I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose (Galatians 2:20–21).

Transformation comes by taking Jesus’ yoke—by saying, and believing, “I am yours.” We can hear it, and say, “Yeah, that sounds right,” but we need to learn to see it—really see it—as the reality of our lives.

Some of this can sound pretty abstract. But we need it to become as real to us as our salvation has become to us… just as God himself has become real to us, and continues to become more real to us. It’s OK to nod your head in agreement right now, but pursue it with God, and don’t stop. Be able to say with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8), and mean it.

There is no question as to whether God wants to see revival. Every word here backs that up—God wants us to draw closer to him, and more often than not that’s going to require our hard hearts to be re-broken so that they might also be reopened to him.

The question is: Are we committed to seeing the Spirit bring this? Are we willing to be obedient to what God has called us to, and to who God has called us to be? Are we willing set aside our own self-image, good or bad, and believe that God has something better for us, no matter what package it might initially come in? Most of all, are we willing to obey this command of Jesus, given to us as new creations in him, “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35)?

I believe Jesus is talking directly to the church here. Literally, he’s talking to the first apostles, but with the knowledge of what the Spirit would create in their midst only weeks later. Of course this commandment also applies outside the walls of the church, but I fear many of us treat the church (at least in its current state) as a bad idea to be given up on. I get that. Boy, do I get that. But Jesus has not given us that option. We not only have been given new life, but are part of a bigger new life—the Body of Christ.

Given how we’ve done with this commandment inside the church, it’s painfully apparent that we’ll never get it right outside the church until we take off the polite faces and begin truly relating to our fellow Christians in love. Besides: Who’d want to come inside the church until we do?

Those within the church have the same problems as those outside the church. We have the same temptations, and the same sins—a fact the world has no trouble pointing out to us. You’ve read all this, probably as a believer. I’ll bet you’ve identified with a lot of what I’ve talked about here. Well, guess what? Nonbelievers struggle with (or for that matter, go on blissfully unaware of) all the same things we do.

The only difference between “us” and “them”… is Jesus. Jesus is the only reason we have a new life to talk about. It’s literally all the difference in the world, and beyond.

One way other people will begin seeing that difference is when we actually love those other annoying, flawed—and yes, sinful—Christians. In other words: those people who are like us. If we can pull that one off, how will we fail to love someone with the same problems who doesn’t know Jesus? We want those people to know Jesus, after all. But without love, they’ll never see Jesus in us or through us, let alone beyond us.

Just as we’re here because we’ve recognized Christ as our eternal Savior, we need to recognize him as our Savior, and our life, from moment to moment. Paul David Tripp, in Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, observes, “[I]t is impossible to celebrate God’s work of transformation without confessing your need for more. No one is more ready to communicate God’s grace that someone who has faced his own desperate need for it.”

Let God’s work of transformation begin here. And let it spread to the ends of the earth. We have a job to finish. Let’s begin living our new lives in full and get it done.

Lay It Down Today

Look inside your church today—or at least at the Christians you’re still in relation with. How can you serve them in love today, or in the coming week? I’m not asking for a long-term commitment here (although that’d be great); just come up with one thing that breaks your routine, gets you outside your own life, and gets your sharing your new life in Jesus with someone else who has that new life—especially if it’s someone you don’t normally do it with. And watch what the Spirit does with it.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." (C. S. Lewis) 

There are no easy steps to humility, but here are ten hard ones—

1)       Respect God.  Observe the canopy of constellations He whispered into being and ask yourself, “Who am I that God should care about me?”

2)       Submit to God’s sovereignty. Life built without God is a sand-castle that washes away in the overpowering tide of circumstances. One infinitely greater than you existed eons before your birth. Remember God is God and you are not.

3)       Practice downward mobility. You have a choice to make in life—humiliation or humility. Haughtiness invariably bursts your balloon. Meekness under the authority of Earth’s CEO trains you to reign with Him.

4)       Relax in God’s Presence. Do not feel totally, eternally, irrevocably responsible for everything—that’s God’s job, a position far beyond your pay grade.

5)       Conduct a realistic assessment of your gifts. Whatever skills and talents you have are blessings from heaven. So you should not get struck on yourself.

6)       Exercise self-discipline. To prevent doing something you would regret for years, you need to control your impulses and thoughts. You must crucify your ego if Christ’s holy nature is to shape your life.  

7)       Take advice. Listen to the quiet voice of timeless wisdom. Pride breeds arguments; people open to counsel calm storms of stress.

8)       Do not project your character flaws on others. When you arrogantly judge, you are reflexively critical. When inspecting people use a mirror, not a microscope.

9)       Watch your motives. Treat others with as much kindness and respect as you do yourself—then your service to God will be acceptable.

10)   Imitate Christ’s example. Relinquish personal rights, and you will have Christ’s attitude. He is gentle with you, so you should be gentle with others. 

Taking these steps may prove difficult; but if you climb this heavenly-designed staircase, you will get nearer God’s heart and experience quiet joy too wonderful for words.

“He that is down, needs fear no fall; He that is low, no pride; He that is humble ever shall have God to be his guide.” (John Bunyan)   

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

This devotion based on Day 82 of Gentle Whispers from Eternity

Being old has its benefits. And I don’t just mean the senior coffees at McDonalds.

I’m old enough to know that “what goes around comes around,” and King Solomon had it right when he observed that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). History really does have a habit of repeating itself, particularly if we fail to learn its lessons the first time around.

But recently I’ve come to appreciate another benefit of having lived awhile: I’ve seen that God is a skilled Artist who delights in “connecting the dots” in our lives. Perhaps you haven’t lived long enough to see this fantastic divine pattern yet, but I believe you will in time.

By “dots,” I mean whatever experiences, events, relationships, successes, failures, pains, or pleasures you’ve encountered during your life. Some of these dots you’ve no doubt categorized as “bad,” and other ones you’ve probably described as “good.” And if you’re anything like me, many of the dots in life simply seem random—without any apparent purpose…making absolutely no sense at the time.

Yet I have good news for you today—news so good you probably will find it hard to believe: As time goes by during your life, the Lord will increasingly connect the dots and reveal an intricate, well-planned masterpiece. Yes, He’ll connect even the dots that once made no sense. And if all the dots still don’t seem to be perfectly connected by the end of your earthly life, He will surely finish the job in eternity.

By the time God gets done with His handiwork, EVERY dot will be connected, and NOTHING will be wasted (John 6:12). He will find a use even for your most painful dots or and the events you considered your greatest failures.

You see, the Bible has been right all along when it told us that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Read that one more time. It doesn’t say just SOME thing work together for good—it says “ALL THINGS!”

Now take a few minutes to consider some of the “dots” you wish you could erase from your life. Believe it or not, God can do something good even with those painful or ugly dots. In the next few weeks, I’ll be launching an e-book on preventing, surviving and recovering from church splits. Sad to say, I’m one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject—but the Lord is going to use my painful and unwanted experiences to help thousands of pastors who are dealing with such things in their own churches.

And if you still doubt God’s ability to turn around tragic events and use them for His purposes, consider King David. I’m sure he wished he could erase his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah (see Psalm 51). But Bathsheba ultimately gave birth to Solomon, and she ended up in the family lineage of Jesus, the Messiah! (Matthew 1:6) God is great in mercy, isn’t He?

And in case you think God only loves you or offers you His favor when you are “good,” let me share one more connect-the-dots illustration.

Although I’ve never been much of a stargazer or astronomer, the Big Dipper is one constellation that’s always blessed and intrigued me. First of all, note that it’s not a “dipper” at all until you connect the dots of the various stars.

But what amazes me about the Big Dipper is that it’s continually tilted in such a way as to pour out its contents. My friend, that’s exactly how God wants you to see His love and favor for you. It’s not something that comes and goes, nor is it so fragile that it can easily be lost. In fact, Paul assured us that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God…nothing (Romans 8:28).

So take heart today. Nothing has happened in your life that is too awful for God to forgive or to redeem for His glory. Go ahead and give Him the dots—all of them—and you’ll be amazed by the beautiful tapestry He’ll produce. 

I have a new theory—I would even call it a discovery—about two of life’s greatest mysteries. The two mysteries are related, and my theorem explains both.

The first mystery is why there are so many unhappy marriages, and the second is like it: Why is it often so difficult to find fulfillment in the modern-day churches we attend?

I call both of these “mysteries,” because God intended something far better. He created marriage and the church to be enjoyable, life-changing institutions.

So what has gone so terribly wrong?

That brings up my theorem, which I discovered while cooking eggs for breakfast recently. I’ll start by applying my discovery to churches, then proceed to marriages.

Most modern churches are like a carton of eggs. People come and sit together in neat rows of stadium seats, never touching, never relating, never sharing their hearts. They just sit there and observe the show, which probably would be more enjoyable if popcorn were served. After an hour or so, it’s time to leave. But the churchgoers, like eggs still in the shells, are usually unchanged by the experience.

How sad! No wonder millions of Christians have chosen to opt out of the egg-carton church experience. They’ve concluded that they might as well stay home and listen to a podcast.

Here’s the problem with this scenario, as my theorem so beautifully illustrates: Life-change only happens when there is vulnerability, and vulnerability requires brokenness.

Put simply, the eggshell must be cracked open if anyone is going to enjoy the egg. I don’t know anyone who eats the shells—it’s what’s inside that counts.

So if you’re going to have a meaningful experience with other believers, there must a touching of hearts (involving the egg whites and yokes), not just a superficial touching of the shells. That’s why so little transformation occurs while you sit, unengaged, as a spectator in a church congregation. The experience failed to reach your heart, will, or emotions in a meaningful way.

That brings us to an even more illuminating application of my theorem: unhappy marriages…

Last year I overheard a conversation that really troubled me. A recently divorced man was complaining to a married friend, saying he didn’t like being single. The married man just smiled and said, “Brother, do you realize how many million men would gladly trade places with you?!”

Ouch. The statement reflects today’s common view that it is preferable to be single than to be in an unhappy marriage. It’s a pretty sad commentary, but King Solomon reached a similar conclusion (Proverbs 21:9, 21:19).

Fortunately, my egg analogy helps to explain the demise of marriage in our culture, and it also offers hope for better outcomes if we learn its lessons.

The Bible says marriage involves TWO people who become ONE (Genesis 2:21-25, Ephesians 5:22-33). However, this phenomenon is often misunderstood, as my egg theorem shows:

• Eggs in a carton are like individuals who live in close proximity, yet never interact on an emotional or spiritual level. This could describe singleness for many people, but it also helps to explain unhappy marriages. Many husbands and wives today start with prenups, move on to separate bank accounts, and end up with separate bedrooms. They are under the same roof, but become more akin to roommates than marriage partners. Do you see why this would be unsatisfying? The eggs are together in the carton, but they are back in their shells.
• At the other extreme are scrambled eggs. Although many people think churches and marriages are supposed to model this kind of extreme “oneness,” that is NOT what the Bible teaches. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are “one” but retain their separate identities, so it is with happy marriages. The husband and wife each have a unique role and some individual interests. They have not become “scrambled eggs,” where their identity is forever lost. No, God made us to remain distinct, “male and female” (Genesis 1:27)—and marriage is meant to enhance that fact, not erase it. So if you’ve allowed your identity to be swallowed up in a relationships that resembles a pile of scrambled eggs, it’s no wonder your unhappy. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always preferred my eggs cooked over easy, touching and overlapping in some ways, but still separate.

If you are unhappy in your marriage or church, I wish I could sit down with you and apply my theorem to your specific situation. The good news is that it may not be too late to unscramble your scrambled eggs. But there’s no time to waste.

To rediscover the joy of intimate relationships, here’s what I recommend:

1. Make sure you are broken and vulnerable in your relationship with the Lord. Let Him get past your hard outer shell and deal with the issues of your heart. You’re never going to restore your marriage or find a life-changing church experience unless you first have a tender heart before God.

2. After you’ve been broken before the Lord, you can expect a new fragrance to emerge in your life, affecting all of your relationships. In a pivotal story in the Gospels, a woman broke an alabaster jar of perfume in order to worship Jesus. The resulting fragrance filled the house and changed the entire atmosphere (Mark 14:3-9, John 12:1-8). The same can happen with the atmosphere in your home or church.

3. As hard as it may be, you must let down your guard (i.e., remove the eggshell) and expose your heart and your emotions to the people closest to you. Men tend to have an especially difficult time with this. Too often, we come home from work, curl up on the couch to watch our favorite sports event on TV, and never take time to become emotionally vulnerable. Hmmm…no wonder that scenario doesn’t lead to a satisfying marriage.

Wow. There’s so much more I could say about my eggshell theorem. I’m praying for you to regain your tender heart and the joy of true intimacy—starting with God and then working outward to your marriage and close friendships. You’ll be amazed by how the atmosphere can change.

Politics, it is said, can bring out the worst in us. And note the “us.”

We pick sides, and this year the sides have been legion at times. Once picked, we defend “our man” or “our woman” or “our cause” with vehemence.

At moments it seems like one giant virtual street fight. Verbal knives, chains, and guns are drawn. Everyone starts swinging, going for blood, or worse, in for the digital kill.

It’s at these times that I’m thankful this happens mostly in the not-so-OK corral of social media. Feelings are hurt but lives are spared. Albeit barely at times.

Thank goodness for small mercies.

It’s enough to put a lot of people off politics all together. The contentiousness is not attractive and definitely not viewed as productive.

In between the big-leap election years, bloody skirmishes can always be found in other arenas.

Beyond the brutal ugliness of politics

A couple of weeks ago, Tim Challies, a generally good guy, posted a cute little quip on his Facebook page, stating, “I never get tired of hearing about Alistair Begg’s visit to a megachurch. ‘I feel rotten, that’s how I feel. What have you got for me?’”

 The video he pointed to is this one:

In the video, Begg goes on a minutes-long rant about his on-a-lark visit to a larger, apparently well-known church. The service opened with a flourish and from there on was apparently quite rambunctious.

This, combined with the staging and perceived vapidness of the worship leader’s comments, set Begg’s teeth and more on edge. Added to this, it seems, by his own admission, Begg was already in a bad mood. (Frankly, I believe he was prepared to react as he did being biased against this type of worship.)

Like Challies, Alistair Begg is also a generally good guy (although when I listen to him speak in my mind I’m seeing Craig Ferguson). While I’ve not met Challies, I have met Begg.

While I was living in Cleveland, I was privileged to be one of a group from Metro Alliance Church who, at the invitation of our pastor, Juri Ammari, attended the 2010 Basics Conference: A Conference for Pastors on Preaching held at Begg’s church. It was a great experience.

The event included participation in a regularly scheduled church service. It was a good service but of a style that I was not drawn to. I never visited Begg’s church after that.

Nor did I make a YouTube video ranting about those style elements of the service that I was not drawn to. Ultimately, I have no issues with Begg or his church. He is a good guy and his is a good church; they are solid on substance.

I may not like your style but it's your substance that matters

To me, when it comes to my faith, substance -- the whole contextual substance -- of a service and the church that holds it, is far more important than style.

But, given that God created me (and you, and Begg, and Challies) with distinct personalities that have style preferences, I do make decisions about where I regularly worship with that preference in mind.

We all do it. And that’s okay.

What’s not okay is bashing each other over style variations. Or, just as bad, over non-essential doctrinal differences.

By non-essential I mean those finer points of doctrine that make our chosen belief systems unique and interesting, especially to us and those who agree with us, but that in no way at all determine our suitability for heaven.

They don’t add to or subtract from our salvation, sanctification, redemption, and all those central truths that make up solidly biblical, orthodox belief.

It’s when we -- and by we I mean Christians, especially those who fall into the accepted definition of true evangelical -- put style on the same level as substance that we get ourselves into trouble.

And the fights over these ephemera get absurdly bloody.

Begg’s rant is just a mild warm-up to what he really thinks of those who don’t worship as he prefers.

Put up your doctrinal dukes!

I’m not a theologian but I do enjoy reading and talking about theology. Still, I’m not an expert. But I know some stuff.

There are, as far as I can determine, two overarching theologies or doctrinal positions currently prevalent. You can label them as you wish.

One is Calvinism (aka Reformed) and the other is Arminian (which has nothing to do with Armenia).

From each of these massive limbs of well-rooted belief systems, many smaller branches have sprouted, each a variation on the theme of their limb. I’m not going to address these variegated offshoots. I’m hanging out only on the main limbs for now.

I lean Arminian. Always have, although I didn’t always know what Arminian meant. I’m still learning.

While I lean Arminian, I hang out with a lot of Calvinists of varying hues and stripes. They’re good people and I have no real issues with them. Usually.

There’s much about the Reformed way of looking at things I agree with and can embrace. But there are some finer points I’m just not convinced of, but these need have no impact on being able to enjoy fellowship with those who hold them.

Why? Because on the essentials -- those very critically important core truths that make up the heart of biblical orthodox belief -- we firmly agree.

Sadly, there are those in both camps who aren’t so amenable to agree to disagree, but insist that the other embrace everything they believe, or otherwise they are “wrong” and thus, outside of their self-drawn circle of orthodoxy.

More than once I’ve been reading a book written by a Calvinist that was good stuff. Until they suddenly started addressing, in a very much in-your-face manner, the narrow specifics of their Calvinist view while taking not-so-subtle swipes at Arminian belief.

At these points, the books are spoiled.

Can’t we all just get along?

In a previous (and relevant to today’s topic) blog post I wrote:

Francis A. Schaeffer stated that, “Though genuine Christians may, and in fact do, disagree over certain points of Christian thinking, there are absolute limits beyond which a Christian cannot go and still stand in the historic stream of Christianity.”

He agrees that there is room for variation of expression within these absolute limits, explaining “we should picture a circle within which there is freedom to move.”

Calvinists and Arminians are both well within that circle.

Scot McKnight mentions that some use the image of a “village green” while he uses the image of “a big tent”:

“The evangelical tent is big enough to welcome under its shade Calvinists and Arminians, anabaptists and charismatics, Anglicans and Methodists and Baptists, and I love it when Catholics and the Orthodox join.”

Whether circle, village green, or tent, we have a mandate about getting along within it.

Just before Jesus was crucified, he declared to his followers,

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, HCSB).

In the foreword to his excellent little book, The Mark of a Christian, which is essentially an exposition of these verses, Francis Schaeffer states,

“Christians have not always presented a pretty picture to the world. Too often they have failed to show the beauty of love, the beauty of Christ, the holiness of God. And the world has turned away.”

This is not a good thing.

The whole world is watching

Years ago, a church where I was a member was in crisis over what was essentially a stupid non-doctrine related issue. I’ll spare you the details. Things were getting heated. Emotions were out of control. It was getting personal and ugly.

Broken-hearted at what was happening, I felt compelled to write an open letter to the Board and the congregation. I quoted a lot from Schaeffer’s little book. The main thrust of the letter was, we’re not looking so good to those in the community we’re supposed to be ministering to.

My letter was ignored. The fight went on. The church split. And I’m not sure that the wounds are totally healed to this day.

The same kinds of mean-spirited skirmishes break out within the greater church on a regular basis. Voices are raised. Books are written. Sermons are preached. Arbitrary lines are drawn. And spiritual blood is needlessly spilt over thinly sliced doctrinal ephemera.

The laying on of hands is not meant to be fisticuffs, real or metaphorical!

Meanwhile, out there in the world to which we are called to be light and life, all that’s seen is ugliness and death.

And the world turns away. This should not be. There’s room at the cross for all which is where we should be leading the lost.

McKnight closes his excellent post stating:

“My brothers and sisters, because God in his mercy has made room for all of us at the cross and at the table, there’s room enough for all of us on the village green. Grace would make it so. We might not be able to agree on theology or in some of the finer points of our confessions, but the village green — evangelicalism — is covered by a big tent, and there’s room for all of us who call ourselves evangelicals.”

Yes, indeed.

As we watch in horror and decry the insanity, meanness, and downright brutal nastiness of our American political scene, let us not become self-righteous. Just as bad and worse plays out within this blessed milieu we know as the Body of Christ.

It’s neither healthy nor attractive when it does.

And yet we lament the downward spiral of church attendance and the increasing numbers of “nones.”

Perhaps the first place we need to make changes is within our own hearts and minds, avoiding even the appearance of this evil.

How about it?


=======
Okay, I’ll agree, Begg’s rant isn’t that bad, and I can agree with some of his points. Still, was it necessary to share from the pulpit? Does this kind of thing further the Gospel of Christ? Does it advance the Kingdom of God? Does it draw people to salvation? Could there be more appropriate and less public forums for addressing these kinds of issues? Shouldn’t all churches be focused on communicating a message of salvation and fostering an environment of biblical discipleship rather than seminars on how to choose the sides among the faithful? Please share your thoughts, nicely, in the comments!

“No person is in true health who cannot stand in the free air of heaven, with feet on God’s free turf, and thank the Creator for the simple luxury of physical existence.” (T. W. Higginson, 1823-1911, American clergyman and writer)

“A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most nearly perfect prayer.” (Gotthold Lessing, 1729-1781, German dramatist)

When the Lord overheard His chosen people griping, His wrath blazed up (Numbers 11:1). Dissatisfied, they wailed. Unappreciative of all He was doing for them—liberating them from slavery, transforming them into a new nation, guiding them to the Promised Land—they were greedy for more. To put it mildly, God did not like all that grumbling. And God still does not like whining.

We can take one of two basic attitudes toward life—we can be grumbly hateful or humbly grateful. Do we appreciate God’s rich provision? Do we trust Him to reinforce us to bear our burdens? Do we rely on His infinite power to solve our “impossible” difficulties? If we’re satisfied with what God gives us, we’ll be truly rich. Our thankful heart will fill our mouth with praise songs.

When life becomes a bitter pill, we should resist the urge to give in to the common human response of complain, complain, complain. If we bring our heartache to the Lord, His wounds will speak to ours and provide solace. The cure for chronic griping is to be thankful for every heartbeat, every breath, and every day God gives us.  

When sour notes make our days a dirge, God’s love can tune our heart to sing His grace.

When we wonder if God cares, if we lean on Him and be reenergized to soar like an eagle high above the complaining world below.

No matter what happens, we can always keep thankfulness alive in our heart. Being humbly grateful paves the path to contentment—the greatest blessing we can enjoy this side of heaven. 

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness to each generation.” (Psalm 100:4-5 NLT)

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

This devotion based on Day 81 of Gentle Whispers from Eternity

When I was a student at Dominion Junior High in Columbus, Ohio, I had a rather idyllic life and absolutely no concept of emotional wounds. But in the past few years I’ve found myself reflecting on the lessons I learned from a physical wound I experienced in gym class one morning.

We were running track events that day, something I never was very good at. While trying to jump over a hurdle on the school’s crude cinder track, I caught my foot and plummeted to the ground. Although the main thing hurt was my pride, I also incurred a bad scrape to my knee during this mishap.

This didn’t really seem like a big deal at the time. I just vowed to be more careful and jump a little higher the next time I ran over hurdles.

After gym class I took a shower and tried to wash my knee the best I could. I figured it would be red for a while, but certainly nothing serious.

However, a few days later, I noticed there was some white pus on the area of the grapefruit-sized wound. And by the following day, the original red wound couldn’t be seen at all—just a disgusting thick layer of yellowish white pus.  

Things got so bad that my mom had to take me to the doctor to address this repulsive condition. He warned that the infection might have spread throughout my body if I had waited any longer.

With the help of some antibiotics, the infection finally cleared up after about a week. But this experience provided a lesson I would never forget: Often our original wounds are relatively minor, but the secondary infections can cause us serious problems.

Emotional wounds work the same way. We’ve all been wounded emotionally at one time or another, to one degree or another. Just like my scraped knee in gym class that day, our emotional wounds are seldom debilitating or life-threatening in themselves.

However, I’ve met many people over the years who’ve allowed their emotional wounds to become infected. Because they weren’t diligent to keep the initial wound clean, toxic conditions such as unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness set in. What started as a temporary, treatable condition grew into something much more severe and chronic, robbing them of their joy and peace of mind.

If you’ve been emotionally wounded by traumatic events in your life, there’s no need to panic. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6), ready and able to heal your wounds. But you have a vital role to play in keeping the wound clean so a secondary infection doesn’t set in.

This means forgiving anyone who has hurt you, allowing the crystal clear waters of God’s love and mercy to regularly cleanse you of any resentment or bitterness. And if you see that some yucky white pus is developing at the site of the wound, you may need to ask God for spiritual antibiotics to keep the infection from taking over your life.

Is this an easy process? No, not at all. But the longer you wait, the harder the healing process will become.

And don’t be deluded by the old line that says, “Time heals all wounds.” That is only true if the site of the wound is kept free of secondary infections.

Remember that you aren’t the only one who has ever had to deal with infected emotional wounds. The Scriptures are full of instructions like this:

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 4:31-5:2).

My knee is perfectly fine today. There’s no on-going infection or scar. And I’m convinced our emotional scars can disappear as well.

But unforgiveness will delay your emotional healing or even lead to dangerous, widespread infection. You must allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart and cleanse away any remaining bitterness or toxicity from life’s traumas (Psalm 139:23-24).

Once your emotional wounds have been disinfected, you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. You may even be able to hurdle some obstacles you’ve been avoiding for years.

“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us.”

(Ephesians 5:2 NLT)

Unrung bells have not shown their purpose. Unsung songs have not blessed human ears. Love hoarded within a human heart has not proved its authenticity. Love is not really love until we give it away.

Not just once in a while or when the mood strikes us, but every day we should give ourselves away. Our entire life—hopes, possessions, attitudes, personality, and dreams—can become an offering honoring our Creator. The best way to begin every day is to surrender to God the most important gift we can ever give—our heart.

When we remember Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” we’ll be prompted to mirror His generous nature. Love will motivate us to give our best effort, deepest thoughts, kindest deeds, and greatest wealth. In Christ’s name we’ll love unselfishly, as He did.

Being a giving person exhibits our dedication to the Master of our heart. God loved the world so much He gave His Son. God is Love—the Giver of life, breath, and every perfect present. It is God’s nature to love—to the degree we are like God, it will be ours too.

What has God given us? He paid our ransom price from sin’s penalty with Christ’s precious blood. He gave us His Holy Spirit as our Coach. He is the Bread satisfying our soul’s deepest hunger. He paves boulevards of heaven with gold. He answers prayers sincerely directed to His throne. His Son suffered excruciating pain so we could be friends with our Father. The Lover of our soul continually gives us everything we need.

When we give more, we live more.  If we are not giving, we are not living.

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

This devotion based on Day 80 of Gentle Whispers from Eternity

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that most people are paralyzed or imprisoned in some way. No wonder the Bible tells so many stories about those who got healed of paralysis or set free from bondage and imprisonment.

When we read such Bible stories today, it’s easy to miss how these events apply to our lives. If we’ve never been physically paralyzed or lame, we can struggle to relate to the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12 or the lame man in Acts 3:1-12. And if we’ve never done jail time, we can assume there’s not much we can learn from Joseph’s release from an Egyptian dungeon (Genesis 39-40) or the supernatural prison breaks of Peter (Acts 12:1-19) and Paul and Silas (Acts 16:16-40).

But, you see, the imprisonment most people face today is emotional and spiritual rather than physical. They’ve been traumatized by their journey through life, whether through the consequences of their own bad decisions or through the unkind actions of others.

In John 20:19-29 Jesus’ disciples were locked in a self-imposed prison after experiencing the trauma of their Master’s unjust arrest, brutal beating, and horrific crucifixion. Today we sometimes call those events “Good Friday,” but there seemed nothing “good” about the cross of Calvary at the time. The disciples were understandably devastated, gathered together behind locked doors because of fear of the Jewish leaders.

Suddenly Jesus appeared to these shell-shocked men. Although preachers sometimes say, based on Revelation 3:20, that Jesus always knocks before entering our situation, that’s simply not true. This time He just came right on in, bypassing every defense mechanism in order to release these traumatized followers from their emotional bondage.

This is one of the most pivotal scenes in the entire Bible. It’s not an overstatement to say that the whole fate of the church and the expansion of God’s kingdom rested on what would happen in the lives of these shattered men.

The disciples had left everything to follow Jesus, believing that their lives would ultimately change the world. Now their dreams seemed to have reached a cruel dead end. Dazed and confused, they were very unlikely candidates for any kind of heroic, world-changing mission.

So how did Jesus turn the worst of times into the best of times for these emotionally damaged followers? He addressed four different snares that were holding these men in spiritual captivity:

1. FEAR – Not just once, but twice, Jesus told them, “Peace be with you.” And when they “saw the Lord,” their fear and anguish were replaced with great joy. If you are feeling “stuck” in some area of your life today, it’s likely that fear is one of the things holding you back. Just as He did for the disciples, Jesus wants to penetrate your closed doors and replace your fear with faith, and your anxiety with His peace and joy.
2. PURPOSELESSNESS – These men who had taken such bold steps to leave their careers and families in order to change the world with Jesus were now left without a purpose or a vision. They had abandoned and denied their Savior in His hour of need, and now their traumatized condition seemed to disqualify them from any significant usefulness in His plan. Nevertheless, Jesus re-commissioned and affirmed them with fresh vision and purpose: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” What an encouraging story for us today. Even when we feel like failures, unusable by God, He can reaffirm our calling and give us a new commission to impact the world.
3. WEAKNESS – In addition to a lack of purpose, Jesus’ disciples were suffering from a lack of power. A new commission would have fallen on deaf ears unless they also received new empowerment. Recognizing their need, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In their own strength, they never would have been able to fulfill His majestic plan for their lives—nor can you or I. But, empowered by the Spirit, we can transform the world (Acts 1:8, Philippians 4:13).
4. FORGIVENESS ISSUES – Jesus showed them His wounds, proof that they had been forgiven by His shed blood. But then He talked to them about their calling to extend His forgiveness to OTHERS. If you are in some kind of spiritual prison today, there’s a good chance that forgiveness is one of the keys needed to set you free. Perhaps you need to RECEIVE God’s full forgiveness of your past, releasing you from any guilt, shame, or condemnation. Or maybe you are still locked in emotional bondage because you’ve not yet forgiven someone who has hurt you. Either way, forgiveness is an indispensable key to your spiritual and emotional freedom.

I encourage you to read this list again, asking God to show you which of these four keys are needed to help you get unstuck and ready to fulfill your destiny as a follower of Christ.

Perhaps you’ve been hiding out behind closed doors for a long time now, traumatized by some experience that has been hard to shake. But if Jesus could take these distraught men from the shadow of the cross to the glory of resurrection life, surely He can transform your life and give you a new beginning.

Like Jesus’ disciples, you may seem like an unlikely world-changer today. But once He has freed you from fear, given you fresh vision, empowered you by His Spirit, and dealt with your forgiveness issues, your life can be amazing. You don’t have to wait any longer!

Fear is a major part of life. It is both bad and good, sometimes crippling us, other times protecting us. Not even the bravest among us is exempt from fear. We fear everything from what others do to us, to what we might do to ourselves. We fear words, feelings, impressions, reactions, the unknown, the uncomfortable, and the unsure. According to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt we even have a fear of fear itself. This is not new. In biblical times God reminded Israel, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God” (Isaiah 41:10). The angels said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (Luke 2:10). The resurrected Lord said to His disciples, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:5). Paul reminded Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). So what do we do with fear? Max Lucado asked, “Can you imagine a life with no fear? What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?” Faith vs. fear! Now there’s a solution. If only I could have faith in the face of fear. I’ll work on that this week.

"By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." (Hebrews 11:3 NLT)

University of Cambridge theoretical physicists recently simulated how a  ring-shaped black hole could cause Einstein’s theory of relativity to break down. Ring-shaped black holes were “discovered” in 2002.  Now their dynamics have been successfully simulated using supercomputers. Should this type of black hole form, they say it would lead to a“naked singularity", causing equations behind general relativity to break down.

Einstein’s theory—the foundation of modern physics—tells us that matter warps its surrounding spacetime. Gravity is the name we give to the effect of that warp. Understanding of gravity forms the basis of the estimation of the age of the stars and GPS signals we rely on to help us navigate.

Relativity theory has been accepted as absolutely true for the last century. But now physicists admit one of its limitations is the existence of singularities--points in space and time where gravity is so intense that the laws of physics do not apply.

General relativity predicts that singularities exist at the center of black holes. Those black holes are surrounded by an event horizon--the "point of no return" where gravitational pull is so strong that escape is impossible (meaning they cannot be observed from the outside). A Cambridge researcher stated that as long as singularities stay hidden behind an event horizon, general relativity holds. Theoretical physicists believe this is always the case, because of what they name "cosmic censorship conjecture.”

But what if a singularity existed outside an event horizon? It would be visible from the outside and would represent an object that has collapsed to an infinite density, a state causing laws of physics to break down. Theoretical physicists hypothesize that such a thing, called a naked singularity, might exist in higher dimensions. We think of the universe as existing in 3 dimensions, plus a fourth dimension of time, together referred to as spacetime. But in some branches of theoretical physics, the universe could be made up of as many as 11 dimensions, which are inferred in high energy experiments.

If naked singularities exist, physicists admit that the theory of general relativity breaks down. If general relativity breaks down, it would throw everything upside down, because it would no longer have any predictive power and would no longer be considered a standalone theory to explain the universe.

It is evident that Christians are not the only ones who live by faith. Theoretical physicists research on the basis of theories, prediction, and conjecture. Supercomputers simulate theories. Einstein’s equations are based on theory. Einstein said, "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

Here are a few questions for the researchers. If singularities and event horizons cannot be observed from the outside, how can we know for sure they actually exist? What force designed “cosmic censorship”? Does the predictability of the universe not lend credence to the existence of God? Why do some scientists ridicule Christians who believe in the unseen God, while they conduct research on the basis of what cannot be observed? Since no one can demystify the cosmos, is it not wise to worship its Creator? Does the fundamental principle of quantum physics ("First you believe, then you see") not indicate scientists also operate by faith?

In our humanity, we should be humble to the point of admitting our ignorance before the omnipotent and omniscient Creator. Einstein said, "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together." (Colossians 1:15-17 NLT)

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

Death is not just the end of life—it is the returning of life to its Creator. It is not a loss, but a fulfillment. All the laying down of all the pieces of our lives are but a rehearsal for that moment.

No wonder Paul says, “[W]e would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Sometimes we just want to jump to the end. Even for a coward like myself, the idea of martyrdom seems noble, even romantic. But if we’re not willing to die to ourselves right now, it’s a fairly safe bet that we wouldn’t lay down our physical lives if we were ever called to do so.

On the other hand, when we lay down every claim we have to our lives—which, after all, has been the thrust of this entire book—we’re free to be used of God in any way he chooses, up to and including martyrdom. No matter what God calls us to actually do at that point, our obedience will not seem spectacular to us but normal.

More than likely, what we’ll be called to—and are already called to—is to die anew every day, to crucify the flesh day by day and moment by moment. Not only that, but to live that death outwardly, so that we can “let [our] light shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Even here on earth, there is a life beyond all this dying. First John 3:16–18 gives us a glimpse into dying to self, and to what our lives should look like beyond that death:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Before we head toward the finish line of this book—and at the same time, see how far we’ve already come—let’s spend one more day in the Sermon on the Mount. Remember that Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17, 20). He proceeds to break that down for us throughout the rest of that chapter—anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retribution, loving others. “You have heard it said… but I say…” All of it is about dying to ourselves, rather than clinging to our lives (especially by outwardly conforming to the law).

Our only hope is in Jesus, and following where he leads. “[T]he gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). The way that leads to life leads through death to ourselves—and by giving our lives for others. Paul puts it even more bluntly:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life…

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace….

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living (Romans 6:3–4, 12–14; 14:7–9).

We lay the entirety of our lives down, as Jesus did, because of the hope of new life—eternal, incorruptible, irreversible, and communal. Even now, he is both Lord of the dead and of the living. Eternal life starts now. So let us get on with dying, that “we too might walk in newness of life.”

Lay It Down Today

I’m leaving today’s assignment(s) rather open. The first piece is between you and God; the second is a longer-term challenge that I hope you’ll accept.

First, spend some time dwelling on our passages from Romans. How is God calling you to be “instruments for righteousness”? What still needs to die for you to fulfill that calling? Where do you need to trust God and just walk, regardless of the consequences? Where do you need to accept that “you are not under law but under grace” and get on with it? Spend some time praying about this. Ask God (“and you shall receive”) to give you the clarity and courage to “walk in newness of life.”

By the way, congratulations on spending the week in the Sermon on the Mount. I assume you’ve already been challenged pretty hard by Jesus’ message. Here’s my additional challenge: Commit to memorizing the entire sermon. Give yourself a chance, even if you think you can’t do this. At the very least, take on the Beatitudes. See how God might use it. I’m just about done myself, and it hasn’t been easy—in fact, it’s taken me three and a half months—but I can tell you that it’s been a convicting, difficult, yet steadily transforming experience. You’ll spend time wrestling with Jesus’ words in ways that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

You can spend a lifetime dealing with everything Jesus says here—and if you’re smart, you will. For “[e]veryone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:24–25). Seriously consider this challenge, and then do what you think best. And good luck!

The Beatles weren’t far from mark when they declared, “All You Need Is Love.” The apostle Paul said practically the same thing in Romans 13:10, saying that “love is the fulfillment of the law.”

So, are YOU in love? That’s an important question, and not just in the days surrounding Valentine’s Day. If you’re married, I certainly hope you can say yes to this question, but I’m referring to a love that goes even beyond that—an “in love” state of mind that every follower of Jesus is supposed to experience, whether married or single.

So how can we go deeper than the world’s superficial concept of being “in love”—typically a phrase used just in the context of romantic or emotional love?

I decided to do a search on BibleGateway.com and found some fantastic “in love” passages. Here’s a small sample, including my observations about how the principles apply to our lives today:

  (Ephesians 5:2).

• Love is not just a feeling or even just a matter of words—it’s something we’re called to walk in and live out. When we do this, our lives will emit the sweet fragrance of Christ instead of less-appealing odors.

  (1 John 4:16).

• Since God is love, there’s no way to maintain an intimate relationship with Him without abiding in love. And the word “abide” means that love is not meant to be a sporadic series of emotional, spiritual, or physical encounters, but rather a continual, unending connection.

  (1 John 4:18).

• Fear and love are mortal enemies. Fear tries to undercut love, but God’s love can destroy our fears. Let’s not allow fear to hold us back from reaching out in love to others.

  (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

• Our love is not supposed to diminish over time—it’s supposed to “increase and abound.” Is that happening with your love?

Of course, there are many other Bible passages about love. I even noticed this verse saying that “older men” (like me!) are supposed to be in love: “…  (Titus 2:2).

So let me ask you again…

Are you in love? If you still aren’t sure how to answer, I encourage you to take the LOVE TEST in 1 Corinthians 13 (MSG paraphrase). From what we read in the book of Acts, walking “in love” doesn’t seem to have been easy for the apostle Paul. But he realized its importance nevertheless: “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love” (v. 3).

What an incredible statement: Without love, our lives are surely “bankrupt.”

Paul goes on to give us a very detailed description of love’s characteristics:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies (vs. 4-8).

How did you do on this LOVE TEST? If you’re like me, you still fall short in many ways. But that’s another thing I like about the song from Brigadoon. Instead of saying we’ve fully mastered this thing called love, it only describes our experience as “almost” like being in love.

The LOVE TEST ends with Paul’s conclusion at the beginning of the next chapter: “Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does.” So true, Paul. So true.  

“As he was approaching Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.”

(Acts 9:3 NLT)

After five years of devastating civil war in Syria, the same old sad pattern of despair drags on. Talks do not solve the tragedy. Words do not end the war. Diplomacy does not stop the dying.  

The Munich Security Conference has scheduled a “cessation of hostilities” brokered by the United States and Russia. This is supposed to happen by the end of the week, but combat is only intensifying.

The agreement requires opposition groups to stop fighting, but allows the assault on Aleppo to continue for another week. It permits Russia to keep bombing rebels opposing Syrian President Assad. Senator John McCain says this is “diplomacy in the service of military aggression.”

Many doubt that the cease fire will hold, considering the dominant role of Russian airstrikes. Syrian government and Kurdish forces, under cover of Russian air strikes, are encircling the eastern half of Aleppo, which is under rebel control. Since Assad’s authoritarian regime has ruthlessly murdered over two hundred thousand of his own people, it is difficult to imagine peace as long as he is in power. Millions of refugees are fleeing their homes, feeling they have no other choice if they are to save their lives.  

This morning, a children’s hospital and school in northern Syria were struck by missiles thought to be delivered by Russian planes, killing 14 people. A few hours ago, a Doctors without Borders hospital in northern Syria was hit by four rockets, killing nine doctors and workers and leaving five staff members unaccounted for.

Today’s news reports that ISIS is using chemical weapons against its enemies. Saudi Arabia is poised to enter the fray, using its military jets to fight Islamic State militants. Turkey and Qatar are considering deploying ground troops. Turkish artillery is attacking Syrian government forces. Mercy Corps, an humanitarian aid group, is frustrated trying to deliver food to residents in besieged cities. An American State Department official described all this as “a confused situation.” Indeed.

Syria (Aram, “the high land” in Hebrew), about the size of Scotland, is mentioned over 150 times in Scripture, mostly in the context of war. Abraham, on his way from Mesopotamia to the Promised Land, lived in Syria temporarily. Balaam, hired to curse Israel, called Syria home. David subdued Damascus. Israelite kings Joash and Jehoash managed victories over Syria’s rulers. Syria has been governed in turn by Assyria, Pharaoh Necho, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Seleucus, Rome, Persia, the Turks, Crusaders. Saladin, Tamerlane, the Ottoman Empire, Bonaparte, and Turkey. In 1868, Syria was attacked by the Druses, who killed 12,000 people and destroyed hundreds of villages.

The current fighting is supposed to cease by week’s end. Will the pandemonium give way to peace? Will suffering people “living in a land where death casts its shadow” see a great light? (Isaiah 9:2)

Luke mentions that when Jesus was born, Quirinius governed Syria. Matthew refers to Isaiah’s prophecy concerning God’s Servant who will bring justice to the nations, one whose name will be the hope of all the world (Matthew 12:17-21). On the road to Damascus, Saul was transformed into Paul—emissary for One able to bring peace to human hearts, a peace he himself experienced.   

Damascus, reputedly the oldest continuously existing city in the world, serves as capital to Syria, a country that has known very little tranquility. Followers of the Prince of Peace pray that diplomats attempting to negotiate cease-fires in that perpetual war zone will discern a light from heaven—illuminating their minds with wisdom to broker more than a temporary truce. Believers in the One whose name is above all other names hope God will speed the day when Christ rules heaven on earth from the capital of the new Jerusalem—the long-awaited time when the world’s government will rest on his shoulders and finally there is lasting peace in a world for so long heartbroken by war.  

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

It seems a person of my age should have figured out everything by now. But in some ways the opposite is true—I’m more aware than ever of life’s mysteries.

The writer of Proverbs 30 seemed to have a similar experience, marveling about the things he couldn’t really understand:

There are three things that amaze me—
    no, four things that I don’t understand:

how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman (vs. 18-19 NLT).

This man was humble enough to recognize he didn’t “know it all.” He was still in awe of God’s wonder-filled creation.

First, he watched an eagle soaring high in the sky, without even flapping its wings. That’s impossible! the writer thought to himself. The eagle is flying higher and higher, without exerting any effort at all.

Of course, eagles are a picture of our lives as believers. The Bible says we can gain new strength and rise up as eagles when we wait on the Lord, relying on His power rather than our own (Isaiah 40:28-31). Just like the mystery of an eagle’s flight, the Christian life is meant to be supernatural and amazing, rather than a matter of strain and struggle (Colossians 1:27).

Next, the writer of Proverbs 30 sees a snake rapidly slithering across a rock. How does it do that?! he wondered. Snakes have no legs, after all. Like the effortless flight of eagles, the movement of a snake seems almost magical.

The ability of ships to navigate the oceans was also bewildering for the writer. If ships could only go in the direction of the winds, that would be understandable. However, he observed that ships frequently travel against the headwinds and the ocean currents. They are able to make progress toward their intended destination even when circumstances make matters difficult.

This is another great picture of the Christian life. We don’t have to drift helplessly in the water, nor must we be blown about by the shifting winds of our culture. Against all odds, we can set our sails to catch the breeze of God’s Spirit, and we can set our rudder to achieve our life’s purpose.

Finally, the writer comes to the most humbling, most baffling, most incredible mystery of all: love between a man and a woman. Even if you can figure out the wondrous mysteries of eagles, snakes, and ships, only a person of extreme hubris claims to fully understand the dynamics of male-female relationships.

Well, actually, I used to understand women pretty well—when I was in my twenties and still single! I even recorded a Bible study message explaining it all. Yes, I had women figured out back then, and I was happy to tell anyone who would listen.

Oh well…

Hopefully I’m not the only one who is still struggling with life’s mysteries. Are there still some things “too wonderful” for YOU to understand? If so, that’s fantastic! May you never lose your sense of wonder and amazement. And may you always recognize your need to rely on the Lord rather than on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Remember: In this life we’re destined to merely know “in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). Someday in heaven, though, we’ll be able to ask God about all the mysteries we were never able to figure out.

I am becoming increasingly convinced, as I get older, that God does not demand our obedience simply because it honors him. That is, of course, a true and healthy reason to do it; and I wouldn’t even bothering arguing with someone who insists that it is the primary reason. Still, as I come to more deeply experience God’s love, I’d suggest that God demands our obedience because he wants us to become the people we were truly created to be.

Because only God sees the final picture, he’s therefore the only one capable of making it happen. Without our obedience—our submission to God’s vision of us, which is far bigger than anything we can come up with—the end result is a tragedy that only God can comprehend and experience the full depths of. The suffering we see and experience is but a rough fragment of that. In fact, I think that’s why Jesus became so angry with the Pharisees. They saw a broken law as an excuse to claim superiority. Jesus saw it as a sin so profound that only he could die to remove it.

Yet we insist on pursuing our own ways, our own visions of life. After all, we live in the Land of Opportunity, Where Dreams Come True®. All sarcasm aside, sometimes our dreams are God-given. Even then, however, they are God’s to dispense with as he pleases.

God has often blessed us by giving us the desires of our hearts. The thing about following Jesus, though, is that he keeps us moving. We’re never going to reach our destination here on earth. If we’re following Jesus, we’re always going to be moving forward, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. Moving forward almost always means leaving things behind—even good things. At the very least, as Jesus changes us, our relationships with whatever or whoever comes along with us will also be changed.

As Jesus changes us, we also begin to let go of whatever keeps us from following him wholeheartedly. As we’ve seen, sometimes that’s sin; sometimes it’s our personal agendas or ambitions; sometimes we need to let go of lifelong dreams because they’ve become our idols. Sometimes, however, we even need to let go of good things, so that God can give us something even better—or transform those good things into something even better. In fact, God often doesn’t show us “the better thing” until we’ve given him what he’s asked us to give him.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it in The Cost of Discipleship, “The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world…. We must face up to the truth that the call of Christ does set up a barrier between man and his natural life.”

We must be careful not to love our dreams for their own sake. We are to love the One who gives us those dreams and takes joy in fulfilling them, and share in his joy. Our joy and our longing are not always related. The joy produced by longing also delivers the promise of fulfillment, while longing without joy usually devolves into depression, decadence, or both, depending on your moral inclinations. It is the joy of God’s fulfillment, not the longing toward the dream’s fulfillment, which should be desired.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7–11).

We have a long way to go. Whatever dreams we have right now, even the ones God has placed in our hearts, are but “see[ing] in a mirror dimly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). They’re an infinitesimally small part of an infinitely larger picture. So lay down your dreams, so God can create what he intends from them.

Lay It Down Today

Reread Philippians 3:7–14. What’s the one thing—no matter how good or bad it is in itself—that you sense God is calling to you to surrender? What better thing(s) do you sense, even now, God may want to give you? And even if your answer to one or both of those questions is “I don’t know,” are you willing to trust God anyway?

If something did come to mind in response to that first question, decide now in your heart to commit that thing to God. Decide that no matter how many times you might fail—how many times you take that thing back—that you’ll trust God more and more to help you to let it go. Then, ask God to help you receive what he wants to give you. If you’re comfortable doing so, turn your palms downward as if you’re releasing that thing. Then, turn your palms upward to receive what God wants to give you—even if you have no idea what it is. It might even be that same thing, only changed. But let God have his way with it

Workplace Discipleship: The Command

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age." Amen. Mat 28:18-20 NKJV

For the past several years, the Lord has been teaching me much about discipleship in my place of employment and He continues to teach me every day. I am grateful for the opportunity to share these lessons with people who are passionate about discipleship and to hear of your experiences around these same topics. With this audience, I would guess much of what I share may be something you have already heard or done. However, there may be those who have not yet heard this message of how to apply the "Great Commission" to the workplace and how to engage in this ministry within their place of employment and so I am praying the Lord will use this blog to encourage you to make disciples in your workplace.

When considering the Great Commission, all of us would eventually end up in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus' final command to them was to "Go and make disciples…" but for some reason this portion of scripture has been used to apply mostly to "foreign missions" which leaves 98% of us who are not missionaries or in "full-time" Christian vocation either focused on discipleship within our churches  or totally disregarding the command altogether. For the longest time, this is what I thought as well. As a child, I dreamed about being a missionary, but as I prepared for college I had the sense that God said "no", (how I got to that decision is a long story that I don't want to get into right now) so I thought I would do everything I could possibly do to support missions: give, pray, write, encourage. They were my heroes. You could say that I had a heart for missions and missionaries.

I had this pattern in my life for quite some time until one day I started to really study what these verses were saying and how they applied to me and it totally changed my perspective on the Great Commission. I won't provide the "book" version of what the Lord showed me, but will just share several key points in my study.

• The Great Commission is a command that applies to me. There are several verbs in this passage that are pretty direct. Being from NJ originally, I appreciate a very direct communication style, which these verses provide. "Go", "make disciples", baptize, teach. This is not something that missionaries and pastors are responsible to do; it is something we are all commanded to do.
• "Go" - I used to think this meant you had to leave your home and go to a foreign land because that is how it was always used, however, when you look at the Greek word, it actually speaks about "as you go on your journey" or AS you are going you are to make disciples. This was the big ah-ha moment for me. All of a sudden the command to make disciples applied to me, even though I wasn't a missionary. Not only that, but it applied to wherever I was…when I was a stay-at-home mom, that's where the application was; when I went into the workplace, the command to make disciples followed me there. Wherever we go, wherever we are, we are to make disciples. Wow!!!
• "Make disciples" - what does that mean exactly? What is a disciple? I looked it up…a disciple is one that accepts (adheres to) and helps to spread the teachings/doctrines of another. This phrase then was not one activity (i.e. preaching); it was a process or a series of activities. First, in order to be a disciple, you have to accept the doctrines of another, which means, you have to BE a believer of the gospel. Secondly, in order to be a disciple you have to "spread" the gospel, which means, evangelism or "WINning" souls. Lastly, in order to be a disciple, you have to teach; that means "MAKE" them understand the doctrines/teachings of Christ (one of them being baptism).

That process of discipleship: Be One, Win One, Make One has become my motto and what drives me every day. In the next series entries, I am going to share what these activities really mean and how they can be applied to the workplace.

Dr Thom Ranier recently wrote “Five Common Reasons Church Members Burnout”. 

 His points in his blog were:

1. The church does not have clear purposes or vision. Many times the busyness of church life is not the problem; it is the lack of clarity of the vision of the church. Give church members a clear “why” to the ministry they do, and many will never grow weary of the work.
   
   
2. The church has certain activities because “we’ve always done it that way before.” Few things lead to burnout more quickly than asking a member to be a part of something that has ceased to be useful to the church. “I was on a committee that met every month,” one church member told me. “But our committee never accomplished anything. If the committee disappeared tomorrow, very few people would notice.”
   
   
3. Too few members doing most of the ministry. This issue is both a symptom and a cause. In most established churches, about 90 percent of the ministry is done by one-third of the members.
   
   
4. The church does not celebrate enough. Celebrations are great motivators to continue the labor and ministry. They remind us of God’s provisions and His victories working through us.
   
   
5. The church has no clear expectations of membership. In most of our churches, we expect little or nothing of our members, and that is exactly what we get. It is imperative for churches to have a new members’ class or entry point class that provides both information and expectations.

The five reasons listed by Dr. Ranier are a good starting place but the next four reasons will call on your Church to focus on the real purpose of being called a Christian – “Doing Ministry”.  The Great Commission was not given to the church or any one church and it was definitely not given to any one organization…  It was given to the followers of Christ.  Jesus intended his commission to call to his followers and to empower them to go into the world and make a difference and make disciples. 

The Church has actually never made a disciple; instead, it has been the People in the Church.

If we believe, it is people that do ministry and not the Church we need to address members.

Why do members get burned out?

1. Members have either not received a “Call” to a ministry or have not followed through on the call they have received.  If you talk to people who are not serving in any ministry position in your church the common answer for “Why are you not serving?” is “I don’t know what to do,” or “no one has asked me to serve.”  Unfortunately, most Pastors and Ministers do not know what you are called to either.

2. Members burn out because they either do not believe in, or have a passion for, the ministry or task they are performing in your church.  As the Church, the organization, we have a responsibility to lead members into using the passions they have in serving God.  Why did Jesus tell Peter, James and John that he wanted to make them fishers of men?  Because they loved fishing, they were passionate about it.  Notice that Jesus never called any of his disciples to do ministry that they were not passionate about or in which they were not skilled.

3. Give people freedom to minister.  Too often, I find people doing the work the Pastor or Missions committee believes in but the church body does not share the same level of commitment.  Why is that?  Is it lack of leadership or a desire for too much control?  Should we be afraid of letting our members do the ministry to which they have been called?  When Jesus sent the 72 disciples out in Luke 10 he did not limit them in any way.  He taught them and then empowered them to do ministry.  He trusted them to do what the Spirit led them to do.

4. People get burned out and drop out when they are serving in a ministry for which they are poorly prepared.  Have you had the experience of getting people to fill a slot because you have to have so many people on a committee or in a ministry role but knowing they did not have any skills or desire necessary to be successful in that ministry position?  If you have been in ministry long, you must have seen this in your churches.

Dr. Ranier is correct when he points out that some churches need to get rid of outdated programs or ministries that no longer are viable.  With such limited resources, the Church must define itself and pour resources into productive efforts and ministries. 

So how do we find the workers to carry out these ministries?  The answer if not as hard as we try to make it.  Business has known for a long time your best employees are those that believe in the product or service they make or sell and have a passion for what they build, sell or produce.  Employees that are informed of the goals of the company  and the benefit for reaching that goal are also the best producing employees and finally, employees that are trained or have a history in the area of work are also the best employees.

So the question is, why don’t we learn these lessons and apply them to the work of ministry?

Some churches have tried to use Spiritual Gifts Inventories to give members a look into their spiritual makeup and help them as they seek out ministry opportunities.  Many churches find these frustrating because after the assessment there is no means of guiding a person to a ministry that matches their gifts.

Passions inventories are much the same.  Either the passions are too limited and do not truly reflect the person and the life issues about which they are truly passionate. 

Can you name the people in your church that are passionate about Facebook, Twitter or Linked in?  How would you use these passions in performing ministry and missions?  Who is passionate about cooking, writing, singing, sewing or any other activity that are people engage themselves?  Again, the traditional assessments do not measure these passions or assist the Pastor or Church in guiding people to a real ministry opportunity.

New software can now be utilized by the church organization that provides insight and guidance for church ministers to help members find an appropriate area of service. 

AIM can identify a person’s Passions from a list of 202 unique activities http://aiministry.com/passions

                Spiritual Gifts Inventories based on 7, 9, 16, 20 or 23 gifts (your choice) http://aiministry.com/spiritual-gifts-definitions

                156 Skills in 9 categories clearly identify what your church member know and how they work in your organization.   http://aiministry.com/skills-definitions

                291 Vocations and job history complete the assessments.   http://aiministry.com/vocation

The most exciting feature of this software is the ability to generate a Ministry Profile that actually searched a database of 275 ministry opportunities and determines the best matches for an individual.

Now, does this mean you have to have all these ministries?  NO!   But, you now have a tool that gives you tremendous insight into your members and what they are Equipped for, Skilled in, Passionate about and Gifted.  This has never been available before but churches that can define their mission and equip their opportunities with members that are Skilled, Passionate, Gifted and prepared through past vocations, will see volunteers that will have fewer people dropping out due to burn out.

For more information visit http://aiministry.com or email dale@aiministry.com

In the name above all other names we are blessed beyond words with lavish provision—life, health, spouse, children, friends, and heaven. The Lord spangles our nights with constellations, not just single stars. He fills our life with blessing after blessing, not just an occasional token. He designs our days with hours for celebration, not merely a moment of joy once in a while. Enjoying God’s gifts, we experience true prosperity—so we live thankfully.

In the name above all other names we are blessed with round-the-clock protection. Our Savior watches over us 24/7 and holds us in omnipotent hands. Overshadowing us with wings of unfailing love, Christ guards us from dark forces intent on our destruction—so we live trustingly.  

In the name above all other names we are blessed with God’s pleasure. Our Heavenly Father blesses us by his friendly smile, always looking favorably on us; He blesses us by his encouraging smile, shining graciously on us; He blesses us by his smile of approval, rewarding us at mile markers of progress—so we live triumphantly.

In the name above all other names we are blessed with the Lord’s pardon. Through Jesus’ death in our place, we have mercy and eternal significance. We could not live without him; we are glad we do not have to. Honest to God, we are forgiven—so we live transparently.

In the name above all other names we are blessed with dependable promises. Pessimists size up the world situation as hopeless; but with eyes of the heart we detect faint rays of the dawning of heaven’s bright future. When paradise is restored, we will realize peace was not achieved because of military or political strategies, but because God kept his Word. We trust the God who cannot lie—so we live tenaciously.

In the name above all other names we are blessed with perfect peace—heaven’s enduring gift, not the world’s temporary high. This peace of mind defies explanation and definition, but we experience it as we focus our thoughts on the Prince of peace. Because of Jehovah’s benediction, we are at ease—so we live tranquilly.

Johnny R. Almond

Interim Pastor, Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Blog http://GentleWhispersFromEternity-ScripturePersonalized.com/

This devotion based on Day 79 of Gentle Whispers from Eternity