IN PRAISE OF TOUGH TIMES

Our lives ebb and flow. There are days when life seems so wonderful and others in which the burdens we bear seem too heavy. It is in our nature to want the times of flow to continue indefinitely.  We want the high of the mountain top experience to last forever.  But they don’t and it is to our benefit.  The waves we ride are temporary and eventually crash on the shore.  The low places of doubt, despair, and feelings of God’s abandonment may seem eternal, but never last.

In the ebb times, God is faithful and does his deepest work. It is then when He shapes us into his likeness.  He gives us holy strengthen when we lean on Him. He makes us into the people he desires us to be. Trials and tribulation can’t be avoided.  Spiritual dry spells may make us wonder if God has abandoned us or is even real.  There are also times when the biggest

question is "Why, O Lord?"  The Book of James speaks to such things.  James explicitly says be joyful when difficulties arise in our lives (James 1:2-5).  Difficulties permit our faith to be tested.  Tests develop perseverance and perseverance occasions maturity and completeness.  It sets the stage for wisdom.

 

In the difficult times, in spiritual dry spells, and in times of doubt about God, He is most at work shaping the clay of our lives.  We can take joy knowing that the school of hard times is the training ground of our character. When the easy times come and life seems wonderful, there’s little or no lessons nor wisdom. The tough times occasion reflection and strengthen our faith.  Take the long view.  Discover that the ebb times never last, nor do the times of flow. At all times, give thanks to God who is our sufficiency.

 “Tough times don’t last.  Tough people do.”  - Robert Schuller

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 

1 Peter 5:10.

GOD AND THE WORLD CUP: ALL IN

What does it mean to be all in?  In the 2014 Futball (soccer) World Cup games in Brazil, Adidas's marketing slogan is “All in or nothing.”  Adidas spent millions on its World Cup advertising around that slogan.  In the same month of June (2014) “All In” was spelled out in bold letters on the cover of The Salvation Army’s USA national magazine, The War Cry, with a subtitle “Why settle for less than the Spirit’s full measure?” All In was the same words, but with different meaning.  It was their way of announcing the lead article on God’s greatest desire for humanity, holiness and intimacy with Him.  What does it mean to be spiritually all in?

Recently I reread General Frederick Coutts classic work, Call To Holiness (1957).  In the first paragraph of the last chapter (p. 103), Coutts offers a clear, practical definition of holiness:

Christian holiness may be defined as the whole man redirected   towards the highest spiritual end – that is, likeness to Christ, and in this he is granted the continual help of the Holy Spirit.

Coutts states on the page just before (p.102) the condition or contingency that makes holiness possible with all the possibilities that follow:

All the wonder and glory of the life of holiness awaits the full surrender of the forgiven heart to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

In world cup football (soccer) every team member must be all in.  There must be a full surrender of every individual player to the collective interests of the team.  Each player must be all in and all players must be all in with hearts completely consecrated to the goal of winning.  

When Coutts uses the language of full surrender of the forgiven heart to the presence and power of God’s Spirit, he is talking the same language of being all in.  Holiness is a matter of a whole heart by faith being completely surrendered and open to God’s great desire for humanity.  His great desire is for us to realize the highest spiritual end, likeness to Christ.  As Coutts proclaims, the good news is that God makes possible the continual help of the Holy Spirit.  In others words, God is all in too.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all in and committed to helping us to be like Christ and filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).

So, are you all in?

THE PURPOSE OF GOD'S PATIENCE

How patient is God?  Thoughts about God often turn to his being almighty, sovereign, merciful, kind, forgiving, but rarely do we reflect on his patience.  God’s patience is one of the seven fruit of the Spirit which God the Holy Spirit gives to those who seek a deeper life of intimacy in holiness with him.   It is an expression of the first and overarching fruit, love.  Holy love is the essence of God and he expresses the purity of his love in a profound degree of patience. Frederick Coutts calls God’s patience longsuffering and defines it as patience with a purpose.  When we read the Bible we see the long history of mankind and the cycles of unfaithfulness and sin of God’s people. We begin to appreciate God’s longsuffering patience.  Often within a generation of repentance again and again, the people of God were back to ignoring him, forgetting his goodness and grace, and up to their ears in idolatry and sin. 

God the Father sent Jesus Christ his Son to break the cycle by way of the cross, resurrection, and gift of the Holy Spirit, the three big game changing events of human history.  But is it working as God desires or does his heart break?  I confess that in my desire to grow in grace and walk with God daily, I fail.  My failure is falling short of the mark forgetting that God is present and active in my daily life.  I find myself repeating a prayer of a dear friend years ago who prayed “Dear God, forgive us for your grace too often goes unrecognized and unacknowledged.”  That’s me.  Too often I forget, get distracted, get lazy, and loose focus.  I miss noticing and acknowledging so much of God’s grace being poured into my life.  I just don’t recognize it when it is right before me and even when I see it I am slow to respond to his loving kindness, mercy, and grace with thanks and praise. 

I now know that God is patient with us for a purpose.  He is working grace into our lives to see us filled to the measure of the his fullness (Ephesians 3:19), not just for our benefit, but to grow us into a means of grace to be used by him in bringing others to faith in him.  His purpose is to fill us with his Spirit and gift us with the fruit of his Spirit.  Then we will have greater intimacy with him and be better equipped to serve him and love others.

Forgive me Lord.  You are so patient, even longsuffering with me.  For too many years I have given you the short end of the stick. I too often missed giving you what you deserve.  You deserve my response of thanks, praise, obedience, and adoration throughout each day.  With the help of your Holy Spirit and the fullness of your presence in me, I pray that you will grow my heart to love you more dearly and follow you more nearly.  Thank you God for your amazing, remarkable patience with me.  Help me to be patient with others as you are with me.  Amen!

ALL IN: PURSUING COMPETENCE AND CHARACTER

When I was a young graduate student I was blessed by a great job in the summers as the program director of The Salvation Army’s Camp O’Wood in the mountains outside of Tucson, Arizona.  The purpose of Salvation Army camps is to help children from poor neighborhoods to 1) have a wholesome week at camp learning new skills thereby strengthening their personal sense of competence and self-esteem, and 2) grow in their character.  By character is meant growing to know Jesus Christ and be like him.  The development of children’s competence and character in Jesus’ name was the collective aspiration of the entire camp staff from the cabin counselors to the kitchen cooks.

Years later I found myself in another great job as the president of an excellent Christian university devoted to the further development of student’s competence and character.  They were developing competence in their chosen field preparing to enter the professional work world.  They were also developing and deepening their walk with Christ in their character after the Lord’s likeness.  Much of what I had learned in the early days at camp about child development of competence and character pertained years later to the university setting.  It takes everyone in the enterprise to get the job done.

I remember having coffee one morning with the university’s housekeeping staff.  These were mostly women none of whom had university education.  They cleaned the residence halls beginning at four o’clock in the morning.  Over coffee I sat and listened to story after story of how students would seek them out, even at four o’clock in the morning, and engage them in conversations about life.  Often this happened because students were still up.  They hadn’t gone to bed yet.  In staff stories it became clear that these dear women, doing the most mundane yet necessary work, were in a privileged position of influence.  They were like the students’ moms away from mom. Together they had a salutary impact on the character formation of students. They were accessible, willing to listen, and wise in the perspectives they offered.  They were an effective part of the whole university for the whole person in the character development of students.  The essence of the university was Jesus Christ.  They were special part of the overall essence of the university.

When it comes to the serious pursuit of competence and character in young people’s lives, it takes the human agency of the entire enterprise (camp, university, sports program) to be passionate about the whole person.  By whole enterprise, we mean everyone, not just the faculty, but every staff member from the cooks in the kitchen to the resident hall directors, the administrative assistants in the president’s office to the staff who keep the grounds and mow the lawns.  It takes the total milieu of the entire team invested in the same outcome. 

God is an “all in” God.  He did not hold back his great gift of salvation on the cross, nor his subsequent gift of himself as the Holy Spirit.  He is “all in” for the world.  Why settle for something less.  When Christ says, “Follow me,” it’s a call for us to also be “all in.”

FOR MORE ABOUT "ALL IN" SEE THE JUNE 2014 ISSUE OF THE SALVATION ARMY MAGAZINE, THE WAR CRY . . .

http://www.warcrymag.com/issues/2014_June/

IS TWO OUT OF THREE GOOD ENOUGH?

The worldwide Christian community has three big events to celebrate: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.  God’s promise is fulfilled in the birth of the Christ child whose life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection make a way for the redemption from the penalty and guilt of our sin.  Our redemption makes possible our reconciliation with God.  We are freed from the bondage of sin and can claim our privileged position as a child of God in a renewed relationship with him.  Our redemption and reconciliation begin a new day, a new journey, and a new possibility of spiritual maturity and intimacy with God.  Two events, Christmas and Easter, were humanity’s greatest game changers.  They are worthy of our celebration of thanks and praise to God for these unspeakable gifts.  But, is celebrating only two out of the three events good enough?

We do well on the first two, but think about how incredible is the Father and Son's gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the third game changer.  God throws the door open to an unimaginable future in our relationship to him.  In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was given to a handful of specific individuals. Bezalel, the Tabernacle’s chief artisan in Exodus 31:2&3 is an example. All of the prophets are also examples of the specific gift of the Holy Spirit for a specific purpose, proclamation of the Word of God to the people.  In the New Testament, starting with Pentecost, God makes it possible for all people, not just a few, to be "filled with the fullness of God" as Holy Spirit. We are blessed. We can celebrate this amazing privilege.  We must celebrate.  Seedbed.com provides an abundance of resources to help us appreciate the lavish love of God's gift of himself as Holy Spirit.

 In particular, here are two seven minute mini-lectures from Asbury Theological Seminary that I believe you will find helpful in going deeper into the reasons why we must celebrate humanity’s third game changing event.  Glory to God!

http://seedbed.com/feed/john-wesley-and-spirit-baptism-seven-minute-seminary/

http://seedbed.com/feed/spiritual-gifts-ceased/

                                       ENJOY and CELEBRATE!