There Is No Place Like Home

Sabrina A. Matoff wrote a short piece entitled “Where You Call Home.” Here are her words: “In the end, it doesn't matter where you were born, but where you called home. Not how big your home was, but the strength of its foundation. Not where you studied books, but how much light guided your way. It doesn't matter what grades led you to college, but how college led you to experience life. Not whether you gained riches in currency, but emotional wealth in your relationships. Not how many people knew your name, but how many individuals knew your heart. Not whether you achieved fame in the public spotlight, but cherished value in your daily routine. In the end, is doesn't matter what goals were attained, but how many dreams you envisioned. Not what mountains blocked your roads, but what peaks opened your senses. In the end, it doesn't matter where you may wander as long as you know your way home…”

“Like a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home” (Proverbs 27:8). The prodigal son in the story told by Jesus in Luke 15 couldn’t wait to leave home. The story itself doesn’t go into the reasons why, but we could imagine a few. Maybe he got tired of being told what to do. Perhaps he wanted to see the world beyond the horizon for himself. It could be that his older brother was getting on his nerves. Who knows? Whatever the reasons, he packed his bag and left. Who needs home, anyway?

But it didn’t take too long for reality to smack him right in the face. The home he was so anxious to leave began to look better to him. He began to long for the things he abandoned. And, thankfully, he had a father who was more than willing to welcome him home with open arms (Luke 15:20-24). How thankful we can be for a Father Who also welcomes wanderers home! Truly, there is no place like home!

God loves you!

Mike

Who Cares?

“Did you hear about the company that makes blank bumper stickers? They're for people who don't want to get involved.”* This humorous quote highlights a very real mental and emotional struggle that affects many: apathy. “Apathy, also referred to as indifference, is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, and/or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, and/or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical, virtual, or physical life and the world.” (wikipedia.org).

In a world where we have 24\7 access to all of the world’s problems, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with a sense of “what’s the use anyway?” When one reaches the point where it seems that nothing will make a difference, the temptation is to give up trying. Even children of God, who have every reason to be hopeful, aren’t immune to bouts of apathy. Perhaps that's why we are so often encouraged not to be apathetic. Here are some examples: “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 6:9). “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). When apathy leads to inaction, the results can be serious. “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). The church in Laodicea was singled out for a stinging rebuke by the Risen Lord for this very issue: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings” (Helen Keller).

God loves you!

Mike

*https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/a/apathy.htm 

That's Showbiz

I ran across this paragraph on Facebook recently and it resonated with me: “The Church was never called to compete with the world for attention. If we have to entertain people into the room, eventually we will have to entertain them to keep them there. Jesus did not call us to build crowds. He called us to make disciples. That means we preach the Word. We call people to repentance. We worship Jesus. We pray. We disciple. We love people deeply. And we trust the Holy Spirit to do what entertainment never can: transform hearts. The goal is not to make church more impressive. The goal is to make disciples who truly know Jesus, follow Jesus, and become more like Jesus.” (John Patrick Wright)

We live in a world where entertainment opportunities abound. Companies and causes have to become more and more entertaining to compete for our increasingly-limited attention spans and increasingly-depleted bank accounts. Even serious discussions over serious matters have to be presented in an entertaining way to get views and clicks on social media. As the title of Neil Postman’s 1985 book suggests, maybe we are “Amusing Ourselves To Death.”

Some churches have been infected with the entertainment virus . After all, if you have to compete with the NFL or YouTube or Netflix to put bodies in the seats on Sundays, you better put on a good show and have lots of options. But beware! As the paragraph above points out, your surge in attendance will quickly evaporate when another group puts on a better show and offers more options than you do. After all, “that showbiz” as they say.

Where did we ever get the idea that our assemblies need to be entertaining? It’s instructive to me that Jesus never seemed to get the memo that attracting crowds was the highest priority. Yes, Jesus taught and ministered to large crowds (John 6:2-5) but that wasn’t the endgame. He was seeking committed followers even if that caused the crowd to shrink appreciably (John 6:66-67). 

God loves you!

Mike 

When Words Get In The Way

“Cartha Deloach served as J. Edgar Hoover's assistant at the FBI from 1965 to 1970. He tells a humorous story sharing insight into Hoover's quirky personality, as well as exposing the power of misunderstanding and ambiguous communication:

“One day a memo on internal security that had been sent up to Hoover came back with a message in the familiar scrawl: "Watch the borders! H." Telephones began to ring all over the building, everyone asking the same question: "Is there anything going on in Mexico or Canada we should know about?" "Maybe we ought to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service." Somebody said, "Why don't you just ask Hoover what he knows that we don't know?" But no one wanted to show his ignorance. So we called Customs and they didn't know any more than we did.

“Several days later a supervisor was again reviewing the memo when the answer to the question jumped out and smacked him in the face. The memo had been typed with the narrowest possible margins. Hoover, always fastidious, had picked up his pen and in annoyance had scrawled, "Watch the borders!" (illustrationexchange.com)

Words can be tricky things. That is why they should be used with care. This story illustrates how even plain speech can be misunderstood when the speaker and the hearer do not have a shared reference point. Of course the good news about salvation in Christ is the most valuable message we have to share. Paul speaks of the gospel as “...treasure in earthen vessels…” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Perhaps that is why he never wanted how he used his words about the good news to get in the way. He desired “...to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul desired his hearers to be converted to Christ by the power of God, not the power of his oratory skills (2 Corinthians 2:4-5). May the words we choose and the way we use them never obscure the cross of Christ.

God loves you!

Mike

The Supremacy Of Love

“In his book Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells of a college sociology class that was sent into the Baltimore slums to take case histories of 200 young boys. The students were required to write an evaluation of each boy’s projected future, and in virtually every case, they wrote, “He hasn’t got a chance.”

“Some twenty-five years later, another professor came across the earlier study and decided to do a follow-up study. With the exception of twenty boys who had died or moved, the study revealed that 176 of the remaining 180 boys had gone on to surprising success, with many becoming lawyers, doctors, and leading businessmen.

“When the men were asked for the reasons that contributed to their successes, they all pointed to one particular teacher who had influenced them. The teacher was still alive, so the professor went to visit her to ask how she had influenced boys seemingly destined for poverty and crime to become such success stories. “It’s really very simple,” she responded. “I loved those boys.”*

The life-changing power of love is truly amazing! It’s also something that the Bible has taught all along. Notice how Jesus emphasizes it. When someone asks Him about the greatest commandment, here is what he says: “And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets”” (Matthew 22:37-40). I suppose that’s why Paul would promote love as supreme over human and angelic speech, over prophecy and knowledge, and over sacrificial generosity (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). These things are all important in their own way but will fail. But love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). Even faith and hope, as vital as they are, yield to the supremacy of love -- “...the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). 

God loves you!

Mike

*Robert R. Kopp, Logans Ferry Presbyterian Church, New Kensington, PA

Own It

        In Psalm 7, David is appealing to God for deliverance from wicked opponents who were seeking to harm him in some way. He vividly describes them as a lion seeking to tear his soul and drag him away (vv.1-2). He calls upon God, as the Righteous Judge, to rise up and vindicate him before his enemies (vv.6-11). And while the upright can trust God to deliver them, the wicked cannot expect the same treatment (vv.12-16).

But in the midst of this larger discussion, David has a moment of introspection. Note what he writes in vv. 3-5: “O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to my friend, or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah” (Psalm 7:3-5). David was struggling to find a reason for what he was enduring. These words perhaps give us some insight into the methods of David’s accusers. In some way, they were calling into question his character. It isn’t that he is professing to be sinless but he does believe there is no basis for the accusations against him. To his credit, David is willing to own it if he has been blind to his own flaws.

This is a great example to all of us when we face our own critics in life. It’s always good to pause long enough to consider if perhaps our struggles with others may be the result of some sinful behavior in our own life. It may or may not be true. If our conscience is clear, then great. Forge ahead and trust God to deal with the critics. But if there is a sin in our life that has provided fuel for the critic, then we need to own it before God (and maybe even our critic). May God help us to be honest about our own flaws

God loves you!

Mike

 

Like A Dread Champion

“I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries” (Psalm 6:6-7).

Perhaps these words of David resonate with you. Maybe you have walked the road of suffering that makes this description seem hauntingly familiar. The specific situation that prompted the deep emotions isn’t revealed. He does mention “adversaries” in v.6 and “enemies” in v.10. Whatever the “backstory,” the pain and struggle David is experiencing is deep and overwhelming. Where do you turn in times like these?

David turns to the Lord. And in doing so, he has a word for those who were causing him grief. “Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD has heard my supplication, the LORD receives my prayer.” (Psalm 6:8-9). What gives David confidence to confront his adversaries?  His hope is centered in the faithful attention of God. “...for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping…” (v.8). “The LORD has heard my supplication…” (v.9). “...the LORD receives my prayer.” (v.9). 

The final verse in Psalm 6 highlights an important reversal. “All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed” (v.10). Earlier in the psalm, it was David’s bones and soul that were dismayed (vv. 2-3). Now it’s David’s enemies who will experience it. David’s hope in God allows him to see the fate of his enemies, even though his eyes are filled with tears.

When you are facing your own difficult season in life, remember you have a Champion in your corner. “But the LORD is with me like a dread champion; therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed, with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten” (Jeremiah 20:11). Lean on Him to deal with your adversaries.

God loves you!

Mike