Have you ever thought of yourself as an influential person? As having the ability to impact the lives of other people?

How do you evaluate your spiritual progress? Do you compare yourself to someone else, deciding either that you’ll never be as good as that person, or else thanking God that you’re not as messed up as that other person? When you compare yourself to someone else, you can become discouraged – or get a swelled head!

Oswald Chambers would likely tell you not to bother comparing yourself to other people. Why? He writes: “If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life…” (My Utmost for His Highest, September 20). In other words, compare yourself to God’s character.

God’s character? In me? Surprising as it sounds, 2 Corinthians 3:18 seems to agree. Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him (The Message).

Becoming like God, as God enters our lives. Nothing between us and God. How do I live so that there is nothing between myself and God? Stay in a prayer closet all day? No. Paul wrote, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). You live your life by looking to Jesus to give you strength for every situation you face. Larry Crabb calls it living “in the energy of Christ”. That means, he says, that you look to Jesus for strength even for the choices no one sees.

Here’s what’s really amazing: Larry Crabb suggests that the choices we make have an impact on the lives of others, even though those people didn’t see us make those choices. In other words, this isn’t just about setting a good example. It’s about the kind of person we have become by the unseen choices we make – and the kind of person we have become then influences the lives of those around us. Here are Crabb’s words: “The choices we make to live in the energy of Christ, including the private choices no one can see, have a far greater impact for good on other people’s lives (as bad ones have for bad) than we suspect. it is the energy that comes out of us, what we most deeply believe, that stirs passion, which nurtures or gets in the way of spiritual community. And the quality of that energy depends on our level of fellowship with God.” The Safest Place on Earth: Where People Connect and are Forever Changed Word Publishing, 1999, p. 125

Really? Is that Biblical? That by our very presence we influence other people, because of the kind of people we’ve become, either drawing them toward Jesus or away from Him?

More on this next time.

Dad loved to work. One of his frustrations in the last year was the loss of the strength to work. He knew well how to delegate, having raised seven children on a farm, but now he guarded the tasks he was still able to do, such as moving the folding chairs from the car trunk to the house, and expressly asked that I not help.

Then came the life-altering stroke in early August and his disabilities multiplied. He lost his driver’s license, the ability to handle the family finances and the ability to find his way around the main floor of the simply bungalow he had lived in for 25 years – and that he had designed and built.

One question on my mind was: How will Dad handle this? Will he become angry, or more frustrated? Will he become impatient with Mom, who now has to care for him in his disability?

But Dad defied my fears. He became more kind, gentle, gracious, conversant – and lonely for heaven. “I’m looking forward to what the Lord has in store,” he said.

In preparation for Mom’s and Dad’s 60th wedding anniversary celebration, my brother asked Dad to prepare reflections on his life and their marriage in the context of Scripture meaningful to him.

Later Dad told him that he was preparing his comments in the context of a word.

When I arrived for the celebration on Oct. 26, I asked Dad, “What’s the word?”

“Satisfied,” he replied. “It’s based on Psalm 16 and 17. My thinking arose out of family devotions. David had a close relationship with God. He needed God, and found God was always faithful.” Then Dad quoted Psalm 17:15 “I am satisfied when I awake in the presence of thy likeness.” Dad continued, “David had a lot of enemies, and therefore needed God as a refuge. He needed a daily contact with God.”

When I read Psalm 16-17 from the point of view of an 86 year old man robbed of his independence, I understood. These verses were helping Dad figure out how to get ready for heaven.

Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge (16:1). Enduring a stroke – now that’s scary. But Dad was at peace. “I’m ready to go,” he said in the hospital after his October 31 heart attack.

Apart from you I have no good thing (16:2). Dad knew where his faith for salvation lay, and where significance is found.

The…lines have fallen for me in pleasant places (16:6) – and this from a man who had for the last 30 years lived in the prison of hearing loss that left him unable to understand at gatherings of his noisy offspring, and unable to function effectively at the church committee work that he so loved. He chose the path of gratitude in the midst of loss.

Though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin (17:3). The faith community where he had worshipped since 1937 was undergoing massive change that he did not understand, formally closing before his eyes to become part of a multi-site contemporary worship-format congregation. Dad chose the path of grace, capped by a wide-ranging prayer of thanksgiving and blessing at the closing service less than two weeks before his death. He was resolved that God’s testing would find no trace of bitterness, anger or any other sin at the moment of death. “I guess it’s time for the old people to get out of the way,” he said to me in late July.

Hide me…from my mortal enemies who surround me (17:8-9). What’s all this talk about enemies? And then, as I was taking Dad’s clothes to the undertaker, it hit me. Dad’s mortal enemy was mortality. Old age. It had stolen the independence that is the farmer’s hallmark. But old age, by robbing Dad of so much, had simply motivated him to focus on getting ready for heaven. Dad was a disciplined man. When the fields were ready for seeding, so was his seeding equipment. He built his own homes and farm buildings, while getting the farming done as well. I believe that now he used his disability and the words of Psalm 16 and 17 to focus his mind to prepare for heaven. And he found freedom from his mortal enemy, first by concentrating on heaven, and then on December 31 by going there!

And I-in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (17:15). Dad, you finished well.

Did you ever wonder how it is that Jesus is a Son of David, as Matthew asserts in the first verse of his Gospel? This is important because the Messiah, predicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, was to be a descendant of the great king David.

Matthew gives Joseph’s family tree (1:1-17). So does Luke (3:23-37). Joseph is a son of David (Matthew 1:20), of the tribe of Judah (1:2). However, Joseph is not Jesus’ father (Matthew 1:18-19) and we have no information about Mary’s ancestry other than that her cousin is married to a priest (that is, from the tribe of Levi – not the jeans manufacturer).

Jack Kingsbury (Matthew as Story, Fortress Press, 1988) writes, “Matthew’s answer to this problem is found in 1:18-25; Jesus can legitimately be designated the Son of David because Joseph son of David obeys the instructions he receives from the angel of the Lord and gives Jesus his name (1:20-21, 25). In other words, Jesus, born of Mary but not fathered by Joseph, is legitimately Son of David because Joseph son of David adopts him into his line” (47).

Accordingly, Jesus receives the status of Son of David from His adoptive father, Joseph.

But that’s not the end of it. Richard Gardner writes, “At this point the text in Matthew offers us something of the highest importance. as it unfolds the story of Jesus’ ancestry, it provides us with the possibility of finding roots for ourselves that we never knew about. Those who belong to Jesus’ community become heirs with him of all the promises of God to Abraham and David. And the family history which shaped his identity becomes our family history as well” (Believers Church Bible Commentary: Matthew Herald Press, 1991, 34).

Gardner is likely thinking of verses like Ephesians 1:5: His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure (New Living Translation, 1996). And then there’s John 1:12-13. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan-this rebirth comes from God (New Living Translation, 1996). Everyone is created in God’s image, and in that sense God’s child. But to truly become God’s child requires that I believe and accept Jesus as God in human form (John 1:1-11). Believe Him about the human condition without Him, about the need for rescue from sin, about God’s love that led to Jesus coming to live among us and to die in our place. That belief and acceptance creates a rebirth (John 1:13) or adoption into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5).

And once you’re adopted, you have all the rights of a child of God, and a claim to the family history of Abraham and David, as Gardner says.

Adoption. A very special process, integral to Christmas, essential to salvation. Adoption gets you the best pedigree in the world – child of God.

Is it OK, as a Christian, to assert your rights? Based on the example of the apostle Paul, the answer is “Yes.” Paul had more rights than most other Jews, in that he was also a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22:27-8). He claimed those rights in order to avoid a nasty flogging at the hands of Roman soldiers (Acts 22:24-29). It’s important for this story to understand that if the flogging had gone ahead, the official who ordered it could have been fired or even executed himself (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible: Acts Westminster 1976, p. 163).

However, in Acts 16 Paul was flogged by Roman authorities (Acts 16:22-3).. Why did he not claim his Roman citizenship to avoid a beating? And why did he then claim his Roman citizenship the next day, after he’d been publicly beaten (Acts 16:37)?

Is it possible that Paul acted in obedience to the Holy Spirit in failing to claim his citizenship at the time of his arrest? Paul knew that his decision to follow Jesus would involve suffering (Acts 9:16). Is it conceivable that Paul sensed the Holy Spirit saying to him, “Paul, you need to let yourself be beaten in violation of your rights. There are people who will hear about Jesus because you take this beating for Me.”?

What happened as a result of Paul’s taking the beating? First, all the prisoners learned of the power of God to give people joy in the midst of dreadful suffering, when they heard Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16:25). Notice the specific statement that the prisoners were listening. Second, the jailer and his family heard about Jesus and became Jesus followers (Acts 16:29-34).

What we see here is that while Paul had rights, he would not rely upon them if it was better for the cause of Jesus Christ that he not do so. It was more important that others hear about Jesus than that Paul have the convenience and comfort of his legal rights.

What, then, was the purpose of claiming those rights the next day? As soon as he did so, based upon William Barclay’s comment above, those local officials knew that their jobs, if not their lives, were in danger. Kenneth Bailey, a leading New Testament scholar, suggests that Paul did this in order to protect the church. Notice that Paul demanded and received a personal escort from those officials (Acts 16:37-9). After meeting with the officials at the prison and receiving from them a request that Paul and Silas leave the city, Paul took the time to go to Lydia’s house (the place where the church met (Acts 16:15)), met with the Christians and give an inspirational speech, before they left (Acts 16:40). Can you imagine the message this sent to the officials? Is it possible that the message is the following? “You violated my rights by publicly beating me without a trial. You could lose your job or your life. I’m not laying a complaint against you-for now. These people in Lydia’s house are my friends. Be sure you protect them.”

Paul didn’t enjoy being unfairly treated any more than anyone else! However, there were other things that were more important than his legal rights. How does this story connect with you?

Did you ever wonder how Paul, sitting in prison, could be so upbeat (see all the references to joy and contentment in the letter to the Philippians, written in the slammer)? I think the answer is found in Acts 20:22-24 and in the next story in chapter 21. In Acts 20: 22-24 Paul says:

And now, I am going to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love. 20:22-24, New Living Translation

After years of evading capture, now capture was his next assignment.

Once he got to Jerusalem, Acts 21:20-25 tells us that the Christian leaders there suggested a course of conduct that, they felt, should help reduce the controversy around Paul’s presence. Paul should do a seven-day Jewish purification right to demonstrate his continued commitment to Jewish tradition.

And what happened? The course of conduct that was designed to minimize controversy had the exact opposite effect, and was the mechanism by which Paul was arrested (21:27-33). God had an agenda for Paul, and that agenda would not be undone by careful planning to the contrary.

Planning is good. Cultural accommodation should be done wherever possible (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) – and that was the point of the Jerusalem leaders’ plan for Paul. But what if God’s design is expressly to land us in trouble, because that troubled setting is our next assignment – because the people there need to hear the Good News about Jesus?

And so, because Paul knew jail was his assignment, he could concentrate on spreading the Good News about Jesus in this place to which God had sent him (Philippians 1:12-13).

Now, we can’t always claim that the trouble we’ve hit is God’s will – it could be our own foolishness and poor planning that put us there. But all the good planning in the world can’t avoid disaster if God needs someone to communicate His good news to the people who will be in your proximity once you’re in that pickle.

No prosperity gospel here!