Connecting Points

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Today’s Topic:  Trouble’s Purpose

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 28:20-21  The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you. The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.

It will happen this year. I can guarantee it. Maybe for you it already has. Something in your life is going to go wrong – at least according to your ideas and plans. It may be related to your health, or your job, or your family, or your future, but something is not going to turn out the way you thought it would. Guaranteed.

When the trouble comes, how will you respond? The answer to that depends on whether or not you believe there is a purpose for the trouble, or what you believe that purpose to be. Maybe you believe that trouble is always against you and stands opposed to your ultimate benefit. If so, then your response to trouble is always one of complaining, bitterness, resentment, and discouragement. We all respond that way to things that we believe are not in our best interest. It is the simple fact of our pride.

But if we believe that we have a loving Father in heaven who is designing all things in our lives to ultimately benefit us and bring glory to Him, then we respond differently to trouble. We may not embrace the trouble itself, but we can rejoice while it is happening because we know the truth of God’s promise that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I literally just spent the last 30 minutes having this lesson affirmed in my life. I have been chatting with two dear friends in the Philippines on the social network of Facebook. It started with a post that my “spiritually adopted” daughter Lily Jane put as her status. I have her permission to quote her. She wrote,

Different experiences and circumstances teach me different lessons in life. Others are easier but some are harder. I cried and shed tears… I realized that those circumstances that I shed most tears are the lessons in life that I will never forget… To God who gives me strength and to those people who taught me those lessons, thank you…

I know this young woman’s story. I lived parts of it with her in the Philippines. The depth of truth she expresses is so meaningful to me, and I want you to understand that God used her message this morning to bring light to me and to you on this important truth.  So many people turn to the comfort zones of their life when times get tough. Isaiah is referring to this in today’s Scripture. They crawl into their beds and wrap up in their blankies and hope to feel better. But that never really works. The comfort zones we create are always insufficient to help us because we are turning inward for relief rather than upward.

As I was chatting with her, a pastor from the Philippines that I met a few months ago started chatted with me. My wife and I have been deeply moved in our hearts by this man’s commitment to Christ and his desire to persevere through difficult circumstances. He serves a small group of people with no source of real income. As we chatted back on New Year’s Eve, he told me how they were having a small family celebration of the new year but had no money to buy any food for his family party. Yet he continues to display incredible trust in Jesus Christ as His provider. He has not turned to the comforts of this world, but continues to pursue his calling to preach the Gospel.

Every morning at 6:00 am I chat with him, and every time we talk he turns the attention from his own needs to the glory of God and his faith in God’s promises. His bed is too short for him to stretch out on and be comfortable. His blanket is too small to wrap up in for warmth and security. But His God, and mine, and yours, is long enough, wide enough high enough, deep enough, and most of all close enough to meet every need and use every circumstance to strengthen our faith in His unfailing love for us.

Thank you Lord for the illustrations of your truth to our hearts today, and for being at work in our lives to build our faith in you as the stronghold of our lives.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, January 03, 2011

Today’s Topic:  Resolved…

Today’s Text:  Ecclesiastes 7:23  All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”— but this was beyond me.

I know…it’s been a while. What a Christmas/New Year’s vacation it was. We were stranded in a small house in North Dakota during back to back blizzards that shut down everything in Eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. They finally opened the roads yesterday morning and we were able to get home last night, but the normal seven hour trip took an extra three hours. How we thank God for safety and wisdom on those icy roads.

As we drove I was thinking about the new year, and what would be different in my life. We should think that way at the start of every day, but we don’t, do we? I was reminded through a series of events while on the trip that my pride is still far too powerful a force in my life and dictates too many actions and words. It was a sobering time of reflection, but it was necessary for the Holy Spirit to continue His work of refining me and polishing me into a mirror to reflect Christ’s character.

As I thought about the black dots in that mirror, where no reflection could be seen, I decided that there was a correct course of action to take that is different than what most people think and do. For most of us, New Year’s resolutions address specific issues that we want to change. But the effectiveness of such resolutions is totally controlled by the character of one’s heart. Unless the heart has been transformed, the external changes will not last. That’s why we make resolutions over and over and over again. We are resolving to fix the wrong wrong.

The wrong that needs to be fixed is the condition of our heart. Pride has blackened it so it cannot reflect the glory of God’s nature in Jesus Christ. Self has to be sacrificed. Everything that connects us to the pursuit of self-fulfillment and self-valuation has to be eliminated. We must be resolved to know Christ and Christ alone and give Him unequalled and unhindered access to every part of our being. We must crucify our own life on the cross and invite Jesus Christ back on to the throne of our hearts as Lord. All change happens after surrender to Jesus. No change is permanent that is the product of our own initiative. King Solomon knew that – go back and read today’s Scripture verse again.

Two songs come to my mind that are significant in my life. One is a very old hymn named I Am Resolved written by Palmer Hartsough. The second is a contemporary song from the 1980’s called I Am Determined by Tim Sheppard. These lyrics reflect the nature of a heart truly making the right resolution. Read them carefully and contemplatively. It’s not too late to change your New Year’s resolutions.

I Am Resolved

I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler, These have allured my sight.

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free; Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.
I will hasten, hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free; Jesus, Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

I Am Determined

Darkness around me, sorrow surrounds me;  Though there be trials, still I can sing.
For I have this treasure – my God reigns within me,  And I am determined to live for the King.

I am determined to be invincible
‘Til He has finished His purpose in me.
And nothing shall shake me  For He’ll never forsake me
And I am determined – I am determined — I am determined to live for My King.

Pastor John