Life – Page 26 – Growing 4 Life

So What Is Your Life’s Project?

2 Comments / April 3, 2014 April 3, 2014

What is the main project of your life? The answer to this question is a very important one. There are really only two answers to this question–

Your Happiness

God’s Glory

If we are a believer then, according to scripture, our life’s main project becomes bringing glory to God in all that we do. If we are still in darkness and unregenerate, then our project is, by default, our own happiness (which takes its form in many different ways, depending upon our personalities).

The problem is that many of us Christians tend to behave like we have not been transformed by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. Most of us still tend to default back into the “my happiness” mode. Of course, it doesn’t help very much that much of the Christian media is pushing us to keep our own happiness as our primary project.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this because I recently read a book entitled Under His Wings. The only thing I knew about this story was that it was about missionaries in Vietnam during the war there in the 1960s. I don’t even know how I found it on Amazon or why I was looking for it. But I can tell you that this book has presented a great challenge to my “American” view of godliness.

I won’t tell the story here (you can read it for yourself here) but the thing that struck me most was the fact that these people went willingly into a very dangerous country because of their love for Christ and their desire to share the gospel with the lost. They gave up conveniences, comfort, health, family, and eventually their lives for this purpose.

After I finished reading it, I felt so ashamed. These missionaries soldiered on through major illnesses and serious problems as they continued on about the Father’s business.

Me? I cave at the smallest thing. I give God my excuses as to why I can’t do this or that or why I haven’t been able to make time to pray. I was disgusted with myself after reading that book. And I have to ask myself a question: am I as impassioned to give God glory and to share the gospel with the lost as these amazing missionaries? I know the answer is no.

And I become fully aware of just how much my life focuses on my own happiness rather than on God’s glory. It is a constant battle for me.

But a sense of comfort comes in the fact that it is a battle. If there is no battle in the heart of a believer between their selfish desires and the desire to please God, it is an ominous sign that perhaps we are not saved at all.

But while a battle is a good sign, it doesn’t change the fact that, more often times than not, my life’s project is definitely my happiness.

Sometimes after I read a story like Under His Wings, I am tempted to conclude that there are just some super spiritual people out there. People who are just really special. They are the ones who will be wearing the most decorated crowns in heaven.

But is that true or have these ordinary Christians just completely and utterly surrendered their lives to Jesus?

And then comes the next question– if I am not called to the mission field (and most of us are not), how does selling out completely for Christ look right where I am right now?

Perhaps it isn’t just the big things we do and life-changing decisions we make. Instead I believe it is the small ways we are faithful each and every day– resisting the temptation to yell at our spouse or our kids; smiling while we do the work we have been called to do; spending time studying God’s Word on a daily basis; taking that opportunity to share the gospel with that person sitting on a park bench or in the doctor’s office. It’s how we make a choice to not watch a movie or TV show everyone is watching because we know it would not please our heavenly Father. It goes on to include how we spend our time and our money. Being sold out for Jesus encompasses everything. After all, surrender means sacrifice. And true sacrifice occurs every single day in the life of a Christian. It’s not about that mission trip that was a week of our life or the few hours we spend in church on Sunday.

And so, perhaps by the faithful and sacrificial things we do each day, people will see that our life’s project is to bring glory to the great God who saved us. And As we fight the battle between our flesh and our new life every day, may we stand strong in the power of His might! For my weakness is made strong by His strength! (2 Corinthians 12:9)

My Four Mirrors

2 Comments / March 27, 2014 March 27, 2014

When I had babies so many years ago, I don’t think that I fully realized something.

Wait– let me rephrase that. I know that I absolutely did not realize something.

Each one of my babies– in one way or another– would mirror some of my own worst sinful traits and most annoying habits.

They say that kids change you. And that is certainly true. And, quite honestly, I expected to be changed. It was coming face to face with my own sin on a daily basis that I wasn’t quite expecting.

I have great kids. I am so blessed. But almost every day, I will spot a bit of selfishness or anger or backbiting or gossip, and, while with my mouth I am “encouraging them” to stop what they are doing, inside I am frustrated because I know–as sure as I know the sun will rise again tomorrow– where they learned that behavior.

It is rather interesting to me that, as parents, we often have the toughest time getting along with the kid(s) that are just like us. Could it possibly be because of this dynamic? These kids that are like us force us to come face to face with our sin almost every day. And we don’t like that. It irritates and frustrates us. Our pride is hurt over and over again, because we know we haven’t conquered this sin in our lives and now we’ve condemned our children to struggle with it for the rest of theirs.

Could that possibly be part of the reason?

Whatever the reason, I do believe that, instead of growing frustrated, we need to humble ourselves and recognize the sin in our own lives, while we do the necessary task of raising our children.

How important it is that we do not pretend we are perfect while we discipline our children, while all involved — children, spouse– knows full well we are not.

Life is changing now for me. My kids are young adults and my role looks quite different. And the mirrors grow so much clearer. I can see some of the struggles and battles they are going to face because of the example I set. And I feel like a failure.

But, then I remember God’s grace and the victories over sin I have experienced through the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. No, not perfection, but victories. I am not the same person now that I was twenty years ago. God is slowly, but surely, sanctifying me and making me look more like Jesus.

And I know that, through their obedience to God’s Word and the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in their lives, my much beloved children will also have that same victory in their lives as they mature.

Now my main job is to pray.

If you like this post and believe it would be an encouragement to others, I would very much appreciate if you would share it. Thank you! :)

But Why, God?

2 Comments / March 24, 2014 March 24, 2014

Something terrible happened over the weekend to a really nice family. I don’t know them all that well, but I do know that, from my purely human point of view, they certainly didn’t deserve this tragedy in their lives.

I found myself really questioning the goodness of God as I tried to sort through all of this in my mind. Bad things happen to godly people. We know this is a fact of life. And, yet, sometimes, it just hits us and our spirit cries out to the Lord, asking “But why, God?”

It wasn’t that I was questioning Him. I know (in my head) that He is good all the time. And I know that He loves this family and that hasn’t changed because He has allowed this tragedy in their lives. But my heart was having a really hard time wrapping itself around the why. What good purpose could this possibly have?

I don’t have the answer to that. Just like good purposes and lessons learned do not always show forth through the hard moments and difficult times in my own life, I may never know why this family has suffered so.

But God knows. I try to remember that He sees the whole tapestry, while I only see a tiny speck of it. One tiny dot in the scope of all of time in the whole world. I can’t help but realize that I really know nothing and should not judge God based on my very limited perspective.

As I was pondering all of this, I just “happened” to read the following in a *fiction book I am reading–

“See, typically we measure goodness by whether we like something or not. I like this, so it’s good. I don’t like that, so it’s not good. We can do this with God, pretty easily, in fact. If He does something we like or agree with, then He’s good. If He does something or allows something we don’t like, we’re not so sure anymore. We won’t usually say it out loud; that would be impolite. But we can go there in our hearts. And once we do, we start to pull away from the Lord . Do you think that could have happened here?”

And this–

“God doesn’t just do good, Shawn. He is good. His goodness flows from his very nature. Because we don’t always understand what He’s doing, some of it doesn’t seem good to us. But that’s where our faith comes into play. We must believe, as Paul says, that God is working all things together for our good. In time, His goodness and good purposes will become clearer to us. But it can take time.”

Wow. A sermon to me right in the middle of a novel, just when I needed it. And people say there is no personal God? I beg to differ.

Of course, that last sentence — about His purposes becoming clearer in time–while that is sometimes true, it isn’t always true, is it? Sometimes we will never find out this side of heaven.

But how convicted I was by that first thought— Wasn’t I judging God’s goodness based on my perception of what is good? Only God knows the ramifications of any tragedy. He knows whose hearts will be touched and what seeds will be planted. He knows the spiritual growth that will take place and the relationships that will be changed. We can’t see it all, because we are limited by time and our own perspectives. I keep coming back to that word “limited”.

And I realized something — how dare I judge God based on my own limited and humanly flawed knowledge? How dare I? Who do I think I am, anyway?

I remember a friend once saying that she believes it is actually a sin to question God and to ask why. I am not sure about that, but I do believe that if we don’t come to a place of utter submission to His will after our initial and natural questioning, we will struggle all of our lives in our relationship with Him. It is about sovereignty and submission. Very very unpopular words in this culture we find ourselves.

And, interestingly enough, as I was thinking through all of this, another friend who is going through an extremely difficult time in her life shared with me a really amazing way she has seen the Lord take her tragedy and bring someone to Himself because of it. Now if that isn’t an encouragement to keep trusting, I don’t know what is.

But, no matter what outcomes we do or do not see, scripture teaches us that we are to keep submitting and trusting, knowing that our heavenly Father loves us and will keep us in His care, no matter what we face (I Peter 5:7; Lamentations 3:25; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

*Walsh, Dan (2010-06-01). Homecoming, The: A Novel (Kindle Locations 3581-3584 & 3588-3591). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

What Is One Life Worth?

2 Comments / March 13, 2014 March 13, 2014

I watched one of those old disaster movies the other day– you know where the world is ending and they have to decide who are the lucky ones who will be saved. This isn’t really my normal style of movie, but I had watched it years ago and a bit of nostalgia nudged me to watch it again. At any rate, in this particular movie, when the announcement was made that a random lottery would be held to save humanity they added this caveat — Anyone over the age of fifty will not be entered into the lottery.

Funny. When I watched this movie the first time I didn’t give a second thought to that sentence. But this time, it really hit home because I am approaching 50 rather rapidly. And my thoughts started turning. Is that what our society really believes? That anyone over fifty isn’t worth saving?

These thoughts came to my mind again this week as I did some transplanting in my greenhouse. I naturally go towards the stronger, taller plants and throw the small, frail-looking ones in the trash. I only need so many plants and when the germination rate is high, I have to pick which ones I am going to keep. Whether or not it was the movie that made that day’s transplanting extra hard, I am not sure, but I found myself feeling rather badly for the small plants and transplanting a few of them just to give them a shot. I know, I know. That is really strange.

But it was with remarkable clarity that I suddenly realized that this is why we should never view humans in the same way we view animals and plants. The Bible tells us that we have been designed by God in His image (Genesis 1:27) and we are each fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14). We have eternal souls, unlike other forms of life on earth. Whether we are still within the warm womb being shaped or approaching our 90th birthday does not make us any less valuable in God’s eyes and should not make us any less valuable to each other.

But when a culture makes the switch from believing in a Creator to believing that we all just happened by chance, how we view humanity inevitably changes. Because, in this system of belief, everything is simply a bunch of cells that “just happened” to form plants and animals and people (and they say believing in God takes faith?!), the view of the human race naturally becomes equal to that of any other life on this planet. We are no different than dogs or the whales. All are equally important.

Interestingly enough, there are a few ways we have seen this belief take shape. Some people actually elevate animals as more important than humans. Have you run into any of those people who “save the whales” one day and hold a sign for abortion the next? But the fruit of this belief that is even more evil (if that’s possible) than animal elevation is the belief that human life is only worthwhile if it is productive. This is why a society will eventually allow for the practices of infanticide and euthanasia.

You can see it coming. In fact in some ways and in some countries it is already here. Much of our society does not give a second thought to aborting an imperfect child already. There is also very little value placed on those who are languishing in nursing homes and have become a large “drain” on society. Self-inflicted euthanasia is already a popular reason to travel to the countries of Switzerland and Belgium. In fact, just recently, Belgium even lifted their age restrictions to include suffering children. (See article here) If this is allowed, how close is it until we go to the next step of forced euthanasia? I can’t imagine it will be very long.

And I believe that this all stems from man’s belief about origins. But should we be surprised? It makes complete sense from a worldly perspective that man would try to eliminate all accountability that would keep him from living the way he wants to live. Unfortunately, the consequences of that type of life are very, very high and there is a plethora of negative effects that have been the result of this effort to convince man he is nothing but a bunch of cells. It is not simply coincidence that the amount of fatherless children, divorce rates, and abortions have sky-rocketed in the last fifty to a hundred years.

So what can we do?

First, we need to know why we believe what we do and why it is not the fairy tale the world tells us it is. We need to know God’s Word and what it says about man and his sinful state. We need to understand why it is impossible, not only to believe in evolution, but to believe in anything but a young earth (hint: death cannot come before sin for the gospel to be true). I am so very grateful for men like Ken Ham and his ministry, Answers in Genesis, who, unapologetically, stand for a young earth. He has great resources on his website and I highly recommend it.

Second, we need to be willing to speak up as God gives us opportunities. I mentioned in a recent blog post, that we are probably not going to be changing our culture anytime soon. But does Jesus Christ ever mention anything about saving the culture? I can’t think of any verses that call us to do this. No, instead, we are to focus on preaching the gospel and winning disciples (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Mark 13:10). We need to take this more seriously! I need to take this more seriously. We’ve been stone-walled into silence in many ways. Oh, we won’t get hauled off to prison or lose our lives, but a threatened reputation and ridicule are still very effective ways to get people to keep their mouths closed, are they not? Think about how Christians are portrayed in almost any Hollywood movie and the reputation they are given in the press and in politics. It is no easy thing to stand up for Christ. And it shouldn’t be. We have been a bit spoiled in this country with just how accepted Christianity and the Christian world view has been. But no more. That means now is the time for boldness and courage! (Joshua 1:9)

And, finally, I think we need to be careful how we value life. How important it is that the world doesn’t “rub off” on us in this area. Let’s not forget that all people are valuable to God– not just the ones who contribute to society. Precious children, who, with their imperfect bodies and minds, teach their parents invaluable lessons, as well as the elderly souls who are nearing the end of their lives. Our senior population has been pretty much left in the dust, haven’t they? Once they can’t function as a normal human being they are put in a home and pretty much forgotten. But let’s remember that one day that will be us. And the example we set will most likely be followed.

Oh, may we stand boldly and set a good example for future generations. May all who come behind us find us faithful! I conclude with the lyrics from this old song—

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful!

Poisoned Brownie

3 Comments / March 10, 2014 March 10, 2014

There are many different types of poison. Some poisons kill suddenly and ruthlessly. But for those who want to kill in a less suspicious way there are less violent substances (for example, arsenic) which kill slowly and painfully with little suspicion aroused. If you google arsenic poisoning, you will find a bevy of awful physical symptoms that accompany this type of poisoning.

Now let’s say you were given a brownie that was 99% full of the best ingredients. It looks amazing and wonderfully delicious. It was made with the most expensive cocoa on the market, freshly ground flour, and fresh eggs from a local farm. Would you eat it?

What if I tell you that it also contains 1% arsenic. Would you still eat it?

You wouldn’t? Why not? Because it’s poison, you say?

Exactly. It contains poison and no thinking person is going to purposely consume poison, no matter what package it comes in.

So, I can’t help but wonder why so many of us, while not willing to consume poison physically, are so willing to feed our minds poison?

Think for a minute about some of the latest “Christian” books, movies, and even music that have gained popularity. Are they pure or do they contain things that change your view of the gospel or of who God is?

Many–certainly not all–are filled with arsenic. New age teachings, prosperity gospel, and downright lies are laced throughout all of that “good” stuff they also contain. Sure, some of it is good. How else will Satan make it attractive to believers?

But just like arsenic will slowly kill you, consuming poisoned “Christian” resources and entertainment will also weaken your faith.

Can you take something good from the consumption of these items? Sure. Of course. The brownies are also full of good ingredients that will help give your body nutrients (okay– so that might be some wishful thinking–maybe I should have used a salad as an example, instead! But you get what I mean, right??) So why wouldn’t you eat that brownie?

Because you– like me– realize that there are many other brownies in the world and the risk is just not worth it.

It is really the same principle.

Here is the thing: while I believe that I know basic biblical doctrines and principles quite well, I would never trust myself to be so discerning that I could pick through the poisoned buffet of today’s Christian resources. Before I will pick up the latest, greatest best seller, I will go through these five principles of discernment (I Thessalonians 5:21)–

1. Is the Bible the final authority for the author/preacher/musician or is he/she more prone to weaving in modern day philosophies and “proofs”? (2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 3:6; Romans 16:17-18)

2. Does the person in question live a holy and pure life? (I Peter 1:15-16; I John 2:3-6)

3. Is their book or podcast or CD a Best Seller or #1 in the secular market? (John 15:19)

4. Has their message changed over the years to become more “palatable”, making it less biblical?

5. Who are their best friends? Who do they quote? What do these friends and quoted people stand for? (Proverbs 12:26; 2 Corinthians 6:14)

Does this take work? You better believe it does. But shouldn’t we want to know? Don’t we care enough about our spiritual welfare to do this work?

Destroying Christianity in America has been a huge under-taking by Satan. He has done it very methodically and very surreptitiously. Many Christians are filled with unbiblical thoughts about God, His Word, and the plan of salvation and do not even realize it. But it is what Satan is using to obliterate true Christianity in this nation. I believe that with all of my heart. Sure, there is some pressure starting to build from the outside world but that isn’t what will ultimately kill Christianity in this nation (and, actually, persecution is what will probably revive it– but that is a different post for another day).

This reminds me of what Moses tells the Israelites over and over again in Deuteronomy. I recently read this book and was really reminded of how seriously God takes mixing in other forms of worship and idolatry in our worship of Him. This is not a matter to be taken lightly. And the Israelites paid dearly for this compromise.

Do we think we are somehow more spiritual and less susceptible than these men and women who ate manna directly from the hand of God or saw water miraculously spring forth from a rock?

And, so, perhaps we should make an effort to avoid poison in all of its forms.

And, on a side note, I realized something recently. As I have gotten together with a group of ladies to study–really study– the book of I Peter, I realized that I do not know God’s Word near as well as I thought I did–or should. Perhaps it is time to turn back to the Bible in our Bible studies? I am amazed all over again at the power, wisdom, and true light contained within the pages of scripture. Let’s not get distracted.

Only God

2 Comments / March 6, 2014 March 6, 2014

It was a cold, windy day and I had two boxes of flowers in my car. We had them left over from a garden show and I was determined to keep them from a lonely death in my garage, while giving a few friends a little taste of spring in this long winter. As I pulled up to a friend’s house, I remembered that there was another lady there at her house. As I got out of the car, I decided spontaneously to take an extra hyacinth in with me and give it to her. I don’t know her all that well, but, hey, who turns down a spring-scented flower? Especially after this winter!

As I handed her the flower, her face lit up and she thanked me.

I thought no more of it. Until I got a thank-you card from this woman a week or so later.

You see this woman’s mother lives with her. And she has terminal cancer. She had given up. This is a portion of the note:

I don’t know flower names, but the minute Mom saw it she exclaimed, “Where did you get that! I love hyacinths. We can plant it in the front yard come spring.” That is the first time my mother looked ahead with any joy.

Now, here is the thing– I had NO idea that her dying mother’s favorite flower was a hyacinth. I didn’t even know she had a mother who has cancer. I could just as easily have given her a daffodil or tulip, both of which were with me in my car. Why did I choose to give her a hyacinth?

But God knew. God knew that a hyacinth, specifically, would brighten up this woman’s mother’s day like nothing else. He knew it would be a source of encouragement to both of them in ways I could never have imagined.

It’s funny, but I continue to be amazed at how much God cares about the small stuff in our lives. How can this be? There is so much hurt and pain and tragedy everywhere. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are failing economies. And yet, amidst all of this, God cared enough to bring this woman the “right” flower.

What an awesome God we serve.

Losing a World

5 Comments / March 2, 2014 March 3, 2014

I took one of those quizzes the other week: Which character on Downton Abbey are you most like? I wasn’t all that surprised (or displeased) that I ended up with Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess. While this woman does not always say things in the kindest way, you never have to wonder what she is thinking. I like that about her. And while I hope I am not near as cutting with my remarks and I certainly hope I am not a snob, I do want to be someone who can be counted on to tell the truth.

As I watched the final episode of season 4, I was overwhelmed with empathy for this elderly lady during a conversation she had with the American Sarah Levinson, her daughter-in-law’s mother. As was her style, she had made some sharp remark to Mrs. Levinson. In return, the woman looked Violet straight in the eye and retorted, very matter-of-factly, “My world is coming nearer. And your world – its slipping further and further away.”

Violet Crawley stared at her with eyes full of sadness as the camera faded away to another scene. And at that moment– as Violet stared–I felt a deep connection with this old woman.

The year was 1923 and the Dowager Countess was losing her world– a world of counts and countesses, butlers and housekeepers, fancy balls. A world where the classes were carefully kept separated and true feelings were hidden away and never discussed.

In its place was coming a world where anyone could make a go of it and become successful and wealthy, people could speak their mind without fear of repercussion, and men and women of different classes and even different races could be married with nary a raised eye-brow.

How heart-breaking it must have been for her, as she could see it happening and couldn’t do a thing about it. And while, especially as Americans, we see that world she lived in as stuffy and confining, for the Dowager Countess it was the only world she had ever known.

And I would guess– although I can’t be sure– that some of her acerbic responses and reactions were coming out of this realization and the helplessness that naturally goes along with it.

I feel a little like Violet Crawley. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because it’s just the nature of the world to change constantly. Or perhaps it’s because I see a very, very black sky on the horizon of our country. Maybe it’s a combination of all three.

The world I grew up in no longer exists. And, let’s face it– the world of the 70s and 80s wasn’t all that great. I don’t really look back on it and think “heaven”. But where we are now–the changes that are taking place– well, it’s a bit disconcerting, is it not? Especially for those of us who have seen it all happen.

So, what now? How do we then live?

Do we bury our heads in the sand, turn off all of the news, and live in our own small world?

Do we become acidic and irritable and grumpy?

Do we sink into a state of depression at the woes of the world?

Do we avidly watch, listen, read, and breathe the world news?

Do we volunteer for our favorite politicians or some other cause?

How do we change a world that can’t be changed?

Look–if we are believers, we know the end of the story. We know that the world will not become a better place before Jesus Christ returns. But, instead, we can expect the worst.

So now is the time to put our armor on (Ephesians 6:12-18), prepare for battle, and know God’s Word. Now is the time to share the gospel and stand for Truth.

Let’s keep the big picture in mind. Let us forge ahead, knowing that we are led by Jesus Christ Himself. And He can’t lose. And if He can’t lose, neither can we.

And, just as importantly, let’s remember that we can be instruments of change right where we are. God is still working in a mighty way in individual lives. Just because the world, as a whole, isn’t going to get better, does not mean that your spouse, or boss, or friend, or parent won’t be saved. There is still much hope in this world and God is still quite alive and showing His power! We can still bring positive changes to a hurting and lost world. We can make our corner brighter and better by loving-kindness and by standing for what’s right.

We dare not throw our hands up in the air and say, “what’s the use?!”

I don’t know what hardships lie ahead, but I do know the end of the story. Oh, praise the Lord, we know the end of the story. This world may be slipping away, but the next one is far better. Let us be found faithful until that day comes.

Building and Protecting

Leave a Comment / February 24, 2014 February 24, 2014

We humans want the easy way. Water always flows in the path of least resistance. The river flows downstream. It’s easier to walk down a hill than up a hill. It’s easier to sit on the couch than it is to get up and exercise. This is life.

This past weekend our landscape company took three and a half days to set up a huge garden display at a garden show. It took hours and hours of preparation and many man hours to get it set up just right. Every plant was placed with care, every block laid carefully, and the covering of mulch was perfected. By Thursday afternoon we were all pleasantly exhausted, knowing that we had done our best and it looked great. It was very rewarding.

Of course, that feeling of reward lasted only a few brief days. Today–just three short days after we put it all up– we tore it all down in a few hours.

I just can’t help but think about the similarity of this to life. Almost everything worth having is going to cost us something — hard work, sacrifice, self-denial, etc. Healthy bodies, healthy marriages, healthy families, healthy budgets do not happen with an “easy” button.

And all of that hard work and sacrifice — for a healthy body, a healthy marriage, a healthy family, a healthy budget– can be utterly destroyed in a few brief moments.

Building something takes months, sometimes years. We have to carefully protect that for which we have worked so hard!

This is why it is so important that we be on guard at all times, keeping our feet firmly rooted in the soil of God’s Word, so that we can withstand temptation. It says in I Corinthians 10:13 that there will always be a way of escape for any temptation we face. But if we are not walking in the Spirit, learning God’s Word, then we have no right to expect that way of escape.

And so the concrete space that was a beautiful garden just a few short hours before today gives evidence to the fact that building up takes much more effort than tearing down. It’s a great reminder for all of life.

Most of us are sparrows

2 Comments / February 20, 2014 July 7, 2023

I remember, a long time ago, hearing someone say that they hate to put bird seed out for “just” common sparrows and house finches. It was not very gratifying and they much preferred the gold finches and blue jays and cardinals–for those species are the super stars of the bird world, are they not? No one cares much about the plain brown birds. Because they are so common and ordinary.

But as I have watched the birds this winter, I was hit with the thought that most of us are sparrows. We are ordinary people, born to do ordinary things. I know this statement is very un-politically correct in this world of ” you can be anything you want to be” (which just is not the truth, by the way). But, while some of us will go on to do amazing and extra-ordinary things with our lives, most of us will remain ordinary.

It brings to mind a recent conversation I had with my brother, a pastor of a small church in Ohio. We were talking about what God expects of us. As Christians, we can start feeling pressure to do BIG things for the Lord. After all, aren’t we quite useless if we aren’t in the pastorate or on the mission field or at least in some form of Christian ministry? Aren’t we useless to Christ is we haven’t adopted an orphan or given huge sums of money to help supply clean water to people who have none?

While all of these things are GREAT things and highly recommended, we do not have to do these things to please our Lord. Now if we are called to do these things, we’d better obey. But not all of us are called. What we are all called to do each and every day is to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Whether we are making a meal, mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, going to work, or playing with the kids, we are to do it as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).

This is the heart of the transformed Christian life. This is the life God calls all of us to– a life of submission and obedience, wherever He has placed us.

Let us not place so much of our energy and time on the things we are going to do for Jesus someday that we forget how we are to live for Him right now, smack-dab in the midst of ordinary.

The Very Easy Extremely Hard Way to Stand Out

2 Comments / February 17, 2014 February 17, 2014

When we Christians talk about standing out as salt and light in the world, many different things come to mind–

We need to love, for the world hates.

We need to be peacemakers, for the world is full of anger.

We need to love righteousness, for the world loves evil.

We need to be pure, for the world is dirty.

But God has been teaching me that there is another way that we need to stand out to the world around us. May I suggest that one easy {but extremely hard} way to stand out is to–

Rest calmly with a heart of gratitude in God’s sovereignty, for the world complains…and complains…and complains.

What a testimony this is to unbelievers.

And, if we are honest, how rare for Christians to do this.

Well, let me speak for myself. Maybe you have this down, but I certainly do not. For instance, when someone I know well asks me how I am today, it is very normal for me to begin a conversation by mentioning something that is wrong in my life right now. I try to put a positive spin on it, but it is still a thinly veiled complaint and I know it and God knows it.

I am reading through the Bible this year (yes, pleeease hold me accountable! I am determined to finish it! I would so appreciate an e-mail now and again asking me how I am doing!) and I have been very struck by how God handled the Israelites when they complained. In several incidents, the punishment was–get this–DEATH. They were struck down forever via plagues and fire and snakes because of a complaining spirit (Numbers 11:1-3; 21:4-6). Now there were times that they complained that God had mercy (Exodus 15-18) and supplied these whining people with their requests. But the Israelites seemed to make complaining a habit and it is obvious that God took this very seriously.

As I reflect on the seriousness of this sin, I wonder how often I complain without even realizing it? This winter, especially, I think there are many of us who are tired of the snow, tired of the cold, weary with being stuck inside, some of us caring for family members who are sick or perhaps we are fighting illnesses ourselves. If we aren’t careful, we may begin to believe that these kinds of moments in our lives give us the “right” to complain.

But if anyone had a right to complain, it would have been the Israelites. I don’t want to be too hard on them. Here I am in my warm, safe home with lots of variety to eat, modern medicine to help heal and comfort me, and technology to keep me entertained and I still complain. They were wandering in the hot desert and eating only manna and quail. I might have complained, too.

And, so, my conclusion is that we can truly stand out as a Christian if we do not complain. Instead, let us be motivated by a heart of gratitude. For it is impossible to speak a complaint and a thank you in the same breath. Let us be a light in this way to the very dark, incessantly complaining world around us. And, most importantly, let us remember that complaining is a very great offense to our Holy God.