Still Waters

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

~

Have you ever noticed these two verses in the same Psalm?

"He leads me beside the still waters."

"...I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...."

Peace in the midst of extremely turbulent circumstances is nothing but supernatural.

A couple of things to ponder:

1.) Is the Lord your Shepherd?

2.) Do you feel like you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and it feels like there's no way out? Well, He can walk you through it to the other end. He can even make that valley feel like the banks of a quiet stream.

3.) One of the things that makes Jesus our great High Priest is the fact that He came to earth as a man and dealt with all the junk of life just like we do. He walked through the valley of the shadow of death (and really died), and that's what allows Him to minister to each of us in an incredible way. He looks at us and says, "I know exactly how you feel...I've been there, and I'm here for you." In much the same way, if we go through the valley, that equips us to help others, to have compassion on others. God may allow us to go through that valley to equip us for ministry.

~

WJS

The Problem of Death

When a loved one dies, family and friends usually show up in town to honor that person, to pay last respects, and to say goodbye.

I've kind of been mulling over this argument by atheists and agnostics dubbed "the problem of evil," which is supposed to be a logical conclusion about the non-existence of God. I could spend a great deal of time researching and taking up the typical arguments against this "problem of evil," but I don't really feel like it would be a good use of time.

Nevertheless, my mind gets going and I sometimes stumble into something worth saying...or at least I think I do.

Those who subscribe to the argument that since evil exists God doesn't use horrible tragedies to prove that God does not exist. Since atrocities occur and God won't do anything about it, He must not exist. But I think one of the greatest atrocities on the earth is to say that God does not exist and the logical conclusion to that argument. Since God does not exist, what use is there in honoring the dead? They are merely the result of an improbability and a great deal of time. And when they are gone, they are gone. Their lives are worthless vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. To suggest to those who are grieving passed loved ones that the dead are inconsequential, that their lives were mere biological function, trying to survive, to gather food, build shelter, and reproduce, is an unspeakable blasphemy. Where then is morality? Where then is justice, mercy, and truth? Why then is the death of just another animal so painful? After all, I see dead possums every day on the road. If God does not exist, then let us eat, drink, and be merry, for our lives are of no eternal consequence.

I guess what I'm saying is this: the act of love that is portrayed through the grieving process, along with numerous other appearances of love can only suggest that God is real. I maintain that since we see love here on the earth, God must be real, for love cannot be mere biological function. We learn love from Love Himself. After all, we were created in His image. This pain we feel from missing our loved ones must be derived from Him. It must be the pain He felt when He called out to Adam, "Where are you?"

Those who subscribe to atheism because of the "problem of evil," when attempting to prove their point, play on the very love nerve about which I am speaking. Since all these incredibly horrific things happen to "innocent" people, we are moved with compassion, then look heavenward and wonder what is happening up there that these things are still continuing. I claim that if God is not real and we are simply a biological anomaly, there would would be no moving in the heart; there would be no compassion; there would be no, "why, God?" We would be animals, and like animals we would live if there was no God. But there's nothing animalistic about people saying goodbye to a loved one for the last time. Those tears are real. And I would venture to say that no one has a bigger broken heart about these things than God Himself.

When I see grieving people, I think, "None of this was ever God's will. Death, dying, pain, loss, suffering...none of this is God's will." And it isn't. Look at the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus wept when He got there. I always found that interesting because Jesus had to know He was going to raise him from the dead. I wonder if Jesus wept because these people had to go through the pain of losing Lazarus. I wonder if Jesus still weeps at funerals today. I bet He does.

~

WJS

The Problem of Evil

A number of months ago I happened upon a blog wherein the authors were attempting to "debunk" Christianity. I find it interesting that they were attempting to use a blog to provide incontrovertible evidence that Christianity is false, and that we are all a bunch of dolts for believing it--this religion that has survived centuries of persecution and hijacking by psychopaths. Nevertheless, there was an argument that I had run across on this blog: the problem of evil.

I don't really know all that much about this kind of an argument. I only visited the website a few times. But there are a number of folks out there who believe that since evil exists in the world, then one of three things must be true: If God exists, since he won't step in and stop gross evils from happening to people, then He is malevolent. Or, if God exists, he is incapable of stopping the gross evils that happen to people, which means He is not all-powerful. Or God simply does not exist. In other words, why do bad things happen to good people?

I've heard this kind of argument before from people with whom I tried to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reasoning goes something like this: 'If God exists, then why is there evil in the world? Why doesn't He just step in and stop this or that from happening to people?'--The thinking being that since these evils exist, God does not exist, and therefore I do not have to consider religious matters.

It's a clever argument...but it cannot beyond the shadow of a doubt prove that God does not exist. It's more of an argument for trying to convince oneself that God does not exist, and since He doesn't, I can live my life in the fashion I want. I'm not responsible to God because some poor kid in Africa is dying of AIDS and God won't do anything about it.

My problem with this line of reasoning is that I don't think we are as well-informed about these kinds of spiritual matters as much as we think we are. I think it's much more highly probable that we just don't know what we're talking about, rather than that since evil exists God doesn't. Besides that, if an infinite God exists, I'm not so sure we can apply our high school geometry class logical reasoning to such spiritual matters higher than ourselves. We approach the argument with the assumption that we can understand the supernatural through mere logic, which is patently ridiculous. The supernatural is exactly that: beyond nature, beyond human logic and reason.

Anyway, these thoughts came to mind the other day as I considered these things:

God may not necessarily intervene and stop horrendous situations from happening. With respect to that, He continues to regard the free will of men: hence Adam's sin and the curse. However, God is the Master of taking intensely horrible situations and using them for the greatest good. Because of this, we should not look to God and say, "Why don't you stop this or do that?" but rather we should say, "This horrible thing has happened (which by the way, is probably a result of the curse we brought on this earth because of our rebellion against what God said). Will You please look upon the situation and use it for Your glory?"

Our God is a God of love not because He will stop bad things from happening, but because He can more than restore to us the years that famine, pestilence, and disease have stolen from us. He can work peace in the midst of disaster. This is how He is. To say that He doesn't exist just because He won't operate the way we want Him to operate proves nothing--actually, it proves that a god of our own fancy doesn't exist. The invention of our imaginations, our genie-god, doesn't exist. Thank God.

Our God is a God of love...and we are all idiots.

~

WJS

Sensitive to the Call

Here's the next part of my essay I started awhile ago:


Sensitive to the Call

“Come to Me” He says…”Come to Me.” It’s an interesting parallel passage to God’s call to man in Genesis: “Where are you?” “Come to Me” looks forward to what Jesus was going to accomplish on the cross. It’s an invitation back into His Presence…and this invitation, “Come to Me,” is saturated with the love that only our Father has for each of us.

A sensitivity to this call exists in a great number of us. Note what happens just before the feeding of the 5000 in John 6:

“Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.” ~ John 6:2

Jesus performed signs on those who were diseased. He had developed a reputation for making whole those who were sick, lame, blind, and diseased. He set people free. He forgave sins. He ached for people in His incredible compassion. There was something about Jesus that caused the hurting to look to Him. There is still something about Jesus that causes the hurting to look to Him.
After feeding those all those people He went off by Himself for awhile and then met the disciples on the sea. The people then got into boats and went looking for Him. When they found Him, they asked Him when He had gotten there. His response was quite revealing:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” ~ John 6:26-27


Before John had said that they were following Him around because of the signs He performed on the diseased. Now Jesus says they were following Him around not because of the signs, but because they themselves ate the food He gave them. He said they had been filled. They got a taste of that which satisfies. For a brief period of time, that restlessness, that toiling, that hole in their hearts had been satisfied. It was nothing less than Jesus Himself. Remember our curse from Genesis 3?

“…In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread….” ~ Genesis 3:19a

No longer…. No longer will we eat bread in the sweat of our own faces. Jesus calls us to no longer labor for the food that perishes. Jesus calls us to Himself. Jesus says, “Come to Me.” Jesus says,

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” ~ John 6:35


~

©Bill Sines

Miscellany

It's been awhile since I've posted...there are a number of things going on.

1.) I'm reading a book by Andy Stanley called Visioneering. It's a great read. I recommend it for anyone in a leadership position. The basic premise of the book is the story of Nehemiah and how God birthed a vision in him for rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. If you have a burden or passion in your heart that you feel is from God, pick it up and read it. It's a leadership strategy/Bible study book. Good stuff. Here are a few things I've learned so far:

Sometimes God-ordained visions are near impossible or completely impossible so that when the thing is completed, God gets the glory.

What God originates, He orchestrates.

"Then they said to Moses, 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?'" ~ Exodus 14:11

God doesn't bring you halfway in a vision just to leave you in an impossible situation to die. Remember God's faithfulness in the past to motivate you and those around you to continue to "put your hands to the good work."

2.) God is at work at New Life Fellowship in Topeka, Indiana. Today we broke ground for our new church building. I see a connection between what I'm learning in this book and what God is doing at NLF. God has a vision for us...and I want to be part of that vision. I can see God orchestrating some out-of-the-ordinary circumstances in order to reach out to lost, hurting, and dying people. I'm not so sure I can put the words together to describe what all is going on. It's an exciting ride to say the least!

3.) Hopefully I can find some time to finish that series of blog posts I started (see the last two posts). Spring break just got over, so it's back to the mayhem!

That's all for now...

WJS

Burden

Here is a continuation of what I started in the last post.

~

The book of Genesis outlines our beginning: an incredible story of creature and Creator, loved and Lover, a record of a now unfathomable relationship where God Himself walked in the cool of the afternoon in that beautiful garden with man. This is the picture of how God intended things: man hanging out with God in the garden, naming the animals and tending to the flowers and trees, enjoying God Himself and each other.
But God created man with his own free will, and out of that free will he rebelled against God, taking of the fruit of the forbidden tree. That disobedience cost man everything he had. The life he had received from God would come to an end. He was fired from his job, and his privilege to the garden was revoked. He inherited the shame that comes with sin and rebellion. This sin would eventually cost him his son Abel.
But the biggest heartache, the most tragic of all tragedies would be that of the loss in relationship between creature and Creator, loved and Lover, so much so that God omnipresent would call out to him, “Where are you?” [1] The break in relationship that occurred between God and man on that terrible day is what God has been seeking to restore ever since. To each individual that has sinned against Him he calls out—yes, He’s still calling out, “Where are you?” Jesus does the same thing in our text from Matthew 11: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
We should also make careful note of one of the other results:

Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.[2]

The restlessness we feel in our hearts is, no doubt, a result of the tearing of our hearts from His. We are separated from our Father…and I would venture to say that it should be no less frightening than a five-year-old being lost in a mall without his parents. But look at the rest of our curse. We’ve become beasts of burden, sweating and toiling in the noonday sun for our bread…until we get so old we die and return to the very earth we plow. Work, not rest, is our portion. We no longer enjoy tending a restful, peaceful garden where we need only turn our heads and God Himself is there, walking by the petunias and daisies. Instead we work an earth full of thorns and thistles, where some of us are not so sure God even exists.* It’s a pit in our stomachs and in our hearts…it’s the restlessness we feel from day to day—the toiling and separation.


©Bill Sines, 2007


[1] Genesis 3:9
[2] Genesis 3:17b, 18, 19


~

*I'm not talking about myself here! I love Jesus......

Restlessness

Here is part of something I'm working on right now. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

~

Restlessness

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” ~ Matthew 11:28-29

There’s a restlessness in the heart; there’s a shadow of emptiness that follows us around and hangs on us like wet wool. There’s an anxiety in our stomachs that’s not too easily assuaged by the morning coffee. It’s an assertive heaviness that we shoulder from the time our alarms go off in the morning till quitting time. As the afternoon fades, the feeling gives way to the anxiety of tomorrow: we’ll have to do this all over again then.

I describe a condition well known to many—it’s the fundamental human condition of restlessness. We go through life wondering subconsciously, ‘why am I here?’ pining for the answer as we do this thing called life day in and day out. There’s work, family (which does offer a certain level of respite, at least for some; for others it’s a major source of restlessness and stomach acid), TV (a worthless way to waste time rather than redeem it, to be sure), and sleep. We do enough of these cycles and we reach the end—death. Doesn’t sound like much of an existence, does it? I would say a dog has a better life than this (due mostly to the fact that a larger percent of its day can be attributed to sleep—who wouldn’t want to laze around all day on the couch?!).

As we trudge through life, isn’t there more than this? Is the restlessness in our souls an indicator of a deep problem? Could it be inferring to each of us that we ought to set out on a search for something more? Something that satiates, something that brings rest?

Jesus really catches the flavor of our problem as He extends His invitation:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….”~ Matthew 11:28a

For many, life feels like seriously hard labor. We feel heavy laden, bearing a load that I’m not so sure we were designed to bear. It’s like towing a camper with a compact car; it’s a burden unbearable, sure to break everything in us.

So what gives? Why is life like this? Why is there this weariness, this tiredness? Why is there such an appeal within each of us to answer the invitation of Jesus, “Come to Me…”?

©Bill Sines, 2007

~

It's obviously just a start....

Sometimes Math Is Hard

I received this in an email from a colleague. Sometimes math is just too stinkin' hard.

Empty Clay Pots

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7

The phrase "Empty Clay Pots" is a great phrase to describe how Christian ministry ought to be done.

EMPTY

As I shared in my last post, when Jacob had to face his brother, he crossed over the ford of Jabbok. Oftentimes we also have to cross over the ford of Jabbok, the ford of Emptying, in order to be emptied of ourselves. I'm finding out that oftentimes the Lord will allow us to go through a bit of a tough situation in order to develop a keen sense of helplessness, ultimately driving us to a high level of dependence on the Lord. Jacob faced a harrowing situation: the brother whom he had conned out of his birthright and blessing was coming, and there was nothing Jacob could do about it. Jacob was going to have to face him, and he was going to have to trust the Lord to bring him through it.

From our text in 2 Corinthians, we see that we ought to be empty of ourselves and our own sufficiency, so that the power of God and His sufficiency may reside in us. As the Holy Spirit enables, we minister well beyond our own abilities. We must be empty, so that we may be full of Him. As we offer what little we have to Him, He multiplies it (in much the same way He did with the 5 loaves and 2 fish from the little boy) so that we can reach many (and interestingly enough, the leftovers from the 5 fish and 2 loaves that were taken up were more than what they had started with anyway).

CLAY

The idea of a clay pot, or an earthen vessel, is interesting to me. I can remember my mom having some of those clay pots sitting around the front porch at home. The thing about those clay pots was that if you knocked them over, they would break very easily. It gives us a picture of how we really are: incredibly fragile, easily broken. Check out the next verses in 2 Corinthians:

"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--" ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

In engaging in God's work, Paul and his associates were subjected to extreme situations: situations that would break any human being. But these guys recognized Who it was that was carrying them through it all. It was the Lord and no one else...and as such, He was the only one getting the glory.

"--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

In their brokenness and despair the Lord was coming through in a mighty way. It's the mystery of the resurrection: through death comes life; that is, the life that Christ Himself provides: true life, life that is no longer subject to weakness, brokenness, and fragility. It's enabling and empowerment beyond human ability.

We ought to recognize that the work to which God calls all of us is spiritual and requires this empowerment beyond human ability. We should never attempt supernatural work through natural means. It's a recipe for disaster.

POTS

As I was thinking about this the other day, doing ministry with the mindset that we are empty clay pots, I kind of chuckled at this part of the idea. A lot of times (at least for me) when we see God using us, our tendency is to get all puffed up and arrogant, saying (at least to ourselves), 'Hey, look how great I am. God is blessing my ministry--I must be something special.' We need to be very intentional about keeping in mind that we are just empty clay pots. There's nothing special about a pot. There's nothing glorious, amazing, or awesome about a pot. We go around thinking to ourselves, "Look at what a cool pot I am." That's dumb. Pots aren't cool, they're just pots.

What is the primary function of a pot? It's empty so that it can hold something else. Curiously enough, oftentimes that very thing is dirt. So we go around thinking things like, "Look at what a cool pot I am. Check out how sweet my dirt is." That's really dumb.

We ought to keep in mind that as we hold that dirt, the only way we can ever amount to anything is if something grows out of that dirt. Yep, the coolest part about a pot are the beautiful flowers that grow out of it; and even then, we really have no part in causing that thing to grow. It all comes from the master Planter, Waterer, and Weeder. It's all about what God wants to do with us empty clay pots, what kind of flowers He wants to plant in us. If we look to Him for these things, it's then that our ministries will grow and flourish. What kind of an incredible garden could God grow if we would just be empty clay pots?

~

WJS

Leaning On His Staff

"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff." ~ Hebrews 11:21

This "leaning on the top of his staff" communicates quite a bit to us. Jacob had to lean on a staff because of an encounter he had with the Lord earlier in his life.

All through his life Jacob had developed a reputation for being self-sufficient. He was a con-man, he got what he wanted, and he could take care of himself. But the time came when he had to face his brother Esau, the man he conned the blessing and the birthright out of. Genesis 32 relays the story.

As Esau and his entourage approached Jacob, Jacob became "greatly afraid and distressed." (v. 7). As such, Jacob begins to pray and ask the Lord for help. Interestingly enough, Jacob addresses Him as the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, which indicates to us that he had no close relationship to the Lord. God was just some distant Being to him. But now Jacob found himself in an impossible situation.

He prayed, but then he attempted to get himself out of trouble with Esau by sending him droves of gifts. Jacob turned to his own abilities and material resources to get himself out of this tight spot. And that night, Jacob wrestled with God.

I believe the wrestling with God all night was meant to be a picture to Jacob: 'You know, you've been self-sufficient all your life. I've been trying to get your attention, to get you to turn to Me and trust in Me. And all you've done is struggle and fight against it.' And then He touched his hip socket, basically making him lame. He wasn't going to be able to run from this situation; he was going to have to face Esau his brother and trust that the Lord would bring him through it.

Interestingly enough, that night he crossed over the ford of Jabbok. The word "Jabbok" means "emptying" in the original language. Jacob would be emptied that night of his self-sufficiency, and the next day he would get a crash-course in God-sufficiency.

In today's society, being self-sufficient is seen as a strength. But in God's economy, being self-sufficient can be a detriment. Consider these verses:

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." ~ 2 Corinthians 3:5,6

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. " ~ John 15:5

Thus says the Lord:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited." ~ Jeremiah 17:5,6

It's important for us to remain humbly dependent on the Lord. When self-sufficiency creeps in, arrogance and pride can come with it. We should be careful to guard ourselves from this. May God also make us "lame," so that we can worship Him, leaning, as it were, on the tops of our staffs.

~

WJS

Talents and Calling

These two verses came to mind today:

"Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.'" ~ Matthew 25:24-28

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." ~ Joshua 1:9

The first portion of text speaks of fear. The servant said he was fearful of the lord...but the lord called him wicked and lazy. I would say that if we really fear our Lord with a holy reverence, we would not be like this guy. We would take the "talent" that God has given us and use it to further His kingdom.

The second verse speaks of being strong and courageous. As God spoke to Joshua, He wanted to be very clear with him that his leadership position over Israel (to go in and possess the promised land) and the authority that came with it originated with God Himself. I recently engraved this verse for a pastor in Mexico in Spanish, and I recognized one of the words: "ordenado." This looks a lot like our English word, "ordained." In other words, it was God Himself, the God of the universe, that had ordained Joshua for this work. There is no one on Earth and no one in the heavenlies that can speak against this ordination. As such, Joshua was commanded to be very courageous. 'Step up and step into your calling. I, the Lord, have ordained you. Do not be fearful, for I am with you.'

Now I'm not saying we should be presumptuous and say, "The Lord called me to do this or that." No, oftentimes in order to figure out our calling we need to do a lot of waiting and praying. I remember a minister who relayed his story to our class (it was in Bible college). When he was at his lowest, thinking God could never use him again in ministry, he got a very clear call in the form of an offer to lead a Bible study. He wept over the opportunity. In his brokenness he realized his call, and he knew that answering this call would satisfy something deep down. He would be answering the call to 'step up and step into' his calling. It would be the only thing that would satisfy him. He would find out what it means to lay his life down for his Lord, only to truly find it. At least that's how I interpreted the tears.

~

WJS

"Follow Me, and I will make you..."

It's been awhile since I've felt "inspired" to write (this coming from a right-brained high school math teacher), but today I was reminded of a certain portion of scripture:

Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed Him. ~ Mark 1:17-18

I love this sentence, 'You follow Me, and I will make you....' The first part of that sentence is the call for Simon and Andrew (and ultimately all of us) to follow Him. I find it interesting that at the time Jesus said this, Simon and Andrew were at their jobs; they were performing their livelihoods, the very thing that gave them their identity, as it says in verse 16 that they were "fishermen."

In other words, the call for these guys was to leave their natural work and engage in work that would have eternal impact. Jesus says in the remainder of that sentence, "I will make you fishers of men." Now I believe that this "fishers of men" was a specific call for these guys; they would be part of the twelve, which obviously no one else will be. But I believe Jesus says this to all of us, in one way or another: 'Follow Me, and I will make you..." and you can fill in the blank. (That filling in the blank part is an extremely personal thing--it's the intersection of our personal relationship with the Lord and finding our spot in the body) We have to realize that this work to which He calls us is where we find our true identity, our true calling. It's only when we engage ourselves in this work, the work that has eternal weight, that we will truly be satisfied. As we have been studying on Sundays at church, it is when we say to the Lord, "Yes, I'm open" that we find out what it means to truly live. Consider how these verses fit into this idea:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." ~ Romans 12:1,2

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ...." ~ Ephesians 4:11,12

"And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability" ~ Matthew 25:15

1 Corinthians 12 - The whole chapter!

Some things to consider:

1.) Are you willing to completely lay down your agenda, your dreams, your desires to follow the Lord?

2.) What is it that God is calling you to do in His body? God has a spot for everyone on the team, a position for everyone to play. What's your position?

3.) Are you listening closely enough to hear what God is telling you? Often I find myself getting answers to prayers in very unusual ways. If you're not listening closely, you might miss it. Case in point: I remember praying for something and getting it, only to realize a week later that I had gotten it. Duh.

~

WJS

And You He Made Alive

Ephesians 2:1-5a

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...."

In our small group we are studying Ephesians together. I've been looking at chapter 2, and I'm intrigued by this beginning phrase, "And you He made alive...." I love that phrase, because in context, he is talking about once being dead in sins and now being made alive in Christ, apart from works. This is that deliverance from sin and sin's result--death. Paul makes reference to the grace of God, that beautiful "you screwed up your life with a bunch of sin and because I love you so much and sent my Son to die for you I'm going to fix it--I'm going to completely erase all your sin and all the baggage and condemnation that comes with it even though you're wholly unable in and of yourself to do anything about it" grace. This grace of God is awesome....

But I'm pondering the depth of that statement: and you He made alive. What exactly does it mean for us to be alive? There's got to be more than just being delivered from sin and death. There must be more depth to the phrase and you He made alive.

I'm sure the question has many answers, but here's a verse that comes to mind as I think about it:

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." ~ Jn. 10:10b.

Another verse that comes to mind is this:

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." ~ Mk. 8:35

Here are my observations:

1.) To really live is to know, love, and serve Christ. Just as Adam was just a bag of dirt when he was first made, and only made a living being when God breathed the breath of life into Him, we also are just bags of dirt until Christ comes to live in our hearts by His Spirit (His Pneuma, His Breath, as it were). We are made alive by Christ, and it is then and only then that we can truly live. Those of us who are going through life without Christ are only going through the empty motions of life...there is no abundance, no purpose, no true life without Him. We are dirt-bags, quite literally, with no purpose at all in this life.

As an aside, I would also say this: if we are going through this life ignoring what Christ wants us to do with our lives, that's a lifeless place to be as well.

2.) It is Him who makes us alive. It has nothing to do with our self-efforts. As we abide in Him, His life flows through us. Remember our verse from Ephesians? 'You once walked according to the course of this world...and really screwed up your own life and acted like a moron, committing a bunch of sins...' And then it says, "But God...." It was God who stepped in and, aside from our shortcomings, made us alive. Yeah, He breathed life into us dirt-bags and made us to know what it means to truly live. This is grace.

I'm sure there's more to being made alive by Christ...but it's sometimes hard to use human language to describe the work of God.

New Website

My father in law Lowell and I have an engraving business. We have just launched our new webiste. You can check it out here.

Love's Impact

Hebrews 6:9-12

-“Do not become sluggish”

-These people had works

-Labor of love-they ministered to the saints and were continuing in that

I am becoming more and more convinced that the absolute best way to have an impact for the kingdom is through love. (On the one hand, I see this as a very profound conclusion coming to fruition in my life. On the other hand, it’s a conclusion that is simpler than 2+2=4. Duh!)

A number of years ago I heard the teaching that if you’re “filled” with the Holy Spirit, the evidence of that filling is speaking in tongues. I also heard a teaching that countered that idea: if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, the first and foremost evidence of that filling is love…and not just any love. That is that supernatural love that happens to spill out of an overflowing heart. I believe that speaking in tongues, prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge and any other ministry you could possibly think of are just that: ministries. But the fuel for that ministry, the predecessor of that ministry is love. In other words, love is the trunk and all ministry efforts are the branches.

I’m reminded of that verse in John 7:38: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Some of the current methods we use for impacting the kingdom or evangelizing or whatever include cheap gimmicks, well-intentioned programs, and arguing. Many times we come across as obnoxious, self-righteous, and irrelevant. Now I’m all for just about any effort to try to reach people for Christ, but none of these things will amount to anything unless love is the motivator. People respond to being loved. Do you have someone in your life that is annoying to everyone else around you? Try just being loving and nice and carrying on a conversation with them. If your heart is overflowing with the love of Christ, it’s going to spill out “on” to others. Do you have people in your life that come from seriously crappy home situations? Try making friends with them just so you can lavish God’s beautiful, gracious love on them. Smile. Put your arm around them. Listen to them like what they’re saying is the most important thing to be hearing in the whole universe. Look them in the eye and accept them. Love them!

I’m also learning that in order to have a heart overflowing with God’s love, oftentimes you have to be “emptied.” What I mean by that is sometimes we are so full of ourselves there’s no room for God to work in our lives. Sometimes our lives get stressful, forcing us to turn to God for help. As we go through times that are tough (and sometimes it’s just tough in a spiritual way), we look to God for help. It’s in those times that we realize ourselves to be just “earthen vessels,” able to be filled by God to love others:

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

~

WJS

Increasing Pedagogical Proficiency Through Reflective Inquiry-Based Initiatives

Translation: Becoming a better teacher by thinking about what would make you a better teacher. Also known as "metacognition." I think I'll think about this a little more. Would that be called "meta-metacognition"?

Ha ha! Did that really look like a blog post I would come up with? I just find it extremely humorous some of the terminology we throw around in the world of education!

Have a great day! More to come on Hebrews, among other things.

~

WJS

On Education, Again

The other day I was talking to a colleague about students and education in general. One observation that came of the conversation was this: if students cared, they would excel, regardless of a mediocre educational system. On the other hand, if a school has the best programs on the planet, if the students don't care, then it doesn't matter at all. The observation came as I reflected on the enormous amounts of energy and money spent on education. Honestly, if half the effort put in by administrators and teachers into education was reciprocated by students, many of the education woes of today would be nonexistent.

Again, this is not the case with all students, but it is a big enough problem to point it out. At least that's my experience. Others I've talked to share the same sentiment. There are a lot of people who just don't care.

So how do you change a culture that's been in place for a long time? How do you get people to care?

A Pretty Good Quote

I'm not too much of a quote guy. However, I ran across this quote from Stephen Covey's book, The Speed of Trust:

"There are no moral shortcuts in the game of business--or life. There are, basically, three kinds of people: the unsuccessful, the temporarily successful, and those who become and remain successful. The difference is character." - Jon Huntsman, Chairman, Huntsman Chemical

As one of my friends would say, good stuff!

~

WJS

On Education

Here is an excerpt of an email I sent to a colleague:


Recently I’ve had a lot (and I mean a lot) of people saying things to me (not only students, but other staff as well), “when will I ever use this in real life?” and “when will this information be useful later in life?” Statements like these are usually made with a negative attitude. The thought is, “this information is not worth learning.” (An aside to this is, who are we to place value on certain types of knowledge and information? But that’s another discussion!) What it implies to me is that my life’s work is of no consequence. I’m appalled that both students and some staff have this attitude toward education.

While this attitude is extremely discouraging to me personally, we can know something about the attitudes of those who make such statements. To these folks being an educated person is not important. These folks assume that education and job training are the same thing; I maintain that they are not. It is my opinion that one of the most fundamental privileges of the human race is to expand our knowledge of the world around us, to become informed in the sciences (math, biology, geology, astronomy, etc.), to learn about our history, to become well read in great literature, and to become writers ourselves. In fact, I would not think it too preposterous to say that it’s not only our privilege, but it’s our duty. God created us all with minds that have the capacity to learn and expand; wouldn’t it be correct to assume that God desires that we learn?

Nevertheless, we as teachers are fighting a culture that does not value education. So I guess my takeaway is this: how do we change the culture? How do we create a culture where being an educated person is of great importance? How do we pass on to our students that being educated is valuable?

~

Here's something else to think about: is being educated important?

Hebrews 5 (and the beginning of 6)

Verse 11-14

The challenge here is that the recipients of this letter haven’t grown in their knowledge of the scriptures to the point of understanding how Melchizedek is a type of Jesus (or he could even be a “pre-incarnate” appearance of Jesus Himself, as in Joshua and Daniel). The challenge for us is, are we growing in the scriptures, or are we still babes? Do we need others to teach us, or are we able to teach others?

Hebrews 6

Verses 1-3

This is an extension of verses 11-14 in the previous chapter. It is another call to grow in our faith and knowledge of the scriptures.

Verses 4-6

This is probably one of the most challenging texts in all of scripture. One portion of scripture that comes to mind is that of the prodigal son. There we can see the father waiting expectantly at the gate for his son with a broken heart, hoping that he will come back to him. This is from Luke 15. Of course, the parable may refer to Israel in its original context rather than an individual coming back to the Lord. I’ve personally seen people leave the Lord, leave their spouses and families, only to repent a real repentance later, and bear fruit worthy of repentance. I’ve also seen people leave their spouses and families (and ultimately the Lord) and never come back.

It should also be noted that, at least to some degree, we have all fallen into sin and “left” the Lord. But 1 John speaks to this…if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. I can only surmise that this decision to leave Christ is a deep decision of the heart, a decision that we as humans cannot readily discern, and thus we have a really hard time understanding what “impossible…to renew them again unto repentance” really means. These are the people who make their final decision to say “no” to the Lord.

Verses 7-8

These verses give us a feel for what this person’s life eventually looks like. It reminds me of Matthew 13:24-30, which is the parable of the wheat and the tares. The tares grow up with the wheat until harvest time. Then the wheat is gathered into the barn and the tares are burned. I guess it means this: are our lives representative of a meaningful Christian life, or is it “worthless”? Is there fruit or not? Are we being changed into His image?