A Dog's Perspective On A Psalm

It seems like just about every pet owner is either a ‘dog person’ or a ‘cat person’. Sure, you’ll find an occasional person who has both, but you can usually determine pretty quickly which is their favorite.
I have always been a ‘dog person’, although I have had a cat or two over the years. While having a preference for dogs, cats have not been an option since I got married because my wife is allergic to cats.
And that suits me just fine. Not that my wife is allergic, but that we don’t have cats.
My son recently related a joke to me which I think really pinpoints the difference between dogs and cats: In explaining their relationship with people, the animals may respond as follows:
Dog: “He feeds me, he loves me, he takes care of all my needs – he must be God!”
Cat: “He feeds me, he loves me, he takes care of all of my needs – I must be God!”
Always ready to find some humor at cats’ expense, I got a little chuckle out of that. However, the timing of hearing that joke coincided with a two-day focus on Psalm 8, which gave me a new perspective on that passage. In that passage, David says:
O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, . . .
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers -
the moon and the stars you set in place -
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority[.] (Psalm 8:1-6, NLT)
When I meditate on that passage in light of the dog/cat ‘joke’, I see things that are no joking matter at all. While even the non-believing world can sense God from the glory of His creation (see Romans 1:20), I think that very often believers take the ‘cat perspective’ of creation and God’s provision to develop the idea that ‘it’s all about us’. We can acknowledge that God made it all, and is in control of it all, but we start thinking He did it for us and for our enjoyment.
That ‘cat perspective’ spills over into our prayer life which invariably focuses on what God can do for us to make our life better, easier, or more enjoyable.
We determine our worship service preferences based on what appeals to us, what we like, and what we get out of it.
We seldom (if ever) step out of our comfort zone because, well, you know – God wired me this way so I’ll just stick to what He predisposed me to do.
Pretty soon we’ve taken this vast, incomprehensible, glorious creation and placed ourselves smack dab in the center of it. And now it all revolves around us.
But that isn’t the perspective David had when he penned this particular Psalm. No, David had the ‘dog perspective’ of creation and His Creator.
David knew that he didn’t have to - and that he could in fact never – completely grasp the magnitude of God’s majesty and glory which could be observed (even though only partially) in the creation. And he knew what an illogical and unreal concept it was that the One Who made everything would actually reach out in love, grace, and mercy to a tiny, seemingly inconsequential created ‘thing’ like him in the vastness of all there is.
David realized that it was all about Him (capital ‘H’), not him (David). David felt the awe of being known and loved by a power beyond imagination – the Lord God Almighty. And it made him want to praise.
I have two ‘outside’ dogs and one ‘inside’ dog. When I drive in the gate in the evening, the two outside dogs come running, jumping and wagging their tails in such excitement to see me. They have no clue what I did during the day, what I’ve thought about, or what may be on my mind. They are just ecstatic that I’m home. The inside dog sees me pull in the garage from a side window. He then rushes to meet me at the back door, unable to contain his excitement to see me.
Those three dogs certainly enjoy being fed. They love for me to play with them. A good tummy rub is always satisfying to them. But more than anything else, they want to be with me, in my presence. They know that I’m different from them – I’m not a dog – but they eagerly desire to be around me.
How about you – what kind of perspective does a passage like Psalm 8 give you?
Are you content to go about your day seeking your own comfort and pleasure, using God for whatever you can get from Him? Or are you so overwhelmed with joy in anticipation of being in His presence that nothing else really matters?
Do you have a list of things you want God to do for you? Or does your awestruck adoration of Him prompt you to seek ways you can serve Him?
Have you let the consistency and abundance of God’s creation dull you to how amazing and breath-taking it really is? Or does the glory and majesty of the evidence of His handiwork draw you inescapably toward Him?
Do you spend time asking God ‘why’, or ‘where’, or ‘how’? Or do you look to Him and just say ‘WOW!’?
David understood the juxtaposition of an infinite, omnipotent Deity and a microscopic, created ‘speck’ in the overall scheme of creation. And David understood that the Creator reached out to ‘the created’ and made him His own.
Yes, indeed – He must be God.

The Christmas Story, A Picture

Don’t you just love all of the Christmas decorations and lights all over the place during the holidays? I love driving around at night when so many homes are all lit up with festive, bright lights.
And then if you venture out to one of the shopping malls, you can just about be overwhelmed with the decorations and glitz and noise and clamor of the season.
For a few weeks, all of our surroundings just seem to scream, “IT’S CHRISTMAS! IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!”
And there’s the music being played in stores, all over the radio, and even in churches – from White Christmas, Jingle Bells, Here Comes Santa Claus, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Feliz Navidad, to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, and Go Tell It On The Mountain.
There are just so many ‘in your face’ sights and sounds that can serve to help instill or reinforce that ‘holiday spirit’.
Now don’t get me wrong about all that stuff, I enjoy it like the next guy. Those ‘over the top’ displays, jingling bells, bright ribbons, etc. help put a little extra smile on my face and pep in my walk. They get me whistling carols and wishing strangers a ‘Merry Christmas’.
But they don’t help me get to the real focus of what we are celebrating.
To do that, I need to turn down the ‘holiday’ volume. I need to strip away the bright and shiny.
I’m not even talking about nativity scenes, Mary and Joseph, swaddling clothes, or a chorus of angels singing to shepherds.
In many families, like ours, Christmas morning is officially started by the reading of ‘The Christmas Story’ from Luke’s gospel. You can close your eyes and just about hear Linus start to recite it: “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. . . “
But I’ve come to realize that Luke’s account is not really the ‘The Christmas Story’. It is, of course, an account of the birth of Jesus. But that – the physical birth of Jesus – is only a fraction of ‘The Christmas Story’.
Where I found a more complete and compelling version of ‘The Christmas Story’ is way back in the New Testament, in Philippians.
We know that Jesus existed eternally before He was ever born in Bethlehem. We know that His glory and majesty were (and are) beyond anything we can imagine. And yet He chose to – well, God’s Word can say it far better than I can:
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11, NLT)
At our home this year, we have put up a Christmas tree, hung garland on the mantle and on the banister, placed a wreath on the front door and lights around the house. Bright red bows adorn the barbed wire fence along our country road, a gingerbread house is taunting me from the kitchen counter, nativity scenes are displayed in several rooms, and Christmas music is piped throughout the house.
But at their best, those things remind me of only a part of ‘The Christmas Story’.
However, out in front of our house, sitting all alone where very little grass ever grows, we have erected a rag-tag, run down looking feed trough (or manger) with a little hay in it. At one end, a large, shiny, ‘jewel encrusted’ gold crown appears to have been removed from its rightful place and temporarily set aside.
For me, that particular ‘decoration’ embodies ‘The Christmas Story’ more than any other we have – more than all of the others put together in fact.
The majestic, all-powerful Creator of all things, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords stepped away from His throne and all the glory to which He is rightfully entitled, and He became a man. And not just a man - He came as a baby.
In the most humble of settings, and in a subtlety we scarcely associate with Christmas celebrations – God came to us.
Emmanuel!
In those moments when I can get just a glimpse of the magnitude of what that means, I experience first-hand what is proclaimed in the passage from Philippians - because that glimpse makes my knees bow down and my tongue confess: “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!”

Going Through The Motions

The other day on the radio, I heard a story from a Christian signer-songwriter about the impact one of his songs had on someone (or rather, how God used one of his songs to impact someone’s life). The song itself is very compelling and convicting (as you can see from the lyrics below). However the story he told is what really struck me, so I thought I’d pass it along.
The singer told how a man came up to him at an event and told him:
“I don’t want to take up much of your time, but I wanted to tell you how your song, The Motions, really impacted me and changed my life.
“I was a very successful businessman, working my up the corporate ladder, getting all of the promotions and bonuses, etc. But my job required that I travel a great deal of the time. It was on those trips, usually late at night in the hotel room by myself, that I really felt the emptiness of running from what God wanted for my life and pursuing the things of this life.
“Although I attended church regularly and did a lot of ‘church-people’ things, I knew I was just a ‘surface Christian’, not giving God all He wanted from me. When those feelings overwhelmed me, I would usually try to find a local Christian radio station and listen for a while to comfort myself.
“One particular sleepless night, at 4:00 a.m., I came across a station that was playing your song, The Motions. That song just hit me like a ton of bricks, putting into words all that was going on inside me. And then the strangest thing happened, the DJ came on after the song and said, “We don’t normally do this, but I just have a feeling that someone out there listening needs to hear this song again. So here goes . . .”
“Well, during the second playing of the song, I was literally crying on my bed. And then I made one of those ‘deals’ with God. I told God that I would quit my job and do whatever He wanted me to IF - and this was such an improbable ‘if’ that I felt safe saying it - your song played again.
“As soon as the song finished, the DJ came on again and said, “I may lose my job for doing this – even at four in the morning - but something is telling me that someone needs to hear this song one more time. So, I’ll play it for a third time.”
“When that song finished playing the third time, I got out the hotel stationary and wrote my resignation letter. I am now the associate pastor at the church where you will be playing tonight.”
The artist is Matthew West and the lyrics are below. You can also view a video and listen to the song by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHmiFaX_pk
This might hurt, it's not safe -
But I know that I've gotta make a change.
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something.
'Cause ‘just okay’ is not enough,
Help me fight through the nothingness of life
I don't wanna go through the motions.
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me.
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?"
No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind.
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something.
'Cause ‘just okay’ is not enough,
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life.
'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions.
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me.
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?"

Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt the ‘emptiness’ and ‘nothingness’ of running in circles chasing after the things of this world?
What about God’s calling on your life? No - everyone is not called to full-time ministry on staff at a church, but God has called you to be His. Are you fulfilling that calling by ‘giving Him everything’? Or are you merely ‘going through the motions’?
Are you dutifully checking off a list of what you think you have to do to keep God ‘happy’, or are you filled with God’s all-consuming passion?
Maybe you intend to wait until you’ve built up your ‘nest egg’ before you get serious about surrendering to God. Maybe you want to get your kids raised and out of the house before you focus on serving Him. Perhaps you believe you need to become something better or ‘more spiritual’ before God has a use for you.
Jesus made it clear that the time to respond to His calling is NOW. “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
As Matthew West said, “this might hurt, it’s not safe”. But Jesus called us to an abundant life (John 10:10), not a life that is ‘okay’, and not a life that is ‘going through the motions’.

“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” (Luke 7:46-49, NLT)

Are you ready to fully surrender to what God has called you? Are you ready to be consumed by His passion?

Idou O Anthropos - Behold the Man

In my opinion, two of the most profound phrases in the Bible - phrases which express the human condition and determine our destiny throughout the ages - were uttered by none other than one of the ultimate ‘bad guys’ in the Bible, Pontius Pilate.
In his discussion with/interrogation of Jesus, Pilate uttered (rhetorically), the first of those two phrases, “What is ‘truth’?”, in John 18:38. Has that not been a question and issue that has vexed the ‘enlightened’ throughout history?
The other statement from Pilate, on which I want to focus this week, is found in John 19:5. After Jesus had been scourged (a form of flogging that often led to the recipient’s death), Pilate had a purple robe and a crown of thorns placed on Jesus. He then paraded Jesus out to the people and pronounced, “Idou o anthropos!”, or “Behold the man!”
Based upon the trumped-up charges that had been brought against Jesus, and on Jesus’ own admission that He was ‘King of the Jews’ (Luke 23:3), I believe Pilate probably intended to convey to those people, “Look at this spectacle – is this who you call your ‘king’?”
However, what Pilate actually did was deliver a statement that implies a question which has everything to do with each and every person’s eternal destiny. When he made the statement, “Idou o anthropos”, Pilate was saying, “Look at this man”, or “See this man”, or “Observe and consider this man”. And that then implies the ultimate question facing every person that has or will walk this planet: “What do you think about this Man?”
How each person answers that question determines his or her eternal destiny.
There are all kinds of ways people can (and do) answer that question: ‘He was a good man’, ‘He was a prophet’, ‘He was a great teacher’, ‘He was a role model’, ‘He showed us how to live and how to treat others’, etc. While those answers aren’t wrong, they are woefully incomplete and inadequate.
There were also all kinds of responses in the minds of those standing there that day when Pilate pronounced, “Behold the man!” Some would have thought Him to be the defeated leader of an insurrection; others considered Him a common criminal; others couldn’t even recognize Him as someone they had known (due to His injuries); some would have considered Him a ‘scapegoat’ of sorts to get the government off their backs; some considered Him a personal liability and sought to sever any ties to Him; some looked at Him as a dreamer who failed; some considered Him to be a ‘hope’ that didn’t ‘pan out’.
Pilate didn’t have clue as to Who Jesus really was. But there are other instances in the Bible where a phrase very similar to ‘Behold the man’ was pronounced along with an answer to the question it prompts. For example:
In Isaiah 7:14, we are told (basically), ‘Behold the man – God with us’ (Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (NKJV))
In Isaiah 40:9, we are told, ‘Behold the man – your God!’ (O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! (KJV))
And John tells us, ‘Behold the man – Who takes away your sins’ ("Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, NASB))
But those are not the kinds of responses those people had when Pilate said, ‘Behold the man’. They saw a man who was beaten to within an inch of his life and who was on his way to the cross – the end of whatever story he represented.
But we know that wasn’t the end of the story. In fact, because we know the whole story, we are able to look back at Jesus’ life and see things His contemporaries could not have understood. We are able to see things in a different light. So, our perspective is different when we:
Behold the Man – on Whom the Spirit descended like a dove.
Behold the Man – Who calmed the sea.
Behold the Man – Who raised the dead.
Behold the Man – Who gave sight to the blind.
Behold the Man – Whose glory shown on the mountain.
Behold the Man – Whose touch could heal.
Behold the Man – Who walked on water.
Behold the Man – Who willingly accepted death on a cross.
Behold the Man – Who conquered death.
Behold the Man – Who ascended to glory.
Behold the Man – Who first ‘beheld’ us.
Behold the Man – Without Whom nothing was created that was created.
Behold the Man – Who was and is and is yet to come.
Behold the Man – Who takes away all sins.
Behold the Man – The One and Only way to heaven.
So try to put yourself in their sandals: There you are - standing among the Passover crowd in Pilate’s courtyard in A.D. 33. Pilate drapes a fancy purple robe on the body of a beaten, bruised, and bloody man who is then brought out in front of you. Upon the man’s disheveled, scab-encrusted head of hair sits a mock crown, made of thorns. The man is in shock and is teetering precipitously. Pilate hushes the crowd by raising his hand, and then lowers his hand and sweeps it in the direction of Jesus, pronouncing, “Behold the man!”
So - Behold Him.
Carefully consider Him.
What do you think of Jesus?

Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Do you know how to make one million dollars raising horses? Well, you have start with three million dollars . . .

About a week ago, I was presented with (ahem, uhmmm, errr . . .) the ‘opportunity’ to own a couple of horses. We have lived out the country on a few acres for several years and we’ve occasionally talked about having horses (our kids especially have talked about it). But we’ve never seriously pursued it and we weren’t exactly ‘in the market’ for horses.
Nonetheless, the opportunity presented itself: Two horses became available for the combined price of – ‘free’. After briefly discussing the opportunity with my wife, we determined that the price was too good to pass up. So we borrowed a friend’s horse trailer and fetched us a couple of horses.
On our way home, we started thinking about all of the things we now needed to buy in order to ‘enjoy’ owning horses: halters, ropes, saddles, bridles, blankets, brushes (for starters). We started talking about the cost to get one of them ‘gelded’, the cost of a farrier, the veterinary expenses, the additional hay, etc. Soon our heads were spinning in anticipation of what these ‘free’ horses were going to cost us.
And then my wife asked me, “Did we ever really pray about whether or not to get these horses”? Of course not – they were free! It must have been God’s will for us to get them, right?
Then it hit me that we really let the situation dictate our course of action rather than consulting with God and making sure we were on the same page as Him. Our main thought process, I think, was that we needed to commit to getting those ‘free’ horses before someone else did. Mind you – we are not typically what you would call ‘spontaneous’ people. Yet we let the apparent urgency of the situation dictate our decision rather than whether or not horses (free or otherwise) really fit in to God’s plan for us.
Pretty silly, huh?
Well, unfortunately, I don’t think that was the first time I’ve made a decision without even thinking about taking it God first.
But is God really that concerned with whether or not we got the horses? I think the answer is probably both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
Because of God’s immeasurable love for us and the fact that He is sovereign over every thing that happens, He definitely cares about the smallest of details in our daily lives. Does that mean that we should ask God whether we should order the Quarterpounder or the Big Mac at lunch? Well – I’m not sure we’ll get an audible answer from Him on that, but I think He wants us to care about whether or not our decisions (no matter how small they appear to be) will be made with Him in our consideration (or, rather, with Him as our primary consideration).
So often we look at ‘prayer’ as the means to get God to tell us how to act, what to do, where to go, etc. But prayer is primarily the means of our communing with God – deepening our personal relationship with Him. Yes – He is concerned with the choices we make, but primarily He is concerned with our living the lives He has called us to live. We can best achieve that by constantly consulting with the One who has the best plan for us.
In his book, The Calling, Os Guinness makes clear that the most important calling on our lives is the call to Someone (God) – not to ‘something’ (a particular career, ministry, etc) or ‘somewhere’ (the deep, dark African mission field). Once we have accepted that calling, he tells us that “everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for [H]im” (emphasis added).
How do we ‘think, speak, live, and act entirely for Him’? We are told that “[t]he LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 15:2). And the best way to ‘be’ with Him and to ‘seek’ Him is - prayer.
While it is certainly appropriate to find a quiet corner of a closet, lie prostrate on the floor, raise your hands, close your eyes, etc. for certain prayer times, such ‘restrictions’ on your prayers would dictate that very little time would actually be spent communing with God. Even a true ‘prayer warrior’ would spend only a fraction of their day communing with God.
Instead, the Bible tells us to pray all the time - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says: pray continually (NIV), never stop praying (NLT), pray without ceasing (NASB). When we live out our lives in the realization that He is constantly with us and that we can constantly commune directly with Him, then we can begin to see ‘prayer’ as the vehicle with allows us to ‘think, speak, live, and act entirely for Him’.

Did God want us to go and get those ‘free’ horses? I’m not sure.
But I am sure that He wanted us to consider Him in making the decision.
He wanted us to pray. Continually.

Winning? Won!

Everyone is probably getting pretty tired of hearing all about Charlie Sheen and the destructive spiral he seems to be pursuing. Nonetheless, I have listed a few of his most ‘interesting’ recent quotes below:
• “I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total [awesome] rock star from Mars, and people can't figure me out; they can't process me. I don't expect them to. You can't process me with a normal brain."
• “I am on a drug. It’s called ‘Charlie Sheen’. It’s not available because if you try it once your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”
• “The last time I took drugs I probably took more that anyone [else] could survive. I was banging seven gram rocks because that’s how I roll - I have one speed, ‘go’. I have a different constitution, a different brain, a different heart. I got tiger blood, man. Dying's for fools, dying's for amateurs.”
• What tiger blood means: “It’s a metaphor for having absolute rocket fuel in my veins.”
• “I am grandiose because I live a grandiose life; what’s wrong with that?”
• “What’s not to love? Especially when you see how I party, it was epic. The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards and all of them look like droopy-eyed armless children.”
• On his daily life: "It's perfect. It's awesome. Every day is just filled with wins. All we do is put wins in the record books. We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it's scary. People say it's lonely at the top, but I sure like the view."
• "I have a 10,000-year-old brain and the boogers of a 7-year-old. That's how I describe myself."
• "I will not believe that if I do something then I have to follow a certain path because it was written for normal people. People who aren't special. People who don't have tiger blood and Adonis DNA."
I think it is very interesting how Mr. Sheen apparently sees himself, how he ‘defines’ himself. But, unfortunately, he is not alone in erroneously ‘defining’ himself.
Our culture is very conducive to encouraging us to define ourselves by what we do (our work), by our possessions, by our affiliations, by our responsibilities, by our activities, and by our accomplishments (or failures). We adopt or even strive for the identity that others may perceive from what they can observe. ‘Who I am’ is defined by ‘who’ I can convince you that I am.
And that false identity problem carries over into the body of believers as well. We can try to define ourselves in relation to others (“I’m more ‘spiritual’ than he is”). We can try to define ourselves with the right accoutrements (leather-bound red letter Bible, fish decal, Sunday-morning-everything-is-just-peachy smile). We can try to define ourselves with ‘church’ activities (bible study, choir, deacon, Sunday School teacher, short-term mission trip).
While there is nothing wrong with most of those things, when we try to define ourselves by them, we are defining ourselves with pretense. We use masks and facades to try to convince others ‘who’ we are.
We even do that with God – we try to convince Him of ‘who’ we are by what we do and how we act. It’s as if we think we can fool God into believing we are something or someone that we aren’t. We are so ‘performance based’ and so ‘appearance oriented’ that we spend our lives trying to convince God of ‘who’ we want Him to believe we are, or to make up for what we used to be.
We try to tell the Almighty God of all creation ‘who’ we are. We try to define ourselves to the One who made us and knows us better than we even know ourselves.
Not only is that a completely ridiculous thing to do, but it takes an enormous amount of time and energy. We try to work harder and harder and harder to convince Him of ‘who’ we are (or ‘who’ we want to be).
But that is not necessary. We don’t need to try to ‘define’ ourselves to God.
Do you know why? Because Jesus Christ died for the right to define who we are. It doesn’t really matter who we ‘think’ we are; it doesn’t matter who we try to be; it doesn’t matter who we feel like; it doesn’t matter who we look like; it doesn’t matter who we act like.
We were bought with a high price – Christ’s life (1 Corinthians 6:20) – and Christ has defined ‘who’ we are. There are dozens of ‘definitions’ in the Bible as to ‘who’ Christ says we are. But the key to living out those definitions is that you have to believe what He says and stop trying to define yourself to God.
He says:
• You are blameless (1 Corinthians 1:8). Not because you have been ‘good’, but because He said so.
• You are righteous and you are holy (2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:4). Because of what Jesus did for you.
• You are forgiven (Colossians 1:14). No matter what you’ve done.
• You are free from any condemnation (Romans 8:1). No matter how much you think you deserve it.
• You are redeemed (Ephesians 1:7). He paid the price for you because you couldn’t.
• You are justified (Romans 5:1). Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what HE did.
• You are a new creation (2 Corinthians (5:17). Not improved, but new. Different. His.
• You are chosen and loved; you are Christ’s friend (Colossians 3:12, John 15:15-16). Not because you chose to be, but because He chose you.
• You are protected – you are His . . . forever (John 10:28). You can’t change who He says you are and what He has given you.
• You are a child of God, a member of God’s family, and a citizen of heaven (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20). Not because you earned it or because you acted the part – because He said it was so.
• You possess the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Not from studying and learning, but from accepting.
• You are an example of His rich grace (Ephesians 2:7). His work, not yours.
• You have peace (Romans 5:1). All of your stress and anxiety and effort won’t make you at peace with God. That was settled for you.
• You have been given life, eternal life (Ephesians 2:4-5, John 6:47). Not as a reward, but a gift.
• You have been set free (Romans 8:2, John 8:32-36). Forget about trying to define yourself, you are free to be who Jesus has says you are.
• You are victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57). Your performance doesn’t matter; your accomplishments don’t matter; your willpower doesn’t matter. He won the victory and gave it to you.
That is one area where ‘who’ God says we are actually corresponds with Charlie Sheen’s definition of himself: We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it's scary. Think about that over your morning cup of coffee. You are already victorious (because of what Christ did); you don’t have to be superhuman today; you don’t have to be ‘the most spiritual man in the world’ today; you can’t lose; God’s got your back; He’s on your side; He has defined who you are and that can’t change that by what you do or don’t do today.
So take a breath. Trust God with ‘who’ He says you are.
Be who He says you are.

New Year Resolution

As we gaze out at a new year dawning, many are drawn to make ‘resolutions’ or to reflect back on the past year and contemplate what needs to change in the future. Often we are prone to concentrate on those goals that are measurable and well within our grasp. While those resolutions aren’t bad, maybe we should focus more on what God’s goals for us may be.
“We don’t know what those are”? “We can’t figure them out”? “They are too hard and aren’t achievable.” “They may inconvenience me or make me look silly.”
Before we get too far away from the Christmas images and the birth story, I think there is a great message in it for us regarding how we should let God have His way in our lives – for the new year and every year.
There are three different ‘birth pronouncement’ stories in the Bible that may seem somewhat similar, but actually show a marked difference in how we are to react to God’s plans for our lives.
First was the story of Abraham and Sarah:
God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, . . . I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17:15-17)
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:10-14, emphasis added)
And then the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah:
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to [Zechariah], standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. . . . Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. (Luke 1:11-19, emphasis added)
And finally, the story of Mary:
But [Gabriel] said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:30-35)
Do you see the difference in the responses to the pronouncement of God’s plans? Abraham and Sarah sarcastically said, “Yeah, right!” Zechariah said, “Prove it.” And Mary said, “Wow – how is that going to happen?”
God told Mary that He had plans for her that were physically impossible. In amazement, wonder, faith, and obedience, Mary responded: “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." (Luke 1:38, NLT)
When God has plans for us, it doesn’t matter if they seem difficult or outright impossible to us. It doesn’t matter if we can’t figure out how they will come about. It doesn’t matter if we know we aren’t capable of pulling it off.
God’s answer to fulfilling His plans in our lives is the same as His answer to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”. That wasn’t just a pronouncement about the ‘immaculate conception’ – it was God’s statement of His ‘modus operandi’ to accomplish His plans: His Spirit and His power.
While it is certainly true that most of us will not experience having an angel appear to us and tell us what God has planned for our lives, there are still many ways God speaks to us and gives us direction (His Word, prayer, godly friends, etc.). But we must be open to His plans, accepting of them, and obedient to them.
When we respond as Mary did (“I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true."), God will fulfill His plans in and through us as He did with Mary (The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.).
As you survey the new year approaching, what is it that you think God can’t do? What are you apprehensive about letting Him take care of? What are you afraid to yield to Him?
It may seem difficult. It may seem outrageous. It may seem impossible.
But as we are reminded in the birth pronouncement to Mary, “Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37, MSG)
Are you willing to make your New Year’s resolution to listen, accept, and obey God’s plans – whatever they may be?

Has Jesus Been Lost in Christmas?

It seems like at least one person every year (at Christmas) tells me that they are removing all decorations and ‘Christmas stuff’ from their home that does not relate directly to Jesus and His birth. Throwing out all ‘Santa Claus’ decorations, elves, tinsel, mistletoe, etc. Removing those ‘snowy scenes’ and holly branches and snowmen.
I also noticed the other day while sitting in the barber’s chair that the barber shop’s Christmas decorations consisted solely of holly leaves, Christmas lights, and candy canes. And the malls are piping in ‘Christmas’ music like White Christmas, and I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
There can be no dispute that Christmas has become over-commercialized or that the ‘accoutrements’ of the ‘holiday’ have overtaken the meaning of the holiday to many (if not most) folks. So much emphasis is placed on gift buying, going to parties, eating, and just general ‘holiday merriment’.
It would certainly appear that Jesus often gets lost.
But did you know that there is some biblical precedent for Jesus getting lost in the fun and festivities surrounding holiday celebrations? That’s right – in Luke 2:41-50 is the story of Mary and Joseph ‘losing’ Jesus during the Passover celebration and not discovering that He was missing for a whole day. Mary and Joseph weren’t terrible parents for losing Jesus. They just got so caught up in the celebrations, catching up with old friends and relatives, and holiday coming-and-going that they lost sight of Jesus. And they left him behind.
Hmmm.
So maybe it’s not just Santa Claus that makes us lose sight of Jesus. Maybe snowmen aren’t the main culprit, either. Perhaps mounds of garland and mistletoe aren’t what is covering up and hiding Jesus.
Perhaps – just maybe – Jesus gets lost because we lose sight of Him. He doesn’t wander away from us, we leave Him behind.
I don’t think it’s a matter of focusing on other things. I think it’s a matter of losing focus on Him. We don’t have to focus on Santa Claus to lose our focus on Jesus. And we don’t have to remove any and all ‘non-Jesus’ Christmas decorations to keep focused on Jesus.
We know that Christmas isn’t about exchanging gifts, Christmas trees, figgy pudding, sleigh bells, and the North Pole. It’s not about egg nog, chestnuts roasting, my two front teeth, or toys drives for orphans.
Christmas is about a miracle. No - it’s about THE Miracle.
When we truly understand the miracle of Christmas, we can use and enjoy all of those cultural ‘holiday’ decorations, songs, and foods to point us back to Jesus. They can be used to remind us of ‘Christmas’ and ‘Christmas’ should always remind us to focus on the Miracle of Christmas.
The miracle of Christmas is not that a baby was born to a virgin. It’s not about the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. It’s not about ‘peace’ and ‘goodwill’ and happiness and joy.
The miracle of Christmas is that the Almighty, perfect, holy, pre-existent God and Creator of all things was willing – no, not just willing, but desirous of reaching out to His creation. And not just reaching out but actually taking on the form of a human being. And to take on that lowly human form He temporarily stepped away from His rightful throne of majesty, honor, and preeminence.
God became a baby.
That is so totally beyond the realm of possibility that it could be nothing other than a miracle.
The Miracle.
It doesn’t really bother me if you get reminded of that miracle by Santa Claus figurines, inflatable reindeer in your front yard, stockings on your fireplace mantle, erroneous and/or unbiblical Nativity scenes, or Elvis singing I’ll Have a Blue Christmas. (I have a hard time seeing how a song like Santa Baby can get you re-focused on the miracle of the Incarnation, but maybe that works for you.)
While acknowledging that it is not the accurate etymology of the word ‘Christmas’, I find it helpful to think of ‘Christmas’ as the ‘Christ Miracle’. So, whatever prompts me to think ‘Christmas’, I try to remind myself to think of the ‘Christ Miracle’.
And that helps me keep from losing Jesus.
But even when I do lose sight of Him, I know He is still with me. He will never leave me.
That’s a continuation of the Christmas Miracle.
And they will call His name Immanuel – which means God with us. (Matthew 1:23)

Patience At Christmas

Are you a ‘patient’ person? And what do we really mean when say someone has ‘patience’?
Don’t we usually just assume ‘patience’ has to do with how someone ‘bears up’ under an unpleasant circumstance? You know - it takes ‘patience’ to pleasantly wait in line at the checkout at Walmart; it takes ‘patience’ not to sit on your horn in a traffic jam that is keeping you from getting to work on time; it takes ‘patience’ not to rudely slam the phone down on the telemarketer calling during dinner.
The following are some definitions of ‘patience’ I found: good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence; the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties; the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint; calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay.
Do you see how much we place the emphasis of ‘patience’ on enduring ‘negative’ things - things that would cause an ‘impatient’ person to lose control, get angry, become annoyed, etc.? But there are many areas where ‘patience’ is required to obtain something good, or to await the arrival of something good, or to allow something to come fully into fruition.
As the Christmas holidays are upon us, I see so many areas where our ‘patience’ gets tested. There are lines and crowds of people everywhere – not just at malls, but on the roads, in the grocery stores, etc. Everyone is in such a hurry and our lives become so hectic. We have children who are barely able to wait for Christmas to arrive. Our anticipation of seeing loved ones builds and builds. We look toward gatherings with family and friends. And still others may have a difficult time not ‘loosing it’ because loved ones won’t be there this year.
So much ‘patience’ is required to make it through the holidays. But I’ve been thinking about how much the whole concept of Christmas epitomizes ‘patience’. Let me explain.
All the way back to the Garden of Eden, man has been inventing ways to go his own way, turn his back on God, disregard the ‘perfect plan’ that had been envisioned. And all the way back to the Garden of Eden, God has had His mind on the plan to reconcile man to Himself.
Yet, in His perfect patience, God revealed only glimpses of His plan through generations and generations of His people. Through the patriarchs, the judges, the kings, the exiles and captivities, He patiently continued to reveal portions of what He had planned – hints of the glorious plan of salvation He had conceived.
But the time wasn’t yet perfect.
So He waited.
Patiently.
And then the time arrived. And the Plan conceived in eternities past was born.
But still – patience.
The glorious majesty of Almighty God was wrapped inside the flesh of little baby. And He patiently endured the application of time, His environment, and physical needs to the body He occupied. He patiently waited 30 years before even starting to spread His message of redemption to those to whom He came. In perfect patience He served, taught, healed, touched, and loved. Knowing the depth and richness of the grace and mercy that was to come, He patiently tolerated, turned the other cheek, endured, and bled.
So, in my mind’s eye, when I see that Infant in the manger, I’m awestruck with the thought of the patience that was demonstrated. Knowing the plan of redemption that was unfolding, the God Child waited patiently until the time was perfect.
And when I see the God Man hanging on the cross, I’m overwhelmed with the thought of Him patiently enduring thousands of years of rebellion by His creation, culminating in the prolonged torture and brutal murder of the body He occupied.
Patience. Isn’t that what Christmas is really all about?
God patiently endured us. And He patiently allowed the unfolding of His perfect plan to restore us to Himself. He didn’t rush it. He never got behind schedule.
God had a plan. A perfect plan.
He patiently saw it through.
For a child has been born - for us! The gift of a son - for us! He'll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. (Isaiah 9:6, MSG)
I don’t think that I’ll be as quick to pat myself on the back next time I think I’m being ‘patient’ by pleasantly smiling at the lady in front of me who is fumbling with her keys in the checkout line when she should be taking her change and receipt and moving on.
O LORD, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.
Isaiah 25:1, NLT

The Main Thing

Many years ago I was a member of the National Rifle Association – the NRA. The primary reason I joined was to get the subscription to one of their monthly publications, American Hunter. Although I put the NRA membership sticker on my car, I wasn’t particularly a huge ‘supporter’ of all that the NRA stood for (I’m not sure I even knew what the NRA stood for at that time).
I eventually ended up not renewing my membership because of the NRA’s constant harping about the 2nd Amendment and the need to protect the rights guaranteed by it. (I wanted more information about guns and shooting stuff.) At the time, I didn’t see any real infringements on my gun ownership rights, etc. and it seemed like the NRA was just a bunch of ‘alarmists’ turning every discussion or article into something about the 2nd Amendment.
But as I’ve learned a thing or two in life (in other words, ‘gotten older’), I have developed a whole new appreciation for the way the NRA conducts its business and how it approaches its purpose.
Please understand: it is not my goal to take a political position one way or the other or to affirm the goals of the NRA or convince you of the legitimacy of their positions. My point is not about ‘gun rights’. Instead, what I have grown to appreciate about the NRA is the fact that they are single minded in keeping their main thing the main thing.
The NRA seems to understand (better than most people or organizations) that if you give in a little here or don’t hold fast to your beliefs there, you end up on a slippery slope and soon find yourself in a position of wondering how in the world you got where you are. The NRA seems to understand that the time is now and the line is already drawn in the sand. They remain urgently steadfast in keeping focused on their main thing.
There are tons of other organizations (including churches) that started out with a particular purpose in mind and then got distracted or watered down to the point that they lost their relevance, at least with regard to their initial founding. Some get caught up in ‘mass appeal’, or politics, or endorsements and soon lose sight of what they were really all about. They may try to be all things to all people and out of fear of stepping on someone’s toes, they soon stand for nothing and they lose all relevance.
Likewise, individual believers can lose relevance and no longer be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ when they make little concessions along the way and fail to keep the main thing the main thing. We often stress the concept of ‘lifestyle evangelism’, yet our lives are seldom noticeably different from those of nonbelievers all around us. Why? Because our lack of focus on keeping the main thing the main thing has us sliding down that slippery slope.
We can sometimes end up somewhere that we never would have consciously chosen to be because we made little decisions (or concessions) that set our course in motion. We failed to maintain barriers, we left options open that shouldn’t have been, we didn’t stand firm or stand up to opposition, we lost focus. Too many things got in the way of the main thing.
So, what is ‘the main thing’? Is it ‘the Gospel message’? Is it serving? Is it caring for orphans and widows? Is it evangelizing? Is it giving?
Well, I think that in any group of Christ followers, each person’s answer is going to tilt toward what passions God has placed in their heart. I have a friend who thinks everyone should be in the mission field; another thinks everyone should participate in at least seven Bible studies per week; another volunteers every possible minute at the homeless shelter and is convinced you should too.
While all of those are good things and are vital, we are not all gifted in the same ways. (Which is not an excuse – if your gift is ‘encouragement’, you should still evangelize; if your gift is ‘evangelism’, you should still give.)
But, back to the NRA – they do what they do because they stay focused on why they were formed in the first place. They keep their main thing the main thing.
For followers of Christ, I believe that the main thing – the reason we were formed in the first place – is stated by Christ Himself in Matthew 22:37: ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
When we stay focused on that, when we run all of our life experiences through that filter, when we are urgently steadfast to that ‘main thing’, we can make a difference in the world. You see, when that is the ‘main thing’, other things can’t be. When that is the ‘main thing’, we don’t have divided loyalties. When that is the ‘main thing’, we don’t get distracted, led astray, watered down, or become irrelevant and inconsequential.
Is that the ‘main thing’ for you? Or is that just ‘another’ thing?
When you make that the ‘main thing’, and when you keep the main thing the main thing, it makes all of the difference in the world.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
Psalm 73:25, NLT (emphasis added)

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

A few years ago I added a ‘zip line’ to our jungle gym ‘fort’ which is set up in the backyard. It starts on the top level, about ten feet off the ground, and descends to a tree about 100 feet away.
Because our son recently turned 18, he now has little use for the jungle gym, zip line, trampoline, and swing set. He is too ‘big’ and too ‘cool’ for such child’s play.
However, our 11-year old daughter can spend hours a day enjoying them. While we avoid the term ‘tom boy’, our daughter is very active, enjoys more ‘physical’ activities, and really pushes the envelope of ‘thrills’ when it comes to trying to have fun.
There are good reasons that one of her primary nicknames in our household is ‘Monkey’. Yet she is fairly ‘safe’ with her escapades: she makes sure she has good grip on the zip line before riding it upside-down and backwards; she positions herself with plenty of room on the non-net-enclosed-trampoline before attempting a particular maneuver; and she checks the underside of the jungle gym for yellow jacket nests before climbing all over it.
Due to our daughter’s inclinations on using our backyard ‘toys’, little thought has been given to ‘safety measures’ or ‘warnings’ or even adult supervision most of the time. But everyone’s children are not like our little monkey.
This realization became clear on a recent Saturday evening when we had some friends over to visit. While I didn’t see exactly what happened, it appears that a friend’s daughter (a more indoor-oriented ‘girlie-girl’) attempted to ride the zip line but ended up doing a face plant from the upper level of the jungle gym.
After assuring my attorney friend of my ‘judgment proof’ status, we set about to cleaning up his daughter’s bloody face, comforting her, and forcing everyone to sign and notarize waivers of liability.
But the whole episode made me think about how we hadn’t really considered the predispositions of other children who may want to enjoy our backyard toys - We had those toys set up with only our daughter’s strengths in mind. And that lack of consideration resulted in injury.
Nevertheless, this situation didn’t cause me to go out and install safety nets and warning labels on the toys nor reconsider letting other children play on them. Instead, it gave me a new perspective on what Paul was discussing in Romans 14.
In that chapter, Paul is discussing ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ Christians and how they approach eating certain meats or observing certain ‘holy’ days. The chapter isn’t discussing ‘non-negotiables’ like stealing, adultery, murder, etc. Rather, the issue is how various believers handle their freedom in Christ when dealing with matters that are not specifically addressed in the Bible.
We normally cite Romans 14 when the subject comes up about drinking, or smoking, or what holidays to observe. But I don’t think it is in any way so limited.
In fact, I believe that the main take-away from Chapter 14 is in verse 13, which states: Forget about deciding what's right for each other. Here's what you need to be concerned about: that you don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. (MSG)
That tells me that I should never use my ‘freedom in Christ’ when its exercise would ‘make life more difficult’ for another believer who is not as comfortable with such ‘freedom’ as I may be. This is not to say that we are to live our lives for the approval of men. On the contrary, we live and die to honor Christ. (Romans 14:8) But, with regard to fellow believers, we must live with the realization that our actions may have an impact on them, potentially making their ‘walk’ more difficult.
It is easy to mention an example like not drinking in public to avoid causing doubts/questions in the mind of a ‘weaker’ brother, but there are many other instances where our ‘freedoms’ can act as ‘hindrances’ to those who may observe our actions or be impacted by them. But the question to answer is, “Which brings glory to God – to exercise my freedom and potentially place an obstacle or stumbling block in another’s path, or to refrain and perhaps build up another believer?”
I am not going to list a bunch of situations for us to be aware of and tell you how you should approach each one. This is not about ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’. Such discussions are for those ‘weak’ brothers who aren’t as comfortable with their freedom in Christ (they may ‘need’ rules and may wonder why you don’t follow them). Instead, we must just be aware that other believers are watching us and we need to exercise our ‘freedoms’ with them in mind.
Who is ‘weak’ and who is ‘strong’, which position is ‘right’ and which is ‘wrong’ – those arguments are not too relevant in this context. What is relevant is bringing glory to God.
By assuming that all of the kids who played on our backyard toys would be as agile, experienced, and strong as my daughter, I failed to see that others could be at a different level. Someone’s physical well-being could have been in jeopardy with something we didn’t consider to be particularly risky.
And someone got hurt.
That could have been avoided without ruining anyone’s fun. It just would have required a little consideration beforehand.
And spiritual matters are much more important than physical ones.
For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink,
but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God,
and others will approve of you, too.
So then, let us aim for harmony in the church
and try to build each other up.
(Romans 14:17-19, NLT)
Don’t let your freedom in Christ be a hindrance to or cause difficulty for someone else today.

Lions and Tigers and Cats, Oh My!

Although I have owned a couple of them over the years, I’ve never been much of a ‘cat person’. Nonetheless, I have to admit that they are pretty amazing critters.
And I’m not talking about just those little ‘tabbies’ or ‘Persians’ or ‘Siamese’ cats; the big, wild cats have the same characteristics and capabilities as those ‘precious’ little house cats. Whether they are jumping incredible heights, stalking in total silence, or patiently waiting to pounce . . . cats are truly amazing.
When you consider all that those little house cats can do and then extrapolate it out with increasing size and strength to bobcats, cougars, jaguars, leopards, lions, and tigers – not only are cats amazing, they are very scary, too!
This was brought home to me a few years ago when I was visiting with some folks who were renting some family property out in Winnsboro. These folks were ‘rescuing’ tigers from various animal parks and they had some wire enclosures built to hold about five or six tigers.
One particular tiger was in an area about ten feet square and he was cooling himself by laying in a ‘kiddie’ swimming pool that was on the opposite side of the enclosure from where I was standing (on the outside, mind you!). I was just standing there mesmerized by him and pretty much minding my own business. And then . . .
With no warning whatsoever, that tiger leapt out of the water and all of the way across the enclosure. In the blink of an eye, he was ‘standing’ over me with his front paws resting against the enclosure about two feet over my head and his hot breath panting against my forehead while drool was dripping off his enormous fangs.
Whether I was soaking wet from all of the water that was on the tiger when he pounced or because I had wet myself in fear, it was painfully obvious that without the protection of the enclosure I would have been dead. And I would have been dead before I could have even taken my hands out of my pockets.
You are probably very familiar with the following verse: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8, NIV) When hearing that verse quoted, I’ve always had an image in my mind of those ‘Lions of Tsavo’, which have been immortalized in various books and movies (most recently the 1996 movie, The Ghosts and the Darkness).
As best that I can recall about the Tsavo lions, two male lions put the construction of an entire railroad line in East Africa on hold because they were stalking around the camps and the workers, picking off people one by one. Over a nine-month period, those two lions killed 135 people – obviously more than they would have needed just for food.
So, when I hear 1 Peter 5:8, I have envisioned those Tsavo lions stalking around the camp, . . . growling . . . sometimes roaring. I see the shadow of a prowling lion silhouetted on the canvas of a tent as workers huddle in fear inside. I see the faint outline of lion crouching behind a scraggly bush. I imagine people on constant watch of a known danger that lurks ‘out there’. I hear a distant roar and a blood-curdling scream.
But I’m not sure that my past visualization of what 1 Peter 5:8 is saying was all that accurate. I recently read The Message version of that passage and it says: Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up.
Coupling that translation with my experience with the tiger makes a lot more sense to me and I think is more appropriate in context. You see, the devil seldom announces his presence and he seldom makes his intentions known. There would be little need to warn us to “be self-controlled” or be alert” if we were well-aware of the devil’s presence around us – we would naturally be ‘on guard’.
But when we are going about our day-to-day, ordinary lives and become comfortable and lazy and are no longer alert – he pounces. We may start off ‘watching’ and being ‘alert’, but as time goes by with nothing happening and no red dude with a pointy tail jumping out, we lose focus and get careless.
But he doesn’t.
I once watched an ordinary house cat out in a field for about 45 minutes. I was convinced he was just sleeping, although in a rather odd position. Then, in a flash, he pounced. He knew that if he waited long enough, the mole that was underground would assume all was safe since the ground wasn’t vibrating and nothing had moved in a long time.
That was the mole’s last assumption.
Like a cat of any size, Satan is an amazing, patient, relentless, and efficient predator. And he uses the element of ‘surprise’ with astonishing results.
Are you waiting to hear Satan’s ‘roaring’ and see evidence of his ‘prowling around’ to take the necessary steps to protect yourself - to be ‘on guard’? I know from personal experience that if you wait for the first sign of trouble, you could be in his clutches before you know what hit you.
Or are you going to be on the alert at all times? Are you going to acknowledge that he is always out there - . . . Prowling . . . Stalking . . . Waiting.
He is going to be ready. Are you?

Be serious and keep watch; the Evil One, who is against you, goes about like a lion with open mouth in search of food; Do not give way to him but be strong in your faith (1 Peter 5:8-9(a), BBE)

Will You Take Pascal's Wager?

Even those of us who may not do a very good job of it acknowledge that it is wise to plan ahead for our financial future. We know there will be a time when our earning capacity will be diminished or gone, we know there will be a time when large amounts of money will be needed for our children’s education, we know there are many reasons to plan ahead for all kinds of various circumstances.
Wisdom would dictate that we consider those ‘knowns’ about our future as we live our lives today. Rather than being foolish and betting our financial futures on winning the lottery, we try to ‘hedge out bets’ and invest for the future.
I recently received an email that reminded me of another argument dealing with ‘hedging our bets’ in planning for our future. This argument deals with believing in the existence of God, and it was put forth by the 17th century French mathematician and scientist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). It is called ‘Pascal’s Wager’.
As somewhat of a philosopher, Pascal did not believe it was possible to prove the existence of God (despite what Romans 1:20 says). But he believed it was much more reasonable and logical to believe in God than to not believe in God. (And he was referring to the belief in the ‘Christian God’, not just ‘a god’ or ‘Allah’, etc.)
The argument of Pascal’s Wager went something like:
1. God either exists or he doesn’t exist (the only two options).
2. If God exists and you believe in him, your eternal rewards will be great.
3. If God exists and you don’t believe in him, your eternal damnation will be great.
4. If God does not exist yet you believe in God, you have not lost anything.
5. If God does not exist and you didn’t believe in him, you gain nothing.
Thus, from a self-preservation standpoint alone, it is only logical to believe in God. God has to either exist or not exist. If God doesn’t exist, belief in him (or not) doesn’t really have any consequences. However, if God does exist, whether or not you believe in Him is of utmost importance.
So, even if someone thinks the likelihood that God exists is small, they have much more to gain by believing in him than could possibly be lost by not. Logic would therefore dictate that one believe in God.
Philosophy was never my strong suit as I am much more of a concrete thinker. And I don’t think anyone can use Pascal’s Wager to convince a non-believer to believe in God. But, I do think that Pascal’s Wager is a great tool to use to open up dialogue with those non-believers in our lives who don’t think it reasonable to believe in the existence of our God.
For someone to bet their financial future on the lottery, their odds of winning are one in 25,827,165. But, under Pascal’s Wager, regardless of the ‘probability’ someone attributes to God’s existence, the odds of whether or not God exists are still 50:50 – He either exists or He doesn’t. If He does exist, the odds are 100% that one will go to heaven by believing and 100% that one will go to hell by not believing.
The odds would seem to require that one seriously consider God’s existence.
Maybe Pascal’s Wager can open up some interesting conversations with your non-believing friends.
And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. (1 Peter 3:15-16, NLT)

My River Guide

On a recent family vacation, we were given the opportunity to go ‘white water rafting’. It sounded like great fun, so we signed up and got ready to go.

At the orientation session, it became frighteningly obvious that this wasn’t the same as floating down the Guadalupe River on an inner tube. We were given instructions on what to do if/when the raft overturned, how to avoid being caught under rocks if/when we fell into the river, how to catch the life rope if/when we fell out of the boat, how to respond when the raft started to overturn, etc. It was almost as scary as listening to all of the side effects of the prescription drugs advertised on TV. We were also told about the water gear and wet suits that would be available to help us survive the extremely cold water (on the assumption that we would end up IN the water).

When we arrived at the river, we were given life vests and helmets that had to be worn at all times! Our ‘guide’ then gave urgent instructions about how and when to paddle and how and when to shift from one side of the raft to the other to prevent it from capsizing.

We had signed up for a fun vacation activity, but it was turning into an anxiety-inducing, life-or-death adventure.

The first couple of miles of the river were not too scary and I could take in the beautiful scenery and get more comfortable with my decision to jeopardize my family’s well-being. Then I could hear the rumbling - growing louder and louder. Soon the canyon walls were closing in on us and there seemed to be more rocks than water up ahead of us.

As we made it through one set of rapids and then another and then another, my fears subsided and I began to really enjoy the trip. In fact, despite the dangers and our vulnerability, I began to feel very safe and secure. The main reason I began to relax on the trip was the obvious expertise of our guide. He was really good (even as compared to the guides on the other rafts with us).

Sometimes we would approach a set of rapids and begin drifting sideways towards the rocks. At the last second our guide would flick his oars this way or that and we’d straighten up and sail right through the rapids with ease and barely a splash. When the folks sitting in the front of the raft would get soaked in one set of rapids, he’d maneuver us around so that we’d go through the next set of rapids backwards and we’d get soaked in the back of the boat (to my daughter’s delight).

When it looked like we wouldn’t make it around a particular rock, he would call out for us to paddle “two strokes forward”, or maybe “one stroke backwards”. And whoosh, right through the gap and around the rocks.

His timing was impeccable; his strength, impressive; his skills, honed; his demeanor, calm and collected. He knew where the currents were and he knew what was around the next bend in the river. He was in control of the raft and knew where he wanted to go.

At the end of our rafting trip, it struck me how similar this experience was to navigating the waters of my daily life.

For example, I am often warned of all the dangers and risks that are out there. I take precautions and try everything possible to protect myself from what I perceive as threats to my safe and secure lifestyle. But when I decided to call Jesus my ‘Guide’, didn’t I realize that sometimes I would have to get out of the boat? Didn’t Peter show us that we can’t walk on water from the security of the boat?

Also, as with the raft, God has gifted me with a paddle (or paddles) to help get where He wants me to go and do what He wants me to do. I usually want to start paddling feverishly on my own to direct things where I think is best. But do I really even know what is best? I don’t see things from the same perspective that my Guide does – I don’t have His foresight, strength, or experience. I do much better when I wait for His commands of when and how to use my paddle.

And those ‘troubled waters’ – I want to avoid them completely. I do everything I can to navigate around them or minimize time spent there. I’ll try to position myself a certain way when I see trouble up ahead, which could be the worst possible move. But God uses those rough spots like my river guide – when He is in control of the boat, those ‘trouble waters’ are ‘tools’ to propel me on toward the goals He has in mind.

Our river guide measured success by getting everyone on board to the final destination. That is also what God has in mind. Sometimes our trip ends in one of those dark canyons, sometimes the canyon opens up into a sun-drenched meadow with snow-capped mountains in the background. But we can relax and enjoy the ride when we let Him be in control. And we can trust that we’ll get where He wants us to go. And the more we trust Him to be in control, the more our trust is confirmed.

He doesn’t promise we won’t get wet. He doesn’t promise a smooth ride. But He also doesn’t leave us in the boat all alone.

He knows the way. He is The Way. And He is good. All the time.

Our river guide sat right in front of me in our raft. On the back of his life vest, he had written his name and ‘Galatians 2:20’, which reads:

Christ's life showed me how [to be God’s man], and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (MSG)

Holy Is As Holy Does

It sure is easy to get bogged down while reading through the book of Leviticus! There are so many rules, prohibitions, sacrifices. I have the tendency to jump right over all these ‘laws’ and move along since, after all, ‘we’re not under the Law’, right?
Still, there is so much detail in there about what to do and what not to do; about what to do if you did something you weren’t supposed to do; about how to ‘atone’ for doing something you weren’t supposed to do; about how to consecrate yourself to do other things, etc.
All those rules and details must be in there for a good reason. But why?
At one point, I determined that all of those laws and regulations were there to show people how to ‘become holy.’ After all, a phrase very similar to “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy” is repeated almost verbatim many, many times throughout Leviticus (11:44, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, etc.) and the rest of the Bible.
But then I noticed a slight variation to that phrase when reading through chapter 20. In verse 7, the above phrase is repeated, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy”. But then in verse 8, we are told: Keep all my laws and obey them, for I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Then something ‘clicked’ and started to make a bit more sense to me, a New Testament believer. I realized that all of those ‘laws’ and ‘sacraments’ weren’t there to show anyone how to become ‘holy’. Rather, they were there to show God’s people - those He had set apart and He had made ‘holy’ – how they should be acting since He had already made them ‘holy’.
God chose the people and set them apart, He ‘sanctified’ them – made them ‘holy’. And since they were His ‘set apart’ or ‘holy’ people, they should be acting differently than all of the other people in the cultures around them.
God didn’t want there to be any confusion about how His people should be acting differently than those around them, so He went to great lengths to specify many, many ways to ‘separate’ themselves from the culture – to show that they were ‘holy’. Thus flowed all of the very detailed laws dealing with what and what not to eat, ‘uncleanliness’, how to sacrifice particular animals for specific purposes, sexual relations, a version of ‘tort reform’, etc.
While we want to defiantly claim that we are not ‘under the Law’, there is no denying that even New Testament believers are commanded to ‘be holy’ (1 Peter 1:15-16). And just like the Israelites following Moses were made ‘holy’ by God (Leviticus 20:8, above), not by their actions, we are made ‘holy’ by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:10), not by anything we could ever do.
So, because we are made ‘holy’, we must then live as ‘holy’ people – people set apart as God’s own. God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. (I Thessalonians 4:7, NLT) You ought to live holy and godly lives (2 Peter 3:11(b)).
The Israelites were called to stand out from the cultures around them (I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from all other people (Leviticus 20:24)). So, they weren’t to sacrifice their children, marry their in-laws, harvest every single grain of wheat, mistreat their slaves, eat certain foods, etc. They were called to be ‘holy’ people who stood out like sore thumbs among the cultures around them.
And that’s what we are supposed to do and to be as well.
We live in a much different world, a much different culture. But we have still been made ‘holy’. We are still called to ‘be holy’ and to stand out from the culture.
How do we do that? What does that look like?
Well, a good starting place is to observe what is going on in the culture around us. Watch movies, read the paper, listen to the radio. It soon becomes painfully obvious what ‘the world’ values, what ‘the world’ is chasing after, how ‘the world’ acts toward one another.
So - . . .
Act differently.
Stand out.
Be ‘set apart’.
Be holy.
Just remember: Actions don’t make you holy. God already made you holy. Since you are holy, live that way.
If you aren’t standing out like a sore thumb in today’s culture, you are probably not living out God’s command to ‘be holy’. Is it more important to you to ‘fit in’ or to ‘be holy’?

Have You Created A Golden Calf?

I was reading a very familiar story today in Exodus 32, where the Israelites fashioned a golden calf to worship while Moses was ‘delayed’ coming down the mountain. I’ve often read that with the assumption that the Israelites were attributing their salvation from Egypt to some ‘mad-made’ god. But I believe they were, instead, just trying to make an image of THE God that saved them. So they resorted to making a golden image of that ‘god’, similar to what other cultures around them worshipped.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." (Exodus 32:1-5)
It is amazing to me how quickly the people forgot God’s commands and how constantly they needed to be reminded that God is real and actual even when not visible. He had been leading them by a pillar of cloud or of fire; He had visibly descended upon the mountain in a cloud; He had audibly spoken to the people (The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Exodus 19:9, emphasis added)
Yet, they wanted a visible, touchable ‘god’ to lead them.
That reminds me of a statement by the philosopher Voltaire: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
Even though the Israelites had experienced and witnessed the existence of God, they felt the need to ‘re-invent’ Him in an image that was more tangible. And we are no less guilty of that, even if we don’t fashion golden calves. Instead, we tend to reflect another of Voltaire’s philosophies: “If God made us in his image, we have certainly returned the compliment.”
Ouch!
No, we haven’t created golden calves, but we do tend to make God into a God that we can get our minds around. We turn God into a much better version of us. He is more loving than we are, more powerful than we are, holier than we are – We’ve made Him the ‘super-sized’, turbo-charged version of us.
Instead of accepting a God that can’t even be imagined, we try to imagine a God that can be accepted.
That is really no better than making a golden calf as the image of our omniscient, all powerful, eternal, perfect, indescribable God.
But it doesn’t work.
He is too big; He is too much; He is too . . . ‘other’.
There is just no way we can understand, comprehend, explain, or grasp what and Who God really is.
Yet that same incomprehensible, uncontainable, indescribable, transcendent, awesome God has reached out to us. He has reached out to us because – for some unimaginable reason – He wants to have a relationship with us.
He has done everything necessary to make that possible. We can try to figure that out; we can dilute and distort His image into something understandable; we can try to make ourselves ‘worthy’ of His affections.
Or - we can embrace the offer and step into the eternal.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. (1 John 4:13-16)

Game Changer

As a young boy, I thought Jerry West was probably the best basketball player ever. He could shoot well, played great defense, was a good ball handler, made great passes, etc. Other players that came along that I thought also really played the game the way James Naismith intended included Walt Frazier, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson.
Perhaps because I find myself rather ‘height challenged’, I have never been particularly impressed with those players who were supposedly ‘great’ based solely on the fact that they were so much taller/bigger than everyone else (i.e., Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal). I have always liked ‘complete’ players that played all aspects of the game well.
Then along came a guy who changed the way basketball had always been played - Michael Jordan. Many teams never ‘sold out’ their games unless/until Michael Jordan came to play against the home team. He didn’t just take basketball to a different level, he took it in a different direction.
Nothing against players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, but the way they play was made possible by what Michael Jordan did. He changed the game.
* * * * * *
While many of us may assume that someone’s moldy bread was the impetus for the ‘accidental’ discovery of penicillin, it was actually discovered by a bacteriologist who was actively seeking a chemical that could kill bacteria in humans without harming their bodies. The manner in which Alexander Fleming determined (in 1928) that it was the Penicillium mold which would effectively kill bacteria was somewhat ‘accidental’, but not completely fortuitous. Nevertheless, his discovery eventually led to the development of the ‘wonder drug’ that definitely ‘changed the game’.
* * * * * *
There was a time when only rich people could afford books because each one was painstakingly copied by hand. Then along came movable type and the Gutenberg Press. Soon hundreds, then thousands, then millions of books could be printed. Education, communication, information, sharing ideas – such things were no longer restricted to only the financial, cultural, or powerful elite. A whole new world was opened up and an ‘information explosion’ took place. Perhaps no other invention has so changed the game.
* * * * * *
Although we should do so all year, Easter ought to prompt us to focus intently on what was truly the ultimate ‘game changer’ – the cross.
While the cross was just a simple wooden structure, it changed more than all of the other events, actions, and inventions of all time combined together.
Because of the cross, all of the rules of the game changed. There was no longer a need for ‘keeping score’. We were freed to play the game the way each of us were uniquely designed to play. We were no longer bound by our physical limitations or talents, but we were empowered and gifted.
Because of the cross, not only could people be perfectly healed of physical, emotional, or psychological ailments, but ‘death’ itself was eradicated. The cross provided the cure for the virus of sin and the sickness of self.
Because of the cross, direct and personal communication with the Creator of the Universe was made possible. The cross tore down the barriers and restrictions that prevented poor, depraved, inherently wicked people from relating one-on-one with a wholly holy God.
The cross was simple, yet capable of infinite possibilities.
The cross was rough, yet it smoothed the way.
The cross was painful, yet it took away our hurts.
The cross was heavy, yet it removed the weight we carried.
The cross bore a curse, yet it blessed and made pure.
The cross stood only a few feet tall, yet it reached to heaven.
The cross signified an end, yet it is a new beginning.
The cross was foolishness, yet it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 17:18).
The cross was defeat, yet it is victory.
The cross was humiliating, yet it brought glory.
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. (Colossians 1:19-22, NLT)
Now that’s what I call a game changer!

Looking Toward Easter

I’ve got a confession to make: I’m not very good at confessing.
It’s not really that I’m afraid of confession or that I am hesitant to agree with God that I have slipped up and fallen short of the mark. No, I’ll freely admit that I regularly sin against God with the things I do and the things I don’t do which I should.
Yet, I still do not incorporate much confession in my regular attempts to communicate with God.
I understand the beauty and wonder of 1 John 1:9: [I]f we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
I understand the blessings that flow from confessing my sins: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)
I understand (and have experienced) the need for confession. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:3-4)
And I understand that we have to take responsibility – ownership – for our actions (and inactions). That’s part of “how” to confess, as David showed us in Psalm 32: “I acknowledged my sin,” “I did not cover up my iniquity,” “I will confess my transgressions,” and “You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
But what about “why”? Why should I need to “confess” what God already knows? I mean, “O.K., ‘my bad’ – sorry. I’ll try to do better.” Isn’t an apology enough? Why the need for confession?
Well, I’ve started to think that perhaps Isaiah 53 answers that question. That chapter, in prophesying the sacrifice Jesus would have to make, is usually read to say that Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world. Through the prophet’s use of the pronouns in Isaiah 53 (“our,” “us,” “we”), we often view Jesus’ death as the atoning sacrifice for the cumulative sins of the entire human race.
But I don’t think that is a correct interpretation. You see, Jesus died for my sins. And He died for your sins. But He didn’t die for our sins. He didn’t endure the cross to atone for all of the sins ever to be committed; No, He was led to the altar for each individual transgression that I would ever commit which would otherwise separate me eternally from God – each one.
So, what Isaiah 53 actually says is:
* Surely he took up my infirmities
* He carried my sorrows
* He was pierced for my transgressions
* He was crushed for my iniquities
* The punishment that brought me peace was upon him
* By his wounds I am healed
Why do we need to confess our sins to God? Because with each act we commit or omit, a thunderous KA THUNK rings out as a huge mallet bangs down on the nails attaching our precious Savior to the cross. A lustful thought – KA THUNK! Looking away from another in need – KA THUNK! That inappropriate deduction on our tax return – KA THUNK! A hurtful remark, a dishonest response, an ignored prompting – Ka thunk! KA THUNK! KA THUNK!
God surely knows who is to blame for His Son’s death - me. And any act (no matter how small) that separates me from fellowship with God is enough to be the sole cause of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.
When I acknowledge and confess my guilt for each heinous act which pounds those nails into His hands, He is faithful to forgive me and restore me to fellowship with Him.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’m ready to start fess’n up.

The Answer

Isn’t it frustrating how so often we don’t get the answers we seek in the manner or timing we seek from God? This is especially true for me when I’m seeking answers for a particular decision I need to make (as opposed to prayers for deliverance, etc. – which is another issue altogether of things not getting done in my way and my timing).
For example, I was recently presented an opportunity that seemed like something I should pursue. I consulted godly friends for advice. I prayed. I sought counsel from His Word.
Yet, when I gazed into my bowl of Alpha-Bits cereal, the answer didn’t supernaturally float to the center of my bowl. And I didn’t have a crystal-clear vision of an angel telling me just what I should do. And my dog wasn’t suddenly able to speak and provide me with guidance (worthless mutt!).
So – WHERE’S MY ANSWER?!?
I discovered that my ‘Answer’ is right where He has always been. And I discovered that seeking the Answer supersedes seeking all of those answers.
The following verse was brought to my attention: The Lord will work out his plans for my life - for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. (Psalm 138:8, NLT) And that made me realize that regardless of the magnitude I may place on any particular decision I need to make, God will work out His plans. But when I place so much emphasis on the ‘decision’ and receiving ‘answers’, I end up making THAT my focus rather keeping God as my focus.
Obviously, a decision still has to be made. But, the pressure of it being the absolute right decision is removed when we keep God as our focus and trust the results to Him.
That is not to minimize the need to: (1) Pray; (2) Read His Word; and (3) Seek godly counsel. But when the answer doesn’t hit you right between the eyes, keep your eyes focused right on the real Answer. Submit to God. . . Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8, NET)
You may make a wrong decision now and then even after going through steps (1) to (3), above. But that doesn’t mean God isn’t with you. Always remember: The Lord will work out his plans for YOUR life - for His faithful love endures forever.

An Olympic Judge

O.K., it’s time for me to launch into my biennial ‘Olympic diatribe’ that my friends and family have grown so accustomed to hearing. While it probably stems from my general dislike of all of the ‘frou-frou’, sissified prancing around called ‘figure skating’ in the Winter Olympics and ‘gymnastics’ in the Summer Games, my aim is really focused on one thing: remove all events that cannot be objectively measured.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t knock the athletic abilities, talents, or training that goes into all of those various events that have ‘judges’; I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for what those athletes can accomplish. But, if you can’t determine the winner solely on speed, distance, goals scored, accuracy, etc. – it shouldn’t be an Olympic sport. When judges start applying their opinions as to ‘style’, ‘execution’, etc., you are really getting into ‘artistic expression’ rather than ‘athletic competition’. At least that’s my opinion.
So, I would completely eliminate a lot of events from the Olympics because they are based solely on judges’ scoring. But others would also need to be modified to remain an Olympic event. For example, in the ski jump, I’m sure that greater distance is obtained by maintaining proper form, etc. But, if one guy can out-distance the others by curling up in the fetal position and flapping his arms like a chicken, he should win. Use the tape measure; forget the judges.
The Olympics should be all about who can go faster, jump further, lift more, make more goals, etc.
And isn’t that the way we prefer to look at our lives, too. So often, we want to hold up our accomplishments and what we’ve done – especially in comparison to others – and use that as the measure of our lives. It shouldn’t really matter how we got we are as long as we end up with a few medals around our neck, right?
Unfortunately, God doesn’t look at our lives that way.
First of all, there is no ‘competition’. It doesn’t matter if we are faster than someone else, if we can go farther than another, or if we are more accurate than others. Why? Because we are the only ones in our race.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1, NLT, emphasis added)
The next way God views our lives differently than the Olympics is that He is THE Judge. And He is a perfectly righteous and just judge.
God doesn’t look so much at WHAT we accomplish (how fast, how far, how high) as HOW we do it. He judges ‘style’: heart, attitude, motivations – all of those things I prefer to be taken out of the equation.
And the real problem with the way God judges is that He demands perfection. If we hope to end up on the podium with a gold medal and a bouquet of flowers, we must score perfect 10’s every time. How can we possibly do that? We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. (Hebrews 12:2, NLT)
So, get out there and run the race God has set before you:
When you leave the end of that ski jump and are flying through the air and a gust of wind catches you and throws you off balance - look to Jesus. The Judge's Score: 10.
When you attempt a ‘Double McTwist 1260’ and end up in a crumpled heap in the half pipe - keep your eyes on Jesus. The Judge's Score: 10.
When you think you’ve pulled off a colossal upset and truly deserve the prize, you better look to Jesus and give Him the glory. The Judge's Score: 10.

You are in your own race.
Train hard.
Persevere.
Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith,
act like men, be strong.
Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NASB)