Thursday, October 27, 2005
FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED
As a Christian, you will face temptation, adversity, and problems just like everyone else does. When (not if) these things hit you, you should neither be surprised nor discouraged.
I’m looking at I Thessalonians 3:1 – 4: 12. There Paul said, “You know quite well that we were destined for (trials). In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted.” (I Thess. 3b,4) He went on to not only confirm that his prediction was true, but to warn them about other matters they should be aware of.
Our world today is not much different from the Roman colonial city of Thessalonica. Somewhere right now Christians are being persecuted for their faith. Every one of us is tempted to let our passions control our actions or to fit in with the culture instead of being holy, distinctly separated from the basest parts of society.
Persecution can come to us. I recently read about three Christian women who were sentenced to three years in jail just because they allowed some Muslim children to come to their Sunday School. See this article to read more about it: WorldNetDaily: Sunday School teachers get 3 years prison. Too far away for us to be concerned about it? “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” What happens to our brothers and sisters in Christ is our concern regardless of where it is.
And, like those in Thessalonica and every generation, in our sexually charged society we are tempted to misuse God’s gift of sexuality in prohibited ways. Paul warned that “It is God’s will that you should…avoid sexual immorality” and that “The Lord will punish men for all such sins.”
We are not only tempted to sin ourselves. We are also tempted to allow immorality to become acceptable because of political correctness or what Cardinal Ratzinger called the “dictatorship of relativism” in his sermon just before he was elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
Pornography pushes its way into everyday life as “free speech”. It’s hard to avoid it when you go online. It can become addicting.
This week I saw the movie “Human Trafficking” on the Lifetime channel. One of the characters, the physician of the man whose business was enslaving young girls for the sex trade, went from watching child porn online to taking a trip to southeast Asia for sex with a child himself.
This was not just a movie. It reflects the reality of human trafficking for sexual slavery that goes on every day. Some want to normalize prostitution as a woman’s “right”. Others recognize it as “a job no woman would choose” and see the link between prostitution and sexual slavery.
We can’t assume we will always do what is right whatever comes just because we are Christians. If we are prepared, we are more likely to stand firm. And if we know that God has provided the help we need and a way out of the temptations, we have a better chance of overcoming them. I Corinthians 10:12,13 says it distinctly:
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Forewarned is indeed forearmed!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
A Mentor To Emulate
I stopped by to see some friends and deliver some tickets to a play. I could have mailed them, but they only live a mile away, and I wanted the face to face contact. Although I hadn’t planned to stay, when the husband opened the door and invited me in, I welcomed the chance to visit.
It was just the two of us (the rest of the family was out for a while), and we were able to get to a real conversation pretty quickly. That’s how it is with friends. You trust each other, and there’s not much pretense.
I asked about his work. He shared what about his work gave him pleasure, and what was frustrating. I could relate to what he said because I knew his heart and knew why he was doing the work he has now—he has a passion to work with churches and pastors and help them start other churches. Though never a pastor himself, he is the model of pastoral concern that I admire.
The major characteristic that makes my friend a mentor is that he is real. He is himself one-on-one or when speaking to a large group. He cares, and you can feel that he does.
In the first chapter of First Thessalonians Paul said, “You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord…And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
I’ve had many teachers and pastors. I’ve had a few mentors. Those were the people whose lives I watched, whose concern I felt, and those whom I naturally began to emulate. Hopefully, others could see in me a model just as I had seen in my friend and a few others.
As the conversation continued he asked about my business. He knew that some health problems had affected it previously. I replied honestly (I couldn’t do otherwise with this friend) that it had gone pretty well earlier, but was slow at this time.
As I was getting ready to leave, my friend did something that reminds me of this passage I recently studied in Philippians (4:9), “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” He was just being true to himself. But he was also a model for the kind of friend I want to be.
What he did was say, “Before you go, I’d like to pray for your business.”
What a gift! What a model to follow! What a friend!
It was just the two of us (the rest of the family was out for a while), and we were able to get to a real conversation pretty quickly. That’s how it is with friends. You trust each other, and there’s not much pretense.
I asked about his work. He shared what about his work gave him pleasure, and what was frustrating. I could relate to what he said because I knew his heart and knew why he was doing the work he has now—he has a passion to work with churches and pastors and help them start other churches. Though never a pastor himself, he is the model of pastoral concern that I admire.
The major characteristic that makes my friend a mentor is that he is real. He is himself one-on-one or when speaking to a large group. He cares, and you can feel that he does.
In the first chapter of First Thessalonians Paul said, “You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord…And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
I’ve had many teachers and pastors. I’ve had a few mentors. Those were the people whose lives I watched, whose concern I felt, and those whom I naturally began to emulate. Hopefully, others could see in me a model just as I had seen in my friend and a few others.
As the conversation continued he asked about my business. He knew that some health problems had affected it previously. I replied honestly (I couldn’t do otherwise with this friend) that it had gone pretty well earlier, but was slow at this time.
As I was getting ready to leave, my friend did something that reminds me of this passage I recently studied in Philippians (4:9), “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” He was just being true to himself. But he was also a model for the kind of friend I want to be.
What he did was say, “Before you go, I’d like to pray for your business.”
What a gift! What a model to follow! What a friend!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Antidote For Worry
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I didn’t fully understand what it meant to live by faith until I started earning my living by commission sales. From 1966 when I graduated from Colorado University until 1985 I was wholly involved in Christian ministry as a seminary student, pastor, and Campus Minister. Although my salary was small, it was still a regular salary. I knew how much income to expect.
My salaried life stopped in 1985 (yes ministerial positions can be “downsized” too). The Lord led me into real estate for my financial support, like Paul had his tent-making business. Since then, I have rarely known two months in advance what my income would be. At times there have been several months with no income at all. Other times the month’s income would not be sufficient to meet bills. And sometimes I would bring in twice my monthly budget in one month. In short, I had to start living by faith—for real!
I had to trust that if I planted the seeds and did the work, God would bless my work with success. Living by faith in real estate can mean trusting God instead of worrying when after working with a client for months (and even years) the property doesn’t sell or the buyer goes off and buys a home with another broker. It also means that most of the time I can expect the seeds I planted will produce the needed harvest.
However, like Habakkuk I have to say that living by faith means,
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." (Hab. 3:17,18 NIV)
Living by faith involves more than income, of course. When illness, job uncertainty or loss, marriage difficulty, trouble with children, threat of terrorism or a myriad of other problems threaten us, our “fight or flight” mechanism kicks in and it is natural to become anxious. Worry can quickly replace peace of mind.
Many years ago I memorized Phil. 4:6,7 in the King James Version. It starts out “Be careful for nothing…”. That sounded strange for a while, until I realized it meant “don’t be full of care”, or “don’t worry”. The NIV’s “Do not be anxious…” hits home more today, with so many anxiety-producing events in life.
We commonly use another word, stress, to describe what we are experiencing: “I’m under a lot of stress.” When someone says that, you can almost feel the burden that is weighing them down—what it is that they are “under”.
This passage in Philippians gives us the antidote for worry, the stress-buster that works. After having it memorized for years, an exercise of meditating on these verses this week made two words stand out. It is not just prayer and petition; it is not just presenting my requests to God that brings peace of mind. It is when I pray with thanksgiving that the peace of God guards my heart and mind (my emotions and my thoughts).
Try this when you start to worry about something this week. Instead of just asking God for help with your problems, list out loud to God those things in your life for which you are thankful. Once you start, it will be hard to stop. [If you have trouble starting, imagine that your home was one of those flooded out in New Orleans or blown away in Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina.] Now, present your requests to God with confidence that He who has provided for your needs in the past will continue to do so in the future.
About this time in your exercise of faith, your shoulders should be dropping back to their normal position, your muscles should be feeling less tense, and you should be able to breathe more easily. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will be guarding your heart and your mind. Thanks be to God.
I didn’t fully understand what it meant to live by faith until I started earning my living by commission sales. From 1966 when I graduated from Colorado University until 1985 I was wholly involved in Christian ministry as a seminary student, pastor, and Campus Minister. Although my salary was small, it was still a regular salary. I knew how much income to expect.
My salaried life stopped in 1985 (yes ministerial positions can be “downsized” too). The Lord led me into real estate for my financial support, like Paul had his tent-making business. Since then, I have rarely known two months in advance what my income would be. At times there have been several months with no income at all. Other times the month’s income would not be sufficient to meet bills. And sometimes I would bring in twice my monthly budget in one month. In short, I had to start living by faith—for real!
I had to trust that if I planted the seeds and did the work, God would bless my work with success. Living by faith in real estate can mean trusting God instead of worrying when after working with a client for months (and even years) the property doesn’t sell or the buyer goes off and buys a home with another broker. It also means that most of the time I can expect the seeds I planted will produce the needed harvest.
However, like Habakkuk I have to say that living by faith means,
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." (Hab. 3:17,18 NIV)
Living by faith involves more than income, of course. When illness, job uncertainty or loss, marriage difficulty, trouble with children, threat of terrorism or a myriad of other problems threaten us, our “fight or flight” mechanism kicks in and it is natural to become anxious. Worry can quickly replace peace of mind.
Many years ago I memorized Phil. 4:6,7 in the King James Version. It starts out “Be careful for nothing…”. That sounded strange for a while, until I realized it meant “don’t be full of care”, or “don’t worry”. The NIV’s “Do not be anxious…” hits home more today, with so many anxiety-producing events in life.
We commonly use another word, stress, to describe what we are experiencing: “I’m under a lot of stress.” When someone says that, you can almost feel the burden that is weighing them down—what it is that they are “under”.
This passage in Philippians gives us the antidote for worry, the stress-buster that works. After having it memorized for years, an exercise of meditating on these verses this week made two words stand out. It is not just prayer and petition; it is not just presenting my requests to God that brings peace of mind. It is when I pray with thanksgiving that the peace of God guards my heart and mind (my emotions and my thoughts).
Try this when you start to worry about something this week. Instead of just asking God for help with your problems, list out loud to God those things in your life for which you are thankful. Once you start, it will be hard to stop. [If you have trouble starting, imagine that your home was one of those flooded out in New Orleans or blown away in Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina.] Now, present your requests to God with confidence that He who has provided for your needs in the past will continue to do so in the future.
About this time in your exercise of faith, your shoulders should be dropping back to their normal position, your muscles should be feeling less tense, and you should be able to breathe more easily. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will be guarding your heart and your mind. Thanks be to God.
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