Do you know where you are going?

But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. (Job 23:10-11)

There are times when we feel like our path is a bit more complicated than we'd like it to be. We find ourselves knee deep in some muddle or another, wishing things could be different very quickly, but they just don't seem to change all that fast. In the 'testing pathway', will we remain faithful to what we believe, while wrestling with everything we find 'contrary' to the way we hoped life would turn out? If we struggle just a bit with the test, we aren't alone. Most of us struggle to make sense of things at times, but when we still trust God in spite of the difficulties, we are going to make it through!

God knows where we are going, even when we don't. That is good news for someone today who is on some 'path' to who knows where, wondering if God has abandoned them. He hasn't! In fact, if you look closer, you will see he has not only not abandoned you, but he has been carrying you for the past while because you have grown so weary in your journey! The 'testing pathway' may not be finished, but he hasn't abandoned you to your own devices. In fact, he has been helping you to sort out the stuff you want to take away from the journey and the garbage you will leave behind.

Stay and follow - two very distinctive words that describe commitment. In the midst of the test, it isn't uncommon to want to escape. If you are anything like me, you look around at the circumstances and take inventory. You find yourself looking for the good in the moment but being quite certain that nothing good will ever come out of it. Then you see a glimmer of light, a bit of hope dawns, and you trudge on a little bit further. More light comes, maybe only a sliver, but it is light nonetheless. You move on and follow the leading of that light. That is how we make it through, my friends. One tiny step at a time. One little battle with our emotions that want us to just give up after another. 

We likely have no way of judging what will await us at the end of the 'testing pathway', but when we stay the course, following his lead all the way, we are sure to find what God has prepared. Something that resembles refined, pure gold. Just sayin!

Resisting Temptation

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (I Corinthians 10:13) 

We can all admit to being a little more than 'tempted' when we see some delicious dessert we crave, gaze upon a shiny new automobile we have been desiring or wanting to jump into the latest gossip session going on in the breakroom. We ALL are tempted - it is what we do with that temptation that matters. We can give into it, skirt our way around it without being too awfully scathed by it, or resist it entirely. I can say I have done all three! Skirted in my own efforts and barely avoided the temptation. Given in whole hog to satisfy some inner urge or desire. The 'resisting it entirely' hasn't always been my 'mode of operation' in life. How about you?

Give in and feel the guilt begin to mount. Barely escape by the skin of your teeth and you might feel a moment of victory, but you know the temptation is still lurking just barely behind you, tugging a bit on your 'will-power' to just 'give in'. Put God between you and the temptation and the matter at hand takes on a whole new appearance! The word for us today is that we CAN stand - we just need to be shown the way to endure temptation's pull without giving into its lure. Who better to show us the way to resist than the one who was tested in every way we could possibly be tested, but came out victorious each and every time?

It is not more than we can handle, but we don't 'handle it' in our own power. We need to nuzzle up close to Jesus if we are to resist jumping right in to share the latest piece of juicy gossip. He has given us the Holy Spirit to act as a sort of 'monitor' over our mouths, but we have to listen to the prompt he gives in the moment. When we start out by asking God to give us a sensitivity to the prompts of the Holy Spirit, we stand a better chance of avoiding the pull. Why? We have 'put first' the very thing we need to STAND as overcomers in the midst of compromising situations. Giving into temptation is most frequently linked directly to how well we have put Christ first in our lives. When he is in the lead - we stand. When we lead - we have no solid footing. Just sayin!

Okay, test it again

Endurance is often defined by one's ability to hold out without giving into some impairment or difficulty. In "undergoing" some stress, you are able to come out the other side still standing. Not everything we "undergo" is designed to leave us "standing" - sometimes we need to be in a place that displays a different type of "strength" than being able to "stand". In other words, sometimes the "strongest" place we find ourselves is in admitting our weakest place within! There is something which comes in the times of "trouble" in our lives which has a way of revealing these "weak" spots - and I think God may have just designed the thing we "undergo" to reveal that "spot" so he might help us with that weakness.

My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything. (James 1:2-4 CEV)

Since most think of endurance as the ability to push beyond the "weak spots" in life, it stands to reason we will attempt to "get beyond" whatever it is we are "undergoing" by whatever inner strength we can muster on our own. We think we can somehow avoid coming face-to-face with the weakness we are trying so hard to ignore. Guess what - no matter how hard we try to ignore a weak area, eventually the stress put against that weak area will cause that area to be exposed! Deny they are there all you want, but those tiny areas now become quite translucent and imminently ready to pop!

Our weaknesses have a way of being discovered - not so much in the times when all is going so perfect for us, but in the times we are "stretched" to what we may feel is "beyond" our capacity to endure any more. Most of the testing we undergo is not "in the quiet time" - those moments when we are alone with God and he kind of has us under the "microscope" in the quietness of our personal time with him. Nope - the majority of the testing we undergo is right smack in the middle of living life. Those times of "stretching" soon reveal the areas not previously recognized where we need God's help to replace our weakness with his strength. The stretching brings evidence we are not as strong as we might have thought we were! In fact, we begin to realize we not only have one weak area, but multiple! This is were the opportunity comes for most of us to attempt to conceal the weak area(s). We somehow think if we just "hide away" the weaknesses so no one sees the them, no one will know it is there and we will escape the scrutiny of having that area "exposed".

We might get a handle on the internal pressures, effectively "shutting off" anything else trying to come "in" - but we cannot control all the things coming at us which knock us around a little on the outside! We soon realize if we don't ask God's help to deal with those weak areas, we are about to quit or give int something we didn't want to! I don't know about you, but instead of "proving" I can endure, successfully cut off the flow of what gets inside, and then cleverly manipulating to "cover up" the weaknesses inherent in my character, I am choosing to have God test all the "weaknesses" in my life! Just sayin!

Warrior Strong

From 1980 until 2001, the U.S. Army slogan was "Be All You Can Be" and the rest of it was "in the Army". It has morphed from "Army of One", "Army Strong", into the present "What's Your Warrior?", with each lasting a few or more years in various recruiting campaigns. I kind of like the present one, but the "Be All You Can Be" one really speaks of what God desires of his 'army' of believers - he wants us to be mature and complete, becoming all he intends for us to be - not as an Army of One, but as Warriors in his army of billions upon billions.

My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be. (James 1:2-4 ERV)

Warriors become strong not in the absence of trouble, but right there in the middle of it. We sometimes forget that in our daily walk with Jesus, thinking everything should just 'run smoothly' and life should somehow be less challenging. The opposite is quite true in his army - challenges are what make us strong - they help us develop our 'warrior' spirit. To 'be all we can be', we must 'become'. Becoming is a state of development - it is not a one-time thing. We learn from dealing with trouble much more than we learn from just hearing about the tactics we can utilize to counteract trouble!

Tactics are good - I learned all kinds of tactics in the military. We practiced various maneuvers, challenging ourselves to memorize certain things we'd need to know should the need arise to go into actual warfare. I never saw the battlefield, but I learned the tactics used there. Guess what? Those of you who have actually seen the battlefield will likely tell me the 'tactics' were good in theory, but you need more than 'tactics' to survive in the heat of the battle. The tactics guide your actions, but it is the action that actually accomplishes the victory!

We sometimes forget that warriors need to be engaged in a battle. We can train all our lifetime for the battle of one day - but if we don't ever take the step into the battlefield, we are just 'trained', we aren't proven. Proving comes in the thick of the fight, putting into practice what we have learned. Our faith isn't proven by learning the 'tactics' of faith. It is proven when we have to put it into play in the thick of the battle! We don't run into battle unprepared - we need to learn the tactics we use to fight well. We also don't sit by and never fight! Our faith isn't going to develop on the sidelines of life. It develops most on the battlefields some will never even realize we have entered. Just sayin!

Not another one!

Those who stand firm during testing are blessed. They are tried and true. They will receive the life God has promised to those who love him as their reward. (James 1:12 CEB)

There are certainly times of testing and trial - when you don't feel like you are ever going to be out from under the pressure of "issues" that just keep surfacing. You just get your head to the surface again, gulp a little fresh air, and another wave comes crashing down over you! Some time ago, I watched a movie about the first black Navy diver portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. - born to a poor family, joining the military in hopes of finding that "better life". It is the story of our lives, isn't it? We want something "better", taking steps in that direction, only to find the "distance" between what we had and what we want is gigantically longer, harder, and more challenging than we ever expected.

Gooding soon comes to realize he isn't going to be "accepted" just because he wants to join the elite squad of divers - he must prove himself over and over again to both his peers and his instructors. We often want what others say we cannot have or accomplish, don't we? Some call us dreamers, or "out of touch with reality" just because we want what they believe we will never quite be "good enough" to reach. When pushed to our max, we bounce back, amazing even ourselves at times for the ability to "recover" and "get beyond" what some would label as "set back" after "set back".

The truth of the matter is that absolutely nothing that comes very easily in life actually makes our roots stronger - it merely blesses us and makes life a little "better" at the moment. Those things we never worked for, struggled to attain, or put forth some effort to enjoy are simply not going to help us stand strong in the midst of the battle. The sooner we realize the "fiber of our being" is made strong not by having a dream, but by putting forth the effort to see that dream become a reality, the less we will resist the waves and waves of resistance that comes with those dreams!

Maybe you have spoken those words lately that tell someone you just need a break from what you have been going through. Perhaps you have uttered those prayers out loud to God asking for something to "go right" for a change. This is only natural when pushed to the edge of our capacity. In basic training, I remember being pushed way beyond what some could endure. We each had the dream of being part of the "graduating class" at the end of that training, but week after week there were those who just couldn't make it. They didn't have "what it took" to make it to the finish line.

"What it takes" is sometimes contrary to what the world thinks it will take. When our marriage is challenged beyond what others may think is "repairable" - we dig in and try a little harder - confounding those who think we should just cash in our chips and walk away with our losses. When our kids are balancing on the edge of some very poor decisions and facing consequences we don't want them to go through - we stand by them while they endure those consequences - not because we want harm for them, but because we love them so deeply we help them to develop a few deeper roots of their own.

Capacity isn't "pre-determined" - it is developed over time. As we embrace the difficulties of the hard places and push beyond what some might think ever possible, we send roots deeper. Those roots are what will give us anchor and help us to stand strong. Capacity is expanded - not just accepted as a "set amount". It isn't stagnant - it is a growing and vibrant part of who we are as kids of the King. Just sayin!

Popping the balloons

Endurance is often defined by one's ability to hold out without giving into some impairment or difficulty.  In "undergoing" some stress, you are able to come out the other side still standing.  Over the course of my life, I have learned not everything we "undergo" is designed to leave us "standing" - sometimes we need to be in a place which displays a different type of "strength" than being able to "stand".  In other words, sometimes the "strongest" place we find ourselves is in admitting our weakest place within!  There is something which comes in the times of "trouble" in our lives which has a way of revealing these "weak" spots - and I think God may have just designed the thing we "undergo" to reveal that "spot" so he might help us with that weakness.

My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble.  You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested.  But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything. (James 1:2-4 CEV)

Since most think of endurance as the ability to push beyond the "weak spots" in life, it stands to reason we will attempt to "get beyond" whatever it is we are "undergoing" by whatever inner strength we can muster on our own.  We think we can somehow avoid coming face-to-face with the weakness we are trying so hard to ignore.  Guess what - no matter how hard we try to ignore a weak area, eventually the stress put against that weak area will cause that area to be exposed!  Don't believe me - try blowing up a balloon until you think it is at capacity.  Then put a little more air, then a little more, until you begin to see the latex in that balloon stretch to reveal those tiny areas, now stretched to capacity, where you can almost see yourself through them.  While the balloon was only half-inflated those weak areas were not all that visible.  With a little more "air" in the balloon, stretching it to a new capacity, those areas of weakness become more and more apparent.  Deny they are there all you want, but those tiny areas now become quite translucent and imminently ready to pop!

You see, our weaknesses have a way of being discovered - not so much in the times when all is going so perfect for us, but in the times we are "stretched" to what we may feel is "beyond" our capacity to endure any more.  Just as the balloon began to reveal those weak spots, we will begin to reveal ours because the trial brings a "translucency" to those areas. What was once unrecognized because it was only a "tiny weakness" now can be revealed for just how big of a portal of "exposure" that weakness creates in our lives.  I watched a show the other night on how balloons were made.  Of every twenty balloons, they blow up one or two from the batch to ensure they will hold air - no flaws "too big" to cause them to not be stretched to what is the "desired capacity".  Now, at first, this seemed like adequate "quality assurance", but that left 18-19 other balloons in the package which were never tested!  Sure, one or two were proven strong enough to stretch to capacity - but what about the others?  You know how they get tested?  When you and I actually need to use them in our lives!

Most of the testing we undergo is not "in the factory time" - those moments when we are alone with God and he kind of has us under the "microscope" in the quietness of our personal time with him.  Nope - the majority of the testing we undergo is in right smack in the middle of living life.  Yep, one or two of our "balloons" were tested in the "alone time" with Jesus, but the other eighteen will be tested when the demands are placed upon us in the regular living of life.  Keeping in mind what I have already said, those times of "stretching" soon reveal the areas not previously recognized where we need God's help to replace our weakness with his strength.  What the stretching does for us is bring evidence we are not as strong as we might have suggested we were!  In fact, we begin to realize we not only have one weak area, but multiple!  This is were the opportunity comes for most of us to attempt to conceal the weak area(s).  We somehow think if we just "turn the balloon" around so no one sees the "stretched" area, no one will know it is there and we will escape the scrutiny of having that area "exposed".

Think again!  Before long, a little more air will fill the "balloon" we know is at the "riskiest" place in terms of capacity to take anymore of the stretching.  Even if no more air is pumped in - no more "capacity" is demanded - those weak areas make it even harder for the "balloon" to "remain filled"!  Knock the balloon around a couple of times and those weak areas begin to feel a new type of stress - although their "internal capacity" was managed, their external pressures are not!  This is how it is in life - we might get a handle on the internal pressures, effectively "shutting off" anything else trying to come "in" - but we cannot control all the things coming at us which knock us around a little on the outside!  Either way, we soon realize if we don't ask God's help to deal with those weak areas, we are about to "pop"!  Knowing what we know about balloons, what happens when they "pop"?  Do they have "capacity" any longer to function as they were designed?  Nope!  In fact, their "pieces" are scattered, they're left stretched out, and all that remains is "remnants" of the former. This is kind of like what happens to us when we don't recognize our areas of weakness, or do our best to simply ignore them - we are left with remnants!

I don't know about you, but instead of "proving" I can endure, successfully cut of the flow of what gets inside, and then cleverly manipulating to "cover up" the weaknesses inherent in my character, I am choosing to have God test all the "balloons" in my package!  Just sayin!

Another wilderness journey?

Have you ever really considered the lessons you have learned because of the experience of another?  You know, the stuff you just never really explore because you see how the exploration of another left them kind of unfulfilled, reasonably sane, but just so not excited about their experience?  Well, I think this is all part of God's plan for us in life - to learn from the experiences of those who go before us.  The first astronaut into space paved the way for all the others who came behind.  The first one to fly above the earth had a whole lot of failures before there was truly lift-off.  The experiences of the first made an example of both what not to do and what to do in the midst of the experiences of the many who followed.  I think the same is true in our spiritual lives - we learn a great deal about what not to do and what really is the best path for us simply by looking at those who've gone before us.

When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you’re going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn’t build, well-furnished houses you didn’t buy, come upon wells you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn’t plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don’t forget how you got there—God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.  (Deuteronomy 6:10-12 MSG)

Egypt was a place of barrenness for Israel.  When they came out of Egypt, they were "high" on the promises of great provision and purpose.  I imagine they never expected to face the barrenness of the wilderness in between their deliverance from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land!  Most of us never really expect any barrenness - any wilderness experiences - along the way in our spiritual lives.  I think we hope for life to let us get a "buy" on some of the challenges others have faced.  I think we do get a "buy" on occasion - simply because we learn from those who go before us.  Yet, there are times when we just find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the wilderness, wondering why we are experiencing such barrenness in our lives. In those moments, remember this - to move from promise to provision we will likely face a few problems along the way - the biggest of which is our unbelief.

Think about this - would you ever begin a journey if there was no promise of something at the end of that journey?  Not likely!  You'd probably just remain in your contented little world, as bad as it may be, without ever moving forward.  It is the disturbance of our peacefulness in our present circumstances which actually makes us hope for the promise of something different on the "other side".  Between the promise and the realization of the provision we face problems.  Problems are a way of life - they are God's opportunities to reveal himself strong in our lives, but they are also his opportunities to reveal where it is we are leaning on our own strength to just "get by".  In between the place of our bondage and our provision we will encounter a whole lot of testing.  Testing is really what occurs in the wilderness experience.  In the wilderness, God has the chance to show us who and what it is we really rely upon for the provision which is promised!

One thing I don't think we realize is the leading which brings us into the wilderness.  You know, Israel did not end up in the wilderness because they took a wrong turn!  God brought them there!  They left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, came across and found themselves smack dab in the midst of the wilderness.  Between their deliverance and their provision, God led them into the wilderness.  Now, they chose how long they'd stay in the wilderness, but God was the one leading them into it.  This should give us some hope because I think most of us think we are in the wilderness by our own doing. It is quite the opposite - God brought us into it, he goes with us through it, and he will lead us out of it.  The only thing we have control over is how long we need to stay in it!

Most of us fail to recognize the wilderness is not about our comfort - if we wanted to be comfortable we would have never left what was familiar to us. The wilderness is about our character - for it is in the midst of moments of decision that our choices are refined.  You know, an oak tree grows over the course of a man's lifetime.  A weed only takes a matter of a few days to reach its maturity!  I don't know about you, but an oak tree appeals to me a whole lot more than a huge weed!  Maybe we'd resist the wilderness a little less if we realized the Lord is just after the oak he sees in us!  We want the fast fix. God wants the permanent fix!  We want the quick provision.  God wants to prepare us for the provision.  Guess what?  We never get to the provision until we have learned the lessons of the wilderness.  Think of the wilderness as God's refining ground - his proving ground.  It is there where our motives are uncovered and our true identity is discovered.  

If we begin to see the wilderness as a time of taking us from promise to provision - we might just begin to understand the middle part - process. Nothing good in life ever comes without the evidence of some type of process. Cookies in the jar are a result of someone following a process to actually bake those cookies.  They follow a recipe - what someone who has gone before them has learned.  In following the recipe, they prepare the batch of cookies and take them through the process of baking.  The right ingredients are a result of someone making a whole lot of trial and error decisions.  The right baking time is a result of someone determining how "done" cookies look and feel.  The enjoyment of the cookie is a result of the process.  We have a whole lot of examples of those who have experimented with the right ingredients and the proper amount of "cooking" time, don't we?  

We often want to experiment with our own "recipes" and wonder why we don't get the results another has experienced.  Guess what?  A good recipe is worth following!  The wilderness experience is pretty well "charted" by those who have gone before us.  We see the process of the wilderness if we look closely. There is the response to the promise - we get out of our place of contentment.  Then there is the walk toward provision - we take some first steps.  In the next how ever many moments, there is a whole lot of clarifying of our purpose.  The wilderness is the time of "clarifying" - getting things in right order in our lives.  Good news - we don't go into the wilderness alone, we don't walk through it alone, and we won't come out of it alone!  God goes with us!  So, instead of cursing the wilderness, you might just begin to realize between every promise and its provision comes a time of purposeful growth. God is after the oak in us - the wilderness really helps bring out the strength of the oak!  Just sayin!

Taffy anyone?

Did you ever get hold of an idea that just kept spinning around in your head - no matter how much you tried to put it out of your mind, you just kept gravitating back to it?  Isn't that so annoying?  You just think on it over and over again - sometimes even waking in the wee hours of the night with the same thoughts going through your mind you tried so hard hours before to shut off!  Some call this preoccupation - others might call it obsession.  Either way, they both sound a little ominous!  One of the things I have come to realize is the power of holding ideas in our heads which may not be totally "sound" or "trustworthy".  In fact, when we do, we sort of "hang our hat" on these ideas and find our "hat rack" a little wobbly!

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.  (Galatians 5:25-26 MSG)

Paul's message rings clear today - we cannot just hold the "idea" of Christianity in our heads - it must be manifest in our actions.  It is more than a sentiment.  Sentiment is really just another word for some deeply held or experienced emotion.  In other words, we are relying upon the feeling produced by the thing we hold in our minds.  This frequently proves to be quite unreliable in my experience!  The life of the Spirit is more than a deeply held emotion - some feeling we experience.  It is a way of life manifest in the reality of our actions.

Sentiment, or ideas, are really a little like marshmallows.  At first, they may be all soft and pliable, exuding all kinds of hope for something sweet to the one who experiences them.  In time, if that same marshmallow is left sitting around for a while, it gets all hard, taking away some of the enjoyment of the experience of chewing on it.  Even the taste changes over the course of time. Some of our thoughts are much like that - sweet at first, giving the hope of something quite enjoyable, but if they hang around too long, they develop a staleness and hardness to them which even changes their "taste".  

When I was a young girl, someone told me I could make something similar to taffy out of marshmallows.  She called it "poor girl's taffy".  We'd take two large marshmallows, squish them in-between our fingers over and over again until they would stretch and stretch into gooey strings of taffy-like sweetness.  We'd just repeat this process until the substance was transformed into something resembling taffy.  Then we'd take it in, savoring the rich flavor.  You know what I discovered?  The "poor girl's taffy" no longer tasted like a marshmallow.  Somehow, the richness of what was contained in the marshmallow was brought out more significantly by the "working" process of the stretching, kneading, and pressure of our fingers.

I wonder if this is something similar to what Paul has in mind when he tells us to work out the implications of what it means to live in the Spirit into every aspect of our lives?  Perhaps he is telling us we have been given a lot of good stuff - ingredients of sorts - which only reveal their true "flavor" in our lives when we allow the working process to be accomplished.  I think Paul realizes we can have a life filled with marshmallows - the right ingredients for something quite awesome, but really nothing more than marshmallows until the pressure is applied.  

Two things affect the marshmallow - pressure and heat.  Both change the consistency of the marshmallow - both bring out the awesomeness of the flavor contained within its soft shell.  I think there are two things which reveal the integrity of our beliefs more than anything else - pressure and heat.  Put on the pressure - the evidence of what we believe is squeezed out.  Apply the heat and even the fragrance of what our life exudes is revealed!  I don't know about you, but I want the stuff which is revealed under pressure and even the fragrance of my life to be something which reveals more than some "stale" ideas or mere emotions I am trying to hang my hat on.  Just sayin!

A Road-Test of Sorts

Road-test:  Operating capability under actual conditions; a test of something in actual use.  In the most literal sense, a road test is performed anytime something or someone is placed in a real circumstance in order to measure or evaluate their performance.  I think much of life is like this - we are in real circumstances, requiring us to "perform" a certain way.  Yet, many might not actually be able to endure the "reality" of the road test.  In other words, sometimes our faith is "shelf-worthy", but take it out of the "box" and we don't perform that well!

Bless our God, O peoples!  Give him a thunderous welcome!  Didn’t he set us on the road to life?  Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?  He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very limit, road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; finally he brought us to this well-watered place.  (Psalm 66:8-12 MSG)

I know this passage refers to the people of Israel, but I think it speaks much to our life today, as well.  All scripture is given for our learning - so what can we learn from what our writer said about God's work in the lives of Israel?  First and foremost, there are a whole lot of "action" words in this passage:  God set on, kept, trained, passed through, brought into, pushed, road-tested, took, and brought.  Lots of action - not ours - but God's!  I think we can learn much about how God prepares his people for his purposes - just by looking at these "actions".

* He sets us into motion.  Isn't this what it means to be "set on the road to life"?  There is a placing of us right where we need to be headed - not on the road of our own choosing, but on the road he has designed for us - the road to life.  

* He keeps us from unrecognized hazards.  A ditch on the side of the road does not appear like much of a hazard as long as we are whizzing by it.  Yet, if we veer into it, the reality of the hazard is suddenly directly impacting our lives.  A ditch has a purpose - it is a waterway, allowing drainage "away from" the road.  It is not intended for our passage - it is intended to keep our passage ON the road safer.  Without the ditch, there might be unrecognized hazards on the road - such as slickness caused by the rains of life.  So, the ditch has a unique purpose - but it is not where we belong.  

* He trains us, not after the fact, but before he sets us in motion.  Isn't this the purpose of driver's education classes - to get the student ready for the real experience of the road?  I think God goes about "training" us before he sets us in motion because God knows once we get "going", we really don't know how to stop ourselves!  The advantages to upfront training are twofold - you get familiar with the course you will travel, and you have a better knowledge of the hazards/warning signs along the way.

* He tests us, not to break us, but to prove us.  Most of the time, I think we struggle with this idea of testing.  We see it as unnecessary, but I'd rather possess a beautiful gold ring than a piece of ore which contains flecks of gold!  The difference is the "serviceability" of the "proven" gold.  The one passed through the refiner's fire is able to be fashioned into a thing of beauty - the ore might have "promise", but it really cannot change its "form" until it passes through the fire!

* He brings us into places we definitely would not choose on our own.  Hardscrabble places are those which place demands beyond what it appears we can handle.  I think God brings us into these places to reveal to us the joy of depending on someone other than ourselves!

* He pushes us beyond what we see as our limits simply because he sees the potential of his grace within us.  No amount of "babying" will ever help us to grow up - it will just keep us self-centered.  God's purpose in pushing us is never to "do us in", but to bring us in.  He wants us closer to him - so he brings us to the limits of our own ability in order to show us the majesty of his.

* He ensures we are able to handle the real stuff of life.  Isn't this the purpose of the road-test?  Faith isn't faith until it is tested in the face of doubt.  Hope is nothing more than a dream unless it comes face to face with the very thing which presents the opposition to the hope.  God's purpose in the "road-test" is to make sure what is displayed on the outside is really at work on the inside, as well.  It is more than religious display - it is reality of character.

* He takes us into some uncomfortable places in order to disturb our comfort a little.  We can get too comfortable at times - just drifting along.  Comfort is the enemy of almost anything good in our lives.  Get too comfortable on the couch and you will soon realize your muscles have turned to mush.  Get too comfortable in a relationship, taking each other for granted, and you will find you soon drift apart.  We need a little discomfort sometimes in order to push us to the next level.

* He brings us to the place where he intends for us to be.  The well-watered place is not discovered by accident - it is a destination marked out by the careful planning of a gracious God.

So, maybe we are being "road-tested" a little today.  If so, listen carefully to the "instructor", pay close attention to the "hazards" he points out, and don't miss the moments he provides which will "prove" what's on the inside.  His careful leading will prepare us better for the journey than any amount of self-help we could muster.  Just sayin!

Jelly anyone?

Have you ever tried to make jelly?  When we look at all those various flavors, colors, and pretty jars all stacked with care on our grocer's shelves, we often forget what goes into making the jelly.  It really is a science - I've tried it!  Some of it tasted pretty good, but I had a few "flops" in the process!  Today, I'd like to share a few lesson I learned in the process.  Pretty jars were all assembled, fresh lids, stock pot filled with water to boil those jars, and sugar all measured out.  Who knew the most important part of making the jelly was not in the "prettiness" of the jar I chose, nor the shininess of the caps which adorned them?  What I learned made the most difference in the jelly was not any of the things I assembled, but the fruit that went into making the jelly!  Who knew?

If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree.  (Matthew 12:33 MSG)

If you have mastered this art of jelly-making, you know fruit which is too green actually makes the jelly a little cloudy.  It affects the clarity of the jelly.    The fruit must be ripe, but firm. If it is too green, it does not go through the "straining" process well.  We used to look for the orchards, or fruit markets, who sold large bunches of the fruit - often some quite ripe, while some others were just about ripe.  We'd sort the fruit, because if it was still too green, it would cook up, but we had to exert too much pressure on it to get the juices out of it in the straining process.  It actually made the resulting "juice" for the jelly very cloudy.  If you have ever tried to "force" fruit from your life (or had someone else trying to do it for you) - producing some semblance of "jelly-quality juice" from your life - you might have seen some of the issues of being "squeezed" too hard.  Yep, you "produced" something, but the quality of what was produced only produced something which lacked clarity!

Some of the earlier mistakes I made with "straining" my fruit for the jelly was a result of my impatience.  You see, for the clearest jelly, you allow the fruit to sit in the strainer, juices dripping freely from it.  You don't squeeze the bag!  You add the fruit to the cotton flannel bag, then you wait - patiently.  Not my strongest suit!  I'd squeeze a little hear and there, hoping to get just a little more juice out, or to speed up the process.  The important thing for me to recognize - fruit comes forth in a process of patient and consistent growth, just as much as the clearest juices are extracted in allowing the process of separating to occur.  No amount of my "squeezing" will produce anything as beautiful as the slow, but consistent, process of having the separation of those things which will "cloud" up my life left in the hands of God.

Another common issue with "jelly clarity" stems from the cooking process itself.  If the fruit is cooked way too long, the jelly-juices which are produced are just made cloudy by the "over-cooking".  Mushy fruit produces little particles of fruit which escape the "straining" process.  In turn, they make the jelly cloudy.  The clarity is produced by cooking the fruit ONLY until it is tender.  To be able to produce the clearest jelly, I had to "tend the pot" quite frequently.  I could not just put all the fruit in, turn up the heat, and walk away.  I had to test, retest, and then finally be pleased with just the right quality of "tenderness" which would produce the excellence desired.  I think God does this with us, too.  He allows the "mixture" of fruit in our lives to be brought to a boil, but he doesn't want it to be "over-cooked".  He looks for us to be just "tender-enough" to produce the clarity and beauty he desires.  When we reach this point, he removes us from the heat - so as not to "over-cook" us!

Probably one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was the art of "pouring off" the jelly into the jars.  Pour it too slowly and you allow air bubbles to get in - giving it the appearance of being cloudy.  Pour it too rapidly, and you might actually over-fill, splash hot juices onto yourself, etc.  Letting the jelly sit in the pan for any length of time before pouring it off allowed it to begin to "set up" where it was, so pouring it off quickly was important.  

Sometimes, I think we struggle with some of these ideas as we look at how God brings fruit from our lives.  He "picks" the right combination of ripe and "hard-ripe" fruit in our lives - to make the clearest "jelly"!  He allows the straining process because he knows the "sweetness" and "richness" of the end product when it is allowed to occur through patient "processing".  He might be able to produce "more" juice from the fruit by squeezing the "straining bag" a little, but the sweetest and clearest juices are produces from allowing the fruit juices to "pass through" the straining bag over the course of time.  The goal is not the "quantity" of "jelly", but in the richness and clarity of what is produced.  God doesn't let us "over-cook" - he is attentive to the "fire" in our lives.  We may only feel the heat, but he knows when we are just "tender enough" to produce the most flavorful of juices.

Just some lessons we can glean from the jelly jar today.  Now, the next time you pick up a jar of jelly, think about what "jelly" God is working on in your life.  The mixture of "fruit" he is using, the care he is taking in getting it "just tender enough", and the patience he exhibits in waiting for it to be "strained" to purity.  When he finally "bottles" the fruit in your life, he indeed will be delighted by the richness of it!  Just sayin!

Potency and Purity

³ As silver in a crucible and gold in a pan,
   so our lives are assayed by God. 

(Proverbs 17:3 The Message)

Yesterday, we took a look at the process of "stoking" the furnace of our hearts - getting us to a place that God can work with us, forming us into what it is he envisions for us.  Today, I'd like to continue to explore another instrument of the craftsman used in the process of purification - it is what is known as the crucible.  The crucible is similar to the furnace, but its purpose is not so much to heat to the point of being "pliable" in the hand of the craftsman as it is to bring to the surface that which is impure in the substance he is working with.  For some of us, we feel the "heat" of the crucible much more often than we'd like.  Take heart, that really means that God is just at work bringing to the surface the things in our lives that he needs to remove by his tender care.


When I lived in Alaska, I got to know a gentleman that was into looking for gold.  He used a process of "panning" for gold in the streams and rivers of the area.  He did not hit any big "mother lode" of a gold find, but he found enough to make it worth his while.  As I would watch him go through the arduous process of sifting that sand, stone, and debris through the gold pan, I observed his tenacity for the process.  Slowly, he'd let water in and out of the pan, shifting the contents back and forth, until all that remained were tiny flakes of gold in the midst of just a little sand at the bottom of the pan.  That gold would catch the rays of the sun and glimmer brightly in the midst of the sand that remained.  He'd pluck out the gold bits, placing them carefully in a pouch he maintained for that purpose, and then he'd "dig in" for another plate of sand, debris, and stones.


Whether it is the craftsman at the crucible, refining the impurities from the metal substance being heated, or the gold miner gently sifting the debris away until only the "shiny stuff" was visible, both are reflective of the process of getting the impurities out of the way so the "good stuff" is seen.  Did you ever stop to consider that we often don't see the "good stuff" until there is enough agitation in our lives to bring it out clearly?  We often resist the agitation of our souls - because it hurts - without realizing that without that agitation, the good stuff is always going to be masked by the other stuff that gets in the way of it!


I see a word used in this passage that we don't use so much in today's communication - assay.  There are two meanings of this word that I think apply to our passage today:


1)  To examine or analyze - the goal of the process of the crucible is to determine the measure of what is contained within.  When God goes about the work of assaying our lives, he is bringing us through one examining process after another.  No part of the assaying of our character is unnecessary - it all serves a purpose of exposing the impurities and bringing out only the best in us.  


2)  To determine the potency of something - the process of assaying a substance is to see what "strength" that substance is capable of producing.  When a scientist assays the various substances that make up a product, they are really looking to see if the strength of the combined substances will make the substance more or less potent.  God only looks for that which will lend potency to our lives - all the other stuff he wants to remove.  


The process of assaying is really a process of analysis.  Therefore, the crucible is an instrument of analysis in our lives.  The crucible results in a lot of agitation of the substance contained within - "good stuff" is hidden deep and must be uncovered.  God is not too timid about how he goes after that which is hidden within - both the good and the bad.  When he gets the bad to the surface, he gently removes it, freeing us from that which impacts our potency and purity.  When he sees the good stuff becoming clearer and clearer, he is delighted because he knows we are developing the strength of character that will give us the potency to stand strong in this world.


God's goal in the crucible - in the refining process - is not to break us, but to bring out our highest potential, our greatest potency, and our strongest character.  The process involves a little agitation in order to uncover the "good stuff", but without that agitation, we'd never really get to see the beauty his grace is able to produce in our lives.  So, allow him to stoke the fires, sift the debris, and assay on!  Good stuff is about to catch his eye and become that which he notices with great delight!

Sermon Lessons: Challenged

 ⁸"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world."

(Matthew 5:8)

^2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

(James 1:2-4)

We all have differing responses when we are "challenged" - some rise up, take the bulls by the horns and plunge right in - still others withdraw a safe distance, consider their options and seemingly take forever to respond to the challenge.  Regardless of how we face life when we are "challenged", it is important to keep in mind that each challenge carries a purpose.  As Jesus taught on the Mount that day, he turned to his disciples (those closest to him) and reminded them that true blessing in their lives comes when heart and mind are in alignment.  It is the "purpose" of the challenge to assist us in identifying where our heart and mind may not have that "perfect alignment".

If you have ever driven a vehicle that is "out of alignment" you can relate to the "challenge" of controlling that vehicle.  It is a rough ride!  What you soon realize is that the vehicle has a tendency to "drift" to one side of the road without any real effort on your part.  You have to truly "work" to keep that vehicle centered on the lane!  That is how you know you might have an "alignment" problem - when there is continual "drift".  

Guess what - it is pretty much the same in our spiritual lives!  We begin to take notice of the fact that when faced with challenges, we often "drift" to the path of least resistance.  When we try to "counter-act" that drift, it becomes a little difficult to control mind, will, or emotions.  It takes effort - sometimes beyond what we seem to have left to invest in staying on course!

The truth is that the automobile "stays on course" much better when we routinely have the alignment checked.  As long as I have those tires rotated every 5,000 miles and request that mechanic also "check the alignment" with those rotations, I enjoy a much easier ride!  Take this idea into your everyday living.  It is in the continual focus of our "God-mechanic" on our lives that we can enjoy the alignment of our mind, will, and emotions with what he knows will produce the best "ride" in our lives.

My mechanic does not automatically check my tires for alignment - I have to request him to do so and I have to be willing to pay the price for that service.  The same is true in our spiritual lives - we have to make frequent requests of our Lord to "test our alignment" and then we have to be willing to pay the price in order to be "realigned".  

God sometimes points out that we are "out of alignment" much as my mechanic might point out uneven tire wear as a sign that my automobile needs an alignment.  God's way of "pointing out" our lack of alignment is often in the challenges of the day.  He often lets us "struggle through" the natural pull of our emotions, will, and thought process until we become aware of the lack of alignment.  Yet, there are times when we have been drifting long enough and he just simply sits us down and points out the "results" of our lack of alignment - the wear and tear the drift has taken on our being.

When challenged by the drift - take time to realign your mind, will and emotions.  You will save yourself a whole lot of unnecessary and expensive wear and tear!

The purpose of the hammer - Part II

²⁹ “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"

(Jeremiah 23:29)

Today, we will explore the second purpose for the hammer.  According to Webster, a hammer strikes blows so as to pound.  It also shapes that which it hits.  It is that shaping process that we will explore today.  God's word is a tool used to "shape" us - it is designed to "adapt" us to the character traits that most closely resemble those of Christ's.


The shaping process of the hammer often brings that which is being shaped into close contact with that object that is creating the shape.  As the object being shaped is placed on top of that which acts as a backdrop to all the shaping process, the hammer comes down on the on the object, conforming it to the image of that which it rests upon.  We might say that the process is one of modifying the object to take on the form of that which it is being molded against.


If we are close enough to Jesus in the shaping process, the image of Jesus will begin to take form within us!  When God uses his Word to shape us, it is always aimed at us taking on a mature form - a character that is "modified" so that it displays that which it has been in contact with!  The sculptor works with metal, shaping it until it takes on the form he desires to see.  The same is true with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.


We are in the process of transitioning from one shape into another - until the finished work of art is ready (the object reflects that which it has been in contact with!).  At first, the sculptor sees only metal that is gouged and pocked with evidence of the hammer having repeatedly striking it.  As time passes, the appearance of the metal changes - as it is being stretched by the hammer and that which it rests upon, it takes on a "shine" and is stretched to a new capacity.


We want to resist both the hammer and the continued contact with the "anvil" of his Word.  Why?  Simply because the Word of God is stretching us in ways we did not know we needed to be stretched.  It is molding our character - and that process is sometimes painful.  The process is repeated until that which is absolutely perfect is produced.  As a metal worker pounds the metal, shaping it gradually by the continued pounding, then plunges it into water to cool it down a little - it is hardened to a new strength it did not possess before.


We may resist the pounding of the hammer of his Word - but when we are plunged into the refreshing of is Word - we become stronger!  We take on a new strength.  That strength would not be possible without the strike of the hammer!  The resilience of character produced by the striking of the Word over and over again is a direct result of the image Christ has of us in his mind - he is the sculptor, forming that which will bring him enjoyment and glory.  Don't resist the strike of the hammer - the closeness of the Word.

Contrary Winds

 ^22-23As soon as the meal was finished, he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night. ^24-26Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror.  27But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid."

(Matthew 14:22-27)

In our Christian walk, there are moments when we wonder what is happening - we are living in obedience, making right decisions, doing exactly what God has asked us to do - then out of the blue, testing and trial seems to come our way.  What is up with that?  These disciples were heading to the opposite shore - something the Lord had asked them to do.  In their obedience, the testing comes.

Three things become apparent in reading this passage:

1. The boat they were in was not likely to help them out very much - it would fail them if that is all they placed their trust in.  There are times we place so much trust in something in the natural that we don't really trust in God.  When the waves of life come, we get pretty tossed about!  It is important for us to see that the "boats" of our own making - the things we have or could do for ourselves to escape the storm - are seldom the best things to rely on.
2. The winds they were about to face would alter their course if they were to give into them.  It is not an uncommon thing for us to face winds of opposition in life.  In fact, we almost always have "crosswinds" that want to "blow us off-course".  All these winds seem to do is to is to make the journey a little harder - slowing us down in our progress, making it more difficult to reach the end of the storm.  The winds actually help us more than we think - that pressure drives us to move beyond the trust in our own "rowing" to reaching out to God's hand to bring us through.
3. The rowing that occurs when facing a contrary wind is futile if it is just us doing the rowing.  All the strength we can muster is not enough - our good works will never get us deeper in Christ.  There is no benefit in our own good works - we need the touch of Jesus in our lives.

Out in the middle of the lake, storms all around, tired from the rowing, boat holding more water than you'd like to see?  Don't despair!  God is on the way.  The timing of his arrival may be a little different than we'd like to see, but he is on the way.  One thing is clear in the scripture - God always comes in the hour of our greatest need!  It is at the point that our strength is just about gone - our hope is silently fading away - he comes!

I guess I've never really had Jesus come to me "walking on water", but I'd have to say that he he has come in ways I thought would be impossible, at times I think unimaginable.  When Jesus came to them on the water, he was not in another boat.  He was doing the extraordinary - the unexpected.  His coming revealed his power over that which was giving them the most terror at the moment - the waves, the wind, and their worries.

Don't miss the subtle reminder in this passage - he doesn't rebuke the storm first, he settles their hearts!  The cause of their worries, all their toiling through the night, the testing of their strength - all concern him, but not all get his attention in the moment.  He focuses on them first!  Settling their heart - bringing them rest in their spirit.  

The next time you are facing the winds of opposition in your steps of obedience - look where you least expect to find the Lord.  It is likely he may come in the way we least expect his help!