How To Handle A Bad Inning

March 5, 2012 Leave a comment

My son Ryan has now officially begun his high-school baseball career. He had his first j.v. game last Friday. It’s put me in the mood to share one of my favorite “baseball” illustrations.

At a Little League game the visiting team had already scored 21 runs and was still batting in the top of the first inning. The mother of the kid in right-field began to worry that such a staggeringly lopsided loss would demoralize her child and destroy his confidence. So she left her seat in the stands and made her way out to the right-field fence. She stood there on her side of it and yelled out to him, “Son, this has to be an awful experience for you, and I just want you to know that you don’t have to keep playing if you don’t want to. I’ll take you home right now and explain things to your coach.” The boy, however, seemed shocked by the suggestion. He simply smiled back at her and said, “But mom, we can still win this game. We haven’t come to bat yet!”

You have a choice to make as to how you approach life. You can operate with an optimistic attitude or a defeatist one. You can believe that God is up to something good in your life or that He is leading you off a cliff. The choice is yours.

As for the optimistic approach, I’m not talking about some pie-in-the-sky, “hope so” kind of thing. I’m talking about you putting your faith in a Savior who loves you enough to die on the cross for your sins and stands ready to give your life ideal meaning and purpose. I’m talking about heeding Him when He says, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). I’m talking about relating to the apostle Paul when he says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Does following Jesus mean that you will never experience any blowout defeats? Hardly. But it does mean at least two things. First, if you stay submitted to Christ’s will for your life He will keep you out of a lot of those situations that would end badly for you. Second, even when those difficult times do come along, Jesus will not only give you what you need to get through them but also use them to increase your strength and wisdom.

I don’t know where this post finds you today, but perhaps you are right now guilty of bringing a defeatist attitude to the playing field. I suppose this is understandable for a person who doesn’t know Christ as Savior. After all, if I didn’t have the hope provided by Him, the state of this world would have me down in the dumps too. But it should be different for the Christian. Our Savior wasn’t a quitter, even as battered, bloodied, and bruised He carried the cross up Calvary’s hill. None of us will ever have a worse day than that one, and yet the eternal good He accomplished through it is far too deep for our human minds to grasp. That should teach us that the hardest things we have to endure in life can produce the greatest good. And that’s why we shouldn’t quit playing even in the midst of a bad inning.

Filed under Attitude, Belief, Choices, Christ's Death, Disappointment, Encouragement, God's Love, God's Provision, God's Will, perseverance, Personal, trials, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , , ,

A Contest No One Can Win

January 31, 2012 Leave a comment

Imagine a contest where the stated goal is: “Jump up and touch the moon.” Contestant #1 is an eighty-year-old woman with a walker. She steps up to the line and gives it all she’s got, but her jump doesn’t even register as measurable. Contestant #2 is Russell Mckinney. He steps up to the line and has a go, but his jump peaks out at about two inches. (I could have done a little better back in the day.) Contestant #3 is a bench-warmer on his high-school team. He takes his turn at the line and gets off what is easily the most impressive jump so far, which puts him in the lead. Finally, contestant #4 is NBA all-star Lebron James. His liftoff is breathtaking to watch. The muscles in his powerful legs ripple as he soars straight up into the air. Higher and higher he goes, putting so much distance between his jump and the high-schooler’s that second place isn’t even worth mentioning. When James finally comes back down he is unquestionably declared the obvious winner.

Of course, there’s one thing that shouldn’t be forgotten: the actual goal of the contest. The contest wasn’t held to see who could jump the highest. It was held to see if anyone could jump up and touch the moon. Lebron got the closest to meeting the goal, but even he failed miserably at it.

The Bible teaches that earning your way into heaven by way of “good works” is like that contest. The goal is an impossibility right from the start. Oh, sure, some may produce more “good works” than others. But, in the end, it’s laughable to think that anyone could get even remotely close to pulling of the goal. It can’t happen, and here’s why:

-Every human being is a born sinner (Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20).

-Our inborn sin nature comes from Adam, the father of our race (Genesis 3:1-24; 1 Timothy 2:13-14; Romans 5:12).

-Our nature of sin compels us to commit acts of sin (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:11-18).

-To break just one of God’s laws is to stand guilty of breaking them all; it’s an all-or-nothing type of deal (James 2:10).

You see, once you understand the set-up going in, you’ll realize that salvation, and by implication entrance into heaven, can NEVER come by way of “good works” (Titus 3:4-7; Ephesians 2:8-9). It is instead a gift that God gives to the sinner, a gift He extends in grace (unearned favor) to the one who places his or her faith in Jesus Christ as Savior (Ephesians 2:8).

I challenge you right now to take your Bible, look up and read all the references that I have listed in this post, and let the truth of them wash over you. When you do you’ll see that the whole idea of someone earning their way into heaven by way of “good works” is patently absurd. Salvation is a gift, and like any gift it must be accepted to be owned. Since this gift is all wrapped up in a person, Jesus Christ, the only way to accept it is to accept Him. Call it putting your faith in Jesus. Call it believing in Him. Call it opening the door of your heart to Him. Call it receiving Him. These terminologies are all just different ways of describing the acceptance of the gift. But whatever you do, ACCEPT THE GIFT!!! If you don’t, you might as well be trying to jump and touch the moon.

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, faith, Heaven, salvation, Sin, The Depravity of Man Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Young Man & His Reason

January 5, 2012 Leave a comment

A Christian once asked a young man if he wanted to believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. The young man answered, “No.” When the Christian asked him to give a reason for his refusal, he did so. The reason was this:

Several years ago, I was in a man’s kitchen. When he found me there he swore at me and kicked me out. That man was a professing Christian, and from that time I decided never to have anything to do with religion. And I never have to this day.

After hearing that, the Christian asked the young man to write the reason down, word for word, and sign it. The young man played along and did so. Then the Christian handed the signed document back to him and said, “Take this, and when you are asked for your excuse on the day of judgment, hand this up.”

We should learn two lessons from this illustration. First, we Christians should mind our behavior. We do untold damage to the cause of Christ when we our lives slip into sin and compromise. Second, there is no valid excuse for refusing to believe in Christ as Savior. If you think you have one, write it down, sign it, and carry it with you always. You can try using it in the afterlife. Don’t expect it to work, though.

Filed under Backsliding, Belief, Coming Judgment, death, Evangelism, God's Wrath, God's judgment, hell, Personal Holiness, salvation, Witnessing Tagged with , , ,

A Description of Prayer

September 28, 2011 2 Comments

Christian, have you prayed today? If you have, what motivation did you have for praying? I hope you’re not like the little boy who was asked, “Do you pray every day?” He answered, “No, some days I don’t want anything.”

Now, I realize that God’s word does tell us to make our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6; Psalm 21:1-2; James 4:2). I get that. But God’s word also teaches that prayer should be so much more than just you handing God a grocery list or sending Him on an errand. If that’s all your prayers are, you’re no better than that little boy.

The moment a person genuinely believes in Christ as Savior, he or she is “born again” (John 3:1-21). To be born again is to have God the Holy Spirit literally come into your body and take up residence (Romans 8:9-11). And it is through this glorious experience that you become nothing less than a child of God. First, in a sense, you become His child by way of birth (the new birth, which is not a physical birth but a spiritual one). Second, you become His child by way of adoption as He adopts you into His family (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:4-7). All this explains John 1:12-13, which says:

But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Okay, now here’s where I’m headed. Imagine a child who only talks to his or her father to put in requests. “Dad, take us on vacation this year.” End of conversation. “Dad, give me some money.” End of conversation. “Dad, buy me a car.” End of conversation. “Dad, make that guy be my boyfriend.” End of conversation. How do you think a father would feel if the only talking his child ever did with him involved requesting him to do something? Surely he would think, “I’m just a magic genie to this child. This child doesn’t love me or want to spend time with me. The child isn’t interested in hearing my opinion or allowing me to impart my wisdom. I’m just a means to an end.”

Well, if that’s what an earthly father would think about such a child, do you think that God, the Christian’s heavenly father, thinks any differently? You see, He wants your prayer-time to be a dialogue not a monologue. He wants it to be a confessional booth in which you confess your sins to Him. He wants it to be a psychologist’s couch upon which you lie down and pour out your deepest feelings, emotions, fears, hurts, disappointments, and regrets. He wants it to be an altar at which you resolve to live for Him and do His will. He wants it to be a classroom in which He instructs you. He wants it to be a dining table at which you feast on His wisdom and His word. He wants it to be a general’s desk at which battle plans for how to defeat the enemy are laid out and discussed. He wants it to be a pickup truck in which the two of you just drive along and talk about anything and everything under the sun. :)

So tell me, Christian, is your prayer-time all these things? If it isn’t, then you need to make it so. The problem isn’t with God; it’s with you. He longs for your prayers to be everything that I’ve described and even more. He’s willing to stay as long as you want to stay and go as deep as you want to go. But He won’t force Himself upon you. Remember, it’s you that holds the key to the door of an ideal prayer life.

Filed under Belief, God's Love, prayer, Prayer Requests Tagged with , , , , ,

Addiction

August 26, 2011 Leave a comment

A group of scientists set about to train a chimpanzee to talk. For fifteen long years they pampered the chimp and taught him different sounds. Finally the day came when he was to verbalize his first words. With anxious anticipation the scientists gathered around the cage to listen to anything he might say. As they all leaned in closely the chimp looked them squarely in the eyes and spoke actual words for the first time. He said, “Lemme out!”

No matter how nice the cage is, it’s still a cage. It’s not freedom. It’s not limitless possibilities. It’s not the way to live. Sadly, many people are trapped in life’s cages. These cages have names such as drugs, alcoholism, gambling, pornography, etc. Perhaps these people enjoy fleeting moments of joy in these cages. Perhaps they know brief waves of contentment. But in the end, a cage will always be a cage, and it will never be the way God intends for the person to live.

I don’t mean to undermine or devalue the good work that is done by any group who helps people deal with addiction. Still, with that said, a relationship with Jesus will always be the best way to conquer an addiction. If an addict objects and says, “I don’t need Jesus to be my crutch,” a good response is, “You’ve already got a crutch; you just need to trade it in on a far better one.”

In John 8:34, the New King James translation reads as follows:

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”

The fact is, though, this rendering doesn’t totally capture the full bloom of what Jesus said. Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament gets more to the real point Christ was making. It translates the words “whoever commits sin” as “everyone who habitually commits sin.” You see, that more precise translation of the Greek takes us into the realm of addiction. Jesus isn’t talking about the man who sees a scantily clad woman on t.v., lusts for a moment, and then changes the channel (even though that moment of lust is a sin). He’s talking about the person who lives his life eaten up by lust and actively seeks out scantily clad women on t.v. or the internet so that he can stare at them for long periods of time and fantasize about them. Do you see the difference?

The good news is that right on the heels of talking about those who are such slaves to sin, Jesus gave the cure. He said:

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36, New King James translation)

You ask, “But how can Jesus offer such sure liberation from the addiction?” He can do it because He alone has the power to change the addict’s nature rather than just the behavior. In John 3:1-21, He explains how those who place their belief in Him as Savior are “born again.” To be “born again” is to have God the Holy Spirit literally take up residence inside your body (Romans 8:9). The Spirit will not obliterate your inborn, sinful, addictive nature, but He will bring to you a contrasting nature, a nature which is nothing less than the nature of God. 2 Peter 1:4 says that believers become “partakers of the divine nature,” and 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this as becoming “a new creation.”

So, do you find yourself in some kind of cage right now? Is some addiction getting the best of you and ruining your life? Do you feel helpless to break free from its grip? If you answer “yes” to these questions, let me urge you to turn to Jesus. Maybe you need to genuinely place your belief in Him as Savior and become “born again.” Maybe you’ve already done that, but your fellowship and daily walk with Jesus have grown so anemic that you are severely limiting the indwelling Holy Spirit’s influence upon your life. Whatever your case may be, just know that your addiction is not bigger than Jesus, and that’s not just a cute little cliche that a preacher is supposed to say. Jesus stands ready right now to set you free from your cage. Will you let Him?

Filed under Addiction, Backsliding, Belief, Change, Homosexuality, salvation, Sin, Temptation, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

How You Get In

August 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Dr. Thomas John Barnardo was revered in London for his work with orphans. One day a dirty, destitute little boy came to him and asked for admission to the London orphanage. Somewhat surprised, Barnardo said, “But, my boy, I don’t know you. Who are you? What do you have to recommend you?” The little boy held up his tattered coat and said, “If you please, sir, I thought these here rags would be all I needed to recommend me.” Barnardo swept the child up into his arms and said, “You are right, little fellow! Welcome to our orphanage!”

Just as that little boy’s ragged attire was all he needed to receive help from Dr. Barnardo, our sins are all we need to receive help from Jesus. But, like that boy, we must see our need for help. It is only when we stop attempting to justify ourselves and cleanse our own sins that Christ can step in and provide the forgiveness we need.

One writer has described it this way:

God has no message and no blessing for men who are trying to justify themselves. As long as you try to make a good name for yourself, God can only condemn you; but when you come into His presence and confess yourself a lost, guilty sinner, God has a message and a blessing for you. “God so loved the world” – a wicked, corrupt and ungodly world, and you and I belong to it.

Going back to the illustration of the little boy and the orphanage, yes, his rags got him inside the doors. But it wasn’t just his rags; it was also the love, grace, and authority of Dr. Barnardo. Okay, think of heaven as the orphanage and God the Father as Dr. Barnardo. How does the lost sinner get in? He gets in by way of his sins (rags). But, you see, those sins must stand as forgiven, and God the Father only forgives the sins of those who have believed in God the Son (Jesus) as Savior.

You ask, “But didn’t Christ’s death on the cross pay the sin debt for the whole world?” Yes, it did, but that doesn’t mean that the whole world is saved. Only those who stop trying to work out their own salvation and believe in Christ exclusively for the forgiveness of sins are saved. While it’s true that Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient for God to forgive all sins, that death is only efficient for those who place their belief in Christ. So, when everything is said and done, the question that each of us must ask ourselves is, “Am I in?”

Filed under Belief, Christ's Death, Forgiveness, God's Holiness, Heaven, salvation Tagged with , , , , , ,

Is the Story of Jonah True?

August 10, 2011 Leave a comment

A little girl got saved during the local church’s summer Bible School. Unfortunately, though, her parents didn’t share her new-found faith in Jesus. They refused to take her to church or even buy her a Bible. So each Sunday morning she walked herself to church, carrying the oversized family Bible under her arm.

As it so happened, her route to church took her past the home of an atheist professor who taught at a university. As he watched the precocious little girl make her way to church each Sunday, he couldn’t help but be touched by her. But in his way of thinking he felt sorry for her because she had bought into all of the nonsense of the Bible and Christianity.

Finally his interest in the girl became too much for him to keep bottled up, and so one bright Sunday morning he went out to meet her and enlighten her. He politely stopped her and said, “Little girl, you don’t really believe that book you are carrying, do you?” She answered, “Yes, I do.” “You mean you believe that story about Jonah living in the belly of a whale?” “Yes, I do.” The professor continued, “But how could Jonah do that?” “I don’t know,” said the girl, “but when I get to heaven I’ll ask him.” To that the professor said, “Oh, but what if Jonah isn’t in heaven?” The little girl thought for a second and said, “Well then you can ask him.”

In my study I have several excellent commentaries on the book of Jonah, commentaries written by conservative Bible-teachers such as James Montgomery Boice, J. Vernon McGee, and Henry Morris. Concerning Jonah being swallowed by the “whale,” these commentators make two main points. First, it would have been simple for the God who created all of creation and performs miracles as simply as you and I breathe to have had Jonah swallowed whole and kept alive. Second, even if we take the miraculous out of play, the whole story is even possible on a naturalistic level.

The Hebrew term that is used to describe the monster is gadol dag, which can generically refer to any kind of large sea creature. For one thing, the creature in question really could have been some kind of whale. For example, the sulphur-bottom whale can reach a size of over one-hundred feet and have a mouth as wide as twelve feet. This whale has multiple compartments in its stomach, any one of which could provide more than ample room for a man to live. The head of the whale can be seven feet high, seven feet wide, and fourteen feet long, and it actually serves as an air storage chamber. Also, this whale has no teeth. It feeds by swimming along with its mouth open, straining out the water, and then swallowing whatever is left.

A sperm whale is another candidate for the creature that swallowed Jonah. Its mouth can be twenty feet long, fifteen feet high, and nine feet wide. According to one well- documented account, in February of 1891 a sailor named James Bartley was lost at sea during an attempt to harpoon a sperm whale in the Falkland Islands region. A short time later the whale was killed and drawn to the side of the ship. There it was worked up and its blubber removed. The following day the stomach was hoisted on deck. When the stomach was opened, Bartley was found unconscious, but alive, inside. He was revived and not long afterward resumed his duties aboard the ship.

Then again, the one that got Jonah didn’t have to be a whale at all. A whale shark, for example, could have fit the bill. In the early 1920s the Literary Digest ran the account of an English sailor who was swallowed by a whale shark in the English Channel. Two days later, the creature was spotted again and killed. When it was cut open, the sailors found the man unconscious but alive. He was rushed to the hospital, only to be discharged a few hours later after being found to be physically fit. In 1926, Dr. Harry Rimmer, the President of the Research Science Bureau of Los Angeles, met the man. Rimmer described his physical appearance as odd. The man was devoid of hair and patches of his skin were covered in a yellowish-brown color.

You see, those who attempt to criticize or explain away the story of Jonah do so at their own peril. The God of the miraculous is certainly not on their debate team. Neither are the historical reports of “Jonahs” from more modern times.

And then, of course, there is the one piece of evidence that should settle all doubt about the matter for the Christian. “What is that piece of evidence?” you ask. It’s the fact that Jesus Himself made a point of putting His stamp of approval on the story of Jonah when He said:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (the classic King James translation goes with the translation of “whale” instead of “fish”, but “fish” is more accurate), so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40, N.K.J.V.)

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Children, God's Word, Heaven, hell, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Israel & the Old Testament Law

July 14, 2011 Leave a comment

M.R. DeHaan was a well known pastor, author, and Bible teacher. He spoke to millions each week through his radio ministry Radio Bible Class. In his commentary Studies In Galatians, he offers a wonderful illustration to explain why God gave His law exclusively to Israel and not to the Gentile nations of the world. Here’s the illustration:

Imagine a man moving from Cuba to Canada. In Cuba he raised bananas successfully. He leases a tract of land in Canada and tells his landlord he is going to raise bananas. The landlord objects and says, “It cannot be done here,” and the argument waxes hotter and hotter as one insists it can be done and the other KNOWS it cannot be done.

Finally there is nothing left to do but permit the misguided farmer from Cuba to try it out. The boss helps him to make everything available for a good test, knowing beforehand it will not work. Now the whole farm of 640 acres is not planted, but only the most adaptable and naturally likely spot is chosen, say ten acres in the lee of a mountain, on the south exposure where the soil is best. It is fertilized and thoroughly worked, the best of plants are procured, and all that summer the most meticulous care is bestowed upon the banana plants.

But in late August comes a frost and the crop is a failure. They try it another year with the same result. And another, and another, and still another year, and always a frost and a failure. Now suppose they have tried it for FIFTEEN HUNDRED SEASONS. The owner finally says, “Now are you convinced?”

No more testing is needed. By this experiment on the most likely soil under the most ideal conditions in all Canada it is proven that bananas WILL NOT GROW ANYWHERE IN CANADA. He has proven, not only that bananas cannot be grown on that particular ten acres, but NOWHERE ELSE IN CANADA, where the conditions are not even as good as they were here.

Israel thought that they could keep the law. No amount of dealing with them could convince them of the greatness of their sin. So God gave them a law; a perfect law, a holy law, a just law. Then He planted them in a sheltered land, drove out the enemies for them. He sent them godly priests and prophets and kings. He gave them a ritual and the oracles and a perfect law and said, “Now see what you can do.”

Under the most promising circumstances and blessings which no other nation ever enjoyed, He left them for fifteen hundred years under the law, but – NO BANANAS. God has now proven that NO ONE can be saved by the law, since the experiment of Israel under the most blessed and salutary conditions failed utterly and completely.

Now, what you need to understand is that the body of law that God gave to Israel was the absolute pinnacle of what could be described as “living by good works.” Putting it another way, if any human being could ever truly live a life “good” enough to earn salvation, it would be by way of keeping the Old Testament law to perfection. But, alas, God’s great experiment with Israel has now proven once and for all what He already knew about us: No one can keep God’s law perfectly and thereby earn salvation as a reward.

And that’s where we get all of the Bible verses that speak to this subject. Here are a few of them:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law… (John 7:19)

…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

So, in the end, if you think that your works are “good” enough to get you into heaven when you die, believe me when I say that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. You’re just like the stubborn farmer who kept trying to grow bananas in Canada. You might as well give up because what you are trying to do is impossible. The only way for you to see the inside of heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Allow His death on the cross to serve as the payment for all the sins of your life, and eternally stand in the complete forgiveness that is only found in Him.

Filed under Belief, Christ's Death, God's Holiness, Heaven, salvation, Sin Tagged with , , , , ,

Don’t Blame God

June 17, 2011 1 Comment

A barber and a minister found themselves having to travel through a rather seedy part of town. Disgusted by the conditions he saw, the barber said, “This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. How could such a God allow all this poverty, squalor, and disease? How could He allow these poor people to continue on in their addictions?”

The minister remained silent until they saw a man who was especially in a bad way. As a part of his deplorable appearance he had long hair and a half-inch of stubble on his face. The minister took the opportunity to use the man as an object lesson. He said to the barber, “You must not be a very good barber. How could you let that man go around in such need of a haircut and a shave?” Insulted, the barbed replied, “You can’t blame me for his appearance. He’s never given me a chance to fix him up.” To that the minister said, “Then don’t blame God for the state of this neighborhood. He is constantly inviting these people to come to Him through Christ and have their lives restored, but they refuse the offer.”

Filed under Attitude, Belief, Change, Choices, Dress and Appearance, God's Love, Rebellion, The Depravity of Man Tagged with , , ,

The Christian’s Paradoxical Life

June 10, 2011 Leave a comment

A.W. Tozer was one of the most famous preachers that America ever produced. He served as the pastor of Chicago’s Southside Alliance Church for thirty years, but he is more well known as the author of many books on the Christian life. Tozer described the paradoxical life of the Christian as follows:

He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen. He talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to Heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order that he might be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up.

He is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible and knows that which passeth knowledge.

Take the time to reread Tozer’s description, and linger a while on each sentence. If you are a genuine Christian, you should easily find yourself in Tozer’s words. You should also get some inkling as to why Christianity is so downright confusing to so many people.

Filed under Belief, Discipleship, Dying To Self, faith, Personal Holiness, salvation, Trusting In God Tagged with , , ,

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