WEEKLY
WORKPLACE
THINKABLES
A dozen categories of familiar 1-page topics
John Hoelzel
July 6, 1998
WEEKLY WORKPLACE THINKABLES
Introduction
*Thinkables in 12 Categories
*
I started writing one THINKABLE a week late in the fall of 1995. But what is a Weekly Workplace THINKABLE? It's roughly a one-page summary of my thoughts on a topic of general understanding and interest. But just take the topic of "listening" for example. There's one of my favorites which we all know a lot about, we all use every day, AND in which we all have a lot of room for potential improvement. At least that's what I continue to hear from my wife, even after I've worked on it for 39 years of communicating together. And listening is just a small subset of my really favorite subject, "respect." In 1985 I was so enthralled with thinking about respect, that I wrote an unpublished book titled Real Relationships Require Respect. But that's another story and another book. But you see for example how we all have favorite topics that we do think about, mull over, try to improve upon, and may even get into discussions about. But it is especially fun to write some of these thoughts down, and to share them with others.
I started sharing THINKABLES by taping them each week to the outside wall of my workplace cubicle, along with a lot of current project and space news, so a "passer-by" could read them. Later I began to form a list of email addresses, including co-workers and strangers I met on airline flights and shared THINKABLES with. This list of email addressees now numbers about 80 around the world. Occasionally I include some personal experiences, so that helps keep worldwide friends up to date on some of my activities. But how would I state the purpose of these short essays?
I mentioned earlier that "listening" is a very important topic for me. Actually I think we all have so much room for improvement in our listening skills and in showing associated respect for the speaker, that I would love to see listening included along with the "3 R's" in our school subjects. This respect for listening and for the speaker applies to how I pay attention when God impresses me with ideas and thoughts. I've learned that I have about three basic choices: to merely think "that's really interesting," and before long I forget it; to jot down some notes so I can at least later try to think it through; or to stop everything, follow up with focused thinking, and write and enjoy the experience of exploring the related ideas and new thoughts which would otherwise have never come to light. The benefit of this recording is primarily for my future reference. But I've also been encouraged by others to form them into a book, for easier reference, and for wider distribution.
Its amazing to me that we human beings often think so much alike as we face common experiences in life. On the other hand many of us will have somewhat unique ideas too. For example, "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." That's what makes a THINKABLE interesting to diverse people. The topic development starts with familiar concepts, and some related facts usually unknown to the reader, dealing with concepts and experiences most folks have thought about or experienced. Having laid a groundwork of somewhat common thoughts and experiences, the THINKABLE uses these as a springboard to break new ground and make use of these thoughts to personally challenge us toward application for the benefit of ourselves and those around us. It usually concludes with comparisons, contrasts, or analogies to similar topics that God had many diverse people write down and collect as the Bible, so we could learn what is on His mind.
So THINKABLES are intended to help you extend your thinking and experience to related areas you might not otherwise have considered. My expectation is that most of the readers will find some of the topics and thoughts of interest, and that some of the readers will find most all of the conclusions of interest. My special request is that similar to the way I've tried to pay attention and follow through with the thoughts God has given me, that you too copy and share that THINKABLE with them when a topic especially catches your attention and then someone comes to your mind as likely to benefit from those thoughts. You could also help point others to recent THINKABLES by referring them to my Internet THINKABLE Home Page at http://members.tripod.com/~John_Hoelzel. They can also use that page to send me email (at john.hoelzel@juno.com) and can thereby get on my ongoing THINKABLE email list.
Will Rogers (who died a year before I was born) had quite a knack for reading a newspaper and helping folks lighten up and laugh at themselves, and at the special ways that so many politicians have of turning common sense upside down.
As I proudly attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I was certainly influenced by this Okie who could spin a humorous yarn just as easily as he could spin his cowboy rope. He was quick to see the irony and humor in our front-page headlines. My desire is that some of the THINKABLES will encourage and challenge you to Think, See and then Act more keenly and deeply than before you turned these pages!
Thanks for reading, thinking, and sharing. Now here are the THINKABLES, arranged by categories.
Don't Forget Your Compass or "Mr. Holland's Opus"
Can you imagine being lost in a dense forest, far from civilization? Boy Scouts would likely recall various techniques like: which side of the tree does moss grow on? - or lets try to get our bearings from the sun's direction (if its visible), taking into account the month and time of day - or at night trying for a view of a known star constellation, or maybe even the north star, pointed to by the big dipper handle. If we could "get our bearings" we could try to stay on a constant heading using backward and forward sightings, to avoid "going in circles." Of course, if we were a prepared Boy Scout we would have and use our compass, and the "special techniques" and uncertainty would be gone.
For those who saw the Movie "Mr. Holland's Opus," we saw how uncomfortable it was for him to be told by the woman principal who hired him that "He needed to be a compass;" that he was just drifting randomly through his teaching job, not providing any real direction and inspiration to his music students. Several decades later, this admonition had born much fruit, evidenced by the multiple generations of diverse students he had inspired to find meaningful and individual direction for their lives. At that point his original principal presented him with the "compass award."
There is much that could be said about how it feels to be lost, and without hope or direction. Many of Mr. Holland's students felt that way, but he helped them by not only teaching, but also providing inspiration and increased self-esteem. We could also talk about Directions: desired, asked for, acquired - and shortcuts. But since this is brief, let's think together for a minute about the best compass I know.
True direction is absolute, invariant, and dependable, whether depended UPON or not. Jesus came from heaven to earth to show us what God is like - to direct us to God. He came in the most humble of circumstances, yet He spoke with the unmistakable authority of God; in word and deed, He is the God-man. He uniquely said He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life; that no person forms a real relationship with God the Father except by Him (Jesus). So ironically the way to God is NOT a map, a formula, a ritual, nor a membership to be earned or purchased, but the way to God is a Person, God Himself in human form - Jesus.
When doubting Thomas saw Jesus after His unique resurrection from a voluntary death payment for our sins, and reached his hands into Jesus' nail-pierced hands and His spear-pierced side, he responded in faith, "my Lord and my God." He saw THE way and followed Him!
That type of experience is a relationship which is initiated by (1) getting a glimpse of who Jesus is (getting directions), and (2) responding to Him by faith (moving in His direction), with a personal invitation to Him to be our savior (from sin) and Lord (one worthy of following in a personal relationship). Jesus responded to Thomas, "Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
We can tell you what it is like for us to open the door of response to Jesus and follow Him as our dependable compass, but you can never experience or know what we are talking about, until you also voluntarily open your own heart's door to Him! That's real relationship, His dependable direction, NOT religion (man's arbitrary bootstrap techniques of SELF-direction efforts)!
Fighting for freedom has meant death for many. For example it certainly did for William Wallace in the movie Brave Heart, which tried to fill in some of the blanks about the breaking of England's early tyranny over Scotland. His last exhaling breath of life was used to shout out "FREEDOM," which later became a rally point for the Scots.
Most nations have a rich heritage of freedom fighters against unjust rulers who try to force their subjects into submission with tactics that include tyranny and taxation without representation.
Those who have to fight for freedom, and their families, do not take freedom for granted. Many who enjoy the benefits of freedom as a gift, without any personal hardship or experience of loss of freedoms, tend to take freedom for granted, and for example may feel unmotivated to serve in the armed forces of their country.
But what is freedom? In the U.S. July 4th is known as Independence Day. So is freedom the same as independence? If so, in order to be free, what all do we need to be independent or free from? For example, is a young man who demands and gets his inheritance early, to spend independently as he pleases, truly free? Or could he possibly be enslaved to his own worst enemy, as Pogo profoundly proclaimed so many years ago, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" Could he for example squander all his inheritance on his youthful lusts, and become enslaved to another master, merely to get enough scraps to eat?
Is it possible that the same kind of enslaving characteristics found in tyrants are also found to some degree within each of us at times? For example, at what age does someone mature enough to be trusted to wisely and responsibly receive and manage an inheritance? More simply to the point, do we always treat others (and ourselves) as we would like to be treated? If not, why not? If we are honest with questions like these, we will find that even within ourselves lie some of the weaknesses that undermine true freedom. True freedom ironically is willing to submit itself to structure, discipline, protection, growth, and opportunity which is never possible by demanding my rights or by clutching onto "my own." It is hard to accept the paradox, that when we find such growth potential characteristics, and unclutch our control into their keeping, true freedom, and the right sort of independent growth occurs.
Jesus said, "If the Son (of God) shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." What did He mean, and how can this happen? We see the answer in His life of joyful and willing love, submission and obedience to His Father. God never forces Himself on anyone, not us nor His own Son.
Jesus said that He always did and said what He saw and heard His Father doing and saying. When He gives us spiritual eyes to see His pattern and example, we see Jesus as He really is and as He claimed to be, the Son of God, Emmanuel (God in the flesh). He humbly came to earth to show us what God is like and to make a ransom payment to restore into fellowship and communication with the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit), all who believe and accept His life's blood payment. Ironically, our independence from sin which enslaves us all, comes from our free choice to submit in dependence upon Jesus Christ, the only successful Freedom Fighter who won against sin, death, and Satan. His death words were "It is finished;" His resurrection shout is "FREEDOM." His resurrection, and the way He frees and transforms His own today, are the proof of the pudding of this unique Freedom Fighter. Submit yourself to Him, enjoy His Victory in your behalf. He already fought for you, and won!!!
If you've seen the Movie "Amistad" you've been on an emotional roller coaster ride, witnessing some of man's greatest inhumanity to man, all for the sake of money and power. It is truly an irony that we can clutch so tightly after personal gain, in trying to obtain things we deem essential to our security and well being, that we are willing to rationalize and justify such depraved behavior toward others as the total devaluing of human lives, once we have attached the commodity label "slave" on others. An even bigger irony is that those who cram slaves into a ship's hold, stacked like firewood, and drown them as "excess baggage" when the ship's rations dwindle, are really themselves much more the real slaves - slaves of greed, stealing, murder, pride, and multiple fruits of self-centeredness and selfishness!
You see, one who is enslaved like Cinque against his will, resists and fights to regain his freedom. When one is suddenly taken captive from freedom to slavery, the contrast is so great that it produces great resistance, struggle, endurance, and a will of great strength and endurance to regain freedom. In contrast, a nation like ours can gradually move from freedom fighters like those who signed our Declaration of Independence, to a generation of "draft dodgers" who don't feel any responsibility or respect for military service to keep our nation free, as the personal knowledge of the value, price, and fruit of freedom is gradually eroded away.
We are all familiar with some of the words of "Amazing Grace" which is now much more popular and widely known, that the account of its author, John Newton. You see his words of experience, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a WRETCH like me," come from the experience of one who was himself a slave trader, as wretched as those depicted aboard the "Amistad." But he later experienced personally the love, forgiveness, and grace of Jesus Christ, whose blood cleansed all the sins he had committed against the slaves in the hold of his ship.
Just as most owners of slaves, and most slave traders, would rationalize and never admit to their sins, so most of mankind today remains blind or in denial of their sin of unbelief against God and His sin payment, Jesus. But Jesus' death on the cross to pay for our vilest sins, and His powerful, new-life-giving resurrection, provides victory and freedom from the slavery of sin to all who choose to break free by humbly asking Him to be their very own savior. Let freedom and joy bells ring in your heart as you experience new life in Christ in 1998!
If you saw the movie "City Slickers" you will remember some turning point transitions such as city boy Mitch fearing for his life, and feeling that he might have teased cowboy Curly once too many times. Curly not only backed off short of murder, but began to open up to Mitch, confiding that he saw a lot of "city slickers" try to unload all their city lifestyle problems during a short wilderness trail ride. Curly claimed that life is all bound up in finding and following the "One Thing" which matters most. The secret he said, is that "One Thing" is an individual matter.
What have you found in life, that matters the most to you? Did it provide a "new beginning?" Did it relieve some of the burdens and pressures of life? People are diverse, and our four basic temperament types not only differ a lot, but some of them are so opposite they clash. So, to turn everyone loose to find the "One Thing" which matters most to them is to anticipate rather diverse and arbitrary results. In contrast to such diverse and arbitrary lifestyles, the following account is quite narrow and specific regarding what is really important and essential. But it too emphasizes our diversity.
By temperament and habit, some of us tend to naturally shoulder a lot of responsibility, including planning ahead, working hard, and trying to see that everything is just right. Others seem much less structured and uptight, and may seem to somewhat ride on the coat tails of the first group. Such might seem to be the case when Jesus visited the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany, near Jerusalem.
Martha was so hard at work, trying to make sure everything turned out just right, that her frustration with her sister finally got the best of her. She burst forth in anger and demanded to know, didn't Jesus even care that her sister had left her to do all the housework alone. While Martha worked, Mary just sat there at Jesus' feet, listening to what He had to say. Surely He would tell her to get up and get busy in a responsible manner. Instead, Jesus told Martha very directly that she was so burdened with her urgent responsibilities that they were distracting her from one single important thing. Jesus replied that life really only has a few basic needs, actually only one thing which is essential. He said that Mary had chosen that one thing, which could never be taken away from her. Only 3 things endure in eternity - God, His Word, and people. By hindsight, it sounds like He was implying that Mary had listened very closely to Him describe His upcoming death which would pay for the sins of all who would personally accept His gift of eternal life. In fact she understood and believed so thoroughly that she had already entered into eternal life with Him, which she would never lose.
How do we know this? Two days before Passover, and Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, this same Mary risked the ridicule of Judas the money keeper and others, to break an alabaster bottle, and pour out its contents, a pound of very expensive nard perfume over Jesus' head and feet. Jesus not only defended her act of perfuming Him for His upcoming burial, He said that whenever His good news is proclaimed throughout the world, her insightful act should also be told in her memory. So the unavoidable question is, are we too busy and distracted today to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to what He has to say? His words are still accessible to those with ears and hearts to hear how much He loves us.
If you have seen the movie "Awakening's" you have seen a caring, committed doctor at his best. So many helpful things followed his willingness to be used in any capacity to help others. This is a wonderful documentation of the effectiveness of simple respect and caring in renewing and rekindling human interests in the simple joys of living, among persons with chronic mental illness.
It shows the miraculous unchaining of comatose people in 1969, through pioneering work with brain chemistry medicine. Most of the people in this mental hospital experienced a near catatonic frozenness of the body and mind, until this early medicine, El Dopa, unlocked the brain chemistry by working on the dopamine receptors of the communication system. Even after side effects of the medicine resulted in involuntary muscle ticks and twitches, the Doctor continued to work just as hard to plead for human interaction and involvement in socialization with persons with mental illness, now known as neuro-biological brain disorders (NBD). Through their incredible awakening's to social interest and activity when the medicine restored normal brain activity, the doctor saw that similar social initiatives from "normal folks" to reach out to those with NBD's was also very necessary and therapeutic.
Today, almost 30 years later, medicines like Lithium, Clozapine, Resperdol, Geodon, and Olanzapine have allowed a very large per cent of people to leave mental hospitals, and return only if and when they stop taking their medicine. The medicines have also made great strides in eliminating serious side effects. Medicines, no fault education, and humane treatment have made a significant inroad in reducing stigma and promoting public understanding and acceptance. Good as this is, in helping awaken people with brain illnesses to their normal potential, it only provides a glimpse of similarity into what happens when a large segment of people experience spiritual awakening.
Alas, how frozen are our own spiritual receptors! Our spiritual potential lies dormant and untapped until/unless the kindness and grace of Jesus knocks at our heart's door to awaken and quicken us to new life with Him. The winsomeness of His attitudes and personal knowledge-based counsel quickly sets our feet on a new path, with purpose, direction, and fulfillment. Jesus never fails. Heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails!
For example, The Great Awakening title describes the restoring effect of God's Spirit on entire communities. One such Awakening was started in the small country of Wales in 1904. As the Holy Spirit moved among gatherings throughout the country, He elicited confessions of hidden sins, praising God, praying, singing, and testimonies, without regard for length of meeting time. Wide spread changes included the need to re-train coal mine pit ponies. They had been so used to profanity that they had to gradually learn a new language regarding when to move and stop as profanity ceased in the coal mines. Restitution of stolen goods was also wide spread. Similar Awakening's have recently occurred on U.S. College campuses. As we respond today to the persistent, caring love which Jesus displayed in His obedience to His Father's will, we can experience His purifying resurrection power at work in our own lives to replace self centered sin with a heart awakened to rest in His love.
Titanic is a good word to describe the box office earnings of this long account of a very short voyage. My wife and I saw this epic movie on our 39th wedding anniversary. She loves historical novels, but doesn't really care for movies about sinking ships. So she was disappointed to not see more of the ship's appointments, the activities on board, and a display of the upper class opulence. On the other hand, I'm not as interested in those, but was intrigued by the thread of the titanic love story between Rose and Jack woven from end to end. Jack really lived what he preached to others, exhorting them to not take the gift of life for granted, but rather to milk every moment of it's rich opportunity.
Here are a couple of observations I saw in the movie, about the characteristics of selfless love which expends itself in behalf of another, and of self love, which tightly clutches and hoards resources, squandering them on oneself while others die for lack of them.
At age 101, Rose recalls her unfolding confirmation of the character flaws in her fiancée which would have made her a trapped and stifled slave in her marriage. And she recalls her growing affirmation that to risk her future life with Jack would indeed be milking each moment with someone who really appreciated her and drew out her best.
But the very interesting thing to me is the line at the end when Rose claims, "Jack saved me!" The facts are that in the movie, ONLY those people who made it into a lifeboat were saved! And Rose left the safety of a secure seat in an early launched life boat to return to the ship in search of Jack. There she risked her life several times to rescue Jack from drowning even before the ship sank, handcuffed to a pipe on a lower flooded deck. True, he then got her to the relative safety of the stern of the ship just before it sank. And he got her up on some floating debris and made her promise to hang on and be a survivor from the frigid Atlantic waters which finally claimed his life. So in truth, at times, they both saved each other.
And they both exhibited some of the characteristics of true love. Love remains kind while enduring difficulty, is content with its station in life rather than having to be top dog, does not selfishly seek its own with a puffed up attitude, instead in the face of criticism and attacks from others its attitude seeks and brings out the best in the situation and in others, exhibiting belief, hope, and endurance.
In contrast, the facts were stated that the boats would hold half of the over 2,000 people. But only one of the boats returned to search for the survivors in the frigid water, and it was too late for almost all of them. Only 700 were allowed into the life boats, although to their credit others urged those in control of the boats to answer the cries of the dying. I wonder if true love or at least remorse ever broke through their selfish self love, to help them experience what true love is really about. This is certainly another strong illustration of the contrast between "loving people and using things," or "loving things and using people." Graphic as this contrast is, Jesus is the perfect model of all the love dimensions described above in the paraphrase of the Bible's Love Chapter, I Corinthians 13: 4-7. Please let this movie help you learn for yourself from Him what true life and love is all about!
One of my favorite movies is "The Witness" in which a small Amish boy is the only witness to the murder of one policeman by another (because he is getting too close to uncovering a police department drug diversion). The police department strategy, which almost worked, was to murder all witnesses of any evidence which might shed light on their otherwise private crimes. In the end, their zeal for cover-up was unable to overwhelm an Amish farm community and the courage of this small boy. The small boy was able to point out the murderer's photo.
But, as a witness, have you ever tried to fill out something like a car accident report form? Did it agree exactly with others involved in, or witnessing the accident? Reconstruction of the past is often not easy, and in the case of differing accounts, the question arises, who should we believe? Often one who seems to have no ax to grind, or no profit to make, most readily gains our ear.
This attribute of "unvarnished" reporting is what I really appreciate about the writers and witnesses who recorded the Bible. Here we see a mix of writers who were often initially very reluctant to tune into or participate in God's ways. But in the end they were inspired by Him to recall and report events, observations and emotions which God wants to use to inspire us too. For example, the disciple Peter who started out with bold promises to never deny Jesus, brashly cut off a high priest servant's ear to resist Jesus' captors, but soon, as Jesus had foretold, denied Him 3 times, with oaths and swearing that he never knew Him. After His resurrection, Jesus transformed Peter from the inside out. This brash, boastful fisherman became a humble, sensitive, caring, reliable witness of God, as evidenced in the 2 New Testament books he wrote. He too was crucified, rather than deny His Lord and Savior.
In addition to such inside-out transformed witnesses who wrote the books of the Bible, we have the witness of the creation itself. As a Boy Scout, I thoroughly enjoyed the beauties of nature, but I overlooked its creator. As a freshman at Rice Institute, I realized I had heard about Jesus, but had never asked Him into my life as my own savior from sin. After I did this, I discovered He is the creator of all, but as unfathomable as His creation is, He is much more interested in a real relationship with us, built on our faith in Him and His promises.
Also God the Father has given audio-visual witness concerning the authenticity and authority of Jesus His Son, which I urge you to consider privately and personally. For example: one of God the Father's authentication's of His Son is recorded in Luke 9:28-36 as an early mountain-top glimpse by Peter, James and John of Jesus' glory and authority as God the Father's voice interrupted Peter from an enveloping cloud, "This is my beloved Son. Hear Him!" Another triple affirming witness from God the Father concerning His Son, occurs when Peter (in Acts 3:22-23) quotes Moses (in Deut. 18:15, 18,19) who quotes God the Father, "Listen to the Prophet (Jesus)." "FOR MOSES TRULY SAID UNTO THE FATHERS, A PROPHET SHALL THE LORD YOUR GOD RAISE UP UNTO YOU OF YOUR BRETHREN, LIKE UNTO ME; HIM SHALL YE HEAR IN ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER HE SHALL SAY UNTO YOU. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT EVERY SOUL, WHICH WILL NOT HEAR THAT PROPHET, SHALL BE DESTROYED FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE."
A final witness who wrote the book of Hebrews, stated in Hebrews 1:1-3:"GOD, WHO AT SUNDRY TIMES AND IN DIVERS MANNERS SPAKE IN TIME PAST UNTO THE FATHERS BY THE PROPHETS, HATH IN THESE LAST DAYS SPOKEN UNTO US BY HIS SON, WHOM HE HATH APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS, BY WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS; WHO BEING THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY, AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, AND UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER, WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH..."
Mind/Will/Emotions
We read a lot these days about styles, temperament, and personalities. For example, from the times of Plato we hear of the four basic temperament types (and can easily see these and their combinations in others, and even sometimes in ourselves):
Sparky Sanguine - the happy-go-lucky salesman type, life of the party, but weak willed, and when he offends you, the next day he bounces back as though nothing had happened;
Rocky Choleric - drives himself just as hard as he is on others as he climbs up on top of every human and inanimate obstacle to his being #1;
Maestro Melancholic - the creative temperamental genius whose feelings are easily hurt, who has great difficulty feeling accepted by others and themselves, in spite of their elegant creations;
Flip Phlegmatic - Joe Cool whom almost nothing ruffles, but instead he maintains a steady course through life spouting dry wit humor, with occasional streaks of stubbornness.
And we have all run into (and maybe backed away from) a "type A personality;" we recognize that "our style" is different from "their style." Hopefully we come to the point of recognizing that although we are sometimes suspicious of people who are "different from us," actually one style or temperament is not better than another. However each style has room for improvement.
Next lets focus for a moment on how we treat each other. Just from the temperament type considerations we can see that our outlooks, feelings, and relational styles tend to differ. For example the first two temperaments are outgoing, and the last two are relatively withdrawn and less aggressive or assertive. Yet all temperament types are familiar with the idea of "treating others as we would like to be treated." Although how we would like to be treated may differ, generally the recipient of such treatment likes it, because it is sensitive, thoughtful, respectful, and seeking the best for the recipient.
With that background, lets contrast our reaction to someone who is "going to teach us something" from their soapbox platform, with someone who vulnerably shares and admits to their own weakness. Generally we meet someone's "put us in our place" attitude with a similar "put them in their place" response. On the other hand a vulnerable attitude sometimes opens us up to also become open and vulnerable, and better equipped for having our real needs met.
In this manner, I'd like to be vulnerable and share some of my deepest needs, to which I was blind for a long time. As I headed off for my freshman college year at Rice Institute in Houston, I felt just as good as anyone else, proud to be admitted to Rice (no tuition), and that I knew most of the answers about God from my upbringing and somewhat regular church attendance. But then I met a few students who stood out from the crowd because of an unusual caring and reaching out to help fellow students. By hindsight I see that they treated others as they would like to be treated.
Because of this, I was attracted to a meeting of students from all across South Central Texas, where I found that although I had known ABOUT Jesus Christ, I had never known Him personally by inviting Him to be my own savior. When I did this, not knowing how it would turn out, I began a continuing openness to a personal relationship with Him, and He began to gradually open up His word, the Bible, to me also in a very personal and meaningful way. My needs for God's forgiveness and love were much greater than I had ever realized.
To be like Him, I still have a LONG way to go, but He has already made a lot of difference in my purpose, commitment, and great contentment as I learn to know Him better. I hope that you too have found your need of Him, and His wonderful provisions for us.
Some excellent wisdom and insight for us all, I believe is traceable to Persia, delineating 3 very different states, applicable to many different experiences of awareness and maturity. These progressive, and often sequential states are:
(1) To NOT know that you do NOT know,
(2) To KNOW that you do NOT know, and
(3) To KNOW that you KNOW.
What are some examples of these states which you have experienced?
State 1: As a child, did you ever naively think that your parents or teachers "knew it all?" (i.e. not know they didn't know); I'm sure that you outgrew that state. Although they probably didn't change that much, your view of their knowledge likely transitioned from:
(a) knowing it all (having all of life's answers), to
(b) knowing very little that's really "in" and "with it" or as my 32 year old son recently told my wife and mother of 4, describing his first fathering experience with his 10 month old son, "Mom, you have NO IDEA how much work our son requires!" to
(c) knowing much more than you realized, when you grew up and faced some of the same decisions and responsibilities they did.
State 2: Whereas novices who first learn a few "scientific principles" sometimes naively stand in awe of science and scientists and their knowledge (an example of state 1), truly mature scientists, like Einstein, in contrast, know they don't know, and are often very humbled by their awareness that what they do NOT know, so greatly outweighs the things they really DO know.
State 3: Ironically, when we are in State 1 or 2, we are very likely to wrongly assume that anyone who expresses absolute confidence in their knowledge or experience (which we have not experienced) is wrong, naive, deluded, or at least "bending the truth." What have you experienced, or what insights have you seen, which you found difficult to express with words, or to successfully communicate to someone who has not had the same experience or insight? When you know that you know, others are likely to be skeptical.
An interesting vivid case study in a person's transition sequentially through these 3 states, occurs in the Musical "My Fair Lady." Liza Dolittle clearly starts out in State 1, only as Professor Henry Higgins' experiment. Neither has an inkling of the full pending transformation into a confident lady, more mature than her teacher, and much more in touch with her own feelings. Mid-course, she sees that there is more to life than she had thought possible, and she KNOWS that she has not yet attained it. When she does mature and experience being valued by others, she knows that she knows, and she identifies and expresses her needs for being treated with value and respect, much more confidently and openly than her officially trained teacher is able or willing to do for himself. Her self knowledge and insight actually exceeds his.
Saul of Tarsus is a lot like Henry Higgens, with his top notch education; perfectly confident through his proper connections, background, and reason, that he was on the right track. So he persecuted those "heretical Christians," when he did not know that he did not know (State 1). Then he made such an about face from arresting and killing Christians that he got a new name Paul, and became a lot like Liza Dolittle. He admitted his lack of knowledge (State 2), which was a prerequisite for the Lord to personally give him special instruction and spiritual insight into the Old Testament. His own confidence (knowing that he knows) that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord" is shared world wide by believers in Jesus Christ, who confidently KNOW we are bound for heaven with Him (State 3) because His death paid for our sins which had separated us from God.
See how many states you can find which Paul experienced, in his words:
1CO 13:11 WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I SPOKE AS A CHILD, I UNDERSTOOD AS A CHILD, I THOUGHT AS A CHILD: BUT WHEN I BECAME A MAN, I PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS.
Note the reversed immature order of a child: first speaking, then trying to understand, then lastly thinking!
1CO 13:12 FOR NOW WE SEE THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY; BUT THEN FACE TO FACE: NOW I KNOW IN PART; BUT THEN SHALL I KNOW EVEN AS ALSO I AM KNOWN.
Paul admits to partial and incomplete knowledge, but looks forward to full knowledge, even as God knows him. If you don't yet have Paul's confidence, this Thinkable should at least help you understand why not!
An opportunity for intimate relationship and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ is a gift He has given to you. But it's not yours until you want to know Him. Only then will you also move from State 1 or 2, to knowing that you know, and one day knowing as you are known by Jesus!
Things are not always as they seem, are they? For example, as you tuned in to some of the O.J. Simpson trial on TV did you take everything at face value that the prosecution and defense lawyers said? If not, why not? We all realize that sometimes behind the scene is "the rest of the story." Also different folks see evidence differently.
We ALL have certain pre-dispositions, biases, and prejudices. Problems come when these result in hurt to others, or in blindness to truth for ourselves. For example we may harass someone with differing views or even demand censorship. Of course this gets especially sticky in areas like, "what is considered 'main stream' enough to warrant teaching it in our public schools?" Tracing the history of American public schools and universities to their roots is a real eye opener to see just how dramatically the content of 'main stream' subject matter has changed!
Its tough to be objective and patient enough to trace out the extent of change away from the principles and life styles which our founding fathers held so dear. One easy metric of this change is merely the decline of respect (for teachers, authority, honesty, learning, fellow students,...) which has occurred since you were in school yourself. But its tougher still to hold up an objective mirror and find inconsistencies and erosions in our own lives.
Part of the problem lies with our pride in our own knowledge and reason. Typically, one of mankind's proudest attributes is his reason. But we have just seen that American society has departed significantly from basic sustaining qualities, which for example used to allow business to proceed on trust and a handshake.
In the following passage, the Apostle Paul asks for help and rescue from "unreasonable men" as he shares good news about God in his travels. FINALLY, BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US, THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD MAY HAVE FREE COURSE, AND BE GLORIFIED, EVEN AS IT IS WITH YOU: AND THAT WE MAY BE DELIVERED FROM UNREASONABLE AND WICKED MEN: FOR ALL MEN HAVE NOT FAITH.
Since we are typically proud of our own reason, what could Paul mean to call certain men UNreasonable? The context indicates that without spiritual capacity birthed by faith, certain men unreasonably resist the communication of God's Word, opposing it's messengers.
Although my wife sang Christmas Carols and participated in Christmas Pageants in the Dallas Public Schools as a child, today schools seem more interested in censorship of the Christmas Story and of student prayer. We all know that the reports of three witnesses to the same traffic accident can produce three very dis-similar reports, especially when two of them are involved in the accident. But I am still amazed at the diversity of three groups as they encounter Jesus and His sacrifice for man's sins on the cross. Typically Jews ignore and miss this most miraculous event, looking for future signs and miracles. Gentiles often substitute man's reasoning and wisdom, and overlook God's wisdom lived out and demonstrated in Jesus Christ. But still others are humbled and unspeakably overjoyed at the GRACE (God's Riches At Christ's Expense), forgiveness, and wisdom they find in their "beyond words" experience as they welcome Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Sight, hearing, feeling, taste, smell, women-intuition, men-horse sense. Which of your senses could you least afford to lose? Fortunately that is a question we will never really have to answer, although many people have lost one or more of our five senses. We all tend to take health and normal functioning for granted. But what happens when you cannot see or hear, like Helen Keller. Hopefully you can find a patient teacher like Annie, and learn to extend your lost sense, like seeing through touch and in your "mind's eye."
Have you seen how amazingly a Thalidomide baby or a veteran who lost arms in the war can adapt and learn to paint pictures and answer the phone with their toes? Part of my wife's heart is dead from a silent heart attack, and she has very poor eye sight and is nearly color blind, due to diabetes. So, at times, I act as her eyes to help her checkout colors of material and other decorative items.
Taste not only guides the judges at a State Fair to ferret out a delicious Blue Ribbon recipe, but it also warns us of harmful or bitter things we need to avoid. Similarly our nose is not only aroused by the fragrance of a newly mowed field and the fresh air after a rain, but it also warns of the wisp of smoke that signals us as our built-in fire alarm.
The human ability to compensate for a missing sense, or to heighten the use of a sense catches us off guard. We expect normality, and are shocked when such limits are exceeded. For example, men are caught off guard when plodding along with mere reason, at the solutions and insight found so quickly by their wife's intuition. On the other hand, "If a man has enough ‘horse sense’ to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, it is very unlikely she will turn out to be an old nag!"
What if a special additional sense like intuition or horse sense were available to us as a gift? A sense which gives insight and appreciation of treasures all around us, which many people fail to "see." Something like the 9 foot tall Green Giant which our eyes fail to see, because it really is impossible, or so our mind tells us. Its also a little like falling in love and seeing how perfect your dreamboat is, and becoming blind to any faults or blemishes. Love sees the treasures that sometimes even parents overlook!
Well, a sense beyond the belief, experience, and comprehension of most, has been delightfully experienced by millions of humans. It indeed is a gift like buried, hidden treasure, wherein only those with the courage and faith to follow the map, find the treasure which was right under their feet all along.
This added sense is the spiritual sight which sees the treasures which lie hidden in the person of Jesus Christ, until by faith we open our lives to Him and the gift of His Holy Spirit unlocks our spiritual senses. Follow His map to see what He did for you on the cross, and Jesus will come alive in your life too. Avoid or deny His map and you'll just keep wandering blindly right past life's greatest treasure!
We can all imagine a lanky young Abe Lincoln on an early campaign trail, answering a political question, "Are you in favor of ...?" in his brief, easy going style, "I reckon."
Years ago, one of the fun stunts we pulled in our Boy's Club gave us a good understanding of the limitations of our human reckoning, especially when relying on our senses and feelings. It worked like this. We blindfolded a volunteer, and helped him step up a few inches onto a plank held by two boys; each of his hands were on a man's shoulders for stability. We told him we would lift him up, and on command he was to jump off the plank onto the floor. As they "lifted" him up (about 2 feet off the floor) the two men continued to talk to him while they bent down until his hands barely reached their shoulders. His impression was that he was over 6 feet off the floor, so his "jump" turned out to be a lot shorter than expected, and usually produced a lot of laughter from all, including the jumper once he found out what really happened.
Have you ever had any insight to seeing that our reckoning is sometimes just as much "in the dark" and off-target as our game? For example, Steven Covey tells about a subway ride where everyone in his car became irritated with a man who just sat there with his eyes closed, and took no action or responsibility to control his unruly children. They yelled, threw things, and even grabbed people's newspapers. When Covey finally spoke to ask him to exercise some control, he replied, "Oh, you're right. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an our ago. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either." Sometimes the depth of our vision is way too shallow, and our judgment jumps in to fill our void of understanding.
God tries to get our attention in just such a case, where many of us have judged Him, through taking a very shallow view of life, void of understanding. For example, He asks us if we don't understand that His kindness toward us is intended to lead us to repentance and restoration to a deep relationship with Him. Instead we often rationalize that because we haven't yet felt His harsh judgment, He isn't really ever coming back as He promised. Our reckoning is something like this: If He isn't holding me accountable now, He never will hold me accountable; i.e. if I can get away with it now, I can get away with it later too.
We also reckon that everything stays the same forever, in spite of witnessing such dramatic changes just in our short lifetime. For example we try to extrapolate geology earlier than the world wide flood, as though it caused no catastrophic changes to the earth, so we can just make a "linear" extrapolation right through its effects, as though things have always been the same. Similarly we mistakenly reckon that God's current patience with us will just go on forever, taking it for granted, and ignoring that this is His way of wooing each of us back to repentance and fellowship since He doesn't want anyone to perish from His presence. Jesus took that awful separation from God the Father in our behalf, to pay for our sins, when He cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" Reckon for yourself how deep and wide is His patience, love, and kindness expressed to us, stop judging Him, and ask Him to save you from your sins today, so you can get to know and reckon what He is really like.
Can you remember the period in your life when you were in your best tip top shape? Maybe its right now. For me it was way back when I was in the U.S. Army Artillery at Ft. Bliss, TX, doing all sorts of push-ups, side straddle hops, various other calisthenics, pulling KP and latrine duty, and during Basic Training, running the infiltration/obstacle course.
Currently I only occasionally mount my exercise bike for 20 minutes in the morning. I see a definite decline in my physical stamina and capacity, compared to those "good old days." I even put up with hearing aids and their squeaking feedback, to hear those folks who "mumble" (yet others seem to hear them).
On the other hand, there are a few "energizer bunnies" who seem to just keep going and going. For example, recently at my daughter's wedding one of the groom's (Joe) grandfathers was so alert, clear, authoritative, and humorous, that at the age of 92 he engaged the entire audience of 500 with his introduction to the wedding. He made it very clear that this marriage business is God's patented specialty, as author, protector, and provider.
His provisions include success in marriages. He said God intervened in our behalf, starting with the first couple; their problem was not the "apple" in the tree, but the "pair" on the ground. He spoke to encourage lonely hearts in the audience who desired a mate. He said if God could take him 400 miles North of the Arctic Circle to find his bride in Norway, there is hope for others too. His servant's heart and attitude have kept him alert, strong and very active as he lives his 10th decade.
So how does physical and mental "use it or lose it" apply in the spiritual realm? We've just seen part of His answer in Joe's grandfather. Blessed is the person who through a personal relationship of faith and trust with Jesus Christ, experiences a delight in reading and applying God's word and promises in their life. Bible memorization, meditation, practice at discerning good and evil, allowing God's Spirit to convict and correct us, all promote spiritual vitality and growth, and vice versa.
Where are you in your spiritual pilgrimage? Still testing the water? Once enthused and excitedly experiencing daily fellowship, but now experiencing cold indifference, apathy, or atrophy?
Jesus is such a gentle person that He never has forced anyone to begin or to restore a relationship with Him. Paradoxically, those who know Him best, can't find adequate words to express their delight and joy. The quality of the relationship is best perceived by viewing how it affects their peace, joy, strength and energy as they unselfishly serve the needs of others. Does that remind you of Mother Teresa and Joe's grandfather? It should! It takes two to tango. What is keeping you from today starting or renewing a deep and rewarding relationship of trust and growth with Jesus Christ? Use it or lose it!
In a recent topic, New Experiences Then And Now, we observed our ancestors make a tragic and far-reaching mistake, as they made a bad choice, in an effort to enter into a new mind altering experience. Their mind and emotions quickly joined in excited agreement and anticipation of this wonderful new experience (which so blatantly violated the commitment of their wills). The individual will of both male and female remained remarkably silent in the rush of their excited rational and emotional experience.
Immediately a sharp pang of conscience reminded them of the violation of their previously strong willful trust and commitment. They had traded in their Master's provisions of a perfect environment, and perfectly balanced qualities of mind, will, and emotions, by letting their mind and emotions totally block the input of their will. Shame, blame, and cover-up; in fact, just the inverse of all their previously beautiful qualities, immediately sprang forward to control them, as though their prior bliss had never existed. They hid from their Master and pointed accusing fingers as they quickly discovered the attribute of self defense. The male blamed the female, and the female originated the popular phrase, "The Devil made me do it."
Indeed, how clever and powerful the Devil is. Was he involved as the instigator of this deception? Absolutely yes. But did he MAKE our ancestors choose to violate the commitment of their wills to obey their Master? Absolutely not! He IS more powerful than we are, able to appear as an angel of light, and make hideous and destructive things appear very attractive and desirable. Able to incite BOTH parties in a relationship to argue, blame, and attack each other's value. But he cannot override our free will! Instead he cleverly seduces our own mind and emotions so that they completely block input and balance from our own will. MAKE us do something against our will? Never. "The Devil made me do it" is just one of his many lies; all the better if it can be passed off as a joke. His style is to distract us from seeing the beauty, compassion, love, and forgiveness of Jesus! Yes he is relentlessly at it, because the consequence of his rebellion and deception is just around the corner.
Satan is extremely fearful of the power of the following scenario. Any situation where our emotions catch a glimpse of the terrible pain and anguish Jesus chose to experience for us, as God the father poured out His wrath against our sin, when Jesus bore our sin and its consequences alone on the cross, with His cries of abandonment ringing in our ears. Such an emotional glimpse can fling open the gate of our mind to begin grasping the implied and amazing love, forgiveness, and grace behind His voluntary sacrifice for us. Such thoughts, can in turn, open wide the pathway for our will to run quickly to embrace, thank, and commit our whole person to this One who loves us so deeply.
Satan's lies and deceptions don't stand a chance against the illumination of God's Spirit when He focuses our vision and insight on how Wonderful Jesus Christ really is! Rarely for a righteous man would another be willing to sacrifice his life. But God graphically demonstrated His love for all of us. He didn't wait for us to take any initiative, but "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." May you experience this song for yourself: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace!"
Among the many classes that were missing when I went to school are: listening; respect; learning to understand your spouse; and dealing with anger (and other emotions too). Did you ever have the experience of preparing to teach a subject, and as class time approached, you realized that YOU were actually the student? Well, that happened to me again over the Christmas holidays.
I had felt that since my wife and I were getting along OK, this would be a good time to help her think and work through some helpful ways to deal with her anger. What really got me considering this was when she confided that at a recent meeting she expressed her feeling and needs and was surprised at the level of anger she found still existed toward someone who had repeatedly let her down and burned bridges she had repeatedly worked so hard to re-build.
I understand that our variety and intensity of emotions help define us as unique humans, with traits which others learn to expect from us. For example our emotional expressions show the depth of our feelings, commitments, beliefs, and passions, setting us infinitely apart from our creations, e.g. robots. Expression of our emotions and learning from them is just part of getting in step with another part of our magnificent design. So with this in mind, I was preparing to quietly share with my wife, the wisdom and benefits of becoming aware of anger early, tracing out its roots and dealing with it, and "never letting the sun set on our anger."
Before I verbalized any of this, listen to what happened to the teacher. I was up early one morning, had done a days' hard work before noon, and had a roaring fire in our heat stove, with lots of extra wood stacked on the porch and in the wood basked inside. What surprised me was my wife's first words when she got up. Nothing about my great job of inside house cleaning and organizing, or my outside work. Her focus was on a cardboard box of wood, barely visible inside the acceptable woven wood basket. Her criticizing of this temporarily placed cardboard box (while I was feeding the stove fire) in contrast to no thanks or appreciation of my hours of unceasing efforts, caused me to explode in anger. And I angrily told her about her lack of appreciation. Since then I have had to deal with my own anger. It taught me that it is a SMALL price to pay to immediately remove items like a cardboard box which irritate my wife. I also re-learned what I had intended to share with her, that my offenses against my Lord, FAR outweigh the things which irritate and anger me.
Each person must deal with their own anger in their own time and way. Lord, set my own life in order so that some of your unconditional love and forgiveness for me can bear fruit and benefit those I come in contact with.
In this age of acronyms and alphabet soup, a number of acronyms have more than one meaning. For example in college a "high EE" might refer to an upper classman in Electrical Engineering, or one with a high grade point average. But in the fluctuating area of psychology, a person with "high EE" was a codeword for one whom "experts" thought had promulgated undo stress and anxiety in their family by exhibiting high Expressed Emotion. This was in the "dark ages," stemming from Freud, when they blamed parents for the occurrence of mental illness.
Today the pendulum has swung to help with genuine family and public education which acknowledges multiple causes of biological brain disorders resulting from brain chemistry imbalance. Genetic predisposition is one of these factors. But thankfully research and education have nearly ended the eras of "blame the mom" and "blame the dad" and moved forward to helping parents grieve, cope, and experience the wonders of newer medicines which more effectively restore brain chemistry balance.
Even in the light of such education and support, there is still widespread stigma, fear, and misunderstanding. For example, in earlier years of cancer, without education, research, and treatment progress, fear of the unknown produced stigma and a "keep it in the closet" mentality. Today we wouldn't ever consider blaming a family member for the occurrence of the physical illness of cancer! But we still find stigma, based on fear and misunderstanding, often associated with those who suffer from the physical mental illnesses which are neuro-biological brain disorders.
Statistics show that compared to the entire population, persons with mental illness are victims more often than average, and are violent less than the average. Yet myths and fears still prevail. Stigmatizing language expresses this lack of information, understanding, and compassion. Probably the most widely mis-used label is "schizophrenic," used often in the media, as well as by the layman to mean a "split personality" which is ambivalently caught between two conflicting decisions. The truth is that schizophrenia occurs in 1% of the world population, and compared to that, the entirely different malady of "split personality" is much more rare. Schizophrenia is a thinking disorder, where the brain which processes all our external sensors, communicates thinking and sensing (such as voices) which are very real to the person, but are not sensed by others in their same environment.
Many of us whose textbook has been a family member with a brain chemistry imbalance, have learned not only the symptoms, diagnoses, medicines, services, and research of major mental illness, but we have also experienced a variety of emotions including the stages of loss and grief, the hurt and anger of being unjustly blamed and "treated," the frustration of inadequate, unavailable, or untimely core services, and the pain of rejection while trying to reason or help. Add to this the frustration of finding a deaf ear from legislators and agency heads, to our constructive ideas for improvement of services, and it may seem like our high expressed emotion is directed against these people. May it not be perceived that way, since our true common enemy is the illness itself. Instead our emotion and passion should constrain even strangers to these illnesses toward sympathy, empathy, and compassionate caring, enough to help us jointly find solutions that make things better for the afflicted and their families.
Compassion, common sense, and cost control, all clamor for national, state and local plans and services to treat mental illness in a timely manner, including recognition and intervention when deterioration starts. Through such efficient life cycle approaches, we'll see costs, lives, productivity, quality of life, and responsible citizenry improving, in a win-win situation!
When we hear them announce, "And in this corner, the heavyweight champion of the world," we know that in the other corner is his opponent, ready to fight him to the last bell. Some of us thrive on such opposition and challenges. Yet others can't wait for retirement, and a chance to avoid such pressure and "get out of the rat race." But waiting behind the scenes, actually both men in the ring have their own supporter in their own corner, ready to come to their aid, once the bell rings and the battle temporarily subsides.
We all need such a supporter, someone in our corner, someone decidedly for us, always waiting in our corner, never switching sides to our opponent's corner. Some experience that in a mate. Others are essentially loners, and never really have that experience. But whoever your closest friend is, there is always the possibility of a let-down. For example, how consistent is your support of your best friend? Have they ever felt you have let them down? As committed as we intend to be, we all have some limitations.
But "there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother" the Bible tells us in Proverbs 18:24. It is largely due to His experience of being misunderstood, let down, betrayed, falsely accused, used, dis-believed, and deserted, that Jesus Christ is so well equipped to stand steadfastly in our corner, defending us against all accusations, both true and false. It is not reasonable for us to try to "pull the wool over the eyes" of our mate during courtship, and hope they will still blindly support us the rest of our lives. But Jesus clearly sees into the hearts of mankind, yet His commitment to what is best for us is so strong that our failures don't deter His dependable support. He cheers us on, even when we have given up on ourselves. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (with His eyes wide open to how we would treat Him in the future).
We probably can't put ourselves into the picture of remaining in the support corner, round after round, of the most despicable criminal imaginable, who had executed his crimes against our own family. Yet this gives an idea of how amazing it is for Jesus to remain in our corner. Our own inherited and willful sin, especially disbelief and lack of respect for God, and our choice of idols to take His rightful place in our lives, make it all the more amazing that He still remains our champion. But if we choose to reject Him, He won't force His support on us, and will finally let us remain, without hope, and dead in our sins.
We all need someone dependable in our corner. We are designed that way. But have you ever realized how expensive it is for us to have such a consistent personal cheer leader? It cost Jesus His life - a cruel and painful death, during which His Father did not respond to His cries for help, so we wouldn't have to experience the consequences of our own sin. With someone like that in my corner, there is no room for pity parties, complaints, or criticism of others. Just imagine, the God of heaven and earth sitting in my corner, knowing perfectly well my deepest deficiencies, yet choosing to defend me, and always without fail, serving my best interests! Thank You Lord!
Whether we can admit it or not, we all have a fundamental need to love and to be loved. Children who felt conditional love, or love withheld by their parents often learned to cope by being self-protective, and tend to carry emotional scars and baggage along on most of their trips as adults. Wives often set up a mine field for their husband, to test "Does he really love me?" or "Does he put me ahead of a special interest of his?" This may one day result in an explosion indicating her needs and expectations remained unmet so long, that his failure of this last test was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
When is the last time you felt someone really appreciated you and cared for you? They went out of their way to give unmistakable evidence of their love and devotion to you? How about just after you blew it, and felt you deserved their retribution, not their love? For example, Romans 5:6-8 says, "For when we were still helpless, Christ at the proper time died for us ungodly men. Now a man will scarcely ever give his life for an upright person, though once in a while a man is brave enough to die for a generous friend. But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners." In other words, while we were ignoring or rejecting Him, He didn't respond in kind; instead He reached out with the gift of His life's blood, and showed us unconditional love, as a dramatic attempt to communicate His hug and embrace of us!
So this basic human need works both ways. Only when we have ourselves received love to overflowing, we are empowered to in turn show unconditional love to others. For example, faith gives us increased vision to see more deeply into God's giving and sacrificial love by Jesus Christ in our behalf, which stimulates our own self acceptance and love overflowing to others.
What is the best feeling hug you can remember? Mine was when my oldest son had been ill with a brain chemistry thinking disorder for over 3 years, and had even said he didn't want to have anything to do with our family - throwing away our family Christmas gifts to him. A new medicine miraculously restored his brain chemistry balance and his thinking processes, and he now humbly enjoys our presence. And he frequently is lonesome for us and comes and asks for a hug. That feels so good. Unfortunately I had to go with scarcely a hope of a hug, before I could so thoroughly enjoy the ones I get now!
Have your received God's hug today? Has it changed your heart to overflowing, and enabled you to hug that otherwise unlovable neighbor of yours? Jesus is alive from the dead. His outstretched arms no longer hang on a cross. Instead, let them enfold you in His forgiving embrace today.
This past week many tears were shed at the losses of Princess Diana and of Mother Teresa. Both women have been elevated by the media to positions of world wide admiration. Although they both lived in dedication within their establishment, their individualistic commitments and actions have resulted in popularity far in excess of their respective well established environments and roots.
It's my opinion that millions of folks need and want a hero to idolize and look up to. President Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy Onasis, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis sometimes seem bigger than life after they are gone. While millions remember and memorialize them, the heroes and heroines who inspire ongoing commitment to serving and helping others are very, very rare. For example, my prediction is that Lady Di will be remembered and idolized much like Elvis, with many wishing for her return. But in both life and death, the genuine selfless commitment of Mother Teresa to showing God's love and kindness to the dying, the "poorest of the poor" and providing homes for unborn children who would otherwise have been aborted, continues to draw around 500 new "Sisters of Charity" to commit to a life of poverty each year in order to be better equipped to understand and serve humans that most of the world ignores.
Because of her selfless and very successful service of love, Mother Teresa has for years been my personal heroine. She spent hours at the beginning of each day, worshipping and listening to our common hero, Jesus Christ, to find strength and fortitude to look death, disease, starvation and mistreatment squarely in the face every day.
Jesus is no stranger to those who are rejected. He was written off, even by His own family, had no place to lay His head, was misunderstood and denied with an oath, by the disciples He had trained for years. Even God the Father withdrew His presence and help as Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He endured the penalty for my sins and yours, no answer to His cries for help from God, because of His great love and compassion for us.
So who is your hero, who goes beyond stirring up sentiments and emotions, to challenge your heart to commitment and selfless service of others? Mother Teresa and Jesus Christ will quietly continue to do this till the end of time, resulting in much needed service and love actions, while most of the world settles for sentiments and wishes for "what might have been." The significance of our hero is measured by the changes and actions they produce in our lives. Who is your hero?
After Saul of Tarsus' life turned 180 degrees and "all things became new" for him, including his new name Paul, He wrote that considering faith, hope and love, they are NOT equal; Love is the greatest. WHY?
Among the many possible combinations of equality and inequality among these 3, you too might rank love as the greatest. But lets examine some of the characteristics of these "high end" human expressions to see if this results in a greater appreciation of them.
Faith can be an unsupported or illogical endeavor to someone who needs to "prove" everything. But take any subject such as fundamental physics research and knowledge and we find that successive "peeling of the onion" of our discovery and verification leaves us ultimately at an impasse of knowing that what we can see, measure, verify, and understand has reached its limits. Whereupon we put forth candidate theories and models of the "unseen details" to try to compare with the higher level results which we CAN measure. For example, since I majored in physics long ago, both the number and type of subatomic particles and of galactic star classes has greatly increased through development of instruments of finer resolution. But even in the days of my schooling we were both smart and humble enough to subscribe to the Heissenburg principle that even in trying to simultaneously measure an object's position and velocity, we are limited, and must sacrifice accuracy in one of the two measurements. And at a truly fundamental level, how does electricity really work? Having found electrical appliances to work in the past, we have no trouble exercising FAITH that they will work equally well in the future, just as we intuitively believe the sun will "rise" tomorrow morning, just as it did in the prior days of our life, even though every one of us reaches a limit to our complete UNDERSTANDING of the detailed forces and motions of solar system bodies. We all practice and benefit from faith in the unseen, but some don't want to admit it.
And finally, we may differ on our ideas about where all the "unfathomable" design of our universe came from, but as C.S. Lewis wrote, the honest scientist has a big advantage over the average person, because he has the privilege to observe more of the intricate design details, and to be humbled (as Einstein was) in the face of how much we do NOT know. Those who have chosen to respond to what we observe by placing their faith in God have proven in their experience that "faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for," and "without faith it is impossible to please God."
The 11th chapter of Hebrews in the Bible is chock full of God's "faith heroes" with greatly diverse accounts of folks who totally failed at some points of keeping the law, but who God pronounces "righteous examples" because they chose to place their faith in Him and His provisions. While some men ridicule faith, God places a premium on it.
The next expression is the common experience of hope. We all benefit when we are hopeful, and when we are around those who have hope. Competitors of Coca Cola may dispute their simple slogan that "Things go better with Coke," but I don't know anyone who disputes that things go better with hope. The opposite corner from hope is depression. "Will I ever feel better?" they mourn. This is a desperate expression of crying out for a glimmer of hope, but finding none. Hope is what keeps us going even in the worst of circumstances. In the middle of Israel's captivity, God graciously used Jeremiah to encourage His people with a classic passage which begins, "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to give you a future and a HOPE." We experience hope from many sources, but hope which comes from God is a gracious gift, rooted solidly in eternity.
Finally we come to the emotion which needs no Cupid to sell its merits, LOVE. We not only look for it sometimes "in the wrong places," but we can even fail to recognize the genuine article, mistaking it for a temporary, gooey, floating, feel-good experience. Jesus said the greatest expression of love is to lay down your life for a friend. But while the human race remained HOPELESS and FAITHLESS, Jesus Christ chose to die for us to pay for our sin. All who experience unconditional love benefit greatly, but His willing sacrifice (and all it entails) is the greatest form of unconditional love anyone can experience. That is why at the end of the 1st Corinthians 13 love chapter where God's definition of love is spelled out (with the attributes which Jesus showed us throughout His life here on this planet), Paul writes that among faith, hope and love, the GREATEST IS LOVE! Core elements of such love stem from unwavering commitment which generates emotions of compassion and passion, which always in turn motivates acts of unselfish giving of yourself for another.
Faith, hope and love; 3 wonderful attributes. Hope keeps us going, no matter what the circumstances. Only faith opens the door, and provides us the resources, to begin to know God and experience Him in our lives. That is precisely where we first encounter the ultimate in unconditional love! May all 3 of these be alive and well in YOUR experience today!
Earlier we took a comparative view of some of the characteristics of faith, hope, and love. Now it is time to focus more closely on the rare qualities and transforming power of unconditional love. We are trained in school, work, and society to be self-reliant and to responsibly earn credentials and associated respect in most areas of our lives. This typically builds qualities people appreciate, like dependability, responsibility, and initiative. But the flip side of such discipline makes it extremely difficult to either give or receive unconditional love, when we get the idea that love must be earned too. Our training is so long term and consistent, that examples of unconditional love are few and far between.
Perhaps a more familiar and related term is a selfless hero who without regard for his own safety, reacts immediately to risk his life to save others. Soldiers like Audie Murphy are often recognized later and decorated with a purple heart. We can tune in our TV and learn to expect such brave sacrifices, even bold face-to-face stand-offs with terrorists, criminals, and drug dealers each week on shows like JAG and Walker Texas Ranger. These heroes are committed to doing right and helping victims, almost independent of the risk to their own lives. This illustrates one of the easier to understand characteristics of unconditional love. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." This is the stuff heroes are made of, and we easily recognize it and try to reward it.
To be ready to die selflessly in response to an instantaneous threat is one thing. To live each day in a selfless demonstration of putting others ahead of yourself in unconditional love is a much rarer quality, with fewer role models. Mother Teresa understood very well the deep human condition of each person’s need to love and to be loved. She and her Sisters of Charity were so successful that she easily garnered worldwide financial support of her efforts. But her insight caused her to be committed to a similar level of poverty of life style as those "poorest of the poor" whom she served, because she felt that otherwise she would be out of touch with experiencing and meeting their needs. Thus some who genuinely offered building conveniences like boilers and other "modern facilities" were turned down, because their use would form too big a barrier for her to cross to serve the dying, discarded, and downcast. Her objective was to see and treat them as she would Jesus Christ, and thereby to demonstrate His love to them without expectation of receiving any payback, commitment, or conditions on their part. The irony of this is that the heart-wrenching discipline of first receiving God’s unconditional love herself, and letting it strengthen her enough to invade the stench, decay, depression, and distress of dying street people, allowed her to receive even more peace, joy, and contentment than she gave. Indeed, if we ever cross the barrier of "me first" into selfless unconditional service of others, we ironically receive the highly satisfying fruit of being constrained by love to do something good, just for the sake of doing something good, independent of the outcome or effect on others.
This is precisely the way Jesus Christ has treated us. While all of mankind was in desperate need of Him, yet in absolute denial, disbelief and rejection of Him, Jesus chose to leave the glories of heaven and demonstrate unconditional, sacrificial, heroic love for all of us, his enemies. Some of His enemies were more threatened, persistent, devious, and deadly than others. But the discarded outcasts who through the ages personally experienced His unconditional love and forgiveness, were never the same again. These were the ones He referred to when He taught that tears of great love and gratitude come in proportion to the experience of receiving God’s forgiveness and love. Unconditional love still brings the deep peace, joy, and empowerment to selflessly serve others that is such a rare quality today.
As on most subjects, we can easily find a diversity of ideas regarding marriage. For example, for some the concept of marriage is to be avoided; it quickly connotes the importance of retaining independence, autonomy, and at all costs, an avoidance of commitment or permanent responsibilities. For others marriage is something looked forward to since childhood; its just "what you do when you grow up;" it just seems natural, almost like breathing. Still others find the marriage relationship something that requires ongoing attention, care and feeding, like a garden whose fragrance and blossoms will be overcome by destructive weeds without daily toil and attention from the gardener.
Ironically those who value their marriage partner as they grow and mature and change, at least as much as they did when they had the "courtship in the clouds" drive to please their partner before marriage, usually have the most satisfying and long term success at their marriage relationship. Mistakes, blunders, offenses, and words you want to retract, are all part of daily life; but these can easily derail a marriage if they are allowed to accumulate via unforgiveness or bitterness or a "poor me" syndrome, to build up a wall which keeps out flowing communication, and which replaces a finely cultivated fertile soil with a packed, thick and dry crust which impedes any future growth!
When the designer of both marriage and its participants defined its format, He said that the two should leave their in-laws, cleave to each other, with a new math of 2 becoming 1 flesh. Although this may differ from our ideas, it speaks of an independent life of the couple as they break any remaining apron strings. On the other hand, it pictures a growing inter-dependence upon each other which chooses to risk sharing intimacy and vulnerability through mutual trust, respect, and love.
When such designer instructions are read and followed, this kind of marriage turns out to mirror or picture its intended pattern. Contrary to a majority opposition to polygamy, surprise: God's intention is for each one of His humans to choose to become married to His Son Jesus. Although a wife is called an adulterer if she marries another while her husband lives, she is free to re-marry once her husband dies. Similarly our first marriage bonds are attached firmly to the law of do's and don'ts. But once we admit we can NOT keep God's law as required, the law's oppressive power over us dies, God's grace enters the picture, and we are offered the chance to be married to, and become one with, and choose to please, Jesus who kept the law without flaw, so He could offer an acceptable, unblemished sin payment for us all.
In refreshing instances, the husband and wife humble themselves and submit to each other, the husband leads via sacrificial love and service, and the wife chooses to respond with respect and submission to her husband's role of responsibility. Such a marriage relationship pokes a hole in the portals of heaven to provide a snapshot of what Jesus' love relationship is like with His bride - a photo album of those who have chosen to submit ourselves to Him, to return love and respect back to honor Him who died for us. Whether you are single, married, divorced, or re-married, please don't let any prior "bad relationships" keep you away from intimately knowing such a lovely Bridegroom, Jesus, and from being welcomed to His sumptuous wedding banquet. R.S.V.P. now!
What two words seem more out of place together than "love budgets?" Love handles, love potions, love music, love fragrance - but why go so strongly against the connotations of love, with a word like budgets? Well how about love accounting? Still pretty bad, but this concept is key for someone who gets good results at keeping faltering marriages together, and restoring busted ones, Dr. Willard Harley. Let me summarize a few of his main principles which work for those with the courage to try.
His parable of the net describes two fishermen with nets; the first keeps short accounts with his net, removing both fish to keep and debris to toss, after each cast. The second fisherman does the same, EXCEPT he allows debris to accumulate which eventually inhibits him from dragging his net back in. So in a fit of anger he cuts it loose and quits, until and unless he buys a new net.
In this parable, the fish are emotional needs in marriage which need to be deposited in the Love Bank account, and the debris are Love Busters, habits that cause unhappiness and heavy withdrawals from the Love Bank. Emotional needs, such as: admiration, affection, conversation, domestic support, family commitment, financial support, respect, honesty and openness, physical attractiveness, recreational companionship, and sexual fulfillment are of course ranked in unique order by each marriage partner. So real deposits into our Love Bank account requires both knowledge and daily attention to meeting the uniquely individual emotional needs of our partner.
On the other side of the ledger is the debits due to Major Love Bank withdrawals, which include the Love Busters of angry outbursts, selfish demands, refusal to discuss or work together on improvements, disrespectful judgments, dishonesty, and annoying behavior. Future THINKABLES go into more details, but for those interested now in improving and strengthening their marriage, Dr. Harley has shared much more at his web site at: http://www.marriagebuilders.com
Attention and practice with building up our Love Bank account can go a long way to opening us up to improving any relationship, with our mate and our friends, including our relationship with God by faith. He took the initiative by making an overwhelming deposit of love in our individual accounts by His voluntary substitutionary sin debt payment for us on the cross. And He has and will forever avoid making withdrawals from our account by relating to us with any of the above listed Love Buster ways. His account with our own name on it is open today in heaven, but it is of no use to us until we activate it for ourselves, like the new ATM bank card I got in the mail which requires me to first "call in." If I die without calling in to activate the account, it will never benefit me. Similarly upon my death without activation and use, my name will be removed from my love account in heaven. Don't let such a waste happen to you.
None of us can do anything to create our own Love Account of open and honest fellowship with God. Jesus has done that for us. But each individual IS the ONLY one who can activate our account by welcoming Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He desires our open, honest, and deepening fellowship even more than our mate, and He will NEVER disappoint us.
Remember last week we talked about the concept of the Love Bank, with its deposits when our needs are met, and its withdrawals when our mate or friend drops a "Love Buster" on us. Lets consider some of our Love Busters this week, such as: Angry Outbursts, Disrespectful Judgments, Annoying Behavior, Selfish Demands, and Dishonesty.
Anger can be used in different ways, such as to "put someone in their place," to go on the offensive to protect yourself as an attempt to avoid getting hurt. Such angry outbursts threaten especially the wife's needs for safety, security and protection. It is always a distasteful experience to get blindsighted by someone's Disrespectful Judgments. One way this occurs is to try to impose your beliefs or values on someone else, or also sometimes when we try to "correct" their values. This can also cut to the quick in the form of judgmental assumptions about a persons' character, motives, or negative expectations about what their future choices will be.
Annoying behaviors can be divided into two categories. When it is repeated without much thought, it is an annoying habit, such as they way you eat or the way you regularly fail to clean up after yourself. But if it's usually scheduled and requires no thought to complete, its an annoying activity, such as a regularly scheduled event which involves only one of the spouses.
Marriage can focus a video camera on our selfishness which we might not otherwise have noticed. Selfishness is a result of thinking only of our own needs, and ignoring the needs and feelings of our partner. But this is even worse when selfishness is coupled with demands which carry a threat of punishment, implying, "give in or you will pay for it." Such struggles of the will for power only divide and cause resentment. The opposite is communication in the form of a request. Be careful though, because a pushed request feels like a demand. Threats, lectures, and other forms of manipulation quickly deplete the Love Bank account, and replace the deposits with resentment.
Dishonesty strangles compatibility which is built up by sharing openly and honestly our thoughts, feelings, habits, likes, dislikes, daily activities, and plans for the future. In an honest relationship, thoughtless acts are revealed, forgiven and corrected. Bad habits are nipped in the bud, thereby reversing any drift toward incompatibility.
So where do we turn for a model of someone who consistently makes deposits in our Love Bank, instead of Love Busting withdrawals? Someone who consistently avoids treating us with Angry Outbursts, Disrespectful Judgments, Annoying Behavior, Selfish Demands, and Dishonesty. Where can we find someone who treats us with all the antidotes to these behaviors, thereby making us feel much better, as well as showing us how to do it?
Read for yourself in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the qualities and characteristics of Jesus Christ Who avoided all the Love Busters described above. He will treat you with the same patience that He showed His disciples, not with angry outbursts. Although He knows our innermost thoughts and motives and has judged our sin, the mercy and forgiveness He offered us through His death on the cross, shows His deep respect and love for us. Instead of annoying us, He patiently endures our annoying behaviors, until we get serious with Him. He never forces Himself on anyone, but instead He patiently waits for each person to find out that He is the Son of God and to choose to honor and worship Him. His honesty and virtue is so pure and rich that His followers will still be discovering new dimensions as we fellowship with Him throughout eternity. When you experience Jesus' love for you, and open your heart and life to Him as your savior, He will activate your Love Bank account, and just keep right on making love deposits in it forever.
Two weeks ago we thought together about "love budgets" and things which help us build enjoyable balances in our Love Bank account. Last week we hopefully identified with some Love Buster habits, attitudes, and actions which, left uncorrected, will deplete our account. Today let's focus on meeting the emotional needs of our mate or friend, with ideas about making substantial and regular deposits into their account.
What is an emotional need? It is a craving that, when satisfied, leaves you with a feeling of happiness and contentment, and when unsatisfied, leaves you with a feeling of unhappiness and frustration. They include: a need for birthday parties, peanut butter sandwiches, Monday night Football... But there are only a very few most important emotional needs whose fulfillment makes us so happy that we fall in love with the person who meets them. Common major emotional needs include: admiration, affection, conversation, domestic support, family commitment, financial support, respect, honesty and openness, physical attractiveness, recreational companionship, and sexual fulfillment. Of course each marriage partner will rank their importance uniquely. So real deposits into our Love Bank account requires both knowledge and daily attention to meeting the uniquely individual emotional needs of our partner. The five most important emotional needs of men are usually the least important for women, and vice-versa. No wonder men and women have so much difficulty meeting each other's needs. When doing for each other what they would appreciate the most, their spouses appreciate it the least!
Taking enough personal interest and time tuning into our mate or friend, to not only learn their specific emotional needs, but also their relative importance, is in itself a major attitude which insure Love Bank account growth. That learning and interested attitude also helps us adapt to changes in needs, such as in later years when poorer health may require major adjustments.
Typically, at the top of the list of most important needs for women is affection and conversation. Typically, men find sexual fulfillment at the top of their list. Ironically these opposite needs in men and women are so tightly coupled that as you truly experience fulfillment in women's needs, you greatly enhance fulfillment in men's needs, and vice versa. Or as Dr. Harley say in ""His Needs, Her Needs," "you can't have one without the other."
By focusing briefly on these 3 major emotional needs we can gain some insight into improving our marriage and friendship Love Bank accounts, and in similarly seeing how God relates to us, and His design for excellent relationships. "What greater love than for a man to lay down his life for a friend?" "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus never makes demand of us, but rather continues to make major unconditional deposits of love and affection into our Love Bank accounts. And He backs this up with a written record of His promises, commitment, and passionate desire for us, penned through the inspired temperaments, emotions and intellects of such a variety of Old and New Testament writers.
Those men and women who respond to His overtures of love and affection, He refers to as "the bride of Christ." And again He expresses His strong desire for our most individual, personal, and intimate fellowship, and emotional, intellectual, and volitional intercourse with Him. He chooses to call us friends, not servants. Such mountain top intimate experiences with God need to more consistently describe our regular daily experiences, in preparation for unending delights in His presence forever.
The many successes of the 1997 Mars landing have elicited great cheers and jubilation at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) back here on earth in Pasadena, CA. To help us understand the guidance accuracy of their space traveler, they likened it to making a golf hole-in-one from Pasadena to a green in Houston, TX. The analogy breaks down a little, since they did make a couple of mid-course corrections. Maybe it was really an eagle. Not bad for the 309 million mile "non-stop" trip which took 7 months.
They were also able to make corrective commands to get the air bag out of the way, and to get a modem problem corrected so the lander could relay land rover data via the orbiting spacecraft back to JPL. The mission got a new name Sagen as the solar-powered land rover Sojourner rolled out for rock hunting across an old flat flood plain called Ares Vallis.
C.S. Lewis wrote a very interesting Science Fiction trilogy several decades ago which included destinations of Mars (Malachandria) as the natives called it, Venus (Perelandra), and an even more hostile climate in Great Britain. In mankind's great zeal to make the Martian life like themselves, they corrupted them, much like what happened in earlier explorations as pioneers tried to "improve" the native Indians in America.
These accounts focus us on two important issues, which we often avoid considering, with the excuse that we are too busy, which itself is a third issue. The first question is "What is our personal destination?" The second question is "What is our personal objective?" The final question is "Why do we avoid thinking about ultimate questions and applying as much diligence in their pursuit as we do in pursing our other goals?"
A Presidential call to marshal national resources to land a man on the moon, or a lander on Mars offers a clear destination and objective. In contrast, Jesus calls all mankind to a simpler but subtle destination, to an ongoing, unending relationship with Himself, wherever we are. Some have said its not the destination but the journey that is important. Jesus is both our destination and a rock solid companion for our journey, for all who trust Him.
As to objective, His is to rescue us from a life which ignores, avoids, or renounces God, to experience eternal life which is nurtured and sustained by Himself. When we choose to align our will and objective with His, we enter into a whole new trajectory and orbit around Him, like discovering a majestic star which was heretofore unknown.
Both manned and unmanned space travel is exciting, but not nearly as much as the adventures of a life-long journey which is spiritually open to seeing the marvelous facets of God's character displayed in the person of Jesus Christ. Boosters may explode, modems may fail, oxygen may burn up, and satellite design life's expire, but Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. Now why would anyone ignore or reject such a wonderful Person?
Imagine for a moment that the thickness of a sheet of ordinary paper represents the distance from the Earth to the Sun (approximately 93 million miles). How much paper would it take to represent the distance to Alpha Centari (nearest star other than the Sun)? It would take a 71 foot high stack of paper to reach the nearest star if each sheet represented 93 million miles. In fact, in order to reach the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy from the Earth, it would demand a stack of paper 310 miles high. Now get this. In order to reach the edge of the known universe, it would take a stack of paper 31 million miles high! That's just to reach the universe as our farthest reaching telescopes have defined it. Who knows what is beyond that?
Consider this illustration. According to scientific calculations,1,300,000 Earths will fit into the Sun. There is a star out there by the name of Anteres. If Anteres were hollow, it could house 64,000,000 suns. However, there is a star in the constellation Hercules named Centari. If Centari were hollow, it could easily swallow 100,000,000 Anteres! That's not all ! Epsilon is the largest star known to man. If Epsilon were hollow, it could engulf 27,000,000,000 of our Suns!
In light of these illustrations, try to picture yourself standing (if it were possible) next to this monster star known as Epsilon. If you're like me, you can't imagine it. The fact is, there is no comparison. If in fact were aren't even a speck of dust compared to the overall scheme of the universe, where do we fit in? What is our purpose?
According to Genesis, man is the highlight of God's creation, not the star Epsilon, not the trillions and zillions of galaxies, not even the Sun or moon. His heart is after man, and man alone. We are more important to Him and loved by Him than any other created thing. God's love knows neither size, time nor space. God's love for us is so great that He set us at the forefront of His glorious creation. In fact His love for us demanded the life of His only Son.
So what does God require of us? We have nothing reasonable to offer in return. God only requires our trust in Him and our obedient service. Our purpose in life is to serve Him with gladness of heart in return for His love for us.
Did you ever get into a "fringe" area where your car radio signal was fading out, or where you were partially hearing two different interfering radio stations which used about the same transmitting frequency on you radio dial? Many engineers are used to employing special design techniques to improve signal reception in the face of poor Signal to Noise Ratio conditions like those described above, such as Code Division Multiple Access. This technique ironically superimposes a systematic noise-like sequence (code) on the transmitted signal, and uses the identical code sequence at the receiving end to pull the wanted signal clearly out of the noise, even in cases where the noise is stronger than the signal of interest. The Code Division Multiple Access technique also allows multiple signals to share the same frequency band (communication channel) without mutually interfering with each other, and has been widely used for many systems. Obviously the code is the key to this successful communication technique.
The Bible says that no man has seen God at any time, although some have caught glimpses of His glory. But more important that seeing God, is the question of whether we have ever tuned into His channel to listen to His message? Jesus came to show us what God is like, by His life-style, actions, and words. Indeed He is Emmanuel (meaning God with us). Although his words and teachings are simple enough for a child to understand, he also spoke in parables, and most people were either unable or unwilling to understand and apply his message in the way He intended.
So what is the key or code to bringing Jesus' message signal out of the noise of interfering signals and the noise of the distractions of this world? He gave us the key in John 7:17 below when He said that whoever is willing to act on what He hears God say, will not only marvel at what Jesus says, but also understand it and have it bear fruit in their life.
JOHN 7:15 AND THE JEWS MARVELED, SAYING, HOW KNOWETH THIS MAN LETTERS, HAVING NEVER LEARNED?
JOHN 7:16 JESUS ANSWERED THEM, AND SAID, MY DOCTRINE IS NOT MINE, BUT HIS THAT SENT ME.
JOHN 7:17 IF ANY MAN WILL DO HIS WILL, HE SHALL KNOW OF THE DOCTRINE, WHETHER IT BE OF GOD, OR WHETHER I SPEAK OF MYSELF.
JOHN 7:18 HE THAT SPEAKETH OF HIMSELF SEEKETH HIS OWN GLORY: BUT HE THAT SEEKETH HIS GLORY THAT SENT HIM, THE SAME IS TRUE, AND NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IS IN HIM.
May God grant you the gift of wanting to do His will, which is the spiritual key to having Jesus communicate personally with your spiritual heart. Without this key, Jesus will remain for you, just another voice lost in the NOISE of the myriad of messages the world has to offer. However, with this key of openness and willingness, through His authoritative words, you will experience Him as your own Way, Truth, and Life (eternally).
NASA has decided to move decisively into the future with their shuttle replacement prototype award to the X-33 from Lockheed Martin. In making this choice they had to abandon the minimum risk solution by incumbent Rockwell International, with their enhancement of the existing shuttle. NASA also decided against the MacDonald Douglas VTOL approach which can land on its tail, Russian style. The X-33 is expected to make weekly trips. Such frequent trips are more like the intercontinental Concord flights than the current shuttle missions. Because of this, it is even anticipated that John Q. Public can purchase a ticket early in the next millennium on an operational version of the X-33. On the day of the announcement of NASA's award, the National Public Radio commentator said he is planning to book passage on just such a trip, provided his wife says OK. How would you like to go circling the globe every 1 1/2 hours or so? That would likely be an unforgettable experience, and give you a new perspective on the Disney phrase, "It's a small, small world!"
The power and technology to circle the earth, to circle and land on the earth's moon, and to launch a variety of sensors to probe a small, small part of space, is remarkable! Man seems to be positioned about in the middle of the unfathomable size of our vast universe, and the size of subatomic particles which seem equally evasive of comprehensive observation. In space, in the atom, and in our own bodies we progressively discover awe-inspiring design at every turn.
But unlike mankind, the creator of all this does not regularly hold technology discourses, like He once did when He asked Job a few questions when Job needed to be humbled before his creator. Instead He places His highest premium on loving relationships like we experience in our families, and on our voluntary free choice to have intimate fellowship by faith with the God we have never seen directly. So His awe-inspiring microscopic and vast stellar designs are largely intended to get our attention, to humble us, and to whet the appetite for a more intimate relationship with the Designer, as it has for humble observers, like Einstein.
One of my favorite songs is "I'll fly away." I can imagine that some of the astronauts and cosmonauts could get inspired by that song too. Whether by death (to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord), or at Jesus' return for those who love Him and look for His re-appearing, even an X-33 shuttle flight cannot hold a candle (or rocket) compared to our flight to be with Him forever when He comes back for His own. He purchased a free ticket with your name on it with His blood payment for your sin. Have you reached out to Him for your ticket? The trip and the ride He offers is unending - much more humbling and spectacular than an X-33 short shuttle space adventure.
Corrie Ten Boom used to accompany her daddy on the train, to travel to the nearby Naval Observatory, to set their clock. When they returned they not only set all the clocks in their clock shop, but they thereby influenced the promptness of their little town in Holland.
Most of our western world marches crisply to the tic-toc of the second hand drummer too. It used to be in college that if the Prof. didn't show up within 15 minutes, it was a "walk." Today one of the major metrics by which our airlines are graded is "on time" departures and arrivals. Our meeting maker software and/or secretaries, of necessity keep meeting conference bookings by date, time and place.
The U.S. Global Position Satellite (GPS) slices the location of a GPS receiver, and its distribution of time, with such accuracy that the software uses Einstein's relativistic time equations to correct for the GPS satellite-to-receiver relative velocity (compared to the speed of light) to achieve the required accuracy. Of course the corresponding Russian satellite Glonass uses the same time and position corrections.
If you read George Gamov's "Mr. Tomkins In Wonderland" about the dreams he has after attending a physics lecture, you can also dream about space travel so fast that you return younger than those who stayed behind.
Enough of this to point out that much of mankind has developed an intense attention and dependency upon time. Some say its about time. Now for some of the rest of the story. After 3 years of teaching First Grade in Bolivia, it took my daughter a lot of TIME to readjust to the culture shock of returning to our FAST paced culture. She says the Bolivians are NOT acutely aware of what time it is, and are NOT hyper about tuning in daily to get the very LATEST world news report. She slower pace; I think she saw a lot less stress and impatience there too. Prior to that she had experiences as a counselor several summers at Indian Camp in S.E. Oklahoma. Again the culture and pace was very laid back, and we said the camp ran on "Indian Time" (things happen when people are ready, rather than at a precise time).
And then there is "yours truly" who awakened at 8:30 this morning (instead of at the 6 A.M. setting on my alarm clock). The alarm failed to go off; can you imagine my panic when I looked at my watch and realized I was due to speak 65 miles away in 45 minutes, as a guest in a Sunday School class of 40 people, waiting to hear about what our family has learned first hand about mental illness?
By now you regular readers have surely seen that God's perspective of time is very different from ours. The limitation of our minds does not diminish the fact that He exists OUTSIDE of time: "From everlasting, to everlasting, Thou art God!" But he does deal with us in a very timely manner. We mistake His patience and longsuffering for being late.
Deming produced Total Quality Management which in turn produced "Just In Time" scheduling and inventory. But Corrie Ten Boom learned much earlier from her earthly father, that her Heavenly Father also gives us provisions "just in time" when we learn to depend on Him. Yes, when I arrived with 10 minutes left in the class today several people confirmed that He also gave me just the right impromptu words to speak clearly against the stigma we attach to mental illness through "fear of the unknown" and to encourage two persons in the audience who are bravely coping with mental illness, and frequent lack of understanding from others. Jesus who came "in the fullness of time," is no stranger to misunderstanding. He takes plenty of time with His own, then and now.
A number of people have claimed to see and even enter a UFO, piloted by aliens. In the movies, aliens are often depicted as rather grotesque looking - not very attractive. But they seem to have good endurance, and to have a lot of patience through the years, rather than quickly cause major destruction to human kind.
Some like to think and say that physical events which they don't understand must be under the control of aliens. But what is the origin of the aliens; that is, where did they come from? Although no one has any evidence to show of aliens, their popularity continues to grow, especially in the movies. Their supporters say this is partly because of cover-ups by officials. Let's see what we can learn from thinking about them.
What was just described about aliens reminds me a lot of my experiences for the past 43 years. As a freshman in college I observed a lot of things I couldn't explain. Like why a couple of upperclassmen took such an interest in other students, and in being helpful and kind. They invited me to a weekend conference of similar students from all around Texas, and I was very curious to find out more about them. As the main speaker at the conference described some of his background, it was as though he knew my exact background and was describing it! He had grown up in the same church denomination I did. We had both heard about Jesus Christ, and had wondered if these things were true, why didn't it affect the people who heard this more deeply? His story helped me see my own life with crystal clarity; although I had known ABOUT Jesus, I had never asked Him personally to come into my life and to be my own savior. I rushed out into the woods and invited Him into my life. This transformed the Bible, His Word, into very meaningful books with lots of personal meaning to me, expressing His love and forgiveness to me!
With my growing relationship with Him whom I have never seen, I am aware of a lot of similarities to those who talk about aliens. For example, His appearance was plain, comely, and unattractive, but His actions showed that in every measure, He is far superior to all! As God He could have easily stayed in Heaven and judged, condemned, and destroyed mankind. Instead He took initiative to come to our aid even while we had basically declared war with God and failed to pay attention to Him. He experienced the basic attributes of an alien as described by John. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." He truly was disbelieved and discredited by many, similar to the reactions many have toward aliens.
I certainly don't have answers for all that I observe in the world. But by getting to know Jesus through the years and how much He loves me, and gaining understanding of His word and His promises, I am totally assured that I am a new creature in my relationship with Him. He makes everything new and full of promise and potential for me, and truly He is in control of ALL things. In spite of the fact that no person has seen God, yet in the person of Jesus Christ many are able to see God and His character revealed in human flesh. At the same time most people are blinded to who He is, and to how powerful He is.
His enemies indeed tried the world's biggest cover-up. They first played politics as well as brought in false charges and false witnesses. Then they set up the fickle crowd who had earlier sang His praises to join in their chant of "crucify Him!" And when the grave was impotent to hold the mighty Son of God, the threatened religious officials bribed the guards to say that His body was stolen, in spite of the fact that the soldiers would normally have been put to death for failing at their guard duty.
So we have seen a number of the similarities between those who believe in aliens and use that belief to explain some of what they observe, and those whose life has been changed by a very close encounter and continued fellowship with the God-man from the spacious heavens, Jesus Christ. The first group is still looking for the most fundamental of answers and something substantive to base their belief on. Christians who have learned to return God's love for them, back to Him, and to others, experience increased understanding of God's word and promises, and His unfolding of His plan and purposes in our world and especially in our lives. I pray that some today will be able to look at the subject of aliens and find that what they are seeking to understand is richly, completely, and powerfully embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These names break through into our experience only after we humble ourselves before Him and invite Him into our life as our savior.
What are you accessing these days, that is so commonplace you may even be taking it for granted? While that answer is brewing, maybe this story will stir up some thoughts. My wife is sharp, but not usually inclined to think "high tech." But she awoke early this morning as I dressed for work, expressing a concern. "Did you give your credit card number out over email," she asked. "No, it was over voice mail," I answered. And then we discussed an important aspect of access, SECURITY. I explained that our voice mail system at work has a password, for secure access, and I expect that such security is a general design requirement for most voice mail systems.
Another use of the term "access" at my workplace is a major feature of the commercial Satellite Tool Kit I use. It quickly computes the individual and total amounts of "access" time that objects like satellites and ground stations can "see" each other, like ground to one or more satellites in constellation1, to one or more satellites in constellation2, to another ground station, etc. Also at work, my badge provides me "access" or admission to doors in my main building. In yet another building the badge plus a code provides access into other more proprietary areas. From home or work computers, I can access my daughter in Bolivia via email, just as easily as my co-workers, except infrequently when the Santa Cruz Bulletin Board System is shut down.
TV news is now showing enforcement of Metroplex HOV traffic lanes, wherein people are fined if they attempt unlawful access to HOV lanes without the required number of passengers. Some of our banks let us get our balance and detailed transaction data via touch tone telephone by use of our Personal Identification Number (PIN). Have you ever misplaced or forgotten your PIN? No PIN equals no access!
It should be clear by now, that along with conveniences like FAXes, copy machines, email and cellular phones, many of us have also come to depend on and enjoy "accesses" to buildings, account information, voice mail, and privileged places and people.
For example, imagine the access certification procedures required by the gate guards and secret service which would be required for you to enter into the White House for an appointment with our U.S. President. Most of us will never experience that kind of invitation or access authorization procedure. But every one of us has been issued a daily R.S.V.P. of infinitely greater importance - an invitation to come boldly and humbly before God's throne to present our requests, our thanks, our praises for who He is and what He is like. But if we were in His place, wouldn't we be concerned about inappropriate, unlawful, and desecrating accesses? Maybe so, but His access requirement is simple, impartial, and within the reach of all, without discrimination or prejudice. God requires that we come in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, taking Him personally as our savior from the sin He paid for on that cruel cross.
But how does God know us, and know whether to authorize our access? When He looks into our heart and sees that we have applied the blood of his Son as payment for our sins, Jesus Himself becomes our personal identification for unlimited access to express our cares, needs and praises to God. Ironically, a cold heart which can reject or ignore Jesus, is the only thing which can block our tremendous privilege of access to God.
There are many situations which call for something to be verified, and such situations are increasing in number every day. For example, as I checked my bag in at the airport today, I was asked for my picture ID and I was asked if I had been totally in control of my bags since I arrived at DF/W airport. A plane ticket wasn't enough; could I verify via an ID with my name and picture that I was really the person named on my plane ticket. If it weren't for my employee badge or my driver's license, such verification would be VERY difficult. So it pays big dividends to plan ahead and make available an acceptable and convenient method of verification. As I checked through the security gate they said to put my laptop computer through the X-Ray machine conveyor belt. I had left it in "sleep" mode from which it can "wake up" quickly with one key stroke to verify that it is an operating laptop, rather than a fake device which could conceal a bomb. But rather than seeing it work, he chose to run a chemical test by rubbing a swab/cloth over the major exterior handles, zippers, and surfaces of its carrying case, and then let his computer analyze the swab for dangerous or explosive chemicals.
Now consider for a moment the VERY difficult task of verifying that Iraq, or any other nation, is NOT concealing dangerous nuclear, chemical or biological weapons anywhere within it borders! This nearly impossible task gives insight into the fact that proving a "universal negative" is impossible. For example, how do you prove that there is NO life elsewhere in the universe? Or how do you prove there is NO God? With a lot of planning, preparation, and disciplined testing we CAN verify that a system meets its written requirements (if they are written in a verifiable manner as they should be), but we CANNOT verify that a large system such as a Space Shuttle will NEVER experience any errors! Some things are just not humanly possible to prove or disprove!
There are also other difficult circumstances surrounding verification. Like how do you verify the verifier? For example in software systems verification and testing, simulators are often used to provide inputs as though they came from other parts of the system which is NOT under test. But how do you know that the input supplied from the simulator is valid, and that its performance accurately represents the part of the system it is simulating? Often rigorous verification of the simulators and test tools is as difficult as verification of the system itself. I think you see the points, that there are many needs for verification, which in turn raise many difficult issues. But those who take verification seriously make the processes, products, and services they verify, much more safe, reliable, and usable according to expectations and specifications. For those who like to think about such things and even want to take a test to see how good you are at verification, I recommend The Art Of Software Testing by Glenford Meyers. For many others, I imagine you are content to leave such disciplined thinking and detailed verification to others.
One of God's purposes in His creation is to set some boundaries and limitations for man so that we can recognize things that ARE possible for us to accomplish, and also when we bump into impossible limits as outlined above, to seek understanding and wisdom from God. As a matter of fact, He states that once we get to the point of awe and wonder and respect for how majestic He must be, THAT attitude and emotion is the BEGINNING of our wisdom. King Solomon had more resources, experiments, tests and experiences than anyone I know, and after he finished ALL these searches for satisfaction, knowledge, and understanding, he concluded:
(1) his own efforts, experiments, and tests were all vain, and would vaporize once he had died, and (2) the fear/respect of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
How about you? Do you understand that what you can reliably verify for yourself has considerable limitations? But you CAN run more simple and meaningful tests than Solomon in order to experience God for yourself.
No one else can prove Him to you, but you can test His promises to you, and experience the fruit of those promises in your own life. For example, He says that all who come to Him expressing faith that He exists will find and experience Him as they invite Him to become Lord of their life. He says that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us, and He will keep all that we commit to Him safely in His protective care forever. Don't take my word for it. Try out the word of His promises for yourself. Until you do that, you are neglecting the most important personal verification in your entire life!
System Engineers are used to thinking in terms of comparisons, trade-offs, and risk analysis, within the perspective of overall system objectives. Objectives can include relative system importance's of cost, aggressive schedule, performance, availability, ease of operability, and maintainability.
Perhaps in a more informal setting, most of us also make observations, evaluations, and decisions about our life choices, based on similar factors. We all operate on a similar schedule of "one lifetime," but none of us knows just how long that will be. Some burn out early, others plan for "the long haul," while still others seem to milk the moment, keenly aware that it could be their last. Others spend a great deal of time and effort into following the latest health advice in the areas of nutrition and exercise.
Some get their kicks from passive or active risk taking activities like race car driving, bunge jumping, mountain climbing, or sailing around the world in a balloon or at sea on a small, vulnerable vessel. Some folks are very focused on performance, measured in a variety of dimensions.
Remember how as kids we would stand as tall as we could against a wall to make a mark to see how tall we’d grown. And we’ve maybe done that with our own kids. Most people periodically make similar self-measurements throughout their lives. Some yardsticks have the dimensions of accumulated wealth. Others use the measures of achievement, recognition, job title, prestige, or power. A set of more social measurements includes looking young, beautiful, admired, and being included in the "in crowd." Still others are enamored by those who speak or write with "factual" authority, and their scale measures knowledge and its application, which some call wisdom.
These are common performance measures we all relate to. Measurements are usually referenced to the "average" or the norm. But each measurement is actually an individual one. The average is just a statistic, not a real, individual person.
But what perspective do we gain when we conceptually move out beyond our unknown individual lifetime and look both backwards and forwards. The backward look can help us a great deal to move from today’s near-sighted vision to ask questions like "how will I be remembered?" And "what was it about by life that really made a lasting difference?" The view forward adds even more clarity since it clearly delineates between what we’ve heard versus what we believe, and the basis of our belief. Such perspective clearly separates us from the fictional, but sometimes falsely comforting, "average person."
As an individual, how satisfied are you with your measure of treating others as you like for them to treat you? There will always be a heart-breaking number of people starving to death worldwide. But using Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity as a yardstick, how helpful were you in feeding the starving, showing God’s love to the dying, or even caring about the plight of the homeless? And how confident are you about your own "life and death" as measured by the significance it gives to your life right now?
Although we all have "a long way to grow" in the dimensions just described, there is a yardstick whose use brings with it, meaning, identity, purpose, significance, and motivation, even in the face of past failure. This yardstick is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He showed as how to live perfectly in all our relationships. He also shows us How far short we fall from both God’s Law-keeping standard, as well as from God’s love-motivated action standard. Once we experience for ourselves His unconditional love for us individually, which empowered Him to pay with His life for all our sins, and provided open life-changing fellowship with Himself, we’ll never be the same. The single, risk-taking decision to open your life to fellowship with the Savior, Jesus Christ, will forever open wonderful new perspectives in all your subsequent evaluations and life choices. Please find out for yourself the alternatives and relationships Jesus offers you. They far exceed anything anyone else has to offer you!
Its hard to imagine any more what it must have been like for the early explorers in America to push westward where only Indians had lived before. Whereas the elements were harsh in winter, the rivers and streams were pure, and the forests and natural habitat were basically unspoiled by human "development." The Indians were much better stewards of our natural resources, than those who pushed them off their land.
In contrast, today just the mention of certain locations sends a chill up our back, along with a fear of even being around that environment; names like Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl. Not only have we triggered nuclear accidents and regional radioactive poisoning, but our great leaps "forward" with technology and insatiable hunger for energy (in contrast to energy conservation practiced for decades in Europe), have wreaked havoc on the environment of our oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and many other "toxic waste dumps." We are very quick to cry NIMBY, "Not In MY Back Yard!" But we are very slow to pay the price of personal and collective discipline required to "leave things in at least as good a shape as we found them."
Its not hard to philosophically be against toxic waste. But is it possible that our lack of self discipline in taking effective action against such pollution allows us to similarly cover up and ignore deadly poisons hidden in our own lives? For example, what is the effect today on American's health of internally stored toxins such as worry, fear, and unresolved anger?
Many people today are convinced that man's externally released toxins account for stark rises in cancer, especially in property surrounding known toxic sites. We also hear reports that internal worry can lead to ulcers, and unresolved emotions adversely affect our physical health. Yet many of us ignore or discount the One who gently invited us all to cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares so much for us! Isaiah foretold so perfectly both His invitation and His powerful advocacy when he wrote of Jesus, "surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows." Who is the expert on the real effect of our internal toxins? Jesus got right to the "heart" of the matter with both the Pharisees and His disciples when He taught, "Can't you see that anything that goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean? You see, it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes out of the body altogether. But, whatever comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean (defiles him). For it is from inside, from men's hearts and minds, that evil thoughts arise lust, theft, murder, sensuality slander, arrogance and folly! All these evil things come from inside a man and make him unclean (defile him)."
Do you know of a bigger toxic waste repository than the description Jesus just gave of the human heart. Because of my deep need and my invitation back to Him as a freshman in college, He gave me a NEW heart, and gives me a daily CLEANUP each time I allow Him. How about you, have you been to the REAL heart Doctor to deal with your toxins.
What could be more exciting than a flight from New York to Paris for vacationing or business? Unless you happened to be one of the 230 passengers on the fatal TWA Flight 800. Many of us would feel safe and secure inside a big 747 Jumbo Jet, and indeed our chances of a fatal accident are higher in our own automobile, than on a commercial flight.
Even before the era of international terrorists, my wife had to overcome her uncertainty of whether the airplane could really get up off the ground. She even tried her best to help things along by "lifting her feet" on take-off. We joke that in several areas of Physics, the principles that came out of her teacher's mouth never quite settled into her understanding. But her feelings of insecurity and doubt about an airplane "take-off" help us identify with an interesting paradox about true security.
We all feel more comfortable and secure in our car when we are in the drivers seat. From that position, we know we are in control of the brakes, accelerator, and steering wheel. But sitting next to the driver is an entirely different matter. Even a terrific driver will sometimes scare us. The driver has the big picture which they integrate with the controls. But we only see our vehicle about to smash into the car ahead, or side-swiping something just outside our window. Hence the name "back-seat driver" can easily be applied to anyone NOT in the driver's seat. This term derives from the strong need to be in control, even if our hands and feet can't reach the controls. Our dilemma is clear, but what's the answer?
Mass transit helps us understand. Some of their adds read, "Take the bus, and leave the driving to us." When we do that, we entrust ourselves and our security into the care, dependability, and expertise of the bus and its driver. In this case our feeling of safety and security really depends on whether we trust the bus and its driver.
Even though we are physically dependent on the driver, we feel emotionally secure only if we turn our concern, worry, and control over to the driver. Ironic as it may seem, the high priest's servant who came to capture Jesus. Then Peter fled. After Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter began to remember what Jesus had taught him, and to mature. This "inside-out" transformation changed Peter from having to be "in control" himself, to being willing for God's Holy Spirit to be in control of his life, producing His fruit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, all different from Peter's natural characteristics. He had turned loose of the reigns of his life, and had finally placed Jesus in control, or as Peter described it, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." We all start out like the self-reliant Peter. Have you turned over the reigns to Jesus yet, and experienced His maturing process? Don't settle for this world's false and temporary security!
One of the heartening triumphs in medicine is the history of Dr. Louis Pasteur who developed an antidote to rabies. He lost his own child to the horrible death from the deadly rabies virus due to the bite and saliva of a "mad" dog. This caused him to dedicate himself with God's help to finding a cure to this common and deadly enemy. Years of research finally yielded an antidote which could stop the painful death due to rabies in animals.
But would this work for humans? Dr. Pasteur was haunted with the question of how to test on humans the vaccine constituted from weakened forms of the rabies virus. The only solution he could live with was to infect himself with rabies and see if the vaccine would work on him.
He was on the verge of conducting this experiment on himself, when a lady traveled a long way with her son who had been bitten by a rabid dog, to plead with him to use his vaccine to save her son. He still wanted to first try it on himself, but in answer to her desperate pleas and the fact that time had run out for her son, he agreed to try it. The son's life was saved, and through the use of Pastuer's vaccine, countless future lives were spared the painful death of rabies. He was honored by his peers and his country for his courage, dedication to research, and the beginning of a very fruitful process of vaccination development.
Please consider for a moment the similarity to the provision which has saved so many countless people through the ages from the most deadly human disease, sin of disbelief and disobedience against the God of our creation and redemption. The description of Jesus as He obeyed God His Father in dying on a Roman cross of pain and shame in our place is this. "God made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be sin (or a sin offering) for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God." How to make a deadly virus impotent and give life instead is a mystery in both the physical and spiritual realms. But Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection from the grave has prompted the faith of millions to trust Him for eternal life, just as the mother and son trusted Pasteur when they had no other hope.
It takes both rationality and faith for us to be willing to vaccinate our children against disease today. The majority of people today are experienced in both rationality and faith with regard to physical vaccines, and most would not dream of denying themselves or their family their benefits, nor of risking death or major disability by refusing the vaccine.
But many, many people today, through prejudice, hearsay, hurtful experience, and other "reasons," fail to look personally and seriously at the unique claims, actions, and life style of Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to God the Father, the only sin vaccination which works. Its side effects even prompt unexplainable changes in life style through the experience of forgiveness and grace.
Who is in charge, and who is in control? These can be big issues in many arenas. For example, it appears that today, only the rich or extremely well supported can be a viable candidate to be in charge of our country as President of the United States.
The Texas Legislature, in an attempt at cost control, is joining other states in a major move toward Managed Health Care. States have various experiences with Managed Health Care, from innovative and hopeful, to disastrous.
Part of the key issues in Health Care control and results, is "What are the drivers?" For example, I know of an excellent Pilot Program in Texas which is well underway to show that when you START with objectives of QUALITY, and MUTUALLY DEVELOPED STANDARD PRACTICES (STEPS) and OUTCOME MEASURES, the result is not only lower costs, but also higher customer satisfaction!
I believe that in general the inverse is true. When you START with merely an objective of cost control, often the result is lower customer satisfaction and service, along with lower costs.
Within Texas' Managed Health Care, the issue of control is so big that the sate has divided county Mental Health and Mental Retardation (MHMR) operations into two areas: Authority and Provider. An MHMR Authority Role must take responsibility for local control, results, and customer satisfaction. On the other hand a local MHMR may be restricted from competing as a Provider for some of the services.
Many people seem to have a built-in gravitation toward "being in charge" or in control of situations, and otherwise feel uncomfortable or "out of control." Why else would we see good leaders in a company work so hard, that even their health suffers, just to finally get dumped out as a scape goat? Others seem content to just be a non-conspicuous "member of the herd." But in either case, we all face the issues of self-control.
What is your track record of self-control, using the metrics just discussed: cost control (hope your budget process is better than mine), customer satisfaction (e.g. how content and happy are your friends and family with you?), and service. Contrary to macho male management theory, a real leader is a servant. But who motivates and controls the servant?
Most of us have some degree of difficulty relinquishing control to another. For example, have you ever resisted the directives or rules coming down from your boss or your nation's president? You can only enthusiastically submit to someone whom you respect and trust.
Submission to the leadership of Jesus Christ is the answer to self-control. If you don't know Jesus Christ well enough to respect and trust Him, then I urge you to find out for yourself what He is really like by reading the Gospel of John. Only at the point of submitting your life to His control and direction, will you find results and fruit so good that folks will ask you, "What happened to you?"
Many of us have friends who collect "rare" items like: old coins; rare Coke Cola Signs; even one-of-a-kind personal possessions of famous movie stars. The collector often has a natural attraction for the type of collectible. But usually the age, condition, and uniqueness of the item carries a lot of the attraction and value to the owner too. Reproductions and proliferations of an item tend to be of no real interest to serious collectors.
But how do you establish the "real thing?" In some cases, books give you the statistics. In other cases you may wind up trusting the auctioneer's claims. But before we go on, I think we can observe that common perception of value generally rises in proportion to uniqueness. One-of-a-kind items are certainly at the top of the value list.
It is common to be proud to own a totally unique, one-of-a-kind item. But stay tuned for a brief discussion of One who is totally unique, yet is commonly valued by millions of people.
So what is unique about Jesus the Son of God? Some of the uniquenesses of the God-man Jesus Christ, include His name and claim to be "God in the flesh," Emmanuel. He was equally comfortable in giving a blind man sight, healing a leper, and in forgiving sins, especially those of unpopular folks like a woman caught in adultery, and a greedy, rich tax collector. He uniquely said He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life; that no person forms a real relationship with God the Father except by Him. He uniquely fulfills all of hundreds of Old Testament prophecies concerning the God-man Messiah of Israel, such as the virgin birth, birthplace, ancestors, sinlessness, manner of sacrificial death for the sins of mankind, and volitional resurrection from the dead!
When doubting Thomas saw Jesus after His unique resurrection from a voluntary death payment for our sins, and reached his hands into Jesus' nail-pierced hands and His spear-pierced side, he got an up-close glimpse of some of these attributes, and responded in faith, "my Lord and my God."
He uniquely claimed that because He would be lifted up on a cross to die He would thereby attract and draw many people to place their faith in Him as their own personal savior. In contrast, no "religious leader" or "head of a religion" walked on the earth experiencing the same tests as humans, yet without sin, and claimed to be God with the power to forgive sins, proven acceptable by His own resurrection from the dead.
If you read the Gospel of John at least three times each with a different color highlighter in hand, you will find many more unique descriptions and claims of Jesus, than I have listed here. If you look carefully, you may find some you missed to highlight with the second and third colors. Some of Jesus' most avid critics have set out on a similar search of the scriptures to disprove His claims, and have been drawn as He claimed, to worship the One who Job and David foresaw as their Lord.
The brief list of uniquenesses above is easy to read and dismiss with too little awe and respect. Please let me hear the quantitative and qualitative (personal value) results which you attach to your brief highlighted reading tour. Do it for yourself, or do it for me, but please do it!
Responsible Individual Ownership
Business owners typically look for directors and managers who will take personal ownership and responsibility for their part of the business. Although top-down policy, direction, and control is exercised by the chief executives, when they feel comfortable in delegating responsibility, they delegate the authority to fulfill the responsibilities. In our business, plans, and status reports, we call these folks the "Responsible Individual" for a specific task. So in effect the top management is relying on a Responsible Individual to solve or get solved all the issues and subtasks needed to fulfill a task.
The flip side of this is that the Responsible Individual must accept their assignment and responsibility. Its very likely that their proficiency, and the satisfaction of their boss, is highly to their sense of "ownership" of the task. For example a cavalier attitude, or a distraction by other things, will erode the sense of ownership, as well as the effectiveness of the task performance. We may desire a particular job or task. We may even apply for one, rather than waiting to be asked or assigned, but we all know that it is not really ours until ownership is both given and accepted. Many of us still remember the beginning of each "I Spy" TV episode: "Your assignment, should you choose to accept it is..."
Why is it we are so clear on giving and accepting responsibility in the business world, but often so fuzzy on how this applies in our personal world. For instance, families which have experienced the disablement of a family member through substance abuse, understand very well that the first step of recovery for their loved one is to take ownership and responsibility for their condition. But it is extremely difficult, and often after a long period of denial, that the substance abuser can admit their condition and take responsible ownership of their lives. "I am an alcoholic" is the familiar phrase of someone starting to get the help and support needed for recovery.
But in the spiritual world we often miss how ownership and responsibility work. It is those relatively few folks who have owned responsibility for their estrangement from God and His ways who have then been able to accept His gift of salvation from sin.
"I am a sinner" is a rare phrase of responsible ownership today. But it also is the first step for each of us to appreciate and accept ownership of God's gift to us of eternal life through His Son Jesus. He can look forward to good results and fruit flowing naturally from lives which are honest and humble enough to admit our need, and accept ownership of His most precious and costly gift to us. Conversely, a cavalier attitude toward sin (disbelieving God and His record about His Son) is guaranteed to produce results which grieve God, our creator, and rightful owner, since He purchased us back with the payment of His own life's blood.
Characteristics of Good Leaders
"We will put a man on the moon in the next decade." Isn't it amazing how such few words from a U.S. President could set objectives, marshal resources, and motivate and sustain creative design and implementation, until that "dream" directive became a reality. Doesn't this tell us a lot about how a nation needs and wants a leader to step up and provide direction which can challenge and motivate us to higher purpose, achievement, fulfillment, and excitement to "be a member of the team?"
When is the last time you felt proud to be a member of "your team?" I'll bet you were helping your team produce something that you felt would help people, provide something with a quality you were proud of, or would be an amazing achievement like a manned lunar landing. When you have tasted that kind of leadership and camaraderie, its absence really leaves a vacuum.
But have you ever considered what part you can play in offering some degree of morale-building motivation, example, encouragement and solutions in your own day-to-day environment? It is precisely at a point of low group morale, where the refined quality of encouragement really shines. When top-down leadership is lacking, it is certainly difficult to "stay on top" and give a "moon landing effort" every day. That is why it is very important to have experienced internal motivation which is somewhat independent of outward circumstances.
Who is the most inspiring leader you have known? What attracted you to them and made you proud to be a part of their team? I'll bet they were not all consumed with themselves and the "credit" they received. By contrast, they probably were somewhat transparent as they helped you focus on a common task, why it was needed, and how to get there.
These are just a few of the characteristics of my leader, who has kept me going through thick and thin in personal, work, and community projects, somewhat independent of the ups and downs of the surrounding circumstances! As I have seen for myself, glimpses of what Jesus Christ is like, He and His examples have motivated me to daily inspiration which has far exceeded the motivation I could have received from transient leaders or from my own "bootstrap" efforts.
By now you may realize that "His ways are not our ways." For example, He leads not autocratically, but by serving and by patiently teaching, even when "it hasn't gotten through yet." He starts where we are, and moves us to where we need to be, even when we were not previously aware of our need. He never ridicules, demands, yells, berates, or uses any of the "forcing" techniques we sometimes resort to, when we have lost patience with those who we want to "teach." He tells it like it is, with total authority and confidence, leaving each of us to welcome or reject the truth; He Himself is truth! He leads by example, having successfully passed every test we face, yet without yielding to sin. He is not for the proud and self-satisfied; He abides with those humble enough to admit our sin, our needs, and our self-imposed alienation from God, filling us with delight at His mercy, love, repeated forgiveness, gentleness, patience, love and respect. His initiative and commitment to us stimulates our response. What a leader to voluntarily follow!
How do you feel after you have been "run over" by a "hit and run talker." Such experiences are under the guise of a conversation. But you found you couldn't get your "two cents" in no matter how hard you tried. And the person doing all the talking will NEVER go bankrupt by offering "a penny for your thoughts."
I find that a simplified principle of communications and relationships helps me a lot. As long as I remember and make the deliberate effort to put it into practice. You already know this watchword of effective communication, but we all neglect it and fall way short of experiencing its full potential. The watchword is RESPECT. True and deeply based respect for yourself, others and God is all you need to have truly successful communications and relationships.
What husband has failed to hear, "You never listen to me." Well I KNOW he heard you say, "I do." And a lot more. But us macho males are often problem solvers, ready to champion the battle. That's great IF and WHEN it can be combined with the sensitive caring, empathy, and quiet LISTENING which grows out of deep respect for our mate, their feelings, their ideas, their hopes, dreams, and needs. Our solutions, judgments, and ANSWERS more often than not, communicate a lack of the VERY thing our wives want most. To FEEL from our response to them, that we have some understanding and compassion regarding how they feel and what is troubling, motivating, or challenging them! When they FEEL our understanding, caring, and support, they can often handle the issues at hand all by themselves. Without it, they often feel shunted aside, isolated, alone, and may become depressed, resentful, or bitter.
Obstructions to genuine, active, and caring listening include distractions such as: planning what gems of wisdom I am going to impart next; failure to respect the speaker, their message, and their feelings behind the message; and basic self pre-occupation (some of us recognize the latter as a synonym for selfishness).
When you begin to catch a glimmer of how interesting each human being is, you can begin to look forward to the rich treasures buried within others, exemplified by the statement of both Will Rogers and my Uncle Will(ard): "I never met a man I didn't like." Let me append that "interest in their story" in no way implies "agreement with all their views." Yet once we genuinely FEEL an interest in others and what they have to share with us, it does wonders for our listening effectiveness.
This is why Stephen Covey's 5th principle/habit (in his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People") is so powerful, yet so opposite to our natural inclinations: "Seek First to UNDERSTAND, BEFORE seeking to be understood!" Genuine development of this habit dramatically unlocks previously deadlocked and closed-off relationships, due to the power of sensitivity, caring, and truly putting the other person first.
We all have the opportunity to tune into James' rich and succinct wisdom on this subject, like: Be QUICK to LISTEN, SLOW to SPEAK, and SLOW to ANGER, for man's anger neither lines up with, nor accomplishes God's righteous purposes. When we listen and put into practice what we hear from our DESIGNER, we experience WIN-WIN-WIN communications and relationships. Try it. Those around you will like it!
I arrived Saturday at U-Haul at 7:01 A.M., ready to wait an estimated 2 hours to get a trailer hitch installed. I had been there the day before and filled out all the paperwork so I could be first in line Saturday, since they were too busy Friday. He had asked that I leave the car to assure I would be first on Saturday, and when I said I couldn't, he filled out the paperwork and said "be there when we open at 7:00 A.M." Saturday morning my mouth fell open in shock, when he said I was second in line, and it would now be about 3 1/2 hours. Their watch seemed to be a minute or two earlier than mine, and they had just waited on another hitch installation customer about one minute earlier, who was now first in line. I argued that I was supposed to be first in line due to my prior paperwork, then discussed alternatives to come back, and finally realized this was my only time to get the work done, so I would wait, occupied with items I had brought.
As I sat there, it dawned on me that I still had several lessons to learn; recurring issues which need attention. True to form, I arose early Saturday and spent a lot of time gathering some bills to pay and books to read, so my wait would be efficient. Efficient milking of time was my goal, and it never crossed my mind that a higher priority might be to arrive early - that is, until I was shocked into learning this lesson. The second lesson was not pleasant to face either. As he re-explained the need to leave the car overnight, I realized I need to focus more attention when someone tells me their ground rules, rather than hear it a little different through the filter of my rationalizing about how I want it to be. Accepting the ground rules also eliminates excuses, which often come easy, instead of facing the issues.
These are the "reasons to be early" I want to remember, since learning this lesson the hard way:
o Insurance against contingencies which could make me late
o Respect for the people I am meeting
o Avoids consequences of being late
Even though planning with margins is common sense, two general areas where I need to use margins, not my expediency or rationalization, are:
o Time margins - be early
It was quite a shock to walk up to the U-Haul counter and find that I was no longer their first customer, because I had: failed to listen carefully and believe what they told me; focused more on what I wanted to do, than on their requirement; rationalized that everything would work out fine, independent of what they told me.
Similarly, there are several ways of reacting to Jesus when He says "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No person comes to God the Father except through me." You can:
o Distort His claims into something like "a way..." through expediency and rationalization
o Sit on the fence, like "Maybe I'll consider His claims later"
The Father of Total Quality Management is? That's right, Deming. Best known of his 14 points? Right again, Continuous Quality Improvement. But what you might not know is a "truth is stranger than fiction" reason that Deming was so popular with the Japanese decades before his ideas began to move American companies out of the doldrums into becoming world class companies. The reason I heard is that after World War II the Japanese were so devastated and humiliated that they became able to admit that they needed to improve to get back into the world wide marketplace and restore their economic viability. To accomplish this, they were willing to admit their needs, and to learn and follow Deming's training on the culture changes required to start down the path of Continuous Process Improvement. By comparison, most U.S. companies at that time were highly self reliant and independent. Only a few were brave enough to listen to, and empower, their front line workers to identify problems and solutions related to their daily tasks. Tried and true principles like these have worked irrespective of who applies them.
Although most U.S. companies of the past did not accept or practice Deming's 14 points, today more and more are doing more than testing the water with their big toe. For example, the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award has been received now by a wide variety of types of businesses and governmental entities. I even heard an excellent presentation recently on applying quality to managed Health Care for persons with mental illness. He showed how a focus on pre-agreed quality of care standards can provide BOTH good quality of health care, AND lower life cycle costs. These very rational points are being tested today with pilot programs in Texas.
Some may be wondering by now, "What is God's approach to Total Quality Management?" The bad news is that mankind's experience is that we are unable to perform to His standard. None of us can earn His Malcolm Baldridge award by our own bootstrap efforts. But those alert and honest enough to admit this have a big advantage, since this only serves to spotlight His good news. He didn't leave us floundering, but came to help us, in the person of His quality son Jesus.
Most people remain blinded to this good news, unable to see beyond the physical image of a man without specially attractive features. But for some of us, God's Spirit has turned on the light for us to see God's unfathomable compassion and love, which led Jesus to make an accepted sin payment by his death on the cross for you and for me. Part of the acceptability of this payment comes from the fact that He alone did meet all of God's standards as He lived out His life, a living picture and model of what God is really like. We see the extremes to which God would subject Himself, to get our attention, to communicate by example, and to redeem those of us who can reach out by faith and accept His gift of forgiveness and eternal life. One pre-birth name given Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning "God with us." Ironically, a quality life is one which continually focuses on Jesus, just like He only did and said what He saw and heard His Father doing and saying.
I recently followed up with some Doctor visits to checkout my "heart pains" which only happened during one day and did not occur again. I passed the "at rest" EKG, and various "listening" exams. The Doctor gave me aspirin and another medicine to lower blood pressure and ease the work of my heart. I asked if I should get back into a habit of regular exercise, and he surprised me by saying, "not yet." He said that with my age and history of family male heart problems, it would be good for me to first have an EKG under stress, or vigorous exercise conditions, to first show that exercise would help, rather than harm me. How would you like to have an excuse to NOT exercise?
Through this experience I learned that: my heart is more centrally located (not in a "Pledge of allegiance" position), that real heart problems would tend to leave me feeling short of breath and would persist longer, and I found myself wishing I hadn't gotten "too busy to exercise."
Regular exercise certainly does pay good dividends. It also pays well for the owners of exercise related businesses. This common understanding can help us tune in to what the Bible says really pays off for us. What do you think it says about exercise and other benefits to us?
Paul was a compassionate spiritual father to Timothy. Among his many instructions and admonitions to him, Paul told him that others might put him down because of his youth, but he could reverse that by being an example to them in his: speech, life, love, faith, and purity. He told him to TRAIN himself in such ways to be godly, BECAUSE while physical training (exercise) has value, godliness has even more value both NOW and forever. Later he wisely adds that "godliness with contentment is great gain." Some of us who have found satisfaction, not in our own righteousness, but in our relationship by faith in Christ and His righteousness imputed to us, still need such encouragement and permission to settle down, enjoy, and be contented with Him and His fruit in our lives.
What is the bedrock source of your daily and long term contentment? How lasting and consistent is it? Are you settling for just the temporary benefits of physical exercise, or are you disciplined enough to trust God to provide you righteousness which He requires, and which only He can provide you free, already paid for by the high cost of Jesus' death for you on the cross? Next time we exercise, may our hearts and minds turn to the One who alone provides lasting benefit and contentment!
Word Power
Not too long after my daughter's birth, my wife impatiently asked, "Do you think she will ever talk?" "Yes," I said, "and once she does you may wonder if she will ever stop." Indeed, my daughter has NO trouble expressing herself, in person, and especially on the phone, very often LONG distance.
Words are so very important to us, and just a few at the right time can mean a lot. Like, the long awaited, "I do." Or sometimes the more difficult to vocalize, "Will you marry me?" Or the one our grandson (almost 2) hates to hear, but can use with great dexterity, "NO!"
In the developing years of our nation, many business deals were initiated and successfully completed, based on the word or promise of the parties involved. "A man of his word" was the rule rather than the exception. In today's world however, companies have to have classes on business ethics and integrity, and workers are fired for things like turning in a fraudulent time card. Law suits abound to try to force individuals and companies to do what they said they would do. A comparison of Webster's original definition of some words reveals they have blurred in today's dictionaries, and have lost their original crisp clear meaning.
No wonder such progression gradually promotes a skepticism, and wariness at "taking a person at their word." So where do we turn today to find someone whose word is 100 % dependable? God, Who cannot lie, wanted to encourage us so strongly, that He swore by Himself as He promised Abraham to bless him through many descendants. Indeed Jesus came as one of Abraham's descendants to bless all who choose to personally receive His sin payment, just as promised in so many similar Old Testament passages.
As promised, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the ONLY Son of the Father, FULL of grace and
truth. Now here are some awesome paradoxes. Jesus became the LIVING WORD for us to behold, but in the beginning of our world, Jesus was chosen by His Father to SPEAK the universe into existence, and even today He holds it all together. Today we comprehend some of these treasures of the living Word, as His Spirit opens up to our understanding His WRITTEN WORD, the Bible. For example, Peter was greatly privileged to witness a special glimpse of Jesus' glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Yet later he wrote that we have a "more sure word of testimony." He was comparing this special mountaintop experience, and saying that the understanding of God which comes from His written word, the Bible, is an even more solid, dependable, foundation for our faith, than the exciting emotional experience of seeing Jesus receive affirmation and glory with His Father.
So in whose WORD are you choosing to place your trust and destiny? Your boss? Your Company? Your favorite politician? A lawyers document? Or the Word of promise from the One who NEVER lies?
In listening to a TV program honoring "Best Teachers" at a state and national level, many attention getting characteristics came out, but the one that drew the most discussion was "being a teacher who shows the students they really care about them." Similarly, a friend of mine who leads a youth group, said that youth today will listen with respect to an older, mature person talk straight and tough with them, as long as they feel that person really loves and cares about them.
Why is it so many people pride themselves in the opposite trait? For example, almost 4 decades ago, when I was in the U.S. Army, the following expression was in very common use: "I could care less." That seemed to somehow express that detached, uncaring, independent, macho, "I've got the world by the tail" attitude of self sufficiency.
Today we have progressed to the shorter form, "Who Cares?" to show our disillusionment with life, our aloofness, lack of involvement, and independence. And although there are refreshing individual counter examples, our society today is indeed changing to one which really doesn't care, as we ignore the desperate cries for help from robbers and attackers, from neighbors across the hall, down the street, on our subway car, and beside our car as we whiz by without lifting a hand to help. God forbid that we should reverse roles, and be the one crying out for help!
But just a few visits to a nursing home, should convince most of us, that involvement and caring, not isolated independence, are essential ingredients of life. "Who Cares?" stems from a bruised, indifferent, and callused conscience. Its cry from youth today, should challenge their elders to demonstrate to their kids that there really is something worth living for. But where do we turn, for a significant role model of caring?
Peter was no role model, when Jesus first began to show just how much He cared about him. But after Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter began to mature so much that he could write from experience, and encourage others too, "Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
Those of us who have come to personally see and experience His care for us, understand that Jesus is God's Hallmark Card, sent to us, when He "cared enough to send the best!" But to only be told about His care is insufficient. Nothing less than first hand experience of His individual care is essential.
When He voluntarily kept His assignment to die in our place on that torturous cross, He demonstrated extreme compassion, caring, involvement, and attempted rescue for each of us. He Himself is our Lifeline, thrown to each one of us drowning in a sea of sinful, self-centered ignoring of God and His ways. Only those who grab the Lifeline by faith, will He pull in to enjoy His presence through all eternity. He has done His part. He waits for us to respect Him enough to exercise our faith in Him, to show we care about Him too, who cared enough for us to leave the comforts of heaven to come to our rescue.
Let me ask all gardeners out there, "Are your vegetables and fruit always uniform in shape and quality?" I'm thinking in contrast to supermarket displays where their produce generally is much more "uniformly marketable." There must be someone between the harvester and the produce person in the supermarket who inspects and culls out that which doesn't meet the qualities desired for display and sale. In a similar vein, let me ask you how it felt last time you were around someone who pridefully stole all the time, attention, and talk during your meeting? Their opinion of themselves probably inflated even more during the meeting. Or have you met someone who was so intent on "climbing the corporate ladder" that they envied another person's position enough to actively work to undermine that person so they could get his job? Or have you observed someone working so hard to reach the goal of their selfish ambitions that it stifled teamwork, undermining the progress of the project or team? It takes a very sensitive and courageous manager to identify non-team players, and to help them work for the team, or work someplace else. Otherwise the fruits of envy and selfish ambition will undermine morale and unleash disorder and other spoiled fruit. One or two rotten and moldy fruit, can usually ruin the whole bushel full.
On the other hand, how is the project morale affected by someone whose motives are pure? A reconciler of differences, a peacemaker? Someone who is willing to yield to a better idea, or willing for someone else to "get the credit?" Someone with passion and caring both about the program progress, but even more about the individual hassles and concerns of the team members, someone who volunteers their own time to make things better? Someone who doesn't kiss-up to others, but instead is so impartial they treat the boss and the janitor with the same high respect? And finally, someone who is so single mindedly serves others that all traces of partiality and hypocrisy are missing? We've probably only experienced glimpses of such an environment, but believe it or not, some of your co-workers are growing toward these characteristics. That is because James says these are the characteristics of "that which comes from above. "God's greatest gift to us, His Son Jesus, fleshed out these healing qualities in remarkable, unique, and awesome high fidelity representation of what He saw God the Father saying and doing.
Jesus truly showed us how to live. And He also made it clear that such good fruit is consistently produced in our lives, only as we humble ourselves before God, and willingly allow His Holy Spirit to produce His fruit which is so opposite from our natural inclinations. His fruit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; and His fruit benefits all people who are around His fruit trees. Here's the way James 3:14-18 puts it:
IF YOU HARBOR BITTER ENVY AND SELFISH AMBITION IN
YOUR HEARTS, DO NO BOAST ABOUT IT OR DENY THE TRUTH.
THIS WISDOM DESCENDETH NOT FROM ABOVE, BUT IS EARTHLY, SENSUAL, DEVILISH. FOR WHERE ENVYING AND STRIFE IS, THERE IS CONFUSION AND EVERY EVIL WORK.
BUT THE WISDOM THAT IS FROM ABOVE IS FIRST PURE, THEN
PEACEABLE, GENTLE, AND EASY TO BE ENTREATED, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUITS, WITHOUT PARTIALITY, AND WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. AND THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS SOWN IN PEACE OF THEM THAT MAKE PEACE.
So how does this work in practice? Well, here's an awesome personal account I experienced in a Lorton, VA hotel room with my three Promise Keeper room mates from Dallas, the night of the PK "Stand In The Gap" Rally at the National Mall in Washington, covering all the grassy area from the Reflection Pool near the Lincoln Memorial, all the way to the Capitol, and from the Washington Monument north to the south fence of the White House.
That night, as the four of us prepared to pray about the awesome day of humility and prayer for personal change and for our nation, two of the group got into a discussion that became a debate, and soon it was a source of anger, hurt, and withdrawal over the intent and interpretation of a Bible passage. It was obvious that a bonded spirit of unified prayer no longer existed. At this point I was led to vocalize my heart's desire for that weekend. That men of diverse and differing understandings and beliefs about Bible passages, would come together in a common, humble attitude in the presence of such an awesome, loving, and forgiving God, who would sacrifice His perfect Son to redeem mankind, even though we turned our back on Him. And that we would cooperate with His Spirit to MAINTAIN the unity which His Spirit provides. As I finished speaking, the youngest man quickly pushed past me to hug his prior sparring partner, as the four of us knelt in moving, repentant prayer.
The next morning, the young man opened His Bible to James 3:17 and read the characteristics enumerated above, of the "wisdom which descends from above," ascribing them to the words the Lord had given me the night before. Thank you Lord, for the gift of Your timely and timeless Wisdom. His name is Jesus! He truly unifies those who believe, and divides those who try vainly to save their own life.
Characteristics For True Leading And Serving
LOVE feelings (emotions) produce love initiatives (actions), which reach out to the recipient with interactions appropriate to their true needs, with their best interest at heart, independent (unconditional) of their response. Our ability to love ourselves and others flows from our personal experience of God's unconditional respect, love feelings, and love actions toward us, regardless of our behavior. I Corinthians 13:4-8
JOY is understanding and experiencing wonderful satisfaction and awe in observing Who God is and what God is doing, sometimes in and through us, even in spite of tough circumstances.
PEACE is quiet, calm, Godly contentment, based on our relationship with the Prince of Peace and His righteousness (not based on external circumstances).
LONGSUFFERING occurs when a person responds to great external pressures, tests, and suffering, with qualities of kindness and patiently forbearing with these circumstances, and with those who are insensitive or unaware of their contribution to these pressures.
GENTLENESS is the quality of a SERVANT, which quietly and unnoticed, tends to needs or self-conflicts of others, as a nurse tends to children's needs, with a calming, soothing, healing effect.
GOODNESS is performing work for the benefit of others, in a committed, dependable, Godly manner, coupled with a love of mercy and humility before God. See Micah 6:8
"FAITH is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we don't see" (Hebrews 11:1), e.g. whatever we SEE is NOT FAITH. Faith enables us to take spiritual and physical steps which honor God as we trust Him Whom we haven't seen. Faith is a gift from God, and is a pre-requisite for living in a way which pleases Him and enables His work in our lives.
MEEKNESS operates from great inner strength, patience, and lack of insistence to have "center stage," as it waits for provision and inheritance from God.
TEMPERANCE under pressure and temptation is the disciplined, balanced management of yourself by the Holy Spirit, consistent with its foundational basis of prayer and Bible intimacy, which causes the observer to marvel at the awesome display of inner strength.
BIBLE REFERENCES:
GALATIONS 5:22-23 BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE,
LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE:
AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW.
JOHN 1:14;16-18 AND THE WORD (Jesus) WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US,
(AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE
FATHER,) FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH. AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE
RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE. FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE
AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST. NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME; THE
ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHICH IS IN THE BOSOM OF THE FATHER, HE HATH DECLARED
HIM (showing us what God is like, including all 9 fruit of the Spirit).
These are the qualities available to all who desire true leadership through serving others.
"How much wood, could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" Its hard to top that for rhythm and tongue-twisting wit. But say, even if a woodchuck could chuck wood, would he? And for those who are up the curve on quality control and metrics, how good would the chucked wood be, and how much produced per hour? Most likely a woodchuck who pre-dated even this nursery rhyme, could be more laid back and not have to worry about quality and quantity.
But how about us human Chucks... and Bills... and Marys? Just how good is good enough? It varies, doesn't it? Some bosses and some mates never seem to be pleased, no matter how hard we try. Temperament is a personalized filter which shows some of us the half FULL glass. But others are not so easily satisfied; they know FULL well it is half EMPTY. They are the ones who keep us on our toes, like a Deming whose vision of TOTAL Quality Management always knew the Japanese could do better, and his vision finally even caught on some in his native U.S.A.
Our temperaments and backgrounds also view God in a variety of ways. For example, some envision a Scrooge demanding always more than a Bob Cratchet can produce. The flip side is those who imagine "The Man Upstairs" as an amiable genie on call to satisfy our instant whims. But seriously, how good is good enough for God? This is NOT a question about whimsical or arbitrary sentiments or standards! Because God is perfect (for example in Him is NO darkness) he requires perfection. His love, grace, and simple structure, provided a nurturing environment for our ancestors to enjoy unbroken fellowship with Him. But they tried to run ahead of God, and instead of trusting His provision, wisdom, and guidance, they took matters into their own hands. Their attempt to become "better" resulted in a broken fellowship which only a sin offering could restore.
Having tried to get "better," but instead only having gotten much worse, it is ironic that many men and women today feel they are as good as anyone else, and therefore good enough to enter heaven with God. Impressive as our achievements, courageous acts, selfless sacrifices, and deeds of heroism and mercy are at times, only One has been able to lead a truly perfect life, without sin, which God requires. He can love the sinner, while hating the sin, but it is like trying to mix oil and water for us to come into His presence without first being cleansed in thought, word, and deed.
So how good is good enough for God? With the inherited burden from our ancestors, and our personal weaknesses, even when we "WOULD chuck wood" our will is strong, but our flesh is weak. BUT Jesus Christ IS God, He is PERFECT, and His voluntary sacrificial sin payment for us on the cross, was accepted by God the Father as GOOD ENOUGH. He proved this by raising Him from the dead to be savior for all who personally trust Him and accept His payment for our sins. Today is the PERFECT time to stop trusting your own efforts, admit they may look good alongside your neighbors, but they can NEVER be good enough for God who is so perfect no man can currently see Him. But once you trust the finished and accepted work of Christ on the cross, God will grow your faith so you too can actually "TASTE and SEE that the Lord is GOOD."
Once again we come to a topic which can be very helpful, or very hurtful, depending on how labels are used. For example, in the US most products are clearly labeled as to their contents. As people have become more health conscious, they have generally been able to make food choices based on comparative nutrition information provided by product labels. And as big supermarkets have replaced the small corner grocer, food labels and unit price stickers are some of the improvements which help fill the void left from the days when your grocer was a good personal friend who personally stood behind his products.
But occasionally we need to face up to how human nature can misuse labels to severely abuse people too. For example, it takes generations to try to heal the hurt minorities feel from abusive labels like nigger, or having to wear a yellow arm band label proclaiming you are an inferior Jew who can be mistreated and even exterminated. Such name-calling type labeling and scape-goating has been standard practice through the ages, used by tyrants to step on others during their "climb to the top." It requires no proof, facts, or logic, only cruel verbal attacks repeated long enough to achieve general public assent or acceptance. Intimidation of those who might question or resist such tactics often accompanies such false labeling, as illustrated by the Hitler Youth Movement. Today even one week of media reporting can color a true victim as a villain, depending on the agenda, attitude and biases of the reporter the reader or listener. This is called being tried in the media, rather than in a court of peers. Today we have little preparation or training for our marriages, but we do hear terms like "fighting fair." This concept includes avoidance of name calling, another tactic of using abusive, hurtful labels to avoid direct discussion of troubling issues.
More subtle use of labels to hurt people can occur even through ignorance, and the abuser can continue the hurt throughout their life, totally unaware of the misuse and abuse of the labels they use. A classic example of this is the common misuse of "schizophrenic." Regularly in the media, from the pulpit, and throughout society, leaders use this label to connote a Jeckle and Hyde "split personality" which is a totally different condition from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a biochemical brain disorder afflicting 1% of the world's population, which if untreated by newer medicines, can greatly distort the brain processing of external sensory information, and also make distorted internal signals appear as real as external ones. The illness is devastating enough to people who have schizophrenia (and their families) without having a society full of folks who continually misuse the term as a demeaning and pejorative label.
Have you seen an auction program on TV where people bring their unknown relics to the experts for valuation? Some of the smallest, simple items turn out to be worth the most, and vice versa. I certainly can't judge their value by the external appearance. But the unrecognized value is there, even before the expert applies an appropriate auction price label. Similarly we can't see inside of others and judge either their worth or the motives and intents of their heart. But God can see inside, past the facade - often not a pretty picture. God also sees past our outward labels and treats us according to our potential in our future relationship with Him. Because of that He planned before the foundation of the world some wonderful labels for us: "Holy" and "Without Blame" so we could live before Him in love. But is this inaccurate labeling or mis-representation to put those labels on a person who sometimes lies, cheats, or steals, or turns his back on God? NO! Only because God sees the protective, transforming covering of the sacrificial blood of His Son over the lives of all who trust Jesus as their savior. When we are humble enough to ask Jesus to be our savior from sin, God the Father adds "RIGHTEOUS" to these wonderful labels, describing NOT our own failures, but instead He credits us with the perfection of the One whom we've invited to live inside us.
As time goes by, it seems that percentage wise, fewer people have had the experience of wearing a uniform of the nation's armed services. As a young college student my two years in the Reserve Officer Training Corps was not long enough to shape my attitude anywhere near genuine service of my country. However, by the time I had successfully completed my 3 years and 3 months of U.S. Army service as an enlisted man, I had matured and begun to appreciate much more about how freedom, service, and responsibility are linked, and I'm glad I had the experience of contributing to our national security.
So it is easy to observe, that merely wearing a UNIFORM in an organization does not necessarily create UNITY with qualities of teamwork, common mission motivated service, and high "esprit de corps." How about trying to force or coerce uniformity, such as with the threat, scare, and intimidation tactics of the early Hitler Youth Movement? Those methods certainly got a lot of recruits quickly, but although the outward appearance may have looked uniform, imagine how devastating that movement was to a relationship with a former friend who chose NOT to become a member. Peer pressure turned friends into enemies; that is a measure of divisiveness, not cohesion!
Does this give us a clue that its possible for the opposite to occur, for true unity to exist in the midst of diversity? Are there any examples you can think of? Democracies, with representative self-government certainly strike a sharp contrast, with very diverse individuals submitting themselves to common laws for the good of the nation and its individuals. The kind of ideal unity then, appears to NOT be the kind achieved by anything which tries to force conformity top-down, which generally stifles and squelches individuality, growth and diversity. Instead ideal unity provides motivation to respect and value differences, to listen and learn, to care and share, to seek to understand, help, and forgive, rather than judge, or intimidate, or force your ways on another person. In other words it comes from pure motives, providing peace (not strife and discord) which is refreshingly received, brimming with unconditional love and acceptance, quick to mend offenses rather than let prejudice or hypocrisy control us.
Many will recognize that these are the characteristics of "that which comes down from heaven." Jesus is called the Word made flesh, since He existed from eternity past with God the Father, spoke the universe into existence, and brought these wonderful characteristics with Him when He came to earth, full of grace and truth, to show us what God is really like.
He picked a few diverse men, with attitudes as bad as my R.O.T.C. attitude. He never forced His ways on them, even as they deserted Him when He submitted to the cruel trumped up charges and sentence of death from those enemies who became "unified" in order to rid themselves of this one who upset their diverse control agendas.
But after His death and resurrection He sent His Spirit to remind those men of what He had showed and taught them, and to transform those cowards into loving, forgiving, diverse but unified servants of others. This service cost them their lives too.
Such unity can only be experienced as we humble ourselves before a mighty, loving, forgiving, and sovereign God. It is never legislated, demanded, or forced. True unity attracts, because it fuels on love and forgiveness personally received from Jesus' sin payment, and thereby is empowered to respect and encourage diversity rather than lockstep behavior or identical understanding, interpretation, or belief.
What could be more exciting than a flight from New York to Paris for vacationing or business? Unless you happened to be one of the 230 passengers on the fatal TWA Flight 800. Many of us would feel safe and secure inside a big 747 Jumbo Jet, and indeed our chances of a fatal accident are higher in our own automobile, than on a commercial flight. Even before the era of international terrorists, my wife had to overcome her uncertainty of whether the airplane could really get up off the ground. She even tried her best to help things along by "lifting her feet" on take-off. We joke that in several areas of Physics, the principles that came out of her teacher's mouth never quite settled into her understanding. But her feelings of insecurity and doubt about an airplane "take-off" help us identify with an interesting paradox about true security.
We all feel more comfortable and secure in our car when we are in the drivers seat. From that position, we know we are in control of the brakes, accelerator, and steering wheel. But sitting next to the driver is an entirely different matter. Even a terrific driver will sometimes scare us. The driver has the big picture which they integrate with the controls. But we only see our vehicle about to smash into the car ahead, or side-swiping something just outside our window. Hence the name "back-seat driver" can easily be applied to anyone NOT in the driver's seat. This term derives from the strong need to be in control, even if our hands and feet can't reach the controls. Our dilemma is clear, but what's the answer?
Mass transit helps us understand. Some of their adds read, "Take the bus, and leave the driving to us." When we do that, we entrust ourselves and our security into the care, dependability, and expertise of the bus and its driver. In this case our feeling of safety and security really depends on whether we trust the bus and its driver. Even though we are physically dependent on the driver, we feel emotionally secure only if we turn our concern, worry, and control over to the driver. Ironic as it may seem, only as we voluntarily turn the control and security of our lives over to another do we experience true peace and safety.
Peter the fisherman, started out just like us, needing to be in control. Since he was in control, he knew he would never deny Jesus. But as life threatening pressures reached their climax, and he denied with an oath that he even knew Jesus. Just before that he had also taken matters into his own hands in self defense, as his sword sliced off the ear of the high priest's servant who came to capture Jesus. Then Peter fled.
After Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter began to remember what Jesus had taught him, and to mature. This "inside-out" transformation changed Peter from having to be "in control" himself, to being willing for God's Holy Spirit to be in control of his life, producing His fruit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, all different from Peter's natural characteristics. He had turned loose of the reigns of his life, and had finally placed Jesus in control, or as Peter described it, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." We all start out like the self-reliant Peter. Have you turned over the reigns to Jesus yet, and experienced His maturing process? Don't settle for this world's false and temporary security!
Have you seen the cartoon of the bedraggled little girl who says, "God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind, I will never die." Or maybe you have identified with the picture of someone crawling over the finish line of life, carrying a big sack on their back, of still more tasks, remaining forever undone. We all very easily get focused on the urgent things which demand our attention every day. And we conveniently keep on postponing the important things which call forth our highest creativity, because doing the urgent saps all our energy.
If we take time for the important things, it is only due to a prior commitment and discipline which is rare indeed. For example, how long has it been since you STARTED your work day with an hour of creative planning, compared to how often do you just sit down to a task, and instead start servicing several unexpected interrupts and phone calls which keep you busy with unplanned tasks the rest of the day?
But what is some of the pay-off which results from putting first-things-first, and giving priority attention to important things? The person who momentarily sets aside all overwhelming urgent matters and performs some important planning, helps gain control over their own schedule. This is because the plan they produce shows them what to focus on, and makes it easier to postpone some of the urgent demanding tasks, until other more important things have been accomplished, in a timely manner.
Such styles of dealing with both urgent and important concerns come in a variety of flavors. These styles not only vary per person, but usually an individual cycles through various phases from deliberate focusing on the important, to just struggling to keep up with the urgent items.
Since God's ways are not man's ways, we might expect Jesus to approach these issues quite differently. Indeed that is the case. His approach did NOT vary, but was always consistent with what He saw and heard His Father saying and doing with mankind, showing compassion on those who could admit their need. The Godhead has always placed high importance on people and relationships, in stark contrast to mankind's urgent pre-occupation with material things. For God, the spiritually important is vitally urgent! Things like a timely appearance to heal Lazarus before he died was neither urgent nor important to Jesus. Instead He allowed Him to die before He visited sisters Mary and Martha, so He could raise him from the dead, and reveal what was lacking in their relationship with Him; their faith in, and dependence on, the Son of God. Unlike our tendency to "butter up" the rich and powerful, no matter how corrupt, Jesus minced no words with the powerful Pharisees, calling them "Whitewashed Sepulchers, full of dead men's bones."
But conversely, those who were outcast from all society, such as lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and a man born blind, were the highly important ones to Jesus, in whom He invested personal time and attention, willingly allowing them to interrupt Him, as part of His busy 3 year schedule, before His important, deliberately kept, appointment with death on a cross for you and for me. How urgent is the spiritually important to us?
We've considered before, how much easier it is to give than to receive. Somehow our pride and independence tells us its OK or macho to give, but it's kind of like admitting defeat to be a recipient from someone else.
But let's think about that a minute. Almost all of us in the U.S. have a lot of things. How did we get them? Answer: always receiving them was a common part of the process. For the most part we likely purchased them. But at the sales counter there is an exchange. We give the clerk our money or check, and we receive our purchases and the sales receipt. If we don't receive our items, we probably realize they are missing when we get home, and go back to claim and receive the rest of our items. If we purchased what we receive, that's OK, but we often tend to squirm uncomfortably and feel like we just shouldn't receive an outright gift.
At Birthdays and Christmas we're conditioned that it's OK to receive gifts from others. But the rest of the year it's much harder for us to be on the receiving end. Ironically many people inconsistently try very hard and persistently to win the lottery. That's an exception as an OK free gift in most people's eyes. Receiving inheritances is also OK.
In spite of our differences we tend to learn similar feelings about what it is OK and not OK to receive. Except many politicians and government officials have had difficulty with this. Isn't it our "false pride" which stiff-arms what others have to give us, or at least makes us feel uncomfortable. We don't want to feel like we are "taking charity."
So we shouldn't be surprised that to receive the very best gift in this world, "quality life which never ends," requires BOTH giving and receiving on our part. We must set aside our own achievements and our pride, bow humbly before the One who loved us and GAVE up His own sinless life as payment for all our sins, and simply ask Jesus to come into our life as our Savior and Lord. That is the way that millions through the ages have RECEIVED their own special gift of Eternal Life.
After that initial hurdle of humbly receiving our free gift, we similarly make progress or growth in our new eternal relationship with Him by ungrasping things we previously clutched tightly as our own, and learning to entrust them to His care and use. We initially came to Him without reservation, but also without much knowledge about His ways. Later we learn to trust Him in more detail; this includes entrusting to His leadership our time, our direction, our attitudes, and our rights or demands.
Mother Teresa said some of the poorest people she ever met in all the world were the physically rich in New York, who were spiritually poor because they used people and loved things. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, He inverts our perspectives, and we learn to love people (as He does) and use things (for His glory), thereby finding out each day how much we receive from Him as we experience the riches of His grace. We freely and gladly give of ourselves and our resources, back to Him, and to others, because He first took the initiative in unreservedly giving Himself for us. He gave, and now He receives back. We receive, and later we are motivated to give back in return. So His gift of Eternal Life which is free to us, but which cost Him so dearly, continues to be given through His followers, every day, throughout the entire world.
Did you ever enter a contest or a lottery and win a prize? Even though you hoped to win, if you actually did win you would likely be a little surprised. Or did you ever pursue friendship with someone, and discover later than your best friend is actually someone else? Or have you ever said "I'll never _____,?" like "I'll never pay as much as 6% interest for a house loan," and sure enough you never even had another opportunity to get such a low rate, even though you changed your mind and sure wished you could. These are just a few examples where our future turns out differently than we had expected, which has both pluses and minuses. Quite often we look back and find out that our hindsight perspective is totally different than our foresight view of things.
Such perspective of how different reality can really be from our early perceptions and awareness can help us with additional insight. For example, if someone asked, "Which God are you serving today?" many might say, "why none at all," in spite of some of the following types of evidence to the contrary.
My daughter just returned from 3 years of teaching first grade in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She is still experiencing some culture shock at the U.S. saturation and focus on information and busy life styles. She says life is so much more simple and independent of "the latest news and information" in South America. In the busy U.S. culture, some might answer the prior question, "we're too busy (in the pursuit of pleasure, intellect, or power) to even think about life's questions. Another group of "atheists" might answer (in the pride of their intellect) that they KNOW there is no God, and that all that we see came from nothing.
Do YOU see any irony in someone like that who can believe in a universal negative, as well as in spontaneous generation of something from nothing? Still others say they are "agnostics" who are ironically proud of their broad mindedness and of "not knowing" or "knowing they don't know."
Can you find the gods which we serve in the prior paragraph? Look for them in parentheses and quote marks. And many "religious people" have "inherited their parent's religion and gods," or have applied "human reasoning" to arrive at the choice of a god. Unfortunately, all of these responses stem from either using our faculties to pursue a god of our own creation, or failing to use our faculties at all to seek out meaning to life.
In contrast, there are yet others whom God has sought out and shown what He is like in the unique and awesome character of Jesus Christ. Since He has showed us what He is like, vastly different than we could have imagined or created, we in turn want others to open their mind, will, and emotions to Him - to privately and personally investigate the unique claims of Christ with your mind; to chose with your will to explore these very important claims; and to allow your emotions to follow what you find, as a result of your willful choice to find out for yourself. Such pursuit will pay dividends much different and much better than you may have expected. Please do yourself this favor! Truth is not only stranger than fiction, but also more rich and deep.
A Look Inside (Identifying Your God)
It came time for one of the best speakers I've heard, to lead a question and answer session. He was setting some ground work, and he asked "How many of you are worried and fretful?" Our minds churned and not too much cognition registered. But then he put his finger on it and said, "The way to identify your deep concerns is to ask yourself, 'Where do you spend your main worry time?'" How would you answer that for yourself?
Our stage and status of life can certainly have a bearing on our individual answer. For example, a family with teen-agers often has a built in answer. A young unmarried person may also provide some worry material. Or a student struggling to finish college exams. Financial pressures, relationships, jobs (getting or keeping), education, standard of living, family health, international terrorists or neighborhood safety... are some of our common sources of worry and concern. These seem normal and OK subjects for anyone to be concerned about. But when we take the time privately to see the details of what we are worrying about, and why, we may find some surprises.
For example, a related and revealing question is "Where do you spend the majority of your time, energy, and dreams?" For many this is work. For others it is social activities. Once again these seem normal life focuses. But did you ever consider that what we are most fully devoted to, and what we worry most about, may have become our God, or at least taken His place in our lives. But you say, wait a minute. You are wrongly assuming I believe in a God. Then its time to see what you DO believe in.
Some people believe that all by itself, "something came from nothing," such as in the big bang theory. Others believe, in contradiction to the entropy law of thermodynamics, that although the physical universe left alone becomes less orderly and structured over time, yet in the area of human behavior mankind continues to "get better and better" with time. Still others believe, in spite of missing links and unexplainable fossil records, that throughout the billions of years it took for man to form and crawl out of the primordial slime, processes have continued without any cataclysmic events, such as a worldwide flood. For example, when did you last read in your text books about the side-by-side existence of man tracks and dinosaur tracks, which you can view for yourself in the Paluxy River bed at Glen Rose, Texas? Or just how strongly do you believe somehow (details unknown) that electrons from your wall plug will power your computer just as successfully (HA) today, as they did yesterday. But of more importance, to what is our life devoted explicitly, or by default? Knowledge, power, income, security, prestige?
God so values our free will choice of Himself as the object worthy of our respect, devotion, love and worship, that He patiently endures our fickle and frantic pursuit of substitutes to satisfy our inner vacuum. Some of us have answered the wake-up call to trade in the trinkets listed above, which we previously pursued so diligently, and experience for ourselves that "Godliness with contentment is great gain." We've found that He not only has the words of life, but He IS the way, the truth, and to know Him IS Eternal Life.
Having a family member Missing In Action (MIA) is a terrible situation for families, largely due to the uncertainty and challenge to the family to continue to have hope. Often, an attempt to even verify that a soldier is still alive, meets with a dead end. From the Viet Nam era, some MIA situations have still not been resolved.
One of the most impressive stories of dedication and bravery I know is how Ross Perot who founded EDS, planned and conducted a kidnapping in Iran of 2 EDS employees who had been captured and held hostage. There are few situations which are more helpless than the plight of MIA's and persons held hostage. But as just shown, victory is still possible, no matter how difficult. To me, it looked impossible to penetrate a country and its frenzied anger and hatred feelings against Americans. But the focused mission was successful. Years later we remember a similar rescue mission which President Jimmy Carter mounted in which both equipment and mission failed.
We have uncovered two very severe issues haven't we? One is the quandary of how to maintain hope and to help someone who has been captured? Another issue is how to storm the stronghold and rescue the prisoner?
One of life's ironies is that as we gently wade deeper into rejection of God's overture's to communicate with us, our heart often hardens in pseudo sophistication, and we grow blind to how stubborn and rebellious we have become. This may be passive on our part, but it is part of a subtle and more sophisticated strategy that we could ever devise. Our unseen adversary has taken us captive by his own strong will and rebellious pride and hatred.
Breaking his strong hold, which many will deny or dismiss, is not for the faint-hearted or timid or weak. It took the sinless Son of God to resist his deceptive bait, his distractions and premature murderous attempts. Finally, after working through all of history to kill off Jesus' blood line, Satan's murderous plots backfired, when Jesus voluntarily laid down His life on the cross to make our sin payment, and rescue us from our subtle, super-strong enemies of Satan, sin, and death!
Jesus' resurrection is our ticket home to freedom, to be with the One who rescued us forever. Its a terrible thing to be involved in a MIA or hostage situation. But its much worse to be insensitive or unaware of your own MIA or hostage situation. Its time to find out for yourself just how strong but gentle Jesus Christ your savior is. If you have not yet experienced this for yourself, maybe you can at least catch a glimmer of the gratitude and hope which bursts forth from the hearts of those of us who have been set free by the victory resurrection of Jesus Christ, setting us captives free!
Many of us have experienced the frustration of having our home or work computer break down. We've grown to depend on its quick computations, formatting, and updates of displays and reports, its email, and finding and downloading of unbelievably detailed data from the remote databases of the internet's world wide web. But ironically, none of today's computers can hold a candle to the flexibility, creativity, association, and speed of the human brain.
I realize that some of you have felt like kicking in your spouse's computer - especially when it was working and keeping your spouse mesmerized, and unavailable to you. But I also know that if your computer does happen to break, you will only get good results by trying to repair it, not by shoving it in the closet and pretending it doesn't exist, or calling it bad names, or becoming afraid to ever use it again.
Of course we don't stigmatize a broken computer in this way; that would be silly, fruitless, and senseless. Instead we repair it, and once again benefit from using it. Contrast this with how we stigmatize a person with a broken brain. About 3% of the world's people have experienced various intensities and persistence of broken brains, in the form of major mental illnesses like schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar neuro-biological brain disorders. But we understand so little about this marvelous organ, our brain, which is at the control center of all we perceive, think and feel. We know very little about how our brain works, and even less about what happens when it breaks, or how to repair it. So when someone's brain breaks, or doesn't function right, fear of the unknown often takes over, along with it's cruel companion, stigma.
We illogically try to shove that person into the closet and pretend they don't exist, or call them bad names, or become afraid to ever associate with them again. Ironically we don't treat victims of other physical illnesses or disabilities in such a discriminatory or prejudicial way! But because we understand so little about both our well brains and our broken brains, we let fear of the unknown cause us to treat some of our most precious fellow humans with severe inhumanity!
Some of our best known creative and courageous humans who enriched our lives, were unable to let us know the obstacles of mental illnesses which they overcame, because of this same stigma. They include: Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allen Poe, Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemmingway, Paul Whitman, Ezra Pound, Tennessee Ernie Williams, and Beethoven. Recently a little light of understanding, education, and human compassion has empowered a few modern day courageous and creative persons who suffer from mental illnesses to come out of the closet to encourage others with their disclosures: Patty Duke, Earl Campbell, Lionel Aldridge, Charlie Pride, and Mike Wallace. Such people are NOT second class citizens to be discriminated against or stigmatized any longer. Let us accept and help, not stigmatize or shoot, our wounded brothers and sisters who have a sick organ, the brain! Be even kinder and more rational to a person with a broken brain, than you would to your broken computer. Let's open our minds; mental illnesses are brain diseases! It's time to replace past stigma with future education, compassion, help, and acceptance! Treatment (with improving medicines) works, and so does understanding, empathy, compassion, and treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. Thank You!
One of the lively subjects which generates diverse ideas is the area of "what is the best approach to sentencing and consequences for those who break our laws?" The concrete example of Michael Fortier can help our considerations. His testimony was deemed crucial by the prosecution to a solid conviction of Timothy McVeigh in the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. So the judge had a dilemma to balance between offering some clemency in return for Michael's testimony, and in sending a clear signal that in the future it pays to come forward to the authorities as soon as you become aware of potential life threatening plans. Indeed it appears that in the 12 year prison sentence, a mixture of both signals was sent, since the maximum possible sentence was 23 years.
But from the perspective of many of the families of the victims who look at the destruction, devastation and death which might have been prevented, this sentence was too lenient. Since trials focus on the person charged with an offense, their rights often get more attention than the rights of the victims. Certainly these are very difficult issues to balance and it is hard to issue clear and effective judgments which communicate appropriate warning signals to future offenders. Where can we go to find a balance of proper judgment and mercy?
The answer is found by looking at solved a nearly impossible problem. How could a perfect, holy and righteous God find a way to have relationships with imperfect, unholy and unrighteous people? A picture of a similarly difficult situation in the book of Esther in the Old Testament is worth a thousand words. There came a time in King Xerxes reign (who ruled over 127 provinces from India to the upper Nile region), that Haman offered the king an opportunity to get rid of an entire culture which he claimed failed to obey the king's commands. Haman sweetened his request with an offer of 10,000 talents of silver (about 375 tons) which the king refused. But the king did allow the following judgment to be decreed, sealed with his ring, and distributed to all the provinces. The judgment specified a day on which to "destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women and little children, and to plunder their goods." This was a Law of the Medes and Persians, which once issued could not be revoked, just like the decree which caused Daniel to be thrown into the lion's den, even though King Darius was very distressed to have to carry out his own decree against his distinguished and wise administrator Daniel.
As Esther found increasing favor with King Xerxes, she decided to risk her life and plead with King Xerxes to pronounce an overruling order to save her people, the Jews. Although the first decree could not be rescinded or changed, the second overruling decree held so much more power that all the king's officials helped enforce the second law. It empowered the Jews to rise up and kill all those who originally intended to kill the Jews. Everyone respected and feared to oppose the second law, which added strength to the Jews as they repealed their death sentence, rose up and annihilated all their enemies.
As stated earlier, Esther's victory paints a wonderful picture of how God has solved our dilemma of how to receive his mercy even though we behaved in ways which deserve His condemnation, resulting in our own death sentence. His first law remains in force even today. That law states that every human who sins against God is condemned to both physical and spiritual death (separation from God)..
But God's second more powerful law which allows Him the right to treat us with mercy and give us spiritual life instead of death, is empowered by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on a Roman cross to pay the price we owed due to our sins - DEATH. The debt we incurred under God's first law was fully paid by Jesus Christ for all who accept His payment. That opens the way for God to extend mercy we don't deserve to allow us back into fellowship with Him, to receive forgiveness of sins and to experience His creative kindness to us for ever and ever.
Aren't you glad God didn't stop with His first decree? He found a costly but just way to satisfy and override this first decree and to extend incredible mercy to all who believe and receive it through His powerful second decree. So we join multitudes world wide to urge you to place yourself under God's gracious, merciful benefits, offered freely to all who bow and ask Jesus to be their Lord and savior. Not merely "a new lease on life," but actually a brand new life, awaits all who choose to respond to Jesus. Wouldn't it be foolish to remain under a death sentence, when Jesus has already paid for your freedom?
The mere word "hostage" brings a number of vivid scenes to mind. When some of Ross Perot's workers were held hostage in Iran, he formed a rescue party which was able to get them back. When I was in the Army, and was newly married, I lived across from the El Paso, TX airport. One day we heard the loud noise of machine gun fire coming from the airport. Someone decided they could hold all the passengers on a plane hostage, and hijack the plane to take off for their own destination. But as the plane rolled down the runway trying to reach take-off speed, machine gun fire aimed at the tires produced flat tires, and brought the plane to a halt before it could take off. The grounded hijackers soon surrendered. Still other hijackers have demanded money in exchange for their hostages. Sometimes the transaction proceeds OK and the hostage is freed. Other times hostages die, despite any ransom or rescue attempts. So a hostage situation is typically tense, stressful for all concerned, of uncertain outcome, and very suspenseful.
Imagine being held hostage, feeling completely under the control of your captors, wondering what is going through their mind, and being concerned whether their extreme ransom demands will be met. How much would someone pay to get us out of their hands and return us to safety? Even if the ransom demand could be met, will we be returned safely, or will we die at the hands of someone who doesn't care about us?
We have the answers to just such a scenario, which each of us was involved in! The irony is that many of us were unaware of our captivity, didn't recognize our captor, and were totally unaware when our ransom payment was fully made and accepted. In fact the pathway has been cleared for us to be fully able to walk free, but we are still held hostage until we choose to do. Just like the irony of "being set free" but remaining a hostage, even though the ransom has been paid, so also is a baby elephant trained that his foot is hostage to his chain. The baby elephant finally grows so accustomed to never being able to pull against the chain and move, that when he grows mature and fully capable of pulling free, chain, stake, and all, his belief that he is a captive keeps him captive indeed. In fact, our beliefs are even stronger than chains.
In Mark 10:45 Jesus says that "the Son of Man came ... to give His life a ransom for many." His ransom implies that all mankind was held hostage before He came. But what could hold us hostage which required the payment of the life of the only perfect man who ever walked on this planet? Whether we realize it or not, we were so subject to the captive power of sin, that we could not break free. Even after He paid the price of freedom with His own life's blood, only some of us believe that His blood payment was necessary and sufficient for our forgiveness.
We are the ones who by faith now walk free, and learn to experience victory over sin, as we trust His perfect payment. Not having to be perfect ourselves, but instead to trust entirely on His substitutionary payment for us, provides powerful freedom and strength to break the chains which previously bound us in darkness, despair, and hopelessness.
In conclusion, some of us don't even know we are taken hostage by sin, others don't know how to get free, and some are so excited with the One who freed us, that we want the world to know.
We are all familiar with the term "double jeopardy," and at onetime or another we may have felt we experienced it ourselves. But there are some interesting cases which are legal, and therefore NOT double jeopardy, even though we are required to "face the music twice." Two famous legal cases are: the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson, followed by the civil trial of O.J. Simpson. Another legal case involves the woman accused of killing her two sons. She was tried and convicted for the death of one son. It appears that had she not been convicted, she would have been tried again for the death of the second son.
Subtle but true cases of double jeopardy include human conditions such as addictions. For example, the deeper a person experiences addiction to alcohol or drugs (a jeopardy itself), the harder it is to break the expanding circle of denial (a second tenacious jeopardy). To admit, "I am an alcoholic" is the recognized first step of recovery in popular and helpful 12 step programs. But ironically, the deeper our human problem is, typically the deeper also is our denial, and refusal to identify and admit to the problem, and seek help beyond ourselves.
Yet another human condition which plays into such double jeopardy is the macho attitude which many are trained into, "I can handle this job all by myself." Self reliance is a good trait when it is balanced toward the self responsibility side. Out of balance, it can become our enemy when it stiff arms problem recognition, and resists help.
Such was the paradox between those whom Jesus helped, and those who left Him sad, unable to accept His help. For example, the man of great wealth went away sad (and devoid of insight) after asking the secret of obtaining eternal life, because Jesus told him to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Him. Clutching too tightly to "what I got" tends to block our view of the riches of simply focusing on and following Jesus Christ. Similarly power corrupted the Scribes and Pharisees, and King Herod, as they clutched so tightly to power and control, that they plotted to kill Jesus, rather than joyfully submitting to, and experiencing His true authority, power, and healing.
Among the people life had stripped of such double jeopardy roadblocks, was the man born blind. When the Pharisees questioned Him after He gave the man his sight, Jesus told them, "If you could admit you are blind, you could also have spiritual sight, but because you boast of your excellent sight, you remain in your sins." Our own roadblocks include formulating our own answers, clutching onto control, trusting our righteousness instead of His perfect righteousness, failing to pay attention to the evidence God gave us about His own Son, and pride of not having spiritual answers, even though God allows no fence-sitters.
So our blindness to our own sinfulness and our need for forgiveness is in direct proportion to the depth of our sinfulness. This is not seen in comparison with our neighbor, but in the light of the holy, sinless, God-man, Jesus Christ. He neither pushed His way into the realm of earthly kings, nor will He force entry into our hearts. He only comes in as we see our spiritual poverty and humbly request His forgiveness for ignoring or being indifferent to His voluntary, sacrificial sin payment for us on the agonizing cross. May God remove your double jeopardy, and help you to see, admit your sin, and get eternal help from the only One who can! Those who least see the need, need help the most.
A few years back I was giving status, and planning actions, for a system of equatorial belt Low Earth Orbit Communication Satellites, planned to bring mobile phone service to many developing countries, including regions like the Amazon where such service does not exist. I think our Vice President felt he needed to properly motivate me, so instead of reasoning from the facts, he firmly said what he believed, "You know, the end justifies the means."
Let's step back for a moment and try to consider that popular claim for ourselves. It is sometimes really easy to rationalize that "only we can make things turn out right, even if that seems to require an approach that others might question. I remember a vivid realization after seeing so many TV hours concerning the Watergate cover-ups. I finally saw that just as President Nixon fell into such rationalizations that only he could properly lead the country through its perilous times, and therefore that justified things like "breaking and entering," so I too could get carried away with rationalizations about why I could bend the rules because some of my tasks were so important. Have you ever felt that way? Some people with especially high integrity may not identify with such temptations, able to maintain a focus on both the right thing and doing things right.
However, a simple example may show us that everyone falls short at times in the realm of doing things right. What person has not reached a level of exasperation, frustration, or anger as they saw so clearly the failures of another, and angrily felt it was our duty to set them in their place, and provide the judgment and correction that they seemed unwilling or unable to apply to themselves. Is this also not the case where we act as though the end of judging, reproving, and correcting someone else, justifies our means of treatment of them, as we might use labels, comparisons, or other disrespectful behavior as we try to get them to act right. In short, we sometimes fail to treat others as we wish to be treated, because we ironically rationalize it so important that THEY change.
Back to my Vice President story. As soon as he claimed that the end surely justified the means, I simply said "NO" and I could see the jaw drop open, of the third gentleman in the room, since you just don't tell the emperor that he has no clothes on. But several years later the video training course on ethics from our parent company told our whole company (including Vice Presidents) in audio and video that "The end does NOT justify the means."
When Jesus described the Be(havior) Attitudes which are characteristic of His Kingdom, He exactly described His own life-style, one which is currently impossible for us to consistently sustain. The poor in spirit (humble), mourners, meek (not weak), famished for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and those persecuted for doing right, are empowered to exhibit such behavior only when they treat Jesus with the respect He deserves. They welcome Him as their savior, experience His forgiveness, and let Him achieve His ends through His respectful means, in their own lives and the lives of those around them. Such people can even call others to accountability and discipline, since when the Lord Jesus is in control, His love and best interest for us all is so evident, that "When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."
When is the last time you remember someone taking you for granted? Did your boss miss your output while you were on vacation? When you move on to a new job do you think your boss can find someone who can fill your shoes and provide the same kind of knowledge, output and "extra mile attitude" which you did? Are your efforts at home and at work fully appreciated? When is the last time someone spontaneously gave you a gift or a party for "no reason," just to show their appreciation for you? At times we all feel "taken for granted" and of course we also take others for granted almost every day.
It often takes the absence or loss of something or someone we depend on to stir our appreciation for it or them. For example, I misplaced my watch one weekend. On Monday, I was a fish out of water, trying to find out the time, make it on time to meetings, and maintain the semblance of a normal daily agenda. Boy was I thrilled and thankful to spot my watch on the floor under my bed as I sat tying my shoes the next morning!
I am still in the process of recovering the full use of my right shoulder after experiencing pain and very limited motion, diagnosed as "Frozen Shoulder Syndrome." I now have a new outlook on the wonderful design and performance capability of a normal working shoulder! I've invested a high priority in keeping physical therapy appointments and disciplines, including daily shoulder exercises.
What else do we routinely take for granted? Health, spouse, job, freedom, country, living conditions (compared to the average person on this planet), friends, our Creator and Redeemer?
No one likes to be taken for granted. Some "go on strike" to test whether their normal activities will be missed, re-evaluated and appreciated. Others reach an emotional limit, and either blow up in a demand for attention, or withdraw into a "poor me" type of depression. God is not like that, as the following examples show.
As a young boy I thoroughly enjoyed scouting, camping and hiking a lot in the great outdoors. But I later found that I had taken for granted the Creator of all I saw and enjoyed. He says His creation provides instruction about His glory, greatness and majesty, but I overlooked it.
He also humbled Himself and discarded all that creative power and glory, was conceived through the Holy Spirit by an unwed mother, and lived in physical poverty all of His life. He suffered misunderstandings of His closest friends and family, experienced contradiction, opposition, ridicule, betrayal, desertion, and unjust sentencing to be nailed to hang until dead on a cross between detestable criminals. Even His Father turned His back on Him at the time of His death! And so did I, and so did you!
I had heard His story and filed it as "just another historical description." Until I saw the difference He made in the lives of Christian college students. When I asked Him into my life as my own Savior and Lord, He didn't hold against me the ways I had taken Him for granted; He came into my life, and I began to understand Him, appreciate Him, and experience the two-way love flow that occurs when we stop "taking Him for granted!" It still takes a daily attitude adjustment so I don't lapse back into taking Him for granted.
Why Should I Become A Christian?
"Why should I become a Christian?" type questions often are equated to "What's in it for me?" There's lots of reasons in that realm, but first some thoughts common to mankind.
Years ago the "Harvard Business Review" had a humorous article about the young college graduate who was continually surprised at how the center of operations and importance of the company which hired him, continued to migrate to exactly the department he was working in, as he transferred departments throughout his career. Such humor allows us the freedom to laugh at our own tendencies toward self-centerdness.
Another common human attribute is how we pride ourselves on the creative products of our brains, while at the same time we swallow authoritatively presented ideas, like evolution which contradicts the geological and fossil records. We're rightfully amazed at man's accomplishments of moon and solar system explorations and medical and technological marvels. But we often lose track that planet earth's context is just a spec among myriad's of seemingly unfathomable galaxies.
We proudly learn physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics, and claim to reverse its second law of entropy, by an erroneous hypothesis that mankind is THE exception which "every day, in every way, gets better and better (despite holocaust, abortion, and many other incredible violations of basic human rights).
The list goes on, so sit back and see what our human condition can show us. For example, the above referenced HBR article graphically portrays our deep need for importance and recognition. St. Augustine said our heart has a "God-shaped vacuum" in it. The Bible says that before the foundation of the world God chose us to be holy and without blame in a perfect love relationship with Him. That can start now, and satisfy you forever. I've been growing along that path for the past 38 years.
Instead of asking us to abandon our brains, God inspires our own creative and inventive processes. For example, recall Dr. Pasteur's discovery of a vaccination for rabies, described in a prior THINKABLE. Men who set out to disprove and discredit the Bible, but who were intellectually honest, have themselves come into a personal relationship with its authors and subjects, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. C.S. Lewis says the scientist who does not shrink back from the awesomeness of his natural observations and physical studies, has a definite advantage over most people, in discovering God for himself.
Our pride of understanding some of our surroundings and universe, can blindsight us to our weaknesses and problems. Though maybe not apparent or admittable to ourselves, examples include: our personal expressions of hurtful anger; demands that things be done OUR way; insistence on OUR rights at the expense of others; going along with the crowd and peer pressure ( e.g. in Hitler's youth movement) instead of standing up for what is right (like Corrie Ten Boom's family did in hiding Jewish people from the gas chambers); ALL sorts of rationalizations about "why its OK for me to break a law, cheat on my mate, or do things "my way" without caring about the consequences for others; such weaknesses plague us all.
So "what's in it for me?' is an unending personal discovery. But some of the common answers are: Personal access to the awesome creator of all you see and all you don't see; emotional needs met as you discover He cares deeply for ALL your needs; freedom from the guilt and power of sin to hold you captive to its habits and consequences, through Jesus' life blood poured out voluntarily on His cross for you; openness to His changes and creativity in your life by faith, with Him forever in a new resurrection body like His.
Please let your mind run uninhibited through these possibilities, and also please evaluate the alternatives - staying where you are - resisting change, and one day when its too late, getting an undiluted view of Jesus whom you rejected. We ALL have strengths and weaknesses. Jesus specializes in turning our weaknesses into trophies of His forgiveness, grace and strength. Just look in detail at Peter's life for a graphic picture of "What's in it for me?" Jesus turned him inside out from brash, boisterous, bragging, bossy, "quick on promises" and "short on follow-through" fisherman - into a caring, meek (not weak), encouraging, discerning and very dependable disciple.
Ladies have indeed come a long way in the last several decades. Lots of progress, but lots of grief too. For example, we have lost Marlboro and Chesterfield smoking advertisement models, both women and men, to lung cancer. And still later we've had cigarette CEOs tell us they don't believe smoking is hazardous to our health. But while some quit, others swallow such lies and start lighting up.
Still others like me were fortunate enough to never start smoking. I have a poor memory of my growing up years, but I vividly remember a sixth grade assembly at our grade school. They told us the visitors planned to hook up a dog to a "smoking machine" and soon we would see him die on stage. Well, the principal wouldn't allow that to happen, but just the imagination of it sunk into me so deeply that I never touched a cigarette. You see, I was fortunate to be presented in a timely manner with a warning which was so graphic that I heeded it and avoided a lot of health pitfalls which trapped many of my peers via addiction.
Sin addicts subtly too. Like the rest of mankind, I haven't escaped its tentacles, but I have escaped its unhindered addiction, power, and consequences. Only because as a freshman at Rice Institute in Houston, TX I was attracted to find out what was behind the caring and giving life-style of a few students. When I pursued this, I found that I did not have what they did, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When I admitted that and invited Him into my life to be my savior, I began a 42 year long journey which shows me increased glimpses, appreciation and thankfulness for His qualities, which are always supportive and never disappointing.
I grieve for those with a thick veil over their mind, will and emotions, which blocks out even a glimpse of what He is like. After months of explanations and examples, a friend I used to work with lumps it all into the "religious stuff" bucket. My descriptions never got through, that religions are man's work and inventions, in contrast to grace, truth, and freedom which is seen in Jesus, the unique Emmanuel "God with us" savior. He lights up the inspiration of even the inventor who is too blind to see where his ideas come from. His followers got a glimpse of who He is, after His resurrection. This transformed them from selfish, self-centered cowards, into those who began to exhibit some of the caring and serving attributes of Jesus. The same men who fled when Jesus was taken for mock trials, were later glad to lay down their own lives in serving others, and their Lord who had first laid down His life to pay for their sins. Such men became bold enough to write what God revealed to them, and to back it up with their lives. My friend has joined the majority crowd who is willing to judge Jesus without ever hearing Him out for themselves. Such "objectivity" even creates pride.
Please don't be like my friend who is described in Daniel 12:2. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." This is a brief picture of the deep shame and self contempt which results from rejecting/ignoring/despising your own creator and gracious redeemer. Don't ignore this hazard warning about the sin of calling God a liar, which is much more graphic and hazardous than a "dog-killing machine."
Food For Thought (Eating & Exercise; Nourishment & Endurance)
We are all affected, and often mystified, as we've moved into the era of HMOs, PPOs, managed health care, and a U.S. Congress which was unable to craft a comprehensive national health care system for the improved benefit of its citizens.
At a more individual level, most of us have also been exhorted to improve our own health by paying more attention to what we eat, and to physical exercise. For example, we just enjoyed a visit from a couple of old friends. The wife got deathly sick last year and her doctors were convinced her "pre-cancerous" conditions and deepening depression were becoming life threatening. But she and her husband have embarked on some life style changes which include daily use of natural nutritional supplements, and vigorous walks which have built up to 5 or 6 miles. To my observation, this attention and focus on physical nutrition and exercise has already paid big dividends in the quality of their physical life. Still others of my friends are even more focused and devoted to "eating right" to the point of only eating raw vegetables and juices. Once again, I can see improved physical health.
In the light of such compelling evidence regarding ways to improve our physical health, let's take a moment to survey what God says about our physical and spiritual health. In contrast to our natural focus, He says that all foods are for our benefit,
implying that maximum benefit is realized as we thank Him for the provision of the food. His focus is on eating with a thankful attitude. In contrast, His main desire is for us to focus on experiencing contentment and satisfaction through the disciplined exercise of a Godly life style. For example, we
often act like our focus is to extend our physical life; His focus is for us to enjoy abundant eternal life.
In the spiritual realm, we have two basic choices. The first comes by default, by failure to formulate any spiritual plan. Without a plan, we may find that that the path of least resistance is to "binge on sin, while we are starved for grace." The rarer life style choice, is to listen to His words and His focus, even when it is different from the words and focus of our neighbors. Feasting on the rich character of Jesus provides spiritual nourishment which satisfies eternally. Also a daily walk through God's word, energized by His Spirit to personally apply it to our practical real life exercises and challenges, truly builds spiritual muscle and endurance to finish His race as the winner He equips us to be.
I know you are aware of groups that are committed to providing meals for homeless people, and perhaps you are involved in that too. We especially hear about these opportunities during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Giving, upbeat people are an encouragement to be around. You know, the kind that are so interested in you, your happiness and welfare, that you never really hear about their personal needs. One attribute they share is the giving of love, unconditionally. Their eyes are on needs, not on the limits of resources or supplies.
This reminds me of the time my daughter and I were waiting for the bus in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Wee had hiked from the school where she taught, to the main road, and had waited for a long time. One bus did come by, but it was LOADED, with people hanging off the side. Finally a family from her school drove up the dirt road beside us, and asked us if we'd like to squeeze in for a ride. Would we! As we chatted happily and cozily, the Dad who was driving asked if we knew how many Bolivians you can fit on a bus? His answer: "always 1 more!"
As we all know, a big part of planning is to lay out the goals and milestones, and plan a schedule of resources to meet those needs. Although this is always wise, the absence of being able to see the resources in hand before stepping out to meet needs, never limits those with big hearts for others.
Who do you know with the biggest heart for the needs of others? Often these people are wrapped in a "Sparky Sanguine" temperament package - you know, the happy-go-lucky salesman type, who even when rebuffed, can rebound happily the next day. My answer to that question is a triple threat package which combines the best of all 4 basic temperament types; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
A large part of their effectiveness in meeting the needs of others stems from their ability to see real needs, hurts, desperations, way beyond our facades of "How are you?" "Fine." And their capability was marvelously expanded when Jesus obediently left the comforts of His Father in heaven and was empowered by the Holy Spirit to maintain that obedience from cradle to cross. During this journey, he experienced the same kind of difficulties of life and testings which we do, yet without sin, so that today as our high priest He can sympathize with our weaknesses.
His heart, and His sin payment and forgiveness resources, are so large that "there is always room for 1 more, at the foot of His cross." Have you been there for His mercy and grace in your time of need? If so, your face, life, and actions will show it. If not, isn't it time to come on out from behind that facade and experience a new life to Celebrate in '98?
I know some have heard about the Aggie who wanted to trade hard farm hand work for a meal. The little old lady said "OK take this chain saw to the back 40, cut wood and stack a rick on my front porch." Hours later the disheveled Aggie returned, stacked his wood, and with barely enough energy left to knock on the door to claim his meal, told the lady something must be wrong with her saw. Whereupon she smartly pulled the starter cord, and the saw responded robustly with a loud ZAROOOMM!!! The Aggie jumped back in shock and responded, "What's that noise?"
Well before the advent of Aggie jokes, a very specially educated and well placed man was on an urgent mission. A heretical group was spreading out of control, meeting in homes, and sometimes drawing large embarrassing crowds in public places. This man had seen to the death and roundup of many of them, so that just the mention of his name was like a warning shot to them. He was convinced that their lack of adherence to the orthodox rules and traditions passed down through the ages, could only be brought into submission by force. Basically it amounted to 3 states: embrace it, or be imprisoned, or die. After all, surely only zeal like his, could please this God of rules and precision he had been so thoroughly taught about. Just on the heals of witnessing one of these stoning deaths, he traveled in hot pursuit of more, down the road to Damascus to drag them back to Jerusalem in chains. But on the way, a light pierced through the daylight, so bright it knocked him to the ground. Bewildered, he must have thought, "What's that light?" And there was that penetrating voice which only he could hear, saying "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" There was no escaping this unusual unique audio visual, and Saul stammered respectfully, "Who are you, sir?" "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and go on into the city, where you will be told what you should do." Saul was blinded by this encounter with Jesus, and as the Lord later healed his physical sight, He also gave him new spiritual sight, so that he could turn 180 degrees from persecuting and killing Christians, to experience God's grace, forgiveness, and voluntary suffering. Finally, Saul the terrorizer of Christians, became Paul, an instrument in God's hands to spread His love and forgiveness throughout the world.
So we see that probing questions like "What's that noise?" and "What's that light?" can reveal understanding and insight so stark that it can turn around the entire direction of our lives. God is light. In Him is NO darkness. When we walk in the light as Jesus walked in His Father's light, He provides a bright purifying fellowship which unifies Christians around the world, regardless of race, age, sex, or other traditional barriers. But Saul's companions did not see or hear what Saul did. They were left in the dark. Could it be that some of your associates whom you criticize as naive and not as precise as you, actually are following Jesus in a way that you know nothing of? We all like the comfort of being surrounded by those who think and talk just like we do. But it is not wise to blindly criticize a life style we have never experienced ourselves. All of us resist change, but without the 180 degree about face, from going our way, to going God's way, our life will miss its intended purpose, direction and fulfillment. Go ahead, ask those questions, find out "what is God really like?" who so far, many have only heard about, but not experienced for themselves.
We have all enjoyed different experiences of achievement, fulfillment, and relief: working on a winning proposal which landed a new contract; hearing an enthusiastic YES answer to our proposal of marriage; successfully finishing a long course of study, or a marathon type race; gaining understanding and mastery of a difficult subject; hearing back from the doctor that a major health test result turned out negative...
Such experiences make us feel so good we feel like shouting and celebrating. We feel proud of our achievements, and years later we even wonder at how we could have ever "pulled that off." Certainly there are myriads of examples of national, collective, and individual achievements which are so spectacular they take our breath away!
But ironically there is one area of life where our very best just isn't good enough. It's just the opposite; in this arena we score highest when we fall flat on our face. This special, and different area, is our ability to achieve right standing with God. As we will soon see, ironically it's a lot like the slogan of the Hans Mueller Sausage Company: "Our wurst is our best!" Here's why.
God's high standard of a life lived without the stain of sin is way beyond our achievement, even though many people try hard, and some even falsely claim success. But the conclusion of God's survey of mankind's hearts is "There is none righteous, no not one." Only as we discover that our best righteous acts appear on His scale as filthy rags, are we humbled enough to appreciate the meaning of His alternative to our failure. You see, His scale and our "neighbor-comparison" scale are totally different. Ours is relative; His is absolute! For all who come to this point, we see why it was essential for God to take the initiative in our behalf if we were to have any hope of vital fellowship with Him. "The pure in heart shall see God." He sent His only Son Jesus from heaven to show us what God's righteousness really looks like, lived day by day in human form; compassionate, sinless, understanding, patient, authoritative, persistent, able to see and meet the deepest need of our hearts.
Jesus came to do what we couldn't do, even before we had a clue of how deep and desperate our need is. He made a perfect sacrifice payment for all of our sins by experiencing on our behalf the separation from God which we deserve. Its like a Catch 22; we all begin our life without experiencing a vital relationship with God. So without any reference for what we are missing, many arrogantly claim no need of God. But those of us who catch a glimpse of God's phenomenal communication and sacrifice initiative in our behalf, are drawn to the attractiveness of Christ, and gladly exchange our "filthy rag" righteousness, for His perfect, righteous, and acceptable payment for all our sins. How do we know His payment was adequate, and was accepted? Because God raised Him from the dead! His new life becomes our new life. We don't have to fear death in the future, because He "de-fanged" death by removing it's stinger, the consequences of our sin. His strength now flows into our lives to transform our weaknesses into displays of His grace. Our worst becomes His best, and it's very clear who gets the credit. Only He can do this kind of transforming work.
"I yelled FIRE as I fell into the CHOCOLATE," sang the Smothers brothers years ago. "But why did you yell fire?" was the straight man follow-up question. "Because if I yelled CHOCOLATE nobody would come!" This may not be your kind of humor, but I know it strikes a few chords with some of us -humorists and chocolate lovers. What better fate than to try to "eat your way to freedom" I can hear one of my chocolaholic friends say.
But a less humorous picture is how some of us have a similar picture of love, as covering us all over with a sweet, gooey feeling. Similar pictures and experiences go along with phrases like, "Head over heels in love," and "Love is blind." The latter generally doesn't seem to help the outcomes of many "Blind Dates."
But aren't you supposed to have special feelings when you are in love, or else how do you know it is real? For a different reference point, consider Eastern cultures where a marriage is arranged by parents. Since this is expected, the couple typically are committed to each other, and allow love to grow based on their commitment; and indeed usually it does, with lasting results. In comparison, Western culture marriages are on a trend of "feeling like I've fallen in love," and later "feeling like I've fallen out of love," which means it is time for a divorce. So commitment, and actions which demonstrate both commitment and love, appear more enduring than love feelings.
These all come together in the way God has dealt with us. At a point in time He saw mankind going downhill without hope or help. At that point, based on His respect, commitment and promises to us, as well as His love feelings for us, He sent His son to meet our needs through His love action initiatives. So we see the Love of God the Father in sending us His son, and the love of Jesus in obeying His Father in the ultimate expression of love for us, voluntarily laying down His life for us on the cross.
The gooey kind of giddy love feelings is missing from the greatest of love expressions summarized above. Instead God's love is chock full of respect, commitment, and love feelings which produce unmistakably enduring love actions.
But there IS one way in which such love is a little like falling into gooey sweet chocolate. The Bible says that "love covers over a multitude of sins." So you might picture God's love somewhat like the advertisement picture on paint cans of paint "covering the world," or the image of a chocolate covered world.
Jesus' love for us led Him to make a love sacrifice payment which indeed covers the world for all who choose to acknowledge Him and return His love. To come full circle, God's love for us might be perceived by chocolate lovers as a little like receiving the world's most expensive eternity-sized box of chocolates from "that special one."
You too may enjoy one of the amusing stories on my "Speed Spanish" tapes by Dr. Dan Mikels. He taught his friend two phrases prior to a dinner party in Mexico, which allowed him to carry on a successful conversation with a native Spanish speaker for over a half hour. The fluent Spanish speaker loved to talk, and was only periodically interrupted by the two responses, "Really?" (de veras?) and "esso es" (That's right!). I suspect this secret also applies to "same language" conversations as well, don't you? Good listening is in short supply today!
On a similar note, my wife periodically asks me the following question. "Why do you pay attention when someone else tells you something, but paid no attention when I told you the same thing several weeks earlier?" This is not always the case, but obviously it has occurred, which makes her understandably upset. No one likes to experience "not being paid attention to," being ignored, or not believed. We are designed to need respect and love, both to receive and to give them. But we all find our knowledge exceeds our practice. Listening well is a high form of respect, and ignoring is a major form of disrespect!
You may be familiar with the following situation. A man was given a clear-cut job description, including what was expected and what not to do. Things proceeded OK for awhile. The man's wife was not present when he got his job assignment, but she knew it in detail, and knew it applied to their family business. Later she was approached with a challenge, focused on the thing they were NOT allowed to do. " Were you all REALLY given such a restrictive job description?" "Yes" she replied, and proceeded to list the job benefits as well as the consequences if they violated the restriction. The challenger replied that not only would those consequences NOT be carried out, but by ignoring that stifling restriction, "their horizons would be expanded" to such an extent that they would reach the same level as their boss.
These prospects were too tempting to resist for the wife. She began to see that the restricted region looked just as good as the permissible work area. And the prospects of accompanying new wisdom, was just too much. So she not only violated the restriction herself, but she got her husband to participate with her.
There was no need for a job counseling session to help them see that they were guilty of violating the job description. Next time the boss came by, they were so afraid and ashamed they hid from him. When he asked if they had violated the restriction, they began to point fingers of blame and excuse; the man pointed to his wife, and the wife pointed to the challenger. So all three reaped the consequences as promised. And so did we as their offspring.
You probably recognized this account as striking close to home in similar situations you or others you know have experienced. It also summarizes the account you can read in Genesis 2:15 - 3:19 between God, man, and the crafty serpent. What I also hope you will recognize, is that this same question faces us today with equal importance, "Did God REALLY say?" Even though we, like Eve, were not present when His Word was written, we know about it today. We are just as guilty, and suffer the same consequences of spiritual and physical death as our ancestors, due to our lack of respect for God when we don't listen carefully, believe, and obey His word. Pogo was pungent years ago when he said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." This is why God sent us His remedy, Jesus Christ the Savior, with Whom He REALLY is well pleased.
At times we're all very busy with our appointments and schedules and pressures. Like just one more appointment or duty or task would just about "break the camel's back."
Did you see the cartoon about the King who was so focused and busy in directing his army battling with spears, that he couldn't possibly spare any time for an appointment with a machine gun salesman?
Doing the right things, setting priorities, and doing things right, will be an on-going challenge for each of us. Some people have faced the tyranny of the urgent by carving out quiet time for themselves, or a time to plan for the important. Others of us just "go with the flow" and afterwards wonder how we ever got so far downstream from where we intended.
So indeed we find a paradox. In spite of plans, priorities, and New Year's Resolutions, we sometimes get caught up in tasks we never envisioned. On the other hand there are typically a few things we intended to do, that never seemed to get done (like FULLY cleaning off my desk top).
We can kind of sit back and laugh at ourselves in the foibles of our human condition, but we all know that not all omitted tasks and appointments are of equal importance.
For example, there is one extremely important appointment which none of us dare miss. Ironically this is an appointment which most often is not on our calendar, nor of our initiation. God takes the initiative in His processes of showing us who He is, what He is like, and in forming a relationship with us.
When He is showing you what He is really like, through observing another person's experience of His love and grace, or through an insight into His written word, or through a wonderment about the majesty behind the awesome design you see in the universe, listen up! Do not dismiss these messengers, and forever miss Him, like the King who dismissed the machine gun salesman.
Many today see that Jesus is the God-man who conquered sin, death, and Satan in our behalf, through His substitutionary death on the cross. We know that you too will one day see Him as He is, bow your knees to Him, and your tongue will acknowledge Him as Lord of all. Please see Him now and don't turn away in this life, or when you see Him after death, you will hear Him say "I never knew you (personally), so depart from me forever."
His message rings clear, "See me now, or see me later." Now is the time for all to heed His messengers, to R.S.V.P. when He invites you to wonder why you are here, or to marvel at how mankind is right at the center of such overwhelming atomic to galactic design.
Gullible Travels To The Science Fair
A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science related to environmental issues. In his project, the young student urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."
And for plenty of good reasons, since it can:
1. cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. it is a major component in acid rain
3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. accidental inhalation can kill you
5. it contributes to erosion
6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that dihydrogen monoxide was water.
The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?" Do you merely look for the "Science Seal Of Approval" or do you personally check things out for yourself?
Last week my Program Manager from another company and time (1969) was shot and killed in his own yard, and buried a few days later. He was technically sharp, and though retired, I last saw him at an IEEE Terrestrial Cellular Technology Symposium, and then at a surprise birthday party he invited me to, for his secretary who is also retired. He gave me the freedom to independently plan, and successfully execute, calibration of two satellite tracking systems, using humanly invisible radio star Radio Frequency energy sources in the southern hemisphere, out over Central Australia. It seems like only yesterday, and now he is gone.
Events in life tend to be perceived that way; looking back, the time seems to have flown by quickly. Or as they say in Central Australia, where you can go for a walk in the bush and have your arm covered with flies unless you keep it swinging, "Time's fun, when you're having flies."
Such was the message on a wall plaque when I collected for my evening paper route in Tulsa, OK on cold winter evenings during high school. One silver-haired little old lady would invite me in to wait while she found her payment. The gas stove heat felt good, but it was a few years later, after I had become a Christian in college, that its message was recalled, to warm my heart also.
Only one life,
It will soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last.
What do you know that lasts forever? All I know is God, His word, and people. So indeed, as we frantically earn a living, get irritated at those who cut in line, and at "troublemakers" wherever they are, how about taking one giant step backward, and one deep breath, and re-considering the importance of how we spend our time? Jim Elliott was a young man who felt the Auca Indians in the dense jungles of Equador were just as worthy of hearing about how Jesus had voluntarily sacrificed His life to pay for our sins - just as worthy as anyone else. The communication of Christ's love cost Jim his life, as they killed him and his friends in a jungle stream bed, before they could utter any verbal message. But the similar non-verbal message of God's love initiative, and love action in our behalf, years later penetrated the murderer's hearts, and then spread like wildfire through the Auca's. God's ways, thoughts, and timing, are not the same as ours, nor the same as the following reality which energized Jim Elliott to spread the good news of Christ without delay. "He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim did not let the tyranny of the urgent overpower the timeliness of sharing the eternally important message which burned in his breast.
How are you spending your brief time on earth? What seemed important to you, as you took that reflective step back, relaxed and breathed deeply, and looked seriously into the eternity which you are so soon to enter? Have you received the costly gift Jesus freely offers you, of eternal life? If so, are you making any eternal investments in people?
Saturday night, Jan. 17th, after a long battle, my sister-in-law Linda, the main-stay of her family, died of cancer, leaving many here to grieve our loss. She had successfully completed a new Taxon chemotherapy experiment as one of 100 participants at M.D. Anderson in Houston. They had said all detectable traces of cancer were gone this fall. Though undetectably small the hidden cancer however became much more aggressive and spread tumors throughout her body, causing her body functions, and finally her physical life, to end.
Her only sister, my wife Pat, said her skin was hard and cold, when she touched her at the funeral home. Obvious as it was that Linda no longer occupied that body, yet my wife honored Linda's request to leave Pat's coat to her in her will. So Pat drew comfort and we shed tears as the men covered her with Pat's warm red coat, just before the men closed the coffin.
Only a few nights before at the hospital, we laughed and sang, read a Bible passage, and she prayed. And now she is gone, but where? Paul writes that not only for himself, but for all who die trusting Jesus Christ as their savior from sin, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." But where is that? Jesus said He went back to His Father to prepare a wonderful dwelling place with Him for His own who trust Him. Just then straight-forward Thomas blurted out, "Lord we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Someone once planned to visit a farmer, but understood that there were so many jogs, turns, and back roads, he wasn't really sure how to get there. But when the farmer said "I will go with you and take you," he relaxed with total confidence he would get there. Linda walked on earth with "the Way" and last Saturday He came and took her into His presence.
But since we live this side of death, how can we know for sure that we can believe what Jesus tells us? Since the Christians around us haven't died yet, how do they really know what awaits them beyond the grave?
Almost from the moment Jesus began His public ministry of compassionate caring, healing, praying, feeding, teaching, modeling, and showing us what God is like, religious leaders found Him to be a threat and began plotting to kill Him. Many times they tried to trap Him with words and force, but He respectively turned their traps back on themselves and walked peacefully right through their clutches. But when His Father's time had come, He allowed them to capture Him and put Him to death, a sinless God-man, paying with His blood for all our sins. And we know God the Father accepted that payment because Jesus overcame death and Satan when He arose and walked out of His grave. We rely on Jesus because He came back from the dead. He is the reliable Way because He has been there and done that.
When we go against our proud, macho, self-reliant, self-centered behavior, and tell Jesus He is indeed the only way for us to have a relationship with God, we indeed experience Him not only as The Way, but as Our way. And we are just as satisfied as Thomas was, both after Jesus' roadmap question and answer session, and after his demand for proof of the resurrection. Jesus placed Thomas' fingers into the nail prints in His hands, and placed Thomas' hand into the spear print in His side. The lights went on for Thomas as He experienced "My Lord and my God!"
The Light of His undiluted presence went on for Linda Saturday night too, as she entered His presence. Isn't it time for you also, by faith in Him, to "walk in the light as He is in the light," experiencing a foretaste of real life, eternal life in Jesus Christ?
Thoughts from a Redwood Forest
In spite of over a week of El Nino-triggered rain, wind storms, falling trees and mud slides, I took the opportunity last Sunday afternoon to re-visit after 20 years, the giant redwoods at Big Basin Park on the Pacific side of the Santa Cruz mountains. A redwood cross section display, only about 7 feet in diameter, said its rings showed it to be 1392 years old, and that some grew to be 350 feet tall and at least 2000 years old. I spread my umbrella and "waded around the beginner's trail circling the lower basin area. The "Mother of the Forest" tree sign said its ground diameter is 66 feet 9 inches, narrowing at my height to a diameter of 15 feet 3 inches, and it is 329 feet tall - something majestic to look up to. Next was the "Father of the Forest" sign which said its ground diameter is 70 feet, at my height its diameter is 10 feet 10 inches, and it is 250 feet tall. Just past some fallen redwoods was a nice tribute to Andrew P. Hill, born in 1853, who "saved the redwoods" but lived only 81 years - insignificant compared to their life span.
Heading for the skyline trail, it turned out I had seen my last signs of human life on the trail. It was pretty steep and continued to present challenges for avoiding the runoff water coming down and sometimes across the trail. My goal was to get a "top of ridge" view before the sun set.
I was about to turn back when the trail joined an old fire road and continued wider but more steeply up the mountain. At the top of the local ridge I went off trail for a peek down the mountain, but the forest was so densely covered by the younger towering redwoods that I saw only a foggy mist hanging over the forest and mountain, punctuated occasionally by foot-wide apertures of lighter snow-colored Pacific sky, hinting of a break in the rain. I went inside a modest sized redwood, with its center burned out from an earlier fire, where I could comfortably stand sheltered from the rain and write some notes and inscribe JH + PH enclosed in a heart into the interior charcoal of the tree. At the ridge-top plateau was an elegant bench made of 5 inch slabs of redwood and a plaque with 3 inscriptions. The first read "Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventure." I had certainly done that this day; however a greater adventure was still ahead.
I knew the sun would soon set before I could slide back down the narrow water-logged trail. So at the fire road I chose to stay on it because it was wider, less dangerous, and hopefully at the bottom I could find a way back to where I parked my car. Just at dusk I inched around a robust gate. It wasn't needed because I had crawled over several large fallen redwoods that will block that fire road for some time. I was so thankful to finally reach a level blacktop road, and still later find a park bathroom, and eventually confirm my directions when I spotted my car - the only one in the park. The combination of winding roads and my bright headlights illumined 2 pair of deer as they blinked and decided to cross the road while I waited. Certainly a full, awesome, adventuresome, exciting day, but hardly to be compared with what follows.
As you might imagine, my first year at Rice Institute in Houston was also filled with adventures, like helping school spirit at football games by joining in as the freshman class bowed to Sammy the large mascot owl (and other forms of illegal hazing), living with an eccentric math genius room mate, and feeling our entire dorm shake to the vibes of "Rock Around the Clock" from the 50 watt amplifier of the giant sophomore next door. But my biggest and on-going adventure started in the spring of my freshman year. Because of the sharp contrast of the caring and help that a couple of upper classmen demonstrated consistently to other students, I wanted to know what made these Christians tick. So one Saturday I cut R.O.T.C. drill practice and went to a meeting of students from several Texas colleges at Bastrop State Park.
As a speaker told how he had finally realized the difference between knowing about Jesus Christ and knowing Him personally, it became crystal clear to me that I needed to invite Him into my life to be my savior from sin and to control my life. I went out into the woods and did that, not realizing that this was the key which made the Bible come alive to me in interest, understanding, and vital significance for me, much like the cherished letters I received each mail call from my fiancée during basic training.
How about you? Even if you haven't observed the life of a friend which has been changed by Jesus Christ, you too can find the significance that we each search for, by similarly inviting Jesus into your life as your own savior and Lord. He cared enough for us to die in our place so our sin debt could be paid by His sinless life - the just dying for the unjust. When you ask Him to be your savior your adventure starts, experiencing for yourself His DEEP unconditional love and care for you, and learning to pass it on to others. Whatever may be keeping you from experiencing the freedom and adventure of entrusting your cares into His care - please lay it aside now.
When the parents of our 18 month old grandson asked him a few questions, his answers sounded like his secure grip on his household was slipping. "Do you want a brother?" "NO!" "Do you want a sister?" "NO!" "Do you want a puppy?" "YES!" Such dialogs made me concerned about just how welcome his new baby twins would feel around "BIG Brother." But so far he has mostly treated them with respect. I'm sure that later on he will be glad and proud to have "built-in playmates." But for now, it looks like he has some adjustments to make, before he can prove to himself that these new twins are really his friends.
Most of us too, resist change from the "comfortable" status quo. Fear of the unknown commonly prompts otherwise pleasant people to avoid those we feel threatened by, or to treat them with great prejudice, judgment, and stigma, oblivious to how we would feel if our roles were reversed.
Perhaps the above accounts can help us tune into possible situations where we act toward God with fear, judgment, or prejudice. For example, how do you feel about the twin gifts from God of Grace and Love? Many folks are so independent they feel they could only stand before God with a resume of good deeds and rules obeyed throughout their life. Such a legalistic ledger can produce fear, or even judgment which pictures a stern God we can never fully satisfy. Such thoughts and feelings require a LOT of adjustment to gain the maturity and humility to admit that our sin required God to send his Son as a sacrificial payment, to provide eternal life and relationship with Him as a gracious gift which we could NEVER earn.
The second twin we all need to adjust to is God's unconditional love. The profound yet succinct statement of this in Romans is, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God the Father and God the Son agreed together to this mutual sacrifice in our behalf to express their great compassion and love for us, INDEPENDENT of whether we would reject or accept their free gift. If you can imagine a situation where you see your best friend in desperate need, sacrifice the life your own son to rescue him, and he responds by spitting in your face - then you are scratching the surface of how vulnerable God was in demonstrating His unconditional love to us.
So let me ask that question again. How do you feel about the twin gifts from God of Grace and Love? Are they a threat to your status quo among your family, friends, workplace, and life style? Or can you see beyond your comfort zone and your own self centered circle? Can you see and admit your desperate need for forgiveness, transformation, and spiritual life which first receives God's love and forgiveness, and then is empowered to pass it on to others? Can you derive a clue of how serious your need is, that it brought Jesus Christ out of the comforts of heaven with God the Father, to invest 33 years worth of days consistently preparing to pay for our sins?
Love and Grace; beautiful twins! A threat to some. Too good to be true, to others. But to those who bother to get up close and welcome them for all their potential growth and maturity, you will look back later and wonder how you and your family ever got along without them!
I just received my Christmas letter and card from a dear friend, which as usual, included her last year's garden report. Before we know it, in the cycle of things, it will be time to start the garden again in early February! My neighbor used my tractor and his plow to again turn over the earth to receive the winter rains so we will be ready.
What are you planting in your garden this year? Wait a minute before you pull that "I don't have a green thumb" stuff on me. Maybe you would rather consider the source of the FRUIT of your life as an orchard, rather than the PRODUCE of a garden. I just had the pleasure of planting 15 fruit trees in my new orchard. Planting was easy; but first I measured and staked the perimeter; then I tilled the entire area; then I measured and staked each growing location; Next I carefully dug a small starter hole with a post hole digger, and finally finished each hole with my PTO powered auger with my tractor.
Finally I was ready to plant and water each tree, and then top it off with mulch and another secure tamping of the soil to remove air pockets. It will now be three years before we see what quality of fruit is produced.
What kind of planning, preparation, digging, planting, nourishing, and growing is going on in your life? What we reap is a direct result of what we sow, isn't it? For example worry and fear follow directly from a self-focus on what could possibly go wrong, especially when we try to control everything. Once I have planted the orchard I can merely assist and cooperate with its growth. If I worry, it affects me, but not the fruit tree growth.
God is in control of all of His creation. My tendency to worry, fret, and fear, flies in the face of His provisions for me, His good plans for my future, and His love initiative in which His Son defeated the power of sin, death and Satan who intends to destroy the fruit of my life. God's love is the opposite of my fear, as is the other 8 fruit of His Spirit opposite from the fruit I produced before submitting my life to His control, management, and husbandry, and still produce when I try to regain control.
When the farmer sows seeds in the ground they appear lifeless. Yet he has faith, bolstered by experience, that they can produce a bountiful crop, each according to each seed type. Once when some Greeks asked the disciples to see Jesus, He made a heuristic reply to them: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain. But if it does die, it yields a great harvest. Whoever loves his lower life will lose the higher; but whoever hates his lower life
in this world preserves the higher for eternal life." The faith of the farmer is the "evidence of thing NOT seen, the substance of things HOPED for" very similar to the faith of any one of us who lets go of the control knob of our life, and by faith asks Jesus to dig out our sin which He rooted out on the cross, and plant and nourish us together with Him in newness of life together with Him in His resurrected life. Now that choice yields a whole different kind of harvest of fruit that is out of this world!
What do you think of when you hear the word "gap?" A great store to buy the latest in jeans? Maybe a deserted place in Arizona? Or a tear in your pants that needs patching?
Well, this past Saturday I had the privilege of "gap filling" as one of the wall-to-wall Promise Keeper men who filled all the previously empty gap space on the National Mall in D.C., from the Reflector Pool near the Lincoln Memorial, past the Washington Monument (including the Ellipse in back of the White House), on up to the end of the Mall near the Capitol.
Prior to the meeting, outside the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, I met a retired Air Force Sergeant from Arizona. Although he had cried out to God for help in several life and death experiences in Viet Nam, later at home, his 7 year old daughter had led him to place his trust in Jesus as his savior. His stories went on and on, about what God had done in and through him. It was so impactful to me that he said he didn't want to cry as he obviously saw tears forming in my eyes. His stories include how he had once shared his faith with some young men, locally in Arizona, and later learned they had led his son in Las Vegas to place his trust in Jesus as his savior. What awesome ways God works in our life when we let him!
I can't summarize what we actually experienced on the mall, nearly as well as the officially published purpose of "Stand In The Gap." "To gather a diverse multitude of men in the name of Jesus Christ, to confess personal and collective sin in the name of Jesus Christ so that we may present to the Lord Godly men on their knees in humility, then on their feet in unity, reconciled and poised for revival."
I had especially prayed for unity among the multitude of nationwide diversity of background, experience, belief and maturity. God the Holy Spirit specializes in providing such unity for believers in Christ to maintain. And He did a phenomenal job of humbling us and unifying us around our savior this Saturday. The theme was "standing in the gap" in behalf of our nation, as God expressed His national search through Ezekiel: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land..." Later at the Lincoln Memorial, a long term resident of D.C. came up and told us "I've seen MANY demonstrations here, but NEVER seen such a large group of clean, nicely dressed, respectful, courteous, and admirable people. You are to be commended." One of the group quickly said the credit is all due to Jesus who motivates us.
A national mall full of humbled and repentant Christian men are now headed back to their homes, churches, and communities to ask God to make a significant difference in behalf of these. Let's watch together to see what God will do in behalf of these men as they seek God and serve others.
The main benefit to look for, in keeping with the theme from Ezekiel, is for these men to point their neighbors and friends to the One who perfectly stands in the gap between God and man, Jesus Christ. He is the bridge over this otherwise uncrossable gap, since He alone lived a sinless life, which satisfied God's righteousness requirements, and willingly gave up this perfect life to experience separation from God in our behalf, paying for all our sin with His life. Jesus is indeed the Great Gap Filler. As we follow His model of service and obedience to His Father, stay tuned for a clearer picture unfolding in our nation of how attractive and wonderful and worthy of worship, God really is!
Personal, Private, and Peaceful
Several years ago I used to visit a friend every week or so and just talk and share, man to man. He had retired from a key accounting job at Mobil Oil, and was tethered to an oxygen bottle because he had such limited lung capacity. Sulfa drugs resulting from World War II research came too late for many of his friends, but saved his life from Tuberculosis in his late teens, while he saw most of his friends die in his sanatorium. One day as we shared what was going on in our lives, he reached a very profound observation – one which was difficult for him to admit. He affirmed it was more difficult for him to receive than to give. We guessed that most humans feel that way too, and that it is generally even harder for men to be on the receiving end, possibly because of our macho makeup. The black hole of depression makes it even more difficult to open up to another person, to express our true feelings, fears, and concerns, much less to ask for help. Such was his case when at a point his stresses seemed unbearable, and one lonely day he attempted to hang himself from a rope stretched over a tree limb. But the rope broke under his weight. Starting with his recovery, I began to visit him and we had several years of sharing together, until his tired lungs finally gave way to death a couple of years ago.
Isn’t it an irony that things that affect us most deeply, sometimes seemingly without resolution or a way out, are the same things that cause us to clam up and keep to ourselves? We stiff-arm intrusion and hold our feelings in extreme privacy, as though no one is trustworthy enough to invade our private space. Such may occur as we grieve the loss of a close family member or friend which we feel no one can replace. We spurn the help and support of those who love us most, and they grieve to see us flounder. Such a prideful, independent attitude rejects our very best sources of help, relief, healing and recovery.
Such is the case of many people who continue to stiff-arm their very best source of care and intimate support. Hurts from the past can provide a thick callous over a hurting and hopeless heart. The irony is that Jesus Christ looked deeply into the mass of human hearts floundering from the hurts, disappointments, and defeat due to our sin of unbelief against God, and openly wept. In spite of His compassionate intercession and payment for our sin, to open up a brand new intimate relationship, Jesus is too sensitive to force Himself into our life. He privately and personally enters the center of our life, to heal hurts, sin, shame, scars and dissatisfaction, only when we freely open our heart’s door to Him as our savior and Lord. If you have taken that risk and experienced Him give you purpose, direction, intimate sharing and healing, you’ll never be the same again. As you unclench your life to Him, you’ll want others to cease their floundering too, and experience deep satisfaction in vital relationship with Him, It is so true that we can lead a horse to water but NOT make him drink. But all of us who catch a glimpse of His love for us welcome Him, and experience His flowing fountains which forever quench our thirsts.
As He satisfies you privately with the stability and sweetness of His Word and the majesty of His presence, you will fend deep personal satisfaction and peace which surpasses your understanding, and will become less and less susceptible to the voices of false shepherds. Please guard your daily personal private time with Him jealously.
My friend said he contracted tuberculosis in his teens, and saw almost all of his hospital neighbors die of it. During World War 2 the research on sulfa-type drugs was used experimentally on him and he figures that is why he survived, retiring from Mobil Oil Company after a long career as a financial manager.
In later years I could find my friend at home, because his reduced lung capacity was about half of what you and I take for granted. He supplemented that with a tethered oxygen tank. We were able to quietly and intimately share what was going on in our family's lives, what we really cared about, and focus on the main thing, God's love for us, expressed to us through His grace (un-earned favor).
At My friend's funeral recently, his oldest son of 6 grown children, told of all the camping and training he enjoyed from his dad in rugged areas of Pennsylvania. He said the main thing his dad taught him, by example, is how to love his family.
My friend knew the secret of quietly, privately, and persistently petitioning God, especially in behalf of his family. He gave them space to make their own choices, but always strongly desired for the Lord to conform them to His image.
I had the privilege to receive infrequent calls from My friend, or requests during a visit. "John, I'm concerned that our friend is at home, very sick, in need of encouragement, and would appreciate sharing the Lord's Supper with us. I think we should visit now!" A number of times our visit occurred only a few days before that person left this world.
Each of these visits included affirmation and appreciation of our friend, prayer together, and joint remembrance of Jesus' deep love which sustained Him to endure a broken body and shedding of His life's blood for us. We also remembered His resurrection, with the very real hope of seeing Him in heaven. These are precious memories for us and for the surviving mate.
These accounts show how sensitive My friend was to the Lord, His timing, and those He cares for, even if they are sometimes overlooked by others in their busyness. He knew the value, meaning, and timeliness of such personal moments.
This time My friend was on the receiving end of a call. Jesus decided to take the veil off our remote remembrance of Him, and called My friend home directly into His presence. That means My friend has completed his own transformation to be like Jesus, and is now able to not be consumed by the awesomeness of His presence!
But who will care for those on the Lord's heart, who have no one else to share the Lord's Supper with them in their isolation? Lord, send me, in the spirit of my mentor, My friend (whom I love and miss, as I love and miss You)!
"Listen up!" Just two short words in our military experience usually got our undivided attention - an important announcement; commands that we would be held accountable to execute; or maybe a treat like mail call. If our mind had somehow slipped into neutral and missed the first two words, it was soon riveted in attention to respond to our name, should we be the happy recipients of someone caring enough to write us a letter. My wife puts her entire self into tasks, and feels that writing letters is too demanding and burdensome a chore. However during my Army Basic Training mail calls, I was right at the top of the "frequent recipient" list each week - getting to open and devour several lovely, lengthy, morale building letters from my fiancée.
Whether you've been on the receiving end of mail call or not, how is your track record of writing letters this past month, or visiting friends and family this past year? Or, from another perspective, how important would your friends feel to you if their measure was the number and quality of your visits and letters?
Part of our personal freedom is our choices about whether we will take initiative to build and maintain relationships. What is more important to a relationship than spending frequent, focused, fascinated time in person, or in correspondence with your friend?
When I became a Christian in my first year of college, I began receiving just such personal, frequent, focused, and fascinating love letters - almost every day. Although I had read through a lot of the Bible during High School, it took my asking Him into my life as my savior, in response to His love sacrifice (when He laid down His life to pay for my sins) to open up my heart to His love letters, written to me many centuries ago. Forty-two years later, He still waits for me to respond to His daily "mail call" by sitting down to read His love letters with Him. If I neglect His letters, I am the one who causes our relationship to decline.
On several occasions, God the Father called your name during His global mail call, issued throughout all the ages. When Jesus submitted to water baptism by John, God the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am delighted." He said the same thing when a few of His disciples accompanied Jesus to a mountain top and caught a glimpse of His unveiled glory as He conversed with departed believers from long ago; and then He added: "Open your ears to Him and hear His message" - i.e. "Listen up!" Finally the writer to the Hebrews summarizes God's communication to mankind, by saying that His prior communiqués through His prophets, have been more recently and personally spoken to us through His Son Jesus! Are you listening, or are you distracted? Its a sad experience to miss your own mail call, and to have all your letters returned to sender, with no forwarding address.
My Dr. called it, "Frozen Shoulder Syndrome." Later, my Physical Therapist called it, "Adhesive Capsulitis." How did this happen? They both painted a picture starting with a traumatic event which causes the intricately designed shoulder joint, with its supportive muscles and ligaments to sympathetically restrict the shoulder motion range to avoid pain. The problem comes because this often is a progressive compounding reaction. As the shoulder is used less, more adhesion or "frozenness" occurs, and similarly, as more adhesion occurs the shoulder motion range is reduced even further to avoid pain. Armed with this new experience and new education, I would add a descriptor, calling it "Compounding Frozen Shoulder Syndrome." Have you ever experienced anything like this?
This type of phenomenon is much more easily understood by the common phrase, "Use it, or lose it." We have all experienced these kinds of situations, where for a period we have not performed an activity, like playing tennis. When we resume the activity, we typically haven't forgotten how, but it does take some practice and use to "get our game back." The main approach to getting my shoulder use back is for the Physical Therapist to regularly and progressively move the shoulder more, thus compounding the restoration of the range of motion. Obviously there is some discipline of keeping appointments, and some discomfort and pain associated with the restoration of the shoulder. Many of us find that our memory also behaves in this way, or as Kermit the Frog says, "Learning is easy, Remembering is hard."
Inherited from Adam and Eve, all mankind suffered a traumatic event, when they allowed their human reasoning and resultant action to go counter to God's command. We may not want to take responsibility for anything inherited from past generations. But the first chapter of Romans paints a graphic picture of every person's downhill slide which occurs when we suppress what we know about God, and instead of turning TO Him to thank Him and honor Him as God the creator, we choose our own ways, and experience a darkened heart, progressively reaping the results of our own selfish lusts. So we could call this type of experience "Progressive Frozen Heart Syndrome" or just plain sin, which is commonly experienced by every person.
It is precisely because of this terrible condition which fell on all mankind, that God's remedy was equally drastic. When He sent His Son to die for the sins of the world, He clearly diagnosed our frozen heart condition, and opened the way to spiritual life through restoration of fellowship with Himself.
If we never bow before Jesus to accept His perfect payment for all our sin, we remain in denial of God's diagnosis and remedy, calling Him a liar, and our frozen heart condition remains, no matter how much we foolishly proclaim our own wisdom and accomplishments. But some of us can admit our fellowship with God is broken and accept Jesus' diagnosis and remedy payment. For us, the subsequent steps of daily meeting with Him for His progressive restoration of our frozen heart, is both discomforting to our status quo, and life changing, but always with the delightful fruit of fellowship. "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good."
As a freshman a Rice Institute, I had a math genius for a dorm room mate. I also had one for a freshman calculus teacher. He would scrawl at the board all period, only occasionally turning to face the class and utter, "understand, huh?" If he could get either my room mate or his buddy to nod their head, he would wheel around and continue at the board. From within this struggling experience, we all wondered what second year math would be like? At this point Benjamin Franklin Jones transferred in from Amarillo Jr. College, way out in sparse West Texas - a stranger, starting without any friends, and certainly a stranger to our survival-level learning experience - so how would this ill prepared stranger possibly make it? I still don't really know the answer to that question, but I do know that he made straight A's (or A+'s), that he took to long theoretical math proofs like a duck to water, and that before long his title was Dr. Jones, Math Professor at Rice!
So what did this help me learn about strangers? We will probably judge them harshly and incorrectly, just because they are not in our "in club." In fact we may never understand them, but at a minimum we should acknowledge their accomplishments. As it turns out, Frank Jones not only had great accomplishments for himself, but his trademark was helping others in whatever way that he could, in his quiet, modest way. You see, Frank was deeply in love with Jesus Christ, and was empowered by God's Holy Spirit. I had just become a Christian the prior semester, and Frank was a big encouragement to me, to see how God was helping others through him.
This may give us a little insight into another quiet, modest, stranger of great accomplishment. Jesus' siblings thought they knew Him so well, they didn't possibly see how His claim to be God could be true. Jesus understood that, and said "A Prophet is not without honor except in his own country." He is both God and man, and so although He experienced the same human feelings and tests we do, He is in other ways very much unlike you and I. He is missing our moral breakdown which gravitates us toward treating others without respect in order to try to climb up the mountain of popularity, power, and "riches." God's ways and thoughts are different from ours, so we tend to judge anything different as suspect, not normal, or coming from an improper motive. Little do we realize that when we point one finger out in criticism of the sinless Son of God, that three fingers automatically point back at ourselves, focused on the real source of poor motives, greed, mis-treatment, and many other fruits of our sin and separation from God. It's neither nice nor wise to quickly judge strangers. But it is especially unwise to mis-judge the perfect Son of God who came specifically to show us what God is like, to seek us out in the middle of our need, and to save us from our sin and its consequences, even though He knew most of us would ignore, or reject, or judge and criticize Him. The writer to the Hebrews wisely advises us "Do not remain neglectful of hospitality to strangers, for by it some have entertained angels without knowing it."
When stranger Jesus knocks at your heart's door for permission to enter, you have the opportunity to hospitably welcome Him in as your Lord and Savior, rather than join the hostile multitudes who unwittingly call God a liar, overlook His resurrection, and forever miss God's greatest gift.
We have all experienced some degree of being taken for granted by our kids, our mate, our boss - usually someone that we invest a lot of time and energy in. Its harder to see, but we are probably also aware that we too sometimes take people and things for granted.
It is perhaps after the loss of something we had taken for granted, and its return, or restoration, that we really learn to appreciate it. The Aggies explained to my oldest son that the Army Corps at Texas A&M worked like that. The first year they take away all privileges and later gradually restore them. By the time you are a senior, you have learned both to appreciate and manage things in a far superior way than if you had them all along and took them for granted.
Have you ever experienced loss, followed by restoration? The recent restoration of our oldest son is an indescribably miraculous and emotional gift. Having put himself through Texas A&M, founded the Entrepreneur's Club there, pioneered the air layering of hybrid Ness Oaks, and achieved many firsts in his very successful tree nursery business, he became a street person, captured in his world of delusions, which originated from brain chemistry imbalance, triggered by a 108 degree fever when he transported a worker back home to Mexico. Several years later, through prayer, intervention, and a wonderful new medicine, our son has returned home, with appreciative spirit and hugs, and is working for one of his former competitors. What joy to experience fellowship restored with our first born son, who through no fault of his own, had been unable to escape from his mental prison!
While in prison also, Joseph had interpreted a dream about the restoration of his fellow prisoner, the King's cupbearer. But once the cupbearer was freed back (restored) into the King's presence, he forgot Joseph. King David knew personally the restored joy of his Lord's salvation. He recorded it in Psalms 51 and 23 after being humbled almost unto death, when he repented of his adultery, murder, and lost sensitivity to God. The wonderful Book of Ruth portrays the passing of the baton of responsibility and burden bearing, first from mother-in-law Naomi, to Ruth, and finally to Ruth's new husband, Boaz. When Naomi's women friends saw her new grandson, they thanked the Lord for her kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, who had restored their destitute family, and would nourish her in her old age.
We all also have a Kinsman-Redeemer who has Himself born all our sorrows, and carried all our griefs, on His lonely journey to a Roman cross. There His blood sacrifice payment for our sins against God, opens wide the door of opportunity for restored fellowship with God. Our part, like David, is to repent and return to Jesus, our own Kinsman-Redeemer. Please don't let pride, ignorance, third party hearsay, or any other thing, keep you from also experiencing your own "Joy of Restoration!"
What's In Your Owner's Manual?
I recently saw a spoof article comparing the birth of Bill Gates' baby daughter to his Microsoft software deliveries. It included a comparative description of his new baby as having arrived in shaky condition, with inadequate documentation.
On the one hand that fits well with what most of us have experienced, starting out on a task without consulting the instructions first, i.e. "when all else fails, read the instructions."
On the other side of the coin many of us seem ironically ready to consult "Joe Doaks" as an expert, as long as his article is in a magazine or book. For example, think what other places are as popular as the grocery checkout stand which is filled with magazine articles on "how to's." It is strange to me how willing we are to consider a stranger as an authority, while at the same time ignoring an owner's manual. Maybe that has something to do with figuring we can ignore something from a magazine if we don't like it, whereas we might feel convicted if we ignored what the owner's manual told us to do, since it really does have more authority.
Obviously the owner's manual is based on the design as well as experience from the users. But although we know the owner's manual is the best source of information, sometimes "following the instructions" just seems to rub us the wrong way.
Why do you think we ignore the "Owner's Manual" of life, the Bible? Especially when it continues to be on the best sellers list for so long. In no other book do we find claims like those of Jesus; that He is God in the flesh, come to redeem us, to show us what God is like, and to show us how to live in close fellowship with God the Father.
We all owe it to ourselves to give at least as much time and attention to what the creator/owner/author has to say in His owner's manual (the Bible) about the needs and provisions for our life, as what the magazine articles say. Those who try this out find that the real owner's manual is timeless and dependable, when heeded. It omits the whitewash, and tells it like it is. But although it paints a gloomy picture of man's departure, denial, and downhill slide away from God, it offers the world's best hope and remedy, and cure for our problems; New life in Christ, when we invite Him into our life as Lord and Savior.
That is the point at which His owner's manual becomes a collection of personal love letters to us, instead of just one of a multitude of those "how to" books!
God is our creator and owner (i.e. we are bought and redeemed with the price of Jesus' life to pay for our sin). Just like at the grocery checkout stand, many other books claim to offer advice and instructions on life, but only the Bible describes God the Creator becoming uniquely and intimately involved with our needs. Jesus lived through the same experiences and tests that we do, giving us a perfect audio/visual "how to" living example from the Bible, which foretold his coming to make a perfect sacrifice and payment for everyone's sin. Pickup and read your Owner's Manual today!
Today, as part of our move, when I had hung about 200 hangers of my wife's clothes on the new hanger rod I had installed from Home Depot, suddenly the spliced center clip slipped off. About 5 seconds later, I head a cracking sound, and yelled, "Oh No" as the whole right hand side of the clothes rod and shelf tore loose from the wall supports and crashed to the floor with all the clothes. I had moved the clothes to the right just enough to over-stress the weakest point which was the splice, which then caused supporting nails and boards to all pull out and give way.
There was one little weak spot, covered over by a cosmetic connecting clip. By hindsight it was not sufficiently under-girded. So even the substantial supports crashed down once the weak spot gave way.
After my shock and recovery, God impressed me with a warning. What is the weakest and most vulnerable point in YOUR life? That is what can become over-stressed and cause all of your potential for good, your reputation, your load bearing capability - all to snap and crumble like the clothes rod.
How much better to prevent such a failure than to try to repair and fix the damage. Once I have completed my repairs, the splice and the right hand side should be the strongest part of the clothes rod. Holy Spirit, I ask You to shine your revealing light on my life to reveal my most vulnerable points so I can commit them into your security, transformation, strength, and protection.
His answer came as follows. Help me listen actively, intently, focused to understand the speaker's desire and intent, rather than focused on my own interpretation or "quick fix ideas." And help me to re-commit all my body members to You to use to serve and honor You. Jesus says "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" because He carries the load when we let Him. And He turns our weakest points into our strongest assets in the future.
Thank You Lord that only a clothes hanging rod fell today. May this be a vivid reminder that You are my undergirding strength, and I stand or fall solely in dependence on Your righteousness and sin payment, Jesus. May the anticipation of being with You and like You continue to be a bright and purifying hope within me. May this keep me from even the appearance of impropriety, such as the accusations our President currently endures. Thanks for the warning and for the reminder of how Your strength is most clearly visible as it transforms and strengthens my weakest point!
Did You Notice The Difference?
I've just come in from picking and weeding in my garden after 1.5 inches of rain last night. I'm a little muddy and some spots of the garden are still under water. The weeds pulled easy, roots and all. I believe this rain will give my garden a much bigger boost than previous soakings for hours with my sprinkler. Why is water from above so much better? Some have said it has the benefit of nitrogen made available from the lightening. But what about the benefits of a soaking rain when there is no lightening. That beats the results from the hose too.
What else comes from above and is better? Pictures of outer space from spacecraft orbiting just a few hundred miles above the earth, like from the Space Shuttle and from the Hubble telescope are much better than those taken from the earth. We know why this is - because the orbiting camera is above interfering substances like smog, smoke, clouds and the atmosphere itself.
Jesus said that He came from above, and that while on the earth He did what He heard and saw from His Father in heaven. For example He not only told us to treat others like we want them to treat us, but He demonstrated how to do it, by obedience to His Father. Through His teaching and His personal examples which filled every day of His life, Jesus showed how much better things from above are. James picked up on this when he wrote, "that which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality and without hypocrisy."
When we welcome Jesus to come and live inside us as our savior, and begin to spend time in fellowship getting to know Him, we eventually allow His Spirit to ripen some of this heavenly fruit in our lives. The sharp contrast of the sweet, attractive fruit I saw during college in a couple of Christian lives at Rice Institute in Houston, compared to the typical students, made me very curious to find out what I was missing. Later in my freshman year I found out that it was Jesus living inside them that made the difference, as they lived in willing and loving obedience to Him and His ways.
The only way I found this out, was by hearing a student from a different school tell about how he became a Christian by inviting Jesus into his life as his own savior from sin, and the difference it made in his life. It became crystal clear that I needed to invite Him into my life and get to know Him too. Only when I did that, did I learn the secret of what made them different! Have you slowed down enough to observe some of these differences in the lives of others? Isn't it time to get to the bottom of this and find out for yourself what a difference a relationship with Jesus Christ will make for you?
Obedience, The Earmark of Love
Each of our four kids were different in their temperaments and in their behavior. For example one was dutiful (usually); one was somewhat forgetful (and sometimes needed reminding); one was easily corrected with just one look from her mom (if she faltered in obedience); and one often said, "No, I won't do it" but later the next day we found that he HAD done it anyway.
It's true that children and adults alike obey for a variety of reasons. Some are afraid of the consequences of disobedience. My wife was the consistent and effective disciplinarian in our family. She was excellent in allowing our kids to suffer consequences (without bailing them out), and thus allowing them to learn the value of making good choices. But what parent isn't thrilled to see their child reach a point where it is clear that their choices and behavior is a reflection of the love they have for their parents. Responsive behavior and obedience flowing out of love for another, and a passionate desire to please them is very strong. It can protect a child from harm and being taken advantage of, even when half way around the world.
My barber told me that he saw men shot down beside him on several occasions during World War II. During one jungle mission they knew that likely many would be killed that day. Ray's lifestyle was different from some of his buddies. They soon found that he didn't go drinking or carousing with them. And they respected him so much that the Catholic Chaplain asked Ray to lead them all in the Lord's Prayer before that special day of battle. It was a long hard day, but actually they took NO casualties. Afterwards another soldier told Ray he knew it because of Ray's prayer. But behind Ray's consistent lifestyle which commanded respect was love for his Lord and love for his family and upbringing. Love motivates consistent, obedient behavior, even when half way around the world where your family isn't watching.
How is it that folks who don't know anything about Jesus can learn about Him? Hearing about Him is of course a very important part of the process. But how trustworthy is the messenger? I have come to discover that those God used to write down the accounts we have in the Bible are VERY trustworthy. Why? Because many of them forfeited their life rather than deny the Lord or the trustworthiness of the Word He entrusted to them. Time after time they looked men right in the eye and told them God's message which often confronted their sin, thus facing the strong possibility of death from those who had the power of life and death over them. But once again, their obedience unto death came not from fear or duty or proud bragging (like Peter when he said he would never deny Jesus). Instead their obedience came from experiencing Jesus' love for them, and from the power of living a life motivated by His love in responsive love and obedience given back to Him.
That was then, and this is now. Today Jesus expects unbelievers and agnostics to be able to see the love that Christians have for each other and from this, to be able to identify those who belong to Jesus. This of course implies that a major life exchange has occurred. A Christian has exchanged or traded in his selfish sinful life style to welcome Jesus to live through Him and thus show Jesus' kind of love to others.
So we have two very different options. One is to proclaim our label as Christian, and expect or demand certain associated rights and privileges. But the other is to humbly admit our failure to please God and welcome Jesus to live in and though us to accomplish His will and His way in our life. This can only happen in response to personally experiencing His love and forgiveness.
The very same mark of love is how Jesus expects the world to recognize how much He loves God the Father. We began with considerations of how pleased a father is when his child chooses to live in obedience to their upbringing out of obvious love for the parents. Love of a magnitude beyond our comprehension is the only plausible explanation of why Jesus would leave the comforts and glories with His heavenly Father, and undergo such misunderstanding, ridicule, betrayal, denial, persecution, and finally an agonizing death on a Roman cross to be obedient to His Father's plan for redemption of mankind.
Have you caught a glimpse of this spectacular love between God the Son and God the Father? That love is so powerful it enabled Jesus to shower that same love on you and me while we were still in unbelief, disobedience, and sin toward God. Have you caught a glimpse of His great love for you? If so, it's your move.
I’ve finally joined the ranks of those who are cutting back on salt and cholesterol, trying to learn to make low fat choices, and this is the week I’m to start exercise classes. They forgot to tell me what’s supposed to now provide the taste and help me savor the flavor. Refrigeration is one of the newer ways to delay food from spoiling. In much earlier times salt was the major preservative. For example fish packed in salt could be shipped and stored for remote distribution and sales to inland markets where fresh fish was unavailable.
A lot of us read food labels from the supermarket, but we likely couldn’t begin to name all the modern day food preservatives and additives to help products stay appealing longer on the grocery shelf. But as food preservatives are on the increase, is it possible that real value-added preservatives of our society are on the decline? Rather than merely entertain us or take home prizes and awards, how many consistently contribute to the betterment of others in need? Such folks focus on meeting the needs of others, provide positive alternatives to tough issues, and truly place the welfare of others ahead of their own. With such attributes as these, describing those who preserve and lift society, who are your candidates? Please let me hear from you.
I think most politicians aspire to lift society. But somehow getting and staying elected often takes a terrible toll on weeding out those who are willing to pay the personal price to maintain integrity and stay in touch with simple goodness and commitment to right, especially when the cost is high. My wife would have made an unbelievably good school board member in our small town years ago, but the opposition ran their candidate AGAINST her, not FOR anything, like wiser uses of teachers and resources. I can still hear her opponent when asked what he stood for. "What do YOU WANT me to be for?" he answered their question with a question. Often those who best serve others are respected primarily by those they serve, but attacked by their opponents who feel threatened by them.
Mother Teresa is my classic example of one who provided positive alternatives to both governments and individuals who promoted abortion. As an international preservative, she spoke what is right to individuals, national presidents, and the entire United Nations. "If you don’t want your children, give them to me. I have friends who want them, and will give them a good life." Often the politicians liked and accepted the photo op with her, but slunk away to carry out their own abortion agenda, unwilling to consider the beneficial preservative effect on those unable to vote for themselves. Of more importance than the preserving of a few more days of longevity which her sisters of Charity provided, Mother Teresa freely poured quality of life into the final hours of those who died experiencing the love of God at her hands. The source of her preservative, self-less serving is obvious, but often somehow missed, somewhat like the way the bandwagon cheering crowd on Palm Sunday missed seeing the majesty and glory of the resurrected Jesus after his lonely victory over death, Satan, and our sin.
Each of us Christians today, have both the opportunity and the responsibility to allow Jesus to empower us to similar self-less, simple service of those around us. Not arguing, but caring, helping, befriending the lonely and hurting, thus truly being a preservative. We have the choice to let Him make a difference in our life so our presence truly seasons and preserves the flavor of the life for those around us, or we can safely blend in with the crowd like flavorless salt in the midst of a tasteless society.
Not long after His resurrection, as Jesus rose up into the clouds as His followers watched, so He will come again unexpectedly in the clouds as a thief in the night to snatch away from the terrible pending worldwide tribulation, all those who belong to Him. Perhaps someone reading this today will then realize as they experience the most terrible troubles this world has ever seen, that the troubles are related to the absence of all the previously preserving people who are no longer resisting and restraining evil in the world.
Did you ever notice that some of the courses of study we undergo are not by our choice, but are rather brought about by events in our life. I have found that though I never would have volunteered for these or chosen them, that they can result in some of the very best forms of moving me out of my closed-in comfort zone, into an expansion of my awareness of others, and my sensitivity toward them. What do you count as some of the most significant input into your life? Was it by your planning and choice, or was it really out of your control?
I am approaching another of these situations now, as I have been exploring the cause of some mild discomfort which randomly occurs in my chest area. My cardiologist took my medical and family history, gave me an EKG at rest and during a grueling tread mill test. Then he signed me up for an inside diagnosis via a cardiac catheterization his coming Tuesday.
Since this is St. Patrick's Day, his nurse wittingly advised for me to wear green since I am already in a pinch and don't need lots more! I'm not sure they have green hospital gowns - maybe I can tie a green bow on my toe, or at least ask my wife Pat to bring along the St. Patrick's Day card I got her this year. About 4 years ago she and her sister and I braved the Dublin elements of a very accurate weather forecast of rain, sleet, and snow, mixed with spells of scattered sunshine as we watched a real St. Patrick's Day Parade. A lot of folks from the states were in that parade.
When we got home we discovered the reason behind Pat's shortness of breath and energy during the trip. They discovered she had had a "silent" heart attack since her diabetes masks the typically associated pain and discomfort. As part of her diagnosis she underwent a cardiac cathiterization and many pictures which disclosed heart/coronary artery blockages and about 1/3 of her heart is dead due to blood supply blockage. Recently I also visited a friend from work at Medical City in Dallas who had a successful cardiac catheterization, coronary balloon angioplasty, and stent placement to keep the artery open. I also have friends who have undergone a successful coronary artery bypass surgery. There is nothing like knowing first hand and hearing the report of a friend who has successfully walked through the difficulty you are facing.
Such is the case with the opportunity we each have to chose to know and get reports from the One who has successfully faced each type of stressful test and trial. And knowing full well the feelings of our infirmities, He is willing and able to represent us before God the Father. He came to earth from heaven to experience the feelings of our infirmities, and to learn obedience, through the things He suffered, to His Father's redemptive plan for mankind. He became obedient to the point of voluntarily spilling out His sinless life's blood as a sacrificial payment for the sins of mankind's disbelief and disobedience. The success of His mission is evident from the power and victory over sin of His resurrection from the dead. His reports are filed by His followers whose lives He changed from cowards to selfless servants of others. My heart will be in the hands of my cardiologist Tuesday. My spiritual heart has been in the hands of Jesus my Savior, since my freshman year at college when I invited Him in to be in control, to build a solid relationship for eternity, and to periodically cleanse my heart with His purifying blood. How does it stand with you and the credentials, confidence, and reports which come from your Heart Doctor?
Did you ever get enthralled in a game of pin ball, with lots of clanging, bells, envisioned point accumulations, etc? Perhaps you were hoping for a repeat of the time you looked up after some special noises and saw a display of "X free games!" But the flip side of this is when the last ball slips past your flipper, drops to the bottom, and this time the display reads "Game Over!" In today's era, perhaps playing your favorite PC game or surfing the net for free information on your pet subject comes closer to giving you the anticipation of reversing the maxim, "there's no free lunch."
My heart procedures two weeks ago reminded me of such situations from my high school days. Spotting bundles of papers with my Cushman Eagle, then throwing my evening paper route, eating a hamburger, and the lure of a possible free pin ball game was an enjoyable part of stopping off at the joint at the end of my newspaper route on Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Knowing others who had gone essentially unscathed through the heart procedure I faced, I thought I was headed down the same path. More free games seemed just around the corner. But after the initial heart catheterization, inflated balloon, and stent placement to keep the heart artery open, that last ball seemed to slip past the flipper awfully fast. I grew very nauseous, vomited the terrible taste of mixed medicines, began to experience unmistakable chest pains, and was rushed back into the operating room. Somehow they quickly found that the heart artery had split just beyond the stent placement, and they deftly guided two more stents into that area and secured them in place to repair the artery wall. "Game Over" was rescinded, although I was yet to experience significant bleeding from the groin artery as they extracted the equipment. This left a large bruise and stiffly swollen right leg and ankle to remind me that sometimes there really is "no free lunch" in these "least intrusive heart procedures."
Although I still await some more tests and reports, I feel today like someone gazing up at a large display, "X more days added to your life," where X is a good sized but unknown number. But my life extension is not without effect. I have had other experiences, probably like you, which have caused me to realize I tend to take things for granted. But this time I want my remaining days to count for something in the lives of others. That sounds like service, and yes, that is at the core of it. But simply put, I want to be sensitive to those around me, so that when God gives them a "wake-up call" that it's time for them to know His Son Jesus, I want to be available to be a helpful part of that process. That process is not just getting a few days tacked on to the end of your life. That is getting a brand new unending life, begun at the end of your old life! As the lady's little wall sign said, when she invited me in off of Route 66 during my winter paper route collections, "Only one life, it will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." When I invited Jesus into my life as my savior and Lord as a freshman in college, I found out what that means, and now I have some EXTRA time to put it into practice.
Sometimes we hear phrases so long that we eventually accept them at face value, without thinking about their implications or questioning them at all. For example, "He who laughs last" might really just be someone who is slow to catch onto jokes, puns, or life's humor, rather than really "laughing best." Indeed, if a "last laughter" is one who gets even, he probably deserves our pity.
Another one is "seeing is believing." Come on now, how many of us refuse to use our modern electrical conveniences until some bright physicist can show us an electron? The flip side of this is that at one time, way before satellites "showed" us pictures of our spherical planet, it was rather mind boggling to consider such a figure lying under our feet.
So we really don't wait to see before we exercise action-oriented faith in many things and principles. And also, those few whose mind can "see" beyond what their eyes tell them, are often way ahead of their times.
But what about seeing God? Where do we look for Him? Do we like Yuri Gagarin, take a short rocket ride, and pronounce God missing both from our ride's view, as well as from His universe? Do we ever marvel at the creativity of man as we "see" a man walking on the moon, or visit a friend at home just a few days after a successful triple heart bypass operation? If we see sparks of human creativity is such amazing feats, could not our mind's eye catch a little wonder at the awesome creativity behind the design of our universe and its unfathomable contents?
Yet another question is what kind of preparation or "viewing instruments" are required in order to see God? The Bible says that a central common anticipation of Christians is to "see God as He is." We're told that although to date no man has seen God, this will be possible because we will be changed and transformed to be like Him, and will therefore be able to withstand the full view of His glory. The consideration of thus being in His undiluted presence has a purifying effect on us.
But what about the here and now? For the very best answers to "where and how do we look?" Look privately at Jesus Christ, since His name is Emmanuel, meaning "God with us." His is the living word, and is consistent in His style and His words and deeds, with the written word, the Bible, which foretold so precisely, so many details that comprised His short life on this planet.
But as creator of the universe and its contents, He certainly understands our individual and common human needs. After His crucifixion and resurrection Thomas said, "I won't believe unless I can see the nail prints in His hands and examine them with my fingers, and put my hand in His side where the spear was, I'll never believe it." Jesus met His "need to see" just a week later, as Jesus entered the disciple's room with the bolted door. Jesus invited Him to examine His hands, and place his hand in His side, and to stop being an unbeliever.
Thomas caught some of the awe we've talked about as he responded, "My Lord, and my God." Jesus then said, "Is it because you have seen me, Thomas, that you believe? Blessed are those who believe, even though they have not seen me!" Its our move now.
You may have seen on TV some of the inspiring "behind the scenes" stories of Olympians who are today top competitive athletes, after overcoming "impossible" circumstances in their past. Many of these stories have a similar thread. The athlete kept an audio-visual recording in their head, which they replayed repeatedly, without losing focus. The visions included a "mental movie" of their success, such as the exact moves and sequences of a high dive. The audio said something like, "You're Number One; You Are The Winner!" Later this "movie" seemed to sink down into acceptance in the subconscious, and still later it became a reality as they overcame disabilities and difficulties which others knew were impossible to overcome. As they trained for success, their critics played old "movies" which focused on the outer disability and totally missed the spirit and drive of the person inside.
Moving from the international focus on the Olympics, to where the rest of us live, some of us are honest enough to admit that we often sit in this prejudiced naysayers camp, when we too focus on a person's mental, physical, or spiritual "disability" to such an extent that we miss seeing what they have already overcome and their future potential. How would you like to have someone "in your camp" who not only believes in you, independent of your past failures and disabilities, but who persistently has the picture in His mind of your future success? I have just such a friend and backer. I personally know the difference His friendship makes, and countless others do too.
For example, He stood up to self-righteous men who cowardly threw before Him a woman they had spied on, fresh from the act of being unfaithful to her husband. I say cowards because: they cared nothing for the woman's reputation since they left the adulterous man completely out of the picture; they were like the pot calling the kettle black, since they slinked away, as though guilty, when He challenged them to do the stoning of the woman if they were innocent themselves; their real motivation was to hide behind the Law and use it to set a trap for my friend. Another time a man invited his brother to come and see my friend; the brother sarcastically responded, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" My friend Jesus' first words to Nathaniel when he reluctantly arrived, was "Behold, an Israelite in whom is no guile."
This is clearly a bold vision about his future, not his past! The only way I can reconcile the fact that Jesus saw and heard Nathaniel (and told him) under the fig tree while he expressed his negative expectations, is that Jesus not only saw Nathaniel's past, but he saw his future success which would come as Nathaniel put his faith in Jesus.
Over and over, Jesus started with where a person was, like the woman He met at the well. Instead of being prejudiced by tradition and stigma (like the fact that she was a Samaritan, considered to be like a dog to the Jews), He challenged them all to leave past failures and sin behind, trust in Him, and let Him give them entirely new life and motivation, and hope that one day He would completely change them, when He would transform them into His perfect likeness.
He sees all who will trust Him as victors! He believed in us so strongly He volunteered to experience death and separation from God His Father in our place, so we would be victors over sin and death too. "A man has no greater love than to lay down His life for his friends." Have you experienced Him as your own personal friend, or has myopic vision or prejudice kept you from becoming the winner and victor He pictured, as He hung on the cross, died, and arose for you?
Every American has an internal audio visual recording of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, which cannot be erased from our memories. Similarly the foremost recurring theme of the 1996 Republican National Convention was "...the American Dream."
As expected, the Democratic National Convention disagreed with the GOP interpretation and implementation of "The American Dream." Nevertheless, dreams of an improved future can bind Americans together with common aspirations. They also can be very individualistic and personal, such as what an individual hopes to achieve with their life. So the politicians often appeal to some of the dreams and inalienable rights deep inside each of us, which we would like to pass on to future generations.
What do you dream, when your spirit soars free, and dares to picture what might have been, or what still might be? Looking back, we sometimes wonder, if I had it do to over again, how could I accomplish again, all the projects I have done? Or as Kermit the Frog says, "Learning is easy, it's remembering that's hard." But to persistently look forward takes a person of vision and of dreams.
The landscape of mankind sparkles with the genius and creativity of dreams fulfilled in a multitude of gifted areas such as art, music, poetry, prose, models of science, engineering, space exploration, freedom fighters, and peace makers. But the man of greatest vision, dreams, and fulfillment I know is Jesus Christ. He consistently looked beyond the failures, betrayals, and lack of understanding of those around Him. He looked forward and saw the dream, and the reality, of the future potential of lives changed eternally for the better, once they would willingly trust Him to direct and motivate their lives for good.
John recorded Jesus' central dream, based on Jesus' prayer in the fourth gospel book of John, chapter 17. Jesus said that what He spoke was the words His Father had given Him, and that His own would know clearly that these are God's words, and not man's. And that as we speak about Him today, still others will also share the insight that Jesus spoke only God's words, and did only what He saw His Father doing, which is so worthy of our love and commitment back to Him.
Based on His mission to planet earth in our behalf (which was consummated in His death on the cross in payment for our sins), His resurrection which powerfully certified acceptance of this payment, and His unity with God the Father, His dream is for many to trust Him, and as an "insider," to experience some of the same closeness, unity, "oneness," love, and support, which exists between God the Father and God the Son. Once you have opened and entered the door of experiencing His dream for yourself, you won't ever want to go back outside into the cold, lonely, existence without Him again. Or as Peter said, "Where else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
Did you ever get a "wake-up call" as a passing car suddenly "appeared" out of nowhere from your blind spot in your car's side mirror, after you had just looked and assured yourself there was no one there? Or has a friend ever alerted you that you forgot to shave, or to perform some other morning preparation which others can readily see that you forgot, but which you were totally oblivious to? Or have you ever lost something, where neither you nor anyone else could find it, and God finally showed you where it was? Well, these are examples of various levels of "Blind Spots" which can be defined by the following Johari Window which points out how we all can use "outside information" for a better understanding of ourselves, and for subsequent growth.
JOHARI WINDOW
Our personality is the "face" we show to others in the "open arena of everyday life." Although our inborn temperament traits are usually obvious to others, sometimes the associated weaknesses can remain in our blind spot. Our character is our "civilized temperament" which consists of our mind, emotions, and will. Sometimes we conceal our character from others behind a facade. Other times, it is uncertain what we will choose to do in a certain situation, or how we might feel about it afterwards. Our true character is often revealed to us as God tests us through stressful situations. Our BLIND SPOTS need the light of awareness shed by the feedback from others who know us best.
Conversely, our FACADES (Cover-ups) need to become cracked open, exposed, and transparent so others can see behind our masks. We need to realize that our strengths and weaknesses, although unique, have many similarities from person to person, so we can benefit greatly from sharing and learning from a close friend, rather than from protective isolationism. Ironically we all tend to try to "hide from God," or ignore Him, when obviously He is the only One who is aware of certain of our strengths and weaknesses which neither others, nor ourselves, can see! He can uniquely show us things about ourselves (and others) that we could never otherwise see. By the way, He is the One who uniquely created us with our individual set of strengths and weaknesses, and similarly He can transform our temperament, character, personality, and our respect for ourselves, others, and God Himself, so that we become unrecognizable, compared to what we were like before we opened up our life to Him. God specializes in transforming our weaknesses into corresponding strengths. Read all about it for example, in the lives of Peter and Paul in the New Testament, both before and after they submitted their lives to Jesus Christ.
What is your most vivid experience of dark? Deep in a cave tour when they turned out the lights? Maybe just alone in your bed as a child, with scary shadowy outlines on your wall was dark enough for you.
But of course some live always in a world of darkness, without eyesight, and never get to see all the marvelous pictures surrounding us.
Although blind and deaf from the age of two, Helen Keller was encouraged by her teacher Miss Anne Sullivan to "see" bright new horizons, and "hear" rhapsodies which most of us miss. These wonders came alive for her through the heightened sensitivity of her resources, her fingers, mind, and spirit. What she experienced was recorded like this: "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow."
In contrast, consider four blind men "discovering" the same object. One thinks he has found a tree trunk, solid as a large oak. Another must have encountered the world's thickest snake. The third has found a perpetual motion whisk broom. And the fourth finds a record sized bayonet. It takes imagination and insight to listen to their four different accounts, "connect the dots," and fill in an elephant.
Those of us fortunate enough to experience our world without disability, may not enrich our senses appreciably, unless we get involved in an activity such as painting which disciplines us to focus on the wonder, complexity, and components of what we are experiencing. The intriguing shape of an old barn, and the myriad of color combinations in a fall tree or sunset, can easily escape an undisciplined or untrained eye.
When it comes to the spiritual dimension of life, all of us start off like a "flatlander." Two dimensions is enough for us - after all you might "fall of the edge" if you risk venturing out too far. Ironically it is trust in what He shows and tells us, and faith which acts and lives in congruence with this trust, which God values the most in us.
His power and majesty can be sensed by spiritually blind men through observing the power and majesty of His creation. But many of us miss this - I did for a long time of outdoor camping, hiking, and exploring.
And His Word is given in truth and spirit. But, starting as blind men, without spiritual sight, we have to take a lesson from Helen Keller. We begin with the resources we have, explore and heighten the sensitivity of our conscience, admitting that we grope in the dark, as He prepares us for a bright explosion of new spiritual sight.
Spiritual sight is God's gift, given only to those humble enough to admit we are spiritually blind. To us He gives light and insight to see that Jesus came to seek out and to save from sin, all who were lost and ignoring God. Imagine the grief of giving your life voluntarily to save someone from spiritual blindness and death, only to be rejected, ignored, or used as a degrading and demeaning curse from their lips.
God give us a glimpse of your beauty and patience with us. Expand our sensitivity toward You, our humble, sinless, and all sufficient Savior. And for those of us who have been given your gift of spiritual sight by faith, expand our horizons, heights, and compassion for the lost!
As a small child, were you ever put to bed with the lights out, and wondered: "What's that noise?" "Is something in my closet?" "Is some-thing going to get me?" Other common experiences with darkness include a feeling of blindness, groping around and wondering if we'll get back to the light.
For example, I've had two experiences in the California mountains after dark, where I was the only one around for miles, and really wondered if I could find my way back out of the mountains to my car. But all such experiences are based on a comparison with a normal experience of what it is like to live in a fully illumined world.
For a person blind from birth, it must be enormously difficult to try to imagine what the experience of seeing is like. But such is the case of every one of us when it comes to the experience of spiritual sight. We are born spiritually blind and can only begin to experience spiritual vision once we are courageous enough to admit we are blind.
Jesus clarifies this for us during His encounter with a man who was born blind. While His disciples debated how sin had caused this man to be born blind, Jesus chose to heal him and give him the experience of physical sight. As he obeyed Jesus' instructions to wash off the clay He had covered his eyes with, the man came back unashamedly proclaiming his new sight. He kept to his story, even in the face of grilling by the religious Pharisees. Even his parents had knuckled under to their pressure, letting their son answer them by himself, for fear of being put out of the synagogue. The Pharisees couldn't swallow such a miraculous healing, by a man of no reputation among them, and especially done without proper regard for the Sabbath Day! So it was the last straw when they asked the man repeatedly how Jesus opened his eyes, and the man humorously and bravely replied, "Why are you asking again, do you want to become His disciple?" They threw him out, and Jesus found him and asked, "Do you believe on the Son of God?" "Who is he?" the man replied. Jesus said, "He is talking to you now." Then the man believed in Him and worshipped Him right there.
Jesus said He had come as a judge, so that the blind could be given (spiritual) sight, and so those who claim (spiritual) sight might be made blind. The Pharisees played the straight man and asked, "Are we blind also?" Jesus answered, "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but because you say you see, your sin remains." Such is the paradox of spiritual sight which only comes as a gift from God to those who can admit they are spiritually blind.
So I ask you now if you are walking in spiritual light, as Jesus is in the light? Here's a way to help answer that, provided by Jesus' disciple John who wrote, "if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." Are we willing to set aside our differences and judgments of others, and have open, accepting, fellowship with other Christians? Have we experienced Jesus' blood cleaning up ALL our sin, and our conscience as well?
So we find that admitting we are blind is the first step toward having our spiritual eyes opened. This shouldn't surprise us; for example can the power and blindness of alcohol or drugs be broken without a similar admission of our real condition? New spiritual sight comes only with our new spiritual birth, which occurs when we too believe in Jesus as the Son of God, our savior from sin, our Way, our Truth, and our Life!
My oldest entrepreneur son John Jr. (someone who sees opportunities better than most) put himself through Texas A&M in Horticulture by starting and running several business enterprises. The farmers around College Station often saw "weeds" in their fields, which were in fact, Yaupon Holly trees and bushes. John saw ornamental trees, which when dug and transported for sale to Metroplex Grocery Store parking lots, could be sold at a very competitive price to enhance the landscaping of proud homeowners. One man's trash is another man's treasure. It just depends on your vision!
Shawn our youngest son, could walk through the mall with us as a small boy, look way up in a far corner at the top of the mall, and spot a small balloon, lodged there. Michael could see, remember, and record the finest of details, as he sketched animals from his visual recall. Similarly my wife can see and paint the details in the myriad of leaves and branch shapes that make up a complex tree structure. She also had the vision to instill integrity in our children, learned largely by not rescuing them from the consequences of occasional poor choices. John Jr. truly sees even today, the fulfillment of a famous saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "One tiny acorn holds in it the making of a thousand forests."
After graduating from college in Elementary Education and cutting her teeth with some substitute teaching, my daughter Molly heard about a first grade teaching need in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She saw the opportunity to make a difference in children's lives for eternity by teaching them how to read and write, and about their creator and savior, Jesus. This vision empowered her to make her decision to go to Bolivia, buy her supplies, raise her support, and catch an airplane in just 10 days after hearing about the need. Because of what she could see, a number of her students placed their eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus Christ as their savior during her 3 years of teaching Missionary and national kids in the middle of a large city know for its drug traffic and transport.
So individuals certainly have remarkable and unique insights. But how do such insights line up and give glimpses into insights from the perspective of our creator? He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. He sees desires, motives, intents; differences between our thoughts and our words and
deeds. He saw and met our needs before we were born as marvelously stated in Jeremiah 31:3 in the Old Testament. "The Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, Yea I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you." For those who trust in Him, He plans to express His boundless creativity throughout eternity to us through the same kindness with which He attracted us in the first place.
Many of us have had lessons and insights in which we experienced that a close friend or spouse knew us so well that they could see and understand some of our needs much better than we could at times. It is common to get so wrapped up in problems and our own concerns that we develop major blind spots regarding our own needs. Its often much easier to see into others and give them advice, than to recognize our own problems and get in touch with the source of our own difficulties and limitations.
Jesus desires to give us each insight into our real needs which He sees so clearly. Living His entire lifetime without sin sharpened His sensitivity, discernment, and patient insights for living. One who learns to successfully avoid sin himself, certainly has a big advantage in spotting obstacles and temptations which others face. He sees right through our facades and His succinct words and parables cut directly to the heart of the matter. Whether He deals with you and your life issues very gently, or very directly and seriously, be assured that He is not only seeing your real needs better than you do, but His style of dealing with you is tailored to give you the best chance of finding in Him all the treasures you will ever need for time and eternity. "Without vision the people perish!" Without the Lord people perish.
Did you ever enter a contest or a lottery and win a prize? Even though you hoped to win, if you actually did win you would likely be a little surprised. Or did you ever pursue friendship with someone, and discover later than your best friend is actually someone else? Or have you ever said "I'll never _____,?" like "I'll never pay as much as 6% interest for a house loan," and sure enough you never even had another opportunity to get such a low rate, even though you changed your mind and sure wished you could. These are just a few examples where our future turns out differently than we had expected, which has both pluses and minuses. Quite often we look back and find out that our hindsight perspective is totally different than our foresight view of things.
Such perspective of how different reality can really be from our early perceptions and awareness can help us with additional insight. For example, if someone asked, "Which God are you serving today?" many might say, "why none at all," in spite of some of the following types of evidence to the contrary.
My daughter just returned from 3 years of teaching first grade in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She is still experiencing some culture shock at the U.S. saturation and focus on information and busy life styles. She says life is so much more simple and independent of "the latest news and information" in South America. In the busy U.S. culture, some might answer the prior question, "we're too busy (in the pursuit of pleasure, intellect, or power) to even think about life's questions. Another group of "atheists" might answer (in the pride of their intellect) that they KNOW there is no God, and that all that we see came from nothing. Do YOU see any irony in someone like that who can believe in a universal negative, as well as in spontaneous generation of something from nothing? Still others say they are "agnostics" who are ironically proud of their broad mindedness and of "not knowing" or "knowing they don't know."
Can you find the gods which we serve in the prior paragraph? Look for them in parentheses and quote marks. And many "religious people" have "inherited their parent's religion and gods," or have applied "human reasoning" to arrive at the choice of a god. Unfortunately, all of these responses stem from either using our faculties to pursue a god of our own creation, or failing to use our faculties at all to seek out meaning to life.
In contrast, there are yet others whom God has sought out and shown what He is like in the unique and awesome character of Jesus Christ. Since He has showed us what He is like, vastly different than we could have imagined or created, we in turn want others to open their mind, will, and emotions to Him - to privately and personally investigate the unique claims of Christ with your mind; to chose with your will to explore these very important claims; and to allow your emotions to follow what you find, as a result of your willful choice to find out for yourself. Such pursuit will pay dividends much different and much better than you may have expected. Please do yourself this favor! Truth is not only stranger than fiction, but also more rich and deep.
At times many people feel close to God, and yet at other times they feel more indifferent, insensitive, or oblivious to His presence and influence. James encourages us, independent of our fluctuating feelings, to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. The crisp shrill whistle of a red bird, or the fragrant wild honey suckle can remind us of the creative diversity and sweetness of God. As we draw close to Him to adore, worship, listen, and think His refreshing thoughts, He draws us closer to Himself and to others too. He shows us how to serve others, to change hurtful attitudes, and how to meet the needs of others.
But for us to draw closer to God, does NOT necessarily mean the other person will draw closer to us. So the challenge for us is to act on what He shows us INDEPENDENT of how the other person behaves. That's tough, because we are well practiced in responding back in kind.
So its time for a fresh look at our inspiring model, Jesus Christ. He always looked way beyond a person's immediate problems, and saw their distant destiny of dignity. Among His own selfish, self-centered followers, He saw those who could in the future express His love to others, even while being tortured to death, empowered by His transforming resurrection.
He looked right through a Nathaniel, mumbling his doubts and disparagement, and saw him speaking in the future with purified speech and motives. And He sees through you and me, groveling in a rut of daily routines, stale and stagnant relationships, and mediocre performance, laced with failures. He sees our potential to return love and forgiveness to those who criticize, hurt, and discredit us, based on our own experience of His much greater love and forgiveness, demonstrated to us by His sacrificial death payment for our sins.
Although we've never seen Him, the times we've felt His presence, and taken the effort to write down His thoughts to us, and act upon them, we are changed. And those around us benefit too, even if they neglect their own opportunities for Him to change them.
To see Him is to love Him,
To love Him is to serve Him,
To serve Him is to change,
Such change is to become like Him,
To become like Him is through knowing Him.
To become like Him is to draw closer to Him and to others, and to experience His written word becoming alive and active in our lives. It is amazing how a healing relationship with both our earthly and our Heavenly Fathers can heal us up to be all He intended us to be to those around us.
(John 17:3)
AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW YOU THE
ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.
One of life's paradoxes is the alarm clock. We can't live without it, and we groan as it signals "time to rise and shine." That's why on a trip, I like to call the hotel desk and leave a wake up call, because it at least lets me avoid setting the alarm, and it transfers the responsibility to someone else to keep at it until they wake me up.
My last two years of college, I lived in a co-op at the University of Texas, where we were responsible for taking care of our large "room and board" house, except for cooking meals. The rate was really worth the work; $50 per month for room and board. One of my buddies, Snooky, had a unique metabolism which allowed him to stay up several days non-stop, cramming for finals. BUT when he crashed you couldn't wake him. One time when he was in the crashed state, I answered a phone call for Snooky. I tried as hard as I could to be his "wake up call" without even budging him. If we really think about it, others of us too, fail to answer our wake up calls.
We've all heard the saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." But what could make the rest of the story any different that the first? And what can get our attention when we are crashed and tuned out so we don't expect anything better than what we have already experienced?
Jesus Christ came and gave the whole world a wake up call. For the only perfectly righteous man who claimed to be One with God His Father, to not resist, nor obtain heavenly help, not when Satan tested Him, and not when He was crucified between two criminals, gives us all a "wake up call question." Is this the world's greatest injustice, or is there something else which causes this to make sense?
Some of us have found that we ourselves are the reason for this great injustice. This was the only way God found to allow us to be one with Him, and to be like Him in heaven; He required a perfect life payment for my sin debt; I couldn't pay it; only Jesus could, since He lived His life without sin. And it was His own choice to do that for me!
When our alarm goes off, some of us don't even hear it; others reach out and turn it off, or hit the snooze button; but the responsible choice is typically made, to rise and shine. You are very likely just as good, or better than most of your friends, but how do you measure up to God's standard of sinlessness? Can you now hear your own alarm, warning of your sin of unbelief or rejection of God's Son Jesus, and the consequences of one day seeing Him in all His beauty and glory, but having to depart from Him forever?
You can answer your wake up call and begin the first day of your spiritual life now! Bow and ask Jesus to save you from your sin of rejection or unbelief; invite Him in to your life as your own savior and Lord. Then Jesus Himself becomes your life, and all things come from Him and are under His control, not for your ease, but for your good. Not an easy path, but you'll never wish you had made the easy, lazy choice to stay in bed and turn off your alarm, pulling up the covers of rejection and indifference, and calling God a liar in response to Jesus, His very best gift to you.
Keeping Our Feet On The Ground, While Our Mouth Is Open
What are some big values which come in small packages? How about a diamond ring? Or two tickets, front and center, to your favorite stage play?
In contrast, incredible destruction can also come in deceptively small wrappers too. For example, in the 6th grade, when asked to stand and read aloud the main headline of our weekly reader, I quickly glanced at the accompanying picture for clues. Seeing the inclined match tilted toward a raging fire, I blurted out "Little Matches CHASE Big Fires." Upon hearing my class mates' laughter, I re-examined the Caption and found the true text was, "Little Matches CAUSE Big fires." Other small but powerful items include a few inches radius of fissionable uranium which can level several miles radius of a city and its inhabitants. And who hasn't been on both the giving and the receiving end of the pain which lingers long after a few small hurtful or critical words roll off of our tongue.
Jesus' half brother and servant James, packs a lot to say about such destruction from our tongue, into just a few sentences. Conversely he measures a person's maturity and self-control by how well they keep their speech from offending others. In physics we become enlightened to the mechanical advantages of a lever and fulcrum, an inclined plane, and a series of pulleys. James uses similar graphical contrasts of: a small bit controlling the entire body of a powerful horse, a rudder maneuvering a vast wind-driven ship, and a fire consuming everything in its path. He calls our own little tongue a destructive untamable fire, spreading destruction and poisonous venom in its path. It's inconsistent use, to honor God, and to dishonor His people, clues us in to why James says that often our little fiery, boastful tongue is itself kindled by the fires of hell. We begin to comprehend the importance of James' power-packed message as we are the target of critical, hurtful, condemning words, and as we also find ourselves offending others with words we cannot undo or retrieve.
So how are we to achieve a properly controlled "tongue in our mouth" and escape the proverbial "foot in our mouth?" Or in keeping with the introduction, how can we get things of large value and encouragement to come out of the little tongue in our mouth? Antidotes include presenting ourselves and all our members (including our tongue) gladly to the eternal safe-keeping and control of God as a living sacrifice. This means we are motivated to daily live without shame, under Jesus' control, since He was not ashamed to die to pay for all our sins. As we daily allow Him to renew our mind by re-experiencing His love and forgiveness, we are constrained by His Spirit to treat others like He treats us, with kind, gracious, motivating, lifting speech, kindled by His character, communicating clearly to others that we too are "in their corner."
Not long ago, a group of captured Christians were undergoing intimidation by North Korean soldiers. The soldiers marched them into a church, nailed up a picture of Jesus Christ on the front door and gave these commands. "Each of you is to walk out of this church, and as you pass the picture of Jesus, you are to spit on Him." So, one by one people got up, walked to the door, and spit on Jesus. The first four men did just as instructed. The fifth person was a young girl who walked to the door, lifted her dress, wiped the spit off, and said, "I love you Lord Jesus, and I am willing to die for you."
The North Korean soldiers were shocked. They didn't know what to do. Finally they said, we communists need people like this Christian who are willing to die for their cause. So they released her and the remaining captives, but shot the first four men!
What have you found that arouses such passion in your life that motivates you to put your life on the line? Although like Saul of Tarsus, in some countries today people feel they honor God when they kill Christians, yet in countries like ours Christians live without any threat to their lives. So in North Korea or North Africa, being a Christian causes you to put your life on the line. More subtly, being a Christian in the U.S. is an issue not of dying for Jesus, but of choosing to live for Him.
So a more appropriate U.S. question is, What have you found that arouses passionate living? Unless you have realized how helplessly you are trapped in self-centered sin, and asked Jesus to come into your life and rescue you and empower you to live for Him by the costly payment of His own life's blood, sacrificed for each of us on the cross, your passionate living likely centers around satisfying your own desires.
Jesus' passion was to honor, serve, and obey His Father in heaven. He put His life on the line many times, even before He submitted to torture and ridicule leading up to His crucifixion. For example, it was His zeal and passion for using the temple to honor God, that drove Him to challenge the livelihood of money-changers and livestock dealers as He angrily overturned their business tables and drove them from the temple. He knew how to patiently endure the self-centered arguments of His disciples about who would be greatest, and gently teach them truths that would burn into their soul later when they were focused on serving Him after His resurrection and ascension. And He also knew how to challenge and shake others to the core as they blatantly subverted God's ways into self-serving ways of earning a living and of obtaining homage from others.
What is worth dying for? Many martyrs have answered that question just as bravely as the North Korean woman who stood against the intimidating soldiers. What is worth living for? May you find that the answer to both questions is the same. Only Jesus, our perfect example of BOTH how to live, and how to die!
What are a few of the things that resound in your being as a dose of "real life?" Holidays with family and friends? Achieving a major milestone, like college graduation, landing a new job, or falling deeply in love? Or maybe its simply a walk outside on a fall afternoon for a breath of crisp fresh air, as you gaze at an impressive city skyline of steel and concrete?
Oh sure, you may have had some passing thoughts and questions about where you came from, what you should do, and where you are headed? But such doses of "reality" as cited above can quickly choke out such honest searchings as impractical, unknowable, foolish, or unreal.
If you've blocked out such basic questions and are no longer questioning, you've ironically become somewhat like a "flat-lander" - on a course to finish your life and "fall off the edge," without finding some basic answers, or any idea of where you are headed.
You may be a skeptic, soured by people who let you down or hurt you. Or you may feel that because you haven't found answers, then anyone who claims to have answers is either deceived, arrogant, or naive. If so, please distinguish between skepticism, lack of knowledge, and the honesty to ask questions.
For example, Job endured extreme tragedies and tests which so soured his wife, she advised him just to "curse God and die." But in his integrity, Job continued to question God until he got even more than he bargained for. God turned around and questioned Job so severely that Job got an unforgettable dose of God's sovereignty, creative power, and majesty. Job then was vindicated in front of his wife and friends, and restored to a fruitful life.
As to those who have found answers. How would you feel about someone like Dr. Saulk finding a polio vaccine, but refusing to share it with the world, even if others were skeptical whether it would really prevent polio?
Well, some of us have found forgiveness in place of legalism and condemnation; love in place of self protection and skepticism; and grace in place of boot-strap efforts and proud resumes. And a few of us are willing to risk the judgment of others, because our Savior, and the new life He gives, is so liberating that we desire to share it at all costs.
In the pragmatic "real world," exists the readily accepted maxim, "If you haven't tried it, don't knock it." Instead of just applying that maxim to people who have found answers to life's basic questions, DO TRY what we've found first, before responding with skepticism and criticism.
Jesus Christ is alive from the dead, and will never die again. The new life He offers, based on His payment for our sins, overflows with rich experience for all who are unafraid to question, and to reach out to really find a dose of "real life."
Modern technology has done wonders for folks like "off-shore fishermen." In earlier days a Magnavox receiver of Doppler signals from TRANET satellites allowed a fisherman to record the coordinates of his terrific "fishing hole" off-shore in the ocean and reliably return there, with no visible references to follow. Such coordinates were, and are, some of the best kept secrets.
Once when I worked at Bendix Communication Division, and was using satellite tracking data to calibrate Air Force Tracking Systems, a friend from RADC in New York traveled to Turkey with a Magnavox Geoceiver to very accurately locate the tracking system. He made it through Turkish customs OK, but his Geoceiver changed its nationality, and remains to this day, Turkish property.
Today a network of Global Positioning System (GPS) Satellites can similarly be used with a pocket sized receiver to collect and process Code Division Multiple Access signals and very accurately display the receiver's position and speed. As a part of making improvements in such synchronizing techniques, the accuracy of determining a satellite's position in its orbit has changed from a few miles, to a few feet!
When I worked for Collins Radio Company, the biggest tracking dishes we installed were three 210 foot diameter dishes in Spain, Australia, and California. They were part of the Deep Space Network, and needed to know where they were in relation to each other, very accurately. With technology like GPS, we can finally find out where we are very accurately, even world-wide with respect to each other.
Now let me introduce an even more challenging topic. How do you synchronize Christians who are scattered all over the globe, with a variety of different languages, cultures, backgrounds, ages, and life styles? Sounds impossible to me, except for one thing.
A Christian is one who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ, and responded by letting Him align our life to Him. He is truly "our way." So just as with the relatively stable reference of the GPS satellite network, the eternally stable and dependable Jesus Christ is the one who aligns each individual life to Himself, His way and His path. As this occurs, Christians aligned to Him, are automatically aligned to each other as a by-product.
Christian strangers, worlds apart, can quickly experience the emotions of brothers and sisters belonging to the same family, through common alignment to our Head. Through alignment with Him, barriers such as male and female, Jew and Greek, come tumbling down. So I don't have to struggle with, or concentrate on, alignment with my Christian brothers and sisters, but success does require me to daily come to Jesus for the realigning work of His Spirit in my life.
Are you still charting your own arbitrary path alone? Or can you see why it was necessary for Jesus to die to pay for your sins, for you to be located clearly in His absolute coordinate system, where you find out how important and significant you are to Him. Have you exchanged your arbitrary self-centered focus, to find in Him real direction and purpose in life, which millions of others have personally experienced
We have all seen a variety of ways that children creatively vie for our attention. This includes the performance of the high achievers, as well as those who get most of their attention by causing trouble. Sometimes attention comes as they sneakily get a sibling into trouble, and other times they just act out themselves.
But honestly now, don't most of us continue some of these attempts for recognition and significance, well into our adult years, in one form or another? For instance, when I started my present job 15 years ago, I inherited supervision of a small group, including their annual evaluations, which their prior boss had already prepared. One woman in the group was a very conscientious worker, and this high achiever cried when I passed along an "average" evaluation from her prior boss! She hung in there with consistent initiative and high performance, and sure enough, the next year we both felt better at her "excellent" evaluation.
To different degrees, and in different domains, we all experience an inner desire for acceptance, appreciation, affection, and recognition which affirms our significance. For example, what is the job which you enjoyed the most? For me it relates directly to the time I felt most needed, resulting in my best performance and achievement. It was very much a team environment. We were proud of our project, which enhanced our feelings of achievement and significance as we designed, tested, and installed a 10 story phased array radar system over-looking the Gulf, which tracked and cataloged all satellites, and performed missile tracking and early warning functions. Creating and testing algorithms of initial orbit determination, missile tracking and detection, and missile launch and impact location determination was a lot of fun!
As just described, many people find a lot of their identity and significance in their work. Many wives find identity and significance in their husband.
So as we take time for reflection and recollection of what has motivated us most in the past, and what we have enjoyed, this gives us a clue to our need to find and feel significance, as an individual, or as a member of a team. This innate need to be recognized and to feel significant is a common experience. Its fulfillment can be beneficial, or harmful.
For example, our search for significance can lead us to step on others, or put them down in hurtful comparisons, in an attempt to build up our own ego. But the very best way to significance was already provided to each human, as a gift, purchased with an incomprehensible price tag. Jesus Christ, "Who for the joy set before Him," left the comforts of heaven to demonstrate His compassion and love action in our behalf. He counted each one of us so important and significant, and He so wanted restoration of our fellowship with Himself, that He was willing to take all our sin upon Himself, to pay off completely our debt of sin which blocked intimate fellowship with Himself. So before any one of us ever gave Him the time of day, He took the initiative and sought us out, one by one, to beneficially fulfill our deep need for significance, through our identification with Him, for all who will choose to open our heart's door to Him. Our hearts are restless until we find our rest (and significance) in Him!
Because of increased threats to personal, corporate, and national security, many new businesses are flourishing these days. Security needs are great, and are continuing to escalate. For example, theft is rampant in so many areas: cellular phone calls made with stolen equipment, industrial and collegiate espionage and theft of trade secrets and proprietary data, retail store theft, car theft, house robberies, even senators strolling off of Capitol Hill have been mugged. Add to this international terrorism, with attendant bomb blasts in airplanes, and on the ground in Beirut, Israel, New York City, and Oklahoma City, and the innocent victim tragedies. These events naturally create major businesses which offer improved security, or ways of deterring, detecting, or averting such theft and destruction.
Most department store suits and dresses contain a device that will sound off as it is taken out of a store without payment. New Computer security measures become available each month, but seem only to challenge hackers to their next level of "breaking and entering." "Whistling" cars and home alarm devices are very common now. Most people are willing to forego a little inconvenience from metal detectors in buildings, and baggage X-rays at airports, to achieve a higher level of security. And we no longer stop to pick up hitch hikers. But do we really feel any safer than four decades ago? Most likely we feel a great deal less secure!
To gain insight into our basis of personal security, picture in your mind's eye for a moment, the Great Wolinda, walking slowly, and confidently across a tight wire strung across Niagara Falls, stabilized with his long balance bar. All the way across and back he strides, safely without a tumble into the foaming, misty abyss below. Safely on he next stuns the crowd as he selects a wheel barrow and begins to push it across the wire to the other side. When he returns, he asks the crowd, "How many of you think I can do that again?" Most of the crowd cheers, and yells, "Sure, go for it!" As He grabs the wheel barrow again, he grins and addresses the crowd one more time. "Whoever really thinks I can make it, come get inside the wheel barrow!" Suddenly the cheering crowd is silenced, as they gasp and step back away from the brink. Focusing on the possibility of death, and the fear of falling, keeps every one of them out of experiencing a stable, secure, and trusting ride, far above the majestic falls.
What is it that keeps you from experiencing the enjoyment which some of your friends have shared with you, about how they can often soar for a time, securely above circumstances in their families, like pain, death, and tragedy, which seem to devastate others. Could it be that you believe like the observing crowd, that others can do it, but you are afraid of the risk involved in getting to know Jesus Christ personally, like your friends have shared with you? Ironically, against our intuition, the safest place for each of us is inside His wheelbarrow, in complete dependence upon His payment and protection from sin, and from all that would harm our eternal well being. He risked the tight wire of testing, traps, and tyrannical attempts to murder Him prematurely, and proved He offers the only secure way to live in fellowship with God on both sides of the grave. He came back from death to offer us each a ride safely across to the other side. Ready? Step in by faith, and let Him do the steering. With Him, ironically you are secure and won't fall; without Him, you will.
One of those free 100 point car inspections seems just made for me. I know there is no free lunch, but the offer of one often gets my attention. And sure enough, I typically come away with a long laundry list of expensive work to be done. Then comes the assessment of what is most important in that list. Sometimes it gets especially frustrating when they say they must fix something that wasn't broken prior to the inspection. Have you ever had anything like that happen to you? You tend to feel like you are loosing your grasp of things, or you could say you feel like "your clutch is slipping."
Nobody likes to feels out of control of their circumstances. But the truth of the matter, is that things that are essentially not under my control, far out-number things that are directly under my control. Do you identify with the following examples? How about being stuck in traffic when you are already late for an appointment? Or picking the wrong checkout line, which was moving great, but stopped dead after you got in it, while you watched the other lines all clear out? I'm sure you have your own pet peeves that frustrate you, like riding in the passenger seat with someone who is taking you on a white knuckle ride, except you have no steering wheel or controls to grip, so the white knuckle experience is in the pit of your stomach instead of at the outside of your grip.
Sometimes the whole world can seem out of control. Like why do we really have to have terrorists, or wars, or assassinations of those who seek peace? It is clear that international issues like these are farther from any of our direct control, than the events we experience directly in our daily lives. But our attitude and reaction to all these remote, as well as personal, events can be under our control. The irony is that the more up tight, and demanding of control we are, the higher our blood pressure rises, and often we exacerbate the situation, rather than bringing an improvement or solution. Strange as it may seem, those who learn the secret of "letting go" or "ungrasping" typically live longer, experience less ulcers, and often have a better chance of bringing a solution or an improved attitude which is refreshing to those around them.
Of course the ultimate model of "unclutching" is seen as Jesus chose to leave the glories of heaven and equality with God the Father - the environment of complete sovereign control, in which they had jointly created everything. He humbled Himself in the form of a human baby with no reputation, and gave up all control of His environment. He learned obedience to His Father through the things he suffered, until He displayed the ultimate act of obedience, dying in our place on a torturous Roman cross, to make payment for my sins and yours. He gives us the opportunity to "unclutch" control of our lives into the hands of the God-man, Jesus Christ - the opportunity to trust the Savior and Lord we have never seen, except as His Spirit reveals the depth of His love for us, which drove Him out of the comforts of heaven, to rescue us. Until "your clutch is slipping" and you have ungrasped and relinquished control of your life to Him and His sovereignty, your life remains a white knuckle experience. Are you sure you want to keep on clutching onto your own meager controls all the way into eternity?
As with many things, how you view traps is a matter of perspective. For example, if you are setting a trap, you likely anticipate positive results from your perspective. But if you get caught in a trap, you'll most likely wish you could have avoided it, and maybe even wonder how it happened.
The last time I was stopped in a speed trap, I had no idea this was about a 1.5 mile section where the speed limit dropped from 70 mph to 60 mph. Fortunately I was given a warning rather than a ticket, and I pay special attention to that stretch of the road now. There's no excuse to get caught in the same trap more than once, unless its a situation where the trap is so pervasive that you often are not skillful enough to avoid it, like a large sand trap in golf.
Our family moved to the country when our oldest kids were in their teen age years. They found a lot of fun things to do out there. Our oldest son did a lot of trapping and sold a number of furs. My wife wasn't always aware of all the furs that were in covered with corn meal in her freezer in our garage.
One morning early I ran the traps with my son. As we approached one trap we heard something howling. This was the only time he caught a dog in his trap. It's paw was painfully caught in the trap. He wisely took off his coat and covered the dog's head while he opened the trap and removed the paw. That soothed the dog from the trauma and avoided the likelihood of having the dog bite him while he focused on opening the trap.
I'm sure you can think of folks who are opposed to trapping animals, whether wild or tame. The SPCA, animal rights activists, and possibly yourself. This helps us realize that in general all humans also are against getting caught in any kind of trap. Usually it hurts, we dislike the consequences, and we start trying to figure out how to avoid similar traps in the future.
But isn't it ironic that there are some traps we keep getting caught in; sometimes we don't even realize we're caught. For example we tend to feel safe and comfortable in going along with the crowd. But if we are like the majority and fear new things, we might refuse a new rabies vaccine from Louis Pasteur, and thereby fall into a deadly trap of unbelief.
Another trap is to compare ourselves with others and feel that "since I'm as good as the average Joe, I'm surely good enough to go to heaven." This trap avoids comparison with God Who requires me to be holy and righteous like He is, which can only happen when I ask His Son Jesus to be my savior and my righteous covering, which God then sees instead of my sin. Another of many unseen traps is the tendency to focus on physical things (like earning a living, accumulating possessions, and living like only material things matter) instead of living like spiritual things are more important. Sometimes a close brush with death gives a new perspective on how important spending time with others is. Priorities get turned topsy turvey, and folks enjoy getting free from their materialistic trap. Hopefully reading THINKABLES can help you escape otherwise hidden traps. Listening regularly to what Jesus told us, and letting Him lead us, is the sure way to avoid traps we might otherwise not even see until its too late.
Can you think of any politicians who could get elected as U.S. President by asking all Americans to get out their pocketbooks and pay "their fair share" of the national debt? Many of us would like to get debt-free, both nationally and individually. That's a good goal and ideal, but it seems a bit beyond the ability of even a Ross Perot to pull it off.
As it approaches income tax time, some of us may dream a little, about what it might be like to pay for needs and projects like: helping inner cities, the poor and homeless, and health research, with dollars that are currently used to pay interest on our national debt. With such resources, we certainly could do more with less citizen tax burden.
But some things are better served with more brainstorming for solutions, local level involvement and action, and implementation supplemented with volunteer time. A friend just sent me some "religious humor" by email, including the following: "The best thing possible for Christians, would be for them to be converted to Christianity." Indeed, could Ghandi and the Beetles have met genuine Christians during their seeking period, their lives and influence would have been very different. Similarly, could the works of love for Jesus Christ from His current day humble servants be multiplied, much more of the current "me generation" would be transformed from selfish grabbers, to selfless servants of others.
For example, many years ago when some of Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity began their service to the poor and dying in England, they were mistaken for Hippies. But this erroneous judgment, based on their poverty-level life style, soon gave way to thankfulness for their positive impact on an otherwise unreachable segment of humanity. Mother Teresa started by serving "the poorest of the poor" in Calcutta, India.
But through the years she summarized her ultimate experience of persons of poverty, as those with spiritual poverty, such as she found in New York City, paradoxically full of this world's material riches.
Back to our National Debt. An example of something monumental, yet currently without a visible Washington Monument. Certainly no single person could step forward and relieve this nation of individuals of this burden. Yet a much more staggering debt has plagued all nations through the ages. A whole generation died in the wilderness, bowed down under its oppression, not realizing the potential within them individually to escape its crushing burden. Without pardon from the crushing debt brought on by unbelief and substituting our ways for God's ways, we too will dry up, die, and blow away, without ever tasting victories, such as experiencing and passing on undeserved forgiveness, and unconditional love.
He who is forgiven much, loves much! We are less able to pay our individual sin debt, than we are able to individually pay off our national financial debt. We glimpse the enormity of that debt by the payment required; the death of God's own Son, and no answers from His Father to His cries. He was our substitute for the sin debt each of us could not pay. But many of us have tasted release from our debtor's prison, into a life of responsive freedom, love, and forgiveness. The prison door swung open when we accepted by faith, the costly gift of forgiveness, given to all who will take it for their own, through the voluntary love expression of Christ's death on the cross. If you can't tell it by the way we treat you, then PLEASE, shake us and wake us up!
Thanks. A kick in the pants is sometimes needed in this age of virtual reality, and of taking things for granted!
Searches for our identity occur almost everyday. For example, those who are under age, or look it, are apt to get the request, "ID Please." A drivers license with a picture usually satisfies them. And especially when security is involved, we find a variety of devices such as "Smart Cards," voice recognition systems, and badge readers which help assure that we really are who we claim to be, and that entry or access is restricted to only persons of authorized unique identity.
And when we are introduced to someone for the first time, very often a dialog like this ensues. "Hi Bill, I'm John." "Glad to meet you John, and what do you do?"
And later, as we approach mid-life, we search around for significance, and often feel life is passing us by. This can produce a mid-life identity crisis, e.g. "am I going to soon die without really achieving or experiencing anything special, or without leaving this world anything to remember me by?" Such panic may even cause us a worse identity crisis if we then do something dumb out of impatience or desperation.
We can conclude from these three common situations that: (1) our unique identity can be very important, (2) we often equate a lot of our identity with the work or job we do, and (3) a meaningful and deeply satisfying identity is often hard to come by. But if you stop to think about it, how would you really wish to be remembered? That is, what do you wish people would uniquely remember about you after you are gone?
Your job title? your income? your memberships? your home or family? What is your deepest (but maybe impossible) dream? to be a millionaire? To be a Mother Teresa? To help the world's hunger problems? To find a cure for Aids? To live in a specific section of town?
As is often the case, ironically deep satisfaction often comes to those courageous enough to give up their demands, control, and rights, and unclutch power, position, and possessions to such an extent that they no longer control us and we no longer serve them. For those willing to consider such a seemingly risky approach to meaningful identity, consider the ultimate example and pattern below.
Jesus left the glorious company of God the Father, and made Himself of no reputation, humbled Himself and obeyed His Father all the way through rejection by the duped crowd, to His lonely death on a cross, to pay for our sins, and allow us to be identified with Him. He was so self-assured, and identified so strongly with His Father, that He could successfully endure: religious leaders' continued efforts to trap Him in a contradiction or sin, to embarrass or belittle Him before the crowds with whom He was so popular, or when He was alone and vulnerable to kill Him. Finally they succeeded in stirring up the crowd to reject Jesus and free Barabbas, a murderer and insurrectionist, in spite of Pilate's pleas to let Jesus go, since both he and Herod found Him to be innocent.
His experience is the opposite of our Identity Crisis. And He pleads with us to identify ourselves with Him, to exchange the poverty of our lives with His riches of forgiveness and fellowship with Himself, the eternal and purpose-giving God. When we identify with Him, our search for significance is satisfied eternally, and we are made strong enough in our relation with Him, to also endure rejection by others.
At the joyous climax of a wedding ceremony, comes the removal of the veil. A wide variety of emotions and expressions may have occurred during the ceremony, such as: tears, difficulty in speaking, feeling faint, feeling on cloud 9, expression of personalized vows and lifelong commitment, panic if a ring couldn't be located, kneeling in humility, and rarely the bride striding around her husband in a circle of protection and blessing.
Everyone breaths a sigh of relief and best wishes, as the new groom lifts his bride's veil to reveal her beaming face and seal their union with a kiss. Then the new Mr. and Mrs. are proudly announced as they glowingly begin their new life together.
Probably today the bride's veil is worn with a sense of modesty and protection. But why did Moses choose to wear a veil when he came from 40 days and nights in God's presence on Mount Sinai? The people were terrified as the Lord revealed His glory to Moses out of the thick covering cloud which appeared to them like a consuming fire on the mountain top. Their fear persisted as Moses approached them, unaware that his radiant face was causing them fear and panic. So Moses began to put on a veil after he had spoken God's commands to the people, until he bravely went back into the Lord's presence without the veil.
This was a dramatic foretaste experience of some of God's glory. Much as the veil is lifted at the end of the wedding ceremony, at the very moment Jesus died on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for mankind's sin, God tore the heavy protective temple veil in two from top to bottom, opening a new and vital way into His holy presence, through faith in His Son's sin payment.
The critical issue for us now, is to individually discern whether a veil covers our hearts and minds, blocking out a glimpse of God's glorious gift of righteousness through our faith in Christ.
A true glimpse of Jesus Christ and His glory and grace can bring us freedom, new life, and forgiveness - the only way to remove the great burden and weight of sin which separates us from experiencing God's presence. For all who receive His free gift of life, Jesus' resurrection has stamped our sin debt "paid in full! " It's time to let Him remove the veil and start our brand new life together as His radiant bride.
There are many, many examples of ordinary variables which have the "Bell Shaped" or Normal Distribution curve of statistics. Right now I'm thinking about the variable and associated frequencies with which different people read, ignore, or create, instructions. For example: [Case 1] only a few folks read and follow instructions and patterns well (one tail of the distribution curve). [Case 2] The majority ONLY read instructions (or closely follow patterns) "when all else fails"
(the predominant center part of the Bell curve). And [Case 3] a few inventive spirits create their own instructions and patterns, like my wife during her great experiments with cooking and sewing (the other tail of the Bell curve). Guess which Case gets the shortest night's sleep on Christmas Eve after trying to put together their kid's gifts?
Its my guess that some of the Case 1 folks may look down on the others as not being as disciplined or intelligent as they are. They may be right, but it is definitely Case 3 folks who achieve much better results, with break-throughs, inventions, and paths and patterns.
Similar to the example just given, the majority of folks in the middle of the Bell curve also have the roughest time spiritually as illustrated by the following. The apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy that the main purpose of the written word (Bible) is to produce love in its readers and followers, which flows out of a pure heart, a pure conscience, and out of genuine faith. This written word describes the living Word Jesus, who showed us a precise pattern of God's love and patience as He actively helped meet the needs of ordinary needy people.
While a relatively few Case 1 folks find and follow Jesus, the Case 2 majority of us bang our heads against the wall, doing things our own way, until failure leads us back to Case 1. But the Case 3 folks fare the best, as they willingly yield their lives to God, as His Holy Spirit gives them new thoughts and ideas, and directs their focus on life's perfect pattern, Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son. He gives creativity and inspiration which includes "out of the box" results, like Einstein's Theory of Relativity, or Luther's 95 Theses, or Huss's songs in order to focus on His Lord and Savior, rather than on the extreme pain, as he was burned to death at the stake.
So how about you? Are you in step and feeling secure with the majority who continue to "do it my way" and miss the pattern God provided us at great expense? Or have you found the Pattern, whom to follow is to have eternal life? Jesus is both our pattern and example of following The Pattern since He said He ONLY did and said what He saw and heard His Father doing and saying! Or have you experienced the freedom, provision, unity, and preservation from sin which the Holy Spirit gives, as He also brings creative inspiration? His fruit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Such fruit ripens and sweetens only as we choose to follow God's Pattern. The absence of any of these nine fruit tells all who are correctable, that we're off track, ignoring the Pattern, taking the reigns into our own hands.
By now the cold war and the iron curtain have faded into the distant past. Along with them the word Perestroika, or re-structuring, may also have lost its familiar ring. But its American application has
only gained momentum, along with its associated terms like "mergers and acquisitions," "down-sizing," and "re-organization." These are all said to be quite necessary to be internationally competitive, and to show the expected bottom line "return on investment." Re-organization is sometimes said to be required for increased efficiency, effectiveness, and removal of duplicated resources, especially after a new business acquisition. Re-organization can also be applied in order to promise a major customer that "the new personnel will fix the old problems of the past." Such processes are becoming more and more commonplace, even though they can have serious effects on the morale of a company's most vital resources, its people.
During the cold war, most of us never dared to dream, hope, or pray for the degree of openness, opportunity, and freedoms that perestroika would one day release behind the former iron curtain. This shows truth can be stranger and better than any of our fictional musings, giving us clues and perspective with which to build an understanding of the un-imagined dynamic changes and improvements which can come into our own lives.
For example, most of us could not image the tumbling down of the Berlin wall. Similarly we don't have the capacity to grasp hold of spiritual insight and truth, until we have begun a brand new spiritual life. This new life only starts as we experience personal faith and we voluntarily invite Jesus to be our own savior from our sin which separates from fellowship with God. Jesus' approach to perestroika is different from the ways of men and governments. He doesn't re-organize or warm over our existing resource structure, or accept excuses about why we couldn't satisfy His standards of perfect righteousness in our past. Instead, He lets us see something of His love for us, behind the high cost He voluntarily paid for us, including humiliation, lack of understanding and respect, and finally a cruel and undeserved death payment for our sins on a Roman cross. Then He gives us the gift of new, eternal, spiritual life, which is the basis for experiencing fellowship with Him. This is one of those things not adequately describable by words - that has to be experienced to begin comprehension.
Faith in Christ is something like plugging an electrical appliance into an electric socket, believing that those unseen electrons will connect, flow through, and power the appliance to perform its designed function. Many of the steps we take each day are predicated on our belief in microscopic or atomic level processes which are partially explained by physics models; that is, we take these steps of faith that physical processes will behave tomorrow as we have experienced them in the past. A baby may misuse an electric socket and get a shock, and soon learn not to misuse it, and later experience repeated success at putting the electricity to beneficial work, even without understanding how or why it works. New life in Christ can begin by gaining a new view of what Jesus is really like, seeing the attractiveness of His love for us which motivated Him to die in our behalf, and the power that raised Him from the dead; then we plug into Him by faith in Him and His claims, as described above. I've never seen Jesus nor an electron, but I daily use computers because I've experienced that they work (sometimes). I've also invited Jesus to be my savior in 1955, and have continued to experience His new life at work in me, through the ensuing decades. You can too! Don't limit your faith to the physical. Be man or woman enough to experience His new spiritual life inside of you today.
In preparation for our Move to Bonham, I took the recommendation of a friend, and invited his "cleaning ladies" over. He had warned me to not leave things out because they not only clean everything, but they leave it all organized and filed (exactly where is sometimes a riddle). They actually attack the house, move everything (e.g. light bulbs attached to our fans), clean everything, and no dirt or grime escapes.
Key challenges to me were our stove, with hidden cakes of black grimy grease below, and our shower floor, which I had unsuccessfully tried to clean several times. Nothing was too challenging for them to restore to sparkle and sweet scent. They didn't even hesitate to jump in and clean windows, inside and out.
The next evening we invited a Realtor over to plan our sale. He remarked about our very clean house, and was amazed that the 16 year old original carpet still looked so good. So the clean house results made a very winsome impression on the occupants, as well as it's visitors.
When I became a Christian as a freshman at Rice Institute in Houston, Texas, one of the first booklets I read is "My heart - Christ's home" by Robert Boyd Munger from Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship publishers. It tells of his experience of welcoming Jesus Christ into his heart and life; of the fellowship that developed, and how he began to gradually open up each room of his life to make Jesus feel at home there. In the process a lot of changes were made, many things had to go, especially the rotten, putrid, secret stuff in the hall closet.
When we ponder the eternal, perfect God, we quickly realize we are extremely resource limited. His way and thoughts are not ours, and we can only know Him by the faith and spiritual insight which is His gift to those willing to know Him. As He provides a glimpse of His perfection and glory, the spotlight quickly shines by comparison on our unclean lives. Peter said to Jesus after being astounded at the results of obeying Him, "go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man." Isaiah saw God being worshipped in His glory and fell down saying, "Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips."
The Bible is right when it says that to truly come into God's presence is an awesome and fearful thing. The process may take awhile, but the transformation of our lives, when Jesus comes into our lives and begins to clean house is even more dramatic in its before and after results, as when the "cleaning ladies" came to our house. He never forces Himself into any life or room in our life; but once invited in, He transforms it into a beautiful winsome room. Visitors can certainly tell the difference too. The aroma sweetly draws, rather than repels or offends.
How can you and others know that this has really happened? It starts only when you welcome Him to take over your life as your Lord and Savior. Experiencing His forgiveness of your sins, transforms your attitude toward others from demands and expectations, to treating them with the same kind of love and forgiveness you received. Your desire becomes for others to get to know your new best friend too.
Who was your best buddy during your school years? When is the last time you've been together? I saw a lot of buddies at my 35th High School Reunion for Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. My wife even cautiously attended with me, wound up having a wonderful time, and began wondering when her high school would have their next reunion.
But even if you haven't seen your "best buddy" for a long time, you can still remember some of your good times together. For many, your mate is your best friend now. But just how comfortable do we get in the company of our companions? For example, an old book, "The Ugly American" showed that many of us can get spoiled, arrogant, self-centered, and self-satisfied to the extent that we are oblivious to the way people in other countries of the world view us as out of touch, and uncaring about their problems. The more material things we have, the easier it often becomes to "pull in to a self-centered club or inner circle of comfort" which gets out of touch with the rest of the world. We all want an easier life with comfort, but we need to become aware of the associated price we can pay to gain that comfort.
A friend of mine has spent one week each of the last two years in Barranquilla, Columbia, despite the travel and drug culture warnings I sent him from the Internet. In the U.S. he leads a youth group, and says that he has to entertain them first, just to get their attention to
consider their need to experience God in their lives. By contrast, in Columbia and Bolivia, he has seen a great hunger and openness where people are eager to hear about God and welcome Him into their lives. So a cloistered environment with a relatively large supply of material things, can actually be a hazard, as follows.
We all know the story of the Emperor without clothes or anyone to tell him the truth. How similar are we to this situation? Do our material possessions, our quest for a comfortable and secure lifestyle, and our closest circle of friends at work and home, help or hinder us from getting a different view of our life, such as how someone from a third world country would see us? If you have traveled to a third world country and seen their living conditions, I know you discovered a new appreciation of the U.S. when you returned.
Jesus warned us to "be ever on the alert and always on our guard against every form of greed, because a man's life does not consist in his possessions, even though they are abundant." He reserved the word "fool" for the person who piles up possessions for himself, and is not rich toward God. Then He succinctly "hit the nail on the head" when He concluded that "your heart will always be where your riches are."
Jesus knocks at our heart's door, offering true riches of friendship forever, deeper and more dependable than we can imagine, based on His own life's blood payment for our sins, so that nothing can stand in the way of our fellowship together. Are you still clutching onto your hard earned possessions, and comfortable circle of friends, or are you willing to risk loosening your grip on them enough to grab hold of Him and start experiencing fulfillment, purpose, and direction with Someone who will never let you down? Or are you too self satisfied to consider the whisper than the emperor has no clothes? You current friends may never tell you. But Jesus already risked everything and chose to give His life for you, independent of your choice.
If you can picture in your mind your very best relationship, at its peak period, that will help you prepare for the following. Long ago, on an apparent spec of dust, out in a modest galaxy, under the beaming of a nearby star, lived two creatures of exquisite physical beauty. But these features were surpassed by their extraordinary thinking, feeling, and volitional capabilities. Their minds were sharp, quick, perceptive, intuitive, and innocent. Their emotions were open, honest, expressive, and unashamedly reflected how they felt. Their will was remarkably strong in purpose, direction and commitment to each other and to their Master, with an equally strong desire to willingly love and serve the other.
Their surroundings were equally lovely, including lush gardens, vegetation, and trees. Enough to make today's horticulture professor turn "green" with envy. Only one centrally located variety was "off limits," to protect their obedience and innocence, and their quality of life.
One day as the female approached this forbidden variety, her mind first questioned, and then quickly affirmed, this prohibition. But another strong thought pierced her mind that the experiencing of this forbidden fruit might be so exhilarating and wonderful as to expand her knowledge even to the same level as their gracious Master.
Quickly her emotions joined in affirmative expectation of how delicious the fruit would taste, and how exhilarating would be this mind expanding experience. She naturally wanted the male to accompany her in this delightful new experience. So his mind and emotions quickly joined in excited co-participation in this wonderful new experience (which so blatantly violated the commitment of their wills). The individual will of both male and female remained remarkably silent in the rush of their excited rational and emotional experience.
Immediately a sharp pang of conscience reminded them of the violation of their previously strong willful trust and commitment. They had traded in their Master's provisions of a perfect environment, and perfectly balanced qualities of mind, will, and emotions, by letting their mind and emotions totally block the input of their will.
Shame, blame, and cover-up; in fact, just the inverse of all their previously beautiful qualities, immediately sprang forward to control them, as though their prior bliss had never existed. They hid from their Master and pointed accusing fingers as they quickly discovered the attribute of self defense. The male blamed the female, and the female originated the popular phrase, "The Devil made me do it."
As another act of mercy, their Master expelled them from their lush garden, to eliminate the possibility for them to eat from the "tree of life" and live forever in this perverse and corrupt state. The fruit of their newly acquired behavior was soon repeated as one of their sons also defied the words of the Master, and then angrily killed his brother who chose to obey his Master. So far this bitter fruit of the rebellion has continued through all their generations, including millions of thoughts and actions of murder.
But much later, at the apex of this rebellion, the Master sent His own and only Son to restore their relationship with Him. He gave everyone since then a clear picture of these beautiful and perfect qualities of the Master. He showed future generations a glimpse of the delight their ancestors had originally experienced. His will was to love and please His Father, and His will channeled tremendously beautiful and positive fruit flowing from His mind and emotions which lined up with His will.
He even willingly obeyed His Father Who asked Him to offer His perfect life as a necessary and acceptable sacrifice to pay for the rebellion and breaking trust, for all who would reach out by faith, accept the sacrifice, and submit their own will, mind and emotions back into His care and provision.
Today, are you continuing your ancestor's rebellious clenched-fist march, or are you strong and humble enough of will to restore fellowship with your perfect Master. He waits patiently, silently grieving over all who suffer the consequences of trading in perfect fellowship which comes from trust and obedience, for the lie that disobeying the Master brings improvement. Yours is the opportunity to exactly reverse the experiment of your ancestors, and by accepting the sacrifice made by the Son, experience mental, emotional, and brand new spiritual qualities you've never known before.
A long time ago, there was a rather plain and homely you boy named Jim, who was placed in an orphanage. Although the food and shelter sustained him, he soon took on some of the characteristics of the older boys there. A few years later his older brother got to come for a visit, and was shocked at the "rough and tumble" habits his brother had picked up from his surroundings. But the younger brother insisted he hadn't changed. He was just living a "survival" life as "one of the boys" at the orphanage.
In a few more years, a very poor and humble family visited the orphanage. They had lost their only son in an accident, and asked if Jim could come to live as an adopted son in their family. Jim felt immediately that their love and simple ways would serve him well. And he was right. They had a few rules which he thoroughly tested, before he learned that he was a lot happier, healthier, and safer by paying close attention to them.
When he was old enough to leave his new home to seek independence and establish his own home, his older brother got to come for another visit. Once again he was shocked at his brother's demeanor. He even had to test Jim's memory of their early life together to assure himself this was really Jim.
Bathed in a consistent, daily glow of loving discipline, kindness, forgiveness, grace and respect, he had soon learned that his adopted parents sought only his good. Early on he had broken their hearts on several occasions as he mimicked the behavior he had learned from the orphanage. But gradually he ungrasped his selfish, insecure demands, his self-defensiveness, and his survival techniques of making himself look good by putting others down. His new parents' examples taught him that he experienced real freedom and growth when he freely gave of himself to others, to truly treat them with love, respect, and service, just as his new parents treated him.
We too have a more similar background to Jim than we may realize. If we never experience such adoption for ourselves, we will feel like we're just as good as anyone else, just "one of the boys" in a daily survival mode. But there is One who knows our potential is infinitely greater, and He is grieved at the habits we form in travels through the "orphanage" of this world.
In H