The End!

Yesterday, dozens of people came to the site of our now closed Christian school to carry away books, charts, desks, equipment … the things that we used in the ministry of loving and serving children for 40 years. Knowing that someone valued what was now useless to us is a source of small comfort. Yet, I experienced real sorrow! Phil, who has maintained the school IT structure for many years, closed the network server last night and sent me a note  – “this is pretty sad, a lot of memories...” I have tried to be philosophical about this … to everything there is a season … but it still is an ending and it is difficult.

Endings are part of all of life.

Some we choose. We take a new job. We move to a new town.

Some are inevitable. Our children grow up and move on to their own lives. Death takes a friend or family member.

Some result from things outside of our control; a company that closes, a storm that wrecks our home, an important person who retires.  

So, how do we best manage the endings?

First, as Christians we settle our faith on the One who is “Alpha and Omega.”

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:8, NLT) God lives outside of time. Our lives, fragile as they seem to us, are secured in Him.  He is not paralyzed by those developments in life that are so difficult for us. Paul helps us to connect the Eternal God to our present lives inspired to teach us that “because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”  (Romans 8:37-39, The Message)

Second, we remind ourselves that endings create new opportunities.

Endings reshuffle life and, most of the time, the change that come with an ending brings some level of discomfort. If we are wise, we will take time to re-evaluate, to ask God to reveal to us what opportunities are being presented to us. When a friend moves away, it makes room in our life for a new friendship. When retirement brings an end to our life at work, it makes time available to us to volunteer, to learn some new skill.

Third, we appropriately mourn the feelings of loss and celebrate the victories and then turn our focus to the future.

Paul’s well-known words should guide us. "Brothers, … 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 3:13-14, NIV)  Endings provide a moment to remember. Writing ‘the end’ on a chapter of life may even cause us to feel some sense of guilt for things undone or that might have been done differently.  We cannot thrive on yesterday’s successes nor is it possible to go back and fix the mistakes.  God has a future purposed for us – even beyond the big end of death!  He invites us now to become people who live with eternal hope!  Are you ready to ask, “what’s next, Abba?”

Finally, endings are a reminder of the uncertainty of tomorrow and of the importance of living our best life today!

• Is there a relationship that you need to repair but you just keep putting off reaching out to that person? Do it today, for God’s sake.

• Is there something you know God wants you to do, but everyday life just keeps you from getting it done? Just do it!

We can burn through days, weeks, months letting the urgent things that are pressed on us keep us from the important things. We can keep deferring God’s call, setting aside a dream, telling ourselves that ‘tomorrow’ will bring another opportunity.  It may, but it might not. "Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." (James 4:17, NLT)  That’s sobering!

The word from the Word comes from James. His words may jar us, but they inspired wisdom. "Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, NIV)

If you’re dealing with an ending, may the Spirit encourage greater faith, give you eternal vision, and lead you to live fully in the present.

___________

The Heart Of Worship
(a beautiful prayer!)

When the music fades all is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring something that's of worth

That will bless Your heart

I'll bring You more than a song

For a song in itself is not what You have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about You all about You Jesus

I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it

When it's all about You all about You Jesus

King of endless worth no one could express

How much You deserve

Though I'm weak and poor all I have is Yours

Ev'ry single breath

Matt Redman © 1999 Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Those FaceApp photos!

Have you seen the photos circulating on social media, created by FaceApp? It’s gone ‘viral.’  The app lets a person snap a photo and then it ‘ages’ them. The results can be hilarious and alarming! When our lined, wrinkly but still recognizable, face shows on our screen we wonder, “Is that really my future look?”  Aging is one of American’s greater fears. We ask ourselves - Will my mind fail? Will my health become fragile? Will I be discarded or forgotten?

In the book of Joshua I read this line today. "When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, “You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over." (Joshua 13:1, NIV)  God was reminding that leader that there was much yet to do and that he was part of the divine plan!  Joshua continued to lead Israel for another decade or so, establishing the people in the Promised Land, challenging them to remain faithful to God. One simple phrase became his epitaph: "After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten." (Joshua 24:29, NIV)  That found a place in my heart. “The servant of the Lord,” that phrase says the most important thing about life - for all of us.

We are all growing older. Time is relentless.  In later years, when our energy is less, when our enthusiasm has waned, we might be tempted to leave serving and ministry to others. I have known more than a few people who lived as if they were dead for years before their body was put in a coffin. Joshua did not stop living just because he was ‘very old.’ There is a realism that includes the limits of an older body that cannot keep up with the young, that recognizes the value of the ideas of the next generation. Our prayer as we grow older is borrowed from Moses - "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12, NIV)

I remember being in my 20’s and wanting to be 30, convinced that it would be a magical age when I would be taken more seriously in my calling. Now, I am in my 60’s and sometimes wish I had the strength that I took for granted in my 30’s!  God can use us, no matter the season of our life. Let’s not make the mistake of putting off His call to another day.  He has a place for us all – young and old – in His plan.

Here is a word from the Word, written by a man who wasted too many years, only to live with regret. "Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer enjoy living. It will be too late then to remember him, when the light of the sun and moon and stars is dim to your old eyes, and there is no silver lining left among the clouds." (Ecclesiastes 12:1-2, NLT)  "Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NLT)

May your day be a blessed one as you find contentment in loving Him and serving others in His Name.

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Ashamed? No more

An attractive woman counseled with me years ago who felt powerful shame about her beauty. She had multiple failed relationships with men and wondered why. She revealed that 20 years before, as she became physically developed in her teens, when she dressed up to look pretty, her father would call her a whore and a filthy tramp. Unable to understand that he was transmitting his own feelings of shame about his sexuality onto her, she processed his cruel words into ‘truth’ about herself.

Parents who use shaming as a primary disciplinary tool are doing an awful injustice! Holding a child up to ridicule that confuses what she has done with who she is has terrible consequence. If you tell a little person he is worthless long enough, he will learn to believe it and most likely will treat himself like a piece of junk! Shame, which morphs into feelings of inferiority, will generally turn into dysfunctional behavior in a pursuit of relief. Paradoxically, the self-destructive choices lead only to deeper shame.

Do you ever have a memory sweep over you accompanied by feelings of intense shame? It’s not all that uncommon. Is that shame bad or good? Mostly, shame is unhealthy. Guilt can serve us well, moving us to seek positive change because guilt is formed around action. Shame is about who we think we are and thinking that we are worthless or beyond love serves no good purpose.

The glory of the Gospel of Christ is that there is forgiveness and restoration. God does not just forgive our wrong behavior, He gives us a new identity. He makes us whole, new from the inside out. Jesus Christ came into a world that was full of darkness and sin, and became the Light of True Righteousness. No longer did the shamed guilty person feel that his only choices were to hide his sin, or to cover up his nagging sense of shamefulness with good works, or by condemning others, or by finding temporary pleasure in even more sinful choices. He could be forgiven and set free!  Jesus says "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." (John 8:12, NLT)

When the Bible is used like a club to beat sinners with shame and to drive them deeper into despair, it makes me furious. Jesus seldom spoke to sinful behavior without offering the possibility of change.  Yet, today, Christians turn to shaming, rightly speaking to the sins, but wrongly making the sinner feel worthless, hopeless, and condemned.  In John’s gospel, we read about Jesus’ interaction with a woman, giving her back her worth, while challenging her to change her ways. "The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?"

They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin." (John 8:3-11, The Message)

This is the same Jesus who loves us. He sees us not just for what we have done, but for who we can become in Him. On the Cross, He took our shame on Himself. And there He made it possible for us to become people of honor and glory.  At Calvary, the worst of sin met the amazing grace of God. The Scripture tells us "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." (Colossians 2:13-15, NLT)

Are you living in shame?
There is no need to stay there any longer.

The word from the Word is a little longer today, but it is a powerful statement of what God thinks about WHO you are. "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God." (Romans 5:8-11, NLT)  He hates sin, but He loves people. Let Him love you to life!

____________

No Longer Slaves

(worship at this link)

You unravel me with a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance from my enemies

Till all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my Mother's womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again into Your family

Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea so I could walk right through it

My fears were drowned in perfect love

You rescued me so I could stand and sing

I am a child of God

Brian Johnson | Joel Case | Jonathan David Helser

© 2014 Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055