Some Line Graphs (May 16, 2021)

Have you ever considered plotting out your life on a line graph?  What would you measure?  What data would you track?  How would you define “success” or “failure”?  If your life could be laid out on a simple graph, what would it look like?

Now, before I go further, let’s deal with some obvious things.  In general, line graphs are pretty simple, pretty straightforward.  Typically, they measure two variables and that is it.  For instance, a common line graph that is used at the doctor’s office (especially when you are young and growing) is age vs. height.  Age will be plotted along the X-axis (the one that runs horizontally across the bottom…for those of us who haven’t been in math class for a while), and height will be plotted along the Y-axis (the one that runs vertically).  As the years pass and data is entered, the line graph can easily demonstrate an average growth rate.  When someone is a year old, they are ___ tall, when they are two, they are ___ tall.  On and on it goes, the line increasing upward until it plateaus.  This type of information is helpful, especially if you compare it to averages.  Lay an individual line graph over a chart of averages, and voila.  You can reasonably predict how tall your kid is going to be.  (In our experience, we’ve been raising someone who is on track to be pretty tall.  He’s always been at the top of that graph, and we haven’t seen him slowing down yet.)  Line graphs are beneficial.  They can be a helpful, visual aid in looking at your life and how it compares to others and to general trends.

Though line graphs are beneficial, they are also limited.  Two sets of data.  Not a lot of complexity.  Helpful and simple, but incomplete…especially when dealing with people.  Sure a line graph can show growth and be used to get a reasonable expectation for the future, but it doesn’t show any other factors.  For instance, what if Silas stopped liking food and didn’t eat for a long time?  How would that effect his overall height?  Or, what if he happened to find some kind of super-food that he really, really liked and it had some kind of positive growth effect?  

You get the idea.  We are complex people who live in complex environments.  Simple tools like line graphs are helpful, but incomplete.  Get it?  Good.  Let’s move on.  Back to something that helps us get closer to the point.

Recently, the Bible-reading plan that I use has had me reading in 1 Samuel.  Right now, I’m reading about the life of King Saul.  Saul’s story is one that I have read before.  The account of his life is one with which I have some familiarity, and yet, I am always struck by the trajectory of his life.  I am always saddened and caught off guard by the path that Saul followed.  In particular, I am effected by two different trends that are evidenced within his life.  His relationship with God & his humility.  These two things are what often stand out for me with King Saul, and for some reason, this time I thought about them in terms of some line graphs.  This isn’t how I usually think or process things, but hey…let’s see how it works.

First, let’s look at Saul’s humility.

In the beginning of his story, Saul was described as a humble guy.  In fact, when the prophet Samuel told him that he was to be king, this is how he responded:

“But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”

~ 1 Samuel 9:21

When God uses Samuel to tell Saul that he is called, that he has a job, that he is to be king, Saul responds as many first do to God…with humility.  Who am I?  I am not worthy of such a task.  I am not deserving of such a call.  God, how could you use me?  Me?

Saul begins his journey as king with a mentionable dose of humility.  Somewhere within him, he knows that he is not worthy of this role, of this honor.  He is not deserving of the calling of God upon his life.  For arguments sake, let’s give Saul a “100%” humility ranking at the start.  No, he wasn’t 100% humble, but let’s give him that ranking right at the beginning of his calling.

Then, let’s look further down the path.  Let’s look at Saul somewhere in the middle of his calling, during his reign as a king.  How would his humility rank then?   

Quite frankly?  His humility tanked.  Rapidly.  Though we don’t know a lot about the timeframe or what happened previously, look at what it says in 1 Samuel 13.  (Just so we are familiar with the timeline in 1 Samuel, Saul was called by God in Chapter 9, Anointed and made king in Chapter 10, Rescues a city and is confirmed king in Chapter 11.  Samuel makes an address in Chapter 12, and then we get to Chapter 13.  Some time has passed as Jonathan, Saul’s son, is now in the picture and is fighting alongside Saul in battle.) 

He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter.  So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

~ 1 Samuel 13:8-9

At this point, Saul had been given directions by God to wait for Samuel’s arrival before an offering would be made for the Lord.  Saul chose not to wait.  He looked at the circumstances of his men beginning to scatter.  He looked around for Samuel and thought that God had not come through.  He looked at himself.  And…he took matters into his own hands.  No longer did he view himself as some little Benjamite unable to fulfill the calling of God.  Instead, Saul acted as if God was the One who could not follow through with His plans.  Saul was the only one that was able to make things right.  Saul was the only one who could act.  Now, instead of being humble before the Lord and waiting as God directed, Saul was taking matters into his own hands without regarding what God had said.  He was even willing to step outside of his role as king and take up the role of king and priest.  Humility rating?  10% at best.

Now, when we tank we have the opportunity to bounce back, the chance to rectify our situation.  We fall off of the diet wagon, we have the chance to get back onto it.  We stumble in our Bible reading, we have the chance to start again.  I believe that Saul had the chance to humble himself before the Lord, to ask God to work within his heart to make him humble once more, to rectify this flaw that came up in his life.  Unfortunately, Saul did not choose that path.  Instead, in general, he continued on a downward path in terms of humility.

As Saul’s humility waned and his pride grew, he became so infatuated with maintaining his kingdom, his rule, his position of authority that he openly fought against God.  Saul became so prideful that he would stop at nothing to secure his place on the throne.  Not only did he threaten and chase after David, the one who was anointed to be his successor, but he also punished anyone who helped David along the way…even if they were servants of the Lord.

Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”

~ 1 Samuel 22:17

“Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David.”  This is Saul?  The one who started by saying he was not worthy?  The one who started by saying that he was a nobody from a small tribe?  The one who started in humility?  Now, he is at the point where he is not only willing to step outside of the boundaries put forth by God in terms of the timing and the offering of sacrifices, he is actively killing those who would support David, even if they are priests of God.  Humility rating?  0%.

If plotted on a line graph, Saul’s humility plot might look something like this: 

                                            

                

                                                                

Granted, there would be little blips and bumps, times when he acted with more humility than others.  Still, in over-simplified terms, Saul’s perceived humility started off great and decreased rapidly over the course of his reign as king.

Do you know what else happened?  

His relationship with God took the same path, followed the same trajectory.  As his humility decreased, his relationship with God decreased…so much so that towards the end of his life, Saul said this:

“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams.”

~ 1 Samuel 28:15

Saul, who was once chosen by God and spoken to through the prophet Samuel had now come to the point where his relationship with God was in shatters.  The line graph for this data would look remarkably similar.

                                                                

Of course, you can’t really say what caused what.  Did his lack of humility cause the relationship to suffer?  Yes.  Did the relationship suffering cause a lack of humility?  Yes.  These two things were inter-related.  Not only that, but the graphs and the comparison over-simplify the complex nature of Saul’s life.  Regardless, Saul who started in humility, ended in pride.  He who started in dependence, in relationship with God, ended in independence and separation.

What about you?  What about your life?  What data would you plot?  What are the significant factors that you are tracking?   What would a line graph of your life indicate?  How is your humility?  How is your pride?  How is your relationship?  Are there areas that are decreasing that need to be turned around?

My prayer is that we would learn from Saul.  I pray that we would seek God will all of our heart, that we would serve the Lord in humility all of our days.  My prayer is that our line graph for humility and for our relationship with God would show just the opposite of Saul, and that we would ever be increasing in them both as we fulfill our calling and grow in love of Christ.

                                                               

 ~ Pastor Chris

Awaken (May 9, 2021)

Are you a morning person?  An early bird?  Do you have the “early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise” philosophy?  Do you just bound out of bed before the rooster has a chance to crow, rip-roaring and raring to go?

Or, are you more of an evening-type individual?  A night owl?  Do you have the “early to rise and early to bed makes a person healthy, wealthy and dead” philosophy?  Do you drag yourself out of bed at the crack of noon, and even then it’s hard to get moving?

The early bird vs. the night owl.  The early riser vs. the late riser.  For years there has been a debate about which is better, which is more productive.  Is it better to get moving straight away so that you don’t “burn daylight” or is it better to do more in the evening, in the cool of the night?  Is it better to quote Benjamin Franklin (the early riser) or James Thurber (the late riser)?

It used to be that this answer was pretty simple, pretty straightforward…especially if you were a person whose livelihood revolved around farming, or if you lived in a time before electricity.  Daylight only happened for so long.  Sleeping during daylight hours was counter-productive as you couldn’t make up the work in the evening.  There was no option for working at night.  Benjamin Franklin had it right.  If you want to get work done, if you want to be productive, get up early.  

These days, things have changed.  Electricity and modern inventions have made working into the evening more feasible, more realistic.  With so much being done online and electronically, it makes much less difference if your report is completed at 10am or 10pm.  Even in farming, practices of spraying and planting in the evening are increasing.  The picture has become much less clear.  Does the early bird get the worm or does the second mouse get the cheese?  

In reality, at least when it comes to sleep patterns, it probably makes very little difference.  A person can get up at 5 in the morning after going to bed at 8 the previous evening and still be lazy, or someone can get up at 5 in the morning and accomplish a ton.  Likewise, someone can get up at 1pm after going to bed at 4am and be lazy, ore they can get up at 1pm and accomplish a ton.  Though sleep schedule and preference can make a difference in some circumstances, particularly depending upon the job that you’d like to accomplish or the people that you need to meet/work together with, it really isn’t the primary issue that we need to be addressing.  If someone prefers to wake up at 4am, great.  If someone prefers to go to sleep at 4am, great.  The more important question we need to be addressing is whether or not we are truly awakened.  When we get out of bed are we truly awake?  Are we awake to the things of God and do we set about accomplishing them each day?  Are we using the hours that we have been given for good, for holy things, for light or are we wasting the hours that we have with evil, with wickedness, with the dark?

To me, that is a much more important question than the issue of the time we get up and the time we go to sleep.  The real question…are we awake when we are up?  Are we really awakened to the presence of God in our lives?  Are we able to follow Jesus during each day that we have been given?

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says it this way:

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 

~ Romans 13:11-12

The hour has already come for you to wake from your slumber.

The time is upon us.

The time is now.

We need to be awakened.

Not just physically, but spiritually.  We need to be spiritually awakened to the things of God within our lives.  We need to be awakened to the salvation of Jesus that has been given to us and the task that lies before us.  The night is nearly over.  The day is almost here.  Let’s put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  It’s time to get up!

Whenever I was in high school, waking up in the morning was not my favorite thing in the world.  In fact, I had a pretty hard time with getting out of bed for school.  It took two alarm clocks and one Mom.  I’d set one alarm clock right beside my bed.  Typically, I’d turn that one off without even realizing what was happening.  Roll over and smack the thing.  Go back to sleep.  Then, the other alarm clock would go off across the room.  I’d drag my sorry carcass over to it and would turn it off as well.  Sometimes, that was sufficient, and I’d be up.  Other times, I needed more.  I needed Mom.  If both clocks didn’t work, and I was going to be late, Mom would step in and do whatever it took.  Gentle reminders, “Honey you need to get up to go to school.”  Little shakes of the shoulder, “Sweetie it’s time to get moving.”  If that didn’t work, she would elevate to the next level.  Foot tickling or blanket removal.  If those efforts didn’t achieve the goal, she’d bring out the big guns.  Water.  Drip.  Drip.  Drip.  Drip.  Right on my forehead.  (It’s very difficult to sleep with water dripping on your forehead.)  Whatever it took to get me moving, for me to be awakened, that’s what happened.  After all, I had a task to perform, a job to do.  School lay before me, and it was important that I was awake to participate.

Sometimes it can be hard to get up.  It can be hard to be awakened.  We feel comfortable in our slumber, and we don’t wish to be disturbed.  Regardless, we need to recognize that the alarm is ringing.  The buzzer is buzzing.  Both of them.  The one right next to the bed as well as the one across the room.  Wake up sleeper!  Open your eyes!  It’s time to get moving!  Put aside the deeds of darkness.  Do away with the wickedness that is holding you back.  Awake to the things of Jesus.  Dress in the armor of light.

Paul continues:

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.  Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

~ Romans 13:13-14

It’s easy to read a passage like this and immediately think in terms of behavior modification or in terms of a list of things that we are to refrain from as followers of Jesus.  No carousing.  No drunkenness.  No sexual immorality.  No debauchery.  No dissension.  No jealousy.  Staying away from these things is good, is advisable; however, if all we get from this passage is a list of “don’ts,” then we are likely still asleep.  We’ve likely missed part of the point.  Yes, there are behaviors that we should refrain from, and Paul makes a list of some of them here; however, there is more to waking up than that.  Do you see it?  Do you see what Paul wants for us, what it looks like to be awake?

Being clothed in Jesus Christ.

Completely covered in Jesus.

Completely alive, completely awake in the love of the Lord.

Having the attitude of Jesus, the mindset of Jesus, the concerns of Jesus.  Being no longer worried about how we might gratify the desires of the flesh but focusing on the workings of the Holy Spirit within our lives.

I fear that there are a lot of times in my life when I have appeared to be “awake,” but I was really just sleep walking.  There have been occasions where it looked like I was living, where I was active, where I was doing the right things or saying the right things or being in the right places, but on the inside I was trying to fulfill the inward desires of my flesh more than I was being clothed with Christ.  I was going through some motions still asleep, needing to hear the alarm, to respond to the shaking, to bound out of bed from the water being dripped on my head.

Friend, it is time to wake up.

It is time to be awakened to the things of God in your life.  Will this mean that there are some behaviors that you have to change?  Perhaps.  Even more than that, it will mean that you are clothed in Jesus.  That Jesus is your covering.  That Jesus is your protection.  That Jesus is within your every thought.  That your mindset is the Lord’s.  That your attitude is the Lord’s.  That each step you take is the Lord’s.

Can you hear the alarm sounding?

Can you hear the voices calling?

It doesn’t matter if it is 4am or 4pm when you are reading this, if you’ve just gotten out of bed or if you’re about to hit this sheets.  It doesn’t matter if you are early on in your life or if you are entering your twilight.  The time is now.

Will you ask God to awaken you?

Will you ask the Lord to move within you?

Will you put on the armor of light?

Will you allow Jesus to clothe you?

….or do I need to go and get some water?

 ~ Pastor Chris

An Unused Gift (May 2, 2021)

Have you ever received a gift and were super excited about it?  

Maybe it was the latest tech gizmo.  Perhaps you were cutting-edge in the 1980s.  You were right at the forefront of technological advances, and your family knew it.   So they splurged.  They purchased you a portable telephone for $4000.  You received “the brick”, a Motorola 8000x.  At 2.5lbs, this was giant innovation in the world of communications.  After a 10-hour charge, you were able to talk for 30 minutes from wherever you wished before the phone needed charged again.  Receiving this gift, you were excited.  You knew that it would revolutionize your life, that it would change your existence.  You knew that you would use this cell phone each and every day for years upon years upon years.

Maybe tech isn’t your thing.  Perhaps you get excited about clothing.  Do you still remember the excitement over receiving your favorite shirt, the one you had been longing after?  The shiny, pearl-snap buttons.  The big wide collar.  The orange, brown, and yellow zig-zag pattern.  The polyester.  It was great!  It was your favorite shirt.  You knew that you’d wear this shirt at least once a week for years upon years upon years.

Ok.  So maybe tech and fashion weren’t your deal.  Maybe you are a kitchen person.  You like the things that help you to make or to serve food.  For you, it was your first set of Tupperware.  The pea-green containers with the clear lids.  The cute little sound they make when you “burped” them just right.  Yes.  That Tupperware was the best gift ever!  It would always find a home in your kitchen.

If you are like me, there are many times in life when you have been blessed with some pretty neat gifts.  Toys that you were excited about when you were a kid.  Clothes that you were excited about as an adult.  Technology that you felt would make your life easier. Things for the kitchen that would be beneficial to your way of life.  Items that would enhance your hobbies.  The list goes on and on and on.  For most people within the US, we have had the privilege of receiving a large variety of material things.  Things that we have wanted.  Things that we have needed.  Things that we have felt that we could not live without.

You know what happens to all of these things, right?

They don’t last.  The cutting-edge cell phone is quickly replaced with one that is even more cutting-edge.  What was once incredible technology quickly becomes out-of-date.  Fashion?  Forget about it.  If you want to be up on the current fashion trends, the market demands that you are constantly changing.  What is in is out and in again before you know it.  Almost as soon as you buy a shirt it is out of style.  Plus, even if you aren’t worried about style, you know things don’t last.  Stains, spills, rips, tears.  Eventually the nicest pair of jeans will need to be retired.  Material things fade.  They deteriorate.  They perish.  They don’t last.  Even Tupperware gets cracked or the lids get lost or it gets left at the church pot-luck (which I hope is something that can happen again at some point in the future).  

The best material gifts (as well as the worst ones), the ones that we were the most excited to receive just don’t last.  They go out of style.  They get unused.  They break.  They get lost…or, in some cases, we just forget about them.

This past Christmas, I purchased a gift for our family that I thought might revolutionize the way that we cook, the way we eat.  I purchased a pressure cooking, slow cooking, yogurt making, vegetable steaming, sautéing, baking, roasting, broiling, dehydrating, air fryer.  We were excited.  

Now, to be clear, the gift of this multi-functional air fryer was given to the family as a whole because I knew that we would all enjoy the food that it would make, but I also knew that the appliance couldn’t be given by itself.  Something more needed to be attached to the gift…the promise that I would be using it, especially in terms of the air frying.  This was not a gift that either Silas or Christa would enjoy if I had given it with the expectation that they would be cooking me food in the thing.  That would not have been received with excitement.  No, I gave an air fryer, and I gave the promise that whenever we wanted air-fried food, I would do it.  We were excited to see how this new type of cooking would change the way we eat.

I’m betting at this point you have it pretty well figured out where I’m headed with my example.  Since purchasing said air fryer, the one that would revolutionize our cooking and eating, very few things have been air fried.  Granted, we’ve used other aspects of the appliance (such as using it to pressure cook, call for pizza, fold the laundry, etc., etc.), but air frying?  Not so much.

Call it laziness.  Call it forgetfulness.  Call it whatever you like.  The fact remains.  I purchased an air fryer.  We were excited.  Now, just a little over four months later, the excitement has faded, and the air fryer is mostly forgotten.  It has been added to the list of gifts that offer little lasting value in the grand scheme of life.

Now, at this point I could go a couple of ways in the devotional.  We could continue to talk about materialistic goals and dreams and how they really aren’t that important or meaningful.  We could talk about commercialism.  We could talk about how to give better gifts, or alternative gift-giving strategies.  Or, we could talk about something else.  Turn down a little different path.  Let’s do that.

Here’s what I am wondering…

How often do we receive a spiritual gift from the Lord that we leave unused or is forgotten?  How often does God give us something, even something that we show initial excitement about, and after a while we just kind of put it on a shelf and forget that we had ever been given that gift in the first place?  Do we forget about the spiritual blessings that we have received in the same manner that we have the tendency to forget about the physical blessings that have been given to us?

Just this week, I saw a small conversation on prayer with NT Wright (an author and New Testament theologian among other things).  In this conversation, he spoke about the gift of prayer and the effectiveness of prayer within his own life, particularly in situations where he did not have a clue about what he was doing.  For me, it was a worthwhile couple of minutes, and I was interested to hear what he was saying;  however, as he spoke, my mind was directed along a slightly different path.  

The gift of prayer.

The GIFT of prayer.

The gift of PRAYER.

This is a gift that I have been given by God.  This is something that I have been handed by the Father through the sacrifice of the Son and can exercise in the power of the Spirit.  I have been given a GIFT!  Bolded.  All caps.  Emphasized.  Of PRAYER!  Also bolded.  All caps.  Emphasized.  I have been given the opportunity to converse with God.  Me.  In a personal and meaningful way.  With the expectation that God hears!  With the expectation that God speaks!  What a remarkable, amazing, incredible gift!  This trumps a giant box filled with a cell phone, shirt, Tupperware, air fryer and chocolates!  

Unfortunately, as with other gifts in my life, this gift of prayer has seldom been used to its full potential (if it has ever been used to full potential).  Much like the aforementioned air fryer, I will at times pull it out to accomplish something or another, but true air frying…not so much.  Even though I have gone through phases of excitement concerning prayer (You mean that I get to talk to the Creator of the universe!!!!), there are also occasions where I kind of put prayer on a shelf, where it is neglected to gathering dust.  So much potential sitting there wasted.

When E. Stanley Jones (an influential missionary, writer, evangelist) wrote about his life and his “success”, one of the things that he mentioned was prayer.  For him, prayer was crucial, prayer was central.  Prayer was so important that he would dedicate an hour in the morning as well as an hour in the evening to pray.  The rest of his day, the rest of his life depended upon this time spent praying, conversing with God.  This gift of God that was given to Jones was not something to be set aside, to be ignored.  It was something that was to be embraced, to be enhanced, to be valued and cherished and encouraged.  For Jones, prayer was important, and he wanted for it to be important to others in their walk of faith as well.  He even said, “If I had only one gift to make to the Christian church, I would offer the gift of prayer.”

The gift of prayer.

Do you use it?

Really?

Or is it just some kind of lip service that you offer before a meal?  Has prayer been relegated to the “open in case of emergency” department?

Is prayer a gift that you are still excited about?  Have you exercised your gift and spent time using it, going over all of the ways that it works?  Has it become a critical portion of your day?  

Or is it sitting on a shelf somewhere, gathering dust?

Friend, we’ve been given a great gift.  The gift of prayer.  What a blessing it is that we have the chance to pray, to communicate with God.  Too often, I have allowed this gift to go the way of so many physical blessings, setting it aside, not allowing it to reach its full potential in my life.  It is time for this to change, for me to embrace prayer, to be excited once more, and to work on something that has eternal significance…my relationship with God.  As I do, I hope that you do the same.  I hope that you experience prayer as a gift, and I hope that you seek to use that gift in your lives.  In so doing, let’s take some advice from E. Stanley Jones and begin with the example of the disciples.

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

~ Luke 11:1

  

Lord, teach us to pray!  

Start right there, seeking Jesus, asking him to pray.  

If you received a kitchen appliance that could do 57 things, you would want to learn how to use it.  You’ve received an even better gift, and you have the opportunity to learn how to use the gift from the one who made the gift possible in the first place.  Why not ask?  Why not start there?

Lord, teach us to pray!

May that be our starting point (and our continuing point) as we engage in this remarkable gift that we have received from God.

 ~ Pastor Chris

Wooden Nickel (April 25, 2021)

I can still picture the guy’s face.  His scraggly beard.  The unkempt hair.  (Sounds a bit like me on a lot of occasions….scraggly beard, unkempt hair….no judgments on those things, just attributes that I remember.)  I don’t remember his name, nor do I remember what he came to purchase from me, but he still made an impression, he still sticks in my mind, and I can picture our encounter to this day.

Typically, these types of things don’t make much difference, they don’t have any lasting effect.  I’ve bought and sold plenty of items through online marketplaces such as Craigslist or FaceBook.  I’ve met a large number of people in a variety of places to exchange some money for goods.  Whether it was selling some toys that we no longer need or purchasing some “new to us” item that we cannot live without, I’ve completed so many transactions that I wouldn’t recognize most people if I ran into them again.  This guy?  He was different.  This guy stood out among the pack.

Why?  Why do I remember him, and why am I talking to you about him now?  We already know that it wasn’t because he had some kind of catchy name that I would never forget.  We can also rule out that it was due to the significance of the purchase.  Both of those details are long forgotten.  It also wasn’t because of the scraggly beard or because of the unkempt hair.  Those types of things are relatively commonplace, a dime a dozen.  Do you want to know what set him apart, what caused him to be memorable in a pool of forgettable interactions?  

His life motto.

In no more than a five-minute interaction with this gentleman, I learned at least one of his life mottos, a rule that he lived by, a thing that was important to him.

Here it is:  “It could always be worse.”

Here we were, sometime during the pandemic, meeting outside to maintain appropriate social-distancing.  A bunch of the world was paralyzed in fear, hoping that things would turn for the better.  This gentleman?  He had a clear message about what he believed:  “It could always be worse.”

It could always be worse?

It could always be worse!

Even as the world was seeming to spiral out of control, as restrictions were in place, and as things were looking pretty negative, here was a guy with a different outlook.  It could always be worse.

He’s not wrong, you know.  Sometimes even when we think we’re at the bottom of something, that things couldn’t possibly be any worse than what they are at a given moment, the bottom drops out.  What we thought was bad turns out to be “not so bad” compared to what came next.  Typically, no matter where we are in our lives, there is always room for things to take a negative turn.  He was right.  It could always be worse.

It could always be worse!

Now, how did I know that this statement was a life-theme for this gentleman?  After all, we had only spent a few minutes interacting.  Still, in those few moments I learned that this was one of the key mottos for his life.  How?  He made sure that it was evident.  He had the slogan written on his T-shirt.  He had a bumper sticker on his car that read the same thing.  There was a sticker on his windshield as well.  I even learned that he was a musician, that he had written at least one song.  You’ll never guess what it was called.

“It could always be worse.”

In some ways, this sounds like a pretty depressing view on life.  Super negative.  Always worrying about when the “worse” that may possibly happen would actually happen, when the bottom might fall.  But, this was not the full message.  “It could always be worse” was not the entire theme.  Instead, he added a graphic to accompany the saying.  One that looked like  this:  😀

The basic message?

Smile.  It could always be worse.

Look on the bright side.  Appreciate what you have.  Be thankful for the good in your life.  Smile.  It could always be worse.  Here was a guy in the middle of a pandemic doing everything he could do to share a message that he found important.  “Smile.  It could always be worse.”  Bumper stickers, window stickers, T-Shirts, songs, however he could express the idea, he was.  And it went beyond those things as well.  Though I can’t speak to his whole life, he was definitely smiling and cheerful during our interaction.  Why?  Because it could always be worse.  He was bound and determined to look on the bright side of things, to have a positive outlook.  He was so convinced of this philosophy, of this life motto that he shared it in any means that he could, even wooden nickels.  That’s right.  Wooden nickels.

Before the guy left as our transaction ended, he handed me a small stack of wooden nickels.  On the one side, a smiley face.  On the reverse, “It could always be worse.”  

Smile.  It could always be worse.

The other day (as I was cleaning off my tank…see last week’s devotional if you don’t get the reference), I found one of the wooden nickels.  It made me smile as I remembered the gentleman who gave it to me and his passion for this message.  It also made me wonder…what message am I sharing?  What impression am I leaving?  How am I impacting people with my life?  Would people have any idea about my life mottos?  My life principles?  The foundation of my life?  How long would it take in conversation for someone to gather something that is important to me?  5 minutes?  10?  15?  15,000?  

Within 5 minutes, I knew something of importance to a gentleman that I will likely never see again in my life.  He was able to make an impression by his commitment to a philosophy that he was passionate enough about to share with anyone who would listen.  It made me wonder about myself.  What impression am I making on those around me?

To be clear, I’m not saying that this gentleman had it all correct.  There is an amount of hope and optimism found in his sentiment, but true hope can’t be based on the idea that things could always be worse than they are right now.  True hope needs to be based on this promise:

“Never will I leave you;  never will I forsake you.”

~ Hebrews 13:5

True hope, true peace, the ability to truly look into the future with optimism, with joy can not be based on a “it could be worse” idea.  That’s too flimsy.  It’s not a firm foundation.  Instead, our lives need to be based on the awe-inspiring fact that Jesus is with us.  Right now.  Whatever moment we might find ourselves living at the present.  If things get better, Jesus is there.  If things get worse, Jesus is there.  That is a much surer foundation to support us through any life situation.

I’m also not saying that this gentleman had it all correct in terms of his method either.  If we want to impact people for that which is important in our life, if we want to share our life motto, share our foundation (which hopefully all of these things are Jesus, Jesus, Jesus), a T-shirt, bumper sticker, window decal, song-writing, wooden nickel campaign isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.  We can’t just slap a fish sticker on our bumper, a cross decal in our window, wear a “Need an ark?  I Noah guy” T-shirt, have a cross hanging around our neck, sing aloud “Onward Christian Soldiers” as we put Christian tracts underneath every set of windshield wipers at Walmart.  Those things aren’t necessarily bad, but they can’t be the whole picture.  Impacting lives for Christ needs to encompass more than that.

So, what am I saying?  What is the point?

I witnessed a man who was so passionate about his message that he was willing to do a whole bunch of things so that others would hear it.

What about us?  What do we have to offer that is even better than a wooden nickel?

Our lives.

Our lives should be a constant testimony to the love of God within our hearts, whether or not we are wearing our red, ketchup colored shirt that says “Catch up with Jesus. Lettuce praise Him & relish Him.  ‘Cuz He loves me from my head to-ma-toes.”  We need to offer our lives much like Paul suggests in Romans.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

~ Romans 12:1

What are we willing to do so that others are aware of the presence of Jesus in our lives?  How are we willing to share Jesus with others so that we make an impact?

We have been given something much more lasting than mere sentiment.  We have been given a relationship with God and all of the blessings that fellowship through Christ brings.  Forgiveness for our sins and our sinfulness.  A place in the Kingdom of God.  Freedom from our past.  A hope for the future.  We’ve been offered to be made clean, to be made right.  God’s very presence is dwelling within us and producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.  We’ve been offered the ability to persevere in life’s worst-case scenarios by the power of Christ within us.  We have been offered all of these things and so much more.  We should be passionate about Jesus, passionate enough to share.  In our words, in our deeds, in our attitudes, in our conversations, in the way that we forgive, in the manner that we love, by the way we humble ourselves and lift others up.   

So, friend, I ask you.  Are you passionate about Jesus?  Has Jesus become the foundation for your life, your life motto?  If not, pray.  Ask God to make you passionate about Christ.  If you are passionate about Jesus, are you sharing his love?  Are you impacting people for the kingdom?  Would others know that Jesus is important to you by how you live, how you speak, how you interact, how you love?

My prayer is that we are used by God to make an impact for God’s kingdom…even if God asks for us to pass out wooden nickels.

 ~ Pastor Chris

Catch All (April 18, 2021)

Do you have a “catch all” in your home?  You know…that place where you put stuff that you don’t really know where to put.  You throw it in the catch all.  It could be a junk drawer.  It could be the top of a dresser.  It could be a nice, decorative bin that secretly acts as a hidden location to keep miscellaneous stuff.  A catch all.  I have one.  Ok.  I probably have more than one.  Though I am doing better than I have done in the past, it can still be difficult for me to get rid of things.  Anyway, I often need to find a place to put things that have no pre-determined place, no known spot for me to keep them.  So, I put them somewhere, I put them in or on a catch all.  Ok, I put them on my desk.  My desk serves as my catch all.  It serves as that spot where things go until they can find their true, forever home.  My desk serves as the landing zone, that place where you can go to find anything from a battery to a knife to a screwdriver to a file to an unpaid bill to a receipt to a watch that needs repaired to extra cords for the stereo to loose change to…you get the idea.  My desk often functions as a catch all.

Now, before we move on, let me describe my desk just a bit more.  This way you can have a better picture of what I’m talking about.  You see, my desk isn’t just some small, ordinary work station.  It isn’t some minimalist’s dream.  My desk is a beast.  It’s gigantic.  It is what is known as a “tanker” desk, and there is a reason for it.  The thing is a tank.  It is the tank.  Made of steel in the 50s, that thing was built to last, and it is huge.  Two big file drawers on each side.  Smaller drawers above them.  Little drawers on top of that, and plenty of surface space.  I mean plenty of surface space.  Lots of room to do whatever work needs done…right there on the desk.  The thing is literally a tank, and I love it.  The problem?  Too often my desk is so overcrowded with the stuff that needs “caught” that there’s very little room to do actual work.  If I need to do something on my desktop computer?  Well, I have to shove some things out of the way or delicately rest my wrists on top of the piles of stuff to access the keyboard.  If I wanted to use the desk’s surface to compose a letter or draw a picture?  Well, I’d better allot some extra time to clear some room.  More often than I’d like to admit, the desk looks less like a desk and more like a big pile of papers and junk with what might be a desk lurking somewhere underneath.   It is a catch all.

Recently, we’ve been doing some reorganizing, some rearranging, and some remodeling.  One of the things that we are currently in the process of tackling is my home office.  It’s getting moved downstairs, and our bedroom is going into the office’s current location.  In the end, it will be a nice change.  But do you know what I had to do to make that change happen?  

That’s right.

I had to move the desk.

For some unknown reason the desk did not fit into the plans for the new master bedroom.  I don’t really understand why this would be.  After all, who wouldn’t want some giant, messy tank of a desk beside them when they go to sleep at night?

It had to go.  Downstairs. 

Now, if you’ve ever seen people move giant desks, there are a couple of things that you need to do beforehand to make it happen.  One, you need to acquire help.  There was no way that the tank was making it down the steps with me acting alone.  (There was a way, but it involved lots of things breaking…including me.)  Help is necessary.  Two, you need to clear off the top.  A computer monitor, printer, piles of paper and an unmentionable amount of dust among other things would not stay in place as the desk is transported downstairs.  The top needed cleared off before the desk could be moved.  Three, you need to remove some junk.  The desk is heavy enough by itself.  Add the weight of two, full file drawers, two medium drawers, also full, and three other small drawers.  Not going to happen.  The desk needed to be emptied of some junk, some serious weight needed to leave before its trip downstairs. 

Yesterday, the desk moved.

Help was acquired.  The top was cleared.  Junk was removed. 

Do you know what I found?

I have kept a whole lot of stuff that I never needed to keep in the first place.  My desk was holding a whole bunch of stuff that needed to find its forever home in the trash receptacle or in the box that is headed to the thrift store.  Granted, there were some treasures mixed into the mess, some items that I’d like to keep, some things that are necessary to hang onto for a while longer.  Still, by and large, most of the stuff that I had at one point thought was worthy of hanging onto really just needed to go.  Most of the stuff that I had valued enough to hang onto for a period really just needed pitched.  In reality, I needed to catch up on my catch all and do some releasing.

This type of thing happens to all of us.  At some time or another we need to catch up on our catch alls and we need to do some releasing.

And I’m not just talking about a desk or a junk drawer.

I’m talking about all of the “stuff” that we carry around with us.  All of the dust and the dirt, the batteries that have gone dead, the paperwork that is so old that it holds no value any more, the broken pen knife, the busted watches, the outdated tech, the spare cords that we might need if we ever buy a VCR again.  We carry all of this around all of the time, but it looks a little different when it is inside of us.  Unconfessed sin.  Unforgiveness.  Emotional wounds that we keep picking open and never let heal.  Distrust.  Judgements.  Bitterness.  Envy.  Greed.  Malice.  We collect all kinds of things and hold onto them, thinking that they might one day be useful, thinking that we might one day need them.  In reality?  It is a bunch of junk, cluttering up the inside and outside of a desk, getting in the way of the desk’s true design, the desk’s true purpose.  It is a bunch of weight that we need to let go if we want to get to the next step that God has for us in our lives.  There are a lot of us who are walking around like a giant “catch all”, carrying with us everything that has ever been handed to us, forgetting that this is not our true design, our true purpose.  Instead, we need to release.  We need to release to God.

But, how?  How do we do this?

I think some of the advice that I followed with moving the desk applies here as well.

One, get help.

Above all else, seek God.  Ask the Lord to help you release any unnecessary weight that you carry, any burden that you are bearing that is not yours to bear.  Ask the Father to give you the Spirit to help.  God will.  Look at what Jesus teaches in Luke:

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

~ Luke 11:11-13

God wants to give us help by giving us himself, his very Spirit.  Ask!  Ask for God to fill you, to renew you, to restore you, to remove those things within you that are weighing you down and are keeping you from being who God wants for you to be.  Seek help from God!

As you seek help from God, remember that sometimes Jesus sends help in the form of another person.

Apart from a miracle, my desk needed some muscles to get down the steps.  Help came in the form of a buddy who is young, willing, and in shape.  Sometimes, to remove some of the things that plague us, we need God to provide help in the form of a person.  Look at this advice from James:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

~ James 5:16

Maybe you have been struggling with a particular sin of your past.  Perhaps you know that you have been forgiven by God, you’ve confessed it to God, and you know that the blood of Jesus covers you.  But, you just can’t seem to move past it.  Perhaps, you need to talk with another person.  Share with a trusted friend.  Talk with your spouse.  Seek the advice of a Godly, Christian therapist.  Sometimes, God sends his help through other people.

Two, clear off the top.

Deal with the external behaviors of your life.  Don’t keep on sinning in the ways that you have struggled with in the past.  If you have an issue with drunkenness, stop drinking (& get help).  If you have an issue with gossiping, stop.  If you have an issue with ______, quit that behavior.  What good would it be for me to sweep all of the dust off of my desk, put it in a dustpan, and then pour it back on the desk once I got it downstairs?  Quit doing the sinful things that you know that you should not be doing.  Clear off the top, the sin, the external behaviors that you know are unhealthy for you and displeasing to God.  Only keep that which is good, that which is true, that which is beneficial.  My desk should have a printer, a keyboard, a monitor on it.  Those things remain.  It does not need dust, dirt, and worthless papers.  Those things go.  Paul says it this way in his letter to the Romans:  

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

~ Romans 12:1-2

Be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  Worship God with all of your lives, living unto him, doing that which is holy, which is good.  Quit doing all of those things that take you away from the Lord.

Three, remove the excess weight.

This has already been mentioned earlier, but it is a good to remember.  Get rid of the junk that you continue to carry internally.  Let’s look at that verse again and what Paul said.  “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Beyond just external behaviors, get rid of the internal stuff, the weight that pulls you down, the sin that binds, the guilt that holds, the unforgiveness that cripples, the desires that steer you off track.  Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the renewing of your spirit, the renewing of your inward being.  Be so transformed by the love of Jesus that you think like Jesus, you feel like Jesus, you listen like Jesus, you love like Jesus.

Friend, it’s time to catch up on being a catch all.  No more can we live that way.  Instead, we need to release.  Release our lives into God’s hands.  Release our brokenness, our failures.  Our hurts, our pains.  Our sufferings, our hardships.  Release all of those things that keep us from being where we need to be.  Do this by seeking help, by paying attention to the behaviors that you engage in each day, and by being transformed inwardly by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  

 ~ Pastor Chris 

Now What? (April 11, 2021)

Have you ever come to the end of something big and wondered, “Ok.  Now what?”

Perhaps you reached a goal that you have worked a long time to achieve.  Maybe you finally finished up remodeling your house that you had been working on for such a long time.  (I haven’t.  My remodeling projects still continue.)  Maybe you finally hit your target weight.  Maybe you went a whole week without speaking negatively about anybody.  Maybe you had a goal for Lent and you actually saw it through this year.  Maybe it was something else, but I’ll ask the question again…have you ever come to the end of something big and wondered, “Ok.  Now what?  What am I supposed to do now?”  The goal has been achieved.  The date has passed.  The target has been reached, and then you’re left wondering “What next?” 

As a pastor, Easter can be a bit like that for me.  It seems as if I spend the whole season of Lent preparing, praying, getting ready for Easter.  I get excited as the weather gets warmer.  I look forward with anticipation to Easter Sunday and all of the things that surround that day.  Maybe there will be bump in attendance on Sunday morning.  Maybe there will be some extra excitement as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  Maybe a revival will break out and lives will be transformed and we will all get to participate in and witness an extravagant move of the Holy Spirit.  (These hopes are not isolated to Easter Sunday, but they are heightened by that day.)  Easter and the build-up to Easter Sunday can be exciting.  It can be a highlight.  It can be a goal to strive towards, a destination to reach. 

And then…Easter Sunday comes.  Easter Sunday goes.  

The next thing I know it is Monday morning, and I am sitting at home wondering, “Ok, God.  Now what?”  “What do I do next?  Where do I go from here?  Easter Sunday was a target, a goal, but now it is done.  How do I proceed?”

For me, this can happen in other areas of my life as well.  I reach a particular goal.  I complete something that I had previously set out to achieve, and then when it is over, I wonder what to do next.  How do I proceed?  Not only do I question how to move forward, but I also experience a bit of an “Easter Sunday is over let down.”  The goal, the target, the mountaintop has been reached, but then life continues.  Life keeps moving, and I can be left feeling a little glum, a little blue, a little lost with how to continue.

If we are honest, this is a problem that we can all face.  We reach a high, we reach a peak, we ascend the mountain, and then the experience ends.  The goal is reached.  The task has been completed, and it can leave us feeling a bit low, a bit down, a bit depressed, wondering how we should proceed into the future.

You’ve heard of Michael Phelps, right?  Amazing swimmer.  Olympic medalist.  23 golds.  3 silvers.  2 bronzes.  Quite the athlete.  He has experienced what many would argue is the pinnacle of the sport of swimming.  Olympic gold.  Not once, not twice, but 23 different times.  Do you know what he said happened to him after competing in the London Olympic Games?  “He has just won two silver medals and four gold medals, but the success wasn’t enough to buoy his spirits. He stayed in his room for four days, without eating or sleeping. ‘I didn’t want to be in the sport anymore,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to be alive.’”  After experiencing an enormous high in the sport of swimming, Mr. Phelps struggled with the lowest of lows.  He did not know how to go on.  He did not know how to proceed.  The top had been reached.  Now what?

This is something that we can all face to one degree or another.  We reach the peak, then comes the descent, and we are left feeling low wondering what to do next.

My advice?

Seek God.  Right away.  

Be relentless in your pursuit of Jesus, especially after a success or a victory.

I imagine that you remember the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.  Even if you don’t know all of the details, the main gist of the story remains well known.  There’s even a song written about it. 

“Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.  Jericho.  Jericho.  Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down.” 

You’ve heard of this happening, right?  Joshua 6 is where that account is located if you want a refresher.  But do you know what happened next?  Do you remember the battle of Ai?

Look at what happens in Joshua Chapter 7.

“Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, ‘Go up and spy out the region. So the men went up and spied out Ai.  When they returned to Joshua, they said, ‘Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.’”

~ Joshua 7:2-3

Joshua and the Israelites had just been successful against Jericho.  They had just received a miraculous victory by the hand of God.  They had just experienced the highest of highs, so do you know what they did?  They kept on trucking.  Kept on pushing forward.  After all, Jericho wasn’t the main objective.  The entire Promised Land was before them.  Goal reached?  Check.  Moving on.  

The problem? 

They didn’t seek God.

They thought that they could figure it out on their own.  They thought that they had been victorious in one battle, so victory was obviously going to come in the next.  They used their own wisdom, their own insight, their own strength.  

Let’s look at how that turned out.

So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

~ Joshua 7:4-5

They were instantly defeated, and “the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.”  They were afraid, I get that, but what does it mean for your heart to become like water?  According to commentaries, this means that they were “soft and weak, and full of fluctuation and trembling.”  The defeat of this portion of the army in the battle of Ai left the whole community of Israel feeling as if the Lord had forsaken them, as if they were destined to be defeated.  They were depressed, and they had no idea what to do next.

Fortunately, Joshua knew where to turn, and he cried out to God.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads.  And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!  Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?  The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

~ Joshua 7:6-9

Even though Joshua and the Israelites made a mistake in not seeking God before the battle against Ai, they at least knew enough to seek God after being defeated.  They humbled themselves, and God answered.

The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?  Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.  That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

~ Joshua 7:10-12

In this case, the Israelites had been unsuccessful against Ai because they had been sinful after Jericho.  One among them had taken some of the treasure that God had told them to destroy.  They had been disobedient, and they had not fully followed God’s plan.  Had they been completely faithful, they would have been spared this defeat.  Had they sought the Lord prior to the battle, they might have been spared their defeat as well.  Once they sought God and followed through with what God wanted, they were able to defeat Ai by the power of God.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.  You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”

~ Joshua 8:1-2

Victory at Ai was waiting for the Israelites; however, it would only come as they sought the Lord and were obedient to him.  Victory over their fear and their “hearts of water” (remember soft & weak, full of fluctuation and trembling) would come; however, it would only come as they sought the Lord and were obedient to him.

Whenever we complete a goal, finish a task, make it through a season, are coming down the back side of a mountain, we need to remember the battle of Ai.  Maybe we should write a song about it.  Sing it with me.  

“Joshua fought the battle of Ai.  Ai.  Ai.  Joshua fought the battle of Ai, and the Israelites were defeated and became fearful with their hearts full of water because they had been unfaithful and had failed to seek God but then they sought God and were faithful and were given victory in the end.”

Ok.  Maybe it doesn’t have the same catchy ring to it, but it is still an important lesson to remember.  Seek God.  After a high.  During a low.  Everywhere in between.  Seek God.  Seek God.  Seek God.  First, middle and last.  Seek God.  Be faithful.  If God has asked for you to do something, do it.  Then, trust that God will lead, that God will guide, that God will provide the victories to come, especially after Easter.

  

  ~ Pastor Chris