Monthly Archives: August 2014

The time of your life

Leave a reply

 

 

As part of my strength-building recuperation from Leukemia, I take regular walks through town with my wife. We venture into different neighborhoods for a change of scenery and to expand my endurance. We talk about life’s struggles and joys, about current issues and future plans. We take notice of the houses and gardens on our short journeys, thinking about our downsizing plans when we move to Bolivia…or sooner. We talk about how we, as a society and as a couple, spend our resources of time, energy, and money on our houses and ‘toys’ and hobbies, as if we will enjoy them forever, while so much of the world languishes in poverty and despair.

 

Now you may sense an impending ‘sermon’ on wasting money. Actually, Jesus had quite a bit to say about that topic himself.   But as much as I believe we are each called to be good stewards of our ‘riches’ by sharing them generously, we are also called to be good stewards also of our time. “No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy more time. There are only 24 hours in everyone’s day.” You may be surprised to learn that Bill Gates said that, echoing lessons he learned from Warren Buffet. There is no 1% when it comes to the bank of time.  We all have the same amount… until it’s gone.

 

The Bible is replete with lessons about our limited time:

Time is short. 1 Corinthians 7:29

Life is like a vapor that appears for a while and then vanishes. James 4:14

Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. Psalm 103:15 

Even the devil knows his time is short. Revelation 12:12

 

It’s not morbid, but rather prudent, to pay attention to the brevity of our time. If you have ever been extremely weak, you learn to conserve your energy. If you find your money is running out before the end of the month, you hopefully adapt your spending to make sure the money will stretch until pay-day. I think most everyone, when faced with their last moments, tries to make those moments count.

 

But why wait until resources are low to use them well? Today is the day we are given to find hope, take joy, and demonstrate compassion. Today is the day to be courageous in the face of the storm, to look beyond our own life and to the interests of others. Today may be the last day we have to encourage someone else who is about to give up hope. It may be the last time to say, “I love you.” There may not be another day for a kiss, a hug, a smile, or encouraging touch. And what if there is? What if there are many (though not endless) more days?

 

Why not live every one of them as if they were the time of your life?

 

 

Know about God – or know God?

Leave a reply

 

You can know about God and still not know God.

 

Think about a famous person in history. You might know when they were born and when they died, where they lived, and some of their major accomplishments and contributions to this world. Maybe you have done research and are considered an expert! But do you actually know that person?

 

Knowing about someone is not the same as actually knowing them.

 

There are probably people in your life that you think you know. You work with them and see them at the store. You know how they dress and what sort of house they live in. You may even admire and respect them. But if you haven’t taken time to draw close to them and share the things in life that are most meaningful, you probably don’t know them.  Even in church, you see people, smile at them, and chat with them. But we too often let walls of politeness separate us from actually getting to know them. I think it was one of Robert Frost’s poems that said, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Maybe good fences help us to live politely with others, but do they really make us good neighbors? Unless we approach the fences and build a confiding gateway to conversation, will we ever get to know one another, even if we do know about them?

 

This is true about God too. I’ve met people who seem to know a lot about God and yet don’t seem to really know Him or the power of His promises. Some will contest, “Who can know the mind of God? He is too great for us to comprehend with our puny earthly minds!”  I agree. We will never be able to put God in a box and define Him in our terms. But He has revealed Himself to us throughout history and continues to invite us to draw close to Him, to know His character. He wants us to not only know about what He has done and still wants to do. He longs for us to come into His presence and know Him.

 

It’s beneficial to know about God. His great feats of majesty and mercy inspire us to great hope. But beyond the intellectual gymnastics of knowing about God there is peace and joy and power to be found in knowing God as a child knows their father.  And how does one come to know God? Just like you come to know a very close friend: spend time with Him – when you are tired, angry, confused, filled with sorrow, and astounded by joy and grace. When you are dismayed, disappointed or depressed. Put everything else behind you and just start talking, and then be quiet and listen. Teach yourself to hear His still small voice whisper His love to you and His plans for you.

 

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

 

 

Knowing God’s will

Leave a reply

 

 

The question came up in a recent conversation:

 

“How do you know God’s will?”

 

What a great question!  It seems we are all so busy surviving and making a living that it is easy to lose sight of our purpose in life – and God’s purpose too.

 

So often, we ask the wrong question. Instead of asking “What is God’s will for my life,” try asking, “What is God’s will?” Focus on the nature of God and the revelation of His consistent plan. God created perfect life. He created you. He saw what a mess we were in and sent His son Jesus so that whoever believed in Him would find ‘the way, the truth, and the (abundant) life.’ He sent us His very Spirit to indwell us so we would never have to be alone or confused, knowing He will always guide us – if we only draw near and listen.

 

God has plans for our major life decisions. But while you are pursuing big life goals, did you know that God’s will is about what you do today?

 

Part of God’s will is that we enjoy the peace and joy of remaining in His presence. He knows that you will become stressed over money, quarrels, work, and endless problems. He knows there will be days when your ‘get up and go’ just ‘got up and went’. He knows you will lose your joy and be oppressed by all sorts of circumstances. He knows there will be times when you come to the end of your rope. Have hope: He invites you to enter His presence, not just in your ‘quiet time’ but in the busyness of your day. Learn to take one minute breaks to seek His presence and ask Him to reveal His purpose for your next steps. It is His will that you remain dependent on Him, not on your own understanding.  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your path.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

 

God’s will is not just for you; it’s for those around you. Evangelist John Lavender stated “To do God’s will is to minister to the person who is closest to you at the moment.” The person you just let go ahead of you in line at the store, the man at the intersection with the sign reading ‘Hungry.’ The person interrupting you. The janitor. You might say, “Wait a minute. I didn’t ask about God’s plan for others. I want to know God’s plan for me!”   God’s plan for you often involves the people in your vicinity. Jesus  said if you want to do God’s will you should “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Then He added, “Love your neighbor (those in your vicinity) as yourself.”

 

Want to do God’s will? Come close to Him and bring others close to Him, in Jesus’ name.

 

 

The sum of a life

Leave a reply

 

 

We recently took a walk in the cemetery and read the markings on the memorial stones. Some listed the person’s primary role and how they were remembered: “Mother.” “Father.” One had an etching of a golfer which must have been that person’s driving life passion (no pun intended). Some displayed the emblem of a club to which they belonged, some a veteran’s status. Many tombstones record just the names and birth and death dates with a dash in between. Linda Ellis wrote a now famous poem about this all important ‘dash in between’ the dates that represents how we lived our life.*

 

I was soberly reminded of a truth when recently reading an obituary. The sum of a whole life was quickly summed up in two paragraphs. And one of those was a list of those who came before and those who are left to follow, leaving just one paragraph to sum up an entire life.

 

It is probably unrealistic to expect an obituary or tombstone to sum up a whole life. Hopefully, the impact of a life could not be fully captured so simply. But how does one measure a lifetime of ambitions, hopes, aspirations, toil, sorrow, joy, and purpose?

 

How do you want to be remembered? For your hobbies, your belongings, your accomplishments, or that neatly trimmed yard? Isn’t a life lived well truly measured by how it impacts those around us and those who come behind us? Shouldn’t the focus of our life testify to such a great and wonderful God? And if it is lived for God, doesn’t it reach well beyond our own life to encourage those across the globe, those far beyond our familial circle of influence? Those who support GLOW, impact the lives of children across the globe, bringing hope, truth, grace, and practical helps. They change lives they have never (yet) met! (See the Ministries and Giving tabs above.). Those who support children through Compassion International and World Vision have similar global impact.

 

One day, there will be a great meeting in heaven of all whose lives you impacted, for a season and for all eternity. So before someone marks your final date, give thought to how you want to live “the dash in between.” Live your ‘dash’ intentionally today, and all your tomorrows.

 

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted (honored) in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” Philippians 1:20-24

 

* See also Linda Ellis’ poem, The Dash, at:
http://www.linda-ellis.com/the-dash-the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis-.html

 

 

Morning Thanks

Leave a reply

 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

 

Unlike my mother who loves to get up early and greet the sunrise, I am not a morning person; never have been, but wish I were. As a young man, I would stay up late and get up late. As an older man, still tired from my stem cell transplant, I go to bed early and still sleep late.  But I have learned that whenever I get up it is best to greet the day with thanks.

 

Giving thanks prepares the mind and the body for the day. It sets the filter through which we greet the day, our circumstances, and our God. Instead of starting with a sigh, “Good Lord, it’s morning,” try, “Good Lord! It’s morning!”

 

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

God IS the temple

Leave a reply

 

The kingdom of God is within me. –  Luke 17:20-21

 

The Israelites worshiped in the temples of their making. We worship in churches of our making, but in reality we are the temples of God if His Spirit lives in us. (1 Corinthians 3:16)  But in heaven, God IS the temple. There will be no darkness because HIS light is all we need. No need to worry or fear because there will be no thieves in the night – in fact, no night at all.  No more shame. No more deceit. Only the glory of God’s presence and the revelation of His goodness. Consider the words of John:

 

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:22-27)

 

The gate to the kingdom of God is within you. It is open to those who seek His presence – and His light – in their life. Enjoy it now and enjoy it forever.

 

 

Imagine…heaven!

Leave a reply

 

 

I can only imagine!

 

Rolling Stones once wrote that John Lennon’s “Imagine” was the third greatest song ever written. To my ears, it is one of the most beautiful melodies of pop history. But as for me, I just can’t “imagine there’s no heaven.” Lennon hoped for utopia but I don’t think he knew how to find it. There will be such a world one day. Consider the vision of another man named John:

 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” (Revelation 21:1-7)

 

It is as Isaiah prophesied:

“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. 
The former things will not be remembered, 
nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)

 

Imagine, a new heaven and a new earth, untouched by human corruption. Even the memories of past evils will pass away and be forgotten. Tears will be wiped away; no more sorrow, no more grief, or pain. The One who always was, always is, and always will be will personally quench our thirst forever and we will finally experience the fullness of what it means to be children of a holy and merciful God.

 

I hope you will take some time today to imagine “there IS a heaven” and what it might be like to be constantly and fully at peace in the presence of God. Let ‘the old order of things’ pass away from your life and enjoy the process of God making ‘all things new’ in your life.

 

Imagine living this day with heaven in mind! (It’s easy if you try.)