When You’re Ticked Because Jesus Isn’t Promoting You Like You Thought He Would

Mike Leake 2 Comments

sweet-ice-cream-photography-89501I’m invited to a rather significant banquet. I do not know the full guest list but I hear that I’ll be rubbing shoulders with influential people.

I don’t belong.

At least that is what I’m going to say. I’ve learned a good bit from Jesus in Luke 14 about where to sit at these things. If you take the lowest place at the banquet then the dude who is throwing the party will tell you to move up the ranks. Everybody will clap, the party will be about you for a brief moment, and you’ll take your rightly earned exalted seat. It’s something like that. 

I know I’m one of the lower guys on the totem pole. It’d be unseemly for me to position myself at one of the most revered places in the banquet hall. So I’ll position myself as  mostly incompetent and I’ll tell people I’m not even certain why I got invited to the party. I’ll crack a joke or two about figuring they meant to invite the pitcher for the Cardinals with the same name. I’ll probably sit in one of those smelly and uncomfortable seats next to the smelly bathroom.

It’ll only be temporary. I’ll get moved up to the cool kids table where I belong…eventually.

Except I don’t get moved up.

Ever.

This is the most miserable banquet I’ve ever attended. The steak is bland. The music is lame. I’ve never been so disrespected in all my life. And I know some of these goons who are seated in positions of honor above me. They should be sitting by the smelly bathroom. Not me.

I had been entertaining a dream of that moment when the host came over and encouraged me to sit in one of the more valuable positions at the banquet. It was going to be great getting that VIP badge placed around my neck and to give that smug look as I passed my near-the-smelly-bathroom dwelling peers.

But now that dream is being overtaken by another as anger towards the host is overtaking me. How dare he not exalt me? How dare he ignore my position and not put me in the honored places I belong? Now I’m picturing myself making a scene as I leave. I don’t need this stupid banquet anyways. It’s dumb and the food tastes like cardboard. He’s a miserable host anyways who doesn’t take care of those he invited. I’m going to thumb my nose at all these arrogant jerks as I make a rather noisy exit.

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So what can you say of my heart if I took the lowest place at the table and now I’m seething because I didn’t get moved up? The state of your heart gets exposed when you breathe in a bit more foul odors from the bathroom than you thought you would.

If this is my heart, I’m not truly humble, am I? I’m not giving deference to the host. I know my place. I took this dumb seat because I figured you’d move me up, but I’m still here and I’m mad about it. That’s not humility that’s exalting self.

Jesus’ parable in Luke 14 isn’t a way to fake-humble your way into honor. It’s not an invitation to fish for compliments or to find a way to make the party about yourself for a few minutes. This parable is about exposing all of us. It’s exposing the fact that none of us but the true King will kiss a cross. We’ll fight for the seat of honor even if it means enduring a seat near the bathroom for awhile.

This type of false humility is just as deadly as blatant platforming and jockeying for the best seat at the table. In fact it might even be worse, because it’s hijacking gospel-truths and gospel-language as a means to make the gospel about my exaltation rather than His.

True humility is happy to be invited to the party. True humility gives deference to the host. “Where do you want me to sit? I’m fine by the bathroom if that’s where you want me. Or I’ll sit at the table of honor. Wherever you put me, I’m here for you.”

The truly humble will take the low position and not be shocked, dismayed, or depressed when he stays there.

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Photo source: here

Read This! 05.23.17

Mike Leake

5 Principles for Disciplining Your Children

I appreciate the balance of this.

Nobody Respects a Blogger

As a blogger, this was encouraging to me

My Family’s Slave

This longer piece is quite enlightening.

What Happens to Our Pets When They Die?

We really don’t know much from Scripture on this question, but it’s one that many parents will face at some point.

7 Secrets to Leading a Successful Men’s Event

I don’t agree with everything in this but it’s still helpful.

5 Warnings Signs That Laziness Is Creeping into Your Leadership

That fifth one isn’t obvious, but I think it’s correct.

The Dangers of Reading in Bed

I love nerdy history lessons like this one.

You Can’t Anxiety Attack Your Way Out of God’s Love

I think the distinction between anxiety and worry is also a helpful one here.

I really liked Matt Boswell’s book on worship, and I love hearing from Jared Wilson and Shane Barnard on this topic as well:

Why You Should Keep Your Smartphone in Your Pocket at the Checkout Line

Mike Leake 2 Comments

The self-checkout lines at Wal-Mart are closed today for some reason. And they’ve only got a couple lanes open on a busy Saturday morning. I’ve no idea why the man behind Wal-Mart has decided to mess my morning over like this. I position myself behind an elderly lady who will likely take a solid twenty minutes just to unload her butter, cat food, and a bunch of unrecognizable products that I’ll probably understand more in about twenty years.

This is going to be awhile.

Rather than getting bored and letting this time flit away, I do as I’ve trained myself to do. I pull out my phone and decide to take captive a few moments. I skim read through a couple of articles online, check some email, and respond to a few comments on social media.

I’m doing this because over a decade ago I was captivated by the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. As I’m taking captive a few moments in the check out line, I know that what I’m doing is following Edwards’ resolution #5. “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” Rather than wasting my time by just standing in line like a big dumb ox, I’m getting stuff done.

And I’m likely destroying my brain and my ability to actually get stuff done.

I became convinced of the damage I’m doing by so quickly grabbing my smart phone when I read Deep Work by Cal Newport. Summarizing much research, Newport says:

Once your brain has become accustomed to on-demand distraction, Nass discovered, it’s hard to shake the addiction even when you want to concentrate. To put this more concretely: If every moment of potential boredom in your life—say, having to wait five minutes in line or sit alone in a  restaurant until a friend arrives—is relieved with a quick glance at your smartphone, then your brain has likely been rewired to a point where, like the ‘mental wrecks’ in Nass’s research, it’s not ready for deep work—even if you regularly schedule time to practice this concentration. (Deep Work, 158)

This is no fault of Edwards. He didn’t have a smartphone. His idea of “improving the time” was likely quite different than mine. I’m not sure if Edwards would have thought to value a bit of boredom, but I believe we should. There is something beneficial about slowing down and just standing in check-out line while everybody else is on their smart phones. I’m slowing my brain down and preparing it for moments of deeper work later.

Resolved, to keep my smartphone in my pocket, let the emails wait, and indulge in a bit of boredom for the sake of more productive work later…

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Photo source: here

Why Denying Future Judgment Undercuts the Call of Lady Wisdom

Mike Leake 2 Comments

In college, I had an English Literature professor who posited a hypothetical question to get us thinking. “What would God do if the devil in hell repented?” he asked. That question would then extend a bit further out—surely we cannot doubt God’s ability or desire to forgive repenting souls after life. I heard something similar a few years later in the writings of Rob Bell:

And so space is created in this “who would doubt God’s ability to do that?” perspective for all kinds of people—fifteen-year-old atheists, people from other religions, and people who rejected Jesus because the only Jesus they ever saw was an oppressive figure who did anything but show God’s love. (Bell, Love Wins)

The problem, though, with Bell’s hypothesis and my English professors question is that it misunderstands the reason for folks being in hell in the first place. It creates an imaginary scenario where somebody would have gladly repented on earth if given the proper circumstances. What it inevitably ends up doing is putting the blame at the feet of God.

Proverbs 1:20-33 paints a different scenario. Lady Wisdom doesn’t call in secret. Nor is she only found in the places of the elite. No, she calls everywhere. Her voice echoes forth just as creation does, proclaiming God’s eternal power and divine nature. She’s in the city. Even the cities who have never heard the name of Christ. And what the Scriptures declare is that humanity foolishly “hates knowledge” and “does not choose the fear of the LORD”.

It tugs on your heart strings to picture the person who “rejected Jesus because the only Jesus they ever saw was an oppressive figure”. But this person simply does not exist, according to the Scriptures. Romans 1 says that everyone has “clearly perceived” and are thus “without excuse”. Lady Wisdom has called and they’ve turned aside.

In his commentary on Proverbs, Bruce Waltke gives four reasons why this texts shows why denying a future judgment would undercut the call of Lady Wisdom. These are Waltke’s four reasons:

  1. Human choices before judgment would amount to no more than preliminary decisions before a real choice is made beyond death.
  2. This life would be preempted of its true dignity if choices made now had no eternal consequence.
  3. Fools would be confirmed in treating this life with careless complacency.
  4. The disciples of wisdom would be made to look foolish if sensual pleasure could be had without responsibility and accountability.

Waltke’s third reason is the most compelling to me. The fool is complacent. And he is complacent because he doesn’t believe his life now will matter for eternity. He doesn’t heed the call of Lady Wisdom for this very reason. If there is a second chance after this life then the fool is correct.

Rather than trying to mute Lady Wisdom wouldn’t it be better for us to give her a megaphone?

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Photo source: here