Finish Strong

I'm not sure that I've ever seen a sport quite like cross country running.  It is something that combines the spirit of an athlete with every ounce of physical prowess they can muster.  Two of my children participate in this sport with vigor and joy.  All I can think to myself sometimes is that if it were me running those races, you would need to scoop me up and wheel me into an ambulance each week!  Or maybe I just need to get in better shape?

But still my two young ones persevere;  they practice almost every day.  This particular season my daughter's high school team managed to make it to state competition.  Parents and coaches could not be more proud.  There will be side stitches and no small degree of physical pain, as many of them cross the finish line that day.  But there is also glory in the big finish I think.  Once you cross through the final stretch and get your time, it is almost euphoric.  Your body gets to rest, and your mind resets.  You did it ... you accomplished the goal.

In much the same way, many of the saints that went on before us in the Bible ask you and I to stay the course on our faith journey.  We are to run the race as best as we can - side stitches and all.  

Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

But there are obstacles to our faith that make it easy to give up.  Things that get in the way of us doing our best and finishing the race.  Truth be told, it is a big deal for some of us simply to get up in the morning and make it to church on Sunday.  I want to address three areas that I believe can have an impact on whether or not we continue fighting the good fight.

The first area has to do with church culture.  Does a church truly accept people as they are?  Can someone show up in ripped blue jeans and still be welcomed?  Will a newcomer feel out of place or right at home?  Studies have shown that people make up their mind about a place within the first thirty seconds.  That is a narrow margin for success.  It doesn't give us much time to say or do all the right things.  

The second area that can be a deterrent to our faith walk is the baggage that people around us may be carrying.  Do the people in your life support your belief in God, or do they accuse you of being a 'religious extremist?'  Do you come from a faith friendly  background, or do you have a set of friends or family who has been hurt by someone in the church?  Sometimes, all it takes is to be categorized as Christian, and there will be people in your circle of influence who might seek to undermine your belief system.

Finally, our faith walk can be difficult because of our own baggage.  What weighs on our own consciousness as we attempt to live a godly life?  Do we have more doubts about God than we are letting on?  Do we struggle with things from our own childhood or past that might stand in the way of us accepting Jesus now?  For many of us, coming to God is a matter of stamping out our own pride and ego.  In order to accept forgiveness from sin, we must first acknowledge that we have sinned.  Sound fun?  Not so much.

Now let's visit our example again from cross country a moment ago.  Most of us know that when it comes to any sport, you need a coach or mentor in order to excel.  If coaches weren't pushing the high school team to run faster and harder, then there is little doubt they would not be heading to state competition.  Indeed, without a coach in our corner, we would begin to run slower and slower.  Eventually, maybe our practises would look more like fast walking than it would running.  

I believe it works the same way with spiritual things also.  If we are not going to church regularly, if we don't have a pastor or leader, if we don't attend the occasional small group - we begin to run slower.  It becomes easier to get off track ... to believe things that don't line up with the Bible.  We can begin to assimilate back into popular culture.

Take Hebrews 10:25 for instance.  It says, "do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another..."  Apparently, missing church was a problem even two thousand years ago.  We must continue to come together regularly.  Continue to encourage, build up, and edify each other.  It is so much easier to finish a race when there are other teammates beside you, and a coach that believes in you.  There is no need to go it alone.

But what are the rewards that come from staying in the race?  Again, I will mention three things.  First, if we stay in the race, I believe it strengthens our faith.  We can move from a superficial faith which asks 'what can God do for me', to a mature faith that asks 'what can I do for God?'  The difference is palpable. 

Second, it allows for us to have a deep and intimate connection to God the Father.  This comes into play in both our day to day lives, as well as those occasional desperate  moments when we really need someone in our corner.  Staying in the race means we get to partner with God and other believers, in order to bring a message of saving grace to those we know and love.  It allows us to shine God's light out into the community.

Finally, fighting the good spiritual fight means that we get to have lives full of meaning and eternal weight.  There is simply no comparison between the person who lives the selfish life, and someone walking in the faith who is living according to God's will.  It would be like comparing week old bread to something fresh out of the oven.  One bite of the fresh stuff, and you are hooked!  It is better to serve God than to serve ourselves.

Little doubt there will be a finish line for each of us someday.  God doesn't expect us to  exist in this confusing (and often dark) world forever.  There will be a time for the believer when we leave this world and come into eternal joy.  And it is at this place where we will get to repeat the words of 2 Tim 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

 I pray that each of us can keep fighting the good fight, and not give up.  And in so doing, help to make the world around us just a little bit kinder, a little brighter, and a bit more reflective of Christ's light.  It's so much easier to see the way when the path is well lit.  Keep the lantern burning; keep fighting.  Finish strong.



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Just a Feeling

I think most would agree, there are times in our lives when we feel loved, and times when we don't.  It can all seem very conditional.  Most (if not all) of the relationships we have are predicated on conduct and behavior, aren't they?  We may stay happily married, as long as we treat our spouse well and stay faithful.  We may in fact retain our friendships, as long as we take pains to keep in touch as the years go by.  In other words, if we do this and that, we will get such and such result.  It's based on the fulfillment of conditions. 

I've often noticed that these types of conditional things can be accompanied by a sort of anxiety.  Just a feeling really, something inside of us that occasionally rears up its ugly head and says, "I hope I've successfully met all the necessary pre-requisites in order to keep a relationship going."  It takes work and effort, and can sometimes be quite exhausting.

Is that the way God's promises work in the Bible also?  Do we need to act perfect and say the right things all the time in order to get the approved stamp?  Some people would seem to think so.  Indeed, walk into some churches wearing the wrong clothes, and it's one strike against you from the jump.  

But I would like to contend here, that when it comes to the promises of the Bible, we aren't banking on just a feeling as it pertains to God's love for us.  I would like to further contend, that when it comes to God's covenants, the hard work was already accomplished by Him (and not us).  This changes the balance of things.  It changes the nature of our relationship with God; or at least it should.

Humbling, isn't it?  When we stop to think about it, the Christian faith is a story about a Holy God coming down to man, and not just man trying to work his way up to God.

Honestly, there will be times when we don't 'feel' God's love in our life.  I'm often enthralled with the writings of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  Everyone knows that there is hardly a greater example of sainthood to be found anywhere in the world.  She took in the poor, the hungry, and the sick.  She gave faithfully of herself, and had scarcely any personal wealth to speak of.  She was God's worker in a time of need.

But yet she often wrote about the 'dark of night.'  A term which describes a certain emptiness of the soul.  It would appear, that even Mother Teresa went through spells here and there when God seemed distant, or not there at all.

I can pretty much guarantee that if Mother Teresa struggled with her faith from time to time, all of us will be in the same boat at some point in our faith journey!

So how do we counteract this darkness of the soul, when God seems distant and our faith seems strained?  I think one of the main things to remember is that we need to stay in the Word (keep reading the Bible).  As we thumb through the pages and read Scriptures like John 3:16, it is difficult to see anything other than a creator who loves us and cares deeply for us.  Go ahead and try it.  Put down this article right now, and open the Bible up and begin reading.  Tell me it doesn't sound like a love letter written to a people in need.

Israel kept messing up, and God forgave them.  King David committed adultery and tried to have his mistress' husband murdered, yet God called him a man after His own heart. The Pharisees insulted and abandoned Jesus on the cross, but he prayed that his heavenly Father might forgive them, as they knew not what they did.

It is good to read these truths over and over again.  Even better to commit them to memory.  

Try this one from Hebrews 13:5 ... it says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  A short verse but a powerful one.  When the God who made everything and everyone says that He will never forsake you, you may count on that statement as true.  As true as the promise that the sun will come up tomorrow.  And it is true, whether or not we feel it.  He loves us whether or not we notice it in our daily lives.  His words are so much more than just a feeling.

Do you believe this?  I hope so.  Salvation is open to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord.  This means that if you repent of sin and trust in Jesus, you have the great privilege and opportunity of spending eternity with the only being who will love you no matter what, all the time, and forever.  

Jesus has already done the heavy lifting.  As Scripture says, his death on the cross finished the atonement for sin once and for all time.  God extends the offer, and we should accept the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.  It is the final chapter in a celestial love letter written to you and I.  A letter that isn't dependent on conditional and temporal demands.  

How long will God's patient love for us endure I wonder?  After all, in a world where over a million unborn children are put to death each year, where the love of many run cold, and where God is often slandered and insulted, and where pornography runs rampant ... when will enough be enough?

Notice what Matthew 28:20 says about God's gracious love.  It reads "... I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  This is part of what is known as the Great Commission - where Jesus instructs his followers to carry on the faith after He is gone. He promises us that he will be with us, even until the end of all things.

This type of love is too good to be ignored.  Even though we don't see it much in today's world, it is still available to anyone who answers God's call by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.  This is just as true today as it was two-thousand years ago.  

Resting on the fact that God loves us is so much more than just a feeling.  Emotions may come and go, but it appears that God remains steadfast in His position.  A position that says we were worth dying for, we are worth forgiving, and that we are worth saving.

In some ways, I believe this truth is the most important thing that anyone can take away from the Christian tradition.  The idea that we are loved, and that it will endure forever. I am afraid however, because there is so much white noise out there today.  So much Godless talk, greed, envy, and strife in our culture.  So many other ideas competing for our time and attention.  

Go back to the Bible and open it up.  Thumb through the pages that record the history of a Holy God who became man, and then went willingly to be crucified so that you and I could be forgiven.  Then look me in the eye, and tell me that you don't feel loved.




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A Welcome Home Christmas

Christmas is truly a wonderful time of the year.  We get to see friends and family if we are lucky.  We take time out to think about and celebrate the arrival of God's son Jesus.  But sometimes, if you look around during this special season, what you find conflicts with the simple message in the Bible.  We visit shopping malls and department stores, looking for the perfect gift.  Quickly we might find ourselves in the middle of what can look like a doomsday apocalypse!  People with shopping carts elbow to elbow, all reaching up to the store shelves to snatch up that last toy or product.  You must have a game plan firmly in place when visiting these locations, as it is often a fight to get where you want to go.

Occasionally the Internet will save us I suppose, and online shopping can sometimes steer the ship into safer waters.  But here you run into the same problems: stock shortages, lengthy delivery times, and the usual stress.  The venue may change, but the seasonal commercialism stays constant.  It is so often all about money.

I remember one season when a local news station ran a story about Black Friday shoppers at a Walmart.  The geographic location escapes me now, but I remember well the video showing people rushing over one another to buy up merchandise at discount prices.  Small children and the elderly were getting knocked over onto the floor.  A mad dash to meet the demand of the Christmas holiday.  But honestly, what type of celebration is this?  I doubt really that it's for God (not the God of the Bible anyhow).  

But rather, our need to acquire things has replaced the spirit of giving, and the dread of having disappointed children or family members on Christmas morning may have replaced reverence and awe for the creator.  So the masses will go to any length to acquire the perfect present, and to keep up with other families during the holiday season.  We must have our new smart phone or pair of shoes at any cost.

So what does the Bible tell us when we look deeper into the Christmas story?  Most of us know about the manger and the wise men.  We have heard about the difficulty that Mary and Joseph had to go through in order to find a place to prepare for the arrival of baby Jesus.  But let's examine together this passage of Scripture from Matthew 1:23.  It says, "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means 'God with us')."

You will note that here Matthew is reproducing a portion of Scripture from the book of Isaiah.  We are talking about what it means to have God with us.   The arrival of the perfect penitent two thousand years ago meant that we now had the Son of Man with us on earth, event though just for a short time.  He was able to eat and talk with us, able to teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven.  God with us such that Jesus could show us what it means to love one another, to see and experience God's healing touch ... both to wash away Spiritual sin and physical suffering.  His miracles always had layers of meaning.

What a time to be alive for those around him in first century Palestine!  What an honor and a privilege to be one of his followers.  And how far from this we have come, when I watch video of Black Friday shoppers rolling their carts on top of other people, so they can grab up the perfect gift.

We remember also a Scripture from Matthew 27:50-51: "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."

Now what does this have to do with Christmas you might wonder.  You see, the temple we are referring to here was the center of religious life in Jerusalem at the time.  It housed a thick curtain which separated the inner Holy dwelling place of God from the outside world.  Only the high priest was permitted to enter this place once a year to make atonement for Israel's sins.  This was serious business - you dare not enter unless you were the priest, and unless you went through the proper cleansing rituals first.  It was a matter of life or death.

When Jesus cried out his last breath on the cross, the Bible tells us that this curtain was torn in half by way of a supernatural earthquake.  Early traditions maintain the curtain was up to four inches thick!  This action both symbolically and figuratively dispensed with the barrier between God and man.  Jesus' death on the cross introduced the new covenant ... the idea that we are now saved by faith through grace.  God replaced the rule book with the blood offering of his Son, once and for all time.

Now we are talking about a real gift here folks.  This is the type of Christmas present that only a faithful and loving God could give to the world I think.  You can't buy it on Amazon and you can't race to a store shelf at Walmart for this one.

Friends, this means that God's grace was now available to everyone, from that point forward.  Is this a reason to buy gifts and celebrate giving?  You bet, but so much more than that.  It means 'God with us' ... Emmanuel.   It means grace and life everlasting to those who take God up on his promise to accept Jesus as lord and savior.  It means ... He desperately desires to welcome us home one day to be with Him.  The arrival of Jesus to Joseph and Mary that day changed everything. 

This is good news.  The fact that God has chosen to be with us also means that you and I can enact His holy will in the world today.  We can be obedient and follow His commands to forgive and love each other.  You and I can reflect the Christmas story on a daily basis if we so choose.  The Bible speaks often about the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is both coming, and has come.  If we are born again friends, we need not wait around for life after death.  We get to transact God's goodness to other people here and now on planet earth.  Christianity is a living faith - it does something.  It gets us up and moving around. 

It appears then, that we have the Christmas story, so that we can also have the salvation story!  This is what a loving God does for his children.  This is what all the Christmas season fuss is about.  This is the best gift we could receive from the Father of Lights, wouldn't you agree?

Romans 10:9 is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture in all the Bible because it's just so simple.  It says, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."   

Allow this truth to permeate your family this holiday season.  Let the peace and comfort of God welcome you back home and into His open arms.  Let this be a welcome home Christmas.



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