Light Unto My Feet

Psalm 119:105 Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

I climbed into my attic yesterday  without a flashlight, fumbling my way through the rafters, trying not to fall through the ceiling.  As I was up there, I tried to run a new duct line for my ac unit (something I have never done before and will never do again) in the dark. I was regretting my lazy decision not to bring a light.  It made the entire job so much more stressful, and to boot, I had to do the job multiple times because I couldn't see if I had the duct sealed right.  I wonder why I attempt to do jobs without the proper lighting?  It doesn't make sense, especially in an attic.

We too have a choice to pick up a light to carry us through the darkness of this world.  Just like my attic, this world is a complicated place.  We try to navigate life's problems without falling through the cracks, hopelessly trying to stay off of rock bottom, much like  someone trying to navigate the rafters that are spaced awkwardly apart in a dark hot attic without a light.  Before long, you will fall through, that is, unless you can see where you are going.

The Word of God, the Bible, sheds light onto our paths.  It gives us a peace of mind as we encounter various trials in this life.  The questions is, do you choose to pick it up?  Do you choose to read it?  I know, I know, it's not the easiest read.  I was reading it this morning and fell asleep (I was dreaming that I fell through the rafters and shook violently and woke up and continued reading).  Give it a try.  Start in the book of John and read about who Jesus was.  And ask God to shed light onto your path. 

And I have learned my lesson, next time I go into the attic, I am bringing my Bible!

Carry Your Weight!

 Romans 12:4-6a For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:

Can I play out to you a ridiculous situation?  I'd rather tell you up front that this is ridiculous just in case you thought it actually happened.

My right foot told my right hand pinky (my dominant pinky, I had them both fight once and this one won) that he was tired of carrying his dead weight around.  The more my right foot bickered at the pinky for not carrying his weight, the more the left foot began to think and started chiming in on how he was tired of doing all of the work too.  To add insult upon injury, the mouth jumped in and said it was fed up that the pinky wasn't speaking for itself.  Before long the entire body was pressing the pinky to do more, instead of just hang there.  All along, the non-dominant pinky just curled up and hid in hopes that it would not be next.

Pretty absurd huh?   My pinky is a very specific body part designed to do one thing...and honestly I can't tell you what that one thing is.  But, if I was to lose my pinky today, I bet you I would find out real quick how important it was.

It's just as absurd when the body of Christ does the same thing.  Why do we look at each other and tell each other in the church that, "you need to do more evangelism, or discipleship, or you should serve more, or be more generous".   (sorry, did I touch a nerve) If you are part of the body of Christ, meaning Jesus Christ is your head,your authority in life, then you have a role that God has given you to help the church's mission to make disciples.  Your role maybe preaching or teaching, serving or some other role.  Either way, keep doing what your doing, find success in the eyes of Christ, because he is one you are serving.  And in the words of my good friend, "choose to be a failure in the sight of everyone else so you can succeed in the role that Christ gave you."

BTW, I do not endorse consumerism in the church (in case you thought I did because I am cutting some slack to those who I have seen get rung by others in the church for having a behind the scenes role in the church).  Meaning, if you are using the line, "God has not gifted me with much, so I will just show up and take from the body", then you are not utilizing your role in the body (ouch another nerve...I'll let up) and are abusing the grace God has given you by not walking in faith.  You are part of the body, jump in and help.  Be it inside the church, in your neighborhoods, at your work, in your family, you're needed, your not dead weight.

How far is the East from the West?

Psalm 103:11-12

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

How far is the east from the west?  How high are the heavens above the earth?  These are two questions that we will never comprehend the answers to.  Why?  Because an infinite God has designed the universe in a way that reflects his glory and goodness to his creation.
Think about it this way.  If I give you directions to head to Wal-Mart.  I would say head east on this road, then head west on another road.  All I can do is point you in the direction of east and west because no matter where you stand on this earth you haven't gotten any closer to the east or the west; you will always stand in the balance of the two.  The east and the west are infinitely apart since they have no final end to them.

So to is the distance between you, if you fear the Lord and your sins.  You will never find your sins because they have been abolished by Jesus Christ.  Your sins have been removed from yourself and will never be re-united to you in order to condemn you. The same is true with God's love for you.  No matter where you stand morally, if you fear the Lord and have given your life to Him, then you have only begun to taste the measure of His love for you.  His love is infinite, there is no measuring device that can grasp the size of his love.

There is an interesting twist in all of this.  The distance between us and our sin is directly tied to how much we believe God loves us.  The more our sin condemns us by us living in the memory of our sins the less of God's love we can experience.  When we hold on to the guilt of our sins by dwelling on what we have done, we are not living in the truth of Psalm 103:12 and we feel as if He loves us less.  We tell our self, "How could God love me for what I did?" And so belittle his love for us because we have not released our sins through his forgiveness.

We must know that the Lord has separated us from our sins in order to live in the fullness of His love for us.

As you head to Wal-Mart next time, think about Psalm 103:11-12.  When you get there, think of how you are not an inch closer to the east or the west, and how you are also not an inch closer to your sins that God has forgiven you of.

When God Stands in our Way

Have you ever set out to do something that you thought was right but met obstacle after obstacle along the way?  Be it trying to secure a loan for a car purchase, applying for school, turning in job application after job application  or simply walking to your freezer to get a bowl of ice cream and by the end of it you have a stubbed toe, a broken glass bowl, and ice cream all over the floor?  Some tasks in life seem simply impossible.

When this happens to me, I will at times push harder and harder to climb over these pesty obstacles just to find out in the end that God was protecting me from something or that He had other plans for me.  Read the story below of a stubborn individual who is a lot like me and you.  It comes from the Bible, Numbers 22:22-35.  To give you the background of whats going on, Balak, the king of Moab is terrified that Israel is going to wipe them off the face of the earth.  So he calls a seer of God named Balaam and offers this guy some mad cash in order to curse Israel.  Balaam wanted the dough but knew he could only speak God's words.    Now we pick up at verse 22.


So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 

22 But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.” 
31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” 35 And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak. 


I could not paraphrase that story, you had to of read it for yourself.  Balaam has an intelligent argument with his donkey (you call it what you want, I am calling it his donkey) and lost.  The donkey spoke some sense into Balaam because it had a perspective on the situation that Balaam didn't.  The issue was that Balaam saw the donkey as his adversary and began to beat it, when the donkey was only trying to protect Balaam.

I wish I could laugh at Balaam and say that has never has happened to me.  I can say I have never had a conversation with a donkey, at least one that was coherent, I mumbled my way through it.  I bet you never had one either.  But let me ask you this, what are you currently pushing hard to do in life that is being met with obstacle after obstacle.  Why do you mumble under your breath, "God, why can't you just make this easier"?  Have you ever considered that there is an angel of the Lord standing in the way of you and your goal.  Who knows, maybe God is protecting you from something you cannot see, or he has another purpose for you.  But sometime it means that you have to trust those donkeys in life in order to know what God really wants for you.

Sally

If you missed yesterday's post you can read it here to understand the context of this post.

http://www.midtownchurchfl.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-list.html

Matthew 28:16-20

 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Who is on your list?  Who has God placed in your life that needs to hear a message of hope and grace?  Maybe your list is short, or maybe it is long.  Those of you with a long list find some value in the number of names on your list which motivates you to reach them.  Those of you with a short list, maybe only one name, might have a harder time mobilizing yourself to the work God has called you to.

We read something like the above passage and feel as if we have to make disciples...plural (have a long list).  Let me remind you that in the context of this verse, Jesus was not commanding each disciple to make disciples (plural), rather to make disciples collectively.  More interesting than that, was the emotional state of the disciples during this command to go and make disciples?  Verse 17 said some worshiped and some doubted.  They were doubting their mission, their friend who called himself Jesus and God, and what to do next.  At the core of their doubt was a lack of hope.  Hope that their mission, what they gave their life up for (some of them gave everything to follow Jesus) would have no success   Think about it.  These men saw their leader get slaughtered by the very people they were being sent to.   They knew they would be next if they were to take up his cause.  Therefore how could they ever make a difference if they would just be killed off.  Of course some doubted, I probably would have too.  I'd be thinking that my old way of living was working just fine, risk free and comfortable, before Jesus came into my life.  

Notice what Jesus didn't do.  Jesus didn't try to fix their doubt, he didn't say, "YOU NEED TO HAVE FAITH before you go." Rather he ministered to them by saying, "Go...I will be with you.  Take your doubt with you and work it out as you see me use you to change the eternities of people."

On your list you may have only one person, and possibly a person similar to Sally who is spiritually bankrupt, with no apparent desire to turn to Christ.  In your mind you have sized her up and realized that she is a project, a big project.  Maybe you have gone so far as to say, she is without hope.  And maybe, just maybe, you are like me and you have some doubts that she would ever want to know Jesus.

The Sallies of this world need men and women who doubt to bring the message of hope.  Why?  Because they get to see you as raw as you come.  They get to witness you, another human, struggling, but  holding onto a Savior.  They get a glimmer into your world as they see your doubts stir up tears, anger, bitterness, and they get a wonderful chance to see those emotions worked out in a relationship with Christ (by the way, the same emotions that I have and everyone else has).  I have so many people tell me I wear my emotions on my sleeve (ugh...why do people have to call me out, that is is so frustrating...there I go again).  So be it, why would I want to hide the ugly and only show the good.  It causes people to think higher of me than they ought and naturally puts some relational space between me and them.

Sally doesn't want a person who is nicely groomed to hand her a spiritual track as if they have it all figured out.  Sally wants to see someone who is in the trenches with her, someone who is honest with her and with themselves.  When that happens, I believe people then allow you into their private lives because they begin to trust you.

Don't stress about your doubts.  Hand them over to God and go.  You will be presently surprised at what the Lord can do through your weaknesses.

BTW, changing your facebook status to read, "Why are there so many stupid drivers out there." Is not being real with your emotions.  Rather, acknowledging your failures and shortcomings to others for them to see you vulnerable is much harder to do, but much more real.  (I am one of those stupid drivers).

My List

An owner of a well respected Insurance Company called his top 3 agents to a lunch meeting.

“I am so proud of each one of you” he said smiling as they waited on their entrees to show up.   “I feel as if you three run this insurance company and make it thrive.   I am so proud to call you my agents!  I have something I need to entrust to you and I know you will do the right thing with it.  I have three envelopes here, one for each of you.  Inside each envelope is a list with names and contact information on potential big money clients.  I need you to do whatever you can to get their business.  These are going to be highly profitable clients if we can get them to buy our insurance.  Your incentive is this, I will boost your commission on each one of these that you seal a deal on by 10%”

He distributed the envelopes to the three men; they finished their meals and parted ways.  

Later that afternoon, the men eagerly tore into their envelopes to begin calculating their future bonuses.  One man looked at his list and saw he was given 10 possible clients.  Among them were some large restaurant owners, a local car dealership, a wealthy CFO of a hospital, and other reputable men.  He knew that he would have a large return on his money so he went straight to work on getting their business.  He set up lunch meetings, reserved seats at the local baseball game, and mailed hand written letters to all of them thanking them for their service to the community in their field of work.  The second man did the same thing.  He looked at his list and saw five names.  These names were of five wealthy reputable individuals.  This agent also went straight to work, investing into these future clients.  The third man, without knowing what the other two agents list said, opened his envelope in eager expectation.  As he looked at his envelope, his countenance dropped as he saw the name of only one person, Sally.  This agent knew Sally and was rather disappointed because Sally was his neighbor who had recently lost her husband due to old age, and spent everything they had to bury him.  He knew Sally’s poor financial estate because he had a conversation about life insurance with her several years ago when she initially moved in.

As the three men left for work that day, the one agent with the one name overheard the two other agents comparing names a dollar amounts.  When they inquired of the one agent about his list, he lied to them, making up the names of several individuals, and a bogus compensation amount in order to save face.  

This agent became very angry at his boss who gave him the one name and thought to himself, “Why didn’t my boss trust me with more?  This isn’t fair?  I got only one name, and to boot, this is someone that is not even worth my time.”  With that, he took his list and set it on the rather large stack of papers on his desk and went back to his other work, this time feeling bitter at his boss, forgetting the boss’s compliments of him earlier that day at lunch.

This is a modern day story of the 3 managers given the different number of talents in Matthew 25:14-30 (you should read that version of the story, it’s much better than mine; it came from God!)

Did the owner value the one agent any less because he gave him only 1 name?    No, the agent with the 1 name was valued the same as the other two agents.  In our world today, we equate the amount of trust someone gives us with the amount of value someone has for us.  This is because we live in a fallen world and judge people by their outward appearances and performances.

Some of you can relate to that agent.  You look around and you see so many people with so much more  ability than you who have acquired a large pile of stuff and a great reputation because they are good at what they do.  Yet you may have a hard time reading and learning, your attention span doesn’t span more than 5 minutes, and the natural skill sets that you have are limited, to say the least. 

When we compare our self to others we can become frustrated with God and wonder why he has trusted us with so little.  In return, we conclude that he loves us less than those other people and we become depressed or angry about that.  The ultimate outcome is, we begin to live for our self, because our view of how much God values us is broken and we try to find our own value through our self, giving our self what we want because we think we deserve it.  When we focus on what we want, we often times forget about what the Sallies of our world need, Jesus.

God doesn’t look upon your abilities and casts value upon you based on what you can or cannot do.  Rather, God looks to see if your heart is holy because you love his son, Jesus Christ.  If so, then God has given you an envelope with a list inside.  Your list might be short, but this is not because you are not valued, rather it may be a test to see how much you value God.

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Ram Set or Hammer

I walked in on three guys at my church building a wall (which I alluded to in the previous post) in one of our rooms.  After I finished laughing at them (hey, they laugh at me all the time) I inquired why they were using a Ram Set instead of a typical hammer and nails, or drill and screws to construct this wall.  Their answer was what I expected from three men.  But before I get to that, let me tell you what a Ram Set is.

A Ram Set is a tool that is loaded with a.22 caliber bullet (more like a blank) in a chamber and a nail in the tip of the barrel.  It is designed to be hit with a hammer, which fires the round, and then shoots the nail out of the Ram Set.  Basically, this is a gun that shoots nails.  The gun was designed to be used when you need to drive a nail into concrete.  So when these guys were using this to nail 2x4's together I laughed, because it was overkill.  To give you an idea of how much overkill it was, one of the 2x4's exploded and sent wooden shrapnel  into the face of one of the workers.  He was bleeding but was having a blast (pun intended).

Here is how they answered me, "Why would we use anything else when we have this much power at your finger tips".  Good answer!  How could I argue with that.  Guys will be guys, and it's best to let them be guys instead of trying to cage that up inside of them (the church needs more manly men anyways, I just hope my insurance agent isn't reading this)

Christian, you have been given a Ram Set, but often times we use a hammer to live life.  God has provided us with a spirit of power that is brought to us by His Spirit.  But so often, we choose to live out of our own strength and at the end of the day we are exhausted, trying to do things for God, trying to earn his merit, trying to change the world, instead of living out each moment in the faith provided to us by the Holy Spirit

Just this week I have been feeling condemned as if I was not doing enough as a young pastor for my church. I have been feeling like I need to do more, but I honestly have nothing left to give.  I called an old pastor friend up and he shot me (pun intended) straight, he said, "Greg, you have to be willing to fail and be a failure in your sight and the sight of others in order to succeed greatly in the area(s) in which God has called you."  WOW!  Talk about powerful.  I am letting people down left and right because they have expectations on me (good Godly expectations) that I cannot fulfill.  But when I try to fulfill them, which I have solely to please them, I am living out of my power, aiming to please people, (friends, family, strangers) and not God.  But when I am OK at failing in the sight of men, I am free to succeed in the areas in which God has truly called me.

You begin to live in divine power when you choose not to let this world or your peers dictate who you are going to be and what you are going to do, but rather when you choose to be whom God called you to be and do what God has called you to do regardless of your reputation and self image.

2 Timothy 1:7 says for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Notice it says power, love, and self control.  Not reckless power that mows people over, but power that enables us to love people, and power that is controlled by that love.

Last point then I have to get back to what I was doing.  I had dinner with a friend last night and we were talking about life.  This gentlemen looked at me and said, "Greg, just shoot the breeze, it is only me and you here"(we were at a restaurant  but I knew what he meant).  Thank God someone allowed me to be human!  5 minutes later, a lady walked up and said, "I overheard what you were saying and I have some advice to give you..." Well, even when we live in an environment where we think we are safe and free to be who we are without being judged, there is always someone watching us and forming opinions that seem to find their way back to us and try to hold us in our self condemnation.

Thanks for reading! Back to shopping for a Ram Set on Amazon, I got plans to build a killer bird feeder (no pun intended this time).

BTW....My check engine light just came on again, ugh.   http://www.midtownchurchfl.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-all-his.html