When Yellow and Blue Make Brown

Mike Leake

pure-julia-OIPrng4Vt-g-unsplashIf you combine yellow and blue, you get green. Almost immediately. And though there are varying shades pending on the amount of yellow and blue, those two colors combined always make green.

Psalm 1 says that when you mix not sitting with scoffers with meditating on God’s law, you get bountiful fruit. Thriving. Mix those colors and you get beauty and blessing.

Enter Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, through much pain, tells God that he did not sit in the “company of revelers” (15:18) but instead God’s words became “the delight of my heart” (15:16). Jeremiah combined the yellow of good company with the blue of delighting in God’s law.

He circles back around to this sentiment in Jeremiah 17. Many scholars think that this chapter is the prophet’s miscellaneous file with a few random thoughts combined around the theme of “the heart”. I disagree. I think it’s all driving to Jeremiah’s prayer in 17:14-18.

17:5-6 is Jeremiah painting his canvas with a bit of yellow. Cursed are those who trust in man instead of Yahweh. Jeremiah 17:9-10 is Jeremiah painting with a bit of blue. The heart is deceitful but our anchor is the word of God. Delight in God, don’t delight in man. That’s the theme. And in the middle of that sandwich is Jeremiah’s version of Psalm 1 (17:7-8).

When you combine yellow and blue. You get green. That is what verses 5-13 are telling us. Now listen to Jeremiah’s prayer…

When Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green

In verses 14-15 Jeremiah is positioning himself under God’s mercy. He knows that if healing is to happen it will come from the Lord. But in verse 15 he shares his ache. His words haven’t come true, yet. And as a result everybody is mocking him.

Now listen to verse 16. It’s Jeremiah saying I’ve painted with blue and yellow because you told me it would make green. But it hasn’t.

Think about Jeremiah’s life at this point. He is miserable and lonely. If you were to lay Psalm 1 over the life of Jeremiah and the wicked king you’d have to conclude that Jeremiah must be the one living in disobedience. Look at his life. He’s drowning in barrenness. He’s choking on sand. The king is surrounded by prosperity and ample vegetation. His yield would lead you to believe from Psalm 1 that the king must be living the obedient life.

This is why Jeremiah says in verse 17, “Be not a terror to me…” That might be better translated “Don’t be so confusing to me, don’t be the source of my dismay”.

Be consistent!!

That is what Jeremiah is crying out to the Lord. And it’s what he is meaning in verse 18 as well. We he speaks of his opponents being dismayed it means that they should be the ones who are confused about the direction of their life—not Jeremiah. Jeremiah should be getting green and not brown.

Should Christians Pray This Way?

I believe Jeremiah’s prayer is very much consistent with the New Testament. In fact I think this is part of what Jesus is meaning when he says, “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

In heaven every single time you paint with yellow and blue you get green. But that doesn’t always happen on earth. This side of the new heaven and new earth, Psalm 1 isn’t like a painting formula. It’s a general principle. It’s an echo of heaven. It’s the way that things are supposed to be. But things are broken a bit. And so sometimes on earth we paint with the colors we are supposed to and end up with a sloppy mess.

That is why Jesus told us to pray this way. We are praying for consistency. We are praying that the beautiful consistency of heaven is matched on earth.

And this is a great prayer to consider when you find yourself in a situation like Jeremiah. Don’t move from God as being your refuge, but also don’t assume that it’s okay that blue and yellow are making brown. Tell God. Cry out for consistency.

On earth, as it is in heaven…

Give us consistency, Lord. We ache.

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Photo source: here

Running With Watermelon Shoes

Mike Leake

2663358332_27264f64bdThere is a phrase from the comedy, Mystery Men, that I think perfectly describes my relationship with the Lord. In the scene Ben Stiller, who plays Mr. Furious, is frustrated with the new leader of his ragtag band of superheroes, The Sphinx. The Sphinx majors in formulaic phrases like, “when you care what is outside, what is inside cares for you.” Or “He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions”.

In one particular scene Mr. Furious, balancing a tack hammer on his head, questions The Sphinx’s methods. The Sphinx responds with another formulaic saying: “When you can balance a tack hammer on your head, you will head off your foes with a balanced attack.”

The camera then pans to Mr. Furious questioning why he is wearing watermelon on his feet. To this the Sphinx says, “I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

And there it is.

“I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

Wearing Watermelon Shoes

I wear watermelon shoes.

How many times have I set for myself an imaginary standard, failed to meet that standard, and then end up feeling guilty before a holy God for not accomplishing the goal that I set?

This is why a true understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture can be so helpful. I say “true understanding” because there is much being paraded around these days on the doctrine of sufficiency that is foreign to it’s historical meaning. I digress. One aspect of the doctrine of sufficiency is that we do not have the right to call something a sin which is not forbidden by Scripture either explicitly or by strong implication. And we are not required to do something unless Scripture requires this of us.

I want to finish 100 books this year. I believe reading good books helps me to grow as a person. I don’t know if I’ll make my goal, though. So, what happens if I don’t? Track the logic here:

A. Reading good books helps you grow as a person.
B. God desires for you to grow
Therefore: God desires you to read good books

Okay, maybe.

A. The more you read the more you’ll grow
B. Reading 100 books is a good goal
C. God wants me to be faithful and have integrity in accomplishing my goals.
Therefore: God wants me to read 100 books this year.

That’s simply horrible logic. 100 is an arbitrary number. There is nothing in Scripture that defines these parameters. God wants us have integrity in our person and to be consistent in obeying his law, and not the ones we make up for ourselves.

I can picture it now. I take my reading list to God at the end of the year and say, “I’m sorry that I didn’t get to 100. Please forgive me.”

And God responds, “I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

Freedom

It’d be helpful to kick off those watermelon shoes. What areas in your life do you feel a weight of guilt? Is that because of something which God has explicitly stated and you are falling short in this area? If so, repent and believe the gospel. Trust in Jesus for healing, change, and forgiveness.

What if you are breaking rules that you’ve made up? What if the shame and guilt that you feel is not imposed by God but instead by either your own standards or that placed upon you by the world? It wouldn’t be uncommon for you to be carrying this weight. Consider these words of Jesus:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

If his yoke is easy and his burden is light and yet we are weary and burdened it has to mean that we’re loaded down by things that we aren’t supposed to be. We’re trying to run the race with watermelon shoes.

So, kick those off today and rest in His finished work.

A Pastor, A Christian Counselor, and an LGBTQ+ Affirming Advocate Comes Upon A Hurting Survivor…

Mike Leake

view of two persons handsTrigger warning: sexual abuse

A woman was journeying and fell among a youth pastor. He groomed her, making her feel special for one of the first times in her life. Eventually the special attention moved into sexual touch that culminated in intercourse. It was confusing to the young woman when he soon discarded her and then threatened her not to tell. Did he not love her? Was she not actually special? When all was said and done she felt stripped, beaten down, and left half dead.

One day when she was a bit older, through a pastoral counseling session, she told some of her story. The pastor responded by rebuking her for having carried on this affair. He warned her that if she told anyone else this story she could ruin this young man’s thriving ministry. She would do great harm to the body of Christ by telling people what she had done.

She remained in the ditch. Half dead.

As she still found herself in the ditch of despair she decided to see a counselor. Her counselor began to talk to her about the need to forgive this youth pastor. He said she was clearly holding onto bitterness and it was eating her alive. She needed to release her attacker and move on from the situation. But there was no need to confront him and risk harming his young family. Forgiveness is choosing to bear the consequences of another. The counselor told her that Scripture demanded she forgive.

She continued in the ditch. Almost entirely dead.

But an LGBTQ-affirming sexual abuse advocate found her and had compassion. She understood all the dynamics of abuse and for the first time was able to name what happened to this young woman. It wasn’t a consensual affair. It was abuse. She had been groomed and manipulated into these actions. This youth pastor knew what he was doing. This LGBTQ+ affirming advocate walked with the young woman through reporting the abuse, finding helpful counseling, and pursuing justice. For the first time in a long time she was climbing out of that ditch.

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the woman who fell among the youth pastor?

He said, “The one who actually helped.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”  (Adapted from Luke 10:25-37)

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If an organization is LGBTQ+ affirming but actually helps a survivor where the “priest” and the “Levite” left her on the side of the road our response is not to refuse their help. Our proper response is to ask why didn’t we respond appropriately.

LGBTQ+ affirming organizations are often leading the industry in sexual abuse response, training, etc. They are “doing mercy”. They are trauma-informed and survivor-centered. They are helping.

The Samaritan likely had deficient theology, but he was being a good neighbor. As such he did far more than the priest or the Levite in this story. Their theology wasn’t of such that could pull people out of a ditch. If you’re a priest or a Levite who doesn’t like that, then listen to this parable. “Go and do as the Samaritan”.

Just because an LGBTQ+ affirming organization does better at being trauma-informed it doesn’t mean that trauma-informed and survivor-centered responses are somehow deficient or ungodly. The Samaritan’s helpful care isn’t rejected in this parable because it came from the hands of someone who had deficient theology. Rather than questioning the “Samaritan” care to find deficiency, we’d do well to question our poor responses.

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Photo source: here

Crushed, But Not That Way

Mike Leake

pexels-netaly-reshef-191070

An angel, we’ll call him Clarence because that’s what you’re supposed to name angels, descends from heaven and lets you know that in your future you will be crushed to death. But you are being given an option as to how you’d like to be crushed.

Option A: You will be crushed in a way similar to how the Beatles were crushed by a mob of adoring and rather delusional fans. You are meeting a need in them and they cannot contain their excitement and you end up squashed.

Option B: You will be crushed because people hate you and think that you are a fraud. They will dream up an excruciating means of a slow and torturous death, beat you to an inch of your life and then use this brutal instrument to squeeze your body to the point of death.

Which one do you pick?

If I’m going to be crushed, then I’d rather be crushed because people love me. I don’t think I’d pick option B. That sounds horrendous.

—

“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him…”

“he was crushed for our iniquities…”

And how would Jesus, the Suffering Servant, be crushed? It would be through the brutality of a bloody cross. But there was a point when he could have been crushed by popularity.

“And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him…” –Mark 3:9

Crushed, but not that way. Jesus will not pick the path of celebrity. He will avoid this type of crushing death. It does not please the LORD for his son to be crushed by popularity, and so he makes plans to avoid this dangerous devotion of fickle followers. Instead he will be crucified as a criminal.

There is a lesson for us in this path which Jesus chose. There is a type of celebratory martyrdom. Popularity can be crushing even in our day. And those of us who know that the path of Jesus is marked by suffering can be tempted to pick this type of suffering as if this is somehow what it means to die to self.

It’s not just any kind of cruciform life which Christ calls us to embrace. We aren’t called to be crushed by our own adoring platforms but rather our blood to be quietly spilled outside the city gates, among the vulnerable and for even our enemies.

Crushed, but not that way.

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Image source: here