October 28, 2024

                    Claim Your Faith

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.– Joshua 24:15

 It’s easy to throw out words, isn’t it? It’s not so easy to live out our faith – especially when it might cost us more than we are willing to give.

God’s people wanted to serve Him. But they wanted to serve other gods too. Today we would label those other gods as money, power, prestige, self. We might choose to serve our church, our pastor, our political leaders. And let’s not forget comfort, financial security, and all our many possessions.

We’re not called to any of that. We are called to serve God. We are called to follow Jesus. Hatred, revenge, greed – none of those things have any part of Jesus.

We are afraid. We’re afraid we won’t have enough money. We’re afraid “illegals” will steal our jobs and our homes. We’re afraid the government will demand our guns and destroy our way of life. We’re afraid of many things and we’re fighting to control it all.

We are justifying evil and claiming Jesus at the same time. And we wonder why our nation is in such turmoil. We can’t believe people are turning away from God. We don’t understand how our actions and our words are leading people to believe that God is evil when He is really only love.

We put our idols, and our fears, above the One true God. We choose to follow evil even as we proclaim that we will follow God.

We are at a crossroads. Will you follow idols? Will you allow fear to dictate your response to the evil we face? Or will you trust God? Will you truly follow Him?

We all have choices to make. Claim your faith and live it.

June 24, 2022

 

^{Start With Yourself}

 

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

– Habakkuk 1:2-4

 

It's a small book. A minor prophet named Habakkuk dared to question God. Much like we dare to question God today. The difference? Perhaps we aren’t as righteous as we proclaim.

 

We are quick to pick and choose the issues, the Biblical quotes, the direction of our prayers so that our wishes and our will prevail. Except God always prevails. Always. We forget that.

 

We condemn abortion but demand our right to own and use weapons of war. It is our right to kill who and what we please. It is also our right to demand that you follow our wishes in all things.

 

Perhaps that’s the root of it all. It’s about us. It’s never been about God. He’s only been our excuse, the way we justify the evil that lies within our own hearts.

 

“It’s just business,” is one excuse I’ve heard over and over from so many different people. It’s the way to justify ripping someone off even though it clearly violates God’s law.

 

Or we refuse to help our parents or grandparents unless there’s a payday involved. When did we stop honoring our families except when we are paid to do so? It’s only right, we tell ourselves. Have you checked with the Bible on that?

 

We harbor anger and bitterness in our hearts, lashing out at anyone who dares to disagree with us. We are impatient and unkind. And it is always someone else’s fault.

 

We are a Christian people good at pointing fingers at others who, in our opinion, need to clean up their act. We forget to get the plank out of our own eye before we search for the speck in the eye of someone else.

 

What’s wrong with our country today? Christians who live by their own greed, their own egos, their own comfort, ignoring the Word when it doesn’t fit into their neat little lives. We have turned out religion into our own little political agendas and we have the audacity to wonder where God is as our world seems increasingly out of control.

 

Beware to us all: God will judge each person. We all face the fire of our choices. Stop pointing fingers. Stop living a lie. Bow down and truly worship the Lord our God. Yeah. I know. Most of you won’t do that. It might mean loving people you’ve decided to hate. It could even mean giving up some of your ill-gotten wealth and giving it to those you’ve judged unworthy. You might have to get dirty and serve instead of barking orders at those you consider beneath you.

 

Here is my soapbox once again: If you want to see change, start with yourself.

June 22, 2018

What Gospel Do You Hear?

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

– 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

What happens when following Jesus collides with protecting what you hold dear? Do you make the hard choice or do you cling to what you know, what’s comfortable, what you have “earned”?

Many of us are willing to share our excess but we aren’t willing to sacrifice anything to give to others. Our own hands may be outstretched to borrow and receive but not necessarily to give and to share.

And we’re happy to pull out a Bible verse to back it up. Ah, yes. Let’s pick and choose what we want to believe. Let’s twist the meaning of God’s Word so that it aligns up with what we desire.

It’s how some truly well-meaning religious people justify their hatred and anger at others. It’s how places such as Facebook end up being the catalyst that fuels bigotry and lies. We aren’t particularly concerned about truth so long as it lines up with what we want to believe.

Somehow, we think we’ve “earned” the right to be greedy. Somehow, we believe we are better than others who were born to different circumstances. We tell them to work to better themselves without offering a shred of hope. We cling to what is “mine” without any real understanding that it all belongs to God.

When did we come to believe that only certain parts of the gospel are directed at us? When did we start watering down what we don’t like and building up what we do like? When did we decide that labels such as “Republican” or “Democrat” are more valuable that “Christian” and “Righteous”?

Our country is being torn apart by hatred among people who say they are Christians. We no longer believe in kindness unless it’s directed as someone we know and approve of. We act as though mercy and grace are only available to those of our choosing. We judge what we do not know based on lies generated to protect all that we hold dear.

And what do we know? We feel threatened by anything and anyone who might take what we think we deserve. We forget that so much of what we have began with the happenstance of our birth. Yes. We might work hard but there’s so much more to what we gain than hard work. Some of the hardest workers on this earth are people who barely get by. That’s not a truth we want to hear.

We are a greedy people. We “need” this and we “need” that. Most of us have no idea what true need is. We’ve never wondered where our next meal will come from. We’ve never desperately sought a job, any job, so that we could keep a roof over our heads. We’ve never done without medical care because all the small jobs we’ve managed to put together don’t offer insurance. But we judge others as though we truly understand.

The gospel isn’t about judging; it’s about loving. The gospel isn’t about storing up on this earth; it’s about sharing. The gospel isn’t about us; it’s about others. We don’t hear that because it interferes with what we hold dear. And that’s not Jesus, no matter how many Sundays we sit on a church pew.

May 11, 2018

The Little Things Reveal Truth

The greedy bring ruin to their households, but the one who hates bribes will live.

– Proverbs 15:27

Have you ever sold anything on Facebook with one of those buy/sell groups? It surely does attract all kinds of people. It’s amazing what some of them will do to get what they want.

Some people think nothing about using a private message to try and get ahead of a pending sale. I guess they think it’s okay. It’s just business, you know. It’s okay to try and outmaneuver someone else to get what you want. It’s not really dishonest. Everyone does it.

Except it is dishonest and, no, not everyone does it. There’s a reason why most of the sites ban this type of behavior. It’s just wrong.

I doubt the people doing this really see themselves as dishonest. They’re just playing the game of life, trying to win. It’s just a little compromise. The only trouble with little compromises is that after a while they start to add up, leading to even bigger compromises. And pretty soon your life has headed in a direction you never intended to take.

It’s like the person who helps himself to pens or a notebook from his workplace. Everyone does it. Then it’s an easy step to padding expenses because, again, everyone does it. Where does it stop? What’s the line you won’t cross? Because stealing is stealing, no matter how small or how large the amount.

We like to point fingers, don’t we? Everyone does it so that makes it all okay. Or, he was going to do it and I just did it first. That’s another good excuse. We feel like victors when we take advantage of someone so we can get a bargain. There’s no guilt in our hearts. How sad is that?

During this season of life, I’ve found that those who preach the loudest are the ones most likely to try and take advantage of me. In the name of Jesus, of course. I doubt they even consider what their testimony looks like for those looking in at them from the outside world. People don’t see a man of God. They see a hypocrite. They see someone they don’t want to be.

A sweet friend this morning noted that we may be the only Bible some people ever read. It’s a common saying but that doesn’t lesson its truth. You can say all the right things but, at the end of the day, it’s what your actions say that reveals your heart. Are you taking what isn’t yours to take? Are you attempting to deceive, to destroy, to harm? Are you dishonest in the small things of life? Are you a cutthroat businessman? Do you judge what you don’t know?

Integrity pops up at the oddest times. So does dishonesty. It’s the little things that, when added together, make a life. What does your life say about you?

January 8, 2016

What's Really Important?

 

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. -- Matthew 6:19-21

I went to an estate sale today. It was really kind of sad. As I walked around with the dozens of other people, I was so very aware of the life that was just so recently there.

He was probably a good man. A widower whose wife’s things remained. His two children live far away. It was easier this way, to have a professional estate sale company go in and sort through it all.

You can’t take it with you. He didn’t. He left behind a new log splitter he’d never gotten a chance to use. The dishes and pots and pans and all those things that make up a home. It’s all so empty now.

I bought tubs of fabric that his wife once bought. I bought a few Christmas decorations. And a small blue corning ware dish. I lugged it all home. Small bits from a life lived because he didn’t take any of it with him.

There are just so many fights over things of this world. None of it matters. Those who are filled with greed are never satisfied. They seek to destroy everything in an effort to gain things. Why? Because one day they’ll be gone and all those things, all that money, all that property, will be left behind. Right along with the destruction that the fight caused.

Focusing on things always causes destruction. It breaks hearts. It causes irreparable damage. Forgiveness -- even when it isn’t asked for -- doesn’t wipe away the damage.

Again: For what? Money really won’t make you happy. We joke that we’d like to try it. But would we? Money will never fill that hole deep inside of us. Only God can do that.

So the next time you’re focused in on what you think you’ve got to have, reconsider. Focus on what’s really important and trust God to take care of the rest.

Monday, October 8, 2012

You Are More Than What You Own

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” -- Luke 12:15

We’ve been listening to a series of sermons about money. Yeah. It’s nobodies favorite topic, especially at church. Because talk about money always involves stewardship which leads to tithes and giving more money than we want to give.

But as Pastor Danny pointed out yesterday, stewardship is about more than money. Why do we want money? So we can buy more stuff. And everybody knows you can’t serve God and serve your possessions too.

It comes back to knowing your life’s purpose. We’ve been discussing this very topic in Sunday school. It’s not as easy as it sounds, at least not when we get to the specifics of our daily lives. However, Pastor Danny gave us a biblical overview: Seek justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And it is easy -- at least until Satan plants the seeds of doubt and fear in our hearts. Then we aren’t so sure exactly what we should do. We know what we want to do but we also want to make sure we have enough money and stuff. We don’t want to give away what we have and then find out later that we really needed it.

So we hang on tightly to what we have and that, in turn, pulls us further away from God. All God wants from us, really longs for from us, is our hearts. He wants us to love Him with everything we’ve got. He wants us to trust Him with everything we’ve got. He wants our lives to reflect our deep love for Him.

He has every right to demand our tithes. He has every right to demand right attitudes. After all, everything we own, everything we have, everything we accomplish, comes from God. We don’t much like to admit that but it’s true. Our very lives come from God. We are strangers in this land, as Pastor Danny pointed out. We are visitors on this earth. Everything we give to God already belongs to Him. When we go home, we aren’t taking it with us.

So why hold on to it all? Why do we take so much pride in our stuff? Why do we value ourselves, and others, based on the size of our houses or bank accounts? Why do we somehow think we’re better people because of all of our toys? It sounds kind of pathetic doesn’t it?

One of the first things we had to do in Mass Communications 101 was to write our obituaries. It’s sure wasn’t a glamorous way to begin college but it was thought-provoking. What do you want people to say about you when you’re gone? Do you want them to list your possessions? Or had you rather them talk about all the good things you did to bring glory to God? Your life isn’t about what you own, it’s about who you are in Christ. That’s something pretty powerful to remember when you’re holding tightly to all that stuff.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Let Go Of All That Stuff

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” -- Luke 12:15

What are you taking with you? When you die and head toward those Pearly Gates, what are you planning to have in your luggage? What is it that you simply can’t do without? What do you have that you can’t leave behind?

Oh, yeah. That’s right. There’s no baggage claim in heaven. Oh, and no carry-on bags are allowed either. So where does that leave all that stuff you value so highly? Not with you and, honestly, when you get to heaven do you think you will even care?

We spend so much of our lives worrying about our stuff. We never have enough of it. We don’t like to share. Sometime we value our stuff more than the people in our lives. And for what? Because we sure aren’t taking it with us when we go.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like my stuff. And I don’t like it when people abuse it or when others don’t value the family history associated with items passed down through the generations. But I also know that anything I have is a gift from God that will one day go to someone else. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

So since we can’t take it with us, maybe we need to reorder our priorities a little bit. Pastor Danny recently suggested three ways that we an do this. First, we can learn to live below our means. That way we’ll be free to appreciate what we have and to give more away to those who don’t have enough.

Ouch. I just stepped on a few toes, didn’t I? We don’t want to give away what we’ve worked hard to achieve. Other people should work hard, too, and buy their own stuff. Except that’s not what God tells us to do, is it? We’re to share from our abundance and, honestly, most of us have way too much abundance.

Secondly, we should work on developing a grateful heart. It’s difficult to focus on what you don’t have when you’re thanking God for all that you do have. Are you lusting after the latest smart phone? Well, thank God that you even have a smart phone. Many people don’t. Thank God for your health because many struggle with debilitating illness. Thank God for your family because many people are alone. And on and on. Pretty soon you’ll realize that you really have way more than you thought you had.

And lastly figure out where your soul finds satisfaction because your soul is the one thing you will be taking with you on your journey to heaven. What is your life’s call? Create your life, spend your moments, following God’s purpose for your life and not your own pursuit of stuff.

Fill your heart with compassion. Litter your path with kindness. Open your eyes to the hands in need. Fill your soul with Jesus.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Do What Is Good And Right

When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

-- 1 Corinthians 11:20-22

Several years ago a dear man who had grown up in the church I attended died unexpectedly. Though he was grown with a wife and children, his father and other family members remained in the church.

His funeral service was held in a neighboring town in the church he attended with his wife and children. His body was brought “home” for burial. Our church arranged to feed the family after the graveside service concluded.

As is usually the case at Deep South funerals and feedings, there was ample food. It covered a long line of tables and there was a separate section for all the desserts. The folks in the church wanted to make sure this family knew how much they were loved.

The graveside service was packed with people. Many from our town didn’t attend the funeral service, opting instead to attend the graveside service, while others attended both. The family stayed after the service to greet friends and acquaintances while some of us went back to the church activities building to prepare.

The family sent word that we were to go ahead and eat. I was appalled at the thought. The food, after all, was for the family. But some immediately rushed to begin and others soon followed. You might guess what happened. By the time the family arrived, there was hardly any food left. In fact, two of the church members went to different restaurants to buy extra food. It was embarrassing.

I understand why the family wanted folks to go ahead. They are kind and gracious people. But I couldn’t understand why anyone would accept their offer when the food was never meant for them anyway.

Apparently in the early church, a large meal was served following communion. Some took advantage, eating and drinking in excess, while others went hungry. Paul was upset because such behavior clearly doesn’t demonstrate what the church is all about -- love and caring and sharing.

I likely will never forget the sight of those barren tables that afternoon, the tables that had been so lovingly filled with food meant to feed and comfort a grieving family. Nor will I forget the greed of those who should have done what was right.