Matters of Faith – Page 14

GETTER OR GIVER

Have you ever considered what kind of world this would be if God were a “getter” instead of a “giver?” What if God had made getting the chief goal of His creation so that everyone created in His image would have His encouragement toward a selfish life? There would be no such thing as sacrifice because the idea of a Savior-God would not exist.

Forgiveness would be a relative matter depending on its ability to manipulate others. Love would only exist in the form of affection toward oneself. Faith would only express the confidence in one’s ability to succeed through accumulation. There would be no such thing as sharing with the less fortunate and the thought of dying for another would be repulsive to say the least. The concepts of church and ministry and caring for the hurts of humanity would be ideas foreign to the thoughts of a self-centered god.

How horrible we say, if God had been oriented around getting instead of giving. How thankful we are that His word is a loving testimony of His sacrificial commitment to all humankind. With gratitude and praise we celebrate His divine compassion. We experience hope and peace as we trust His eternal kindness.

We are so impressed by His unselfish love that it becomes the theme for our songs and the inspiration for our sermons. We join Paul in giving thanks for His unspeakable Gift and all the gifts that are products of His selfless nature. Although we are grateful for a “giver” God we must take care not to let getting become the goal of our lives. Let us be done with our “getter” gods lest we lose the precious commodity of grace.

THE ENERGY OF ANGER

The energy of anger is a force to be reckoned with in our world. It can cause nation to rise against nation. It can cause neighbor to mistreat neighbor and families to crumble in pain. It can cause normally decent people to harbor hatred. It can cause all of us to lose our composure and make fools our of ourselves.

What is there about this mysterious power which causes us so much inner pain and frustration? Sometimes anger gains its strength from our exaggerated selfishness. It receives momentum from the “mighty me” complex. Anger preys on our weaknesses to make us feel strong. It makes us defensive and resentful toward those who detect the flaws in our armor. When we allow the sun to go down upon our wrath it complicates tomorrow’s relationships.

Misdirected anger can be one of our most harmful emotions. Yet it does not always need to be bad. Paul said, “Be angry and sin not.” Perhaps this is Paul’s way of acknowledging a proper anger. It is a proper anger that runs money changers from the temple when it is obvious they are keeping others from worship. It is right to be angry about the hurts of life when they rise out of mistreatment and evil. Paul is telling us to channel the energy of our wrath into constructive purposes.

As the Holy Spirit controls our lives, even the emotion of anger becomes a redemptive tool in the hands of God. As our anger is kindled against sin, we are energized to oppose it. There are things God does not want us to tolerate. He wants us to despise the sin that separates us from one another. He wants us to denounce the evils which destroy human personality.

Therefore, let us seek Him who can inspire us to be angry about sin and yet have love for the sinner. Let us be angry enough at sin to confess, repent, and turn from the awkward attitudes and actions which have stunted our spiritual growth. Let us be angry enough at hate to let love prevail, at fear to let courage inspire, at doubt to let faith direct, and at all uncleanliness so that righteousness might stand. Then and only then can we “be angry and sin not.”

A PRAYER OF SEARCHING

God, I have come to church today

because I am desperate.

I am not desperate outside of me

where people can notice

but inside

I am a dangling bundle of frustrations.

I am lonely and unhappy

and I am torn asunder

by the gnawing truth that I am a phony.

I have this terrible fear

that people will begin to see through me

and then turn against me.

Lord, I do not want to be rejected by them.

If I confess and repent of my sins

help them to be kind and understanding of me.

After all, I merely want to be what they think I am.

O God, help me to be authentic and courageous.

Help me to stop worrying about what others may think

so I may concentrate on being your kind of person.

Deliver my soul from the slavery of public opinion

so that I may be free and creative

in my commitment to you.

Lord, help me to deal with

my own insecurities and ego needs

in a way that would not embarrass your cause.

As I seek to understand myself,

help me to understand others.

Help me to learn to be patient with their sins

as I know you are patient with mind.

Thank you, Lord for listening to me today.

I believe I will have a good day in worship.

Amen

TIME-WISE

Time is a fascinating feature of our human existence. It is the stuff life is made of. We may lose some important items of life, but time is the most precious thing we could ever squander. We may be rich in worldly goods, but poor indeed if we have not time. Time is the context in which God created all things and allows history to record the events of His created order. We do well to redeem our time.

Our sins are often complicated because of the lack of time. We do not have enough time to make all the money we crave. We do not have enough time to satisfy all our ambitions. We do not have enough time to go all the places there are to go. We do not have enough time to make everyone our closest friend. We do not have enough time for all the available thrills and excitements in our world of entertainment.

We are often trapped by our perceived lack of time and it raises our frustration level to the point of indigestion. In our attempt to do it all today we overload our daily human capacities. We try to borrow so much today from tomorrow that if we are not careful we will bankrupt our souls before our years are spent.

Life is passing us by far more quickly than we can absorb it. The longer we live the less likely we will live any longer. Yet, many of us go on living our lives as if there will never be a change of schedule. We become fanatically committed to a routine we assume will last forever. We have a work ethic that causes us to labor even during our leisure. Health and circumstances, however, have a way of inserting some unexpected holidays. Disease can play havoc when our bodies are fatigued. The fast lane takes its toll on our emotional and spiritual stability. Suddenly we find ourselves sidelined simply because we refuse to take some time-outs.

Rest is not the only cure for our misuse of time. Worship can also heal our exhaustion. Taking time for God is taking time for ourselves. The Creator has a way of resuscitating His creatures. We are made to have fellowship with God, and to ignore it is to add spiritual fatigue to the weariness of our flesh.

To see God in the daily flow of things has a calming effect on all we do. It enables us to make the most of our time because God has equipped us for productivity. He frees us to find fulfillment within the parameters of our daily allotment of time. As the song-writer suggests, “Take time to be holy.” Think on these things as you change your clock back this fall.

THE JAILHOUSE OF JEALOUSY

Jealousy is a terrible curse on the human personality. It has a devastating effect upon our self opinions. Jealousy arises out of a deep dissatisfaction with who we are and what we have. It keeps us searching endlessly for that which we think can make us complete. When we see what we think we want and someone else has it, we resent the fact that somehow life has denied us and favored another. It is a terrible way to live because we never know the joy of contentment.

A good relationship with others is often hindered because we are continually in competition with anyone who has what we think we want. Friendships are fractured at the slightest hint we are losing ground in the race to be most successful. Fellowship with the Father is affected by our need to test His willingness to get us what we think we want. We often blame God for our lagging status, since our egos are ill-equipped to accept any personal fault for out lot in life.

Jealousy is a subtle sin which, even if detected, we find difficult to confess. None of us wants to admit we are jealous, yet it is one of our most obvious weaknesses. Because who we are, what we do, and what we have consumes so much of us, our jealousies cannot be completely hidden. They become a part of our personality as they determine the tone of our behavior. We may think that jealousy is a minor flaw in our humanity, but in reality it furnishes much of the fuel for every sin in our lives. To honestly analyze our most devious iniquities is to discover the far-reaching effects of our jealous nature.

Our only hope out of this jail of jealousy in which we find ourselves incarcerated is to seek the mind of Christ. Our Lord taught us by word and deed that self-worth is determined more by what we give up than what we get. Once we move from self to sacrifice, jealousy loses much of its power over us. When our competitive spirits give way to a genuine hunger and thirst for righteousness, we lose our need to feel superior toward anyone. The cross of Jesus becomes not only a symbol of our faith, but a lesson on how to find our lives by losing them.

Jealousy does not have to dominate our dispositions if the servant-hood of Jesus is our model. In the development of our own servant-hood, we may learn to like ourselves enough to like those of whom we have been jealous. A Godly self-worth is the key to unlock the jail of a jealous mentality.

WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have actually heard Jesus speak? What kind of voice did He have? Did it have a strong tone of authority or was it mellowed with comfort and reassurance? Have you ever secretly articulated statements of Jesus in the way you think He might have said them? We are grateful indeed for the eyewitnesses who have preserved for us a collection of His words. To study these words of Jesus is to catch something of the spirit and thrust of His ministry. The kinds of words He used and the arrangement of them suggest that the mood of His speaking was always that of love.

Whether it was the cutting words of “Get thee behind me, Satan” or the quiet invitation of “Come unto me”, the character of love was always present. From the sermon on the mount to the sayings on the cross Jesus used words to reveal the heart of God. With prophetic authority He used words to curse the barren fig tree and to chastise the Temple merchants. With healing power He used words to castigate the demonic and restore health to the crippled and unclean. With instructive skill He used words to preach His sermons for the multitudes and give private lessons for individuals facing personal disaster.

With compassion and insight He used words to probe the motives of all who came to Him and to offer them the truth which would set them free. With prayerful anticipation He used words to communicate with the Heavenly Father and to bless those who struggled to find the Father’s will.

With compelling urgency He uses words to commission and empower us for world missions. His words of old motivated by compassion for the people of His day span the centuries to become words of love for us today. As we hear let us hide His words in our hearts that we may not sin against God. In so doing may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in God’s sight.

AFFLUENZA

“Affluenza” is a make-believe word which could describe an ailment which afflicts us all at times. It could have its origin in the word, “affluence,” which means the over abundance of material things. Of course, there is no such word in the dictionary but the condition still exists. We can easily become obsessed with the need to have things and perhaps more and better things than anyone else. We find ourselves addicted to prosperity in such exaggerated proportions that it affects our mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Our diseased “wanters” create an unhealthy ambition which has a devastating effect upon our physical stamina.

Perhaps there is no better way to describe this condition than to call it “affluenza.” It is a disease which has epidemic possibilities. “Affluenza” is highly contagious because it attacks our ego systems where greed, jealousy and snobbishness make us vulnerable to is infective power. Once the disease has invaded our need to feel important, we can no longer accept the prosperity of others. We develop a long list of folk we consider competitors because they have offended us by their affluency. We become locked into a disease which is fed by an arrogant spirit.

Once the rat-race begins, few if any folk have the courage to forfeit. It is a matter of pride even though our materialistic addiction spends us into bankruptcy. The economic structures of our society keep infecting us with “affluenza” in order to keep selling us things. We are gullible to the point of losing ourselves in an attempt to make an impressive display of what we do or do not have. It is so easy to become victims of our own fantasies and be caught in the web of our own ambitions.

The only cure for the exhaustion of “affluenza” is a commitment to Jesus who puts things in proper spiritual perspective. There is a spiritual dimension to prosperity which honors God with our affluency. Humility as well as integrity build up our immunity against “affluenza.” When Jesus is truly Lord, our need to impress others is lost in a sense of servanthood. We no longer feel superior because we have more. We find meaning and joy in the fact that to whom much is given much is required. There is a stewardship about life which cures our “affluenza” and adds greater value to everything we own. So, in everything we give thanks.

What Do Christians Wear?

clothing, uniforms, christian What a person wears can sometimes tell us a fair bit about them. Someone in a uniform can be identified as a police officer, utility worker, fire fighter, or soldier. Someone in an expensive power suit is likely a business person. Sometimes clothing can tell us something about a person’s beliefs; A nun’s habit or priest’s collar, robes and shaved head of a Buddhist monk, the crisp white shirt and black tie & trousers commonly worm by Mormons working a neighborhood all tip us off to what they hold to be true about religion.

What about Christians? Do Christians have a dress code?

To answer that, let’s look at Colossians 3:12-14. Continue reading “What Do Christians Wear?”

Looking At The Cross

cross, Christ, crucifiction When you look at the cross, what comes into your mind? By this I mean the cross of Calvary, the instrument of Jesus’ death. It’s interesting what different people see when they look at it. It seems most can be grouped into three basic categories.

The first group are those who see only an instrument of torture and death. A symbol they think should not be allowed to be displayed any longer; our society has outgrown such barbarism. Yes, it is a symbol of suffering and death, but if that’s all we see, we’ve missed its purpose and message entirely and know little, if anything about God.

The second group sees a symbol of their own worth to God. They will say something like, “I am so valuable to God and He loves me so much that he sent His only son to die on a cross.” This too has truth to it, for God does love us and values His relationship with us, but if this view is central to our religious practice, we make the cross into a monument to ourselves, not to God or Jesus. Continue reading “Looking At The Cross”

Good Friday

Just as Jesus once slept peacefully in the stern of a boat while his disciples fussed and fretted over the raging storm, He also rested in a tomb as his followers dealt with a storm of confusion, disappointment and fear. A day after his death, these emotions cycled endlessly through their minds. Memories of the time they spent with him, planning and hoping for the new order they expected Him to lead them into played there too. Memories of what it felt like to walk upon a rolling sea, to feed five thousand people with the lunch of one small boy, to see Lazarus’s burial clothes left in the dirt, no longer needed. No doubt they were heartsick with confusion. What had gone wrong? Continue reading “Good Friday”