Life Lessons

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An Unconditional If/Then

Promises, Promises!  I have a tendency to get frustrated quite quickly with promises and guarantees that are filled with conditions, loopholes, and fine print.  You know what I mean, don’t you?  It’s not that I’m against a conditional if . . . then . . . — if you do this, then this will happen.  I understand those and realize that if I fail to meet the “condition”, then I will also fail to see the desired result.  Consequences, we call it.  If you step off of a roof, you’ll fall and get hurt.  If you stick a metal object in a live electrical outlet, you will get shocked. 

But we’ve been trained to say, “Are you sure?”  We push the limits.  We test the resolve of the person issuing the condition.  Will I really be grounded if I don’t do my homework?  “Click-it or ticket” — How will they know if everyone is wearing their seatbelt?  Surrender to God or else face judgment and condemnation?  He can’t mean that, can He?  I’ll just tag along with good people and still keep control of most of my life.  I think I can get by with it.  I think I can slip by unseen.  I don’t think they are serious.  God’s love couldn’t seriously pass judgment on a person and condemn them to hell, could it?

Paul writes the second chapter of 2 Timothy, encouraging Timothy to remain faithful in passing along the gospel of Jesus.  A gospel message for which Paul is suffering and chained as a criminal.  Timothy is told to keep his relationship with Jesus and the proclamation of the resurrection as his utmost priority.  The battle he is in and the suffering he will face is real but it is not without hope.  The salvation that is in Christ Jesus is worth the single-minded, wholehearted devotion to God.  And it is not all “doom and gloom”.  Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:11-13,

“Here is a trustworthy saying:
  If we died with him,
     we will also live with him;
  if we endure,
     we will also reign with him.
  If we disown him,
     he will also disown us;
  if we are faithless,
     he remains faithful,
     for he cannot disown himself.”

Paul gives us some conditional if/then’s to consider.  In the first, Paul addresses our death to sin.  He uses “died” in the past tense — something he and his readers have already done, not something that may or will happen to them in the future.  Paul uses this language often in his writings.  He wrote in Romans 6:4, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  Part of this “trustworthy saying” that Paul is giving to Timothy is that when we died to self and sin in the waters of baptism, we were raised to live with Christ.  If we died, then we will live.

He also goes on to state the condition of continued obedience — of faithfulness on our part.  “If we endure . . .”; if we persevere and continue on in the life of service God has called us to, “we will also reign with him.”  This goes along with Paul’s charge to Timothy a few verses earlier to “join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”  The obedient following of Jesus will not be easy, but our endurance is met with a promise of reigning with Christ.  If we endure, we will reign.

The negative possibility of our reaction is covered as well.  “If we disown him . . .”; if we choose to ignore the example of Jesus in living out the command of God, we can be assured that “he will also disown us”.  As Paul writes to Timothy, and to us, he wants it to be known that we cannot make the cares of the world, the pleasures of life, our primary concern if we want to please the one we have committed to serve.  We must be faithful to both the task at hand and the One who called us to it, if we want to be “claimed” and not “disowned”.  If we disown Him, we will be disowned.

But, thanks be to God!  Paul concludes this “trustworthy saying” with an unconditional if/then.  “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”  God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on you or me.  God will not snag you with complicated conditions, loopholes, or fine print.  He won’t say, “Sorry, you are my loophole.  Since you failed, I don’t have to keep my promises.”  We have a God that is faithful by His nature.  A God who gives an unconditional if/then.  If you and I are faithful, fine; God will be faithful as well.  If you and I are faithless, that doesn’t change God; He will still be faithful.

May you and I serve Christ in confidence, knowing that God is not looking for the fine print to let Him out of His promises.  God is faithful yesterday, today, and forever.  May we trust in a faithful God who is faithful beyond imagination because His faithfulness does not depend on my actions or reactions. 

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Writing Songs In A Cave

Have you ever had a time that you hid from someone?  Perhaps something simple, such as a childhood game of hide and seek, with no real danger.  Or maybe something more real — a time where you knew that if you were found, trouble and harm would be the only outcomes.  Sometimes it is life itself that we are hiding from, not wanting to face another day with all of its demands, responsibilities, people, and problems.  In those times, it is easy to slide into this thought process; “I’m all alone.  Everyone is out to get me.  No one cares.  Is there anyone I can trust and turn to?”

I love the introductory text in many of the Psalms.  We are often given information about who wrote a particular Psalm, what tune to use with it, what instruments to use, what style of song it is, and even the background of where and when it was written.  Psalm 57 has one of these introductions and it says it was written by David “when he had fled from Saul into the cave.”  We know that there were at least two times that David hid in a cave, probably more that aren’t recorded.  For our purposes, it really doesn’t matter much which time, or what cave, David is in.  I want to think about the words David wrote while in hiding — while being pursued by the king who was seeking to end David’s life.

What do you do in the darkness of hiding?  David wrote a song.  A song recognizing that he was in trouble and needed help — help that only a faithful God could bring.  Help that he was pretty sure wasn’t always deserved.  We can learn a lesson from David as we look at how he approached God.  David almost always makes a clear acknowledgement of who God is in relation to himself.  David speaks to God very directly, very boldly; but not in a commanding manner — more like in desperation.  He writes like a man confident in God’s love for him, but knowing he doesn’t really deserve it.

Psalm 57 begins with David as a refugee, knowing he deserves no rights and privileges, calling out to God to have mercy on him.  Calling out to a “God Most High” for vindication, knowing that God knows for certain if his cause is just and right.  As David sits in the cave writing this song, he is confident that the God who called him to be the next king is a God of mercy and love.  As he is in hiding, he writes of God sending forth “his love and his faithfulness.”  In the verses that follow, David describes his pursuers with these words:  “I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among man-eating beasts, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.”  As I read verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 57, I think immediately of Daniel and how God sent his love and faithfulness to Daniel in the form of His angels coming to shut the mouths of the lions.  Perhaps those same angels were here, shielding David from capture and destruction by the “hungry lions” that were in constant pursuit of him.

Whatever form it took, David recognized it was God’s love and faithfulness that could make his heart steadfast and provide the protection and purpose he needed to continue.  The same love and faithfulness that God extends to us in the midst of the “dark caves” of our life.  As David writes, his song reminds us that God’s presence can illuminate the darkest of caves in our life.  For me, there has always been something about praising God that would drive the fear and darkness away from my life.  I remember as a young boy doing chores on the farm after dark or early in the morning before dawn.  I would head out to the dark barn with all of its creepy sounds and shadows and who knew what else lurking in the dark corners and hay mow.  As I entered the barn and headed up the ladder to get some hay for the cattle, I would sing praises to God at the top of my lungs.  I’ve added others to it, but my favorite song then, and now, for those “dark caves” of my life is “How Great Thou Art”.  I was convinced that anyone hiding out in the barn would have no choice but to remain hidden or run for their lives when they heard of the greatness of my God.  And so the song that began as a call for protection soon turned into a confident praise of a God who has great love and faithfulness — in my songs in the barn, and in life; and in David’s song in Psalm 57!

May you and I continue to call out to God for the mercy and grace that we need.  May we recognize the great love and faithfulness that He sends our way.  And may we ever praise Him with resounding song as He alone brings light into the “dark caves” of our life.

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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.

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How Am I Going To Do That?

Have you ever been given, or taken, responsibility for something that you wondered if you could really accomplish it or pull it off?  Perhaps at work, you’ve been assigned a task that seems like it is beyond normal expectations.  Perhaps at church, you’ve “volunteered” to lead a ministry that reaches out to the homeless and hurting of your community and you’ve just been shown the research of how many people are in need.  Perhaps at home, you’ve decided to tackle a home improvement project that seems to grow in size, difficulty, and cost every time you look at it.  Whatever it is, there is probably something each of us can look at and think, “How am I going to do that?”

When I think of big, potentially overwhelming, “are you sure I can do this?”, kind of projects in the Bible, one of the ones at the top of my list is the building of the temple.  As I read the instructions that are given for the building of the temple and look at the material list of this construction project, I have to wonder if there weren’t times that Solomon thought to himself, “How am I going to do that?” 

Perhaps that is on David’s mind as he gives his son the instructions for building the temple of God.  Then, adding to any self-doubt Solomon may have had, David introduces his son to the entire assembly with these words, “My son Solomon, the one God has chosen, is young and inexperienced.  The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for human beings but for the Lord God.”  (1 Chronicles 29:1)  Wow!  What a confidence-building pep talk.  I know, that wasn’t the purpose of the introduction.  David was enlisting help for his son to accomplish the task before him.  The pep talk came earlier in chapter 28 of 1 Chronicles.  It is there that David gives Solomon words of wisdom that will equip him to take the lead on this monumental task.

In verse 6, David declares to Solomon and all the officials of Israel that it was God who had chosen Solomon to lead the nation and to build God’s house.  That is a powerful piece of information.  How many times when we have asked, “How am I going to do that?“, would we have worked harder, looked more intently for a solution, persevered longer under hardship, if we had only been confident that God had chosen us for the task that seemed so big?  I looked several days ago at the scripture Paul wrote, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Many times, we don’t get bogged down with the “who can be against us”  part of the question as much as we wonder and doubt “If God is for us?”.  We believe God can accomplish what He wills and desires, but is this it?  David sought to remove that doubt from Solomon’s mind.  He stated clearly, over and over, in front of many witnesses, “God has chosen you for this task”. 

Okay, pep talk is over.  . . . Solomon knows that God has selected him for the task at hand.  . . . Nothing can stop him now, God is on his side.  . . . But wait!  The pep talk isn’t over.  . . . There is something that Solomon needs to understand yet — something that has the power to impact every area of life.  David knows that as important as building this temple is, there are more important things for Solomon to understand, so he says these words:

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.  Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary.  Be strong and do the work.”  1 Chronicles 28:9-10

How often do we go from “How am I going to do that?”, to “Wow!  Look what I have done!”?  David is warning his son that he must remain completely devoted to God and constantly allow God to purify his motives, thoughts, and desires.  There is a hidden downside in being chosen by God to accomplish a monumental task — it is so easy to allow pride to creep in and steal credit and honor from God.  David seems to warn Solomon — don’t let this go to your head, this really isn’t about you. 

How often do you and I need that same warning?  Don’t let this go to your head, this really isn’t about you.  In the midst of doing, it is easy to lose focus and begin to have a divided heart.  We can’t live long with a divided heart.  Joshua put it this way, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, . . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Elijah said it like this, “How long will you waver between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”  Throughout scripture we see this call to a wholehearted devotion to God.  God knows if we are following Him grudgingly or passionately.  His desire is for us to continue steadfastly in a single-minded, single-hearted pursuit of Him in the midst of everything we do.

When life has you asking the question, “How am I going to do that?”, trust in an All-Knowing God that knows if you should do “that” and can empower and equip you to accomplish it if you should.  But never forget to do all to the glory of God.  The monumental tasks we accomplish are not about us or our glory, they’re about Him and His glory. 

May you and I be found faithful, doing everything God desires with a willing heart and pure motives.  May we truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

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Did I Say That Out Loud?

I’m guessing that I’m not the only one who has ever said something that didn’t sound right the moment it left our lips.  Perhaps on its way out of our mouth, we realized we had reached the point of no return and there was no stopping these words that would soon burst into the air.  Maybe its a second later, as our words float through the air and land in our ears, we can’t believe what we’re hearing.  Or another moment passes and we see the looks of disbelief and shock on the faces of those around us as our words register in their mind.  We want to ignore the statement — going on as if nothing had been said.  We want to brush our words aside and hope no one heard or remembers.  We want to explain what we really meant.  We wonder to our self, and even verbally question, “Did I say that out loud?”

I get the sense that David has one of those moments in Psalm 139.  It is a wonderful Psalm.  A well-known Psalm — at least the first 18 verses and the last 2 verses.  In the first two-thirds of the chapter, David writes of an All-Knowing God that has created him and has known his entire life before a day of it came to be.  He acknowledges that there is no where that he could go to hide from God — God will know where David is.  He even writes about God knowing the words he will speak before they are even on his tongue.  God knows intimately every detail of David’s life and he marvels in his writing of such an incredible God.

And then comes verses 19 – 22:

“If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
 They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
 I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.”

Whoa!  Did he say that out loud?  How do you go from, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them!” to “If only you, God, would . . . “?  As David unloads his heart before God regarding the wicked and those who live against God, I think the words coming out of his mouth slowly began to register in his mind.  Perhaps that question crossed his mind, “Did I say that out loud?”  In light of what he had just expressed in the previous 18 verses about God’s knowledge of everything, even before it came into being, did it matter if it was said out loud? 

The reason that I think David wondered about his words, is his request in the final two verses of Psalm 139.  I get the image in my mind of David saying, “That didn’t sound right, but I know what I meant.”  And then it hits him — God also knows what he meant.  David had just declared so beautifully God’s complete knowledge of all things.  Now was the time to seek input from this All-Knowing God.  God could see through all of the personal feelings — the hurts, the fears, the worries, the pride, the selfishness, the sin in his life — and know exactly the intent of his words.  And so we have those wonderful verses in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

I’ve been there, haven’t you?  I say or do something that could be taken wrong.  I know, or at least am fairly confident, that I had good and honorable intentions but it doesn’t come across that way.  It’s the, “Wow, did I say that out loud?”  “You know that is not what I really meant.”  And so I come to God as David did.  Search me, God.  You do know me even better than I know myself.  Look within and examine my very motive for that thought and statement.  Show me if it is indeed pure, or if it comes from worry, fear, selfishness, or pride.  Open me before you and show me anything that you find offensive.  Help me to get rid of whatever it may be.  Lead me.  Lead me not just in some general direction we’ll call life, but lead me in the way everlasting.  Both in the way that leads to everlasting life and also lead me in the way forever and always.  Keep me in the way and guard my heart, mind, and will; that I would not stray. 

May you and I recognize an All-Knowing God who sees everything about us.  When we speak and act out of the passion of our heart, may we turn to God to purify and reveal to us the basis for those words and actions.  May our passion for God be the source of what we think and for what we say out loud.

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I Can’t and I Won’t!

Have you ever had something asked of you that was so far outside of your comfort zone that you simply refused to do it?  Perhaps there is something new being expected of you that you have never done or tried before and there is no way you are about to start now.  Maybe the task at hand just sounds too hard — impossible for anyone to accomplish, let alone someone like me.  My guess is that you have been there with me more often than you want to admit.  We get really good at the excuses, don’t we?  We drag out all kinds of reasons as to why we can’t do whatever is being asked or expected.  Sometimes we get really creative and sometimes we respond with a simple, “I can’t”.

Yet, I wonder.  How often is that really true?  Do you and I know that it is really true when we respond that way?  I often heard a phrase growing up that went like this:  “Can’t never could ’til he tried.”  As much as I would try to push that thought aside or simply ignore it, there were always times when I would say, “I can’t”, and that phrase would jump into my mind and ask the simple question, “How do you know?”  When asked honestly and intently of our self, this question often reveals the true answer isn’t, “I can’t” but “I won’t!” 

We don’t like to get caught using the “I won’t” response.  It sounds so selfish.  It makes us appear lazy and unconcerned.  It puts the emphasis on our unwillingness to be involved.  We much prefer “I can’t”.  It gives the impression that we care.  It makes it sound like we want to, we simply are unable to.  “I can’t” says it is impossible.  The timing is wrong.  The request is wrong.  The setting isn’t right for me.  The task is beyond my ability.  I’m too young or too old.  Often these are just ways that we excuse our “I won’t” and attempt to portray it as “I can’t”. 

In the years that I directed children’s ministry and was a youth minister, I was constantly in need of volunteers to help with a wide variety of ministry tasks.  As I would ask, recruit, and even beg people to serve in some area of need, I would get a lot of “I can’t do that” but I do not recall ever having anyone actually say, “I won’t do that”.  I-can’t-itis is a plague that is wreaking havoc in our society and in our churches as it is symptomatic of the selfishness that defines the American culture.  Do you hear yourself in any of these statements?  . . . I can’t serve in the nursery.  . . . I can’t attend Sunday School, or any other Bible study for that matter.  . . . I can’t teach a children’s class.  . . . I can’t participate in a focused gathering of prayer for my church and community.  . . . I can’t be a sponsor at a youth event.  . . . I can’t make people feel welcome.  . . . I can’t tolerate people who sing, look, or act differently.  . . . I can’t help at a church work day.  . . . I can’t be involved in a nursing home, homeless center, or any other ministry that would take me out of my comfort zone.  . . . I can’t.  . . . I can’t.  . . . I can’t!

Well, just maybe you are right and you can’t — but God can!  Throughout the Bible, God selects common, ordinary people to do extraordinary — even impossible — things.  Imagine life if Noah had said, “I can’t build this boat, or ark, or whatever it is You are saying I need.”  . . . Oh, wait!  There wouldn’t be life, would there.  Or David saying, “I can’t defeat this giant.”  Imagine if Daniel had said, “It’s a law.  I guess I can’t pray.”  Or Mary saying, “I can’t be the mother of this Messiah that you say I am to have.”

Each of these people, along with many others, would have been right — at least by our definition.  The task expected of them was huge — seemingly impossible by our standards.  We get a good idea of this in Luke as God sends an angel to give Mary the news that she would give birth to the very Son of God.  Her immediate response doesn’t quite sound like “I can’t”, but it is at least a question at the heart of her words; “How will this be since I am a virgin?”  I know that because the angel responds with a way that it is possible by telling Mary that the baby she will have will be conceived by the Holy Spirit.  The angel goes on to say that not only will you Mary, a virgin, have a baby, but your aunt — the one who is beyond child-bearing age and is known to be barren, that aunt is going to have a baby as well.  I know the thought was at least forming in Mary’s mind that this can’t be because the angel states in Luke 1:37 that this will all happen because “nothing is impossible with God.”  Even with any questions and thoughts Mary may have had about why she couldn’t, she didn’t use the “I can’t” as cover for an “I won’t”.  Convinced or not of her ability to do what was being stated, she took the angel at his word that “nothing is impossible with God” and she responded with a willingness to be involved as she replies, “May it be to me as you have said.”

How about you and me?  Do we believe that nothing is impossible with God?  Do we live as if we serve a God who can do things in and through us that we think are impossible?  Does knowing that nothing is impossible with God make our statements of “I can’t” seem more like the “I won’t” that they are?

May you and I live obediently to God, surrendering anything that we say, “I can’t”, and asking Him if “He will”.