Author: tommestevenson@gmail.com

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The World of 1910

More than a year before the pandemic, I was thinking about what my life would look like if I were born in 1910. It was to give perspective of how blessed I truly am. I thought I would pass it on as a reminder in these troubled times.

Today we believe that our world is afflicted. It is not a wrong observation. The 2109-nCov pandemic is racing around the world. We are cautioned about meeting in groups of 10 or more; our churches have turned to video conferencing to spread the word. God is, and always has been, in control. God’s sovereignty will never change.

What would my life be like if I was born in Europe in 1910?

The population of the world in 1910 was about 1.5-1.7 billion compared to 7.2 today. This revelation puts the following numbers is perspective. To understand the impact of these events, if they happened today, you could see multiple everything by 3 or 4 to get the equivalent result.

When I was 12 years old, the Titanic sunk losing 1,500 passengers. But this was only a sign of what was to come. By the time I was in middle school, “The Great War” had started. It wasn’t called World War One until 1939 with the start of World War Two. Who thought there would be two of them? The Great War would claim 40 million military and civilian casualties, 6 million to war-related famine and disease. It left 23 million wounded. It was fought in my backyards with such weapons as mustard gas (a vomiting agent), tear gas (affected the eyes and lungs), and barbed wire.

The Great War ended at the end of my High Schools years (although I wasn’t in High School, I was in the army) just to be followed by The Spanish Flu epidemic in which millions died, approximately 5% of the world’s population. It targeted 20-35-year-old’s, my age group. Citizens wore masks to schools, theater, and other outside events. Businesses were shuttered, and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march in 1919. By the end of 1919, the average life expectancy plummeted by a dozen years. The first vaccine was created in 1940.

By the time I turn 39, the Second World War was starting. It would claim another 50 million lives, 20 million in Russia alone, another 12 million executed by the Germans. Five million in Poland, and 7 million in German. Again, it was fought in my back yard. Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the Battle of Normandy alone.

When I was born, life expectancy was only 46 years. If I lived through all of this, I was lucky and had maybe another 10-15 years left. I would die in the middle of the greatest military arms buildup in history. By the time I turn 60, there are over 30,000 nuclear warheads ready for deployment.

During my lifetime, over 190 million people would die from war and flu alone, very unnatural causes. This death toll had to mold my view of life. Today we complain of political corruption, loosening of moral standards, self-centeredness, and the pandemic. We point to Revelations and say the end must be near. What would you say if you were a child of the early 20th century?

Don’t get me wrong; our problems and perceptions are real. Our world is slowly circling the drain. But God is still the God of love and compassion. He is not the author of evil; he is the vaccine. He and He alone has gotten us through a lot of worse situations.

Psalms 136:23-26, “He remembered us in our weakness. His faithful love endures forever. He saved us from our enemies. His faithful love endures forever. He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever. “

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Pandemic Peace

By Donna Beverly (International Mission Connection)

We are in the midst of a pandemic event. My hope is that one day we will look back on this as merely another story in a history book or a chronicle on the internet.  Maybe our grandchildren will tell the stories to their own children of a time when the whole world panicked at the thought that someone somewhere was spreading a disease we couldn’t quite understand.

Memories of this time will likely take on selective interpretations. Some will remember that politicians jumped in impulsively to blame and accuse when they had the opportunity to take a higher road. Some will recall the enemies of the White House clucking that our president had again missed the mark.  Some will remember those who downplayed the virus and continued to go about their business defying the advice from medical professionals to just stay home. Some will think of the ways that their communities of faith and friendship gathered round to help run errands, to make sure children were cared for, and to lovingly touch base with those at risk with a cup of compassion. Inevitably, no one will ever forget the empty grocery shelves as folks clamored for the last of the toilet paper.

Disney World has closed down. Maybe the biggest mark of all that this is indeed serious. Even Mickey Mouse wants a sabbatical from all of this hysteria.

Corporations are taking care of their own and mandating that employees work from home. Professionals at keyboards all over the country while their kids are at play in the den. Innocents believing that a day off from school just means more time to watch the latest version of Frozen.

Meanwhile, countless laborers who are not so fortunate to have union-protected jobs or company payrolls are scrambling to hold on to piecemeal business. Hoping that their week’s housecleaning schedule or security guard night shift will not be cancelled. Small business owners are left to wonder how they will ever totally bail out of the deep fall in which they find themselves. Help will surely come to some, but not likely to all, who are profoundly impacted by the pandemic panic.

In all of this helter skelter, we are tempted to ask, “What is God doing amidst all of this chaos?” To me, the answers are complex and, at the same time, awe-inspiring. The Bible talks of those who “never experience the path of peace” and “shut their eyes to the awe-inspiring God.” Throughout the ages, there have been plagues, destruction, disaster, and unpredictable and unforeseeable catastrophes. Through it all, there are stories of those who survived and passed through troubled waters in perfect peace. There are others who panicked and ran away from God rather than toward him. Folks who missed seeing God’s awe-inspiring presence even in the troubled times.

So can it be that the question we should be asking as we look through the lens of our own global and personal histories is not “What is God doing?”, but “What are we doing amidst all of this?”

How are we going to react and respond to this time that has not finished with us yet? How widespread will our peace be in a time of pandemonium? How infectious will our faith story be to onlookers? Could God be giving all of us well-intenders a time-out to disinfect our hearts, get rid of our scabs, and breathe the fresh pure air of his spirit even in the midst of a fallen and hurting world?

The airline flight attendants always caution passengers in their pre-flight instructions to get familiar with their own oxygen masks. In time of potential crash landing, passengers are always advised to put on their own mask first even before trying to help a small child or other passenger. No one does any ultimate good by rushing to restore the next guy if he has overlooked his own means of protection within his comfortable reach.

In times, like these, we need to examine our own spiritual oxygen masks. In times of seclusion, we have the beautiful and affordable moments to be still with the Lord. In our homes. In our communities. Around the dinner table where we are now spending more time with our immediate family rather than running through a McDonald’s drive-thru. What will our children and grandchildren see as we navigate these adjustments to our otherwise self-consumed lifestyles?

Will we take time to cancel some “appointments” that we once thought were so necessary to just make an appointment with God? Could we possibly substitute a walk outside for the aerobics class we just couldn’t miss two weeks ago? Can we forego a group Bible study and dare sit in the quiet early hours of our own homes immersing ourselves in the comfort of Psalms?  Will it kill us to postpone a mission trip to do Vacation Bible School in a village somewhere so we can just do Bible School here as we gather our loved ones close?

What is God doing amidst all of this chaos? What God has always done through the ages. He lovingly helps us to keep on planting seeds even when the land appears to be barren and eroded.  He promises that “good seeds of wisdom’s fruit will be planted with peaceful acts by those who cherish making peace.” James 3:18 (PT)

 What are we doing amidst all of this? Learning to put on our own oxygen masks? Thoughtfully considering how we genuinely worship within our homes without needing online streaming capabilities to pipe in more of conventional  rituals? Is it time to scramble back to the basics of what we truly believe in and how we can share our oxygen masks in times when people are fearful that, like Lysol and toilet paper, there won’t be enough air to go around?

This pandemic provides us a perfect time to experience peace and to share peace and to celebrate peace. God never assured us that there would be no pestilence in our imperfect gardens. He did, however, continue to memorialize his divine track record of being with us through it all. Psalm 121:3-8 (PT) reminds us “He will guard and guide me, never letting me stumble or fall. God is my keeper; he will never forget nor ignore me. He will never slumber nor sleep; he is the Guardian-God for his people…he’s protecting you from all danger both day and night… You will be safe when you leave your home and safely you will return. He will protect you now, and he’ll protect you forevermore!”

May we embrace that assurance of God’s protection and indescribable peace today as we prepare our own oxygen masks in his presence and for his purpose.

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Scars

Brevard water falls

There are Christians who see their salvation like they see their bodies. As they grow older, their bodies start to be a collection of scars. There are small scars that are hard to see that came from a cut or abrasion in early childhood.

There are more extensive scars from self-inflicted trauma like a knife cut while preparing food—symmetrical scars from surgery like an appendix, or knees, or shoulder surgery. There are disfigurements like playing with matches as a child. As we grow older, we collect them. Physical scars may make us less attractive but not less human.

Proverbs 6:16-19, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

As Christians, we look at our transgression as not something that pains God, but as a spiritual scar. We have small ones from white lies that didn’t hurt anyone. We have more obvious ones because we wanted to get out of a situation. Maybe a symmetrical scar or two from intentional deception to achieve the desired result. There are the prominent scars that result from not just a moral misstep, but maybe a legal misstep. In Christian life, these make us less attractive but not less saved.

Just like in life, some people are proud of their scars. They tell the story of their life and how they have overcome adversity. Some people try to hide their scars because they are ashamed or want to look more attractive. Each scar has a story, the small ones we forget, the big ones we can’t forget. Polite people do not ask about scars; they let you bring up the subject.

I have a lot of physical scars. When I fill out the intake form for the doctor’s office, I ask for a second page. Early in my life, my body was just a containment device for muscle and bone. I lived with abandon. Ruptured discs, torn cartilage, cuts, broken bones were all part of living life. I know a lot of them personally because they talk to me every day. They have come back to haunt me in my later years. So does sin.

James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”

When we come to the point in life that we start taking God seriously, we remember the scars. We recognized the times when we grieved God. Each scar causes us pain. We cannot go back in time and have a “do-over”. Our transgressions are part of who we are. If we, and I include me in this, were wiser, we would have fewer scars to deal with, but we weren’t. Just like the scars in life, we are going to have to deal with them, face up to them, recognize their existence. With sin, we need to seek repentance and move on.

When we accepted Christ as our personal savior, it would have been nice to have an objective of a perfect life. No scars or transgression to mar our otherwise ideal salvation. But we didn’t.

Hebrews 10:17, “Then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’”

Just as there are Plastic Surgeons that will remove the evidence of past physical trauma, we have a Lord that will erase the evidence of spiritual trauma. Unlike the Plastic Surgeon, Christ will not just cover the evidence of the injury, He will make us a new person, removing all evidence of our old self.

Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

We have been made perfect in Him. Now, what do you want to do about it?

Colossians 4: 5-6, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one”

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Whisper

Today I am dealing with a tsunami of bad news. I can get over a broken water pump or a pulled muscle, but I experience separation anxiety when it comes to people. I have received bad news concerning three people close to me; an old high school buddy, a family member, and a close personal friend. All of which reminds me that life is but a whisper, and then it’s gone.

James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

There is so much I could say about this. I could extol the virtues of loving hard means hurting hard. I could rejoice in their heavenly freedom from pain and worry. I could wallow in my sadness. But none of these would begin to paint the picture of the depth and width of my despondency.

When morning their loss, I must face my future. The life they lived raises a mirror to my own life. I desperately want something more. I don’t necessarily want to be remembered, but I don’t want my time here forgotten.

“Give me a longing for a scent of a flower I have not found, the echo of a tune I have not heard, and a grace so powerful that it changes all the lives I touch.” – CS Lewis

I want people to weep over my passing because they want just one more day with me. I want to have an impact. I want Heaven to dance and Christ to sing. I want to be the man God made me.

Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”

Eternity is a very long time. My lifespan Is a blip on the screen. But it is all the time I have to gather those who need to hear the message. I am not an evangelist; we talked about that this last week in my Monday night group. I’m a life-on-life kind of guy; an empower other people type of guy. It is who God made me. Seeing those close to me and their impact on God’s kingdom makes me want to be a fireworks display. I want my life to explode into the night with sound and fury and light. I want to be unmistakable, intentional, and deliberate.

John 15: 13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

When the emotions of the moment ebb and flow away, I have to hold on to the reality that I will leave a legacy. The question is, what legacy? 

Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

“When it is in your power to act,” This is a specific command to do. Not to think about, pray about it, and plan about it, but to do. Everything starts with prayer. When God opens the door, prayer without execution is dead. James 2:14-26, read it, and believe it. I must act according to God’s will.

In doing this, Heaven will dance, and Christ will sing. A rock dropped in a still pond send out ripples in every direction, so can I. I can be a light to a broken world regardless of the size of my actions. My task may be small, or it might be significant. It doesn’t matter to God. It matters that I am obedient and intentional.

Today I will do what others won’t so that tomorrow I can be what others can’t.

Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

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Truth

John 18:37, ” In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.”

Those of a postmodern persuasion have come to question whether we can have an objective or accurate view of truth. We are falling deeper into a world in which reality is subjective. It is a world in which all people can feel vindicated by their version of the truth. This truth is in spite of its conflict with the view of truth from those around them. Each one of us creating our parallel universe independent of others.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

They will all sit around a roaring campfire in peaceful harmony, eating smores and singing kumbaya until the cows come home: and truth will pass by them.

Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ,”

I will be the first to acknowledge that finding the truth in our hyper-personal world is extremely hard. We are constantly bombarded with data-rich, personally targeted marketing designed to change our world view. Trying to find and then hold on to truth is exhausting. 

John 18:30, “‘ What is truth?’ Pilate asked. And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

Over 2,00 years ago, we were struggling with the concept of truth. Pilate himself questioned it when Jesus stood before him. He, like many people today, did not seek an answer but was willing to leave the question unanswered. He washed his hands and moved on. 

James 5:2, “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

We do have a source of truth. It is a foundation from which we can build all of our worldly interactions. It will not create peace among many because the truth requires a measure of accountability. Postmodern philosophy allows us to disagree without liability. I have my truth, and you have yours, they don’t have to agree. But real life doesn’t allow for that ambiguity. Real-life can sometimes be very diametric; just because you don’t believe in gravity doesn’t mean you can fly. 

John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Conversely, God doesn’t need our acknowledgment to exist. He does exist, with or without our consent. We will be faced with judgment, like it or not. Judgment is not a punishment from God, but a chance to avoid a fate destined for all who do not acknowledge the truth. This acknowledgment is incredibly important concerning how we spend eternity, but it is also vital to the understanding of why we need to pursue God’s plan for our life. 

God’s plan for us exists. It is real. It has meaning and impact. We can choose not to believe in it, but that does not make it go away. It does make it unfulfilled, and with that, us unfulfilled. 

Galatians 4:16, “So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”

We will and should struggle with contemporary definitions of current affairs. One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. But we do have a foundation to build on; it is the foundation of the Gospel. Anything that swims upstream of the Gospel is not the truth, no matter how well it fits our narrative. 

You are going to be happy said God, but first, I will make you strong.

1 John 4:5, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of falsehood.”

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Never let your fear decide your future

“Sometimes, you have to walk away from what you want to get what you deserve.”

I read this statement the other day. There is a half-truth in it. Sometimes we do have to walk away from what we want, but what we get is not what we deserve, it is what is best for us. None of us really wants what we deserve. 

This is not just about possessions in the physical sense

What are the idols in our lives? What are the things for which we compromise God’s goodness? Those that we genuinely love is typically on the top of the list. We believe God would never ask us to forsake them. There is truth in that. God would not have us abandon them, but He might want us to give Him a little room to work. Like us, they may have some rough edges that need sanding. 

Revelation 3:17, “For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

What about our jobs, our education, our home, our status, our track record of being a good person? What about our political affiliation? Our pets, or how about money in general? There is a good one. Do we think about money all the time? Do we worry about the cost of college education, weddings, retirement?

Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.”

You will never achieve what you are capable of if you’re too attached to things from which you’re supposed to walk away.

Luke 12:15, “And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.'”

I don’t think that God wants our worldly sacrifice. I don’t think He wants us to give up earthly things. I believe He wants us to realize they are just mortal, temporary, and in the long term, insignificant. As long as they have their rightful place, they are of little concern. The issue is not should you have them, but are you willing to walk away from them. The indication of your actual response was what you first thought after reading that sentence. Did you put qualifications on it? Did you start out saying “Only if”? 

Think about that for a minute. If God asks, it is unqualified. He would not ask you to give up something just to prove you would. Why? Because there are too many other things, He could ask you to give up, which are significant and much more challenging to answer. 

Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Sometimes there are things in our lives that aren’t meant to stay. Sometimes the changes we don’t want are the changes we need to grow. It is not the “thing” God is worried about; it is the emotion behind the “thing.” If we feel insecure about not having it, what does that tell Him about our faith in Him? It is at that point that He might need to make a point. 

Giving up and moving on are two very different things. In God’s economy, giving up something is just an act of moving on to something better. It is not the loss of the former that is of concern; it is the gain of the future on which we should focus. 

Luke 9:62, “But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The Question of Stewardship

In the Story of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus uses the investment of money as a metaphor for the investment in others. Too many people I know believe that their stewardship is about worldly assets, both time and money. I think the issue of stewardship is about people. If we amass great possessions, we invest them wisely, and we help them multiply, but do not apply them to the aide of others, we are the third man in the parable. 

The Bible Cliff Notes, according to Tomme, reads like this. The first man took his resources and taught people to fish, thus multiplying their value. The second man took his resources and gave people fish, relieving their need. The last man, afraid he would be a bad steward by giving his wealth to someone who might be undeserving, did nothing. 

Don’t be that guy.

I can tell you from personal experience; you can give away everything and still have enough. Trust me, it’s true, I’ve lived it.

The Command

1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Command those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others. In this way they will save up a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the future and so lay hold of what is truly life.

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Success is a Fickle Master

“Every poet and musician and artist, but for grace, is drawn away from the love of the thing he tells to the love of telling it…” – CS Lewis

I was reading CS Lewis’ book, The Great Divorce. This book is a retort to William Blake’s book “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” in which Blake expounds on the convergence of good and evil. This passage above pricked my interest. 

The target of this particular statement is a ghost who upon hearing that all artists are equal in Heaven gave in to the sin of vanity because he would not stand out as a well know artist in Heaven. It demonstrates that we can get so caught up in our ability to tell a story or encourage or lend a helping hand, that we forget the intent of doing it in the first place. I have been part of an organization that I eventually had to step back from because it soon became about me and not the organization. I had this belief that I, and only I, had the God-given ability to achieve greatness. I grew to believe that the performance was solely the result of my vision, my ideas, and my tenacity. I started to associate the organization with my self esteem. In my head I became the brand, not the organization. This is a virus that will kill the enthusiasm of every living thing it touches.

Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Success is a fickle master. It will drive us to accomplish great things and, at the same time, takes away that which matters most. As we sprint through life, we forget our destination. God uses our need for validation to keep us on track. Without validation, we feel lost, wandering, burning valuable resources in a lost cause. But God’s validation keeps us on course.

John 5:31, “If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true.”

The Encounter

One of the more surprising rocks in my life came from an encounter over a decade ago. I was volunteering with a prison ministry, Bill Glass’ Champions for Life. It was time-consuming because a weekend event required leaving on a Thursday night. After driving several hours, or even flying to a destination, I checked into a hotel, I would serve through the weekend, and then reverse the process. Many times, as I left home, I wondered if this was the best use of my time. Working with the inmates was tremendous; the journey was arduous. The challenge was that I didn’t know if I was creating lasting change.

This particular weekend I was getting PC work done by a small firm behind Georgia Tech. If you were from Atlanta, you would understand the Inside-Perimeter verse Outside-Perimeter paradox. I’m an outside guy who seldom ventures inside. The business wasn’t in the worst part of town, but it’s not the best either. It was a bleak industrial park close to the old Atlantic Steel Mill property. That property was under construction, producing what now is Atlantic Station, a multi-use commercial-residential-retail community. Getting my PC fixed would take some time, so I went to the corner to a McDonald’s. After parking my car, a man approached me. He was a construction worker from the Atlantic Station project.

First, he apologized for the inconvenience. Then he explained that he had just been hired to work construction next door. He confessed that buying work boots, a hard hat, and other stuff required for the job left him without bus fare until payday. Payday was tomorrow, but that didn’t help today. He only needed a couple of dollars. I had been to the ATM and only had twenty-dollar bills. I was about to give him one when he blurted out that he had been in prison. He wanted full disclosure of the person he had been.

Curious, I asked him what prison. He said Parchman Mississippi, remember we are in downtown Atlanta Georgia. I said I had been in Parchman Farm. “Farm” always seemed an oddity as Parchman Farm was the common name for Mississippi State, the oldest maximum security prison in the Mississippi Correctional System. He looked at me perplexed and asked why? I responded with my story of Champions for Life. He beamed. “Wait, wait,” he said as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. Out of this worn and cherished piece of cowhide came the Bill Glass Four Spiritual Laws. He was radiant over the discovery that we had a common bond. He regaled me with the story of his conversion and the change it had made in his life. He was animated, happy, almost giddy over it.

I was stunned. I came downtown to get a PC repaired and ran into an encounter with God. I was dumbfounded. The odds were so incredible that they were inconceivable, except for the hand of God. God used this moment to validated my work. He knew what I needed and erased my doubt.

A sidebar on this event was that when I was leaving for home, I saw this same man taking a homeless woman into McDonald’s. He saw me and yelled, “I only needed a couple of dollars, so I am spending the rest on her.” The ripple effect through eternity is breathtaking. 

The Moral

God validates our good works. The risk comes from taking that validation too far. We start thinking that we have some supreme power that makes us indispensable to Christ. That is where CS Lewis’s warning comes in. When we forget who we serve, forget from whence of gifts come, start keeping score, we lose our real sense of purpose. It is always about the people you are sent to serve.

Proverbs 22:4 “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.”

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The Greatest of These is Love

1 Corinthians 13:13, “But now these three things abide: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love.”

There are days when there is both joy and pain in what God tells me. I want some alone time, suppressing everything distracting. But it is not to be, the world will shortly wake up and a new day will begin

.God speaks to me in short sentences that are not easy to remember. The clarity of a moment ago is lost in the present.

I cannot recapture what God has told me this morning, but I will try. It had to do with the importance of love and correspondingly loss. How are these two concepts united? I have a sense of longing for deep, true love. This longing is both good and bad. Good because it is built within all of us to love and be loved. Destructive because that longing can become an obsession. It drives many of us to do things that are contrary to God’s will for our lives. When this happens, we come into conflict with the very God that breathed life into our lungs. This conflict invariably brings pain and a sense of loss.

11 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Many of us, most of us, and maybe all of us; have come into conflict with love. We have loved mightily and lost. We have felt the searing pain that goes to the very marrow of our bones. It is so intense that we have to remind ourselves to breathe. It so envelops our being that we think that it will never cease. There will be no relief. There are not words or actions that will make it go away. We start to see this pain as an extension of ourselves, part of our DNA. It has permanently transformed us.

The lucky ones overcome this feeling and love again. The unlucky ones live with it in solitude for the rest of their lives.

This morning I look at the relationships in my life. I know that my existence is because God has a purpose for me. I will pursue that purpose with abandon. It is what keeps me going. I also know that all of the deep relationships I have around me will someday bring me a sense of loss. That loss will come through death or disappointment. Just as my passing and possibly my actions will bring suffering to others. All earthly relationships end — the stronger the love, the greater the pain. I will not forsake the love to avoid the pain; it is because God first loved me. God experience incredible pain to show the extent of his love. He gave His son to die on the cross. God will forever live with the knowledge of that sacrifice. It is part of who He is, and it ripples through eternity.

Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

So, I sit here in the darkness of early morning, embraced by the God of the universe, trying to make sense of who and what I am. I am a survivor. Like all survivors, I wear the scars of my battles — the more extraordinary my triumph, the deeper my scares. Death would release me from all of this, but it would rob me of the joy of life. I am an alien here on earth. My home is in heaven. 

Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

While I am here, I am driven by love to take as many people as I can home with me. To do this, I must overcome my fear and love them as long and as deeply as humanly possible. My obsession should not be for the comfort of being loved, but the joy of loving.

There will come a day of rest, but not before my work here is done

James 2:18, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

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When Life Turns into a Dumpster Fire

I didn’t sleep last night. It was one of those nights when I couldn’t turn off the thoughts racing around inside my head. Most of them came and went like dried leaves on an autumn breeze. A few, the important ones, wouldn’t leave me alone. They wanted answers, and I wanted to sleep. We compromised; they didn’t get their answers, and I didn’t get my sleep.

The context of the most troubling thoughts were things that meant a lot to me but didn’t go as expected. These weren’t errant drives off of the fourth tee; they were heartaches. They were things I wanted but didn’t get. In one case, it cost me everything. My inner self wanted to know why.

There is this propensity to believe if we live a good life, God will bless us with good things. Not exactly prosperity gospel, but close in a non-material way. A feeling that we should somehow be rewarded for doing what is right in God’s eyes. After all if I take the time and money to serve God’s people wouldn’t God smile on me?

Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Tim Keller said, “The basic premise of religion– that if you live a good life, things will go well for you– is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.”

Tim answers the age-old question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Christ, Himself, was subjected to immense trauma just because He wanted to save the world.  We live in a fallen world with dark forces outside of our control. These forces are always trying to defeat us. If we let them, they will.

Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

With all that happened to Job (Job 1-42), God did not feel the need to tell him why (Job 38:1-18). What God does tell Job is that He, God, is in control of everything and that He is all we really need. God will provide. He will heal our hearts and restore our future.

Isaiah 40:28-31, “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

I want a warm and fuzzy answer that will help me sleep, but there isn’t one. We are in the midst of spiritual warfare. Dumpster fires in our life will blaze out of control until we lay down the water hose and call on God. I want to know why. It breaks my heart not to know. But I am at peace with the knowledge that, if I let Him, He will redeem me from the fire and set me on high. Experience has taught me this one very valuable lesson; no matter how disappointing things are in the moment, if it is God’s will, it will be the best in the long term.

Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. “

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Lawyer vs. Witness

One of the essential reasons to align yourself with God’s plan for your life is that it is a beacon to others.

1 Peter 2:15, “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.”

I once heard it said that God does not need a lawyer. He needs a witness. Our job is not to defend the existence of God, but to serve as an example of His existence. 

The challenge with being His lawyer is that we will need to supply the answers to people who don’t ask the right questions. There then is legality to our existence as if there was a formula. That formula solved all the problems and answered all the questions. The truth is that God hasn’t given us all the answers, and we are not smart enough to ask all the right questions. There is an aspect of God that we cannot fathom. God lives outside the natural laws of our existence. We are not in a position to defend His existence. 

Being a witness is less complicated. All we need to be able to say is: “This is how God worked in my life.” It is a reality that cannot be disputed because we lived it. We own the facts of the situation. Others can hypothesize alternative realities, but they cannot replicate the actual event. Our testimony is, “I was there. I had the experience.” 

2 Timothy 2:15, “Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.”

Of course, being a witness brings with it the need to have something about which to witness. To truly have a compelling story to tell, we must rely on God. We can’t serpentine through life using our own will and expect to witness Christ’s redemptive powers. To be a credible witness, we need to submit to God’s will and allow for His direction in our life. Surrendering to the will of God is hard work. It is hard work only because our ego and self-centeredness are strong forces. They push and pull us to act independently. We have this innate arrogance that we don’t need help.

Our testimony starts with the understanding that there will be a temptation, turmoil, and tribulation in our life. Some of it is self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and some of it is outside our control, but none of it is outside of the redemptive power of Christ. Anxiety and stress do not have to be the norm in our lives. We can achieve peace even when circumstances do not change. Acknowledging that God has a plan for our life and that plan is to prosper, not destroy will give us hope. With hope, we can find peace. 

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Pursuing God’s plan for our life is worthwhile as it gives us a life worth living. It also provides the testimony to others that the assurances God gives to us through scripture are real. Our life needs to reflect God’s character so that others might see it. The closer we are to becoming the very thing that God created us to be, the better the testimony we have. We do not have to know what God has in store for us; we need to be continually working toward finding it. With the journey comes the testimony. 

Hebrews 13: 21 “(Now may the God of peace) … equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

In pursuing God’s plan for our life, get up and do something small. Something small might be having coffee with someone who you admire to find out what they know. As we slowly expand your activities, we will start to understand what we like and don’t like. We will gain experience that will further encourage us. The goal is not to go on a mission trip or lead someone to Christ; it is to be more Christ-like. The key is consistency. Every day think about it, pray about it, read about it, and do something.

Hebrews 10:36, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

In time a plan will start to form as we get a clearer picture of where God wants us. The initial idea might be to add a skill or experience. Working that plan will provide more information for the next idea. Each new step will get us closer to the ultimate goal of using your passion for God’s purpose.

The day will come when we realize the tremendous testimony we have to God’s overwhelming grace. We will stand out to others as a faithful witness to God’s character. 

Ephesians 5:15-17, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

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