Be With

Have you noticed that everyone “knows better” until they’ve actually been in the situation? Whether it is the decisions facing the government, the choices of the local school board, or the brother-in-law’s latest relationship, people somehow find it incredibly easy to stand back and declare the solution to the problem.

I feel the same way. If people would only listen to me, this world would be a better place. People wouldn’t get themselves into the ridiculous situations they get themselves into. Our country wouldn’t be in debt up to its eyeballs and that local building project that the city officials can’t seem to get figured out would already be done, a long time ago. Because I “know better”.

The funny thing is sometimes, and I emphasize sometimes, we are even right. Sometimes we do “know better.” But just “knowing better” doesn’t really do much. Sure it makes you feel like you are somehow better than those people, but that’s nothing more than empty pride. Being right by itself doesn’t help or change anything.

Believe it or not, just being right, can make things worse. The Apostle Paul talks about this reality in his letter to the Romans. He describes it in legal terms. The more laws you have on the books, the easier it is to break them. Before you know it everyone’s a criminal! And those who look around at what other people are doing and “know better” and quote the law, do nothing more than make other people even more guilty. They judge and condemn.

I believe that is why God sent His son Jesus into the world. A perfect God always “knows better.” Imagine Him looking down at all of us bumping around here on earth, making a mess of everything. He could have just shook His head and pulled out His stick and judged us all as failures. Just like most of us do to other people.

But that’s not what He did.

Father God wasn’t content simply to dispense judgment and condemnation from afar. He was convinced that there was a better way. A way that required more of Him, certainly. It required Him to get down into the muck with us so that He could lead us out of it. So He sent His Son Jesus to do just that.

That’s the difference between condemnation and incarnation. Condemnation declares the truth and hammers the gavel and says “Guilty.” Incarnation moves into the world of the person who is broken, identifies with them and with the reality of their situation, and says “Let’s fix this.” John says it this way, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.”

What kind of person are you? Are you one who stands backs and shoots judgment like a gun? Or are you willing to take a step closer and risks getting your hands dirty so that you actually help?

Why Don’t You Share?

The best things in life should be shared. Think of the best meal you have ever enjoyed. Whether it was at a fine restaurant or at home, it certainly involved other people. Great food is made greater when you are in the company of friends. Or what about that road trip that was so memorable? More than the scenery or the destination, the people in the car with you made it so.

Sharing our life with others makes it better and richer. Even the greatest actors when they accept their Academy Award are quick to thank not only their family but the many people that made the award possible to begin with. The most magnanimous say that they are “sharing the award” with the team.

For most people this desire to share is a byproduct of caring for others. The husband who comes across an article he knows his wife would be interested in and sets it aside to share it with her as soon as he gets home. The friend who learns of a school with the exact program she knows her friend is looking for and excitedly calls to share the information. The mom who saves half of her dessert to share with her kids when she gets home because it is just SO GOOD (believe it or not this is possible).

We just can’t help but want to share the good things in life with those we love. Why then, is it that we are often so hesitant to share about our spiritual beliefs with our friends and family?

One can understand not sharing if your personal faith is nothing more than a tradition that you keep because you feel responsible to make your parents happy or simply because your ancestors believed that way. That kind of faith is just a religious form that more than likely doesn’t have much effect on your life.

But if your relationship with Jesus Christ has changed your life—if you look back and you can see that you are better, kinder, more generous, and more loving today than you were before—why wouldn’t you want to share that? If today you have peace when you used to be full of fear, worry and anxiety, wouldn’t you want to share that peace with others so they can experience it too?

This kind of sharing is not about beating someone else over the head with a belief system, it is about generously offering a gift to others because you have found this gift to be fantastic. We will excitedly tell our friends about the new mascara, app, diet, exercise, restaurant or whatever that changed our life, just hoping that they would experience the same joy we did when we first tried it. But why is it we hesitate to share our faith? The last time I checked, your mascara won’t affect where you spend your forever after death and it won’t really bring you peace (and it won’t make you look like Kylie Jenner either). But giving someone the incredible news about how Jesus Christ taught us the secret of the way to real life—both here and in the future? That’s something to share.

If someone doesn’t want to try that new mascara, that’s up to them. But it’s not going to keep me from telling them about it!