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  What was once incredible technology quickly becomes out-of-date.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

What Will You Do on Wednesday? (April 4, 2021)

Welcome to Holy Week.

Depending on when you get the chance to read this devotional, Holy Week is happening, and that is a good thing.  No, that is a great thing.  

It is also a difficult, and painful, and heart-wrenching time.  After all, this is the week where we should be spending some time remembering all that Jesus went through on our behalf.  Let’s do a brief recap.  (Just so we are aware, there is some disagreement/ambiguity over the exact details of each day.  This is one possible timeline based primarily on the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke, but readings from John are not excluded.)

Sunday ~ Palm Sunday.  Things started off great!  Jesus enters into Jerusalem with his disciples, and people are excited.  The crowds gather.  The palm branches are waved.  Cloaks are laid on the ground to cover the path that Jesus is traveling.  People cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  (Matthew 21:9)

Monday ~ Jesus clears the Temple.  In some sense, this is to be expected, right?  After all, what do you do when a party is over at your house?  I know what happens at mine.  We clean up.  The celebration of Palm Sunday has ended.  Jesus does some cleaning of his house.  

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Tuesday ~ Time for class.  On this day, Jesus teaches in the Temple.  Just the day before, Jesus had cleaned it up so now it is time for him to instruct, to teach, to guide.  (Just as an aside, this is the last time that Jesus would teach in the Temple before he was arrested.)  So, what does he teach?  He teaches that he has authority, and that he has no need of telling the Pharisees where he gets his authority. (Matthew 21:23-27)  He teaches of two sons, one who said that he wouldn’t obey, but did.  The other that said he would obey, but didn’t. (Matthew 21:28-32)  He taught about tenants, who were wicked and evil, beating and killing the landowner’s servants who had come to collect what was owed.  They proceeded to kill the landowner’s son as well.  Not a good group. (Matthew 21:33-46)  He taught about a wedding banquet, paying taxes, marriage, the greatest commandment, the Son of David, hypocrisy, warnings against the teachers of the law, and more.  (See Matthew 23-25)  These words of Christ were important, were valuable.  They taught many lessons and provided insight into the kingdom of God for the people who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened.  They will do the same for us today…if we are willing to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen.  I encourage you to spend some time in these Scriptures.  Listen to Jesus.  Sit at his feet.

Wednesday ~ Jesus returns to Bethany.  Not much is known about what Jesus did on this day.  More is known about what two others did on this day…we will get to that later.

Thursday ~ The Last Supper & the Garden of Gethsemane.  Here is where the week gets exceptionally emotional.  Throughout the day on Thursday, Jesus displays love in ways that go beyond words as he stoops to wash his disciples’ feet. (John 13:1-17)  He shows a willingness to have fellowship with those who would betray him as he dips his bread into the bowl and eats with Judas.  (Matthew 17:20-25)  He establishes a new covenant with his followers.  His body, the bread.  His blood, the wine.  Broken and poured out. (Matthew 17:26-30)  He remains loyal, even when he knows that those who are closest to him will not do the same. (Matthew 17:31-35)  He shows what it means to be surrendered to the will of the Father, anguished to the point where his sweat became droplets of blood. (Luke 22:44)  In addition to ALL of this (plus more that I did not mention in this brief summary), Jesus demonstrates humility, allowing himself to be arrested, to stand trial, to be spit upon, mocked and struck. (Matthew 17:47-67)

Friday ~ Good Friday.  The Cross. (Matthew 27:11-44)  So much could be said about this day.  I’d prefer for you to spend time in the Scripture or time in prayer.  Read the Word about Good Friday.  Thank Jesus for this day.

Saturday ~ The Quiet.  For those who were there during that week, Jesus is presumably gone.  Dead and buried.  The story is over.

Sunday ~ The Resurrection!  The day that changes everything.  Life out of death.  Light out of darkness.  Victory over defeat.  Sin has been vanquished.  Life is offered to all who would believe in Jesus, the Christ, the Living One, the Lamb who was slain to take away the sins of the world, the King, the Lord, the Savior!

Right now.  It’s Holy Week.  Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, is coming.  It is on the way and there is great cause for celebration!  But, I offer a word of caution.  Don’t skip over all of the other days just to get there.  Yes, I know, we are Resurrection People, Easter People.  The resurrection never goes away, and we can’t possibly erase it from our minds to experience things apart from this truth.  However, don’t just skip through the other stuff.  Spend some time in the Word.  Spend some time reading, remembering, reflecting, praying, thanking Jesus for all that he did on our behalf.  It is good to do.  It is beneficial for our soul.

Now, that all of that has been said, I want us to jump back to mid-week and take a look at Wednesday.  Two things likely happened on Wednesday by two, different people.  Two different people responded in two completely different manners to Jesus as he took a day of waiting, of rest.

One, Judas.

He couldn’t wait any longer.  Judas needed action, and he needed it now!  After all, what was Jesus doing just sitting around?  When was he going to establish his kingdom?  (One theory as to why Judas betrayed Jesus is that he was trying to force Jesus’ hand.  People theorize that Judas held to a more military view of the Messiah, a conqueror of the Roman people.  If he betrayed Jesus, that would force him to act, to fight in that manner.  Whether or not this was truly his motivation, I do not know.  Regardless of his motivation, Judas acted upon his own will as the Lord rested and waited for the Father’s will.) (Matthew 26:14-16)

Two, the woman.

The alabaster jar.  The expensive perfume.  The value?  A year’s wages.  An exorbitant, perhaps excessive, offering.  A gift of love.  Poured out in devotion even though she couldn’t possibly know that this act was being used to prepare Jesus for his burial.  (Matthew 26:6-13)

One day.  Two extremely different responses.  

One sought his own will, his own way, his own success, his own future, his own prosperity.  

The other poured out what she had for Jesus.

Friends, sometimes in life it seems as if we are in a perpetual Wednesday of Holy Week.  Jesus is seemingly absent from the scene, relaxing at Bethany.  He doesn’t appear to be cleaning things up or teaching.  He’s not washing feet or feeding.  At times, we don’t even realize or see the way that he has surrendered and died for us.  Sometimes it seems as if he has just retreated to Bethany and is doing very little.

In those times, in those times where we wait, in those times where it seems like it is a Wednesday of Holy Week, I encourage you…be careful how you respond.  Be careful how you act.  Be careful what you do.  

Learn from Judas.  Don’t step outside of God’s will or God’s timing.  Don’t try to force an issue.  Don’t seek selfish gain, betraying the Lord.  Instead, trust God.  Wait for God to act.  Wait for Jesus to answer.  Wait for the Lord to do that which he desires to do in your life.  Don’t push beyond God’s plan for you.  

Instead, learn from the woman and pour.  Pour out your life.  Pour out the gifts that you have been given.  Pour out your heart.  Pour out your love.  

Jesus is faithful.  Jesus is kind.  Jesus is trustworthy.  Jesus is compassionate.  Jesus is passionate.  Jesus is caring.  Jesus is loving.  Jesus is life.   Even in times when it seems like Jesus is doing nothing, we can trust that his “nothing” will accomplish far greater than our “something” that is done outside of his will.  So, friend, remember.  Do not push.  Pour.  Especially this week.

  ~ Pastor Chris

Go Get the Donkey (March 28, 2021)

Jesus had been clear.  

Things were going to change.

Things were no longer going to be as they had been for the last couple of years.  In fact, though they didn’t know it or understand it completely, the disciples were approaching what would be the most life-changing week of history.

Holy Week was coming. 

Granted.  It wasn’t called Holy Week yet.  Still, it was coming, and Jesus was trying to get his friends ready for what was to come as they journeyed along to their next destination.  Jerusalem.

Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

~ Matthew 20:17-19

For us, we have the benefit of hindsight.  We have the benefit of knowing what happened during that week.  We’ve read the Scriptures.  We’ve shared the stories.  We’ve heard the preachers point to these events time and time again.  We have a pretty good grasp on what happened (though I don’t think we can ever completely grasp the full depth and breadth of what Jesus went through and accomplished).  The disciples, on the other hand, had no clue.

No clue whatsoever.

This wasn’t the first time that Jesus had shared this information.  They had been told before.  (Matthew 16:21-23, Matthew 17:22-23)  Still, they didn’t get it.  Instead, right after hearing what was to become of their Leader, their Teacher, their Rabbi, do you know what they did?

They fought over who among them would be the greatest.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus.  We get it.  Suffering.  Death.  Resurrection.  Who gets to sit at your right hand in the kingdom of heaven?”

This was a complete whiff.  A strikeout.  Shoot, they weren’t even playing the right game.  It’s like they were swinging a baseball bat at a soccer ball.  Completely and totally off.

And yet…

Jesus still cared for them.  Jesus still proceeded to the cross for them.  Jesus was still beaten and battered and bruised for them.  Even though they didn’t get it, they didn’t understand, they couldn’t wrap their minds around what was going to happen.  Even though Jesus knew that they would forsake his love, that they would betray him, that they would run away and deny ever knowing him.  Even though Jesus knew that they would not remain faithful.  Even though the disciples were confused and hard headed and stubborn and worried about what was in it for them.  Even though they were flawed and sinful and not worthy of the Lord.  Even though they were all these things and more, Jesus still loved them.  Jesus still called them.  Jesus still had a role for them to fulfill in his kingdom.  Jesus still had a plan to use them.  Jesus was still faithful.

And so, we read this as they approached that life-changing week:

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

~ Matthew 21:1-3

Can you imagine being one of those two?

Go and untie a donkey and her colt and bring them to Jesus?

Really?

This had to be towards the top of the list of “strange things that Jesus asked the disciples to do.”  “Cast your net on the other side of the boat.”  “Share your lunch with these 5,000+ folks.”  “Come out to me on the water.”     “Go get the donkey.”

Go get the donkey?  

What donkey?

Whose donkey?

Why a donkey?

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.  They had no idea what was about to happen.  No idea what was about to transpire.  Sure, they were told that Jesus was going to suffer, die, and be raised to life.  Still, they didn’t really know what that meant.  They didn’t really understand what that would look like.  Plus, Jesus didn’t say anything about Palm Sunday in that prediction!  He didn’t let them know that this was going to be a thing, that palm branches would be waved, that cloaks would be laid down on the road.  How would you feel if Jesus, all of the sudden, asked you to go and get the donkey?  I, for one, might have issues with this request.  

A donkey and her colt, Jesus, really?

Perhaps, I’m looking a little too far into this.  Perhaps they were familiar with what Matthew tells us next:

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

~ Matthew 21:4-5

Maybe they knew this was why they were being sent to fetch a donkey and her colt…but I doubt it.  After all, the disciples did not demonstrate a consistent history of always knowing what was going on in the broader picture of Jesus’ kingdom.  In fact, they had consistently demonstrated the opposite.  They had consistently shown that they were not aware of the larger aspects of what Jesus was doing, of what Jesus was fulfilling.  So, I have my doubts in regards to them knowing in this instance.

And yet…

They went and got the donkey.

They went and got the donkey!  

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.  They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

~ Matthew 21:6-7

They went and got the donkey, and the most important Sunday-to-Sunday stretch of the history of the world began.

Holy Week was kicked off, and life would never be the same because of who Jesus is and because of what Jesus accomplished.

The request was relatively small.  The donkey and her colt played a relatively minor role in the story (at least in comparison to the cross and the empty tomb and those things that Jesus did and went through).  Regardless, this was an important part of the plan, and it was an important part of the plan that was dependent upon two disciples, who had very little clue at this point, following through on a request of Jesus that had couldn’t have made much sense to them at that time.

“Go and get the donkey.”

The disciples went, and we continue to have it be a part of the most important story that we will ever embrace.

I don’t know how this affects you, but for me, I am filled with hope, with awe, with gratitude, with inspiration, with love.

Why?

I know that Jesus has, can, and will continue to do the same thing in my life, and that I have the opportunity to be a part of a broader story, even if I don’t know all of the details, even if I have failed, even if I don’t always get everything right.

The disciples didn’t know it all.  They weren’t perfect.  They didn’t always understand.  They often fell short even after walking with Jesus for some time.  And yet, Jesus still loved them, still called them, and still used them.  

The same is true for me.  The same is true for us. 

We don’t know it all.  We’re not perfect.  We don’t always understand.  Sometimes, we fall short…even after walking with Jesus for a while.  And yet…Jesus still loves us, still calls us, still uses us, still asks us to “go and get the donkey”, to take steps of faith, of obedience, to follow after him.

So, I ask you this day, as we prepare for a celebration of Holy Week, will you go?  Will you go and get the donkey when Jesus asks?  Will you respond in faith?  Will you be a part of his story?  Will you act, even if you don’t completely understand or even know what you are doing?  Will you trust Jesus, even if His direction seems a bit absurd?

Friend, I hope that when Jesus asks me that I will respond in faith, in obedience, in love.  I pray that when the Lord asks me, “Chris, go and get the donkey,” that I will hop up and go, regardless of my past mistakes, my misunderstandings, or whether I know the full picture of what is happening.  I pray that I will hear the voice of Jesus and go.  I pray that you will as well.  After all, who knows?  In that faith, in that obedience, in getting the donkey we just might find ourselves as part of a much larger story of God’s plan.

  ~ Pastor Chris