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10 Lessons Life Tends to Teach

Posted in Commentaries, Lists on December 23, 2010| 4 Comments »

1.    When you lack self respect, people will tend to follow your lead. It seems as though people who struggle with self-respect routinely put themselves in a position to get walked on (i.e. taken advantage of, neglected, abused).  Though many folks may be willing to step over them for a while, eventually they begin to blend in with the carpet.

2.    Most arguments aren’t worth having.  It is truly rare that two people come to a conversation, with differing viewpoints and a genuine openness to consider a contrasting perspective.  Generally, we enter such discourses with our minds made up, listening only well enough to develop our next counterpoint.

3.    Often times the drive-thru isn’t the quickest path to the food.  We have become so focused on convenience in America that we’ll often take twenty minutes to go through the drive-thru, just to avoid a five minute walk to the counter.  While that might seem to be a trivial matter, it appears to be having a profound impact on generations of kids, who are being raised with the idea that everything should be quick, easy and accessible from a sitting position.

4.    It’s doubtful that anyone is really “out to get you”.  Generally, a person (and/or their circumstance) has to be of consequence before someone is willing to invest the time and energy it takes to conspire against them.  I would suggest that we are more often damaged because people aren’t considerate of our position than we are because people have made a conscious effort to hurt us.  Though this knowledge doesn’t necessarily dampen the pain, it should aid with forgiveness.

5.    Life and relationships pretty much deliver in proportion to your investment in them.  While little is generally expected of a child, the demands of life increase dramatically with age.  Those who are unwilling to work in school will undoubtedly struggle to get a good education; those who are unwilling to work at their vocation, will surely struggle to make a living; and those who are unwilling to invest themselves in relationships will most certainly struggle to be a meaningful member of a family, a community or even a team.

6.    Not everyone who agrees with you is for you and not everyone who disagrees with you is against you.  In this era of political correctness, openly disagreeing with someone is often viewed as being “intolerant” of their beliefs; but there are times when caring for a person dictates that we confront and contradict them.  Conversely, there are those who are perfectly willing to allow you to drive headlong into disaster, as long as it serves their own selfish agenda.

7.    When you keep your own score, you always feel as though you’re losing.  The problem with keeping score is that we naturally tend to under-appreciate our blessings and to have an exaggerated sense of our hardships.  Because of that, people who keep score in life generally feel as though they’re never quite being given their due.  Ultimately, it’s better to simply give our best in any given situation and to let someone else keep the scorecard.

8.    It’s worth the time to read the instructions first.  This is hard fought wisdom for most of us, especially those of the male persuasion.  But after living through a few botched projects, you begin to understand that reading through the instructions, before you begin, is generally a much more reasonable price to pay.

9.   Self pity is the first step toward self destruction.  While self pity can begin as a fairly innocuous emotion, it tends to quickly build momentum over time.  As we become focused on ourselves and our troubles, the balance in our perspective is lost; often causing a rapidly descending spiral.  While most of us would admit to throwing the occasional “pity party”, self pity is an emotion that few of us can afford to indulge for very long.

10.The best things in life cannot be held in our hands or necessarily even be seen.  A young person’s dreams are often rooted in tangible gains, like a mate, income, a career, a family, a home…  But as a person attains those kinds of things, values seem to shift from the tangible to the transcendent.  At the end of a long life, it is things like friendship, faith, love and hope that are ultimately treasured.

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Emmanuel

Posted in Christmas, Commentaries on December 7, 2010| 1 Comment »

Throughout the Christmas season I repeatedly find myself drawn to the phrase, “Emmanuel, God with us”.  For me, it is amazing to ponder the reality of God, the Creator of the Universe, coming to earth and living as a man amongst His creation.  The heralding of the name “Emmanuel” reveals His motivation for coming; which was to be “with us”.  As joyous as that news was on the day of Christ’s birth, relatively few people actually experienced the reality of those words in His lifetime.  But ultimately, God didn’t just come to be “with us” for the thirty-three years of Jesus’ life.  In the scripture He says, “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” and through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, He is “with us” even today.  There are some who seem to feel as though those followers, who walked with Jesus during His time on earth, had some distinct advantage over the rest of us; but scripture would seem to indicate otherwise.  During the years of Jesus’ ministry, the disciples often seemed confused and unsure of themselves.  It wasn’t until the day of Pentecost that they began to step into consistent truth and power.  Arguably the disciples accomplished more on that day, than in all of their days with Jesus.  Christ Himself told them that it would be better for them that He go, so that the Holy Spirit could come.  This is the same Holy Spirit that powered Jesus’ ministry and the same Spirit that is available to us today.

Before the manifestation of Jesus on the earth, those believing in Jehovah God could only look to the sky; hoping that He was up there and that He was pleased with them.  They clung to their lineages, their traditions and to the stories of what God had done for their ancestors.  It wasn’t a personal relationship, because they had no way of access to Him; and they largely looked upon their circumstances for evidence of how He viewed them.  The coming of the Messiah changed all of that.  Through His perfect sacrifice and by the gift of the Holy Spirit, Gods people need never live that way again; but sadly, many of us continue to exist in much the same way those ancient believers did.  We often live as though we lack some essential ingredient for the victorious life that Jesus attained for us; looking toward the sky and praying that He will send something more, when the very power of God dwells within us.  Just as it was then, we allow our sense of well-being to be dictated by our circumstances, instead of by the Word of God and/or the witness of His Spirit.  Now more than ever, it would seem that we are in desperate need of a greater revelation of “Emmanuel”, the God who is “with us”. 

For those who apprehend the truth of “Emmanuel”, the contrast is startling.  In the 3rd chapter of the book of Acts, Peter seemed to understand that while he didn’t have money to give the crippled man at the temple gate, what he did have was even better.  When that man was miraculously healed, Peter made it clear that it wasn’t him, but the power of God that dwelled within in him.  When difficult times came (e.g. disciples imprisoned, shipwrecked, snake bit, stoned…), the early believers often appealed to their Heavenly Advocate, who often responded with miraculous intervention.  The power of God was tangible to many of them and through those followers it became tangible to the world.  Those same resources have now been placed upon our door step, though many of us step over them on an almost daily basis; forsaking them for more tangible and less viable tools.  Maybe in this Christmas season, instead of organizing yet another boycott over the use of the phrase “Happy Holidays”, we’d be better served pursuing a fresh revelation of the phrase, “Emmanuel, God with us”.  After all, unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain.

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Covetousness

Posted in Commentaries on December 2, 2010| 1 Comment »

            Recently, the Lord reminded me of some things that He’d impressed upon me years ago about “covetousness”.  At the time, I realized that I’d never really given it much thought.  I understood that to covet meant to have an inordinate desire for something (e.g. to lust or to crave) and that there is a commandment against coveting our neighbors’ wife and/or their goods.  But as I prayed, I began to sense that this is a much bigger issue than I’d previously recognized.  As I re-read the commandment, I recalled that it actually covered “anything that belongs to your neighbor” and I sensed God challenging me to take a fresh look at all of the commandments.  To some extent, I guess I’d believed that God commanded against coveting as a way of preventing us from falling into temptation for things like adultery, stealing or idolatry.  And while there may be some truth to that, I began to see that He really covered those issues with commandments of their own.  It seemed as though He was showing me that coveting isn’t just a problem if it leads to other sins, but that the act itself is destructive to our soul.  Undoubtedly, there are those who might want to quibble about where the line between simple desire and inappropriate desire should be drawn, but ultimately only God’s perception really matters. 

            The first step in coveting is simply to get focused on a particular object or person.  That may seem like a harmless thing and, by itself, it could be; but if we keep our eyes fixed on one thing for very long, we quite naturally begin to discern things, make judgments and have some sort of emotional response.  In those moments, a spiritual doorway often opens as well.  As members of a highly competitive and materialistic society, the things we find desirable are prone to quickly spur us toward covetousness.  Of course, we don’t call it that.  We tend to justify a lust for position and prestige as being “goal-oriented” or “career minded” or “ambitious”; cravings for a more extravagant lifestyle are generally passed off as “pursuing the American Dream”; while yearnings for the perfect relationship are characterized as, “looking for Mr or Mrs Right”.  To someone born into Western society, these things are simply natural features of the cultural landscape; but in the eyes of God, I suspect that they are little more than well dressed covetousness.  In truth, the constant craving for more (i.e. bigger, better, newer…) has become a trademark of our national character.  All forms of popular media consistently bombard the average person with images meant to titillate and stir our cravings; and it’s doubtful that any society has been more responsive to those promptings than ours.  We are encouraged to peek into our neighbors’ windows (e.g. reality shows) and to covet whatever we find of value (e.g. their stuff, their looks, their career, their mates, their children…).  Indeed the criterion for success in this culture is most often how we compare to other people.  We’ve kidded ourselves into believing that if we’re “just looking”, and not necessarily acting on the resultant feelings, we are somehow blameless; but Jesus tells a different story.  He said that to look upon a woman lustfully is to have committed adultery in our hearts.  While we might understand that principle in regards to sexual feelings, how often have we lusted after other people’s homes, relationships, lifestyles…  In the scripture, God groups all of these cravings into the same category of sin.

            As with all sin, covetousness short-circuits Gods plan to give us abundant life.  He wants us to find the extravagant provision that He’s made for us, while the enemy of our souls seeks to keep us connected to a sense of lack.  Since we don’t tend to covet what we already have, the act of coveting keeps us focused on what we don’t have.  Pursuit of those things generally blinds us to the blessings we already possess and becomes little more than a vain attempt to gain our lives.  It is Satan’s treadmill to have us waste the precious time and resources that we’ve been given chasing some elusive promise of fulfillment.  In those instances when we are successful in attaining the coveted object, we most often find that it is not nearly as satisfying as we’d hoped.  In these times the enemy generally begins to dangle “the next big thing” in front of us and soon we’re off and running again.  This picture is in stark contrast to the scripture.  The book of Hebrews tells us to keep our lives free of covetousness and to be content with whatever we have.  Paul also testified that he’d learned to be contented in all things.  This is the same freedom the Lord means for us.  We’re told that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of the other things will be added to us.  As with so many things, we in the church are often more conformed to the culture than to the word of God.  Sadly, the consumer mentality is rampant in the church and covetousness is a sin that is openly committed without repentance; even Pastors transparently covet other Pastor’s facilities, congregations and callings.  I sensed the Lord saying that covetousness has become so widely and openly accepted in the western church that it isn’t even really considered a sin anymore.  The Lord led me to Ezekiel 33, which says, “With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain (i.e. their heart goeth after their covetousness – KJV)”.  God goes on to tell the Prophet that, “Indeed to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice”. 

            The life that God ordained for us is one in which we are led by the promptings of His Spirit, not by our cravings.  It is not wrong to have goals, as long as those goals are established by God; it is not wrong to have a vision for your life, as long as that vision is given to you by God; it is not wrong to have ambition, as long as that ambition is rooted in fulfilling God’s will and purpose for your life.  Covetousness keeps us focused and bound to the things of this world, while God calls us to be focused on the eternal things.   It seeks to satisfy our soul through the feeding of our flesh (which is perishing), while God seeks to satisfy our soul through the feeding of our spirit (which is eternal). In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells them not only to refrain from covetousness, but to disassociate themselves from those who are.  He also includes covetousness, along side issues like homosexuality and adultery, on the list of things that will prevent a person from inheriting the Kingdom of God.  While it is unlikely that most congregations would tolerant blatant displays of sexual sin, how much more prevalent and apparent is covetousness within the church.  As I meditated on these things, I found myself praying as the Psalmist did, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain” (i.e. covetousness-KJV). “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word”.  Amen.

[NOTE:  It is worth mentioning that the word “covet” (coveting, covetous…) is translated many different ways and seems to be featured most prominently in the King James Version of the Bible.  For many of the passages that I referenced, I used that version of scripture.]

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Thought for the Day – The Truth, the Life & the Way

Posted in Commentaries, Thought for the Day / Quotes on November 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

The longer I live, the more I understand how essential the journey is toward achieving destiny.  Ultimately, the truth only comes to life along the way.

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Mary’s Song

Posted in Christmas, Commentaries on November 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

In these days leading to our celebration of Christmas, I find myself drawn to the words of “Mary’s Song”, from the gospel of Luke (1:46-55).  Within this passage Mary is responding to her cousin Elizabeth’s extraordinary greeting as she exclaims, “my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior”.  As I’ve meditated on those words, their profound nature has become more apparent to me.  I find myself wanting to understand exactly what it is to “magnify the Lord” and to truly abide in His joy.  While I’ve certainly walked with the Lord long enough to give a passable explanation of these things, I have to wonder if I’ve ever actually experienced them first hand. 

The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength and while few of us would consider ourselves to be deficient in the area of joy, how many of us have complained about our fatigue (e.g. stress, burn out, exhaustion…).  It is unlikely that we as Christians would describe ourselves as joyless, but that seems to be a common adjective used by Non-Christians to describe us.  I believe that part of this can be attributed to the fact that we generally mistake happiness for joy; but happiness is a fleeting emotion that is driven largely by circumstance and is easily changed.  Joy on the other hand is experienced in our spirit and is rooted in our response to God as opposed to our circumstances; this makes joy more profound, transcendent and sustaining.  Happiness is generally something we pursue, while joy is found in our surrender to Gods plan.  Mary had surrendered to God’s plan and the joy that she was experiencing caused her own cousin to view her in a totally different light.  Undoubtedly this would be the effect on our family, friends and neighbors if we similarly succumbed to the joy that the Lord has afforded us.

Arguably the concept of “magnifying” the Lord is even more vital than that of partaking of His joy.  The scripture tells us that our destiny is to be transformed into the image of Christ and that He is faithful to complete the good work that He has begun in us.  Based on these verses it would seem that the committed Christian should expect to grow more Christ-like with each passing year of their journey, but from my experience that is rarely true.  As I ponder the reasons for this, I wonder if this is even one of our goals and I shudder at the thought of what our souls are magnifying if it is not the Lord.  The idea of magnifying is that a clearer, more defined picture will emerge from our interaction and that begs the question of what picture is emerging from the worlds interaction with the church.  Jesus is the “light of the world” and He’s called us to reflect that light to a fallen world; but how will that ever be accomplished if His light cannot be seen in us.

Mary understood that something of heaven had been deposited within her and that Gods intent was not simply for her to enjoy the sensations of the baby in her womb or to bestow upon her honor amongst women; but that it was to bring forth that life when the time came.  The same is true of believers today, as the Lord has once again deposited Himself within us, not just for our own edification, but so that we will allow Him to come forth at His appointed times.  This Christmas I pray that His people everywhere will respond as Mary did when she told the angel, I am the Lord’s servant, let it be as you have said.  I pray that we will truly magnify the Lord and genuinely rejoice in Him.  God bless you and your family this Christmas.

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Giving Thanks

Posted in Christmas, Commentaries, Opinions, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s amazing to realize that “Thanksgiving” is already upon us.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that while the days don’t pass any quicker, the months and years seem to fly by.  This year has moved by so rapidly that I feel as though I’ve missed much of it.  As we come into what ought to be a special season, I can already sense the dread that many people feel during this time of year.  On the surface it all seems bright and shiny, but in recent years I’ve begun to notice how few people really seem to enjoy it.  Though our calendars fill up with “special” activities, I don’t sense much “peace on earth”, “goodwill toward man” or “joy to the world”.  Even within the church, I don’t see a lot of genuine excitement at what should be, for Christians, a time of worship and celebration.

Sadly, we all tend to get caught up in the busyness (e.g. cooking, baking, shopping, holiday parties, traveling, guests, holiday programs…) and miss much of the richness this season has to offer.  While we’ll be the first to proclaim that “Jesus is the reason for the season”, He doesn’t always get a place of prominence in our holiday activities.  So as we launch into yet another holiday season, God put it on my heart to stop long enough to gain some perspective.

I believe that at the root of much of the seasonal angst is unfulfilled expectation; whether that comes in the form of past disappointments or the present dissatisfaction with where we find ourselves.  The inherently nostalgic quality of the season can often stir up more painful memories than warm thoughts.  Those who grew up in dysfunctional homes often come face to face with that dysfunction again, whether it is gathering with their families or intentionally avoiding the pain of such a reunion.  Those who are in the midst of difficult situations often feel more isolated in this time, because presumably everyone else is full of holiday cheer.  Those of limited means struggle, because we’ve all come to believe that Christmas cannot be complete unless it comes with boxes and ribbons.  Many of us wrestle with the notion that if we can’t give our kids what all the other kids have, we’ve somehow failed them.  For others, it can be the uncertainties of a new year that keep them from partaking of the joy set before them.  Ultimately, if we are dreading the holidays, we will almost certainly have a dreadful holiday season.  For those who are in the world, these are simply the seas which toss souls about; but what about the children of God?  Are these the forces that should be shaping our perspective?

If we could look at the reality of where we are today, apart from the disappointments of the past and our fears for the future, we might see that we are a genuinely blessed people.  Regardless of our situations, God has provided for us and continues to sustain us.  We may feel as though we have lack, but if we can see past what we don’t have, we will likely find that we have unnoticed abundance all around us.  The Psalmist spoke of how God wants to teach us of His ways and he beseeches that we not be like the horse or mule, which must be controlled using a bit and bridle.  That picture is one of needing to use pain as a way to get our attention.  I believe that if we will look for the blessings He’s laid aside for today, we will find them; if not, we often must suffer a painful lose before we can understand how truly blessed we were yesterday.

Do we really have to become homeless before we can be thankful for a warm house; even if it isn’t as big or as nice as we’d like.  Do we really have to lose someone we love before we can be thankful for the other people in our lives?  Do we really have to get sick before we can be thankful for our health?  Do we really have to become fugitives or prisoners before we can rejoice in our freedom?  Sadly, most of us tend not to appreciate what we have until we lose it, but this season offers us an opportunity to live differently.

Truthfully, this season was never really meant to be about us anyway.  We’ve unconsciously allowed the world’s thinking to distract us from the central issue, which is Jesus.  While some might regard that as rather obvious, I would guess that most of our holiday attitudes don’t reflect it.  When we talk about the sacrifice that Jesus made, we most often speak of the cross.  Rightfully so, but before His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus sacrificed His deity; not only to become a man, but to become a man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief.  He sacrificed His perfect fellowship with the Father to come to this earth as a sacrificial lamb.  He sacrificed the glory of heaven for a manger, the rejection of man and a cross.  Make no mistake; the sacrifice Jesus made at Christmas is no less profound than the one He made at Easter.  It was the day that our redemption was set in motion and it certainly warrants a seasons worth of rejoicing.

So as we step into this season, I feel the Lord challenging our motivations and asking what will drive us in this time.  Will it be the hurts and disappointment of seasons past; will it be the struggles that we’re facing today, or maybe our fears about what awaits us down the road.  Maybe it will be the vain hope that if we just find the right combination of songs & gifts & food & people & decorations, we’ll find the joy of the season.  I’d submit that the Lord would like this season to be a season of awe and wonder at the love of our Father in heaven; a season of gratitude for all that He is and all that He’s done for us; a season of renewed relationship with Him and those He’s brought around us.

Who knows what the New Year will bring, but as I stand here today, I am blessed and thankful.  He has given and done more than I ever deserved and more than I ever could have hoped for.  I pray that you and your family will find His joy and have a wonderful holiday season.  God bless you

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Talking Politics with a 5th Grader

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Parenting / Family, Personal, Social / Political on November 9, 2010| 9 Comments »

Last Wednesday morning (11/03/2010), as the results of the mid-term elections were announced on the car radio, I noticed that my 10 year old son was watching for my reaction.  Apparently my lack of response stirred his curiosity and we had a conversation that went something like this:

“Dad, are we Republicans or Democrats?” he asked.

“Neither,” I replied.

“Don’t you have to be one or the other?” he continued.

“No, you don’t have to be a member of a political party if you don’t want to be,” I said.

“Don’t you like any of them?” he said.

“I don’t like any of them enough to join them or to vote for their candidate’s every time.  None of them really represent what I believe in, so it’s better for me to look at every candidate and to decide which is the one I want to vote for,” I explained.

“What’s the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats?” he asked.

I had to smile at that question, as I answered, “It’s not always clear son.  Generally, Republicans feel like less government means more freedom, so they tend to want to limit how involved the government gets in the lives of the people; while Democrats tend to be more concerned about social issues and feel as though the government has a duty to get involved in the lives of the people.  As you can imagine, these differing ideas cause them to disagree a lot.”

“Which idea do you think is right?” he asked.

“Actually, I see value in both ideas.  Like the Republicans, I generally feel that less government is better; but like the Democrats, I feel like the government should provide some help for people who really need it.  It’s just a question of balancing those two ideas.  If we make the government too small, there may be people who won’t get the help that they genuinely need; and if we make it too big, it could start to interfere with our freedom and become difficult to pay for,” I replied. 

With a puzzled look on his face, he asked, “Doesn’t the government just print up the money it needs?”

I chuckled, as I said, “Well they do print the money, but the truth is that the people pay the bills for the government; if we want them to do more, than we have to be willing to pay more for it.  If you hear a candidate promise to do more, without the cost going up, you’ll know that they’re not being honest about it.”

“So since the Republicans won last night, do you think the government is going to get smaller now?” he continued.

“Unfortunately, that’s probably not how it’s going to work; because neither side is willing to work with the other.  It’s like when the kids in the neighborhood get together for a football game; both sides want to win so badly that the minute one team starts to get ahead, the other one takes their ball and goes home.  For that last couple of years the Democrats had enough people in office that they didn’t even need the Republicans to play; but now that it’s closer to even, I expect that they’ll spend a lot of time fighting with each other and trying to convince the people that the other side is the reason for their lack of progress.  The truth is that their lack of progress is really caused by their unwillingness to work together to address the problems.”

“All the guys on TV said that they were going to make jobs for everyone; won’t that make things better?” he asked.

“It would help, if they actually had the ability to keep that promise.  The problem is that they can’t.  The government doesn’t make jobs, business and industry do that.  Though they can spend some of the people’s money to give a few people some temporary jobs, they can’t create the kind of job it takes to raise a family on,” I said grimly.

“Why do they promise things that they know they can’t deliver?” he asked angrily.

“Sadly, because they know that people are really hurting for jobs and that it’s what they want to hear,” I replied.

“But haven’t the people figured out that they’re lying?” he said.

“I guess not; it seems like a lot of people are still expecting someone in the government to deliver the jobs they promised.  You see, the government was meant to serve the people in certain limited ways, but it was never meant to take care of the people.  Now that things are getting hard, a lot of people seem to want the government to take care of them and it wasn’t built to do that.  It would be like me hiring a maid and paying her to serve me.  The more I pay her, the more she’s willing to do.  But if I lost my job and I can’t pay her anymore, should I expect that she’s now going to take care of me for free until things get better?” I said.

Shaking his head, he said, “No way, if you don’t have any money, she probably won’t do anything for you.”

“That’s right, she’s my servant, not my mother; but there are a lot of people in America who seem to think that our servant (i.e. the government) ought to take care of them like a mother.  At this point, “We the People” can either decide to rise to our new challenges, like we have many times before in our history or we can keep crying out for more government help, which will eventually result in a government that we serve.  The reason America has done so well, for so long, is because its people have been willing to rise to new challenges and we’re once again in one of those times.  It’s up to the people, not the government, to do things differently,” I replied.

“So is this why you don’t seem very excited about this election?” he asked.

I smiled, as I replied, “That’s right son, my hope isn’t that the government is going to save me or our family.  If it was, I’d be miserable.  Our hope needs to be invested in better promises than the ones you’ve heard on TV.”

“So, should I even bother to vote when I get older?” he asked.

“Absolutely, you have been blessed to grow up in a country where the people have a voice in their government and as a citizen; you have a responsibility to participate in that process.  I don’t want you to think that it doesn’t matter, because even if the government is just a servant, it affects your life and the lives of people you care about.  You definitely need to take your rights as a citizen seriously, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the government can’t deliver peace and prosperity to your life.  Those things will depend on the choices that you make.”

At that moment, we drove up in front of the school and the conversation ended.

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Flunking a Mid-Term

Posted in Commentaries, Personal on November 2, 2010| 1 Comment »

The Bible says that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure”; it goes on to ask rhetorically, “who can know it?”  The magnitude of this truth grows as we consider that it also says that God will judge every man based on what is in their heart.  If I understand this correctly, it means that I will have a difficult time being honest with myself (and anyone else) about what is in my heart, yet it will be wholly known to God and used to determine my eternal destiny.  I believe that it was with this understanding that David cried out in the Psalms, “Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”.  As that cry becomes my own, I wonder at how anyone can truthfully assess what is in their own heart.

In pondering this, it must first be established exactly what the scripture is referring to when it says, “heart”.  To be sure, it is not describing the blood pump that resides in our chest, but instead is speaking of the very core of our being (i.e. soul).  While the scripture doesn’t necessarily explain itself on this matter, I believe that the picture that emerges is that place within our souls where our mind, will and emotions intersect.  The Word speaks of how a man thinks in his heart (mind); what he purposes in his heart (will); the cry of his heart (emotions) and ultimately tells us that it is with our hearts that we believe and are justified.  This is significant, because it draws a distinction between what we know on an intellectual level (i.e. in our minds) and what we “believe” in our hearts.  I believe that when a truth transcends merely being present within our minds and actually penetrates our hearts, there is an emotional response and an impact to our will.  In the book of Proverbs it says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Within my own testimony is an example of this.  I was raised in a Christian home and there has never been a day since my childhood that I did not believe that Jesus Christ was in fact the Son of God, who came and died for my sins.  In some peoples estimation this means that I’ve been “saved” since my childhood.  But as I became an adult, it was clear that I had not yielded my heart to God at all.  I worked throughout my teens, twenties and into my thirties, actively pursuing a friendly relationship with the world and its pleasures.  It was not until the life that I’d so carefully constructed came crashing down that I finally turned and saw Him there.  At that point my heart was wide open, I knew that I couldn’t go on alone and when that understanding took root in my heart, everything changed.  I could no longer be ambivalent about what He’s done for me and the desire for my will to conform to His began to burn.  Though I’d been provided with the right information from the beginning, it took over thirty years for it to move into my heart.  In that moment, God stopped being an image, an idea, or a philosophy and instead He became a reality to me.

While the outward signs of coming into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ were pretty dramatic, endeavoring to understand other issues within our hearts is generally a bit more subtle.  Often the only way for us to truly understand whether there has been a change in our hearts is for it to be tested.  I can know that I should forgive those who’ve hurt me and I can purpose to do that; but often the only way to be sure that it has been accomplished is to come face to face with that person again.  I can say that I’ve repented of sexual sin and turned from things like pornography; but often won’t know for sure until I have that opportunity again and walk away from it.  Just as it is with any learning process, there are periods of learning, followed by periods of testing.  How we respond to these tests can give us insight into what’s truly in our hearts, but this will only come about if we choose to grade them for ourselves.  God does not allow this testing so that He can see what is in our hearts; He already knows; these tests are for us.

I don’t know anyone who likes tests, but like it or not, they’re an essential part of learning.  Even worse than the regularly scheduled exam, is the “pop quiz”; though the consequences of flunking such a quiz are generally less severe.  It’s one thing to flunk a pop quiz, that you didn’t see coming, but it’s a whole other thing to flunk a test that you knew all about and even studied for.  Not many years ago, I miserably failed such a life test, as tremendous anger rose up out of me.  Like the Apostle Paul spoke about, the very thing that I set out not to do is what I did.  I could probably rationalize that behavior and maybe even present a decent sounding argument for it, but as I stand before a righteous God, there is no way to justify it.  It is very much the nature of man to use our God given cognitive ability to manipulate the truth in our favor, but God is truth and He will not be mocked. 

I find it somewhat ironic how often I’ve heard Christian leaders warn about the dangers of emotionalism and of how our emotions can easily be manipulated to lead us astray; yet I’ve heard no such warnings about our intellect.  Our intellect is just as much a part of our soul and as such is at least as susceptible to deception.  As a matter of fact, the scripture speaks far more about what goes on in our mind than about our emotions.  When Eve was questioned about the forbidden fruit, she rationalized that it was the serpents fault.  When Adam was questioned, he rationalized that it was Eve’s fault and even Gods fault for sending Eve in the first place.  We are much the same when we fail a test.  We want to talk about what “they” did or what “they” didn’t do or the “circumstances” surrounding the event…  But deferring responsibility for our actions only keeps us from seeing the truth of our own hearts.  I’m reminded of the time when I was first feeling the drawing of the Lord.  I heard something on the radio about the “judgment to come” and I saw myself standing before God.  In the vision I knew that I’d not lived like I was supposed to and I was trying to justify why I hadn’t been to church in years.  I explained to the Lord that it wasn’t because of Him, but it was because the church was filled with hypocrites.  To my surprise, He agreed, but then He said, “But what does that have to do with you and Me”?  I had no answer and I still don’t.  Maybe people have legitimately wronged me, taken advantage of me and even hurt me, but if my heart truly belongs to the Lord then why would I hold onto anything but Him.  If I’m unwilling to let go of the damaging, hurtful and sinful things of the past, then I’ll be unable to grab hold of the healing, joyful and life giving things that Jesus died to give me.

While people and circumstances played a part in the rage that erupted out of me on that day, they did not create that anger within my heart.  God simply allowed these things to show me what was inside of me.  The scripture says that from the lips comes the overflow of the heart and so I cannot deny what was seen or heard.  If I rationalize, blame, justify… those things will remain in my heart and they will continue to have influence in my life.  Jesus died a gruesome death, so that I would not have walk under that kind of yoke.  I could beat myself up over this failure, but that is of no value to the Lord, who says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  The scripture tells us that when we repent, God throws these things into the sea of forgetfulness; so instead of focusing on the failure, I just need to focus on the turning from it.  I could spend a lot of time and energy trying to fix the circumstances and people involved, but ultimately God has not called me to or equipped me for that.  Instead He has invited me to come boldly before the throne of grace, to trade my heavy yoke for His rest and my sorrows for His joy.  Somewhere down the line, I’m going to get a chance to take this test again and I desperately want the results to be different.  The longer that I walk on this journey of faith, the more I realize that it’s not people or situations or even the enemy that I’m struggling with, but it is those things that I’ve held within my heart that aren’t from God.  Those are the things that allow people, situations and the enemy to influence my path.  As these things come to the surface, I want to be quick to acknowledge them and to hand them over.  Once again I come into agreement with David’s prayer, “Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my inequity.  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”.  Amen.

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10 Scriptures That Ought to Bring About Fear & Trembling

Posted in Commentaries, Lists on November 1, 2010| 2 Comments »

Here are ten pieces of New Testament scripture that ought to make us take a hard look at where we’re at in our relationship with the Lord and His people.  These scriptures would seem to challenge many of today’s most popular doctrines, which seem to be aimed at making us feel comfortable about our eternity.

  1. The man who says, “I know Him (i.e. Jesus)”, but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him (1John 2:4).  Later in this epistle John says, “This is love for God, to obey His commands” (1John 5:3).  While a large majority of Americans describe themselves as “Christians”, how many could claim a working knowledge of what God commands and/or that they are endeavoring to live by those tenets?  James epistle tells us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says” (James 1:22).  How many of us who are familiar with what God commands would classify ourselves as “Doers” of His word?
  2. If anyone says, “I love God”, yet hates his brother, he is a liar (1John 4:20).  In today’s culture we seem to have bought into the notion that families are supposed to be dysfunctional and we’ve largely carried that mindset into the family of God (i.e. the Church).  Based on the scripture, it doesn’t appear as though God accepts that premise.
  3. Men will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken (Matthew 12:36).  No explanation needed.
  4. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:1-2).  To fully appreciate the impact of this scripture, we must consider how we’ve responded to people who’ve let us down or even hurt us.  While we may feel justified in our feelings, do we want that measure to be applied to us for our trespasses?
  5. If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:15).  If our sins are not forgiven, where are we?
  6. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).  This scripture puts the church in America in serious jeopardy.  Many of our efforts to be relevant to, and to reach, “the world” have resulted in the church becoming worldly.   While we may rationalize that the end justifies the means, from Gods perspective I believe that it is simply looks like compromise.  Statistics for things like divorce and addiction to pornography seem to indicate that the church is becoming largely indistinguishable from the world.  Based on what the scripture says about what our relationship with the world should be, this ought to make us tremble.
  7. Faith without works is useless (James 2:20).  I don’t believe that James meant “good works” but instead works of faith.  We can do many “good” things that don’t require any faith at all.  From what this scripture says, it doesn’t appear as though those works will be accounted as righteousness.  The Hebrew writer tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and Paul goes a step further when he says that, “everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).  These scriptures challenge me to question how often I really act in faith and the value of the things that I’m doing that don’t require it.
  8. He (i.e. the Father) cuts off every branch in me (i.e. Jesus) that bears no fruit (John 15:2)… such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (John 15:6).  While many of us claim to be Christian, how many of us would be anxious to present our fruitfulness as the evidence of that?
  9. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?  Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you.  Away from me you evildoers!”  (Matthew 7:21-23).  This scripture is speaking directly to “Believers”, because someone who doesn’t believe wouldn’t be doing things in His name.  This indicates that “many” who believe that their eternity is secure are mistaken.
  10. Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life and only a few find it (Matthew 7:13-14).  In today’s atmosphere of tolerance and inclusion, it may be perceived as offensive to point this scripture out, but based on what it says; maybe making everyone feel good about their eternity was never meant to be the mission.

 

While gathering these scriptures in one place could be viewed as a negative thing, I think that it brings some much needed balance.  Though we are saved by His grace, the scripture reminds us that our access to that grace is “through faith” (Ephesians 2:8).  God was fully aware of the provision of His grace when He inspired the above scriptures.  I believe that we have often tried to use His grace like a stolen credit card, but His grace does not nullify His word.  While God does not require perfection, He does expect sincerity.  We know that He rewards those who “diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6); these scriptures can help us to remain diligent.   God bless.

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Open Minded

Posted in Commentaries, Word Pictures, tagged , , , on October 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

I find myself walking along a darkened street in what appears to be a very old, residential area, within a large city.  The houses look as though they were built around the time of the First World War and they are big by today’s standards.  I imagine that in its day this was a very inviting place to raise a family, but the neighborhood has long since fallen into ruin.  Most of the windows and doors have been boarded up and the few houses that appear to be occupied seem to be dimly lit and tightly shut.  Weeds have overtaken the cracks in the sidewalk and the concrete is uneven and crumbling in places.  Only one street light on the block remains lit and an ominous sense envelops me as I make my way down the street.  I ask the Lord what I’m doing here, but He is silent.  As I walk on, I come to a house that appears to be abandoned, but which isn’t boarded up.  In that moment I hear the Lord say, “Go take a look”.  I can feel my stomach rumbling an objection and I swallow hard to avoid asking the Lord, “why?”  Reluctantly, I turn and begin to shuffle up the short pathway to the porch.

As my eyes strain to detect any signs of movement, I see that the windows on the second floor seem to be open, while all of the windows on the ground floor appear to be broken out.  I notice the remnants of a curtain in one of the windows, as it gently rolls with the breeze.  As I step onto the porch I’m struck by the fact that despite what may have been decades of neglect, the structure itself still seems sound, which is undoubtedly a tribute to those who built it.  There is trash and broken glass strewn all over the porch and the sound of my feet treading on the debris seems unusually loud.  I feel new waves of apprehension as I come to the doorway and I can see that the door has been ripped from its hinges.  Everything beyond that point appears to be pitch black and I pause to once again query the Lord; but before I’m able to form the words I feel Him nudge me forward, as though He has anticipated my question.

Stepping through the doorway I once again stop allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness; as the smell of urine overwhelms my nostrils.  Like the porch, the floor is littered with debris and the walls are covered with graffiti.  In places chunks of the plaster are missing and the lighting fixtures appear to have been ripped from their mountings.  As I step through the foyer I can see the shattered remains of the stairway banister; in the corner of the dining room there is a large burnt area on the floor; and in the kitchen I find that someone has defecated in the sink and apparently smeared it on the cabinets.  Nauseated, I stumble back toward the front door, hoping to leave this depressing scene behind; but as I come to the stairway, the Lord once again nudges me and I know that I must also go upstairs.  The creaking of the stairs seems amplified in the quietness of the house, and I am soon making my way through the upstairs hallway.  In one bedroom I find a crib that has been smashed into splinters; in another a mattress covered with a sheet, which is stained with blood and other bodily fluids; and in the bathroom I see the cockroaches scurrying to the open hole where the toilet once was.  I feel as though I can take no more and I quickly move back down the stairs and out the front door.  Relieved to be out in the open air, I stumble back to the sidewalk and begin to distance myself from the house.  As I look back over my shoulder, I ask the Lord, “What was that?”  To which He responds, “That is a picture of an open mind”.  (The vision ends)

I found myself somewhat surprised by those words.  I guess on some unconscious level I had accepted the idea that being “open minded” was a good thing; but obviously this picture indicated otherwise.  As if to remove any doubt about misinterpreting the message, I felt like the Lord definitively stated, “I have not called you to have an open mind!”  Instinctively I wondered whether this meant that I was supposed to have a “closed mind”; but the Lord quickly impressed upon me that many have been deceived to believe that those are the only two options.  Indeed, the scripture exhorts us to test everything by the Spirit (1 John 4:1); taking every thought captive, making it obedient to Christ; and demolishing every argument & every pretense that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:5).  This is not a picture of an open door, but of a guarded gate.

As the post-modern society (including many within the church) embraces the concept of an open mind we see the scriptures fulfilled, as the collective thinking becomes increasingly futile and depraved; with elements like anxiety, depression, bullying, suicide, shootings, pornography, child molestation… becoming commonplace in our culture.  Just as the fathers of these philosophies before them, those who embrace this way of thinking are destined to become hollow shells, whose minds have been vandalized, scarred and desecrated by nameless intruders, who have wandered in and out, unimpeded.  Lord God, in your mercy – transform us by the renewing of our minds.  Amen.

 

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