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Marathon runners often reach the point where they wonder whether they can keep going. They hit the wall. They doubt they can finish the race. Their muscles burn with pain; their strength is gone. They feel defeated.
As we run our Christian lives, we can reach that point too. Faced with our sin, we begin to doubt God’s forgiveness. “Will I really finish the race and receive the prize or are my sins too great?” Faced with the burning pains and troubles of life, we begin to doubt God’s love. “Why doesn’t God take this away from me?” We feel defeated.
At those times when you hit the wall, turn to these words that the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul to write (Romans 8:31-39) and believe that in Christ Jesus, you more than conquer. For in Christ Jesus our Lord 1) no accusation can rob us of his forgiveness, and 2) no force can separate us from his love.
When we vote we demonstrate our beliefs by the way we vote. Some people demonstrate by joining political organizations, others by writing letters to government leaders or editorial pages for the local newspaper. Some people demonstrate by picketing, whether it’s an abortion clinic or a casino. Some people get violent and extreme in the way they demonstrate. Consider some of the tactics of the organization PETA--People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals--to actually storm laboratories and release the lab rats or to douse a person wearing a fur coat with a bucket full of red paint. People demonstrate so the world will know what they stand for, what’s truly important to them, what they’re passionate about.
Jesus Christ gave his followers very specific instructions on how to demonstrate their Christian faith. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus Christ took on the role of a servant and washed his followers’ feet, something that was countercultural, something that Peter nearly refused to have done because it went so against the grain of their culture. Then Jesus said these words: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all people know that you are my followers, if you love one another” (John 13:34-36).
Our daughter Carrie and her husband Shannon have a dog; rather he is a small horse. He is called Coltrane. Cole does not realize he weighs 150 pounds. He also does not realize he has "drooling issues". (Now that may be caused by the fact that my wife brings hot dogs to the house whenever we visit...the dogs are for the dogs...Cole starts drooling when we turn on their street. The sound of our car’s engine is like music to his ears!)
Whenever we visit Cole comes charging; he has only two gears, wide-open and stopped (on top of your chest, after you’ve been slammed to the ground). The hound is not going to miss hot dog call!
Coltrane eats before saying "hello". (Got his priorities straight, that dog does!) Once the Ball Park dogs are inside the dog (is that an "inside-the-park-dog"?), then comes a gregarious welcome. The welcome always includes generous portions of "slime". A 150-pound Rottweiler who has just consumed 18 hot dogs can produce impressive amounts of saliva!
Needless to say, I have learned to wear my yard clothes when we visit. This is for two reasons --
1. I can’t afford to buy clothes as often as we are at Cole’s place.
2. I love the dog...even the way he says "hello".
When that hound comes to me, everything living (or that which wants to stay living) has to get out of the way. He is going to get his ears scratched and his tummy rubbed. In fact, if you rub his belly long enough, he just slides down to one side, flops-over and falls asleep while you "say hello". "Keep rubbing...a little to the left...harder, that’s it....ahhhhh."
This is so much like God’s acceptance of me. He wants me close to Him, even with all the goofy things I do, and the mess which I bring. He loves me and calls me friend, even with my sin and betrayal. He loves me and calls me friend, even though it meant taking on all my slime, my sin. He is still called, the Friend of Sinners!
When Things Are Just Working Out! (10.26.05--Making It!--Judges 18:27)
IF life is going well and I am in all things successful, does that me that God is pleased with me? That’s a good question! If I am successful in the things that I do, does that necessarily mean that God is behind that success? When things go well it is nice to believe that, isn’t it? I must be doing something right if failure is a stranger and success is my daily companion. Why else would it be that life is moving along and things are just working out?
When things are going well it is tempting to place that success right on God’s doorstep. But, if you stop to think about it, there are quite a few unbelievers that seem to be basking in the warmth of money, fame and popularity these days. That being the case, how can we be sure that our successes are from God? And, what about my failures?
Among Jesus’s apostles, the one absolutely stunning success was Judas, and the one thoroughly groveling failure was Peter. Judas was a success in the ways that most impress us: he was successful both financially and politically. He cleverly arranged to control the money of the apostolic band; he skillfully manipulated the political forces of the day to accomplish his goal. And Peter was a failure in ways that we most dread: he was impotent in a crisis and socially inept. At the arrest of Jesus he collapsed, a hapless, blustering coward; in the most critical situations of his life with Jesus, the confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi and the vision on the Mount of transfiguration, he said the most embarrassingly inappropriate things. He was not the companion we would want with us in time of danger, and he was not the kind of person we would feel comfortable with at a social occasion. Time, of course, has reversed our judgments on the two men. Judas is now a byword for betrayal, and Peter is one of the most honored names in the church and in the world. Judas is a villain; Peter is a saint. Yet the world continues to chase after the successes of Judas, financial wealth and political power, and to defend itself against the failures of Peter,...
BENEDICT ARNOLD: A STORY OF MISTRUST
In American history, there is a man who wanted to be famous, but he became famous for the wrong reasons. You have probably heard his name, even if you don’t know the details of his life. Benedict Arnold is a name that brings to mind betrayal and treason. He actually was a gifted man and a great soldier. All he ever wanted was to be accepted and respected, but in trying to achieve that, he actually ended up causing no one to trust him or accept him.
He was a general during the American Revolutionary War who fought under George Washington. Benedict Arnold was passed over for promotion, falsely accused by his rivals, deferred by those who could help including George Washington, and deprived of the recognition for his accomplishments. He wouldn’t admit that he had caused any of his problems. He always blamed someone else. He finally decided to get revenge by switching sides to help the British. In fact, while he was the commander of West Point, he plotted to surrender it to the British. Before that happened, a British spy was captured carrying papers that exposed his plan. Benedict Arnold barely escaped.
The British rewarded him, but never completely trusted him. He was never given an important military command. Arnold has been called "the best general on either side of the conflict." He earned a name for himself, but it is a reputation as a traitor.
A man who went to the doctor and ran into a mean spirited nurse at the desk. He said ma’am, I have this place on my chin and I would like to see a doctor. She barked, down the hall first door on your right, take off all of your clothes. He said I don’t think that will be necessary it just a spot on my chin, she snapped back, down the hall first door on your right, take off all of your clothes. He said ma’am it is just, she said down the hall first door on your right, take off all of your clothes. The man finally gave up, went down the hall first door on his right, he went into the room. There sat a man in his boxer shorts just shivering, it was kind of an awkward moment, so the other man tried to break the ice, stating, boy that sure is a mean spirited nurse, tell me about it, I am the UPS driver.
We experience “full life” when we practice stewardship. To practice stewardship we must understand that Stewardship is totally about relationships.
In Max Lucado’s book The Applause of Heaven, he gives an illustration, that cements Jesus’ point that the only way to change your life is to change your heart. At one time Max and his family lived in Rio De Janeiro, working as missionaries. Once, when they were leaving on a week long trip, Max remembered he had forgotten to unplug his ham radio. He dashed back in the house and pulled the plug, and dashed out. Unfortunately he pulled the wrong plug. The radio sat on their freezer, which had been newly stocked with meat, and was now unplugged. To make matters worse they were gone for 7 days, & it was summer in Brazil, which Max says redefines hot. When they got home, Max’s wife Denalyn decided to get some meat out of the freezer.. Max says “it was a `moving’ experience.” Since it was Max who unplugged the freezer it was Max who got to clean it. With tongue in cheek he writes:
"What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior? I knew exactly what to do. I got a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance. I was sure the odor would disappear as I buffed and wiped and polished. But when I opened the door, the smell was revolting. No problem, I thought. I knew what to do. This freezer needs some friends. I’d stink too if I had the social life of a machine in a utility room. So, I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighborhood. Everyone played pin in the socket and had a few laughs about limited warranties.. I was sure the social interaction would cure the inside of the freezer but when I opened it up the stink was even worse. I had an idea. If the polish job and a social life wouldn’t help, I’d give the freezer some status! So I bought a Mercedes sticker and stuck it on the door. I installed a cell phone on the side and I opened the door.. still repulsive. I could think of only one other option- pleasure. So I bought copies of "Playfridge"- the publication that displays freezers with their doors open. I rented some foxy films, my favorite was "The Big Chill." After a few days of supercharged, after hours entertainment, I opened the door. I nearly got sick."
Lucado concludes: "I know what you’re thinking, the only thing worse than Max’s humor is his common sense. Who would concentrate on the outside when the problem is on the inside? Really want to know? A housewife battles with depression. What is the solution offered by a close f...
**Sudanese Boys- {page 17}
The four young Sudanese boys cried and screamed out for their mothers but they refused to repeat the words that would mean saving their lives yet renouncing their Christianity. Their red blood began to flow across their black skin, but they would not give up their faith in Christ.
The older teenage boys looked in horror. They had seen their Southern Sudanese families murdered by sword-wielding Islamic fighters. Now they watched as their four young friends and relatives – the youngest only five years old—were beaten to death.
Already the soldiers had forced each older boy to lie over hot coals and ordered them to repeat the Muslim creed and join the Islamic faith.
There were fourteen boys and thirteen girls abducted in the raid that day. The girls have never been located and were likely sold as slaves or concubines in Northern Sudan. All of the boys were tortured, but none relented.
The next night the older boys escaped, still bearing the scars of the previous nights. Not one renounced his faith.
**Taken from “Extreme Devotion”- The Voice of the Martyrs
Matthew Parker
I watched a brilliant film with my son Jared a short while ago called, “Downfall”. It is about the last ten
days of Hilter’s Nazi Germany, the last ten days in an underground bunker when the realization of the colossal failure of Nazism and of its war efforts was dawning on Germany’s leaders at the time. At one point, Hitler says, “Compassion is an eternal sin. To feel compassion for the weak is a betrayal of nature. The strong can only triumph if the weak are exterminated”.
That is, of course, the voice of hell, the wisdom of Satan. It is ‘survival of the fittest’ at its worst.
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