Rest

We are not a very restful people. We are always focusing on self. We are always using guilt or fear to motivate--manipulate--people to make the decisions we want them to make. We somehow believe that the Holy Spirit needs our help to get people to make the right decisions. But can shame be the soil from which love grows? Is the Holy Spirit so inept that He needs human manipulation to touch the hearts of His people? As a teacher I am always challenged by Paul's statement to the church at Corinth: "What I said and preached had none of the attractiveness of the clever mind, but it was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit! Plainly God's purpose was that your faith should rest not upon man's cleverness but upon the power of God."
Paul tells us often that the source of all wisdom and understanding is a deeper understanding of Jesus. If we want people to do what is right, they must see and understand all that He is, all that He has done, all that He has promised to do for His people today and tomorrow. Why do you think that Paul starts almost all of his letters by emphasizing those truths? Before he ever talks about obedience, he gives tremendous insights into Jesus. He has forgiven all our sins, paid the debt for all our sins--past, present, and future--and defeated all our enemies, even death. When we understand those truths and why He has done so, it is love and not shame or guilt that motivates us to love Him back through obedience. We must teach God's people to rest in Him and His finished atoning work on the cross. We must love people where they are and trust the Spirit to use His Word to transform them. We must accept that God has us where He wants us to be for now. And that even now His Spirit is working in our lives to cause us to grow at His pace and in His grace. Those who truly rest, work the work of love. Those who are shamed into obedience, quit as soon as the feelings of guilt dissipate. Those who truly rest, endure, because they know that God will provide everything and everyone they need at the right place and the right time. Those who are manipulated by guilt live in fear because they believe that because of their failures God will not provide anything or anyone they need at the precise time that such is needed. Many of them even become slaves to man-made standards of righteousness, the enemy of genuine spiritual growth. They become followers of men and resist the power of God, the controlling, transforming work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
It is time to become a people of rest--to lean on the One who promised all those who come to Him that He would give them rest by yoking His strength to theirs so that through Him, Who is their strength, they could do all things necessary to godliness. It is time to show people Jesus and to emphasize His great and continuous love for His children. Guilt produces shame. Shame produces fear. Fear produces doubt. Doubt produces despair. Despair produces resignation. Resignation causes one to just give up trying. Apathy becomes the disguise we wear when we are afraid to trust and when we think that our love is incapable of pleasing God. Rest. Love. Obey. Grow. Every act of obedience is an act of love. And Jesus will never, no never, not for a moment, not even once, leave you nor forsake you. And that's an eternal, everlasting promise.

"Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

Politicians

The good politician recognizes that he is God's ordained agent and thus subject to God's laws and God's definition of leadership: "full-time servant-hood to those under his care." He knows he is not their superior, let alone their ruler. The dangerous politician sees himself as autonomous and thus his own standard for right and wrong, good and evil. He serves his self-interest and is incapable of acting for the common good of society, especially since often what is good for society is seen in a negative light by society. And thus, not good for his self-interest. The good politician never asks, "what does my party think is right" or "what do the majority of Americans think is right" or "what impact will this decision make on my popularity and my chances for re-election"? Those are "power" questions and destroy one's ability to act out of a loving servant's heart--a servant to God first, to those under his care next. What the good leader asks himself is "how will the One who has placed me in this position as decision-maker view my decision"? The bad politician is always checking to see which way the proverbial "wind is blowing." As much as he would like to think so, he is not in charge. He is the dupe of public opinion. The word for that is "spineless." Sadly, there are, it seems, always more bad politicians then there are good ones. Praise the Lord for the good ones. And remember: Thankfully, the hope and comfort of all Christians is the simple truth that "the heart of the king is in the hand of God."

Jesus Never Fails

When God doesn't answer our prayers--well, He always answers our prayers. Let's start over. When God doesn't answer our prayers the way we would like Him to, it's not that He's thinking:

"Oh, they need a little more disappointment in their lives."

" You know, Gabriel, I think a little more suffering in their lives will probably be good for them. They've had it pretty easy for some time now."

Nor does He not sense and feel--even have empathy for--our sadness and tears when His answer is not what we had hoped. He is the One who commands us to "weep with those who weep." He is the One who took on flesh that He might feel with us, not merely for us.

No, what He's thinking is: "What I have planned for them is the best; so much better than what they think they need. What I have planned for them is joy and a deepening sense of my presence and my love."

Jesus never fails.

The Body

Paul describes the church as a body. Each member is necessary; each member is vital to the church's ability to fulfill its mission: "Go into all the world and make disciples." "You will be witnesses of Me." (And it's "of" not merely "for.") In the church where God has placed you, you are needed. Encouragement, hospitality, exhortation, discipleship, discipline, giving of our resources are not independent acts. They require others. We desperately need each other and the gifts and "energy" we bring to the body. Christianity is a group project. In the church independence is counterfeit freedom. We are one body.

The Fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

We live in a nation severely lacking in wisdom. On all levels. And the reason is obvious. What pleases God is irrelevant to most people--including many believers. And since all issues are spiritual issues, not political, I hope your trust is not in the government and its leaders--in men--for solutions to these issues. What is my responsibility then? To model Christ. To show the world that we never make decisions without asking ourselves "How will this decisions affect my relationship with God?" Unless we imitate the life of Christ on a daily basis, no one will ever know what wisdom looks like. What does wisdom add to the world: understanding, discernment, instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, equity, prudence, an increase in learning, discretion, wise counsel. We can't make anyone wise; that's a choice they make. But we can show our love for Him by demonstrating wisdom. We can be light in any darkness.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

The Test of Success

The proof of the character of Mordecai in the book of Esther comes at the very end. He had to pass the test of success. And he did. No matter how great a man he became in earthly affairs, he changed not at all in the desires of his heart. First, foremost, and forever, Mordecai loved God's people and desired to see them blessed of the Lord and celebrating His goodness to them. Nothing changed his character. He was "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." He knew times of great abasement and times of great exaltation, but either way, he was a servant of the Most High God.
How does your character match up to this splendid example of a believer in both word and deed? Are you a man of love and responsibility? A man of caution and compassion? A man of faithful duty to civil authorities? A man of uncompromising conviction and steadfastness regardless of circumstances? A man of prayer, supplication, and humility? A man of exhortation and trust? A man of praise and rejoicing? A man of unchanging character even in the good times? The key is having your heart where Mordecai had his. He was given completely to loving the things God loves: his family, God's honor, justice, God's people, the people he served in his position in the world.
Mordecai received the honor of men--you and I may not. But the honor of being faithful to God is all you need. And I think that Mordecai's greatest achievement, perhaps the ultimate test of his character, was that he passed along his heart to his "daughter," Esther. If my children develop a godly character, a heart just like mine, what will they be like? Where will their treasures be?

Death

Death. The word that haunts men. As a teacher of literature, it was always interesting to me how many writers down through the ages have written about death. Man is preoccupied with trying to explain it, with trying to find some way to soften its impact and their unknown fears. No so, however, with the child of God. He rests in the arms of the destroyer of death, His Savior. Like Paul, he can say, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die, gain . . . having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." Death is a going home to be with Him, to at last see Him whom we have loved but have not seen.
And I love the ways in which that word "depart" was used in New Testament times. It was used by soldiers to take down the tent and move on--to depart. To sailors it meant to put up the sail--to depart. To the farmer it meant to unhook the oxen. To the jailor it meant to set the prisoner free. What a picture of death to us who know our Savior. We are going from a tent to a room in His house, from the battle to the place of rest. We are setting sail for home, our "new world." We can release the oxen, the toil in the harvest is done. We have not looked back. We can escape the prison of our earthly bodies to live in a heavenly one that He has prepared for us, immortal and incorruptible. The body we leave behind is merely the cocoon, the butterfly has gone--the transformation is complete.

Someday we will be like Him, "for we shall see Him as He is."