Confidence

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:35-36

What do you have confidence in?  If you are like me, we have confidence in a lot of different things.  I’m confident that my car will get me to the church this morning; I’m confident I’m prepared enough that the funeral I’m officiating this morning will go well.  I’m confident that today is going to be another beautiful fall day in southwest Pennsylvania.

Confidence.

The writer of Hebrews has to remind his readers not to “throw away your confidence….”  Which gets to a point that may be a little hard to see, especially if we have much confidence.  Because we can have confidence in the wrong things, and in doing so we lose confidence in the one right thing.

Even as a pastor I battle this.  My days frequently are busy, perhaps too busy.  In my busyness, I rely (have confidence) on things (cars, personal preparation, weather) that can supplant the one thing I need to always have confidence in.

Jesus.

The passage says that we remain in his confidence, we will be “richly rewarded.”  So as we start a new week –where is your confidence?  Where is mine?  May it be in the One, who knit you together in your mother’s womb.  May it be in the One who wants to give you “what he has promised.”

Jesus.  And be confident.

Happy Birthday

Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many - Proverbs 4:10

I mentioned several weeks ago that I am getting old.  As I consider another birthday, it is hard to imagine that I am on the slide towards 60 years.  How in the, uh, world, did this happen?  Just yesterday I was 21 years young and wondering how life was going to turn out.  Now, I’ve been retired from my first career for over 12 years and have been in full time vocational ministry since.  Guess I’m still wondering how it’s going to turn out in a sense.

I just need to thank the Lord for the years he has given me.   They have been many. And maybe I’m just fooling myself, but I can’t shake the feeling that the best is yet come.  Although I’ve  always felt that way.  But the feeling that the best ministry yet is just around the corner pervades. Being a Christ follower and truster always assumes that great things are coming. Something about the temporal momentary troubles of life paling in the light of eternity. (visit 2 Cor. 4:16-18)

This I know.  I had a birthday some 32 and a half years ago that sealed my fate.  The Bible calls it being born again.  I call it living life with a purpose and having a future that is secure.  No matter how many or few years the Lord gives.  The best is yet to come.  I pray you can see that in your life too.

Happy birthday!

Bite My Tongue

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” - Ephesians 4:29

Well. Ahem. The apostle Paul is calling out some church members for their words. What I don’t understand is that when I read the apostle Paul, it feels as if he is speaking directly to me.

Let me paraphrase what Paul is saying: “If what you have to say isn’t helpful – bite your tongue. But if you have something helpful to say in a certain situation, go ahead.

Sounds like common sense. Interesting that Paul has to remind his readers – me – to use common sense. I guess being a believer and truster in Christ doesn’t always mean that I have to share every last thought that comes to mind. Nor does it always mean that I am to have the last word in everything. Oh, how I wish political candidates would follow what is written here. Then they would surely…. Oh, there I go again.

Bit my tongue….

Walk

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1,2

A lot of us still think we need to sacrifice to get on God’s good side. Those who think that way, and I fall into that trap occasionally, are just wrong. The sacrifice that matters has already happened. Yet the apostle Paul here urges us to “follow God’s example;” but that thought is not so much about the “offering and sacrifice” that Christ loved us with but about “the way of love.” Paul give Christ’s example of “a fragrant offering and sacrifice” as the ultimate example of love.

If you are in Christ, you know you have been so loved. And nothing can take that away from you. (visit Romans 8:38-39; John 10:29). But we are to follow in the example of love. And at times it will mean offering and sacrifice – not so much to God, but to others. There is a cost to being a follower and truster in Jesus.

Think of people you know who have made sacrifices to follow Christ. Think of the thousands, if not millions around the world today that face intense persecution simply because they profess the love and truth of Jesus Christ. They do so not to please or appease God; they do so as a response of being “dearly loved children.’

What has being a Christian cost you? How have you had to offer yourself or sacrifice because of the One who gave himself up for…you? And if you can’t count any cost for walking in the way of love… are you really walking?

Walk on friends. Have a great Monday.

Humility

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” - Philippians 2:1-2

If I were to summarize this paragraph with one word, it would be this: humility. It is a word that has popped up in my ministry time and time again, for some reason; even more so over the past few months. Sometimes we Christians like to run rather roughshod over people, especially when we disagree with them.

There is a debate going on in a nearby community over a concrete rendition of the Ten Commandments that has stood at a Middle School for over fifty years. The School board is really being forced into a corner by one parent (apparently) and a law firm who want the monument moved.

Do I want to see the monument stay? Well, yes I do. I do find it incredulous that a minority of one can force their will upon the apparently majority. Whether you are a believer or not, the Ten Commandments are the moral bedrock of two (maybe three) major world faiths, and the springboard of the history of morality, ethics and law in our nation. Maybe the removal of the monument is the price we have to pay to have a free society, although I remain unconvinced. And I do mourn the direction our country is going.

What has disturbed me more, however, is the seemingly lack of Christ-like demeanor in the debate. By some (not all) Christians. I, all too frequently have not seen “tenderness and compassion” in the debate, or even the expectation of being comforted by “his love” no matter what the outcome winds up being. And I aim this thought at myself first and foremost. For my actions that lack Christ’s humility, I’m sorry and I repent.

This does not mean that Christians do not have the right to very publicly stand on their beliefs. Not only do they have the right in this great land of ours, I believe it is a call of Christ to do so (visit Matthew 10:33). We have to be able to speak truth (and there is ultimate truth in Jesus).

But can we do so “with gentleness and respect?” (visit 1 Peter 3:15)

That is my goal. Give it some prayerful consideration this morning. And may we find “encouragement from being united with Christ….”