Crosswalk.com--The Devotional

[Judy Harder]

Playing Second Fiddle
by Stephen Sanders, Audio/Video Editor, Salem Web Network

"Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle." (Rom. 12:9-10, MSG)

Shortly after I decided that I wanted to write a blog post on this passage of scripture, a funny thing happened. For the second time this week, I received a work email from one of my fellow employees titled, "free Hanover Tomatoes in the break room!"

Now, as a lover of all types of tomatoes, especially those of the Hanover variety, I got this email and quickly rushed down the steps to the break room where I found a couple more of my work mates. With a speedy "hey guys," I made a beeline for the table where people place all the free stuff.

As I opened the bag and reached inside, I discovered that there was just one delicious Hanover tomato left. I reluctantly picked it up and turned to toss the bag in the trash when one of my colleagues exclaimed, "Aww man! The last tomato?!?!"

"Here you go, man." I said. After all, I still had a delicious Hanover tomato in the fridge from earlier that week.

He said, "No. I can't. It's fine, man."

"No really," I said emphatically, "please take it."

"OK. If you say so," he said. As I walked towards the door to head back upstairs, he said, "Wait. Here you go, man. It has a couple holes in it anyway."

"Are you sure?" I replied as I reached out for the delicious Hanover tomato. "I'm positive", he said, "I mean, you may want to slice it up or put it on a sandwich or something like that."

"You guys are embarrassing me", said my other work mate jokingly.

When we "play second fiddle", or as the ESV says, "outdo one another in showing honor", the world around us takes notice. It's the defining mark of a Christian and ultimately what causes us to shine. Sure it might make things a little awkward or uncomfortable for everyone involved, but what's so wrong with that? I mean, isn't that kind of the point?

Just think about it; the Bible tells us emphatically that our walk with Jesus is one where we empty ourselves and then fill ourselves back up with Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul was always talking about how it was no longer he who lived but Christ and that he actually died daily to be a follower of Jesus. Even Jesus Himself states that His followers are those who deny themselves and even lose themselves for His sake.

Denying your wants is not an easy thing. It may, in fact, cause you a lot of stress. After all, what happens if you give and give until you have nothing left?

In Matthew 6:25-34 (MSG), Jesus provides a remedy to our anxiety on this matter:

"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.

Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion – do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.

Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

Intersecting Faith & Life

Surrendering to Jesus is the only way to supplement all of the discomfort we experience when we go without so someone else can receive. Be on the lookout for opportunities to display sacrificial love today while relying on Him for comfort.

For Further Reading

Mark 12:28-31
Philippians 2:1-4
Ephesians 5:14

 

[Judy Harder]

Time for Radical Action
Alex Crain
Editor, Christianity.com

"If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell."
Matthew 5:30

The arm amputation scene in the movie 127 Hours vividly portrays the tough-as-nails experience of rock climber Aron Ralston during a 2003 expedition that almost claimed his life. As I watched the scene not long ago, I was reminded of a spiritual truth that makes most Christians wince, including me.

Aron, an experienced 27-year-old outdoorsman had taken along just enough food and water for the day. He hiked all by himself in a remote canyon area that used to be the hideout for wild-west outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At one point in the middle of the afternoon of that near perfect day, he was about seventy feet above the canyon floor—climbing in a narrow crevice that was just a few feet wide. Without warning, a boulder above him shifted and came hurtling toward him. Within seconds, Aron's right arm was pinned against the wall. His hand was crushed. What had been one of his greatest assets as an expert climber was now his greatest liability.



For the next five days, he tried various ways to free his arm. Chipping away at the boulder with a pocket knife only made a small dent. Rigging up a pulley system to somehow shift the boulder drained precious time and strength to no avail. Finally, a moment of clarity came. Aron would break his forearm, cut through the muscle with the dirty pocket knife, detach his arm, and use rope for a tourniquet. Following this plan, Aron would lose his arm, but save his life. 



In his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron explains that "some sort of autopilot" took over him as he went about the gruesome task of amputation. When he finished, Aron lowered himself down the rock wall, leaving a trail of blood. He then trudged slowly in the direction of his truck parked miles away. Fortunately, he happened across two hikers on the way who phoned in a rescue helicopter. Amputating his right arm was a radical act, but it saved his life and, soon, he was reunited with his loved ones.



Christians are called to deal with sin in a similar way. The Bible doesn't offer a laid-back, live-and-let-live approach. Sin is our deadly enemy. We have two choices: kill or be killed. As Puritan writer, John Owen famously put it in his classic book The Mortification of Sin, "be killing sin, or it will be killing you."



Jesus spoke about the time for radical action in Matthew 5:30: "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell." While Jesus was not literally talking about physical amputation, He was saying that sin's deadly effects call for extreme measures. It may cause temporary pain or loss, but we must kill sin in our lives. In fact, our eternal destiny hinges on how we deal with sin. Yes, really. Think about Christ's words again. Why else would Jesus talk about hell in the same breath that He talks dealing with sin? If He didn't mean that our eternal destiny hangs in the balance, then the passage makes no sense. Clearly, the way that one deals with sin (or not) shows what the heart prefers. If Aron Ralston had just given up and stayed there on the canyon wall, he would have most certainly died. But he was willing to kill his hand so that his life could be saved.



This is not to say that in our relationship with God we somehow "save ourselves" by our own righteousness. No. But neither should we think about salvation as a one-time decision. Christ doesn't call us to a mere decision of "inviting Him to be our Savior," He calls us to a life of trusting Him and walking with Him. The way we deal with sin simply shows what we value. Do we prefer the world or Christ? Colossians 3:5 says, "Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."



The world may tell us to laugh about sin, to lighten up about it, to tolerate it, and just let it be... that it's not idolatry; it's not an issue of worship.



God says the opposite is true.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Usually, sin doesn't appear to us as an ugly, painful boulder that crushes us against a rock wall. What are the pleasures of sin that tend to pin you down? What is it that keeps you from treasuring God above all things? Ask God for grace and strength to amputate sin—today and every day.

Further Reading
Romans 8:10
What is Christianity?

[Judy Harder]

The Level Ground
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23

I've always felt parables are the best resource anyone has for studying the gospel. The stories Jesus used to teach his followers are timeless and many Christians, including myself, are prone to forgetting their lessons. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is one such lesson,     

"And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week ; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner !' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." – Luke 18:9-14

Reading this section of scripture, I tried to picture what this story would look like if it was played out on a modern stage. The Pharisee would look the model Christian: He grew up in a Christian home, attended youth group as a teen, participated in a dozen missions trips, as an adult he runs a respectable business, and has a godly wife and three well behaved children. And the tax collector, who would he be? I tried to come up with a fictional description, but instead something else happened. I started seeing the faces of all the Christians who had ever been honest with me about their struggles.

Friends who had struggles with addiction, others who had confessed to adultery, I saw myself confiding in them about my own sins and realized, in that moment, we are all tax collectors. As Romans 3:23 says, we have all fallen short of God's glory. The moment we start to believe ourselves saved by our own worth is the day we become Pharisees. It's an old moral, I know, but sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones we think we already know.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Who do you most resemble, the Pharisee or the Tax collector?

Further Reading 

Matthew 7:1-3

[Judy Harder]

From Middle of Life to Center of Truth
Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.
Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV

I turned 40 a couple months ago. Woo-hoo.

You'll pardon my "enthusiasm," I'm sure. What nobody tells you about turning 40 is that you ask yourself a lot of questions, sort of a checklist of making sure you have certain things right before proceeding to the most meaningful half of the game. It's like you're in the locker room at halftime of life - bandaging injuries, reflecting on the strategies of the first half - both failed and successful - and considering your options as you re-emerge to the field.

One upside of this odd time (one of my most awkward since adolescence; think of me as a teenager plus a modicum of wisdom, confidence, and gainful employment. I even found a couple of zits this week for goodness sakes) is empathy. I wouldn't call what I'm going through a "mid-life crisis"... but I now understand why some people have them. I wouldn't say that agnosticism is any kind of answer to the meaning of life... but I now understand why people gravitate to it, conscientiously or not. I wouldn't say this life is the point or that this world is our home... but I get why people begin to make the most of the time they have left as they see the clock running down.



The downside, however, is that I find myself prone to thinking I'm smarter than I am, to thinking so much depends upon me, to buying into answers that are all at once beyond biblical teaching in both complexity and sanity. My like-it's-on-hormones brain has me wondering about...



Dinosaurs, definitions of marriage, death, love, whom I've loved, whether I've loved, addictions, exercise, accountability, honesty, privacy, sexuality, inerrancy, accuracy, cosmology, biology, psychology, mighta-beens, coulda-beens, shoulda-beens, woulda-beens, fairness, facts, food, euthanasia, hip dysplasia, adoptions from Asia, character, selfishness, and yes... even shiny new sportscars.



Good gracious.



Take any one of those categories - plus many more - and I've been bogged down thinking about it. Some of my thoughts challenge my own beliefs, beliefs I've long held as established, settled. Some of my thoughts wake me up to new possibilities, or things I haven't done yet that I may still be called to. But in the end all these ideas remain merely...



My. Thoughts.



Biblically, those just aren't very trustworthy words. So what do I do now?



The same thing I've always done - come back to first principles. Study the old verses from childhood. Memorize scripture. And be really, really honest with friends and acquaintances. That authenticity, though, is a new ingredient, one that is making this halftime speech much more meaningful, bearable, and shared.



But at its root is just the same formula from which I deconstruct everything: something happened in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas over 2,000 years ago that sent plain old uneducated men to the corners of the earth convinced that everything - life, meaning, all time and all space - was on the line, and there was a Truth worth dying for. They did this because they knew a man who was also God, whom death could not hold, and who offered an amazing gift to anyone who would faithfully open it. And there's this book about those men, and the One in whom they believed, and no matter how many questions you seem to have about this book or how it was put together or who wrote it or whether its teachings are fair or right, one thing is for sure - it spoke in advance of the One who came, and in Him it becomes a whole lot clearer.



And the same God who caused all that to happen wanted the rest of the story told in certain ways. He told us some things were good for us, some bad. He told us some things were right in His eyes, some wrong. He told us He created this place we live in a period of days. No matter how confusing any of that may seem (and make no mistake - child-like faith is one of my favorite things, but growing in wisdom is a stretch to that faith, and stretching is almost always a good thing to do with aging muscles), it holds that there was a Truth. And the God that foretold, sent, and raised this Truth is the one telling the story in a way that might make you scratch your head, puzzle out how things piece together, but before you know it, you have been thinking, praying to, and meditating upon Him and how He did it, how it all might paradoxically mesh.



Simplicity out of complexity. Youthfulness out of age. Truth out of confusion. Beauty out of chaos.



So far, I have to tell you, the 40s just rock.



Intersecting Faith and Life: No matter how old you are, make a list of what's behind you and what you think or hope lies ahead. Admit the concepts with which you struggle, and the bedrock that does not move, and find the place they meet for you. And move forward from there.



Further Reading:

John 18:37-38
What is Truth?

[Judy Harder]

Will They Know Us By Our Love?
by Debbie Holloway, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and it not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

These two passages are arguably the most famous Bible verses about love. Love is a concept promoted
by Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims. It is a thing acknowledged by atheists and agnostics.
Something every man, woman, and child strives to obtain every day. Love is something we all know
about and all desire. But so often it seems to be the most difficult thing for us to practice.

As Christians, we have no excuse for not knowing what love is. 1st Corinthians chapter 13 tells us in no
uncertain terms. And Christ tells us in John 13 that the world will know that we belong to Jesus if we
practice this love. But how often do we truly think of those two scriptures as one command? How often
do we piece together the "how?" and the "what?" of love in our own lives?

The ramifications of doing so present a clearly defined, but difficult life. If we combine 1 st Corinthians 13
and John 13, what would our lives look like? How would people come to recognize Christians?

Well, they would know us by our patience. They would know that we are Christians by our
contentment, modesty, and humility. They would recognize us, for we would not be rude. We would
seek the best for others, be difficult to make angry, and refuse to keep count of how many times we've
been hurt. They would know us because evil makes us sad, and truth makes us happy. They would
know us because we protect the defenseless and we do not live in suspicion of others.

They would know us by our hope. They would know us by our perseverance.

That is what love looks like. Those should be the marks of Christ's disciples.

Oftentimes when the world hears "Christian" – they do not think of this love. They think Patriotic. They
think of rules. They think of stingy, bad-tippers, who blindly vote Republican and will judge you if you
drink beer or use four-letter words. And that might not be fair. That might not be you. But it's still your
responsibility to change what the world thinks of Christians. It's still your responsibility to demonstrate
that radical love Paul described to the Corinthians.

Because then, one by one, people might start to know Jesus a little better. Because then, one by one, we
could really reach the world with this radical, biblical, Christ-like love.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Find one relationship or duty in your life that lacks love. And change it.

Further reading

1 John 1:5

Romans 13:8

[Judy Harder]

The Wonderful Gift of... Suffering?
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have." (Philippians 1:29-30)

Philippians 1:29 is one of those verses that makes me stop and shake my head in disbelief. Paul tells the readers of this letter that suffering has been granted to them. Granted? Really? As in, "Here you go. Here's a big ol' heaping helping of suffering"?

If you dig into the Greek behind that phrase, you'll uncover the word charizomai. This word usually implies something that's freely given for someone else's benefit. In fact, Paul uses this same word to talk about how God forgave our sins (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 4:32); how we are to forgive others freely (2 Corinthians 2:7, 10); and how God bestows gifts or titles because of His love and power (as in Philippians 2:9). In Luke 7:21, the same word shows how Jesus gave sight to the blind. Free, beneficial gifts.

All those are well and good. So, why would Paul add something crazy like suffering to these other good things? Surely, he has to see that suffering doesn't fit in the same category as healing the blind and forgiving sin. They don't even share the same zip code. Right?

Well, Paul's example shows us that they do. Right near the end of Acts (chapter 27), Paul gets stuck with a stubborn centurion who can't wait to get to Rome and a ship's pilot who's happy to oblige. Paul warns that such a trip will end badly. They ignore him (word to the wise: never ignore Paul). When they run into a storm, things look really, really bad. People are throwing supplies overboard, faces are green, and hope goes buh-bye.

About that time, Paul gets to give his "I told you so" speech, and in that speech, he uses our old friend charizomai. An angel had appeared to Paul and told him, "God has granted you all those who are sailing with you" (Acts 27:24). God had granted him seasick sailors (who wanted to kill the prisoners, mind you) and a stubborn centurion who refused to listen to sense. What kind of gift is that? God could have granted him a miraculous trip to a nearby island—perhaps somewhere warm and not so stormy.

But if that had been the case, Paul wouldn't have done the other part of this verse: "you must stand before Caesar." If Paul had been whisked away, in fact, we wouldn't have the books of Acts or Luke (that chapter is filled with "we" from our good doctor friend who also survived the storm); the sailors and centurion wouldn't have seen God's mighty act to save every single one of them; and Paul wouldn't have taken the gospel to the most important city in the Roman Empire. God gave Paul the gift of their lives so that the gospel would bulldoze on.

And that brings up back to Paul's suggestion that suffering is granted—a gift. Quite likely, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians not long after being smashed into the rocks. Despite the messy trip (or perhaps precisely because of it), the message of Christ spread throughout the royal guard and people all over Rome. Other Christians got some backbone to speak more boldly (Philippians 1:13-14). Things went boom all over.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The gift of suffering, for Paul and for us, doesn't seem much like a gift—at first. But the vantage point makes all the difference. Suffering that comes for the sake of Christ always produces a harvest of awesome. That's because, in addition to the suffering, God also grants us the strength to endure and the chance to see the gospel take root.

And that's why Paul can truthfully say, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things" (Philippians 3:. That's not empty boasting from a beaten down man. That's the triumphant cry of someone who sees what lies ahead.

For Further Reading

Acts 27-28

Philippians 1 (Read the whole thing; it's short and concentrated.)

[Judy Harder]

Words, Words, Words!
by Katherine Britton

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
John 3:3

American English uses hundreds of idioms, both helpful and just plain ridiculous. It's entirely possible to slink through a whole day without expressing a single original phrase, if we try hard enough. It's not rocket science, I mean. You can blow your top, or go overboard, or feel like you're an emotional rollercoaster, or wind up between a rock and a hard place, or hit the wall. Maybe it's a cloud nine day, and you're walking on air. And no, I'm not pulling your leg. There's a method to my madness.

You can probably think of a dozen more idioms that I omitted. Nowadays, we use overuse all those phrases and stick them into our conversation as a substitute for original thought. But once upon a time, all those things we call clichés resonated with meaning. Consider just a few:

That's a load of hogwash – This wholesome little phrase comes straight from the farm, where "hogwash" designates a concrete mess of garbage and refuse that's only fit for the pigs. The good-for-nothing stuff certainly isn't a compliment; in fact, it's downright nasty.

Catch-22 – We use it now for any situation with a lose-lose outcome, but the original phrase actually comes from a 1961 novel by the same name. The plot highlights the result of bureaucratic regulations that take their validity from each other but can't stand alone. The bewildering, circular logic keeps characters from any good outcomes, thanks to the nonsense to which they're subject.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." – Shakespeare would probably roll over in his grave if he could hear us butcher this one so royally. The phrase actually comes from the lips of Queen Gertrude, who rather hastily marries her husband's brother after her husband dies. Gertrude was actually sneering at the faithful promises – the protestations – of the queen in a play, who promised eternal love and faith to only one man. And so, her inconstant character announces itself to Hamlet and the audience. 

Your John Hancock – As president of the Continental Congress, Hancock's name appeared before all others on the first copy of the Declaration of Independence. By that action, Hancock marked himself among the primary traitors if the War for Independence failed. He risked his life, his fortune, and indeed, his sacred honor. Is that what you think of every time you sign a credit receipt?

We all use language, and it's a hop, skip, and a jump from a meaningful metaphor for a dull catchphrase. After that, real meaning gets lost in the hubbub of "words, words, words," as Hamlet would say.

I mention these cultural amusements for a simple purpose.

Do you remember how totally radically it is to be "born again"?

Christians – myself included – so easily wear down the language of grace into simple catchphrases. When Jesus told

Nicodemus that he "must be born again," he was conveying a radical idea, and Nicodemus knew that much. "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (John 3:4) Jesus goes on to explain the obvious changes that come from being born again of the Spirit, so that a person changes completely. "Born again" meant so much more than a hidden identity. As my pastor pointed out Sunday, you might as well ask, "Is that baby new?" as ask, "Are you born again?" The answer should be obvious to all. Is it?

Intersecting Faith & Life: The slip from authentic faith to rote "Christianese" is sometimes nothing more than a wandering mind, and sometimes as much as complete forgery. As you pray and read the Bible this week, take time to meditate on what simple phrases like "mercy," "born again," "repent," genuinely mean. Find names or attributes of God that you don't usually use and meditate on them. As Jesus said to his disciples (ironically, right before he gave them the Lord's Prayer, which far too many of us utter by rote), "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7) The fight against complacent muttering finds success when it's joined by a genuinely appreciative heart, so let's skip the babbling and get down to praising God for the radical way He has saved us!

Further Reading:

Luke 18:9
Zephaniah 3:14-18
Top 10 Irritating Phrases

[Judy Harder]

It Looked Better in My Head
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4

Your calling looks better in your head than in real life. Inside, safely tucked away in your synapses, the visions of what God wants to do through you come with puppies, double rainbows, and guilt-free cheesecake. It's amazing how perfectly our brains can sand down the obstacles ahead, plaster over the voices of dissent, and generally build a future much like the highlights from someone else's life.

With such a build-up, it's easy to see why we get disappointed. After all, stories like these are all over:

·         The country preacher has a vision to reach rural America with the gospel, to burn so brightly that a whole community is changed. But the church never grows. He sees nothing dramatic happen and finally moves on.

·         A woman faithfully loves and serves her unsaved coworkers for years. She pours hours of prayer into the thing, hoping that at least one will really absorb what she's been sharing with them. But all she seems to take with her when she retires are the pictures from her cubicle.

·         A Christian missionary community, after years of serving the poorest in their adopted country, finally has a breakthrough when a local leader professes faith in Jesus. Days later, militants attack the area and murder the new convert, his family, and many of the missionaries.

And maybe something like that has hijacked your calling, too. You started out strong, pushing forward even when turbulence hit. You just knew God would work all things together for your good, and you had that verse, Romans 8:28, firmly planted in your noggin (and maybe scribbled on a Post-It Note on your mirror—just to be sure).

But along the way, the future you had imagined became more and more distant from the slog-it-out reality. You doubt that God was ever really in the thing to begin with, and, so, you try to forget that something ever happened, that something got you excited and charged up in the first place.

Don't write off your calling just yet.

The thing about God is that He's big, really big. And He sees much farther, clearer, and better than us. From our perspective, we can't always see progress. But usually that's because we're trying to see the land ahead from a valley.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The truth is that we may not see progress in the short-term, maybe not even in our lifetime. But we've been called to faithfully serve where Christ puts us. We get bogged down when we imagine that all our service and work should produce results that we can experience. Our joy comes from seeing things happen, and not so much the serving.

But God never promises that we'll see what He's up to—at least, not while we're camping here on earth. He's called us to look out "for the interest of others," both believers and the unchurched. Whether we see something happen or not.

For Further Reading

1 Corinthians 12

Ephesians 4

[Judy Harder]

Yard Sale Christianity
by Stephen Sanders, A/V Editor for Salem Web Network

As many of you know, summer is prime time yard sale time and you can't drive anywhere in the south on a Saturday without passing at least a few. This past Saturday, we stopped at one not far from our house.

In the past when I've been with my wife to these things, I seldom find anything that I get REALLY excited about. I usually just look for old books because that's the only thing I can find for a buck that I might actually use. But this past Saturday, as I dug through a box of old CDs, I found something that I couldn't pass up.

When I look back at my childhood and think about music, two names come to mind: Michael Jackson and the Beastie Boys. The very 1st album that my mom ever bought me was "Thriller." The first album that I ever bought with my own money was "Licensed to Ill" at a Kmart in Mason, Ohio with my cousin Mark. I can still vividly remember driving home that weekend with my parents in our '78 Chrysler New Yorker bumping "Fight For Your Right To Party." We had the cassette adapter for the 8-track player that was in there. I guess this was probably about 1986-87. This tape stayed in my silver boom box until it broke a couple years later.

During my middle school years, I developed a second wind of musical enlightenment. This was when hip-hop was at its peak in the early 90's. I'd picked up this interest from my good friend Chad, who bought me an NWA tape in 1992. This was, of course, followed by Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" in 1993...then "Enter the 36 Chambers" by Wu-Tang Clan later that year...

The Beastie Boys released "Check Your Head" in 1993 also. They were still just as relevant then as they had been in the 80's even though the style had changed a bit. They'd evolved from a party rap trio to a 3-piece jam band in what seemed like no time...but it had been 7 years. I loved this CD.

My love for hip-hop slowly but surely vanished as grunge slowly gained my affection and carried me through my high school years. The Nu Metal genre developed as I entered my college years; a movement that was pretty much over almost as soon as it started. I picked up a bass guitar my freshman year at SECC and my love for hip-hop officially died. But my love for the Beastie's never did...

In 2002, on a couch at a friend's house, I discovered "Paul's Boutique" by the Beastie Boys. This album was released in 1989; many consider this to be their finest work. This album soon became my "favorite album to listen to while I played video games with Eddie." And even still, the Beastie's were just as relevant in 2002 as they were in 1986... and 1989... and 1993...

Now, flash-forward to 2011... I look into a box of CDs at a yard sale and find "Check Your Head" and "Paul's Boutique" in perfect condition... for $5. SOLD! As I walked away, all I could think about were the good times I'd had with my cousin Mark, Chad, Eddie; some of the best times of my life. I couldn't wait to listen to them when I got home.

I got home, went upstairs, turned on my computer to do my homework and hit play...and immediately realized how much Christ has changed me as an individual. It's not so much the music itself, because it is still just as creative and impressive as it ever was. It's the message behind the music that causes a separation. It's just not the same anymore.

Jesus and Paul talked a lot about this sort of thing in the Bible. You know, the difference between who we were before accepting Christ into our hearts versus the new man who has surrendered his life to Jesus. I don't think I've ever seen this played out in my life in such a real way until this episode. There is simply nothing I can gain from this music at this point in my life without turning my back on Christ.

Now let me make a bit of a clarification before I go any further. I'm not talking about legalism here.  I'm not saying that, "Christians cannot listen to secular music because it is sinful." If that had been the case, I never would have bought these CDs to begin with. Now, the Stephen from 5 years ago with his sheltered, legalistic, judgmental Christian mindset would have been outraged at the idea of a believer being excited about a secular CD or movie or anything else that wasn't "Christian." I'd been taught that everything was a black or white issue. If it wasn't "Christian" then it was sin.

But in recent years, with a change of logic and a new church environment, I've realized that my old mindset was a very self-serving mindset to have. In reality, not everything in the real world is a black or white issue. Not all "Christian music" is godly and not all "secular music" is sinful. When I used to believe this way, I would make my walk with God a lot easier, while making it more difficult for everyone else I came in contact with.

What I'm talking about is true relationship with Christ where He deals with me personally while I only focus on how God views me, not those around me.

Believe me when I say that I really wanted to enjoy these CDs when I got home. But there was something inside of me that no longer desired or could allow me to digest them. I fully believe that this is what Christ does to our lives. He draws us close to Him by his Spirit and these desires just naturally fall off. They happen in His timing, not our timing and not in the timing that other believers feel they should happen in our lives.

It's experiences like these that let me know that I am certainly not who I used to be. Fleshly desires that I used to have simply do not exist anymore. I don't have to beat down my flesh and force myself to exhibit Christian behavior anymore. Christ's desires just naturally become mine. True freedom in Christ started when I stopped trying to achieve the unachievable: being a perfect Christian.

Intersecting Faith and Life: We all have our individual walks with God that we have to experience. So many of us try so hard to make things automatically sinful for the sake of comfort. We attempt to force our religion on others around us, instead of simply sharing the Gospel. But that's not what we, as Christians, are called to do. We are simply called to love God and love others. Love doesn't cause me to push myself on anyone. It subtracts from me and adds to the world around me.

For Further Study

1 Corinthians 10:13-33

[Judy Harder]

That Boy Dating Your Daughter is More Than a Nuisance
by Shawn McEvoy, Managing Editor, Crosswalk.com

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...
Psalms 95:7-8

My little girl will turn eight in a week, and believe it or not... I'm looking forward to the day she starts bringing boys home.

Oh, believe me, there's no rush. I'm happy to remain Numero Uno in little Lauren's eyes as long as possible. All I'm really saying here is that I believe in her, in how she's being raised, in how she's taking after her mother. Whoever she brings home - I'm confident saying - is not going to be a person without redeeming qualities.

So what has me so primed for this experience that I don't sound like the typical dad at the door with a sneer and a shotgun? What else? The experience of having been valued and trusted myself.

Twenty-three years ago I didn't know it, but I became part of a family. The McGriffs were a very unique family. When I met their eldest daughter, Dick and Susan had just remarried each other after having divorced each other. I never knew all the details, only that this was their first example to me of it never being too late, of recognizing wrongs and repenting.

They took to me right away, but don't get the impression that they didn't lay down the law or have rules. It was the way they imposed them - agreeably, fairly, seriously - that made so much of a difference. It's not even that they didn't try to "change" me - to be perfectly honest they did try: suggesting Christian alternatives to my secular music, suggesting viewed-at-their-home Cary Grant movies to the ones I would have preferred taking their daughter to the theater to see, giving us five minutes after a date to say goodnight before the front lights would be flicked on and off signaling that, okay, that's enough now.

I dated Malia for four-and-a-half years, off and on. During that time I built memories, house-sat for their family, came to cherish younger sisters Michelle and Amy like they were my own. Oh, like most young couples our relationship wasn't perfect; we would fight and make things more difficult than they had to be, just as I continue to do. But from her folks there was always instruction, encouragement, solidity. Laughs and firm handshakes. Always trust regardless.

Thanks to Facebook, I've regained contact with these three sisters, observed how their family has grown, and chuckled at the way they continue to interact despite living all over the country (Malia in particular had the most amazing talent for taking tense situations and making them laughable, one I'm told she still has, one that is a story for another time). I sent them the following email:

Just wanna say... You three are still some of my favorite people I've ever met, especially for a trio of sisters. I love how life has worked out for all of you, and how large that family has grown, and how involved your folks are in visiting. You have fantastic men who seem to get you and treat you well.

You're all three beautiful examples of Christian motherhood and of being distinctly individual yet connected. It was transformative to grow up as a semi-adopted part of your clan, and it's a blessing to see your joy - and how you've dealt with the pains - today.

You gals rock!

And from each I received back a distinctive, meaningful, heartfelt response. And I traced it all to the commitments, re-commitments, and never-give-up attitudes their parents made so obvious without being annoying. And shoot, even if they were ever annoying, I love them the more for it now.

There are opportunities everywhere. And yes, there are dangers. And times are different, and believe me - I know guys and what is on their minds. But I was politely welcomed and discipled as more than the sum of my convertible sportscar + raging hormones, and in so many ways, that made as much difference as several lessons my own parents modeled for me.

Thanks again, McGriff family.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Are you nervous about your daughter starting to date? Why or why not? Have you taken an active role in helping her decide in advance what choices are better than others? Will you be able to understand or tolerate failings? Are you able to be firm while smiling and maintaining a sense of humor or gentility? Willing to be labeled as old-fashioned but resolute in knowing your ways are good ways? You never know who or what that boy is going to become, but you have a chance to help ensure it's something good.

Further Reading

Proverbs 22:6

1 Corinthians 2:5

Raise a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World