Walking Through the Valley of Others

[HKHaugan]

When Jesus teaches He cuts to the chase. He’s direct and tells it like it is. I’ve picked four insights He taught me. The first is about being an image of God. The second concerns our heart. The third deals with religion. The fourth has to do with every next moment.

First, the Lord taught me I was an image of Him which meant life is not a lonely quest for personal happiness. I was created for an eternal relationship with Him and others. To live only for myself is to find one’s gravestone alongside that of Dickens’ infamous Ebenezer Scrooge when he was led to it by the ‘ghost of Christmas yet to come.’ Like Scrooge we all have the choice to enter that lonely ‘cul de sac’ or to embrace the joy of a Christmas bringing a feast of togetherness to those in need whether it be material or emotional. We can decide on a lonely dead end or a living relational eternity to love one another as He first loved us (Jn.13:34).

Second, He taught me my heart is the problem. It is deceitful above all things (Jer.17.9) and broken (Jer.23:9) thus the shaky source of my self-constructed attitudes shaping my behavior. He taught me that the attitudes I have are strongholds that keep me from being open to Him and others. Those strongholds are my attempt to protect my heart from the pain of rejection and being told I don’t fit in. They are strongholds built on the sandy foundation of conclusions based on emotion and reinforced by spirits of pride and fear sent by the devil to isolate me from God and others. He taught me that when I look at His Cross, I mean really apply His Cross to my heart, He forgives and forgets my failures and presents new opportunities every day. There is only one attitude, one stronghold, one foundation that can enable us to carry the burden of decision in every next moment, only one is necessary---Jesus, Savior and Lord (Php.2:5-11).

Third, He taught me not to be religious but to be relational with Him first and then with Him in my mind, to open up to others. Don’t let religion get between you and the Lord. Religion is a barricade against personal encounter. It is another exercise in stronghold building. It’s filled with legalism, judgmentalism and subtly enticing me into another system I control. It’s earning my way by doing what the institutional church expects. But the Lord led me to see something else far more personal. He led me to see that worship and learning in a gathering of Jesus’ believers was the beginning of how we work out being human in the world around us. Like Jesus living with a small group of disciples so we find a small group, two or three even, to gather in His name and share our lives together. In Him I found that love was no longer to desire what made me feel good but to desire what was pleasing to Him which was putting others’ needs before mine. Then when we come together with a larger group of believers we can enjoy being worshipers no matter what the format.

Fourth, He taught me every next moment was a cross moment. It’s a moment to look forward to, not dread, not try to control, not evade, not fear, but rather to expect Him to reveal every next step as a spiritual step in His Spirit. What Jesus is building in each of us is a ladder to Heaven and unlike the ladders we commonly see we have to visualize that ladder made up of crosses, faith steps into the unknown trusting Jesus with each one.

The vertical beam is our faith in Jesus. The horizontal beam is trusting Jesus toward others.

He took the first step for us on His Cross and He invites us to take the next step with Him as we take up our crosses. Every next moment is both a vertical and horizontal step. Every next moment is a faith step with Him holding our hand as He lifts us into His presence in worship, diving into the Word, sharing and prayer with one another in the Body as we go into the world. Every next encounter with another person is a step toward Heaven. The needs of others around us are steps we take, crosses in faith, to climb closer to Him. Every inner fear is another rung to be climbed on the ladder of faith that takes us into the Kingdom He has prepared for us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile (Jer.29:11-14).”