by Donald | Dec 7, 2012 | Blog
“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32).
Sometimes, we make mistakes and opportunity slips through our fingers. One autumn morning, with a cloudy sky and a chill in the air, a disheveled man approached me. Presented with an opportunity to display Christ’s love to a beggar, I turned away.
A test had come my way, and I was found wanting. The event stayed with me the entire day, and I spoke about it with my colleagues as I wrestled with my failure to offer even “a cup of cold water” (Matthew 10:42) to one of Christ’s little ones.
Sadly, my memory is littered with other times where I was found wanting as a Christian. Perhaps you have similar memories, times where you “grieved the Holy Spirit.”—times when the Christian you long to be remained quiet and subdued by your lesser self. After all, the Bible truthfully tells us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The errors we make, if not dealt with in a godly fashion, will debilitate us, causing us to stay off our purpose (to be Christ’s hands and feet in this world) and to linger outside of God’s forgiveness.
Learning to become a Christian is a lot like learning how to ride a bicycle in this regard: when we fall down we can choose to get up and ride again, or we can put the bike in the garage. The following five steps help me find the courage to get on the “Christian” bike again and continue to be of service to God after I have fallen short of Christ’s example.
- Repentance. Repentance is the act of desiring to change behaviors because we are convinced our prior behavior or thought was sinful, and to make and act upon a conscious decision to turn away from the former behavior towards what God wants. I knew my decision to ignore the beggar was wrong and I longed for the opportunity to make it right.
- Return. It is God alone who restores us. Yet too often we stand in our own sin, trying to work out for ourselves the steps we can take to do better next time. To this I remind you of the prodigal son who made the decision to return to his father. Alone in the pigpen he found repentance, but hope and a future were found in returning home.
- Resume. We must resume our walk with Christ and leave to Christ our past. Isn’t that the essence of our salvation? We are saved once, but we fall down many times. Until we become perfect in His presence, we will need to put our past behind us and resume our heeding of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- Regain. When we resume our Christian walk we regain our confidence and our power. If we are nothing apart from Christ, we are everything with Him. The Bible says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Resuming our devotion to Christ positions us to regain our momentum.
- Restoration. “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God restores all things. He restored Peter to service on a beach 2,000 years ago (John 21:17), and He will restore you to service, too. We are not what we should be, but God loves us anyway.
There are so many blessings that God bestows on His people, but I am very glad He is willing to restore us to service and fellowship. Confidence and peace are ours when we walk with God. The next time you stumble, follow the five “R’s” and let Christ restore you to fellowship and service.
Oh, and by the way, I found the beggar the next day and gave him something to eat. I offered him peace and a place at a table for that is what Christ offered me.
Blessings and peace to you In Christ Jesus.
by Donald | Nov 30, 2012 | Blog
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 ESV).
All athletes want to play, but not all athletes are starters. Athletes rated lower on the roster than “starters” practice, train, and wait for their opportunity. The phrase “next man up” refers to that opportunity. Such was the case for Tom Brady in September 2001 when an injury to the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe thrust Brady onto center stage. Drafted 199th in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, Brady’s resume did not suggest stardom, but he responded with excellence when it was his turn to be “next man up.”
Of course, not all “next man up” opportunities end in success; sometimes the separation in talent and training between one player and another is too great to overcome. During the first game of the 2008 season, Brady was the starting quarterback who suffered a season-ending knee injury. Backup quarterback Matt Cassal gamely led the Patriots to an 11-5 record, but they did not make the play-offs.
The call of Joshua was quick and to the point; the time for further preparation had passed. God simply said, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” (Joshua 1:2 ESV). Joshua had become God’s “next man up.”
In life as in athletics, it is disconcerting taking center stage despite training and preparation. Confidence is an important character trait, but outcomes from human efforts are never certain. Joshua had doubts about the outcome—he must have, because four times God offered Joshua assurance to be “strong and courageous.”
We kid ourselves when we believe we are in control of much, if anything, that goes on around us. Maybe that was what caused Joshua to doubt the outcome of his assignment. Many years after Joshua’s call, the writer of Ecclesiastes would wisely note, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11 ESV).
Now you might say that if God actually spoke out loud to you, you would have the faith you need and would not hesitate to go where He commands and do what He says to do. But even the original Disciples struggled with faith the size of a mustard seed. And hasn’t God actually spoken to you, and me, through His Scriptures? When you get right down to it, God cares about what we are doing every single second of every single day. God has a plan for us; He has spoken it aloud to us if we would only listen. And listening, if we would only do—being strong and very courageous—then God would ensure the outcome is to our good.
Friends, God says to us as He said to Joshua, “Have I not commanded you?” Embodied in God’s command are His character, His worthiness, His goodness, His power, His purpose, His Sovereignty, and His faithfulness. When we hesitate, it says a lot about our faith.
Today, remind yourself that God is whispering in your ear, “Have I not commanded you?” Step forth boldly to live the life God has called you to live, trusting the outcome not to your own ability, but rather, on His promises. God alone assures success.
by Donald | Nov 30, 2012 | Blog
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11NKJV).
In 1965, an exasperated and overwhelmed Charlie Brown asked a question that has been asked for over two thousand years: “What is the meaning of Christmas?” Charles Shultz, the creator of the syndicated cartoon Peanuts, had Linus give the reply, and a national television audience equal to 50% of all television sets in America heard clearly what all the fuss and celebration is about.
In an interesting twist of unintended consequences, sales of aluminum Christmas trees in the United States fell off significantly in the two years after the show first appeared. Putting two and two together, it seems that a collective conscious of America may have been pricked by the Charlie Brown show.
My parents had an aluminum Christmas tree in the 60’s, and my memories of the tree are not dimmed by the Charlie Brown Christmas phenomenon. I absolutely loved lying underneath the silvered frond-like branches, surrounded by wrapped presents, and watching the tree change colors as the three-color light underneath the tree quietly whirred around and around.
In child-like wonder, I remember thinking about the presents under the tree and those still to arrive on Christmas Eve, but there was much more going on in my mind. There was mystery in Christmas, and there always has been. Even Mary did not fully comprehend everything going on around her. Luke records, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19 ESV).
In 1897, an editorial appeared in The (New York) Sun, a New York City newspaper at the time, concerning whether or not Santa Claus existed. The now famous editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church resoundingly answered, “Yes, there is a Santa Claus!” The language of Mr. Church’s editorial is remarkable to read in light of the debate here in our century over the political correctness of keeping Christ in Christmas at all! Santa Claus, it seems, is no longer the question.
Listen to what Mr. Church had to say about Santa:
“Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except that they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s are little.”
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.”
Over 100 years later, the words of Mr. Church should be read with Jesus in mind instead of Santa Claus (“Yes, Virginia, there is a Jesus!”) and remind us, just as Linus in 1965, that Christmas without Christ is nothing at all. The awesome display of God entering the world in human flesh deserves celebration.
Christmas tells us that Jesus once was a baby, just as we were. He grew under the care of his earthly parents into a boy, then an adolescent and finally, a man. He ate and drank, and he celebrated the joyful events of life. Even though he was in the very nature God, he did not escape the hurts and trials of life. Rather, he was tempted just as we are and he was betrayed by his friends.
In spite of this, he endured and persevered, trusting the Father with his whole heart. He wept at death in the world, and met his own death with resolute courage. In the end, he was physically beaten and abused. He bled and he died.
Through all of the times of his life, Jesus Christ loved the Father, and He loved you and me. His death and resurrection are gifts to last a lifetime—eternity really. Because He lives, I will live, too. Hallelujah! Merry Christmas!
Note: Research on Charlie Brown and “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” came from Wikipedia.
