Serving like a Russian Rabbi

There was a certain rabbi that lived in a small village in the heart of western Russia.  It was a small town with a nearly entirely Jewish population.  This rabbi was known for being a wise, kind, and sincere man.  But he was also known for something else.  On Friday mornings he would disappear for hours.

The rabbi's disciples would tell everyone that the rabbi spent the early hours of Friday morning communing with God in heaven.  In fact, the story of the rabbi's fantastical Friday morning forays had spread to the surrounding towns and villages.  A man who lived in one of those neighboring towns was skeptical of the rabbi, and wanted to see for himself.

The man came to the town late Thursday night and determined to follow the rabbi to see what was really going on.  In Friday's predawn hours, the rabbi woke up early and clothed himself in a peasant's garb.  He then went deep into the woods and spent the next hour cutting down a tree and splitting it into firewood.

The rabbi then picked up as much firewood as he could carry and he brought it deeper into the forest until he arrived at a small cottage at the far edge of the woods.  The house was inhabited by a widow and her three young children.  The rabbi brought enough firewood for a week's worth of fires before going back to the village.  The man was stunned and determined to become a disciple of the rabbi.  And now, when the other disciples talk about the rabbi's weekly trip to heaven, the man agrees with joy.

Service is a remarkable and influential endeavor.  It affects people in miraculous and dramatic ways.  Conversely, the lack of the evidence of service can be devastating and disenfranchising.  How do you think the bucolic detective above would have responded if instead of discovering that the rabbi spent his "secret" Friday mornings serving a neighbor in need, but simply stayed in bed because he had a weekly ritual of getting drunk on Thursday nights?  He would have been appalled at the incongruity between what was professed and what actually occurred.

We, as Christians, should strive to be better servers who seek out opportunities to serve and seize them with eagerness and joy.  Service that comes from a sincere heart is the of a life that is focused on the Lord.  Let us then live out our faith in service!

The Olympics of Life

Every couple of years, the Olympics take place and sets the whole world in a stir of competition as the world's greatest athletes compete for their respective countries and for the chance to be deemed the very best at their sport.  To win the gold medal at the Olympics is the crowning achievement for these athletes who have spent, in some cases, their whole lives preparing for a chance, usually only a single in their lifetimes, to win.

Think of the years of preparation for an event that can sometimes take mere moments to complete.  The 100m freestyle swimming event, for instance, is over within seconds, and a lifetime's worth of training comes to fruition.  But, as the pool settles and the water returns to its rest, the times come in to determine whether one is a winner or not.

It is at this season when two particular verses of Scripture continually come to mind: 1 Cor. 9:24-27 and Hebrews 12:1-2.  Both of these passages deal with the theme of perseverance and endurance for the purposes of godliness and sanctification.  There is a sense, for both Paul and the writer of Hebrews, that the Christian is to train for godliness so as to be prepared to run the long race that is the Christian life.

Paramount to this is to understand that while each one of us is running our own race, we each run it together; we are not running individually.  This may seem paradoxical, because we are competing both in an individual event as well as a team event.  However, our individual race is done with the power fo the Holy Spirit, who empowers us with the strength and stamina to fight the good fight and to stay true.  Additionally, the team event is the Church, both the global Church and the local church. Both are important, as we, as individuals, need to rely on each other continuously for strength and for encouragement.  Let us then heed the words of Hebrews and begin to take our training much more seriously, because our competitive event is life itself:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every sin and weight which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is marked out for us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2)."

Hezekiah & What to do when your faith is Tested

Sometimes in life faith is tested.  Really tested.  When all the world seems poised against us and our core will be challenged.  In these moments, when the rubber meets the road and the strength and source of our faith is shaken, it is good to know that God is there, and He will show up in our greatest hour of need.

Although most of the Bible deals with this very thing; however, for the purposes of this brief discussion, only the story of Hezekiah and Sennacherib will be examined.  This story is chronicled in both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

Sennacherib is the king of Assyria, at their heights of power they were the most powerful and feared nation in all of the Ancient Near East.  Sennacherib was a fierce king, well-renown for his viciousness.  He had nearly conquered all of Israel during Hezekiah's reign over Judah, the southern kingdom.

Sennecharib had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and shipped the northern tribes of Israelites as exiles back to Assyria when he sent a diplomatic envoy to Hezekiah to send him a message.  Sennacherib, in no ambiguous terms, told Hezekiah to surrender of his own volition.  The heart of the Assyrian king's message was that Hezekiah should not trust in his god, for none of the gods of the previously deposed nations had been able to stay their hand of destruction.

To be sure, Sennacherib called out Hezekiah.  But more importantly, Sennacherib called out God by thinking of God as just another deity who would fail to stop his conquest.  Sennacherib was wrong; dead wrong.  For after he made such an audacious and prideful message against the God of Israel, 185,000 of the Assyrians fell dead in one night.  And upon Sennacherib's retreat back to the Assyrian capital, his two sons assassinated him while he was in his temple worshiping his god.

What is striking about this story is that, following Sennecharib's challenge, Hezekiah tore his clothes and prayed.  This should be our posture when we are faced with the same sorts of challenges to our faith: pray and seek God's counsel.  Additionally, God did not sit by idly but He showed up in force to destroy Sennacharib for his pride.  This is a sound indication that God is the God of all the universe.  We should take the mind of Hezekiah and when life strikes us, we should fall prostrate in faith before the Holy Lord.  Praise be to God, who will support us when we seek His face and presence in humility and faith!