From My Quiet Time

Overcoming the Fear of Loneliness...

To overcome the fear of loneliness you must: (1) Understand who you are. Let scientists argue about whether or not there was a Big Bang. Even if there was, you were not the result of it! Nor did you descend from an amoeba in a pond. You are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14-15). You are "made in His [God's] own image (Ge 1:27). God did not assign your creation to His most powerful angels. You are a hands-on, made-to-order, one-of-a-kind product. As a redeemed child of God you are His "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works" (Eph 2:10 NIV). Believe that and stand on it--regardless of your feelings or your social status.

(2) Understand who God is! He calls Himself your "Heavenly Father," not just your creator and designer. Your creator and designer refer to what He does; your Father refers to who He is! "He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:6 NIV). These are not His roles, these are His proper names. They are capitalized in Scripture because they are what you are to call Him! When Jesus taught us to pray He didn't begin with "Oh omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God." Yes, He is all of those, but when it comes to relationship He wants to be recognized and to be called "Father" (see Mt. 6:9). That is how the Lord thinks about us, and wants us to think and to feel about Him. "Father" is meant to convey warmth, security, acceptance, concern, compassion, protection, assurance, etc. He is your Father--the sooner you grasp the truth of that statement, the sooner you will begin to overcome the fear of loneliness.

Suffering

Why does God allow good people to suffer? Questions like this often ring in our ears--and in our hearts. In Scripture we are confronted by the inscrutability of suffering. Simplistic solutions melt in the heat of human pain and then evaporate in the presence of Almighty God. The Bible obliterates the deep-seated prejudice that regards all suffering as evidence of individual sin and divine displeasure. Though human sinfulness in general is the root of all suffering, that does not imply that each person who suffers receives precisely what his or her actions deserve. Sometimes the righteous suffer; sometimes God appears to "smile on the schemes of the wicked" (Job 10:3 NIV).

The Word of God encourages us to be authentic in our communication with God. Sometimes we act as though God just is not big enough to handle our anger or disappointment with Him. On the contrary, the Lord welcomes complete honesty with Him (for other examples, see any of the imprecatory Psalms!) Like Jesus on the cross, there may be times when we ought to pray: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk. 15:34).

The cross of Christ also presents God's final solution to the problem of suffering. God takes our suffering upon Himself in Jesus; the Righteous One bears what He does not deserve so that we who are unrighteous might receive the fullness of grace. We worship a God who does not answer all of our questions, but Who meets our deepest needs by offering Himself, His love and His salvation.

If thankfulness arises through prosperity, that's all well and good. But what are you going to do when the prosperity fails?  If thankfulness springs up through good health, wonderful. But what will you do when disease makes you bedridden? Must you then become angry, depressed or bitter? But now, suppose it is through our Lord Jesus that you cultivate the fine art of thanksgiving, then what? Then money in the bank, however useful, does not have you at its mercy. If you lose it, you can still offer thanks.

Fellowship

Those who can sit in silence with their peers, not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief or to let a sigh of sadness rise straight from the heart can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship, the fellowship of the broken. As my good friend and OT Professor Dr. Steve Hooks has said, the church should not be a house for the holy, but a hospital for the spiritually sick. The church is an organism, not an organization; a movement, not a monument.

Reflection

Others are watching you, wondering if your heart really belongs to God.  Do you know how they determine if you are truly His child?  They look for evidence of the relationship.  No one has to wonder whether or not I am married.  The wedding band on my finger tells the whole story.  The same should be said of the Christian journey.  The evidence is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

But these qualities of character do not simply appear, nor do they grow through the force of your will.  They are like fruit, and they grow into your life as a result of your being related to Christ.  You cannot bear this kind of fruit unless you are connected to the Lord.  When these qualities are blatantly evident in your life, God is glorified.  He wants everyone else to know that you belong to Him!  He is proud of you!  God carries your picture in His wallet.

Jesus summed up the key to developing these qualities.  His command to us is this:  Love others as He first loved us.  If you heed His teaching, He will help you develop the character traits that prove to the world that this Earth is not our home.

True Faith

One of the most frequent criticisms applied to Christians is that we
are "hypocrites." Many times this is simply a cheap shot. But,
sadly, sometimes we deserve this label. We can easily believe one
thing, yet do another. Or we might sweetly praise God's name in a
worship service, only to yell mercilessly at the driver who cuts in
front of us on the way home from church.

The issue of hypocrisy is as old as Christianity itself. Just a few
years after the church was born, James wrote a letter addressing the
problem of Christians who fail to live out their faith. In his letter
he offers practical advice for how our lives as Christians can reflect
well upon our faith, and, indeed, upon God.

Perhaps the most familiar section of James is the discussion of faith
and works in chapter 2. On a superficial level, James appears to
contradict Paul's teaching on justification by faith when he says that
"a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" (2:24;
compare Galatians 2:16). But a more careful reading of James (and
Paul) corrects this misunderstanding. For Paul, genuine faith in
Christ will always be expressed in good works (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10).
Similarly, James claims that faith without works is dead (2:17).

Why does James emphasize the negative side of the discussion? He is
probably responding to a group of Christians who distorted Paul's
original teaching. These individuals claimed that it was sufficient
merely to affirm the truth of the gospel. Faith, for them, required
no active response or life transformation. In fact, their theology
provided a solid foundation for a life of blatant Christian hypocrisy.
James writes to correct their confusion. Both he and Paul would
agree that true faith will transform one's life and be demonstrated in
good works.

Not surprisingly, James's comments on worship emphasize its active,
daily-life implications: "If anyone considers himself religious and
yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and
his religion is worthless" (1:26). What a tragedy that the same mouth
can both praise God and curse people created in God's image (3:9-10)!
To frame the matter more positively, if our worship is genuine the
experience of offering praise to God should transform the way we speak
and relate to others.

Furthermore, our worship must be expressed not only in praise to God,
but also in tangible care for people: "Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress" (1:27). Since God, who is full of
compassion and mercy, gives generously to us, we should do likewise to
others. This passage reminds us of what Jesus says in Matthew
25:31-46. When we care for "the least" in Jesus' family, we are
caring for Him! So, when we show love to orphans, widows, co-workers,
homeless, even those who have intentionally wronged us, God receives
our actions as offerings of love to Him. There is no greater goal
than to point others toward Christ!

Perspective

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.  Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed.  Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious beauty.  He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and transform it into an instrument whose music shall be all praise.  He can lift earth's saddest failure up to Heaven's glory.

Salt and Light

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  Jesus, taken from Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)

Considering that my last entry started with the Beatitudes, I figured it would behoove me to continue the journey.  You will note that there is a shift here.  The Beatitudes were written in the third person.  Now, in this passage, we have text in the second person plural.  In other words, there is a subtle shift here, from describing Kingdom character traits (v. 1-12) to what Kingdom people, what we as Christians, should actually do.

Please notice here, those reading who are my brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are called to be this salt, this light, this living, radiant energy that points the way to Christ!  I've said this at least once earlier, but it bears repeating: if someone is living outside of Christ, then they are living inside darkness!  There is no tolerance, no "grey area," no spiritual smorgasboard that will suffice.  Christ is all, and we are His body on Earth! Hallelujah!