Month: March 2025

It takes practice.

“Peace is the will of God for you in every situation.” – Fenelon

Do you ever get caught in a downward spiral as you deal with day-to-day problems that are part of our lives? If we pray during a time like this, our prayers tend to be cries for help, requests for God to change our circumstances. Sometimes he answers those prayers just as we want him to do.

At other times, though, he doesn’t intervene. Instead he walks with us as we trudge through the mud and mire. I’ve lived long enough to have experienced many of those kinds of times. I did pray. I did try to be obedient. I surrendered my will to his. But he didn’t fix things every time.

Here’s what I am still learning: In every situation there’s something to be thankful for. We search until we find that one thing and then we thank God. Another will come to our minds and another. If we keep doing that every day and every hour, we get better at it, we begin to feel calm, and our minds turn gradually away from ourselves and toward God.

But it doesn’t come easy. We have to make a choice to be thankful. There are musicians in our family and, when we hear them play, they sound great. But they have to practice to develop their skill. The more they practice, the better they get.

The same thing is true of praise. We have to practice it is if it is a skill be be developed. It’s hard to give thanks when things are not going well, but we do it in obedience to God, in reliance in his love, and, ultimately, as we keep on practicing praise, peace creeps in.

“I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” – Psalm 69:30

God has bigger plans.

“Whenever God calls a man, he bids him come and die.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God has bigger plans for us than anything we can accomplish ourselves. So he tells us we have to die to ourselves and yield every desire of our hearts to him. We can be sure doing that will be a struggle!

The things we hang on to usually relate to our comfort, security, appearance, or reputation. We long for praise, recognition, and control. But we’re unaware that holding tight to managing our lives around those values creates a barrier between us and God and all kinds of anxiety within.

For our own good, he invites us to let him take control. Then he waits until our desire to let him lead is greater than our desire for living our self-centered, and often desperate, lives.

As, over time, we keep returning to an attitude of surrender, we will begin to see changes: We will care about what others are feeling more than about what they’re thinking of us. We will no longer be so focused on physical comfort: sleep, preferred foods, the way we dress, personal safety or health. We will accept circumstances and see beyond them.

Finally, we come to a point where we no longer look to God for what he can give us, but for who he is. When that happens, he comes close, and we find we’ve given up nothing, and we’ve gained everything.

Dying to self is not easy, but it is the only way to true joy and peace. It starts with a simple prayer: “I surrender.” He’ll show us where to go from there.

“I have been crucified with Christ . . . the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – from Galatians 2:20

Are you sure you’re right?

The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.” – Paul Tournier

When Jesus asked Peter “. . . who do you say that I am?”, Peter answered correctly. A short time later he made a big mistake in telling Jesus he should not be talking about crucifixion and dying. Jesus gave a strong reprimand saying, “. . . you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter was thinking from a human perspective, and this encounter becomes a caution to us that, when we are setting our mind on earthly things, as Peter was, we get the answers to life’s most important questions wrong.

Paul was passionate about arresting and killing Christians because, in his world view as a Pharisee, it seemed like the right thing to do. Then Jesus met him along the road, and everything changed. Paul saw the truth and, we know from his later writings, he was horrified at how wrong he’d been. When he was thinking from a strictly human point of view, he was following wrong answers to life’s most important questions.

Paul was wiser by the time he wrote to the Christians in Rome telling them not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by renewing their minds and, when they do that, they will know God’s will. They will correctly understand the answers to life’s most important questions.

We get to direct where our mind goes: To things above or things on earth? To the things of God or the things of man? If status quo is OK, we keep doing what we’re doing. If we want transformation, we have to be intentional about directing our minds into spiritual thinking.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:2

Just One Question

“To know him in your world now is to live interactively with him right where you are in your daily activities. This is the spiritual life in Christ.” – Dallas Willard

I love the account in the Bible about the Jesus followers who walked with him on the road to Emmaus and didn’t realize who he was – at least not at first. But, what an opportunity they had to talk to him, to ask him questions, and to be in awe of his resurrected presence. If only they had known who they were walking with!

Then I wondered: If I had a chance to walk with Jesus along a path, what would I want to ask him? Then, what if we had limited time, and I could ask only one question. What would it be?

I was surprised at what my question was when I imagined myself in that situation. It was not all the “why’s” I have demanded of him throughout my life. It was not asking for a miracle or a rescue. I realized that the real question I had for him wasn’t about any of my personal issues, it was about him and who he was.

Then I thought back on my prayers – for direction or special provision, or “why is this happening?” I couldn’t help thinking that if I had a better picture of Jesus in his glory, not just as a good teacher or a friend, my prayers would undoubtedly be different.

How about you? If Jesus gave you a chance to ask him only one question, what would it be? What would your heart want to ask? We don’t see him physically now, but he is present. Go ahead and ask your question!

“Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ?'” – from Matthew 22:42 

Image from Flickr