Run to Win

The Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a "race", and when I think about this race I think about four different types of people:

1. Spectators

These people are not running the race at all. They are just on the sidelines. Some are thinking about getting in the race while others seem to not care at all.

2. Pretenders

These are the people who pretend to be runners. They wear the right clothes and the right shoes so they will look like a runner. They can talk the talk, discussing times and distances just like a runner. But in fact they never enter the race.

3. Finishers

These are the people who are running the race, but they are only running to "finish". What I mean by that is that their goal is not to win the race, just to finish it. Because of this, they do not put in the required time and effort to make them winners. They do "just enough".

4. Winners

These are the people who work and train themselves. For them, just finishing the race is not enough. Their goal is to win, to obtain the prize. They put in not only the time required to meet their goal, they even go over and beyond that because they don't want to leave anything to chance. They spend countless hours training alone, doing whatever it takes to build up their endurance in order that they will have what it takes when the day arrives.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24

On this last day of 2008, as I look into a new year, I have to ask myself "Which one am I?". I'm afraid that for much of my life as a Christian I've been just a 'Finisher', putting in just enough time and effort to enable me to finish the race. One of those people that say "just give me a cabin in the corner of heaven". But that is not what Paul says we should do.

"Run in such a way that you may obtain the prize."

I can't help but think about Michael Phelps and his Olympic gold medals. I think about all the work and effort he put in when no one was watching. The training day after day with no glory, no pats on the back, no TV appearances. Four long years of training. The Christian race is the same. We all want to be victorious Christians, but we must put in the effort, the training, the discipline.

Don't run the race just to finish - Run to Win!

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do You Know?

Do you know that you are saved?

Do you know that you have eternal life?

Now be honest - do those two questions make you uncomfortable? We normally only hear questions like these in a church service, usually when the preacher is giving an invitation for non-believers to come forward and accept Christ. But shouldn't we as believers be asking ourselves these questions as well? The greatest and most horrific deception in the world is that of being deceived into believing you are a Christian when you are not.

I've heard many say that you should not question your salvation, but I believe that we should examine ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith. In fact, the scriptures command that we do it.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified. - 2 Corinthians 13:5

I think the reason that most people are uncomfortable with those questions is that they may not know how to answer them. They may refer back to a decision they made years ago as a child or young adult. They may rely on how they "feel" at a particular time. But we should never rely on our memory or our feelings (even the most ardent believers will tell you that sometimes they "feel" like a Christian and sometimes they don't). We should rely on the truth, the Word of God. If the Bible tells us to examine ourselves, then it should also tell us how to do it, and I believe the book of 1 John does exactly that. In fact, John says that is one of the reasons that he wrote the book.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. - 1 John 5:13

As you read through the book of 1 John (something that I would suggest doing fairly often), you'll see several "tests" that can determine whether a person is in the faith.

1. Obedience to His Commandments

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. - 1 John 2:3-5

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. 1 John 3:24

2. Brotherly Love

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 1 John 3:14

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 1 John 3:18-19

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1 John 20-21

3. Practice Righteousness

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10

4. Holy Spirit

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:24

By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:13

As we move into a new year, many people will be examining their life in order to make a new year's resolution. But I want to encourage each one of us to go far beyond the temporal and look to the eternal. We need to examine ourselves - to ask ourselves once again life's most important questions:

Do you know that you are saved?

Do you know that you have eternal life?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23

We're Not Alone

I was out of town last week on business so I had to spend some undesirable time in airports and airplanes. As I was sitting in the airport waiting on my plane to leave, a young mother with 3 young children came and sat down across from me. It was fairly early in the morning, so she had evidently bought them some biscuits for breakfast. As she unwrapped them, she stopped and had them all bow their heads and pray.

I'm not sure why seeing one small family in an airport stop and bless their food would have such an affect on me, but it did. I think it's because with all the junk going on in the world around us, it seems sometimes that we're the only ones serving the Lord. Sure, we know there are others out there, but because we don't know them they can become invisible to us. The world can be so bad that it begins to drown out the good, and if we're not careful we'll begin to feel sorry for ourselves.

The same thing happened to Elijah. It seemed to him that the entire nation of Israel was given over to Baal.

So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” - 1 Kings 19:10

But God reminded him that he was not alone.

Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” - 1 Kings 19:18

So just as that small family in an airport reminded me last week, I want to pass on the favor and remind you that you are not alone. In every city and town, every airport and mall, God has those who belong to Him.

Mere Christianity

One of my favorite books is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend that you take the time to do so. It's not the easiest read for sure. Lewis was very intelligent and he brings that intelligence to all his writings. However, it does what a good Christian book should do - it enhances scripture instead of trying to replace it. In fact, when you read some of the stuff that passes for Christian literature in today's market, it makes you appreciate the giants of the recent past such as Lewis and A.W. Tozer.

I picked out a few of my favorite quotes from the book to share with you.

Comfort and Terror

“God is the only comfort; He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from.”

Enemy Territory

"Enemy occupied territory - that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going.”

A Poached Egg

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

More Than We Can Spare

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.”

Understanding Evil

“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.”

A Lovely Idea

“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”

Being Made Human Again

“I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life-namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently, Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.”

A Humble Man

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about his is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.”

One of the Great Secrets

“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more.”

Aim at Heaven

“Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Laying Eggs

“There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of "Heaven" ridiculous by saying they do not want "to spend eternity playing harps." The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolical attempt to express the inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who are united with God in eternity share His splendor and power and joy. Gold is mentioned to suggest the timelessness of Heaven (gold does not rust) and the preciousness of it People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.”

Everything For Nothing

“Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer.”

Beyond Time

“God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.”

Give Me All

“Christ says "Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You.”

Everything Else Thrown In

“Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

Living an Eternal Life

A few weeks ago I was just casually browsing through some different blogs that I follow. One of the blogs was talking about Bible reading and was encouraging readers to pick one of the four Gospels and read it through in one sitting. In this day and age when it seems like we are always in a hurry, the blog's author realized that challenge might be hard for some people to accept. So he made the following statement:

"You are an eternal being - start living like it."

Let's think about what that really means. I am two different people in a manner of speaking, an inner man and an outer man. For the sake of this conversation, let's refer to these two people as the Inner Life and the Outer Life.

Now the Outer Life is temporary and is going to end at some point. This life is lived in a body that is dying. But while it's alive, this life is interested in things that can make its existence more enjoyable - it loves good food, spending time with family and friends, playing sports, going fishing - a multitude of activities that seem to make this life fulfilling. But in the end, it's all temporary and will fade away. Nothing we can do or attain or accomplish with this Outer Life is permanent. A hundred years from now I doubt anyone will even know this life existed. The Scriptures describe this Outer Life this way:

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. - James 4:14

But the Inner Life is different. It is not a body but an eternal spirit that will never die. The Scriptures refer to the Inner Life this way:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What's different about this Inner Life is this - everything you do to it, everything you do for it and everything you accomplish with it does not fade away. When you feed it or exercise it, those changes are permanent and eternal. So here's the question:

Which life are you living?

Do you make your plans and decisions based on the Outer Life, the one that is a vapor and here but for a moment? Or is the direction of your life guided by the Inner Life, the one that is permanent and eternal? When the blog's author challenges us to "live like an eternal being", he is asking us to realize that not only do we have all the time in the world, we have all the time in this world and beyond! In that light, shouldn't we be putting our time and resources into the Inner Life? Shouldn't we be living the eternal life?

It Is Enough

In case you haven't noticed lately, the world is obsessed with sex. It's everywhere - movies, TV shows, billboards and magazines. In advertising, it's used to sell everything. It used to be that you could shield your children from it by filtering what shows they were allowed to watch. But now the advertisements are as bad if not worse than the shows themselves. As bad as that is, that's the world and I really shouldn't expect anything better from it.

What really bothers me is that lately it seems the church is trying to use this obsession with sex for it's own purposes. Let me just give you a couple of quick examples:

1. The Revered Ed Young, an author, a television host and the pastor of the evangelical Fellowship Church, issued his call for a week of “congregational copulation” among married couples on Nov. 16, while pacing in front of a large bed. Sometimes he reclined on the paisley coverlet while flipping through a Bible, emphasizing his point that it is time for the church to put God back in the bed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/us/24sex.html

2. Sexually themed billboards have shocked some drivers traveling on Blanding Boulevard in Clay County. They show four bare feet sticking out from the end of a bed in what is clearly a reference to sexual relations. But more surprising than the billboards themselves is what they're advertising -- a church. The pastor of New Life Fellowship, Bob Morro, said the billboards promote a series of sermons at the church concerning the role of sex in Christian life.

http://www.local6.com/news/15109415/detail.html

Trust me, that's just a couple of examples, but there are plenty more out there. What bothers me is that these churches are using sex to titillate and intrigue in order to draw people in. Just because the actual sermons may not be graphic in nature does not mean that the churches are not knowingly using sex to sell themselves. What's the difference between what they are doing and any other company or business using similar imagery to sell their wares?

Now some people may say "Well, you have to use new methods to reach the young people of today". Really? Well, pardon me while I disagree. Why is it that churches feel like the truth of the Word of God is not enough anymore? Why are we reduced to cheap gimmicks like putting a bed on the stage or using a billboard with four bare feet sticking out from the end of the bed?

Let me state something as emphatically as I know how:

The Message of the Cross is Enough!

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

A cross. Wood and nails. Torture device. Blood. Thorns. Broken Legs. A spear. Soldiers. Casting lots. Place of the Skull. King. Mocking. Sour wine. Criminals. Paradise. Darkness. Earthquake. Veil. Tomb. Three days. Angels. Resurrection.

God knows men's hearts. He knows the message that we need to hear and he put His Word together with the express purpose of revealing Himself to us. We may think other methods are more exciting and more marketable, but God promises His Word will not return void. It will accomplish its purpose. We need to preach "Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)".

Foolishness? No, power!

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

The Marriage Secret

A friend of ours sent us a note the other day. Her daughter is getting married and she asked us to write down a few things that we had learned in our 25 years of marriage. She was going to gather these lessons from several couples and then give them to her daughter as a wedding gift. This got me to thinking about marriage and what it really takes for it to be successful.

Now in 25 years I've learned a lot, but the more I thought about it the more I realized how difficult it was to encapsulate the lessons I've learned over the years into nice little cliches. Marriage is a lot like life in that it's something that you grow into and grow with. The years go by and you realize that you've become a different person. But with everything that I've learned, there is one special piece of knowledge - a secret - that I learned years ago. It's guaranteed to make a marriage work.

We all know that marriage is a complicated thing - so I've decided to let everyone in on this secret. Now before I tell you what it is, I want you to understand how big a secret this really is. You don't have to attend a seminar - you don't have to buy the DVD's for $39.95 - you don't have to read a book - and you don't even have to sit in a room full of people and talk about your feelings. But this little piece of knowledge will absolutely revolutionize every aspect of your marriage.

So now that I've built this up, are you ready?

Here it is:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself - Philippians 2:3

Disappointed? You shouldn't be. Why is it that we will read the next book, go to the next seminar or buy the next DVD - but we will not apply the simple truths of God's Word? What you've just read is a foundational truth in the Scriptures. If you will apply that truth, it will change not only your marriage but every relationship that you have. Feel free to pass it on.

Offended Faith

For many of us, there will come a time in our lives when offense will come. It may occur as a result of a catastrophic event in our lives, such as the death of a loved one. It may occur because of a divorce, an unanswered prayer, or the desertion of a friend. Whatever it is, it will be a situation or a circumstance that doesn't "fit" with our perception of who God is or should be. Regardless, when the offense comes we will be confronted with the question:

Will you walk away or will you have faith?

John 6:53-66 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

The reality of the Bible is that it is not a "watered down feel good" story. There are many things in the Bible that are "hard sayings". In the passage above, the disciples and followers of Jesus have just been confronted with one. Many went back because the teaching was not only hard to understand, it did not conform to their image of the Messiah. The offense had come and now a decision had to be made.

John 6:67-68 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Man, I love that scripture. It just clarifies everything for me. There was a time in my life when I was offended - not at man, but at God. I questioned everything I knew or had ever known about Him. But in the end, it all came down to the exact same statement as the one made by Peter.

"Where else can I go, You alone have the words of eternal life".

If your faith is based upon experiences, then what happens when God doesn't show up?

If your faith is in prayer, then what happens when the prayer is not answered?

If your faith is in other Christians, what happens when they fail you or desert you?

You see, faith - lasting, enduring faith - cannot be based upon anything other than the person of Jesus Christ. During times of trials and testing, all of these other things can be taken or pulled away from you. But Jesus made a promise that He would never leave us or forsake us. When all else fails, He will always be there.

James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

I Don't Belong Here

Have you felt it? It's a feeling that passes as quickly as it appears. It comes at different times and in different situations, a feeling that you can't quite put your finger on. It can happen while you're looking into the face of your child or glancing at the night sky. It sometimes appears while watching television or reading a book. It's a feeling that you were made for something different -a feeling that where you are at the moment is not your true destiny, your true calling, your true home. Have you felt it?

I don't belong here.

I'm at a conference on business. One evening I have to attend a hospitality at a restaurant for our clients. The talk is of politics and sports and work. Who's divorcing who, who's in line for a promotion, who's moving on to another job. People are drinking and smoking and having a good time. I try to fit in, to talk the small talk along with them. But I just can't shake the feeling.

I don't belong here.

I walk outside to my truck one summer night to get something. On the way back into the house I look up in sky and notice how beautiful it is. It's one of those nights where everything is so clear that you can literally see millions of stars. Your life seems so small and the universe so big. The feeling is fleeting, just there for a second.

I don't belong here.

You're with some people and everyone is talking about the election. Some are excited that their candidate has won, sure that everything is going to change. Others are dejected because their candidate has lost and they are sure this is the end of America as we know it. In the midst of the conversation, you realize something. It's not that you don't care, but the things that are so important to everyone else at that moment are just not that important to you. There it is again.

I don't belong here.

I'm watching a television show where they pick families to build a house for. In this one episode, they've built a house for a deaf family, and someone has donated college scholarships to the children. It's just people helping people - one person showing mercy and compassion to another. As my eyes fill with tears, that feeling comes again.

I don't belong here.

Romans 8: 22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

There's something in us that knows we don't belong here, that we were made for so much more. And every once in a while we catch a glimpse of it and that feeling rushes in for just a second and then it's gone. This is not our home, not this earth and not this body. One day we'll see clearly, and what an unbelievable day that will be.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Appendix

The appendix is a puzzling thing. It seemingly serves no function in human body. All other body parts, no matter how small or insignificant, seem to have a purpose. But not the appendix. Doctors are just now in the past couple of years beginning to venture some theories on it, but the fact remains that you can remove the appendix from the body and the body doesn't even miss it.

Paul said that we are all members of the body of Christ. We are all to serve a purpose in the body. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, helpers, administrators, givers and encouragers. We are to exhort one another, pray for one another, rejoice and mourn with one another, care for one another and suffer with one another.

1Corinthians 12:12-27 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

As part of the body, we should all ask ourselves this question: What is my purpose in the body? For the body to be strong and function the way that God intends, we must all do our part. We can't all be pastors or evangelists or teachers ... but we can all help, we can all serve, we can all give.

If you were removed from the body, would the body miss you?

Rooted and Grounded

A couple of months back, I was reading the book The Best of A.W. Tozer and in it I ran across the following paragraph:

"The heart of a man is like a musical instrument and may be played upon by the Holy Spirit, by an evil spirit or by the spirit of man himself. Religious emotions are very much the same, no matter who the player may be. Many enjoyable feelings may be aroused within the soul by low or even idolatrous worship. The nun who kneels 'breathless with adoration' before an image of the Virgin is having a genuine religious experience. She feels love, awe and reverence, all enjoyable emotions, as certainly as if she were adoring God. The mystical experiences of Hindus and Sufis cannot be brushed aside as mere pretense. Neither dare we dismiss the high religious flights of spiritists and other occultists as imagination. These may have and sometimes do have genuine encounters with something or someone beyond themselves. In the same manner Christians are sometimes led into emotional experiences that are beyond their power to comprehend. I have met such and they have inquired eagerly as to whether or not their experience was of God."

I have really thought a lot about that. Can Christians have experiences that they believe are from God, experiences that included feelings of awe and reverence, but that experience not be of God? As I was thinking this through, I happened to be on the internet one night and ran across this blurb while doing some research on the 'Bridal Paradigm' teaching.

"The Bridegroom message is a call to active intimacy with God. The Bridal message speaks of God’s invitation for us to experience the deep things of His heart (emotions, affections). To enjoy active intimacy with Jesus includes feeling His heart for us. The Bridal message speaks of experiencing Jesus’ emotions (desire, affections)."

What really jumped out to me here was the references to "experiencing" and "feeling". Now I don't necessarily have anything against experiences. However, I do think there is a real danger in putting your focus on experiences and feelings. Too many people today are chasing after emotions - looking for the next experience that will give them goosebumps. But when I read the Bible, the vast majority of experiences I see referred to are bad ones - or at least 'bad' in the sense that they don't appeal to the flesh.

Look at what Paul says:

Romans 8:38 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You see, Paul was convinced that Jesus loved him. Not convinced by feelings or emotions - in fact looking at the things he went through he was convinced even in the absence of them. He realized that true love is not about feelings - true love is an agape love - a sacrificial love.

This love is explained best in the following statement:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Doesn't our relationships in life itself teach us this very lesson? Love starts out all full of emotions and feelings, but over time you realize that real love - true love - is not about that at all. True love is so much deeper. And if you continue to chase after those first feelings and emotions, you'll be sorely disappointed over time. In fact you'll just move from one relationship to another - one experience to another - forever chasing that elusive satisfaction.

It's the same in our relationship with Christ. We should be rooted and grounded in His love, confident of His love whether we feel it or not. He has already told us that we will experience tribulations, trials and sufferings. But He also said that he would never leave us. He will always be there, whether I feel it or not. If we continue to chase after the emotional highs, we may find ourselves allowing our heart strings to be 'played' - experiencing feelings that may not be from God at all.

Ephesians 3:17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Hell (Part 2)

If I may, just a few more thoughts on Hell and then I'll let the subject go.

I must admit that I don't like the doctrine of Hell. I don't think anyone does. If I had an option to remove any doctrine from the Scriptures, this would be the one I would take out. But we can't. It has the full support of the Word and Jesus taught on it several times.

For the many people out there that say "I can't believe that a loving God would send anyone to Hell", I would ask the following question: "What are you asking God to do?" Would they have Him wipe out all all their past sins and give them a fresh start? He's already done that on Calvary. All they have to do is repent. Would they have Him forgive them? All they have to do is ask. Do they just want to be left alone? If they don't repent and ask for forgiveness, that is exactly what He will do ... leave them completely and utterly alone.

For those that are cast into outer darkness, they will forever endure the freedom that they have always demanded for themselves.

Whenever we talk about Hell, there is for most people (I know it is true for myself) the inclination to think about the possible damnation of my family, friends and acquaintances. I think that is why the thought of Hell can be so disturbing to us, especially when we see these people as "good people". That may be why so many people have problems reconciling the idea of a just God with the concept of Hell. However, keep in mind that we really only know others from the "outside". But the odd thing is that when we look at ourselves, we know (if we will just admit it) that "in us dwells no good thing". In the light of our own sins and failures, we know that God is just.

If we really believe that we are living in the last days and if we really believe that there is a Hell ... then we need to re-double our efforts to save the lost. Tell someone about Jesus that you've never told before. That person who you gave up on because they just would not listen - give it one more try.

Lastly, we need to re-commit ourselves - to our local church, to the Word and to prayer, but especially to Christ Himself. Those TV shows that we just can't miss, those hobbies that take up so much of our time - do they really matter in the light of the day we are living in? Even more so today than ever before, we should strive to keep ourselves pure, blameless and unspotted from the world.

2 Peter 3:10-14 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

Hell

Do you think it possible that a person would choose Hell over Heaven? Even as I type that sentence, I must admit that the question itself seems almost ludicrous. How in the world would any sane person choose the torments of Hell over the blessings of Heaven?

Jesus speaks of Hell using several different analogies or symbols. One of the symbols He uses to describe Hell is "outer darkness". In fact, he does this three times in the book of Matthew:

Matthew 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22: 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.'"

Matthew 25:30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I don't pretend to understand exactly what "outer darkness" is, but by definition darkness is the absence of light. Think about your house at night - while you are inside or on the porch it is lit up with the different sources of light. But as you go outside and move further and further from the house lights the darkness gets blacker and blacker. So "outer darkness" is describing a place so far away from a source of light that the blackness is complete. Now I don't believe that Jesus is talking about a physical darkness but a spiritual darkness. Since He is the Light, "outer darkness" would be a place void of the presence of God.

John 1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

Even as I write this, I'm trying to imagine a place without Him and I can't. I'm not sure the words to describe a place like that even exist. Everything that is good comes from Him - without Him, I just can't even get it in my mind how horrible that would be. As opposed to Heaven, which is prepared for God's people, Hell is a place that was never prepared for us but for the devil and his angels. In fact, compare the "outer darkness" description of Hell to this description of Heaven found in Revelation:

Revelation 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

So back to my original question - would people choose Hell (darkness) over Heaven? Although it seems beyond belief that they would, look at what the Scriptures say:

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

As a child, we hear stories or sermons about Hell and we get a visual image of what it is. Whether that image is right or wrong, we tend to carry it with us throughout our lives. The image I've always carried has been of a sinner being cast kicking and screaming into the the hell fire, an image of being 'sent' to hell. Although out of chances, if they could just get one more chance they would choose right. Maybe it is as simple as that, but I'm not so sure. Someone who spends their whole lives loving darkness rather than light has had multiple chances to make the right choice - to choose light over darkness - to choose God over self - to choose heaven over hell.

When I read the parable of the king's marriage supper, I find something very revealing hidden in just a few words:

Matthew 22:11-12 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

Speechless. No arguing, no protesting, nothing. Just like he knew his choice had been made.

Hope

There is a car in the parking lot where I work that has an Obama bumper sticker on it that reads "got hope?". Now I could take off right now and blog about putting your hope in God and not a man, but that's too easy. I've been seeing that car every day for weeks and I've really been thinking about the word "hope" and what it means. I've come to the conclusion that the modern concept of hope is not consistent with the biblical concept.

In the modern context, when someone says they are hoping for something there is always an element of doubt. For example, "I hope she comes tonight" really means "I want her to come tonight, but there's a chance she won't". Or if someone says "I hope that isn't true", they are saying "I don't want it to be true, but there is a chance it is true". Now contrast that with what we find in Romans:

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

This scripture has always sort of thrown me for a loop and here's why. I can understand that suffering produces perseverance (i.e. endurance) for it most certainly does - I can understand that perseverance produces character, which it also most certainly does - but why is the end result that character produces hope? But maybe the reason I didn't understand it was that I was looking at "hope" in the modern context.

The Greek word used in these verses is "Elpis". Look at what it means:

joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation

Do you see the difference? We tend to use the word hope today precisely because there is an element of doubt in the outcome of what we desire. But in the New Testament, the word hope carries no hint of doubt, but a confident expectation of what the outcome will be. With that definition, the following phrase makes much more sense.

... suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

That is why we can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. Or to put in another way, the more we suffer the more confident we are in the outcome. Now that's a blog for another day.

A Vote for Holiness

With the election almost upon us, we are being inundated with commercials on television and radio. Even the phone is ringing with recorded statements from this or that candidate telling me how much they need my vote. But does my vote really count - does it really change anything?

I went into a barber shop the other day. While I was sitting in one chair getting a haircut, a man entered and sat in the chair beside me and began to get his hair cut by another barber. They began to make conversation and with nothing else to do, I listened in:

Barber: Are you going to the game this weekend?

Client: No, my daughter is getting married at our house and I've got to get the yard cleaned.

Barber: Is this her first marriage?

Client: Yes, this is her first.

Barber: Does she have any kids?

Client: Yes, she has two boys.

Barber: Is she marrying their daddy?

Client: No, he's not the daddy, but he's been living with her for a couple of years.

Needless to say, that conversation would not have taken place 25 years ago. First of all, once you found out it was going to be someone's first marriage, the assumption would have been that there were no kids to be found. And to ask a father after that if there were kids would probably have gotten your teeth knocked out. But these two men had this conversation as though it was the most normal thing in the world. As I sat there and listened, I just felt really sad - sad that my children and grandchildren will have to grow up in this kind of society - sad that my country has fallen so far from the biblical principles that it was founded on.

It seems to me that most of us want to take the easy way out, to vote for a man and then hope that man will change the direction of our country. I will vote in this election and I encourage you to do the same. But let's never think that a vote will change what is wrong in this land. Some believe that they can change this country one vote at a time, but America can only be changed one heart at a time.

What I'm talking about is holiness. It's not something we talk a lot about, but it's something that is desperately needed in our homes and in our society if we really want to see a change. If I can live a holy life I can affect others - in turn they can affect others andit goes on and on. There were only 120 people in the upper room, but they turned the world upside down.

It starts with you and I.

2Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Amazing Grace

At our men's Bible study the other night, we studied the parable of the prodigal son. It's a story that we're all familiar with, a story of forgiveness and unconditional love. But as we discussed what it meant to each one of us around the table, it got me to thinking about grace.

Phillip Yancey wrote a book entitled What's So Amazing About Grace (if you've never read it I'd recommend it highly). In the book he tells a true story, one which I'll paraphrase here for the sake of brevity:

"Not long ago I sat in a restaurant and listened to a good friend tell me that, after 15 years of marriage and 3 children, he had met a younger woman. He was thinking about leaving his wife and family for this other woman, and as a Christian he knew full well the personal and moral consequences of what he was about to do. I listened to his story with sadness and grief, but then he dropped the bombshell, asking me the question 'Do you think God can forgive something as awful as what I'm about to do?'".

It just so happens this week that I'm reading through the book of Romans, which reveals a grace so unlimited that Paul says "where sin increased, grace increased all the more". I wonder if Paul struggled with questions like those in the story above? What's to keep a person from exploiting God's wonderful promise of forgiveness? More than once, Paul returns to this predicament: "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?".

So what about it? Will God forgive the man who leaves his family, knowing ahead of time that it is wrong? This is how Phillip Yancey answered his friend:

"Can God forgive you? Of course He can. But because of Christ, forgiveness is now our problem, not God's. What we have to go through to commit sin distances us from God - we change in the very act of rebellion - and there is no guarantee we will come back to Him - no guarantee we will ever ask for forgiveness. You ask me about forgiveness now, but will you want it later, especially if it involves repentance?".

I've always thought there was a lot of wisdom in that answer. There's something in us that makes us think that we can just step off the path and then step back on whenever we want to. But playing with sin is a dangerous game and Phillip Yancey is right - sin changes us. Coming back to God always involves repentance, and as long as the flesh is involved that will never be an easy thing to do.

Although it seems that God took a great risk by announcing forgiveness in advance, the reality is that because of Christ the risk has been transferred to us. As we sat around the table reading the parable, I couldn't help visualizing the father in the story. He was always there, day after day, night after night, always watching and waiting, always ready to forgive. But the responsibility was on the son. He had to make the decision to repent and return.

Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Trust in the Lord (Part 2)

As I wrote in last week's post, we are to trust in God. I believe that with all my heart. Sometimes trusting him seems so easy ... other times it can seem so hard. In fact, there have been times in my life where it seemed to me that God was even deliberately making it hard. So let me share with you a lesson I learned a couple of years ago about trust and faith.

I was reading through the book of Genesis and came to the story of Abraham. As I was reading a story that was very familiar to me, I came across something that struck me as odd. When we first meet the man named Abram, God promises him that He will make of him a great nation. At the time of this promise, Abram was 75 years old.

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

But as soon as this promise is made, 10 years go by without any sign of the promise being fulfilled. At this point, Abram gets antsy and tries to fulfill the promise himself through his wife's maidservant Hagar.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

Abram is 86 years old when Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. After that, the Bible is strangely silent. As far as we know, the next 13 years go by with nothing ... no sign .. no voice ... nothing. God finally shows up when Abram is 99 years old and fulfills the promise within a year.

Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

So if you do the math, Abraham had to wait 25 years for the word that God had given him to come to pass. But at least now the promise is fulfilled and Isaac his son is born. Now God can really start to work and build up this family. But here's where the oddest thing occurs. Look what happens to Isaac:

And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife. And Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was 60 years old when she bare them.

As you read this story you can't help but be struck by the irony. God promised to make a great nation out of Abraham, then his wife is barren. After waiting 25 years for the son they've always wanted, now that very same son has to wait another 20 years for his own barren wife to conceive. And here's what we forget ... the bible says that Abraham lived to be 175 years old ... so he was still alive while his son Isaac was going through this. He was 140 when Isaac got married and 160 when the twins were finally born.

Now as if it wasn't enough that both Abraham and Isaac had barren wives, the same thing happens to Isaac's son, Jacob. He marries Rachel and she is barren.

Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."

Three generations ... three barren women. What kind of game was God playing? What exactly did he want? What God wanted was faith, and that is the lesson that Abraham learned through all the years of waiting. He learned to believe when there was no reason left to believe. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel ... they all experienced the promise of God followed by dark and lonely times of just waiting. Empty time that only faith can fill. The Bible uses the phrase "by faith" to describe what they went through.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly country: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.

So what lesson did I learn? When I had read that story before, I always focused on the high points ... the times when God was talking, moving or acting. But this time I really saw the "silent" years and what those years really meant in the lives of these great men and women of God. I've experienced those same times in my life, times when He seemed a million miles away. But as I look back over those periods I can see now that those are the times when I really learned to trust in Him, to believe when there didn't seem to be a reason to believe. Those are the times when real, enduring faith is born.

Trust in the Lord

It seems everyone I talk to is concerned about money. There is no doubt we are in perilous times with regards to our economy and the stock market. Like millions of other Americans, I have a 401K that seems to be going down instead of going up. So it seemed like a good time for me to step back, take an account and ask myself the question "Where does my hope lie?".

For anyone that's ever been on a mission trip to another country, you may have seen what poverty is really like. But even in their poverty, the poorest people seem to be the most victorious Christians that I've ever met. In fact, there seems to be a correlation between how much "stuff" you have and how much you trust God. Unfortunately, the correlation seems to be the opposite of what we'd expect. It seems the more we have the less we trust in Him.

So where am I to put my trust?

We are not to put our trust in riches.

Mark 10:24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, and said to them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

Paul told Timothy to "charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17).

We are not to put our trust in man.

Psalms 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

We are not to put our trust in governments.

Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek help from the LORD.

Psalms 118:9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

We are to trust in the Lord alone.

Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

Psalms 71:5 For you are my hope, O Lord GOD: in you I have trusted from my youth.

Psalms 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding.

Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in Him.

So I'm giving myself some advice.

First, remember what real treasure is.

Matthew 6: 19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Secondly, don't worry.

Matthew 6:25-33 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

And last, be satisfied with the good stuff, the simple things.

Proverbs 15:16 Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.

Proverbs 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with strife.

Proverbs 16:8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

What's Your Sign?

When I started writing this blog, what I was hoping for was to stimulate comments from the readers. Not just comments like "I enjoyed this" (although believe me, I really appreciate it when people tell me they enjoy what I wrote), but I wanted to start discussions - people commenting on other people's comments. So this blog is a little different from the others - it is designed to give you the stimulus to comment.

Last Sunday in church, there was a drama. People walked across stage holding up a cardboard sign. They didn't say anything, just walked to the center of the stage and held up their sign. On one side of the sign was a statement about their past. Then they flipped the sign over to show a statement about their present - what God had done for them.

God is a redeemer. He takes lives that are messed up, full of hurt and pain and He redeems them and makes them into something beautiful. I've seen it in my own life and in the lives of so many others. Those two words, "but now", carry so much meaning. We don't have to be defined by our past.

If I could make a sign and display it for the world to see, what would it say? These would be mine:

I was blind, but now I see.

I was dead, but now I'm alive.

I was bound, but now I'm free.

I was a slave, but now I'm a child.

I was angry, but now I'm at peace.

I was unsatisfied, but now I'm content.

I was full of self, but now I'm full of the Holy Spirit.

What has God done for you? Or to put it another way, what would your sign say? I look forward to hearing from you.

He Knows

He knows me.

Psalms 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.

He knew me before I was born.

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you"

He knows my name.

Revelation 3:5 "He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."

He knows His plan for me.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "

He knows how many hairs are on my head.

Matthew 10:30 "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

He knows my heart and my thoughts.

Psalms 139:23 "Search me, Oh God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts."

He knows my comings and my goings.

Psalms 139:3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

He knows the words I'm going to speak before I even speak them.

Psalms 139:4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

He knows the day I'm going to die.

Psalms 139:16 All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Don't every forget that He knows you better than you know yourself.

He knows exactly what you are going through.

He knows the worry, the fear, the anxiety and the anxiousness.

He knows the thoughts you think in the night hours. The thoughts that you can't confide to another person.

He knows the unforgiveness that you so desperately want to let go of.

He knows the hurt that you can't even put into words. The hurt that other people can't understand.

He knows ... and He loves you so much.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

Living in Enemy Territory

I saw a movie once called "The Matrix". The plot is kind of complicated, so I won't try to explain it all in detail here. Suffice it to say that in the movie the human race is enslaved and each person is kept in a comatose state in a kind of 'cocoon'. But even though their body is in a vegetative state their minds are alive and well. The trick is that each person thinks they are living a normal life. In their minds they get up and go to work, they eat, they sleep, they play with their kids, etc.. But it's all just an illusion in their minds. There is no real job, no real family, no real food. They have no idea that they are enslaved.

However, there are a few people that have broken free and live in the real world. But the real world is enemy territory. Civilization has been destroyed - there are no jobs, the food is terrible, danger around every corner - a pretty miserable existence and as far from a normal life as you can get. But at least their eyes are open to reality and they are free. To me the allegory regarding this world is obvious. We get up and go to work, make and spend money, love and are loved. We think that we are alive and free. But it's all just an illusion. The Bible says those without Christ in this world are dead and in bondage.

As a Christian, I have been set free. I was blind but now I can see. However, I now realize that I'm living in enemy occupied territory. The longer I'm here and I see the results of the enemy's tactics the more I just want God to put an end to it. Like all of us, I frequently wonder when is God going to invade? But just like you, I have friends and relatives who haven't come over to this side yet. So I feel this pull within me; one side of me looking for His coming, the other hoping He will delay for awhile longer.

C.S. Lewis said it best in his book Mere Christianity.

"God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to invade openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistable love or irrestistable horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it."

2Peter 3:8-12 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

I'd Rather You Be Cold or Hot

It never ceases to amaze me how little thought people really give to the existence of God. I mean, if you really believe that God exists and that He created you ... don't you think you just might want to see if there is anything He wants from you? In fact, of all the subjects we could debate or discuss, isn't this the only one that really matters? Yet it seems to me that although people say they believe in God, they don't really give the subject of God the attention it rightly deserves.

Let me give you an example. Last Sunday, in front of 300+ people, I made the statement that "God spoke to me". I stated this very clearly, even enunciating where I was when He spoke and exactly what He said to me. There were people sitting in the audience with whom I'm acquainted that I know are not Christians. Now I'm sure if you asked them they would say they believe in God, but their life doesn't exhibit any fruit of being a Christian. So for the sake of the discussion let's just agree that they are unbelievers. Later in the week I ran across these same people. The odd thing to me is that they treated me exactly like they had treated me before I made this statement. We talked about the weather, our families and other mundane stuff. But they made no mention of my "speaking with God".

Now let's think about this for a second. Either what I said was true, God Himself really did speak to me ... or I'm a raving lunatic who thinks he talks to God. Either way, there should have been some reaction from them. If they had believed what I said was true, then I would have thought they would have wanted to discuss it. Did I really hear from God? Do I really know Him? If they thought I was a raving lunatic, then I would have expected them to run the other way as fast as they could. But they did neither of these things. They just went on about life just as if they'd never heard me make the statement in the first place.

If you really think about it though, isn't this what the majority of people do? There is a group of people in this world that don't believe in God at all. And on the other end of the spectrum there is a group of people that not only believe but have surrendered themselves to Him and serve Him with all their heart. But in the middle is the majority ... people who more than likely say that they believe in God but really never give God or even the subject of God the attention they both deserve. Jesus calls this state "lukewarm" and said He'd much rather us be cold or hot. I can understand that. As odd as it sounds, I can respect a person that has at least given the subject of God their attention and then made a decision not to believe. I can't understand it, but I can respect it. But there is no excuse to be so emotionally or intellectually lazy that you don't even address it. That I can't understand.

Luke 17:26-30 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed."

The Helper

As I write this, it's 2:15 in the morning. I woke up thinking about the Holy Spirit and His role as our Helper. I've got this analogy that I can't get out of my mind of a man trying to navigate an obstacle course blind-folded. Obviously, this would be impossible without someone helping him, calling out voice commands or giving a gentle nudge on the shoulder here or there. Just as most analogies aren't perfect, this one isn't either. But for some reason on this night this is how I envision His role as our Helper.

We are going through this life trying to navigate it's twists and turns with no idea what lies next around the corner. For some of us, it does seem like we are running blind-folded and the idea of the unknown scares us to death. For most of us this journey will take us through places that we don't want to go. But we can take comfort in the fact that we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is described as our Counselor and our Helper. It's His job to not only help us navigate through the treacherous places, but to prepare us beforehand for what we will encounter as we go through them. Why do we have to go through these places? Why can't the journey just be nice and smooth and avoid the rough areas? I'm not sure. I just know that if I trust Him that He's promised to direct my paths.

I know some people right now who are going through places they don't want to be. They are good Christians and I have the upmost confidence that they'll be OK as they navigate these waters with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As I thought about these friends of mine, my mind couldn't help but wander to other people I know, people who are not Christians but yet it seems they never experience the heart-ache or personal trials that Christians do.

But then I realized, they are running on the wrong course. You see, what does it matter if the is journey is smooth and straight, if when you cross the finish line the judge tells you that you were never in the race.

Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Tozer's Rules of Discernment

A few weeks ago my family and I were going to the beach for a week. I needed something to read, so I stopped by the bookstore before heading out of town. In reading several of the Christian blogs that I peruse every now and then, I had seen some good quotes from A.W. Tozer. So I ended up buying a book "The Best of A.W. Tozer - Book One". In the book, there is a chapter entitled "How to try the Spirits". Now is just so happened that during this time frame I was preparing to teach a class on discernment, so you can imagine that the title of the chapter whetted my interest.

In the chapter, Tozer puts forth his method by which he would "test the spirits". Now I had been studying a lot in this area and had been attempting to come up with my own "methods" of discernment, but as I read his method I was impressed with not only how simple it was but how easy it was to apply it pretty much anything.

In short, his method is this: This new doctrine, this new view of truth, this new religious habit, this new spiritual experience, whatever it is - how has it affected my attitude toward and my relation to God, Christ, the Word of God, self, other Christians, the world and sin.

His contention is that by these sevenfold tests we can "prove all things" and determine if something is from God or not. Now Tozer wrote an entire chapter on this method, taking the time to explain each test, so I would encourage you to buy the book and read it for yourself in detail. For brevity's sake I'll just touch briefly on each one.

1. God.

What has this done to my relationship with Him? If it has made me love Him more, if it has magnified Him in my eyes, if it has purified my concept of Him and caused Him to appear greater and more wonderful than before ... then I can conclude that it is probably from Him and will not lead me into error.

2. Christ

How does this affect my attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Christ must stand at the center of any true doctrine, all acceptable religious practices and any genuine Christian experience. Whatever makes Christ indispensable to us is pretty sure to be from God.

3. The Word of God

Does this experience or new view of truth spring out of the Word of God or was it the result of some stimulus that lay outside of the Bible? Whatever originates outside of the scriptures should be suspect until it can be shown to be in accord with them. "To the law and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20) should always be the last and final proof.

4. self

A good rule is this: If this experience has served to humble me and make me 'small' in my own eyes, it has a good chance to be from God; but if it has given me a feeling of pride in myself it probably is not from Him. He must increase while we must decrease.

5. other Christians

Whatever tends to separate us in person or in heart from our fellow Christians is not of God. Conversely, whatever causes us to love the children of God is likely to be from Him.

6. the world

Any real work of God will tend to make us uncomfortable with the world's fellowship, its pleasures or its riches. Any spirit that permits compromise with the world is unequivocally a false spirit. Any religious movement or experience that imitates the world has to be suspect.

7. sin

Is your heart turned away from sin and toward holiness? Anything that weakens the hatred of sin can be immediately identified as false. Whatever makes holiness more attractive and sin more intolerable can be identified as genuine.

As I read these tests and began to think on them, I realized that they can be applied to just about anything. They are good for testing religious things like teachings, prophecies and experiences. But they are also good for testing more mundane things like books, songs, movies ... even blogs.

Remember, these tests are not 'absolutes' but should serve as a warning flags. They have really helped me in my practice of discernment and I hope they can help you as well.