joy in the darkness

James 1:2 says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy” (NLT). If you’re like me, your initial response to reading that is, “Say what?” Frustration, anger, depression, fear, or anxiety…maybe. But joy? I don’t think so. It’s hard for us to imagine responding to troubles with great joy.

James knew what he was talking about, though, because it’s not until you’re in the middle of trouble that you fully appreciate what Jesus can do for you. You can’t fully appreciate His wisdom until you face a situation where there seems to be no answers. You can’t fully appreciate His peace until you’re tranquil life is rocked by a raging storm. You can’t fully appreciate His comfort until your heart aches with grief. You can’t fully appreciate His strength until you’ve spent every ounce of your energy. You can’t fully appreciate His nearness until you’ve been abandoned by everyone you thought you could rely on and you’re left standing alone with your faith. You can’t fully appreciate the hope He gives until every earthly possibility has been exhausted to no avail. You can’t fully appreciate His healing until your body or the body of someone dearer to you than your own life has been ravaged by some merciless disease. You can’t fully appreciate His grace until you’ve come face to face with the utter monstrosity of your sin.

It’s in the darkness that we see His light more clearly. It’s in the midst of loneliness that we experience the arms of the Father enveloping us. It’s in the times of trouble and sorrow that we come to know Him more intimately. It’s in the place of pain that we are changed into His likeness. For those reasons alone, our response is joy. It’s the joy that comes from seeing the eternal God and realizing that all of our problems are temporary. That’s what Paul was talking about when he wrote:

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17–18 NLT)

Hold fast to the everlasting hope that is found in Christ. Our troubles are temporary, but our joy is eternal.

rain

All throughout the Bible, rain is viewed as a symbol of God’s blessing. Over and over again God promised Israel that if they strayed from the Lord and started following other gods, then He would close the heavens and no rain would come. If no rain came, then that meant that no crops would follow. If no crops were raised, then that meant suffering and hunger would ensue. But if God’s people would follow the Lord, He promised that He would send rain to quench the desire of a thirsty land.

Rain is also used in a symbolic sense. Rain was used to describe the way the Holy Spirit would shower down upon God’s people when they seek His face. The prophet Hosea said to “…break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12, ESV).

If your soul feels like the parched terrain of a desert, it’s time to break up your fallow ground of your soul and begin to seek His face. Stop chasing things that cannot satisfy your thirst. Let His rain fall on you today.

god's umbrella

There are some people in this world that believe that God lays down command after command just to spoil the fun of mankind. That’s a completely wrong understanding of the nature of God the Father. He wants us to enjoy this life, but He doesn’t want us to pursue things that bring short-term pleasure and long-term pain. As a result, He gives us commands, not to ruin our fun, but to protect us from the suffering associated with sin. For example, He says that sex is a gift to be enjoyed only by those who have permanently intertwined their lives through marriage. That’s not a ploy to ruin our fun. He gives that command because He knows that casual sex outside of marriage carries risks physically, it destroys trust, it steals something that should belong only your eventual spouse, and it makes something holy into something base.

Think of God’s commands as an umbrella. An umbrella is designed to protect, but it only offers protection when you stay underneath it. God’s commands are designed to protect us, but we only receive that protection when we stay underneath God’s umbrella. Stay under God’s umbrella and enjoy life the way it was meant to be lived.

goin' fishin'

Simon (also known as Peter) and his brother, Andrew, were fishermen by trade. One day, as they were out at the lake fishing, Jesus walked up said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately, the two brothers left their nets (their only way to provide for their families) and followed Jesus.

Have you ever thought about how brave that decision was? After all, what in the world is a fisher of men? They didn’t know what Jesus was asking them to do. They didn’t know how things would work out. They didn’t know how much it would pay. All they knew was that Jesus was telling them to leave everything behind and follow Him…so they did.

Jesus is still talking to us today and inviting us to follow Him and become fishers of men. He wants us to pursue “catching” people with the gospel instead of pursuing worldly wealth or pleasure. That’s His invitation for you today. The question you must answer is this: Are you willing to leave your own pursuits behind and follow Jesus wholeheartedly?

thank you, mom...

Today we give tribute to the wonderful women in our lives we know as “mom” and they are certainly worthy of our honor. Moms are changers of diapers. They are wipers of runny noses. They are chauffeurs par excellence. They are tutors for their children, even though that “new math” confuses them. Mothers wipe tears of pain and heartache from the eyes of their children. They kiss the scraped knees and rug-burned elbows and promise that the pain will get better. They encourage hearts that are downcast. Moms inspire their children to stretch toward all that they can be. They are molders of men and women. Moms are the warm, safe place that we can go to when the world seems harsh and cold. They love their children in spite of what they have done or where they have been. Moms help us see and understand God’s love in so many ways. Moms are givers of grace and help us understand the incredible love and mercy of God.

For all of that (and for much more than we can describe) we say, “Thank you, Mom. You are loved and cherished more than you will ever know.”

a safe distance

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion, there is a single line that the Lord has used to convict me time and time again. This line describes Peter’s response in the moments after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and was being taken to a place where a sham trial would take place. It’s a single sentence that packs a punch. As Jesus was being led away, Luke reports this tidbit of information: “Peter followed at a distance” (Luke 22:54).

Why? Why follow at a distance? The answer is simple. It was safe. If he followed too closely he might be caught up in the fury of the evening’s events. If they were willing to arrest Jesus, they wouldn’t think twice about taking a lowly fisherman into custody. In fact, getting too close to the fray might even prove to be fatal. So, Peter followed at a distance in order to make sure he would remain safe.

The hard truth is that sometimes we follow Jesus at a distance, too. We play it safe. We want enough of Jesus to ensure that we aren’t going to hell when we die, but we don’t want to get too close. After all, Jesus says radical things that if make us terribly uncomfortable. He said things like, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26, NIV). Whoa! Did you hear that? He was saying that if we want to be His disciples we must love Jesus so much that the love we have for our family looks like hate in comparison. In fact, if we’re to be called followers of Christ we have to love Him even more than we love our own lives. He went on to say, “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27, NIV). The cross was an instrument of death. Jesus was saying that if we want to follow Him we have to walk to the place of execution and die to ourselves in order to live solely for Him. That’s radical. That’s hard. That’s not safe.

The truth is that getting too close to Jesus is not “safe.” If we get close to Jesus it means that we have to drop all of our dreams, desires, and goals and pick up His mission, His passion, and His calling. It means that our lives become centered solely on Him instead of us.

Getting close to Jesus will always cost us. It will cost us our idols. An idol can be money, possessions, fame, comfort, success, or a person. When we say to God, “You can have anything you want, but you can’t touch this,” an idol has been born. It can be anything, but I can assure you that getting close to Jesus always results in the destruction of idols. Jesus simplified it all when He said, “Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples (Luke 14:33, NIV). Everything? Did He really say “everything”? In the original Greek, the word translated “everything” means “everything.” There are no loopholes and there are no exceptions. Getting close to Jesus will cost us our self rule. That scares us, so we keep a safe distance between Jesus and us.

As a result, we end up becoming satisfied with things like church attendance, doing our best to adhere to a moral code, and trying to force other people to conform to that code. We end up wearing the cloak of a Pharisee. We end up admiring Jesus from a distance without ever actually obeying Him. We end up having the appearance of life on the outside while we’re dead on the inside. We end up giving our lives to things that are temporary. We end up wasting our lives.

All the while Jesus beckons us to enter into a full life with Him. Not a safe life, but a full life. Jesus never promised following Him would be safe. He never promised that it would be easy. However, He did promise that it would be worth it. In the world of poker, when a player goes “all in” it means that he or she is willing to risk everything they have on one hand. It’s time to go “all in” and risk everything we have and all that we are on following Jesus. It’s time to stop playing it safe.

are you insane?

So, how are your New Year’s resolutions going? We’ve all been there. We want to change something in our life, so we set a goal that usually falls by the wayside after only a few weeks. We end up wallowing in a measure of despair and wondering what happened.

I want to let you in on a little secret. No matter what your goal for the future may be, it will never happen if you are not willing to do something differently than you have done it in the past. I can’t lose weight while insisting on maintaining my eating habits. I can’t spend more time with my family unless I’m willing to stop spending time doing something else. I can’t get in better physical shape if I’m not willing to get off of my duff and do something. I can’t grow in my relationship with Jesus without changing the way I live.

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” What are you going to do differently this year in order to get the results you desire? Answer that question and you are well on your way to success.

wide-eyed wonder

Have you ever watched a child as he or she discovered something that most adults take for granted? I have watched my daughters as they squatted down and stared with rapt attention at a string of ants walking across the sidewalk. I have seen them captivated with excitement because a bird landed outside our patio door. I've smiled as they stopped everything to ogle at a new flower and enjoy its fragrance. Children have a way of looking at the world with wide-eyed wonder. They are amazed at things that we, as adults, have grown so accustomed to seeing that we don’t really even notice them. 

I’m afraid that the same thing often happens in our walk with Jesus. Have we lost our sense of wonder over the greatness of God and the overwhelming power of His grace? Has it become old hat that Jesus would love us so much that He would give His life as a ransom for us? Are we no longer awestruck that we are called children of God, not because of anything we have done, but because we have been bought with the blood of our Savior? Have we forgotten? Or worse yet, does it not matter to us anymore? This Christmas take some time and consider the power of the story of redemption. You will stand in wide-eyed wonder...and worship.

what ever happened to thanksgiving?

It dawned on me the other day that Thanksgiving is becoming an overlooked and underappreciated national holiday. In October, Halloween dominates the store shelves and people spend large amounts of time and money decorating their houses and yards to prepare for the inevitable parade of chocolate-seeking children dressed as princesses, pirates, and superheroes. When all of the Halloween hoopla is finally over, we seem to jump directly to Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving? I can’t help but wonder if it’s a symptom of a society filled with people that increasingly believe they are entitled to whatever they want. After all, if I’m entitled to something, why should I be grateful for it? It’s easy for me to begin to grow resentful and angry toward ungrateful people who take and take and take without ever pausing to show appreciation for all they have received. It’s at that moment that I have to examine myself because when I do, I begin to see that I am often an ingrate. I suspect that you are as well. Before you get worked up into a hissy-fit of denial, consider these thoughts.

When was the last time you stopped and gave God thanks for waking up in the morning? For some people that’s not a big deal, but for all the “normal” people who like to sleep in, waking up is the daily equivalent of having cold water poured over your head…it’s just not fun. In that moment when you’re complaining about having to get up so early, have you ever considered that there are untold numbers of people all around the world that didn’t get the gift of another day to experience God’s amazing creation?

Or, for those with small children, when your three-year-old child came into your bedroom at the crack of dawn telling you it’s time to get up because the sun is up, did you pause and thank God that your child is healthy enough to get out of bed and walk into your room? If you’re like me, at that moment I’m not thinking about the great gifts of God in my life. I’m only thinking about how I can divert my three-year-old’s attention so I can catch an extra forty winks (for that matter, I’d usually settle for another twenty winks). When I take my children’s health for granted, I’m showing God my attitude of entitlement and living my life with ingratitude.

Let’s bring it down to a very basic level. Did you pause and thank God for the last breath you took? How about the last time your heart beat? The Bible tells us that God is the giver and sustainer of all life on this earth. He monitors your heartbeat. He is the one that causes your lungs to continue to function. Your brain is functioning properly because of Him. How often do we stop and thank Him for giving us life? Probably not often enough.

Unfortunately, one of the things we take for granted most often is one of the things that should fill us with the greatest wonder. How often do you take time to ponder what Jesus did on the cross for you? How often do you pause in wonder at the fact that you were deeply stained with sin, and yet because Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice in your place He now declares you “not guilty”? How often have you been deeply moved with gratitude by the thought that you were once God’s enemy and now He calls you His child? Have you spent time giving thanks that you can enter the very throne room of the God of creation to receive grace and mercy in your time of need? Have you taken time to ponder the fact that He loves you so much that He came to earth to redeem you, knowing that you couldn’t get to Him on your own? Do you stand in amazement at the thought that He has chosen to fill you with the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit? Have you lost the wonder of our God and as a result begun living a life of ingratitude?

I pray that each of us will put the words of Paul found in Romans 12 into action:

Romans 12:1 (NLT) - And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Make sure you don’t skip over Thanksgiving this year. Remember that Thanksgiving Day is about a lot more than an unlucky turkey and watching football on TV. It’s about remembering who God is and all He’s done and letting Him know that we are eternally grateful.

don't waste your life

What is our most valuable commodity as human beings? Is it wealth? Is it possessions? Is it power or fame? None of these can even come close. The most valuable commodity in our lives is time. We have a limited amount of time on the face of this earth and it passes by faster than a NASCAR driver with his pants on fire. And yet, we live as if our days were unlimited.

Paul addressed this when he wrote, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16, ESV). In other words, “We have only once chance at living this life, so make sure you take full advantage of the time that God has given to you to make a difference in a dark world.” I doubt that any of us desire to come to the end of our days and learn that we wasted our lives on things that are insignificant and irrelevant. You only have one life to live…don’t waste yours.