Made for rhythm

I was recently watching a video on Facebook that our missionary colleague, Hazel Bech, put up. It was a video of a group of Christ-followers in Rwanda worshiping God. Their faces were vibrant as they sang and danced for Jesus! I was impressed by the sincerity and joy I saw in those faces. I also loved watching the worshipers dance. They had such rhythm!

As I sit here typing in a coffeehouse, they’re playing music. It’s good music and I can’t help but notice it has rhythm.

Did you know God made rhythm?

I just looked up a definition of the word online:

Rhythm: n. Movement or variation characterized by the regular recurrence or alternation of different quantities or conditions

Music doesn’t exist without rhythm, and its rhythm is really just a reflection of Creation. Everything God made has a natural rhythm.

For example, there’s the rhythm of the seasons: from summer to autumn, from autumn to winter, and so on…

There’s a rhythm to the day: from daylight to night and night to day…

And God also made the human being for rhythm.

Now, I’m not saying that all of us possess a musical rhythm. That’s disproven at any given concert, where everybody is clapping, by the occasional person who is clapping in between the beats!

But our bodies and souls are made for a natural rhythm and, without that rhythm, we don’t function very well. A song without rhythm is just noise, and a life without rhythm is just chaos. In fact, when we don’t respect the natural rhythms of our body and soul, we fall apart, just as the efforts of a symphony orchestra would fall apart as soon as the rhythm was lost.

I mentioned this briefly in my last post. We have to find the right balance in life — the rhythm we were made for — in order to be healthy, spiritually and physically. Let’s consider some of life’s natural rhythms and consider what happens when we lose the beat:

• The rhythm of sleep

  Part of the natural rhythm of our bodies requires proper sleep. If we don’t sleep enough, our bodies begin to break down. Lack of good sleep can lead initially to moodiness, irritability and disinhibition. Then, if a person doesn’t respond to these initial signs by getting the sleep they need, lack of adequate sleep in one’s life can lead to memory loss, the inability to multi-task and apathy. It reduces a person’s ability to be productive and can also make a person dangerous on the road as a person who doesn’t sleep enough is likely to have “micro-sleeps,” nodding off for 5 to 10 seconds, perhaps without even realizing he’s doing so. (reference: Why sleep is important and what happens when you don’t get enough)

  Some people are very proud that they feel they can “get by” with little sleep. They become so driven in their lives and careers that they sacrifice sleep and refuse to recognize they are destroying themselves in the process, by stepping out of rhythm with their body’s needs.

  When a person’s body is not continually renewed through sufficient sleep, his or her body’s healing process is impaired, and the body’s natural defenses against viruses and other illnesses are also broken down. PhD and diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, Michael J. Breus writes:

  Studies show an increased mortality risk for those reporting less than either six or seven hours per night. One study found that reduced sleep time is a greater mortality risk than smoking, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Sleep disturbance is also one of the leading predictors of institutionalization in the elderly, and severe insomnia triples the mortality risk in elderly men. Remarkably, sleep loss may also be a contributing factor to obesity.

  I believe a lack of sleep can be harmful to our spiritual condition as well. Some people legalistically think that they have to get up really early every morning for prayer in order to be “spiritual” enough, but some people’s bodies simply don’t cope with that kind of schedule. If we are made irritable by a lack of sleep, we can’t claim that as a spiritual victory and, if we aren’t taking care of our bodies properly in the name of “spirituality,” we’re missing the point terribly.

  Here’s something the Bible says about sleep:

  “In vain you rise early
  and stay up late,
  toiling for food to eat—
  for he grants sleep to those he loves.” — Psalm 127:2

  God made us with this natural rhythm for a reason and He wants us to honor that rhythm by finding the balance in life necessary to make sure we get our sleep! A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research study, released February 28, 2008, states that one out of ten Americans are sleep deprived. No matter how driven we may be, this is NOT honoring to God. God made your body with a natural rhythm for a reason, and you need to get your sleep.

  For more information about the body’s need for sleep, as well as a consideration of how to help people who simply CAN’T sleep, take a look at these Helpguide articles:

  Sleeping Well: Understanding Sleep Needs, Cycles and Stages

  Tips for Getting Better Sleep: How to Sleep Well Every Night

• The rhythm of sustenance

  When I’m visiting Africa, I sometimes see children whose bellies are extended; not from overeating, but from malnutrition. Due to their poverty, they haven’t had the option to honor their body’s need for sustenance. They truly know what it means to be HUNGRY, and their bodies suffer as a result.

  Most of us don’t know what true HUNGER is. However, we may know what it’s like not to eat PROPERLY. Our bodies have very real needs, and we need to respect those needs.

  The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Taking care of that temple, therefore, is not an optional thing. When we disrespect our body, we disrespect the God who made us and lives within us.

  Respecting the body’s natural rhythm of sustenance means eating properly if we have that option. I’ve had times when I’ve been so driven by my work that I forgot to eat! That’s not good! I’ve also been guilty of not eating PROPERLY. Junk food doesn’t keep the body healthy. My body has needs, and I need to work a proper diet into the balance of my life. To be honest, this is something I haven’t always done well, but I’m trying to work on it.

• The rhythm of exercise

  If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we have no right to abuse it. Exercise isn’t something we are meant to do only when we want to lose weight or get nice looking muscles. Exercise is a need that our body has, and we all need to seek ways to get the exercise our body needs. This takes discipline and, once again, it requires finding the balance we need in our life-schedules to make sure we are honoring our body’s needs thus, as a result, honoring the God who made our body.

  

• The rhythm of rest

  Genesis 2:2-3 says:

  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

  God put the rhythm of what came to be known as the Sabbath rest into Creation itself. Even God rested, and He wants us to follow His example. In fact, the Sabbath was so important to God that He put it into the Ten Commandments.

  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8-11

  I don’t believe that the Sabbath was created as some kind of legalistic “religious” day to be forced upon people. It was created as part of the natural rhythm of creation. We NEED that day of rest each week and, when we don’t take it, we are putting ourselves in danger. The body and soul need time to rejuvenate and be refreshed, and we also need that time for important things like paying attention to our family relationships and our relationship with God.

  Airplanes can only stay in the air so many hours before they start to fall apart. Why is that? Because if a plane stayed in the air TOO long, the stress would pull it apart. The same is true for us. If we stay busy too long and don’t take those times to rest, we fall apart physically, emotionally and spiritually.

  I remember the day I made the commitment to take a weekly sabbath rest no matter what. I was VERY busy and wondered how I could get all my work done if I took a day off, but I also knew I was struggling to cope with the stress and that I was tired all the time. So I decided to SCHEDULE a day off each week and find out what happened.

  Here’s what happened; I discovered, when I took one day off each week, I actually accomplished MORE in the remaining six days of the week than I had previously accomplished while working all seven. I also discovered that I felt better, was happier and easier to get along with. I was beginning to respect the rhythm of life and, as I did so, life began to feel more and more like the beautiful song it was made to be!

God made us for rhythm!

To find out how you can help children like the hungry children I mentioned in Africa, check out When I Grow Up, a glocal initiative started by Redeemer’s Church in Reedley, California.

An interesting experience…

Some people may find this story hard to believe if they’ve never had encounters with the overtly supernatural. I’ll just tell the story the way it happened and leave it at that…

At the end of a conference I led in Figueras, Spain the last weekend of September, a woman came up to me who had been struggling for years. She told me a monster came to attack and torment her regularly at night. During the day, it continued to be with her and cast an extra shadow that followed her wherever she went. Her sister, a devoted follower of Christ, said she’d also seen the shadow and had also watched once as something took this woman over and spoke through her in a male voice. Once, she said, she even went crazy and seven grown men couldn’t restrain her.

She didn’t actually seem crazy or to be making this story up, so I considered the possibility that this woman was being tormented by demons. I quietly told Karen in English to pray along with me as I prayed for the woman and to not be surprised if there was a manifestation of some kind.

As soon as I started to pray, the demons that had been tormenting her manifested. They started screaming out, and she went into convulsions and started foaming at the mouth. This woman had asked Jesus into her life, so I told the evil spirits in Jesus’ name that they no longer had any authority over the woman and they had no right to remain in her as she had surrendered to Christ. In Jesus’ name, I commanded them to leave. A piercing scream erupted from her throat, and then she briefly fell unconscious.

Shortly thereafter, she woke up, not remembering what had just happened but knowing that she was free. The woman praised God for her deliverance and then said, “Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!” The pastor and her fellow church members agreed to help her through this next phase of her life, as she leaves behind the things that had opened the doors to the demonic influences in her life and begins to follow the Lord, and everyone rejoiced at what God had done.

Later, I explained all that had happened to Karen. She had seen it but not understood the words as she is just learning Spanish and doesn’t understand a lot yet. Before I got to the last part, however, she said, “I knew she must be free when she said, ‘Jesus is Lord’ three times.” I said I agreed, but was then surprised when she said, “I thought it was interesting that she said it in English though. I didn’t even know she knew English.”

“She doesn’t know English,” I told her. “She said it in Spanish.”

As it turns out, however, Karen definitely heard it in English. When I asked her, Karen didn’t even KNOW the words for “Jesus is Lord” in Spanish yet. We shared that with some of the people from the church, and one said, “That must have been God demonstrating that it really was Him working.” On that occasion, Jesus demonstrated miraculously that He is indeed Lord, binding the power of the enemy and proclaiming His Lordship through that woman in such a way that the words could be understood in any language.

Again, some people will not believe this story. Others will find it offensive because it will clash with their belief systems. Yet, all I can do is tell it like it happened. The woman is free from torment now, and the shadow is gone.

Social concerns:

Do they REALLY matter to Jesus?

OK. In my last two posts, I said Jesus wants us to not just preach a Gospel about life after death but also to live out his Kingdom in the here and now. I indicated that part of the way we were called to do so, if we’re to call ourselves Christ-followers, is in doing things like help the poor, feed the starving, etc.

Some Christians, however, may think that I’m wrong. They might think doing these kinds of things is just giving in to some kind of “social gospel” and forgetting about the things that really matter to Jesus. Whose right about this?

Let’s just see what Jesus has to say about it and leave it at that. The following are his words from Matthew 25: 31-46:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.“

This 3-part series starts with
The Forgotten Mission of the Church
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The forgotten mission of the church

Jesus stood up in the synagogue and gave what amounted to a mission statement. First, he read the following, which was a quotation from the Old Testament:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because He has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.“

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” — Luke 4: 20-21

I find it fascinating that this announcement of his mission did not start with words like, “I’m here to make sure you get to heaven.” Why not? It’s not that giving us eternal life wasn’t part of his plan; in fact, he does say as much elsewhere. But it’s clear from these words that it wasn’t the ONLY thing in his plan.

If we read through the things Jesus said, did and taught in the Gospels, we soon discover that he talked a lot about God’s Kingdom. And this Kingdom was not presented just as something that would come someday; nor was it talked about as some place we would go to someday. No, it was something that was already breaking through HERE AND NOW through himself.

Theologians refer to it as “the now and not yet.” The Kingdom of God is something that is not entirely here yet. We still have suffering in this world, and just a short look at the day’s news confirms to us that we live in a broken world. However, Jesus teaches that in some ways the Kingdom of God is here now, though it will only fully arrive at a decisive point in the future.

But in what ways is the Kingdom of God here now? If we pay attention to what the Bible teaches, we discover that it is here wherever God is reigning, wherever his Kingdom life is being lived out in this world.

Fair enough. But in what ways are the Kingdom life lived out today??? Is the Kingdom life only lived out simply by preaching sermons and telling people “how to get to heaven when you die?”

Not if we take Jesus’ own mission statement to heart.

He said that his message was a gospel (good news) to the poor, one that would involve things like proclaiming freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the release of the oppressed. I’ve heard people try to “spiritualize” these words, making them all about a spiritual freedom that you feel somewhere deep inside. However, in the context of Jesus’ teaching, as well as in the lifestyle we see him living in the story of his own life, these words are hard to marginalize as mere spiritual analogies.

Jesus was a revolutionary, and the Kingdom he was coming to bring was one that was literally intended to shake up the world.

When that Kingdom message has been taken literally through the ages, the world has truly been shaken up too! The following are just a few examples of some of the ways Christians have had an impact through the years:

1. Christians led the movement for the liberation of slaves in the West
2. Christians were the force behind getting the vote for women in America
3. Christians cared for the sick during the great plagues and black death
4. The Red Cross was begun by Christians
5. The Salvation Army was begun by Christians
6. Christians started the concepts of soup kitchens and other means of dispensing food and shelter to the destitute and homeless

In the past, Christians have led the fight for social justice because they believed that it was part of Jesus’ Kingdom mission. Why have so many Christians abandoned this mission in more recent years?!

Am I saying that “the soul” no longer matters? I’ll discuss that a bit more actually in the next blog post. However, the answer is a resounding NO! I am convinced that living out the Kingdom of God DOES include telling people about God’s plan for our future in eternity because I am convinced that we are eternal beings! However, I am also convinced that God wants His Kingdom to begin to break through in the here and now.

His message is not just one of hope for “after you die.” It’s one of hope for today! However, his plan is that this hope begin to take place through us, his Kingdom people. I believe that one day God’s Kingdom will break through in all its splendor, but I also believe that it’s here in smaller doses right now; whenever we take the time to stand up against injustice, to reach out in practical ways to help the poor and needy, to visit the sick and the lonely, to get out there and make a much-needed difference in a suffering world.

That’s the forgotten mission of the church. It was Jesus’ first mission statement. When will we begin to make it part of ours?

Be sure to catch the follow-up to this post, TWO GOSPELS?,
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