hope

Grieving a Furry Friend

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“I will never laugh at anyone for grieving over a loved beast. I think God wants us to love Him more, not to love creatures (even animals) less. We love everything in one way too much (i.e., at the expense of our love for Him), but in another way we love everything too little.

No person, animal, flower, or even pebble has ever been loved too much—i.e., more than every one of God’s works deserves” (C. S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III).

Over the years, we’ve lost a number of pets. It never gets easy. Even when they get to be old and full of years, you think that final goodbye will be easier, but it never is. It’s like they take a piece of us with them when they go.

I remember when Lucy passed, I grieved more over her than over some people I had lost. I don’t think it was because I loved her more than I loved them but because she was always nearby, an immediate presence. I would never make fun of anyone who grieves over losing a dog or a cat (or any other kind of beloved critter).

There are many different ways to cope with the loss. One that I’ve found is to go to a shelter and find an animal who needs to be loved. I’ve heard grief expressed as love with nowhere to go. If you rescue an animal, you have an outlet for that love. It’s not that you love your previous pet any less, but you can continue that love with a new pet.

I like to think our pets will be in heaven. The Bible says that all of creation longs for the day when it will be restored. Maybe that includes all those critters we’ve loved and lost. I like to think so. I like to think that Murphy, Reggie, Gracie, Sammie, Paddy, Oliver, Dixie, Lucy, Linus, and Molly will all be there when I finally get there (plus a few more that I’ve forgotten).

All animals are God’s creations, and to love them well is to honor God well. I only wished that they could live a little longer, but I am grateful for each and every one of them.

Blessed

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“IN A SENSE WE are all hungry and in need, but most of us don’t recognize it. With plenty to eat in the deep freeze, with a roof over our heads and a car in the garage, we assume that the empty feeling inside must be just a case of the blues that can be cured by a weekend in the country or an extra martini at lunch or the purchase of a color TV.

The poor, on the other hand, are under no such delusion. When Jesus says, ‘Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28), the poor stand a better chance than most of knowing what he’s talking about and knowing that he’s talking to them. In desperation they may even be willing to consider the possibility of accepting his offer. This is perhaps why Jesus on several occasions called them peculiarly blessed” (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking).

I think the key is not that being poor in spirit is a quality we need to emulate, but it’s a recognition that brings us closer to God in Jesus. We’re more likely to understand that all our efforts have been exhausting and futile and that we need not to try harder but to rest.

It comes down to desperation. If I think I can be good enough or smart enough or rich enough on my own, I will never depend on God. I will never reach out to God except on some rare emergency. But if I know my poverty of spirit, that I bring absolutely nothing to God, then I will learn to lean on God for everything.

I love how Jesus says that unless we become like little children, we can never enter the Kingdom of God. That’s not a license to be childish, but to be childlike. The key is that little kids are dependent on their parents for everything. They don’t pretend to be self-sufficient. They don’t hide their need. They have a trust that Mom and Dad will give them what they need when they need it. And that’s how our faith should be.

God Has Overcome the World

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“An optimist says, ‘The war will be over; your wounds will be healed; the depression will go away; all will be better soon.’ The optimist may be right, but unfortunately he or she may be wrong. For none of us can control our circumstances.

No, hope does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world anymore than does faith. Nor does hope depend on the ups and downs of our life’s particulars. Hope, rather, has to do with God. We have hope and joy in our faith because we believe that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world… We follow One who is not limited or defeated by the world’s sufferings” (Henri Nouwen).

Not everything bad will be fixed in this lifetime. Not every wrong will be made right. I think the Apostle Paul said something like if we have hope only for this life, we are to be pitied above all. If this is all there is, then you might as well become a cynic. You might as well not care about anything and live for today.

But this is not all there is, thank God. There is so much more. Your best life is not now, but the best is yet to come. We believe that God has overcome the world. That’s the victory that fuels our faith. That’s the hope we hold on to in the midst of deep heartache. That’s the reason we can sing in the middle of the storms and sorrows of this world.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for Jesus to come back and make that victory final. I’m so ready for evil to be defeated once and for all. I love that it’s not a matter of if but when. The victory is sure. God has overcome!

Waking Up and Finding You’re Home

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“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”(‭‭Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

I noticed that in the month of July at least nine celebrities passed away. From what I’ve read, at least two had a saving relationship with Jesus. I hope the rest of them did.

I wish I could say that the Bible teaches that everyone will be saved in the end, but I know that’s not the case. Otherwise, Jesus could have stayed in heaven and avoided the cross. There had to be a payment for the sin punishment that we deserved. God can’t overlook sin and still be holy.

But that also got me thinking of what it will be like for the believer to fall asleep on earth and to wake up in heaven. It will be like that first day of summer after the school term is over. It will be like that first day of vacation after some long weeks at work. Oh, and multiply those by infinity times infinity, and you’ll have a good idea of heaven.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for heaven. This world makes less and less sense. There’s more chaos and darkness everywhere you turn. Things are definitely not improving toward any kind of utopia. More like a dystopian nightmare becoming reality.

But we have a certain hope. Our story doesn’t end with dystopia or futility. It ends with Jesus coming back and setting everything right. All the pain, suffering, and death will end. Can you imagine? It will be like your best day times a million. And your best day will be every day for the rest of eternity.

Hopefully, the rest of my time here will be so that more people can know Jesus and experience that abundant and eternal life both now and in eternity. May that be the goal of every believer between now and when Jesus returns.

Keith’s Legacy

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It’s hard to believe that Keith Green went home to be with the Lord 43 years ago today. What amazes and saddens me even more was that he was only 28 years old at the time. He was able to accomplish so much and leave behind a legacy of music and ministry in such a short amount of time.

I think Keith would be grieved at the current state of the American Church. He’d see that so many people and churches that profess to follow Jesus now teach a kind of universalist message that the Apostle Paul would call another gospel. So many have surrendered their core beliefs for the illusion of fitting in and conforming to the culture. Sadly, even entire denominations have gone away from true faith.

I don’t think for one moment that Keith Green was perfect. He himself would admit as much. However, he did more to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus than just about anyone else. He begged and pleased for people to get right with the Lord. He also begged and pleaded for lukewarm churches to recover their first love and not be asleep in the light when so many outside their stained glass windows are perishing without Christ and without hope.

But I believe as always that there is a remnant that is faithful. As in the early Church and all throughout history, there has been a small core of true believers who have kept the gospel message alive even when it was unpopular or even deadly to do so. People all around the world are holding on to the message of Christ in the face of persecution and martyrdom. I think Keith would be so proud of them.

I love that I have all of his albums but one. I can put them on my turntable and drop the needle and instantly Keith, yet though he were dead, still speaks. His message and the message of all who have come after remains just as true and timely now as it was back in 1982 and down through all the centuries before that.

May we hold true to the Apostles Creed and the Gospel, and may all who come behind us find us to have been faithful.

My Eye on the Goal

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I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back” (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message).

That’s the key, isn’t it. Keeping my eye on the goal?

But what does that look like? Anymore, there’s no such thing as working 40 years for one company and retiring with a gold watch and a pension. The average person will work for several different places across many types of jobs over his or her lifetime.

But what is the goal then? If you read the Apostle Paul in other places, he talks about keeping our eyes on Christ. To keep your eyes on Christ is to keep your eyes on the goal, because Christ is the goal. Not retirement. Not comfortable living. Not a pension. Jesus is the goal.

Not only that but Christ is the means to that goal. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the poor in spirit are blessed because the Kingdom of God is theirs. That means those of us who know we have nothing to offer God are blessed because we have nowhere to turn and nowhere to lean but on Jesus and the promises of God.

Still, it’s quite easy to get distracted by all the shiny baubles of the world. It’s easy in the midst of a storm to focus on the wind and the waves and take our eyes off of the Master of those winds and waves. We are so easily distracted and forgetful, which is why we need the constant reminder of keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

How do we keep our eyes on Jesus? By preaching the gospel to ourselves at least once a day every day. We need to remember that we’re sinners in need of a Savior. We need to remember that salvation comes through faith by means of repentance and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. We need to remember that we’re saved by faith alone, not by any works or good deeds of ours. We need to remember that Jesus promised that those who trust God with their lives would receive eternal abundant life not just in the hereafter but in the here and now.

May you and I never stop encouraging each other, especially in these last days, to keep our eyes on Jesus as the goal of everything we do and everything we are.

The Houses that Built Me

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A couple of years ago, my family got the opportunity to revisit some of the old houses where I lived, as well as my grandparents’ houses. It was a fun trip down memory lane, but I realized one thing.

I didn’t get the wave of nostalgia that I was expecting. Some of the houses had changed quite a bit, but some looked the same. The difference was that the people I loved weren’t there anymore. Some have moved away, some have gone to heaven.

It wasn’t the brick and mortar that I truly loved. It was the people inside. It was the memories we made within the walls of each of the houses. Today, if I were given the chance to wander through these houses, I doubt I’d recognize very much. I’m sure a lot has changed in the 30+ years since I was last there.

Sometimes, I think I want to step into the past, if only for a moment. I just want to be a fly on the wall and revisit some old memories. I just want to see the faces and hear their stories. The older I get, the more trouble I have remembering what they looked like or what their voices sounded like.

But I’m thankful. I’m grateful for everything I learned, every experience I had in these places, both good and bad. I think who I am now was shaped by the people who lived there. I carry a little bit of each and every one of them with me.

One of the rewards of heaven will be seeing all the old faces again. Maybe they’ll all be young again. They will have all their memories back. They won’t be fragile or in pain. It will be just like old times — even better, since Jesus will be there.

I hope that the people living in those homes are making new memories. Maybe one day a long time from now, someone will drive up and instantly be able to conjure up a million scenes from the past that they can think about and smile.

Broken Things

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“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever” (Vance Havner).

I think if you’re feeling broken beyond compare, you might just be at the point where God is about to do something incredible in you and through you. I don’t mean that you should beat yourself up and think you’re worthless. I think it’s about recognizing that each one of us has been profoundly affected by the original fall and are broken to one degree or another.

The beautiful part of the Gospel is that it’s for broken people. Not only that, God uses broken people to reach other broken people. What the world wants to throw away, God repurposes for His glory. What the world sees as worthless, God sees as priceless.

I love the verse in the Bible that talks about how God uses nobodies to shame those who think that they’re somebodies. 1 Corinthians 1:27 in the New Living Translation says “ Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.”

That’s me. At times, I have been foolish and powerless. We all have. Face it, we’re nothing apart from the sustaining grace of God. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (at least nothing of eternal significance and value). Even our next heartbeat is a gift from God.

I need to remember that every time I start to think that I am anything on my own apart from God and what He has done in me. Anytime I start thinking that I’m better than anyone else, I need to remember that it took as much of Jesus’ blood to save me as it did anyone else. Who knows what I could have been apart from the saving grace of God?

“You can have my heart, though it isn’t new
It’s been used and broken, and only comes in blue
It’s been down a long road, and it got dirty along the way
If I give it to you, will you make it clean and wash the shame away?

You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my life; you don’t mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new, so I give these pieces all to you
If you want it, you can have my heart

So beyond repair, nothing I could do
I tried to fix it myself, but it was only worse when I got through
Then you walk right into my darkness and you speak words so sweet
And you hold me like a child, ’til my frozen tears fall at your feet

You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things
You can have my life if you don’t mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces up to you
If you want it, you can have my heart” (Julie Miller).

How to Pray

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“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes” (Matthew 6:7-13, The Message).

Lately, I find myself praying through the Lord’s Prayer quite a bit, especially when I can’t think of anything to pray on my own. It’s easy to pray through a line at a time and whatever comes to mind next. For example, I might pray “Our Father in heaven, above all that goes on here on earth, completely sovereign over all things yet intimately concerned with all my needs . . . “

You can pray through the entire passage like that. Sometimes, God will bring to mind another verse, like God working all things together for good in the place where you pray for God’s will to be done. Sometimes, I just pray through the Lord’s Prayer without any additional commentary.

It’s not about getting it perfect. I think God hears me just the same when the words flow as when I stumble all over myself trying to pray. The Bible says that God hears even when all I’ve got are groans and sighs too deep for words. Besides, it’s not like I’m telling God what He doesn’t already know.

I think that prayer isn’t giving God new information, but helping me see it from His perspective. I’m taking it to God, and sometimes it changes my circumstances, and other times it changes me in the middle of my circumstances.

I’d like to be able to pray for hours and hours, but I think God’s okay with me offering up short prayers throughout the day. I think the idea is to keep the line of communication open and always have a mindfulness of God wherever I am and whatever I’m doing.

Just a Little Bit of Spurgeon

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“DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Blessed be your name God of all grace, you have revealed yourself to us, you have brought your life to our death and made us alive in you; you have brought your light to our blindness, and made us to behold you; and now you are not only the greatest source of joy to our spirit, but you are all our joy—we have none apart from you. Whatever comfort we find in creation, we know it is but fickle; and while it is there, it comes from you; for all these things are empty, and vain, and void without you. Whom have we in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth that we desire beside you!
Amen.“
“VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) In the first place, this is a very delightful thing. What a gracious God we serve, who makes delight to be a duty and who commands us to rejoice. Should we not at once be obedient to such a command as this? We should be cheerful—more than that, we should be thankful, and we should rejoice.This word, “rejoice,” is not only joy once, but it is joy over again, rejoice! We are to joy, and then we are to re-joy. We are to chew the cud of delight—we are to roll the dainty morsel under our tongue till we get the very essence out of it.”

I think Charles Spurgeon is one of my favorite preachers/authors. Even though he passed away over 130 years ago, his legacy still lives on. You can go and subscribe to receive a daily email with one of his prayers and a short commentary on a verse or two. Plus, you get to pray for a different unreached people group every week.

But back to Spurgeon. There’s a reason why he’s called the Prince of Preachers. We have so many of his sermons recorded in print for posterity. Unfortunately, the technology didn’t exist back then to be able to hear his actual preaching, but maybe somebody one day will figure out how to do an AI approximation of his voice. Or maybe not.

Here’s where you can go to receive daily emails from Spurgeon (or more accurately, from people who like Spurgeon a lot and keep his memory alive by posting his insights on a daily basis). Enjoy!