A Blink in Eternity

Sometimes, it's difficult to rest in the promises of God. I know how often I've written on here that we need to have faith and peace - and we certainly should - but it can be difficult when it feels like circumstances and the people close to us are against us, when it seems that all the elements of the world are conspiring together to tick us off. We look at those who are openly either apathetic toward God or even against Him and we see them prospering in seemingly all areas and then we start to wonder why God blesses them instead of us.

In a way, that feeling is valid in our human understanding because it's not a very good marketing campaign for God for us to all suffer while the rest of the world enjoys its Dionysian lifestyle. But there is an end for people who do not believe that we too often forget, a terrible and eternal end that is so horrific, any of them would gladly give all they have in this world and live like a beggar in a third-world country for the rest of their lives to be spared a second of, an end that we won't have to face.

In that, we are richer than the rest of the world, for we have something they don't. Don't be jealous then of what others seem to have that you do not, for if they knew what you have that they don't, they would gladly trade it all.

But they don't have to. It's free for all of us. This life is but a blink compared to the one that awaits us. What does it matter who is with whom, who has how much money, or who has what job? We are mortal, and our lives to come will wipe from us all the importance that we now attach so readily to this life.

There are but two purposes in life: to know Christ and to make Him known. The rest is either stuff that will help you with those or take you from those. Most of the things you're jealous of others for fall into the latter category. Actually, if you're falling into the sin of jealousy over them, there is a part of you that is being driven away already, even if the things themselves are good things to have.

Search your heart. Find what you are holding onto in this world, the things that you are jealous of others for having. Remind yourself of your true calling in this life, of what really matters.

There is the story of a king in ancient times who wanted something that he could say in all situations that would be both true and appropriate. After his wise men debated for a month, they came up with this: "And this, too, shall pass." Keep your focus on the eternal, and not on this blink in eternity.

Rain

Every place I've lived in has had weather that can change almost instantly. Northern VA actually has the most consistent weather of the three, which isn't saying much. Yesterday, I was looking outside and it wasn't raining at all. I began wondering if it would be a good time to go take a walk. Then, it was as if God turned on the faucet. In less than three seconds, it was a good, heavy rain. In about seven, it was a downpour. In fifteen, it was so heavy and with the wind blowing a mist outside, that it was difficult to see the houses just across the street. My walk canceled, I thought that this is how it must have been when God sealed the doors on the Ark and it started raining.

And yet, through all this, I had not one ounce of fear. Why? Because I was inside. I knew I was perfectly safe. Even if there was a leak in the roof that started to drip on my head, I wouldn't have been concerned for my safety.

Circumstances in our lives can change about as fast as the weather. How often, though, are we as calm through it as we are when a storm beats on our roof? Why is it that we have more faith in shingles than we do in the Creator of the Universe? What is it about wood and brick that makes us feel more secure than God's love?

Yes, to be fair, when I'm in my house, I don't feel even a drop of rain. I'm fully protected, not just from being in danger, but from any ill effects of the storm, save perhaps a power outage. With God's protection, I may feel the full brunt of the storms of life. I may have everything around me destroyed. I may not be able to see anything because of how much the strong winds are blowing around. But I have an invisible protection that will not even let me see the storm if He won't see me through it.

Storms come in life, just as inevitably as they come in the weather. Like the weather, life's storms don't often come at convenient times and the violent ones aren't fun to be in. We have a shield against them, though, that is stronger than any roof and harder to break down than any wall. All we need to do is trust in that Shield...and let it rain.

Leadership: a Message to Men

I've seen a lot of bad managers and only a handful of good ones. Most people mistake management for leadership and those in charge for those who must be good leaders. Leadership is a component of what makes a good manager, but someone is not a good leader simply by virtue of being put in a leadership position, nor is one necessarily cut out for leadership because one has their heart in the right place.

But that is where leadership begins: in the heart. And that heart has to beat for something other than the leader's own gain. There are many components of leadership and many roles that a leader must take on, but it all begins with having a heart that yearns for the best for those he leads. Leadership is not just forging ahead and letting others follow, but being behind them and giving a little push when necessary. It's correcting them and getting them back on the right path. It's leaving a path that would lead to the leader's own gain in favor of one that would lead to the people's gain. It is self-sacrificial, not self-indulgent. It is service more than pride. It is a burden more than a privilege.

Too many men have forgotten what leadership is supposed to look like, particularly in their homes. Nearly every sitcom and dozens of commercials portray the chubby middle-aged moron of a man who's over-confident and completely clueless with an attractive, intelligent wife who's always right and has all the real authority in the house. When did this happen? When did we men become so self-centered that we either forgot what leadership was about or decided it was too much work to even attempt? When did we start putting ourselves above our wives and children by letting them lead us? When did we stop loving them enough to take on this burden?

I believe that at the core, every man has a little bit of a lion in him. This lion yearns to protect his pride and would rather die in a fight than see anything happen to them. If your lion has fallen asleep, awaken it. Ask God to give you the courage to take the reins of leadership in your household and anywhere else He has called you to lead. And remember that this is the way you can best serve them. If you truly love your family, you cannot let them lead you. You listen to God, let Him lead you, and then you lead them where He directs.

Tower Defense Games and the Bible

When I'm bored, I sometimes play a good tower defense (TD) game on line. For those unfamiliar with these games, the concept is simple: You buy towers so you can shoot the baddies trying to invade your base. Every time you kill one, you get some money so you can build more towers or upgrade yours so you can take on the next (and tougher) wave of baddies. There are little twists to each, but the concept is essentially the same in all.

Without an invasion, I can't get any more money to build what I want to build. Also, if I just stockpile cash long enough, I lose because the enemies will become so powerful that they overwhelm me.

Our Christian walk is a lot like TD games in a way. We pray for patience and what do we get? Situations that will build our patience. We pray for peace, and we get trials that try to destroy it. We pray for purity, and we're inundated with temptations. God doesn't just give us the traits that we ask for. He allows us to have opportunities to grow in them. I think this is for three reasons: 1. that we can better understand others and help them, 2. that we depend on Him to change us, and 3. most importantly, our hearts don't really want to change of themselves.

For the first, if change were easy, we would not be able to relate to those who are struggling with it. One of my friends barely struggles with lust at all. Most of the time, he doesn't even think about it. Thus, he finds it difficult to understand what the rest of us are going through. When we don't understand others' struggles, it's easy to be judgmental of them and that's not how we're supposed to treat others.

For the second, if change were easy, we wouldn't depend on God or need Him for the rest of our lives on earth. If we could simply pray once for peace, purity, wisdom, patience, and other virtues and get all of them that we needed, we wouldn't need God for anything. God wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to know that it is He who has helped us overcome our struggles and He who is perfecting us, not ourselves.

And lastly, let's face it: if we had a genie and our hearts were giving the wishes, I'm really not sure how many, if any, of the people I know would cry out for more of God with one of their wishes. At times, yes - at times, I do - but overall, I know part of my heart and I know the Bible says that my heart is deceitful above all things. Anything good that's in there is the result of God working in it, because left to strictly my own heart's desires, my wishes would be for my own selfish gain.

There's not really a motivational point to this particular entry. It's just something to think about when we wonder why it's so difficult for us to become who we say we want to be.

A Little Poetry

Sometimes I write poetry and am amazed at how succinctly an idea can be expressed. There is something about poetry that lends an additional power to the words and makes them say more with less than I could with two pages of prose. This particular one has become one of my favorites:

All That Was Needed
“I cannot do this!” I cried out,
And to this I heard no reply.
“I failed again!” did I shout,
But God did not answer why.
Angered now and so full of shame
That not good enough was my best;
I stormed off cursing my name
And knowing I’d failed God’s test.
“What you want from me I don’t know!
Nor do I think I have it to give.
I need to let this burden go,
For this way I cannot live.
I tried to live, God, by your rule;
I failed, I sinned so many times.
And being human, hence, a fool,
I repeated one by one my crimes.
I tried to witness but cannot speak
Your truth in a way they would hear.
I’d be on missions, but am so weak
And crippled still by my fear.
I cannot do this!” I cried out,
And this time my cry was heeded.
“I know,” God said, “Without a doubt;
But your heart was all that was needed.”

So often we think God needs our money, our time, our effort, or our love to bring about His will. He doesn't. If He depended on us for anything, He would be less than we need Him to be, because He wouldn't be God over everything. He could reform the universe with a snap of His fingers, making everything perfect again. He could create a mountain of gold in someone's backyard or form the perfect person for someone out of clay and breathe life into it or send angels to deliver all His messages. He doesn't need us to do anything. He only wants to work through us, and I believe that's every bit as much for our benefit as it is for those whom He wants to touch through us.

There's not a whole lot we actually can do anyway in our own strength. We aren't bold enough to preach His name where it's not welcome. We're not courageous enough to go into countries that have banned Christianity and spread the Word. We're not capable of loving others when they've hurt us badly. We're not capable of true forgiveness when we're offended time and time again. We can't really change people with our own wisdom. It is God working through us, perfecting the work which He began in us.

The Bible says God remembers that we are but dust. He knows our weaknesses and how much we can't do. But He also knows how much He can do. Working through us, He is enough for all that He would have us do. You don't need talent or ability or experience or wealth or wisdom to serve. All you need is a heart that is willing to let God work through you.

I'm Contagious

I woke up this morning not feeling all that well. One of the perks of being self-employed, though, is that when I feel like this, my boss is pretty understanding and lets me go back to bed for a couple hours. I'm debating about whether or not to go to the gym and I probably will, just because by the time you start showing symptoms, you're usually not contagious anymore.

But it means that, if what I had was communicable, I may have made one of my other friends sick, too. And I probably got it either at the gym or from one of them.

I'm contagious in other ways. The friends whom I hang out with the most have recently started emulating my jokes a bit more and thinking a little more how I think. I've picked up the (rather annoying) habit of over-using the word "like" when I talk from a different friend, though I have gotten a little better lately now that I'm trying to overcome it.

The point is that you eventually become more like those you are with the most. Husbands and wives, I've heard, eventually start to look more like each other. It may be one reason why those with dogs as pets generally have better health and are happier overall: because dogs are almost always happy and "a merry spirit does good like a medicine."

Think about those you are with the most. Does their broken spirit dry your bones? Or do they lift you up? Do they make you laugh uproariously or do they complain often, even when most of their life seems to be alright? What are they feeding in to your life? Whether you like it or not, you are catching some of what they have. Whether it's good or bad, it affects you if you are around it enough. The only way to overcome the negative effects is to be so focused on God and full of Him that it overwhelms these effects. Are you that focused on God? Is He the one you spend the most time with? Do you at least spend most of your time with those who lift you up and point you to Him?

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I like the analogy of diseases with our attitudes. You may not catch it every time you're around a person, and it may take a long while for you to change to be like that person, but it will happen. You can't help but catch it.

Likewise, whatever you are like will be caught to varying degrees by those around you. What are you giving them? Are you passing around the same loneliness, despair, and anger that is so prevalent in the world, or are you passing on hope, love, and a peace that they can't understand? Do you make people want to catch what you have?

God's Marketing Campaign

You've all seen beer commercials before. A lot of them have a common theme: average Joes drinking a particular beer and beautiful women fawning all over them. For the women, skin-care commercials have before & after pics and sometimes a strong, handsome man getting lost in the woman's eyes. Essentially, commercials fall into one of two categories: those that show us what we want, implying that we could have it if we buy their product, and those that make us laugh.

As humans, we're naturally selfish. We don't do much unless it somehow benefits us. Sure, we give money to charities, we offer our time to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and we offer our seats to little old ladies on the bus, but under each of these, there's some motive. Sometimes, it's just that we want to feel good about ourselves because we were taught that doing these things is right. Sometimes, it's to show off to a certain girl or guy or appear to be a good person to one's friends. Sometimes, it's an effort to advance ourselves by putting something good on our resumes. Rarely is the act completely selfless.

What this means is we have to have a reason to follow God. We have to get some benefit out of it for us to do it. The real benefit is getting to know God, but it is the thought of an eternity in Heaven or of peace in our lives here that really draws people.

That's where you (if you're a Christian) and I come in. We are God's marketing campaign. Others look at us and watch us more closely than we normally think they do. They want to know if Christianity is more than fire insurance. They want something that will really change their lives.

Gandhi went to the UK as a young man to go to school. In reality, he wanted to observe Christians and was thinking of becoming one. After watching the Christians around him and seeing they were no different from those who weren't, he decided to never become a Christian.

I'm not just talking about Christians sinning. The world sees our sins, yes, but unless we demand perfection of everyone and beat them over the head with the Bible every time they fail, they can tolerate our sins so long as we try our best to not commit them. I think it is more so that they see how we handle difficulties in our lives. The world looks at us and thinks, "They believe in a God they think created the universe, yet they're worried about finding a job? Is their God really so small?" When we're depressed, worried, or angry to the extent that it is taking over our lives, what message are we sending to the world? We're saying our God is not big enough or does not care enough about us to help us get through what the world throws our way.

Why would the world want what we have if what we have doesn't help us?

It's unreasonable to say that we should always be happy, even when our world is falling apart all around us. We're still human and, as long as we're on this earth, always will be. Yet Paul was able to sing after he'd been beaten and thrown into prison. He was stoned and left for dead, got up, dusted himself off, and the next day went to the next town to continue preaching. The Bible doesn't say God healed him instantly. He might have been in incredible pain. But his God was bigger than his problems.

God tells us to not fear 365 times in the Bible. Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which passes understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." John 14:27 tells us, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And then the end of Matthew tells us to not worry about tomorrow.

The last point I have to make is that sin and fear are intimately tied together. When we sin, there's a root cause of us not trusting God to give us what is best for us. We either believe somewhere that He is holding back on us or that we know better than He does what is in our best interests. We fear not having these things unless we get them our way. A perfect trust in God would lead to a perfect life. One would have no reason to go outside God's will if one trusted perfectly that God's will was the best thing for their life. Obviously, this is not possible for us; we still have our spiritual myopia. What is possible, though, is living a life more like Paul's, more like commercials for the power of Christ. People want perfect lives, but what is more amazing to them is when we can take our imperfect lives and live them with a peace that they can't understand.

You are God's marketing campaign on this earth. What message are you sending?

"I Can See Clearly Now"

I got my glasses in today. For the first time since I was 8 or 9, I'm wearing glasses. My eyes were 20/40 and 20/50 (right and left eyes, respectively), with a small astigmatism in my right eye. As a result of both that and my eyes having different quality of vision, they had different focal points for long distance. This means that I couldn't see in 3-D for anything beyond four or five feet. When I wear the glasses, the world is not only far clearer, but it comes to life in a way I had forgotten it could. I love it. I hadn't intended to wear them all the time, but now I don't see how I could not.

My optometrist told me that most people don't realize how bad their vision is until they see what they're missing. It was certainly true for me. I had known I couldn't see in 3-D, but forgotten what it was like to. I had gotten used to not reading signs until I was close to them. This is a brave new world, that has such vision in it.

And there is a Biblical application here, too. The Bible asks us "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" in Matthew 7:3. We see clearly what is wrong with others, but so often miss what is wrong with ourselves. Part of it is that we're not honest with ourselves. Our failings bring guilt or shame, often both, and so we hide them from the world and from ourselves. Another part is that we honestly don't see how we're coming across to others. That has happened to me a lot with my social habits. I'm naturally very introspective, so sometimes when I've thought about things deeply at a party, people have seen that as moody and anti-social, when I was really just thinking and enjoying myself thoroughly doing it. But I didn't see how it came across until someone pointed it out to me.

This verse is calling attention to our hypocrisy, first and foremost, in calling out other people without calling out ourselves first. I think there is another application of it, though. If you read on, it says to remove the plank from your own eye first so that you can see clearly to help your brother. We are supposed to tell each other things we see in each others' lives that are hurting the other person or people around them. Sometimes, the person you are trying to help will be blind to their need for help or tell themselves they're fine. And sometimes, they may be right that they are fine if you've simply missed the mark.

I think we all have things that cloud our spiritual vision, and all of them tend to make us near-sighted. We all get motes and planks in our eyes that obscure what we are meant to focus on: God. And we are to both examine ourselves and each other to help each other focus.

The group I'm a part of was more or less silent in correcting me for the better part of two years. I asked a bunch of people and no one offered answers. It was only after I had left the group for a few months and perhaps exhibited a few small changes that they finally opened up about the things they saw that I was doing that were hurting me. I'm not saying we should all correct each other all the time. It would be wearisome and frustrating for everyone. What I am saying is that you have a responsibility to examine yourselves and each other for things in life that are clouding our vision.

My eye exam is going to be more or less annual. Our spiritual eye exam needs to be daily on ourselves and on our friends as often as God leads us. The focus is not on pointing out how big the plank or mote is. It's not on how great we are for getting it out of their eyes. It's about them seeing God once it's out. And that's somethings we should all focus on.

Edit: It should be stressed that this post is not to anyone in particular or about anyone in particular. If someone has to be the focal point of it, let it be me. I want people to tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can change it if necessary. Until I'm aware of an issue, I can't change it.

"What the World Needs Now...

...is love, sweet love." That's how the song goes, isn't it? And yet what is it? I could be an honest cynic and say it's impossible, and without God, that's true. We could define love as self-sacrifice and that's a common definition for it. We think that anytime we put the needs of others over our own, we are showing love. But love goes beyond actions. It goes beyond our giving. Love is not an issue of action, but of the heart.

1 Corinthians 13 is often called the "love chapter," as love is its main theme. In the first three verses, Paul talks about the value of love and compares it to speaking well, having the gift of prophecy, having omniscience, having perfect faith, donating all his wealth to the poor, and even giving his body to be burned. And his conclusion for all of them is the same: without love, these other things mean nothing. That must mean that love is separate from any of them.

So what is it then? I think it may be beyond our comprehension, but the Bible says that a tree is known by its fruits, so verses 4-8a give us the fruit of love:

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

Look at each of those items carefully and ask yourself how often you show the fruits of love. Are you longsuffering in traffic or with your kids or family? Do you envy other people's success, relationships, or money? Do you try to get people to notice you, even when you're doing something nice? Do you have issues with pride? Do you put others down or not care about their feelings? Do you put your needs above others? Do you get angry and say things you don't mean? Do you assume the worst about others? Do you revel in sin or in the Word? Do you patiently bear your trials? Do you lose faith or hope? Do you believe love actually fails?

The answer for all of us for at least some of those questions (and probably for most or even all of them) is yes. We don't walk in love. We don't even really know what love is. We can't comprehend with our finite human minds what it's like to love someone on a deep level when we know that they hate us now and will betray us in the future. We can't understand love being given without it being earned.

Only in Christ can we be free enough from our sin and shame to walk in God's love. Only then can we accept it in the full way that God intended us to. What the world needs now is really God, sweet God.