peace

A Man Like Jesus

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“A twitter hashtag about masculinity got me to thinking: If I’m to be a man like Jesus, what will I be like?

I will be a healer.

I will defend the powerless.

I’ll absolutely frighten and enrage the self-righteous.

I won’t be impressed by those with celebrity, credentials, or power.

I’ll be tremendously patient with people, well beyond what they ‘deserve’.

I will not take advantage of women.

And I’ll take them seriously.

I’ll subjugate my ego for the benefit of others.

The government will consider me, and my kind, a threat.

The religious power structure will consider me, and my kind, a threat.

I’ll attract people with bad reputations, and the seemingly worthless.

I’ll welcome children.

I will exhibit meekness – power, under control. And whatever power I do have will not be used to crush people, but to set people free” (Brant Hansen).

I think all of these perfectly describe Jesus during His earthly ministry. And I think they should also describe every man who aspires to be godly and seeks to be like Jesus.

It’s really not about climbing Mount Everest or jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet. It’s not bench pressing 500 pounds or running an Ironman triathlon. It’s about how you treat those different than you and especially those who can’t possibly pay you back.

It’s not about doing good works to be seen by others, but doing them in secret so that only God and you know. Sometimes, living a simple life of faith will result in good deeds that even you aren’t aware of because they naturally flow out of a heart full of grace and generosity.

Being a man means doing what’s right even if the majority says it’s wrong. It means holding to biblical convictions when that gets you ostracized. It means standing in the gap for the least of these when it can’t possibly benefit your career or your brand or your image.

Being a man means loving your spouse and your family well. Even if you’re not married, you can still choose to love your family and those around you well. That means you love others more than you love yourself and put them first instead of you. It’s about sacrifice and generosity.

Being a man most of all means being like Jesus. It’s living out Philippians 2:5-11 every single day and having this mind in you that was in Christ Jesus.

Master and Teacher

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“Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. Jesus wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that all we know is that we are His to obey” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

We are all disciples of something or someone. You can tell who is discipling you by your calendar and your checkbook. Where do you spend the most time and who or what gets your money? It’s not a matter of if you’re being discipled, but by whom.

Too many are being discipled by social media and the news. They’re getting fed a worldview that is not of God nor does it promote God or a healthy view of life and morality. Some are discipled by celebrities or influencers. Some by sports or hobbies. Some by their peers.

I’d rather be discipled by Jesus. I’d rather turn off the TV and the social media and spend time in God’s Word. But often, I don’t. Often, I find myself turning to Facebook instead of Scripture. I end up doing what I don’t want to do and not doing what I should.

But a question my pastor asked still haunts me. All who are believers need to have people to disciple them and to have people to disciple. The question is this: Who are you discipling and who is discipling you?

That’s it. That’s the question. Who are you discipling and who is discipling you?

Always More

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“When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.10 In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty’” (Luke 17:7-10, NLT).

That’s the secret to obedience and serving. There’s always more. You never get to the place where you’re done. It seems like one task leads to another, usually harder. But you find that if you remain faithful and available, God will equip you and empower you to fulfill the duty and the calling.

We forget sometimes that half the joy is in the journey. It’s not so much finishing what God calls us to do that energizes us and motivates us — we’re never really finished until God calls each of us home — but the process where we find we can do more than we thought and we find that God is bigger and stronger than we thought.

Obedience doesn’t lead to joy. For the one who serves not out of obligation but out of the overflow of God’s love in his or her heart, obedience is joy. We realize that serving God isn’t a “have to” as much as it is a “get to.” We get to participate in what God is doing, and we know that what God does always succeeds and has a good outcome. We can rest assured that our labors for God are never in vain.

Even the small stuff matters to God. Me showing up to serve in the parking lot at my church or someone else serving in the nursery is just as vital in the eyes of God as the pastor preaching the sermon or the worship leader calling us to worship. Every single act of obedience is a win for the kingdom and a blessing not only for the receivers but also for the person who obeys.

The harder the task, the more of God you get to do the job. The more your faith grows when you see it through. The more you want to serve God no matter what it looks like or how dirty you get. The more other people see it and want to know about this God that is worth our obedience.

Weak, Stretched Thin, and Out of Your Depth

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“Hey Soul? Yeah, I hear you — there’s times you feel stretched way too thin, in way over your head. 
So every time you feel that stress rising today, just take a moment & take a deep breath —- and just be. Just Be Still — and know & feel & trust how He is God. 
Being weak makes you a cup for God’s power. 
Being stretched thin, makes you a canvas for God’s glory.
Being out of your depths, makes you touch the depths of the love of God. 
#Exhale #BeStill #GodHasGotThis#PreachingGospeltoMyself” (Ann Voskamp).

I know what it feels like to be stretched thin and out of my depth. I know back in the day, I probably would have panicked big-time and not done very well with it. Now, I still get anxious, but I’m learning how to work through worry instead of being consumed by it.

I love the analogy of an archer pulling back on the bow to shoot an arrow. He pulls and pulls as the bow thinks it can not possibly be stretched any further, yet still he stretches more and more. Finally, he sets his sights on the target and lets loose.

God is stretching you and me for a future and a target that only He can see right now. At the moment, the stretching may feel unbearable and you’d rather have it over. It’s tempting to want to take a shortcut to get out of being that uncomfortable. But staying in it rather than bolting is worth it. You have the satisfaction of knowing God will honor your obedience and you can see with eyes of faith that the end will make any hardships seem light and momentary.

Being weak and out of your depth is a place God often calls His children. That’s where God loves to show up. It’s the kind of testimony that is the best, because no human explanation will do. It’s a life that can only be explained in terms of God. We make God famous most of all by being faithful when it would be easier to quit.

Trim the Sails and Trust the Savior

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“We talk about ‘circumstances over which we have no control.’ None of us have control over our circumstances, but we are responsible for the way we pilot ourselves in the midst of things as they are. Two boats can sail in opposite directions in the same wind, according to the skill of the pilot. The pilot who conducts his vessel on to the rocks says he could not help it, the wind was in that direction; the one who took his vessel into the harbour had the same wind, but he knew how to trim his sails so that the wind conducted him in the direction he wanted. The power of the peace of God will enable you to steer your course in the mix-up of ordinary life.

O Lord, unto You do I turn, unto You. I am but a homeless waif until You touch me with the security of Your peace, the sweet sense of Your love” (Oswald Chambers).

This reminds me of what Corrie ten Boom once said about riding on trains. She said when that train goes into a long dark tunnel, you don’t jump off the train. You stay on and trust the conductor. That’s how it is with life when the proverbial seas swell with storms. You stay on board and afloat and trust the Pilot.

I love the verse in Isaiah that speaks to those God will keep in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on Him. That’s not a haphazard kind of faith driven about by every wind of emotion and circumstance but a firm determination and a resolute mindset developed by years of discipline that remains unmoved by any amount of wind or wave.

That’s what it means to have God’s peace. It’s to have a calm assurance in the midst of unrest and turmoil that you are in good hands. In the best hands. In God’s hands.

The Quiet Assurance of Joy

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Every day, there’s a new batch of chaos somewhere in the world. If you’re looking to be cheered up, you probably want to skip Fox News or CNN right about now. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and live in a constant state of fear and anxiety.

But the followers of Jesus are different. Or they should be. We’ve read the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, and we know how the story ends. We know it’s going to be alright (to reference the late Rev. Billy Graham).

The media and advertising and basically every message screaming at you from every screen is trying to keep you in a state of near panic in order to get you to buy a certain product or vote for a certain person. But Jesus promised peace to His people. He said it was a peace unlike the world gives, which is a warm and fuzzy feeling, but His is more of a calm certainty that while the middle of the story looks grim, there is a happy ending coming.

Sure, there will be wars and rumors of war. Nations will still rise up against other nations. There will be riots and violence and scandals. Many people who profess to follow Jesus will fall away. But for those who truly belong to Jesus, we are held fast by the everlasting arms that won’t let us go.

Maybe tonight turn off the television and put away the device and open up your Bible. Turn it to Revelation 22 and read the last chapter, but especially the last two verses. It’s an invitation. Yes, bad times are coming, but they won’t last. Suffering will end. Even death will pass away. But these words of God will remain, and the one who spoke them will wipe away every tear from our eyes and welcome us home into everlasting peace.

No Fear

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“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else” (Oswald Chambers).

That was a hip slogan back a few years, I think. No fear. I think it needs to make a comeback.

These days, fear is used as the supreme motivator when it comes to politics and marketing and just about everything else under the sun. It seems like so many are still living under the fear of 2020 and the pandemic.

Another saying that I like better from back in the day went like this: “No Jesus, know fear. Know Jesus, no fear.”

It might be a tad simplistic, but the general idea is good. To know Jesus as the Prince of Peace is to be free from a life dominated by fear and anxiety. I don’t think any believer ever is completely free of fear this side of heaven, but he or she is not a slave to it any longer.

I also recall an acronym used by a black preacher that I have always loved. He said that F-E-A-R stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Nearly all of fear is based on a lie. Nearly all the lies based on fear tell you that either God is not there or He doesn’t care. Fear says that you have to figure it out and solve it all yourself because there is no one else. Fear isolates.

But Jesus calls us to the Father and to one another. Peace comes when we are right with God and right with each other. Peace doesn’t come when you feel super relaxed and calm. Peace comes when even in the midst of feeling afraid you also have certainty of hope at the center of your core.

There’s an old chorus that came to mind when I was typing out these words. I can’t for the life of me find it anywhere, but I think the words are along these lines:

“There is no fear in Jesus Christ
And by his grace we’re made new
And it’s the cross that reminds us
That in him no fear.”

Anyone who remembers this, if you can reply with the correct lyrics (or better yet, the worship artist), I would so greatly appreciate it.

Wise Words from Amy Carmichael

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One of my favorite authors growing up was a lady named Amy Carmichael. She served as a missionary to India for over 50 years and wrote quite a bit on the topic of suffering patiently under the hand of God. Some of her books include Gold by Moonlight, Edges of His Ways, and If. Most people who are familiar with her and her writings probably know her from the fact that she was a hero of Elisabeth Elliott’s. Here is a sample of what made her so great. It’s one of my favorite quotes of hers:

“Let us end on a very simple note: Let us listen to simple words; our Lord speak simply: ‘Trust Me, My child,’ He says. ‘Trust Me with a humbler heart and a fuller abandon to My will than ever thou didst before. Trust Me to pour My love through thee, as minute succeeds minute. And if thou shouldst be conscious of anything hindering that flow, do not hurt My love by going away from Me in discouragement, for nothing can hurt so much as that. Draw all the closer to Me; come, flee unto Me to hide thee, even from thyself. Tell Me about the trouble. Trust Me to turn My hand upon thee and thoroughly to remove the boulder that has choked they river-bed, and take away all the sand that has silted up the channel. I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. I will perfect that which concerneth thee. Fear thou not, O child of My love; fear not.’

And now…to gather all in one page:

Beloved, let us love.

Lord, what is love?

Love is that which inspired My life, and led Me to My Cross, and held Me on My Cross. Love is that which will make it thy joy to lay down thy life for thy brethren.

Lord, evermore give me this love.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after love, for they shall be filled” (Amy Carmichael).

Those Two Little Words

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If I were to quote a passage, do you think you’d catch it if I left something out? Like this:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7, Legacy Standard Bible).

Did you notice anything missing? Now let me quote the verse with the missing part put back in:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7, Legacy Standard Bible, emphasis added.

I added the bold to make it obvious. Two little words “with thanksgiving” were missing from the first quotation. But that’s what is missing in a lot of our prayers and petitions. At least I can speak for myself and say that I go through a lot of requests in my prayers without ever giving thanks. But I think that’s the key.

I’m not saying that a few magical phrases will automatically make God grant you everything you ask for. But I wonder if sometimes if the gratitude part is what keeps us from seeing God at work in our petitions. Maybe the giving thanks part is like praying in faith believing you have already received what you ask for.

The answer may not always look like what you expect. But you can be sure that God honors His promises to give us what we ask when in faith with thanksgiving.

And note that it does not say that we’re ever to give thanks FOR everything but IN everything. We shouldn’t be thankful for cancer or car wrecks or wildfires. But we can give thanks in the midst of those things because God is working even in those cases for good. Out of those ashes will come something beautiful.

But let us be thankful people, regardless. Even if God did nothing else for us from here until eternity, we’d still have a million reasons for gratitude and thanksgiving. We could still give thanks if for nothing else than salvation and the next breath.

So let’s not leave those two little words out next time. Or, maybe I shouldn’t leave out those two little words next time.

The Story Behind the Song

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I always love reading about classic hymns and carols and the stories of their inspiration and origins. Hymns like It Is Well with My Soul come out of tragedy and heartbreak, but the message they bring has lived on long after the writers have gone to glory.

The carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day has a similar story that I found recently. I’ve copied and pasted it and included the link to the original post:

“On Christmas Day in 1863, the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow listened to the bells from a nearby church, overwhelmed by loss.

Two years earlier, his wife had burned to death in a fire, and he had also been badly burned trying to save her. At times, his grief was so great that he feared that he would be sent to an asylum.

His son had also been wounded in the Civil War and was temporarily paralyzed. As he listened to the church bells, Longfellow wrote a poem that reflected his grief:

‘In despair,’ he wrote, ‘I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said.’

But he ended the poem, which was later put to music, on a note of triumph.

‘Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men’

This Christmas Day will be 161 years….and the song still brings the same sense of settledness and confident hope to millions across the globe!

Do you hear the bells!! Open up your heart and hear them this Christmas!!”