Seasoned Veracity

Playing the World's Game

The church's goal should never be to beat the world at its own game. That's what Satan tried to lure Jesus into doing, but He refused to play. We need to show the world a better way.

Kingdom success is not measured in terms of wealth, power or status, but in terms of obedience and faithfulness. Hanging on the cross, Jesus looked like a failure in the eyes of the world. In our service to the Lord, we must not fear to invite the same appraisal.

Jesus was not afraid to appear weak and foolish. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25).

Who is it we are trying to impress?

Distractions?

Jesus came to undertake the most important mission in the history of humanity: the salvation of the world. Yet He was never in a hurry. He gave attention to every individual, every need: a blind man on the side of the road, a grieving mother, an "unclean" leper, a bunch of noisy children.

Why did he permit such interruptions? How could he allow these people to distract him from his critical mission?

Could it be that, for Jesus, the people were the mission?

What Do We Do Now?

Mark 4:35-40 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

What do we do when we have lived a number of years, and feel that the evening of our lives is approaching? As the years mount up, the aches and pains and fatigue weigh us down. Our strongest, most energetic years are behind us. Shall we cut back and begin to wind down?

"Start for home maybe? Find a place to lie down and get some rest, sign off for the day, because God knows the day has been long and hard and nobody can keep going forever? But that is not what Jesus says though there can't have been any of them readier to call it a day than he was, the star of the show. He is standing at the water's edge with his tired fishermen friends, and what he says to them is, 'Let us go across to the other side.' His answer to the question of what to do next, what to do with the rest of their lives, is simply stated. What he says to them is Go.

"Go when for better or worse your work is mostly done and your life is mostly behind you? Go when you're young and with your life mostly ahead of you and you haven't decided yet what your life's work will be? Go when you're not sure where to go or why? Yes, precisely that, Jesus says. Go for God's sake, and for your own sake, too, and for the world's sake. Climb into your little tub of a boat and keep going.

"Keep going, Jesus says, because to keep going is to keep living and to stop going is to stop living in any way that much matters. 'Let us go across to the other side,' he says, though who knows how far the other side is or what awaits us when we get there, if anything awaits us at all. And go bravely because if we are the boat and the storm and the fishermen in their helplessness, we have in us also, the holy one asleep in the stern with a pillow under his head whose presence gives us hope and courage."

-- Frederick Buechner

Whose Life Is It, Anyway?

"It's my life, and I have the right to make my own decisions about what to do and how to live."

It's your life, is it? What makes you think so? What possible justification can you give for such an arrogant and outlandish claim?

Your life? Why? Did you create it? Did you bring yourself into this world? Are you responsible for your own existence? Don't you realize that life came to you as a sheer gift, from God, through your parents (and ancestors)?

Your life? Can you by force of will maintain your own existence? Can you keep yourself alive on your own steam? Are you able to fend off disease, calamity and old age to live as long as you please? Don't you realize that your daily life depends on the provision of air, food, water, clothing and shelter, not to mention the continued operation of natural laws (gravity, electromagnetism, etc.) and natural processes (photosynthesis, the water cycle, etc.) that occur with no help or input from you?

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). God made you, and He keeps you alive at His pleasure. He has given you the freedom to act within the limits of the circumstances He set for your life. But you have no right to think that your life is your own. You are steward of the days and hours God gives you, and you are answerable to Him for what you do with them.

"In God we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). The sooner you give up the fantasy idea of having and running "your" life, the sooner you can find your place in the real world, and live out the purpose for which God made you.

An Insomniac Wonders About Sleep

Questions about sleep, running through the head of an insomniac:

Will we sleep in heaven? Will our resurrected bodies need sleep? Is sleep only a necessary concession to the weakness of these mortal bodies? Or is the restful, recharging experience of sleep something we will continue to enjoy after the resurrection? Will heavenly sleep be more restful and enjoyable than earthly sleep?

Is the nightly need for sleep an inescapable reminder that we cannot maintain control of our lives? Is falling asleep a relinquishing of our life into God's hands?

Is the daily routine of sleeping and waking meant to depict death and resurrection? Is the ritual of going to sleep at night and waking in the morning a reminder, even a rehearsal, of our final death and resurrection? At the end of a long and weary day, do we not desire above all else to lie down and sink into a deep and blissful sleep? At the end of a long and weary life, will we not desire above all else to lie down and sink into the sleep that leads to resurrection morning?

God and Government

One aspect of the genius of America's founders was to enshrine within the Constitution a "separation of powers." Executive, legislative and judicial powers are vested in three distinct branches of government, with checks and balances built in to prevent the concentration of too much power in one place.

During the Nixon years, critics spoke of an "Imperial Presidency," and Congress took measures to rein in what was perceived to be the use of excessive executive power. In recent years, the Supreme Court has functioned as an "Imperial Judiciary," making extra-Constitutional rulings and exercising executive and legislative powers. It remains to be seen how and when the Court can be reined in, and Constitutional balance can be restored.

Interestingly, Isaiah declares that "the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us." All three aspects of governmental power are explicitly concentrated in the Lord's hands.

Three implications follow: (1) The President, Congress and the Courts are all subject to God's authority, and answerable to him for how they use their power. (2) We look forward to the return of Christ when he shall rule with perfect justice as king, lawgiver and judge. (3) In the meantime, we can vote and work to make government as righteous as possible, but we cannot look to any branch to bring salvation to society. "It is the Lord who will save us."

More True Wisdom

Worldly Wisdom: Our desires are natural; it is unhealthy to suppress them.

Godly Wisdom: If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:30)

Worldly Wisdom: If it feels good, do it.

Godly Wisdom: Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence; rather, serve one another in love. (Galatians 5:13)

Worldly Wisdom: You have to climb over people to get to the top.

Godly Wisdom: Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave. (Matthew 20:26, 27)

Worldly Wisdom: Look within yourself for direction, and follow your heart.

Godly Wisdom: The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6)

Worldly Wisdom: Safety first!

Godly Wisdom: Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)

 

True Wisdom

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." -- Isaiah 55:8

Worldly Wisdom: Seeing is believing.

Godly Wisdom: We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Worldly Wisdom: God helps those who help themselves.

Godly Wisdom: Without Christ you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Worldly Wisdom: A penny saved is a penny earned.

Godly Wisdom: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

Worldly Wisdom: Self-esteem is essential for psychological health.

Godly Wisdom: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

Worldly Wisdom: Always look out for Number One.

Godly Wisdom: Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)

Worldly Wisdom: Assert yourself; stand up for your rights!

Godly Wisdom: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

Desperate Times

You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.    -- Psalm 60:3, 4

The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.    -- 2 Chronicles 16:9

So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.   -- 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

This God Is Our Refuge

The LORD Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. -- Psalm 46:7

The "God of Jacob" is our refuge.

The God who promised to protect and provide for a sneaky, scheming deceiver who tried to con his father and steal the inheritance of his brother.

The God who watched over this trickster while he learned his lesson at the hands of his conniving uncle.

The God who graciously blessed an undeserving youth, multiplied his progeny and his possessions, and led him back home to face up to his unsavory past.

The God who showed Himself faithful to a foolish young man while teaching him to trust and leading him to maturity.

This God is our refuge!