Do Axe-heads Still Float?

(Note: This post is an "Extra, Extra - Read All About It!" I will return to my series later this week).

In the Old Testament there is the story of a man named Elisha who was a student of a guy named Elijah. They were both prophets. Both of their lives were marked by supernatural events. Elisha - for those doing the math - experienced twice as many miracles in his life as did his mentor Elijah. The reason? He simply asked for it. As his mentor Elijah was about to be taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him. Elisha responded with this simple request: "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." Elijah responded, "If you see me when I am taken away - then it shall be yours." Shortly after that exchange, the fiery chariot appeared and Elijah disappeared. All that was left was Elijah's mantle. Elisha then walked over to the river Jordan, struck the water with a stick and cried out: "Where is the God of Elijah?" At that, the waters parted and Elisha repeated in reverse order the last physical miracle of Elijah. It makes for compelling reading.

Something I have noticed about a few of the miracles recorded in the Bible is how ordinarily spectacular they are. What I mean by that is how some of the miracles are attached to very ordinary wants and needs. Yes, we read of real miracle working events that makes sense in the life of Jesus: a deaf man hears, a lame man walks, a blind eye is opened. These make sense. They are useful. They are prudent. But, when a miracle comes along that is totally gratuitous – where it seems as if God is just show-boating for the most modest, even selfish (?) of needs - I believe that we are being shown something of the Father's heart. Yes, Jesus healed a lot of people, but He also turned water into wine. Was that really a pressing need or was it just a want? Or, how about Jesus strolling across the Sea of Galilee? Was that really necessary or was it just...well...fun?

One of the miracles Elisha performed falls, from my perspective, into the gratuitous category. We have the story of a student of Elisha’s chopping some wood near the Jordan River when the axe-head flies off and plops into the water. The guy freaked out because the axe was borrowed. Many of us have known that horrible feeling. Returning a headless axe-handle would be rather embarrassing. I imagine coming by an axe-head back in that day and time involved more than just taking the chariot down to the local Home Depot. This may have been a community axe-head shipped in from Egypt. Elisha asked the man the approximate location of where the axe-head went in. The student showed him. Elisha then cut a stick and threw it in the general direction of the sunken axe-head; and, lo and behold, it floated to the top.

Hmmm...If I had a store of miracles to perform that were exactly twice that of Elijah, I would miser those suckers like the proverbial three wishes from the Genie. I would make sure they were used for noble, spiritual, unquestioned & donor-approved purposes. But that was not the case with Elisha. He just said, “Stand back. I’ll get it for you.” The next thing you know, there is the axe-head floating up to shore like Ivory Soap. Another miracle used up. Bummer.

The thing that I have been learning of the Father’s heart as of late is this very important truth: What concerns me, concerns Him. He loves me that much. The gratuitous nature of some of the miracles shout out to us that God cares about the wine at a party, cooling His son’s dusty feet by a stroll across a lake, and by causing axe-heads to float so a humble student of a prophet won’t have to suffer the humiliation of returning a useless tool back to its owner.

Please hear this – with God, anything is possible. Please hear this – God is not diminished in His ability or supply of miracles by doling out gratuitous displays of His kindness: His resources are endless. And, there is also this – these unwarranted acts of kindness enhance the fatherhood of God. Do we not, as earthly parents, sometimes give gifts to our children – just because? Sure we do. Why would our heavenly Father be any different? He loves us and is crazy about us.

So, with all this as background, let me share a brief testimony of one of those gratuitous miracles that just happened to me this morning. My son Josh and I spent a good part of the day doing something I do not really enjoy – working on cars. We had before us a brake job for my wife’s car which included pads and rotors. Josh’s car needed motor mounts replaced. (Thanks to our good friend James Lane, this latter one was accomplished with skills that go well beyond my meager mechanical abilities). Now, I would probably enjoy working on cars if I had all of the cool tools available to me that I see in repair shops. But no, I am the guy rolling around on hot cement with my Wal-Mart tools trying not to swear at helpless, inanimate objects.

As I manned up to the job of getting the calipers to loosen off of the rotors, I noticed that GMC had switched from SAE to metric. (Yay Detroit)! I groaned. My assortment of metric tools was just that – an assortment. I needed an 18mm socket. I walked over to my tool box and began rooting around. I found a 17mm and a 19mm. As I was standing there, tempted again to that swearing thing, Josh said he thought the 18mm might be under his car. Picture this scene. I was standing there with my ratchet with no socket on the end in one hand and a 17mm and 19mm in the other. Josh is looking at my forlorn countenance. I watch Josh dive under his car to look for the missing 18mm. I look back at my ratchet a second later and there is a socket on the end. I look at my hands – totally puzzled. Both the 17mm & the 19mm are still in my left hand, but another socket has appeared – appeared mind you – on the end of my ratchet! I squint to read the numbers on the side of the socket and it says: 18mm. Revival broke out in the garage.

Does God care for me so much, does He know how much I loathe auto repair, and does He love my wife so much that He wanted me to finish up this brake job with as little whining as possible? Evidently the answer to all of these questions is:”Yes”! I have to admit, I would rather show up tomorrow at the hospital and pull a Jesus by emptying out every bed with a miraculous healing, but maybe, just maybe, these little miracles lead us to the big ones. We have to stand before we can walk and we have to walk before we can run. Today, I tottered to my feet. Somewhere deep in my spirit I had said, “Where is the God of Elijah?” And God said, “Right here, with an 18mm in my hand.”

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything that we ask...” I John 3:21a

Becoming A Self-Centered Christian, Part Two

I was watching an info-mercial recently that was hawking a workout DVD. The clip featured a happy, middle-aged couple whose lives had been changed by following the aerobic dance moves recorded on the product. They were tanned, fit, and very Ultra-Bright of smile. But what I couldn’t take my eyes off of was the host of the program who was interviewing the happy couple. This person was enormous, pasty, and had a noticeable chin waddle when panning from camera to camera. It was disorienting and contradictory. If the product was so awesome, so affordable, and so easy – why had the host not benefitted? The whole thing seemed like a Mad TV parody.

I often wonder if that is the view people have of those who call themselves followers of Christ – people who have found “the way”, the place of abundance, and the hope that promises “joy unspeakable”. I can well imagine an objective outsider of the Christian faith saying something like this: “You claim to have a great product, but your life seems as empty, angry, depressed and stressed as mine. Why should I add the rigor of religious observance to an already overcommitted life?” Great question.

In the last post we talked about the necessity of narcissism in getting us down the road a little further in our spiritual journey – a sort of “save yourself first” mentality. That post received some spirited phone calls and chats with believers and non-believers alike. Let me say this...while I enjoyed the dialogue, I need no lectures about how narcissism is antithetical to the Christian ideal. Yes, yes…I get that. But, I think it is worth exploring the concept that, without a very self-centered, self-examined life, we really have nothing much to offer. Let’s look at a couple of “narcissistic” verses…

And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, “Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,” when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will be able to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. – Matthew 7:3-5

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. - Philippians 2:12b-13

We could fill pages with verse after verse that urge us on toward a myopic self-centered journey, but these two passages will work just fine. How much more self-centered can you get than Jesus’ command to do your own eye exam? Or, how about Paul’s admonition to: “…work out your own salvation?” Where do these verses draw our attention? If I am reading them, they draw the attention to me. If you are reading them, they draw the attention to you. What is the point? It is simple. We can do precious little good in this world if we are blind to our own faults; and, that salvation is a very personal experience.

Now, is such self-examination really an example of narcissism? Maybe yes, maybe no. True narcissism has a different end in view than this Christian narcissism of which we have been speaking. Narcissism takes us down deep into ourselves and leaves us there; festering in our own isolated self-centeredness. Christian narcissism takes us deep into ourselves in order to free us to do and be just the opposite. With Christ at our side, we are called to explore the inky depths and crannies of everything we find within us that runs counter to His nature. And, in so doing, to emerge from that cave a person who is skilled to compassionately render aide to those suffering from eye-splinters. The dark explorations help us appreciate the light.

In the next post we will talk more about the importance of completing the full circle from darkness to light. In so doing, we will expose the nasty inhibitor known as false humility that thwarts the true purpose of Christian narcissism. As always…be well blessed. - CJ