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Make Every Effort

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“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:14-15, NIV).

Living out your faith requires effort. You have to be intentional about striving for peace. We’re called to be peaceMAKERS who actively pursue peace and not those who passively accept it when it comes our way.

These days, peace means reaching across the aisle to those who think and feel (and vote) differently than you. It means learning to seek dialogue instead of demonizing anyone who disagrees with you. It means instead of always blaming “them” for what’s wrong with the world, looking in the mirror and realizing one of the biggest problems is staring back at you.

What are you doing to make your world better? How are you teaching your children to make a difference in their world? Is it teaching them to hate Republicans (or Democrats)? Or is it showing them how to learn to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute them?

I was reminded today that you might be far less eager to criticize someone’s journey if you only knew where they’ve come from or how far they’ve travelled. That was convicting.

It’s easy to bash someone’s views that run opposite to what you believe. It’s much harder (and much more rewarding) to seek common ground and understanding while loving them. It’s harder to live out the tension of loving people without condoning all of their behavior and beliefs.

Jesus died for everyone, not just for those who loved and followed Him. He died for the Pharisees and Sadducees who opposed Him at every turn. He died for the Roman soldiers who drove the nails into His hands and feet. His love led Him to forgive those who were in the very act of murdering Him.

That’s the standard of love we’re called to. That’s what we strive toward when we make every effort for peace. That’s what will ultimately conquer evil and hate.

 

Real Prayer

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“My belief is that when you’re telling the truth, you’re close to God. If you say to God, ‘I am exhausted and depressed beyond words, and I don’t like You at all right now, and I recoil from most people who believe in You,’ that might be the most honest thing you’ve ever said. If you told me you had said to God, ‘It is all hopeless, and I don’t have a clue if You exist, but I could use a hand,’ it would almost bring tears to my eyes, tears of pride in you, for the courage it takes to get real—really real. It would make me want to sit next to you at the dinner table.

So prayer is our sometimes real selves try­ing to communicate with the Real, with Truth, with the Light. It is us reaching out to be heard, hoping to be found by a light and warmth in the world, instead of darkness and cold. Even mushrooms respond to light—I suppose they blink their mushroomy little eyes, like the rest of us.

Light reveals us to ourselves, which is not always so great if you find yourself in a big disgusting mess, possibly of your own creation. But like sunflowers we turn toward light. Light warms, and in most cases it draws us to itself. And in this light, we can see beyond shadow and illusion to something beyond our modest receptors, to what is way beyond us, and deep inside” (Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow).

Sometimes, the best prayers are the ones without any words, the ones that express themselves in tears and groans and sighs.

Sometimes, it’s good to know on the nights when it feels like our prayers are getting no further than the ceiling that God hears anyway because He’s in the room with us while we pray.

Just keep asking. Just keep seeking. Just keep knocking. Just keep praying.

 

Resurrecting Hope

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“Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present” (N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope).

That was the topic of today’s sermon at The Church at Avenue South– that after being crucified and buried, Jesus actually and physically rose from the grave.

The Apostle Paul says that if Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, then our faith is useless and futile and we are all still dead in our sins.

If there is no resurrection, then Jesus’ death was meaningless and He wasn’t who He claimed to be, but just another in a long line of those so-called “Messiahs” whose words were forgotten and whose followers immediately abandoned them after death to look for the newest “Messiah.”

But Jesus stepped out of the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, forever proving that He is the ultimate God-Man, Savior of the world, the true Messiah.

Our hope is in more than a great teacher who gave us some great ideals to live by before he died. It’s in more than Jesus being “resurrected” by keeping His memory alive in the hearts of His disciples.

Our hope is in the Jesus who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and died on the cross, then bodily rose from the grave and appeared to the apostles as well as over 500 other witnesses.

Because Jesus lives, our hope is alive. Because He lives, we live and can face any tomorrow that comes. Because He lives, we know that there is nothing that comes up against us– illness, death, or the grave– that can separate us from the love He has for us.

“We could cope—the world could cope—with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples’ minds and hearts. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God’s new creation right in the middle of the old one” (N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope).

 

Tonight We’re Gonna Study Like It’s 1995

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I like to use a variety of translations when I read the Bible. For me, it keeps things fresh and keeps me from going into auto-pilot when I get to a familiar passage.

Lately, I’ve been going old-school. I dug out my 10th Anniversary NIV Study Bible, printed in 1995. It was a Christmas present in 1998 from dear ol’ Mom and Dad. I even have a Bible cover for it. Remember those?

I’d forgotten just how good those notes are. They go beyond the superficial, “what does this mean to you” stuff and really provide a lot of historical and cultural background to the Scriptural passages.

There are a LOT of good study Bibles that have maps, charts, and (usually) very helpful notes. I recommend at least one highly if you are interested in going deeper with your Bible reading (and are not a Hebrew or Greek scholar).

The point is to know the Word for yourself and not rely on teachers or preachers or anyone else. You have direct access to God through the Cross and don’t need anyone else to tell you what His Word says.

I also recommend the Holman Christian Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, and the John MacArthur Study Bible. Those are all worthy additions to any library.

 

Singing in the Dark

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“If we wait till we have clear enough vision to see the expected end before we stay our mind upon Him who is our Strength, we shall miss an opportunity that will never come again: we shall never know the blessing of the unoffended. Now is the time to say, ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise,’ even though as we say the words there is no sense of exultation” (Amy Carmichael).

It’s much easier to praise God and be thankful when all our plans come to fruition, when we have the perfect spouse and the perfect kids and the house with the white picket fence.

But what if you don’t have any of these things? What if your spouse and kids aren’t quite perfect? What if the picket fence is faded and peeling and the house is falling down?

If you drew a breath in the last few seconds, you have a reason to praise and give thanks, if for no other reason than you’re still here. You still have a purpose to fulfill that no one else can do and a gift to contribute that no one else has.

You can praise and be thankful without knowing all the answers or, sometimes, without knowing any of the answers, because your trust is in the One who is the Answer to all questions, in whose face questions fly away into nothing.

Usually these times mean that God is preparing something for us that our feeble minds can’t handle at the moment. If we truly knew what He has in store for those who love Him, namely us, then our brains would explode. It’s too much to handle all at once.

So trust in God’s heart when you can’t see His hand.

That’s all for tonight.

 

New Technology and Old Comforts

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I love new technology as much as the next guy. In fact, I’m wearing my Apple watch which automatically unlocks the MacBook Pro on which I’m currently typing these words.

Technology is fantastic. When it works.

I also have an elderly feline napping in my lap as I type these words. She’s always ready to curl up on or near me and do what she does best– sleep.

If I had to choose between the two, I’d take the old comfort just about every time. Eventually the technology becomes obsolete and gets replaced, but old comforts are always in style.

My elderly feline turns 17 this year. I hope she decides to stick around for a while, as I do love our little therapy sessions.

I hope you have some source of comfort in your life that you can go to when your life gets overwhelming or stressful.

Of course, the ultimate comfort and peace comes from the Prince of Peace. Even in the midst of the most trying situations, I’ve known a deep-down peace that truly transcends my comprehension and goes far deeper than emotions.

I pray that for you above all.

Plus, a cat in your lap never hurts, either.

A Writer’s Advice

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“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt” (Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath)

I don’t claim to be the best writer or blogger ever. I do know that I feel most alive when I’m writing and the words seem to flow out of me like they’re coming from somewhere else. Sometimes looking back, even the posts that I thought weren’t that great at the time seem to have improved with age.

I’ve been at this blog post business for going on 7 years and nearly 2,400 posts. That’s a lot of words. Not all of them have flowed out of me. Some days, I feel like Moses attempting to draw water from a rock.

If I have any advice for those who want to be writers, whether professionally or otherwise, it’s this– just write. Write a lot. Write every single day, even if what comes out feels like pure stupidity.

I’d also add one more thing. Find your own voice and be true to it. Don’t write or sing or paint or sculpt or film what you think will appeal to a mass audience. Do what speaks to you and what makes you happy and what makes you come alive. Create for an audience of one– yourself.

Ultimately, it’s not about numbers or popularity. It’s about expressing yourself and leaving a bit of yourself behind, whether on canvas or paper or vinyl or film. Success as I see it is staying true to your original vision.

Again, just write, write, write. That’s the only way to truly get better and to develop your own unique voice. The more you write, the better you will get at it.

Here endeth the lesson.

Time, Talents, and Treasures

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“Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf:  So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide, All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you” (The Lord of the Rings)

“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God” (Leo Buscaglia).

Tonight’s topic for the Bible study at Room in the Inn was the parable of the talents. The gist of the story is how one man was given five talents, one two, and the other one. The first two immediately invested the treasure while the third one unwisely buried it.

The first two earned the praise of the master while the third one showed his true colors and saw the fruits of his dishonesty.

I wonder if that third man, instead of thinking of ways to use what talents he had, spent his time bemoaning how the others had more than he and how unfair that was. His envy warped the way he saw the master and his motives.

I wondered tonight why the talents were distributed unequally. Why not give each one five talents? Or two?

I think there’s something to learn from that. Some people have more gifts and talents than others. The question isn’t how much you have but what you do with what you have.

You can waste your talents by comparing them to others, which leads to either pride when you have more and self-pity when you have less. The end result is never fruitful or good.

Or you can use what you have where you are to bless and serve those in your path. You may not have the more showy talents, but God has uniquely gifted you and molded you to play a role that only you can play.

You can compare or you can contribute. The choice is yours.

Pray Boldly

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I probably need to start off with a disclaimer. I’m not advocating the prosperity gospel, name it claim it, blab it grab it, kind of theology here. I don’t think God’s purpose is to satisfy our every whim and desire, no matter how foolish or ridiculous.

I do think sometimes we have a reactionary response and go too far in the other direction. Sometimes, I don’t think we pray boldly enough.

When someone you know is seriously ill, it’s safer to pray for wisdom for the doctors. It feels not quite as risky to pray for the medicines and operations to work.

While those are all good and well, I wonder if God wants us to pray more boldly than that.

Do I believe God will heal every sickness every time? No.

Do I believe that God wants us to pray for healing every time? I think so.

My Bible says to ask. It says to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking until God responds. Keep praying boldly even if the answer sometimes isn’t what you wanted.

The underlying question is this: do you really believe deep down that God wants what’s best for you? Do you think God has the power to bring it about?

I’ve come to believe that when God says no, it’s not because He’s punishing us. It’s usually because He’s seeing the bigger picture and has something way better than what we’re asking for. We’re thinking finite and temporary while God is thinking infinite and eternal.

Still, God says to ask. He also says that we don’t get what we don’t ask for. So pray boldly and keep praying boldly. As you grow closer to the heart of God, you may find your prayers changing as your will aligns with His. Still keep praying boldly.

I think that says it all.

 

My Translation for 2017

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Those of you who have followed me and my blog posts for some time probably know that I read through the Bible every year in a different translation. Last year, I chose the Holman Christian Standard Bible. This year’s pick has been the New Jerusalem Bible. I get the joy of reading through those extra books not found in the typical Protestant Bibles.

I’m almost through the book of Genesis.

I’m reminded yet again that the people God chose in creating a nation of His own were far from perfect. All of them had character flaws and a sometimes staggering lack of good judgment. I can relate.

God still doesn’t always pick the best looking or the best dressed or the most type A personalities. Some of the choices He makes with people He works through might seem like head scratchers to a lot of us, but God knows what He’s doing.

Remember God chose you and God chose me, not because we were the most qualified to get the job done, but because God delighted in doing so. The ultimate result is that the credit for anything good that comes out of you or me goes directly to God.

It’s also a reminder that when I get aggravated with those biblical characters choosing poorly and being ignoramuses, I can remember that I occasionally am one of those, too. I imagine some of you are as well.

I love how in the Gospels, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, not because of who he was but because of who Jesus saw he would become. It took a while for Peter to live up to his own name and Jesus put up with a lot of immaturity and foot-in-mouth disease from Peter and never gave up on him until he became one of the most powerful spokesmen for the early Church.

I’m thankful that God still chooses to work through nobodies and screw-ups and neurotics. I’m most thankful that there’s still nobody that’s too far gone for God to redeem and restore and repurpose.