Natural Activities

Regardless of the form of government, sometimes it’s hard to accept a leader’s decisions. I swear I believe I have a higher IQ than some of my elected officials. But like it or not, in Romans 13 Paul states that God establishes the governments of the world, and lawmakers are God’s servants given for the public good. God puts governmental leaders in place to maintain societal law and order.

In a broader sense, God enables each of us to contribute to the common good. All we need to do is offer our daily activities to God. So tomorrow morning make your bed before you leave for work. On the way to work resist the urge to run a single yellow light. And once you’re there, greet your coworkers and clients, students or patients with sincere joy; then serve them with real integrity.
Offer these activities to God, and God will use them to shape the world.

As C. S. Lewis once put it, “All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest; and all of them, even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not.” The key, of course, is to offer all you do to God.

So you see, God’s not only using politicians to shape the world economy. He’s using you and me to make a difference here and now. Offer your activities to God today and you’ll accomplish all that’s needed.

Calm, Not Frazzled

Some days I feel frazzled, pulled in different directions. I suppose it’s like having Attention Deficit Disorder. If I understand correctly, people who suffer with ADD are easily distracted, often act impulsively, and are at times physically restless. I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD, but I can relate to the symptoms. There are days when I catch myself trapped in the rush of life, missing what matters most, that inner peace which passes understanding. The uneasiness, the restlessness is not of God.

I know that because the prophet Zephaniah refers to God as one who creates calm with his amazing love. A calm and level-headed presence of mind is evidence of God’s love at work in us (Zephaniah 3:17).

Mrs. Thomas Edison once told Glenn Clark, “Mr. Edison is always perfectly natural and always perfectly relaxed. He feels that all of his discoveries have ‘come through him,’ that he is but a channel for forces greater than himself.”
Rest in the warmth of God’s love and your restlessness will evaporate as quickly as the morning dew.

Crushed

Isaiah tells us that God lives engrossed in holiness (Isaiah 57:15), but this doesn’t mean that God is hiding behind a veil of smoke and mystery. God is here, now; especially with the crushed and lowly. The prophet says it much better than me: ‘The one who is high and lifted up, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says: I live on high, in holiness, and also with the crushed and the lowly, reviving the spirit of the lowly, reviving the heart of those who have been crushed.’ The word translated crushed is sometimes called contrite. So even though the Creator is immersed in holiness, he is always close to people who recognize their need for mercy and grace – the remorseful, the repentant, the humble.

George MacDonald used to say, ‘The person who is proud of anything he thinks he’s reached, has not reached it. He is but proud of himself … Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are of the same spirit as God, and of nature the kingdom of heaven is theirs.’

Check the way you hold yourself, your posture. If you’ve learned to walk through life with an unpretentious stance, God is closer to you than your fingertips.

Pardon

In George MacDonald’s Diary of an Old Soul he says, Up, up the hill, to the whiter than snow-shine, Help me to climb, and dwell in pardon’s light. I think this is where I will live today, in the warmth of God’s forgiveness. No one is worthy of such a privilege, but it is afforded to anyone who cares to have it. And the psalmist says, The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!

Yes, I’m going to lounge in pardon’s light and enjoy the life that’s mine through faith in Jesus Christ!

Christ's Sayings

Christ’s words are fascinating! They promise life. They are loaded with grace. And if we accept his words as true, they have the power to transform the quality of our lives! Christ’s words make life worth living. They bring meaning and purpose to life, and they promise a life beyond a life. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. And again, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. And let’s not forget Christ’s words to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live.

When Thomas More was awaiting execution in the Tower of London he wrote, The sayings of our Savior Jesus Christ were not a poet’s fable, nor a harper’s song, but the very holy Word of Almighty God himself. And this is what gives Christ’s sayings such power; all the might of God is contained within them. Our part is, to respond to them, by trying our best to comply with their appeals.

If a gritty paraphrase of Paul will help, Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is worth much. Living by Christ’s sayings is what counts (1 Corinthians 7:19). And remember: When we try to live by Christ’s sayings, we gain a better understanding of them. In the words of Oswald Chambers: The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens up and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight way. God will never reveal more truth about himself till you obey what you know already.

Praise Jesus for all his wonderful sayings. Let his words pierce your heart and change your way of thinking.

Venturing to Speak to God

Abraham respectfully asked God to spare Sodom. He began his request by saying, ‘If I may be so bold as to ask you [Lord], although I am only dust and ashes …’ We learn two things from this: First, it makes sense to know your place before God. God is Creator of all living things. We are only dust and ashes, physical beings here for a limited amount of time, with limited strength to survive the elements of everyday life. Second, our weaknesses should not prevent us from asking God to give us what we want. Abraham knew that he was nothing when compared to God, but he hoped God would spare Sodom for mercy’s sake, so he asked God to do this for him.

I think sometimes we are reluctant to ask God to do something for us, because we feel we don’t deserve God’s attention or because we feel we can’t repay God for his kindnesses to us. Maybe we assume God isn’t interested in what we want or doesn’t care about our feelings. After all, we’re dust and ashes. Why should God want to do something for us?

Well, the answer is: Because God is! God exists, God cares, and God longs to be intimately involved in human affairs. God knows we haves wants; he made us to have them. So the next time you want God to do something for you, remember your place before God, then ask him to do it. Remember Paul’s words to his friends at Philippi: ‘By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’
Peace!

Just Because God Is

When David ordered Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to God, he took the lead by giving thanks himself. At one point in his praising he said, ‘Declare God’s glory among the nations; declare his wondrous works among all people because the Lord is great and so worthy of praise’ (1 Chronicles 16). In David’s mind, we don’t have to wait for God to act before we praise him. God is worthy of our praise just because he’s great. God has created the places we live and blessed us with life within them. Why not take a moment right now to thank God for being God, a God who loves and cares for each of us.

Loose Tongue Disease

Dr. Kent Spann believes there is a disease spreading rapidly in our society, and the Center for Disease Control hasn’t acknowledged it. He calls it loose tongue disease, and as with most diseases, it presents itself in assorted ways. The disease compels some of us to spread rumors and gossip, some of us to tell lies, some of us to rant about people who upset us, and some of us to boast about our goodness and accomplishments. It is a deadly disease because it can destroy relationships and ruin reputations.

A little girl asked her mom, ‘Which is worse: to tell a lie, or to steal?’ Her mother replied that both were bad. The child said, ‘I’ve been thinking about it lately, and I think it’s worse to lie.’ ‘Why?’ asked her mother. The child responded, ‘Well, if you steal, you can take it back or pay for it, but a lie is forever.’

It would be nice if we could be immunized for this disease. Unfortunately it’s not that easy. In fact, the only cure is to work with God to build up an immunity to it. We do that first by recognizing the power of the tongue. In Proverbs, Solomon says the tongue has the power of life and death, and James says, Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

After recognizing the power of the tongue, the next step is to resolve to guard it. Again Solomon says, The person who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. David was so determined to do this he said, I will put a muzzle on my mouth. In Ephesians Paul tells us, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, and Peter says, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep her tongue from evil and her lips from deceitful speech.

Look for ways to guard your tongue. Try finding something positive to do or say. Weigh your words. The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. And when you get a touch of loose tongue disease, run to the medicine chest and confess you have it. Isaiah did. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” If confessing the problem helped Isaiah recover, shouldn’t it do the same for you?