Posted on

Not Even Solomon

The song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands …,” really puts God’s sovereignty and love for His creation into perspective.  It’s when we believe ourselves abandoned or rejected by God (because of our sins or insignificance) that we turn to our own resources to handle the struggles of life.  Worry is a reliance on self while concern is a reliance on God.  Worry, then, is really a submission problem.

I. Luke 12:4-34.  We worry because we fear the devil or what others think more than we fear God.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of God’s love or our worth to Him.  Possessions and things that are temporary are too important to us.  But, God tells us that … worry is a selfish focus, He will provide for us more than ravens, worry causes us great harm, and He will take care of those things we are powerless to control.  The world that doesn’t know God worries, but we must trust Him!

II. 2 Chronicles 9:5-28.  Everyone can see the simple yet intricate beauty of a lily, yet Jesus tells us that Solomon during the golden age of Israel, with all of his wealth, position, and power, had nothing compared to God’s attention to this temporary flower.  Since nothing is impossible with God or beyond His notice or concern, we can take heart that He finds such great worth in us and takes better care of us than lilies!  Made in His image, we are more precious to Him than anything in creation.

III. James 4:7-10.  Since this is so, we must submit ourselves fully to Him.  If we seek His Kingdom first rather than our own interests, we will have an upward rather than a downward focus … and He promises that He knows our needs and will take care of them.  He tells us that to do that, we must have our treasure stored in heaven rather than here, so that our hearts will be focused on eternal things rather than temporary.  To submit we must trust God fully and let Him handle all of life’s struggles.

There’s an expression that has been around awhile: let go and let God.  To truly let Him take control of our lives, we have to truly let go of any facade of control that we think we might have.

Posted on

Faith Under Trial

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1.

Faith, by very definition, means that we are trusting in God during a trial of uncertain outcome.

Abraham could see no clear way that his barren, ninety year-old wife could bear him a son, yet this same chapter says he “considered him faithful who had made the promise.”  Faith, then, depends on how well we trust solely in God’s solid-rock character that does not change despite our circumstance.  Talk about ‘faith under trial’–it is only under trial that we know if we have true faith.

This came home to me in 2012 when my wife, never a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Now into our sixth year of various chemotherapy and radiation treatments, even a four-hour surgery last May to remove an egg-sized brain tumor, my faith as a husband and caregiver, elder and evangelist, in particular is still under trial.

If I get a cold, I am reasonably assured that if I take a regimen of medicines over a short window of time, I will be better soon.  Colds come and go, often with no serious life-altering effects.  It is a very low-level of faith indeed (even if at the time I feel like I might die) to believe that I will eventually get well.  But cancer?  We have been living with excruciating uncertainty for six years!  Will she live or die?  Is today a go-to-work or lie-on-the-couch day?  Will she feel too queasy to eat supper tonight or is there a specific craving that I have to run to the store to find?

That kind of trust over that period of time takes incredible faith.  “God’s got this–He always has,” has become our mantra that reminds us, sometimes daily, that He is the only One who has ever been in control anyway.

It was always during the difficult times that Jesus would rebuke his followers for lack of faith.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  When the squall comes up on our Sea of Galilee, we believe God to be asleep and so not in control.  We may even accuse Him of not caring.  But, our lack of faith is showing.

After Jesus’ hard teaching about His body being real food and His blood real drink in John 6, many “turned back and no longer followed him.”  When Jesus asked the Twelve if they too would leave, Peter answered with words that should encourage all to find faith under trial, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

There’s no one else.  Our lives depend on us having faith under trial.

 

 

Posted on

Cats & Minnows, Dogs & Sows

Just before bed, I sanded the second coat of joint compound on some bedrooms now that we’re empty-nesters.  To keep dust from billowing throughout the house, I stapled a plastic sheet between the dining room and the hallway.  It also had a second purpose: to keep our cat out of the dust.

That was not to be.  When we got out of bed the next morning, we found a very distressed pet covered in white powder meowing on the wrong side of the plastic.  Curious, she had nosed her way under the sheet and then found herself unable to exit–much like a minnow would enter a trap.

We were unhappy with her, but because we love her, we got her out and dusted her off.  Within minutes of setting her down, though, we were dismayed to find her once again on the other side of the plastic!

As I often do, I saw this as a spiritual illustration.  God tries to protect us by giving us clear limits for living our lives, but we rail against the translucent sheet, believing that He is keeping us from worldly ‘fun’ we could be having.  Sometimes, we’re just curious.  Often we believe that we can just nose under the plastic a little, but a little turns into more until we’re trapped.  We cry out for help, and God rescues us, dusts us off, and sets us back to safety.  He’s perhaps a bit disappointed that we went past the limits He has set up for us, but He loves us.

But then we do the unimaginable.  We return to the very sin that we’ve been saved from.  We once more go beyond the plastic and find ourselves covered in white powder.  Sometimes we curse ourselves for once more being deceived and think ourselves unloved or incapable of obedience.  Often we turn against God, believing Him incapable of keeping us from our situation.

Eventually, we can find ourselves in the situation of those spoken of in 2 Peter 2:19-22:

“… a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

We must not be a washed sow wallowing once again in the mud or a dog returning to its vomit.  Rather, we must submit to our good Father’s limits, knowing they are there for our good.  Then we won’t be a minnow caught in a trap — or a dust-covered cat beyond the plastic.

 

Posted on

You Will Catch Men

What’s the difference between a chicken and a pig?  Well, in terms of what they each provide for breakfast, the chicken in involved while the pig is committed!  Our pews may be full of involved Christians, some who have attended for years, but, like Simon, God confronts us to be committed to Him.

I. Luke 4:14-37.  After Jesus’ baptism and time of temptation, He began His ministry and was gaining quite a reputation for Himself around Galilee.  After Andrew introduced his brother to Jesus, the Savior said that Simon would be called Peter or ‘Rock’ (John 1:42).  But, that would not become his name that day as Simon just stayed involved with Jesus through the healing of his mother-in-law and the use of his boat for Jesus to teach from while Simon washed his nets after working hard all night (but catching nothing) from his own strength (Luke 4:38 – 5:3).  Like so many of us, he was content to have his ears tickled by this great man’s teaching without recognizing that it was the Creator in his craft.

II. Luke 5:4-11.  Jesus then confronts Simon by asking him to put his nets out into deep water.  Exhausted by his own limitations, Simon does not recognize what is possible for him through Jesus but does what Jesus asks.  It is in verse 8 that this simple but involved fisherman crosses over into being committed.  Never so tall as when he’s on his knees, never so much the solid ‘rock’ as when he is weakest, Simon recognizes his sinfulness in the presence of God in the flesh and is called ‘Peter’ here first.  Verse 11 demonstrates that committment as he and his partners “left everything and followed” Jesus.

III. Romans 4:1-5.  Even though Jesus could have pointed to His power as reason enough for Peter to follow Him, He instead pointed out what Peter could do through Him.  The fisherman could become a fisher of men.  If we were Peters instead of Simons, what could we do for Jesus as Jesus can do all things through us (John 14:12-14)?  To do that, we must be committed to God (Mark 8:34-35).

Are you a chicken or a pig?  Are you involved or committed?  Are you trying to serve God by your own strength or are you serving Him through His?  Are you still Simon or have you become Peter?

 

Posted on

Make Straight Our Way

The world’s awash in sin and wildness,
In torrents of lies and tattlers’ tales;
To truth, O Lord, and trusting in right,
We cling for life, clearly seeing
Beyond this earth, only eyes
For the Lord of hosts, the living Christ;
Give strength, O God, make straight our way,
And bring us through to a broad place.

Posted on

Fill my heart

Heavenly Father, fill my heart, so that nothing else may occupy that space. Take complete control, O God, of my being.

Keep me from divided loyalties. Let no interest, passion, love, or addiction pull parts of me away. I put all of my life under your sovereignty.

Let love of words not keep me from the reality of you. Continue reading “Fill my heart”