Becoming Play-Dough Christians

Suggested Reading: Hebrews 3:7-15

One of the things I always dreaded at my children's birthday parties was the idea that someone was going to give them play-dough. Inevitably, you end up with little crumbles of dried play-dough scattered through the carpet or squished into the floor. Half the time, they end up leaving it out, and it dries out. There are plenty of toys you can leave out, and it doesn't harm the toy unless you accidentally step on it and break it. Play-dough is not that way. Play-dough has to be played with or sealed up. If you leave it out by itself, it ends up drying out, and then it becomes useless. If it is left out, play-dough has to be pushed, shaped, prodded, rolled, or pushed through those little play-dough squisher accessories they sell. If not, when left exposed to the air, play-dough becomes nothing more than a dry, lifeless chunk of colored, crumbling rock.

Hebrews 3:13 reads: "But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception" (HCSB). Some people make the mistake of thinking that the life of a Christ follower can be lived in isolation. If a church makes us angry, we can just go to church at the lake or in our living rooms, listening to a preacher on TV. We make the mistake of thinking of our local churches as nothing more than classrooms where we are given Christian educations and, if needed, we can just homeschool ourselves. Unfortunately, coming together as a church is about more than an education program. The author of Hebrews, when talking about how some people had stopped coming together, wrote this: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25, NIV).

You see, we need to be poked and prodded and shaped and pushed through little squisher accessories by our interaction with other believers, or we can be hardened by the sin in and around us. If we don't have people to encourage us and whom we can encourage in return, we are just like that lump of play-dough that slowly hardens until it's not good for much of anything. We get bad ideas that are never tested by the wisdom and experience of others. We allow bad habits to form that we never notice until they have become lifestyles. We miss out on the insights and help that other believers can give us and the encouragement that enables us to navigate difficult situations.

The life of a Christ-follower was never intended to be lived in seclusion and isolation. In fact, Jesus' teachings and the writings of the New Testament seemed to take for granted that we would exist in a community of believers. When Jesus taught the Lord's prayer, he prayed, "Our Father in heaven…Give us our daily bread…forgive us our trespasses." Not my. One of the greatest traps we can fall into as Christians is the trap of thinking we can live a Christ-centered life on our own. We need to interact with other believers to encourage each other, to learn from each other, and to pray for and sharpen each other.

Don't let yourself get isolated. Sometimes that may require creativity. But find a body of believers with whom you can get involved, loving, serving, helping, and encouraging each other. And if you already have that kind of fellowship, don't let it go. Trust me, you don't want to harden up like a lump of play-dough.

Helping Superman Hold His Arms Up

Suggested Reading: Exodus 17:8-16

As Clark Kent was becoming Superman in the television series Smallville, before the public knew his face, he was known as the Blur, a faceless good Samaritan who put bad guys in jail and saved people from disasters. The Blur had become a symbol of hope for the people of Metropolis. But the politicians had begun passing laws against helping people without wearing a uniform and being on the government's payroll. Discouraged, and doubting the possible success of efforts to repeal these laws, Clark had begun to doubt himself as well. So a couple friends who knew his secret identity created a website where people could post video messages for the Blur. When the videos where shared with Clark, he was overwhelmed with encouragement and found the motivation to keep helping people.

A remarkably similar scene was played out in the book of Exodus as Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Without provocation the Amalekites attacked Israel. Moses, who was now more than 80 years old, assigned Joshua to rally the army while he upheld them in battle. Whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exodus 17:11-12, ESV). Whether Moses' raised hands provided some supernatural assistance or simply encouraged the people, we don't know. We just know it helped. But an 80 year old man, or even a 20 year old man, can only hold his hands up for so long before they give out. In order to keep helping his people, Moses himself needed help.

The people who help us often need help themselves. They need encouragement and rest as much as any of us. These people may seem superhuman at times, but they are just as human as the rest of us and many hover near the edge of exhaustion and discouragement. Sometimes, in order to keep helping us, they need help themselves. They need someone to come along and find them something to sit on so they can rest. They need someone to hold them up for a time, giving them encouragement and strengthening them with prayer. They need help.

Or maybe you are the person always helping and ministering to others. Maybe you hover near the edge of exhaustion and discouragement. Maybe you have gone over that edge. Don't be afraid to let people know you need help. Without it, your hands may fail and everyone will be let down. 

Everyone needs help from time to time. Let's be ready and willing both to give help and to receive it.

And Now, a Special Musical Episode of Your Life

Suggested Reading: Ephesians 5:8-20

I have always thought that those "special musical" episodes of television shows were just corny. The one exception was an episode of The Flash titled, "Duet," which featured a crossover with Supergirl.  Our heroes, trapped in a imaginary musical, had to follow the plot to completion with a good deal of singing along the way. Then, once everyone was safe and back to normal, we got to see the Flash's secret identity, Barry, sing a romantic proposal to his girlfriend, Iris. It was, somehow, one of the least corny musical episodes of a television show that I have seen in a while.

That special musical episode of The Flash reminds us that, in some ways, we are to have our own special musical episodes in real life.  Ephesians 5:19 reads, "Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs."  As I read the verse, I pictured myself walking up to my wife and singing a conversation to her (not too hard to picture considering that I am weird enough to actually do this on occasion). Then I pictured her singing right back to me and I couldn't help but laugh, thinking not only how funny that would be but how much fun it would be.

Music involves more than just lyrics and melodies, it involves emotions and the analytical portions of our brains without any effort whatsoever. And our favorite songs, the ones we remember and can sing along with (or sing in the shower) are the ones whose words mean something to us, that connect with us.  The words of our favorite hymns and praise songs are those that have either revealed something of the nature of God to us or affirmed our own feelings towards God. They are the kinds of songs that leave us thinking and get stuck in the back of our minds throughout the week, and Paul encourages us to speak to one another with them.

Speak to one another with the truths that have affected and encouraged you. Speak to one another with  lyrics that have caused you to meditate on Christ and God's Word. Allow music to well up in your hearts and carry you throughout the day, and pass that music along. Make music to the Lord from your heart and worship God even as you move from task to task at work or in school. Allow the lyrics you sing to connect you in spirit with the countless others who have sung the same songs through the years and across the world. 

Sing to the LORD a new song;

   sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, praise his name;

    proclaim his salvation day after day. 

Declare his glory among the nations,

   his marvelous deeds among all peoples. 

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise…

(Psalm 96:1-4, NIV)

Lousy Church Internet Connections

Suggested Reading: Hebrews 10:19-25

When we first moved out to Snook, TX,  it took us a while to get our internet connection transferred to the new house. So while we waited for that to happen we were tethering internet from my cellphone which had terrible reception at the new house. As I was trying to work and upload things I kept getting the error message: "connection timed out." It was really frustrating. And once I lost my connection through my phone it seemed to take forever to get the internet back again. Then when I finally did get it back, almost without fail the connection was so weak that I got numerous messages: "connection timed out..."

Sometimes we get the same feedback message in life when it comes to connecting with God's people.  We move to a new house or get a new job or just let some things interfere and the next thing you know our connection to the Church has timed out.  The author of Hebrews warns us against this, saying, "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." (Hebrews 10:25, NLT).

Just like when my internet connection times out and nothing works, when our connection with God's people times out, our spiritual lives will not work right. We were not made to live the Christian life in solitude. We were made to live it in a community. Even Jesus made certain that he was in the synagogue every week and with the disciples (you could call them his small group) every day.  

If your connection to the Church has timed out, do everything you can to reestablish a connection before you time out for good. Until you do, your spiritual life simply won't work right.