Solid Promises

There is a verse that comes to mind frequently and it happened to be in my Bible reading this week: “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands” (Psalm 138:8 ESV and a similar verse in Psalm 57:2). This is both comforting and challenging at the same time. It’s comforting because:

• God will fulfill His purpose. It all depends on God, not me.
• His purpose is directly tied to His steadfast love, which never changes.
• It is His work and He will complete it. He will provide and enable all that is necessary for His purpose to be fulfilled.

But it’s challenging because God’s purpose is not always the same as my purpose. I don’t always know or trust what His purposes are. If my purpose doesn’t line up with His, I will keep being frustrated when it gets blocked or derailed. And when I don’t understand His purpose, it’s hard to make sense of the difficulties that come along.

One of the challenges I have is that I’m very much a black and white thinker. And while that serves me well as an accountant, it doesn’t work out so well in the rest of my world. Most situations have numerous shades of grey that depend on what other people are thinking, how they perceive a situation, and how things are communicated (among other things). So when any of those things don’t line up with my way of thinking, I get confused, frustrated, angry, and hurt, and it takes a long time to work it out and get over it. Many different decisions may be good options without being clearly the best.

I’m thankful that much of Scripture is black and white. (The only grey areas I can think of are directly related to modern interpretations of the original writers’ intentions.) The Old Testament Law says “Do this; don’t do that.” The New Testament says, “This road leads to life and blessing; that road leads to death.” And throughout Scripture are God’s ironclad promises: “I will never leave you or forsake you; I will fulfill My purposes; The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust shall be your strength; I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also.”

While there is much in life that is disappointing, depressing, and discouraging, God’s plans, purposes, and promises can be counted on. Some things never change.

“This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life” (Psalm 119:50).

Speak No Evil

A couple items I’ve encountered recently have focused my attention on how we use social media. The first was this cautionary article by Thom Rainer: http://thomrainer.com/2014/08/04/seven-warnings-church-leaders-use-social-media/ and the second was last Sunday’s sermon on church unity from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. It’s made me reconsider some of the things I see on Facebook and particularly whether I should respond to someone else’s post or not. Here are some of the difficulties that I see:

Christians are by no means united in their beliefs, not just about basic theology, but about politics and all kinds of social issues. Is Facebook the best place to “discuss” such issues, by which I mean, is it the best place to state your personal opinion on a controversial issue and seek popular approval?

In addition, non-Christians (and many Christians) often don’t have a solid grasp of the differences between churches, denominations, parachurch organizations, or heretical teachers. As a result, a wide variety of people get lumped together. For some Franklin Graham may appear to be in the same boat with Creflo Dollar. Whether you agree with a nationally known person or not, taking sides either way may give false impressions to those who don’t understand the differences. A brief comment on social media is not adequate to clarify the underlying issues.

It’s tempting at times to share some celebrity’s public comment and criticize them for being too judgmental, but it appears to me that doing so only increases the judgmentalism being passed around. For example, you may not like their stance on homosexuality, but is it necessary to be publicly critical of them in order to state your own opinion? Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV). Is it a good witness to publicly criticize fellow believers whether you agree with them or not?

Paul wrote:

• “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6).
• “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
• “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1 Corinthians 10:23-24).

The book of Proverbs is also full of wisdom about how we should use our words. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is disturbed by the frequency with which we publicly tear people down rather than building them up and seeking their good. This isn’t anything new, but social media has made it a lot more visible to a lot more people. But on the plus side, we also have a lot more opportunities to encourage one another, pray for one another, share the Good News, and spur one another on to love and good deeds.

I would suggest that believers should endeavor to maximize the benefits of social media rather than contributing to the divisive issues that are becoming our “trademark” in the world. May the world say of us, “See how they love one another!”

One Thing

I’m reading a book that quotes part of a day’s reading from the One Year Bible. Out of that reading, the following verses caught my attention:

• Deuteronomy 10:9 – “That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.”
• Luke 8:18 – “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
• Psalm 69:32 – “The poor will see and be glad—you who seek God, may your hearts live!”

The thought occurred to me that we should live more like the Levites with an awareness that the Lord is the only inheritance we need. Jesus said the same thing about the rich man who stored up more and more grain: “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21 ESV).

In some ways, those of us who live in the affluent western world are handicapped when it comes to trusting God and valuing Him as our greatest gift. We have so many other resources at hand that we don’t often need to trust Him very much. Why pray for daily bread when you have a piece of plastic that will buy all you need? Why seek Him for healing when there’s a doctor’s office on every street? Most of us expect to receive at least some inheritance from our parents, and families are often divided by fights over who gets what. The Apostle Paul frequently reminded his readers that we are heirs—“heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). That is the only inheritance we really should be seeking. Yet we get caught up in materialism, commercialism, and self-sufficiency. It’s all about me.

How can we even begin to understand Jesus’ words in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12): “Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart… the peacemakers… those who are persecuted…”? Those traits are often the very things we try to avoid if at all possible, and even if we aren’t trying to avoid them, we aren’t actively seeking them out. (When was the last time you sought a reason to mourn?) In the parallel passage in Luke 6, Jesus is even more blunt: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and week. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” That should make some of us a bit nervous! Anything that comes before God in our priorities is destined to cause us grief later.

John Piper shares this observation in Don’t Waste Your Life:

“Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.’ At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.’ That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”

As Curly in the movie City Slickers points out, we need to dedicate our lives to one thing and one thing only. He said everyone has to figure out that one thing for themselves, but Jesus said that for the believer that one thing has to be God. If we get that priority right, everything else will fall into its correct place (Matthew 6:33). He is our source of life today and our inheritance forever.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

Holy Messes

Recently I’ve been doing some study on autism spectrum disorder. (Psychology has long been an interest to me.) One thing that has stood out is that no one can really define what is “normal” and what is not. Is something a disorder if it doesn’t bother the person who has it? I came to the conclusion that whether you’re talking about mental health, physical health, or spiritual health, all of humanity is on one long continuum of brokenness. Some people may appear healthier than others; some may be better able to cope with the complexities of life, and some may seem more mature. But aside from Jesus Christ none of us are perfect in any way, no matter what Mary Poppins may claim for herself.

In Good News for Those Trying Harder, Alan Kraft discusses the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and particularly “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3 ESV). He writes:

“Now most every Christian would agree this is where the spiritual life begins, but that is not what Jesus is saying. A quick read through the rest of these values reveals that these are not onetime events but are to be constantly experienced—mercy, peacemaking, humility, and brokenness. Jesus is inviting us to live every moment in a conscious awareness of how spiritually needy we are. He invites us to continually embrace and experience the melody of brokenness” (39).

His introduction clarifies:

“When we define spiritual growth as us becoming more like Christ, as us becoming less and less sinful, what we are actually pursuing is a spiritual growth path in which we need Jesus less and less. I need Him less today than yesterday, because the power of sin is not as strong in my life” (33).

He includes this quote from Thomas Moore: “Our depressions, jealousies, narcissism, and failures are not at odds with the spiritual life. Indeed, they are essential to it. When tended, they prevent the spirit from zooming off into the ozone of perfectionism and pride.”

The point is that God didn’t save us in order to wean us off our dependence on Him. Spiritual growth and maturity actually comes from relying on Him more fully over time. Although we have been saved from the power of sin, that freedom is realized as we learn to lean on God when the temptations come rather than trying to exercise our own willpower to get us through. We are all broken, sinners, weak and needy, and we will be until the return of Christ. When we start thinking we’ve got it all together, we run the risk of tripping over our own pride and self-sufficiency. As Paul said, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). That verse comes just before the reminder that God is the one who provides the way of escape from temptation and enables us to endure.

Like many (perhaps most) people I’ve sometimes wondered, “Why doesn’t God just fix this?” Whether it is a broken body, broken mind, or broken spirit, God certainly has the power to make it right. But in His perspective, there are things that are far more important than being “normal.” I’m convinced that He allows brokenness to remain in our lives to keep reminding us of how much we need Him.

We’re all messed up, but we don’t all recognize it. And even if we do recognize that we are broken, that knowledge can either drive us toward God or away from Him. We can either learn to depend on Him or we can get angry that He isn’t fixing the problem. It can also drive toward people or away from them. We can choose to be gracious toward those who are different from us (either “better” or “worse”), or we can be envious or arrogant. Obviously God’s desire is for us to love and trust Him and to extend the same love and grace to others. It’s pretty hard to do that if our definition of “normal” excludes people. The fact is we’re all abnormally normal.

I think when we do reach eternity we’ll be astounded to see what perfection actually looks like. Our earthly standards are so far off that we can’t begin to imagine. We judge Hitler for his conception of a master race, but our ideas of normalcy are only marginally better. When compared to God’s perfection, none of us has any claim to superiority.

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:28-29).

Unexpected Answers

The month of May is our denominational prayer month. Besides the prayer blogs we’ve posted, we also hosted a prayer summit and prayed together as led by some nationally known speakers on prayer. At the same time, I’ve been reading some interesting books, one of which is Praying for Your Elephant, by Adam Stadtmiller. I’m not sure I agree with everything in the book since I haven’t finished it yet, but it has challenged me to begin praying more boldly and specifically.

Then last week came and I was surprised to learn that a house I’d been interested in was going to be sold and I had first choice. I was both excited and terrified by the possibility. My beginning prayer was, “If this is Your will, make the asking price within my desired range.” It was a few days later when I learned that God had answered that prayer, but during that few days God did something I didn’t expect. He revealed to me my heart’s desire. As I posted last week, I found that I had some priorities that outweighed my desire to own a home. I realized that the price of the house didn’t really matter anymore. I’m more convinced than ever that prayer changes us, not God. I got what I thought was the elephant I was asking for, but God also gave me something far better—an opportunity to see Him at work.

As the week drew to a close, I realized that it had been an opportunity to practice Romans 12:2 (ESV): “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” I’d started the week feeling somewhat pressured to conform to the world’s standards and the American dream. It took a few days for me to understand why that made me uncomfortable. Although I hadn’t specifically intended to search the Scriptures to see what they said about owing money or owning property, God brought to my mind some particular verses and themes that I had read in the past, and that helped me to know that His will for me was to do something kind of countercultural. At the same time, I knew that God’s love would not change regardless of what I chose, but that my joy would be made complete by abiding in Him and trusting in His provision for me. I didn’t need to worry about the next 30 years, but just be faithful to Him this week.

I also found that God had followed through on the promise of Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” It would have been easy to trust my understanding and the world’s wisdom that investing in property often (but not always) pays off. But trusting God and seeking His guidance led to a very different path than I started out on. My path may not look like anyone else’s and it may not make sense to others, but His way is a straight path toward His destination.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act” (Psalm 37:4-5). Although I’ve long known that this Scripture doesn’t mean God will always give me what I think I want, it was reiterated for me through this process. My superficial desire was peeled back to reveal the true desires of my heart. I found my delight was truly in God and not in the things of this world. I had committed my way to Him and trusted Him, and He acted by showing me more of Himself.

We can miss so much when we start seeking answers to prayer rather than seeking God. I don’t know if I would have prayed differently if I had known how everything would turn out. I don’t believe my original request was wrong, but it was colored by a lot of things that needed to be stripped away: cultural impressions, the influence of certain people, planning for the future, etc. It’s not necessarily wrong to pray for elephants, but you might discover that what you really want is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

It’s funny—the possibility of buying a house made me suddenly feel like a grown-up, but God was in the process of making me grow in faith. Spiritual maturity is so much more important, and yet there are so many Christians who are willing to settle for the superficial answers and a lukewarm faith. I don’t want to settle. I want to glorify God with every decision, trusting the One who knows best, and delighting in Him.

“How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! …Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:17, 23-24).

Unencumbered

Recently I was presented with an opportunity to buy a nice house in a good neighborhood not far from work. I started researching all the costs of buying and owning even before knowing the asking price. The more I thought about it, the less comfortable I was with going in debt for something I don’t really need to have. The tipping point came when I thought about the monthly obligation of a mortgage as compared to the flexibility of having money in the bank. I’m not saying home ownership is wrong for everybody, but here are some of the reasons I think it is wrong for me at this time:

“I want you to be free from anxieties… The unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit” (1 Corinthians 7:32, 34 ESV). Although home ownership doesn’t have the same permanence that marriage does, it is still a long-term commitment to the welfare of something other than God. As a renter, I know that my residence will be taken care of when issues arise. It may not be done exactly the way I would choose to do it for myself, but I also don’t have to figure out how to pay for it myself (except for the fact that my landlord is also my employer, and I’m the one who writes the checks!). The anxieties of home ownership could easily sap the joy and peace out of daily living.

“Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called… For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor. 7:20, 22-23). Owing money can be a form of slavery. In New Testament times, at least some of those who were slaves were people who sold themselves into slavery in order to pay debts. If a mortgage payment forces me to change or limit how I would otherwise use my money, it has become my master.

“For they [the Macedonians] gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us… For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Cor. 8:3-4, 12). I can’t give what I don’t have. Giving financial support to ministries has always been a high priority for me, and tying up money in property would hinder my ability to respond to needs I see. While considering mortgage payments, I started thinking of a special project that I could donate to instead, and that stirred my passion far more than the possibility of home ownership.

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? …Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring” (James 4:3-4,13-14). The American dream is all about investing today in order to provide for tomorrow, but there are no guarantees. Stock markets and housing markets crash; houses burn down; people lose jobs or die unexpectedly; and someday the Lord will return and put an end to all our buying and selling. What will really matter when that day comes?

In the midst of these internal debates, I’ve been reading two books that have helped to confirm my decision. One is John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life. He relates the story of a man his father ministered to who neared the end of his life and realized “I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!” Piper includes the old poem, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last” (p. 12). I can’t reconcile in my own mind how buying a house can be done for Christ in my current circumstances. (Hospitality is not one of my strengths, so I can’t justify it by means of serving people who need a place to stay.) I don’t want to come to the end of a mortgage and find I’ve wasted years of joy and peace for the uncertain future of a few years of retirement.

The other book that spoke to me was I Want God, by Lisa Whittle. She quotes a sermon by David Wilkerson, “A Call to Anguish,” and her response, “‘There’s nothing of the flesh that will give you joy. I don’t care how much money, I don’t care what kind of new house. There is absolutely nothing physical that can give you joy.’ I’m fresh out of good, churchy answers. What I do know is that the world has gotten to us. The church. All of us. And we look scary normal” (pp. 150-151). She goes on to quote Deuteronomy 8:11-14:

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

I’m convicted anew that many Christians today are indistinguishable from the world. We’ve adopted the same standard of living and priorities, and aren’t willing or able to make some of the hard choices. Again, I’m not saying that home ownership is wrong. Under certain circumstances it may be more fiscally responsible than renting, particularly for growing families or for those who wouldn’t require a mortgage. But we will each have to give an account for our stewardship of all that God has entrusted to us, and I don’t want to have to explain having chosen something that I’m not entirely comfortable with.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11).

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Funnily enough, several weeks ago I was asked to write a post for today our denominational prayer blog, and the following is what I had written...

With all the books, magazines, blogs, and conferences on prayer, you would think we’d have it all figured out by now. Even though we know that God’s answers may be yes, no, or wait, we still fall into the trap of thinking we’ll get the answer we want if we just pray the right words with the right attitude, if we pray more fervently and frequently, if we just had more faith… And if we’re honest, we would have to admit that we’ve been disappointed at times.

On more than one occasion Jesus was asked to heal someone, but He didn’t do so until after they had died (Mark 5:21-43, John 11). He healed some people but not others (John 5:1-9). He slept through the storm while the disciples were terrified. When they woke Him and He calmed the storm, they wondered, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27 ESV).

God is so powerful and so unpredictable that it’s amazing to think we can influence Him in any way. And yet we’re told to present our requests to God (Philippians 4:6) and to cast all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). He knows all that we think and desire, but He wants us to verbalize those desires in communication with Him. We need to have enough faith to trust Him with our concerns, and yet our faith is often strengthened by not receiving exactly what we want when we want it. Faith requires us to believe that God’s plan is far bigger and better than we can yet imagine. That should not prevent us from asking God for what appears best to us at the moment, but may in fact allow us to ask more boldly because we trust the Father’s will.

I remember when they were small my nieces filled up on goldfish crackers because they were too hungry to wait for Thanksgiving dinner. Their immediate need felt far more important than waiting patiently and trusting that something better was coming. We don’t change much as we grow up—our needs just feel that much bigger and more important. But hopefully our faith in our heavenly Father grows even bigger.

May we learn to ask boldly, but wait patiently for whatever God has in store for us.

Come Forth

Recently I was reading a fiction book by Staci Stallings that included the following comment in a pastor’s sermon, “Over and over again, He says, ‘I understand. I understand. I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there, but you don’t have to stay there. See, I have rolled back the stone on your tomb too.’” That created an interesting mental picture for me. How often does God have to remind us that we don’t have to live in the tomb anymore? Our subconscious thoughts are often like this:

• “I’ve sinned; excuse me while I go sit in the tomb.”
• “I’m angry; I want to be alone in my hole.”
• “Someone hurt me; just let me curl up in my cave.”
• “I’m a failure; I don’t deserve to come into the light.”

But God keeps saying “The stone has been rolled away! Come out into life and light. My Son took care of every sin and shame so you can walk in freedom. This tomb is not your home anymore.” Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:6 ESV), “Do you want to be healed?” In other words, do you want to leave behind what is familiar and comfortable and come out of your tomb?

Sometimes we invite others to join us in our tombs by seeking sympathy rather than the encouragement and help to find our way out. We indulge in gossip, slander, and bitterness rather than forgiving. And sometimes we put others back in their tombs through shame and judgmentalism rather than helping them to find freedom in Christ. We also have an enemy who is glad to make us think we’re still dead in our trespasses and sins in order to keep us from being who God has called us to be and doing all He has called us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10).

The New Testament writers felt the need to remind believers of their true freedom:

•  “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:16).
• “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
• “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

As with all areas of the Christian life, we have to know the truth in order to live by it. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-32, 36). This knowing and testing is the process of transforming the mind set out in Romans 12:1-2.

I don’t know about you, but I want to live in greater freedom, no longer bound by the old grave clothes.