You gonna let Him shine?

You gonna let Him shine?

On Ash Wednesday I saw a few people wearing a smear of ashes on their forehead, a public declaration of humility and of some level of Christian faith. Of course, simply wearing ashes on one’s head for a day does not make him a true disciple of Christ. I know that!  But, that made me ponder if I am making Christ known? Does my life speak of Him? Is my faith readily visible to those who walk alongside of me for any length of time?  When and where is it right to make a public statement of faith? It has been my sorry experience to know some people who wore their faith in Jesus like a badly mismatched outfit – attracting attention, but for all the wrong reasons. 

Christians are most certainly to bear witness of a living faith.  The opening words of the story of the Church contains a promise for every disciple -  "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;” and why? So that “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, NIV)  Witnesses?  Like those people I saw standing in the airport handing out literature? Not necessarily. The word ‘witness’ is a translation of NT Greek – ‘martus’ – from which we get our word, martyr. The word was used for a one who has first-hand knowledge of an event, who would stand up for what they knew, even to the point of persecution.

So, who knows you are a Christian?  
Does your life inspire others to seek Him?

Being a ‘witness’ demands more of us than handing out Christian literature, inviting people to our church, wearing a cross necklace, or putting a fish symbol on our car bumper. (Lord, help us if we believe that is what it means to bear witness.) True witnesses will be holy, loving, and godly people. That person who walks in the Spirit, who has given himself totally to the service of Christ Jesus, finds a beautiful quality of character. That spiritual depth is irrefutable proof of the reality of the Gospel’s power to transform.

Watch out for religious performance or mere piety!

Sincere Christians can slip into hypocrisy, wearing a kind of ‘Christian makeup’ that hides the flaws and creates a false reality.  The best witnesses are those who are transparent, who are know they will never be perfectly sinless but who grow in their love of Christ and others daily. A real witness need not have all the answers, either.  On a flight yesterday during a conversation with the woman sitting next to me, the question of faith came up. Learning of Bev’s recent death, she asked, “Why would God let something like that happen to her, to you?”  She smiled when I said, “I have no idea but I choose faith anyway.”  It was an honest response and hopefully one that let Jesus shine.  

Jesus said, “Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels. But if you pretend you don’t know me, do you think I’ll defend you before God’s angels? “If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance, that can be overlooked. But if you’re knowingly attacking God himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won’t be overlooked." (Luke 12:8-10, The Message)

If your friends wrote up a description of you, would it include the fact of your love of Christ Jesus?

Is your faith so woven into your core values, your words, your responses to life -that who you are and what you do could not be understood without reference to your Christianity?

Jesus told us that His wisdom is the foundation of every choice in the life of a disciple. “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit-but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” The Message (Mt 7:24-27)

Here’s a word from the Word. Let’s grow in grace and walk in the Spirit so that we, like Paul, can say without pride or self-consciousness:
"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV) What a wonderful life!

________

Shine

Shine, make 'em wonder what you've got,

Make 'em wish that they were not,

On the outside looking bored!

Shine, let it shine before all men.

Let 'em see good works and then,

Let 'em glorify the Lord!

Out of the shaker and onto the plate.

It isn't karma, it sure ain't fate

That would make a Deadhead sell his van,

That would make a schizophrenic,

Turn in his crayons.

Oprah freaks and science seeks,

A rationale that shall excuse

This strange behavior.

When you let it shine you will inspire

The kind of entire turnaround

That would make a bouncer take ballet

Even bouncers who aren't happy.

But out of the glare with nowhere to turn,

You ain't gonna learn it on ‘What's My Line.’

Shine, make 'em wonder what you've got,

Make 'em wish that they were not,

On the outside looking bored!

Shine, let it shine before all men.

Let 'em see good works and then,

Let 'em glorify the Lord!

Peter Furler | Steve Taylor

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The Sin of the Successful

As a young man, God graced me with many opportunities. I was blessed with health and strength, a bright mind, a place of leadership, a heritage of holiness, and the trust of people.  At age 30, I started to believe that I deserved more, that I needed to be somebody, that my place was to be first. What hubris!  To this day, decades later, I feel great sadness at the pain that my choices of that time brought to my family, my church, and to the lives of other people who were caught in the conflict. I must hasten to say that God is a wonderful Redeemer, able to take even our worst failures and use them for good. In my failure and loss, I learned to drink deeply from the well of His amazing grace. Truly I know that He is a loving Father who ‘disciplines us for our good!’

Hubris is excessive pride, self-confidence that transgresses into arrogance. It is a point of vulnerability in us all. Americans are in the middle of a Presidential campaign and if ever there was a display of hubris, it is there – in both parties. Watching some of the candidates strut and boast, pose and preen for the cameras, and pretend that they among all 300 million Americans have the answers to our national challenges makes me disgusted.  Hubris is the sin of the blessed. Too often those most gifted, those who are successful, trip over themselves, starting to believe all the wonderful things that others are saying about them.

Saul, the first king of Israel, was told to go to a violent, warring nation and destroy it by the Lord, through the voice of the prophet Samuel. But by that time, Saul had become impressed with himself, believing the praises people sang in his ears. So, he kept plunder and brought it back to Israel. Samuel met him and said this of his hubris - “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel." (1 Samuel 15:17, NIV) Saul, you knew you were not much, but God made you. How could you forget that?  "Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” (1 Samuel 15:19, NIV) Here comes the kicker! "For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:23, NIV)

Hubris is a destructive, divisive, and sinful thing.
Marriages crumble hubris causes a man or woman to to take advantage of his/her spouse, assuming “she will never leave” and then she does.
Pastors fail morally because hubris blinds them to their own vulnerability to temptation. “I could never do that,” they tell themselves, only to fall hard.
Major corporations who were trendsetters in industry, outselling all the competitions, develop hubris and a decade later are broke, footnotes in history.
Churches, once influential in the work of the Lord, can become full of hubris and alienate the Spirit who their true Power.

Here’s God’s warning: "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!" (1 Corinthians 10:12, NIV) The opposite of hubris is humility! Nobody comes by that easily or naturally. It is a trait of character that must be cultivated. Pride makes us enemies of a jealous God who will not share His glory or authority! So the Word tells us to “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5, NIV) When we feel the conviction of the Spirit, when the testimony of the Holy Word speaks truth to us, we start see our desperate condition. What will we do? One response is to conceal our sin and pridefully proclaim our justification. That was Saul’s response to the Lord. “What are you talking about? I did obey God. I did the job God set for me. I brought in King Agag and destroyed the Amalekites under the terms of the holy ban. So the soldiers saved back a few choice sheep and cattle from the holy ban for sacrifice to God at Gilgal—what’s wrong with that?” The Message (1 Samuel 15:20-21

The only real answer is to humbly confess our need of a Savior. And, God says “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts." (Isaiah 57:15, NLT)

Humility is not to be confused with a lack of desire for excellence!  The children of the Lord, in whom He places His Spirit, should be people that live admirably. Is there a better model of excellence than Daniel, a man who held to his love of the Lord while serving in the court of a pagan king?  He rose to the highest levels, a trusted counselor to the king. Accomplishment or recognition will not bring on hubris in anyone who realizes that he is who he is only because of the grace of God.  When we feel ourselves becoming impressed with by ourselves, this question needs to come to the forefront of our minds: “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not??” (1 Corinthians 4:7). “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,” Paul wrote, “but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)

Hubris or humility? What will it be?
Take the wisdom of Jesus with you today as you meditate on this word from the Word.   “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4, NIV)  "All of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor." (1 Peter 5:5-6, NLT)

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Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer,*

Hither by Thy help I'm come.

And I hope by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger

Wand'ring from the fold of God.

He to rescue me from danger

Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,

Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.

Prone to wander Lord I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart Lord take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above.

John Wyeth | Robert Robinson

© Words: Public Domain

* Ebenezer comes from the Hebrew words ’Eben hà-ezer (eh’-ben haw-e’-zer), which simply mean “stone of help”, A memorial

Ashes to Glory!

Nobody likes death, but it is a part of the human story. We are all going to die but we deny the reality as long we able, it seems to me. My wife died a few weeks ago and when I say it that way, many are visibly uncomfortable. Most, I suppose, prefer the euphemism - ‘passed away.’  I have no problem saying she died because I know the great hope that ends the season that the Christian Church begins today. 

Ash Wednesday is the opening of Lent, a 40 day time of reflection on life and death that ends with our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the linchpin of our faith and our reason for hope. Millions of Christians around the world will wear ashes on their forehead today, a reminder of sorrow for the death that sin produces – both spiritual and physical. When the ashes are smeared there, the minister will speak words from Genesis, the ancient words of sin’s curse: "You were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19, NLT)  

Some will enter a time of Lenten fasting. Growing up in a Pentecostal church that did not observe any of the liturgical calendar, I saw my Catholic friends come to school wearing ashes on Ash Wednesday and I heard them talk of giving something up for Lent and I was mystified. Is there any value in such observance?  The answer depends on how and why you do it!  It can be a meaningless gesture of tradition for many. Others will turn it into a vain attempt to gain God's favor.

But, it can also be a way to remind ourselves of the transitory nature of life and the reason for that fact. Those ashes can serve as a visible, powerful reminder of that I am dust, that sin has turned my life into deathly ash. Sin entered the world. I am a sinner. I am dead, a person whose glorious reason for existence is lost except for … Christ Jesus, the Risen Lord! 

I believe we would live better Christian lives if we remembered our dusty frailty, if we faced death’s reality more realistically. We would turn to the Cross, embrace the grace found there, and remain focused on the promise of heaven that the Resurrection assures. He changes the ashes to glory, brings Light into the darkness, gives Life to those dead in sin and trespass. "So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life." (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, NLT)  I do not trip lightly through such wonderful words these days. Nor should you.

I encourage you to adopt some practice of ‘fasting’ this Lenten season. You can’t impress God so don’t try! Fasting is not about Him, it is about us. When we set aside some food or refuse to engage in some pleasant activity, it is a way to remind ourselves that there is more to life than food, sleep, fun, and sex.

Fasting that honors the Lord is focused on turning our attention from Self to the Spirit, from our love of a thing that is dying to love for that which never dies. Paul hints at the value of the discipline of fasting when he says "I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:27, NIV)  What a phrase!  The whole of the passage is about staying focused on the promise of eternal life. "Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-28, NLT)

Make the season of Lent a run for the Resurrection. Face the fact of death. Thank God that because of the Cross of Jesus our spirits, once dead in sin, are made alive. And, begin to live as an eternal being even now as you inhabit a dying body.  For some day "the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, NLT)  

Ashes to glory – transformed in that moment into glorious bodies that will never die!
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What Fills Your Barns?

I spent the morning yesterday shopping for a ‘toy,’ a completely frivolous item which, in the end, I passed on buying for many reasons!  An hour or so after the adventure, I stopped by SubCulture Coffee, Sean’s shop in West Palm Beach, Florida. There in the middle of affluence, stood a homeless man in rags, disheveled, dirty. Everything he owns in the world he carries in 2 or 3 filthy backpacks that rested in the alley just outside the door.  

What a contrast between Marcus and me: I with disposable income, he with nothing; I with the options created by access to wealth that is unimaginable to about 95% of the rest of the people in the world, he knowing only a daily scramble for enough resources to buy food and find a place to leave his ‘stuff.’

After encountering Marcus, my thoughts kept circling back to a question – do I own my things or do they own me? What am I doing with the affluence the Lord has allowed me to enjoy? Am I, just like most Americans, looking for satisfaction in consumerism, convinced that life would be better if I bought yet another thing – a shirt, a car, a piece of technology, an investment to return bigger dividends? 

Dr. Natasha Josefowitz, who is 89, a former professor of business management, contrasts the present need to acquire things that is fed by our vast array of options with a time she remembers. It was a time, not so long ago, she says,  “when we made do, it was good enough; perfect was not in our vocabularies. Our aspirations were more limited. We were not bombarded by so many promising ads. Were we less stressed because of fewer choices, less need to make constant decisions? I do not know, nostalgia creates memory gaps, but I do know that we should all do less shopping, own less, get rid of clutter, and have a life free of too much stuff.”  I love her authenticity when she admits what many of us feel, “Discarding something often feels like a loss and that can trigger stress hormones, which is why it is so hard to get rid of things. So far I am a failed minimalist.” – Consumed by our Society, Huffington Post, 2/18/2015

I think I need to spend some time with Jesus’ words about stuff. They are simple, yet profound, easy to understand, but hard to live in this era of Amazon, Ebay, and Craigslist! He says, "And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:29-35, NIV)

“Want to find freedom from the angst of a consumer lifestyle?” He asks me. Then, He tells me how.

1. Stop loving what people who do not know God love!

Those with no eternal hope, those who are not alive in the Spirit, can only look for the next best meal or beverage. The emptiness of life can only be filled momentarily with yet another thing or experience.  Interesting, Jesus does not advocate starving, misery, or asceticism! He acknowledges that God knows we need clothes, food, and lodging but insists they are NOT what life is about. So, He tells us to …

2. Run after the Kingdom first!

When we do this, He says, God will take care of the necessary stuff.
What exactly does it mean to ‘seek first the Kingdom?’  Make life about the pursuit of God. Learn to enjoy what He’s created.  Live in the moment He provides without complaint. Love the people He puts in your life without discriminating.  Make sure that your life is a statement of His ultimate worth – in thought, word, and action.  Refuse to exploit the weak or curry the favor of the powerful. Don’t be seduced by the illusions of the Evil One. "Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions." (Luke 12:31, The Message)  and guess what? God will provide the ‘stuff’ you need!

3. God will invest Kingdom lovers with Kingdom provisions!

Oh how that idea has been twisted inside out in our time. We think that means that God is obligated to fill our bigger barns and enlarge our bank accounts if we sing the right songs on Sunday and do good, moral things on Monday.  The promise is really about God showing us how to live with real treasure – love, joy, peace, hope, assurance – and in that kind of life to be among the richest people on earth with a kind of treasure that is beyond loss.

4. Practically, we wean ourselves from trinkets by giving liberally to those who are poor!

Jesus radically teaches us that in our generosity God gives us purses that don’t wear out.  Recessions cannot erode their value. Thieves cannot steal that treasure. Death itself cannot separate us from it.

Many of those who read these lines will simply nod, giving mental assent, but not really believing this for a moment. Such is the grip of consumerism on our hearts and minds. We simply cannot believe that less can be more, that giving can produce wealth, that real treasure is unrelated to net worth.  The greatest tragedy is that God cannot pour His riches into hands and hearts that are already full.

Here is a word from the Word. Would you take more than a couple of minutes with Jesus’ wisdom today? Soak in it, return to it several times, pray your way through it. Then, test it with obedience.

Jesus said,  “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”

Then he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’

 “Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’

 “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.” The Message (Luke 12:15-21)

I am challenged by the motto of a man who died when he was just 30 years of age, while attempting to reach a primitive tribe in the Amazon jungle with Christ’s Gospel. Jim Elliott wrote that “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  Do I believe it? Do you?

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Take My Life And Let It Be

 Take my life and let it be,

Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days,

Let them flow in ceaseless praise,

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for Thee,

Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my silver and my gold

Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my intellect and use

Ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose,

Ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my love my Lord, I pour,

At Thy feet its treasure store.

Take myself and I will be

Ever only all for Thee,

Ever only all for Thee.

Frances Ridley Havergal | Henri Abraham Cesar Malan

© Words: Public Domain