Have you ever heard someone say, “Man, that hit me like a ton of bricks!”? The death of a loved one, someone prominent in the community, a public figure, etc. can hit us just in the same way. Death is the final absolute of this life that each of us must face. Death is a reminder, an awful reminder, of the brevity and mortality of life. As I write this article, I am also preparing a funeral message to be given tomorrow which makes my thoughts fresh on the subject. Here are few words that come to mind this morning.
First of all, the word Brevity comes to mind. Life is short and the older we get the shorter life gets. As Gus McCrae once stated in Lonesome Dove, “Life is short. Shorter for some than others.” We never know how long or short our lives will be. We must live with contrasts everyday realizing that today can bring so much promise and adventure, but it also may be the last day you get out of your bed.
Second, the word Investment comes to mind. What are you investing your life in today? Do they have any ultimate value? Invest in eternal things where they may be enjoyed forever. Such things as relationship with God, family, your children, etc. not things that will pass away.
Finally, the word Reflection comes to mind. Each day it is a good idea to reflect over life and the day we just lived. In recovery circles Step 10 of the Twelve Steps is one of reflection and personal inventory. When is the last time you slowed down in your life to reflect. Reflect on the good things and let your mind ponder on the gifts God has given you such as the very last breath you just took. Tomorrow isn’t promised so thank God for the life he has given and the opportunity to live it.
James 4:14 NLT
How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
It’s a frustrating time in America. Yesterday was inauguration day where a new administration assumed the position of power. It is a worried time for many as we hear unity but actions speak of division. Furthermore, our worries are justified with all the preaching that has been done pushing a more socialistic agenda. So what do we do?
Well, we do what we should be doing all along, and that is lifting this man, who is now our president, and his administration up in prayer more than ever. Praying for strength, courage, and wisdom for him to make right decisions not for a party but under God. I admit I am sad a bit because I, a conservative, do not personally support most of what Biden stands for or his party so my heart is troubled at what the future holds. But I am reminded of the words of Jesus when he said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” I stand on the assurances that whoever is in the White House, whether conservative or liberal, they are not my final hope.
Where do we go from here? Make no man but Christ your hope and assurance, and stand firm for a Kingdom that is eternal. At some point sadly, America will fall, all the great Empires of the past have, but God’s Kingdom will never fail or fall. Jesus said again, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away.” And for that I am grateful!!
Christmas has become so commercial with everyone often trying to “keep up with the Jones’” it can feel very overwhelming. Trying to do last minute shopping and the hustle and bustle can sure get to us in the end.
The first Christmas was not without its overwhelming features. Imagine a young virgin girl being told she was going to be with child, not only just any child, but the very Son of God. Talk about overwhelming! I think about things today that the Lord calls me to do, and I feel overwhelmed but nothing like the responsibility of raising God’s child. I think, any of us if we are honest, might not have received the news quite as well as young Mary. Her response was one of obedience and surrender. Where often times my response to God is, “What? Wait a second…I don’t know if…You really mean me?” Whereas in my life I’ve been guilty of balking on God, Mary was guilty in simply believing in God.
May we this Christmas be reminded that the reason for the season is the reality that God became human to become our Savior, and the vehicle in which He used to accomplish this great task began with a young virgin girl, who said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Matthew 1:38) If only our responses to God were more like Mary’s response. We must remember it is a privilege to serve the Lord of the Universe and for Him to choose us to do any task for Him is a grand opportunity.
Today our Congress is debating whether or not to impeach the President with only a few days left before the new administration takes office. They are wasting time and tax payer dollars that could be used to help the many in our country in need during this pandemic. They will call for a vote it looks like this afternoon, but what happened to a trial before judgement? They say that President Trump incited this riot for people to create a coup against the government. Nothing further could be true. Just minutes before setting down to write this I watched President Trump’s speech in its entirety and never did he once give that inclination for violence or any of the condemned actions that were taken last week on the Capital. This is not to defend President Trump who most definitely at times can be theatrical himself. He can do his own defending, but this is to reveal that there is a lot of hypocrisy in Washington. Particularly, when you look on the left side where people have made heinous threats on the President, and those that might support him, but were never held accountable.
President Trump did specifically say in his speech “I know that many are going over to the Capital building to PEACEFULLY and PATRIOTICALLY make your voices heard…” That doesn’t sound like incitement to me or anywhere else in his speech. He made statements we have to be strong and fight for their position, but so has every other politician used this same type of rhetoric but weren’t said they were inciting a riot of mob violence. We have gotten to a place in our country where we already have the narrative we want and just look for anything to grab hold to in which to support our personal narrative whether or not it’s logical. It’s called delusional thinking, and it is prevalent on both sides of the aisle. Looking on the left listen to Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters a couple of years ago, “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere… Waters said at the Wilshire Federal Building, according to video of the event.[1] Actors have discussed created and theatrical ways of killing the President (see Washington Times article referenced below)[2] The outlandish hypocrisy has got to stop for the sake of the future of this country.
As believers it’s hard to know what the next step is or which side to listen to. My encouragement to everyone is our hope is not in politics, but there needs to be a movement of bringing truth back into politics. Looking again to the evidence, pausing before declared judgments, and listening and thinking before we speak. There are examples on both sides of the aisle where truth is either watered down or dismissed altogether, but we are seeing a blaring glow of hypocrisy that is gaining ground. We must be students of truth as followers of Jesus and willing to stand for truth at all costs. As believers this is our value system and vocation to the call of being Christ’s disciples.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/politics/maxine-waters-trump-officials/index.html
[2] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/31/how-menacing-invective-against-trump-creates-dange/
Our country has lost her mind. Anymore, we celebrate sin and accept it as the norm from abortions to sexuality to gender confusion to reckless violence on the street, etc etc etc. Just this week the House of Representatives voted to remove gender specific pronouns for fear they are offensive. Just this week four lives were lost to a senseless attack on the Capital. We have hypocritical politicians pointing their fingers in full dramatic style at how wrong the attack on the Capital was yesterday (and it was wrong), but not coming out and condemning all the senseless destruction through “peaceful riots” this past summer in the likes of Portland and Seattle and elsewhere. This isn’t the America we know or want to live in, but it is the present reality of America.
We as a country are caving to feelings and a level of idiocy I haven’t seen the likes of before. We vote for people not based on qualification to the office they seek to hold, but rather on skin color, gender or what is new, different or “progressive,” whatever that means anymore. We say the majority should rule, but I don’t trust the majority anymore. The majority of our country couldn’t find their way out of a lighted house with the instructions in from of them, and I’m referring to both sides of the aisle. Many in our country don’t have a clue where their food comes from beyond the local market. The division between urban and rural America may have never been deeper.
Truth and logic have become artifacts of the past lost in some museum. Patriotism has become a target to be patronized. We jump to conclusions based on our feelings and neglect what used to be held as important, the evidence. Political leaders are so codependent looking for their constituents approval that they are as stable as a wet newspaper in a wind storm. We rant and rave on social media without due process of thinking before we type or text because we know no one will hold us accountable. We measure everything as right or left and forget there is an up and a down. What kind of country have we created? Until we return to truth and foundational values of life then I fear this is only the beginning of a dark day in American history. As the old hymn says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV
What is Truth?
Love cannot exist without absolute truth. No doubt love is the highest ethic, but love has no place of validation without truth. To illustrate this I want to begin with a short exchange within a conversation once told:
Ravi Zacharias, Christian apologist who speaks around the world, was asked which is more important love or truth, and he responded truth. The questioner quickly disagreed to state that love is the most important to which Ravi responded, “Is that true?”
This little conversation illustrates that love and truth go together, but without truth, there can be no understanding of love or anything else in the world.
We see in our world today, and particularly in our society:
- an erosion of values,
- confusion of identity,
- the extinction of logic and reasoning,
- the collapse of moral frameworks
- delusional ideologies
- political demagoguery (when a politician or political groups appeal to popular desires and prejudices rather than using rational argument) I’ve seen this in both Republicans & Democrats
These issues exist because we as a people, society, country and world have lost our appetite for truth. Feelings have become the barometer in which we measure values, and critical thinking has become an enemy to many and only a past time for a few. Today, we are quick to believe lies but slow to investigate truth, and gossip is a multi-million dollar business from magazines to news reports. Why is this the case? Because we have left no room for God in our society, our homes, and ultimately our hearts.
Charles Spurgeon
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17)
A lot has gone on this year from the Presidential election to a Pandemic to many other things in between. It’s been a year that has felt a lot like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. As we have passed Thanksgiving and quickly approach Christmas, and with many places putting social distancing rules in place, we can’t help but wonder what is going on with life. How quick this year has flown by in some ways, and how slow it has taken to move through 2020 in others. These holidays are important in and of themselves but only in the context of personal meaning and spending them with family as well. This year has certainly taught me more gratitude when I see those that mean the most to me.
I would just encourage us to take a minute to be thankful, no matter how hard life is and how absurd it looks sometimes, to be thankful for the chance to live it. Many have lost their life this year to the virus and other ailments. Many are going to be spending this holiday season alone, not because of social distancing, but because their loved one is no longer with them. It’s sad! So this year reach out with a phone call or card or letter and let someone know they aren’t forgotten. And with all the madness that is taking place in our society lets spread love to others through how we respect them. Above all give thanks to the Lord for the reason for the season.
Do you ever question where your life is going? We often wonder, when there is a pause in our life, and question the direction our life has taken. Often our five year plans never come to fruition because life has thrown us a few unexpected curve balls.
The reality is that what is unexpected to us is never unexpected to God. He knows exactly who we are and what our life will be. This, at first look, can be a bit scary thought to think that God knows EVERYTHING about us which means He knows both the good and the…not so good. On the flip side, He knows EVERYTHING about us and still thought we were a good idea to create even though He already knew the mistakes we would make.
Also, God’s plans for our life and our ambitions may not always coincide. Matter of fact many times they don’t because we cannot dream that big or see that far. God’s plans for us always involve a deeper relationship with Him. He wants to take us down a path that maybe we would have never thought to take if that meant it draws us closer to Him. It’s a comforting thought that God is always in control even when we aren’t, and that He desires us to know Him deeper which is that greatest plan of all. So let’s be open this year to God’s plan and let Him be the captain of our ship.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration.1
1The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Je 29:11–14). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers
Last week we discussed truth, and I want to continue that discussion this week. Pontius Pilate ask Jesus in John 18, “What is truth?” This is a question that people over the generations and throughout the world grapple with even today. Truth is not mere opinion, perspective, or feelings, but rather a view of God’s reality. In another words, truth is thinking God’s thoughts after Him. If you are in an art gallery, the only person who can tell you the intentional purpose of a painting is the artist who made the painting. In the same way the only One who has the true monopoly on truth is the Creator Himself.
For truth to exist there must be an absolute reality independent of mankind’s opinions or feelings. We have as a society put too much emphasis on opinions and feelings, and not enough on asking ourselves when God made this or that what did He have in mind. The trouble is mankind in our “progressive arrogance” are trying to redefine what the Creator had in mind. Look at our debates we as a society are having. We question what is male and female, the institution of marriage, and when is a baby a human. To be so pompous in our intellect as a people, we are grappling with questions children can answer, but it’s the adults sadly who are struggling. We have gone from simply being a people within God’s reality to trying to create our own through virtual reality. Nothing wrong with video games and such themselves, but I encourage you if you are a parent to not let your kid’s video games to become their babysitters. Let your children experience God’s reality out in nature where the creative juices of the mind can take root for a healthy future, and not constantly exposed to some artificial illusion. Teach your kids how to think, not just what think so they can treasure truth the way our Creator designed us.
Abraham Lincoln
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
Christmas has become so commercial with everyone often trying to “keep up with the Jones’” it can feel very overwhelming. Trying to do last minute shopping and the hustle and bustle can sure get to us in the end.
The first Christmas was not without its overwhelming features. Imagine a young virgin girl being told she was going to be with child, not only just any child, but the very Son of God. Talk about overwhelming! I think about things today that the Lord calls me to do, and I feel overwhelmed but nothing like the responsibility of raising God’s child. I think, any of us if we are honest, might not have received the news quite as well as young Mary. Her response was one of obedience and surrender. Where often times my response to God is, “What? Wait a second…I don’t know if…You really mean me?” Whereas in my life I’ve been guilty of balking on God, Mary was guilty in simply believing in God.
May we this Christmas be reminded that the reason for the season is the reality that God became human to become our Savior, and the vehicle in which He used to accomplish this great task began with a young virgin girl, who said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Matthew 1:38) If only our responses to God were more like Mary’s response. We must remember it is a privilege to serve the Lord of the Universe and for Him to choose us to do any task for Him is a grand opportunity.