No empty words

“Talk is cheap” so goes the phrase meaning that what a person says is made worthless if not matched with actions. We all like that person who follows through on his promises, don’t we?  I recently purchased new windows for my home. My first meeting was with a salesperson who obviously was a great talker. Barry knew all the ‘right’ things to say, emphasizing the quality of their product, listening for cues for what I thought I needed. Not being born yesterday, I listened to him for an hour trying to discern between the sales hype and the facts. I made the deposit starting the process. When the project manager came to measure the openings for window production and to determine what would be needed for the installation, I found a few discrepancies between the salesman’s assurance about how it would be done and the reality. The manager made me smile when he said “The guys in sales have one job - close the deal!  I have to make it work.”  A couple of days ago the job was finished and I am pleased with the results!

Jesus asks those of us who bear His Name to watch our words! In His Sermon on the Mount He tells us “You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.” (The Message,  Matthew 5:34-37) A stinging accusation made by unbelievers about Christians is one dealing with hypocrisy. We give fuel to our critics if we say things that are not true about our faith, if we try to sound more ‘religious’ than we are, when we cover our fear or doubt with brave but insincere proclamation. Better to keep quiet than to lie by implication. When we are authentic, admitting to gaps we have yet to close between our profession of and our actions, we when admit that we have yet to understand some of the mysteries of faith, we do well.

God is offended when we come to Him with songs of worship unmatched by the state of our heart. His words are strong!  “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:20-24, NIV)  IF we what sing and say on Sunday morning is disconnected from how we live on Monday, it is more than insincere, it is a sin in the eyes of God Himself.

Oh yes, we do sometimes speak and/or sing from a place of faith, knowing the truth, but yet to fully own it for ourselves. That is not wrong, if we understand that we are work in progress and admit honestly to our humanity.  For example, I love to sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in worship. The lyrics are an affirmation of the amazing goodness of God. Do I always feel that kind of assurance?  Not at all. Sometimes I grow frustrated by what seems to be unfulfilled promises. As raise my voice to sing “Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me” another part of me says, “But, God, what about ….?”  My desire in those moments is not to cover my doubts but to confess them, asking that my song informs my growing faith.

The same holds true for my engagement with Scripture. There are passages that offer wonderful hope but that I have not fully owned in faith.  I read them with a prayer for inspiration, that God, the Holy Spirit, will write them into my mind and heart so that the Truth shapes my life.

Worship and contemplative prayer are indispensable parts of the life of the Christian who desires spiritual growth and authencity.  In such moments, we need not make ‘noise’ to impress God, need not spill out a torrent of words to sell Jesus, are freed from the need to create an image of spirituality.  In the Presence of God there is healing and growth; we are led to become real, going beyond cheap talk to the true value of holy living.

Here is a word from the Word. In this passage we are challenged and encouraged at the same time, reminded that God sees and knows the truth about us while assured that Jesus is our “Great High Priest” praying for us. May we be people who are authentic disciples, who match our profession of faith with our possession of faith. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:11-16, NIV)   Hallelujah, what a Savior!

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Make My Life A Prayer

Make my life a prayer to You,

I want to do what you want me to,

No empty words, no white lies,

No token prayers, no compromise,

 

I want to shine the Light You gave,

through Your Son You sent to save us,

from ourselves and our despair,

it comforts me to know You're really there.

 

Well, I want to thank You now for being patient with me,

Oh, it's so hard to see, when my eyes on me!

 

I guess, I'll have trust and just believe what You say,

Lord, You're coming again, Coming to take me away.

 

Melody Green © 1978 EMI Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music

Publishing; Admin. by BMG Music Publishing

CCLI License No. 810055

A Captive of Conceit?

Skipp was a former pastor, by most accounts a good and tender shepherd but his life had changed completely.  When I knew him he had become an active opponent of all things “Christian.” He even wrote a book about the reversal - Jesus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. One day we were talking over our Chinese lunch about life and religion. He gently mocked my faith as something very much like a little child’s belief in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy.  How exactly he came to those ‘new’ conclusions I cannot know, but it was obvious to me that a pride rooted in his intellect had overtaken him making him a captive of conceit.

Conceit is not a new thing.  Scripture has many stories of those who were blinded by pride.
Saul lost his mind and his throne when his conceit led him to reject the will of God for his own wisdom. Samuel challenged him to remember that “to obey is better than sacrifice’ but the warning fell on deaf ears.
Solomon came to his place as king and gave himself to self-aggrandizing work which he declared was ‘vanity’ near the end of his life.  
Herod, king at the time of Jesus’ birth, heard of the new King from the Magi and reacted in pride, killing the baby boys of Bethlehem in an attempt to hold onto his throne.
Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, failed in faith, thinking only of himself.

Are you tempted by conceit, thinking that you surely know what you should do,
resistant to the will of God?

Do you read His Word with judgment,
rejecting and questioning, rather than receiving it and living it?

The Proverb goes to the heart of the matter: "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." (Proverbs 26:12, NIV)  

Isaiah, the eloquent preacher of Jerusalem, said: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." (Isaiah 5:20-21, NIV)

Let me be clear about this. There is mystery to the will of God for us sometimes. His ways are ‘higher than our ways’ and we may find ourselves confounded by our experiences. I have no idea why God allowed my late wife to suffer through 20 months of cancer and then took her home to Heaven 8 years ago. The questions are real and I do not escape into denial or easy explanations. But, I refuse to become a captive of the conceit of my own mind, claiming that I know better and turning bitter.  I choose to trust in humility.  And know this - I make no case for silly superstition or so-called ‘proof text’ Christianity that finds a verse of the Bible for every situation, often drawn out of context, to explain life!  Living for Christ is a walk of faith, a daily discovery of grace and a choice to live with the mysteries of faith, even as we pray to understand and are students of God, His Word, and the world in which we live.  

Someone has said that we can stand on the simple declaration - “Jesus loves me!”  For me that is oh so true. I may not be able to unravel the tangled threads of evil in this present world. The future remains an unseen and known only to Him - but I am assured of His great love.  This season of Advent I renew my HOPE by going back to the story that John summarizes this way:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." (John 3:16-17, NLT)  In this I stand secure.  How about you?

Do not became a captive of conceit, wise in your own eyes. Choose humility. Enter times of prayer, not to argue or plead with God, but to wait on Him, to listen for His voice, to offer genuine worship. You will find life ‘to the full’ in His Presence.

The word from the Word challenges us to make the choice of humility. Will you?  "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:10, NIV)   "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:5-6, NIV)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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My Faith Looks Up To Thee (Olivet)

My faith looks up to Thee

Thou Lamb of Calvary

Saviour divine

Now hear me while I pray

Take all my guilt away

O let me from this day

Be wholly Thine

 

May Thy rich grace impart

Strength to my fainting heart

My zeal inspire

As Thou hast died for me

O may my love to Thee

Pure warm and changeless be

A living fire

 

While life's dark maze I tread

And grief's around me spread

Be Thou my guide

Bid darkness turn to day

Wipe sorrow's tears away

Nor let me ever stray

From Thee aside

 

When ends life's transient dream

When death's cold sullen stream

Shall o'er me roll

Blest Saviour then in love

Fear and distrust remove

O bear me safe above

A ransomed soul

 

Words: Public Domain

What keeps us moving forward?

It’s Monday!  We are starting a new week. It’s the beginning of December, the sprint to the end of the year: finishing up those projects, getting the books ready to close … and yes, we are just three weeks from Christmas!  Does all that energize you or feel like a weight on your shoulders?  Do you anticipate the start of a new year or want to curl up on the couch and let the world pass you by?  I will admit to a some of both responses. There are days when life presents me with opportunities that draw me into a new day and there are times when I feel nothing but tired; same old stuff again. 

Some of you are old enough to remember a series of Dunkin™ commercials featuring Fred, the baker, who sleepily pushed open the door as he said - "Time to make the donuts."  The phrase entered our American language as a short-hand way to acknowledge the grind that life can become.

Advent calls us to renewal and this week we focus on HOPE.  

God spoke to the world, sending His Son to restore us to His family. In Christ Jesus, we become ‘new creations,’ people who are given a ‘new name,’ with the promise of eternal life. This is our HOPE! And, we also remember that He promised to return to us to bring His kingdom, to give justice, to defeat forever the power of evil that blights this world.  IF those truths are planted deep into our minds and hearts, we will not fall prey to despair, overcome by weariness.  The Word urges us to "…continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel." (Colossians 1:23, NIV)

Hope grows strong when supported by faith and fact - faith in the love of our Father and resting on the fact of His love and care, shown to us in Jesus. Many things in our lives will conspire to obscure His love, to keep us from the spiritual disciplines that keeps our faith intact even as life’s uncertainties pound on us, sometimes unrelentingly.  

Worship is incredibly important, even when we do not ‘feel’ like it. We present ourselves to God - sometimes in His congregation in a church building, sometimes as we drive alone in our car, sometimes in the loneliest hours of the early morning - and we acknowlege His worth.  We learn to pray - often without words- waiting for the Spirit quietly- and faith is made stronger so that our hope is established and firm.

Our hope for today is shaped around a faith-filled grasp on eternity.  There is false hope that will disappoint us. If we are tricked by our culture to believe that Self must served, that real fulfillment will come from more - money, leisure, sex, acclaim, or recognition - we will start to chase a mirage - exhausting ourselves trying to find the ‘promise’ we are so certain exists just over the next hill! Peter points us of the true center of our hope: “be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:13, NIV)  There is more at stake that we can see in this moment. We are not yet all we will be, nor have we experienced ALL that God has prepared for us.

What a moment when Christ comes again or we enter His presence at our earthly death. Sin’s power will at last be fully broken. Struggles with temptation, suffering brought by the evil that surrounds us, the brokeness of a world that often does not seem to work as it should - will be gone forever, the ‘grace’ gift of perfection then completely ours. Oh what a hope!

Today, if you are feeling like old Fred, the baker, pushing wearily along because it is ‘time to make the donuts,’ I encourage you to carve some time for worship, to look to God, to invite the Holy Spirit to find you where you are.  Simply ask Him to clear your vision and let you see the hope of His children - the full salvation freely given us in His Son Jesus.  IF tears come, let them fall. They are language He understands. If frustration boils to the surface, tell Him with an open heart. If joy finds you, praise Him and thank Him for renewed HOPE.

The word from the Word is a short and simple phrase. Take it with you into your world today. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."  So, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 6:19, 10:23, NIV)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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I Go To The Rock

Where do I go
When there's no one else to turn to
Who do I talk to
When no one wants to listen
Who do I lean on
When there's no foundation stable
I go to the Rock I know that's able
I go to the Rock

I go to the Rock of my salvation
Go to the Stone that the builder rejected
Run to the Mountain and the Mountain stands by me
The earth all around me is sinking sand
On Christ the solid Rock I stand

When I need a shelter when I need a friend
I go to the Rock

Where do I hide
'Til the storms have all passed over
Where do I run to
When the winds of sorrow threaten
Is there a refuge
In the time of tribulation
When my soul needs consolation
I go to the Rock

Dottie Rambo © 1977 New Spring (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055