Posted on Thursday, February 27, 2020

If I Should Wake Before I Die

If your house was on fire would you be angry with your neighbor for pounding on your door and shouting to awaken you from sleep? Like the character Grima Wormtongue who deceived and debilitated King Theoden, in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, our culture can bewitch us with whispers and lies that bid us to keep sleeping while darkness and destruction billows on the horizon. As C.S. Lewis’ demonic deceiver said, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.” [1] Friend, God kindly bids each of us to wake before we die! Will you wake up before it’s too late?!

If I Should Wake Before I Die

When I was a small child, my parents taught me a prayer that I believe was part of the vital input that God used to awaken me to His Presence and my accountability to Him.

The prayer says:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.^[1]

It’s a simple prayer, yet it contains some powerful truths that were instrumental in shaping my thinking about the unpredictability of life, the inevitability of death and my eventual day of reckoning before God.

Fortunately, that prayer wasn’t my only exposure to the revelation of God and the Christian worldview. Our family’s affiliation with a conservative Lutheran church afforded me a good deposit of Biblical truth through what that faith tradition calls “Confirmation”. In Confirmation, I was confronted with the Law of God through Luther’s Small Catechism^[2] where I began to see the basis of my accountability to God. I learned that God is pure and upright and that He expects moral purity in our lives, too. I didn’t enjoy Confirmation class. I didn’t like what I learned. Hearing about God’s hatred of sin didn’t make me feel good. In fact, over the subsequent years of my adolescence, I became increasingly more uncomfortable with the growing sense that I was living an immoral life. Thankfully, God didn’t leave me in despair. He brought into my life other voices who built on those foundational truths and pointed me to the Savior, Jesus Christ. (You can read about my spiritual journey at: https://tinyurl.com/ucv79h4.^[3]

In God’s mercy, He used the conscience-shaping truth of a child’s prayer and subsequent exposure to His Law to goad me from slumber and to help me “wake before I die” so that I might flee from the wrath my sin deserves and find refuge in the Person and work of Christ.

“Shhh, You’re Gonna Wake Him Up!” Recently, I participated in an adult Bible study where two individuals attempted to comfort another struggling soul by asserting that “guilt is never from God”. I’ve spent time with this group, and I’m certain that those dear people meant well. Perhaps they were attempting (albeit very poorly) to voice the core idea of Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” My concern that day, and my ongoing concern for many in our world, is that well-meaning, but inarticulate (or worse yet, misguided) people, are urging others to keep on sleeping by offering false comfort when what is needed is assistance in waking up so they might “flee from the wrath to come” and find the forgiveness God has provided for us through Jesus Christ. (Nahum 1:2-3, Matthew 3:7, Romans 1:18-20, Romans 2:5, Ephesians 5:3-6, Revelation 6:12-17)

“Shouldn’t Religion Make Us Feel Good?!” If, at this point, you feel like pushing back against the idea of God’s judgment by emphasizing God’s kindness and grace, you’re not alone. Dr. Everett Piper, the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, noted that “Our culture has actually taught our kids (and some of us older adults) to be… self-absorbed and narcissistic. Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims. Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them ‘feel bad’ about themselves, is a ‘hater,’ a ‘bigot,’ an ‘oppressor,’ and a ‘victimizer.’’’ ^[4] Piper continues, “That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon (or reading a blog) is called <your> conscience. An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization.”^[5]

In other words, guilt can be a good thing if it motivates someone to take action to prepare to meet with God! In all the noise and distraction of earthly living, please remember that each of us will very soon (probably sooner than we think) be called to answer to God for how we’ve lived.

Friend, are you ready to meet God? If you’re not sure please read my article/ Gospel tract at https://tinyurl.com/wrka4f2 ^[6]

If you’re sure you’re fully awake, how about your family members? Are you assisting the young people in your life to experience a spiritual awakening by intentionally laying a solid foundation of objective truth and Biblical knowledge in their impressionable minds? If you’d like some direction on steps one can take with children, (and possibly invigorate your own faith) allow me to suggest a couple of quality tools.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Sally Lloyd-Jones has done a great job of telling many important Bible stories in a very clear way and explaining how these narratives point to or are fulfilled in what Jesus did when He came into the world to rescue us! Get a copy and start reading these well-illustrated and profound faith-building stories to your little ones!

The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds (Gospel Coalition)

The New City Catechism was prepared by the folks at Redeemer Presbyterian (Pastor Tim Keller). The Westminster Bookstore describes it this way, “Simple, visual, biblical instruction in heavenly citizenship, distilled from the great and historic statements of the faith. Continuing the church’s age-old tradition in a thoughtfully arranged 52-question format, this succinct, interactive catechism equips young and new followers of Christ with the crucial truths of God’s Word. Perfectly suited for one-year memorization plans.”

I’ve used these resources with some of my grandkids and they’ve really enjoyed the songs which we’ve played on my guitar as well as with the free recordings available online and through the App Store for both iPhone and Android phones. ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]

Friends, if I’ve learned anything about this unpredictable world it’s that time is of the essence! Please don’t wait to do whatever is necessary to prepare to meet God!

If you want to talk further about how to move toward God and what it means to have peace with God, just let me know!

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 ESV

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men…” 2 Corinthians 5:10,11a NASB

Posted on Saturday, February 22, 2020

Choosing Life: The Profound Influence of the Right Attitude

One of the most critical decisions you’ll ever make is the attitude you embrace in response to undesirable circumstances. While you may not be able to prevent something tragic from happening to you, you can choose how you Respond to what happens to you. You alone have the power to determine the attitude you’ll embrace, and the attitude you choose will either empower you to soar above life’s limitations or suck out of you any remaining hope or resiliency!

The Tragic Tale of Chippy the Parakeet

There was once a little cage-bird named “Chippy”. Chippy was a parakeet who lived a very controlled, predictable life. He felt safe, secure and sheltered from danger. Unfortunately, his predictable life left him totally unprepared for what happened. Chippy the parakeet never saw it coming. One moment he was peacefully perched in his cage and the next he was fighting for his life!

Chippy’s problems began when his owner decided to take a short-cut in cleaning his cage. She was pressed for time so, instead of dismantling the bottom of the cage and changing the soiled paper, she decided to clean Chippy’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. Everything was progressing nicely until the phone rang, and she tried to multi-task and continue cleaning the cage while attempting to answer the phone. I guess in reaching for the phone, she changed the angle of the hose and as she said “Hello”…then, SOPP! Chippy got sucked in.

The bird’s owner gasped, she put down the phone and turned off the vacuum cleaner. She opened up the bag. There was Chippy still alive – but stunned!

Since the bird was covered with dust and grime, she grabbed him and raced into the bathroom and turned on the faucet and held Chippy under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippy was soaked and shivering – she did what any compassionate bird owner would do.

She reached for the hairdryer and blasted him with hot air. Poor Chippy never knew what hit him. A few days after the traumatic ordeal, one of her friends called to see how the bird was doing. “Well,” said his owner, “Chippy doesn’t sing much anymore – he just sits and stares.”

If you’ve lived very long, chances are you can identify with Chippy the Parakeet…life has many ways of sucking us down, washing us up, blowing us over, and stealing our song. You may be the survivor of tragic, painful circumstances that have left you deeply wounded. If somehow, you’ve managed to avoid pain, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, eventually, you’ll join the ranks of the afflicted or disappointed! And when you’re reeling in bewilderment over what’s come your way, my hope is that these words will guide you in embracing a life-giving attitude.

Example vs Non-example

When I lived in the Midwest, I met a man who, like Chippy the Parakeet, had his song stolen by tragedy! Roland (not his actual name) was retired when I got to know him, but to his family, his work ethic was legendary! Though small in stature, he had embodied a passion for work that honored his German heritage! Just 5’ 5” in height, wiry and full of energy. During the day, Roland had worked in one of the big factories in Milwaukee, WI. At night, he was on staff in an up-scale hotel as a bartender and a Maitre d’. He knew how to take care of people and he took great pride in his work!

Roland and his wife Suzanne were frugal people who saved all they could and dreamed of the wonderful day when they could retire and take their hard-earned money and buy a modest home somewhere in the Northwoods where they could enjoy the peace and quiet and engage in some fishing and berry picking when they were in season.

Unfortunately, Roland’s dreams for his Golden years were stolen from him just months after he retired. You see, his beloved Suzanne suddenly became ill from a previously undiagnosed cardiac problem and in a matter of weeks, she died. And when Suzanne died…so did part of Roland! He was crushed, his heart was broken, and he retreated into cynicism and despair. Though his family and friends reached out to him and urged him to re-engage with life, Roland spurned their support and drove everyone away choosing to remain angry, bitter, and alone. And that is how he died! Isolated and alone.

Let me tell you about another man who also happens to be of European

Victor Frankl

ancestry. His name was Viktor Frankl. You may know his name and have an awareness of the content of his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Dr. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian Jew, trained in neurology and psychiatry became a prisoner to the Nazis and endured unspeakable cruelty during the Holocaust.

“At the beginning of his ordeal, he was marched into a Gestapo courtroom. His captors had taken away his home and family, his cherished freedom, his possessions, even his watch and wedding ring. They had shaved his head and stripped his clothing off his body. There he stood before the German High Command, under glaring lights being interrogated and falsely accused. He was destitute, a helpless pawn in the hands of brutal, prejudiced, sadistic men. He had nothing! No, that isn’t true. He suddenly realized there was one thing no one could ever take from him – just one. Do you know what it was? Dr. Frankl realized he still had the power to choose his own attitude. No matter what anyone would ever do to him, regardless of what the future held for him, the attitude choice was his to make. Bitterness or forgiveness.

To give up or to go on. Hatred or hope. Determination to endure or the paralysis of self-pity.”[1] He alone would make these decisions!

And THAT was a turning point in his life! (By the way, Frankl was one of the few who survived the unspeakably brutal treatment of the Nazi death camps. Could it be that his positive attitude helped him to stay healthy and enabled him to endure the horrors of the Nazi’s?)

Bitter or Better?

During my missionary training with New Tribes Mission, Ron Hudson, a regional representative for NTM, spoke in one of our student chapel services. He described how, with God’s help, he and his wife had endured some deep trials, one of which was the death of his two teenaged sons in the same automobile accident. That day he used a very simple metaphor to make a profound point. The crux of his message was this: Every human being you meet is similar to a GRAPE. Just as grapes can be made into wine or vinegar, our personal response to adversity will either make us bitter or better. The attitude we embrace in response to what happens to us will either cause us to become sour and acerbic like vinegar or sweet and stimulating like a rich, vintage wine.

Author and pastor Charles Swindoll wrote: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”

Attitude is like a Filter

One afternoon, a Grandpa was taking a nap on his couch. His seven-year-old grandson got some Limburger cheese from the refrigerator and smeared it on his Grandpa’s mustache.

When grandpa woke up, he said, “This room smells bad!” He went to another room and said, “This room smells bad too.” After walking throughout his house, he said, “The whole house smells bad!”

Grandpa decided he needed a breath of fresh air, so he went outside and took a deep breath and concluded, “The whole world stinks!”

That story illustrates how a smelly attitude taints everything in our lives.

Choose Your Color Carefully

I once read the story of a student at Iowa State University who, before the days of student loans, sold magazine subscriptions for additional income.

As he analyzed the market, he determined that a likely customer might be the president of the University.

The student went to his home and was greeted at the door by the president’s wife who was able to resist his sales pitch by saying that her husband already received more magazines than he could possibly read. The student assured her that he understood and turned to leave. It was then the president’s wife saw something she had not noticed before. The student was physically challenged; he walked with a profound limp. She felt bad that she had turned him down, and probably out of a twinge of guilt called out to him and said, “I did not know you were handicapped.” The student responded that his disability was a result of having had polio when he was a child. The woman then said, “My, how being handicapped must color your life.” The young man brightly responded, “It certainly does, but, thank God, I can choose the color!”

The one who shared that story commented: “How indebted we are to those radiant individuals who bring a perspective of hope and life into a difficult situation… Such persons are not born that way but choose to become that way as they pick their attitudes.“

God’s Wisdom for Turbulent Times

As a Biblically informed Christian, you can find God’s wisdom for living in this broken world. A Heavenly perspective will empower you to choose beliefs that lead to a life-giving attitude.

God urges us to expect trouble as we live in this broken world among people who are rebelling against Him. (Job 5:7, John 16:33, Matthew 10:24-31, Matthew 24:7-13, 1 Peter 4:12-19)
God reassures us that we can be hopeful in hard times because our best days await us when we leave this world and enter His Eternal Kingdom. (Romans 8:18-25; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Reverence for God reminds us that we lack the capacity to fully comprehend what He, the Potter, is doing with us, the Clay. (Proverbs 9:10, Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 18:6, Romans 9:21)
God uses adversity and suffering to weaken our reliance upon ourselves and increase our knowledge of Himself. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
God works through the undesirable circumstances He allows or causes to impact our lives to make us more fruitful for the Gospel and more effective in bringing comfort to others. (John 15:1-2, John 15:8, John 15:16, Philippians 1:12-26, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
God’s goals for us are “out of this world” and He uses adversity to refine us and prepare us for our future inheritance. (Job 23:10-12, Romans 8:28-32, 1 Peter 1:6-7)

My friend, what happens to you is significant.

But more significant still is your response to what happens in your life.

There are many things in life that you can’t control, but please remember, that no matter what happens, you can control your attitude.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”[2]

[1] Charles L. Swindoll, “Strengthening Your Grip”

[2] Viktor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Posted on Thursday, February 6, 2020

Bloom Where You’re Planted

Over the years of my adult life, I’ve had the great privilege of working as a Christian missionary, a pastor and a chaplain. Serving God and others in those roles has been profoundly impactful to me! The combined influence of drinking deeply from the well of God’s word combined with the opportunity to journey with and observe others has been rich! By far the most impactful interactions I’ve had have been with the aged! Observing their dispositions and hearing them tell of their joys, sorrows, regrets and of God’s faithfulness in all of life’s challenges has given me hope and made me a wiser person!

As I reflect on the people I’ve encountered, I immediately recall a winsome, energetic woman whose stroke-impaired husband had just entered the care of the hospice agency I worked for. Jean (not her actual name) was Canadian by birth but had emigrated to the States many years previous. Jean’s winsome manner and magnetic personality was a breath of fresh air to the sometimes dismall interactions this chaplain experienced with others!
As I conducted a spiritual assessment she revealed a rich, fire-tested faith that explained her a hope-filled affect. She described how she intentionally cultivated her relationship to God through personal Bible reading, prayer and journaling. “How did she develop this life-enhancing pattern?” Years earlier, when she was a teenaged girl in Canada, one of her brothers was diagnosed with a rare illness that slowly drew him to his grave. Those were defining days for her and her family. They greived deeply as they watched that beautiful young man suffer. But in the throes of their profound emotional pain, that family encountered an unexpected source of hope and wisdom. “Uncle Bud Robinson” an American Christian evangelist spoke and wrote about knowing and experiencing God in terms that shone the light of God’s hope to this hurting family.

Uncle Bud was a remarkable man! During his long ministry, it is estimated that he traveled over 2,000,000 miles, preached over 33,000 sermons, witnessed more than 100,000 conversions, personally gave more than $85,000.00 in helping young people with their Christian education, secured over 53,000 subscriptions to his church paper, The Herald of Holiness, and wrote 14 books and sold more than 500,000 copies. In spite of his handicaps and physical ailments, speech impediment and lack of education, he made the Who’s Who of California. From Boston to Los Angeles, thousands thronged to hear him, charmed by his homespun wit and his unique presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
His passionate faith and enthusiasm for God is expressed in the following prayer he prayed each morning: “O Lord, give me a backbone as big as a saw-log, and ribs like sleepers (floor joists) under the church floor. Put iron shoes on me and galvanized breeches, and hang a wagon-load of determination in the gable end of my soul. And help me to sign the contract to fight the devil as long as I have a vision, and bite him as long as I have a tooth, and then gum him till I die! Amen!”

Uncle Bud knew, from his study of the Bible, an austere childhood, and vast experience with people, that life in this fallen world frequently deals us difficult, unfavorable circumstances. In his down to earth manner (all pun intended) Uncle Bud Robinson urged them to trust that God, the Master Gardener, was at work in their lives and by so doing they could “bloom where they were planted”, even in the undesirable soil of grief,loss, and disappointment!

By the way, Uncle Bud Robinson, isn’t the originator of the concept of thriving in adversity. Over the years, many other faithful Bible teachers have grounded themselves to God’s promises and expressed that idea in other ways. Consider the words of the prolific writer and Bible teacher Andrew Murray. Murray expressed the belief that God providentially places His own just where He knows they need to be to become what He desires. Let me emphasize that: God providentially places His own just where He knows they need to be to become what He desires.

Andrew Murray expressed this outlook in a sort of list. “First, He brought me here, it is by His will I am in this strait (difficult) place: in that fact I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child.
Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and work in me the grace He means to bestow.
Last, In His good time He can bring me out again—how and when He knows.
Let me say I am here, (1) By God’s appointment, (2) In His keeping, (3) Under His training, (4) For His time.”

Can I ask you a question: Are you blooming and flourishing where God, the Master Gardner, has planted you or are you wasting precious time asking why and attempting to create a way of escape?

Remember, if you’re one of God’s children, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” See Romans 8:28-39
For further encouragement, spend some time reflecting on John 15:1-16

You don’t have to face your struggle alone! Let me know if I can pray for you.