Be Devoted!

I remember as a newly minted Christian, one who was just beginning to follow Jesus, the Bible was such a cool book.  The more I read the more I learned and the more excited I became.  Today I know the Bible, though consisting of sixty-six different books, has a unified, consistent theme running all the way through it.  But back then, when I was seeing all that for the first time, my heart was enthralled in what I was learning.   Another thing I remember was how certain Bible verses just riveted themselves to my heart.  One such section of the Bible was the last verses of Acts chapter two.   The earliest of Christians had only recently experienced the coming of God's Spirit and He was changing everything in their lives!  They had gone from concealing themselves in a cowardly manner to bolding broadcasting their faith in Jesus, even at the peril of arrest and death.  But as a young Christ follower, the verse that impacted me so very much was forty-two where is says, "They were continually devoting themselves..."  Here's what God said to me way back then, "When you follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in your life, you can't help but passionately give yourself to follow Him."  You prioritize Jesus, His will, His Kingdom.  Those early Christians gave themselves with high energy and with all their hearts to what was important to Jesus.  

But just as impactful to me was what they were devoted to--what they were passionate about.  The Bible records several commitments to which they were devoted, the first being their weekly gathering where they were taught God's Word, worshipped with praise and prayer, and encouraged each other.   They were highly committed to this!  Unfortunately many who claim to follow Christ are not.  Did you know that one of the trends in the church today in 2016 is that people will be less and less committed to this weekly gathering?  Yet, God clearly says in His Bible, "Don't forsake gathering yourselves together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another; and all the more do so as you see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:24).  I was just beginning to follow Jesus when on the night before a Sunday I had to work really late and decided I'd just skip the next day's weekly gathering of believers.  I'll never forget a friend of mine knocking on my door when I didn't show up to carpool with him.  After I explained that I'd been up late and wasn't going, he left a bit dejected but as I lay back in bed God spoke to my heart and said, "I could devotedly lay down my life for you but you won't even prioritize my will for you?"  I got back up, got dressed and from that day I've devoted myself to the weekly gathering of Christ followers.

Another thing to which the early Christians passionately committed themselves was to love others, and that meant using their resources for the Kingdom of God and caring for others.   “All those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”  All my teen years were spent with visions of wealth and prosperity—I was going to make it big in the realm of money.  But just as their devotion changed, so did mine.  Money was no longer the focus of my life and even more happened to me—I began to see my money not as mine, but as His.  I began to see myself as a steward, not an owner.  Like these early Christians, I devoted myself to use my resources as God wanted me to and that meant helping others as I could.  I began to give a tenth of my resources directly to my immediate church family, but more than that, I saw the other ninety percent as His--I needed to use it as He directed.   This continues to be my devotion.

And one more area to which they devoted themselves: they zealously gave themselves to investing in each other’s lives.  Not only did they meet for their weekly gathering, it says they were meeting daily, “from house to house taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.”  They understood something that I believe we westerners, born and raised in this individualistic culture, don’t often comprehend.  We weren’t created to do life by ourselves.  God made us for community.  He made us for Himself, He Himself being three persons, but He also made us for each other.  These early followers of Jesus were passionate about living their lives together with others—we have to be too.   It’s a choice that we make.  I’m not suggesting we go from nothing to every day but why not be devoted to a weekly home group gathering?  Why not choose to have folks over for a meal every week?  Why not devote yourself to pouring your life into others and letting them pour into you?

I don’t really think there is such a thing as low devotion and high devotion.  If you have low devotion to something, you simply aren’t devoted.  But assume with me that there is such a difference and let me ask you; does God have a low devotion for you or a high devotion?  The answer is obvious—His devotion for you is such that He died for you!  He will never leave you or forsake you.  He gave His all that you might be forgiven of your sins and set free from them and the hell that our sin deserves.  It puzzles me greatly—if you are a follower of Jesus, and you understand God’s great devotion and love for you, how can you respond to Him with such low devotion?  Why would we not all be like those New Testament Christians who were so filled with Holy Spirit-inspired devotion?

I bring this piece to a close with a call for you to follow Jesus with high devotion—or might I simply say, follow Him with devotion.  It’s a choice you make.  Devotion is not necessarily expressed apart from feelings, but it’s definitely not dependent on them.  What does that mean in specifics?  Be highly devoted to the weekly gathering.   Be highly devoted to caring for others.  Be highly devoted to doing life with other believers.

Getting Better at Ministry

Last week I wrote about the tension that exists between length of tenure and effectiveness.  The tension is that on the one hand, the longer I do something the better I get at it; while on the other, the longer I do something the more opportunity I have to become complacent in what I do.   That tension exists in many areas of life, but I particularly see it manifested in ministry.

When I first became a pastor, my mentor told me not to make any changes in my first year of ministry, and I lived by that advice.  However, I thought there would be no harm in encouraging the existing leaders in their ministry roles.  I remember one meeting in particular where we were talking about a need for more Sunday school space.  The church really only had four rooms that could be used for classes.  I offered several suggestions that we could implement to temporarily give us room to grow, but each suggestion was rejected because "we had tried that in the past and it didn't work" or "that doesn't go with the decor of the church."  That meeting was very discouraging, to say the least, and I remember experiencing firsthand the complacency that can set in when someone does the same ministry for many years.  Instead of using their acquired skills and knowledge to grow God's church, my friends had become bogged down in apathy and negativism.

So how do I turn my length of tenure into something positive rather than a boat anchor of complacency?  Whatever your ministry, let me give you four suggestions that will help.

Recognize the tendency we all have to drift toward ease and continually recommit yourself to invest in your ministry.  Just about everything in life drifts toward the path of least resistance; so unless you decide to apply yourself continually, you too will simply rest on your acquired abilities rather than trusting God for greater things.  Embrace this reality and remind yourself often that unless you decide and re-decide to give it your best, you simply won't.

Make yourself accountable and let someone speak into your life.  One of the best ways to improve at what you do is to invite people to help you evaluate your ministry.  Ask someone you trust, and someone who knows your area of service, if they see you giving it your best.  A word of honesty here--most people will be a bit reticent to tell you the truth.  It's not that they won't want to help you--they will just be leery of whether you really want them to.  Many people say they want the truth, but when someone shares it they become defensive or hurt, and even respond in a negative, wounded manner.  Ask for help and be willing to embrace truth with gratefulness--even if it hurts a bit.

Continue to stretch yourself with continuing education and training.  It's amazing to me how many Christians who are ministry servants and even leaders, don't avail themselves of opportunities to grow and improve in what God has called them to do.    We live in a day when so much help is available to equip ourselves profoundly.  Be a lifelong learner--a continual improver.  A key to taking advantage of tenure is to keep on training yourself to be even better and more proficient at what you do.  Yet so few actually do--don't be one of them!

Consider taking the skills and abilities you've learned in a long term ministry and actually choosing to use them in something different.  After my first year of pastoring, and making no changes, I decided it was time to make some.  I remember I led us to switch up people's ministries, that is, some who had been doing a particular ministry for thirty years were asked to do something different.  Well, as you may have guessed immediately, that didn't go over very well.  But the reason I did that back then was because I understood that change can be helpful in keeping us fresh, diligent, and not simply relying on past accomplishments.  If you find yourself merely going through the motions, not excited about your ministry, consider trying something new in the year ahead.  Doing something new tends to increase our excitement and dependence upon God, so if you can take your acquired skills and abilities into something fresh, think about it.

Serving in a ministry long term can be a great blessing because of what you've learned and what you know.  Make it so.  Don't settle for a name and title and lukewarm service.

Getting Better at Marriage

You may not know it, but there is a tension between length of tenure and effectiveness.  It's a tension that can be found in most areas of life, but definitely in marriage and ministry.  The tension is this--the longer you do something the better you may become, the more effective you might be.  However, at the same time there is the possibility that the longer you do something, the more stale and passive you might become, making you even less effective.  Let me talk about that tension in marriage.

The single greatest benefit of a long marriage is the knowledge you acquire of the spouse you are committed to.  Let's face it, when you marry you only think you know the person you are committing to.  Granted, some of you spent years dating before you walked into your marriage, and I recognize that you knew each other better than Anne and I did after just three months of courting, but there isn't a married person I know who won't admit that their knowledge of the one they married was so limited compared to what they discovered in the next decade or two of walking through life together.  In mine and Anne's case, we were extremely different people than we thought we were marrying, and that made for a great deal of misunderstanding and tension in the early years of marriage.  But now, three decades later, we have a much deeper understanding of who each of us is; and that knowledge can be the key to making our marriage better.

On the other hand, length of marriage can also be a detriment.  We tend to fall into ruts of apathy and indifference if we are not careful.  The excitement and newness of marriage wears off, and the passing of time can lead us into passivity, detachment and even unresponsiveness to one another.  With time we will change, and if we are not intentional, we may move away from our spouse.  I think it was Tim Keller who suggested that if you don't like who you are married to now, just wait--you will be married to seven different people in your lifetime!  He was talking about how we all tend to change over time; so as we do, we need to be careful not to drift apart.

So, there is the tension to which I was referring to--with length of marriage we know each other better, which can be a really good thing; but at the same time, the longer we are married the more opportunity we have to drift toward indifference and apathy.  That is not so good.  So, let me give you three suggestions to help your marriage flourish and not whither.

Embrace this truth: marriage is not automatic, it takes work.  I can remember in my pre-married days how easy I thought living in holy matrimony would be.  Our premarital counselor told us we'd have problems, but we literally laughed at him; what did he know!  Thirty years later I can tell you unequivocally that marriage is hard work.  It takes sacrifice and surrender, and you must exchange your vows with that mindset.  To you not-yet-marrieds and newlyweds I'd say, "Remember I've been a newlywed; you've not been married thirty years.  Listen to me!"  Go into your marriage knowing that unless you are willing to invest and to sacrifice, your marriage is probably doomed to failure before you even begin.  It's true that some people may make marriage look easy, and indeed, maybe it has been easier for them, but that is not the case most of the time.  Accept this axiom of marriage: Marriage takes work and both spouses must labor at it to make it good!

Use the knowledge you gain with the passing years to serve one another.   What's the benefit of a long marriage?  You get to know one another better.  With the passing months and years, you know more specifically and more clearly what blesses and what hurts your spouse, but what good is knowledge without application?  So the operative challenge here is to use your growing understanding to serve one another.  The reality is that if you don't use your growing insights to bless each other, you will actually embitter your spouse.    Love always serves, and if we aren't serving, we aren't loving.  A successful marriage is built when two people are willing to prefer one another as more important than themselves and give themselves to one another unconditionally.  I'll make this declaration--every divorce can be traced back to the selfishness of one or both partners in a marriage.


Refuse to give up.   Every marriage stumbles.  As a pastor I've heard the stories of marriage pain, and rarely have I met a couple who never struggles.  But if you want your marriage to flourish, don't give up in the difficult times--fight for your marriage.   The studies are pretty clear that if couples will push through the difficult times, most will bounce back to a relationship that the couple themselves will say is happy or very happy.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer declared so well what I'm trying to say: "It is not your love that sustains your marriage, but your marriage that sustains your love.”

As the years pass under your marriage, may your marriage grow deeper, more fulfilling, and more satisfying.  Accept the challenge of hard work, and use your growing understanding of the one you love to serve each other better.  Do your best to never, ever give up.

Why you should read the Bible if you are not a Christian

You don't have to be someone who follows Jesus to know the Bible has impacted western culture in invaluable ways.   More than six billion Bibles have been printed and at least some parts of the Bible have been translated into almost 3,000 languages.   The Bible is comprised of sixty-six different books, written by approximately forty different writers, over 1600 years, on three different continents, in three different languages, on thousands of different subjects, yet with one central theme—God's revealing of Himself to mankind in the person of Jesus.


Now, if you are already one who believes in and follows Jesus, you probably know the reasons you should read your Bible.  But, what if you aren't a Christian--why should you read a Bible? Let me give you two really good reasons.

First, read the Bible so you can know what it says.  One thing I've discovered over the years is that many people think they know what's in the Bible but when pressed, they really don't.  They may have some vague notions but all too often even those perceptions aren't correct.  Too many people think things come from the Bible when in reality they don't.  For instance, here's one I hear often; "God helps those who help themselves."  That's not in the Bible.  In fact, one of the major themes of the Bible is that God helps them who can't help themselves!  Another such saying is, "Cleanliness is next to godliness."  I wish that was in the Bible so I could use it to encourage some folks I know.  So read the Bible so you will definitively know what it says.

A second reason to read the Bible is so that you might be introduced to Jesus.  Just like what's in the Bible, too many people have misconstrued ideas of who Jesus is.  Let Jesus speak for Himself.  He once told people that the older part of the Bible--it's divided into an old and new part--actually points people to Himself.  Did you know that Jesus often hung out with people others called thieves and prostitutes, and that some of His harshest rebukes were for religious people?  Don't go by what you think Jesus was like; read for yourself.

The New Year is often impetus for change or to try something new.   With that thought, I'd like to encourage you to pick up a Bible and read it.  Find out what it really says and let Jesus speak for Himself.  If you do decide to read, know that the Bible isn't like a chronological story that begins on page one and ends on the last page--remember, the Bible is actually sixty-six different books.  So find that divide between the old and the new, turn to the new part and begin reading the first book in that new part--the book of Matthew. It's actually about the life of Jesus.  If you find that interesting and helpful, then turn to the fourth book of the new part, the book of John, and read that.  John records a number of talks that Jesus gave.

My own life story was affected deeply by what I read in those pages.  Maybe yours will be as well.

Three Commitments to Embrace in 2016

Ever hear anyone say, "May the New Year bring you joy and happiness!"  I know I'm being rather trite in even mentioning this but on this advent of the New Year I'd like to remind us that the "New Year" won't bring us anything.  I know what we mean when we say that, but God says that "every good and perfect gift comes down from  above from our Father of light"--not the New Year!  All the good things that may come our way in this New Year we call 2016, will come to us by God's grace and goodness.  So let's begin 2016 with hope in God and gratefulness to Him. 

But that being true, God often uses our faithfulness and determinations to bless us, and the New Year is always a great motivator to refocus and recommit ourselves to positive and helpful engagements.  There are so many things I could challenge us to focus on but as followers of Jesus let me ask you to commit to these three specifics that will greatl

Determine to spend time with Jesus each day.  Let's all choose to read through our Bibles this coming 2016.  Even if you find you need more time to finish then the next twelve months, let's start and not give up.  You probably know this, but we listen backward through His Bible, His Word, and we listen forward by His Spirit.  God has spoken to us in the past by His Word, and He speaks to us today by Jesus and His Holy Spirit who, by the way, often uses the Bible.

Determine to connect with God's people weekly.  You weren't meant to follow Jesus on your own.  You were created to be a part of His Body and yet all too many of us sever ourselves from the rest of that Body and think it's ok.  We even convince ourselves that we are actually still a part.  What I'm asking you to do is determine that each week you will gather with other believers in a small group and at your church family's weekly large meeting on Sunday morning.  Make it your priority, your commitment.  Even as you commit to do your job each day of every week, be committed to be a part of Jesus' Body, His Church.

Determine to be a disciple-maker in 2016.  Decide you are going to tell others about Jesus.  If that means you need to get help in how to do that, choose to get the help you need.  Determine to pour what's in your life into the life of another.  Ask someone to read the Bible together with you. Take someone out for a coffee, or lunch, and share who you are in Jesus by working through a Bible study together.  Plan on God using you daily in the coming year and be on the edge of your seat looking for the works He has planned for you.

There are other areas in which we could determine to invest, and I would encourage you to do so.  Areas like your physical health, your intellectual growth and your relational skills would all be good investments--they would all most surely result in greater blessings in your life.  But this challenge my friends is to invest in your spiritual life, your relationship with God and God's people.  I'd be glad to help you in anyway I can.  

May God bless us greatly in 2016 as we follow Him!

What's a Pastor to do?

I’ve been a pastor for about thirty years now.  I’ve always taken my job or my calling very seriously and even as Paul declared himself to be an example for others to follow, I sought to be that too.  I remember many determinations I made as a young pastor to help me lead by example in devotion, discipline and determination.   Now let me be quick to say that I’ve failed pretty substantially in those endeavors but nonetheless I continue to strive to show myself an example to believers. 

Have you ever thought about a pastor’s primary responsibilities?  Is it to preach on Sunday?  Visit the sick in the hospital?  Is it to be an example of the Christ-follower?  Recently in my study of Acts 6 God strengthened my heart in what He has called me to do as a pastor.  The church in Acts was growing and the apostles came face to face with the reality that they could not keep up with leading the ministries of the exploding church.  They couldn’t lead everything, much less do everything, so they commissioned a second tier of ministry leadership to take care of ministries that seemed to be popping up organically through the work of the Spirit.  But in that process they also drilled down on what they were called to do—they were to focus on God’s Word and prayer.  In Acts 6:4 the apostles say, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

In the thirty years I’ve served as a pastor, I think I’ve always looked at that through Western eyes.  What I mean is that I heard them saying, “The apostles role (or the pastor role in my case) is to preach God’s Word on Sundays, and possibly Wednesday or at any other church function, and to devote much time to personal prayer.”  But this time, in my study, I looked at what they meant through the lens of what the apostles were actually doing at that time, and I came up with three very clear, and somewhat different, responsibilities.  If you are a pastor, let me share them with you and challenge you by them.

Their first responsibility was sharing the word of God in the temple and I think that clearly refers to sharing with an evangelistic intent (Acts 5:21, 25, 42).  You will remember they were intent on being a witness to the life and resurrection of Jesus, and in Acts 6:7 it says that many of the priest were even coming to faith.  And pastor, please notice this—they were doing that from day to day.  In other words, when they said they were going to give themselves to the Word of God, they were saying they were going to keep on sharing God’s Word in the temple evangelistically.  Our role as a pastor is to be an evangelist—to share God’s Word so as to lead people to Jesus.  Obviously I think that can apply to our Sunday morning formal preaching but in the context of their lives, it’s pretty clear that this means I am to be a daily soul winner.  Do you remember what Paul told Timothy?  Don’t neglect doing the work of an evangelist.  Our ministry as a pastor is to share the gospel intentionally and as often and clearly as we can.  We should be on the edge of our seat looking for and even seeking to share the gospel of Jesus.  Lately I begin every day with this prayer; “God, I’m planning on you using me today—keep me alert for that time.”

Their second responsibility was to teach God’s Word to believers for their edification.  Not only were they in the temple doing evangelism, they were teaching from house to house (Acts 5:42).  We all know that in these early days of the church, believers met in their homes so the apostles were teaching them there, and again they were doing so daily.  In his letter to the Ephesians Paul would tell us that our ministry of pastor is to equip the saints and that equipping comes primarily through God’s Word (Ephesians 4:11-12).  Obviously this includes our formal teaching on Sunday morning, but it’s more than that.  It’s our small group discipleship, when like Jesus we pour our lives into a few strong men who in turn will pour their lives into a few other strong men who will turn around yet again and do the same.

Their third responsibility was to pray for the sick.   When this need for specific ministry leadership arises in Acts 6, the disciples are swamped with the responsibility of praying for all the sick who are being brought to them from all over (Acts 5:12-16).  When the apostles say we must give ourselves to prayer, they are not talking about personal, private prayer in their closets; they are talking about a ministry of prayer where they are praying for needy sick people from all over the region.  When I got this picture in my heart, God invigorated my soul to pray for the needs of desperate people.  When James wrote his short letter he says, “Is anyone sick?  Let them call for the elders to pray for them.”  Pastor, our ministry is one of praying for people.  Should we pray privately?  Of course.  Should we pray in church meetings?  Obviously.  But as a pastor I should see my ministry as one of shepherding and caring for people by coming along side them and praying for them.   These days I sense a great burden to pray for people’s needs.

I’m not saying by this post that there are not other things we could and even should be doing, but pastor, I believe these are things we must see as priority.   Use God’s Word as an evangelist,  explain God’s Word as a teacher, and shepherd God’s people, all people, with the great responsibility of prayer.

Celebrate Christmas Well!

As one who follows Jesus, do you ever struggle with celebrating Christmas?  I know I did.  I always asked myself, how can so many people who don’t hardly know anything about Jesus, much less follow Him, celebrate Christmas?  Obviously, they are not celebrating what I’m celebrating.   But then, what am I celebrating?  Certainly, as a Christian I am celebrating the fact that God chose to enter the world He created as one of us, and He chose not to do so with fanfare and accolades, but incognito and among the poorest of the poor.  But what do Christmas trees and colorful lights have to do with that?  How does exchanging gifts with those I love and sharing meals with people I treasure have anything to with God becoming a person?

Maybe this confusion has bothered you too.  A number of years ago I accepted a couple of realities and made a couple of decisions that have helped me—maybe they will help you too.

First, I accepted the truth that for most people in America Christmas as we know it isn’t about Jesus, God or even anything spiritual.  In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that this has probably been the case for generations, maybe from the very rise of Christmas as we know it.  Don’t get me wrong, I accept the reality that in days gone by more Americans tipped their hat to Jesus at this season, but I doubt the coming of Jesus has ever been what most people celebrated at this time.  People, by their very nature, love to celebrate family, friends, joy and happiness; and however it happened, those things came to be associated with Christmas.  Parents love to see the joy on their kids’ faces as they open gifts.  Most everyone loves the joyful music, the festive lights and the obvious good will that seems to permeate this time of year.  However it came to be, this is what most people are celebrating.

Now here’s the second truth I accepted—it's ok for me as one who follows Jesus to celebrate all these things too.  It’s ok to love the lights and the songs and the joy of watching my kids exchange gifts of love with each other.  It’s ok to decorate my house and cook great Christmas cookies just for the fun of it—just for the joy!  Actually, God made us to enjoy festivities.  He himself gave the Israelites so many joyful festivals for their pleasure and happiness.  I’m not a Jew, at least not a natural born Jew; I’m an American.  Christmas is a time my culture celebrates family and friends with feast and fun and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Accepting those two realities helped me immensely sort out my confusion about the season, but I also made two coinciding decisions.  

The first was that in the midst of celebrating with my culture, I was going to not forget, but purposefully celebrate, what the Bible calls the incarnation of God.  Jesus is often called “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”  As a Christian, I wanted the truth that God came to earth as a man to be something I prioritized in my celebration.  Over the years Anne and I have done some things at this season to help us remember this great event.  You might think they are simple, even crass, but we put red and white lights on our tree to remind us of Jesus' holiness and his death on the cross.  We set up a manger scene in our living room to help us commemorate.  In our family it is tradition to worship together with other believers on Christmas Eve.

The second decision was that in my heart I’d not separate the celebration of Jesus’ birth from the remembrance of His death.  When Jesus was born the angels said, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  The birth of Jesus was joyful news because God had Himself come as our Savior, but Jesus’ saving work wasn’t complete until His death on the cross some thirty-three years later.  His birth and His death are inextricably tied together and I promised myself not to celebrate the cradle without remembering His cross.

So if you are a follower of Jesus too, let me urge you celebrate Christmas well!   Celebrate this festive time with our culture.   Enjoy the lights and the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Take advantage of that mistletoe!  But don’t forget the greater joy that Christmas brings to your heart.  Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day and later died on Calvary that you and I might know God and have a personal relationship with Him.  Take special care to worship Him joyfully and purposefully at this special season of the year.

Don't let the past rob you of the present!

Today is Pearl Harbor Day.  Most of us are too young to remember that infamous day but I imagine it felt a great deal like 9/11 for those of us who lived through that morning and its aftermath.  My guess is that just about every generation and every individual life will live through days that impact them emotionally.  The end of WWII, the assassination of MLK or JFK, and Neal Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" are days that will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of those who lived through them.  

But here's my challenge for us today--let's not live in the past no matter whether it was good or bad.  Some days in our past may have blessed us beyond measure--our happiness meter was off the charts.  Other days may have scarred us and wounded us so profoundly that we wonder how we can even go on another day.  But here's what I know in my mind, my heart and by my experience; whatever the past, good or bad, it's behind you.  You can't erase it or change it--it is what it is.  We should learn from it but we should never live there.

Paul, writing to his good friends in Philippi says, "This one thing I do, I forget what lies behind."  He doesn't mean that he blocks it from his memory; instead what he means is that he doesn't let the past dictate his present.  Have you every known someone who is always reliving past victories?  They live in years gone by when they had a good day or a good season.  It seems they miss the present by always living in a better past day.  Or have you known someone who is always reliving the past trauma of a bad decision, failure or event?  I don't mean to minimize people's past traumas--I know they are real and terrible.  But they are in the past and if I live there, for whatever reason, I forfeit my future.

To live in the present, to forget what lies behind--good or bad, is a choice.  The only person who can make that choice for you is you.  Someone has said, "Wherever you are, be all there."  I think that means in the flow of time too--be all in the 'present.'  Choose this day to stop living in the past and invest in today.  Whoever you are, invest in your friends, in people.  Don't let the past rob you of the most precious possession you have this actual day--relationships.

Many of you who might take a moment to read this know that I am a follower of Jesus.  You yourself might be one as well.  In the passage where Paul says he forgets what lies behind, he goes on to say this; "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul says I invest my present by pressing forward in this upward call of God in Jesus.  You might ask, what is that call?  Just a few lines before this Paul says, "I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."   Here is that upward call Paul was pressing toward in the present-- to know Jesus.  The relationship that mattered most to Him was knowing Jesus and I might add, making Him known to others.  All the good in the past, all the trauma in the past--it was in the past.  What mattered most in the present was to know Jesus better.

Whether you are a Christ follower or not, don't let your past rob you of the beauty of this day.  And definitely don't let it keep you from seeking to know Jesus better and follow Him more completely.

I want to be happy-- don't you?

I want to be happy--don't you?  I think it would be a truthful statement to say everyone just wants to be happy--and all the time.  For many years I've heard Christians make a distinction between happiness and joy and that made sense to me.  After all, God calls us to rejoice always, to have joy always, and we all know that no one can be happy all the time.  How can I be happy when my loved one dies, or my child is fighting cancer, or I lose my job?  Right?  Therefore, we conclude, there must be a difference between joy and happiness.

Recently, I heard Randy Alcorn make a strong case for how Biblically, and throughout history, joy and happiness have been used as synonyms.  He shared that Oswald Chambers was the first to espouse the idea that "joy" and "happiness" are different; that is,  joy is that deep, abiding contentment that remains even in the most dire circumstances of life, while "happiness" is that more temporal, emotive feeling that makes us feel so wonderful.  Alcorn says that prior to Chambers, everyone used the words interchangeably-- to be happy was to be joyful and to be joyful was to be happy.

I've been thinking a great deal about happiness as of late and I think this confusion might lie in how we view this idea of happiness.  Let's be honest.  Happiness is not something I achieve and then I'm done--never to be unhappy again.  "Ok, now I'm happy--I don't have to think about that anymore!"  That's really not how it works.  Happiness and joy, as an emotional state, is constantly being challenged--at least it is in my life.   On our trip home from Alabama for Thanksgiving, we were caught in an accident and stuck on the interstate for over an hour, and then to top it off, immediately upon getting off the interstate I got a ticket for driving through a stop sign I didn't see.  I admit it--I was not happy and my wife even reproved me for my unhappiness over such temporal, unimportant things.  I think that it might be helpful for us to see happiness as a state of heart that needs to be continually replenished.  There are many difficulties in life that want to rob us of our happiness.  Some of those difficulties come at the end of bad choices we've made.  Others are absolutely independent of anything we've done, yet both have the same result of potentially draining away our happiness.

David Murray identifies six streams of happiness that are available to all people everywhere.  He says all of us experience nature happiness, social happiness, vocational happiness, physical happiness, intellectual happiness, and humor happiness.  I think it's easy to understand what Murray is saying--good jokes, good friends, and a good back massage all make us feel happy--they add to our "happiness tank."  People recognize this and are always trying to find happiness in these six areas and more, which is why we visit the Grand Canyon and go to hear comedians.  All too many of us are too often thinking, "If I could just find the right relationship, or have this one thing, or have 'that' job or 'this' amount of money, I'd be happy."  We strive for those things because deep down we believe those things will give us lasting, enduring, happiness.   Sometimes we actually achieve the things we pursue; but invariably and unfortunately, the happiness they bring is often fleeting and we set out to refill our happiness tank, this time with something else that will prove itself equally transient.

But Murray identifies one more stream of happiness which he calls "spiritual happiness," and this happiness comes only from having a relationship with God through Jesus.  This source of happiness is always available, and it's what I believe Chambers was seeking to identify when he said that joy and happiness were different.  Here's what spiritual happiness is:  it is the joy and happiness that comes from knowing that God loves me, that my life matters and has purpose, and that God Himself is watching over my life.  What I mean by that last statement is that God in His love for me is overseeing my life so that I can trust Him that everything is going to be okay in the end.  Romans 8:28 promises that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."  But here's the challenge-- I have to choose that spiritual happiness and joy.  I have to decide that I'm going to walk in it, no matter what.  Just having experienced an added hour of interstate driving to an already super long drive, followed up with an immediate moving violation ticket for running a stop sign, I tell you that is no easy task!  So how do I always walk in happiness and joy? Here are two suggestions that I'm trying to practice myself.

Use your feelings of unhappiness as a warning.  If you are a Christ follower and you are unhappy, somewhere along the line you've lost sight of Jesus and that spiritual flow of happiness, and you are focused on the bad.  Remember, God says he loves you and nothing happens to you that He's unaware of or isn't supervising.  If He's allowed it, He will use it for good.  I'm not saying the thing is good--I'm saying God will use it for good.  Trust Him.

Stop, pray and choose happiness!  You can do it.  You can choose joy even in the hardest and most difficult times of your life.  You may have to choose it over and over but you can.  Pray it out loud.  Remind yourself that God loves you and you can trust Him.  "Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!"

It didn't take me but a few seconds to realize my wife was right.  I had allowed some petty things to rob me of my joy and happiness.   I'm pretty sure it won't be the last but I want to be a happy and joyful person-- all the time.  Join me in that pursuit.

Say "Thanks!"

Today is Thanksgiving so what does that mean?  Unfortunately for many of us it's a day to over eat, or simply "couch potato" our day away in front of the TV, or shop until we drop.  One really good thing about Thanksgiving is that many us try hard to spend it with family.  But let me encourage us all to remember the very name of the day--Thanksgiving.  Today is a day to say thank you, to express gratefulness.  All too often we celebrate Thanksgiving in so many ways, but never actually say thank you to anyone.  Let me challenge you to make a point to say thank you to the following persons today.

Begin by expressing gratefulness to God--both personally and as a family.  There are countless reasons for which we should be thankful to God so think deeply and thoughtfully.  Make thankfulness a focus of your personal time with God and then, before you eat the main meal together, spend time as a family praying and expressing thanks to God.  A helpful suggestion might be to go around the room and ask everyone to share one thing from this past year for which they'd like to thank God.

Take today as an opportunity to say thank you to your parents.  Some of you reading this will have already lost your parents to death and you can still remember them with gratefulness.  But if your parents are alive, thank them.  Be specific.  As a parent myself I tend to remember and focus on my failures.   Our gratefulness can bless our parents and encourage them that they did some things right.

Who has invested time and energy in your life?  Who went out of their way to pour into you and help you become who you are today?  Have you ever thanked them?  Take this day to make a phone call or write a note that says "thank you for helping me become who I became!"  When I was in college I met a pastor by the name of Sam Tatem.  I can't even remember how we met, but Sam would often write me  notes of encouragement and those notes meant more to me than I can even explain to you.  Sam is gone now, and I can't tell him personally, but there are others who helped me become who I am.  Mark Griffith, Chip Phillips and Don Frensley are some of the men who poured into me.

Has anyone loved you when you were unlovely?  Anyone stuck by you when you were being stupid and really deserved to be abandoned?  Today is Thanksgiving-- say thank you to that person.  Call them and tell them how much it means to you that they didn't give up on you.

Are you a Christ-follower?  Who led you to Jesus?  Today would be a good day to thank them.  Did someone disciple you?  Help you to grow as a Christian?  Why not write them a note or give them a call and say thank you?

Today is a day to give thanks-- let's actually do it.  There is nothing wrong with football, feast and family but let's go further and make this a day of true "Thanks-Giving!"

    

Don't give up!

It was a Monday morning when my friend Scott called me and asked me to go with him to take some groceries to a needy family in the county—actually they were my neighbors.  I willingly went; I thought we’d be in and out in just a few minutes but he had other ideas.  Only the wife was home and Scott was determined to reach out beyond just the gift of food.  I remember him continually telling the lady how we cared and wanted to help and asked her over and over again if there was anything we could do to assist them.  By this point I was sitting in a chair and to my chagrin, I was irritated with Scott for prolonging the visit.  We had reached out several times to this family but they had never responded with any openness.  In my mind, we had done our good deed and we were now wasting our time and I was ready to go.  But then, all of a sudden, something happened.  The woman began to cry.  I can clearly hear her words even now, “Thank you for caring for us!  Thank you for caring!”

In that moment, filled with shame at my own selfishness and lack of compassion, God began to speak to me.  He told me I give up on people way too soon and he brought to mind another couple I’d been reaching out to but had given up on.  There in that seat I repented, I changed my mind and heart, and decided I would not give up on people and made a commitment to visit that same couple that very night.

It was a cold, winter evening when we showed up at their door.  They weren’t expecting us but graciously let us in.  I remember they didn’t have any central heat and they only had one kerosene heater in the living room.  They had even blocked off other rooms with sheets where there weren’t doors.  That night I told them about Jesus and His love for them.  I spoke of God’s concern and His desire to forgive them and make them His own children.   It was amazing to me what happened next--with deep emotion they both received Jesus as their Savior.   We gathered around their coffee table on our knees and they expressed their faith through prayer and I followed that by praying for them.  For one who follows Christ, it was a sacred moment but it didn’t end with my prayer as the husband asked me, “Can I pray again?”  I told him he most assuredly could and then bowing his head again, he prayed.  His prayer was short and I assure you these were his exact words-- I’ll never forget them; “Dear Lord, thank you for not letting them give up on me! Amen.” 

 In one day God had spoken to me as clearly as I’d ever heard him—twice no less.  “Jimmy, don’t ever give up on people.”  I wish I could say that from that day I’ve always been faithful to that directive.  True confessions—some people make it hard not to give up.  They test the metal of my resolve but then God reminds me of that day and I press on.

Maybe you are tempted to give up on a friend, a neighbor, a child or even a spouse.  The decisions they are making, the choices they are choosing and the constant refusal to make positive and lasting change causes you to want to throw up your hands and walk away.  Don’t!  Please don't!  I don't mean that you should enable bad behavior or facilitate errant choices but what I do mean is continue to love them, to invest grace in them, to challenge them and even to pray for them.  Don't give up on them in your heart.  Not too long ago I was feeling a bit discouraged that someone I was investing in wasn’t making much change.  I was telling a friend about that and what he said reminded me of the lesson God taught  me so many years ago; “Jimmy, I’ve discovered that things can change in a person’s life in an instance.  Always remember, the end has not been written.”  What a great reminder. 

So I leave you with this encouragement—don’t give up!  Never, ever give up hope that people can change because the end has not been written!