Pucker Up

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have you kissed anyone today…has anyone kissed you? I hope so, but if not, there is still time to do some good kissing, with our Lord’s approval and to the benefit of the kisser and the one kissed.

If you didn’t know, there is a lot of kissing in the Bible. With notable but rare exceptions, kisses are genuine forms of affection, loyalty, romance, and restoration. I realize the Bible stories are a long time ago and reflect a different culture, but the act of pressing lips to skin of another seemed common.

Now, I’m not here for all of it, and I’m guessing my sons-in-law aren’t either. Remember Jacob? He’s the guy who wanted to marry Rachel (whom he kissed rather quickly after meeting her – Genesis 29:11) but ended up marrying her older and far less attractive sister Leah when their dad pulled a fast on Jacob. Well, before Daddy Deceiver passed off Leah as Rachel, Laban gave his future son-in-law Jacob a kiss (Genesis 29:13).

The Bible records a few times where the kisses of an enemy are deceitful (Proverbs 27:6). We all know about Judas kissing our Lord when Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. There’s a crazy scene in 2 Samuel 20 where Joab (one of King David’s generals) lays a kiss on a dude seconds before he slits the man’s belly with his sword. Another time, David’s son Absalom kisses citizens after they show allegiance to him when he’s plotting to take David’s throne. So, there is a lesson here than not all kisses are what they seem to mean, but I’ll leave that for another time. Back to the good kissing.

In Genesis 45 Joseph kisses his brothers when he reveals his identity to them years after they sold him into slavery. The kiss expresses restored relationship.

In Ruth 1 the widow Naomi kisses her widowed daughters-in-law. The kiss expresses shared grief and self-sacrifice.

In 1 Samuel 20 Jonathan kisses David and David kisses Jonathan. The kisses express loyalty to each other in the face of King Saul’s rage.

In the Song of Solomon, the bride kisses her groom and the groom his bride. The kisses express their beautiful and exclusive passion for each other.

In Luke 7 a woman known in the streets to be a sinner comes to home where Jesus is having dinner. There she kisses our Lord’s feet. The kisses reflect her humility that Christ would forgive and accept her.

Later in Luke 15 a longing and joyful dad kisses his prodigal son when his son comes home smelling like pig slop. The kiss expresses a father’s unconditional love.

Five times the apostles Paul and Peter instruct Christians to “greet each other with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).

I can’t tell you the Bible commands you to kiss people like the Old Testament examples, but I can say the Bible examples show us kissing and physical affection is really good for relationships. So, let’s turn up the physical affection, and here’s some suggestions:

• If you’re married and you’re home when your spouse walks through the front door, wouldn’t it be great if the first thing that happened before anything else was a welcome home kiss! The kiss says “Whatever happened in your day or mine and whatever needs to get done around this house, there’s nothing more important to me than you.” I am here to tell you that one of the best things you can do to improve your marriage is to kiss your spouse every day, multiple times a day.

• If you’ve got kids, a great practice is to greet them with a kiss when they come home from school or a friend’s house or to give them a kiss when you come home. The kiss says, “I’ve missed you and I’m really happy to be back with you.”

• When you kiss or hug your older dad, mom, or in-laws, you do more for them than you can possibly know. The kiss says, “I’m not a child anymore, but I love you because I am your son” or “because I am your daughter.”

• When you embrace a fellow Christian, your embrace conveys unity because of Christ and a relationship that will be eternal.

• When you hold your wife’s hand or when you take your husband’s arm, your touch reminds each other that you are not merely roommates; you are lovers.

• When your kids see you and your spouse kiss and hug and hold hands and sit close to each other, they see an example to follow, and they breathe the joy of their parents’ love.

There a more examples, but you get the idea. Most of us could do a lot of good to those around us by doing a little more kissing, a little more hugging, a little more hand holding, and little more cuddling.

But what if you have no one to kiss and no one who will kiss you?

Psalm 2 instructs the kings of the world and all the people of the world to “kiss the son.” It is a reference to our Lord Jesus. A psalm is poetic literature so the reference is not to a physical act but is a visual expression of one’s approach to Jesus. To kiss the son is to express to him love, loyalty, submission, gratefulness, and worship. That he receives our kisses further demonstrates his love and loyalty to us.

Let’s do the work of Christians and give a holy kiss.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Briefly, Part Two

Brenda and I are away celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. This verse has been important to me in the last 35 years of our marriage.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22).

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Briefly

Brenda and I are away celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. This verse has been important to me in the last 35 years of our marriage.

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her (Genesis 24:67).

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Devotions from Leviticus, You Say?

It’s just too much for any person to realistically perform. No, not the new job description at your work or the calling to be a mom of three little ones, but The Law, Moses’s law as it is spelled out in the book of Leviticus. In social media language “I can’t even” is the appropriate response.

Over and over and over the book of Leviticus told the ancient Jews what made them “unclean” in God’s presence. In 92 occurrences the word unclean restricts diet, physical touch, the furniture where a person could sit or lie down to sleep, and even the plaster on an interior wall of your home. Should the mold in the house not pass the priest’s inspection, the priest would order the house destroyed to the foundation (Leviticus 14:43-45). If you think reading the book of Leviticus is hard as you go through your Bible reading plan, imagine having to live under the code. “I. Just. Can’t”

Instead of the declaring how good they were by keeping every nuance of the law, every honest Jew would have to declare an inability to do what the law said. Daily failure in some area of the law only added to the weight of guilt a person bore. There simply was no escape from the law. Like Paul wrote, the law is a prison guard keeping the inmate perpetually confined (Galatians 3:23).

Helping us, Paul masterfully explains what we were unable to do (keep the law), Christ did fully (Romans 8). God then applies to our lives Christ’s full obedience to the law as if we fulfilled all the law ourselves. This is grace, God gives us something we do not deserve and cannot acquire. Our Lord’s righteousness becomes ours, having obtained it by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). “I can’t even” becomes “Jesus did.”

So we rest, not in our own good deeds but in Jesus’s. And we read the laborious, repetitive, lengthy, and minute matters recorded in Leviticus and breathe a sigh of relief, “I don’t have to because Jesus did.” And we live this life free from our old master whom we could never fully please and in joyful submission to our new master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

Be encouraged, Christian, Jesus did for you what you could not do for yourself leaving you free to live a joyful life to God’s glory.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

So, You Got the Covid Shot, Now What?

Let’s talk vaccines. No, not generically, but that vaccine. You know the one. The one that is blasted across your social media page. The one being blamed for deaths of young men. The one originally touted as a shield against a virus but now the one allegedly responsible for the premature demise of otherwise healthy people. Yeah, that one, let’s talk about it.

To the Lord’s glory and praise, our church and my immediate family has been immune from the drama of masks and vaccines. With the smallest of exceptions, our church has been free of conflict about how to respond to Covid-19. This is a testimony to the spiritual maturity of our church and to the grace of God protecting us from biting each other (Galatians 5:15).

For reasons unique to each person, some in our church and some in my immediate family received the vaccine. My nephew is a recent graduate from the US Navy bootcamp at Great Lakes Naval Base on the shores of Lake Michigan. His four-year enlistment came with many requirements, including the vaccine requirement. He is not unique in that regard. Many careers required the shot. My nephew is 19, and if the conspiracies are to be believed, he is at risk.

For the record, I have done zero research on the potential side effects from the vaccine and have read no material showing cause and effect. I have no opinion if the vaccine contributes to problems of otherwise healthy people. Maybe you have researched and maybe you have an opinion. Good for you. On this matter, you are more informed than I am.

Hearing the stories, reading the material, and watching videos of athletes collapsing to the turf has heightened the hysteria surrounding the vaccine. I would not be surprised to hear that some Christians who received the vaccine are now second guessing their decision and are more than a little fearful of the outcome of their choice.

I am a pastor-theologian. You are a Christian and a theologian. That means we look at all matters from the viewpoint of God’s revelation to us. When it comes to death by vaccination, we do best to think biblically. Only biblical thinking will calm our fears, and only biblical thinking will protect us from hysterical imaginations.

I have no idea if your cause of death will be the result of a vaccine shot you received, a fall you took from a ladder, or the simple fact you are 101 years old. Here is what I do know, and what you should know too – there is no such thing as an untimely death. Like so many other matters, on this the Bible is clear.

My times are in your hand (Psalm 31:15).

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass (Job 14:5).

The years, days, hours, and minutes of every human being have been determined by the Lord. No one leaves this life before or after the Lord’s declaration. He alone gives life, and he alone takes into eternal life.

My sons and daughters and their spouses are young adults, some with small children. I’ll let you in on the most fearful thought I have – that one of them precedes me in death. The thought doesn’t consume me, but on snowy winter days when my boys are driving to work or when my daughter loads up my granddaughter to head to the school where she teaches, I am as prayerful as ever, asking God to deliver them all safely to their destinations and back home again. While I am confident they all will someday be with the Lord, I am not hopeful that any of them will be with the Lord today. Honestly, the thought unsettles me. But as I said, I am a pastor-theologian, and we are Christian theologians. God tells us how to think about the timing of the death of any of us.

So, if you or someone close to you received the vaccine, I am glad for you. I hope it delivered to you what you desired. And if you find yourself fearful because of all the emotion about the vaccine, I have two suggestions for you. One, get off social media, and more importantly, think biblically about the will of God in the timing of everyone’s death.

As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musings.