Serving the Lord

So Quickly Forgotten

5 Comments / November 14, 2023

A few months ago, I was reading an old commentary on the pastoral epistles by an author with the name of Homer Kent. When I turned to the back of the book, I saw a photo of a middle-aged man that looked a bit familiar. You see, by the time I was acquainted with who this man was, he was president of the college I was attending. I thought he was old and, if I am blatantly honest…pretty irrelevant. As a naive college student, I had zero appreciation for all he had accomplished (and written). And yet, here he had made this really helpful contribution to the Christian world long before I was even born.

But, my guess is that very few of you have ever heard his name. He lived, he worked for Jesus, and then he died. Some of his works live on, but they aren’t popular or considered classics. I doubt most of you have heard of them, either.

A few weeks back, we attended an event at the Christian school where our kids had attended high school. When our kids were there we were actively involved and knew lots and lots of faces. But five years after our youngest had graduated, we knew few people. And even fewer people cared if we were there or not. We had gone from being an active part of the school family to being completely irrelevant.

Around the time of these two happenings, I saw an Instagram reel that talked about how we won’t be remembered in a hundred years. We are all so quickly forgotten. Even celebrities aren’t really remembered all that much. Do you know or care who was a movie star in the 1940s? Fame and popularity are just so fleeting, on whatever level we have it (national, community, church, school).

And, in fact, even our descendants will probably know very little about us. I know so little about my great-grandparents and next to nothing about my great-great grandparents other than their names. And I’d even have to think hard about that.

We live and we die and we are quickly forgotten.

And while this Instagram reel was focused on the joy of the daily life and encouraged it’s listeners to stop worrying about the things that are so temporary (“If it’s not going to matter in five years, don’t spend more than five minutes worrying about it”), I want to take a moment and consider this beyond even that wise advice.

What I write here today won’t matter to most people in the world. And, in fact, even few Christians will read this or care about it. And if the Lord tarries for another hundred years, this will have probably gone the way of many other written words through the centuries. With this in mind, it changes my perspective and my priorities.

And, yet the fruit of my labors may live on. The fruit of your labors, as well. If a person turns to Christ, it changes their legacy for forever. If a person’s life is changed through their study of the Word, they have an eternal impact on their families and co-workers and whoever God brings into their lives.

And I am, once again, reminded of Matthew 6:19-21 and Colossians 3:1-4. These verses remind us that we want to think on things above and build up our treasures there. If we can stay focused on this, then we can weather disappointing responses or hurtful remarks. We can handle rejection or just being ignored. We can stand strong through the antagonism and the hatred. Because these things are so temporary.

But as soon as we move our eyes to ourselves, we are so vulnerable. We get so entangled in our feelings and it strangles us and our effectiveness for Christ.

So let’s remember today what really matters and let’s encourage one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). While the world may so quickly forget us, the impact of our work for Christ will live on. May we keep doing the good works the Lord has prepared for us and embrace the opportunities He has given us to share the Gospel and support and encourage fellow believers.

Let’s point people to Christ. Let’s direct them to the Word. And let’s work through those unpleasant and very temporary feelings we may experience as we work, through keeping our eyes on things eternal.

And, may we remember: While our names may be quickly forgotten on earth, the impact of our works for Christ will leave a lasting legacy on the families that turn to Christ and walk with Him because of our courage to speak up and our obedience to serve Christ instead of self.

To God be the Glory!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

But What About My Dreams?

2 Comments / October 24, 2023

We all have dreams and aspirations for this life. For some, they are BIG dreams of wealth and power or to travel the world. For others, the dreams may be simpler, such as to be married or to be a parent or to own a house. As we get older, we begin to recognize that we need to say good-bye to some of our dreams, as they just aren’t going to happen. Some of us find this out when we are young.

Does God care about our dreams, our desires, and the longings of our hearts?

We know He does because He cares for us. And, in fact, Psalm 37 tells us He will give us the desires of our hearts. So is there a condition for this promise?

There certainly is. But before we look at what that condition is, I want to share the story of a man by the name of Samuel Pearce.

Born in 1766, Samuel was saved at the age of 16. He was soon on fire for the Lord and his heart’s desire immediately was to go on the Mission Field. He made plans to sail to New Zealand for this purpose but those plans fell through. And so he became God’s hard-working and faithful servant right where he was.

However, the dream to go on the mission field never left him. And when he met William Carey (pioneer missionary to India), they became great friends. Soon he was making plans to join Carey in India. It was his heart’s burning desire to join Carey there. Surely, God wouldn’t deny this godly man his dream?

But God said no. And Samuel Pearce never did get to go to India.

Why was this godly man denied such a godly dream? Why wasn’t he able to go to India?

Let’s go back to Psalm 37:4 and read the entire verse–

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

There is a condition and that is we are to delight ourselves in the Lord. This is the condition to receiving the desires of our hearts. That is because, when we do this, our desires naturally change.

And so, Samuel Pearce chose to delight himself in His Lord and he surrendered his dream to God’s will. There was no bitterness or rancor in his heart. Oh, I am sure he questioned God but He also trusted His heavenly Father to know best and gave even this most holy dream over to God’s Sovereignty.

Samuel Pearce suffered from illness and died by the age of 33, never seeing India or any other part of the world. But He continued to serve God until that day. He never turned from God because he trusted God.

And this leads us back to our own dreams. Is it wrong to have dreams for our lives? Well, not necessarily (more about that later). But we need to surrender any dream or desire we may have to God’s will for our lives. His will may be different than ours and we need to accept that without bitterness and without resentment.

This is easier said than done, isn’t it? But it’s our only path to the peace that God promises. And, in fact, it’s our only path to the fulfillment of all God’s promises. We must surrender to His Sovereign will for our lives.

Oh, as usual, this is so much easier to write than to live out! We get upset at the smallest detour in our mundane plans. Perhaps the best way to prepare our hearts for the loss of our big dreams is to practice submitting to God’s Sovereignty without complaint in the small, everyday things.

And let’s not forget to thank God for those wonderful blessings He gives us and for the dreams we have had that have been fulfilled. He is a God full of lovingkindness and mercies. Psalm 103:1-5 reminds us of this–

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

So what about my dreams? Is there anything wrong with having a dream for my life? Well, that depends.

If our dreams and aspirations for our lives are completely self-centered and selfish, then…yes. God clearly tells us in His Word that when we are redeemed, our priorities change. We are living for Him and not for ourselves. But if our desires are not born out of our own selfish agenda, then…no. Nothing wrong with these.

But, no matter what it is we long for, we need to surrender this to our heavenly Father, trusting that He knows best and remembering that He loves us more than we can even imagine!

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly. 

O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalm 84:11-12)

You can be encouraged by the life of Samuel Pearce and also by the lives of others godly Christians in the book Sound of Trumpets by Faith Cook. I highly recommend it.

Who is the Real Troubler?

3 Comments / June 8, 2023

I have been reading I Kings 18 and I just had to send out a second post to you all this week because it is just so interesting. And so very relevant to our own culture today.

In case you are unfamiliar with this book of the Bible, this particular passage in I Kings is about Elijah. In chapter 17, Elijah had pronounced to Ahab (wicked King of Israel) that God would judge Israel by allowing a three year drought—“there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” (I Kings 17:1).

We are especially dry here where I live right now and so thinking through this took on new meaning. I can’t even imagine three whole years without rain!

In chapter 18, Elijah returns to Ahab three years later to pronounce that it would now rain. But this was not just a simple pronouncement. If you will remember, this is where Elijah calls all of the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel to a showdown. Whose God would answer by fire? (I Kings 18:24).

But let’s take a look at a few things of note in this chapter. There are quite a few lessons for all of us who seek to follow God whole-heartedly.

First, let’s take a look at a man by the name of Obadiah. He was over the King’s household but he “feared the Lord greatly” (I Kings 18:3) In fact, so much so that, when Jezebel sought to destroy all of the prophets of the Lord, he hid a hundred of them in a cave and took care of them.

So here was a man who was in a high place of influence and he used it for the good of God’s people. Not all are called to be teachers or preachers or influencers. Some are called to protect and to help and to support. Wherever we are, we must determine what our role is in God’s Kingdom. But we all do have one. God may have put you in a place of great influence, where you can really help and encourage those who are on the front lines. We should never neglect nor downplay this very important role in God’s family.

Second, we have this interesting exchange between Ahab and Elijah at the end of that three years—

Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals. (I Kings 18:17-18)

Ahab accuses Elijah of being the “troubler of Israel” but who is the real troubler here? Elijah says it to him straight: Ahab is! He has followed Baal and forsaken God and has brought judgment to Israel.

Oh, how often this happens still today! Particularly in churches. A person stands up for the truth of God’s Word against false teaching and they are demonized and ridiculed. They are called divisive and a “troublemaker”. Normally, they end up pushed out of the church. This has happened over and over again. I’d rather guess it has happened to some of you reading this right now.

It can be discouraging, can’t it? But we must remember that just because someone calls us the “troubler” does not necessarily make it true. Now…we can do things all wrong when we stand for truth and we certainly must be on guard to constantly and intentionally be checking our heart attitudes and our demeanor when we speak up in defense of God and His Word. But speaking up—even if we do it with the right attitude and in the kindest of ways—will often bring censure and anger. The truth of God’s Word is not something that most people love. Often, sadly, this includes even believers.

So don’t be discouraged if you’ve been called a “troubler” in your church or family or workplace. We need to check our attitudes, pray for grace and love, and then speak up against false doctrine and worldliness, when given opportunity. Just as we know God has commanded us to do.

Third, in I Kings 18, verse 21, Elijah accused the people of “limping between two opinions”. However, you can’t waffle between God and pagan worship. You can’t serve God and Satan at the same time. That’s what most in Israel were trying to do.

And I think that often happens in this culture, as well. Only we have more sophisticated, modern names for the things we worship than “Baal”. But, when it all comes down to it, it is the same thing.

When we choose to allow our child to play sports on a Sunday morning instead of go to church, we are dividing our allegiance. When we choose to watch a show or movie filled with wickedness, it’s probably time we just call it what it is: An act of allegiance to the devil. When we live and breathe work or education or even our families, they have become an idol that is in just as much competition with God as Baal ever was.

These idols in our lives sneak in. We don’t set out to worship anything else besides God. But, before we know it, our entire lives are wrapped up in something other than God. We must always be on guard against divided allegiance in our souls.

So those are just a few of the lessons God has for us in I Kings 18. There are more but I do not want to make this too long. I hope this has encouraged you this morning. I know it was very encouraging—and challenging, as well— for me to consider these things.

As we read on in chapter 18, we realize anew that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and that He, and He alone, is the ONE, TRUE GOD. May we keep this in our minds always as we seek to live for Him every single day.

Resisting the Roaring Lion

Leave a Comment / October 26, 2022

We have been studying I Peter this past month in the Growing4Life Bible Challenge. It is really hard to cover this book of the Bible in just four weeks but we are taking in as much as we can! There is so much there! We are now on the final chapter, chapter 5, and verses 6-11 contain much that is profoundly helpful for us believers in 2022–

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called [g]us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The first verses gives us a framework for the rest of the passage: Humble ourselves and cast our cares on God. These are two very basic things for the redeemed to remember:

First, we must be humble. We must stop thinking more “highly of ourselves than we ought”, as Paul puts it in Romans 12:3. Later on in that same chapter, Paul puts it like this: “Do not be wise in your own opinion.” (vs 16). This is a key aspect in a healthy Christian walk for a number of reasons but the two that come to mind: To be in right relationship both with God and with others necessitates humility.

Second, we must stop fretting and worrying. Instead, God tells us to cast our cares on Him and choose to trust Him to care for us. He has promised to do this not only here in this passage, but throughout scripture. He loves and cares for His own. He will never forsake us! (Hebrews 13:5)

Now with those two exhortations, Peter goes on to talk about our adversary. In our modern day Christianity, many believers shy away from talking about the devil. Of course, there is the other extreme, where one blames everything on the devil or thinks he can be ordered around, as if that is their job to do so (It’s not!!). So what should be our right response to the truth that we Christians do have an enemy and it is the devil?

Peter gives us some instruction in verse 8: Be sober and be vigilant.

Dictionary.com gives these partial definitions–

Sober–not intoxicated or drunk.

Let’s think back to what it says in Ephesians 5: And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. From this, I believe we can deduct that Christian sobriety comes from being filled with the Spirit. And let’s remember: It is not just wine that makes us intoxicated! We can be intoxicated by any number of things: ungodly novels, worldly entertainment, temporal goals, money, hobbies; so much can intoxicate us into a state of caring little about spiritual things. This intoxication (or idolatry!) is what leaves us open to the attacks of our enemy. 

Vigilant–sleeplessly watchful

We are a spiritually lazy culture. Many people claiming Christ don’t even open their Bibles between Sundays. They are asleep spiritually. Caught up in their distractions and worldly living, they are uninterested in what really matters. Instead of being sleeplessly watchful, they are sound asleep and can’t see a thing. Vigilance is not a popular concept these days, but here in I Peter we are told it is necessary in order to protect ourselves from our enemy.

Why is it so important that we are sober and vigilant? What is the big deal? Peter goes on to tell us why it’s a very big deal:

Our adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour!

This is not just some fable or allegory told for our entertainment. This is 100% true.

We have an enemy who seeks to destroy us. Of course, if we are saved, there is nothing he can do about our eternal destinies. But he can, and often does, render the believer ineffective for the Kingdom of God by distracting us with the frivolous and the meaningless, by getting us caught up in unbiblical philosophies and practices, and, often, by tempting us to sin or to feel discouraged and without hope. And, since he often cloaks himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), he will be hard to spot–unless we are sober and vigilant and expect his attacks, both the obvious and the deceptive.

Peter goes on to say that we must resist the devil and remain steadfast in the faith.

We resist the devil and remain steadfast in our faith by submitting to God’s Will and obeying His Word. There is no other way. And, in fact, this is one of the biggest areas of life that Satan attacks us, for he does not want us in the Word of God, understanding God’s care for us, feeling conviction of sin, and recognizing the need to surrender our dreams and passions to God.

Of course, for all of us, resisting the devil and remaining steadfast in our faith is not an easy task. As Peter says, it often brings suffering. If you have read the biographies of men and women from the past, you will know that they suffered greatly as they battled Satan and stood for the truth. Whether on the African plains, in the Chinese village, or in the cathedrals and monasteries of Europe, wherever there have been people who share the Gospel and stand for truth, there is suffering.

Peter tells us to expect this suffering and to know that these same sufferings have been experienced by other believers all across the world.

But Peter doesn’t end there! (Aren’t you so glad he doesn’t??)

He goes on to remind us that God won’t just let us drown in suffering but, after suffering for just a while, God will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us. I wonder if God doesn’t use the suffering for these very purposes? For it is in suffering that we often experience these things. True believers aren’t weakened by suffering. They are strengthened. True believers aren’t shaken by suffering, they are settled. God, in His goodness and in His ultimate perfect plan works all things out for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

And then there is the final verse that reminds us of just how big this One, True God is that we belong to, as Peter reminds us that all glory and dominion belong to Him! We know glory means great praise, honor, adoration. But what does dominion mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means the “absolute right to rule”. God is the King of all.

While it may look like Satan is winning, he isn’t! Some battles may be lost, but the war will soon be over now and we are on the winning side! May this truth help us stay sober and vigilant. May it remind us that we are not resisting the devil alone, for we have the God of the Universe fighting with us and for us. And may we remember this truth as we suffer for our Savior, whom we are given the privilege to serve during our short time here on earth.

God has been so kind to give us His Word in this crazy, upside down world. I pray it is an encouragement to you as you go out into the world to soldier on for the Lord this day!

 

 

The Next (Little) Thing

6 Comments / September 30, 2022

A month or two ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with an elderly couple and talking with them about life. The one spouse is in pretty ill health and so they are confined and unable to do much of what they did in the past. Several times during the conversation, one of them mentioned how they used to enjoy visiting people like themselves and how often they would do this. I think it is very hard for them to be a “visitee” rather than the “visitor”… as it would be for most of us, I guess.

In the course of the conversation, it came up how few visitors they actually have. Even after they spent so much time visiting in the past.  My heart grew just a bit sad for them as I contemplated them sitting alone, day after day, unable to go much of anywhere, due to circumstances beyond their control.

This conversation has been much on my mind since it occurred. Why don’t more people visit the elderly, the sick, and the shut-ins? Why is this relegated only to the official “clergy” when it is something any of us could do? What is keeping us from this act of love and kindness?

As I have been pondering over this, I have recognized that it could be because there is no immediate reward for this type of service. While feeding the poor, taking care of orphans, being a social media influencer for Christ or doing some other public thing often yields much praise and fanfare from the church; other acts of love, such as being a full-time mommy, care-taking, visiting the sick and the elderly, teaching Sunday School, making meals for others, witnessing to someone at work, and a whole host of other “behind-the scenes” services, don’t tend to yield the praise of men.

So this makes us naturally believe (wrongly) that these services may not be as important. Often, it is not even that we are consciously thinking this. It is just what our experiences teaches us: If a service yields the praise of men, it must be important. If it doesn’t, it must be unimportant.

But, truly, nothing could be further from the truth. Thankless jobs that yield no applause are often the most important!

God tells us in His Word that we are all needed to make the body of Christ run as it should–

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? (I Corinthians 12:15-19)

Each of us is given a different role in the body and this is a wonderful thing! If we were all a foot or an eye, how could the body of Christ even function? Some people are called to minister in very public ways and they are often truly an inspiration to us! Others are called to behind-the scenes jobs that go unnoticed. Both of these people are important in God’s eyes and necessary to keep the body of Christ functioning as it should.

We also find out in scripture that God has specifically prepared good works for us beforehand—

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

God knows our strengths and weaknesses. He gave us our talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts. He knows what we are good at and where we can be used best in the Body. And that’s what we are supposed to be doing.

Many years ago now, when my youngest daughter was about twelve, she really wanted us to adopt. While we were not quite ready for that, we did decide that perhaps we could do some fostering so we enrolled in a short-term program to care for kids. When we got our first (and only) placement, it was incredibly difficult. Now, I am not scared of difficult. Many times, the path we are to walk on is difficult. However, it was more than that. I just felt in my heart like this was not what I was “cut out to do”. And I felt incredibly guilty about that. Shouldn’t everyone be cut out to take in children? Was I simply being selfish?

I eventually figured out that, no, everyone is not called to that ministry. And that this is as God has designed it. Because there are so many other just-as-important things to do for God’s Kingdom. While I have great admiration for those of you who are called to foster and adopt children or are passionately serving the poor and sharing the Gospel with them, it took me awhile to understand that there are so many of you, quietly serving the Lord in ways I will never know, who are doing jobs just as important. We need to pray and ask the Lord to show us what He wants us to do. Where He wants us to be serving right now– today– and then do it as Colossians 3:23 says: heartily and as unto God, not unto men.

And, in doing what God has set before us to do, we are promised to be prepared! In fact it says we will be filled with all grace abounding towards us, always having all sufficiency in all things to do what God has called us to do. That is quite a promise, now, isn’t it?!? Paul puts it like this in 2 Corinthians 9–

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

A few months ago I was feeling a bit at a loss. Am I still doing anything good with this tiny little corner on the internet? Should I be working on something “bigger” and “better”? In talking with my wise mother (whom I am still so blessed to have in my life for counsel and guidance!), she reminded me of the value of building into the lives of my grandchildren and the importance of supporting my children as they seek to raise children for Christ.

It was a very clarifying conversation. I didn’t need bigger and better. I just need to be faithful in what God has called me to do right now. Today. And, until He shows me differently, this calling is spending time with my grandchildren, helping my husband with our landscaping business, teaching Bible Studies, and writing to encourage the saints at a tiny, unknown blog called Growing4Life. That’s what God has for me today. I don’t need to be searching for anything bigger or better or something that yields the acclamation of men. I just need to be faithful with the things that God has for me to do on this day. And to be willing to do what He has for me tomorrow.

What does God have for you to do today? It may be adopting orphans or feeding the poor. But it may be something else. Something just as important but much less public.

May we seek the Lord in how He would have us serve Him and then may we go about it with much joy and perseverance, knowing that we are doing it for God and not for men. May we just faithfully do the next thing God has given us to do. Be it big or little.

 

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