Are You Progressive?

 We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

C. S. Lewis

Yes, it is called progressive. It is also called, on the spiritual road at least, repentance.

What is it that keeps us stubbornly headed down the wrong road travelling towards a destination that is not productive? Why do we do things like this to ourselves?

Admitting we have made such a grievous error and travelled so far down a road in the wrong direction is something that can be difficult to take. We want to be right. However, wouldn’t we be “more right” by admitting we are wrong?

It is amazing that is all God ever asks of us, to recognize and speak out loud, what we already know, then to take the action necessary to get ourselves on the right road traveling the correct direction. God has already provided everything we need to make that happen. All that is necessary is for us to accept the reality of our need for His saving grace.

Some of us have travelled a long time in the wrong direction. That is not a commentary on the “seriousness” of our sin, for every sin is serious. It is more a commentary on how entrenched our wrongness may be without our even realizing it. It has become habit. We assume it is part of who we are. Jesus Christ wants to give us a new identity. He wants to tell us that we are much better than we ever realized. He wants to remind us that we are a child of the King, an heir of all that exists.

With all that said, only one decision remains. Would you rather continue down the road you are currently travelling so you can claim to be the master of your own destiny, or would you rather accept a course correction provided by your Creator and be truly progressive?

 

Pastor Craig

They Don't Come By Themselves!

The story is told about a Rabbi from New York accepting a position in the Deep South. Wanting to make a good impression and get involved in the community, he decided to breakfast at a local coffee shop. He scanned the menu and found an item he was unfamiliar with. “Grits” it said.

He called the waitress over to the table and inquired, “Excuse me, what is a ‘grit’?”

The waitress replied, “Honey, they don’t come by themselves.”

It seems Christians are the same way. We have a hard time growing by ourselves. We like to think we are strong, independent, and faithful. Unfortunately, the truth is that left to our own devices we tend to follow after whatever teaching makes us feel good, agrees with our own point of view, or makes us the least uncomfortable. This is why God called us to form communities of worship called churches. It was His hope that we would be honest, sincere, and transparent with one another because in the church we can experience the same kind of forgiveness that God extends to us.

If only that were true.

It seems the church is one of the places we feel least comfortable being ourselves. We put on a brave face to hide the hurt we feel because our children have abandoned us. We bury the loneliness deep inside because we live alone. We keep our struggles to ourselves because we don’t anyone to know our weak points and our failings. We have been told that doing it that way shows us to be strong. God isn’t in the business of showing us to be strong though. He is entirely interested in showing Himself to be strong in us, through us, and on our behalf. Our pride just won’t let us get out of the way. Imagine how strong God could be in your life if you only gave Him a chance to work on your weaknesses!

Pastor Craig

Lest the Darkness Overtake You!

Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. (John 12:35)

Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Jesus Christ.

From: One Minute Meditations

The Scripture verse from John tells us that we are to be about doing something. It also tells us that we have forces working against us, to stop us, to frustrate us. Time is short and we must be moving. Our salvation is not the destination. It is the beginning of a wonderful adventure.

Christianity is not an acknowledgment of Jesus Christ; it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything about us rests in the hands of our Creator. It has always been there, even before we began our life as a Christian. We just never realized it.

The rest of our life is a race to the finish line. The writer of Hebrews describes it as a race run before all of our ancestors in the faith. They are looking on, cheering us towards the finish. We should perform at our best. Hebrews 13 tells us to throw aside, even as we are running the race, anything, absolutely anything that would slow us down and allow the darkness to overtake us.

The Scriptures assure us we can never be snatched from the hand of our Savior. However, some of us live as though we intend to put that promise to the test. We seem to throw ourselves in front of temptation at every opportunity. It seems as though we seldom gain victory over it and never run from it.

Walk! While the path is visible, while the guide is with you, while and where the light shines, Walk! No, Run, because at the end of that path is your Father in Heaven and lining the path are the saints who have gone before.

Pastor Craig

Missed Opportunities

From Great Expectations

Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come. If there's been any fault at all to-day, it's mine. You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor yet any wheres else but what is private, and beknown, and understood among friends. It ain't that I am proud, but that I want to be right, as you shall never see me no more in these clothes I'm wrong in these clothes. I'm wrong out of the forge, the kitchen, or off th' marshes. You won't find so much fault in me if you think of me in my forge-dress, with my hammer in my hand, or even my pipe. You won't find half so much fault in me if, supposing as you should ever wish to see me, you come and put your head in at the forge-window and see Joe the blacksmith there at the old anvil, in the old burned apron, at the old work, as he used to be when he first carried you about. I'm awful dull, but I hope I've beat out something night the rights of this at last. And so God bless you, dear old Pip; old chap, God bless you!

I had not been mistaken in my fancy that there was a simple dignity in him. The fashion of his dress could no more come in its way when he spoke these words that it could come in its way in heaven. He touched me gently on the forehead and went out. As soon as I could recover myself sufficiently I ran out after him and looked for him in the neighboring streets; but he was gone.

Becoming Entirely His

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives us under His scrutiny. He never tires of bringing us back to that point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose it to produce the finished product.

His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.[1]

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:4

Becoming Entirely His - Have you ever felt like you have been traveling your life in circles, a certain sense of Déjà vu? Well, according to the passage above, maybe you have been doing exactly that. You see, God will not give up on you. In school, you may have been able to get away with the phrase, “I can’t. I’m not smart enough.” He will not accept anything less than your very best, and He will keep bringing you back to the classroom until you do your homework the way He knows you can.

The very fact that God would “send you around again” shows how much He loves you. He is not willing to leave you incomplete to face the tests life has to offer. He will not send you into the battle only partly equipped or prepared. He will indeed continue His work in you until it is fully accomplished. It stands to reason that this work will be completed at a much earlier date, and we will enjoy the benefits of it for a longer portion of our life, if we will but yield to it and allow His Spirit access to ever corner and closet of our lives!

Pastor Craig

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[1] One-Minute Meditations

The Cookie Lady

My guess is that few if any of you read about the passing of June Curry on July 16^th. She lived in Afton, Virginia, and on a summer day in 1976 she noticed a group of bicycles outside her home. When she went out to offer them some water and a few of her homemade cookies she was just being herself. She had no idea that her house was on Bike Route (BR)1, just a few miles from mile marker #1 on  the new TransAmerica Trail. Nor did she know that these cyclists were among the very first to use this route to cycle from the Atlantic ocean all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

In the last 46 years of her life she became known by all coast-to-coast cyclists as The Cookie Lady. She purchased a building adjacent to her home and converted it into the “Bike House.” She stocked it with free water and an endless supply of her homemade cookies.

The Bike House became the destination for cyclists coming from the west coast and the jumping off place for cyclists beginning on the east coast. During her 46 years at the Bike House she became one of the most well-known advocates for cycling even though she never cycled a mile of the trail herself. She hosted tens of thousands of cyclists, baked more than a hundred-thousand cookies, and turned the Bike House into the National Trail Museum.

Water, cookies, and kindness. So simple. Jesus asked us to provide a cup of water given in his name (Mark 9:41). June Curry simply added cookies. An act of kindness became a vision of purpose that touched an untold number of lives.

Some missionaries are called to travel to the ends of the earth. Others are called to carry a glass of water to the sidewalk right outside their own front door. Each one is a valuable part of the ministry of the kingdom of God. Each one meets the need of an individual. Each one touches the heart, even as they help the body.

While I am a huge advocate of mission trips, First Presbyterian has been to Reynosa, MX, New Orleans, LA, and Joplin, MO in the last 10 years, we must never pass up the opportunity to minister right on our doorstep. There are times God calls us to go to the farthest parts of the globe. Then, there are those marvelous moments, if we will seize them, when God brings the farthest parts of the globe to knock on our own front door!

Pastor Craig

Unhindered

The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations – it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.

                        One-Minute Meditations

Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. We are not born with a heart for Jesus Christ. We are born with a heart only for ourselves. We want what we want, and we want it when we want it.

We tend to compare our benevolent actions to what is acceptable or expected from our community. God uses a different standard. We tend to give or serve to alleviate a sense of guilt. Christ just calls us to give and serve, sometimes out of love, other times just because, and yet other times with no discernible reason other than it is what He calls us to do.

The call of Christ comes upon us at the most inconvenient times and in the most inconvenient places. We are in a rush and a person who needs a meal seems to come out of nowhere. We are headed home after a busy day and someone, maybe even a close friend, is in need of our ears to hear, our shoulder to rest upon, and our arms to hold them.

If we find ourselves comfortable in the Christian walk we may need to listen more closely to some of God’s more challenging passages from His Word.  We tend to pass off Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler to “Go, sell everything you have, give it all to the poor, and come and follow Me” as intended for that young man alone. We fail to hear the call of Christ that we should live more simply, that we are the ones who should set aside much of what we have in order that we might give to others. Instead, we wait for our fun to be exhausted and end up giving what is left of our time, strength, and goods.

It is a fearsome thing to tell God that he can have “His unhindered way with us!”

Pastor Craig