Renewed Vision

A couple of days ago I began reading a biography of one of the great pioneer missionaries, C. T. Studd. He was a man greatly used for the kingdom of God. Already various things about his life and testimony have impacted me, and I would like to share with you one quote from the book. Though a believer in Jesus Christ, as a young man C.T. was living for himself and the pleasures to be found in worldly fame. However, God touched his heart by reading a tract written by an atheist. An atheist, mind you. May it challenge you as it did me...

"Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought, and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand nor seal my lips. Earth, its joys and its griefs, would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone, and on the Immortal Souls around me, soon to be everlasting happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, 'what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'"

Why is it that even though I possess a relationship with Christ, the hope of eternal life, and the promise of fullness of joy, that I can still get bogged down with the cares of this world and this temporary life? Today as I thought about this question it hit me...I lose sight of the greatness of the God whom I serve. Instead of focusing on Who He is, I focus on myself and let my problems seem greater than the God of the universe. How foolish.

Lord, help us to catch a vision, even a fleeting glimpse of Who You are. Help us grasp even the most minute understanding of Your infinite greatness, your unchangeableness, your fathomless mercy, and Your sacrificial love. Move our hearts to comprehend that we will never fully comprehend You. Let us see enough of You to understand our insignificance. May we bow in surrender and awe at Your holiness and perfection and may the glimpses of You that we grasp through Your word be enough to transform us and move us to serve You with our lives. Help us to understand just a fraction of Who You are…because if we do, we will never live the same. May we never trade the richness of imperishable treasures for the temporary comforts of earth and the passing pleasures of sin. You are everything and we are but dust. You are eternal and we are mortal. We are sinners, but you became sin for us. You are holy and we are being made holy by Your grace. May we walk worthy of You.

Laziness: The Subtle Enemy

Recently I have been reading a fantastic commentary on the book of Hebrews as part of my devotions. (Insert nerd joke here). In all seriousness, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul by R. Kent Hughes has been incredibly challenging and thought-provoking. Please allow me to digress for a moment and further my status as a nerd by encouraging you all to try reading something new (like a commentary) to shake up your reading "ruts". The new things you discover may surprise you!

Back to my main point...the other day I read the portion about Hebrews 6:11-12 which states, "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

The challenge here is to "show diligence" in our relationship with Christ. Hughes states "Spiritual sluggishness is a danger that looms over all of us if we do not work against it..."

He then quoted from the book The Seven Deadly Sins Today, by Henry Fairlie and his chapter on sloth:

"Children are too idle to obey. Parents are too sluggish to command. Pupils are too lazy to work. Teachers are too indolent to teach. Priests are too slack to believe. Prophets are too morbid to inspire. Men are too indifferent to be men. Women are too heedless to be women. Doctors are too careless to care well. Shoemakers are too slipshod to make good shoes. Writers are too inert to write well. Street cleaners are too bored to clean streets. Shop clerks are too uninterested to be courteous. Painters are too feckless to make pictures. Poets are too lazy to be exact. Philosophers are too fainthearted to make philosophies. Believers are too dejected to bear witness..."

The portion that most challenged my thinking was this: "Today's culture has come very near to making a religion of sloth. Carried to the ultimate, it separates us from God because it erases caring. Humanly speaking, apart from the mysteries of God's sovereign workings, more souls perish from sloth than from outright disbelief."

How sobering. How often am I tempted to give in to sloth? Do I allow myself to be satisfied with doing what is "sufficient" instead of striving for what is excellent? Do I pass up opportunities to share Christ or demonstrate Christ to others out of passivity?

My prayer is that I would live a life of diligence in each and every area. After all, life is too short to waste, souls are too precious to go unheeded, and eternity is too imminent to be ignored.

Cranial Epiglottis

Chances are if you are a member of the human race something similar to the following has happened to you. You are engaged in a normal conversation with a family member, friend, or maybe even making small talk with a complete stranger in a grocery store, when out of nowhere, it happens. A thought forms and before your conscious brain has time to react, your mouth has conveyed the thought into spoken words, words that hang in the air in all their shining lack of brilliance, insensitivity, or downright unkindness. You stand in the awkward silence, wishing to retract them, but finding it far too late. Only a sincere apology, time, and a good dose of humility will begin to undo the damage caused by a thoughtless 'slip of the tongue'.

As I pondered this uncomfortable phenomenon known as 'open-mouth-insert-foot-syndrome' a fascinating idea suddenly struck me. Do you all remember the little body part we possess called the 'epiglottis'? This ingenious flap of cartilage has a very important function. In the action of swallowing it covers our windpipe to stop food or drink from entering and effectively preventing us from choking or drowning. The beauty of it is that this action is totally involuntary on our part. We don't have to think, "Ok, now I need to close off my trachea," each time we swallow, it just happens!

Wouldn't if have been great if God had created us with a cranial epiglottis? An organ that effectively shuts off communication between the brain and mouth whenever an insensitive, sinful, or stupid comment is about to escape between our lips. Instead of opening my mouth and doing some permanent verbal damage, my cranial epiglottis would spring into action and shut down the brain wave carrying the message to my mouth.

For a brief moment I lamented the fact that this wonder organ does not exist in reality, but then I realized that, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I do possess a cranial epiglottis of sorts…it's called the Holy Spirit.

God's Word promises that all those who trust in Jesus Christ receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Romans 8:14)

His Word commands us to walk by the Spirit. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

His Word commands us to watch the type of speech that comes out of our mouths. "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving." (Ephesians 5:4)

May our prayer be the same as that of King David…
"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" (Psalm 141:3)

(There's nothing like a Biblical prayer for a Holy Spirit guided cranial epiglottis!)

May we all pray for the power to walk (and talk) in the power of the Spirit today.

Two Thoughts

Tonight I simply want to share with you the thoughts found in two poems written by Amy Carmichael, a passionate woman who served the Lord in India for most of her life. May these words cause us to pause and consider the truth...and may the prayer of our hearts be the same.

Come, Lord Jesus

Because of little children soiled,
And disinherited, despoiled,

Because of hurt things, feathered, furred,
Tormented beast, imprisoned bird,

Because of many-folded grief,
Beyond redress, beyond belief,

Because the word is true that saith,
The whole creation travaileth--

Of all our prayers this is the sum:
O come, Lord Jesus, come.


Make Me Thy Fuel

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointements tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

Peru Blog Update

Click here to visit my Peru blog and read the latest update! T-minus 29 1/2 hours till lift-off!

A Tangible Jesus

This afternoon I completed reading the book "Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America" by Mike Yankoski. In this book, Mike relates the story of he and his friend Sam as they make the decision to give up their comfortable lives and live for 5 months as homeless men on the streets of some of America's largest cities. These two Christian college students were on a journey to find out if their faith in Jesus was real; even when separated from every comfort with which they were familiar.

Throughout their journey, Mike and Sam learn what it is to go hungry, to go without a shower for weeks at a time, to live in constant danger and with the constant worry of where they will get their next meal or where they will sleep that night. They also learn to look at people through different eyes. They are forced to look behind the grime, to ignore the smell, and to see the true need of broken, desperate people who need so much more than a good meal...they need a Savior.

The most convicting point which this book got across was this: In order for people to know this Savior, they first need to see the love of the Savior demonstrated in the lives of those who profess to know Him. It was heart-breaking to read how seldom "true Christians" reached out to Mike and Sam on their journey. One man told Mike and Sam he was "praying for them", yet failed to meet their simple needs for food to eat and shoes to wear.

I have been touched by this book. Even though I do not live in an area where it is common to see homeless people on the streets, there are countless ways in which I can reach out and share to help others in need. For starters, I plan to go through my closet before I leave for Peru and donate a bunch of clothes to our Community Assistance Center for people in need. However, in less than three weeks I will be living in a third-world country in a city of 8 million people where it is very common to have beggars on every street corner and little children singing on buses in order to earn money. I will have more opportunites than I can count to reach out and share with those in need.

Will I take the opportunities that come? I pray that I will. It is one thing to tell people that God loves them...it is quite another to show them by the way we live our lives.

How will you live Jesus to those around you?

"...Then the righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'"Matthew 25:37-40 (NLT)

It Won't Be Long...

Heaven has been on my mind a lot lately. There are certain times in life when the reality of heaven becomes infinitely more precious...this week has been one of those times. This week as I said goodbye to some dear friends for at least a year, remembered the anniversary of the passing of a dear woman of God, and learned of another dear man who went home to glory, the longing for heaven became even more intense.

What am I looking forward to about heaven?

No more goodbyes. What sheer joy it will be to enjoy the pleasures of heaven alongside so many people who I loved and shared so many memories with on earth. How precious to know that all because of Jesus, we will spend eternity together and never again have to experience the pain of goodbyes and separation.

The absence of sin. Do you ever wish you could just drop-kick the sin nature inside of you? There are times I would love to give it a crushing blow to the jaw and scare it away for good. Unfortunately its not that easy. The war against sin has to be fought daily for as long as I live. Imagine the freedom of living without the burden and struggle against sin. The very thought of it brings tears to my eyes and fills my heart with thankfulness. Someday the struggle will be over.

The presence of the Lord. All the other joys heaven holds pale in comparison to this one. One day I will stand in the presence of my Savior. One day I will see the Lamb of God "who takes away the sins of the world." One day I will see the scars that bear evidence to the great price He paid for my freedom. One day I will worship Him and sing His praise with a perfect voice, in a perfect body, in a perfect place. There will be no greater joy.

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24-25