Month: August 2017

In the Old Testament we read how their human nature caused God’s chosen people to go through a seemingly endless cycle of calling out to God for help in time of distress and peril, receiving His deliverance and blessings, becoming complacent and disobedient in good times and as a result finding themselves in peril once again, repenting and again calling on God to save them, and on and on it goes.  Before we point an accusing finger at them let’s look at our experiences and admit to ourselves that we are no different.  We have inherited that same human nature that makes us more vulnerable to the enemy in good times. We ask God through His Holy Spirit to move into the driver’s seat of our life in order to get us out of trouble, but the minute the road becomes smooth and straight we grab the wheel and tell Him, “I’ll take it from here!” then we can’t understand why we find ourselves in a ditch asking for His help again.

You would think in times of blessings we would be eternally grateful to God. God sent manna from heaven and water from a dry rock to keep His chosen people alive in the desert. Instead of being grateful, they complained that they had no meat to eat. Instead of praising God for what He has provided for us, so often we look around at what others have and become dissatisfied.  Instead of appreciating what we have and waiting upon God to provide even more, we become impatient and disobedient.  While Moses met with God on the mountain to receive His instructions for them in the form of the Ten Commandments, God’s chosen people were already at work breaking the first two commandments by creating and worshiping a golden calf.  God kept all of His promises under that Old Covenant, but men and women failed miserably in keeping the law and giving all praise and honor to God, especially during times of miraculous blessings.

Those Biblical accounts and our experiences could lead us to conclude that receiving God’s blessings puts us in greater danger of falling away from God than even the strongest storms we face.  Is it possible that remaining in the storm will keep us closer to God while times of safety and blessings will foster pride, arrogance and complacency that put us at greater risk of God’s righteous anger?  Is it possible for us to be delivered from the storm without putting ourselves in even greater danger?  Can we end this cycle of seeking and then rejecting God’s presence in our lives?  We can’t – but God has provided the way.

Knowing that the Old Covenant under the law would continue to produce an unending cycle of man’s attempted obedience then disobedience due to our human nature, God made a New Covenant with man.  Although it was new to first century believers, it has always been God’s plan from creation to provide grace, mercy and forgiveness through His son as a once and for all sacrifice for our sins.  God has done the heavy lifting.  We just have to confess our sinful nature and believe in Jesus Christ for mercy, grace, forgiveness and eternal life through His death on the cross and His resurrection.  This New Covenant provides even more.  God places His power and love within us when we believe, making it possible for us to overcome our sinful nature and become new creatures in Christ. Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Through the Holy Spirit, God has provided us with both the desire to do what pleases Him and the power to act on that desire.  Now we can remain close to God and His will for us whether we are in the storm or in the sunshine – in time of need or time of plenty. “Oh how wonderful. Oh how marvelous is my savior’s love for me.”

 

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.’” (Matthew 19:26)

I want to share with you how God has done the impossible in my personal life over the last six months. I had been making customer service calls from home for a regional pest control company for several years in order to make ends meet during Carol’s illness and following her death. On March first of this year I received a call that the company had decided to have full time employees make the calls from their offices and they no longer need my services. I began a frantic but seemingly futile search for a way to replace that income. I earnestly prayed for God to help me survive while guiding me to a new door I knew He would open for me. I also asked all of my Christian friends to pray with me. Each time I neared financial disaster I received money from someone with the explanation that God had prompted them to help me.

After six months of struggling, a friend in the pest control industry introduced me to the CEO of an online retailer selling do it yourself pest control kits from their home office in London. They hired me effective September first as an adviser to help them develop new product lines and expand their market in this country (which, by the way, will pay me exactly what I was making from the job I lost). In the meantime, this month was looking very rough financially. I even briefly thought about skipping my tithe to CLC, but each time I have honored my commitment to Him, God had been good about providing my needs so instead I prayed for his help once again. Just when I decided to let one of my bills slide in order to provide food and other necessities for me and my two dogs, I received a check for $500.00 from an unexpected source with a hand written note that simply read, “You’ve heard about following doctor’s orders? Well I’m following God’s orders.”

Now a non-believer might chalk all of these things up to chance or coincidence, but I don’t have that much faith. I simply know that my heavenly Father, who comforted me when I lost my life’s companion, is still with me every step of the way, opening a new door and supplying provisions. Through all of this the words of one of my favorite gospel songs have taken on added meaning for me. “Expect the unexpected when God’s about to move. He will meet our every need in ways we wouldn’t choose. Be still and know He’s in control; His power will come through. Expect the unexpected and watch what God will do.”

I have always been amazed at how infants and small children use all of their senses to absorb everything going on around them like powerful little sponges.  There is so much for them to learn and they are such eager students.  Parents and other adults in their lives have the awesome responsibility to teach them by their example as well as their words.

Whether we realize it or not, our entire life is a classroom and we are constantly learning.  At the age of 87, Michelangelo wrote, “I am still learning.”  I am also still learning at age 74.  We never learn it all. “Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.” (Proverbs 9:9)  “Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15)

True wisdom and knowledge come from God and there is so much to learn from His word that I have barely scratched the surface, but here are just a few examples:

• Knowing more about God: “Then they will learn that you alone are called the lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.” (Psalms 83:18) “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” (Colossians 1:10)
• Finding God’s will: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans  12:2)
• Obedience: “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)
• Learning from nature: “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise.” (Proverbs 6:6) “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.” (Matthew 24:32 & Mark 13:28)
• Sharing and applying what we have learned: “Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned.” (Proverbs 5:2) “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)
• Learning goes beyond memorizing: “And so the Lord says, these people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”  It is not enough to memorize the 23^rd Psalm – you must get to know the Shepherd personally.

Even mistakes and failures are learning experiences.  Sam Levenson wrote, “You must learn by the mistakes of others.  You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.”  Sometimes I feel like I have come pretty close.  I do my best to apply the lessons I have learned so I don’t make the same mistakes again.  At a press conference to announce the invention of the light bulb, Thomas Edison was asked by a reporter to tell about some of his failures on the way to that great invention.  Edison responded, “I have never failed. I have, however, discovered thousands of things that won’t work.” Each of those “discoveries” brought him closer to success.

The kids are now back in school – but then aren’t we all.

Have you ever noticed that when a fight starts it is usually the second person who throws a punch who gets caught and receives the greatest punishment while protesting, “He (or she) started it!”?  It is often the same with verbal confrontations. It isn’t fair, but the person who initiates the fight is always pleased when they are able to bring others down to their level and get them in trouble.

Our nation and our communities are being divided politically, racially and theologically creating conflicts and escalating vitriolic responses. No matter who started it, we are all in trouble as long as the verbal and even physical attacks continue to escalate. The real question isn’t who hurled the first insult, it is who will put an end to the name calling, stereotyping and hatred by refusing to be pulled down to that level? There will always be haters trying to start trouble, but when their hate is no longer masked by hateful counter attacks of others they will be seen as the real trouble makers they are.

I was living in the Chicago area in 1977 when the KKK planned a march through the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie. I sided with the ACLU and the courts when they defended their right of free speech, not because I support one word of their hateful message, but because I cherish my own right to speak my mind even if it isn’t popular. The truth remains the truth whether it is popular or not and I want to be able to speak and write the truth without fear of censorship. The march through Skokie took place with few protests. The KKK leaders shouted their ugly slogans and false accusations and then went home. There was no rush to join their movement. They were alone in the spotlight and seen as the trouble makers they were.

Please don’t misunderstand me. We must speak out against evil, but we must do it on our terms – with love; not on their terms – with hate. If we think we can love God and hate people we are only fooling ourselves. (1 John 4:20) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that “hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can drive out hate”. When someone hurts me by being hateful, mean or totally thoughtless my immediate reaction is to retaliate in like manner. It is a normal human defensive response, but it will only end up getting me in trouble. The hardest thing for me to do as a believer is to put it in God’s hands, but He tells me, “Vengeance is mine.” (Romans 12:19 KJV) Why does He want to fight my battles? It is because He loves me and does not want me to end up with a heart as hard as theirs.

Even though He had the power to call fire from heaven to destroy them, Jesus looked out over the crowd that demanded his painful torture and execution and asked His Father to forgive them. I have learned from Jesus that the best revenge is not to allow myself to be dragged down to their level; instead, oppose their hate with His love.

With racial and political unrest and stereotyping in the news, I dug out this old article I wrote some years ago. I think it still has application today.

I have discovered something that I call the “Exception to the Rule Syndrome”. It happens when we accept a stereotype and then meet a person from that group who does not fit.  I first encountered it in 1995, when I was a pest control trainer and I was asked to fill in for a sick technician in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago.  The area was unfamiliar to me. One customer on that route was a tavern in a small town.  I introduced myself and began to perform the service.  They had Oprah on TV and the customers and bar owner were making derogatory comments.  I had not heard the “N” word used like that since growing up in the 1950s in southern Indiana.  Knowing that the regular technician was black, I wondered how in the world he could work in such a hostile environment.  In between expletives the owner pointed out where Willie usually treats and reminded me to go down in the cellar like Willie always does.  As the owner was signing my service ticket he asked if Willie would be back next month and I told him that he should be.  He was very pleased and couldn’t stop praising Willie and his good work.  Even one of the customers chimed in, “He is a good guy.”  That technician was obviously the only black person with whom they had personal contact.  As they got to know him they saw he didn’t fit their racial stereotype.  Rather than set aside their prejudice they simply decided he was an exception to the rule.

I have found myself the exception to the rule too. As trainer for a truly equal opportunity employer, young black men and women starting a new career would be uneasy to find that an old white guy with a slight southern drawl would determine their fate. Within two days of training they knew I wanted them to succeed and by the time they completed their five weeks of training I considered them friends. I am still in contact with many of them, but I’m sure some of them still consider me an exception to the old white guy rule.

All stereotypes are false.  God created us as unique individuals, so no group of people are the same even though they may have one characteristic in common.  Our nation has become more and more divided along racial, religious and political lines. It is natural for us to associate with those with whom we feel most comfortable, but the less contact we have with people of different races, political ideology or religious beliefs, the easier it is for us accept false stereotypes about them.

The solution is simple. We must integrate ourselves into society and interact with everyone with whom we come into contact putting aside all preconceived notions about them. There will always be an occasional idiot in any group  (If you don’t find one in your own group you might check a mirror.), but the more people we get to know the more we will realize that we have a lot more in common than we thought. We all want a peaceful society in which to live and raise a family, but that will only happen if we join together to make it a reality.  It will never happen as long as we continue to name call and hurl insults at each other across the chasms that currently divide us.  Getting to know many individuals personally from different backgrounds is the only way to explode stereotypes and get to the truth about those with whom we differ – truth that will set us free from every prejudice. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so correctly stated, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”.

When I was very young I heard. “Children should be seen and not heard” and “Silence is golden”. Those adages didn’t impress me much, but they sure seemed to please the adults in my life. As I grew older I began to appreciate the benefits of silence and as Abe Lincoln used to say, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” There is debate over who was the first to say that, but it doesn’t really matter, it is still good advice at times.

Along with the importance of silence, I also learned the benefits of listening. The Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Like most people I had a problem listening without being distracted by thinking about what I was going to say next. It took me a while to discover that when I listen carefully I not only learn new things, but I am often reminded of relevant things to say in response.

I wasn’t surprised when God told me, “Be still and know that I am God! (Psalms 46:10) When I pray I seek peace and serenity by making a conscious effort to spend time in silence listening for God’s still small voice inside me. (Not to be confused with self-hypnosis or Transcendental Meditation which are not from God.)  As I’ve said many times, if we pray without taking time to listen for what God has to say to us, we are just leaving a message on His voicemail. Our prayers should be two way conversations.

When I accepted Jesus as my savior, I immediately received His Holy Spirit to dwell within me as my councilor, advocate, guide and teacher. Many of my charismatic brothers and sisters have experienced speaking in an unknown language as part of their encounter with the Holy Spirit. They say it gives them a heightened means of communicating with God in that prayer language when words fail them. Up to this point I have not received that sign or aspect of the Holy Spirit, but I experience something similar when I pray in silence allowing the Holy Spirit within me to communicate with my heavenly Father without the need to add my two cents.

Have you spent time in silent prayer before God lately? Give it a try. Ask Him for help and then patiently wait for His response. You probably won’t hear an audible voice, but you will know in your mind and feel in your heart what He is telling you. It may take time to become comfortable doing it, but it will be time well spent.

When I was a young boy there was a daredevil named Joie Chitwood who traveled all over performing “death defying” stunts in his automobile at fairs and other outdoor events.  It was exciting and thrilling to watch his show because no matter how well planned and rehearsed the stunts were, there was always the chance something could go wrong.  Although he risked his safety for money and fame, Joie Chitwood did not defy death.

When I joined the Air Force I took an oath to defend the Constitution and my country from our enemies.  I was willing to fight to my death to defend our country.  Through the years men and women have risked their lives to defend our nation.  We celebrate Memorial Day to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, but even our veterans have not defied death.

I have tremendous respect and admiration for first responders who rush toward danger while the rest of us run away.  They challenge death every day and they don’t do it to entertain us or defend our country.  They do it to save the lives of total strangers.  They are very well-trained, but some still lose their lives in the effort.  Even those brave men and women do not defy death.

Enoch avoided death when God took him (Hebrews 11:5) but he didn’t defy death.

Those who Jesus raised from the dead may have seemed to defy death for a time, but death eventually caught up with each of them.

In the history of mankind only one person has defied death.  Jesus came into the world to reveal God to us and to die on the cross as a once and for all, blameless sacrifice for our sins.  That act of supreme love for all who would believe did not end on the cross or even in the tomb.  Jesus defied death by going right though it for us and coming out on the other side eternally alive so that we may follow Him into eternity when we confess our sins and put our faith in Him.  When we believe in Jesus, we also put our faith in the One who sent Him on His death defying mission of love.

When I responded to that altar call more than six decades ago, I knelt at the foot of the cross and a Christian worker prayed with me and recited John 3:16, inserting my name.  “For God so loved Jim Anderson, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that Jim Anderson can believe in Him and not perish but have everlasting life.”  At that moment, Jesus’ death defying love became real and personal to me.  I prayed the sinner’s prayer and accepted His grace and His Holy Spirit within me.  That act of faith didn’t change me into a saint or even make me more righteous, but it did change me.  I became a sinner saved by God’s grace, who relies on Jesus’ righteousness to make it possible for me to become a child of God and walk with the Holy Spirit’s guidance one step at a time.

As I’m sure you know by now, my favorite topic is love. I often refer to the 13^th chapter of I Corinthians and its beautiful definition of love. One of my favorite verses in the New Testament is I Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all of the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) God demonstrated His love for us while we were sinners (John 3:16) and it is God’s love in our heart that sets us apart from the world.

I have also written often about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ. I love to share stories of the faith of other believers and I readily testify about my own faith. Without faith we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6) As a matter of fact the entire 11th chapter of Hebrews is a hall of fame of people of faith in the Old Testament. Yes, I have spent much time writing about love and faith, but it recently occurred to me that I haven’t written much about hope.

I love Raniero Cantalamessa’s description of faith, hope and love. “They are like three sisters. Two of them are grown and the other is a small child. They go forward together hand in hand with the child hope in the middle. Looking at them it would seem that the bigger ones are pulling the child, but it is the other way around; it is the little girl who is pulling the two bigger ones. It is hope that pulls faith and love. Without hope everything would stop.”

Hope is the realization that something better is possible. It is the anticipation that drives us forward. Paul points out in Romans 8:24 that once we have something we no longer need to hope for it. I’m so glad God continues to provide us with even more for which to hope, pulling us toward Him.

Quoting Isaiah, Matthew wrote about Jesus, “And his name will be the hope of all the world.” (Matthew 12:21) The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope. We reach out to a hopelessly lost world and we share our love and our faith with them, but until they can see the light of hope; the possibility of escape from a life of darkness, nothing else will matter.

When we see the enemy’s handiwork all around us, it is easy to become discouraged. That’s when we need to focus on God’s power over him. The full extent of God’s power is incomprehensible, but as we begin to understand His power within us (Romans 8:11) and within His church (Matthew 16:18) there is no reason to worry about the enemy.  We need to stop complaining to God about our attackers and start telling them whom it is we serve.  Mountains that seem to stand in our way will become bumps in the road when we call on God’s mighty power to direct our steps.

When I focus on God’s power the words of a song come to my mind.

“I’m going to tell the storm that my God is in control.

He’s more mighty than its billows, stronger than the winds that blow.

There’s no power in the storm for all power is His,

I’m going to tell the storm how big my God is.”

I read a book recently written by Mark Batterson simply titled “if”.  It is a great book that I would recommend to any believer.  In it he shows us how to replace our “if only” regrets with “what if” possibilities and it takes us right to the foot of the cross.  One line really jumped off the page at me.  “We are called to advance the Kingdom, not to hold the fort.”

 Jesus said, “And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.” (Matthew 11:12)  Those words are just as relevant to us today as they were then, but we tend to concentrate on fending off the attackers instead of forcefully advancing the Kingdom of Heaven.   In sports terms, as members of His church, God has clearly placed the ball in our court.  What will we do with it?  Will we cover up and concentrate on defending our faith from attack or will we go on the offensive and forcefully advance the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus’ name?

Please don’t misunderstand.  Forcefully advancing the Kingdom of Heaven does not involve going on a counter attack against a non-believing world.  On the contrary, the Kingdom of Heaven is advanced by demonstrating God’s love and grace to a lost world.  Under the direction of the Holy Spirit our acts of love and kindness and our personal testimony will draw lost souls to God’s grace and forgiveness through the blood shed by Jesus on the cross.  Heaven will rejoice for every lost soul that is added to the Kingdom. (Luke 15:7)  That is the way to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and keep pressure on the enemy.

I am well aware that the Kingdom of Heaven will advance with or without me, but I praise God that He has given me the privilege to contribute my meager efforts to His cause. It is truly a labor of love because no matter how hard we labor in His field, we can never put God in our debt.  My service is simply my humble duty as a child of God.  After all, I have received eternal life through His grace so it is I who am forever in His debt.  All I seek now is to hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” as I reach the end of my tour of duty.