I John 3:16-24
When Ed Koch was mayor of New York
City, he was known for riding around town, and at random times rolling down his
car window to shout at whoever was on the sidewalk, “How’m I Doin’?” It was an odd way of getting feedback on how
to run a city, and it didn’t allow anybody to think things through or to give
any kind of in-depth answer, but at least it went straight to the people with
no pollsters or spin involved.
The answer a mayor would get to a
question like that is going to vary with the person she or he asks,
though. A lot of people are going to
respond based on whether the potholes are being fixed and the trash is being
collected. There are going to be some,
though, who are going to have their property values in mind. Koch was mayor of New York during the AIDS
crisis, and a lot of what I read about him this past week when I looked up this
one, little, three-word quotation went into his part in the response to that
emergency.
If you really want to know how you’re
doing, you should be more specific. How
are you doing what? Babe Ruth is best
known for his home-run record. He was
also a great pitcher, and that gets overshadowed. In the 1918 World Series, he pitched 29 1/3
scoreless innings, a record that stood until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961. Off the field, he was known for womanizing
and for drinking way too much.
How are things going with you? How are you doing?
Maybe in one area things are going
well, but at the expense of another.
Maybe you have that parenting or grandparenting thing figured out, at
least for now. (After all, it’s
different to be the parent of a two-year-old, a twelve-year-old, and a
sixteen-year-old. The job description
for “parent” is updated every few months.)
On the other hand, the skills that you gained as a blues saxophonist
have totally evaporated from the first moment you realized that the baby needed
to sleep. Maybe your law studies are
going well, but you haven’t had time to go to the gym in four months. You prioritize.
How are you doing on those
priorities? If you have to pick between
soccer practice and church, which do you go to?
If cheerleading is more important than Sunday School, as it is for a lot
of families, how will that play out down the road? You work hard to provide for your family, but
that means that they never see you. What
good is that?
So much of the Bible is about
keeping priorities straight, about not letting the words and the appearances be
the end of things, but asking where the real substance is. It’s about letting our hearts and our deeds
tell us how we are really doing, not as the world identifies success, but as
God does. It presupposes that what
matters most in life is love, and shows us how to ask how we are doing with
that.
“We know love by this that he laid down his life for
us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love
abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in
need and yet refuses help?
Little
children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the
truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn
us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved,
if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we
receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what
pleases him.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name
of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” [I John 3:16-23]
I keep a clipping under the glass
that covers my desk. When I have too
many papers and what-not all over the place, and push them aside, I see it
right there and, because it’s under the glass, it doesn’t move and I cannot
brush it away (or ruin it if I spill a cup of tea or coffee). I don’t remember where I found it, but it’s
written by somebody named Jim Palmer, about whom I know absolutely nothing
except that at some point he wrote a list that has been good for me to see. The heading is “22 Mistakes I Made as a
Senior Pastor”. They are:
“Putting church over
community.
Putting orthodoxy over
love.
Putting certainty over
wonder.
Putting teaching over
conversation.
Putting polished over
real.
Putting answers over
questions.
Putting membership over
friendship.
Putting Christianity over
Christ.
Putting knowledge over
action.
Putting style over
substance.
Putting appearance over
authenticity.
Putting functionality
over beauty.
Putting religion over
spirituality.
Putting numbers over
faces.
Putting holiness over
humanity.
Putting accountability
over acceptance.
Putting heaven over
earth.
Putting meetings over
relationships.
Putting reputation over
risk.
Putting charisma over
compassion.
Putting the Afterlife
over the Herelife.
Putting thinking over
feeling.”
Maybe
you’ve got a list of your own like that someplace. You don’t have to tell anyone else about it,
unless it helps, but it really would be a good idea to run over something like
that in a prayerful and reflective way and then to ask the Lord, “How’m I
doing?”
If you don’t already have that kind
of list, let me suggest one that not only lays out areas worth working on, but
what you can expect to come out of them.
I cannot take credit for drawing this one up, either.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed
are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed
are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.” [Matthew 5:3-12]
About those
“Blessed are” things: How’s it
going? Well, I hope.
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