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In Search of Truth

February 27, 2012 by areliablefaith

When Lisa came home from the hospital one of the challenges was getting sleep. I was reminded of the days when we had little ones in the house because every night was a series of short naps broken by tending to various needs Lisa had. When she spoke with the doctor he said the mind protects itself after a major trauma by not allowing you to get into the deepest sleep where you might dream and relive the trauma. He recommended that we get some “white noise” in the room to help calm Lisa’s mind. So I bought a white noise machine.

The machine I brought home simulates many different sounds – an ocean crashing against the shore, a waterfall, a summer night with crickets chirping, a rain forest with birds calling, a steady rain, etc. Lisa latched onto the steady rain and she (and I) have gone to sleep with a steady rain falling every night for the past 4 weeks.

I have to admit the sound is rather calming when I just relax and accept the sound as the reality. But sometimes I can’t do that. One of my tasks is to make sure the dog is put up. When I step inside from a glorious winter night with no clouds in the sky and then climb into bed with a steady rain falling, my mind will sometimes begin an analysis of the obvious deception we are playing on ourselves. Perhaps even worse is the morning when I am trying to get up. Rising early has never been a big chore for me. Somehow when it is raining or at least when my mind perceives it is raining the waking is much more difficult. And in the first moments of morning consciousness I struggle to distinguish that the rain I hear is not the truth, but only a manmade “reality”.

Listening to our noise machine is not the only time that I am faced with deciding what is truth. Every day we are bombarded with hundreds, perhaps thousands of messages proclaiming things as truth. Advertising is predicated upon convincing us that a particular product is right for us so we buy it. We are in a political campaign and the candidates are seeking to convince us that they are persons who understand what is true and will fight for that truth. Okay in the political campaigns they may spend more time trying to convince us the other guy doesn’t have a clue about the truth, but the point is we have so many messages out there that it is hard to distinguish what is the ultimate truth.

There is also a mindset that all truth is relative, that there is not ultimate truth.  Perhaps it is because of my background as an engineer but I have never had much of a difficulty with the relativistic mindset.  I know that 2 + 2 = 4 and will not = 5.  There are things that are ultimate truth.  Admittedly that makes me stubborn at times about things that I have accepted as truth and I am wrong about, but I am convinced that my occasional inaccuracies about the truth does not change the veracity that ultimate truth exists.

The questions then is how do we know truth and how do we avoid all the deceptions that exist?  There are a few things that I have found helpful in this regards that I can share.  I am also interested in what others have to say so please sound off in the comments.

First as I mentioned above I am convinced that there is ultimate truth.  It begins with God and it is revealed through His Word – the Bible.  Now God chose to reveal himself through a book written over more than 1000 years by approximately 40 different authors so it does provide some interesting challenges to interpretation.  The Bible was written to be taken within the context of the whole and interpreted with Holy Spirit guided understanding.  John 16:13 says: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all truth.”  I have found guidance and comfort in the Word of God countless times.  It has never failed to provide reassurance for me in trials I have faced and questions that I have had.  This reliance upon the Word has been a trait that has been cultivated since I accepted Jesus as my Lord in 1983, so it is not necessarily a flip-the-switch action that automatically makes truth so much more clear.

Another help I have found is to hold onto times when Life Truths were clearly communicated to me.  In many cases these have become family stories that we frequently share.  As I sit and ponder this point I can easily picture a dozen times when God has showed up in our lives in real and tangible ways.  These Life Truths reinforce that 1) God is, 2) that God cares for us, 3) that God’s timing is perfect, 4) that God is more than enough to meet our needs, 5) that God has a sense of humor, 6) that God has a plan for every one of us… I could go on and on with truths that God has reinforced through direct interventions in our life.  I expect I will get to share a few of these stories over the coming weeks.  The point is if we ask God to get involved in our lives He will.  And each of those interventions becomes a touchpoint where we can say God taught me this truth… He is faithful, He is Love, He is Great beyond measure, He is!

The last help that I rely upon is the counsel of those I know to be persons of humility, integrity, and truth.  There are authors that I put in this category such as CS Lewis and Chuck Swindoll.  I put our pastor in that category.  My father is another that I look to with a high degree of regard.  I meet with my brothers and we often discuss different topics.  I have come to value their input in helping me to clearly see the big picture.  And being the father of adult children, I have learned that they have wisdom to share that often illuminates the truth better than if left to my own devices.  And finally the greatest human help in identifying truth is my wife.  Lisa knows me better than anyone now.  She understands how I think (and she loves me anyway), she understands my moods (and loves me anyway), and she knows my blind spots.  Because of this she is in a unique position to help me see situations and questions outside my normal paradigm.  Yes it takes tact and humility, but when we walk in love this becomes more the norm than the exception.  And the benefits in terms of seeing situations more clearly are amazing.

My time is up this morning, but I hope I have shared a few things that can help you in your search for truth.  As a parting thought, I encourage you to ask God to show you truth.  He loves it when we ask for this and then diligently seek to know truth, because the first thing we find is Him.  He is the ultimate truth.  When all else fades away, and all else will one day fade away, God remains.  If you do not know God it does not really matter because He knows you and if you want truth you will meet Him.  Just keep looking for truth and you will find it and you will find Him.  God bless you.

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Sin – Deal With It NOW!

February 24, 2012 by areliablefaith

I had a bit of a strange dream last night. I was with the soldiers that captured the mansion where Saddam Hussein resided. But instead of his escaping to hideout for several months as happened in real life, he was there and we captured him. He was a broken man, defeated and powerless in the face of the strength of the righteous army that had swept in and broken his tyrannical dictatorship. We left him and quickly moved through the house providing humanitarian aid and help to the wounded, broken, and naked people throughout the house. Although I am not sure why it seems important at this time, one of my main tasks was to find weapons and destroy them and find clothes for people to put on. It seemed that more than half the people were either without clothes or dressed in rags.

I do not remember fighting perse, but I do remember being dressed and equipped as a fighter. My main mission, and I was the leader, was to help people. After removing all the weapons we could find and getting people stabilized and dressed we began talking with them. Many were cautiously appreciative, others told stories of terrible abuse and mistreatment, but a few appeared to be as in a trance. I remembered that we had left Saddam in a room upstairs so I went to get him and bring him down and take him away. As I slipped in the room from one direction I caught sight of him leaving the room from a door on the other side. Somehow while we were gone he had cleaned up, dressed in a fresh uniform, and amazingly appeared 20 years younger – a vital, strong, proud man. I watched with horror as he marched down the stairs and began to interact with the people we had recently liberated. Various reactions from terror to disbelief to adulation were recorded. The young Saddam for his part did not seem to have a recollection of being recently captured or deposed, but he knew clearly that HE was in charge. I realized at that point what a huge mistake we had made in treating him kindly and underestimating his power.

As this thought came to me my alarm went off. As I awoke my first thought was, “That is how we often deal with sin in our lives. We push it aside saying it is defeated and get busy with other things only to have it rear its ugly head strengthened and more entrenched the next time.”

The scripture for this morning is from Ephesians 6:10 – 12.  “Finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

In my dream I made a huge tactical mistake.  As a fighting unit we correctly pinpointed and subdued the leader of the opposition.  But we did not deal with him in a way that totally eliminated the threat, we did not take away his ability to come at us again.  I mentioned above that I my main mission was to help people.  I was eager to get to the part of giving aid but that was compromised by my failure to address the most pressing threat to their long-term safety.

Many who call themselves Christians struggle with achieving the abundant life that Jesus offers.  One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, is because they fail to deal with sin in their life.  I know that the early days of my walk were full of identifying and casting off habits and attitudes that the Holy Spirit showed me were sinful.  But even today closing in on 29 years later, I still have to be attentive to the Holy Spirit as He points out areas where my heart can be lured away to sin.  Two situations last night came up that could very easily be traps for me.  Yet this morning I know that I must decisively deal with the potential sin in my heart so I can wisely deal with the situations at hand.

For those reading this who may not be of the faith or perhaps you are a new Christian, let me take just a moment to put things into perspective.  God dealt with the ultimate consequence of sin – separation from God, through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.  God who is holy could not allow sin to reside with Him.  God who is just said the penalty for sin was death and separation from God.  God who is love said He would pay the penalty in our place.  He sent His son Jesus to stand in our place when the judgement for sin was carried out.  Jesus was the only person who has ever lived who was without sin.  For this reason His sacrifice is able to cleanse us all from all unrighteousness.  God’s only requirement is that we come to Him in faith accepting Jesus sacrifice on our behalf and making Him Lord of our life.

These two steps capture the essence of what it is to be a believer.  And following these two steps will result in abundant life.  Not a pain-free or challenge free life, but an abundant life.  Let me say that making Jesus Lord of your life is all encompassing.  One of the primary tasks we must undertake is to identify and deal with sin in us whenever and wherever we find it.  Sin left unchecked will prevent access to the abundant life Jesus offers.  It will ruin our witness for Christ.  It will hurt us and those around us.  And Jesus wants to help us deal with it, but we must respond to Him with faith in action.  When He points out sin in our life, or we come to a situation where the potential for sin exists, we must act decisively by saying NO to sin and yes to grace, truth, and love.  Temptations will come, but God who conquered death, hell and the grave is more than able to help us say No to every temptation if we put our trust in Him.

Have a blessed day!

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Alike or Related

February 23, 2012 by areliablefaith

This morning as I lay thinking about how good God is, the thought came to me – “I wonder if many other people become overwhelmed by how good God is to them?” Sometimes it just amazes me how real, loving, and good God is, despite all my shortcomings. Even in the midst of difficulty, in fact I would say especially in the midst of difficulty, God shows up with mercy and grace in tangible ways. I have written briefly about my wonderful wife’s unfortunate accident where she broke her leg in the post Broken Legs, Mended Hearts. Well the list of positives from that painful event is long – a strengthened bond between Lisa and I, a deepening of each of our individual walks with Christ, a real and tangible change in our attitude and approach to fitness, a cleaning out of some of the “junk” that had built up in both our emotional closet and our bedroom closet, better communication with each other and within the family, flourishing relationships that had once grown cold… all of this as a direct result of God using a broken leg to shift our focus to Him.

So back to the question – is this rising up of gratitude within a commonly shared trait with others?  My best guess at this point is that it depends upon whether we are alike or related.  Let me explain.  As humans trying to make a life in this current day we share many things… the same weather, traffic, interpersonal relationships, TV commentators, restaurants, robocalls, work demands, etc.  In essence we all have a long list of things in common that alternately challenge us or make us happy.  Now overcast skies for days on end or snail pace traffic are two things that I struggle to appreciate.  And I believe in a poll these would generally fall into most people’s “DO NOT LIKE” list.  For these and many other LIKES and DISLIKES I believe that most of us share common feelings.  Because we are alike we generally respond to similar negative things with dislike or disapproval and positive things with approval and appreciation.

But what about this feeling of joy and gratitude when dealing with something that really isn’t on everyone’s “Favorite Things to Do” list like breaking a leg?  Well I believe this is more a factor of who your Father is, it is more an attribute of being in the family of God than it is anything else.  As I think back over my life I can picture those times of serious difficulty and see a distinct difference between my life BC and AC.  Before Christ I got myself into a few problems in addition to the normal issues we all face.  I can remember the stress of painful decisions, tough actions, and the lingering after effects.  One of the most troublesome aspects of all is the second-guessing of myself that invariably takes place.  Some for getting into situations that I shouldn’t have gotten into in the first place and others for making choices that negatively affected others.  But After Christ things have been much different.  For one the problems that I generate are much fewer.  By striving to obey God’s revealed Word and honoring authority, I have fallen into fewer troubles of my own making.  However, that by no means ensures a trouble-free life.  Issues still arise (we do live in a fallen world) and the consequences of others actions still impact us.  In some cases trouble finds us with no tangible cause that we can name.  Yet in my life since becoming a child of God, the attitude I once had has disappeared and a new attitude and approach has taken its place.

The AC approach is pretty simple.  The first step is to take everything to the Lord in prayer.  If the trouble is of my own doing, I repent, seek to make amends if I can, and ask for forgiveness.  The bible says God is faithful and true and He will forgive us our sins if we humbly repent.  As one who has availed himself of this on several occasions I know this to be true.  And not just true in a head knowledge way, but with tangible proof in my soul.

Once I’ve dealt with my complicity in the trouble I then move to asking God what He wants to teach me through the trial.  I have learned to never waste a good challenge or difficulty.  I am convinced I have learned much more in the hard times of life than in the seemingly good times.  God wants us to grow to be more like Him, more aware and supportive of others, more loving in all our relationships, more like Jesus.  The Word contains so much rich material for thriving in tough times.  In addition devotionals like “Jesus Calling” can be very helpful in our faith walk.  It seems like every day since Lisa broke her leg the reading from our devotion has been spot on.

Another very important step is engaging your network of family – the family of faith, to hold you up.  This can take many forms such as providing acts of service when you most need them, giving a listening ear, praying for you and with you, or even holding you accountable in your decisions.  It probably could go without saying, but that family of faith thing goes both ways – when other family members are in the midst of difficulty God will give us the opportunity to minister to them as they have done for us.

The last steps I have learned are to stay in constant conversation with the Lord and allow thankfulness to flood your soul.  Like this morning, I could not help but be grateful for all God has done and is doing in our lives.  He is truly active in bringing about good in and through us.  It is amazing… which is what I was thinking of at 3:31 am this morning when I woke up.  God is so good.  His love endures forever.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

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Is it Real?

February 13, 2012 by areliablefaith

Some of the things young children innocently come up with can be rather amusing… and poignant too. When our oldest daughter was young she fairly quickly grasped the meaning of the word REAL. However for some reason she got it in her mind that the opposite of real was not FAKE but rather PLASTIC. Her world was divided into that which was real and anything that wasn’t real was plastic. When she was 5 years old we took her and her 2-year-old little brother to King’s Island in Cincinnati. Not too long after we entered the park I heard Rhiannon squeal and shout, “Look it’s a Smurf” To which we all hurried over to meet the Smurf. I have pictures of Rhiannon and Jonathan hugging the Smurf. As the Smurf walked away I heard Rhiannon tell her little brother, “See, I told you we’d see something REAL!”

This morning as I think about that time I still chuckle remembering the earnestness in her voice. In her mind she had just met a REAL cartoon character and that was about the coolest thing ever.  I realize that my perspective as her father allowed me to see the reality of the person inside in a Smurf outfit. What was REAL was the person doing whatever they could to earn a living. Using Rhiannon’s own lingo of the time, the Smurf was really just PLASTIC, a facade of a character put on for an occasion.

You know our Heavenly Father sees perfectly.  He understands that we sometimes put on our Smurf suits to do whatever we can to get by.  We feel we won’t be accepted or taken seriously or loved if we don’t act / look / think a certain way.  We try to become something else other than who we are created to be.  The who we are created to be is a child of the King – a beloved daughter or son of the Lord God.  Unfortunately this truth is often hidden or, if perceived, hard to hold on to.  But it is a truth that God wants us all to know and to share.

As I write this I realize there are two groups of persons who may read this.  First are those who feel this way and struggle to gain an accurate picture of who God is and how valuable they are to Him.  Jesus specifically reaching out to them, speaking to them is hard to believe.  And yet that is the truth of all truths.  God loves you unconditionally.  He willingly died in your place so that you could be made whole.  Second are those who know this truth as a settled fact.  This group is responsible to live out the reality that God is REAL, His love is REAl, and our purpose is to know Him and make Him known.

My prayer today is that you gain and hold a clear picture of God and His transformative love for you.  That God speak to your deepest need and that you respond to the REALity of who He is and what He asks of you.  And that you find yourself wrapped in His love walking out your days in His peace and joy.

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Worship 1

January 30, 2012 by areliablefaith

It was an awesome weekend of worship. The band from our church had a Night of Worship on Saturday in conjunction with the release of their latest worship CD. The 14 songs on the album are all original from different members of our church and performed by the band including members across the five campus’. The style is in the same vein as Chris Tomlin and the focus is upon our great God. If you get a chance look up the “No Other Name” album by the NewSpring Band.

Mentioning the night of worship makes me think of what worship is. As many of you know my occupation is as a Reliability Manager. I help my company’s plants understand what is necessary for the plants to run more consistently, producing product at a lower price by having the equipment do what it is supposed to do, when it is supposed to do it. One of the biggest tasks I have is to convince people that reliability isn’t just what maintenance does when the equipment breaks down. Reliability is all the activities, behaviors, and culture that have any impact upon the health and care of the equipment. Yet most persons have a very narrow view of reliability. The same is often true of the word Worship. In many cases we look at it as the time we sing praise songs. In other cases we may expand that view and encompass when we go to church. Even more progressive thinking would broaden that to say we worship when we are intentional to serving others in Christ’s name. I believe this is a fairly accurate definition although I see another level of worship that I believe we can and should aspire to and that is having the mind of Christ.

We are called to live “in Christ”. We are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are children of the King. All of these show our reality, yet so much of the time we don’t receive, perceive, or feel these truths. In many cases we can experience a nearness to God that lasts until we walk out the door of the church, or until the first trial trips us up and then we seem to fall back into turbulent ways of the world.  For me it is usually a gradual losing focus that gets my eyes off of the reality of living in Christ and onto whatever task or challenge I am up against.  A great Sunday service, a true Sabbath rest, solid praise music in my car radio can all help me maintain focus a while longer, but like a water bladder that has a pinhole leak, over time I lose that sense of joy and Christ-centered focus that buoys me above the fray and gives me such sharp focus.

I have had seasons in my life where this pattern has been broken and I experienced an extended time of divine joy.  Last year during Lent was one of those times.  As I look back at that time I see a few reasons which I will briefly mention and then I will go into greater detail in the coming posts.  1) I was committed to being obedient to a task that I know the Lord asked me to do.  2) I had other believing friends who joined with me in prayer.  3) The Lord by His Holy Spirit moved in situations and circumstances to make His presence clearly seen.  4) We were intentional about seeking and doing whatever the Lord asked us to do during this season.

It is my intention to have a Lenten discipline again this year that draws me closer to the Father.  However after Lent last year I relaxed and I know that was a mistake.  I am asking for the Lord’s guidance now on both the Lenten discipline and the follow up.  He is faithful and I am asking that He do whatever He needs to in me to grow my faith.  Won’t you join me?  To God be the Glory!

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Broken Legs, Mended Hearts

January 26, 2012 by areliablefaith

Pastor P said something the other day that struck close to home. He said God won’t give you another important task until you have obeyed the last thing He told you to do. For me the common refrain as I cry out to God over the past 3 – 4 years has been Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands love your wife like Christ loved the Church, He gave Himself up for her”.

I love my wife, Lisa, and I have committed my life to her. My vow before God and gathered friends almost 27 years ago is still true – I will love her til death do us part. There is no other woman for me. Yet when compared with Jesus’ sacrificial love expressed toward the church, my love is a very pale thing indeed.  And I have played the “Oh yeah, He was God so of course my love toward Lisa will be so much inferior.”  But somehow that doesn’t wash.  When I get desperate and cry out again the Spirit whispers the same thing, “Dan love Lisa with that redeeming, sacrificial love that Jesus loves the Church with… He gave Himself up for her.”

Almost 3 weeks ago Lisa broke her leg pretty badly.  She was in the hospital for a week.  She had two surgeries and faces at least one more.  And the pain was such that the pain meds only took a bit of the edge off, but never really gave her true relief.  It was over two weeks before she slept through the night.  She is getting better but we have 10 more weeks before she will be able to put any weight on her leg and then an extended period before she will be back to full functioning.

During this time I have been able to see a vast difference in how I respond and act toward Lisa compared to before the accident.  I am ashamed of how independent and detached I really was.  With my beloved in such pain and helplessness, a better more loving part of me emerged to care for her.  Despite the pain we have laughed, cried, and talked more than in the previous year I think.  And Lisa has responded emotionally and spiritually in ways that bless me greatly.  We already look at this accident as a blessing from the Lord.

As I write this blog today I know we are at a turning point.  I am a little tired from performing most of the chores.  I am ready to get some of the things that I want to do done.  I am about to have to go back to work at the pace I usually do.  And yet I know these things as I have practiced them in the past were part of the problem why we had grown distant.  I do not want to go back there.  So this morning I ask for God’s help to do that which I know He wants me to do – to love my wife like Christ loves the Church.  And even as I ask I know He will help me to do this because it is His will for me.

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All Things New

January 3, 2012 by areliablefaith

I am not exactly sure why I get so pumped up about NEW things, but I do. New beginnings excite me. I like traveling to new places, meeting new people is fun, starting a new year gets me amped up.  I believe that it is part of our spiritual DNA that we have a desire for new – to experience something new and better.  All who come to Christ experience this as they become a “new creation”.  Here is a list of NEW things that I enjoy.

New friends and relationships

New opportunities to share God’s love

New work assignments which give me an opportunity to grow and learn

New babies… and new christians

The fresh start a New Year provides

The fresh start God’s forgiveness provides when we recognize and repent of sin in our lives

Sunrise

A new place visited

Seeing my wife in the morning or when I return from a trip

Seeing old friends anew

A new book

God is creative.  He is the author and creator of all that is and all that will be.  He makes all things new.  As His children we have that creative spark within us.  God allows a mother and father to participate in the creation of a child.  He enables the composer to create a beautiful symphony.  And He gives us each day to enjoy and participate in new beginnings.  People that we meet can experience Christ’s love through us.  Places we travel to can be viewed through eyes that see it anew.  Tasks we undertake can be done in a new and creative manner.

My prayer today is that we relish the NEW God offers to us this day and we allow Him to use this awareness in His transformation process… in us and in the world in which we live.

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An Answer to Our Nation’s Current Crisis

January 2, 2012 by areliablefaith

I have no confidence in the political process bringing about a resolution to our country and the world’s current problems. Financial problems continue to roil Europe threatening a world-wide deterioration while in this nation we battle a tremendous debt problem combined with stubbornly high unemployment. And the national political leaders are unable to work together in a cooperative manner to do anything helpful. No, I don’t have faith that they can solve our problems. But that is not a bad thing because this reflects the reality – mere man left to his own devices is incapable of doing what must be done to “do right”. And the current climate in this country is still one that doesn’t want God to get involved. This is a recipe for disaster, but it is also the recipe for salvation.

Since I am a reliability engineer, one of the tools that we use is called root cause analysis or RCA for simplicity. In RCA you look at all the evidence and then you put this together to identify cause and effects. As you link these together you are tracing back to the initial inadequacis that led to the progression that created the undesirable event. I have been involved with hundreds of RCA’s through the years and I have observed that any significant failure has multiple root causes, not just one.

Obviously with something as large as our current financial crisis there are many root causes. There are some rather obvious elements along the failure path that have garnered much attention in the press. Banks that engaged in very risky lending practices, congress members who pressured lenders to make loans available to persons who could not legitimately make the purchases they were considering, people who used credit in unwise ways, the list of intermediate steps is very large. For the sake of simplifying this discussion let’s just say that a lot of bad decisions were made in the progression of this crisis and then identify what some of the motivations for those bad decisions were.

1) Greed – While a lot of loans made carried risk, they also represented very high potential pay-offs to banks and individuals in the short-term. Many individuals were motivated by greed.
2) Power – there was signficant political pressure brought to bear to make loans available that were extremely risky. The payback was greater political power to those who could say they were “helping” their constituents even if they were really only making it easier for people to get in over their head.
3) Coveting – we want / we deserve what everybody else has and the government must make it possible for us to get it. This is a first cousin to greed and carries the same negative consequences if left unchecked.
4) Complacency – unfortunately this one has been in place for a long time and is directed predominantly at the church. There are very real needs in people’s lives that often go unmet for lack of the church being the hands and feet of Jesus. Government steps in and tries to implement solutions… secular solutions to needs that contain a spiritual as well as physical need.

There are many more types of root causes but the gist is that they all trace back to some type of sin.

Before I go much further I want to speak to some of the legitimate though complicit thoughts and actions that were also involved. The desire to better oneself and their family is totally legitimate. It is a fundamental reason that I believe this country is an exceptional nation. Our Founding Fathers understood this and they sought to build a nation that would promote and reward this type of spirit. I do not believe this was an accident, but rather the providential guidance of the Almighty God. As I read the constitution and the Federalist Papers there was not a guarantee that everyone would prosper, but rather a government structure designed to make it possible for persons of moral character, i.e. integrity, hard work, perseverance, etc. to succeed. There is nothing in our constitution that serves as a promise that everyone will succeed. That’s simply a political ploy to win votes and gain power. It is not a promise that can be delivered upon.

This is one of many distinct differences between man’s way and God’s way. Man promises things he cannot deliver on and then blames others, usually the other party, when things don’t work out. God promises to forgive our sins and to walk with us through life AND He does it. Government promises many things, but takes much more than it gives. God promises a few things, but delivers so much more than we can ask or imagine. Government has a short-term perspective which at the longest generally stretches only to the next election. God has an eternal perspective.

Back to the root causes of why we are where we are.  Ultimately the goal of a good RCA is to identify the root causes of a undesirable event so that the appropriate actions can be taken to prevent it from ever happening again.  In some cases such as our current negative national state the results of an RCA will tell us what steps to take to move back to the positive.  The negative political process is an issue that has arisen and is a problem to be dealt with, but it is a separate issue from the poor economic state and I do not want to deal with it in this post.

If we look at the four root cause types I have identified they all fit into the biblical term of sin.  While I believe that the government has a responsibility to create and enforce laws that promote a morally good nation, there are two major problems that I see with this.  First, the individual heart if bent upon evil will find ways to do what it is they are led to do.  Laws will be broken or laws will be circumvented so the persons who are impacted the most are those who desire to do right anyway.  Second, the more laws the greater the loss of freedom AND the greater the opportunity for misuse of those laws to control the populace.  While I don’t agree with everything the libertarians advocate, ultimately each individual is responsible to God for their actions and a government that governs the least seems to me a better vehicle than one that oversees every area of our life.  (A topic to dig into more at a later date.)

So if sin is at the root of many of the causes to where we are, then we should go to the expert on dealing with sin – God.  Now I see a definite order in how these things need to be addressed.  It has to begin with the church.  The body of Christ must begin by recognizing and repenting of our complacency.  While we could probably come up with dozens of ways we have been complacent, I think it is reasonable to boil it down to just a few and I will talk about two today.  The first is our failure to be sufficiently in tune with the Holy Spirit that we have failed to hold up, pray up, serve up the hedge of protection around this nation.  The church is to serve as watchmen on the wall (Ezekiel 33) and yet our voice is marginalized to the point of insignificance.  While that is partly due to the effective attack of our spiritual enemy, it is also a reflection upon our ability to wage effective spiritual warfare.  We are to “never give in” to the enemy.  The church has a God-given responsibility AND a divine promise if we fulfill that responsibility.  At the dedicate of Solomon’s temple God spoke to the people of Israel a truth that is ours today as well.  In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, ” if My people who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”  This is how this current mess will be resolved.

The second is our failure to fully understand and meet the needs of a hurting and dying world around us.  This awareness and response to the very real needs of others has been a hallmark of the Church for 2000 years.  It has waxed and waned, but it has always remained one of the defining elements of Christ’s body.  In America the role of the church as been challenged and in many areas usurped by the government and we have allowed it to happen.  I shudder when I hear stories of the church simply shuffling people off to government agencies to meet their needs.  It is no wonder that people clamber for the government to “do something” when the church as been of so little help in the past.

I must wrap up for today.  While I have outlined my read of the situation and the two primary actions that I see as beginning points for restoration, I do not have a good sense of when this will change.  I’m convinced it will begin as soon as the church gets serious about our role, but I don’t hear a lot of churches speaking about this yet.  And I do believe God will allow it to get however bad it needs to get for us to wake up.  He sees with an eternal perspective for each and every individual on earth.  He wants us to know Him, to receive Him, and to walk in love and obedience with Him.  Our pain, whether it be for days or even years, is small in comparison to the glory of eternity spent with Him.

Please join me in praying for and working for revival.  And in your churches pray and work for a heart that reaches out to the community where you live with Jesus’ love and compassion.

God’s peace.

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God in the Workplace

December 20, 2011 by areliablefaith

God is omnipresent. A big word that means He exists in all places at all times. He is everywhere. He is there, but we may not always recognize that He is there. One of the tactics used by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil is to put God into boxes and then shrink those boxes. While this doesn’t really work in terms of limiting God, it is often effective in limiting our awareness of God. The solution is very simple; maintain a close relationship with God and the reality of that intimacy will overwhelm any attempt to shrink God into a box.  The practical application of this is sometimes a little harder to achieve.

One of the early lessons in my walk with Christ was that I am not always capable of the success and achievements I aspired to.  But God did want me to be successful.  I believe that is true for every one of us.  God wants us to be successful, but not necessarily in the way we have pictured in our mind.  For me there have been goals that have had to be laid down because they did not line up with what God had planned.  And the interesting thing has been, when those have truly been surrendered, what has replaced them has been so much more fulfilling.

I was a project engineer early in my career.  I had a project to install several pumps, piping, tanks and assorted equipment.  I had $4.5 million to spend and a timeline to meet.  As a young Christian God was really training me in many areas.  One of those was an amazing season of prayer and God’s faithfulness.  As it approached crunch time on the projects with the paper machine outage and installation at hand, I was overwhelmed by my inadequacy to anticipate all the demands of the job.  I had done everything I knew to do, but I was also sure that questions would arise that I was not prepared for.  This drove me to asking for Gods’ guidance.  Not just a quickly uttered prayer as I rushed out the door, but a true covering-the-work-in-prayer type of prayer.  I knew in my own limited knowledge and understanding I would not be successful, however I trusted God to provide the wisdom and guidance I needed each day as I faithfully asked.  As the project progressed the questions and challenges did arise, but in every case the answers and solutions came.  Sometimes they came directly to me from out of the blue (God exists in the blue since He is omnipresent).  Sometimes they came from other persons.  Sometimes they seemed to resolve themselves.  At the end the project was a major success… on time and under budget.  The biggest take-away from that project was that the Lord’s faithfulness carried the day.  I offered up what little knowledge and skill I had and applied them to the job while surrendering this meager offering to the Father who supplied the remainder.

Today I get to that place of surrender on occasion, but unfortunately not always.  Because I have a lot of experience now in my field of work I sometimes just do what I have done before and not take the time to surrender each situation to the Lord.  In many instances it goes fine and when there are bobbles I can usually make the necessary adjustments.  However I realize anew how desperately I need the Lord’s help to be the man he wants me to be.  In the work I do, in my role at husband and father, with my grandson and the people I meet every day.  I want to be a success in the manner God wants me to be successful.  As I head out the door is a few minutes I am reminding myself that everywhere I go and in everything I do, God is there and aware.  Since He is a gentleman He patiently waits to be invited to join in.

“I want to be your man Lord.  I want to do your will.  Father I offer the work I do this day, the people I meet this day, and every conversation, action, and thought I have this day to You.  Be glorified in and through me today.”

God’s peace to you and yours today and always.

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Is Christ in Your Christmas?

December 20, 2011 by areliablefaith

I must admit during the Christmas season it is sometimes easy to become so busy with the hustle and bustle that I can lose track of the real reason we even celebrate… the birth of God’s Son, Jesus. I don’t mean it doesn’t cognitively come to mind, but I mean do I really reflect on this amazing fact long enough for it to do the work in me that I know it is supposed to do. Celebrations in general and Christmas / Easter especially, are times to rejoice and recognize the good things that have happened. In the case of Christmas we get to visit anew the Creator of the World who existed eternally and outside of what He had created condescending to enter His creation as a baby… a helpless, needy baby.

The circumstances of Jesus’ birth were crude in the extreme. A woman in labor is not a pleasurable time. And entering a strange town late at night that is vastly overcrowded is intimidating even if you have hotel reservations, which Joseph and Mary did not. But to come to the time of delivery inside a barn almost comes across as cruel. But God in His love and wisdom chose this means to begin an entirely new thing… our eternal redemption through the sacrifice and work of His beloved Son.

This past weekend has been a memorable one for us. Our youngest daughter graduated from college with distinction and our youngest son’s soccer team won a state championship with Sam contributing in fine fashion. All four of our children and most of our extended family joined us for parts of the weekend making this a special time of reunion and celebration. As I have been basking in the afterglow of these great experiences, I am humbled to think of what our Heavenly Father has done for us. These recent blessings make me think of past blessings AND past difficulties the Lord has brought us through.

Which in turn makes me think – do I really get Christmas. My devotion this morning was from Psalm 34. Verse 7 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” God has given us infinitely more than we can ask or imagine – life, love, a family of believers, wisdom, beautiful vistas, enjoyable games, good friends, great books, wonderful meals.  The list of fine things that we should pause and be thankful for may be slightly different for each person, but we all have much to celebrate.  In the final analysis though these are all modest gifts from our Heavenly Father in comparison to the gift of a vibrant, living relationship with Him through His Son. Jesus entered this world in a time and place to become one of us and to do what we could not do – pay the penalty for sin. In so doing He made us His brothers and sisters… His family in the truest and most complete sense of the word. And that entering – the incarnation began some 2000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem just as the prophets from hundreds of years earlier had said it would. Wow!

That’s all I have today. Feel free to join me as I catch up with the shepherds, and wise men, and angels and all God’s creation in celebrating the Saviour’s birth!

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