Are You on the Plane?

You can't wait to get to New York!

You've never been there and heard it's fantastic. The sleek jet is waiting for you and you admire it's crisp lettering, shiny silver body, and powerful engines readying for takeoff.

You get on and peek shyly down the aisles. Flight attendants move briskly about, looking efficient. You stand in the doorway and take note of the colors, the seating arrangements, the refreshments offered on the cart. You settle in the open doorway, one foot on the ground, and memorize the exit plan.

Your cell phone rings and your friend asks, "Are you there yet? How's New York? How was the flight?"

You frown in disgust. "I don't understand this. I heard this was a great airline. Other people have gotten on these planes and been in New York within a couple of hours, but we're just sitting here! This is ridiculous! I must have gotten a bad pilot or something."
You snap your phone shut and glare out the open door,
where your one foot still rests on the ground.

"Ma'am, you have to get on the plane if you want to take off," says the flight attendant for the tenth time.
You glare at her. "I AM on the plane, can't you see? What's wrong with this bucket? Why aren't we going anywhere? I guess flying just doesn't work for some people."

She smiles a tired smile. "We're not going anywhere until you get on the plane. You have to be on the plane ALL THE WAY or you may as well not be on it at all."

In order to get where God wants to take you in life, you have to get on the plane. 
ALL THE WAY.

However, most of us spend our lives with one foot on the ground wondering why God's plan just isn't working for us.

We think we can maintain a teensy bit of control, hold the Veto power, 
clutch that habit, that passion, that sneaky little sideline...
and still get where we want to go.

It doesn't work that way.

If you're weary of trying to get to New York by yourself,
if you can't figure out why life is not working for you,
if you're afraid you'll have to walk the whole way by yourself,
just get on the plane.

All the way.

And shut the door.

Trust me, the pilot is the best,

and you'll love the ride!

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Where is Your Path Leading?

As I was reading in the book of Matthew this week, something new struck me.

We've all heard about Jesus being tempted by Satan and about his 40-day fast, but a little phrase caught my eye that adds a new dimension to it.

Matthew 4:1 says Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit "to be tempted by the devil." I'd never thought about the fact that he went there for that purpose. He knew as he trudged over the rocky crags and left civilization behind that he was about to encounter his archenemy face-to-face. And he had to win or all creation would be condemned forever. Your fate and mine rested in his meeting Evil head-on and finding the power to resist.

Have you ever thought about your challenges that way? Have you ever considered that while you are doing your best to follow the plan of God for your life, that plan may be leading you directly into Satan's path? When we suspect a trap, we usually bolt and run the other way. Surely God would never want us to tread that close to temptation. Or would he?

It's important to note that Jesus didn't seek Satan, didn't tread in his territory, didn't go looking for it, but temptation came to him. And he was prepared. Knowing what was coming, he prepared himself with fasting and prayer.

I've always wondered at that too. He was God's Son, yet even he did not feel adequate to face the ultimate evil without equipping himself with the fullness of God's power.

So why do we do less? Why should we think for a moment that we are any match for temptation on our own? Why do we so arrogantly think we can live the way God wants us to in our own strength? We toss token prayers toward the sky, dutifully run through our list of Christian do's and don'ts, and think we're equipped to resist evil. And Satan laughs.

If we had any inkling of what goes on night and day in the spiritual realm, it would probably terrify us. Maybe we should be terrified. If we saw how much ground we were losing every day to evil without even realizing it, we would be stunned.

But it might change us.

Ponder this today: If the Son of God had to spend 40 days gaining strength to resist Satan, then what are you doing to equip yourself?

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Are You Holding the Shovel?

Anyone who's ever held a shovel knows you dig a hole one scoop at a time. Some ground is harder than others. 
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Sandrock? You're gonna build some muscles!
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Sometimes trouble is like that.

Many people find themselves wringing hands, sobbing into tissues, angry, hurt, ready to give up on life. Many times, they're angry at God for letting this happen. Doesn't He care? Why didn't He stop this? How could I be in such a deep hole?
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Too often they don't see the shovel in their own hands. They started digging waaaay back there. Just little spadefuls at first. Nothing that caused much of a problem. Nothing they couldn't handle.

They thought.

It may not have been anything bad. Sometimes we can get in a big mess trying to do God's will, thinking we're on the right track, but doing it in our own strength or for the wrong reasons. Christian work can be as big a pit as any if it isn't being done in God's strength for God's pursposes and with the right attitude.

Little spades have a way of quickly becoming snowshovels when we've decided to do it our way rather than depend on God. One wrong choice leads to another. A compromising situation leads to lies, which leads to...

Have you been there? Suddenly, you're in too deep to see a way out and you're ready to scream for help. But by then, the damage is done. There is no easy way out. You're gonna get dirty.

Thankfully, God doesn't leave us in the hole when we're serious about doing it his way. However, His way usually does not include a rope ladder and a helicopter. His way usually forces us to dig our way out the same way we dug our way in...one scoop at a time.

One shovelful after another, we start filling in the hole with right choices, good advice, wise counsel, and a huge dose of humility. God's way easily separates the ones who mean it from the ones who just want a quick exit. But don't worry about the others as they give you a jaunty wave from the sky. The ones swinging from the rope ladder will be back in the hole soon. God's way out leaves an indelible impression--one not easily forgotten.

What hole do you find yourself in today? What prison bars are you rattling, demanding an exit? Are you angry at God? At someone else?

Before you cast any blame, look in your hand? Are you holding the shovel?

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Mental Cow Patties

The white fluffy boss of our home has a bad habit. I like to keep her squeaky clean and smelling like the Bath and Body store, since she is allowed on all the furniture. But she has a different set of smell glands. If I let her outside and am not watching closely, she has a tendency to find something gross and roll in it. The stinkier the better. The delight on her doggy face says that she thinks she is in heaven. 

One time she found a big fresh cow patty and bathed herself in it. Wet green slop matted her fur and dripped from her sides. But she ran to me, wagging her tail as though she expected a reward. I know what she was thinking: "Now, let's move on. That didn't change anything. I indulged my darker side for a minute, but you can hardly tell." 

Oh, I could tell alright. She wasn't acceptable until she'd had another bath. I saw things quite differently than she did.

We do that in our minds all the time. How often have we let our thoughts venture into areas that are forbidden. Rather than "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," we indulge. We roll around, saturating our minds with ungodly fantasies, desires, and imaginations. We relish the titillating, the tempting, and the "What if..." and tell ourselves it didn't hurt anything. Then we run to God in prayer and pretend He didn't notice.

Satan loves that. He whispers, "It's not sin if you don't actually DO it. You're just planning ahead for 'what if.' You deserve that kind of praise, that lifestyle, or that person's spouse." And we listen. We prefer to believe the lie that it doesn't matter until we act on it. We  hold on to lust, unforgivness, and covetousness and tell ourselves that God doesn't notice.

He notices alright, and we're not acceptable until we've had a mental bath. He looks at us the way I look at my silly dog. We're covered in filth, but we're wagging our tails and trying to convince a holy God that nothing changed in our relationship. Sin starts in the imagination. That's where it needs to stop. As my mother used to say, "You can't stop the birds from flying overhead, but you don't have to let them make a nest in your hair."

Thoughts will come. Wrong desires will flash out of nowhere and threaten to start a fire. It is our job to stay vigilant and take them captive. God searches our inner thoughts and knows them before we think them. Ask for His help in overcoming and refuse to roll in the cow patties.

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Who Are the Victims?

As I watched the videos of the Boston bombings, I was struck by something. While understandably masses of terrified people began to run away from the site, there were some who began to run toward it. Their focus was on rescue, helping, offering themselves if needed to save someone else.

How like God. As I watched these brave rescuers, I was seeing the hands and feet and face of God Himself. He always shows up when human beings are in trouble. His image, which is stamped on the heart of every person, shines through human skin. His heart , planted inside every human creation, beats with fierce desire to right wrongs. His passion to save, help, and comfort blanketed that scene of horror. His image is seen in every act of human kindness.

The ones who planted those bombs have His image too, but they have numbed it. They've done everything they can to kill it. But it's there. God wants to rescue them too. They are victims of Evil just as much as the ones who were injured. They have allowed their enemy to mold them into his image, which will result it their ultimate destruction.

No one is as maimed 

as the one who has carved God's image 

out of his own soul.

Let's pray for ALL the victims of this terrible act.

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Abundant Generosity

Max Lucado, in his book It's Not About Me uses this story to illustrate the generosity of God:
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The owner of a restaurant offered to treat everyone on her son's Little League team to breakfast. The next morning, the team and their families stood in line and chose what they wanted from the lavish buffet. The hostess stood next to the cashier and as each invited guest came through the line, she murmured to the cashier, "No charge. He's a friend."

But not everyone in the restaurant was treated this way. Others sat at tables far away, alone, paying their own price because they did not know the hostess. "Though her generosity was abundant, it was not universal. Those who did not know her paid a price."

On the Great Judgement Day, millions will stand in line. The sins of each will be boldly displayed. No one is more deserving of eternal life than any other. But Jesus stands beside the cashier. For those who know Him, He whispers, "No charge. He's a friend." His generosity is abundant, but it is not universal.

The world has come up with thousands of plans, religions, and ideologies that they hope will serve them well in the end. They have recreated and redefined God to mean what they want Him to mean. But all of that will vanish when we stand in line. 

The only question that will matter then is: Do I know the Host?

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Over-Correcting

 

Driver's Ed teachers tell us that the worst thing to do when headed off the road is to over-correct. 

An over-corrected car will land in the ditch 

or worse.

 In reaction to the legalism and works-focus of previous generations of Christians, this generation is over-correcting. Rather than recenter on the balance of God's Word, today's Christians are slinging themselves to the other side of the road, headed for the ditch on the opposite side. Or worse.

There is a trend within Christianity that is caving to the world's definition of what "Christian" should be. Since Jesus' day, those who did not know Him wanted to define what He should and should not say or do. Nothing has changed.

Much of this caving is due to Biblical illiteracy among Christians. If we don't really know what the whole of scripture teaches, then it is easy to get sideswiped by the avalanche of pseudo-spirituality masquerading as "the new-and-improved-Christianity." Everyone is packing a few handy verse-lets (usually first quoted by a non-Christian to justify some particular sin) that they whip out at every showdown, never stopping to check whether or not that ammunition is being used correctly.

The Word of God is called the Sword of the Spirit, which means it can only be wielded properly under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. To pull out a few one-verse statements and use them to dismantle the rest of the Bible is to abuse the Word of God. I don't think He takes that lightly.

The religion of Tolerance has been popular for a couple of decades and is now invading the church as a sub-culture, presenting itself as Love. This is not the Love the Bible defines. Love seeks to align itself with God's perspective, not redefine it. Love seeks the best interest of every human being--which does NOT mean agreeing that sin is harmless. Love cares enough to weep, appeal, pray for and plead with those trapped in sin strongholds. Love chose to come to earth and be tortured to pay the price for that very sin we smile at, excuse, and verbally defend. I don't think God takes that lightly either.

When we start allowing our culture to redefine sin for us, when we start proclaiming that the Bible doesn't mean what it says, when we choose Tolerance over the law of God, when we substitute one-line daily devotions for real study of God's Word, we have ceased to be Salt and Light. Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Matthew 5:13

Let's not let that happen to us.
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