A Blessed Life

Ronald Reagan, in his official declaration to run for President of the United States in 1979, stated, “Our leaders attempt to blame their failures on circumstances beyond their control, on false estimates by unknown, unidentifiable experts who rewrite modern history in an attempt to convince us our high standard of living, the result of thrift and hard work, is somehow selfish extravagance which we must renounce as we join in sharing scarcity.”

The thought that our prosperity is a result of ourselves is fairly common still today. Once we fail to acknowledge that we are a blessed people because of a gracious God, we begin to teeter on a dangerous precipice. God is love, and He is loving enough to everyone that he will sometimes rid the world of a poisonous person, group, or nation in order to help everyone else. If love were a coin, one side would be grace while the other side would be wrath. God’s wrath is part of love. God is wise enough to understand that one bad apple, if ignored, will ruin the whole bunch.

The prophet Jeremiah declared a message from the Lord to the people of Israel: “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it” [Jeremiah 18:7-10 (ESV)].

The nation of Israel had a special place in the eyes of God, yet God punished them. God’s special, chosen people were not exempt from punishment when they stopped living a life focused on loving the least in society, walking the trail of the Lord, and treating people justly. The very fact that his chosen people received His wrath when they failed to live their lives the way he designed them to live should be a warning to us.

No name on our church building, no ritual that we have participated in, no prayer uttered, no weekly attendance, no participation in the sacraments – nothing outside of a heart currently and totally surrendered to God matters. If a special place of election did not prevent the nation of Israel from the wrath of God when they strayed from His plan, nothing in our lives should give us a false sense of invulnerability.

God said, through the prophet Jeremiah, that he will relent from punishing those destined for punishment if they would change their ways. If you feel that you are under a curse or punishment because of some terrible act that you have done in your past, this passage should provide a great, liberating hope. The principle is that your burden can be removed if you turn toward God.

There is grace. Jesus paid the price for all of our sins on the cross. Because of that act, those who are God’s do not receive the wrath and vengeance that we deserve. But we must be careful to avoid taking that for granted. We cannot fall prey to a life of selfishness, materialism, and pride that will cause us to be more of a poison to our family, our neighborhood, our community, our nation, and our world.

We are called to be a blessing. God has plans for us to turn away from the allure of this world and to live our lives for Him. That is difficult to do when we are bombarded daily with million dollar marketing campaigns that have been devised to deceive us into believing that the way of this world is the best way.

I began this article talking about America because we struggle with being a prideful people who take credit for the blessings that God has given to us. That is a dangerous place to be because once we think our prosperity is a result of ourselves, then we can lose sight of God. When that happens we move closer to losing the very blessings that we have been showered with.

As individuals, we have the same struggle. Are we people who think that we are unstoppable? Are we people who think that we have achieved our position through our own intelligence and hard work? Are we living our lives our way without any regard to the plan and call of God on our life?

To be fair to President Reagan, he concluded his speech on a spiritual note: “We who are privileged to be Americans have had a rendezvous with destiny since the moment in 1630 when John Winthrop, standing on the deck of the tiny Arbella off the coast of Massachusetts, told the little band of pilgrims, ‘We shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.’”

This passage in Jeremiah should be a wake-up call, both to those who feel they are under a curse and those who feel they have been blessed. God wants both types of people to realize that their future blessings will be based upon their current living, not their past. God gives a clean slate, a slate free from all of our faults. A slate also free from all of our accomplishments. There can be no pride. Just you and an honest heart. God will reward you greatly when you choose to align your heart, dreams, plans, and living to His will. That is a promise that is not empty like the manipulative marketing ploys of the businesses in this world. That is God’s plan for your life. A life filled with the good that He plans for it. Will you take that life? Will you give up everything for it?

A Privilege to Bring Relief

Tragedy struck the South last week in what could possibly be the worst tornado in American history once the missing are all accounted for.  Currently, this disaster sits at number two on the most destructive tornado list with over three hundred dead and over four hundred people still unaccounted for.  Beside the immeasurable cost to life, the tornadoes have also destroyed towns and cities.  Despite the size of the disaster and its recent occurrence, it is already old news.  When I write this early Monday morning, the story is already off the headlines and off of the main internet news sites. 

The apostle John and his letter to the churches always challenges me in times of disaster like this.   “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” [1 John 3:16-18 (ESV)].

The media has shrunk the world.  In a way, this is a good thing.  We can see the needs of people on the other side of the world.  But in another way, this can be a bad thing.  We can grow immune to the suffering and plight of others because it is always in front of us.  Let us heed the teaching of John.  If we say we love God, then we need to love our brothers and sisters in need.  Now is one of those times that we have that opportunity.

Sometimes I encounter the idea that we do not need to help others because we should use all of our resources to help our own.  The thought goes, “We have enough needs here in Antwerp and Paulding County.  Why should we send money to help others?”  Scripture teaches that God blesses in order for those whom he blesses to be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-3).  In God’s logic, he blesses those who have shown that they are willing to use what he blesses them with to bless others (Matthew 25:14-30).  We must be careful not to view it selfishly like an exchange in the marketplace.  “We bless others, God blesses us.”  It doesn’t work that simply.  God cannot be tricked by ur actions.  He can see our hearts and know whether our loving actions spring out of love or selfishness.  May we strive to learn how to genuinely love others and use our blessings to be a blessing.

The world does not have a problem with lacking supplies, food, and resources; its problem is in distribution.  Those in need could have all their needs met if those with plenty would choose to sacrifice and meet them.  There is enough to go around.  In God’s economy, we can always sacrifice to be a blessing.  That is the example that we should learn from Jesus on the cross.  Through his suffering, he showed us what humility really looks like (Philippians 2). 

So if you are looking to help during this time, there are many ways.  If you are in a denominational church, you can always contact your church’s relief wing and see what opportunities they have available.  There is always the American Red Cross.  My favorite disaster charity is International Disaster Emergency Service.  Ides ranks higher than the American Red Cross at Charity Navigator with their charity rating.   

If you are interested in doing more than just sending money, Riverside Christian Church is planning a relief trip down there next week to deliver some needed supplies and help out wherever help is needed.  The details are not finalized yet, but get in touch if you are interested in joining in our relief efforts.

Miracles, Mary, Perceptions, Getting Scared, and God's Plan for our Lives

Seeing an angel appear at the foot of my bed and speak to me would be terrifying. I’m a little paranoid and am scared to death of certain things. This year, while mowing, I encountered a garter snake and screamed like a grown man. I was riding my mower, noticed a snake crawling beside me, and screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn’t even know that I was scared of snakes, but I guess I am.

During my freshman year of college, I would go to bed before my roommate, Josh. He would stay up and watch Letterman, Conan O’Brien, or work on homework. I was usually in bed by 11. He had a tendency to leave the door unlocked. One night I woke up from someone tapping me on the shoulder. I rolled over, expecting it to be Josh, and looked to see what he wanted. What I saw was not Josh. Instead, I encountered a big, giant, scary mask staring me in the face and was greeted by a loud, “Boo!” I sat up in my bed and screamed at the top of my lungs. That night the two big 6’10” linemen - that’s the big guy position in football for those who don’t follow football – decided to sneak into all the unlocked rooms and scare people. As I was laying there in my bed, trying to calm my heart beat down, I could hear screams of fellow students previously asleep behind unlocked doors echo down the hallway.

Apparently Jesus’ mother Mary had a similar reaction to Gabriel, for Gabriel’s initial response to Mary was, “Do not be afraid.” Encountering an unexpected person in what is supposed to be a safe place would cause some fear. But Gabriel was there, not to terrify her, but to tell her that she had found favor with God and would be blessed by him.

So what was the big blessing. You know it. Mary, being a virgin who was engaged, would become pregnant. Imagine the conversation between Joseph and Mary. “So Mary, you say that you are pregnant from the Holy Spirit? Sure.” As we see in the book of Matthew, he was going to divorce her over her pregnancy. It took an angel of the Lord to convince him not to. Now, he was left to decide whether Mary had some very good friends talented in special effects or whether the message from the angel was the real thing.

A lot of times, God’s blessings can be viewed either positively or negatively. Here was Mary, pregnant and a virgin. If she had a negative outlook on life, she would have said, “I can’t believe this. It ruins my wedding night. I was saving myself from Joseph, now he won’t even believe me that I am pregnant because I found favor with God. What kind of blessing is this anyway? Now, all my neighbors and friends will also think I’m a slut.” Even after Joseph received the message from an angel, I am sure the neighbors and friends still thought Mary was unfaithful. Who, in their right mind, would believe that God impregnated a woman?

But Mary did. Joseph did. Miracles are seldom seen by others as being miraculous, but those who experience them know what they are. We can sit around, be Mr. or Mrs. Negativity, and condemn all of the great miracles people believe that God has done in their lives. We can say miracles are no longer done because we don’t experience them, but that would be allowing our experience to speak rather than Scripture. A respected professor and minister in the non-instrumental churches of Christ made a comment to me this year: “We have made the mistake of saying miracles were gone with Apostles.” I know Lindsay and I have experienced tremendous blessings from God. The same with the church we are part of. People outside of God would just say that they were coincidences. I am baffled by how many “coincidences” Christians, who are willing to give their lives over to God, experience.

Jesus would be the result of Mary's sacrifice; a sacrifice she would view as a blessing. The king of the long-awaited Kingdom of God would finally come. The Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for and that the world needed. And this blessing would come through Mary, a woman who had her world rocked. She was pregnant before being married, Jesus' arrival would not be painless, and raising him would change her life. But in the process, her sacrificing her own rights allowed the world to be changed. That is an essential characteristic of those who are used by God; they have to be willing to be a sacrifice.

I think Mary’s story tells it best. She sacrificed her plans for her future for the sake of God’s plan for her. When we encounter God and allow him to direct our lives, that is usually what happens. We cannot go on living the way we have always lived if we want to be who God wants us to be. And that is true whether we have been following God our whole life or are just starting to take our first steps. God’s plans will crush our own plans, but that’s okay. When we allow that to happen, our lives, and our world is a better place. We have to realize that. God’s plan for our life is better than our own.

We Don't Rob God, We Rob Ourselves

We don’t rob God of anything when we don’t do His will. He does not need us to do His will. God does not sit around and wonder how He is going to get His will done. He does not sit up in heaven saying that He needs Regan to be faithful or else He cannot achieve what He wants. No, He lives in our hearts trying to guide us to do His will because He knows that His will is what is best for our lives. We only rob ourselves when we live selfishly outside of God’s will. God has blessings in store for us. He has a great life planned for us. When we live outside of His will, we rob ourselves of that blessing.

I can go on living life the way I want and I will receive what I deserve through my own merits. For some of us that might not be much; for others, they can earn the possessions of this world and live the high life. Or I can live life as a child of the King and get what I do not deserve because of His merits. When I realize that I am His child and He wants to take care of me like I want to take care of my children, then I will want to please Him like a child wants to please their mom and dad. His love is amazing. And his grace is also amazing.

Religion, including Jesus’ Church, has a tendency to be pulled toward a culture of ungrace. One in which you need to appear perfect in order to serve in any meaningful capacity; a culture where we will hold your mistakes against you until you die. The place that should have the most grace in whole world has morphed into a place where sinners – but only those who are caught – are spiritually shot and killed. Is that really what God intended His family to be like? My children make mistakes and they screw up just like I do as a child of my parents, but my parents still accept me as their own. We all make mistakes, but God still accepts each of us as His own. It is sometimes difficult for people to realize this because we are surrounded by so many dysfunctional homes where a parents’ love has to be earned rather than it being freely given. But God freely gives.

So when we come to a warning in the Bible to not behave in a certain way, it is not a command from a god that does not have our best interests at heart. It is a command from a loving Father who wants us to be all that He intends for us to be. I don’t know what God has in store for everyone that reads this. He might want someone to change their community by helping the poor in incredible ways. He might want you to invest your life investing in children so that they can reach their God-given potential. He might have a widow in mind for you to give love and friendship to. He might intend for you to be a silent prayer warrior empowering all of the ministries around you.

But know that God has a greatness in store for each of us. What parent does not want their children to be great? He has a plan for each one of us. However, we need to make sure that we allow God to define what greatness is rather than swallow the definition this world shoves into our mind through commercials, entertainment, and those who have yet to realize God’s purpose for their life. The world tells me that greatness is wealth and power. God tells me that greatness is humility and love. Some, including myself on bad days, will look at the wealthy and powerful and say that they have greatness and will strive to have greatness the world’s way. But that path will only lead to a temporary greatness, a greatness that will lead to a dead end.

We need to surrender ourselves to our loving Father and let Him shape us into the greatness He wants us to be. That is a greatness that will last.