By John Stallings
……..Thou hast left thy first love….. Rev.2:4
America is indeed the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet & we’re certainly better off than most nations. But scratch the surface, get to the dark underbelly of life in the year of 2009 & what do you see?
Our present spiritual state gives us little to be proud of in God’s eyes. I can’t help but feel sad because of the open, blatant, rampant sin that exists. Its everywhere you look.…in government, in our schools, in the vulgar & profane language, on radio & television, in movies, magazines & in most all of media.
People are bending over backwards to see that God is outlawed from all aspects of our lives. We can’t have Him in our schools; we can’t have Him in our courts, or any public settings. We are frowned upon if we mention God or Jesus except in the barest, slightest whisper & then only in the privacy of our homes. Merry Christmas isn’t “politically correct” & happy holidays is the accepted greeting in many quarters.It’s reminiscent of Jesus’ prediction-
-- And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.—Matt.24:12
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
For the answer we can go to the front or back of the Bible. Let’s first go close to the front of the Bible, to the book of Judges.
The last verse in the book of Judges is…..In those days there was no king in Israel & every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
I’m not asking this to put you on the spot, but how much do you know about the book of Judges? Most Christians know very little about the book. I would guess that what most of us know about in this book are the stories of Gideon & Samson. Ask yourself how long it’s been since you heard a sermon [other than Samson & Gideon] from the book of Judges.
The reason we know so little about Judges is it’s not an enjoyable read. Judges is a hard book about hard times showing sin in all its repulsiveness. What makes it even more uncomfortable for us is the fact that it mainly deals with wickedness among the people of God. Because God only has one church, His Body, in a very real way the mess in Judges is the mess in our spiritual family tree.
The book of Judges makes not the slightest attempt at cosmetics. It openly & candidly portrays ungodliness among the people of God. We can’t read Judges without being implicated because we too have been unfaithful & unholy. We too have been disobedient & have compromised & can grieve the Holy Spirit therefore reading this book pricks our conscience. Maybe that’s why Judges is neglected.
Just think of how differently the people of God looked a generation earlier than they look in the book of Judges. In Joshua’s time the people followed him in entering into the Promised Land & one enemy after another fell before the army of God. It was a time of unprecedented conquest & privilege. God’s people in those days weren’t perfect but everything pointed to a new era of godliness in Canaan. As soon as Joshua & his generation dies, the people became wicked…….another generation grew up who knew neither God nor what He had done for Israel.
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord & served Baalim…..Judges 2:10-11
The book of Judges spans a long period of time, about 350 years---from Joshua to Samuel—or a quarter of the Old Testament history. This sheer volume of time is another reason we ignore so much divine revelation at our loss.
We don’t know who wrote Judges but Jewish tradition claims Samuel as the author. It had to be someone who could look back over the whole pre-kingdom period because of the repeated statement—“Israel had no king,” meaning it was written around 1000 B.C, about the time of Saul or David’s early years, in the days of Samuel.
JUDGES TEACHES US GOD’S PEOPLE NEED A LEADER.
Sheep are lost without a Shepherd. Joshua provided great leadership but when he died the tribes became disunited & individuals started to live as they pleased. The leadership of the judges over the next three to four centuries was temporary & partial & as soon as the judges died, the old wickedness started again. Even the best of kings all failed at some point but the whole of the Old Testament is preparing us for the righteous king who was to come, Jesus Christ.
He alone is the Messianic king, the Judge-deliverer, the ultimate Savior, & the Lord of the church. Israel has some glory days. They were led by the likes of Moses, Abraham, Joshua & Samuel but look how low they sank. Reading the book of Judges causes us to ask ourselves where we are now spiritually. We should make sure we’re not living off victories from the past or victories our ancestors had but we should ask ourselves if we have an up-to-date experience with God.
THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS TELL A GRUESOME TALE.
Chapters 19-21 of Judges tell the horrific story of a man who carved up the body of his concubine, a live-in lover into twelve pieces sending the grisly parcels throughout the whole land, one piece to each tribe. The result was civil war, eleven tribes of Israel against one tribe, Benjamin.
I'D LIKE TO TELL YOU A STORY BUT PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SAFETY BELTS!!!
A man & his concubine were traveling toward the city of Jerusalem. It wasn’t such a good plan for it to them was a foreign city. People in those days took a chance going among folk who weren’t their own kind. They stopped at Gibeah, a Benjamite city where they should have been safe.
This night will go down in history as one of the bleakest nights a person’s worst nightmares could conjure up & has to be one of the most terrible stories ever told.
The couple stopped in the city square as was the custom then, in hopes someone would see them & invite them to spend the night with them. If you saw someone in the city square with no place to stay it was common courtesy to invite them back to your place.
People passed by & looked them over but nobody invited them to their house. Finally an old man comes by on his way home from working the fields & invites them to his home.
What happen next is so sickening I can hardly bring myself to write it. You may say, “This is so terrible I don’t want to know any more.” But somehow we need to know, & Israel did too.
The small group was relaxing in the house when a noise was heard outside. They soon realized it was a mob of locals who then started knocking on the door & shouting. They had seen the couple but they weren’t interested in the woman, they demanded the man.
The old man was having none of this so he went outside & rebuked them. This is hard to understand but it was a custom of that day, that the old man had an obligation to the male guest to protect him as best he could. So the old man offered his daughter & the visiting concubine to the men to have sex with.
The mob got more & more demanding & unruly so finally the visiting man took his concubine to the door & threw her out to the ravenous mob. Now hear this; the visiting man who’d thrown his concubine outside went to bed & went to sleep while the blood & sex thirsty mob gang-raped & abused his concubine all night until the sun came up the next morning.When he awoke he went to the door & saw his concubine lying at the door.
We don’t know if she’s dead or alive at this point [I’d sure like to know] but the man puts her on his donkey & goes home. When he gets home, he gets a knife & mutilates his concubine’s body. He actually cuts her in twelve pieces & sends part of her body to all twelves tribes of Israel.
To be honest, the man didn’t have to do any of this. He didn’t have to of his own free will turn his concubine over to the mob & he certainly didn’t have to cut her up & send pieces of her all over the countryside.I’ve always thought Sodom was a low point in Scripture. You can’t get much lower than Sodom but at least at that time the angels intervened & saved Lot & his family. But now, the people of Israel had become Sodom.
Nothing like this had ever happened in Israel & I’m pretty sure it’s never happened since. This is about as terrible as things can possibly get. Sorry, there’s more. When everyone received the part of the girl’s body it shocked them as it should have. Now at least the girl is going to get some “justice.”If you remember Natalie Holloway who died a few years ago, probably at the hands of some oversexed spoiled kids in Aruba, it doesn’t seem like there’ll ever be justice for she & her family.
It’s as though Israel woke up when they got the news, suddenly they roused themselves & said, “What’s going on here? There’s something rotten in Denmark” [Israel.]
ISRAEL ASKED,--WHAT CAN WE DO??
Call me crazy but I believe America is experiencing some horror at the present time but nothing compared to what it will be in a few more months if we don't experience national revival.
This is precisely the question we should be asking in America at the present time if we ever expect to see her again as we have known her.
As I see it, the only thing the current presidency can point to in their six month reign is turning an economic downturn into a financial abyss that will doubtless pass 10 trillion dollars all the while traveling the world telling them--"We no longer call ourselves a Christian nation," & showing his ignorance with his clueless treatment of foreign dignitaries.
Yes, we need to hit our knees in America & quickly.The "Czars" Obama's appointing are nothing less than to do an "end-run" around scrutiny & accountability & if we look close enough we'll see it as tyranny. The one sprig of new grass springing up [ other than the one where we're finally seeing Obama as a shallow, egotistical amateur in over his head] that I see is that Americans are becoming increasingly disenchanted with this "show biz" approach that looks eerily like Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland saying one hot summer, "Hey, I've got an idea, let's put on a "garage play."
BUT LET'S GET BACK TO ISRAEL
Gibeah had no answer for what their citizens had done so all of Israel assembled an army & got their fighting britches on. Keep in mind they were going to war not against a foreign enemy but against one of their own cities. Now a little more pepper gets thrown into the Gumbo because when letters were sent to Gibeah to hand the offenders over, they wouldn’t give them up. Blood is thicker than the right thing, right? Right!
All the Israelites except the Benjamites came together in Mizpah. Several battles were fought, with Israel standing up an army of four-hundred thousand men against Benjamin’s twenty-seven thousand. Israel won & all but 600 of the Benjamites were killed. Justice had been served on the men who did this terrible deed against the innocent concubine.
WHERE DID THINGS GO SO WRONG??
How did Israel get to the point that they were their own worst enemies? Moses had told them they were God’s kingdom of priest’s & they were a holy nation. Was it when they didn’t take the land that the Lord had promised them? Was it when they little by little slid back into the world, eventually becoming just like them?Where did they go wrong? How did God’s people become rotten to the core? Was it the paganism of Gideon, the self-righteousness of Samson, the cowardice of Barak? Was it when they decided that they could be the judge of what was right or wrong?
How do you get to the point in which you don’t show hospitality to your own people, where a Levite throws his concubine to a mob, & we can wipe out an entire tribe?
I don’t know the answer to these questions but I know that several times during the book & at the very last of the book we’re reminded that Israel had no king so people were doing what they thought was right. When you read what was happening in this story you are shocked to realize, this is Israel, God’s people; people who were called to be different from the people around them. Called to be separate & holy, reflecting the character of God.
Moses laid out a path for these people that would lead to blessing but they took a different path. It didn’t look so bad at the time but look where it ultimately took them.
What is the answer? When we read or hear the news now-a-days we say, “This is Judges Stuff.” Will God save us from what we’ve become? The answer for us today is the same answer the people in Judges needed. We need a Savior, a king.
The book of Judges ends on a depressing note. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes & God’s people have become rotten to the core. They had sunk as low as you can get.Why was this horrendous story placed last in the book of Judges? Because God wanted to make a point: When God’s people wander from Him, the consequences don’t look bad immediately but if they insist in their rebellion the consequences are worse than we could imagine.
But slowly through Samuel, David, the prophets & ultimately Jesus Christ Himself, God’s light began to penetrate that darkness. The darkness could not extinguish the light God sent into the world.
The end of Judges, the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out. Centuries later a descendant of this almost-lost tribe, Saul of Tarsus, became the premier interpreter of the good news of Jesus Christ.
When we disobey & go against God the consequences are horrendous. But God is faithful to keep His word & send a Savior to save His people from their sins.
Lastly, & perhaps the most important thing in this story is the fact that even though the main man threw his concubine to the “wolves,” he did one thing right, [if you can call the mutilating of his concubine right] he sent the pieces of her body to the rest of Israel asking them how they felt about it. Asking them if they felt it needed to be answered with action, & of course it was.
What should we as Christians do when we see our children being spiritually & morally mutilated?
AMERICA MUST AWAKE!
Not only must we stand & be politically active & vote the wrong people out of office & the right ones in, we must also keep it in mind that we need a king & that king is Jesus Christ; a king who was crowned when He hung on the cross,
“This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”
In His death & resurrection, He breaks the power of sin that entraps us. To not have Jesus as our king is to be like Israel was & do whatever you feel like doing. It would seem today that America has no king & many of its citizens will do whatever they can get away with.
Again, the problem in Judges was that the inhabitants of Israel were God’s people. The message to America today is that we must clean up this mess, return to our first love, stop playing at religion & be real. We must stop worshipping anything else but the God of heaven.
When God was replaced in Israel, all hell broke loose. Such was Israel in the time of Judges & such it will soon become in America because God cannot withhold His judgment if we don’t ;
---return to our First Love.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Hurt Me, Disappointment me, Make me a Disciple!!
By John Stallings
……. when life gets really difficult don’t jump to conclusions that God isn’t on the job. Instead be glad that you’re in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner. 1 Peter 4:12—the Message
We find ourselves in a world today that says a suffering life isn’t a worthy life. Consequently we have a reluctance to share our pain & failures with people (especially some religious people) for fear they will judge & condemn us.
Much of this unnecessary bewilderment comes from a false supposition which some base their lives on that we should have no fear, loneliness, confusion or doubt. If we’re not having a “hallelujah jubilee,” “shouting & kicking the plaster off the walls,” we will try to hide it from others. All this in spite of what the apostle Peter told us in the above passage.
The other day while walking the isle of a pharmacy I noticed the pain-killing products sitting on the shelves. The shelves were literally packed with plastic jars of Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Anacin, & Aleve. The pills of course come in tablets or caplets which are “less painful” to swallow. You can purchase them in huge jars as many as 500 pills or handy pocket-sized containers of only 8. I saw no package containing one dose of any medicine. Obviously they figure that most people will have a lot of pain. Understand, I’m not a big fan of pain & I’m not against pain meds, these are merely observations.
As I strolled the store I came across another section filled with decongestants so you can “kill-two-pains-with-one –stone.” The different varieties of sinus pills was staggering (no pun intended,-some were of the non-drowsy variety) not to mention expensive. Other shelves contained tubes of “rub-on-pain-relief,” like Ben Gay & Aspergel. Still other shelves contain herbal remedies that promise to end all manner of aches.
Then you have a section of the store for various types of chemical ice-packs & heating pads that promise to soothe our aching muscles. An unbelievable amount of space is taken up with medicines to sooth over-acid & sour stomachs. They even have a new disease today called acid-reflux disease. We used to call it heartburn & indigestion & it was caused by overeating. I have a feeling it still is. There was a section for tooth problems, ear & eye problems; Oh well, I think you get my point & that is the sheer numbers & variety of pain soothers available to us.
These medications are just “over-the-counter” meds & don’t even count the hundreds if not thousands of meds that can be gotten with a doctor’s prescription. Killing pain is big-business in today’s America. We spend billions alleviating our hurts each year. Comfort is important in our society & we are constantly sold the idea that we should be able to live our lives pain free.
WITNESS: HOT-TUB CHRISTIANITY
A hot-tub seems to be a perfect symbol of modern Christianity. In this “comfy society” many preachers preach a comforting “warm-fuzzy” gospel & some people are willing to follow Christ as long as it’s easy to do so. The hot-tub experience is sensuous, relaxing, laid-back & in no way demanding. It’s very, very nice even to the point of being fun. Many want a Christianity that’s pain-free & easy; like a stroll through a Tulip Garden. But pain & suffering isn’t something we pass by on the “buffet table of discipleship” & opt not to put it on the plate of life. Jesus warned us in John 15:20……if the world hates you keep in mind that they hated me first. They persecuted me & they’ll persecute you also.
SUFFERING A SIGN OF SON SHIP
Paul said in Hebrews 11:7-8,---If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he which the father chaseneth not? But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards & not sons.
In 2 Cor.11:30--- Paul says, ---If I must needs glory, I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmities.
We’ll all have some valley-time but the reality is that the God of the mountain is also God in the valley. He’s with us in our hour of testing & will give us songs in the night. Maybe you’ve noticed that it’s not on mountain-tops where we learn & grow, but in the valleys.
Many people think the freedoms we have in America are world-wide. But to the contrary, it’s very much a local aberration. The freedom we have in The United States is a phenomenal experiment a little over two hundred years old & even here we’re starting to see religious persecution. Everything except Christianity is taught in our public schools & Bibles can only be handed out in our prisons. It’s become routine during graduation season for high school & college Valedictorians to have their microphones shut off during a prayer or speech mentioning Christ.
Perhaps when you think of persecuted Christians the thought of Nero’s gladiators feeding Christians to hungry lions comes to mind. Yet it’s reported that the 20th Century saw more Christians martyred than all the other centuries combined. Christians are increasingly targeted by governments, other religions, & secularists for harassment, enslavement torture & sometimes death.
All of Christ’s disciples died a martyr’s death except John & he died in exile on the isle of Patmos because of his commitment to Christ. At present Christians are suffering persecution around the world. 150,000 Christians worldwide die for their faith each year. In America today our crosses seem to be of the Balsa-wood variety but even we will suffer for our faith.
HERE ARE A FEW THOUGHTS TO HELP IN OUR TIMES OF TESTING, PAIN & PERSECUTION.
1. Don’t be surprised.
It’s the things that blind-side us & catch us unawares that hurt the most. Peter told us not to think it strange when we were persecuted for the gospel’s sake. Satan will try to tell you that what you’re going through is unique to you & that others haven’t had your testing. Don’t listen to him.
Many people get thrown for a loop when trouble comes because they are never expecting it. When we think of life in general, (not speaking of suffering for Christ,) we must be practical enough to realize that just being alive is a problem. Every seven years or so America’s economy goes through down cycles. Good people get laid off from jobs & this cycle seems never ending. Being on the planet means we’ll grow old (if we’re lucky.) We’ll lose loved ones to death because people get old, sick & die. That’s life, & it greatly helps if we remain realistic in our expectations.
However there’s the persecution that comes to us because we take a stand for Christ. We must remember that cultural acceptance of Christianity is the exception not the rule.
2 Timothy 3:12 says….Everyone who wants to live a Godly life will be persecuted.
When we think of passion we think of a love scene from some movie we saw-& may have changed channels depending on how explicit it was. But when the Bible speaks of passion it is speaking of suffering; Acts 1:3. If you saw the movie “The Passion of Christ” you know what I’m talking about.
Paul’s said in Philippians 3;10-- That I may know Him & the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering. In following Christ we will not only experience the “power of His resurrection,” we’ll also experience the “fellowship of His suffering.”
Acts 14: 22 says,…..exhorting the disciples to continue in the faith, & that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
2. Don’t miss the meaning of the testing
To suffer for Christ is an honor not a disgrace. James 1:2-3 says, --My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptation; knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
1 Pet.4:14 says, ---If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the spirit & glory of God resteth upon you….
Matthew 5:11 says,--Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous sake for theirs is the kingdom of God.
Acts 5:41 says,--And they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
If you haven’t read the above verse lately, go back & read it & let every word sink in. The apostles wouldn’t stop preaching so they were taken by the leaders & made a public spectacle of. They were stripped at least to the waist & beaten like common, wicked criminals. Think what it must have been like to be beaten so badly you would cry out in deep sobs of unimaginable pain. The Bible calls what they went through shame, public shame mixed with awful excruciating pain & notice what the apostles did. They went on their way with their skin hanging in ribbons, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy; not worthy to preach, but worthy to bear the shame & pain of a public flogging.
3. Make sure your suffering isn’t self-inflicted.
If I walk up to someone & hit them & then they punch me in the nose, I can’t go around showing my wound & tell people I got hit for the cause of Christ. No I got hit because of my own stupidity.
If I don’t pay my bills & they come get my car I can’t say I’m suffering for Christ sake. That’s not persecution; it’s just the consequences of bad management.
If people avoid me because I don’t use Scope, that’s not persecution either.
If I am over-bearing & obnoxious with people, always giving someone a piece of my mind & because of that I lose credibility with them, that’s not being persecuted for righteousness.
1 Peter 4:15 says,---But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
4. Never quit
If you have brain cancer, only 10% of your heart is functioning & you are in a car headed down a thousand foot cliff, we may allow you to give up, but it’s still doubtful because with God all things are possible.
We are clay in the potter’s hands. If we fly off the wheel or of our own will take ourselves out of God’s hands we won’t be molded & shaped into vessels of honor. Certainly we can’t shape ourselves.
1 Peter 4:19 says, --Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing as unto a faithful creator.
No matter how things look if we want to be Christ’s disciples we must keep trusting God. No matter what the results we must keep doing good.
Hebrews 11:24-25 says,---By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaohs daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
In Psalm 55:1—David certainly saw persecution for he said,---Give ear to my prayers O God & hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend & hear me I mourn in my complaint & make a noise. Because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me & in wrath they hate me……
5. Remember no trial can separate us from God’s love.
God watches us like a hawk when we are being tested & put under pressure. No matter what we’re called to go through we can know that Christ & His spirit will always be with us.
· The best definition of faith to me is, “Taking God at His word.”
· If He says He loves us, He does.
· If He says He will never leave us, He won’t.
· If He says He can take anything & turn it into something good, He can.
· Do you have faith in Him?
There’s a love song I like that I wish a Christian songwriter had thought of & written as a gospel song. Here are the words;
YOU JUST CALL OUT MY NAME
AND YOU KNOW WHEREVER YOU ARE
I’LL COME RUNNING TO SEE YOU AGAIN
WINTER-SPRING-SUMMER-OR FALL
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL
AND I’LL BE THERE
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND.
This beautiful love song was written—I believe by Carol King & was made popular by North Carolinian James Taylor.
Jesus said in John 15:15---I have called you friends.
· Aren’t you glad you have a friend like that in Jesus?
· Have you ever felt like you didn’t have a prayer?
· That things were hopeless?
· Isn’t it wonderful to be able to talk to God & know He is listening?
· Isn’t it great to know God is your friend?
· Isn’t it great to know He’s willing & able to help you?
· If God loves us we’re never hopeless-never.
· If He loves us & will help us things will work out for us.
· If God is your friend you can make it through the hard trials.
YOU JUST CALL OUT HIS NAME
AND YOU KNOW WHEREVER YOU ARE
HE’LL COME RUNNING TO SEE YOU AGAIN
WINTER-SPRING-SUMMER-OR FALL
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL
AND HE’LL BE THERE
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND.
JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE IN SUFFERING
One of our problems with the temptation of Christ in the wilderness is that we don’t really take it seriously. We have a tendency not to believe He was really in danger out there; that He couldn’t be hurt & couldn’t sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that were true His testing would mean absolutely nothing to us. It would be bogus. It may have made a good story but it would mean nothing to us because sin & failure is a real possibility to us. Our struggles aren’t “staged” for effect & neither were Christ’s. To think that His 40 day testing & temptation wasn’t fraught with danger is nonsense. Mark emphasizes that Jesus was “driven into the wilderness.” That doesn’t sound to me like He wanted to go. Mark points out the dangerous places Jesus went, the wild beasts & the desert. The other gospels add texture & reality to His experience.
Hebrews 4:15 says,--For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are; yet without sin.
LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF PAUL
For I am convinced that
Neither death, nor life
Nor angels nor principalities
Nor powers nor things present nor things to come
Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8: 38-39
REMEMBER IN YOUR TRIALS THAT JESUS HAS GUARANTEED YOUR VICTORY IF YOU’RE FAITHFUL.
On September 6, 1995, thousands of people in Camden yards baseball stadium stood to their feet to honor Cal Ripken Jr. -- but why? His statistics were not all that exceptional. He played shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles but five of his teammates had higher batting averages that year; three hit more home runs. The crowd cheered Cal because he had set a new record for the most consecutive games played: 2,131. His faithfulness earned him the spontaneous applause of 45,000 people that day lasting 20 minutes. God isn’t impressed by the world’s quantitative definition of success measured by wealth & fame but He is expecting us to be faithful wherever He has placed us. 1 Cor.4:2
2 Timothy 2:12 says,--If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with him. If we deny Him he will deny us. If someone gave you an iron-clad contract & told you if you’d dig ditches in the rain for six months you’d have complete financial freedom for life don’t you think you’d do it? The answer is probably yes. We can endure anything if we know the outcome will be a positive one. God has promised to be faithful to us to the end if we’ll trust Him. That’s what Romans 8:28 is all about.
In Romans 8:18 Paul says,---For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
In Phil.3:8 Paul says,---Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, & do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
SUFFERING CREATES COMFORTERS
2 Cor.1:3-4 says,---Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies & the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulations that ye may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
I remember when I was a kid my father had many bouts with kidney stones. He would hurt so bad that he’d get down on the floor & roll around groaning & praying. I used to look at him & though I loved him I’d think he must be putting on at least a little. Surely it couldn’t be that terrible. Then when I was 29 I had a kidney stone & was rushed to the hospital. Believe me after that experience I stopped being a critic. If someone wants to get my attention & my heartfelt sympathy all they have to do is mention kidney stones. It took some suffering to turn me into a friend of everyone suffering with stones. Paul also said in Romans 5:3,--……we glory in tribulation also knowing that tribulation worketh patience. If we are to help others one of the things we’ll need most is patience.
NOT JUST CHRISTIANS—DISCIPLES –
As long as I can remember I’ve had something pulling me toward God & earnestly desiring a relationship with Him. I’m nowhere near a finished product & it’s possible that I may have more faults than anyone who reads this. I still have many questions & not nearly enough answers but I’m happy for the desire God placed within me to be, not just a Christian, but a disciple of Christ.
In Mark 1:13 when telling about the testing & temptation of Christ in the wilderness, Mark also tells us,--And the angels ministered to Him. Mark wants us to know that while Jesus was put through real stress & danger, God didn’t abandon Him. And he won’t abandon us in our hour of testing.
1 Peter 1:6-7 seems appropriate here; Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.-------jas.
Blessings,
John
……. when life gets really difficult don’t jump to conclusions that God isn’t on the job. Instead be glad that you’re in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner. 1 Peter 4:12—the Message
We find ourselves in a world today that says a suffering life isn’t a worthy life. Consequently we have a reluctance to share our pain & failures with people (especially some religious people) for fear they will judge & condemn us.
Much of this unnecessary bewilderment comes from a false supposition which some base their lives on that we should have no fear, loneliness, confusion or doubt. If we’re not having a “hallelujah jubilee,” “shouting & kicking the plaster off the walls,” we will try to hide it from others. All this in spite of what the apostle Peter told us in the above passage.
The other day while walking the isle of a pharmacy I noticed the pain-killing products sitting on the shelves. The shelves were literally packed with plastic jars of Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Anacin, & Aleve. The pills of course come in tablets or caplets which are “less painful” to swallow. You can purchase them in huge jars as many as 500 pills or handy pocket-sized containers of only 8. I saw no package containing one dose of any medicine. Obviously they figure that most people will have a lot of pain. Understand, I’m not a big fan of pain & I’m not against pain meds, these are merely observations.
As I strolled the store I came across another section filled with decongestants so you can “kill-two-pains-with-one –stone.” The different varieties of sinus pills was staggering (no pun intended,-some were of the non-drowsy variety) not to mention expensive. Other shelves contained tubes of “rub-on-pain-relief,” like Ben Gay & Aspergel. Still other shelves contain herbal remedies that promise to end all manner of aches.
Then you have a section of the store for various types of chemical ice-packs & heating pads that promise to soothe our aching muscles. An unbelievable amount of space is taken up with medicines to sooth over-acid & sour stomachs. They even have a new disease today called acid-reflux disease. We used to call it heartburn & indigestion & it was caused by overeating. I have a feeling it still is. There was a section for tooth problems, ear & eye problems; Oh well, I think you get my point & that is the sheer numbers & variety of pain soothers available to us.
These medications are just “over-the-counter” meds & don’t even count the hundreds if not thousands of meds that can be gotten with a doctor’s prescription. Killing pain is big-business in today’s America. We spend billions alleviating our hurts each year. Comfort is important in our society & we are constantly sold the idea that we should be able to live our lives pain free.
WITNESS: HOT-TUB CHRISTIANITY
A hot-tub seems to be a perfect symbol of modern Christianity. In this “comfy society” many preachers preach a comforting “warm-fuzzy” gospel & some people are willing to follow Christ as long as it’s easy to do so. The hot-tub experience is sensuous, relaxing, laid-back & in no way demanding. It’s very, very nice even to the point of being fun. Many want a Christianity that’s pain-free & easy; like a stroll through a Tulip Garden. But pain & suffering isn’t something we pass by on the “buffet table of discipleship” & opt not to put it on the plate of life. Jesus warned us in John 15:20……if the world hates you keep in mind that they hated me first. They persecuted me & they’ll persecute you also.
SUFFERING A SIGN OF SON SHIP
Paul said in Hebrews 11:7-8,---If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he which the father chaseneth not? But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards & not sons.
In 2 Cor.11:30--- Paul says, ---If I must needs glory, I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmities.
We’ll all have some valley-time but the reality is that the God of the mountain is also God in the valley. He’s with us in our hour of testing & will give us songs in the night. Maybe you’ve noticed that it’s not on mountain-tops where we learn & grow, but in the valleys.
Many people think the freedoms we have in America are world-wide. But to the contrary, it’s very much a local aberration. The freedom we have in The United States is a phenomenal experiment a little over two hundred years old & even here we’re starting to see religious persecution. Everything except Christianity is taught in our public schools & Bibles can only be handed out in our prisons. It’s become routine during graduation season for high school & college Valedictorians to have their microphones shut off during a prayer or speech mentioning Christ.
Perhaps when you think of persecuted Christians the thought of Nero’s gladiators feeding Christians to hungry lions comes to mind. Yet it’s reported that the 20th Century saw more Christians martyred than all the other centuries combined. Christians are increasingly targeted by governments, other religions, & secularists for harassment, enslavement torture & sometimes death.
All of Christ’s disciples died a martyr’s death except John & he died in exile on the isle of Patmos because of his commitment to Christ. At present Christians are suffering persecution around the world. 150,000 Christians worldwide die for their faith each year. In America today our crosses seem to be of the Balsa-wood variety but even we will suffer for our faith.
HERE ARE A FEW THOUGHTS TO HELP IN OUR TIMES OF TESTING, PAIN & PERSECUTION.
1. Don’t be surprised.
It’s the things that blind-side us & catch us unawares that hurt the most. Peter told us not to think it strange when we were persecuted for the gospel’s sake. Satan will try to tell you that what you’re going through is unique to you & that others haven’t had your testing. Don’t listen to him.
Many people get thrown for a loop when trouble comes because they are never expecting it. When we think of life in general, (not speaking of suffering for Christ,) we must be practical enough to realize that just being alive is a problem. Every seven years or so America’s economy goes through down cycles. Good people get laid off from jobs & this cycle seems never ending. Being on the planet means we’ll grow old (if we’re lucky.) We’ll lose loved ones to death because people get old, sick & die. That’s life, & it greatly helps if we remain realistic in our expectations.
However there’s the persecution that comes to us because we take a stand for Christ. We must remember that cultural acceptance of Christianity is the exception not the rule.
2 Timothy 3:12 says….Everyone who wants to live a Godly life will be persecuted.
When we think of passion we think of a love scene from some movie we saw-& may have changed channels depending on how explicit it was. But when the Bible speaks of passion it is speaking of suffering; Acts 1:3. If you saw the movie “The Passion of Christ” you know what I’m talking about.
Paul’s said in Philippians 3;10-- That I may know Him & the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering. In following Christ we will not only experience the “power of His resurrection,” we’ll also experience the “fellowship of His suffering.”
Acts 14: 22 says,…..exhorting the disciples to continue in the faith, & that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
2. Don’t miss the meaning of the testing
To suffer for Christ is an honor not a disgrace. James 1:2-3 says, --My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptation; knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
1 Pet.4:14 says, ---If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the spirit & glory of God resteth upon you….
Matthew 5:11 says,--Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous sake for theirs is the kingdom of God.
Acts 5:41 says,--And they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
If you haven’t read the above verse lately, go back & read it & let every word sink in. The apostles wouldn’t stop preaching so they were taken by the leaders & made a public spectacle of. They were stripped at least to the waist & beaten like common, wicked criminals. Think what it must have been like to be beaten so badly you would cry out in deep sobs of unimaginable pain. The Bible calls what they went through shame, public shame mixed with awful excruciating pain & notice what the apostles did. They went on their way with their skin hanging in ribbons, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy; not worthy to preach, but worthy to bear the shame & pain of a public flogging.
3. Make sure your suffering isn’t self-inflicted.
If I walk up to someone & hit them & then they punch me in the nose, I can’t go around showing my wound & tell people I got hit for the cause of Christ. No I got hit because of my own stupidity.
If I don’t pay my bills & they come get my car I can’t say I’m suffering for Christ sake. That’s not persecution; it’s just the consequences of bad management.
If people avoid me because I don’t use Scope, that’s not persecution either.
If I am over-bearing & obnoxious with people, always giving someone a piece of my mind & because of that I lose credibility with them, that’s not being persecuted for righteousness.
1 Peter 4:15 says,---But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
4. Never quit
If you have brain cancer, only 10% of your heart is functioning & you are in a car headed down a thousand foot cliff, we may allow you to give up, but it’s still doubtful because with God all things are possible.
We are clay in the potter’s hands. If we fly off the wheel or of our own will take ourselves out of God’s hands we won’t be molded & shaped into vessels of honor. Certainly we can’t shape ourselves.
1 Peter 4:19 says, --Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing as unto a faithful creator.
No matter how things look if we want to be Christ’s disciples we must keep trusting God. No matter what the results we must keep doing good.
Hebrews 11:24-25 says,---By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaohs daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
In Psalm 55:1—David certainly saw persecution for he said,---Give ear to my prayers O God & hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend & hear me I mourn in my complaint & make a noise. Because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me & in wrath they hate me……
5. Remember no trial can separate us from God’s love.
God watches us like a hawk when we are being tested & put under pressure. No matter what we’re called to go through we can know that Christ & His spirit will always be with us.
· The best definition of faith to me is, “Taking God at His word.”
· If He says He loves us, He does.
· If He says He will never leave us, He won’t.
· If He says He can take anything & turn it into something good, He can.
· Do you have faith in Him?
There’s a love song I like that I wish a Christian songwriter had thought of & written as a gospel song. Here are the words;
YOU JUST CALL OUT MY NAME
AND YOU KNOW WHEREVER YOU ARE
I’LL COME RUNNING TO SEE YOU AGAIN
WINTER-SPRING-SUMMER-OR FALL
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL
AND I’LL BE THERE
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND.
This beautiful love song was written—I believe by Carol King & was made popular by North Carolinian James Taylor.
Jesus said in John 15:15---I have called you friends.
· Aren’t you glad you have a friend like that in Jesus?
· Have you ever felt like you didn’t have a prayer?
· That things were hopeless?
· Isn’t it wonderful to be able to talk to God & know He is listening?
· Isn’t it great to know God is your friend?
· Isn’t it great to know He’s willing & able to help you?
· If God loves us we’re never hopeless-never.
· If He loves us & will help us things will work out for us.
· If God is your friend you can make it through the hard trials.
YOU JUST CALL OUT HIS NAME
AND YOU KNOW WHEREVER YOU ARE
HE’LL COME RUNNING TO SEE YOU AGAIN
WINTER-SPRING-SUMMER-OR FALL
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL
AND HE’LL BE THERE
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND.
JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE IN SUFFERING
One of our problems with the temptation of Christ in the wilderness is that we don’t really take it seriously. We have a tendency not to believe He was really in danger out there; that He couldn’t be hurt & couldn’t sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that were true His testing would mean absolutely nothing to us. It would be bogus. It may have made a good story but it would mean nothing to us because sin & failure is a real possibility to us. Our struggles aren’t “staged” for effect & neither were Christ’s. To think that His 40 day testing & temptation wasn’t fraught with danger is nonsense. Mark emphasizes that Jesus was “driven into the wilderness.” That doesn’t sound to me like He wanted to go. Mark points out the dangerous places Jesus went, the wild beasts & the desert. The other gospels add texture & reality to His experience.
Hebrews 4:15 says,--For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are; yet without sin.
LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF PAUL
For I am convinced that
Neither death, nor life
Nor angels nor principalities
Nor powers nor things present nor things to come
Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8: 38-39
REMEMBER IN YOUR TRIALS THAT JESUS HAS GUARANTEED YOUR VICTORY IF YOU’RE FAITHFUL.
On September 6, 1995, thousands of people in Camden yards baseball stadium stood to their feet to honor Cal Ripken Jr. -- but why? His statistics were not all that exceptional. He played shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles but five of his teammates had higher batting averages that year; three hit more home runs. The crowd cheered Cal because he had set a new record for the most consecutive games played: 2,131. His faithfulness earned him the spontaneous applause of 45,000 people that day lasting 20 minutes. God isn’t impressed by the world’s quantitative definition of success measured by wealth & fame but He is expecting us to be faithful wherever He has placed us. 1 Cor.4:2
2 Timothy 2:12 says,--If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with him. If we deny Him he will deny us. If someone gave you an iron-clad contract & told you if you’d dig ditches in the rain for six months you’d have complete financial freedom for life don’t you think you’d do it? The answer is probably yes. We can endure anything if we know the outcome will be a positive one. God has promised to be faithful to us to the end if we’ll trust Him. That’s what Romans 8:28 is all about.
In Romans 8:18 Paul says,---For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
In Phil.3:8 Paul says,---Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, & do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
SUFFERING CREATES COMFORTERS
2 Cor.1:3-4 says,---Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies & the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulations that ye may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
I remember when I was a kid my father had many bouts with kidney stones. He would hurt so bad that he’d get down on the floor & roll around groaning & praying. I used to look at him & though I loved him I’d think he must be putting on at least a little. Surely it couldn’t be that terrible. Then when I was 29 I had a kidney stone & was rushed to the hospital. Believe me after that experience I stopped being a critic. If someone wants to get my attention & my heartfelt sympathy all they have to do is mention kidney stones. It took some suffering to turn me into a friend of everyone suffering with stones. Paul also said in Romans 5:3,--……we glory in tribulation also knowing that tribulation worketh patience. If we are to help others one of the things we’ll need most is patience.
NOT JUST CHRISTIANS—DISCIPLES –
As long as I can remember I’ve had something pulling me toward God & earnestly desiring a relationship with Him. I’m nowhere near a finished product & it’s possible that I may have more faults than anyone who reads this. I still have many questions & not nearly enough answers but I’m happy for the desire God placed within me to be, not just a Christian, but a disciple of Christ.
In Mark 1:13 when telling about the testing & temptation of Christ in the wilderness, Mark also tells us,--And the angels ministered to Him. Mark wants us to know that while Jesus was put through real stress & danger, God didn’t abandon Him. And he won’t abandon us in our hour of testing.
1 Peter 1:6-7 seems appropriate here; Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.-------jas.
Blessings,
John
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
America Shrugs-- HealthCare --Obama's Crown Jewel.
By John Stallings
If a resturant near your home started advertising free food & beverages, what do you suppose would happen? Right. There would immediately be constant lines at that restaurant stretching for blocks.
This would go on for a short time. What do you suppose would happen next? Right again. The restaurant would start rationing their food. They’d have to because of the overwhelming demand. People who weren’t even hungry would nonetheless stand in that line. Obviously now the restaurant would start turning people away. If they persisted in giving away food, they’d have to find outside financial support to help them pay for it.
I could go on with that analogy but I think you see my point.
Let's take a close look at what the Democrat Party has waiting in the wings should they be successful at ramming this socialized health care down our throats. Most of the physicians I've spoken to are opposed to UHC, for one reason because they don't want to become Government employees. They'd also like to keep the medical profession something they even recognize & want to continue to be rewarded both financially & intellectually.
From what I’m able to glean, the road to becoming a physician is one of the most demanding & expensive among all the professions. The cost of eight years of college, then three to six years in residency would leave them about $140,000 in debt. Of course what the medical student looks forward to is the appealing salary they’ll get someday to compensate for all the hard work & money spent. That perk or reality would disappear after the enactment of Universal Health Care.
What would immediately appear however would be a huge new tax burden hung around the necks of already jaded & tapped out American taxpayers.
Doctors who now get frustrated working within the guidelines of Medicaid, Medicare & HMOs, would find ever increasing aggravations with the adoption of universal health care. The way doctors would be paid now; “single payer” would be set by the federal government & would be appreciatively lower than they currently receive. Everything in America that pertains to health care would be paid out of one huge pot, thus the name “single payer.”
Now the doctors would be answerable to a group of politicians & the freedom they had to practice medicine as an art/science, i.e. treat patients as individuals, would leave & have in its place federally mandated guidelines for certain procedures across the board. Now you have a group of highly trained doctors being forced to treat each patient the same even though they might feel certain patients would benefit from an alternative type of treatment. We’re talking about a “one size fits all” approach. But people are different & don’t respond the same to medicines & protocols.
Let’s go back to our restaurant illustration when all those people came looking for that free food, stifling the place. Likewise, under “free-health care” now people would be jamming every medical facility. Because there isn’t a fee, people who before would have thought twice about going to a doctor, now will visit the doctor with minor problems that really don’t require medical attention. So you have people being turned away & you also have longer waiting lists.
Personally I need no further proof of the aforementioned than the experience I’ve had as a minister. From time to time my particular denomination would seek to secure group insurance policies for its constituents but the coverage would generally be discontinued after a few months. Though a letter would be sent to the ministers not to start taking their families to doctors for things that weren’t serious, invariably they’d do it anyway; and this in a church group that believes strongly in divine healing. It’s just human nature.
In 2007, in Canada where they have “free health care” the average wait was 18.3 weeks for surgical treatment. In the U.S the wait is just a couple of weeks. Under universal health care, Doctors will lose the fulfillment of being able to help every sick or injured person & the order of the day would become summarily turning people away due to full schedules.
Many jobs in the U.S would be eliminated by the removal of the current insurance companies. In short, in this writer’s view, “free” universal health care would be a bad deal for all America.
Another downside to “free” health care would be that the government would make decisions for the patient & make rules that the patient must follow. For instance, under this plan, a man could be told to report for a prostate examination at 7: am on Monday morning or risk losing further care. A woman could be told when to report to have a mammogram & if she failed to show, her medical care could be affected.
My wife & I are with an HMO & though we’re happy with the plan, we’re pressured to have more & more tests & take medications we don’t want to take, & won’t. This would be but a small sample of what the face of “free” health care would look like. I realize it sounds harsh to say anything the government runs isn't done very well but I would invited the reader to drive around to the public housing areas or "projects" in their town & look them over. These are government run. Is that the way we want our health care to look ?
There are stories coming out of the UK, who’ve long been on free health care, that smokers are told to quit smoking or surgery will be refused. I’m not a smoker but if a government can make rules against smokers, they can conceivably refuse health care to individuals who don’t eat at least five or six veggies a day or get from 20-40 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three times a week.
“Die in Britain, survive in the U.S” was the cover article of the February 2005 issue of The Spectator, a British magazine in which James Bartholomew details the downside of Britain’s free health care system;
“Among women with breast cancer for example, there’s a 46% chance of dying in Britain vs. a 25% chance in the U.S. Britain has one of the worst survival rates in the advanced world, while Americas has the best.”
He continues, “If you’re a man diagnosed with prostate cancer, you have a 57% chance of it killing you in Britain. In the United States the chance drops to 19%.” Again, reports Bartholomew, “Britain is at the bottom of the class & America is at the top.”
Explains Bartholomew, “This is why those who are rich enough often to go to America, leaving behind even private health care. The reason for that is in America you’re more likely to be treated & further, you’re more likely to get better treatment.”
In America, if you’ve had a heart attack, you are given beta-blockers compared to fewer than one-third in Britain. Similarly, American patients are more likely than British patients to have a heart condition diagnosed with an angiogram, more likely to have an artery widened with angioplasty & more likely to get back on their feet by way of a by-pass.
“In the main, Britain’s universal health care system has evolved into a ramshackle structure where even having a test, beyond an x-ray tends to be a rare extravagant event,” writes Bartholomew. “In Britain 36% of patients have to wait more than four months for non-emergency surgery. In the U.S 5% do. In Britain, 40% of cancer patients do not see a cancer specialist.”
Bartholomew tells about a woman named Peggy, an American radiologist who went to Britain to meet her English boyfriend’s family. While she was there, her boyfriend’s father found blood in his urine & went to a local National Health Service hospital in which no CT scans or cystoscopy tests were done. The patient had asthma & lay in his hospital bed with breathing difficulties but still didn’t see a specialist. He was told it would take six weeks. Short of six weeks he was discharged from the hospital. Back home before his appointment with a consultant he died of an asthma attack.
Bartholomew reports that Peggy was “surprised at how ‘accepting’ her boyfriend’s family was.” “What we saw was an unexpected passivity, a lethal submissiveness to systemic incompetence & tragedy, a reaction that seemed poles apart from how things happen in the U.S.” She didn’t say too much because she didn’t want to come across as a pushy, arrogant American but she was thinking that “in America we’d go nuts if we were told we’d have to wait six weeks to see a specialist. Expectations are so much higher.”
As far as the elderly,[ and some have suggested that in time that age would start at around fifty] they can just forget it if UHC becomes law. Obama himself has said that-" those old people will have to be given pain pills instead of expensive medical procedures."
As a footnote on Canada, the average wait for a simple MRI is three months. In Manitoba the median wait for neurosurgery is 15.2 months. For chemotherapy in Saskatchewan patients can expect to be in line for 10 weeks. At last report 10,000 cancer patients who waited an average of two months for radiation treatment have filed a class action lawsuit against Quebec’s hospitals.
Anyone who has a heart will immediately think as I did; what about all those who can’t afford health care? Let’s take a look at the numbers we’re given.
We hear & read a good bit about the 47 million Americans who don’t have health insurance & anecdotal evidence usually accompanies the figure, dramatizing the tragedy. It’s implied if not bluntly stated that this denotes a scandalous shortcoming of our society, our government & our capitalist way of life. The message is – “these Americans are your friends & neighbors & they don’t have health care.”
But Census data shows that 9.5 million of the uninsured listed themselves as “Not a citizen”: they aren’t Americans. The number of uninsured now drops to 37.1 million, about 12% of the population. The Census data also shows that there are 8.3 million uninsured that make between $50,000 & $74,000 per year & 8.7 million who make more than $75,000 per year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance. Should we count those who can afford health insurance among the uninsured?
So 37.1 minus 8.7 minus 8.3 now leaves us with roughly 20 million people without health insurance which is approximately 7 % of the population, a far cry from the 16% we’ve been told by the socialized medicine lobby & the compliant media who are obviously too lazy to examine the facts.
The Kaiser Family Foundation which is frequently a source for the mainstream media says that Americans who don’t qualify for existing government programs & who make $50,000 a year total actually no more than 5% of our population. Also the number of uninsured American “floats” & 45% will be uninsured for only approximately four months.
This information begs the question; if all this be so, & universal health care has been an abysmal flop around the world, why would intelligent & conscientious politicians want to try it in the U.S? I won’t presume to have that answer in its entirety, but a couple of answers come to mind. Many politicians feel with a more centralized, omnipotent government things work better. It also militates toward a grand design of getting the people more & more under government control. The proponents of free universal health care feel that it has yet to be done by the right people; i.e. –Them.
When Mr. Obama talks about change, you can be sure what he's always had in mind was some incarnation of universal health care. This, if it happens will be a quantum leap for America toward the abyss of socialism. Mr. Obama seems genial enough but we knew from the get-go--he’s far, far Left.
It’s a well known fact among serious observers that a major reason communism shriveled up & died in Russia is that people quit working. The reason they quit working is hard work only pays off in a free-enterprise system. But as you probably know, in the last few years, they've moved back toward the free-market system. As a matter of fact more millionaires are now being produced in places like Russia, China & India than in America. This sounds hard to believe but motor-car companies like Rolls Royce, Bentley etc. report that the lions share of their sales are coming from what we used to think of as third world nations. Don't take my word on this, Google it!
There’s an ocean of material on the internet about the pros & cons of so-called free universal health care so you need not take my word for anything. But consider this;
In Canada, while thousands of baby-boomers & the elderly wait for knee & hip replacement surgery, a dog can get a joint replacement operation at a veterinary hospital done in a matter of weeks.
But the real danger of adopting a system like the one in Canada & Britain is not just long waits for medical treatment. Americans would pay much higher taxes & lose important liberties while turning over personal, life-and-death decisions to government bureaucrats.
This article doesn’t presume to bore down particularly deep into the universal health care question because I'm obviously not an expert on the subject, but hopefully it will give some food for thought.
The ultimate question is; Does it make sense to destroy, [though imperfect,] the best medical care the world has ever seen because 5 out of 100 don’t have adequate access to it?
Friend, if you're getting anywhere close to mid-life & you feel UHC really doesn't involve you, & so you defer being pro-active in this effort because you can't see yourself needing things like cat-scans, MRIs, knee, hip or any joint replacements etc., may God bless you & may you be correct in your assessment.
But pardon me if it this brings to my mind a line from one of the great & powerful poems;
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee!
Blessings,
John
P.S Please make this a matter of prayer. Do your own research because materials are available to explain what the Obama Bill contains. Also, so as I have done & call your Congressman & The White House & , if you're against UHC, tell them so in a pleasant way.You may also need to write a check to show you're serious.-Jas
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Challenging Old Mind-Sets
By John Stallings
No one puts new wine into old wineskins…. Luke 5:37
I recently read the story of a man who worked with refrigerated railroad box cars. His worst dread and fear was that he’d someday accidentally get locked in one of the cars and freeze to death. His family, friends and working buddies all knew of his fear because he constantly talked about it. One night his worst fear came to pass and he inadvertently was locked in one of the cars.
When he was found the next morning, an autopsy showed he’d indeed frozen to death. He had found a piece of a paper sack and left a note saying, “It’s so very cold. It’s getting colder and colder, and I know I can’t last until morning.” The strange thing was that in that particular box car, the refrigeration wasn’t working and the temperature never got over 61 degrees all night. They found that the oxygen level in the car was plenty to keep a person alive. His mind and what it believed must have frozen him to death.
It’s amazing the power our minds have to create what we’re convinced of.
If you saw the movie, “Fiddler on the roof” you will remember the song, “Tradition.” I like the catchy tune but I especially was taken by the truth it teaches about the concept of different cultures and ways of speaking, thinking and doing things. So much of what we do is nothing more than ideas, concepts and traditions that were handed down to us from our ancestors and have little to do with sacredness. There’s nothing particularly wrong or right about them, they are just customs.
There are few things as powerful as a fixed idea in the human mind.
Whether the idea is true or false, it can be almost equally as powerful when it gets lodged in our brain. In Romans 12 we read about the renewed mind and this renewal is imperative to be truly victorious in the Christian life.
In Ephesians 3:20 we read, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
What makes this verse so great is that we have the ability to do some rather large thinking and asking sometimes. But God is able to do much more than I could ever ask or think, and obviously, that’s a lot.
However, if we can’t ask or think it, how is God ever going to bring it to pass for us? If our minds are fixated or bogged down with small expectations, why do we even need God to be involved when he’s such a big God? His greatness only has a showcase in our lives when it’s something that is above what we can already conceptualize.
Have you ever considered some of the fixed, negative ideas you may be harboring in your mind? Thoughts that have established themselves and, though wrong, are actually setting the limits for what you will believe can happen for you?
Sometimes when thoughts get a foothold they can gradually become a stronghold in our minds. Then these thoughts can finally become strangleholds. Paul talks about strongholds in 2 Corinthians 10:4.
Romans 12:1-2 says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind……
This tells us that to truly follow God, we must have renewed minds, and renewed thought patterns. Take for example,
OUR OWN SELF PORTRAIT
Most people would agree that a person will only go as far in life as their self-image will let them go. If our minds are filled with thoughts of inferiority we will act accordingly and never believe for the big and best things in life. What does your self-portrait look like? In reality, the ultimate victory of our lives won’t depend on how big and great God is. There’s no question about how big God is. There’s no question about how much power He has and what He’s able to do. The ultimate victory of our lives will depend on how much of God’s power and ability we will allow to work in us. Remember, as a man thinketh, so is he. Proverbs 23:7.When you think of yourself, do you see an image of a beaten down rumpled person trying to hang on, or do you see yourself as God sees you?
Let me give you a snap- shot of how God looks at us. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 we see Gods portrait of us; “Now thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh the savior of his knowledge by us in every place, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.” God sees us ALWAYS TRIUMPHING.
Many people wrongly think God’s going to do it all, but He wants to do it through us. Think of this like this;--“without God we can’t and without us He won’t.” If we think God by divine fiat, will do everything for us, we’ll be sorely disappointed. The truth is, God will do His part but He expects us to do our part.
I heard about a man (whether it’s true or not, it makes a good point) who went into a church and prayed one day, asking God to please let him win the lottery. Every day he’d go into the church get down on his knees and beg God to give him a break and let him win the lottery. He did this each day for a week and at the end of the week as he prayed he heard God say, “would you please give me a break and go buy a lottery ticket.”
We must put forth the effort through reading; studying, prayer and meditation, to daily cultivate a renewal of our mind, keeping out the wrong thought patterns. As an example, take a person with lung cancer. What good would it do if God healed the person and they kept right on being the Marlboro Man, and continued to smoke? Cancer would still have an inroad into that life through the tobacco. No change of any kind will work for us unless we make a decision to change our mind-set, actions and habits. Let’s say a person is depressed and God worked a miracle and lifted the mental depression. If that person refused to meditate on God’s word, didn’t guard their thought life and allowed themselves to get spiritually and physically run-down, more than likely they’d go right back into a depressed condition. That’s what Romans 12 is all about; a renewal of our thinking. It’s really surprising how practical God is isn’t it?
WRONG IDEAS ABOUT PRAYER
Maybe, without realizing it you’ve let a wrong fixed idea get established about prayer. Some people have the idea that prayer is “doing penance.” If they want God to hear them they must utter so many “Hail Mary’s.” Somehow, they feel, if they expect God to hear them they must spend enough time in prayer that God will see they really love him. Some religions ritualistically turn their faces toward a certain place and make sure they do it five or six times a day. The truth is; God isn’t looking for us to pray for long stretches to prove our love for him. A better & more scriptural way to prove we love God would be to love one another. Our prayers needn’t be long drawn out drudgery, thinking it will get God’s attention.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
If you have that idea fixed in our heads, you need to reprogram your mind with Gods thoughts, revealed in His word, so you can move on to a deeper, fuller prayer life. You may even have allowed yourself to think that fasting and starving yourself will remove guilt and make you feel more accepted and loved by God. The Bible teaches us the only thing that will remove guilt is the blood of Jesus Christ. Fasting has its place, and some stubborn things will only respond to fasting and prayer but we can’t get God’s approval and absolve guilt in that way. True prayer springs out of our relationship with God. I don’t spend time with my wife each day to keep from feeling guilty or to show her and others I’m a good husband. I spend time with her because she’s my wife and we have a close relationship. The same would be true in our prayer time with God.
OLD MYTHS CAN STILL PLAGUE OUR THINKING.
I heard that one little boy said; “a myth is a female moth.” We can get all sorts of wrong ideas. I often hear folk say, “God helps those who help themselves.” That sounds good but it’s a myth, and not scriptural. What about people who can’t help themselves? There are millions of people like that in the world. God expects us to do all we can and then he’ll step in and do the rest as we believe him. God “healpeth our infirmities”, which means that often He asks us to pick up one end of the log and he’ll lift the other.
What good does it do us if we try to cram great spiritual ideas and truths into our minds on top of old wrong, mythical, fixed ideas? I’m not being critical, but rather encouraging us to truly think Biblically and constantly renew our minds with God’s Word.
SOME HAVE WRONG FIXED IDEA’S ABOUT MONEY.
Many people don’t like to think about money and consequently don’t plan ahead. Many people reach retirement with nothing but what the government gives them. They think that when they get older, something magical will happen to supply their financial needs. Some have even allowed the fact that Jesus is coming soon to keep them from properly preparing and planning for their later years. Jesus never told us to be preoccupied with his coming, but to occupy till He comes, there’s a big difference. These folk soon see they were wrong, but by that time it’s too late to do them much good.
Some men even harbor mythical ideas about how much money they should earn. Their fathers only earned so much so they should only earn about that much. I heard about a man who went to his dad and showed him his first pay check as an insurance agent and his dad broke down and started to cry because it was so much more than he’d ever made. The grown son determined to never again make more money than his dad made. I think you’ll agree this is a serious problem but there are people who think this way. They settle for mediocrity rather than think big because they have been so ridiculed for wanting bigger things than their parents had. Such is the power of fixed ideas. Some people only pray for their needs, never their wants. Others look at it differently; they need everything they want.
SOME PEOPLE FEAR FINANCIAL RESOURCES
My parents were wonderful people, and instilled in me some good spiritual as well as practical knowledge, but to be frank, they had some faulty ideas about money. They really didn’t earn enough and save much for their old age. My dad was a Pastor and never had a large salary, but one of his problems was that he wouldn’t stand up for himself on money issues. I sometimes got the idea that my parents were afraid of money; for what reason I really don’t know. I remember when my dad pastored in Orlando, Florida in the 1950’s and I was just a teenager. He was being paid a percentage of the tithes and as the church grew, his income grew. Though it wasn’t that much, my mother would be so nervous about what they earned that on the day of the annual business meeting, when a report of the Pastors salary was read, she’d have to go to the doctor and get medication because she so dreaded it. They really weren’t getting paid all that much, it was just a fixed idea she had that it was too much money.
Once they were given a raise by the church [their percentage was raised] and my mother refused to take it, and they stayed at the same percentage. Can you imagine that? A few months later, my father got sick and was put in the hospital. Their insurance didn’t pay the entire bill so my mother went to the church treasurer and asked if they could get a small loan from the church to help pay the hospital bill. The wonderful man who served that church for many years as treasurer, went to the church safe, and pulled out an envelope and handed it to my mother. He explained to her that when they had refused the raise the church offered them; he went ahead and put the money aside, knowing they’d probably need it someday. I can hardly imagine that as I look back, but it happened. I never really asked her about it but my mother must have been afraid of money. I’ve had to be very vigilant in my own life to make sure I wasn’t letting any of those old wrong ideas get fixed in my thinking. I’ve always believed in and preached tithing and giving in all sorts of ways, but I also believe that the best way to help the poor is to not become one of them. Some people, like my parents, seem to think that money is dangerous and evil and if you’re not careful it will corrupt you. There’s an element of truth to that but by the same token, the Bible doesn’t teach that money is evil, just the love of it.
Some fear that a lot of money will somehow get them into trouble. As Christians, that’s an uncalled for response and though it may have been that way in the past, we are now King’s kids and we have the wisdom and integrity to be proper stewards over our resources. It’s true that if you gave some people one million dollars they’d soon be over their heads because of poor management. They’d fail to pay their taxes and soon would be in trouble with the I.R.S. Also, disagreement about how money is spent is the number one cause of divorce, so obviously it can cause problems, but again, it goes back to wrong concepts about money.
MONEY GIVES YOU A VOICE.
In Ecc. 9: 14-15 we read an interesting little story about a wise but poor man who saved a little city but because he was poor the people didn’t respect or remember him. In other words, because he himself wasn’t prosperous, the people discounted him. What’s interesting is that the same principle holds true to this day; if a person is poor, they have no voice nor are they really considered very much. A modern day twist on that same idea is that people say nowadays, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you financially successful.” To bring balance to the question, I think we could correctly say that while money doesn’t insure that a person is spiritual or upstanding, if we are to be viable in our society, the principles of Biblical prosperity should be visible and working in our lives. You can ask any of the minorities and they’ll tell you it’s true. No finances, no voice. The story isn’t saying that the poor are worthless in God’s eyes, but have a difficult time getting their story heard. Pastors and missionaries have lived with that reality for years; if there’s no money, the work will not be done nor the Gospel preached. God wants money to come into our hands and He also wants us to have the right attitude toward it.
Another wrong way of thinking about money would be hoarding it & ignoring the needs of others, and the work of God.
A SCARCITY MENTALITY IS WRONG THINKING.
Some people have developed the idea that there is only so much wealth and not enough for everybody. Have you ever wondered why some people are jealous of those who move up in life and get new things? Most of the time it’s not that they just don’t want the other person to have what they acquire; it’s that they see only one big pie and if somebody gets a big piece of it, there’s less for them. This is wrong thinking. We should realize we all have our own pie and what someone else gets in no way detracts or diminishes what we may have if we position ourselves rightly. Again, it’s the limited thinking that gets in the way. Psalm 78:41 says when speaking of Israel, Yea they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. Let’s be sure we don’t do the same in our thinking.
Here’s an illustration, a very simple but, I think, good one. If you took a pig and cleaned him all up and let him live in your house, we know that it wouldn’t be long until his old pig-ways would necessitate that you put him back outside. You’d have to change his nature to be able to coexist with a pig.
Obviously, you and I aren’t pigs, but still, we can’t really go where God wants to take us with our old nature and set patterns of wrong thinking. Again remember, For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
If we try to put spiritual ideas into a mind that hasn’t been renewed, we’ve got a confused situation, for the Bible says “the carnal mind cancels out spiritual thoughts and ideas.”
Let’s say a man wants to become a doctor, so he goes to medical school to prepare. He studies to cram medical jargon into his head and truly is good at reading, absorbing the material, and passing the tests. Because he does all the work and makes the grades, he finally gets his degree and his license to practice medicine. The only thing is, the man doesn’t really want to be a doctor, has no interest in good health and helping people obtain good health. He doesn’t buy into the idea that he must scrub and clean his hands after visiting each patient and won’t use a single modicum of care to follow up on his patients to see them through to health. He really has never bought into the truth that there are certain medical principle’s we all must follow in order to have optimum health. All he’s doing, although his head is full of doctor knowledge, is going through the charade pretending to be a true doctor. Would you want a man like that to be your physician? A man who doesn’t even believe what he’s doing is important and is only in it for the prestige and the financial rewards? He’s got all the head knowledge but after medical school he refuses to stay abreast and up to date on new medical findings. Maybe he even doubts the things he’s learned are true, and when nobodies looking, bends and breaks all the rules of ethics and good medicine. Even though he knew all the things he was supposed to know, he really wouldn’t be much good, would he?
This man never had a mind-changing experience that truly made a life time doctor out of him.
It’s the same thing with us as Christians in the realm of spiritual truth. We must not be Christians in name only. It’s important that we have been transformed and are so full of Christ, and His way of thinking, that there’s no room for faulty superfluous, harmful ideas.
I have read that in order for a crab to continue to grow, they must occasionally throw off their old shell and grow new ones. But the old shell represents the crabs home, security, and comfort. It’s risky for him to get rid of the old shell but if he doesn’t do it, he’ll cease to grow and finally die. God wants us to be crabby. Not in the sense that we’re cantankerous and hard to live with but in the sense that we, as the crab, are constantly growing and throwing off the non-productive “shells” that become irrelevant as we grow up in God.
Take a close look at your life and ask yourself if you are suffering because of limiting ideas that have taken root and have kept you from God’s best. Ideas that are like the crabs too small shell that he must throw off in order to insure his continued growth. There is a battle going on for our minds and if Satan can get a foothold there, he will shrink us, keep us small and can rob us of total victorious living.
Make a commitment today to return to God’s word, open your heart and mind and watch God lead you to new vista’s that are,
“EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDATLY MORE THAN YOU COULD ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN YOU.”
Blessings,
John
No one puts new wine into old wineskins…. Luke 5:37
I recently read the story of a man who worked with refrigerated railroad box cars. His worst dread and fear was that he’d someday accidentally get locked in one of the cars and freeze to death. His family, friends and working buddies all knew of his fear because he constantly talked about it. One night his worst fear came to pass and he inadvertently was locked in one of the cars.
When he was found the next morning, an autopsy showed he’d indeed frozen to death. He had found a piece of a paper sack and left a note saying, “It’s so very cold. It’s getting colder and colder, and I know I can’t last until morning.” The strange thing was that in that particular box car, the refrigeration wasn’t working and the temperature never got over 61 degrees all night. They found that the oxygen level in the car was plenty to keep a person alive. His mind and what it believed must have frozen him to death.
It’s amazing the power our minds have to create what we’re convinced of.
If you saw the movie, “Fiddler on the roof” you will remember the song, “Tradition.” I like the catchy tune but I especially was taken by the truth it teaches about the concept of different cultures and ways of speaking, thinking and doing things. So much of what we do is nothing more than ideas, concepts and traditions that were handed down to us from our ancestors and have little to do with sacredness. There’s nothing particularly wrong or right about them, they are just customs.
There are few things as powerful as a fixed idea in the human mind.
Whether the idea is true or false, it can be almost equally as powerful when it gets lodged in our brain. In Romans 12 we read about the renewed mind and this renewal is imperative to be truly victorious in the Christian life.
In Ephesians 3:20 we read, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
What makes this verse so great is that we have the ability to do some rather large thinking and asking sometimes. But God is able to do much more than I could ever ask or think, and obviously, that’s a lot.
However, if we can’t ask or think it, how is God ever going to bring it to pass for us? If our minds are fixated or bogged down with small expectations, why do we even need God to be involved when he’s such a big God? His greatness only has a showcase in our lives when it’s something that is above what we can already conceptualize.
Have you ever considered some of the fixed, negative ideas you may be harboring in your mind? Thoughts that have established themselves and, though wrong, are actually setting the limits for what you will believe can happen for you?
Sometimes when thoughts get a foothold they can gradually become a stronghold in our minds. Then these thoughts can finally become strangleholds. Paul talks about strongholds in 2 Corinthians 10:4.
Romans 12:1-2 says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind……
This tells us that to truly follow God, we must have renewed minds, and renewed thought patterns. Take for example,
OUR OWN SELF PORTRAIT
Most people would agree that a person will only go as far in life as their self-image will let them go. If our minds are filled with thoughts of inferiority we will act accordingly and never believe for the big and best things in life. What does your self-portrait look like? In reality, the ultimate victory of our lives won’t depend on how big and great God is. There’s no question about how big God is. There’s no question about how much power He has and what He’s able to do. The ultimate victory of our lives will depend on how much of God’s power and ability we will allow to work in us. Remember, as a man thinketh, so is he. Proverbs 23:7.When you think of yourself, do you see an image of a beaten down rumpled person trying to hang on, or do you see yourself as God sees you?
Let me give you a snap- shot of how God looks at us. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 we see Gods portrait of us; “Now thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh the savior of his knowledge by us in every place, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.” God sees us ALWAYS TRIUMPHING.
Many people wrongly think God’s going to do it all, but He wants to do it through us. Think of this like this;--“without God we can’t and without us He won’t.” If we think God by divine fiat, will do everything for us, we’ll be sorely disappointed. The truth is, God will do His part but He expects us to do our part.
I heard about a man (whether it’s true or not, it makes a good point) who went into a church and prayed one day, asking God to please let him win the lottery. Every day he’d go into the church get down on his knees and beg God to give him a break and let him win the lottery. He did this each day for a week and at the end of the week as he prayed he heard God say, “would you please give me a break and go buy a lottery ticket.”
We must put forth the effort through reading; studying, prayer and meditation, to daily cultivate a renewal of our mind, keeping out the wrong thought patterns. As an example, take a person with lung cancer. What good would it do if God healed the person and they kept right on being the Marlboro Man, and continued to smoke? Cancer would still have an inroad into that life through the tobacco. No change of any kind will work for us unless we make a decision to change our mind-set, actions and habits. Let’s say a person is depressed and God worked a miracle and lifted the mental depression. If that person refused to meditate on God’s word, didn’t guard their thought life and allowed themselves to get spiritually and physically run-down, more than likely they’d go right back into a depressed condition. That’s what Romans 12 is all about; a renewal of our thinking. It’s really surprising how practical God is isn’t it?
WRONG IDEAS ABOUT PRAYER
Maybe, without realizing it you’ve let a wrong fixed idea get established about prayer. Some people have the idea that prayer is “doing penance.” If they want God to hear them they must utter so many “Hail Mary’s.” Somehow, they feel, if they expect God to hear them they must spend enough time in prayer that God will see they really love him. Some religions ritualistically turn their faces toward a certain place and make sure they do it five or six times a day. The truth is; God isn’t looking for us to pray for long stretches to prove our love for him. A better & more scriptural way to prove we love God would be to love one another. Our prayers needn’t be long drawn out drudgery, thinking it will get God’s attention.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
If you have that idea fixed in our heads, you need to reprogram your mind with Gods thoughts, revealed in His word, so you can move on to a deeper, fuller prayer life. You may even have allowed yourself to think that fasting and starving yourself will remove guilt and make you feel more accepted and loved by God. The Bible teaches us the only thing that will remove guilt is the blood of Jesus Christ. Fasting has its place, and some stubborn things will only respond to fasting and prayer but we can’t get God’s approval and absolve guilt in that way. True prayer springs out of our relationship with God. I don’t spend time with my wife each day to keep from feeling guilty or to show her and others I’m a good husband. I spend time with her because she’s my wife and we have a close relationship. The same would be true in our prayer time with God.
OLD MYTHS CAN STILL PLAGUE OUR THINKING.
I heard that one little boy said; “a myth is a female moth.” We can get all sorts of wrong ideas. I often hear folk say, “God helps those who help themselves.” That sounds good but it’s a myth, and not scriptural. What about people who can’t help themselves? There are millions of people like that in the world. God expects us to do all we can and then he’ll step in and do the rest as we believe him. God “healpeth our infirmities”, which means that often He asks us to pick up one end of the log and he’ll lift the other.
What good does it do us if we try to cram great spiritual ideas and truths into our minds on top of old wrong, mythical, fixed ideas? I’m not being critical, but rather encouraging us to truly think Biblically and constantly renew our minds with God’s Word.
SOME HAVE WRONG FIXED IDEA’S ABOUT MONEY.
Many people don’t like to think about money and consequently don’t plan ahead. Many people reach retirement with nothing but what the government gives them. They think that when they get older, something magical will happen to supply their financial needs. Some have even allowed the fact that Jesus is coming soon to keep them from properly preparing and planning for their later years. Jesus never told us to be preoccupied with his coming, but to occupy till He comes, there’s a big difference. These folk soon see they were wrong, but by that time it’s too late to do them much good.
Some men even harbor mythical ideas about how much money they should earn. Their fathers only earned so much so they should only earn about that much. I heard about a man who went to his dad and showed him his first pay check as an insurance agent and his dad broke down and started to cry because it was so much more than he’d ever made. The grown son determined to never again make more money than his dad made. I think you’ll agree this is a serious problem but there are people who think this way. They settle for mediocrity rather than think big because they have been so ridiculed for wanting bigger things than their parents had. Such is the power of fixed ideas. Some people only pray for their needs, never their wants. Others look at it differently; they need everything they want.
SOME PEOPLE FEAR FINANCIAL RESOURCES
My parents were wonderful people, and instilled in me some good spiritual as well as practical knowledge, but to be frank, they had some faulty ideas about money. They really didn’t earn enough and save much for their old age. My dad was a Pastor and never had a large salary, but one of his problems was that he wouldn’t stand up for himself on money issues. I sometimes got the idea that my parents were afraid of money; for what reason I really don’t know. I remember when my dad pastored in Orlando, Florida in the 1950’s and I was just a teenager. He was being paid a percentage of the tithes and as the church grew, his income grew. Though it wasn’t that much, my mother would be so nervous about what they earned that on the day of the annual business meeting, when a report of the Pastors salary was read, she’d have to go to the doctor and get medication because she so dreaded it. They really weren’t getting paid all that much, it was just a fixed idea she had that it was too much money.
Once they were given a raise by the church [their percentage was raised] and my mother refused to take it, and they stayed at the same percentage. Can you imagine that? A few months later, my father got sick and was put in the hospital. Their insurance didn’t pay the entire bill so my mother went to the church treasurer and asked if they could get a small loan from the church to help pay the hospital bill. The wonderful man who served that church for many years as treasurer, went to the church safe, and pulled out an envelope and handed it to my mother. He explained to her that when they had refused the raise the church offered them; he went ahead and put the money aside, knowing they’d probably need it someday. I can hardly imagine that as I look back, but it happened. I never really asked her about it but my mother must have been afraid of money. I’ve had to be very vigilant in my own life to make sure I wasn’t letting any of those old wrong ideas get fixed in my thinking. I’ve always believed in and preached tithing and giving in all sorts of ways, but I also believe that the best way to help the poor is to not become one of them. Some people, like my parents, seem to think that money is dangerous and evil and if you’re not careful it will corrupt you. There’s an element of truth to that but by the same token, the Bible doesn’t teach that money is evil, just the love of it.
Some fear that a lot of money will somehow get them into trouble. As Christians, that’s an uncalled for response and though it may have been that way in the past, we are now King’s kids and we have the wisdom and integrity to be proper stewards over our resources. It’s true that if you gave some people one million dollars they’d soon be over their heads because of poor management. They’d fail to pay their taxes and soon would be in trouble with the I.R.S. Also, disagreement about how money is spent is the number one cause of divorce, so obviously it can cause problems, but again, it goes back to wrong concepts about money.
MONEY GIVES YOU A VOICE.
In Ecc. 9: 14-15 we read an interesting little story about a wise but poor man who saved a little city but because he was poor the people didn’t respect or remember him. In other words, because he himself wasn’t prosperous, the people discounted him. What’s interesting is that the same principle holds true to this day; if a person is poor, they have no voice nor are they really considered very much. A modern day twist on that same idea is that people say nowadays, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you financially successful.” To bring balance to the question, I think we could correctly say that while money doesn’t insure that a person is spiritual or upstanding, if we are to be viable in our society, the principles of Biblical prosperity should be visible and working in our lives. You can ask any of the minorities and they’ll tell you it’s true. No finances, no voice. The story isn’t saying that the poor are worthless in God’s eyes, but have a difficult time getting their story heard. Pastors and missionaries have lived with that reality for years; if there’s no money, the work will not be done nor the Gospel preached. God wants money to come into our hands and He also wants us to have the right attitude toward it.
Another wrong way of thinking about money would be hoarding it & ignoring the needs of others, and the work of God.
A SCARCITY MENTALITY IS WRONG THINKING.
Some people have developed the idea that there is only so much wealth and not enough for everybody. Have you ever wondered why some people are jealous of those who move up in life and get new things? Most of the time it’s not that they just don’t want the other person to have what they acquire; it’s that they see only one big pie and if somebody gets a big piece of it, there’s less for them. This is wrong thinking. We should realize we all have our own pie and what someone else gets in no way detracts or diminishes what we may have if we position ourselves rightly. Again, it’s the limited thinking that gets in the way. Psalm 78:41 says when speaking of Israel, Yea they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. Let’s be sure we don’t do the same in our thinking.
Here’s an illustration, a very simple but, I think, good one. If you took a pig and cleaned him all up and let him live in your house, we know that it wouldn’t be long until his old pig-ways would necessitate that you put him back outside. You’d have to change his nature to be able to coexist with a pig.
Obviously, you and I aren’t pigs, but still, we can’t really go where God wants to take us with our old nature and set patterns of wrong thinking. Again remember, For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
If we try to put spiritual ideas into a mind that hasn’t been renewed, we’ve got a confused situation, for the Bible says “the carnal mind cancels out spiritual thoughts and ideas.”
Let’s say a man wants to become a doctor, so he goes to medical school to prepare. He studies to cram medical jargon into his head and truly is good at reading, absorbing the material, and passing the tests. Because he does all the work and makes the grades, he finally gets his degree and his license to practice medicine. The only thing is, the man doesn’t really want to be a doctor, has no interest in good health and helping people obtain good health. He doesn’t buy into the idea that he must scrub and clean his hands after visiting each patient and won’t use a single modicum of care to follow up on his patients to see them through to health. He really has never bought into the truth that there are certain medical principle’s we all must follow in order to have optimum health. All he’s doing, although his head is full of doctor knowledge, is going through the charade pretending to be a true doctor. Would you want a man like that to be your physician? A man who doesn’t even believe what he’s doing is important and is only in it for the prestige and the financial rewards? He’s got all the head knowledge but after medical school he refuses to stay abreast and up to date on new medical findings. Maybe he even doubts the things he’s learned are true, and when nobodies looking, bends and breaks all the rules of ethics and good medicine. Even though he knew all the things he was supposed to know, he really wouldn’t be much good, would he?
This man never had a mind-changing experience that truly made a life time doctor out of him.
It’s the same thing with us as Christians in the realm of spiritual truth. We must not be Christians in name only. It’s important that we have been transformed and are so full of Christ, and His way of thinking, that there’s no room for faulty superfluous, harmful ideas.
I have read that in order for a crab to continue to grow, they must occasionally throw off their old shell and grow new ones. But the old shell represents the crabs home, security, and comfort. It’s risky for him to get rid of the old shell but if he doesn’t do it, he’ll cease to grow and finally die. God wants us to be crabby. Not in the sense that we’re cantankerous and hard to live with but in the sense that we, as the crab, are constantly growing and throwing off the non-productive “shells” that become irrelevant as we grow up in God.
Take a close look at your life and ask yourself if you are suffering because of limiting ideas that have taken root and have kept you from God’s best. Ideas that are like the crabs too small shell that he must throw off in order to insure his continued growth. There is a battle going on for our minds and if Satan can get a foothold there, he will shrink us, keep us small and can rob us of total victorious living.
Make a commitment today to return to God’s word, open your heart and mind and watch God lead you to new vista’s that are,
“EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDATLY MORE THAN YOU COULD ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN YOU.”
Blessings,
John
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
"I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
By John Stallings
Once I was asked to speak at a church banquet. As I rose to speak, people were finishing their deserts & still engaged in small talk.
Not being all that used to speaking under these conditions, I just stood there & looked out at the folk. The Pastor who understood the room said to me, “Tell them to SSssssshhhh.” I didn’t want to do it but finally I leaned into the mike and said, SSSssssshhhh, in a gentle but firm way. As I did I noticed things slightly quiet down. The Pastor’s wife then spoke up & said “Bro. Stallings, tell them louder to SSSsssshhhhh. I looked at her & said, “Does that work?” She answered, “It’s the only thing that does work.”
Well, I SSSSssshhhed them again a little louder & this time they looked as if a gunshot had gone off. I finally had my audience & all it took was a fairly loud SSssssshhhhh. Everyone seemed fine with it. I’ve thought many times about that & wondered why we human beings respond so well to SSssssshhh.
I can remember many times as a child when my Mother would just say SSshhh to us. Often that’s all she would say & it usually got the job done. Sometimes, if the ssshhh wasn’t heeded -things got a little rougher. [She was quite an accomplished pincher.] Maybe it was even the first thing she ever said to me as baby, sssshhhhh it’s o.k., be quiet son—Sssssshhhh. There,- there-sssshhhh.
Some time back I was going through a stressful patch & somehow a compulsion hit me to just talk-talk-talk about it to anyone who would listen. One night as I meditated, I distinctly heard God’s voice whisper to me, “son, ssshhhhhhh. Give it a rest. Stop dwelling on the problem son, you’re making too big a thing out of this. Put it in perspective. SSSssssshhhhh. Keep it low key-low key—easy-does-it, keep the problem small in your mind.”
Yes, God said exactly that to me in my spirit. I was stunned in a way but then as usual I began to see God’s point. I was so revved up that I had the problem all out of proportion.
Friend believe me, this isn’t me talking now. I have failed as much as anybody in the words department. But as I said, it’s what God is saying to & through me. He’s saying, “Stand back, take a deep breath & relax. Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
I remember an actor named Larry Hagman who for many years played J.R on the TV show Dallas. I read that one day a week he wouldn’t talk to anyone , he’d wear a sign on his chest saying “please excuse me I’m not talking today, It’s my day of silence.” I think Larry had a good idea. Sometimes a little peace & quiet is fine. God bless you Larry!
We lose power with too much talk.
Even Samson wouldn’t have gotten into trouble if he’d kept his mouth closed. He lost his power because he wanted to talk & when he spoke he gave away the secret of his power.
Have you ever talked until you were just totally tired out? Talking takes the strength out of you. Ask any preacher or teacher. In WW11 there was a big promotion in American called “Loose lips sink ships.” They observed that when people were loose in their talk about the work they were doing, for some reason more bad things happened
Perhaps that’s why David said in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch Oh Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips.” Lord, help me to SSSSssssshhhhhhhh.
I once heard a man say, “I can tell you what I know & I can tell you what I think, which one do you want to hear?” Believe me, telling what we know takes lot’s less time doesn’t it? However most of the time when we talk we don’t make a clear distinction between the two.
WE SHOULD BE WARY OF IDLE CHATTER
Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you that every idle word that men speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” This is speaking of idle gossip. Frightening isn’t it? How often have you heard these words, “you didn’t hear this from me?” That opener will usually start a statement off that will be hurtful to someone. Believe it or not, very often the reason for the statement is to hurt someone. The definition of Gossip is; “Rumor or talk of a personal or sensational nature, someone who habitually spreads sensational or intimate facts.” We have all seen the gossip rags in grocery stores & sadly that’s where America’s mind set is these days. Too bad we Christians aren’t exempt, but we aren’t. We seem to crave it as much as anyone.
MANY DON’T SEEM TO BE AWARE THAT LOOSE AND IDLE TALK IS WRONG
Have you ever wondered why people continue to engage in such a harmful practice? The answer is many faceted. Many seem to feel its o.k. because we get away with it. We do it & nothing bad happens to us immediately. Other folk do it because they’ve never heard a reliable source talk or teach on it. And maybe it’s this; some are too rebellious to stop gossiping.
Proverbs 9; 8 tells us “A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise when rebuked will love you.” In other words, when some hear the truth they’ll decide if they like it & if not they will discard it.
It is obvious that gossip isn’t a popular subject but it sure as a popular thing to do.
James 3:5-8 says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptile and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil full of deadly poison.”{NASB}.
The tongue can’t be tamed outside a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost; just as a wild animal it can be trained. God’s Word places the practice of gossip in serious categories. In Romans 1:29-30 it is among sins like deceit, malice, slander and arrogance, and is called deceiving and defamatory, accompanied by cruelty and pride.
In 11 Timothy 3; 1-3 we find another Pauline list of vices & sins & God places gossip right in the middle of it. Is it any wonder that one of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor?”
We can say what we will but that which slips from our lips is a dead give- away of what’s in our hearts. The Psalmist David cried out, “let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight Oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19; 14.
GOSSIP IS A DEVILISH GENIUS- IT GIVES A DRUG-LIKE EFFECT AS IT SWINGS BETWEEN LIFTING US UP AND PUTTING SOMEONE ELSE DOWN.
Isn’t it amazing how fake we can be sometimes? Have you ever seen someone run another person down & practically demonize them & almost in the next breath walk up to that person & embrace them like they were long lost buddies? We seem to feel that we can make our hum-drum lives better & feel better about ourselves if we run someone else down. The real issue isn’t so much about the other person as it is our own mentality & self-portrait. And maybe we also possess just a dash of criticism of God & the way He made the other person.
Listen to how hellish the Corinthians sound in 11 Corinthians 12:20. “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”
Read that verse sometime & also read the verse after it. Friend I don’t know about you but that sounds like hell to me, -but it’s written to Christians.
Over the years I have personally witnessed how gossip has affected friendships. The arrogance of others has cost me pain from lies &, just as important, half-truths that were spread about me. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same. I don’t share this out of bitterness but say it in the spirit of openness & honesty. I never want my words to ever cause anyone the pain vicious gossip has cost me.
As God’s people, what do we possibly have to gain by this? It does nothing but separate & destroy us. We are, & have been too long, destroying the Kingdom of God He has so graciously provided.
The good news is that we can beat this quagmire if we come together & put forth an effort to be real with each other & learn again to love as Jesus taught us to love.
SSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Blessings,
John
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Are You A Good Sport?
By John Stallings
…Lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain. Galatians 2:2
A college football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player & said, “I’m not supposed to let you play since you failed math, but we need you in this game. So what I have to do is ask you a math question & if you get it right you can play.”
The player agreed & the coach asked him, “O.K, what’s two plus two? The player thought for a minute & answered, “It’s four.” “Did you say four?” the coach exclaimed in pleasure.
After a few more seconds of death-like silence in the locker room, the other players began screaming, “Come on coach, give him another chance.”
Paul used many sports analogies, likening the Christian life to different sporting endeavors;
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. –Phil.3:14
….so I fight not as one that beateth the air…1 Cor.9:26
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.—2 Tim.4:7
…And exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith…Jude 3
…Let us run with patience the race that is set before us…Heb12:2
The following are some rules you & I should follow to be effective in running the Christian race.
1. DON’T HIDE, PLAY THE GAME
To be successful at any sport you have to get into the game. You can’t phone it in. Many people want to run away & hide when life treats them badly. They drop out of church & everything else they can that brings them into direct contact with people.
A telemarketer called a home one day & a small voice whispered, “Hello?”
“Hello! What’s your name?
Still whispering he said, “Jimmy.”
“How old are you Jimmy?”
“Four.”
“Good. Is you mother home?”
“Yes but she’s busy.”
“Okay, is your father home?”
“Yes but he’s busy too.”
“I see. Who else is there?”
“The Police.”
“The Police? May I speak to one of them?”
“They’re busy.”
“Any other grownups there?”
“Yes, the firemen.”
“May I speak with a fireman?”
“They’re too busy.”
“Jimmy, you have all those people in your house & I can’t talk with any of them?” “What are they doing?”
“They’re looking for me.”
I’ll bet that if little Jimmy wasn’t already in trouble he was going to be after this. No telling what he did.
When I was about four years old I hung up the phone on a lady one day after she called the parsonage & said my father was supposed to marry her at three o’clock that afternoon. Just before dropping the phone into its cradle I explained to her that my father was already married.
Joe Louis was the world heavyweight boxing champ from 1937 until he retied in 1949. In 1946 he was preparing for his title defense against a skilled fighter named Billy Conn. Louis was warned to look out for Conn’s great speed & ability to move out of his opponent’s range.
In a famous display of confidence Louis replied, “He can run but he can’t hide.”
Some people try to do both when the pressures of life start to build. They try to run away & hide.
JONAH
We’re told in Jonah 1:1-2—The word of the Lord came to Jonah….Go to the great city of Nineveh & preach against it…But Jonah ran from the Lord….He went down to Joppa where he found a ship for that port. After paying the fare he went aboard… but Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down & fell into a deep sleep.
Jonah was in trouble so he decided to try to run away. I don’t know if you realize it but preaching is a tough job because you never know where God will send a preacher.
Old buddy Jonah didn’t care about the Ninevites. In fact he hated them & wanted God to destroy them. Jonah’s big idea was that if he preached to these people they might be saved so instead, he ran away. Hid on a ship. Went below deck. Was so depressed he fell asleep. Life causes many depressed people to go to sleep & try to hide. DON’T DO IT!!
Here’s what the Devil tells people; --Stay away from people. They’ll just depress you. Don’t have any friends, just have acquaintances. That won’t cost you anything.
Jonah is an interesting character but I don’t believe there’s a greater example of a hypocrite in the entire Bible. Jonah isn’t famous for what he says. As a matter of fact, you can look at another Minor Prophet, Amos, & find nine chapters of incredible teaching about what God intends for the life of His people. But when you look at Jonah, at least what we have in English, we only have eight words that he preaches;--Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.
Its not so much what Jonah says that makes him a stand-out, it’s what he does; he runs from God.
As a rule when God tells one of His prophets to do something it’s with Israel in mind. But in this case God tells Jonah to go & preach to outsiders. Not only is Nineveh not Israel, Nineveh is the enemy of Israel. Mostly because of these things, Jonah decides to run. He says, -I hate Ninevehites. They’re the enemy of my people. They’ve hurt my people. I won’t go.
I’ve been studying this man Jonah for a long time & I can’t bring myself to believe he’s an idiot, although he’s now acting like one. I don’t think he reasoned that God was like a cell-phone & if he got far enough away, he’d be out of God’s reach. He knew he couldn’t get out of God’s reach but he may have reasoned that if he got far enough away it would make it inconvenient for God to use him. If I get far enough away, if God has any type of working timetable he’ll call somebody else to go to Nineveh. I don’t know what was in Jonah’s mind but he was human & being human he saw something he flat didn’t want to do so he scrambled to find ways to get out of it.
Now Jonah is going to be famous for his inability to get away from God. What makes the book & the man famous is that he tries to run & hide. Moving along, Jonah gets on a boat. A storm hits. The people on board wonder what’s going on. They start throwing things overboard. Nothing they do works. The sailor’s ask Jonah if he understands what’s going on & he tells them he’s running from God. So they throw him overboard.
Now God prepares a great fish to pick Jonah up. The fish isn’t there to judge him but to save him. Some folk don’t take this story literally but I do. If it said Jonah swallowed the fish, I’d believe that. If the Bible said a sardine swallowed Jonah I’d believe that. Its not a matter of my great spirituality, it’s just for me it’s always better to just believe whatever the Book says, rather than to try to inject my faulty reasoning. You can get so much more accomplished that way.
Isn’t it interesting that there isn’t a lot of screaming in this story? There’s no, “Hey God, it’s dark in here. Get me out God, why me? Jonah cried out to God for deliverance & God caused the fish to spit him out on dry land. Now Jonah is prepared to commit himself to God who has been patient & compassionate with him.
I think the bottom line, at least one of the bottom lines in Jonah’s story is that you & I can’t successfully run from God & if we do run we’ll never successfully hide.
In pastoring over the years, I’ve seen many “rolling stones,” just passing through. They’ll stop by the church & ask for a hand-out or a few hours work. That’s all they want & they’re on their way. It’s plain to see they’re running from something, maybe even themselves. How sad. I know life can be pretty tough sometimes, downright miserable but never withdraw from society. What happens if we do that is we end up withdrawing from people who really care about us.
I remember one time when I was a kid that my dad brought one of these disheveled travelers home & my mother seated him at the dining room table & fried him about a dozen eggs, with bacon & toast. He kept asking for more & after he got his stomach full he left with hardly a grunt of thanks. I remember a lot of bums drifting by but that’s the only one we ever fed like that without at least having them mow the lawn. I don’t remember all the details but I think the attitude that guy had taught my folks a lesson.
2. BE A TEAM PLAYER
Paul said,--Each of you should look not only at your own interests but also to the interests of others. Phil. 2:4
It’s obvious that we’re not in this life by ourselves; we’re surrounded by family & friends. Consequently we should be team players, always considering how the things we do impact others.
We’re all guilty at some point for watching out more for ourselves than for others.
James 4:17 says,--Anyone who knows the good he ought to do & doesn’t do it, sins.
Actress Shirley McClain says, “The most pleasurable trip we’ll ever take is through ourselves. The only sustaining love involvement is with yourself….”
Huh? Is she crazy or what? God didn’t put us here to live for self. Existential author Ayn Rand espoused the same sort of tripe. What planet are these people circling in their “beautiful balloons?”
Paul said,-Bear one another’s burdens & so fulfill the law of Christ.-Gal. 6:2
Scripture is full of admonitions about considering others. Is God talking to you about this? Have you ever seen these people, men & women who work hard in the gym to build up big muscles? They call those “show muscles.” Some of them, especially the ones who compete, get so ripped it’s almost grotesque looking. [Someone might say—hey wait a minute, those muscles look better than fat-& they’d be right.]
My point is, why go to the trouble to build a strong body just to enjoy the adulation of others? That would also be true of anyone who takes an inordinate amount of time to have a body to arouse the admiration & adoration of others. A healthy body, by all means, but we should always be on guard not to become narcissistic & self-absorbed.
One cold day a crowd of people stood in front of a pet shop window & watched a litter of puppies snuggling up to each other. One woman laughed & said, “What a delightful picture of brotherhood. Look at how those pups are keeping each other warm.”
A man next to her said, “No ma’am, they’re not keeping each other warm. They’re keeping themselves warm.” We could look at this story two ways but I prefer to think when we seek to keep others warm we will also keep ourselves warm.
3. YOU’LL GET HURT IN THE GAME OF LIFE -BUT PLAY ANYWAY.
People in every sport get hurt. I didn’t realize it until someone told me a few years back, but did you know golfers get hurt almost as frequently as those in other sports? If you watch the news you’ll find that golf’s top money winners are always having some sort of surgery; back surgery, knee surgery, elbow surgery, finger surgery, foot surgery, skin lesion surgery, all kinds of surgery. A few weeks ago I saw Tiger Woods on T.V playing here in Orlando at the Bay Hill tournament. He won despite having just come back from having knee surgery eight months earlier.
People get hurt playing sports. The Christian life is no different.
Peter said,-Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though some strange thing has happened to you.—1 Peter 4:12
Have you been to the dentist lately? In spite of all he can do he’ll hurt you if with nothing more than that water-sucker-upper they hang in your mouth. Have you been to a chiropractor lately & felt that pop when they adjust your neck or back? Just the thought of these things make me hurt & very nervous. But you know folks, those things are supposed to hurt a little.
Growing older hurts. At my age if I stop & think about it I can find a pain somewhere in my body at all times. Some things are supposed to hurt. The other day I saw a real-life drama of a fireman rescuing a man who’d had a building collapse on him. The man was moaning in pain, telling the rescuers how bad his legs were hurting him. One of the firemen finally said, “Sir, if your legs are hurting, that’s a good sign. That means they’re not paralyzed.” After that the man relaxed & stopped fretting.
THE PAIN CHRIST ENDURED
Go back & read Isaiah 53 again & marvel with me at that chapter & the way it depicts the pain Christ endured. This chapter is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other portion of the Old Testament.
It’s truly hard to believe that this incomparable prophecy was written 750 years before Christ lived. Nothing explains it better than the words of Apostle Peter, --Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In my opinion a man would be a fool to try to deny that the Bible is God’s Word when he reads Isaiah 53.
As you read the words of this chapter, you might think you are reading the report of a man who was standing by when the Son of God died on that cursed tree. But these are the words of a man who lived almost a millennium beforehand. Isaiah wrote of the sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ & did it with such precise detail & accuracy because the Holy Spirit breathed out the words as he wrote them. Nothing else can explain this prophecy.
Listen further to Hebrews;
Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight & the sin that doeth so easily beset us, & let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author & finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame, & is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12: 1-2
Friend, we have to play the game even though we get hurt in life. But the Lord has promised to be with us, to strengthen us, to give us grace.
Yes we must stay engaged in life’s game, but we don’t have to play it alone!
Blessings,
John
…Lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain. Galatians 2:2
A college football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player & said, “I’m not supposed to let you play since you failed math, but we need you in this game. So what I have to do is ask you a math question & if you get it right you can play.”
The player agreed & the coach asked him, “O.K, what’s two plus two? The player thought for a minute & answered, “It’s four.” “Did you say four?” the coach exclaimed in pleasure.
After a few more seconds of death-like silence in the locker room, the other players began screaming, “Come on coach, give him another chance.”
Paul used many sports analogies, likening the Christian life to different sporting endeavors;
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. –Phil.3:14
….so I fight not as one that beateth the air…1 Cor.9:26
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.—2 Tim.4:7
…And exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith…Jude 3
…Let us run with patience the race that is set before us…Heb12:2
The following are some rules you & I should follow to be effective in running the Christian race.
1. DON’T HIDE, PLAY THE GAME
To be successful at any sport you have to get into the game. You can’t phone it in. Many people want to run away & hide when life treats them badly. They drop out of church & everything else they can that brings them into direct contact with people.
A telemarketer called a home one day & a small voice whispered, “Hello?”
“Hello! What’s your name?
Still whispering he said, “Jimmy.”
“How old are you Jimmy?”
“Four.”
“Good. Is you mother home?”
“Yes but she’s busy.”
“Okay, is your father home?”
“Yes but he’s busy too.”
“I see. Who else is there?”
“The Police.”
“The Police? May I speak to one of them?”
“They’re busy.”
“Any other grownups there?”
“Yes, the firemen.”
“May I speak with a fireman?”
“They’re too busy.”
“Jimmy, you have all those people in your house & I can’t talk with any of them?” “What are they doing?”
“They’re looking for me.”
I’ll bet that if little Jimmy wasn’t already in trouble he was going to be after this. No telling what he did.
When I was about four years old I hung up the phone on a lady one day after she called the parsonage & said my father was supposed to marry her at three o’clock that afternoon. Just before dropping the phone into its cradle I explained to her that my father was already married.
Joe Louis was the world heavyweight boxing champ from 1937 until he retied in 1949. In 1946 he was preparing for his title defense against a skilled fighter named Billy Conn. Louis was warned to look out for Conn’s great speed & ability to move out of his opponent’s range.
In a famous display of confidence Louis replied, “He can run but he can’t hide.”
Some people try to do both when the pressures of life start to build. They try to run away & hide.
JONAH
We’re told in Jonah 1:1-2—The word of the Lord came to Jonah….Go to the great city of Nineveh & preach against it…But Jonah ran from the Lord….He went down to Joppa where he found a ship for that port. After paying the fare he went aboard… but Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down & fell into a deep sleep.
Jonah was in trouble so he decided to try to run away. I don’t know if you realize it but preaching is a tough job because you never know where God will send a preacher.
Old buddy Jonah didn’t care about the Ninevites. In fact he hated them & wanted God to destroy them. Jonah’s big idea was that if he preached to these people they might be saved so instead, he ran away. Hid on a ship. Went below deck. Was so depressed he fell asleep. Life causes many depressed people to go to sleep & try to hide. DON’T DO IT!!
Here’s what the Devil tells people; --Stay away from people. They’ll just depress you. Don’t have any friends, just have acquaintances. That won’t cost you anything.
Jonah is an interesting character but I don’t believe there’s a greater example of a hypocrite in the entire Bible. Jonah isn’t famous for what he says. As a matter of fact, you can look at another Minor Prophet, Amos, & find nine chapters of incredible teaching about what God intends for the life of His people. But when you look at Jonah, at least what we have in English, we only have eight words that he preaches;--Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.
Its not so much what Jonah says that makes him a stand-out, it’s what he does; he runs from God.
As a rule when God tells one of His prophets to do something it’s with Israel in mind. But in this case God tells Jonah to go & preach to outsiders. Not only is Nineveh not Israel, Nineveh is the enemy of Israel. Mostly because of these things, Jonah decides to run. He says, -I hate Ninevehites. They’re the enemy of my people. They’ve hurt my people. I won’t go.
I’ve been studying this man Jonah for a long time & I can’t bring myself to believe he’s an idiot, although he’s now acting like one. I don’t think he reasoned that God was like a cell-phone & if he got far enough away, he’d be out of God’s reach. He knew he couldn’t get out of God’s reach but he may have reasoned that if he got far enough away it would make it inconvenient for God to use him. If I get far enough away, if God has any type of working timetable he’ll call somebody else to go to Nineveh. I don’t know what was in Jonah’s mind but he was human & being human he saw something he flat didn’t want to do so he scrambled to find ways to get out of it.
Now Jonah is going to be famous for his inability to get away from God. What makes the book & the man famous is that he tries to run & hide. Moving along, Jonah gets on a boat. A storm hits. The people on board wonder what’s going on. They start throwing things overboard. Nothing they do works. The sailor’s ask Jonah if he understands what’s going on & he tells them he’s running from God. So they throw him overboard.
Now God prepares a great fish to pick Jonah up. The fish isn’t there to judge him but to save him. Some folk don’t take this story literally but I do. If it said Jonah swallowed the fish, I’d believe that. If the Bible said a sardine swallowed Jonah I’d believe that. Its not a matter of my great spirituality, it’s just for me it’s always better to just believe whatever the Book says, rather than to try to inject my faulty reasoning. You can get so much more accomplished that way.
Isn’t it interesting that there isn’t a lot of screaming in this story? There’s no, “Hey God, it’s dark in here. Get me out God, why me? Jonah cried out to God for deliverance & God caused the fish to spit him out on dry land. Now Jonah is prepared to commit himself to God who has been patient & compassionate with him.
I think the bottom line, at least one of the bottom lines in Jonah’s story is that you & I can’t successfully run from God & if we do run we’ll never successfully hide.
In pastoring over the years, I’ve seen many “rolling stones,” just passing through. They’ll stop by the church & ask for a hand-out or a few hours work. That’s all they want & they’re on their way. It’s plain to see they’re running from something, maybe even themselves. How sad. I know life can be pretty tough sometimes, downright miserable but never withdraw from society. What happens if we do that is we end up withdrawing from people who really care about us.
I remember one time when I was a kid that my dad brought one of these disheveled travelers home & my mother seated him at the dining room table & fried him about a dozen eggs, with bacon & toast. He kept asking for more & after he got his stomach full he left with hardly a grunt of thanks. I remember a lot of bums drifting by but that’s the only one we ever fed like that without at least having them mow the lawn. I don’t remember all the details but I think the attitude that guy had taught my folks a lesson.
2. BE A TEAM PLAYER
Paul said,--Each of you should look not only at your own interests but also to the interests of others. Phil. 2:4
It’s obvious that we’re not in this life by ourselves; we’re surrounded by family & friends. Consequently we should be team players, always considering how the things we do impact others.
We’re all guilty at some point for watching out more for ourselves than for others.
James 4:17 says,--Anyone who knows the good he ought to do & doesn’t do it, sins.
Actress Shirley McClain says, “The most pleasurable trip we’ll ever take is through ourselves. The only sustaining love involvement is with yourself….”
Huh? Is she crazy or what? God didn’t put us here to live for self. Existential author Ayn Rand espoused the same sort of tripe. What planet are these people circling in their “beautiful balloons?”
Paul said,-Bear one another’s burdens & so fulfill the law of Christ.-Gal. 6:2
Scripture is full of admonitions about considering others. Is God talking to you about this? Have you ever seen these people, men & women who work hard in the gym to build up big muscles? They call those “show muscles.” Some of them, especially the ones who compete, get so ripped it’s almost grotesque looking. [Someone might say—hey wait a minute, those muscles look better than fat-& they’d be right.]
My point is, why go to the trouble to build a strong body just to enjoy the adulation of others? That would also be true of anyone who takes an inordinate amount of time to have a body to arouse the admiration & adoration of others. A healthy body, by all means, but we should always be on guard not to become narcissistic & self-absorbed.
One cold day a crowd of people stood in front of a pet shop window & watched a litter of puppies snuggling up to each other. One woman laughed & said, “What a delightful picture of brotherhood. Look at how those pups are keeping each other warm.”
A man next to her said, “No ma’am, they’re not keeping each other warm. They’re keeping themselves warm.” We could look at this story two ways but I prefer to think when we seek to keep others warm we will also keep ourselves warm.
3. YOU’LL GET HURT IN THE GAME OF LIFE -BUT PLAY ANYWAY.
People in every sport get hurt. I didn’t realize it until someone told me a few years back, but did you know golfers get hurt almost as frequently as those in other sports? If you watch the news you’ll find that golf’s top money winners are always having some sort of surgery; back surgery, knee surgery, elbow surgery, finger surgery, foot surgery, skin lesion surgery, all kinds of surgery. A few weeks ago I saw Tiger Woods on T.V playing here in Orlando at the Bay Hill tournament. He won despite having just come back from having knee surgery eight months earlier.
People get hurt playing sports. The Christian life is no different.
Peter said,-Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though some strange thing has happened to you.—1 Peter 4:12
Have you been to the dentist lately? In spite of all he can do he’ll hurt you if with nothing more than that water-sucker-upper they hang in your mouth. Have you been to a chiropractor lately & felt that pop when they adjust your neck or back? Just the thought of these things make me hurt & very nervous. But you know folks, those things are supposed to hurt a little.
Growing older hurts. At my age if I stop & think about it I can find a pain somewhere in my body at all times. Some things are supposed to hurt. The other day I saw a real-life drama of a fireman rescuing a man who’d had a building collapse on him. The man was moaning in pain, telling the rescuers how bad his legs were hurting him. One of the firemen finally said, “Sir, if your legs are hurting, that’s a good sign. That means they’re not paralyzed.” After that the man relaxed & stopped fretting.
THE PAIN CHRIST ENDURED
Go back & read Isaiah 53 again & marvel with me at that chapter & the way it depicts the pain Christ endured. This chapter is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other portion of the Old Testament.
It’s truly hard to believe that this incomparable prophecy was written 750 years before Christ lived. Nothing explains it better than the words of Apostle Peter, --Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In my opinion a man would be a fool to try to deny that the Bible is God’s Word when he reads Isaiah 53.
As you read the words of this chapter, you might think you are reading the report of a man who was standing by when the Son of God died on that cursed tree. But these are the words of a man who lived almost a millennium beforehand. Isaiah wrote of the sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ & did it with such precise detail & accuracy because the Holy Spirit breathed out the words as he wrote them. Nothing else can explain this prophecy.
Listen further to Hebrews;
Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight & the sin that doeth so easily beset us, & let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author & finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame, & is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12: 1-2
Friend, we have to play the game even though we get hurt in life. But the Lord has promised to be with us, to strengthen us, to give us grace.
Yes we must stay engaged in life’s game, but we don’t have to play it alone!
Blessings,
John
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