who told them that Jesus walked out of there alive. I suffer momentary panic when I go to retrieve my birthday checks and discover that the place of "safe keeping" is empty. So it's really difficult for me to fathom what it must have been like for them.

And what about Peter and the rest of the disciples? When they got the news that the tomb was empty, they weren't buying it. In Luke 24:11 the scripture reveals their mindsets in no uncertain terms: "But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." That's about right! It seemed crazy to them that a perfectly dead human could rise from the dead and walk out of a cave.

I get that. It is crazy. But isn't that what Jesus said would happen? The angel reminded the ladies of his words. Luke 24:6-7 captures his reminder, "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"

With his help the ladies remembered. And I'm sure when they recounted the story to the disciples, the eleven remembered his words, too. But those words were crazy. Surely Jesus didn't mean that he would come back to life: that’s pure "nonsense." You can't take him that literally, it just doesn't make sense.

What the disciples were experiencing was fashionable doubt. No one believed Jesus' words after he died on the cross. Death ushers in the moment when the proverbial "fat lady" sings. The game was over and they had settled into inescapable hopelessness as it related to their dreams with Jesus. But he didn't stay dead. Hope was not lost. He would rise again. He would keep his word for them just as he keeps it for us.

I'm not sure that we’ve really learned our lesson from the disciples because when it comes to taking Jesus at his word, fashionable doubt is still very much in vogue. What can we do about it?

We need to follow Peter and John's lead. John 20:3-4 says, "So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first." Even in doubt they ran to the tomb. They raced towards hope rather than running from it. Obviously doubt was still the fashionable choice because the other nine stayed behind. But they embraced hope and found that Jesus had indeed kept his word.

What about you? When doubt is fashionable which way do you run?

You ask: In the end why does it matter? That is a good question. Jesus was raised from the dead for all of them. He kept his word for those who fashionably doubted and those who fought through it. True enough. So what is the win for those who overcome fashionable doubt and traverse the narrow road of faith?

The reward is the joy that comes at the end of the journey. It is the thrill of victory when you didn't quit, the satisfaction of being able to say, "I knew it," when everyone else was jumping ship. There is great joy in staying the course, going against the fashionable doubt of others.

It was that joy that kept Jesus going and Hebrews 12:2 makes that fact abundantly clear. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus stayed the course by hanging onto the joy that he would experience for finishing faithfully. And in the end he rose from the dead victoriously--just as he said he would.

What areas in your life are you currently experiencing fashionable doubt? Does God have a word for you? Don't miss out on the joy he has set before the faithful!

The Fast

Skycrest is fasting as a church. We are doing it to ask God to infuse our Easter Outreach Project (the feeding of the 400 families) and our Easter Worship Celebration with his grace. We are doing three, twenty-four hour fasts. It begins on Monday night after dinner and goes until Tuesday night at dinner. As we fast we are praying through Isaiah 58:6-12, a beautiful passage of scripture. Last week was easy. But today, uggghhh!

I'm struggling today. I don't feel good. I don't want to do it. I feel sort of tired and completely over it. Denying myself is just not my cup of tea.

I've been tempted to eat something and I could find a million reasons to eat, but the most understandable, the easiest self-sale is that I don't feel good and I'm having a hard time being productive. So I've been trying to talk myself out of eating by reminding myself that that I made a commitment, that I'm not a quitter because I finish what I start.

As I was going through all the reasons to stay the course, I realized that I was in danger of missing the boat altogether. I'm not doing this to keep myself from eating, I'm doing this to keep myself praying. So I'm not a loser if I eat, I'm a loser if I fail to pray.

So when I'm finished here I'm going to pray. I'm going to tell God how I feel. I am going to confess that usually I eat without gratitude. I am going to tell him how I count on food more than I count on him. Then I'm going to thank him for feeding me in spite of my sense of entitlement.

When I'm finished confessing, I'm going to ask him to help the spiritually and physically needy through me. I'm going to thank him that we are called to do something for the Clearwater Community that we couldn't do without him. I'm going to ask him to show up in an unmistakable fashion on the 1st and the 4th of April. Finally I'm going to ask him to give me success with the people he wants me to invite to church to celebrate Easter.

And then when I'm hungry I'll do it all again (I hope)!!!!

I Have a Question for You

At Skycrest we have been going through what we are calling a 60/60 experiment. The idea is that every 60 minutes for 60 days we have some sort of alarm, chime, or buzzer sounding that reminds us that we are called to live in the continual presence of God. When the alarm sounds we are to pray, quote a memory verse, or do some sort of assessment about our last hour before God.

That may sound gimmicky to you, but please don't knock it until you've tried it. What I have learned is that I'm not as well connected as I thought I was. The number of times I have been caught completely unawares by that beep and what it stood for is alarming, and the number of times that I've responded inhospitably to the reminder of God's gracious presence is disappointing. But I am grateful for my beeping watch, even though I don't act like it sometimes. Hopefully a habit is forming while I am transforming, but I won't really know until the fruit grows and the inspection is complete.

As we have been going through this experience/experiment, a question has been taking shape within me. It's a question that I have always known the answer to, or at least had an answer for, but now I'm not so sure.

The question: Is God really all I need? Can all of my deficiencies as they relate to living righteously be met by the presence of God? Is it really God and nothing else?

What do you think?

I'm not so sure it is God and nothing else. This may be heresy, but I don't think so. There have been times throughout this experiment when I was conscious of the presence of God and yet I was still hosting thoughts or ideas that were not pleasing to Him. There have been times where I have been sitting in the light and yet savoring the thrilling darkness of vengeance. There have been times when I was praying to God about serving other people, and yet refused the next opportunity to do so.

As I look back over my life with God, I see times where I have been walking in darkness and God was trying to tell me to quit, get out, or let go. However, I refused to do so until someone else flipped the light on for me and let me see the darkness from their perspective. I had God and his still small steady voice. But what I really needed was accountability with skin on.

Is this why when Adam was in the garden before the fall and he had uninterrupted fellowship with God that God described the scene as "not good?" He had God. What else could he possibly want? What else could he possible need? Isn't God all we need, or did he put a human shaped hole in our heart beside the one he fashioned for himself?