Connecting Points

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

 Today’s Topic: Forget the Past

Today’s Text:  1 Samuel 11:13   But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.”

Noble Doss dropped the ball. One ball. One pass. One mistake. In 1941, he let one fall. And it’s haunted him ever since. “I cost us a national championship,” he says.

The University of Texas football team was ranked number one in the nation. Hoping for an undefeated season and a berth in the Rose Bowl, they played conference rival Baylor University. With a 7-0 lead in the third quarter, the Longhorn quarterback launched a deep pass to a wide-open Doss.

“The only thing I had between me and the goal,” he recalls, “was twenty yards of grass.”

The throw was on target. Longhorn fans rose to their feet. The sure-handed Doss spotted the ball and reached out, but it slipped through.

Baylor rallied and tied the score with seconds to play. Texas lost their top ranking and, consequently, their chance at the Rose Bowl.

“I think about that play every day,” Doss admits.

Not that he lacks other memories. Happily married for more than six decades. A father. Grandfather. He served in the navy during World War II. He appeared on the cover of Life magazine with his Texas teammates. He intercepted seventeen passes during his collegiate career, a university record. He won two NFL titles with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Texas High School Hall of Fame and the Longhorn Hall of Honor include his name.

Most fans remember the plays Doss made and the passes he caught. Doss remembers the one he missed. Once, upon meeting a new Longhorn head coach, Doss told him about the bobbled ball. It had been fifty years since the game, but he wept as he spoke.

We all live with regrets. The memories of past failures and hurts haunt us. We spend a great amount of time and energy trying to right the wrongs in an attempt to heal the wounds. We sometimes seek revenge against the ones who hurt us.

Such was the case in Israel at the beginning of the reign of King Saul. Some men, described in the tenth chapter of First Samuel as worthless men, tried to discredit Saul and keep him from being honored as King. They spread the word that Saul was incapable of leading the nation and bringing victory against their enemies.

On another front, the Ammonites were invading part of Israel’s land and making frightening threats about gouging out eyes. When Saul got word about it, he rallied the people of Israel, and under the power of the Holy Spirit of God he came with an army of men and wiped out the Ammonites.

During the victory celebration people started to demand justice against the worthless men who had dishonored King Saul. They fully expected that their king would respond according to the flesh and want to make a public spectacle of these guys who had been so wrong. Who wouldn’t want to set the record straight?

But King Saul, with the wisdom of God, said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” The past didn’t matter. What mattered is what God was doing in the present and what He had planned for the future.

The Apostle Paul understood this truth when he wrote in Philippians 3, “But 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.  Let those of us who are mature think this way…”

We all have multiple memories of past hurts and failures. Do not let them define you or consume you. Bury them under the present Presence of Jesus Christ in your life. Do not spend time focused on death when you are the possessor of eternal life. Release the hurt and let it go for good. Embrace what Jesus is doing today.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, January 20, 2014

Today’s Topic: The Great Beautifier

Today’s Text:  Psalm 149:4  For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

 We are surrounded by constant messages to be beautiful and good-looking. As soon as the Christmas shopping ads were over, the health-related commercials started. Every day we are bombarded with the lure of gym memberships, exercise programs, diets, and even pills, all promising that if we just looked better we would feel better about who we are and have a happier life.

Did you know that in 2009,  45.5 million people in America had a gym membership and spent 20 billion dollars on them. But here’s the real shocker – according to StatisticBrain.com only 33% of the people who had memberships actually went to the gym.

You see, we all want to look better, but two things keep us from getting there. Maybe we don’t want to do the work it takes to have that picture perfect body, or maybe after all the work we’ve discovered that it didn’t really change the quality of happiness in our lives. I think down underneath we all know that happiness doesn’t really come from how we look. If it did, we wouldn’t see so many beautiful people in so much trouble and even ending their own lives.

I came across a quote this morning that stuck out to me. It’s from the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote – There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.

But there can be no wish to scatter joy if we do not have any joy. So where does the joy come from so that we can scatter it to others and thereby be made beautiful?

First, we must understand that human existence in sin is the great joy killer because it is downright ugly. I mean hideously ugly. I mean repulsively ugly. Yet we have embraced it because we have been lied to by the enemy of our souls and told that it’s really kind of pretty. We have declared what is ugly to be beautiful in an attempt to make ourselves appear beautiful.

The truth is that we haven’t change our appearance one bit. In fact, it has made us uglier than ever. Every chance we get we step on our neighbors, co-workers, and friends to move ahead of them, believing that this gives us more value. We lie, cheat, and steal to fluff up our own financial pillow thinking that when we lay our head on it we will have peace. We are dreadfully ugly.

It is only when sin is conquered that beauty can be exposed. Beauty can’t be seen in the dark. Only when the light – the True Light of God’s salvation – shines on us will the beauty of life be seen. Only in the joy of the Lord can we find the strength for each day.

And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

The reason for such joy is that when we renounce sin and its lies, the Lord takes pleasure in us and adorns us with salvation. (Psalm 149:4) We are made beautiful in Christ. In God’s eyes, every one of us who is covered in the blood of Jesus is eternally beautiful.

Sounds freaky, doesn’t it. People who cover their sin with cultural beauty remain ugly, but those who cover themselves in blood – Christ’s blood – are transformed into the most beautiful of all beings. The joy of our salvation is the Great Beautifier.

And when we spread that joy to others, we become beautiful to people as well, not just to God. This is what I take from what Emerson said: by spreading joy and not pain we become beautiful in complexion, form, and behavior.

Today, let people see the beauty of Jesus in you, and they will call you beautiful too.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, January 17, 2014

Today’s Topic: He Wants to Talk about WHAT???

Today’s Text:  Matthew 6:21 (ESV)  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I must confess I am just a little bit scared. As a part of the Wise Up sermon series I am doing right now, it is important to talk about all of the areas that Christ felt were important to live wisely in a foolish world. The subject he spoke most about when it comes to practical living is the use of our money.

WHAT?  I have to go to church on Sunday and hear the pastor preach on money?

YES!

And to prepare you for the encouragement you are going to receive to know that Jesus Christ has the priority over your possessions, here is a resource I found from Pastor John Ortberg. If you come to church on Sunday you will receive a printed version of this.

THE 10 FINANCIAL COMMANDMENTS

1.  Thou shalt remember who the owner is.  Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

2.  Thou shalt embrace thy work.  Colossians 3:23-24: (The Message)  And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ.

3.  Thou shalt not fall into debt.  Proverbs 22:7 “The poor are always ruled by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.”

4.  Thou shalt teach thy children about money.   Psalm 34:11  “Come, my child, and listen closely. I will teach you obedience to the Lord.”

5.  Thou shalt have a plan.  1 Corinthians 16:2  “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up”

6.  Thou shalt declare, “I have enough!”  Proverbs 30:15  “The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.”

7.  Thou shalt find an alternative way to keep score.  2 Corinthians 10:12   Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

8.  Thou shalt look around.  Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD.”

9.  Thou shalt seek wise counsel.  Proverbs 11:14 (The Message) “Without good direction, people lose their way. The more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.”

10.  Thou shalt look forward to thy final audit.   Luke 12:48  Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Connecting Points

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Today’s Topic: Invisible Clarity

Today’s Text:  Revelation 21:23 (ESV)  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

I confess that I have no clearly defined point in mind to what I am going to write. I am simply expressing an idea that came to me this morning as I laid in bed trying desperately to go back to sleep. I have no idea why my mind goes to these things, but I thank God that He has a purpose for it. Maybe by the time I am done processing my thoughts while writing it will make sense.

Here is my thought – Light is invisible – we only see its effects.

For you brilliant scientists out there, I’m sure you have a way of explaining light so that it makes sense to a person of average intelligence like me. But I have some questions.

• Why is space dark?
• Why in a dark room, when I shine a pinpoint-focused flashlight against the wall, do I see only the spot on the wall and the area between the light and the wall remains dark?
• Or why can I see a spotlight shining on a person on stage but the area between the source of the light and the person remains dark?
• Is it possible that light, in whatever form it travels, as waves or electromagnetic radiation, is invisible in its nature and only visible when absorbed or reflected by another object?

Now before we get into a study of the physics of light, let me direct our attention to a spiritual application that God is clarifying for me. Follow these simple thoughts from a simple preacher:

• The Bible says God is Light
• The Bible says no one can look upon God and live.
• Therefore, pure light is invisible to the human eye.
• We can only see light at its source and the effects of light on the objects it touches.
• Jesus, who is God, came into the world as the Source of Light for the world, and unless we look at Him we are in darkness.
  •   John 1:4 (ESV)  In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men.
  •   John 8:12 (ESV)  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
  •   John 9:5 (ESV)  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
  •   John 12:46 (ESV)  I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
• We can see the reality of Jesus by looking at the people whose lives are being influenced by His light.
• Jesus chose us, His followers, to be the objects that have absorbed the Light so that we can become light to those around us.
  •   1 Thessalonians 5:5 (ESV)  For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
  •   Ephesians 5:7-14 (ESV)  ⁷ Therefore do not become partners with them; ⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light.

The world is in grave darkness. We are the Light the world needs. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) And the Apostle Paul said that we are to be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:15)

We are the ones God has chosen to bring clarity to what is invisible.

Pastor John

(NOTE: My apologies for the error in Tuesday’s Connecting Points as I misspelled the name of Frances Havergal and mistakenly identified her as a man.)

Connecting Points

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Today’s Topic: Availability

Today’s Text:  2 Samuel 15:15 (ESV)  And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.”

I’m preparing to go back out into the snow. I arrived at the office at 7:00 AM this morning to begin my personal study time and to write this Connecting Points devotional. At the beginning of my devotions was a poem by A. L. Waring which read:

I love to think that God appoints
My portion day by day;
Events of life are in His hand,
And I would only say,
Appoint them in Thine own good time,
And in Thine own best way..

Before I could read any further I was distracted by my computer alert which dinged to say someone had posted something new to Facebook. Of course I had to go look. It was a member of our church who was asking for help. Her son needed a ride to school today because her husband had accidently taken her car keys to work with him. They live in the area of our church where I am. I immediately responded that I could be there to do that, and in 10 minutes I will leave to serve her.

God’s appointments require man’s availability.

I returned to the devotions and read this from Francis Havergal in his old English style.

If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the trials and vexations arising from any change in His appointments, great or small, simply do not exist. If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work here? If He appoints me to wait in-doors to-day, am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out-of-doors? If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak them, or “show kindness” for His sake, or at least obey His command, “Be courteous?” If all my members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if to-day’s appointment is some simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, instead of some seemingly more important doing of head or tongue?

So before I leave to be on time for God’s appointment, let me ask you – Are you, as His servant, ready at any time to do whatever He asks?

God’s appointments require man’s availability.

Connecting Points

Monday, January 13, 2014

Today’s Topic: Confidence

Today’s Text:

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 (ESV)  ⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. ⁸ With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

2 Chronicles 32:22 (ESV)  ²² So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.

Monday mornings test my character, especially if Sunday has been filled with more ministry demands than normal. Yesterday was such a day.

There was not one part of the day that I would have missed, as every event was an incredible blessing and affirmation of what God is doing in the ministry of Calvary Baptist Church. But it was a long day and I was tired when I got home at 8:30 last night. When that happens, I feel drained on Monday, and my Monday is equally as busy every week. I can handle being tired, but what I don’t like are the attacks that come when I am tired, and the area where my character gets attacked first is in my confidence level.

Generally I’m a pretty confident guy – except on Monday mornings. That’s when I begin to doubt my abilities and question my value. I dare to believe that you do the same thing when you are tired or stressed. I’m right, aren’t I?

Well, this morning I was reminded about confidence when I opened my devotionals and the first one I read said this – “Jesus gives me confidence to be a minister of a new covenant.” It was followed by these verses in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit.

So I began to do a word search for the places in Scripture that talk about confidence. I found a story that went straight to my heart in Second Chronicles. Briefly, the people of Judah were in a predicament. King Sennacherib of Assyria had come to overthrow King Hezekiah of Judah and laid siege to their territory. This massive barbaric army was striking fear into the residents of Judah.

King Hezekiah puts their fears into perspective. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

I love that line – with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God. I am challenged by the people’s response – the people took confidence from the words. I tend to let words of people destroy my confidence, when Words of God have already been spoken that solidify my confidence. I am responsible for the words I choose to listen to. I alone choose what value I assign to what people say. I am solely accountable for my confidence level based on what words I have chosen to believe.

I have decided that the following words will be the foundation of my confidence level.

Psalm 27:3 (ESV) Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

Proverbs 3:26 (ESV) for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Hebrews 4:15-16 (ESV) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13:5-6 (ESV)  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

1 John 5:14 (ESV)  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

Check your confidence level against God’s words, not man’s. It will make a difference in your Monday…and every day.

Connecting Points

Friday, January 10, 2014

Today’s Topic: Character Can Be Corrupted

Today’s Text:  2 Corinthians 7:1   “Since we have these promises dear friend, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit; perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

I want to share with you this morning a devotional from Ron Hutchcraft that I heard on the radio this morning. It challenged me, as I pray it will you. It’s called “The Stink Takes Over.”

I checked the bread drawer and it was still there, but there was a smell! Our daughter was visiting and she put in a bagel order with her aunt. She said, “I want an onion bagel.” Well, somehow that onion bagel spent a few days in that bread drawer before it finally disappeared. Oh, the bagel was gone, but the smell remained. Well, that’s not correct. Oh, no! In fact, the taste wasn’t even gone. That little round stinker flavored every bagel in the drawer. So they all tasted like onion bagels now. I even had a bag of Starburst candies in the bread drawer, (Don’t ask me why.) and guess what? You should try those with a little onion flavor! Yum, yum! Who would have guessed that one thing could stink up and flavor everything?

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 7:1 . God says here, “Since we have these promises dear friend, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit; perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” Now, God gives here a pretty interesting standard for deciding what you will allow your body to do; what you will allow your mind to take in. Will it contaminate you?

Contaminate makes me think of a germ or a bacteria. It only takes this little guy to bring down a much larger body. Or, for some reason, I also think of an onion bagel. There’s no way to let it into that drawer without it infecting everything around it. That’s why it really matters what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, who you spend time with, what you do for entertainment, what you laugh at.

Oh, you may think you can contain the trash they carry. You say, “Oh, it’s no big deal. I can handle it.” But sin is highly infectious. What began as just a passing thought ultimately becomes a desire, and desire ultimately becomes a sin you never thought you’d do. That’s why the Bible says, “Don’t give the devil a foothold.” The devil just wants you to think about it, then want it, then do it, and then pay for it.

Maybe you’re underestimating the corrupting, contaminating power of a little compromise. You can’t afford that dirty joke, that dirty picture, a powerful video image or something on the Internet, a rumor about someone, a strong song about something that’s wrong. See, you can’t afford to let the stink in. You may feel a little defensive about some of the input that you’re letting in, but ask yourself a few questions about what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, what you laugh at, who you hang around with.

We don’t like to be challenged on these things, but ask these kinds of questions, “Is it making me a little harder than I was before? Am I becoming a little more tolerant of sinful things that I never used to put up with? Am I flirting mentally with some things I know are wrong? Am I finding the good things less interesting and more boring? Is my heart getting a little colder toward Jesus?” That’s the power of contamination.

You know why? Because in the verses proceeding what we read today, in chapter 6, verses 16-18, God says, “I live in you. You are my people. You are my sons and daughters. Therefore, don’t touch any unclean thing.” In other words, do you know who you are? Then purify yourself from everything that contaminates. You’re too good for this. You’re too special for this. You were too expensive to God for this.

So, back to my smelly bread drawer, some onion-tasting candies to prove that a little bad influence can spread very quickly. It can spoil everything. Look, if you’re letting into your body or into your mind anything that smells spiritually, get rid of it now. It could ruin what you never meant for it to touch.

Thanks Ron, for the challenge to not let Christ’s character be exposed to corruption.

Connecting Points

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Today’s Topic: Clear Communication

Today’s Text:  Psalm 46:10 (ESV)  “Be still, and know that I am God.

There is a word that rarely described my life until recent years. That word is rest. When I was a child and young adult, life was constantly active. Sitting and relaxing was for old folks, and now that I am one I understand it. But for over 50 years of my life there was no such thing as rest until my head hit the pillow at night.

The other day I heard a radio devotional from Max Lucado about taking piano lessons as a child. I instantly related to what he was saying. I too took lessons, and learned all the musical terminology and techniques. But Pastor Lucado said there was one thing he never understood – the squiggly vertical mark on the page indicating a one beat rest.

He too hated resting. Keep the music playing was the theory by which he and I both lived. But the response of his piano teacher to the question of why rests were important really struck me. She said, “Because it makes the music after the rest that much sweeter.”

I think I miss a lot of life’s sweetness because I enter the activity unrested. God is prepared to reveal His abundance to me, and because I am tired I am only capable of receiving a little. It is never God who limits the giving of every spiritual blessing from on high (Ephesians 1:3). God never restricts the availability of strength (Philippians 4:13). His supply of grace is always sufficient no matter how great our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). God cannot and will not withhold anything from those who love Him (Psalm 84:11)

Our God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.(William Law) It is in the place of rest that our souls are prepared to receive what He is offering. Theologian and author T.C. Upham said it this way – If we stand in the openings of the present moment, with all the length and breadth of our faculties unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, we are in the best condition to receive what God is always ready to communicate.

Stand in the squiggly-lined opening of the present moment and rest, and you will hear God, for He is constantly speaking.

Connecting Points

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Today’s Topic: Character’s Compass

Today’s Text:  Proverbs 11:3 (ESV)  The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

This morning I was cleaning up my inbox in my email account. I was shocked to discover that in all of my email folders that help me manage information I have over 500 megabytes of emails. That is a literal ocean of information. How in the world do I intend to ever navigate my way through it all? I know I filed every email into a specific folder for a reason, but I wonder what the reason was. How will I ever get through it all?

As I was sorting through just the inbox, I found an email that I saved from November 11, 2013. It’s only two months old, but I chose to leave it in my inbox because I knew that would guarantee me to look at it again. As I read it again I knew that today was the day for which it was intended.

Every Sunday morning, Calvary’s Pastor of Worship and Media, James Alan Hall, leads a Bible Study for all members of his worship and technical ministries. They meet in the Upper Room, a room chosen for them in our new facility because of its significance for their Levitical ministry. On Sunday, November 10^th, 2013, they read the following paragraph from the book they are studying:

When men first learned to navigate the open seas using the stars as their “road map” a whole new world opened up to them.  Until the development of state-of-the-art Satellite positioning technology, the compass was the primary instrument of navigation at sea.  It was said, “He who is a slave to the compass enjoys the freedom of the open sea”.

One of the members of the Bible Study wrote this email to me the next day.

The last line really hit me and has stuck with me (which is rare).  I started thinking about the freedoms that we have in Christ.  What we watch, say, drink, eat, do, etc.  Often times Christians will argue or judge what is right and wrong…..which is a form of legalism.  We do have freedoms but if we are just roaming about at sea going wherever the wind takes us, looking for the next big thing and paying no attention to the compass we are bound to get hurt and find ourselves in a storm not knowing which way to turn.

But if we are a slave to the compass, we can truly enjoy the freedom of the open sea, but with direction and purpose.  This does not mean there will not be storms because a compass cannot predict that, but when we are in a storm we will have a clear direction to go for safety.  If we are truly focused on the compass I would think that a lot of the areas of the sea that we are free to roam around in just will not seem that appealing because all they will do is take us off course and slow us down from getting to our purpose and destination.

Purpose = share the Good News

Destination = Heaven

Compass = Holy Spirit

The world is a sea of opportunity which we are trying to navigate. The only way to stay on course – to maintain integrity of character – is to trust the Compass provided to us by Jesus Christ when He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We who are in Christ have a resident Compass; a Guide to show us the way through the ocean of life. Whether or not we are on course is totally our responsibility – we are either gazing at the Compass and staying true to God’s course or we are peering over the railing at the ocean of potential piers that appear to be desirable ports in which dock the ship of our life.

As we sail across the sea of life, it is tempting to look around at all the beautiful islands where we could stop for a while. There is an Island of Pleasure, and an Island of Prosperity. There are Islands of Power and a Port of Prestige. But none of these places is worthy of our consideration – never once should we shift the rudder to steer towards them unless the Compass directs us and the Wind of the Holy Spirit shifts to move us there. Resist the allure of the tropical islands when the Compass is pointing towards the eternal shore.

Stay on course. Let integrity be your guide. Character never cuts corners nor does it change direction.

Connecting Points

Monday, January 06, 2014

Today’s Topic: Character

Today’s Text:  Romans 5:3-5  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,   ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  

Recently I was challenged in a leadership blog I read to choose one word to describe my goals for the New Year. That one word would encompass and simplify all of the traditional resolutions I would normally make. Well, I have chosen my word – CHARACTER.

I thought about a lot of different words, but one event that happened in my life before Christmas has remained embossed in my mind for over three weeks now. I have been waiting to write about it, but was delayed until the Holy Spirit made the applications to my life first. I’m finally ready.

I was driving into town early one morning and pulled up to the corner of Highway 93 and Golf Road intending to turn left. I planned ahead and knew that I wanted to stop and see my son at Great Harvest Bread, so I was in the right hand left turn lane. (In case that doesn’t make sense to you, it is a double left turn lane at that intersection.) That way I could turn right at the first corner on Golf Road.

Next to me in the left hand left turn lane was another car but I did not notice the age or gender of the driver, and it doesn’t matter, because what was about to happen applies to all of us. The left turn arrow turned green, and we both proceeded around the corner. I moved straight ahead until I could turn perpendicularly to the left, thus giving the second car plenty of room to do the same, just like they teach in driver’s training.

Suddenly I noticed that the second car had no desire to conform to proper driving technique. It was already around the corner and two car lengths ahead of me because it had made a straight diagonal cut across the intersection and pulled in front of me into my lane. In the process, the car had crossed two empty lanes of opposing traffic. Because it was early enough in the day those lanes were empty, but if that car had done that thirty minutes later during the beginning of rush hour it would have collided with other vehicles in those lanes.

The first words out of my mouth were, “Wow! He really cut that corner!” Instantly my heart was cut as the Holy Spirit spoke to me and asked, “How many corners do you cut every day?”

My mind searched for a self-justifying response. “I’m sure that if there had been cars in those traffic lanes the driver of the car next to me would have swung out wider to make the turn,” I thought, “just like I do what is right when I need to”.

“Exactly my point,” said the Holy Spirit. “You see, character never cuts corners.”

So now you know why I have chosen the word CHARACTER for the New Year. I want to avoid and eliminate all corner-cutting in my life. There are no shortcuts to holiness. Every shortcut is a selfish attempt to immediately gratify a personal need. Any and all compromise proves the lack of character. Corner-cutting is motivated by a belief that we deserve an advantage, which is pride, which is absolutely contrary to Christ’s character.

So as my first step in acknowledging Christ’s character in me, I refuse to cut corners. I will not look for shortcuts in my personal life, in my relationships, and in my ministry. I will not look to cut corners to avoid the traffic of trials in my life, but instead will stay in the lane God has designed for me. That way I will learn endurance, which leads to character, which produces hope that will not disappoint me.

Cutting corners provides nothing more than momentary satisfaction leading to a need for further gratification. Character brings lasting hope that satisfies eternally through the abiding love of God poured into our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Character NEVER cuts corners!