Need a little bit of a push?

There is probably not one of us that would be able to say we haven't endured at least a bit of suffering of some sort in our lives. At one point or another, we will go through something that challenges us beyond our capacity. What our response is in those challenging times usually helps us to realize where our focus has been directed - what has our attention and even our affection. We might not always view suffering as a positive thing - mostly because there is a whole lot of unpleasantness in it! We might not always feel like we came away from it in an 'unscathed' manner - probably because our emotions are a bit raw, and our lives have been in upheaval for a bit longer than we might have wanted. Truth be told, our suffering is actually good for us, even when we think it might not have been the most rewarding thing to endure.

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver. (Psalm 119:71-72)

Our suffering actually helps us to see what it is we have been paying so much attention to - it uncovers or unmasks our true focus. What happens to most of us when we go through hard times? Don't we find ourselves actually pressing into Jesus just a bit harder? We might even find ourselves dusting off that Bible that had gathered a bit too much dust on the corner of our nightstand! We get into it, finding promises we cling to, holding onto each one like it was our lifeline. Guess what - it is! The Word of God isn't just for the good times or Sunday sermons. It is a life-giving source for our daily walk - both in the good times and in the hard ones. We just forget that from time to time, allowing a little misdirection in our focus and less concentration on what actually gives us clarity, hope, and strength.

Read it again - we actually have to be taught to pay attention to God's Word! We don't just do that on our own. We need God's help to develop that attentiveness. Obedience is the result of attentiveness - we come to the place of realizing the direction we have been traveling isn't right and we adjust our course. We don't do that all on our own - we need God's 'push' on occasion to get us moving in the right direction. Most of the time our 'inattentiveness' is little more than us allowing life to get a little too busy, pushing time with God out of the 'agenda' for the day. God may not send the suffering our way, but if he allows it to come in whatever form it comes, remember he isn't going to allow it to crush us. It is a call to 'pay attention' to him, get close to him, and allow him to walk us through those 'tough times' in his strength. Just sayin!

Quench that stench

If you have ever had your eyes diverted for just a moment or two while driving, then realized how dangerously close you were to heading into the tail-end of another car or swerving into someone else's lane, then you probably also know the 'immediacy' of your reaction to 'correct' your course. You immediately brake, bringing the car back into a safe distance behind the one in front of you, or you get back into the lane you were to be in and then remain vigilant to remain there! With all the texting while driving I see these days, it is easy to see how accidents can be on the rise - for diverted eyes only take a moment to allow the catastrophic to occur. The same is true in our spiritual lives - diversions are dangerous to us - they change our course, put us in harm's way, and can take a little bit more 'over-correction' than we might first imagine.

God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments;
I love traveling this freeway! (Psalm 119:33-35)

God doesn't go about 'teaching us' stuff from his Word - things about the way he works, what to expect of his careful attentiveness over our lives - just so we can live as we please. He expects us to use these truths to guide us into 'carefully lived' lives ourselves. This means we have to guard against the diversions that come our way. Back in the days when warfare was a little less 'scientific' than it is today, one of the tactics utilized was to 'divert' the supply of water, food, and needed supplies away from the place you were attempting to 'take over'. They did this to cut them off - so they'd get desperate and let their guard down. Desperate people do desperate things - not always all that carefully thought out or purposeful!

If they diverted the flow of water coming into the township, there would arise a panic because water was a necessary part of daily life. If it wasn't available any longer, the chances of survival were significantly reduced. Yes, they could look for alternatives, but eventually they'd need the water. The  body isn't made to survive without it. Similarly, the spirit of man isn't meant to be cut-off from God - although one may survive for a while, the vitality of life soon fades and you begin to experience a sense of being 'dry' on the inside. The human spirit needs connection with God's Spirit - continual and uninterrupted. Only then do we sense the 'fullness of grace' that God desires for each of us.

Diversions also lead to chaos in our lives. If you have ever been diverted from doing something that needs to be done, but you chose something else in place of that action, you know what I am referring to with this thought. Leave the laundry just a few days beyond when you should have addressed those piles and you will become desperate for clean underwear at some point! Sure, it could be as simple as 'buying new' to further avoid the needed task, but eventually the piles will require some action on your part. Eventually the stench of dirty laundry will reach your nostrils! Diversions can lead us away from the course we should be on and take us down ones we might find add a little bit of a 'stench' to our lives. When this happens, the stench can only be avoided for so long! Eventually we will desire to 'quench the stench'!

Divert your attention away from God long enough and you will find your living a very barren and dry life filled with all manner of not so 'sweet' a scent to it! The connection we maintain is one of attentive and purposeful choice to stay on course - to not be enticed by diversionary tactics used by the enemy of our soul. I choose not to text and drive. I choose to pay attention to the road. If we can make this purposeful choice in our driving habits, why can't w make similar choices when it comes to our spiritual focus and purposeful connection with a loving God who cares for us so deeply? Just asking!

Napping is bad for your health!

Ever feel like you have a "personal enemy" just lurking at your back?  You know, that eerie feeling that you just cannot escape some sense of doom and gloom that hangs heavy over your head?  Yep, we all go through that on occasion - no matter how "spiritual" we are!  Guess what - we DO have a personal enemy - he is called Satan.  His mission in life is to make our life miserable as much as possible - especially if we have committed to living by the principles laid out in scripture and entered into the grace God extends through the life of Christ.  He makes it his point to muster his forces to attempt to dissuade us from that pursuit.  Here's the good news - you'd not be the object of his attacks if you weren't living the way Jesus wants you to!

Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.  (I Peter 5:8-11 MSG)

So, in the midst of realizing we have a personal enemy, here's what scripture tells us - keep a cool head!  Don't get overwhelmed by the attack - but see it for what it is!  It is a cleverly manipulated scheme designed to get us off track with Jesus - plain and simple!  Something you may not have considered is the attacks from our "personal enemy" will not stop!  They may lessen from time to time, but they don't stop.  Why?  He wants company in eternity!

Four things come to mind as excellent opportunities for our "personal enemy" to overwhelm us - those times or seasons in our lives when it makes it just a little easier for him to get an inroad into our lives.  What are they?  The times when we are hungry, lonely, angry, or tired.  

- Hungry for the wrong stuff.  Our "personal enemy" plays on our emotions - he wants us to develop wrong appetites in life.  Not so much for the foods we eat, but for the stuff which will whittle away our time, sap us of our energies, and the like.  He wants us to misdirect our attentions to those things which really don't amount to much in the end.  If he can get our eyes off of Jesus and onto ANYTHING or ANYONE else, he has succeeded in taking us from a place of being satisfied in Jesus and being hungry for something else instead.

- Lonely seasons are the toughest seasons to navigate through.  Why?  Isolated people make good targets.  If you have ever watched the nature shows, you know the lion doesn't hunt the herd, he hunts the one who stands apart, who wanders out into the open.  This is a hunting tactic used by those who take their prey from the beginning of time.  If you think Satan is any different in his "hunting" tactics, he isn't!  He looks for the isolated because they make easy prey.  The work of separating them from the herd is already done!  So, to counter this attack, we need to be aware of our surroundings - know when we are getting on the fringes of the "herd" and in danger of pulling away from those who actually act to keep us in a place of safety.

- Anger is probably one of our toughest struggles in life - it is an emotion which is hard to understand sometimes.  We don't always "break down" our anger to see what is at the root of it, so it keeps emerging when we least expect it.  The result of anger is further relationship breakdown, the result of the further breakdown is the chance for isolation, or at least being surrounded by a crowd who may not help you be hungry for the right things!  The sad part of anger is its destructiveness - not just of others - but of us.  It eats at us until it forms a cavernous "ulceration" which just bleeds and festers all the time.  So, if our enemy can get us focused on what we see as something we might just want to get a bit miffed about from time to time, he gets us working on the responses which lead us to form more frequent bouts of anger.  It is cyclic.  If he can get us angry with God - he scores extra points on that one!

- Weariness or being continuously tired is probably the hardest one of these to counter.  You see, our personal enemy begins with our focus.  If he gets us distracted, he can get us to wander a bit.  If he gets us wandering outside of protection in our lives, he can get us to feeling isolated and isolated people find it easier to get angry when things don't go their way in life.  Distracted, isolated, and angry people don't rest well!  In fact, we drive harder, trying to outdo ourselves and others - eventually succumbing to the fatigue which acts as a shadow or cloud over our lives.  The fatigue makes us vulnerable to attack!  See it for what it is - his tool to make it easier for him to take us down!

I don't know about you, but recognizing what it is our "personal enemy" may be up to in our lives seems like a good idea to me.  If you know the plan of attack ahead of time, you can counter the attack.  Just sayin!

My "A" List

Character traits of individuals are as varied as are the number of people in this world.  Some of us have tiny button noses, others are larger and have even made people famous, like Jimmy Durante who is most well known for his "schnozzola".  There are those who possess the evenest white teeth, never needing braces to correct overbite, under bite, or even teeth seemingly too tightly crammed into the space they occupy.  Yet, there are character traits we often don't focus on as much as the outward - those which make us up on the "inside".  I would like to call attention to those character traits which God sees - the "inside stuff".  This journey will begin today and may take us several days, but I hope it will unfold some things for us which we might just be overlooking when we are focusing intently on the "image" we portray.  You see, character traits are more than skin deep and those which matter the most are those which are often barely visible, but most often have to be "felt" in order to be appreciated fully.

Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.  (John 10:1-5 MSG)

As we begin today, I'd like to start with the character traits which make up our "A" list of traits.  No, these are not the "super-important" ones, but simply begin with the letter "a".  All the character traits we will explore over the next several days are important - none of them should be overlooked.  So, what are our "A" list of traits?  Attentiveness, Authenticity, and Alertness.  

- Alertness:  Many of us go through life barely "alert" to our surroundings - seemingly taking up space and passing time in space.  It is kind of like we are asleep on our feet, numb to the world around us, and just "dulled" in some sense or another.  There is more to alertness than being aware of what occupies our space, though.  One who is fully alert is also very agile - able to move quickly.  If you have ever been hit in the side of the head by a frisbie hurled into space by another, what one thing could you have controlled in that moment?  Isn't it your alertness to the surroundings?  You only got hit because you did not duck fast enough!  In our passage above, Jesus presents the illustration of someone climbing over the fence to gain access to the sheep pen compared to another who enters through the gate.  The question posed - how do we recognize who really belongs?  If we never were alert to "how" it is someone entered the pen, we likely have no clue if they truly belong!  Alertness is key to "keeping guard over" our lives.  When we aren't agile, able to make course changes quickly, we get stuck in the muck and mire of life.  We also don't recognize who or what comes to occupy the space in our lives - creating chaos and clutter.  So, our first character trait is alertness - the sense of being fully aware and able to make swift judgment calls in order to avoid danger, stay free of clutter, and avoid the hazards in life.

- Attentiveness:  This trait pretty closely resembles alertness, but with one key difference - you are "present" in the moment.  There is focus - on purpose.  It might be easier for us to understand attentiveness by examining its antonyms - the exact "opposite" traits.  For example, if you are "inattentive", you are likely a little indifferent or apathetic to the circumstances.  You can be alert to the situation without being attentive.  Attentiveness involves being concerned about the circumstances - enough for you to focus yourself and stay on task with what is happening.  Inattentive people don't actually feel the need to stay involved - they lose focus and drift.  One thing presented in our passage which reveals attentiveness is the willingness to listen carefully to the voices we heed.  Jesus said his sheep (you and I) know his voice - but we also are attentive (focused on) distinguishing his voice in the midst of all the other voices we hear!

- Authenticity:  It is not by accident Jesus uses this illustration of sheep and the shepherd.  Sheep are followers - they seem to attach to the "actions" of whatever catches their eye and then follow it, almost without thinking.  This is why Jesus calls attention to the two other traits of the sheep - alertness and attentiveness will keep the sheep safe.  So, what does authenticity have to do with sheep?  Simply put, sheep are true to themselves - they aren't trying to be goats, cows, or chickens.  They are always going to be sheep - in need of a shepherd.  So, learning to not just be a "copy" of the sheep next door, but to be genuine and real in who you were created to be is important.  Our Shepherd wants a flock of sheep which are not just carbon copies of the others in the "flock".  He wants us to be uniquely who we were created to be. This is probably one of the hardest character traits for us to grab hold of because we are always comparing ourselves with the other "sheep" in the flock.  The danger comes in not being true to ourselves - it opens the door to us never really fulfilling the purpose for which we were uniquely created.  How does the shepherd know his sheep?  By name!  Not just by size, fluffiness of fleece, or the bleating of one's voice.  He knows them by name!  This suggests to me that the Shepherd cares enough to have a genuine relationship with us - to reciprocate with anything less would just not be right!  Just sayin!