Facing The Sun

December 11, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

There are less than 3 million people who call Kansas home. If you’re among this number, you may know the sunflower was designated as the official state flower in 1903. This long-stemmed flower with petals of golden yellow is classified as a turnsole plant, a word of French origin and one that means to “turn towards the sun.”

The sunflower, like all plants, is not self-sufficient—it depends upon the sun for essential nourishment.

Health conscious individuals are learning what botanists have known for many years: In proper amounts, there are some benefits associated with exposure to the sun. There’s ample research that’s easily available, and it indicates the sun’s rays are beneficial both physically and mentally.

While the sun is important to you physically and mentally, the Son is even more vital to your needs spiritually: “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him (John 3:36).”

Cultivate the habit of rising in the morning, facing the Son, and following Him throughout the day. When you practice this routine you develop a God-focused regimen of strength that recognizes that it’s, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).”

So, when you rise in the morning, why not give the Son a chance to shine on you?

Counting Down The Days

December 9, 2015December 9, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

count-down Many people, and especially the kids, are counting down the days to Christmas and know that it is just a couple of weeks away. A much smaller number of people are eagerly counting the days to another event that will happen eight weeks after Christmas.

In about 72 days, the umps will shout “Play Ball,” and baseball’s Spring Training will begin. Each of these talented players caught the eye of a scout because he was an All Star during his high school or college years. When he steps across the white chalk line to play America’s Game, he joins the best of the best and the cream of the crop on a finely manicured field of dreams.

Aren’t you thankful that God didn’t scout you and make you prove your worth before He chose you? He selected you just like He did the Hebrews:

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” ~Deuteronomy 7:7-9

Even though there’s nothing special about you, Moses says that God has chosen you and made you the special object of His love. If the two verses above were a book, the four chapter titles would be:

The Lord Loves You
God Keeps His promises
You Can Be Redeemed From Whatever Enslaves You
God Is Faithful and His Love Is Steadfast

He doesn’t love you because you are good, smart, pretty, wise or because you have great faith. God loves you because He is love; and, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (I John 4:10).”

Getting Through The Rough Times

December 8, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

roughtimes I’ve see it happen more than once: A husband and wife stand side by side as they watch a raging fire engulf their home that housed a lifetime of memories. I’ve heard them ask: “What will we do now. How we will get through the loss of everything we’ve worked for?”

And bad news, there have been hundreds of times that I’ve had to inform a family that their loved one has died, and I’ve heard the lament: “How will I get through life without him?

Then, there is the dreaded “C” word. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve sat in a hospital room and seen a friend sucker punched with the news that the diagnosis is cancer. They almost always wonder aloud: “Is it rough going through the chemo treatments?”

There’s a key to getting through rough times. If you focus on just the rough the door of possibilities slams shut and there’s no resolution to your heartache. If, however, you focus on getting through, you open the door of possibilities and unleash the potential of God’s promises.

Rough times either make you or break you; they either make you better or bitter.

God is in the business of getting you through the rough times: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God (Isaiah 43:1-3).”

The key to manage your rough times is to “enter through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1-5).” ~The Message

Chicago: City of Scapegoats

December 2, 2015August 4, 2019 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

Emanuel The headline news coming out of Chicago can be summarized in three words that begin with the letter “M”—Murder, Mobs, and the Mayor.

To refresh your memory, Jason Van Dyke is facing first-degree murder charges for shooting 17 year old Laquan McDonald 16 times. While I don’t know all the facts surrounding this case, it does appear that Van Dyke should be prosecuted.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to step down because the “trust and the leadership of the department have been shaken and eroded.” If Emmanuel thinks throwing the police superintendent under the bus is a good example of leadership, he’s delusional.

In reality, Mayor Emanuel has played the scapegoat card, and he has sacrificed McCarthy to win public approval and save his own hide.

The scapegoat analogy finds its roots in an Old Testament practice recorded n Leviticus 16:22: “The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness (ESV).”

The scapegoat of Leviticus symbolized what Jesus would do thousands of years later: He would suffer for our sins on the cross and by taking them away, His death would free us from the guilt of sin.

The story of Leviticus involved the High Priest of Israel and the focus was on forgiveness. The story of Chicago involves a politician and his low brow, pass-the-buck manipulating shenanigans. If a person is truly known by his works, is easy to recognize the old goat in this story.

Full of Grace and Truth

November 16, 2015 / insightbyseymour / 1 Comment

The message of the New Testament is to speak the truth in love, and not to use it to beat someone into submission. When John wrote about Jesus, he described the Lord as being full of grace and truth. Think about that for a moment and reflect on the manner of ministry embraced by Jesus. What did Jesus do when He met the town prostitute at the city well? Did he berate her with a long lengthy sermon? No, He lovingly shared the truth with her and poured out His grace upon her.

What was the result of His one and one encounter with this sinful woman and the Savior of the World? She drank from the cup of salvation and shared the water of life with those she knew, and revival broke out in her village.

Throughout the pages of John’s Gospel we see this same pattern repeated time and again. The faces are different, the names are not the same, but the manner of ministry was always full of grace and truth.

When Paul wrote to the believers at Galatia, he said: If a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted (Galatians 6).

What has always intrigued me about the verse above, is the phrase, those of you who are spiritual. If we fail to embrace this manner of ministry, are we failing in our spiritual life?

There have been several times in my life that people have told me that I am full of things that I’d rather not discuss. My hope is that when people observe my manner of ministry they see it as full and grace and truth.

A Parade of Champions

November 3, 2015November 3, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

If you know anything about sports, you know that the Kansas City Royals just won a hard fought and entertaining battle on the baseball fields of Kansas City and New York; and, they have been crowned World Series Champions.

With child-like enthusiasm, baseball fans from near and far are descending on Kansas City today to celebrate with the Royals. They will savor the sweet taste of victory and delight as their team winds its way through the streets of Royals Town USA.

The language of sports has been spoken for thousands of years. Paul used the competition of the Isthmian Games as means to share spiritual truth. He also spoke of a parade of champions that features Jesus as the parade Marshall: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him (2 Corinthians 2:14).”

The parade route in Kansas City with be lined with thousands of spectators, and it will be a great time for adoring fans to shout out to their favorite players. The procession that Paul spoke of is one of triumph that calls you to more than a mere spectator. You are to be a participator and speak up for Jesus.

You are the means through which God spreads the sweet fragrance of His love and mercy. Wave your banner, and give thanks for the victory you have in Him.

From Zilch to Zero

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

After watching the evening news, I wonder what the prophet Jeremiah would say about the world in which we live? In his own day, he summarized the condition of mankind by saying the heart of man was full of deceit and wickedness. I think the news confirms the prophet’s prognosis.

Like Jeremiah, Saint Augustine voiced his concerns regarding the plight of mankind. Even though he was a theologian, and not a heart doctor, he was concerned with healthy hearts. He thought a vibrant heart would manifest itself when a person showed love for:

the right thing
in the right degree
in the right way
with the right kind of love

Augustine’s focus on the importance of love may have come from his study of the Apostle Paul, who said: “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).”

If your life is void of any expression of love, you have a zilch to zero chance of doing “the right thing, in the right degree in the right way, with the right kind of love.”

The “right kind of love,” is a genuine love of obedience: “Everyone who really believes that Jesus is the Christ proves himself one of God’s family. The man who loves the Father cannot help loving the Father’s own Son. The test of the genuineness of our love for God’s family lies in this question—do we love God himself and do we obey his commands? For loving God means obeying his commands, and these commands of his are not burdensome, for God’s “heredity” within us will always conquer the world outside us. In fact, this faith of ours is the only way in which the world has been conquered. For who could ever be said to conquer the world, in the true sense, except the man who really believes that Jesus is God’s Son (I John 5:1-5)?”

Have you gone from zilch to zero, or are you a conquering hero? The difference is the capacity to love.

Hope At High Tide

October 23, 2015October 23, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

Ever have one of those days when you’re feeling down and out? I have to admit that I do once in a while. A sure cure for my “woe-is-me” mentality is a section of Scripture from Lamentations where Jeremiah said:

“I’m the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger. He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness. Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand over and over and over again. He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones. He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, and poured on the trouble and hard times. He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.” ~ The Message

After I read Jeremiah’s depressing account of his trials and tribulations, my troubles don’t seem quite as bad, and I feel even better when I read what Jeremiah said later in this chapter: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3).”

When Jeremiah began to focus less on his problems and more on God, his perspective changed. He began to realize that the high tide of God’s hope has a rhythmic presence that’s just as certain as the appearance of the moon in the night sky. He also concluded that the faithfulness of God is as cool and refreshing as an artesian well that never runs dry—it’s “new every morning.”

Whenever you try to view the world through the lens of personal pain, your comprehension will be skewed, and you’ll turn a blind eye to the potential of His promises. The riddles of life can never be solved through the emptiness of the world, but through the fullness of God’s blessing.

When the Psalmist was deluded by the dilemmas of life, he said: I did not understand, “until I went into the sanctuary of God.” He then offered this conclusion: “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever . . . it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.”

If you feel like your heartache has caused you to “fall away from God,” it may be time to “draw near” to Him again. He’s right where you left Him and He is waiting to embrace you with open arms. Run to Him now—“His compassions fail not!”

You are a God full of compassion, generous in grace, slow to anger, and boundless in loyal love and truth. ~Psalm 86:15

The Pope, The Military, and Boy Play

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

After he met with a sex abuse survivor group on Sunday morning, Pope Francis addressed a group of 300 bishops: “It continues to be on my mind that the people who had the responsibility to take care of these tender ones, violated that trust and caused them great pain, and God weeps.”

Another report from last week focused on a culture of corruption that the U.S. Military is reluctant to confront. According to an article in the New York Times, “Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally ‘boy play,’ and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases.”

When some of our military have intervened, their careers haven been jeopardized. Captain Dan Quinn, a former member of the Army Special Forces, gave an American-backed militia commander a thrashing for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave.

Quinn isn’t the only soldier to be punished. Because Sgt. First Class Charles Martland helped Captain Quinn the Army is trying to forcibly retire him.

Even if “boy play” is culturally permitted and a sign of status in some parts of the Middle East, it doesn’t take much sense to know that it’s morally reprehensible. Whether it’s in the USA, Afghanistan, Russia, or China, people would do well to recognize the love of Jesus for children:

Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. ~Matthew 18

It’s Time for Saints to Giddy Up

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 / insightbyseymour / Leave a comment

When you hear the word “meek,” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it a spineless individual who has the composition of milk toast? Is it a person who lacks grit?

There are only two people in the Bible who are described as being meek. The first one is Moses and the second is Jesus. Even though they were described as being meek, neither of these individuals could be described as being weak.

An excellent definition of meekness is found in the picture of wild horses. Meekness means strength under control. Wild horses are of little worth until they’ve been tamed. Then they’re useful and of great value.

There’s a correlation between the taming of a wild horse, and a person manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. Paul encourages Christians to:

Live your whole life in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. For the whole energy of the flesh is set against the Spirit, while the whole power of the Spirit is contrary to the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Those who belong to Christ have crucified their old nature with all that it loved and lusted for. If our lives are centered in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit.

It takes strength to live the life described by Paul, and this is only accomplished when you crucify or tame the old nature and yield to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

It’s time to Giddy Up and get with it!

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