Global issues

Writing a blog is a fairly solitary endeavor. I sit in my apartment and put down in written words my thoughts and memories, and share how God is stretching me. Many of you ask me how I knew you were going through that, or how I knew you needed to hear that, but the truth is that I write what God knows I need to hear. 

A lifetime ago when I would teach I would hear a student repeat something they said that I had said. Most of the time I didn't remember saying that at all. In the space between my lips and their ears, God had changed what I said into what they had needed to hear. The same thing seems be happening here. God changes what I type into what you need to hear. It is a humbling experience. 

One of the amazing things to me is that I have readers all over the earth. South Africa. South Korea. Poland. Russia. Mexico. Germany. Australia. How does that happen? My little blog, that I started as a class project, has readers all around the globe. 

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Rev. 5:9-10

God has provided for himself people throughout the earth, to serve him and to spread his gospel to bring others to his salvation. Sometimes I get so caught up in my little space that I forget that he is at work on a global scale. I get overwhelmed with sharing him with you, in my apartment complex and church and city and state that I forget how big he is, and the scope of his work. 

When your focus has narrowed down to one room or one church, lift your head and look around you. Get out a world map and see how big the world is. God is bigger. If that doesn't induce worship, I don't know what will. When your problems seem overwhelming, and they press down on you so that you can't see beyond them, remember how big God is. How worthy he is.

My problems seem pretty small when held up to a global inspection. Poverty. Lack of clean water. Disease. Starvation. War. Genocide. God is at work on this level. My little financial issues seems pretty petty. Some of you are dealing with big things. Mental illness. Rebellious teens. Rape. Domestic violence. Cancer. Hurts beyond which I can know. Our God is a big God. He can handle whatever you bring him. 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." 

Ephesians 3:20-21 

Did you catch that? He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask..." Some days I ask a lot. He can handle it. Some days my dreams drift into what I deem the impossible. Not to God. He is able to do way beyond what I could even imagine. 

Wherever you are, whatever the scope of your problems, bring them to God. If you are angry or sad or your feelings are hurt, bring it to God. He can handle it. It's not like he doesn't already know. Bring your stuff to God, and then watch to see what he does. 

While you are at it, drop me a line on Facebook or leave a comment. Remember, I am sitting at my kitchen table, alone, typing away... Tell me what you like about this blog or what you wish was different. Do I post too often? Not often enough? Are there topics you'd like covered or stuff I should stop talking about? You may have ideas that I hadn't even considered. 

Thank you for reading. England, Ireland, Peru and all the other places I haven't traveled to yet in this blog, I look forward to meeting you!     

God is seeking YOU!

The Bible tells us more than 25 times to worship the Lord.  We are told to worship in the splendor of holiness, to bow down in worship, to worship at His footstool.  We are told to kneel, to fall down, to bow down on the roofs, to worship in Jerusalem, to worship in service.  We are told to worship Him in gladness, in spirit, in truth, acceptably and with reverence.  We are told to worship Him for what He does and simply for who He is.  The only real common denominator is that we are to worship Him alone.

God alone is worthy of our worship and regardless of our physical or social position, regardless of where we are or our economic situation, regardless of our circumstances, we are to worship God.  God seeks worshipers.  He seeks people who recognize the truth of who He is in relationship to them.  He seeks people who worship in spirit and not just in body and form.

“An hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”  John 4:23

Before the birth of Christ, worship was done in one place, in one way, by ritual at the Temple.  With the coming of Jesus a new way was born; in spirit, our spirit communing with His, in the truth of a relationship.  For many, worship continues to be one way, in one place, that is in our local church during Sunday service. 

God wants more.  He wants us to have a relationship with Him, and to make every action and attitude a reflection of the Truth we’ve found in Him, and Him alone, our spirit communing and communicating with His.  Worship in truth and spirit is more than a ritual.  It’s a newness of life.

How do you worship? Worship is certainly at church. Corporately, our spirits united with other believers, lifted as an offering to God. As we sing the choruses and hymns that exalt God, that remind us of how perfectly amazing he is, we join with others to become greater than we are alone, united as the body of Christ. Worship goes beyond singing, however. Corporate worship can be the Life Group that is painting a room in a shelter together, for Him. It is the Mom’s group that meets together to wrestle with biblical truth, or the youth group that celebrates life together in play.

We also worship alone. In times of quiet as our spirit engages with the Spirit of God to learn and meditate on him, we are worshiping. Anything we do that is done to glorify God is worship. The widow who drives other elderly women to their doctor appointments is worshiping. A mother who bathes her children in prayer as she bathes them in water is worshiping. We sanctify any act by setting it apart and dedicating it to God. As we cook dinner or balance a budget sheet or sell another gismo, when we do it in an attitude of obedience and with an eye to the ability of God to redeem the mundane, it becomes worship.

God wants worshipers. He seeks worshipers. Will you live in spirit and in truth, dedicating every action to him? Will you give him your ordinary life and allow him to transform it into something that reflects his nature? It’s a scary thing to do. God is unpredictable. You never know what he might ask you to do, or how he might change things, or you. That’s what makes it exciting. 

Worship as a lifestyle is different. It's praying without ceasing. It's being willing to take that step out into the unknown and unseen with expectation of what God is going to do. You never know but you might end up flying!

Savior or Judge?

Rahab was a prostitute.  She lived alone in the city of Jericho, surrounded by thick walls and an immoral society.  Her entire world view was influenced by a culture completely opposite to that of the Israelites.  In spite of this, when she heard rumors and stories of the God of the Israelites and what He was doing for His people, her heart responded in a statement of faith.  Her statement about God is universal and complete:

“The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”  Joshua 2:11b

We don’t know how Rahab knew the truth when she heard it.  All we know is that when she heard, she responded with the kind of faith that acts.  She risked her very life to hide the Hebrew spies, and trusted them when they told her how to avoid destruction.  She continued to trust when they left her in Jericho, and did exactly as they instructed her.  When they came back she and her family were saved, and she left her former way of life behind and became one of them, living in their midst, marrying from the tribe of Judah and becoming a great-grandmother of the Messiah.  Her faith is listed in James 2:25 as being of similar character to the faith of Abraham.

           

Rahab presents a clear example for each of us.  We are sinners, living in an evil and pagan culture.  We hear the word of truth, and our heart responds in faith.  We are saved and adopted into the family of God’s chosen people and begin a new life.  You and I are saved from destruction but still dwell in the midst of a dark and evil civilization.  We are awaiting the destruction of this world, but how we live in this world in the meantime is up to us.  We are called to live a faith that is active, a faith with feet and hands.  Our faith is to be revealed in more than our words; it is to be lived and breathed.  It is to be such a part of how we live each day that it is unmistakable.  It is to be the kind of faith that takes risks.  Like Rahab, we are to embrace the truth so fully that it changes the kind of life we live.

           

Francis Schaeffer says that Jesus stands before all men in one of two capacities; either He is Savior or He is Judge.  When He stood before Jericho, He stood before one woman as Savior; for the rest of the city He was Judge.  Each of us faces the same option as Rahab faced – to embrace the truth of God for salvation or reject it and face His judgment. How we live reflects the choice that we make.

When people look at the life I am living, what do they see? When they watch you, as they will, do they see a person who is living as one saved, with an active faith? Or do they see a person living in judgment?

View of the heart

All blonds are dumb.

Men only want one thing.

Politicians and lawyers are crooked. 

Blacks are good athletes.

 Girls are bad at math. 

Mexicans are lazy.

Muslims are terrorists. 

          Stereotypes make assumptions and judgements about people based on what we can see. They make life easier. If I can judge you based on the color of your skin or your occupation, then I don't have to get to know you. I can bypass all the time it takes to know an individual, and save the investment in another person, and just get right to hating you.We don't call it hate; we call it "discernment."

          We all deal in stereotypes. We make judgements about people based on first impressions. I once disqualified a woman candidate for principal of our school based on her perfect and bright manicure. It was incredibly unfair. Later she joined our staff, and became a good friend whose skills I admired. We do it when we cross the street to avoid a group of teenagers whose music is loud and who dress differently. We do it when we pass on emails that make unsubstantiated claims about political candidates. We do it when we avoid eye contact with the woman on the street whose possessions are all in the shopping cart she is pushing, or with the woman in the pew whose dress is different from the way the rest of us dress, or whose kids are dirty, or who is crying.

          Even when the assumptions we make are correct, they miss the bigger picture of what God can do with a life. God's view of people is vastly different than ours. 

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7 

           Saul was the people's choice of a king. He was tall and handsome, and at the beginning he was fairly humble. The problem was his heart. God saw that. He saw Saul as he really was, as an individual. When it came time to anoint a new king, God sent Samuel to the sons of Jesse. Each one was paraded in front of Samuel, and time after time Samuel thought "this is the one." Each time, God said no. He was looking for something Samuel couldn't see; a heart wholly directed toward God. 

         Knowing a heart takes time. It takes investing ourselves in other people, looking beyond the stereotype and the outward appearance. It requires relationship.

         People are messy. They cost us in time and sometimes money. They are an inconvenience. They almost always let us down. They always require that we look with the eyes of Jesus, that we look beyond the stereotype and stop making assumptions. We cannot lump people together, but need to see each one as a precious child of God, made in his image and completely unique. We need to love like Jesus loves. 

         I need you to see my heart. I need you to look beyond the outer shell to the person that Jesus sees I can become. I need you to value me and help me value you. The relationship will last for eternity, and its worth it.

No Fear

          During the era between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Jewish religious life became much more structured than it had been earlier.  While Jerusalem would continue to be the religious center, individual towns were establishing local synagogues to provide stability and regularity in teaching and worship.  Each synagogue had its own official, or ruler, who ordered the worship and cared for the building and its contents.

            Jesus had just crossed over the Sea of Galilee.  Great crowds followed Him, and so He stayed by the seashore.  One of the rulers of the synagogues came to Him, fell at His feet and began to beg Jesus to come with him and heal his daughter.  Jesus readily and willingly followed him.   

           On their way a woman touched the hem of His robe.  Jesus stopped.  He asked who touched Him.  His disciples point out that He is surrounded by a multitude of people.  Who could know who touched Him, and did it really matter?

            It mattered to Jesus, and to some extent it mattered to the synagogue official as well.  The woman came forward and confessed, and Jesus lovingly affirmed that it was her faith that had healed her.  While this man was watching and listening to this example of faith in action, someone came from his house to inform him that his daughter has died. 

“But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official ‘Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.’” Mark 5:36

You’ve just seen faith in action, and its results.  Set aside fear and choose to believe, or go home to your house of death.  It’s your choice.

            Jesus sent the crowds away, followed the man home and healed the girl.  This father chose to set his fear aside and believe.

            Jesus offers each of us the same choice.  What are you afraid of?  Death?  Rejection?  A life out of your control?  Change? Set your fear aside and choose to believe that the God who healed a little girl and gave up His very life can conquer the death in your life and make you whole and free.

            Or don’t.  The crowd didn’t.  I wonder how many people in that pressing multitude touched Jesus that day with no result whatsoever.  You can be master of your own destiny.  You can grasp tightly to your fear and hold on to it for eternity.  God doesn’t force us to live life, but the alternative is to choose death.

            We can only imagine the life the little girl Jesus raised must have gone on to live, but we know that because her father chose to set his fear aside and believe in the healing power of Jesus she had a life to live.  It must have been amazing.  She had a great story to tell to her grandchildren!

            I understand fear. I have been through periods of my life where I was so paralyzed that it took supreme effort just to get out bed and get dressed in the morning. On less successful days, it took effort to get out of bed and get dressed in the afternoon. God took my hand and helped me up, and gave me a little push forward, and here I am today. I had to choose to trust his word. “If God is for me, who can be against me?” I had a list of people I thought were probably against me, but the point was that God was for me. So I put one foot in front of the other, and refused to let fear win.  

            God has an amazing life for you, a story you’ll be able to share, a grand adventure shared between Him and you.  Let go of fear.  Choose to believe.