The Clinched Fist Of Joseph Stalin

December 15, 2011 Leave a Comment

Ravi Zacharias tells a story that he heard personally from Malcolm Muggeridge, the legendary English journalist, author, and media personality. Muggeridge had spent some time with Svetlana Stalin, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, while they were working together on a BBC production on the life of her father. Joseph Stalin was, of course, the communist leader who once ruled Russia with an iron fist and an incomprehensible coldness. During his reign, untold millions of people were put to death by his command. The numbers are so high that experts can only give broad estimates as to the actual total.

According to the story that Svetlana told Muggeridge, and Muggeridge in turn told Zacharias, Stalin was plagued by terrifying hallucinations as he lay dying on his bed. Then suddenly he sat halfway up in bed, clenched his fist toward the heavens, fell back upon his pillow, and was dead. It was if his last gesture in life was literally a clenched fist toward God.

It would be easy to assume that a man such as Stalin had lived his entire life in open rebellion and opposition to the idea of any kind of God. That would be a wrong assumption, however. The fact is that when Stalin was sixteen he received a scholarship to a Georgian Orthodox seminary. He even did well in his classes until he missed his final exams and was expelled. Not long afterward he began reading the writings of Vladimir Lenin and became a Marxist revolutionary.

Looking back over Stalin’s life it isn’t hard to deduce that he had an excellent opportunity to not only receive Christ as Savior but also spend his life in service to Him. After all, that is what seminary students usually do. But somewhere along the way Stalin came to a spiritual crossroad and chose to reject Jesus. Then, like Pharaoh in the Old Testament story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, once the hardening of his heart began there was no stopping it.

We should all take Stalin’s example and learn from it. For one thing, it is a dangerous thing to reject Jesus when He comes to you offering salvation. For another, even if you are a Christian, it is a dangerous thing when He comes to you offering guidance, direction, and commands for your life. To reject light is to embrace darkness. To rebel against a word from the Lord is to choose to walk in your own foolishness. To shun blessing is to invite judgment.

So, has the Lord been telling you to do something? Perhaps He has been convicting you of your need of the salvation found only in Jesus. Or, if you have experienced that salvation, perhaps He has been giving you some specific command or word of wisdom concerning a situation. Well, all I can say is that whatever He has been sharing with you, you need to grab hold of it incorporate it fully into your life. I’m not saying that you will ever end up like Joseph Stalin, but I am saying that there is always a great danger in clenching your fist toward the Lord and saying, “No.” With that in mind, I’ll leave you with the words of Proverbs 29:1:

He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Filed under Attitude, Choices, Disobedience, God's Will, obedience, Rebellion, salvation Tagged with , , , , , ,

You’ve Got All You Can Handle Today

November 16, 2011 1 Comment

Scotland’s George MacDonald was a Christian author and minister. He said:

No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourself so. If you find yourself so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present.

Of course, MacDonald’s words merely echo the words of Christ from Matthew 6:34:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Yesterday I made a quick trip to the bank, picked Ryan up from school, and wolfed down a bite of lunch. Other than those three breaks, I spent the rest of the daylight working in my yard. I trimmed back bushes, disposed of the trimmings, raked leaves, blew leaves, and toted leaves. I worked until dark and still didn’t get everything done that I had planned to do. Needless to say, I had let the place go a little too much and really needed to have such a work day.

And the fact is that during my morning prayer time, when I first got up yesterday, I got a clear leading from the Lord to devote the day to getting the yard back in shape. But, you know, before I could even finish breakfast and get out the door, some doubts started creeping into my mind. I started thinking, “Maybe I need to work on my Sunday morning sermon for a while before I head outside.”

You see, that was a case of me borrowing from a future day’s trouble. Like I said, I had so much yard work to do that I worked all day and still didn’t get finished. Obviously, I didn’t have an extra hour or two to devote to sermon preparation. But what was I worrying about anyway? I’ve still got today, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get that sermon in order. In God’s will and plan, my main job yesterday was yard work, not sermon work.

So what’s the application of all this for you today? It’s simple: All you have to get done today is what God has scheduled for you today. One of my life verses is Ephesians 2:10, which says:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I take this verse to mean that God has certain good works that He has prepared beforehand for me to do in my lifetime. If that’s true, then it only makes sense that these good works are laid out on a day-by-day basis. That’s why I get up each morning and literally say something like this, “Lord, thank you for the rest that I was able to get last night, and thank you for this day. Help me to do my list for today, whatever that is.” Then I do my best to let the Lord lead me step by step through my day. Some days play out pretty much as I could have guessed. Other days are filled with all kinds of wrinkles and “plan Bs.” At any rate, the point is that we need to think of each day as being a life of its own. That includes this current day. So tell me, are you focused on this 24-hour period? Or are you worrying about some future day? Be honest in how you answer and change any thinking that you need to change.

Filed under Attitude, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Timing, God's Work, obedience, Personal, prayer, Prayer Requests, Priorities, Service, Work, Worry Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Baptists, Sacrifices, & Mark Twain

November 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

A man was robbing a train and came to the seat of a preacher. The robber shoved his gun into the preacher’s chest and said, “Gimme your money.” The preacher said, “But you wouldn’t rob a preacher, would you?” The robber replied, “Oh, you’re a preacher? What denomination are you?” With great pride the preacher answered, “I’m a Baptist.” At that the robber switched his gun to his left hand, extended his right hand to shake the preacher’s hand, and said, “Put ‘er there, preacher, I’m a Baptist too.”

Consider the following verses:

1. 1 Samuel 15:22: So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

2. Proverbs 15:8: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

3. Proverbs 21:3: To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

You’ll note that each of these Old Testament verses speaks of sacrifices. To understand this, you must understand that the Old Testament Jews lived their lives under that body of law that God had given to them through Moses. Sacrifices were a fundamental, foundational part of that law. The law laid out incredibly precise rituals for the offering up of: burnt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, trespass offerings, freewill offerings, and heave offerings. These categories of offerings all involved the sacrificing of animals. Also, the law laid out precise rituals for grain offerings and drink offerings. Israel even had an entire tribe (the tribe of Levi) that served as its priesthood, and those priests, dressed in their priestly garments, faithfully offered up all these offerings at the tabernacle (later on, the temple).

You see, when a Jew brought an offering to a priest for it to be offered up, that was nothing less than an Old Testament worship scene. They didn’t have churches or synagogues. They had the tabernacle (the temple) and the law-prescribed sacrifices. That was how they publicly and corporately worshiped the Lord.

So do you see the teaching? Let’s use the Proverbs 21:3 verse as an example. If it was being written to the Christian realm today, it could read something like this:

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable than going to church, praying, reading your Bible, dropping money in an offering plate, or giving to missions.

The point is that God really isn’t all that impressed with your attempts to worship Him when you spend the vast majority of your life doing sinful things. What you call “worship” doesn’t fix, excuse, or legitimize a lifestyle of habitual sin. If you lay drunk all week and then come to church on Sunday, that’s a problem. If you smoke pot or do other kinds of drugs Monday through Saturday and then come to church on Sunday, that’s a problem. If you roll out of bed with a person to whom you aren’t married and then drive to church, that’s a problem. If you won’t pay your bills, but you drop $10 in the offering plate every Sunday, that’s a problem. If you engage in dishonest business practices but you say the blessing before every meal, that’s a problem. If you treat people like dirt but you read your Bible every night, that’s a problem.

There’s an old story that supposedly comes from the life of Mark Twain, and it sums up what I’m trying to say here. So I’ll close with it. A man once said to Twain, “I’m going to take a trip to Israel. When I get there I’m going to hike to the top of Mount Sinai, and then I’m going to shout down the ten commandments.” Twain looked at the fellow and said, “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you stay home and keep them?” That was a good comeback then, and today’s church-goers and professing Christians could still learn something from it.

Filed under Backsliding, Character, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, faithfulness, obedience, Personal Holiness Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Common Sense & God’s Will

November 11, 2011 Leave a Comment

Today I’d like to share with you one of my biggest pet peeves about Christians. It’s this whole idea that God’s will for a specific situation must always be the logical, rational, “smart” plan of attack. Oh, I’ve heard the line of reasoning more times than I can begin to remember: “God gave man common sense, and so it’s only right that I make the move here that makes the most common sense. I mean, after all, God wouldn’t want me to do anything stupid, would He?” Once you’ve got this reasoning settled in your mind, you can then head right out and do whatever seems to you like the right thing.

Now, I’ll grant you that 2 Timothy 1:7 does say that God gives the Christian a “sound mind.” The Holman Christian Standard translation even renders the Greek as “sound judgment.” Furthermore, the Bible offers us an exceedingly practical and commonsensical book (Proverbs) on the subject of worldly wisdom. So I’m not saying that you always have to check your brains at the door in order to choose God’s will. But what I am saying is that you’d be amazed at how illogical, irrational, implausible, incongruous, and inconvenient God’s will can be. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a quick tour through the Bible:

1. It made no sense to Cain to kill a defenseless animal just to bring an offering. (Genesis 4:1-7; Jude 11)

2. It made no sense to Noah to build a gigantic ark in a world that had never seen rain. (Genesis 2:4-6; Genesis 6:13-22)

3. It made no sense to Abram (Abraham) to leave his country and his family and travel to an unknown land that God would show him. (Genesis 12:1)

4. It made no sense to Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering atop Mount Moriah. (Genesis 22:1-19)

5. It made no sense to Joseph that it would be God’s will for his father Jacob to pronounce the patriarchal blessing upon Ephraim (Joseph’s youngest son) rather than upon Manasseh (Joseph’s oldest son). (Genesis 48:8-20)

6. It made no sense to Moses that God would want him to return to Egypt after forty years away and lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. (Exodus chapters 3 and 4).

7. It made no sense that God would lead Moses and the Israelites to the shore of the Red Sea, a place where Pharaoh’s army could easily close in behind them and trap them. (Exodus 14:1-12)

8. It made no sense to the majority of the people of Israel that God would want them to enter into the land of Canaan and fight against the giants who lived there. (Numbers chapters 13 and 14)

9. It made no sense to Gideon that God would want him to lead the people of Israel against the Midianites. (Judges 6:11-24)

10. It made no sense to Jesse that God would chose David (his youngest son) over all his other sons to be king of Israel. (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

11. It made no sense that the young David, armed with nothing but a sling and some stones, would take on the giant Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:1-54)

12. It made no sense to Naaman to go wash in the Jordan river seven times to cure him of his leprosy. (2 Kings 5:1-19)

13. It made no sense that God would allow Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to be thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:1-30)

14. It made no sense that God would allow Daniel to be thrown into the den of lions. (Daniel 6:1-28)

15. It made no sense for Jesus to command His disciples to get into a boat and row to the other side of the Sea of Galilee when a tremendous wind storm would prevent them from doing so. (Mark 6:45-52)

16. It made no sense to Peter to let down his fishing nets in the deeper water during the day when fish were usually caught in the shallower waters at night. (Luke 5:1-11)

17. It made no sense for Jesus to delay in going to visit His gravely ill friend Lazarus. (John 11:1-44)

18. It made no sense for God to pull Phillip away from a tremendously fruitful evangelistic work that he was doing in Samaria just so he could go and witness to one Ethiopian eunuch in Gaza. (Acts 8:4-13, 26-40)

19. It made no sense to Ananias for God to command him to pay a visit to Saul of Tarsus, a notorious persecutor of Christians. (Acts 9:10-19)

20. It made no sense to Peter for God to show him that he no longer had to abide by the dietary regulations of the Old Testament law. (Acts 10:9-48)

I trust that this list of examples makes my point. And the fact is, the list is not even remotely near being all-inclusive. You see, it’s quite common for God to mess up our neat, ordered little lives by asking us to do things totally unexpected, things that don’t add up on paper. That is when we must step out on faith and do what He is asking. If your own logic keeps you from stepping out, you’ll never know the thrilling experience of watching God make a way where there seems to be no way. You’ll also miss out on the incredible blessings that can only be found in walking with God out on the edge. Think of it this way: Your logic, human reasoning, and common sense will never take you to those God-anointed places where the human race is preserved via one family aboard an ark, you become the forefather of God’s chosen nation (Israel), you see the Red Sea parted, you come out unscathed from a fiery furnace or a lions’ den, you get cured of leprosy, you experience a miraculous catch of fish, you see Christ walking on the water, or you see Lazarus raised from the dead. Such illogical blessings only stem from you obeying illogical commands. Keep that in mind the next time you are faced with a choice concerning God’s will.

Filed under Choices, Courage, faith, God's Will, obedience, Reward, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Spirit Is Willing, But the Flesh Is Weak

August 24, 2011 2 Comments

Let’s take a test. For years, a man makes a habit of going camping on Sunday rather than attend church. One Sunday he sees a mountain lion coming toward him. He says, “God, if you will get me out of this danger I promise that I will start going to church every Sunday.” As soon as he finishes that quick prayer, the mountain lion calmly walks away.

Now here’s the test question: Do you think that man will honor the “deal” that he made with God? The answer is: There’s a pretty good chance that he will go to church that first Sunday, but if nothing else changes he won’t keep up the attendance for long.

You see, it takes more than a quick moment of desperation to create a lasting turnaround in your life. As a pastor, I’ve seen so many people who were going through difficult times make grandiose boasts about what all they were going to do for the Lord if He helped them out of their messes. But how many of those boasts actually came to pass, even after the Lord gave the help? Maybe there were two or three, but right now I can’t even remember there being that many.

One Sunday morning I preached and gave an invitation, and a woman promptly made her way to the altar and knelt for prayer. When I went over and asked her why she had responded to the invitation, she told me something along the lines of she wanted to dedicate herself more completely to Jesus. She was crying hot tears and her face was something of a mess from the running makeup. I knew that she was sincere. I also knew that she was a good Christian woman who had some areas of her life that could have been more submitted to Christ’s lordship. So I prayed with her and asked the Lord to help her be even more devoted to Him. The emotion of the moment was almost palpable.

But did that woman even show up for the evening service that same Sunday? No. As I looked around the sanctuary that night and didn’t see her, I was in virtual disbelief. That was the moment when I truly understood for the first time just how fickle and inconsistent we are when it comes to serving the Lord.

Jesus knew us all too well. On the night of His arrest, He took Peter, James, and John into the garden of Gethsemane with Him. He said to them, “Stay here and watch with Me.” Then He walked alone a little further into the heart of the garden and prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Following that prayer, He returned to where He had left Peter, James, and John at their watch-post. And what did He find? Rather than keeping diligent watch, they had all drifted off to sleep.

After a fairly strong rebuke, Jesus summed up the problem by saying, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). In my opinion, those words perfectly describe why that Christian woman didn’t come back for church that Sunday night. Her spirit was willing, but her flesh was weak. When she had devoted herself more fully to Jesus in the altar that morning, she had meant it. In that moment, she couldn’t have meant it any more. But, unfortunately, that moment had soon passed and the rest of her life had come crashing back in upon her.

I’m saying all of this to encourage you to work at eliminating the fickleness from your walk with the Lord. Try to avoid the roller-coaster devotion that marks the lives of so many people. I know that your flesh is weak. So is mine. But we can’t keep using that excuse to consistently fail the Lord and not live up to the commitments we have made to Him. And, by the way, we needn’t expect Him to keep sending mountain lions to keep us committed either.

Filed under Backsliding, Change, Church attendance, Commitment, Discipleship, faithfulness, obedience, Personal Holiness Tagged with , , , , ,

Life’s Army Barracks

August 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

The Presbyterian preacher Harry Rimmer told the story of a young man who entered the army. This young man was in the habit of studying his Bible in his bedroom each evening and then kneeling down to pray before retiring for the night. He knew, however, that the army barracks would be a real test of that nightly routine.

The barracks certainly didn’t disappoint as the young fellow found himself surrounded by scores of rough servicemen. They joked around, made crude comments, and cursed. His first instinct was to read his Bible by keeping it half covered under his blanket. But then a wave of conviction came over him and he thought, “I’m a Christian! I must take my stand for the Lord. I won’t hide my faith. I’ll just do as I did at home.” He then took his Bible, read a chapter, and knelt down to pray quietly beside his cot.

When the other men noticed what the young man was doing, a few of them sneered. But in just a few minutes the barracks became strangely quiet as others who respected the new recruit’s devotion hushed those who sneered. After a while the talk began again, but this time without the crudeness and cursing.

The next night when the young man opened his Bible eight other men dug out theirs and did the same. Within a month every soldier in the outfit respected the young Christian so much that they would defend him against anyone who dared criticize him. Even more than that, they would bring their troubles and questions to him and ask for counsel. Rimmer concluded the story by saying, “He influenced more men for Christ than half a dozen chaplains could have in a year of Sundays.”

This world can be a raw, coarse, vulgar place, and being a Christian who tries to live a holy life in its midst can be difficult. Do the people at your workplace tell dirty jokes? Do some of your fellow students use profanity? Do you feel like you would be mocked and ridiculed if you were caught on site reading your Bible or praying? Welcome to your army barracks.

What would Jesus have you do? Well, what example did He set? Did He isolate Himself in a cave atop a mountain and shun the “real” world? No. Did He only converse with His devout followers, people who thought and spoke like He did? No. Did He act one way in private but another way in public? No. To the contrary, He lived what He preached. And what was that? He told His followers to resist the urge to hide their light under a basket and let it, instead, shine before men (Matthew 5:15-16).

So, Christian, I hope you take this post as a call to arms. Stop hiding your light under a basket. Those around you need to see it burning brightly for your Savior. Who knows what domino effect you taking a stand for Christ might start? My guess is that there are others in your setting who are just as offended with certain things as you are. They just need a leader to show them how to create change. And that leader could be you!

Filed under Adversity, Bible Study, Character, Courage, Discipleship, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Will, God's Word, Influence, obedience, Persecution, Personal Holiness, Scripture, Witnessing, Work, Youth Tagged with , , , , , , ,

“You Almost Missed Me”

August 2, 2011 Leave a Comment

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30, K.J.V.)

Dr. Louis Evans was the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, California. He used to tell a story about his father, Dr. William Evans, who was also a prominent pastor. As the story went, one day a man came knocking on William Evans’ door and presented himself as a typewriter salesman. The salesman said, “Dr. Evans, I know that you write a lot, and I would like to show you this new machine that we have.” Evans said, “I’m sorry, but I’m working on a manuscript for a new book and I’ve got a deadline to meet. I just don’t have the time.” So the salesman went away.

A couple of days later the same salesman knocked on Dr. Evans’ door again. He said, “Dr. Evans, I thought you might have some time for me today to show you this machine.” This time Dr. Evans wasn’t as cordial as he had been the first time. He said, “I thought I made it clear to you that I don’t have the time. I’m pressed with this deadline that I’ve got to meet.” So the salesman went away.

A couple of days later, though, he again knocked on Dr. Evans’ door and asked to be allowed to show the new machine. Dr. Evans again declined the offer, but this time, just as he was about to close the door, the Lord spoke to him in that still, small, inner voice and said, “Why don’t you tell him about Me?” So, in obedience, Dr. Evans invited the man into his home and told him about Jesus.

And how did the man respond to the conversation? He broke down somewhat and said, “Dr. Evans, I’m so glad that you spoke to me today. I’ve come here three times now, but I’m not really in this kind of business. I’ve been coming here because I knew that you were a preacher of the word and I hoped that you would share with me. And Dr. Evans, you almost missed me.”

Tell me, Christian, have you recently found yourself in the somewhat unusual situation of consistently ending up in the company of a particular person? Well, have you gotten around to telling that person about Jesus? If you haven’t, be careful, you don’t want to miss them!

Filed under Evangelism, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, obedience, salvation, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Swimming At Your Own Risk

July 28, 2011 Leave a Comment

Okay, here’s one last post about our Myrtle Beach vacation. Indulge me with this one and we’ll move on to other subject matter in days to come.

Last Thursday was our final day of vacationing before we checked out and began the approximately seven-hour drive home. So that day we wanted to give the boys one more opportunity to enjoy the ocean and pool. This had been the first year ever that Royce, our youngest, had enjoyed splashing around in the ocean more than splashing around in the pool. He had even used some of his own money to buy himself a boogie board so that he could ride the waves properly.

Well, for a good while Thursday’s day at the ocean hummed along delightfully just as previous days had done. The boys played in the waves while Tonya and I laid on the beach. Then I joined the boys in the water and Tonya waded in a few minutes later. So there we were, all four Mckinneys splashing around in the ocean, enjoying every minute of it.

But then suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a brief but intense sting on my arm. A jellyfish had stung me. I didn’t shriek in pain and head for the shore, but it did hurt, about like a bee-sting. Since I had no clue what to do and didn’t want to create a scene from Jaws as millions abandoned the water, I decided to stay in the water and let the salt water disinfect the sting. I found out later that my plan was a good one. The worst thing you can do for a jellyfish sting is pour fresh water on it. That causes the toxins or whatever they are to spread.

After a few minutes, some small whelks raised up on my arm and I began to feel a slight tingling in my fingers. I thought, “If things get any worse, I’m going to get some medical attention.” But, thankfully, that was the worst of it and before long my arm was virtually back to normal except for the small whelks. Event over, right? Not so fast.

About twenty minutes after I got stung, Royce rode an exceptionally large wave all the way into the shallows. But before he even fully emerged from the water, we heard the scream. And he kept screaming as he hurled himself out of the water, ran to our beach blankets, and buried himself in one of them. Honestly, Tonya and I would have feared that he had been bitten by a shark if not for the fact that I had been stung by a jellyfish just a few minutes earlier. So we had a pretty good idea what had happened.

As it turned out, Royce’s sting was much worse than mine. It was as if a jellyfish had wrapped itself around his leg and kept stinging. He had big marks on the inside and outside of his leg and they were already becoming whelks. The poor little fellow, no wonder he had gotten out of that water so fast. I wouldn’t have hung around in there either!

As Tonya raced to comfort Royce, I made my way to our female lifeguard and reported the two stings. She immediately grabbed a spray bottle of vinegar and sprayed down my arm. Then she went over to Royce and did the same for his wounds. By that time he was beginning to calm down somewhat, but he didn’t want any more to do with the ocean for that day. So we gathered up our things and headed for the pool.

Now, here’s the thing that you ought to know about those two jellyfish stings. All week long, as the crew and I had ridden those ocean waves, a warning sign had been posted just next to the lifeguard’s chair along the shoreline. What did that sign warn about? Jellyfish! You see, Royce and I, along with dozens and dozens of others, had been swimming at our own risk all week because jellyfish had been reported in the area and the warning sign had gone up.

And so here is the spiritual application to all this: God’s word, the Bible, is like that warning sign. When your actions go against it, don’t be surprised when you get stung. Oh, you might swim around for a while and get along fine. You might even have some fun and enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. But, ultimately, God will not be mocked and His word will not be ignored without consequence. Jellyfish stings hurt, but those stings are nothing compared to the hurt that we bring upon ourselves by sin. And just as Royce and I could offer no legitimate objection to us getting stung, neither can the sinner who has been warned by God’s word and blatantly ignored it.

Filed under Choices, Disobedience, God's judgment, God's Word, obedience, Rebellion, Scripture, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, The Bible Tagged with , , , , ,

Recalculating

July 27, 2011 3 Comments

In my last post, I told you that Tonya and I borrowed a G.P.S. system to use during our vacation trip. For the record, that system gave its directions via the voice of a woman. I don’t know if they all use a woman’s voice. I guess it’s possible that you have the set-up option to choose between the voice of a woman or a man. All I know is that the system we borrowed featured a woman’s voice. When I asked why it would be a woman’s voice, my son Ryan had a good answer. He said, “Well, since men never ask for directions, they probably figured that mostly women would be using it.” That’s good logic.

The more we drove, the more we became accustomed to having the woman in the van with us. Every so often we’d hear her say something like, “In 1.2 miles turn right onto Deer Park road and continue 3.6 miles.” It was pretty cool stuff. I even began to anticipate her voice piping up. When I knew we were coming to a turn, I’d ask Tonya, “Shouldn’t that woman be saying something by now?”

Unfortunately, though, there was one word that we heard the woman use a few too many times on the trip. That word was, “Recalculating.” Whenever we would miss a stated turnoff, she would go silent for a moment and then say, “Recalculating.” Then she would pick her directions back up from our new position. It got to the point where we would miss a turn and I would immediately say, “That woman is not going to like that.” Then right on cue we would hear, “Recalculating.”

I’m glad that when it comes to God’s guidance in our lives, He knows how to recalculate. If we do miss His will for a given situation, it isn’t the end of our walk with Him. He doesn’t throw up His hands and say, “You missed it. Now you’re on your own.” Instead, it’s as if He says, “Recalculating.”

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that missing God’s will is ever good or acceptable. He never grins about it and playfully says, “Oh, you little rascal, what am I going to do with you?” Missing His will is always serious, serious business, and there will always be unpleasant consequences for doing so. My point is simply that missing one of the turns of God’s will doesn’t mean the end of your journey with Him. If it did, we would all be hopelessly adrift as we move through life, forevermore cut off from the voice and guidance of our Maker.

I don’t know where this post finds you today, but maybe you are just coming out of a situation in which you really missed God’s will. Well, I”m not patting you on the back and saying, “There, there, honey, what you did was understandable,” but I am saying that God hasn’t abandoned you. Even now He is in “recalculating” mode concerning you, and He wants you to pick back up with Him right where you are and start following His new instructions. If you will do that, you’ll find that He can still take you to some wonderful places. Even more than that, there will be some great scenery for you to enjoy along the way.

Filed under Backsliding, Choices, Disobedience, God's Love, God's Omniscience, God's Will, obedience, Repentance, submission, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Importance of Speaking Up

July 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

Well, we made it to and from the beach safely, and I really appreciate those of you who prayed for us along those lines. Not surprisingly, my next few posts will involve stuff that I experienced while on vacation.

I’ll start with something that happened on our last night out on the town, the Thursday night before we checked out Friday morning. Since the boys had never been in the attractions and stores of Ocean Boulevard, we drove up there and made a night of the whole scene. Royce went into the Ripley’s Haunted Adventure while Ryan went into the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. Then they both went into one of the arcades and played some skeet ball. That’s the game where you roll the ball up the ramp and try to make it jump into certain holes. Some holes are worth more than others, and in the end you are rewarded tickets based upon your point total. You then take those tickets to the counter and swap them for a prize. The more tickets you have, the better prize you get.

Okay, so Ryan goes to one lane and Royce goes to another. When Ryan finishes his game, his tickets start rolling out of the machine appropriately. But when Royce finishes his game nothing happens, even though he has accumulated enough points to earn some tickets. So now Tonya and I have a decision to make. Do we let the injustice go and chalk it up to bad luck? Or do we take the time to go and tell a worker what has happened? We decided to go and tell. (I’ll admit that our decision was helped along by the fact that Royce was none too pleased about not getting any tickets while Ryan did.)

After we reported the problem to the girl at the counter, she came over and very politely said, “I’ll call our maintenance guy, but this will take a few minutes. Will you wait?” At this point, I was beginning to regret saying anything. Who knew where this dude might have to come from? But as the old saying goes, “In for a penny, in for a pound,” so we agreed to wait.

Thankfully, the young man wasn’t too long in coming. He took a quick look at the machine and saw that it was simply out of tickets. He then pulled out a big roll of tickets and reloaded the machine. That’s when things got interesting. As he finished the reloading, he said, “Now get ready because whatever number of tickets this machine should have been giving out is going to come out, and your boy is going to get them all.” Ever the pessimist, I thought to myself, “Sure, sure. We’re probably talking four or five extra tickets here. The thing probably ran out just before Royce played it.”

But then those tickets started rolling out and spilling down onto the floor! My eyes lit up and so did Tonya’s. Royce squealed in delight. Ryan, the classic older brother, stood there green with jealousy because he had actually gotten a higher score than Royce and should have ended up with more tickets than him. On and on the scene went. A few seconds into it the worker grinned at us and reminded us, “Remember, I’m giving him all these tickets.”

So, what was that final total? We ended up with approximately 275 free tickets. To put that total into perspective, Ryan had won about ten with his game and Royce had earned even less than Ryan. Obviously, that machine had been out of tickets for a long time and a great number of kids had played it and taken their losses without reporting the problem. We ended up splitting the tickets between the boys and letting them go nuts cashing them in for multiple gifts at the counter.

And that brings us to the spiritual application to all this. It’s a simple one, really. Since God has called us Christians to be “salt” and “light” in this world, He will bless us when we take the role seriously and speak out when something is wrong. You see, He doesn’t want us to just sit back and let wrong go unchallenged. He doesn’t want us to act like the rest of the world and just accept things as they are. The state of things never gets any better that way. Somebody has got to put in the time and effort to say something.

Christian, could it be that you are right now in the throes of some situation in which you are wondering whether or not you should speak up? Could it be that you are the one whom God is burdening to throw out some salt or turn on a light? Believe me, I know that speaking up is not the easy thing to do, and I’m not trying to needlessly stir up trouble for you here, but the plain fact is that sometimes life’s skeet-ball machines don’t get fixed until someone points out the problem. And, Christian, there are times when that someone has just got to be you because the situation has your name all over it.

Now, will the person whom you correct appreciate your attempts? That’s tough to answer because it depends upon the person. But keep in mind that you aren’t responsible for how the person responds. Once you’ve gone to the counter and reported the problem, once you’ve thrown out the salt, once you’ve turned on the light, your job is done. And God will then reward you somehow or someway with some tickets of blessing. I can’t say exactly what those tickets will be, but you can rest assured that you’ll be satisfied with them.

Filed under Choices, Discipleship, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Honesty, Influence, Ministry, obedience, Problems, Reward, Service, Sin, The Tongue Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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