faithfulness

Live strong!

There are some of us who live tired. We want more energy. We want to feel more alive, but we trudge along doing the next thing and the next until we fall into bed at night.

Dear friends, that is NOT how God wants us to live. This very issue is addressed throughout the Bible. Let’s analyze a bit.

Why do we get tired?

  1. We have too much to do. A wise person once said to me, “You have enough time today to do everything God wants you to do.” I understood at once: If I feel too much time pressure, it may be because I have something on my “to do” list that God didn’t put there. I’ve learned to ask him every day to help me adjust my priorities to his. (Matthew 6:25-34)
  2. We’re anxious, stressed. Stress is a huge drain on our energy, and it can become a habit. As followers of Christ, we have to realize that living in anxiety is an affront to Jesus who said he would give us peace that passes understanding and that he would provide for us as he does the lilies of the field. At times maybe we have to be content just to wait on God, his timing, his will. (Isaiah 40:31)
  3. We’re trying too hard. I’m learning that if I’m working hard so others will approve of what I do, I’m working from the center of ego – and that is exhausting. If, on the other hand, I work from the center of pleasing God, I am strengthened. Why? Because of Christ, God is pleased already. I don’t have to try so hard to earn his smile. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Let’s learn to live our best, strong, energized lives by leaning on God at every turn.

” I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25

The View from Above

“God wants us to choose to love him freely, even when that choice involves pain.” – Philip Yancey

Why is life so hard? What have I done to deserve this? Why doesn’t God do something?

Job asked those questions, too. At the beginning of his story he had it all. Then everything began to fall apart. He lost his wealth, his children, and, finally, his health. His friends insisted God wouldn’t be doing this to him if he hadn’t sinned. If he would just admit his sin, everything would be OK.

So Job began to pray asking what he had done wrong and what he could do to appease God and get the pain to stop. No answer. What he doesn’t know is that God didn’t do any of this to him. Satan did – with God’s permission. It was not punishment, it was a test to see if he would trust and serve God even when things didn’t go his way.

There are some standard take-aways from Job’s story including that God doesn’t always protect us from the evil in this world and that trouble isn’t always (maybe seldom actually) a punishment for sin.

Those are good points, but, in my mind, the greatest lesson from Job’s story is this: Though others criticized, condemned, and shamed him, it is what God said about him that mattered. And God said he was blameless and upright.

When we choose to trust Jesus with our lives, God sees us as one of his beloved children. When we focus too much on what others think of us, or what Satan says about us, maybe the story of Job will remind us to ask God what he thinks*. That’s all that matters really.

” . . . you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you (Isaiah 43:4a)

*Hint: He tells us in his word.

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Looking for change?

“It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for your future than it is to ask him what he wants you to do in the next ten minutes.” – Francis Chan

Do you realize how often in the Bible we read stories of instant change?

Think of the man born blind who was made to see. Do you think he thought that would happen when he woke up that morning?

Or of the Samaritan woman who, after just one conversation with Jesus, announced him as Messiah to the people of her town who had condemned her life choices. He even came into the village with her and stayed for a few days. She went from outcast to heroine instantly.

Or of the people of Israel, under enemy siege and out of food, barely surviving on scraps. Two lepers found the enemy camp hastily deserted, leaving an abundance of food behind. They went from starvation to plenty in one instant. From despair to joy. No one saw that coming.

As we look back on our lives, we sometimes can identify meeting someone who changed our life. Or making a small decision that had big consequences. Or having an opportunity we never could have anticipated. These turning points have happened to all of us.

So if you are feeling stuck now or in a rut or disappointed with the way things have turned out for you, don’t despair. God can intervene. We just need to watch for his hand and his guidance as we go through our days. Sometimes God’s changes are slow, sometimes fast, but there’s always a turning point. Today may be the day when everything changes!

“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:1

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Doing, being, becoming

“To fail to see the value of simply being with God and ‘doing nothing’ is to miss the heart of Christianity.” – Peter Scazzero

Have you set goals for 2024? Many of us have. We want to set our sights on what we can accomplish before another new year dawns. Many of the self-help books tell us to set goals that will challenge us – “dream big”, they say.  I think it’s good to keep reaching, to want to achieve, but most of us will get to the end of this year with some goals that are unfinished, unreached. What do we do with that?

Maybe we need a little balance: Striving and achieving, yes. But, maybe more importantly, being and becoming.

Here’s why: Some year, we’ll set our goals for the last time and we don’t know when that will be. So wisdom tells me that part of our planning this year should include becoming. Becoming more peaceful and less anxious, more loving and more generous, quieter and wiser, becoming more like Jesus. There will always be goals and plans that are unfinished! If we wait to get them all done before we focus on our personal and spiritual growth, we will never give ourselves permission or opportunity to become.

Let’s  go for it with goals for 2024. We can work hard, achieve, and glorify God in the process. But, at some time each day and for longer times on non-work days, let’s stop doing to spend time with God: talking to him, walking with him, reading his book, singing him songs, listening for his voice. These will open the door to becoming who God created us to be. Then we’ll know that it may be OK if lesser goals remain unfinished.

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” – Psalm 62:5

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Living and Dying

“What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world.” – John Piper

Jesus lived an exemplary life on earth. We learn so much by looking in on his interactions with all kinds of people – the wise and the uneducated, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the young and the old. He showed us how to live.

He also showed us how to die.

His death was for the redemption of the world, but he did die. And his deathbed was a cross. He had last wishes, last words, and last acts. What did he model for us?

He cared about those he was leaving behind. He looked down from the cross and saw his mother with her heart breaking. He also saw his disciple John and asked him to take care of Mary as if she were his own mother. Jesus was suffering unspeakably, but remembered the pain his death would bring to others.

He forgave those who hurt him. The soldiers had whipped him, mocked him, driven nails through his hands and feet. In spite of all that, Jesus prayed for their forgiveness.

He prayed. While he was on the cross, he was communing with the Father, and that connection was so intense that he was desperate when God temporarily turned away from him. He could not bear being separated from his Father in Heaven.

If this was the way Jesus chose to deal with his dying day, it might also be a formula for us – for living and for dying: Caring about others, forgiving those who’ve hurt us, and talking to God.

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” – 1 John 2:6

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Risky

“By his word and Spirit he guides us, using even our mistakes to bring blessing.” – Edmund P. Clowney

Has anyone ever asked you to take on a service responsibility, and you reacted in fear? You knew you were qualified to do the job, but what if you failed? It’s safer to say “no” than to risk letting people down.

There are a lot of us who want to play it safe, but, you know what? Living the Christian life in all its fullness requires risk.

I was recently asked to take on a responsibility I wasn’t expecting. When I began to pray about it, it wasn’t long before God reminded me of the Parable of the Talents. The master was going on a journey and gave money to three servants to invest for him. When he returned, two of the servants were commended for their faithfulness because they doubled the money by wise decisions and, probably, some risk-taking. The third servant, though, was so afraid of losing the money, of making a mistake, that he buried his allocation in the back yard to keep it safe until his master returned. The master was not happy about his safety-first choice!

As I read that story, I realized two things. First, God had given me talents that could be put to good use in the task I was being asked to do. And, second, God seems to be more pleased with my willingness to try than with my fear that I’d fail.

Do you have any God-given gifts that you’ve buried? Maybe it’s time to dig them up, dust them off, and put them to work. It’s worth talking to him about.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. . .” – 1 Peter 4:10

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There’s no law against it.

“A true and faithful Christian does not make holy living an accidental thing. It is his great concern. As the business of the soldier is to fight, so the business of the Christian is to be like Christ.” – Jonathan Edwards

There are many in these days who worry about our rights to free speech, to practice our faith as we think appropriate, and to live our lives as we believe we should.

I read an encouraging word about this in the Bible recently and it has redirected my thoughts away from the fears and worries and toward something so positive it absolutely draws me in. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Paul was writing to the people of Galatia who were Christians at a time when the rulers were legislating all kinds of things against them. Paul himself was killed by the Roman government because of his preaching and teaching ministry. But, living in those difficult times, he focused the attention of his audience on the characteristics the Holy Spirit was growing their lives: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As he concluded this list of amazing traits, he commented, “. . . against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

No legislation has ever said it’s illegal to be kind or good or joyful. And this is exactly what the Holy Spirit will grow in our lives if we commit ourselves to him, direct our thoughts toward him, and obey his direction in our lives. Maybe we shouldn’t focus on what we can’t do and, instead, focus on our freedom to become all God has designed us to be.

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” – Romans 8:5

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Bonds of Love

“Trusting God’s grace means trusting God’s love for us rather than our love for God.” – Peter Kreeft

Do you ever miss God? Do you sometimes feel like he is far away and you want him back? I feel that way sometimes when it seems I don’t have time to pray except for quick “help me” prayers or short “thank you” prayers. I feel that way sometimes when I haven’t spent quality time in the Bible for days – maybe when I am traveling or sick. I just start to miss him. That happened to me recently.

I found myself one morning praying something like this: I feel like I’m not paying enough attention to you, Lord. I don’t mean to do that. But we are so busy, and I am so tired.

God could have told me I was letting him down and really needed to get my act together. But he didn’t. Instead, he responded with something like this: I know. But because you reach out to me so consistently in calmer times, these times when you can’t stay in touch do not separate us. We have bonds of love. I reach out to you when you can’t reach out to me. I’ll never leave you. I am always close.

How do you think I felt after that message? Amazed. Assured. Comforted. At peace.

We worship a great and loving God. He never lets go of us. Knowing that gives great comfort in our times of stress. Knowing him this way is exactly what makes us miss him and draws us back into communion with him as soon as the whirlwind stops.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

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Listen with a purpose.

 “Hope in God, who is not the God of the perfect only, but of the becoming.” – George MacDonald

If you’re like me, you read your Bible every day. You also hear good sermons that share biblical truths. Then we get on with our day-to-day lives often without really living out what we’ve taken in.

Jesus shared a parable about that. He talked about a farmer throwing out seeds, (representing the Word of God) and then watching as the seeds began to grow. Some died, some sprouted, some were choked out by thorns, and some grew to fullness yielding a great crop. What was the difference with those outcomes? Not the seed, but the soil.

Good soil produced a good crop. This is one of the parables Jesus explained to his disciples, and this is what he said, “. . . the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Our spiritual growth and success in the Kingdom of God all depends on our heart!

If our heart soil is right, here are the steps Jesus gives:

  1. Hear the word. We do that by listening to sermons or podcasts and by reading the Bible for ourselves.
  2. Retain what we hear or read. It’s really easy to forget – even if it was good teaching. We need to think about God’s Word, mull it over, and remember what it says.
  3. Persevere. We keep on learning, pondering, obeying, and focusing. Eventually, after patient waiting, we’ll see fruit.

It’s not hard. We all can do it. And Jesus himself guarantees the results!

“. . . walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” – Colossians 1:10b

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Temporarily Rich

“God gives us things to share; God doesn’t give us things to hold.” – Mother Teresa

When the people of Israel were freed from Egypt, they were told to ask their Egyptian neighbors for money, jewelry, and other forms of wealth. The Egyptians were so happy to see them go, they gave them what they asked for. When the Israelites left Egypt, they were very rich!

They walked to Mt. Sinai where God gave instructions for building a place where his presence could be known among his people. He told Moses to ask for donations of gold, silver, thread, dyes, and jewelry for this purpose. Through their Egyptian neighbors, he had given them everything needed for building the tabernacle, and now, he invited them to give it to him for their blessing and his glory. They realized that what they had so briefly owned was meant to be put to use according to God’s plan. But only if they wanted to. God loves cheerful giving, so did not coerce them to give more than they were willing to part with.

Don’t you think he still does that today? He gives us money or goods and then asks us to give back what we are willing to share. And he promises to bless us when we do. He gives us wealth and resources, not to be held onto, but to use – to meet our own needs, to bless others, and to support the work of his kingdom.

Maybe God has put something in my pocket or yours today that he wants us to give back to him or his people. We are temporarily rich. Our money and goods are just passing through our hands.

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” – Hebrews 13:16