Do What You Can

In this election year here in the United States, a commonly heard phrase is “Why should I vote? What difference will my one vote make in a national or even state election?” One vote among one hundred and seventy-five million can seem very small and insignificant indeed.

The Apostle Paul reminds us, however, our greatest obligation is not how we affect national or state affairs, but how we affect the lives of those we see each day.

Rom 12:9-21 Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another. Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.

       Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers. Ask God to bless those who persecute you---yes, ask him to bless, not to curse. Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep. Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise.

      

       If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord."

       Instead, as the scripture says: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame." Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.

The older I get the more importance this passage carries for me. It does not focus upon a Christian’s responsibility to change the world. Its entire focus is upon the necessity of individuals to impact in a positive way the small circle in which they live, move, and relate. Paul makes no argument for marching on the national capital. Rather he emphasizes the importance of relating to our next door neighbor with a spirit of love and redemption.

Early in my ministry I began to use this passage in pre-marital counseling. The text was written by an individual to one congregation or more, perhaps to be read by many. Yet how many relationships between husbands and wives, between neighbors, as well as between individual church members would be enriched by living out these words of encouragement.

I called them “divine nuggets of wisdom”. Each phrase could be taken as an individual statement of counsel. Each phrase touches upon an area of life important in human relationships. Of course our nation and world would be a much happier and fulfilling arena of life if, for instance, each of us sought to “do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.” Until that day comes each of us in our own small world of relationships should seek to do the same.

We must not wait until dictators, emperors, kings, and presidents start to act live civilized human beings who do not live by the laws of fang and claw. Our actions may not change the greater world, but in our own realm of relationships, when we live by the laws of love and redemption, we can make a difference in the lives of those we touch each day.

It is not a trite phrase to believe in the strength of goodness. A not so old proverb says, “In the long run, good will always beat evil because good is better.” If we believe good is grounded in the very nature of divine love that demands obedience and simultaneously provides the grace to make that obedience possible and then the forgiveness when obedience fails, then we will be that influence that looks so small to the world but so big to those closest to us.

Checking the Foundation

A concern of every teacher is what the student is learning from what the teacher is sharing. The goal of every teacher is to lay a foundation for what must be learned or will be experienced next in the student’s life. If the foundation is not properly laid, then future struggles will occur or failure itself will occur. A solid foundation must always be laid.

Mat 7:24-27 "So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!"

Jesus was driving home a point. What you teach becomes less important if the foundation is not what it needs to be. The lessons of life must be laid out on the right foundation so they will be applicable to whatever the person may meet.

He made no distinction between the two houses. They may have been duplicates in both materials and skill of construction. The only difference was the foundation. One was of rock. The other was of sand. One was able to withstand the forces of the storm. The other could not.

Pastors must consider what kind of foundation they lay for their congregation. They must be conscious of what they teach, of what they preach. Sermons are often like those facebook posts. Once those words are out there, no amount of regret can bring them back. Trying to explain what a statement in the sermon meant two days later may not be adequate to dispel confusion or strong disagreement arising from a misunderstanding.

Even in a teaching context where there is opportunity to dialogue and delve deeper into proper understanding, the chance for misunderstanding still exists. The old proverb is still true: make sure your brain is in gear before you start your mouth.

Pastors must be just as conscious of the example they set through their own lives. Another proverb goes like this: I can’t hear what you’re saying because what you’re doing makes too much noise. Pastors are not perfect. They make mistakes. The twofold lesson is to work to limit the mistakes and be ever ready to offer the appropriate apology.

Parents also must consider what kind of foundation they are laying for their children. Future decisions the children will make will be heavily influenced by what they heard from their parents and what they saw in their parents. The foundation laid can make the difference between well-adjusted adults and confused individuals who have no basis for making decisions that will lead to satisfaction and fulfillment.

No greater foundation can a parent lay in their child than to instill in the child he or she is loved. The security that comes from knowing you are loved and accepted through that love is without price and unsurpassable in its power to prepare for a healthy future.

To love is not to condone. To love is to feel a responsibility to help the child prepare for the future, to lay the right foundation in the life of the child. This involves instilling a sense of right and wrong based upon a standard independent from the whims of society. The right foundation leads the child to make decisions based upon those absolutes grounded in the nature of God and his revelation in Jesus Christ.

As the biblical proverb recorded for us:

Prov. 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

The Dilemma of Promises

Tis the season to question the integrity of wanna-be leaders. The presidential race in full force here in America offers us a profound insight into the human psyche and what it is willing to say to reach its goals. Our history is rife with promises made in hopes of garnering votes only to see those promises broken in the face of reality.

A Republican presidential candidate said in his campaign, “Read my lips. No new taxes!” That may have helped get him elected, but it was a promise he had to break after he took office. The most recent comment a president probably wishes he could take back is the infamous, “If you like your current health insurance plan, you can keep it.”

Mary Poppins speaks of a promise in the movie by the same name as a “pie crust promise, easily made and easily broken.” In our politics, perhaps in life in general, we have come to see most of our promises as being merely “pie crusts”. This is not so much a mark of our world’s reality as it seems to be a mark of human character. Integrity has become a victim of social expediency.

Promises should mean something. They should inspire trust. They should reveal integrity. A promise should shape a hoped-for future that will become reality if the one making the promise is willing to pay the price to carry through. Too many promises become “pie crust” promises.

The price we pay for such frivolous use of words can be high. The loss of trust, the loss of hope, the loss of personal integrity, all should be considerations in our minds before we make these promises. Can we afford the price?

Unfortunately in politics and other areas of life, that price no longer seems so high. Our disappointment in broken promises rarely translates into action that affects the one making the promise. Maybe the attitude is “I have the power, and you do not. Get over your disappointment.” Another perspective might be “I’m not running for reelection. You can’t touch me. Too bad for you.”

Life goes on and we adjust our expectations according to the experiences we have had with people making promises. We lose faith in a person’s promise, so we make them sign a piece of paper. Because we have learned their personal promise is meaningless and paper signatures can be just as meaningless, we have lawyers, lots of lawyers. Then we make tons of jokes about lawyers who cannot be trusted.

Where does this end? It ends where it begins, with each of us as individuals. Can I be trusted? Do I inspire hope in the people to whom I make a promise? Do I have integrity which is revealed in the way I am willing keep my promises?

Can I change the world? No, but I can create a climate of trust around myself. Can I live a life that tells others a person’s promise can be trusted? Yes, that is in my power.

I can be a person of integrity whose word can be trusted. I can be a person of integrity whose promises will be kept as far as humanly possible. I can be a person who will not make promises that exist only to win the approval of others.

As Jesus said,

Mat 5:33-37 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, 'Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.' But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. Just say 'Yes' or 'No'---anything else you say comes from the Evil One.

Promises create a dilemma only when we cannot be trusted to pay the price to back our word.

If You Want To

As I return to blogging on a different schedule and with a different motivation, I start this year of 2016 with a new awareness of my relationship with God. Time and events can change your perspective on things. It is enough I share my take on life as I meet it.

In the last few years three contemporary songs have come out by different artists that have spoken to my search for peace in this world. The first was by Kerrie Roberts and entitled “No Matter What”. Next Kutlass came out with “Even If”. The third and most recent was by Lauren Daegle entitled “Trust In You”.

The common theme among these lyrics is the petition to God that may go unanswered. How do you respond when God doesn’t seem to hear? It’s an idea that goes back as far as the character of Job in his book by the same name in the Old Testament of the Bible.

The theme is addressed in a major way in two early works by Phillip Yancey. In Disappointment with God and Where Is God When It Hurts, Yancey deals with the question of the silence of God. Job experienced it in an excruciating way until he is answered by God in a way that is far from his initial questioning.

Job raised his question with God and never received an answer to his complaint. He simply got humbled. Yancey relates example after example involving people who confronted tragedy, sought the help of God, and did not receive what they sought. Though that is not always what happens, it happens enough to envy the recipient of God’s grace in the following miracle.

Mat 8:1  When Jesus came down from the hill, large crowds followed him.

Mat 8:2  Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to him, knelt down before him, and said, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean."

Mat 8:3  Jesus reached out and touched him. "I do want to," he answered. "Be clean!" At once the man was healed of his disease.

That is the question for all believers of Jesus Christ. It is not an issue of if God can heal. It is a matter of will he heal.

I had already read the books and come to appreciate the music of Roberts and Kutlass before I was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of last year. Cancer is something other people have. It’s something mentioned on prayer concerns list in churches and in conversations among church members. You don’t expect to have your name mentioned in the mix however. I looked back at songs and books and wondered if God was preparing me for what was to come.

No, this is not a sob story. Tests caught the cancer in early stages. The surgery resulted in a complete success. Recovery will take a while but that will give me a little extra time at home to do some additional writing. When I asked Jesus will you heal me, he did using an excellent doctor in the process.

I find it hard to consider myself a cancer survivor. I know those who have fought long and terrible battles to gain that title. I will not come close to what they have had to experience. Yet that statement still hangs in your mind, “I have had cancer.”

Quoting the lyrics of Kutlass, I choose to make the response,

“”You are God, You are good

Forever faithful One

Even if the healing

Even if the healing doesn’t come”

The man who came to Jesus only had doubts in the realm of willingness, never in the realm of ability. Our goal is to glorify God. That may come with healing from the Great Physician. It may come most powerfully in the faithfulness of the believer in the face of silence.

Continuing Thoughts

A little more than five years ago (October 3, 2010), I started this blog. In the last month I have lost the desire to continue it as it was going. At one point I had considered this as an outlet for personal thoughts on a variety of subjects as they surfaced in my life. Somehow that morphed into a stream of “how to” additions that left me empty and feeling like I was saying nothing. With so many experts already in the field where I was writing, I decided I was wasting my time and that of any readers.

After a hiatus of more than a month, it is time for me to start writing again. This time it will be less regimented as to publishing date. Gone is the constraint of writing every Wednesday. It will be less didactical and simply more self-revelatory. The one thing I will continue is to show how my thoughts and development have their roots in the words of the Holy Bible, the word of God.

King Solomon is described as writing thousands of proverbs springing out of his wisdom. He found insight as he watched people and studied nature. Life itself was his teacher. This increase in wisdom came about because he opened his eyes and ears to the world and his spirit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God.

To get the most from this brief existence we call life in this world, we must all do the same. It begins when you are born, and it doesn’t end until you die. We learn from what we take in through our five physical senses and just as much from what we allow to touch our spiritual beings. If we cannot put that in a test tube or under a microscope, that doesn’t mean we are not learning just as much. Perhaps in one sense we are learning the more important lessons of life when we are learning through our hearts rather than through our minds.

Jesus said:

Mat 11:28-30 "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."

This journey I began at conception more than six decades ago has been filled with lessons. Many I have missed and will never know what I could have been had I been more sensitive to their presence. Today I am what I am because of the lessons I learned or failed to learn. I am probably richer because of both, not necessarily better, just richer.

Through all that time my greatest teacher has been my Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes he spoke to me through his written word, the Bible. Often he spoke through those Christian saints who have already lived out their years in this mortal life. At times he has led me to see his lessons in the natural world when I was sensitive enough to let those experiences be interpreted through the nature of God.

In the future this blog will take a different form. For any who would take the time to read it, you will see the lessons I have learned and am learning under the tutelage of the Master Teacher. May God bless us both.