Can You Quantify Love?

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But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:51b-52 (NIV)

Can you quantify love? Ed Keefer and his co-creator, John Hawley thought so in 1937 when they developed the “Cupidoscope”. Keefer was a senior in the School of Engineering at the University of Toledo. The device promised to reveal with scientific precision the level of love between a couple. Keefer and Hawley built the device in the school’s physics laboratory using an old radio cabinet, a motor spark coil, and an electrical resistor. The couple held onto separate handles and as each person moved their handle toward each other, the level of electric shock registered. The higher the woman’s tolerance of the electric shock determined the couple’s love for each other. It sounds like a good campus party game, but the experiment caught the attention of scientists in the United States and Europe in their quest to quantify love.

I’m not sure how effective the “Cupidoscope” was in quantifying love but yesterday gave us a much better tool for quantifying love as we celebrated Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis recognized the impact of mothers when the holiday was first celebrated in 1907 during a worship service.  Jarvis believed a mother is “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” The day has been officially celebrated in the United States since 1914 when Pres. Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to honor mothers. Other nations around the world also have an equivalent day to honor mothers.

Mama Bear! You have probably seen the words on t-shirts, mugs, hats, and a dozen other things. What is a mama bear? The Urban Dictionary defines Mama Bear as: “A mom who can be cuddly and lovable but also has a ferocious side when it’s necessary to protect her cubs.” Stuffed bears are cute and cuddly but If you encounter a living brown bear in the wilderness, my best advice is to get out of there as quickly as possible because you know you are not going to have a good day! The same can be said about getting between a mother and her child, you are not going to have a good day!

Steven Spainbouer was one of the first responders at the recent mass shooting in Allen, Texas. Spainbouer recounted the scene in a TV interview. He told how he found a child covered by his mother, who had died in the attack. “When I rolled the mother over, he came out, and I asked him, ‘Are you okay?” This mother was a Mama Bear who gave up her life to protect her child.

Scripture captured the story of Jochebed who would have worn a “Mama Bear” t-shirt proudly. She was willing to die rather than kill her baby as the government ordered. Jochebed was a Mama Bear that was determined to keep her son, Moses alive. (Exodus 2)

Barna and MOPS International recently partnered to create the “State of Motherhood” project. The full report will be released this fall but they gave a sneak peek of their findings. The bottom line: Mothers are the primary influencers on the faith of their children. Savannah Kimberlin at the Barna Group wrote, “Mothers are evangelists, forming the faith of the next generation. Mothers truly are uniquely placed to create a difference and to raise up the leaders of tomorrow and the Christians of tomorrow. Mothers are disciplemakers, showing the next generation how to grow.”

I have heard hundreds of messages on faith but it was my Mother modeling faith that brought it to life.

I have heard sermons on caring for each other but I watched my Mother model thousands of sermons in cakes and casseroles she took to the sick, the hurting, and the needy.

I have heard preachers talk about hospitality but I watched my Mother add another plate to the table hundreds of times for unexpected visitors. I learned to “not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

God knew He needed a Mama Bear to take on the role of Jesus’ Mother. She would have to have a heart of faith, be obedient even when it wouldn’t be easy, be strong in the face of ridicule, consistent in her daily walk with God, and one who could sing, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Through the years Mary treasured and pondered many things in her heart. It was out of this treasuring she was able to ask Jesus to help the wedding host who had a problem and then boldly tell the servers to “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2) The Gospels don’t give us a lot of details about Mary’s day-to-day life but what they do write tells us she was a woman of faith who lived her life for God. The things she treasured in her heart would sustain her that dark afternoon as she watched her son being crucified on the cross.

Luke simply says that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.” Luke doesn’t elaborate on how he grew in wisdom and stature so I can only speculate that he was at the synagogue listening, learning, and asking questions. I can also only speculate, but I am sure he was reading scripture and praying daily. I can also only speculate but I wonder if he watched and listened to Mary as she modeled a faith-filled life daily.

Mary may have had a unique calling to be the mother of Jesus but she had the same unique role all mothers have had through the generations to encourage, nurture and prepare their children for tomorrow.  Mary modeled well for Jesus even when it was difficult. The same can be said of countless “disciplemakers” preparing the next generation.  One day may be set aside as Mother’s Day but the other 364 days impact forever. “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” (Prov 31:26 NIV)

God is great!

Journey on a Holy Ground Road

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And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself…. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”—select verses out of the Luke 24:13-35 account

Life is full of surprises, and what you think could never happen, happens! Rudolf Eramus climbed into his plane with four passengers on a routine flight from Worcester, South Africa. All was normal until he felt something cold slide across his lower back. Looking down, Eramus saw a fairly large Cape Cobra snake going under his seat. Eramus told the other passengers as he requested an emergency landing in Welkom and for the next 15 minutes of the flight he tried to stay calm knowing he had one of Africa’s most deadly venomous snakes curled up underneath his seat.

The snake disappeared into the plane and the ground crew couldn’t find it.  When Eramus had to fly the plane back to Mbombela in northern South Africa, he took extra precautions. The AP report said on his return flight, “he wore a thick winter jacket, wrapped a blanket around his seat, and had a fire extinguisher, a can of insect repellent, and a golf club within arm’s reach in the cockpit. Erasmus said, “I would say I was on high alert.”

Luke gives us the story of two of Jesus’ disciples on their journey toward Emmaus as we continue focusing on post-resurrection events. The last few days had enviably taken a toll on these disciples.  Instead of witnessing the coronation of their King, they watched Jesus being mercilessly crucified on a cross. Both of them were so engrossed in their conversation and disappointment, they failed to look at the stranger who came up to them. Cleopas could have been a little snarky in responding to the stranger’s question when he said, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

You can almost see a mischievous grin on Jesus’ face as he asked, “What things?” The two responded in unison, “About Jesus of Nazareth.” After they finished telling Jesus everything that had happened over the last few days, he gently reprimanded them by saying, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

Jesus could have said, would you quit looking at the ground, look up, and see who is talking to you? Or he could have jumped out of the trees and said, “Surprise! It’s me”. A simple, “here I am,” would have been sufficient for them, but what about us? Instead, Jesus took the time to walk through the Scriptures with both of them, pointing out verses about the Messiah. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

Over the next miles, Jesus gave these two disciples a seminary course on Christological Hermeneutics. Jesus shared various passages of Scripture about how he was the one fulfilling the prophecy. British pastor Pete Greig writes, “Even after the resurrection, the Bible was still Jesus’ ultimate source of authority… This book, He seems to be saying, is all about Me.”  Al Mohler writes, “Every single text of Scripture points to Christ…From Moses to the prophets, He is the focus of every single word of the Bible.”

These two disciples had to be physically and spiritually tired as they sat down with Jesus that evening to eat dinner. However, they finally experienced a major breakthrough as they watched Jesus as “he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.” I can relate to what Pete Greig wrote, “I too can be embarrassingly slow, downright stupid, plagued by doubt, and riddled with shame. And yet Jesus Christ has chosen to make Himself real to me too. In what ways has meeting Jesus Christ changed the trajectory of my life? How might I be different if I wasn’t a Christian?”

A simple, “It’s me!” from Jesus, would have been enough for these two to believe Jesus’ resurrection and most likely the eleven when they heard their account. However, it wouldn’t have sustained the next two millenniums of people hearing the hope we have through the Gospel and responding to God’s offer of salvation through Jesus. Every generation after these two disciples have encountered the testimony of Jesus as they read Scripture. The words of Moses and the prophets still point people to the Savior.

Peter used the power of Scripture as he quoted Psalm 118 to preach Jesus as he proclaimed “Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” (Acts 4:11)

Paul used the power of Scripture time after time to proclaim, encourage and challenge those following Jesus. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

The road to Emmaus became Holy Ground for these two followers of Jesus. No longer did they stand still with “their faces downcast,” but could now say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

We may not walk the physical road to Emmaus but we still walk on Holy Ground when we read Scripture and can say “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Eugene Peterson says it well, “The Scriptures, read and prayed, are our primary and normative access to God as He reveals Himself to us. The Scriptures are our listening post for learning the language of the soul…Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.” (Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading)

Reflecting upon these post-resurrection events has allowed me to think about the stories that planted the seeds of faith.  We have a great story to tell the world that needs the story of the hope, grace, and redemption of Jesus. Thank you for taking the time to read this weekly post amid your busy schedules. Enjoy walking with Jesus as you find new surprises in your daily journey.

God is great!

Doubt Mixed with Hope

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We have seen the Lord! But (Thomas) said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” …Jesus came (and to Thomas) “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” …Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:28-29

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Matthew 28:16-17

I can’t do that! I will never be able to climb to the top! I’m afraid! I will never believe that unless I see it! The word doubt is defined as: “To be uncertain or skeptical about; be undecided about. To tend to disbelieve; distrust.” Have you ever doubted? You are not alone since research shows 85% of people suffer from self-doubt. According to management expert Jamie Taets, “So many times, we compare our potential and confidence to those around us, yet they too are doubting themselves.”

Barna, in a similar study, shared that two-thirds of Christians face doubt. Spiritual doubt has been a reality for many on their Christian faith journey through the years. Yet as Selwyn Hughes writes, “Those who doubt most, and yet strive to overcome their doubts, turn out to be some of Christ’s strongest disciples.”

I have lost count of the times I used the famous chair illustration for faith.  This is the one that says you can believe the chair exists but only if you sit in it will you have faith that the chair will hold you up. I did modify the illustration a bit after our old reliable rocking chair didn’t hold up. When Courtney was a baby, I believed the chair that I had used daily for months would hold us up.  However, while rocking one night, the chair broke apart! Thankfully, neither baby nor Daddy was hurt. However, it did instill in me a healthy doubt as I sit down in future rocking chairs! Writer Michael Novak says that “doubt is not so much a dividing line that separates people into different camps as it is a razor’s edge that runs through every soul.”

Since Easter, as I have focused on several post-resurrection stories, I have been greatly impacted by Thomas. Growing up in church I can’t guess the number of references to Thomas as “doubting Thomas.” The term has even been used as a put-down for someone’s lack of faith. Does Thomas really deserve the title?

We are not given lots of details about Thomas but what we are given is life-changing. We know he was a loyal and trustworthy disciple of Jesus. When the other disciples tried to convince Jesus not to return to Bethany after Lazarus died, it was Thomas who boldly said, “Let us also go,” even if it was said with a tinge of fear, “that we may die with him.” (John 11:16)

Thomas’ questioning doubt around the final Passover meal allowed Jesus to share a critical truth about himself. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Thomas’s defining moment was recorded by John. The other disciples were all together behind a locked door out of fear, but not Thomas. John doesn’t tell us where Thomas was that evening but we know he wasn’t in the room behind a locked door out of fear. I am sure that Jesus’ resurrection created a lot of drama and excitement in the community. There was no telling how the story was being told and retold since Resurrection morning. We now live in an age of instant access to news and information, but even so, it is often distorted. Like us, Thomas probably thought, What can I really believe?

Thomas was confronted with the disciple’s story about seeing Jesus. What would you have said? Thomas had doubt, but that doubt was mixed with hope and faith. If this was not the case, he wouldn’t have said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) “I believe and I doubt. I hope and I fear. I pray and I waver. I ask and I worry. I believe; help my unbelief.” (the Doubter’s Prayer-John Ortberg)

Doubt would have dismissed the disciple’s claim outright but hope leaves room for faith to work. Lesslie Newbigin writes, “Believing everything uncritically is the road to disaster. The faculty of doubt is essential. But as I have argued, rational doubt always rests on faith and not vice versa. The relationship between the two cannot be reversed.”

Doubt when rightly pursued creates a healthy soul and future. However, if doubt takes control of one’s life, it creates a paralyzed soul, keeping us stuck at that moment and unable to handle new risks and challenges. “Faith is a footbridge that you don’t know will hold you up over the chasm until you’re forced to walk out onto it.” –Nicholas Wolterstorff

You can almost feel the tension that evening as Jesus walks through the locked door again and greets his disciples, “Peace be with you!” He then slowly and methodically turns to Thomas with outstretched hands. Do you need more proof, Thomas? John doesn’t say but I can only picture Thomas falling on his knees before Jesus with tears streaking his face as he made his powerful declaration of faith, “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas left the room a changed follower of Jesus. I am sure Thomas still had questions because inquiring minds always have questions. Yet he takes Jesus’ gentle reprimand to heart as he shared the hope of Jesus, according to tradition, as the first missionary to India. Can you see Thomas smiling as he remembers Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”?

God is great!

“Be merciful to those who doubt” –Jude 22

Better Early than Late

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They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10-11 (NIV)

Following his resurrection, Jesus has been busy getting everything ready for his ascension. In this Post-Easter transition time, he has dealt with restoring broken Peter, reassuring his band of disciples, and giving final instructions to his followers when He ascends.

I came across this meme the other day which caught my attention. “If the living knew what the dead knew, the whole world would follow Jesus the Christ.” I don’t know who created the meme and it may sound right, but actually, the living does know what the dead know. The difference is the living can still act upon this knowledge that the dead refused to act upon when they were living.

C. S. Lewis, in his masterful fantasy classic, The Great Divorce, takes passengers on a bus trip from Hell to the outskirts of Heaven. Lewis’ unnamed narrator introduces us to a few passengers that choose to get on the bus. The majority opt not to board the bus even with the possibility of escaping hell. Through the book’s pages, even those who did choose to get on the bus ended up returning to Grey Town. As Lewis writes “If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.” In the story, one person does choose to give up his souvenirs and accepts grace to stay. Remember, Lewis’s book is a fantasy. “It has of course—or I intended it to have—a moral…I wish is to arouse factual curiosity about the details of the after-world.” (Lewis)

Jesus tells the story in Luke of two men. Luke doesn’t even bother to give us one man’s name, he is only identified as a rich man. The other man, and we know his name, is Lazarus. Yet until his death, he is known only as a beggar. Both men face the same state of life that every person must face: death. The rich man who didn’t need God on earth now begs for a simple drop of water. Lazarus who had no earthly resources now enjoys the treasures of heaven.

This account in Luke might give credence to the meme when he asks for someone from the dead to go to his brothers so they will repent and not come to this place. However, that is not the complete story as we read Abraham’s response to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31)

The unnamed man in Jesus’ story has all the comforts of life, education, and opportunity. Most likely he is an elite member of the temple’s inner circle because of his wealth and status. Most likely he is known by the religious leaders as a generous giver to the treasury. He has all the information needed to make his choice of eternity. Yet he is the man that C. S. Lewis writes about “Every human being is in the process of becoming a noble being; noble beyond imagination. Or else, alas, a vile being beyond redemption.”

Pastor emeritus Erwin Lutzer of The Moody Church writes, “One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable.” The rich man in Luke’s account could testify to Lutzer’s statement.

It should never be easy to forget the price paid as Jesus’ flesh-torn and beaten body was lifted off the cross. Easter reminds us not to overlook the darkness that engulfed the world as God turned his back on mankind. Religion may try to explain the ripped curtain, but the one vitally important thing that can’t be overlooked or denied is an empty tomb! “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.” (C.S. Lewis)

Would Pilate have made a different decision if someone from the dead had told him? Pilate had the living Jesus in front of him.

Would Caiaphas, the high priest, have made a different decision if someone from the dead told him? Caiaphas had the living Jesus in front of him.

Would the mob that was yelling for Jesus to be crucified have made a different decision if someone from the dead told them? They had the living Jesus in front of them.

Would you make a different decision if someone from the dead told you? Thankfully you have the living Jesus in front of you!

We don’t need a witness from the dead when we have a living Savior’s promise. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7 CSB)

God is great!

 

It’s a Matter of Minutes

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Be gracious to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Psalm 86:3 (CSB)

A minute! Nothing overly exciting about a minute. It simply makes up 60 little seconds or 1/60th of an hour. However, if you are trying to hold a one-minute plank, then it feels like an eternity, and the final minute of an NFL game seems to go on forever. Three of the Super Bowl games were won at the last minute, many a traveler missed their flight at the last minute. Suddenly the lowly minute takes on a life of its own.

Life is filled with minutes. Each day you get 1440 minutes to work, rest and enjoy. Every month you get 43,800 minutes to fill up with activity. Over the year God gives you 525,600 minutes to make a difference. God has given us the gift of minutes. The question becomes, what do we do with those minutes?

A simple minute could be a game-changer for you considering the many one-minute books that Amazon offers, such as: “The One-Minute Organizer: Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order; The New One Minute Manager; The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey; One Minute Answers to Skeptics; One Minute Bible for Starters; or The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth.”

Singer Tom Jones realized the power of a minute in his song, A Minute of Your Time:

“For you to think of me

It would only take a minute of your time

To spare one thought for me

Would you miss just one minute of your time…

One minute of your time

Is all it takes to bring us close

When we are far apart”

David, the powerful king of Israel, passionate poet, songwriter, and warrior had used his minutes wisely to prepare for his varied roles. Long before he picked up the rocks to do battle with Goliath, he had spent countless minutes practicing with his sling until that day when “he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.” (I Sam 17:40 NIV) He understood that “My times are in your hand,” (Ps 31:15a). He understood that “In your presence there is fullness of joy,” (Ps 16:11)

Frank Laubach, missionary and literacy advocate, realized the real potential of a simple minute. He wrote a small book in 1953 called “The Game with Minutes,” to call Christians back to a constant presence of God in their daily lifestyles. He wrote, “Less than ten minutes a week given to thinking about Christ by one-sixth of the people is not saving our country or our world; for selfishness, greed, and hate are getting a thousand times that much thought. What a nation thinks about, that it is. We shall not become like Christ until we give Him more time.”

If Paul wrote, “pray without ceasing” (I Thess 5:16), “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication” (Eph 6:18), “persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12) then it is critical to keep God in mind at all times. Laubach wrote, “We try to call Him to mind at least one second of each minute. We do not need to forget other things nor stop our work, but we invite Him to share everything we do or say or think…With God, every minute can be a fresh beginning. Ahead of you lie limitless anticipations.”

You and I have 1440 minutes today, what can we do with them? Laubach wrote, “We never attempt to keep a minute-by-minute record (excepting perhaps occasionally for an hour) since such a record would interfere with normal life. We are practicing a new freedom, not a new bondage. We must not get so tied down to score keeping that we lose the glory of it, and its spontaneity. We fix our eyes upon Jesus, not upon a clock.”

Enjoy the minutes as you ask God to intervene in our nation, community, or family. Enjoy the minutes as you pray to move the mountains of unbelief. Enjoy the minute as you find refreshment for your souls in those one-minute moments.  One thing I do know is that minutes move quickly off the face of the clock, so keep your eyes on Jesus and every minute becomes beautiful. Enjoy your minutes today, they are a gift from God!

“My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.” (Psalm 63:5-6)

God is great!

 

Fragrance of Life

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But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

New Mexico is on the verge of becoming the first state to have an official aroma. If the bill passes the legislature then “green chiles roasting in the fall” will become the state’s official aroma. The aroma would naturally fit into the Department of Tourism’s declaration that New Mexico is the “Chile Capital of the World.”  What do you think your state’s official aroma would be?

There are very few things all of us would agree on but I am almost sure we all respond to certain smells, good or bad, that either bring back memories or evoke strong emotions. Coffee brewing in the morning, chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, or a baby’s stinky diaper. Growing up I loved the smell of mentholatum! I am sure the aroma probably wasn’t that great but knowing the love that was linked to the smell is what is special.  As a little boy, my Mother would rub it on my chest when I was sick. For me, it was a fragrance that brought healing.

New Mexico may be the first state to have an official aroma but they are not the first group to be recognized for having a unique aroma, that title goes to Christians in 2 Corinthians when they are called “the fragrance of Christ.” What a beautiful yet challenging description for us as followers of Christ. “To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things?” (2 Cor 2:16 CSB)

Can you picture the scene as Noah and his family walked off the Ark after the total devastation of the world? Nothing remained of life as Noah knew before the flood, yet in faith, he built an altar to the LORD. As the smoke from the fire slowly rose to heaven, “the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma” and it became an “aroma of life leading to life.” As the aroma filled heaven that day, God would promise that “as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.” (Gen 8:22 CSB)

Can you picture the scene as Mary breaks the jar of pure nard to pour over Jesus’ feet and then “wiped his feet with her hair? (John 12:1-8) The poignant smell of the perfume penetrated every corner of the house for days and maybe still lingered that evening when Jesus was crucified as the ultimate “fragrance of life.”  As the fragrance of the perfume touched their senses it served as a bitter-sweet reminder to Lazarus, Martha, and Mary of how much Jesus loved them.

Can you picture the scene today if each of us as Jesus’ followers would be poured out as the fragrance of Christ on the world? We live in a world where the aroma of death is so overwhelming, yet we can become that “aroma of life leading to life.” We could greatly impact the world if we would be the poured-out fragrance, becoming “imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” (Eph 5:1-2)

We become that fragrance of life simply by doing what Jesus would do. Jim Denison writes, “Early believers with no political leverage by which to end slavery and child abandonment purchased and then freed slaves and rescued and then adopted abandoned babies. Over time, their moral example became transformational for their societies. By utilizing their public influence with Christlike character, Christ followers such as William Wilberforce and Martin Luther King Jr. became agents of moral reformation.” The sweet aroma of life impacted the world they lived in.

Over the last several weeks there has been an outpouring of God’s Spirit among college students seeking to be “an aroma of life leading to life.” This outpouring of God has now spread to other campuses and locations bringing refreshment and renewal to many.

Lord, may we become that “fragrance of life” today for someone who is hurting, without hope, without life. We desire to fill our world with the life-saving aroma of Christ wherever we go.

Sweet aroma fill this place
Let us feel your warm embrace
Touch us with your healing grace
Let us see your holy face

Hold us so close by your side
Let us see your loving eyes
Take our wrongs and make them right
Breathe on us the breath of life

The fragrance of Christ
It breaks apart the strongholds of pride
and the hardest of hearts
It makes all the wounded whole and then starts
to open the senses to your goodness
It’s the fragrance of Christ

At the start of every day
Fill my heart with perfect praise
with this offering I raise
A holy tribute to your name

Take my feet and lead me to
All the world or just a few
With everything I say and do
May the glory go to you

Fresh anointing cover me
With a balm of purity
Make me a bouquet of honesty

I will hold your name up high
By the way I live my life
Let me be the fragrance of Christ – (Charles Billingsley, The Fragrance of Christ from the Change Album)

https://www.invubu.com/music/show/song/Charles-Billingsley/The-Fragrance-of-Christ.html

 

God is great!

Midnight Calls

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Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine has stopped here while on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. Then he will reply from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though the man inside will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s sheer persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. Luke 11:5-8

Only a few things top the heart-pounding, fear-wrenching anxiety of being shocked out of deep sleep in the middle of the night. On our recent Kenya trip, Connie’s cell phone startled her awake in the middle of the night and her first thoughts are always, “What has happened”? Thankful it was only a mistake, but it took several minutes to calm down and fall asleep again.

Hillary Clinton understood the power of midnight calls during her 2008 campaign and ran a TV ad featuring a couple of kids soundly sleeping in their beds.  The campaign message was playing off the urgency of midnight calls. The ad started, “It’s 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep.” Then you hear a phone ringing in the White House and then the announcer says, “who do you want answering the phone?”

Over the years I have never answered a midnight call with the news that I won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstake. If I take out the few midnight calling mistakes, the rest have been those heart-stopping moments. Granted the midnight calls can be either tragic or joyful, but regardless, they are life-changing. The midnight calls that bring tragic news seem to be a little darker and more hopeless.

One of the most devasting midnight calls came when we lived in Oklahoma City with news that our pastor and his wife had been murdered and their children left for dead. Midnight calls such as this leave you without sleep. Fear and anxiety slowly take you to places in your mind and soul that create unrest. Though morning comes slowly, it does come because of the assurance that “God is our strong refuge; he is truly our helper in times of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

You can only answer those midnight calls with hope when you have done the work needed in the daylight hours of life. Knowing you will someday face those inevitable midnight calls require you to take the time to stock your inner soul. C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity said, “To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?”

The midnight call will come but we know “The LORD is near the brokenhearted he delivers those who are discouraged.” (Psalm 34:18 NET)

The midnight call will come but we know “Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22-24 CSB)

The midnight call will come but we know “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10

Personally, I don’t look forward to answering those midnight calls but I know they will come. I must do the hard work of getting the candles ready for the night.  We have the Bible, not to be used as a lucky charm but God’s word that gives us encouragement, comfort, and hope. We have each other to wait with us through the night. We have the gift of prayer that allows us 24-7 access to the One that “neither slumber nor sleep.” Yet, the most significant light we have in the dark is God himself who goes with us through the darkest valley, so “I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

“My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors, He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride forget He sees the upper And I the underside.

Not ‘til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the weaver’s skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares; nothing this truth can dim. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him”. –Corrie ten Boom—Life is but a weaving’

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor 1:3-4)

God is great!

 

 

Springs of Life

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My son, pay attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. They are not to escape from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 (NASB)

Water! The lifeline for life. As a general rule, an adult can usually live only three days without water. You can live without food much longer than without water. According to The Global Burden of Disease, a major global study on health factors, 1 out of 4 people do not have access to safe drinking water. Unsafe water is responsible for an estimated 1.2 million deaths each year. UNICEF reports that almost 2/3 of the world’s population experiences water scarcity for at least one month each year. Over two billion people live in countries where the water supply is inadequate.

Americans consumed 15 billion gallons of bottled water in 2020 making it the top-selling packaged beverage. Consumption created a $36.3 billion retail sales bonanza for distributors with bottled water sales in the United States topping the total GNP of approximately 96 other nations.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Bible is filled with verses using water as a metaphor for spiritual life. Understanding that pure water is needed to quench physical thirst, so is the need to spiritually guard our heart, “for from it flow the springs of life.”

I don’t normally write about something that I haven’t watched, so I will give this disclaimer, I didn’t watch this year’s Grammy awards. I am sure there were some good moments within the show and some music-worthy performances, but having read numerous articles on the show’s content and seeing some of the broadcast’s highlights, I am not sure it would have been a healthy source of living water for me.

Kees Postma, a Dutch pastor in his book, “The Retreat: A lighthearted and humorous story about a soul searching pastor,” writes “We men (and women) are quite good at protecting what we have. We take out insurance on almost everything we own. We have burglar alarm systems and video doorbells protecting our property, and baseball bats or something equivalent hidden upstairs should it happen that one breaks into our house. But Scripture points our attention to one other thing that we should guard with all we have in us, and that’s our heart. That’s where our insecurities, our hopes and dreams for the future are stored.”

Postma tells a parable about the fictitious village of Wellsprings. It is a perfect little close community that has been there for generations and offers safety to those within its borders. Houses are perfectly maintained, the people are neatly dressed and all the cars are without any dents or scratches. Visitors are amazed at the city’s spotless perfection from no weeds in the yards to no stains on the kid’s clothes. “We will guard everything we own with all vigilance, for in it we find safety and security.”

Yet through the years, the villagers prized only the outward appearance and no one took a concern for the inner workings until the stench of death became overwhelming as several of its citizens died from lead poisoning from the water. Pipes that should have brought clean life-giving water brought deadly water. Instead of maintaining the source of water, the citizens cared only for outward appearances. They will eventually understand that “It is better to guard the inside with all vigilance than brushing up the outside. Better is an old tap with clean water than a designer one with contaminated water running through it.”

Just as a city must protect the water source, more so should we guard our hearts with all diligence. We can be Hollywood styled, have a picture-perfect physique, and drive a classy car, yet walk around with a dead heart. Jesus confronted the Pharisees, who were lovers of material things by saying, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.” –Luke 16:14-15

Gary Chapman, long-time pastor, and writer said of himself that he prays, “God, keep my heart. Because if God keeps your heart, and your heart beats with his heart, you’re not going to get very far off the road.”

If the general rule is you can live only three days without water, imagine what happens if you don’t replenish your heart regularly? Instead of “springs of life” our hearts become cesspools of “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander” according to Jesus. (Matthew 15:16-20)

The Gospel of John captures the beautiful and life-changing encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Instead of being able to rest during the mid-day heat like the other women, we read the story of this broken woman who bears the pain of her past carrying her pots to the well in the heat of the day. Yet she will find in her search for physical water the ultimate gift of living water. Jesus said, “But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Just as the woman came to the well thirsty, we live in an age when people are coming thirsty but are going to dry wells. The world’s attention may have been focused on the Grammys but God was doing something unique among the students on the campus of Asbury University in Kentucky. What began as a routine chapel service on February 8, 2023, has become a unique outpouring of God’s presence that is touching the lives of students on campus and around the world. Fifty-three years ago, on the same campus, when the nation faced similar conditions of violence, racial division and hatred, a movement of God was felt! Could this be the time when we again see a fresh movement of God?

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”—Jesus

Come, Lord Jesus!
God is great!

Today belongs to Tomorrow, Living Life in the Transitions

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May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17 (NIV)

Lucile Randon, also known as Sister Andre, passed away recently in Toulon, France. Chances are you may not have known about her since she didn’t run in the circle of the rich, powerful, or famous. What made her famous was her age. This humble nun died at the age of 118, having been the world’s oldest known person for a brief moment. Sister Andre was born during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, a year after the first baseball World Series game and four years before Henry Ford introduced the Model T.  Sister Andre lived through two major global wars, countless other smaller wars, and thousands of world leaders. She finally retired at 108 but continued to help others in the nursing home where she lived.

Maltbie Babcock died in 1901 three years before Sister Andre was born. Babcock was an American pastor but unlike sister Andre, he died at 42. Yet in his short life, he understood that “Part of today belongs to tomorrow, as the seed belongs to the shoot, as the foundation belongs to the building. So today owes its best to tomorrow, for not to do right today may ruin tomorrow. But the reverse is not true. Tomorrow cannot ruin today. Time’s wheel does not run backward. Banish, then, fore-boding and anxious forecast, and fill to today with faithful work, with kindness and courage and hope; and so you will keep tomorrow from being a marplot, and make it a good, honest today when it comes.” (excerpt from Babcock’s book, Thoughts for Every-Day Living. Adjusted some word spellings to accommodate 21st century Grammarly)

William James, the father of modern psychology, coined the term over 150 years ago that “life is in the transitions.” Bruce Feiler took the term for his book, “Life is in the transitions—Mastering Change at Any Age” writing that “most lives simply do not follow the tidy templates of linearity. They follow a different shape entirely.” Feiler uses the term “disruptors” to describe life events that interrupt the everyday flow of one’s life. Disruptors can be negative such as losing your job, or the death of a loved one but can also be considered positive such as starting a new career or moving into a different house. “Disruptors are simply deviations from daily life.”

David Parsons came from a wealthy, influential family, achieved fame as an opera singer, and even married Miss America. Disruptors came to his picture-perfect life causing the wheels to come off. A botched vocal cord surgery ended his stage career, his brother died of AIDS and his dark secret of being an alcoholic since age 11 came to light. Yet another disruptor came when he woke up from a drinking binge, got on his knees, and prayed, “God, please help me not to drink today. If I make it, I’ll thank you tonight and I’ll ask you again tomorrow morning. I haven’t had a drink since that day.”

Now serving as a pastor in New York when asked about the shape of his life, he said, “the cross.” “Every pastor is a theologian of the cross,” he said, “But in my case, I believe in the Jesus story. I know that freaks people out, especially in New York. But I lived a very dissipated life, and now I live a life of service. There was a very specific point in time when God came down and touched my life. That’s the crossroads that led me to where I am today.”

We may or may not live to be 118 but however long we live, we will live life in the transitions. Whether it is age transitions, work transitions, family transitions, societal transitions, death transitions or you “name it” transitions.

As we live in transition, all of us will experience “disruptors” or “lifequakes.” Feiler estimates that a person can expect to experience as an adult, around three dozen, that’s an average of one every 12 to 18 months. What we do with them will be the story we make. Though living life is in the transitions, the good news is that God wants to be with you in the transitions!

God has a pretty good understanding of how to help since from the beginning “all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” –Psalm 139:16b

Jesus encouraged us that even in the transitions, God had the situation under control and could say, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” –Matt 6:34

Psalm 90 captures a prayer of Moses as he prayed, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away…Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (10,12 NIV)

Babcock left us “part of today that belongs to tomorrow” in his hymn “This is My Father’s World” which has been sung for generations. “This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world, The battle is not done; Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and heaven be one.” (stanza three, Baptist Hymnal)

Life in the transitions is not always easy, and, seldom what we thought it would be, but what a difference there is when we let God walk with us in the transition! “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matthew 28:20b

God is great!

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!