Happy Independence Day

[Judy Harder]

Small Slits Sink Ships

He must become greater; I must become less. - John 3:30

Did you know scientists now believe a series of slits, not a giant gash, sank the Titanic? The supposedly invincible cruise liner went down in 1912 on its first voyage. Fifteen hundred people perished, making it the worst maritime disaster of its time.

Until recently, the most widely held theory was that the ship hit an iceberg, opening a huge gash in the vessel's side. But an international team of divers and scientists has used sound waves to probe the wreckage, buried in the mud under two-and-a-half miles of water. The damage was surprisingly small. Instead of a huge gash, they found only six, relatively narrow, slits across the watertight holds.

Small slits can sink great ships. What are the small slits in your life that might have serious consequences? Is some shoring up in order? If you don't know what exactly needs shoring up, or you do know but don't know how—seek some help—from a friend, your pastor, or a professional counselor.

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." -Unknown
 

[Judy Harder]

Need of Spiritual Disciplines

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men. - Ephesians 6:7

The word "discipline" tends to put people on the defensive because it's often mistakenly associated with the idea of punishment.  That's unfortunate, and very inaccurate.  The Latin root of the word discipline means student.  That's why Webster's Dictionary defines discipline as "training or experience that corrects, molds, strengthens, or perfects, especially the mental faculties or moral character."  And that's why Jesus calls those who follow Him in faith His disciples.

Through the centuries, Christians have stimulated their life in Christ by practicing what are called "spiritual disciplines."  But as our culture has increasingly lost the ability to be informed by its past, and as society grows ever more permissive and lax, the "spiritual disciplines" have been forsaken and almost forgotten.

I'm talking about daily Bible reading—alone in a time of devotion, and together with your family.  Concentrated, intentional, and regular time of prayer, alone and with fellow believers.  Taking time to care for the sick, the widows and the orphans.  Serving our neighbors in need as a response to Christ's love for us.

Consider adding one Spiritual discipline to your life this week.

"The best servant does his work unseen." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894)

[Judy Harder]

The More the Better

Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. - Proverbs 25:28

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "excess" as "Action that goes beyond a reasonable limit. An amount greater than is necessary."  If you live in the United States, this concept isn't very difficult to grasp.  Our new American motto seems to be "the more, the better"—no matter what it's more of.  Listen to these statistics:

-          Obesity, time spent watching television, and consumer credit debt are at all-time highs.
-          About one in five Americans has a sexually transmitted disease.
-          Addictions now affect over 30 percent of American families.
-          There were over 1.5 million personal bankruptcies filed last year.
-          The average American household wields more than16 credit cards, and carries credit-card balances of almost $9,000 per household.
-          There are now more registered cars on our roads than there are licensed drivers.

Jesus said he came that we might have an abundant life, not an excessive life. There is a difference!

"Where there is too much, something is missing." - Jewish saying

[Judy Harder]

The Strangeness of God

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9

Disruptive peace; majestic meekness; unsettling comfort – these phrases don't seem to make sense.  But anyone who's had a personal encounter with God understands that these apparent paradoxes come together in Him.

The Dean of the Chapel of Calvin College, wrote, "The faithful evangelical preacher of God ought to say not only that God is great and God is good, but also that God is elusive and God is strange...because spiritual health depends upon it."

It's dangerous to think we know God's mind, God's will, or God's intentions. In fact, to fear God is, in part, to recognize that His ways are not our ways.  For certain, He's revealed Himself to us in Jesus, and He revealed Himself in how He moved and worked through the lives and stories recorded in the Bible.  But He hasn't revealed Himself exhaustively.  He hasn't ceased to work in mysterious ways.  And that's why we surrender to Him.  He's greater than we can think or imagine and will work in strange ways—ways we can't even think of or imagine.

"I have felt His hand upon me in great trials and submitted to His guidance, and I trust that as He shall further open the way, I will be ready to walk therein, relying on His help and trusting in His goodness and wisdom. " -       Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

[Judy Harder]

God Plus One

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever–do not abandon the works of your hands. - Psalm 138:8

In his book The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn tells the story of his family's trip to Egypt. While driving through the hot and dusty streets of Cairo, they passed a graveyard for American missionaries and decided to go see it. One sun-scorched tombstone in particular caught their attention. At the top it read: William Borden, 1887-1913.

What makes Borden so interesting is that he was a Yale graduate, and the heir to great wealth. Yet he rejected a life of ease in exchange for the life of a missionary in Egypt. He gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to missions, and after only four months of ministry in Egypt, he contracted spinal meningitis and died at age twenty-five.

At the bottom of William Borden's tombstone, it says, "Apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation for such a life."

If you are a follower of Christ, you can expect that in obedience to that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, you will do some things that make no earthly sense but are spiritually significant.

Even those who resist Him carry out His will without realizing that they are doing so. - Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

[Judy Harder]

Clarity Versus Trust

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. - Isaiah 50:10

When the philosopher and professor of ethics, John Kavanaugh, went to work for three months at the "house of the dying" in Calcutta, he was seeking an answer about how to spend the rest of his life. His first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, "And what can I do for you?" Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. "What do you want me to pray for?" she inquired.

He voiced his pressing burden: "Pray that I have clarity." Mother Teresa firmly refused!  When the bewildered Kavanaugh asked why, she said, "Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of."

When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."

Are things in your life so clear that there's no room to trust God?

"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. " - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

[Judy Harder]

Confession

Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1 Timothy 6:12

In the Bible, the word "confess" means "to speak the same thing." So when it tells us to confess, it means we're to say the same thing God says—to agree with Him—about the attitudes and actions of our lives.

As you can see, then, confession has two aspects: speaking the truth about ourselves and the truth about God.

For example, if we're confessing greed, we can also confess God's promise to supply our needs.  The Bible says the same God who takes care of you will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to you in Christ Jesus.

"We own up to minor failings, but only so as to convince others that we have no major ones." - La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

[Judy Harder]

Learning Through Suffering

Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. - Romans 8:17

Like many other Christians, my parents thought that if they honored God and dedicated their children to the Lord, they'd somehow be shielded from pain, suffering, and life's difficult realities. Learning that their son—my brother Jerry—was dying of AIDS helped them to see that this belief was false.

My parents wrestled not only with losing Jerry but also with their own feelings of guilt.  They wondered what they could've done differently to keep their son from a homosexual lifestyle.  Sorrow and regret consumed them.

Yet God used that terrible incident to mold and deepen my parents' faith.  Suffering brought them face-to-face with change they'd never anticipated.  It was in that dark and painful crucible that my parents learned about compassion, courage, forgiveness, and repentance.  Their hearts were truly broken, but they were also truly changed.

You, too, can and should learn from suffering.  Don't be angered by it.  Don't come out the other side a bitter person.  Look at your suffering as an intimacy with Christ—a time to sense his love and compassion, and to grow to trust Him and grow closer to Him.

"Complete success alienates a man from his fellows, but suffering makes kinsmen of us all." - Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

[Judy Harder]

Living a Positive Legacy

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. - 2 Timothy 2:2

Did you know the Nobel Peace Prize is named after Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite? How did this come to be?

When Alfred's brother died, a newspaper mistook him for Alfred. It printed his obituary with the headline, "The Merchant of Death Is Dead," describing Alfred as a man who made his fortune helping people kill one another.

He was cut to the heart and vowed to change his legacy.  When Alfred really died eight years later, he left $9 million to fund awards for people whose work benefited humanity—thus, the birth of Nobel Peace Prizes.

Alfred Nobel was given a rare gift: the opportunity to read his own obituary, and make changes before it was too late.  What might you do if given the same opportunity?

"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. -Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

[Judy Harder]

Lonely Souls

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. - Romans 12:11-12

In his lifetime Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting. Today he's known for his passion and artistic genius. And he's remembered as a lonely soul. In a letter to his beloved brother, Theo, Vincent wrote:

"Our inward thoughts, do they ever show outwardly? There may be a great fire in our soul, and no one ever comes to warm himself at it; the passers-by see only a little bit of smoke coming through the chimney, and pass on their way.  Now, look you, what must be done? Must one tend that inward fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down near it—to stay there maybe?"

What great fire has God impressed upon your soul? Do passers-by see more than just a little bit of smoke?  Are you tending the fire?

Van Gogh expressed his passion in his art. Look for the best expression of your passion that will honor and glorify God.

"The passions are the winds that fill the ship's sails. Sometimes they submerge the ship, but without them the ship could not sail." -Voltaire (1694-1778)