Life isn’t Fair

Readings for today: John 11-12, Psalms 108

“Whoever told you life was fair?” If only I had a nickel for every time I heard this phrase from my father growing up. Typically it came when I was complaining about having to do more work than my two younger brothers. I was the oldest so was alway assigned the hardest chores and it didn’t make sense to me. Why didn’t my brothers have to pull their own weight? Why didn’t they have to do as much work as I did? Why couldn’t they help out more especially on the big projects dad always had planned in our backyard? It just didn’t seem fair. Looking back, I can see the lesson dad was trying to teach me. Life isn’t fair. The burdens are not equally spread out nor are the resources. Some face unbelievable challenges while others seem to cruise through life. Some work hard and barely get ahead while others work less and strike it rich. None of us have the same gifts. None of us are given the same opportunities. None of us put in the same amount of effort. So fairness clearly isn’t a value God built into the system.

Perhaps that’s what John was getting at when he summed up the fickle nature of human faith in John 12:39-40 CSB, "This is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.” I know those are not easy words to hear. That doesn’t seem very fair. How is it that God would choose some and not others? How is it that God would open the eyes of some and not others? How is it God would regenerate some hearts and not others? How is it that God would actively blind eyes and harden hearts to the message of the gospel? I will not pretend to probe the mysteries of divine election in this post. Nor will I seek to untangle the Gordian knot of predestination vs. free will. I imagine that debate will last until Jesus’ return. Perhaps even beyond. It is not given to us to understand these things, only to accept them. And this is where our faith is put to the test. Do we believe God is good? Do we believe God is wise? Do we believe God is true? Do we believe God has a plan? Do we believe God is worthy? Do we believe God is righteous? All these things are called into question the very moment we read verses like these and think to ourselves “this doesn’t seem fair.”

It is a dangerous thing to question the nature and character of God. It is a fearful thing for the clay to say to the Potter, why have you made me thus? It is arrogant to demand God give an account to us or answer to our flawed notions of justice or meet our democratic standards of fairness. This is where growing up in America where our leaders must answer to the will of the people hurts us. Our cultural context works against us as we read. God is no democratically elected leader. He is our King. Our Lord. Our Sovereign. He created the universe and all that is in it. We are dust. We are ashes. We are nothing and it is only because God has decided to set His love on us that we are worth anything at all. It is only because God decided to make us in His image that we have dignity and honor. But these things are not our own! They are conveyed to us by God Himself for His own mysterious purposes.

So what if God – desiring to make known His power and reveal His glory – decided to make some vessels for honor and some for dishonor? What if God – desiring to make known His justice and righteousness – raises up some for glory and others for destruction? Does this make God unjust? Does this make God unfair? Does this call into question God’s goodness and righteousness? If we are honest, there can be only one answer. What right do we – created beings one and all – have to question our Creator? As the Apostle Paul says, “What right does the clay have to question the Potter?”

Here is where the rubber meets the road when we talk about surrender. We are called to lay it all in His hands. We give it all to Him. He alone is worthy of all glory and honor and power because He stands outside time and space and creation. He is far removed from any of our human notions of justice and righteousness. He does not answer to His creation. Furthermore, humility demands that we accept the fact that He sees far more than any of us do. He has an eternal perspective we cannot grasp. His wisdom is infinite and His knowledge without end. What seems paradoxical to us is logical to Him. What seems contradictory to us makes perfect sense for Him. What seems impossible to us is well within the bounds of His authority and rule and reign.

Readings for tomorrow: John 13-15, Psalms 109

I Surrender All

Readings for today: Job 12-15, Psalms 138

“The life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all humanity.” (Job‬ ‭12‬:‭10‬ ‭CSB) This is perhaps the hardest lesson for us humans to learn. Truly it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. Everything stripped away. All your resources tapped out. Your strength having failed. Your wisdom having led you to a dead end. Every choice you made gone wrong. Life taken down to the studs. I’ve been there. I know the journey well. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy and yet I wouldn’t change it for the world. For it was there, at the end of myself, that I discovered my life is truly in God’s hands. He gives me my every breath. He fills me with every good and perfect gift. Nothing I have is mine. Nothing I’ve done is to my credit. Nothing I’ve achieved is my accomplishment. It is God who gives me strength to wake up each morning. It is God who gives me peace to lay down and rest each night. It is God who gives me the wisdom to make righteous choices. It is God who provides every opportunity. It is God who blesses me with every resource. It is God who fills me with His Spirit. I am on His time. My life is like grass. Here today and gone tomorrow. I have but a few turns around the sun and then I will fade from memory. Within a generation or two, I will simply be another name on a headstone in a small town cemetery in Western Nebraska. Nothing more.

I know that sounds depressing but honestly, I can think of nothing more freeing. My life is not my own. I live and I move and I have my being in God. I serve and I give and I obey my Lord and Savior. My life is His to command as He sees fit. If He were to lift me up, I will serve. If He lays me low, I will serve. If He gives me success, I will give Him all the glory. If He makes me fail, I will praise Him even more. And these are not empty platitudes for me. I have been to the mountaintop and seen the glory of God firsthand and I’ve been in the deepest, darkest valley and praised God from those depths. Like Job, I have experienced God take just about everything away. I even almost lost my family. But the one thing I never lost was God. He was always there. And what did I learn from that experience? That dark night of the soul? I learned what Job learned. “Be quiet, and I will speak. Let whatever comes happen to me. I will put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands. Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him. Yes, this will result in my deliverance, for no godless person can appear before him.” (Job‬ ‭13‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

God is the only constant in this life. He is the one fixed point in the universe. There is no shadow or turning with Him. There is no change in His nature or character. He alone is Faithful and True. His promises are sure because He is sure. His commitment is unwavering because He is unwavering. His love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things because His love never fails. It casts out all fear. It answers every question. It erases every doubt. God’s love is the reason we can come to Him with anything. We can curse Him in anger or cry out to Him in grief or call on Him for comfort and we can count on Him to be there. He can handle every emotion we throw at Him and then some. His love is more than enough to absorb it all because His love paid for it all.

Readings for tomorrow: Job 16-19, Psalms 139

Open Hands

Readings for today: 1 Samuel 21-24, Psalms 84

One of the most important things I have learned in life is to walk with open hands before the Lord but it is not easy. In order to do this, one has to set aside their anxieties and fears. One has to relinquish their ego and pride. One has to give up control over their life. I will tell you I didn’t do this willingly. God took me through an extremely painful season to get me to unclench my fists. Once I did, I found a freedom and a joy and a peace that I had hadn’t experienced since my initial conversion. I discovered I had more energy than I thought possible. All kinds of new opportunities and new experiences opened up to me that I would never have considered before. All because I finally surrendered to God.

In our reading today, we see a stark contrast between Saul who is trying like crazy to hold onto his kingdom and David, who is walking with an open heart before the Lord. Saul knows his days are numbered so he does all he can to tighten his grip. He is paranoid. He seeks to eliminate every single possible threat. And the more he clenches his fist, the more the kingdom slips through his fingers. It’s like trying to hold onto water or sand. David, on the other hand, is living in the freedom of the Lord. Though he’s been promised the kingdom, he trusts God with the timing. He maintains his integrity and refuses to raise his hand against God’s anointed king. Even when given the opportunity to strike, David stays his hand. Jonathan also walks with open hands as well. He is the rightful heir to the throne but he doesn’t hold onto it. He refuses to allow his ego to get in the way. He acknowledges David’s rightful claim and even promises to serve at David’s right hand. What a powerful example of humility and relinquishment!

Do you walk with open hands before the Lord? Do you consciously and regularly surrender all your time and energy and resources to Him? Do you give Him control over your life? On the flip side, where are you holding on too tight? What areas of your life are you refusing to relinquish? Where has your ego taken hold and can you let go? These are important questions to ponder and pray over as we think about our relationships in every sphere of life from the home to our extended family to our work to our lifestyle to our faith.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 25-27, Psalms 85

I Surrender All

Readings for today: 1 Samuel 1-3, Psalms 78

This past Sunday we sang the song, “I Surrender All” in worship. It’s a simply yet powerful tune with a deeply, challenging message. Do I surrender all? Am I willing to surrender all? What would “surrendering all” actually look like in my life? I think of all the things I hold dear. Personally, I think of my time and money. Relationally, I think of my wife and children and family and friendships. Vocationally, I think of my work as a pastor, my teaching as a professor, and my mission work. Am I willing to surrender all in any of these categories? Am I willing to give God all my time or do I want to withhold some for myself? Am I willing to give God all my money or do I want to make sure I reserve enough to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle? Am I willing to give God my wife and children, trusting He loves them far more than I do, and set them free to serve Him in whatever way He calls or do I seek to control them or shame them or bend them to what I want for their lives? What about my family and friendships? Do I surrender them to God by seeking to serve rather than be served? What about my vocation? Am I willing to give it up or do I hold on too tight? All these things are worth pondering as we read through the chapters assigned for today.

Hannah is an amazing example of faith. She truly “surrenders all” when she offers Samuel to God. Barrenness was considered one of the worst experiences a woman could experience in ancient times. One of the primary ways women added value to society was through child-bearing, especially the bearing of sons. Though Hannah’s husband loved and provided for her abundantly, she was heartbroken over her inability to provide him a child. She could have responded in all sorts of ways to her condition but because of her deep faith, she turned to the Lord. She prayed so fervently that the high priest thought she was drunk. When God answered her prayer, she was faced with another decision. Would she follow through? Would she surrender her firstborn son with no guarantees she would have any more children? Imagine the faith it took to take such a step? Imagine the sadness she must have felt when she weaned Samuel and gave him to Eli? Imagine her having to walk away from the Tabernacle and go back home to an empty tent yet again? This is an example of what it truly means to surrender all.

What about you? What does surrender look like in your life? Where are you on the journey of surrendering all to God? I have been walking with the Lord for over thirty years now and I find God demanding more and more of my life not less. I find Him demanding more of my time, more of my money, more of my attention, more of my heart. And, if I am honest, I sometimes struggle to give him what He demands. But every time I do, I find myself experiencing all kinds of blessing. In fact, I find myself receiving back from God more than what I give and it only reinforces what Hannah and so many saints have learned throughout history. You simply cannot out-give God. You cannot out-give the One who surrendered all for us in Jesus Christ.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Samuel 4-8, Psalms 79

Complete Surrender

Readings for today: Acts 20:4-23:35

What does total surrender to Christ look like? It looks like the Apostle Paul. Paul leaves his home. His friendships. His business. His ministry all behind in order to suffer for Christ. He was compelled by the Holy Spirit to return to Jerusalem where he knew he would be put in chains. Prophecy after prophecy had been made. Warning after warning had been given. There was no more dangerous place for Paul to go and yet he went. Not out of pride or arrogance but out of obedience to His Lord. It was Jesus who sent him to testify in Jerusalem and it would be Jesus who would send him to testify in Rome. From the heart of Judaism to the heart of the empire. Paul was Jesus’ chosen instrument to declare the good news of the gospel in front of kings and rulers and authorities. Though it would eventually cost him his life, Paul considered it a privilege to serve. 

I have met many “Apostle Paul’s” in my life. Men and women who sacrifice everything for the sake of the gospel. They leave their homes. Their families. Their friendships. Their businesses. And they go to faraway places. Towns and villages who have never heard the name of Jesus. They place themselves in danger. They endure persecution. Many of them will bear the scars for the rest of their lives. Some of them even lose their lives. Why do they do it? They feel compelled by the Holy Spirit. Constrained by His will to go to the places He shows them in order to share Christ with those who are lost. They do not act of pride or arrogance. They do not trust in their own resources or strength. They are not naive or ignorant. They go with the understanding that they may not return. But they cannot help themselves. It is Jesus who commands them. It is Jesus who sends them. It is Jesus who calls them into the harvest field. They are Jesus’ chosen instruments to make His gospel known among a people who have never heard. They preach in places that do not show up on any map. They cross borders into places where the gospel has never gone. They confront principalities and powers we cannot fathom, armed only with the gospel. And though it costs them their health. Their wealth. Their family. Sometimes their lives. They consider it a privilege and honor to serve. 

All of us are called by Jesus. All of us are sent by Jesus. All of us have a field to harvest for our Lord. Sadly, too many of us never show up for work. Our fields are wild and overgrown. They have gone untended for far too many years. Sure, we mean well. We think we’ll get to it one day. Once we’re financially secure. Once our kids are grown. Once we get married and settle down. Or we work the edges of of the field. Close to the gate. In the places where it’s safest. After all, we wouldn’t want to place ourselves at risk, right? God wants us to be safe, right? He would never call us to sacrifice our comfort or lifestyle or livelihood or family or friendships for the sake of His mission, right? Isn’t the dangerous work reserved for the truly holy? The super Christians? Surely that’s not me. Surely that’s not what Jesus wants me to do. 

The Word of God is clear. It leaves us very little wiggle room. All that we have been given. All that we’ve earned over the course of our lives. All our success. All our wealth. All our possessions. All our relationships. All our friendships. Everything in our lives must be surrendered and laid at the feet of our Lord. It has come from His hands and must be returned to Him. This is the price of following Jesus. We relinquish it all. We surrender it all. We let go of it all and walk with open hands and open hearts before Him. Our first call is to serve Jesus. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else is allowed to get in the way. Not our families. Not our careers. Not our friendships. Not our possessions. Not our retirement. Not our fears. Not our failures. Not our anxieties. Not our worries. Not our doubts. Not our questions. Nothing. Jesus is Lord. When He calls me, I will answer. Where He sends me, I will go. I am Jesus’ chosen instrument to make His will known in my community and to the ends of the earth. And it is a privilege and honor to serve. 

Readings for tomorrow: Acts 24-26

Surrendering our Will

Readings for today: Matthew 16, Mark 8:11-38, 9:1, Luke 9:18-27

It’s one of the hardest things for us to do. Surrender. Submit. Bend the knee. Bow before the Lord. We pride ourselves on being self-sufficient. We focus a significant amount of time and energy and attention on boosting our self-esteem. If we feel down on ourselves, we turn to self-help. If we want to encourage ourselves, we look to self-promotion…especially on social media. If we feel afraid or threatened, we become self-protective. It’s the most natural thing in the world to be sure and yet it runs exactly counter to the way God set up life.

God is the most selfless Being in the universe. He gives Himself in love to His creation and especially the creature He made in His own image. He gives Himself in relationship to us. He gives Himself up as a sacrifice for us. He lays down His very life for us. This is who God is and it’s who we were created to be as well. God created human beings to be selfless. Sin turned us selfish. God created human beings to be generous. Sin turned us into hoarders and misers. God created us to be compassionate and caring. Sin turned us towards violence and hate. The list is endless. All that God created us to be, sin corrupted and we see the consequences all around us. The most obvious might be the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armenian people right now. It’s brutal.

Jesus offers us a different way. A better way. A return to the original way. Listen to how He describes it again, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” (Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭MSG‬‬) We are too obsessed with life in this world. We are too tied to the things of this world. We want it all. We want a good life here and a good life in the world to come. We want a mansion on earth as well as a mansion in heaven. We want to pursue success in the kingdoms of this world and we want success in the Kingdom of God. But one cannot put a foot in both of these worlds. One cannot have it both ways. Jesus is clear. We must choose. We cannot be both selfish and selfless. We cannot be both givers and takers. In order to receive all Jesus has promised, we must surrender to Him. We must submit to Him. We must let Him take the lead and trust Him enough to follow in His footsteps no matter what the cost for the reward is worth it.

Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 17-18, Mark 9:2-50, Luke 9:28-56

Seek. Surrender. Celebrate.

Readings for today: Isaiah 54-58

There are three basic movements to the Christian faith. Three fundamental principles that undergird who we are as believers in Jesus Christ. Christians are a people who seek hard after God, willingly and gladly surrender to His will, and live in the fullness of joy as they celebrate all He has done. We see this dynamic played out in today’s passage from Isaiah 55.

“Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭MSG‬‬) The Christian faith arises from a deep sense of spiritual hunger. A desire for spiritual food that will satisfy. This hunger - created by the Holy Spirit - prompts a person to seek God. To seek the only one who can fill the hole each of us has in our hearts. Thankfully, He is near. He delights in being found. He doesn’t play cosmic hide and seek. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. The result is transformative. The wicked abandon their way of life. The evil abandon their way of thinking. The sinner repents and returns to God who is merciful and quick to forgive.

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Having received the mercy and forgiveness of God, the Holy Spirit now begins to open our eyes and minds to the vastness of God. The holiness of God. The beauty of God. The majesty of God. These things bring us to our knees in surrender. We acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Our finite minds cannot contain, much less explain, His infinity. Having caught a glimpse and being overwhelmed in awe, we are drawn into His work as servants. People who willingly and gladly give all they have to serve a cause much greater than themselves.

“So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines— Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭MSG‬‬) As we give ourselves to God, He gives Himself to us. As He is the source of greatest joy in the universe, we are now able to draw on that well every day of our lives, in every circumstance of our lives. We walk in joy. We walk in peace. We are given new eyes to see the world around us as it bursts into song in praise of it’s Creator. We join the singing because we cannot help ourselves and our lives become living monuments to God.

Readings for tomorrow: None

My Will or Thy Will?

Readings for today: Jeremiah 36-41, Philemon 1, Hebrews 1

God’s grace is truly amazing. No matter how bad things get. No matter how far we fall. No matter how fast we run. God is always quick to forgive. Quick to relent of the judgment our sin rightfully deserves. Jehoiakim is another in a long line of evil kings. Kings who reject the will of God. Kings who worship idols. Kings who seek their own glory and power instead of humbly serving God. Judgment is coming. Jeremiah has been sent to proclaim the impending doom. The sins of Israel have piled up over the years, creating a mess God intends to use Babylon to clean up. It’s going to be ugly. It’s going to be tragic. It’s going to be painful. Many will suffer. Many will die. All they hold dear will be destroyed as God’s justice rolls down on the earth. 

But even now at the eleventh hour, there is hope. God’s mercy makes one last appearance. God commands Jeremiah to speak a word of grace to the nation. To speak words of life instead of death. He gives them one last chance to repent and turn from their wicked ways. “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." (Jeremiah‬ ‭36:2-3‬) Jeremiah obeys. He writes everything down on a scroll and gives it to his servant, Baruch, to proclaim. Baruch goes to the Lord’s House and reads it in the presence of all who’ve gathered. Officials from the king’s household hear the news and they ask Baruch to come and read the scroll to them. Eventually, the scroll makes it’s way into the king’s presence for one final hearing. The tension builds. How will the king respond? Will he repent? Will he turn back to the Lord? Will he humble himself and bow the knee? Sadly, the answer is no. He takes out a knife and cuts the scroll to pieces as each line is read and then proceeds to burn it in his fire pit. His rejection of the Word of God is complete and final. So is his doom.

One cannot so easily dispose of God’s Word. It has a power all its own. Coming from the Holy Spirit, it is eternal. Unquenchable. Unflammable. Unbreakable. The grass may wither and the flower may fade but the Word of God endures forever.  (Isaiah 40:8) So again the Word comes to Jeremiah. Only this time, judgment has replaced grace. Justice has replaced mercy. God’s wrath is about to be fully unveiled. “Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, "Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?" Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭36:29-31‬)

I believe it was C.S. Lewis who pointed out that when we appear before the throne of God on Judgment Day, we will either say to Him, “Thy will be done” or He will say to us, “thy will be done.” There are no other options. Furthermore, it is critically important to remember that our answer on Judgment Day is conditioned by the choices we make right now in our everyday lives. You see, each and every day we are faced with this same choice. Will we obey God’s will for our lives or will we go our own way? It is a serious matter to reject the Word of God. To disobey His commands. Whether by ignorance or by deliberate defiance, we rebel against God to our own peril. God takes our sin seriously. Far more seriously than we know. He is so holy. So righteous. So just. His nose cannot bear the stench of sin. His eyes will not behold the stain of sin. His presence will not endure even the appearance of sin. It must be dealt with. It must be done away with. A price must be paid. A sacrifice offered. It will either be us or it will be Christ. Either you receive Christ as your perfect sacrifice. Receive Christ as your perfect substitute. Receive Christ’s atoning death on your behalf or you will bear the punishment yourself. You will receive all the judgment and righteous anger of God. It will be eternal and unending because the depth of your sin and rebellion is eternal and unending. 

I know this sounds harsh. I know this doesn’t feel good. What about God’s love? It is there! In Christ! One cannot separate Christ from the love of God for Christ Himself is the love of God! “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John‬ ‭4:10‬) God has provided a way for you to escape the coming judgment just as He provided a way for Jehoiakim to escape his coming judgment! Repentance! Faith! Accepting the perfect sacrifice God Himself has offered on your behalf! Do not reject the Word of God, friends! Receive Christ and live!

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 42-43, Hebrews 2