Our home sits on the south side of a little lake—and I do mean little. The lake is just a few acres in size and is owned and maintained by our neighborhood association. My home office looks out over the lake and as I work, I love to look out the window and occasionally daydream.
In the eight years we have lived here, I have watched countless times as dads have brought their children to the lake’s edge and begun the process of teaching them how to cast a line into the water. Casting is a skill that does require a little bit of learning. At first, very few are able to throw the baited hook very far out into the water. More often, after a mighty heave, it lands right in front of them and sometimes even behind them. Some of the children get frustrated and after a few tries with little or no success, they put the rod down and go do something else. Others keep trying and slowly the skill begins to take shape, and they begin dropping their hooks out into the water where the fish live.
The Bible teaches us that we need to learn a “casting” skill as we grow up in our relationship with Christ.
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
“Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22).
I have to confess that I struggle with this. I find it difficult to release an anxiety, to put it over on Jesus; I’m better about it than I used to be but I still struggle with it. Does “casting our care on Him” mean that we just erase it from our mind? How can that be? Are we supposed to forget about the sick loved one, or the financial need that is pressing us for a solution? Is the Bible suggesting that we embrace an attitude of irresponsibility? I don’t think that’s what it means at all.
I believe the Bible is telling us to stop carrying the burden alone; put it down; don’t forget about it but stop obsessing about it and feeling that no one else is aware of what you are facing.
In his classic book, God’s Cure for Worry, Guy Mark Pearce tells the following story. Pearce was out driving on a hot summer day when he came across a woman walking beside the road, carrying a heavy basket. Pearce stopped and offered the woman a ride which she gratefully accepted. After the lady was seated, Pearce noticed that she continued to hold the heavy basket in her arms. “Your basket will ride just as well in the bottom of the carriage and you will be much more comfortable,” Pearce told her. The lady replied, “Thank you, I never thought of that.” Pearce continued to talk to the lady and encourage her by telling her that he too had carried loads unnecessarily when he could have put them down. And then he finished with the statement, “If the Lord is willing to carry me, He is willing to carry my worries.”
Casting is putting the whole of your life, not just the troubling issues, but everything in your life into His care.
One final insight. As in fishing, if you are going to do anything meaningful when you cast your line out into the water, you have to bait the hook. My suggestion is that before you try and “cast” that concern, treat it as “bait” and put a hook into it. Remind that troublesome concern what God’s promises have to say about it. Then set the hook by going back and reminding the concern, the “care,” two or three more times, saying aloud, “This is what the Bible says!”…and then quote the promise to it!
When you cast, the hook is what carries the concern away from you!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
THE GIFT
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas can be a frustrating time of the year for many Christians. We know it’s our time and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating the birth of Christ. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the celebration. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Just tonight, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Christmas can be a frustrating time of the year for many Christians. We know it’s our time and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating the birth of Christ. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the celebration. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Just tonight, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
FINE-TUNING, PART 2
A few weeks ago I did a post on fine-tuning using Hebrews 12:1 as the basis of the teaching. Most of the focus in the earlier teaching was on taking some things off and putting others on so that we run the race with the best possible level of effectiveness.
I have been reminded over and over in my spirit that fine-tuning our lives is not a one-time event but a lifetime process. My first car was a 1949 Ford Coupe with a big V-8 engine. When I got my Ford in 1961, gas cost about 20 cents a gallon. The carburetors on those cars could be adjusted by hand and this was pre-electronic ignition system, so we would spend hours playing with the adjustment on the carburetors trying to get the engine to run a little better.
This is very much like the fine-tuning process of our devotional lives. Your devotional life, as I have written before, is what defines your life with God. Going to church, singing in the choir, paying your tithes, doing volunteer work, even witnessing is all anecdotal information. It is all interesting but it does not define who you are in your walk with God. How you live out your personal life with Him is defined by how you carry out your personal communication with Him, i.e. your devotional life.
Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus is talking to fishermen, Peter and his brother Andrew, as He called them into His service. Jesus is speaking of the part He would play in assisting them to develop their potential as His followers. The word “make” is very rich and is loaded with meaning. It is the word that describes an author as he takes disconnected words and begins to work with them again and again until he completes a masterpiece of a story. It is the picture of a master craftsman who takes a pile of rough wood and works with it over and over until he has the beautiful piece of furniture that he had pictured in his mind.
I believe the Lord has three pictures of each of us in His view. The first is of us before our conversion. The second picture is of us as we are now, and the third is of us as we can become. It is the third picture that becomes His ideal as He works with us. The process of “making” is a cooperative work. He does not overwhelm our will; He certainly could but He doesn’t. Sometimes, of the three pictures before the Lord, the “then” picture and the “now” picture are virtually the same because of reluctance on our part to cooperate with Him.
The heart of every piano is the soundboard, the part that enables the piano “to speak” with rich and full tones. It is the soundboard that gives the piano its personality, its quality. A good soundboard cannot be made in a few minutes or even a few hours. For some concert pianos, the time needed to build a soundboard can be a year or longer.
The soundboard is made of separate pieces of wood that are carefully selected and glued together. After the gluing, the soundboard is allowed to dry and “season.” All along, the process is carefully monitored so that the moisture content of the wood that is to become the tonal heart of the piano is just right.
After the wood of the soundboard has dried and is seasoned just right, it has to be stretched. This stretching is what brings out the rich tones and quality. Stretching is achieved by bending or “crowning” the soundboard. Stretching is a result of pressure being carefully and consistently applied. If the wood is too dry, it will break and crack; too wet, and the wood fibers won’t have the necessary quality
When the soundboard is crafted properly, you have the possibility of a Steinway or a Yamaha. If it is done wrong…well, you get the picture.
Our Lord, His Father and the Holy Spirit are “master craftsmen” who are working with the third picture of you in view. It is the meticulous attention of the Master Craftsmen that brings His work of art to as near to perfection as He can get it and that is the Lord’s goal for each of us. He will mold us, He will stretch us so that we are brought to the place of maturity, and then our lives will “speak” with the richness and fullness of God.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
I have been reminded over and over in my spirit that fine-tuning our lives is not a one-time event but a lifetime process. My first car was a 1949 Ford Coupe with a big V-8 engine. When I got my Ford in 1961, gas cost about 20 cents a gallon. The carburetors on those cars could be adjusted by hand and this was pre-electronic ignition system, so we would spend hours playing with the adjustment on the carburetors trying to get the engine to run a little better.
This is very much like the fine-tuning process of our devotional lives. Your devotional life, as I have written before, is what defines your life with God. Going to church, singing in the choir, paying your tithes, doing volunteer work, even witnessing is all anecdotal information. It is all interesting but it does not define who you are in your walk with God. How you live out your personal life with Him is defined by how you carry out your personal communication with Him, i.e. your devotional life.
Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus is talking to fishermen, Peter and his brother Andrew, as He called them into His service. Jesus is speaking of the part He would play in assisting them to develop their potential as His followers. The word “make” is very rich and is loaded with meaning. It is the word that describes an author as he takes disconnected words and begins to work with them again and again until he completes a masterpiece of a story. It is the picture of a master craftsman who takes a pile of rough wood and works with it over and over until he has the beautiful piece of furniture that he had pictured in his mind.
I believe the Lord has three pictures of each of us in His view. The first is of us before our conversion. The second picture is of us as we are now, and the third is of us as we can become. It is the third picture that becomes His ideal as He works with us. The process of “making” is a cooperative work. He does not overwhelm our will; He certainly could but He doesn’t. Sometimes, of the three pictures before the Lord, the “then” picture and the “now” picture are virtually the same because of reluctance on our part to cooperate with Him.
The heart of every piano is the soundboard, the part that enables the piano “to speak” with rich and full tones. It is the soundboard that gives the piano its personality, its quality. A good soundboard cannot be made in a few minutes or even a few hours. For some concert pianos, the time needed to build a soundboard can be a year or longer.
The soundboard is made of separate pieces of wood that are carefully selected and glued together. After the gluing, the soundboard is allowed to dry and “season.” All along, the process is carefully monitored so that the moisture content of the wood that is to become the tonal heart of the piano is just right.
After the wood of the soundboard has dried and is seasoned just right, it has to be stretched. This stretching is what brings out the rich tones and quality. Stretching is achieved by bending or “crowning” the soundboard. Stretching is a result of pressure being carefully and consistently applied. If the wood is too dry, it will break and crack; too wet, and the wood fibers won’t have the necessary quality
When the soundboard is crafted properly, you have the possibility of a Steinway or a Yamaha. If it is done wrong…well, you get the picture.
Our Lord, His Father and the Holy Spirit are “master craftsmen” who are working with the third picture of you in view. It is the meticulous attention of the Master Craftsmen that brings His work of art to as near to perfection as He can get it and that is the Lord’s goal for each of us. He will mold us, He will stretch us so that we are brought to the place of maturity, and then our lives will “speak” with the richness and fullness of God.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
DO NOT LOSE HEART!
I don’t often say this, but I believe the Lord has given me a very clear word for believers in these troubled moments.
I know you have been shocked as I have about the shootings at the churches in Colorado, and last week there was the senseless shooting at a mall in Omaha. It seems like no matter where you turn, there is violence and upheaval. The economy is in trouble over the mortgage woes. Oil prices are causing major problems as we all struggle to pay record prices for gasoline. The war on terrorism is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and seems like it will never end. The Middle East is a boiling cauldron. Major scandals have again rocked the church world, with priests and ministers being accused of child molestation, immorality with family members, and financial misdealings on multiple levels. It seems as though there is a crisis of some kind everywhere we turn.
Early yesterday morning, Sunday, December 9, God quickened a passage to my heart that is a challenging and strengthening word: Isaiah 7:1-9.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. Ahaz was the king of Judah (also known as the house of David), whose capital city was Jerusalem. The Jews were divided into two kingdoms at that time; Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel (also known as Ephraim) was the northern kingdom. Israel had formed an alliance with Syria (also known as Aram) and together they decided to march against and attack Judah and Jerusalem.
When Ahaz was informed that Syria and Israel had become allies and were moving against Judah, verse 2 says, “So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz and his people were staggered at the thought of the military might and destruction that was about to be unleashed on them. Their world had been shaken and they were literally trembling with fear!
God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him to go and meet with Ahaz. Then He gave Isaiah a word for the king and the people. Here is the essence of the word of the Lord for Ahaz—and I believe it is for us, as well.
Verse 4: “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two.”
· Be careful—Be wise and cautious about your life and how you lead it. There is a lot of wisdom available to God’s children through His Word and through prayer.
· Keep calm—Don’t panic when you hear of tumultuous things happening. God is still in charge.
· Don’t be afraid—Fear paralyzes us and instead of doing the right things, we do nothing; instead of praying and trusting, we whine and moan about how God has let us down. Don’t give in to the spirit of fear!
· Don’t lose heart—Don’t give up, don’t quit, no matter how difficult it looks. Don’t lose your heart to follow and trust God. Proverbs says we are to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is where quitting is birthed!
God said in verse 7: “What looks like total disaster for Judah will not take place, it will not happen!” Isaiah then prophetically lays out what is going to happen to the Syrians and to Israel. Within two years the leaders of both of the outlaw nations were dead and within 65 years Ephraim (the northern kingdom) was gone— it ceased to exist.
Isaiah finishes this word with this very potent statement that reaches across the centuries to where we are today. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9b NIV).
This is not the time to be putting your faith in anything but in Him. Faith in the church is not going to cut it; having faith in people is dangerous; having faith in pet doctrines about faith is dangerous. Our world is being shaken! Things we thought never would happen, are! People that we thought were trustworthy, aren’t. And because of all this, some are giving up; they have lost heart! God’s word to us is, “Don’t lose heart, stand firm in your faith!”
The cutting edge of this prophetic word is that “we must stand firm in our faith; we cannot cut and run. To cut and run exposes us to the attack of the enemy.”
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV).
I know you have been shocked as I have about the shootings at the churches in Colorado, and last week there was the senseless shooting at a mall in Omaha. It seems like no matter where you turn, there is violence and upheaval. The economy is in trouble over the mortgage woes. Oil prices are causing major problems as we all struggle to pay record prices for gasoline. The war on terrorism is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and seems like it will never end. The Middle East is a boiling cauldron. Major scandals have again rocked the church world, with priests and ministers being accused of child molestation, immorality with family members, and financial misdealings on multiple levels. It seems as though there is a crisis of some kind everywhere we turn.
Early yesterday morning, Sunday, December 9, God quickened a passage to my heart that is a challenging and strengthening word: Isaiah 7:1-9.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. Ahaz was the king of Judah (also known as the house of David), whose capital city was Jerusalem. The Jews were divided into two kingdoms at that time; Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel (also known as Ephraim) was the northern kingdom. Israel had formed an alliance with Syria (also known as Aram) and together they decided to march against and attack Judah and Jerusalem.
When Ahaz was informed that Syria and Israel had become allies and were moving against Judah, verse 2 says, “So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz and his people were staggered at the thought of the military might and destruction that was about to be unleashed on them. Their world had been shaken and they were literally trembling with fear!
God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him to go and meet with Ahaz. Then He gave Isaiah a word for the king and the people. Here is the essence of the word of the Lord for Ahaz—and I believe it is for us, as well.
Verse 4: “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two.”
· Be careful—Be wise and cautious about your life and how you lead it. There is a lot of wisdom available to God’s children through His Word and through prayer.
· Keep calm—Don’t panic when you hear of tumultuous things happening. God is still in charge.
· Don’t be afraid—Fear paralyzes us and instead of doing the right things, we do nothing; instead of praying and trusting, we whine and moan about how God has let us down. Don’t give in to the spirit of fear!
· Don’t lose heart—Don’t give up, don’t quit, no matter how difficult it looks. Don’t lose your heart to follow and trust God. Proverbs says we are to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is where quitting is birthed!
God said in verse 7: “What looks like total disaster for Judah will not take place, it will not happen!” Isaiah then prophetically lays out what is going to happen to the Syrians and to Israel. Within two years the leaders of both of the outlaw nations were dead and within 65 years Ephraim (the northern kingdom) was gone— it ceased to exist.
Isaiah finishes this word with this very potent statement that reaches across the centuries to where we are today. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9b NIV).
This is not the time to be putting your faith in anything but in Him. Faith in the church is not going to cut it; having faith in people is dangerous; having faith in pet doctrines about faith is dangerous. Our world is being shaken! Things we thought never would happen, are! People that we thought were trustworthy, aren’t. And because of all this, some are giving up; they have lost heart! God’s word to us is, “Don’t lose heart, stand firm in your faith!”
The cutting edge of this prophetic word is that “we must stand firm in our faith; we cannot cut and run. To cut and run exposes us to the attack of the enemy.”
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV).
Sunday, December 9, 2007
SAVE ME FROM THE LIONS
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8).
As a boy in Sunday school I was always amused by the lessons that were presented on the flannel-graph board. Some of you reading this don’t know what flannel-graph is; it is the low-tech teacher’s aid of the previous century. One of my favorite flannel-graph stories was “Daniel in the Lions’ Den.” Daniel’s friends had their “trial by fire” and Daniel somehow missed out on that adventure. So as not to let Daniel fall into a pit of insecurity and introspection, God let him have his own adventure but with lions instead of fire. In my Sunday school classroom, Daniel, his friends and the lions kept falling off the flannel-graph board and landing on the floor. We were a tough crowd and we were very amused when Daniel and his friends spiraled to the floor like helicopters.
In the 6th chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel is promoted to be one of the three top leaders in King Darius’ kingdom. Daniel 6:3 explains that Daniel had “an excellent spirit in him” and the king was considering turning all the authority of the realm to him.
Daniel’s promotion and what the king was considering did not sit well with others in the government and they began to plot to discredit him. However, try as they would, they could not find fault with Daniel (6:4). The conspirators decided to try an end run and trick the king into signing a decree that would have Daniel destroyed. The conspiracy was this: The jealous bureaucrats went to the king and said, “All the leaders and counselors of the kingdom feel that no one should be allowed to pray to any god or man except you for thirty days. If anyone violates this law, then they should be thrown into a den of lions.” The flattered king signed the decree, not knowing he had been lied to and that he was sentencing his friend Daniel to death.
Daniel knew that an evil conspiracy had been formed against him and he had a choice to make. He could alter his lifestyle, stop praying forever, stop for a while, pray quietly in secret, or continue to do what he knew was right. The choice Daniel made says a lot about who this man was, the character and integrity of his life, and the importance he placed on his relationship with God.
Daniel changed nothing about his life. Upon hearing of the decree arranged by the conspirators, the Bible says that he went home and prayed and worshipped just as he had always done (6:10). Daniel was dragged before the brokenhearted king who I believe realized that he had been tricked into signing a decree that could not be changed. Daniel was thrown into the den of hungry lions, but not before the king said to Daniel, “Your God, He will deliver you” (6:16).
After a sleepless night, the king rushed to the lion pit. He knew what had happened when the three Hebrew children had been thrown into the fire and he seemed anxious to see if Daniel was okay. Darius shouted down into the pit, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God been able to deliver you?” Daniel shouted back, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths” (6:22).
What does a story like this have to do with us?
It is doubtful that any of us will ever have to face a pit full of hungry lions.
I think this story has more to do with the symbolic illustration that Peter presented in 1 Peter 5:8: “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
In Psalm 91:13 we read, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”
The picture being presented here is that the lion and the snake are the challenges that will come at us as we walk out our journey of faith. In addition, this verse establishes our authority to use our walking shoes to tread on the devil and his emissaries.
The word “tread” has a richer and more vibrant meaning than just walking. It conveys the image of a warrior marching and literally trampling his enemy under his feet. It conveys the image of a potter trampling a lump of clay and mashing it down into a malleable mass that can then be built up into something useful.
King David understood and moved in this authority. Before David was ready to go into the Valley of Elah and face Goliath, he had to face a lion and a bear. As God gave David the victory over the lion and the bear, his faith began to grow. When he walked out to face Goliath, the testimony of God’s faithfulness to give him triumph over the lion was ringing loudly and clearly in his spirit.
We will not face many Goliaths in our life, but over and over we will face the challenges of life, the lions that God has given us the authority to tread upon because He has told them to be quiet. Psalm 22:21: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions” (NIV). Also see Psalm 35:17.
Time to take a walk!
As a boy in Sunday school I was always amused by the lessons that were presented on the flannel-graph board. Some of you reading this don’t know what flannel-graph is; it is the low-tech teacher’s aid of the previous century. One of my favorite flannel-graph stories was “Daniel in the Lions’ Den.” Daniel’s friends had their “trial by fire” and Daniel somehow missed out on that adventure. So as not to let Daniel fall into a pit of insecurity and introspection, God let him have his own adventure but with lions instead of fire. In my Sunday school classroom, Daniel, his friends and the lions kept falling off the flannel-graph board and landing on the floor. We were a tough crowd and we were very amused when Daniel and his friends spiraled to the floor like helicopters.
In the 6th chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel is promoted to be one of the three top leaders in King Darius’ kingdom. Daniel 6:3 explains that Daniel had “an excellent spirit in him” and the king was considering turning all the authority of the realm to him.
Daniel’s promotion and what the king was considering did not sit well with others in the government and they began to plot to discredit him. However, try as they would, they could not find fault with Daniel (6:4). The conspirators decided to try an end run and trick the king into signing a decree that would have Daniel destroyed. The conspiracy was this: The jealous bureaucrats went to the king and said, “All the leaders and counselors of the kingdom feel that no one should be allowed to pray to any god or man except you for thirty days. If anyone violates this law, then they should be thrown into a den of lions.” The flattered king signed the decree, not knowing he had been lied to and that he was sentencing his friend Daniel to death.
Daniel knew that an evil conspiracy had been formed against him and he had a choice to make. He could alter his lifestyle, stop praying forever, stop for a while, pray quietly in secret, or continue to do what he knew was right. The choice Daniel made says a lot about who this man was, the character and integrity of his life, and the importance he placed on his relationship with God.
Daniel changed nothing about his life. Upon hearing of the decree arranged by the conspirators, the Bible says that he went home and prayed and worshipped just as he had always done (6:10). Daniel was dragged before the brokenhearted king who I believe realized that he had been tricked into signing a decree that could not be changed. Daniel was thrown into the den of hungry lions, but not before the king said to Daniel, “Your God, He will deliver you” (6:16).
After a sleepless night, the king rushed to the lion pit. He knew what had happened when the three Hebrew children had been thrown into the fire and he seemed anxious to see if Daniel was okay. Darius shouted down into the pit, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God been able to deliver you?” Daniel shouted back, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths” (6:22).
What does a story like this have to do with us?
It is doubtful that any of us will ever have to face a pit full of hungry lions.
I think this story has more to do with the symbolic illustration that Peter presented in 1 Peter 5:8: “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
In Psalm 91:13 we read, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”
The picture being presented here is that the lion and the snake are the challenges that will come at us as we walk out our journey of faith. In addition, this verse establishes our authority to use our walking shoes to tread on the devil and his emissaries.
The word “tread” has a richer and more vibrant meaning than just walking. It conveys the image of a warrior marching and literally trampling his enemy under his feet. It conveys the image of a potter trampling a lump of clay and mashing it down into a malleable mass that can then be built up into something useful.
King David understood and moved in this authority. Before David was ready to go into the Valley of Elah and face Goliath, he had to face a lion and a bear. As God gave David the victory over the lion and the bear, his faith began to grow. When he walked out to face Goliath, the testimony of God’s faithfulness to give him triumph over the lion was ringing loudly and clearly in his spirit.
We will not face many Goliaths in our life, but over and over we will face the challenges of life, the lions that God has given us the authority to tread upon because He has told them to be quiet. Psalm 22:21: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions” (NIV). Also see Psalm 35:17.
Time to take a walk!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
FINE-TUNING
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
A few years ago I did a little hiking on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina with my long-time friend, Bill Prather. As I attempted to prepare myself for the hiking, I was fascinated to discover that there is a subset of hikers who are minimalists— their whole approach to hiking is to go “ultra-light.” They are so consumed with not carrying any extra weight that they overlook no items. They carry only what they must and then they look for the very lightest version. If they need to carry an extra T-shirt, they cut the label out of the shirt; they cut off most of the handle from their spoon, fork and toothbrush; they cut the extra inches off their shoe laces…I think you get the idea of how consumed they are with saving weight. Some of the “ultra-lighters” have this motto: “If you take care of the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves.”
The writer to the Hebrews was an “ultra-lighter.” In the Scripture above, he was talking about removing anything that would slow us down or trip us up as we run the race of faith. I like to call this kind of attention to detail “fine-tuning.”
· In order to run his best race, every runner must fine-tune not only what he wears and how he runs (his stride, his breathing), but he must also try to bring his body and his mind to a state of preparation. Why? So that he can run the best possible race.
· Every instrument in the orchestra must be “fine-tuned” so that when the conductor raises his hand for the first note to be played, every instrument is in harmony. It is to be a symphony not a cacophony.
· A rifle has to be “sighted in” (fine-tuned) so that when it is called into use, it sends its bullet to the intended target. The rifle is not much good if it cannot hit the target while in the hands of a skilled marksman.
The Bible has a lot to say about “fine-tuning” and it is important that you know the definition; it means “to make small adjustments for optimal performance or effectiveness, to improve by pruning or polishing.”
Fine-tuning is a combination of God’s involvement in the development of our lives and our personal attention to issues that the Holy Spirit brings to our awareness.
“…every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in who he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
The verb “correct” means to alter or to adjust. In these verses we see God’s heart of love for us; we see again that God delights in His children and as a loving Father, He works with us to bring us to the fullest potential possible. The best coaches are those that are firm but fair; they know when to praise and when to challenge.
But fine-tuning is not all God’s responsibility; a great portion of it is ours. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us throw off everything that hinders.”
Colossians 3 is the “putting” chapter (to my Canadian buddies, the word is “putting” not “pudding”).
Verse 8 …put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.
Verse 9 …put off the old man.
Our part of fine-tuning is not just getting rid of things that hinder; it is not complete unless we put on those things that help. Paul talks as much or more about “putting on” as he does about discarding those things that hinder.
Verse 10 …put on the new man.
Verse 11 …put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.
Verse 14 …but above all these things, put on love.
Eric Liddell, 1924 Olympic champion, missionary to China and hero of the movie “Chariots of Fire,” once said, “I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.”
Let us run and feel His pleasure!
A few years ago I did a little hiking on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina with my long-time friend, Bill Prather. As I attempted to prepare myself for the hiking, I was fascinated to discover that there is a subset of hikers who are minimalists— their whole approach to hiking is to go “ultra-light.” They are so consumed with not carrying any extra weight that they overlook no items. They carry only what they must and then they look for the very lightest version. If they need to carry an extra T-shirt, they cut the label out of the shirt; they cut off most of the handle from their spoon, fork and toothbrush; they cut the extra inches off their shoe laces…I think you get the idea of how consumed they are with saving weight. Some of the “ultra-lighters” have this motto: “If you take care of the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves.”
The writer to the Hebrews was an “ultra-lighter.” In the Scripture above, he was talking about removing anything that would slow us down or trip us up as we run the race of faith. I like to call this kind of attention to detail “fine-tuning.”
· In order to run his best race, every runner must fine-tune not only what he wears and how he runs (his stride, his breathing), but he must also try to bring his body and his mind to a state of preparation. Why? So that he can run the best possible race.
· Every instrument in the orchestra must be “fine-tuned” so that when the conductor raises his hand for the first note to be played, every instrument is in harmony. It is to be a symphony not a cacophony.
· A rifle has to be “sighted in” (fine-tuned) so that when it is called into use, it sends its bullet to the intended target. The rifle is not much good if it cannot hit the target while in the hands of a skilled marksman.
The Bible has a lot to say about “fine-tuning” and it is important that you know the definition; it means “to make small adjustments for optimal performance or effectiveness, to improve by pruning or polishing.”
Fine-tuning is a combination of God’s involvement in the development of our lives and our personal attention to issues that the Holy Spirit brings to our awareness.
“…every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in who he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
The verb “correct” means to alter or to adjust. In these verses we see God’s heart of love for us; we see again that God delights in His children and as a loving Father, He works with us to bring us to the fullest potential possible. The best coaches are those that are firm but fair; they know when to praise and when to challenge.
But fine-tuning is not all God’s responsibility; a great portion of it is ours. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us throw off everything that hinders.”
Colossians 3 is the “putting” chapter (to my Canadian buddies, the word is “putting” not “pudding”).
Verse 8 …put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.
Verse 9 …put off the old man.
Our part of fine-tuning is not just getting rid of things that hinder; it is not complete unless we put on those things that help. Paul talks as much or more about “putting on” as he does about discarding those things that hinder.
Verse 10 …put on the new man.
Verse 11 …put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.
Verse 14 …but above all these things, put on love.
Eric Liddell, 1924 Olympic champion, missionary to China and hero of the movie “Chariots of Fire,” once said, “I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.”
Let us run and feel His pleasure!
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