Monthly Archives: June 2014

Toxic or pure?

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“Clean your mind of toxic thoughts and ideas.”

 

We make numerous choices each day and many of them seem rather mundane. We might think, “Does it really matter?” I mean, if we can just make sure that do a good job making the ‘big’ decisions, isn’t that enough?

 

It’s tempting to think like that but haven’t you experienced the truth that bad decisions, no matter how small, can have cumulative and negative effects? Negative thinking and impure thoughts for example. We might try to get off the hook with the occasional mental wandering, but the fact is that our brains are wired to remember things and categorize things so we can retrieve that thought or fact. I know, if you are anywhere near my age you might doubt that, but it is true. The more often we frequent a thought the more likely it is that we will revisit that same thought later. And it will be easier to do so. We’ve discussed before how God designed our brain traffic to travel on ‘paths’.  The more often we frequent that path the wider it becomes and easier it becomes to get back to it. The more we ignore other thoughts, the more they become difficult to traverse.

 

What do we do? It might be time for some prioritized spring brain cleaning.  Just like we call 911 for an emergency, verses 9, 11 of Psalm 119 offer the emergency help we need in time of trouble.  “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?  By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  

 

What does it mean to ‘hide’ God’s Word in your heart? It means to memorize it, write it down on cards where you will frequently see it, ponder it often throughout the day. When this becomes your (many times) daily habit, God’s Word is free to act as a ‘brain cleaning’ agent. You might think of it as ‘mind guards’ that stand ready to warn and defend you against wayward thoughts that come across your mind; negative thinking, hopelessness, despair, pride, lust, greed, selfishness, vengeance, judgment…you get the idea.

 

Is brain cleaning really such a big deal? The answer to that is, “What kind of thoughts do you want to rule your mind? Because your actions will surely follow.”

 

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

 

Test me, search me

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Search me God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

 

What comes to mind when you think about tests? Stress, anxiety, fear, sweaty palms, headaches? Most of us don’t enjoy tests because they reveal things about our abilities and our character. They also demonstrate our preparedness and whether or not we have “the right stuff.”

 

There is also something about trials that strip away unwanted elements in our lives. We speak of the trial by fire that destroys all that is merely temporal and leaves that which is everlasting. There is the heat of the furnace that removes the impurities and leaves only that which is pure. Daniel’s trial of trusting God when surrounded by hungry lions speaks to God’s role in the dangerous times of our lives.

 

Most of us don’t have to face real lions or a literal furnace of fire in our lives. But we do encounter a battery of tests, don’t we? School tests to prove our readiness for next level learning, tests of character when tempted by deceit, anger, envy, or any number of unwholesome traits. And most of us don’t relish the idea of tests. The preparation for them is often painful and stressful. The results are sometimes embarrassing if we are, after being weighed and measured, ‘found wanting’.

 

David displayed such confidence that he actually invited God to ‘test’ him. “Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” Psalm 26:2 He took confidence in his submission to God and God’s faithfulness to see him through the testing situation. Later in life, he had to repent of all self-confidence and again asked God to search his heart and reveal any impure thoughts or deeds.

 

As life progresses, the tests become more challenging and many of them quite outside our area of expertise. Some are completely outside of any ability or hope we might have in any of our natural abilities. But, if we have maintained a clear conscience before God, we can stand in the confidence of His promises and His grace to see us through the most severe life tests. It is out of humility, not boasting, that we invite God to test us, search us, reveal in us any unworthy thoughts and deeds, so we can submit them to him. And then, in faith, to stand firm and hold fast to God’s promises in the middle of our tests and trials.

 

Search me O God, know my anxious thoughts. Lead me in your way.

 

 

Fresh squeezed

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One of the small joys of summer is Marci’s home-made, fresh squeezed lemonade. It’s a hit around here and knowing it was lovingly made seems to add to the flavor.

 

Our family is big on another type of fresh squeeze; hugs of course. Hugs on seeing each other and hugs when leaving. My mom considers herself a bit of a hug therapist and reckons each of us needs 2 hugs a day just to stay healthy, more to grow happy. 🙂

 

But not all squeezing is welcomed. There’s the financial squeeze, the temperamental squeeze, the relational squeeze, the health squeeze, and so many other life squeezes. In fact there it seems we find ourselves frequently squeezed by the undesired circumstances in life. A flat tire in the rain, a hurtful word come our way, daily pain and disappointment, too much work, or no work at all. Every day we find ourselves squeezed in some way. The pressures brought on by leukemia squeezed both of us quite a bit. The loss of a loved one, or the stress caused by conflict also squeezes us.

 

The important question is, how do we respond when we are squeezed? When you squeeze a fruit, the juice of the fruit comes out. But when we are squeezed, what escapes might not be so sweet. What comes out when you are squeezed? Do even the small disruptions and disappointment bring out anger, disgust, fear, doubt, perhaps even vengeance? Or are you learning to respond with a degree of patience, knowing that this circumstance does not control you, that this too shall pass?

 

The late Steven Covey said one thing that separates man from other animals is the ability to create a reflective gap between a stimulus that provokes us and our reaction to it. In this gap we can train and discipline ourselves to turn to God for His direction. Imagine how things might have been different when Adam was squeezed by the temptation of eating from the forbidden tree, if he would have created a gap and asked his daddy for His advice. Our God-given ability to create a gap when we are squeezed allows us to take a breath, consult the Holy Spirit for His counsel and to choose to follow His nature in us.

 

Ugliness is a choice and so is beauty. The lack of planning how we will respond when squeezed is a plan to choose poorly under pressure. Better to choose and discipline yourself NOW regarding how you will react when squeezed. Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Can you see how deciding ahead of time helped him to choose well when he was squeezed? The same gift is yours. You don’t have to be a squeeze victim. Choose now to let God’s sweetness come out when you are squeezed.

 

 

Change your heart – Change the world

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Never think a few caring people can’t change the world. for indeed, that’s all we ever have. – Margaret Mead

 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,   and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:10-12

Change your heart; Change the world.

 

 

 

See what love can do

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Not all of us can do great things. But we can all do small things with great love. – Mother Teresa

 

An expert of the law asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked the man, “What is written in the law?” The man answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ (Deut. 6:5) and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18).” Jesus responded that the man had answered correctly. “Do this and you shall live,” he said. 

 

There is no question in my mind about it. An antidote to most of life’s ails is found in loving others. It takes our mind off our own woes, those real and perceived, those small and enormous. Ironic, but humility – considering the needs of others – is far from a weakness; it is really a strengthening quality.

 

I was visiting with a friend recently who showed me some pictures from his mission trips to the Honduras. In the display was a saying that caught my attention:

 

One child – one family – one community: see what love can do. 

 

What can love do?  It can teach us patience and kindness and humility. Think how these qualities encourage and value others! Love honors others and ‘forgets’ wrongs. It rejoices in truth. Love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres – always!  Love can say what words can’t. Love never fails. Love brings about understanding. In fact, it is the greatest and most lasting of any thoughts, actions or attributes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

What happens when you pray for and pour love into one child, one family, one community, perhaps far from your own and maybe nearby?  What happens, not just to them, but to you?  Doing what we were created to do – loving others – might not remove all our burdens, but it has the power to lift us above them and to endure them with more grace.  See what love can do today.

Change the world

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Help another person and you will not change the world. But you will change the world of that person.

 

Love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  – Jesus (John 13:34-35)

 

I remember years back having considerable debate with team mates regarding the phrase “Change The World.” One camp thought that it was too lofty and unmeasurable for a mission statement. “We’re too small to actually change the WORLD, ” said some. Others maintained that if you change the world for one person, you change the whole world. It is now different because there is a new creation aboard. What do you think?

 

Consider the difference these Christians made in the world:

George Mueller, a 19th century evangelist who established orphanages across Europe, caring for more than 10,000 orphaned and abandoned children.

Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer and Christian who proposed the earth actually revolves around the sun. (Novel idea, eh? :-))

Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician and Christian who discovered the law of gravity.

George Washington Carver, son of slave parents, a believer who was awarded the Roosevelt Medal for his research on peanuts and sweet potatoes. The medal read in part, “To a scientist humbly seeking the guidance of God…”

Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance artist known for his many biblical inspired works of art. He “believed that spiritual value could be found in all natural beauty.” (The bible concurs.)

 One thing we know for sure. GOD is in the world-changing business. He changed a void into a universe full of worlds. He fashioned our own earth by His own word.  He changed the ‘rules of the game’ so we could actually come out alive. He continues to change the world by changing the hearts of those who dare follow Him. (Really, who else are we going to pick to follow?!)  And He chooses to do this by indwelling the hearts and minds of fully devoted believers.  When our character, ambitions, thoughts, words, and actions are motivated by Him, He should be evident for all to see, right? And so while you may feel incapable of changing the world (or even yourself), Christ-in-you is very able…and willing.

 

Go ahead. Change the world! It starts with a faithful heart, a resolute mind, and a life devoted to loving God and loving others in His name.

 

Talking to God about grief

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C.S. Lewis speaks of his experience of grief. I appreciate his sincerity and honesty. His wife’s suffering and death affected him deeply, taking him through a journey where, to his experience, God *seems* to change. What a frightening experience when we see only through a veil. What comfort is offered when we are able to see more clearly.
Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

 

“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

 

I tried to put some of these thoughts to C. this afternoon. He reminded me that the same thing seems to have happened to Christ: ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ I know. Does that make it easier to understand?

 

Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.’”

From A Grief Observed
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

 

Lewis didn’t lose his faith in God, but he faced many honest and difficult questions. How about you? What is your God really like? Is He a gracious and loving God even when you don’t feel it? Is He sufficient for your needs only when you feel they are all met? Or can you find satisfaction in His perfect plan even when it doesn’t seem to make any sense? He is waiting to talk with you about your questions.

Whom then shall I fear?

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The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear. The Lord is the stronghold of my life.of whom shall I be afraid? psalm 27:1

 

David certainly didn’t lack for woes and reasons to fear. Anointed as King but not yet crowned, he was besought by enemies intent on killing him. And what does he do? He turns to God, the stronghold and fortress of his life. And in this security, he asks, “Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1-2

 

Most of us in the western world don’t face such violent persecution. But we do face enemies, don’t we? Our foes may be of our own doing, thought patterns that lead us away from God’s stronghold and into pits of despair and fear. Careless words or neglectful actions and apathy may cause relational division among the body of believers. The good news is that we can control our own thoughts and actions by consistently and repeatedly submitting them to God.

 

But what about enemies that aren’t of our doing? Chronic physical pain may come against us and wreak havoc with our bodies and soul. A spirit of depression may weigh heavily upon us. We ask God to search our hearts and see if there be anything we need to submit to Him. We pray for grace and deliverance. We wait. And we wait. Sometimes we wait for years, decades, or a lifetime.

 

I think of Marci’s debilitating migraines and her nearly forty years of suffering and waiting for relief. I think of her pain, a lifetime of not being able to work, time away from family, and of the medicines and hospitalizations. But I also remember her indomitable spirit that pressed on in the way Paul describes in Philippians 3. I remember how she would close the blinds and lie down, then get up, then lie down, then get up again. It’s true, a mother’s work is never done, even when Dad helps out; sometimes because Dad helps out. (Sigh)

 

I think back on those times with cancer when I wanted to toss in the towel. I knew God’s grace was sufficient and that His strength is perfected in my weakness. These truths were evident to me, but I didn’t always feel it during those moments of terror. I felt like some days it was a fight to not let my feelings overwhelm me. I knew God was my stronghold and yet it was like the bombs kept exploding around and within me.

 

What do you do when this happens to you? David asked one thing of God: that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. If only he could live in God’s presence he was confident that he would see God’s goodness here on earth…if he just take heart and wait on the Lord. (Ps. 27:4,13,14) I wonder how many times he prayed that prayer?

 

There is a transcendent peace that falls upon the believer who turns to God. It doesn’t always dispel the pain but being in God’s presence makes it bearable.

 

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

 

 

Mr. Fix-it

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The bible never says, “Figure it out.” But it always says, “Trust God.” He is the one who has already figured it out.

 

It’s been often noted that men are not usually as quickly inclined to empathy and understanding as women generally are. We men tend to like to (try to) solve problems.  We take pride in being “Mr. Fix-It.” No doubt that if we were to seek to improve our sensitivity to understanding, that our problem solving would improve! There’s nothing wrong with seeking solutions to problems. But, as author Sarah Young observes, it can be so addicting! It’s as if we are so inclined to try to solve problems in our own thinking first (“Let ME do it”), and then when we’ve messed up, to ask God to rescue us. And besides, some problems do not lend themselves to a “Mr. Fix-it” approach. Whether it is our own pride or that we forget about God’s presence that keeps us inclined to do things on our own, we are better of course to go to God FIRST and seek His counsel and help.

 

One of His names, Immanuel, means “God with you.” Jesus promises, “Surely, I am with you til the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:20) It is one of the great mysteries that Paul writes about, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) When I meditate on God’s many wondrous attributes, I am blown away by His grace in allowing us to approach Him at any time. (Try insisting on a spontaneous audience at 1600 Pennsylvania and see how that works! Or phoning the president…just because you want to chat.) But Almighty God, Creator of the universe, the one who knows the names of all the stars and yet designed and knows you personally – HE is always with you, and eager to invite you into His presence. No wonder the prophet says, “Though (EVERYthing goes wrong), YET I will rejoice in the Lord; I will be joyful in God, My Savior.” (Hab. 3:17-18)

 

What problems are you wrestling with? In what areas is it seem hard to trust God? Why not turn them ALL over to God’s provident care? Trusting in Him fully means rejoicing in Him and His perfect plan…and time line. Is this easy? No way. Is our way any better? Absolutely no way. Let’s trust the one who knows the way.