1 Corinthians 3:19

1 Corinthians 3:19

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.

A well-known home supply company has a slogan that says “never stop improving”. Each time I hear this slogan, I get a feeling of genuine fatigue. The message this company is sending is that the job is never finished…there is no finish line…there is always more that can be done to makes things “better”. For a company that is looking to increase revenue streams each year, it’s a great slogan. But for the everyday, average man, it can be tiring. In our world today, this message infuses every part of our lives. In our jobs, we should be constantly looking to increase our compensation and move into a higher position. In our parenting, we should be constantly pushing our kids to be elite students and more accomplished athletes. We should keep a constant eye on our bank accounts and investments, ensuring that we are shuffling funds and rolling the dice to keep the balance growing at a healthy pace. We should upgrade our material possessions on a regular basis, ensuring that we don’t fall behind the latest trends and let the Jones’ outshine us. Nothing is every good enough…there is always room for more…always room to make things “better”. This makes great sense from a worldly perspective…get more, get happier…right? The tricky thing about this idea is that it really never ends…we never really reach a point where we are satisfied. And during the process, we get all knotted up just trying to keep up. We find false contentment in that new job, the higher salary, the new house, the new car, the social recognition…but then it wears off. And we stand in want again. God didn’t create us to be like this. God created us to enjoy the blessings that he has provided, but to keep those blessings in their rightful place…as just a part of our lives, and not the center of our lives. To the world, it seems completely logical and wise to operate with this “never stop improving” mentality, but to God, it’s foolishness. God wants us to find peace and contentment in where he has placed us in this life. He wants us to be content and know that we have absolutely everything we need in Christ. For it is through Christ that we have access to the Father, that we are granted the inheritance of heaven, and that we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And in this faith in Christ, we have absolutely everything that we need. So today, work hard at your jobs, enjoy and give thanks for all the material blessings that God has provided, and guide your children with a loving hand. But remember to keep it all in check, in its rightful place...so that when the sun finally sets, and the day comes to an end, you may find the genuine rest and peace that can only be found in the Lord. Be content with what He has provided, trusting that all you really need is found in Him…and be at peace.

1 Corinthians 2:11

1 Corinthians 2:11

So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

For some reason, we humans have a need to logically understand everything. Things have to make sense to us…we have to be able to logically tie A to B…and when we are unable to make that logical connection and rationally explain why something happened, or why something is the way that it is, we get bothered. We don’t like the idea of not being able to take our human intellect and explain why something happened…or didn’t happen. When we reach these roadblocks, we can lose hope, we can abandon a previous belief, and we can even get angry and rage against the situation that we are facing. As followers of Christ, we are often called to believe without seeing…in fact, our very faith is rooted in this realization, seen in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” We can’t see Jesus, but we know he lives…we can’t see the Holy Spirit but we can feel him at work in our lives…we can’t see God sitting on some cloud in the heavens, but we know without a second thought that He is most certainly present in our lives. We aren’t meant to understand what God is thinking or why he has allowed certain things to play out in our lives. God’s calling the shots…the perfectly loving, gets it right every time, never misses the mark, God. And thankfully, we have been created to follow this perfect God. We have been created to trust Him without the shadow of a doubt and know that he is working for what is best in our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). So don’t worry today…don’t fret the current situation or what you see lurking on the horizon. Like that well-known children’s song says, He holds you perfectly in the palm of his hand. There is simply no better place to be. Rain or shine, he will carry you through whatever burden you bear this day. Trust Him…and never, never lose your faith in Him. It’s hands down the most important and valuable thing you have in this life. Peace.

Romans 8:18

Romans 8:18

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

During the fall semester of my senior year of high school, our basketball coach implemented a running program that had two goals in mind: 1) Get us in shape for the upcoming season, and 2) Weed out any weak links in the chain. The program consisted of running a timed mile every Tuesday and Thursday morning for six weeks, with the requirement of improving on that time each week. If the time didn’t improve with each new mile, then you were cut from the team. It was all business, and for six weeks I was absolutely haunted by Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. I recall the mental turmoil that wreaked havoc as I toed the line to start each new mile, giving one of those nervous “we’re about to die” laughs to the guy next to me, both of us thinking it was nearly impossible to run faster than we did the time before. Yet with each new week, I somehow shaved seconds off my run, convinced that the next mile might just be the one that sends me to the grave. As followers of Christ, we run a similar path as this mile program. We know of the victory that awaits us at the finish line…we know that heaven is going to be a place of perfect peace, where all things align, love envelopes everything, and sin has no place…yet the path to get there can be downright miserable at times. We know that we can’t get there until we have completed the race that God has put before us. And only God knows when the finish line will come into view…could be tomorrow, could be 30 years from now. So for now, we continue to walk that path that God has designed. We must continue to wage daily battles with sin…we must continue to combat illness and pain…we must continue to navigate uncertainty, worry and grief…all the while knowing that at some point down the line, our victory awaits. But we can’t run this race with our sights darting about in different directions, enticing us to consider alternative paths, ideas, and theories. No, to run this race to completion, our sights must be set on the Father…laser focused on Him and Him alone…unwilling to accept any alternative road that we might come to. And when we finally take our last step and reach the finish line of this life, if we stand with an unflinching faith in Christ as our Redeemer, then that great victory that we have been eyeing for so long will finally be realized. There is no guarantee that the race will be easy, no guarantee that the trials will be brief…but there is a guarantee that the reward will be great…a reward that overwhelms any present sufferings that we might have to endure. Hold fast my friends…don’t give up on the race…keep the focus. A great victory is on the horizon. To God be all glory!

2 Samuel 22:29

2 Samuel 22:29

You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

There is something about Baptism that gets to me. There is something about what is going on at Baptism that runs chills across the skin and puts a bit of mist into the eyes. It’s something about this incredible transformation that occurs as the water flows, taking the chosen from darkness into light…from condemnation to salvation…from sinner to saint. Maybe it’s because it’s an actual public proclamation of allegiance to Christ and defiance to the devil. It’s the shining of light into a place where darkness once loomed, where hopelessness was the name of the game and options were non-existent. Seeing a baby being baptized is a beautiful thing…but seeing an adult, later in their years, taking that same pledge and receiving those life giving waters seems to be just a bit more incredible. Maybe it’s because that adult has been exposed to all the alternative paths and temptations of life and yet still turns to Christ. I watched a video recently of a friend, in her 30’s, being baptized into Christ’s family. Here was a person that had spent 30+ years separated from God and had likely come across hundreds of different paths to take. Yet there she was, standing in the presence of fellow Believers, sticking it to the devil! She was washed by the water and made the public proclamation that Christ is King. A new life in Christ began that day and one more joined the ranks that will one day be called into God’s presence. Baptism is a beautiful gift from a God…a tangible sign of the washing away of our sin, replacing the darkness with the one True Light. May we all get to witness countless more baptisms in the days ahead…and if you have yet to receive those cooling waters, may the Spirit lead you to the water’s edge! To God be all glory!

James 1:12

James 1:12

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Living a Christian life is not always easy. When we seek to serve the Lord, and feel that the Spirit is leading us in our actions, we can still find ourselves returning home with a fat lip and a black eye. We live in a world of people… flawed, broken people (myself included)…and as a result, there will be times when things go sideways. There will be times when we are confident that the Spirit is leading us, we are passionate about where we are headed and that we are taking the right steps. Then we get kicked in the mouth and suddenly we are left wondering where it all went wrong. Maybe the fault lands on us…maybe the fault lands on the other guy…either way, something got off and things went south. And when this happens, we have two options: 1) We can quit, abandon the role as God’s servant, and seek another path in life; or 2) We can get back up, dust ourselves off, and get back in the game, serving God and seeking his hand as our guide. We certainly aspire to embrace the second option, but at times its way easier said than done. At times we simply want to get as far away from that role as possible, remembering how much that fat lip and black eye stung. But that’s not what God has called us to do. In the Gospel books of the Bible, Jesus mentions that living a life as a Christian is not going to be easy (Matthew 10:22, John 15:21, Mark 13:13). There will be times when are trying to serve the Lord, as we feel called, and we end up getting cut at the knees. It’s simply a reality of the role of a Christian and the reality of this broken world. But we know that as followers of Christ, when we refuse to abandon our faith, there is a great reward promised to us at the end of the race. And there is an interesting thing about getting knocked down…we usually learn a lot and grow stronger from it. We don’t welcome pain in our lives, but with each new battle, we are presented with the opportunity to gain knowledge, get stronger, and grow in our faith. So getting knocked down is not all bad, as there is actually some good that comes from it…despite the fat lip and black eye. So today, when we get punched in the face, may we find the strength in the Lord to get back up and rejoin the fight…never abandoning our call as servants to the Father Almighty. Fight on!

Matthew 6:27

Matthew 6:27

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

I watched a movie recently that was staged during the Cold War era and involved an old Russian spy that was apprehended by the US government. During interactions with his lawyer, the Russian spy showed little concern about being arrested and potentially punished by his captors. When asked by his lawyer (who seemed surprised by this guy’s lack of worry or concern) “Why aren’t you worried?” the Russian spy responded very calmly “Would it help?”. I found his response to be amusingly refreshing. In just a few brief words, he was communicating the fact that worrying about his current situation would change nothing and provide absolutely no benefit to him or anyone else…so why bother with worrying. We worry a lot in our lives. Big worries over big issues…small worries over smaller issues.  For some, worry can be crippling, shutting down any decision making and progress. For others, it’s more of a mosquito in the ear, returning at particular times of the day, proving to be nothing more than a great annoyance and source of stress. We are naturally inclined to worry as it’s an unfortunate reality of our brokenness. But when we worry, we are acknowledging the shallow depth of our faith in our Creator. We are doubting that God has our lives in his hands, that he has things under control, and that he already has a perfect outcome planned for us. Worrying doesn’t mean we don’t have genuine faith in God or lack belief in his Son as the Savior…rather it’s the realization that our faith still needs developing. When we worry, we are proclaiming that our faith in God is weak and still very much a work in progress…that there is still a need for growth…that we still need to seek opportunities to grow closer to the Father and trust him more. The unfortunate byproduct of worry is finding our hearts and minds so knotted up and twisted that we become a wreck. We gain nothing from worry as it only intensifies the suffering. God doesn’t want us to worry…he wants us to trust…fully, wholeheartedly, and without doubt. Pushing worry out of the picture is not easy, but when we do, we find our trust in the Lord grows stronger. Every opportunity we have to deny worry and trust God pulls us closer to him. And there is simply no better place to be in this life than close to God. So today, when life kicks an obstacle in our path, and that old familiar foe “worry” comes crawling close behind, may we remember the words of that old spy (“Would it help?”) and choose to toss worry aside and trust in the Lord…the all providing, all powerful, all capable Father in Heaven. To God be all glory!

Ephesians 4:2

Ephesians 4:2

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Paul handed down some beautiful instruction in this verse. Imagine what our lives would look like if we employed this daily…imagine what our interactions at work, on the road, and at home would be like if we all interacted with one another with this at the forefront of our minds. In short, it would be incredible. Would it be easy? Absolutely not. Unfortunately we are fools, bound for foolish, sinful behavior. We are bound to become selfish at some point and completely miss the whole humble and gentle thing…and not even get in the same ballpark as love. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make this our goal each day. Just because we can’t bat a thousand and nail this every time doesn’t mean we should abandon it. In God’s Word, we have a perfect example of what this looks like through Jesus. Jesus was deeply patient with the disciples when they continued to stumble on the concepts that he put before them. He was perfectly gentle with those suffering and encased by their own sinful lifestyles. And he was completely humble before those that convicted him of crimes that he never actually committed. In our world today, being humble, gentle, and loving to others can be seen as weakness. It fact, it will likely be laughed at, mocked, and ridiculed, largely because we have been so deeply programmed to do the very opposite. Just look at a sold out flight when it’s time to board…or a crowded highway during the daily commute. It’s all about getting “mine” and looking out for “me” above all else. But as called children of God, we are not meant to conform to the ways of this world…just see Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will”. God wants us to follow his will…he wants us to be so filled with the Spirit that all we want to do is follow his will. But he also understands that we are going to mess it up at times…after all, that’s why Jesus was sent…because we can’t get it exactly right and at times we will get it completely wrong. But we should still try…simply because we love the Father and that love drives us to want to please him. The great thing about this is when we do align our lives with God’s will, we start to realize a peace and contentment that we could not find in worldly things. Consider it an added bonus! So today, may we embrace the privilege of eagerly serving the Father in being humble, gentle, and loving to those around us today. What a great privilege it is! To God be the glory!