You CAN do this!

I wondered to myself, “Jerry, can you do this?”

“This” was serving Christ- in a way that is effective and faithful.  From my side of life’s tapestry, I see knots of fear, threads of temptation, unfinished business, incomplete understanding, and yes – blots of sinfulness.  The news of the moral compromise of many men was a factor in my fearful doubt, too. Do you ever feel that way about finishing the Christian journey well, honoring the One who called you? 

In my meditation and prayer, the Spirit brought this passage to mind that renewed my hope and courage. "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, NIV) Christ Jesus is Sufficient for my every need, greater than my sinful nature, with grace to keep me.  When this truth took hold of my mind I could only worship and give thanks. Later in the same day as I felt my own sense of weakness so acutely, the Lord saw fit to prompt two people to tell me of ways in which they had found my life of value in their own Christian journey. That affirmation was like an exclamation mark at the end of that verse – “He has made us competent!”

Louie Giglio in his book, Goliath Must Fall, takes another look at an old familiar story. David meets the giant on the battlefield, pulls out his slingshot, and drops the champion dead. In his valor, inspired by God’s honor being challenged, David won a victory for all of God’s people. Usually this story is presented as a text to encourage us to meet our own giant with faith and courage. Giglio takes a different view.  He brings the Gospel to the story and asks us to consider that when we face a giant of addiction, failure – any besetting sin- that we remember it is not our courage that wins the battle. Jesus is our David who went to battle for us, taking down our giant through His death on the cross.  We can enter into victory because the battle with sin and Satan is already won on our behalf. 

Christ is sufficient!  That does not mean there is nothing for us to do. There is faith to be exercised, there are disciplines to be practiced that put His grace and goodness in operation in us, but it is not our perfection that saves us. It is His perfect work on our behalf.  That is probably not a new idea to you. It was not for me, either. It is a powerful truth that we cannot forget.

You can do this! And, I can, too.  Now, will we take the strength of Jesus and live confidently?

Meditate on this word from the Word for a few moments and regain confidence – not in Self, but in our Savior. 
"With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. … Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. … If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us." (2 Corinthians 3:12, 4:1,7 The Message)

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O Come All Ye Faithful

O come all ye faithful

Joyful and triumphant

O come ye O come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the King of angels

Yea Lord we greet Thee

Born this happy morning

Jesus to Thee be all glory giv'n

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

C. Frederick Oakeley | John Francis Wade

© Words: Public Domain

Sex, Shame, and Consequence

One of my heroes was dismissed from his position at Minnesota Public Radio yesterday. Garrison Keillor, 75, was released from the Prairie Home Companion after an accusation of sexual misconduct. I admit that this one  really got to me, left me confused, and a little angry.  Reading reports, a lot of us are confused by the revelations of sexual abuse, misconduct, and depravity in high places. A correction in relationships in the workplace is long overdue and I am glad to see men who abuse women held accountable.  It greatly concerns me that processes that allow for reflection, evaluation, and a just response seem to be pushed aside in the race to ‘get it right.’
Thinking about this has provoked some thoughts, and you may agree or disagree, which is totally fine with me. But, I cannot ignore this issue that has filled our news for weeks now.

My first thought is that America is reaping the harvest of the sexual revolution of the last generation. It is almost absurd that our culture would laud Hugh Hefner, a man who openly flaunted every sexual boundary, who ‘used’ young women throughout his life, as a pioneer and liberator. Who knows how many marriages failed because of his terrible example? Who knows how many women weep alone because he made the idea of a sexual ‘playmate’ one that many considered acceptable?  Hef discarded the idea of monogamy and marriage as a relic of another time.  As contraceptives made it possible to separate sex and babies, he gave us a kind of sexual model that, in my opinion, broke down all the barriers that kept the powerful impulses of sexuality in check.

Today, most people are convinced that any rules about sex between consenting adults are just silly.

• Teens may be given a pep talk about 'waiting,' but then, with a knowing wink, we teach them how to avoid pregnancies and disease. There is no real expectation of discipline or restraint.
• Porn has flooded our culture. Christians and non-Christians alike are affected. It is an common confession that I hear and it is not a harmless diversion. Porn is deadly to relationships, addictive, and destroys millions from the inside out.  I am shocked that parents put a smartphone connected to the Internet in the hands of their kids without filters, without accountability. We all know that you don’t have to go looking for very long to find all kinds of perversion.  And, a child can never ‘unsee’ an image once it is there. 
• Despite the Scripture’s unambiguous teaching that sex is to be enjoyed exclusively within the covenant of marriage, just about every couple that I marry these days have been sleeping together, even living together, with no real sense that they are violating the plan of God for their lives.

My second thought is that we need to remember that human sexuality is a gift of God, given to us to bond us, to make families, and to provide us with intimacy. If your Christianity includes the idea that that 'sex is dirty and to be avoided at all costs' you have reached a mistaken conclusion.

What God does is to give us boundaries for sexual enjoyment so that the gift does not enslave, demean, or destroy – as we are seeing so much in our media reports right now.
The ugly side of human sexuality is what it does to people when misused.
Ask any woman was sexually abused what violation that has done to her sense of worth.
Ask any man who was molested how deep the pain goes even decades after the incident.
Ask a person who has become a slave to porn addiction about the shame he feels after yet another trip through the dark side of the Internet.
Ask a wife who is married to a man who sees her only as a toy for his pleasure how she feels about herself or her marriage.

My third thought is a reminder - God teaches us that sex is not just 'skin on skin.' It is spiritual as well as physical. One of the great mysteries in our sexuality is how much it affects our identity, our worth, our health. Consider this wisdom. "You say, "I am allowed to do anything"-but not everything is good for you. And even though "I am allowed to do anything," I must not become a slave to anything. ...  But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. ... Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:12-21, NLT)

Are you struggling with guilt or shame over your sexuality, Christian? 
Have you been abused? Share that with a trusted counselor and find freedom.
Have you done things in the past that still make you ashamed?

Know that the Cross is the place of healing, that God frees us from our guilt. Bring your sexuality to Christ. Tell him your struggles. Pray about the ways you are tempted, the hurts that have been visited on you by others in past, the sins that still sting your conscience. Humble yourself before Him and accept the wisdom of His Word, regardless of the mockery of the world we live in.   Thank Him for the gift of your sexuality!

And, Christian, let’s recover what the Bible teaches about purity. Purity is beautiful, makes us whole, and frees us to be all God made us to be. Here is a word from the Word – "Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NLT)

God help us to point the way to sexual sanity, to wholeness, to recovery of love and trust in our relationships.

Misers are miserable.

T’is the season for giving.  It can be fun. And, then too, some giving is tangled up with other things and loses the sparkle of joy.  When we try to impress someone or when we feel we must prove our love by buying a gift that leaves us in debt, that is not fun, at all.  Generosity, a way of life that feels no need to hold onto time, money, or things tightly, is liberating.  One of the most joyous choices in my life is giving the resources God has put in my hands to supports ministries and missions. I miss bringing a rose home to my wife, seeing her delight in being remembered in such a small way. Yesterday, I stepped away from my desk and drove to see a lady from the church who has been confined to a hospital room for a week. I was richer for the gift of time! There’s a man in our church who has given thousands of dollars to projects and people during the years that I have known him. He does so without recognition. And, he is joyful in his giving.

It's not just about money!  Being generous in spirit by refusing offense, by withholding critical comments, shown in notes and words of encouragement, reveals that a heart is formed by love.  We are to be like our Father and He is generous.  He “loves it when the giver delights in the giving. God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:7-11)

Generosity is more than an impulse. It is sustained by what the late Stephen Covey calls an “abundance mentality.” He says that it is a way of thinking that believes there are enough resources to share with others. Generosity multiplies our resources rather than diminishing them. Jesus Christ said it first - "Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” (Luke 6:38, The Message)

I am encouraged in my own giving – of time, of love, of money, of life – by this promise: "For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do." (Hebrews 6:10, NLT)  The gifts we give are memorialized by our Lord and will find a rich reward.

Here’s a word from the Word. Let it speak to every part of your life. "Just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. … For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:7,9, NIV)

This Christmas Season, find multiple ways to be generous.  Don’t feel compelled to go into financial debt.  Instead, pray for a spirit of generosity that causes people who pass through your life to be touched by joy, enriched by your spirit as you overflow with the Spirit’s graces. All this will prove to be for the glory of the One who first loved us! Amen.

___________

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

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

Cool Christians!

Are you a ‘cool’ Christian? That question was put to me by a speaker on the Abide (https://abide.is/) app that I am currently using for my nightly meditations. “Cool” is one of those words that is hard to define, but we know it when we see it. The person who is ‘cool’ is self-possessed, aware of her influence, who seeks approval but in a way that is detached so as not to be seen as ‘needy.’  The point made in that meditation remains with me this morning.  To the extent that a Christian pursues being ‘cool’ he is not walking humbly before God! Think about that.

The centrality of humility in our relationship with the Lord is made clear by the frequency that Scripture speaks to it.

• Jesus spoke to the need with this paradoxical statement - "whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:4, NIV)
• Paul urges us to "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." (Ephesians 4:2, NIV)
• James does not qualify the command - "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:10, NIV)
• Peter, likewise, directs us to "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:6, NIV)

Dig deeper and you will come to this conclusion: Humility is an indispensable trait in the character of the godly. That is a theme that appears from Genesis to Revelation.  Humility is presented as an irreplaceable quality that allows us to enjoy lives that are marked by peace with others. It dissipates anger. It facilitates forgiveness. It raises up the wounded and broken, viewing people as being worthy of respect.  Humility allows us to strengthen our relationship with God because it removes our need to ‘have our own way,’ and brings us to bended knee and open heart before Him.

Some confuse humility with a lack of healthy self-esteem. But, in fact, those who have learned to be humble are those who best show their love for all persons, including themselves, in the best ways.  Humility relieves us of anxiety because the humble has no need to pursue the ‘success’ image that is entrenched in American lore and society. The humble person is set free from the slavery that comes from trying to find worth and acceptance by pleasing others; in other words, trying to be ‘cool.’

Isaiah reminds us that "The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)." (Isaiah 2:11-12, NIV)  One of John’s themes in the Revelation is the judgment that will come to the prideful of the world when the Lord calls them to account.

Like all evidences of the Spirit’s life, humility is both a gift of God and something we must cultivate.  Do you want to be relieved of ‘cool’ and become humble?

First step is to acknowledge Christ as Lord.  Not just once, but daily. Make a confession of His lordship, His rule, His ownership of your life part of your morning prayer. Almost everyday, among the first thoughts in mind is a prayer – “Lord, this is your day, I am your servant. May You be honored by my thought, word, and action.”  (Sin being what it is, I fall short of that aspiration too frequently!)

Second step is honest confession of need, of sin, of reliance on His grace and goodness.  I am a Christian for over a half-century, have preached the Word for 4 decades, but I am still a child before my Father; absolutely dependent on the Holy Spirit moment by moment. That is not weakness, that is humility.  Without the life of the Spirit actively working in me as I yield myself to Him, I cannot please God. Nor, my friend, can you.

Paul’s familiar word reminds us of this. Given great gifts and deep revelations of spiritual truth, Paul was apparently tempted to go it on his own. "So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NLT)

If you think you are capable of living for Christ Jesus without daily dependence, without real prayer, without learning the Truth of the Word, without remaining in close fellowship with other Christians – you are deceived by pride, likely attempting ‘cool’ Christianity, an impossibility.  If you pray for humility to be created in your life, prepare for struggle! And then, bow your head, open your heart, and learn to lean, like a child, on the complete sufficiency of the Father.

Here is a word from the Word. "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13, NLT)  Do you believe that? Now, humbly live it.

__________________

Be Thou my vision

O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me

Save that Thou art

Thou my best thought

By day or by night

Waking or sleeping

Thy presence my light

Public Domain