When I was in college and driving home with friends for the holidays someone asked if any of us ever wondered where all these other people in their cars were going. I'd never thought about that before! Isn't it a great question? Where are they all going? I'd always seen just cars and never thought of the person behind the wheel or what their goals or intentions were. Were they happy, sad, lonely, or lost?
This morning, while in my car again, a song came on the radio that I'd heard many times before, but it struck me in a new way today. The song is by Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes.
Here are the words to the chorus:
"Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see"
He describes two people who are struggling and are embarrassed. My heart ached when I listened to these words because I know there are so many people hurting that need to know God loves them. They need someone to acknowledge their existence and their pain, and to give them hope.
We can be so busy with our own lives that we are blinded to those that are right in front of us - just like I'd never seen behind the windshield of all those cars and never even asked myself where they might be going.
If we want to be used by our Father, we need to take these words to heart and ask God to give us His eyes. But, even if He gives us that perspective, we still have to be willing to slow down, or stop, and look around us, to look into the eyes of a stranger, and truly see what God sees. We have to look beyond the surface and not allow ourselves to be distracted by beauty or ugliness or deformity or our own discomfort. Take the Lord's eyes and look into their heart, care about them, and desire to help and share God's love with them in a unique way that they can receive (the Holy Spirit will reveal this to you if you ask for it, are patient, and trust and let Him lead you).
People are everywhere and so if we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit we have no excuse not to make a difference today. Will you give it a try?
Father, please be with us as we get out of our comfort zone. Lead us by the Holy Spirit to those who are open to your love. Help us be kind and help us care. Help us make a difference today and all year long!
There is a TV show called, "American Pickers." Maybe you've seen it. It's two guys from Iowa driving around the country in search of old "treasure" - antiques. These guys will spend hundreds of dollars on rusty, old, broken pieces of items from fifty years ago or more. Sometimes they find a jackpot and will spend thousands! I'm sure it is a fun adventure searching for relics of our country's past, and truly finding treasure can be fun. Many times they will come across a person who has sheds and sheds full of "treasure." Some only valuable to the collector. Nonetheless, just think about how much stuff they have! Maybe you need to see it to appreciate it, but it reminds me of something Jesus once said:
Luke 12:16-21
"And he told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."
So often we are consumed with having more or better things. We're no better than the person Jesus described in these verses. We get sad or even upset when we don't feel we have enough. We can become consumed with righting this "wrong." We come up with creative ways and excuses for accumulating more stuff. Just when we think we have enough, we discover there is more to obtain. We see it on TV or we see it in the homes of others. The pursuit of "more" can be never ending.
The story of the leaders of the Enron Corporation is a perfect example of where this lust can lead. Former Vice Chairman J. Clifford Baxter fulfilled Jesus words. After much scrutiny, law enforcement found that he had ended his own life - unable to bear the guilt of what he'd done and how his desire for more stuff and more money stole the security and future of the company's employees who ultimately lost all of their retirement savings.
So I ask you, what are we seeking? What are the treasures we are trying to obtain or collect? Shouldn't we seek to be rich toward God, our Father (Luke 12:29-34)? Let's attempt to be content with what we already have in material form, and seek the treasures of Heaven instead. Those are the only treasures that will follow us when we depart this life.
Father, give us your wisdom as we think about the material things of this world we live in. Give us clarity on what treasures we should truly be seeking and help us glorify you and help us bring others into the saving grace of Jesus!
This morning, driving to work my eyes captured the wonder of this world our Father created. The sunlight shown at just the right angle to highlight all of the tiny details lost during the mid-day sun. The fields with remnants of the past season still showing. The farm animals feeding in the fields of corn that have been abandoned for winter. Tractors sitting idle in anticipation of spring. This morning was a great reminder to me of our Father's attention to detail and I was thankful to share that time with Him.
He impressed on me during that drive to work that there are people who are feeling alone and isolated right now, even rejected. Is that you?
We may find ourselves surrounded by people, but we can still feel alone if we feel no one really cares or really knows who we are. That is why I want to share this verse with you today. Do you know that your Father in Heaven is thinking about you every second of the day? He thought of you even before you were born! Our Father in Heaven - our Dad - loves each of us so much! If you are feeling alone and isolated right now, let me encourage you to know that the one that made you is not only with you right now, but He is excited about being with you. Yes, no matter your state of mind or body, your Father in Heaven is with you right now and will never leave you! You are loved beyond words! Soak that in as you read this verse:
Psalm 139:13-18
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You. When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they were all written. The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, Oh God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake I am still with you."
My prayer for you today is that even in the busyness of life where we race from one task to the next or maybe in the loneliest of times, you are reminded of, and take hold of, your Heavenly Father's immense love for you. Yes, for you.
Have you ever found yourself driving down the road or highway when someone gets angry with you for obeying the law? Ever been in school and found you are harassed by a bully for no good reason? Do you have a parent or sibling that has scarred you? Maybe Christmas didn't turn out like you'd hoped or maybe you're jealous of someone else. You've heard the phrase, "those that are hurting, hurt others." Why? Many times bitterness and unforgiveness run rampant in our lives. We're angry because we've been hurt so deeply. Maybe this rings closer to home than we'd like to admit. Maybe we are the bully. Either way, there is a great lesson to be learned.
In Luke 17:6 Jesus is talking with his disciples about forgiveness. You'll recall "mustard seed" from this verse, but what about "sycamine tree?" Did Jesus pick that tree just because it was near by? I don't think so.
The sycamine tree grew in the Middle East during these times. It was one of the hardiest trees and could grow in any environment. It grew to heights of thirty feet or more and had roots that went so deep it could survive the driest conditions. Even cutting the tree down didn't guarantee it would die because the strong root structure could allow it to grow again. The wood from these trees was even commonly used to build caskets, and it's fruit was bitter to eat.
Are you beginning to see why Jesus would use this tree as a comparison as He talked about bitterness and unforgiveness? Like this tree, unforgiveness can run deep into our hearts and even superficially dealing with it won't make it go away. Just like this tree being able to grow in any environment, each of us, no matter where we are in life, are prone to get hurt and harbor unforgiveness. No one is exempt. The wood from the tree commonly being used for caskets can illustrate that unforgiveness is DEADLY! The bitter taste of the fruit couldn't be eaten quickly - it took time to eat just one seed. Just like when we've been offended, the bitterness lingers as we replay the offenses over and over again.
Thankfully, Jesus tells His disciples that this nasty tree with deep roots of unforgiveness can be cast into the sea if we only have a little faith. It doesn't take a huge amount of faith to remove our bitterness. Just a humble beginning the size of a tiny mustard seed and we can pluck it out of our hearts by the root and cast it into the sea for good.
If we are harboring unforgiveness towards someone who returns to us and repents, even if they sin against us and repent seven times in one day, we are commanded by Jesus to forgive them. If we don't, that unforgiveness will grow in us just like the sycamine tree and the longer we hold onto it, the deeper its roots will go to the point that it can choke out our own lives and make us miserable.
The good news is that if we chose to forgive, it only takes a little faith on our part to begin believing those roots of bitterness are drying up and being removed.
Let's do what Jesus said and forgive those who have hurt or wronged us and allow the fullness of our lives to be restored today. Take the first step today and don't wait for them to repent, we are equipped to forgive even without their repentance. The choice is yours to make and with our Father's goodness added in, we can have the joy back in our lives starting right now!
Luke 6:40 - A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
Tonight as I've thought long about the birth of our Savior that we are currently celebrating, a sober thought consumes me and Luke 6:40 captures that. Do our lives reflect that we have been trained by our Teacher, our Savior? Do we truly know the heart of our Father like Jesus did? He is such an incredible example, but I think many of us are afraid to follow our Teacher, to be perfectly trained by Him. Trust me when I say I get it. Life is hard, we struggle to survive these days. It is terribly distracting to think about where our next meal will come from, how we will pay our rent or mortgage, how we will ever find a good job again. I'm afraid we might be at risk for missing the heart of this baby who we celebrate today. Are we aware of the distractions in our lives? When Jesus entered His ministry what did He focus on? Building a big, powerful church with a huge income? I'm not against that completely, but the answer is NO! He was not concerned with that. Do you know what he wanted above all else? He wanted all those around Him to know his Father. He wants YOU to know His Father. He doesn't care that we are sinners. He doesn't care that we are crude, sick, or poor. HE LOVES us so much! Look at who he spent time with in His ministry. He was with all those who struggled, sinned, hated, and killed. His love for them surpassed their currently disgusting state of life. We need to take at least two things from this: He loves you and me no matter how dirty or disgusting we may be. Be encouraged by this. We are truly loved, WAY beyond our comprehension! Lets accept that and give our best to follow Him. Secondly, if we want to be like our Teacher we need to love the unlovable, push down our flesh and minister to those Jesus would have. It's easy to judge and hate others and to not be anywhere near them, but let's intentionally try not to do that (Luke 6:37). The character and love of our Savior is becoming so real to me and I pray it will be to you as well. I know this can be a hard change in our perspectives to embrace, but let the words of Jesus in Luke 6: 20-23 be an encouragement to us.
Father, help us recognize our lives for what they are and that you love us despite our failures. Jesus focused His ministry on people just like us. Help us follow that example and not be afraid to share your good news with everyone, even those we do not like or are uncomfortable being near. Give us your heart and help us make a difference.
In the 1980s the word "choice" was a slang term we used when we thought something was particularly "cool." We'd say strange things like, "wow that new movie was really choice! You should go see it!" Oddly enough this wasn't too far off how the word was used in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible to refer to the best of the best. Proverbs 8:10, "Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold..." We can see that choices, or choosing, actually is very significant to our Father. In Ephesians 1:4, we see that God chose us, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Continuing with the 1980s theme you'll all recall the TV game show, The Price is Right. In January 1983, the show's producer debuted the game Plinko. I believe it is still on the show these days. In the game, the contestant would drop a chip from the top of the game board. It would slide down, bouncing off pins propelling the chip left or right until it came to rest at the bottom, revealing the cash amount won. I think in our own lives we play the Plinko game through the choices we make. Big or small, significant or not, ultimately we come to a final resting point just like the Plinko chip. Where will that be? Will we be in the $20,000 slot, the $0.00 slot, or maybe somewhere in between? Like the game, we may not know at first. Like the game there are many factors that impact the final outcome. I believe one of those factors is the choices we make. Like the pins the chip bounces off in the game, our choices push us one way or another in life. EVERY choice we make impacts our future to some degree. It's a no-brainier that we need to be aware of this and give thought to which slot we want to end up in. With the end goal in sight, we can choose to make choices that will eventually get us there - Ideally where our Father wants us to be. Pretty "choice" isn't it?! How will your choices today impact you and others tomorrow, or in many years to come? Your future begins now.
Romans 12:3 - For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Translated more clearly from the Greek text, Paul is admonishing us to know our limits and not "to think over-confidently" about our abilities.
This season as you prepare your homes to celebrate our Savior's birth, like Paul, I want to encourage you to think realistically and rationally. Don't take on more than you can handle. Recognize your gifts and limitations and allow (and ask) others to help and be used by God too. This is true in all areas of our lives. Lets make this season all about our savior and not about us.
God bless you!
Acts 16:25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
What? Since when does being imprisoned equate to anything worth singing about or praising God about?
Yesterday I wrote about some of the hardest trials in life I've had to deal with. I wish I could say I was singing and praising God during that time like these guys did. Are you doing that right now through the junk you are dealing with? How often do we feel like what we're going through in life must be like being in prison? It feels like our poor circumstances are preventing us from experiencing anything better.
This past fall, God started to open my heart to a different perspective. Like Paul and Silas, we CAN find joy and peace in our "prisons" of lack, of poor health , of frustration, etc. I began to realize what these guys had was something I could experience too. I didn't get it right away, but decided to start practicing it. I failed a lot, still struggled at times, but I never stopped trying. The one nice thing about being alone in prison is that it can allow us to focus more on our Father. When we realize He is with us in that solitude, we can begin to see Him more clearly. We can start to rejoice knowing that He hasn't left us! While the pressures of our prisons squeeze in on us we can still push back the darkness and frustration by practicing being in his presence. I use the word practice intentionally. We're not suddenly perfected in our ability to block out the circumstances, but as we continue to try, the closer we get to singing praises in prison too. I encourage each of us to give it a try. Then give it a try again and again. Our Father is with you and me no matter where we are and no matter what we're dealing with. Let's practice being in his presence and letting go of what seems to be pressing in on us. Maybe then Acts 16:26 will be true for us too!
Has life ever really ticked you off? Maybe you're furious about something right now. In the past few years I've had plenty of opportunities to be angry, hate life, and question my Father's love for me. I've been "let go" from two jobs, struggled terribly financially, forced to move out of our home, forced to file bankruptcy, and thought I'd lost it all. It makes trying to find a good parking space look like nothing - even though I know that is frustrating too. I'm reminded tonight of the trials Paul went through as he tried to establish the early church. I now have a home. Paul didn't. I have a car. Paul didn't. Paul gave up everything to WALK hundreds of miles, constantly in danger from the land, the elements, and his own countrymen (2 Corinthians 11:26). Yet he persisted. When led by the Holy Spirit, he traveled to Macedonia (Acts 16:9) against all odds just to be obedient.
Today you and I will face challenges and frustrations that may seem insurmountable as we try to live out God's plan for us. But none of these things take God by surprise. He didn't cause the problems or even plan them, but He did equip us with all the power, wisdom, and insight we need to overcome them. I pray today that you and I will stay committed to do what He's calling us to and that we will trust Him to guide us. Father, please forgive us for our failures and help us succeed and make positive change today. Help us be patient, strong, loving, kind, forgiving, and committed. Thank you for filling us with your love! Thank you for equipping us!
John 8:7
My church pastor's message today was a great reminder that we should not be so prideful in our earthly positions that we think we are better than anyone else. We love you Pastor! Your message has been on my heart all day and I can't help but think even if we aren't boastful in our position on earth, like you described today, we are all at risk of thinking we're better than others and because of that we can cast judgement (of which we deserve an equal measure). I want to stir everyone up and ask you to think of those you haven't forgiven. None of us DESERVES forgiveness. It's only because of the LOVE of our Dad in heaven and His FORGIVENESS that we aren't all destined to hell. I challenge you to think about this as you look upon others and judge them. Let's intentionally and honestly forgive those around us who have hurt us. Bring God's love into the equation and forgive. Our own unforgiveness frees us to live out His will and make a difference. We need to push down and rebuke our own PRIDE so God's love can make a difference in this world. Will you join me and forgive someone today?
