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One time I heard this quote, “Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, for as long as ever you can.”

I thought it was a really great quote. Till I burned out. Which was very ugly.

So I was angry at whoever that guy was that said that. Bitter actually, for several years.

I decided that quote must have been for underachievers, not overachievers (neither of whom are healthy).

But I think I missed something. He didn’t say, “Do all the good that can be done.” He said to do all the good you can do. Which implies I can’t fix all the world’s problems, only a few. 

This kind of gets at the question of responsibility — What exactly am I responsible for?  What will I be held accountable for at the Final Judgment?  I should focus on those and let go of the rest.

Sometimes lately I think Jesus is saying, “I didn’t tell you to fix them. I told you to love them,” which may just mean listening and not giving advice. Or, “I didn’t tell you support a certain cause. I just wanted you to pray for them. Invest the rest of your time in your wife, not them.” And, “I don’t want you to feel their pain. I want you to love them.” Because too many people have too much pain and I was never meant to absorb all that into myself. I was only supposed to show them kindness for half an hour, and leave it to Him to be their Rescuer.

So I guess it’s ok if sometimes “all the good I can do” is let someone vent for a few minutes, and say, “I’m sorry you’re going through that,” or maybe just smile.

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One of the hardest-to-embrace things about Christianity, to me, is that brokenness is an important way God uses to make us like Jesus.

I have no idea how many times I have looked up toward God and said in exasperation, “It doesn’t have to be this way!  You can use less painful means!”

Then I was stopped in my tracks one day while snacking, (how mundane!) because the label read “Broken Almond Pieces.”  Broken.  That is how the nutrition comes out of the nut into my body.  It must be broken.  By a machine, by teeth, by stomach acid, grinding food into tinier and tinier pieces.

This picture of brokenness bringing the goodness out of things is everywhere.  How about in coffee grounds?  The beans must be crushed to release the flavor.

For all the essential oils we use, the plant must be cut, pulverized, smashed.  Broken.

It’s in bread, too.  You’ll remember he said at the Last Supper, “This [bread] is my body, which is broken for you.”  

This thing about brokenness was depressing for a long time, because I only saw half the story.  The rest of the story is what happens after that.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, BUT!!! later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies [brokenness], it remains alone; but if it dies, it BEARS MUCH FRUIT.” John 12:24

Look why Jesus endured it:  “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM endured the cross,”
Hebrews 12:2a

He did it for the joy that would follow afterwards.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to be broken, but the fruit it brings is incredible.

Please notice I’m NOT saying God broke you, or that he killed your child or gave you cancer.  But I am saying he uses those kinds of experiences.  I did not say anyone deserves to be crushed, only that we all seem to get beaten up in life, and Father turns those things for our good (Rom 8:28).

So next time you are drinking coffee or eating bread, remember two things. What you’re eating has to be broken down beyond recognition. And, the result of it is you get something very good. You get nourishment so your body can function and move. You get energy, and maybe caffeine and sugar. You get something tasty.

The original inclusive community is documented twenty centuries ago near the Mediterranean Sea.  The barriers between social classes were more severe than they are at present.  People were much more deeply divided by gender, race, social status, national origin.  This was the age when it was socially accepted to feed people to lions for public sport.

‘Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. ‘
Colossians 3:11

‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ‘
Galatians 3:28

This inclusivity reaches its climax with billions of people in the next life.

‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ‘
Revelation 7:9

“Better than I deserve“ is the answer a friend gave when I asked how he was doing, and his heart was probably in the right place. He intended to be humble. 

I am not sure the Bible says that, though, not for believers. We used to deserve wrath, and, sadly,  unbelievers still do. But that is exactly the point — wrath is no longer what we deserve.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not endorse “name it and claim it” pseudo-theology, nor the heresy that we are entitled to Cadillacs since we are “King’s kids.”

What I fear is in question when we say, “Better than I deserve,” is our understanding of our identity.

I say all of the following to exalt Jesus, not humans. 

We would be right to say Jesus deserves everything and we deserve nothing on our own.  But — we are not on our own.  That is past tense and therefore no longer describes us. 

We are in Christ (Col 3:3), and he has given us all the spiritual blessings there are (Ephesians 1:3).  He gives us a lavish inheritance (Eph 1:11,18) and shares his throne with us (Eph 2:6).  We reign with him (think about that for a moment (2 Tim 2:12)).

If we think we our identity is still “Undeserving”, we have not quite  understood what the Bible says about our place in him.  

Because we are in Christ, we are partakers of the divine nature.  “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,” 2 Peter 1:4a.

Because we are in Christ, we are the righteousness of God. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:21‬ .‭

Because we are in Christ, he has exalted us.  “And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Eph 2:6.

Do we believe we are the righteousness of God, like the Bible says?  Or that we are partakers of the divine nature?  Or that Christ paid a lot so we could sit on his throne with him?

If not, it may be worth revisiting what Father says about his Firstborn Son, and all his other sons and daughters who are in Him.

The news only tells us the subplots of reality. The Bible tells us the real story.

Will God give us our dreams and desires if we delight in him? Is Psalm 37:4 the most dangerous verse in the Bible?
— Read on philvischer.com/blog/dreams-dangerous-verse-bible/

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2

Trump was temporary.
Biden is temporary.
Whoever comes next will be, also.
These are not our Messiahs.
Everything on earth is shakable.
Jesus is the only rock.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:17-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Typically I think God‘s sense of timing is exceedingly slow. He often seems several years behind schedule. The truth, though, is that his timing is just right, whereas I am the one with a deranged sense of speed at which things should happen.

When you sit on the beach and watch the waves, what about them gives you the feeling of peace? Would it better if they came rapid fire, maybe one per second? We are most tranquil when they crash on the shore at their very calming rhythm. I suspect God’s timing is something like that.