The Truth Is Out. Can you believe it?

Is it just me, or do some Christmas movies really cause problems for you, too?

That kid in “The Polar Express” who says, “Christmas just doesn’t work out for me”….he doesn’t believe in Santa.  He’s got good reason…Santa has never left him any gifts.  That’s the implication, anyway.

But oh – there’s a Christmas miracle, isn’t there?  A magical train comes to take him to the North Pole to meet Santa.  When he returns home, there are Christmas decorations adorning his home and the gift he always wanted underneath the tree.  Santa came.

Do find yourself asking ridiculous questions at this point?  “Well then why didn’t he show up every year before that?  Or even one year before the kid had become cynical?  What’s going to happen next year?  Will Santa disappoint him again?”  If so, reality hits at this point and you think about the real kids out there who won’t receive any Christmas gifts this year.  You think about the parents of those kids.  Single?  Struggling?  Imprisoned?  You think about the message this sends: if you just believe, Santa will come and make your dreams come true.

How many of you believed…believed with all your heart…and woke up Christmas morning to find that you must not have believed enough?

“A hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” – Proverbs 13:12

I was pretty worried that we were going to create quite the case of heart-sickness for Andy when we told him the truth the other night.  I sort of thought he’d cry.  I mean, to find out that there’s no magical guy that somehow knows everything you’ve ever done and still brings you gifts...and knows you so well that those gifts are, year after year, the best ever…it’s potentially disappointing.

However, Andy’s hope has never been in Santa.

I’ll never forget when, in preschool, Andy’s teachers were driving home the “You better watch out…” concept.  Andy broke down in sobs because he was (shockingly) keenly aware that he had not “been good” that year, and did not deserve a visit from Santa.  His teacher attempted to convince him that he’d been good enough to receive Santa gifts, but he wasn’t buying it.  So, we let him in on the secret about the “Naughty” list:

Everyone’s on it.

There is no “Nice” list.

Santa brings gifts to demonstrate God’s incredible grace toward us.  All of us have gone our own way, that is, the very opposite way God made us to go.  We have all become corrupted by our own sin.  None of us is holy, as He is.  None of us deserves a second thought from Him, and we cannot have a relationship with Him.

But He did give us a second thought.  In fact, He gave us a greater number of thoughts than we can count.  And those thoughts contain a plan to bring us back to Himself.

Andy’s views on Santa are a bit different from others.  The One who formed Andy and knows his words before they are on his tongue…knows when he’s sleeping or awake…knows he’s been bad and loves him anyway….He’s God.  Santa’s job is just to point to Him.

So when “Santa” turns out to be your parents, I guess it’s not so bad.  I’m not advocating for lying to your children.  I’m not even advocating for the practice of the good old breaking and entering Santa Claus tradition.  What I am saying is that when a person’s hope rests in the Rock of our salvation, life looks different.

“For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.  In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 6:16-19

When hope is deferred, it is usually because our expectations have been shattered by harsh reality.

When our hope is in people who change, money that dissipates, a future we can’t see, health that fails, intellect that is limited, or stuff that can be broken, we live on a shaky bridge above an abyss of despair.

When our hope is in a God who cannot lie, whose purpose is immutable, who has promised eternal life to His children and swears by Himself….by His own unchangeable character…our very souls are anchored within the veil.  Within the veil…where God Himself dwelt before anyone could approach Him, except for the high priest once a year.  That high priest had a rope tied to him, just in case he died upon entering God’s presence and had to be dragged out.  I like to think of Jesus having a rope tied to Him as well, with the other end attached to me.  He has run beyond the veil before me, and so, has become my sure and steadfast anchor inside the source of comfort, strength, peace, and joy.  No matter what comes in this life, I am tethered to my high priest who, because He exists forever to make intercession for me, will one day pull me in to stay forever.

How glorious!  Is this not the ultimate in “fulfilled longing”?

This time of year is hard because the harshness of this life has a far more bitter sting against the backdrop of tinsel and lights.  Charlie Brown says, “I know I’m supposed to be happy, but Christmas always just makes me feel like no one cares about me.”  There are still starving, shivering kids.  There are still homeless, hopeless adults.  There are still outwardly affluent but inwardly empty people.  There is still cancer and there are still car accidents.  We hope for Christmas to be a time of joy for everyone, and our hope that a season can change reality brings sadness.  Many will conclude, like Charlie Brown, that no One cares about them. 

Here’s the thing.  The Christmas season comes and goes and has no power to change anything.  It’s a season.

However, the reason Christmas exists screams out to Charlie Brown and to you and I: “I AM cares about you!  I AM loves you!  I AM is doing away with all sadness, death, illness, and evil!  I AM will wipe away every tear from every eye!  I AM is the good King whose kingdom will never, ever pass away!  See?  I AM is making all things new!”

Charlie Brown’s blanket-toting buddy Linus knew just what to say when Charlie had his little breakdown about Christmas.  He recited Luke 2:8-14 for him.  That baby, Charlie Brown, who lay in a manger, is the anchor for your soul.  He will not disappoint you.  He will not change His mind.  He will not turn out to be a figment of your imagination or a lie your parents dreamed up to keep you in line.  He is sure, He is steadfast, and the tree he hung on is the tree of life for you…and brings the fulfillment of all your longings.

Friend, wherever you are today, whatever you’re struggling with…hold fast to your anchor within the veil.  Go to Luke 2 today and remind yourself that your God came back to get you.  He was not content to watch you run away and leave you to your fate.  He came for you.  And this…this is the reason we sing and dance and stand awe-struck at Christmas.  This life isn’t the end, friends.  Our highest joys here will be nothing compared to what awaits us beyond the veil; and our lowest lows here cannot be compared with the eternal weight of glory to which we are anchored.

Believer, do something in audacious joy today.  This world and its prince would love for you to slog your way through the Christmas season and believe that it’s all a sham.

Go show em.  Show em there’s reason to dance when your anchor is sunk deep in the heart of God.

"Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive tree should fail and the fields produce no food, thought the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation". - Habakkuk 3:17-18

Lost?

One minute, you’re walking along a safe and familiar path.  The sun is warm, the breeze is just right, and you’re confident of the way you take.

The road bends unexpectedly.  Suddenly, the path looks quite different.  You’re not sure you like where it’s going.

You look around for familiarity.  You attempt to find your way back to the familiar road…to where you were before the bend.  But there’s no going back.  You must walk forward, right through the strange and uncertain.

How do I get back?  Can’t I go back there again?  That place… where I felt secure and content?  I miss it.  I miss it.

Levi started preschool this year, right about the time that I started to feel like a fraud.  Right about the time that I decided I couldn’t be trusted to blog or speak or do anything at all in the name of Christ... because I just felt lost.  I’d suddenly become painfully aware of my inability to live up to my own expectations for myself, and this thought… that I’m a failure… was infecting everything I did.  

Levi, meanwhile, is hating growing up.  He refuses to compartmentalize his little life and set school in its own small space in his mind.  He would rather be home doing anything at all than be at school; and the fact that he only attends school two short mornings a week doesn’t weaken his everyday sadness. For Levi, life has changed forever…and not in a good way. I believe that he, too, feels lost.

And along with feeling lost comes fear.  Levi’s suddenly afraid of everything: the fire alarm, the other kids, something happening to me while he’s away.  This fear, like mine of failure, infects most of Levi’s life.

“Why?”, we ask…

“Why do I have to go to school?  Why can’t I just stay home and play?”

Do you know what’s interesting about this question?  There’s no satisfying answer to it.  None.  Levi’s desire to never, ever have to attend school is far greater than any benefit I list for him.  He DOES NOT CARE about friends, the playground, crafts, or his future occupation.  None of these things come close to outweighing his renewed love for his old life, and he can’t begin to understand what future benefits he’ll reap… even if we tell him.

“Why is God allowing this?”  What answer will satisfy the heart that asks?

Andy’s teacher, meanwhile, is having a rough go of it too.  She wouldn’t mind me telling you what she told me: this is one of the hardest times of her life.  She’s new to Andy’s school and, for many reasons, has had a very hard time transitioning.  She, too, is feeling lost.  She shared a bit of her struggle with her class, and Andy came home that day with greater conviction than I’d ever seen in him. 

“Some people are saying she’s a bad teacher, Mom”, he said, “and I want you to know that she’s not.  I think God has put me in her class for a reason… well, maybe a lot of reasons.  But one is to pray for her.  And I think another is to encourage her.”

So we do pray for her, every day.  And Andy writes encouraging notes to her on the back of almost every paper he turns in for grading.

And because of these things, she and I, we get to talk one night about obtaining the only approval that matters.  We talk about the endless, hopeless work of trying to prove ourselves.  We talk about the impossibility of becoming worthy of anyone’s approval, especially our own….

And of the miracle of having gained the approval of the Creator of the universe.

She cries, and for a minute, I don’t feel so much like I’m faking my way through life.  For just a minute, I stop asking, “Why is this happening?  Why can’t I just go back to that old, comfortable life where I felt secure?”.  As she shares her heartache, I thank God that because of the past few months of discomfort… of searching for security, of questioning MY every thought and word and deed, I can relate.  She hears it in my voice as I say, “I KNOW.”

I’m not a fraud.  And I’m not lost.  All that time that I spent searching for an answer, a foothold, for relief, for a way back to” normal”, He was leading me right here.

“But if I go to the east, he is not there;

if I go to the west, I do not find him.

 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;

when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” –Job 23:8-10

 

Job knew something of sudden bends in the road, didn’t he?  I don’t think any of us would blame a man who’s suddenly lost his family, his wealth, and his health for asking,

“WHY, GOD?”

The answer is the one Levi needs, the one I need, the one you need, friend….when your road bends unexpectedly.

 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” – Job 38:4

“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place…” – Job 38:12

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory and you may discern the paths to its home?” – Job 38:19-20

“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south?  Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?” – Job 39:26-27

 

This goes on for quite a while, till Job says…likely, whispers, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted…I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 

I don’t like when the road bends.  And when it does bend and I have to deal with it, I want assurance that the difficulty I’m encountering will be “worth it”.  I want good reasons for what I’m having to endure.  I want to be able to trust in the end result…in the destination…and I want that to be of my choosing.

Don’t we always think we know what we want?  This is the reason that we are unsatisfied with the answers to our “Why?”.  We ask it when we aren’t getting what we want.  We ask it because we believe that only getting what we want will satisfy us.  And it's not that what we want is necessarily bad; it's that we can't place our trust in...we can't cling to... what we believe will bring us happiness.  If we allowed Levi to do that, he'd grow up unable to enter society as a functioning adult.  Ultimately, that's not really what he wants.

But God, He wants me to trust HIM.  His character, His faithfulness, His love, His sovereignty.  When Job asked, “Why?”, God reminded him WHOM he was addressing.  God could handle laying the foundation of the earth without Job…or me.  He commanded the morning…this morning…while I lay helpless and asleep.  By His understanding, all of nature flourishes.  My understanding only reveals that I don’t understand.  Is it possible that He knows what I really want…what I really need…what will make me whole?

Character.  It’s a big deal.  If the Joker from Batman said, “Follow me (oh – and by the way – do you know how I got these scars?)”, I’d run as fast as I could in the opposite direction.  Joker’s character tells me that I don’t want to go anywhere he goes.  He’s insane, after all.  His actions have proven his character.

What about God?  What have His actions shown about His character?  If you read through chapters 38 – 41 of Job, you find Him to be omniscient, omnipresent, transcendent, unlimited, unstoppable.  Job need not fear…the King over all knows the way he takes.

And us?  We have the benefit of knowing God the Father through His Son:

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” – John 10:11

“The Father and I are One” – John 10:30

“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him”. – John 1:18

 

This God, whose ways are higher than ours, who placed the stars in the sky, demonstrates His character to us by sending His precious Son to this wretched place we’ve corrupted by our own choice. Yes, He formed the galaxies…

…and provides for His sheep

…lets them lie down in green pastures

…leads them beside quiet waters

…walks them through the darkest valleys

…takes their place and suffers and dies

…and asks them to trust Him enough to follow Him, though they don’t like the path.  Though it’s unfamiliar to them.  Though they can’t see beyond the weeds and it’s dark and scary.  Though this is not at all what they want. 

Job’s conclusion… “YOU, God….YOU can do all things.  Your purposes (and by Your character, I know they are good) cannot be thwarted.  I don’t get it.”

THIS brings satisfaction to the lost soul crying out for answers.   God didn’t demand that Job figure it all out and fix his attitude while he was at it.  He simply reminded him that He is worth trusting.

Reader, will you trust the proven character of Love beyond human understanding?

For a sheep of the Good Shepherd, feeling lost isn’t really a problem.  He knows we’re worried.  He knows our limitations.  He doesn’t expect us to forge ahead as if we were confidently striding familiar trails.  He invites us to walk closer, keep our eyes on Him, and take the next step with Him.  Can’t you hear His voice?  “It’s ok, child, I know the way you take.”

When we get through this thing…when we get to the other side, we’re going to shine like gold.

Worth it.

Beginnings

                                                          

These cute little mosaics cover the columns out in front of Andy’s school.  There are butterflies, there flowers, there is Pikachu.

And there is the Big Bang.

You’ve heard it before and so have I.  We’ve said it loads of times, I’m sure.

And it’s important.  Because it only precedes the challenging, the difficult, the weighty, and usually, the impossible.

“I don’t know how to start”.

And who cares so much about where you start anyway?  Doesn’t where you finish matter more than anything? 

But the thing is… we humans want to do things well.  We want to achieve things and affect things and matter and not to have merely existed.  We care about where we start because we want to finish well.  The way in which we finish matters just as much as where we finish.  And if we get off to a bad start?

We’re staring down a new school year, and I’ve been remembering what the beginning of the last one was like. I’d felt strongly that instead of manhandling my way through Andy’s class options, I should ask God to place Andy with the teacher He wanted him to have and then trust Him.  (This is not to say that carefully considering where your child should be is equivalent to a lack of trust in the Lord.  I’m just saying that my m.o. with life in general is not careful consideration…. It’s manhandling.)

Well, wouldn’t you know it… Andy was placed with a teacher that I had been worried he’d get.  Anytime I’d ever seen her, she seemed to be yelling.  She even yelled at Andy once when I’d had him standing outside the restroom.  I was worried that we were getting off to a bad start.

The year wore on, and I began to learn a lot of things about this teacher I’d been ready to write off.

Yeah, Mrs. P. yells.  When she’s happy, excited, storytelling, or just plain chatting.  It’s what many New Yorkers do.  I didn’t know that. She’s also quite passionate about her work.  She never had children of her own, so she thinks of each child as being temporarily ‘hers’.  She sees her time with them as a gift… an opportunity to pour into them and help each one be his very best. Didn’t know that either.

Didn’t know she was a believer.

Didn’t know that when Andy had to face his first public schooling vs Christian faith clash, she’d be the one to show him how to start navigating those waters.

The class had to watch a video depicting various tenets of evolution.  There are numerous opinions on both sides of this issue, and I don’t have it all figured out, to say the least.  So, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just say that Andy felt the content of the video contradicted Biblical truth.  And he was upset. Couldn’t believe he was being made to watch it.

“This isn’t true”, he kept telling his friends.  His eyes even teared up.

Mrs. P. took him out in the hallway.

With subjects like creation and evolution, it’s hard for me to know ‘how to start’ even sorting through it all.  Young earth, new earth, moon dust, sediment layers, DNA mutations, fossils and record gaps, natural selection…..I don’t know what to think half the time, let alone what to tell a child.

But Mrs. P. knew.  She knew exactly how to start…

“Listen,” she said, “I have a lot of questions about all of this too.  I don’t have all the answers I’d like, and maybe someday I will.  But the only thing I know for sure, Andy, is that God has written my name on the palms of His hands, and I’m His.  Its ok if I don’t have everything else figured out.  This is what matters most.  Do ya get it?”

He got it.

How do you start?  You start at the beginning...

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overpower it.”  -John 1:1-5

You start with the Word that is God and with God.  The Word – “logos” – that reveals God’s mind, reason, and wisdom.  The Word that embodies God’s total message of love, grace, and redemption.  And if this Word is alive and brings life and light that darkness CANNOT overpower?

Maybe you and I can take a step into this next chapter, unafraid.

Because you and I are beginning something, aren’t we?  And it might be an exciting something. And it might be a difficult something.  And it might be a frightening something.

And we don’t have to begin alone.

The new job… the empty nest… the prison sentence… the deployment… the newlywed… the medical treatment… the baby… the crazy idea… the move… the new school year… the new day…

“I don’t know how to start”.

Because it is, by definition, all unknown.  The future, that is.  I can’t control or tame it.  I can’t even know it so as to prepare for it.

It causes some anxiety, does it not?  (Insert nervous laughter at this bold understatement).

But He is already there.  The Word. The Truth.  The Life.

The WAY.

Can I begin this thing, this season, this day, the way Mrs. P. does… allowing the unseen to dictate my interpretation of the seen?

I’ve heard of a process called ‘grounding’, by which a person on the verge of a panic attack can bring themselves back to reality and to a state of relative calm.  The process involves listing things you can see, touch, taste, and hear.  The purposeful placement of attention on things that are real helps keep the person’s mind from spiraling downward in a whirlwind of anxiety.

And sometimes?  No.  Daily.  Hourly?  We need some spiritual grounding.  I need to sit down and point to some things that are real, regardless of what my emotions are doing at the moment.

“In the beginning was the Word….”. That’s right.  Jesus has always existed.  He knew this day would come before the foundation of the world.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. – Oh yeah… He really did come to Earth.  He knows what it’s like down here.  And He sympathizes with my humanity. 

“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life”. – Sigh.  Right.  The GOD of the universe loves me and sent His Son to die in my place.  He’s prepared a place for me with Him.

“The LORD is my shepherd…” – Oh, ok… so… I don’t have to know exactly what’s up ahead?  And you know the way?

“I AM the way…” Huh… I’ll just follow you, then?  Whew.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”.  - Really?  But what if I…

“Never.” – What if they…

“Never.” – I’m going to mess it up, though.  I just know it. 

“Neither death not life nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, neither anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of  that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  - OH!  So like…NOTHING nothing.  Not even my mistakes.  Not even public school.  Not even….

“Nothing.” – Got it.

Breathe relief with me for a second?  These things don’t change.  EVER.

Will you search out some spiritual “grounding” verses today?  Because we need to start today right; and when it all falls apart, we’ll need to start it over again.  And we need to start at the beginning, with the Word, who gives us the only accurate interpretation of reality, along with hope to finish well… no matter how we’ve messed up.

Those columns…. if they were covered in the Word instead of words like “Big Bang”…. If the public school system was upheld by the unchanging Word instead of man’s fickle theories….I sure would feel a lot better about sending Andy in there morning after morning.  I’d feel as if this were a place God could really use for the spread of His kingdom.  And I’d probably be right; but I am wrong to think He can’t use this one…. That the darkness might somehow overcome the Light.

How is it that within the halls of public school, my son learned to begin with the Word?  To let the Word define reality for him before all else?  To be rooted in and defined not by worldly knowledge, but by the Father’s love?  You might say it this way:

“And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” – Romans 8:28

In your marriage, in your job, at your school, in your home… God works for your good, believer.  And He has a purpose for your being right there. Nothing is wasted and you can’t trip Him up and He won’t lose you in the big bad world out there.

He is near.  Call to Him today and ask Him to stop the spinning whirlwind and ground you in the truth.  Begin again and again today if necessary… and each time, start at the beginning…. where the Word was and is and forever will be the same…..

Yesterday,

Today,

Tomorrow.

What We Really Need To Hear (and Say) On The Hard Days

 

 

 

 

There are some days that can’t be fixed.  Some incidents, some tragedies, some mistakes….

 

Just can’t be fixed. 

 

And I try…. Oh BOY, do I try…..

 

I think that if I can just think the right thoughts, say the right words with the right tone of voice, give the right perspective or point to the right things…..

 

It will somehow be better.  Happier.  There. Fixed.

 

“Look at the bright side,” I say.  “You have your health…”

 

“You can have more children.”

 

“He lived a full life”.

 

“You’ll find new friends.”

 

“She obviously wasn’t ‘the one’.”

 

“Things will turn around.”

 

“Everything happens for a reason.”

 

Have you ever noticed how pointing out facts doesn’t ever make a person feel better?

 

Truth is….. and this is hard…..

 

None of the above can

Cure cancer,

Bring back the dead.

Heal the sick,

Restore a relationship,

Re-grow a limb,

Change a childhood,

 

Change anything.

 

Because for us, having a thing “fixed” would really mean rewinding time and having it never, ever happen.

Before the diagnosis.  Before the accident.  Before they ever met. 

 

We, I, want it to have never happened.

 

And the fact that I can’t undo anything in this world frustrates me.  I encounter a hurting person who is also powerless to turn back time and I panic.  I grasp for anything…. anything that sounds happy or positive or good to say because…. well…I don’t know….. Maybe whatever good I can find for them will outweigh the bad?

 

Wow.  Isn’t that just shockingly lame?  I think the Bible backs up this statement as well:

“Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on a wound, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.”- Proverbs 25:20

 

Yikes.  As it turns out, all of my well-meaning “buck ups” and pats on the back bring the same result as taking a person’s coat from them as they stand out in the freezing cold or pouring vinegar on their wounded flesh.  I actually cause greater pain in their lives when I remind them of all they “really should be thankful for”….. or whatever.

 

Alright.  So I can’t fix it.  I can’t lift the burden from someone else’s heart.  I can’t turn back time so that it never happened.  The “good” I identify will not cancel the hurt, the shame, the sadness, the anger, the despair.  So what am I supposed to do?

 

As you may have guessed, Andy helped me answer this question this week.  He saw a little girl, Sammie, crying on the playground all by herself during recess.  He stopped and asked her what was wrong.  She, of course, was having a bad day.  One he couldn’t fix.  Unlike his mother, though, he didn’t even attempt to fix it.  And that made all the difference.

 

“I just want you to know,” he said, “that Jesus loves you.  And in this sinful world  we are going to have bad days.  But in Heaven, there won’t be any bad days.  There won’t be anything bad at all.  And Jesus has prepared a place for you there.”

 

There.  That’s it.  He didn’t try to minimize her pain, point out the shining sun and spring foliage, or offer numerous solutions to her problem.  He gave her hope.

 

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵ and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” –Romans 5:5-6

 

I’ll tell you the truth.  I’ve got family members who’ve recently had terrible diagnoses, friends dealing with ruined childhoods, a broken heel myself, and I can’t fix any of it.  And no amount of comparison to others “worse off” or desperately searching for good will change anything.  It’s terribly disappointing.

 

But hope.  Hope in Jesus Christ, who brought me and them and you peace with God by dying at the right time for us…. the helpless…and has introduced us by faith to God’s undeserved favor because of His unfailing love for us…. Hope in His glory

 

Does not disappoint.

 

Reader, in this sinful world, there are going to be bad days.  When you are being tossed and pummeled by the waves and wind of the torrential storms of this world, cling to your anchor.  Shout out to the others to come cling to it too, and watch with excitement as your God shows up to be glorified.  And as He works in these frail, helpless beings…..

Perseverance

Character

Hope

He will be glorified.

And you will not be disappointed.

 

What we really need to hear on the hard days is the truth.  And the truth is that this world is fallen.  We are broken.  We are helpless.

But God didn’t leave us there.  And His Son came and saw and healed and died and rose and now….

Prepares a place for you.  And me.  And them.  With Him.  Exult, reader, in these tribulations because your hope leads to sure victory in eternity with Him who pours His love out on you forever.

And when we encounter the hurting, those adrift in the sea, those rocked by tragedy, those out in cold…..instead of becoming coat thieves, instead of reaching for the vinegar, let’s grab their hand and pull them to the anchor.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain”- Hebrews 6:19

Behind the curtain is all they need….all we need…. the very presence of the God who is love.

Valentine Defenders

"I loved Jesus.  He was my hero...because he was kind to everyone.  He didn't bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty.  He didn't care who you were.  He loved you....I wanted to be just like him.  One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework...I was a good boy.  I went to church and believed one God - what a relief for a working-class mother.  You see, growing up where I did, mums didn't hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn't go to jail.  So bring them up believing in God and they'll be good and law abiding.....But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, "Why do you believe in God?". Just a simple question.  But my mum panicked.  "Bob," she said in a tone that I knew meant, "shut up".  Why was that a bad thing to ask?  If there was a God and my faith was strong, it didn't matter what people said.  Oh-- hang on.  There is no God.  He knows it and she knows it deep down....I started thinking about it and asking more questions and within an hour, I was an atheist."

This is Ricky Gervais' account of how he became an atheist....at age 8.

Ricky says there's no evidence for the existence of God.  So I teach Andy all about the Earth and probability and the atmosphere and DNA. I give him a big old grenade to launch when the Ricky Gervais in his class comes along.  And then we march around the house chanting, "We're right!  They're wrong!  We're smart!  They're dumb!  We win!  We win!  Hooray!"

Well....no...we don't do that last part.  But honestly, it wouldn't be that weird if we did, because that's the kind of sentiment that typically follows such preparation.

Don't get me wrong...there's definitely a war going on and we must be prepared to fight.  But here's what the Bible has to say about it:

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." -Ephesians 6:12

If our struggle is against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, why in the world am I worried about Ricky Gervais?  While I'm preparing Andy to shoot down atheists, the Enemy wages real war.  And I leave Andy unarmed and caught off guard.

And he misses his calling.....

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting peoples sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as if God were making an appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God."-1 Corinthians 5:18-20

One word in different forms, 5 times in 2 verses....

Reconcile

Has God committed to me the responsibility of neutralizing the "threat "of every person who does not believe in Him?

To shoot them down?

Prove them wrong?

Philosophically destroy them?

Doesn't look that way.  Looks like He has committed to me a message.  Looks like I am to deliver His letter of love that says, 

"Child!  Creator God of the universe is NOT counting your sins against you!  Come back to Me!  I LOVE you....and I've proven it!"

Will Ricky get it...will he hear the Father's appeal...if I spend all my time on DNA?

I don't think so, and I'll tell you why.

I engaged in philosophical and metaphysical warfare with a few atheist kids throughout high school.  I spent quite a bit of time working to mentally conquer one young lady in particular, who was quite intelligent and believed just what Ricky does.  I always patted myself on the back after our exchanges, feeling I'd given her no ground and shut her down pretty well.  

She took her own life our first year of college.

And I'll never know what might have happened if I had viewed her differently....viewed my purpose differently....been courageous enough to engage in a conversation about why she believed what she did.....

Asked her if she knew she needed rescuing....and that the rescuer had come?

It only took one young lady in William Lane Craig's class to exhibit the love of Christ on a daily basis for him to wonder what it meant that God loved him.....

and cause the scales to begin to fall from his eyes.

Now....

Andy and I do need to know about DNA.  After all, God did create it...and the stars...and the eye...and the hummingbird.  It's important to see that there is evidence everywhere that bursts with God's fingerprints.  But as for my job, and the job I equip Andy to do at school, it must be about reconciliation.  About bringing God's lost and wandering and lonely and hopeless children back to Him.

When Ricky shows up in whatever form he takes, be it science teacher, atheist classmate, or PTA mom, Andy and I need to be ready with our backpacks full of valentines from the King.  We need to be willing to view him not as a target to be decimated, but as an expatriate...one who is beloved by the King who pleads with him to come home.  One for whom the King's very own Son gave his life in order to save his forever.

If we are to carry out our charge,  we must pick up the delivery bag with which He has entrusted  us and take His message to the world.  Yes, and we must put on that armor and pick up our sword, because we will be attacked on the way.  We must be ready to "destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God." (2 Corinthians 10:5). We slay the ideas while imploring the person.  We help them to stage an uprising on their thoughts: to take them captive and make them obedient to Christ....instead of being held captive by them as abused slaves.

And we do it with confidence....not in the weapons we may wield in response to resistance....but in WHO we know.

Our confidence in delivering our message comes from having experienced the presence of the great and loving  King who paid the highest price to buy us back from slavery.

Because the thing is....when this message gets out?  The one straight from the King's own heart that says, "Your debt is paid!  Come back, child!  See?  I make all things new...even you!  I love you.  I LOVE you and we are reconciled!"

There's  no stopping it.