Discipleship's Simple Requirement: An Open Handed Approach to Life

The brush fires in California, and the accompanying reports of homeowners who refuse to evacuate at the risk of perishing in the flames and smoke, are an apt metaphor of Christian discipleship's simple requirement: Living with an open hand.

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus is recorded, after a brief discourse, as saying: "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." (Luke 14: 33, NASB)

The early 20th Century Christian missionary Oswald Chambers opined that this didn't mean that one could not be saved, as if from the peril of hell (which complements our original metaphor), but that he or she would not completely belong to Jesus. (Please click here for the referenced quotation.)

The point is that it is impossible to completely belong to Jesus if one is holding any of his own possessions. Discipleship, you see, is a zero-sum game. John the Baptist understood it as such: "He (Jesus) must increase, but I (John) must decrease." (John 3: 30, NASB, parenthetical notes are mine)

Holding one's own possessions is not the same as being a caretaker (steward) for the possessions of someone else. In life, we will have things, but the aspiring disciple of Jesus regards all that is under his or her stewardship as such, and not a personal possession.

One of the best illustrations of this occurred to a disciple named Clarence Jordan, who in 1942 began an experiment in racial reconciliation on a farm near Americus, Georgia, which drew the ire of some of its white neighbors. In the mid-1950s, Jordan's "experiment," Koinonia Farms, was the a frequent target of gunfire, bombings, arson, and the beating of its people.

In a letter to a friend, written in 1959, Jordan wrote: "I remember the night Harry Atkinson and I were on our way over to the roadside market after we had received word that it had been bombed and was burning. When we came over a hill we could see the fiery glow on the horizon, and this ignited a burning in my heart. I was scorched with anger, and I'm sure if I had known who had committed the act, there would have been considerable hatred in my heart. At that time I doubt that I could have distinguished between anger and hate.

"But as I had occasion to think, I realized that the hate was rooted in a consuming possessiveness. . . Later I had the same reaction when various ones, including myself and my children, were shot at. The so-and-sos were trying to take our lives from us!

"The solution to this soul-destroying condition came only upon the recognition that neither property nor lives were ours but God's. They never really had been ours in any sense of the word. We hadn't even 'given them back to Him' -- they were His all along. And if this was he way He wanted to spend His property and His people in order to accomplish His purposes, why should we pitch a tantrum?" ("Theology in Coveralls," Sojourners magazine, December 1979)

As Jordan notes, our possessiveness provokes all manner of negative emotions within us, and will eventually destroy the core of our being -- our soul.

I have always been in awe of people who live life with an open hand. Those rare folk who will work hard for something, but will also walk away from it or give it up because, I think, they have realized as John the Baptist did in Jesus' time; and Clarence Jordan has in ours, that it all belongs to God and it is God's to use (however peculiar or wasteful it may, at the time, seem to us) for His purposes.

Too many of us, for far too long have lived our life with a clenched hand. We grip what we have grasped. We are loathe to let go; and heaven help anyone who dare take what we hold from us. Yet, the truth of the matter is this: While no one may not be able to take what you have, neither can someone give you something better.

To give away all that one possesses is the first step toward gaining the gifts of God!

Magazine Review: Mapping the Seven Deadly Sins

The latest issue of "Wired" magazine maps the Seven Deadly Sins. (Click here to see the article and accompanying maps.)

If you've never read this magazine, it is worth your time. And it's not just a magazine for geeks (although persons with less than perfect eyesight will need reading glasses). As you might have assumed, you can also find "Wired" on the Web.

I began subscribing to this magazine because I thought it would help me to better understand the technology that has become a part -- for better or worse -- of interpersonal communication. Preaching, if nothing else, is interpersonal communication on a large scale; and I thought that a better understanding of the communication technologies would help me to be a better preacher.

So, if you've wanted to learn about Craigslist, how to throw a knife, or discover what's really in a Slim Jim snack, "Wired" is your ticket. And, you'll also see where the big "sinners" live!

"On Love," and Newspapers

"On Love"

My Sunday newspaper contains a weekly article in its "Style" section that features a couple's "love story."

I normally don't read these articles, because the articles that I have read seem to be about the same kinds of love: Man meets woman; man and woman "fall in love"; man and woman are challenged in some way in their love for each other; through the challenge, man and woman come to realize that they are made for each other; man and woman get married; man and woman live happily ever after.

Yesterday's article was true to that formula -- click here to read the article -- and reading it gave me another reason not to read such articles in the future: These stories are only about the first chapter of that couple's life together (although in the case of yesterday's couple, they had known each other for more than ten years and had two children between them before they arrived at the altar -- but that is another story for another time).

My wife and I have been married for more than 27 years, and I have been in pastoral ministry for more than 30 years. Based on those experiences, I wish that my Sunday paper -- and all others newspapers with similar story ideas for "love stories" -- would write the love stories of couples who have been married for more than 40 years. Or the love story of a couple that has stayed together through the death of a child, a life-threatening illness, a disabling injury, or a shattered career.

Many marriages do not survive such stresses. The marriages that do are full of lessons about humility, transformation, self-sacrifice, faith, hope, and love. Precisely the lessons that couples completing the first chapter of their life together will need for each successive chapter; precisely the lessons that all couples need to make the transition from wedding day to married life.

Newspapers

Now, while I am on the subject of Sunday newspaper reading, I also noted an article on the recent purchases of small, local, newspapers by former Washington Redskins president John Kent Cooke, which is contrary to the current trend, where most folks with money are shunning old media, such as newspapers. (Click here to see article.)

Newspapers are dear to me. I studied journalism in college and, for a time, was a working journalist for three daily newspapers. The decline in newspaper readership saddens me.

Cooke is not buying newspapers out of sentiment. He sees small daily and weekly newspapers in locations that are outside the shadow of large, national, dailies -- such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times -- as strong for newsprint.

It seems that in this case, small is better -- and more profitable. As a former newspaper guy, I hope Cooke is right!

When You Really Like Your Work. . .

Tony Lepore is a now-retired Providence, Rhode Island police officer who first distinguished himself more than 20 years ago as a man who truly enjoys his work.

While performing the often mundane task of directing traffic, he executed his duty with humor and style. Although he retired from active police work, he still works traffic as a retired police officer. (Click here to see him at work. When finished, hit "backspace" or the "back" button on your browser to return to this blog.)

Few jobs are as mundane, thankless, or dangerous as directing traffic. Motorists are often unwilling participants in a traffic scrum if a traffic cop is needed. The weather is often less than ideal, particularly in New England. And there is the constant risk of getting clipped by an inattentive motorist.

I am happy that Officer Lepore didn't permanently hang-up his whistle when he retired from the police force. He encourages us to find joy in whatever it is we do. And having faithfully pursued joy, one's task becomes lighter; others are positively affected; and God is glorified.