Seeing things as God does

I'm aware from what I read in the bible, that I don't see things as God does. My vision is skewed because of sin. I value things that God doesn't, and I don't value some things that God knows are priceless. I'm always in a values alignment mode as I live each day- what do I value? And then, how does God see it? The challenge for me is to get the same view of people and things that God has. Here's a reminder that has helped me- people are eternal, things are temporary.....that always gets my thoughts straightened out when I get my values confused.

Running the race

Today, as I read the word, I come to this passage in 1 Cor. 9-

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1Co 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
1Co 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
1Co 9:26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
1Co 9:27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

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As I read this it reminds me again of some basics of the Christian life I need to remember. The problem is that I easily forget them, so I know others do as well. Let me just briefly list the basics of the Christian life (the race)-

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1. We are in a race. Obvious? Not to most. But if you know you are in a race it changes how you go through your day, it makes the days more intentional.

2. It's a marathon, not a sprint. The race will be my life...it demands a focus and endurance.

3. There is a prize for the one who runs well!

4. This race, the Christian life, demands self-control. It means I have to say "no" to some things so I can win the race. It's not a punishment, it's wisdom exercised so that I can run well.

5. I must run (live) "in such a way" that I will succeed. That means intentionality. I live and choose and do because of a bigger picture- I'm in a race with a goal in mind- the finish line.

6. This race means that I must discipline myself so that I won't be disqualified. What a word for an athlete...the ultimate embarrassment...disqualified. It's the ultimate shame to prepare for a race, then to not finish, but to be disqualified. The implication? There's rules to this race, there are things to do and things to avoid. If I want to finish the race well I have to make some choices. To be shamed by disqualification is possible.

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These are just a few things I noticed from the passage. I'm glad Paul used a word picture that I can understand....it makes this very visual for me. A race, a finish line, training, endurance, do's and don'ts, rules, shame possible.....all of it is very clear and understandable to us in the 21st century. Paul is throwing out a challenge and an invitation...run in such a way....

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One of the things that always keeps me focused is to remember that there is a finish line, there is a tape to break, there is glory or shame to be had....how will I finish the race? My goal and challenge is to finish well, to finish with a smile and joy.....how's your race going?

Offending Islam

It seems that I read daily that someone is in trouble for offending the Muslim world in some way. Now it's a teacher in Sudan who allowed her children in the classroom to name a toy after the prophet Muhammad.

Is there any way that we who are not Muslim do not offend Islam? I think in truth the answer is "no." The very fact that I am a Christian and do not believe that Allah is the true God is offensive to the Muslim who is honest.

We must be ready to deal with the fact that any faith other than Islam is offensive to the devout Muslim. So here I am, a Christian in love with the God of the Bible, worshipping Jesus, the God man who died for my sins on the cross, believing that he is the only way to salvation and that he will return to welcome me into his eternal kingdom.

To the Muslim I may be an infidel, but to the God who made me I am his blessed son.

Christians & Jewish martyrs say; "I will die for what I believe".
A Muslim martyr says; "you will die for what I believe".

Dragging idols

In part of my reading this morning I'm in Ezekiel. I came to chapter 20:7-8 and read these words, "I said to them, 'Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.' But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt."

It made me stop for a moment....I never read that in Exodus, but here in Ezekiel God is telling us they drug their idols through the desert for 40 years and would not let them go. After all they saw God do, how he provided for them, how he cared for them, they still drug along those worthless idols for 40 years.

I wondered....what idols am I dragging around? What am I holding onto after all I have seen God do? What "false gods" will I not let go of? Is there anything that I will not "cast away" because God thinks it's detestable? And, why don't I view it as detestable too? These are just some thoughts running through my mind. I know I do it....I know I'm "dragging idols." What are they? And am I willing to cast them away like worthless trash? How do I get God's view on all of this?

Lord, show me what idols I'm dragging around. Help me to see them as you do. Help me to cast them away...don't let me be a rebel too.......

Just thinking again.....

Late last week I posted that I was feeling pretty empty headed and needed to take a break. The holiday gave me that. It was a great time of rest, being with family and spending some time with friends and my dear wife.

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I must admit that my drug of choice is people. I love being with people. One of our men in the church came up to me after the sermon yesterday and said, "You are a weaver (I had spoken on weaving thanksgiving into our lives), you weave through the lives of people and make a difference in their lives." I took that comment as high praise, and I know he meant it that way.

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So today I am thinking....what is it that we all need so badly in our lives? What is it that is so necessary for us? I am convinced it is a "people fix." We each need the touch, the ear, the presence of other people to live. We can't live this life alone, we need others to thrive.

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I read an article about the orphanages in Russia in years past, and the problems they were having with infant deaths. Their newborn mortality rate was really high. They discovered that the solution to the problem was to schedule a time each day for these newborn babies to be held, loved and talked to. So they put in place a regular schedule of holding, loving and talking to each baby. The mortality rates dropped dramatically and the babies actually looked forward to and anticipated their 10 minutes of attention each day. We, as adults, are no different. We need attention. We need a "people fix."

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But there is more, and here's where I think it gets hard...people don't just need time, they need someone who really cares about them, who will really listen, who will be interested in them. That's much harder because we find our lives so busy with "me" how do we dedicate the time to others that they need? It's one of the great deserts of our culture- people who will care for each other, and invest in one another's lives. For most of us, when we find it, it's like finding water in the desert, we just want to linger and drink in all we can...all the attention and love we can get because we are so needy, so thirsty....and that's where it gets hard. Like those babies who just needed some attention, we all look for someone to pay attention to us, and when we find them we hold on....not realizing that they need attention, time and care as well. Without realizing it we often run off the very people we most need.

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So, like the Russian orphanage system, let me advocate we build into our lives a regular diet of investing in the lives of others. We all need it, we all hunger for it, why do we so neglect it? One of the couples we visited with over the weekend were talking about this very thing- why is it so hard to find friends? They invite people over for dinner, coffee or just time to play games, but no one ever does that for them. They feel the need, but our culture doesn't make it easy. I think we could fix a lot of our problems if we all scheduled 15 minutes a day to sit on our front porches and just visit with the neighbors....we all need our "people fix", it's part of the human hunger. Might I challenge you to schedule this into your life and make people important?

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They are what God is most interested in.....

Monday's cartoon

Taking a break...

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Time for a break. I'm tired, my brain is empty, and I need a walk....so I'm going to take a few days off. See you early next week. I'll be on that bench if you need me.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have to ask....

Ok, I have to ask...where would you ever need a sign like this? And, why?? And lastly,

what happened that made this sign necessary??? That's a story I want to hear!

Thanksgiving thoughts

Thanksgiving in just a couple days away. Families gather together to eat, talk and celebrate. It's a day to say "thank you" to God for all he has done in our lives. I must admit I don't say "thank you" enough, each year it's a new reminder that I need to make thanks part of my life. It does affect us...it molds us, shapes us, changes our view of things. It's an intentional decision to thank God for his blessings. It's an admission that he gave them all to us. It's a celebration of his very nature, for his love endures forever. I'm so glad we worship a good God, a God who loves us. I'm grateful, thankful that his love endures forever! I hope you have a great day of food, family and thanks to the God who made us. He is so good.

The view from our back yard....

...is nothing like this. We live in Texas! The scenery in Texas is typical southwest United States. Sometimes I wonder why anyone ever fought over this land in the first place or decided that this would be a great place to live. The thing that keeps us here are the people and the community of believers we love and care for. If I were looking for a place to live because of the view this would not be it. But here we are...in Texas. It's great to have such a rich (in love and faith) community of people around us. We can give up the view because of the people. The family of God makes even Texas beautiful.

Monday's cartoon

Feeling like Solomon, the conclusion?

A few days ago I presented a problem for your consideration. Here is the problem:

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"I counseled a couple last night that presented me with a dilemma much like the one Solomon faced with the two women and the baby (1 Kings 3:16-28). This couple came to me to resolve their dispute, and here it is- she's a Christian, he's a Muslim, they are married with two children.....each of them wants to raise the children in THEIR faith! She wants to raise them Christian, he wants to raise them Muslim. How's that for a problem?"
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I invited your thoughts and told you I would let you know what I told them. Here is what I said to them-

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I told the wife, she's the Christian, "You need to pray to your God and ask him to work in the lives of your husband and children. You need to teach them about your faith, and share with them the gospel message. You should take them to church, and pray that God will work in your family."

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Then I looked at the husband, the Muslim, and said, "You need to pray to your God and ask him to work in the lives of your wife and children. You need to teach them about your faith, and share with them what you believe is the way to God. You should take them to the mosque, and pray that God will work in your family."

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As you can imagine, the wife who brought her husband to me to convert to Christianity was angry. But I wasn't finished yet. I had to tell them one more thing,

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Then I looked at them both and said, "I need to tell you one more thing. You will be praying to different Gods. They are not the same God. You also need to know that only one of them is the real God, and the other one is not a god at all. You need to trust your God to work in your lives. The real God will work, and change your family. Can you both do that?"

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They both agreed to my assignment, and I sent them on their way.

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Like Elijah with the prophets of Baal in the Old Testament this is indeed a test of faith in God, and it's an opportunity to see the real God work. Do we really believe that the God of the Bible is the only God there is? Then trust him to do what only he can do. Let the real God prove himself....and he will.

World's most effective speed bump

Something fun for a Saturday afternoon.

The Master's Four Hour Work Week *

The speaker --touted in the media as the trendiest motivational life coach of the moment-- sat cross-legged before his disciples as they waited to catch his first words. This was supposed to be a seminar on time management and life changing insight into the quality of living. There were all kinds of people here too-- sales executives, ministers, politicians, CEOs and even some "creative" types and people off the street. But why were we all sitting on the ground? Someone whispered that the guy had taken all the management and how-to knowledge of the past 1,500 years (and possibly of the future, too, if you buy into the spiritual stuff) and distilled it into a few succinct statements that could rearrange your priorities forever. If he wanted us to sit on the ground, that was fine. The speaker lifted his hand and the buzzing died down.

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"Point No. 1," said the speaker, gazing at his audience. "Swear not."

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There was silence for a full 30 seconds. What the ... is that it? I hate these 'zen' kind of things speakers do. A hand went up. "What do you mean by swearing?" asked an earnest-looking minister. "I mean, don't promise anything, and you'll never disappoint or be disappointed. Let your yea be yea and leave it at that. Never have a goal. People will understand--in fact they'll thank you for it, they'll be free of expectations, so will you, and everybody will get more done." There was some nodding, but it was clear no one was really getting it.

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"Point No. 2. Don't lay up treasures here on earth."

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There was furious whispering among the group. A man in a blue sports jacket raised his hand. "I'm pretty sure that would wreck the economy. I mean, the banking industry would crumble and we'd be in a Depression for sure. Maybe if you elaborated a little..."

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"Point No. 3. Take no thought for your life."

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Now there was real buzzing. One elderly gentleman got to his feet and walked away. Finally someone asked, "If we took no thought for our lives, we'd probably never even come to a seminar like this."

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"Now you're getting the idea," the speaker said. "Which brings us to point No. 4. Love your enemies."

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The tension seemed to break and the crowd relaxed. Surely he was joking. Maybe this whole meeting was some kind of reality TV show set-up. A few started looking around for the cameras. A harried looking woman executive motioned to speak. "Sir, I'm sorry, but we expected some direction in how to live. Like... maybe you could evaluate our "lifestyle quotient." I actually brought some notes on what my dream lifestyle might be. Aren't you going to explain about how we need to take a mini-retirement and outsource our lives?"

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"Actually, that was going to be my final teaching today. Point No. 5. Die to yourself."

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The effect was as if he had adjourned the meeting. Several people got up and left. One rich young man protested: "Come on, that's not a mini-vacation, that's a permanent vacation... forever. You can't be serious." "As a heart attack," the Master deadpanned.

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As the space around him emptied, a bird landed on the tree branch to his left. He smiled and thought to himself, "A prophet has no honor in his own country. Must be time to move on."

*An article from the "Wittenburg Door" blog