Monday Morning Memo: Only God is God

If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my life, it is that just when I think I have things figured out…I realize that I don’t.  Just when I think I see the puzzle pieces falling into place, someone or something rearranges them.  But if I look at things realistically, I’m pretty sure that that is just “life” and at my age I should be used to it by now!

I’ve been thinking the last couple of days about how I usually react when a change or detour occurs.  Sometimes I handle it well, but there are times when I think I spend way too much time overanalyzing every detail.  I tend to be a teensy bit of a perfectionist (ok some of you can stop laughing now), and as a result, I feel the need to pick apart the reason for every change.  “What caused this to happen?”  “What did I do wrong to bring about this detour?”  “What incorrect decision did I make to blow God’s entire plan for my life, causing Him to have to totally redraw the blueprints He had for me?”  Yes, sometimes I’m a little “over the top”.

But another thing I’ve learned in my life is that I am not alone in feeling this way.  I talk to a lot of people, and quite often I hear them say similar things.  Their words may be different than mine…but often their underlying theme mimics mine.  In essence, I often hear them say, “Well I really blew it this time when I made the wrong decision and now God is going to make me pay the price.”  

The problem with this type of thought process is that we often tend to fear every decision we make.  We stew and fret and pray until our knees are calloused, but still put off making decisions because we worry that we will make the wrong ones and God will be ticked at us.  I think it is good for us to not always rush into making plans, but there comes a time when we need to trust God, knowing that He knows our heart and wants the very best for us.

I recently came across this graphic and as soon as I read it, I laughed out loud.  Oh how good it was for me to be reminded that if I think I have blown God’s plan for my life, I need to rest in the fact that I am not that powerful!  In other words, I need to remember that I am not God.  Only God is God and He is so powerful that He can accomplish in me and through me whatever He deems best…even when I make a wrong decision or mess things up.  Again, He knows my heart and if I have prayed for direction on something in my life, there comes a time when I need to take action and move forward.  If it ends up being the wrong decision, my God is powerful enough to still accomplish His plan, even with my mistakes.

Are you berating yourself today, feeling like your decisions or actions have blown God’s plan for your life?  Allow me to let you in on a little secret:  you are not God nor are you that powerful.  Whatever you have done, He is mighty enough to still accomplish His plans in you and through you.

Are you putting off making a decision because you are petrified that you will make the wrong one?  I want to urge you to take a deep breath and relax.  Spend time in prayer, asking God to give you direction, and then move ahead.  He knows your heart and can see that you want to do His will and so even if you make the wrong decision, He can still work everything out.  Yes, it may mean that you will have an unexpected detour or the puzzle pieces will need to be rearranged.  But in the end, your life’s picture will be absolutely perfect because God is just that powerful!

^“And we know that God causes everything to 

work together for the good of those who love God

and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Romans 8:28

Monday Morning Memo: Our Two Objectives

I shared with you last week that I was going to be preaching yesterday at Hope Missionary Church in Bluffton.  What I didn’t share with you was the fact that at that point, I had very little voice.  I had been struggling with a very bad cold and it had left me without much volume and nothing I was doing was getting it to improve.  Knowing that time was of the essence and that by yesterday I needed to be able to preach three times in a row, I resorted to calling my doctor and asking for steroids to see if they would make a difference.  I had been in this situation once before where I had a series of speaking engagements coming up and no voice and steroids had done the trick that time.  So back on the meds I went and friends ramped up their prayers and by yesterday morning, I was able to preach in each service and never even coughed…a true miracle indeed!

What I didn’t know, nor did anyone else have a clue, what would be faced once everyone arrived at church.  If something could go wrong with the technical component of the first service…it did go wrong.  I felt so sorry for our Worship Pastor because he was being hit with one thing after another while having to lead the service, but he handled it like the professional that he is.  He kept his cool and just kept making the necessary changes to keep things rolling.  He told me after our final service that in all of his years of leading, he had never had that many things go wrong in a morning.  In the end, all three services were accomplished and we all have interesting memories of this particular Lord’s Day J

I believe what kept everyone “going with the flow” yesterday was the fact that it WAS the Lord’s Day.  Not ours, not those who came to worship but His day and His day only.  Whatever detours were thrown in our path were just frustrations and I was so impressed with how everyone on the platform, along with everyone working behind the scenes, refused to let anything stop what we were there to do.  We were there to do two things: first to worship the King of Kings and secondly to point those who entered our doors to Jesus. 

We know of course that Satan doesn’t like us doing either one of those objectives.  He never wants us to worship the Lord and he surely doesn’t want us pointing anyone to Jesus.  As a result, it is not out of the ordinary for him to work overtime on Sundays to pull us off track, to get us to lose our focus and to make us want to give up.  When this occurs, we have a choice to make.  We can either let him win or we can make sure he loses and I am confident that in our services yesterday he lost.

I think the thing we all need to remember is that we can also have the same focus Monday through Saturday.  If we go through every day determined to worship the Lord and point those that we meet to Jesus, we can make sure that Satan loses on a daily basis.  But it is a choice that we will have to make each morning as we begin our day.  I have a feeling that if we consciously live with these objectives in mind, we will see God’s power at work in a mighty way Every. Single. Day.

Will we have detours?  Yes.  Will we have frustrations?  Yes.  Will we be tempted at times to give up?  More than likely…Yes.  But as long as we keep our eyes focused on the One who is worthy of our praise, we will always be on the winning team and oh, what a victory that will be!

Monday Morning Memo: Everyday Choices

I’m going to share with you today a very deep, theological statement:  If I ate every day, the way I know I should eat, I would not struggle with my weight.  OK…maybe this statement wasn’t deep and maybe it wasn’t theological…but it sure is true!

My weight has nothing to do with my knowledge.  In other words, I can’t use the excuse that I don’t know what I should be eating as a reason for my extra pounds, because it wouldn’t be true.  I do know enough about carbs, fats, sodium, sugars and general nutrition to be able to make a healthy meal plan to follow.  So my current weight is not a result of a lack of specific information, it’s a result of not using what I know to make the right, healthy choices.

You may be wondering what in the world inspired me to share with you this not-so-flattering tidbit of information about me.  Well, believe it or not, it came from a scripture I read this past week.  It was one of those verses that just jumped off the page at me and hit me between the eyes and trust me, it wasn’t a good feeling.

The verse can be found in Romans 2:15 and I read it in the Living Bible translation.  It said, “After all, salvation is not given to those who know what to do, unless they do it.”  Ouch.  Even though I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my life as my Lord and Savior…this verse was still painful.  Why?  Because it reminded me of the areas of my life where I have the head knowledge that I need to follow Christ, but my actions don’t always show it.  Just like knowing nutritional facts doesn’t make me healthier unless I incorporate them into my lifestyle, knowing Bible facts doesn’t do me any good unless I am living them out every day. 

Reading verse 16 didn’t leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling either.  It said, “The day will surely come when at God’s command Jesus Christ will judge the secret lives of everyone, their inmost thoughts and motives; this is all part of God’s great plan which I proclaim.”  Wow, I knew I should have read in Psalms that day instead.

These verses tell me what I already knew, but sure need reminded of often.  Living life today is not for my pleasure.  The decisions I make every day should not be made just to make sure I am comfortable and don’t ever have to suffer.  Christ doesn’t want me to follow Him only when it is convenient for me and doesn’t go against what the world is screaming at me.  Finally, the Bible wasn’t written with just “suggestions” on how I should be living; it is filled with commandments that I need to take seriously and follow day in and day out.

We are living in a time when it isn’t popular to go against what the world says is “normal”. Standing up for God’s Word as it is written, without just picking and choosing verses that make us feel better about our sin, isn’t accepted well either.  But that is what is commanded of us to do if we are going to be true, devoted followers of Christ.  We are called to be His servants, whether it makes us feel comfortable or not, and that is true when we are in public or in the “secret” confines of our home.

This coming Sunday I am going to be speaking at Hope Missionary Church in Bluffton in all three of the morning services.  What Christ has laid on my heart to share may not make people feel good.  I haven’t spent time sugar coating His words so that people will make sure and like me when I’m done.  I take the responsibility of stepping onto that platform very seriously and I don’t think Christ will be glorified if I’m not true to His Word.

I so covet your prayers for me as I do my final preparation for Sunday.  Please pray that I am sensitive to the Spirit’s promptings and that my words will be His words so that those who hear will truly listen and be drawn closer to the One who makes life worth living.  May our time together inspire all of us to make sure that our head knowledge results in everyday choices which brings Him honor and glory and impacts eternity in a powerful way.

Monday Morning Memo: Weathering the Storm

We have lived in the same home since we were married, which has been almost 36 years ago and we feel very fortunate to be living in the country where we have open land all around us. Waking up each morning and being able to look out over the surrounding fields, is something I treasure and never want to take for granted.

Another perk to living where we do is that we can have a garden.  Now to some of you, that wouldn’t seem like a positive thing, but for us it is.  There is nothing better than being able to go out and pick fresh vegetables that have no chemicals on them.  It’s also great to be able to can some of the contents of our garden so that we can enjoy the bounty all winter long.

But gardening doesn’t come without its problems.  There are various animals around us that sometimes think we are gardening for them and so they feast on what is meant for us.  Weather also plays a role on how successful our garden is because not enough rain stifles the growth and too much rain can drown out the plants.  Each year is different, but it’s almost always worth the effort to make it successful.

So far this summer, we have had an overabundance of rain.  We appreciate the moisture but the problem has been that we have been receiving inches of rain at one time, which has caused standing water in the garden.  Fortunately, each time it has drained rather quickly and our plants haven’t suffered.

But when you mix heavy rain with high winds, there can be more lasting effects.  Last week we received three inches of rain in a short amount of time, accompanied by high winds, and as a result our corn was laying flat to the ground when it was over.  I had a sick feeling when I looked out our window and saw the flattened stalks.  All that can be done at that point is wait.  Wait to see if the roots were deep enough and the stalks were strong and pliable enough to bounce back.  If the roots are too shallow, the corn can easily become uprooted and if they are too weak and brittle, they can easily snap off.  As you can see from this picture, at this point it looks like our crop is slowly straightening and will hopefully be in an upright position soon.

As I’ve checked the corn each day since our storm, I’ve thought about how much this is like our Christian walk.  As long as everything is going well in our lives with no unexpected detours or disasters, our “stand” is usually pretty strong.  When others look at us they see someone who seems to have their act together and is living life as we should.  But, unfortunately, when the storms of life roll in, they sometimes cause us to quickly “flatten” to the ground and we quickly appear to be quite “weathered”.

Just like our corn though, time will tell whether the life storm that hit us will have a lasting effect.  More than likely, it will depend on how deep our roots were in Christ when it hit and whether we are pliable enough to be molded by Him.  We need to remember that Christ often uses difficult times to make us into a follower that looks more like Him.  But we have to be willing to let Him sand the rough edges off of us so that our stand for Him will have a larger impact on eternity.

If your life is going fairly smooth right now, I want to urge you to spend this time growing your roots deeper in Christ.  Use this time to study His Word and allow His Spirit to speak to you.  As you learn from Him, you will become a pliable clay in His hands which will help you bounce back quicker after storm clouds roll through.

If you are in the middle of the storm right now, I want to urge you to hang on.  We read in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”  Even though your current storm seems like it may never end, you can hold onto Christ’s Word, trusting that what is to come far outweighs these difficult days.

When the storm is over, it may seem like you have been flattened with no hope of standing on your feet again.  Just give yourself some time.  With your roots firmly planted in Christ, He will give you the strength to once again stand firm as a testimony to His strength and power.  It is so imperative that others see that we can weather the storms of life because of our relationship with Him. Then, because of your faithfulness and His, others will see the bounty of fruit that your life has produced which is bound to impact those around us.  That my friend will make all of our storms worthwhile, when we see others begin their journey of planting their roots in Christ.