One of the core values of Branches Church is to be authentic. Real people, real lives, real Jesus is a catch phrase we’ve committed to so we might never become an isolated group of religious people who are irrelevant to the community around us. This week’s blog is dedicated to that core value. We have a long way to go but we are committed to getting there…one person, one conversation, one event at a time.
When [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
This kind of compassion is rare. Oh, we talk a good talk about it. We even expect it from others to do something about (name an injustice). This kind of compassion that Jesus was moved with comes from more than an emotional response to an injustice. This kind of compassion comes from deep within a person, from the core of who we really are.
This kind of compassion causes a young man or woman to forego starting their career until after they’ve joined the Peace Corps or a mission assignment for their church. This compassion causes the cancer survivor to give their time to fundraising for a cure. This compassion moves a family to spend time on a holiday volunteering for others at the shelter instead of sleeping in and staying home. This kind of compassion is more than words.
It’s no wonder we often avoid it. Who is comfortable with such an emotion that comes from so deep within us that it causes us to change our schedule, re-evaluate our leisure time, ask our family to sacrifice, or give up our Saturday to-do project to go across town and do something for someone else? Yeah, rare.
There are three things that will get you a job: having the talent, or ability; having the desire, or want to; and having the schedule, or time in your life for it. Any one of which, if missing, will take you out of the running for said job.
The same goes for compassion. We have the ability to see injustices, we have the ability to see needs, and we have the ability to see those who need help all around us. But if we took a look at our desire to do something about it, to actually be moved with compassion about these things, it involves more than seeing – we have to have the desire, or want to.
If we were to admit it, we really spend more of our effort complaining about what we see than being moved from deep within to do something about it. We may feel we can do nothing about it, it may seem like too big a problem, or it seems hopeless, or we don’t feel qualified, or their opinion and worldview is different than mine, or it’s against my religion…or whatever.
The ability to see the weary multitude like lost sheep, and the desire to do something about it if moved to compassion, causes us to change or adapt our schedule to accommodate the needs. This is the fruit of compassion.
The conclusion of Jesus’ compassion as Matthew recorded it?
He said to his disciples (the church), “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Matthew 9:37-38)
Nobody really wants to know of your personal convictions or beliefs by hearing complaints of what you see around you; that’s wearying. Show me your schedule, show me your compassion, show me that you not only see it, but you are willing to use who you are with what you have and put it on your calendar!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Seeing Their Faith
The house where [Jesus] was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn’t room for one more person, not even outside the door. And he preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” – Mark 2:2-5
I love the line that Mark uses when he writes, seeing their faith. Jesus obviously had to of heard the commotion put into tearing a hole in the roof, He saw the sick man, He knew there was a needy person there, this was all happening right above His head and in front of him. But what caught Jesus’ attention, as well as Mark’s observation, was the faith of the four guys.
Four unnamed guys, four men who could have been home doing chores, hanging with the kids, at work getting more done, taking their wife out to lunch, working on their own needs.
God knows that there are hurting people, broken people, and sick people inside and outside of the church. That’s why Jesus came in the first place! What was it He said His mission was; “…to preach Good News to the poor…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19)
If we want to get God’s attention, it is better suited for us to show Him our faith than to try and show Him our troubles. He already knows our hurts and pain and dysfunctions and injustices; that’s why He sent His Son in the first place. It’s when we skip placing our faith in His Son that puts us in a faithless posture and turns us into a consumer with needs. He sees our need, our sickness, our helpless state!
Apostle Paul said, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
This is a given to God’s children but…
“It is impossible to please God without faith.” (Hebrews 11:6)
So, as we at Branches Church are being real people living real lives in relationship with a real Jesus, we can know our needs are being met by God who loves us and sees us and knows our need; but does He see our faith?
What we do to get others who are sick and hurting and helpless into the presence of Jesus so they can hear the Word may cause a commotion, a bit of interruption for those in the room, a bit of awkwardness as we may set someone in front of Jesus in an unconventional way…but it will get the Lord’s attention as He sees our faith so that the kingdom of God can grow!
I love the line that Mark uses when he writes, seeing their faith. Jesus obviously had to of heard the commotion put into tearing a hole in the roof, He saw the sick man, He knew there was a needy person there, this was all happening right above His head and in front of him. But what caught Jesus’ attention, as well as Mark’s observation, was the faith of the four guys.
Four unnamed guys, four men who could have been home doing chores, hanging with the kids, at work getting more done, taking their wife out to lunch, working on their own needs.
God knows that there are hurting people, broken people, and sick people inside and outside of the church. That’s why Jesus came in the first place! What was it He said His mission was; “…to preach Good News to the poor…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19)
If we want to get God’s attention, it is better suited for us to show Him our faith than to try and show Him our troubles. He already knows our hurts and pain and dysfunctions and injustices; that’s why He sent His Son in the first place. It’s when we skip placing our faith in His Son that puts us in a faithless posture and turns us into a consumer with needs. He sees our need, our sickness, our helpless state!
Apostle Paul said, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
This is a given to God’s children but…
“It is impossible to please God without faith.” (Hebrews 11:6)
So, as we at Branches Church are being real people living real lives in relationship with a real Jesus, we can know our needs are being met by God who loves us and sees us and knows our need; but does He see our faith?
What we do to get others who are sick and hurting and helpless into the presence of Jesus so they can hear the Word may cause a commotion, a bit of interruption for those in the room, a bit of awkwardness as we may set someone in front of Jesus in an unconventional way…but it will get the Lord’s attention as He sees our faith so that the kingdom of God can grow!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Act Like the King!
When you are the king, or the coach of a team, a department leader at work, or a dad, a husband, a mom, a wife, a mentor, a local or national political leader, any position that gives you a kingdom to influence and take care of, you are there to use your God-given place to benefit others. But with King David, there were times he used his influence, position, and resources for selfish purposes rather than for the people.
This week at Branches we looked at what it took for King David to act like the king. It took a tough talking friend and a guilty conscience, both of which he was willing to listen to.
David didn’t go to “king school” to learn how to do this leadership thing God had called him to. No. God had taken him from tending sheep in the pasture and selected him to be the leader of His people. (2 Samuel 7:8)
This shows loud and clear in two particular instances: when David’s son Absalom is killed by David’s army for trying to overthrow the kingdom and when David disobeys God by taking a census of Israel. Both scenarios show David being able to be the king by remembering that he is the shepherd. It’s an attitude adjustment that affects his behaviors.
As David is weeping uncontrollably over the death of Absalom, his friend, Joab, comes to him and challenges him to act like the king. He says that the people that David is king over are afraid to come back home again because his sadness makes them feel as if they have done something wrong in eliminating David’s opposition. “You make us feel ashamed of ourselves.” (2 Samuel 19:5)
Here is the king, thinking that all is about him, all should be for him, and all should go his way – I’m the king, all should go well for me! It doesn’t. Getting everything to go our way doesn’t make us the king, or the dad or mom, a good coach, a benevolent leader, an effective mentor, or a thoughtful husband or wife. How we respond to not getting our way can lead to being a good king, the dad or mom whose advice is sought after, a good coach, a benevolent and influential leader, an effective mentor, and a cherished wife and respected husband!
When Joab confronted his friend David with his selfish attitude I believe David might have finally remembered that he was there for the people in the same way he was there for his sheep years earlier. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had stood before King Saul and said he was willing to go out and face the giant Goliath with confidence because he had faced the lion and the bear that were after his father’s sheep. Having defeated them he knew he was able to defeat this giant too.
Later, when David chose to fall into the hands of a merciful God for his punishment for sinning against God’s command not to take a census of Israel rather than fall into the hands of his military enemies, he is astonished at the devastation that the people of Israel are under for his sin. 70,000 people are dead in three days by the hand of the death angel that God had sent. By the time the angel had reached the outskirts of Jerusalem, David makes an extraordinary statement: When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent sheep – what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” (2 Samuel 24:17)
Here again, David had learned how to act like the king by remembering that God had made him a shepherd. A shepherd not to rule over the sheep but to take care of them.
A shepherd can take one of two attitudes in their work. The sheep are there to build up and get me what I want or, the sheep are there for me to nurture so they can be all they are able to be. The end result is that the shepherd gets the sheep to market and that is ultimately why it is done. But the attitude in approach to how they are brought to that point changes everything.
That is why the apostle Paul writes to us this:
“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.” (Philippians 2:3-7)
This is Jesus being a good shepherd; a good king. He is here on behalf of others. He had the right to descend to earth and demand obedience, submission, and conformity – he is God, all things were created by him and for him, he gave us life itself. (John 1:3-4) But Jesus chose to humble himself on behalf of others, give up his rights, live as human as the rest of us, and pave the way for a right relationship with God for us all! “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
So we can see the precedent laid out in the Old Testament Scriptures with the life and attitudes of David, and Paul setting up Jesus as our example of humility in how to treat those in our sphere of influence. Our thoughts, attitudes, and actions are to become more and more like those shown by Christ. As we reflect honestly on our lives, can we be humble enough to admit our faults, let alone the complaining of someone else’s? When we realize, like David, that we are to act like the king, we can then begin to use the experiences we’ve lived, the knowledge we’ve gained, and the understanding of our relationship with a gracious God to influence others – not demand their conformity to our thinking, beliefs, and convictions.
It’s giving up our “rights” and taking on the attitude of Jesus that we are here to live our life for others - whether they "conform" or not. I know it’s upside down in a world that is obsessed with “rights’ and selfishness…but herein lies the foundation of the behaviors and attitudes of the Christian faith: Do for others as you would like them to do for you. (Matthew 7:12)
To be honest, I have yet to see this evident in the whole of Christianity today. We should start to act like the king!
This week at Branches we looked at what it took for King David to act like the king. It took a tough talking friend and a guilty conscience, both of which he was willing to listen to.
David didn’t go to “king school” to learn how to do this leadership thing God had called him to. No. God had taken him from tending sheep in the pasture and selected him to be the leader of His people. (2 Samuel 7:8)
This shows loud and clear in two particular instances: when David’s son Absalom is killed by David’s army for trying to overthrow the kingdom and when David disobeys God by taking a census of Israel. Both scenarios show David being able to be the king by remembering that he is the shepherd. It’s an attitude adjustment that affects his behaviors.
As David is weeping uncontrollably over the death of Absalom, his friend, Joab, comes to him and challenges him to act like the king. He says that the people that David is king over are afraid to come back home again because his sadness makes them feel as if they have done something wrong in eliminating David’s opposition. “You make us feel ashamed of ourselves.” (2 Samuel 19:5)
Here is the king, thinking that all is about him, all should be for him, and all should go his way – I’m the king, all should go well for me! It doesn’t. Getting everything to go our way doesn’t make us the king, or the dad or mom, a good coach, a benevolent leader, an effective mentor, or a thoughtful husband or wife. How we respond to not getting our way can lead to being a good king, the dad or mom whose advice is sought after, a good coach, a benevolent and influential leader, an effective mentor, and a cherished wife and respected husband!
When Joab confronted his friend David with his selfish attitude I believe David might have finally remembered that he was there for the people in the same way he was there for his sheep years earlier. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had stood before King Saul and said he was willing to go out and face the giant Goliath with confidence because he had faced the lion and the bear that were after his father’s sheep. Having defeated them he knew he was able to defeat this giant too.
Later, when David chose to fall into the hands of a merciful God for his punishment for sinning against God’s command not to take a census of Israel rather than fall into the hands of his military enemies, he is astonished at the devastation that the people of Israel are under for his sin. 70,000 people are dead in three days by the hand of the death angel that God had sent. By the time the angel had reached the outskirts of Jerusalem, David makes an extraordinary statement: When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent sheep – what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” (2 Samuel 24:17)
Here again, David had learned how to act like the king by remembering that God had made him a shepherd. A shepherd not to rule over the sheep but to take care of them.
A shepherd can take one of two attitudes in their work. The sheep are there to build up and get me what I want or, the sheep are there for me to nurture so they can be all they are able to be. The end result is that the shepherd gets the sheep to market and that is ultimately why it is done. But the attitude in approach to how they are brought to that point changes everything.
That is why the apostle Paul writes to us this:
“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.” (Philippians 2:3-7)
This is Jesus being a good shepherd; a good king. He is here on behalf of others. He had the right to descend to earth and demand obedience, submission, and conformity – he is God, all things were created by him and for him, he gave us life itself. (John 1:3-4) But Jesus chose to humble himself on behalf of others, give up his rights, live as human as the rest of us, and pave the way for a right relationship with God for us all! “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
So we can see the precedent laid out in the Old Testament Scriptures with the life and attitudes of David, and Paul setting up Jesus as our example of humility in how to treat those in our sphere of influence. Our thoughts, attitudes, and actions are to become more and more like those shown by Christ. As we reflect honestly on our lives, can we be humble enough to admit our faults, let alone the complaining of someone else’s? When we realize, like David, that we are to act like the king, we can then begin to use the experiences we’ve lived, the knowledge we’ve gained, and the understanding of our relationship with a gracious God to influence others – not demand their conformity to our thinking, beliefs, and convictions.
It’s giving up our “rights” and taking on the attitude of Jesus that we are here to live our life for others - whether they "conform" or not. I know it’s upside down in a world that is obsessed with “rights’ and selfishness…but herein lies the foundation of the behaviors and attitudes of the Christian faith: Do for others as you would like them to do for you. (Matthew 7:12)
To be honest, I have yet to see this evident in the whole of Christianity today. We should start to act like the king!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Even Good Guys get it Wrong Sometimes
Looking into the life of David as we go through the books of Samuel, Chronicles, and the Kings, allows us to see both the “Good Guy” David and the “Bad Guy” David. It’s hard to think that this is the “man after my own heart” that God chose to lead His people when we see his life laid out in detail.
We love the stories about success and triumph, obedience and loyalty, like his conquest of the giant Goliath or his friendship with Jonathan. We love to hear about his thirty mighty men who were his personal bodyguards and kept him alive on the battlefield, and how he rescued Abigail from a life that was beneath her abilities and brought her into his palace so she could become all she was meant to be. We like to read the Psalms he wrote when he is recounting the lovingkindness and unfailing love of the Lord and his passion to worship. We like to hear about his benevolence to the less fortunate in his kingdom. This is the “Good Guy” David; the one that makes sense to us that this is the kind of man God would choose.
David’s life is filled with the everyday things of real life. He’s the youngest of eight boys; he’s a talented musician; he’s brave and responsible; he’s got a great work ethic; he’s a friend, a husband, a father, an employer, a soldier, a lover, a thinker and a writer and yet, impulsive. He’s generous yet selfish. He’s a builder and a money maker and provider; he’s a leader and a mover and shaker. He has surrounded himself with good and capable people but still needs to be alone.
His adulthood seems to have started here. In all his passion as a lover, he seems to have blown off his first marriage to Michal, Saul’s daughter. The bible says that she loved him very much. They were newlyweds when they were separated by trouble in the kingdom. She helps him escape with his life and covers for him so he can get to safety. He never returns for her. She starts over with a new life, a new husband, and a new town. When David realizes after eight years that it cost him plenty to have her as his wife he wants her back. He rips her from her new life and family and places her back into his home. But this woman has gone from loving him to despising him. Who could blame her? She has gone from number one in his life and risking it all for him to being number three in a growing list of wives. Then, even though he is the man of the hour, good guy David setting up worship for the kingdom of Israel, good guy David blessing all the families of the land and feeling pretty good about himself, Michal lets her contempt for him and his duties show. His reply? “Don’t forget that God chose me over your dad and brothers!”
It happens to us all the time. We misuse our time, our money, our judgment. We say selfish things, we do selfish things. It’s not that we don’t mean well or want to do the right thing. But, sincerity and good intentions without self-reflection cannot be used as an excuse for selfishness. It will get us into trouble most every time! Just like David.
When I read about David and see the bad along with the good, I think about his predecessor Saul; God rejected him as king of Israel because he sinned and was selfish too. What’s the difference I ask myself? Saul continued in his selfishness and it became his demise. David continually came back to the Lord repenting of his sin and disobedience and God seems to have had room in his heart for that!
David writes in Psalm 51, after one of his episodes of sin and disobedience, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart.”
The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 5:20-21, “As people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant… giving us right standing with God resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ.”
God’s grace exists because even good guys, and gals, get it wrong sometimes!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
God Has a Plan
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT
As we, at Branches, are going through the Bible in the year 2012 from cover to cover, it’s been kind of fun going through it chronologically. To see the events unfold in the order they happened can open our understanding a bit more as we look into a time and a culture very different than our own.
It’s really easy for the church today to look at the Scriptures through filters of our own experiences, laws, human rights, lifestyles, economic achievements, social orders, and post WWII non-imperialistic politics. The world has also gotten smaller as technology and transportation have improved. What used to take weeks or months to relay a communication takes only moments to go around the entire world. People regularly travel across the continents to do daily business and are back home again within hours. This calls for filters of tolerances, acceptances, protocols, behaviors, and mindsets previously not part of the daily thinking of the church.
It also opens the church up to the same thinking as the Israelites had when they were settling in the land of Canaan; they wanted a king in order to be like all the other nations. They no longer wanted God to speak to them through His prophets and judges. They wanted a king to call the shots. God warned them. He told them that a king would cost them in taxes, labor, economic slavery, and debt, but they insisted…they wanted to be like everyone else.
It was easier…to their thinking...to just accept the religious practices, laws, family protocols, and business dealings of the other nations than it was to be “different” by following what God had set up for them for pure religious practices that He would accept, laws that were just, family order, and honest business dealings. It cost them. But God faithfully used their situation to get them back to His intended purposes for them as a people, to bring the Messiah to the world through them, and reach into the entire world with His message of hope for all of mankind through the Good News; and He will continue doing that for them as He wraps up all of time someday.
He has it written in the Scriptures.
This is the main thing: God’s Word is true. Whether you and I believe it is or not, it is. North is still north whether I am lost and don’t believe it or not. God has always had a plan, He will continue on His plan, and He will be faithful to His plan to complete it. And the Scriptures are how He has let us in on how that plan works!
So, as we at Branches are reading through the Bible this year, know that it is not just a compilation of Hebrew stories, good proverbs, and teachings of a good person who meant well. These Scriptures, though not the life and hope God offers in and of themselves, point to the life and hope that He is offering us all! And not only do they point to Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, but they teach us what is true in our daily life and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives and then to correct the wrong thinking and doing and enable us to think and to do what is right! What a gift!! Not only has God told us His plan in the Scriptures, but these same Scriptures teach us His plan, show us when we are out of His plan, enable us to understand His plan, and empower us to participate in His plan.
I love the apostle’s realization of this same thinking: “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally completed on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” – Philippians 1:6 NLT
God has had, has, and will complete His plan as written in the Scriptures! We will continue to be looking into them!
As we, at Branches, are going through the Bible in the year 2012 from cover to cover, it’s been kind of fun going through it chronologically. To see the events unfold in the order they happened can open our understanding a bit more as we look into a time and a culture very different than our own.
It’s really easy for the church today to look at the Scriptures through filters of our own experiences, laws, human rights, lifestyles, economic achievements, social orders, and post WWII non-imperialistic politics. The world has also gotten smaller as technology and transportation have improved. What used to take weeks or months to relay a communication takes only moments to go around the entire world. People regularly travel across the continents to do daily business and are back home again within hours. This calls for filters of tolerances, acceptances, protocols, behaviors, and mindsets previously not part of the daily thinking of the church.
It also opens the church up to the same thinking as the Israelites had when they were settling in the land of Canaan; they wanted a king in order to be like all the other nations. They no longer wanted God to speak to them through His prophets and judges. They wanted a king to call the shots. God warned them. He told them that a king would cost them in taxes, labor, economic slavery, and debt, but they insisted…they wanted to be like everyone else.
It was easier…to their thinking...to just accept the religious practices, laws, family protocols, and business dealings of the other nations than it was to be “different” by following what God had set up for them for pure religious practices that He would accept, laws that were just, family order, and honest business dealings. It cost them. But God faithfully used their situation to get them back to His intended purposes for them as a people, to bring the Messiah to the world through them, and reach into the entire world with His message of hope for all of mankind through the Good News; and He will continue doing that for them as He wraps up all of time someday.
He has it written in the Scriptures.
This is the main thing: God’s Word is true. Whether you and I believe it is or not, it is. North is still north whether I am lost and don’t believe it or not. God has always had a plan, He will continue on His plan, and He will be faithful to His plan to complete it. And the Scriptures are how He has let us in on how that plan works!
So, as we at Branches are reading through the Bible this year, know that it is not just a compilation of Hebrew stories, good proverbs, and teachings of a good person who meant well. These Scriptures, though not the life and hope God offers in and of themselves, point to the life and hope that He is offering us all! And not only do they point to Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, but they teach us what is true in our daily life and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives and then to correct the wrong thinking and doing and enable us to think and to do what is right! What a gift!! Not only has God told us His plan in the Scriptures, but these same Scriptures teach us His plan, show us when we are out of His plan, enable us to understand His plan, and empower us to participate in His plan.
I love the apostle’s realization of this same thinking: “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally completed on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” – Philippians 1:6 NLT
God has had, has, and will complete His plan as written in the Scriptures! We will continue to be looking into them!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Against the Wind
Looking out my window this morning at the blustery day that it is outside I am feeling pretty good as I sit inside a warm room with a cup of coffee glad to not be out in this wind. I don’t do well with wind. I’ve never liked it. A breeze is one thing, but wind always seems to have a way of frustrating you in whatever it is you want to be out doing. When you have an ideal day at 75 to 80 degrees and calm, mostly sunny skies, you can get a lot done with little resistance.
That’s it! Resistance. That’s what I don’t like about wind. Yesterday here it was in the 70’s, partly sunny and calm; today we’ll have a high in the 40’s with the wind blowing steady at 22 mph and rain with a possibility of being mixed with snow. A windy day means a change in the weather is coming – for better or worse.
A windy day can also mean good things too. It helps strengthen the root systems of plants and trees. A windy day will clear the dead branches out of the trees in the yard. It dries up the puddles and fields and clears the rooftops of debris. Good things, but still frustrating when trying to keep the boat in position on the lake, or paddle the canoe, or roof the shed, or get up on the ladder to fix that window, or keeping the dust from getting into your painting project.
When I see the windy day my first reaction is to not even get started. Wait for it to calm down. But, things have to get done so we step out into the wind, or resistance, and deal with it best we can.
I have been reading through the writings of James for the past few months for my personal growth. He’s got a “hands on” perspective of the gospel and it’s been quite challenging. I believe the point that James is trying to get across to us is that real Christians don’t just stand around. We don’t always get it done well, but we are to step out into the wind and get at it.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.” (1:19-20) “Remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to.” (1:22)
Ohhhhh, there will be windy days where it seems like you just can’t get anything done without resistance and frustration. He never suggests to wait it out until there is a calm or ideal circumstances but to just do it. Here’s how he starts his letter:
“Greetings! Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything…God blesses the people who patiently endure testing” (1:1-4, 12)
Bob Seger wrote about his understanding of life going from a young man into a middle age man, “Against the wind, we were running against the wind. We were young and strong, we were running against the wind…and the years rolled slowly past and I found myself alone…I found myself seeking shelter against the wind…I’m still running against the wind. I’m older now but still running against the wind.”
I believe the conclusion of this matter is not to seek shelter and leisure and a resistance free life, but one where we learn from our experiences and allow God to change our character which then affects our choices and behaviors as we step out into the wind.
That’s it! Resistance. That’s what I don’t like about wind. Yesterday here it was in the 70’s, partly sunny and calm; today we’ll have a high in the 40’s with the wind blowing steady at 22 mph and rain with a possibility of being mixed with snow. A windy day means a change in the weather is coming – for better or worse.
A windy day can also mean good things too. It helps strengthen the root systems of plants and trees. A windy day will clear the dead branches out of the trees in the yard. It dries up the puddles and fields and clears the rooftops of debris. Good things, but still frustrating when trying to keep the boat in position on the lake, or paddle the canoe, or roof the shed, or get up on the ladder to fix that window, or keeping the dust from getting into your painting project.
When I see the windy day my first reaction is to not even get started. Wait for it to calm down. But, things have to get done so we step out into the wind, or resistance, and deal with it best we can.
I have been reading through the writings of James for the past few months for my personal growth. He’s got a “hands on” perspective of the gospel and it’s been quite challenging. I believe the point that James is trying to get across to us is that real Christians don’t just stand around. We don’t always get it done well, but we are to step out into the wind and get at it.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.” (1:19-20) “Remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to.” (1:22)
Ohhhhh, there will be windy days where it seems like you just can’t get anything done without resistance and frustration. He never suggests to wait it out until there is a calm or ideal circumstances but to just do it. Here’s how he starts his letter:
“Greetings! Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything…God blesses the people who patiently endure testing” (1:1-4, 12)
Bob Seger wrote about his understanding of life going from a young man into a middle age man, “Against the wind, we were running against the wind. We were young and strong, we were running against the wind…and the years rolled slowly past and I found myself alone…I found myself seeking shelter against the wind…I’m still running against the wind. I’m older now but still running against the wind.”
I believe the conclusion of this matter is not to seek shelter and leisure and a resistance free life, but one where we learn from our experiences and allow God to change our character which then affects our choices and behaviors as we step out into the wind.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Everything
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. “I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” – Luke 21:1-4
In the movie The Magnificent Seven with Yule Brenner, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and others, the farmers in the small village are being bullied by bandits. They work the dry soil to harvest food for their families only to have the bandits come in and steal it from them. They cannot defend themselves. They have only one hope; hire a gunslinger to protect them.
They call for Yule Brenner’s character, which is the most famous gunslinger in the land, and ask for a meeting. When they do meet, he tells the group of farmers that they cannot afford him by telling them that people pay good money for his services. What happens next in the movie really caught my attention.
One of the villagers takes out a cloth and lays it on the table. He unwraps it and says, “This is everything we own; everything of value in the village.”
Looking at the meager jewelry and silver items in the cloth Yule Brenner replies, “I’ve been offered a lot for my services; but never everything.”
As the movie progresses, the gunslinger recruits six men who have this same value of what “everything” is worth. They offer their services not for the prestige or amount, but for the cause because it is right and just.
God has an altogether different standard by which to measure giving and givers than what we have come to know as economics. With God, attitude counts more than amount. Justice weighs more than resources, and that is why Jesus praises this widow woman as she gives “everything” she has. A generous person isn’t simply one who gives conveniently and comfortably out of abundance. A generous person in God’s eyes is one who risks all, sacrifices cheerfully, and gives without demanding attention or expecting a reward.
Whether it’s our time, talents, or money, God wants us to give “everything” to him.
I would recommend watching The Magnificent Seven if you haven’t seen it. It is full of scenes that show the choices we all must make every day when it comes to our attitude, justice, and just what “everything” we have is worth.
In the movie The Magnificent Seven with Yule Brenner, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and others, the farmers in the small village are being bullied by bandits. They work the dry soil to harvest food for their families only to have the bandits come in and steal it from them. They cannot defend themselves. They have only one hope; hire a gunslinger to protect them.
They call for Yule Brenner’s character, which is the most famous gunslinger in the land, and ask for a meeting. When they do meet, he tells the group of farmers that they cannot afford him by telling them that people pay good money for his services. What happens next in the movie really caught my attention.
One of the villagers takes out a cloth and lays it on the table. He unwraps it and says, “This is everything we own; everything of value in the village.”
Looking at the meager jewelry and silver items in the cloth Yule Brenner replies, “I’ve been offered a lot for my services; but never everything.”
As the movie progresses, the gunslinger recruits six men who have this same value of what “everything” is worth. They offer their services not for the prestige or amount, but for the cause because it is right and just.
God has an altogether different standard by which to measure giving and givers than what we have come to know as economics. With God, attitude counts more than amount. Justice weighs more than resources, and that is why Jesus praises this widow woman as she gives “everything” she has. A generous person isn’t simply one who gives conveniently and comfortably out of abundance. A generous person in God’s eyes is one who risks all, sacrifices cheerfully, and gives without demanding attention or expecting a reward.
Whether it’s our time, talents, or money, God wants us to give “everything” to him.
I would recommend watching The Magnificent Seven if you haven’t seen it. It is full of scenes that show the choices we all must make every day when it comes to our attitude, justice, and just what “everything” we have is worth.
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