By John Stallings
What is Class?
Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge that you can meet life head on and handle whatever comes along.
Jacob had it. Esau didn't. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob's wrestling match with the angel. Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal angel and won a victory that marks them thereafter.
Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.
Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of small sacrifices.
Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. The most affluent blue-blood can be totally without class while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.
Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.
Class can "walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch." Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because he is comfortable with himself.
If you have class you don't need much of anything else. If you don't have it, no matter what else you have, it doesn't make much difference.--Ann Landers Encyclopedia
If you attend church regularly; you’ve probably heard Hannah preached on many times.
What a story it is. She was childless, & was chided by her husband’s other wife for being barren. Then because of her right attitude & prayerful spirit God broke that cycle of her life by giving her Samuel. Then other children came.
Hannah had promised her first son to the Lord so at the appointed time she took Samuel to Eli the priest & he grew up under the aging man’s tutelage. Samuel’s calling was spectacular for he was called as a child by the audible voice of God. One night he heard a voice calling him repeatedly & went to Eli who told him the next time he heard the voice to answer, Speak Lord for thy servant heareth.
Samuel was the last & best judge of Israel & had a transitional ministry. Under his watch the judges were ushered out & the kings were ushered in. However Samuel & his Godly advice weren’t always well received by Israel but he maintained a steadfast walk with God & has few equals.
SUDDENLY SAMUEL DISCOVERED THAT HE WASN’T WANTED ANYMORE.The last years of Samuel’s life however weren’t so pleasant. The transition from the old order of judges to the new order of the monarchy was a painful experience for him. He made a mistake when he appointed his two sons as judges. 1 Samuel 8:1-3. These boys were scoundrels. They weren’t as bad as Eli’s boys; Eli’s boys were immoral while Samuel’s boys were mostly unethical. Samuel was guilty of nepotism & ignorance but he wasn’t a money-grubbing deceiver. He never took a dime from the people (1Sam.12:3-4) but his sons used their father’s position to profit in a profligate manner.
We don’t know why Samuel appointed his sons; it may have been that there just wasn’t anyone else he felt could do the job. Or it may have just been a lapse of judgment.
A PIVOTAL POINT IN SAMUEL’S LEADERSHIP CAME WHEN HE WASN’T ABLE TO STEER STUBBORN ISRAEL AWAY FROM THEIR DEMAND FOR A KING.
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt your influence & leadership was failing to be effectual? You have a feeling that your record no longer counts for anything, all your former ties are strained, you used to be looked up to but now what you do or say doesn’t carry much weight. The sacrifices you made are no longer looked at as a big thing, people think, “you just did what anybody would have done, no big deal.” The question “what part of -it’s over- don’t you get” might well be asked of you.
Samuel’s sons made him look bad to the people & they flat-out faced him with it. They told him he was getting old (just under 60—big deal) & his sons weren’t cutting it so their answer was, appoint us a king.
The people might even have used the old saying;" Samuel, this isn't really personal. The last thing we'd ever want is to see you suffer.
Samuel wasn’t happy at all about the king idea. He was right to feel that his children had let him down, the Israelites had let him down, the elders had let him down and deep down in his heart of hearts he felt he’d let himself & the Lord down. How else could he explain how his kids had turned out to be such bad boys?”
LOOK HOW SAMUEL RESPONDS TO HIS LEADERSHIP PROBLEMS.
The elders were pressuring him to quit. They had it all figured out for him. Samuel was feeling hurt, backed into a corner & disrespected in the worst way he could imagine. He didn’t threaten to call it quits, take an early retirement or jump on the bus. He did what his mother did; he went to God in prayer. 1 Sam.8:6. Samuel was deeply troubled & probably hopping mad but he didn’t lose his composure. He prayed about it asking God for wisdom, direction & patience.
Sometimes the decline of a leader’s influence & abilities doesn’t mean that he or she is washed up. It may just mean that they can no longer lead in the same capacity. At some point a subtle line was crossed, a corner was turned. It doesn’t mean that they are over & done with it just means that their role as leader will be different. Such a time came in the life of Samuel the prophet as he grew older. Even though his role changed he still continued to be an important leader.
Samuel hadn’t put his head in the sand; he was the first to recognize things were changing that’s why he appointed his two sons to help. It wasn’t Samuel’s fault that his sons turned out to be a big disappointment. At least he was forward looking enough to think of his mortality. I’ve seen leaders who refused to think of the time they would no longer be around. They refused to mentor another person to fill their shoes or even consider training & depositing into the lives of others the things they’ve learned that would be invaluable to the individual who someday filled their shoes.
• A GOOD LEADER WILL HELP PEOPLE IDENTIFY THEIR PURPOSE & CAST A VISION FOR THE FUTURE.
• A GOOD LEADER WILL HELP THE PEOPLE ESTABLISH GOALS & IMPLEMENT PLANS TO HELP THEM SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVE THOSE GOALS.
• A GOOD LEADER WILL DEVELOP CONSENSUS, BUILD COHESIVENESS, CREATE HARMONY & FOSTER UNITY.
• A GOOD LEADER WILL INSPIRE PEOPLE TO GREATER EFFICIENCY & EFFECTIVENESS & WILL ENCOURAGE THEM TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL & MAXIMIZE THEIR ABILITIES.
• IF A LEADER FINDS THAT HE/SHE CAN NO LONGER FULFILL THEIR RESPONSIBILITY, THEY SHOULD DELEGATE SOME OF THE RESPONSIBILITY OR ALLOW SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE THEIR PLACE.
Samuel knew that what the people were asking for was wrong. They had no clue as to what was in store for them. The kings they were asking for were going to be worse than Samuel’s sons. God had run the kings & nations out the front door & Israel let them in the back door. Israel had been an exalted nation but alas, they just wanted to be like their neighbors. One of the problems was that their neighbors were idol worshippers.
Samuel’s maturity, humility & Godliness were manifest that day. After God had “loaded his gun” with truth he still didn’t scoff at the people. He didn’t squabble or scream at them or throw a conniption fit. He had within his power to let them have it with God’s words but he left out the choice words, the best parts that would have vindicated him before the people. He didn’t lecture them on their collective rejection of God, or their personal wrong against him, even though God said --What they’re doing to me, so they are doing to you. The people had made personal accusations but he didn’t take them personally. Neither did he gloat at their mistake, or their folly. As a matter of fact nowhere in all of this did Samuel mention himself.
What a class act!
He did tell them in no uncertain terms what having a king would be like for them, but describing it was as far as it went. There was no coercion on his part even though it displeased him greatly. To him it was all about the Lord & His people & their relationship to Him. Though Samuel wasn’t pleased he didn’t get his knickers in a knot over it & end up grievously disturbed & resentful. Samuel reminded himself what God had said:--It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
Samuel's’ life wasn’t narcissistic; it wasn’t about him it was always about the Lord & others. He tells the people—far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. He knew that to refuse to pray for them was malicious & spiteful. If we want something to compare Samuel’s conduct with, all we have to do is look at Moses who when frustrated, called the people rebels. Num.20:10.
God had already foretold that someday this would happen; the people would demand a king. He also told the people exactly what would happen to them when they got their king. In his next & also his last speech to Israel, given immediately after King Saul’s public coronation, Samuel spoke from the heart to the people. He knew as well as he knew his name what heartache laid in store for them but still he didn’t cajole or arm-twist to get them to reconsider.
And reconsider they certainly didn’t, even after hearing what a king would be like. But Israel almost never changed. It’s always the same old song with them. They were headstrong, obstinate & rebellious & their prophets told them so. Generations later when the Apostle Paul preached to them he’d say things like-- Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you….or…blindness in part has happened to Israel. Rom.11:25.
To the bitter end Samuel was optimistic in word & at heart. It’s almost as if he knew trouble was in the wings but still was just hoping it wouldn’t happen.
Have you been rejected & seen your dreams & plans crumble before your eyes. Have you been tempted to lash out & get vindication? Ask yourself as Samuel did; are you serving God or man? When you’re not appreciated as you should be do you have the right stuff to withstand it & do right when everybody is doing you wrong?
The people rejected Samuel’s advice but Samuel accepted God’s advice. When he saw what was happening he went to God & God told him—Listen to the voice of the people & appoint them a king. So Samuel said unto the men of Israel, go every man to his own city. 1 Sam.8:21-22.
GOD WAS GOING TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANTED—A KING.
It’s reminiscent of Psalm 106:15—And He gave them their request but sent leanness to their soul. God’s position was the same then as it is now & always has been. He simply refuses to make his creation a puppet-on-a-string. To Him love & devotion that’s coerced isn’t love at all & He’s not interested.
Samuel may not have understood God’s strategy but he obeyed & took the necessary steps to implement it. God doesn’t always do things the way we want & He doesn’t always do things the way we think they should be done. But we must always remember to submit our plans to Him.
If you’re on the missions committee, the deacon board, a Sunday school teacher, nursery worker, trustee, treasurer, musician, office worker, kitchen helper, publicity worker, or youth group worker, you must always bring your plans to God. Samuel went to God & sought His leadership.
Jesus is the head of His church & we are simply the servants. We serve not to gain prestige & power but simply to serve God & His people. When we do this we will have great significance in His kingdom.
The day came when Samuel’s ability to lead the people changed but even though his role changed, his superlative attitude made him useable to God until the day he died. Turning your power over to someone else is never easy. Admitting that things didn’t turn out as well as expected is never easy. Samuel experienced all of these things. He must have had many sleepless nights & many days of confusion & uneasiness. But under God & with Samuel’s steady hand Israel came through the transition. Samuel lived to a ripe old age & died in peace & honor among his people.
Is there something in front of you that you’d rather avoid? Maybe you’re on the threshold of change & things aren’t all that clear to you. Perhaps you’re beginning to realize that something you worked hard to accomplish isn’t going to work out. Follow the example of Samuel & stay connected with God & His people. You can’t see God but He can see you & He has you in His sights. He hasn’t forgotten you, though it may sometimes feel that He has. Your story & testimony can turn out as victoriously as Samuel’s did.
The answer is in Hebrews 12:2 …..Looking unto Jesus the author & finisher of our faith….
We must fix our eyes on Him because if we look hard at anything else we will doubtless lose hope.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Well, Shut My Mouth!
By John Stallings
…. And he charged him to tell no man. Luke 5:14
I openly confess that a chainsaw scares me.
One time I read a story about a man who cut off an arm and half a leg and a finger or two, and it just ruined me for chain saws. I didn’t see the movie “The Texas chainsaw massacre” but I heard about it, and it didn’t help me a bit. Everyone from my father to the best carpenters I know have told me that a chainsaw can back up on you and chew you up. That’s good enough for me. I have used a saw from time to time in my life under the tutelage of an expert, but can’t say I was ever comfortable doing it. If there is going to be one tool to hate, it seems to me that hating the chain saw makes the most sense.
THE TONGUE
A chainsaw is loud like a dentist drill; it’s hard to control, packing a lot of destructive power. I can’t think of a better description of the tongue. Noisy, hard to control and it cuts things into pieces. Some of us have already been at it today.
People even glorify the tongue's power. Shakespeare was good at the crafted insult and clever barb. In entertainment, we laugh at people with caustic and sardonic wit. People laugh and say, “Doesn’t he have a clever tongue?"The most successful comedians are the ones with the most cutting, sarcastic edge. Though I’m much older now, I can remember like it was yesterday many hurtful things that were said to me as a child. What hurts me much worse is the fact that there are people who remember hurtful things I’ve said to them. The damage we do with these tongues is terrible.
LET’S LOOK AT TEN PRINCIPLES ABOUT THE TONGUE AND THE WORDS WE USE.
1. WORDS ARE SYMPTOMS OF A DEEPER CONDITION.
Words reveal what’s inside us. The activity of my tongue reveals the state of my heart. None of us wants to believe this but it’s true. We often say “I didn’t really mean that, it just slipped out.” Right! The truth is; that’s exactly what I meant. Like a chainsaw, we massacre our friends with our tongues then, ashamed of the bloodshed, we say, “Wow, I guess my tongue got away from me didn’t it.” The reason we’re embarrassed is that our words have lifted the blinds on who we really are inside, and it’s not a pretty sight. When I gossip, it’s because I love gossip. When I lie, I display a deceptive heart. My words are windows into the state of my soul. Or to use an old saying, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”
I don’t hold Sigmund Freud in high esteem, but I think he had one thing right when he told us about the slips of the tongue we now call “Freudian Slips”. He believed that many of our slips of the tongue weren’t slips at all, but windows into what’s really going on inside.
In Matthew 12:34-37, Jesus really delivers the bad news to us;
….For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men speak, they shall give account therof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
2. WE SHOULD USE WORDS SPARINGLY.
Proverbs 10:19 says,... In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.---James 5:12 says… But let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.
In other words, the more words we use the more likely we are to get into trouble.
The positive value of words is magnified when we use words sparingly. Do you know what would happen if the government started printing and releasing huge quantities of dollars and handing them out? We wouldn’t be richer. The result would be inflation—dollars would lose their value. [sadly, this is happening now.] Words are also subject to inflation. When we talk incessantly, people stop listening.
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS A GOOD MODEL
The chairman of America's Federal Reserve has to be extraordinarily careful what he says, because investors pay attention to every word. One careless word from him can send markets around the world up or down. In the early eighties, a Florida stock market analyst caused a panic on Wall Street by sending out one word to his mailing list; SELL. Our aim should be to make every word count for good. We should treat words as a precious resource and use then sparingly.
There are times when God has a message he wants delivered and he calls on men and women to be his mouthpiece. There are other times when God does things secretly for reasons we can really only surmise; but we should take a lesson.
3. WHEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE GOD'S FAVOR, IT'S BEST TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT IT.
The first 13 chapters of Genesis cover’s a period of two thousand years. The last 13 chapters of Genesis deal with one man’s life and that man is Joseph. His life spanned only one-hundred and ten years. First God uses 13 chapters to cover two thousand years; then he uses 13 chapters to cover one-hundred ten years. That tells me that God strongly suggests we take a careful look at Joseph and study his life.
When young Joseph, dressed in the snazzy sport coat that his dad had given him, started telling dreams of his future dominion and greatness to his brothers, he was on dangerous grounds, and it almost cost him his life.
Later in Joseph’s life, God illustrated how this principle works. When Joseph was in jail in Egypt for thirteen years, God was working on a plan that would affect much of the world. Had the leaders under Pharaoh known that one day Joseph would come out of the prison and control the whole treasury of the land, second only to Pharaoh himself, its almost certain that they would have had him killed. He would never have seen daylight again. Not even Pharaoh knew what he was going to do in promoting Joseph until he’d done it. God can be very secretive.
When you and I have God's favor, we won’t have to tell people anyway; it will be so obvious, everyone can see it.
4. WORDS SHOULD BE SPOKEN SOFTLY AND KINDLY.
Proverbs 15:1-2 says, A gentle answer turneth away wrath but harsh words stir up anger.
I’m going to give you three statements and ask you to tell me what they all have in common.
# One. A schoolteacher speaks out in class to one of her sleepy ten year old students and says, “Joey, wake up back there or you’re going to fail this course. I know your mother and Dad have been having drinking and quarrelling lately at night and you’ve not been able to get much rest, but you have to stay awake and start listening.”
# Two. A doctor is at a party and as he sips a glass of wine he blurts out for all to hear, “You people all know Mrs. Jones, right? Well she wouldn’t sleep so well tonight if she knew what I know. We just got her tests back and it looks like cancer to me.”
# Three. A Pastor who’s chairing his church annual business meeting speaks to his church folk, “Folks, brother Jones and his wife are having serious martial problems and it looks like they’re getting a divorce so he’s withdrawn his name to be voted on as Deacon this year.”
What do these statements have in common?
They may be {are} true but any person with any heart at all would agree that to say those things publicly would be terribly heartless. These words aren’t kind. The people who said these things could never excuse themselves by saying, “well, it’s true.” It may all be true, but any intelligent person would say, “yes, but your truth telling is totally out of place and inappropriate and what you’ve done is cruel and thoughtless.” We feel in our hearts that a person at least should be given some modicum of right to privacy. Or do we?
5. WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE WORDS AS WEAPONS.
Words have a potential for much goodness but conversely they also can be like containers of poisonous gas, and though we often take what we say lightly, God never does.
Have you ever noticed when you were out in public that you can hear a person talking angrily to someone, that it makes you feel terrible, even though the words weren’t spoken to you? Angry words spoken within earshot of you can cause your food to lose its appeal.
A stinging word is like a bullet, it leaves an impact on everything it hits. I know I'm mixing metaphors here but it also feels like being bitten, only it's an emotional bite. I know I've mentioned it a lot in my blogs but I've been flabbergasted, especially over the last year or two at how many famous people; actors, politicians and others have actually shot themselves out of the saddle with their words. Its like - something they've said comes to light one day and the next day they're gone-"and are going to be spending more time with their family." We all make mistakes with our tongue but sometimes I think we should write our elected officials and remind them to brush-up on the book of James once in a while.
Does this routine sound familiar?
HE- Hi honey, I’m home.
SHE- Did you remember to buy milk?
HE- I didn’t know we needed milk.
SHE- But I asked you to get milk.
HE- You never said a thing about milk.
SHE- Well you weren’t listening then. You knew we were out.
I can’t do everything you know.
HE- You don’t have to yell at me.
SHE- I’m not yelling.
HE- You are too yelling. Listen to yourself.
SHE- Well if I’m yelling it’s because you’re yelling.
HE- I never once yelled.
Now you’ve got a fight going. Right about this time, if either of these two people has a relative who’s been to jail, it’s coming out. All the living members of their respective families are fair game now and maybe a few people will even be brought back from the grave to be used as exhibits. Satellites start hooking up in space and begin to hum as the memory banks of both these people are ransacked, looking for material to use on each other. Incidentally, they will both lose.
I have used words on people that were carefully crafted to go straight to their heart and sting. I am ashamed to say it, but there is no one that will read this that doesn’t know exactly what I’m talking about. We do it all too often and we do it most to the ones we love best. Every one of us has been on the giving and the receiving end of this kind of cruelty.
So how do we stop the bloodletting? We must be spirit controlled and constantly be guarding the chain saw inside our mouths, and in case of any doubt, keep the thing turned off. God set it behind two rows of teeth and between two powerful jaws for a reason. James said the tongue is a force that can be set on fire of hell. The tongue may be small, but like the little kindling used to start a fire, it has power to destroy. As a matter of fact, it’s almost impossible to start a fire with large pieces of wood.
Proverbs 25:15 says, Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle word can break bones.
6. OUR WORDS MUST ALWAYS BE THE TRUTH.
The truth is a precious commodity. Our CIA knows this and will spend vast amounts of money to get truthful information about the world so we can make decisions on a solid foundation. But our CIA also spends much money and energy spreading inaccurate information about our country. Why; because lies are a deadly weapon.
One of the worst uses of the tongue is to lie. When I lie to you, I’m robbing you of information you need to live wisely. Proverbs 6:17 says that a lying tongue is disgusting to God. He hates lies. I haven’t heard it lately but when I was a kid they used to say, “you can lock up from a thief but you can’t lock up from a liar.”
Paul says in Ephesians 4; 29, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers.”
Paul is saying here that a thing has to be more than merely true, it has to be edifying. And then Paul goes on to say something else that is somewhat shocking. He says our words must be “ministers of grace.” With an ocean of ink and a thousand word processors and four lifetimes, we might start to scratch the surface on that subject.
7. WE SOMETIMES TELL LIES USING THE TRUTH.
I once pastored a lady who would never tell a lie. She was a wonderful lady. I never heard her say an unkind word to anyone. She loved and encouraged people. But she had one weakness—prayer requests. In her prayer requests she told on her husband who was a drinking man. We in the church knew all about his foibles. We got a running update every service. She loved to pass on her prayer requests and she did so often and in great quantity. This lady constantly spilled the beans on everyone in her life; friends, neighbors and relatives, and it was all done under the guise of prayer requests.
She didn’t really intend to harm anyone-and she certainly didn’t think of herself as a gossip. All her talking was in her sharing all of her prayer requests. Also, she loved details about other people’s prayer requests. I often heard her say, “Give me the details so I’ll know how to pray.” Once I can remember telling her how to formulate a prayer without having all the gory details. I never made a dent on her. She was God's prayer request Doberman and she "wasn’t going to let the devil stop her."
Gossip and slander often disguise themselves as concern, seeking advice, asking for prayer and unloading, but the big Elephant in the living room is just talking too much.
A simple rule; when you know someone is facing difficulties, talk with the person, and talk to God. There is almost never a need to talk to anyone else.
8. WE GOSSIP IN THE NAME OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH.
Many people are being encouraged to “Be completely honest and truthful about their feelings.” They are told by numb skull advisers that if you don’t spill out all the things inside you, you’ll be warped. Many times I’ve cringed when I heard the words, “I’m just going to be honest.” I can never remember those words being followed by anything good. They use words like “I don’t want to hurt you; I just have to be honest about my feelings.” Under the cowardly cloak of “pseudo-honesty” they slander their parents their spouses and friends. This isn’t what it means to speak truthfully. This is just an excuse to even scores with people, and to dump all of the trash and wickedness of our hearts out onto others. It’s a two-edged sword that at one and the same time appears spiritual, sharing their hurt, while slapping someone else in the face that was the real target anyway. And most tragic; often the people they dump it on aren’t strong enough emotionally to carry it and end up weaker.
Incidently, while on the subject, I'm sure we've all had someone tell us "The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you. You know that's the last thing in the world I'd ever do is hurt you!" Stop and think what they're saying. First , they've told you they have a list for dealing with you and the very last thing on that list is to hurt you. But they're not going to do it now because they have a few more things they plan to do first. Then the last thing will be to really hurt you. Sorry if I sound a little cynical here folks.
## Don’t let “truth telling” become an excuse to dishonor parents or hurt other people by unloading your feelings.
Could it be that we are so vindictive that we want to hurt someone without being held accountable for the assault? After all, if we walked up to the person we wish to hurt and punched them in the face, we’d be jailed for it. So how can we do it without having to account for it? Oh yes, here’s a way to get-em; we can go public by being “painfully honest” and enlisting “ prayer- support.”
9. LETS DON’T FORGET! --A CHAINSAW CAN BE A USEFUL TOOL.
The tongue has awesome power for good. If I were trapped under a fallen tree, the sound of a chain- saw, as much as I fear them, would be music to my ears. Proverbs 18:21 says …The tongue has the power of life or death.
Kind words are among the most loving things human beings can give one another. Words can build up a person’s confidence and make them winners in life. It was said of Napoleon that half of what he accomplished was done with words.
If we allow our tongues to go on automatic pilot, they can simply revert to the old habits of gossip and lies. The antidote is to keep the tongue busy with words of blessing, praise, appreciation, forgiveness and apology. In I Corinthians 13:11 Paul tells us that one of the earmarks of a child is the way they speak. Children have no filter and will say just about anything that comes to mind. You can also identify spiritual babies that way. There are some things that a grown-up will never say in a million years, if it takes biting their tongues 24/7.
If we’re honest, most of us will admit we’ve been hurt with words in the last 24 hours. The wounds may still be fresh. The people we live with and work around aren’t always nice and polite to us. They yell at us, curse and insult us.
But it’s our calling as Christians to return blessings for curses—to return kind words for harsh ones. You can be an enormous influence for healing in your world if you simply accept it as your calling to exchange blessings for curses.
10. OUR TONGUE PROBLEMS MUST BE DEALT WITH AT THE CROSS.
I first need a change of heart. I can’t do that on my own. We must come to the foot of the cross and experience God’s grace and get a new nature. God gives us a new nature and a new heart and he also gives us the Holy Spirit. It then becomes our lifelong challenge to daily put the old nature to death and live according to our new nature. We all have an evil twin who likes to rattle on and on. The apostle Paul had his, and you can read about it in Romans 7.The tongue problem is just like a substance abuse problem, and when you catch yourself falling into old patterns, don’t feel alone. Just deal with it and keep on dealing with it but never "do a deal" with it.
#May God deliver us from cowardice, that dare not face the truth,
#Laziness, content with knowing half the truth,
#And arrogance that thinks it has all the truth.
May He deliver us from rudeness, cynicism about each other, intolerance and cruel indifference.
And may we all pray with David,
SET A WATCH O LORD, BEFORE MY MOUTH, KEEP THE DOOR OF MY LIPS. PSALM 141:3.
Here's the "Stallings translation"...Shut my mouth!
Blessings,
John
…. And he charged him to tell no man. Luke 5:14
I openly confess that a chainsaw scares me.
One time I read a story about a man who cut off an arm and half a leg and a finger or two, and it just ruined me for chain saws. I didn’t see the movie “The Texas chainsaw massacre” but I heard about it, and it didn’t help me a bit. Everyone from my father to the best carpenters I know have told me that a chainsaw can back up on you and chew you up. That’s good enough for me. I have used a saw from time to time in my life under the tutelage of an expert, but can’t say I was ever comfortable doing it. If there is going to be one tool to hate, it seems to me that hating the chain saw makes the most sense.
THE TONGUE
A chainsaw is loud like a dentist drill; it’s hard to control, packing a lot of destructive power. I can’t think of a better description of the tongue. Noisy, hard to control and it cuts things into pieces. Some of us have already been at it today.
People even glorify the tongue's power. Shakespeare was good at the crafted insult and clever barb. In entertainment, we laugh at people with caustic and sardonic wit. People laugh and say, “Doesn’t he have a clever tongue?"The most successful comedians are the ones with the most cutting, sarcastic edge. Though I’m much older now, I can remember like it was yesterday many hurtful things that were said to me as a child. What hurts me much worse is the fact that there are people who remember hurtful things I’ve said to them. The damage we do with these tongues is terrible.
LET’S LOOK AT TEN PRINCIPLES ABOUT THE TONGUE AND THE WORDS WE USE.
1. WORDS ARE SYMPTOMS OF A DEEPER CONDITION.
Words reveal what’s inside us. The activity of my tongue reveals the state of my heart. None of us wants to believe this but it’s true. We often say “I didn’t really mean that, it just slipped out.” Right! The truth is; that’s exactly what I meant. Like a chainsaw, we massacre our friends with our tongues then, ashamed of the bloodshed, we say, “Wow, I guess my tongue got away from me didn’t it.” The reason we’re embarrassed is that our words have lifted the blinds on who we really are inside, and it’s not a pretty sight. When I gossip, it’s because I love gossip. When I lie, I display a deceptive heart. My words are windows into the state of my soul. Or to use an old saying, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”
I don’t hold Sigmund Freud in high esteem, but I think he had one thing right when he told us about the slips of the tongue we now call “Freudian Slips”. He believed that many of our slips of the tongue weren’t slips at all, but windows into what’s really going on inside.
In Matthew 12:34-37, Jesus really delivers the bad news to us;
….For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men speak, they shall give account therof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
2. WE SHOULD USE WORDS SPARINGLY.
Proverbs 10:19 says,... In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.---James 5:12 says… But let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.
In other words, the more words we use the more likely we are to get into trouble.
The positive value of words is magnified when we use words sparingly. Do you know what would happen if the government started printing and releasing huge quantities of dollars and handing them out? We wouldn’t be richer. The result would be inflation—dollars would lose their value. [sadly, this is happening now.] Words are also subject to inflation. When we talk incessantly, people stop listening.
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS A GOOD MODEL
The chairman of America's Federal Reserve has to be extraordinarily careful what he says, because investors pay attention to every word. One careless word from him can send markets around the world up or down. In the early eighties, a Florida stock market analyst caused a panic on Wall Street by sending out one word to his mailing list; SELL. Our aim should be to make every word count for good. We should treat words as a precious resource and use then sparingly.
There are times when God has a message he wants delivered and he calls on men and women to be his mouthpiece. There are other times when God does things secretly for reasons we can really only surmise; but we should take a lesson.
3. WHEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE GOD'S FAVOR, IT'S BEST TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT IT.
The first 13 chapters of Genesis cover’s a period of two thousand years. The last 13 chapters of Genesis deal with one man’s life and that man is Joseph. His life spanned only one-hundred and ten years. First God uses 13 chapters to cover two thousand years; then he uses 13 chapters to cover one-hundred ten years. That tells me that God strongly suggests we take a careful look at Joseph and study his life.
When young Joseph, dressed in the snazzy sport coat that his dad had given him, started telling dreams of his future dominion and greatness to his brothers, he was on dangerous grounds, and it almost cost him his life.
Later in Joseph’s life, God illustrated how this principle works. When Joseph was in jail in Egypt for thirteen years, God was working on a plan that would affect much of the world. Had the leaders under Pharaoh known that one day Joseph would come out of the prison and control the whole treasury of the land, second only to Pharaoh himself, its almost certain that they would have had him killed. He would never have seen daylight again. Not even Pharaoh knew what he was going to do in promoting Joseph until he’d done it. God can be very secretive.
When you and I have God's favor, we won’t have to tell people anyway; it will be so obvious, everyone can see it.
4. WORDS SHOULD BE SPOKEN SOFTLY AND KINDLY.
Proverbs 15:1-2 says, A gentle answer turneth away wrath but harsh words stir up anger.
I’m going to give you three statements and ask you to tell me what they all have in common.
# One. A schoolteacher speaks out in class to one of her sleepy ten year old students and says, “Joey, wake up back there or you’re going to fail this course. I know your mother and Dad have been having drinking and quarrelling lately at night and you’ve not been able to get much rest, but you have to stay awake and start listening.”
# Two. A doctor is at a party and as he sips a glass of wine he blurts out for all to hear, “You people all know Mrs. Jones, right? Well she wouldn’t sleep so well tonight if she knew what I know. We just got her tests back and it looks like cancer to me.”
# Three. A Pastor who’s chairing his church annual business meeting speaks to his church folk, “Folks, brother Jones and his wife are having serious martial problems and it looks like they’re getting a divorce so he’s withdrawn his name to be voted on as Deacon this year.”
What do these statements have in common?
They may be {are} true but any person with any heart at all would agree that to say those things publicly would be terribly heartless. These words aren’t kind. The people who said these things could never excuse themselves by saying, “well, it’s true.” It may all be true, but any intelligent person would say, “yes, but your truth telling is totally out of place and inappropriate and what you’ve done is cruel and thoughtless.” We feel in our hearts that a person at least should be given some modicum of right to privacy. Or do we?
5. WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE WORDS AS WEAPONS.
Words have a potential for much goodness but conversely they also can be like containers of poisonous gas, and though we often take what we say lightly, God never does.
Have you ever noticed when you were out in public that you can hear a person talking angrily to someone, that it makes you feel terrible, even though the words weren’t spoken to you? Angry words spoken within earshot of you can cause your food to lose its appeal.
A stinging word is like a bullet, it leaves an impact on everything it hits. I know I'm mixing metaphors here but it also feels like being bitten, only it's an emotional bite. I know I've mentioned it a lot in my blogs but I've been flabbergasted, especially over the last year or two at how many famous people; actors, politicians and others have actually shot themselves out of the saddle with their words. Its like - something they've said comes to light one day and the next day they're gone-"and are going to be spending more time with their family." We all make mistakes with our tongue but sometimes I think we should write our elected officials and remind them to brush-up on the book of James once in a while.
Does this routine sound familiar?
HE- Hi honey, I’m home.
SHE- Did you remember to buy milk?
HE- I didn’t know we needed milk.
SHE- But I asked you to get milk.
HE- You never said a thing about milk.
SHE- Well you weren’t listening then. You knew we were out.
I can’t do everything you know.
HE- You don’t have to yell at me.
SHE- I’m not yelling.
HE- You are too yelling. Listen to yourself.
SHE- Well if I’m yelling it’s because you’re yelling.
HE- I never once yelled.
Now you’ve got a fight going. Right about this time, if either of these two people has a relative who’s been to jail, it’s coming out. All the living members of their respective families are fair game now and maybe a few people will even be brought back from the grave to be used as exhibits. Satellites start hooking up in space and begin to hum as the memory banks of both these people are ransacked, looking for material to use on each other. Incidentally, they will both lose.
I have used words on people that were carefully crafted to go straight to their heart and sting. I am ashamed to say it, but there is no one that will read this that doesn’t know exactly what I’m talking about. We do it all too often and we do it most to the ones we love best. Every one of us has been on the giving and the receiving end of this kind of cruelty.
So how do we stop the bloodletting? We must be spirit controlled and constantly be guarding the chain saw inside our mouths, and in case of any doubt, keep the thing turned off. God set it behind two rows of teeth and between two powerful jaws for a reason. James said the tongue is a force that can be set on fire of hell. The tongue may be small, but like the little kindling used to start a fire, it has power to destroy. As a matter of fact, it’s almost impossible to start a fire with large pieces of wood.
Proverbs 25:15 says, Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle word can break bones.
6. OUR WORDS MUST ALWAYS BE THE TRUTH.
The truth is a precious commodity. Our CIA knows this and will spend vast amounts of money to get truthful information about the world so we can make decisions on a solid foundation. But our CIA also spends much money and energy spreading inaccurate information about our country. Why; because lies are a deadly weapon.
One of the worst uses of the tongue is to lie. When I lie to you, I’m robbing you of information you need to live wisely. Proverbs 6:17 says that a lying tongue is disgusting to God. He hates lies. I haven’t heard it lately but when I was a kid they used to say, “you can lock up from a thief but you can’t lock up from a liar.”
Paul says in Ephesians 4; 29, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers.”
Paul is saying here that a thing has to be more than merely true, it has to be edifying. And then Paul goes on to say something else that is somewhat shocking. He says our words must be “ministers of grace.” With an ocean of ink and a thousand word processors and four lifetimes, we might start to scratch the surface on that subject.
7. WE SOMETIMES TELL LIES USING THE TRUTH.
I once pastored a lady who would never tell a lie. She was a wonderful lady. I never heard her say an unkind word to anyone. She loved and encouraged people. But she had one weakness—prayer requests. In her prayer requests she told on her husband who was a drinking man. We in the church knew all about his foibles. We got a running update every service. She loved to pass on her prayer requests and she did so often and in great quantity. This lady constantly spilled the beans on everyone in her life; friends, neighbors and relatives, and it was all done under the guise of prayer requests.
She didn’t really intend to harm anyone-and she certainly didn’t think of herself as a gossip. All her talking was in her sharing all of her prayer requests. Also, she loved details about other people’s prayer requests. I often heard her say, “Give me the details so I’ll know how to pray.” Once I can remember telling her how to formulate a prayer without having all the gory details. I never made a dent on her. She was God's prayer request Doberman and she "wasn’t going to let the devil stop her."
Gossip and slander often disguise themselves as concern, seeking advice, asking for prayer and unloading, but the big Elephant in the living room is just talking too much.
A simple rule; when you know someone is facing difficulties, talk with the person, and talk to God. There is almost never a need to talk to anyone else.
8. WE GOSSIP IN THE NAME OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH.
Many people are being encouraged to “Be completely honest and truthful about their feelings.” They are told by numb skull advisers that if you don’t spill out all the things inside you, you’ll be warped. Many times I’ve cringed when I heard the words, “I’m just going to be honest.” I can never remember those words being followed by anything good. They use words like “I don’t want to hurt you; I just have to be honest about my feelings.” Under the cowardly cloak of “pseudo-honesty” they slander their parents their spouses and friends. This isn’t what it means to speak truthfully. This is just an excuse to even scores with people, and to dump all of the trash and wickedness of our hearts out onto others. It’s a two-edged sword that at one and the same time appears spiritual, sharing their hurt, while slapping someone else in the face that was the real target anyway. And most tragic; often the people they dump it on aren’t strong enough emotionally to carry it and end up weaker.
Incidently, while on the subject, I'm sure we've all had someone tell us "The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you. You know that's the last thing in the world I'd ever do is hurt you!" Stop and think what they're saying. First , they've told you they have a list for dealing with you and the very last thing on that list is to hurt you. But they're not going to do it now because they have a few more things they plan to do first. Then the last thing will be to really hurt you. Sorry if I sound a little cynical here folks.
## Don’t let “truth telling” become an excuse to dishonor parents or hurt other people by unloading your feelings.
Could it be that we are so vindictive that we want to hurt someone without being held accountable for the assault? After all, if we walked up to the person we wish to hurt and punched them in the face, we’d be jailed for it. So how can we do it without having to account for it? Oh yes, here’s a way to get-em; we can go public by being “painfully honest” and enlisting “ prayer- support.”
9. LETS DON’T FORGET! --A CHAINSAW CAN BE A USEFUL TOOL.
The tongue has awesome power for good. If I were trapped under a fallen tree, the sound of a chain- saw, as much as I fear them, would be music to my ears. Proverbs 18:21 says …The tongue has the power of life or death.
Kind words are among the most loving things human beings can give one another. Words can build up a person’s confidence and make them winners in life. It was said of Napoleon that half of what he accomplished was done with words.
If we allow our tongues to go on automatic pilot, they can simply revert to the old habits of gossip and lies. The antidote is to keep the tongue busy with words of blessing, praise, appreciation, forgiveness and apology. In I Corinthians 13:11 Paul tells us that one of the earmarks of a child is the way they speak. Children have no filter and will say just about anything that comes to mind. You can also identify spiritual babies that way. There are some things that a grown-up will never say in a million years, if it takes biting their tongues 24/7.
If we’re honest, most of us will admit we’ve been hurt with words in the last 24 hours. The wounds may still be fresh. The people we live with and work around aren’t always nice and polite to us. They yell at us, curse and insult us.
But it’s our calling as Christians to return blessings for curses—to return kind words for harsh ones. You can be an enormous influence for healing in your world if you simply accept it as your calling to exchange blessings for curses.
10. OUR TONGUE PROBLEMS MUST BE DEALT WITH AT THE CROSS.
I first need a change of heart. I can’t do that on my own. We must come to the foot of the cross and experience God’s grace and get a new nature. God gives us a new nature and a new heart and he also gives us the Holy Spirit. It then becomes our lifelong challenge to daily put the old nature to death and live according to our new nature. We all have an evil twin who likes to rattle on and on. The apostle Paul had his, and you can read about it in Romans 7.The tongue problem is just like a substance abuse problem, and when you catch yourself falling into old patterns, don’t feel alone. Just deal with it and keep on dealing with it but never "do a deal" with it.
#May God deliver us from cowardice, that dare not face the truth,
#Laziness, content with knowing half the truth,
#And arrogance that thinks it has all the truth.
May He deliver us from rudeness, cynicism about each other, intolerance and cruel indifference.
And may we all pray with David,
SET A WATCH O LORD, BEFORE MY MOUTH, KEEP THE DOOR OF MY LIPS. PSALM 141:3.
Here's the "Stallings translation"...Shut my mouth!
Blessings,
John
Thursday, September 5, 2013
IS PRESIDENT OBAMA DITHERING??
By John Stallings
A few years ago former Vice President Cheney brought the word dithering to center stage describing our current President’s protracted agonizing over putting more troops in Afghanistan.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY!
Unless you've been living in a cave you know that for the last several weeks Washington D.C has been in a dither concerning whether or not to intervene in the nation of Syria. It seems evidence is-- the government is using Gas on its own people with fatalities surpassing 100,000. Seems this is a perfect illustration of dithering.
The dictionary defines dithering as-“To act irresolutely; to act in fear and trembling.”
Maybe we’ve all been guilty of that from time to time, sometimes out of fear & worry & sometimes just not being able to come to a conclusion regarding a matter.
One man was asked if he had trouble making decisions. He hesitated for a few seconds & answered, “Well, yes & no.”
A dense fog that covers a seven-city- block area one-hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.
This is emblematic of worry & how something so vague & foggy can become so confusing to the mind.
I heard about a very good man who experienced a nervous breakdown. This man would work all day, come home & walk straight to his bedroom, then sit for hours & cry. Obviously he wasn’t available spiritually, physically or in any way to his wife & family. When his wife would come in to try to talk to him he’d express to her his worry about whether their son who had been killed was saved, & shed tears over the prospects of his being in hell.
He’d agonize & wonder if his mother & father made it to heaven or were they burning in hell. I think you’d probably agree that this sort of thing is abnormal, but in truth this is what can happen to any of us if we allow anxiety, fear & worry to crawl into the saddle & dig their spurs into our side. Worry & fear can turn us into obsessive /compulsive thinkers suffering from paralysis by analysis.
We weren’t created with the capacity to worry all the time & be mentally & spiritually well. Fear isn’t native to us, faith is. We just live better with confidence & faith than we do with fear & worry. I heard an eminent doctor say recently, “We don’t know why people who worry & fret die earlier than those who maintain good cheer, but they do.” Think about that. That isn’t a snake oil salesman trying to hype us up, but a medical man who lives in the trenches with the issues of life & death 24/7/365.
This is why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7,
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts & your mind through Christ Jesus.
A worry- wart will spend as much as 30% of their time just worrying. Contrary to what some people think, worry is actually a form of action. It’s endless- “Dithering.” Worry is incessant mental rehearsal convincing a person they’re moving toward a solution. Energy is spent uselessly & vitality is drained.
A good way of describing worry is its like shoveling smoke. Energy is used up but nothing of value is accomplished. It’s like spending time wishing skunks didn’t stink. But a person can’t just tell themselves to quit worrying. I’ve had the experiencing of trying to quit worrying on my own & it’s much like telling yourself not to think about elephants. Every time I’ve tried that a whole group of elephants showed up wearing pink sunglasses. We must exchange our thoughts for God’s thoughts & fill our minds with God’s Word.
Recently several of our greatest television preachers & pastors have gone to heaven. None of them were as my grandmother used to say, “Dead with old age.” They were getting a little older but I would have expected them to live far longer than they did. Now I know that I’m not God & it isn’t my business to second guess their deaths, but I can’t help but wonder if they passed too soon.
Psalm 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
I can’t tell you how many funerals I‘ve preached using this verse as a comfort to the families, that “God was standing at the portico of glory, beckoning for his child to finally be home with Him.” One day a minister friend of mine told me, “John, did you know that word precious actually means costly?” Well, that put it all in a different light. Now we see God presented with the high cost of losing great & effective people in His kingdom.
I’ve heard people talk about why God took their loved one, & they’ll say, “Well, you know heaven must be lonely & they needed another flower to bloom in God’s bouquet. I know God must have needed another tenor singer in heavens choir.” Dear friend, if there’s any place in the universe that isn't lonely it's heaven.
Let’s go back to the ministers who've died lately & apply something my dad used to believe & speak of often. He studied the lives of all the famous preachers of the last one-hundred years. D.L Moody, the famous evangelist died at age 62. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London pastor who was called “the prince of preachers” died at 58. The last year or two of Spurgeon’s life he was so sickly he spent most of his time in the South of France & mailed his sermons back to be read in his church.
My dad’s theory & I think he was right, was that stress brought on by too much popularity killed these men. They were in such world- wide demand that they abused their bodies traveling too much & working too hard. Also these men knew little about how diet & exercise affect the body so they spent most of their lives sitting & studying, hence many of them died with what doctors used to call, “Fatty heart deterioration.” One thing for sure, our bodies can’t tell the difference if we’re stressing out over little mundane things or if we’re being crushed by the weight of hurting humanity. Helping people is a noble cause but if we let people’s problems, even their spiritual problems get inside us; it can prove deadly.
There are certain natural laws of good mental & physical health we can’t break & do well, just as we couldn't jump off a bridge on our way to church & expect the law of gravity to be suspended for us.
A few years ago I lost one of my best preacher friends & we were about the same age. I knew him from a boy and always considered him to be in much better physical shape than I ever was. He was never hardly a smidgen overweight through all the years I knew him. On a Sunday evening he was getting ready to go to church & had a heart attack & was dead before the paramedics could get him to the hospital. I 'm no expert but I've always believed that stress killed him. He was a prince of a man, super-conscientious, a perfectionist, & very “military” in his thinking.
Let’s look at some things that cause anxiety & also a few ways to fight it.
1. A need to control can cause anxiety.
This quality can morph into a malignant motivation if not watched. Sometimes we can get over- inflated ideas of our own importance & forget the world will go on quite nicely when we’re gone. This thought helps us stay in touch with reality.
2. Deal with facts not hobgoblins.
A very sharp, intelligent person can think of more things to worry about before he/she put their feet on the floor in the morning than a “duller-knife” can conjure up in a week. But statistics say the person with the not-so-high IQ may well be more successful & will probably live longer.
Philippians 4:8-9 says,---Finally brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned & received & heard & saw in me, these do, & the God of peace will be with you.
3. Humble yourself and pray.
1 Peter 5:6-7 says,--Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for he cares for you.
Pride turned angels into devils. We need to let God search us & see what’s inside us. Pride will install itself in our hearts & cause us to be self-absorbed & unable to see our lives in proper perspective. When we become self-absorbed, we’ll see our problems in a warped light.
Cain told God when he was approached about killing Able that he feared “everyone was going to kill him.” Of course this sprang from his guilt, because how could everyone kill him? A person can only be killed once the last time I checked. This was paranoia in Cain, aggravated by his pride. The devil will try to make us think “everyone” is against us, when it just isn't true.
One man said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn't mean they’re not out to get you.”
A young man went to his dad & told him he felt everyone hated him. The father answered him by saying, “Son, don’t say that, everyone hasn't met you yet.”
Other people have more to do than to go around thinking how to hurt & defeat us, don’t you think?
4. Release all your worries to God & rest in Him.
1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while establish, strengthen & settle you.”
When I was five or six I remember asking my mother one day, “Mom am I saved?” Her answer stills reverberates in my mind. She answered, “Son, nobody can answer that question but you.” I had said the sinners prayer & been baptized but I still had that haunting question. What struck home with me was that it was actually my decision & no one but me could make it. My eternal destiny was in my own hands.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah asked the people on Mount Carmel to make a decision. He told them if they wanted to serve Baal to go on & serve him, or if they decided to go with God, they should make a decision & stop halting between two opinions. He was saying in essence, stop dithering.
James said…For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind & tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1: 6-8.
There are many landmines in the path of the believer not the least of which is procrastination. What decision do you need to make today? Will you make it & get on with your life or will you succumb to...
DITHERING?
Blessings,
John
A few years ago former Vice President Cheney brought the word dithering to center stage describing our current President’s protracted agonizing over putting more troops in Afghanistan.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY!
Unless you've been living in a cave you know that for the last several weeks Washington D.C has been in a dither concerning whether or not to intervene in the nation of Syria. It seems evidence is-- the government is using Gas on its own people with fatalities surpassing 100,000. Seems this is a perfect illustration of dithering.
The dictionary defines dithering as-“To act irresolutely; to act in fear and trembling.”
Maybe we’ve all been guilty of that from time to time, sometimes out of fear & worry & sometimes just not being able to come to a conclusion regarding a matter.
One man was asked if he had trouble making decisions. He hesitated for a few seconds & answered, “Well, yes & no.”
A dense fog that covers a seven-city- block area one-hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.
This is emblematic of worry & how something so vague & foggy can become so confusing to the mind.
I heard about a very good man who experienced a nervous breakdown. This man would work all day, come home & walk straight to his bedroom, then sit for hours & cry. Obviously he wasn’t available spiritually, physically or in any way to his wife & family. When his wife would come in to try to talk to him he’d express to her his worry about whether their son who had been killed was saved, & shed tears over the prospects of his being in hell.
He’d agonize & wonder if his mother & father made it to heaven or were they burning in hell. I think you’d probably agree that this sort of thing is abnormal, but in truth this is what can happen to any of us if we allow anxiety, fear & worry to crawl into the saddle & dig their spurs into our side. Worry & fear can turn us into obsessive /compulsive thinkers suffering from paralysis by analysis.
We weren’t created with the capacity to worry all the time & be mentally & spiritually well. Fear isn’t native to us, faith is. We just live better with confidence & faith than we do with fear & worry. I heard an eminent doctor say recently, “We don’t know why people who worry & fret die earlier than those who maintain good cheer, but they do.” Think about that. That isn’t a snake oil salesman trying to hype us up, but a medical man who lives in the trenches with the issues of life & death 24/7/365.
This is why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7,
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts & your mind through Christ Jesus.
A worry- wart will spend as much as 30% of their time just worrying. Contrary to what some people think, worry is actually a form of action. It’s endless- “Dithering.” Worry is incessant mental rehearsal convincing a person they’re moving toward a solution. Energy is spent uselessly & vitality is drained.
A good way of describing worry is its like shoveling smoke. Energy is used up but nothing of value is accomplished. It’s like spending time wishing skunks didn’t stink. But a person can’t just tell themselves to quit worrying. I’ve had the experiencing of trying to quit worrying on my own & it’s much like telling yourself not to think about elephants. Every time I’ve tried that a whole group of elephants showed up wearing pink sunglasses. We must exchange our thoughts for God’s thoughts & fill our minds with God’s Word.
Recently several of our greatest television preachers & pastors have gone to heaven. None of them were as my grandmother used to say, “Dead with old age.” They were getting a little older but I would have expected them to live far longer than they did. Now I know that I’m not God & it isn’t my business to second guess their deaths, but I can’t help but wonder if they passed too soon.
Psalm 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
I can’t tell you how many funerals I‘ve preached using this verse as a comfort to the families, that “God was standing at the portico of glory, beckoning for his child to finally be home with Him.” One day a minister friend of mine told me, “John, did you know that word precious actually means costly?” Well, that put it all in a different light. Now we see God presented with the high cost of losing great & effective people in His kingdom.
I’ve heard people talk about why God took their loved one, & they’ll say, “Well, you know heaven must be lonely & they needed another flower to bloom in God’s bouquet. I know God must have needed another tenor singer in heavens choir.” Dear friend, if there’s any place in the universe that isn't lonely it's heaven.
Let’s go back to the ministers who've died lately & apply something my dad used to believe & speak of often. He studied the lives of all the famous preachers of the last one-hundred years. D.L Moody, the famous evangelist died at age 62. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London pastor who was called “the prince of preachers” died at 58. The last year or two of Spurgeon’s life he was so sickly he spent most of his time in the South of France & mailed his sermons back to be read in his church.
My dad’s theory & I think he was right, was that stress brought on by too much popularity killed these men. They were in such world- wide demand that they abused their bodies traveling too much & working too hard. Also these men knew little about how diet & exercise affect the body so they spent most of their lives sitting & studying, hence many of them died with what doctors used to call, “Fatty heart deterioration.” One thing for sure, our bodies can’t tell the difference if we’re stressing out over little mundane things or if we’re being crushed by the weight of hurting humanity. Helping people is a noble cause but if we let people’s problems, even their spiritual problems get inside us; it can prove deadly.
There are certain natural laws of good mental & physical health we can’t break & do well, just as we couldn't jump off a bridge on our way to church & expect the law of gravity to be suspended for us.
A few years ago I lost one of my best preacher friends & we were about the same age. I knew him from a boy and always considered him to be in much better physical shape than I ever was. He was never hardly a smidgen overweight through all the years I knew him. On a Sunday evening he was getting ready to go to church & had a heart attack & was dead before the paramedics could get him to the hospital. I 'm no expert but I've always believed that stress killed him. He was a prince of a man, super-conscientious, a perfectionist, & very “military” in his thinking.
Let’s look at some things that cause anxiety & also a few ways to fight it.
1. A need to control can cause anxiety.
This quality can morph into a malignant motivation if not watched. Sometimes we can get over- inflated ideas of our own importance & forget the world will go on quite nicely when we’re gone. This thought helps us stay in touch with reality.
2. Deal with facts not hobgoblins.
A very sharp, intelligent person can think of more things to worry about before he/she put their feet on the floor in the morning than a “duller-knife” can conjure up in a week. But statistics say the person with the not-so-high IQ may well be more successful & will probably live longer.
Philippians 4:8-9 says,---Finally brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned & received & heard & saw in me, these do, & the God of peace will be with you.
3. Humble yourself and pray.
1 Peter 5:6-7 says,--Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for he cares for you.
Pride turned angels into devils. We need to let God search us & see what’s inside us. Pride will install itself in our hearts & cause us to be self-absorbed & unable to see our lives in proper perspective. When we become self-absorbed, we’ll see our problems in a warped light.
Cain told God when he was approached about killing Able that he feared “everyone was going to kill him.” Of course this sprang from his guilt, because how could everyone kill him? A person can only be killed once the last time I checked. This was paranoia in Cain, aggravated by his pride. The devil will try to make us think “everyone” is against us, when it just isn't true.
One man said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn't mean they’re not out to get you.”
A young man went to his dad & told him he felt everyone hated him. The father answered him by saying, “Son, don’t say that, everyone hasn't met you yet.”
Other people have more to do than to go around thinking how to hurt & defeat us, don’t you think?
4. Release all your worries to God & rest in Him.
1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while establish, strengthen & settle you.”
When I was five or six I remember asking my mother one day, “Mom am I saved?” Her answer stills reverberates in my mind. She answered, “Son, nobody can answer that question but you.” I had said the sinners prayer & been baptized but I still had that haunting question. What struck home with me was that it was actually my decision & no one but me could make it. My eternal destiny was in my own hands.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah asked the people on Mount Carmel to make a decision. He told them if they wanted to serve Baal to go on & serve him, or if they decided to go with God, they should make a decision & stop halting between two opinions. He was saying in essence, stop dithering.
James said…For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind & tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1: 6-8.
There are many landmines in the path of the believer not the least of which is procrastination. What decision do you need to make today? Will you make it & get on with your life or will you succumb to...
DITHERING?
Blessings,
John
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
"The Fundamental Things Still Apply..."
By John Stallings
You knew him.
If you've been a church-attendee for very long this man is no stranger to you.The man usually wore dark clothing & donned the pulpit every Sunday, opened the Bible & preached. The thing you most remember is how dull & listless the sermons were.
You tried to blame it on the dull lighting, the rock hard pews & the drab surroundings but alas, what it was- was boring preaching, coming from a man who'd given up.This man had quit studying years ago & was simply reciting his old manuscripts. Though at the time, you may not have had enough experience to call it what it was, something in you knew he'd lost the joy, the enthusiasm of imparting God's Word to the people.
NOTHING NEW...
Nothing fresh fell from the lips of this man. It was in his voice & written all over his countenance. He had one special magic that couldn't be denied & no one could take it away from him; --He could make twenty minutes seem like two weeks. Be honest; you've known this man haven't you? He'd basically shut down. He'd lost the wonder. He was only in his early forties but he constantly used the word "old."
But having spent so many years in the ministry myself, it would be dishonest of me not to admit there have been times in my life, thankfully short-lived, when I endured spiritual dryness & faced head-on my powerlessness to do anything about it. I have looked into the abyss of spiritual burn-out & oblivion & wanted desperately to run & hide from the agony of it all.
Not that I was or ever will be a Mother Teresa, but I can understand her "dark night of the soul," holding on by the fingertips & longing so very desperately for God. Standing before the people more than once a week as a spokesman for heaven feeling deep within myself that I wasn't worthy. But also knowing unequivocally that God had called me to speak for Him & even, God forbid, if I went to hell I’d take that call with me. I've known Mondays when I was so emotionally exhausted & adrenaline depleted it was hard for me to talk. Mondays are days when I am most vulnerable to discouragement & despair after wringing myself dry emotionally & spiritually on Sunday.
There was a time when pastors always took Monday's off but that changed some years ago. Many ministers felt they'd be more productive to get into their offices on Monday & use the time to get organize for next Sunday since they couldn't relax anyway. As you know, preachers are only human. Their only hope of staying viable is to study & pray & once again be engaged by the presence of the living Christ as He speaks into their hearts & the Scripture is illuminated by His Spirit.
I have an electric razor with a rechargeable battery as I suspect many men do. I can unplug it & walk all over the house shaving which I often do. But when the battery starts to run low, I can feel it & then I hear it as it slowly loses power & cutting ability. At that point I know I'd better get it back to the electrical socket in the wall & recharge the battery.This to me is a metaphor of life. We can all run for a short time without being plugged in, but sooner or later it catches up with us & we must get back to the source of power.
The ministers I mentioned at the beginning of this article, many who have been & can still be some of God's most gifted men, just need to get back to the source of power that opens the mind, thrills the heart & causes us again to know the presence of the Living Lord.
TWO SAD DISCIPLES
In Luke 24, two disciples returned to Emmaus filled with despair with all that had happened
in Jerusalem on the previous days. They were drained & burned out. However a "stranger" joined them along the way & listened to their lament. Then as they walked He began to interpret the Word of God to them; the law, the prophets & the Psalms. He helped them to understand the necessity of the crucifixion they'd witnessed. As they walked, their hearts were burning.Then later they broke bread together & then they recognized the "stranger" as the resurrected Lord Jesus. Then He was gone, but they knew He was alive. He'd been with them & promised to come again to dwell with them through the power of His indwelling Spirit. In a manner of speaking this visit from the living Christ helped those thoroughly dejected men to survive, at least on the spiritual level.
JESUS SHOWED UP
What always saves the discouraged preacher or the downhearted Christian is when Jesus shows up & in his own wonderful way again stirs our spirit, & opens our eyes so that we again are aware of His presence at work -guiding, blessing, forgiving, & restoring hope. It's then that we see He is at work all around us in the lives of all whom we know & love. It's then & only then that the scales fall off our eyes & we're given glimpses of His divine grace at work everywhere. And to make it even more glorious, we see that even our perceived botching of the things we were trying to do for Him can so graciously & perfectly fit into the divine mosaic which is our lives.God never meant for anyone to be this way. He created us with a sense of wonder -with the capacity for passion, yet too many of us, like the preacher, shut down way too early.
Are you living every day filled with hope & expectancy? Are you living life to its fullest?So many people once were excited about the future but somewhere along the way life has knocked all that out of them & their appetite & "lust for life" has been lost. They used to pursue their dreams but then they hit some roadblocks, things didn't work out the way they had hoped they would & now they're just going through the motions. They've quit dreaming. They've quit pursuing their goals & tragically they've lost their purpose.It happens far too often; people have a great salvation experience. They become excited, devoted & committed. Every time the church doors open they're there. They can't wait to get there. The whole new world of faith has opened for them & it's all too wonderful for words. For months, sometimes years all goes well. They have no problems with their faith. But suddenly they began to have difficulties. They begin to drop out. The luster wears off; the excitement wears down & their devotional commitments shrink. Soon they disappear & become names on a dusty church role somewhere. No one sees them. No one knows them anymore.
In our youth, we were filled with joy & energy but now many of us have to work on stimulating them both. Why does this happen & how can we prevent it? How can we keep our spiritual experience vibrant & zestful?
How can we survive spiritually ? The answer isn’t deep or difficult to grasp.
THE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS STILL APPLY WHEN YOUR FAITH IS ON THE CRITICAL LIST. YOU AND I MUST...
1. PRAY
We find some fascinating & helpful clues in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is facing death yet there are instructional keys to staying alive.We know the disciples saw Jesus do many great miracles. Yet we don't read that they ever asked, "Lord, teach us to do miracles." We know the disciples saw Him use His intellect to silence the sharpest legal minds, but we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us your mental acumen." We know the disciples observed their Master’s awesome command of the Old Testament manuscripts, yet we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us what you know about the law." We know He was a master of crowd control & fully understood what it took to keep the masses of human bodies under control, yet the disciples never asked Him to tell them how to handle the throngs of people who pressed in to hear Him.
But the twelve had watched Jesus closely. They'd seen Him rise without disturbing a single soul to steal away & commune with His Father. Behind all of His skills they suspected something else was at work. They knew His secret; His awesome power was embedded in His prayer life. So they asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
Gethsemane was a tough & terrible moment. The cross loomed before Jesus. He didn't want to go to the cross. He prayed about it. Father, take this cup from me. It was an earnest prayer. He sweated drops of blood. This is serious business here! It was agony to pray, but pray He did. Yet He found strength to pray, - Not my will but thine be done.Do you see it? Prayer was Christ's way of keeping His faith alive.
Friend we all need prayer. Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer is friendship with God. Prayer is the way we keep the lines of communication open with God. The truth is, if we fail to pray our relationship with God grows dimmer & dimmer. We don't need a sanctimonious tone to talk with God. All we need is a willingness to communicate with Him & to be in His presence.In doing the fundamentals, some other things come to mind. To wit;
2. CONTINUE TO GROW & LEARN
In the Garden Jesus didn't exhibit close-mindedness. He didn't say, "Now see here God, we never did it this way before." No!! Our Lord was open to God's truth. He was open to God's will; He was open to God's direction.
One night a little boy fell out of bed. When his mother asked him his problem he said, "I think I fell asleep too close to where I first got in." The tragedy is that as soon as we stop growing & learning, at that moment our faith begins to shrivel, shrink & die. We are like plants in that we need light to grow. To keep our faith alive we must continue to pray, grow, study, think & learn.
In the aftermath of some of the airline tragedies in this country, the sad reality has been revealed that the pilots & co-pilots were not really up to date on some of the latest facts about the machinery they were using. It has yet to be decided where to place the blame but the tragedy still remains that many hundreds of innocents souls who wanted above all else to stay alive, were lost, perhaps due to nothing more than the crew simply not having a small piece of information.Other fundamentals that apply here are;
3. DO SOMETHING- BETTER YET, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
I read a book years ago called, "Do one thing different." The gist of it is- if you want to affect change in your life, do just one thing different every day. Read a different newspaper. Surf TV channels. Though you may have to search,hard, you’ll surprised at the good stuff that’s available. You'd be surprised what would happen if you simply changed from fried chicken to oven- broiled or baked chicken for one year, or maybe fasted one meal a day or even one meal a week. Maybe..just maybe, give up powdered donuts for a few weeks.
One of the fastest ways to run out of steam is to operate as a lone wolf. We must love our enemies but we're under no mandate to work with them, if we're constantly having "dust ups." Work & fellowship with people who don’t have agendas & with whom you can be peaceful . It’s been my experience that the fastest way to break through the wall of helplessness & hopelessness is to act. Do something. Don't just be a hearer of the Word, be a doer. Next;
4. RETAIN YOUR CHILDLIKE SENSE OF WONDER
What do you think is the most important spiritual grace? If you say love, you'd certainly be on the right track, & you'd have the apostle Paul, the greatest Christian who ever lived- in agreement with you. But if you asked Jesus that question--what's the greatest spiritual quality we could possess, you'd get another answer. Can you guess what that answer would be? Wait for it.........it's the Child-likeness of "A little child."Did you notice the answer wasn't--child-likess? It was the -child-likeness of a "little child." What's the difference in a child & a little child? If you've raised children you know very well that there's a great difference in a child at about four or five, than a child at about six or seven. What's the difference? Among other things, it’s a sense of trust. One of the biggest differences is-a little child is unimpressed with any one's station in life. They will play with other children of any color, race or creed & pay no attention to pedigree or who the other kids are.
But twelve or eighteen months later you have a different child. Now you'll hear them say things like, "My daddy is the president of a bank," or, "My daddy has more money than your daddy." You'll probably hear them talking about their new item of clothing & what the brand name is. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus called a child to him one day & said--Unless you become as a "little child" you can't enter the kingdom of God?
5. DON'T QUIT-NO MATTER WHAT!
Let me ask you a very important question; did the Wright brothers quit? No! Did Charles Lindbergh ever quit? No! Did Joan of Arc ever quit? No! Did Jesus, or Paul, or James or Daniel or Elijah ever completely quit? Of course they didn't quit. Did Thorndyke Mckeester ever quit? The reader may ask, "Who on earth is Thorndyke Mckeester? I never heard of him!” Of course you never heard of him. He quit!
In the early church, there was a leader who was close to the Apostle Paul. He was talented, bright, capable & full of potential. But we hear few sermons about him because he quit. His name was Demas. Some of the saddest words in the New Testament are found in 2 Timothy 4:10—Demas ……has deserted me…. Friend, we have to make up our minds to stay with it. Demas was destined for greatness but he got lost in the shuffle & quit. Don’t quit on life. Don’t quit on the church. Make up your mind to stay with this faith pilgrimage whatever the cost. It takes a lot of prayer, a lot of obedience, a lot of determination & a lot of grit & grace to continue sometimes. Don’t forget to;
6. CELEBRATE SMALL VICTORIES
Your arthritis may not be totally healed but is it better? Then praise God for it. If you have fewer migraines than you once had, praise God for it. It may sound insignificant but still it’s important that you do it. Celebrating incremental victories is important in all of life. If you’ve only lost an inch in your waist-line, celebrate it & believe God that soon you’ll be able to look at that side view of yourself in the mirror without being depressed.
Elijah saw a cloud so small it could be compared to a man’s hand but he respected it & kept praying until it turned into a deluge of rain.David encouraged himself with the fact that he had killed a Bear & a Lion & it gave him the faith to kill a ten foot giant with a rock. Here’s something fundamentally important;
7. ENJOY LIFE
George H.W Bush may not go down in history as a great president but every time he jumps out of a perfectly good airplane to parachute- I cheer him on from the safety of my couch. What a guy. The man is in his late eighties. While he’s jumping I’ll be fishing.
Each morning when we rise we’re faced with the decision to either save the world or savor the world. It really makes it hard to plan the day. My suggestion is, -do both. First pray & ask God for directions, then smell the roses. The Bible tells us…. God has given us all things to enjoy.
I’ve had more impact on the lives of people by being of good cheer than with a lot of sermons I’ve preached. The sermons are not only important they are imperative but it’s also important that we spread good cheer whatever the endeavor we’re engaged in.I know things don’t look good right now in America folks but let's celebrate the victory we just experienced at the polls. Don't forget, Messiahs coming & He’s coming soon. Soon & very soon the right foot is going to step into the stirrup & the King of Kings will swing into the saddle. Things will be set right & …he shall reign forever & ever. Praise His Name!! Next;
8. DEVELOP NEW INTERESTS
I never touched a computer until I was sixty & you’d be surprised how much I’ve learned. A few years ago if you’d have told me I’d be writing a blog I would have thought you “off the rails.” I want to say fully alive, don’t you? Don't forget to;
9. KEEP READING THE WORD
If you expect to be able to withstand the shaking that’s coming you will have to be anchored in the Word of God. We will have to study the Word & build a dynamic relationship with God. Some simply won’t stay alive when hell begins its all out vile assault against the faith. Some will leave because someone said something to hurt their feelings. They have spiritual myopia & can’t see further than their neighbors faults. Some won’t stay alive to Christ because of what the church treasurer, a deacon, the choir leader or the pastor did. It really doesn’t matter why they leave; it just means they weren’t rooted enough in the Word to survive the shaking.
Some will leave the faith because of what an unscrupulous TV evangelist did or said. But mainly people will lose heart because they don’t read the Word of God & read it every day. It’s God’s Word that will fortify the heart & mind against error.
10. TO FORGET THIS CAN BE FATAL
Don't get bored with doing the basics. I read an article some time back about why a large percentage of American evangelists get into mid-life and “flame out.” I’m not necessarily speaking of backsliding or even leaving the ministry although this does happen. I speak of preachers in mid-life who get bored with doing "the same old same old "and want to “stir things up” and do something radically different.
Oral Roberts comes to mind, though I always held him in high esteem and still do. It's my humble opinion that he grew tired of doing the basics. Remember he built a hospital at age 50? Not a criticism, just an observation. I was preaching in Tulsa about the time Oral announced his coming hospital. The word on everyone’s lips was that Tulsa already had thousands of empty and unused hospital beds, now Roberts wants to spend millions for a hospital. Roberts forged on anyway and built the facility, which by the way was absolutely beautiful. However it wasn’t long until the endeavor was in serious financial trouble and the hospital was standing empty.
One powerful exception to this is evangelist Billy Graham. Billy has many fine characteristics, but I believe his greatest quality through the years has been that; although he preached from all parts of the Bible, it all would come back to the simple message of Salvation through faith in the shed blood of Christ on the cross, and God’s fathomless reservoir of love and forgiveness toward anyone who’d place their trust in Him.Indeed,-The fundamental things do apply, so at any juncture of our lives and in whatever battle we might find ourselves fighting, let us never stop doing the basics that I’ve humbly tried to list here.
I don’t have to tell you there are going to be dark days ahead. Back during World War 2, Ruth K. Jones was reading 2 Timothy 3:1—this know that in the last days perilous times will come…. Moved by the Holy Spirit, she picked up her pen & wrote;
In times like these, we need a Savior. In times like these we need an Anchor. Be very sure, be very sure, your Anchor holds & grips the solid rock.
Where is your anchor today?
Is it upon the solid rock? We’ll not only stay vital and alive but thrive in the worst of times if we’re anchored upon Christ Jesus,…… the only solid rock.
Blessings,
John
You knew him.
If you've been a church-attendee for very long this man is no stranger to you.The man usually wore dark clothing & donned the pulpit every Sunday, opened the Bible & preached. The thing you most remember is how dull & listless the sermons were.
You tried to blame it on the dull lighting, the rock hard pews & the drab surroundings but alas, what it was- was boring preaching, coming from a man who'd given up.This man had quit studying years ago & was simply reciting his old manuscripts. Though at the time, you may not have had enough experience to call it what it was, something in you knew he'd lost the joy, the enthusiasm of imparting God's Word to the people.
NOTHING NEW...
Nothing fresh fell from the lips of this man. It was in his voice & written all over his countenance. He had one special magic that couldn't be denied & no one could take it away from him; --He could make twenty minutes seem like two weeks. Be honest; you've known this man haven't you? He'd basically shut down. He'd lost the wonder. He was only in his early forties but he constantly used the word "old."
But having spent so many years in the ministry myself, it would be dishonest of me not to admit there have been times in my life, thankfully short-lived, when I endured spiritual dryness & faced head-on my powerlessness to do anything about it. I have looked into the abyss of spiritual burn-out & oblivion & wanted desperately to run & hide from the agony of it all.
Not that I was or ever will be a Mother Teresa, but I can understand her "dark night of the soul," holding on by the fingertips & longing so very desperately for God. Standing before the people more than once a week as a spokesman for heaven feeling deep within myself that I wasn't worthy. But also knowing unequivocally that God had called me to speak for Him & even, God forbid, if I went to hell I’d take that call with me. I've known Mondays when I was so emotionally exhausted & adrenaline depleted it was hard for me to talk. Mondays are days when I am most vulnerable to discouragement & despair after wringing myself dry emotionally & spiritually on Sunday.
There was a time when pastors always took Monday's off but that changed some years ago. Many ministers felt they'd be more productive to get into their offices on Monday & use the time to get organize for next Sunday since they couldn't relax anyway. As you know, preachers are only human. Their only hope of staying viable is to study & pray & once again be engaged by the presence of the living Christ as He speaks into their hearts & the Scripture is illuminated by His Spirit.
I have an electric razor with a rechargeable battery as I suspect many men do. I can unplug it & walk all over the house shaving which I often do. But when the battery starts to run low, I can feel it & then I hear it as it slowly loses power & cutting ability. At that point I know I'd better get it back to the electrical socket in the wall & recharge the battery.This to me is a metaphor of life. We can all run for a short time without being plugged in, but sooner or later it catches up with us & we must get back to the source of power.
The ministers I mentioned at the beginning of this article, many who have been & can still be some of God's most gifted men, just need to get back to the source of power that opens the mind, thrills the heart & causes us again to know the presence of the Living Lord.
TWO SAD DISCIPLES
In Luke 24, two disciples returned to Emmaus filled with despair with all that had happened
in Jerusalem on the previous days. They were drained & burned out. However a "stranger" joined them along the way & listened to their lament. Then as they walked He began to interpret the Word of God to them; the law, the prophets & the Psalms. He helped them to understand the necessity of the crucifixion they'd witnessed. As they walked, their hearts were burning.Then later they broke bread together & then they recognized the "stranger" as the resurrected Lord Jesus. Then He was gone, but they knew He was alive. He'd been with them & promised to come again to dwell with them through the power of His indwelling Spirit. In a manner of speaking this visit from the living Christ helped those thoroughly dejected men to survive, at least on the spiritual level.
JESUS SHOWED UP
What always saves the discouraged preacher or the downhearted Christian is when Jesus shows up & in his own wonderful way again stirs our spirit, & opens our eyes so that we again are aware of His presence at work -guiding, blessing, forgiving, & restoring hope. It's then that we see He is at work all around us in the lives of all whom we know & love. It's then & only then that the scales fall off our eyes & we're given glimpses of His divine grace at work everywhere. And to make it even more glorious, we see that even our perceived botching of the things we were trying to do for Him can so graciously & perfectly fit into the divine mosaic which is our lives.God never meant for anyone to be this way. He created us with a sense of wonder -with the capacity for passion, yet too many of us, like the preacher, shut down way too early.
Are you living every day filled with hope & expectancy? Are you living life to its fullest?So many people once were excited about the future but somewhere along the way life has knocked all that out of them & their appetite & "lust for life" has been lost. They used to pursue their dreams but then they hit some roadblocks, things didn't work out the way they had hoped they would & now they're just going through the motions. They've quit dreaming. They've quit pursuing their goals & tragically they've lost their purpose.It happens far too often; people have a great salvation experience. They become excited, devoted & committed. Every time the church doors open they're there. They can't wait to get there. The whole new world of faith has opened for them & it's all too wonderful for words. For months, sometimes years all goes well. They have no problems with their faith. But suddenly they began to have difficulties. They begin to drop out. The luster wears off; the excitement wears down & their devotional commitments shrink. Soon they disappear & become names on a dusty church role somewhere. No one sees them. No one knows them anymore.
In our youth, we were filled with joy & energy but now many of us have to work on stimulating them both. Why does this happen & how can we prevent it? How can we keep our spiritual experience vibrant & zestful?
How can we survive spiritually ? The answer isn’t deep or difficult to grasp.
THE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS STILL APPLY WHEN YOUR FAITH IS ON THE CRITICAL LIST. YOU AND I MUST...
1. PRAY
We find some fascinating & helpful clues in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is facing death yet there are instructional keys to staying alive.We know the disciples saw Jesus do many great miracles. Yet we don't read that they ever asked, "Lord, teach us to do miracles." We know the disciples saw Him use His intellect to silence the sharpest legal minds, but we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us your mental acumen." We know the disciples observed their Master’s awesome command of the Old Testament manuscripts, yet we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us what you know about the law." We know He was a master of crowd control & fully understood what it took to keep the masses of human bodies under control, yet the disciples never asked Him to tell them how to handle the throngs of people who pressed in to hear Him.
But the twelve had watched Jesus closely. They'd seen Him rise without disturbing a single soul to steal away & commune with His Father. Behind all of His skills they suspected something else was at work. They knew His secret; His awesome power was embedded in His prayer life. So they asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."
Gethsemane was a tough & terrible moment. The cross loomed before Jesus. He didn't want to go to the cross. He prayed about it. Father, take this cup from me. It was an earnest prayer. He sweated drops of blood. This is serious business here! It was agony to pray, but pray He did. Yet He found strength to pray, - Not my will but thine be done.Do you see it? Prayer was Christ's way of keeping His faith alive.
Friend we all need prayer. Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer is friendship with God. Prayer is the way we keep the lines of communication open with God. The truth is, if we fail to pray our relationship with God grows dimmer & dimmer. We don't need a sanctimonious tone to talk with God. All we need is a willingness to communicate with Him & to be in His presence.In doing the fundamentals, some other things come to mind. To wit;
2. CONTINUE TO GROW & LEARN
In the Garden Jesus didn't exhibit close-mindedness. He didn't say, "Now see here God, we never did it this way before." No!! Our Lord was open to God's truth. He was open to God's will; He was open to God's direction.
One night a little boy fell out of bed. When his mother asked him his problem he said, "I think I fell asleep too close to where I first got in." The tragedy is that as soon as we stop growing & learning, at that moment our faith begins to shrivel, shrink & die. We are like plants in that we need light to grow. To keep our faith alive we must continue to pray, grow, study, think & learn.
In the aftermath of some of the airline tragedies in this country, the sad reality has been revealed that the pilots & co-pilots were not really up to date on some of the latest facts about the machinery they were using. It has yet to be decided where to place the blame but the tragedy still remains that many hundreds of innocents souls who wanted above all else to stay alive, were lost, perhaps due to nothing more than the crew simply not having a small piece of information.Other fundamentals that apply here are;
3. DO SOMETHING- BETTER YET, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
I read a book years ago called, "Do one thing different." The gist of it is- if you want to affect change in your life, do just one thing different every day. Read a different newspaper. Surf TV channels. Though you may have to search,hard, you’ll surprised at the good stuff that’s available. You'd be surprised what would happen if you simply changed from fried chicken to oven- broiled or baked chicken for one year, or maybe fasted one meal a day or even one meal a week. Maybe..just maybe, give up powdered donuts for a few weeks.
One of the fastest ways to run out of steam is to operate as a lone wolf. We must love our enemies but we're under no mandate to work with them, if we're constantly having "dust ups." Work & fellowship with people who don’t have agendas & with whom you can be peaceful . It’s been my experience that the fastest way to break through the wall of helplessness & hopelessness is to act. Do something. Don't just be a hearer of the Word, be a doer. Next;
4. RETAIN YOUR CHILDLIKE SENSE OF WONDER
What do you think is the most important spiritual grace? If you say love, you'd certainly be on the right track, & you'd have the apostle Paul, the greatest Christian who ever lived- in agreement with you. But if you asked Jesus that question--what's the greatest spiritual quality we could possess, you'd get another answer. Can you guess what that answer would be? Wait for it.........it's the Child-likeness of "A little child."Did you notice the answer wasn't--child-likess? It was the -child-likeness of a "little child." What's the difference in a child & a little child? If you've raised children you know very well that there's a great difference in a child at about four or five, than a child at about six or seven. What's the difference? Among other things, it’s a sense of trust. One of the biggest differences is-a little child is unimpressed with any one's station in life. They will play with other children of any color, race or creed & pay no attention to pedigree or who the other kids are.
But twelve or eighteen months later you have a different child. Now you'll hear them say things like, "My daddy is the president of a bank," or, "My daddy has more money than your daddy." You'll probably hear them talking about their new item of clothing & what the brand name is. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus called a child to him one day & said--Unless you become as a "little child" you can't enter the kingdom of God?
5. DON'T QUIT-NO MATTER WHAT!
Let me ask you a very important question; did the Wright brothers quit? No! Did Charles Lindbergh ever quit? No! Did Joan of Arc ever quit? No! Did Jesus, or Paul, or James or Daniel or Elijah ever completely quit? Of course they didn't quit. Did Thorndyke Mckeester ever quit? The reader may ask, "Who on earth is Thorndyke Mckeester? I never heard of him!” Of course you never heard of him. He quit!
In the early church, there was a leader who was close to the Apostle Paul. He was talented, bright, capable & full of potential. But we hear few sermons about him because he quit. His name was Demas. Some of the saddest words in the New Testament are found in 2 Timothy 4:10—Demas ……has deserted me…. Friend, we have to make up our minds to stay with it. Demas was destined for greatness but he got lost in the shuffle & quit. Don’t quit on life. Don’t quit on the church. Make up your mind to stay with this faith pilgrimage whatever the cost. It takes a lot of prayer, a lot of obedience, a lot of determination & a lot of grit & grace to continue sometimes. Don’t forget to;
6. CELEBRATE SMALL VICTORIES
Your arthritis may not be totally healed but is it better? Then praise God for it. If you have fewer migraines than you once had, praise God for it. It may sound insignificant but still it’s important that you do it. Celebrating incremental victories is important in all of life. If you’ve only lost an inch in your waist-line, celebrate it & believe God that soon you’ll be able to look at that side view of yourself in the mirror without being depressed.
Elijah saw a cloud so small it could be compared to a man’s hand but he respected it & kept praying until it turned into a deluge of rain.David encouraged himself with the fact that he had killed a Bear & a Lion & it gave him the faith to kill a ten foot giant with a rock. Here’s something fundamentally important;
7. ENJOY LIFE
George H.W Bush may not go down in history as a great president but every time he jumps out of a perfectly good airplane to parachute- I cheer him on from the safety of my couch. What a guy. The man is in his late eighties. While he’s jumping I’ll be fishing.
Each morning when we rise we’re faced with the decision to either save the world or savor the world. It really makes it hard to plan the day. My suggestion is, -do both. First pray & ask God for directions, then smell the roses. The Bible tells us…. God has given us all things to enjoy.
I’ve had more impact on the lives of people by being of good cheer than with a lot of sermons I’ve preached. The sermons are not only important they are imperative but it’s also important that we spread good cheer whatever the endeavor we’re engaged in.I know things don’t look good right now in America folks but let's celebrate the victory we just experienced at the polls. Don't forget, Messiahs coming & He’s coming soon. Soon & very soon the right foot is going to step into the stirrup & the King of Kings will swing into the saddle. Things will be set right & …he shall reign forever & ever. Praise His Name!! Next;
8. DEVELOP NEW INTERESTS
I never touched a computer until I was sixty & you’d be surprised how much I’ve learned. A few years ago if you’d have told me I’d be writing a blog I would have thought you “off the rails.” I want to say fully alive, don’t you? Don't forget to;
9. KEEP READING THE WORD
If you expect to be able to withstand the shaking that’s coming you will have to be anchored in the Word of God. We will have to study the Word & build a dynamic relationship with God. Some simply won’t stay alive when hell begins its all out vile assault against the faith. Some will leave because someone said something to hurt their feelings. They have spiritual myopia & can’t see further than their neighbors faults. Some won’t stay alive to Christ because of what the church treasurer, a deacon, the choir leader or the pastor did. It really doesn’t matter why they leave; it just means they weren’t rooted enough in the Word to survive the shaking.
Some will leave the faith because of what an unscrupulous TV evangelist did or said. But mainly people will lose heart because they don’t read the Word of God & read it every day. It’s God’s Word that will fortify the heart & mind against error.
10. TO FORGET THIS CAN BE FATAL
Don't get bored with doing the basics. I read an article some time back about why a large percentage of American evangelists get into mid-life and “flame out.” I’m not necessarily speaking of backsliding or even leaving the ministry although this does happen. I speak of preachers in mid-life who get bored with doing "the same old same old "and want to “stir things up” and do something radically different.
Oral Roberts comes to mind, though I always held him in high esteem and still do. It's my humble opinion that he grew tired of doing the basics. Remember he built a hospital at age 50? Not a criticism, just an observation. I was preaching in Tulsa about the time Oral announced his coming hospital. The word on everyone’s lips was that Tulsa already had thousands of empty and unused hospital beds, now Roberts wants to spend millions for a hospital. Roberts forged on anyway and built the facility, which by the way was absolutely beautiful. However it wasn’t long until the endeavor was in serious financial trouble and the hospital was standing empty.
One powerful exception to this is evangelist Billy Graham. Billy has many fine characteristics, but I believe his greatest quality through the years has been that; although he preached from all parts of the Bible, it all would come back to the simple message of Salvation through faith in the shed blood of Christ on the cross, and God’s fathomless reservoir of love and forgiveness toward anyone who’d place their trust in Him.Indeed,-The fundamental things do apply, so at any juncture of our lives and in whatever battle we might find ourselves fighting, let us never stop doing the basics that I’ve humbly tried to list here.
I don’t have to tell you there are going to be dark days ahead. Back during World War 2, Ruth K. Jones was reading 2 Timothy 3:1—this know that in the last days perilous times will come…. Moved by the Holy Spirit, she picked up her pen & wrote;
In times like these, we need a Savior. In times like these we need an Anchor. Be very sure, be very sure, your Anchor holds & grips the solid rock.
Where is your anchor today?
Is it upon the solid rock? We’ll not only stay vital and alive but thrive in the worst of times if we’re anchored upon Christ Jesus,…… the only solid rock.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
The Blinding Power of Wounds
By: John Stallings
It’s probably happened to all of us at some time or
another.
Someone offended us by what they said or did. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an offense is “something which outrages the senses.”
Those who are offended are sometimes described as “hurt, wounded, upset, insulted, disappointed, irritated, or angry”.
It’s unfortunate that offenses ever occur, but the Bible indicates that if we keep our focus upon God and His Word, He will maintain such peace in our heart that we can become resistant to offenses. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psa. 119:165 KJV).
Obviously, offensive things will still come our way, but we need not be offended by them. The Lord is our reliable source of peace in all the circumstances of this life. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).
GUARD FROM CAUSING
OFFENSES
We are also charged with a responsibility to guard our own conduct from causing offenses which could harm the faith of other believers.
Jesus gave a somber warning, reminding that we are accountable for the care of our brethren. He said,
“It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! ”It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones” (Luke 17:1-2).
Jesus said “It’s inevitable that offenses shall come.”
When He uses that word “offense,” it’s actually the Greek word “Scandalon,” from which we get “scandal” or “scandalized.”
That word can be interpreted as a trap because originally a scandalon was the bait that was used in a trap. It can be translated as “snare” or “an offense,” or anything that hinders our walk with God. Jesus said that it is inevitable that these types of snares and traps will come.
SUFFERING WRONGS/HURTS/OFFENSES
Let’s look at how Satan uses wrongs/hurts and wounds to erect a wall between us and God. If we falter here, we can’t move ahead spiritually, thus we’re stuck where we are.
A large part of the challenge is centered on bringing about reconciliation between wounded parties. Reconciliation isn’t always possible, but we should always attempt it. IMO you and I should try to be reconciled with those we’ve hurt or who’ve hurt us.
It’s vitally important that we have a conscience that is free of offense before God and man. Sometimes we forget that it’s clogged human relationships that hurt our relationship with God.
I can remember as a kid, playing with water hoses. A hose can easily be knotted or twisted, stopping the water from flowing. To get water flowing again, it isn’t necessary to turn the water on, it’s already on. All that’s needed is to untwist the hose and the water- that was backed up- comes gushing through.
Our “spiritual hoses” can get clogged, much like gunk can clog our natural arteries. To point out the obvious, what you and I need is to get rid of the clutter and debris that’s in our lives.
As we walk with God, these dings get in our way. And usually they are offenses from people who’re closest to us. It would be a little easier to deal with our enemies, we expect that from them.
Listen to the words of David in Psalms 55. He says,
“For it is not an enemy who taunts me, then I could bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me, and then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together in God’s house as we walked in with the throng or the congregation. It’s you, a friend.”
This is why divorces are so nasty and bitter. It’s because someone we love, someone who’s in our house, someone with whom we shared a bedroom.... that’s the one who has hurt us… and those hurts go deep.
UNFULFILLED PROMISES
Satan uses unfulfilled promises to keep us bound. We’ve all had that experience. You lend somebody some money and they say, “I’ll get it back to you as soon as I have it.” And later on you see they have it because they buy a new car, pretending everything is fine.
In my early, naive years as a pastor a lady in a church I pastored asked to borrow $1,000 to catch up on her house payments. She and her husband were gainfully employed. I was only able to loan the lady half what she asked for. Shortly afterward she left the church. Another of my lady parishioners who knew the story saw the lady in a store and asked why she’d left the church and hadn’t paid the pastor the money he’d loaned her. The ladies answer: “Oh -I don’t owe him that money because we don’t go to his church now.” God helped me to get the money back and I grew up fast.
I heard of a dentist that did a lot of work for Christians. He stopped going to church because he said there were too many choir members singing through teeth that he had fixed and they hadn’t paid him.
Breaking of confidence- You tell someone you think you can trust something of a sensitive nature and then are shocked to learn they’ve spread it everywhere like a child spreads peanut butter.
Rejection, abuse, etc. are all kinds of different means of rejection. One cutting remark made in the summer can last all winter and beyond. Several winters, as a matter of fact. If you think you can say something to someone, [although to you it seems innocuous,] that may bruise a person’s ego and appear to them to be a “put down” and not have it boomerang on you at some later date, please think again. You just may have some major things to learn about human nature.
False accusations: here’s a girl who accuses a boy of something and the boy absolutely denies it. The two families are friends but now there’s a wedge between them. Parents tend to defend their particular child, so the parents say, “Our daughter would never lie.” And the other parents say, “Our son would never do this!” And there you go – false accusations. You’ve got a fight going .
WALLS, BARS
Proverbs, chapter eighteen, verse nineteen says:
“A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.”
A brother offended is more unyielding… you can more easily conquer a castle, a city that’s defended with high walls. But even though it appears impossible -it’s possible. With God all things are possible.
Now if you have a city like that, what’s the purpose of the walls? The walls are to keep people out.
A brother offended is going to build walls. He’s going to lay deep foundations to make sure that the wrong people don’t ever come into his life again, sometimes living in isolation because he doesn’t want anyone to “get to him” again.
And then what does the verse mean when it says “quarrelling is like the bars of a castle.”? Is it easy to take away the bars of a castle? Can you remove them? No. That’s the way it is with people who quarrel. We’re talking about strongholds. We’re talking about walls, and bricks. We’re talking human relationships.
Let’s look at some characteristics of the person who has an offense/hurt … and who will not give it up.
BLINDNESS
We become blind to our own faults- blind to our own offense. In the walls of this castle since they control who comes and goes, an offended person will make sure that the only information and the only people that are allowed through the gate is someone whom he enlists and agrees with him… someone who takes his side. All other information is filtered out. There’s no possible way that anyone else can touch him because the walls are so high and the gates are so thick. And so he can’t see his own faults. When we have an offense we are blinded to our own faults.
I think this is what Jesus meant when in Matthew, chapter seven, you remember He said, “You know, you think you have a speck of sawdust in your own eye, but you don’t realize there’s a beam in it.” And so you have guy and he has the beam. He’s the person you see, who is agenda-driven. He’s the one who’s got this beam, this 2x4 in his eye. He thinks it’s a piece of sawdust, but it’s actually a 2x4. And as he looks at others he is absolutely confidant that they all have 2x4’s. He thinks he only has a piece of sawdust, and they are the ones with the 2x4’s.
What he doesn’t understand is that when he looks at them, what he sees in their eye is a reflection of what is in his own eye. But he can’t see it. He’s blinded by it; he’s blinded by Satan. His hurt runs so deep that he says to himself, “No matter what I do to other people, it can’t possibly be as great as the harm that’s been done to me. Therefore, I have a right to hurt other people, because after all, I’ve been hurt.” He justifies it. He’s blind to what he is doing.
Paul says in Romans 12:9,
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to the good. Love one another with brotherly affection; out-do one another in showing honor; do not be slothful in zeal, but be fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord.”
Verse fourteen says: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another, do not become haughty but associate with the lowly, never be conceited.”
Why is He saying that? It’s because offended people are often very conceited. Their pride gets in the way, and they become blind to it. And then it says,
“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.”
The individual who holds an offense that sticks like Velcro to his soul will always seek
“justice” but too often what they want is vengeance. It’s the desire to see someone destroyed, the desire to absolutely do all that you possibly can to make people pay the utmost farthing.
A person like this believes that if he were to forgive, he would trivialize the offense. So, there is no way he is going to lay down his bitterness. That would mean it’s small in his eyes, and, therefore, he hangs on to it.
And then he spends a lot of time trying to convince God to hate the same people whom he hates. And so he gives all these reasons to God as to why God should be as angry at them as he is. Like the Sons of Thunder in the days of the New Testament, the people of Samaria,
“God, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and consume them?” Jesus said, “You don’t understand what spirit you are of.”
A man left a Christian organization that he felt had wronged him. They had promised him a certain number of things, and they didn’t come through with the promise. And they had some personality conflicts. But he thought that he was right and they were wrong. And so when he was released, he was so angry he stomped the dust from his feet and prayed that God would curse the place and shut it down.
Years later he had to confess that all that God did since he left is to bless the place. It grew; the ministry was used mightily of God and still is used by God today. That’s something like Balaam. You remember He tried to curse Israel, and all that would come out is blessing.
Have you ever noticed that God sometimes blesses people that you and I think He shouldn’t? Has that ever crossed your mind? It’s certainly crossed mine.
What happens now is this person in his vengeance will believe only evil about a person. All good information is filtered out. Because he is standing there at the door of his castle making sure that the only information that is fed to him confirms his own feelings… everything else is censored, and can’t, according to him, apply. The only thing getting through is that which confirms his predisposition.
Hate is a terrible thing. If you hate a political leader, you’ll connect dots and make accusations whether you have evidence or not. All that matters is that you latch onto something that confirms your hatred. Oh, the power of hate. Hate filters out the good and embellishes the bad, regardless of what we hear about those whom we hate.
DESTROYERS
There’s another characteristic of offended folk, and that is they can become destroyers. John 10:10 says this of the enemy, Satan. But if you and I hold onto an offense we’re in league with the devil. We can become destroyers. John 10:10: “The thief comes but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. I’ve come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.” The thief destroys.
As tragic as it may be, there are some people who get their sense of significance from destroying others. Really! I could tell you lots of stories about that. There are people whose whole sense of value, and self-worth, and power is tied up in the ability and the desire to destroy people.
HURTS AND OFFENSES GO INTO OTHER RELATIONSHIPS.
I read that 66% of all divorced people get divorced a second time. The reason is they take as much baggage into their new relationship as they had previously… maybe more. And so they bring all of this into the second relationship believing of course that they are not at fault, and possibly they might not be… but so often unresolved issues spill over. So what happens is the whole world revolves around the offense and the bitterness.
A person who holds onto an offense/hurt succumbs to idolatry. John says in 1 John 5:21. “Little children, keep yourself from idols.”
Please think with me on this for a moment. An individual, who harbors a hurt or an offence, has an idol. What he’s saying is this: “I’m willing to give up on God until this matter is resolved. And unless I can get vengeance,” or whatever he wanted, “unless this matter is somehow addressed to my satisfaction, I can just tell God to ‘Take a hike.’ I can stop going to church, I can stop being with Christians, I can just do whatever I like because my relationship with God is negotiable. “
You see the idols of the heart? Do you see how easily we can be blinded and are willing to give up on God and to put our relationship with Him on hold, until something else is resolved? Is that not idolatry? When we say, “Something else is more important than my relationship with God, and that is the resolution of the evil that has been done against me” …that’s idolatry and should be identified as such.
What do we do about it? We must confront our idols. What is standing between you and
your relationship with God today… something that somebody did or some offense that cleaves to your soul? And you say, “I can’t walk with God, I can’t be with the people of God. Because, look at what has happened to me!” It’s the blinding power of a hurt. And whatever you and I hang onto that is more important than loving the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul is idolatry. Here’s the “kicker”…we can’t see those idols unless God reveals it to us as we spend time in His presence.
Then we must turn this stumbling block into a stepping stone. You have to believe that God is saying to you, “If you can overcome this in your walk, then you can go on to new heights and new challenges in your relationship with me.”
This takes a great deal of real honesty, humility, and brokenness in the presence of God.
What we need to do is to follow Christ’s example. When He was reviled, reviled not in return, He uttered no threats, but committed himself to Him that judges righteously.
Oh, but you say, “I’ve invested so much in it! I’ve had it for so long! I’ve made sure that these wounds would never heal, and now you are asking me to just give it up?” Yes, I’m asking you to just give it up. Brother/sister -just lay it down.
Many of us say, “If only the people who hurt me would show some remorse, some sorrow, then maybe I would forgive them.” But consider Jesus on the cross. No one seemed sorry, quite the contrary-- they laughed, mocked & jeered at Him. They hurled insults at Him. The people who killed Him were pleased with themselves. Pilate washed his hands of the whole sordid affair. The Jewish leaders hated Him with a fierce irrational hatred. They were happy to see Him suffer & die.
Evil was in the air that day. The forces of darkness had done their work & Jesus would soon be in a tomb. No one said, “I was wrong, this is a mistake.” And yet He said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing,” --this is precisely what we must say to the people who hurt us deliberately & repeatedly.
We must say it to those who intentionally attack us.
We must say it to those who casually & thoughtlessly wound us.
We must say it to those closest to us, to our husband or wife, to our children, to our parents, to our friends, to our neighbors, to our brothers & sisters.
The Bible says, “Examine yourself before you eat.,” speaking of the Communion elements we receive at The Lord’s table. Examine what is in your heart that stands in the way of your relationship with God.
Are you willing to tell God… “God, I’m willing to give up my idols, I’m willing to lay them down, to -by your grace, nail them to your cross.
For some -the idol of pride has to be laid down, and you have to receive the forgiveness of Christ for the first time. You have to say, “Jesus I am a sinner. Save me.”
After all, He died for people like you and me.
Blessings,
John
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Goodnight Brother, I'll see you in the morning!
By Dan Welch
Our son Dan who lives in Philadelphia with his dear wife and five children, recently and suddenly lost a precious friend. He posted the following tribute on Facebook but I was so moved by it I wanted to share it with my blog readers.
I have a dear beloved brother whose name is David Sacks,
His torch burns brightly for the glory of the Lord,
He is an magnificent man who is a man of many gifts.
He is a Man of God, who used his gifts as a photographer to capture,
Joy in the midst of despair, Hope, in the midst of poverty. He saw beauty where others would see only want.
His torch burns brightly for the glory of the Lord,
He is an magnificent man who is a man of many gifts.
He is a Man of God, who used his gifts as a photographer to capture,
Joy in the midst of despair, Hope, in the midst of poverty. He saw beauty where others would see only want.
He was a rich man. Not because of his worldly
successes; he has the jewels of a wonderful Wife, Children, Brother, Sisters,
Mother, Father and extended family of which no bank's coffers could ever hold
the wealth thereof.
Last night, he stepped from the latitudes of earth,
onto the latitudes of heaven.
His eyes are now seeing the glories that he so often spoke of beholding. My eyes are obscured by my tears of missing my dear brother.
His eyes are now seeing the glories that he so often spoke of beholding. My eyes are obscured by my tears of missing my dear brother.
I know that I will see him again. His legacy will
not fade, no; his example leads me on; in hope in Jesus. Lord, could I only be
as brave as my dear brother? I speak of him as alive because he is alive in a
way that I can only hope to be.
I pray that I can follow his example of walking to
the end of my time on earth in the same way that he did. Knowing that there is
yet a Kingdom to come. Knowing that we will all be together in paradise.
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