Trust

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As a little child . . .

“. . . whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” – Luke 18:17

I’ve noticed a new word in our culture’s vocabulary lately: adulting.  Seems to be used when someone makes the choice to do the responsible thing even when he’d rather not.

Adulting is important. We can’t remain infantile all our lives. But Jesus tells us that in some ways we must be childlike – no adulting when it comes to the kingdom of God! Instead, he says, we should come as little children.

What does it mean to come to Jesus as a little child?

We seek his blessing. There is a scene in the gospels when parents are bringing their children to Jesus to ask him to bless them. What parent does not want God’s blessing for their child? I still pray he will bless my kids and they’re all grown up! Coming as a little child means desiring his blessing.

We listen to him. I imagine the children in Jesus day were fascinated by his stories about lost coins, people, farmers, and sheep. Maybe our coming to God as little children today means hearing those stories with open ears and ready hearts.

We stay close. The biblical scene in view is Jesus holding children on his lap. Don’t you think they loved his affection? We do, too. He wants us to come as trusting children, staying close enough so he can touch us.

At Christmas, we remember Jesus came to our world as a little child, ready to do his Father’s will.  Then he turns the tables and invites us to do the same to enter his kingdom. God’s kingdom is one place where we all need to be children!

“Advent, like childhood, reminds us that we are in need of someone to hold us.” – Jill Carattini

 

Carattini quote is from Slice of Infinity blog, December 5, 2018

#Christmas #Kingdom of God

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What more could he have done?

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” – 1 John 3:16a

Do you ever wonder of God really loves you? If you do, take a few minutes to think about the cross. Jesus, God in a human body, nailed to the cross, bruised, broken, bleeding. He hadn’t done anything wrong! He was tried in two courts and found innocent. Even his enemies couldn’t pin any crime on him. He could have been living in powerful luxury in Heaven, yet he subjected himself to human decisions and ultimate cruelty. And all for one reason: Because he loves us – you and me.

Author Brennan Manning tells the story of his friend Ray who fought with him on the frontlines of war. As they sat talking in a foxhole one evening, a grenade dropped in beside them. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, and threw himself on the grenade, saving Brennan’s life, but losing his own. Years later when Brennan visited Ray’s mother, he asked if she thought Ray really loved him. Her emotional response, “What more could he have done for you?”*

Self-sacrifice is the greatest evidence of love there is. Jesus sacrificed more than we can ever imagine. And all for one reason: He loves us and wants us to be in an intimate relationship with him, now and forever. There’s no need to wonder if he loves you. What more could he have done? Maybe we just need to believe he meant it!

“It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was his unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was his love for sinners like me.”
― D.A. Carson

*Story told in The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith

#Jesus

#sacrifice

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Fighting Giants

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:4

One of the intriguing things about the biblical David is that we see him from a young man fighting Goliath all the way to his old-age death decades later. We see how his walk with God began and how its earthly version ended.

As the years go by, I’m interested in how people transition from one stage of life to another. David is a real example for those of us who are in Act III of life. We are told of a war with the Philistines when David was confronted in battle by a descendent of giants. His men rescued him from certain death, but told him he could no longer go to the battle front. They would take it from here. In the very next verses, we are told that in subsequent battles, when David stayed home, these soldiers killed three more giants who were attacking God’s people. David was known for his greatness in defending Israel, his strength in battle. But no more. He had come to a point when it was someone else’s turn to kill the giants (2 Sam 21:15-22).

There comes a time in our lives when we step back from the front lines and pass the responsibility to the next generation. God has plans for them, too. Plans for using them to pick up where we leave off. Plans to use us as teachers, encouragers, cheerleaders – but from the sidelines. Sometimes we just have to get out of the way and let them do it!

“Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.” – Nikos Kazantzakis 

 

#leadership

 

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Hope

“Through the dark and stormy night

Faith beholds a feeble light

Up the blackness streaking.

Knowing God’s own time is best

In patient hope I rest 

For the full day breaking.” – John Greenleaf Whittier

I have been distressed lately because I have been looking at all the problems that exist, that could exist, or that may be on the horizon or trajectory of my life or the life of someone I love.

Hope doesn’t do that. Hope looks at all the amazing and wonderful things God will do in the middle of the problems and the waiting. When we are sad, discouraged, or even in despair, we have a God who is bigger than our circumstance and is ready to fill us with hope.

Someone I knew had completely given up on his marriage. He was sure it was beyond repair, but, because his wife pressured him, he agreed to go to a counselor. I was very surprised when he continued, week after week, to go back to talk about his marriage with this therapist. Later, when the relationship was in the process of healing, I asked him how that happened. His answer was something like this: “From the very first session, the counselor painted a picture of possibililties. I had lost hope, but she knew how to give it back to me. When you have hope, you can do most anything.” 

Do you need the energizing power of hope? Maybe a prayer I’m learning to pray will help you, too:

“Lord, may I trust you with my impossible situations – the things I despair over. Take my sadness away and fill me with joy and peace. And, Holy Spirit, may I overflow with hope by your great power.”

Now, let’s wait  – peacefully, faithfully, alive with hope! 

#hope

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:13

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Don’t live afraid.

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” – Isaiah 26:3

There is so much to be afraid of these days. On a personal level, we’re afraid of traffic accidents, sickness – especially the life-threatening kind, criminal activity, storms, environmental contamination, and even the future.

And those are just the physical issues. We also have emotional fears of things like rejection, job loss, criticism, finances, and broken relationships. The problem is that living in fear overshadows our walk with God.

Safety and security are fundamental human needs. When we feel unsafe, we cannot be the productive, happy, fulfilled people God intends for us to be. So, he, as our all-powerful heavenly Father, offers to protect us, to shield from attack, and to make sure we have a safe place in which to know and serve him.

We just have to believe that and stay close to God, described in Scripture as our Rock, our Fortress, our Protector. If we rest in his presence, we might hear him whisper something like this:

“I am with you on every mountain trail and on every city street. I am with you on every drive in the car or flight on an airplane. Nothing can happen to you that is not my will unless you run away from me. Stay close and you won’t live afraid!”

Do you hear that? Don’t live afraid anymore! Believe God is with you and thank him. Talk to him all the time in every circumstance. Tell him you trust him and let him lead. Then, you can be free. You don’t have to live afraid anymore!

“I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” – Thomas Merton

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Life is so daily.

“The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness.” – 1 Samuel 26:23

Do you sometimes long for something more or different in your life? You have the same tasks over and over again. Same views out the window. Same people, same conversations, same opinions. We’re trying to follow God, to please him, to do something that will matter eternally, but we are caught up in the dailiness of living. Sometimes we can feel like Belle in Beauty and the Beast when she sings, “There must be more than this provincial life.”

Maybe that’s why God emphasizes faithfulness. He wants us to be faithful in doing the next task, caring for ourselves and others, praying and reading his word, and loving those who may not be lovable on some days. Faithfulness sometimes means doing the same right things over and over again.

And, in that faithfulness, we just might be building something greater than we know – something God is working together we cannot see. I was encouraged today when I read this from Oswald Chambers:

“We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God’s purpose, we are taken up into God’s purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God’s aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at.” 

There is so much about God and his plan we cannot know. But, we can be faithful in what he puts in front of us to do and, in that faithfulness, hang on to him, believe his promises, and know we can trust his aim – whatever it is!

“Who a man is is always more important to God than what he does.” – A.W. Tozer

#faithfulness

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What do you see?

“Consider what great things he has done for you.” – 1 Samuel 12:24b

What do you see when you look at the image on the left? That’s easy, isn’t it? It’s a black dot. But wait, there’s more. There’s also the white background and that is a far greater proportion of the image than the black dot is, right?

What’s the black dot in your life? When you aren’t focused on something else, where does your mind go? The broken relationship? The child with a troubled spirt? The job that’s a continuing frustration? The bad choice you made? Financial pressures? The habit that controls you? We all tend to have a black dot – something that keeps life from being perfect or, sometimes, even happy.

Maybe we need to spend more time looking at the white background! What is good in our lives? What has God already done for us? Make a list. Do you have friends, family, health, resources, skills? Do you get to look at clouds, sunsets, wonders of creation? Can you see? Hear? Touch? Smell? Taste? Do you have something to hope for? Someone who loves you? Someone to love? Can you enjoy music, reading, cooking, or eating? Do you have a bed with warm blankets, a roof to keep out the rain? All of that is what we should see first – not the black dot!

God is in control. He is loving, good, wise, and kind. Maybe the distracting situation will always be there, but God’s goodness gives us much more to turn our minds toward. When we do that, just maybe we can trust him with that black dot!

“The greater your knowledge of the goodness and grace of God on your life, the more likely you are to praise Him in the storm.” – Matt Chandler

 

 

 

#trust

#thankfulness

 

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Looking down or looking up?

“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.” – Psalm 37:23

When I walk on trails, I look at my feet a lot. The way is often rocky and the path is sometimes narrow. I don’t want to stumble, so I keep my eyes down.

That may be practical on the trail, but as I walk through life, I am beginning to realize that God’s  eyes are on me, so mine can be on him. I don’t stumble or stray if I am looking in the right place – at God, through his Word, prayer, and contemplation. Eyes on him always and then the path becomes smooth beneath my feet.

The benefits are amazing when we stop looking down: We can see the views around us and further along the path ahead of us. And, as we are open to God’s guiding presence, we realize he wants to calm our fears, enhance our joys, fulfill our hopes, and give us peace. He whispers, “Be healed. Be whole. Be fully alive! I am with you and will never leave or turn away. My eye is on you, my arms are open for you. I guide, calm, comfort, and provide. Trust me. Love me. Enjoy and thrive in the life I have given you.” With God, every step becomes a joy!

For all of us, it’s about realizing how much God loves us and that he chooses to be with us. Not because we are great, but because he is. He watches over every step. The journey is more of an adventure when we’re looking at him. It’s less about where our feet are and more about where he is leading.

“There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.”– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#walkingwithgod

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It’s going to be beautiful!

“He has made everything beautiful in his time.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

My friend, who worked for an art gallery, believed we should surround ourselves with at least a few beautiful things. She was convincing enough to sell me a framed print for my office! There’s something about the beautiful that gives satisfaction and, even, peace.

Is your life beautiful today? Is everything in order? All relationships going smoothly? Are you healthy? Happy? Content in your work? Growing spiritually?

If you answer “yes” to all of those questions, you are most blessed! And most unusual. For the rest of us there are situations, areas of life, concerns that are not at all beautiful. Those are the things we pray about, sometimes get anxious about, and wish there were answers other than the ones we are receiving. And if you’re like me, you work at making things beautiful all by yourself, when, instead, you need an expert. And the expert at making our lives beautiful is none other than God himself.

So if there are areas of our lives that need beautifying, we turn to him, we pray, and we give up trying to control situations by ourselves. In prayer, we learn to trust him even while we wait for him to act. Believing he is at work even when we can’t see anything happening. And, if I read the Bible right, he’s making even the ugly things beautiful. He doesn’s waste our pain, failures, or tears. He weaves them all together into a life that will, in his perfect timing, be beautiful. When it comes to beauty, God is the expert!

“Through prayer we become part of a greater story – the story of what God is doing in our lives, our families, our communities, and around the world.” – Margaret Feinberg

 

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Because you prayed

“. . . in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Philippians 4:6b

Do our prayers make a difference? Yes! God hears and responds.

King Hezekiah in an interesting example. The Assyrian army was outside Jerusalem ready to attack. But first they came with threats, hoping the people would surrender. They bragged about all the nations they already had conquered and mocked God saying he was not strong enough to save them.

Hezekiah took those threats before God in prayer, asking that God defend his people for his own glory. Here’s God’s response (through Isaiah, the prophet):

“. . . Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:” (from Isaiah 37:21)

And he promises Sennacherib will be defeated and Hezekiah’s army will not have to lift a finger. The next morning 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were found dead in the camp. The others fled.

Look again at what Isaiah said to Hezekiah: Because you prayed this is what God’s going to do. And he did.

Keep praying! Who knows what happens because you pray? I imagine a scene in heaven when God says to us,

  • Because you prayed, your child was healed.
  • Because you prayed, your friend came to know me.
  • Because you prayed, your soldier came home.
  • Because you prayed, others learned to pray, too.

How will he finish that sentence for you? You won’t know if you don’t pray. For reasons we’ll never understand fully, God takes our prayers seriously. At least that’s what he told Hezekiah. I think he says the same to us. Our prayers matter!

“The sense of mystery must always be, for mystery means being guided by obedience to Someone Who knows more than I do.” – Oswald Chambers

#prayer