Motivate Yourself

As I have become “more mature,” I have found that often I find home
more inviting than something that is “not home,” especially on these cold
winter days. I sometimes find it harder to motivate myself to get out of my
warm comfortable space and do things, even if I know they need to be done. But
of course if we don’t motivate ourselves then perhaps God will allow our
motivation to come from somewhere else.

I’m reminded of an incident that happened when I was about 18 years
old. I was helping build a house with my dad and others in one of the suburbs
of Dayton, Ohio. There was an old stray dog that showed up on the job site. He
was really skittish and afraid to get too close to us, probably he had been
mistreated by someone. Anyway, I kept trying to win his confidence and even
shared some of my lunch with him. He finally seemed to become a little more
trusting and even took some food from my hand. He backed off and sat down and
then surprisingly he yelped loudly, jumped up and took off running. I was
mystified until I went over and looked at where he had sat down. There was an
electrical cord with two frayed wires just where he had sat down. He received
an unexpected shock and a lot motivation to vacate the premises.

What is it that you know you should be doing and are not? I’m
convinced that there are a great many people who don’t begin to use their
talents or God given abilities. They are comfortable and don’t want to get out
of that comfort zone. Sometimes we enjoy the comfort of hearing others teach,
but perhaps we should be teaching ourselves. Isn’t the church always asking
(sometimes begging) for those to help teach? What about serving? Do we ever
really have enough people to do the many things that need to be done within our
church family? That takes a lot of forms such as cooking, cleaning, visiting,
sharing, comforting, encouraging just to name a few.

There is a parable
told by Jesus meant to motivate us to do what we should be doing. It is about
three men who are given talents (in this case money) and told to use them for
their Lord. Two did, but one buried his and gained nothing for his master, (Matthew
25:14-30). In the end Jesus said, “For to everyone who has will more
be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even
what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer
darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
(vs 29-30)

Let’s hope that God doesn’t have to give us this kind of “shocking”
motivation to get us to use our talents. Don’t think you don’t have any, God
gives them to us all, it’s up to you to discover them and develop them.

DEATH IS INCONVENIENT

It seems that our lives are constantly coming into contact
with death and whenever they do it is never convenient. Plans that have been
made suddenly cease, trips that have been planned suddenly seem unimportant.
All of those things on your “to-do” list can wait a little longer while we
focus upon this seeming tragedy in our lives.

Yes, I said, “seeming tragedy”. Death is always a loss, many
times it is a surprise, but it is not always a tragic thing when it happens. You
know that some folks are ready to face death; they have prepared themselves
spiritually and are ready to go and be embraced by their God.

I have been involved in somewhere around 100 funerals in my
preaching career, (and I realize that is not a lot compared to some ministers),
but it is enough to learn some things about people. The simple truth is that
unless it is an immediate family member, death is more of an inconvenience than
anything. It disrupts their plans. It’s not that they are not truly concerned
and sorrowful, but the truth is that often the ones involved in the death are
soon forgotten. Simply because in life, there are goals to meet, plans to
complete, things to do… death is inconvenient.

There is actually a record in the bible of someone who felt
that way. In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus
tells us about it: “And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man
yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no
place to store my crops.'  "Then he
said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones,
and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have
plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be
merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life
will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?'  "This is how it will be
with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."

I believe that the man in this story found death to be very
inconvenient to say the least. He had his plans made, his future planned out,
his retirement prepared and death intervened. What about you? If you knew that
you would be facing death soon, would your priorities suddenly change? Would
your lists and your plans really matter any more? I would think that for many
things would change a great deal. We don’t like to be reminded of it, but death
is a reality and it is the one thing we will never escape in life. All you can
do is prepare in advance for that which is coming to you at sometime whether it
is convenient or not. An old hymn asks, “Are you ready, are you ready, are you
ready for the judgment day?” Are you?

The most wonderful time of the year

There is a song which is heard repeatedly throughout the month of December which proclaims Christmas as “the most wonderful day of the year.” I was thinking about the implications of that message for our world today.

I know it not just the words of the song that is the motivating factor, but I know several families who seem to pick up that message. They are basically “religiously neutral” throughout the year, but make a point to always “go to the Christmas service” at their church. I’m not saying it is a bad thing that they attend their church, but what makes this one time special? Why suddenly do they slip out of neutral and into drive, get a little traction and suddenly feel the need to “go to church”?

I do understand that in many churches there is a bit of pageantry that surrounds Christmas. They make it special with choral programs, plays, special decorations and special services directed towards the celebration of Christmas. I’m reminded of a story about a man complaining about the church service they had been to. His young son piped up, “I thought it was a pretty good show for a dollar!”

What occurs to me is that to many people it is more about the show, the pageantry if you will, than it is about the one they are supposed to be remembering. I understand the implications of the virgin birth of our Savior. I understand that without the story about that miraculous birth recorded in the scripture; we would miss out of something wonderful. What I don’t understand is why much of the world chooses to just remember the Savior only this one time per year. Why are so many people “religiously neutral” for the rest of the year?

I have to believe that it is because God and religion are really not that important to them. For many it’s like putting on a cross as a piece of jewelry, they think of it as a talisman. They think that it will somehow protect them from bad things happening in their lives. Some reason that if they “go to church,” it will let God know they think of him “this most wonderful day of the year,” yet for some it’s just a good show.

Personally, I love the holiday season. I love the music, I love the decorations, I love the way that many people become more loving and giving, I love that many become more aware of Christ and his miraculous birth. The question is why only in December? Why only one day of the year and then slip back into neutral?

Do you remember what the greatest commandment is? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-38. He is asked, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”

If you only showed love to your wife, your husband or you children one time a year, do you think they would really believe you loved them? Ask yourself what your relationship to God is telling him.

Life without an eraser

Have you ever messed up and then wished there were some way to make
the mistake go away. You

just can’t, can you. Some wise person once said, “Life
is like drawing without an eraser,” once the line is down, there is nothing you
can do to make it go away. It’s like drawing with a permanent marker. You can
paint over it to cover it up, but often it bleeds through the paint to be seen
by all.

At times life can be difficult or perhaps challenging to say the
least. Lately I have often repeated the old saying, “We live in interesting
times,” referring to all of the changes our country is going through. How do we
deal with “interesting times,” or challenging times? I like the saying I read
recently that said, “sometimes the most difficult lesson in life to learn is:
Which branch to climb and which one to break off.” That is tough isn’t it?
That’s life without an eraser.

What happens to our lives, how do they change so drastically or go in
a direction we had not planned? Not everyone starts out in the best household,
the best home situation, but some do and something happens and their lives are
turned upside down. Mary LoVerde wrote a book that addresses this titled, “I
used to have a handle on life, but it broke.” I’ve had that handle break a few
times myself, so I can relate to this, and maybe you have too, so how do we
deal with this?

First of all we can’t plan long range and expect it to always go
smoothly or the way we had envisioned.

James reminds us in James 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, “Today
or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and
trade and make a profit,” yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is
your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Let me say though that this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan for the
future. A life without visions for our future, without plans is no life at all.
I honestly believe that God expects us to think or plan, there is just too much
in the scripture about thinking about our future, about how we can serve God,
about our eternal future to miss this point. However anyone who thinks it is
going to be smooth sailing or that our plans will always come into fruition
doesn’t have a true grip on reality.

Well, what should we
do then? Well, James adds another verse to the thought above that is important
to our plans. He adds in James 4:15, “Instead you ought to say,
“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

So, when we are planning, we are praying! We need to factor into our
plans God and his will. We plan and say, “This is what I intend to do if it is
God’s will”. In my life I generally practice the “open door plan”. I try
something, stretch towards some plan and if it works out and God opens that
door, great, if not, if the door stays shut, that’s great too. You see; then
you just change directions and try something else. You see the truth is that we
can live our life with out an eraser, because we don’t have to stay between any
man made lines. The only lines that are important are the ones that God tells
us to stay in side of in his Book. So, how are you doing?

Letting Go

They tell us that the Christmas season is one of the most
stressful times of the year. We like to think of it as one big party, but for
many it is not. It is a time that puts more emphasis upon relationships and we
remember more deeply lost loved ones, children and family separated by miles or
sometimes hurt or anger. For far too may rather than being a time of
celebration it is a time of regret.

I love the story a preacher told about his grandfather. It
seems that there was a terrible thunderstorm that swept through Southern
Kentucky at the farm where his family had lived for six generations. In the
orchard the wind blew over an old pear tree that had been there as long as
anyone could remember. His grandfather was saddened to lose the tree in which
he had climbed and played as a boy. He had eaten it’s fruit all of his life and
enjoyed its beauty.

A neighbor came by and said, “I’m really sorry to see your
pear tree blown down.” “I’m sorry too,” said the old man. “It was a real part
of my past.” “Well what are you going to do now,” the neighbor asked? The old
man paused for a moment and then said, “I’m going to pick the fruit and burn
what is left.”

Don’t you wish you could handing difficult times with that
determination? There are so many things in our past that we cling to which
maybe should be letting go. We need to learn the lesson that old man knew. We
need to enjoy the pleasures of those memories then go on with the present as
well as the future. If you can’t, you will always be handicapped in dealing
with both the present and the future.

Jesus
put it this way in Luke 9:57-62, “As
they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, "I will follow You
wherever You go." But Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens to live in, and
birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay His head."
He said to another person, "Come, follow Me." The man agreed, but he
said, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." But Jesus
told him, "Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to
go and preach about the Kingdom of God." Another said, "Yes, Lord, I
will follow You, but first let me say good-bye to my family." But Jesus
told him, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not
fit for the Kingdom of God."

Could it be that you need to let go? I’m not saying to
forget, but to enjoy the memories and then move on to enjoy the present and the
future.

Seven Kernels of Corn

We are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, a wonderful time of sharing with family and friends. Hopefully you will have that opportunity to spend time with some of your favorite people, share good food, laugh and enjoy the day. But I also hope that you will take time to count your blessings also.

Most of us are aware of some of the reasoning for the holiday, the celebration of the Pilgrims who traveled from another land far away who had survived. They didn’t have it easy as you know, sickness, starvation, death were a very real part of their existence. It was recorded that they averaged 3 deaths per day and less than 50% of their original group lasted through the winter. At one point they were near starvation and each person had to exist on only seven kernels of corn a day.

I have trouble imagining living that kind of existence, though I have seen some of it personally in other countries. Even there I never had to endure what the people around me had to endure. It was at times overwhelming to say the least. Perhaps you have experienced those conditions, perhaps you have seen it up close and personal. If so, then you have some idea of how those first colonist suffered, yet they stopped to count their blessings.

I have been told that some families make a real effort to remember their blessings as they celebrate Thanksgiving by using Seven Kernels of Corn. They place seven kernels of corn beside each plate and ask each person to tell seven things they are thankful for. Not a bad idea is it?

I’m sure that each of us will have far more than seven kernels of corn to eat this Thanksgiving holiday. But because of that many will not really stop and think about how blessed we are. For many, the day has become about food, football and parades, not about counting your blessings. If that’s true in your family, maybe it’s time you help them refocus of what the day is supposed to be about, “Giving Thanks.” We sing a short hymn that has these words, perhaps we need to sing them more often. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” (Doxology, Thomas Ken).

What Good Is Christianity?

Christianity
is really under attack at this time in our world, it is seems especially in our
country. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. If you set back and be nothing, or
do nothing, have no opinions or thoughts that differ from those which are
deemed “politically correct,” then you will be left alone. If however you have
strong beliefs and either act upon them or express them, you can expect to be
attacked. That’s the nature of Satan and those who have been persuaded to
believe as he teaches.

It
is interesting to see and hear those who are on the side of evil, those who
proclaim that God is dead, or that the Bible is no longer relevant or is
outdated, screaming out their hateful criticism of Christians. However let me
remind you that being a Christian is more than just wearing a name, it is a
life style, it is woven through our belief in what is morally right or wrong.
It effects our relationship to our world and those who share this world with
us.

The
following story makes a good point: A
preacher and the president of a soap manufacturing company went for a walk
together. The president said, "What good is Christianity? Look at all the
trouble and misery of the world! Look at the anger, at the division among people.
It’s still there, even after years, thousands of years, of teaching about
goodness and truth and love and peace. Still there, after all the sermons and
teachings. If Christianity is good and true, why should this be?" The
preacher said nothing.

They
continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter. Then the
preacher said, "Look at that child. You say that soap makes people clean,
but see the dirt on that youngster. Of what good is soap? With all the soap in
the world, over all these years, the child is still filthy. I wonder how
effective soap is, after all!"

The
president of the soap company protested, "But preacher, soap cannot do any
good unless it is used!" "Exactly," replied the preacher.
"Exactly."

You
may not be able to change much of the world, you may not be able to stop all of
the hate that is being directed towards those of us who claim to be Christians,
but just like with dirt, you have to start washing somewhere. Little by little
the whole body becomes clean if we don’t stop washing….

Of
course the washing starts with ourselves. Peter wrote long ago, “to those who were disobedient
long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being
built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and
this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt
from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s
right hand with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” (1
Peter 3:20-21).

What
good is Christianity? It gives us a moral compass that points to God! It makes
us clean and it saves those eternally who are washed clean, (1 Corinthians
6:9-11).