Tears yet again

 

I stared the pictures of the faces of sweet children from Uvalde, TX and the tears welled up in my eyes at the senselessness of their deaths. In the days since the talking heads on the news channels have left me full of fury, the only remedy being to turn it off. How we love the ‘blame game.’  It happened because  … and then depending on your politics … fill in the blanks.  The ‘debate’ is predictable with some for and some against more gun laws, stiffer background checks, increased funding for mental health, and strengthened community outreach.  There is merit in discussing all of those solutions. 

However, mostly what is left unspoken is mention of the spiritual vacuum that exists in these United States today.  We need a day *(perhaps a week?) of silence, a time to listen to our heart, to pray as best we can. My prayer these last few days has been, “Lord, show ME what needs to change in my life and what I can do to make my world a better place.” 

Christians are fond of quoting a passage from the Bible that says: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. " (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV)  God spoke this promise to Solomon for the Jewish nation but the principle and promise remain for the Church today.  My friend, the problem is not out there somewhere; it is among us, in you and me. Healing of these United States will not via the Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, or the state legislature.  It will come when and if Christians follow the pattern for renewal.

Humility is where it begins.
“Lord, change my heart. Lord, teach me to love.  Lord, deal with my attitudes, my prejudice, my selfishness, my pride.  Break my heart for my sins and failures.”  I know the temptation that exists to point at other causes, which are very real, and think that new leaders or laws will change the course of the nation.  It is quite natural to look outward and condemn someone else. But, true renewal begins inside out, not outside in.

Prayer is required. We love to give lip service to prayer, but so many Christians pray only in the most superficial or perfunctory way. “Lord bless my kids, my friends, my church. Keep me safe. Give me comfort.” 

Prayer that changes us is that which ‘seeks God’s face.’  How and where you pray are secondary to the act of prayer itself.  You may pray in a church or in your car, alone or with others, using prepared words or your own, silently or aloud … just pray. True prayer is hard work requiring both discipline and self-denial.  When we take Jesus’ words seriously and find ourselves a ‘prayer closet’ (Matthew 6.6) where we get alone with God, keeping our mind focused and our heart open to listen for His voice, we will begin to change. As we grow to know His Presence we will likely become acutely aware of our own sins which He will forgive as we confess them and hunger to know Him.

Let me boldly suggest that America’s greater issues are not with society’s ills or the ‘sins’ that preachers love to rail on.  The real problem is a sick and impotent Church, filled with people who think that Jesus saves them from sin so that they can go to Heaven, forgetting that they are to be people of the Kingdom who are agents of salvation, healing, and transformation here and now.  We catch a glimpse of that in Jesus’ prayer where taught us to ask the Father for the Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Our noble and high calling is to be an ambassador of the Kingdom of God! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! … God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." (2 Corinthians 5:17-20, NIV)  Please take note of the message we are commissioned to bring.  It is not “you are a terrible sinner, Hell-bound!”  We are given a message of reconciliation, one that says that life to the full can be found in a restored relationship with God Himself, Who gives peace today and hope for tomorrow.   What a glorious privilege we can know as agents of the Father, but we must know His love ourselves in order to share that love with others.

Be a friend of Jesus, a true disciple. The Spirit will live in you, a source of ‘living water’ that flows from within refreshing others, bringing renewal.  It will not be instantaneous, nor will it happen without sacrifice. But, what richness and satisfaction is found when we walk with God and invite others to walk with Him, too.  Ancient Christians changed their world, ministering God’s grace to one person at time, not with great and grand programs. We can do it, too.

Ponder this word from the Word. May the passage be both comfort and challenge. Jesus says,  "My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. The Father and I are one.”" (John 10:27-30, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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It Is Well With My Soul

(a beautiful and unadorned rendition of this great hymn)

When peace like a river
Attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot
Thou hast taught me to say
It is well
It is well with my soul

It is well with my soul
It is well
It is well with my soul

Tho' Satan should buffet
Tho' trials should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ hath regarded
My helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood
For my soul

My sin O the bliss
Of this glorious tho't
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross
And I bear it no more
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord O my soul

And Lord haste the day
When the faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound
And the Lord shall descend
Even so it is well
With my soul

Horatio Gates Spafford | Philip Paul Bliss

© Words: Public Domain

 

COURAGE!

If we want to live life to the full, one indispensable factor is courage! A hundred things will arise today – inner doubts, criticism of others, sickness, confusion, evil, lethargy – that will conspire to cause us to retreat to the safety of our couch, losing ourselves in mindless diversions. It takes guts to overcome those things to stay engaged, to live against the flow. 

Courage is often seen in terms of warriors, heroes, people who do amazing things in the face of incredible danger.  Let me tell you this morning, you do not have to be a Navy SEAL or a decorated police officer to live courageously. Courage is not defined by the strength to intimidate an opponent.  It isn’t just on display in the fireman that charges into a burning house! Courage is shown by those who choose – day after day – to keep focused on the right course regardless of critics and in the face of circumstances that appear to have gone wrong.

Courage refuses to react, choosing instead to respond.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,

and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”    - Theodore Roosevelt

In Luke 19, we read about Jesus’ encounter with a man of short stature named Zacchaeus. Maybe you sang about him in Sunday School?  “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” Well anyway, one day Jesus visited the town of Jericho and Zacchaeus, a local outcast because of his cooperation with the Roman authorities, decided he wanted to meet Jesus. So, he climbed into a tree to see over the crowd.  Jesus took note of this guy in a tree, stopped to talk to him, and invited Himself to dinner at his house!  Zacchaeus was not just tax collector. The probability was that he was a a crook, collecting more than Rome wanted and pocketing the difference.

Here’s where we observe courage in this story.  No respectable Jew would associate with Zee, much less go into his house.  That would make you his accomplice, his tarnished reputation rubbing off onto you. But, Jesus did it courageously!  People mattered more to Him than approval of others, so when He saw a man hungry for God He courageously engaged him and that encounter changed that little man for eternity.

Even more remarkable about this little story in the Gospel is the fact that Jesus was just a few days from the Cross when He met the little man in Jericho!  He might have been ready to retreat to the quiet of some out of the way place, sought a place to ‘prepare’ Himself for the ordeal that would bring the redemption of humanity.  Suffering, rejection, horrific sorrow as He would carry the weight of humanity’s sin was less than a month away, waiting for Him in Jerusalem. He choose to courageously love the least and seek out the lost!

Life can be amazing and I pray that your life always is, but the fact is – troubles come to us all. People you love will fail you. You will make some mistakes and some poor decisions. Consequences are inevitable, but choice that flows out of real courage can make all the difference in the future.  Will you encourage yourself in the Lord and move ahead or collapse into misery?

In Hebrews 6 we find this assuring declaration, "we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls." (NLT) It is our privilege it is to rest in Christ Jesus, to put those things we did not foresee before Him, and to know that He will be our faithful coach, One who guides. 

Are you anchored in the unchanging Christ?  Settling ourselves in His Presence will keep us from reacting in panic when the things come at us for which we are not prepared.  Christians can run to Christ for solace and rest.  In Him, they find courage to take the measure of the day and to move ahead, living for His purposes. When the chaos of life threatens to overtake us, Christ offers to hold us secure, to give us a strong point to hang onto – His salvation, our hope! 

Take Courage, Christian. How?

• Pray, even if only with sighs or quiet waiting, sharing the burdens of life with Jesus. 
• Worship, not superficially, but from the heart, renewing faith in the love of the Father.
• Inform your mind with God’s Truth. Reading passages of hope and affirmation will be an antidote to the toxins of fear. ( Suggested passages - Psalm 37, Ephesians 1, Romans 8) 
• Practice good self-care.  Exhausted people are often fearful people. Even Jesus took time from ministry to rest and find renewal.
• Choose to do one faith-filled, forward focused thing today.
  

The word from the Word points us to the example of Jesus. As you read it, my prayer is that you will ‘take courage’ and do the right thing, choosing the right path. "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)   Consider Jesus! Take Courage! Finish well!

(Video of this blog at this link)

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The Lord Is My Light

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation
Whom then shall I fear
Whom then shall I fear
The Lord is the strength of my life
The Lord is the strength of my life
Of whom then shall I be afraid

Though a host of men were laid against me
Yet shall not my heart be afraid
And though there 'rose up war against me
Yet will I put my trust in Him

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His tabernacle
Yea in the secret places of His dwelling
Shall He hide me
And set me up upon a rock of stone

Of whom then shall I be afraid
The Lord is my Light

Mary Frances Allitsen  Public Domain