Do You Stink?

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I once heard of a prank perpetuated by some kids on their grandfather. He took daily naps on the sofa, naps that were so deep nothing would awaken him. During one nap they smeared some Limburger cheese on his mustache and waited for him to awaken. Soon he did, with a sniff, and declared, “This sofa stinks!” He then moved to the LazyBoy where again he declared, “This chair stinks!” He tried every room in the house only to find that they, too, stunk. Finally, he went outside to get some fresh air, and when he took a deep breath, he declared, “The whole world stinks!”

Unfortunately, that story repeats daily in the lives of some people, only figuratively. With bad attitudes, they declare that everything in the world stinks – their job, their circumstances, their church, their pastor. They view a situation or person as bad, yet others see it differently. All the while, the stink was actually right under their nose, following them everywhere they go. They ARE the stink.

Our attitudes determine how we view the world around us, and the good news is we control our attitude – it is a choice. Proverbs 23:7 tells us as a man “thinks within himself, so he is.” Our attitude actually BECOMES our reality. So, how can we change our attitude and thereby change our reality?

First, we need to change the contents of our thoughts. If somehow Limburger cheese is under our nose, we need to wash our face. Philippians 4:8 teaches us to fill our mind with the right kinds of thoughts and leave no room for the negative thoughts. We can change the way we view our reality by changing WHAT we think.

Additionally, we need to change our influencers. The people around us either lift us up or bring us down – and the direction we are going is often deceiving. Sometimes we think people are making us feel better by commiserating with us, but in the end, they are only helping us dig deeper into the pit of negativity. 1 Corinthians 15:33 teaches us that “bad company corrupts good character.” If your friends are negative, chances are you will be too. If your friends are positive, they will lift your spirit and help you attitude.

If we change what we think, and change who influences our thoughts, chances are we will begin to see our reality in a fresh new light. Things are not as bad as we think they are, nor nearly as bad as others try to tell us they are. So, wipe the stinky cheese off your face and face the world with a new attitude.

 

 

Little Things Are Big Things

squirrel on a lineOn September 11, 1995, a squirrel climbed on the Metro-North Railroad power lines near New York City. This set off an electrical surge, which weakened an overhead bracket. The loosened bracket allowed a wire to dangle toward the tracks, which tangled in a train. The train then tore down all the lines. As a result, 47,000 commuters were stuck in Manhattan for hours that evening.

If something as small as a squirrel can derail a major metropolitan transit system, what does that say about the “little things” in our lives? Some days, we face the temptation to cut corners and take shortcuts, thinking no one will notice, but in reality, the “little things” tend to define our lives. A brick wall consists of several small bricks. A crack or break in even one brick – usually undetected by the naked eye – can compromise the entire wall. So also, one little shortcut in our lives can undo years of good.

The “little things” of our lives include such activity as prayer, Bible study, church attendance, helping others – taking care of those important things we do that others may not see. If we skip over doing these little things, we may not detect immediate ramifications, but the long term damage shows up eventually.

When athletes take short cuts in practice, they pay for it in games. Preachers take short cuts in sermon preparation and the congregation pays for it on Sunday. Businessmen take short cuts with their business, and they eventually affect the “bottom line.”

Two Bible verses remind us of the need to take care of the little things in our lives:

“… be sure your sin will find you out.” – Numbers 32:23


“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” – Galatians 6:7-9

 

And one from the mouth of Jesus himself:

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'” – Matthew 25:21

Let’s be sure to take care of all of those “little things” in our lives and watch the big things take care of themselves.

FBF: Marking Time

Before I began this blog, I had another blog on a different site for several years.  That blog is now closed, but each Friday, at least for a while, I want to resurrect some of my favorite posts from the previous blog.  These will be my Flashback Friday (FBF) posts.

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Several events of late have cast me into a contemplative mood and led me to evaluate my life and the priorities by which I live.  Psalm 90:12 challenges us: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. As I thought about that verse, I resolved to make three life adjustments.
First, slow down.  Psalm 46 contains a word unique to the Psalms.  The word selah is a musical notation that means to pause and to reflect.  Three times the word is used in this psalm, as the writer encourages us to stop and reflect on God’s presence (vs 1-3), provision (vs 4-7), and power (vs 8-11).  In today’s rat race, however, we find ourselves too busy to stop and reflect.  We have lost the disciplines of silence and solitude practices by the saints who walked before us, and as a result, our faith is not as deep as was theirs.  I am resolved to building margins of time into my regular schedule that I might reflect on God and what He wants to say to me and work in me.
Second, simplify.  1 Thessalonians 4:11 challenges us “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.”  This “quiet life” is not one absent of sounds, but rather absent of strife.  We can accomplish this objective by following the instruction found in the rest of the verse: “to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands…”  How much “noise” do we create in our lives by not minding our business?  These two statements work in tandem to instruct us to stay so busy fulfilling our own responsibilities that we have not time to meddle in others’ affairs.  My grandmother used to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  We create more drama in our lives by involving ourselves in things that aren’t ours to own. I am resolved to eliminating the unnecessary from my life and taking care of the responsibilities God has entrusted to me . . . and ONLY those responsibilities.
Third, focus.  In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul challenges us to trade our earthly perspective for a heavenly one.

 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 
In his essay The Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel laments that we sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.  Life has a way of distracting us from eternity.  Christ followers live with a view to eternity.  Not only is this life not all there is, this life is inferior to what awaits us in eternity.
Unfortunately, sometimes I fall victim to the temptation to focus most on things that have the least (if any) eternal value.  In Philippians 1:10, Paul prays that the believers in Philippi would “approve what is excellent…”  We need to learn the difference between acceptable and excellent; between good ideas and God’s ideas. I am resolved reorder my priorities around God’s eternal values.
I am not sure how many more days I have to number, but I think it is safe to say I am past half way. I have lived more days than I have left.  The question that matters most is “what will I do with the days that remain?”

Fulfilling My Purpose for Life

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Several years ago, I ran across this summary of the life of David found in Acts 13:36:

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.

The phrase, “he served the purpose of God in his own generation,” has forced me to ask myself what I am living to accomplish with my life. One question that struck me this week was, “What do I want the preacher to say about me at my funeral?”  That seems a morbid thought, but in reality, we preach our own funeral by the way we live our lives.

A couple of good diagnostic questions we can ask ourselves are, “For what do I want to be known, and how do I want people to remember me?” 
We can find a plethora of good things with which to occupy our lives. It is a noble intention to be good spouses, parents, teachers, workers, friends, and citizens.  In the end, however, will I be able to say honestly, “I have served the purposes of God for my lifetime”?

I guess the more important questions are WHY and FOR WHOM do I do the things I do.  Do I live my life each day to fulfill my own agenda, or do I live for God’s purposes?  When God made us, and specifically when He redeems us, He hardwires us to bring Him glory.  Much of the emptiness and frustration we feel in life is because we devote ourselves to things other than His things for us.

Take some time today to get alone and ponder the direction your life is going.  Ask yourself how you can use the everyday events of your life to reflect glory away from you and toward Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:36

Three Questions That Set Priorities

How do you decide what you decide?  What goes through your mind as you determine what needs to be done or how you should feel about a certain matter?  Is there a framework that shapes who we are?  Is there a matrix through which design and order our days?  

Yes.  It’s called PRIORITIES.  We think, say, and do according to what we believe are the most important things.  Our priorities will determine, in large part, if we will live intentionally. The question then become how do we set our priorities?  How do we determine what is important?

For some, the goal is to make others happy, so they prioritize those things they believe will please the object of their desire.  For others, the goal is to make oneself happy, so they go about doing what they want to do.  Some set goals for achievement that they deem worthy and order their lives in such a way as to accomplish those goals.

For the believer in Jesus, the only way to be truly successful is to make it our aim to please God (2 Corinthians 5:9). In the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, Jesus sets forth what successful Kingdom living looks like.  In Chapter 6, we find three important questions that help us determine Kingdom priorities that will please God.  Constantly asking ourselves and evaluating our lives by these three questions will help us be able to focus on what is truly important in our lives according to God’s perspective.

Question 1 – Where is my HEART? (6:19-21).  Does my heart gravitate toward earthly pursuits or do I first think of the eternal significance of my life and actions?  Paul encourages us to set our minds on things above (Col 3:1-4).  The most important things are those that have an effect for all of eternity.

Question 2 – Whom do I SERVE?  (6:24) We choose each day between two worldviews – secular or Kingdom.  We seek please one of two masters – flesh or God. The word Jesus uses is “devoted.”  Am I sold out totally to Jesus?  Do I seek to please only Him?  The most important things are those that most bring glory to Him.

Question 3 – What am I SEEKING? (6:31-34)  All to often we establish priorities based on self-preservation.  We want to get through this life as comfortably as possible and our priorities reflect that goal.  The Kingdom mindset is free to focus on the Kingdom of God FIRST and foremost because it recognizes that God takes care of those who focus on Him.

Think through these three questions.  Regularly evaluate your goals and priorities according to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and you will see a change in your priorities.

Living Intentionally

Many years ago a man by the name of Charles Hummel wrote a pamphlet entitled “The Tyranny of the Urgent.”  The main idea of the writing was that all too often we “sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.”  Hummel reminds us that we are easily derailed by good things often at the expense of the best things.  

The last several months I have made a commitment to what I call “intentional living.”  I am prayerfully asking God to shape my purpose and priorities and I am beginning to base my decisions on those things that He shows me matter most.  I am sure it is not a minister’s-only malady to get so distracted with so many things that we have little time or energy left for those things most important.  

How many of us live our lives with a clear sense of the specific purpose to which he has called each of us?  Sadly, most people occupy their days dealing with what lies in front of them, spinning plates, putting out fires, and just trying to stay one step ahead of life.  

How would your life be different if you knew God’s purpose for each phase of your life?  Would decisions be different if you considered God’s purpose for your family role?  Would your job take on new meaning if you began to see it as the place God strategically placed you to affect people for Him?

God has divinely ordained your stations in life not by accident but INTENTIONALLY.  How can you then INTENTIONALLY invest yourself by choosing the important over the urgent and the best over the good.  I invite you to come with me as we live our lives ON PURPOSE.

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, and my prayer for me and for you:

…so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ… – Philippians 1:10

Tomorrow’s blog:  Help for setting priorities.  

The Word of God: Affirmation or Transformation?

His family thought He was “out of His mind.” (Mark 3:21) Yes, even Mary.  She was there, too, and presumably she agreed with Jesus’ siblings, her other children, that Jesus had crossed the line.

How could Mary misunderstand?  She had received an angelic announcement tell her she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and carried the Son of God in her womb.  At Jesus’ birth, she received visits from shepherds who had received a heavenly announcement as well, telling them that this baby was the long awaited Messiah.  Magi from the East came calling, bearing precious gifts, and recognizing the significance of her firstborn.

She had watched her son grow from the twelve year old boy who confidently taught adults in the temple during a trip to Jerusalem to the man who now forged out on his own, teaching other men the ways of the Kingdom.  Really, how could she miss it?

She missed it the same way we do.  She had preconceived notions about the Messiah that obscured the truth right before her eyes.  She thought Jesus was blowing His chance, misusing the opportunity that God had given Him, and going about Messiahship the wrong way.

To her, the Messiah would be a popular, national and political leader who would rise among the ranks of the religious establishment and eventually take His place at the top.  He would lead Israel away from Roman domination and establish His throne in Jerusalem.  But all He was doing now was alienating the religious establishment and acting quite… well, foolish.

If only she had read and received God’s Word with an open mind and heart she would’ve seen the truth. The Messiah would be not only a Righteous Ruler but also a Suffering Servant.  If she had listened carefully to what He spoke and recognized that even though He was her son genetically, He was her Lord supremely.

We come to God’s Word the same way all too often.  We have a notion of the way things should be, or at least how we want them to be. We consequently either twist Scriptures to mean what we want them to mean or ignore them if the meaning cannot be manipulated.  We read the Bible looking for affirmation rather than transformation.  We claim the Scripture is unclear or difficult when actually it is quite clear, but fails to say what we want it to say.

Let me challenge you to come to God’s Word humbly and with an open heart.  Let God’s Word shape your understanding rather than your presuppositions shaping God’s Word.  Let the Word speak for itself.  Consider it in its contexts – historical, literary, grammatical, and revelatory.  Seek its true meaning and conform to it.  Let God’s Word speak authoritatively in your life.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Hebrews 4:11-13

What Does “Judge Not” Really Mean?

I believe that the single Bible verse most taken out of its context in Matthew 7:1:

Judge not that you be not judged.

Often a person will employ this verse to defend sinful behavior, but such is not the meaning at all.  The Bible actually encourages us to look at the behavior of others.

As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him – Titus 3:10

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:20 (Speaking of false prophets)

Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. – Hebrews 13:7

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God will give life to him… 1 John 5:16a

We are not judging when we measure our life and the lives of others against the plain teaching of Scripture.  Judging occurs rather when we make value judgments and assume that we know the heart and motives behind the actions of others.  We are encouraged to observe the behavior of others but we must NEVER assume to know their heart.

In addition, this verse is part of a larger passage of Scripture (Matthew 7:1-5) that encourages us to examine our own hearts before judging the hearts of others.  We must not overlook the Biblical admonition to remove the foul motives of our own hearts.  When we do, we more accurately see the hearts of others.  In fact, when we remove our own foul motives (the beam) we recognize that the motives of others were nobler than we imagined (only a speck).

So the true applications of these verses would include

1. Don’t be so quit to assume to know the heart of others, and
2. Be careful to examine your own heart.

Somebody’s Knockin’

In 1981, I remember a hit song on the radio titled “Somebody’s Knockin’.”  The song would be the first hit for a soulful sounding, piano playing lady named Terri Gibbs.  For me, it was one of those songs I remember all of my life.  I was blessed this past Easter Sunday when Terri Gibbs worshipped with us at Ty Ty.  

The song and the fact that Terri visited our church also connects my memory to one of the Bible verses that is often misapplied.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me. – Revelation 3:20

Most of the time I hear that verse employed as an appeal to an unbeliever to “ask Jesus into your heart.”  A well meaning preacher or witness will present the plan of salvation and then quote the verse above as Biblical admonition to offer Jesus an invitation.

I find two problems with that application.  First of all, salvation is not about me asking Jesus to come into my life, but rather about me surrendering all of my life to Him.  I am not asking Him to join me, I am joining Him.  The second problem with that application is that it misrepresents a most important application for BELIEVERS.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation contain letters Jesus dictated through John to seven CHURCHES across Asia Minor.  Churches. Presumably filled with BELIEVERS.  The verse is less Jesus requesting an unbeliever to let Him in and more of an invitation FROM Jesus to believers to enter a personal and intimate relationship with Him.  We have Jesus’ invitation to talk to Him (prayer) and hear from Him (through the Bible) on a regular basis.

Sadly the verse portrays a church going about its business as usual, but with Jesus on the outside.  It stands as a stark reminder to believers that we can go through the motions and still leave Jesus out of our daily lives.  Do you have regular, meaningful fellowship with Him?  He stands ready, waiting for you.