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Monday, April 26, 2021

Are Things Going Sideways for You?

The winds of change have been blowing for months. Some days the winds are fierce, other days the winds are less intense. So much has changed in our world in recent years, and the speed of change seems to increase monthly. 2021 began with great hope. Hope the year would be different. Hope the political world would chill out, the conflict surrounding COVID-19, law enforcement, and racial tensions would decrease. People hoped for resolution surrounding relationships in countries like N. Korea, China, Russia, and Iran, Israel, Lebanon and the middle East region. Hope surfaced in many circles that vaccines would bring a new chapter in the battle against COVID and a reopening of the state, nation and world. It could be easy for people to wonder with all that is changing “who’s manning the store?” No one seems to be in charge. Life seems to be in the hands of the customer and not the store owner. Let me reassure you with a few scriptures. Though everything around is changing, it doesn’t mean there is no one manning the store. The store is not in the hands of the customers. “He who guards you never sleeps.” Psalms 121:3 (NCV) “Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:29-30 (NLT) “Your Father sees everything … Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” Matthew 6:4, 8 (NLT) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (NLT) “He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” James 1:17 (NLT) Just because we may not understand the changes in life, or don’t like the changes, it doesn’t mean that no one is in charge or that things that happen are without purpose. The moments when we don’t understand, when we don’t like things, when life is hard, are when trust is most difficult to apply and yet most needed. Are things sideways for you right now? Let me encourage you to anchor to the one who never sleeps, watches over the sparrow, counts your hair, sees everything, knows what you need before you ask, never changes but is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Monday, April 19, 2021

Jesus Understands Grief

As you might imagine, I’ve been thinking about grieving this week. Loss is always emotionally difficult to process. All the theology and logical thinking doesn’t lessen the sadness and anguish. If only a person could think their way out of grief, life would be easier. Thinking doesn’t solve life’s struggles, losses and pain. Jesus understood grief. He understood it personally, and he understood it on other’s behalf. When word reached Jesus about the execution of his cousin John the Baptist, he sought to get away from the crowds that were following him. He didn’t want to be with people. He didn’t want to entertain them, pay attention to them or pour himself into them. He wanted to be alone. “As soon as Jesus heard the news, [about John’s execution] he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.” Matthew 14:13 (NLT) When Jesus’ good friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. He wept because Lazarus experienced the ultimate enemy of man. Jesus wept because he could see and hear the pain of Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters, as they wept over Lazarus. He wept about Lazarus and for his friends, even though he knew Lazarus would walk out of the grave. Hope doesn’t remove grief. Hope changes grief and pain. The Apostle Paul declared: “We want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (NLT) Grief is temporary for followers of Jesus. Followers of Jesus are merely passing through life to their final destination. Life for a Jesus’ person is a layover before their flight home. Some layovers last 25 years, others last 90 years. God is the one who determines when our flight leaves. “You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.” Job 14:5 (NLT) Thinking about the death of loved ones, I’ve commented many times this week, “the only one who wins is the one who dies and joins Jesus. Everyone else loses, the wife loses, the kids and grandkids lose, co-workers, church family, community members and neighbors all lose.” The loss and pain are temporary. All followers of Jesus will enter into an existence where “there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4 (NLT)

Monday, April 12, 2021

Is there an Idol in the House?

I’ve been pondering idols and idolatry. The subject might not be something you’ve considered, but idols are a regular feature in the Bible. The first of the Ten Commandments is “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” Exodus 20:4 (NLT) In obedience to the first of the Ten Commandments, the Jewish people didn’t create statutes, paintings or make engravings. When you’ve traveled to other regions of the world, you’ve probably seen statuette “idols” in people’s homes, hotels, retail shops and on street corners. Statuette idols are an image or representation of a “god” or holy item, that is worshiped. Americans don’t usually worship statuette idols, but almost all Americans worship idols. Idols are admired, loved, celebrated and served. A person’s idol might be their identity, job, house, car, money, sex, comfort, entertainment, alcohol, or another person. “An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, and anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.” Tim Keller Jeffery Poor lists these four questions to check for idols in our lives. Where Do I Spend My Time? Where Do I Spend My Money? Where Do I Get My Joy? What’s Always on My Mind? The crazy thing about idols is they are never satisfied; idols constantly demand more and more. King Solomon made an observation about money that applies to every idol in people’s lives. “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 (NLT) Solomon’s observation can be re-written for any idol. I’ll use “bowling,” as a replacement for money. (I could just as easily use identity, job, house, sex, or entertainment). “Those who love bowling will never have enough. How meaningless to think that bowling brings true happiness! … So what good is bowling—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!” Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 (NLT) Idols prevent people from living the Greatest Commandment – “Love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength.” My mission in life, your mission in life, is to “Love God with ALL!” Is there an idol that you need to get rid of? Don’t wait! The longer a person worships an idol, the tighter the hold it gets on their life.

Monday, April 5, 2021

The Day the World Changed

Jesus lived the most incredible life ever. No one has impacted and revolutionized humanity like him. Years ago, English cultural commentator G. K. Chesterton said the story of Jesus is “the strangest story ever told.” The story is not only the strangest but also the most unlikely of stories. Charles Colson observed, “A borrowed manger, and a borrowed tomb framed his earthly life.” What other world revolutionary figure entered the world in such humble circumstances? Born to a woman pregnant before marriage, in a time when that was scandalous. She conceived without intimacy with a man. Unheard of! His first bed in a borrowed feeding trough. Yet, visited by Magi, from far-away lands, led to the infant by a star. He was a traveling rabbi who performed countless miracles. Many hoped he was the promised messiah, and he disappointed them. Rejected and hated by the religious establishment and executed for treason. Laid to rest in a borrowed tomb, on the third day he rose from the grave. This weekend, starting at the international dateline in Kiribati (a small island country in the Pacific) and ending 24 hours later, 3 billion people will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Even in countries where Jesus and his resurrection are not celebrated, Easter is recognized as a holiday. People worldwide, who don’t celebrate Jesus, or the resurrection recognize Easter as a holiday. No where on the planet can a person get away from the day the world changed. I hope Jesus invades your heart and life uniquely as the world celebrates the Risen Savior.