Tag: motivational

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Disconsolate Love

This are unusual times. We are sequestered, against our will, for extended periods of time. It is only human nature that we befriend that little voice in our head. As time flies, the discussions turn personal. For most of us that voice isn’t our best friend. It has a tendency to want to dwell on our shortcoming and things we should have done better. If we listen too long we can go to a very deep dark place and start to believe the lies.

What brings me to my knees is that lonely dark domicile of desperation. It is the oppression of my soul. It is the unquenchable hunger to be loved, accompanied by the nonsensical perception that I am not. It is not quiet desperation; it is a roar, a thunder; it is the sound of a thousand freight trains overwhelming my existence. There is no foe to be defeated. There is only a vast endless nothingness to fill. My brain shuts down, and I am lost.

There is no greater sadness then the thought of not being loved. These thoughts defy logic. We have family and friends, but in these times, they don’t seem to be enough. The hole is too big, and we are too small. It is not their ability to give that creates this vacuum, but our ability to accept.

I have been there, praying that a merciful God would not allow the sun to rise on another day of my life. Thankfully He knew better.

Two Great Truths

Truth One

John 15:9, “Jesus loves us with the same love that the Father loves him.”

The God of the universe loves you, specifically you. The God of the universe that created billions of stars, billions of light-years across, who also created 7 billion people, multitudes of animals and fish, a staggering number of insects, molecules, atoms, and sub-atomic particles, knows you with absolute clarity, and loves you.

Psalm 139:13-16. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

You are unique in God’s kingdom. You were created for a specific purpose. God’s greatest joy is to see you achieve that. You were created to further God’s Kingdom on earth. You are that important.

These two great passages show the extent He will go to that you might know His love.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

That God cared so much for you that he gave, that which is most precious to Himself, for your atonement. He could have wiped us out and started over. But God loves you; you are worth more than any of His other creations.

Then comes the big part. God could have wanted to save His creation. He could watch over us because He has compassion over the whole of what He has done. We could be a grand experiment that He didn’t want to end. But then there is the second passage.

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

He calls us friends. We are not organic matter in a petri dish; we are His friends. When you pray, you are not talking to a dispassionate God who is benevolent toward His creation. You are talking with your best friend that wants everything for you.

Truth Two

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

God wants you to experience love and acceptance. It is not enough for Him to want you to know of His love for you; he wants you to experience what He experiences when He loves you.

1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.”

The hardest part of climbing out of the pit of despair is taking the first step. The effort required to put one foot in front of another seems massive. The single nugget of encouragement I can give you is that God never fails. Trust me, God doesn’t want this for you. We live in a fallen world that sometimes deals us a bad hand. It is God alone that can and will deliver you. Healing starts when we decide to give to others what has been given to us. When we reach out to show love when we least feel it, it is the act of loving others that heals us. Don’t focus on tomorrow or next week. Get through today by turning your attention toward showing God’s love to someone else.

Romans 8:37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Joy

James 1:2, ” Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, “

A common question, “If I have a foundation in Christ, why is it that I have trouble finding joy?” Joy is a choice; much different than happiness, which is an experience. The lack of joy generally comes from a conscious decision. I don’t mean to be judgmental, it’s just an observation.

Happiness is a fleeting experience in a fallen world; it is unpredictable. It comes from strange places and hides from the obvious. An antagonist fails; we find happiness in the act. A promotion or a vacation leave us indifferent, why? If finding happiness in life is your thing, welcome to the world of sporadic, maddening, and inconsistent fulfillment.

James 4: 1-2, ”  What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. “

Joy is another issue. Joy can be created, at will, regardless of the situation. It is critical that we, as Christian, know the difference. We need to understand that there will always be challenges, but the challenges need not define us. What defines us is the way we react to the challenges. Do we lean into Christ, or do we separate from Him?

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”

There are two main obstacles to creating joy; one is to avoid running after other gods, and the other is focusing on the right question.

Running after other gods.

Psalm 16:4, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.”

One of my vices is that I do not always see other gods in my life as other gods. I have a passion for or dedication to something; I don’t recognize that it might slowly elevate itself to a god in my life. Most of the things I am talking about are good things, like family. The problem comes from me putting it before Christ. Do I derive my happiness from it, then allow my joy to be an extension of that happiness?

“You must have more joy in Christ than anything, or you are an idolater.” – John Piper

Our Children are important, we can sometime elevate them. You want them to be well rounded. You want them to have experiences that broaden their horizon. You’re in the car seven days a week taking them everywhere, sports practice, music lessons, dance lessons, tutoring, you are exhausted. Between the kids, housework and a job there is no time for sleep. Exhaustion brings on mistakes, mistakes create conflict, conflict can separate us from God. But you won’t give it up; it is your kids. You have a responsibility.

We can say the same thing about marriage, jobs, careers, school, vacations, hobbies, and even church (little c). The goal is admirable, the process sucks the life out of you, yet you continue.

Wrong Focus

Sheryl Crow “Soak Up the Sun, “It’s not having what you want; It’s wanting what you’ve got.”

It’s all about focus and perspective. I remember several years ago at a Champions for Life Weekend; I heard the testimony of Bruce Collie. Bruce won two Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Bruce was a hard-charging, live life to the fullest kind of guy. But after the Super Bowl wins, he was left empty. He spent his whole life wanting a ring; now, he had two. He talked about it not being the highlight of his life, but the low point. He questioned his whole existence. Luckily for Bruce, he went to the Philadelphia Eagles and ran into Reggie White. Reggie opened his eyes to the Gospel and turned his life around. Christ gave Bruce a real purpose that never disappoints.

John 15:9, “Jesus loves us with the same love that the Father loves him.”

How do I change my focus to eliminate the idols in my life? Here is the hard part. It should be the natural part, but it’s not. You have to believe in your heart of hearts that God cares about you. I mean, really cares about everything you do. He cares about your kids, your job, your education, your life. There is nothing about which he does not care. In everything He wants the best for you.

James 1:16–17, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”

The massive things that I can’t handle alone, I give to God. Why not, it’s too big for me anyway. It is the small things, the things I want, and I think I can do by myself, that I hold to myself. These are the things that build up stress and anxiety and eventual disappointment. It is at this point I have a choice. I can pout because bad things happen to good people, or I can decide that God is in control of everything, and this will prove to be the best. It has always been about Him, not me.

To believe that God redeems even when I can’t see takes faith. It takes faith to believe that God really cares about me. It takes faith to believe that the small things in my life are just important to God as the big things. All things work for His glory (Romans 8:28).

Joy is a choice, but it is a big choice. Many times, it is a hard choice. It is counter-intuitive. The God that created the universe cares about my bad day. The fact that He can even see that I am having a bad day is mind-boggling. You would think He had better things to do. He doesn’t, He cares that much about you.

Psalm 37:4-6, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

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Being Our Best

These are historic times. We, as Christians, have an opportunity to lead by example. When others spread discord and rumors, we can spread calm and truth. When others feel anxiety and fear, we can spread hope and courage.

John 14:1, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

As Christians, everything we do either draws others closer to Christ or drives them away. If Christ is Lord over your life, He must be Lord over your everyday relationships. It is at times like this that everyone is watching to see how we react. Do we believe what we believe or is it all a show?

1 John 3:18, “Little children, let us not love with words or with tongue, but with deed and truth.”

One of my challenges is to spend more time looking inward rather than outward. I need to focus on my footprint, not the footprint of others. God commands us to love with deeds. In this time of social distancing that may be more challenging, but not impossible.

Ephesians 4:30, “and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. Instead be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you”

We are going to spend some time in close quarters. We are going to experience financial pressure from our livelihoods and from our supplier. Toilet paper is now worth more than gold and far scarcer. Hours have been shortened or eliminated altogether. All kids are being home schooled. We are adapting to new ways of communicating. All of this creates stress, stress creates friction, friction creates heat. Sooner or later everyone reaches a boiling point. We have a God that both understands and forgives.

Through His understanding He gives us an inner voice of calm. He constantly reminds us that He and He alone is in control of all things. He will not give us more than we can handle. He will not set us up for failure. Tough times are the exact crucible needed to test our beliefs. It is in tough times we either lean into God or push away. We have been given the perfect situation to prove what we believe and that we know we have a God that can deliver. The moment you are living right now is not a surprise to Him. Plus, He wrote the ending.

1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

But when we do falter, when we do not lean into God as hard as we should, what should we do? One Christian can have a profound negative impact on God’s Kingdom on earth. All of us can inadvertently do this in small ways almost every day. We can join in on the local gossip, or we can speak negatively about others. We do not do our best when given an assignment. We cannot turn our beliefs on and off like a light switch. Every time we do this, a non-believer is listening and watching. It may not even be someone directly involved. It might be someone casually observing from a distance. As professing Christians, we have accepted the obligation to be light and salt in the world.

Psalm 39: 1, “I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.”

We cannot expect ourselves to be perfect; that would be insane. What we should expect of ourselves is to be mindful. When we transgress, recognize it and rectify it. Go back to those whom we harmed, make it right, if possible, and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness is not to be back in the injured parties’ good graces; it is to be back into God’s good blessings. After all that God has done for us, should we not be sensitive to how we portray Him to others? We need to show remorse and humility when we do falter as a sign of repentance.

As professing Christians, we have shown a light on who we are and what we believe. Everything we do has an eternal impact on someone. Be mindful. When required, be remorseful and humble, knowing we, too, will meet God’s judgment. Not for our sin, but for what we have done for Christ since we met Him.

2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

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We Serve an Awesome God

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

We serve a awesome God – Creator of the universe – we should weep with joy seeing the beautiful things he has made. In a time of worry such as these, that is hard.

I am an engineer and programmer by training. I am a plan-your-work – work-your-plan type of guy. I believe that the God of the universe made all of creation and all of science. If we find a conflict between the two, it is because we do not understand something. I’m not smart enough to know what. But I am smart enough to know that I don’t know.

John 1:3, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

If we want to glorify ourselves, we don’t do something easy or bland; we stretch our creativity to the max to demonstrate the totality of our ability. We want to stand back, gaze at our creation, and say, “WOW, I did that.”

Hebrews 3:4, “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”

An artist does not paint a picture of a stick-man and put it on display. They paint a picture that stretches their imagination and talent. An image that causes people to look deep at the canvass to discover the complexity, the color, the movement, the depth of the imagery. The viewer not only sees all that the painter wanted them to see, but their imagination brings a deeper meaning to the imagery—each person taking away a fresh perspective of the painter’s work.

Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”

Over my sofa, I have a large photograph of the milky way taken at Fiordland National Park in New Zealand, by Tom Hall; it is billions of specks of light on an immense canvass of blackness. We, as mere humans, cannot fathom the greatness of God’s creation. It not only overwhelms our senses with the vast, unimaginable majesty of the heavens, but it amazes us with the intricacy of new life. When I first set eyes on my newborn daughter, my life changed forever. She was the most perfect creature I had ever seen. She was so small and beautiful. To this day, that image, planted deep in my mind, brings me peace, joy, and, most of all, hope for humanity.

Job 33:4, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

I love to hike. I love the quiet outdoors where God and I can have these long, intricate, astounding conversations uninterrupted by the world in which I must live. The beauty in nature is never-ending. Everything from the leaf’s brilliant colors in fall, to the delicate new sprouts popping up through the earth in the spring, to how deer stay looking so pristine while living in the woods speaks of God’s creation. Folks, that last part is amazing, we have a multi-trillion-dollar industry built around making us look good, and we pale in comparison. I love sunsets and sunrise and waterfalls, unique bends in the trail, and rock formations that remind me of Aunt Sally. My best moments are setting on a rocky crag jutting out of the forest canopy overlooking a river and listening to the wind and the sound of birds. It is the perfect moment. I am so close to God; it takes my breath away.

God has glorified Himself through His creation. He put everything into it. He wanted to demonstrate the breadth and depth of His abilities. He does set back and say, “WOW, I did that.”

In the greatness of His creation, there are human-made flaws. God gave us a choice that we might choose Him. Some do not choose wisely.

A friend, Ron Gastin, said it best when he described this scene: You imagine yourself on a vast and deserted beach. The beautiful white shoreline spreads out before you to the horizon, the aqua blue sea rhythmically splashing to the shore, the azure blue sky shining from above. There is a warm, slight breeze washing over your skin, and the sound of seabird are echoing in the distance: this is God’s macro view, and He loves it infinitely. However, if you kneel and pick up a small handful of sand, you can see the individual specks of sand. These specks are the individual acts of both goodness and sinfulness that, when taken together, make up that vast and beautiful beach. God hates the sinful and evil specks of sand but loves what it ultimately becomes.

So how does darkness fit into all of this?

We are in the throes of a viral pandemic. The media is stoking fear as a means to make money off of advertising, the old newspaper adage “If it bleeds, it leads.” It is easy to get sucked into the vortex of this fear. Is this the beginning of the tribulation, or is it just the next in a line of challenges facing a fallen world? We should live each day as if it was our last. In doing this, we do not need to know the exact day of His coming, for we will be prepared. Rather than spend our time fretting over the end, we should take the time to awe at His creation. When we soak in the beauty that God made around us, it is hard to live in fear.

Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

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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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