Reconciling Relationships

Philippians 4:8-9 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

How does this verse apply to relationships? Let’s say that when a person becomes a Christian, they have to set healthy boundaries with certain people, perhaps people they are very close to, or people in their biological family. And let’s say that after a period of healthy-boundary setting that may have required establishing great distance physically, emotionally and relationally between oneself and the other person(s), a time of reconciliation has come (God will give us peace about when this time has come).

Philippians would confirm that if the reconciliation is God-ordained, then the opportunity for and beginning of reconciliation is good. However, this verse is often seen in an entirely positive, warm-fuzzy light, excluding any “tough love” components. I see it differently because of the word “true.” Focus on whatever is good and lovely, but don’t forget that Truth is also part of it. That doesn’t mean hold a grudge simply because the past is true. No. Doing that would negate the focusing on what is good and lovely. We are to go forth focusing on what is good and lovely but also what is True.

The truth is that we can now, as mature Christians with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, be reconciled within the healthy boundaries we have set. The fence does not come down. So, for instance, it is good for reconciliation to happen if and when it is God-ordained, but it is also true that we will not return to the old dysfunction of the relationship; we will not pick up where we left off. Hebrews talks about being at peace with others IN HOLINESS. 

So if, while in a relationship in the past, we engaged in gossip, drinking or constant freudenschade, that must not happen in the reconciled relationship. God has cleansed us of past sin through His conviction and forgiveness and our agreement with God that that behavior is sin. We have repented of our past participation in that behavior and have committed to not sinning in that way again. So the reconciliation, though a good thing when ordained by God, is only a true reconciliation when we conduct reconciliation within the boundaries we’ve worked long and hard to set up.

Scripture says, “be careful that you too do not sin” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Never underestimate the power of Satan to want “in” on this act of reconciliation, because this is the sort of thing Satan despises (read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters). If we give an inch to sin in the premise that “I’m trying to be reconciled to so and so” we’ll soon find ourselves giving a mile, and we’ll be right back in the dysfunction of the relationship. That is why I emphasize that reconciliation must be ordained by God: to ensure that we are strong enough in the Lord to not return to our sinful ways with others.

Our standing firm will make the reconciliation process very interesting: the person will either not like the “new” us and our uncompromising ability to “not go there” with them. Or, they will find it refreshing and want to emulate us. For instance, if they see we will not gossip with them, they might feel relief from not having to participate in something they have often despised in themselves. 

In the years since my husband and I quit drinking, we find there are a select few drinkers who enjoy our company because they get a reprieve from drinking, or don’t feel pressure to drink as much as they do when they are with other drinkers. We have become a safe place for drinkers to go when they are trying not to drink, or trying not to drink to excess. 

The same can happen when we refuse to gossip, indulge in fraudenshaude with others, eat junk food, spend money, gamble, be critical, engage in endless political discussion, etc.

Most of the drinkers we know, however, have stopped coming around altogether. We’ve never said they can’t drink around us, but they don’t enjoy our company if we aren’t going to join them in holding a drink in our hand. And I don’t go out of my way to hang out with people who over-indulge in alcohol. That is simply a boundary. This is how truth works in the Philippians verse.

A reconciled relationship, whether folks respond positively or negatively to the “new” us, will not be the reconciled relationship movies or society portray. Society and sometimes extended family especially will tell you to kiss and make-up, forgive and forget and get on as you were. Or they will define a reconciled relationship as “I’m glad you people are ‘getting along’ and can now do everything together and talk on the phone incessantly.”

A reconciled relationship, however, when driven and guided by the Holy Spirit, is set within the parameters for relationships as set out in God’s Word, and most likely will look nothing like what the world expects.

A reconciled relationship may still be physically, emotionally and relationally distant. Though reconciled, we may still feel what I like to call “danger” around the person(s), and they may never feel safe to be around. Our comfort level within this reconciled state of affairs may never be what it once was with this person (which is a good thing, as Philippians tells us to focus on). We must remember that we have changed, drastically most likely. And most likely, the other person has not. The Holy Spirit is our counselor and our barometer of warning. If the other person(s) is still engaging in and wanting to draw us in to their engagement with sin, we will never feel at ease with this person(s). But we can stand strong in the reconciliation through grace (and not sin).

What this comes down to is a proper definition of reconciliation. The Bible is clear: do not harbor ill will, but forgive. Do not character assassinate, bear false witness against or hate (we must do all this even while setting boundaries and before reconciliation is even on the map).

We are to have peaceful relations with people. But peaceful does not mean capitulate. I’ve capitulated as a parent, only to see it blow up in my face in later dissension. “Peace” goes both ways. Our peace with God must not be broken by sinning with another person in order to have “peace” (a false peace) with that person. True peace is a clear conscience before God that I have treated a person--in thought, word and deed--according to my Christian convictions, which arise out of a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, His Word and His Holy Spirit within me. When I focus on the “whatever is true” of Philippians, I am focusing on the truth that I am accountable to one Person only: God. And when I please Him, I will not lead others astray, sin in my heart or actions towards them, or betray my relationship with God.

Others may not like our Biblical paradigm of reconciliation. But that isn’t our concern. Our concern is to obey the reconciliation God is bringing, and be at peace with that. God will never lead us into sin and that is why we can only trust Him to rebuild anything, including relationships, in the image He ordains. Another person may try to force us to reconcile on their timing and terms. But wait on God for His timing and His terms. That is the only True reconciliation that is Good.

copyright Barb Harwood

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11 (underlining mine)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:14-15 (underline mine)

Shedding Light on Pluralism

Chris Wright, in his book, The Uniqueness of Jesus, writes:

“We can challenge the relativistic illogic of pluralism. The argument that ‘there is no absolute truth’ is logically self-contradictory and self-destructive, because it is itself being presented as an absolute truth. You cannot be absolutely relative!

We can challenge the hidden arrogance of pluralism. Pluralists say ‘Nobody can really know the truth. No religion perceives or contains the truth about the divine reality as it really is.’ But how do they know that themselves? They are claiming to know a lot about what they say nobody can know. They adopt a stance, as it were, above or behind all other religions and presume to know what those religions may or may not have truthful knowledge about. To put it in more technical terms, what privileged epistemological stance gives the pluralist the right to deny truth and knowledge to any other position than his own? There is, in other words, a hidden arrogance behind the apparent humility of pluralist pronouncements, which shows itself in very explicit intolerance of those who disagree.

We can challenge the cultural short-sightedness of pluralism. Modern western pluralism, as an ideology, is a particular cultural development of the post-Enlightenment era in Europe and North America. Yet it claims to have the key to all human knowledge and religion. But by what right? We need to remember...that what pluralism does to Christianity it does to all other religions as well, and all in the name of a peculiarly reductionist view of truth which is not shared by the vast majority of the human race. So Christians, along with other great religious traditions which make exclusive truth claims...have every right to challenge such thinking and expose its cultural arrogance.

Pluralism itself is becoming a new dogma, and in some contexts it can be experienced as just as intolerant and repressive as the alleged religious bigotries it claims to replace. Those who insist on declaring, however humbly and non-aggressively, their allegiance to Jesus Christ as only Lord, God, and Savior, find themselves facing opposition, exclusion and legal threat. This happens in the educational world and may spread to other areas of public life. ‘Political correctness’ can be horrendously dogmatic and intolerant.

                    Chris Wright, The Uniqueness of Jesus

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37

Satan Gives Us a Spirit of Self-Protection That Keeps Us From God

Psalm 51 says:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17.

Satan desires to keep us in a spirit of self-protection and self-justification. To be vulnerable to our self and before others is far too painful. The state of vulnerability-avoidance keeps us from God, before whom we can be vulnerable and cleansed. We have a place to go with our vulnerability. We have someone who can handle it because surely we, and often others, cannot.

People keep themselves from God by nurturing pride in “not being a bad person” (when in essence we all know we are. Why else would we be trying so hard to distract ourselves?) “Being good” in our own eyes is a deception. This is the worldly state of blindness. In a weird way we self-avoid by thinking we’re good. We self-promote a false image, which is very self-centered because it keeps us from ever finding fault with ourselves. The real tragedy is that it keeps God out. Which is exactly where Satan wants us. Whenever Satan can keep us focused on a false version of our self, he succeeds then in keeping us from seeing God.

I praise God that He has given me sight to see my sin and be vulnerable and contrite before Him so that my defiled heart can be made pure through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is not pain-free. All birth is painful, including the birth to a new life that involves a death to our delusions about our self. Yet the release and freedom this confessing and admitting brings is unfathomable. We have faced the worst in ourselves and lived. And continue to now live in the turning away from that which was in us that kept us in bondage to basically being a poser to our self and others.

No amount of thinking “I’m not as bad as the next guy,” or “I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve done good things too” will ever bring us to peace with God or ourselves. Thinking that we have somehow gotten a rawer deal than others in life also does not let us off the hook for facing up to who we really are. As the psalm says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” The only way to “come clean” is through Jesus Christ.

“Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are proved right when you speak

and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;

you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from ytour presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:1-17

Co-Opting Heaven

Yesterday I posed the topic of whether miracles are relevant. Here is some additional food for thought from Paul Little:

“You may have had positive or negative reactions to hearing of Christ’s miracles. In our science-oriented society, there is a tendency to try to explain everything by ‘natural’ causes. This tendency puts the emphasis on how a miraculous event happened, while the Bible is concerned with why miraculous events happened. So we moderns ask questions which the biblical authors would not have even considered.

Within the assertion that the God of the Bible exists, there is a necessary corollary that this God indeed has the power to work miracles. If, however, someone does not believe in the God of the Bible, the concept of miracles becomes difficult, if not impossible, to entertain.” Paul Little

Yet, have you ever noticed that people who are “not religious,” “don’t believe in the Bible or take it literally” or who claim to be “spiritual without God” will also tell you unequivocally that they are going to heaven after they die? On what basis do they make that miraculous claim, when they have denied miracles as being literal in the Bible?

There are people who cannot believe Christ was born of a virgin or rose from the dead, but believe they themselves are going to heaven after they die. They would never believe Jonah could survive in a fish, but they believe they are going to heaven after they die. They shut down and don’t want to talk about faith—in fact are offended by faith in Jesus Christ—yet they say they are going to heaven after they die. In any other area of life we would call this line of thinking delusional. But people with this mindset make an exception in reasoning when it comes to their own death and subsequent going-to-heaven.

People are often convinced of going to heaven after they die (a supernatural event) while rejecting the supernatural in Scripture. Even those who say, “Well, you can’t really know” when it comes to the Bible, claim they “do really know” when it comes to their own trip to heaven! They have no foundation for their claim that they will go to heaven other than it is what they have chosen to appropriate for themselves. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

  

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" Ephesians 2:8

Are Miracles Relevant?

The following quote is from Paul Little:

“‘Do you really believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale? And do you seriously think that Christ actually fed five thousand people from five loaves of bread and two fish?’ So goes the trend and tone of many modern questioners. Surely, they say, these ‘miracle’ stories in the Bible must be quaint ways of conveying spiritual truth, and they are not meant to be taken literally.

With many questions, it is more important to discern the root problem than to become involved in discussing a twig on a branch. This is especially true of questions about miracles. The questioner’s problem is generally not with a particular miracle, but with a whole principle. To establish the miracle in question would not answer the question. The controversy is with the whole principle of the possibility of miracles.

The real problem goes even deeper. It is not with miracles but with the whole concept of God. This is the question Jesus discusses with the disciples in John 14.”

Paul Little, writing in the Certainty Christian Basics Bible Study guide.

“Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’

Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.’” John 14:8-11

“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:29-31

We Don't Decide Who God Is

Quote of the day comes from Francis Chan, writing in Crazy Love:

"A lot of people say that whatever you believe about God is fine, so long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing your friend in one instance as a three-hundred-pound sumo wrestler and in another as a five-foot-two, ninety-pound gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend simply cannot be true.
The preposterous part about our doing this to God is that He already has a name, an identity. We don't get to decide who God is." Francis Chan, Crazy Love

"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM..." Exodus 3:14a