It is difficult to worship freely when darkness is thick in your life. It may be a personal tragedy or a cultural train wreck that has you groping for stability and a clear line of communication and worship with God. The heart hesitates to sing when evil is so thick you could cut it with a knife. When defeat hangs in the air, it can easily draw our attention from the victory that awaits, and is even already present. We cannot wish the dark away. We can’t pray it away. We can’t outrun it. But the good thing is, we don’t have to. The dark is subservient to the light. So when God is in us, darkness is overpowered… even when it is so thick you can cut it with a knife. In the beginning was God. He created the heavens and the earth. Then, because of rebellion, darkness flooded the space. With one word, God created light. Darkness did not cease to exist. It just had to obey the light. God divided the darkness and light. He determined that it would have its boundaries. Today darkness still has boundaries. It still exists, but it has boundaries. King David put it this way, “Even the darkness is not dark to You (God). The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.” (Psalm 139:12) If God dwells in us, His light gives us the same experience. So as you worship today, I would not diminish the fact that there is darkness in your life and in our world. These are truly dark days in the world. But the darkness is not dark to God. It shines like the day. Open your eyes, lift your hands, worship with all your heart the One who is the origin of all light, and watch the darkness become invisible. The apostle James wrote to the early church, “Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the first fruits of His creatures.” (James 1:16-18) [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
If you don’t promote yourself, who will promote you? This seems to be the philosophy of the day. It is one thing to be confident in who you are and share your strengths. But some people have crossed a line and promote themselves at a level that would make Don King blush. Self-promotion is a mixture of bragging and selling yourself based on the bragging. I think as social creatures, most of us want to know about other people. But in a day where everyone can have multiple sites to advertise their worth, it can become a little much. It is one thing to communicate your accomplishments at the appropriate time. It is another thing to give your resume every time it is your turn to speak. I think most of the time self-promotion occurs because an individual wants to be significant. And don’t we all want to be significant? The question is, how far will we go to achieve it? Our culture seems to agree that self-promotion is the best path to significance. Just look at all of the ‘reality shows’. Players are all about getting to the next round. And to do so they need to impress the other players, or the judges, or the viewing audience, or all three. Every other player becomes a step ladder for them. This mentality has crept into the general life and culture. This is not playing out well in our workplace or relationships. Self-promotion is basically us shining a spotlight on ourselves. The problem is, we weren’t designed to walk in God’s light and at the same time bask in our own light. Even looking at the life of Jesus, one may think that wherever He went He was promoting His miracles, teaching, Messiahship, etc. But He wasn’t. Jesus’ ministry was not a self-promotion tour. In fact, He always deflected glory to the Father. His primary purpose on earth was not to get people to believe in what He could accomplish through signs and wonders. Everything Jesus did on the earth was to show us who the Father is. He is the Way… not to Himself, but to the Father. At one point Jesus actually said, “I do not seek my own glory.” You know who was seeking the glory of Christ? The Father. Even in God there is no selfish ambition or self-promotion. Jesus is the Light of the world. A light does not exist to bring attention to itself. You can’t actually see the sun very well. It a very bright star, but it doesn’t shine so we can see it. It shines light so we can see everything else. In simply fulfilling its purpose the sun becomes incredibly significant.We would surely miss the sun if it disappeared tomorrow. Yet we rarely think about the sun. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world, who coming into the world brings light to every person. In that process, as we surrender our lives to Him, we become the light of the world. We aren’t the source of light. Jesus is. But His light shines through us. We aren’t the light of the world so people will see us. We are the light so they can see themselves in their condition and look to see Jesus who would save them. So Jesus came to testify to the Father. We now live unto Christ by the power of His Spirit who resides in us. The original question was, “If you don’t promote yourself, who will promote you?” Well, God will. The apostle James was the brother of Jesus. Talk about living in a large shadow. Eventually James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He had this to say about self-promotion, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:6-10) Be confident today in what you have accomplished. Look for opportunities to succeed. But do not push yourself forward so much that you become the main attraction. Shine a light. Make sure you are shining in the right direction. If you shine bright enough, people will not be able to avoid you, and will see exactly why you exist. This website is an absolutely free resource. But it does take time and effort. If you would like to support this work, feel free to give via the above link.
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 heart 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) I don’t know about you, but I can count on the fact that at some point during the day something will happen that will make me angry. It could be something I do. It may be something that happens to me. Or it could be something that happens that does not involve me at all. It seems like in 2019 there is always an opportunity to become angry. I’ll be honest, I think the media looks for stories that will push us into anger. We are at the point now where we can just look at a headline and immediately exhibit outrage. Sometimes the outrage is legit. Certainly when you hear of a parent who abuses and then kills their child it is natural to be angry, right? But what about when here is a viral video of a person in a store who appears to respond in a way that is not right? Is it okay to lash out in outrage towards that person? A few real questions for people today are… “Is it acceptable to be angry?” “Is it acceptable to exhibit outrage?” “How do I know the difference between what deserves outrage and what does not?” First, it is acceptable to be angry. On its best day, anger is a natural response to activity that is not acceptable. Webster defines anger as: ‘a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism’. Sometimes I do things that I discover I am not happy with. So I get angry at my foolishness. But just because I get angry doesn’t make it acceptable. Looking in Scripture, God reveals that He gets angry… a lot. Primarily it is injustice that makes Him angry. He is holy. He designed us to be holy. So when humans don’t act like we are supposed to, it gives Him a strong feeling of displeasure. God was angry at individuals (Cain), at communities (Sodom and Gomorrah), at nations (Philistines), and at the whole world (Noah’s flood). Jesus was angry at times. He was angry at the hypocritical religious leaders who were mistreating people. He was angry at unbelief. The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead gives us the shortest verse in the Bible. When John tells us, “Jesus wept,” It doesn’t mean He was distraught over losing a dear friend to death. Rather, it means Jesus was visibly upset.. at the unbelief of the people who knew Him but did not truly believe Him. The apostle Paul was angered by similar things. He disliked people who spiritually abused others and those who trampled the work of Christ… as he had once done. In Ephesians 4:26 he tells Christians, “Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” This tells us two things. It is acceptable for a Christian to be angry. But there is also an expectation that we are to be angry without violating God’s law. It is alright for a Christian to be angry when a man shoots up a school. But we are not allowed to hate the man. We can be outraged at the injustice of such an act, but we cannot be un-Christlike towards the perpetrator of the injustice. That Paul would say that we should not let the sun go down on our anger is to guide us in our anger. We should be in control of our anger instead of being controlled by it. Holy people can have anger, but anger should not have us. We place the limits on our anger, or else it will consume us. So if it is acceptable to be angry, is it okay to exhibit outrage? As long as the situation calls for it, and it is restrained within holy limits, we can express our anger. This takes serious focus and attentiveness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus overturned tables when He saw the injustice of the thieves in the temple. Paul struck a man blind who was opposing his missionary work. Paul recommended shunning when people went beyond certain lines of rebellion. But again, these expressions are not crazy, open-ended deals. It isn’t Christlike to flip out. It is Christlike to be loving and measured, even if what you are doing doesn’t necessarily look loving. Whatever a Christian does should be in love. This includes exhibiting anger. Be angry, but do not sin. This seems weird, but it is real. Knowing the difference between what is outrage-worthy and what is not is sort of tricky. One thing seems totally over the top to one person while another takes it in stride. What you get angry about will be different from those things which makes your brothers and sisters in Christ angry. This is because of various environmental influences, or the fact that God puts burdens in each of our hearts. So the best thing to do is stay close to God through reading the Bible, prayer, and being in relationship with believers who live out the kind of life that aligns with holiness. Maybe another rule of heart can be, “When in doubt, do without.” I have had to repent of getting angry too quickly, or exhibiting my anger in an unholy way. For the most part, anger itself won’t change things in a positive way. It may be more of a flag to indicate your values. But when expressed in an unwise or unholy way, you can do damage that is difficult to clean up. So let God determine what will make you angry. Then be angry in the right way. And set limits on your anger. If we do this properly, it may very well increase our mercy toward others, and draw them into the right path… which is our ultimate goal anyway, right?!? We live in a culture where we need to distinguish what is true from what is false. One of the most disturbing and common phrases we hear today is ‘fake news.’ This term refers to stories are intentionally false in order to smear a person or an idea. Fake news has its own set of facts, some of which are true, some of which are close to true, and some of which are wildly untrue. This concept of fake news permeates our society, with some entire news networks being dubbed, ‘Fake News Network.” The worst part of this is that there is a market for fake news. Many people are driven by hatred toward others that they seek out stories that are not true in order to solidify their position and hatred. This demand drives supply. And then of course supply fuels demand. It is a vicious cycle. Unfortunately even Christians can get caught up in believing, seeking out, and disseminating fake news. The problem is, fake news is a form of deceit and lying. Fake news is not a misprint, mistake in reporting. It is a lie. The difference between a mistake and a lie is intent. If my wife asks where the pop tarts are and I tell her they are on the counter because that is where I think I last left them, that is a mistake. If I tell her they are on the counter when I know for a certainty that they are in the bottom of the pantry behind the cookbooks because I want to keep them for myself, that is a lie. This is the nature of ‘fake news.’ So if a Christian is not to participate in spreading lies, how can we equip ourselves to refrain from it? Well, part of the answer lies in not believing the lies. A Christian is a person of truth living in a world of lies. When we are made into a new creation, our ‘wanter’ changes. We no longer want to do the things that are wrong. We now want to do what is right. So how do we remain pure and not become part of the fake news culture by believing and sharing lies? How can we know what is a lie in a world that is saturated with lies? It is not easy to spot a lie… unless you know the truth. Knowing the truth is the key to not believing lies. Being able to spot a lie is not about how many lies you know, but how much truth you believe. We need to become more acquainted with the truth if we want to remain unpolluted from the lies. The earth is filled with lies. It has been ever since the first lie in the Garden of Eden when Satan lied to Eve. He attacked the truth of God when he told her that she could disobey God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil without dying. She believed, and through her sin, the lie has multiplied. In fact, the world ‘lie’ is found around 197 times in the Bible, while the word ‘truth’ is only found around 168 times. This doesn’t mean that lies are more important than truth, but it does mean that they are more pervasive in a fallen world. While Jesus was on the earth, He claimed to be the truth. And people were constantly having to choose between believing the truth about Him (He was the Messiah) or the lie about Him (that He was not the Messiah). At one point Jesus looked at those who had surrendered to believe the truth about Him and said, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Christ will help you know the truth, and the truth will set you free from the lies. So how does this work in our daily life? Here are three things you can do to remain free from the entrapment of fake news… 1&2 – Limit your time with the lies. Increase your time in the truth. You don’t learn how to discern fake news by being engulfed by fake news. You learn what is right by being saturated with the truth. You may need to limit your access to media in order to flush the poison out of your system. Instead of clicking all of the links to various news stories, open up the Bible. Read what is true. Learn what is true. Love what is true. This is the best way to be able to notice what is not true. 3 – Surround yourself with people who love truth. People of truth can help you recognize lies that are out there, and also recognize those fake parts within you. This is accountability. This is about being around disciples who are also doing steps one and two. There is safety in numbers. Truth will agree with truth. And the more you know that is true, the easier it will be to figure out what isn't true. Today there is more fake news out there than there is truth. That doesn’t make truth less important, but it increases the value of those who know truth and speak truth. Do not dilute your witness by being part of the slavery that comes with fake news. Be a person of truth. |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
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