Be Still

Be still and know that I am God. (Ps. 46:10)

It is a hard thing to do. We think we would like to be still until we have to do exactly that. We are given the opportunity to do so several times a day. We allow other things to crowd in on that still time. We keep our schedules before us. We have reminders that pop up on our phones, that E-mail us automatically when we have an appointment coming up, or we carry pocket calendars around with us lest we miss some momentous event.

Many of us do not like stillness and quiet. We crowd our lives full of events and responsibilities to avoid the still time, for it is in that still time that the Scripture promises us God’s presence.

Yes, He creeps in and whispers something that the everyday rush and noise would have allowed us to ignore in almost any other circumstance. However, in the stillness of that quiet moment there can be little doubt that God has spoken and is now still, awaiting our response. What do you say when God shows up in the midst of your quiet time? Unfortunately, many of us treat Him like someone we hardly know. We don’t know what to say, how to act, or how to respond to His actions.

This short piece was one of the more difficult things for me to write in a long time. I started and threw out maybe as many as a dozen ideas, some made it all the way to the words on the page only to fall victim to the delete button. I was frustrated. I got anxious. The topics were good, but why didn’t the words seem to be the ones that I needed to say.

In frustration, I put my head down. I was still. I heard God saying, “This is where I have wanted you for a long time, but you have been too busy for me. Even your “quiet times” have been whirlwinds of activity.”

“Yes, Lord, you are right. You’re always right.”

It took a bit, but I soon saw that God had been trying to get my attention for some time on this matter. I remember reading a chapter in a book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, how many churches were incorporating extended moments of silence into their worship services. I had read another article about pastoral Sabbaths and the need to get away to experience the presence of God. Both of those articles were duly noted and filed away as trends, something to talk to the worship committee, or novel to try on some future Sunday.

All the time God had been doing something so much greater than  giving me new ideas to try in some future context. No, God had been calling to me. “You! Hey, You there, come over here and experience my divine presence.” So, before I wrote this I sat down with God. I got no new talking points, no sermon revelations, no soul shaking instructions. I simply experienced the presence of my Savior in a calm and comforting way.

So, on this Advent Sunday of Hope, get rid of the hustle, don’t rush anywhere, turn off all the media and all the electronics, and enjoy the Hope of the Gospel as your Savior sits with you.      

 

  Pastor Craig

Christ the King

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, “darkness.”[1]

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)

I have heard people say, “I don’t believe God is like that,” in response to particularly difficult portions of our faith. It doesn’t matter the issue at hand. Many of us have a way we want God to be, a set of behaviors we consider to be God-like, and when we come up against an event or a set of behaviors that seem to go against our preconceived notions about God, we struggle.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is that day in the Church liturgical year when we celebrate the rule and reign of our Creator over His creation. God has claimed that title of King for Himself. There is no other.

In other words, we will not always understand God or His actions. Yet, He will always continue to be God. The creation that surrounds us calls forth his greatness and glory. We cannot change one portion of that simply by saying, “I don’t think that’s the way God is.”

Our Christian life is not about matching the God that is to the God we want to have. No, it is about matching the God in our head to the God that exists and created our mind, heart, and soul. It is about us coming to Christ on Christ’s terms. It is not about us setting guidelines to negotiate a new contract.

God is gracious and good, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. God is just and righteous, holy, above all others. There is no sin to be found in Him. There is no contradiction anywhere in his character or being. So, when we run headlong into one of those things that challenge the God we think we want, it is best to recognize that it is the God who truly is that died for us, loves us and calls us to learn of Him and about Him that He might receive the full measure of His glory.

Pastor Craig

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[1] Tweeted by @LoveLikeJesus

Black Friday

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

(Facebook Quote)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 (KJV)

 

On Thursday we will try to express gratitude for the many things with which we have been blessed. Most of us will mention food, family, and freedom. We will stop to remember, hopefully, our men and women in uniform far away from their families, some of whom gave their all and will not sit down on this earth to a family Thanksgiving again. We will include home and hearth in our appreciation. We will remember those less fortunate than we are, and some of us will give our time to make sure others have something pleasant to remember at the end of that day. We will remember God’s love and grace in the person of Jesus Christ.

Then.  .  .  on the following day, many of us will act like none of this ever happened. We will gripe and complain about long lines, about prices for the “must have” items. We will remember those who did not express the appropriate appreciation for their gift(s) from years past. We may spend money we don’t really have because we feel that some shiny trinket is what is really needed to convince our child, our spouse, our parent, our boss, our co-worker, or our friend that we really care about them. Some of us will try to make up for the apathy and uncaringness we have exhibited all year long. In short, we do indeed forget that less than 24 hours earlier we thanked our creator that we had everything we could possibly ever need.

 How do we remedy this situation? Is the answer to throw out all our Christmas lists, take down our ornaments, turn off our lights, and turn into Scrooge? Absolutely not! Maybe it is as simple as allowing Thanksgiving to last a few days before we start our shopping. Probably, we would enjoy Christmas more if we took a memory of that Thanksgiving list with us instead of our gift wish list through the holiday season. When we get stressed we could take it out and look at it and be reminded about just how wonderful so much of our life can be.

 

Pastor Craig

God's Got It Covered!

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.

(Mary C. Crowley)

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB)

In case you missed it, we had a presidential election this past week. Before many of us went to bed on Tuesday night we heard the country’s decision. For some, that was a tremendous comfort. For others, the same decision caused ulcers, tears, and a sleepless night. The question I have is “Why?”

Oh, I am not trying to say I did not have my own preferences. I certainly did, and I probably exhibited many of the behaviors I will write about below. However, this is not the forum for politics. It is a forum for faith. I probably should have written this article prior to the election rather than after its decision, in hopes that I might have heeded it myself.

I had college friends who campaigned for their candidate as though their eternal destiny depended on the outcome of the election. Maybe they thought it did. Looking back on the whole process, maybe we can begin to put it in its proper place and perspective.

For Christians, I believe Jesus Christ wants us to learn some lessons. Hopefully we will remember them all the way to the next election!

1.      If most of us were half as passionate about our own personal faith in Jesus Christ as we were about promoting our particular candidate, we would be much farther advanced in our Christian walk.

2.      If we tried to evangelize the lost with the same fervor we tried to win over voters, we would be closing in on the goal of every person on the planet having heard the Good News.

3.      Regardless of who sits behind the desk in the Oval Office, it is our Heavenly Father who steers the course of this country.

4.      God’s love for us is infinite and eternal. The grace of Jesus Christ given freely to you never has been and never will be linked to you voting for a particular candidate.

5.      If Christ will not disown a person for their voting, or not voting a specific way, who are we to break fellowship with fellow Christians because they voted differently than we did.

So, it is time to re-friend your “unfriended” Facebook friends and relatives, it is time to pray for God’s blessing of those who have been elected, even if you did not vote for them, and it is time to live out the Scripture song about how the world will know we are Christians by how we love one another.

Don’t worry, God has it covered!

Pastor Craig

My God Is So. . .

 

If He who in Himself can lack nothing, chooses to need us, it is because we need to be needed.[1]

God declares His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 (NASB)

“My God is so BIG, so STRONG, and so MIGHTY! There’s NOTHING my God cannot do!” So went the song when I was younger. . . much younger. It was a bold statement for a young boy in short pants attending VBS. It was one I believed completely. We worshipped the God who needed nothing, the Heavenly Father who stood complete and whole, above His creation. Yet, we knew that it was this God who wanted to come and be like us to show us how needed we were and are.

God, Himself does not need us. If He “needed” us our salvation would be as much about God meeting His own needs as meeting ours. So, God does not “need” us. Yet, in some way He chooses to want us. It is my guess that God cannot feel frustration except through the person of Jesus Christ and His incarnation. However, I am sure that we, as His creatures have given Him multiple opportunities to be frustrated before and since.

We do need to be needed. Why was it ever embarrassing to be chosen last for teams? Because there was no sense of need in being chosen last. We simply were the only alternative left. The only thing worse for our self-esteem would have been for the team forced to choose us to declare that they would rather play shorthanded than include us on their side!

Being needed reaffirms our worth. It shows us we have value. It reminds us that we are important. We NEED to be NEEDED!

You do not fill some hole in God’s heart by being a disciple. On the contrary, God fills all your weaknesses when you become His disciple. God didn’t pick you to complete a winning team. God chose you simply because He loves you. Enjoy that thought. Take comfort in that knowledge.

Pastor Craig

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[1] #CSLewis

Patience

Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you’re waiting.[1]

We glory in tribulations also: knowing the tribulations bring about patience; and patience, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5 (NASB)

Waiting for something, for example relief from suffering, is not patience. The excitement of a teenager anticipating a driver’s license cannot be rushed. You can open birthday presents early, even though your birthday has not arrived, but the state will not hand over its confirmation that you are a licensed driver until you reach the appropriate age.

Patience is not the fact that we had to wait to receive it. We were going to have to wait anyway. We had no choice in the matter.

Neither is patience apathy, an attitude of not caring if a certain deadline passes or not. A person may endure a crisis simply because they perceive that crises and suffering are simply a part of the life God has dealt them, and if it is not this particular trial, it would simply be a different one.

No, patience involves our attitude and actions while we wait for the future to arrive. Our emotions may involve a desire to be free from some form of difficulty or they may center on some highly anticipated event yet to come. Either way, patience is grounded in the firm belief that our Heavenly Father is caring for us and overseeing all that occurs. We can be certain that, in His perfect timing, we will receive deliverance or blessing. We can trust in Him completely because He is entirely faithful and compassionate in His dealings with us. Patience is a quiet longing for what God has in store for us. What are you patiently waiting for, today?

Pastor Craig

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[1] @LovLikeJesus

Direction

 

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants them to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

James 3:3-5 (NIV) 

Probably most of the sermons and studies you have heard on these verses from James have to do with the impact your words have on others. Not all the bullying we hear through the news is physical bullying. Nor is all the abuse that one person suffers at the hands of another physical.

Certainly, the statements above are true. However, for this article I want you to look at the idea of “bit” and “rudder” as compared to tongue. Both bit and rudder are used to set direction. Have you ever thought that your tongue may be a bit or a rudder for your whole life. “If you want to know where you’ll be in five years listen to what you talk about most now.”[1]

It’s a scary thing, isn’t it? Take time to think about how trivial much of our conversation is, how uncouth, crude, and, sometimes vulgar. I do not mean to say that every word that comes out of our mouths needs to be some deep philosophical or theological thought, full of long words and heavy. It is obvious that the uncouth, crude, and vulgar parts we need to do without. I hope it is clear that God created joy and laughter and wants our hearts to be light and enjoy the lives he has given to us. However, we should be mindful that while our words do impact the people we direct them towards, those same words our steering our lives at the same time.

You are steering a course. If you continue to follow your tongue, where would you say your destination will ultimately be?

Pastor Craig

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[1] #lovlikejesus