Back I Go!

This morning I am preparing to do something very, very, VERY hard:  This morning I am returning to Weight Watchers once again to take charge of my weight and my health.  For any of you who have ever fought this battle, I don't need to tell you how difficult and discouraging it can sometimes be.  Issues with weight, and the resulting effects on my overall health and well-being, have plagued me since I graduated from high school.  Since 1969 I figure I've lost about 300 pounds... lost and gained back multiple times.  Don't think for a moment that I have not prayed for this battle to be taken away from me.  Like the apostle Paul, I have repeatedly asked God to take this "thorn" from my side, but each time He has given me the calm assurance that His grace is sufficient for me.

A person with a personality like mine (and probably like yours) can find herself focused inward far too easily.  Because I often sing solos for groups of people and/or speak publicly, the standard mode for expressing appreciation comes from people through the same words...."You were really wonderful.  You blessed me.  You have a beautiful voice."  I hope you get the picture.  While I know that people are trying to let me know that they were touched or moved by the message of a song or sermon, the words used to convey that can turn my thoughts inward and cause me to believe that somehow I was responsible for that blessing in their lives.  The truth is, without the moving of the Holy Spirit and the constant abiding love of Jesus Christ and the gracious gifts given to me by the Father, I could do nothing.

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  (Psalm 121:1-2)

I don't pretend to know the mind of God, but sometimes I wonder if He allows this constant struggle in my life in order that I do not become too full of myself, but that I am reminded daily of my need for His abiding grace and strength to meet the challenges of this life.  It is a humbling experience to return to a group of people where I have previously experienced a victory (and, some say, have served as an inspiration to them) in order to confess that once again I need their help and support.  Learning humility is not comfortable!  According to Easton's 1897 Bible dictionary, humility is defined as "a prominent Christian grace. It is a state of mind well pleasing to God; it preserves the soul in tranquility and makes us patient under trials."  Humility must become a PROMINENT Christian grace in my life, not just a passing experience on occasion. 


So, here I go again.  I will return to this group of fellow journeyers and will seek to give encouragement and draw upon the strength of the knowledge that there are others on board this boat with me.  I know we'll celebrate some victories and share some defeats with one another.  That's what this sort of group is all about.  Along the way, I'll be praying for more victories that defeats, and I'll be praying the same for all the others who are there with me.  Together, we will keep trying to embrace a healthier lifestyle and weight.  Now... back I go!

"For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.  Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]."

(Hebrews 4:15-16, Amplified Bible)

How Can We Say Thank-You?

My family experienced quite a scare this week.  Our son-in-law, who is a law enforcement officer for North Carolina, was seriously injured in the line of duty chasing down a suspect.  As a result of his efforts to uphold the law and keep the public safe, he will now be laid up for several weeks (possibly months) recovering from his injuries.  During that time, he will be forced to give up all his vacation and sick leave time before any benefits can be realized from the workman's compensation arena.  Even then, his compensation will only be a fraction of his normal wages and his family has been thrown into financial hardship as a result.

Now here's the thing:  this young man has dedicated his life (and laid it on the line multiple times) for the purpose of protecting the public and upholding the laws of the state in which he lives.  He has been cursed at, spit upon, called derogatory names, had things thrown in his face, maligned by drunkards and drug addicts (as well as irresponsible sober citizens), and now even seriously hurt by a criminal suspect who walked away from the incident unscathed.  All this because our son-in-law chooses to believe that the greater good of mankind is worthy of his dedication and the risks he accepts each day as he slips into his uniform and heads out the door of his home.  Matt is not alone.  Each and every day dedicated men and women choose to put themselves in harm's way in order to serve others.  Some become fire fighters, others law enforcement officers, many are military servants, and others serve as first responders.  They don't seek praise and don't consider themselves heroes.  In addition, most of them receive pitiful compensation in return for their dedication.  Each year, hundreds of these fine human beings give their very lives for what they believe in.  How many names appear at Ground Zero in New York?  How many names cover the Viet Nam Memorial Wall?  How many headstones mark the places of fallen military men and women in Arlington Cemetery and other cemeteries across our nation?

As average citizens, we need to become fully aware that without the selfless dedication to duty and the willingness of these public servants and military personnel, our lives would be at risk and our peaceful existence called into serious question.  Can we really afford to continue to overlook the needs of these individuals and simply expect they will continue to risk life and limb on our behalf?  Every day, I see reports on the news broadcasts of homeless American military veterans sleeping on the pavement in some of our largest cities.  They go hungry and without needed medical care, and no one seems to remember the years of their active service in defense of our country.  Policemen and women are injured and killed, fire fighters perish in raging infernos while they attempt to save others, even first responders often come under gun fire as they try to give aide to injured people.  Folks, we need to sit up and pay attention here!  These fine people make our lives safer and more peaceful each and every day.  We must not ignore their needs when in service and duty they become injured or even killed.  We have a moral, ethical, and spiritual responsibility to ensure they are well cared for and that their families do not suffer as a result of their dedication.

You might be asking how you can make a difference.  Sometimes the simplest gesture can turn a bad day into a blessing for someone.  Have you ever thought of paying for a policeman's meal at the restaurant?  What about a heart-felt "thank you" and an appreciative hand shake when you meet a firefighter on the street?  Could you be the one to take a homeless veteran to a hot meal and purchase him or her a new pair of shoes?  I know of a group of ladies who spend time crocheting plastic sleep mats out of used grocery bags and distribute them to the homeless in their community.  The possibilities are endless, and are limited only by your imagination and your willingness to express gratitude for the service of others.

Showing kindness and appreciation brings its own special reward to the one who does it.  Such expressions of gratitude do not escape God's sight.  He is pleased with every effort to extend love and encouragement to those who serve us in such selfless ways.  I pray that each one of us will take the opportunity today to thank a public servant in a meaningful way.  Oh, by the way, when was the last time you said "thank you" to your pastor and his wife?  Maybe an invitation to Sunday dinner is in store; perhaps a card of appreciation sent through the mail ; maybe a platter of home-baked cookies anonymously placed on his desk at church... let your imagination run wild. 

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  (John 15:13)

Making the Time

Sometimes life gets very busy.  It's hard to "find" the time to do those things which God has asked of us, so we often just need to "make" the time.  If we all began to write down exactly what we do in a day's time (in increments of 15 minutes) I think we'd all find that there is a big portion of each day we simple fritter away on non-essential, unimportant things.  I suspect, if you are anything like me, the biggest thief of our time is the television.  It's so easy to get caught up in that make-believe world of the small screen that an hour can pass by before we know it.  Now, I'm not saying that we must discipline ourselves to never watch television (although my daughter and her family have not had a T.V. in well over 5 years and don't seem any the worse for wear as a result), but certainly restricting ourselves and choosing the programming carefully is in order.

"I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me."  (Psalm 101:3)

Another thief of our time is the bed.  I know of several people who have cultivated the habit of spending far too much time in bed and whose lives show the consequences of such a lifestyle.  Generally speaking, they are overweight, feel sluggish all the time, and complain of a "foggy head" nearly every single day.  Some suffer from chronic back pain and others from chronic headaches.  Too much sleep, like anything else in our lives in which we overindulge, is not good for the human body.  Medical research indicates that oversleeping results in obesity, back pain, headaches, increased risk for diabetes, higher incidence of coronary artery disease, and depression.  The average adult requires seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and anything over that becomes problematic. 

"Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare."  (Proverbs 20:13)

"How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?"  (Proverbs 6:9)

Yet another thief of our time has been the newest craze for social media.  Smart phones seem permanently attached to the hands of some people.  In fact, the other day I was using a public restroom and heard the woman in an adjacent stall talking on her phone to someone.  Are you kidding?!  If you cannot even use the bathroom privately, surely things have gotten out of hand somewhere.  Hours of time can easily fly past as we choose to sit in front of a computer screen or a smart phone and live vicariously through the lives of others.  Sometimes it appears nothing more than a raging desire to know everyone else's business is what prompts people to glue themselves to these tiny screens.  

"Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before."  (I Thessalonians 4:11)

Do not misunderstand me here.  Sometimes life does indeed get very busy.  The past couple of weeks I have found myself inundated with responsibilities that have kept me from writing on this blog.  There have been important events at church that required preparation and presentation.  I have been a part of an effort to furnish over 300 free meals to members of our community who often go without food for most of their day.  I am organizing a women's mission group that had fallen by the wayside for many years.  I am also putting together a community-wide interdenominational revival which requires countless hours of work and phone calls.  Add to all those things the fact that I just finished final exams at seminary and am now preparing to enter into my ordination training for the ministry.  Obviously, I have been busy.  However, the Holy Spirit gave me inspiration to start this blog and He has not released me from that obligation as yet.  I apologize for not "making" time to see to it that there has been fresh inspiration and insight for those who regularly read it.  And I promise to try very hard to do better in the future.

So... now I need to schedule a time into my busy weeks ahead to be responsible to this area of ministry.  Perhaps you, too, need to "make" time for something in your life to which you know the Lord is calling you.  Start by unplugging the T.V., temporarily turning off your cell phone, and getting out of bed a half-hour earlier than you have been (or maybe even an hour, depending on how much time you've been spending there).  Purpose in your heart to make each moment of each day an offering to the Lord and service to others.  The eternal rewards will far exceed any temporary satisfaction we may find in the things of this world.

"For we must all stand before Christ to be judged.  We will receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body."  (2 Corinthians 5:10

It Will be Worth it All

Sometimes when I read Scripture I find myself saying, "What??"  There are passages that confuse and concern me, this I freely admit.  I have found that at those times God is trying to teach me something new and give me deeper insight into the hidden meanings of His Word.  The passage in Matthew 10:34-39 is one such section of Scripture:

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household.  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life my My sake will find it."

The first time I read this passage I found myself shocked at the thought that Jesus said he had come to earth not to bring peace, but a sword.  After all, I had been given an image of the Christ as a quiet, unassuming, peaceful suffering servant, not a sword-wielding warrior.   But as I looked more deeply into His statement, I realized that I'd left out a couple of crucial words from my understanding.  Christ did not say He would not bring peace... He said He would not bring peace on this earth.   Jesus did not descend from His throne to change the social structure of the day or to effect some sort of political alteration.  As long as the world is embroiled in sin and disobedient to God, there can be no peace.

When we think about the peace that Christ spoke of in so many other scriptures ((Luke 2:14; 7:50; 8:48; 10:5-6; Acts 10:36; Ephesians 2:13-17), we need to understand that this peace will only come to those who choose to believe in Him.  As long as a man stays lost and tied to this world, he (or she) will never know the "peace that passes all understanding through Christ Jesus, our Lord."  The hardest part of that is the realization that some of those individuals who refuse Christ as Lord may actually be a part of our own family.

Jesus said that He brought a sword, not peace to this earth.  A sword is an instrument that pierces and cuts and divides asunder.  That is a clear understanding of what the Gospel of Truth does in this world.  It divides the believer from the unbeliever and penetrates deep into the soul of one who is lost.  It brings conviction and discomfort as it pierces the conscience.  It is not eagerly embraced by a sin-sick soul.  Following Christ will surely bring some division into our lives.

It seems the first and most ferocious opposition we receive when we choose to believe in Jesus comes from our own family.  I think our choice to follow Him may be seen as some sort of disloyalty by many of them.  Our behaviors change, our desires change, our attitudes become different, and suddenly we are a stranger to those who grew up knowing all about us.  They feel threatened and confused at this "new" person with whom they are faced, so they lash out in an effort to subdue and conquer, returning the individual to one whom they can recognize again.  A new believer may feel the need to strike back in defense, but the longer I have walked with Christ the more I have come to understand that this is not the way for a disciple to respond.  In His final hours on earth, as He stood wrongfully accused before Pilate of all manner of lawlessness, Jesus did not speak.  He chose to remain silent because (I believe) He knew that to respond in the face of such hate and anger would only fuel the fire of evil.

Now, I am as human as the next person, trust me.  There have certainly been those times when I have returned anger for anger in my life.  This much I can say with deepest conviction:  not one single time did that turn out well for me.  In fact, I only suffered greater anguish as I became convicted and chastened by the Holy Spirit for wallowing in the mud from which He had already once lifted me.  I felt shame and regret for my failure to recognize that following Christ means I will be faced with persecution, but those experiences are part of what will bring me closer to Him.  If I am to be a follower of Jesus, if I am to call myself a Christian, then I must accept all that comes with the title, knowing that God will be faithful to carry me through each confrontation or attack.

My friends, if following Jesus Christ brings division among you and your family or friends, count it a blessing.  It only means that you have been given the opportunity to share in the suffering and the glory of our Lord.  Each time we triumph over evil, each time we hold our tongue and do not return anger for anger, we become more like the One who gave His life that we might be redeemed to our Heavenly Father.  When we die to ourselves and live for Christ, persecution in this life will have little effect on us.  We will be able to keep our eyes fixed on eternity and upon the face of the One who really matters.

In his article entitled "I Came to Bring a Sword,"  Yves I-Bing Cheng, M.D., M.A. wrote:

"The cross, like the sword, separates. The cross, like the sword, exposes. The cross, like the sword, kills.    The cross, like the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), makes alive because it sets us free from sin. Now we understand what the Lord Jesus means when He says, ‘I came to bring a sword.’ That sword is the cross."

I close today with the precious words of an old hymn:

"It will be worth it all, just to see His face,

When He calls me for His own.

Then ten million years to sing 'Amazing Grace,'

It will be worth it all when we get home!"