“But, Dad. I am an artist.”
She caught me. Thinking that I was complimenting my daughter’s artwork, I merely suggested maybe she would be an artist someday, but she snapped me back to reality with her retort. At five and a half years old, her mass-production of drawings and artwork has been threatening to swamp the house for years already. From her perspective, there is no need whatsoever to worry about going to school, training for years, getting a degree, or jumping through any other hoops in the hope that she might become an artist someday. She believes, and therefore, she is. Right now, in the present tense.
Which is where God asks us to be and to work, too, especially when dealing with people who don’t know about Jesus. Anyone could be saved in an instant - right now - based on something that we say or do because “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Not after memorizing 962 Bible verses. Not after graduating from seminary. Not after serving on at least five church committees. Not after attending services 57 weeks in a row. Not after completing a missionary trip. The thief on the cross next to Jesus (Luke 23:32-43) didn’t have time to do anything except sincerely accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and he ended up in paradise.
While many things can demonstrate our belief in Christ, salvation occurs as soon as someone honestly believes that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Once a person genuinely believes in Him, then “he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Right now, in the present tense.
April 1, 2008
March 1, 2008
1/4 Mile
To race for one-quarter of a mile is one of the toughest running events a member of a track team can be asked to do. Just a little too far to be a sprint so you can run as hard as you can for the entire distance. Just a little too short to be a distance race so you can conserve some energy and pace yourself.
In high school, the coach had us distance runners do many ¼-miles for practice, and after those practices, we all would collapse in near exhaustion. Before one particular practice started, I found a pair of football shoulder pads in the equipment shed, and slipped them on for a laugh. Then I found out practice for that day would be ¼-mile, ¼-mile, ½-mile, ¼-mile, ¼-mile, ½ mile. Ouch. Then the questions started: “Hey, Sean, you gonna keep those on or what?” “Are you wimping out?” “Taking off the pads?” Having a stubborn streak, the pads stayed on as we started.
I made it through the first ½-mile, but was obviously dragging. The workout would have been hard enough without the extra weight, but with it, my legs burned, my lungs heaved, and my heart pounded so hard I thought my ribs would crack from the inside out. So finally, I decided to get rid of the extra weight, and tossed the pads aside. The next ¼-mile run, I was amazed at how much quicker and lighter I felt. I guess you could say that I felt somewhat rejuvenated, even though I was racing for ¼-mile.
If it feels like you’re dragging, like you’ve got a weight on your shoulders or your heart, you might be carrying around some extra burden that you need to toss aside. It’s time to rejuvenate yourself because, as Psalm 12:25 says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down.” “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:6). Confessing our sins is liberating, like being freed of shoulder pads. The race we’ve all got to run is hard enough without the extra weight that sin uses to drag us down.
In high school, the coach had us distance runners do many ¼-miles for practice, and after those practices, we all would collapse in near exhaustion. Before one particular practice started, I found a pair of football shoulder pads in the equipment shed, and slipped them on for a laugh. Then I found out practice for that day would be ¼-mile, ¼-mile, ½-mile, ¼-mile, ¼-mile, ½ mile. Ouch. Then the questions started: “Hey, Sean, you gonna keep those on or what?” “Are you wimping out?” “Taking off the pads?” Having a stubborn streak, the pads stayed on as we started.
I made it through the first ½-mile, but was obviously dragging. The workout would have been hard enough without the extra weight, but with it, my legs burned, my lungs heaved, and my heart pounded so hard I thought my ribs would crack from the inside out. So finally, I decided to get rid of the extra weight, and tossed the pads aside. The next ¼-mile run, I was amazed at how much quicker and lighter I felt. I guess you could say that I felt somewhat rejuvenated, even though I was racing for ¼-mile.
If it feels like you’re dragging, like you’ve got a weight on your shoulders or your heart, you might be carrying around some extra burden that you need to toss aside. It’s time to rejuvenate yourself because, as Psalm 12:25 says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down.” “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:6). Confessing our sins is liberating, like being freed of shoulder pads. The race we’ve all got to run is hard enough without the extra weight that sin uses to drag us down.
February 1, 2008
M&Ms
You don’t need to convince me about original sin – I survived potty training our daughter. When we started to get serious about the whole potty training thing, my wife and I agreed that our daughter would get one M&M for just sitting on the toilet as a method of encouragement. When she agreed to sit, we gave her an M&M. However, we limited the chocolate reward to one try within a reasonable amount of time. No bouncing on and off the potty just to get more M&Ms.
After coming home one night during this same period, a frazzled babysitter and a chocolate-crazed 2-year old blazed past us at the door. Although we discussed the M&M/potty training plan with the babysitter, we forgot to tell her about the “one try” limit. Even at two years old, our daughter instinctually knew enough to swindle the clueless babysitter nine times in just two hours to keep getting more chocolate.
If we could have gotten her to focus through her sugar rush and ask her why she kept lying to the babysitter, I’m sure her very eloquent response would have been, “It is no longer I myself who did it, but it is sin living in me” (Romans 7:17). We were stunned by the deceit she demonstrated so easily. But maybe we shouldn’t have been, for as David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). The sin and the inclination to do wrong were already in our daughter, and it lurks in all of us.
To be properly prepared for Easter, Lent should be a time to repent and purify ourselves to properly present ourselves before God. Yet, with all those sins that we are aware of and unaware of since conception, repentance can seem like a very daunting task. However, repentance is as simple as sincerely asking God to, please, “forgive my hidden faults,” and “keep your servant also from willful sins” (Psalm 19:12-13). Jesus paid for each and every sin we have committed by being crucified. His blood “purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7), whether that sin was deliberate or unconsciously involved M&M’s from when we were seemingly innocent 2-year olds
After coming home one night during this same period, a frazzled babysitter and a chocolate-crazed 2-year old blazed past us at the door. Although we discussed the M&M/potty training plan with the babysitter, we forgot to tell her about the “one try” limit. Even at two years old, our daughter instinctually knew enough to swindle the clueless babysitter nine times in just two hours to keep getting more chocolate.
If we could have gotten her to focus through her sugar rush and ask her why she kept lying to the babysitter, I’m sure her very eloquent response would have been, “It is no longer I myself who did it, but it is sin living in me” (Romans 7:17). We were stunned by the deceit she demonstrated so easily. But maybe we shouldn’t have been, for as David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). The sin and the inclination to do wrong were already in our daughter, and it lurks in all of us.
To be properly prepared for Easter, Lent should be a time to repent and purify ourselves to properly present ourselves before God. Yet, with all those sins that we are aware of and unaware of since conception, repentance can seem like a very daunting task. However, repentance is as simple as sincerely asking God to, please, “forgive my hidden faults,” and “keep your servant also from willful sins” (Psalm 19:12-13). Jesus paid for each and every sin we have committed by being crucified. His blood “purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7), whether that sin was deliberate or unconsciously involved M&M’s from when we were seemingly innocent 2-year olds
January 1, 2008
Heaven
What do you think heaven will be like? One episode of The Twilight Zone starts at the moment a stereotypical bad guy dies, and follows him through the afterlife. He believed that in heaven, everything should go his way, and during the story, everything does. Surrounded by his favorite ways to gamble, the bad guy exclaims “Dis must be heaven!” But he never loses at anything, ever. He plays poker, horse races, craps, and blackjack. The results? Win, win, win, and win, without stopping. So, what brings him great joy at first, turns into perpetual torture, and what the bad guy thought heaven should be like misses the mark by, oh, a few thousand degrees.
Based on the descriptions in Revelation 4:8-10 and 5:11-14, heaven is not where everything goes our way. The focus in heaven is not on us or our own wants and desires. The Twilight Zone bad guy got everything he ever wanted for himself in the afterlife, and he eventually realized he was in hell. Instead, the focus in heaven is where it rightfully should be - on Jesus.
So if you are planning on going to heaven, let me ask: for practice, are you giving Him the glory, honor and thanks for everything in your life now? A glimpse of heaven here on earth doesn’t occur when you get what you want. It comes when you praise and worship and say thanks to Jesus, keeping your focus where it ought to be. We need to rehearse now so that we can join with the thousands upon thousands of angels in their praise. Even just a simple “Thank you, Lord” for the seemingly mundane, everyday events in our lives can help prepare us. Look around at your blessings, and say “Alleluia” as part of your training. Say “Praise the Lord” any time, just for a dry run.
That way you can get ready for heaven, and you can join the praise that goes on for ever and ever and feel right at home.
Based on the descriptions in Revelation 4:8-10 and 5:11-14, heaven is not where everything goes our way. The focus in heaven is not on us or our own wants and desires. The Twilight Zone bad guy got everything he ever wanted for himself in the afterlife, and he eventually realized he was in hell. Instead, the focus in heaven is where it rightfully should be - on Jesus.
So if you are planning on going to heaven, let me ask: for practice, are you giving Him the glory, honor and thanks for everything in your life now? A glimpse of heaven here on earth doesn’t occur when you get what you want. It comes when you praise and worship and say thanks to Jesus, keeping your focus where it ought to be. We need to rehearse now so that we can join with the thousands upon thousands of angels in their praise. Even just a simple “Thank you, Lord” for the seemingly mundane, everyday events in our lives can help prepare us. Look around at your blessings, and say “Alleluia” as part of your training. Say “Praise the Lord” any time, just for a dry run.
That way you can get ready for heaven, and you can join the praise that goes on for ever and ever and feel right at home.
December 1, 2007
The Christmas Shovel
My eyes bugged out when I came down the stairs on that particular Christmas morning. The present stood almost as tall as me, and because it was so big and so eye-catching, it just had to be the coolest present I had ever gotten or would ever get. My mind raced from one possibility to another about what it could be, and who I would call first to brag about it.
After half-heartedly opening several other gifts and encouraging my mother to hurry with hers, the time finally came to open The Present. Tearing into the wrapping paper, breathless with anticipation, eyes wide with excitement, it was . . . it was . . . it was . . .
A long-handled snow shovel. *Sigh*
Christmas seems like a good time to remember what God considers important is typically upside down from we consider important. That’s why non-Christians have such a hard time understanding concepts like love your enemies (Luke 6:27), to be great you’ve got to be a servant (Matthew 20:26), to be first you must be last (Mark 9:35), it’s more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 21:35), rejoice in suffering (Romans 5:3), and so forth.
Therefore, when God gave us all a present on the very first Christmas and sent the long-awaited Messiah and savior of the world, He was not grandiose, showy and pretentious. The King of King and Lord of Lords was born tiny and helpless into humble, simple beginnings, and rested in an animal’s feeding trough (Luke 2:7). As He grew older, Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). In other words, He was easy to overlook. I overlooked a number of other, much smaller Christmas presents to focus on the big attention-grabbing one, only to be let down.
This Christmas, remember “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The person that embodied that gift - the most meaningful and precious gift any of us will ever receive - was so unassuming, modest, and unpretentious, many people overlooked its significance, and chose to focus on something like a big shovel instead.
After half-heartedly opening several other gifts and encouraging my mother to hurry with hers, the time finally came to open The Present. Tearing into the wrapping paper, breathless with anticipation, eyes wide with excitement, it was . . . it was . . . it was . . .
A long-handled snow shovel. *Sigh*
Christmas seems like a good time to remember what God considers important is typically upside down from we consider important. That’s why non-Christians have such a hard time understanding concepts like love your enemies (Luke 6:27), to be great you’ve got to be a servant (Matthew 20:26), to be first you must be last (Mark 9:35), it’s more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 21:35), rejoice in suffering (Romans 5:3), and so forth.
Therefore, when God gave us all a present on the very first Christmas and sent the long-awaited Messiah and savior of the world, He was not grandiose, showy and pretentious. The King of King and Lord of Lords was born tiny and helpless into humble, simple beginnings, and rested in an animal’s feeding trough (Luke 2:7). As He grew older, Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). In other words, He was easy to overlook. I overlooked a number of other, much smaller Christmas presents to focus on the big attention-grabbing one, only to be let down.
This Christmas, remember “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The person that embodied that gift - the most meaningful and precious gift any of us will ever receive - was so unassuming, modest, and unpretentious, many people overlooked its significance, and chose to focus on something like a big shovel instead.
November 1, 2007
The Flower
The flower stood about one foot tall, straight up on top of a slender stem. If you looked close enough, though, masking tape held the stem together, camouflaged after being colored with a green marker. The flower had my attention because it was dead, and I had killed it.
My mother loved her gardens, and spent a lot of time nurturing them. She feared for the safety of her flowers in this particular garden, located a few short steps from the garage on which my basketball hoop was mounted. Her fears were justified when one seemingly harmless shot of the basketball ricocheted off the rim and shot straight into the garden. This one flower got cut down because of a careless shot from me. One careless shot.
Rather than facing my mother’s wrath, I placed the two stem halves back together straight up and down, wrapped some masking tape around the break, and colored the yellow tape using a green marker. I secretly hoped that somehow, someway the stem would magically and instantly fuse back together. However, within half an hour, the upper part of the stem went limp, and bent at the masking tape into a perfect upside-down U, and I was busted. Man, was my mother disappointed in me because I did not do enough to control the basketball near her garden.
In the same way, we disappoint God when we do not exhibit some restraint and self-control over the words we speak to other people and about other people. Just like I damaged one of mom’s prized possessions with one careless shot of a basketball, we all damage His prized possessions – people that He put here and nurtured – with careless and idle words. The Book of Proverbs says as much about the power that we wield with the words that come out of our mouths: “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21).
And once the damage is done, it can be practically impossible to offer explanations using the same mouth that caused the hurt in the first place. The only way that I could have stopped that basketball from killing that flower was to keep the ball from entering the garden in the first place. Although it’s tough in some situations, self-control is the key, because “he who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Proverbs 21:23).
Which is a lot more effective than trying to patch things up with the verbal equivalent of masking tape and colored markers.
My mother loved her gardens, and spent a lot of time nurturing them. She feared for the safety of her flowers in this particular garden, located a few short steps from the garage on which my basketball hoop was mounted. Her fears were justified when one seemingly harmless shot of the basketball ricocheted off the rim and shot straight into the garden. This one flower got cut down because of a careless shot from me. One careless shot.
Rather than facing my mother’s wrath, I placed the two stem halves back together straight up and down, wrapped some masking tape around the break, and colored the yellow tape using a green marker. I secretly hoped that somehow, someway the stem would magically and instantly fuse back together. However, within half an hour, the upper part of the stem went limp, and bent at the masking tape into a perfect upside-down U, and I was busted. Man, was my mother disappointed in me because I did not do enough to control the basketball near her garden.
In the same way, we disappoint God when we do not exhibit some restraint and self-control over the words we speak to other people and about other people. Just like I damaged one of mom’s prized possessions with one careless shot of a basketball, we all damage His prized possessions – people that He put here and nurtured – with careless and idle words. The Book of Proverbs says as much about the power that we wield with the words that come out of our mouths: “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21).
And once the damage is done, it can be practically impossible to offer explanations using the same mouth that caused the hurt in the first place. The only way that I could have stopped that basketball from killing that flower was to keep the ball from entering the garden in the first place. Although it’s tough in some situations, self-control is the key, because “he who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Proverbs 21:23).
Which is a lot more effective than trying to patch things up with the verbal equivalent of masking tape and colored markers.
October 1, 2007
BIG
When viewing the awe-inspiring beauty and overwhelming size and depth of The Grand Canyon, one cannot help but be moved. Many an adjective has been wasted to try and describe the indescribable – immense, vast, magnificent, spectacular, enormous, etc. – but the adjectives are too common to explain something so unique. No matter how many ways people have tried to explain what makes The Grand Canyon so . . . , well, . . . grand, they all fall short because it must be experienced to be understood.
Not that people don’t keep trying. I was experiencing The Canyon from an overlook near the South Rim when the sound of heavy footsteps thundered up from the parking lot. A father had raced ahead of his family to the overlook, and was so overcome with emotion that when he finally caught his breath and stood face-to-face with the most majestic, most breath-takingly gorgeous panorama ever experienced, he yelled back to the family, “Holy cow!! You guys gotta see this thing!! . . . .Oh . . . . Oh, man . . . . Holy cow!! . . . . Wow . . . . Hey, hurry up, guys! . . . . Mmmmm . . . . . Wow . . . . ”
. . . which is just about how eloquent I sound when trying to describe the experience of having Jesus in my life. Unfortunately, I don’t do it often enough, and I do not verbalize it very well on the fly. I suspect that many people have the same problem. Otherwise, we would probably hear a lot more Christian equivalents for “Holy cow!!” during our everyday lives. Despite all the adjectives and descriptions, it seems tough to tell someone about just how much Jesus loves them, and expect them to grasp it after just hearing the words we speak.
Thankfully, though, we do not have to rely on words alone to get the message across. In fact, telling someone about Jesus is probably only a small part of letting them experience His love. How we live, what we talk about, what we laugh at, and how we treat people all demonstrate what we believe in so others can begin to experience Christ’s love for themselves. Only with that experience, coupled with the words we speak, will people be able “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18b).
And holy cow, is it big.
Real big.
. . . which is just about how eloquent I sound when trying to describe the experience of having Jesus in my life. Unfortunately, I don’t do it often enough, and I do not verbalize it very well on the fly. I suspect that many people have the same problem. Otherwise, we would probably hear a lot more Christian equivalents for “Holy cow!!” during our everyday lives. Despite all the adjectives and descriptions, it seems tough to tell someone about just how much Jesus loves them, and expect them to grasp it after just hearing the words we speak.
Thankfully, though, we do not have to rely on words alone to get the message across. In fact, telling someone about Jesus is probably only a small part of letting them experience His love. How we live, what we talk about, what we laugh at, and how we treat people all demonstrate what we believe in so others can begin to experience Christ’s love for themselves. Only with that experience, coupled with the words we speak, will people be able “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18b).
And holy cow, is it big.
Real big.
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