Steve's Blog

F

2012-01-25T23:13:00.003-04:00

The word ‘fail’ came into my vocabulary, as it did with most everyone in my generation I think, when I went to school. I knew very little of real failure in those days. It’s one thing to bring home a D, it’s another to be the successful businessmen who said, “I’d give it all up in an instant for a relationship with my daughter”. It’s one thing to fail a grade. It’s quite something else to fail life!

Patrick Morley is fond of saying ‘no man plans to fail’, and he is unquestionably right. No man sets out in life with the intent to crash and burn. We have the need to succeed. We are absolutely compelled by it; driven. Our self-worth is on the line. And it isn’t just about academics or job performance and recognition. It isn’t just about football or the kind of car we drive or what we wear. It includes all of the interpersonal aspects of life as well. We need to show the world what we’re made of, to prove ourselves, to VALIDATE ourselves.

But, we have a problem, and no matter how desperately hard we might try, we just can’t seem to shake the nagging suspicion that we aren’t cutting it; not really.

Then what?!!!

Typically, what happens is DENIAL. We become what Brennan Manning called ‘posers’. We attempt to put a bold face (lie) on it for other people who all seem to be cutting it, even if inside we are caving. We can even become quite good at it. We put on the bravado, get a bit of a swagger going and adopt some socially acceptable version of a macho man.

“Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is façade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brilliant disguise.” John Eldredge

Sometimes it can get difficult to know just who we are trying to convince. James talks about the ability we have to ‘deceive ourselves’. And I think that sometimes we do manage to convince ourselves, but it’s just a masquerade after all, and the truth has a way of breaking up our carefully crafted stories as the cracks slowly deepen and widen over time.

Then what?!!!

At some point in a man’s life, sooner or later, if he has the good fortune of it, he will be squarely confronted with his own personal INADEQUACY in a way that is both brutal and merciful. God will call his bluff. The word of God pulls back the covers to expose all of us as failures. We fail, every single one of us, to live up to the full potential of the life God created us for. It’s not an easy pill to swallow. Pride gets in the way for most people, but here’s the truth.

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Rom 3:19,20

None of us measures up. But just when we think the hammer is going to come down, what’s this? … Grace, God’s amazing and matchless grace, freely given to all who will let go of their pride and take hold of the gift of Jesus Christ.

“… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Rom 3:23,24

“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded….” Rom 3:27

I have nothing to prove. No reason to boast, or doubt. No reason to pretend. Free, just to live. O, I can fall back into the politics of pretending alright, but when I do, it is just a memory lapse, then I am reminded again – Jesus really did away with the need for any of that. He took it all; every bit of it!

Then what?!!!

“His compassion never fails … His mercies are new every morning.” Lam 3:22,23

A Kodak Moment

2012-01-19T12:51:00.005-04:00

Eastman Kodak Company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The iconic company was founded by George Eastman, a high-school dropout from upstate New York, in 1880. Like so many American icons, the beginning was humble enough … a modest investment of $125 … Kodak went on to produce the first hand-held camera and totally dominate the industry. Ironically, Kodak invented the first digital camera as well but, unfortunately, chose to sit on the technology while its competitors ran with it. The end.

I’m not a business person, but I’m going to make an observation. Although there were undoubtedly many factors leading to this moment, it seems to me that this one simple (colossal) mistake may have made the largest contribution to the ultimate demise of the company. How did it happen? The company heads perceived the discovery as a threat rather than seeing it as an opportunity.

How often does this happen? I remember reading years ago how the Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters (compound word) with one meaning 'danger' and the other meaning 'opportunity'. Interesting eh!? There is in every danger an opportunity and in every opportunity a danger.

There is always a danger. There is always a risk. Staying in bed won’t protect you either. You wouldn’t be the first person to die in your sleep! Just when you think that things couldn’t get worse, guess what? They can! But there is always an opportunity. All of the great success stories have their beginnings in times of adversity. No one ever became great without suffering. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The reality is no different for one person (or company) than it is for another. So what makes the difference between those who cave and those who capitalize? It’s not just WHAT we see but HOW we see it.

I'm not just talking business here, I'm talking life. And for us who know that God is for us (and if God is for us, who can be against us?) this should transform the way we see life. And with the way we see life transformed, transformed should be the way we DO life.

Sure, there is always a risk that we will fail, that we will be misunderstood, that our good intentions will not produce the kind of results we are looking for…

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” Hebrews 10:39

On Loving God

2012-01-12T16:44:00.001-04:00

I got to take part in an interesting discussion earlier this week with some men about the importance of pure motives in our relationship with God. It was stressed, and rightly so, that we need to make sure that we are seeking after God and not just what He can do for us – His blessings. As surely true as this is, it is also interesting that God Himself is not above using our own self-interest to motivate us. One clear example of this (and there are hundreds if not thousands of examples in the Bible!) is how God admonished the people through Moses as they prepared to enter the promised land. Over and over again God told the people to be careful to keep all the commandments and here is the motivation that was repeatedly given for it:

“Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord you God gives you for all time.” Deut 4:40

Of course, the greatest appeal to self-interest (self-preservation) is the appeal to avoid ending up in hell! Some of the teachings of Jesus Himself come to mind in this regard… “ … do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more… Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him…. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?...”

So how is all of this self-interest in any way legitimate when we consider how the Bible also calls us to a pure love for God and others of the type that God has for us which is a love that is completely free of self-interest and, to the contrary, is actually self-sacrificing?

Well, first of all, love of self is not an illegitimate motive. We do not sin when we care for ourselves. In fact, we cannot but love ourselves. We might not like ourselves sometimes but there is no question that we all love ourselves a great deal! And it would seem that this is not only allowed for, but counted on. We are told to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and men are instructed to love our wives as we love ourselves. (Eph 5)

It seems to me that the best way for us to understand this is to think about it in the context of personal growth towards maturity. When our children are small they are not really capable of operating much apart from self-interest. So what do we do? We appeal to their self-interest and we put ‘artificial consequences’ in place to at least steer them in the right direction. But our goal is not simply to control their behaviour because we do what we do in the hope that they will gradually grow into mature people who will then be moved by much higher values and ideals.

And it would seem to me that God takes a similar approach with us. First off, let’s be honest. None of us are as altruistic in our motivation as we like to think we are. But, while we lack the capacity to have motives that are not directed at least in part by self-interest, God uses that. It isn’t ideal but neither is it illegitimate. He does it to get us going in the right direction, and He definitely does it in hope that we will grow to where we learn to not only love ourselves but to really love Him and others, and that this will become more and more the thing that moves us. Thankfully, God does allow grace for us to grow in these things.

One of the men participating in the discussion time I mentioned referenced some teaching by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). Bernard wrote an interesting piece on loving God. In it he outlined a progression in the growth of our love for God. Interestingly, he suggests that our love for God begins with loving God for our sake but should grow towards loving ourselves for God’s sake. Think about that! I don’t know a lot about Bernard’s other theological musings but I think he was onto something here.

Filing Forward

2012-01-05T15:35:00.001-04:00

I have not had much of what could be called spare time over the course of the past couple of weeks, but what time I’ve managed to find for it, I’ve been doing some ‘house cleaning’. Specifically, I’ve been going through paper files; hundreds of them, hundreds of pounds of them, 27 years worth! A lot of them are PPC (prior to personal computers). All of my computer files I can back-up digitally of course, and access them when I need to, so that cuts down on the need for hard copies. But all of the paperwork from my college courses and then all of the teaching and administration work I’ve done as a pastor going back to the 1980s… Wow! What a lot of … stuff!

Though I didn’t approach this task as a new years activity (the timing is coincidental really) it has turned out to be somewhat of a catharsis for me. I couldn’t very well just throw out everything, even though I am striving to be ruthless, I have to at least look at what it is and come to some kind of decision based on need. And so with every box of ‘scrap-paper’ I fill and cart off, I feel just a little bit ‘lighter’. Even while I am certain there will be some good and important data lost in the process, even that feels good in a weird kind of way, like I’m cutting my losses – I’m ‘cleaning house’.

Pretty much every file, in one way or another, represents a lot of time, heart and hard work… notes … insights… ideas ,,, studies … courses taken … speakers heard … conferences attended… planning sessions … massive amounts of teaching and preaching materials … and on and on and on… It’s all personal. There is an definite attachment. And letting go of these types of things - things you’ve laboured over and in some way celebrated - involves letting go of the past. And that isn’t an easy thing for most of us to do. It involves an element of pain, or loss if you will, but there is also a healing to be found in it. After all, we are not meant to live in the past. We are meant for movement.

I’m a long way from being finished. I just ran out of time and I don’t know exactly when I will get back to it, but I will. I intend to see this through. You can call it a new years resolution if you want. But whatever it might be, I’m feeling good about it. It’s helping me to look forward and that is definitely the posture I want to be assuming at this point in my life.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul

So what are you holding onto that you really need to say good bye to?

Christmas Time

2011-12-29T16:16:00.002-04:00

At Christmas time we celebrate the incarnation of Christ - the entrance of the Lord of glory into our common humanity in order to represent us and die in our place, rescuing us to ultimately take us home for all eternity. This is by far the greatest news this tired old world has ever heard. But I think at times people (that would be all of us) can struggle to appreciate how something that happened more than 2000 years ago can be considered exciting? That’s one of the reasons Santa is so exciting, because he comes every year!!! And while we talk about Jesus coming again, we tend to think about that in the same way we talk about our own departure from this world – we say it can happen at any time, but we live as if we have forever. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone where you spoke as if it could be your last words to them?

Time is a problem for us. It isn’t a problem for God.

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”… 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2Pet 3:1-4, 8,9

Time is a problem for us. It isn’t a problem for God. It isn’t easy for us to understand exactly why one day is like a thousand years for God or how a thousand years is like a day. Some of the speculations about this statement have been fanciful. But I am very thankful for Peter’s words here in this passage because it gains us some insight into what the Bible means when it presents us with a God who is infinite and eternal. He exists outside of space and time as He created both. There are at least 4 different times in the New Testament where we are told that God existed before the beginning of time. (1Cor 2:7 ; 2Tim 1:9 ; Tit 1:2 and Jude 1:25) This provides us with at least a partial explanation as to how God knows the future. He’s already there!

If trying to wrap your mind around this gives you a brain cramp you’re in good company. It is not actually possible that our finite minds comprehend God in His fullness. But what these truths should do for us is leave us with a great sense of wonder. And perhaps that is how the passage of time becomes rather insignificant, whether Christ came two thousand years ago or as if He had come yesterday. Whether He comes again tomorrow or a thousand years from now, the sheer wonder of the greatness of God and the grandeur of His costly love for us should inspire us beyond any fanciful story that men could ever write.

Less Tolerance Needed

2011-12-22T12:17:00.002-04:00

There is a great emphasis this time of year on the need for peace in the world. Amazingly, there are still those who cling to hope that we will actually achieve global peace and that somehow we will put aside all of the many differences that divide us along political, ethic, philosophical and religious lines. Who wouldn’t want to see that happen?! Whether it’s totalitarian dictatorships on the other side of the planet that perpetrate great atrocities against their own citizens, or whether it is the bully at school who makes your child’s life miserable and threatens their well-being, the thought of a world of peace causes any sane heart to sigh with longing.

There are, of course, many obstacles to seeing that actually happen and I do not share the optimism that we will see it happen of our own accord. It will take nothing short of the return of the Prince of Peace to make it a reality. That truth is overwhelmingly obvious and I am amazed that anyone could think anything else to be possible considering the consistent decline in civility we have witnessed in our own lifetimes. The world is not becoming a more peaceful place. It just isn’t.

There is also a serious flaw in the way people go about trying to create peace on earth. Not only do we lack the capacity to make it happen, we don’t even understand what it really consists of. This is a big part of the problem because there is a desperate push for peace in the world today that is being built on a completely faulty foundation. It is the idea that living at peace with others means being in agreement with them, sanctioning their choices even when we believe them to be wrong. This method is embraced with great moral zeal in our present culture and it is being pushed down the throats of all who would hold sincere convictions otherwise. But it is doomed to fail utterly. It is the mantra of tolerance. Tolerance has been elected to the status of supreme virtue by today’s ethical elite, a place of prominence that it is woefully unworthy of. What we actually need in the world today is not more tolerance. What we need in the world today is less tolerance. And lest that leave you scratching your head, I’ll let this quote from Josh McDowell finish these thoughts here. He says it well:

Tolerance vs. Love

Tolerance says, "You must approve of what I do." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will love you, even when your behavior offends me."

Tolerance says, "You must agree with me." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because I am convinced 'the truth will set you free.'"

Tolerance says, "You must allow me to have my way." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk."

Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive; love takes risks. Tolerance glorifies division; love seeks unity. Tolerance costs nothing; love costs everything.

Josh McDowell, in Focus on the Family Magazine (August 1999)

Hustle & Bustle

2011-12-15T12:16:00.004-04:00

No, they aren’t a set of animal twins from some animated children's story. These guys are for real and they are everywhere. Consumerism defines our present culture. We have been told that the economy trumps all other issues and the answer to our economic situation is simply to get more and spend more. And we believe it. The crowds prove it. Consumerism is a gigantic plague on our contemporary society. It is like a fatal sickness that we choose because of the unquenchable thirst for more fed by the giant marketing industry upon its unsuspecting victims. And where does it lead? It leads to disillusion, debt and despair.

I was recently reading an article that pointed out something that I don’t remember taking notice of before. In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, in one of the two main biblical passages that describe Satan’s fall (the other being Isa 14) and subsequent activities, there are an amazing number of references to commerce. Take a look. I’ll put them in bold for you.

4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. 5 By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud…
16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. Ezek 28:4,5,16-18

Of course, Genesis chapter three introduces us to the serpent who is more cunning than any of the beasts of the field. I find it very interesting (to say the least) how a description of the ways of our enemy also describes our present economic system so well.

All of this is a big enough problem of itself, but it has some spin offs too. Riding on the coat tails of consumerism is acute impatience. That might not sound like a big deal but it is worse than it sounds. We have pretty much lost the value of delayed gratification. Whether it is simply the result of easy credit, or a combination of things, we not only want it all but we want it all now. I thought of this when I saw this sign recently:

We offer 3 kinds of service: Good – Cheap – Fast
You can pick any two
- Good service cheap won’t be fast
- Good service fast wont be cheap
- Fast service cheap won’t be good

The thing is, as this sign makes clear, we can’t have it both ways. In our headlong pursuit for more, we would do well to consider what we are in fact forfeiting for it. Because there is a price to be paid for everything, and regardless of what the advertising industry might suggest, the cost is way too high for this.

A Place At The Table

2011-12-07T21:32:00.002-04:00

There is a scene in the movie version of Charles Dicken’s ‘A Christmas Carol’, the one starring Alastair Sim, where the 3rd spirit has transported Ebenezer Scrooge into the future and they are listening to a couple of fellow merchants discuss his death the previous night. He hasn’t yet clued in that it is his own passing that they are talking about, but then he looks over to a particular spot and says something like… “That’s strange! At this time of the day I should be right over there. See there is my place right beside the clock?”

I thought of this scene last week. We had traveled to a monthly pastor’s gathering in Sackville NB. Where we meet, we gather around a large table with about 20 chairs. The classic scene came to my mind as I made my way to my seat upon arrival, the same chair I gravitate to each time we get together. It is admittedly strange behaviour but for some strange reason I find myself feeling attached to that particular spot. It’s almost as if it belongs to me. Now, I know that, on the one hand, we should not get possessive of a particular chair (or pew) like that, but on the other hand, it kind of feels right to have my own place. In a way that I don’t really understand, it speaks to a deep sense of belonging, a sense of identity and self-worth somehow; that we have a place in the world; a place at the table so to speak.

The experience got me thinking about how God meets this need for us. The Bible teaches that we who hope in Christ (and only those who have accepted the invitation to come to Him in this way) have the assurance that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and that God is preparing a great feast and that we have a place waiting for us at that table! Think about that! A place at the table – His table!!!

When Jesus met with His disciples for the Last Supper, in Luke’s account the actual drinking from the cup and eating of the bread is preceded by these words… “When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 22:14-16)

When He was preparing to leave this world, Jesus said, “I am going to prepare a place for you.” (Jn 14:2) And He wasn’t just talking about the 12 either because on another occasion He had said, “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29)

Now, it’s one thing to have a place in this world. It’s quite something else to be assured of a place in Christ’s kingdom! In fact, quite often our place in this world seems pretty insecure. It can disappear in an instant through the result of our own sin or someone else’s. We can easily be neglected, even be it unintentionally. Or we can be marginalized. Mistakes are made. And how often do we find ourselves, in one way or another, in this world, standing outside looking in. And of course, some day our place in this world will be no more, just like Ebenezer Scrooge.

But have you ever looked at an artist’s conception of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and thought how one of those spaces has your name on it?!!! Think of it; a place reserved specifically for you personally at that Table!!! Is that not just the greatest thing you can imagine! I know it blows my mind!!!

Christmas Lights

2011-11-30T12:46:00.004-04:00

Maya Angelou is credited with saying that, “You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things - a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

Her words came to mind for me again this week as I was observing Florence while she attempted to put some Christmas lights up. I don’t do Christmas lights normally. I love them up, but lack the patience to work with them. My sweet wife on the other hand amazes me with her patience. I only observed a short while, then I had to walk away. It was just too painful to watch.

I agree that these types of things have a lot to say about us, but what is it that they are in fact saying? I think all of these types of minor frustrations (for they are far too insignificant to be referred to as trials!) are a general indication of a lacking in our faith. When you consider that Jesus admonished the disciples for worrying about things like food and clothing (see Matthew 6), what does that say about my attitude when it comes to the little inconveniences in my life? It isn’t good.

The Bible says that the trial of our faith creates patience in us (see James 1). All I can say at this time is that I am a slow learner for sure. I feel like I’m still in preschool!

For Whom The Bell Tolls

2011-11-24T10:30:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday morning I made reference to one of my favourite pieces of literature - John Donne’s Meditation XVII, ‘No Man Is An Island’.

The passage begins with that classic statement that ‘no man is an island’ and ends with another classic line that almost everyone has heard but few have made it their task to understand – ‘Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee’.

John Donne lived in 17th century England and the bells he was writing about were the church bells which marked various events and were a common feature of daily life in that day. More specifically though, he was writing about funeral bells. This is made clear by the preceding line of the poem - “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind”. It is said that Donne wrote those words from his sick bed which makes it even more poignant.

Here is the piece:

'No Man is an Island'

No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were;
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne

I have a personal affinity for this line of thought. It draws me in, as with all good poetry. But I also have a very specific practice that I engage in that ties me to it; a habit if you will.

Church bells are not such a common thing anymore, but I’ll tell you what is – ambulance sirens! I’ll share just a little secret with you. Whenever I hear an ambulance siren, I pray for the person for whom that siren is calling out. And I always pray with the recognition that it could be me and one day it will be.

We are bound together by our common humanity. The Christian faith (yes, Donne was a Christian) elevates man to the dignity afforded to those made by God in His image. It also endows every single individual with great personal worth for the same reason. I love that about Christianity. It makes us all equals and informs us that every life matters; every person is to be valued; every death is to be mourned; everyone is connected somehow in this great story of life. To really come to the place where ‘any man’s death diminishes me’ is to come to a place of understanding of the value of human life, made in God’s image. It becomes the grounds for real compassion and genuine care for others.

In a day and age when life has for many become so apparently cheap, it is encouraging to remember that God doesn’t think so. And it is His opinion that matters after all.

More Love

2011-11-17T15:53:00.001-04:00

I often think about the people that got to engage directly with Jesus during His lifetime on earth. A couple of weeks back I drew attention to one such individual during the Sunday morning message when we were considering some of the Bible’s important teaching about gratitude.

Jesus was invited by a man named Simon, who we are told was a Pharisee, to his home for dinner. And while they were there together at the dinner table, a woman comes into the house, positions herself behind Jesus as He is reclined at the table and begins to weep and to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she proceeds to kiss his feet and pour expensive perfume on them.

There is a lot that could be said about the significance of this act itself but what follows is most likely Luke’s purpose for including the story. Simon is indignant and is sitting there thinking how this Jesus can’t be much of a prophet or else He would have known about this woman, for we are told that she ‘had lived a sinful life’ (Luke 7:37). Not only did Jesus know about the woman and her life, but He also knew exactly what Simon was thinking. Simon may well have rethought Jesus’ credentials when Jesus answered his unspoken question. In classic form, Jesus tells a very simple and pointed story, a parable if you will, about two men who owed another man money. One owed him a large amount and the other a smaller amount but the man forgave them both. As is so often the case with the Master Teacher, Jesus pries the life truth of the story from Simon’s own lips with the simple question – “Which of them will love him more?” When Simon answered, “I suppose (note the hesitancy), the one who had the bigger debt canceled”, Jesus affirmed that he was in fact correct.

Let’s pick up the story right at that spot in the text…

“Then He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Lk 7:44-47)

Again, this passage is so rich with implications for our lives but one thing seems to stand out to me. I often hear people talk about how as Christians we allow our passion for Christ to wane and really struggle to know how to get it back when it does. It would seem from this passage that one thing we can definitely do is become more fully aware of our spiritual poverty. We really need to be in touch with just how needy we are so that we can have a fuller appreciation for the mercy of Christ.

The passage doesn’t teach that this woman was forgiven because she loved much. It teaches that she loved much because she was forgiven much. She was aware of just how incredibly awesome Christ’s love and forgiveness for her really was.

The apostle John said it simply like this- “We love because He first loved us.” (Jn 4:19) The truth is that we have no capacity in and of ourselves to love. It is only as we experience love that we are able to love in return. He who is forgiven much loves much. In other words, the one who knows what it is to be greatly loved will have a great love. The secret, if you want to call it that, for loving God is to know the wonderful, matchless, abounding love of God in Christ to us.

If you haven’t been listening to the latest song by the band The Sidewalk Prophets, then you may well want to check it out. Even if you have, you might want to have a listen to it again right now as it is very helpful in this regard.

Propaganda

2011-11-09T12:37:00.004-04:00

Remembrance Day is this coming Friday and I hope you’re able to observe it somehow. As many of those who read this blog are aware, my dad was a veteran of the Second World War. He served overseas with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. This past year one of my nieces sent me word that there is now a museum in Amherst dedicated to the North Novies as well as a group on Facebook. I joined the group and receive regular updates. A few days ago the following was posted:

There is an article in the Nova Scotian (the Chronicle Herald insert) today about the North Novies murdered at the Abbaye D'Ardenne just after D-Day. Refreshingly, the article is not about the perpetrators but about these men and the injustice of mistreating prisoners of war. Despite the innuendos which surface in literature about the war, without evidence, that Canadian soldiers mistreated german prisoners in Normandy, the North Novies did not retaliate or in any way emulate the behavior of the SS they fought. This was so because they were decent men who volunteered to fight an enemy trying to spread a dictatorship over Europe and beyond, and who were repulsed by the atrocities they saw and knew about, and had no motivation to replicate or associate with the barbaric acts of the SS. Those who have suggested otherwise have no comprehension of the motivations of these highly trained soldiers, and offer with their comments ‘we were just as bad’ or some other careless leveling aside, the ultimate insult to this regiment and the memory of those who fought. All human behavior is not the same and we need to remember the sacrifice but also the values of our NNSH soldiers. Lest we forget. [posted by Kirby Grant on the Nova Scotia Highlander’s Museum Facebook site]

Not only do I have a personal interest in things pertaining to the North Novies, but I am very interested in the issue raised by Kirby Grant. It seems that it is becoming increasingly common for people to adopt the opinion that there are no real heroes, only villains. The old axiom is true for the most part that ‘history is written by the winners’, however this is no excuse for blatantly rewriting history with no consideration whatsoever for the evidence. Historical details are more often than not documented or verified by multiple sources and often confirmed by objective parties. Furthermore, the assumption that no one is ever honourable and no cause is ever just; that all men, groups or countries ever engaged in conflict have nothing but self interest at the expense of others as their motivation is more than cynical - it is diabolical. It skewers the facts of history, not to mention current events, in such a way as to provide a cloak for evil and it blinds us to noble causes. It frustrates the attempts of good men to address the very real evils that exist in our world. We are not the same as those who throw acid in women's faces or threaten them simply because they want to learn. We are not the same as those who teach their children to blow themselves up in order to kill innocent people. We are not the same as those who seek to convert you to their religion by offering you the choice to be like them or die. We are not.

So, keep your eye out for this type of misguided propaganda because it is very effective. Control the media and you control the masses.

Infighting

2011-11-03T11:55:00.003-03:00

Saw an article on the news this morning about the most recent promises in the fight against cancer. Once again, Canadians are leading the way in this one. Hopes are high as researchers are putting a lot of effort right now into using viruses to fight cancer. It is all quite interesting stuff, and if it works like they hope, it could prolong the lives and increase the quality of life for a lot of sick people. That’s the hope and I pray it happens.

The whole thing got me thinking though about the strategy being employed. They are using one disease to fight another. It’s an old trick and a good one. The OT book a 2Chronicles gives us an account of how this can happen in a military setting. The Moabites, Ammonites, together with some Meunites were moving on Jerusalem, and as usual, Israel was greatly outnumbered and surrounded by her enemies (some things haven’t changed a lot over the past 3 thousand years!) and there was no reason to think that there was any way out for them. But Jehoshaphat, then King of Judah, encouraged by Jahaziel, instructed the people to start singing praise to God. The text goes on to say…

“As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.” 2Chron 20:22-24

As we come into the New Testament, Jesus made reference to this dynamic. When accused of casting out demons by the devil’s power Jesus responded with the axiom – a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Of course, the principle not only applies to our enemies but also to ourselves. Any house divided against itself cannot stand. This is why the New Testament writers are so adamant about unity. There are numerous passages that form the body of teaching on unity in the church and far too many to consider here or to begin commenting on. Here are just four examples:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Eph 4:1-6

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Col 3:12-14

In his concluding statements to the Romans he urges them to “ … watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them ... The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Rom 16:17,20

And here is a very direct statement to the point…

“If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Gal 5:15

Of course, all four of these are from Paul’s pen but perhaps some of the most compelling calls to unity come directly from Jesus Himself.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20,21

Whether we are talking about church, or our homes, or an organization of any kind really, unity is essential for health and well being. That isn’t to say that we always have to agree on everything. We only need agree on the essential things and be committed to each other. It’s the difference between watching each others backs and stabbing each other in the back. And Jesus elevated it to the one sign above all others that we belong to Him and He is who He claimed to be.

Why not consult one more passage – John 13:34,35

Some of you know it by heart. Some of you will have to look it up. I hope you do.

Passerby Effect

2011-10-27T15:53:00.003-03:00

I have seen few things in my life that cause me to wonder about our common humanity more than what happened in China last week. A two year old toddler, carelessly run down by a van in a busy marketplace. Not only did the driver just drive off and leave little Yueyue to die, 18 people passed by in the next 6 minutes and none of them made any effort whatsoever to help that poor and precious little girl laying there suffering and dying. A trash collector finally pulled her to the side of the road (how ironic is that!) but she died later in hospital.

People were quick to condemn China as a reprobate society unlike our own, pointing to things like the ‘culture of fear left over from the Cultural Revolution’, or the authoritarian state, or the newly enjoyed economics and rampant materialism. There may be some truth to those observations but to suggest that we are somehow substantively different is to be in denial. Similar types of incidents have occurred elsewhere including here in North America.

In April of last year, you may recall hearing on the news about a 31 year old homeless man named Hugo Tale-Yax who was walking down a street in Queen’s, N.Y. at 6:00 AM when he came upon a woman being threatened by a man with a knife. He came to the woman’s rescue only to have the attacker turn on him stabbing him several times. Not only did the assailant then flee but so did the woman! And then, as the surveillance video shows, more than two dozen people, walked by the wounded man as he laid there holding his stomach, groaning in pain. More than one person stopped and rolled him over to see how badly he was wounded and one person even took a picture! But no one helped. Eventually, someone did stop and called an ambulance. But more than two dozen people and 80 minutes had passed by and it was too late for Mr. Tale-Yax who died shortly afterward.

In commenting on little Yueyue’s tragic end, people have been referring to the ‘bystander effect’ but the ‘bystander effect’ doesn’t really apply either in her case or in Hugo’s. The ‘bystander effect’ suggests that the likelihood of anyone helping someone in need drops as the number of ‘bystanders’ rises. It is believed that the numbers create a kind of ‘diffusion of responsibility’. But, in both of the above cases, there were no crowds standing and watching. They were passers by who had nothing but their own conscience to guide them. There was no opportunity for a ‘diffusion of responsibility’, only an absence of it altogether! And such was also the case when Jesus, who was the first one on record to profile the ‘Passerby Effect’, reported on the case of the Good Samaritan (See Luke 10:25-37)

In each of these cases - Yueyue, Hugo, and the unnamed man on the Jericho road so many years ago - people didn’t stand there in a crowd, frozen in some kind of state of ‘diffused responsibility’ (not that this is acceptable either). One by one, they walked by … around … over… the helpless victim lying there in pain, without lifting even one finger to offer any kind of help or care. So, if the ‘Bystander Effect’ is attributable to ‘diffused responsibility’, how do we explain this?

It’s incomprehensible. All I can say is, may God deliver me and anyone who reads this from that kind of hard-heartedness.

Most Dangerous

2011-10-18T16:31:00.000-03:00

Erik Raymond is a church planter with a blog site called ‘Ordinary Pastor’. I don’t know much about him but a few weeks ago he posted - ‘Who Is The Most Dangerous Guy In Your Church?’

That’s a pretty intriguing title, enough that I had to check it out. Here’s a quote:

“Sure, we all can spot the unbeliever who doesn’t fluently speak the language of Zion, we can identify the person from doctrinally anemic backgrounds because they keep cutting themselves with the sharp knives in the theology drawer, and of course any Calvinist can sniff out an Arminian within 20 seconds. But I submit that these types of people are not the most dangerous people that attend your church. At least, they are not in my experience.”

Last time I checked the post has 87 comments so that says something. I’m certainly not the only one looking for the answer to that question. But it might not be what you think. Here is his take on the answer:

“This is the guy who seems to have a lot of biblical knowledge. He can drop the 30 lb. words and effectively argue his point. Very often he is quite involved and appears to have things together. However, he is dangerous because of the reason you would not think, he is un-teachable.”

This really resonated with me. Not necessarily the ‘most dangerous guy’ thing, but just the whole sense of disaster when we allow an un-teachable attitude to become ours. When we start to think that we don’t need to listen anymore, that is when we stop learning, and honestly, none of us can afford to stop learning – NONE of us.

Everyone has something they can teach me. I have to always remind myself that my perspective is singular and somewhat limited. No matter how much learning I accomplish or how wise I might become, in the end I see only a slice and someone else sees things I don’t. I’m not suggesting that truth is all subjective. Nor am I suggesting that we should simply accept anything that anyone says they believe as true simply because they see it as true. But I am suggesting that no matter how much I learn, I still have more to learn and my knowledge will always be limited and my mind will always be subject to err. And therefore, I must always be humble enough to consider that I don’t have it all figured out and someone, anyone, might see something that just hasn’t been on my radar.

In many way, humility really is the mother of all virtues.

The Children of Israel

2011-10-12T12:10:00.001-03:00

In kids church one morning little Bobby raised his hand to ask a question. He looked perplexed when he said to the teacher,

“There’s something I can't figure out. According to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?”

“That’s right”, the teacher said.

“And the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?”

“Right again” said the teacher.

“And the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?”

“Yes, that’s right also”, the teacher responded, now starting to wonder where this was all leading.

“And the Children of Israel fought the Canaanites and the Children of Israel were always doing something important, right?”.

“Again, that’s right Bobby, so what’s your question?”

“Well”, says Bobby, “I was just wondering, what were all the grown-ups doing?”

Canadian Freedom

2011-10-04T17:10:00.003-03:00

I have decided for this post to simply cut and paste a news bulletin from Bruce Clemenger, the President of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada that I received in my e-mail box today. It is a matter for much prayer. Here it is for your consideration:

The EFC to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada:

The Supreme Court is about to hear the most challenging case to our religious freedom. On October 12 the Court will be asked to decide whether it is permissible in Canada to express religious convictions that others find offensive. Do we have the freedom to proclaim biblical truth in the public square or will our speech be restricted to that which no one finds troubling? In Canada, do we have true religious freedom or only the freedom to believe but not to speak about our beliefs if theses beliefs do not offend others?

The case is about flyers distributed by William Whatcott that were found by a Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal to promote “hatred towards individuals because of their sexual orientation.” He was fined $17,500.00. The flyers contained vehement comments about the sexual practices of same-sex couples. They also expressed his views on morality, sexual behaviour and public policy that reflected his religious beliefs. The Court of Queen’s Bench upheld the decision and the Court of Appeal overturned it. The Human Rights Commission appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

As Christians, we are called to speak the truth about what we believe God requires – and so always as an expression of love. The EFC firmly believes that it is, in fact, the very opposite of hatred when we tell someone, on the basis of Scripture, that their actions are standing between them and a fuller understanding of the depth of God’s love for them.

One of the key issues that the EFC will address is whether one can challenge and denounce the activity of a person or group without being found to be promoting hatred or contempt against the people engaged in the activity. A basic tenant of the Christian faith is that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God despises sin but loves the sinner. Likewise, as disciples of Christ, we are to love others as God loves us while standing against activity that is contrary to justice and righteousness.

As we argue in our factum, the legal brief we submitted to the Supreme Court:
"It is not only possible to criticize certain behaviour without hating those exhibiting that behaviour, but criticizing such behaviour is often an expression of love. Evangelical Christians hold the belief in redemption as foundational to our existence. This is a context for interpretation of expression in which a distinction is made between acceptance and approval, agreement and tolerance. All people are fallen. All people can be redeemed. Thus all people are accepted in their personhood, for their inestimable worth. However, not all activity is acceptable; thus, while accepting the person, the Christian is called by Christ to disapprove of certain actions."

We argue that the expression of our faith, in word and deed, is a necessary and integral component of our faith and serves the public good:
"Evangelical Christianity calls for the imperatives of love for God and one’s neighbour as demonstrated in a religious faith that is integrated, active and holistic. Evangelical Christians practice and manifest their faith not only through religious worship, prayer, and doctrinal teaching, but also through activities of social service, charitable work, social activism and through participation in public dialogue 'for the good of their neighbour', and for the benefit of their society, all of which constitute a manifestation and exercise of their religious beliefs and values."

We also argue that it is contrary to our beliefs to confine our religious expression within the walls of a church. Our responsibility before God is to express our faith and moral perspective in word and deed to the broader society in which we live.
"For Evangelical Christians, social engagement within and outside one’s religious community is part of an outward expression of faith, obedience to and worship of God. The imperative to love goes beyond the confines of the Church. The Christian is compelled to love her neighbour as herself. Jesus taught that “neighbour” is anyone with whom a person comes into contact, and that “love” includes sharing the truth, as understood from Scripture, out of a genuine concern for the wellbeing of the neighbour."

What is at stake in this case is our ability to be public about the implications of faith in Jesus Christ for life and society. We do not seek to compel belief; we do want to participate in respectful debates about the nature of truth and live according to the Gospel. In the language of the public square, this means:
“The idea that to achieve tolerance, the non-violent and peaceful views of a religious minority, even if offensive to some, must be censored and punished with a hefty fine is unjustified and legally unsupportable in a society that is constitutionally pluralist, multicultural and guarantees freedom of religion and conscience.”

The implications of this case are significant. We solicit your prayers and support as we stand for the freedom in Canada to be disciples of Christ Jesus.

I remain grateful for your support.

Bruce Clemenger
President, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Black & White World

2011-09-28T18:59:00.002-03:00

I’m partially colour-blind. I can see quite a lot of colour but I don’t see red very well at all and I can’t really tell a lot of the time whether something is green or brown. I am red-green colour blind. I have visions in my head of Steve Smith doing a take off of that one!) We live in a world of colour but what would it be like to live in a black and white world?

It seems sometimes as if some people do. For some people everything is either black or white. That is to say that for some people it seems as if EVERYTHING is either absolutely right or absolutely wrong. I need to hasten at this point to say that I am completely convinced that some things are absolutely right and some things are absolutely wrong. However, in keeping with the past few posts on this subject, I must also concede that sometimes there must be room for compromise. Now, I realize that even my use of the word ‘compromise’ will tempt some to immediately label me a ‘compromiser’ and dismiss me - those who live in a black and white world.

But maybe you will hear me out. I do realize the danger of compromise when it comes to some things and I do know that we have often compromised in areas where we should never compromise.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20

But I also realize that not everything is either black or white. Absolute ‘black and white thinking’ creates a false dilemma or a false dichotomy. It is sometimes called the ‘either-or fallacy’. This error occurs when we unnecessarily limit the possible alternatives to two – black or white.

For example, Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me”. (Matt 12:30) He can say that and it is absolutely true because He is God in the flesh, “who cannot lie” ( Titus 1:2) and “who does not change like shifting shadows”. (James 1:17) However, if I were to make a statement like that about myself, I would be stating a fallacy. Why? Because there are times when you should agree with me because there are times when I am right. But there are also times when you should disagree with me because there are times when I will be wrong. There are times when we actually do the truth a disservice by refusing to consider more than two mutually exclusive alternatives.

This actually happens all the time in Christian circles. You have to either be a Hybelite or despise the man. You have to either be a Warrenite or campaign against him. Some Christians like to set planning and prayer against each other. They feel that planning is a business function that has no place in the church and that we are planning when we should be praying. The truth is that planning can be wrong if it becomes a substitute for prayer but that need not be the case. The two are NOT mutually exclusive and there is another option. We can do both. And so we should. To attempt to coerce people to choose between the two is to err.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships, black and white thinkers are destined for failure because they see everything from their perspective and there is no room for the possibility that the other person’s view may have some merit. It has to be either their way or your way and since they don’t see it your way, conflict is inevitable and often irresolvable. They are colour blind.

The biblical term for discernment comes from the idea of dividing. To discern is distinguish between. However, it is not always the ability to discern between absolutely right and absolutely wrong.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2Tim 2:15

In the Greek text, the phrase translated ‘correctly handles’ is literally to ‘cut straight’. But this isn’t just separating truth from error, this is separating truth from truth! Biblical discernment includes the wisdom to be able to discern where there are other options. And sometimes the wisest thing you will ever discern will be in the form of a compromise.

When Timing Is Everything

2011-09-21T11:54:00.003-03:00

“Timing is everything”. That’s an old saying. Is it true? Not in the absolute sense. It is hyperbolic. Timing is not everything, but it can often be so important that everything else ceases to matter. For example, maybe you need to say something to your spouse and maybe you do and maybe you say exactly the right thing. BUT, maybe you picked the WRONG TIME!!!

So, are you starting to understand that, sometimes, TIMING is everything!

This relates to last week’s post, of course, about how much truth is relative in nature. Some things are absolutely true but most truth is relative.

A country song from the 70’s comes to mind. Kenny Rodgers had a lot of hits back in those days and one of the big ones was his famous ballot of Tommy Spencer, the ‘Coward of the County’ (The song even inspired a movie!). You may recall, if you are old enough, that the song contains two truths that at first glance seem to be contradictory but really aren’t. Rather it is a matter of circumstance or timing. When Tommy was 10 years old, just before dying in prison his father made him promise he would walk away from trouble when he could because of this truth – “You don’t have to fight to be a man”. Many years later, as a full grown man, Tommy finds himself in a situation that none of us would want to be in and ends up speaking this truth back to his father’s memory – “Sometimes you have to fight when you’re a man.”

I’m not a huge country music fan, but like a lot of others, I’m a sucker for a good story song for sure. And whether we agree with the logic of the situation and Tommy’s response, the point is still made and the point is valid - SOMETIMES you have to fight when you’re a man.

Another song comes to mind, and this one is not taken from someone’s imagination. It is actually taken from Scripture:

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I know that some people would say there is never a time when war is right or that hate is right. While I respect why they feel that way, I sadly disagree. As much as I wish it were not so, there is a time for hate and a time when we must fight. There is even a ‘time to kill’ as well as a ‘time to heal’.

If you’re still struggling to understand how this works, here is one of the best examples of relative truth that I have ever seen. Take a look at this passage:

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.”
Proverbs 26:4

Now, take a look at the verse which immediately follows it:

“Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”
Prov 26:5

Skeptics, of course, would simply say that this is typical of how the Bible contradicts itself. If that were so, however, the person who was collecting these wise sayings and putting them together would have had to have a squash for a brain.

So, how are we to view this apparent discrepancy? Quite simply like this - SOMETIMES it is best not to answer a fool, and SOMETIMES it is imperative to do so.

And this is instructive as we study the wisdom literature and particularly the book of Proverbs because proverbs are by nature ‘relative truths’. The exception is where they refer directly to God who does not change (I refer you to my previous post on September 21st). So, for example, Proverbs 3:5,6 where it promises that God will lead us as we trust Him is absolutely true. But where the proverbs address life in this ever-changing world, it’s all relative. Let the wise man take heed:

“If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.”
Prov 27:14

Sometimes, timing is everything!

Absolutely Not

2011-09-14T12:23:00.004-03:00

I believe in absolute truth. Some things are absolutely true. This means that some things are true regardless of whether we are in India or America; whether it is 2011 or 1911; whether it is my life or yours.

The foundation for my belief in absolute truth is my biblical understanding of God’s unchanging nature. God has always been and always will be unchangeable (Malachi 3:6). Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So, matters relating to God’s character and purposes do not change. They are immutable.

I further believe that nearly all contemporary thinking goes awry because it fails to appreciate this one momentous truth. The technical term for this error is ‘relativism’. For example, relativism would claim that there can really be no right or wrong because it is always, only, dependent upon the situation – there are no absolutes. This is a grievous error.

However, in a similar way, much traditional thinking makes a grievous error when it fails to recognize the existence of relative truth. That is to say that while absolute truth exists, not all truth is absolute. In fact, most truth is not. Most truth is contingent upon the situation or the time or the individuals involved. While not all truth is relative, a lot of it is.

An example of relative truth would be that it was once true that our North American society was defined primarily by our Christian heritage. That is not so true anymore. It was relative to a day and age that is now past.

So while some things never change, most things do, and what we need to do is learn to apply the absolute unchangeable truths of Scripture in a way that recognizes and allows for the changes in society.

The unchanging God has created a changing world. And I would argue that God is about the only thing (One) who doesn’t change. While some things never change, most things do change and this too is biblical teaching.

God created time, as well as our means of marking it. The universe has a rhythm and everything and everyone is marking time. And the Bible speaks not only of time, but of ‘times’. And when the Bible uses that expression, it denotes a clear distinction between some ‘times’ and other ‘times’; or between these ‘times’ and those ‘times’.

As an example of that, the OT chronicler spoke of the men of Issachar as those who “… understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” (1Chron 12:32)

Inherent within this statement is the reality that different times call for different measures.

Nothing frustrates me more than the suggestion that we should do things the way they have always been done. That’s ludicrous! Different days and situations have their unique challenges and call for different approaches and strategies.

Someone I read many years ago said it well, even though I can’t recall who it was. They said that the world is changing and the church too must change or else become an island of irrelevance in a sea of human need.

The world is not a museum. The church shouldn’t be one either. It bothers me when people want to treat the church as if it was their own personal museum, as if it should stay the way it is because that is how they like it!!! Some people can be quite hypocritical this way. You go to their homes and they have electricity, running water, shower, phones, medicine, refrigeration … but they object when we seek to use technology in the church setting.

Furthermore, contrary to the opinions of the ‘Biblicists’ among us, it isn’t enough to know the Bible. Don’t misunderstand me on this point. Knowing the Bible is most important, but we also have to know the times. We need to know people and culture. We need to know what is going on in our world and in peoples lives. We must understand the issues. And, yes, we must understand it all, in the light of God’s Word.

According to a eulogy given by Paul Swarup, the late great theologian John Stott (1921-2011) counseled his students to ‘double learning’ which means “listening to God’s word as well as God’s world”. Said Swarup, "He urged us to hold the Bible on one hand and the newspaper on the other so we could preach relevantly and communicate the Gospel effectively to people of the world."

It is very unfortunate that we have somehow created an understanding that if something is slow, backward and out of touch, then it must be biblical!!!

Remember, the same God who said, “I am the Lord, I change not” also said, "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18,19)

STOP!!!

2011-09-08T13:29:00.002-03:00

God says through the voice of the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psa 46:10). Have you ever wondered why or how being still is connected with knowing who God is?

This passage should speak loudly to us in the often insane busyness of so much of contemporary life. To be still is to cease activity. The Hebrew word here translated ‘be still’ comes from the term ‘raphah’. As usual, there are different shades of meaning associated with the word throughout the OT in its various forms, but it refers to something that is slack or allowed to drop. It sometimes is used of those who are disheartened or weak. When used in reference to people, it often has a negative connotation. It is not good to be a slacker or to let things drop.

So then, why would it here be issued as a command, and such an important one?

Again, this is one of those areas where truth flies on two wings. While we are called by God to be strong, we must paradoxically, recognize our weakness. We are to be responsible but the diligence God calls us to, as those made in His image, is always to be kept in perspective, for ultimately, our lives do not depend upon our own ability but upon God’s care. Jesus’ words about worry come to mind.

This is not unlike Paul’s sentiment in 2Cor 12. There Paul recounts how God spoke to him and told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” To which Paul responds, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses… for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God does not want us to excuse ourselves and neglect our obligations to be strong and to work hard and to fight the good fight. These commands are issued throughout Scripture as well. We must work hard and do our very best with each day He gives us. But, we must always make sure that we are not ‘trusting in the flesh’ but in the grace and power of God in our lives to accomplish what needs to be done. As one person put it, “Personal initiative is no substitute for reliance upon God”.

It is also significant that the context of the entire psalm (46) describes a time in a person’s (actually a nation’s) life when they are totally overwhelmed. Certainly, it can be acknowledged that no matter how diligent and skillful and persistent we are, we are not sufficient for these things.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging… Be still and know that I am God…”
Psa 46:1-3,10a

For me, the command to be still in this passage points me to a recognition. The recognition that He is God is a necessary reminder to me that I am not. And that is something that I must remind myself of continually. I need to build regular times into my schedule when I simply stop and look up.

Exploitation

2011-08-31T16:10:00.003-03:00

I have been searching, pretty much in vain, for any real critical commentary on Jack Layton’s funeral. I was at the beach with my family this past Saturday when Jack Layton’s state funeral service was going on but one of the news channels aired it again Sunday evening and I watched most of it. I missed the beginning and I couldn’t quite stomach it all to hold out to the end, but I got to hear the eulogies and the message and quite a bit of the music. Jack’s children spoke well and were sincere and appropriate. That was about the only part of the whole entire event that was appropriate. The rest of it was disgraceful and what is most alarming is that almost no one seemed aware of just how despicable it all was. It was all applauded, literally.

The brazen ‘in your face’ partisanship that was on display throughout the entire service amazed me. Stephen Lewis is being lauded for his eulogy. If I was in sympathy with the NDP position I would have been embarrassed by the shameless nature of it. He took advantage of the situation, sticking it to every person in the room who attended out of simple respect for the man. That is so inappropriate and so small.

Here’s Margaret Wente’s comment writing in ‘The Globe And Mail’: “For a few moments the funeral took on the air of an NDP revival meeting. Hundreds of people in the hall applauded and leaped to their feet. Stephen Harper, the prime minister, had the good sense to stand up too.”

No kidding! What choice did he have?

In what seems to me to be a great irony, much of the time Jack was rather forgotten in the whole thing. The musical performances did nothing to draw any attention to Jack. They served only to showcase the amazing talent of the performers. That’s all.

And, worst of all was the complete absence of any real attention to God. He didn’t make it in. Rather, Brent Hawkes used the opportunity himself to grandstand. He fell into the same pathetic error of Stephen Lewis only worse because He claims to represent God. His talk served only to glorify himself and push his own agenda forward with a large smirk on. All I could think was wow!

It is amazing to me how so many people don’t see any of this. People don’t even realize when they are being exploited. If Jack Layton was a bright spot on the Canadian political landscape for his honesty, care and respect, his funeral most certainly wasn’t.

I mentioned at the outset that I have been searching, pretty much in vain, for critical commentary on the whole escapade, but that isn’t entirely true. If you would like a real reality check on the whole spectacle check out some of the commentary over at the Sun News Network. Here’s one such dose of reality.

‘Capitalizing on a Corpse’ by Ezra Levant

Balance

2011-08-24T12:14:00.000-03:00

Do you remember learning to ride a bike?

I have been reminded this week that one of the most common sources of error is our tendency toward extremes. It’s the old swinging pendulum. A movement intent on restoring the critical role of parents in the spiritual formation of their own children ends up adopting a position that we should never divide children up in age groups. This, of course, is an extreme position, an overreaction that is both unwarranted and unhelpful. On another front, those who stand in sharp judgment of the what they call the ‘seeker sensitive’ movement go to the extreme in opposing anything ever being done that could be considered appealing to anyone; again, an extreme position that is not only an overreaction but one that can become quite ridiculous.

I was caused this week to recall something that the great A. W. Tozer wrote. I think of it often when I see people gravitating hard toward a position without regard for the other perspective which also has validity. Here is what he wrote:

“Truth is like a bird; it cannot fly on one wing. . . . Many of the doctrinal divisions among churches are the result of a blind and stubborn insistence that truth has but one wing. Each side holds tenaciously to one text, refusing grimly to acknowledge the validity of the other. . . Lack of balance in the Christian life is often the direct consequence of overemphasis on certain favorite texts, with a corresponding under-emphasis on other related ones. . . . Let's use both wings. We'll get farther that way.”

The search for truth is not unlike driving a car. There is a ditch to be avoided on either side. I’m not talking about dispassionate mediocrity. I’m not talking about waffling on sound biblical doctrine or the commitment to absolute truth. I am talking about the folly of adopting an ‘all or nothing’ mentality where one is not required. I am talking about the kind of biblical discernment that does not fail to recognize that a great many truths do need to be held in balance. One of the hardest things you will do in this life is to remain balanced.

Interruptions

2011-08-17T11:25:00.002-03:00

I have spent some time lately thinking about how I handle interruptions in my life. I won’t lie. By default, they irritate me. And, of course, I have been thinking about how the biblical world-view would direct me to see them as God’s work in my life. Very convicting stuff. Am I willing to allow God to interfere with my goals by inserting His plan?

Perhaps interruptions are part of what was on the mind of the writer in Proverbs when he wrote, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”? Do you think?

I am guilty of planning my days, most times in a way, trying to squeeze everything I can out of the clock and that means I seldom have time to spare for the ‘unexpected’. I know that’s probably where I set myself up, but I confess I struggle with this one a lot.

Anyway, a while back I read an article by Mark Galli, who is the senior managing editor of ‘Christianity Today’. I ended up clipping and saving a quote from it as it seems to give some really practical advice to help us with this. Practical is good! Here is the quote:

“Let me be clear. Punctuality and efficiency are virtues. The former is a sign of respect; the latter, of good stewardship. The problem is when these virtues begin to manage our schedules, when they take over for the Spirit. God, as Dietrich Bonheoffer points out, loves to manage our schedules by interruptions … So how to respect time, yet honor and obey King Jesus who likes to interrupt our lives? Here's one thing I'm doing: I'm trying to build into my schedule ten to fifteen-minute blocks of time so that I can feel less pressure when King Jesus taps me on the shoulder. For instance, I'm trying to get into the habit of leaving for appointments and meetings ten to fifteen minutes early. If I arrive at my breakfast early, I look for opportunities to ask the waitress a few more questions than I would normally, or I spot a friend in the restaurant and try to find out what's going on with him. And if a complete stranger approaches me and needs a listening ear or a ride or even a meal, I have the space in my day to make it happen. If no opportunity presents itself, I take it as a sign that the Lord simply wants me to spend the time quietly or in prayer. (Which I then have to remind myself is not a waste of time!)”

I really like this. I’m sure that all of us, at one time or another, have experienced the sheer pleasure of having a few minutes ‘to kill’ and then being amazed at how significant that time can become as your attention is freed up to a greatly expanded awareness; a presence of mind for who and what is going on around you. And when it happens, you know it is right. You know that this is how it is supposed to be. And I find at these times that the voice of the Holy Spirit can become so very clear. Could it be that a hectic pace can actually drown out the voice of God in your life? I think so.

I know that Mark’s advice is not likely something that I will be able to apply in my life with some kind of amazing consistency. It’s probably like everything else in that regard. But I am going to try and make a real conscious effort to put it to work as best I can when I can.

I love it when people are so practical and don’t just point out problems but actually offer tangible solutions. That is a trait I see in others that I really, really admire. When you think about it, anyone can point out problems, but it takes real insight to come up with tangible and effective measures for addressing them. Thank you Mark Galli.

Trade Offs

2011-08-10T11:27:00.001-03:00

In his book ‘Moolala’ (subtitled - ‘Why smart people do dumb things with their money and what you can do about it’) financial expert, author and speaker Bruce Sellery, emphasizes what he calls ‘trade-offs’. He says that when it comes to personal finances, people often seem to believe that they don’t really have any options because their lives are simply controlled by their circumstances. The bills have to be paid, so it’s just that simple. Sellery says that’s not the way we should be looking at it. Rather we should be thinking about making ‘trade-offs’.

One example he gives from his own life. He chooses to drive an old car. The reason? He likes to travel. So, when he’s around home, he saves money by driving an old car. That’s a ‘trade-off’. But, he says, if the ‘new car smell’ is something that is really important to you, then you need to ask yourself what you are willing to give up in exchange for that.

This is sound financial counsel. It is based on the truth that you can only spend a dollar once, which means that you can’t have it all. The advertising industry works very hard to promote the myth that you really can have it all, but after all, it remains a myth.

Some people would point to the very rich as exceptions but it applies to them as well. If you were the richest person on the planet, you could still only be in one place at a time doing one thing at a time. Think about it. We’re supposed to learn this hard lesson early. Just the other day a little girl had to choose. She could either go with her mom to take her brother to camp or stay home and go swimming. That’s a hard choice. It was a choice she didn’t want to have to make. She cried. But there wasn’t anything that anyone could do, because that’s life.

You’d think that we would learn this well, and yet, it seems that a lot of the time we persist in chasing this false hope that somehow we can have it both ways. And the failure to really come to grips with this reality can prevent us from engaging in one of the most important tasks of life. And what would that be? Stepping back and figuring out what is ultimately important to us, and THEN making a sound decision about what we are prepared to give up (‘trade-off’) in order to make it a reality.

If you have a problem with money, money is not your problem. This isn’t after all about money. It’s about choices. And don’t say you don’t have any because that’s just not true. We can’t choose the consequences of our actions because they are inseparably locked to the actions themselves. But we can choose our actions and we must choose wisely. Money … time … heart … it’s always about choices and when we choose something, we are always saying ‘no’ to something else (or more likely ‘no’ to many other things). Because, no matter what anyone might tell you, truer words have never been spoken – you can’t have it all.

Dice & Dust

2011-08-03T11:28:00.001-03:00

The day before yesterday, I was working around the yard and I got a rock in my shoe. And I thought, imagine how hard it would be if you TRIED to get a rock in your shoe!!! The whole premise of all of Murphy’s Laws come to mind. I notice it quite often when I go to throw a rotten apple or a rock from the garden over the bank. It is amazing how many times I hit either a tree or a fence rail and I always wonder how hard it would be if I actually tried to hit either.

It does in fact seem sometimes that Murphy got it right doesn’t it. And yet, what does the Scripture say?

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
Proverbs 16:33

Even the roll of the dice (a very rough equivalent today of the casting of lots in the OT age) is determined by God and is in no way simply dumb blind luck as it seems. It’s preposterous to the mind to grasp it; that God superintends even the most obscure and insignificant of events in this world. Spurgeon referred to even the specks of dust that float in the air as moving by God’s direction.

When you think of it though, in order to be in control of anything, God would have to have dominion over everything. Seriously, think about that. And where that becomes so pertinent is when it effects us personally. Who really cares about a speck of dust anyway. But earlier in the same chapter of the Proverbs…

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
Prov 16:9

Someone has said that coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous. Maybe, but latter that same evening, the BBQ ran out of fuel just as our pork steaks were done just right. And I thought, what are the odds of that happening; I mean really!!! And maybe it was God’s simple little way of affirming to me that He, and not Mr. Murphy or anyone else, is in charge of the universe. If that is problematic for our minds it is only because our thoughts of God are too small. For even the very specks of the dust of the earth should compel our hearts to wonder and to worship.

SLOW DANCE

2011-07-27T15:10:00.002-03:00

This is Family Camp week so I’m just home for a ‘pit-stop’ and thought I’d post this poem. Many of you may have seen it before but I thought it would be a good reminder to all of us to make sure we aren’t just on the tread mill of life …

Slow Dance
By David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done do you lie in your bed,
With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, 'we'll do it tomorrow'?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die,
Cause you never had time to call and say, 'Hi'?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race. Do take it slower.
Hear the music, before the song is over.

Summer Slump Solution

2011-07-19T11:30:00.004-03:00

I love summer. Some people really mind the heat but, even though I admit it can be a bit oppressive at times, as weather goes, this is my favourite time of the year. But every summer we find ourselves feeling the need to issue a warning. In spite of how wonderful summer is, it can also be a time when people slump spiritually. It’s true. Beware of the summer slide. Each year we watch as people start sliding in their spiritual commitments and what should be a season of blessing becomes a season of regret.

So, I thought I’d offer just a little bit of pastoral advice to anyone who might care to be reading these words. The danger is real but so is the solution. The summer slump is preventable but it won’t be avoided simply by a resolve to try harder or anything like that.

Here is my advice - change it up. Being flexible and adaptable is part of spiritual wisdom. It is a recognition of the way that life time is broken up into seasons. Our living in the time of planting can’t look quite like it does in the time of harvest. It is important that we tailor our approach to summer in a way that is appropriate for what the season consists of. In our context, summer is a time that includes a significant break in work and school, and many of the patterns that characterize our lives at other times. If you simply try and hold the line, the summer break will likely end up breaking you. You need to adjust your approach. For example, the answer is not to stop reading the Bible. But, neither is the answer likely for you to keep reading the Bible the same way or at the same time or in the same place as you would normally do. Change it up. Don’t just stop doing those critically important spiritual disciplines of life. That is the worst thing you can do. But change them up. Break the routine by changing the way that you would otherwise engage in vital spiritual activities so that summer becomes a time of refreshing.

As an example of what this could look like, with so much more ‘free-time’ available than normal, you may want to consider doing more Bible-centered, prayer centered, or other types of devotional time, with your children or grandchildren. Or you might want to use some of the amazing teachable moments that come during some of those great recreational or travel experiences to draw yourself and/or your family closer to God. A summer trip can also be a spiritual pilgrimage. It’s all a matter of your approach to it.

God has built rhythm into His creation. Life has an ebb and flow to it as they say. Don’t try and fight against what is definitely part of God’s order. To illustrate the point, consider this question – Which is the way of spiritual life and vitality – consistency or change? The answer of course is both. But how can this be, seeing they are seemingly opposite to one another? Here is the wisdom of the principle we are talking about - We need to be consistent in doing the things that keep us connected to the Lord and His will for our lives. But we need to change up our approach in accordance with the seasons or changes in our lives and the situations we find ourselves in.

Get creative, and may God give you wisdom this summer so that the fall finds you spiritually refreshed and invigorated.

Amazing Things

2011-07-13T09:39:00.001-03:00

7 Things That Never Cease To Amaze Me:

1. How thick some people can be

2. How thick I can be

3. How chickadees feet don’t freeze and fall off

4. How chickadees don’t require air traffic controllers

5. How immensely beautiful the world is

6. How horribly awful the world can become

7. God’s glory, love and grace

10 Things Beautiful To Me

2011-07-06T09:01:00.002-03:00

A horse running

A river flowing

An eagle flying

A sail boat sailing

A snow flake falling

A maritime sun setting

A friend laughing

A baby smiling

My wife when she doesn’t know I’m watching her

The scars in His hands

Something To Crow About

2011-06-29T10:59:00.001-03:00

Yesterday was my regular day off and the only day that Florence and I have off together normally. It was a gorgeous day, as you know, and I was sitting outside drinking a coffee in the early morning sun listening to the crows. We have a family of crows who live in the trees out across from our front door and they are noisy creatures, especially these days because they have babies. Florence calls them ‘big babies’ because they are so big that it is difficult to tell the difference between them and the parent birds, except they are the ones that squawk continually to be fed. It all has the appearance of being, in a word – ridiculous.

But it got me thinking about how sometimes the same thing can happen to people. Adults living with their parents isn’t new but there has been a change. It used to be that young adults stayed home to work the farm. Now, many stay home to avoid having to work. It used to be that young people might choose to stay home out of a sense of responsibility for their parents, or other family members. Now, a lot of the time, they stay home just to avoid taking responsibility for their own lives.

I am reminded of a statement that Paul made to the Corinthians:

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”
1Cor 16:13 NIV

But it is actually the more literal translation that I was thinking of:

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
1Cor 16:13 NASB

Maturity is the issue. I remember well growing up, how we were forced to work. This is not one of those “had to walk to and from school uphill both ways” kind of stories either. We played plenty, but it was often only after the work was done, almost as a reward for the work done; which is an important concept – work before play. Whether it was a long row of garden to be weeded, or a woodpile to be carried, or a sink full of dishes to be washed, it had to be done. And we often squawked, not unlike those crows I can hear even now, but we did it. And now, of course, I am thankful that my parents trained us in how essential it is to learn to ‘carry our weight'.

I heard pastor and author Erwin McManus worry aloud one time how he fears that we may be raising a generation of ‘takers’. Not only would this be disastrous for them, and detrimental for society, it is also clearly in opposition to the way of life taught in the Scriptures.

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
1Thess 4:11,12

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
2Thess 3:6-10

Bearing With Bad Behaviour

2011-06-22T11:57:00.001-03:00

Two major events that happened last week have me thinking about bad behaviour, and they both occurred the same night. One, is the rioting that occurred after game 7 in Vancouver. The other is the bear that decided around the same time to invade our back porch. He didn’t climb right in for which I am thankful. He seems to have been satisfied to destroy the rain-shield and rip out the screen so that he could then lick out the drip tray on the back of the BBQ.

The bear was smart enough not to get his picture taken. Though he left his paw prints in the garden and his sign around the corner, there isn’t a single photo that can be used to identify him. In Vancouver on the other hand, there seems to have been no such discretion shown.

So what are we to think when people act like animals? It scandalizes us doesn’t it. When animals act like animals we don’t think much of it because that is what they are. But when rational human beings, created in God’s image, act like animals, it genuinely shocks us as is evident from the media attention and social firestorm that has resulted.

It seems that the people who perpetrated the violence are themselves even shocked by it. Seventeen year old Nathan Kotylak of Maple Ridge, B.C, a member of Canada’s junior water polo team with Olympic aspirations and plans to enter the University of Calgary this fall on an athletic scholarship was one of the rioters. Now all those plans and aspirations may be gone. His explanation for it? He got “caught up in the moment".

The New Testament authors speak of those who behave like animals. Peter speaks of those who are like ‘brute beasts’ who “follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority”. Jude talks about people being like ‘unreasoning animals’ as well. And it is likely indicative that the book of Revelation uses the term ‘the beast’ in reference associated with the anti-Christ.

But before we get too carried away with our condemnation of these people, we need to exercise some real moral restraint and have some sober thought about our own hearts. The psalmist confessed that there were times when he himself had been a ‘brute beast’ before God, ‘senseless and ignorant’ (Psalm 73:22). The truth of the matter is that all of us have the potential and the tendency to behave in ways that are despicable and quite beneath the dignity for which we were created.

While it is right and appropriate to allow the law to follow its course and see those who violated the peace, destroyed public property and caused injuries to others in Vancouver, to be prosecuted and the due penalties levied and endured, let’s be really careful that we don’t distance ourselves from their behaviour in such a way as to suggest that any of us isn’t capable of making the same mistakes given the right set of circumstances. To quote the book of proverbs in conjunction with the apostle Paul, “Pride comes before the fall … So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

PS. We are not evolving.

Global Gospel

2011-06-15T12:46:00.002-03:00

A ministry called ‘9 Marks’ conducted a ‘roundtable’ of pastors and theologians asking them two big questions and then posted the responses online.

The response of one Mack Stiles is especially interesting. Mack is an author and businessman living and working in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and before I show you his two answers, here are the two questions they posed to the 9 men of varying stations and locations from all over the world.

Question 1: You are standing on stage before 100,000 people from every nation on earth and asked to share the gospel in 100 words or less. What would you say?

Question 2: You are standing before a small crowd from your church's neighborhood and asked to share the gospel in 100 words or less. What would you say? [Authors were asked to include a couple of words describing their neighborhood.]

And here is how Mack Stiles responded:

(1) Maybe you don’t know, but there is a heavenly dilemma over you. You are loved as God’s special creation. But because God is also holy you are cut off from him by your wickedness and under his judgment. The Bible tells of God’s one solution: Jesus, fully God and fully sinless man, ransomed us to God through his death on the cross. He paid our sin-debt and rose from the dead as proof that he is the way and the truth. Eliminate the dilemma! Turn from sin; follow Jesus by putting your complete faith and trust in him.

(2) Allah commands you to read the Injil. But what does it say? It says salvation comes from Allah’s love, not Allah’s rules! It says the straight path to Allah is faith in the Jesus of the Injil. The Injil gives only one path: Jesus, fully God – fully man and perfect, ransomed us to God through his death on the cross. He paid our sin-debt. He rose from the dead as proof that he is the path to heaven. Does Allah’s strength not protect his word? The Injil says repent; follow Jesus; put your complete faith and trust in him.

They also posted the following note:
[Editor's note: in further conversation with Mr. Stiles, he said he often will use this story with unbelievers (which he says is not original to him): Two men went to the mosque to pray. One was a rich man, the other a poor man. The rich man went through his libations and prayers as he did five times a day. As he was praying, he began to have a sexual fantasy about the young wife who lived next door to his home. But he finished his prayers and went home. The poor man stood off at a distance. He came so infrequently to the mosque, that he couldn't remember the positions for prayer or his libations. But he looked up to heaven, beat his breast, and said, "Forgive me, O Lord, for I'm a sinner." Who went home justified? Mr. Stiles says that every Muslim he has asked this question has answered "The rich man."]

For any of you keeners interested in the other 8 responses, here is the link: Explaining The Gospel

Hockey History & Geography

2011-06-08T12:34:00.003-03:00

I’m conflicted. Again!

Boston … Vancouver …

I know that not everyone is a hockey fan. I myself watch almost no hockey in the regular season. I enjoy a good game but find it hard to carve out the time really. But when things ramp up during the play-offs, and especially in the finals, I tend to tune in a little more.

Personally, I have never been a Boston fan. However, I have never been a Vancouver fan either. It’s been a long time since a ‘Canadian team’ has won the cup, but there are a lot of Canadians playing for Boston and some very significant players on the Vancouver team that aren’t Canadians. So what does it mean anyway when we refer to a team as being ‘Canadian’, right?!

The sentiment being expressed by most Vancouverites seems to be that they don’t want to be Canada’s team anyway. So to cheer for the Canucks simply because Vancouver is in Canada might be kind of like calling someone your girlfriend even though she wouldn’t give you the time of day! A little more than presumptuous wouldn’t you think.

Boston is part of the original six and that has some tug for all of us nostalgic types, unless you’re a Montreal fan and then you just hate Boston as a matter of principle! But there is also the fact that the Maritimes has had a strong relationship with the New England States that predates confederation. Geographically, there has been a stronger relationship between here and Boston than here and Vancouver. Does everything have to come down to politics? I suspect that many of us have as many relatives (or more?) in Boston as we do in Vancouver. And what about this? In 1917 when the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in the Halifax Harbour creating the world's largest man-made accidental explosion (still to this day) killing 2000 and injuring another 9000 and leaving almost the entire city of Halifax in ruins, a train load of supplies and personnel left from Boston for Halifax that same day beginning a relief effort still recognized as Nova Scotia annually sends a giant Christmas tree to Boston as a thank you.

And now, after the bad hit on Nathan Horton by Aaron Rome in Monday nights game, Boston definitely gets the sympathy vote I’d say.

So, what are we to make of all this? Who should I cheer for? I find it kind of hard to watch a game and not know who to root for. When someone scores I don’t know what to do! What it kind of does though is force me to just enjoy the quality of the game. And so, I’m deciding not to be conflicted anymore. I’m just going to enjoy the hockey and, as they say, may the best team win.

Nannies Needed

2011-06-01T16:15:00.002-03:00

Last week the news reported on an announcement made by Capital Health, which runs the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, along with 9 other hospitals in the province. Starting in October of this year, the Tim Horton’s shops operating within those hospitals will stop serving doughnuts and non-low-fat muffins.

Now, this is such an incredible no-brainer that all of the intelligent people in the world are only wondering why it takes so painfully long to make such obviously simple decisions! Why, we ask, would a facility intended for the sole purpose of keeping people as healthy as possible even consider serving food that is so unhealthy anyway when there are good healthy alternatives?

However, as painfully obvious as this is to anyone who has an IQ, the buzz on the street shows the usual ‘I want my own way even if it kills me’ kind of attitude that permeates our society.

One of the local online papers that I checked received 11 comments on the article they ran on the announcement. When I clicked to see the comments I found that six of them had been removed by the staff because they contained ‘material which was deemed inappropriate’ (enough said) or because they were posted by people who had been ‘blocked by our staff’ (same thing).

Here are the 5 comments that did get posted:

“Capital Health couldn't care less about our health. There's something else here, or else they're bored and just playing power games. Just wait---coffee will be next. All that caffeine is soooo bad for you right?” (Total cynicism devoid of any rationale)

“I think it is a case of the hospital’s food service can't compete with Timmy's good food.” (Obviously posted by an insane person)

“What a shame this is. There are people in the hospital that will never see the outside again. If these patients want a treat, let them eat a donut. Let people decide on their own.” (Yeah, that is certainly my last wish for life in this world – a chocolate éclair! Are the patients dying in our hospitals really that incredibly concerned about sugar!)

“This is ridiculous! I guess we cannot think for ourselves, on what we want to eat! This will definitely affect Tim Horton's bottom line! Don't be surprised if they close up shop!” (Ridiculous is a better word for this comment than for the announcement. I can just see Tim Horton’s wringing their hands in fear of losing their market! The ‘think for ourselves’ comment I will address in a moment.)

“Are people aware that doctors own the Tim’s at the General?”
(And the point would be???)

The TV news, of course, took their cameras to the street and got many of the same kind of responses. One guy I saw interviewed said, “People should have the choice, if they want to eat unhealthy then they should be able to make that choice.”

Now, I’m all for people having the right to choose how they live their lives so long as it doesn’t interfere unduly with the rest of us living ours. I believe very strongly in that freedom. However, this is a hospital for crying out loud! We’re talking here about a hospital!!!

One last comment – someone was heard to have said that this is yet one more example of how Canada is becoming a ‘nanny state’. And my response to that? When I observe what appears to be almost a complete lack of maturity on the part of so many adults in our society, I can only wish we had more nannies; maybe a whole nation of nannies!

And we’re not just talking about doughnuts here folks! Our society is running headlong towards a cliff. There is no restraint, little discipline, no wisdom and very little common sense left. As a society we will watch anything, put anything in our mouths, spend money we don’t have on anything and everything we don’t need and pile up debt we can’t repay. We throw our garbage out of our car windows and we are quite happy to let someone else worry about fixing any problems that result from our own self indulgence and get highly upset if it doesn’t happen fast enough. We fail to save, we fail to give and we want it all and we want it now. Does that not sound like a bunch of little children? I know full well, and so do you, that the reason Tim Horton’s stocks its shelves with so much that is so bad for us is simply because that is what people generally choose to eat. And that is the real problem. Where have all the nannies gone? If we could only get people to grow up and stop whining over a doughnut!

After The End

2011-05-25T12:35:00.004-03:00

Once again, ‘the end of the world’ has come and gone! Sigh.

Harold Camping is a wonderful example of a false prophet in our day. He stirred up fear for a few and ridicule from a great deal more. The 89 year old founder of ‘Family Radio’ had made similar pronouncements before. You would have thought that the disgrace of being proven a false prophet already would have prevented a following this time around, but once again people were willing to get behind him, in some cases selling their homes and cashing in their life savings. They paid for 1200 billboards to be put up in the US and 2000 more internationally. What an incredible waste and what deception! Now he is saying it was a ‘spiritual’ event. How pathetic is that! I can’t help but feel sorry for all who followed him, even though they should have known better.

They should have known better. As Quintin reminded us on Sunday, Jesus made it clear … “The Son of Man comes at such a time as you know not… No man knows the day or the hour…” But, nonetheless, we periodically have these guys who come along and insist that they know better. Camping is a classic case in point. Take a look at this quote from an interview he gave to New York magazine where he spoke of his prophecy:

“God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.”

Camping is a prestigious member of a select group with a longstanding tradition of heresy; men who claim to have some new secret revelation from God. Take note because this is ALWAYS a sure sign of error. Here is a quote from his website:

“… it was not until a very few years ago that the accurate knowledge of the entire timeline of history was revealed to true believers by God from the Bible. This timeline extends all the way to the end of time. During these past several years God has been revealing a great many truths, which have been completely hidden in the Bible until this time when we are so near the end of the world.”

I have actually had two preoccupying thoughts though as this scenario has unfolded (or not). The first, of course, is a disdain for men like Harold Camping who bring reproach upon the Bible and its message. Because they claim to be appealing to the Bible as their authority this becomes a type of guilt by association.

But, as much as I have been wowed by the audacity of Camping and his crew, I have been just as disturbed by the reaction of so many in the media. Last week, leading up to the ‘day of doom’, I was watching one news program where they were having a great laugh about the end of the world. It became the joke of the day. The fact that Camping set a date and time is laughable, however, they weren’t just laughing about that. It became more obvious as the program went on that their laughter was directed at the whole idea of impending judgment.

What made this so very, very poignant for me, and just too ironic, was the fact that, at the same time as they were having a great laugh at Harold Camping’s predictions of coming judgment in the form of great disasters upon the earth, they were passionately reporting (with actual video footage of course) on the devastating tornadoes, fires and floods occurring presently in unprecedented number and severity across our continent, not to mention the unprecedented political situation in the Middle East!

There is an incredible blindness evident in all of this. And it causes me to wonder if in some strange way God uses men like Harold Camping. I was reminded of the Scripture:

“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
2Pet 3:3-7

This week the ridicule continued on the same news program with people sending in staged ‘rapture photos’ of just their abandoned clothing lying where they were supposedly engaged in various activities at the time of their supposed rapture. Ha Ha Ha!

Date setting is absolutely in error and false prophets have theirs coming. But, I would not want to be found ‘in the seat of the scoffer’ either. Because, (and be assured of this) judgment IS coming on the earth and it will be no laughing matter. No one knows the day or the hour of His coming, or of the end of the world as we know it, but we know it is approaching, and it will be a day when the laughter will be turned to mourning for any and all who fail to take the message of the Bible seriously; who fail to take refuge in the Son while there is time.

The Real Dirt

2011-05-18T12:39:00.002-03:00

I want to say first off that I am not condoning the defacing of public property. With that out of the way, I was reading one day about a guy who was in the bathroom at a popular coffee chain and he was taking notice of some of the writing on the wall. Along with all of the usual kind of stuff, someone had written “What Would Jesus Do?” there on the wall. Someone else had written directly underneath that, “Wash His hands.” A third person had written underneath that again, “And your feet.”

It is interesting that such a ‘discussion’ would take place in such a location. It is somehow made more appropriate by the fact that the dirt Jesus washed from the disciple’s feet was ‘real’ dirt. (See John 13) It wasn’t just what my mother called ‘clean dirt’ (read ‘mud’). First century Palestine wasn’t equipped with the hygienic luxuries we enjoy in our contemporary western world, and while sandals would have done a reasonable job of protecting feet from sharp rocks, they would have done little to keep out the filthy dust and dirt that would have been often unavoidable as they traveled.

Our 21st century eyes tend toward a very sanitized view of Jesus….

[Commercial Break: I highly recommend the book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’ by Philip Yancey to help with that for those who haven’t read it. He is probably my favourite author and this is one of his best books.]

… The Lord of Glory descends to enter our world. He was born in a barn. Jesus was and is real world. He deals with our reality. He gets down into the dirty places of our living to clean. This is real life. Jesus isn’t into surface things. He’s not interested in appearance. He won’t be satisfied by anything superficial. He goes where He is needed most. He comes to our wretchedness and He brings His light with Him and His healing presence means we can never be the same. It’s humbling. It’s uncomfortable. It’s real. It’s the only hope for your soul and mine.

Achievement

2011-05-11T11:48:00.001-03:00

Last week I got to attend convocation ceremonies at the AC. On those rare occasions when I find myself back in the world of academia, especially at convocation time, I am always intrigued by how the virtue of achievement completely dominates. It is not unlike spending time in a foreign land with a different culture. It’s not that achievement and recognition aren’t valued in our culture at large for they obviously are. But out in the real world we don’t tend to parade it so. We usually do the opposite and down-play it forcing it to surface in less conspicuous ways. It is considered in poorest taste not to. Consider the guy who goes around talking about that promotion or raise he got at work.

In the academic setting there is absolutely no shame in it. It is blatantly front and centre, right down to the wild and crazy head gear that goes along with some of those doctorates!!! And it isn’t just that academic achievement becomes the one value that trumps everything else. It is more like achievement becomes the only value that exists. Character doesn’t really factor in, unless you get caught cheating of course. How kind a person might be or how generous they are in their relationships doesn’t count at all. Things like courage, humility, compassion, and even wisdom, don’t have a foot in the door.

Now, it’s no news flash that our contemporary education system largely ignores character development, and what might be called relational intelligence, except maybe by default. And lest I be misunderstood, this is not meant to be a criticism of our schools. In fact, I tend to think it best that they stay that way. Because I don’t believe they have the capacity, let alone the moral authority, to do more than what they do. After all, an academic institution really is about one thing – academics. It’s the only thing they really can do well. When it comes to moral and spiritual development, any attempt to use the public education system to promote these values will prove to be disastrous.

Whose job is it then you might ask? That is a very good question. I would argue for home and church. And I would argue it needs to be in that order too. And all of this is not to say that achievement has no place or value, nor is it without reward. It only needs to be kept in perspective while priority is given to prior values. And hopefully that is what we are able to do as we teach our children the rewards of effort and diligence tempered with virtues like mercy, forgiveness, grace, compassion, kindness, self-sacrifice, humility, courage, integrity. And hopefully, in our church family we can be more about loving and appreciating people based on who they are rather than what they do and encouraging them then to do well for His glory.

Too Busy To Be Blessed

2011-05-04T13:00:00.004-03:00

Yesterday, we got to attend a Faith At Home seminar in Moncton with Brian Siewert who is the Canadian Director of Faith at Home Canada. It was a tremendous opportunity. It was also very interesting to see, during a discussion time, how quickly various leaders from numerous churches all came to a consensus identifying busyness as the number one obstacle they encounter preventing families from engaging in significant spiritual formation activities, either for home or church.

I was one of those leaders. There is no way I can disagree. It’s everywhere. Our entire culture is caught up in a lifestyle that leaves little room for spiritual priorities. It is the enemy we face; the spirit of the age in which we live.

“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, 'Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.' Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.” John Ortberg, "The Life You've Always Wanted (2002), page 77.

The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. We cannot follow Jesus and adhere to the cultural directives of our society at the same time. What we know to be of ultimate value has no perceived value to our culture. True, we do need to live missional lives and that does mean that we need to connect with the culture in order to relate the truth. But we must find a way to do so that doesn’t mean capitulating to society’s values. Otherwise, we will not only lose our message and our credibility, we will lose our way and end up living with the horrible harvest of futility that comes from sowing the seeds spiritual neglect. And you can read into that whatever you want.

And so, I repeat myself. The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. It will mean being different. It will mean being misunderstood. It will mean going against the flow, swimming upstream. But, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out, “The first call which every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.” Or, as someone else put it, "Any dead fish can float downstream".

Weddings & Elections

2011-04-27T13:12:00.003-03:00

I’m a bit of a news junkie. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. Florence would likely say I’m a news addict. I know that some of you don’t watch the news at all because you find it depressing. Thing is, I never watched the news before I became a Christian for the simple reason that I just didn’t care. I simply preferred to be entertained and the news is not that. After I became a follower of Christ, I quickly developed more of a conscience for the world I live in. And, as a pastor, I feel it is an important part of my responsibility as someone in leadership to actually know what’s going on! I admit that a lot of the time it is slanted, sensationalized, frustrating and all the rest (to be honest I enjoy the challenge of sorting it out). But I just can’t imagine, at least not now, living in the world without being aware of what is happening locally, regionally, nationally and globally. After all, we are all related, whether we like to acknowledge it or not. I know that now.

Lately of course, two major stories completely dominate the Canadian media – the election and the royal wedding, and not necessarily in that order. It is a bit of a fanfare that they are taking place at the same time; these two completely unrelated events. Or so it seems. It wasn’t until just recently that it dawned on me; the close correlation between the two. True, they are very different in nature and they don’t look anything alike, apart from the media blitz. But they are very related. They are both about governance. I know that they keep insisting that the wedding is not a political event, but we are talking about royalty (IE. kingdom), whether the monarchy is only a figurehead or not.

It’s fascinating to peruse world history and see this as one of the most significant and common threads that runs through life from beginning to end. We certainly have a love-hate relationship when it comes to the concept. I guess it’s quite natural really. We resent being bossed around or told what to do. But we love to think we have someone watching out for us, fighting our battles and being there when we need them to hear our cause and to hopefully take it up. We like to do our own thing but then we want someone else to blame when those things don’t work out for us the way we think they should.

When I started this post, I had no idea where I was going with it. Now, as I look back over what I have just written, I have no idea where I’m going with it! How about this - most people tend to feel the same way about God. They resent the dictatorial nature of His involvement in their lives wishing instead that He would just mind His own business so they can just do as they please. But, wow, do they ever like to blame Him for everything on the planet that doesn’t go the way they think it should; from a flat tire in the driveway to the famine in Africa. It’s kind of ironic isn’t it! We have both the need for and the resentment of authority.

I’m caused to consider, that should we take the kind of responsibility for our lives to do what is right and just and good and to really follow God’s directives in good conscience, whether we would continue to resent His ‘intrusion’, or whether we would then begin to understand His good-will and to earnestly seek His personal involvement; something He is undoubtedly waiting for. And then He will be more than just a figurehead and have more than just a title. He will actually be our King and the Lord of our lives.

The Renting Of The Veil

2011-04-20T11:56:00.001-03:00

Probably more than any other literary work, the Bible uses incredible symbolism to get its message across. Not only is there a seemingly endless number of symbols employed in Scripture, the quality of the metaphors is without equal.

The Bible teaches that life is relational in nature and that our relationship with our Creator God is the very source of life. To be separated from Him is to die. The Bible also teaches that the entrance of sin into the world effectively severed that relationship for every one of us. We are estranged from God, separated from Him by our sinful state and, in the words of the apostle Paul, we are ‘dead in our sins’.

This separation from God is pictured in numerous ways throughout Scripture, but one of the most striking examples is the curtain (‘the veil’) that hung in the tabernacle, and then in the temple modeled after it, serving as a divider separating the holy place from the most holy place (also called ‘the holy of holies’) where God was said to dwell among His people. God had ordained it to be so, graphically depicting the barrier that exists between a holy God and sinful men. The book of Exodus records God’s instructions to Moses on how to fashion this thick veil from blue, purple and scarlet materials and fine twisted linen. (Ex 26:31,33)

The Jewish Talmud speaks of the veil that hung in the temple of Jesus’ day (often referred to as Herod’s temple) as being the thickness of a man’s hand and woven of seventy-two cords, each cord consisting of twenty-four strands. It was said to be forty cubits long and twenty wide. A cubit was the distance from the elbow to the finger tips or approximately 18 inches. This would make the veil 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. It is said to have the labor of 82 women to weave such a work and 300 priests to wash it if it became soiled (‘unclean’). They also tell us that it was replaced twice a year! The famous first century Jewish historian Josephus recorded the veil to be four inches thick and that horses tied to each side could not have pulled it apart.

The profound symbolism of the veil didn’t end with it’s mere existence though. This coming Friday is Good Friday and our minds are focused on the death of Christ. The gospel writers Matthew, Mark and Luke, each mention the veil in the temple being torn in two at the exact moment of Jesus’ death upon the cross (Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38; Lk 23:45). Matthew and Mark both describe another detail – it tore from top to bottom.

This last bit of information is of the utmost importance because it means that the veil did not tear of any natural cause, such as the earthquake that occurred at that same moment for example. Any natural phenomenon would have resulted in the veil being torn from the bottom according to simple physics. The obvious deduction we are to take from this is that God Himself tore the temple veil. There is no other explanation.

Neither do we have to speculate about the significance of this act. Hebrews 9:1-9 explains the significance of the veil in the OT temple design and function. And then in Hebrews chapter 10 we have these words:

“19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:19-25

This is a wow moment. God tore that veil. As surely as He allowed His Son to be pierced and to suffer and die paying the price for your sins and mine, God tore that veil. And in so doing, He made a way, removing the barrier so that you and I could be restored back into relationship with Him. It is sensational! He didn’t just remove it. He didn’t just roll it up or lay it aside. He ripped it open. A violent act in keeping with the slaughter of His Son. Because He was making a statement! It is God being emphatic. Don’t you just love that! I can just picture those priests in the temple when that all went down! Praise God!

“We implore you on Christ’s behalf - Be reconciled to God.” 2Cor 5:20

Does God Answer Prayer?

2011-04-13T12:27:00.002-03:00

This week for us is a week of prayer. We are doing the 24-7 Prayer experience. Some of our more creative people have converted a classroom into an amazing world within walls that is nothing short of, in a word – inspirational. I was only in the prayer room about 5 minutes before I found myself overwhelmed. Was it the presence of God you might ask? Not exactly. I am very thankful for God’s presence each and every day of my life and I am more or less aware of His presence in all kinds of different ways and places. So why was I overwhelmed? Because the work done by the prayer team in conjunction with the decorating team is of such quality that it elicits prayer and praise. They have created a space in time for us that lifts our hearts. You can’t be there and not pray. This is pretty significant for me. You see, a lot of the time, I have to fight TO pray. It’s hard. In this world prayer is one of those things that can often require a lot of discipline. In the world of the prayer room, however, it would have been a fight NOT to pray! They have done a truly great work.

So, in light of our ‘season’ of prayer, I thought that I would offer a few words about prayer that I believe are important. I have been learning lately how everything in my life and ministry needs to be relational in nature. Evangelism needs to be relational. Discipleship needs to be relational. Preaching needs to be relational. Prayer needs to be relational. That is to say that prayer is never an end in itself. Just as I study the Bible, not just to know stuff or even just to know about God, but to better know Him, so I pray, not just to get stuff or see things happen, but in order to become more intimate with Him.

A blog post caught my eye the other day. It was one by Dave Miller entitled ‘God Doesn’t Answer Prayer’. (SBC Impact, Mar 18/2011) Yeah, you’re probably thinking the same thing I was when I first saw it!!! And, yes, he admitted in the article that he was giving in to the temptation to be a little bit provocative with that title, but he did have a point. What could possibly have been his point you might be asking? It was this: “God doesn’t answer prayer, He answers PEOPLE!”

Think about it. Prayer in and of itself is not a virtue. In fact, the Bible speaks of times when God says that prayer can be abominable to Him … “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen”. It says He resists the proud but “a contrite spirit [He] will never despise”. It says that if we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, THEN He will “hear from heaven and will forgive [our] sin and heal [our] land.”

Jesus said that we will receive what we ask for when we ask in His name? What does that really mean? A lot of commentary has been offered as an explanation and a lot of good thoughts on the subject are available. But it got me thinking about the passage in the book of Acts that tells about the seven sons of Sceva. Maybe you aren’t familiar with that one or it’s been a while, so take a look…

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16)

Everything is relational, whether we realize it or not. It isn’t about what we do. It isn’t even about what happens. It’s about seeking Him. Do you have a personal relationship with Christ? Do you know Him? Does He know you?! If so, then you have the most amazing privilege that there is. You can call on Him, anywhere, anytime and He will answer you.

Blog

2011-04-06T12:25:00.000-03:00

What can be more redundant than a blog post about blogging? Well, maybe a few things but not many. The thing is, a few people have brought it to my attention that they are unable to use the comment feature on this blog. When they click on the ‘comments’ button it gives them a hard time about one thing or another. As they say, technology is great when it works!

What I am wondering is if we could try and see just how big this problem is. I have done a little research online and it appears that others are having similar problems. Blogs are supposed to have an interactive feature, and I have really appreciated the comments that have come at times from some of you, but it hasn’t ever really become much of a dialogue. So I would like to address this problem as much as it proves possible and hopefully increase the interactive function of this means of ‘sharing the journey’ with you.

Here’s what I am asking you to do. Simply click on the ‘comments’ button at the bottom of this article and see if it will allow you to post a comment. If it does, then I will get it and publish it. If it doesn’t, could you please email me and let me know exactly what happened when you tried. We may be able to do some trouble shooting and find out what is going on. I really appreciate your help with this. So here goes.

Divine Capitalization

2011-03-30T12:31:00.001-03:00

It’s a little thing. Or I think it is? I learned very early after becoming a Christ follower that, when I am writing, it’s proper and important for me to capitalize the first letter of all pronouns referring to God. So, when I speak of Him in my writing, the pronouns referring to Him are always capitalized (accept when I make a type-o). The idea is to show reverence, for though God is a person, He is not just someone. He is that One who is above all others. It can also be quite practical as it leaves no doubt as to exactly to Whom I am referring. So, this has then been my practice or habit for these past 30 years.

We try to carry on the same practice with our song projection in our corporate worship. So when we sing together, it’s “… I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus”…

I bring this up because, if this was at one time the accepted norm in Christian circles, it has definitely ceased to be so. Because I don’t think I can identify a single contemporary author (or maybe it’s the publishers?) who holds to this practice today. Although it seems that most worship song writers still do. I’m not sure what the difference is?

Now, I don’t want to condemn these men and women who consistently practice not capitalizing these divine pronouns. To do so, I would have to condemn pretty much every author I know of. These are not heretics! These are the best of the best in service for Christ and much more knowledgeable on such subjects than I am or ever will be.

Furthermore, not only do almost all articles and books (seemingly all) these days written by Christians not follow this policy, even Bible versions don’t. I checked 17 versions using Hebrews 11:6 as a test case and found that out of them all, only one (The New American Standard Version) used capitals for He and Him. Even the much revered KJV doesn’t do it. Just for note, the NASB is also the only version I could identify that uses capitals for personal pronouns when referring to Jesus as well.

And just as I do not want to condemn the Christian authors of our day, neither do I want this to be a commentary on the virtues of any one translation of the Scriptures over and against another as such a study is much vaster than this little format allows and the issues are much more involved. That is to say, that I would never want to make my decision on which translation is to be preferred based on the use of capital letters. I just find the practice of the NASB on this point to be most interesting.

It can seem somewhat tedious, especially when you start using capital letters in reference to Jesus as well because, seeing as how it’s all about Him, we should not be amazed with how many times a Christian refers to Him, either the Father or the Son or the Spirit when we sit down to write.

Still, I can’t bring myself personally to do anything else. And for me I guess it is a labor of love. So, I have decided that, while I will not stand in judgment of those who do not capitalize, I myself will continue to do so as a matter of personal conviction. Maybe it is one of those Romans 14 things. Care really does need to exercised in these types of areas. I am reminded of how in my early years as a Christian so many would pray using ‘Thy’ and ‘Thine’ and how it effectively distanced God from me rather than drawing me closer to Him. These things can take on a life of their own.

Mercies In Disguise

2011-03-23T10:14:00.003-03:00

This week is all about ‘pivotal circumstances’ as we heard Doug share on Sunday and Andy in our small groups. One of Laura Story’s new songs is also a profound commentary on this whole idea of how God uses life’s circumstances to mold and shape our lives for the good.

The chorus goes like this:

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights,
Are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life,
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Laura Story is a very gifted song writer with a beautiful voice. How about taking 5 minutes from your busy day right now to just sit back and listen and let God speak to you through these very biblical thoughts put to song. Here’s a video with some moving images to go along with it so you will be doubly blessed by ‘Blessings’.

Japan

2011-03-16T09:55:00.000-03:00

The earthquake was devastating. The tsunami was cataclysmic. But the radiation fallout could be apocalyptic.

It’s hard to keep up with the various explosions happening at different nuclear plants but it appears that we are now looking, in the very least, at a partial meltdown of the reactor cores at two or more nuclear power plants, and a lot of people know it could get a lot worse. The consequences of this will be staggering.

Inevitably, when events like this take place in our world, some will suggest that it is some type of judgment. After all, Japan has proven to be one of the most resistant cultures to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m sure that more than one Japanese citizen has wondered in recent days, “What did we do to deserve this?”

But, Jesus warns us away from such conclusions (Luke 13:1-5). He teaches us that we need to be like the God we serve who causes the sun and the rain to shine and to fall on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

We tend to the same kind of thinking when we are personally stricken with an illness or suffer in some way, perhaps the consequences of an accident. We wonder if God might be punishing us. Yes, there are times when such things can be consequences of our own actions or the behavior of others. And God is certainly able to use all types of events in our lives to measure out judgment. But we must be very careful not to make rash assumptions in these areas. (John 9:1-5)

It is really important in these times to remember that the whole of creation has been subjected to decay and is groaning under the weight of ALL our sin (Romans 8::18-25); that is our sin as a human race collectively and without exception. (Romans 3:23)

We live in a fallen world; a broken world and one that is ‘passing away’ (1Corinthians 7:31). I was just talking with a good friend yesterday who mentioned that six of the ten most powerful earthquakes the world has ever seen have happened in the last ten years. (I think I got that right?) And the Bible says that there is a day coming when …“The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” (2Peter 3:10).

Why? Because God is going to remake this old earth and completely refurnish it. It will be a new creation. You can read about it in Revelation 21:1-5.

And you can share in it too.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2Cor 5:17

What this passage is all about is the opportunity God has provided us for entrance into that new world. This world is passing away. Even if you and I manage to avoid any kind of disaster like the one happening right now in so much of the world, our day is still coming. Death is a certainty, and ultimately, our only hope is Christ. That’s why we really need to be sharing the gospel because He is their only hope as well.

Do Hard Things

2011-03-08T08:37:00.004-04:00

I’m really stoked! I have just read this book that is supposed to be for teens but anyone and everyone could really benefit from it. The real kicker is that it was written by two 18 year old brothers. How excited am I about it!?!?!!?! Well, when I was about half way through it, I ordered another 12 copies so that I would have them to give away to some of the young people in my life.

Twin brothers, Alex and Brett Harris wrote this amazing book entitled, ‘Do Hard Things’ and here is how it starts out… “Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. Well, we do.”

And right from that point on, they had me - hook, line and sinker! It is a must-read for every teen and every parent of teens and everyone who cares about teens and everyone else. The subtitle of the book is descriptive – ‘A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations’. The book exposes the myth that has become completely accepted and readily believed as an operating principle in our present world culture, that the teen years are supposed to be a ‘vacation from responsibility’, and replaces it with the truth that the teen years are actually meant to be the critical ‘launching pad’ for the rest of your life. What makes it applicable for everyone though is the central theme of the book which is that, if we are going to succeed in any area of our lives, we must be willing to do hard things and not just take the easy path of least resistance.

These guys are serious. They have over 35 million hits on their website. This is more than just a book. This is a movement. Check it out. Here's the link: www.therebelution.com

Lou

2011-03-02T11:18:00.005-04:00

This past Sunday I was sharing with the folks about Captain Lou Zamperini. I first became aware of Lou’s story when I was in my early twenties and a book I was reading told some of his amazing life. There is much in his story that is inspirational as it relates to his survival of a plane crash in the Pacific, 47 days in a life raft at sea, most of it without food or water, and then 2 years in a Japanese torture camp. I don’t want to detract at all from the significance of those events, but for me, the most inspiring part of all Louis’ story is what Christ did in his life after the war.

I was surprised that no one else in the room Sunday morning had even heard of him. He is no doubt going to become much more famous soon enough though as a movie based on his life story is said to be in the works. The film will be based on a new book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Laura Hillenbrand (author of ‘Sea Biscuit’) released in November of 2010. The title of the book is ‘Unbroken’ but I don’t think they have a title for the movie as of yet. I sure hope Hollywood gets this one right, though. They don’t have a very good track record when it comes to genuinely portraying Christians.

I’m going to post a little of Lou’s story here; enough to wet your appetite maybe, and you can check out the link at the end if you would like to see a five minute news video clip. And for those of you who are readers, the book is getting rave reviews.

Louis Silvie Zamperini was born January 26, 1917 in Olean, New York to Italian immigrants Anthony and Louise Zamperini. The family later moved to Torrance, California where Lou became the target of bullies and ended up becoming quite a ‘rascal’. He got in a lot of trouble up until the day he became a long distance runner. Lou was fast. So fast that he made the Olympic team. He met with considerable success breaking a number of records, however, his running career got cut short by the outbreak of World War II and Lou found himself deployed to Hawaii as a B-24 bombardier.

His plane went down in the Pacific on May 27, 1943. After spending 47 days adrift in the shark infested ocean, Lou and the only other surviving crew member, pilot Russ Phillips, were ‘rescued’ by the Japanese Navy. Lou was held in captivity through the end of the war and suffered immensely at the hands of his captors. His family thought he had been killed in action, but after the war, Lou received a hero’s welcome home. However, tortured still by painful nightmares, Lou turned to alcohol as his life began to spiral downward. His wife had recently given her heart to Christ so she encouraged Lou to attend some meetings to hear Billy Graham preach the gospel. Lou did just that and he too accepted Christ personally as his Lord and Savior at that time.

And what happened next is so obviously supernatural. He went back to Japan. Many of the war criminals who committed the worst atrocities were being held in the Sugamo prison in Tokyo. In October 1950, Zamperini went to that prison and gave his testimony and preached the gospel to them. The colonel in charge of the prison encouraged any of the prisoners who recognized Lou to come forward and meet him again. Are you ready for this? Lou then threw his arms around each one of them telling them (and showing them) that he had forgiven them completely and telling each one again about the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Lou Zamperini is alive and well today living in Hollywood, California. He is 93 years of age and still serving Christ.

Five Minute Fox News Clip

Cognitive Dissonance

2011-02-21T20:46:00.002-04:00

According to Wikipedia, “Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. [We] do this by changing [our] attitudes, beliefs, and actions.” According to the writers, “it is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.”

It’s quite interesting. They use, as an example, the story of the fox and the grapes (one of Aesop’s fables). You may recall that one - the fox tries and tries but he just can’t quite reach the grapes. So what is he to do? His solution - he decides that he didn’t really want the grapes anyway! According to the article, the fox’s decision is a form of ‘adaptive preference formation’ which is ‘designed to reduce cognitive dissonance’.

The article also says that other attempts to deal with dissonance include ‘justifying, blaming, and denying.’

I’m not sure if I ever really thought about this before but I’m thinking that in a weird kind of way these rather despicable strategies actually testify to a loss of great human dignity. Ironically, behind it all must be an innate and powerful felt need to be just, right and true! We were made to be whole. You have to admit that this is pretty ironic stuff. We actually have an innate compulsion to be, or to at least feel - virtuous. The only thing is, we will now lie to ourselves, or anyone else for that matter, to feel that way!

Pretty twisted eh! But it does confirm the biblical account. Not only have we fallen a long way, but from a truly great height. Originally made in the very image of God, we now find ourselves depraved. We really need Jesus.

The Rhythm of Life

2011-02-15T13:47:00.001-04:00

I really had to restrain myself from entitling this post something like ‘Pausability Thinking’, or ‘The Importance of Good Pauseture’, or ‘Pause and Effect’ or … but I knew that some of you wouldn’t appreciate the humor in it (accept Denis maybe). This past week I found myself thinking about that little word – ‘pause’. Apparently it comes from the Greek word ‘pausis’ which meant to ‘stop’ or ‘cease’. The website yourdictionary.com has “a short period of inaction; temporary stop, break, or rest”. I like that definition because the distinction between a pause and a stop is that the word pause denotes the temporary nature of the act assuming a latter continuance of the former. And that is so true to life. We don’t stop. Life never stops this side of the grave (nor after for those who have eternal life!). We don’t stop working, we rest. And we don’t really stop to pray because prayer is always in the context of life activity which goes on because life goes on.

Life has movement but that movement is not as much constant as it is rhythmic. Life pulsates. Even before God made the sun, the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:3) And the seasons of the year create a sense of rhythm. I love how God told Noah after the great flood that while the earth remains seed time and harvest will not cease. (By the way, that means that Spring is coming; God said so.)

Musicians must realize the importance of a pause in music. They call them ‘rests’. Comedians know when you miss them it’s really not that funny. Other public speakers talk not only about the ‘pause’ but the ‘pregnant pause’. Barack Obama is said to be a master of it. Even so, the art of life involves recognizing when a pause is called for. We need to learn to pause in order to live well.

God felt it important enough that He made a pause (‘rest’) one of the ten commandments! Think about that. So, how are you doing with that? Are you learning the importance of pausing?

Small Groups

2011-02-08T13:05:00.002-04:00

As of this week, after months of planning, we are now into our big annual winter small group series. Exciting! And so I thought I’d like to post these thoughts about the small group dynamic as it relates to our lives as Christians.

Now, I know that some of you are tempted to stop reading at this point. Either you don’t find the subject of small groups exciting at all, or you already know all about it so what is there to say. Well, let me go on record – we NEED to talk about it and we NEED to get excited about it. Why? Because significant life change happens in small groups. And life change is what church is all about.

As I think about our lives together as His church, I am acutely aware as a pastor that the quality of our lives and the degree of effectiveness in our serving is at issue. So much of Christianity at times has become little more than showing up on Sunday mornings for an hour to do my religious duty. How it must grieve the heart of God that such apathy would ever seem sufficient to us. God wants to do a significant work in your life and mine, changing us and growing us. That work is to be ongoing and, as those belonging to Christ, we are to intentionally pursue it. And for that type of real personal growth to be occurring, we NEED each others help. Read that again – we NEED each others help.

This is not optional. It isn’t just that we do better when we are assisting each other with spiritual growth. Real significant personal development requires this group dynamic. We NEED to be opening up our lives to one another. We NEED to benefit from the shared experience of learning together. We NEED to hear each others stories. We NEED to be speaking into each others lives. We NEED to be confessing to one another and praying with one another and encouraging one another. If this does not happen for us then we will NOT grow the way we should in our personal lives for Him. It really is that straightforward.

Do yourself a huge favour some time and look up the phrase ‘one another’ in a Bible concordance (you can do that online at biblegateway.com) and allow the Word of God to give you an overview of the full range of life together that is His plan for your life.

Small groups are not just an ‘add-on’. The small group dynamic is a critical aspect of our journey together for Him. So share the journey.

On The Road Again

2011-02-02T19:08:00.001-04:00

The TV show ‘The Littlest Hobo’ has got to be one of the longest airing shows on television. I noticed it was on the other day and I remember watching it when I was a kid. I loved it. I hated it. How can you not love a story about a dog, especially a dog that can fix everyone’s problems and catch the bad guys every week! And it is Canadian. But my problem with the show was, and is, that at the end of every episode he leaves the people who have come to love him and heads off down the road! I can remember feeling sad at the end of every episode. I hate that.

I don’t know if we have hobos today as there used to be years ago … traveling the rail lines … sleeping in box cars … but it is a very interesting phenomenon to me - people who just keep moving on, never settling down, never belonging. It really is sad when you think about it isn’t it!

I feel the same way about people who say they believe in Jesus Christ but see no need to be a part of a church family. It could be fear. It could be selfishness. Or it could be that they just don’t feel the need. Whatever the case, it is sad. Not only are they missing out, even though they don’t know it. But the cause of Jesus suffers as well. After all, it isn’t just our need that warrants our involvement. What about the needs of others? It should not be only the consideration of how I can benefit from being actively involved in a church that governs my decision on the matter anyway, but also what benefit I can be to others.

Which begs another question. If we are actively involved in a church family, is it for the right reasons? Are we involved only for what we get from it. Or are we envisioning the difference we can make in the lives of others?

And if you’re one of those people who aren’t involved like you should be, perhaps you need to recognize that there is a spiritual issue here. A rolling stone might not gather any moss, but look out if the stones in your spiritual house start to roll.

There’s a voice that keeps on calling me
Down the road is where I’ll always be
Every stop I make, I’ll make a new friend
Can’t stay for long, just turn around and I’m gone again.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want to settle down,
Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on.

O My Stars!

2011-01-26T12:38:00.002-04:00

This is way too funny! Maybe you heard a couple of weeks ago about an announcement that is just filled with hilarious irony. A Minnesota astronomy professor announced that the 12-symbol zodiac chart is actually missing the 13th constellation called Orphiuchus. Apparently, this effectively changes the zodiac signs for more than 300 birthdays out of the year. So we have all these people who thought they were Leo’s who are actually Cancers; scores who thought their ‘sign’ was Taurus when it was actually Aries the whole time; and so on. You get the picture. Just think about all those poor folks with those strategically placed tattoos of scorpions? Whoops! Talk about an identity crisis!

Now, just think about this for a moment. Here we have all of these people living their whole lifetimes religiously charting their course each day according to a faith system only to learn that what they had been following their whole lives wasn’t actually for them at all! It is made even more hilarious by the fact that they never caught on the whole time!

Here is what one writer had to say:

“For the past 50 years I have been, as an Aquarius, friendly and humanitarian; honest and loyal; original and inventive; and independent and intellectual. Now I am, as a Capricorn, practical and prudent; ambitious and disciplined; patient and careful; and humorous and reserved… This new me is going to take some getting used to.” Kyra Gottesman

This is put in perspective by a Canada AM survey conducted last week that has 43% of viewers admitting that they always take the time to check their horoscope before heading out for the day. That makes it pretty funny really, I think. Maybe? I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry!

But I do know this – if those same people would take the same time to read the Bible before heading out each day they would be a lot farther ahead. Astrology is misguided at best, demonic at worst. Get a Bible and read it. Use it to discover who you really are and to chart your life course.

Reflections

2011-01-19T21:35:00.002-04:00

A couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the wife looks out the kitchen window and sees her neighbor hanging her wash out on the clothes line. “That laundry isn’t very clean”, she says. “Either she doesn't know how to wash correctly or she needs to buy better laundry detergent.”

Her husband is sitting there but doesn’t say anything. The same kinds of comments continue over the course of the next few weeks. Every time the lady next door hangs her laundry out, the man’s wife has something to say about how it isn’t clean enough. Then one morning, the man and his wife are sitting at the breakfast table and she suddenly observes, “Well, would you look at that! She has finally learned how to wash clothes. I wonder who taught her.” To this the husband simply responds, “Actually, I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

You may have heard this story before. It’s one I came across somewhere a while back and held onto because it teaches a valuable lesson. What is that lesson? What we say about people probably says more about us than it does about them. It’s true. So often, our opinions about others reveal more about our own understandings (or misunderstandings) of life than they do about anything or anyone else.

Mart DeHaan of RBC Ministries writing in his blog (Aug 27/09) said it like this - “We see things not only as they are, but as we are.”

Ourselves are revealed more in our words than we might realize. As you look at the world and the people around you in it, what you think of as a window could quite well be more of a mirror!

We really need to remember this before we open our mouths to speak don’t we.

“Remember, every time you open your mouth to talk, your mind walks out and parades up and down the words.” Edwin H. Stuart

Beauty Is Fleeting

2011-01-13T14:37:00.002-04:00

When I awoke this morning, what a beauty lay outside my window! I hope you got to see it. The snow laden trees and shrubs and fields, it was spectacular. But then, as the day began to warm and the sun made its appearance, within a very short span it was gone. Not completely gone mind you, but mostly diminished. The glory of the snow is not unlike everything else in this world. It is fleeting; ourselves included.

“‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ …” 1Pet 1:24,25

Whether it is the desire to be beautiful, or the desire to possess the beautiful one, as a culture, we are obsessed with personal outward appearance. And it seems we become more so every day. In contrast to this is the wisdom of the Bible.

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30

A while ago, I found this nugget in a piece of ‘junk mail’ someone had forwarded to me - “A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.”

I was really impressed when I read that. It resonates with truth. It speaks of much more than what we call ‘inner beauty’ but it certainly includes that concept. And, as such, it reminded me of this Scripture:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Here’s one more Scripture for your consideration:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2Cor 4:16-18

As we live out our days in a world that is fading away, our culture is fixated on the temporal. That’s obvious. But what about those who would be known to love Jesus? What about you?

Worship In A Nutshell

2011-01-06T14:49:00.001-04:00

Sometime ago I came across one of those websites where people write in and ask questions and other people who are perceived as being kind of like ‘professional answer people’ respond with answers to the best of their knowledge.

I was intrigued by one of the submissions that came in from a lady who wrote:

“My brother, although raised as a Christian, is now both an ex-Scientologist and an agnostic. He asked me this question, ‘What kind of God would require worship?’”

Frederica Mathewes-Green, the author of ‘The Illumined Heart’ (Paraclete Press), offered what I think is a pretty good response to the question. Here is what she wrote:

In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer is asked a similar question. He replies, “God is very powerful, but also very insecure, like Barbra Streisand before James Brolin.” If you picture God as being like a giant human being, that makes sense. But in the Bible, the main thing people who've encountered God say is that He’s the opposite of ordinary humans. He’s holy. Those who meet him say, “You've never experienced anything like this before. It made my hair stand on end.”
Their first reaction seems to be fear, since the first thing they are told is usually “Do not fear.” Then, as they continue to stand in God’s presence, they become overwhelmed with awe and love, and they start seeing their own failings very clearly. Strong light makes long shadows. Isaiah sees God ‘high and lifted up’ and reacts, “Woe is me!” Peter sees Jesus perform a miracle and falls to his knees saying, “I am a sinful man.”
That's what people who have ‘been there’ report: God is ‘other’, He’s inexpressibly wonderful. When you experience Him, you suddenly see how much you need to change. And that’s worship in a nutshell. God doesn’t command us to do this; it’s more like He warns us that this is what will happen. Get ready, because His presence is going to knock you over! I hope your brother will continue to evolve and soon become an ex-agnostic.

This response endears me for a few reasons but one of the lines I really like is, “He’s inexpressibly wonderful. When you experience Him, you suddenly see how much you need to change. And that’s worship in a nutshell.”

The statement begs the question. Can we really say we have worshiped God if there has been no change in our life as a result? And I am inclined to think not. If worship is an encounter with the living God, how could we remain unchanged by such an experience?

The Lowly Manger

2010-12-29T14:10:00.003-04:00

I’m country born and raised (as if it didn’t show!). I have many fond memories of barns in my childhood… jumping and playing, building hay forts, nice little baby cows and kittens … To this day, the mere smell of hay can make my day. But as nice as those memories are, they are not without some of the more, can we say - ‘earthy’ - elements, like ‘haying’ in the top of a dusty mow in July or shoveling cow poop.

I have been reminded again this Christmas season of how significant it is, the way Jesus came into this world. To the degree that the world has recognized the true story of Christmas, it has done so by adopting a rather slick version of it; one that is much more sentimental – a sanitized version.

The truth is that the manger (Luke 2:6) where God chose to personally and bodily enter our world was not a nice place. While some hay may have provided a little creaturely comfort, it would not have been free of bugs and rotted bits of feed and dung and worms. It would have been both cold and dark. The stable in that humble little Hebrew town would have been more like a cave than a barn.

Much has been made of the fact that there was ‘no room’ in the inn. And some have suggested that we have made the Inn Keeper a villain when it might not have been that way at all. That it may have been mercy on his part that sent them to the best he had left to offer. And that could all be true, but it doesn’t take away from the significance that God CHOSE to be born into this world in a manger of hay.

It is consistent with the nature of the incarnation. God humbled Himself (see Phil 2). If you look up the word ‘lowly’ in the dictionary you will see that it has to do with one’s position in life. It is the opposite of privilege (see again Phil 2).

Furthermore, Jesus’ reputation as an illegitimate child would have secured his ‘lowly’ position in Jewish society with all of the shame and stigma that such a reputation would ‘afford’ Him. We could go on to talk about Nazareth where Jesus grew up which itself had a reputation of its own (Jn 1:46).

The significance of all of this is a most wonderful thing. It means that in His incarnation, God didn’t choose to identify Himself with just the best of us but with the lowliest of us. And what began at His birth remained consistent throughout His life as He socialized with moral outcasts. And even in His death as he hung in shame between two thieves. He was numbered with the transgressors (Isa 53:12). Christ identified Himself with the most basic level of humanity. He relates to us in the most humblest conditions and realities that we might find ourselves in.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.”
Isa 53:3

Just how incredible is this really!!!?

The SON of GOD became the Son of Man so that you and I could become the children of God.

Christmas Hang-Ups

2010-12-23T11:27:00.004-04:00

Our kids produced an amazing Christmas production this past weekend, complete with great costumes, fine acting, sweet songs and a clear message. Much thanks goes to the help and guidance of a tremendous team of adult leaders and workers who worked really hard to bring us two nights of faith and fun. Here are a few pictures from the evening which included a really nice dessert served by the children.

It was a great plot and story line. The whole musical took place in the attic of the Watson family’s home as the numerous and varied Christmas ornaments anticipated the Christmas celebrations that they would be included in on the tree. It seems that each of the ornaments (‘hang-ups’) had their hang-ups, but it all got sorted out in the end and everyone was caused to realize, not only what the real meaning of Christmas is, but that everyone can have a part in it because Jesus didn’t come for just a select few, but for all.

It has to be one of my favorite things about the gospel, that no one is excluded. How wonderful is that! Rich or poor, famous or infamous, good or bad… it isn’t a matter of personality or character, of education or perceived success in life; it isn’t a matter of anything about us or anything we do, have done or haven’t done. The gospel of Jesus Christ swings the door wide open to proclaim that whoever would come may come. (Rev 22:17)

While we tend to fixate on the things we feel make us different than (or better than!) someone else, or some other group of people, in offering Himself for all, Jesus breaks down all the walls that separate us, and more importantly the wall that separates us from God.

Because the truth is that all of us have our ‘hang-ups’, but that is precisely the point. Christ came to live and to die for us - the sufficiency of His life and character making up for all the deficiencies in our lives and characters. His death and new life holds the promise for our forgiveness and the gift of eternal life which is made available in Christ to each and every one of us.

Merry Christmas one and all!

The Christmas / Easter Connection

2010-12-13T14:19:00.002-04:00

I’m not a big collector but I do some collecting. One of the things I collect (come to think of it, it could be the only thing I collect!) is quotes. And of course, I have my favorites. And one of my all-time, absolute favorite quotes about Christmas happens to also be a quote about Easter.

Now, I know that some people don’t appreciate us drawing a connection between the two. Some people like to think of Christmas as being all about sentiment and void of any real content. Others like to think of the content of the Christmas message as a nice story about a baby being born while Easter is a story of brutal torture and death on the one hand and the impossible legend of resurrection on the other.

Well, that is where my favorite Christmas/Easter quote comes in. It is a quote from James Packer found in his book ‘Knowing God’ and here it is:

“It is not strange that He, the author of life, should rise from the dead. If He was truly God the Son, it is much more startling that He should die than that He should rise again. ‘Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies’, wrote Wesley; but there is no comparable mystery in the Immortal’s resurrection. And if the immortal Son of God did really submit to taste death, it is not strange that such a death should have saving significance for a doomed race. Once we grant that Jesus was divine, it becomes unreasonable to find difficulty in any of this; it is all of a piece, and hangs together completely. The incarnation is an unfathomable mystery, but it makes sense of everything else the New Testament contains.” J I Packer in ‘Knowing God’

And there you have it. The incarnation (God becoming man in the birth of Jesus Christ) is an unfathomable mystery, but it makes sense of everything else the NT contains. That says it so well doesn’t it. So, if we really believe the biblical testimony of the virgin birth of Christ, then the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Christ (and His second coming I might add) present no difficulty at all.

This makes Christmas a pretty big celebration doesn’t it! I know that a lot of Christians say we shouldn’t be putting so much emphasis on Christmas (some say none) and that it’s Easter that we should really be focused on. But when we come to understand how the identity of Christ makes His death sufficient for all and His resurrection the only justifiable outcome, then we really begin to appreciate the real significance of His birth. It all hinges on the truth of who He is. And when you read through the gospels, that is in fact the central issue that keeps coming up. Remember Jesus asking the disciples … “Who do men say I am? … Who do you say I am?... And then of course, there are those immensely clear words from the lips of Jesus, “Unless you believe I am He, you will die in your sins.”

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘GOD WITH US’.” Matthew 1:23

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is CHRIST THE LORD.”
Luke 2:11

“THE WORD BECAME FLESH and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Charlie Brown's Christmas

2010-12-07T12:06:00.002-04:00

There are a significant number of Christmas Holiday classic television programs for sure but ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ has got to be near the top doesn’t it!?

The show aired for the very first time back in 1965 (45 years ago now… does that make you feel old or what!) and it was an instant hit. But according to Jim Daly of Focus On The Family, this was a complete surprise to the network executives who had fought with the show’s creator Charles Schultz over a number of issues they believed to be show stoppers.

According to Daly, studio personnel thought it was too amateur. All the voices were done by children rather than by professional actors. They also believed the theme music was too contemporary for kids' tastes and that the lack of a laugh track left the production “feeling flat and too contemplative”.

And, of course, they thought it was too religious. After all, the show includes a full reading of Luke 2:8-14 as the climax of the story presenting the real meaning of and reason for Christmas.

One of the interesting things about all of this is that these are the very same things that have made the show so endearing to so many in the years since. And in those years since, Hollywood continues to pump out so much garbage that it makes our heads spin, all the while claiming it’s what the consumer wants. They consistently repeat the mantra that wholesome family values just don’t sell, and yet, the actual statistics on this prove they are not being honest about it. Why? The answer is quite simple - they have an agenda.

It’s not news to any of us that we live in a world that is hostile to Christ and the ones that don’t want to kill Him would just as soon He went away quietly. I am so thankful though that the Lord continues to provide us with those who would speak into the culture the life changing truth of the gospel in creative and compelling ways. May their tribe (our tribe) increase.

As for Charlie Brown’s Christmas – I still love it.

Captured

2010-11-29T14:22:00.004-04:00

I’m reading in chapter 5 of Paul Tripp’s ‘Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands’. It's very good. He describes the process of how we have our hearts captured by ‘inordinate’ desires. Here is just a little bit of the flow of thought from that chapter:

“The objects of most of our desires are not evil. The problem is the way they tend to grow and the control they come to exercise over our hearts… the problem with desire is that in sinners it very quickly morphs into demand (“I must”)… demand quickly morphs into need (“I will”) … need inevitably produces expectation (“you should”)… But it doesn’t stop there. You do not know that I have christened these desires as needs, and you do not meet my expectations. Expectation very quickly leads to disappointment (“you didn’t”)… There is a direct relationship between expectation and disappointment, and much of our disappointment in relationships is not because people have actually wronged us, but because they have failed to meet our expectations… Disappointment then leads to some form of punishment (“because you didn’t, I will…”). We are hurt and angry because people who say they love us seem insensitive to our needs. So we strike back in a variety of ways to punish them for their wrongs against us. We include everything from the silent treatment (a form of bloodless murder where I don’t kill you but act as if you do not exist) to horrific acts of violence and abuse. I am angry because you have broken the laws of my kingdom… my heart has been captured…”

I highly recommend it. (The book that is.)

Agape

2010-11-23T09:18:00.001-04:00

This posting represents the last of a five part series on the ‘marks’ of maturity for the Christian. Of course, this is a massive subject and our look at it has been brief and sketchy at best. As a model, there are likely some pretty big holes in it. For example, is humility not a necessary sign of real maturity? I believe it is. Nonetheless, I hope this cursory study has been helpful. I know it has been helpful for me, though difficult, to try and think it through, and I hope it represents a fairly decent framework.

Let’s review the first four marks before we consider the final one:

Mark One – Understanding / Wisdom / Discernment
Mark Two – Discipline / Self-control / Delayed Gratification
Mark Three – Competence / Diligence / Productivity
Mark Four – Responsibility / Dependability / Faithfulness

And now for the fifth and final mark - It can be described using words like love, compassion, and selflessness.

There is strong scriptural warrant for seeing ‘love’ as the highest value for which we are to aspire; the ultimate in Christian character. Of course, the English word ‘love’ has varied meanings in our present cultural context, but the Greek word ‘agape’ used in the New Testament to reference the love of God which we are to emulate is the kind of love we want to consider. It is a selfless love that is unconditional in nature and is willing to sacrifice for the sake of others.

There are so many Scriptures that speak to this as God’s highest calling for us that it is hard to even know where to start. Here are a few of my favorites:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jn 15:13

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom 5:6-8

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1Jn 3:16

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1Jn 4:10-12

From these passages, emerges a clear picture of the selfless and sacrificial nature of agape love. This is the epitome of maturity – to get our eyes off of ourselves and our own needs and wants and to be able to focus on the needs of others and then act in the way that truly has their best interest at heart at personal cost to ourselves.

In Colossians 3:14, Paul says that it is love that is over all and binds all the other virtues together. In the previous post we considered the virtue of faithfulness. In the process of that brief study I was struck by the number of times the Bible links love and faithfulness together.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Prov 3:3

“Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?” Prov 20:6

In the book of Psalms alone, love and faithfulness are linked more than twenty times. (Psa 25:10 ; 26:3 ; 36:5 ; 40:10 ; 57:3 ; 57:10 ; 61:7 ; 85:10 ; 86:15 ; 88:11 ; 89:1,2,14,24,33,49 ; 92:2 ; 98:3 ; 100:5 ; 108:4 ; 115:1 ; 117:2 ; 138:2)

It is not strange that the Bible would draw connecting lines between love and other virtues because love is the king of virtues. All other virtues ultimately depend upon it. Take for example a mature view of conflict. Without love that is impossible. For another example, consider courage. Is real bravery really possible without love?

And, of course, this is all in stark contrast to the self-centred, narcissistic culture of our day when we are makings far more ‘takers’ than we are ‘givers’.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1Cor 13:11,13

Faithfulness

2010-11-17T10:18:00.001-04:00

This is part 4 of a 5 part series on the subject of maturity. The New Testament identifies maturity as the personal growth goal of Christian discipleship.

Here is a review of the marks we’ve briefly addressed so far:

Mark One – Understanding / Wisdom / Discernment
Mark Two – Discipline / Self-control / Delayed Gratification
Mark Three – Competence / Diligence / Productivity

The forth mark of Christian maturity can be described using words like responsibility, dependability and faithfulness. I hope you can identify a progression here. After all, we are talking about growth! The movement is actually in two different directions – deeper and higher.

We are moving more and more into heart issues as this becomes more personal. We are also getting more and more relational. Spiritual growth is not only intensely personal but highly relational in nature.

We’ve already acknowledged the significant interrelation between the different marks and there is certainly a lot of overlap between this mark and the last one (between competence and responsibility for example), but you will notice that as we mature it becomes more and more about our relationships; that is to say, more and more about others and less about us. It is hard to overstate the significance of this dynamic of spiritual growth.

Another word that could be used for this forth mark is the word ‘accountability’, but I think my favorite word for getting at the heart of the concept that we want to focus on here is the word ‘faithfulness’. The reason I personally prefer this word is because it leans so heavily towards the relational aspect of the progression toward maturity.

Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is to point to the adolescent years of our natural development. The key issue faced during those years is the issue of rebellion. Young people struggle with the reality that they cannot live their lives unto themselves. Faithfulness places strong value upon others and particularly upon God.

The biblical world view is that we are made by God, we belong to Him and everything we have comes from Him and ultimately belongs to Him as well. He entrusts us with life and time and everything in it. We are accountable to Him and we should be both grateful and faithful. Those two concepts also go together.

The concept of ‘stewardship’ in the parables of Christ is significant. You can check it out in Matthew 25 in what is traditionally referred to as the parable of the talents … “Well done good and faithful servant…”

Paul picks up on this theme as he writes to the Corinthians …

“This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” 1Cor 4:1-5

And here is what Peter has to say about it…

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1Pet 4:10

And so this idea of being responsible or dependable, or better yet – faithful - takes us a step higher in our journey toward maturity in Christ.

Competence / Productivity

2010-11-07T17:06:00.001-04:00

The first mark of maturity we looked at is described using words like understanding, wisdom and discernment. The second mark we considered last week is described using words like discipline, self-control and delayed gratification.

The third mark we now turn our attention to is described by words like diligence, competence and productivity. The first mark is primarily cognitive. The second mark is much more physical. This third mark really brings the first two together and develops into an educated mind and a trained body working together skillfully guided by truth to make a real difference in the world.

Kids play. Adults work. Yes, there are some really strong similarities, and both are healthy, but the main difference is that work accomplishes significant results. Work, in the best sense of the term, changes things and proficiency at task is a mark of maturity.

“When you can snatch the pebble from my hand grasshopper you may leave.”

Competencies in and of themselves do not constitute maturity, but it is hard to imagine that a person could be considered mature while lacking significant life skills.

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” Col 1:9,10

This passage clearly sets out the first mark of understanding/wisdom. It also talks about us living the day to day life which I would suggest is a disciplined life. But notice it also talks about “bearing fruit in every good work.” And please understand that the latter finds its fulfillment in the presence of the former because both the truth and training give the needed direction for life’s energies to insure that they are in fact significant rather than futile or vain.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples… You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last…” Jn 15:8,16a

Mature people make a positive difference in their world. Mature believers bear fruit that lasts forever.

Notice that corporate maturity as well comes as each member does his/her work.

“… speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Eph 4:15,16

When it comes to our children, we often think of their maturity as their ability to look after themselves without being dependent upon us or others. We sometimes refer to this as autonomy. It is the ability to ‘stand on our own two feet’ as they say. This has a spiritual parallel also. The author of Hebrews expresses his frustration that those he was addressing still needed to be taught when they should have rather by then been the ones doing the teaching (Heb 5:12).

So, there is some real truth in this idea of ‘independence’. However, this is also where it becomes paradoxical, because we really need to understand that we are not ever ultimately independent. As adults, we need each other too. And Jesus said that without Him we could do nothing (Jn 15).

We are ultimately dependent upon Him, whether for our knowledge or wisdom or self-control or even the skill of our hands. The idea that we are mature when we become competent and productive needs to be understood in light of the fact that our wisdom, our strength and our sufficiency ultimately come from Him.

“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” 2Cor 3:4,5

Our maturity rests in great part in our recognition of and our experience of this greater truth.

Self-Control

2010-11-02T13:40:00.002-03:00

The first mark of maturity we looked at last week is described using words like understanding, wisdom and discernment. The mark we want to identify secondly is described using words like discipline, self-control and delayed gratification.

The first mark principally involves the mind. This second mark, though obviously involving the mind, focuses more on our bodies.

We discipline our children when they are young in hopes that as they grow they will have more and more self-discipline. When it comes to spiritual growth the same holds true. Being in full control of oneself is a major mark of maturity.

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God.” 1Thess 4:3,4

Delayed gratification is a vital aspect of this. It is the trait that works hard and endures short term pain for long term gain.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Heb 12:11

Discipline is training. It is through discipline that we advance towards maturity. The discipline of the athlete is used in Scripture to illustrate the point. (See for example 1Cor 9:24-27)

Paul told Timothy “Train yourself for godliness.” (1Tim 4:7) and the word he used is the Greek word ‘gymnazo’.

We talk about the physical disciplines of an athlete and the spiritual disciplines of a disciple of Christ. Either way, it is largely a matter of self-control. And self-control is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s list in Galatians 5 where he names 9 different things. Paul lists self-control last there, but in the Greek construction, putting something last was a way of emphasizing it, similar to placing it first. Placing something at the end of a list would indicate that it was surpassed in importance only by that which was placed first. And, you may be aware that the virtue placed at the beginning of that passage is love.

I would encourage you to do a study of the NT letters on this one compound word - ‘self-control’. I think you might be surprised just how often it occurs and how prominent it is. Paul talks about it, Peter talks about it, James talks about it, John talks about it. And most of them talk about it on numerous occasions and often extensively and in emphatic terms. Seriously, check it out. You’ll be amazed. And when you compound that with the number of synonyms used along with it to communicate the same concept, a fuller picture of a major NT doctrine emerges.

Think about what this all means to us who live in such a permissive age; a day when we are encouraged to let ourselves go and indulge in whatever pleasures we desire with little if any restraint. And it’s all made available to us by the world in a way unimagined by our forefathers for sure. But as Peter says …

“They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 2Pet 2:19

Without self-control we will eventually, if not immediately, crash and burn.

Understanding Understanding

2010-10-27T11:59:00.003-03:00

This week’s blog is the beginning of a series of thoughts on the subject of MATURITY. I am choosing to do this simply because of the importance of it.

“We announce the message about Christ, and we use all our wisdom to warn and teach everyone, so that all of Christ's followers will grow and become mature.” Col 1:28 CEV

Many different analogies are used to illustrate spiritual life in the Bible. But they all involve change and growth in some way. Whether the analogy is farming or family life, or even building construction, the idea of growth is the common and dominant theme, particularly in the New Testament. We are not called to go and make decisions. We are called to go and make disciples.

Moms and Dads know full well that a lack of maturity is a failure of life’s most basic task. What we want for our children is for them to grow up; to become mature healthy human beings. Our Heavenly Father feels the same way about us.

Over the course of the next few weeks I simply want to outline some of the more significant ‘Marks of Maturity’. My desire is that we might by these evaluate ourselves to ensure that we are in fact growing into the mature followers Christ is calling us to be. I will not be trying to say everything important that can or should be said about each one of these marks. I just want to identify them in a cursory manner and to present them as a sort of ‘check list’.

The first mark I want to identify is UNDERSTANDING. There are probably a few different words that could be used. In the passage above Paul says that he used all the wisdom he had to warn and teach so that we might grow and become mature. In the wisdom literature of the OT (IE. Proverbs) wisdom is clearly identified as a central mark of maturity. We want our children to grow to have as much understanding as possible into what is true and right and good. This is the main idea about wisdom in the NT as well. It is knowledge based, but it is particularly a knowledge that leads to genuine discernment, particularly the discerning of truth from error and right from wrong.

Take a look at these passages:

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Eph 4:11-15

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Heb 5:11-14

These passages, both in the context of growth to maturity, give us the biblical priority when it comes to knowledge or understanding. To be wise is not just to know things but to know how to live according to the designs of our Creator and Redeemer.

The obvious implication from this is that we need to see ourselves as life long learners. We need to commit ourselves to having a right attitude about our responsibility to know the truth and to live it out in our lives. We need to be people of The Book.

Practically speaking, in order for this to happen, we must adopt a life style that allows for it. It will mean time and energy and perhaps some money too. We need to make a thorough biblical knowledge our priority and to ensure we are not only learning in the academic sense but living it out in our lives for this is what it means biblically to have true understanding, wisdom or discernment.

The first thing we are told about the brand new church of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter two is that they devoted themselves to the Apostle's teaching. (Acts 2:42)

Knowing & Knowing

2010-10-20T23:05:00.005-03:00

I know that photos get doctored all the time these days and you can do almost anything with Photo-Shop, but these pictures are just what they appear to be. A few months back Florence began to coax some of the local chickadees with some peanuts. I was pretty excited for her when they began landing on her hand and taking a nut from her. I was so happy that this brought such simple joy to her heart and I was more than content to revel in her experience.

Then the other day, she convinced me to give it a try. I didn’t really understand why she thought that I should. My attitude was clearly wondering what the big deal was. I had seen them do it and knew all about how they would come and take the offering. I guess that is why I was surprised by how much pleasure it gave me suddenly when it happened! The actual experience of having these gorgeous little creatures of God drop out of the wild and light on your palm is far beyond just watching it happen. Before, I had been quite content to just be there and watch the cute little guys with their little caps on and observe the pleasure it seemed to give her to have them come. But I had no idea of what it actually felt like. I hadn’t even really thought about what it would feel like. I knew that Florence enjoyed it because she likes to watch them and feed them. And so I thought that I had been experiencing them coming and doing that just by being there and observing it. But when it was my finger they came and clutched onto, the whole thing just somehow jumped to a new level of life experience. It became somehow very different while remaining the same thing. Somehow experiencing it personally made it so much more than what it had been.

Suddenly I could feel their weight. They are just little guys and they weigh maybe about as much as a very large grape. But I could feel it. I hadn’t even thought about their weight previous to that. I mean seriously, why would anyone think about how much a chickadee weighs, right! And I could feel their little feet clutching. I hadn’t thought of that before either because you can’t really see it. It just looks like they come and sit. But they don’t. They actually hang on. And it feels amazing , not unlike having a baby take hold of your finger.

Sometimes it is like that with us and God. It is one thing to know by observing or studying. That is in itself a great blessing for sure. But personally experiencing a relationship with God, having Him forgive you and move in your heart and work in your life is so much more. It so much surpasses mere knowledge of Him and is so amazing that words and pictures both fail to convey it. There is just no substitute for personal experience. There is nothing that can take the place of it.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Miner Details... Major Events

2010-10-14T09:48:00.002-03:00

Just before 10:00 PM last night, I got to watch (along with how many others?) as the last trapped miner in the San Jose Mine, Chili reached the surface joining his rescuers and anxious family members. After more than two months underground, including more than two weeks during which they were feared dead, the last miner emerged from under 2,000 feet of rock ending the longest underground entrapment in human history.

The mine disaster took place August 5th. On August 22nd a narrow bore hole broke through to their refuge and the buried miners surprised the world with a note, scrawled on a piece of paper - they were all alive!

This week, 69 days after the collapse of the mine, following several weeks of preparation and drilling, it took just over 22 hours for the 33 men to be brought to the surface. What a spectacle to watch as one after another these 33 men were rescued from the grave.

One of the interesting things about all of this is the great number of personal stories that are coming to light with the miners. Among some of the first to be rescued was the youngest, Jimmy Sanchez at only 19 years of age. He told the world that he kept his spirits up by thinking about his two month old baby daughter Barbara. Two hours later, the 9th man to be rescued, was the oldest, Mario Gomez, 63, the most experienced of the group who began work as a miner when he was only 12 years old. He is now on antibiotics for a lung disease common to miners. He dropped to his knees after he emerged and bowed his head and prayed.

Luis Alberto Urzua, the shift foreman was the last miner to be rescued. Luis is the eldest son of a large family that grew up without a father. The other men call him ‘the boss’ and he is credited with helping his men endure the initial 17 days in isolation without any contact with the world of the living.

There will undoubtedly be many more individual stories emerging onto the world stage in the weeks, months and years to come; stories of bravery, resolve, leadership, faith and so many other aspects of humanity will continue to surface long after the miners.

All of these men had their own personal stories before this greater story began to unfold. But it is this greater story that has brought all of their stories together, connecting them and bringing a whole new sense of significance to each of their lives. The greater story has become the context for all of their personal stories.

All of this has served to remind me once again that all of life is really about God’s greater story. It too is a story of rescue, of burial and new life. And all of our stories are really a part of God’s greater story. And it is only as we see our lives fitting into God’s greater story that our lives suddenly take on their true significance.

“Our deepest problem is that we seek to find our identity outside the story of redemption… lasting change begins when our identity, purpose and sense of direction are defined by God’s story.” Paul David Tripp

Deconstructive Criticism

2010-10-07T16:07:00.002-03:00

My father-in-law is building a new house. His old house is … old. And it has major issues resulting from its age. It has served well but is past its day and needs to be replaced. But, he is going to live in the old house until the new one is constructed. Then he is going to demolish the old one. The order is important. I wrote it down – “Don’t tear down your house until you have a new one built to live in.”

The reason I wrote it down is because I was thinking about the tendency we have to point out the inadequacies or the problems with things and how easy it is to tear down existing structures or ways of doing things, and how often we do this without anything really substantial to offer in place of them.

Let’s face it - it is not that hard to identify imperfections, weaknesses or problems within any system or structure. What is hard though is creating and developing new systems, structures or ways of doing things that actually represent major improvements in addressing all the issues of life.

It will take at least a couple of months for Howard to build his new house. I suspect his old one will come down in a matter of minutes. I think there are probably a few different elements that are necessary for criticism to be considered truly constructive in nature. But one of them certainly should be a healthy measure of respect for the efforts put in by those who have laboured before us.

The Lord Is In The Details

2010-09-30T17:24:00.003-03:00

Just a while back I was reading about some of the people who were running late for work in New York city one Tuesday morning, September 11th, 2001. One man was the head of a large company but his son was new to kindergarten school and dad had to take extra time. Another person was running late because he remembered it was his turn to pick up the donuts. One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time. Darn alarm clocks! Another person got stuck in traffic on the NJ Turnpike because of an accident. I can almost picture him when he realizes that he’s going to be late, throwing up his hands in disgust maybe, or pounding on his steering wheel as he sat there in desperation, unable to even make the day’s first appointment. Another person missed the bus. One lady spilled some food on her clothes and had to take the time to change. Can you picture her frustration? Can you relate? Can you feel her blood pressure rising? There was a car that wouldn’t start. Don’t you just hate it when that happens!

Then there was this guy who had bought a brand new pair of shoes and put them on to wear for the first time that morning but, unfortunately, as he was making his way from one transit to another, he developed a blister and had to find a drugstore and buy a band-aid. That is why he is alive today. In fact, all of these people would be dead today if it weren’t for those terribly annoying circumstances that likely frustrated them to no end that morning.

It really makes you think though doesn’t it. It makes me think about what it really means to trust God. We often think it means to trust Him in big ways with big things but in reality it seems to be harder to trust Him with the little things. When someone lets us down, when we get stuck in traffic , when a small simple task unexpectedly takes a whole five minutes … all of life’s little annoyances that fill our days …

The other day I was doing some menial chore, and I can’t really remember what it was; brushing my teeth maybe or something like that, and something happened to make it a little more difficult. And before I was even conscious of the thought the words were out of my mouth – “nothing is ever easy”.

Is that the problem really? Or is the problem with me? Is the problem the fact that on a very basic level I think that I am in charge of my own life and that the goal is that everything should go the way I think it should – the easy way?

I wonder if we might be able to get a hold of this truth, that it might be likely that this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment and He wants me to trust Him in it. What do you think?

Mike

2010-09-22T17:46:00.000-03:00

I can take you today to where he is buried, even though his grave marker is long gone. I don’t believe he wanted to die. His death was sudden, tragic and very traumatic for those of us who loved him. His name was Mike. He was black.

Like a lot of dogs, Mike liked to run and to go places where he wasn’t supposed to be. That’s the reason we had to keep him in the barn at night, to keep him from getting into trouble. In former days, the old barn used to shelter cattle and the old hay mow remained a great place for dogs and kids. I can remember playing there for hours. There was still some loose hay there even for Mike to lay on. But Mike had other ideas. One night in his desperate attempt to be done with the confines of his spacious and secure prison, Mike made his escape. It wasn’t easy. I can picture him working at it for tireless hours as he gradually chewed and clawed his way through the wooden board and batting, finally pushing his body out through to what he believed to be his hard fought for freedom.

In the common style of those old cattle barns, the ground fell away to the back side where the cows would enter the stalls below the mow. Mike’s chain wasn’t long enough to allow his body to reach the ground below. The next morning, my eyes awoke to the sight of Mike’s body, his black fur sleek and shiny and beautiful in the light of day, hanging lifeless against the side of that old barn. We buried Mike in the orchard just below the barn and fashioned a wooden cross to mark his grave. We carved his name in the cross – Mike.

Mike lives on in my memory though, as a testimony to a profound truth about dogs and people. While our Master knows what’s best for us (He really does), sometimes in our relentless determination we will get what we want, even if it kills us.

7 Things That Inspire Me To No End

2010-09-16T12:32:00.002-03:00

1. The incredible and relentless beauty of this amazing world that God has made - the whole earth is filled with His glory

2. People who rise above the prejudices and biases of others to become more than the world thinks they are capable of becoming! We call them underdogs.

3. People who endure great trials and hardship, and not only survive, but thrive! These people are so much more than survivors, they are champions.

4. Sweet old people who live with bitter sorrow and disappointment but still greet life and others with a smile and portray the hope of life that we all need so desperately

5. The people in our church family who are constantly there, not only for each other, but for others who in many cases they don’t even know

6. Givers and forgivers

7. Jesus the perfectly beautiful one!

Sincerely Stupid

2010-09-08T17:11:00.003-03:00

You may have seen this on the news but there is a pastor in Gainesville, Florida who is promoting his intentions to publicly burn the Koran (actually as many as he can get his hands on) this coming Saturday September 11th on the front lawn of his church building. He has a large container parked there full of wood with a big sign on it saying ‘International Burn A Koran Day’. Not surprisingly, his intentions have caught the attention of the media and he is being solidly condemned by just about everyone. So far he isn’t backing down.

His name is Terry Jones. He wears a hand gun strapped to his waist which may not be that scandalous in Florida, I don’t know. His congregation consists of about 30 people. He may not have a lot of ‘followers’ but he is certainly gaining notoriety! I watched an interview he did (I think with ABC?) and he seems pretty sincere. He calls the Koran the devil’s book and says that if Jesus were here in body today he would tell us to burn it.

The top general in Afghanistan has even gotten involved as there is a lot of concern that if Terry Jones goes ahead and actually burns those books there will be an unbelievable backlash in the form of violence as a retaliatory response from militant Muslim groups world wide.

I can’t quite figure out what he hopes to accomplish really. He says he wants to send a message but what message is he sending? There is still a chance he may recant because he does say they are still “praying about it”. I sure hope he does, but he has kind of ‘painted himself into a corner’ as they say.

Now, this is an extreme situation with dire consequences but the same scenario plays out millions of times a day in lesser forms as sincere Christians mistakenly think that we can say anything we want, just because we believe it is true, without taking any responsibility for the repercussions of our words. In this way, our words become reckless rather than pointed. They become careless rather than purposeful. And people get hurt rather than helped.

The Bible says we are to speak the truth in love. I guess Terry forgot the love part. And it was Jesus who also said that we are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. This plan of Terry Jones' would be disqualified on both counts don’t you think?!

Fingerprinted

2010-09-02T16:09:00.002-03:00

Before coming to Christ I did a lot of things that I am not proud of. But last month was the first time in my life that I had to be fingerprinted.

If you are familiar with our church you will know that we follow a rigorous protocol for all of our children and youth ministries, part of which involves a screening process for all workers that includes mandatory police checks. Even though I don’t get to be involved a lot directly in our children’s or youth ministries, I have always felt it was important to go through the process and the training myself as well.

Anyway, Tracey called me back in August to remind me that mine and Florence’s police checks were going to ‘run out’ in a few weeks time and needed to be renewed. I thanked her for the reminder and we headed in that week to the police station to fill out and submit the forms. When we went to pick up the completed paperwork a week later however, I got a surprise. The girl behind the glass handed Florence her paperwork and then turning to me said, “I can’t give you yours.” And before I had any time to start wondering what was going on, she proceeded to tell me about a new policy that had just been enacted and this is how it works. If you are a male and there is any other male in Canada that was born on your birth date and has been convicted of a sexual offense, then the only way you can get a police check clearance is to be fully finger printed and to have those prints sent to Ottawa.

Well, what can I say? You gottta do what you gotta do. I had to pay $28.50 in cash and was led away to a back room where the young constable from Newfoundland proceeded to create two full sets of prints with my hands. It was a weird feeling. I know that I have not committed any type of offense that will see any repercussions from their search, but I have to tell you that it still felt kind of weird, almost like a violation of sorts. So, I just kept reminding myself that it was for a good and necessary cause. If the system prevents even one child from being abused then so be it.

And then as I was leaving, they dropped the other bomb and told me that it could take up to 4 months for it to come back!!! Now, that could create some real difficulties for our fall programs. So, if you’re reading this and you’re a children's worker or youth worker, don’t waste any time. Just keep reminding yourself that it is for a good and necessary cause – the safety of innocent little ones.

You Hold Me Now

2010-08-25T17:56:00.003-03:00

Well, this is my last week of vacation and so I'm going to post one more song video choice for you to take a look at. Again, this song is getting some good radio play on Christian stations and it is really an extremely good song but what makes it even more amazing is that this guy is only 16 years old. That's right.

His name is Robert Pierre and here is an excerpt from his web page:

"Most kids go through a lot of changes in middle and high school, but not many hit adolescence with a record deal and a huge youth tour—and still keep up their grades. Meet Robert Pierre, an Orlando teen with a big voice and an even bigger heart—a talented basketball and lacrosse player and honors high school student who has found his Identity, and who’s reaching out to ’tweens and teens with the message that they don't need to look to the world to define who they are."

I have to admit that I felt a little odd when I read that his target audience is 'tweens and teens' but I just have to say I really like the song and his sound. But, you might want to share this guy with your kids or grand kids. I just did.

You can check out his web page here.

But first check out this song:

QUE Box

2010-08-17T17:36:00.003-03:00

Hey, you want to see a little something that is an exciting part of something really big coming this fall to FBC.

Check out this video and for more info, talk to pastor Geoff. He will probably be sharing more about all of this when he speaks this coming Sunday morning.

Very exciting stuff and I'm not just saying that. This is going to be really BIG.

Come As You Are

2010-08-11T13:15:00.002-03:00

Here's another song that I am having a hard time getting out of my head these days, which is actually a good thing, because it is a very powerful song. It's called 'Come As You Are' by the band Pocket Full of Rocks. Have a listen.

More Like Falling In Love

2010-08-05T17:14:00.005-03:00

I am taking some vacation time over the next few weeks and so I don't really intend on blogging a whole lot. But I thought I might post a video or two.

This song by Jason Gray is getting lots of play on Christian radio these days and I like it.

"Give me rules, I will break them. Show me lines, I will cross them ... It's gotta be more like falling in love than something to believe in; more like losing my heart, than giving my allegiance... cause all religion ever made of me was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet..."

Seems to capture the biblical idea of a relationship with Christ, the Living Word.

It won't let me embed the studio version but here is Jason playing it himself on his acoustic which is pretty cool.

Have a listen.

King For A Day

2010-07-29T14:40:00.001-03:00

A while back I was reading in 2Sam 15 where David experiences some of the worst pain of his life (part of the fallout from ‘Bathsheba Gate’). David’s son Absalom has gotten it into his heart to betray and overthrow his father the king. The story unfolds with incredible drama, of course, but one aspect of the story that caught my attention as I read it again was the way in which Absalom set out to win the hearts of the people of Israel.

Here is how the passage reads:

“He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice."
Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” 2Sam 15:2-6

Thus begins the horrendous rebellion of Absalom against the king that would lead to a father’s broken heart and a son’s ultimate demise. There is lots about the story, and this portion of it, that warrants our attention, but one particular aspect of this portion that I find particularly interesting is the way that Absalom exploited the people’s personal discontent. He used a classic line. He said, in effect, “If I were king, things would be different.”

The account provides some great insight into the human heart, for the truth is, we all tend to think far too highly of our own opinions and judgments. Have you ever marveled over how, with but a few words, we are quickly and easily able to solve the great problems that other people face which seem to have proven too difficult and perplexing for them? What a great place the world would be if we were king!

This scenario plays itself out over and over again. The story of Absalom is a classic example of our own attitude, so often, day in and day out, all hearkening back to the great archetype of fallen-ness, the devil himself, whose great pride was to think of himself beyond what he really was. And thus the proverb – pride goes before a fall.

I’m sure we’ve all been on both sides of it. We’re doing a job we have done for years and someone who has never done it comes along with some critical advice for us! Yeah, you’ve had it happen. But how often has that other person been us? How often have we been the ones with the ‘simple solutions’ to other people’s problems? How often do we stand outside at the gate, engaged in great talk, thinking ourselves superior to those who are busy in kingdom work?

I think George Burns expressed it quite well when he said, “It’s too bad that the people who really know how to run the country are all too busy driving taxis and cutting hair.”

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” James 3:13

Peace

2010-07-22T20:41:00.003-03:00

Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…”

It is an interesting admonition in a way. When we think of someone ruling we tend to think of forcefulness. When we think of peace we tend to think of being left alone to do our thing. The two concepts could almost be seen as being somehow in opposition to each other.

But there is a very important spiritual principle at work here. As the old saying goes, there is no peace without victory. In order for us to have peace, all opposition must be subdued. It is in fact a biblical irony (one of many). We must surrender to the rule of Christ in order to experience true freedom.

The spiritual principle is not without parallel in the secular realm. The famous ‘Pax Romana’ or ‘Peace of Rome’ existed because of Rome’s ability to crush any and all opposition to its rule of law. The result was one of the greatest times of peace and stability the world has known and the time chosen by the Father to send His Son into the world.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of Christ, The Prince of Peace, saying:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”
Isa 9:6,7

That makes a strong connection between the peace that Christ will bring and His ability to ‘uphold’ it with His ‘reign’.

On a personal level, as those who would experience the Lord’s peace in our lives, we have to understand that the only way that this is going to happen is if we surrender to His Lordship of our lives.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” To pray that prayer with real understanding we must be willing that God’s will be done in our hearts and lives first and foremost.

We really need to come to grips with this fact – it isn’t just peace we need, it’s His peace. And His peace is not just the absence of that which would molest, it is the very presence of God.

Abolutely

2010-07-14T13:55:00.004-03:00

If you travel the Trans-Canada Highway in Nova Scotia between Truro and New Glasgow you will enter Pictou County. If you take exit 19 at Saltsprings onto Route 4, then take a right and travel about 5 kilometers, then turn left onto Route 376 and continue for another 5 kilometers, then turn left onto Durham Road to Scotsburn, then travel 4 kilometers and turn left onto O. MacLean Road and then travel another 3 kilometers up the rocky incline of Fitzpatrick mountain, you will come to the beautiful Stonehame Lodge. As you come into the large cleared area at the crown of the mountain where the lodge and chalets are located, if you look back over your shoulder you will be treated to the beautiful maritime panoramic view of the historic Pictou Harbour. If you look forward and to your right you will notice a very large rock. If you look close at that rock you will see a plaque set at the front of it. You might have to get out of your vehicle to actually read what it says but I will paste the text for you here.

This is how it reads:

“Howard Smith was a bachelor who farmed here on Fitzpatrick Mountain in the early 1900’s. One day he told some of his neighbors that he was going to blast a huge rock out of one of his fields, but promised that he would get help doing it. That afternoon a blast was heard by neighbors and they assumed that the rock had been demolished. The next day, July 14, 1938, his brother stopped by to see him but only found the door open to his little cottage and some of Howard’s blood stained clothes on the bed. A search party was conducted and Howard’s body was found a short distance from his barn. This is the rock that tragically took Howard’s life and is a symbol of the hardships many faced during these times. It has been placed here in his memory and the memory of all those who toiled over this land.”

As I stood in front of that rock and read those words, an old saying slipped into my mind – ‘A little hard work never hurt anyone’! The saying is generally true, but not absolutely true. It killed Howard Smith. Some things are absolutely true. Other things are more generally true. And of course, some things are just plain false. We must be careful to distinguish between what is true and what is false, but we also need to be careful to distinguish between the things that are generally true and the things that are absolute.

As Christians, we bemoan how the world refuses to recognize the existence of absolute truth. This is a great folly for sure and one that ultimately leads to destruction. However, we must be careful that we do not make the opposite mistake by not recognizing the fact that most things are in fact relative. God Himself illustrates the point by giving us the OT book of Proverbs, a collection of sayings that are generally true. Though the book of Proverbs does contain some absolute statements, particularly the ones about God who does not change, it is mostly filled with statements that are more general in nature.

Of course, the main theme of the book of Proverbs is wisdom and it would appear that a large part of wisdom is the ability to distinguish between the things that change and the things that change not, for the God who changes not, is after all, very interested in change. Make no mistake about that.

"God, grant us the serenity to accept things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

God's Job

2010-07-07T14:13:00.002-03:00

I have noticed a tendency that we have in general to think of God and His role in our lives in a way that is woefully inadequate. It is very pervasive in our society at large and even seems present a lot of the time within the professing Christian community as well.

In some ways it is kind of subtle because we like to emphasize God’s grace and forgiveness and rightly so. However, we tend to adopt a belief system that goes something like this: I am free to pretty much live my life as I please (don’t anyone have the audacity to bring me up on it because that is just plain unacceptable), I can make all kinds of decisions without much regard for God’s word or will for my life, and should I find myself suddenly (though it really isn’t sudden at all) in a place where I don’t like to be (which is inevitable and shouldn’t come as a surprise at all) that I can then always simply call out to God, and furthermore, He is obligated to rescue me because somehow, we reason, that’s what He is there for. In our minds, God being God means that He is always there for us in our time of need. That’s just what He does. It’s His job! If you have a problem with your plumbing you call a plumber, if you have a problem with your electrical you call an electrician …

When we think this way, we have a good handle on some real truth. God is always there and He is able to meet our needs and He is more than able to rescue us. But, unfortunately, we are missing some real important parts. God isn’t just there to rescue us when we feel we need Him. He is there to direct our paths. God is looking for obedience. He cares for us, more than we realize, but He intends to save us from a lot of heartache by directing us and calling us to obey Him. We must be careful to understand that there is a difference between faith in God and presuming upon Him.

Perhaps the biggest problem with our tendency to think the way we often do is that we really miss out on the kind of involvement God wants in our lives. God doesn’t need a job. Nor does He even want one. What He does want is a relationship. When we confine God to the role of being our giant rescuer in times of trouble we are leaving Him out of so much of our lives, that in effect we are actually using Him. And God is not interested in being used. He wants a full-out love relationship with us. This is what it means when it says in the Bible that God is a jealous God. It means He wants our full love and He deserves it.

If you read the Bible you will find some characters in it that got themselves into the habit of thinking of God in this way (Sampson comes to mind) until one day God just didn’t show up!!!

Caring

2010-06-30T14:22:00.001-03:00

The prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus ‘carried our sorrows’. (Isa 53). I know that Jesus is the unique sin bearer and I would not want in any way to equate our personal ministry as Christians with the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. But I do believe that this idea of Christ carrying our sorrows can help us in our understanding of what it means to really care about people.

I was visiting in the home of a dear Christian lady a while back who was in a great deal of pain. I tried my best to comfort her and before leaving I prayed with her and her husband and I placed my hands on her and I prayed for her that God would intervene and bring her relief and healing. But sometime afterward I found myself crying.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of how closely related the two words ‘carry’ and ‘care’ are but I think it has got to be significant. I remember hearing one time that in at least one language (and I don’t remember which one) the word for compassion translates literally into English as ‘your pain in my heart’. When we care for people their pain and sorrow stays with us and we carry it around with us in our hearts.

One of my favorite passages is from Paul’s letter to the Romans where he tells us that we are to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” Somehow, life just doesn’t seem real unless we are able to do both.

But that’s not the end of it, is it. If we were to take unto ourselves all of the hurts of others along with our own burdens, allowing them to simply accumulate, there is no way we would be able to bear it. We would sink before we made it through a day. We are instructed to ‘carry each others burdens’ and by so doing ‘fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2), but there remains one more important thing to do with all of this. The apostle Peter tells us that we are to “cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us.” (1Pet 5:7)

Together, as a community of faith, we must learn to go to God continually and give it all over to the only One who is really able to bear up under it all.

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Heb 4:16

Restoration

2010-06-24T14:14:00.003-03:00

I had a favorite shirt that always hung by the stove at home. It was the casual, comfortable shirt that I would slip on when I was just hanging around the house and needed to add another layer. But, as it happens, over the course of time it wore out. When I showed it to Florence she took it and headed for the rag bag saying, “If I was my mother I would take all of the buttons off of it and put them in a tin.” And I remembered my mom’s button can which was really cool when I was a kid.

Back in the day, I’m quite certain that every mom had a button tin. I don’t think it’s common anymore but back then it was a given. The reason for it I think was quite simple – how could you ever even think of throwing away a perfectly good button? You never know when you’re going to need one! ‘Waste not – want not’ was the motto of the day for sure. I’m from the generation that watched my mother save the wax paper from the shredded wheat packets so she could use them to wrap our sandwiches for school. How many of you can relate?

It’s a different day for sure. Today, we live in a much more ‘disposable’ society. I know that to some degree it is inevitable. Things change and technology moves us along. It becomes cheaper to replace something than to fix it. I understand that. And I don’t really think very many of us today are prepared to say good-bye to tissue paper and go shopping for a 'hanky' instead. But I can’t help but feel that there is just something wrong with our willingness to dispose of things so readily and to just buy new. When are we being practical and when are we only capitulating to the consumer culture of convenience?

There is something to be said for the task of restoring something that’s old. I found an old jack knife in some of my dad’s stuff a few years back. It was corroded quite badly but something compelled me to go to work and see what I could do with it. I’m sure I could have purchased a new one for far less than the ‘sweat equity' I put into restoring that old pocket knife and it still doesn’t look quite like new. But I actually like it better because somehow it just means more. Not just because it was my dad’s either though that is part of it.

One of the books that I have on my summer reading list that I’m looking forward to getting into is ‘Broken Down House’ by Paul Tripp. In the book he relates how excited his father-in-law was when he bought an old broken down house. He was having a hard time understanding the man’s enthusiasm until he came to understand that his joy was found in the prospect of all he could do to fix it up. He goes on to say how much we are like that broken down house. I’m really glad that God is into restoration.

Dad

2010-06-16T17:25:00.002-03:00

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day. Earlier this month was the anniversary of my dad’s passing. He’s been gone twenty years now and even as I write that I find it difficult to believe that it has been that long. I miss him.

Father’s Day coincides with the garden season and it is impossible for me to garden without thinking of my father. He was an amazing gardener. He loved it and he was good at it. I learned from him how to garden.

He wasn’t an agriculturalist. He was just an old fashioned gardener. An agriculturalist might instruct you to periodically loosen up the soil around the plant to allow oxygen into the soil which is vital to the root system. My dad never said that. But he did tell me that “plants like to be worked around.” I think I like his explanation better actually. Even as a young boy it just seemed so easy for me to receive and to understand this simple instruction, what some might call ‘folk wisdom’.

To all you dads out there, please take the time. I know that it might seem really difficult at times to be there but remember that you have one of the two most important jobs in the whole world.

When it was looking like rain this week I went out and took the little hoe that my mom gave me after my dad died. He always used this little hoe especially for this purpose because it is small and light and sharp and you can really work the soil with it. I worked the soil all around our tomatoes and peppers. They liked it.

The Way Up

2010-06-09T11:46:00.001-03:00

Everyone wants to feel good. But there is a real problem with making that our life’s goal. How we feel is not, or should not be, the bottom line. Feelings make great companions but lousy leaders. If you are led by your feelings you’ll end up somewhere you don’t want to be.

Sometimes as Christians we get wanting to feel spiritual and we pursue that. We make it our aim. And we judge how well we think we’re doing by it. But here is a big problem - the more spiritual you get the less spiritual you’ll feel. The more humble you get, the less humble you’ll feel. The closer you get to God, the larger your own inadequacies appear. The more mature you get as a believer, the more you realize how incredibly far away from God’s holy and perfect will you really are.

Of course, there is a great paradox in all of this. Jesus said that the way up is the way down. He who humbles himself will be exalted. If you want to be great, become a servant of all.

So, if you really, really want to feel spiritual, become a total hypocrite. I think that hypocrites are the only ones who really feel spiritual. Or here is a better idea - forget about trying to feel spiritual and choose faith. Put your focus where it needs to be, on Christ, and rest in the assurance that His grace is sufficient regardless of how you might feel at any particular time.

Taking Credit

2010-06-03T11:46:00.006-03:00

Some time ago I had someone express to me their disdain for how contemporary Christian artists take the secular sound and write Christian lyrics to it and call it Christian music. This person, not a Christian, suggested to me that this is what Christians do; we don’t have anything really of our own, we just keep stealing ideas and concepts from the secular world and calling it ours.

I can see how someone could think that way. However, one of the problems with this view is that it fails to recognize that the ‘secular sound’ was influenced in a big way by earlier gospel traditions. So who is imitating who one might be caused to wonder really. And what about other areas?

It is not unusual for people to take credit for things without really giving credit where credit is due. I’m sure we are all guilty of this type of behaviour as it is simply part of fallen human nature. We are quite eager to take credit and quite reluctant to give it. However, it seems to me that a lot of contemporary academic movements seem to excel in the practice.

Back in 1970, leadership guru Robert Greenleaf came up with an amazing breakthrough in Leadership Philosophy. He called it ‘servant leadership’. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it all:

“Servant leadership is a philosophy and practice of leadership, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and supported by many leadership and management writers such as James Autry, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max DePree, Larry Spears, Margaret Wheatley, Jim Hunter, Kent Keith, Ken Jennings, Don Frick and others. Servant-leaders achieve results for their organizations by giving priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve. Servant-leaders are often seen as humble stewards of their organization's resources (human, financial and physical)… The modern servant leadership movement was launched by Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, ‘The Servant as Leader’, in which he coined the terms ‘servant-leader’ and ‘servant leadership.’ Greenleaf subsequently published a number of additional essays on various aspects of servant leadership. Since his death in 1990, the concept has been developed by other writers such as William W. George, James Autry, Ken Blanchard, Jim Hunter, Ken Jennings, Kent Keith, George SanFacon, and Larry Spears.”

The thing that most of these writers have in common is that none of them, to my knowledge, are writing from a biblical context. And yet, who really ‘coined and defined’ servant leadership? I would humbly suggest to you that it was Jesus.

“Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matt 20:25-28

After Jesus washed the disciples feet (Jn 13) He said, “I have done this to you as an example that you should do as I have done.”

Recently I was reading an article by Linda Hill in the prestigious Harvard Business Review. The online article was entitled ‘Leading From Behind’ (May 5/2010). There she wrote as follows:

“This post is part of a six-week blog series on how leadership might look in the future. The conversations generated by these posts will help shape the agenda of a symposium on the topic in June 2010… For now and into the coming decade or so, the most effective leaders will lead from behind, not from the front — a phrase I've borrowed from none other than Nelson Mandela. In his autobiography, Mandela equated a great leader with a shepherd: "He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind."

Then she adds these profound words, “It's a concept whose time has come.”

Shepherding? Leading from behind? An idea whose time has come? Really? Or is it a concept whose time has been for a long, long time? Here once again are those on the ‘cutting edge’ of the highest levels of secular academia putting forth what they consider to be the latest and greatest and I’m sure people flock (pardon the pun)to their lectures and book sales.

The simple truth is that the model of the leader as shepherd is owned by the Bible in a really big way. I hardly need to explain that for anyone who actually reads the Bible. Whether it is David’s Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”. Or whether it is Jesus’ wonderful words, “I am the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep…”. Or, whether it is a myriad of other references from the prophets and apostles that use the same model for leadership, the concept is clearly biblical in its orientation.

Furthermore, I read this passage a few days ago:

“Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel.” 2Sam 7:8

When God talks about David ‘following the flock’ that sure sounds like the concept of ‘leading from behind’ to me.

So, what does this all mean? Well, the whole thing about ‘servant leadership’ and ‘leading from behind’ means a whole lot if you are striving to be a good leader. That’s for sure. But beyond that, the whole thing means we all really should be more careful to give credit where credit is due.

“Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” Rom 13:7

Jury Duty

2010-05-26T17:48:00.000-03:00

For the second time in my life I got summoned for jury duty in a supreme court trial this month. The first time I was a student in Saskatchewan and filed the paperwork to be excused and was. This time, I filed the paper work to be excused and my request was denied by the judge who obviously didn’t consider my time to be any more valuable than anyone else's.

Honestly, I would love the experience of being on a jury. I took law in high school and we got to walk up town and sit in on a trial at the same court house and I believe it would have been a very interesting and educational experience. But this trial is scheduled to take close to three weeks!

Anyway, I went in at the appointed time and we began the tedious process known as jury selection. I was sitting there wondering how a defense attorney would like to have a baptist pastor on the jury but looking around me at the large number of people that had been called and thinking it probably didn’t matter anyway as the odds were in my favor. But then, they called on all those who had medical issues, hearing loss or financial concerns and dismissed them. The ranks were thinning.

Then it happened. According to procedure, the crown attorney read the list of all the witnesses they intended to call. So, I got in line, put my hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (or something like that) and took the stand (actually sitting). The judge asked me why I thought I should be excused. I told him that I knew a certain gentlemen quite well whose name was on that list, and that was it! I was out that door quicker than you can say Matlock. I called Florence on my cell and told her I was free! (those are my exact words).

Then I started to think back on my experience. The only reason that judge said to me that I was ‘free to go’ was because I knew someone. And that is how it will be some day. We will all stand before the judge of all the earth and the only thing that will matter on that day is whether or not we know Jesus Christ personally. No other issue will matter. And if it is determined that we really know Him, or more to the point, that He knows us!, then, and only then, will we be ‘free to go’. You see, it really is WHO you know.

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed… Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 8:36 ; 17:3

The Man In The Mirror

2010-05-19T16:42:00.008-03:00

How do you see yourself? They say that how you view yourself will ultimately determine how you live your life. I think I believe that. I’ve been reading lately in 2Samuel. In the events recorded in 2Samuel 7, David tells the prophet Nathan that he wants to build God a house (a temple). God’s message back to David, again through Nathan, includes God’s promise to build David a ‘house’. The reference is to David’s linage which of course becomes a promise of the Messiah who was, you will recall, of the ‘house’ of David.

But in David’s prayer to God in response to this amazing announcement back from the Lord to him (2Sam 7:18-29) David refers to himself no less than 10 times in these 12 verses as ‘your servant’. By this time of course, God has taken David from following sheep to leading the nation but, even as king, David exalts in his role as God’s servant.

And David isn’t alone. Throughout the Old Testament and into the New, we see patriarchs, prophets, priests, kings, disciples and apostles all alike relishing the role of servant of God. This isn’t just a few references. Go ahead and check it out. There are hundreds.

And the same is true coming from the other direction as God seems to share in the delight of calling those He chooses to be ‘His servants’. Again, check it out … “… My servant Abraham… My servant Moses… My servant Caleb…"

God also took the phrase ‘my servant’ and by the lips of Isaiah made it into a messianic title…. “Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my Chosen One in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations…. See, my Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him – His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness…”

To be a servant is one thing but to be God’s servant, well, that is something else. What an exalted title it is when you put God’s name with it. We are not just servants. We are called to be His servants.

Now honestly, if you take that title, really believing it to be your own, honestly, how do you see yourself? And how do you then live your life?

Water Under The Bridge

2010-05-13T21:13:00.003-03:00

Do you know how many phrases and expressions we commonly use in our English language that actually have their origin in the Bible? I bet you don’t. I don’t either, but I know there are a whole lot of them. And every time I come across one, I am reminded again of how integral the Bible is to the fabric of our society even when we don’t realize it. The troubling part about this is that when we thoughtlessly dismiss our Christian heritage and walk away from it we have really no idea what all we are leaving behind! No idea.

Anyway, I came across this passage a while back.

“You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.” Job 11:16

Isn’t that beautiful? I immediately thought of the expression ‘water under the bridge’.

I live beside a river and when the weather is warm we sometimes have the opportunity to spend some time in and around the water. The river is mesmerizing. The way it moves can be almost hypnotic. I can remember as a kid often finding a piece of wood or something to throw into the water just to watch it pass out of sight… gone!

[Remember the fascination of that ½ hour show about the little wooden Indian in his canoe that the CBC did back in 1966 called ‘Paddle To The Sea’?]

Time is like water. It flows. It never stops. It is unstoppable. And sometimes we lament that. There is a certain melancholy sense one gets deep in your heart when you just simply stand and watch the water flow on. There is a feeling of loss just like we feel about time as it is passing … passing … passing…

But then, as this passage from Job reminds us, there is also something very good about that too. Because all of us have things in our lives that we want to see pass away.

You may have had someone say to you that when you think of your troubles you should remember ‘this too shall pass’. There is a lot of comfort in that.

This Too Shall Pass

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

...Helen Steiner Rice

Charity

2010-05-06T11:57:00.002-03:00

Charity is the old English word for loving kindness. We commonly use the word ‘love’ now instead but, unfortunately when we do, we normally mean something less.

I was working outside one day this past week and the radio was on. You know how sometimes you’re listening, not really paying close attention, but then something just catches you and causes you to really think. This was one of those times.

An ad came on promoting a golf tournament; an ‘all inclusive’ 4 days and 3 nights at a beautiful resort and spa complete with numerous celebrity appearances and amazing live entertainment. As I kind of listened, not thinking too much of it, they continued to sell the excellent features of this entertainment extravaganza. You know how that goes… nothing but the best of everything… And then they added, “… and you can help the underprivileged at the same time!”

Now, up to this point I was not particularly paying a whole lot of attention but that last statement suddenly struck me as odd. There’s nothing odd about golf (though it may appear so to some) and charity shouldn’t seem odd to us. But putting the two together is just … odd! I’m not much of a golfer but I think it’s called the ‘East Coast Classic’. It’s a ‘fund raising’ tournament. In fact, they call it ‘a charitable golf experience like no other’.

Call me cynical, but isn’t there something somewhat disturbing about this? I know that this type of fund raising is extremely common. So much so, that it seems to be the preferred method. Everybody is doing it. I know of a Bible College that has a golf tournament to raise funds for their school. And it seems like every time I turn around someone is selling tickets on something to raise money for some worthy cause.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud the organizers of these events for the most part (except when it comes to lotteries and such which I have some real issues with, but that’s another story). These people, often volunteers, do a really good job of raising a real lot of money for some really good causes. But I have to wonder about the people who are being targeted for these types of events. In my mind, I can just picture someone who has more money than the average person paying out a significant amount in order to personally benefit from the enjoyment of the very best his money can buy and somehow managing at the same time to give himself a pat on the back, his conscience eased for another year.

What do you call that? Maybe it’s a really good thing, but it is hardly charity; not when you get everything you pay for. What have you really given? At the most, maybe the crumbs off of your table. What place have we come to when a good cause must be sustained almost entirely by appealing to the self-interest of the rich? I guess I am cynical.

Social Networking

2010-04-29T13:28:00.003-03:00

Social Networking - It’s not new. Even if the phrase is trendy, the concept is older than the human race. But, what IS continually new is the technology we use to do it. This blog is an example of social networking, but hardly compared to things like facebook, twitter and texting. And with the ongoing advent of extremely innovative and powerful technology, there is a growing problem, not unlike the problem we are seeing with the increased potency of various medications available today.

A new study out this past week indicates that American college students may be ‘addicted’ to instant connections. According to researchers at the University of Maryland, the words commonly associated with drug and alcohol addictions are the same words used by students to describe how they feel when they are forced to go without these connections for any length of time. They speak of withdrawal, craving, anxiety … and they say they get frantic, antsy, miserable, jittery and even crazy.

The researchers who did the study, asking students to go without the use of social media for one 24 hour period, concluded that most college students seem practically unable to function without these connections.

There is a question as to whether this is about the social media itself, or about relationships? I’m thinking more the latter. One student wrote afterward how, “texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort.”

The old saying goes, the more things change, the more they become the same. I can remember passing notes in class and being reprimanded on an ongoing basis, along with pretty much everyone else, for ‘talking’ in class. And since when is it new for teens to spend hours talking on the phone with their friends?

People haven’t changed but there is a huge warning in all of this. If we fail to control the technology, the technology will end up controlling us. As we are being enabled to connect more often with more people in more ways, we are going to need more self-control.

That’s not really that comforting at a time when self-control seems to be at a premium. However, we can’t just give in to this. We need to challenge ourselves and our children to know their boundaries, set limits and seek to live balanced lives. As great and as wonderful as ‘social networking’ is, there are times when we need to be free from it so that we can give our full attention to the task (or the person!) at hand.

And there are times when we really need to be alone too. This allows us quality time with God focusing completely on our relationship with Him, meditating on what His Word says to us. God has left us a very large and critically important text message and prayer is the most important connection we have.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Lessons From The Wood Pile

2010-04-22T15:09:00.004-03:00

I was off on Tuesday so I decided after the rain let up to get a start on my wood pile. Although I get little time normally to do physical labour, and as a result am not in the best of shape for it, it still feels good, even though it hurts.

For one thing, it’s nice to be able to do something where you can actually see the ongoing progress of your effort and watch things come together. You can take a step back at anytime and, even though your back may ache a little, the satisfaction is there to soothe it. There’s nothing like that sense of accomplishment. Ah!

For a man, a good wood pile is a beautiful thing to behold. The last time my brother in law Doug was at our place he casually commented upon entering ‘nice wood pile’. Now, how many women do you know that would say that? Huh? And really mean it! It’s definitely a guy thing.

For the uninitiated, you need to realize that you don’t really pile fire wood anyway. You build a wood pile and it takes some skill to do it well. It is especially important to carefully select and skillfully place the pieces in the bottom section. I know it’s not rocket science. Anyone can tell you that the foundation of anything is always the most important part. However, with a wood pile you have the added factor that you are just going to tear the whole thing down in a couple of months anyway when it is time to put it in. So, you don’t want to spend inordinate amounts of time with it. But then again, the last thing you want is for the whole thing to blow over in a weeks time when the first good gust of wind hits it.

Working with firewood is not precision work. The shapes and sizes are awkward; never really symmetrical and no two pieces are the same. But then there’s that time factor again. And so it happens that as you build each rank there are times when you need to ‘sure it up’. Here comes the ‘technical’ part of it. Stay with me on this. It is at this point that you need to employ the use of some ‘stabilizers’. A ‘stabilizer’ is a specifically chosen piece inserted at a strategic location which serves to strengthen the entire rank. (No, you can’t buy them at the hardware store, you have to find them yourself by carefully searching through your wood pile.)

So as I’m working away on my wood pile (with the Bonanza theme music running through my head… where did that come from?) I’m thinking about life. And I find myself wondering, what are the ‘stabilizers’ that I need to have in place to prevent my life from becoming precarious? They may not be large because size is not the issue. Upon casual observance, they won’t even be noticeable to others. But what are those little things that we carefully choose and strategically place in our lives that give real stability to our living?

You’ll have to forgive me but this is just how my mind works and it never stops. I see a lesson in every rock, a precept in every task, a principle at work in every cranny of creation. So for what it’s worth here it is.

We can have all kinds of zeal and passion for life and all the energy to go with it, but if we are not consciously taking the time to carefully and continually insert key elements in strategic locations in the routine of our lives as we build from day to day, at some point the whole thing could just quite suddenly all fall over! In fact, isn’t this what we see happening every day all around us – people’s lives falling apart?

At this point (if you’re still reading!) you’re probably wondering what those elements are or should be. I hesitate to do that thinking for you, but for me they include things like these… being thankful… being accountable… being honest with my wife… regular Bible reading and prayer… doing things for others… being content … taking time to really listen…

Meeting People Where They’re At

2010-04-14T22:06:00.006-03:00

At one time in our society the search for truth reigned supreme. If you could show that something was true, then you had won the day. But a strange thing has happened in our post modern situation. Not only is there a cynicism regarding the existence of any kind of absolute truth, there is also a complacency about the whole matter.

In his book ‘A Life That Matters’, Ron Hutchcraft talks about a story that Ravi Zacharias tells. Ravi had just addressed a large crowd at an Ivy League university where he had presented a powerful case for Christianity and one of his associates was debating with four students who had stayed behind. The four of them argued while Ravi’s friend skillfully answered every objection they raised. Finally, after about an hour had passed, one of the students, who seemed to speak for the others comes out with this – “To be honest with you, I think most of what that man had to say is true – And I don’t care.”!!!

What an incredible admission that is! It illustrates very profoundly where so many people are at in these days we live in. It isn’t just that people don’t believe. They don’t care!!!

So what should we do? Give up? I don’t think so. That’s where people are at but we need to meet them where they are at. Like Jesus did. People in this day and age are very pragmatic. They might not care about what is ‘true’, but they care very much about what works and what doesn’t. People don’t want to acknowledge that truth exists because they want be a law unto themselves. However, they can’t escape the consequences. They may not care about what is true but they want to be happy because everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to have a good life or what they perceive to be a good life. And so, this must become our starting point with people. It is the crack in their armor that makes them vulnerable to the truth. For as they say, what works might not always be true, but what is true always works.

Of course we need to be careful with this line of approach. We don’t want to paint some kind of rosy gospel … “come to Jesus and all your problems will just go away and life will become easy”. But having said that, we do believe that living by the principles of the truth of God’s word does tend to make for a better life. There is a natural cause and effect. Sin is how life doesn’t work; how life wasn’t designed to work. There is an inherent reward in doing what is right. What is right and what is wise are inseparable.

The woman at the well (John 4) is just one example of how sin doesn’t work. We don’t know for sure the cause of all her relational failure but there is at least an intimation in the text that she was going about relationships all wrong. She was living life her way instead of God’s way which is what sin is. To quote Ron Hutchcraft, “every man was a well for her but she always came up thirsty… Thirsty again, that’s how every earth-relationship, earth-accomplishment and earth-possession leaves us in our souls.”

Yes, we need to be careful with this. Though I disagree with the criticisms often leveled against appealing to ‘felt needs’ they are not completely without merit. Most criticisms have some truth to them. We need to be careful. As Ron says in his book on page 157, “There is, however, a danger in beginning with a person’s felt need: you may skip the cancer and go right to the cure. ‘You’re lonely – and Jesus loves you. You’re searching – and Jesus is the answer.’ But Jesus did not die to rescue us from our loneliness or our depression or our emptiness. He died to rescue us from our sins…Jesus started with the Samaritan woman’s ‘felt need’ but He did use it to lead into a conversation that included the subject of sin.”

So, we need to proceed with caution. But we need to proceed. Because we need to meet people where they are at. Jesus met this woman at her point of need and then he used that ‘felt need’ to point to the greater issue – sin as the problem and Himself as the solution. Our goal should be to try and help people to the place where they are willing to consider the reason for the pain in their lives. This isn’t about just ‘treating the symptoms’. This is about using the symptoms to direct people to the cure. If people can get to the place where they are willing to consider that there is something really wrong then maybe they will be more willing to consider the one true Cure – a personal relationship with Christ that begins with His forgiveness.

This Is How Great God Is

2010-04-05T21:50:00.001-03:00

This is how great God is – every child born is special. Now, you would think that an attempt to emphasize everything (or in this case, everyone) would result in the emphasizing of nothing (or no one). But, that’s how great God is! He can do that! You’d think, in making billions and billions of people that there would be no way for every single person to really be special. But they are. We are. You are. You are special to Him. Even before you were born, when God was knitting you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15,16), God looked at you and said… “Now, this one is really special.”

We read through the Bible and we see men and women like Gideon and Esther and we readily see how they were special but here’s the thing - you are special. And that is NOT just sentimentality. God has a unique plan for every single person born into this world. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of us realize the plan or follow it. But that is our choice. As for God, He has a special plan, and therefore a special love, for every single person and that includes you.

Perhaps you know a mother who has six children. Do you think that they are each and all special to her? What if she had twenty?! Or what if … But that’s how great God is!

They say that no two snow flakes are exactly the same even though they are all alike. I guess if God can do it with snow, He can do it with people.

I think Max Lucado is right. God has your picture on His refrigerator. Because that is how great God is. And because God is so great, He made you special. And, yes, He wants you to feel that way. AND, He wants you to feel that way about everyone else too. Yes, everyone.

Shout

2010-03-30T09:53:00.000-03:00

Isn’t it interesting how you can think about things without really thinking about them?! I mean that it is common for us to think about things without really thinking through the implications of what they really mean or are really all about.

In the church, we sing the worship song ‘Shout To The Lord’. It is taken from Scriptures that we have read a number of times. And yet, I have to say that I don’t recall really thinking that through in the past as to what it is all about.

Shouting is generally not a good thing to do. I have often when speaking to couples given the advice that the only time a child should hear a raised voice in a home is when there is a fire. But now I’m having to rethink that advice because there is at least one other time that it would be good and that is in times of pure, unadulterated excitement of joy!

The Bible says shout to the Lord. Isn’t that fascinating! Why would God want us to shout to Him? It isn’t because He has poor hearing and it isn’t because we are mad at Him or because there is a fire somewhere that we want Him to know about. Then why? What good reason could there be?

I can only really think of one and the implications are truly profound - God wants us to be appropriately excited (read ‘pumped’) about what He does in our lives. That thought challenges me to the core of my being. What about you? Think about it. When’s the last time you shouted to the Lord?

Trusting God With Our Now

2010-03-23T09:21:00.002-03:00

Music is such a powerful medium and it just blesses me how many new songs are being written for the glory of God and the help of His people in our day. Really inspired stuff.

There is a song getting radio play right now that is just that kind of anointed song. Perhaps you’ve heard it, but you might not realize that it is inspired by the true life story of Tim and Paula Beale. The song is Josh Wilson’s ‘Before The Morning’. It’s powerful. And if you have ten minutes today, why don’t you check out their story here. You’ll be glad you did.

Josh Wilson, Tim, Paula & Jayken

Josh Wilson: Before The Morning

Do you wonder why you have to
Feel the things that hurt you
If there’s a God who loves you where is He now
Maybe there are things you can’t see
And all those things are happening
To bring a better ending
Someday somehow you’ll see you’ll see

Would you dare would you dare to believe
That you still have a reason to sing
Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

So hold on you gotta wait for the light
Press on and just fight the good fight
Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning
My friend you know how this all ends
You know where you’re going
You just don’t know how you’ll get there
So say a prayer

And hold on cause there’s good for those who love God
But life is not a snapshot
It might take a little time but you’ll see the bigger picture

Once you feel the weight of glory
All your pain will fade to memory

Would you dare would you dare to believe
That you still have a reason to sing
Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

Come on you gotta wait for the light
Press on and just fight the good fight
Cause the pain that you've been feeling
It's just the hurt before the healing
Oh the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning

More From The Mountain

2010-03-18T12:09:00.004-03:00

This past Sunday morning we spent some time on the 'Mountain of Transfiguration' trying to appreciate what that passage has to teach us and what God wants us to take away from it. We looked at the account in Mark 9 and then at Peter’s later reference to his experience there in 2Peter 1. We didn’t have the time to go to a few other passages that would have been helpful so I have decided to share them here. If you were able to hear the message on Sunday then I urge you to consider the ending you didn’t hear:

James didn’t get to write a whole lot about the experience, maybe because Herod had him killed early on. John simply said it this way, “We have seen His glory.” Jn 1:14

Paul was a little different. He met the glorified Christ after He had risen and ascended. When Paul (then known as Saul) was on the road traveling to Damascus to persecute Christians there, Christ appeared to him in all His glory and Paul’s description of his experience then was very similar to that of Peter, James and John … “I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun…” (Acts 26:13)

Now, as regarding the greatness and significance of Christ and what He means to us as we seek to live for Him, here is what Paul had to say in his letter to the Colossians:

Col 1:15-20
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Col 2:6-10
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

That is where I was really hoping to end up on Sunday but, as I say, the time just wasn’t sufficient for it. But these passages from Paul’s pen go a long way towards helping us appreciate what it means to live a ‘Christ centred’ life. Our focus needs to be always upon Him. What is needed in our lives is not 5 keys to an effective prayer life or 6 steps to a healthy marriage or any other list. Sometimes this type of ‘principle’ approach can produce some desirable results and as such can be part of the big picture. But so often they take our focus off of the main thing upon which everything else depends. If we focus on performance or activity we will not get the results we are ultimately looking for in our lives. The lives we are called to live for Him depend upon us getting to know Christ better every day and trusting Him more in every way. The same goes for those we are trying to reach for Him. We need to consistently be pointing them towards Christ, “… for in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ”.