Do you remember Play-Doh? It was a moldable substance that you could turn into anything if you had creative talent. Other kids just ate it. Play-Doh came in various colors, and as long as you kept it in its container with the lid on, it would last for a while. The creative ones could use it to form faces and animals. The rest of us would press the round lid into a pile of it and make perfect colored pancakes. Or we could roll a glob of it between our hands real fast and watch it thin out and become a worm. It could make a mess of fabric or carpet, but it spurred creativity in kids.
Well, it was supposed to spur creativity in kids. But eventually they made a Play-Doh “Fun Factory”. This factory was a plastic industrial wonder. You would stick a pile of Play-Doh into the press, attach a contraption to the front, aligning whatever shape you desired with the opening, and then press down on the handle. As you pressed down, the Play-Doh was forced through the open shape. Out would come a strand of Play-Doh in the shape of a star, or heart, or triangle. It was like you could make your own Lucky Charms out of Play-Doh. You could turn a crank and it would become a pasta maker. Sure, you could get perfect pasta, and stars, but it was the same. All you did was pressed down on the machine. Today you will be pressed by various things. This world is like a huge Play-doh factory. They try to sell it as fun and creative, but it is really just a way to crank out people who are similar in their shapes. God created us to be holy. We have rebelled against Him. So He has to work in our lives to bring us back to that holy place. The world wants you to conform to their shape. God wants you to be transformed into who He created you to be. The world forms you by pressing you from the outside. You think you have become something great, but you only have the shape of that beautiful thing. God transforms from the inside, truly changing your spiritual DNA. You are not an old life made to look like something new. You truly have new life when you are in Christ. The world uses the Play-Doh Fun Factory system forming clay into spaghetti noodles with external forces. God uses the metamorphosis system to turn a caterpillar into a butterfly, from the inside out. When Play-Doh goes through the Fun Factory, it is still Play-Doh. When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, it develops two significant differences. It can now fly because it has wings, and it can reproduce. God wants you to fly spiritually. God wants you to reproduce spiritually. Today the world will press you through their factory to make you look like a butterfly. Do not let this happen. Rather, let God turn you into a real child of the King, from the inside out. Long before Play-Doh, the apostle Paul challenged the early Christians, “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) Paul was literally saying, “Do not be pressed into the mold of the world. But be changed by the metamorphosis power of God.” Today, do not let the world press the life out of you. Allow God to produce life in you. For more of David's work, visit Heart Of Ministry. I like a good joke as much as the next guy. I’d like to think I have a decent sense of humor. I can laugh hard at funny stuff. Laughing actually contributes to good health. That’s some good times. I know some really funny people, and when we get together, we have the best time. I once knew a man who was against people having a good time. He would say, “If God wanted you to be laughing, you’d have been born laughing. That dude didn’t know it, but he was funny in his own way, and many people to laugh at his comments. Ironic, don’t you think? But mostly it was sad, because he just wasn’t a happy man, and it seemed like he was determined to make everyone else as unhappy as he was. No… I believe laughing and humor are gifts from God. But there are some things that are out of bounds. There are some areas where we should not go. Just because something is funny at some base level does not mean it is fair game to joke about. And other things just aren’t funny. It seems like we have lost the ability, or will to determine what is appropriate and what is inappropriate in the area of humor. Most people will laugh at anything. It seems like the more base or common the joke, the more people will laugh at it. ‘Bathroom humor’ is the easiest way to get a laugh today. Say something vulgar and people just crack up. This kind of ribald humor takes the least amount of thinking. Yet it is found throughout our culture, from blockbuster movies to the board room, and even the basement of the church. But this is not right. The Christian needs to draw a line about what is appropriate and what is not. We should have a higher standard. When you hear that dirty joke today, you do not have to laugh… even if it is ‘funny’. When we receive and enjoy such conversation, we allow poison into our soul. Take the higher path today. Refuse to allow crude and obscene humor to determine your values. And to take it a step further, much of this crude humor that invades our lives is sexual in nature. We have allowed the most sacred of human acts to become a punch line. Nothing gets people to snicker or roar with laughter faster than a sexually explicit joke. This is messed up. There are some things that are out of bounds. Why? Because these are unhealthy ideas that will destroy the fabric of our soul. God created us for more than an easy laugh at the expense of holiness. My dad, who is a preacher was once on a jobsite where the workers were often telling dirty jokes to try and see how he would respond. At one point he started laughing uncontrollably and said, “That joke is as funny as Hell.” The guys were shocked and visibly disturbed as they knew this man of God shouldn’t talk like that. My dad finally stopped laughing, and with the straightest face said, “And Hell ain’t funny!” He went on to explain how Jesus Christ will clean up a mind and mouth. Scripture even talks about vulgar humor, and apparently not much has changed over the last couple of thousand years. Paul instructs Christians to, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. Coarse and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.” (Ephesians 5:1-5) My wife is planting a garden. We’ve had gardens before. I do not like several kind s of vegetables, but there are a few I really like. And I really like it when those vegetables are fresh. There is truly nothing like plucking a juicy tomato off of your own tomato plant vine and popping it in your mouth. To know it has not been sprayed with junk, clutched by a machine, and piled in a truck before it was ripe, makes it taste 100 times better. I love that. I think it is cool to know that a single seed produces dozens or hundreds of vegetables. I am a big fan of our garden. But I am not patient. I like the concept of growing food. I love the produce. But I do not like the process at all. I am too impatient. From the first day the seeds are planted I am constantly looking for results. We all know that there are results, but they are hidden and slow. So I get frustrated. I tell my wife, “Nothing’s happening.” She assures me that there will be food if I am patient. I obsessively look every day. Eventually I get so frustrated that I don’t look anymore. Then one day there is one tomato. It gives me hope, but it then takes forever to mature. Then, when no one is looking, the garden takes off. Before you know it, we have more vegetables than we can eat... enough to share with friends and neighbors. This is no thanks to me. I am not faithful enough to plant and care for the garden. I am not patient enough to wait for results. The fact is, I end up eating food of less quality because I am not sold out to the process. I eat someone else’s produce because I do not work the system. There are seasons in life. There are seasons of planting, seasons of growing, and seasons of harvest. Harvest is the reward for the risk of working and waiting. In our spiritual lives, we all want to eat the bread, but no one wants to make it. We want to enjoy the fruits… but not of our labors. We don’t spend time in the Bible, and prayer, and fellowship, but we are frustrated when others enjoy the blessings that come with these disciplines. So many believers want to walk into church on Sunday and pick up someone else’s harvest. Then we wish we had a fresh blessing. But we didn’t invest in the fields God gave us. There is an expectation with each season of life. We all want to experience fresh blessing, but we wonder why it doesn’t come to us like it comes to others. Here’s the thing… new seasons come to everyone. But the fruit of harvest only comes to the faithful and patient. And old Biblical proverb says, “The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.” (Proverbs 20:4) But the apostle Paul encouraged the early Christians, “Whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:7-10) Check out more of David's work at Heart Of Ministry. I will eat several times today. I like to eat. I haven’t really missed too many meals. Sometimes I eat just because I want to do something. You know how it is. You will be working, and then you will catch a glimpse of some snack sitting on or near your desk, and you will think, “Hmmm… I should eat that.” These aren’t always the best decisions in life. But then there are times that I eat because I am hungry. Perhaps I have not eaten in a while… maybe a whole day, which is a long time in my world. It dawns on me that I haven’t eaten, and I really start to get hungry. I start to think about what I want to eat. Sometimes anything will do, but often I develop a taste for a specific meal that will satisfy my desire. When I am in this state, low grade fast food will not do. I want something tasty and filling. When I decide on it, I get excited thinking about it. You probably know what I’m talking about. At a certain point in the process, nothing else will satisfy that hunger. As tangible as this experience is physically, it should be the same in the spiritual realm. We should have a true hunger for specific things. Not just a desire for whatever is sitting nearby. There are plenty of things we can snack on spiritually. If you have access to the internet, you can easily grab anything to stuff into your spiritual mouth. Some of it is decent, but a lot of it is just junk food that leaves us out of shape and still hungry just a short time later. It is laced with sugar, artificial products, and preservatives. It may feel good going down, but it is not healthy and does not hit the spot. Scripture gives us a nutritious plan. We should desire the things of God. He created our spirit. He knows what we need and when we need it. God has truth that will strengthen you without the negative side-effects of processed spiritual food. There is good spiritual food out there. I hope this site provides a healthy portion of your spiritual diet. But this and other Christian resources are not the main course. You should be seeking something more than any person, or church, or website can provide. God uses these kitchens, chefs, and servers to bring you great meals. But your hunger should go beyond what they can provide. At one point the disciples of Jesus encouraged Him to eat something. He told them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?” Christ responded, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” (John 4:32-34) On another occasion Jesus taught the people, “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Today, do not be satisfied to snack around on spiritual candy. Develop a strong hunger and thirst for righteousness. You develop a hunger by serving hard in His righteousness. God has promised to fill you. Get hungry and get satisfied. Check out more of David's work at Heart Of Ministry. This morning, as my custom most every Sunday morning, I dropped Becky off at church for choir practice and then went to a nearby McDonald’s to grab a biscuit and write a bit. While waiting to order, I noticed a couple of teen girls who are obviously on a cheer squad. It is almost 9:00 am, and they are decked out, including hair braids that go on for miles. It is all up on top of their head. The most intelligent lab rat could not find its way out of that intricate maze. I wondered how long it took them to get that hair done, and what time they must have been up to make it happen. I started thinking about all the people who skip church because they “can’t get up in time.” I’m a curious guy, so after placing my order, I walked by them and asked, “How long does it take to do your hair?” They chimed in together with perfect cheer squad form, “It’s not our real hair. It’s fake.” “You got me,” I sighed… “mine’s real.” We laughed. The mother said, “It would take forever to do that.” I said, “Yeah… I can imagine. I figured they must have gotten up at 2:00 in the morning to get it done before 9. They were in town for a national cheer competition and placed 1st after the first day of competition. I wished them well, and they left. I started thinking about their fake hair, and the fact that they would be cheering for all they’re worth for a team that wasn’t actually playing. That’s a lot of fake in order to win a real competition. I suppose it has to be that way for them. But I don’t want it to be that way for me. On this Sunday morning, there will be a lot of fake going on in churches across America. Fake hair, fake lashes, fake jewelry, fake smiles, fake blessings, fake prayers, fake sermons, fake prayers. I don’t want to be fake today. I don’t want to be fake any day. But frankly, on most days most people can’t tell if I am fake. But when I enter the presence of the all-knowing Creator of the universe (including this guy), He will not be fooled. He sees right through my hair, my smile, my prayer. I am in no way making a judgment on those cheerleaders. That is how their world works, and I get it. But that is not how the world of honest worship works. And that is where the competition for my soul is held. God, help me to be real with you today, and every day. King David once wrote this in a song, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 24:3-6) Check out more of David's work at Heart Of Ministry. |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
Categories |