the power of touch

last night i was invited to pet a cat. a friend who was holding our mutual friends' cat came over to me and gave me this option. i declined because of allergies. i seldom pet cats because no matter how often i'm around them, often even building up a resistance to their dander from a distance, i invariably have a reaction if i touch them and then don't wash. when i declined, i said these words: "i can love you without touching you." i think i wanted mikey to know that even though i never pet him, i love him.

my words got me thinking about how opposite and removed from the truth this actually is. at the recent birth of a friend's baby, like mother and baby, the father was encouraged to hold his newborn daughter next to the bare skin of his arms and chest because of the importance of touch. studies in orphanages and hospitals repeatedly tell us that infants deprived of skin contact lose weight, become ill, and even die. premature babies who are administered touch therapy gain weight faster, cry less, and show more signs of a relaxed pulse, respiration rate, and muscle tension. research shows that children who are hugged regularly thrive more positively socially, and mature into a healthy young adulthood. marriages suffer when the simple romance of hand-holding is replaced by merely waiting on the other spouse hand-and-foot, and when he or she never gets a kiss for the sake of a kiss. there are noticeable changes in the mood and health of elderly people when they have exposure to simple human kindness in the form of touch. and yes, even fido and tabby like it when you take the time to pet them and give them a good scratch. the way i see it, one cannot love fully or properly without that love being accompanied by touch.

now, while the latter paragraph dealt with the power and importance of physical touch, touching doesn't just refer to the physical. we can touch people's lives socially, financially, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. it's called caring...caring so much that you show it in whatever way that person needs it. it might even be caring enough to put yourself aside and putting that other person first, which is always a good principle to follow.

but everything i've said up to this point isn't even what i want to say...let's go back to my erroneous statement: i can love you without touching you. where my mind really went was to how i don't want to be the kind of person that Jesus called a hypocrite: one who honours him with my lips, but whose heart is far from him (mark 7:7 & isaiah 29:13). i don't think i can adequately love God without touching him. in fact, i was created to touch him. colossians 1:16 (niv) says this: "by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." revelation 4:11 (msg) says, "worthy, o master! yes, our God! take the glory! the honor! the power! you created it all; it was created because you wanted it." that last verse is a statement of worship, repeated by 24 worshippers around the throne in heaven, and is accompanied by the action of each worshipper taking off their crown and laying at the feet of the One sitting on the throne.

my point is that i really think that if i love him i will touch him...not just when it's convenient for me, or when i feel like it, or when the mood strikes me, but every chance i get, especially since i was created for that purpose. if i love him, i won't just tell him; i'll show him...so that he'll know my heart isn't far from him...plus, when we touch him, we get his attention. he makes touching him worth it. think of the woman with the issue in the bible. Jesus responded to the woman who deliberately touched him (luke 8:45 & 46 nlt). 

it's in my best interests to touch him. i fulfill his desire when i do. and as much as there is power in his touch, there is power in my touch, for when i touch him he stops everything he's doing and turns his ear and his eye my way...
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this brings me to another statement i heard the same evening i made my statement. while watching the vancouver 2010 olympics opening ceremony the other night, i was struck by something one of the officials said: "let us touch as many as we can while we can."

now, it's not hard to see where this is going to go. i could arrest my commentary here and that simple statement will have been enough to make you think about what that means to you.

in fact, i think i will stop with this: if olympic officials feel this strongly about affecting people, how much more should the church be living by this principle? we don't have forever. we need to be touching lives on a daily basis by being the church God has called us to be..."by caring for orphans and widows in their distress" (james 1:27 nlt); by showing "mercy to those whose faith is wavering" and rescuing others "by snatching them from the flames of judgment" (jude 22 & 23 nlt); by inviting and urging people "to come, so that the house will be full" (luke 14:21-24 nlt)...and those are just a few things we need to be doing...God left a long letter about what we can be doing to touch others...

i agree; let's touch as many as we can while we can...

knowing-doing=sin; knowing+doing=blessing

awhile ago i was doing some vacuuming and dusting in my room. i caught myself actually cleaning around stuff, instead of moving the pictures and the books and the cds...it's not like i was in a hurry, or had somewhere to be, or something else to do...and i don't even think it was a conscious decision to do a half job...actually, if i'm being honest, doing a half job in this area is chronic for me...

on the topic of the habitual, as i was sucking up some dust off the bottom shelf of my bookcase--without moving other personal effects--and thinking how badly i hate dusting, i was reminded about doing chores when i was younger. my mom would often do up a list of stuff for my sister and me. if dusting appeared on my list, i would invariably try and swap with my sister: "i will do allllll of this for you, if you will dust for me."

you see, i hated dusting. i hated the feeling of just moving the dirt around. i hated getting dirt under my nails. i hated the dried out feeling my hands would get after rinsing my rag in warm, sudsy water multiple times. but, i loved the end result of being dust-free. i still do.

so this got me thinking about how i'm sometimes willing to do a half job in many areas of my life. i'm willing to work on this, but will leave that. i will devote time to that, but not this. i will sacrifice here, but not there. i will push the envelope there, but not here. i will go out of my way to do one thing, but not another. at the end of the day, it looks like i've got all my ducks in a row and the dirt dealt with, but if you were to just shift your gaze from what you can easily see to what i try to hide, you'd see things that i'd be embarrassed for you to see. admittedly, sometimes i make clean the outside of the cup, but inside there's an ugly ring of stain.

if you had walked in my room on that particular morning and watched me dust, or if you had moved this picture or that book, i would have been ashamed for you to see my laziness and indifference in dealing with the dust and cobwebs. the way i see it, i can't let this be an exercise in futility for me. this simple illustration has reminded me that since i hate how i feel when i dust and vacuum improperly, i must have the same disgust when i do the things i shouldn't do, and don't do the things i should do...and i'm not even talking about heinous sin here...i'm talking about the times i know i should pray and i choose to text, or the times i know i should read and i choose to watch, or the times i know i should respond and i choose to sit...those times i know i should do and i don't, or the times i know i shouldn't and i do...

unlike trading chores with my sister so i wouldn't have to dust, i know that today in my life there are things i need to do that only i can do. and you know what? maybe you'd never move the book or the cd and see how i failed to properly clean, and maybe you don't see my weaknesses like i feel you do, but the thing is, i know they're there. and knowing in the biblical sense implies doing: "it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it" (james 4:17 nlt), and doing implies blessing: "don't just listen to God's word. you must do what it says...and if you do...then God will bless you for doing" (james 1:22-25).

now, i must go dust properly ;-)

what on earth am i doing for heaven's sake?

today a friend sent me a list of the top 10 church sign sayings. the title of this entry was on the list. when i read it, i was immediately pricked in my heart. it didn't help matters when i started reading the parable of the 3 servants...actually, maybe my matters were helped...now i just need to do what i've seen...

long story short, the master entrusted his servants with his money to look after while he was gone. in his absence, 2 servants invested what they'd been given so that when the master returned he was "full of praise. 'well done, my good and faithful servant...let's celebrate together!'" the 3rd servant, being afraid to lose the master's money, hid it, and "the master replied, 'you wicked and lazy servant...why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? at least it could have gotten some interest on it?' to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. but from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away."

i've been thinking a lot lately about what i'm currently doing for God versus what i've done in the past...and what i want to do right now versus what i'm currently doing...and what i want to do in the future. boy, i'm gonna be busy if i get my act together :-) (and on a parenthetical side note, "tomorrow starts today...")

my pastor often says something to the effect of "if you're not doing as much today for God as you were a year ago, what changed?" since the start of the new year, i find i'm being challenged more and more to evaluate what i'm doing for God...not because there are negative consequences for calling myself a christian and then not working/serving/living like it--because it's not about being guilted into doing, or only doing 'cause i don't want to be punished--but because there are positive consequences when i do work and serve and live and act according who i say i am, and whose i say i am (i.e. to whom i say i belong). it's not about having to...it's about getting to...

for me, the key word is service. there's a cheesy saying, but one that rings true: saved to serve. just a few verses after the parable of the servants, Jesus explains a bit about the final judgment: "he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. he will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. then the king will say to those on his right, 'come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. for i was hungry, and you fed me. i was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. i was a stranger, and you invited me in. i was naked, and you gave me clothing. i was sick, and you cared for me. i was in prison, and you visited me.'"

the way i see it, i was saved to serve; i wasn't saved to be served. and if i'm not serving, then i have to ask myself if i'm really saved. according to the parable, the servants were supposed to be busy doing something, and being faithful in the little things. according to Jesus at the end of his instruction, those who don't feed, or don't give a drink, or don't invite, or don't clothe, or don't visit are cursed and sent away...

what on earth am i doing for heaven's sake? that's what i'm asking myself today. vesta mangun, a true servant who has been serving for decades, recently spoke to hundreds of other servants/ministers. she said something that left an indelible impression on me: "we take nothing into eternity with us...except who we are and what we've done...if we haven't done well, He won't say 'well done'...we will all stand before God unsupported by family, friends, spouses, pastors, counselors, etc. would you want to stand before Him today as exactly who you are right now and with what you've done?"

that's a pretty big "except" when i consider that i must "stand before Christ to be judged. [i] will receive whatever [i] deserve for the good or evil [i] have done" (1 corinthians 5:10 nlt). i will be accepted based on my "except." i will be accepted based on who i am and what i've done...not compared to you and what you've done, but on my servanthood and my level of service. certainly, our doing will invariably be different, and it's supposed to be because that's the way we've been designed...but the ostensible truth is that we must be doing...

"occupy till i come" (luke 19:13). this is what the master told his servants. it's an imperative sentence. the subject "you" is understood, so it applies to me when i read it. it's a command; not an option. well, i can choose not to occupy, but the ramifications are pretty clear. i need to be absorbed and employed and immersed in serving while i'm on earth...to answer the earlier question, i wouldn't want to stand before God today with who i am and what little i've done...i want to get busy, and like the first recorded words of Jesus in the new testament, "be about my Father's business." that's what i want to be doing on earth for heaven's sake.

*warning: looooooong entry* "living deeply...a 'non-biblical' approach from literature, which has plenty of biblical overtones" :-)

walden, by henry david thoreau, is one of my favourite non-biblical books. it's the account of his life from 1845-47. thoreau went to walden pond to live during this time because he wanted "to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles." he had made some very sobering observations about the lifestyles of those around him, coming to the conclusion that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," full of life-negating obstacles. he eventually asks the provocative question: "why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?" he was determined to overcome the desperate and materialistic obstacles of obtaining more, by becoming content with less.

thoreau wasn't alone in his questioning about this desperation--this illness of modern culture. friedrich nietzsche, in the birth of tragedy, responds to the unhealthy nature of society that he also had observed, calling it "the fundamental malady of modern culture." he imagined a culture with "intrepidity of vision...in order to live resolutely in wholeness and fullness." thoreau referred to a vision which penetrates the surface of things, in order to live a full life. since thoreau's going to the woods is a debatable remedy to the blinding discontent he witnessed, i wanted to examine thoreau's diagnosis of culture as well as his remedy; that is, to "live deliberately...to live deep."

thoreau saw that those around him were living discontented lives. they were so occupied with the cares of life they were merely playing life, and not earnestly living it. nietzsche echoes this in tbot when he remarks that man had become "alarmed and dissatisfied at his own consequences." thoreau's diagnosis of this condition was that his countrymen were too consumed with obtaining the "necessaries of life." he had determined that 'wants' had taken the place of 'needs,' fostering complicated lifestyles and mechanical living. no more were people living lives appreciative of what they had, but were living lives of resentment and seemingly bitter longing for the things which they hadn't yet obtained. people were no longer asking what they needed to live, but were living hurried and wasted lives, all in the attempt to "get into business" and "get out of debt." thoreau posited that this hectic kind of lifestyle lacked purpose, being "frittered away by detail," ultimately making people sick. he recognized these feelings and was "torn by two powerful and opposing drives--the desire to enjoy the world...and the urge to set the world straight."

the hectic lifestyle thoreau spoke about can be seen today. he concluded that in the attempt to procure food, clothing, and shelter, people had become so caught up in the rat race of 'getting' that they were now doing penance for these things, becoming owned by the very things they were trying to own. the things 'gotten' had gotten the 'getter,' such as houses and animals, leading thoreau to believe that in the end "the more you have...the poorer you are." people were no longer concerned with what they needed to live simply and deliberately, and with purpose. they had become more concerned with getting new things. he observed that meeting basic biological needs was--and still is--replaced by obtaining "the comforts of life."

thoreau speaks of the importance of meeting these basic biological needs--the things necessary for life, such as food, clothing, shelter. he maintains, however, that people had let these things, especially the obtaining of them, become a hindrance "to the elevation of mankind." his countrymen could go no further because their consumption was consuming them. life was no longer an adventure, nor a thing to be loved because people were spending the best part of their lives earning and obtaining "in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of [life]." in life without principle, thoreau uses the expression "the way in which we spend our lives." he articulates further that "this world is a place of business...i think there is nothing, not even crime...more opposed...to life itself, than this incessant business." he realized there was something drastically wrong "when men focussed their energies on the acquisition of material things." further, he saw that there was "a kind of slavery to things." thoreau understood that this endless pursuit for things helped to keep civilization "poor as long as they live." to overtly add a biblical element, we need to find ways in which to invest our lives. in so doing--by committing our time, our talent, our treasure to something bigger than ourselves--we will then, and only then, be really living.

in light of his diagnosis that the "mass of men" were living desperate lives to acquire things that would eventually control and impoverish them, thoreau proposed a remedy. in practice, he withdrew from society in an effort to seek independence from society. in theory, however, his remedy is far more practical, since running away from something really only means you're running to something else. in going to walden pond, thoreau hoped to simplify his life, thereby forging a deliberate and deep life for himself--a life which would penetrate the surface of things, becoming rich in "sunny hours and summer days," if not in money. when he came to die, thoreau didn't want to discover that he had not lived. so, with passion he proposed to "suck out all the marrow of life...to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it." it wasn't enough for him to know that others had experienced it. he wanted to know it for himself.

thoreau encourages others to look at themselves--to determine what one truly requires to be content. he also states emphatically that he isn't speaking to the whole of civilization, but "mainly to the mass of men who are discontented." he advises that in order to live deliberately, one must "live free and uncommitted" from 'things.' for when one begins to pursue a simple life, one finds that it is less of a "hardship" than if one pursues a complicated and materialistic lifestyle. he says further, it isn't until we begin to simplify our lives that we become free: "not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves." matthew 16:26 asks, "and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?" putting aside the desperation to succeed, and the paralyzing, life-negating obstacles of materialism, will encourage and generate a richer and more gratifying life...and really, it's only through God that we find real life anyway. thoreau insists that change can happen when one is willing to change. civilization can escape its low condition by acknowledging that change comes from within. "things do not change. we change." by escaping its low condition, mankind will experience "simplicity of life and elevation of purpose," in turn experiencing the kind of purpose that penetrates the surface of living.

thoreau knew he couldn't change others, and he didn't want them to change for him: "i would not have any adopt my mode of living on any account...i desire that there may be many different persons in the world as possible; but i would have each one be very careful to find and pursue his own way." people have to desire change for themselves. people have to find their purpose in life and actively pursue it...be driven by it.

in walden, thoreau makes the declaration that "to the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change." this is the crux of his remedy--why he went to the woods to live. this is arguably the only remedy; not going to the woods, but making changes, to somehow make life better and deeper than mere surface, shallow living. matthew talks about 4 types of soil, each representing a type of lifestyle: "what do you make of this? a farmer planted seed. as he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams" (matthew 13:3-8 msg). the gravel, or stony soil, doesn't allow for seeds to penetrate the surface because it has no "deepness of earth" (13:5 kjv). the allusion here is to shallow lives that never penetrate the surface of living because they lack depth as individuals. to rise above mere existence and surface living, which lacks fullness and wholeness, one must make changes which will foster the kind of deep living to which thoreau alluded and the bible addresses over and over again.


the kind of change necessarily depends on the individual and the imminent circumstances, but ultimately, to the individual sick of his or her life, sickness requires that changes be made--not to accommodate the sickness, but to annihilate it. when it comes to living a deep and deliberate life, full of purpose, one must "simplify, simplify, simplify," cutting out the unnecessary commotion and detail. in losing the world and the materialism that impairs true living, as well as the desperate to succeed in desperate and temporal enterprises, one ultimately finds self. according to proverbs 28:29, "where there is no vision the people perish." to fix yourself, find yourself, and to find yourself and abundant life, turn to Christ. in so doing, you will be living not just deliberately, but deeply, and with fearless vision that penetrates the surface, lead a full and whole life.