FreeTruth

Just a brief word for today.

This morning I serve at a funeral for a dear old saint who passed away this past Saturday evening. She was the kind of person whom one could not visit or see in church without walking away smiling. How she brightened a room with her zest for life and her growing faith!

Now she's gone home, much happier still.

This world is filled with sorrows--illness, family griefs, financial losses and crosses, deep loneliness, death, and taunting and rejection for one's faith in Jesus. Indeed, this morning I am called to care for the griefs of others having a good share of my own griefs.

But God lives. And in all that I have been called to endure myself, this is what I have found: trials are not so much about God testing us as they are about God proving Himself.

It's about God proving His sufficiency in our deficiency.

It's about God allowing us to find out that He Himself is our enough.

Have you discovered that yet?

Labels: Comfort, Faith, Grief, Hope

So what do we do when it seems that thugs and thieves have the upper hand with no one to stop them? How do we respond when the wicked flourish, and the righteous don't?

Once again I call us back to Psalm 37:1-40. There are more than 20 imperatives in this Psalm, with 3-5 more implied commands for us to keep in mind. Three of them tell us what not to do when the wicked prosper; the rest tell us what to do. Let's look today at one of the "thou shalt nots", thrice repeated in the Psalm:

"Fret not yourself because of evildoers...
"Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way...
"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil" (Psalm 37:1, 7, 8).

Sounds a little emphatic doesn't it?!

The Hebrew word repeated in each of these verses actually means: to burn, to kindle, to get all heated up. The translation "fret" is actually a little weak. It speaks of emotion more heated than mere fret or a tad of worry. David is telling us not to get all "hot and bothered" when the wicked seem to have the upper hand.

Cool down. Chill. Don't get emotional heart-burn over the thugs and thieves of human society. Whatever right responses there may be--like speaking out against evil, voting evil out of office when able, not conforming to the evil, rescuing victims from the evil, and praying for the evil-doers--one thing we are not to do, is go into a slow burn. Don't become a boiling cauldron of worry, anger and rage (Psalm 37:8). Just don't go there.

In Psalm 37:8 David gives a compelling reason why we must not travel that road --"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil." When we allow the prosperity and success of the wicked to get to us, we begin to share their wickedness. Sustained fret and anger, even when we think it's justfied, begins to eat at the soul, and sin is not far behind. Fretful anger leads only to evil.

Soon, instead of loving, doing good to, and praying for our enemies, as Jesus tells us to, we will be:

-cursing the wicked
-plotting against them ourselves
-justifying lying and shenanigans of our own to try to dethrone them
-indulging unsubstantiated rumors about them
-believing the very worst about them
-hating and despising our enemies

So what do we do? One way to turn down the heat a bit is to consider the following question: "When all is said and done, what is the very worst that man can do to me?" Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:28 not to "fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."

The very worst that man can do to me is kill me. But when man kills, God makes alive. What man puts in the ground God raises up. If the wicked persecute the righteous they only add to the reward of the righteous (Matthew 5:10, 11). If they kill the righteous, they only hasten the day of the saints' going home to glory.

Man's worst is God's best. That ought to help cool our passions.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, Hope, politics, Social Action

I was struck yesterday by a story in the John Eldredge book, Journey of Desire. The author describes a counseling experience, and a client with a serious problem.

Initially Gary and Jill had come to me because their marriage had become merely functional. No major issues-- no one was throwing dishes, neither was having an affair. As I realized later, that would have been better, at least a sign of life. Their marriage had all the passion of yesterday's oatmeal. Jill was the one who called because she was afraid that she was losing Gary, that they were "drifting apart." It didn't take long to see why. Gary had checked out. He was still going to work, paying the bills, and cutting the grass, but that was it. There was no emotion, no investment, no reaction to anything. The more vital parts of him were shut down.

I asked if he and I might spend some time just talking about his life. As the weeks rolled by, I learned that he had been a faithful church attender, never missing a Sunday. He served on a committee and offered help to those in need. But obviously, something was missing.

After months of getting nowhere, I asked the obvious: "Gary, why are you a Christian?" He sat in silence for what must have been five minutes. "I don't know. I guess because it's the right thing to do." "Is there anything you're hoping to enjoy as a result of your faith?" "No... not really." "So what is it that you want Gary?" An even longer silence. I waited patiently. "I don't desire anything." Our sessions ended shortly after and I felt bad that I was unable to help him. You cannot help someone who doesn't want a thing. (John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, Nelson, 2000)

Brothers and sisters, desire is terribly important. If any of us can relate even a little to Gary, let us earnestly seek the Lord, before it is too late. Let us ask him to kindle a flame, or at least a small spark that we can work with him to fan into a flame of desire. We must not "check out." We must never stop believing that life is a gift-- an adventure with God and with those we live with and love.

Oh God, put desire deep within us... desire for life, for love, and above all, desire for you...

Labels: Guest Post, Hope

It hit me yesterday that everything breaks or rusts or corrodes or wears out. Now you say that this is no real groundbreaking insight, and I readily admit it. But think about it: we live in a world where nothing apart from God and what's done for God lasts.

In the past couple of months, here's some of what's broken or worn out at the 52 Clayton Ave. Shorey homestead: fans have fallen and broken, truck brakes have worn out and been replaced, van "Service engine lights" have gone on for who knows what, teeth have developed cavities and been filled, fences have rotted, tires have flattened, bench supports have come unglued, nails have bent, weed-wackers have frozen in mid-use, lawn mowers have needed repair, pipes have sprung leaks, paint has been marred, toothbrushes have worn out, bulbs have blown, thumbs have scarred, footbones have gone out of joint, couches have ripped, hoses have sprung leaks, pens have run dry, shirts have stained, shoe soles have torn off, shoe-strings have snapped, backs have strained, knees have creaked, necks have ached, arms have hurt, heads have pounded, wood stoves have taken a beating, dishes have shattered.

This is not to mention the hundred things that need constant care, like: hair needing cutting, dishes needing washing, clothes needing laundering, floors needing sweeping, grass needing mowing, oil needing changing, ad infinitum (hey I got some Latin in but it's probably not spelled right since I didn't check my Latin dictionary).

Now I now that you know all about these things; after all you have had to fix them all yourself (ad nauseum) this past month or two. There's nothing new or unique here. We all live in the same fallen and broken world.

Jesus warns about securing our hearts to the stuff of this world since it never lasts (Matthew 6:19-21), and He challenges us to treasure the things that are above.

Stop and think about all you've had to fix lately, and let it affect your goals and aspirations. Don't set your heart on anything, and I mean, not anything here below. It's not worth it. It'll always break apart, wear out, or die away. That's not pessimism or negativism; it's healthy realism that helps us lift our eyes to that which matters most and lasts forever.

Set your hope and love in God, alone.
Period.

Labels: Contentment, Heaven, Hope, Materialism