The Elderly Man

Posted on December 9, 2024 by russellmckinney

A father and mother paced the floors the night of their teenage son’s first date. The boy had just gotten his driver’s license that day and had celebrated by taking his girlfriend to the movies. He was supposed to be home by 11:00, but it was now 10:50 and the parents were worried that something was wrong.

Suddenly the phone rang. The father answered it and found that it was the local hospital calling with news. “Sir,” said the nurse on the line, “there’s been a car accident.” The father responded, “I figured it.” The nurse laughed and said, “Oh, it’s not so bad. No one was really hurt, just shaken up a bit. But I do have someone here who wants to talk to you.” The father said, “Okay, put him on.”

Then, to the father’s surprise, the next voice he heard was that of his aged father. The elderly man said, “Sorry to call you so late, son, but I figured you’d want to know that your mother and I will be spending the night at the hospital.” Simultaneously with the younger father hearing those words, he saw the headlights of his son’s car pull safely into the driveway. So, he looked at his wife and say, “Honey, we’ve been worrying about the wrong generation.”

The Bible provides no shortage of stories in which older men and women play important roles. Sometimes these elderly characters display exemplary character and conduct, but other times they don’t. At the end of the day, though, the Bible’s most detailed passage on the subject of how elderly folks should act is found in Titus 2:1-5. That’s why I’m going to use those verses as my text for a little two-post series. With this first post I’ll cover the description of the godly, elderly man. On that subject, the apostle Paul writes to Titus and says:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience… (Titus 2:1-2, N.K.J.V.)

Okay, so what does a godly, elderly gentleman look like? Well, first of all, he is to be “sober.” While this word usually gets applied to drinking alcoholic beverages — and it certainly should be applied that way — in this context it actually refers to all areas of life. Other translations go with “temperate” or “self-controlled.” Paul is saying that the older man shouldn’t get out of hand with anything he does, whether it be drinking or anything else.

Second, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “reverent.” Other translations render the Greek here as “serious,” “dignified,” or “worthy of respect.” The point is that the elderly man shouldn’t be a clown. He should carry himself with a high degree of dignity. He should be respected and his opinion should be valued by others. After all, an old man has a lifetime of wisdom to convey on a wide variety of subjects if he’s in the right mindset to do it.

Third, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “temperate.” This word closely parallels that first word “sober.” Other translations translate it “sensible,” “prudent,” or “self controlled.” Isn’t it interesting that Paul keeps hammering on the idea that old men shouldn’t allow themselves to run amuck and get out of control? Perhaps Paul is trying to combat the mentality, “I’m old and retired now and I’m going to live it up and start acting like a kid again. I’ve been responsible all my life, but now I don’t care anymore.”

Fourth, the godly, elderly gentleman should be “sound in faith.” The word “sound” carries with it the idea of being healthy. The point is that the elderly man’s faith in the Lord should be healthy and vibrant. It should have a stability about it that allows it to stand strong during life’s storms. And make no mistake, storms do come to elderly men. For example, a man might have to bury his wife of many years. Then again, he himself might have to endure a serious medical crisis, perhaps a fatal one. Such situations, and many others, call for one to be “sound (healthy) in faith.”

Fifth, the godly, elderly gentleman should be sound “in love.” This quality stands in stark contrast to the stereotypical old man who is irritable, cranky, unpleasant to be around, and just downright mean. You know, I’m talking about the old codger who stands in his yard, waves his cane threateningly at passersby, and screams, “STAY OFF MY LAWN.” What a difference an elderly man can make in the lives of his family and in the lives of others by simply majoring in love instead of crankiness.

Sixth and lastly, the godly, elderly gentleman should be sound “in patience.” The Greek word that is used here is hupomone, and it’s a word that has different shades of meaning. Patience is definitely one of those shades, but other shades are persistence, perseverance, or endurance. This explains why some translations translate the passage as “in perseverance” or “in endurance.” By using this word Paul is saying that the aged man should stay his course with the Lord despite whatever trials and troubles come. The guy shouldn’t be someone who quits quickly or can be stopped easily. The last thing in the world the old fellow is supposed to do is take his bed and wait to die.

Thus concludes the passage’s description of the godly, elderly gentleman. Needless to say, the best way for any man to meet the requirements of this description is for him to be a Christian who loves Jesus with all his heart and sets himself to serving Jesus with his dying breath. In my next post we’ll see what the passage has to offer for a description of the godly, elderly woman. So, until then……

Posted in Aging, Character, Family, Fatherhood, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Perseverance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Devil You Know

Posted on December 7, 2024 by russellmckinney

A five-year-old boy was visiting his aunt overnight. At bedtime he asked her to leave his door open and the light on in the hall. Surprised, the aunt said, “Why? You’re not afraid of the dark when you are at home.” To that the boy replied, “I know, but there it’s my dark.”

I guess we all have our own dark, don’t we? Each of us has that place of comfort wherein we feel safe, even though we know that even in that place things sometimes go awry. Like that little boy, we figure that if we are going to have problems, we want them to happen in our comfort zone. To use a basketball analogy, being down by 20 points on your home court is one thing but being down by 20 points on another team’s court is something else.

This explains why a lot of people voluntarily choose to remain in less-than-ideal situations year after year. It’s not that these people can’t see or understand the problems inherent to their situations; it’s just that they figure that as bad as things are there, they are surely worse out there in the unknown. We even have an idiom that sums up this whole mentality. The idiom is: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

But the plain truth is that God seems to make it His personal mission to call us out into places of unknown dark, places that might just be replete with devils we don’t know. Consider the following examples from scripture:

  • Abraham (Abram) was content to live with his family in Ur, but God wanted him in Canaan to begin the nation of Israel (Genesis 12:1-3).
  • Moses was content to live with his family as a shepherd in Midian, but God wanted him back in Egypt to lead Israel out of their Egyptian bondage and into Canaan (Exodus 3:1-10).
  • Esther was content with her place as the Persian ruler Ahasuerus’ queen in Babylon, but God wanted her to play the key role in sparing the lives of the Jews under Ahasuerus’ rule (Esther 8:1-17).
  • Nehemiah was content with his place on the royal staff of the Persian king Artaxerxes in Babylon, but God wanted him in Jerusalem to lead the project to rebuild the walls around the city (Nehemiah 1:1-11).
  • Amos was content with his life as a sheep breeder/orchard tender in Tekoa of Israel’s southern kingdom, but God wanted him in Bethel to prophesy to the people of the northern kingdom (Amos 7:10-17).
  • Mary was content to marry Joseph and lead the normal life of a Jewish wife, but God wanted her to give birth to Jesus by way of the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38).
  • Andrew, Peter, James, and John were content with their lives as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, but Jesus wanted them to be apostles (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20, Luke 5:1-11).
  • Matthew (Levi) was content with his life as a tax collector, but Jesus wanted him to be an apostle (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:13-14, Luke 5:27-28).
  • Philip was content to continue ministering in Samaria, but God wanted him to witness to an Ethiopian eunuch at Gaza (Acts 8:26-39).
  • Ananias was content to go about his business at Damascus, but God wanted him to minister to the recently converted Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, who had come to Damascus (Acts 9:10-19).
  • Peter was content to devote his ministry exclusively to Jews, but God wanted him to minister to Gentiles as well (Acts 10:1-48).
  • Jude was content to write an epistle on the subject of salvation, but God wanted him to write one on the subject of apostasy (Jude verse 3).

I’m sure that each of these Bible characters approached his or her God-ordained assignment with a high degree of trepidation. After all, when we really understand the facts of each case, some of the assignments were downright terrifying! To the credit of these people, though, they all stepped out of their comfort zones, left their dark behind, and headed out to deal with unknown devils. And why did they do it? They did it simply because it was God’s will.

I don’t know where this post finds you, but it just could be that God is calling you to forsake the comfort of your dark and head out into some new area of service for Him. If this description fits you, all I can tell you is that you must mind Him. Will there be unknown devils out there in this new area? Probably. Will the endeavor require a great deal of faith on your part? No doubt. But will God walk with you into the new dark? Absolutely. Like a good shepherd who skillfully guides his sheep into fresh pastures, God will guide you into that new place where He wants to use you. Your job is simply to trust, obey, and follow Him.

Posted in Change, Choices, Courage, Faith, Fear, God's Will, God's Work, Ministry, Obedience, Problems, Service, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Fine Line Between Hard Work & Idolatry

Posted on December 5, 2024 by russellmckinney

Tonya and I once attended an academic awards ceremony for our son, Royce. He was finishing up his sophomore year of high school and receiving what the school called an “Academic Letter” for having a grade point average of 4.0 or better. It was a nice ceremony, and of course it’s always nice when your kid does well in school.

The guest speaker that night, who was an alumnus of the school, worked for Google. I enjoyed his speech because he emphasized the fact that failure, when used as proper motivation, can lead to success. Many times, such speeches only mention failure as something that must be avoided at all costs. This stands in direct contradiction to all the Bible characters (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and Peter just to name a few) whose lives were marked by not only lofty successes but also lowly failures.

It was, however, another part of the speaker’s remarks that I want to say a few things about. In describing how you can move from failure to success, he talked about hard work, determination, and old-fashioned grit. Then he used the percentage of 120% — and, yes, I understand that 120% is a mathematical impossibility — in reference to the kind of dedication that is required for success. Please understand now that I’m not speaking critically here or attempting to argue that success doesn’t require 120%. Truth be told, if the subject is worldly success the speaker’s words were accurate. I simply want to point out that there is an incredibly fine line between working hard at something and making that something a false god in your life.

Our oldest son, Ryan, works as a P.E. Teacher/Coach at a middle school. He and I have had long discussions concerning the level of maniacal fanaticism that it takes to excel in athletics. We’ve talked about NFL coaches and players who work 15 hours or more per day, for most of the year, in an effort to lead their teams to victories. We’ve talked about professional baseball players who are either playing their sport or training for it year-round just so they can perform at the highest level. We’ve talked about athletes in individual sports who obsessively incorporate their eating, drinking, and sleeping into their training. This, in effect, means that the training becomes non-stop because there is literally never an hour off, let alone a day off.

I’ve warned Ryan that, as a coach, he needs to understand that there will always be some other coach on the schedule who will make greater demands upon his players than Ryan is willing to make upon his. Consequently, when Ryan’s team plays that coach’s team, Ryan’s team will more than likely lose. Unfortunately for Ryan, what he considers to be over-the-top and unnecessarily excessive in the way of requirements, some coaches consider to be merely the bare minimum. Welcome to the wide world of sports, the place where the more unbalanced and compulsively obsessive you are, the more success you will have.

Ryan played three sports (football, basketball, and baseball) as he was growing up, and he lettered in all three in high school. He could do that at our local high school because the small school has a total enrollment of approximately 500 students. Even at such a small school, though, the demands of attempting to play multiple sports have become exceedingly hard because what is now required to achieve success in any given sport requires virtually singular, year-round training for that sport.

A case in point is the conflict between baseball and football. Baseball is classically considered a summer sport, and during the summer those who take the sport seriously play on summer teams. However, the training, conditioning, and preparation to play the fall sport of football have now reached a level that demands the summer.

Similarly, the basketball team’s season at our high school will be well underway in November before the football players who also play on the basketball team will even get to show up on the court. This means that something has to give. A player can be his absolute best in football or his absolute best in basketball, but he can’t be his absolute best in both. That’s an impossibility. Continuing the theme, the basketball season will then spill over into the opening days of the baseball season and the conflict will switch from a football/basketball one to a basketball/baseball one. Here again, something will have to give.

This explains why most of the truly elite athletes nationwide, the ones who want to reach the pinnacles of their chosen sports, are now being forced to make hard choices early on in terms of their playing. The question each of these athletes has to ask himself or herself is simple: “Do I want to be pretty good at multiple sports or all-world in just one?” As the saying now goes for each sport, “There is no off season.”

But it isn’t just sports where we find that a fixated drive to “be all that you can be” equates to success. The business world opens its largest doors to go-getters who work straight through lunch and come in on the weekends as well to get even more done. In the political world, the low energy, laid back type of candidate might as well not even run for office. Even in the ministry, the field is marked by workaholic pastors who have built large churches by working themselves into the ground and placing their churches above their families.

At some point, though, the issue of idolatry inevitably enters the equation. When does working hard at something become worshiping that something? When does worldly success take the place of God’s approval of your actions? When do the numbers, statistics, trophies, pay raises, and perks have you rather than you having them?

I don’t pretend to know all the answers to these questions, but what I do know is that whatever fervent drive and all-consuming devotion we have about us, God wants us to give it to Him exclusively. If we are going to “buy in” or “sell out” to anything, He wants it to be to Him. Whatever we do, and however we go about doing it, He wants it all to pass through the filter of His will for our lives and remain safely within the confines of His approved balance. This includes our sports, our businesses, our politics, our churches, and any other realms we might care to name.

What is commandment #1 of the famous big 10? “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Websters defines idolatry as follows: “1. Worship of an idol or idols. 2. Excessive love or veneration for any person or object.” Along the same lines, an idol can be defined as being that to which you give the bulk of your time, energy, zeal, money, resources, dedication, and commitment. With these definitions in mind, can you honestly tell me that the individual who sacrifices all else in the pursuit of success in his or her field doesn’t at some point make a false god out of that field?

I know, I know, the response from such a person would be, “But if I don’t work this hard and push myself this way, someone who will do it will beat me and claim my prize.” Well, my comeback to that would be, “If you have to sell your soul to get what you are after, maybe what you are after isn’t God’s will for your life.” That’s something you should consider.

Someone else says, ‘But doesn’t the Bible sing the praises of hard work?” Yes, it does. The book of Proverbs in particular features several verses that preach the value of hard work and lambaste laziness. At no place, though, anywhere in the Bible, do we read that hard work and the pursuit of worldly goals should ever dethrone God in our lives. If that happens, that’s when we cross the line into the territory of idolatry, and the Bible has even more to say about the dangers of idolatry than it does about the dangers of laziness.

I find it interesting that the phrase “going the extra mile” has been hijacked by the world to describe the individual who goes above and beyond the call and does whatever it takes to achieve his or her goal. In case you don’t know, the concept of “going the extra mile” was made famous by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. He said to His followers, “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:41).

Christ’s words played off the custom of that day wherein a Roman official or soldier was allowed to force a common citizen to run an errand or carry a load. The Roman soldiers compelling Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus for a while is the Bible’s classic example of this custom. My point, though, is that the phrase “going the extra mile” originally had to do with service rather than success. I doubt that you will hear that on a commercial for Nike or some other Fortune 500 company anytime soon.

In conclusion, let me say that working hard is admirable. It always has been and it always will be. Hard work is also the lubricant that allows the machinery of this world to run smoothly. However, in all of our working, striving, training, and achieving let’s make sure that we keep everything in a proper perspective and don’t accomplish a lengthy list of stuff that God never had in mind for us to accomplish.

Remember, the greatest person who ever walked this earth didn’t get elected President, didn’t earn a million dollars, didn’t own a home, didn’t win the Super Bowl or the World Series, and didn’t gain His self-esteem by way of worldly achievements. Instead, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish HIS work” (John 4:34). Therefore, for each of us, the question becomes, “How much of that list of things to which I’m devoting most of my time, energy, zeal, money, resources, dedication, and commitment is really God’s work in my life?”

Posted in Balance, Business, Choices, Commitment, Desires, God's Will, God's Work, Idolatry, Personal, Priorities, Prosperity, Service, Sports, Talents, The Sermon On The Mount, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Problem of Deprived Harvests

Posted on December 3, 2024 by russellmckinney

Judges 6:1-6 describes a pitiful situation. An alliance army of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and some other unnamed “people of the East” (referring to the lands located east of Canaan) was absolutely terrorizing the Israelites as the Israelites tried to make their lives in Canaan. These enemy soldiers would allow the Israelites to sow seed and cultivate crops, but each year, like clockwork, the allied troops would march into Canaan at harvest time and lay waste to Israel’s harvests from the north to the south.

These enemy forces would descend upon the land like great waves of locusts, complete with a seemingly innumerable number of camels, other kinds of livestock, and tents (Judges 6:5, 7:12). Just to give you some idea of the scale of these forces, Judges 8:10 puts the number of enemy soldiers at approximately 135,000. It’s no wonder that these annual raids had the Israelites living in poverty and hiding out in caves, dens, and other strongholds afforded by the mountains. All this went on for seven years.

Now, there are a number of spiritual principles that we can glean from this story. Here are three of them. First, in one way the plight of the Israelites was their own fault because God used those invading forces as His hand of chastisement against the disobedient, rebellious Israelites (Judges 6:1). Second, the story proves, as does the entire book of Judges, that even when territory is won for the Lord, that territory must be vigilantly defended from the enemy’s incessant attempts to take it back. Third, people who wouldn’t normally enter into alliance together are perfectly willing to do so in order to fight against God’s people.

For the purpose of this post, however, the spiritual principle that I want to single out is this one: Satan understands that God’s people become incredibly disheartened when they put in all the time and work to enjoy a harvest but don’t get to claim that harvest. And make no mistake, Satan just loves doing this kind of thing. As Jesus says in John 10:10 of the false prophets who were doing Satan’s bidding in trying to harm people, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

You see, Satan knows that if he can keep sending his waves of forces at a believer and keep stealing that believer’s harvests, the believer will be forced to live a life of deprivation and poverty. Furthermore, figuratively speaking, the believer will wind up living a cave-like existence of fear and hiding. This, of course, is exactly where Satan wants the believer — discouraged, out of heart, afraid, and neutralized.

Unfortunately for us believers, about all we can do to prevent Satan from destroying our harvests is do our best to live lives pleasing to God and make a habit of asking Him to keep a spiritual hedge of protection around us (Job 1:10). Many times, though, even this isn’t enough. Paul and the other apostles were devout men of God who lived incredible lives of service to Him, and yet Satan, via his forces, was still able to prevent them from enjoying many harvests.

As proof of this, Paul says the apostles were hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten, homeless, reviled, persecuted, defamed, and looked upon as offscouring (1 Corinthians 4:11-13). Since God wasn’t the cause of all that trouble, that only leaves one candidate. Obviously, Satan worked through some of the “Midianites,” “Amalekites,” and “peoples of the East” of Paul’s day to prevent Paul and the other apostles from enjoying earthly blessings of harvest which they had rightly earned.

Sadly, this problem of deprived harvests isn’t just something the Old Testament Israelites or the New Testament apostles faced. No, it’s a problem that we Christians still deal with today. I wish I could close this post by promising you, Christian, that Satan will never keep you from claiming some earthly harvest of blessing that you’ve earned, but I can’t say that. What I can do, though, is offer you this closing word of advice: When you find that Satan’s forces have swept into your land and destroyed your harvest, don’t delay in crying out to God for His help. I don’t know what form God’s help might take or even when it might come, but what I do know is that He is the only one who can send it.

Posted in Adversity, Disappointment, Disobedience, Fear, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Rebellion, Satan, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fear

Posted on November 29, 2024 by russellmckinney

George Truett, the well-known Baptist pastor, was asked to speak twice a day for a week-long series of messages at a leading university. Before Truett’s arrival, the President of the college sent a questionnaire to the students, asking them to choose the topics they wanted Truett to address. To the complete surprise of the President, the faculty, and Truett himself, the majority of the students wanted Truett to speak about how to conquer fear.

Fear is something we all must face at one time or another. The diseased person is afraid the illness is incurable. The faithful spouse is afraid the marriage partner is cheating. The employee is afraid of being laid off or fired. The leader of the nation is afraid of an enemy attack. The veteran starting quarterback is afraid of the talented rookie who wants the position. The young boy is afraid of dogs. The young girl is afraid no one will like her. The high schooler is afraid of life after graduation. The college student is afraid of not being able to pay back those student loans. The business owner is afraid the business will fail. The single parent is afraid there won’t be enough money to cover the bills. The elderly person is afraid of dying. Round and round the merry-go-round of fear goes and where it stops nobody knows.

Variations of the words “fear” or “afraid” are found hundreds upon hundreds of times in the Bible. You won’t read either the Old Testament or the New Testament long before you bump into one of these references. The Old Testament’s first one involves Adam, who in the wake of the sin in Eden was afraid of God (Genesis 3:8-10). The New Testament’s first one involves an angel telling Joseph not to be afraid to marry the now pregnant Mary (Matthew 1:20).

The Bible’s many references to fear tell us all we need to know about the human condition. Despite our attempts at courage, bravery, and confidence, oftentimes our daily lives are marked by fear and its running mate, worry. No matter how hard we try, there will always be those moments when we all, deep down, become like frightened little children.

Of course, the problem is that our fears aren’t always baseless and unfounded. Sometimes diseases are incurable. Sometimes one spouse does cheat on another. Sometimes employees do lose their jobs. Sometimes enemy nations do attack. Sometimes the rookie quarterback does send the veteran to the bench. Sometimes dogs do bite. Sometimes young girls do make life hard on other young girls. Sometimes life does knock the snot out of the high school graduate. Sometimes the college student can’t land a good enough job to pay back those student loans. Sometimes business do fail. Sometimes there isn’t enough money to cover the bills. And as for the elderly person being afraid of dying, well, nothing is more frightening than eternity if you aren’t prepared to face it.

Furthermore, the Bible teaches that if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you should be afraid. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but you need to understand that if you are without Christ, God isn’t your heavenly Father and is under no obligation to help you with what is scaring you. Oh, sure, He might help you — because He loves you — but His help isn’t something to which you hold a guarantee.

The Christian, on the other hand, does hold such a guarantee. This explains why there are so many verses in which God says to the believer, “Do not be afraid.” So, Christian, in regards to your specific fear or fears, the best I can do for you is throw the Bible at you. That’s why I’m going to close out this post by simply citing a few passages. I’ll give you seven of them (all from the N.K.J.V. translation), and as you read each one, allow the words to sink deep down into your soul to help you with whatever is scaring you:

Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13)

But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Comfort, Courage, Elderly, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Provision, God's Word, Inner Peace, Needs, Problems, Salvation, Sickness, Trials, Trusting In God, Work, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Living Thanks

Posted on November 27, 2024 by russellmckinney

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17, N.I.V.)

Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; giving thanks to him and praise his name. (Psalm 100:4, N.I.V.)

…always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20, N.I.V.)

Here’s a good word that appeared in an issue of Pulpit Helps several years ago. The writer is William O. Vickery.

For Americans, there is a tradition of observing Thanksgiving Day each November. It is recognized as a national holiday and happily so. But one wonders if it were not a holiday, would there be any giving of thanks? That is the question that each person must answer for himself, just as each person will determine how he will express his thanks – by saying it, giving it, or living it.

Saying thanks is good; it is mannerly, tactful and serves as a lubricant to overcome friction. Giving thanks is better; it penetrates superficiality and allows for deeply-felt expressions to pass from one person to another. More of the whole person is exercised in giving thanks than in saying it. Living thanks is best. It transcends superficiality and exceeds spontaneity. It abides within the inner man as a continuing resource contributing to the development of character, shaping of lifestyle, and building of personal relationship with God, family, fellow Christians, and friends.

Vickery’s point is that we all need to take the focus off Thanksgiving and put it onto Thanksliving. While there’s nothing wrong with setting aside one day a year and calling it “Thanksgiving,” if we have to have turkey, pumpkin pie, and football games to cause us to pause and give thanks, we’re missing the point the rest of the year. Thankfulness should naturally pour out of us every day, all year, like water naturally pours over Niagara Falls, and everyone can find something for which to be thankful. Truth be told, most of us can find a long, long list of such things. That’s why ingratitude is one of the ugliest characteristics a person can show, and it’s also why being thankful should be a lifestyle we live as opposed to a day we observe.

Posted in Complaining, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Are You a Duck, an Eagle, a Rabbit, or a Turtle?

Posted on November 25, 2024 by russellmckinney

In his book “Criswell’s Guidebook For Pastors,” W.A. Criswell, the longtime pastor of 1st Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, offers the following illustration:

The animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, flying, and swimming. All the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was good in swimming and fair in flying. But he was terrible in running, so he was made to drop his swimming class and stay after school in order to practice his running. He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable. The others (including the teacher) were no longer threatened by the duck’s swimming ability. So everyone felt more comfortable — except the duck.

The eagle was considered a problem student. For instance, in climbing class he beat all others to the top of the tree, but used his own method of getting there. He had to be severely disciplined. Finally, because of noncooperation in swimming, he was expelled for insubordination.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but was obviously inadequate in other areas. Because of so much makeup work in swimming he had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school.

Of course, the turtle was a failure in most every course offered. His shell was considered to be the leading cause of his failures, so it was removed. That did help his running a bit, but sadly he became the first casualty when he was stepped on by a horse.

The faculty was quite disappointed. But all in all it was a good school in humility — there were no real successes. None seemed to measure up to the others. But they did concentrate on their weak points and some progress was made.

Maybe the moral is: do not let anyone take off your shell or clip your wings. Just be yourself.

When you try to be someone else, your spot in life basically becomes empty. For one thing, the person you are trying to be isn’t there. For another, you yourself aren’t really there either. That’s why it’s been said that the best note you can ever play in life is the one called “B Yourself.”

Joseph was a dreamer while James emphasized that one’s faith must affect the practical matters of life. But God used them both. Esther was a queen while Ruth was a lowly daughter-in-law. But God used them both. Paul was a highly educated theologian while Peter was an unlearned fisherman. But God used them both. Eunice was married while Anna was a widow for 84 years. But God used them both. John the Baptist was fearless while Gideon was naturally cautious. But God used them both.

God knows exactly how you are built and wired, and He never wants you to try to be someone you are not. Just as He has designed indescribable diversity into creation itself, He has done the same thing for the human race. Some people might think of themselves as being akin to ducks while others have more in common with eagles, but God needs both types in His service. Some might be comparable to rabbits while others relate more to turtles, but God has roles that each type can play effectively. All you have to do is be yourself and let Him use you the way He wants to use you in His great cause.

Posted in Contentment, Doing Good, God's Will, God's Work, Individuality, Ministry, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Should Have Been

Posted on November 22, 2024 by russellmckinney

I was a little under two years into my first pastorate when one afternoon, as I was driving in my car, I happened to drive past the sign for a certain church in our area. It was a sign that I had driven past many times, but this time it created a strange feeling inside me. I suddenly felt the strong impression that the church the sign represented would be the next church that I would pastor. I didn’t know precisely when this would happen because the church did have a pastor at the time, but it was clear to me that it was God’s will for me to pastor that church sometime in the future. I just needed to wait on His timing.

I assumed that the waiting would be just common, garden-variety waiting, but God had other ideas. In the days, weeks, and months that followed, He began to pour out to me, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, His vision for how He wanted me to lead that church. Here, there, and everywhere as I went about my life, sometimes during the day and sometimes during the night, He would provide me with little pieces of that vision.

At some point it all became so much that I began to write everything down in a notebook so that I didn’t forget anything. Pretty soon that notebook had in it: years’ worth of sermon series that I was to preach, the names of preachers that I was to invite to conduct revivals, the names of singers and singing groups that I was to invite to sing, the basics of the founding of a Christian K-12 school at the church, events for the youth, events for married couples, events for senior citizens, etc., etc., etc.

I don’t mind telling you that the whole experience was downright amazing to a “preacher boy” who hadn’t been in the ministry that long. Mind you, though, that even as I filled up that notebook, I continued to do a good job at the church where I was serving as pastor. I understood that everything in the notebook was out there in the future somewhere, and I was determined to be patient.

During my waiting, there even came a time when I turned down the opportunity to become the pastor of another church. That wasn’t an easy refusal either because that church would have been a step up for me in that it was a “name” church in our area, had a larger congregation than the church I was pastoring, and also had a nice parsonage. A retired, highly respected preacher friend of mine was serving as that church’s interim pastor at the time, and he recommended me to the pulpit committee before even speaking with me about the situation. Being the man he was, his recommendation all but ensured that the church would elect me.

At his urging, I went through the process of meeting with that pulpit committee, a meeting during which a date was set for me to preach a trial sermon at the church. But not long after that meeting I called the committee’s chairman and informed him that it wasn’t God’s will for me to pastor that church. You see, I knew where I was supposed to go next, and that church wasn’t it. My next stop in the ministry was supposed to be the church that had the sign.

Then came the day when I heard the news that the pastor of the church for which God had given me His vision had resigned. Approximately a year and a half had passed since that day I had driven past that sign, and I was now in a place where I had stayed long enough at my first church to be able to leave respectably. I also, of course, had my notebook.

Still, I wanted to be sure that God really was calling me to that new church. So, one night not long after I heard the news of that pastor’s resignation, I made a very specific request to God. I said, “God, if you really want me to become the pastor of that church, open a door for me to easily submit my resume.” Keep in mind now that in those days I was still young and green in the ministry and didn’t know the exact protocol for how to tell a church that I was supposed to be their next pastor. That’s why I made the prayer request.

Well, the next day was Monday, the day of the weekly pastor’s conference in our county. I knew that our local Director of Missions would be there, and I figured that he was the man I needed to talk to about getting my resume to that church. So, I attended the conference.

Following the conference, several of us went out for lunch at a local restaurant. In all my years of attending that pastor’s conference, that was the only time we ever chose that particular restaurant for our lunch. I thought that in itself was out of the ordinary. Things got even more out of the ordinary when, as we were walking into the restaurant, the Director of Missions said to me out of the clear blue, “I hear that you are thinking about leaving your church.”

To this day, I have no idea why that man said that. While it was certainly true that I was thinking about leaving, only my wife, my brother, and my mother knew it. Furthermore, that Director of Mission couldn’t possibly have known that I wasn’t just thinking about leaving in general; I was thinking about leaving to go to one specific church. Naturally, then, I took his comment as nothing less than God’s answer to my prayer request from the previous night. Excitedly, I said to him, “Well, since you brought it up, I feel a real burden for (the church with the sign).” Then I asked him if he would pass along my resume to that church if I brought the resume to him. He agreed to do so, and that was the end of the conversation.

It was either the very next day or the day following that I handed the man my resume and began the process of waiting for a phone call from the church’s pulpit committee. Unfortunately, however, I was waiting on a call that would never come. I really can’t say for certain what happened behind the scenes. Maybe that committee considered my resume and unanimously decided that I wasn’t the pastor for them. Or maybe it was just one or two members who took the committee in a direction other than me. Looking back on things now, I don’t even know for sure that the Director of Missions ever gave my resume to the committee. I always assumed he did. All I know for sure is that no phone call ever came and I never got the chance to talk with that committee and tell them about my notebook.

And so, who did that church elect as pastor? After a relatively short time, they elected an elderly minister who had a lot more degrees and a lot more experience than I did. On paper, he was the logical “business decision” choice. His problem, though, was that he didn’t have my notebook full of vision for that church. Not surprisingly, then, he only stayed at the church a couple of years, and during that time the church didn’t pick up any spiritually or numerically.

To make matters worse, the man’s wife stayed sick virtually the entire time they were there. If I’ve ever seen a case of a church having the wrong man in the pulpit, that was it. But what could I do about it? Absolutely nothing. All I could do was keep faithfully serving that first church of mine and keep minding the Lord as best I could in regards to my own life and ministry.

Now, I’d love to tell you that this story does, at last, have a happy ending. I’d love to tell you that when that pastor resigned after those two years, I resubmitted my resume to the church’s new pulpit committee and ended up as the church’s pastor just a couple of years behind God’s original schedule. Yes, I’d love to tell you all of that, but if I did, I’d be lying.

Oh, I did resubmit my resume — this time calling a member of the pulpit committee personally and mailing him the resume. Again, though, as had been the case the first time, no phone call ever came. That second go-around the church elected a pastor who stayed there several years and had a pretty good ministry there. But what got lost in all of that was what should have been at that church.

And whatever became of my notebook? Well, after that second round of rejection, I was so disappointed that I threw it in the trash. For the record, God never once convicted me over that decision, either. Obviously, all of that vision He had shared with me for that church was now just a memory, never to become reality.

Frankly, I have never fully gotten over that church missing it with me. Their wrong decision took both my ministry and the life of my family down a completely different road, a far less pleasant one. Make no mistake, nobody ever truly “wins” when God’s will gets missed. As further evidence of this, let me add that the church with the sign has had its share of trouble ever since and has never reached the level that God once had in mind for it. You see, just as I have never gotten over missing out on that church, that church has never gotten over missing out on me and my notebook.

And now I’ll offer up a couple of Bible verses to accentuate this sad word of personal testimony. Each of these verses describes a scenario of “what should have been.” The first verse is Matthew 23:37, where Jesus bemoans the fact that Jerusalem, which was home to Israel’s ruling religious elite, would not accept Him as Messiah. You can hear the heartbreak in His words when He says of the city:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

The second verse is Matthew 13:58, which gives the record of Jesus returning to his hometown of Nazareth. He wanted to go there and bless those citizens by performing miracles and providing teaching, but when He got there, He found that those people were dead set against accepting Him as Messiah or letting Him do what He wanted to do in their midst. And so, we get these fateful words:

Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

So, in conclusion, I ask you, can God’s will be thwarted? Can a group of people actually prevent God from doing a mighty work in their midst? Can a pulpit committee seek its own counsel rather than God’s and cause its church to elect the wrong pastor? Can the blessings of what should have been in a particular situation be lost for all eternity? I speak from personal experience when I answer each of these questions with a resounding: YES. Therefore, I strongly advise you to keep yourself fully submitted to God, in tune with His voice, and obedient to His will. Why? It’s because if you don’t, even though you might do some good things, you’ll never do the best ones, and you’ll never get to enjoy the pinnacle of blessing that God wants to bestow upon not only you but all those who are in your sphere of influence.

Posted in Choices, Church, Counsel, Decisions, Disappointment, Discernment, Disobedience, God's Timing, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, Influence, Leadership, Ministry, Obedience, Patience, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Preaching, Rebellion, Service, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Filling in the Gaps of My Learning

Posted on November 20, 2024 by russellmckinney

I grew up in a small, rural, conservative Southern Baptist Convention church. I believed in Jesus as my Savior at a young age, was baptized, and joined the church. I went to Sunday School just about every Sunday and stayed for what we now call “the worship service.” (Back then we just called it “preaching.”) I attended Sunday night services most of the time as well. I was there for a lot of Wednesday night “prayer meetings” too. And then there were the Bible Schools, revivals, Christmas plays, youth choirs, etc., etc., etc. Yes, I was a church kid.

However, as I look back upon those days, I now realize that all of my church attendance and activity left me ill-prepared to live out a certain level of the Christian life. What level am I talking about? I’m talking about the level where: bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people, people do you wrong, the Lord Himself leads you into difficult situations, tragedies burst their way unannounced into your life, spiritual warfare finds your address and sets up camp, holy living produces persecution, and sincere prayer requests are either long delayed or flat out turned down. Trust me, that’s a hard level at which to remain faithful to the Lord.

I don’t blame the men who served as my pastors in that church. Even if they did preach on these uncomfortable topics, I wasn’t exactly fixated on listening to their sermons when I was young. What I do know for certain, though, is that we didn’t cover such material in youth Sunday School, youth services on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, or youth Bible School.

But I don’t blame our church’s youth workers, either. Most of the time they just taught whatever literature we were using, and that literature usually stayed with the simplest basics of Christianity: Christ’s death and resurrection, the need to believe in Him as Savior, baptism, Bible study, prayer, and church attendance. Since kids like stories, our lessons were always based upon Bible stories. We certainly weren’t doing any verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Romans.

As for the stories themselves, I can’t recall every last one., but I remember enough to assert that they always had rousing, uplifting endings:

  • Adam and Eve sinned, but God helped them and they got saved.
  • God sent the great flood, but Noah and his family survived.
  • God told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, but in the end, God changed His mind and Abraham got to keep Isaac.
  • Moses had some trouble with Pharaoh, but God showed Pharaoh who was boss, brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and drowned Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.
  • The walls of Jericho were mighty, but God brought them down for Joshua.
  • Goliath was a giant who tormented Israel’s army, but young David, with God’s help, killed him.
  • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego got thrown into the fiery furnace, but God saved them.
  • Daniel got thrown into the lions’ den, but God saved him.
  • Jonah got swallowed by a whale, but God saved him.
  • The lepers of Jesus’ day were pitiful people, but Jesus cured them.
  • Jesus let Lazarus die, but then He raised him from the dead.
  • Jesus got crucified, but God the Father resurrected Him just a few days later.
  • Paul caused some problems for Christians, but Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Road and Paul got saved.
  • John got exiled to the island of Patmos, but that ended up being a good thing because God gave him the book of The Revelation there.

Think about it, if these types of stories are all you ever hear as a kid, you inevitably grow up thinking that giving your life to Jesus always puts you on the winning side. I mean, we didn’t have Sunday School lessons on the mind-numbing sufferings of Job. We didn’t talk about the generations of Israelites who lived and died as slaves in Egypt during the four centuries that occurred before God sent Moses onto the scene. We didn’t talk about John the Baptist getting beheaded for taking a moral stand for God. We didn’t talk about Stephen getting stoned for speaking the truth about Jesus. We didn’t talk about James getting killed by Herod simply for being a Christian.

If the story of Cain and Abel ever was a Sunday School lesson (and I’m thinking it probably was), the lesson was surely about how murder is wrong and we should love our family members. I’ll guarantee you it wasn’t about how God could have stopped Cain from killing Abel but didn’t. If we did cover the David-Bathsheba-Uriah story, the emphasis would have fallen upon David receiving forgiveness from God and eventually producing Solomon through Bathsheba. It certainly wouldn’t have fallen upon Uriah dying an unjust death or upon Bathsheba’s first baby dying just a few days after being born.

The point I’m trying to make is that we Christians do our kids a disservice when we fail to teach them the parts of the Bible that aren’t so pleasant and encouraging. Make no mistake about it, life is hard. Your doctor looks at you with a grim face and says, “I’m sorry but it’s cancer.” Your spouse walks in one day and announces, “I’m leaving you for someone else.” You are called into your supervisor’s office to hear the words, “We’re letting you go.” Your phone rings and you answer it, only to learn that your child has been killed in a car accident. You tell me, in all that we do and say in our churches, what prepares us to keep our Christian faith when such situations slap us right between the eyes? Having spent virtually all my life in church, I can tell you that the answer is precious little, if anything.

Consequently, when such times hit the Christian, he or she is forced to learn new lessons about God — what He will do, what He won’t do, what He causes, what He allows, and what selling out to Him completely can entail. Mind you that these lessons are all right there in the pages of the Bible, scattered throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s just that we have been trained to blow right past such lessons in our race to get to the good stuff, the fun stuff, the victorious stuff.

To make matters even worse, all that “good” stuff can taunt you, rather than help you, when you find yourself in the aftermath of an experience where your Red Sea didn’t part, your walls of Jericho didn’t fall, you didn’t slay your Goliath, your leprosy didn’t get healed, and your Lazarus didn’t get resurrected. Believe me, it is during those times that you will either quit with God and the Bible altogether or begin a reprogramming process by which you are forced to become a deeper, more mature, and (for lack of a better word) more real Christian. Many of us, to varying degrees, have had to go through that reprogramming and found it gut wrenching.

You see, that reprogramming wouldn’t have been nearly as hard if we had been taught as young people that life doesn’t always fit so neatly into an encouraging Bible story. It’s not that what we were taught was wrong. It wasn’t. It’s just that it was incomplete. Speaking for myself, I only filled in the gaps of my learning when life’s troubles compelled me to do so. And my guess is that there are a whole lot of Christians out there who, if they dropped their spiritual front long enough, would admit that they’ve had the same experience.

Posted in Adversity, Bible Study, Children, Church, Disappointment, Discipleship, Doubt, Faith, Parenting, Persecution, Perseverance, Personal, Prayer Requests, Problems, Scripture, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Bible, Trials, Trusting In God, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Simple Answers

Posted on November 18, 2024 by russellmckinney

A psychologist, an engineer, and a pastor went on a hunting trip to a very remote area. One day, as they were out hunting, they came upon a small cabin. Since the cabin appeared to be abandoned, and its door wasn’t locked, they thought nothing of investigating the place.

Once inside, they realized they had done wrong when they found that the cabin’s potbellied stove had the remains of a fire in it. But they weren’t nearly so worried about their breaking and entering as they were perplexed by the stove. To their amazement, it was not situated on the floor. It was, instead, hanging by some wire from the ceiling, with the stovepipe running up through the roof.

The psychologist studied the scene for a moment and said, “I know why this mountain man has hung his stove like this. He’s done it so that he can sleep under it and feel the warmth radiating down upon him. Subconsciously, him sleeping under such warmth reminds him of when he was safe and secure in his mother’s womb. He’s obviously a bit frightened by the world.”

But such a suggestion seemed ludicrous to the more practical engineer. He said, “No, no, that’s not it. By elevating his stove in this way, this man is using his heat source more efficiently because the heat will be distributed more evenly throughout the cabin. I have to give him credit. He’s really a smart fellow.”

The pastor, as might be expected, didn’t buy either one of those theories and provided a religious one. He said, “I think this elevated stove is the mountain man’s attempt to worship God. Since the dawn of history, mankind has used fire — fire for offering sacrifices, fire for worshiping at night, fire as a cleansing agent — in his attempts at worship. So, what this fellow has done is elevate his fire as a means of getting it nearer to God. In his mind, this makes for purer worship.

It was along about then that the mountain man came busting into the cabin, shotgun in hand, ready to fight. He demanded to know who the three men were and what they were doing in his home. Fortunately for them, his anger cooled once they explained their honest mistake. He even put down his shotgun and became downright cordial.

It was after some small talk that the visitors finally got around to the question they were dying to ask. The psychologist said, “Sir, would you please tell us why you’ve hung your stove from wire from the ceiling? Each of us has an opinion on the matter, and we’d just like to know which one of us is right.” To that, the mountain man answered, “Oh that. I just had a lot of wire and not much stove pipe.”

Oftentimes the simplest answers are the ones we fail to consider. And so, I ask you right now, “Are you overthinking that certain situation or problem that has been perplexing you lately?” Could it be that God has placed the answer right in front of you, but you, for whatever reason, are making the solution more elaborate and confusing than it has to be? I know that God is deep, and I know that He is profound. Surely, His thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways. Still, though, even Jesus taught that if you ask God for bread, He won’t give you a stone, and if you ask Him for a fish, He won’t give you a serpent (Matthew 7:9-11). I guess the problem is that sometimes we just don’t recognize a loaf of bread or a fish for what they are,

Posted in Choices, Contentment, Desires, God's Provision, God's Will, Needs, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments