Working God's Stuff In:

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT

We are talking about God's will in our Sunday Morning Services at Covington Bible Church.   Lord, what is it that You want me to do? That sounds like a good question--something that everyone ought to ask--but I fear some of us ask the question with less than sterling motives.  OK, I'll be honest.  I sometimes ask that question, like a teenager who has been told that he has to clean his room before he can go hang out with his friends.  "What do you want me to do?"  Really means, "What is the least I can get by with?" I want God to give me a list of six things to do today.  That way I can work my six "God-things" in with all the "My-things," and I'll be happy and God will be pleased and all the universe will be as it should be, or so I think.   The fact is, I don't think God is interested in giving three, six, or even a dozen things to do today.  Rather I think He is saying to me: "I know exactly what I have for you today.  Come and walk with me and we'll get it done." "But Lord, if I do that, I won't have any time for my stuff." "Son, I know what you need.  I'll make sure that is part of what we do today." "So, Lord, You want me to . . ." "What I want from you, child, is to trust Me." More Sunday morning from Pastor Doug Williams. It's STTA.   Message 1 in the Series, Proverbs 3:5-6

Learning, and Growing, from a Tragedy:

Senator Creigh Deeds is a local lawyer and politician.  He has invested his life in the area where I'm privileged to live.  Over the past few days an incredible tragedy that struck his family has received national attention.  I've included some links to news articles at the end of this STTA.  The short version of what happened is that Creigh's son, Gus, suffering from mental illness, attacked his father with a knife, and after inflicting life-threatening wounds, killed himself with a gun.  That kind of grief on grief would cause many to crawl into a hole.  State Senator Deeds not only returned to his post in the Virginia legislature, but has mounted a campaign to address some of the short-comings in the way our society, particularly our governmental agencies address mental health problems.

  

What is one to do with the tragedy that comes into life lived in this sin-cursed world?  

  

The Apostle Paul talks to the point in 2 Corinthians 1.

  

   "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." (2 Corinthians 1:3-5, NASB95)  

 

Who wants to sign up for such ministry?   

I can see hands not going up all over the place.  Mine are in my pockets.  As I look back over forty years of small church pastoring, I see a lot of those who ought to be "able to comfort those who are in any affliction."  As is always the case, ability does not necessarily equal performance.  I've observed some who became bitter, and others who became marvelous ministers of God's grace.  

The kind of grief the Deeds family is dealing with is off the chart.  Though few of us will be called on to deal with this kind of head-line tragedy, and most of us lack positions of power and prominence, still each of us are called on to work to a place in our pain where it becomes a platform from which we can reach out to others who hurt.

 

I didn't sign up.  It's just the way it is.

  

It's STTA.  

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/26/politics/creigh-deeds-attack/ 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/creigh-deeds-on-mental-health-legislation-weve-got-some-hard-work-to-do/ 

 

http://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/article_b41917ea-8769-11e3-a5d1-001a4bcf6878.html 

From the Dirt . . .

 Like a lot of Americans my heritage is well populated with farmers.  Family lore is full of stories about mules, corn, cotton, and cows that weren't eager to be milked.  Again, like most of my countrymen, I have no personal involvement with agriculture as a way of life.  I am glad, however, to have spent my life living in a place that keeps me close to the dirt.

I've eaten far more venison from the woods than beef or pork from the meat market in the last forty years.  Don't be impressed.  I'm not a hunter, but the hunters in my tribe keep me well supplied.  I have a great appreciation for home-grown tomatoes, and other garden eats.  For most of my life these flavorful orbs were grown at somebody else's home, but for the past couple of years I've grown some of my own--very modest scale--and though my maters aren't as pretty as some grown by others, I enjoy them greatly.  

Looking out on the mountains where that steak once lived, or washing dirt off vegetables--dirt enriched by mulch I spread--reminds me of the origin of food. God made this world so it, even cursed by sin as it is, if given a chance, will bring forth an abundance.  It is good to be reminded that every good gift comes down from above.  When the good gifts we are talking about adorn our dinner table, we can can trace them back to the fecundity God put into the ground beneath our feet.  

Thank You, Lord!

Friday at CBC we'll hold our annual wild feast.  I don't want to give you the wrong idea.  It's not anything like a communion service.  The mood is light and fun, but it is a celebration of God's provision.  For those of us who mostly unwrap our food, instead of skin it, it's a good reminder.  You are welcome to join us.  Just let us know.

Thanks, Lord.

Who's It About, Anyway?

Lots of what passes for Christian teaching in our day has to do with success.  God will make us better, richer, prettier, skinnier, more influential, etc., etc., on and on.
Underneath all these claims there is a bit of truth--sort of.
When we live by God's principles there is a change that takes place in our lives.  It affects every part of us.  Food is no longer one of our gods so gluttony with its accompanying results no longer tends to plague us.  Wasteful and destructive habits tend to be controlled so, quite often as our waistline shrinks our bank account swells.  Bad habits often produce bad results.  Deal with those destructive patterns and quite likely the outcomes will improve.  People who seek to live by Biblical virtues like goodness, kindness, mercy, truth-telling are probably going to get along better with the people in their lives.  Other thing being equal it will help their marriage, and make them better parents.
Christianity is not, however, primarily about me. 
The ultimate criteria of the success of the universe is not whether or not life has been good for me.  In the final analysis it is about whether or not God is pleased.  Ephesians 1:6 tells us that what God is doing, He is doing so it will result in the "praise of the glory of His grace." 
So let's learn from God's word, let's follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and gain encouragement from fellowship with God's people.  There is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying those benefits, in fact our enjoyment of them is part of what brings glory to our Heavenly Father.  Let's make sure, however, that we don't try to pervert the plan of God into something that is all about me.

It isn't.

It's STTA.

  

Find out more about God's plan here.  Write to find out more.  

Deciding

  

No group of people is more interested in doing the will of God than students at a Bible College.  These are young adults who are serious about serving the Lord.  Many of them will end up as teachers in Christian schools, missionaries, pastors, or involved in other forms of vocational Christian work.  They are the John and Betty Stams, the Jim Eliots, and Rev. & Mrs. Pastor down the road who quietly love people to Jesus.  When one announces in such a hothouse for Christian service that he is going to talk about "knowing the will of God," he has instant attention.
It was in that kind of setting that a friend of mine stood up some years ago and said.  "You can be absolutely sure what God's will for your life is"--at this point I can't remember if he said it or not, either way it hung in the air--who you should marry, where you should serve, exactly what kind of career you should pursue--then there was a pregnant pause, very pregnant.  Finally he gave the rest of his statement:  ". . . after the fact."
Among those who care, and I'm very, very glad they care, about doing what God wants them to do there is often a great deal of hand-wringing.
"What if I get it wrong?"
"Maybe I missed a turn back there, and now I'm no longer on the path of God's blessing."
It's ironic.  Here are people who care deeply about having God's blessing in their lives, yet they fail to experience it because they are all worried about having God's blessing in their life.
There is not much I can tell you about the specifics of God's will for your life.  I can tell you this:
It 's not a matter of figuring out some obscure clues.  I don't think God intends us to be all bothered, wondering if we've gotten it right.  Rather He wants us to be very un-bothered, knowing there is no doubt He has it right.

We'll be saying more Sunday--Making Up Your Mind About Making Up Your Mind.

 

   It's STTA.

HEAVEN

One of our Sunday School classes at Covington Bible has been studying about Heaven. Thinking about the eternal abode of God's people is a good way to clean out the pipes.  Living in this world has a tendency to plug things up.  The sludge doesn't smell too good.  Enough!
Once one get's to a certain age, he tends to think of heaven in terms of what won't be there, and, in fact, the Bible gives ample encouragement in that direction
 
   "and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."" (Revelation 21:4)

   "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb." (Revelation 21:22-23)

 

  "There will no longer be any curse;"  (Revelation 22:3)

 

You can find other "won't be there" statements about heaven.  As is often the case, little kids tend to get it.

"Tell me about heaven."

"There won't be anything bad there." 

It is the bad things that limit us.  Often one comes to the place of dealing with a really big problem when he realizes not only what it is doing to him, but what it is keeping him from doing.

 

In Heaven:

• Love will be fearless.
• Worship will be untainted.
• Focus will be uninterrupted.
• Growth will be unlimited.
• Joy will be unmixed.
• Friendship will be unending.

As you begin a week which is likely to contain some unheavenly content, It's Something To Think About.

   It's STTA.
 

Don't assume heaven is your final home.  Find out more here.  For the next three Wednesdays there is a supper discussion about Jesus. Writeto find out more.  

Don't Worry 'Bout It:

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT Generally speaking each STTA is a stand alone.  This one, however is the last of a series of four.  You might want to go hereand read the last three STTAs, start with 1/14 and work back to yesterday.   "Aiming at nothing," and "Mission Creep," are ways of describing people or organizations who have no, or have lost their, direction.  "Rigid," "Inflexible," or "Suffering from hardening of the categories," describes others, on the other end of the spectrum, who fail to adapt to changing conditions. How do we maintain a balance between being flexible but lacking in core convictions, and being rigid about things concerning which we ought to flex?  I've been especially concerned about the end result of a life.  It's possible to be so blown by the wind that the end will reveal a result determined by external, often impersonal, and sometimes hostile, forces. Speaking to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul said, that mature Christians would not be, "tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine."  (Ephesians 4:14)  Yet an examination of the great Apostle's ministry indicates a remarkable flexibility.  See 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 for an example.  It is absolutely clear that Paul wanted to be effective, but above that he was committed to being faithful.  I need to make obedience to God the number one objective of my life.  Of course, in order to do that I have to understand the commands.  That is a life-long project.  As I live a life of obedience, I run into a lot of forces that would toss me here and there, and carry me about.  It may be to appropriate to adapt.  In fact there are times when obedience demands that I flex.  The Pharisees were not wrong because they kept the rules.  They erred because they kept too many rules, sometimes being blinded to essential, by an undue focus on peripheral matters. I should try to be effective, relevant, engaging, and useful, but I should never be any of those things if it means I must be disobedient to God.   There are a lot of things I face that I don't understand and can't control, but God does, so I must trust Him. So, after four days of musing, I find myself back in SundaySchool.  Mrs. Marsceau is holding up the flash cards to a song, "Trust and Obey, for their's not other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey. It's STTA.

I'm pretty sure it's too soon to quit.

A long time ago I built a set of shelves for my living room.  There was a window in the middle of a wall.  One shelf unit on the left, another on the right.  The lower part of the units was deeper than the upper portion.  So about thirty inches off the floor there was a ledge.  I built the left unit and put it in place and was pretty pleased.  I started in on the unit on the right.  When I set it in place, I could immediately see that something was wrong.  That ledge part of the unit looked like it was about a foot higher than the one on the left.  Really it was 3/4 of an inch, but it stood out like it was much more.  
I very much wanted to be done.  I remember laying down in the floor, staring at the obvious error, and trying to come up with a good reason why I didn't have to fix it.  All my reasons to leave it alone were short-sighted.  Consideration of how long these shelves were going to be a part of the main room in my house finally won the argument.  Back to the shop. . . .

When trying to find that sweet spot between settling for that which just won't do, and adapting to that which is beyond my control, that distinction between short and long term is something to remember.  Wisdom counsels us to never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the temporary.  (I heard that somewhere.)  Yet, how often for the sake of temporary convenience, or short-term comfort do we settle--forfeiting long-term gains?
Maybe it makes sense, the night before that art project is due to declare it an ashtray and turn it in for a D.  It makes no sense to treat my life that way.  If you are still breathing God's air, it's too early to quit.

We aren't done yet.  Stay tuned.  (There is much that is out of my control, but nothing is outside the reach of God.  Lord willing, tomorrow.)

It's STTA.
 

The Sweet spot between adapting and settling:

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT "What made you decide that you would make an ashtray in ceramics class?" "Really, I never did decide.  I just looked at the thing, and it looked more like an ashtray than anything else, so. . . ." To one degree or another, virtually every hobby project has an element of that kind of imposed parameter about it  It's hard to make a long project with short lumber.  Sometimes the color it gets painted is determined by what was left from the last remodel. Setting out to make a bench six feet long, but ending up with one five feet, nine inches, because you had this lovely piece of oak just short of six feet is likely a good use of resources.  Ending up with one six inches tall--not so much.  Adapting is a virtue.  Settling for that which clearly isn't what it should be, or won't do what it ought to do, is unsettling, to say the least.  Striking the appropriate balance requires, among other things, holding to some unalterable core values, and having a clear view of reality. Over the years, building my greatest project--my life--I have messed up in both directions. On occasions I have gotten hung up on minutiae. Important thingswent undone, essentials were ignored, but I paid close attention to some stupid detail that a year later--maybe ten minutes later--didn't matter at all. At other times I have let my impatience, or desire to please others, or failure to plan, or (fill in the blank) talk me out of some absolutely essential element.  I settled when I should have insisted and persisted. If you get the idea that I struggle some between those two extremes, I'd say you've got it about right.  I've still got some more ideas on the matter, but how about we finish up by doing something I ought to do a whole a lot more, praying. Lord, I need to know the difference between what is essential, and that which doesn't matter.  I know that understanding Your word is essential, so help me to learn it better and obey it more thoroughly.  Lord, don't let my life turn out to be something it never should have become.  Amen We aren't done yet.  Stay tuned. It's STTA.

But, What Is It?

"It's an ashtray."  

Back in the day it used to be common for children to give their parents gifts related to smoking.  Many ceramic or metal-shop projects ended up being
 gifted as ashtrays.  Making a vase tall and slender, with thin walls, takes a whole lot more skill than making a short, squat, thick, kind of saucer-ish thing.  That dent in the rim of a roundish piece of metal, that was once destined to become a cup, looks a lot like a place to park a cigarette.  There comes a time when increased work isn't adding to its cup-ish-ness, or vase-like quality.  At some point the answer to the question,

"What is it?"

became,

"It's an ashtray."

That wasn't what I wanted it to be.  It's not  what I want, but it has to be something, so . . .

Solomon observed that "Time and Chance happens to all."  I would add to the mix, skill, talent, planning, diligence, and/or lack of all the above.  From time to time I work with wood.  Sometimes a  project gets modified because of a previously unseen blemish in the wood.  

"Why did you make that that way?"

"Because a worm bored into a tree fifty years ago."

Improv-comics, moms, politicians, and football coaches all need that if-life-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade skill.  If you let those adaptive concepts get out of hand, however, you end up--well--messed up.  We might praise a twelve-year-old for somewhat salvaging a project-gone-bad.  The C- for the "ashtray" is better than a 0 for a no-show.  When a life, or an important institution morphs into the human equivalent of a waste container for tobacco ash it is tragic.

I don't want to stand before the Lord and say about what I've done with my life, "I guess, Lord, it turned out to be an ashtray."

We aren't done yet.  Stay tuned.

It's STTA.