Dr H Reflections

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Trust Fall

Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. – Matthew 24:12

Ecclesiastes 8:11 When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.

2 Timothy 3:12-14

 12 Indeed, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

 13 But evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.

 14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.

The 21st century has seen a dramatic Trust Fall. A Trust Fall is a fairly universal collapse of trust. This trust fall is not limited to any particular social strata in society. The two main institutions with the greatest drop in trust are the government and media. How ironic that the government is tasked with making changes while the media often acts as its cheerleader.

For any society to function properly, social trust, that is the expectation that other people will do as they ought to most of the time, is essential. Webster defines trust as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Social trust is faith in the people of the community. Ed Batista developed a simple formula for trust.

Trust = Motive + Reliability + Competence

During most of the 20th century, Americans expressed high faith in their institutions. A high point was 1964 when 77% of Americans said they trust that the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. After multiple moral convulsions, just 30 years later in 1994, only 20% of Americans felt that way.

In the 21st century, something tragic happened. The Trust Fall mutated into Explosive Distrust. Explosive Distrust is not just the absence of trust or detached alienation. Rather it is aggressive animosity and with an urge to destroy. Explosive Distrust carries with it the belief that anyone who disagrees with you is not simply wrong but illegitimate (Linda Huang, The Atlantic).

Distrust sows distrust. The distrust mindset is considered a spiritual state that has been dubbed anomie, a feeling of being disconnected from society, a feeling that the whole game is illegitimate, that you are invisible and not valued, a feeling that the only person you can unquestionably trust is yourself (Emile Durkheim).

Explosive Distrust is chilling, threatening. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of such a disastrous situation rampant in the days leading up to His return.

REFLECT & PRAY

Children of the King are to be alert. They are to resist becoming lethargic and chilled by selfish lawlessness.

Father, I desperately need Your help to resist the oppressive force of lawlessness in our present age. How easy it is to allow my love to grow cold.

INSIGHT

Matthew 24:3 “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus Christ about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, He responds with a preview of the general conditions of the earth that precede it and also lead up to His return. He likens them to birth pains. Lawlessness is one of the many prophetic strands which characterizes the buildup to the eschatological climax, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 24:12 Because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.

The Greek word translated increase, abound is plethuno. Plethuno connotes more than simply being enlarged. It means being multiplied. In American 21st century colloquial slang, we would say supersized.

Lawlessness has a chilling, extremely discouraging effect. “Where lawlessness prevails selfish interests and personal concerns completely overshadow a loving regard for others” (Chouinard). “By definition, the lawless person is motivated by personal, selfish concerns, not by any regard for others or for the rules that govern our intercourse with one another” (Morris).

The Greek word translated grow cold is psucho. Psucho “means grow cool or cold, but, in connection with the imagery of fire or flame, go out, be extinguished, be snuffed out . . .. The verse has in view the failure rather than the weakening of love” (John Nolland). The Greek verbal form is passive. This means that “the many” in view receive the action, not initiate it. Their love is snuffed out, extinguished. What a somber and bleak picture of things to come.

Betrayal, suspicion, and hating one another are close companions of lost love (Matthew 24:10). What an awful climate to live in.

It is amazing, remarkable that the Scriptures so accurately describe many of the characteristics of the 21st century. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ said things would be like leading up to His second coming. They are the birth pains that bring to the end the current age and inaugurate the age to come.

“It’s cross now, crown then. It is labor now, delivery then. So be patient. Endure. Breathe in; breathe out. Trust that God will work everything for your good. That baby is soon to be born. And the hard and long labor will then all seem worth it” (Donnell).

Revelation 3:2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

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The everywhere-nowhere future

Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. – Isaiah 65:17

2 Peter 3:12-13

 12 Looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.

 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

The story is told of a recorded phone call to customer support that went through to an employee’s home when the strict shelter-in-place, work-from-home regulations were in effect during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Client: “No! This is unacceptable. I want to speak to one of your superiors”

Customer support: “Moooom!”

2020 saw the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the beginning, no one knew exactly what was happening or how to respond. However, major life changes were required. In addition to commonly used terms such as quarantine and home offices, new terms and ideas were added to the jargon of the world’s languages: social distancing, shelter in place, work from home.

Many business owners and employees are forced to move their workspace to their homes. Classroom education shifted to online classes powered by Zoom, Microsoft teams, Skype, and the like.

Almost overnight, that which was considered somewhat of an extremely futuristic dream suddenly became a reality. The world would never again be the same and a new epithet entered the mainstream: the everywhere-nowhere future.

Throughout human civilization, people lived where they labored. In 2020, more than 90 percent of Americans drove to work, and their average commute was about 27 minutes. Urban economics is based upon this connection. Remote work weakens and ultimately severs it. Spatial proximity is replaced by cloud-based connectivity.

An important outcome of the pandemic was not that we learned how to use Zoom, but rather we were forced to learn how to use Zoom. “Telecommunications doesn’t have to be the perfect substitute for in-person meetings, as long as it’s mostly good enough. For the most part, remote work just works” (Derek Thompson).

In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. highway system was constructed. It allowed higher-income families to move from downtowns to the distant suburbs. In the 2020s, Zoom, and the like, will spread out the population even more.

Silicon Valley is forever altered. Rather than referring to a specific place or geographical location, Silicon Valley is now dispersed across many localities. The metro hub could become obsolete as companies embrace the reality of a permanently distributed workforce. Could the next Silicon Valley be everywhere and nowhere?

After 2020 the city in the cloud will become a more accessible version of the city on the Earth. It will be driven by agglomeration, specialization, and convenience. The future of the workplace is everywhere-nowhere

REFLECT & PRAY

Matthew 24:30 And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens . . .. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Father what an amazing future You have in store for all children of the King. From Your perspective, the future is now. Increase the joy of Your presence in our lives a bit more day by day.

INSIGHT

Children of the King already live in parallel realities. We are citizens of Earth and citizens of heaven at the same time. In a sense, we dwell in an Earth-based city and a cloud-based city simultaneously. But in reality, it is quite different. Rather than being everywhere-nowhere, it is an everywhere–someone actuality.

The Father is everywhere (omnipresent) at once. Wherever the Father is, children of the King are with Him in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:20).

Ephesians 2:4-6

 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,

 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

At the same time, a future physical kingdom is coming to Earth. One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return and reign as Messiah and King over the promised kingdom of God. This however is only temporary, a 1000 years (Revelation 20).

The kingdom of God on earth, in turn, will be replaced by a New Heavens and New Earth and a city that is simultaneously cloud-based and earthbound. Spatial proximity with the Lord Jesus Christ and cloud-based connectivity will exist congruently for eternity.

Revelation 21:1-3

 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.

 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.”

Psalms 24:10 Who is the King of glory? The LORD of Heaven’s Armies – he is the King of glory.

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Be pitiful

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. – Romans 15:5

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.

 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

In 1897, The Reverend John Watson, who is better known by his nom de plume, Ian Maclaren, was invited by the popular religious newspaper, the British Weekly, to submit a Christmas message. His response was a single sentence: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

Later the wording was changed to, “Be pitiful, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.”

Before the twentieth century, pitiful and kindness were nearly synonymous. Pitiful meant full of or characterized by pity, that is, compassionate, merciful, and tender.

During the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, small acts of kindness made a world of difference. People reached out, again and again.

Another credo, originally coined in 1985 by Anne Herbert, became a rallying cry for many: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” Kindness was provided based upon need, not worth. “It’s not our job to play judge and jury, to determine who is worthy of our kindness and who is not. We just need to be kind, unconditionally and without ulterior motive, even – or rather, especially – when we’d prefer not to be” (Josh Radnor).

REFLECT & PRAY

Being kind takes strength, courage, and genuine concern for the welfare of others.

Father encourage me to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving in the same way that you have been to me. May my life reflect You in how I care and show pity to others.

INSIGHT

In our fallen world, we often find ourselves engaged in unrelenting battles. We suffer doubts and fears. Past wounds and anger, which are not completely healed, cast their shadow into the present. We still react negatively, if not harshly to the recollection of past offenses and insults. We mistakenly believe we are over them, but our reactions tell a different story.

In time, we discover that the hard battles of others reflect our own difficulties. We become more sympathetic, even empathic. We come to terms with the reality of the Father’s truth.

James 1:20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

There has to be a better way.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

“Paul lays down the law of personal relationships – that we should treat others as Jesus Christ has treated us” (Barclay). Paul explains why this new approach to human relationships is now possible and doable. We follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are simply to do for others what He has already done for us. We have been immersed in redemptive forgiveness and transformational decontamination.

Paul’s thoughts expressed in Ephesians 4:32 are echoed and expanded in Colossians 3:12–13.

Colossians 3:12-13

 12 Clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.

As a result of their renewal in Christ, Paul exhorts each child of the King to put off their old way of life and put on their new life that has been provided.

Paul begins by encouraging us to clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy and a heart of pity, that is compassion. Compassion is all about being aware of the struggles and suffering of others and having a desire to lessen it. “Compassion is often expressed in figurative language, for example, ‘your heart should go out to others,’ or ‘you should feel sorrow in your heart for others,’ or ‘you should weep in your insides because of others’” (UBS).

Compassion in turn leads to acting out kindness. That is we are to, “be kind to others” or “do good for others” (UBS). The Greek term translated as kindness is chrestotes. “The ancient writers defined chrestotes as the virtue of those whose neighbors’ good is as dear to them as their own” (Barclay). Kindness is all about looking outwards all the time rather than inwards.

When another person’s worth is removed from the equation, acting in a kind fashion often requires great courage and strength. Kindness embodies the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate in interpersonal relationships. Kindness is soft and gentle. It speaks the truth in love to reach out and help others.

21st century research has revealed that devoting resources to others, rather than having more and more for ourselves, brings about lasting well-being. Kindness has been found by researchers to be the most important predictor of satisfaction and stability in relationships with others, particularly marriage. Many colleges, including Harvard, are now emphasizing kindness on applications for admission.

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” (Mark Twain).

How does the Father prepare His children to show kindness and comfort others? He has a special school that is designed just to teach comforting. But the school has an unusual name and curriculum. It is the School of Sorrow. The school is part of lifelong learning and we never graduate.

This school features courses centered on trouble and and suffering. Remarkably, the Father is there in the midst of our struggles. As we go through them, the Father, the God of all comfort, comforts each of His children. He matches the specific comfort to the specific struggle.

As we are comforted, we learn to comfort others in the same way that we have been comforted by the Father. This is the purpose of His school. He prepares us to comfort others with the same comfort that we have received. Putting it in other terms, the Father helps us in our sorrows, in order that we might help others in their sorrows. As long as there are hard battles and consequent sorrows on planet Earth, He will keep us in school, so that we can comfort and help others.

When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping” (Mr. Rogers).

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Employee-owned ∙

The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. – John 3:35

Romans 8:17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, we are fellow heirs with Christ.

Titus 3:4-7

 4 But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,

 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

 7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

A company is employee-owned when more than 30% of its employees have ownership in it. An employee-owned company is more commonly referred to as an “employee stock ownership plan,” (or ESOP). In an ESOP, the employees are given stock in the company as part of the compensation for working at the company, making them shareholders.

It has obvious benefits for the employees, and it profits the company as well. When people own something, they take better care of it than if it is rented or leased. There is a pride of ownership and a desire to protect and maintain. Employees work harder and smarter. It is easier to develop a sense of family and unity.

The kingdom of God is in a sense employee-owned. Actually, a better description might be family-owned. When people accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they become part of the Forever Family. We are born again into the family business.

Perhaps you have never thought about it, but the Father is in an exclusive one-of-a-kind business. He alone created a special niche that no one else can enter. He is in the redemption business. The Father only has one competitor. His competitor, the enemy of our souls, is in the perdition business.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

The Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt for all our sins so that each of us could be redeemed, forgiven, enter into the Father’s family and have eternal life. We “did nothing to deserve it; God, the great Father, in his amazing love and mercy, has taken lost, helpless, poverty-stricken, debt-laden sinners and adopted them into his own family, so that the debts are canceled, and the glory inherited” (Barclay).

REFLECT & PRAY

Each of us is born in utter spiritual poverty. Yet through Christ, we are the present and eternal possessors of untold spiritual wealth.

Father as I ponder the amazing implications of my inheritance, I am truly overwhelmed. I cannot take it all in. How can it be that You being You, would seek me out, invite me, and then adopt me into Your Forever Family? It is mindboggling, extraordinary. Thank You that it is all true.

INSIGHT

The Father gave control of His business over to the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the heir, He is the owner of it all.

But there is more and it is marvelous.

Each child of the King is a fellow heir with Christ. What belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ in total, belongs to each of us in part. Our inheritance is not just a future expectation, but a present reality.

An infant cannot write or sign a check. But each of the Father’s children has an eternal account filled with spiritual wealth. In a sense, the balance of our spiritual trust fund is a Googolplex, a number so vast, it is almost beyond measure. It “includes all of the riches and wealth of the entire creation” (Cottrell). As joint-heirs with Christ, we have access to this enormous treasure right now.  In order walk in the Spirit, we must draw down from it continuously. Our spiritual riches are the source of our hope and confidence, and also our energy and vision. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

“Christians are men and women for whom the best is always still to be, they know that, however wonderful life on earth with Christ may be, the life to come will be greater still. Christians are people who know the wonder of the forgiveness of past sins, the thrill of present life with Christ, and the hope of the greater life which is yet to come” (Barclay).

Our Father is rich. How rich? The Lord God Almighty is rich beyond all measure. He not only owns all that He created; He has the power to create as much as He wants.

What must we do to somehow gain a share in His wealth? Absolutely nothing! When we are born again into His Forever Family, the Father freely shares His great wealth with each of us. We become His heirs. In fact, we are fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

The only thing we have to do is believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. When we do we become children of the King and fellow-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We inherit a treasure beyond imagination or calculation.

When the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us, it was “the greatest revelation of God’s kindness and love for humankind. God took the initiative. God does not save people because they behave righteously but because He is merciful” (Constable).

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When we change the Father responds ∙

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. – Lamentations 3:22

1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

1 Samuel 15:29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” (ESV)

1 Samuel 15:29 And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!” (NLT)

“I may be wrong regarding any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them” (Abraham Lincoln).

Difficult as it may be to admit at times, we all make mistakes. Even the best of us including the likes of Abraham Lincoln. But what of God the Father? Does He make mistakes? Does He find it necessary to change? And what about immutability? If God is immutable what actually changes?

Immutability is an attribute of God. God is unchanging in His character, will, and covenant promises.” God does not change in His being, perfections, purposes, or promises (Berkhof). The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that “[God] is a spirit, whose being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” Those things do not change.

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

What can change? We are often puzzled, if not perplexed regarding this question.

The confusion has to do with the difference between the Father’s divine attributes and His characteristics as a person. The Father’s attributes never change. But in personal interactions with people, He reacts. He feels joy and sadness. He feels satisfaction but also regret.

Stop to think about it the Father, the Lord God omnipotent, truly interacts with mere humans in space and time. He is watching and paying attention. He is sensitive and aware of the smallest details. He cares. He becomes personally involved. The Father responds to us when we respond to Him. He chooses to be in a personal relationship with us. He reacts.

How can we possibly describe this interaction? The human intellect is limited and unable to fully comprehend it. Also, there is a paucity of the human language to describe it. We can only make feeble attempts to explain our limited understanding of the personality and characteristics of the Father and His interactions with us. But a place to start might be to think of Him as responding and reacting, rather than repenting and changing His mind.

REFLECT & PRAY

When we change, He responds.

Father thank You that You are always willing to receive me just as I am.

INSIGHT

Several Scriptures refer to the Father changing His mind. He relents and often reveals a sense of regret (Genesis 6:5-6, Exodus 32:14, Jonah 3:10, 2 Samuel 24:16).

The English word rendered regret, repent, relent, change one’s mind comes fromthe Hebrew nacham. Nacham is an onomatopoeia, it sounds like the action that connotes: to draw breath forcibly, pant, or groan. Visualize a disappointing loud sigh. The term reflects and extends the idea of “breathing deeply,” hence the physical display of one’s feelings, usually sorrow, compassion, or comfort (TWOT).

The Hebrew term nacham signifies a state of sorrow or regret regarding a perceived wrong. Embedded within, is the desire to change or cease a particular course of action.

It is a response, a change of heart, in reaction to the actions of others. It has the sense of changing one’s mind, being sorry, repent, relent, rue, regret, grieve, be moved to pity, or have compassion.

While nacham is translated as repent, relent, or change mind, a somewhat wordy paraphrase might be the Father being sensitive and in relationship with man, interacts, and responds.

Immutability has nothing to do with it.

It is like trying to compare apples and oranges. On the one hand, immutability has to do with the attributes of God. While interacting and responding to people has to do with the personality of God.

In 1 Samuel 15, the Hebrew word nacḥam expresses two contrasting, seemingly polar opposite sentiments.

1 Samuel 15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.”

1 Samuel 15:29 The Glory of Israel does not go back on his word or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.”

When the Scriptures speak of the Father not changing His mind the focus is on His integrity. He does not lie nor does He go back on His word. He is consistent and can be trusted. Our faith in His promises rests upon this foundation.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Titus 1:2 This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God – who does not lie – promised them before the world began.

People are fickle and capricious. They flip-flop. The Father does not. He does not capriciously change His intentions or ways of acting. However, when people or circumstances change, the Father responds to the changes. As a result of Saul’s change in behavior, the Father expresses regret. Often the Father graciously responds to changes in people’s circumstances and conditions.

In the book of Jeremiah, when the people repent and change their ways, the Father repents and changes His mind in response (Jeremiah 8:6, Jeremiah 31:19) The same is true of human prayer. The Father responds to the pleas of Amos on behalf of Israel (Amos 7:3, 6).

The Father delights in responding to our change of heart, our repentance. He interacts and responds.

He richly pours out His love and forgiveness on the undeserving. It matters not what we have done or how many times we did it. He takes great pleasure in restoring His children to close fellowship with Him. God is always willing to begin again. Do-overs are an ever-present reality from His loving heart.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changes not, Thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

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