A Focused Resolve

It is always interesting to hear what people are making resolutions about as the New Year is just around the corner. I have been guilty of making some difficult if not weird resolutions in the past. Like the following:

1. I resolve to win the lottery and if I do I’ll give most of it to my friends, family and charity.
2. I resolve to live in my own little world, because at least they know me here.
3. I resolve to not make any resolutions, because nobody is perfect.

I ran across a place on the Internet where you can make your new year’s resolutions online, and they will email you a monthly reminder of what your resolutions are. What I found interesting was seeing what resolutions people were making for 2012. Not surprisingly, exercise and dieting topped the list. Also near the top were things like becoming a better person and a better spouse.

How can we move beyond just making resolutions and begin creating solutions for our lives? We do it by working on the core issues of our lives instead of just making cosmetic changes. We have to go to beyond the symptoms to the source of our problems. Losing weight may only be a symptom of the core issue of a lack of self-control in your life (around which there may be many other symptoms).

Perhaps you are using food to sedate yourself. Controlling your drinking may only be a symptom of the fact that you are looking for something to deaden the pain and disappointment in your life, instead of finding your comfort and strength in God. Controlling your anger may only be a symptom of a deeper need you have to control life and the people in it with your rage. We need to focus on the core issues rather than the present problem.

We need to focus on personal development. I am talking about something more here than running out and getting yourself a new abs exerciser so you can get ripped abs. You can be the perfect weight and have a perfect body, and still miss the point of what it means to be a human being. You can read all the self-improvement books on the shelves of Grace Family Church’s Bookstore “The Source”, and still be out of control. You can be the best educated person in the world, and still be clueless about how to live life.

You might know a lot about a broad range of subjects, and still be ignorant when it comes to things that are ultimately and eternally important. You may have all the right investments and be set for life financially, but be bankrupt spiritually.

You cannot have victory and freedom in your life if you are holding some things back from God’s control. It isn’t going to happen. If you are saying, “I will obey God in everything except this,” you are blocking God’s work in your life. This is not so much personal development as it is allowing God to do a work in you.

Paul realized this when he wrote: “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

But then he answers his own question when he says, “Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:21-25. It is through Christ that we are delivered from our own wretchedness — not our own effort.

But what if you have failed so many times before that you have given up even trying? Take seriously the words of Paul when he wrote: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:12-14.

Forget the past with its failure, and press on toward the future where God has called you. Every day is a new beginning with God. We need to focus on building relationships. None of us can survive this world alone. Nobody gets out alive anyways! We were not created to live in isolation. There are no spiritual superheroes that can live isolated and insulated lives. There is no such thing as an army of one. We all know that the loner who needs no one else, and saves the world singlehandedly, is the stuff of movies only.

“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone” Romans 14:7.

The church is not an organization, it is an organism. When we are together, God meets us in ways that he does not meet us when we are alone.
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” Matthew 18:20.

We need to focus on a life of service. One of the great tragedies of the world is people who live only for themselves. Their whole world centers around them. Everything is measured on how it affects them. The only effort they put forth is on things which will benefit them. Their focus is on getting instead of giving. They want to be served rather than serve. But the mark of true disciples of Jesus Christ is people who want God to use their lives.

Is your life being prepared for works of service?

God has created me, to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission — I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in heaven. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do well, I shall do his work. Therefore, I will trust him. I cannot be thrown away.

You have a part to play in God’s plan for the world.

Focus on it.

A Wallet full of Regret

I lost my wallet once. So I got on my hands and knees and started looking. A man walked up and asked me if I had lost something. I simply replied, “Yes, I lost my wallet.”

He asked me where I lost it (Really?).

I told him I lost it down the street a bit.

He then asked, “Well, why you looking over here then?”

Because the light is better!

I know, goofy joke, right? I told it to set the stage for my blog. I have things in my life which I have hid (lost on purpose) and regret. I know where/what they are but like the wallet, I choose not to look at them. I am afraid to look over there for fear of bringing up a past pain or conflict and dealing with regret.

I know my previous post spoke of Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” but there is more I need to say on this. How would you like to be visited by the ghost of your past? How would you like to go back and relive your sins, your mistakes, the foolish choices that changed your life?

How would you like to be forced to watch helplessly, knowing what the outcome is going to be, unable to do anything to change the result, feeling the sharp pain of regret at not having taken the other path, or at least wondering what would have happened had your choices been different?

Don’t you sometimes wish you could go back and talk to yourself at those key moments, talk to that person in the movie of your life, warn them, tell them where the road they’re taking will lead?

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. - 2 Corinthians 7:10

Sorrow over sin can by healthy, up to a point. It can help us learn from our mistakes so that we don’t repeat them. But regret is anything but helpful; it’s destructive and debilitating. It allows the sins and mistakes of the past to reach out and poison our present. And if it’s not handled appropriately, it will just lead to more wrong choices and more regret, a vicious cycle.

Regret is also unhealthy when it leads to an attitude of hopelessness. "What difference does it make? I’ve already messed up. Regret can also lead to apathy, paralysis; an unwillingness to seek God’s blessing -- in our marriage, our family, our job, our ministry.

We don’t have to be paralyzed by regret, we don’t have to let it rob us of the joy and hope that God has promised us as our birthright in Christ.

Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. - John 10:10
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. - John 15:11

Those promises of abundant life and joy are for all the followers of Christ, and not just those who have never made a serious error in judgment or who have never committed a major sin. Those promises are for every one of Christ’s disciples, whatever their background, whatever sins or mistakes their past may contain.

Many people think that God has one perfect plan for their lives. As long as they stay in that plan by walking in obedience, and seeking His guidance for major decisions, they will enjoy God’s best. But if at any point they "mess up" badly enough, by sinning or by not seeking His guidance, or by making a foolish decision, then they are out of God’s plan, and they can never again enjoy His full blessing on their lives.

All of your sins and mistakes that you thought were detours, exit ramps from God’s plan for your life were in reality a part of His plan. You are right now, and always have been, precisely in the center of God’s plan for your life. There was never a possibility that it would be otherwise.

What was the greatest sin in history? The worst thing that any person or group of people ever did? How about murdering the Son of God? How about putting to death the most righteous and holy man ever to walk the earth?

And yet, as supremely evil and wicked as that act was, the Bible tells us that it did not thwart God’s plan. In fact, it was a part of God’s plan.

If the greatest sin in history was part of God’s sovereign plan, then your sins are included in that plan too. Your sin has not thwarted God’s plan for your life. God’s purposes are eternal, from before time. His purposes for the world are eternal, and His purposes for you and me are eternal. They don’t change. They aren’t altered or voided because of our sins or our bad choices.

The story of your life has not been ruined, not by your sin or anyone else’s. God’s good plan for your life is not buried under the mistakes of the past. God has a plan for your life, a good plan, a wise plan, a loving plan, a sovereign plan, and that plan is still in effect. You haven’t missed it. He is working out that plan in your life right now, today.

Will you believe that?

By the way, I found my wallet!

Bah-Humbug!

I just finished watching “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens for the millionth time. This was the version that Jim Carrey played in but not my favorite. I’ve always enjoyed the Muppet’s version.

I always liked saying, Bah-Humbug! This Carol, has a Spiritual aspect but not like “Casper the friendly ghost” spiritual but like Holy Spirit spiritual beginnings.

It begins at the same place where Scrooge did – with a convicting spirit that comes to us in our self-centered lives to show us that change needs to happen. We all have come from our own Christmas past and we have been reminded by the visiting Spirit of what has gone before. The Ghost of Christmas Past that appeared to old Ebeneezer Scrooge could well be compared to the visitation in your heart of the Holy Spirit.

If you will remember, it is Scrooge’s old partner, Jacob Marley, who comes to him first to warn him that he is going to be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas. Marley has already met his doom. In effect what we can see here is that Scrooge is given something that is still offered to every one of us if we will heed God’s Word and listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He speaks to us. Change!

What was coming to Scrooge was really going to be good news, but he surely did not recognize it as good news in the beginning. His first reaction was one of refusal to. He was very resistant to the leading of the Ghost of Christmas Past and was finally forced to look into the past to see how far he had fallen.

When the Holy Spirit comes to us, it does so in much the same fashion as the Ghost of Christmas Past came to old Mr. Scrooge. Sometimes, before we can hear the good news of what God has done for us, we first need to hear the bad news. It’s only in hearing the bad news that we can truly hear what the good news has to say, embrace it and then desire to make a change.
In both the Story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and your story, the goal is the same: It’s all about redemption; bringing you back into a right relationship with men and with God while there is time. Once life is over; it’s too late then. The change must happen now, by choice.

As Scrooge is confronted with the man that he truly is, he doesn’t like what he sees. He has had his head stuck in his books; and his mind focused only on making money for so long that he doesn’t see the real world around him. He has become uncaring, cynical and angry at life.

As you go through life do you see those in need around you, or do you choose to ignore them and keep moving on? Do we ignore those who are truly needy; pass them by without even a nod; and go on our merry way without compassion?

What about those that we pass by every day in the malls and the department stores? How many of them are lost in sin? How many are just putting on an outward appearance of having fun but down deep inside they are hurting?

How many are lonely and discouraged but we don’t have time to try to lift them up or tell them about the love of Jesus? Perhaps we need a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present. Perhaps we need a visitation of the Holy Ghost in our hearts to remind us that we are here not only for ourselves, but to reach out to others in need and to share a little kindness and show them the Love of God.

Man has ever searched for ways to know the future, to see what is ahead; to make changes to avoid the dangers, or take advantage of opportunities that may come. Psychic Hotlines, Fortune Tellers, Palm Readers, and other mediums are sought after continually that we can know the future. Some of the most well-known people in America have sought out the services of fortune tellers and spiritual advisors; and many of those advisors need spiritual guidance themselves.

We don’t need fortunetellers and psychics. We have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. The Bible already tells us what’s coming in this world. Whatever comes in the future, God already has a path of victory laid out for those who will follow Him. All of the Spirits of Christmas that visited Mr. Scrooge came with the same purpose in mind – to give him an opportunity to change.

That’s what the Holy Spirit and the Word of God does for us as well. The Bible contains stories of people who waited just a little too long to make the change. Because of the hardness of their hearts, men were cast into the fiery pits, and remain there today and forever, simply because they waited one day too long to heed the warnings that God sent to them.

I doubt that any of you will see three Spirits this Christmas. There will be no Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present or Christmas Future to shake you and awaken you to face reality. But I have no doubt that you will be visited by the Holy Spirit because He never quits trying to reach us. The Holy Spirit will reveal to you how far you have fallen from God. The Word of God will show you how far you are from being a perfect man. And both the Spirit and the Word will point you to the only path to a second chance for a new life.

2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."

It’s not where you’ve been; it’s not where you are; but it’s where you’re going from here that really matters; so why not go into the future with Jesus?

(Tiny Tim: “God Bless us, everyone!”)

JOE

I was reading in Mathew, like I normally do when Christmas time comes around. I love reading about the birth of Jesus at this time of the year. As I was reading in Mathew 2, I realized, there is what we might call the forgotten man of Christmas whose influence we need to make everything work. Joseph is the forgotten and ignored man of Christmas.

Yet, Joseph models for us the kind of sensitivity God wants us to develop to hearing his voice.

Think about this, Joseph was engaged to be married to a pretty young lady named Mary. She’s the kind of young lady he can commit his whole life to; she’s godly; quietly submissive; has a good testimony and she’s dedicated to him. Then the bomb drops as Joseph finds out some shattering news …Mary is pregnant!

Now that news is bad enough even when you are the unmarried father of the earlier than expected new baby! But it’s shattering news when you discover that it’s not your baby and even worse when the bride to be is saying, “I’ve been faithful to you all along”! This is where Joseph’s sensitivity to God saves the day!

Sensitivity to God is what saves men and women in the midst of life’s sometimes horribly confusing circumstances. Joseph could have been mad, angry, upset and even ready to do Mary or himself violence.

Now think about this, there is a battle raging on two fronts at once. On one hand Joseph has a young lady on his arm every day in the market place.

As they walked along the roads of Galilee going to a friend’s house for dinner or something like that, who is pregnant! He is beginning to notice the groups of people standing together and talking while they look in his direction! He is no doubt dubbed the sucker of Galilee, ‘poor guy, he’s going to marry Mary who is pregnant to another guy!”

But on the other front here is a battle that is raging in his heart as God speaks to him in that still small voice that says trust Me in this Joseph and everything will work out! You see God builds on our breakthroughs to lead us on to greater challenges.

Now as the confusion begins to ease up, Joseph has heard the angelic choir; seen the adoring shepherds; been visited by wise men and met Simeon the prophet in the temple. And as he is recovering from the whole scene there at the Barn, God calls upon his sensitivity once again.

Mathew 2: 13 - Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word;

Are you kidding me? Now he has to leave town again and go to Egypt! When we look at Joseph what we see is a man who has patience in discovering the will of God. For Joseph the call of God meant going down into Egypt, a place every spiritual and God fearing Jew understood as outside the will of God.

For Joseph it meant bearing reproach; being a foreigner; living as an outcast and being scorned. Does that sound anything like the will of God you’re called to today? The truth is that if you’re doing the will of God you’re not going to completely fit in!

Joseph role was temporary but in this he was able to see the eternal! Joseph gives every one of us an example to follow because although his role is temporal His influence is eternal.

Don’t underestimate your place in the eternal plan of God for your life.

You may appear in God’s great plan for a moment but your influence could last for eternity!

Some Pastors…

A few months ago, I had a dream. The reason I remember this dream is because I have so few of them. In this dream I was at church and the men in white suits were leading me away. I was in a strait jacket and I was just babbling away. As I got into the vehicle, I heard one of the Pastors say, “I’m going to miss Paul, he volunteered for everything!”

I truly believe God was trying to tell me if I volunteered too much…again, I would go crazy! If this were true - that being “too involved” is what makes people “crazy” - then every Pastor of every congregation in the land would need to be outfitted with straightjackets.

Of all the people within a church, the Pastor is often THE most committed and involved of any. If this was true, then many of you reading this would be irritable and difficult to be around, because you are highly committed to serving God. It’s been my experience that the “more involved” a person is in ministry, the more satisfied and fulfilled that person is - not the other way around.

Yet, people do get frustrated serving God. Sometimes it’s because they are faced with difficult circumstances, or difficult people, or a shortage of resources. But even those frustrations can be overcome if God’s people understand two things: Who they are, and why they are doing what they do.

1 Peter 2:5 "...you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

You and I are Pastors for God. Peter was not the only one to tell us that. John wrote in Revelation: Jesus “… has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father…” (Revelation 1:6) Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus were born, that under the New Covenant you and I would “be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God...” (Isaiah 61:6)

And now because we are priests of God, we have a right to handle the holy things of God. We have the privilege of coming before God in prayer. We have the right to touch and partake of communion. We have the right to baptize others into Christ. We have the responsibility of knowing and teaching the Word of God. PLUS we have no need for anyone other than Jesus to intercede for us before God.

Last week, I went into the Sanctuary Men’s Bathroom and saw a peculiar site. There were 4 men washing their hands at the same time. That’s a miracle! (I’m kidding here) What amazed me was when all 4 men finished washing their hands, they took paper towels and wiped around the sink. They cleaned up the overspray of water from washing their hands.

Why did these people act this way? They were acting like adults. This was their church and as far as they were concerned, when something had to be done there, they saw it as their responsibility – not the janitor’s, not youth minister’s not the Pastor’s – but theirs.

As a church we’ll only attain our full strength when as many of us as possible realize we are Pastors of God. When we realize that as God’s ministers that jobs need to be done – and we’re the ones to do them. And when we realize that we are called by God to work together (Ephesians 4 ) so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

That word ‘together’ reminds me of a story I once heard. In a Sunday school, they were teaching about Church. One of the little boys in class only had one arm. The teacher led them in the age old hand gesture of, “Here is the church and here is the steeple”. The teacher, realizing the attention it would bring to the little boys disability, quickly glanced in his direction. At that very moment, a little girl sitting next to the boy looked at him and said, “Let’s Build the Church together!”

Let’s build and maintain the Church together!

Stormy Weather

During my time in the Navy, I was given the opportunity to go to Israel. Although it was a Temporary Assignment of Duty, I was able to spend 3 months there. While there, I stayed for a week in a tourist town called Tiberius. For you geography buffs, this town sits on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This was an experience that I had been hoping for since I became a Christian.

The Sea of Galilee really isn’t a Sea though. It’s more of a very big lake. It’s freshwater, about 13 miles long and 8 miles wide and surrounded by mountains. It’s fed by Natural Springs and the Jordan River. Being surrounded by Mountains, it has very serious and sudden storms.

Kind of like Christians, storms will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. There are storms that come affecting your families, your flesh, and your finances. There are many forces to be reckoned with when the storms come. The lightning, the winds blowing, and the flooding waters are all forces that come with the storm.

The Force of the Storm May Discourage You. I have often found myself discouraged when in the midst of the storm. The disciples were certainly discouraged in thinking that Jesus was asleep, and did not at all care about the storms. Likewise, as you are going through your storms, the devil will whisper that the Lord is nowhere around. HE LIES!

The Force Of The Storm Can Drain You. The force of the storm can weigh heavy on you, bringing despair. You will begin to think that the winds will never quit blowing. HAVE PATIENCE!

The Force Of The Storm Can Defeat You. When you are thinking about giving up, be like David when he said, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.” Psalm 46:1-3.

The Force Of The Storm Can Determine You. Back to the Navy, the Drill Instructors were very tough on us; we ran for miles; did hundreds of pushups and sit ups; did close order drill for hours and when we finished that… we did it again. Why? They were making us strong and tough! The Lord also lets us go through storms to toughen us up for spiritual warfare. Some of the strongest people that I have met are those who have constantly been exposed to the storms of life.

There is a natural fear the come with the storms of life. In Mark chapter 4, these disciples were afraid because they were not trusting. They forgot that the Lord had said; Let us pass over unto the other side. He did not say, Let us get to the middle of the lake and sink. They simply did not trust the Lord when this great storm came.

Because Of Unbelief, They Were Afraid Of The Potential Dangers. When the Lord said, “Peace, be still”, He was using a word that He used to rebuke the demons. This gives indication that this storm was no ordinary storm, but one sent by Satan. I have been in storms that could certainly be described as Satanic in origin. You can sense that it is just that. When these kinds of storms come, you must guard your mind, because you will begin imagining all kinds of things taking place.

Hebrews 11:6 we are told, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for him that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded of them that diligently seek him.”

Trusting God is so vital, and when you are going through your most difficult storm, you must trust him more. Have faith in God. Those who were with Jesus were fearful because they were faithless. There is a no more difficult journey for the believer than when he begins to travel by sight rather than by faith. As we sail upon the sea of life, even when the tempest is raging, we must trust Him, he’s the Captain of the ship!

When we are really believing the Lord, we are on a journey that involves trusting the Master of the ship come what may.

You may be going through your storm at this very moment.

TRUSTING IN GOD is the only answer!

Pushing the Rock

I spoke of a class I took in the Navy concerning leadership training in a previous blog. One of the training sessions was centered on this huge rock in front of the training building. Our Instructor gave us a direct order one morning as a learning situation. Our task? Every morning we were to “push the rock”.

Sound silly? We thought so to but we did what we were ordered to. We had talked in length about this task. The consensus was, “we were trying to move the rock, however small a distance (it was a big rock!)”. We started measuring the rock from the steps of the building to see if we had moved it at all.

As we were getting near to the end of the course, the instructor asked us what we thought of the rock session. We told him we didn’t understand it one bit, the rock never moved and nothing positive came of the session. He simply stated, “I didn’t ask you to move the rock, I asked you to push it. I wanted you to work as a team but also realize, as a leader, you will give orders that may seem impossible but also may have another purpose behind them”.

God’s lesson in “pushing the rock” is he only gives us one small task at a time. Often we seek education, power, popularity, ambition, we long to see more than we see, and feel more than we can feel. We see people with the circular problems, always back to the same place, and we see very little real change.

Sometimes, God doesn’t want us to see the “Big Picture” because it may overwhelm us into thinking it’s impossible. Yet, in Luke it says, “What’s impossible for man is possible for God.” So what’s the plan?

God has a plan for your life and a plan for my life. We can abide by His plan or we can by-pass it and do what we want to do. The problem with doing our own thing or following our own plan is we will have to suffer the consequences.

If we are inpatient and choose to leave God out of our lives, we are headed for disaster. On the other hand, if we consult God concerning our issues, asking him to guide us according to his will, listening to his response, and then patiently waiting for his plan to kick into action, we will be in for a victory.

God always has a plan by which he works. That plan is not on the same timetable as ours. In other words, God puts his plan into action when it is the right time. We are aware of this because many times we have prayed and asked God to give us something or help us get something and it did not happen. It did not happen because it was not in God’s plan for us at that time.

During your lifetime recall the times you asked God to help you get that promotion or that particular job or position. How about the time you wanted to buy a certain house and the deal did not go through.
Remember your high school days and you had your eye on a certain young man or young lady, but a relationship never developed and you couldn’t understand why.

Sometimes, you just have to push the rock for a while. God is working as your pushing the rock, your muscles are developing, your stretching ligaments and tendons and your focusing on the task at hand. To be a spiritual warrior in God’s Kingdom you have to be in shape, you have to prepare yourself daily and you have to understand where you are to go to the next place.

Even as God gives you tasks or sessions in your life there may not be an apparent reason or result. God’s plan may be to develop and train you for the next task or session in your life. What you are doing now may have no rhyme or reason to you, but it does to God!

So don’t give up “pushing the rock!”

Falling Down

You ever here the rhyme, “Ashes to Ashes, we all fall down”? I remember playing this game and when we did our " Ashes, ashes, we all fell down.” we collapsed giggling, on the ground. We all fell down.

One explanation of this little nursery game is that it refers to the plague that hit London with such ferocity in the 17th Century. Perhaps it refers to the fact that the disease was so contagious that if you were in a group where someone sneezed, likely before long all in the group would fall down and die. I don’t know about that; but I do know that there is a contagion more powerful than the plague. There is a sickness that infects us all, and from which all will die. It’s called sin. As in all have sinned. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Yet, last week, I didn’t want anybody to know I sin; that I’m not perfect; that Paul has a weakness (or two) nobody wants to hear that and nobody wants to acknowledge how deep that goes? We do not want to see the all-ness of sin. All have sinned; ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Look at King David; he had every reason to push his sin under the royal carpets, because the confidence of his people would be shaken if the truth were to come out. David had every reason to deny his sinful style of life, for there was already rebellion brewing in the heart of at least one of his sons. David needed to cover up this sin.

But he could not. He could not because Nathan the prophet saw through the sham and the shame and pronounced, "You are the man." You are the one who stole and plundered and killed. And David, once caught, issued no press releases, hid behind no attorneys, put out no excuses. David fell on his face and cried out, from the depths of his being, "Have mercy on me, O God. Have mercy on me."

This past week, I fell down. Instead of falling on my knees and confessing my sin, I ran away! I quickly shut the world out and blamed the world for my sin. That’s how we are sometimes though, we prefer to look for someone or something else to blame and hide our shame. This didn’t start with us though, I blame Adam!

The Lord said to Adam, "Why did you eat this forbidden fruit?" and Adam said, "The woman" gave it to me, and then went even farther … "the woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit." It’s not really my fault, it’s her fault, and beyond that, it’s your fault, Lord, because you should not have put her there in the first place! So do we attempt to escape our singular responsibility for our actions?

Sin is not just breaking rules; sin is not just violating laws or bending commandments. Sin is that posture of pride that puts self on the pedestal and preens and prances (by the way, I gave up preening and prancing). Sin is a denial of who God is.

What we do is no private matter; it is not even just an interpersonal matter. It has a divine dimension. What we do and who we are is of concern to the one who made us. He knows and he cares, and more than that, He is hurt when we try to dislodge His place. It not only hurts God but it also hurts your friends. I hurt God and my friends this week when I ran.

I’m sure some of us think of ourselves as very small fish in a tiny little pond, and that what we are about has very little consequence. But I tell you that in the economy of God there are no small fish, there are only His sons and daughters of infinite worth. And therefore His heart is broken when we let malice or hatred, prejudice or shame, or any such thing, takes us over.

Ashes to Ashes… and yes, we all fall down.

But out of the ashes of shame Christ rose. Out of the falling into sin He brings us.

Thank you Jesus!

Don’t look at me

This message was brought to me by a few friends of mine in small group. When it was stated, “Paul, we can see by your face that there is some conflict in your mind.” Now I know God is in my heart because of the words I speak and my actions towards others. The words we speak are evidence to what is on our hearts. But what’s the deal with my face?

Okay, I have been told I don’t smile enough….let’s not go there. Yet it’s not just facial but body language as well. The way we use our bodies to communicate is very powerful. Many of us, even though we say one thing, express something quite different with our bodies. Body language is a means of communication through body movements or gestures. Folding arms, a leaning posture, or a squinted face all portray a message without use of words.

If it is true that “what you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say,” then what are you and I saying to Christ with our bodies? Most of us can talk a great game. We know the right words to say. We’ve mastered the right formulas. But our body language has the power either to confirm or to deny what we have spoken.

In John 7:24 we read “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

But regardless of this warning, the majority of the people pass judgment based on appearances. The majority of people allow themselves to be led by first impressions, be it positive or negative, and these influence their attitude and behavior toward others.

So then how do we keep from being deceived if we can’t go by appearances?
Matthew 7:16-20 we read “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

There are many people in this world that appear to be something that they are not. People that disguise themselves by wearing masks of religions, and that speak eloquent and fancy words. There is but one way for us to distinguish these types of persons from the rest, there is but one way that we can prevent from being deceived.

The way is to examine the fruits that they produce. In other words, although our first impression may be good or bad, although the appearance of a group or individual is good or bad, as true Christians we have to learn to wait on God.

We are called to love, and many will say that this is a great disadvantage, but it is not how many say or think. The love of Christ is our advantage because when a person genuinely loves God’s work; when a person genuinely loves his neighbor as he loves himself, then we are speaking about a person that will look further than the appearance.

We have to examine ourselves carefully because if we find that we are criticizing, envying, and hating, then we must recognize that we are not bearing good fruits. If we are not allowing our life to reflect the love, grace, and mercy of God, then we have to recognize that we are not bearing good fruits. If our life is plagued by disagreements, resentments and disobedience, then we have to recognize that we are not bearing good fruits.

There is no conflict in my mind or heart; I am just thinking things through.

Appearances can be deceiving, let’s be very careful that we may not be deceiving ourselves.