Sunday, November 25, 2007

SPEED BUMPS

I hate speed bumps!

You are cruising along, minding your own business, just under the speed of sound and bang—you hit a speed bump. Speed bumps are for kids, not for me—I’m a grown-up, for pity’s sake. I know what is considered a safe speed! (Here in the desolate reaches of North Dallas, some of the country folk in government in these communities actually have put out street signs saying, “Watch out for Speed Humps.” Go figure! Do these folk actually know what the word means? I’m not going to be the one to ‘esplain’ it to them…if you know what I mean.

I hate speed bumps in the street and parking lots and I used to dislike them in Scripture. I will be cruising along in my daily reading and bang, there will be a verse or a phrase that just catches me off guard. For a moment or several, I am bewildered and left with the nagging, intellectually challenging question, “What?” And then I catch my breath, my fragile sanity returns and I realize that my question should have been, “What did I just read?” I am then forced to back up, something I do not like to do in the car (because I tend to run into things when I go backwards) and besides, going backwards is not very spiritual. So full speed ahead!

Now that I have had some fun with the concept of “speed bumps,” let’s try to understand why some verses are just going to reach out and “rattle your wheels.”

I think there are at least three reasons why this happens. The first is, sometimes a verse has been brought into English in an awkward translation of the original. Somewhat like some of my sentences that leave you scratching your head and wondering, whatever could that mean? When this happens, it’s helpful to look at alternate translations. The second reason is that there is a cultural gap between when the passage was written and where we are today. This makes it difficult for us to grasp the import of what is said in the verse, and commentaries can be helpful here. The third reason is that the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you something out of that verse. It’s actually not a speed bump, it’s more like the teacher is slapping you on the back of the head and saying, “Pay attention.”

Mark 9:49 is one such verse that makes me go…“What?”

For every one shall be salted with fire.”

I think one of the reasons I react to a verse like this is that it forces me to stop, to think and to investigate. And then I yell, “What?”

There are a variety of ways to deal with a verse like this, the meaning of which on the surface, at least to me, is elusive. One way is just to ignore it and pretend that it must have a deep, deep meaning, reserved just for the very spiritual, and being a shallow, shallow person, this argument lets me off the hook! Not very likely!

In trying to understand a Scripture like Mark 9:49, it is very important to look at the context of the verse. Is it part of a narrative or a dialog that extends over several verses before and after the “speed bump”? If it is a part of a narrative, what is the focus of what is being said? Don’t make the mistake of lifting the verse out of its context and trying to assign a meaning that may or may not be valid separate from the context.

It is also helpful to look at the meaning of the key words in the verse. You can use an online help like the Blue Letter Bible or the Bible Browser to check the meaning of the original words. I have listed below links that will take you to these Web sites. Also, you can go to different versions of the Scripture and see the translations. One of the Bibles I have in my library is The Word, and it draws from 26 translations and gives you the best eight or ten for each verse. This is a great resource (thanks, Mike Reed).

Commentaries are often very helpful in throwing light on difficult Scriptures. One thing I have learned about commentaries, however, is that if the passage is difficult for you to understand, it is often difficult for them, too, and sometimes their results are disappointing.

Now back to Mark 9:49.

I am not going to give you my understanding of this verse right now. I want you to read it, in context, and send me a comment with your understanding of what the verse means. I promise to publish all the comments that I receive on this verse. If I don’t publish yours, it’s because I don’t like you…just kidding! You can send a comment by clicking on the envelope, at the bottom of the article and sending me an e-mail. You can check to see when your comment is published by going back to the blog site and clicking on “Comments” at the bottom. Your comment won't go up immediately as it has to go before my committee for approval (just kidding).

Tell me what you think…let’s talk! In a week or so I will tell you what I think this verse is saying.

Here are the links:

Blue Letter Bible http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Bible Browser http://www.biblebrowser.com/

Thursday, November 22, 2007

GIVING THANKS!

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV).

It’s Thanksgiving morning and I am feeling very, very thankful. I wanted to share my thanks to the Lord so I’ve taken the last article, “The Ambush,” and put it in the archives for easy access. It is the first one listed and if you haven’t read it already, you really need to.

I have so much to be thankful for! One year ago yesterday, Carol and I were in Belgium where I had surgery on both hips because of extreme arthritis. The arthritis was slowly rendering me immobile. In September of last year an orthopedic specialist here told me that “in less than two years you will be in a wheelchair.” There were many days last year that I could not get out of the house because of the pain and discomfort.

After the doctor kind of verbally slapped some sense into me and I got my pride out of the way, I apologized in prayer to the Lord for my attitude and in person to my family for what I had put them through. I didn’t know exactly what to do but my repenting opened the floodgate of God’s wisdom and blessing and two months later on November 21, 2006, I had hip resurfacing surgery in Belgium.

I am not going to go into all that happened to get us to Belgium. There were amazing answers to prayer and God gave us favor all over the place. “The blessing of the Lord maketh one rich and he addeth no sorrow” (Proverbs 10:22). The final phrase in this verse means that blessing comes because of God’s grace not because of your toil.

I began walking, without pain, two days after the surgery and on the fourth day I started climbing stairs without pain. It was an amazing moment for me, to be walking without pain for the first time in about five years.

It is now a year later and thanks be to God, I have not had any pain in my hips or my knees for a year. If I weren’t a conservative Presbyterian, I would be up and dancing.

Not only am I deeply thankful to God for being free of the arthritis pain but there are so many other things I am thankful for—my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my family, my friends, living in this great country, knowing that God loves me beyond my capacity to understand. What more can I say? I AM THANKFUL!

Thanksgiving Day is, to a minor degree, about family, friends, fellowship, food and football but more importantly, Thanksgiving is about “giving thanks.”

On Tuesday morning I was doing some errands and went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. As I came out of the store I noticed that the Salvation Army Christmas kettle was there and something clicked in my spirit. I decided that this year I will not pass one of the kettles without putting something in. A part of being thankful is being willing to share.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

THE AMBUSH

I posted an article a few weeks ago on Acts 27 entitled “When All Hell Breaks Loose.” It’s in the archives (October 8, 2007) and might be worth reviewing.

The incident in Acts 28:3-5 takes place soon after Paul and friends are safe on the island of Malta. Paul and his friends had survived a terrible storm and shipwreck; it was winter and it was cold and raining! The islanders were providing food and shelter for the shipwrecked and Paul was involved in helping to arrange care for the survivors as they struggled to get dry, warm and out of the bad weather. As he reached down to pick up an armload of firewood, a small, poisonous snake, a viper, popped out from the stack of wood, struck Paul, and fastened itself on his hand.

Immediately the legalists, the Pharisees, said, “Oh, oh! This man has done something wrong; he has sin in his life; he is dead meat; he is being judged by God.” And then, as spectators, they stood by to watch him suffer and die. Pharisees love to watch people suffer.

Paul walked over to the fire and shook the snake off his hand and into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

What just happened and what does it mean to us?

This was not some random happening nor was it God’s judging Paul for “sin in his life.” This was a direct attack on Paul, an ambush, meant to try and silence him once and for all. The devil did not want Paul going to Rome. While the enemy did not know what Paul would do in Rome, he was very aware of what Paul had already done and he wanted no more of that. Paul had bludgeoned and severely crippled the enemy through his missionary travels, his teaching, and especially his writings. By this time Paul had already written the book of Romans, the Corinthian letters, the Thessalonian letters and Galatians. The enemy was sick of this and wanted to silence Paul.

The viper was an emissary of hell sent to ambush and severely hurt or destroy Paul. The apostle knew right away what was happening and how to respond. He knew what Jesus had taught the disciples to do when they were ambushed (see Mark 16:17-18).

Paul did not give in to panic, because he knew he was walking on solid ground in the authority of the Lord. He calmly walked to the fire and shook the snake into the fire and straight back to the place of its origin.

The enemy loves to use “ambush” on God’s people, to come at you when he thinks you are not looking and not ready. He does so to try and gain the upper hand and to disgrace and attempt to destroy God’s work in your life. It was on a rooftop that the devil surprised King David with a spirit of lust and David ended up in adultery. David should not have been there and was surprised by the sight of a bathing woman and was taken by lust.

When the viper fastened itself on Paul’s hand, I am sure there was a moment of surprise. Who wouldn’t be surprised if a snake jumped on you? But Paul immediately understood what was happening. Years earlier he had written to the Corinthians, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The word “taken” as it is used here means to seize, to take by fraud, to possess or take by force. This is the picture of an ambush when suddenly by deception and surprise the enemy tries to overwhelm its victim. But God says, “I have given you the tools to deal with any eventuality; you can handle this, you can triumph!”

And so when the enemy struck, while Paul may have been momentarily surprised, he knew exactly what to do

He did not go to pieces and run screaming into the night.

He did not throw himself on the ground and begin to confess sin and cry out for mercy.

He knew he was on solid ground with the Lord; he knew that Christ’s death on Calvary had established forever our authority in Him. He knew that the enemy was trying to spoil God’s plan. Deep in his heart he knew what lay ahead, what letters he still had to write, what churches he needed to strengthen, and that God was not finished with him yet. I believe the words of the Lord echoed in Paul’s mind, “They will take up serpents; and if they handle anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” I think Paul looked down at the snake fastened on his hand and said to the snake, “I have a surprise for you, too,” and then shook the snake off his hand and into the fire.

How do you handle an ambush?

Sunday, November 11, 2007

DEFINING THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE!

How do you define a marriage? By the number of children produced? The length of the marriage? The estate of the married couple? What do you think? Maybe the number of friends or perhaps the size of their house?

I think not, to any of the above. The exteriors of marriage are simply interesting anecdotal information. The heart of a marriage is the personal relationship between the husband and the wife. Some of the best marriages I have ever seen are between people who have little of this life’s “stuff” but they are in love, they communicate clearly, they have weathered some difficult circumstances and they are happy in each other’s presence. Some of the worst marriages I have ever seen involve people who are wealthy, they barely tolerate each other,they barely communicate and can hardly wait to go out and do something that does not involve their spouse. They seemingly have everything but they actually have nothing much.

How do we define our walk with God? Is the smiling, Scripture-quoting, endlessly positive, ever chipper nuisance that you see at church all the time actually the real deal? I don’t know that and neither do you. The definition of the person who really walks with God is simple and yet it is hidden. I’ll explain what I mean in just a moment.

The definition of our personal walk with God requires an answer that only you can give. You don’t owe that answer to anybody; it’s just for you and, of course, God. The one issue that defines our walk with God is our devotional life. In marriage, the issue is defined by the relationship between the two involved (a man and a woman, I mean; let there be no mistake about that in my definition). In our spiritual journey, the defining issue is our relationship with the Father. The marriage relationship has an uncanny similarity to our devotional relationship with our Heavenly Father.

In marriage the husband and wife do not exchange their vows, give each other a ring, kiss, and then move to separate parts of the world. For argument’s sake, let’s have the husband move to Iceland right after the marriage ceremony and the wife to Australia. Once in a while they exchange letters, e-mails and (be still my heart) they actually talk to each other on the phone, but only once in a long while. Now I ask you, is that really a marriage? In name only is it a marriage, but there will be no fruit from this arrangement.

But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh”(Mark 10:6-8).

The communication of the partners in marriage finds its fulfillment in the consummation of physical intimacy…they become one flesh. And so it is in the spiritual realm; our communication is fulfilled in the intimate relationship that we have with the Father.

I believe the devotional life is so important that the enemy attacks us there as much or more than he does anywhere else. If the enemy can derail your devotional life, he will cripple your growth and spiritual vitality and render you spiritually impotent!

It is one thing to say that God is a master craftsman and He will make me into a beautiful instrument. The fact is that some are so spiritually passive that they never do anything to cooperate with God. They never take the time to fine-tune their spiritual life, they just stumble along with no real vibrancy in their intimate life with God. If you are not willing to work at your devotional life, then what you are really saying is, “God doesn’t have all of me, I’m just too busy and way too cool for that old-fashioned stuff.” You limit God’s ability to work in your life…yes, that’s what I said, You limit God’s ability to work in your life!

To all my married friends. Men, do you ever do something special for your spouse, buy her something she wasn’t expecting, take her out to dinner on the spur of the moment, tell her how much she means to you after all these years? Do you ever just do things for your wife like vacuuming or doing the dishes or (I know I’m going to get into trouble on this one) dusting? If you don’t, you should and you should start today. Your greatest reward will be the smile on your wife’s face!

How about surprising God by spending a little more time than usual in His presence? You could really shock Him by going on a fast for more than three hours (that’s about as long as Missourians and Canadians can go without a feeding). You could surprise and shock Him by making a special love gift (I’m talking money here) to a ministry or a needy person and doing it in the name of the Lord. Or a random act of kindness because you know that’s the kind of thing Jesus did. No one else ever needs to know about the “special” things you do in your relationship with the Lord, but He will know and He will smile!

One final thought for today. We are seeing an avalanche of broken marriages in and out of the church. The divorce courts are jammed with people ending their covenant of marriage. What is this saying to us about the spiritual condition of the church when we are told that at least 50 percent of Christians will go through a divorce? I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this. Drop me a comment by clicking on the envelope at the bottom right corner of the article.

Monday, November 5, 2007

REDACTIVE CHRISTIANS?

Yes, that’s what I said—“redactive Christians.” (For my family and friends in Arizona, no, I did not say “radioactive”—that’s what you get for living in the sun and dry heat of the desert too long!)

Have you ever been watching a TV news program and they show a document that has been “declassified”? Or they show a document that had to be requested under the Freedom of Information Act? Often when they show these formally sensitive documents, there are heavy black lines obscuring whole sections in the document that were deemed “sensitive” by the government and, therefore, the document had been “redacted.” The term means “to select or adapt by obscuring or removing sensitive information.” The government redacts documents to protect national security and most likely to keep themselves out of jail!

In evangelical Christian circles, we don’t ever admit to being redactive with Scripture. Instead, believers talk about their great love for the Book—while they only read parts of it and build whole doctrines on Scriptures that are taken out of context. I have friends who only read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs! These friends never suggest that the “other portions of Scripture” are not valuable; they just act as though those portions have no meaning for us in all our contemporary enlightenment. We even have Bible publishers who print and publicize New Testaments (with Psalms and Proverbs) because in their estimation that’s where “the action” is!

Another bad habit in our personal study of Scripture is mentally dismissing certain portions as being of little or no value to us. I have been guilty of doing this very thing. There are whole books of the Bible or large portions of books that I have tried to avoid because I was either not interested in the subject matter, it was difficult to understand or, frankly, because I found sections of it boring. As a consequence, I “redacted” Scripture. No, I didn’t break out the black marker, at least not so you could see it. But I broke the marker out in my mind by dismissing entire passages. I have never really cared for the prophetic passages in the book of Daniel. My interest was in understanding how Daniel could be a victorious believer in a very hostile environment. I have been guilty of being selective by rushing past or completely skipping the prophesies of Daniel.

Was I wrong? Yes I was! Is being selective, redactive, wrong? Yes, it is, and I will tell you why. When we say that certain portions of Scripture are not meaningful for us, we are admitting several things. First we are admitting that we do not fully trust God and how He would work in us. Second, we are suggesting that we know better than He does what we need to succeed as victorious believers and, therefore, we are demeaning the character and integrity of our Heavenly Father. Sadly, when I selectively approach Scripture, I limit Scripture’s ability to work effectively in me (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

The Holy Spirit used two Scriptures to get me straight on this issue.

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, New King James).

As much as I don’t like to admit it, there are truths that the Holy Spirit will bring alive to me in Leviticus, Deuteronomy and the Minor Prophets if only I will stop being so thickheaded. When Paul wrote these words, there was no New Testament as we know it; he was referring to what we know as the Old Testament. Paul asserts that the entire Old Testament was written for us to learn from, to be instructed from. When we dismiss the Old Testament as being irrelevant to us, we are short-circuiting our own spiritual growth.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).

The word pure means to be refined, the way gold is refined by intense heat that removes the impurities. The Word is not God’s babbling, like some of us do when we get on the phone with a friend. The Word is an extremely refined and purified product that will bring results if we let it! When I redact Scripture, either intentionally or subconsciously, I am showing my distrust of God! When I redact Scripture, I limit God’s ability to protect me from the onslaught of the enemy and from the pressures of life. When I redact Scripture, I reduce the ability of Scripture to change me. It’s like dialing a rheostat back from the setting of potent to semi-potent. Dial the rheostat back far enough and you will get to impotent!

It’s time to lay down the mental marker and redial the Bible rheostat back up from “selected parts” to “all.”