Keep the Change

If you have ever been around a cat, one of the features you might have noticed was its whiskers. Have you ever wondered about the purpose for those whiskers? Well, believe it or not, a cat’s whiskers work kind of like the Holy Spirit. They warn the cat that it is going into a dangerous place.

No, really! Check it out –

“… the whisker's primary use is to help a cat judge whether or not he'll fit through an opening. A cat's whiskers are roughly as wide as his body -- sort of a natural ruler. The whisker tips are sensitive to pressure. You'll probably see a cat stick his head in and out of an opening before he puts his body in. He's judging the width of the opening, and is determining if he can fit into it.”[1]

Also like the Holy Spirit, the cat can ignore what his whiskers are telling him. Let me tell you how I know that.

The house where I grew up was built by my parents primarily out of rocks and glass. The head of my bed was against one of these rock walls, so that often I heard puzzling and frightening noises from outside, usually in the middle of the night.

One night I heard what sounded like someone hitting a jar on my bedroom wall. The sound went on for long enough that I was sure there was a stranger outside my room hitting my wall with a glass jar. (I know, just go with it.)

I jumped out of bed and ran to my parents’ room, woke up my father and made him go outside and chase the man away. (Not the first or the last time I did that, by the way.) Of course, by the time he got there, there was no one to chase away. This happened three nights in a row. (My dad was a very patient man.)

On the evening of what would have been the fourth night, we were all in the living room watching TV when we all heard (finally) what sounded like someone hitting our sliding glass patio door with something quite hard – not hard enough to break the glass, but hard enough to make a loud noise. We jumped up to go look and found nobody. We thought it must have been our neighbor boy playing a joke on us, and we planned to ask him about it the next day.

The next day came, and he claimed to know nothing about knocking on our door. We felt like we had quite a mystery. Later that same day, though, I was outside and saw a truly strange thing. I saw a cat walking around with his head in a mayonnaise jar.

Hmmm. All the weird noises suddenly made sense! He was a youngish cat – not a kitten, but not fully grown yet and so he was having some trouble walking and navigating with that big jar on his head. Even so, when I walked toward him, to pull it off, he ran away from me. (Keep in mind, he’d been stuck in that jar for a minimum of four days at that point.)

I got my dad and we finally caught up to him. That was surprisingly difficult, but we finally threw a towel over him and held him down so that my dad could break the jar off of his head.

You’d think that cat would have been grateful…if he was he didn’t show it. He just ran off. Hopefully though, the next time his whiskers told him not to put his head in something, he paid attention to the warning.

I’m struck by how much like that cat we are. We see something we want and we go toward it and the Holy Spirit sends us a message, “Don’t go near that.”

But we look at it, and we think about it, and we get a little closer. The Holy Spirit says, “Don’t do that, it’s dangerous.”

We really want to check it out, so we stick our noses just a little way in. The Holy Spirit says, “Back out now. You’ll get stuck in there.” But it’s so cool and so much fun that we stick our heads all the way inside that jar … and then we realize how trapped we are. We’re trapped and there’s absolutely nothing we can do to free ourselves from our mayonnaise jar of sin.

We wander around, stuck, starving, suffocating, and lost until Jesus comes to set us free. We’re afraid to accept His help. We’re stuck in sin and we’re dying, but we’re not sure we want to make any changes in the way we’re living our lives.

Finally when we’re exhausted from banging our heads against things trying to free ourselves, we let Jesus take us out of our sin and rescue us.

Jesus has changed our circumstances, given us hope and a future, (For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)but how often do we run back to the sin that trapped us rather than keeping the change that Jesus died to give us?

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:15-23

“Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching
As if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
'Cause I'll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don't fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you”[2]

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[1] Why Do Cats Have Whiskers, Animal Planet, http://animal.discovery.com/pets/question592.htm

[2] Jason David Ingram, Phillip Larue, Jason Ingram, Phillip Paul la Rue, Mike Donehey, By Your Side, Formerly Music, Songs Of Razor And Tie O.B.O. My Maxx Songs, Sony/ATV Timber Publishing

Life-changing or Time Wasting?

Would you be surprised to learn that only 31% of Americans believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. That number shrinks to a mere 10% if we're only asking people who claim no religious affiliation. In addition to that, 19% of Americans feel the Bible is nothing more than a compilation of myths and legends.

What do you think? Do you believe the Bible is the literal word of God or a collection of myths and legends? Does it make any difference whether or not you believe the Bible is “God-breathed” as long as you believe in God? Is there anything inherently special about the Bible? Is it possible to read the Bible, all the way through, and not be changed by what you’ve read?

Exhibit 1:

“The prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid's ancient prison. The dreadful, dirty, and dreary nature of the place earned it the name, ‘The Place of the Skull.’ Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. The prince was given one book to read the entire time: the Bible.
With only one book to read, he read it hundreds and hundreds of times. The book became his constant companion. After 33 years of imprisonment, he died. When they came to clean out his cell, they found some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft stone of the prison walls. The notations were of this sort: Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter J; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible; no word or name more than six syllables can be found in the Bible.
“This individual spent 33 years of his life studying what some have described as the greatest book of all time. Yet he could only glean trivia. From all we know, he never made any religious or spiritual commitment to Christ. He simply became an expert at Bible trivia.”[1]

Exhibit 2:

“A Christian university student shared a room with a Muslim. As they became friends, their conversation turned to their beliefs. The believer asked the Muslim if he'd ever read the Bible. He answered no, but then asked if the Christian had ever read the Koran.
“The believer responded, ‘No, I haven't, but I'm sure it would be interesting. Why don't we read both together, once a week, alternating books?’ The young man accepted the challenge, their friendship deepened, and during the second term he became a believer in Jesus.
“One evening, late in the term, he burst into the room and shouted at the long-time believer, ‘You deceived me!’
“‘What are you talking about?’ the believer asked.
“The new believer opened his Bible and said, ‘I've been reading it through, like you told me, and just read that the Word is living and active!’ He grinned. ‘You knew all along that the Bible contained God's power and that the Koran is a book like any other. I never had a chance!’
“‘And now you'll hate me for life?’ queried the believer.
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘but it was an unfair contest.’”[2]

What made the difference between the responses of these two men? One was saved and one just collected trivia. (Although I’m not convince that the prince of Grenada wasn’t changed by reading the Bible for 33 years. It’s just that nobody got the chance to talk to him about it. Maybe the odd trivia was just an intellectual activity to fill some of the crushing monotony of 33 years in prison.)

We hear so often about people who don’t have any experience with God who just start reading the Bible and are brought into a relationship with Jesus. I guess I really didn’t think of folks who read the Bible and were left unchanged.  That worries me a little because that means that it is possible for me to read my Bible and remain unchanged as well. How can I make sure that we have a life changing experience while reading the Bible is life-changing and not a waste of time?

Well a Tyndale House study found that regular Bible readers, on the whole, describe themselves as "at peace," "happy," and "full of joy" more often that people who said they never read the Bible.

That’s all well and good, but I don’t want to just be happier, I want to spend eternity with Jesus my Savior!

Well, first of all, just Bible reading isn’t enough, I have to study, and study without prayer asking for the leading of the Holy Spirit won’t do me much good either.

“Superficial study of the word of God can not [sic] meet the claims it has upon us, nor furnish us with the benefit that is promised. We should seek to learn the full meaning of the words of truth, and to drink deep the spirit of the holy oracles. To read daily a certain number of chapters, or to commit to memory a stipulated amount of Scripture, without careful thought as to the meaning of the text, will profit but little. To study one passage until its significance is clear to the mind, and its relation to the plan of salvation is evident, is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained. We can not [sic] obtain wisdom from the word of God without giving earnest and prayerful attention to its study.
You must dig in the mine of truth till you find its greatest treasure, and by comparing scripture with scripture you may find the true meaning of the text.
“... In searching for Heaven-revealed truths, the Spirit of God is brought into close connection with the sincere searcher of the Scriptures. … No study is better to give energy to the mind, to strengthen the intellect, than the study of the word of God. No other book is so potent in elevating the thoughts, in giving vigor to the faculties, as is the Bible, which contains the most ennobling truths. If God’s word were studied as it should be, we would see breadth of mind, stability of purpose, nobility of character, such as are rarely seen in these times. ( E.G. White, Signs of the Times, September 26, 1895)

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to "dig in the mine of truth" for God's greatest treasure.
Dig in!

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[1] Leonard Sweet, Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture (Group Publishing, 1999), p. 59

[2] Floyd Schneider, Evangelism for the Fainthearted (Kregel, 2000

One Habit of Highly Effective Christians

How often do/should you pray? How long do/should you pray? Can you pray too much? What do/should you pray about? Is it possible to pray wrong? Are there certain words/phrases you need to use? What if you feel like God’s not listening? If God knows everything, why do I need to pray? Do I have to kneel every time I pray? What if you don’t have time to pray? Does praying really make any difference anyway?

Have you ever asked any or all of those questions? I have. I really struggle with the particulars of prayer. It’s not that I don’t pray, I do. The problem, for me, is that I’m pretty sure I’m missing some important component.

True confession time – I have a really hard time doing anything on a set schedule. It’s not that I don’t try or don’t want to keep a schedule. I really do! I make schedules and lists for myself all the time. I just rarely follow them, even though I know that certain things, (exercise, Bible study, cleaning, and prayer, for example) cannot be done correctly without scheduling them.

It’s not that I don’t want to do those things, I do. I know they’re all important. And it’s not that I don’t ever do those things, I do, just not regularly or often enough to really get the benefit of having done them.

I remember reading a story some time ago of an 85 year old woman how got trapped in an elevator for four nights and three days. She was all alone – no one else in the building and no signal for her cell phone. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be? She came to the conclusion that she could either panic or pray. She chose to pray and turn the elevator into her own prayer closet.

When the woman was interviewed later she actually said that she had felt God’s presences with her giving her both strength and joy. She said that she felt like the whole experience was a gift from God to provide her with an opportunity to develop a closer relationship with Him.

Isn’t that amazing? I really covet that kind of a relationship with God. I’m fairly certain, though, that the woman had spent many years before being trapped in that elevation, keeping appointments to spend time alone talking with God. That’s different than what Ron Halvorsen calls “crisis praying.”

“We usually don’t say much about prayer, and we don’t pray much, until a crisis comes into our life. Aunt Tillie is sick, so you go on your knees and you pray for the next few days that Aunt Tillie will get well. Or Uncle John. Or someone in the church is sick. That’s crisis praying. When you are sick, have you noticed that you pray more than you did before you got sick? That’s crisis praying. It still works, but is not as effective as the continual spirit of prayer.”[1]

Praying in a crisis is a good thing, but it shouldn’t be the only time we pray. And I think it can kind of mislead us, give us a sense that we are praying, so everything’s ok with our prayer lives. And can you imagine if the woman trapped in the elevator only had that kind of prayer experience? After the first few hours in the elevator, with no signs of rescue, she may have come to the conclusion that God wasn’t listening and given up.

When I was teaching, quite a few of our “classroom management” techniques involved learning the difference between “reactive” and “proactive.” You probably know the difference – reactive is dealing with each crisis as it comes along, while proactive is working in such a way that many of the crises don’t happen in the first place. The proactive route takes more time to begin with, but almost always works better than reacting to every little emergency as it comes along. I believe that prayer can be looked at much the same way. Like Halvorsen says, “That’s crisis praying. It still works, but is not as effective as the continual spirit of prayer.”

Another author describes the importance of prayer as the key to success in any field of endeavor.

“Some things make you successful whatever path you take-whether you're on the ‘mommy track’ or in a full-time career outside the home. You need to be with God daily. You need to be in constant prayer. You need to incorporate God's Word into your life, constantly evaluating your life to make sure you are following God's lead.” [2]

That’s proactive praying – being with God daily. Do you remember when you or your kids were taking some kind of music lessons? The question was always, “How often do we have to practice?” and the answer was, “You only have to practice on the days that you eat.” How often do we need to pray? On the days we eat would be a good place to start, but probably the time we spend in prayer needs to increase to the point that it’s almost like breathing, don’t you think?

“Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. ‘The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.’ James 5:11. His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. ‘He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.’ Psalm 147:3. The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watch care, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son.” (Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 100)

Ron Halvorsen describes prayer as 

“not what you say, it’s who you are. You see, prayer is your experience. It’s the breath of your soul. You don’t grab a breath at church, and then hold it until next week. And you don’t have to hit yourself on the head and say, ‘Breathe,Halvorsen!’
“No, it’s automatic. You see, once you come into that experience with God, you come in that experience with Jesus, you are with Him always in what you think.”[3]

The question is, how do I get to the point that talking to Jesus is a part of everything I do? I need to stop just reacting with crisis prayers and start, with the help of the Holy Spirit, building the spiritual discipline of personal prayer, worship and bible study time into each day so that when the crises do come, I can see them as opportunities to draw closer to God.

Where do we start? Sing it with me:

Into my heart, 
Into my heart, 
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. 
Come in today, come in to stay, 
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

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[1] Ron Halvorsen, It Is Written Script: 1241 The Power of Prayer ©2012 It Is Written International Television

[2] Kay Coles James, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 11, no. 2.

[3] Ron Halvorsen, It Is Written Script: 1241 The Power of Prayer ©2012 It Is Written International Television

Mirror, Mirror!

How honest is your mirror? Has it ever lied to you? Sometimes when we look at the way some people leave their houses, we might think their mirror has not given them an accurate picture of how they look. In those cases, though, it’s usually the mental picture that is faulty, not the mirror’s reflection.

Often our own mental picture of ourselves is different than reality.

“Here's some good news: if you're like most people, you're way above average—at almost everything. Psychologists call this the state of ‘illusory superiority.’ (It's also called ‘The Lake Wobegone Effect,’ from Garrison Keillor's fictional Minnesota town where ‘all the children are above average.’) It simply means that we tend to inflate our positive qualities and abilities, especially in comparison to other people.

“Numerous research studies have revealed this tendency to overestimate ourselves. For instance, when researches asked a million high school students how well they got along with their peers, none of the students rated themselves below average. As a matter of fact, 60 percent of students believed they were in the top 10 percent; 25 percent rated themselves in the top one percent. You'd think college professors might have more self-insight, but they were just as biased about their abilities. Two percent rated themselves below average; 10 percent were average and 63 [percent] were above average; while 25 percent rated themselves as truly exceptional.
“Of course this is statistically impossible. One researcher summarized the data this way: ‘It's the great contradiction: the average person believes he is a better person than the average person.’ Christian psychologist Mark McMinn contends that the ‘Lake Wobegone Effect’ reveals our pride. He writes, ‘One of the clearest conclusions of social science research is that we are proud. We think better of ourselves than we really are, we see our faults in faint black and white rather than in vivid color, and we assume the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves.’”[1]

The church of Laodicea, in Revelation, seemed to have much the same problem. The prophet John the Revelator was told to write to them and tell them, 

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…” Revelation 3:17

The Laodeceans hadn’t looked in a mirror in a while, had they? Oh, wait, that describes us, doesn’t it? Ouch!

“The Laodicean message must be proclaimed with power; for now it is especially applicable. Now, more than ever before, are seen pride, worldly ambition, self-exaltation, double-dealing, hypocrisy, and deception. Many are speaking great swelling words of vanity, saying, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’ Yet they are miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” E.G. White, The Review and Herald, September 25, 1900.

Wow, “miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” – not a flattering spiritual picture, is it? How in the world did we end up so confused, so far off the mark?

I believe that it’s mostly human nature (meaning our sinful nature) to get to a point where we feel like we’ve “made it” and want to just maintain the status quo from that point on. The problem is, there is no such thing, as spiritually making it. The moment we stop learning, seeking and expanding our relationship with Jesus, we immediately start sliding away. There are no spiritual plateaus.

Meanwhile, we also have to battle against western society’s constant message that we’re all good enough, just the way we are. Spiritual growth (in the Christian sense, anyway) is a waste of time.

An article in USA Today tells about something called “spiritual apathy” that is spreading across America. People who fit the description of being spiritually apathetic aren’t atheists, "They simply shrug off God, religion, heaven, or the ever-trendy search-for-meaning and/or purpose. Their attitude could be summed up as 'So what?'"

The author of this article, Cathy Lynn Grossman, offers these statistics to prove her point. (Hold onto your seat, they’re pretty disturbing!)

“44 percent of respondents told a Baylor University study that they spend no time seeking ‘eternal wisdom,’ and 19 percent said, ‘It's useless to search for meaning.’
“46 percent of respondents told LifeWay Research that they never wonder if they will go to heaven.
“28 percent told LifeWay that ‘it's not a major priority in my life to find deeper purpose.’
“18 percent denied that God has a purpose or plan for everyone.
“One professor of religion concluded, "The real dirty secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal.’”[2]

Seems like Laodicea could be a synonym for everybody’s favorite descriptor, “post-modern” or even “post-post-modern” (actually heard someone use that the other day. Time to think of new term!)

So, once we’ve taken that dreaded look in our spiritual mirrors and realize we’ve been lying to ourselves, what can we do? How can we find our way back to where we need to be?

Well, the message to the Laodicean church was harsh, but it wasn’t without hope.

“I counsel you to  buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:18-21

Well, that’s a relief! Everything we need to fix our miserable, poor, blind, and naked situation, we can get from Jesus. In fact, He’s the only One who can help us. All we have to do is open the door of our hearts to His gentle knock and invite Him into our lives.

Which sounds like a better place to end up? Miserable, poor, blind, and naked? Or sitting on Jesus’ throne with Him, holding His fire-refined gold, healed from our blindness by His eye salve, and clothed in His white garments?

Let’s all keep an honest eye on our spiritual mirrors. I don’t want to have a skewed picture of where my relationship with Jesus is, do you?

“Therefore, be zealous and repent.” Who’s with me?

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[1]"Study: Self-Images Often Erroneously Inflate," ABC News (11-9-05); Mark McMinn, Why Sin Matters (Tyndale, 2004), pp. 69-71 

[2] Cathy Lynn Grossman, "For many, 'Losing My Religion' isn't just a song; It's life," USA Today (12-25-11)

Revival of Hope

I don’t know about where you live, but where I live it seems like a lot of people are feeling pretty hopeless about their futures. Everywhere they look bad things are happening, and they don’t feel like they have any control over their own lives and their own futures.

According to Tara Parker-Pope of the The New York Times (May 2013), "suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade." Here are the stats behind this trend:

“From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent.
“More Americans now die of suicide (38,364) than car accidents (33,687). That's 3,026 more people who die from suicide each year than in car crashes.
“The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicides jumped by nearly 50 percent.
“The suicide rate for middle-aged men was three times higher than for middle-aged women.
“Researchers claim that the reasons for suicide are often complex, but this article focused on two factors—the stress of the economic downturn and the widespread availability of prescription painkillers. But it also hinted that deeper issues like failed expectations and a loss of hope might be a root cause for the increase in suicides. Dr. Julie Phillips, a researcher from Rutgers University, says, ‘The boomers had great expectations for what their life would look like, but … it hasn't turned out that way.’ Dr. Phillips warns that future generations will be facing the same conditions that lead to this sense of despair.”[1]

How do you feel about your future? Do you ever feel hopeless? I think most of us do from time to time. What I find though, is that those hopeless feelings catch up with me when I start looking at my life here on earth and forget that Jesus has promised something better.

I often wonder how it would be to live without the hope of Jesus and Heaven. Have you ever thought about that? It’s hard for me to imagine because I don’t remember I time when I didn’t know Jesus – I am grateful for that blessing. There are many of you, though, who have come to know Jesus later and have had to live without that hope.

I read a story about a man named Laureano and his wife, Consuelo. In 1966, they decided they had had enough of Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

They spent several months collecting bits and pieces of scrap metal that they could put together to make themselves a little boat … a very little boat. It was hardly big enough for the both of them – more of a kayak, really. It was powered by a little lawn mower engine.

They left Cuba in September, sitting back to back in their boat, just wearing their swimming suits. They could only fit enough food and water for one or two days.

It turned out that they floated out in the middle of the Straits of Florida for more than 70 hours before the U.S. Coast Guard finally rescued them somewhere in the Florida Keys.

Why would two people take such a risk? They could have starved to death, or drowned, or been eaten by sharks.

When someone asked Laureano that question many years later, this is what he said,

“When one has grown up in liberty, [you] realize it is important to have [freedom]. We lived in the enormous prison which is Cuba, where one's life is not worth one crumb. Where one goes out into the street and does not know whether or not one will return to one's home, because the political police can arrest you without any warning and put you in prison. Before this could happen to us, we thought that going into the ocean, and risking death or being eaten by sharks, is a million times better than to stay suffering under [political oppression].”[2]

Laureano and Consuelo had no hope of a future in Cuba; they had to get to a place where they could have hope.

You and I don’t have any hope of a future on this earth. We are living under the cruel and unreasonable government of Satan. Under his regime, there is no hope for anyone. Our only hope for any kind of future is through Jesus.

Zechariah paints a beautiful picture of our lives in the New Earth in Zechariah 8 (yes the whole chapter – it’s not that long, you can read it.)

Here are some of my favorite parts:

“Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’
“Thus says the Lord of hosts:  ‘Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age.
The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.’” Zechariah 8:3-5

Isn’t that a great picture? Jesus living with us in a new place where there is no sin. That is certainly something that I hope for.

When this world gets too much for us, there’s something we need to remember.
Sometimes it feels like I'm watching from the outside
Sometimes it feels like I'm breathing but am I alive
I won't keep searching for answers that aren't here to find
All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong
So when the walls come falling down on me
And when I'm lost in the current of a raging sea
I have this blessed assurance holding me.
All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong
When the earth shakes I wanna be found in You
When the lights fade I wanna be found in You
All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong.”[3]

My hope is in Jesus. Is yours?

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[1] Tara Parker-Pope, "Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S.," The New York Times (5-2-13)

[2] Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: From a plaque and display in the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia

[3] Jason Roy, Where I Belong, Listen to the Sound, 2011

Wax On - Wax Off

If you don’t understand this cultural reference, it’s from the movie, The Karate Kid. The main character in the movie is a teenage boy, Daniel who has just moved to town and is getting bullied. In order to stop it, he wants to learn karate. He meets up with the manager of his apartment building, Mr. Miyage who agrees to teach him. One requirement of this agreement is that Daniel must obey Mr. Miyage’s instructions even if they don’t seem to have anything to do with learning karate. Daniel agrees and the first thing Mr. Miyage does is hand Daniel a sponge and tells him to wash and wax his collection of classic cars. Mr. Miyago gives very specific instructions – one hand he’s to make wide circles to the right to put the wax on and with the other make wide circles to the left to take it off. He is also to breathe deeply, in through his nose and out through his mouth. Mr. Miyage watches him carefully and when Daniel forgets the instructions, Mr. Miyage calls out to him, “Wax on – Wax off,” while making the required motions.

“In the weeks that follow, Miyagi gives Daniel further chores to complete with similar instructions on technique: sanding a walkway that leads around Miyagi's backyard (landscaped to be a Japanese garden), staining the fence that surrounds his property and painting his house. With each new chore, Daniel's frustration grows at the seeming lack of any karate training and Miyagi's minimal praise of his work. One night, after finishing the painting of Miyagi's house, Daniel expresses his frustration to his teacher. Miyagi tells Daniel to show him how he washed and polished the cars. … and orders Daniel to show him the motions he'd been using to do the chores. Daniel quickly realizes that the chores … were also practice for defensive moves, exercises to build muscle tone and build his reflexes. After a few minutes of practice, Miyagi suddenly yells and throws several punches and kicks at Daniel, all of which Daniel blocks easily.”[1]

It turns out that what Daniel had been doing for all those weeks was building muscle and stamina, yes, but also created muscle memory. You may have heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect,” but really practice just builds muscle memory. Muscle memory is what helps us be able to ride a bike, even if we haven’t been on one in years, for example, or play the piano or type – excuse me, keyboard without looking at your hands.

Most of us count on muscle memory to be able to perform specific actions without having to think about it. I remember when we used to go ingathering (If you don’t know what that is, ask an Adventist older than 45.) Some of us would walk from door to door while some would ride in the back of a pick-up truck that drove slowly down the streets. The folks in the truck would be singing Christmas carols. I was always amazed that one of the carolers would bring along either her knitting or crocheting (I don’t remember which), and while she sang, her hands would be busy doing her needlework…in the dark! This same person could play the piano for church and carry on a conversation with someone at the same time...still boggles my mind!

Anyway, those are all the good things about doing something over and over until you don’t have to think about it anymore. There’s also a downside – you don’t have to think about it anymore and when that happens in your worship experience, you have a problem.

At the beginning of Zechariah 7, a delegation come to Jerusalem to ask the priests a question.

"Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, ‘Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?’
Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?”’” Zechariah 7:1-5

During all the time they had been in exile in Babylon, God’s people had fasted in the fourth month to remember when the walls of Jerusalem had been breached, in the fifth month to remember the destruction of the temple, in the seventh month for the Day of Atonement, and in the tenth month they fasted to mourn the siege against Jerusalem. The Day of Atonement was the only fast commanded by God through Moses.

Through Zechariah, God points the delegation to the purpose of their fasting. Were they just going through the motions? Were they thinking about the things the fasting was to commemorate? Or was it just one more thing to check off their To Do lists?

“According to the [New York] Times, people are paying as much as $3,484 a week to visit health spas where they go without food. One spa in Desert Hot Springs, California, is booked through October with a clientele that includes celebrities Ben Affleck and Courtney Love. Fashion designers and mortgage brokers have joined the fasting trend. Instead of stuffing themselves with steak and lobster, they subsist on apple-celery cocktails, herbal teas, laxatives, bee pollen, blended soups, and water mixed with squeezed lemons, Celtic Sea salt, and honey.
“… Fasters claim that a 4- to 30-day regimen not only helps them lose weight but has spiritual benefits, as well. ‘It used to be that people who came in to fast talked about weight loss,’ said Stephanie Paradise, owner of the New Age Health Spa in Neversink, N.Y. Now, she says, it's about ‘detoxing the mind, body and spirit.’
“Not all of the fasters are doing it for spiritual reasons, however. Natalia Rose, a nutritional consultant, appeals to their vanity. She organizes four-day fasting weekends for women that include motivational trips to a fashionable department store, to ‘remind them what it's all for.’”[2]

For the Jews, fasting wasn’t the point – remembering how God had led and taken care of them was.

Going to church every week, in and of itself, isn’t the point. Especially not if we’re just going through the motions or if we’re just going to see our friend and have social time.

Turning off the TV on Sabbath doesn’t make God happy if we sleep the day away or spend that time anxiously waiting for sundown so we can do what we really want to do.

Calling ourselves Christians doesn’t make God happy, especially if we’ve become just “Cultural Christians,” who look and act like Christians, but without any relationship to Jesus Christ. Cultural Christians are just going through the motions because that’s what their parents and friends do.

We need to make our relationship with Jesus a daily conscious choice and stop just going through the motions.

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[1] The Karate Kid, IMDb, Copyright © 1990-2013 IMDb.com, Inc., http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087538/synopsis

[2] Peter Larson, "Fashionable Fasting," the PRISM E-pistle (9-3-03); submitted by Marshall Shelley, Wheaton, Illinois

Call off the Search … Significance Found

Many of us, especially in “First World” societies, devote a considerable amount of time, money, and energy to discover and maintain some reason to be on this planet. In fact, a few years ago, California state legislator, John Vasconcellos, put together a task force to promote self-esteem (a feeling of significance) for the school children of California.

While that sounds like a really great idea, in actual practice what has happened is that people who work with children (guilty) have promoted self-esteem based on pretty much nothing – in sports, everybody gets a trophy, just for showing up; in the classroom, teachers aren’t to use red pens to grade papers because that might cause a student to feel bad, etc.

Over the years, we’ve found that this artificial significance has often harmed rather than helped students because in the real world there are people who win and people who lose, and there are right and wrong answers. And when faced with those realities, many who have grown up during the self-esteem experiment find the world an extremely harsh place and become frustrated and disillusioned.

On the other hand, generations before the self-esteem movement, were taught that their significance lay completely in their abilities and achievements – getting good grades, going to the right schools, or getting the best jobs. Many of these folks also ended up frustrated and disillusioned.

Leonard Woolf, an author, publisher and literary editor, said in an article in Wireless Age,

“I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would be exactly the same if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather ignominious confession that I have in a long life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”[1]

So where does our significance, our worth come from? Society, as a whole, continues to struggle with that question. I think I might know at least a little part of the answer, though. In my opinion, when the theory of evolution became the primary explanation for our existence, there was no longer any particular reason for humans to be on this planet and so we had to start manufacturing reasons. If we are just one more species of animal, why are we here as opposed to any other species? Yet no other animal seems to feel the need of a purpose the way humans do.

On the other hand, if we were specifically created to be companions of God, then our search for significance is over! Most of us have seen the movie, Toy Story. Pretty early in the movie, Buzz Lightyear, a toy astronaut, is convinced that he’s a real astronaut and space hero. Meanwhile, Woody, a toy cowboy, tries to convince him that he’s just a toy.

Buzz, trying to prove that he’s real, tries to fly. When he fails he dejectedly admits that he’s “just a stupid, little, insignificant toy.”

In an effort to cheer Buzz up, Woody says, "Look, over in that house, there's a kid who thinks you're the greatest, and it's not because you're a space ranger; it's because you're his."

If our significance is based on who we are rather than whose we are, we will probably have, at some point, a crisis as to our place and purpose in this world. Mark Hall of the Christian group, Casting Crowns has written a song called, “Who Am I,” that talks about where we can find our significance.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart

Refrain

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

Vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love and watch me rise again

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me

I am Yours

Whom shall I fear

Whom shall I fear

'Cause I am Yours

I am Yours[2]

 “Though you are one of the teeming millions in this world, and though the world would have you believe that you do not count and that you are but a speck in the mass, God says, ‘I know you.’”[3]

Isn’t that amazing? God knows me. God knows each of us, individually and personally. He knows our wants, our heartbreaks, what makes us laugh … He made each of us to fill a specific place in His kingdom, and if we’re not there, He will miss us.

We don’t need to struggle with our self-esteem, our purpose in life, or our significance in the grand scheme of things. We just need to remember that we are God’s children, His treasures. He wants to spend eternity with each and every one of us.

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” John 3:16-17 AMP

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[1] Leonard Woolf, Wireless Age, Sept-Nov 1998
[2] Mark Hall, Who Am I, Casting Crowns, 2004

[3] D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, The Best of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 7