I’m near sighted.
It’s called “Myopia”. People with myopia see objects more clearly when they are close to the eye, while distant objects appear blurred or fuzzy. I wear glasses to correct the problem, but lately I have been thinking that I may need a new prescription. Distant objects seem to have lost their focus.
We all tend to be psychologically myopic. This is especially true during our youth. As a kid, I found it difficult to focus on events, responsibilities, or consequences that were somewhere in the distant future, like tomorrow or next week! The older I get, however, the better I am able to focus on the future. Perhaps that is because I am a lot closer to what once seemed so far away! So while my natural eyes still can’t focus on what is distant, my mental perspective has changed causing my vision of the future to become much clearer.
Even with the perspective provided by maturity, trouble can cause us to become discouraged and, as the Bible says, “lose heart”. Our eyes focus naturally on the “outward man,” observing, and at times being overwhelmed by the pain of loss, failure, defeat, and sickness. We conclude that our “present affliction” weighs too much and lasts too long.
If we are to survive, we must gain a perspective that sees beyond the focus gained just by age. A personal relationship with Christ and the truths of the Bible offer the opportunity to gain Divine perspective. This perspective is the prescription needed to bring our “inner man” into focus. We are then able to see the likeness of Christ being formed in us. The visibility of the resplendent emerging “glory” of the inner man radically changes how we see the “affliction” of the outer man. The trouble that appeared too heavy and too long now appears “light” and “but for a moment”.
It’s all about perspective.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
It's Raining!
“Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in the early spring.” - Hosea 6:3
It’s raining!
Here in Florida, during spring, it usually rains a lot. This spring, however, has been different. The daily rains ceased several weeks ago and it has been bone dry. And that dryness has provided the ideal environment for the many destructive fires that have sprung up in communities around us. At the very least, all of us have had to reduce water consumption and watch as our lawns have turned brown.
Right now, it’s raining. The sound of the rain on my roof is like music. Let it rain!
The ancient Prophet Hosea experienced what we’ve been feeling. The dryness in which he lived was way past unpleasant and annoying; it had become life-threatening. The weeks had begun to run together in a monotonous succession of hot, cloudless days and nights. But like us, Hosea awaited the joy and the refreshing that eventually comes with a change of season and much needed rain.
We don’t know the appointed days that God has instructed the clouds to gather together and release their bounty. But we do know that the rains will come. Just as surely as dawn follows the dark, so the rains are sure to arrive. And so we wait. What other choice do we have?
Our spiritual lives have their seasons as well. Rich spring-like showers of spiritual blessings are often separated by seasons of spiritual dryness. And like the natural seasons, we have no say in their beginning or duration. The Prophet reveals a plan to find personal refreshing while we wait for the season to change. His call is to “press on” in our quest toward a fuller head and heart knowledge of the Lord Jesus. In other words, we have a choice.
Press on! Refuse to just “wait it out”.
Press on! Refuse to be deterred by the dryness that makes you feel like you are running on sand.
Keep on giving the Lord His place of priority in your thoughts, your time, your activities, and your finances. Hosea tells us that “He [the Lord] will respond to us”. With the same certainty that one season will follow another, so the Lord’s response will follow our pressing on. It may not be raining around you, but the Lord will rain on you!
It’s raining!
Here in Florida, during spring, it usually rains a lot. This spring, however, has been different. The daily rains ceased several weeks ago and it has been bone dry. And that dryness has provided the ideal environment for the many destructive fires that have sprung up in communities around us. At the very least, all of us have had to reduce water consumption and watch as our lawns have turned brown.
Right now, it’s raining. The sound of the rain on my roof is like music. Let it rain!
The ancient Prophet Hosea experienced what we’ve been feeling. The dryness in which he lived was way past unpleasant and annoying; it had become life-threatening. The weeks had begun to run together in a monotonous succession of hot, cloudless days and nights. But like us, Hosea awaited the joy and the refreshing that eventually comes with a change of season and much needed rain.
We don’t know the appointed days that God has instructed the clouds to gather together and release their bounty. But we do know that the rains will come. Just as surely as dawn follows the dark, so the rains are sure to arrive. And so we wait. What other choice do we have?
Our spiritual lives have their seasons as well. Rich spring-like showers of spiritual blessings are often separated by seasons of spiritual dryness. And like the natural seasons, we have no say in their beginning or duration. The Prophet reveals a plan to find personal refreshing while we wait for the season to change. His call is to “press on” in our quest toward a fuller head and heart knowledge of the Lord Jesus. In other words, we have a choice.
Press on! Refuse to just “wait it out”.
Press on! Refuse to be deterred by the dryness that makes you feel like you are running on sand.
Keep on giving the Lord His place of priority in your thoughts, your time, your activities, and your finances. Hosea tells us that “He [the Lord] will respond to us”. With the same certainty that one season will follow another, so the Lord’s response will follow our pressing on. It may not be raining around you, but the Lord will rain on you!
It’s raining!
And my lawn is starting to look green again.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
The Cup
While looking through some old papers I found a story written by my Dad over 50 years ago! He relates a personal incident that happened while he and his brother Harold were attending a Pastor’s conference in Boston. It is my joy to share it with you -
My brother and I were seated at the counter in a lovely restaurant enjoying our lunch. There came in and sat beside us two of the most unsightly creatures you would want to see. After looking at them it seemed that my appetite vanished. The woman was horribly filthy, and the man who was with her was equally dirty. As he was drinking his coffee, I observed that the rim of the cup was stained with grime and dirt, and what else, I don’t know. However, I do know that I couldn’t enjoy the rest of my lunch.
Harold and I both agreed that they were perhaps the most unlovable, unrespectable derelicts of society that we had ever seen. I was amazed that they were given admittance into the restaurant.
I have thought since about those two depraved creatures. I have thought of the cup that they drank from with its sagging rim of grime, dirt, and germ-laden saliva. I have wondered how I would have felt if I had been asked to drink from that same unsightly cup? Could I have put my mouth to a cup so defiled? Everything in me rebels at the very thought of such a scenario.
And then there comes to my mind the portion of Scripture that tells me of the spotless, sinless, blameless Son of God who was required to drink from a cup a billion-fold more defiled than the one I saw. A cup containing all the unsightly, unholy, vile sins of the entire world. See Him now, friend. His garments gory in the sweat of His soul-agony and the slumbering disciples aroused to hear his only plea, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” See Him with his brow and face red with the crimson blood that forced its way through the pores of his flesh. He has prayed through. He has come to the place where it is all settled. He speaks. The disciples hear the words, “The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” That cup, filled to the brim, so polluted and putrid, He was now willing to drain its dregs. The God-man has pressed the cup to his lips and its bitter contents slip away. He who knew no sin has become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
And now He leaves the garden in full victory. The light of triumph is on His face. There is no terror now. The soldiers do not intimidate Him; Caiaphas’ court presents no fear; Pilate’s judgment hall can hold no alarm. The whip, the fists, the thorns, the cross, the nails, the spear, they were all in that bitter cup. Calvary was in the cup and He drank it.
Friend, let it touch your heart. Let it provoke you to tears and repentance, to thanksgiving and praise. To think that He drank of the cup for you, for me.
Kenneth H. Beesley, my beloved Dad, went to be with His Lord on February 7, 1990.
My brother and I were seated at the counter in a lovely restaurant enjoying our lunch. There came in and sat beside us two of the most unsightly creatures you would want to see. After looking at them it seemed that my appetite vanished. The woman was horribly filthy, and the man who was with her was equally dirty. As he was drinking his coffee, I observed that the rim of the cup was stained with grime and dirt, and what else, I don’t know. However, I do know that I couldn’t enjoy the rest of my lunch.
Harold and I both agreed that they were perhaps the most unlovable, unrespectable derelicts of society that we had ever seen. I was amazed that they were given admittance into the restaurant.
I have thought since about those two depraved creatures. I have thought of the cup that they drank from with its sagging rim of grime, dirt, and germ-laden saliva. I have wondered how I would have felt if I had been asked to drink from that same unsightly cup? Could I have put my mouth to a cup so defiled? Everything in me rebels at the very thought of such a scenario.
And then there comes to my mind the portion of Scripture that tells me of the spotless, sinless, blameless Son of God who was required to drink from a cup a billion-fold more defiled than the one I saw. A cup containing all the unsightly, unholy, vile sins of the entire world. See Him now, friend. His garments gory in the sweat of His soul-agony and the slumbering disciples aroused to hear his only plea, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” See Him with his brow and face red with the crimson blood that forced its way through the pores of his flesh. He has prayed through. He has come to the place where it is all settled. He speaks. The disciples hear the words, “The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” That cup, filled to the brim, so polluted and putrid, He was now willing to drain its dregs. The God-man has pressed the cup to his lips and its bitter contents slip away. He who knew no sin has become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
And now He leaves the garden in full victory. The light of triumph is on His face. There is no terror now. The soldiers do not intimidate Him; Caiaphas’ court presents no fear; Pilate’s judgment hall can hold no alarm. The whip, the fists, the thorns, the cross, the nails, the spear, they were all in that bitter cup. Calvary was in the cup and He drank it.
Friend, let it touch your heart. Let it provoke you to tears and repentance, to thanksgiving and praise. To think that He drank of the cup for you, for me.
Kenneth H. Beesley, my beloved Dad, went to be with His Lord on February 7, 1990.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Rules versus Relationship
We sure have messed things up! We have managed to convince skeptics and critics of the Christian faith that it’s all about rules. Just ask unbelievers to describe a Christian and you will see what I mean. The most common responses will focus on the apparent rules and regulations that believers endeavor to follow.
Why do so many Christians continue to project a religion of rules? I suppose it is because many of them make rules their focus. Don’t they get it? Jesus did not surrender his life to the tortuous death of a criminal slave to establish a religion of rules!
Rules are lifeless, cold, and insensitive and so is a religion that is based on them. When dominated by rules, some Christians simply learn how to bend and twist those rules, to get around them and, if necessary, to break them. Conversely, others develop religious pride that’s rooted in their ability to keep the rules.
While it is true that my Christian faith governs my thoughts, words, and actions, I left rules behind a long time ago. Rules have glaring limitations. How many times have we heard of a distraught mom pleading for a judge’s mercy with words like, “He’s a good boy. He was just hanging out with the wrong crowd; he just got involved with some bad people.” Rules had failed. Relationships clearly have a greater impact on one’s actions. Relationships trump rules.
It is my daily relationship with Jesus that rules my life. This best explains why there are some things I will not do and some places I refuse to go. To do those things or go to those places would mean choosing to keep company with someone other than Jesus. If He won’t go there, neither will I!
The Christian life begins when a bad person meets a good Person whose name is Jesus. And true Christian living happens when we “hang out” with Jesus. That’s why the Bible calls us followers of Christ, not followers of rules!
Why do so many Christians continue to project a religion of rules? I suppose it is because many of them make rules their focus. Don’t they get it? Jesus did not surrender his life to the tortuous death of a criminal slave to establish a religion of rules!
Rules are lifeless, cold, and insensitive and so is a religion that is based on them. When dominated by rules, some Christians simply learn how to bend and twist those rules, to get around them and, if necessary, to break them. Conversely, others develop religious pride that’s rooted in their ability to keep the rules.
While it is true that my Christian faith governs my thoughts, words, and actions, I left rules behind a long time ago. Rules have glaring limitations. How many times have we heard of a distraught mom pleading for a judge’s mercy with words like, “He’s a good boy. He was just hanging out with the wrong crowd; he just got involved with some bad people.” Rules had failed. Relationships clearly have a greater impact on one’s actions. Relationships trump rules.
It is my daily relationship with Jesus that rules my life. This best explains why there are some things I will not do and some places I refuse to go. To do those things or go to those places would mean choosing to keep company with someone other than Jesus. If He won’t go there, neither will I!
The Christian life begins when a bad person meets a good Person whose name is Jesus. And true Christian living happens when we “hang out” with Jesus. That’s why the Bible calls us followers of Christ, not followers of rules!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Getting It Right
Prayer can be useless. It can achieve no real good except to prove the frustration of doing the right thing the wrong way.
One of the assurances that are associated with prayer is that prayer can accomplish great things. The Scriptures illustrate that there is no activity that offers us access to greater power than prayer. And yet the Word of God gives the following blunt disclaimer,”When you ask Him … be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waiver … Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-8 NLT) Prayer is powerful and effective only when it is bound together with faith.
Worship can be useless as well. When worship is divorced from obedience it is just words. Present day Church culture is quite fascinated with worship. This fascination has led to worship having a place of prominence in most Christian gatherings. Worship is now a genre of music and dance and become an accepted contemporary art form. But without the company of obedience to the Lordship of Christ, worship cannot find its way into the Presence of God. Worship of the Lord must come from one who is obedient to the Lord of the worship.
King Saul’s worship was betrayed by the sounds of disobedience and it cost him his crown. Sacrifice that is offered on the strange altar of disobedience is just smoke that blinds the eyes of God. Is it any wonder Jesus prophesied that God will not be able to recognize some who have called Him Lord? The challenge that I am setting before us is to be careful to maintain an unbroken relationship between our words of prayer and our confidence of faith, and between our words of worship and our commitment to obedience.
One of the assurances that are associated with prayer is that prayer can accomplish great things. The Scriptures illustrate that there is no activity that offers us access to greater power than prayer. And yet the Word of God gives the following blunt disclaimer,”When you ask Him … be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waiver … Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-8 NLT) Prayer is powerful and effective only when it is bound together with faith.
Worship can be useless as well. When worship is divorced from obedience it is just words. Present day Church culture is quite fascinated with worship. This fascination has led to worship having a place of prominence in most Christian gatherings. Worship is now a genre of music and dance and become an accepted contemporary art form. But without the company of obedience to the Lordship of Christ, worship cannot find its way into the Presence of God. Worship of the Lord must come from one who is obedient to the Lord of the worship.
King Saul’s worship was betrayed by the sounds of disobedience and it cost him his crown. Sacrifice that is offered on the strange altar of disobedience is just smoke that blinds the eyes of God. Is it any wonder Jesus prophesied that God will not be able to recognize some who have called Him Lord? The challenge that I am setting before us is to be careful to maintain an unbroken relationship between our words of prayer and our confidence of faith, and between our words of worship and our commitment to obedience.
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