A Plentiful Harvest

 With October comes the beginning of harvest season for many folks.  After a summer of farming and gardening, it is time to collect the bounty and store it for the non-growing winter season ahead.  But in addition to important material provision, the harvest season has much to teach us in the way of spiritual truth….

 

First, the harvest season reminds us that our Creator is the God of abundance.  He created the earth in such a way that the earth would sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees…bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them… and plants yielding seed after their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind.  (Genesis 1:11-12).  Our planet reflects the glory and generosity of its Creator, and we are the blessed beneficiaries of that.

 

Second, there is a spiritual harvest as well as a material harvest.  We have been created in the image of the Creator Himself.  We are to create using the resources He has given us.  The call to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28) goes well beyond the bearing of children and populating the earth.  We are to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and powerful work in us: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).  We are to proclaim the Kingdom of God by fulfilling the will of the Lord and walking in the good works for which He created us (Ephesians 2:10).  Indeed, Jesus used the concept of earthly harvest to teach His disciples about the importance of the spiritual harvest (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2), of proclaiming Christ so that His disciples would make disciples of all men: Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.  Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal.  (John 4:35b-36a). 

 

As we consider fulfilling the purposes for which our Creator created us and thereby bearing eternal fruit, it is essential to maintain a faithful dependence upon that Creator.  We cannot bear fruit by ourselves: Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me (John 15:4).  As much as our sin nature might urge us to “do it myself,” the eternal harvest is about the Lord and not us.

 

May we show deep gratitude as we reap the glorious blessings of our Creator and Lord, and may we know overflowing joy in the privilege of bearing fruit for His kingdom….

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow....

  

September!  Ready or not, here it comes….  For some of us, September is a welcome change; for others of us, the arrival of fall means unwelcome schedules and pressures.  Welcome or not, the changing of seasons is a reminder that our lives are punctuated by times of transition.

 

There is no doubt that we are created in the context of rhythms: In the beginning, God created the light and separated it from the darkness, creating day and night.  The seasons reflect the ebb and flow of life on a planet created to teem with life.  And when the LORD created man and woman in His image, to exercise sovereignty over His glorious creation, times of work and times of rest certainly came with the territory, eventually becoming the Sabbath.  Our brains welcome both the variety and predictability that come with these rhythms.  

 

But with the fall came a broken creation, and while rhythms remain, living as fallen creatures in a fallen world means that the rhythms of our lives are punctuated with transitions that often offer a mix of blessing and challenge.  Research has shown that even the happiest of transitions—marriage, a move to a desired new home, starting at the college of choice, a wonderful new job—are associated with significant stress.  The fear and shame that Adam and Eve encountered as soon as they took the forbidden fruit has become part of our spiritual DNA.  “Am I good enough?”  “Do I really belong here?”  “Can I make this work?”  “What if they don’t like me?”

 

It can be difficult to embrace the opportunities represented by a time of transition when those opportunities are conjoined with unforeseen challenges and pitfalls.  But there is value in the humble acknowledgement that we don’t have complete control of our situation and circumstances.  That humble acknowledgement becomes an earnest invitation from the Lord to seek His face and His presence in our lives.  

 

King David comes to mind as an excellent model for us to consider.  Scripture is quite clear that David was a fallen creature, subject to his own dysfunctional strategies for dealing with fear and shame.  But he was also a man after God’s own heart!  After being anointed King of Israel by Samuel, David spends the better part of the next ten years not on the throne but battling Philistines and hiding in the wilderness from King Saul who is determined to murder him.  These are the hardest of times, unanticipated transitions and undeserved trials.  Many of David’s Psalms include the complaints and pleas that David brought before the Lord.  But invariably these Psalms of suffering conclude with the acknowledgement of and praise for a good and mighty God.  

 

In the book of I Samuel, we read about David’s faithful habit of seeking the Lord before choosing a path or direction.  And even when David becomes King of Israel, he continues to seek the LORD before continuing to battle the Philistines.  One of my favorite pieces of Israelite history is the account recorded in II Samuel 7:8-29.  Nathan the prophet comes to the newly crowned King David with a message from the LORD, proclaiming the LORD’s covenant with David and promising David His protection and blessing.  This highlights and underscores David’s transition from being a fugitive struggling to survive in the wilderness to the King of Israel under the protection of God Almighty.  And David’s response?  He does not walk out the door and stride through the streets, surveying his realm.  Instead, he sits before the LORD, questioning his worth before His Creator and extolling the goodness and greatness of the One who has blessed him so richly.

 

To be sure, King David lived a long time ago, in a culture quite foreign to us.  But the LORD God is eternal, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  We would do well to follow David in seeking the Lord at all times and especially in times of transition.  May we do so for our good and His glory!

 

Now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.  Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You.  For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.  II Samuel 7:28-29

 

 

From Where Shall My Help Come? Psalm 121:1

 One of the perks of being a professional Christian counselor is that I have the privilege of seeing the truth and power of God’s Word at work in hurting people as they heal and grow.  And since all truth is God’s truth, reputable secular mental health research often substantiates and supports Biblical principles and underscores its importance.  One good example is the power of our mind and our will to understand and manage the negative emotions that accompany the unavoidable hardships of living in a fallen world as a fallen creature.  The way we choose to think about a situation can have a significant impact on our outlook and perspective as we persevere through trials and challenging situations.

 

We are made in the image of an emotional God, and emotions are a gift from our Creator.  While positive emotions give us pleasure, negative emotions often create confusion.  We don’t know what to do with them, and we try to avoid or get rid of them without getting too deep in the emotional trenches.  But all emotions are valuable!  They give us information that goes beyond what our five senses can provide.  The challenge is to use our minds to understand and manage our emotions.  And as we use our minds to apply God’s truth, we are enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to recognize that as genuinely difficult as our situation may be, no trial is beyond the Lord and His redemptive purposes.

 

A mental health strategy that I have found particularly helpful is the practice of asking oneself, “Is there another way to look at this?” when faced with difficulties that are generating negative emotions and mindset.  This isn’t about minimizing or denying our emotions; rather it is about using our minds and allowing God’s truth to broaden our perspective.  

 

A little while back, I was feeling overwhelmed with too many challenges in ministry and in family life.  I quickly reached the point where even the smallest inconvenience provoked my grumbling, and my outlook most definitely lacked the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen that is the fruit of faith.  But as I began to seek the Lord, bemoaning my lack of internal resources, He reminded me that His resources are inexhaustible.  Turning my focus to the Lord’s abundance instead of remaining fixed on my own poverty helped me to see the Lord’s goodness and welcome His redeeming work in my life.  And again, this wasn’t an exercise in minimizing or denying my emotions.  Quite the opposite!  My negative emotions sent a loud and clear message that I needed help, the Lord’s help!

 

Without doubt, King David made it his practice to respond to tribulation by turning his thoughts to the Lord.  His words in Psalm 13 give us a good sample:

            How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? 

            How long will You hide Your face from me?

            How long shall I take counsel in my soul, 

            Having sorrow in my heart all the day? 

            How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; 

            Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

            And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” 

            And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; 

            My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

            I will sing to the LORD, 

            Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

The Pursuit

 As we enter July, the United States is preparing to mark its 250^th anniversary as an independent republic.  Despite the divisions among us, we have much to celebrate.  May we come to Him in deep thanksgiving for the blessings He has bestowed upon us….

 

As we celebrate America’s birthday, I think it presents us with a reminder that it is important to go beyond giving thanks to the Lord for His blessings.  It is also crucial to remember that heaven is eternal and the United States is not.  We do not want to be so distracted with temporal reality that we lose focus on the eternal.

 

The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are excellent political documents.  But they are not the Bible!  A particularly good example of the difference is found in the beginning of the second paragraph of the Declaration: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  The pursuit of happiness may be a fundamental political freedom, but it is not the Lord’s goal for us.

 

In my New American Standard Bible, “happiness” appears a handful to times.  Joy, on the other hand, repeated often in both the Old and New Testaments.  While happiness can be promoted by a positive attitude, it is to a significant degree dependent on our circumstances.  The Lord wants us to know His joy that is independent of circumstances.  As Jesus was speaking with His disciples in the Upper Room just before His crucifixion, He warned them that their circumstances in the world would include hatred, stumbling blocks, and tribulation.  But He also explained that these things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.  

 

How do we find and experience joy even in the midst of challenging and difficult circumstances?  In His Upper Room Discourse, Jesus also instructed His disciples to abide in Him as the true vine, that we would bear fruit in Him.  He also promised the indwelling Holy Spirit.  And then the Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, taught that joy is a fruit of that indwelling Holy Spirit.  And so we know that as we abide in Christ, He enables us to bear the fruit of joy by the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit despite challenging and troubling circumstances.  And this joy, independent of circumstances, represents a tremendous witness to an unbelieving, hurting world.

 

Happiness is nice!  I love being comfortable and having an easy time of things.  But I do not want to pursue happiness as a counterfeit of joy.  And sometimes I need encouragement to resist the temptation to serve myself to generate the comfortable circumstances that promise happiness.  May we, like the disciples who sat and listened to our Lord’s final words, have our hearts and minds fixed on our Lord, that we would abide in Him and bear His fruit of joy as a blessing for all concerned.

 

 

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. 

We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies

 in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the 

sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

 

                                                                                                            C.S. Lewis

                                                                                                            The Weight of Glory

 

 

Lights of the World

 The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to humankind.  Incomprehensibly, God loves us and wants to reveal Himself to us, that everyone might know Him by faith.  This is not a New Testament concept.  When the LORD called Abraham as the progenitor of the nation of Israel, He promised Abraham that in Abraham all families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3b).  The Promised Land was strategically located on a trade route, bringing non-Israelite travelers through on a regular basis, giving them an opportunity to hear about the one God, Yahweh.  The LORD also provided for sojourners in Israelite territory that they might experience the goodness of God:  The rest of the Sabbath applied to them as well as to the Israelites (Exodus 20:10); the Law applied to Israelites and sojourners alike (Exodus 9:14); and the prophet Ezekiel chastised the people for oppressing sojourners among them (Ezekiel 22:29).  Our God wants all people to know His goodness as well as His greatness….

 

The theme continues and expands in the New Testament.  Jesus proclaims that believers are both salt (Matthew 5:13) and light (Matthew 5:14-16).  We are to join John the Baptist in proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand!  And just before the resurrected Christ returns to heaven, He gives His disciples the Great Commission: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.  (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

We are to be about our Lord’s business, proclaiming the Gospel to unbelievers.  It is our privilege to do so.  But it is not always clear how to fulfill this calling.  Pastor Jame has called us to prayer, for the Lord to identify and lead us to nonbelievers who He is drawing to Himself.   This is an excellent approach!  But it doesn’t have to be our exclusive way to proclaim the Gospel….

 

One of my favorite movie lines, from Ocean’s Eleven, describes a foundational theme of the film:  “There is always someone watching.”  Like it or not, this is a very true statement even outside of Hollywood.  While we may not be intentionally watched, our words and actions, and even our expressions and attitudes, are noticed.  The way we treat others and respond under stress can make a big impression.  Jesus teaches His disciples this principle even before He gives them the Great Commission: Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.  Matthew 5:16.

 

The lifestyle approach to evangelism, as I have coined it, is not as focused and intentional as the more direct, intentional approach.  But it can be just as demanding if not more so.  We need to consider ourselves in “evangelism mode” whenever and wherever we are out and about.  And if we are to be prepared to manifest the Lord in any place and at any time, we must be prayerfully welcoming and nurturing the Lord’s sanctifying work in us with every breath.  We cannot manifest the Lord without Him!  Trying to fake the fruits of the Spirit will be counterproductive for those with whom we come in contact; and worse, it will tempt us to think that we can become who the Lord has created and called us to be by our own wisdom and strength.  But if we surrender to His ways of working within us, we will become increasingly able both to know and to share His goodness and grace.  As the Light of the world shines within us, we will become beacons of hope in our desperately needy world.

 

The Church Afire!

 Our celebration of Easter has come and gone, and we move on, looking forward to next Easter’s celebration, and before then, Christmas.  But for the apostles, the weeks after Easter were filled with wonder and glory.  For the 40 days after Resurrection Sunday (Acts 1:3), their risen Lord was among them!  Without doubt their faith was strengthened and enriched during this this time.  And after Jesus had instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came and baptized them, equipping them for their mission to be His witnesses, the apostles witnessed their Lord’s return to heaven.  

 

And so the apostles remained together in Jerusalem, waiting….  Ten days later, the day of Pentecost came (Acts 2:1).  The Holy Spirit made His presence known as He filled each of the Apostles, equipping them to witness to visitors by declaring God’s mighty deeds in their own native languages.  The church of Jesus Christ was born as the Lord filled His disciples with His Holy Spirit to enable, equip, and empower them to do His work on earth.

 

Now, millennia later, the church of Jesus Christ remains, guarded, guided, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim Christ to the world until He returns.  We, as believers, are incredibly blessed to be deemed worthy to carry out this eternally significant work that is both solemn and joyous.

 

As vital as it is to commemorate Easter, to remember Jesus’s astonishing sacrifice on our behalf, it is also crucial to bear in mind that the day of Pentecost—that we commemorate this month, on the 24^th—marked the New Covenant beginning of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost is more than a historic holiday.  It is a reminder that the Holy Spirit abides in us and guards, guides, and empowers the church to continue preaching the Gospel and continuing the Kingdom work that Christ initiated with His disciples.

 

We need to be very, very clear that the work of the church is not a solo human endeavor.  We need the Holy Spirit, and we need one another.  In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul casts a vision for the Gentile readers of his letter: God raised Christ above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and name for all eternity and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  (Ephesians 1:22b-23).  We are the body of Christ, His fulness!  As we use our unique gifts that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us in a Holy Spirit-driven and cooperative and coordinated manner, we will manifest the fullness of Christ…!  May we embrace with joy the task of making disciples of all even as we depend upon the Holy Spirit to do so.

 

He Is Risen--INDEED!

 As we welcome April, we are drawn to return to the story of Christ’s passion and resurrection.  Our annual commemoration is an important reminder, but the repetition can blunt the impact of the most pivotal event in human history.  It is essential for us to fix our heart, minds, and spirits on what our Savior has done on our behalf.  But beyond that, Good Friday and Easter give us an opportunity to consider that these events are the most reliable in ancient history.  They really happened!  And since they really happened, the consequences are of eternal consequences.

 

We live in a world where personal, independent power and performance are a high priority and vague spirituality is glorified.  History, especially ancient history is irrelevant.  Life is fast-paced and distracting.  It is easy even for believers to let Good Friday and Easter come and go with limited focus and spiritual impact.  But Scripture calls us to remember, to remember, to remember what the Lord has done for us….

 

I find it helpful to consider how much the reality of Good Friday and Easter highlights the foundational truths found in God’s Word:  Mankind is sinful.  From the fall in the Garden of Eden, the influence of Satan and sin has corrupted the entirety of creation.  Men and women continue the legacy of Adam and Eve with our “do it myself” and the lack of love in our relationships.  We cannot save ourselves from ourselves!  We need a Savior.  

 

And then since God is the God of both righteousness and justice, there must be some accounting for our sin.  Our sin debt is beyond our reckoning, and we have no way to pay that debt.  Only God Himself can pay it, and that is precisely why Christ died on the cross.  The ugliness of our sin is highlighted by the brutality of the crucifixion, but it also stands in sharp contrast to the beauty and depth of our Lord’s love for us.

 

Of course, the cross is only a portion of the story.  The resurrection reminds us that it was God Incarnate who died on the cross, but since Christ was fully God as well as fully man, He is eternal; death itself cannot contain Him.  He was, and is, and is to come…. And the resurrection is the first fruits of the eternal life now offered to us by faith.  

 

Finally, since Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross has covered our sin debt, we now have a restored and abiding relationship with the Triune Godhead.  By faith, we have the Holy Spirt—God Himself!—living within us.  As life on this side of the kingdom confronts us with our shortcomings, weaknesses, and failures, we can depend upon the faithful work of our Lord who has promised to complete the work He has begun in us.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us!

 

Truly, the death and resurrection of Christ is beyond our human comprehension.  It is a more spectacular reality than anything Christ created.  But it is also incredibly personal.  The Godhead wants you and me to know Him more truly and more deeply as time on earth passes.  He calls us to repent of the sins that continue to cause us to stumble and to walk in faith before Him, embracing the resurrection power within us to become who He has created us to be and to fulfill His purposes for us.

 

 

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vary, your faith also is vain….  If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

I Corinthians 15:12-14, 19-20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Forward...By Abiding in the Vine

 With March comes the realistic anticipation of Spring…. Plants spring back to life, and gardeners and farmers are busy preparing the soil and plants big and small to produce the fresh fruit and vegetables that we enjoy.  It is quite a contrast to the bleakness that has surrounded us these past several months.

 

With the limited information of fall and winter, we could easily conclude that most of our plant life has died.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  Plants become dormant, storing energy in their roots, so that they can be ready for spring and the rush of new life and growth.  And as with much of creation, this can be a metaphor for us in our walks of faith.  There are times when the Lord is quiet, when our ministries seem stalled, when we are more tired than excited.  But that does not mean that the indwelling Holy Spirit is done with us!

 

The early chapters of Genesis tells us a lot about our God, the God of creation.  He is the God of teeming life and productivity:

 

The God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in the, and it was so.  Genesis 1:11.

 

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it….

 

And here we are, millennia later, serving our Creator, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  We have been created to bear fruit for His kingdom!  But unlike the plants that the Lord created, we need the Lord’s direct help in order to bear the fruit He is calling us to produce.

 

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-dresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit…Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

 

We will invariably find ourselves in a season of pruning at times.  But Spring reminds us that our Creator and Redeemer has created us to bear eternal, glorious fruit for His kingdom.  He invites us to nurture an abiding relationship in Him so that we can know the joy of doing so.

 

The Februaries of Our Lives

 We worship and serve a God who wants to be known.  The Lord has revealed Himself to us in His Word, by His Spirit, in the Incarnate Christ, and in His creation.  And while there is no substitute for the Lord’s direct communication by His Word, I very much appreciate the lessons that nature can teach us.  February is an ideal time to think about this.

 

There are few people indeed who would name February as their favorite month.  Plants are dormant, and it is grey, chilly, dreary, damp…. Conversations about the weather generally head toward the future: Spring is coming!  We take encouragement in this knowing that warm, sunny weather is coming even though we can’t see any hints of it. 

 

But this annual phenomenon can encourage us in our walk of faith.  There are times of struggle, trial, suffering; there are times when we are unable to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  The Lord’s sovereign goodness and redemptive purposes can be beyond our imagination.  But just like the transition between winter and spring, the seasons of our lives can deeply connect us with our Redeemer, with Life Himself!  While there is little or no appearance of life in our flowers, shrubs, and trees, much is happening below the surface, these plants are becoming prepared and ready to burst forth with new life.  And in our times of struggle, there may be few signs of spiritual life, but the Lord can use such times to bring us to confession and repentance if needed, to restore us, to enable us to depend on Him as we are exercising perseverance, and to build our faith as we walk in the conviction of truth that we cannot, at the moment, see.

 

To be sure, struggling through challenges and trials, both large and small, is not fun.  The fall was not the Lord’s intent or desire for us; it is not what He created us for.  But our God is not only our Creator; He is our Redeemer.  He has promised to work all things—even the worst of things—for our good.  And not only that, He will use our suffering and the good He works out of that suffering to enable and equip us to help and encourage others in their faith walk.  No hardship will go unredeemed.  All will gleam in glory…. May we persevere in that truth…!

 

 

 

Adventure!

 In his prequel to his trilogy The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien shares the musings of hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he contemplates the concept of adventure:

 

            It’s a dangerous business… going out your door…. We are plain quiet 

            folk and have no use for adventures.  Nasty disturbing uncomfortable 

            things!   Make you late for dinner!

 

A short while back Bilbo’s words came to mind as I walked out my door and had an adventure.  I set out to jog one of my regular and favorite routes to and through a local park and back.  While I was in the park, I was attacked by a large dog that was let off leash by its owner.  I was bitten six times before the owner could control the dog, and then the owner cursed at me for somehow provoking it.  I was hurt just badly enough to need medical help and found myself in rabies protocol.  And, I was late for dinner…..

 

As I processed this event and pondered the words of Bilbo Baggins, I came to the conclusion that Bilbo’s words were not entirely accurate.  The truth is that we are fallen people in a fallen world.  “Adventure” can find us whether or not we walk out the door.  Lightning can strike our home, thieves can break in, our own pets can wreak havoc, health issues can surface.  A deeply meaningful life is not so much about controlling adventure as it is about applying faith to it.  

 

The Apostle Paul reminds us in his epistle to the Romans that those who walk in a faith relationship with Christ can be assured that our Lord will work all events, situations, and circumstances for our good and His glory.  It is a description of the “Now and Not Yet” aspect of redemption: Even as we wait for our redemption in Him to be complete and sealed in eternity, we have the assurance that the Lord will use every bit of our time on earth for His good purposes for us.

 

It seems to me that an exceptionally wise way to begin a new year is to apply Paul’s words to Bilbo Baggins’ concept of adventure.  Since we are called to do all things as to the Lord, pursuing excellence in all that we do is appropriate.  But a focus on self-improvement so that we can do better, do more, and compete with those around us may be counter-productive as we seek to walk in faith before our Lord and Master.  I would like to suggest that we would do well to consider our Maker and Model:  As Jesus walked the earth as God Incarnate, He used the adventure of every unpredictable encounter to proclaim God’s kingdom, to love, and to serve, knowing without doubt that His Father and the Holy Spirit were at work in Him, to work all things for the Godhead’s good and redemptive purposes.

 

Prepare the Way of the Lord!

December is a month of anticipation: Christmas is coming!  Our celebration of the earthly arrival of God Incarnate is rapidly approaching, and with it a significant “TO DO” list.  We send cards, shop for and purchase gifts, decorate our homes, bake goodies, and plan for guests and parties.  These may all serve a good purpose, but it strikes me that the most important preparation is that of our own hearts…. It is what the liturgical season of Advent—Coming—is all about.

 

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, called to proclaim the kingdom of God.  In the Gospel of Matthew we read these words of John:

 

            Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

 

            Make ready the way of the LORD,

            Make His paths straight!

 

The trappings of Christmas are not necessarily inappropriate, but we do not want them to become a trap!  They are secondary to John’s message.  If we are to recognize and welcome Christ into the depths of our beings, and if we are to embrace His work in us and through us, it is important to turn our minds and hearts to the Kingdom of God.  We can prayerfully identify and repent of sin, and we can look to remove the life clutter that could make it difficult for the Lord to reach us.  In doing so, we become more able to receive our Lord and respond to His indwelling work in us via the Holy Spirit.

 

John also proclaimed the importance of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8).  Genuine repentance means that again by the power of the Holy Spirit, we change direction from self-focus to God-focus and become more closely aligned with Christ.  When we do this in the here and now, we are better able to manifest Christ.  Our lives echo John’s words to the world, that the kingdom of God has come!

 

And now if we circle back to our Christmas “TO DO” lists, it is easy to see that the trappings of our celebration will have deeper meaning and impact if we see those trappings not merely as something we traditionally do, but as expressions of the kingdom of God within us and pouring forth.  Joy to the World!

  

The Giving of Thanks

It is November, and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving.  But thanksgiving—the giving of thanks—is appropriate and indeed vital every day of every year.  The topic of expressing gratitude and/or appreciation has countless facets.  Feeling and expressing appreciation releases “happiness” hormones, particularly dopamine and serotonin, and we feel good.  It serves our physical, mental, and emotional health.  The giving of thanks is good for our spiritual health as well, turning our focus where it belongs, on our Creator, Savior, and Lord.  When we give thanks and praise Him, we are far better able to see the Lord’s hand in our lives.  And finally, God’s Word calls us to give thanks in all times, in all places, for all things, to the Giver of all good gifts.  (James 1:17).

 

The giving of thanks is also crucial in the development of relationship.  When we give anything, we take something of substance from ourselves and turn outward with it toward someone.  It becomes a means of connection.  So when we express gratitude to God, we reinforce our faith relationship and strengthen our connection with our Creator, Savior, and Lord.  But as we give thanks to God for others, it also turns our hearts toward them.  We promote relationship as we affirm their value.  The Apostle Paul provides numerous examples in his epistles of thanking the Lord for those to whom he was ministering long-distance.  I have often wondered at the breadth and depth of Paul’s relationships with countless members of countless churches sprawled across a good portion of the known world.  I suspect that Paul’s attitude of gratitude toward others and the quantity and quality of his relationships were closely related.  

 

What might this mean for us as we walk in faith as the body of Christ?  In our rushed, competitive, and performance-focused culture, it is tempting to become self-focused and operate from a platform of expedience rather than to be led and fueled by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  It can be easy to choose independence over faith, missing precious opportunities to become more deeply connected to one another.  And connection is crucial if we are to become a unified, fully functional body unit that is able to participate in the Lord’s kingdom work among us and through us and to manifest Christ to an unbelieving world by our love and unity.

 

May we be continually mindful that the Lord has blessed us with one another!

 

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.  

                                                                                                   II Thessalonians 1:3

 

Lessons in September

 September: Back to School!  For children across the country and their parents, September represents a transition in life that goes well beyond the weather.  And with that transition often come doubts and concerns.  Parents schedule sports physicals, study school supply lists, and fill out form after form after form.  Their children have other things to think about: “Am I ready for this grade?”  “What if I can’t find my classroom?”  “I hope so and so is not in my class.”  But often the top concern is: “Will my teacher be nice?”  “Will he/she like me?”  

 

We at Windsor Chapel are entering a time of transition as well.  Under the leadership of Pastor Jame, we are looking to grow as a body of Christ and reach those in our community who need to hear the Gospel.  We need to pray and seek the Lord; we also need to come together and use our gifts as the coordinated limbs and organs of a body.  With all of this, it is easy to have questions, doubts, and concerns.  And just like students returning to school, we can worry about meeting expectations and having to work with difficult people.  But the one thing we do not need to worry about is our Teacher….

 

Our Teacher is also our Creator, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Friend, and our Good Shepherd.  He loves us and delights in us!  Since He has created us with the gifts we need to accomplish the good works for which He has created us, we need not worry about having what it takes to do what He calls us to do.  And as His Holy Spirit does His work in us and among us, we can look forward to becoming increasingly coordinated as we learn to work together to further the Gospel.  

 

Manifesting Christ to our neighbors is a challenge to be sure.  It requires faith, obedience, and perseverance.  We will need to encourage one another and sometimes admonish and gracefully confront one another.  But following the Lord and His undershepherd, Pastor Jame, is not something we have to do.  It is something we get to do: As we participate in the Lord’s work, we get to witness and experience the power of God in our lives and the lives of others.  And the blessing doesn’t stop there.  As we walk through this transition in faith, we will become better able and better equipped to face all the challenges we encounter in this world.  And this experience gives us an even stronger witness that can encourage continuing church growth.  And the cycle continues as our participation in strengthening the body equips us for continued and expanding good works….

 

Welcome, September!

 

 

 

Gardening and the Kingdom of God

 I am not a gardener.  I very much appreciate the creativity and provision that the glorious plant life the Lord has given us represents.  But I prefer to engage with the animal kingdom component of God’s creation.  But just as God intended, animal life cannot live and thrive without plant life.  And so I have become a reluctant gardener in order to provide an inviting oasis for the wildlife in our neighborhood.

 

I am still not a gardener!  My efforts are amateur at best.  One of the challenges I have encountered is distinguishing weeds from plants.  My expectation that it should be obvious and easy has not proven to always be the case.  Some weeds are attractive!

 

So while I am still not a gardener, I have come to appreciate the lessons that gardening can offer.  Weeds can compromise the growth of the plants I want to grow by stealing nutrients from the soil.  So attractive or not, I need to learn to recognize them and remove them.  The same is true of spiritual weeds, the lies that Satan would have me believe, that would erode the truths that are the foundation of my life of faith.  

 

In II Corinthians 11:14, the Apostle Paul tells us that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.  He has been the master of deceit from the time he arrived in the Garden of Eden to initiate the fateful conversation with Eve.  We would be wise to pay attention to his strategy.  The serpent does not directly contradict God’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil until well into the conversation.  Instead, he questions Eve in such as way as to encourage her to question her knowledge of and trust in the LORD.  Then he contradicts God; he assures her that not only will she not die if she eats the fruit, she will become wise like God!  And when he finally offers the fruit to Eve she sees that it is beautiful and tasty—irresistable!

 

The lies Satan would throw before us are no different.  Satan’s lies are attractive: they tell us what we want to hear, and they appear harmless and even good.  Worse yet, they make us feel good about ourselves, important and powerful.  It is easy to mistake them for God’s truth, and even easier to want them to be true.  This is why it is so important for us to be walking in faith, pursuing an ever-growing personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.  We must be fully convinced in our heart of God’s sovereign righteousness and goodness and of His redemptive purposes if we are to withstand the lies that Satan would have put before us, lies that look good, offer a “quick fix,” and make us feel good.  We must learn to distinguish Satan’s lies from God’s truth and mercilessly uproot them from our minds and hearts.

 

Fortunately, God Almighty is on our side.  The Lord who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life has died for our sins.  He has blessed us with His Word and with His indwelling Holy Spirit.  He has given us one another to encourage and correct us should we be tempted to stray from His truth.  And best of all, He has promised to complete the work He has begun in us.  May we live gratefully and joyfully in the Truth….

 

Wings of Eagles

 Spring is—finally—here.  We toss aside our jackets, put away our sweaters and head out to enjoy the sunshine.  Like most people, I love to see the grass become green again, flowers bloom, and trees come back to life.  But what I most enjoy about spring is the return of migrating birds and the resurgence of activity at our feeders and bird houses.

 

As I watch the birds do their Spring thing, I often admire their ability to fly.  I think how lucky they are that the Lord gave them the ability to fly, and I wish the Lord had created us humans with wings….  But as I have thought about this, I have come to recognize that the gift of flight comes with a stiff price: flight is hard work, and in order to facilitate flight, the body of birds is light and quite frail.  

 

While gliding on air currents requires little energy, take-off and wing-flapping are high calorie endeavors.  While there is a great variation in energy expenditure among different species of birds and in different activities involved in flight, estimates for general flight can be as high as 10,000 calories/day.  Along with flight comes the need for a continual search for food and rest.  Flight also involves risk.  Hollow bones and light bodies make flight possible but also make broken wings and crushed bodies a common occurrence.

 

It seems to me that the ability of birds to fly presents a wonderful parable for us as some of God’s wingless creatures.  Whatever gifts and abilities the Lord has given us requires continual, focused, and prolonged effort on our part if we are to use those gifts and abilities as He intends and to experience His deep and genuine joy in doing so.  There is risk involved as well: our sin-sick bodies are arguably as frail as those of birds.  But most of all, it requires trust and dependence on the Lord for His protection as He guards and guides us with His staff.  But it is worth it beyond measure!  

 

Please consider with me Isaiah’s proclamation about spiritual flight:

            Yet those who wait for the LORD

            Will gain new strength;

            They will mount up with wings like eagles,

            They will run and not get tired,

            They will walk and not become weary.

 

In his Gospel, John records these words of Jesus: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  C.S. Lewis observed that contrary to what we might think, the Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak.  May we learn to depend upon Him more and more as we deeply desire and energetically pursue the spiritual flight that He would have for us.

 

 

Resurrection Power!

 April has come, and Easter is coming…. This is the ideal time to consider, again, the magnitude of what Christ has done, and done for us.  Christ’s death and resurrection means that by faith, we are freed from our old life of sin and death and walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).  Our celebration of Easter is a reminder to us that our loving Lord died for us so that we may live with Him in eternity; and it is a proclamation to the world that Christianity is not merely out of the ordinary, it is extraordinary.  God taking on flesh to live among us, dying to pay for our sins, and then being resurrected to return to heaven to await the arrival of the saints.

 

There are limitless aspects to the events commemorated on Easter weekend.  There are two, though, that I find particularly compelling.  The first is the unfathomable power of the resurrection.  Death is unavoidable, irrevocable, and irreversible in this fallen world.  But the Bible tells us that God—and God alone—has the power to overcome death, to reverse it.  There are a few instances in the Old Testament where we see prophets raise someone who has died by the power of the LORD.  Christ, when He walked on earth as God Incarnate, raised some victims of death back to life.  And then.  Christ Himself—the Creator and Sustainer of the universe—died on behalf of mankind and then was raised in power and glory.  The plot of the story is so familiar that we often do not give it much attention.  But we would do well to take time to consider the absolutely incomprehensible power represented by the resurrection.

 

The second aspect of Easter weekend that I find helpful to ponder is that the death and resurrection of Christ signifies and signals that He has made a way for newness of life for those who would believe in Him.  And the newness of life that He offers is characterized by the same resurrecting power that raised Jesus (and others) from the dead.  Believers have an abiding relationship with the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We have resurrection power within us, to strengthen us (Ephesians 3:16-20), and to equip and empower us to minister in the name of Christ (Colossians 1:28-29)!

 

There is a common denominator of these two aspects of Easter weekend: both demonstrate conclusively that God is God and we are not!  Only God has resurrection power.  Christ died and rose to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—restore our relationship with holy and glorious Godhead.  We now have resurrection power, by the Holy Spirit, to minister in the name of Christ.  And we look forward to our own resurrection, again by the power and grace of God.  Christ has done—and is doing—what we cannot do for ourselves.

 

 

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.  II Corinthians 4:7.

 

The Lion and the Lamb

 March: In like a lion, out like a lamb.  We all know this saying.  March generally begins with cold temperatures and icy winds and then then often ends with warmer temperatures and gentle conditions.  The saying marks well the contrast represented by March as the transition month from winter to spring.

 

But from a Biblical perspective, the lion and lamb are not descriptions of opposites in the spectrum of weather conditions.  Instead, we read of Jesus as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb God who was slain for the redemption of the world.  The Lion and Lamb are not opposites but rather two aspects of the character of the second member of the Triune Godhead.  It is vitally important to keep those two aspects in balance as we walk before Christ in faith.

 

It is easy and understandable that each of us is inclined to emphasize one aspect of the Lord over the other.  Some find it easier and/or more natural to view Christ as the Lion: fearfully powerful and dangerous.  They carefully define and then obey the Bible’s commands to stay out of trouble and sometimes find comfort that those who are less obedient will encounter the strong winds of God’s judgment.  

 

On the other hand, there are those who focus on the Lord as the meek and gentle Lamb, led to the cross without protest, dying to redeem us.  They take comfort that Jesus is approachable and unthreatening and sometimes ignore or neglect His commands.

 

We know that Jesus is both Lion and Lamb: the all-powerful God of creation and final Judge as well as the meek God Incarnate who freely offered His life as a sacrifice for our sins.  These aspects of the Son of God are not opposites, and they are not in tension.  Rather, they give us binocular vision, so to speak, of our Lord and Savior.  He is the Mighty God who uses His incomprehensible power to love those whom He has created, to become the Lamb of God who freely offers Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His creatures.  The sacrifice made by the Lamb of God then circles back, coming before the Lion of Judah’s judgement seat and acquitting believers of the sin charges against them.

 

Jesus is so much bigger than our minds can comprehend that He encompasses several apparent opposites: He is the Lion and the Lamb; the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; He is full of grace and truth.  How can we live faithfully in that truth?  I believe that it is important to once again follow King David’s advice and ask the Lord to search us and know us, to reveal to us any way in which we serve ourselves rather than Him as Master.  Do we favor the imagery of the Lion of Judah or the Lamb of God as a self-serving shortcut in our walk of faith?  Can we seek to grow to embrace all aspects of our Lord and Savior?  May it be so….

 

Love in February

 February is a rather dreary month, which most likely contributes to the attention given to Valentine’s day.  As a celebration of romantic love, Valentine’s Day in February leaves something to be desired.  February is generally chilly and damp—not ideal for romantic walks and picnics!  Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day in February?  And is it only about romantic love?  A very brief look at ancient history will help us understand a bit how we got here.   

 

St. Valentine was a priest or bishop who lived in Italy in the third century.  He is known for his efforts to evangelize folks in the Roman Empire and his ministry to believers who were being persecuted by the Roman government.  While visiting Rome, he was arrested for his evangelizing, tortured, and executed.  According to our sources, Valentine died on February 14.

 

If we return to Valentine’s Day, 2025, we have a couple of things to consider.  While the focus of modern Valentine’s Day (and even in history) has been on romantic love, St. Valentine himself is remembered for the agape God-love that he manifested to believers and nonbelievers alike.  Both romantic love and agape love have value, but it is easy to argue that agape love is the more significant and eternal.  The good news is that we can pursue and exercise our “love muscles” in both directions, taking time to love a special someone in a special way even as we pursue loving others as Christ loves them.

 

The calendar position of Valentine’s Day need not be disappointing or frustrating.  It can be an invitation to recognize that all forms of love are from God and go beyond circumstances.  Love is not confined to warm, sunny days.  We can love in all circumstances, all weather.  May we know the joy of the Lord as we do so.