Mocking Jesus

One of the lessons I teach my 5^th grade students is how words have negative and positive connotations. Typically, as an example, I use my physical appearance:

“Some people would say I am skin and bones. Others would say I am lean.” I would say. “Which one has a negative connotation?”

“Skin and bones,” students usually blurt.

Now imagine you and your best friend get into a fight over the last donut. You both want the delectable, cream-filled work of art, but instead of sacrificing your taste buds’ desire to consume the donut to preserve the bond you have formed with your best friend, you fight over it with catfighting, sarcasm, name calling, and eventually, mocking. Mocking.

Why is mocking associated with arguments and mostly unnecessary fighting. Meaning, why does mocking have a negative connotation? Mocking seems to introduce itself the moment nothing else works; like an offensive strategy that presumably gives those who use it an edge on the argument. As if we somehow got to the point of believing mocking can blow through the defenses of its opponent. But, it’s not just humans that do this to one another. Birds do this too. Please welcome, the Northern Mockingbird:

*Note: I am the owner of these photos and took them.

Is this bird a bad boy because it has the word mocking? I’ll let you be the judge:

According to a 5^th grade comprehension passage about the Mockingbird on I-Ready.com, “These birds can imitate just about any sound they hear. These sounds include those of other birds, animals, or objects. Mockingbirds can sound like a washing machine, a doorbell, or even squeaky door hinges.”

If you don’t think that’s annoying, you haven’t heard it all.

“And unlike other birds, mockingbirds LOVE to sing at night, especially when people are trying to sleep.”

Unless it’s “Graves Into Gardens,” by Elevation Worship or “Innocence” by Kenny G, I’m pretty sure imitating a song in the middle of the night at the expense of one’s peaceful sleep is a negative thing.

But if mocking is similar to imitating, like the mockingbird does, we should be like the mockingbird when it comes to being like Jesus. Ephesians 5:1-2 says it best:

“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ…” (NLT)

So while the Northern Mockingbird is out there annoyingly following the example of your Maytag washing machine from Home Depot, you are called to follow Christ’s example – in a positive connotation sort of way.

At the end of the day, it seems mocking could be about semantics and what the context is. When you hear the word "mock" and "Jesus" in the same sentence, it is probably not a pleasant experience. You, similar to me, are likely thinking about when the Chief Priests mocked Jesus as he was being tortured and crucified on the cross for our sins and theirs (see Matthew 27:41). I am not saying the mocking Jesus in that sort of way is a good thing.

But if we’re thinking of mocking the way the bird does it by “imitation” of other things it is around, we may be onto something here.

After all, when it comes to imitating other birds, it’s not just one voice they mimic: “A mockingbird may combine the songs of 32 different bird species plus other sounds in a 10-minute song.”

Though it would be interesting to know the reasons they do this, the point being made in connection to Jesus is that we are called to imitate his voice in our daily lives. As Christians, the role we play should be to sound like Jesus in a world where it is very tempting to “Do you.”

Our world is filled with excuses to be individualistic – all around are billboards, advertisements, and commercials promoting you in an effort to convince you to buy their product. Recently, I saw an advertisement on TV during an NBA game break and its slogan is “Worship Yourself.” Speaking of the NBA, athletes are more frequently “doing what’s best for them” when it comes to making a decision to opt out of their contract and sign elsewhere. The star athlete and his agent believe they have been loyal enough or that their chapter in life has come to an end and it's on to something new. In some case, it is justified, but too often, it doesn’t have to happen.

Documented and instructed all throughout Scripture, God commands us to be imitators of Christ – to copy the way Jesus lived life and to study his ways carefully:

-         “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” – James 1:22-25

-        “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” – 3^rd John 1:11

-        “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24

These are just a few examples, and what they all have in common are the words “doing” and “practice.” If we do what the Word tells us, believing it and practicing what it commands us to do, we are imitating the Christian standard set for men and woman who follow Christ.

We are mockingbirds, mimicking and imitating the sounds of whatever we worship and desire. If it is fashion, self, or the shiniest gadgets; if it is saving money, bitcoin, or investing in the stock market; if it is video games, fatty foods, and late nights binge-watching Neflix, we will imitate that sort of life in what we fill our minds with, how we fill our day, and why we behave the way we do. If I am to live my life wisely and go through it imitating anything, it should be Scripture, the way Jesus treated others, and God's call in my life. 

Therefore, if “mocking” is associated with the word imitating, than I would be happy to mock Jesus.

Spiritual Sleep Paralysis

"I'm leaving for work," my wife comes around to my side of the king size bed and leans in to kiss me.

If it's not a king size bed, it feels like one. For some reason, it feels different in the summer - falling into our bed is like doing a trust fall into an oasis of feathers that don't itch, but massage all of your muscles and sore spots. And it's not weird because they're feathers, not the hands of a leper. 

I look on my phone that never made it to the nightstand last night; fortunately, I did plug it in before my eyes became too heavy to stay awake. 

6:58am.

I would have already gotten out of the shower and dabbing my neck with cologne if it were just another average Thursday morning workday. But it's not an average Thursday morning workday - it's summer. My mind faintly recalls a time when waking up before this time was not only possible, but frequently accomplished, but my eyelids don't remember and don't care. Back to bed I go.

Summer break Thursdays for non-working teachers hit different, and every summer, I am one of them. Two years into my teaching career, I was content not working over summers, mainly for health reasons (pouring myself into my career for 180 school days can be grueling and time consuming for most of the school year), but partially because my summer breaks consist of six short weeks of vacation. The school I spent a majority of my career teaching in operated on a year-round schedule, where our fall, winter, and spring breaks are stretched out an extra week while our summer breaks are shorter than the other schools in the area and in general. Therefore, it wouldn't make much sense to me to work elsewhere for six weeks and then jump right back into another school year.

The moment day one of summer break begins, my wife wakes me every morning to kiss me just like my body kisses early mornings goodbye as I melt into the gigantic bed. During the school year, the roles are reversed as I am often the one waking her up. I often wonder during the summer weeks if I have any control over waking up earlier than 8am, though. Even sitting up to kiss my wife goodbye on a summer break feels like my head is filled with concrete and my lips have been in Han Solo's Cryo Freeze chamber for the first 30 years of my existence. 

The best my body can give me before 8am on summer mornings is five minutes - enough time to mumble my well-wishes and encouragement to my wife as she departs for work right after kissing her goodbye, feed the dogs if my second half hasn't already done so, and play half of Wordle on my phone before going back to bed and sleeping through three alarms.

I joke that I "took a nap until 10am" to convince myself that I didn't sleep in as if the five minutes I was up before my wife left for work counted as being awake. Though I joke about this version of Josh, I actually hate dealing with my half-dead body over the summer.

Every school year, I have two or three kids in my class who will sit in the back of the room, with their elbow resting on their desk and their arm stretching up to their chin where their hand rests. Their not listening, but looking at the top of my head as if a giant cockroach were on it playing a fiddle in front of an audience of children cockroaches. They might not be imagining a musically talented cockroach playing fiddler on the forehead, but they're certainly not focusing on learning about the area of an irregular shape. 

Once summer begins and my body tells me there's no reason to wake up early, I become that daydreaming student. My mind drifts to what it would feel like to wake up at 7:30 and spend my summer day being productive from sunup to sundown. Instead, my body disconnects from what my mind wants and wakes up at 10:30 - at that point, my wife has 2.5 hours of work under her belt. Can you imagine what could be done with 2.5 hours, other than sleep?

Give yourself a break, Josh; it's ok to sleep in every once in a while. The problem is, dear reader, is this happens EVERY DAY of summer. Eventually my mind and body have to be sick of it and use the summer to wake up when normal working adults wake up. 

After having an ounce of empathy for me, your next thought might be to change your sleep schedule. Go to bed earlier! You say, going into problem-solving mode as if I didn't think of this concept before. I have tried this idea, and on top of that, I have also gone to bed past 1am on a worknight - doesn't matter, you can't convince my summer break brain to wake up before 8am if it doesn't have to. I have taught a full day of school on 3 hours of sleep before - I wouldn't recommend making a habit out of this, but it's in these moments I note that it has nothing to do with what time I go to bed, but what time of the year it is. 

If I'm being honest with myself, I sometimes feel this way spiritually too. I tell myself I will kickstart my relationship with God the same I would a 2008 Toyota Camry with a bad battery. If I just open my Bible to the right book, read the right chapter from the right Christian book, listen to the right podcast, or find the right friend to confide in at the right coffee shop, I will successfully replace the bad battery in my life with a new one that will make my walk with Jesus better.

Me next to my 2008 Toyota Camry in 2018

Or worse. I sleep in. I get it, we all need sleep. If you need a swift reminder of this fact, go back to your college days when you were often confused about what your degree was in because you were a master at pulling all-nighters. Forget your bachelor's degree, you were getting your PHD in managing your life on an average of 28 minutes of sleep. 

Like any habit, our bodies, mind, and behavior normalize what we commit to focusing on in our lives. When I was in college, I normalized getting through the day on minimal sleep because I did it so often. The worse part about getting minimal sleep is not necessarily the physical effects, but the gravitational pull this habit has on you when it becomes a daily occurrence. Once you're neck-deep in the habit, you fail to recognize the unhealthy effect it has on you unless someone uses their entire being to pull it out of you.

Though the literal act of sleeping is a necessity, Paul warns us of the effect of using God's promise of salvation as a reason to shrug off the significance of spiritual practices. Why? Because our fight is not against flesh and blood, but something much more powerful. If you were a soldier in the middle of war and you decided to grab a few Zs, you would not only be a threat to your comrades, but you would put your own life and the mission at risk as well.

According to 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8, "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." When we consider the context of who Paul is writing to - the church in Thessalonica - it makes  sense. As we live under the protection of the knowledge of our salvation, we can easily become apathetic towards building a habit out of spiritual practices. I already believe in God and I am confident of my place in Heaven, we are prone to think. Matthew Henry Commentary tells us this should be a primary reason to not slacken in our walk with Christ: "...If we have hope in salvation, let us take heed of any thing that would shake our trust in the Lord." 

As someone who has a distaste for early mornings (according to my body), the biggest draw towards sleeping in is the comfort of my silk pillow, the warm blanket, and the soft mattress my body rests on. If it were a school day, and I allowed my desire to sleep in to trump my responsibilities as an educator, I would jeopardize my current position and potentially my career altogether because of my inability to show up, let alone prepare for, the students I am about to teach that day. Me prioritizing sleep over career would categorize me as ineffective in a field where so many children, parents, and co-workers are counting on me to be distinguished at what I do. Furthermore, if I shrugged off sleeping through my responsibilities with the excuse that I hope my kids can learn on their own without my assistance, I would most certainly be fired from my job and probably never get a good recommendation for the next one.

Similarly, if I rely too heavily upon the hope of my salvation and do not respond to this hope with faithfulness and allegiance to my duty as a Christ-follower - a disciple - I am sleeping on the job. Hope, used properly, partners with preparation in action. And what does hope look like in action? By how we live in community with others as ambassadors of the Truth. Our motivation, if not just to keep ourselves in pursuit of our connection with God, should be to "set a good example one before another" (Matthew Henry Commentary) and to encourage one another in preparation for Christ's return (See Hebrews 10:24-25). How can we help one another stay the course when we're using our time sleeping instead of staying prepared and focused on our duty as Christ-followers? Similar to the phrase, "I can't take care of you if I can't take care of myself," we need diligently stay awake in our faith in order to encourage others in theirs.

Hebrews 6:12 does an excellent job of summarizing the power of community and our duty to be wide awake in our spiritual walk into one succinct statement: "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." In other words, don't let apathy prevent you from following in the footsteps of the faithful before us by imitating them in order to inherit what was promised to us.

So, how do we avoid becoming another victim of spiritual sleep paralysis? 

First, we must recognize and admit that the battle is bigger than the physical. Ephesians 6:12 - "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Second, we actively develop healthy habits that Jesus did to prepare ourselves for the bigger war being fought; Jesus fasted, Jesus prayed, Jesus spent time in the community and with his closest friends (he didn't isolate himself), Jesus remained obedient to God, and Jesus let the Word of God drive his mission (see Matthew 4 when he is tempted). In other words, do what Jesus did while he walked the earth. 

Third, do not give up! Often, I connect my circumstances to God's goodness rather than connect God's goodness to my circumstances. Our circumstances change like the weather - God is unchanging. Paul made it clear to the church of Galatia how he, Titus, and Barnabas and fought the spiritual war: "...we did not give up and submit to these people ['false brothers'] for even a moment" (Galatians 2:5). They did not give up, according to Paul, because they had a purpose, which was to preserve the Gospel for the Galatians. If we remain true to who we are under the eternal protection and unconditional love of Christ, not allowing our circumstances to sway our faith, we will be "strong and immovable" (1 Corinthians 15:58) in our allegiance to Christ. 

Like most aspects of our life, our decisions are a part of the cause-and-effect cycle. All of our reactions and responses are a result of the previous experiences we've had. Therefore, if we make our daily life decisions and place them through the filter of these three steps, the Holy Spirit will help us remain sober, vigilant, and diligent to our duty as disciples of Jesus.

Consider what Paul said to the Ephesians: 

"'Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.' Be careful, then, how you live - not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

So, the choice is yours. Will you sleep through your responsibilities, or embrace them and allow God to take you on an adventure with him?

Who Pooped? Two Strategies to Overcome Strongholds

  On April 24th, 2024, Diggs pooped in the house. It's easy to remember the date because the entire house smelled like a field full of manure - you know the smell.

And to make matters worse, no, Diggs never tells us. His face never does either - not even a low growl. If I pooped in the house and outside of the toilet bowl, I would at least growl at it.

Look no further than this before and after of Diggs as evidence.

Before me asking Diggs if he took a doo doo on the ground of the living room:

After me asking if he took a doo on the ground of the living room:

In the second photo, he believes his adorable looks will help us turn a blind eye to the atrocious crime he committed on this day.

Paul addressed the church of Corinth in one of his letters and said, "We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). 

Sometimes, those strongholds Paul is referred to look a lot like Diggs and his poop incident before and after I ask him if he did the dirty deed or not - they are disguised as a struggle sent from God himself. Look no further than Job; one of the book's major themes is to not listen to your friends who misidentify a struggle as God's punishment. Jobs friends tried to convince him that his pain and suffering is a result of God's wrath over Job's misdeeds, when it was clear in the beginning of this story that Job was upright and as blameless as they come. Satan's design is to use strongholds as a means to distance from God, but plenty of strongholds are not designed to look like strongholds until you're waist-deep in it. From a distance, Diggs looks innocent until proven guilty. With Diggs' never-ending cuteness combined with his "I will remain silent until I get a lawyer" attitude, Amanda is much closer to believing I pooped on the living room rug than he did. 

It can be easy to believe lies about God when a rumor, difficulty, or impossible season seems to support that lie about Him, especially when the situation is so personal. Unfortunately, the moment we consider the world's "God" over the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Bible, we are like a house built on sand, easily overtaken by the waves of the world.

So, how do we "demolish strongholds" that do a good job disguising themselves the way Diggs disguises his misdeed? 

1. We go through strict training of the mind - one of the foundations of our belief in God.

2. We use the power of self-discipline and discernment to act on those Biblical truths

Strict Training of the Mind:

Paul makes it clear that we are all competing in a race, and to win the race for the "crown that lasts forever," (1 Corinthians 9:25) we must go through strict training. How? First, we need to admit that our mind is just as important than any other muscle: we need to workout the mind to be filled with thoughts that bring us near to Jesus. We can't go to the gym and only workout the muscles that are visible to the world around us. The mind also needs proper exercise. 

Typically, when we think of the mind, we think of the thoughts that go in and out of it like a revolving door. While this is true, it also dictates much more than the thoughts that live inside of it.

Jennie Allen, from her award-winning book Get Out of Your Head, says this about the mind:

"Our emotions lead us to thoughts, those thoughts dictate our decisions, and our decisions determine our behaviors, and then our behaviors shape our relationships which lead back to our healthy or unhealthy thoughts."

In other words, appropriate attention and focus on giving the mind its proper nutrients will strengthen more than just your thoughts, but our emotions, decisions, behaviors, and our relationships too. Admitting that our mind needs to consistently be plugged into sources that strengthen it will help us focus on finding ways to feed it with intentionality and purpose.

Secondly, When we stray from those thoughts, it is important to partake in spiritual practices that reground us in the mind of Christ (fasting, prayer, Sabbath, surrounding yourself with Christian community, etc.). As a vital part of God's creation, it only makes sense to go back to the source to get filled up when our tank is empty and we're prone to the distractions Satan places in our path. Any one of the spiritual formation practices mentioned above will help us build the discernment we need to go to war against strongholds that oppose the will of God.

From Self-Discipline & Discernment to Action:

 

In one of Paul's letters to Timothy, he encourages him of this one simple truth: The Spirit of God within us gives us power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). When we lean into this verse, we become mentally aware of the strongholds that Satan uses to remove us from the race. In one of his letters to a church in Galatia, Paul tells the people they were running a good race, "Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth" (Galatians 5:7)? Self-discipline and proper discernment will prevent you from drifting towards unbiblical truths that distance you from God. When your mind is distanced from God, so will your behavior, emotions, and actions. 

On the other hand, if you submit your thoughts to Christ and the Truth found in the Word, and remain consistent in keeping your mind focused on Him, he will continue to draw near to you as you draw near to Him (see James 4:7-8). Where self-discipline and discernment come in is when you're steadfast in your dedication to make Christ a priority in your mind, he will give you the discernment you need to make the right decisions when you are faced with a stronghold. 

When we embrace the journey of working out our mind to be in alignment with Christ, taking thoughts captive and making them obedient to Him, we can spot the source of the poop that tries to distance us from our Creator because as we give our minds over to Him, He gives us the strength, discipline, and discernment to take action against those strongholds.

Next time Satan uses a poopy situation to distance you from the truth, you'll know the source of the stink and how to clean it up because you have strategies that put you on the right side of the of the Spiritual Battle: right next to Christ as he fights with you.