Always surprised by joy

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You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures. Psalm 16:11 (CSB)

In his book, Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis details his spiritual journey from a traditional Christian childhood through his season of atheism until that night when he “admitted that God was God,” moved into a confident Christianity, and discovered the true source of joy.

“There was no doubt that Joy was a desire…But a desire is turned not to itself but to its object. Not only that, but it owes all its character to its object…It is the object that makes the desire itself desirable or hateful…. Joy itself, considered simply as an event in my own mind, turned out to be of no value at all. All the value lay in that of which Joy was the desiring. And that object, quite clearly, was no state of my own mind or body at all. …Last of all I had asked if Joy itself was what I wanted; and, labeling it “aesthetic experience,” had pretended I could answer Yes. But that answer too had broken down.

In the Trinity Term of 1929, I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England…. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.”

C.S. Lewis discovered in his search that joy is not in things but in the Who. Lewis wrote Surprised by Joy not as a general autobiography but as the telling of his story of conversion, finding what he called “joy.”

Connie and I had just finished a three-week mission trip to Kenya in January and returned with our hearts full. Over and over again, we saw the radiant joy of fellow Believers and were reminded again, that “stuff” is not the measure of joy and happiness. The world, and unfortunately even in some churches, offer a message that has warped the definition of what is needed to bring satisfaction. It is so easy to twist the meaning of joy and happiness to mean fulfillment is found only in the value of possessions, power, and positions.

I had the honor of sitting with a young pastor and his family in their “modest home” yet there was no mistaking what joy looks like. Connie and I had the privilege to help serve people in the middle of Kibera slums through a medical clinic and there was no mistaking what joy looks like. Connie and the team of nurses on the trip ministered to the health needs of those living in rural Kenya, yet there was no mistaking what joy looks like.

Followers of Jesus and the non-believing world all seek happiness. It is within this context that Randy Alcorn writes, “Don’t talk of joy as this unemotional transcendent thing and happiness as this worldly thing, because when we do that, we are pushing people, who all seek happiness, away from the gospel.”

Lewis understood that the source of joy was in the Who not the what. This same understanding was found among these fellow believers in Kenya. The source is not in “things” but in a person. John captured Jesus’ words when he said, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)

Eugene Peterson wrote about the outward expression of joy. “More praising goes on in church, more joy is expressed in the context of the Christian congregation, than anywhere else on the face of the earth.” He compared the outward expression of joy to the common places we encounter daily from supermarkets with anxious shoppers, to angry horns blowing on the highway. He wrote of athletic events where, “there are extravagant emotional expressions there, but it is surprising how few of them are joyful. The dominant mood is complaining, arguing, and criticizing.”

Peterson admitted the church family, it’s not a perfect place. Yet he wrote, “I know it could be improved. I know that some people are disappointed in it. But I don’t find any other place in the world where there is such a consistent friendliness, such a steady joy, such a relaxed rejoicing in God’s love.”

Dig deep and enjoy the rich goldmine of verses that describe the depth of joy and happiness that followers of Jesus have in their life. G.K. Chesterton said it well, “the atheist sees beauty but has no one to thank, and thus no one to be happy in.”

Paul’s vivid description of temporary happiness in Galatians 5 pales in comparison with the fantastic feast that God provides for us that brings true joy and happiness. For the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

“Despite your tribulation, take full delight in God, your exceeding joy this morning, and be happy in him.” –Charles Spurgeon

God is great!

What is Required?

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The question: What should I bring before the LORD? When I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?

The answer: Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you:

to act justly,

to love faithfulness,

and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:6-8 (CSB)

Jesus has spent the better part of his ministry teaching, encouraging, rebuking, and loving his disciples so they will understand what it is to live with the kingdom of heaven in mind. Jesus teaches his disciples truth and how it will impact people through radical love. Now as he is approaching the final days of his earthly ministry, Matthew records several parables to help them understand what it means to “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt 25:34)

Jesus tells them “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me; sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.” Their response has probably been mirrored through the generations since Jesus spoke those words, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?

Jesus’ response to his disciples seems very appropriate during Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. “Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” God used this Baptist pastor to awaken a nation to confront the injustices of the day. Dr. King said that “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

God’s standard “To act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God” sets a high bar of obedience, yet Jesus puts flesh on those verses. Feed the hungry as if He were sitting at the table. Give someone a cool drink on a hot day. Find some clothes to meet the needs of a homeless person. James came to grip with this teaching and would later write, “If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15)

God by His very nature deserves our very best. Yet He doesn’t ask for elaborate, ornate, or spectacular acts of worship. Simple acts of doing justly, loving faithfully, and walking humbly are His response to “What should I bring?” Jesus models these teachings in Matthew 24 and 25 and a few days after teaching, He places His life upon a cross for us. The extreme act of love brings redemption and salvation to those without hope. Our broken world creates inequality, unfairness, and often prejudice because of sin. God recognized the injustices that would come and created laws and regulations to safeguard the disadvantaged, the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the enslaved. He knows that governments, people of influence, money, and resources will often be used to further the sufferings or at best not help. The late W.A. Criswell wrote “those who believe themselves to be God’s people and who rely on the sacrifice for sin which God has provided have sometimes assumed that because their sins are dealt with, it does not matter how they live. The Bible emphasizes that those who would live in fellowship with a holy God as His people must live in a way which reflects the holiness of God.”

Micah’s words are simple and straightforward but generations have struggled to live out their intent. Dr. King understood all too well the challenges yet wrote “If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of the benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend’s own sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.” How or what can you do today to make a non-believer question their disbelief in God?  Our crazy, mixed-up world needs us to “act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with God.”

Therefore, fear the LORD and worship him in sincerity and truth…. But if it doesn’t please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship… As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD. – Joshua 24:14-15

God is great!

Jan 16, 2023

 

 

Thousand Days or One Day

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For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night. Psalm 90:5 (CSB)

Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 2 Peter 3:8 (CSB)

“What life was like 50 years ago in America, compared to now in 2023” headline sounded intriguing as I scrolled through my news feeds the other day, that is until I realized 50 years ago I was a 2nd-year college student, which meant I am now part of the “compared” group! Cortney Moore’s article captured comparisons from music, fashion, and movies to politics, world events, and lifestyle.

Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” would have been playing instead of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Instead of paying $3.99 a gallon, I spent 39 cents per gallon to fill up my car, which helped a struggling college student. Median income was $12,050, an average house cost $29,900, the Vietnam War was finally drawing to an end, Watergate hearings were underway and Roe v. Wade ruling was handed down.

It is so easy to get caught up in the moments instead of living life through God’s calendar. We may follow the Gregorian calendar for businesses, schools, social, and all other historical events but in actuality, we go by life calendars that change depending upon where you are. Young parents’ calendars follow the growth cycle of their baby when he turns over, when she sat up, or when the baby finally sleeps through the night. Working couples’ calendars go from vacation to vacation with lots of working hours in between. Retired couples are trying to find where they put their calendar!

Hairstyles have changed many times since The Shag haircuts were popular for men and women in the 1970s, but God’s concern for the smallest details hasn’t changed. “But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.” Matthew 10:30

The median cost of a home may have risen from $29,900 to the current new home price of $471,200 but it helps to focus on God’s shelter knowing “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.” –Psalm 91:1

Now if you want a game-changer, step back and think of time from God’s point of view. The prophet Jeremiah was a little uncertain about his calling until God said, “I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5

“A thousand years like one day” puts into perspective this new year. We greeted the arrival of 2023 with excitement and celebration, as well as a little trepidation. Some are already saying we are off to a great start, others may be saying, nothing changed. It all depends upon where you are in life.

Most likely you are already making plans, adding events to the calendar, and thinking you have all the time in the world until you realize 2023 has only 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, or 31,536,000 seconds to work with. Then it all starts over until one day you realize you are some writer’s fifty-year comparison!

How refreshing to live life with the knowledge that “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are God.” Psalm 90:2

Eternity to eternity is a lot of time, so, I think God has a pretty good perspective on how to live life.

Lord, as we fill up our calendars this year, “establish for us the work of our hands.” As we face another challenging day, “satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.” Whether we are tired or excited let us remember “How magnificent are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!” Remind us to live 2023 “to declare your faithful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.”

God is great!

Jan 9, 2023

 

Beginnings!

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There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:

a time to give birth and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to uproot;

a time to kill and a time to heal;

a time to tear down and a time to build;

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

a time to search and a time to count as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to be silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace. –Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (CSB)

These haunting words from Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes are so appropriate as we begin a new year. In welcoming 2023, we bid farewell to 2022 and for many, good riddance. The year brought various challenges as well as blessings. John Walton writes, “The message of Ecclesiastes is that the course of life to be pursued is a God-centered life. The pleasures of life are not intrinsically fulfilling and cannot offer lasting satisfaction, but they can be enjoyed as gifts from God. Life offers good times and bad and follows no pattern such as that proposed by the retribution principle. But all comes from the hand of God. Adversity may not be enjoyable, but it can help make us the people of faith we ought to be.”

I am not sure if Paulo Coelho ever read these verses but his thoughts seem to mirror Solomon’s understanding of time. “One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”

For so many of us, 2022 began with good intentions, resolutions, and dreams. Yet as the days and weeks turned into months, it seemed impossible to keep many of those well-intentioned plans. The good intentions of losing weight didn’t happen, the daily routine of exercise sounded good, and trying to do something new was left on the table unfinished – yet we tried.

Edward Curtis writes, “Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people are encouraged to reflect on who God is, to study his works in creation and in history, and to meditate on the truth he has revealed about himself. They are instructed to carefully examine the world for examples of his steadfast love. Such disciplines keep before God’s people some of those “grounds for trusting.”

Happy New Year! Whether stranger or friend, you are greeted with these words. However, you may find yourself in a place that is neither “happy” nor “new”. The only thing you can resonate with that greeting is “year.” I will never forget Connie and my first New Year in Bophuthatswana, Africa. The country was in the midst of the worst drought in decades, the temperature was beyond hot, nothing was the same as what we left and we had lost our baby through a miscarriage. As the midnight hour struck, you could hear crowds of people walking up and down the road yelling: happy, happy, happy.

I realized that happy is simply an adjective. Though our lives had been uprooted, there would come a time to plant new roots. We had wept but there would come a time to laugh at the sound of a baby’s cry. We would learn to keep close to what was most important and throw away the other.

Much like pulling off the highway at a lookout point to take in the scenic beauty, the new year provides a similar “lookout point” for us to stop and meditate upon where we are in life. Solomon, in reflecting upon the state of his life wrote, “I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven.”

Where do you find yourself in these times?  Have you been in a time of mourning and now you are longing to dance again? Have you found yourself forced to be silent over some issue but now you know it is the time to speak out? Have you found yourself filled with anger and hatred over something and now your heart desires to love again?  Use these eight verses as questions for your soul. Find some time in the next few weeks to spiritually pull into a “lookout point” and prayerfully let God speak into your life.

I don’t know how people celebrated the new Year in Jesus’ days. Most likely the greeting would be the same as any day, Shalom. Jesus probably didn’t say Happy New Year but, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”—John 14:27 (CSB)

Lord, thank you for never leaving us, nor forsaking us. As we begin this new calendar year, let us look completely to you in those times when you will need to provide comfort to those who mourn, strength to those rebuilding what is torn down, wisdom to know how to speak and celebrate with us in laughter and joy.  In this coming year, let us daily experience Your Shalom in our lives.

God is great!

Peace, Week Four of Advent

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For a child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)

As we enter the fourth week of Advent, I am sure the exchange between world-renowned philosophers and social influencers Charlie Brown and Lucy may resonate with some folks. Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!” Charlie Brown in his most thoughtful response said, “but I thought you had inner peace.” Lucy replies, “I do have inner peace. But I still have outer obnoxiousness.”

Unlike Lucy, many people during Christmas will put on a mask of outer peace yet will harbor inner obnoxiousness. Unfortunately, this supposedly joyous time of celebration with family and friends will be filled with anxiety and stress for way too many people. According to the American Psychological Association, 44% of women and 31% of men report increased stress around the holidays.

Just as inner peace is challenging, so is global peace. Chris Hedges writes “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.” I am not sure if the 268 years could be classified as peace since he defined war as an active conflict that claimed more than 1,000 lives. Since Cain picked up a rock against Abel, war and conflict have been a staple of human history.

Peace, whether inner or global, seems to be a fleeting hope. Yet Advent moves us to the hope we have in the fulfillment of Isaiah when the Messiah will come as Prince of Peace. This week, Advent calls us to focus on peace as we join with “the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.” –Luke 2:13b-14 (NASB)

The English word peace that is used to translate the Hebrew word shalom is good but it lacks the depth and wholeness of shalom. Carolyn Arends writes of shalom “It’s a beautiful word that conveys wholeness, harmony, and health. Where we might settle for uneasy truces and Band-Aid fixes as proxies for peace, shalom represents something much more robust. Beyond the cessation of war, shalom is a transformation of the conditions that lead to war in the first place. When there is shalom, everything gets to function the way it was created to.”

Eugene Peterson wrote, “Shalom, “peace,” is one of the richest words in the Bible. You can no more define it by looking in the dictionary than you can define a person by his or her social security number. It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God’s will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life. Every time Jesus healed, forgave, or called someone, we have a demonstration of shalom.” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society)

Jesus understood that if we looked to the world for peace, we would quickly drown in despair. History is filled with brokered peace agreements that only temporarily stopped conflict. Doctors try to give peace by prescribing medications that only mask the pain and hopelessness. People turn to alcohol and drugs seeking to find inner peace only to be pulled deeper into addiction and problems.

During this week’s Advent focus on peace, meditate on Jesus’ words as the true Prince of Peace. “Peace I leave with you; My (own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.) –John 14:27 (Amplified)

I like what Mark Buchanan, pastor and author said about the Advent season. “Advent was my least favorite season for preaching. Then it became my favorite. And here’s why “I abandoned creativity.” Buchanan writes that he came to understand the Christmas story is alive and real without trying to make it more than it is. He goes on to say, “It turns out, I don’t need to make the story, any of it, snazzier, sexier, funkier. I just need to recapture its aliveness and realness. I don’t need to make it more relevant or interesting. I just have to let it dwell richly within me, and to dwell richly in it, and then bear witness to what I had seen and heard and touched.”

This year has been chaotic in so many ways: political turmoil in Washington D.C, Russia invading Ukraine, hyperinflation, stock market volatility and the list goes on. We don’t have to make Christmas more than it is, it is already everything the world needs. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor for those struggling with life issues. Jesus is the Mighty God who is fully aware of global conflicts and is fully in control. Jesus is the Eternal Father that is interceding for us daily. Jesus is the Prince of Peace who brings shalom to every aspect of our lives.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:4-7 (NASB)

Shalom.  Jesus brought the word to life and He is the best gift that anyone can receive!

Merry Christmas, God is great!

Yes America, there is a Thanksgiving Day

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Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:29 (NIV)

 

Turkey dinner…Pumpkin Pie…Naps…More turkey…Football Games…Parades! These are words that foster memories and create anticipation of Thanksgiving. BTW: It is easy to forget but Thanksgiving is an official, though often overshadowed, holiday between Halloween and Christmas. This one holiday has transcended the generations and is woven into the very fabric of our national identity from that very first gathering of colonists and Wampanoag Indians. They shared a harvest celebration together and since then Thanksgiving has been a day to stop and give thanks.  We celebrate the abundance and blessings within our lives and pause for a moment to give God thanks.

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

President George Washington proclaimed on October 3, 1789, a day of Thanksgiving. Historians debate whether this was the first proclamation or executive order issued by the new President George Washington. However, he recognized that this young nation needed to stop and express thankfulness.

Thanksgiving is truly a unique holiday that has only one purpose: to give thanks. There have been lots of changes in the United States since that first proclamation was issued but one thing hasn’t or shouldn’t change: the need to give thanks!

You may be facing unbelievable challenges and find it hard to be thankful. Maybe it would be helpful during the days leading up to this Thanksgiving Holiday to take some time to meditate upon thankfulness. Allow God to reveal those things in your life for which you can express thanksgiving. What can you be thankful for this year?  Allow your response to be a conversation starter around the table.

If 2022 has been a challenging year for thanksgiving, imagine writing your thoughts from a dark, dingy prison cell. Paul did as he wrote to the church in Colosse, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you.” Paul, writing with a chain around his leg, was still able to give thanks for the Colossians.

Paul should have been worried and stressed out but he tells the church to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful….” singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

I can’t help but imagine that if Paul were writing to the church in 2022, he would still write the same closing encouraging words.  “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Instead of stressing over the unrelenting wave of negative news, spend time praying for others and yourself. Instead of being downcast, constantly look for things you are thankful for. Instead of focusing on what has been lost in 2022, find those things that you are thankful for, like family, health, and life itself.

Thanksgiving is a lot more than turkey, football, and parades. By all means enjoy the festivities, get ready for Black Friday and savor the amazing foods, yet during the chaos of the holiday, slow down long enough to reflect upon those things for which you are truly thankful for, no matter the circumstances. Billy Graham said of the thankful heart, “A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord.”

Dear God,

Thank you for your amazing power and work in our lives, thank you for your goodness and for your blessings over us. Thank you that you are able to bring hope through even the toughest times, strengthening us for your purposes…Forgive us for when we don’t thank you enough, for who you are, for all that you do, for all that you’ve given. Help us to set our eyes and our hearts on you afresh. Renew our spirits, fill us with your peace and joy. We love you and we need you, this day and every day…In Jesus’ Name, Amen. –Rachel Dawson

Thank you for being part of this weekly Prayer Safari. I so appreciate you subscribing and I trust you find nuggets occasionally that encourage you on your safari. I pray you will have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD. Let us shout our praises to our Protector who delivers us. Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout out to him in celebration. –Psalm 95:1-2 (NET)

God is great!

Tomorrow is promised but the Location is not

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I have asked the LORD for one thing—this is what I desire! I want to live in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the LORD and contemplate in his temple. Psalm 27:4 (NET)

There are moments of time that will be forever embedded into my memory. They include hearing Mr. Conover’s voice coming over the loudspeaker at school announcing that Pres Kennedy had been assassinated, being awakened out of deep sleep that our pastor and his family had been killed, sitting in my Nairobi office, hearing a massive explosion, finding out later that it was the United States Embassy bombing and standing in the kitchen of our Johannesburg home getting a call that my grandmother had died.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 12 about the landowner who enjoyed a bumper harvest from his land one year. The yield was so great he couldn’t find enough barns so he set about building larger and more elaborate storage facilities that could easily handle his storage problem. Then he sat back and said to himself, “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!” He forgot one important step in his plans, he didn’t control his life. “But God said to him, ‘you fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

King Solomon understood a few things about planning yet reminds us in Proverbs, “do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” (27:1)

James understood the intoxicating lure of pride and power so he could warn his readers, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and o this or that.” (4:13-15)

Paul understood future hope in face of uncertainty, writing “For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18)

Jesus reminded his followers “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34)

As followers of Jesus, we do have the certainty of tomorrow, what we don’t know is the location. Jesus knew his followers didn’t need to fret over the tomorrows of life because he would be preparing a much better home for them. “There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.” (Luke 14:2)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer prayed just before he was hanged by the Nazis soldiers, “Oh, God, this is the end; but for me it is just the beginning.” Bonhoeffer’s tomorrow came but he found himself in a different location. “What we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” –T.S. Eliot

Augustine wrote, “We have not lost our dear ones who have departed from this life, but have merely sent them ahead of us, so we also shall depart and shall come to that life where they will be more than ever dear as they will be better known to us, and where we shall love them without fear of parting.”

Realtors understand fully that it is all about “location, location, location” when selling property. A house in the middle of Manhattan will bring a king’s ransom compared to a much larger house in my hometown of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. Location is everything.  Judah Smith writes that “Jesus encourages us to think and live and pray about this earth from the perspective of “as it is in heaven.” Like Jesus, our lives should be dramatically impacted by the reality of eternity and heaven, because that is our ultimate home. This earthly existence is but for a moment. Heaven is eternal. We are to live our lives preoccupied by eternity.”

We have an amazing hope in knowing we always have a tomorrow. Yes, it can be a little disconcerting at times not knowing when we will experience this change of address. It is unbelievably hard on our family and friends when we move to our new location. However, what an overwhelming assurance to know our final destination has been prepared by Jesus himself. David ended the beautiful and comforting Psalm 23 by boldly saying, “I will live in the LORD’s house for the rest of my life.”

In his book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn writes, “We shouldn’t glorify or romanticize death—Jesus didn’t. He wept over it…. Death is painful, and it’s an enemy. But for those who know Jesus, death is the final pain and the last enemy…For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.”

Tomorrow is promised but the location is not. Tomorrow may be “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps 118:24) Enjoy the day in all its fullness, living and seeking to do God’s will “on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Tomorrow is promised but the location is not. Tomorrow may be “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…. I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End” (Rev 21)

“Can you hear the sighing in the wind? Can you feel the heavy silence in the mountains? Can you sense the restless longing in the sea? Can you see it in the woeful eyes of an animal? Something’s coming…Something better. –Joni Eareckson Tada

Lord, thank you for our tomorrows wherever the location. You are the giver of life, both on earth and in heaven. “Our new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”

God is great!

 

Pray then Vote. Vote then Pray.

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First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. –I Timothy 2:14

Can you believe anyone loves elections? I did at one point in my life. I enjoyed the debates, the campaigning, and listening for the winner as the reports came in that night. Granted, part of that nostalgia was because my Mother was an active campaigner for local politicians running for office. They would hire my mother to hand out campaign cards for them and she took it seriously. She would drive from one house to the next handing out cards and talking to people. Then on election day, she would go back and pick up older women who couldn’t drive and take them to vote. As soon as I was old enough to register to vote, I did. The first election that I voted in was for a county commissioner race where a fellow church member was running.

Watching the vicious and demeaning campaign ads over the last couple of weeks, I can’t help but think I have fallen victim to the Mandela Effect. I must have a faulty memory of wonderful, civil elections.

The Mandela effect is a phenomenon “when many different people incorrectly remember the same thing.” (Medical News Today). The term is named after South African Nelson Mandela after the widespread false memory that he died in prison in the 1980s, instead of being elected President of South Africa in 1994. Over the last few years, there has been a growing impact of the Mandela effect around the world, whether in politics, marketing, or lifestyle. Is it Cheez-It or Cheez-Itz or Cheez-Its? (BTW: It is Cheez-It)

What is real and what we remember as real creates major clashes and often major divisions. What I may perceive as reality is often the core of someone else’s conspiracy. There is a major divide in the United States according to a recent poll on whether voting is a fundamental right or a privilege with responsibilities. In Germany, France, and the UK, citizens are required to register to vote. Worldwide there are 27 countries that have compulsory voting laws. For my readers in the United States, if you chose to register and choose to vote, tomorrow is election day!  Whether a right, privilege, or responsibility to vote, Walter Cronkite said it well, “There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.”

I admit I will be glad when this election is over, at least the campaigning part. Somehow the warm, fuzzy memories of yesteryear campaigning have faded, yet my responsibility to pray and seek good for the nation has not. Chuck Colson, a former aide to President Nixon understood a few things about impacting elections. However, once he came to faith he came to realize that “Christians who understand biblical truth and have the courage to live it out can indeed redeem a culture, or even create one.”

We are not living in a unique time in history where evil seems to be overwhelming every aspect of life. God looked at the culture of Israel and told Ezekiel that “the house of Israel has become slag to me” because of every conceivable sin within the land. “the people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the resident foreigner and denied them justice.” Finally, God said to Ezekiel, “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22)

The whole of scripture from Matthew to Revelation was written in the shadow of a cruel, tyrannical, and unjust government. Yet time after time in Scripture, followers of Jesus are told to pray for government leaders even though they are the ones who put countless people to death. Believers are told to respect the laws of the land, even laws that put them in the role of unjustly treated people. Believers are told to seek the good of the land in prayer and servanthood.

On election night you will wait in front of your TV just waiting to see who won or lost which will either bring rejoicing or moaning. You will hear monologue after monologue of TV analysts explaining why this party lost, or this one won. A few of you will, unfortunately, have to endure another month of merciless campaign commercials if you live in a state that mandates a candidate to win 50% of the vote.

Jim Denison writes that “politics cannot heal our nation, but living in light of eternity can. There are approximately 210 million Christians in America. If each of us prepares for judgment by loving God with “all” our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). We will then engage our many problems not with political animosity but by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).

Daniel, along with others serving in Nebuchadnezzar’s court, faced certain death but he chose to stand in the gap. He praised the God of heaven, saying: “Let the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. He changes times and seasons, deposing some kings and establishing others. He gives wisdom to the wise; he imparts knowledge to those with understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light resides with him. O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you, for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me. Now you have enabled me to understand what we requested from you. For you have enabled us to understand the king’s dilemma.” (Daniel 2:20-23)

This election may be over but how tragic if our nation does not find Christians in prayer. How tragic if God cannot find anyone to stand in the gap to bring healing. How tragic if in The United States, South Africa, Singapore, the UK, and all the other nations there is no one to stand in the gap on behalf of the land. When facing the devastation of World War II, President Roosevelt knew where to find help. “I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips.”

LORD, on behalf of our nation, may you find us faithful to stand in the gap. Give our leaders wisdom, humility, and integrity to fulfill their roles. Help us to remember that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Restore to us again a passion and love for You. Give us wisdom on how to act and speak. Give us the courage to stay true to You.

God is great!

 

Planting Seeds of Faith

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This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. —Mark 4:26-29

America’s best-known seed thrower is John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. Traveling through the then-frontier area of the United States in the early 1800s, he planted apple seeds. Folklore pictured him as a wandering nomad tossing seeds here and there, but he planted seeds with intentionality. “Chapman’s preference for seeds over grafting for creating not only varieties like the delicious and golden delicious, but also the “hardy American apple.” Since apples that are grafted are the same as the parent tree, they don’t change. But by forgoing grafting, Jonny created the conditions for apple trees to adapt and thrive in their new world home.” –Michael Pollan

Robert Schuller shared that “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.”  Learning to live life without the final answer is an incredible adventure. You can count the seeds but you can’t count the apples coming out of the seeds.

Joshua and Wyn Haldeman decided to count apple seeds leaving Canada for South Africa in 1950. Haldeman set up a chiropractor practice in South Africa but Dr. Haldeman’s real passion was to discover the Lost City of the Kalahari Desert. Every year, the Haldemans would pack up supplies and with their family of five children head off into the desert in search of the lost city. Though Joshua and Wyn never found the Lost City of the Kalahari, the apple seeds of adventure were planted in their children and passed on to their grandchildren, including Maye Haldeman Musk’s son, Elon. His name is famously associated with companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter.

Planting seeds, whether for growing crops, starting new business ventures, or seeking to discover lost cities requires faith. You do everything you can as you prepare to plant the seeds; dig the hole, fertilize the soil, and pull weeds. Yet it is not until the day you see a sprout break into daylight that you know you were successful.

Jesus understood the importance of seed-planting faith. In the book of Mark, He shares how seeds of faith planted in different ways have different outcomes. Some of the seeds thrown will be robbed by Satan before they even take root. Others grow well at first but the heat of persecution and trouble destroys the new growth. Some of the seeds grow well but the weeds and thorns of everyday life leave the fruit worthless. The seed that is sown “on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” (Mark 4:13-20)

We enjoy the fruit of apple trees because of the effort it took to plant the seed, nurture the plant, and finally pick the crop.  Just as apple seeds grow into fruit-bearing trees through tender care, Jesus assures us that our faith seeds will grow into fruit-bearing lives as we let him shape and prune our lives. In Hebrews we are told, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (11:1)

Planting seeds of faith will never be easy or certain. Oswald Chambers said, “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”  “For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)

Abraham planted seeds of faith by leaving his home for an unknown land. Those seeds would grow into him being “the father of many nations.” (Gen 17:4)

Joshua planted seeds of faith by declaring “as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

David planted seeds of faith early in life when facing his giant by declaring, “I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (I Sam 17:45)

What seeds of faith do you need to plant? Jesus said of the kingdom of God that “it is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” –Mark 4:31 “I think faith is the small mustard seed of opportunities every day. For example, ‘Am I going to love this person? Am I going to share my faith with this person? Am I going to pray that little prayer?’ It really is a daily thing where you seize those little mustard seed opportunities and then see what God does.”—Mark Batterson

We will experience the joy and hope that only Jesus can bring through planting seeds of faith. “He calls us then to make an act of faith every time we would naturally be pulled down into the pit of joylessness, for there is an end set to the sin and sorrow and confusion of the world as well as to our own private trials. We only see today. He whom we worship sees tomorrow.” –Amy Carmichael

Lord, I choose to plant seeds of faith this day. I may be able to count seeds but I know only you can count the fruit from those seeds. Find me faithful now and forever.

God is great!

 

 

Sunday Mornings – More than just another day

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Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Acts 2:46

What gets you up on Sunday mornings for church? If you are a child, probably your Mom or Dad. If you are a teenager, hopefully, Mom or Dad takes you to church, but it could be a friend. If you are more mature in life, maybe it is an obligation, but hopefully, it is excitement. Excuses abound for not going to church: the music is loud, the people are all hypocrites, the preacher preaches too long, or the building is too hot or cold. C.S. Lewis was asked the question, “Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?” Lewis beautifully captured what it means to go to church:

“My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls, and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target. It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn’t matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it’s very selfish of you and you upset the house. If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can’t do it without going to Church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” – from Answers to Questions on Christianity, God in the Dock

It could be that a few of you may have a long-forgotten treasure tucked away in your keepsake box: a perfect attendance pin from years ago!  God never intended for church going to be about pins, certificates, public recognition, or trying to gain God’s favor.  Rhonda Stoppe writes “Church is not a place to go, rather it is a living body where God wants you to become a part—for your good and His glory.”

You probably have your reasons for going to church but here are a few of my reasons:

I get to celebrate with others. I love my morning prayer times but I need those times together with others in worship to strengthen and encourage me. The times of corporate worship remind me that I am not alone in my faith journey. As I look around on Sunday mornings and worship with others, I realize we are all on the same journey of faith.  Corporate worship is an important part of that “great encouragement we give each other” in Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Amy Carmichael writes in Candles in the Dark to her colleagues of this vital unity, “I depend on you to carry on whatever happens. There may be difficult days ahead, but if you all stand together and go on together, nothing can overwhelm you. There may be attacks upon the pattern shown, and upon your vital unity which is founded upon loyal love. Be it so. I cannot fear. He who has called will hold you fast, and He will lead you on.”

I get to hear the preaching of God’s Word. Yes, I could easily sit in my recliner at home and listen to a smorgasbord of preachers. There are times when sitting at home is unavoidable and necessary and I am thankful for modern technology that connects us to the church. However, in an age of relationship isolation, solo worship fails to meet the need for togetherness. The early church realized the importance of coming together as “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42

I get to model what it means to be a follower of Jesus. My kids know I am not perfect but they did see me worshipping a perfect Savior. I may not be a perfect neighbor but my going to church serves as a witness every Sunday morning. I may not be perfect but as I gather with other imperfect people, together we worship a perfect Savior. “The very moment of my salvation in Christ made my union with Christ an objective fact, but it’s not until the moment of realization of communion with Christ that there’s experiential joy.”—Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way

I get to be part of the global church. Long before I get to church on Sunday mornings, literally millions of fellow worshippers have already been to church and then by the time I leave, millions more will be attending church. In some places globally, members gather in secret due to government persecution, other believers gather under trees for church facilities, others gather in century-old sanctuaries, and many more will gather in store-front church plants. Regardless of the location where the gatherings take place, the beauty of these gatherings is “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. “(Gal 3:28) How awesome to know that I am not isolated but part of something far more significant. I am part of a living body of believers scattered throughout the world.

I get to worship God. If for no other reason I go to church because God is worthy to be worshipped. The One who created me in His image, the One who came to rescue me, the One who has prepared a place for all of eternity for me. This is the reason I go to church! “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:1)

There may be a multitude of reasons to worship together. Whatever the reasons, all are simply a preamble to the greatest worship event of all times when “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev 7:9-10)

As followers of Jesus gather together weekly “from every nation, tribe, people and language” it is the most amazing answer we can give to a world drowning in disunity, divisiveness, hatred, and disillusion!

Lord, what an overwhelming celebration of oneness each week as we come together from every nation, tribe, people and language. You are the reason we can gather together as one. May You find us faithful.

God is great!