"We Can't Witness If We're Dead!"

Suggested Reading: Daniel 3:1-30

One of my favorite stories from scripture is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were three Hebrew young men who had been kidnapped from their home in Judah and forced into the service of the Babylonian king. As they figured out how to live in the Babylonian court, they did their best to be faithful to God, despite the constant pressure to compromise the commands of God to succeed and fit into the surrounding culture. Along with Daniel, they repeatedly held their ground and became a witness to King Nebuchadnezzar because of it. He even announced, "Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings" (Dan 2:47, ESV). 

But not long after that, Nebuchadnezzar set up an idol and commanded everyone in the kingdom to worship it, threatening them with a fiery death in a furnace if they refused. Despite the penalty of death hanging over their heads, these young men never even considered compromising and worshipping Nebuchadnezzar's idol. They didn't decide to worship the idol "just this once" because they couldn't keep telling people about God if they were dead. They didn't rationalize giving this prideful, sinful king what he wanted because he provided the money and resources that they lived on. They knew what God had called them to, and they took their stand, saying, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up" (Dan 3:17-18, ESV). Notice the last part of their statement to the king. They trusted that God would deliver them, "but if not" they would still remain faithful to the commands of God. 

Sometimes, we are tempted to compromise just so that we can survive. We are tempted to adjust what we are doing so that the sinful, prideful king won't destroy us. After all, how can we tell people about God if we are dead? How can we share the Gospel if we are killed for our faith? How will we keep the church doors open if standing on the truth of scripture drives people away and we can't pay the bills? Can't we compromise just a little so that we can live to fight the good fight another day?

But God does not call us to survive. God calls us to be faithful. We say that God is able to save us. We say that God is faithful. But when the moment of decision comes, do we trust God to see us through or are we tempted to compromise to survive? Are we willing to do things we know we shouldn't do because faithfulness would hurt us? Are we tempted to give in to sinful, prideful people to avoid complications we aren't sure how to deal with? Or do we trust God enough to obey him regardless of how tough things might get? 

God doesn't call us to survive. Survival is nothing without faithful obedience. We must be willing to do what is right regardless of the consequences, trusting that God will see us through.

The Gaps in Knowledge and Reason

Suggested Reading: Matthew 8:5-13

I have seen a trend  by skeptics to define faith  as the opposite of reason. These skeptics argue that faith, and the Christian faith in particular, is an excuse to ignore and even contradict reason. So what are some examples of faith from scripture?

One example is David going up against Goliath. As David stepped out onto the field of battle and Goliath taunted him with insults, David responded, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head" (1 Samuel 17:45-46, NIV). David was a teenage boy going against a hardened champion who had terrified an entire army of Israelites and yet David's faith led him to make this boastful statement.

Another example comes from the New Testament. Jesus entered Capernaum and encountered a centurion whose servant was ill. The centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant but when Jesus headed toward his home, the centurion stopped Jesus and told him that all Jesus had to do was speak the word and the servant would be healed. Jesus responded by saying, "I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith" (Matthew 8:10, NIV). 

Both David and the centurion expressed faith in outcomes that defied the logic of the day. David believed that as a boy he could bring down the mighty Philistine champion while the centurion believed that Jesus could miraculously heal his servant from a great distance.  Did these men embrace faith  as an excuse to ignore reason? The fact that they were both right seems to indicate otherwise. So what was the difference for these men? What allowed them not only to have faith but to be right?

Both of these men had experiences that had shaped them and informed them. David had encounters with lions and bears where he learned not only God's faithfulness but his own capabilities. The centurion, in his career as a commander of armies had learned the power of the spoken word and of authority, and he saw both that power and that authority in Jesus.  Neither of these things could be proven empirically to other people, but their own experiences and the Spirit of God moving in them was enough to convince them.

Faith does not stand in opposition to reason. Faith takes up where reason leaves off. Reason can only tell us so much because reason is dependent on what we know. When our knowledge fails us, reason becomes inadequate. Faith in Christ steps in and fills in that lack of knowledge of facts and figures and empirical data with a knowledge of the person of God as he works in our lives.  Our faith as followers of Jesus derives from knowing the God of the universe in a personal way and allowing that knowledge of God to fill in the gaps when our earthly knowledge, and thus our reason, can go no further.

Faith is not the opposite of reason but sometimes faith knows more than reason. Never ignore reason but be honest about how far your knowledge goes. When you reach the end of what you know and reason only goes so far, remember Whom you know and allow faith to fill in the gaps.

Trusting Jesus to Help You Trust

Suggested Reading: Mark 9:14-29

Before I met my wife, I had very few good, romantic relationships. I'm not just talking about relationships that don't work out because no relationship really works until the one that lasts. I'm talking about hurtful relationships, relationships where I was lied to, taken for granted, cheated on, used. I got so used to being mistreated in relationships that, even after I was engaged, I still expected it to happen. So I looked for it to happen, and when I thought I had found evidence of it, I confronted my fiancé on it. I was very fortunate that she remained my fiancé. After having my paranoid accusation blown out of the water, I remember sitting with her on the tailgate of a truck as she twirled that engagement ring round and round on her finger and I prayed that she wouldn't take it off. Fortunately she kept the ring and I learned a thing or two about trust.

As hard as it is at times to trust people, I think it is infinitely harder to trust God simply because God is so far beyond us that we can't comprehend God's thoughts or plans. A loved one endures a long and painful illness. We lose a job and aren't certain how we are going to provide for our family. A friend betrays us and hangs us out to dry. Or we follow God's leading and watch as our finances slowly deteriorate. Whatever the circumstance, there are times when things simply don't seem to add up. We say we trust God. We hope we trust God. But in the middle of the circumstances, deep down, we know that we don't. We just can't see our way out, even with a miracle.

A man in Mark 9 faced a time of doubt just like that. His son had been possessed by an evil spirit for years. The spirit tortured his son, throwing him into seizures, causing the boy to fall in fires to be burned or into water so that he nearly drowned.  This man had sought out help for his son, even asking Jesus' disciples to help when they came into the region. Finally, in desperation the man came to Jesus himself and asked, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us" (Mark 9:22, NIV). Jesus' response in the next verse was to call attention to the man's doubt. "If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes."

Upon hearing Jesus' rebuke, the man's answer is at once remarkable and honest. He answers, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Sometimes, I think God wants us to answer that same way. "Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief!" Rather than insincerely spouting our trust in God or deciding to try harder to believe, take your lack of faith to God and ask for help to believe.  God doesn't want lip service to our trust. God wants real, honest trust, which is often hard earned. Sometimes our trust in God can't grow until we own up to our own lack of faith, while expressing our sincere desire to believe. 

In the middle of tough circumstances, when your faith in God is shaken, admit it and give God your doubt. Sometimes, that is the only way to overcome unbelief.

From John the Baptizer to John the Doubter

Suggested Reading: Matthew 11:1-15

When Jesus began his ministry, he appeared at the river where John was preaching and baptizing people as they repented of their sins. When Jesus showed up to be baptized, John immediately recognized him and argued with Jesus about who should baptize whom, followed by Jesus' baptism and the opening of the Heavens as a voice proclaimed Jesus to be God's son (Matthew 3:14-17). But shortly afterwards, John was arrested and began to rot in prison while Jesus' ministry began to flourish. John had believed that Jesus was the messiah, but as he sat in prison things began to change. Perhaps John, like everyone else, had a mistaken idea of what the Messiah was supposed to be. Perhaps he expected that the Messiah would free him from prison and was trying to understand why that hadn't happened. Whatever the case, this man who had proclaimed Jesus as the coming Messiah sent a message by his disciples and asked Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3, HCSB).

Sometimes, when life gets hard and doesn't go the way we expect it to, we can begin to doubt ourselves and the truths we have learned along the way. Just like John, a man whose birth had been proclaimed by angels, who had recognized the voice of the Messiah's mother from inside the womb, and who began to doubt what he knew to be true, we can begin to doubt ourselves and the things we've learned as well. When our marriage hits a rough patch, we begin to question whether this was really the person God had for us and whether we can really handle it anymore. When tragedy strikes or that new job doesn't last like it was supposed to, we begin to question God's control, or his existence, or both. When people walk out on us and we're left picking up the pieces of a broken life, we can begin to question whether we are really who we thought we were or if we've just been fooling ourselves all along.

When John got discouraged and began to doubt both Jesus and himself, Jesus told John's messengers, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news. And if anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed” (Matthew 11:4-6, HCSB). Because pain and suffering tend to shrink our field of vision Jesus told John to look beyond the circumstances of his prison, beyond the hardships he was currently facing and see the way God was moving around him, to remember that the movement of God was bigger than his own circumstances. Jesus reminded John to, once again, look at the bigger picture and to remember that, even if God is not doing what we expect, God is still active. Jesus reminded John that God blesses those who refuse to give up the faith when God allows them to experience difficulty.

When life is hard and God isn't doing what you think he should, when you feel trapped in difficult circumstances and wonder how you will ever escape, don't give in to the doubts that naturally attack you. Make a point of looking around you and seeing how God is moving beyond your own circumstances. Remember the examples of John, and Job, and all the heroes of the faith who experienced difficulty and hardship but refused to give up the faith.

Difficult times will inevitably bring discouragement and doubt. Don't give in. Keep your head up, watching for the movement of God around you. Don't let go of the truths you've learned because things get hard.

When It Feels Like God Has Forgotten You

Suggested Reading: Acts 7:23-32

Some of you aren't going to like what I have to say today because you probably don't want to hear it. You see, some of you are in a place you hate. You might be in a place where you are under-appreciated or taken advantage of. You might be in a place where you feel trapped like you will never escape. Maybe where you are right now doesn't fit into the plans you have for your future. But as often as you have prayed for God to move you, you're still there. You are frustrated and angry. You might even be taking it out on the people you love because can't bring yourself to admit that you're angry with God. This is not the way your life is supposed to be! This is not the way things are supposed to go!

If your are in that place today, I want to remind you of the story of Moses, which Stephen summed up nicely for us in Acts chapter 7. Feeling a call on his life to deliver his people from Egyptian slavery, Moses rescued a fellow Israelite by killing the Egyptian who was attacking him. But when Moses realized that his actions were known and at least one Israelite didn't appreciate it, he fled for fear of his life. Eventually, Moses stopped in Midian where he settled down to wait until it was safe. While he was there, he married, had children, and learned how to be a shepherd (something that wouldn't have happened in Egypt since the Egyptians despised shepherds). Finally, forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush (Acts 7:30, NLT).

Moses had been raised as  member of the Egyptian royalty. He accurately experienced the call of God on his life. But then he was "sidetracked" for forty years, trapped, working in a profession he had been taught to despise, and growing old. But during that time Moses started a family, matured, and learned lessons about wandering around in the wilderness that he would desperately need down the road. But at the time, Moses didn't know what God was going to do. He didn't know that God was training him to help a massive group of people survive in the wilderness. He didn't know that God was stripping away all of the habits and bad attitudes he had picked up from the Egyptians who raised him. But somewhere along the way, he made the best of it, by starting a family and living the life God had given him.

If you feel like you are trapped, like you know what God has called you to but you don't seem to be moving in that direction, like you are meant for something more than what you are doing right now, you have a choice to make. You can either allow your frustration and bitterness to grow inside you, believing that you are being wronged, or you can choose to trust that God knows what he is doing and has placed you where you are for a reason. Maybe that person who is mistreating you is someone whom God wants to use to change the world, and God has placed you there to win them to Christ. Maybe God needs you to learn some important lessons that you can only learn where you are right now, even if you can't imagine what those lessons could possibly be. Maybe God is using this time to strip away some of the bad habits or attitudes you have picked up because they will hinder your effectiveness when you finally get to the role God has called you to.

So what are you going to do? Are you going to continue to look at the place where God has set you as a frustration and an obstacle? Or will you choose to look at it as God's perfect place for you right now, even if it doesn't feel that way? Will you choose to look for the lessons God wants you to learn and make the most of this place? Or will you wallow in self-pity, frustration and anger? If you really trust that God is in control, there really is only one option.

Doubting Duplicate Toys

Suggested Reading: John 20:19-29

One year for Christmas our son received a toy as a gift that he already owned. Looking at the gift, neither my wife nor I could remember him having it. My wife took my son’s word for it, but I am notorious for not believing things unless I verify them myself. My son forgets lots of things but at a moment’s notice he can recall the smallest toy in his toy box and all of the accessories that go with it. Still, when he kept insisting that he already owned the toy and my own stubbornness refused to accept something I couldn’t remember seeing, I commented that I would like to see the one he already had. Twenty seconds later, he had retrieved the toy from his room and placed it right next to the identical toy he had received as a gift. We offered to exchange the toy for something else but he liked the idea of having two of these particular toys. He just wanted me to believe him.

Based on that story alone, you can probably guess that I would fit right in with the disciple Thomas. Once Jesus had returned from the dead, he began appearing to the disciples and while all the other disciples had somehow seen Jesus, Thomas hadn’t been with them. For Thomas, it didn’t matter that all of the other disciples had seen Jesus and talked with him and eaten with him. Thomas insisted, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” (John 20:24, NIV). When Thomas finally did get to see Jesus and fell on his knees before him, Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29, NIV).

Jesus' assertion was not that people should simply believe blindly whatever they are told about him, but that trust is more rewarding than insisting on verifying everything yourself. Honestly, when ten other grown men you have learned to trust start telling you they’ve seen something with their own eyes, refusing to believe isn’t healthy skepticism but, rather, it is unbelief and arrogance. Jesus didn’t tell Thomas that he should have believed in spite of evidence to the contrary. He simply understood that faith in spite of evidence is a very different thing than faith without evidence or than faith based on the word of someone you trust.

If you belong to Christ, you have already begun to trust, but trusting God with some things is harder than trusting God with others. Believing some parts of God’s word is easier than believing others. God’s desire for us is that we trust Him based as much on His character and Spirit moving in us as on the evidence we hope to find. Finding evidence is great. Being able to believe because we trust the One speaking to us is something even greater. 

Calling the Cavalry From a Bucket Seat Airplane

Suggested Reading: Ezra 8:21-32 (Ezra is speaking)

My first experience in an airplane was also my first experience actually piloting an airplane. I was serving as a summer youth minister and, on my first day, the pastor of the church drove me around town to meet everybody. One of the first houses where we stopped belonged to an old test-pilot who had built his own two-seater airplane in his garage. The best way of describing this little plane is to say it was two bucket seats with wings. No walls or doors. No seat belts. Just bucket seats, controls and wings. The plane was controlled by a single steering column between the two seats and a peddle in front of either seat that served as the throttle. The old test pilot offered to take me up and I had a hard time refusing. Once we were in the air (with no seat belts, remember) he asked me if I wanted to fly the plane. "It's so easy anybody can do it!" he said. Apparently, he believed it because a second later he had released the steering column and I had to grab it before the plane started descending. He believed his plane was easy to fly and he backed it up by giving me control.

Unlike that old test pilot, there is sometimes a disconnect between what we say we believe and how we behave. Ezra, an Old Testament scribe who led some of the Israelites back to Jerusalem and helped rebuild the temple, felt the tension of this disconnect very keenly. He had asked the King for permission to return to Israel and permission had been granted. But when it came time to start traveling hundreds of miles across treacherous and hostile terrain, Ezra wanted to ask for a regiment of cavalry to escort them, but then decided not to. Instead, Ezra said, I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us, our children, and all our possessions. I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who abandon Him” (Ezra 8:21-22, HCSB). While Ezra had boasted that God would protect them, he still wanted the cavalry. But when he thought about it, he realized that asking for the cavalry would undermine the confidence he had expressed in God and would damage his witness for God in the king's eyes. So instead of asking for the cavalry, he led his people in prayer.

Frequently we will encounter situations where the things we claim to believe will be tested. We might tell someone that God can provide for all of our needs, only to find ourselves in financial difficulties where people watch us to see if we really believe God will provide. We might claim that God blesses marriages where people choose to love each other and remain faithful through difficult situations just to experience some marital difficulty coupled with the opportunity to cheat. Or we might mention to someone that God loves us even when tragedy strikes and then find out that we have cancer.

Saying we believe something is much easier than acting like we believe it. But when faced with the choice, how will our behavior affect our witness? Will the people watching us discover how great God is or decide we're lying to ourselves? Like Ezra, are we ashamed at the thought of chickening out and acting contrary to our beliefs no matter how frightened we are, or will we allow our weakness and fear to cheat people out of a chance to see God's greatness?

Living out what we say we believe isn't simply a matter of personal maturity but a chance for God to reveal himself through us.

Permission Slips, Trust, and Racist Comments

Suggested Reading: Matthew 15:21-28

Once, when she was in grade school my daughter wanted me to sign a permission slip for something at school. The way she went about it just about drove me crazy. She asked if I would, and I told her that I would have it for her before we left for school. Three minutes later she was back in front of me, asking if I had signed it yet. I assured her I would have it for her before we left for school. Three minutes later she was back again. In spite of the fact that I had assured her several times it would happen, and in spite of the fact that my wife and I have a pretty good track record at following through on things like that, my daughter was so focused on it, and so insecure about it, that she just kept coming back.

Matthew 15 shares the story of a woman at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to trust. A Canaanite woman had come to Jesus asking that he cast a demon out of her daughter. Jesus ignored her. He ignored her to the point that the disciples finally came to Jesus and begged that he, at least, send her away because she was driving them crazy, too. Jesus announced that he couldn't help her because she wasn't a Jew. The woman barged her way in, falling before Jesus, and begging him again. Jesus again told her he couldn't help her because she wasn't a Jew, this time basically calling her a dog. When she responded that even dogs got scraps, Jesus finally relented and told her that she would get what she asked for. Mark's version of the story adds one more detail. When she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone (Mark 7:30, NLT).

Why is that detail important? Well, if I was that woman, desperate to help my little girl, and this man had ignored me, put me off, made what I might consider racist comments, called me a dog, and then finally agreed, but wasn't going to go with me, I don't know that I would have left without him. I probably would have been convinced that he was only agreeing so I would leave him alone. But this woman left. She believed in him enough to take him at his word and go home in faith.

Sometimes, we are persistent in prayer simply out of devotion and discipline. But sometimes we are persistent in prayer because, deep down, we don't really believe that God will do what is best for us. We keep praying, not because we trust God, but because we don't. Like my daughter, who had every reason to believe I would keep my word, we sometimes pester God because we are nervous and insecure, because we don't really believe God will provide for us like God promised.

Persistence in prayer is a wonderful thing when we pray out of our faith. But sometimes we must intentionally put our insecurities aside and demonstrate our faith by letting go, moving on, and allowing God to follow through without pestering him in our insecurity. James tells us that we should pray, asking God in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7, HCSB).

What have you been pestering God about? Have you been persistent in prayer because you trust God or because you don't? Maybe it's time to let some things go. Ask God, one last time, and then trust God to do what is best, both, for you and for God's glory. Don't allow your prayers to demonstrate your lack of belief.

Watching a 100 Year Old Dead Man Get Out of His Casket

Suggested Reading: Matthew 28:1-20

Several years ago, a man in the church I was pastoring died, and I had the privilege of helping to preach his funeral. This particular gentleman was 100 years old and, even when he was sick and weak, was filled with more life than almost anyone I had ever met. When the funeral home arrived with his body and arranged his casket for the service, I was one of the only people there. For just a few moments I was alone with this man's body and I stood there watching him. For the first time in my life, I had a hard time believing someone was actually dead. I kept watching him and, I swear, it was like watching a twitching body. I just kept picturing him sitting up and leaving that casket and that image in my mind kept trying to superimpose itself on reality. I knew he was dead but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. It just didn't seem possible.

In Matthew 28, Jesus's disciples had a similar reaction at the opposite end of the spectrum. Jesus has been crucified and died but now he had risen and appeared to several of the women who had followed him. Jesus sent a message through those women that the disciples were to meet him at a preordained place in Galilee. So the 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted (Matthew 28:16-17, HCSB). Jesus was standing right in front of them. Other passages tell us that they had the opportunity to feel the holes where the nails pierced his hands and feet. But they had a hard time believing he was really alive. Jesus was standing right in front of them but they doubted.

Something that always strikes me when I read that passage is that this group of 11 disciples went out and turned the world upside down even though, at one point, they had a hard time believing it themselves. Yes they doubted, but they wrestled with it and talked to others who had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and they eventually came to terms with their doubts and changed the world.

Having doubts does not make you a bad person and it doesn't mean you are useless to God. Some of the most useful people are people who have doubted deeply but wrestled with their doubts fervently and eventually came to terms with them. The process of doubting and wrestling with doubts can produce a person who is firm in the faith and certain why they believe as they do. Just because you have a hard time accepting something doesn't mean you have no faith. it means you are normal. But you have to deal with your doubts. Examine them, test them, see if they have any basis, and talk with other people who have struggled with doubt but continued to believe.

Doubting does not disqualify you from the work of the Kingdom. But don't allow doubt to go unresolved indefinitely. wrestle with your doubts. You might just come through them ready to change the world.

Dying Tigers, Red Skies and Miraculous Signs

Suggested Reading: Matthew 15:29-16:4

When it first came out, my family and I went to see We Bought a Zoo at the theater. The movie is inspired by the true story of a journalist whose wife had died, leaving him to struggle to grieve and connect with his kids. Trying to start somewhere fresh, they buy a house that happens to come with a zoo attached. Through the course of the movie, Dad deals with an aging, dying tiger who, by all accounts, needs to be put down but Dad doesn't want to accept it. So he keeps looking for other things, other explanations, anything to prevent him from putting the tiger to sleep. All along he knows what has to happen but simply chooses not to believe it. He doesn't want it to be true so he refuses to accept it, regardless of the evidence, at least for a time.

That dad would have found a kindred spirit in some of the Pharisees and scribes during Jesus's ministry. In Matthew 15, Jesus casts out demons, heals the sick and feeds four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. But in Matthew 16, immediately after the feeding, the Pharisees and scribes come to Jesus and demand that he give them a sign. If I were Jesus, I would have said something like, "What do you think I've been doing? Do people heal the sick and feed thousands with next to nothing every day?" But Jesus answered them: “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red. ’ And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening. ’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away (Matthew 16:2-4, HCSB).

Now, God doesn't seem to have a problem with people asking for confirmation. He allowed Gideon to put out fleeces as a test to confirm God's instructions. In some places in scripture, God demands that people ask for a sign because he wants to confirm His word. So what is Jesus upset about? Well, any person who wanted to look honestly could have seen all the miracles Jesus was doing as the very signs they were looking for. But the Pharisees weren't interested in confirming the truth about Jesus. They asked for more evidence because they refused to believe the evidence in front of them.

What about you? What has God been trying to say to you that you are still "praying" about? Is there something you know God has called you to, but you are still seeking confirmation when you already know, deep down, exactly what God wants you to do? When we do that, when we know exactly what God is saying and refuse to listen, when we keep asking for confirmation or continued prayers for guidance about something God has already made clear to us, Jesus calls us a wicked and adulterous generation. Don't pretend a lack of understanding in order to avoid what God is saying to you. Stop stalling and obey God now. It will be a lot easier on you in the long run.

Preparing the Disciples for the Crane Kick

Suggested Reading: Luke 10:1-12, Luke 22:35-38

In the original Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio, once his training began with Mr Miyagi, Daniel couldn't wait to learn to kick or punch. He was overly eager to learn those things. But Mr Miyagi insisted on teaching Daniel balance and defense first. From the teacher's viewpoint, those things were foundational and he wanted Daniel to be able to defend himself and maintain his balance before he ever thought of going on offense. Eventually, however, he was allowed to begin kicking and punching and even learned the famous Crane Kick which won the tournament. But without his lessons in balance, Daniel never would have mastered the Crane Kick. He never would have won the tournament.

In the book of Luke, we see a similar dynamic with Jesus and the disciples. While training them, Jesus sends them out in pairs to preach the good news, but he has some special instructions for them. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road (Luke 10:4, NLT).  But later, as he is preparing to send them out again, knowing he is about to leave them, Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?” “No,” they replied. “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!" (Luke 22:35-36, NLT).  Jesus wanted his disciples to have all of the necessary tools for survival, but he wanted all of those tools to be used in an attitude of faith. So the first time he sent them out, he made them rely on God not just for protection but also for food and shelter, because faith is foundational to all we do as believers. Without it, we can never use any of our other tools in the proper fashion.

Sometimes, we get frustrated that God isn't allowing us to do the things we want, that our life isn't moving fast enough. If you find yourself feeling like you are stuck, consider that God may want you to learn something important before you are ready to move forward. Maybe your faith needs to grow, maybe you need to learn a particular skill, maybe you need a particular experience to prepare you for something down the road. As good a trainer as Mr Miyagi was, God is even better.  If you feel like God is holding you back for some reason or another, search for the lesson you need to learn. That lesson may be essential for the rest of your life.

Answering Doctor Who's Prayer

Suggested Reading: Luke 18:1-8

There was an episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor was trapped in a place he'd been sent to via transporter, a place where, each day, everything in the room (including himself) reset to the way it was when he arrived. Being the doctor, he was able to figure out that this had happened every day for approximately 4,000,000,000 years. But he didn't let that stop him from continuing the same routine every day as he slowly made progress toward escaping. He continued doing the same thing over and over again because he believed it would eventually work and it did.

In Luke 18, we see Jesus tell the Parable of the Persistent Widow. This widow, who desperately needed the judge to grant her justice, came to the judge day after day after day. So, even though this judge as a man who "neither feared God nor cared about people," (Luke 18:2, NLT)  he eventually gave in and granted her justice just so she would stop pestering him. Jesus concluded the parable by asking, "So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?" (Luke 18:7-8, NLT). Jesus was addressing those whose prayers for justice (and perhaps other things) seem to go unanswered. That's why he said, "Will [God] keep putting them off?" Their prayers haven't been answered yet. The passage seems to imply that by the time Jesus returns, many of those prayers will still not have been answered and that those who keep praying are those whom "he will find on the earth who have faith."

What if the Doctor had gotten to the place where he finally decided that nothing was ever going to change and simply gave up? What if he stopped believing that doing the same thing day after day was eventually going to work and he just stopped? Sometimes, that is how we treat prayer. Sometimes, we stop praying for a particular person to be saved or healed because we stop believing it can ever happen. Sometimes we let our prayers go unsaid because, somewhere inside, we've stopped believing that they make a difference. So, rather than be faced with the disappointment of possibly unanswered prayers, we just stop praying. Or sometimes it is just easier not to think about that need than to continue yearning for something that, in our opinions, is taking too long to happen.

Yes, sometimes, what we pray for take a long time to happen. And sometimes we stop praying for it to happen. But have we stopped praying about it because we completely trust God to make it happen and have left it in God's hands? Or have we stopped praying about it because we've stopped believing anything will ever change? You are the only one who knows why you've stopped. So tell me, when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on earth who have faith?

Getting Shipwrecked With Lex Luthor's Murderer

Suggested Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-20

Green Arrow used to be one of the less well known superheroes in the DC comics universe. More people began to recognize him, though, when he became a regular on Smallville, the Superman prequel TV series. In that series, one of the pivotal moments for Green Arrow was his decision that Lex Luthor was too dangerous to continue living and so he killed him. Of course in the comic world no one stays dead, but Green Arrow had done something he knew was wrong "for the greater good." Violating his conscience messed him up badly. He struggled to come to terms with the murder, wrestled with suicidal desires and lost touch with sanity before an extreme intervention by a friend finally brought him back to himself. 

1 Timothy 1:19 describes Green Arrow's experience very well.  "Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked" (NLT). Violating your own conscience leads to a crisis of faith where you must come to terms with that violation, falsely justify the violation, or justify yourself by denying a violation took place.

Through the years, I have had several friends who chose to violate their consciences, to deliberately do things which they knew were wrong according to the Christian belief system they grew up with. Some survived this crisis of faith. Others chose to repeat these violations but soon abandoned their faith in order to alleviate their own feelings of guilt. After all, can you feel guilty (i.e., be convicted) if you no longer believe it is wrong? Some of these friends have rejected the faith completely, turning to other religions or to atheism, while others have simply altered their faith to such a degree that it is unrecognizable as biblical Christianity to any but themselves. In nearly each and every one of their lives, their abandonment of the faith can be traced back to a time when they deliberately choose to violate their consciences and had to come to terms with that choice. In Paul's words, their faith had been shipwrecked.

Before you choose to do something that violates your conscience, be prepared for your entire belief system to change in order to maintain your personal sanity. If your faith is precious to you, don't violate your conscience.

I'm a Miracle Worker, Not a Bloody Engineer!

Suggested Reading: Acts 9:32-43

One thing I enjoy that runs through a number of science fiction shows is the "miracle worker" scientist/engineer trope. These miracle workers solve so many problems with minutes to spare so often that people begin to expect the miraculous of them. Despite Star Trek's Scotty proclaiming, 'I'm an engineer, not a bloody miracle worker!" everyone thought he was. Despite Stargate Atlantis's Rodney McKay always whining about how unrealistic it was to assume that he would come up with some scientific mumbo-jumbo to save the day, he always did. True, these science geeks were the writers' way of creating a solution to an impossible problem they had written themselves into. But the characters always expected the miracle workers to come through, and so did the audience. We always knew when there was a difficult situation that seemed impossible to surmount, these miracle workers would find a way to overcome it.

What would our lives be like if we had that same mindset with regard to God? What if, when impossible difficulties confronted us, we immediately assumed the attitude, "My miracle working God will save the day"? This attitude pervades scripture. When the Israelite spies returned from the Promised Land, knowing how powerful its current occupants were, Joshua and Caleb responded, "Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them" (Number 14:9, NIV). When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood before a tyrant who was about to cast them into a fiery furnace for failing to worship his idol, they said, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:17-18, NIV). When the wedding in Cana ran out of wine, Mary conscripted her son, Jesus, telling the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5, NIV) before Jesus had even agreed to deal with the problem. When the woman Tabitha died and her friends heard that Peter was in a nearby town, they immediately urged him, "Please come at once!" (Acts 9:38, NIV), knowing that Peter could do something about her death.

All throughout scripture people expected the impossible of God and they were rewarded for their faith. The same God who answered prayers and performed the miraculous then answers prayers and performs the miraculous now. But we often miss out on those miracles because we don't expect them and don't ask for them. Is God always going to perform a miracle? No, he made that clear to Paul when he refused to take away the thorn in the flesh that tormented him (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). But, often, God is simply waiting on us to ask.

We have a God who designed and controls the laws of the universe. Isn't about time that we respond to the impossible by remembering to call the real Miracle Worker?

Getting Ready to Swing

Suggested Reading: Matthew 14:21-21

Something I used to do on occasion that I really haven't had much time for recently is go to a batting cage. As much as I enjoy baseball, most of the time I have to settle for listening to games while I am attempting to accomplish something else rather than actually getting to play. But the thing about a batting cage is, when you put your money or token or code into the machine, you better be ready to swing the bat. If you ask for the ball, you get the ball. You don't have a lot of time to stretch and take practice swings. Once you give the machine your money, you had better be ready to start swinging. You had better be ready to get what you're asking for.

In Matthew 14, we find the familiar story of Jesus feeding 5,000 men plus their families with just five loaves of bread a couple fish. A detail that often gets overlooked is found in verse 19. The disciples report that they only have a small amount of food. Jesus tells them to bring the food to him and then "He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass" (HCSB). At that point, I'm sure the disciples must have thought that he was crazy. All he had was a few loaves and fishes and he commanded five thousand men with their families to sit down and get ready to eat! What in the world was Jesus doing? Jesus was getting ready to swing before he put his money in the batting cage.

Jesus knew what he was going to do. He knew the miracle he was asking for and which would surely come, and he prepared for it. He acted as if he already had the food on hand and was simply distributing it. Many times throughout scripture we see this same M.O.. Ten lepers came to Jesus to be healed and he instructed them to go show themselves to the priests (who could verify their healing) but they weren't healed until they actually headed on their way to the priests (Luke 17:11-19). Elijah asked a woman who had just enough to feed herself and her son to first make a meal for him and that God would provide for her, but it wasn't until she actually made Elijah's meal that she could watch God keep her containers from emptying out. (1 Kings 17:8-16)

Quite often we ask God to provide, we ask God to do big things in our lives, but then we go on living as if nothing has changed. Instead, when we ask God to provide, to meet a need, to do something big in our lives, we should demonstrate the faith to live like God has already provided, we should prepare to receive what God is going to send our way. If we are praying that God will send us someone to share our lives with, we should be preparing ourselves to be the most stable, mature and godly persons possible so we are ready for their appearance. If we are asking God to send young families to our churches, we should prepare our facilities and our classes for them so that we are ready to welcome them and send the right messages when they come. If we are praying that God will bless us financially, we should be making sure that our financial house is in order so that we are ready to handle that blessing well.

Part of having faith is preparing to receive the things that we are praying for. If we don't, it's like trying to stretch after putting your money in the batting cage--we may miss it entirely or, worse, get hit in the head.

Turning the World Upside Down with Doubters

Suggested Reading: Matthew 28:1-20

Sometimes, looking at what the apostles accomplished in the years after Jesus rose back into heaven, it is easy to compare ourselves to them and wish we had as much faith as they did. I mean, these were the people who, according to Acts 17:6, were accused of turning "the whole world upside down" (HCSB). These were men who performed miracles and cast out demons. These people preached great sermons that led thousands upon thousands of people to faith in Jesus. It's easy to look at the apostles and decide that we simply don't have the kind of faith to do things like that.

But then we read a passage like Matthew 28. Jesus has not only risen, but he has appeared to the disciples. Jesus has shown himself to the women who came to the tomb to treat his body. The disciples have gone to Galilee like Jesus instructed them and they have met on a mountain where Jesus has promised to meet them. Matthew 28:17 tells us, "When they saw him, they worshipped him--but some of them still doubted!" (NLT).

Hold on, that can't be right. They are standing in front of Jesus, speaking with him and interacting with him after he died and came back to life and some of them still doubted? But these were the men who taught thousands of people. These were the men who healed the sick and cast out demons and raised the dead. These were the giants of the faith. And they doubted? Where does that leave us?

With an awful lot of hope.

If these men, the men who had walked with Jesus on a daily basis for three years, who had seen the miracles he performed, who had heard him predict his own death and resurrection, who were now standing in front of Jesus, looking at him and hearing his voice, if these men still doubted, then there is definitely hope for us. These men show us that we don't have to have everything perfect. We don't have to have everything together and be paragons of faith and virtue before God can do anything with us. If God can use these men who had been witness to so many of Jesus' miracles, who had heard Jesus' own predictions about his death and resurrection, who were now standing in front of the risen Christ and yet were still doubting, if God can use these men, then God can certainly do something with us.

In John 20:29, Jesus told his disciples, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (NIV). If the disciples had trouble believing even in the midst of all they had seen, Jesus reminds us that the more blessed  faith is the kind that all of us have today, who have believed but have never seen with our physical eyes. If God could work miracles through these men who doubted even as they stood before the risen Christ, God can use us.