Identifying the problem

I like to think of myself as a problem solver.  Hopefully, I'm better at problem solving than I am at blogging.  Then again, I don't think of myself as a blogger.  The 2 months since the last post would rid me of that.  For me, I blog when one of life's lessons jumps out at me from the circumstances of life.  Today's problem solving reminded me that our first place to look for a problem isn't always the place where the problem lies.

Today's problem? A sharp pain in my toe.  I walked in to check on our baby chicks this morning, and leaned over to check on the temperature in the incubator, when I felt a sharp pain in my toe.  It felt like I had stepped on something sharp, so I got down on my knees and felt around on the ground.  Just a few days ago, I had been tweaking the design of my incubator, which involved cutting some hardware cloth.  I thought I had picked up all the little pieces of wire, but the sharp pain in my toe told me otherwise.  I scoured the ground, looking with my eyes, feeling with my hands, but all I could come up with was a few small pieces of chick food that had fallen on the floor.  Oh well, I thought, I'll find it later.

About 30 minutes later, I was downstairs at the computer, and as I stood up, I felt the same sharp pain in the same toe.  My first reaction was to glance at the ground, but before I even focussed on the ground, I realized that it was the same toe, and the same place on the toe the pain was coming from.  I sat back down, picked up my foot, and saw the 1/4 inch sliver sitting in my toe.  Problem now solved.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that we often look the wrong place for the solution.  "All of my friends are selfish and inconsiderate, I must need new friends!"  Of course, maybe we are selfish and inconsiderate, and it bothers us because we have the problem.  "People only come to me when they have a problem, or they want something," or maybe we are the ones who have been keeping score in friendships rather than being true friends.  "All of my bosses at work have been overbearing idiots!"  Or, maybe we don't have a submissive spirit necessary to make an employer/employee relationship work properly.

How many times do we walk around with a sliver in our toe, blaming the pain on everything that we walk on?  How often do we blame others when the problem is ours?  Is there a solution?  You can count on it!  The Bible has all of our solutions for life and godliness.  Today's solution?  Well it comes from Matthew 7:1-5.  And without further delay, here's the solution:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

I hope you have a great day today!  And I hope you will be able to find the source of any pain that you have been encountering in many different circumstances.

Fitness

Fitness is an interesting topic in many ways.  When I was younger, I thought you could tell fitness by appearance.  Someone who was thin was obviously fit.  I didn't have anything to worry about in the area of fitness because I was thin.  It is amazing how we equate physical appearance with physical fitness, even now I find that being my goal.  I want to get fit by losing weight.  Truth is, I do not need to lose weight to get fit.  I need to properly fuel my body, and give it the exercise that it needs.  When those things are accomplished properly and continuously, my body will be as fit as I can make it.  My fitness goals are not to be able to run a marathon, or fit into clothes I used to wear.  My goals involve exercising 5 times a week for 30 minutes or more and eating 1800 calories or less a day of nutritious food.  From this, I hope to lower my weight by about 20 years.

Spiritual fitness is an interesting topic for many of the same reasons.  We think that if a person looks right, if they do the right things at the right time, that they are spiritually fit.  In the spiritual realm, it would be impossible for someone to be spiritually fit without Christian fellowship, but being in church on Sunday does not make a person spiritually fit.  As Christians we try to equate how we appear with how 'spiritual' we are.  But the same truths hold.  To be spiritually fit I need to: properly fuel my spirit and exercise my spirit as it needs.

To feed my spirit, I need to be in God's Word.  I cannot control how much my spirit grows through feeding, but I can control the amount and quality of the food I give it.  I could read 20 chapters skimming and not get much food.  I could read 2 verses flippantly and not get much food.  But I could read any amount of scripture prayerfully and looking for understanding and benefit my spirit greatly.

To exercise my spirit, I need to live out what God's Word tells me.  Firstly, I need to exercise myself unto Godliness.  Secondly, I need to take advantage of ministry opportunities that God brings into my life.  I have the opportunity to disciple my wife and children, the opportunity to give to my church, the opportunity to pray for the needs of others, the opportunity to give to missions, the opportunities to meet needs in the lives of others through my time, labor, or finances.  We could list dozens of opportunities that each of us have everyday.  Our spiritual fitness depends on proper feeding, and how many of these opportunities we take.  This is not to equate business with fitness, and we certainly might find it difficult to meet all the needs before us, but as we stretch to care for the properly prioritized opportunities in our lives, we give ourselves more opportunities to become more fit in our spirits.

"For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

- I Timothy 4:8

Nuggets of Gold in the Ho-Hum of Life

Having begun again on January 1 to read through my Bible, I again encountered the genealogies of Genesis.  As I read, I don't study them for hours on end, but I try to find some aspect of them to focus on as I read through.  After several times through the Bible, more and more can be gleaned from these 'ho-hum' passages of God's Word.  This time?  In the genealogy of Noah, I saw that Shem lived 500 years after he begat Arphaxad.  Then Arphaxad had children at 35 years old, and I got to thinking how many 35 year generations would fit in a 500 year span of time that Shem lived.  Round figures? 15 generations.  So I started my mental math calculations of which generations Shem would have been able to know personally.
Genesis 11:10-26
Shem --100 yrs. old begat
500 yrs.  Arphaxad --35 yrs. old begat
       403 yrs.     Salah --30 yrs old begat
                403 yrs.  Eber --34 yrs old begat
                    430 yrs. Peleg --30 yrs. old begat
                          209 yrs.  Reu --32 yrs. old begat
                                 207 yrs. Serug --30 yrs old begat
                                     200 yrs. Nahor --29 yrs. begat
                                        119 yrs. Terah --70 yrs. begat
                                           135 yrs. Abram --100 yrs. old begat
Shem was 490 years old when Isaac was born.
Isaac -- lived 180 years
According to the Bible, Shem, the son of Noah, died about 30 years before Isaac died.  Isaac was 150 years old when Shem died.  Isaac had the opportunity to know his great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Shem.  Yet, Isaac was 35 when his grandfather died, 30 when his great grandfather died, did not know his great, great grandfather, or his great, great, great grandfather.  13 when Arphaxad died, 43 when Salah died, and 74 when Eber died.
Abram had left his country and his kindred, so Isaac probably did not know many in his family.  On top of that, I believe the Tower of Babel happened in the days of Peleg.  Which means that Even if Isaac had the chance to know Peleg, Eber, Salah, Arphaxad and Shem, we don't know if he would have even known their language.

So what's the nugget of Gold?  Well, all of these men lived before the days of the written word of God.  Moses is still 400 years from being born, and yet these men were faithful to God.  Their faith was passed down generation to generation.  Granted, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob received special revelation from God, but these generations were faithful to pass along God's truth to their children.  With all the truth we have available through the printed Word of God, our task is easier.  If these men in these generations could be faithful, we have no excuse but to pass God's truths on to the next generation.

Maybe the numbers aren't as exciting to you as they are to me, but I hope you will be encouraged by God's preservation of His truth through Shem's generations and encouraged that God will always preserve His Word.

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

- Matthew 5:18

                                                      

New Year's Challenge

Yesterday, I had the privilege of sharing in the first chapel of the year at Bethel Baptist Christian Academy in Jamestown, NY.  I got on the schedule early, so I had my choice of dates this year.  I gave the kids a challenge that I wanted to share here, as well.

What would happen if your relationship with your spouse, or a good friend, only consisted of time, or conversations, when someone else asked you to spend time with them.  What if you ignored all requests from the person themselves, and would only communicate with them when someone else asked you to.  What type of relationship would you have?

You might be thinking, "No one would expect a relationship like that to survive, no one!"  But many times, Christians expect just such a relationship to survive, and even be healthy.  Many people who attend church on a weekly basis only pick up their Bibles when someone else (Pastor, S.S. teacher) asks them to "Open your Bibles to . . ."  Some people rarely pray unless someone else leads them in it.  And yet, many times, this type of a relationship is expected to be beneficial in a person's life.  I think it is obvious why such a relationship would have very limited benefit.

So what can we do about it?

First: We need to be people of God's Word.  Nothing of any spiritual value will happen in our lives apart from God's inspired Word.  Nothing.  So if we want something to happen in our lives, we must get God's Word into our hearts and lives.  We must read it, we must digest it, we must live it.  If you have never read it through, this would be a good time to start!  In just about 15 minutes a day, you could read through your Bible this year.  In 30 minutes, you could read through your Bible twice in a year.  And which of us doesn't waste at least that much time each and every day?

Second: We need to spend time in prayer.  To have a relationship, we need to communicate both ways.  Prayer is an opportunity to allow God to tune our hearts to His.  And informed by our reading of His Word, our prayers will be effective and beneficial in our lives.

Third: We need to be people of God's House.  We need to make a commitment to be in God's House as often as we can.  Why?  For added opportunities for learning.  For the encouragement of others who are walking down the same road.  For the joy of celebrating our Lord together.  For the fellowship we have by being with people with shared values, beliefs and goals.  For the accountability in our walk with the Lord.

If we are purposeful in these areas during the coming 12 months, we will see much spiritual benefit in our lives.  We will be a vessel that God can use for His glory.  We will see God working in our lives in ways we have never seen before.  Are you up for the challenge?  Will you improve in these areas of your life this year to see God work through you?  I hope you will.

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

- Philippians 3:13-14

Life in a fog . . .

I feel like I have been living my life in a fog.  Just over 2 months ago, a good friend passed away.  He was a godly man, so it was an easy funeral to put together.  He was a friend, so it was a hard funeral to put together.  The family are also good friends, so it was an easy funeral to do, and a hard funeral to do.  I felt better after the funeral, but remained somewhat in a fog.  He had passed away so suddenly, none of us had any time to process.

A week later, another man passed away.  This man had attended somewhat regularly from time to time, and had a long history of being ill.  I did not know him well, but greatly cared for him and his wife.  It was a totally different funeral, and easy and hard for different reasons.  This funeral was more draining, but I at least felt that I had ministered to the family well.  The funeral director even told me that he has listened to so many funeral services, that he is often very callous  to them.  He continued that even though he didn't know the man, the message connected with him and had a sense of hope that he doesn't often hear.

A week ago, my neighbor, and a friend as well as a church member went out to shovel a path to her mailbox, or shovel off her car - we're not sure.  She did this in the middle of a storm that ended up dumping 3-4 feet of snow on us over about 3 days.  We're not sure whether she slipped, or had a stroke or heart attack, but she ended up falling.  By the time help was called and she was taken to the ER, it was too late.  God had called her home.  That funeral was Friday.

3 funerals in just over 2 months.  Not all that rare for some situations.  But for a small country church this has been extremely rare.  This blog exists because life can get us down.  I have been down.  Not depressed, not miserable, but distracted.  Our Sunday School Lesson yesterday reminded me that Satan can use many things to 'darken' our lives, to keep us away from the light.  I have been letting life happen to me, instead of happening to my life.  Why do I say that?  Discipline has been very low in my life the last couple of months.  Family Bible time, being purposeful with my wife and children, study time for church work, eating habits and exercise have all suffered in different ways.  Each lapse of discipline takes away some of the light that should be in my life.

This blog also exists because, although life can get us down, God can help us up.  Today, I choose to happen to my life in a godly way.  I choose to spend the time to do what needs to be done, not wasting days at a time.  I choose to let my beliefs and values impact my schedule and choices.  Why?  Because "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  Because "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."  For me, these things would be impossible.  But "with God, nothing shall be impossible."

If life's got you down (depressed, distracted, discouraged) look to God, He'll lift you back up!

Politicians

We all love to hate politicians.  We pick on their propensity to say what people want to hear and then do whatever they want to do.  They are reviled, ridiculed, threatened, and repeatedly voted back into office.  I guess our judgment of them is normally fairly accurate.  However, accurate doesn't make it right.

Romans 2 tells us not to judge lest we be judged.  "But I would never lie that way," we might say.  The political system we have just makes it easier to attack others' faults because they are right out there in the open.  Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for governor in NY forwarded emails that were off color, offensive and demeaning to different groups of people (women, blacks, etc.).  We say off color, we mean sinful.  Sinful because the spirit of those emails violate God's law first and foremost.  Why did he do it?  Because he found humor in them to some degree and thought that others would find humor in them as well.  We would never do that! Our first reaction.  Yet, how often does someone tell a joke, prefacing it with "It's a little dirty, but it's really funny."  What would the spotlight of political campaigning show in our lives?

The truth is, we can never change another person.  No matter how hard we try, we just cannot make another person behave in the way that we think is appropriate.  So, do we just throw up our arms when it comes to politics?  Absolutely not!  But when it comes to finding faults that need to be fixed, we need to focus the spotlight on our own lives.  It is easy to focus on the faults in another's life.  But what about those faults in my life?  What excuses do I make for my shortcomings (also translated as sin).

What should we do?  We should use the same intensity as an investigative journalist to ferret out the sin that is present in our own lives.  We should be relentless in discovering, digging up, and disposing of those things that are not conformed to the image of Christ in our lives.

What about others?  We need to show grace.  Every time we see something in a politician that we don't like, it should motivate us to make sure our lives are not the same way.  If we do, their sin will help us clean up our sin.  That would be a nice way to recycle the trash from someone else's life into something beautiful in our own.

Forgiveness

When we first learned to forgive, we were probably standing next to a sibling or a classmate.  They were very reluctantly or insincerely offering an apology for something they probably didn't feel any remorse for.  And we were taught to say "I forgive you" and the adult told us to hug, shake hands, smile or whatever.  And now everything was better.  I'm not against that system of teaching by any means, but it has come to my attention that sometimes we, as adults, still try to make forgiveness work in the same way.

We will forgive, sure, if you count being able to vocalize that we forgive someone for something.  Although, adults rarely face their offenders, and if they do, have learned to cover over the reluctance and insincerity with many more layers and facades.

For the past several years, I have been learning that forgiveness isn't just an academic flipping of a switch.  We cannot just say that we forgive.  I have learned that forgiveness hasn't happened until the pain is gone.  Often, people will say that they have forgiven, but will readily state that they will not be hurt by that person again.  Pain is still present.  Or, "Oh yes, I've forgiven them," but go on to say that they can't stand to see them, or hear them talk about some matter, or be reminded in some way of what they did.  Pain is still present.  Forgiveness does not happen until the pain is gone.

Several posts ago, I focused on pain.  Pain is a blessing given by God to alert us that there is something wrong.  No one enjoys suffering with pain, in fact, my back let me know that something was wrong yesterday, and I wished it could have waited to give me that message until a more convenient time.  However, pain is there to tell us something is wrong and we need to fix it.  I cannot 'fix' other people.  I cannot remove what other people have done.  I can only fix my responses, my feelings, and my choices in the matter.  When there is still pain, it is never that the other person needs to change.  It would be nice if they would.  It would be a big blessing if they would.  But pain alerts the person who feels it that something is wrong.

What is wrong when we feel pain for an offense that has not been forgiven?  There are several things wrong.  First: we have not forgiven in the same way that God has forgiven us.  If we love God, we need to keep His commandments, otherwise, we will feel pain.  Second: when we choose not to forgive, we give a small slice of control over our life to the person who hurt us.  As a Christian, God is the only one who is to have that control.  And even apart from that, who willingly gives control of their life to a person who has hurt them?  Thirdly: when we don't forgive, it places a burden on a relationship that God may have given us to be an opportunity for ministry.  All of these reasons cause pain, because their is something wrong that we need to fix.

By all means, keep going through the motions of forgiveness.  Say you're sorry.  Say "I forgive you."  Give a hug, send a card, smile.  But make sure the pain goes away when you do it.  If it doesn't, remind yourself that they are forgiven.  Give another hug, send another card, bake a pie, cake or cookies (for them :)), and make sure that the pain is gone.  Love them until it is completely gone.  And then keep on loving them.

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  

- Ephesians 4:32