Treasure Pots, Chamber Pots!

Three years ago  whatever illusions I had about being invincible, disappeared when I had to go through a major surgery to remedy a problem that would have otherwise ended my life!  It was a kind of moment that changes a person. Far from being a grim experience, it remains an enlightening one.  I took two things away from it.

The first was an even deeper conviction that “He is God and I am not!”  Isaiah says it like this: "Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8) The work of His hand, what a thought! God is actively working to shape me (and you!) into a useful person.  Oh, yes, He is the one in charge.  As the Word reminds us, some of are shaped into treasure pots and some of are chamber pots! The Word says, "When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? God has every right to exercise his judgment and his power." (Romans 9:21-22, NLT)

The second conviction is that I must ‘Seize the day!’  My earthly life will not stretch on tomorrow forever.  James said, "Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16, NLT) His words should not make us sad or hopeless! They should remind us of the amazing privilege of being part of the Lord’s plan, and ultimately finding ourselves at Home in His Presence.

My brush with mortality, far from being a curse, is a lesson about choosing each day to live with the gate of Heaven on time’s horizon. No, I am not being overly sentimental or super-spiritual!  This is reality that sharpens the focus.

Christian, are you submitted to the Potter? Are you glad to be who He desires you to be?

Are you wasting time or making the most of it as you live near to the heart of God?

Here’s a word from the Word. Make it your prayer. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. … The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. …  Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:1, 10, 12, NIV)
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The Potter's Hand

Beautiful Lord

Wonderful Saviour

I know for sure

All of my days

Are held in Your hand

Crafted into Your perfect plan

You gently call me

Into Your presence

Guiding me by

Your Holy Spirit

Teach me dear Lord

To live all of my life

Through Your eyes

I'm captured by Your holy calling

Set me apart I know You're drawing

Me to Yourself

Lead me Lord I pray

Take me mould me

Use me fill me

I give my life

To the Potter's hand

Call me guide me

Lead me walk beside me

I give my life

To the Potter's hand

Darlene Zschech

© 1997 Wondrous Worship (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

Play Me a Sad Song?

There’s a theory that we can get past negative emotions only by giving vent to them.  There is a some truth in that. Bottling up rage or suppressing grief, for example, can take a toll on our bodies and become a toxic brew of twisted thoughts in our brain!  But, playing a sad song continually, whining and complaining, is not helpful, either.  We strengthen those emotions when we rehearse them, asking everyone around us to sooth us in our disappointment, or to join us in our bitterness.  The Word teaches us to deal honestly with all of our emotions. And, then we taught to go beyond Self and to offer ourselves in submission to God, to give forgiveness readily, to invite the Spirit to work with us right where we are.  Best of all, we are told to intentionally offer praise to God!  The act of praising Him creates beautiful background music for your life. Constant complaining will only deepen the sense of futility.  Here’s the directive- "With Jesus' help, let us continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of his name." (Hebrews 13:15, NLT)

Take care that ‘’praise” is not confused with empty rhetoric.  Does your 'praise' ever sound suspiciously like swearing in disguise?  I hear Christians in terrible situations mouth words like  "Praise the Lord," and know that they are fixing a fig leaf in place that is a thin cover over their impulse to curse the situation! But, if that same person steps back after shakes off the pain, choosing to offer sincere thanks to God for being present in the moment,  sweet worship can emerge from the worst sorrow, pain, or disappointment. he is learning to give God proper praise. We can always praise Him for who He is, for His enduring mercy and unending love.

Why change the soundtrack of life? There are practical and powerful reasons for living with a sacrifice of praise constantly on our lips.

·         When we sincerely praise, we destroy the Enemy's ability to skew our point of view and we gain God's perspective on life. What seems like a mountain to us is but a molehill to Him. What seems to be a dead-end is really a door to "immeasurably more than all we ask or  imagine,"  (Ephesians 3:20, NIV) When we sincerely praise, we look away from our 'dis-ease' to His wholeness. The fact that we are uncomfortable in a situation is eclipsed by His sovereign control of our life when we worship.

·         When we sincerely praise, we release Divine Power into our lives. Praise is the protocol for entering into God's holy Presence. Psalm 100:4, (NLT) says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name." If you were invited to the White House to meet the President personally, the office of Protocol would brief you about how to greet the President, what to wear, where you would sit, and when you should stand. There is an accepted way of doing these things that preserves the dignity of the high office. God asks us to come to Him with thanksgiving on our lips and praise filling our hearts. It honors Him and lifts us up, too!

'But,' you might be saying, 'what if I just don't feel any sense of praise?' Then, offer a sacrifice of praise! No, you don't have to thank Him for the situation you find yourself in. But you can thank Him that He is greater than that situation, that He knew what was coming your way and has prepared just what you need for this day, that He has gifted you with an eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus that your problems cannot steal away!

Choose to praise!  Enter willingly and gladly into worship. Then, watch His glory flow into your situation.

"Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise.
Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice." (Psalm 51:14-18, The Message)

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I Will Praise Him

When I saw the cleansing fountain,

Open wide for all my sin,

I obeyed the Spirit's wooing

When He said,  “Wilt thou be clean?”

Tho' the way seemed straight and narrow,

All I claimed was swept away.

My ambitions plans and wishes

At my feet in ashes lay.

Then God's fire upon the altar

Of my heart was set aflame!

I shall never cease to praise Him,

“Glory, glory to His name!”

I will praise Him! I will praise Him!

Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.

Give Him glory, all ye people,

For His blood can wash away each stain.

Margaret Jenkins Harris

Public Domain

The REAL failure!

A few years I called another church to ask if our youth group could use their van for a day trip when both of ours were booked by our Christian School.  “No,” they replied, “We can’t expose ourselves to the liability.” Their reasoning is quite common. Many decisions are made, not around what is right or possible, but what is the course of least risk. Being safety conscious is a good thing. Attempting to avoid any risk paralyzes.

 Life is not a sure thing!  Whenever I propose a new project, there are voices, inside my  head and around me that warn 'there isn't enough money, there isn't enough time, somebody might sue us ...”    If you decide to step out, you will be told that you’re “ too young, too old, too dumb, too smart...” to do what you dream of doing!  When we start to believe those negative voices , we begin to die. We put our dreams on the shelf and go home to our recliners to watch TV alone night after night: safe but dead while we still live.

Jesus fed 5000 people miraculously, then sent the disciples home across the lake by boat, while he went to seek a solitary place of prayer. The disciples had a rough time making headway because of waves and wind. In the middle of the night, Jesus comes strolling by, walking on the water.  “Surely,” they thought, “We are seeing a ghost.”  Then, He spoke.  Peter recognized the voice of Jesus and, totally in keeping with his impulsiveness, he said, "Lord, if it's you tell me to come to you on the water."  "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14: 29-31 NIV

Have you ever walked on water or are you one of those people who stays put in the boat where it's safe?
People who always play it safe do not make much of an impact.  Why? Because risk is an integral part of success!  Those unwilling to fail cannot succeed.

Let’s be clear. That faith story of Peter’s adventure on the Sea of Galilee isn't a story about a daredevil who spit in the face of fate, who threw all caution to the wind, or who had a secret death wish. It's about a man who wanted to know His Lord and whose passion for Jesus drove him to total obedience. Peter asked Jesus to call him and when the Lord did, Peter responded -- against all good sense -- by getting out of the boat. He walked on the water until he realized the absurdity of his situation and only then  he failed... or did he?  I think that the real failures that night were the other 11 guys who sat safely in the boat watching Peter do the impossible.

Are waves kicking up around your little lifeboat today? 
Are your kids rebelling? 
Is your marriage strained? 
Is some sin pulling hard on you, so much that the temptation is nearly overwhelming? 
Have past financial decisions come around creating a situation you can’t control?  
Are you afraid of aging, the future, the government?  Truthfully, we all have problems that rock our boat. That's life!

Jesus walks with us. He's passing by, and He’s inviting us to walk on the waves! Will you accept the challenge to grow a bigger, deeper faith?  When you hear His voice, get out of the boat.  Oh, yes, be careful about getting so impressed with yourself that you start to show off.   The moment you take your eyes off of Him, you’ll suffer a Peter moment;  you’re sunk!

And, if you fail, adopt the attitude of Jonas Salk, the person who saved millions from polio when he developed the polio vaccine. He failed 200x before he got it right. Somebody asked Mr. Salk, "How did it feel to fail 200 times?" Salk said, "I never failed 200x for I was taught not to use the word, 'failure.' I discovered 200 ways not to vaccinate for polio!"

Your greatest failure won't be if you happen to sink in the waves, it will be IF YOU NEVER GET OUT OF THE BOAT!

Here’s the word from the Word.  Make it yours as you meditate on it. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up." (Hebrews 12:1-3, NLT)

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Faithful You Are Faithful

Lord, You have shown Yourself to be,

Never changing, always faithful.

Lord, You have shown Your heart for me,

The loving touch of a caring Father.

In ev'ry day that passes;

And all the world's distractions;

Through seasons and life's changes;

You always remain faithful

To me!

With Your

Perfect love, perfect love,

Casts out all fear, and shows me

That ev'ry word and promise to me

Will be fulfilled, will be fulfilled.

Faithful, You are faithful.

Faithful, faithful, faithful!

Eoghan Heaslip

© 2000 Song Solutions Daybreak (Admin. by Music Services)

CCLI License # 810055

Church is not for me

It’s easy to overlook what is one of the foundational parts of a healthy Christian life, and many do.  Often it is a kind of ‘intentional’ oversight, an unexamined choice supported by assumptions that are too quickly turned into fact. What is missing?  Participating in the life of a local congregation.  After 4 decades of pastoral ministry, I know something about discipleship and about the hand-off of faith from generation to generation. Christians whose lives make a real difference for Christ and who are mature in faith are invariably part of a church. It might be a little group that meets in a living room faithfully or a mega-church in suburbia.  They may worship with incense and liturgy or with guitars and preachers wearing polo shirts. But, there is one common thread of the saints who pass the faith along – they are involved.  Those who attempt a ‘private’ faith ignore the evidence that congregational life, as hard as it can be, changes us.  Concerning children, the value of a group of ‘uncles and aunts’ or ‘brothers and sisters’ in the faith is inestimable.

Still, millions of Americans insist:  “Church is not for me!” Some point to scandal,  ranging from pedophilia in the Catholic church to unbridled greed of charismatic hucksters in their private jets, as the reason to leave church behind. Others point to traditions that bore them. Others just don’t like their ‘spirituality’ hindered by dogma.  And, some just do not want to get out of bed to participate or give time and/or money to support the institutional efforts.  

The attempt to practice a personal spirituality that is divorced from meaningful engagement with church is in direct contradiction of the Scripture, both Old and New Testament.  God first called His people into Israel, giving them a priesthood, a calendar of feasts and festivals, and commandments that directed their daily lives. Judaism could not be understood as a private experience.  God, though known personally, revealed Himself in the context of the nation.  With Jesus’ coming, a new Body was born, the church.  No longer was it a matter of belonging to a nation, it was a matter of being born of the Spirit.  And, those who shared the Spirit were called into the Church where "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28, NIV)

The Spirit gives His gifts to the Church, investing Himself to empower Christians in very different and complementary ways, so that God’s work will be done. When institutions replace the Spirit with human schemes corruption follows and the power is lost.  Through the ages, God has time and time again revitalized His Church. In the darkest eras, He has preserved for Himself, a holy people to tend the fire. And, He is doing that today.  In my opinion, the Christian church is in the worst condition she has been in since just before the Reformation.  Corruption, greed, apathy, and institutionalism are only  a few of the ills that sicken the Body of Christ. But, if we abandon the church for some private, personal spirituality, we turn our back on what Christ Himself loves. 

The Word says that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing a her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  (Eph 5:25)  The purpose for the church is far beyond sociological. It is a place with a divine  plan to display “ the unsearchable riches of Christ,  and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.  His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,  according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   (Eph 3:8)

Are you ignoring God’s calling?
Are you casual about participating in His plan?  

We are “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy,”  (1 Co 1:2) “trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”  (Isaiah 61:3)  Lord, make us faithful, obedient, and full of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

He is the God of Grief, as well as Joy!

Sorrow crushed me. A feeling akin to nausea churned in my stomach. My head ached, the pressure building like it would explode. Tears spilled over the lower lids of my eyes, sliding down my cheeks and falling onto the front of my shirt. Grief had broken my heart. No, it wasn’t a death, though I have known that grief in recent years. It wasn’t rejection or failure.  My sadness was the result of the dysfunction and suffering that I saw being visited on so many in my pastoral care by those who love themselves more than God, who stubbornly persist in their own ways with no regard for the destruction they are creating, who live only for this moment with no concern for eternity. It is a good grief, for it causes me to seek God more intensely, to love beyond my own affection.

Grief is a powerful emotion which we all experience differently, depending on our temperament, our training, and our culture. When I have funeral services I observe some families going stoically through the rituals, others work hard to keep things light with jokes and stories about the deceased.  Still others grieve loudly, with tears and crying. When I grieve, my family takes refuge! I usually experience grief like a violent thunderstorm. I sob, attempt to pray with gasps, groans, and unintelligible words. I become a total human wreck for a few moments . . . then it's over! Bev and I smile about how irrational that I become when I am in the grip of grief for those few moments. It’s a tragicomedy!

Grief has purpose. Allowing ourselves to grieve also allows God to work in us.  Psalm 147 was addressed the exiles from Judah, who mourned the destruction of their nation, their culture, and their lives. But, sang of divine comfort. "The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel. He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!"   Note the juxtaposition of God's work in the healing of the broken-hearted and the counting the stars! The Psalmist knew that grief rearranges our thinking, creating new possibilities in knowing our Abba.  Yes, it is true that when grief is unrelieved, when we find no comfort, it can wreak havoc in us;  emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. If we remain suffocated in the present darkness of sorrow without friends to help us or faith to guide, we can die. But, God will, if we let Him, heal our broken heart.

Are you enduring a broken heart today?
Been betrayed by a friend?
Experienced the separation of death?
Enduring disappointment as prayers apparently go unanswered, hopes are left unfulfilled?

It's all right to mourn! Do not let anyone tell you that grief is ungodly! Sorrow is part of the human experience and must not be denied.  Some of God's plans and purposes for us cannot be accomplished without our hearts being broken. The difference in experiencing sorrow in the life of the Christian is two-fold: we have a Healer who is Mighty, and we do not grieve hopelessly!

Are you sorrowful today?  Me, too.  Disappointment and empathy have converged in my life and I am heavy-hearted.  But, I am not hopeless!  So, I will wait out the storm of grief.  I will hold onto faith. As surely as the sun will slide  over the eastern horizon,  God will give a new day, a fresh beginning- “He heals the brokenhearted!”  As hope returns, God gives us a song to sing again. We learn to live joyfully - albeit differently -transformed by grief.

Take this word from the Word. Pray that God will use your grief to make you desire Him even more.  We each have a choice in our grief. It can make us bitter, or it can make us broken; leading us to a place where we find Him closer than ever before. " Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." (2 Corinthians 1:3-5, NIV)

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Tears Are A Language

Often you've wondered why

Tears come into your eyes

And burdens seem to be

Much more than you can stand

But God is standing near

He sees your falling tears

Tears are a language God understands

When grief has left you low

It causes tears to flow

Things have not turned out

The way that you had planned

But God won't forget you

His promises are true

Tears are a language God understands

God sees the tears

Of a broken hearted soul

He sees your tears

And hears them when they fall

God weeps along with man

And takes him by the hand

Tears are a language

God understands

Gordon Jensen

© 1971 Jensen Music (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc., 741 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin TN 37067)

CCLI License # 810055