Are you believable?

Believability is a powerful instrument. Ask any political candidate running for office. Most of us take with a grain the wild promises most candidates make. They'll say anything to get elected it seems. But when it comes to representing Christ in our fallen world, believability is critical to our witness. I would like to suggest four factors that determine our believability. History is one of them. How many skeletons are in our closets? Is our salvation experience a sufficient contrast to our past offenses? Does the life-style we practice demonstrate a real life change in our thinking, attitudes, and actions? Are we known as people who admit it when we are wrong & take steps to make restitution and confession to those we have wronged? Another factor is that of Veracity. Do we consistently tell the truth? Is what we say reliable? Do others believe we are keeping our marriage vows [including your spouse]? Can we be trusted to speak and live out truth? I think still another factor that sustains believability is Duty. Do we follow through on our commitments? If we commit ourselves to a task do we finish it? Are we known as honorable workers? Lastly, and this one may surprise you, is Charity. Are the words we use about loving others backed up by actual practices? Will people see what we do as consistent with what we say about loving others? Do we serve others or ourselves? Remember what Jesus said: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven" [Matthew 5:16]. That sounds like believability to me. Jesus also said when people outside the family of God observe how we love one another, they will know we are his followers [John 13:34-35]. That too sounds like believability. So...are we believable? Think about it!

Is there a cover-up?

Shoveling snow in March...and not just a little. Services cancelled...and instead of preaching, I am shoveling. When taking a breather, I thought of all that the white snow had covered up. There were the dormant bushes waiting to pop out green again when spring finally comes. Then there is my less than perfect grass hiding under the blanket of white [with all the dormant weeds waiting to attack us again]. Snow is deceptive...because it gives the impression all is serene with the landscape...but underneath is the bare ugliness of winter's work. Sometimes that is like our hearts. Outside we throw a drape across the landscape of our lives, and pretend all is serene. But the Creator God looks at our hearts and sees the winter ugliness that sin has etched there. After all the Bible says: Man looks on the outward appearance, but GOD looks on the heart [I Sam. 16:7]. Yet there is a cure. Remember what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 1 of his writing? He quotes God as saying to sinful people like Israel: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." God can make the inside clean, so there need be no more pretense on the outside. It is when a person repents of sin & surrenders to Christ that real heart cleansing occurs. Snow is pretty white...especially when the sun [son] shines on it. Think about it

Why has the reality of hell & heaven dropped off the radar screen?

Most people would rather not talk about hell...and for good reason. Who wants to think of a literal place of eternal suffering for those who do not surrender to Christ? Many do not want to think about heaven either. They have it too good here. They just bought that new car or have dreams of that new house.
The thought of heaven and hell seems too disruptive to our lives. Thinking about either one tends to make us uncomfortable and we are all about comfort, right?
Aren't there many things that are true realities that we do not like to think of? I have a few...April 15th [income tax day] March [my 6 month dental check -up], the necessity of fixing the leaky toilet [& many of you know how much I LOVE plumbing], paying utility bills [it is so much more fun to buy a piece of furniture or a new book], the annual physical [I keep thinking of reasons to postpone the appointment]. Those are all realities. More stark realities include having to make funeral arrangements and making out wills...things we would rather not think of...but nevertheless just as real. God also speaks of realities such as heaven and hell. But we are reluctant to think of these. Some do not believe these places even exist. They take comfort in the fact that if..."I don't believe it, it does not exist." Others refuse to think or believe in these realities because if they are real...then life-changes will be required. They do not know if there is an after life and they are hoping if there is, they will go to the "up" place not the "down" place. There is even a reluctance to use the words "heaven" or "hell." But perhaps the real reasons we are not hearing much about heaven or hell these days may lie in the following:
[1] We are not ready to die ourselves, therefore we will not think about it and hope all will work out well in the end. [2] We have not been faithful in telling others of Christ and so we do not want to think of anyone we know ending up in hell. [3] We do not want to offend people's sensitivities. It makes us sound barbaric, uneducated, not loving. [4] We are too wrapped up in the here & now to think about the glory and joy of heaven or the tragedy and eternal suffering of hell. [5] To us it may seem to negate the "God is love" message, and we don't want to give a picture of God as a judge.
YET...the Bible speaks of both places as very real. Read Luke 16 & Rev. 21-22 and you will see how incredibly real heaven and hell are. Not symbolic icons, but real locations. And the Bible speaks of God as holy as well as love. According to the Bible man is sinful and God means business. That is the reason for the cross. Have you thought lately... about the reality of both places? ...about the reason for the cross? I think we need to speak more of these realities! Think it through!

Who celebrates Christmas?

Strange question isn't it? You might answer Americans. Or you might say just about everybody. Now let's think about it. People celebrate birthdays by honoring the one whose birthday is remembered. There are Christmas trees erected, lights put up outside and inside of homes, even schools and businesses "decorate" for what many are now calling the holidays. But who celebrates Christmas?
I guess we have to ask ourselves what are we celebrating? If Christmas is to mark the birthday of Christ, then those who remember Him, and praise Him, and really know Him, are the celebrants. The Bible says "To you is born...in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord [Luke 2:11]. If Christmas is to mark a time for family and friends to get together to eat, exchange gifts, get drunk, have family reunions....what are they celebrating? Good times, family togetherness, self-indulgent satisfaction, etc may be the real celebration occurring. Perhaps instead of saying "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays...those who really celebrate Christmas should say "Happy Birthday to Jesus." It seems that those who really celebrate Christmas are those who make Christ the heart of the whole month and do their best to showcase what He means to them. They celebrate Him best who think of Him most. What a time to talk of Christ to those who so desperately need Him. Think about it!

Who will touch our "bones?"

LAST WEEK...I listened with humility and gratitude to the many testimonies shared at my father-in-law's home going service. He made a wide impact. His influence will be felt for years to come. LAST WEEK... I was also reading in my devotions about a very bizarre situation in which another man of God's influence was felt very dramatically after his home going too. This incident is recorded in II Kings 13: 20-21: "So Elisha died, and they buried him." Nothing very unusual about that, is there? But read on..."Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet." What a scene! Some Jewish people are having a funeral service for one of their friends, and a bunch of thugs from Moab show up...these Jewish mourners drop the body of their friend and high-tail it out of there. When they dropped their friend, his body rolled somehow onto the grave of Elisha...and their dead friend came alive! I kid you not...that's what happened. Now can you imagine that group of friends coming back to finish the service, only to bump into their alive friend. I bet that story made the rounds for years to come.
But what really gripped me was the power of the man of God's life after he was dead and gone. Will your life and mine have that kind of galvanizing effect when people come into contact with us via memories of our lives, our words, our works? Are we living now so we can pass on a dynamic legacy for others to gain from? Think about it!

Getting near God???

It is easy to think of getting close to God like somehow getting close to a high tension wire...I get too close I might get electrocuted or worse! Getting near God can seem mystical or even a bit presumptious. Maybe it is just easier to let things be and keep my comfortable distance from God...not too far [that is scary too] and not too close. Yet is that a good solution?

Listen to what Asaph said in Ps. 73:28 "...it is good to be near God!" And James commands us to "draw near to God and He will draw near to you." [James 4:8] Hebrews 7:19 tells us the hope we have through Christ's death, resurrection, and present intercession for us enables us to draw near to God. ["(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God."]

Perhaps the problem of getting close to God has to do with our "hunger pangs." It is amazing how close to the refrigerator or cupboard, or the fast food joint we get when we feel the rumbling in our bellies. And we are not just content to get close. I do not rub the walls of MacDonalds or caress my refrigerator. We must get connected with what is there by taking it in, and enjoying the effect of being fed & filled. Then we are able to go back to life's challenges refreshed and strengthened. Asaph had learned that God was his portion [Ps. 73:26]. Getting close to God has to do with recognizing what is "eating away at me." That is hunger pangs. No matter what may be "eating me up" or "causing my emptiness," getting close to God is the only solution. And then feeding on Him through His word and having our lives relieved through conversation with him in prayer.

Remember that God will not allow any human being to get close to Him apart from knowing and submitting to Christ. John 14:6 is very specific: "...no man comes to the Father except through me." But when you know Christ, you must recognize the hunger pangs...the symptoms of your "starvation" and draw near to God.

Getting any closer to God??? Starving and don't know it??? Think about it!

What can you do with a stump?

There it sat. Just a stump. The tree is gone. The stump is barren, ugly, a reminder of better times when the healthy tree grew there. But it is gone and the stump remains. That is what Isaiah saw when he looked at Israel in exile under the discipline of God's hand. He cried out to God "Lord, how long?"[Isaiah 6:11] In other words, Isaiah wanted to know how long God would allow Israel to languish in a foreign land away from home. Israel was there because she deserved to be. She had rebelled royally against her God. And she was paying for it. We have all been there. God's answer to Isaiah's question is specific: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, the LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaaken places are many in the middle of the land [Isaiah 6:11b-12]. Kind of depressing, isn't it. But read on...God is not finished speaking: "BUT yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down, SO THE HOLY SEED SHALL BE ITS STUMP." [Isaiah 6:13]. That stump is going to grow back...called the holy seed. This has to be a reference to their Messiah who is coming. It is in Christ hope is restored for the ugly, barren stump. Only Christ can take what once was and restore it to what can be. This chapter in Isaiah began with a vision of Christ in the temple, totally in control when Israel's national life was in total chaos. And the chapter ends with Christ not only in control, but rescuing those caught up in the chaos of their own making. That is what Christ does. He forgives sin! He restores "trees." Think about it!