Dealing with the Dumps

The other day, I was in "the dumps".  You know what I mean, that time when you are feeling down, but you're not crying-in-your-Wheaties depressed...just flat, emotionless, numb-to-the-world-but-still-functional kind of funk.  Things just weren't right.  And I wasn't sure how to fix it.  Now, I've been working (not very hard) on losing weight, so I'm still a little addicted to food.  When I drove past some red, poultry-styled scrollwork and my 3 year-old squealed "Chicken Flay!", I was very tempted to blow twenty bucks on some fried goods which would undoubtedly temporarily reduce my blues but less-temporarily inflate my waistline.  I passed it up, and as I munched on a good old peanut butter and honey sandwich I wondered if there was a better way to deal with a case of the dumps.

As I read in my time with God today, Moses had a similar issue and handled it poorly.  In Numbers 20:1-13, Moses and Aaron are handling a bevy of complaints from the some-odd 2 million Israelite nomads they are leading through the desert.  The people are screaming and whining that their food isn't good enough and there isn't enough water.  God then miraculously makes a way for Moses to bring forth water from a rock near a place called Meribah by simply speaking to the rock...how cool is that?  But Moses doesn't give God credit and just hits the rock.  God still made water flow from the rock in a crazy-awesome show of his power and love but Moses and Aaron are punished for not following instructions.

I'm sure Moses was having a pretty cruddy day. I'm sure he was tired.  I'm sure he was frustrated.  Plus, his sister just died so he was grieving.  Moses was in the dumps, in a big way.  But when God gave him a way out of his dumpy situation, he decided not to pay attention.  Striking the rock was done in an act of upset frustration: "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?!"  I'm sure this gushing rock rewarded Moses with a few "oohs" and "aahs", but it put distance between him and the One who could've fixed the whole thing, and not only did he regret it for the rest of his life, this Meribah Mess was highlighted for generations as a famous failure of faith.

When the dumps descend, it's tempting to go for the easy fix, especially the one you do on your own.  Like an addict who thinks they can just "white knuckle" it instead of hitting up the AA group, we think that the situation we worked ourselves into we can work ourselves out of.  We forget that we need a Savior, and not just to go to heaven when we die.  We need a Savior when the budget is covered in red ink.  We need a Savior when our spouse isn't giving us the love/respect/time we think we deserve.  We need a Savior when we're burned by church.  We need a Savior when the car won't start, when the A/C goes out, when the promotion doesn't come, and when the diagnosis does.  We need a Savior, every day.

The dumps are an opportunity to return to the One who created happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction.  Run to Him, listen to Him, and follow instructions.  It's the longest lasting dumps defense I know.

The Cure for Heart-Sickness

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12

I am often amazed by people who say "I'm thirsty!" and reach for a Coke. They seek to satisfy thirst with a drink that will only make them more thirsty! Our hearts get sick when things don't turn out the way we think they should. Our hearts get sick when our hearts are set upon circumstances working out as we hope they do. But many of us try to alleviate that sickness through exercising greater self-control.

What if our desires shifted? What if instead of wishing for greater control over our lives and the ability to mold and shape out families, careers, churches in our preferred image we looked to God as the source of our hope? Happy circumstances are sometimes absent, but God never is. If our hope is in Him, our heats never have to be sick. If you don't like your job, take it to God and see what He is teaching you...do not leave until you have learned everything He had to teach you there. If your paycheck doesn't have enough zeroes for your taste, seek enjoyment and contentment in God to help you live simply so that God's passions rather than dollar signs would guide your career decisions. If your family is in chaos rally around the cross and seek together the hope that is available day in and day out. 

He will never leave not forsake us, and He is always there to provide relief for our heart-sickness, if we will stop drinking Coke and come to the living water to slake our thirst.

Zzzzzzzz

OK, I've been offline like crazy in these blog posts.  I am committing to putting something up every week this year.  That's 52 posts, people, and I'm already like a week behind!  I hope that whatever is written here will inspire, entertain, and generally lighten those who read it...praying for good inspiration this year!  Anyway, thanks to anyone who takes a gander here, and if you like what you see, I promise you'll see more of it in 2013.  Peace and Amen!

Dealing with Opposition

"Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." - 2 Timothy 4:14-18

Whenever you're doing something right, there will be opposition. Count on it. Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble, Paul said that anyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted, and the explicit promise of suffering for living a gospel life is in all books of the New Testament except for one (1 Timothy...but 2 Timothy makes up for it by mentioning suffering in every chapter!).

1. We will encounter opposition. But how do we deal with it? Paul gives a great example here:
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1. He calls out the opposition leader by name, but leaves all the others out of it. This is not to spite the man, but to warn everyone else that he's trouble. He's not trying to hurt the individual, but rather protect the community.
2. He forgives: "May it not be held against them." Like Jesus on the cross and Stephen under the stones, he prays for his enemies' forgiveness. Who have you been conflicting with? Try praying that prayer.
3. He relies upon God for restoration and rescue.
4. He stays committed to the mission. He didn't let conflict drift his focus. No matter what, the Gentiles were going to hear the gospel from his lips!

If you're living for Christ, you will be opposed today. It would be naive to expect that your company, your gym, your family, and even your church will always rejoice when you take bold steps for Christ. So live for the gospel. And when you are opposed, take Paul's example to heart. Peace and Amen.

We Don't Understand Grace

"After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." - Acts 15:7-11

Most Christians don't understand grace; I know I don't understand grace most of the time. It's easy to condemn these Pharisaic Christians in Acts 15, but in their defense, they had never heard of grace. Jesus taught it to the disciples, but these guys had never picked up that teaching.

Grace means that the gift of salvation comes from Christ alone. You mustn't be circumcised to be saved, you mustn't be circumcised to remain saved. Paul says in three different places that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. Do you know how HUGE that is? To the Jews, circumcision was everything! They would have said, "my great-grandfather was persecuted/killed/stoned/imprisoned for his circumcision...how dare you say it means nothing!"

But there is a new tradition emerging. Circumcision was the old covenant; Jesus is the new covenant. Loyalty to Christ is the symbol of inclusion in the people of God; He alone is the mark of a believer. That's easy for most of us Gentiles to swallow, since we've never been taught to fiercely defend circumcision. But you could say this about any spiritual practice. "Neither reading the Bible nor not reading the Bible means anything." "Neither going to church nor not going to church means anything." "Neither praying nor not praying means anything." Does that rile you up a little? What does count, then? What must we do to be accepted by God?

That's where grace comes in. Believe in Jesus. Follow Him. Religion is spelled D-O; God's way is spelled D-O-N-E. It's not about you, or what you do. It's about what Christ has done. Paul is clear in those three passages about what that looks like. He says in all three that circumcision/uncircumcision is meaningless, but:

· "Keeping God’s commands is what counts." (1 Cor 7:19)

· "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Gal 5:6)

· "what counts is the new creation." (Gal 6:15)

We must stop focusing on the little actions we think make God love us, and instead focus on the fact that we are already loved and say to the Lord, “I will do whatever it takes to follow Jesus today.” For some that means praying for an hour straight. For others it’s memorizing the Bible. For others it’s joining a church. For most of us, it’s all of the above and more. Don’t pretend to be someone else’s Holy Spirit. Listen to the Spirit and follow Jesus.

Lord, may we live in Your Grace today, not using it as an excuse for sin, but reveling in it as we grow closer to You day by day. Amen!

Waterskiing without a Boat

"Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'" - Matthew 14:31

Lord, how many times You must ask this question of me every day! "Why did you doubt?"

Peter was doing fine in verse 29, but then began to fear the wind. Matthew says he "saw" the wind. When did you last see any wind? Wind is invisible, Peter! But I think Matthew is using language to get at something more than just seeing with the eyes. The wind dredged up fear and doubt, reminded him that he had no business walking on water, that there's no reason this should work. All the thoughts that kept the other 11 on the boat attacked Peter in the wind, and he removed his focus from Jesus to his perceived problems.

What's funny is that the wind dies down as soon as they get in the boat. Did Jesus make the wind come to test Peter, or was it just coincidence? We'll never know. But either way, I think Peter's downfall was that he didn't EXPECT the wind to come. The sea is a very windy place, so why was he surprised and scared that wind should blow against him?

Likewise, we should never expect smooth sailing as believers. Jesus promised that "in this world you will have trouble," and in the Beatitudes guaranteed that those who live righteously will find opposition. Don't make Peter's mistake. Expect the wind before you walk on water! Focus on Jesus in the midst of difficulty. The sailing won't be smooth, but that's a part of the adventure with Jesus.

Lord, I WILL encounter trouble today. Fix my eyes upon you all the way through. Amen!

The Most Chilling Verses in Scripture

"Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" - Jesus, Matthew 7:22-23

Imagine heaven. Throngs of people worshiping God for eternity, forever embraced by the fullness of His presence, fulfilling their purpose to enjoy Him into infinity. Jesus comes to judge your eternal destiny. You know that you spent years teaching that junior high Sunday School class, memorizing verses for Kingdom Kidz, and making it to youth group whenever there was free food. Of course, there were a few crazy years in college, and you pretty much didn't even think about God after that. Come to think of it the only reason you went to church in the first place was because Katrina West went there...man, she was hot. Anyway, you know that you've been a good person and have been around Christians for a long time. You've done your part.

You step up to Jesus, and you prepare your spiel. When you're done giving your defense, He looks at you right in the eyes. His eyes are direct, resolute, yet missing the sternness that you're used to seeing from your disappointed parent. Sternness is replaced with compassion, longing, and...pain. "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer."


You have a flash of anger. You dare not show it, being surrounded by a throng of scary-looking angels, but it's there all the same. "BUT I WAS A GOOD PERSON!", you want to shout with righteous indignation. However, one look at those compassionate eyes convinces you not to say it. Something tells you that He knows your heart anyway. Something tells you that He knew it all along. After a moment of internal protest, you realize that He's right, and you deserve whatever you are going to get.

You didn't realize until that fateful moment, when eternity hung in the balance, when "My way or Jesus' way" was no longer a daily choice, that everything, everything is about Him. You thought it was about you. Even church, even your marriage...it was all about you. Before you turn away, you only have one thing to say to the Lord. "I wish someone would have told me it was going to be like this."

Is this you, or someone you know? Friends don't let friends deny Jesus. Love someone toward the Kingdom today...you'll have eternity to worship God, but not to evangelize. Lord, may Your Word sober us into living as a light in the darkness!