Category: Personal Reflections (Page 9 of 11)

READ PART 1 FIRST to put this in context.

We return to the Miss USA contest for this last post. Because of the topless photos mentioned in Part 3, Carrie’s status as Miss California was called into question. The accusation was that she violated their modesty contract (I hadn’t realized they cared about such things).

Miss Prejean’s contract with Miss California USA prohibited nudity, stating on page five: “Appearing in public or permitting myself to be photographed in a state of partial or total nudity or in a lewd, compromising or sexually suggestive manner constitutes a violation of this provision.” She signed it, stating that she has not done so.

Now personally I don’t know how any Miss Anywhere contestant in the bikini competition could sign that statement about never appearing in a sexually suggestive manner, but that’s my bias coming out and that’s beside the point. The real issue is:  did Carrie violate the “partial or total nudity” part.

Into the picture steps Donald Trump (who basically owns the contest) to decide the matter. Here is his statement.

“We’ve reviewed the pictures very carefully [i’m sure he did] … we are in the 21st century and I talked about relevance and the pageants have been updated tremendously. And Carrie is a model, she’s a very successful model, we have determined – and we have the absolute right under the contract – we have determined that the pictures taken are fine,” Trump said at Tuesday’s press conference. “So, we’ve made a determination that everything we’ve seen to this date that she’s done, some were risque, but again, we’re in the 21st century, so we’ve made a determination that the pictures taken were acceptable they were fine in many cases. They were lovely pictures and in some cases they were modeling pictures, so I think that’s very important to understand.”

Some would say Carrie has been vindicated–she can retain her Miss California title. Finally a victory for conservative Christianity!

I say the opposite. Because of this incident, now Donald Trump has redefined “partial nudity” in the 21st Century to not include bare breasts. The contest has been “updated” in his words. I say the morality bar has been lowered another notch. So from now on, any contestant is free to pose topless and it’s not going to be considered “nudity” at all. Let’s all go change our dictionaries.

As far as Carrie goes, since she signed the contract it tells me either one of three things: 1. she was not honest about having those photos taken or 2. she agrees with The Donald and also doesn’t define bare breasts as “partial nudity” or 3. She thought she could squeeze through a loophole that since the photographs she allowed to be taken were unapproved they didn’t count.

Carrie is a fine person, has a wonderful Christian testimony, and has done a lot of good with her life. I like her as a person and have a lot of reason to root for her. She’s on our side.

But considering this isolated photo issue objectively, it seems clear to me that she should have been disqualified. Even better, she could have admitted having those photos taken 5 years ago was wrong and she could have humbly resigned. Imagine the impact of that!

We all majorly mess up, so I’m not pointing fingers that don’t point back at me. But when our sin is exposed, part of Christian maturity is to take responsibility for it, decry it, confess it, apologize for harm done, and to humbly submit to the authorities rather than look for loopholes. To me this is virtuosity. Too many times prominent Christians caught in sin have tried to cover it up, deny it, make excuses for it, or try to justify their behavior, but to the watching world, it simply reinforces the negative stereotype of Christians as hypocrites.

In this situation, Carrie got off the hook because Donald Trump liked her photos and changed the rules downward. But I agree with Shanna Moakler, the Co-Executive Director for the Miss California contest, who resigned over Mr. Trump’s decision, saying:

“I can not with a clear conscious move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it, or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth,” Shanna’s statement continued. “I want to be a role model for young woman (sic) with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children…”

So I ask, who showed the highest moral integrity in this isolated story about the photos? I think it’s Shanna, who quit her job over it. She acted with a clear conscious. Was she vindicated?

By the way, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I turned off comments because I’ve been getting spam comments and the sensual nature of these 4 posts would quickly attract spammers. Email me your thoughts, please!

A few days ago modeling photos of Carrie surfaced on the internet, showing her in various provocative poses, some even showing her bare breasts. She contends that the wind blew her vest away (it was a wardrobe malfunction) and that the photographer snapped the pictures without her permission and then he released them on the internet. We’ll take her word for it. But my question is: “What were you doing with a man in such a precarious situation where your breasts were only a wind’s breath away from being seen even by him?”

Some have said, well she was only 17 at the time (she’s now 22) and so she didn’t fully know what she was doing. Perhaps so, but I want her story to serve as a warning to all 17 year olds: “What you do now may haunt you the rest of your life.”

Before these photos surfaced, Carrie Prejean was fast becoming the new posterchild for injustice done against a conservative Christian. She appeared on Sean Hannity, and even Dobson’s Focus on the Family for two solid days last week. But the emergence of these photos have seriously tainted her credibility. To skeptics, she’s viewed as hypocritical–championing moral purity in one area, but overlooking it in others. To conservatives, she’s now a dilemma.

I feel so bad for her. For the rest of her life, people will view her either as a fallen hero, or a big hypocrite. Those pictures can never be erased–in fact, they will continue to multiply. And thanks to her celebrity status, those pictures she didn’t want taken will now allow millions of guys to rape her in their minds. We need to pray for her–few things could be more tragic.

My audience for this post is teenagers. My point in this post is that what you do today can have serious repercussions. All sin is equally evil, but some sins have major, lifelong consequences. Be aware of that! They could alter your entire future. Believe me I’ve seen it enough times. One little mistake today could cause you regret for the next 70 years.

This is prom weekend–no better time for me to remind you!

Some examples of sins that will never go away
Pregnancy–you have no idea of the cost!
STIs–many never go away.
A photo of you that could circulate forever and jeapordize your future (ex. sexting). Cameras are everywhere now! Ask Michael Phelps.
A drink of alcohol that lowers your inhibitions to do something stupid.
Hanging with people who might take advantage of you.
Premarital sexual involvement of any kind that will rob your future spouse of intimacy.
Pornography, which affects your view of others and fosters addiction.
One use of drugs that might lead to your addiction.

I could tell you heartbreaking stories about people I know who have been taken down by each of the sins on the list above. Please be cautious. The “I was only 17” excuse won’t get you off the hook.

And now here’s the final installment.  Part 4.

While I give Carrie high scores on her boldness to defend biblical marriage, I must give her low scores in the area of modesty. In fact, I had trouble finding a suitable picture of her for this post.

The modeling/beauty pageant professions are focused predominantly on external beauty with skin and seductivity being paramount. For example, the swimsuit competitions now require them to appear in bikinis with very little left to the imagination. Others may disagree, but I question how anyone can pursue such a career as a follower of Jesus.

Perhaps I’m more sensitive on this issue than most. Having been a youth pastor for 22 years I’ve seen what immodesty does to guys who are trying to keep their thoughts pure–it tears them up. I once had a Facebook group called, “What Guys wish Girls knew about modesty” and it was amazing to hear of their gut-wrenching struggles in this area.

I’m not just picking on girls here. Christian guys have to do their part to bounce their eyes and not look nor let their minds wander. They will be surrounded by immodest girls and they bear responsibility for their thought life.

Unfortunately, worldly guys will not be so careful. Many of them have no qualms about gazing at whatever girls are willing to show, lusting after them in their minds.

Why do girls feel compelled to flaunt their bodies in front of guys? And for what purpose? For attention? Their self-esteem? A title? A crown? Their looks will fade, their true beauty is about what’s on the inside. I love it when Christian girls put their focus on that!

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Prov 31:30

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 2 Tim 2:9-10

Now you can proceed to my third post on Carrie Prejean  Part 3.

A major current event right now involves controversies surrounding Carrie Prejean, the current Miss California, who is also an outspoken Christian. There are so many intersting things to reflect on with regard to the story that I’m going to divide it up into four posts.

This first post is on the subject of intolerance. As everyone knows, she likely lost the Miss USA competition last month likely because of her answer to Perez Hilton’s question about gay marriage. Her answer was very appropriate: she said we live in a country where people have the freedom to choose, but for her family she was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I couldn’t have said it much better. Way to go Carrie!

The irony is that while she’s being accused of intolerance (she’s not–she allows others to disagree) she’s being treated with intolerance: losing the contest, being called all kinds of names, and even receivinig a death threat! Another irony is that she essentially said the same thing as Mr. Obama, who was not so villified. In an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Obama is purported to have said, “I’m a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.” (source not confirmed). So why wasn’t Mr. Obama villified? Perhaps because he has defended gay rights and is for legal civil unions. In contrast, Carrie is perceived to be an enemy of those who would seek to expand homosexual rights and thus is an open target.

My point here isn’t about gay marriage–I have my own views about that issue, which many people on both sides would likely disagree with.

The point of this post is that it’s likely that in our increasingly post-Christian country, where biblical morality is becoming more and more disdained, we will experience great intolerance about our views. My hope is that we don’t succumb to the pressure to betray our beliefs or compromise on what we perceive to be truth. May we be like Carrie, who allowed others to disagree, but who showed integrity in being faithful to her values.

Fortunately, there is still enough of a collective conscience so that the injustice done to Carrie has catapulted her into a major news story. I fear that in the future, such injustice done to us will be largely ignored.

Carrie has shown consistent biblical moral values — with regard to marriage anyways. But that leads into Part 2.

I’ve written previously on why I favor the observance of Lent for those interested.

My goals for Lent this year were certainly acheivable for an ascetic like me:

Fast 1 meal a day (or the equivalent)
Record what I eat
Have a significant Quiet Time each day
Follow along with the 40 Day Prayer Guide
Pray daily for passion for the lost

Confession. I botched every last one one of them. Big time. Of the 40 days, I probably skipped a meal only six or seven times and recorded what I ate only four times. I went for a period of two full weeks without a single Quiet Time and was sporadic much of the rest of the time. I only did 10 out of the 40 daily prayer assigments, and I didn’t pray for passion for the lost much at all. All in all, I think I succeeded only about 25%. In summary: I gave up God for Lent.

How could this happen?!!! I mean I’m a pastor. I’m supposed to be holy or something, right? Well I didn’t fail because the goals were too difficult. So then why did I? I suppose I could offer excuses: I was sick for two of the weeks and our family ended up on the Mexico trip. But the truth is that I failed them mostly because they became less important to me than me. I’m ashamed to admit all this to you readers, especially bursting your bubble about pastors being holy and all!

So was Lent without value this year? Hardly. Failing so miserably has had several good effects. That’s one thing I love about Lent–it has value whether you succeed or fail.

The primary thing I learned from all this is my inability to produce anything good on my own and how I need to utterly depend on God. Just as the Law was given to point out our inability to keep it, Lent this year had that same effect on me.

Providentially, I just picked up a book about Jonathan Edwards’ resolve where he reflects on his own broken resolutions. He confesses “If God should withdraw His Spirit a little more, I should not hesitate to break my resolutions and should soon arrive at my old state. There is no dependance on myself…What a miserable wretch without the assistance of the Spirit of God…How weak do I find myself!
O let it teach me to depend less on myself and be more humble.”

I learned from Edwards that my job is not “to do” such resolutions at all but rather to “humbly entreat God to do” such things through me. I should never again set goals without making my primary focus to beg God to accomplish them through me. To take it even further, I essentially need to retitle all my “to do” lists–for apart from Him I can do nothing.

A second thing my Lenten failure gave me was a renewed appreciation of Jesus. He made an infinitely hard commitment and He stuck to it without letting himself get in the way. Even when offered the gall to anesthetize the pain of the crucifixion He refused–choosing to experience the full wrath of both God and man. He went all the way for us. He followed through on what He said He would do. (It’s a good thing the Savior was Him instead of me or we’d all be doomed!)

The last thing Lent taught me this year was a greater understanding and experience of the grace of God. Though I was failing Him miserably all throughout Lent He continued to bless me immensely during that time. My self-centered, neglectful treatment of Him was insulting and deathworthy, and yet for some reason He responded to me with abundant blessings. And looking at it from an eternal, judicial perspective: although I have shown myself once again to be helpless in the flesh, He continues to clothe me with the very Righteousness of Christ as if I had never sinned! Amazing grace indeed!

So what next? Well, even though Lent is officially over, I’ve decided to redo my unfinished Lenten resolutions, completing them the right way–by humbly entreating God to get them done! This time I’ll be giving up me for Lent.

I talked to the youth group tonight about how we need to grow in the area of prayer. If we don’t ask God to move powerfully in hearts and lives this year, then we’re doing everything from our own strength.

One opportunity for a prayer focus is going to be something we’ll call “The Prayermobile.” Each Saturday night from 9-10 pm we will be driving the mini-bus to various locations around town so we can pray specifically for those places. (Examples of locations are schools, city hall, firestations, other churches, Planned Parenthood, etc.) I’m committed to this: you can meet me by the buses every Saturday at church at 8:45 sharp. We’ll return by 10:15.

Also, during my lesson on prayer tonight, i handed out my list of prayer exercises, which also might be useful for some of you who weren’t there, so i’ll post it below.

21 IDEAS TO IMPROVE YOUR PRAYER LIFE
Chose several to experiment with.

1. Write down a relationship goal, declaring where you want to be in your relationship with God. Admit where you’re at, make things right, pray toward that goal.
2. Purge your prayers of routine-ness. Make each one fresh and one-of-a-kind.
3. Pray out loud, or at least move your lips to involve more of you and to avoid distractions.
4. Use a variety of body positions. Kneel for confession. Open your eyes and look heavenward for requests or praise.
5. Get uncomfortable. Don’t let sleepiness keep you from focusing. “A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully.” The Power of Prayer by EM Bounds
6. Sing a worship song or listen to a CD, while thinking about the words. Don’t sing praise songs with your heart disengaged. (Matt 15:8)
7. Write out prayers to help you focus and to measure answers later.
8. Set a minimum time goal to make sure you’re not neglecting God with your time.
9. Take occasional extended times in deep prayer, rather than short, shallow prayers.
10. Give Him your firstfruits: For many this is at the beginning of your day.
11. Write down everyone and everything you believe God wants you to be praying for regularly. (i.e. start a prayer list.)
12. Force yourself to pray for only eternal things if you tend to get caught up in the here and now.
13. Force yourself to submit mundane decisions to him if you tend to not involve God in your daily life.
14. Never say “Amen” for a whole day, keep a continual prayer going all day.
15. Simply thinking about God, his Word, and his creation is a type of prayer called “meditation”. (Examples: Ask: what has God rescued me from? Count your blessings. Think about some attributes of God. Reflect on how God’s love is different from man’s. Be thankful A-Z through the alphabet. Think about people God has blessed you with. Think about what Jesus went thru for you. Think about your specific sins.)
16. Pray with someone else, which helps if your mind tends to wander and it also gives you a glimpse of how they relate with God. Ride the Prayermobile!
17. When praying with others, focus on their words & agree with them. Prayermobile!
18. When someone asks for prayer, pray immediately, on the spot!
19. Practice praying FOR your enemies.
20. Go to a specific location for a different prayer focus. Ride the Prayermobile!
21. Read a good book about prayer, such as “the Practice of the Presence of God” by brother Lawrence or Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, books on prayer by EM Bounds or a biography of a prayer warrior like George Muller.

I’m reposting this blog post from four years ago because I see the same issue happening today. In their passion to overthrow Mr. Obama, people are seeing a win by Mr. Romney as our “only hope”. It comes off as if he’s the savior that our country needs. I’m not saying we can’t have good reasons to support a candidate who reflects our views, but I am reminding us that the only Savior we really need is Jesus and that He can be glorified equally well through any candidate.

And let’s be careful about our character in the process. Let’s be sure our passion to support who we think is best doesn’t cause us to behave in unChristlike and unloving ways towards those supporting other candidates. Our spiritual impact on others is much more important that our political impact on them.

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Sept 8, 2008.

Yesterday in Sr. High, Glenn Schillinger gave a great lesson on the book of Jeremiah. He pointed out that the book reveals things that are true about God’s nature. One such truth is the reality that God will sometimes chose to bring calamity upon his people to chastise them for their idolatry or awaken them from spiritual complacency.

This may sound blasphemous: God brings calamity? How can this be? This seems to contradict everyone’s favorite verse from the same book, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” But if we read this verse in context, we see that it is written to the Israelites after the Babylonians had just invaded their land, ransacked their nation and kidnapped the majority of them, hauling them far away to Babylon. And God was going to leave them there for 70 years—essentially the rest of their lives. His oft-quoted promise was speaking of the ultimate hope of prosperity for his chosen people, but certainly not their immediate relief.

If you read the whole chapter, you’ll see that our favorite verse is no more than a glimmer of light in a mostly dark and turbulent sea. God is in the midst of severely chastising his people for their waywardness.

And he takes full credit for this.

For example, read God’s message to those who were left in Jerusalem at that time: 29:16 but this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your countrymen who did not go with you into exile- 17 yes, this is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19 For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the LORD.

Yikes! That sounds harsh! And just a few verses later he says this to those who prophesied lies in His name: 29:21 “I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes.”

As you probably know, Nebuchadnezzar was an evil dictator, known for his brutality. Yet, three times in the book, God refers to Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant”. I’m not making this up—read it for yourself!

This idea of God sometimes choosing to bring calamity on His people flies in the face of the current trend in our culture towards the feel-good health-and-wealth Prosperity Gospel. We wrongly assume that God only works through peace and safety, economic prosperity, liberty, capitalism, and freedom. It’s unthinkable to us that God might actually want us to undergo distress or inhibiting circumstances for some higher purpose.

That brings me to the election at hand. I’ll begin by saying what most of you know—that neither candidate excites me. But if McCain were to win, I admit I’d feel better. But comfortable feelings are not the point here.

I see Christians who so badly insist that McCain absolutely must win this election. They are adamant that it is God’s will for our nation that McCain defeats Obama. That an Obama win could only be of Satan. I think that’s putting God in a box. It’s telling God He can only work through the Republican party, or through capitalism, or through libertarianism, but not socialism. Can’t God work his purposes however He pleases? Does God need to conform to our understanding of how the world should best operate? Would God’s hands be tied if Obama wins? If God could raise up “Nebuchadnezzar, my servant”, could he not just as well appoint “Obama my servant?”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should be indifferent about the election or that we can’t have preferences or that we shouldn’t vote. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t presume that God’s path must go according to our preconceived notions. I have to consider that God might be voting for someone different than “my guy” because He knows his great purposes and I don’t.

Romans 13:1 says that all government authorities are appointed by God—and that includes elected officials! This is one of those mystical juxtapositions of God’s sovereignty and man’s will working in tandem. This passage tells me that God’s will is going to be revealed on election night—one way or the other.

So after I’ve cast my vote for _________? , I’ll stay up late not to wring my hands in defeat or to celebrate in victory that “my guy” won. I’ll stay up late because I’ll be curious to see whom God has appointed and I’ll fully expect Him to use the election results for His ultimate glory and our ultimate (but not necessarily immediate) good!

Yesterday was the “National Day of Prayer.” It’s become a tradition for Christians in the Cedar Rapids area to gather at noon across from City Hall on Mays Island for a time of corporate worship and prayer. This year something amazing happened.

As a reaction against the NDOP, atheists recently instituted what they call the “National Day of Reason.” We heard a group of them were coming to Mays Island and there was more than a bit of concern about what might transpire between the groups. I didn’t know if the atheists were coming to protest or ridicule or cause a disruption, but my real concern wasn’t about them at all–personally I was more concerned that the Christians would overreact and go into “attack mode.” I talked to Charles Daugherty, the leader of our rally, and volunteered to go on “atheist duty” (to basically protect them from us!)

When I arrived at the park, the atheists were already there, about 8 of them. They had established themselves on the lawn near the sound table, about 3/4 of the way back from the stage. I noticed they had several cardboard signs, a rubbermaid tub full of unknown items, and a few personal belongings. The signs said things like “Day of Reason,” “Act Now,” “Please Donate to Help Veterans,” and “They Served You, Let’s Serve Them Back.”

They were very respectful and non-obtrusive so fortunately, there was no need for me to diffuse any over-zealous over-reactions from Christians. So instead, Pastor Tye Male and I simultaneously decided to use this opportunity to show them the love of Jesus.

It was easy to talk with them. There were several Kirkwood and U of Iowa students there, most holding signs, one videotaping. Their leader was Dr. Lydia H, professor of Humanities and Philosophy from Kirkwood — a delightful person. I asked her about the causes they were supporting (veterans relief and Waypoint), which led to some great discussion of what community needs we can meet by taking action. I was glad to share that our church has done service projects at Waypoint as well as serving breakfast to homeless veterans at the HD Youth Center. She seemed happy when I talked about the new emphasis I see in the church community to do a better job of addressing issues of injustice and poverty in the world.

I also talked to Jordan, a college student, who had the words “Invisible Children” on his shirt. We had a great discussion on the movie he had seen which depicts the horrid conditions in Sudan. It made me want to find out more about what can be done to help there.

Meanwhile, Tye connected with the group using his involvement in the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble as a bridge to friendly dialoge. His life stories and winsome personality endeared them to him. I think they were surprised when we finally told them we were pastors!

During all this time, the prayer rally was going on around us. Almost a dozen prayer leaders took turns at the stage, each focusing on a different topic. The atheists were occasionally paying attention (when Tye and I weren’t talking)! When we got to the “Pray for our Military” section, I noticed that one of the college students picked up the “Please Donate to Support Our Veterans” sign and held it up as he done earlier. At that moment, I felt compelled to do something unsual. I walked up to the guy and said, “Why don’t you let me hold that sign for you–a lot of people here know me and it might help bring in more funds.” So for the remaining 20 minutes of the rally, I stood there holding that sign over my head. Me and the atheists standing together to make a difference in the world. What a sight! By the time the rally dispersed, $71 had been donated, which pleased and even overwhelmed Dr. Lydia.

Two more things happened that I saw as amazing. One college girl who was carrying a sign reading: “Act Now–Day of Reason” did something shocking about half-way through the rally. I watched her find a sharpie marker and add two words at the top of her sign. “Pray then…” What a significant change of disposition for an atheist to encourage Christians to pray before acting!

After the rally ended we were tearing down the stage and sound system and loading them into a trailer. That’s when the other amazing thing happened: the atheist college students came over to help us load! I was blown away! And to think we were expecting a rumble!

I was actually sad to say goodbye to my new atheist friends. Before we left we all thanked each other for being there, reaffirmed a commitment to work together in our areas of common interest, and expressed the hope that we’ll see each other at the next Day of Prayer/Day of Reason–if not before!

Many of you are wondering how we ended up responding to the Day of Silence (mentioned in my post below). In youth group this past Wednesday, we talked about how we might respond. One idea was to give participants a card like the one above (I had made 300 copies and they were almost all taken). At least one student plans to hand out cookies to the participants as a way to show love. And another student was thinking about actually participating in the silence.

I’ll post a comment with reports on how it goes tomorrow.

Years ago, the Lord gave me an idea for an illustration that I finally shared with the youth group. It turned out to be one of my most memorable lessons ever. It still impacts my own thinking.

It was two days before our Poland trip and I had just cashed out all our trip spending money, so I had a huge stack of cash in my possession — not a common occurrence!

During my talk that Wednesday night, I chose a volunteer from the audience (it happened to be Rachel Kearney) and I gave her a $100 bill. She–and the rest of the group–was astounded. Then I asked if I could give her another $100. And another, and another. People were flabbergasted and in total awe — some even stood up to get a better view. This went on for several minutes.  By the time I was finished, I had handed her sixty $100 bills for a total of $6,000. Most people in the room had never even seen that much cash in one place. The stack was huge.  That would pay for a decent car or two years at Kirkwood!

I asked Rachel how she felt at that moment and her words were “Speechless!”

The first point was this: God has given us immeasurably more than $6,000. For free. Just because He wanted to. More than $6 million; more than $6 trillion. If we were to quantify all his undeserved earthly blessings (life, health, family, abilities, resources, education, freedom, intelligence, friends, transportation, His Word, fellowship, utilities, technologies, communication abilities, etc) and the eternal blessings acquired by Jesus substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, we would see that we are truly wealthy beyond measure. And that’s just adding up His undeserved grace. If we factor in His mercy (the bad things we deserve–such as hell–but are spared from), we will find that we have far too many blessings to even begin to count!

So what should our reaction be to God’s generosity toward us? Rachel had it right:  Speechlessness.

Application #1. When was the last time you were speechless toward God because of His generosity toward you?

Back to that Wednesday night. With the huge pile of cash in Rachel’s hand, we then speculated on what her reaction ought to be if the person sitting next to her withheld from her a measly Quarter that she was owed. We agreed it really shouldn’t make a bit of difference to her. She’s rich beyond words, so why should that pitiful quarter make any difference at all to her.

So the second point was this: We easily forget how wealthy we are in Christ and therefore we easily obsess over the “Quarter” that we think we need in order to be happy (a relationship, some material thing, an exotic experience, etc.). We ought to live in a constant state of exuberance, yet so often our thinking gets skewed and we believe we need this or that to be happy. We get depressed and anxious over such relatively insignificant things and we lose our joy. How it must break God’s heart when, having just abundantly showered us with innumerable blessings, we get mopey and gloomy over one unnecessary trinket we don’t have.  It would insult the generous giver to fixate on an insignificant debtor.

This truth hit home with me again even today. Early this morning I had lain in bed for two hours, unable to sleep, because I thought I needed to acquire a particular thing to be happy–dreaming about how wonderful it would be.  Scheming ways to possibly obtain it.  And then I remembered the “Quarter” and thought about how sad God must have been during those two hours while I blocked Him completely out of my mind’s eye because I was obsessing over the stupid “Quarter” that I didn’t have. I’m happy to say I apologized to God, repented of my sin,  and then had an awesome worship time right there in my bed. I put my delight back in God alone and I found Him amazingly satisfying. I don’t need any “Quarter” to be happy.

Application #2. What “Quarter” are you currently obsessing over? Can you let it go and trust God to be your sole source of delight? These would be good questions to ask ourselves, probably every day!