Jeff's Prayer Connection

Success 5

2012-01-27T04:45:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading James 1:2- 8. "² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."

If there is one quality that best leads to success in any venture it is persistence. Something happens when a person says "I will do this or die trying!" For good or for ill, the person who is fully committed finds a way to make things happen. Whether it's a medical researcher or a terrorist, persistence to reach one's goal is absolutely essential.

Jame says persistence is created by the pressure of trials - problems - set backs - obstacles - difficulties. Sort of from the school of "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But that's how spiritual maturity develops. Over time. Overcoming obstacles. Learning from our mistakes. Trying again. Persistence gives birth to spiritual maturity.

So, get started and don't quit. Or as someone once said, "It's always too soon to quit, until it isn't."

Here are some of my favorite quotes on persistence:

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education is not: the world is filled with educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." President Calvin Coolidge.

"The difference between persistence and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't." Henry Ward Beecher.

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it." Coach John Wooden.

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt.

"The best way out is always through." Robert Frost.

Jeff

Today's Prayer: "God, I offer myself to You, to build with me and to do with me as You will. Relieve me of the bondage to self, that I may better do Your will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of You Power, Your Love, and Your Way of life. May I do Your will always. Amen." (Alcoholics Anonymous – big book – 3^rd step prayer – 1939)

alcoholics anonymous - big book - third step prayer - 1939

Success 4

2012-01-26T04:45:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading Colossians 3:23-24. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

In the 1920’s, when Ernest Hemingway was working hard to perfect his craft as a writer, he lost a suitcase that contained all his manuscripts. No computers back then so he lost it all. The manuscripts included many stories he’d laboriously polished to jewel-like perfection and planned on publishing. The devastated Hemingway couldn’t conceive of re-doing his work. He could only think of the months he’d devoted to his arduous writing, and it was all gone. But when he lamented his loss to the poet Ezra Pound, Pound called it a stroke of luck. He assured Hemingway that when he re-wrote the stories he would forget the weak parts and only the best material would reappear. Instead of framing the event in disappointment, Pound cast it in the light of opportunity. Hemingway did re-write the stories – and the rest is history. He became a major figure in American literature (and one of my favorite writers. I love his crisp sentences and tight descriptions).

Disappointment can keep people from succeeding. The pain of loss can prevent people from starting again. There is a lot of pain in this world for those who try to do anything well. Sometimes the temptation is just to follow the path of least resistance. Don’t do it. In faith, in family, in relationships, in work, in your creative pursuits – give it your best shot. Paul says the key is to remember who is it you are really serving and working and sweating for. Whatever you do, do it for the Lord and let your rewards come from Him – not necessarily the praise or recognition of others. True success is doing your best in whatever situation you find yourself. Please Him and your life with be blessed.

Jeff

Success 3

2012-01-25T04:28:00.000-05:00

Today I’m reading 1 Chronicles 12:17-19. David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, I am ready for you to join me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our ancestors see it and judge you.”

Then the Spirit came on Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: “We are yours, David! We are with you, son of Jesse!  Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you.”

So David received them and made them leaders of his raiding bands.

Sometimes there can be a hesitation to actually pursue success because when you reach a certain pinnacle it can come with expectations…to keep up that level of accomplishment or performance. Success can also attract the nay-sayers who are jealous and who will even try to drag a successful person down. Our media fascination with celebrities is often like this. The media helps propel someone’s rise to the top, and then salivate over the same person’s rapid fall.

In some cultures there is even a pressure to conform that inhibits outstanding performance. In Australia they say the tall weed gets cut down first. In Asian cultures the saying goes that the tall nail gets hammered.

Here in Chronicles the men of Asasai cheer David’s success, and do so because they are filled with the Spirit. Do you cheer for the success of others? Do you feel the green-eyed monster of jealous when someone else gets the praise? Can you genuinely feel good for someone who does well? Can you accept praise when you succeed? With humility? Can you ask God for success? Maybe today you can give that a try.

Jeff

Today’s prayer: Dear God - I pray for you to help me attain success. I ask for you to show me strength when all I feel is weakness. I ask that you help me identify my "why" and always keep it near my heart. When I feel like I can take it no more, I ask that you have faith in me and teach me to have faith in myself. I pray for you to help me learn the skills I will need to make this work. Please show me the start of a path that will teach me the way and take me to a wonderful destination. I pray that you will give me the knowledge and the ability to share what I learn with others. It is from this knowledge that I will be able to help myself, my family and others. Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Success 2

2012-01-24T04:17:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading Matthew 6:24-30. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

Success is a slippery thing because each person measures it in his or her own way. What feels like success to one person can mean almost nothing to another. One person might measure their success by the kind of car they drive while another person could care less about cars. That person might value friendships or the kind of work they do far more than the financial rewards. Teachers don’t teach to make a lot of money. Their sense of self-worth and satisfaction in life come in other ways. ‘Success’ is an internal measurement that is different for every person.

Studies have shown that the old adage that money does not buy happiness is absolutely true. Once a person reaches a basic level of security having more than that doesn’t really add to one’s sense of happiness. You just get more toys, more stuff, more distractions (and sometimes more headaches).

Success as a ‘feeling’ brings with it some specific qualities. A person who ‘feels’ successful generally feels like they have something to look forward to in life; that their world is getting bigger rather than shrinking; that they have options and choices; that they have some control over their lives and their future; that they can make good decisions; that they have strong emotional ties. The person who feels like a failure has the opposite. They think their world is getting smaller; they see few options, if any; they feel trapped - that they have no control over their circumstances like they are just a soccer ball that the rest of the world kicks around; that they don’t make good decisions; and they have weak emotional ties to others.

Success can’t be measured by outward things. Only by the content of the heart, and that’s why Jesus’ words are so powerful. We can only find true success within a peaceful heart that is free from the false promises of the world. What yardstick are you using to measure your sense of success in life???

Jeff

I like these words attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Not a prayer – but still worth praying over.

“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded.”

Success

2012-01-23T05:05:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading 1 Samuel 18:13-15 “So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him.”

In some Christian circles the word "success" has almost become a dirty word, for a couple of reasons. First, it gets associate with the 'health and wealth' gospel that basically sees faith in Christ as a means to financial gain and personal prosperity. You know - "You're a child of the King so you deserve that Mercedes!!" That's a perversion of the Gospel and if that's your definition of success then you've moved beyond the teaching of Scripture.

Another reason the word 'success' is shunned is because it is also associated with self-help, new age pop-pyschology. And sometimes the line between biblical teaching on God's life principles and pop-pyschology get blurred. The Gospel isn't just 'five easy steps to success' but the Bible does have tremendous practical advice on how to live, and living God's way DOES have positive benefits throughout life and business. So, you would be wise to follow God's principles, and your life will be better than if you break God's principles. In fact there's a whole book of the Bible devoted to good life principles - called "Proverbs".

So, I am comfortable talking about success as long as success is defined as aligning one's self with God's truth, God's principles and God's will. I think God does want us to do well in our professions; he does want us to do our best as we make a contribution to our culture; he does want us to be effective in our ministries and in our families and in our personal pursuits (when they bring glory to him). So, it's OK to plan, to think, to strategize about how to do things right. How to do things so that they work. How to be successful.

Here's an acronym for SUCCESS that has helped me over the years in thinking clearly about how to form plans and get things done. I can't remember who came up with it originally, but it wasn't me.

S - SELECT YOUR GOAL. You have to know where you're going. You have to be specific and describe exactly the outcome you are looking for. Vague goals usually go nowhere.

U - UNLOCK YOUR NEGATIVE THINKING. Often we self-sabotage our efforts because of our negative thinking. "I can't...it won't work...I'm not good enough." Look at the conversation going on in your head and see what kind of self-talk you've got going on. Focus on positive things like Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

C - CHART YOUR COURSE. Outline the specific steps you need to take to get from point A to point B.

C- COMMIT YOURSELF. You have to know what this endeavor is going to cost you in terms of time, energy, money, etc. Jesus told people to count the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:28-33). That principle applies in other areas, too.

E - EXPECT PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES. Nothing is ever easy, so don't be surprised when things don't go perfectly. Don't let that throw you off your game.

S - SACRIFICE YOURSELF. If something is really important to you it will probably require sacrifice. This is more than just counting the cost. This is the investment of your soul.

S - STICK WITH IT. Persistence, endurance - both are necessary to success. It may be a long journey. Don't give up. Take the next step. Keep going.

Jeff

Use this passage to meditate on today.

Proverbs 2:6-8

For the LORD gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

The Law 5

2012-01-20T05:32:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading John 5: 16-18 ‘So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.’ And 5:45-47 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Tonight at the conference I’m attending the speaker was an Egyptian seminary professor from Cairo. And he spoke about the centrality of God’s Word in our global mission efforts. Not just reading it or talking about it, but living it, especially in countries like Egypt where Christians are often a persecuted minority. And he spoke about the treatment Jesus received from the religious experts of his day, and how Jesus responded to them by relying on the Old Testament to prove he was the Messiah. In the John passage Jesus says, “[Moses] wrote of me.”

Could you defend that statement? Could you go into the first five books of the Bible and show people how Moses taught about the coming Messiah? Jesus said it’s there – enough proof that it should have been transparent to these ancient Torah experts. But they didn’t see it. Maybe that truth will motivate you to spend some time in the study of the Pentateuch. It points to Jesus.

In the Gospel account of the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus goes up a mountain with Peter, James and John, and God pours out a special blessing on Jesus as he anticipates going to Jerusalem and facing the cross. Not only is Jesus’ visage transformed but the disciples witness this:, “Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” (Matthew 17:3). The significance of these two men is that they represent the main two divisions of the Jewish Scriptures: the Law and the Prophets. It’s a way of saying that both of them give testimony and authenticity to the Messianic claims of Jesus. But what is most significant is what God the Father says at the end of the story. God says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (17:5).

Listen to him. More important than listening to Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets) is listening to Jesus. Because Jesus is the conclusion to both and summarizes both. He is the Living Word of God, the Word made flesh. So let all you study of scripture lead you closer to him.

Jeff

The Law 4

2012-01-19T04:56:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Nehemiah 1.

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: “LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. 8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ 10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

I'm writing from my hotel room at a conference in Florida (don't be jealous - it rained all afternoon). Tonight the speaker preached on this passage from Nehemiah, and some of you will remember I preached through the entire book of Nehemiah a year ago. Here Nehemiah wakes up to a reality that had existed for over 140 years, the destruction of Jerusalem. But suddenly the gravity of this tragedy finally hit home in his heart and he was broken...broken first of all by the apathy that he used to have toward this situation - God's city lay in rubble. And so the first thing he does is he confesses his own responsibility and sin of neglect. He states his sin in reference to the Law: "We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses." That's the Torah.

And he's looking for a fresh start. Sometimes that's how it happens with God's Word. Some verse that we've read a hundred times all of a sudden jumps out at us. Or God brings a verse to our minds that we heard two months ago. In some way the fog clears and we see things differently.

So, if you're looking for a fresh start; if you want God to bless your endeavors (as Nehemiah wanted God to bless Nehemiah's audience with the King), then start with a fresh read of God's Law. If you need a place to start try Deuteronomy 6.

Jeff

the Law 3

2012-01-18T04:29:00.001-05:00

Today I am reading Psalm 119: 1-18.

1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. 3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. 4 You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. 8 I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

One thing you’ll hear from skeptics is that there must be errors in the Bible. That the Bible we are reading today can’t possibly be what was written so many centuries ago, so how can you take it seriously? We don’t have any of the original documents written by Paul or Luke or Isaiah. All we have are centuries of copies, partial manuscripts, and quotations. People must have made changes to over the years to suit their own tastes. So, you can’t trust the authority of the Bible at all, especially the Old Testament.

Well, the skeptics are wrong because archeology has proven over and over again that the Old AND New Testaments are the most reliable of all ancient documents when it comes to their transmission through the centuries. More reliable than the writings of Caesar, or any ancient Roman writer - or actually anyone prior to the invention of the printing press.

Here’s one reason why you can trust the Bible is historically accurate. Have you ever seen those stereotypical images of monks clad in brown robes dutifully copying a manuscript by hand in some cold, stone monastery? Well, that’s close to reality. The oldest complete copy of the Old Testament was produced during the 9^th century by a group of Jewish scribes and scholars called the Masorites. The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited and distributed by these scholars between the 7th and 10th centuries based primarily in Palestine in the cities of Tiberius and Jerusalem. They were dedicated to the holy task of hand-copying the Old Testament. Their devotion is the stuff of legend. They knew the middle letter of every word, the middle word in every sent ace and every book, and on and one. If anything went wrong – one misspelled word or something omitted or changed – the whole thing got thrown in the fire. It was a lifetime’s work to make one copy of the whole Old Testament, and they took it seriously.

But without anything to compare it to people could still question “their” version of the Old Testament. Until 1947 when a shepherd boy discovered a cave that contained sealed jars that held what came to be called The Dead Sea Scrolls. 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents were found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They were written in the 2^nd century B.C.. Though not a complete version of the Old Testament, scholars were able to compare the Dead Sea Scrolls version to the Masoretic Text and see all the errors or additions that had crept in over a time span of 1200 years. Guess what? The Masorites were dead on! The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that the Bible we have today is reliable and the same as the Old Testament from before the time of Jesus.

And right now there’s a tremendous display about the Dead Sea Scrolls in Times Square. If you’re in the city you should definitely go see it – though be prepared for long lines.

Now the accuracy of the Masoretic Text doesn’t prove that what the Bible teaches is true, but it shows that the Bible is historically accurate from a manuscript point of view. The New Testament has even more archeological evidence to validate its reliability.

So, take confidence when you read your Bible. God’s Word is true and God has preserved it faithfully over the centuries. Let this be your prayer today: Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Jeff

The Law 2

2012-01-17T05:03:00.000-05:00

Today I’m reading Psalm 19:7-11.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; 

the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; 

the commandment of the Lord is clear,  enlightening the eyes;  

the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever; 

the ordinances of the Lord are true  and righteous altogether.  

More to be desired are they than gold,  even much fine gold; 

sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is your servant warned; 

in keeping them there is great reward."

There's no better explanation of why the Law (Torah) is important for us all as believers and why we should be students of the first 5 books of the Bible. Honestly, most Christians like reading Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy, but their eyes glaze over when they get to Leviticus (all those rituals and laws) and Numbers (even the title turns you off - unless you're an accountant). But God gave all of the law - and at the right time, it is a good idea to work your way through. Understanding the historical context and the rituals. Best to have a good commentary that can give you the significance of the various sacrifices, but be careful not to turn everything into a symbol of some super spiritual truth. We have a tendency to do that with things in the Bible that are hard to understand.

You'll have to think through the relevance of the laws given to Israel to how they should be understood today. Like Leviticus 19:28 "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."

And keep your eyes open for little gems - verses that God uses that jump out at you unexpectedly. Jesus did. He liked Leviticus 19:18, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."

Jeff

The Law

2012-01-16T04:50:00.003-05:00

Today I'm reading Joshua 1:7-9, ⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

Yesterday I spoke on the importance of gaining guidance from God's Word and the promises given to Joshua. The "Book of the Law" that's mentioned refers to the first 5 books of the Bible that are called the "Torah" or the Pentateuch. They cover creation through Israel getting ready to enter the Promised Land. In addition to the Ten Commandment the Torah contains contain long lists of regulations, rules and laws, especially in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus.

Every week it seems there's some news story that shows how confused people are (even within the church) about how we are to relate to these 5 books of Moses and all the laws they contain. For example this story that appeared in USA Today over the weekend:

SHAWANO, Wis. -- A gay couple with school-age children is outraged over a column in a local high school newspaper that cites Bible passages and calls homosexuality a sin punishable by death...

Not only do stories like this make all Bible believing people look stupid, it also shows how people don't know how to deal with the "Book of the Law" or understand how to read it as Christians. So that's the topic of this week's blog.

The first thing we need to understand as a basic principle is that there are the different kinds of law in the Torah. (1) Moral Law (2) Ceremonial Law and (3) Civil Law.

Moral law is universal – for all people in every culture for all time. Like the 10 Commandments. The moral law reflects the very nature of God. God defines what is good and what is evil based on God’s own nature. God is the Creator of all things and the moral law is how he desires for us live as his creatures so that we are in harmony with his nature.

Israel existed as a Theocracy. That means they saw God as their ruler; and their government and their religion and their social society were intertwined in a special covenant relationship with God. All the laws were intermingled and they did not make any effort to separate out the three different threads. In the Pentateuch, and in the life of ancient Israel, all three were woven together in one strand. This covenant law guided Israel. So, if the moral law was violated it had religious and legal consequences. Stoning to death (a civil penalty) was what they did to punish capitol offenses and those could be offenses against any of the legal threads. A moral one (like the prohibitions against homosexuality), or a religious one (touching the Ark of the Covenant). The civil penalties were meted out as their form of justice.

The Law of the Covenant was in effect to govern Israel through all their ups and downs until God finally said they had broken the covenant severely enough that he allowed their national destruction under the Babylonians and Assyrians, and the Hebrews were finally taken into exile in 580 BC and the temple was destroyed.

The moral law is eternal and always in effect, but the ceremonial law and the civil law are no longer valid. Why? Not because we don’t like the OT laws. But because the New Testament says so.

Jesus affirmed the moral law constantly, and he broke the ceremonial law repeatedly because he was trying to demonstrate that he was the fulfillment of all the religious ceremonies of Israel. He was the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, so the whole sacrificial system was no longer needed. He was Lord of the Sabbath so the Sabbath laws were fulfilled in him. For example it says in Mark 7:19 "'For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.' (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean)."

Also, Jesus affirmed that the people of Israel were no longer in charge of the civil law and did not command them to return to the civil law. Rather he (and the New Testament writers continued this) urged them to obey Roman law. Remember, “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”?).

So Jesus did away with all the ceremonial needs to perform the sacrifices. They no longer had the civil authority to enact punishments (that's why it was the Roman governor who had to condemn Jesus to death, not the Jewish leaders). They no longer lived in a Theocracy with God as their ruler. They were conquered and ruled by Rome.

So, the moral law is still in effect, but not the ceremonial or civil law. The key is then to be able and read the Torah and discern the difference. But it is easy to see that in no way should Christians be calling on anybody to be stoned to death. That's just ignorant nonsense.

Better to focus on Jesus's summary of God's moral law: Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (a. Deuteronomy 6.5, b. Leviticus 19:18)

Some good stuff in that Book of the Law.

Jeff

Fear 5

2012-01-13T04:57:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading Romans 8:14-16, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

I think I've watched maybe 5 minutes of the TV show "Fear Factor" but I've seen enough of the promos to know I don't need to spend one more second of my life watching it again. The premise is to put people into situations that will force them to confront their fears, or more likely, to have to do some kind of disgusting, revolting thing that would normally turn your stomach. Eating worms, for example. There's enough real fear in the world I don't need to see it manufactured in a 'reality' show.

Many people live in fear when they think of God. Even if they won't admit it or articulate it they fear his judgment or displeasure over their lives, their behavior. So, they deny his existence, they water down his commands, they ignore his call, they block it out of their minds any way they can. And then at the other extreme there are those who use fear in their religion to keep people in line, to make people adhere to the dogmas of the faith (whether Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Scientology or whatever). Every religion can be turned into a manipulative thing through the use of fear.

In Scripture the 'fear of God' means approaching God with awesome reverence. It means understanding that God is far more than my spiritual buddy, the BIG GUY upstairs, etc. Treating God flippantly is the opposite of the true reverence we are to have for our Creator. Of course we are his children. He has compassion on us. Jesus calls us his friends. We call God our 'Abba' - the Aramaic word for "Daddy." But none of that erases the sense of awe we should have when we think about the greatness of God.

Paul reminds us that we are not called to live in that negative 'fear' of God. Our forgiveness in complete in Christ. And it is his love that compels obedience, not the threat of judgment. That's what it means to live in grace and to truly embrace being a son or daughter of God. There's freedom in that relationship, and security. Our spirit connects with his Spirit, and that's the beauty of living a Christ-centered life.

Jeff

Today's prayer: (Psalm 121) 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Fear 4

2012-01-12T04:30:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Psalm 3. A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." 3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4 To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.

Back on April 10, 2011 I blogged about Corrie ten Boom’s acronym for FEAR – “False Expectations Appearing Real.” Still a good commentary on what fear is and how it works in our lives. But I’ve since learned her acronym is frequently accompanied by these:

Frantic Effort to Avoid Reality.

Finding Excuses And Rationalizations.

Failure Expected And Received.

Or… Forget Everything And Run! (clean version).

Too bad we can’t just Forget Everything And Relax.

But the expectation of something going wrong…that is where fear begins. Beforehand. What you expect and what you hold in your thoughts or consciousness can easily become your real experience or your reality. Our thought color everything we experience.

The only difference between fear and excitement is a different expected outcome – one negative and one positive. Think about it. Let’s say you are afraid of public speaking and you’re about to go in front of a group of people to give a presentation. Your palms and forehead are sweaty. You imagine walking up the mic and “SQWEEEAL” the thing feeds back. You picture yourself fumbling and bumbling your way through and looking like a complete idiot to everyone.

Now, imagine you’re the one who LOVES being onstage and has been anxiously awaiting your “time to shine”. You’ve got all of your materials ready. You’re pacing in the hallway like a big game cat. You literally cannot wait to get out there and nail it!

With an negative expectation, the presentation is a thing of dread and terror. With a positive expectation, the presentation is a golden opportunity. Your body reacts the same way in either case, elevated heart rate, adrenal glands kick in. It’s just a matter of which way you perceive the experience that shapes the outcome.

So use your body’s physical reaction to your advantage. Instead of creating paralysis, let it give your energy and flexibility. In the first church I served as a youth pastor I was always very nervous when I had to preach, and I remember the advice given to me by the seasoned choir director. She said, “It’s OK to have butterflies, just get them to fly in formation.”

Here are some other great words by Corrie ten Boom – and if you haven’t ever read her book “The Hiding Place” do it without delay. It’s a classic and should be mandatory for all Christians.

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength - carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.”

“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.”

“There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!”

Let her thought be turned into your prayer for today.

Jeff

Fear 3

2012-01-11T04:31:00.003-05:00

Today I'm reading 1 John 4:17-19. "This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us."

I love the scene in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Charlie tries to get advice from Lucy about his fears. She tries to narrow down exactly what his fear is by reciting a list of phobias, until she gets to 'pantaphobia' - the fear of everything. "That's it!!" exclaims Charlie Brown. (Watch it here http://bit.ly/ac5p2j).

The Greek word for fear used in the New Testament is ‘phobos’ from which we get our English word “phobia.” I started to read an on-line list of fears that have been classified as phobias. I didn’t even get through the ‘A’s. Here’s a partial list:

Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing.

Acarophobia- Fear of itching or of the insects that cause itching.

Acerophobia- Fear of sourness.

Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.

Acousticophobia- Fear of noise.

Acrophobia- Fear of heights.

Aerophobia- Fear of drafts, air swallowing, or airborne noxious substances.

Aeroacrophobia- Fear of open high places.

Aeronausiphobia- Fear of vomiting secondary to airsickness.

Agateophobia- Fear of insanity.

Agliophobia- Fear of pain.

Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like markets. Fear of leaving a safe place.

Agraphobia- Fear of sexual abuse.

Agrizoophobia- Fear of wild animals.

Agyrophobia- Fear of streets or crossing the street.

Aichmophobia- Fear of needles or pointed objects.

Ailurophobia- Fear of cats.

Albuminurophobia- Fear of kidney disease.

Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.

Algophobia- Fear of pain.

Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.

Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.

Fear of chickens!? Who knew? I think the point is you can turn anything into a phobia!

Often our fears are related to a bad experience from our past. I may have swinophobia - a fear of pigs - because once while in the sow barn at my grandfather's farm my older brother dangled me by my ankles over a trap door in the barn floor where feed was shoved down to the pigs, and these weren't cute little piggies but huge, hungry, slobbering 600 lb. hogs. I was sure he was going to drop me and the hogs would have torn me to pieces. Of course now I relish every piece of bacon I consume. ( I wonder what a fear of brothers would be called?)

John says 'perfect love casts out fear'. I know I can't love perfectly. I can't drive the fears out of someone else. At one point in my life I thought I could; but I couldn't. I can't even drive them out of myself. So you can't do it for someone else. Only Christ can do that. His love is the only perfect love out there - so don't look to another person to do it for you, either. It's between you and the Lord. Let his love be the motivating force that enables you to face your fears head on. It's the only power that can.

Jeff

Fear 2

2012-01-10T04:47:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading Psalm 56.

For the Director of music. To the tune of 'A Dove on Distant Oaks.' Of David, a 'miktam.' When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

1 Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;

all day long they press their attack.

2 My slanderers pursue me all day long;

many are attacking me in their pride.

3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you.

4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can mortal man do to me?

5 All day long they twist my words;

they are always plotting to harm me.

6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps,

eager to take my life.

7 On no account let them escape;in your anger,

O God, bring down the nations.

8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll --

are they not in your record?

9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.

By this I will know that God is for me.

10 In God, whose word I praise,

in the LORD, whose word I praise--

11in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12 I am under vows to you, O God;

I will present my thank offerings to you.

13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before God in the light of life.

I think people love the Psalms because they contain all the honest, raw emotions of life. And we see ourselves, our emotions in the writings of the Psalms. That's comforting - to know that our struggles are not strange or unusual, but are common to people who want to walk with God and have been around for a very long time. So fear is nothing new for people who sincerely want to follow the Lord.

This Psalm has always intrigued me, because it comes with such a great introduction. I want to know what it sounded like when it was sung to the tune of 'A Dove on Distant Oaks.' And nobody really knows what a 'miktam' is. But even more than that I always wonder at the transition in David's life from the adolescent warrior who showed no fear at all when he faced the massive Goliath and took his head with a sword he could barely lift, to this young man who is on the run from King Saul, who has to find a tenuous refuge in the camp of his sworn enemies, the Philistines. (read it in 1Samuel 21:10ff). His disguise doesn't fool the Philistines so his life is on the line. Now he's scared! What happened to David in the in-between years that made him susceptible to fear? Maybe he just didn't know what he was getting into with Goliath. Sometimes bravery and stupidity are close cousins.

But now he's got some raw fear coursing through his veins. And he turns to the Lord. I think God inspired his creativity because David's solution is to fein madness in the court of the Philistine King. And so they didn't think he was a threat to them at all. In fact, they got a kick out of seeing him in such a decrepit state. It wasn't magic, but it worked. Deception is always a part of warfare and David was a master at it. And he was a good actor. An academy award performance as a madman.

So, if you're facing a fearful situation, a little drooling never hurts. Just kidding. But you may want to pray for the Lord to inspire your creativity in dealing with the problem. Often fear paralyzes so we cannot think. We don't see options. We see only dead ends. Pray for the Lord to give you a better vantage point so you don't feel so closed in or trapped. Because that's where the fear comes from, feeling trapped with no good way out.

And use this psalm as you prayer today.

In God, whose word I praise,

in the LORD, whose word I praise--

in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Jeff

Fear

2012-01-09T04:46:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Genesis 3:6-10. ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. ⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

I'm preaching about courage for the next few weeks and this morning I defined courage this way: Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather action in the presence of fear. Fear is the crippling emotion that haunts all of us at one point or another. We especially fear what other people will say or think or do. And then comes the guilt for not doing or BEING what we know we should be.

But this shouldn't come as a surprise, this struggle we have with fear. It goes all the way back to the garden. Fear was one of the first consequences of the Fall. It was a consequence of brokenness, the broken relationship with God. Adam was afraid because of his nakedness. Was it his body image? Before the fall the picture given is that he and Eve were naked and it specifically says: "Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." (2:25). So, something changed in his self-perception, his self-image because of the fall. What was normal, natural, beautiful became - in his fallen mind - shameful, guilt, url, not right, imperfect, flawed. Ever stood naked in front of a full length mirror. You might be able to trace your feelings all the way back to Adam.

Courage in Christ will lead us to confront our fears. But first we have to be willing to recognize what we really fear and where it comes from in our interior world. Do you know what you fear and how fear gets a grip on your heart? Be aware of it this week. Recognize when you start to react out of fear - when you feel threatened, when you feel attacked, when you feel intimidated. And see if you can tell where that fear comes from. Christ will meet you there.

Jeff

Today's Prayer: Dear Lord, my fear has trapped and consumed me. But I am tired of living under the weight of my fears. Your WORD reassures me of your presence and that you are able to deliver me from my trouble. Please give me your love and power to replace these fear. Your perfect love cast out my fear. I thank you for promising to give me the peace that only you can give. I receive that peace now as I ask you to still my troubled heart. Because you are with me I don't have to be afraid. Through Christ my Lord, Amen.

Resolutions 5

2012-01-06T04:45:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading Romans 12:9-21 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

*****

We have this as a plaque in our home. Though it’s not written as a New Year’s resolution, it is still well worth reading and remembering and living. From Mother Teresa:

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

Jeff - and be sure to read today's graphic. Enlarge if you must.

Today’s prayer - Matthew Henry's New Year's prayer: "Lord grant that this year I may be more holy, and walk more closely than ever in all holy conversation; I earnestly desire to be filled with thy holy thoughts, to be carried out in holy affections, determined by holy aims and intentions, and governed in all my words and actions by holy principles. O that a golden thread of holiness may run through the whole web of this year. Amen.”

Resolutions 4

2012-01-05T04:40:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Philippians 1:20-26,

^"20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me."

Resolutions have to do with deciding...deciding what is really important to you...what is really important about you. Our actions tell us what we really believe. We can spout off all kinds of platitudes and spiritual sounding phrases, but it is what we actually DO that tells us who we really are. In that sense, actions do speak louder than words.

Jim Elliot, the missionary martyred in Ecuador in the 1950's, put his life on the line to live out what he said he believed. He may have been over zealous in his attempts to spread the Gospel, but he at least lived what he said.

His diary is challenging reading, because, like the Apostle Paul, he was truly 100% committed to Christ and to Christ's call on his life. One of his most famous quotes in this one:

"Lord, make me a crisis man. Let me not be a mile-post on a single road, but make me a fork that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me."

Those are some challenging words. When people encounter you, do they also encounter Christ? What kind of God will people think you really believe in, based on your actions and your behavior? If people don't see Christ in you, why?

Tough stuff to think about but crucial if we desire to live effectively for Christ.

Jeff

Today's prayer: Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for Thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking. Amen. (A. W. Tozer)

Resolutions 3

2012-01-04T05:15:00.000-05:00

Today I’m reading 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”

“Resolution One: I will live for God.

Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”

Jonathan Edwards

Resolutions are nothing new. You can find them going way back in church history. One of the most famous list of resolutions comes from the pen of Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards who helped launch the Great Awakening in New England during the first half of the 18^th century. For Edwards, resolutions were neither pious hopes, romantic dreams, nor legalistic rules. They were instructions for life, maxims to be followed everyday. Edwards depended on the sustaining strength of God to enable him to live up to them. He knew he couldn’t keep his resolutions in his own strength.

He began his list in 1722 and added to it throughout the year until August of 1723. Like other Puritans, Edwards took seriously the biblical injunctions to examine ones motives and actions. Edwards lays out the Resolutions in a matter-of-fact style, treating them much like scientific principles, since he was also a well known natural scientist. Drawing up resolutions was a standard practice for educated people in the eighteenth century. (Scholars have long compared Edwards’ and Benjamin Franklin’s resolutions).

The ultimate purpose of his Resolutions was to produce a soul fit for eternity with God, so they served as a set of practical day-to-day guidelines for achieving that end. Edwards admonished himself to study the Scriptures above all other books and to pray steadfastly. Jesus was to be trusted as Lord. God was present, personal, and primary.

You may not make 70 resolutions. In fact that’s probably too many for any of us to keep track of. But if you are intent on making changes in your life always remember that you can’t just do it on your own. Depend on the strength that God provides through prayer. And review your resolutions daily in your prayer time.

Jeff

You can read all 70 resolutions here: http://dailychristianquote.com/dcqresolve.html

Resolutions 2

2012-01-03T05:05:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading 2 Timothy 1:6-10. "6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

In 1520 Pope Leo X issued the a Papal bull (decree) called Exsurge Dominie (“Arise, O Lord”), that accused a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther of heresy and outlined 41 errors found in his writing, the “95 Theses”, that Luther had nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517l. This ‘bull’ was no ‘bull’. Heresy was a crime punishable by death. So, Luther was summoned by the emperor to a trial of sorts, called the Diet of Worms (“Worms” was the city where the trial was held). Another nobleman, who was sympathetic to Luther, obtained an agreement that if Luther appeared he would be promised safe passage to and from the meeting. This was essential since a previous reformer, Jan Hus, was executed despite a promise of safe conduct. Emperor Charles V commenced the Diet of Worms on January 28, 1521. Luther was summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views.

The main things that were considered heretical were:

•Luther challenged the absolute authority of the Pope over the Church by maintaining that the doctrine of indulgences, was wrong. An indulgence was a financial payment people could make to the church to assure that a deceased loved one (or oneself) would automatically get into heaven. Pay to play.

•Luther maintained that salvation was by faith alone (sola fide) not by good works, alms or money paid to the church, penance, or even the church sacraments. It was all grace (sola gratia).

•Luther also challenged the authority of the Church by maintaining that all doctrines of the Church not found in Scripture should be discarded (sola scripture).

So, on trial for his life Luther stood before the most powerful people in Europe and said this: “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.”

That’s resolution. The reason why we have a hard time making resolutions is that we live in a culture that always looks for the loophole. We don’t want to make absolute commitments. We want short cell phone contracts and fluid relationships. We want options. When Luther was backed into a corner he could have just said, “I was only kidding,” and walked away a free man. But he didn’t, and he changed the course of Western civilization in helping to solidify the Protestant Reformation.

We may never be on trial for our lives because of our faith in Christ, so why is it so hard for people to publically identify themselves as followers of Christ? Why are we so afraid to go public? Where is our resolve to live for Christ?

Do people know that you are a believer? Have you ‘come out’ for Christ? Something to think about this year.

Jeff

Today’s prayer: “O Lord, who looks down in unspeakable love and tenderness upon the sorrows of earth, give me grace to understand the meaning of such afflictions and disappointments as I myself am called to endure. Deliver me from worry, and give me a believing heart that casts all burdens upon you.” John Baillie.

P.S. Despite the agreement that he could return home safely, it was privately understood that Luther would be arrested and punished. To protect him from this fate, A German Prince named Frederick hid Luther in his castle. This was when Luther began his German translation of the Bible. And it was because of the support of the German Princes that the Reformation continued.

Resolutions

2012-01-02T04:28:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, “So from now on this means that we don’t think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t anymore. For if a person is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation.”

This is the time for fresh starts, resolutions, new beginnings. I love the list of resolutions written by the folk music legend Woody Guthrie (see today’s graphic). I especially like #3 “Wash teeth, if any.” And #11 “Change socks.” I’ll put those two on my list of new year’s resolutions.

I’m all for making resolutions, but we need to recognize that most people give up on their resolutions by the end of January. Like 85%. So, in order for our resolutions to become reality here are some tips on how to make a resolution that sticks. A good resolution should be…

1. Specific. Just saying “Eat better” won’t get you anywhere. Lay out what you really want to do.

2. Realistic. We often set our goals way too high and they are unreachable. To say I’m going to run 5 miles a day when I can’t even run around the block isn’t going to work. Small steps. Never underestimate the value of a small plan.

3. Something you do, not something you stop doing. State your plan as a positive action. “I will…” Not, “I won’t.”

4. Repetitive. A good positive plan gets built into your schedule on a regular basis. Repetition builds success.

5. Depends solely on you and not what others do. Often our plans get sabotaged if we depend on someone else to make it happen. That’s when we start blaming others for our failures. “She didn’t…he didn’t…”

6. Something you’re really committed to. If you don’t have some passion behind your resolution you won’t have the drive to complete it. If you’re not really committed to your plan then you’re just wasting your time.

7. Something you share with someone else. Telling someone about your resolution dramatically increases your commitment to fulfilling your plan. It gives you a level of accountability. When you keep it to yourself then it’s easier to just let it slide.

But, as good as resolutions might be they are not the same as having a new life in Christ. The new life Paul is talking about in today’s passage is not based on our sustained efforts to change. It depends solely on Christ and his work in our hearts. He makes all things new. Our job is to be good receptors of the life that he sends our way. We are not enslaved by our past – either our sins or the things that others did to us. The slate is wiped clean and we truly have a new beginning. The resolutions are really a way to put the icing on the cake. And it’s because of Christ that we DO have the power to make the changes we want to make.

Jeff

Today’s Prayer:

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You, let my first impulse be to worship You, let my first speech be Your name, let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.

For Your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:

For the love with which You love mankind:

For the love with which You love me:

For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life:

For the indwelling of your Spirit in my heart:

For the sevenfold gifts of your Spirit:

I praise and worship You, O Lord.

Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day;

Keeping me chaste in thought:

Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:

Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:

Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:

Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealings with others:

Keeping me loyal to every hallowed memory of the past:

Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.

(John Baillie)

Christmas vacation

2011-12-26T04:10:00.002-05:00

The blog is on vacation this week.

I'll be back January 2nd. Till then, remember...

"I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be. I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of facing either poverty or plenty. I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives within me." Philippians 4:12-13

Just in time for Christmas 5

2011-12-23T04:46:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Philippians 4:6- 9 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

As promised yesterday - the story behind how "A Christmas Carol" came to be written.

The autumn of 1843 was a dark time for a young author named Charles Dickens. Though his first books had brought him some financial success, his sales and royalties had been cut way back and he was in financial desperation. He was completely haunted by worries over his debts, so much so that he couldn’t sleep. So, he took to wandered the dark, damp, dangerous back streets of London far after any sane person would have been long inside in bed.

What haunted him most were his own memories of what happened to his family when his father was put in debtors prison and he and his siblings were forced to work off his father’s debts. Dickens labored long hours in a shoe-polish factory. He was horrified by the possibility that his own family might suffer the same fate. All he needed to do was to write and sell a story, which ought to be easy since he was a published author. But, his worries so consumed his mind that there was no room for any creativity. His mind was paralyzed by his fears. So night after night he stared at a blank piece of paper.

One night while walking the streets of London he encountered a poor homeless family living in a back alley. The young children were covered in white powder. He asked the father what it was, and the father said, “It’s flour from the bakery where they work. It’s what feeds our family.” Dickens understood that this meant the children often worked 12 hour shifts in horrible conditions just to feed the family. Another night he watched through a window as children worked long weary hours in a laundry. When the children were released in the dead of night Dickens stopped one of the boys and asked him, “Who do you work for?” The boy's answer stunned him. “For people like you, sir.”

It was after that encounter that all thoughts of needing to make money left him. Instead he started reflecting on the boy who had long been buried inside of himself, the boy who worked at the shoe-polish factory and who longed for a different life.

Between fits of crying and almost hysterical laughter he started to write. His wife and his housekeeper were sure that he had gone over the edge. He spent night after night putting ink to paper, creating characters and dialogue and plot. He could barely tear himself away from writing even to sleep. He was consumed by the story and he said that in writing "A Christmas Carol" he experienced a renewal of his life; and that the story reflected what he wanted his own life to be. The story changed his life.

His worries over his debts and finances faded. When the book was finished he decided he wanted to publish it in such a way that it would be affordable to the common person and not just the upper class. So, when the book was published the week before the Christmas of 1843 Dickens paid for all the publication expenses himself and set the price at a very low 5 shillings. Because he paid for the publication expenses and set such a low price, and because of book piracy (where people reprinted his book themselves and kept the profits like DVDs from China), he made very little money off the sales of “A Christmas Carol.” But he made enough to see him through and to go on to write some of his most famous novels and to secure his place in literary history.

Quite a story.

Makes me think about the worries that I allow to fill my brain so that I don’t have enough room for the things God really wants me to be thinking about. How about you?

May you know you are blessed by the Lord this Christmas weekend.

Jeff

Just in time for Christmas 4

2011-12-22T05:31:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading Matthew 1:22-23.

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel(which means ‘God with us’).”

Probably the most famous story connected to Christmas (besides Jesus’ Nativity recorded in the Gospels), is Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The back story to how Dickens came to write his now famous fable is quite a story in and or itself and I’ll blog on that tomorrow. But for today here’s the climactic passage – at least for the Cratchit family…

••••

There was never such a goose. Bob said he didn’t believe there eve was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavor, sixe and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration…then the pudding was out of the copper…Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage…Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle…and at Bob Cratchit’s elbow stood the family display of glass. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle.

These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked nosily. Then Bob proposed:

“A merry Christmas to us all my dears. God bless us!”

God bless us every one!” said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

•••••

May God bless you and your family this Christmas, too.

Jeff

Just in Time for Christmas 3

2011-12-21T05:05:00.000-05:00

Today I’m reading Luke 1:26-38.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

•Today a poem by Lois Dodds: “Risk Faith”

Had you not believed,

virgin young

and favored,

whom would God have chosen

to bear our Lord?

Would Gabriel have spoken

to some other girl

of fuller faith?

What he asked you

had no precedent.

No virgin had before

been overshadowed

or borne a Messiah.

Had you said “no”

to save your reputation,

you would have lost it.

Though some scorned

your faith

and doubted

your integrity,

you treasured

in your tender heart

all secret promises.

Your faith

brought our Salvation.

Your willing heart

made room for royalty

and Jesus became flesh

and dwelt in you that day.

Are you making room for Christ in your heart today?

Jeff

Just in Time for Christmas 2

2011-12-20T05:17:00.000-05:00

There’s a 12^th century French Christmas carol entitled 'The Friendly Beasts." It’s written from the perspective of the donkey who lovingly carried Mary on her long journey to Bethlehem, the cow who donated the manger in which Christ lay, the sheep who gave up his wool for the swaddling clothes, and the dove who gently sang the Christ child to sleep on the night of his birth. Each verse begins with the refrain “’I’, said the donkey, shaggy and brown” or “’I’, said the sheep with the curly horn”, and the carol’s last verse runs as follows:

Thus every beast by some glad spell, 

In the stable dark was glad to tell 

Of the gift he gave Emmanuel. 

The gift he gave Emmanuel.

In his poem “The Nativity”, C.S. Lewis reflects on the same aspect of the Christmas story but his poem turns the animal concept on its head. Rather than anthropomorphizing the beasts by giving them a ‘glad spell’ which allows them to participate in the human spirit of Christmas by giving gifts to the Christ child, he wishes that he would be able to respond to Christ’s presence with the virtues which symbolically belong to the animals.

THE NATIVITY

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow) 

I see a glory in the stable grow 

Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length 

Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they) 

I see my Saviour where I looked for hay; 

So may my beastlike folly learn at least 

The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed) 

I watch the manger where my Lord is laid; 

Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence 

Some woolly innocence!

For Lewis paints the power of Christmas begins in the Christ child, a ‘glory in the stable’ that is seen through the lens of the animals. He watches from their perspective, ‘among the asses’ who find a child where they sought hay. And he wishes that he could receive from the infant Jesus the grace to become like the animals who wait so patiently when they find their feeding trough otherwise occupied.

In the French carol the gifts are given “to” the Christ-child, given with human intentions in the mode of a donkey and other animals. “The Nativity” seems to capture better the spirit of the season. At Christmas, we long to receive the grace that enters into the world through the Christ child. It is not the gifts that we can give to him that matter most; but rather the gifts we are given by Christ, which truly makes Christmas a holy day.

What have you received from Christ because of Christmas?

Jeff

Just in Time for Christmas

2011-12-19T05:13:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Luke 2:1-7 "¹About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. ²These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. ⁴So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family. ⁵Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby,⁶and while they were there, ⁷she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn."

This week's blog will be a collection of readings, poems and reflections on the birth of Jesus. Hope they stimulate your faith and joy in the birth of our Savior.

At Christmas time God cups his hands over his mouth and shouts at the top of his voice, so that with all the noise going on around them, people might hear what He has to say: "Listen! I've got great news that will bring you glorious joy!"

A humble barn became a rude theater,

The empty stage - a rough and simple staff;

The props - a milking stool , a sheaf of barley,

A harness draped in garlands on the wall.

In shadowed wings the bovine extras waited,

As bleating sheep the orchestration played,

The grandstands filled with ruminating oxen,

And heaven's searchlight lit the little stage.

The overture rang from rejoicing angels,

On heaven's balconies the scene to view;

and when she placed the Infant in the manger,

Life's greatest drama opened, right on cue.

(Ruth Glover)

Stay close to Christ today.

Jeff

Faith and Food 5

2011-12-16T05:04:00.000-05:00

Today I'm reading Matthew 4:2-4, “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Throughout history food has been used as a weapon. Or I should say, denying people food. In ancient times an army would lay siege around a town and keep supplies from going in or out, and eventually the people would begin to starve. It was just easier than throwing one’s own soldiers against the battlements. But what’s worse is that often when people reached the point of starvation they turned to cannibalism to survive, and this was particularly abhorrent in the eyes of God. (See Lamentations 2:20 or Ezekiel 5:10).

Food is still used as a weapon. In places like Somalia and Sudan war lords (or the government) hoard food or deny relief trucks the ability to deliver food so as to weaken their enemies and solidify their power. Food is used as a bribe to get people in line. When you’re hungry you’ll agree to just about anything. Unless you're Jesus.

So Satan comes to test Jesus while Jesus is hungry. He’s fasted 40 days, and the first temptation Satan brings is bread. Henri Nouwen calls this the temptation to be relevant. If Jesus could turn stones to bread then the world would follow him. He’d eliminate one of the worst fears of the ancient world – starvation. Of course people would follow…as long as the bread kept coming. Isn’t that the most important thing – taking care of people’s immediate physical needs? No – at least that wasn’t Jesus’ primary mission. And the bread trick wasn’t God way of reaching the world. Oh sure, Jesus could do it. He did with the 5,000 and then again. His ability to do it wasn’t the issue. The issue was following the Father’s will.

Same issue for us. As Peterson paraphrases Matthew 4:4 in “The Message:”

Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."

Be sure and let God feed you today and this weekend. A steady diet of his WORD.

Jeff

Today’s prayer: THE HEAVY LADEN

O God, we bring before You the burden of the world’s life:

All who are far from home and friends,

All who lie down hungry or cold,

All who suffer pain,

All who are kept awake by anxiety,

All who are facing danger,

All who toil, or keep watch while others sleep.

May they have a sense of Your presence that will turn their

loneliness into comfort and their trouble into peace. Amen.

(John Baillie)

Faith and Food 4

2011-12-15T05:17:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading John 6:30-40,

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

I've never been a big fan of the big church sign with the catchy phrase that somehow supposed to be a "witness." This sign might be more effective if they had spelled "your" as "you're". But I doubt that anyone was brought into the Kingdom as a result of reading this sign. Another witless witness.

The Pharisees wanted a type of 'witness' from Jesus. Bread. Manna from heaven like the Israelites got while they wandered in the desert. Free food! Daily. In other words they wanted Jesus to perform for them, jump through their hoop, do miracles on their demand. Jesus gave them only himself. He could do the miracle food thing. He'd proved that with the feeding of the 5,000. But people get hungry the next day. And the next. And he was not in the catering business.

"I am the Bread of Life." One of the amazing "I am" statements in the Gospel of John. Any one of them was enough to get him crucified. Bread - the source of satisfaction and sustenance.

Do I really see Jesus that way in my life? Is he truly my source of satisfaction? Do I live that way each day or do I long for the big miracle to make things right? I confess a tension there. And I see the tension in people who are struggling to trust the Lord when life gets difficult. When they lose a job or are worried about how to pay the bills or anxious about a family member who's struggling.

We all need to take a big bite out of the Bread of Life. Or we might be toast.

Jeff

Faith and Food 3

2011-12-14T05:37:00.000-05:00

Today I’m reading John 6:25-29,

“25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

More Roman history – after yesterday’s post about their lavish banquets and how they took gluttony to whole new levels. The most famous description of these banquets is in a story by the first century Roman writer Petronius called “Satyricon.” Petronius eventually committed suicide in 66 AD to avoid torture under the Emperor Nero. And it is interesting that the main character in this debauchery is named Trimelchio, and that name was used as the prototype for the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 20^th century novel “The Great Gatsby” (1925) which chronicled a life of modern self-indulgence. Fitzgerald originally title his novel “Trimelchio’s Banquet”. Fitzgerald saw a connection between the decadence of ancient Rome and the 20^th century, and I think he was right on the money.

Jesus was no sad-sack. He was even accused of being a glutton and drunkard in Luke 7:34. He spent lots of time with people who liked to party. He had a care-free, lighthearted attitude toward food and drink. He understood true celebration. He also understood that when a person is anxious about food – getting it, getting enough of it – it occupies their thoughts. There is a feeling of panic inside. They can’t experience the peace of God as described in Philippians 4:6, “Have no anxiety about anything…” Jesus knew that people would never have inner control, discipline, and assurance if good became their master. They wouldn’t know the contentment the Apostle Paul spoke of in 1 Timothy 6:6-8 “…If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”

Jesus gives us a call to something deeper. He tells us that self-denial is part of the Gospel message. That there is a place for healthy self-denial in all those who would seek to follow him. He tells us that we should not be distracted by every bodily impulse. We need to be able to say “No” to many of those inner voices that demand our attention. He calls us to a life of joyful discipline but without the legalism. Christ has freed us from the law. But he has freed us for a purpose. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by (mastered) anything.” Paul was saying that I belong to Jesus and I want to be mastered solely by him. If anything else take his place – that is a problem…whether eating food or not eating food. In this sense gluttony is no different from any of the other traditional “seven deadly sins": greed – lust – anger – jealousy – sloth – pride – they are all vying for the throne of our hearts, hoping to overthrow Jesus and take his place.

So ask yourself is there a place in your heart where food or a compulsive eating behavior has pushed Christ off the throne? Are you obsessed in any way with food during the holidays?

I want to be mastered only by Jesus Christ. The Puritans had a good motto that we might consider. “All things in moderation.” All things are lawful but don’t be mastered by anything other than Christ.

Jeff

Faith and Food 2

2011-12-13T10:42:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Luke 7:34, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”

We live in a unique time of history. We are the first society to have special diseases related to food. I don’t mean starvation, thought we have that problem, too. But our problem in America is not that we have too little food. Quite the contrary. We throw away enogh food every day to keep some smaller countries well fed for an entire year. Our problem with food is expressed in a whole host of what we now call eating disorders: bulimia, anorexia, binge/purge cycles and other compulsive behaviors related to eating. There are new diseases identified only in the last 40 years. There are unique to a prosperous, affluent nations and they are no laughing matter.

What the realm of psychology has discovered only recently is something that the biblical writers and ancient Christian writers already knew: that there is often a connection between our eating and our emotional, mental and spiritual health. An attachment that binds food and the inner life. This connection between food and emotions can create unhealthy, and even sinful behaviors because of the compulsive grip food can have on a person’ life.

The only society in history that had a compulsion with food similar to ours is that of ancient Rome. You’ve perhaps seen it in movies or read about it in stories. Lavish banquets of the idle rich. All the uests lounging on couches and pillows for the banquets that would last for days, even weeks at a time. The tables literally overflowing with the finest delicacies of the Empire. The Roman elite prided themselves on how much they could eat. In fact historians tell us they prized a man’s big belly. One nobleman even had two slaves whose only job was to carry his stomach! They also had their vomitoriums, so that party goers could empty their stomachs to consume more and more food and wine. The Romans took self-indulgence to new levels of decadence.

But gluttony isn’t just about volume consumed. Gluttony begins when a person’s thinking becomes preoccupied by food. The driving motivation behind it is a type of self love that know no restraint. A self love that gives in to every impulse, that allows for no restriction or self-control And on the other side there are the health food addicts and dieters who are equally obsessed with food. They are compulsively counting calories, grams of fat, calculating how much of each food group to consume.

The true source of difficulty is that gluttony is often connected with loneliness and anxiety. Food can be a friend in solitude. Eating and thinking about eating is a way to fill the emptiness. Tasting is a way of calming our nerves and gives us a sense of pleasure. So for some, their relationship with good exists as a hunger for something more in life, a love hunger, a longing for acceptance, a search for safety, a sense of control in the chaos.

Jesus reminds us of something profound in the Sermon on the mount. That great passage about worry. “Isn’t life more important than food?” (Matthew 6:25). Read that whole passage for yourself today and let him speak to you about your own thoughts about and relationship with food. Jesus is pointing to a deeper solution. After all, he is the Bread of Life.

Jeff

Faith and Food

2011-12-12T05:17:00.002-05:00

Today I’m reading from Mark 7.

1 When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus.2 They saw that some of Jesus' followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn't washed them. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. 4 And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.)

5 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, "Why don't your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?"

6 Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote, 'These people show honor to me with words, but their hearts are far from me. 7 Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules.' (Isaiah 29:13) 8 You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings...

18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them…”

This weekend I had a few interesting conversations about food. Not about how Jesus’ face miraculously appeared on a piece of toast, but more seriously about the role food plays in our lives. There’s a lot in the Bible about the issue of food, though their issues back then may not be exactly the same as ours today. It’s interesting to me that so much of life revolves around what we eat or don’t eat, and many people have very strong opinions about it. I’m not sure I have this all figured out, but here’s something to get the conversation started this week. Let me know how you feel about these thoughts from Kim Peterson’s book “Keeping House: the Litany of Everyday Life.”

"Dietary preferences are another area in which individual practices can either foster or hinder connection with other. The trend in modern American culture is toward ever more individualized eating. Diets are touted as suitable for people of a particular body type or even of a particular blood type. Deciding what one will or will not eat becomes a primary means of defining one’s own individuality. “I don’t eat carbs,” “I don’t eat fat,” “I don’t eat red meant,” “I don’t eat animal products,” “I don’t eat cooked food.”

And with every good added to the list of things one does not eat, the shorter becomes the list of people with whom one can enjoy table fellowship. Dietary practices become a means of warding off contact not only with foods that are deemed objectionable but also with people who are deemed objectionable because they eat whatever it is that the diet forbids. Like the religious reformer who considers himself too spiritually pure to worship with others, the modern American dieter often ends up too pure to eat with others.

Of course there are people whose dietary preferences and restrictions are a matter of necessity. Where this is the case, honoring those preferences or restrictions by serving and sharing acceptable foods can be a profound expression of hospitality and mutuality. But for those of us whose health permits, partaking readily of whatever is offered can be a way of affirming that eating together is a least as important as whatever it is that is eaten.

The simple act of eating together is perhaps the most fundamental of all the ways in which food can express and foster the community that God desires should exist among people and between humans and God."

Hmmm. Makes me think. How about you? How do you react to her sentiments about food, eating and Christian hospitality?

Jeff

Today's prayer...by John Baillee:

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You, let my first impulse be to worship You, let my first speech be Your name, let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.

For Your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:

For the love with which You love mankind:

For the love with which You love me:

For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life:

For the indwelling of your Spirit in my heart:

For the sevenfold gifts of your Spirit:

I praise and worship You, O Lord.

Keeping me chaste in thought:

Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:

Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:

Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:

Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealings with others:

Keeping me loyal to every hallowed memory of the past:

Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.

Boats 5

2011-12-09T05:20:00.002-05:00

Today I’m reading Luke 8:22-26 One day Jesus and his followers got into a boat, and he said to them, "Let's go across the lake." And so they started across. While they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. A very strong wind blew up on the lake, causing the boat to fill with water, and they were in danger.

The followers went to Jesus and woke him, saying, "Master! Master! We will drown!"

Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves. They stopped, and it became calm. Jesus said to his followers, "Where is your faith?"

The followers were afraid and amazed and said to each other, "Who is this that commands even the wind and the water, and they obey him?"

I’m using a portion of this poem by 17^th century poet, George Herbert, in my sermon on Sunday, so I thought I’d share the whole thing with you in today’s blog. See if you can guess what portion I’ll be quoting!!

Jeff

Away despair! my gracious Lord doth heare.

Though windes and waves assault my keel,

He doth preserve it: he doth steer,

Ev’n when the boat seems most to reel.

Storms are the triumph of his art:

Well may he close his eyes, but not his heart.

Hast thou not heard, that my Lord Jesus di’d?

Then let me tell thee a strange storie.

The God of power, as he did ride

In his majestic robes of glorie,

Reserv’d to light; and so one day

He did descend, undressing all the way.

The starres his tire of light and rings obtain’d,

The cloud his bow, the fire his spear,

The sky his azure mantle gain’d.

And when they ask’d, what he would wear;

He smil’d and said as he did go,

He had new clothes a making here below.

When he was come, as travellers are wont,

He did repair unto an inne.

Both then, and after, many a brunt

He did endure to cancell sinne:

And having giv’n the rest before,

Here he gave up his life to pay our score.

But as he was returning, there came one

That ran upon him with a spear.

He, who came hither all alone,

Bringing nor man, nor arms, nor fear,

Receiv’d the blow upon his side,

And straight he turn’d, and to his brethren cry’d,

If ye have any thing to send or write,

I have no bag, but here is room:

Unto my Fathers hands and sight,

Beleeve me, it shall safely come.

That I shall minde, what you impart;

Look, you may put it very neare my heart.

Or if hereafter any of my friends

Will use me in this kinde, the doore

Shall still be open; what he sends

I will present, and somewhat more,

Not to his hurt. Sighs will convey

Any thing to me. Harke, Despair away.

Boats 4

2011-12-08T08:00:00.005-05:00

Today I'm reading Jonah 1:14-16 "Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him."

I searched in vain to find the details of this illustration, but it goes like this. There was a millionaire sailor who wanted to design the unsinkable sailboat with all the latest equipment and sleekest lines. He designed a special weighted keel (the thing that goes below the water line on a sail boat) that was large enough to guarantee that the sailboat would never tip over. But it had to be designed just right to allow for the ship to sail fast - otherwise it would just be dead weight that slowed the boat down. On his first solo voyage the boat capsized and the millionaire owner drowned. When they recovered the boat they found that the special keel had simply broken off, which left the sailboat completely vulnerable to the wind and waves.

Character is what lies below the waterline in people. Many people, like the millionaire's boat, look good above the waterline, are envied and admired, but out in the real ocean they flip like a keel-less boat. The list of public people who have lost their moral keel is endless. Every week we read about how their lives sink. Consider Herman Cain, John Corzine, Anthony Weiner, and on and on. Clergy, coaches, teachers, business folks, politicians. They all get flipped. And daily I encounter situations where a person's true character (or lack thereof) are revealed in much less public ways. But the consequences to them and often to their families are devastating.

Jonah at least recognized his moral and spiritual failure. He owned up to it and said, "Throw me in the ocean because I've been running away from God." And they did.

The stresses people feel this time of year often reveal where those cracks are.

I guess the key thing is to be aware of what's going on below the water line in your life. Where might cracks be appearing on your keel? Where are the pressures on your character - to compromise, to sin, to put your self, your career, your family, your marriage in jeopardy? Best to be honest and aware and be proactive enough to begin to address them with the Lord...sooner rather than later.

Jeff

Boats3

2011-12-07T05:12:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Matthew 4:18-22. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Bill Hybels does a great message on this passage where he challenges people to do more in life than to just go after perch. There are bigger fish…bigger issues in life that call us to deeper discipleship. And too often we get preoccupied with the little issues, the little fish, so that we miss out on what the Lord is really calling us to. The opportunities He has for us slip through our fingers.

One thing Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John all had in common is that they all had to let go of their nets in order to follow Jesus. They had to let go of what was filling their hands in order to follow Jesus. They had to release the normal, the comfortable. They had to let go of their jobs. Fishing was how they put food on the table. There was nothing wrong or sinful with what they were doing. Fishing was an honorable profession. It was the family business. And that probably made their decision even harder.

What fills your hands? Are there things you need to let go of because they are holding you back from really following Christ? Even good things that you are clinging to – are they getting in the way of your obedience to Christ?

Not comfortable questions, but important ones. God has a call on your life. And don’t settle for perch. There are bigger fish.

Jeff

Boats 2

2011-12-06T05:19:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Acts 18:21 “But as [Paul] left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus."

There are a lot of boats in the Bible. From Noah's ark, to Jonah's desperate attempt to escape God's call, to the disciples frequent trips across the Sea of Galilee, many bible characters relied on boats as their main means of transportation.

And sailing has become a metaphor for our pursuit of God's will. Take this poem as an example - from Walt Whitman's "A Passage to India":

Sail forth, steer for the deep waters only,

Reckless, O soul, exploring,

I with thee and thou with me.

For we are bound where mariner has

not yet dared to go,

And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!

O farther, farther sail!

O daring joy but safe!

Are they not all the seas of God,

O farther, farther, farther sail!

There's a lot of risk involved in taking a boat out on the open ocean. I think that true of this fascinating spiritual voyage we are called to by God. And one thing is for sure, sailboats aren't designed to stay moored to the dock. They're designed to cast off and go out where the big waves are. I think that's what faith is all about. Not safely tied to the dock, but moving out into the bigger waves of life trusting that God is with you and his Spirit will fill your sails.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but sail we must, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”

In other words, part of having faith means refusing to follow the currents of convenience. Paul was willing to set sail and knew the dangers ahead of him. 2 Corinthians 11:25-26, "Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers."

But somehow he trusted God enough to get back on the boat and set sail again.

Jeff

Use these words from Frederick Faber's hymn as your prayer today:

Ocean, with flowing Ocean, Thou

Of uncreated Love;

I tremble as within my soul

I feel Thy waters move.

Thou art a sea without a shore;

Awful, immense Thou art;

A sea which can contract itself

Within my narrow heart.

Boats

2011-12-05T08:16:00.005-05:00

Today I’m reading Mark 4:1-2 “Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables…”

Richard Bode writes about the development of his life’s philosophy by comparing it to his love for sailing. But crashing through ocean waves with all sails flying isn’t how he began to learn about the sea. So, aptly, the title of his book is “First, You Have to Row A Little Boat.” His first ‘lesson’ from a legendary sailor was to take a small, flat bottomed rowboat out into the harbor and row around – all day.

He writes:

We are creatures of the land and we respond to the conventions of the land. First, we learn to ride a tricycle, then a bicycle, and finally, when we come of age, we graduate to a car. But they all have one element in common: wheels that roll across unyielding surfaces of concrete or asphalt. Turn the wheels to the left and the vehicle beers to the left; to the right ad it veers to the right. The convention of the wheel is ingrained in us at an early age and from that moment on we tend to apply it to virtually everything we do.

But the boat I rowed that day had no wheels and it didn’t ride upon a hardened surface. It had a flat bottom that floated freely in a pliable sea, and it operated in a manner exactly opposite to a bike or a car. Pull on the left oar and the dinghy veered to the right; on the right oar and it veered to the left. Pull on one oar and push on the other and the boat turned sharply on its axis. All those motions were contrary to the ones I knew, and they called for a fundamental adjustment of muscle and mind.

The truth is that in our daily lives we constantly make similar migrations from land to water and back to land again – and we don’t always do so with the fluency of a sailor. Time flips us rapidly from place to place and role to role. We shuttle from suburb to city, from home to job, from business meeting to dinner party. Each milieu has its own conventions and makes its own demands. Sometimes the changes occur so fast we lose our bearing. We behave like parents to our colleagues and executives to our kids. We lack a sure sense of the appropriate because haven’t taken the time to get our bearings.

I sat in the center of the dinghy, facing the stern, my destination somewhere behind me, a landfall I couldn’t see. I had to judge where I was headed from where I had been, an acquired perception that has served well - for the goals of my life, and especially my work, haven’t always been visible points of light on a shore that looms in front of me. They are fixed in my imagination, shrouded and indistinct, and I detect them best when my eyes are closed. All too often I am forced to move toward them backward, like a body in a rowboat, guiding myself by a cultivated inner sense of direction which tells me I’m on course, tending toward the place I want to be.

Most of the time I feel like a little boy in a rowboat, and I'm a long way from shore.

How about you? Do you lose your bearing? Do you know where you're headed? How does your faith help you to cultivate 'an inner sense of direction?'

Jeff

Stillness 5

2011-12-02T05:14:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading Psalm 119:1-3,

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

Blessed are they who keep his statutes, and seek him with all their heart.

They do nothing wrong, they walk in his ways.

Rosie is the Montessori teacher at the Amistad orphanage in Bolivia. She has a great tool she uses to help children calm down when they come into her classroom. She has an oval on the floor outlined in tape and the children have to walk around the oval. The first time they just walk it and they slow down a little. The second time they walk it carrying a small bell and they have to go all the way around the circle without ringing the bell. Otherwise they have to start over. Then the third time they have to carry a candle and make sure they go slowly enough so that the flame doesn’t get blown out. Pretty effective way to get the kids to slow down, calm down and pay attention to what they are doing.

Routines help calm our minds and anxious hearts. We are creatures of habit, and a lot of times we have developed bad habits –and they contribute to our anxious, frenetic pace through life. So, developing some healthy spiritual and physical habits is a good way to improve our relationship with the Lord, and the quality of our lives.

Can you look at your habitual ways of doing things and see patterns that contribute to the unsettledness of your mind? I’ve already talked about how we start the day – that’s one major way we contribute to the stress of our lives. But are there other habits that hold you back? Or cause your restlessness at night. Here’s a suggestion - Don’t check you email before bed. Give yourself time to decompress without screens. Often looking at your emails right before bed just sets your mind churning again. It’s mental caffeine. As parents we know the value of developing a good routine for our children at night, but do we follow our own advice?

Maybe there are habits during the day that you also need to look at. How you treat people. What you say. Where you go. Your timing.

Maybe you need to walk a mental oval and calm yourself down before that meeting. Or carry a bell when you walk into your house at night after a long day. Or hold a candle during your dinner conversation.

Walk in his ways.

Jeff

Stillness 4

2011-12-01T07:42:00.004-05:00

Today I'm reading Proverbs 2:1-5

1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—

3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Once we are still before the Lord...once we have our minds 'sit down' before him, how do we move closer to God? In these five verses Solomon lays out three conditions for discovering and knowing God.

Accepting – (verse 1) The first condition is an open and willing heart. Jesus said we need hearts that are like good soil that receives the seed and hold to it with perseverance. (Luke 8:15) That’s when the fruit appears, not before. If we receive the Word of God with an open and honest heart we will inevitably discover and know God. One leads directly to the other. His Word is seed for the soil; His Word has life within itself to bear fruit in your life.

Applying – (verse 2) The second condition is to treasure God’s Word within you. Hebrew is a picturesque language, and the word used here implies putting something inside of something else. Hiding. Memorizing. Most Hebrew children were taught to memorize scripture. Without concordances, Bible dictionaries or even a copy of the Scripture to carry around, people in the ancient world often knew the Bible better than we do – even with all our apps. Because they put it in their minds through memorization.

Aching – (verses 3, 4) These verses describe a hunger, a passion, a yearning for the knowledge of God. There has to be flame to light the fire. Without a sense of passion the words on the pages of the Word are only ink. Like the psalmist we need to be able to say honestly, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Psalm 42:2. When we loose our sense of passion for Christ, that’s when our spiritual life is in real jeopardy. Maybe that’s why Solomon also says: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23.

How are you doing with these three conditions?

Accepting – Applying – Aching.

Are you growing in your knowledge of God?

Is it just head knowledge or is it heart knowledge? Or both?

What are you aching for? When you are finally still, that's when you can begin to understand the deepest achings in your heart - the things you are longing for that often subconsciously or consciously drive your behavior.

As a church are we aching for God? Do you sense that in your Christian friends? If not what are people aching for?

Spend some time praying about how you can discover and know the Lord better today through Accepting, Applying and Aching.

Jeff

Stillness 3

2011-11-30T05:14:00.006-05:00

Today I’m reading Exodus 14:14, “You only need to remain calm; the Lord will fight for you.”

How do you start your day? I struggle with this constantly because I know that beginning the day in tune with the Lord is key to experiencing his peace and stillness throughout the day. Too often I'm halfway through the day before I stop to pray and orient my mind and heart toward him. Not good. I truly believe what the 19th century New England preacher, Lyman Beecher, once said; "The first hour of waking is the rudder that guides the whole day."

Here are a couple of other great quotes that say the same thing:

"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him." Hudson Taylor

“For Christians, the beginning of the day should not be burdened and haunted by various kinds of concerns that they face during the day. The Lord stands above the new day, for God has made it. All restlessness, all impurity, all worry and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, in the early morning hours of the day, may our many thoughts and our many idle words be silent and may the first word and the first thought belong to the One to whom our whole life belongs” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

So - think about how you start the day. Behind. Frantic. Rushed. Are there simple things you can do to change that pattern? Maybe just get up 15 minutes earlier. Take time to pray. Take time to read something from God's Word. Use a devotional guide to into good Bible passages. Start a prayer journal.

You can control how you start your day. Don't keep making excuses. Get your rudder in the water and set your direction for the day.

Jeff

Stillness 2

2011-11-29T04:41:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading 2 Corinthains 4:7-18

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Many times we have a hard time with stillness in the present because we are still churning from things that happened to us in the past. So, today reflect on these words from Frederick Buechner in his book “The Sacred Journey.”

The question is not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God’s things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak – even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe there is a God who speaks at all anywhere. He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and of our own footsore and sacred journeys. We cannot live out lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music. Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement. But be not affeared, says Caliban, nor is he the only one to say it. “Be not afraid,” says another, “for lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” He says he is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for him. Listen to the sweet and bitter airs of your present and your past for the sound of him.

Be still and listen for the sound of Him today.

Jeff

Today’s prayer: My gracious heavenly Father, with gratitude I bow before You today. I rejoice I the little, ordinary things which so often are accepted by me unrecognized and which so frequently pass by unnoticed. For life itself I give You thank. For the breath which I borrow from You, I am grateful. For the strength to pursue a course of active labor, I offer my gratitude. That the lily of the field and the sparrow of the air are under Your guiding and protecting hand, remind me. In the name of your Son, my Savior, I pray. Amen. (C. Ralston Smith).

Stillness

2011-11-28T04:48:00.001-05:00

Today I’m reading Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the world.”

If you’ve read my blog for a while you probably know that I have a special affinity for blue herons. I love their long, lean profile and the graceful way they take flight. In the past I’ve regularly had heron sightings while walking my pooch, Bailey, along the Passaic River. But I haven’t seen a single heron since the hurricane came through back in the end of August. I don’t know where they all went but the hurricane certainly messed up their normal patterns.

So, for Thanksgiving we were down on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where my in-laws live, and on Friday Donna and I took quick trip down to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, MD. It was great. We saw no less than 10 bald eagles in less that an hour. Five of them circling together. And I was ecstatic when we spotted the first blue heron silently poised among the reeds in the shallow water. (We went on to see 7 herons in that stretch of the marsh).

What impressed me again was the absolute stillness of the heron. You have to look twice to make sure it’s a real bird and not a statue. But then it would move – slightly – and then freeze. And I thought about how so often the teaching most people get about stillness in the spiritual life come more from eastern religions like Zen Buddhism than from historic Christianity, but finding stillness in prayer is a long standing part of the Christian mystic tradition. The goal of Zen meditation is to empty the mind completely, so that perfect stillness would also mean perfect emptiness of thought. The Christian view is different. Instead of emptying our minds of all thought we are to fill our minds with Christ himself. Of course that means silencing all the noise in our heads and clearing out the cobwebs, but the goal is attachment to Christ, not detachment from everything around us.

And that brings me back to the heron. The heron is perfectly still, but it is not asleep or detached from its environment. When the heron is still it is because it is hunting. There is a real purpose in its slow motion. The heron might seem to be in a coma but in reality it is acutely aware of what is happening around it and especially beneath in the water.

I know I need times of stillness with the Lord this month. It is easy to let things overwhelm us with all the things on our ‘to do’ lists. So purposefully, I need to pursue some times of stillness during the day. Maybe just a moment. Maybe just the use of the Jesus Prayer (see previous blogs if you don’t know what that is). Some way in which I mentally and intentionally reattached to the source of life. To be still and to know He is God. That He’s in control and that He has the strength I need to face the challenges of everyday. That’s what stillness means to me.

Jeff

Today’s prayer:

Dear Lord,

Enveloped in Your light

May I be a beacon of light to those in search of light.

Sheltered in Your Peace,

May I offer shelter to those in need of peace.

Embraced by Your Presence,

May I be present to others,

And carry Your Presence with me

Wherever I am.

Through Jesus, my Peace.

Amen

Timing 3

2011-11-23T05:38:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Psalm 119...

¹²¹ I have done what is righteous and just;
do not leave me to my oppressors.
¹²² Ensure your servant’s well-being;
do not let the arrogant oppress me.
¹²³ My eyes fail, looking for your salvation,
looking for your righteous promise.
¹²⁴ Deal with your servant according to your love
and teach me your decrees.
¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me discernment
that I may understand your statutes.
¹²⁶ It is time for you to act, LORD;
your law is being broken.
¹²⁷ Because I love your commands
more than gold, more than pure gold,
¹²⁸ and because I consider all your precepts right,
I hate every wrong path.

I really am struggling with God's timing tonight - especially when I see how his "law is being broken". Our world is in such a tragic mess, and I guess it has always been that way. But what eats my lunch is when I see how the inept leadership in certain church circles has led our denomination to the point of futility and irrelevance. I just came from another mind numbing regional meeting and, as usual, it was just such a waste of time.

And I was praying, "Why? Why God, don't you sweep it clean? Why do allow people to misuse your name and the resources supplied by faithful people from the past? Why allow organizations to continue when they are seemingly devoid of your Spirit? Why do I have to go to these meetings?"

Maybe you have your own issues on God's timing. Issues or situations or injustices that you think God should just do something about. "It's time for you to act!"

And the good news is that God is a lot smarter than I am, or you are. He has his purposes. He is working out his plan. I guess that just means we have to be faithful in the mean time. Do what honors him in details. Take the next step and keep trusting. What may seem useless to us may not be useless from God's point of view. So...

2 Peter 3.9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Jeff

Have a great Thanksgiving. No blogs till Monday!!

Timing 2

2011-11-22T05:20:00.001-05:00

Today I'm reading Psalm 31:14-16.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hands;
deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.
¹⁶ Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love."

What do you believe about providence?

Providence means the "protective care of God" and has to do with the way God's foreknowledge intersects with his activity in guiding us and directing the events that surround our lives. The Puritans used to say that "providence is a soft pillow for anxious heads."

Our fears can usually be traced out to a point where we have lost confidence in the providence of God. We lie awake at night worrying because we have no confidence in how God will guide. We tend to look at life like we're on a bus going down a highway with no one at the wheel, and we we think we have to jump up and drive the bus even though we don't know how.

Even the evil days that we live in have not taken God by surprise. How do we handle all the crazy, disturbing things that happen every day in our world? The only thing we can do is to see our confidence in the grander plan of God and how he can even use the evil of this world to bring about his holy purposes.

David is facing real enemies. There is violence and death in his path. He should be consumed with anxiety and fear. But he's not. Somehow he is able to entrust his time into God's hands. His timing into God's hands. God knows what he is doing...so my time is in his hands. Even with pain and loss. That's David's secret.

As you look at your life this week - can you trust that your time is in God's hands? That's what providence is all about.

Jeff

Timing

2011-11-21T04:53:00.002-05:00

Today I'm reading Daniel 2:20-22.

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.  He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.”

Timing is everything. The difference between a good joke and a bad one is a person's sense of timing. An appropriate pause makes a joke; a pause in the wrong place will kill the same joke. Timing is essential when dealing with people. You don't ask for a raise when business is not going well or when things are tense around the office. You don't try to correct someone who feels threatened by you. You don't ask for a favor when someone is under a lot of stress or angry. Timing is important in cooking. A juicy hamburger on the grill is raw meat if cooked for too little and a clump of charcoal if it is cooked too long. Timing is important in medicine. If you catch a problem early you will be able to treat it more effectively. Timing is important in finance. When you invest in a stock and when you sell the stock will make the difference between whether you make money or lose it. Timing is important in sports: a surfer has a just a second to catch the big wave. A football receiver has to leap at just the right time to make the big catch.

And timing is important in your spiritual life as well. Jesus was very conscious of timing. He lived His life with an acute awareness of God's timing for His life. The gospel of John records these words of Jesus. John 2:4 "My time has not yet come" John 7:6 "The right time for me has not yet come" John 7:30; 8:20 "His time had not yet come"

God’s timing often confuses me. I grow impatient. I think I know the right schedule but God has different ideas. So in the frustration of waiting God works on us.

Are there things you are waiting for? Is your sense of timing the same as the Lord’s or do you struggle with waiting? You’re not alone.

Jeff

Today’s prayer: God, we don’t always understand your plan or your timing, but we know that they are both perfect. Holy Spirit, help us to trust in you and not our own understanding. Your Word says that you use all things for our good (Romans 8:28) Sometimes it’s not clear when things are hard, just how you’re going to do that, but we trust you, Lord. Jesus, we trust you with our hearts, even when our heads may be spinning with hurt or frustration. We need you, Jesus. We can’t do this (life) by our own power. We need your power working in us and through us. Thank you, Jesus. We love you. Amen.