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.

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.

I am just an average guy.  I love the Lord and I want to know Him better.  And I want  to please Him.  I do not claim any “special” privilege or wisdom.  But I have walked with the Lord for close to 30 years.  During that time I have experienced times of wonderful intimacy with our Father as well as times of chastening and correction.  As I have shared some already, I have seen God move directly in my life and the life of my family in miraculous ways.  And there have been times when I have “felt” a dryness within me that others have refered to as “the dark night of the soul”.  Through all of this I know that God has entered into my life, He radically changed me at a specific day, time, and place.  He made a promise to me that day that I know He has never, and will never, break.

I was attending a Cursillo weekend.  It is a short-course in Christianity that is actually a renewal movement in several mainline denominations.  After hearing several excellent talks building a clear picture of what the faith life really looks like, I was recognizing a discrepancy between where I was and this life that the speakers were talking about.  On Saturday afternoon I found myself in the little chapel all by myself… well I walked in without noticing any other people, but I was not alone.  As I knealt down and began talking to the Lord I became aware that He was there with me.  In fact I had a strong sense that he was seated in the pew right behind me.  I found myself kneeling with my hands held out, palms upwards when the Lord spoke.  He said, “Dan here is your life and everything that you call yours.”  And when He said that I visualized all of the things that were important to me piling up in the left hand – my family, my job, my car, my reputation, etc.  After just a few moments I had a pretty big list of things piled up in my left hand.  And then He said, “And this is this the life that I offer you.”  And I looked at my right hand and it was empty.  He said, “I promise you one thing, I will never leave you or forsake you.”  And that was it.

I sat there for a few moments weighing the two options.  I knew that I was being asked to make a choice to put God first in my life, to make Him Lord of my life.  It was a forever decision too.  Of that I was sure.  I had been in church all my life and I was happy to recognize Jesus as my saviour, but I had never given Him my life. 

Well I made that decision – I said yes Lord I want the life You have for me.  And I looked at my left hand and I consciously went through the process of forsaking each and every one of the things that had identified me, that gave me happiness.  Later I read where Paul says “I count it all as loss, in light of knowing my Lord, Jesus Christ”.  That’s what I did.

I wanted to share my conversion with you for a couple of reasons.  First, if there is anyone reading this that does not have a relationship with God, I want to let you know that He loves you and He wants to fill your life.  The process is actually simple, but profound.  God is holy and perfect.  We are not.  Every person has sinned, including ourselves and this sin separates us from God.  To have this relationship with God something has to be done about the sin that is in the way.  God Himself did the something that was needed.  He sent His Son, Jesus, to stand in our place and take the punishment of sin that was required for it to be removed.  The bible says that an amazing exchange takes place as Jesus became sin in our place, so that we could put on His righteousness.  But it requires us to act.  We acknowledge our sin and repent of it.  That means we turn away from it with the firm intent to walk away from sin.  And then we ask Jesus to save us and be our Lord.  The bible says that if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, then we shall be saved.   This is the door into true life.

If you are contemplating this, please pray for God to help and guide you.  I know that He will.  It is His utmost desire because He loves you.  Get a bible and begin reading.  Start with the gospels.  Many find the gospel of John to be an excellent starting point.  And perhaps most important find a body of believers to join.  Since you are online, I can recommend as one source of connection is the church I attend.  It’s called Newspring and it can be found at Newspring.cc.  Also please post a comment to me if you have read this and came to saving faith, found it interesting, or even if you have a question.

The second reason I shared the testimony of my conversion was to set in context the next several postings where I share things I have learned over the past several days and weeks.

My time for this morning has run out.  Be blessed today and be a blessing.