You're Going Down, Big Boy!

Here's a quote from "Streams in the Desert" for today, January 21. I hope it body slams you the way it did me:

"Our crowns will be wrested from the giants we conquer"

Ok... metaphor check.... you get that nobody expects you to go pick a fight with Yao Ming, right? "Giants"are habits or personality traits that stand in the way of your spiritual growth.

It got me wondering about the '"giants" I have yet to conquer. So I read for the umpteenth time the story of David and Goliath. I noticed something interesting. When standing against overwhelming odds, David didn't pray, "Oh Lord, strengthen me to fight this enemy", such as I've prayed in the past when up against a "giant".

Instead, he stepped out in courage and faith, fully capable and fully aware of what God had helped him do in the past (killing a lion and bear), to do what needed to be done. He simply proclaimed to the giant that he comes against him in the name of the Lord.

As you know, the giant fell. Was it David? Was it the sling? Was it the rock? Was it God?

Yes.

Is it not the same God that I serve today? What giant should I courageously be staring down and killing in the name of the all-powerful God who loves me?

Prayer certainly has its necessary place, but I wonder how many times we as Christians offer up whiney, wimpering prayers to God, asking for strength, when we ought to be boldly stepping out and getting into the fight.... not out of arrogance or conceit, but with full trust in God, in what HE can do, and with the knowledge that He is with us.

Be strong - be courageous. Do not be afraid, God will rescue you. ~Jeremiah 1:8

Defective Tag

I had to affix a "DEFECTIVE" tag to something recently. It got me thinking, "shoot, I need one of these for myself". Might as well acknowledge what everybody already knows, right?

I'm not trying to sound pathetic.... just real. I'm defective.

The realization of it can be a little depressing.

My defects impact others. I feel like a building under construction. Construction is delayed because defects keep popping up. And when they do, I'm forced to remember that, far from ending soon, the completion date is...NEVER !

I just may begin wearing a "DEFECTIVE" tag everywhere I go. It could be the latest fashion accessory. Oh, not for my benefit, though. For yours... as a reminder to you that I'm defective. (Please resist the urge to tell me that you don't need a reminder!)

In fact, while you're at it, why don't you go ahead and slip one on? It's quite probable that I need a reminder that you're defective, too. I may have accidentally expected perfection from you.

What would the world look like if we all treated each other gently, with an awareness of their faults but full acceptance of who they are and what their value is to Jesus?

I believe Jesus would approve of this tag idea. He has a whole inventory of tags for us.
Here's a good one:











But here's my favorite!











If my defects impact you, please know this: I'm sorry, and I love you.

If your defects impact me, please know this: I love you, and accept you the way you are.

Resolved

So, it's a new year. Did you make a New Year's Resolution? Have you broken it yet?

Who began the practice of making a resolution at the start of a new year anyway? Who was the first person who introspectively examined themselves on the first of January and said, "I can do better… I'm going to resolve to do this, or not to do that"?

It's only natural to have thoughts of improving oneself on January 1. I guess what I feel sad about is that there are 364 other days of the year we ought to be thinking the same thing (365 other days this year).

You know what? I want to start something new. I'd like you all to hit the "comment" button and let me know what your "tomorrow" resolution will be. Don't worry about whether you can keep your resolution (stay resolved) for the entire year. Just let me know what you resolve to do tomorrow.

Don't be shy. I'll go first:

I resolve to exhibit the grace of Jesus Christ tomorrow.

That's it. Just tomorrow.

Not that I won't want to exhibit the grace of Jesus Christ the next day… just that I'll resolve to do that again the next day. It's not one big resolution that I'm going to try to keep all year. It's one little resolution that I'm going to renew every day.
It's way too long from one January First to the next. I need to wipe the slate clean and try again every day, not just once a year. If I fail, I won't have to carry the burden that I blew it for the entire year. I just blew it for a day. Tomorrow's a new day.

Consider Paul's resolution in 1 Corinthians 2:2 ---
"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

If I am resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, then it will be easier to remember that:
- he died for everybody, not just me.
- he loves me and enjoys watching me make the attempt to improve
- he doesn't keep score of how many times I mess up
- I have no right to keep score of how many times others mess up
- I don't even have the right to define what constitutes "messed up"

I don't care what your New Year's Resolution is. Tell me what you will resolve to do TOMORROW.

Good Morning, Lord!

Today....
I need encouragement from your word.

Today...
I need examination from you, a close look at my heart, to reveal sin and discontent, attitudes that don't belong, pride that needs to be squashed, lusts of flesh, power, money, and everything else that I, in my humanity, would relinquish holiness for.

Today...
I need forgiveness and washing and a fresh touch.

Today...
I need to bask in the sunshine and warmth of your relentless love.

Today...
I need your light to shine on my path to reveal my next step.

Today...
I need guidance so that I can know what to do.

Today...
I need to offer up praise to the only wise, all-knowing God who loves beyond all comprehension, and yield my heart and spirit to that only one who will perfectly plan and execute the events of my life to help me become that which pleases Him....today.

And every day.

Crucified With Christ

Galations 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

How ugly my pride must be to God. How foolish I must seem to Him, to think or imagine that I have any basis or reason whatsoever for pride. If any man had a basis for pride it was Jesus, and He nailed his to a cross. What makes me think I have any right?

The joy of a life broken and surrendered to God far exceeds the anguish and pain that it takes to reach that point of surrender.

Is there any way that I can communicate that more clearly? Who is reading this? A friend? A relative? A complete stranger? What have YOU decided? Have you surrendered yet, or is your life still filled with pain? Do you realize that God loves you?

Christ's crucifixion wasn't just some violent crime - it was a willful determination to win me, and win you... to accomplish a victory over Satan.

When we make that determination our own, and relinquish any right to ourselves in order to obey a higher purpose for us, set by God himself, then we are able to say with Paul, "I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST".

The Offended Offender

Has anyone offended you lately?

You're pretty sure they offended you on purpose, right?

I was offended recently. I'll skip the details, because they really don't matter. But, as is usually the case with life events that hurt my heart, God used it as a teaching tool. I'm telling you, (and I know this for a fact) that God has a two-by-four with my name on it that He uses to whack me upside the head to get my attention. After he had my attention, (my head's better now, thanks for asking) we had a little dialogue. Here's how it went...

Me: God, you know I'm offended, right? How could I not be?

God: I know. I know all about being offended.

Me: So, what do I do about it?

God: Same thing I did about it.

Me: You mean, die?

God: Yep.

Me: So just exactly how am I supposed to DO that?

God: Look, you offend me all the time. But I love you, and I know you know that. So the two ideas are NOT mutually exclusive. You love me, and I know that. You offend me at times, and I know it doesn't negate your love for me. And your offense doesn't negate my love for you. Got it?

Me: Die, huh?

God: Uh huh. Die to self. Give up your right to be offended. They hurt you. They love you. So what's your reaction going to be?

Me: Well, I probably won't do it as well as you do it, but I guess I will love them anyway.

God: Attaboy. I appreciate that you're trying. They love you and didn't mean to offend you. One of these days, we'll work on another nuance of this problem.

Me: oh-oh. Like what?

God: Like, is what they did TRULY offensive, or is your "offended" response just a little out of whack?

Me: Are you saying my "offended" response is out of whack?

God: Let's just visit the subject again next time you're feeling offended.

Me: Later is good, because that two-by-four thing you do kinda hurts.

God: I love you!

Hurts So Good, #2

Has something dreadfully horrible ever happened to you?

I'm guessing your answer is "yes". Nobody else is qualified to say whether the event YOU suffered through was indeed horrible. Everybody has a different frame of reference, a different set of life events and circumstances. Some people remain steady in the face of truly staggering blows, and others crumble if their neighbor's cat gets a hairball.

Suffice it to say we've probably all gone through circumstances that leave us feeling like we've been gut-punched, wounded, bleeding, dying, and questioning God.

Questions like, "Why?", or, perhaps more specifically, "Why ME?"

I've gone through some stuff. If you knew the details, you might think it was trivial compared to yours. Or, you might wonder how I got through it. Again, I suppose it depends on your frame of reference. Nevertheless, God eventually led me to the point where I received an answer to the whole "why" question.

Do you want to know what it is?

Well, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It would come off sounding like Job's friends: well intentioned but misguided. In the end, you're going to need to get the answer from God yourself. All I can tell you is this: He WILL tell you the answer.

I can't tell you that my answer came in a lightning bolt epiphany of startling clarity. It was more like the gradual understanding that comes from a gentle God who finally convinced me of the truth of Romans 8:28.

I stumbled across an old poem I wrote when I was really hurting. I'm going to share it with you for only one reason: I hope it will inspire you to reach out to one person whom you know to be hurting. The reason for the hurt doesn't matter. Get over any holy or pious notions you have about their hurt being "deserved" or the result of their own bad choices. Even if that's true, suffering is suffering, hurt is hurt, and as a follower of Christ, we should be offering nothing more and nothing less than the healing salve of love that only Christ has.

Consider this:

How Many?

How many people face each new day
With voids where their hearts belong?
Where pains of their past taunt as if to say
"where has gone your song?"

How many people strain just to live
Without overwhelming flood?
For one carefree day they'd gladly give
Their very last ounce of blood.

How many people strive now to hear
Some call, any call of love?
From one they desire to hold so dear
But hear only the one from above.

How many people, though grateful indeed
For the love of the Heavenly Father
Seek something more earthly, more fleshly in need
Wondering why no one will bother.

How many people walk about in pain
Wondering "does anyone care"?
Jesus died on a cross, so you could gain,
And he'll wipe away every tear.

© - Doug Bowman 2003

Hurts so good

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ~Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

How do you feel about the concept of God sending or allowing trials in our life? Do you feel that it is punishment? Do you think God zaps people because He is displeased with them? Are trials just random crud in our life that we're supposed to deal with, irrespective of how it came (or who sent it?) Yeah, I don't know either.

The book of James encourages us to persevere, to endure trials and difficulties with gladness. It doesn't seem real clear just how you do that, but I believe the verse above from Hebrews helps shed light on the matter.

I don't believe the point of the verse above is to merely persevere. Trials have to be properly overcome. Gritting your teeth and slugging your way through a difficulty isn't necessarily overcoming it properly. I believe a trial is properly overcome when the lesson it contains is learned, and the wisdom it can provide is acquired.

Wisdom doesn't necessarily come from experiencing a trial, but from facing it, enduring it, searching for the lesson in it, learning from it, and applying what's been learned. Certainly, I am not trying to remove God from that scenario... but here are two things of which I am sure:

1. Non-Christians who follow these principles have also been known to acquire wisdom, and...
2. Christians who don't, won't.

If you are facing difficulty, ask God if there's a lesson to be learned. I bet He'll tell you.

Love in Christ...
Doug

That's Impossible (or, God, you were just kidding when you said nothing's impossible, right?)

We've all heard it.... "with God, nothing is impossible".

So, my question today is, why don't we believe it?

Oh, we SAY we believe it. We even repeat it to others. But do we LIVE like it's true?

Do we pile up our seemingly impossible hopes on a God who dares us to believe Him? Most of the time when a difficult thing is happening, I guess I'm looking for the lesson in it and counting on Him to help me get through it. Why do we act like we are asking too much of God?

According to John Eldredge in WILD AT HEART, God loves to let the odds get ridiculously lopsided and stacked against Him, then miraculously come through in a pinch.

Why?

Well, why not? He's God, isn't he? Perhaps he knows that any number of other fakes or posers could take the credit if the problem got resolved too soon. How many times do we abandon hope or abandon the prayer before the answer comes? Perhaps it was on the way all along, and we were just too impatient to let it come.

"Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you - you need only be still." (Exodous 14:13,14)

When is a tragedy not a tragedy?

So get a load of this: In "My Utmost For His Highest" today, the author discusses how, if you want to know the power of God, you must dwell on the "tragedy of God". Elsewhere, he points out that we have not dwelt enough on the "tragedy of Calvary".

Well, being the contrarian that I am, I felt that statement was incorrect, so I looked up the definition of tragedy. Here's what I found (from dictionary.com)

1.
a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction.

(well, clearly, that one doesn't apply)

2.
the tragic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life.

(nah, not that one either)

3.
a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster: the tragedy of war.

(nope, don't like that one either)

4.
A disastrous event, especially one involving distressing loss or injury to life: an expedition that ended in tragedy, with all hands lost at sea. A tragic aspect or element.

(sorry, O for 4)

I'm not sure I understand the author's reference to "tragedy". Surely the story is tragic, the necessity of Christ's beatings and torturings is tragic, his final march to the cross while carrying my sins was tragic, but for me, something about the nature of that tragedy changes when I remember Christ's motivation.

In John 10:18, Jesus poignantly explains nobody takes his life, that he lays it down willingly. It isn't some tragic event that happened to Him. It is the very reason He came - to DIE. For me! For you! The gory scene was necessary to portray the ugliness of the sin which he took upon himself. That's not tragic to me, it's heroic !

Don't mourn the tragedy! Praise the Hero! The price of sin is a long, grueling, gory death. And Jesus paid it so we don't have to.

Leftover Pie - I'll take a slice of pumpkin, and throw a piece of humble on the plate, too

Still plenty of leftovers in the fridge, including pumpkin something or other. Gosh it's good. Why do we pick a season to gorge ourselves?
Why is there such a tendency to overdose on things that are detrimental, while avoiding the things that are good for us? It's been going on since we were two years old, when we said "no" to spinach and "more please" to the chocolate cake.

It's still going on, isn't it? e.g.
-"I'll skip the devotions, thanks, but you can pass me some more of that Desperate Housewives please".
- "I don't have time to be kind and gentle, but load another helping of sarcasm and criticism on my plate if you don't mind".
- "I'll have the arrogance special, please. What side dish do I want with that? Let's see, do you have any condescension? I'd like a double helping of that. No? OK, how about some 'look the other way while people in need are reaching out'. Do you have any of that?"

Christ humbled himself all the way to the cross, giving up his God-given rights in favor of making a better life for you and me. If we are "Christians" (meaning that we are followers of Christ), shouldn't we opt to do the same things He did?

And even when we earnestly decide to follow Him, why is it so easy to be full of ourselves? Selfishness has to be the number one problem in the world. What would christianity look like (or the entire world, for that matter) if everyone who proclaims the name of Christ actually gave up their rights and made the effort to live like Him?

What are you thankful for besides turkey?

So you'll have to forgive me for being a little preoccupied with the topic of thankfulness today. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and today's the day after. I've crammed more calories into my stomach than is advisable. I'm thankful for many things today, and turkey is just one of them.

Jesus said that to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48) I sometimes wonder if I am appropriately thankful for what I've been given. Being thankful should be considered the bare minimum of our response to Christ's love for us. It shouldn't stop there, but unfortunately, for many, it doesn't even begin there. Someone told me a while back that people who aren't thankful may not be truly or fully aware of just what it is that Jesus did for them.

Where do you stand? Has God nudged you lately? Have you stopped to consider all He has done and continues to do for you? Have you ever had the feeling that He is waiting for your response?

Have a great weekend. All 3 of you reading this!!!