Casting the right shadow

Abraham Lincoln said, "Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." We all have a reputation - that shadow of our character - some of us better in some ways than another, but we all have our "bad stuff" we'd rather nobody ever associated with us! A reputation is the "estimation" we have of someone simply by what we observe, or don't observe, in their performance / behavior. It is only an "estimation" as scripture clearly reminds us we cannot really know a man's heart - only God can truly see "into" a man's heart. We see the shadow - God sees the roots.

Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. (Proverbs 3:3-4)

We "earn" a reputation - growing like a shadow we can see it is not given to us! We gain it by the various ways we behave. We are reminded today of the need to "earn" a reputation for living well in God's eyes - and in turn, the eyes of the people around us. Shadows are 'cast' - they aren't just there. I never really thought about "earning" my reputation in God's eyes before - maybe because I was so focused on the reputation I was earning in the eyes of others. I kind of relied on my reputation being what God saw when he looked at me through the eyes of Jesus! Yet, I know there is the whole other side to my reputation God wants to focus on - that which is founded in good character.

This is not an invalid perception - God DOES see me as he sees Jesus. He sees me through the sacrifice of Christ as a new creation, redeemed, made whole and holy. Yet, he looks for evidence of a life-change - the very stuff which makes up a reputation! In other words, God wants to see my actions reflect his grace, my attitude reflect his love, and my commitment reflect his tremendous loyalty toward me! I cannot think of any particular "thing" we can do which lends to what God has done in our lives by his grace - but I can think of a whole lot of ways we can "reflect" this grace to a hurting world around us! When others look at our response to trial, do they see our commitment to remain steadfast in our faith, or a wavering and inconsistent wishy-washy faith? When they see our response to unkind words, do they see a reflection of God's love by our "release" of our offender, or our own desire to "get even" with the one who has offended us?

Look at how God asks us to gain a reputation - by never losing our grip on love and loyalty. As we consider this important point, we cannot discount the next portion of the passage as the "how-to" which lends to the means of never losing our grip. He says it is in how well we allow God's love to "engrave" our hearts and how close we keep him in our day's activities. Something which is bound around our neck is always close at hand. I wear a small silver chain with a little dove on it around my neck. This was a gift from my daughter, but it really reminds me of the fact I am never without the Spirit of God in my life - close to my heart, guiding my actions, influencing my choices. Now, it serves as a reminder to my mom when she is confused as to who I am that I am the "real" daughter she is seeking. She thinks there are many who claim to be me at times, but when she feels that evidence, she is put at ease.

You don't have to wear a necklace to "bind love and loyalty" around your neck, or give evidence of who you are in Christ Jesus. It is a symbol of the closeness we need to maintain to God's Word, his Spirit, and the protection both provide in our daily walk. Why the neck? In connects the heart to the mind. Neither is able to stand alone. Cut the brain off from the supply of oxygen and blood from the heart and lungs and it isn't able to function as it should. Cut the brain off and the heart and lungs are useless organs no longer able to sustain life. So, God's Word and his Spirit "tie together" the mind and the heart - so each functions well, responds consistently, and can be relied upon to not misdirect the rest of our body! Maybe it is time to "overhaul" our reputation a little. We begin by "binding" the right stuff in the very middle of what gives us the greatest trouble with our reputation - our heart and our mind! The shadow cast when we do is mighty! Just sayin!

Garbage pick-up day

There are times we all feel like quitting. We also have heard the words of Vince Lombardi, "Winners don't quit and quitters don't win." Another quote goes something along the line, "Quitters are good losers." Nobody wants to be labeled a loser, nor do the want to really be at the point of being so 'under water' that they feel they have no other choice than to just walk away. So, we keep plugging along, hoping not to be labeled as a quitter, trying hard not to be thought of as a loser in some fashion. I think God may look at us, realize our desire to quit, and then somehow begin to meet this despondency with his provision. In those moments, what we do with what he gives us matters. We can embrace his provision, or we can continue to stumble along as we have been doing. The choice we make in those moments will determine our outcome.

God gives a hand to those down on their luck, gives a fresh start to those ready to quit. (Psalm 145:14)

Robert Ingersoll once said, "Happiness is not a reward - its a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment - its a result." We base so much on what we label "happiness", don't we? It is something we find ourselves caught in a constant circle of 'next moves' in order to try to realize it. There are indeed times when we think we will never be "happy" - but look at the quote again. It is a "consequence" - an outcome of something we do, or perhaps don't do in life. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is to make a "fresh start" with what we have been given. We take the pieces we have left, pick them (and ourselves) back up, and move forward in obedience. Thank goodness for the "fresh starts" we get in life! If it were not for these, where would we each be?

God GIVES a hand to those down on their luck. It is an extension of his grace which "turns the tide" for us. No amount of self-effort or self-determination is the answer to really getting the "fresh start" we all want - it is a matter of God GIVING us the fresh-start we often don't even deserve. Whenever we think of someone "down on their luck", we think of an individual enduring a whole lot of suffering because a whole lot of bad things are happening to the individual. Look at what Ingersoll said - Suffering is not a punishment! So, what is the intended result of suffering? Often, it is to make us open to receiving afresh something God intends for us to possess, but which we have been too preoccupied to receive!

God uses the results of our suffering to open us afresh to his GIVING touch - he didn't want us to suffer, but he will use it to bring out something beautiful in our lives. He extends his touch to us in our times of highest accomplishment, our moments of gleeful celebration, and even our moments of being at 'our worst'. The fact remains, we are probably the MOST open to his "giving" when we are experiencing our greatest sense of need - those times when we are in our greatest moments of suffering! We have to begin to embrace need as an opportunity for a fresh start - for our hearts, minds, and wills to be open to the fresh touch of God.

Quitters don't win and winners don't quit. A valuable idiom indeed, yet flawed! Here's the flaw - winning often begins when we finally quit! Sometimes we can be so wrapped up in the efforts of trying to NOT quit, missing the very point God wants us to see - WE need to lay whatever it is we have been holding onto so long down so he can finally give us what he desires for us to hold in its place! Stop holding on - in letting go, we EMPTY our hands so they can be refilled with what God intends for them to be filled with! It is only empty hands which can be filled! A fresh start begins with an end. When we come to an "end", God stands ready to GIVE us another "start".  We can never make too many starts in life. Vince Lombardi also said, "The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have." Sometimes the best we can do with what we have is to lay it down! When we finally yield it to God's touch, we find the very thing we possess may be the very thing which "possessed" us - consuming us in ways God never intended. Want a fresh start? It begins today in us emptying ourselves so we might be open to receive exactly what God intends to GIVE us in order to launch us into the "newness" of a fresh beginning. Just sayin!

I can hear you now

Agreeable conversation is indeed a pleasure, is it not? We all like it when we just find pleasant things to talk about. The words might actually be described as 'sweet', 'kind', or 'gratifying'. The moments spent in this type of conversation actually uplift us and make us feel 'refreshed'. Yet, the right word at the right time - there is nothing like that! Spoken words carry so much meaning - but when they are divinely directed into your life, they are amazing!

Congenial conversation—what a pleasure! The right word at the right time—beautiful! (Proverbs 15:23 MSG)

A friend speaking the 'right' words at the 'right' time is priceless. Have you ever had a stranger speak those words into your life - without even knowing they were doing it? I have and it shocked me to hear just the right words from someone I didn't even know. Then I remember God even uses donkeys to talk to men at times! So, who am I to suggest only a friend can share those words that help us make sense of life, set us on track again, or uplift us when we are low?

Congenial conversation - what is the framework for such a moment? I think it might just be a 'setting right' of our hearts to receive what is being shared. There are times when conversation is 'pleasant enough', but our hearts aren't really in the conversation. We are distracted and aloof from it, despite all the impressions we give that we are engaged. I have sat in long sessions, all the while totally disengaged from what was being shared. I went along with the conversation and added my two-cents now and again, but my heart really wasn't in it.

Heart and soul has to be engaged for the conversation to actually speak to us. Maybe it is harder to align ourselves to hear than we first imagined. Many of us suffer from 'casual conversation' burnout and yearn for a deeper conversation that actually fills us up again. When we do, the best thing we can do is ready our hearts and silence our souls. We need to put ourselves in the right framework for those words to be heard. Just sayin!

Not just words

We all probably have different things written on our hearts, don't we? I have been loved, committed to love, and then have had that love broken. The words written then maybe went something like, "You didn't really matter to me", "Your trust wasn't important to me", or perhaps "You weren't what I really wanted." I have been guilty of writing some words there over the years, as well. Words like "You aren't good enough at that", "You won't ever measure up", or "Your best will never make you as popular as that one." Words get 'written' on our hearts as we live life, don't they? Some of them are 'written' there by others and others are recorded there because we write them ourselves. Either way, most of those words aren't really the truth God believes about us. In fact, he goes to great lengths to reveal to us what he has written upon our hearts - the truths he places there are what we might just call "grace writings".

Doing something for you, bringing something to you—that’s not what you’re after. Being religious, acting pious—that’s not what you’re asking for. You’ve opened my ears so I can listen. So I answered, “I’m coming. I read in your letter what you wrote about me, and I’m coming to the party
you’re throwing for me.” That’s when God’s Word entered my life, became part of my very being. (Psalm 40:6-8)

Grace words can very much 'undo' the other things written there by others and ourselves, but does it surprise anyone to know we sometimes take a long, long time believing what God says about us? It is like we find it impossible to believe we are loved in spite of all our wrong actions, selfish motivations, and prideful missteps. We couldn't love another as God loves us, so we measure his love for us against how we'd love others behaving the same as we have. We forget how much work God has gone to in order to erase those words we have allowed to be recorded that aren't really true words about who and what we are! His grace isn't easily embraced sometimes - especially when it comes to 'undoing' whatever it is we have formed or allowed others to form within us as 'opinion' about ourselves.

God's words are kind - they uplift. His words are beyond 'adequate' - they are all-powerful. They are grace words - truth-filled, liberating, and compassionate. They 'counter' the untruths we believe about ourselves - that we aren't worthy, we have gone 'too far', there is no one who will love us. They do more than erase the content of those words - they fill those spaces with words we can rely on, allowing us to stand firm upon them when untruth attempts to come again to fill us with words of doubt, discouragement, or distress. Mom used to tell sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. She was wrong! Words hurt. The stories we tell ourselves 'nurse' those hurts for a long, long time. Words are powerful. They carry life, or destroy it as quickly as they are said, believed, and 'recorded' in the recesses of our memories.

Back in the day, we had chalkboards in the classrooms. I remember loving to be the one to clean those boards at then end of the school day. We had those special erasers that would remove every hint of chalk dust and latent words upon those green surfaces. The boards would be fresh, readied to receive the next day's work and assignments. I would pass over those boards several times, taking those erasers outside and clapping them together to remove the dust from them until they were clean again. I think God has a 'special eraser', too. One he uses upon our lives to erase harmful and hurtful words written upon our hearts. His special eraser is grace. His purpose in 'erasing' is not to leave us 'sparkling clean', but to 'rewrite' the story on the freshly prepared slate! He doesn't just leave the 'board' of our hearts prepared to receive the next words, but he writes upon that clean slate the truth only he knows about us: We are deeply loved, dynamically redeemed, cleaned through and through, and exalted to a special place of honor in his presence. Now those are words worth placing upon any of our hearts! Just sayin!

Motivated, but not determined

There is a 'determination' and 'willingness' phase to repentance - but I think we forget about the latter. We get all the determination we can muster, but we sometimes don't do very well in the willingness component because our 'will' is kind of selfish. Some say motivation is based on what we 'want', while determination is based on what we 'need'. For example, I 'need' to lose weight - I don't always 'want' to go to the extremes it takes to get to my desired goal! Motivation doesn't come from without - it is based on wanting something so bad we will do whatever it takes to get it. Determination can be spurred from without, coached to do something we may not have had the know-how to do on our own. We actually need both for repentance to actually 'work' in our lives.

Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. (Psalm 51:12 TLB)

Of all the things I can be 'made' to do in life, obedience is probably at the core of every 'need'. We have been sufficiently disobedient to the degree we realize our 'need' is somewhere far removed from where we are at this very moment. Without an obedient response to our 'need', we never seek the 'determination' to have that need met. We fill up the space where that 'need' should be with all kinds of other things, but not with what will really fulfill the 'need'. Motivation (need-based actions) might actually get me to the place I begin to put into play the things that will help me realize my need (determination) without wavering from my commitment to see that need met. 

Some have said motivation is what gets us started on the journey, but determination is what keeps us going until we have reached our destination. I think this may be very true, but until we realize our true 'need', all the movement we make is really not going to get us to our desired outcome. Obedience is good, but if it is not in the right direction, we are determined to finish, but we won't realize our need fully fulfilled. We are really wishy-washy about our needs - we must have God's clarity as to what we truly need and what it is that will get us to the full fulfillment of that need as he intends for it to be in our lives. Obedience begins by asking the hard questions - like "Is this truly what will get me over this grudge?", "If I take these steps, will I finally be able to resist this temptation?", or perhaps "If I lay down this desire to constantly fill that emptiness within with _______, will I begin to realize a closer walk with Jesus?"

The right questions can help us determine our true need. The need identified can help set out a course for us to follow. Motivation now meets up with determination - with both working to move us forward - but not on our own. We have God's help to obey - we aren't doing it alone. Until we have both, we are just aimless in our direction - we are not going to 'land' on obedience no matter how hard we try. Just sayin!

Fair isn't always fair

Have you ever heard someone say, "That wasn't a fair fight"? In terms of "fairness" they were looking at the two parties in the fight and seeing if they were "matched up" evenly. When I was young, Dad liked to watch an occasional boxing match on TV - it was a pretty big deal back then. There was always lots of talk about "heavyweight", "lightweight", "welterweight", and "featherweight" - something I just never really understood, but knew it meant how someone was matched with someone else. The term described their overall weight - giving the boxer a "competitive class" ensured they were not pitting a man over 175 pounds with a man of 130 pounds. This was designed to give a man a "fighting chance" at winning. Each of the fighters had someone in their "corner" who fulfilled the role of their "trainer". This individual had the responsibility to keep track of how the other guy was throwing his punches and then alert the fighter how to counter those punches. In life, it just isn't this easy, is it? The "fights" just don't seem truly "fair" - it isn't as though we are always aligned with someone else in our "competitive class". Wouldn't it be nice to never have to fight in an "unfair fight"? In terms of "fairness", we often feel outnumbered, outwitted, and outdone!

Blessed be God, my mountain, who trains me to fight fair and well. He's the bedrock on which I stand, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight, the high crag where I run for dear life, while he lays my enemies low. (Psalm 144:1-2 MSG)

I think we often forget we have the best "trainer" of all in our corner! We have been given the Holy Spirit as our "trainer" - preparing us for each and every swing the enemy will take in our lives. We do well to remember he teaches us to fight fair AND to fight well! Just as the trainer in the corner of the ring, watching each swing, following the footwork, and adding up the sequences the other fighter is using, the Holy Spirit is "calculating" the preparation we need for each fight we enter into. Sometimes we don't feel like doing a whole lot of "training". We want to skim the Word of God, hoping something might just sink in. We hope an hour in church each week will lift our spirits. We turn on the worship music on the way to work hoping it will fill our minds with peace before the chaos begins. Then we wonder why the punches seem to be coming in such rapid succession and we seem to be unable to dodge them! Well, it is all about the 'quality' of the preparation.

He's the bedrock on which I stand. Did you realize the bedrock level of rock is the lowest, most stable level of rock - simply because it is unbroken by anything. God provides foundation for our lives, but we have to stand upon what has been provided in order to realize the safety and security of the bedrock. In other words, we cannot climb to the cliffs until we are sure about the bedrock below. He's the castle in which we live. He is a place of shelter. I don't know much about castles (there aren't any in my neighborhood), but those I have seen on TV seem to be big, have lots of room, and are really well-built places able to endure the changes of time. This is our God - really big, able to endure the changes of time, and there is lots of room in his shelter for both you and me! It isn't a visit to the castle that makes us strong - we have to live there! Casual relationship with our trainer will never yield the same results as living with him 24-hours a day, 7 days a week!

He is a rescuing knight. Gals, have you ever wanted a knight in shining armor? Guess what? You have one! Guys, have you ever wanted a man of valor as an example? You have one! His mission is to keep us out of the place of danger - but, knowing us like he does, he is there to rescue when we wander into stuff too much for us to handle! Just some thoughts on "fighting fair" this morning! It may not seem like a fair fight to our enemy, or to us at times, but God is in our corner! When he is, no one and nothing can stand against him! Listen to your trainer - he knows the fight ahead and has calculated the moves you must take to overcome! Just sayin!

Redo's aren't easy

Patience and impatience are separated by a paper-thin border in my life. How about you? I am learning to make things from wood and it requires a great deal of patience. It forces me to keep myself in 'check' - sanding, aligning and cutting just right, sanding again, clear coat after clear coat...the process requires patience. Drive a screw in without a pilot hole and you split the wood. Us wood with too much moisture in it and it will crack, separate at glued seams, and warp. Maybe this is a good hobby for me - because it is teaching me to wait, be quiet, and just be present in the moment! There is something about 'impatience' that comes from not being 'present in the moment' - we want something we don't have in a place we don't have it - seems to me if we were a little more 'present' in the moment, we'd stop focusing so much on what we don't have right now!

Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you. (Psalm 27:14 TLB)

Wait and he will help you. I think these may be words someone other than myself needs to hear today. Wait - quietly, with respect for his timing, in awe of how perfectly he will complete what he has started. He - not you, not the guy next to us (although he could use that guy) - he is the one at work and we need to give him space to work. In the shop one of my biggest challenges is the space to work, so I built a deck onto it to allow me to expand a little. It is under a big tree, so I get to enjoy my backyard at the same time I am laboring away on some item. Where the shop may be confining, the deck allows me infinite room. Sometimes I think we confine God - not giving him enough space to work - putting him in the confines of when and how we want something done. Give him space!

Why would waiting require us to be brave? I think it may be more than us being without fear. Bravery can be living above the fear we naturally possess in times when things aren't clear or in the right 'order' we desire. Yet, it is more than just being without fear. There is this idea of being undeterred in the midst of what it is we are walking through or into. Undeterred by circumstance, person, or perhaps someone else's actions. Someone who is undeterred isn't just 'plucky' - there is nothing that prevents them from acting - they are 'ready' to move when they hear that is time to move. Some of us are ready to move BEFORE we hear it is time, but trust me on this one - God likes us to be undeterred, but he also wants us to be obedient and trusting. Sometimes we stand at the ready, then we wait a little longer - because he is setting things in order - not just in our circumstances, but in our hearts and minds!

Stouthearted individuals have firm convictions, but if those convictions aren't in good alignment with what the Word of God outlines, all the 'strong convictions' in this world will not achieve what God can do when he is given access to an obedient heart. God doesn't leave us in the midst of our muddle, but sometimes he feels far away, so we start doing things according to our 'convictions'. The crazy thing is that not all our convictions are aligned with the Word! Sometimes we need to re-evaluate our convictions and find out just where they are getting us ahead of God's movement in our lives. There isn't any joy in reworking our lives when we have gone outside of God's plans, is there? In fact, it is quite the opposite - because 'redoing' life is a lot harder than if we had done it right the first time. Maybe this is the hardest lesson to learn in the waiting - redo's aren't easy! Just sayin!

My own two feet

I used to wear more types of shoes that required lacing up, but not so much anymore. You'd think that not having laces to come untied and tangled up in your gait would make it less likely that you'd trip yourself, but let me assure you it doesn't take laces to do that! I can trip over air on the sidewalk! Upright one minute and splayed out in the dirt the next! That said, have you ever noticed it isn't all that hard to 'trip up' when it comes to our spiritual walk? The things that manage to 'trip us up' are sometimes not all that 'apparent', such as the untied shoelace flapping about. They are subtle, sometimes not even noticed, and all together as dangerous as can be!

God-friendship is for God-worshipers; They are the ones he confides in. If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet. (Psalm 25:14-15 MSG)

The thing God desires is for our attention to be fixed on him. Now, that said, let me be the first to quickly admit keeping one's attention 'fixed' on anything these days is harder than one might imagine. The eye can be diverted in a million different directions, sometimes without the mind even being aware it has been diverted! Our spiritual walk is riddled with 'untied shoelaces' and 'cracks in the sidewalk'. We trip up a lot, don't we? Or am I the only one with a 'focus problem' here? It seems I go along well for a period of time, then almost imperceptibly I have drifted a little off-center. It is that 'imperceptible' part I think God wants each of us to work on!

The things we cannot see are probably the most dangerous things in our lives. I cannot see a virus, but I have full knowledge of the effect of what that 'unseen' thing can do when given access to my body. I cannot easily see spores drifting on an air current, but I can feel their effect in my lungs and nasal passages when they gain entrance into my body! The things we don't see are oftentimes the things we might not realize are lurking in our midst just waiting for the right opportunity to 'trip us up'. Keeping our eyes on Jesus isn't easy with all these distractions around us, but when we do have him at the center of our focus we probably have no clue how many of these 'unseen things' we have avoided conflict with!

How do we maintain focus? I think the main way is to take very specific time each and every day to just pause for a period of time and sit alone with Jesus. It doesn't have to be hours, but even a small portion of our day dedicated to him is more than enough to help us regather our focus. In fact, the more consistent we become with taking this time out with him, the more we might just see the things that otherwise would be 'hidden' from our view. We begin to see things through his eyes, not just our own. I cannot tell you how many times I have just sat quiet for a couple minutes under the shade of a tree, or in the quiet of my den, only to have him point out something that had been tripping me up all week. The quiet moment allowed him to speak - the quiet moment also allowed me to listen!

Look what we trip over - it is our own feet! That says much, my friends. Tripping up is often blamed on another, but the most common 'trip up' is the one I cause myself. The more I allow God to help me take my focus off of others and allow it to be clearly directed toward my own life, the more I begin to see how the issues I have with another are probably much of my own doing. The quiet moments with God oftentimes yield the greatest results because I stop focusing on everyone else and the focus is back on my own two feet! Just sayin!

Just idle words

Do you know anyone who talks and talks? They have a tough time sitting still and just not having to say something about what they have done, who they have been with, what they saw, and the list goes on. In fact, the topic they choose to talk about can sometimes just be 'talk for talk's sake', if you know what I mean. There is a problem with talking too much - too much gets known! I think God may have so many warnings in scripture about speaking against another person, gossip, and the like, simply because of the tiny spark it takes to ignite a huge fire! Today's "rule" for living is dealing with the words we speak about others.

“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)

In the simplest sense, this translates as engage in "no lies about your neighbor." I think the warning is best understood by another simple statement (not really from the Bible, just my own observations): No neighbor is THAT interesting so as to always be the object of our conversation without some form of exaggeration, speculation, or downright gossip entering into the conversation! Yes, they may irritate us. Yes, they may be constantly doing things that are questionable. Yes, they may have their faults that somehow come to the surface way too often. But...what about us? How many things do we do things that are questionable, or irritating? Probably equally as many!

The truth of the matter is no one knows all the facts. God's warning to us is to use the information we know or have "about" others in a wise manner. We don't always give the right "testimonial" about our neighbor when we only have the "facts" we garner from our limited view of them. The words we speak may indeed set a house on fire! I have been the brunt of 'words' that were shared, but the context wasn't known to those who were hearing about it after the fact. I have also been the one telling some of those same 'tales' out of school, if I were to be totally honest! None of us is really above talking 'about' another - but it is a dangerous thing to give any testimony that is a half-truth, outright fabrication, or simply without 'context'.

Scripture elaborates on this "rule" a little bit further: "Don't spread gossip and rumors. Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God. Don't secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.  Don't seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God." (Leviticus 19:16-18) Easier said than done - right? To the idea of not speaking falsely against our neighbor, God adds the concept of gossip and rumors. Gossip is just any form of idle talk. This comes back to my statement about no neighbor being THAT interesting so as to always have something TRUTHFUL to say about them. The idea of not secretly hating our neighbor is also part of this equation. This comes back to the teaching of my mother: "If you cannot say anything nice about a person, don't say anything at all." I know this does not come from the Bible, but it definitely is biblical.

A rumor is the circulation of any portion of a report without actual confirmation of this report. In other words, it is observation mixed in with a little bit of speculation. I like to think of this as us assuming the motivation of others and adding our impression of their motives to the mix of the story being told. This is a very dangerous place to be - no one really can judge the motives of another man's heart. Only God has the inside view! There are times when the individual plainly reveals their motives - such as when someone says they are looking to secure a higher position and then does everything in their power to 'become known' to those who might pave the way for them to advance. These are not easily 'hidden' motives, but others are 'hidden' and are not easily known. Don't 'read into' another's motives - it could be dangerous.

To this, God adds the idea of holding grudges. Can you see how one adds to the other? When we begin to speculate as to the motives of another, almost "creating" a story in our head, we come to a place of internalizing an impression of the other person that "fits" our image (but may not always be reality). Don't get me wrong - there are genuinely some miserable people in our world who create misery for many others. We are just not supposed to hold onto their misery and make it our own - even when they attempt to impose it into our lives! Sometimes I think we talk about others so freely because it keeps the spotlight off of us. At other times, it is simply just idle talk - we lacked anything better to talk about at the moment. Either way, we are encouraged to consider our words carefully, speak only what is beneficial to be spoken, then remain silent on the rest. I know - - easier said than done. Just sayin!

Whew! Glad that is off my mind!

I am not proud of those things I did 'before Christ', but there are things that taught me life lessons. There are things 'after Christ' in my life that have still been struggles and those things have taught me even bigger lessons. Lessons come in the oddest ways sometimes. I remember one lesson that came while holding a pen. Have you ever looked down, found you are using a really nice pen, then wondered, "Where did I pick this up?" Then, as quickly as you realize you have walked off with someone's pen, there is a twinge of guilt about having absconded with something which clearly does not belong to you! Or perhaps you have been in the grocery line, received a bundle of change from your purchase, then on the way to the car, you count it to make sure it is all there. To your surprise, there is an extra ten dollars in the mix! Some would face each situation with a triumphant, "SCORE!!!" Others would likely take a few moments to consider if anyone will really notice the missing pen, or argue the store has overcharged you at some point in history. Yet, the pen is not truly ours, and the extra money in our hand is making someone short in their till. In fact, the dilemma of "conscience" we go through is because we know it is not right to steal.

“You must not steal." (Exodus 20:15)

In a very "technical" sense, stealing is taking anything without someone's permission, or the right to take what it is we are taking. I never took the car keys in order to take the car on a joy ride when mom and dad weren't home, but I did my share of grabbing a few bucks from the cookie jar when I didn't think mom would notice! Even more telling about us is the ability to take something without even acknowledging an awareness of the issue in taking the item we are taking that clearly does not belong to us. I think God knows we may end up with a pen in our pocket on occasion, quite by accident, but I don't think he is very pleased when we justify why we are pocketing the extra ten dollars from someone's till! Nor was he pleased with the dips into the cookie jar! Look at our simple command: You must not steal. The one being addressed is "you" - that includes all of us. The imperative in this sentence are the words "must not". It does not say try your best not to, or if the circumstances are right, then don't. It is quite plain - we "MUST NOT" steal. We must not take what is not ours, or engage in any action that seeks to cover up using something without someone's permission.

What kinds of things do we "steal" on a daily basis? How about time? What we do with our time in secret is as important as what we do when we are being observed. How about credit? God tells us a laborer is worth his hire - in other words, if he is due credit for a job well-done, we ought to point it out. There are tons of things we probably "steal" everyday without really knowing we are doing it - especially when we consider it is taking/using anything without someone's permission, or the outright taking of what is not ours (even if by accident). God takes this whole idea of stealing so seriously. He made additional "rules" around stealing such as, "Take a man's ox and repay him five in return" (Exodus 22:1); "Take a man's sheep and repay him four in return" (Exodus 22:1); "A thief is to make full restitution - if not able, his life was to be sold in order to accomplish it" (Exodus 22:3). This principle of restitution is found throughout scripture. Clearly God wants us to 'own our mistake' and make a clear break from it!

So, if God takes it this seriously, shouldn't we? If we become aware of our sin, God's plan is for us to make restitution - to restore it. So, at the point I realize I am in possession of my friend's favorite writing instrument - it is time for me to let them know I will return it when we meet next, if not sooner. If I get the extra change in my grocery "bounty" - I may have to make a trip back to the cashier with the money in hand. God may ask you to point out where credit is due instead of hogging it all for yourself. He may ask you to do little extras around at time in order to "give back" what you have been taking away in non-productive time. Whatever it is, do it! The reward of a clear conscience is much better than anything else we could imagine! Just sayin!

Selfish to the core

Do you always know the meaning of a word? In the English language some words mean one thing when said in a certain context and another at other times. For example, you say 'there' and you are referring to a place, but when you say 'their' you are referring to something that belongs to someone. They both sound the same, but are they even close to the same in meaning? Nope. There are times when words in the Bible are plain and simple - they mean what they say. At others, the words may be "types" or "symbols" of something else - similar to when we say something was "bad", but we really know it means it something way cool. The words are used in a way which describes the action or attitude behind the action. Today, we look at our next "rule" for living under the safety of the wing of our Almighty God. The word we will look a little bit at is 'adultery' - something most of us equate with someone being with someone's spouse who isn't supposed to be! It means so much more.

“You must not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14)

Before we "check this one off" and move on, we know from the introduction there may be more to this one than first meets the eye! In fact, throughout the scriptures, this word not only implies the action of adultery (having sex with a married man/woman), but it also implies an attitude of heart and an action of our minds! In a very real sense, the "action" of adultery is evident throughout scripture with some accounts so familiar to us we can recite them from memory. We have the account of David and Bathsheba - David took Bathsheba in a moment of lustful indulgence, then regretted it dearly when the "consequences" of his actions became known through the conception of a child. Reuben, one of the sons of Jacob was not able to keep his hands off one of the concubines his father kept. Eli was a great priest in the land of Israel - both of his sons found delight in committing adultery with the women who came to the temple to worship. These are but a few accounts recorded in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, we see the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. She had been married five times, was now with another man, and he was not even her husband! The woman without a name brought by the Pharisees in a moment of righteous anger to be judged for having been caught in the very act of adultery stood before Jesus in the temple one day. To his credit, and to the dismay of the Pharisees who brought her, his response was one of mercy. These are examples of what NOT to do - how not to act! Yet Jesus raised the bar a little when he said, "But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28) Uh oh! Now here is another "kink" to consider according to Jesus - our thoughts! So, not only does this "adultery thing" involve action - it involves our thought life! Yep, and an emotion we commonly refer to as lust. So, adultery is not only action, it is emotion and has thought based activities, as well.

In another sense, adultery was also used to describe an attitude of heart toward God. When a people turned their backs on God, choosing to live by their own rules, seeking their own pleasures, he referred to this as "adultery". Here we see a condition of the heart which really gets at the crux of why God forbids adultery - it is based in self-motivated thoughts, selfish actions, and self-preserving justifications. If God warns us to stay away from adultery it for these reasons - no matter what 'type' of adultery we engage in! Don't lose sight of the examples we see in scripture of God's forgiveness and mercy for those who wander away - choosing to live for self instead of God. Hosea was a prophet of old. Asked to take an adulteress as his wife! He was used as an example of God's mercy and grace - to restore the wandering nation of Israel to a place of relationship with him once again! So, although we are warned about the dangers of adultery - spiritual, physical, and emotional - we are also embraced by the tremendous love of our God who stands ready to restore those who have been led astray by their own lusts!

We serve an awesome God! He never gives us license to sin - but he does stand at the ready to restore whenever our minds, hearts, or emotions lead us down the wrong path into any type of selfish or self-centered behavior. He opens up to bring us close to him when we realize the futility of following our own plans in life! This is indeed good news! Just as adultery is more than a sexual sin, his forgiveness is more than a little touch-up of our marred lives - it is a complete redoing of what we have managed to mess up. When we lay down our selfish desires, God picks up the pieces. Plain and simple. While it may have been a much better thing to have never strayed outside of God's boundaries for holy living, we all make wrong choices and we all need his grace to get back on track. God condemns adultery because it is a selfish sin - but he gives grace to everyone who realizes their selfishness has caused them to go down a wrong path. Just sayin!

Was it emotional murder?

Hey, dealing with others is just not easy! This should come as no surprise to any of us, but it needed to be said. We deny relationship woes like denying them somehow makes them any less real. These relationship woes grow and never go totally away until they are finally dealt with. Have you ever been so frustrated with someone, boiling over with all kinds of not so nice kinds of thought, or in some other world, just as long as it was not YOURS! Most of us would never consider murder as an option for dealing with someone we'd rather eliminate from our lives, though! So, why does God feel it is so important to tell us not to murder someone?

“You must not murder." (Exodus 20:13)

Society classifies murder into two buckets - premeditated (deliberate and planned) and without premeditation (more of an accidental thing in the commission of another crime such as speeding and causing an accident). Without getting too deep here, God really does not approve of the loss of life at the hand of another when it is deliberate. We all probably know God shared that most of our woes begin in our though lift, so murder (deliberate and planned) must begin there! Yes, God is aiming at the taking of a life during moments of fury, stirring our emotions to the point of such agitation, exploding in actions which result in the loss of life. In fact, he made a way for those who accidentally took a life to have a place of refuge (cities of refuge - see Exodus 21). If your cart was loaned to a man, for instance - wheels coming off in the use of the cart, and the man tumbled down a hill to his death - this was not deliberate, nor was it premeditated - therefore, the "judgment" for this loss of life was not the same. It was "manslaughter", but not murder. Killing, not murder. There was a way back.

Many may ask about war. Is war the deliberate taking of life? Well, I can only answer from what we see in the scripture. God certainly did not hesitate to instruct the armies of Israel to enter into the Promised Land, swords in hand, often eliminating completely the inhabitants of the land. You may not realize God uses two different Hebrew words, both translated in scripture as "murder". One means to murder - the other means to put to death. The action God was forbidding in this Commandment was that which is spurred on by anger, jealousy, hatred, and the like. These emotions actually "burn within" a man, bringing about actions which are in-congruent with the desires of God's heart. The first "murder" recorded in scripture was the action of Cain toward Abel in Genesis 4:8. This action of Cain was condemned by God - simply because it stemmed from emotions of jealousy, spurring him to anger, and maybe even a little hatred, as well.

In God's instructions throughout scripture, clearly he allowed the taking of life in actions of war. Yet, he condemned the taking of life in response to a deep-seated hatred for our brother or sister. So, we must look deep within the heart at the "pre-meditation" of the action in order to understand what is behind the "taking of a life". As with all of God's commands for living well, he refers us to consider the heart and the heart is the seat of our emotions and thoughts! We aren't to examine the other person in the relationship - we are to examine ourselves. Only God can truly examine the heart of man and know the basis for the action man takes. If any relationship woe exists within our own hearts - we need to let God deal with it! If not dealt with, emotions such as jealousy, anger, and bitterness not only eat away at us, they motivate us to take some pretty hostile and damaging actions. Maybe not physical "murder", but emotional murder is pretty damaging, as well! Just sayin!

Are you qualified?

Have you caught any shows on TV lately that depict the 'family life'? I have seen one or two, but let me tell you - they aren't the Waltons or Cleavers of days gone by! In fact, I usually don't go back to watch more than one episode because what I see is just too hard to watch! It seems parents are just not held in the same "honor" as they were in times past. Look at an old episode of the Waltons, Leave it to Beaver, or Little House on the Prairie - then compare the "honor" a parent received in the past with how a parent is treated today in one of these newer 'family life' shows! You may be saying, "Yeah, but come on, those shows depicted the ways families should be!" Exactly! the fact remains, we have been instructed to "honor" our parents, something we do well at times, but then we fail miserably at others.

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)

This is what theologians refer to as a command with a promise - one of those "meet this" and "get this" kind of deals promised in scripture! This is our fifth in a series of "rules" given to us - designed to keep us safe from life's pitfalls. In this "rule" of living, God reminds us of the importance of honoring our parents - giving them respect, esteeming their "skill" as a parent (even when it isn't quite perfect), and even overlooking their "lack of skill" (because none of us will be perfect this side of the grave)! The crux of the word "honor" really is to "revere". We are to revere our parents - not the same awe or reverence we give to God - but simply and deeply being in respect of their position as the authority over our lives for our "growing up" days. Even when the "growing up" is officially done because we are out on our own, we still have a whole lot left to do, so the reverence or honor never really stops!

Some are probably thinking, "Yeah, but you have never met MY parents!" They may not be ideal, but they are our parents! Their "skill" as parents may not be great, but the fact remains, they ARE our parents! We are asked to honor them in recognition of their position, not always their "qualities" as our parents. If we were all judged by our "qualities" most of us would fall far short of many standards in life, right? We may have a parent who struggles with life's dominating sins such as alcoholism, drug abuse, or simply any other form of self-defeating behavior we could imagine - even being an "absent" parent. Their "example" may not "measure up", but their position as our parent does not change. In fact, God still asks for us to honor them. He is not asking us to hold them up as perfect examples we should "model". He may only be asking us to not "turn on them" with unkind words, disrespectful attitudes, and anger.

In fact, the "job" of parenting in the natural sense does not come to those who are the best qualified! There is no "pre-test" to ensure only the best and most qualified get the position of "parent"! This being the case, we sometimes don't see the best examples of parents - folks who probably should never have brought a child into this world are doing it all the time! Does God expect their children to honor them? Yes! Not for their sinfulness or selfishness, but for their "position" as parent. We don't hold them up on a pedestal. We don't follow in their footsteps of sinfulness. We simply remember their position as "coverings" over our lives for a period of time. In some cases, the "covering" is a little flawed - filled with all kinds of holes! For those of you with this example of parent - pray for them! Don't become bitter toward them! Learn to turn their self-absorbed behaviors into a matter of prayer, not bitter rehearsal of their faults.

In honoring them, we are actually honoring God. In refusing to become bitter toward them, we are modeling the grace of God. In lifting them up before God we are actually respecting them as God asks. We refuse to give into our desire to abandon them to their own sin - instead, we take them repeatedly before the throne of grace, petitioning God to touch their hearts in some manner. This is not the easiest of commandments - in fact, it may be the most difficult of them! Especially for those with parents who are abusive, anger-filled, manipulative, or given to some life-dominating sin. Yet, it comes with the blessing of God's protection over our lives! Just sayin!

How much more fits?

How many of us find ourselves rushing and rushing through life wondering all the while if we will ever get caught up with all the commitments we have made, the deadlines imposed upon us by others, and the silly pursuits we carelessly call our "leisure time"? We 'over-commit' repeatedly, then feel the stress of it all, getting weighed down under the pressures of those things that are really 'self-imposed' burdens, don't we? Sure enough, the demands of life are many! Yet, in it all, we are reminded of the importance of keeping our perspective in the chaos - even in the chaos we create in our own lives!

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." (Exodus 20:8)

For most, we "celebrate" the Sabbath day each weekend. I used quotations marks around the word CELEBRATE simply because most of us don't really treat the Sabbath day as anything all that special. We call it our "Sabbath" day, but we don't treat it any differently than the day before or the day after - other than gathering at church for a short period of time or taking in a home cooked meal together. God's reminder to us to keep a day as "holy" was for one specific reason - to rest. He knows very well our tendency to cram as much of life into each and every day, leaving very little time for renewal of our peace, regeneration of our energies, and replenishing of our spiritual focus. It is as though we think we will get some advantage over others when we can cram more into our days than someone else!

There are some things I think God planned in asking us to keep the Sabbath - one day a week out of seven - as holy. It takes the Creator of our bodies to understand the "stress points" of these created bodies. He knows full well our "breaking points". In asking us to keep one day as a day of rest, he is warning us of the risks of driving at full speed without any real "down-time". It wears on us and will not end well! Whenever we are driving hard, it is easy to get caught up in the muddle of life - affecting our ability to make decisions, feeling the lack of peace muddle creates. There is much to be said about not moving on in a direction we may be pursuing until we have a confirmation of peace in our decisions to move forward. In fact, we are often "checked" in our spirit simply because we don't have peace. When God asks us to keep a day set aside for rest, he is actually creating an atmosphere for "re-centering" us. Getting us to slow down long enough to actually hear from him is a challenge in this day and time, but it has not outlived its usefulness, my friends!

Last, but definitely not least, God asks for a day of rest to refocus on him. This is definitely more than just attending a church service somewhere, and then proudly "checking it off our list"! In fact, God's purpose in establishing the day of rest deals with holiness! He tells us to keep the day of rest because he is a holy God and in turn, he desires holy people. How do we incorporate God's holiness into our lives? I think it is in times of rest where God can refocus us on himself, revealing pieces of himself to us in the moments of grace which occur when we stop long enough to actually behold him! So, in looking at our fourth in a series of "commands" or "rules" for living, God asks for us to keep the day of rest - not for ourselves, but because of him! It is in the quieting of our busy days God speaks! Be quiet long enough, refocus a little, and you might be surprised by what you hear! Just sayin!

My name is...

We have much emphasis today on "name recognition". In fact, there is a process in business referred to as "branding" in which an organization seeks to get its product or service identified with a particular name. In contrast, the organization never wants its name to be associated with a BAD product or LOUSY service. The "name" has a great deal of importance - even when it is more of a 'label' than a true name. For example, if I refer to someone as "Loser", what am I saying? It isn't likely that I am telling them they lost the tennis match! It is more likely that I am 'labeling' them as acting in a way that isn't really all that 'top-notch'. They don't 'measure up' to my expectations - whatever they may be. The good news is that God doesn't give us a 'label' - he gives us a 'name'. The name we bear means a lot about how we act, the choices we make, and the evidence our life displays. Don't misuse that name - by bad choices, ridiculous actions, or any evidence that he isn't in control of your life!

“You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name." (Exodus 20:7)

The most familiar passage for this verse is probably the King James: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Important to see within the structure of this verse is the fact God says it is "OUR" God whose name we are to uphold - to not use his name in vain. Simply put, God is reminding us of the power in his name. In other words, whenever we speak his name it is to be with purpose or intent. His name is to be spoken to offer him praise, to give him thanks, and to seek him for help in our lives. It is never to be an "idle" word spoken without conscious awareness of its use. Vain really means something which is void of substance - empty. It is something with no affect - when spoken it accomplishes nothing. As you can imagine, God's name is really not this! It is powerful - accomplishing far more than humanly imagined. God is really reminding us of the importance of his name - it is never fruitless.

Whenever we trivialize the name of God, we do him a great injustice. If his name just drips from our lips in every conversation as haphazardly as we'd use the words "the" and "it", we are doing him an injustice! His name is to be honored, lifted up, and spoken in reverence of all it can and has accomplished. When something is "misused", it is used wrongly or misapplied. God's greatest hope is for us to share the "fruitfulness" of his name in the display of the change that name has made within our lives. In this way, his name is associated with the power, majesty, and honor it is entirely due! The 'new name' we bear in our lives as a result of saying 'yes' to Christ is to have evidence of all that is behind that name. This is the third of the "rules" we have explored known as the Ten Commandments found in the book of Exodus. Look at the progression: 1) No other gods but God himself; 2) Do not attempt to pigeon-hole God into some image of him which limits him to our understanding; and 3) Learn to give his name the honor it is due. When we get these in order, we see a natural progression.

First, we come to God and are made a dynamic part of his family - not just through casual acquaintance, but deep, intimate connection. Then he opens our eyes to the possibilities of serving him - revealing himself in ways far outside our limited conception of who he is or expectation of how he works. In the tendency to exclaim all we can about what has "ignited" us from the inside, we have an obligation to never trivialize who he is to us or what he has done within us. I laid out the purpose of a rule as something to keep us safe - to avoid the hairpin turns of life which would send us on a path that was askew from the best one for us and into some pit of misery we could not dig out of on our own. Learning to proclaim God's name, value it, and to show the fruitfulness of our God in all we exclaim about him is an outcome of drawing near to him and experiencing his protection and keeping power in our lives. What's in a name? A lot! What's inherent in a 'name change"? Much more than we might imagine! Just sayin!

Let him free

Many people live by some unwritten code that implies rules are for breaking, not for keeping - do you know any of them? There is just some inward "pull" to break a few rules once in a while, or perhaps all of the time. While I am not a 'rule-breaker' all of the time, I definitely do my share of pushing the limits of the rules and/or breaking them all of the time. Yesterday we began to look at the sensibility of "following the rules" God sets out for us. His first "rule" was very clearly stated: No other god but me. His second is almost along the same line, but with a little different "twist":

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea." (Exodus 20:4)

No other god but me focused on any affection or attention we directed toward another person or pursuit which clearly took our affection and attention off God himself. Today's "rule" deals with trying to pigeon-hole God into a box which fits our "image" of what he should be like, behave like, or 'become' in our opinion of how he should function. God warned the nation of Israel through Moses against creating some "graven image" - carved sculpture or the like - which we'd be inclined to look upon and form some attachment with. Why? Simply put - God does not "fit" man's limited (finite) image of who he is! He is all things to all people, all knowing, all places at all times, unlimited in power, and totally holy. Try "fitting" these characteristics into some "image" and you will find yourself frustrated by the limitations of your own mind to actually accomplish a credible image of him.

In a deeper sense, God really does not want us to "limit" him by what we envision him to be like. God's abilities are beyond our "reasoning" or "thinking" powers. His love is beyond our ability to comprehend the unfathomable depths of his grace. His desires toward us are outside of our limited emotionally-based affections. In other words, when we try to "understand" God by having him "fit" a particular image, we limit him in our lives. God knows the dangers of limiting him - so he directs us to avoid the creation of any image which pigeon-holes him into some limited impression of who he is or how he acts.

In times past, pigeons were kept in these little cabinets, stored away until they would be served up as delicacies. The purpose of keeping them in the "hole" was to fatten them up for the meal at hand. As cabinet making became an art, pigeon-holes were built into cabinetry and furnishings in order to neatly store away items. As we use the term today, we simply refer to the process of "putting away" something for a later use, or classifying it according to some function. I think this is what God may have in mind when he asks us not to "pigeon-hole" him! He is not some "delicacy" just to be fattened up and enjoyed only on certain occasions! He is not stored away until there is some later need for him. In fact, whenever we try to "classify" him in any particular manner, we are setting "boundaries" in our minds which only serve to create a limited perspective of his authority, power, and purpose in our lives.

Most of us probably understand that "graven images" of God are not something which honor God. Yet, I wonder if we really understand the "images" of God we have set up in our own minds? I believe we may have more "limiting images" of God than we first imagine. We might do very well to see just where we have been "pigeon-holing" God in our minds - limiting him in some way because we hold him up to the "candle" of some merely human characteristic or attribute - we try to make him fit into what we see or feel. God is not limited - we'd do well to let him live "unlimited" in our lives! Just sayin!

But me....

Throughout life there have been times all the "rules" just seemed to do little more than aggravate me or make me envious of those who could blatantly ignore them. I wanted so desperately to just ignore all those rules and have a little "fun" in life! If you were totally honest, you would say that sometimes you wonder what value the rules play. Well, even when we don't fully understand the rules, they play an important part in our safety. For example, driving down an open highway at a straight stretch allows speeds of 75 miles per hour. Why? The road is straight, you can see oncoming traffic, and you have less chances of losing control of your vehicle when you are going in a straight line! Get that same vehicle onto a winding road, tall trees all around, with the road barely built into the side of the mountain and you may WANT to drive at 75 miles per hour so you'd get to your destination faster, but there are all kinds of barriers in your way. There is the line of cars in front of you, "crawling" at a mere 45 miles per hour (the posted speed limit for this stretch of road). Then there are the hairpin turns which serve to not only present some pretty significant "maneuvering" obstacles, but also block clearly what lies beyond. In these instances, we may not want to obey the rules, but we are certainly safer when we do!

I think of the Ten Commandments as a set of rules, laid all out nice and neat, in one "tight package". Are they the only "rules" God sets out for his people - no, but they really encompass a great deal of expectations for our safety. Rather than looking upon the "rules" God establishes as burdensome and restrictive, we might do well to consider them in the light of how they are intended to keep us safe. “You must not have any other god but me." (Exodus 20:3) You may be more familiar with this in the traditional King James, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Two words stick out: MUST and BUT. Both are quite strong words. No other option exists - no other person, object, or "great man or woman" must have the place we give to God in our lives. The place within us designed to house God's Spirit is not to be filled with any other. We must look at what it means to not have any other god. See the little "g" there? The instruction is NOT to have any other God (as there is only one God). The instruction is to not have any other god. What is the difference? Plainly put, any other "god" would be anything within our attention or affections which occupies the place designed for God.

Anything which captures our attention (even for a moment in time) has the ability to move upon our affections. It has the ability to draw us in - slight movement toward that object may even be imperceptible at times, but it is movement toward it. Therefore, focusing on what captures our attention the most is a starting place in evaluating if anything or anyone else has moved upon our affections! When we hold anyone or anything else in this important place of affection in our lives, we become consumed by the time and energy it takes to maintain this affection. Affection is built when it is cultivated - therefore, if we invest in the right things, we build the right affections. The instruction to us is to have but one object of our affection - God himself. Why? When he has this focus in our lives, he is free to direct our course, keeping us safe in the "hairpin turns" of life!

We may resist the "rule" of having but one object of both attention and affection, but when we get this right, all other relationships we have fall into line. They actually get a little easier, depth of growth occurs, and extreme value begins to be placed upon what we have within that relationship! It isn't that we value the relationship more than God, it is that we come to value it because God has made it "more" by his presence within it. The problems we seem to focus on the most seem to be a little less significant, almost as though we have been given new energies to work them out. This is why God tells us of the importance of keeping him first. If we get this right - the rest will work itself out! Just sayin!

Junk it!

Most of us don't think of ourselves as 'idol worshipers', but in reality, we likely have a few we have placed on a pedestal. Lest you think I am suggesting they are the little Buddha dolls, patron saint figurines, or other religious paraphernalia we keep laying around, I am not. Idols are things we elevate to some place of adoration in our lives - even our own ego! The things we hold onto soon have a hold on us, so we might do well to do a little 'inventory' of what we have 'lifted up' in our lives. Even things from our past can be 'idols' we have held onto. What "dead idols" from our past do we need to finally let go of? I think if we look hard enough, we will probably find a few lurking in the back of the recesses of our minds!

Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master's Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don't even have to say anything anymore—you're the message! People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom. (I Thessalonians 1:7-10)

A couple of things come to mind as I posted this passage today. First, word gets around! No matter how hard we try - people talk! We can be doing exemplary work - people talk about how we must be "brown-nosing". We can care less about the task at hand, but are dedicated to another project with even greater demands - people talk about how we never seem to invest ourselves. We can plug away with consistent effort, but it is in quiet and solitude - people talk about how we just never go above and beyond. No matter what we do, people talk! If this is the case, wouldn't it be wise to give them something worth talking about? Lives echoing the Word of God are certainly something worth talking about! It makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but this is because there is conviction in observing a man or woman of God living by what they preach! It is far better the get the reputation of living by the Word than any other reputation we could obtain! The "news of our faith" should attract the attention of those who are looking for a good story!

When our lives are aligned with the Word, they do the preaching! There is more said in one right action than in a thousand words! Look how quickly someone will "pick holes" in our "stated" faith when there is very little to no action which aligns with the statements we are making. I think God calls us to be living examples of the Word - simply because people associate with other people. They need to see the Word "acted out" in order to see how it can impact a life.  "Dead idols" abound. We have things from our pasts - dead idols - taking up valuable room in our memories, tugging at our hearts, and finagling their way into our present day actions, attitudes, and memories. Isn't it time to let go of them once and for all? What is a dead idol? It is something which anchors us to the past, takes our attention away from the one true God, or inhabits our minds with taunting or tempting thoughts of the enjoyment of past sins.

Dead idols need to be deserted - like old cars in a junkyard. The only good purpose they have is in their being destroyed once and for all! They no longer serve us - we no longer serve them! It is time we understood this principle. It is time to let them go. Look up "junk" and you will find it is something regarded as worthless, meaningless, or contemptible. Guess what? The "dead idols" of our past are just worthless junk cluttering up our minds, messing with our emotions, and putting unnecessary temptation in our way today. Junk 'em! In contrast, we are asked to hold one thing before us - God himself. No more "dead idols" which only serve to rob our energies. So, what is it you need to leave in the "junkyard" of the past? It is time! Just sayin!

Is this for real?

Whoever said we could walk through this life without worries, difficulties, or unresolved issues was probably not a well person! Choosing to serve Christ does not elevate an individual above the ebbs and flows of life. In fact, it almost guarantees a few more hurdles! If we really are living for Christ, we will face challenging people, circumstances, and moments of potential compromise which we may not have encountered otherwise. Worries are still going to come, simply because we all have a tendency to want to 'hold everything together' ourselves. We just don't get used to turning things over to God quickly, bearing much more weight upon our shoulders than we really need to bear.

You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble. (I Thessalonians 1:5-6)

As we all know, increased troubles can easily come as we enter into relationship with Christ. Sorry, but you may balk a little at this revelation, but the important thing to see is with our great trouble comes the revelation we are being accompanied by the one who would walk us through it unscathed! WE sometimes forget this, but GOD doesn't! He gives us gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudges to remind us we are not walking alone. He wants us to lean into him, handing him the trouble to 'manage' and the obstacles to 'remove'. Look at the progression we see in this passage - they paid careful attention to their examples in the faith. In other words, they kept their eye on the actions and attitudes of those who had been walking with Christ longer than they had. In so doing, they became imitators of what they saw. Let me caution each of us here - not every example is worth imitating. Just because something bears the label 'Christian' doesn't ensure it is the true product!

Whenever we are imitating what we see, we are "molding" to a "model" we have before us. This makes it doubly important for us to have accurate "models" so what is "molded" within us is solid, reliable, and free of compromise! I have personally followed some pretty bad "models" in my years on this earth - both before and after choosing to follow Christ. The things produced were definitely different depending on the "model" being followed. If you have ever followed "bad directions", you know what I am referring to here. Just because you invite Christ into your lives doesn't mean you won't be tempted to follow wrong paths - in fact, those paths still present themselves repeatedly. We have to choose not to take them!

There are all kinds of "knock-off" jeans, but only one Levis brand! There all kinds of Coach purse knock-offs, but a genuine Coach purse bears the evidence of genuineness in many ways I wasn't even aware of at first. Noticeably enough, the thing which sets both of these "real things" off as originals is their cost! The "knock-off" brand gains its popularity simply because it LOOKS LIKE the original without the COST! We need to be aware many 'knock-offs' in life look good, but there is a significant difference in the cost to us. The reason we have "knock-offs" is simply because somebody sees something worth imitating! Yet, the knock-off will never measure up to the quality of the original! This is why it is so important we have good examples! We don't want to imitate a "knock-off" - we want to imitate the original! This is why it is important to evaluate the ones we hold up an examples, or models, in our lives once in a while - comparing them to the Word of God and the telling truth revealed by the Holy Spirit.

These believers learned to take the troubles with joy, and the joys with the trouble. How? Simply by having an example to keep their eyes on through the troubles - the Holy Spirit guiding them step-by-step. They became imitators of Christ - allowing the Holy Spirit to create within them the "staying power" and the appreciation of the supreme blessing of the trouble, not just the good! They learned each ebb had a purpose to expose something otherwise hidden from their view - each flow had a driving force to propel them forward. In each, they found joy - not because of the circumstance, but IN it. My hope is for us to become imitators of the original - solidly molding our lives to the pattern laid out for us in Christ Jesus. My goal is for us to never become cheap "knock-offs" - wanting the original, but not being willing to pay the price! Just sayin!

More than just a nice feeling

Winston Churchill once said, "Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning." C.S. Lewis echoed his words when he penned, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." I used to have a pastor who always said you needed to stand for something or you'd stand for nothing. Some refer to this as 'steel-strong' convictions. Steel in your convictions - what does this mean?

It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions. (I Thessalonians 1:3-5)

God's hand is on us for something special. We serve a God who is not only supernatural, but he actually influences us to move beyond the natural into the abundance of all he is! Our holy and mighty God wants us to live in the abundance he knows! It is this very encouragement which gives us transforming power to live with courage in times of uncertainty. When God begins to pour into our lives, he is "pouring" into us the "right stuff" - not just stuff that will 'make do'. "When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words." The Word of God NEVER returns to God void - spoken over and into our lives means what our lives produce will not be 'void' of value, either. When it is spoken, believed, and stood upon, it carries such a degree of transforming power that one cannot resist the transformation that is occurring.

C.S. Lewis hit the nail on the head - God gives us courage - not the regular stuff, but the ability to stand even when every one of our other virtues is being put to the test, stretched beyond belief, and seemingly pulling us inside out. Something happens when our virtues are put to the test - we come away stronger! This is not in our natural ability, but in the supernatural strength and grace of our holy God. Since the 1600's, the meaning of "convictions" has come to stand for any belief we stand convinced of in our lives. It is something we "hang our hat on" when the tough stuff begins to happen. I don't know about you, but there are times when my convictions don't actually match my behavior. Congruence (agreement) between my convictions and my behaviors is something which comes when I submit my convictions to God, allowing him to mold them to be conformed to the basis of truth.

Hardly a day passes which does not present us with some opportunity to have our convictions put to the test. We face uncertainties galore - putting to test our trust in the one who makes all things good. We come close to losing our hold on reality - almost choosing to believe the taunting lies of our enemy instead of the wholly proven Word of God. We refuse to "chance" love again - because someone who is hurt finds it almost impossible to reach out again in transparent abandon to another.
In these moments, God stands at the ready to put "steel in our convictions". When these convictions are solidly based on the Word of God - the truth - we can stand strong, head held high, and heart open to those who walk this pathway with us. God's hand is indeed upon us for something special - in his touch comes the "steel" to make it through - not just by the skin of our teeth, but with deep-seated assurance in the one we put our trust in. The next time you feel your "courage" waning - look up! It is in choosing to see God in the moment that we feel the infilling of his strength to face the unknown. Just sayin!

What are you doing with today?

The preparation of today makes us ready for tomorrow. Without the work of today, the events of today won't matter when tomorrow comes. When others look at our life, do they see evidence of our faith? Do they see us laboring in love, or resisting every move we make? Do they see us patient in our waiting, or chafing in anticipation, hating the wait and disgruntled by not getting our way? Many of us can claim to be believers, but do our lives indicate we live like believers? Three things that are just not arbitrary in our live are faith, the labors of love, and the patience we exhibit toward each other (and ourselves). In fact, these things speak volumes about the work which has begun in our lives - a work God is going to finish, no matter how hard it may appear to us!

Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you're in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. (I Thessalonians 1:2-3)

Can others see the evidence of our faith? Faith and actions work together - our actions makes our faith complete - not because we need to work FOR grace, but because grace works FOR us when we put into action the things grace is doing in our lives. In other words, we are expected to reveal Christ in our actions. There are going to be times when the actions God expects of us seem a little contrary to what we might think reasonable. In the Old Testament, we see a picture of Abraham taking his only son Isaac to the altar, placing him upon the altar, in preparation of offering the most important part of his life to God. Would God have let Abraham burn Isaac upon that altar that day? I don't think so, but God was likely showing Abraham something about himself he may not have realized he was capable of - the deep, intense love of God that is willing to give one's 'best' to him!

I don't believe for a moment God actually expected to see Isaac be burned alive on the altar! He wanted to see if Abraham loved God for the gifts, or because he was a good and gracious God! Sometimes our lives do very little to reveal our intense love and trust in God. They are shallow because we don't really learn to rely upon God for the evidence of faith his transforming power will produce when we allow it to fully consume us. As Abraham took the very first step toward the altar, son in hand, he was showing God just how much serving him mattered - it was all or nothing for him. He was "all in". I have to ask - do our actions reveal we are "all in" with God?What about our labor of love - do our lives reveal any? I wonder what our daily work would look like if we were actually laboring for Christ? What difference would it make if we taught those students as though it were for Christ and not for a pay check; drove those big rigs as ambassadors of Christ and not as long-distance drivers; or if we washed those dishes as evidence of our love for Christ's blessing of a family instead as a means to an end of our day?

How about our patience in waiting - do we chafe, or settle in to see what God will do? We often fall down here, don't we? Waiting is tough work. Exhibiting patience when we don't see the immediate evidence of what we are hoping for - even tougher! Yet, in the waiting, much is being accomplished. Just consider what it would be like if we received newborns in a pod instead of experiencing the long nine months of formation and transformation which occurs within the mother's womb. In the waiting, we move from a focus on self to a focus on another - that growing life within us. There is something accomplished in the waiting - but the difference is really made in what we do within the wait! Just some thoughts to ponder today. Evidence of faith - is it the first thing someone sees when they look at us? Labors of love - is the love of Christ foremost in our actions? Patience in waiting - today is the preparation for tomorrow - what are we doing with today? Just askin!

Greeted by Grace

God's amazing grace and his robust peace go hand-in-hand. The peace of God is really not totally understood, or experienced, until one has an encounter with the amazing grace of God. Grace is like a pathway to peace - know grace and you will know peace. Don't ever think peace means the absence of anything disturbing, though. We will still find many a 'disturbance' in our lifetime, but we don't have to face those disturbances without absolute and lasting peace. We will 'rest' even though the demands are great. We will 'abide' even when the pressures try to move us out of that zone of peace. Peace isn't a place, or even an 'achieved ascendance' - it is a person - Christ. Know Christ, live in him and walk close to him, and you will know peace.

I, Paul, together here with Silas and Timothy, send greetings to the church at Thessalonica, Christians assembled by God the Father and by the Master, Jesus Christ. God's amazing grace be with you! God's robust peace! (I Thessalonians 1:1)

Paul opens this letter with these two awesome reminders - God's amazing grace WITH us and his robust peace IN us. We cannot grow in grace until grace begins to live inside us. We cannot experience peace in any circumstance until we are walking hand-in-hand with the one who navigates through those circumstances with all authority and power. The make-up of many of our everyday associations today is what scripture would have referred to as Gentiles - those who are worshiping other gods - not yet realizing their true need for the one true God. God's hope for all of us is that we will live pure lives. Think about it for a moment and you will likely agree - where there is impurity, grace and peace are oftentimes not all that frequently observed. In fact, impurity is the very reason we need grace! Where grace has been introduced, impurity begins to be displaced. These two things are interrelated, but are not co-inhabitants!

God's amazing grace be with you! The important thing for us to see here is that salvation begins with grace - it is our starting point! God's amazing grace - it is capable of doing within man what nothing else can do - setting straight what sin corrupts. For this reason, it "amazes" those who receive it - inspiring awe, surprising us with the thoroughness of its touch, and overwhelming us with its drawing power. Herein we find an assurance given to us of something we can count on - God's robust peace in us! As I have already indicated, peace is an outcome of grace. Try to experience peace when you stand in need of grace and you will find it impossible to truly know peace. Sin sets us at odds with a holy God - grace brings us close to him again. Sin produces chaos - grace restores peace. Peace is the outcome of being free - grace gives us our freedom and helps us to understand peace where chaos once existed.

Sometimes we try to get peace in a circumstance. Peace is something which comes "IN" us as a result of what has been done FOR us in the work of grace. We'd do much better asking for grace - being set free from the binding effects of the circumstance. When we ask for grace first, we are asking God's guidance to see the circumstance for exactly what it is. He will either help us walk through it with peace which passes all understanding, or he will deliver us totally from it! Either way, we have peace because of his grace! We often skip the opening words of a letter such as this, thinking they really don't say much. If we ponder each of Paul's greetings to the various churches he writes to on his missionary journeys, we find some interesting things:

- To the Corinthians he writes: I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He's their Master as well as ours! He celebrates their salvation (being cleaned up by Jesus) and reminds them of their calling (set apart to live a God-filled life). He points them toward living full lives - absent of the vacancy sin produces. Celebration is a result of understanding - understanding is a result of grace.

- To the Galatians he writes: So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. A reminder of grace and peace again - but also the emphasis being on the tremendous "rescuing" power of grace and the invitation of grace being experienced by all. An invitation must be accepted, though. If we attempt to find grace by any other means than to accept the invitation to receive it, we will be sorely disappointed with the outcome.

- To the Ephesians he writes: I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. His purpose is to remind them of the bountifulness of God's grace - it is poured into our lives. Grace is not something we experience in dribbles - it is a gushing, overflowing infilling, given from a generous heart of a merciful and compassionate God!

The openings are similar, yet they each have a different revelation of God's grace and peace. We'd do well to never discount these words - they are seed thoughts which contain great hope! Great peace isn't known without being embraced by greater grace! Just sayin!

So, that's what you are doing!

I really don't like books that are a 'slow start' when you get into them - those books that just don't grab you very well to begin with - kind of hard to get into and just poking around at all kind of details that don't really need to be shared. I love to read - my favorite venue being mystery novels that keep me enthralled until the very end. I like the suspense of seeing the plot unfold until you discover the "who done it"! By definition, a mystery is anything (or anyone) which presents features or qualities so obscure that they are going to arouse our curiosity. The "fun" comes in unraveling the obscure features - no matter how 'buried' they may be. I think God likes mysteries, often unveiling a little tidbit of something we need to know and then getting us ready to receive the next!

Just as you'll never understand the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman, so you'll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

God is at work all around us - in today's moments whatever they may hold - unveiling little by little the elements of his "mystery" in us and through us. We sometimes get so hung up on yesterday's moments that we forget to pay attention to the ones happening right there in front of us right now! Then we wonder why we don't understand what God is doing! Did you ever wonder why God sometimes takes a great deal of time unveiling his mystery in us? For one thing, we probably could not handle the whole thing if it was revealed in one great "dump of data" into our finite brains! More importantly, I think God may just be developing our "curiosity" for more of his mystery to be revealed in us - getting our brains in line with our heart, our emotions in line with his Word, and our spirit in tune with his Spirit! He is almost moving us step-by-step, one step at a time, so we come to a place of heightened anticipation until we finally "get" the unfolded mystery!

Some think of a mystery as a "puzzle" of sorts - something to be "figured out". God's unveiling of himself in us - the re-creating of our character from one of sinful hardness into one of yielded gentleness is not something we will ever "figure out"! I have walked a good many years with Christ and I still don't know how he orchestrates some of the change in my life, but he does! I just have to trust him to reveal it - because I am no good at revealing it in quite the same way as he does! The fact remains - God IS at work in us! In his mysterious ways, he is bringing us into a place of understanding him more - in a deeper way, with a more meaningful connection to him. He reveals elements of his character, and in turn this revelation begins to impact our character (who we are, how we think, the ways we respond). To understand something (or someone) begins with becoming thoroughly familiar with the person or object. So, God's mystery isn't "solved" so much about the 'mystery', but about getting to know him better!

Guess what? The more we get to know God, the more familiar we become with the ways he moves, the things he takes delight in, and even what 'ticks him off'. This is why scripture tells us those who want to learn God's will for their lives must turn from following after the pursuits of the world. "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2) The process of a mystery being revealed requires "learning" - we take in information, processing it until it becomes evident we finally do possess a "piece of the puzzle". Sometimes God's dealings are just like this - we feel like one piece is being revealed at a time - but if you are like me, you want the bigger picture right now! Here's something to consider: If I gave you a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle today - no box for it - just the pieces - would you be able to put it together instantly? Not likely! You'd demand the box because the box helps to guide how you put those pieces together! You would want to see the "pattern" in order to know where you were "headed" in placing all the pieces together. God gives us the "box" in Christ - he is the image of what we will all become when God is finished putting the pieces together in us! With God's mysteries come the solutions!

So, don't worry about not having all the "knowledge" to figure out the mystery at work in you right now. Just trust the one doing the work! He gives us something to look toward - Christ himself. He reminds us what he is accomplishing in us - he is making us into the image of Christ - changing our character to match his. He will reveal the "finished product" at some point down the line - we just need to trust in the one who is "revealing the mystery" one step at a time. Just sayin!

Every bit counts

We have times in life when we just feel like the harder we try, the farther behind we manage to get - like we are chasing our tail the entire way. In looking forward, we see only those things and others who are out ahead of us. It comes as no surprise when someone even begins to describe their impression of God being somewhere, anywhere, but not in the moment of their need - because their 'moment of need' is so far away from where they are right now. We had the need a whole lot earlier than 'now', but we just finally realized we actually needed him! The trial gets hard and we often think we have lost touch with the very one who has the ability to help us get through it all. Listen to these words:

Long enough, God— you've ignored me long enough. I've looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I've carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me. Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, so no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face. I've thrown myself headlong into your arms—I'm celebrating your rescue. I'm singing at the top of my lungs, I'm so full of answered prayers. (Psalm 13)

I daresay we all have probably thought or said these words or ones very similar! We have the same impressions - God is ignoring our need; he is so far out in front of us we can only see the back of his head; he is no longer aware of the enemy's attack in our lives - but is he really? Here's the hard truth for us to hear - the movement away from God's care was not on his part - it was all on us! "Long enough I've carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain." Yep, we hold onto what God asks for us to place in his hands, foolishly attempting to do things on our own, just plowing ahead blindly. In the end, we complain bitterly under the tremendous load we have never been asked to carry!

The way out from under the ton of trouble is most frequently in transferring the load to one who can actually carry the load with ease! In the moment of the recognition of our inadequacy to "deal with" the ton of trouble on our shoulders, God steps in as our rescuer. In the way only God can manage, the load is lifted, we no longer spin our wheels "dealing with" the very things he never intended for us to "deal with". Anytime we realize we are "dealing with" things, we might just want to take the advice we are given in this passage. Our perspective of God needs to change! When we are carrying the burdens ourselves, we see the back of his head - simply because we fall behind, we get entangled in the emotional energies of worry, and we lose sight of his carefulness over our lives. When we change our focus - looking him in the face, the nearness of his care is evidenced in the burdens being lifted - maybe slowly at first, but the lifting of those burdens gets easier and easier as the weight begins to be removed.

You may feel like the "view" you have had of God these past days, weeks, or months has been the "back of his head" kind of a view. I challenge you today to change your perspective - just as I frequently have to challenge myself! In dropping whatever burden you are under into his hands, you actually HAVE TO come face-to-face with him! The "hand-off" of the ton of trouble on your shoulders only is accomplished in the "face-to-face" exchange! Celebrate your rescue today - even if you just begin to feel that load being lifted, but know there is more to be unburdened! Enjoy your "unburdening". He delights in taking what you have been holding onto - even if you are only willing to part with just a little bit of it right now! Just sayin!