Month: March 2017

It seems so strange to think about today, but until I was nine years old, my family lived in a rented farm house in rural Indiana and our telephone was on a “party line” with several neighbors.  Each of us had a special ring that let us know the incoming call was for us.  When making a call we never knew if we would get a dial tone or hear someone else on the line.  Our neighbors were friendly, caring folks, but sometimes there is a fine line between being concerned and being nosy.  I’m sure there were times when they picked up, covered the mouthpiece with their hand and listened in on the conversations.  Whenever life wasn’t perfect my parents would wonder, “What will the neighbors think?”

God created us as social beings.  We are not meant to live solitary lives, but sometimes the people in our life create challenges and questions.  Just how much influence should they have on the way we live?  Winston Churchill once said, “When you are 20 you care about what everyone thinks. When you are 40 you stop caring about what everyone thinks. When you are 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you.”  While that is not true of everyone, it points out the fact that we often give not only what others think but even what we think they are thinking far too much control over our own thoughts and actions.  On the other hand, Proverbs 15:22 tells us, “Plans go wrong for lack of advice. Many advisors bring success.”  So the real questions are whom do we trust for advice?  Which criticism is constructive and which is hateful or vindictive?  Which praise is phony and which is sincere?  Are we allowing the world to “squeeze us into its mold” when we pay too much attention to what others say or think?  It gets complicated.

A woman who was celebrating her 104^th birthday was asked what the best part of reaching that milestone was. Without hesitating, she replied, “No peer pressure!” The people we spend the most time with have a strong influence on us.  Running with the wrong crowd will lead to temptation and sin.  That is why it is important for a believer to connect with other believers in a local church and in smaller more intimate prayer/study groups.  However, we can’t isolate ourselves in groups of likeminded believers and let the world go to hell (literally).  We are called to love all of our neighbors and share our faith with them; to provide the light of Jesus Christ in a dark world.  We must live in the world but not be of the world.  Again, it is complicated.

There is only one answer to these dilemmas.  God gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us through these types of complicated situations and spiritual minefields.  With His help we can find wise counsel from family, friends and fellow believers. He teaches us to enjoy associating with non-believers without running with them and He shows us how to witness to them through our actions as well as our words – following Jesus’ perfect example.  The Holy Spirit not only helps us identify sincere criticism and praise, but He shows us how to learn from the criticism and keep the praise from going to our head.  When John Wimber received praise he used to say, “I’ll take the encouragement but I’ll pass the glory on.”  I love encouragement, but I learned long ago to never take credit for what God is doing in my life.  That glory and praise belong to Him alone.

Every believer knows the joy of having their prayers answered. But there are times our faith is tested when our prayers seem to go unanswered and we don’t understand why. One of my favorite Southern Gospel songs explains it this way:

“You never pray a prayer, your Father will not answer
He can’t ignore His child’s earnest request
While you’re waiting and believing
For what you thought was best
Trust God if He says no – you’re still blessed
There must be a greater yes”

God is a loving Father who wants what is best for us. He also wants to protect us from harm so there will be times when He tells us “no” for our own good. An old Garth Brooks song reminds us, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” I am not always wise when I make requests to God, but His answers are always wise and loving.

A few weeks ago our senior pastor reminded us that in addition to yes or no, sometimes God’s answer to our prayer is “not now”. That answer is the hardest for us to accept.  In this era of instant gratification no one wants to wait for anything. We are limited by time – God is not. He lives in the past, present and future. He sees what we cannot and he continues to watch over us even when we don’t know what we need to pray for.  I have friends who tell of being delayed for a weird reason then coming upon a serious accident they may have been involved in had they left on time. There were workers who were late for work in the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Their stress and frustration suddenly turned to gratefulness when they realized being late that day may have saved their lives. It isn’t always a life or death situation. There have been times in my life when I have prayed for something and God knew I wasn’t ready for it yet. I did not understand at the time but the wait has always been worth it. God is good and His timing is perfect.

One of the benefits of faith in Jesus Christ is the wonderful opportunity we have to bring our prayers directly to God in Jesus’ name. Jesus even gave us the “Lord’s Prayer” as an example of how we should pray. When we pray we are to praise and glorify God; thank Him for all He has done for us and then ask Him to provide our needs and the needs of others. While we are in His presence we should always take time to listen for what He has to say to us through His Holy Spirit within us. Unless we are faced with an emergency situation, we must resist the urge to go directly to our list of petitions and requests. After all God is the Creator of the universe – not Santa.

 

In my daily devotional and Bible reading I came across this verse of scripture: “Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the lord will soon arrive.” (Joel 3:14)  I’m sure Bible scholars have assigned prophetic significance to that verse, but my immediate reaction was, “I have lived in that valley my entire life.”  In a way I think we all have.

We face a multitude of decisions each and every day.  Some are easy and some are difficult.  Some are insignificant and some are of vital importance.  Technology provides us with a menu of options for just about everything.  In our land of plenty there are options available for every purchase we make. It is easy to become overwhelmed when we have so many choices.  I have witnessed a person blocking the grocery store aisle for fifteen minutes trying to decide what brand of peanut butter to buy. When we avoid or delay making a decision even that is a decision. When we repeatedly make the same mistake it is no longer a mistake, it is a decision.  We make most of our minor decisions automatically without giving them much thought otherwise we would become paralyzed with fear of making wrong choices.

There is one life or death decision that each of us must make and it is that decision to which the verse in Joel refers. We must decide to accept or reject God’s grace, mercy and salvation from sin through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Once we decide to put our faith in Jesus, God provides us with the Holy Spirit to help us make the best decisions for ourselves, our family and His kingdom (not in that order of course).  I have said many times that when the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something you only have two options (one decision) – do it or regret it.

Love sometimes makes decisions for us.  About eight years ago I retired because of limited mobility due to arthritis in my knees and sciatic nerve pain from my lower back shooting down my legs.  I had great health insurance and Carol was there to help me through rehab so I was seriously considering knee replacement surgery on both knees (there was no sure cure available then for my sciatica).  Around that time Carol found out she had cancer and all of my attention immediately shifted to her health instead.  God has healed my sciatica, but I recently discovered that knee surgery is no longer an option due to deterioration of the bones in my knees and my current age.  I trust God for complete healing whether it comes now or when I transition to life with Him, but I will never regret the decision to put off the surgery even if it means pain and mobility problems for the rest of my life on earth.  This experience has given me a small insight into what Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane.  When faced with painful torture and death Jesus’ love for us made the decision for Him.

A friend shared a quote with me she received from her friend. It is a popular quote that I had not heard before and it is simply, “Bloom where you are planted.” I find that quote very interesting and instructional on several levels with both physical and spiritual applications. It is not found in scripture, but Paul did write in 1 Corinthians 7:24 “Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.” He was referring to whether they were single, married, slave or free and not where they were living at the time, but it applies to current circumstances (theirs and ours). Are we to be frozen in time unable to move or change once we are planted? Of course not! When God first called me I was eleven years old. A lot of changes have taken place in the 63 years since then both in me and around me. Like some of you I have been physically transplanted several times but I like to think that I have bloomed wherever God has placed me. From Indiana to Missouri to Okinawa to Crete back to Missouri to Iowa and to Illinois I have done my best to bloom and bear fruit wherever I have been planted and in whatever state of mind and spirit I have found myself.

We are very familiar with the instruction Jesus gives us to provide light in this dark world, but sight may not be the only sense we will impact. When we bloom where we are planted our blossoms will provide a fragrance for those around us. Paul puts it this way, “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15) To those who are seeking God we provide an enticing aroma that draws them closer to Him, while others find it a stench that causes them to move away from us and God. They are lured away from God by the enemy’s deceptive perfume of indulgence and sin. Throughout my life I have enjoyed and been refreshed by the sweet fragrance of those around me who are in full bloom right where they have been planted in my life.

I want to leave you with one very important point. Forgive me for shouting, but it is so important. “YOU ARE NEVER IN THE WRONG PLACE TO SERVE GOD.” He plants us where we are most needed; where we can be a blessing to those around us providing fragrant blossoms, shade for their comfort and fruit to satisfy their spiritual hunger.

 

I have written about love more than any other topic because it is such an important part of our spiritual life and should be an important part of daily living.  Despite the dictionary definition, love is not an object that can be owned, bought, sold or even given as a gift.  It is a verb; an action to be taken or something that we do.  I often refer to 1 Corinthians 13 as the perfect definition of love.  It describes all of the actions of love (not doing something is also an action).  But love cannot exist or act on its own; it requires a lover to put those actions into motion.  In 1 John 3:18 we read, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”  1 Corinthians 16:14 reminds us to “do everything with love”.

Paula Thornton, my sister in Christ, recently posted a beautiful photo of her son feeding her mother in a nursing home.  I commented, “That is what love looks like.”  It reminded me of when Carol was in a nursing home or hospital.  She could feed herself but she had trouble sleeping at night in a strange place. On my daily visits I spent hours holding her hand and watching TV while she slept soundly knowing I was there with her. That simple act told her “I love you” much louder than anything I could have said to her.

Just as love needs a lover to put it into action, it also needs someone to be the recipient of those actions.   We might say that we “love” chocolate or ice cream (or chocolate ice cream), but the actions involved are very different than when the object of our love is a person.  One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is 1 Timothy 6:10.  “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”   When we love things instead of people, those things become idols and the actions of that kind of love are a form of idol worship. We can enjoy something very much without loving it.

Enduring love is something I have experienced.  Sam Levinson wrote, “Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.”  Acts of love by each partner every day are the secret to that kind of “miracle”.  They may not say, “I love you” as often as they used to, but love is understood and felt by both of them because of their actions.  It is one of those many situations in life when actions speak much louder than words.

God’s unfailing love is manifest in His actions to us and for us.  The ultimate act of love is when God sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins. (John 3:16) Our love for Him, though deep, pales in comparison.  We often tell Him we love Him in our worship, but it is really in the actions of our daily life that He wants us to declare our love for him and for others.  Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14-15) Love requires action.  Lord, help us to demonstrate our love for you and for others in everything we do.

 

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

One of my favorite biblical accounts is when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. (John 13:3-17) Peter objected because he felt unworthy, but when Jesus told him unless he allowed him to do it he would not belong to Him, Peter wanted Jesus to wash all of him not just his feet. Jesus assured him it was only necessary to wash that which is dirty. The Son of God with tens of thousands of angels at His service chose to kneel in humble service to those He loved and thus demonstrate to them (and to us) what gives a person real value and stature is neither power nor prestige but love and service.

It was pride that caused Lucifer’s fall from heaven. He drew praise from some of his fellow angels so he began to think he should also receive some of the praise and worship reserved for God. As my grandparents would put it, “He got too big for his britches.” Lest we think we are somehow immune Proverbs 17:21 tells us, “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.”

Ethel Waters once said, “We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.” When we discover and use our gift to benefit others it will please God but it will also draw praise from other people and that will be our test. To keep from failing the test we must quickly pass the praise to God who gave us our gift. If we hold onto it too long we will begin to think that we deserve it and pride will start to control us. Don’t misunderstand, not all pride is sinful. It is perfectly fine for us to be proud of the accomplishments of family members, friends and others. It is self-pride that makes our hats (and britches) begin to tighten.

By the way, there is also a big difference between pride and self-worth. Self-worth is something we all need for a healthy life and positive relationships with our Creator and others. How can we love others as ourselves if we feel unlovable? Positive self-esteem comes from encouragement not from praise. Jesus proved our worth when He thought we were to die for. (John 3:16) There is no greater calling for believers than to provide encouragement to everyone around us, especially children who are forming their self-identity.

May each of us be able to say with the psalmist, “Lord my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. (Psalms 131:1)

 

My life in Jesus Christ began with my personal decision to confess my sinful nature and by faith accept Jesus’ death on the cross as the sacrifice for my sins.  As a result of that decision, I received the eternal life God promised and demonstrated by Jesus’ resurrection (John 3:16).  He also promised that He would always be with me in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me.  My personal relationship with Jesus makes it possible for me to come directly into the presence of God the Father with my praise, my thanks and my petitions in Jesus’ name.  I have become a child of God.  No relationship is more personal.

When did personal faith in Jesus Christ become a “religion” with rules and regulations?  What causes Christians to be divided into denominations and sects over minor details?   It has to be the enemy’s effort to falsely define and devalue Christian faith.  The term Christian has attracted so many false connotations in our society that many now choose to call themselves Believers instead of Christians.  That is reasonable because the true Church is Christ’s body made up of individual believers each with our own God-given function joined together by our faith in Jesus Christ and God’s Holy Spirit within each of us.  Our unity through that common Spirit transcends all differences of culture, race, social status or other minor differences we may have.  After listing the diversity within the early church Paul concludes in Colossians 3:11, “…Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” The Church is manifest when each believer puts their unique gift(s) to work loving and serving God by loving and serving others.

When I was a boy, whenever two people shared the same thought one of them would say, “Great minds think alike”.  I am often working on two or three blogs at a time and when I get together with my brothers at our weekly breakfast more than once they have mentioned the topic or a scripture from one of those blogs in progress.  That isn’t coincidence or minds thinking alike.  That is one Spirit at work in more than one person.  That is true Christianity at work with the Holy Spirit bringing together individual parts of the “body” or “bride” of Christ – His Church.

I have said many times that our pastors at CLC “make it personal” when they bring us a word.   The message is always directed right at me and my needs.  It is amazing that each of us present can experience that same feeling, but it shouldn’t surprise us.   God knows our needs and when a message is inspired by the Holy Spirit it can touch the heart of someone in need of salvation while at the same time resonate with the Spirit within each believer to give us exactly what we need. I am so thankful that God chooses to make His relationship with us personal and then draws us to Him and to each other to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33)

Each of us is searching for something. At my age it is usually an item I just had in my hand a few minutes ago that is now nowhere to be found that triggers my frantic search. When I was much younger I began to realize that my life was like a jigsaw puzzle that still had some odd shaped missing pieces. I was fortunate to have loving parents and my daily needs met as I began my search for those other pieces that were still missing.

I found my most important missing piece in a Vacation Bible School in 1954 when through the life; death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God filled the huge vacant space in my life only He could fit into. In 1960 I found the love of my life on a blind date and in 1963 she fit into that vacant space designed just for her as my soul mate and wife. My search for the missing piece of career took us from Brentwood, Missouri, to Burlington, Iowa, to Chicago Ridge, Illinois. In 1984, after trying four pieces that just didn’t fit, I found a surprising career in the pest control industry that fit into my life perfectly. We prayed for children to fill those missing pieces in our life but our dogs loosely filled those spaces instead. God gave us a good life, just not the life we expected. I felt my life had come together nicely when in 2014 Carol died and left a large blank space once again. I asked God to help me feel whole again and He led me to CLC and wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ. He showed me that each of them fit perfectly into a new section of my life. It was then I realized that space for my wife is still occupied. You see our love did not die when she did.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? To show you that although each of our quests is unique there are some things we have in common. We don’t always get exactly what we want but God always provides us with what we need. I don’t know what you are seeking right now. If you are still searching for some missing pieces in your life I want you to know that God is the one universal, perfect piece we all need. There are no perfect spouses, perfect children, perfect careers, perfect churches or even perfect homes to live in. What you will find are those pieces that fit beautifully into your life, but you must seek God first and then allow Him to help you find those other missing pieces that are just right for you.

I want to leave you with a wise warning: “If you search for good, you will find favor, but if you search for evil, it will find you.” (Proverbs 11:27)

 

Did you ever stop to think that envy and pride are simply two sides of the same coin?  That coin is comparison.  When we compare ourselves with others we toss the coin.  The envy side of the coin comes up when we think the other person is doing much better and we don’t measure up by comparison.  The pride side of the coin comes up when we think we are doing much better than the other person and we look down on or even pity them.

That coin of comparison is minted by the enemy. He knows God created each of us as unique individuals so comparing ourselves with someone else is always going to produce a false impression that will lead us into either the sin of pride or the sin of envy.  Heads he wins.  Tails we lose.

How do we avoid this con game Satan has devised?  First, we must realize that God has a unique plan for us that is different from His plan for any other person, so comparing ourselves to anyone else is unnecessary and futile.  Galatians 6:4 tells us, “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”  The only comparison we need to make is comparing ourselves to the person God wants us to be.  That will help us measure up to God’s expectation for us.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence when we look at it through that “green-eyed monster” of envy.  We will defeat envy when we count our blessings and thank and praise God for each of them.  Our gratitude will eliminate our need for comparisons.  We will defeat pride when we become more sensitive to the needs of others.  We will encourage those who are doing well to stay on course and we will give a helping hand to those who are less fortunate.  When we humble ourselves before God pride is nowhere to be found.  As C. S. Lewis put it, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself.  It is thinking of yourself less.”