Month: October 2007

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I Would Never . . .

Have you ever observed someone in the midst of some activity and say to yourself, “I would never do that!“?  Perhaps it was something that you just thought was ridiculous or silly.  Or maybe it was something wrong, an obvious sin that becomes visible and known in another person’s life and you conclude that there is no way that would ever happen to you.

But things do happen.  Choices are made.  Decisions are reached.  Options are discarded.  Desperation sets in.  And “all of a sudden” a person is in the midst of an affair, stealing from an employer, involved in a drug culture, lying about their activities and work accomplishments, gossiping about others, meddling in the lives of friends and strangers, harboring greed in their thoughts and actions, filled with pride and self-promotion, and on the list could go.  Very few people, if any, set out to do such actions.  Most Christians, when caught in sin that becomes public state, “I never thought it could happen to me.”  But it does.  Time and time again, it does.  But not just in public figures and newspaper headlines, but in you and me and in countless Christian lives in churches around the world.  We are tempted and we sin.  We think, “I never saw that coming.”  We feel blind-sided and wonder why we so easily give in to temptation at times.

If this describes you, as it does me, Paul has some words of warning and encouragement for us in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13:

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

God’s warning is clear.  If you think that sin has no appeal to you; look out!  It is when we think that we are untouchable that we drop our guard and relax.  Every job that I have had involved an element that if you became completely comfortable with it, you had better get out.  My first job “away from home” was in my uncle’s sawmill.  You learned quickly to respect the equipment, the stacks of logs and lumber, and the entire work environment if you wanted to avoid serious injury.  My next two jobs involved heights — roofing and TV tower and antenna installation and repair.  While I learned to trust my safety equipment, I also learned to have a respect for each environment that I was in.  To be observant and recognize the potential dangers.  To look for a bowed or sagging roof that might indicate a weakened support structure.  To pay attention to guy wires and tower legs that might be frayed or rusted to the point of weakness or failure.  It was never a given that just because every roof I had been on or every tower I had climbed had supported me so far that this one would as well.  I remember times during both of those jobs where I would hear or read of someone who became comfortable in a similar situation as mine and did not take heed to the potential danger.  Stories of people being seriously injured or even dying because they thought they knew what they were doing and therefore nothing could happen to them.

The same things happen in our spiritual life.  We get comfortable.  We think we know what we are doing.  Our confidence in our self takes us to the very edge.  We are so sure we know our “limit” that we continue to push it — to test it, saying, “I’ll never step over the line.  I’m not that stupid!”  And so we let the seeds of greed, lust, envy, pride, jealously, anger, hatred, etc., into our life and somehow think that we can control it.  Paul says that if you think you can handle this on your own, watch out because you are about to fall.

While the warning is clear, the promise is equally obvious.  God says that there is no temptation that is trying to overthrow you but what has already been tried.  Nothing will catch Him off guard.  Nothing will have Him scratching His head wondering, “What am I going to do now.  I don’t know how to get this person beyond this situation.”  We have a God who says that no temptation has to be given in to.  God knows every temptation that you and I will face and through His Word and His Spirit, He has given us a way out of each one.  A way that He says allows us to “stand up under it”, not necessarily avoid it.  A way that keeps the temptation from “giving birth to sin”, even while the temptation may remain present. 

Are we listening to God closely enough to hear His way out?  Are we spending consistent time in His Word, allowing His Spirit to teach us and to convict us of “sin, righteousness, and judgment”?  Jesus gave us the example of warding off temptation with Scripture.  Do we know the Scriptures well enough to use it as our “way of escape”?  Or do we play with God’s Word, sorting out verses that seem to justify our actions while ignoring the context and the principles that say the path we are headed down is leading to destruction?  I’ve known a number of Christian individuals, some very well known speakers, who have used the creation account as justification for “admiring” a woman’s beauty and even make suggestive comments about her because they are “praising God for His incredible handiwork”.  I’ve also seen some of these same individuals play with the fire of lust and end up burnt because they learned too late that they didn’t have the strength that they thought they did to control the temptation.  Their influence, their character, their witness for God goes down the drain because they were satisfying their desires rather than listening to God’s Word that says that a man who looks lustfully upon a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  The way out — the truth of Scripture — was there all the time.  It just didn’t seem necessary because, “I can handle this!”

I don’t know what areas of life and the temptations of life that you think you are standing firm in.  Whatever it is, God’s warning still holds true for you and me today; “be careful that you don’t fall!”  If you are saying in your mind, “I would never . . . “; look out!  Look to God and He will show you how close to the edge you already are and how you can escape the results of the temptation and stand up under it.

May you and I reject a prideful thinking that says, “I would never . . .”.  May we rely on the faithfulness of God to provide us a way of escape from every temptation through His Word and the power of His Spirit working in us.

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It’s Alive!

Have you ever observed a stationary object for a period of time, perhaps just for a moment, and all of a sudden realized through its movement that it wasn’t stationary — it was alive!  Sometimes, the only reason we were able to even tolerate looking at the object was because we thought there was no life in it.  If we had known it was alive, we would never have even come close enough for a look.  I wonder if that is how Moses felt when God commanded him to throw down his staff and he did.  Did Moses have any idea that his staff would gain life — the life of a snake?  Imagine standing that close.  Imagine picking up that life that you didn’t even expect to be life.  I wonder how quickly after Moses touched the snake that it turned back into his staff.  Did he experience the writhing, squirming snake, even for a moment, and wonder why he was even touching it? 

We often have a similar relationship with an object we become comfortable with because we mistakenly assume it has no life — there is no danger present . . . there is nothing it can do to us because we think it is lifeless.  That object is the Bible, the Word of God.  Hebrews 4:12-13 says:

“For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Alive and active!  Sharper than a double-edged sword!  Sounds dangerous.  Sounds like something we would try to hide from.  It is no wonder that God follows up verse 12 with the words in verse 13.  There is no where to hide.  This living, active Word of God will penetrate our life, dividing soul and spirit as it judges the motives and hidden secrets of our heart.  It is a revealing Word that convicts us of “sin, righteousness, and judgment” and becomes the measuring rod of our obedience and/or disobedience. 

The writer of Hebrews gives us these verses in the context of entering God’s rest.  Chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 point out a time of rest that God has promised that has not yet been entered into.  The people of Israel are used as an example of those being promised rest — the “promised land” — yet did not enter into it because of their disobedience.  Verse 11 encourages us to “make every effort to enter that rest”.  The warning is there as well; if we follow the Israelite’s example of disobedience we will perish outside of the rest that could be ours.  And so the warning of verses 12 and 13.  We cannot hide our disobedience.  As much as we try to cover it up before others, it is “uncovered and laid bare” before God.  It is the Word of God that says, “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commands.”  The Word of God becomes the measuring stick that says we do love, or we don’t love, based on His knowledge of our motivation for what we do and don’t do.

How are you handling this living, active, sharp Word of God?  Are you being careful and cautious in your approach, giving it the respect and attention it deserves?  Or are you careless and casual, thinking there is no danger to you — no reason to pay close attention to the separating of soul and spirit that this living Word could bring?

May you and I grow in our respect and appreciation for a living, active, and sharp Word of God.  May we live knowing that God is everywhere and nothing in our life can be hidden from the standard of God’s Word.

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Roofing, Teaching, and Writing

 This is a rather rambling post describing (justifying?) the slowdown in my writing over the last few days.

I am in the midst of several different projects that all need a good amount of my time and energy.  Last week, I (finally) began the last stage of re-roofing my house.  This has been a complete tear-off of two layers of old shingles and then a new OSB roof decking put down to prepare the surface for the new shingle roof.  In the midst of this “home improvement” project, I wrap up a weekend prayer conference tonight that I have been leading at the First Christian Church in Rolling Prairie, Indiana.  I’m also preparing to preach a sermon this weekend for the “What Does God Say” series at the Deer Run Church of Christ in South Bend.  As all of this is going on, one of the things I enjoy — writing — seems to have taken a back seat to the urgent.

But I’ll be back — very soon.  The roof project is rapidly coming under control.  The surface is ready.  The shingles are on the roof and waiting to be nailed down.  Yesterday morning I was 130 pounds short of carrying a ton of shingles up the ladder and onto the roof.  Then it hit me.  Not only did my legs have to carry the weight of the shingles up the ladder each trip, they had to carry my body weight as well.  Multiply that out for each trip I made and the total comes to well over 3 tons of weight my legs carried up that ladder in an hours time.  No wonder my legs were feeling tired.  I now wish I hadn’t done the math.  Yet, this weariness will pass.  The roof will be completed and look great.  I will be pleased with the home God has provided me and with the ability He gives me (and my father-in-law) to maintain it.

As I mentioned earlier, the prayer conference that I am leading wraps up tonight.  Very few, if any, of the sessions have been exactly what I had planned going into the weekend.  God has taken a lot of effort, energy, and preparation on my part and woven it together in ways that I could not have done on my own.  Overall, the responsiveness of people and their willingness to participate in learning and pursuing God has been great.  I love these teaching times because it gives me an opportunity to represent an incredible God who has shown His power by working in and through a man like me.  As I’ve sat on the roof of my housing tearing off shingles, nailing down roof decking, carrying shingles, and finally putting the new shingles on, I have been able to reflect on a God who has had to strip old, worn out layers off of my life and replace them with a new base and a new finish.  The teaching God allows me to do is a constant reminder of the “home improvement” God is doing in me.

The writing that I’ve done on this blog lately has centered around the “What Does God Say” study we’ve been doing at the church I attend.  This coming Sunday, October 7, I will be preaching a message introducing next week’s topic in the “What Does God Say . . . About God?” series.  I have been, and I am, looking forward to that as it is another opportunity for God to draw me closer to  Himself and to use me to help others see Him more clearly.

Anyhow, this ends up being a long post just to say I’m still here.  I still love to write.  And I’ll be back writing regularly very soon.  Thanks for reading and learning with me.