Terror, Trust and Temptation

Today is 9/11.  Twelve years ago there was nothing special or memorable about today except for those whose birthdays and anniversaries are on this day (Happy birthday and anniversary).  But eleven years ago that changed.  Over 3000 people lost their lives and America was shaken to the core and terror became real.  I remember where we were on that day well.  So do you.  I also remember how people responded.  Church services were swelled over the following weeks as people sought understanding, meaning and hope in the midst of everything.  The seeking lasted a month for most.

Now we face potentially one of the most devastating economic and social crises ever.  And it is not just here at home.  This is a global issue.  And fear enters the picture once again.  When unemployment runs high and people become desperate, we see the effects in various parts of Europe.  Riots, destruction, acts of violence.  There is blame and anger a plenty.  And people again wonder where they can turn.  Who can save us out of this mess?  Who can we trust?

Therein lies the temptation.  Many react to the mess but few ask how we ultimately got here.  In America, we have long served at the altar of rights rather than the altar of freedom.  The founding of our nation was based on the fact that rights, freedom and opportunity come from God.  We were and are not a theocracy like Israel, and we never were.  But we were a people in the beginning who understood the truth that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  And in the framework of our culture, including our government at the time, God was recognized and honored.  Over the past two hundred and thirty plus years, that has changed.  Our trust and hope have shifted to men, to ourselves, to our political leaders.  Yet the psalmist warned,  

Do not put your trust in princes,
    in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,    whose hope is in the Lord their God.  Psalm 146:3-5

Since moving away from our trust in Him as our foundation, millions of unborn babies have been killed; jails have become overpopulated, all sorts of excesses have become "normal," the foundations of the family have been eroded, and right has become wrong and wrong has become right. 

So what do we do?  God speaks from His word in Isaiah 57:

¹⁰ You wearied yourself by such going about,
    but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewal of your strength,
    and so you did not faint. ¹¹ “Whom have you so dreaded and feared
    that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
    nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
    that you do not fear me?
¹² I will expose your righteousness and your works,
    and they will not benefit you.
¹³ When you cry out for help,
    let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
    a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
    will inherit the land
    and possess my holy mountain.”

I have been asked if I am going to address our political situation from the pulpit.  I want to move to the fundamental core of why we have the chaos we do.  In the name of rights and freedom even many organized churches in America have moved away from honoring the Lord and are preaching a Gospel that is no Gospel at all.  There is no light in the darkness and no salt in the culture.  If we were as passionate about standing up as believers in our culture, caring for the oppressed, speaking up for the rights of the helpless, visiting those in prison, teaching our children about the Lord, and putting our trust in Him, our land would be reclaimed and we would possess it.

I strongly encourage every person to seek the Lord and exercise your right to vote.  But I plead with every person to put all your heart into seeking the Lord personally, and trusting not in political systems to change our world, but in the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  I'll leave you with the words of the psalmist again from Psalm 146:

⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
⁸     the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the foreigner
    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.   

Even so, come and accomplish this through your church in our day, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

The Loving Atmosphere of Discomfort

We spoke this past weekend about the law of contradiction.  Two concepts which are presented as absolutes yet they exclude the other cannot both be true.  The sovereignty of God is an absolute and our free will is true but only within the boundaries set by God.  We do not have the ability to change reality.

Yet we also spoke of the law of contrariety.  This law states that seemingly opposite things can have great elements of truth to them that blends them together in reality.  That is how law and grace exist side by side.  Mercy and justice are compatible parts of God's economy as well.  They feel like they can't both be true but they make perfect sense together.

Now let's look at this in the life of Jesus.  People who were living sinful lives but looking for hope felt comfortable with Jesus.  He talked straight to them, acknowledging the effects of the decisions they had made but let them know there was a way to a new life.  He had not come to condemn but to save.  But salvation meant that people needed to face up to the decisions they had made, repent, and turn to Him.  His offer to everyone is to deny yourself, take up your cross (make tough decisions to say "no" to ungodly things and "yes" to God's way) and follow Him.  That is the core of the Gospel. 

Our church is a place of loving welcome to all who are seeking and struggling.  But we will always speak the truth in love in pointing people to Christ.  When challenged to change, and turn to Christ, some will say we are legalistic or judgmental.  Not so.  We love and spur each other on to Christ, helping each other along on the journey.  We all will be uncomfortable at times.  That is what truth does when we have to face ourselves.  But the love of Christ will always be the dominating atmosphere in which we live. 

Truth and love, mercy and justice, are powerful components of the character of Christ as expressed in and through His people.  A healthy family holds all these traits in consistent tension.  That is the life of a healthy church as well.  And this pursuit is one we will never give up on.

Glory

Psalm 8:1 says:
Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens. 

We saw this glory expressed as we were out on the boat one evening.  The picture of it is here on the left.  The cloud formations,  the fire-like glow of the sun, the reflections on the water, all point to the glory of the Lord.  It was awe-inspiring to us all.  Like other things last week, it got me to thinking.  

Glory is something that belongs to God alone.  He is worthy of it.  He chooses to share it with us through His creation.  He allows it to be reflected in us, similar to how the moon reflects the light of the sun.  But the source and object of all glory is God alone.

Many people spend life seeking glory for themselves.  Accomplishments, career goals, financial achievements, social standing, or as we watched the past two weeks, earning gold in sports.  As I read Ecclesiastes this past week, all these things are a "chasing after the wind."  They do not satisfy for long.  While working so hard at seeking our own glory we can miss out in enjoying His glory.

Last week invigorated me to bring Him even more glory.  He is deserving of it.  I am not.  

As Ephesians 5:20-21 states:

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.   

   We traveled for vacation yesterday.  I have a new app for my iPhone and thought I would give it a try.  Along the way we wanted to stop to see our daughter.    I turned the app on and was ready to head directly south.  It told me to head west.   It took us a way that no other map program suggested but indicated that if we went this way we would get to our destination in amazing time.  So with that anticipation, I followed its directions. 
   As we traveled, and time passed slowly, I began to doubt this app.  This doesn't seem to make sense.  It felt as if we weren't getting there as quickly as it said.  If we took our "normal" route it would have brought us to the same point we just passed.  We were getting a little stir crazy and ready for the trip to be over.  And to our great joy we finally arrived.
   This morning I have been using other programs to evaluate what happened yesterday.  To be fair, the program indicated that the time was the "travel time."  It did not include our stops to eat, get gas, and stretch.  If I took those times off, it was right.  I used map quest to check mileage.  My new program was right.  The fastest and shortest route to our destination was the way it led us.  And as we traveled my new program warned me about upcoming traffic slow downs and problems.  So despite my feelings, the program was right all along.
   I see people take their first journeys of faith the same way.  They have a new "app" to use called the Bible.  They have been used to traveling a particular path to try to reach a destination and suddenly this new app says to go a different direction.  It feels weird.  And it seems that it is taking longer to get there but they forget that along the way there are needs to address.  And when they reach their destination they find the Bible was right all along. 
   Next time I take a trip, I will have a little more confidence in my new program.  It didn't fail me.  My initial perceptions of what it was telling me were wrong.  What it was saying was right, I just didn't understand it well because I was hearing it based on my former frame of reference and personal experience. 
   I pray that if you are on your initial journey of faith that you can also learn to trust the Bible and what the Holy Spirit is directing you to do, even if your experience and former frame of reference tell you that this can't be right.  You will find it is and it will give you confidence as you take the next leg of your trip.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Perspective

I had the fulfillment of a nice gift yesterday.  I was given a Groupon to do a Discovery Flight.  I was given 10 to 15 minutes of "training" at a simulator on the ground and then we went up in a four seat Cessna airplane and I actually got to run the controls and fly.  It was a blast. I did notice that the instructor asked that I ease up my grip on the controls as we approached for the landing.  Wonder what that meant??  :-)

Pam, ever my faithful partner, sat in back and took marvelous pictures.  The thing that struck me while up there and also from her pictures was the perspective.  We saw Buffalo in a whole new way.  When we are on the ground, things look totally different.  They are congested or run down or gray.  But from above, it looks exciting, fresh, alive.  We saw the harbor, the Niagara Center, the Coca Cola Field.  We watched trains, buses and cars winding their way.  We noticed the gold dome of the M & T Center glistening in the sunshine.  What can feel dead or insurmountable on the ground looks different from above.

That is why we encourage people to consider God's perspective about their lives.  To us, on the ground, things can look rough.  But from above, God sees things, people, and places He has planned for us to bring us life.  His perspective is always better.

How's your perspective today?  I encourage you to look to the One who stands above it all and ask Him to show you His pictures.  Life will look far different for you too.

Below the Surface

I was sitting on our porch this morning watching and thinking.  The hot winds were blowing the young trees in the courtyard around pretty well.  Some were bending slightly but remaining steady.  We saw numerous trees uprooted in Indiana over the 4th of July from that freak storm that went through.  It was obvious that their roots weren't deep enough to help them stand.
This morning I was thinking through Jeremiah 17:

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.” 

The time to determine where the roots of our trust lie is not in the midst of the storms, but before.  When our roots are deep and deepening in the Lord, we will stand.  But if we consistently trust in ourselves and other people, we will be uprooted when the storms come and then turn around and blame God for the storm.  

The purpose we are doing the House of Prayer and the Grow Discipleship classes as well as our Sunday offerings is to help people go deeper.  Many choose to want a more passive role and just "enjoy" a service.  But roots don't go deep with passivity.   It is in the storms of life and the development times in between that causes our roots to grow.  


Make sure you are growing.  There are storms coming.  Will you stand?
 

Too Busy

You don't have to talk long to someone or ask many questions until inevitably the issue of time or schedule comes up.  I hear stories of how overtime, games, parties, hobbies, and homework are stressing use of time to the limits.  For Christians, this can cause more stress because of the guilt felt by all the things that "should be" included in the schedule that are not.  It seems that time for prayer, studying of the Bible, meaningful conversations with our family members, and even church attendance get left out when time gets tight.
We all have 168 hours per week, 24 per day.  All of us have to make choices.  All of us will have a myriad of good things presented to us as possibilities.  So how do we determine which things we will do?  Here are some suggested guidelines for deciding.

1.  Put the non-negotiables in first.  The things that are essential for your well-being as a disciple of Jesus.  You will eat at some point.  You will sleep at some point.  Put in there that you will take time to study your Bible.  You will set aside time for your family to be together without interruption.  You will set aside time for spending time alone with the Father.  Church is a high priority.  Exercise is important.  Put these things in your calendar first.

2.  Put your required responsibilities in second.  We have to work or go to school.  There may be a few other things that you "must do."  Careful here.  There are things that we can do and might do and even feel pressure to do.  But they really aren't musts.  Put the things that are responsibilities in second.

3.  Decide what activities or people are the most important places to invest your time in.  Consider time as valuable than your retirement funds.  Since you have limited time (like funds), make choices based on what is going to be most beneficial for you and for honoring Christ.  You may react to the idea of being discerning with people.  But the reality is that there are very needy people who will monopolize all your time if you allowed them.  They need a team of people to deal with them, not you alone.  Plus if you invest time in a few key people they in turn will help you deal with others.  Learn to say "NO" to some good things so you will say "YES" to the most important.

4.  Don't forget to schedule some margin.  You don't have to be busy 24/7.  That is why God established the concept and requirement of Sabbath.  He knew that by nature we would be workaholics or busyholics.  So He scheduled a "time-out" once a week, once a quarter, once a year, and once every so many years, so we would stop and have some margin.  Read for enjoyment or improvement.  Have some no background noise think time.  But schedule some no schedule time in there.  Its ok.

Some years ago, my schedule got out of control and it was causing friction for Pam and me.  It was a defining moment for us in addressing the animal we can call the tyranny of the urgent.  All the things I was involved with were good. But they were not all necessary.  We sat down and worked through the process I listed above.  I began to say "NO" to some very good opportunities so I could focus on the "BEST."  Life changed.  Stress levels came down.  Enjoyment increased. 
I will tell you that this animal does not die.  You must constantly fight with it.  But by putting these guidelines in place, the battle is easier.  So go for it today.  And see how life can improve for you.