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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is a great day to spend with family and other loved ones. Almost everyone looks forward to the week of Thanksgiving and the day. There are lots of reasons for that. For some the shortened work week is a much anticipated respite. For others it is the time with family. For others it is the turkey and dressing. For others it is the endless football.

The scriptures teach that thanksgiving is not only a ‘day’ but that it should be a way of life. From the earliest days of Israel’s history the people of God would respond to life with a line that is recorded dozens of times in the Old Testament --- Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV)

Jesus half-brother James wrote: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17 NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV)

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17 NIV)

A good verse to live the rest of life by is: Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2 NIV)

Thankfulness centers our heart on the reality that everything we have is not ours because of our strength, ingenuity, talents, beauty or family heritage. What we have does come from the Father. What about what doesn’t happen? Has tragedy, struggle, sickness, etc not happened to us because of our ability to control all of life, protect ourselves and keep ‘bad’ away? No! The truth is protection and ‘being spared from’ things is also a gift from the Father above.

In different settings I’ve been personally challenged by people who start EVERY prayer with thanksgiving. My tendency is to jump into business. There are so many needs in life. There are things that I would really like to see God do. There are people who need miracles. So I just jump into business.

I walk away from those times of praying with others challenged to slow down, to not be in such a rush to get to business but instead to take time to give thanks.

I need to grow in making thanksgiving a way of life. How about you?

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Jesus - The Defining Reality

What is the ‘defining reality’ of your life? What is it about your life that defines everything else about you? If some part of your life were to be taken away – what part would have the most impact on who you are and how you live?

The answers to those questions are complex and they are varied. For some the ‘defining reality’ is their racial class. For some it is their work, for some it is there roll as a parent, for some it is their talents, for some it is their marriage and for some it is their standard of living. There are many ways that a person defines their life.

For those who ‘define reality’ by their race – if that were changed or taken away – the reference point for everything else is taken away. For those who ‘define reality’ by their work, their parenting, their marriage, their talents, and so on - when the ‘defining reality’ is taken away – the reference point for everything is taken away.

For a follower of Jesus – the ‘defining reality’ is meant to be Jesus. Disciples are meant to define everything in life based on Jesus. Jesus is the point by which everything else in life finds a ‘relative place.’ Just like the North Star and the North Pole are points upon which navigation is calculated Jesus is the point where all of life is calculated. Just like all clocks are coordinated relative to Greenwich Mean Time Jesus is what everything in life is coordinated to.

Paul wrote to the church in Colossi - “…, set your hearts on things above, … Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. … your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, …” (Colossians 3:1-4 NIV)

Set your hearts on things above – navigate by that. Set your minds on things above – coordinate to Jesus.

Notice the last four words – Christ, who is your life ….

There is the defining reality of life. Christ, who is your life. Christ, who is my life.

Jesus, help us to define everything else in our life by you and not you by the other things in our life. Amen.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Seeing the Future

If I could only see the future! We just finished a prolonged season of political commentators, reading the tea leaves of the political polls and giving us a daily forecast of the political weather. We’ve heard a lot the last few months about ‘La Nina’ and the strong winter we are going to have. After the record high temperatures this week, one news anchor reported that they had gone back to 1949-50, the previous record for high temperature in November, to find out what had happened in the winter of 1950. Seattle had 51”of snow that winter – then she said: I’m not forecasting but …

It will be only a few short weeks until we hear all of the forecasters telling us what 2011 will be like in the area of finances, politics, weather, sports and even the relationship of the ‘stars.’ These predictions will be online, in the tabloids, on TV, radio and in most newspapers. Some will start out … “Nostradamus predicts…”

How much of the future do we really see? As followers of Jesus, the One who knows the future, we really see very little. Nicki Gumble, the teacher for the ALPHA series, uses an illustration of the headlights on a vehicle for how far we really see into the future. Just as a car’s headlights only light a minimal amount of the road ahead, God usually only shows people a minimal amount of the road ahead. We can’t see around the corner. We can’t see over the hill. We can’t see what is off the side of the road. We see only that short distance ahead.

Here are some thoughts by Eugene Peterson, author of the Message Bible, regarding ‘seeing the future:’
•When we follow Jesus, it means that we don’t know exactly what it means, at least in detail. We follow him, letting him pick the roads, set the timetables, tell us what we need to know but only when we need to know it.

•When Jesus says “Follow me” and we follow, we don’t know where we will go next or what we will do next.

•No matter how much we know, we don’t know enough to know what Jesus is going to do next.

•Following Jesus doesn’t get us where we want to go. It gets us to where Jesus goes…

Following Jesus requires continually listening for His direction, trusting that He knows best, remembering that He will not forsake us and then walking in the direction that we hear His voice calling us.

Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself.

Jesus, help us to hear you more clearly and follow you more thoroughly. Amen.