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You’re A Piece of Art!

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51-pack3-021514-tm“Blind as a bat” is an old cliché that most of us have heard, but that is not the vision problem that restricts most Christians—tunnel vision is the more common affliction. Like blinders on a horse, our view of what we can become is narrowed by a focus on what we have been.

We need to forget what I like to call LBC or Life Before Christ, and focus on the potential of what we can become in Jesus.

Any woodworker, silversmith, or potter will know what I mean when I say “potential.” These craftsmen can see an ordinary piece of wood, rock, or clay and see its potential to become something new. They have the same gift as Michael Angelo who said: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

Paul tried to explain this concept to the Ephesians when he said: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).” Wow! His “workmanship!” His piece of art!

Instead of limiting yourself with an LBC mindset, begin to believe that God sees the potential within you and He has gifted you in a special way. At the instant you became one of His children, you were blessed with eyes of faith to claim His promises, strength for the journey, and the mind of Christ.

A favorite verse of mine is 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Paul did not allow an LBC focus to mold his life: “This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).”

If you’re like me, you may not be much of an artist, but I still know that I’m a piece of art, and like Paul, “I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).”

The Thunder of Pain

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Shape of the heartGod was in the business of dealing with hurting hearts long before Billy Ray Cyrus became a one hit wonder singing about an “achy breaky heart.” Psalm 34:18 supports my statement: “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.”

When our hearts ache, we feel less like Jesus who walked on water and more like Peter who sank. When Peter began to focus on the howling winds of adversity, he was deaf to the quiet voice that promised: I will never leave you or forsake you.

Warm fuzzy platitudes, and comfortless clichés do little to alleviate the pain that overwhelms us as the waves do the sand on the sea shore—one wave followed by another. The anguish of pain is a stark reminder that we are mere mortals. Henri Nouwen once said that “Christ becomes most present when we are most human.”

The family of Lazarus had some very “human” expectations of Jesus. After all, they were some of Jesus’ closest friends—and they expected more. They expected Jesus to arrive earlier and they expected Him to heal their dying brother.

When expectations meet reality, disappointment can be the result. This reminds me of something Kay Arthur said, and I’ve quoted it before: “The disappointment has come—not because God desires to hurt you or make you miserable or to demoralize you or ruin your life or keep you from knowing happiness. He wants you to be perfect and complete in every aspect, lacking nothing. It’s not the easy times that make you more like Jesus, but the hard times.”

Philip Yancey has made a similar statement: “We tend to think, ‘Life should be fair because God is fair.’ But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment.”

C.S. Lewis reminds us that, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

During the difficult and painful times of life, we should remember that, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5:5).” Perhaps Lewis had this verse in mind when he wrote: “When pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”

When disappointment comes and the aching of your heart is so intense you think it might not beat again, you may be closer to God than you think. This is because, “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.”

If you can tune out the thundering pain for just a moment, you might hear His quiet voice: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-20).”

Appreciating the Power of Words

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Words Written In Plastic Kids LettersI remember an incident with my son that involved an exchange of words. At the time he was a young boy and I was a father who was more concerned with being more macho than manly. I had said something like: “Boy, come here, and I mean NOW!”

My son responded: “Dad when you speak to me like that it makes me feel like I’m one of your dogs.” In that instant, I was reminded of the power of the spoken word.

Solomon was a gifted-writer, and he addressed this power in the Proverbs:

• Life and death are in the power of the tongue (18:21).
• Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad (12:25).

Sometimes we fail to appreciate the power of showing appreciation. Leo Buscaglia captured this concept when he said: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

When he wrote to the Thessalonians, Paul gave clear instructions to, “encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing (I Thess. 5:11).” Paul knew the value of invigorating friendships. He had been:

• Encouraged by Titus (2 Corinthians 7:6)
• Refreshed by Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 1:16-18)
• Strengthened by his reception at Rome: “When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage (Acts 28:15).”

When Paul was blessed by acts of kindness, he was careful to express his appreciation. It is important that we follow his example because to appreciate is to add value to something.

Are you an appreciating or depreciating factor in the life of your friends? Remember what Solomon said: Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad (12:25).

Show your appreciation to someone today with kind words of goodness and gladness.

Producing Produce

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pecan-tree-river-ovalAre you producing produce? According to John 15:16-17, this is exactly what Jesus has chosen us to do: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

When we engage in the practice of producing produce, we will be living a relationship of love. This Christ-like kinship is an expression of the first and greatest commandment. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 22: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

To be effective produce producers, we need to have the right look:

• We need to LOOK UP to God in expressions of love and worship.
• We need to LOOK IN to see if we are living the disciplined life of a “chosen” child of God.
• We need to LOOK OUT to share the fruit of the Spirit with the people we encounter each day of our lives.

One more LOOK is needed, and it is a fresh peek at a principle in John 15: “ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

What produce are you producing?

Solving Life’s Equations

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addsup“They see, but they’re blind. They hear, but they don’t listen.” These are the paraphrased words of Jesus in Matthew 13.

While there are some people who simply cannot see and understand, because they lack insight, there are others who seem to see and comprehend because of foresight. For some people, life is an unsolvable equation, for others life is as easy as 1+1=2.

Here’s an example of what I mean: The total cost of a bat and a ball is $ 1.10. The cost of the bat is $ 1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? What’s your first response? There’s a good chance that your first thought is the ball must cost 10 cents. Look at the question again: The bat costs $ 1.00 more than the ball, so the bat must cost $ 1.05, and the ball costs 5 cents.

When I think of this little exercise, I think of what Jesus said: There are too many people who see with a blind eye and listen with a deaf ear.

Faith has nothing in common with eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear. Faith sees what the eye can’t see, and it hears what the ear can’t hear. The blind eye sees the prowling lion, while the eye of faith see Daniel’s angel.

Faith allows us to see beyond the sunset of the ordinary and it enables us to grasp the sunrise of the extraordinary (Hebrews 11):
• By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice
• By faith Noah built the ark
• By faith kingdoms were conquered and the mouths of lions were stopped9

Noah and Daniel were not blind—they saw what others didn’t see, and they heard what others refused to hear. Many of their contemporaries saw life as a ridiculous riddle, but for them the answer was simple: Trust the unknown future to the all-knowing God.

Trusting God in this fashion makes more than a nickel’s worth of difference, it’s the difference between sound and silence, night and day, and life and death.

Be A Benediction

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Kind Words Lift Spirits

Kind Words
Lift Spirits

Without going too far into human anatomy and the function of speech, I think I can safely say that the process of speaking begins somewhere between thought and action. I’ll take it a step farther to say that speech, at times, can be a poor substitute for the other two.

Speech or the act of “saying” something comes from the Latin word “dicere.” When dicere is wed to “bene,” the two give birth to the Latin word benedicere. “Well-speak” is the meaning of benedicere, and “benediction” is its identical twin.

An example of a benediction is found in Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

Regardless of how you have spoken in the past, I encourage you to “speak-well” today. You are the benediction that someone needs, and the words you “well-speak” can be the encouragement that changes a life.

The Morning Essential: Caffeine

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timcupI’m going to confirm what you may have suspected for some time: I’m a head-case. Not only am I a head-case, I’m a government certified, card-carrying, head-case!

Without boring you with too many details, I sustained a head injury while I served in the Air Force, and I’ve been plagued with daily headaches since 1972. Many different formulas have been prescribed to try to help me manage the pain, but nothing seems to work.

One of the pills I’ve tried consists of a blend of acetaminophen, butalbital, and caffeine. The acetaminophen is used to relieve inflammation and pain; the butalbital acts as a sedative relaxant; and the caffeine enhances the effects of the acetaminophen and butalbital.

Without the caffeine, the acetaminophen and butalbital would have some effect; however, for maximum effectiveness, the pill needs the presence of the caffeine.

I see a correlation between the effectiveness of the caffeine and the empowering and enlightening of the Holy Spirit that Paul wrote about in Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.”

I guess you can say my morning routine includes caffeine and more caffeine. I begin by popping a K-Cup in my Keurig, going to my chair, and sipping my coffee as I ask for God’s Spirit to enlighten me as I read His word.

I know that I need to start every day with a fresh cup of His wisdom, and I invite you to join me—sip it in and live it out.

A Step Behind

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1downwardHave you ever had one of those days where you felt like you just couldn’t get caught up? Well, if you felt like you were a step behind yesterday, you may be an hour late this morning.

If you didn’t move your clock forward an hour yesterday, you may have some problems this morning. Instead of running a little late to work or school, you’re still falling backwards and need to leap ahead one hour—ASAP!

Time is an often discussed subject in the pages of Scripture, and Paul wrote of it in Romans 13: “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

The Apostle continued this theme when he wrote to the churches at Philippi and Colossae. In both letters he called on Christians to “redeem the time.” The word “redeem” is the Greek “exagorazó,” and it means to buy up. Paul was challenging people to buy up every opportunity to do what’s right, because of the downward spiral towards immorality.

Regardless of what you did with your seconds of yesterday, it is what you do with your minutes of today that is important. Yesterday is gone, but each hour of today is a gift from God, and they are ripe with the potential to change the future.

This truth is the focus of a discussion in The Fellowship of the Ring: “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us (J.R.R. Tolkien).”

The question is not: “Are you having the time of your time?” The question that truly matters is this: “What are you going to do with the time of your life?”

Hand-Me-Down-Syndrome

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syndromeHand-Me-Down-Syndrome: I just checked Google, and I find no mention of it in a medical dictionary. Since this dreadful syndrome has afflicted most every person born into this world, its lack of mention is interesting

The first born child, often times, will not be fashioned by the hemlines of this condition, but she is directly involved in the distribution of this disorder. Prior to her birth, her mother, grandmother, aunts, and well-meaning family friends bought her cutesy, little pink girly dresses; and, within a few months she outgrows it all.

The Hand-Me-Down-Syndrome begins when the second child is born, and she gets the leftover hand-me-downs that had been previously worn by big sister. While this process is played out in many families, and it is a good money-saving practice, I received very little of what my older brother had worn. He was kind of a skinny, scrawny kid, and I was more robust—I much prefer robust to chunky!

This syndrome can manifest itself in either a negative or a positive fashion. As parents, we can pass-down unhealthy patterns of living (substance abuse, domestic violence, etc.), or we can be a guiding hand that provides positive re-enforcement.

Our children will mimic what we have modeled. Again, this can be either positive or negative. Paul gave a great example of this in his letter to Timothy: “I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also (2 Tim 1:3-5).”

Timothy was blessed by the powerful faith aspect of this syndrome. It began with his grandmother, was handed down to his mother, and Timothy dazzled the church as a fashion model of the faith.

How have you modeled your faith for your family? What are you handing-down and passing-on to them?