December 21, 2018

Choose Happy

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. – Psalm 1:1-2

What does it mean to be blessed? We see that word in the Bible again and again, depending on your Bible translation. It’s a good word. Religious. But what does it mean for us?

Various dictionaries use words such as consecrate or holy, sacred or bringing good fortune. All those things are wonderful things and we long to be worthy. We want to be blessed in sorrow and pain (as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount) just as we want to be blessed in mercy and peace.

But what about happiness? We can be stoic and tell ourselves to remain strong in the Lord as we suffer. We can bear our sorrows and tell ourselves we are blessed to walk with Christ during a difficult time. But do we ever have a chance to be happy? Does God want that for us?

Of course, He does! God didn’t create us to suffer through life. Sure, we’re going to experience pain and heartache but it’s doesn’t have to consume us. It doesn’t have to define who we are.

In her latest book, Lisa Harper digs back into the original Hebrew to discover what this psalm really says. Did you know that the Hebrew word used for blessed is asre, which can be translated into with “happy” or “blessed”?

Go back and reread the Psalm 1:1-2. Now substitute the word “happy” for the word “blessed.” Are you happy when you walk in the ways of the LORD? Are you happy when you meditate on His Word?

Let’s go back to the dictionary. What does “happy” mean? Contentment, pleasure, favored by luck or fortune, delighted, pleased, joyful. Do you associate those things with external enticements, such as new stuff, job, food? Or do you think about happy when it comes to God? That’s a question Lisa posed in her book, The Sacrament of Happy.

Are you happy that next week we’ll celebrate the birth of Christ? Or are you feeling the stress of preparations and gifts and company?

Are you happy that God loves you and me enough to send His Only Son into a broken world to save it? Or are you so focused on your present circumstances that you’ve missed the greatest gift ever given?

Are you happy to fill your heart with songs of joy and praise for the Messiah? Or are you so caught up in the trappings the world insists on that you miss the reason we celebrate Christmas?

Each of us has a choice to make: Are we going to choose to be happy with what’s truly important or are we going to choose stress and disappointment as we follow the world?

I choose happy. What about you?

September 18, 2018

Follow God’s Calling

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.” – Luke 12:47

What has God called you to do? Are you doing it? Are you waiting for a better day or when you have more time, more money, more energy?

We tend to procrastinate, especially when it’s something we don’t really want to do. Maybe especially when it’s something out of our comfort zone. God generally calls us to go out of our comfort zone, doesn’t He?

Why do we think we’ve got plenty of time? We live as though we have unlimited tomorrows stretched out before us. The truth is that none of us know how long we have.

Last Friday night a woman in a neighboring community attended a local high school football game. She was heading back to her car when she was struck and killed by another vehicle. It surely wasn’t what she had planned. She worked. She had a family. She had a life. And now she’s with Jesus.

Another woman talked about the sudden death of her sister. She was only 29. It was a car wreck. Instant death for her. A lifetime of grieving for her sister and their family.

We know all this. We know that bad things happen to absolutely wonderful people. We know that tomorrow might not come. We can quote all those clichés. But we ignore them when we are called to serve God.

We get so caught up in what we think is important that we miss what He wants us to do. We want our lives to be all about us but they aren’t. Our lives are meant to glorify God. Why do we miss that? Why do we ignore His call?

Let me give you another example. Lisa Harper is a wonderful Bible teacher with an adorable daughter she adopted from Haiti. Harper tells how she’d wanted to adopt years earlier but was discouraged by someone who didn’t think she’d be a suitable parent. The woman actually told her to go to the pound and adopt a dog.

Now, I’m all about adopting dogs, especially when it means saving their lives by removing them from a kill shelter. But I’ve watched Harper with her daughter. She’s an awesome mama. Harper herself has wondered if perhaps she missed other children by believing someone else’s lies.

Sometimes that’s what happens. We feel a nudge from God. We seek wise counsel but that counsel turns out to not be so wise. So, do we follow God or do we believe the lies, albeit well-meaning, and turn away from what God wants us to do?

God’s calling rarely makes sense to anyone else. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to us. But He’s got a different vantage point. He sees the big picture. He knows what’s coming and how what He’s called us to do will impact that.

So, don’t wait. If God calls you to do something, just do it. Let yourself be afraid. Let yourself feel insecure. But do it anyway. You’ll never be sorry for following His call.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

God Plants Dreams In Our Hearts

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. -- Romans 5:5

What are your hopes and dreams? What have you given up on? Where has hope died? What dreams have you lost along your life’s journey?

Many of us have secret dreams that reside deep inside of us. Or we have dreams that we believe are lost forever. We tell ourselves they don’t matter anymore. We are determined to be content where we are. But there’s an ache deep inside us for what will never be.

Lisa Harper, in her women’s Bible study on Malachi, suggests that we create a top 10 list of all those dreams we’ve almost stopped hoping for. Think about it. Really. Take a few minutes and consider your dreams -- or what’s left of them.

Yeah. What’s left of them. Because somewhere along the days of your life you have likely lost a few dreams. Some are gone because they simply ceased to be your dreams anymore. Others are gone because people and circumstances destroyed your faith in their possibilities.

I always smile when I think of childhood dreams that seem so silly now. A boy we adored and wanted forever. A career that never was right for us. A fantasy life that could never be real and would be boring if it was. We don’t want those dreams anymore.

But there are the lost dreams, the ones that reside deep in our hearts, but that we never allow to surface. We wouldn’t dare share them, not anymore anyway, because they are too fragile to withstand the glare of naysayers who sometimes surround us.

Harper suggests praying over those secret dreams and asking God to show us which ones might actually be our longing for the gifts God wants to give us. Perhaps our dreams involve special talents, given up for more practical concerns. Perhaps our dreams involve lifestyle changes that will lead us to greater fulfillment and God’s real calling on our lives.

God doesn’t plant dreams in our hearts without a reason. What we need to discern is whether those dreams are from God or merely a trap the evil one has set to lead us away from our real purpose. That’s why we need to pray and listen for God’s voice.

God loves us beyond anything we could ever imagine. He wants good things for us. And He plants seeds within our hearts that allow us to dream beyond what is obvious and reach for His perfect plan for our lives. Don’t give up on those dreams before taking them to your Father and asking Him to reveal His will to you.