Grow where you are planted

    I was thinking this morning about Joseph and what it must have been like for him in the Old Testament story to be sold into slavery by his brothers.  It doesn't tell us much about his faith in his teenage years, but it does appear that he believed even then in God.  I wonder if he felt discarded and abandoned when his brother sold him off to go to Egypt?  How did he feel when he got thrown down a well.  Then when they dragged him back up, it wasn't to help him, but to sell him. 
    Yet, the story never tells us that God abandoned Joseph.  Actually, it says the opposite.  It says that God was with him and that each part of the journey Joseph learned something, so that years later he could save the entire region from starvation.  Which leads me to say that Joseph learned something about growing where you are planted.  Joseph even told his brothers in the story that they meant it to harm him, but God meant it to bring about a deliverance.
     I've been guilty of not always appreciating where I am planted.  I look over the fence, methaphorically speaking, to see somewhere else I would rather go.  I think the place I am at is not good enough or that I am not being used enough.  But, Joseph learned that God had important lessons to teach him right where he was in prison.  So that, he could be used by God for much greater things later.  And when you look at the great men of the church or the Bible, you see sometimes there was a season when they were not in a place where they wanted to be.  But, it was not wasted time.  Rather, it was a time of purging and refinement.  Let me repeat that "it was not wasted time."
      Look at Moses, who was taught in the very best Egyptian schools, only to spend 40 years of his life in the desert shepherding sheep.  God used both of those experiences to call Moses when he was 80 years old, to do his mission.  It literally took 80 years for Moses to be to the point where he was ready.  But, once he was ready, God used him in a great way.
      There is a difference between vocation and calling.  Your vocation is how you get paid.  Your calling is the talents and abilities God has given you and what you are suppose to do.  Sometimes people are lucky enough for them to match.  I think most people don't have that luxury.  You might drive a truck during the day, but what your heart really enjoys is teaching the Bible to your Sunday School class.  One is your vocation and one is your calling.  But, God can use you in both places.  The important thing is to think about what your calling is and to use the gifts God has given you.
    In thinking about what your calling is, think about what your passion is.  What helps you get out of bed in the morning?  What do you live for?  What brings you joy?  What do you get excited about?  Jeremiah was called a "weeping prophet", but I don't think that most of the time God wants us to think of our gifts as something that brings us down.  Rather, our gifts are closely related to our passion and our heartbeat.  It is about who God made us to be. 
    The other thing I was thinking about is that when God gives us something, he wants us to share it.  I think sometimes we don't get more from God because we haven't shared what we already have.  When God teaches you something, your meant to tell others.  That doesn't mean you stop someone randomly on the street and tell them, but when God gives you the chance, share what you know.  This helps us affirm what we have learned and it also in turn, helps someone else.  Your a steward of what he has taught you.  Share it and help someone else to grow.  Grow where you are planted and be thankful that God can use you wherever you are.

Abram and Sarai

   In Genesis 20, there is a story of Abram and Sarai where Sarai is taken in Abimelech household because he thinks that Abram and Sarai are brother and sister.  God comes to Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he is a dead man because he has taken Sarai to be his wife.  It is interesting that God tells him to give Sarai back to Abram and that Abram will pray for him that he might be forgiven for this.  God describes Abram as a prophet.
    This is something that happens at least three different times over two generations in the book of Genesis.  Where Sarai nearly becomes another man's wife because of this lie that Abram tells others.  Abram appears, in contrast to his other great faith filled moments, to be very human and very fearful of others.  In a way, it actually encourages me, that God can use others even when they are very imperfect.
      Really, if you look at the disciples and some of the other great saints in the Old Testament you see the same story.  David had Bathsheba and Uriah.  Moses buried a man in the sand that he had killed.  The story in the Bible is of God using imperfect people despite themselves.  Sometimes these blunders were premeditated and shocking.  Sometimes they were impulsive decisions that had lasting consequences.  Yet, God still did great things through them.
      I really think this says something about the great mercy, grace and forgiveness of God.  That he doesn't have to wait until we attain sainthood or perfection in order to use us.  That he is forgiving of our fraility and selfishness.  That he understands that we are going to fail and sometimes fail in major ways.  That this doesn't somehow suprise God.  That even in the end he can use of our weaknesses, failures and trials to teach us.
      One of the things that I think failure teaches us is the need to remain humble.  I saw a billboard when I was in Houston years ago that said, "Humble and proud of it."  Humility is something that I feel when God uses me because I know how frail and imperfect I am.  I know I have no right to brag about anything and that it is all because of him.  When we start to become proud we move into dangerous and deep waters. 
      The other thing I think it teaches me is my utter dependence on God.  It is amazing to me that when I have even forgotten that I prayed about something and then days later see God answer a prayer.  Do I always pray with a spirit of anticipation that God will answer?  One thing I have noticed is that my day and week always goes better when it starts with prayer and giving my day to God.  It is so much better to walk into work knowing that you have prayed about your day.  I can remember many days stopping at a rest stop on the way to work and praying because I was wanting a few moments to pray before I faced my day.  It may seem like we are too busy to pray.  I would say your too busy not to pray.

    Thank God that he hears us when we pray and that He can use any of us if we depend on Him.

Job's complaint

     As I have started reading through the Bible chronologically, one of the first books we read is the book of Job.  That is because many scholars believe that it is the most ancient of Old Testament writings.  Most of the events in this book appear to have happened  before Abraham or Moses.  Most likely it was a story that was passed down verbally for many years, perhaps hundreds of years,  before it was written down.
      One of the things that makes Job enduring is that it deals with the question of the unfairness of life and the problem of evil.  Here is Job who worshiped God and put him first in his life and God allows Satan to take everything except his life.  For many chapters, Job has to struggle with the idea that it appears that God abandoned him.  To make matters worse, he lived in a time when it was assumed that if a person was rich or blessed with material things that he was in God's favor.  So, his illness and the disasters that occurred to him make it appear to Job's friends that he has done something horribly wrong.   They are there on an evangelistic mission to turn Job away from his sin and turn him back to God.  It appears obvious to them that he did something wrong.
       This idea is still apart of our culture today in some ways.  A person may come to the conclusion that if things are not going well for them that they are not favored or that God is angry with them.  Job himself stated that he wanted an interview with God to declare him own righteousness.  Maybe because he has also bought into this idea that God's favor is displayed when things go well and you are blessed with material things.
       One of the things you also see in these verses is that although he doesn't understand God's ways, he clearly still loves God in a profound way.  In the middle of sitting in a ash heap with boils on his skin, thinking that death is imminent, he talks about the glory of God and the greatness of God Job 26:5-14.  Here he sits in the ash heap wondering aloud when God allows the sinful person to die in peace, but he doesn't curse God for it Job 24: 1-2.  I think that is one of the profound messages of Job, that sometimes we won't understand God, but are we still willing to praise him in the middle of where we sit when things are not going our way.
       In the group I am a part of someone asked how long God allowed Job to suffer before he appeared.  Because in Job 38, God does show up to speak to Job.  He doesn't show up because Job is right and he feels obligated to repent.  He shows up to speak to Job about himself.  It doesn't say how long Job suffered.  The text makes it appear that it could have been only a few weeks or months.  But, I think it if it was clear, we would probably have some churches or people today running around claiming that they suffered longer than Job or that your truly only righteous if you suffer as long as he did.  People tend to get caught up in things like that.  We tend to make minor points into major points and lose our perspective.
      The silence of God can be profound at times.  When it appears that he has hid himself and life doesn't go the way that we think it should.  If that has never happened to you as a believer you are fortunate.  It happend to the psalmist.  In Psalm 13:1-2 the psalmist writes "How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever?  How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?  How long shall I take counsel in my sould, Having sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"   I want you to notice that this is a psalm.  That God didn't condemn the psalmist for asking this question any more than he did Job.  God can take our questions and not condemn them. 
       But, at the end of the day we have to come back to the idea that though I don't understand him I will trust him.  I will trust that one day he will make things clear.  I trust him with my conflict, I share it with him.  I share my hurts, fears, worries and concerns with him, whether I feel his presence or not.  I do that because I walk by faith and not feeling.  Because I know God is a loving and compassionate God who doesn't abandon people though it feels like it at times. 

Job and his friends

  This year I am in a group that is reading the Bible chronologically.  Today, we are in Job 6-9 where Job is confronted by his friends about his situation.  Job has had everything except his life taken away from him.  From what his friends are saying to him, it is implied that he sinned somewhere along with way, so that God has taken everything from him.  It is interesting to read Job's reply to them in Job 6

   "For the despairiing man there should be kindness from his friends; Lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty" Job 6:14

   Then Job goes on to compare his friends to a wadi.  A wadi is a dry river bed in the desert.  It would fill with rain when it did rain and other times remain dry.  Job says that these friends are like a river bed, that travelers see in the distance and are hopeful that it has water.  But, when they arrive all their hopes are dashed to pieces because it is dry.

   Job is insistent that he is innocent of doing anything against God.  He sounds pretty sure of himself.  I'm not sure that I would be so confident.  Numerous times here he declares his innocence.

Job 6:10b "And I rejoice in unsparing pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One".

Job 7:20 "Have I sinned?  What have I done to Thee, O watcher of men?"

Job 9:21  "I am guiltless."

    Job's friends continue to insist that he is guilty of something.  Job's friend Bildad says that his sons must have committed some sin and that is why God is judging them Job 8:4.  What is going on here?  They are trying to reconcile what they see with the idea that God is holy and just.  They are trying to understand the suffering they see and their only answer is that Job must have sinned.  Because in their eyes, the righteous are blessed and the sinful are judged. 

     But, we know that the innocent do in fact suffer on earth, sometimes through the fault of others.  We see that in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Ct where shooters entered places like schools and cinemas and shot people down for no good reason.  We don't blame the kids for that or the people in the movie theater.  We shouldn't blame the guns because guns don't aim themselves at people.  What Job and his friends are dealing with is the difference between what they believe and what they see happening.  They realize they can't blame God, so it must be Job's fault.  When the truth of the matter is that the righteous sometimes do suffer just like those who are lost.  It is the result of living in a sinful world that is fallen.  Sometimes bad things happen.

    The real questions is, "Where is God in the middle of all this?"  To which I would reply that unlike the Muslim God or the Buddhist idea of God that the christian God is a God who came down from his glory to join us in our suffering.  He took up a human body and suffered and then died.  He can therefore relate to us as someone who understands us in our suffering and weakness.  He did not remain remote somewhere in the sky, uncaring and unconcerned.  In fact, Isaiah calls Jesus a man of sorrows Isaiah 53:3. 

      One of the shortest verses in the bible is in John 11:35 "Jesus wept."  He saw what our sin does to our relationships and the pain that it causes.  He saw how the death of our friends and family grieves us.  He saw and sees the pain that our sin causes to ourselves and others.  He came to redeem us from that.  To give us hope even when standing in the middle of a graveyard.  That one day he will make everything right, bring back our loved ones to us and the one day death will be no more.
 

Days of Noah

    During our Sunday service on December 23rd, pastor Rick talked a little about how he believes that world events are telling us that things are moving towards Christ's return.  He talked about Gog and Magog and about how he believes Russia or a Russian alliance will attack Israel.  I thought it was an interesting detour in a service otherwise filled with children singing and a theme around Christmas since it was two days away.
     It got me to thinking about Christ's return, which I have stated numerous times that I think is near.  Jesus himself said in Matthew 24 that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man." verse36-37.  I thought about what that statement means when Jesus talked about the days of Noah.
    Here is a description of the times of Noah in Genesis 6:6 "The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind whom I have created, fromt he face of the earth-men and animals and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them."  The description in verse 5 is that "every incliination of the thoughts of heart was only evil all the time."  That's a sad commentary on man's heart only 6 chapters into the Bible.
    I think that is part of what Jesus meant.  Is that sin corrupts the heart and makes it insensitive to the things of God.  It makes our hearts cold to him and to each other.  In fact, in Matthew 24:12 it says, 'Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold."  That is what sin does.  And in fact, when you see the violence in our society today and the tolerance of it you see that this is what is happening.  Our hearts become insensitive to the pain of others and to the effects of our own sins.
    But, I think there is something more to the "days of Noah".  Noah was told to build an ark and when he entered it says that he was 600 years old.  He had 600 years to be around people who were violent and did not walk with God.  Yet, it says he found favor with God.  You would think that Noah tried to warn his neighbors about the flood, yet when it started to rain, nobody except his immediate family responded to the call to get on the ark.  God's wrath when it did come came suddenly.  I think that is part of what Jesus meant here.  Because we do not know the day or the hour we are suppose to be ready.  In 1 Thessalonians it mentions this when it says, 'the day fo the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."   This is was happened to people in Noah's day and I am afraid that it will happen again when he returns.  Are you ready?

You are unique

In Ephesians 2:10 it says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

     When I think about what God has led me through in my life, I rarely think about this in terms of what God is doing or thinking of myself as God's workmanship.  But, it is clear that from the Bible's perspective, that God allows some things into our lives in order to create in us the kind of person he wants us to be.  An example of this is in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 when Paul says,

   And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me-to keep me from exalting myself!  Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might departm from me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness"

   So, when Ephesians talks about His workmanship, he is not just talking about the strengths, but also the dark places, the weakness, the insults, the bad days, as well as, the good.  The education, the perspective, the experience, the thoughts, the personality.  All of these things God uses to bring about His will in your life and to use you as he wants to.  Look at the disciples.  Peter was a person who often spoke before he thought, but he had natural leadership skills.  He also has a tendency to sink when walking on water, but God used that experience also to teach him and us.

    God does not waste anything, nor does he allow us to be placed on a shelf and not to be used by Him if we are open to HIs will.  We can chose to close oursevles off and act in false humility and act as though God could not possibly use us.  By saying that your really saying that God is limited and ultimately your insulting God.  God using you is not about how great you are.  It is about how great and gracious God is.  When we see Him at work in our lives, we should simply praise Him that he has the ability and grace and mercy to use us despite our weaknesses.  That as he told Paul that his grace is sufficient.

     Part of this is just making yourself available and saying "yes" when he calls.  It may be that he calls you to places and ministries you have never thought of.  I would never have guessed that I would work in a mental health agency and a foster home agency, but that is what has happened.  That was not planned year ago by me, nor have I ever heard God speak to me about that.  But, rather doors opened with little effort on my part and I saw a chance to serve.  You never know what God may have in store for you if you say "yes".

     Nor do you know the full impact of your influence.  I believe we often underestimate the power of our actions and words.  It may have influenced someone to do something for Jesus you aren't aware of, which in turn had influence on thousands of people.  Only in heaven will we find out the true influence of what we did for good.  We don't grow the seeds that we plant.  We don't have any control over which ones grow and which don't.  We are called to be faithful.  God makes us fruitful as we abide in Him.

      In John 15:4-5 it says, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unelss it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing."

     It is more though that not knowing our own influence, it is that we don't have any influence apart from Christ.  Much like the moon in the sky that reflects the light of the sun and not its own light.  We have no light of our own.  The light that we shine in dark places that positively influence a person for Christ is also from Christ.  The truth is, that our ability to bear fruit comes through him and apart from him there is only death and decay.  He makes it possible.  So, there is nothing for us to be proud about.  We have only reflected his glory and not our own.

    This is where I think many pastors and spiritual leaders make the mistake of taking pride in their own accomplishments.  Like it is their glory that grew a church or made a program grow.  Hopefully, it is not your charisma and glory that did that, otherwise it has no spiritual value.  It is possible for churches and ministries to grow because of a person's charismatic authority.  But, this is not true spiritual growth and when the person is gone, the growth does not continue.  Rather, true spiritual grow is grow that ours when we become transparent and point people to Jesus and not ourselves and how cute and clever we can be.

New VS Old

      "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life is reveled, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Colossians 3:2-4, NASV


      For the first two chapters in Colossians, Paul has been telling us that Christ is preeminent in our lives.  He has been saying that all we need is Him and we don't have to add anything else to our faith.  This is a common theme in Paul's word since many people find the grace of God to be "too simple" and want to add laws and restrictions.  Paul says that while these things may make a person look religious, it doesn't really help.
       Now, in chapter three, Paul is going to go on talking about setting your mind on the Spirit and not on the flesh.  He uses this idea of "putting off" and "putting on" to illustrate what he means.  Years ago, when I taught this passage, I talked about how it is like taking off one jacket and putting on a new one.  I have to make a conscious choice daily which one I will put on.  That is what I see in Colossians 3:2 when Paul says, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."  That idea of "set" implies a conscious decision on my part about where I am putting my mind.
        As I have been studying counseling, I have become more convinced that the main model I want to follow is the cogntive behavior therapy.  This is because I am convinced that the mind is the place to start if you want to change emotions and thoughts that lead to actions.  The mind is also emphasized in scripture.  In numerous places it tells us that we are to renew our minds with the Spirit and with the Word  Col 3:10; Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23-24.  This also means that we are following another command in scripture which is in Colossians 3:16 which says, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. . . ."
        I think this is because of the constant war that goes on in our persons betwen the flesh and the spirit.  Even in the believer, the flesh wants to take over, to assert itself and to get what it wants.  There is a constant battle on where our attention and allegiance will be focused.  That is why this is a daily battle.  The characteristics of the flesh Paul mentions here in Colossians 3 and also in Galatians 5:19-21 as things such as lying, slander, malice, wrath, anger, abusive speech.  In contrast to that the Spirit would have us put on love gentleness, kindness, compassion, patience and forgiveness. 
       Paul ends the first part of this chapter by exhorting those who are reading to "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." Col 3:15.  When I think about that idea of rule, a throne comes to mind.  In this picture, the peace of Christ is firmly on that throne.  But, if we are going to be honest, many times even in our christian lives, he gets pushed aside.  The challenge for us is to make a conscious choice to place Him there each day.  Also, to set a guard over our minds that we might allow ourselves to "set our minds on things above" and to think about things that would please God.