STAYING UPRIGHT AND ON COURSE

If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.

Proverbs 24:10 - NKJV

I think this Scripture from the Book of Proverbs holds an especially important message for all of us right now. The word translated “adversity” here is a Hebrew word that means trouble, pressure or distress. Have you noticed that a lot of people are experiencing some adversity lately? Or, if they aren’t, the media is trying to make sure they think they are. Whether it is financial, marital, or even physical distress, trouble seems to be all around us – even on our doorstep.

But this verse implies that there is a strength available to the people of God that will hold us upright and on course through times of adversity. If we believe what the verse is saying—and we had better—we need not faint or falter when adversity comes to call. The word “faint” here means to relax the grip, drop the guard, abandon our post, or withdraw. If, when pressure comes, we grow weary and give up the fight, then what we have been calling strength, is no strength at all.

We Christians talk quite a bit about our convictions and our principles, and rightly so. We are people who have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. We have let go of our old ways of self-interest and self-reliance to partner with God in the expansion of His kingdom on earth. We have realized that, not only are we incapable of achieving eternal life on our own, but we make a pretty big mess of life in general when we try to live it for our own selfish purposes and in our own human power. We have given up that way of living in favor of walking by faith in God. As we walk by faith in God, we are empowered by His Spirit and His Word in every possible aspect of life.

There is another verse that says; “The Lord will give unyielding and impenetrable strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace.” (Psalm 29:11 Amplified Bible) God’s strength is custom tailored for the day of adversity. If there were never a need to resist evil, or overcome temptation, or wrestle with the desire to give up, why would God give us His strength? If adversity comes, and we quit—quit living for God, quit trusting Him to keep His promises, quit relying on His ability to bring His will to pass in our lives, quit standing on the eternal truths of His Word—our “strength” is a small, fragile, human counterfeit of the strength that God possesses and gives—it is no strength at all.

Recently, I have been trying to learn to sail a boat. On Blue Mesa Reservoir, with the winds constantly gusting and changing direction, it has been challenging to say the least. But, my boat is equipped with a large, heavy keel that acts like a pendulum, keeping it on its feet through the changing winds. When a gust hits, this 500-pound keel serves to keep the boat upright, and the shape of the keel works with the sails to turn the force of the wind into forward motion. I believe that God’s Spirit and His Word held deep in our hearts work much the same way. They serve to keep us upright and on course through all the extremes that life can throw at us.

So I encourage you this month to spend more and more time in His presence, and in His Word. Ephesians 6:10 says, …be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him… Don’t give up, don’t faint, and don’t quit. Bottom line, if Christians quit the devil wins. But if we stand, he has no hope whatsoever.

THE WORSHIP THAT IS CHOSEN

Last night, at our mid-week Bible Study, We had a great discussion that centered on the idea that God loves the worship, or devotion, that is chosen. We started by asking the question, why were their two trees in the Garden of Eden? This was before the fall of man and the entrance of sin, and yet God created an environment for mankind that included options. Man had to choose from the very beginning. There was never a time when man existed that he did not have to choose between the life of God and the knowledge of good and evil.

I believe that says something about God Himself, and about His design for man. God values relationship that is free-flowing, not coerced or manipulated. God loves worship that comes from a willing heart. When we choose to love and serve God, it says something about our value for God.

During the discussion, a question was raised about why, if God does not select certain people to be saved, and others not to be saved, if it is really a matter of choosing what God has provided, are there not more people choosing God? Why are our churches and Bible studies not full to overflowing? I believe the answer lies in fallen human nature. Choosing God means choosing a way that is not the most popular, and requires a great deal of personal dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. Jesus paid the price for our sin, and salvation is a free gift, but walking with God on earth, while a blessed and satisfying way of life, is not the easiest road to walk.

I think Jesus answered the question well when He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).

Jesus is an open door that leads to life. In fact, He Himself is eternal life. But if you are going to follow the path of least resistance, or follow the crowd, you are most certainly going to miss out on God’s plan for your life. On this earth, the places that draw the biggest crowds, and the most public approval, are rarely the places that are filled with God’s Presence. So choose well, choose wisely, and choose to worship the only One who deserves it.

TRANSFORMERS

(Ephesians 4:22-24) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

In the last couple of weeks, I have had several great conversations that all led to the same place; a discussion of the way God can and does change the way we think. The Bible has a lot to say about our thoughts, and our patterns of thinking. We are told that the way a person thinks in his heart so is he. The phrase “thinks in his heart” clearly refers to more than just the thoughts that we think; it refers to habitual ways of processing thoughts coupled with an overall context in which we think. This context through which we filter all the input that comes into our lives is called a worldview.

Jesus directly linked our thoughts and our actions by clarifying for us the correlation between sinful thoughts and sinful actions. He said that thinking about adultery is committing adultery. And of course, the Bible tells us that our lives are transformed to reflect greater and greater degrees of Godliness by the renovation of our minds.

What continually amazes me though is the degree to which a genuine encounter with the presence of God not only affects what I think about, but the way I think. That, my friends, is a real miracle. I can, to a degree, change the things I think about by sheer will power. But only God can change the way I think. Only He can transform the very way I process information and the way I see life. Only revelation from God can change my perspective of things to the degree that I relate to them on a brand new level.

The other day we were out at the lake getting ready to put the sailboat in the water. We had the 27’ mast raised on a boat that sits about 6’ off the ground on a trailer, and we were driving up to the Zebra Mussel Inspection point. To get the boat inspected you drive through the inspection area and then follow the road around a little building to go back down toward the lake. Just beyond the building is a set of powerlines. It looked from where we were sitting in the car as though the mast would not make it under the wires. But from 50’ away, outside the car, it was clear that the lines were much higher than they looked. The point is that in order to see the truth of the matter, our perspective needed to change. When we interact with God, and draw nearer to Him, we begin to see elements of life from a totally new perspective–His perspective. This new perspective transforms our thinking and therefore our actions.

This process of transformation of, not only the things we think, but the way we think, that leads to new behavior has a name–it is called repentance. While we usually think of repentance in terms of sin, and certainly that is a legitimate use of the word. However, repentance describes a process where the way we think is transformed to reflect the way God thinks. That transformation leads to new, Godly, behavior.

I’ll close with one more example. When I was young, before I came to Christ, I thought that if you “loved” a girl, it was fine to have a sexual relationship with her. I could see where one-night stands were probably immoral, but if you “loved” someone, why not sleep together? All the commandments and morality lessons in the world couldn’t shake that belief. Even after I became a Christian, and mentally assented to the fact that the Bible said sex was reserved for marriage, I could obey the commandment, but I didn’t understand it, I couldn’t live it from my own heart-conviction.

Then one day it hit me. I had completely misunderstood what the word love meant. I thought love was an emotion that I felt, any sense of endearment and passion for this other person. When I realized that loving someone means that you are willing to lay down your life for the other person’s highest good, it all became clear. If indeed sex outside of marriage is sin, which I accepted that it was since the Scripture says so, and if sin hinders a person’s relationship with God and produces death in their lives, which the Bible says it does, how could I be loving someone and drawing them into sin? No way, not possible. Once my perspective of love changed, then my behavior toward those that I loved changed.

This particular revelation influenced many areas of my life. How could I continue to go to the bars, or drink socially if I might be causing my brothers and sisters to stumble? The Bible didn’t say I couldn’t drink, but if drinking meant so much to me that I was willing to do it at the risk of hurting other people, maybe I needed to think about how much of a hold alcohol really had on me.

What about criticism, anger, cynical thinking? How could I have negative conversations about people, expect the worst from life, hold grudges and still pray with a clean heart – wouldn’t work. Love said pray, so I had to give up the negativity. I could go on and on. One revelation of God’s character will change the way you think, and many of your actions will change in turn. So, the key to Godliness is repentance, and the key to repentance is seeking God’s face. As we see Him as He really is, we are transformed. Be a transformer – seek His face.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY STARTING AGAIN

I am excited about our midweek Bible study starting up again tonight. We took a break for several months while we prayed about what God wanted to do with it. Karen and I both felt that we still need to have a mid-week study, but we were not sure about the format of it. Starting tonight, and for the rest of the summer, we will be meeting outdoors for a shorter study and plenty of fellowship. We will also have some evenings of worship around the camp fire later in the summer.

We have found over the years that summers in Gunnison are a perfect time for building strong friendships that serve to keep our lives strong through good times and bad. We have seen countless examples of Christian people that do not value connecting with other members of the body of Christ, and in most cases, they feel that they simply don't need those relationships. They feel fine, until a storm strikes their life. At that point they have no one to help them through, or hold them accountable, or encourage them with the Word of God.

There are just no two ways about it, God intends for all of us to be joined to some other believers in our lives and to serve other people with the gifts that He has placed in us. Disconnected people are vulnerable to attack, and often fall where they could have stood strong. So, we need to be intentional about building and maintaining genuine Christian friendships. Believe it or not, as unspiritual as it may sound, coming out consistently on Wednesday nights, studying the Scripture for a while, then walking, or fishing, or roasting a marshmallow with a friend or two, might be one of the most powerful decisions you ever make.

For weekly information on the location of our mid-week Bible Study, please see the summerlife blog link to the left.