The Good Stuff Is In The Middle

When I say, “The good stuff is in the middle”, what do you think about?  I’m guessing your first thought might have been an Oreo?  Or a Twinkie?  Or a jelly-filled donut?  Can you tell I have a terrible sweet-tooth?  But my reference isn’t to desserts, I was thinking about vacations.  If you make a reservation for a beachfront stay, you have to let them know when you’ll arrive, and when you must leave.  The good stuff is in the middle.  Get it?  That’s where the fun is – the days of sunshine and walking on the beach and lounging by the pool.  When the fun is over, you think less about the day you showed up and the day you left, and more about all the days in between, right?

I don’t want to seem too morbid, but let’s shift the conversation from fun to tombstones.  I know, how do we make THAT connection?  Think about a tombstone.  It has two dates on it – the date you arrive, and the date you check out.  Just like the trip to the beach, right?  And what do we find between those two dates?  A dash.  –

That dash is the “stuff in the middle” of life.  That little line IS your life!  Don’t you think we should be cramming all kinds of “good stuff” into the middle of those dates?  Are you doing it?  The Bible speaks a lot about what should be found in the middle:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  Deuteronomy 6:5-7

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:20-21

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.  2 Timothy 2:2

Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.  Deuteronomy 12:28

What should fill the middle of your life?  Honoring God each day.  Investing in others.  Using the wealth God provides to expand His kingdom.  Reminding the generations that follow us that He is faithful and worthy of our dedication and obedience.  And finding fun and fulfillment in what we do. Read what Solomon said:

I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.  Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

Did you catch that last line?  God says it’s OK to enjoy an Oreo now and then!  And maybe a Twinkie, too.  We worry too much about what’s coming at the END of life.  God desires us to pay more attention to what’s in the middle.  So what’s in your middle?

Jacob

Your Place In Space

I must confess that I am a geek.  Though the term might be considered a negative, its meaning has evolved into one that may even be used pridefully.  And since it might be applied to someone in any one of many fields, I should describe myself as a science-geek.  I actually understand the jokes on “The Big Bang Theory”.  I’ve always been interested in science in general, and astronomy in particular. 

There are numerous references to the stars and space in Scripture, but I love the ones like this passage from Job 38:

“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades?  Can you loosen Orion’s belt?   Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?  Job 38:31-32

Any good astronomer knows Orion – I think everyone should.  And the Pleiades are my favorite; seven stars clustered together.  And the Bear?  That’s Ursa Major, of course, a part of which we call the Big Dipper.  It’s easy to understand why early astronomers thought all the stars revolved around the Earth.  We forget sometimes that we are living on a big blue ball spinning at 1,000 miles per hour while hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour around our sun, while the whole solar system revolves around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, moving more than a half-million miles every hour!  It takes light 100,000 years to travel across the Milky Way and we share this starry spiral with 250 billion stars just like ours.  Let that soak in for a minute.  Feeling small?  It’s enough to make your head spin (pun intended)! 

Unless you’re a geek.  All that math and movement and majesty make me think about our amazing God.   Because He chose this little blue dot in space to play out the events of human history.  No, I don’t believe there are folks like us on other worlds, no matter what the odds.  Because there is only one God who made us, and one Savior for us.  God didn’t just fling the planets and stars into space, He made them for us.  So we would be impressed and amazed by Him.

Some math-geeks at the University of Hawaii famously calculated the number of grains of sand in all the deserts and beaches on earth.  (That’s what math-geeks do for fun.)  It was a big number: 7.5 with eighteen zeroes after it.  But did you ever wonder how many stars there are?  There are 10,000 times as many stars (that we know of) as there are grains of sand on earth.  10,000x.  That’s impressive!  Would you believe there are that many molecules in just 10 drops of water?  God is amazing. 

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth…when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him?   Psalm 8:1,3-4

Great question, David!  We are the pinnacle of God’s creation.  It’s not the earth or the stars.  It’s you. 

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  Psalm 139:14

You were carefully crafted for Him.  The rest of creation was made to impress you.  Did it work?  Tonight, open your eyes to the beauty God made just for you.  Because when you gaze at Orion or the Pleiades, remember that your Father is looking at them, too.

Jacob

Is This Good Enough, Jesus?

Philadelphia.  City of brotherly love, the Eagles, Independence Hall, and cream cheese.  What does Philly have to do with faith?  Actually, quite a bit.  Just the word, though, and not the city.  You see, the word φιλαδελφία (that’s philadelphia in Greek) appears exactly in that form in the New Testament:

…Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  2 Peter 1:5-7

The word translated “brotherly kindness” IS the word philadelphia.  It’s derived from one of the Greek words (phileo) that we often translate “love”, and refers to the kind of love that links us relationally with one another.  It’s not romantic love, nor is it the sacrificial love expressed by the Greek word, agape, which is the bold word translated “love” in the passage above.  As you may be able to tell from the passage, there is a progression of growth expected from each of us.  We GROW to be able to love one another with a genuine, mutual affection.  We don’t automatically possess that ability, but as we become more Christ-like, we can love one another with phileo-love.  Ultimately, our desire is to be able to love one another with the greatest self-sacrificing love, agape.

Which brings me to the following famous exchange between Peter and Jesus:

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”  He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”  He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”  And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.  John 21:15-17

Why did Jesus ask Peter THREE times to answer a simple question when it appears Peter answered it the first time?  Because the English translation hides a secret.  The first two times Jesus asked, “Do you love me?”, He was using the word agape.  To which Peter answered, “You know that I phileo you.”  Catch the gist?  Jesus wanted to know if Peter was ready to give it all to Jesus.  And Peter said, “I’m not quite there yet.” 

What about the third time?  Jesus said, “OK, Peter, do you phileo me?”  Peter responded, “I phileo you.”  I know the dialogue sounds funny that way, but Jesus was taking Peter where he was.  He knew Peter was afraid; that Peter had already failed to stand up for Him when challenged; that Peter didn’t want to let down Jesus again.  So Jesus lowered the bar.  Not permanently, but long enough to let Peter catch up.  Did you happen to notice who penned the words in the first quote?  Peter.  He got there.

Aren’t you glad you have a Savior that accepts you where you are before He takes you where He wants you to be?  Do I love Jesus with the self-sacrificing love He deserves?  I’m working on it, just like Peter did.  I’m guessing you’re right there with us?

Jacob

Are We There Yet?

You’ve heard this question if you’ve ever traveled with kids (or impatient adults): “Are we there yet?”  We know travel is measured in distance (if you live in the east) or time (if you live in the west).  But how do we measure other things?  Athletics is measured by championships.  Investments are measured in Benjamins (Ben Franklin’s face is on the $50 bill if you’re not up on the lingo.)  The standard for actors is awards won, though they apparently now measure themselves by how many political opinions they express.  But how do we measure ourselves as Christians?  How do we determine our “spiritual score”?

If your first response is to balk at the idea of trying to measure something spiritual, I understand.  But don’t you think it makes sense to use the yardstick God provided when He shared His heart through His Word?  There are lots of passages that let us know how if we’ve “arrived” as believers.  Let’s look at a few of them:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Galatians 5:22-23

If the omnipotent Spirit of God is resident in your life as a believer, shouldn’t you be bearing the fruit associated with the Spirit?  Are these things present in your life?  All of them?  ARE YOU THERE YET?

…Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   2 Peter 1:5-8

Check your spiritual math homework.  Have you added virtue (or character) to your faith?  Look at the end of the equation – have you added love to brotherly kindness?  Did you skip any steps, because if you did, the numbers won’t add up.  One quality builds on another, yet we need them all.  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.  Romans 12:9-13

Now that’s a tough list.  Read through it again and notice all the character qualities that should be a part of your life.  If you need a spiritual measuring tape, there it is!  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Sometimes life deals us a tough hand.  We don’t feel like we can hang on to our faith, let alone try to grow in it.  But God has a word for you even if that’s where you find yourself:

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:3-5

This last list gives you some mile-markers to let you know if you’ve arrived as a believer, and is summarized by one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture: “Hope does not disappoint.”  Our trip through life is marked off in miles and minutes.  But our spiritual journey is measured by how much we look like Jesus.  ARE YOU THERE YET?

Jacob 

Change is Coming – Whether You Like It or Not!

“There’s a new sheriff in town!”  Have you ever heard that expression?  It’s usually meant to be a not-so-subtle statement that shouts “Change is coming!”  Change is a natural part of life.  Just look in the mirror if you doubt that.  But often, references to change that come with the words “new sheriff” attached are changes that are coming with an attitude.  When does that kind of change occur?  Typically, when things aren’t going well.

When problems exist, solutions are necessary, and change is often a part of that problem-solving process.  Business isn’t going too well, make changes.  Church isn’t reaching and changing people like expected?  Make changes.  Kids are spending too much time on their iPads, make changes.  (Or is that last one too convicting?)  MOST people resist change, hence the “new sheriff” metaphor – even if you don’t WANT it, the new sheriff is here to enforce change.

Jesus was all about change.  He said:

You have heard that it was said…But I say to you…  Matthew 5:21-22,27-28,33-34,38-39,43-44  (He said it a number of times to reinforce the point)

Jesus was trying to change the minds, and then the hearts, of those who heard Him.  Behaviors that were THOUGHT to be acceptable needed to be changed.  Information that was believed to be complete was only partially so.  New directions and new attitudes were the intention, and isn’t that what change is all about?  In the passage above (from the Sermon on the Mount), Jesus was trying to move people to a BETTER place, not just a different place.

People do differ on the subject of change, no matter whether it’s necessary or not. Here are a few common arguments against change:

• “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  (Poor English, but I know you’ve heard it.)
• “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  (Yes, you can.  You CAN’T, however, teach a cat anything.  Just kidding cat-people.  Don’t write me.)
• “We never did it that way before.”  (The seven last words of the church – stagnant churches, anyway.)

But folks do sometimes come down on the other side of the argument. Ben Franklin said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished!”  He was obviously a believer in, and an agent for, change.  John Kennedy reminded us, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” 

Most churches fall into the earlier category of resisting change.  But can you think of a more powerful example of a change-agent than Jesus Christ?  He changed EVERYTHING.  He put an end to sacrifice, once and for all time.[1]  Jesus helped us see that humility and service are virtues.[2]  He taught us to change the way we view those who hurt us or seem to be our enemies.[3]  And I could go on and on and on.  Jesus came to shake things up.  The religious establishment didn’t like it any more than some of the church committees I’ve known. 

I don’t think we need a new sheriff to force change.  I think we just need to stay close to the Savior and the Spirit He sent.  I guarantee that if you hang close to them, change is coming!  Like it or not.

Jacob

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[1] Hebrews 10:9-10

[2] Mark 10:43-44

[3] Matthew 5:43-44