When is a bible not a Bible?

My freshman year of college, I joined a fraternity.  At my pledge class’s first meeting, an upperclassman, who was our trainer/teacher, handed out a copy of the fraternity’s manual and said, “This is your Bible.  Study it.  Know what it says.  You will be tested on this.”

Although there was an underlying ribbon of humor in his statement (he was Jewish and self-proclaimed “not a Christian”), we understood what he meant – this manual was going to have a significant influence in our lives.  We needed to not only read it, but understand it.  We would be expected to be able to recite the history it contained and know the motives behind our fraternity’s founding.  Parts of it were going to be memorized.  Understanding and applying the fraternity’s ideals would then influence how we, as representatives of the fraternity, would relate to each other and how we would treat other people.

At the time, his use of the word “bible” struck me, because I had grown up going to church and had never heard anything other than “The Bible” be referred to as “a bible.”  But, like I said, we all understood exactly what he meant. 

It seems that most people think the same way.  Or, at least, many authors think that people readily understand this kind of reference.  With a simple internet search for “The ________ Bible,” I found all sorts of books that have nothing to do with the Scriptures:

The Food Bible
The Triathlete’s Training Bible
The Shooter’s Bible
The Pro Football Handicapping Bible
The Sewing Bible
The Photography Bible
The Gaming Bible
The Computer Programming Bible

I’m sure if you tried the same search, you’d find all sorts of interesting “bibles”.  Whatever the topic, the author wants to convey a simple message: THIS BOOK is the authority on THIS TOPIC. 

When we go looking for information on food or sewing or photography, we’re drawn to this kind of title.  Isn’t it a little strange that we treat all these other books and their authors as instant authorities, but we don’t necessarily give the same emphasis to the Bible?

Let’s be honest – the Bible contains all sorts of claims, that if they are true, then the Bible deserves every sort of respect and priority the word “bible” has come to mean in our society.  Here are a few:

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

In one verse, the Bible claims that in order to live life correctly and be best equipped to do good things – then we should be turning to it because it contains the words of God Himself.  That’s an incredible claim, and borderline absurd…unless it is true.

We also have to consider that the Bible’s central person, Jesus, makes an even more fantastical claim:

John 14:6-7
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.  If you know Me, you will also know My Father.  From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

So many big claims here, in just four sentences.  Jesus states that He is the only way to reach God, and then takes it one step further and claims that God is His Father.  On top of that, Jesus declares that He is God’s representation to us.  These statements are absolutely bonkers…unless they are true.

And if the claims the Bible makes and the claims that Jesus makes are, in fact, true…then we should be treating the Bible with the same priority and authority that modern authors expect us to treat their “bible” books.

The Bible should have a significant influence in our lives.  We need to not only read it, but understand it.  We should know the history it contains and know the motives behind God’s plan for human history.  Parts of it should be memorized.  Understanding and applying God’s ideals will then influence how we, as representatives of God’s family, will relate to each other and how we will treat other people.

We also find this promise in James’ letter to believers:

James 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Search for God in the Bible, and He will meet you there.  Not sure where to start?  When in doubt, go to the gospel of John.  Read one chapter a day, for 21 days.  Look for who Jesus is, what He says, and what He does.  Other good starting point options are Philippians and Colossians.  These are short letters that contain a lot of applicable truth.

So, when is a bible not a Bible?  When we don’t give it the priority it deserves.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

I was a bad neighbor. And I was embarrassed.

I was convinced that he saw me as a bad neighbor.  At least, I was pretty sure it was him. 

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were preparing our house to host a barbeque for a group of friends.  We had the typical “get ready for company” agenda: clean this, find a new place for that, make room for additional seating, buy last minute items.  We weren’t 100% sure what the weather would be like, and there was a strong possibility that we’d be spending time outside.  Let’s just say that I had let the outside upkeep chores slide a little bit over the previous month or two. 

So the day before the party, I was outside pulling weeds, trimming bushes, and weed-whacking all the hard-to-mow spots.  One chore I had put off for a while was trimming the grass that had grown up over the curb.  We live on a corner lot in our neighborhood, and one side had grown over quite a bit.  I didn’t realize how much until I started going at it with the weed-whacker.  It took some time and a fair bit of trimmer line to get that side shored up.  It was a mess, too.  I’m glad I was wearing jeans and safety glasses, because stuff was blown everywhere.

I went back to the garage and got distracted with something else.  I cleaned up the tools I had left around the yard and went on to some other chore.  Just before I went back inside, I thought, “Do I need to clean up the trimmings from the curb?  Nah, it’s just little stuff.  It’ll blow away.”  I then went on with my day, getting other parts of the house ready for the party.

The next morning I got up and took our dog out early for a walk.  As we turned the corner, I didn’t see many of the trimmings in the road…instead, there were four or five piles of trimmings placed back in our lawn.  I internally groaned, “Oh no.  Someone cleaned up after me and put them back where I’d be sure to see them.  I bet they were cussing me out the whole time they were scooping these things up.  Way to make the neighborhood look bad.  Jerk can’t even pick up after himself.”  The most likely person to do this would be my neighbor across the street.  We’ve barely talked over the years, so I’m not sure of his attitude or opinion of me.  He’s never been unfriendly, but we haven’t been friends.  Feeling completely embarrassed, after I finished walking our dog, I cleaned up the piles and then hosted the party that afternoon.

Throughout the days that followed, I wondered how much I had made him mad.  I wondered if he held a grudge or at least thought less of me as his neighbor.  It seems a bit silly as I type this out, but I mentally beat myself up over this.  I felt embarrassed each time I walked our dog past his house, thinking things like: The trimmings weren’t small.  I should have remembered better.  Or, at least I should have checked before going back inside.  Why was I so selfish thinking it was ok to leave them?  How could I leave a mess for someone else to clean up?

About two weeks after the party, I was walking our dog and my neighbor happened to be outside.  Swallowing my pride, I flagged him down.  I asked if he was the one who put the trimmings back in my yard.  He said that he had.  I apologized for leaving such a mess, and that I had spent these weeks assuming that he believed he had a jerk for a neighbor.  To my surprise, he smiled and said, “Oh no, I was just trying to help you.  I’ve gotten a letter before from our HOA about my lawn growing over the curb and didn’t want you to get a letter, either.  I just do what I can to help keep our neighborhood cleaned up.”  He then extended his hand to shake mine, showing that he had no hard feelings.  While shaking his hand, I realized that I had been completely wrong about his motives and attitude. 

In Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth, chapter 13 is famously known as “The Love Chapter.”  We’re all familiar with the love is patient, love is kind phrases that begin a long list of what love is and what love isn’t.  However, in the middle of the chapter is a verse that often trips people up:

1 Corinthians 13:7
[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

It’s the believes all things part that seems confusing.  Other translations render the phrase as trusts all things – and that kinda helps, but it kinda doesn’t.  A helpful explanation is found in the Holman New Testament Commentary:

Perhaps this characteristic of love is best expressed in contemporary English idiom as: “Love gives the benefit of the doubt.”  Suspicion and doubt toward others do not indicate affection or love.  On the contrary, when someone loves with Christlike love, he entrusts himself to the persons he loves time and again.  Still, love does not demand that a person trust even when the basis for trust has been destroyed.  Love does not give the “benefit” when there is no “doubt.”  In these circumstances trust is folly.  Yet, the general practice of those who love is to trust the good intentions of others as much as possible.

I had spent those two weeks doing the opposite of loving my neighbor.  My neighbor has never given me any reason to think he would be hostile or mad at me, but it didn’t even cross my mind that he could actually be trying to help me.  All the tension I felt between us was caused by my embarrassed feelings and imagination…because I didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.

It’s just another step for me to learn how to love my neighbor as myself.  I hope you’re taking those steps, too.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Tired Jesus

As the busyness of summer shifts to the busyness of fall, it’s easy to feel worn down and just plain tired. Immediately after acknowledging my tiredness, I often feel some guilt creep in…like I should be able to handle this and even more. Perhaps you can relate. But even Jesus got tired…and He provides an example of what to do when we need to rest:

Tired Jesus
Originally posted on February 06, 2020

Early on in His ministry, Jesus was teaching in the Judean countryside, and His disciples were baptizing new believers.  They were very busy and many became followers of Jesus.  However, when Jesus received word that the Pharisees had heard about His growing ministry, He decided to leave and return to the northern area of Galilee.  To get there, He had to pick one of two route options: either take the straight-shot, 3-day hike from Judea to Galilee, or to take the longer road which headed east, crossed the Jordan River, turned back west, and crossed the Jordan River again before coming to Galilee.  This added days to trip and had the additional land barriers to deal with.  So why would Jews take the long road?  Because that path would mean they would avoid dealing with the Samaritan half-breed outsiders.

However, for this trip, Jesus chose to travel the faster, more direct path; but that meant they would be staying at least one night somewhere in the region most Jews wanted to avoid.  And let’s not kid ourselves…a 3-day journey on foot is still a 3-day journey on foot.  They had a long hike in front of them to get back to where Jesus and eleven of the twelve disciples had grown up.

John 4:4-6
He had to travel through Samaria; so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well.  It was about noon. 

Jesus was worn out from His journey.  This is an important observation.

Jesus got tired. 

Yes, He is perfect. 
Yes, He is the prophesized Messiah. 
Yes, He is God in the flesh…but that’s just it, Jesus is also human like us.  I find it very comforting that at the mid-point of His day, Jesus needed to take a break and rest His tired feet. 

So He finds a place to sit down.  He sent the disciples into town to buy food – this is a quiet, cool place for Him to rest.  The text does not indicate that anyone else was there.

We all need to take time to rest.  Each of us are dealing with situations that take more than one day to finish…which means we’re going to have to recharge at some point.  Jesus relied on His disciples to go get the food, which tells me that it’s ok to receive help from others when we’re tired.

We don’t have to shoulder everything, all the time.  Those of us who fancy ourselves as “the strong one” in our family have the most difficulty with this.  And yet, here’s Jesus giving a simple, straight-forward example.

Jesus got tired.  He felt worn out.

So he sat down and rested.

Another thing the text doesn’t tell us how long He was able to rest before someone came to the well.   But it was in the exact location He chose to rest that He would have His next encounter as part of the Father’s will.  If Jesus had pushed through the tiredness, if He had kept going until the day was completely done, He wouldn’t have stopped at this well.

And one of His greatest evangelistic events wouldn’t have happened.

Are we willing to trust God enough to rest?  We often see the need to rest as weakness and the time taken to rest as time being wasted…as if God if up in Heaven shaking His head in disappointment when we’re feeling worn out from our day, with an extra twinge of guilt if we’re “only” halfway through the day.

Do we believe that God can use our place of rest to recharge us, but also for the benefit of others?

Seems like a tough concept to grab hold of, but as we’ll see, that’s exactly what happened to Jesus.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

I called Jesus' disciples schmucks. That wasn't well received.

During a conversation about Jesus, His ministry, and His disciples with a Mormon missionary, I made an off-hand, but accurate, statement:

Jesus’ disciples weren’t perfect.  They had their flaws, just like we do.  Let’s be honest, they were schmucks before meeting Jesus.

His body stiffened, he sat up straight, and I could tell he was trying to choose his next words carefully.  Through clenched teeth, he seethed, “These men, these ‘schmucks’ as you call them, were holy men of God.  I don’t appreciate you talking about them like that.” 

While I recognized his desire to be respectful of biblical figures, he had been talking about the disciples as if they were somehow god-like themselves.  So obviously, my labeling of them as schmucks struck a nerve.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, schmuck is a belittling or derogatory term that can range in meaning from stupid/foolish to obnoxious/detestable.

I then pointed out that none of the disciples were in positions of power when they met Jesus and began to follow Him.  They were regular guys with low-level jobs they were expected to work the rest of their lives.  They were fishermen, tax collectors, failed insurrectionists…and all of them were well past the age when a rabbi would have chosen them to be a disciple.  They were passed over by the elites because they weren’t good enough – they didn’t have the aptitude or the ability expected of those who would become part of the religious and political leadership of the nation.  The disciples were the cast-offs, the b-team, the overlooked, and the ignored.

But when Jesus chose them to be His disciples, they didn’t instantly become perfect, either.  All throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see them being selfish and self-promoting, even amongst themselves.  They failed to be like Jesus, many times over.  They fought over who would be the greatest among them (Mark 9:33-34, Luke 22:24), had family petition for their rank in Jesus’ Kingdom (Mark 10:35-41), they didn’t believe Jesus could keep them safe (Matthew 8:26, 14:31), they couldn’t heal a sick child (Mark 17:16), they ran away and deserted Jesus when He was arrested (Matthew 26:56), and although Peter literally swore that he didn’t even know Jesus (Mark 14:71), the other disciples were too busy hiding so they wouldn’t be confronted at all (John 20:19).

Even after Jesus returned to Heaven and the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they still weren’t perfect.  Jesus had to correct Peter on which people groups were allowed to hear the gospel (Acts 10:9-16).  Later still, Peter succumbed to peer pressure and hypocritically began to follow the Mosaic Law again, separating himself from non-Jews…and he was rebuked by Paul for it (Galatians 2:11-14).

All-in-all…that’s pretty schmucky.

But schmucky people are the ones that God often calls to do great things for Him.  In fact, Paul reminded the believers in Corinth of this very fact:

1 Corinthians 1:26-28
Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.  Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.  God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world – what is viewed as nothing – to bring to nothing what is viewed as something

A few members in the Corinthian church may have been considered “wise” or “powerful” or “noble” – but most weren’t.  God accepts everyone who believes in Jesus for eternal life, but He often elevates the lowly in ways that might not be expected.  But why would He do that?  Continuing with Paul’s letter, we find out:

1 Corinthians 1:29-31
so that no one may boast in His presence.  It is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us – our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption – in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

God doesn’t elevate individuals so other people can marvel at how great a person the individual is…rather He elevates the lowly schmucks so that other people can see how great God is and what His power can accomplish. 

I think our lesson here is two-fold:

1.       Don’t put anyone – not even one of the original disciples – on a pedestal.  We’re all sinners saved by God’s gracious gift of Jesus.
2.       When God elevates you, don’t point to yourself (even if other people do)…instead, point them to God.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Impromptu concerts and bitter substitutes

I came across an interesting series of videos on YouTube recently.  A young guy with a guitar walks up to random strangers – typically young women – who are sitting in public and asks what their favorite song is.  Whatever they say, he plays and sings it for them.  He’s an above-average-looking guy, but his singing talent is very good.  The premise of his videos is the same every time, but I’ve found the people’s reactions to be quite fascinating.

First off, the people are always grateful for the impromptu mini-concert.  Obviously, they were not expecting to be serenaded by a random stranger with one of their favorite songs.  When he’s done playing, he gets up and wishes them a good rest of their day.  He doesn’t ask for anything or make any romantic advances.  Many tell him “thanks, you too” and that’s the end.  However, many of the young women are so shocked by his performance that you can watch them swoon over him as he plays and sings.  They stop whatever they’re doing and either begin to subconsciously adjust their outfit or start fiddling with their hair.

Now, whenever he serenades a couple, their reaction isn’t so much toward him as it is toward each other.  The song becomes a catalyst that brings them together, instead of drawing them in closer to the singer.  You can tell that their relationship buckets have been filled by each other – there is no room for anyone else.  The flip-side, though, with the young women who become instantly infatuated with this crooner would indicate that their relationship bucket is running near empty – and the sudden appearance of a talented guy who sings a part of a song for them makes them want more.  Many ask him for his Snap, phone number, or even if he’s available for coffee right then.  They don’t know anything about him or if he’s a quality person, but they are drawn away by the attention he’s unexpectedly given them.

And I don’t make these observations as a knock on these women, either.  I have known guys who are so starved for positive attention, that if a girl so much as smiles at them, they suddenly believe they have found “the one.”  Being in a relationship deficit can make any of us vulnerable to unexpected situations and cause us to overestimate the “good” of a person or situation.

A couple of days ago, I came across this proverb and instantly thought of these videos:

Proverbs 27:7
A person who is full tramples on a honeycomb,
but to a hungry person, any bitter thing is sweet.

The singer may be a great guy, but to the girl who is fulfilled in her relationship, she has no room for him, regardless of how talented he is.  However, to those who are relationally starved, they instantly craved more of his attention – even though they didn’t know if his companionship would be bitter or sweet.

From here, I couldn’t help but think about my relationship with God.  When He and I spend time together, I am so full relationally at a deep-soul-level that when distractions or temptations come my way, I am not swayed.  However, if I have been neglecting to spend time with Him – reading the Scriptures to find out about Him, praying to Him about what’s on my heart and asking to be shown what’s on His, and spending time in community with other believers – if I am not pursuing Him, then I am easily swayed and taken away by time wasters, twisted emotions, and self-centered thoughts.

When I find my “why” and purpose in the one who designed those things in me, I am too full of Him to be distracted by anything else.  God pursues relationship with us because that’s what He made us for – we are at our designed best when we are in full, intimate relationship with Him.  So, please take a practical step to engage with Him today.  Our best defense against a life of bitter substitutes isn’t to work harder to avoid them, but to be so full in our relationship with God that any substitute won’t satisfy.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

An old story example (part 2)

Sometimes, truth shows up in unexpected places.  We found this to be true in the last post, when we found that a part of Israel’s genealogy record contained an example for us to consider.  As a refresher, here is the passage:

1 Chronicles 5:18-20
The descendants of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh…waged war against the Hagrites…They received help against these enemies because they cried out to God in battle, and the Hagrites and all their allies were handed over to them.  He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in Him. 

From this snippet of history, we found that God fulfills His promises.  He was willing to do so because these three tribes humbly cried out to God and trusted in Him for the result.  We then looked at a few of the promises God has made to us church-age believers and considered if we were approaching those promises the same way the Israelites did with what God promised to them.

However, that’s not where the story ends for these three tribes.  After settling in the land, they lived there for many generations…and the next part recorded by the Chronicler is also an example for us.  Unfortunately, though, it’s not a positive example:

1 Chronicles 5:23-26
The descendants of half the tribe of Manasseh settled in the land from Bashan to Ball-hermon (that is, Senir or Mount Hermon); they were numerous…They were valiant warriors, famous men, and heads of their ancestral houses.  But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors.  They prostituted themselves with the gods of the nations God had destroyed before them.  So the God of Israel roused the spirit of King Pul (that is, Tiglath-pileser) of Assyria, and he took the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh into exile.

They had skill, they had fame, and they had authority – everything the world says you need to have a life of enjoyment and significance.  But they forgot how they got those things.  They forgot Who gave them those things.

Instead of continuing to trust in the God of their ancestors, they were distracted and enticed by the same failed gods that had destroyed the nations before them.  It’s easy for us to sit back and wonder ‘How in the world could this happen?’, but any one of these could be a contributing cause:

·       Perhaps their ancestors didn’t teach their descendants as well as they should have.
·       Perhaps the descendants didn’t want to listen to “the old ways”.
·       Perhaps their skill, fame, and power felt more secure than trusting an invisible God.
·       Perhaps the cultural gods validated feelings and activities that were contrary to God’s teachings.

Whatever the reasoning that happened from generation to generation – whether it was a slow decline or a sharp turn off the path – the generations that came from the three tribes that defeated the Hagrites were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors.  Even though they took those steps, they still had their skill, fame, and authority…so maybe they took that as proof they could get away with abandoning God.

But God saw the state of their hearts as more important than the power they had – and He roused the spirit of King Pul to conquer the northern tribes, taking them into exile.  The exile occurred because Israel repeatedly violated God’s first commandment, to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3).  It is interesting to note that after the exile was over and God returned the Jews back to the land He had promised them, they never again had an issue with following other gods. 

When life is going well…we, too, have a tendency to forget that God brought us to this place and time in our lives.  We get distracted and enticed by other cultural gods, mainly for the same bullet point reasons we considered above.  And God takes our relationship with Him just as serious as he did with the Israelites.  The author of Hebrews gave us this warning:

Hebrews 12:7, 10-11
Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline?...He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.  No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

As a good father, God is willing to punish us when our priorities are out of line.  Just like He did with Israel, He is willing to let us suffer consequences so we can understand who He is and who we are in Him.  When we are disciplined, our best course of action is to learn from it and be trained by it.  Let’s be like Israel, who learned from their exile, and not repeat those same actions again.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

An old story example (part 1)

I don’t imagine that you’ve spent much time reading the Old Testament book 1 Chronicles.  Don’t worry, no judgment here…I’m not in it very often, either.  And if you’re like me, when you read through any Old Testament book, it’s very tempting to just skim past the genealogy sections, right?  So-and-so begat son-of-so-and-so, name-I-can’t-possibly-pronounce had a son with-another-name-I-can’t-pronounce.

However, genealogy sections were vitally important to the ancient Israelites.  Knowing where you came from had significant influence on your social standing.  Even though we can’t trace our own lineage back through those genealogies, that doesn’t necessarily mean those sections are empty of anything useful for us church-age believers.  While there are a lifetime of stories behind each name…oftentimes, there are interesting stories couched in between the lists of family lineage.  As the Apostle Paul said, the Old Testament is available to us for examples and insight into the God who loves us (1 Corinthians 10:11).

So, I want to share with you two little stories I found amongst the genealogies.  I think you’ll find them as interesting and as informative as I did.  We’ll look at the first one in this post and the second one in the next post.  The first story shows three of the twelve tribes establishing themselves in the Promised Land, but the local inhabitants weren’t willing to just hand it over.  As you read the following five verses, look for the reason why the three tribes were successful:

1 Chronicles 5:18-22
The descendants of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 warriors who could serve in the army – men who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war.  They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.  They received help against these enemies because they cried out to God in battle, and the Hagrites and all their allies were handed over to them.  He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in Him.  They captured the Hagrites livestock – fifty thousand of their camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand donkeys – as well as one hundred thousand people.  Many of the Hagrites were killed because it was God’s battle.  And they lived there in the Hagrites place until the exile.

Over 44,000 warriors…that’s a lot of skilled fighters; however, that wasn’t the primary reason they won the battle.  The three Israelite tribes were victorious because they cried out to God in battle…He was receptive to their prayer because they trusted in Him.  Despite their numbers and strength, their winning strategy contained two humility-filled steps: crying out to God and trusting in Him.  Not only did they seek God’s favor and assistance, they were counting on Him to fulfill the promises He had made to all the Israelite tribes (see Genesis 12, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 28:13, Numbers 34:1-12 for a few examples).

Since God had promised the land, the three tribes knew they couldn’t obtain the promise fulfillment without God’s involvement.  After the battle was over and the three Israelite tribes had won and taken control of the land, they recognized that it had been God’s battle all along.

Now, of course, us modern-day believers cannot claim this promise from God.  We’re not Israel, and God isn’t going to move us all to Palestine.  That said…what a great example this is for us…we can take this little snippet of history and be reminded that God fulfills His promises.  God keeps His word.  People may have lied to us.  Others may have let us down.  Our God isn’t like that.  He doesn’t leave us in the lurch.  He won’t forget.  God is good for His word, every time.

So, what promises are you crying out to God about?  What promises are you trusting in Him to fulfill?  We can’t do it on our own, no matter how skilled we are.  If you need a reminder, here are a few to consider:

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take up my yoke and learn from Me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

John 5:24
Truly I tell you, anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

Hebrews 13:5-6
Keep your life free from the love of money.  Be satisfied with what you have for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.  Therefore, we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”

There are many more promises available to us, and I encourage you to look for them as you read through the New Testament.  But let’s take the Old Testament story as our example, alright?  Cry out to God and trust in Him to fulfill the promises He’s made.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

How to have a peaceful mind

I have a lot on my mind. 

Not just today.  Not just recently.  For pretty much all of my life – I’ve had a lot on my mind.  I’m blessed (cursed?) with the ability to think over and through multiple things at once.  And while that means my mind is never a dull place, it often means that internal peace and quiet are hard to come by.

Our minds get cluttered so easily, don’t they?  The pace of life makes it feel like everything needs our attention and must be immediately considered, like

What should we have for dinner?
How are my kids doing?
Am I teaching them the right things?
Am I in good standing with my job?
Is this what I want to do with my career?
How’s our money situation?
Can we handle this unexpected expense, or are we going to be in trouble?
How long until we have to replace a vehicle?
Why do I feel like this?
Should I get this checked out by a doctor?

And on and on and on goes the list…with news items, political topics, social media fights, and the onslaught of advertisements only adding fuel to the fire.

Maybe your mind doesn’t swim with questions…instead your struggle might be with negative thoughts or anxious worries or negative thoughts about having anxious worries (I’m not kidding here, either). 

I think it’s safe to say that we all have a lot on our minds.  And I don’t think we can fix that.  At least, not entirely on our own.

Near the beginning of a song found in the book of Isaiah, we find this hope-filled line:

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

Go back and read that again, but slowly this time.  Try saying it out loud as you do.

Perfect peace sounds, well…perfect, doesn’t it?  But it gets better.

The phrase perfect peace is actually a paraphrase of the original Hebrew text.  The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and in this case it is stated twice:

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in shalom shalom, for it is trusting in you.

In Hebrew, if you want to emphasize something, you repeat yourself.  So what Isaiah is really saying here is that the mind dependent on God will have complete peace, a safe peace, a prosperous peace, a content peace.  The words complete, safe, prosperous, and content are all potential translations of the word shalom.  The language translators for the Christian Standard Bible did a good job by paraphrasing shalom shalom as perfect peace.

In order for us to have our mind in perfect peace, Isaiah tells us that our thoughts must be dependent upon God.  Whatever question, worry, or accusing thought comes across our brainwaves needs to be examined in light of our dependence on God.

When we’re trying to make it all work, when we believe that “I am the one who must shoulder this alone.”, we’re focusing on ourselves and also giving up on our reliance on God to see us through…and by doing so we give up the way to perfect peace.  

But what does it mean to be dependent on God?  I’ve heard many Christians say they just “give it to God” or “let go and let God” – and while they sound very spiritual when they say those kinds of things, there’s not a lot of substance or guidance there for us to work with.  Thankfully, Isaiah gave us a better explanation.

Notice that in Isaiah 26:3, he equated being dependent on God with trusting in Him.  Practically speaking this means:

I trust Him when I’m feeling indecisive.
I believe that He wants a relationship with my kids, just like He does with me.
I trust Him when I’m worried I’m not a good enough parent.
I do my work for Him and trust Him with the outcome.
I include Him in decisions I make as to where my career goes.
I trust Him in my finances by spending to His priorities.
I trust that He knew the crisis was coming and will show us a way through.
I trust that He knows how to provide as we manage what He’s blessed us with.
I tell Him how I feel.
I trust that my good and His glory is more important, even if the doctor gives news I don’t want to hear.

Trust God like this, and we’ll have perfect peace – even if life around us isn’t perfect.

This holds true for our anxious thoughts, our scared thoughts, our lustful thoughts, our depressing thoughts, and any other type of thinking that tries to consume us.  We must run them all through the lens of our dependence upon God.  Get help to process as you need to, we’re certainly not expected to do all this alone.  A trusted friend or counselor can be a tremendous help, but after processing with them, we must still make the choice to trust God with life in the here-and-now. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Choosing our focus

The ins, outs, ups, and downs of life can cause us to lose sight of what’s truly important. Especially when it feels like bad, scary things just keep happening over and over. However, regardless of what we’re facing, we can choose what we focus on.

Choosing our focus
Originally posted on April 29, 2015

There are many things to be afraid of in this life.

Every day, the morning newspaper is full of stories about dangerous situations, unsafe people, riots, and natural disasters.  Stories about people from all walks of life with hidden agendas, corruption, and greed shaping the decisions they make.  Some days, it just feels like the whole world is closing in with evil people and bad situations. 

By his choice of words, we can see that David felt that way often…especially when he was on the run from King Saul.  Saul wanted David dead, so that he could continue being king.  Since David’s adversary was the most powerful man in the country, it seemed that everywhere David turned, he was in danger.

Here’s how David describes his situation:

Psalm 57:4
I am in the midst of lions;
I lie down with those who devour me.
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongues are sharp swords.

Don’t just glaze over this description.  Let’s try and picture what David’s describing here.

You’re out in the open.  Not just in proximity to wild animals, rather there are lions who freely roam around the area where you’re standing.  You look for shelter, for cover…anything that will help you avoid an attack.  Even where you sleep at night is not entirely safe.  And you don’t have to guess as to how the lions will treat you if they find you.  There will be blood, and certainly no mercy.

How do you feel?  Where’s your focus?

In moments like these, our real priorities come into a much sharper focus.  We clearly recognize what’s important and what is not.  Survival normally becomes the driving influence in all our decisions.  We may even select a few people we trust, and then we would make our next move. 

However, David’s next move is to look up

Psalm 57:5
God, be exalted above the heavens;
let Your glory be above the whole earth.

Previously in this psalm, David has approached God for refuge and protection.  However, when the danger arrives…when Saul comes close to where David is hiding…David’s request turns away from himself and focuses solely on God’s reputation.

That is the true challenge for us.  When we find ourselves in the crucible of life, when the corruption of the world is pressing in…are we looking to merely survive the evil around us, or are we looking to advance God’s reputation in this world?  Which do we desire more? 

If we choose the focus that David did, then the scary things in life won’t be so overwhelming. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Attitudes in Stuckville

I hate feeling stuck.  I hate the feeling of being trapped in a situation with no easy or immediate escape.  Here are a few “stuck” situation examples: a job or responsibility I no longer want to perform, a gathering of people I don’t want to be around, or even a conversation I don’t want to have.  I also despise the “stuck mood” I typically develop.  I can easily become grouchy, suspicious, and generally no fun to be around.  Even if I can keep up a happy face in these kinds of situations, my “stuck mood” is swirling underneath and clouding up my thoughts. 

Perhaps you recognize these same tendencies in yourself.  Unfortunately, I don’t think we can always avoid ending up being stuck.  There are times when circumstances are out of our control, and – fair or not – we have to manage the situation in front of us the best we can.  Welcome to Stuckville, population: me.

I recently talked through these kinds of situations and feelings with the elementary school age kids at my church a couple of Sundays ago.  It was a good lesson for them and me to discuss, because it’s important for us to recognize that God is still at work when we’re feeling “stuck.”  The story we looked at was from Paul’s second missionary journey.  Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi when this incident happened:

Acts 16:16-18
Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.  She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.  As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”  She did this for many days.

It's easy to think: Well, she’s not wrong.  Paul and Silas were servants of God and they were proclaiming that if you believe in Jesus, He saves you by giving you eternal life.  The difficult part was that she followed them for many days and said this repeatedly.  When I imagine this scene, I don’t think her tone was all that helpful, either.  Perhaps she said these words with a sneer or in a mocking tone.  In any case, after several days of her pestering, Paul had had enough.

Acts 16:18
Paul was greatly annoyed.  Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!”  And it came out right away.

Good.  Problem solved, right?  Demon-possessed girl is no longer demon-possessed, with Paul and Silas now free to continue ministering.  Instead, a new problem was just starting:

Acts 16:19-24
When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.  Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city.  They are Jews and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.  The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.  After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.  Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

Here we have Paul and Silas completely stuck.  They were unfairly mobbed and physically attacked.  Even those who were supposed to be in authority were against them.  If I had been severely flogged and then thrown in jail, I’m pretty sure my emotions would be all over the place.  Angry?  Absolutely.  Scared?  Definitely.  Feeling abandoned by God?  Yeah.

And it’s possible that Paul and Silas felt all those things…but look what they did next:

Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 

In the middle of Stuckville, where was their focus?  It wasn’t on themselves or their immediate situation.  As this midnight worship session was going on, something happened:

Acts 16:26-28
Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.  When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

Roman law said that if you lost your prisoner, then you must compensate that loss with your life.  But Paul stopped the jailer before he could complete his suicidal act.  What happened next was probably not what Paul and Silas expected when they were dragged into the jail that night.

Acts 16:29-34
The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved – you and your household.”  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.  He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.  Right away he and all his family were baptized.  He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

This is the point that the kids and I focused in on: If Paul and Silas had not gone through their unfair ordeal, if they had not been “stuck” by circumstances outside of their control, then the Philippian jailer and his family would not have heard and believed the gospel that night.  A whole family’s eternal destiny was changed…but Paul and Silas needed to be “stuck” in order to reach them.  The kids also agreed it will be pretty cool in Heaven to meet and play with the jailer’s kids.

So when we find ourselves in Stuckville, and we can’t get out of it…if we keep our focus on God, He can give us purpose and joy when we’re tempted to be self-centered and grouchy.

Keep Pressing,
Ken