God Restoring our Vision

Freedom Sunday is over. Eastern Hills Baptist Church’s building is paid off as God’s people worked together to remove the remaining debt. Some gave sacrificially, some gave up their indulgences, and some just gave faithfully every Sunday. It’s a time of celebration, but also a time to reset our sites on our Lord’s perspectives. Ultimately we realize this is not so much new programs, new buildings, new parking lots, or updating old facilities, but setting our sites on those things that are not as tangibly evident.  Those things that can’t be measured on a spreadsheet somewhere but matter just the same if not more.  Tonight during our fellowship we discussed Christ “likeness”, love and light.

I am part of  Jesus’ Church, so I realize if any change or refocusing is going to be made, it is going to start with me.  Not that I will be responsible for any transformations, only the Lord can be responsible for that.  I’m just trying to acknowledge that I’m not going to sit on the sidelines while others do what God reveals to us.  I wish to see where the Father is working and join him. 

Likeness

Certainly the Father’s will is to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.  (Romans 8:29)  We often hear that we should be “Christ-like” in Christian circles; but how exactly was Christ?  Too many times we get this idea of a really nice guy who walked around Galilee in robes and sandals.  He healed everyone he touched, hugged all the kids he could get his hands on and taught in whatever synagog he came across.  Well I personally don’t know if I’m capable of healing anyone, I don’t hug other people’s kids (unless I really know them) and I sure don’t teach everywhere I go.  Plus a robe isn’t the most fashionable thing in the world to wear these days.  So now what?  No wonder I’m so stinkin’ frustrated in my walk with Christ!  We could have  possibly set up a false image of Jesus in our imaginations and accepted it as fact.  Often times Jesus called religious leaders hypocrites, tombs full of dead men’s bones, and cups clean on the outside but filthy on the inside (I picture a really scummy coffee cup, blech!).  This certainly goes against the Mr. Rogers image we have of Him and will certainly do away with any guilt the first time we fall short of our own thoughts of Him, true or not.  We must search the scripture to see who He truly was and what He truly did.  There was time He invested in people and taught those people to invest in other people and help them in their walk with God.  We should conform to this true image that we have available to us through the gospel.

Love

Love must often be pursued.  It takes work to love people, especially those around you.  I love the Banjara people.  I can tell many stories of Sush, Damodar, Nageesh, Samir and others from India who we work annually with, but I honestly have to work to remember my next door neighbor’s name.  I have trouble recalling it now.  We could invite them to dinner one night, just to serve them, but I personally have never made the effort.  That’s the point, how much effort is being made to reach out to strangers so that they might not be strangers to Jesus.  How can one reach a world for Christ when not one person is reached by me?  Love…not my strong suit…no excuses, it must be pursued, effort must be made.

Light

Darkness is ALWAYS vanquished by light.  Light is never diminished by darkness as long as a source is giving off light.  We do not turn on dark.  We turn on the lights and where there is light there is no darkness.  For a world that is in spiritual darkness we as the Church must be a Light to them.  We must help them see to walk with Jesus, to not stumble and to reflect Jesus to them, just as a moon reflects the sun’s light to a world in darkness.  As a church we must be consumed with this purpose, as a fire consumes it’s fuel.  

I’m hoping as a church we will see God’s vision as it is revealed.  We will continue to pray that God will reveal specifics to us as we strive to do His will and put these three things into real people’s lives.

Waking Up

Recently my wife and I have been talking about losing weight.  We both would like to look better, but I personally feel like I lack any real discipline to look the way I would actually like to.  I know that doesn’t sound very positive, and hey I said we’ve been TALKING about it, not that we were committed to anything just yet.  Meditating upon these thoughts and attitudes though, I wonder, when would I ever look or feel my best if not now?  Why not start?  A person only lives once, and it’s not like I’m going to feel like doing this kind of thing when I’m any older.

I think for the past 8 to 9 months my brain has been on auto pilot.  I haven’t thought much about anything besides work, and when I’m home I just veg out.  I am happy to say though, that God is graceful and patient.  He has always been there, nudging me through hard times (and in my mind it seems that’s all there has been in the past year).  There’s been different thoughts forming in my mind though, thoughts once again of India, and missions, discipleship  and writing again!  LIFE!

A good cowboy friend once told me that anything good worth doing is never easy.  Jesus said that difficult and narrow is the path that leads to life.  I think I’m learning all over again that complacency, being comfortable is not the best thing.  Sometimes, we even have to determine in our hearts to sacrifice that we might have a little more of who we should be in the Lord.  I think I’m actually starting to wake up, and right now, life looks pretty good. 

Karen and I just might get creative with this weight thing…ultimately though, there will be discipline, spiritually and physically.

We’ve been learning a lot about the Holy Spirit in Sunday School class lately.  I believe for one of the first times in my life, that I’m sensing His hand here, working well in my family. 

Thank you Lord for your love and patience…

Discipleship Takes Two…Especially When It’s Painful

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him…. (Acts 16:1-3; ESV)  This small excerpt in the book of Acts is easily looked over, but I believe it shows significant truth in the relationship between Paul, Timothy and the bond they had with God and through God. 

Timothy was already a disciple before Paul met him in Lystra.  He believed in the writings of the Prophets which were taught to him by his mother and grandmother, he believed the Word of God, and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul found that this young disciple had a good reputation among men and wished to take him under his wing.  To teach and help Timothy grow as a believer in Jesus meant time spent with the young man, therefore he wished to take him and teach him to help spread the gospel.

Before Paul takes Timothy anywhere, Paul took and circumcised him “because of the Jews who were in those places.”  Apparantly there was an issue with Timothy accompanying Paul if he was not circumcised as they were.  His mother was a Jew, but his father was a greek and I would imagine that he didn’t see much need for the Jewish tradition.  Truthfully, Paul probably didn’t see much need for it either, and as far as we know he had this done BECAUSE of the Jews that were in that place, not for any other reason.  I’m not writing to dispute the validity of circumcision, Jewish tradition, or even the reason for why Paul did it, the point is, Paul thought it needed to be done and TIMOTHY ACTUALLY DID IT!

When I think of Timothy, I would imagine that he was at least 16 years of age, give or take a couple of years.  Question:  How many teenagers do you know of that would get circumcised because of what other folks about them thought?  How many grown men for that matter?  Paul obviously had some influence with this guy.  The Lord had even more influence, as the whole reason for this operation was so that Timothy could go with Paul.  

If Paul had never come to Lystra, would the thought ever had come to the young disciple to go to these lengths in order that the gospel be spread?  I believe not.  The Bible speaks of the relationship between these two men as a father to a son, Paul loved Timothy-Timothy loved Paul.  Timothy submitted to the authority of Paul willingly and did as he asked, just as Paul submitted to the authority of God.  In fact, I would even go as far as to say that, early in his Christian life, Paul was how Timothy knew what God wanted him to do, God gave marching orders to Paul, Paul gave marching orders to Timothy. 

I’m learning lately, that to have a “Paul” in your life is so important.  It takes guess work out of what God wants.  A mature Christian actively following the Lord can be such a tool for the Lord and go great lengths in discipling a young Christian who is also trying to serve the Lord but doesn’t quite know how to go about it.  It also means that sometimes, it’s painful.  It means that sometimes that mature Christian leader must “push” and encourage the younger to do things he never would think to do otherwise.  Such has been my life lately, public speaking, praying, teaching classes in church, going to foreign countries, and convicting those who would otherwise contradict the gospel we so lovingly believe in.  More times than not, I originally balked at the propositions my “Paul” would give, but those times were met with encouragement, a gentle nudge letting me know that what I lacked, God had enough and more than enough to get through.  Because of these times that he walked through my faithlessness with me, I’m not the man I was when I first believed in my Savior and Lord Jesus.  My faith has been stretched and I have been molded, and I appreciate the man who has committed himself to taking the time to involve me in God’s ministry, and be my friend.  Thank you.  It’s not always easy, and sometimes it’s even painful, but I thank God for the men that He puts in our lives to lead through our Lord Jesus, they are rare.

For those of you who wish to serve God with all your heart and have no idea what I’m speaking of, pray that the Lord would put someone in your own life to lead you as Paul did Timothy; so one day you, yourself, can lead faithful men as well.  It’s so much easier to go through those tough times when you’d rather just quit when the pain of “circumcision” comes.  That person God puts in your life will encourage you and keep you and lift you up when needed, and you may find that you NEED it more often than not.

Ignorance Was Bliss….and Now?

Jesus Christ reveals things about men that we do not like to think about.  That or we simply dismiss the things he says out of hand, happy that the condemning statements he has do not apply to us, because we are of the faith, because we are saved.  I think it is a rare thing that professing Christians look at Jesus’ statements about the nature of man and apply His words to themselves.  I certainly didn’t.  My eyes were not open, my ears did not hear, I was ignorant, not just two years ago, at the time of my salvation, when I called Christ my Lord, but even two weeks ago, when I came across Matthew 15:18-20 in my devotions. “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, blasphemies…These are the things which defile a man.” These are the sins many Christians see, myself included, happy that they have never experienced such sins as Jesus spells out.  They perhaps were in our thoughts at one time, like the “little white lies,” and the occasional use of God’s name in vain, but thank God we are now ”forgiven saints,” forgiven even of the BIG sins we never committed, like murder or adultery.  Gone are these sins, and the consequences of them.  “Ignorance is bliss,” we may not outwardly or even inwardly think, but our actions and pleasant smiles within our “saved by grace” souls are revealed.   Ignorance of murder and adultery and the consequences thereof is great…isn’t it? I have many friends who I wouldn’t consider to be Christians.  They don’t profess to be Christians, in fact, one of them DESPISES God and the things of God…but he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.  He is a man who has never committed murder, nor would he ever consider it, it’s against the law after all, and he just wouldn’t do that.  As far as I know, he’s never committed adultery, it leads to trouble and he knows it, it also is against the law, God’s law and man’s, at least in the state of Oklahoma, FYI.  But my friend hasn’t experienced these sins or their consequences, he is ignorant of them.  Is he one of the men Jesus is speaking about?  What’s the difference between he and the saints? Taking a look at myself, there are times I’ve wanted to scream, to be an “absolute brute” as Oswald Chambers puts it, to anyone who rubbed me the wrong way.  I’ve never really struck anyone in public, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t wanted to.  The only reason I haven’t been and absolute abusive person at times I realized ”is my own cowardice coupled with the sense of protection I receive from living a ‘civilized’ life.”  That doesn’t mean the desires are not there.  If I take an absolute hard honest look at myself, I would find that there are nightmares within me.  There are things I could be and would be if not for the grace of God placing me in the environments I was placed in.  I could be an alcholic idolater in India, I could be a crack addict in a trailer park in Chelsea, I could be a dishonest accountant in Claremore, I could be a cad, taking advantage of any married woman I know in Tulsa, I could even be a prisoner on death row who made one bad choice to express my anger in a real stupid and evil way.  One second in my life time is all it would take to reveal what is truly within my sinner’s heart.  I realized the only reason I am NOT any of those things or pursuing any of those sins has nothing to do with me; but has EVERYTHING to do with Christ pursuing me in the nick of time and laying hold of me and making me something–someone new.  He called my name, despite what he knows is within me, and brought me to Himself.  There is always the possibility I could become any of what Christ proclaims in Matthew 15:18-20, even as a Christian, that is why He deserves my glory. If Christ were stripped from my life, all that would be left would defile me, all that would be left would be death.  Praise God He cannot be stripped!  Praise God He is life! Praise God He doesn’t leave it up to me NOT to sin, but gives me life that I may never will to sin again because I have been crucified with Him, but live, but not I, but Him who lives within me.

The new place…

Well, we’ve had a lot of folks ask, ”How do you like the new house?”  Our answer, ”We LOVE it!”  It’s new, we’re ironing out all the wrinkles that come along with moving (different bills – yadayadayada), but for the most part, it’s working out alright.  We love the central heat and air, no more cutting firewood!  Yeeehaw!  I’m only 10 minutes away from work and use about half a tank of gas per week (righteous), and right on budget actually.  I’ve put some pics up here just in case anybody wanted to check out the new place.  Enjoy!

Hallway from front door

Turn to your left and you’ll see our kitchen, equipped with dishwasher, oven, refrigerator, and even a fancy kitchen sink

Just across from the kitchen, the boys’ bathroom is the picture of cleanliness (because I just cleaned it) and is every bit the concert hall for my eldest son, Dakota, there’s one identical to it off the master bedroom.

From our kitchen you’ll find the living area, which has all the space one would need to roll around in the floor with the youngins. Not clearly photographed is our dining area to the right.

On the other side of the Living room, you’ll find we do eat in the same room as our dining table is sitting at the other end. We can now eat together as a family!

Lastly, but certainly NOT least, is our masterbedroom. I would show the children’s rooms, which we passed around the bathroom, but they are sleeping

So there’s your vitual tour.  If you want to see more details, come by sometime!  Just give us a call and we’ll give directions–IF we know you!

Saying “Please” to Daddy

For the better part of 7 years now, my wife has worked tirelessly at teaching our children manners.  Simple things, like saying “please” when they want something and saying “thank you” when they receive what they desire.  She incorporates these lessons into their everyday activities.  She’s such a good mother to my children, and rarely do I question her methods or reasons for discipline.

I’m amazed at what the word ”please” will do to my heart as a father.  When my children say “please,” not only does it show their manners, it shows respect for Karen and I as their parents.  It also proves to me how much they love us, as they are obeying those things which we have taught them.  Jesus Himself tells His disciples that if they love Him, they will keep his commandments. (John 14:15)  The relationship I have with my kids often reflects the relationship I should have with my Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ.  When I take into the account the joy that my boys bring me when they obey, I can’t imagine how pleased the Father is with us when we obey Him in the best way we know how.

In Luke 11:9-13; Jesus tells us how important it is that we ask the Father for those things we are in need of.  As someone who believes in the sovereignty and all-knowingness of God, I often had problems with this passage of scripture.  If God knows EVERYTHING, and knows everything I need, isn’t it kind of insulting to God for me to ask him for my needs?  Isn’t it showing very little faith In my All-Powerful Heavenly Father to “bother” Him with the trivial details of my life?  Even at that, He KNOWS my needs, why doesn’t He provide automatically?  In this line of thinking, it almost seems as God is playing games with us, almost in a cruel way, dangling a carrot in front of us.  But I know God isn’t cruel, so there has to be another answer.    

Jesus goes on, “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”  This passage of scripture speaks as a son asking from a father, a relationship, a bond,  there must be a relationship between the son and father before the requested item is given!  Yes, God does know what we need, He is capable of providing it, He’s even capable of providing it without us asking.  But could it be that God wants more from us than just our asking as lowly servants to an All-Powerful God?  Could it be that He wants relationship as a father to a son?

When we accept the gift that the life and death and ressurection of Jesus Christ brings (peace and blamelessness with God), we suddenly have a relationship with a Heavenly Father, in which we may trust Him, not cower before a Holy King.  Not that He has become less to us, but rather, He has become more to us, a “Dad.”  When I think of how I love to be a Dad to my boys, I am in awe of how much God must love the relationship he has with those who come to Him as children.  Who seeks a relationship as a “little child” with God?  Rest assured God loves you, and He’s waiting for you to ask whatever you need, not because you need, but because you trust.

The Human Condition of “Undeservedness”

“YOU DON’T DESERVE SPIT! — Unless you can pay for it.”  Dave Ramsey says in one of his teaching sessions of Financial Peace University.  This quote would have came right at a time when any one of us may say, “I deserve a newer model car.”  Or “I’ve lived in a mobile home all my life, I deserve a custom built house.”  Or maybe even, ”I deserve to feed the kids happy meals because they won’t shut up, and I don’t have an ounce of strength to open a can of spaghetti-Os or make a PB&J.  The premise is, if you can’t pay for it, you don’t deserve it, no matter how bad a day or life you’ve had.

I’ve been dealing with this idea the past couple of weeks…swallowing it is more like it.  In today’s cause and effect societry we assume God is that way too. 

It’s how we grew up isn’t it?  The parents tell us to be quiet and behave and we do, so we don’t get yelled at or punished.  Well, how many of us work and get paid?  We are so used to “deserving” the things that we get, good or bad, most of the time we absolutely will not be denied.  Yet over the past couple of weeks I’m reminded that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. 

Karen and I have been looking for a rent house, deciding we may be able to save more money living closer to my place of employment than paying for gas driving back and forth.  Yet our search has turned up empty, and my frustrations have been made manifest a couple of times because I’m ready to leave the place we’re in.  Honestly, all the places for rent we wouldn’t be able to come close to renting on a month to month basis without sacrificing some major “debt snowball.”  I’ll admit I’ve prayed (or whined), wondering why the Lord doesn’t just lead us straight to the house right away so we can start saving MORE money immediately.  But you’d be surprised at the thoughts I’ve had, ”Lord, my family and I love you, we try to worship you in all we do, don’t we deserve more than what we have?  When will you bless, Lord?  Won’t you please help?”  It wasn’t until later that I thought of Dave Ramsey and realized that none of us “deserve” anything unless we can pay for it do we?  

The bible clearly states the ”wages of sin” is death.  That’s what we all deserve when it comes right down to it – death and Hell.  But we would never be promised a chance at a loving relationship with God had it not been for Jesus Christ who ”paid for” our sins.  Only does belief in Him, His sacrifice, and His ressurection and repentence of our sin allow us to be redeemed to God.  Blood bought and “paid for.”  It’s something we can never buy ourselves, but it’s a gift, all salvation requires is our belief. 

This redemption is not automatic though, just as I don’t “deserve” an affordable rent house just because I’m sucking wind-we don’t automatically deserve Heaven just because we repeat a little prayer after Jesus Christ died.  There must be a recognition of what we, being human and sinful, deserve (Hell); and repenting of what got us there, our willful sin!  This is a truth that is left out of so many churches today.  Too often we see Jesus Christ death on the cross for us as something we have earned just because we’re alive and breathing and God would never send us to Hell.  Unfortunately most of us think more of ourselves and what we think we deserve never allows us to come to this point.  In the end, we are undeserving of God’s grace, but He gives it anyway.  Praise God he gives us the choice to be paid for, without giving what we truly deserve.

The Burn of the Words of Christ

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”   (Luke 24:32).

Have you discovered what these men have as they walked along the road with the risen Jesus Christ?  I love Luke chapter 24; it unveils, not only the resurrection of our Lord, but a mysterious drivenness that Jesus orchestrates in the hearts of men with just a few words.  Few people in this life can cause others to stop and evaluate where they are and turn towards some direction with power and passion.  THIS is what Jesus drew out of these two disciples as he revealed what Moses and the prophets had proclaimed centuries before – PASSION.  DRIVE.  

I love to put myself into the shoes of these men…

They had seen events that they never believed they would, the death of their great teacher and master who they KNOW is dead, but the mystery now remains as to where his body must be.  They know they and their fellowship of disciples had not taken the body.  Nor could it be Judas Iscariot, he was found gruesomely hanging from a tree jutting out over Potters Field.  Peter and John couldn’t have done it, they ran to the grave themselves and discovered only the clothing and the napkin there, and were just as shocked as the women who discovered the empty tomb.  Then there was this “angel” business these women spoke of.  Is Mary hallucinating in her grief?  Could she have seen a ghost?  What do these things mean?

A stranger approaches and inquires what they are talking about, and they fill Him in on all the news of Jerusalem, questioning whether or not he’s been hiding in a cave to not hear of these strange happenings.  And this stranger begins to speak of the things of old, the prophets and Moses!  He intricately and carefully begins to fit the events of their missing Lord’s life into the prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Pieces begin to fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle and their hearts begin to burn.  The prophets spoke not just of deliverance from oppressive governments like the Babylonian or Roman Empires, but spoke of deliverance from sin and death!  Man’s way isn’t God’s Way!  EMMANUEL MEANS “GOD WITH US – JESUS!”  Though this man has such vast knowledge of the scripture, it still has not dawned on them they are walking and talking with their Lord.  But can’t you see the look on their faces as he speaks?  The lights coming on over their heads?  The goosebumps rising on their skin?  And then, as the stranger begins to leave off from them, they invite Him in to their home and as He speaks to the Father, blessing the bread, Jesus Christ their Lord is revealed!  Unfortunately, He disappears as quickly as they recognize Him.  They turn to eachother, knowing the other has never felt so alive, and so full of purpose, their hearts BURN within them!

When was the last time you felt alive?  Full of purpose?  I remember the first time I made a true decision for God, it WASN’T when I was saved, it was a decision based on being sick of myself and who I’d become.  Nothing else had worked for me, but I knew that God had promised in His Word that if I draw near to Him, He would draw near to me.  That if I searched for Him with all my heart, I would find Him.  So I decided to test Him, to truly throw my heart into Him.  And that decision (as far as I knew then) meant attending church and serving faithfully, and also reading His Word.  I would start there….I would believe Him that much…I would draw near to Him (the only way I really knew how then), and Jesus drew near, not revealed immediately, but He was there, and when He was recognized, as my Lord, my Savior, I was set on FIRE and haven’t been the same since.

 

   

Worshiping In the Face of the Enemy

The imagined battle lines were drawn.  Two armies, Israelites and Philistines, had come to slaughter the other into submission.  The giant of a giant army has come to laugh and scoff at the “army of God;” and he states in more definitive terms what the battle lines truly are – man to nine foot, giant man.  Any average soldier imagining themselves fighting this enemy of God were “shaking in their armor.”

Enter David, the shepherd with staff in hand and some food from his father, on a mission to see how his brothers fare in a battle which very well could change the fate of a nation.  Based on the terms the uncircumcised Philistine has laid, David’s concerned father Jesse back home could not only be son-less, he could be cleaning Goliath’s chamberpot and weapons.  It doesn’t take long for David to hear what he considered blasphemy and idiocy spewing from this “champion.” 

David’s worship begins here, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David asks.  After some rucous, and a scolding from his eldest brother, David is summoned before King Saul and automatically says EXACTLY what Saul should have said the whole battle.  “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”  Here he worships in the presence of this royalty, giving credit to the Lord.  “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 

Saul replies the only way he can, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” 

And so he does, with a sling and a stone, to make the strongest worship to God almighty.  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Goliath draws near to attack, and David without hesitation RUNS quickly to meet Goliath in battle, slinging a stone from his bag that sinks into the giant’s forehead and brings him to the ground.  Goliath’s sword is then drawn by the young shephard, and used to take his head, and show the size that the giant always was in his eyes compared to the living God. 

David honored God with his lips and heart through this entire ordeal.  He did it among the army of Israel, amidst the presence of Israel’s king, and then in the face of Israel’s enemy.  And he never stopped. 

I think of the impossibility there must have been for David with just his sling and stone to kill this giant.  I have heard this story countless times in my life before, and I must say that I always thought there was someway that “scientifically” the stone hit Goliath just right.  But the more I ponder it, I think of the IMPOSSIBILITY.  Physically, scientifically, this would have been impossible for me to do, and it must have been the same for David the shepherd boy.  David was as human as I am.  Yet David had God, and he knew it, and that was all he wanted - that made the difference.  Knowing God and glorifying His name was David’s utmost desire.  Not because God NEEDED David’s glory, but because David NEEDED God’s heart and honor.  Nothing less would do.  The very character of David’s LORD did not demand David’s honor, but drew his love, and it gave David the heart of a warrior.  This gave God the opportunity to magnify Himself, not just to the Philistine army, but to the army of Israel, and He did the impossible.

Love God in the presence of your enemies, in your difficulties, seek Him , not His glory, not what He will reward with…HIM.

 

 

When Peter Forgot Worship

Yesterday on the way to work, I heard the song “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns.  It reminded me of a time when the movie “Facing the Giants” had first come out.  The ideas both the movie and the song conveys helped me to meditate on Peter, as he stepped out of the boat towards the Lord Jesus Christ amidst a storm.  Isn’t it amazing how we can hear a sermon or a Sunday school lesson so many times but never get the point?  God uses Life experiences to drive home the lessons that will make us just a smidge more like Jesus.  Come to think of it, that’s how Jesus taught His disciples…through real life experiences, but that’s for another blog.

There are situations we dread aren’t there?  Situations come up in life that we fear, or that make us nervous, or we would just rather not face altogether.  These experiences may not always be the same for everyone.  Me admitting to my boss that I jacked a project up scares me to death, but to another person, admitting mistakes to their boss might just be another part of their job.  I hated the feeling of cowardice I felt when friends or family pressured me to ride an amusement park roller coaster; but someone else might just blow off the jeers and teasing and go ride the Himalaya without a second thought.  In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter and the apostles of Christ were all facing something they’d rather not deal with – a storm which threatened to sink them.

I tried to put myself into Peter’s sandals as wave after wave crashed into their boat, threatening to sink them.  Perhaps he is doing his best to secure a sail when he looks up and sees what he believes must be a ghost coming toward the boat on the surface of tempest waves.  Then the ghost shouts over the waves, “Do not be afraid!  It’s me, Jesus!” 

I don’t imagine Peter believed this at first, but he had seen great things from Jesus before.  Back on the shore he had just witnessed and helped Jesus Christ feed at least 5000 people with two fishes and 5 loaves of bread, he had never expected this miracle as he began to pass his basket of fish or bread on to the next hungry person, and the next, and the next, until he finally lost count and the laws of supply and demand were completely defied.  If Christ could do that, surely he could walk on water.  Peter decided it was worth his life to see if it truly was Jesus; he would rather be with Jesus, his master and teacher who he loved, then be in this boat, afraid of sinking.  “Lord!  If it really is you!  Tell me to come to you!”

“Come!”  Christ commanded.

Peter is thrilled!  It is the Lord!  I must be with Him, I must go to Him now!  He throws a leg over the stern of the boat and feels solidity under his toes.  He throws the other leg over and lands flat footed on a foamy wave dissipating into a larger sea.  His eyes fix on Jesus, and he begins to walk, one foot in front of the other into the darkness where only Jesus is. 

Peter’s teacher is out there, making this possible.  He is waiting for Peter to take his hand in fellowship, loving Peter so much because Peter trusted him enough to do the impossible – walk on water – just to be with Him.  Peter is worshiping God through this act of faith.

Then perhaps a wave slaps Peter in the face - cold, wet, and shocking - and he begins to examine his surroundings, looking distracted.  Peter looks down at his feet, among waves of darkness, he looks back and sees the boat which is being tossed like a toy in the water, waves continue to slap his body and fear suddenly grips his heart. Peter realizes he is no longer standing, he is sinking!  And like so many of us do when we realize we are in over our heads (whether we believe in God or not), Peter screams  ”Save me, Lord!”

And Jesus is there…

What would have happened if Peter would have made it to Christ, undistracted by the chaos about him and just desiring the satisfaction, pleasure and glory of Jesus?  We may never understand what we do so many times in our frantic attempt to observe and solve our problematic situations (or ordinary everyday situations for that matter).  We would be so much better off if we would just seek the solutions through the heart of our God; look for His pleasure because He is God and He loves us, and just wants our love in return.  What would happen if we found a solution and asked ourselves, “Would this please Jesus?  Is there another solution that would please Jesus even more?”  This glorifies Jesus, this magnifies His greatness:  When we take what seems big to us, and make it small through our love (our worship) for our bigger God.