Peace

 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You,”  —Isaiah 26:3

‘Tis the season to be jolly…or at least so goes the Christmas tune. After we have barely paused to give thanks, we plunge headlong into making lists of gifts we need. Maybe we don’t really need them, like two front teeth, but things we want for Christmas.

As we enter this season of wonder, joy, and faith, why do so many people feel frustrated and defeated? In part, it may be due to roadblocks that our culture has placed in the way to true peace and contentment. One of those barriers is worldliness. For me, worldliness is not so much about riches and affluence as it is about the cares and pressures of this life.

I have never shopped on Black Friday. I usually hide in family rituals like shooting-in the deer rifles or playing (usually watching now days) a game of football. My wife tells me that Black Friday actually begins on Thursday this year, and there is a new shopping day called Black Monday or Cyber Monday, the biggest internet shopping day of the year. I can barely tolerate shopping on Thanksgiving Day, but moving an online shopping day to the first day of buck season is going too far.

I am amazed by the juxtaposition of Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday for they represent opposing concepts. Thanksgiving represents gratitude, peace and contentment, while Black Friday summons us to get all we can. A day to give thanks is replaced by the urge to aggressively shop and spend. Contentment is replaced by desire and peace by worldliness.

In the Parable of the Sower, worldliness might be seen as the seed sown among the thorns. Persons hear the word of the Kingdom, “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things seem to describe an American preparation for Christmas. Sounds very much like Black Friday.

Don’t get me wrong. The world economy needs a successful Black Friday. I hope sales go through the roof. Many of us need some good economic news, but more than that, we need the Good News. We need the perfect peace that only a relationship with Jesus Christ, the God of Christmas past, present, and future, can bring.

Neither a successful shopping day nor a booming economy can bring peace. Only Jesus Christ can satisfy the hungry soul. Isaiah 26:3 offers us words of hope, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.” We cannot find peace in gadgets or gifts, but only in the Savior who made Christmas possible. Jesus taught that if we seek first the kingdom of God, we will find all the other things we need. Psalm 37 teaches us to “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (4).

The world around us may be a beautiful place, at times, but without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the world can only offer stress, pressure, and dissatisfaction. Jesus offers Himself and peace that passes all understanding. Where will you look for peace and joy this Christmas? The mall or God?

Focused Faith

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”  —Hebrews 12:2

Although I drive nearly 99% of the time, my wife never sleeps while I drive. She says that someone has to watch the road. Guilty as charged. I often look for wild game, natural beauty, and interesting people while I drive. My car must have some kind of telepathic steering feature because it turns whatever direction I look.

At a recent Unity Meal, Pastor Gary Tustin related a news story about a young teen that died in a car accident. Emergency personnel found a cell phone with a partial text message on it. Her cell phone and the text message became a “fatal distraction” to her. We must all beware of fatal distractions in ministry and in life. Gratefully, our Commonwealth has passed a law against texting while driving before I really caught on to that level of multi-tasking.

“How the mighty have fallen!” is the chorus that David sang as he mourned the death of King Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:19). In recent history, we have watched many mighty ones: presidents, candidates, coaches, teachers, pastors, priests, bishops, husbands, and wives fall due to fatal distractions. How amazing and shocking. How frail and vulnerable we are. One minute, someone is celebrating their rise to the top, enjoying unbridled success, and the next moment, they crash and burn.

One way to avoid fatal distractions is by focusing our eyes and attention on the right thing. This past week, I heard a new definition of worship given by Dr. J. D. Walt of Asbury Seminary. Worship is “the Spirit empowered capacity to pay sustained attention to God.” Hebrews 12 exhorts us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” If are eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ, worldly distractions will be less attractive.

The technology age with all its benefits has definitely brought one dangerous by-product. Smart phones and ipads with tweets, texting, and updates have caused us to give continuous partial attention to everything. We give partial attention to the warm-blooded person right in front of us so we can check our most recent text, tweet, or facebook update. Continuous partial attention cuts against a Christian’s faith and a worshipping life.

The world with all its cares and allurements seeks to obscure our view of a Christ-centered life. In the Parable of the Sower, “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature” (Luke 8:14). Remember Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha? “Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he [Jesus] said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” (Luke 10:39-40). Mary was focused while Martha was distracted.

What kind of faith do you have? Do you have a focused faith that pays sustained attention to the Lord? Or do you have a faith that is distracted by the cares and worries of this life? Life is full of possible fatal distractions, but Jesus is the only way to life in all its fullness. In the face of all the crises and demands of this life, Jesus invites us to come to Him and find rest and peace.

Re-Member

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”  — 1 Thessalonians 4:13

At a recent informational meeting for our new medical insurance plan, a pastor who serves on the Board of Pensions opened with a devotional on change. Everything changes. As the inspiring devotional continued (Really, it was inspirational—no sarcasm intended.) I began to daydream on how staying the same is much like being in a rut.

The idea of a rut made me remember a time, some thirty years ago, when I was hunting with my father-in-law on the farm. Pa, my affectionate name for him, was standing in the bed and leaning against the cab of my GMC 4-wheel drive pickup. We slowly churned along the muddy field road with all tires spinning. I didn’t even bother steering the truck for it churned straight ahead in the rutted path.

The spinning and the mud must have slowly turned the steering wheel, because all of a sudden, the truck jumped out of the rut and leapt forward and to the left, directly into a tree. The tree was large enough that it didn’t fall, and my solid steel pipe bumper didn’t budge. We stopped instantly. Pa was thrown forward a few inches against the truck cab. Nothing was broken: tree, truck, or Pa’s chest, but my ego was sorely bruised as were Pa’s ribs.

On his birthday last year, November 2, my father-in-law had a stroke. He survived in a reduced quality of life for nearly five months. In addition to being updated on our new insurance plan, the information meeting gave me the opportunity to remember Pa, his birthday, and some of the good times we shared together.

At this time of year, many people pause to remember loved ones who have passed on to the next life. Halloween actually got its name from the phrase, All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day. Although many churches do not acknowledge All Saints Day, it does us good to take time and “re-member” our departed loved ones.

I once heard a minister teach that when we gather as the Church to receive Holy Communion we are “re-membering” as a Church. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24). We do not simply remember Jesus death, but we “re-member” ourselves to Christ and “re-member” ourselves with others of our church family. In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we recommit ourselves to the Lord and become a member again, re-member ourselves to the family of God.

As I reflected upon Pa’s absence from our lives, his memories became a present reality in my life once again. As we sing songs and hymns of praise this Sunday, we will be joining with him and all the heavenly hosts in worship. We grieve as Christians, but “not as those who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13). When we worship, we “re-member” ourselves with our departed loved ones and all the saints and angelic hosts in united praise of God.

Re-membering also looks ahead. When we worship and celebrate the sacraments, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). As we worship this Sunday and possibly remember those who have gone on before, let us re-member ourselves to the hope set before us. Someday, maybe soon, we will see the Lord and the glories of heaven firsthand.

Jesus is Coming

“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” —Acts 1:11

Many of you have heard some version of the Chicken Little story. A small chick becomes fearfully obsessed that the sky is falling after an acorn falls on its head. Chicken Little sets out to tell the King that the world is about to end and gathers animal friends to join the journey. The story ends as a fox invites them to his home and eats them all. There are other versions with happier endings, but the moral of the story remains the same. Don’t be a chicken about everything or don’t believe everything you are told.

I lived my own version of Chicken Little, and it completely changed my life. In my faith journey at around age 17, I was seeking to find what it truly meant to live the Christian life. Previously, I thought believing God existed and trying to live a good life and going to church qualified as being a Christian. My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, described a Christian as someone who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who had asked Jesus to come into their life and forgive their sins. To her (and Biblically I came to discover), a Christian lives everyday with God in their heart and life.

My Chicken Little story continued as I attended a service at her church where a preacher from Asbury College was sharing about the 1972 revival that had occurred at the college. He also talked about the Second Coming of Jesus. Having never heard about a “Second Coming,” I became very excited. As I left the church that night, I greeted the preacher, “My church doesn’t know that Jesus is coming back, but I’m going to tell them.” So, similar to Chicken Little, I headed off to tell the priest. After church the next Sunday, I went to my priest and tried to warn him about the second coming of Jesus. His response, although caring, honest, and probably truthful, did not meet my expectations. I never went back.

I went off to college that Fall knowing that Jesus loved me and wanted to have a personal relationship with me. I now knew that believing there was a God up there somewhere was not enough. I needed to walk and talk with Him everyday, but I was going off to college. I didn’t think this was a good time to make a religious commitment. So I postponed any decision on my part and ran from God my first three months at school. Running from God is never a peaceful journey (Ask Jonah). So after I returned to college the Sunday night following Thanksgiving break, I knelt at my dorm bed and asked for God’s forgiveness and prayed, “Lord, I’m done running. Come into my heart.” My life has never been the same since that day.

As I think about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I definitely don’t want to be a Chicken Little. I don’t want to be the guy who carries the sign, “The end is near.” But, as Christians, we believe that Jesus arose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return to judge the living and the dead. Jesus is coming back. There is a judgment day in everyone’s life when we will face God.

A challenge for Christians today is to be truthful without being judgmental. How would you or I respond to a young Chicken Little today? Would we share his/her enthusiasm about Jesus’ return? We must share the love of God and warn people of the coming judgment of God at the same time. Holiness and grace, love and justice go hand in hand. Jesus loves you. Invite Him into your life today as Savior and King. He is returning someday, maybe soon, as King and Judge.

Rest or Exercise

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”   —Ecclesiastes 3:1

After a busy and exhausting summer, I am trying to find space and quiet to refuel my spiritual, emotional, and physical tank for the fall and Christmas push. Oh yes, I said Christmas. Look around, the last rain and windstorm nearly emptied the trees. The landscape has put on its winter garb. I decided to re-energize myself by taking a short walk down to the church and back prior to a mini-vacation. On the downhill part of the trip, with my legs whining about having to hold back the whole way down, I questioned my plan. Maybe I should have driven down after taking a short nap. Nap or walk? Which is better?

The miracle feeding of the 5,000 came at a time when Jesus and His disciples were greatly in need of rest but the crowd had an even greater need for care, teaching, and food. After the disciples returned from their first ministry tour, Jesus encouraged them to relax and recharge, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Upon arriving at their retreat area, they were overwhelmed by the crowd who had run ahead of them. The rest for the disciples turned into exhausting ministry. “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6:34). The need of the crowd outweighed the need of the disciples.

If you are tired, what should you do—nap or exercise? It depends upon your circumstances. Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything. If you are exhausted from lack of sleep and over exertion, you may need to nap. If you are tired from stress and being out of shape, you probably need to take a walk, get your heart pumping, and breathe some oxygen into your system. What comes naturally to us is usually the wrong response. If we feel depressed and lonely, the natural reaction is to stay home and mope around. The greater need is for us to get out, experience life, and be a friend to someone else. What I have experienced in my personal life, I have also seen in church life.

The kingdom of God is not simply doing more things. Being busy for busyness sake is not ministry. There are times when churches and Christians need to slow down, step away, and rest. But for churches in decline with limited finances, the natural reaction is to cut back and limit ministries. The greater need is to spend yourself in outreach, ministry, and advertizing.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 teaches us that life has rhythm. There is a time to work harder and there is a time to rest. In ministry, my rhythm gets confused when I begin skipping days off. A funeral, a special conference meeting, or an emergency falls on my day off, and I throw myself into ministry with no problem. Later, I might lazy away an afternoon thinking I earned it. Then, maybe, I’d waste a morning on another day. Before long, I would forget if I was taking a workday off or working on my day off.

Learn well the rhythm of life. Work hard and then rest. Walk then nap. Pray and do. Reach out and rest up. Where are you today? What is your natural inclination? You probably need to push yourself to rest or exercise depending on your own personality and situation. Jesus is Lord over all of life. He invites the weary to come to Him for rest. But He also sends the waiting into a hurting world in need of God’s Grace.