August 25, 2018

Put People First

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. – James 4:17

Sometimes you just do what you need to do. It’s rarely convenient. It’s always draining. Sometimes it’s costly. You do it anyway.

Yesterday was one of those days. I planned a quick hospital stop. It turned in to several hours. Unfortunately, I have experience with hospitals, doctors, hospice, end of life discussions. Sometimes you just don’t even know what questions to ask. My experience means I do. I was needed, so I stayed.

Then there was a need to take an elderly person to another town to visit his disabled daughter. Her mother will never go again and this dear man had a desperate desire to see his youngest child. For obvious reasons, the other children were reluctant to leave their dying mother. Of course, I drove him.

My day didn’t go as planned. Things that needed to be done, didn’t get done. I can’t really say I made a choice but, I guess, I obviously did. I hope I always choose people first.

The hospital room was a gathering of those who love and care. The absence of another child was the unspoken hurt. He was busy. How often have I seen that? Excuses thrown out because one person chooses to let others carry their load. How can anyone make that choice?

Again and again it happens. We get so caught up in ourselves, our own lives, our own desires, that we miss an opportunity to put people first. Our loved ones suffer because we don’t want the inconvenience a sudden illness brings. But isn’t that what family is all about? Isn’t that what true friendship really is?

I guess I’m of the age and experience that I just don’t want to hear the excuses. I’ve carried a load that I should never have borne alone. I have known the deep fatigue that comes when your only desire is to get through another day bearing responsibilities that threaten to overwhelm you. I know the anguish of crying out to God for help, for relief, for strength, when your shattered heart is simply too weary to heal.

Yesterday I watched a hospital case manager try to be perky in a room filled with death. I have witnessed a doctor refuse to meet with more than two family members. I have watched a family keep vigil while doctors guessed and make predictions that they should never have made.

I wonder where kindness and compassion went? It was certainly evident in the tears of a nurse who explained she’d walked their path before. It was evident in a younger nurse who was quick to explain her actions and respond to questions. It was evident in the honest answers from a doctor who’d been called in to consult.

But most of the time it simply wasn’t there. One child remarked that she was horribly offended by the party atmosphere some visitors displayed. Oh, how I understood that. A death vigil is no place for loud conversations or visiting. It grates on those who truly care. It hurts to know that others might be family or friends but their careless words show their emotions never go deeper than the surface.

Some days we are called to be Jesus to someone who is desperately hurting. Some days we are called to be inconvenienced to help someone else. Some days we are called to sit quietly and grieve with a hurting family. Don’t miss your chance. Don’t make an excuse. Just show up. Putting people first is always the right choice.

July 18, 2018

Don’t Wait for Tomorrow

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

– James 4:13-15

He’s not the sort of man you expect to see rushed to ICU. He’s young, healthy, active. He’s a man of deep faith. A man with a wife and kids and a job. Someone who volunteers and repeatedly gives of himself to others.

An infection. That’s the diagnosis. The brain bleed stopped on its own. He should have a full recovery. It was a very scary night for his family. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen. But they do. Every single day, they do.

We make plans. We love to make plans. It might be something as simple as planning to go to work or to the store. Maybe you’re planning to watch television or mow the lawn. We’ve always got something planned. Until the unthinkable happens.

His wife noted that 24 hours before she never would have expected to be sitting in ICU, not knowing if her very sick husband would be okay. That’s the thing about life. Sometimes it hits you with a wave that will almost sink you, until you remember that Jesus controls the storm.

I mentioned this man’s deep faith. It’s a strength and a comfort. Because if his life had ended – and we praise God that it didn’t – we know goodbye would only have been temporary. It would hurt, especially for his family, but there would be some comfort in knowing where he was.

Sometimes people put off their faith decision. They think they’ve got time. We all think we’ve got time. We’ve got plenty of time to take that trip, make that call, play with the children. Until we don’t.

A sweet friend once said her cancer diagnosis was one of the greatest gifts God ever gave to her. The reason? It made her let go of all the superficial things she thought was important and focus on what truly was important. Her relationship with God grew strong and deep. It wasn’t about doing what was expected – church attendance and tithing – but about her heart and reaching the lost.

Are you lost? If today were your last day on earth, do you know where you’d go? Because one day when you aren’t really expecting it, you’ll take your last breath. It doesn’t matter if you’re 17 or 80. No one really expects to die until we do.

Don’t wait to know Jesus. He’s pretty awesome and He’s right there waiting to save your soul. All you have to do is ask.

July 14, 2018

Double Standards Anyone?

The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.

– Proverbs 20:23

Come to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

– James 4:8

Okay, let’s all get our excuses out. “Everybody else does it.” “Well, so-and-so did it!” “I was just going along with everyone else.” “Well, it’s not against the law.” “I can handle it.”

Did you think of a few more? I’m sure you probably did. When it comes to making excuses for our actions, attitudes and words, we’re quick to justify ourselves.

Except there is no justification for doing something we know is wrong, no matter how many people do the same thing. There also is no justification for judging two people by two different standards.

We judge people we don’t know based on standards we don’t uphold. We don’t see it that way, of course. We’re too high up in our opinions to actually try and listen and understand another point of view. We shut their voices out. We’re disgusted by their views. We’re so busy being “right” that we can’t see how wrong we are.

Do you want to start a fight on Facebook? Just mention President Trump’s past marital indiscretions. The defense that comes from good Christians? Well, look at Bill Clinton.

Indeed, let’s look. Does one person’s bad behavior justify the bad behavior of another person? No. It doesn’t. Nor does it justify the sad fact that people who condemned Clinton – understandably – now make excuses for Trump. It’s called a double standard.

We’ve used it for years in politics and in social circles. Someone who is poor and an alcoholic is called every kind of name. No compassion is offered at all. Someone who is rich and an alcoholic gets offered sympathy and rehab and a hush-hush about it. News flash: An alcoholic is an alcoholic no matter how much money is involved.

It’s why for so long children in middle-class and upper-class homes were over looked when it came to abuse and neglect. We assumed it couldn’t happen in “good” neighborhoods like our own. We judged based on economics and appearance rather than fact and heart.

We do the same to justify our own behavior. Everyone fudges on their expense accounts, so what’s the big deal? Well, it was just a little white lie to make someone look good. It’s a cut-throat world and you’ve got to “get” someone before they do the same to you. My child has worked hard and deserves to be on the team, in the performance, or in the group. Besides, I give a lot of money to your organization. That can go away, you know.

Does any of this sound familiar? You’d be furious at anyone who did these things to you. Why do you think it’s okay to do them to someone else? Where did we ever get the idea that it was okay to judge with a double standard? Certainly not from God.

April 15, 2018

Don’t Bring Your “Rules” To Church

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. – James 4:11

I wonder what would happen if we looked to see the good around us rather than focusing in on what is wrong. I wonder how we would all change if we bit back our critical words and instead offered words of encouragement and strength?

I know this has been a column theme for several days. It keeps showing up all around me. God’s Spirit leads me to focus in, to see, to point out, all the ways we use words to destroy rather than build up.

Am I guilty? Absolutely. This column isn’t about me looking down on others but rather about seeing the guilt that belongs to all of us. And we are all guilty. We have all used words to slander others. Anger. Hurt. Bitterness. Rage. They’re all factors.

Some people say that when you criticize someone else, you’re really criticizing yourself. We see our flaws in other people and it upsets us so we lash out. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I do believe we sometimes lash out at others to hide our own flaws, our own hurts, our own disappointments.

The Pharisees got it wrong. So do we. How often do we get so focused on what we want that we miss what God wants?

Our pastor recently shared something on Facebook about children in the church. The commentary encouraged people to bring their kids, to sit up front, not to hang our heads and be upset if they were noisy or didn’t always pay attention. Kids are kids. Welcome them as Jesus did.

Not everyone sees it that way. They expect every child to be perfectly behaved at all times. That’s not realistic. Does it mean children and their parents should stay home? Of course not! But every time we cast a disapproving glance their way, every time we make an ugly comment about their unruly child, every time we shake our heads, that’s exactly what we’re telling them.

One of the reasons I like the contemporary worship service I attend is the mixture of folks who attend. Some are dressed in the traditional suit and tie. Others come in jeans and flip flops. Nobody cares. Everyone seems to know God is more interested in our hearts than our attire.

It also solves another issue that many people don’t understand. Those who can’t afford fancy clothes don’t feel out of place. Are you shocked? Don’t be. A sweet friend tells about a young family with three small daughters who didn’t attend Easter services at her church. The reason? The family couldn’t afford three new dresses and the mama didn’t want her children to be the subject of comments and putdowns. It’s sad. I’ve heard those comments. I’ve witnessed the ugliness when some believe that the “rules” of the church have been violated.

Sometimes it seems that we’ve lost our focus and the purpose of Sunday worship. We focus on the things that don’t matter – like dress, style of music, and children crying – and forget to worship God and cleanse our own hearts of filth.

The law is a good thing when it accomplishes God’s purposes. Don’t use it to dirty His message with your own views.

March 25, 2018

Is Satan Real?

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. – James 4:7-8a

I have a question for you: Is Satan real? Or is he merely a symbol of evil? What does the Bible say? Do you even know what the Bible says?

Last week in Sunday School class we discussed who Satan really is. Fortunately, all who were present believe that Satan does exist. That’s amazing because it really isn’t the case for many Christians.

It doesn’t stop Satan from wreaking havoc in our lives. I think he wants us to doubt his existence. That way we won’t be on guard, ready to use the power of Jesus to thwart his plans. We’ll just kind of amble into a trap. Peter told us to be wary of that.

All throughout the Bible we are warned about Satan. He is a liar, a deceiver, a murderer. He is a serpent, a tempter, a destroyer. He plots and schemes, turning Christians against one another. He convinces unsuspecting people that just a little step away from God isn’t such a big deal. It is. Remember Eve and the apple? Yeah. Satan can be convincing as he twists God’s words.

Sometimes Satan will attack us directly. Other times he will create adversity aimed at causing us to give up and stop trying to follow God. Satan doesn’t want us to do what God has called us to do. He’d rather make God look bad.

Yes, Jesus has already defeated Satan. The devil is headed to the lake of fire. In the meantime, Satan is over the world and he will do everything in his considerable power to take as many people to his doom as he can.

Ephesians 6:10-18 refers to the armor of God. We are to put it on. All of it. Because that’s how we defeat Satan. We aren’t powerful enough on our own. Please don’t think you can. That’s exactly what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to think you don’t need God because that’s the only way he can gain victory. Satan is no match for God Almighty.

Some people are confused about that. They believe that Satan is equal, or almost equal, to God. He’s not. Satan is a created being. God created Satan and all the angels. Satan is on the same level as, say, Michael the archangel.

Remember that Satan fell to his doom when his pride led him to challenge God. Satan wanted to be God but that led to an uprising that sent Satan and about a third of the angels to their ultimate doom. Ultimate but not yet.

Be wary and watchful. Satan prowls around looking for unsuspecting Christians to devour. He is real. He is powerful. Place your trust in Jesus and fight through His might. Draw close to God and demand that Satan flee from you. Use the mighty name of Jesus. Victory belongs to Him.

March 18, 2018

Are You Following Jesus or the World?

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – James 4:8

We love the world. Oh, we may complain about things, get upset with those who disagree with us, and lament the violence, but we love it just the same. We just want to take all the good and shove aside all the bad.

It doesn’t work that way. We get a strong dose of both on a regular basis. Why? Because so much of what we term “good” really isn’t. We just can’t help ourselves. We want it all anyway. And that, my friend, frequently leads us to the bad.

Think about the movies you like to watch. How many of them have violence or sex or bad language? You watch them anyway because they’re entertaining. In fact, you’ve probably watched so many of them that you’ve become numb to what you’re actually seeing and hearing.

Have you ever padded your expensive account because “everyone does it”? Have you ever helped yourself to extra supplies from your workplace because the company “has plenty?” Have you ever bad mouthed a co-worker or played “politics” to discredit a rival on your path to a promotion? It’s all sin. That everyone else might be doing it doesn’t lessen the sin.

Do you ever make excuses for your failure to tithe? There’s just not enough money to go around. You don’t approve of all the ways the church spends the money. You aren’t certain that charities really do all they claim to do. You make excuses and keep it for yourself, neglecting to give first to God even though you know that’s what the Bible tell you to do.

We all like our lifestyles, don’t we? We work hard and deserve to be rewarded for it. We look down on people who have less than we do, assuming they don’t work hard enough, aren’t smart enough, or have secrets in their closet that have caused them to have less than we do. We loudly judge what we don’t know in a vain effort to justify how wrong our lifestyles really are.

It’s not that God doesn’t want good things for us. He does. Sometimes the blessings He extends are material things. More times those blessings come when we loosen our grip on stuff and extend a helping hand to His people. We are to love and share and be an active part in building people up, in helping the less fortunate. We choose to ignore the true call of His Spirit to focus on the desires of our flesh.

The slow shift toward the world and away from God rarely comes in a swift decline. Rather it comes from the small choices we make each day. Every time we compromise we step a little closer to accepting sin as “normal” in our own lives. Every time we point our judgmental finger, we are looking more like a Pharisee and less like the Jesus we claim to love.

We have a choice. We can pull back from the world or we can go toward it. We can be the light, solitary though the flame may be at times, or we can join the crowd. The choice belongs to you. What’s it going to be?

March 10, 2016

Resist The Devil

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. -- James 4:7-10

Who controls your life? You? God? Satan? Whoa! Wait a minute, you’re saying about now. Satan isn’t in control. I am. Or at least God is. Not Satan. I’m a Christian!

Okay. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowing Satan to push your buttons, disrupt your mind and your thoughts, and cause disruptions in your life. Satan causes havoc and ruins so many things.

I just watched the movie War Room -- again. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen it. I love its message because the power of prayer is something we so often overlook. We pray when we are desperate rather than praying before we reach that point.

In one scene, she is praying and repeating “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Then she gets up and basically calls the devil out and tells him to leave her house because Jesus is in charge now. How powerful! Why don’t we all do that?

Because we don’t recognize what Satan is doing. We blame others. In this same move, she blames her husband for everything but wise Mrs. Clara tells her to pray for her husband and blame the devil. Amazing things start to happen when she truly does pray for her husband. She stops trying to fix him and turns him over to God. Truly.

Ah, there we are back to that control issue. We really don’t want to give that up. How much grief do we cause ourselves and others by trying to control what we can’t control? We can’t control the actions of others. We can’t control events around us. We can’t control much of anything beyond ourselves.

The good part is that we’re not supposed to control those things anyway. We aren’t called to fix anyone or anything beyond ourselves. We’re to pray for people, resist the devil, and focus on God.

So stand up and fight -- with prayer. True, heartfelt prayer. That’s where you fight for those you love. That’s where you fight when you’ve been wronged. In prayer. Trust God to handle it all and He will. Always. He will.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

People Need Your Time

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. -- James 4:17

Sometimes we know exactly what we’re supposed to do. And we don’t do it. We may feel a little guilty. We may lash out in justification. We may clam up and refuse to talk about it. But we know.

Today is the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Do you remember the horror of that day? Do you remember how people clung to each other, vowing to remember the lessons and always put people first?

Time dulls our pain, especially for those not directly impacted by loss that day. We forget that putting people first means giving of our time when we’d much rather just give a little money.

Lately I’ve been recruiting volunteers to help people in need. I’m really not asking for much, just an hour or so every four to six weeks. Most folks spend more time than that in front of the television every night. It’s amazing how many people squirm, look away, and just don’t step up.

I realize that actively helping others just isn’t something others feel comfortable doing. I do understand that. I also know that few things are as rewarding as reaching out to people in need.

Many months ago I started a group at our church designed to help those we tend to forget. We don’t mean to. It’s just that when people can no longer attend church, either because they’re too sick, too feeble, or they are caregivers, then we don’t remember them. It’s usually a slow thing that happens. Nothing intentional at all. But it hurts just the same.

People associate the church -- God’s people and NOT the building -- as representing Jesus here on earth. As it should be because He does live in the hearts of all Christians. So when we neglect people in their darkest hours they feel like God has forgotten them. He hasn’t. We have. But when you’re hurting it’s really hard to distinguish between the two.

We know what we’re supposed to do. We know. We just don’t want to. And that is a sin.

How many of you just got huffy with me? How many just stiffened into your defensive posture? Well, I’m talking to you.

Life’s moments are measured by the lives that we touch. Not the big things, though those can be important to. But in the small things we do for each other: the casserole taken to a sick neighbor, the ride to a doctor’s appointment for an elderly friend, a couple of hours of childcare for a mother in desperate need of some alone time.

What is God calling you to do today? What are you waiting for?

Monday, February 20, 2012

Do You Have Religion Or Faith?

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God. -- James 4:4

Who is Jesus to you? Don’t give me the Bible answer. Tell me who He is to you and what He means in your everyday life. Do you call Him friend? Brother? Savior? Is your relationship with Him up close and personal or is He just some famous person you read about and hear about every now and then?

Think about your answer before you give it because the answer is important. It’s the difference between having religion and having faith. Reading about someone and hearing about them doesn’t mean you have a relationship with them. Seriously. Relationship is face to face, friend to friend, person to Savior. It makes all the difference.

The thing is many of us truly think we’re believers. Maybe we are. But we’re so busy keeping one foot in the world that we don’t realize the other foot is on a very slippery slope. Falling away from God rarely happens in just one moment with just one action. It’s a slow slide to a place we never intended to go.

The hard truth is that we can’t serve God and be part of the world. We can’t. Yeah. We live in the world, but we can’t be part of it. We are separate. Set aside by God for His purposes. The world that embraces Satan doesn’t serve God. The two simply can’t mix.

We are so sure of ourselves, confident that we won’t slide. That we can make it work. We don’t see that the choices we make each day lead us away from the God we love.

Before you decide I don’t know what I’m talking about, think about your own actions. Have you ever watched a movie and thought, just for a moment, that maybe it had a little too much profanity or a little too much sexual content or was a little too violent? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t something one of God’s children should be watching and, by that action, encouraging supporting financially.

Or maybe you prefer music about cheating spouses. Or books about illicit sex or murderous rampages. Maybe you enjoy hanging out in a bar just to hear the music. Or you have lunch with colleagues who spend their hour gossiping about everyone they know.

Choices. We make them each and every day. Do your choices reflect your relationship with Jesus? Are you living your life as though He’s your very best friend and He’s standing right beside you? Or are you living your life claiming to serve Him but unwilling to give up the charms of this world?

It’s the difference between religion and faith. Talking the talk or walking the walk, as the cliché goes. You decide. Because, really, you can’t do both.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

One Instant Destroys Plans

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

-- James 4:14-15

We are a people who make a lot of plans. We’re always planning to go somewhere or do something. We plan when we are to wake up and when we are to go to sleep. We fill our days with scheduled activities, whether it‘s school or a job, golf or shopping, kids‘ soccer games or a movie. We sure are an organized bunch of folks.

Until the day we wake up and realize that all those plans were worthless. Because sometimes when we’re just out living our lives, something happens that shatters everything we knew as reality. We are faced with a new world, a new order to our days, a new disorder to our lives.

Yesterday I learned that a former co-worker suffered a massive heart attack. He’s lying in a hospital bed in ICU and the doctors don’t expect him to make it. Another young woman was in a car wreck and airlifted to a hospital three hours away. A close friend had a freak motorcycle wreck that has left her with leg and hand injuries she’ll be dealing with for months.

They all had plans. Those plans didn’t include lengthy hospital stays or death. A recent widow noted her first anniversary without her husband. They’d planned to return to the site of their honeymoon 29 years before. They hadn’t planned to be separated so soon in life. They had too much to do and too much laughter to share.

We all make plans. It’s what life is all about. What would we be without hopes and dreams, schedules and destinations? But James was right when he told her to understand that God’s will could alter those plans in a heartbeat.

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us. But God has given us all free will to choose to our own paths. Sometimes our bodies have heart attacks or develop cancer. Sometimes our vehicles crash, either from our errors, the errors of someone else or just a slick spot in the road. Sometimes the people we love are suddenly gone, suddenly facing a catastrophic illness, or suddenly in dire need.

We can either step up and help, or sit back and watch. We can either alter our plans and put people first, or stand there and let needs go unmet. We can either do what Jesus called us to do, or decide that our faith doesn’t extend from good intentions to good deeds.

Sooner or later everyone encounters a moment when everything they had planned lies destroyed. We’re fortunate if God uses those around us to hold us up until we can stand alone again. And if we’re especially blessed if we’re the ones God calls to help our family and friends through the crisis that destroyed all their plans.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Give God The Glory

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." -- James 4:10

This is one of the hardest things a Christian has to do. We humans like to think highly of ourselves. We like to be first. We want to be in charge. And we want our wishes to be considered in all things. The problem is all those things don't fit with who and what we really are -- God's children, created for His Glory.

Pride really has no place in our lives. Everyone knows someone who takes full credit for his job, house, health, etc. Oh, no doubt, he's a Christian. Just one who thinks very highly of himself. He's too busy glorifying himself to even think about glorifying God. That is a recipe for disaster.

It doesn't have to be that way. God doesn't want us to think badly of ourselves. He doesn't want us to stumble into darkness because our noses are too high in the air. He just wants us to recognize that all we have -- from our families to our homes to our latest promotion at work -- comes from Him. We succeed because of Him. We can't do anything on our own. Nothing. Oh, Satan may lead us to believe we can but sooner or later pride leads to a horrific crash landing. That's where God is waiting to pick us up -- if we humble ourselves before Him and ask for His help.

Pride leads us to believe Satan's lies and leads us to destruction. Humility leads us to praise God in all things and to seek His will at all times. Pride deceives us into thinking we're in charge and we're doing just fine on our own. Humility reminds us that we don't control anything and that we can't survive without God's help.


Being humble means acknowledging that God is, well, God. He's in charge. He's perfect. He created us. We'll never be worthy of all He's done and continues to do for us. But, guess what? He loves us anyway. He blesses us anyway. And all we have to do is humble ourselves before Him and love Him with all our hearts.