“Play Ball!”

I have a favorite quote at the bottom of my blog and it goes like this, “the true mark of a Christian is not one who is perfect, but one who strives to have Christ perfected in them,” and I honestly can’t remember where I came across this saying, or even who said it for that matter, only that it struck me as profound – and it is.  It serves as a reminder to us all that we will fail in our walks with God, time and time again, and yet, I believe God isn’t as concerned as much with our failings as He is with our ability to get back up, back on, and back in the game.

True, when we fail it has the ability to set us back, but for how long and how much, I believe, is really up to us.  The one thing we can be certain of though, is that God isn’t in the booing section.  When we fail/fall He is more apt to come out into the arena, pick us up, dust us off, and then say, “now, get back out there!  Get back in the game!”  because just as with sports, there’s no time for sulking.  We can’t win if we’re sulking, brooding, having pity parties or lamenting over past sins, and believe me, we will have them, we all have them, but God has the remedy for this and it’s called repentance.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And there’s that word “if” again and “if” is an action-y kind of word, is it not?  It literally requires that we do something and that something when it comes to sin in our lives is hopefully honing the ability to quickly recognize when it rears its ugly head and if and when it does to immediately take it to the cross.  Repentance simply means recognizing a wrong doing, showing sincere sorrow for it, and then turning from it.  In other words, when you take it to the cross, leave it there, because this is what God does.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:10-12).

And so if God is able to forget our sins then shouldn’t we?  And not to make light of sin, because we should never make light of it, but rather, once repentance takes place to learn from it, grow from it and then simply – move on.  To look God in the face after He’s put our band-aid on and say, “okay, I’m ready to get back in the game again.”  Because honestly, I don’t think there’s anything that could make God happier.

For as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. (Psalm 103:13).

“Play ball!”

Unaware

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.” Heb 13:2

And as of late this scripture keeps coming to mind, maybe because God keeps putting it there, I don’t know, but I woke this morning thinking of it. Perhaps too because I always do as the holidays approach. “Tis the Season!” and yet, I wonder, how many of us feeling the crunch of the economy this year will stop to ponder the true meaning of Christmas? Maybe no longer able to buy, buy, buy, or think, think, think, “what shall I get for so-n-so this year, they already have everything anyway,” instead we’ll stop to think of the gift God gave us that first Christmas morn; His one and only Son.

Yes, to us, the poor, the destitute, the uncomely and the the unseen. God’s Word says, “our righteousness compared to His is as filthy rags,” and truly, that must be what we look like compared to Him. Yet God, in all of His beauty can see what we don’t see; us, when clothed in His Righteousness, what we can be.

When you really think about it, what a beautifully redemptive story. His Son; a ransom to replace our filthy rags. “Here,” He says as he drapes us in the finest of white raiment. “Let me place a crown of righteousness upon your head, and the best sandals upon your feet,” but first, only after He has washed them. “Now, come,” He says, “I have prepared a feast and you are to dine with Me!”

In Him, there is everything we could ever need. Everything. No shortage of supply, for God is not debt-ridden. His house is full of the finest things and the only things that can truly fill and satisfy our earthly hearts. Yes, if only we could see… how He sees. How God has the power to transform that which we might completely disregard as worthless or ugly. How the rock we toss away as only ordinary, He then picks up and polishes into a diamond.

“For some have entertained angels unaware,” and every Christmas season God brings this verse to mind. “Why?” you ask. Because one Christmas season there was a story behind it I’d like to share.

I think it was nearly fifteen years ago now, at least. We had gathered in a church basement in a small town in Oregon, a distant relative the pastor, and every Christmas day the congregation would put on a Christmas day feast. Everyone eating, conversing, children playing, including mine. Nothing out of the ordinary, that is, until a man walked in. Not just any man mind you, but to be honest, probably one of the filthiest, dirtiest men I think I have ever seen in all my life.

There we were, all of us in our Christmas Best and He? Rags and dirt and filth. I kid you not, His skin almost blackened as if He had just crawled out of a ditch somewhere or a coal mine, though, of any coal mines in Oregon I do not know. But it was surreal, startling to see such a contrast, and I will never forget it. Why? Because of how we all reacted, including myself; not one of us spoke to Him. He walked in on all of our merryment and yet, we, perhaps so out of tune with who God really is, did not know what do with Him. Just to out of the blue, too out of place.

Quietly the man made his way over to the kitchen where they prepared a plate for Him and then? He came and sat down but just a few feet away from me. The same table, the pastor sitting directly across from me. Still, no one spoke to Him. I kept thinking, “well, maybe the pastor will speak up.” But no, and yet, neither did I. The man, quietly eating when all of a sudden he looked up and for a brief moment I saw His eyes and they were striking. Probably the bluest eyes I think I have ever seen set against the filthiest skin. Even my daughter, being all of three at the time, as children do, “mommy, why is that man so dirty?” “Shh,” I tried to quiet her, sitting there, waiting, for someone, anyone, at least “Merry Christmas Sir! Is there anything else we can do for you?” I will never forget this experience. The man must have been there all of 10-15 minutes, yet still, no one spoke to Him and when He had finished eating, He simply got up, and left.

I remember watching Him as He left. Up the basement steps He went and then seeing through the tiny basement windows nothing more than His filthy boots as He trudged along the sidewalk, and then? He was gone. And to this day I remember the feeling that came over me then, and it was this, “I had failed,” and I knew that I had. I had waited for “someone else” but God, was waiting for me.

To do this day, as I recall the whole experience, I think, “funny, how the dirtiest, filthiest man I think I have ever seen in all my life, literally sitting but just a few feet away from me, did not even smell.” Yes, for some have entertained angels unaware.

This Holiday Season, may we all take full opportunity to not only be “Merry Christmas Wishers,” but also to be ,”Merry Christmas Do-gooders!” in reaching out to those less fortunate then ourselves.

Happy Holidays and God’s best!

Problems at Corinth

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 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 have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1st Corinthians 13: 1-13)

One of my favorite passages of the Bible; 1st Corinthians 13 and yet I got to thinking about it quite seriously a couple of days ago, inquiring of God, “God, why did Paul feel the need to write about it in the first place? God, what was really going on at Corinth anyway?” Apparently something, something was going on at Corinth, something that prompted Paul to write a letter and pen this infamous “Love” chapter, and Paul wrote this specifically to the Christians at Corinth, but why? Could it be it was because they had forgotten what kind of love God had called them to have in the first place? A love that, “does not envy, that does not boast?” The kind of love that Christ had, “that it is not self-seeking, that it is not easily angered?” Yes, the kind of love that Christ had.

And I think on that a lot; the kind of love that Christ had. The kind of love the apostles had. The kind of love that martyrs have. A love that stands in the face of persecution, that doesn’t feel the need to defend itself. A love that says, “here take my cloak also.” The kind of love that prays for one’s enemy’s, that is self sacrificing. The kind of love that’s willing to die even, even as Christ died on a cross though He was innocent and not guilty. The kind of love that cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!” The kind of love that Paul saw in the eyes of Stephen as they stoned him to death, who said nothing but only looked to heaven. The kind of love that keeps no record of wrongs, but continues steadfast, always hoping, always praying even for those who persecute God’s Children. It is this kind of love that can only come from God and humanly is impossible but time and time again through the history of the Church has been found evident in the hearts of men and women who have given their all to God, allowing His Spirit to be poured through them and His love to be found as evidence that He does indeed live within them. This is the kind of love that Paul is writing about here and this is the kind of love that truly does and can only come from God. And so… what was the problem/problems of the Corinthians?

Obviously Corinth was having problems, not only falling short in their lack of Love but also in so many other areas concerning their walks with God and though they believed they were still within His good graces, Paul was writing them to tell them otherwise. Corinth, though it started off on the right foot was quickly headed in the wrong direction, and instead of being salt and light to the world around them, instead they were allowing the world’s ideas to infiltrate them, corrupting the Church to the point that one could no longer tell the difference.

Paul was writing them to remind them in the whole book of 1st Corinthians, “don’t you remember how it was when you first began? When you first believed? How you loved the Lord your God and put Him first in everything? But then… you started to listen to the wisdom of men and now? now you have hardened your hearts, no longer holding fast to what was first preached.” And the love that Paul speaks of in 1st Corinthians 13, the love that should be found in the heart of every Believer is no longer found at the church of Corinth.

And this, this is what I’ve been thinking on a lot lately; how easy, how easy it would be for any of us to fall into many of the same sins as the Corinthians, praying, “oh God, don’t ever let us get like the church of Corinth! Don’t ever let us stray that far from you! Don’t ever let us lose our salt and flavor, or harden our hearts that your love can not even dwell there anymore! Oh, Lord, don’t ever let us stray that far.” And it is and this must be a prayer of ours because I do believe it can be so easy, so easy for any of us to fall away, so easy to grow complacent, more concerned with being “pleasers of men” then “pleasers of God” forgetting our first love, and so our prayer must be, “oh God, never let me! Never let me!”

These last few days I have been reading a study on the book of 1st Corinthians and I would love for you to join me. It’s called The Corinthian Crises and I have found it to be incredibly insightful into why Paul wrote 1st Corinthians in the first place.

As we near Valentine’s Day may you find your heart reflecting His love more and more and may you experience all of His blessings, praying always even as David did:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

For The Goodness of God

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8).

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9).

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32).

For the Goodness of God; that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. That while we were still sinners God sent His only begotten Son to redeem mankind from the power of Satan. God’s gift of eternal life, extended and available to all who believe. To all who call upon the name of the Lord. The goodness of God; patient and longsuffering that all should come to repentance. That all should come to the knowledge of the truth, to understanding, having their eyes opened.

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-7).

Having our eyes opened. For there are many who walk in spiritual darkness. There are many who have a “form” of godliness. There are many who proclaim the name of the Lord but their hearts are far from Him. Their are many who know of Him but who don’t know Him. Who speak of Him yet who do not understand the truth of His sayings. Who cannot fathom His greatness. Who do not revere or fear Him.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5).

Do you understand it? Even the demons believe there is a God and even they tremble. Simply believing that there is a God is not enough. You must be “born again!” So who of you still walks in spiritual darkness? And who lacks understanding?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

For God desires that no one should perish. Look at the life of Saul before becoming Paul. Who walked in spiritual darkness. Who knew the scriptures yet persecuted Christians because he thought he was doing God a great service. Even Saul, who before he came to the true knowledge of Jesus Christ, even he thought he knew God but was walking in spiritual blindness. Who by God’s might and by God’s goodness was changed from Saul to Paul. Paul, who fell on his face in fear and trembling before a mighty and an awesome God. Paul, who for lack of seeing, became blind until the scales fell from his eyes that he then could finally see. For the goodness of God. That all might come to a saving faith. To a faith like that of Paul’s. That counts all as rubbish except for Christ. Paul, who ran the race to win it. Is this not the kind of faith God wants to form in us? Not a faith that conforms to the world. Not a faith that makes excuses for sin. But a transforming faith, full of the awesome power and goodness of God. That has the ability to open the eyes of men. That has the ability to save even the “chiefest of all sinners.” Is this not the kind of faith God calls us to have? For the goodness of God. For the goodness of God. And do I see? Am I reaching those who are perishing with all that I am, all that Christ is within me, to proclaim the truth of His Word that is able to save and pull many from the enemy’s hand? “For to live is Christ, but to die is gain.” And is this my mentality? and if it is not, then should it not be? I ask you, for the goodness of God… that while I was still a sinner Christ died for me.

Saul’s Conversion (Acts 9:1-19)

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

And Phillippians 3:7-21 (written by Paul)

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

But The Greatest of These is Love

If you have never had the opportunity to hear Corrie ten Boom speak then now is your chance! I remember seeing a television broadcast of her once and thinking, “wow, now there is someone who has a testimony of just how deep, how wide, how far, and how high is the love of Christ!” Someone who’s really been through it, who’s seen some of the worst atrocities in the last century, yet not only lived to tell about it but lived to tell about how Christ’s love always wins out.

When and if you have the time just click this link www.archive.org/details/SchoolOfPrayer-TheGreatestOfTheseIsLove-ByCorrieTenBoom-Sermon to hear one of her sermons; “The Greatest of These is Love.”

It’s about an hour long so make sure you can set aside the time to listen but I promise you won’t be disappointed. Whenever I have had the opportunity to hear Corrie ten Boom speak or have read any of her writings I have always been blessed. She is full of insight and wisdom and I especially liked her flashlight analogy in this sermon.

Be blessed! For the greatest of these truly is… love!