Chaos is inevitable, especially for people who set out to do good, powerful, world-changing things. Expect it. The wheels will come off. When they do, finding peace will be job #1.

But chaos stirs up all manner of malady – fear, bitterness, jealousy, addiction; a mountain of chaotic emotions. In the pain and fear that comes to the surface, our first impulse is to run, hide, escape.

Quit.

While finding peace in chaos is one of the most difficult endeavors, it’s not impossible. Following are a few things to consider.

Finding Peace in Someone Else’s Chaos

Chaos is never total chaos. In any situation, there are things we can’t control, and things we can. Focusing on the latter is fundamental to staying in the game. And the best way to figure out the difference between controllable and non-controllable things is to find a mentor who’ll walk with you in the trouble.

Few will take this advice. I usually don’t.

Somehow, in our culture, Continue reading Finding Peace in Chaos

It’s odd to consider Job a wisdom book, but the author seems to believe that, if we are to gain wisdom, this book is huge.

It’s a story about a guy who gets the buisness end of God, and neither Job, his judgmental friends, or the reader is given a good explanation as to why this is happening.

Sure, in the end, Job gets everything back that was taken from him, and then some. But given his suffering and loss, it hardly sounds like adequate compensation.

Worse, the whole thing comes as a dare of sorts. Satan approaches God, and suggests that Job’s righteousness is conditional; take away the blessings and Job will fall, as most of us would. God says, “you’re on,” and gives Satan permission to begin the destruction process.

Where’s the wisdom here? How does this book help us to gain some semblance of God’s perspective?

The Book of Job Explained by a Jewish Rabbi

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz is the Rabbi of the Woodside Synagogue in Silver Spring, MD and is a law professor at the University of Maryland Law School. He is the author of “Between Civil and Religious Law; The Plight of the Agunah in American Society” (Greenwood Press).

The way the book of Job is typically explained doesn’t pare well with our contemporaty, Western, Christian culture. Rabbi Breitowitz, bringing Job’s tragedy to bear in our modern context, describes the book as a narrative that addresses the “suffering of the righteous.” To him, it is a beautiful, well written story that steps into the arena of “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”

Job is an ordinary man (maybe not Jewish, maybe fictional? but God-fearing, living a holy, virtuous life). His problem is not limited to the people of Israel, but to all of humanity. He hasn’t earned a hard time by any stretch, but gets one nonetheless.

Job’s friends show up on the scene, citing Torah, reminding him that bad things only happen to bad people, and that Job should admit his wrongdoing, and swear to never do it again.

If God were a just God, He wouldn’t let bad things happen to people who don’t deserve it. Rabbi Breitowitz calls this “conventional morality,” something that seems to appear in Torah itself.

Job dismisses his friends, turns to God, and demands an answer.

God responds with something akin to, “Who are you?” and, “I don’t owe you an answer.”

Personally, I think if God did have an answer, we wouldn’t be able to understand it. We don’t have the ken – the ability to understand. Much like we can’t explain certain things to a three year old, God can’t explain everything to us.

According to Rabbi Breitowitz, when we try to get an explanation from God in this particular area, we’re not going to get one.

Enter, mystery.

“The book of Job is not about answers, it’s about trusting that your relationship with God can exist even when things are difficult.”

Accepting a non-answer from God, while still believing he is good, is the beginning of wisdom.

The Book of Job Explained by the Bible Project

Check out the video below for another great perspective on this ancient book. The book of Job is explained on the internet, in multiple places and from multiple perspectives, but this is one of the best.

Comment below!!!

The Scriptures set out to accomplish three fundamental tasks, all having to do with reconciliation.

First, they teach us what reconciliation with God looks like. The good news, or “gospel,” is that God has done the work on our behalf. All barriers have been unconditionally removed. All we have to do is to accept this, live in it, and celebrate.

Second, because we’ve been reconciled to God, we’re commanded to be reconciled to each other. That explains the Bible’s emphasis on love, peace, forgiveness, humility, sacrifice, and “one” ness.

But the third area of reconciliation is one that we struggle to accept. The Bible begs us to embrace our own worth, to see the image of God living inside of us, and to be at peace about who we are, maybe even get excited about it.

The scriptures call us, time and time again, to be reconciled to ourselves.

Many would argue that the Bible doesn’t care about self worth, but that’s far from the truth, and drives a problem in our culture that affects almost every area of the Christian life.

Do the Scriptures Place an Emphasis on Self Worth?

The Apostle John, who firmly believed that Jesus loved him more than anyone else, said:

We love, because He first loved us.

The love that John experienced wasn’t simply conjured from his will, or his desire to be a good Christian, or his position in the new Christian pecking order, or whatever monumental feats he’d accomplished.

The love that John experienced was a symptom of the love that he recieved from Jesus.

St Paul spoke frequently of God’s love for us, especially its unconditional nature. But he knew that we have a tendency to exhalt ourselves because of our accomplishments, or kick ourselves when we screw up. So, he made it clear that no amount of unholiness can keep us from God’s fondness, implying that nothing should stand in the way of a healthy, humble fondness for ourselves.

“No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” ~ Romans 8:39

Jesus Himself had full knowlege of how we walk zombie like through this life, paying whatever toll so that we might find something to cling to, something to help us feel better about us, and how these pursuits wear us to the core:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The “rest” that we find in Jesus is, among other things, a peace about who and what we are.

The Bible is full of scriptures on self worth, inviting us to a deeply anchored sense of our own value. Some Christians go as far as to say that self worth is a commandment.

But, again, we struggle here.

Why We Ignore the Scriptures that Call Us to Self Worth

American Christian culture in particular has issues here. That might have something to do with the way we talk about ourselves, using words like “wretched,” “powerless,” “broken,” etc.  Maybe we’ve become confused about God’s endgame, placing far too much emphasis on outward action at the expese of deeper things.

Regardless, we’ve become a community of people who frequently feel like spiritual failures. We’re supposed to be living day-to-day with a deep sense of our own importance (and helping others see theirs), but we’re too often caught up in the opposite.

Why?

I’ll offer some thoughts. Please add yours below!

Bigger fish to fry

Self worth? Who cares? The scriptures clearly call us, first and foremost, to things like obedience, sacrifice, worship, evangelism, etc. We see ourselves as warriors, overcomers, spiritual heroes, so we blast forward, striving to overcome our “weaknesses,” “shortcomings,” and overall crappiness to prove to everyone that we’re serious Christians.

But we’re starving to feel good about ourselves, willing do anything, even if it’s unholy, to get there. We’re not unlike the workaholic who can’t take a break because he believes that everything will change if he can achieve ________.

While our lack in this arena drives us to acheive and perform, we’re not driven by love, and it shows. Maybe that’s why nobody wants to hear what we have to say anymore.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Behind everyone who’s placed too much weight on morality, or being right, or convincing people to embrace their religion, you’ll find someone who’s failed to see themselves as God does. The things God has called us to become gods themselves, our personal redeemers, whose sole endgame is to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we don’t suck.

Self Worth Leads to Arrogance

An arrogant person believes that his achievements/abilities/personality/gifts/etc make him better, more distinguished, than others. He might have high “self esteem,” but that’s not always a good thing.

Arrogance is tricky because it provides its victim with great confidence, until something comes along to incinerate the straw house that’s driving it all. It finds its fuel in shame and belittles nearly everyone it comes into contact with.

That’s why God hates it.

Many of us have come to believe that if we spend any time feeling good about ourselves, we’ll quickly and permanently become arrogant people who can’t stop flaunting their good deeds for all to see.

Ironically, arrogance is a symptom of low self worth. It’s the sin that fills the void that results when we fail to embrace our own importance.

In other words, if you want to avoid arrogance, avoid low self worth like the plague.

Humility, the opposite of shame, has the ability to see good in people, regardless of whatever outward traits might be suggesting otherwise. When humility sees sin, it instantly goes to a place of compassion, understanding, and prayer.

It denigrates, disprespects, or in any other way marginalizes no one, including its bearer.

That’s why God loves it.

Why the Scriptures on Self Worth Matter

“Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you could see yourself the way God does, it would change everything. Most importantly, it would allow you to feel good about you, which is huge for multiple reasons.

First, feeling bad about yourself is the hallmark of depression. When we become convinced, to our core, that we’re bad/flawed/gross/ugly/whatever, nothing is right, even when everything is right.

Some of us see personal shame as a good thing. It drives us to do amazing things. While our accomplishments give us a temporary rush, they quickly become the focus (read, the God) of our lives. In order to feel good, we’re forced to accomplish.

We quickly grow tired, angry, lonely, and addicted in our quest for another shot at feeling OK.

People in this predicament are no fun to be around. Christians in this predicament, who do the same thing with “holy” accomplishments? Even less fun.

Next, when we fail to feel good about us, our brains go into overtime, stressing over all the ways we’ve failed, what others are saying behind our backs, seeing ourselves as “lower,” etc. We’re tired, overwhelmed, far less likely to do the difficult work that the Bible calls us to.

There are a million reasons to pursue self worth, and a million benefits for those who find it. But rest assured that a person who’s learned to unconditionally love and appreciate themselves is far better equipped to serve God and do great things for His kingdom than someone who’s failed in this arena.

This is core to the scriptures, and core to the Christian life. Don’t follow Jesus without it.

 

Photo Credit:Andrew Knechel via Unsplash