Luck Has Nothing To Do With It
Maybe we all feel at times like our lives are at the mercy of circumstances that are out of control. Our culture has a word for the way many cope with their lives. They hope for “good luck.” They believe that someday their “luck” will change.
The problem with “luck” is that it doesn’t always work out. An ad in a newspaper expressed this graphically: “Lost—one dog. Brown hair with several bald spots. Right leg broken due to auto accident. Left hip hurt. Right eye missing. Left ear bitten off in a dog fight. Answers to the name ‘Lucky.’ ” Luck wasn’t much help to that poor canine.
Commonly people attribute success to “luck.” There was an amusing sign in a Hong Kong used-car lot: “We pay highest price for cars we buy. We get lowest prices for cars we sell. How we stay in business? We are lucky.”
The Bible teaches that a believer’s blessing has nothing to do with luck. I read somewhere that a coincidence is an event in which God wants to remain anonymous. Scripture doesn’t credit our success or failure to luck, it teaches the providence of God who watches over us and carefully oversees all our circumstances.
In light of this, there is a story in the Bible that fascinates me. It is the story of the priest, Zechariah, and his wife Elizabeth. They were ultimately to be the parents of John the Baptist, but how that came about is a thought-provoking story. Both of them were so old that they had given up on having a child. Zechariah was like many of us who need a miracle. There comes a point where we just don’t think it’s going to happen. When the angel appeared to Zechariah in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel to announce that he would have the long-awaited son, his response was typical of many of us. “I don’t think so.”
What Zechariah said reflected his focus on the natural obstacles to a miracle: “Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years’ ” (Luke 1:18).
I am at least as impatient as Zechariah and am capable of giving up on the promises of God. I don’t like delays or disappointments. Some people have a remarkable ability to patiently persist in their duties. An example of a person like that is the teacher who had just finished putting the last pair of galoshes on her first-graders—thirty-two pairs in all. The last little girl said, “You know what, teacher? These aren’t my galoshes.” The teacher removed them from the girl’s feet. Then the little girl continued, “They are my sister’s, and she let me wear them.” The teacher quietly put them back on her pupil. Now that’s patience!
There is a good ending to the story of Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. John the Baptist was born and they had their miracle child who introduced the ministry of Jesus and changed the course of human history.
One reason this story attracted my attention and caused me to reflect on the concept of luck is attached to the beginning of the entire scenario. Zechariah was a priest and the angelic announcement that he would have a son came to him while he was ministering in the temple. That he was there at all was a story in itself. There were about 20,000 priests at the time and a priest went into the temple twice a day to perform his duties. Since there were more priests than opportunities many priests would live and die without experiencing the privilege Zechariah enjoyed that day.
The solution to the problem of numbers was a divine lottery system. The priests-for-the-day were chosen by lot. Once a priest’s name had been selected he was taken off the list of possible servers for the rest of his life. On the day in question Zechariah’s name was drawn. As Luke put it, “Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense” (Luke 1:8-9).
Those words have impacted me. “He was chosen by lot.” At first it looks like the Bible teaches the validity of “luck.” What a coincidence! Are we really at the mercy of random circumstances? Of course the Bible doesn’t teach that at all. God is the One who oversees the life of a believer. God had an appointment with Zechariah that day. An angel was standing by ready to meet Zechariah at the altar and announce that the time for the miracle had come. God arranged for Zechariah to be where he was, and God used what we might call “luck” to make things happen. Looking back on that day, it is easy to see that God was behind every “coincidence.”
It is worth noting that when the angel showed up Zechariah was standing by the altar. He was there to attend to the altar and, we know from history, to pray. An amazing truth of Christianity is that prayer can set off a series of what the world sees as “lucky coincidences.” We know that what happens is a result of God’s intervention.
Captain Johnson was a chaplain in the Pacific during World War II. He had been witnessing to a crusty old Staff Sergeant without success. One day he went on a bombing run with the Sergeant and his crew. While they were returning they ran low on fuel and had to ditch the plane on the beach of an island during the night. When they checked out the island they realized that the Japanese controlled it. If they were still there when the sun came up they would inevitably be captured.
The Sergeant said to Captain Johnson, “You always say prayer works. Try it now. This is an impossible situation.” The chaplain briefly prayed for God to deliver them.
That night at about 2:00 AM, the Sergeant felt like taking a look at the beach. He saw a barge with shiny containers washed up on the sand. The containers were filled with airplane fuel. They refueled the plane and took off. When they examined the reason for their miracle they learned that six hundred miles away a tanker had been in submarine infested waters and had put off its load of fuel on barges. God directed one of those barges six hundred miles to the beach of that island on just the night the chaplain prayed.
We aren’t unlike Zechariah and sometimes it seems that circumstances are controlling us. Believers aren’t subject to chance, though. We aren’t lucky. God knows when to let our names come up so we can have our miracle on time, and God knows when to float the barges of fuel onto the beach. Maybe the lesson in all of this is that we aren’t to depend on luck, we are to depend on God to show up. And, He is never late.
August 27, 2009
It's Time to Keep Moving
I like rest stops. When traveling over a long distance it is refreshing to find a place to stop and stretch my legs. Medical experts suggest that stopping and stretching every couple of hours is healthy when taking a long trip.
The same thing is true of our walk with God. On our spiritual journey God gives us times of refreshing. We see God in a new way. It really is tempting to stay there. But those are rest stops, they’re not our destination.
Mistaking a rest stop for a destination happened in the New Testament with the apostle Peter. On the Mount of Transfiguration he saw Jesus transformed and suggested that they engage in a building program. The problem with that was the desperate need of a young boy who was at the foot of the mountain and needed Jesus to set him free from his physical and spiritual bondage. If they had stayed on the mountain, what would have become of the boy? Also, Jesus hadn’t yet gone to the Cross and that’s why He came in the first place. If He had stayed on the mountain what would have become of us? The Mount of Transfiguration wasn’t a destination, it was a rest stop.
The same thing happened to Israel when they left Egypt. God called them out of Egypt so He could bring them in to the Promised Land. Along the way they stopped at Horeb, or as we more commonly know the location, Mount Sinai. They spent months there as God gave His people the Ten Commandments and the guidelines they would need for their transition from a band of slaves to a functioning nation. It was an unprecedented period of divine visitation. They met with God. Sinai was an important stop on the way, but Sinai wasn’t their destination. God wanted them to possess the Promised Land.
When Moses, at the end of his life, recalled that event he reminded us of what God had said: “The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates’ ” (Deuteronomy 1:6-7).
There are lessons to be learned from Israel’s experience. It is never good to mistake a place along the way for the final destination. God doesn’t want us to lose sight of where we are going. We can, of course, forget where we’re headed. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a former Supreme Court justice, was traveling on a train when he discovered that he had misplaced his ticket. When the conductor came around collecting them, he tried to ease Holmes’ mind. “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Holmes. I’m sure you have your ticket somewhere. If you don’t find it during the trip, just mail it in to the railroad when you reach your destination.”
Appreciative of the conductor’s understanding, yet frustrated by his predicament, Holmes looked the conductor in the eye and responded: “Young man, my problem is not finding my ticket. It’s to find out where in the world I’m going.”
There have been times in our lives when God has visited us and revealed Himself to us in unprecedented ways. I can be very much like the Israelites. I would be content to stay there. I would be happy to stay in the shade of the mountain with manna in the morning and water flowing from a rock. Who wants to plod on through a sandy wilderness? Who wants to go to a land with walled cities protected by giants we will have to battle? Why don’t I just stay here!
Complacency sets in and I am tempted to settle for where I am. Like Oliver Wendell Holmes, I lose track of where I’m going. It is important for me to hear God say, “Let’s keep moving.” If God didn’t prod me once in a while I might never move toward the destination He has for me. Only God can remind me of my ultimate purpose, so it’s important that I listen to Him and understand what He is saying to me. Poor communication between God and me inevitably leads to confusion.
A friend of journalist David Halberstam was planning a visit to Japan. It would be his first visit, and he was a little anxious because he couldn’t speak Japanese. How would he communicate with the people he met? Since most taxi drivers would not speak English, someone suggested that it might be a good idea to carry with him something bearing the name of the hotel at which he would be staying written in Japanese. That was exactly what he did.
As soon as he arrived in Japan he picked up a box of matches bearing the name and address of his hotel. Then he went sight-seeing. Afterwards he got into a taxi and did as the friend suggested. He took the box of matches out of his pocket to show the driver where he wanted to go. There were a few awkward moments before the driver understood. Finally his face lit up. Quickly they sped away. Half an hour later, the taxi came to a screeching halt. The driver turned and beamed at his passenger, pointing out the window. There was only one problem. They had stopped, not in front of a hotel, but in front of a match factory!
I don’t think I’m the only one who has to be reminded to keep moving toward my destination. That kind of movement means change and I am like most of the human race, I resist change. When God comes to me at a comfortable place and prods me to keep moving, it hurts at some deep level. Now I know why. The research of a Canadian neurosurgeon discovered some dramatic truths about the human mind’s reaction to change. He conducted various experiments which proved that when a person is forced to change a fundamental belief or opinion, the brain undergoes a series of nervous sensations equivalent to distressing torture. Change really does hurt. God has to show up occasionally for all of us and say, “It’s time to break camp and move on.” Or as God said to Israel, “Break camp and advance.”
The way God said it is important. We can’t advance unless we are willing to break camp. D. L. Moody told a story of two men who, while inebriated, found their way to the dock where their boat was tied. They wanted to return home so they began rowing and rowed all night. As hard as they worked they had not reached the other side of the bay when the sun came up. That’s when they realized that they had not untied the boat from the dock. They had worked hard but had gotten nowhere. No matter how hard we try we can’t advance until we break camp.
The Christian life is a journey to the destination God has for each of us. Each of us has a purpose in life. Keep moving. Don’t stay where you are. At the foot of the mountain where you’ve seen God as never before there is someone waiting for your help. At the end of your journey the blessing God promised is still waiting. Don’t stop in the wilderness, even if it’s a wonderful place, and fail to continue to your final destination. Maybe we all need to be reminded by God once in awhile, “It’s time to keep moving.”
I like rest stops. When traveling over a long distance it is refreshing to find a place to stop and stretch my legs. Medical experts suggest that stopping and stretching every couple of hours is healthy when taking a long trip.
The same thing is true of our walk with God. On our spiritual journey God gives us times of refreshing. We see God in a new way. It really is tempting to stay there. But those are rest stops, they’re not our destination.
Mistaking a rest stop for a destination happened in the New Testament with the apostle Peter. On the Mount of Transfiguration he saw Jesus transformed and suggested that they engage in a building program. The problem with that was the desperate need of a young boy who was at the foot of the mountain and needed Jesus to set him free from his physical and spiritual bondage. If they had stayed on the mountain, what would have become of the boy? Also, Jesus hadn’t yet gone to the Cross and that’s why He came in the first place. If He had stayed on the mountain what would have become of us? The Mount of Transfiguration wasn’t a destination, it was a rest stop.
The same thing happened to Israel when they left Egypt. God called them out of Egypt so He could bring them in to the Promised Land. Along the way they stopped at Horeb, or as we more commonly know the location, Mount Sinai. They spent months there as God gave His people the Ten Commandments and the guidelines they would need for their transition from a band of slaves to a functioning nation. It was an unprecedented period of divine visitation. They met with God. Sinai was an important stop on the way, but Sinai wasn’t their destination. God wanted them to possess the Promised Land.
When Moses, at the end of his life, recalled that event he reminded us of what God had said: “The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates’ ” (Deuteronomy 1:6-7).
There are lessons to be learned from Israel’s experience. It is never good to mistake a place along the way for the final destination. God doesn’t want us to lose sight of where we are going. We can, of course, forget where we’re headed. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a former Supreme Court justice, was traveling on a train when he discovered that he had misplaced his ticket. When the conductor came around collecting them, he tried to ease Holmes’ mind. “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Holmes. I’m sure you have your ticket somewhere. If you don’t find it during the trip, just mail it in to the railroad when you reach your destination.”
Appreciative of the conductor’s understanding, yet frustrated by his predicament, Holmes looked the conductor in the eye and responded: “Young man, my problem is not finding my ticket. It’s to find out where in the world I’m going.”
There have been times in our lives when God has visited us and revealed Himself to us in unprecedented ways. I can be very much like the Israelites. I would be content to stay there. I would be happy to stay in the shade of the mountain with manna in the morning and water flowing from a rock. Who wants to plod on through a sandy wilderness? Who wants to go to a land with walled cities protected by giants we will have to battle? Why don’t I just stay here!
Complacency sets in and I am tempted to settle for where I am. Like Oliver Wendell Holmes, I lose track of where I’m going. It is important for me to hear God say, “Let’s keep moving.” If God didn’t prod me once in a while I might never move toward the destination He has for me. Only God can remind me of my ultimate purpose, so it’s important that I listen to Him and understand what He is saying to me. Poor communication between God and me inevitably leads to confusion.
A friend of journalist David Halberstam was planning a visit to Japan. It would be his first visit, and he was a little anxious because he couldn’t speak Japanese. How would he communicate with the people he met? Since most taxi drivers would not speak English, someone suggested that it might be a good idea to carry with him something bearing the name of the hotel at which he would be staying written in Japanese. That was exactly what he did.
As soon as he arrived in Japan he picked up a box of matches bearing the name and address of his hotel. Then he went sight-seeing. Afterwards he got into a taxi and did as the friend suggested. He took the box of matches out of his pocket to show the driver where he wanted to go. There were a few awkward moments before the driver understood. Finally his face lit up. Quickly they sped away. Half an hour later, the taxi came to a screeching halt. The driver turned and beamed at his passenger, pointing out the window. There was only one problem. They had stopped, not in front of a hotel, but in front of a match factory!
I don’t think I’m the only one who has to be reminded to keep moving toward my destination. That kind of movement means change and I am like most of the human race, I resist change. When God comes to me at a comfortable place and prods me to keep moving, it hurts at some deep level. Now I know why. The research of a Canadian neurosurgeon discovered some dramatic truths about the human mind’s reaction to change. He conducted various experiments which proved that when a person is forced to change a fundamental belief or opinion, the brain undergoes a series of nervous sensations equivalent to distressing torture. Change really does hurt. God has to show up occasionally for all of us and say, “It’s time to break camp and move on.” Or as God said to Israel, “Break camp and advance.”
The way God said it is important. We can’t advance unless we are willing to break camp. D. L. Moody told a story of two men who, while inebriated, found their way to the dock where their boat was tied. They wanted to return home so they began rowing and rowed all night. As hard as they worked they had not reached the other side of the bay when the sun came up. That’s when they realized that they had not untied the boat from the dock. They had worked hard but had gotten nowhere. No matter how hard we try we can’t advance until we break camp.
The Christian life is a journey to the destination God has for each of us. Each of us has a purpose in life. Keep moving. Don’t stay where you are. At the foot of the mountain where you’ve seen God as never before there is someone waiting for your help. At the end of your journey the blessing God promised is still waiting. Don’t stop in the wilderness, even if it’s a wonderful place, and fail to continue to your final destination. Maybe we all need to be reminded by God once in awhile, “It’s time to keep moving.”
August 20, 2009
We’re Not Home Yet
Ministry can be difficult. Every believer has challenges and we could all tell our stories of the obstacles we face in pursuing what God has called us to do. Even for pastors the challenges of real life can be more demanding than we prepared for when we trained for the ministry.
That’s made clear by a story Philip Anderson of Chicago Theological Seminary tells. Shortly after graduation one year Philip said that he received a frantic phone call from a former student newly established in his first church. “Phil,” panted his young caller, “what do you do at a funeral?”
“We covered funeral practices in my spring course on pastoral care,” answered Philip. “I know we did,” said the caller, “but this guy is really dead!”
Pastors and preachers aren’t the only believers who face misunderstanding, rejection and hostility. In fact, we have it easier than others because we live in more protected environments. When I was studying for the ministry I was in the environment many Christians face. On the contruction site were skeptics and cynics. At the pharmaceutical plant were some whose goal was to corrupt any goodness they saw in me. Two things kept me going, and perhaps they are helping you. First, I was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. That means He owns me and has the right to tell me what He wants me to do. The second reason is one that I hardly remember being mentioned when I was young. There are promises of reward. For some reason, as I was growing up, older Christians thought that thinking about the reward would undermine the value of what we did.
Jesus didn’t teach that. He said, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:27).
God could have said, “Do what I tell you because I am God.” He would have that right. Instead, He says, “I own you but I also want to reward you for doing what I ask you to do.”
Reward is a powerful motivator. As Marion Gilbert said, “One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this unexpected ‘delivery service,’ I fed him some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers. I spent the rest of that morning returning the papers to their owners.”
When David fought Goliath he went against the giant, Goliath, in faith. He said to Goliath as he went to meet him, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). That was an amazing act of faith.
But earlier David had also been interested in the reward King Saul had offered. “David asked the men standing near him, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ ” (1 Samuel 17:26).
For some of us the rewards we can earn in this life are impressive. Who among us wouldn’t have enjoyed the wealth of Howard Hughes? He was worth 2.5 billion dollars at his death. When he died he was the richest man in the United States. He owned a private fleet of jets, hotels and casinos. Most of us could manage to live well enough on that.
Yet, at the end of his life he was hardly recognizable. When asked to claim his body, his nearest elative, a distant cousin, exclaimed, “Is this Mr. Hughes?” He had spent the last fifteen years of his life as a drug addict, too weak in the end to even administer the shots to himself. His 6’4” frame had shrunk to 6’1” and he weighed only 90 lbs. Not a single acquaintance or relative mourned his death. The only honor he received was a moment of silence in his Las Vegas casinos.
Time magazine put it this way: “Howard Hughes’ death was commemorated in Las Vegas by a minute of silence. Casinos fell silent. Housewives stood uncomfortable clutching their paper cups full of coins at the slot machines, the blackjack games paused, and at the crap tables the stickmen cradled the dice in the crook of their wooden wands. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward and whispered, ‘O.K., roll the dice. He’s had his minute.’ ”
The rewards Howard Hughes received in this life were immense, but that’s all there was. He couldn’t take any of his possessions with him.
I might be the only one tempted to look at those who are outrageously successful and wonder why life can be tough for a believer, but I don’t think so. I can relate to the older missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years and were returning the United States to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged and afraid.
They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions. No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.
On the ship Henry Morrison pointed out to his wife how unfair it was that they had served in Africa faithfully all those years and all the focus was on President Roosevelt and they were being ignored.
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The missionary couple slipped off the ship unnoticed and made their way into the city. That night, at his wife’s suggestion, Morrison prayed about his bitter attitude. He walked out of his bedroom and his wife noticed the change in his attitude. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?” He responded that as he had prayed the Lord seemed to touch his shoulder and say, “But you’re not home yet!”
Don’t give up! Don’t be discouraged when you see others getting their rewards now. When we get home we’ll be rewarded more handsomely than we can imagine for every sacrifice we have made.
Ministry can be difficult. Every believer has challenges and we could all tell our stories of the obstacles we face in pursuing what God has called us to do. Even for pastors the challenges of real life can be more demanding than we prepared for when we trained for the ministry.
That’s made clear by a story Philip Anderson of Chicago Theological Seminary tells. Shortly after graduation one year Philip said that he received a frantic phone call from a former student newly established in his first church. “Phil,” panted his young caller, “what do you do at a funeral?”
“We covered funeral practices in my spring course on pastoral care,” answered Philip. “I know we did,” said the caller, “but this guy is really dead!”
Pastors and preachers aren’t the only believers who face misunderstanding, rejection and hostility. In fact, we have it easier than others because we live in more protected environments. When I was studying for the ministry I was in the environment many Christians face. On the contruction site were skeptics and cynics. At the pharmaceutical plant were some whose goal was to corrupt any goodness they saw in me. Two things kept me going, and perhaps they are helping you. First, I was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. That means He owns me and has the right to tell me what He wants me to do. The second reason is one that I hardly remember being mentioned when I was young. There are promises of reward. For some reason, as I was growing up, older Christians thought that thinking about the reward would undermine the value of what we did.
Jesus didn’t teach that. He said, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:27).
God could have said, “Do what I tell you because I am God.” He would have that right. Instead, He says, “I own you but I also want to reward you for doing what I ask you to do.”
Reward is a powerful motivator. As Marion Gilbert said, “One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this unexpected ‘delivery service,’ I fed him some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers. I spent the rest of that morning returning the papers to their owners.”
When David fought Goliath he went against the giant, Goliath, in faith. He said to Goliath as he went to meet him, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). That was an amazing act of faith.
But earlier David had also been interested in the reward King Saul had offered. “David asked the men standing near him, ‘What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’ ” (1 Samuel 17:26).
For some of us the rewards we can earn in this life are impressive. Who among us wouldn’t have enjoyed the wealth of Howard Hughes? He was worth 2.5 billion dollars at his death. When he died he was the richest man in the United States. He owned a private fleet of jets, hotels and casinos. Most of us could manage to live well enough on that.
Yet, at the end of his life he was hardly recognizable. When asked to claim his body, his nearest elative, a distant cousin, exclaimed, “Is this Mr. Hughes?” He had spent the last fifteen years of his life as a drug addict, too weak in the end to even administer the shots to himself. His 6’4” frame had shrunk to 6’1” and he weighed only 90 lbs. Not a single acquaintance or relative mourned his death. The only honor he received was a moment of silence in his Las Vegas casinos.
Time magazine put it this way: “Howard Hughes’ death was commemorated in Las Vegas by a minute of silence. Casinos fell silent. Housewives stood uncomfortable clutching their paper cups full of coins at the slot machines, the blackjack games paused, and at the crap tables the stickmen cradled the dice in the crook of their wooden wands. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward and whispered, ‘O.K., roll the dice. He’s had his minute.’ ”
The rewards Howard Hughes received in this life were immense, but that’s all there was. He couldn’t take any of his possessions with him.
I might be the only one tempted to look at those who are outrageously successful and wonder why life can be tough for a believer, but I don’t think so. I can relate to the older missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years and were returning the United States to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged and afraid.
They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions. No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.
On the ship Henry Morrison pointed out to his wife how unfair it was that they had served in Africa faithfully all those years and all the focus was on President Roosevelt and they were being ignored.
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The missionary couple slipped off the ship unnoticed and made their way into the city. That night, at his wife’s suggestion, Morrison prayed about his bitter attitude. He walked out of his bedroom and his wife noticed the change in his attitude. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?” He responded that as he had prayed the Lord seemed to touch his shoulder and say, “But you’re not home yet!”
Don’t give up! Don’t be discouraged when you see others getting their rewards now. When we get home we’ll be rewarded more handsomely than we can imagine for every sacrifice we have made.
August 13, 2009
Here’s the Storm, But Where’s Jesus?
The late Sam Sasser, a friend of mine, wrote Let’s Continue to Lift Sister Smith’s Leg in Prayer. In the book he documented some amusing things that have been said in church. He described a church in Florida that was facing a crisis. The pastor was praying at the end of the meeting and was calling on the Lord with fervor. He pleaded, “Lord, we need faithfulness! Lord, send the spirit of the children of Israel. Give us, Lord, the spirit of the children of Moses. Lord, send us the spirit of the children of Abraham!” An older mother in the church prayed, when the pastor had finished, “Lord, don’t send nobody, come yourself—this ain’t no time for children.” There are times in our lives that “ain’t no time for children.”
The disciples experienced one of those times on the Sea of Galilee. In attempting to cross the sea at night they encountered one of the violent storms that can spring up on the lake. Certain weather conditions cause the wind to sweep through gaps in the mountains around the Sea of Galilee stirring up the lake until it becomes dangerous and life-threatening to anyone on the water in a boat.
The previous day had been productive. Jesus had fed five thousand men, not counting women and children, with five loaves and two fish. A boy’s lunch had fed the whole crowd. Jesus had then sent the disciples to the other side of the lake while He had gone up onto one of the hillsides to pray.
From Jesus’ vantage point He saw the disciples and their dilemma. They were caught in a violent storm. Some of the disciples were seasoned fishermen who had fished these waters. Perhaps they knew more than the others the danger they were facing. They were fighting for their lives.
Mark described the scene graphically: “He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake.” (Mark 6:48).
This was one of the dramatic events in the lives of the disciples. They were straining at the oars. Matthew, who was in the boat at the time, said that they were “buffeted.” Matthew used a strong word. It meant “to torture” and conveyed the idea of pain. The storm was torturing them. The wind was against them, water was undoubtedly coming into the boat and they were getting nowhere. They were trapped in a storm and none of their strenuous effort was working.
The Gospels make clear that the incident took place between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM. That’s a pretty dark, lonely time to be struggling for your life. It’s amazing how a storm can remind us that we can’t make it on just our own best efforts.
It’s fair to say that the disciples’ world that night was their boat. They were totally preoccupied with getting out of the situation alive. The storm had their full attention. They couldn’t see Jesus and there is no indication that they were even thinking about Him. They were concentrating on making it to shore. They were “straining at the oars.”
I understand them. No matter how spiritual we are, there are times when we are fighting for survival and are rowing furiously and getting nowhere. It’s not that we aren’t trying and it’s not that we aren’t putting out the effort. We just aren’t making progress. It’s one of those times that “ain’t no time for children.”
Thankfully, the disciples’ struggle wasn’t the end of the story. The water that threatened to drown them wasn’t a problem to Jesus. He walked on it. He didn’t walk on water as a publicity stunt, either. He walked on water because His disciples were in trouble. His miracles never were the silly sleight of hand of a street magician. When Jesus worked wonders He always had a purpose—He wanted to help someone.
The good news is that Jesus saw them when they didn’t see Jesus. He sees us, too, when we are struggling desperately to get through some storm. Jesus came to them when He saw what they were facing. Jesus also comes to us when we are struggling and getting nowhere. There is not a storm strong enough, or a problem big enough to keep Jesus from us. He walks on water. He comes to us because He sees us even when we can’t see Him. We are never out of His sight.
The issue for us is never, “Will Jesus show up?” He will. He sees all of us and He knows what storms we are facing. Our challenge is recognizing Him and allowing Him to rescue us. Too often we ignore Him and keep on rowing and struggling, even when our best efforts are ineffective.
Dr. Leo Winters, the highly acclaimed Chicago surgeon, was awakened by a phone call at about 1:00 AM. There had been an accident and he was needed for immediate surgery. The quickest route to the hospital happened to be through a rather tough area, but with time being a critical factor, he decided to take the risk.
At one of the stoplights a man with a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt opened the doctor’s car door and screamed, “I’ve got to have your car!” As he pulled Winters out of the driver’s seat, the surgeon tried to explain that he was needed at the hospital for emergency surgery. It didn’t matter. The man wouldn’t listen. The doctor, without his car, was finally able to get a taxi to the hospital. By then over an hour had elapsed. He arrived at the hospital and learned that the patient had passed away thirty minutes earlier. The nurse on duty told Dr. Winters that the father of the victim was in the chapel wondering why the doctor never came.
Dr. Winters walked hurriedly to get to the chapel to explain to the father why he had arrived too late to help his son. When Winters walked into the chapel he saw the father—wearing a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. It was the man who had taken his car. Tragically, the father had stopped the one man who could have saved his son’s life from getting to the hospital in time.
Jesus sees us when we don’t see Him. He comes to us when we are struggling to make it. It is important that we don’t fail to recognize Him. He is the only One who can walk on water and rescue us.
The late Sam Sasser, a friend of mine, wrote Let’s Continue to Lift Sister Smith’s Leg in Prayer. In the book he documented some amusing things that have been said in church. He described a church in Florida that was facing a crisis. The pastor was praying at the end of the meeting and was calling on the Lord with fervor. He pleaded, “Lord, we need faithfulness! Lord, send the spirit of the children of Israel. Give us, Lord, the spirit of the children of Moses. Lord, send us the spirit of the children of Abraham!” An older mother in the church prayed, when the pastor had finished, “Lord, don’t send nobody, come yourself—this ain’t no time for children.” There are times in our lives that “ain’t no time for children.”
The disciples experienced one of those times on the Sea of Galilee. In attempting to cross the sea at night they encountered one of the violent storms that can spring up on the lake. Certain weather conditions cause the wind to sweep through gaps in the mountains around the Sea of Galilee stirring up the lake until it becomes dangerous and life-threatening to anyone on the water in a boat.
The previous day had been productive. Jesus had fed five thousand men, not counting women and children, with five loaves and two fish. A boy’s lunch had fed the whole crowd. Jesus had then sent the disciples to the other side of the lake while He had gone up onto one of the hillsides to pray.
From Jesus’ vantage point He saw the disciples and their dilemma. They were caught in a violent storm. Some of the disciples were seasoned fishermen who had fished these waters. Perhaps they knew more than the others the danger they were facing. They were fighting for their lives.
Mark described the scene graphically: “He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake.” (Mark 6:48).
This was one of the dramatic events in the lives of the disciples. They were straining at the oars. Matthew, who was in the boat at the time, said that they were “buffeted.” Matthew used a strong word. It meant “to torture” and conveyed the idea of pain. The storm was torturing them. The wind was against them, water was undoubtedly coming into the boat and they were getting nowhere. They were trapped in a storm and none of their strenuous effort was working.
The Gospels make clear that the incident took place between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM. That’s a pretty dark, lonely time to be struggling for your life. It’s amazing how a storm can remind us that we can’t make it on just our own best efforts.
It’s fair to say that the disciples’ world that night was their boat. They were totally preoccupied with getting out of the situation alive. The storm had their full attention. They couldn’t see Jesus and there is no indication that they were even thinking about Him. They were concentrating on making it to shore. They were “straining at the oars.”
I understand them. No matter how spiritual we are, there are times when we are fighting for survival and are rowing furiously and getting nowhere. It’s not that we aren’t trying and it’s not that we aren’t putting out the effort. We just aren’t making progress. It’s one of those times that “ain’t no time for children.”
Thankfully, the disciples’ struggle wasn’t the end of the story. The water that threatened to drown them wasn’t a problem to Jesus. He walked on it. He didn’t walk on water as a publicity stunt, either. He walked on water because His disciples were in trouble. His miracles never were the silly sleight of hand of a street magician. When Jesus worked wonders He always had a purpose—He wanted to help someone.
The good news is that Jesus saw them when they didn’t see Jesus. He sees us, too, when we are struggling desperately to get through some storm. Jesus came to them when He saw what they were facing. Jesus also comes to us when we are struggling and getting nowhere. There is not a storm strong enough, or a problem big enough to keep Jesus from us. He walks on water. He comes to us because He sees us even when we can’t see Him. We are never out of His sight.
The issue for us is never, “Will Jesus show up?” He will. He sees all of us and He knows what storms we are facing. Our challenge is recognizing Him and allowing Him to rescue us. Too often we ignore Him and keep on rowing and struggling, even when our best efforts are ineffective.
Dr. Leo Winters, the highly acclaimed Chicago surgeon, was awakened by a phone call at about 1:00 AM. There had been an accident and he was needed for immediate surgery. The quickest route to the hospital happened to be through a rather tough area, but with time being a critical factor, he decided to take the risk.
At one of the stoplights a man with a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt opened the doctor’s car door and screamed, “I’ve got to have your car!” As he pulled Winters out of the driver’s seat, the surgeon tried to explain that he was needed at the hospital for emergency surgery. It didn’t matter. The man wouldn’t listen. The doctor, without his car, was finally able to get a taxi to the hospital. By then over an hour had elapsed. He arrived at the hospital and learned that the patient had passed away thirty minutes earlier. The nurse on duty told Dr. Winters that the father of the victim was in the chapel wondering why the doctor never came.
Dr. Winters walked hurriedly to get to the chapel to explain to the father why he had arrived too late to help his son. When Winters walked into the chapel he saw the father—wearing a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. It was the man who had taken his car. Tragically, the father had stopped the one man who could have saved his son’s life from getting to the hospital in time.
Jesus sees us when we don’t see Him. He comes to us when we are struggling to make it. It is important that we don’t fail to recognize Him. He is the only One who can walk on water and rescue us.
August 6, 2009
God at Work
One of the most comforting teachings of the Bible, to me, is the truth of the providence of God. It is reassuring to know that He is watching over us and is protecting us in ways we may never comprehend. God’s providence is more than superficial optimism. It is His active involvement in our lives.
Some see the world as controlled by fate, or blind chance. The Bible teaches that God is in charge of His world and watches carefully over His children. The apostle Paul said it this way: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Many of us have drawn strength from the promise that God is at work in our lives, even when we don’t realize it.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that God makes everything easy for me. My parents often acted for my good by making me go to school, by making me eat my vegetables and by not allowing me to play in the traffic. All of those rubbed against my nature, but their direction was good for me. God’s providence means that if I trust Him and love Him God will act for my good. Even if I make a mistake God will act to make it work out for my good.
We can learn from our mistakes. Mark Twain once remarked that if a cat sits on a hot stove once it will never do that again. He added that after that experience it wouldn’t sit on a cold stove, either.
Joe McKeever, in Leadership Weekly, relates an example of God’s providence. He wrote that late one night, in rural Mississippi, a man in Slim Cornett’s church was showing Slim around a country airport. The man who operated the small airport was demonstrating some of the airport’s features. “This switch lights up the runway,” he said as he flipped the switch. “Then, let’s say there is a plane in distress up there. I would throw this switch and turn on the search lights.”
As the night skies lit up, a small plane materialized out of the darkness and landed. Slim and his friend watched in amazement as Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, stepped off the plane. The pilot had been flying Franklin back to school in Texas when the electrical system on the airplane shut down, leaving them stranded in the Mississippi night without lights or radio or any means of guidance. From out of nowhere, the search beam had come on and guided them to the landing strip. As Franklin’s mother, Ruth, told the story, earlier that evening before they left home, Billy Graham had prayed for the Father to protect and guide his son and the pilot.
God not only watches over us, but He watches over those we love in answer to our prayers. When we can’t be with them, we can commit them to His care and protection.
Amazingly, God even intervenes in the lives of unbelievers. When Gwen and I were pastoring in Virginia Beach, we were baptizing new believers in the swimming pool of a member of our church. The son of the owner of the pool was being baptized. I stood next to the father, J. C., and he asked me if I would like to know how he became a Christian. J. C. had been saved in our church, but I had no idea of the circumstances that led him to attend his first service.
He told me that he had been a hunting guide outside Richmond, Virginia. He was bringing some hunters in by boat when he saw two Canadian snow geese. Not having killed his quota, he shot both of them. As he explained it to me, ordinarily he would not have shot them. It was only because they were returning home having completed the hunt for the other members of his party. What amazed J. C. was the fact that the geese were not supposed to be there. Their migration route was the Mississippi Valley, hundreds of miles to the West. When he pulled them into the boat he found two messages engraved on two tags, one attached to each of them. One message was, “Write Jack Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Cast all your care upon God. 1 Peter 5:7.” The other tag read, “Write Jack Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 16:31.”
J. C. was not serving God at the time, but God was seeking him. Curious about the tags, J. C. searched out the author of the tags. He learned that Jack Miner had been a missionary who wanted to reach the inaccessible Indians of Northern Canada. The best way, he found, was through one of their main food sources, Canadian geese. Jack Miner would capture the geese, fix the Bible verses on their legs, and trust those tags to witness to the unreachable Indians of Northern Canada. Those strange, winged evangelists were directed by God to J. C. outside Richmond, Virginia. J. C. then visited our church and made a decision to follow Christ. The providence of God means that He is working, even in the lives of unbelievers, to bring them into His family.
How many of us have come to faith in Christ through a series of what we would call coincidences only to find that it wasn’t chance but it was God seeking us. Once we believe He doesn’t abandon us, but He works faithfully for our good “in all things.”
All of us have had our tough times, but we didn’t face them alone. If we trust Him we never will! When you wake up each morning realize that God is watching over you and is working for your good in every circumstance of your life. Most marriages incorporate the words of commitment “for better or worse.” That is the kind of commitment God makes to us. No matter what circumstances our lives bring God is at work for our good.
One of the most comforting teachings of the Bible, to me, is the truth of the providence of God. It is reassuring to know that He is watching over us and is protecting us in ways we may never comprehend. God’s providence is more than superficial optimism. It is His active involvement in our lives.
Some see the world as controlled by fate, or blind chance. The Bible teaches that God is in charge of His world and watches carefully over His children. The apostle Paul said it this way: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Many of us have drawn strength from the promise that God is at work in our lives, even when we don’t realize it.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that God makes everything easy for me. My parents often acted for my good by making me go to school, by making me eat my vegetables and by not allowing me to play in the traffic. All of those rubbed against my nature, but their direction was good for me. God’s providence means that if I trust Him and love Him God will act for my good. Even if I make a mistake God will act to make it work out for my good.
We can learn from our mistakes. Mark Twain once remarked that if a cat sits on a hot stove once it will never do that again. He added that after that experience it wouldn’t sit on a cold stove, either.
Joe McKeever, in Leadership Weekly, relates an example of God’s providence. He wrote that late one night, in rural Mississippi, a man in Slim Cornett’s church was showing Slim around a country airport. The man who operated the small airport was demonstrating some of the airport’s features. “This switch lights up the runway,” he said as he flipped the switch. “Then, let’s say there is a plane in distress up there. I would throw this switch and turn on the search lights.”
As the night skies lit up, a small plane materialized out of the darkness and landed. Slim and his friend watched in amazement as Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, stepped off the plane. The pilot had been flying Franklin back to school in Texas when the electrical system on the airplane shut down, leaving them stranded in the Mississippi night without lights or radio or any means of guidance. From out of nowhere, the search beam had come on and guided them to the landing strip. As Franklin’s mother, Ruth, told the story, earlier that evening before they left home, Billy Graham had prayed for the Father to protect and guide his son and the pilot.
God not only watches over us, but He watches over those we love in answer to our prayers. When we can’t be with them, we can commit them to His care and protection.
Amazingly, God even intervenes in the lives of unbelievers. When Gwen and I were pastoring in Virginia Beach, we were baptizing new believers in the swimming pool of a member of our church. The son of the owner of the pool was being baptized. I stood next to the father, J. C., and he asked me if I would like to know how he became a Christian. J. C. had been saved in our church, but I had no idea of the circumstances that led him to attend his first service.
He told me that he had been a hunting guide outside Richmond, Virginia. He was bringing some hunters in by boat when he saw two Canadian snow geese. Not having killed his quota, he shot both of them. As he explained it to me, ordinarily he would not have shot them. It was only because they were returning home having completed the hunt for the other members of his party. What amazed J. C. was the fact that the geese were not supposed to be there. Their migration route was the Mississippi Valley, hundreds of miles to the West. When he pulled them into the boat he found two messages engraved on two tags, one attached to each of them. One message was, “Write Jack Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Cast all your care upon God. 1 Peter 5:7.” The other tag read, “Write Jack Miner, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 16:31.”
J. C. was not serving God at the time, but God was seeking him. Curious about the tags, J. C. searched out the author of the tags. He learned that Jack Miner had been a missionary who wanted to reach the inaccessible Indians of Northern Canada. The best way, he found, was through one of their main food sources, Canadian geese. Jack Miner would capture the geese, fix the Bible verses on their legs, and trust those tags to witness to the unreachable Indians of Northern Canada. Those strange, winged evangelists were directed by God to J. C. outside Richmond, Virginia. J. C. then visited our church and made a decision to follow Christ. The providence of God means that He is working, even in the lives of unbelievers, to bring them into His family.
How many of us have come to faith in Christ through a series of what we would call coincidences only to find that it wasn’t chance but it was God seeking us. Once we believe He doesn’t abandon us, but He works faithfully for our good “in all things.”
All of us have had our tough times, but we didn’t face them alone. If we trust Him we never will! When you wake up each morning realize that God is watching over you and is working for your good in every circumstance of your life. Most marriages incorporate the words of commitment “for better or worse.” That is the kind of commitment God makes to us. No matter what circumstances our lives bring God is at work for our good.
July 30, 2009
Amazing Grace
As a Christian there are many things I believe. I believe that God wants me to be the best person I can be and has provided the resources I need to achieve that goal. I believe that He loves me enough to walk with me through any tough times I experience. But the foundation of everything I believe is my strong confidence in the grace of God. As Ephesians puts it, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (2:8).
God’s grace comes to us when we are sinners and have a broken relationship with Him. Adam and Eve committed the first sin while they were in the Garden of Eden. Their response wasn’t to go looking for God, they were afraid. Instead, they hid. The Bible says that it was God who came looking for them.
Our human tendency still, when we are wrong, is to hide from Him. But He sent His Son, Jesus, to find us. That journey to where we are took Him through the Cross. Our salvation cost Him plenty, but it is free to us if we just trust Him and surrender our lives to Him.
One of the human methods of dealing with sin is legalism. If we come up with enough rules we can enforce them, we think, we change messed up people so that they will meet God’s approval. That might sound good but it doesn’t work. Martin Luther found that in a monastery there were certain sins he couldn’t commit. What distressed him was the fact that he still wanted to commit them. The change has to take place on the inside, and only God can make that happen.
In Leadership magazine, Richard Dunagin told the following story: “At their school carnival, our kids won four free goldfish (lucky us!), so out I went Saturday morning to find an aquarium. The first few I priced ranged from $40 to $70. Then I spotted it right in the aisle: a discarded 10-gallon display tank, complete with gravel and filter for a mere five bucks. Sold! Of course, it was nasty dirty, but the savings made the two hours of clean-up a breeze.
“Those four new fish looked great in their new home, at least for the first day. But by Sunday one had died. Too bad, but three remained. Monday morning revealed a second casualty, and by Monday night a third goldfish had gone belly up. We called in an expert member of our church who has a 30-gallon tank. It didn’t take him long to discover the problem: I had washed the tank with soap, an absolute no-no. My uninformed efforts had destroyed the very lives I was trying to protect.
“Sometimes our in zeal to clean up our own lives or the lives of others, we unfortunately use ‘killer soaps’—condemnation, criticism, nagging, fits of temper. We think we’re doing right, but our harsh, self-righteous treatment is more than they can bear.”
Not only do others try to fix us with “killer soap,” but we try to improve ourselves with our own best efforts. C. S. Lewis explained how impossible this is: “No arrangement of bad eggs will make a good omelet.” We’ve all made nasty-tasting omelets because we were working with our own bad eggs.
God has a better way to change us. It’s called grace. It’s free and that is why some people find it difficult to accept.
Peter Lord, who pastored in Florida, told the story of a new convert in his church, Lisa. Lisa lived at Cape Canaveral and had just received Jesus as her Savior. People would park in her neighborhood to watch the launching of missiles. She decided to use the occasion of one rocket launch to witness to others about her new-found faith.
Her neighbors had signs in their yards: Parking $5 and Parking $10. She put up a sign: “Free Parking, Free Coffee and Donuts.” She got up very early that morning to make coffee and donuts. She was excited about telling others of her experience with Jesus. That morning her neighbors’ yards were full of cars. But no one parked on her property. Puzzled and upset she was complaining to God. Why would people pay for parking when she offered parking for free? God said to her, “Lisa, that’s how I feel. I offer you grace for free and you still try to pay for it.”
Here is good news for all of us. We don’t have to pay for salvation. Jesus did that. All God asks of us is to believe in and trust His Son, Jesus.
An often overlooked truth about grace is that it enables us to live a life of victory. That doesn’t mean we never make a mistake but it does mean that we can grow and improve. Grace means that our failures have been paid for and we can continually come to Christ and find Him willing to pick us up from whatever ditch we have fallen into so we can keep going in the right direction. We don’t have to stay in a pit for the rest of our lives and we don’t have to be defeated by human weakness. The Lord once gave Paul some advice that was so profound the apostle passed it on to us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace is enough! The answer to my weakness is that God has invaded my world with His grace.
When we become what God wants us to be we won’t be able to boast about the improvement we have experienced. We will still be thankful for God’s grace. John Stott, the former Rector of All Souls Anglican Church in London, told of a time when he was in seminary. The head of the seminary retired. At his retirement a portrait of him was unveiled. He looked at the portrait and commented that in the future people looking at the portrait would not ask, “Who is that man?” but rather, “Who painted that portrait?” Stott remarked that it is that way with grace. God’s grace, not our glory, will be on display.
A few years ago a young woman handed me a small article she had found. It described what grace can do for each of us. The short article said: “Longfellow could take a worthless piece of paper, write a poem on it, and instantly make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called genius. Rockefeller could sign his name to a piece of paper and make it worth millions of dollars—and it’s called wealth. A mechanic can take material worth only five dollars and make it worth five hundred—and it’s called skill. An artist can take a fifty-cent piece of canvas, paint a picture on it, and make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called art. Jesus Christ can take a worthless, sinful life, wash it in His blood, put His Spirit in it, and make it valuable to God—and that’s called grace.”
No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God has grace for us. We’d be crazy to pass up a deal like that.
As a Christian there are many things I believe. I believe that God wants me to be the best person I can be and has provided the resources I need to achieve that goal. I believe that He loves me enough to walk with me through any tough times I experience. But the foundation of everything I believe is my strong confidence in the grace of God. As Ephesians puts it, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (2:8).
God’s grace comes to us when we are sinners and have a broken relationship with Him. Adam and Eve committed the first sin while they were in the Garden of Eden. Their response wasn’t to go looking for God, they were afraid. Instead, they hid. The Bible says that it was God who came looking for them.
Our human tendency still, when we are wrong, is to hide from Him. But He sent His Son, Jesus, to find us. That journey to where we are took Him through the Cross. Our salvation cost Him plenty, but it is free to us if we just trust Him and surrender our lives to Him.
One of the human methods of dealing with sin is legalism. If we come up with enough rules we can enforce them, we think, we change messed up people so that they will meet God’s approval. That might sound good but it doesn’t work. Martin Luther found that in a monastery there were certain sins he couldn’t commit. What distressed him was the fact that he still wanted to commit them. The change has to take place on the inside, and only God can make that happen.
In Leadership magazine, Richard Dunagin told the following story: “At their school carnival, our kids won four free goldfish (lucky us!), so out I went Saturday morning to find an aquarium. The first few I priced ranged from $40 to $70. Then I spotted it right in the aisle: a discarded 10-gallon display tank, complete with gravel and filter for a mere five bucks. Sold! Of course, it was nasty dirty, but the savings made the two hours of clean-up a breeze.
“Those four new fish looked great in their new home, at least for the first day. But by Sunday one had died. Too bad, but three remained. Monday morning revealed a second casualty, and by Monday night a third goldfish had gone belly up. We called in an expert member of our church who has a 30-gallon tank. It didn’t take him long to discover the problem: I had washed the tank with soap, an absolute no-no. My uninformed efforts had destroyed the very lives I was trying to protect.
“Sometimes our in zeal to clean up our own lives or the lives of others, we unfortunately use ‘killer soaps’—condemnation, criticism, nagging, fits of temper. We think we’re doing right, but our harsh, self-righteous treatment is more than they can bear.”
Not only do others try to fix us with “killer soap,” but we try to improve ourselves with our own best efforts. C. S. Lewis explained how impossible this is: “No arrangement of bad eggs will make a good omelet.” We’ve all made nasty-tasting omelets because we were working with our own bad eggs.
God has a better way to change us. It’s called grace. It’s free and that is why some people find it difficult to accept.
Peter Lord, who pastored in Florida, told the story of a new convert in his church, Lisa. Lisa lived at Cape Canaveral and had just received Jesus as her Savior. People would park in her neighborhood to watch the launching of missiles. She decided to use the occasion of one rocket launch to witness to others about her new-found faith.
Her neighbors had signs in their yards: Parking $5 and Parking $10. She put up a sign: “Free Parking, Free Coffee and Donuts.” She got up very early that morning to make coffee and donuts. She was excited about telling others of her experience with Jesus. That morning her neighbors’ yards were full of cars. But no one parked on her property. Puzzled and upset she was complaining to God. Why would people pay for parking when she offered parking for free? God said to her, “Lisa, that’s how I feel. I offer you grace for free and you still try to pay for it.”
Here is good news for all of us. We don’t have to pay for salvation. Jesus did that. All God asks of us is to believe in and trust His Son, Jesus.
An often overlooked truth about grace is that it enables us to live a life of victory. That doesn’t mean we never make a mistake but it does mean that we can grow and improve. Grace means that our failures have been paid for and we can continually come to Christ and find Him willing to pick us up from whatever ditch we have fallen into so we can keep going in the right direction. We don’t have to stay in a pit for the rest of our lives and we don’t have to be defeated by human weakness. The Lord once gave Paul some advice that was so profound the apostle passed it on to us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace is enough! The answer to my weakness is that God has invaded my world with His grace.
When we become what God wants us to be we won’t be able to boast about the improvement we have experienced. We will still be thankful for God’s grace. John Stott, the former Rector of All Souls Anglican Church in London, told of a time when he was in seminary. The head of the seminary retired. At his retirement a portrait of him was unveiled. He looked at the portrait and commented that in the future people looking at the portrait would not ask, “Who is that man?” but rather, “Who painted that portrait?” Stott remarked that it is that way with grace. God’s grace, not our glory, will be on display.
A few years ago a young woman handed me a small article she had found. It described what grace can do for each of us. The short article said: “Longfellow could take a worthless piece of paper, write a poem on it, and instantly make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called genius. Rockefeller could sign his name to a piece of paper and make it worth millions of dollars—and it’s called wealth. A mechanic can take material worth only five dollars and make it worth five hundred—and it’s called skill. An artist can take a fifty-cent piece of canvas, paint a picture on it, and make it worth thousands of dollars—and it’s called art. Jesus Christ can take a worthless, sinful life, wash it in His blood, put His Spirit in it, and make it valuable to God—and that’s called grace.”
No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God has grace for us. We’d be crazy to pass up a deal like that.
July 23, 2009
Who Am I?
It’s human nature to blame others for our problems. I read about a man who angrily jumped out of his car after a collision with another car. “Why don’t you people watch where you’re driving?” he shouted wildly. “You’re the fourth car I’ve hit today!”
We’re dreaming if we think we can’t be irritated or that we can’t be tempted to lose control. Two friends, Bill and Tom, were drinking at an all-night café. They got into a discussion about the difference between irritation, anger and rage.
At about 1 AM, Bill said, “Look, Tom, I’ll show you an example of irritation.” He went to the pay telephone, put in a coin, and dialed a number at random. The phone rang and rang and rang. Finally when a sleepy voice at the other end answered, Bill said, “I’d like to speak to Jones.” “There’s no one here named Jones,” the disgruntled man replied as he hung up. “That,” Bill said to Tom, “is a man who is irritated.”
An hour later, at 2 AM, Bill said, “Now I’ll show you a man who is angry.” He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. Eventually the same sleepy voice answered the phone. Bill asked, “May I please speak with Jones?” “There’s no one here named Jones,” came the angry reply, this time louder. The man slammed down the receiver.
An hour later, at 3 AM, Bill said, “Now I’ll show you an example of rage.” He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. When the sleepy man finally answered, Bill said, “Hi, this is Jones. Have there been any calls for me?”
That’s enough to stress out anyone’s attitude. In light of the fact that we can “lose it” we spend some of our time trying to escape the consequences of our misbehavior. Alexandre Dumas wrote one of my favorite novels, The Three Musketeers. He engaged in a quarrel with a rising young politician that eventually led to a duel. As both were superb shots, they decided to draw lots, the loser agreeing to shoot himself. Dumas lost. Pistol in hand, he withdrew in silent dignity to another room, closing the door behind him. The rest of the company waited in gloomy suspense for the sound of the shot that would end Dumas’s life. It rang out at last. They ran to the door, opened it, and there was Dumas, smoking revolver in hand. “Gentlemen, a most regrettable thing has happened. I missed.”
However, there comes a day when we must face ourselves and, even more imposing, we must face God. That day came for Moses at a burning bush. There God confronted the man who, though reared in Pharaoh’s court, had been tending sheep for forty years. Forty years ago he had been self-confident. Now he had become a stutterer with a history of failure. We know how he felt about himself because of the way he responded to God. God gave the good news to Moses that he had been chosen to lead God’s people. “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ And God said, ‘I will be with you’ ” (Exodus 3:11-12). Moses looked at God and asked what so many of us have asked, “Who am I, that I should go….”
We produce many reasons for disqualifying ourselves from serving God. There is a little Moses in all of us. C. S. Lewis wrote words that should encourage anyone who is feeling too unworthy to serve God: “If you are a poor creature—poisoned by a wretched upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels—saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion—nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends—do not despair. He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom he blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. One day (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that) he will fling it on the scrapheap and give you a new one. And then you may astonish us all—not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school.”
Moses learned his driving in a hard school. Educated by Pharaoh, he had been given to impetuous action and a violent temper. He had killed a man when he was forty years old and had consequently fled to the desert. That’s why he was eighty years old and a shepherd when God met him at the burning bush.
God had a wonderful response when Moses questioned his own worth: “I will be with you.” “Who you are doesn’t matter,” God said, “I am the key to making this plan work.” For all of us who, like Moses, have asked the question “Who am I?” because we know our own histories and shortcomings, God’s response is a bright ray of hope. “I will be with you.” That means that He will still use us. Our failures aren’t an obstacle to Him. It also means that He gets the credit for our successes. As C. S. Lewis pointed out we may have learned to drive in a hard school with a battered vehicle, but God can renew us and use us.
D. L. Moody made an interesting observation about the life of Moses: “Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court thinking he was a somebody; forty years in the desert learning he was a nobody and forty years showing what God can do with a somebody who learns he’s a nobody.”
Most people who really don’t know God have an instinctive fear of meeting Him. It’s not about what we know or don’t know about Him. It’s based on what we know of ourselves. We know we messed up somewhere and are stuttering now, hoping no one finds us in the desert where we are trying to hide from Him. He confronts us at some burning bush, not to condemn us but to restore us.
We so easily misjudge Him. One evening a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up the truck did too. The faster she drove, the faster the truck drove. Now frightened, she exited the freeway. The truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase.
Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help. The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking the back door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the backseat. The woman was running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a would-be attacker in the woman’s car. The chase was not his effort to harm her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety. That’s what God did for us. He chased us to save us.
Many people run from God as though God is their enemy. He isn’t. Neither does He confront us to punish us. Sure, He’s a Judge and everyone has to stand before Him some day. But if we meet Him now in faith we will find He is a Deliverer who has plans for our lives. For everyone who says, “Who am I?” God is willing to say, “I will be with you.”
It’s human nature to blame others for our problems. I read about a man who angrily jumped out of his car after a collision with another car. “Why don’t you people watch where you’re driving?” he shouted wildly. “You’re the fourth car I’ve hit today!”
We’re dreaming if we think we can’t be irritated or that we can’t be tempted to lose control. Two friends, Bill and Tom, were drinking at an all-night café. They got into a discussion about the difference between irritation, anger and rage.
At about 1 AM, Bill said, “Look, Tom, I’ll show you an example of irritation.” He went to the pay telephone, put in a coin, and dialed a number at random. The phone rang and rang and rang. Finally when a sleepy voice at the other end answered, Bill said, “I’d like to speak to Jones.” “There’s no one here named Jones,” the disgruntled man replied as he hung up. “That,” Bill said to Tom, “is a man who is irritated.”
An hour later, at 2 AM, Bill said, “Now I’ll show you a man who is angry.” He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. Eventually the same sleepy voice answered the phone. Bill asked, “May I please speak with Jones?” “There’s no one here named Jones,” came the angry reply, this time louder. The man slammed down the receiver.
An hour later, at 3 AM, Bill said, “Now I’ll show you an example of rage.” He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. When the sleepy man finally answered, Bill said, “Hi, this is Jones. Have there been any calls for me?”
That’s enough to stress out anyone’s attitude. In light of the fact that we can “lose it” we spend some of our time trying to escape the consequences of our misbehavior. Alexandre Dumas wrote one of my favorite novels, The Three Musketeers. He engaged in a quarrel with a rising young politician that eventually led to a duel. As both were superb shots, they decided to draw lots, the loser agreeing to shoot himself. Dumas lost. Pistol in hand, he withdrew in silent dignity to another room, closing the door behind him. The rest of the company waited in gloomy suspense for the sound of the shot that would end Dumas’s life. It rang out at last. They ran to the door, opened it, and there was Dumas, smoking revolver in hand. “Gentlemen, a most regrettable thing has happened. I missed.”
However, there comes a day when we must face ourselves and, even more imposing, we must face God. That day came for Moses at a burning bush. There God confronted the man who, though reared in Pharaoh’s court, had been tending sheep for forty years. Forty years ago he had been self-confident. Now he had become a stutterer with a history of failure. We know how he felt about himself because of the way he responded to God. God gave the good news to Moses that he had been chosen to lead God’s people. “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ And God said, ‘I will be with you’ ” (Exodus 3:11-12). Moses looked at God and asked what so many of us have asked, “Who am I, that I should go….”
We produce many reasons for disqualifying ourselves from serving God. There is a little Moses in all of us. C. S. Lewis wrote words that should encourage anyone who is feeling too unworthy to serve God: “If you are a poor creature—poisoned by a wretched upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels—saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion—nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends—do not despair. He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom he blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. One day (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that) he will fling it on the scrapheap and give you a new one. And then you may astonish us all—not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school.”
Moses learned his driving in a hard school. Educated by Pharaoh, he had been given to impetuous action and a violent temper. He had killed a man when he was forty years old and had consequently fled to the desert. That’s why he was eighty years old and a shepherd when God met him at the burning bush.
God had a wonderful response when Moses questioned his own worth: “I will be with you.” “Who you are doesn’t matter,” God said, “I am the key to making this plan work.” For all of us who, like Moses, have asked the question “Who am I?” because we know our own histories and shortcomings, God’s response is a bright ray of hope. “I will be with you.” That means that He will still use us. Our failures aren’t an obstacle to Him. It also means that He gets the credit for our successes. As C. S. Lewis pointed out we may have learned to drive in a hard school with a battered vehicle, but God can renew us and use us.
D. L. Moody made an interesting observation about the life of Moses: “Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court thinking he was a somebody; forty years in the desert learning he was a nobody and forty years showing what God can do with a somebody who learns he’s a nobody.”
Most people who really don’t know God have an instinctive fear of meeting Him. It’s not about what we know or don’t know about Him. It’s based on what we know of ourselves. We know we messed up somewhere and are stuttering now, hoping no one finds us in the desert where we are trying to hide from Him. He confronts us at some burning bush, not to condemn us but to restore us.
We so easily misjudge Him. One evening a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up the truck did too. The faster she drove, the faster the truck drove. Now frightened, she exited the freeway. The truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase.
Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help. The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking the back door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the backseat. The woman was running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a would-be attacker in the woman’s car. The chase was not his effort to harm her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety. That’s what God did for us. He chased us to save us.
Many people run from God as though God is their enemy. He isn’t. Neither does He confront us to punish us. Sure, He’s a Judge and everyone has to stand before Him some day. But if we meet Him now in faith we will find He is a Deliverer who has plans for our lives. For everyone who says, “Who am I?” God is willing to say, “I will be with you.”
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