For What It's Worth : Practicing Patience

For What It's Worth : Practicing Patience: I am not a patient person. Never have been. I have accepted the fact that I have been hard wired to be impatient.  Anyone w...

Practicing Patience

I am not a patient person.

Never have been.

I have accepted the fact that I have been hard wired to be impatient. 

Anyone who knows me well enough knows this about me. I work on it and I do believe I have made some progress towards being a more patient person. But I'm a work on progress.

I recently revisited one of my favorite stories in the Bible the other day. It is commonly referred to as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” I now refer to it as the "Parable of the Patient Father."

So allow me to briefly summarize the story and then I want to share with you a new insight that I received from this parable.

A young man (probably in his late teens) asked his father for his inheritance in advance so he could step out and test the adventurous waters of life. 

Well the father relented without any apparent parental resistance. He gave the lad his inheritance and the boy parted ways with all that was familiar to him.

Well eventually the young lad fell upon hard times as the result of some really poor life decisions and suspicious behaviors. He found himself desperately alone and feeling as lonely as one can feel under such grave circumstances.

So he does the wisest thing he could do at this point in his life: He takes a good long look look inside himself. 

He determines that his personal failures were the result of his own doing (something narcissistic people are incapable of doing; they sooner blame others for their failures and bad behaviors rather than own any personal responsibility).

So the young man, having taken a personal inventory of his life, decides to return home to his father and throw himself at his mercy. 

Okay it is at this point in the story where I received new insight. 

Once the young man admitted to his own failures in life his first thought was to return to his father (and family). He did not hesitate for a second in formulating a plan to return home to the warm embrace of his father. 

Now I turn to the father:

Throughout the story the father is portrayed as perhaps one of the most patient people you will ever meet. 

But what if the father had impatiently resisted his son’s original request for an advance on his inheritance? What if he had reacted in a judgmental way by scolding the young man and by telling him he wasn’t ready for the big bad world?

What if a fight had ensued and the boy and his father parted ways on really bad terms? What if the father had said to the boy: 

“If you leave home son, don’t ever come back”?

What if?

I wonder if such an impatient response would have affected the son's willingness to return to his father?

Of course none of us want to hear those chilling words: “I told you so!” Do we?

But throughout the story the father displayed incredible patience, even in the face of his son’s reckless failures. Rather than acting in judgmental ways towards his son the father’s embrace revealed his unconditional love for his son. 

As a parent myself it is not easy being patient with your children. You want what is best for them but the truth is you don’t always know what is best for them. This is the part of the story that I resonate with the most as a parent myself.

But more importantly I now see a direct connection between impatience and our capacity for being judgmental of others. Impatience often leads to judgmental attitudes (new insight). I know from experience how true this can be for impatient people like myself.

So like the young lad who was the recipient of incredible parental patience, we too might discover the infinite patience of God towards us. For if God was anything other than patient towards us we would all be in deep trouble.

Now this doesn’t excuse us from bad behaviors or making poor decisions in life. Yes we all make such mistakes and missteps, but like the Prodigal Son we can return to our heavenly Father without the fear of being judged. He is always willing to warmly embrace us back into the family as it were,

So the new insight is this: Learning to be more patient with others also helps us to be less judgmental of others.

Maybe this is one of the lessons Jesus had in mind when he originally told this story.

[Rembrandt credited for the above picture]

For What It's Worth : "Jerusalem, Jerusalem"

For What It's Worth : "Jerusalem, Jerusalem": The recent announcement that the President is going to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and thus move the U.S. Embassy...

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem"

The recent announcement that the President is going to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and thus move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the City of David has created a mixed reaction, both positive and negative.

Though I personally don’t believe it was a politically wise move we all will have to live with the political fallout nonetheless. Let’s pray that the fallout will be minimal although there are already signs of unrest among Palestinians.

What concerns me more than the political fallout, however, is the pressure asserted on the Trump Administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital fueled by a minority (and minor) theological point of view. By minority I mean that this view is largely contained within the Evangelical tribe, and more specifically within Evangelical Fundamentalism. 

I will now address the theological motivations that may have been responsible for this decision.

It is no secret that Evangelical Fundamentalism is the fuel that animates some of the current Administration’s policies—the Middle East policy being one of the most obvious.

Many prominent leaders within the Evangelical Fundamentalist camp are avowed believers in a relatively recent theology known as Dispensationalism. For many it is the only theological position they have ever known.

Those who embrace this Dispensational point of view believe that Jesus will secretly return a second time and launch a worldwide global crisis known as the “Great Tribulation.” For seven years the world will be cast into utter chaos as millions will die in what will become the worse global conflict the world has yet to see.

At the end of this horrible time Jesus will visibly return and put an end to this global horror and launch his literal one thousand year reign on earth, headquartered out of Jerusalem. Those Christians who would have been miraculously raptured seven years earlier will return with Jesus and rule with him—out of Jerusalem of course.

Additionally, believers in the theological system of Dispensationalism believe that the creation of the modern Nation State of Israel in 1947 was a clear sign of Jesus’ soon return and only serves to hasten the coming of his earthly kingdom. So Jerusalem holds a place of prominence in their End Time theology.

In a nutshell this very violent depiction of how God is going to bring human history to an end and usher in his thousand year kingdom has attracted the imaginations of countless American Christians, including many of those who support the current Administration. 

Many of Trump’s supporters are praising his decision without a clear understanding of the theology that just may stand behind his recent decision. 

I should also point out that there is a huge difference between what is known as Biblical Israel and the Modern State of Israel. Biblical Israel was founded initially upon the covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 12, 15). It was an unconditional covenant including the promise of land (thus the so-called, “Promise Land”). But the promise of land, though unconditional, was conditional in terms of their keeping the land as their own. 

This is a point often missed by many Dispensationalists. 

The modern State of Israel, in contrast to Biblical Israel, was not founded on a Divine covenant but rather on a secular ideology known as Zionism. Modern day Israel is not a theocracy. Many modern day Israelis do not practice their Jewish faith, to the chagrin of the more Orthodox among them. It is a Nation State like any other Nation State and cannot claim Divine privilege anymore than can the United States of America or Germany or Iran.

Additionally Dispensational theology is lacking any historical continuity with the past, especially a past that extends back much beyond the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is the original brainchild of an Irish Anglican priest whose theological ideas never took root in the British Isles, but found fertile soil in the United States. I’ve always been puzzled by this.

Be that as it may, those who think this Administration’s position on the capital of modern day Israel should be aware that there is absolutely no theological or Biblical justification for such a move. It is purely a dangerous political move driven by an Evangelical Fundamentalism that quite frankly has been elevated to positions of influence within the current Administration.  

As the old saying goes: “Might does not make right.”

If you embrace Dispensational theology then perhaps this recent presidential move makes perfectly good sense to you. For one who no longer embraces Dispensationalism it simply is baffling top me with regards to its possible benefits.

I pray that it will not escalate into further violence in the Middle East or even here at home. But please don’t attribute this decision to any kind of credible theology. 

It may be religiously fueled but it is indeed motivated by political interests.