18 Things Which Are Always

          In this life, there are very few things which are always. Unless we’re speaking about strict identities, like man, woman, up, down, etc, most everything else can change it seems.

i realize we’ve spoken of the words “always” and “never” before, but it seems the Lord wants us to know more about the “always” things which are alive in scripture.

In Romans 1:9, Paul writes, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” And Luke18:1, Jesus said that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Always, meaning every which way, waking and sleeping, in a way which says, “you are always on my mind”. i used to wonder how anyone could pray without ceasing. Can you hear it? i can. In the back of my head, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is entirely possible there is a song and prayer continuously going on. Listen, it is there. Does a lack of prayer in the heart and soul of a believer imply somehow there is also a loss of heart?

Jesus said in Matthew 26:11 the poor are always with us. Now that word “poor” means more than simply without monetary means, God means something larger, as in poor in spirit, poor in common sense, beggarly allegiances, poverty stricken in self-control, peace, and rightness of character to name a few. Let us also note that the reason the poor are always with us is that oppressors, the unjust, and manipulative to gain a personal agenda are also always with us.

John 8:29, “…for I always do those things that please him.” Jesus is speaking of the will of the Father. The preferences and standards of the Father are the preferences and standards of Jesus. Let us also adopt an attitude of heart which is determined to own Gods standards and preferences for ourselves, always doing the things which please the Lord.

In John 11:41-42, Jesus made a statement which we need, NEED to believe and know as He knew. He said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me…” He made this statement so those around Him would believe also that God hears us when we pray, Always. He knows it, it isn’t a suspicion which would indicate unsureness lurking around in His head. He said, always, meaning without a doubt, at all times; on all occasions, without fail. We n-e-e-d to know this one in particular.

2 Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ...” Those in Christ will not triumph mostly, not pretty much, but are ALWAYS caused to triumph, singing the honor of His great name. Believe it! Gods always means exactly what He said, always. When we are sure we are water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again, we need to know there is nothing SO dead, God cannot grow life out of it. He ALWAYS causes us to triumph.

2 Corinthians 5:5-6, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage.” God has prepared us, we are equipped, going forward with His guarantee, therefore we always are of good courage. Gods guarantee means “always”, without a doubt, by which the result is brought about that we are no longer slaves of fear. We bank on Gods guarantee that Jesus has overcome the world, going forward in the power of the Spirit. Be of good courage to stand up in His name.

David describes a heart posture that is necessary for us when he wrote in Psalm16:8 that he has “set the Lord always before him, therefore he will not be shaken.” To set the Lord always before us, means to purposely, put God first, always, surrendering to Him the pre-eminence in all things… before my ambition, before my self-advancement, before my objective for building a church… before everything, i have set the Lord before me. To “set God before us”, means we make Him the standard. As a result, when i am cornered and chaos surrounds my house, the shalom of God encapsulates me and i will not be moved. All my days are before the Lord.

Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that God is able to make all grace abound towards us, that we would always have all sufficiency in all things in order to super-abound in excess in every good work. It is always good to be zealously affected for a good purpose, bound and driven to thank God always, without fail, continuously with joy.

By the power and guarantee of God we can set ourselves in a continual position for our speech to always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we can know how we ought to answer each person. 1 Thessalonians 5:15, “always, always, always follow after that which is good, that is Gods version of what is good, looking to do good to one another and to everyone.”

Friends, let us always labor, in all things, for the glory of God, rejoicing always as it says in Philipians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.”

And the creme-dela-creme, the cream of the cream, Jesus said He will never leave us, and is always with us, and i’ll say it over and over until i get it down in my head, God means what He says, and always means always, and there’s never a time He meant something other than always. As a result, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Christ, since he always lives to make intercession for us.

What do you think? There are actually more than 18, how many can you find?

          Living our lives in the fullness of the space we live in, to our highest potential should be one of our aspirations, not merely surviving, but actually prospering. Oh, and don’t you know, God’s idea of prosperity in contrast to our own idea can be a very wide difference.

It seems all of us, at one time or another, are hesitant to come to grips with the fact that all things which breath, at some point, stop breathing. Yes, i’m talking about dying. Dying is something we don’t get to practice in order that, when the time comes, we can do it well. There are no courses to take with revealing questions to answer at the end of each chapter which will help us die well. There are no books written by a well known author with a title like, “8 Easy Steps To Dying Well”. Or at least, at this writing, i don’t know of any.

i think many of us aren’t hardly prepared to live, much less die, that is not until we are fading away into eternity and then urgency is upon us and we seriously consider all the things we wish we had said or done. When people attend a funeral, they get all melancholy, waxing philosophic, and voicing reasons as to why this event happened to someone like him or her. Breathe man breathe, death comes to us all, and indeed, is a depressing subject in itself, and it’s true, who wants to be depressed?

Actually, i think our entire nation is somewhat depressed, carrying around a backpack with pockets of hidden pensive sadness concerning the way our lives have gone, morbidly shuffling around a head full of “should have’s” and “might have’s”. You know, it really doesn’t have to be that way. God has a better idea.

Are you taking advantage of every opportunity God extends you, in order that you’d live life to the fullest in the space the Lord gave you? In Christ, how much space is yours? What defines your space? Sure, Jesus is your space, but what are the contents of that space? i think, many times we get so caught up in the details of our work-a-day world, we simply don’t recognize the moments right in front of us. Everyone has seasons of deadlines, problems, distractions and obstacles, and we all want more from life than what we stand in most of the time, yet, often, it just doesn’t seem to be near to our hand to grasp. i don’t think anyone wants to be merely average, i doubt young adults hope they lead a life of more or less. i don’t think anyone dreams of leading a ho-hum existence, making a paycheck, eating enough to live, basically saying they’ll probably live till they die, and that’s all. We all want more than that even if it’s unlikely and is truly beyond our circumstances. The media and advertisers know this and bait us into the hypnotic dazzle of bright lights, and high living, saying, “You can have it all”, and “life is a journey – enjoy the ride”, calling to us with a Siren’s call to buy their product, guaranteeing us life will be fuller if we do this, “one simple thing.” In one way, truly, it’s just that simple, “just do it”, but in another way it’s far larger than we imagine.

i heard a great story by a fellow who said: A young soldier and his commanding officer got on a train together. The only available seats were across from an attractive young woman who was traveling with her grandmother. As they engaged in pleasant conversation, the soldier and the young woman kept eyeing one another; the attraction was obviously mutual. Suddenly the train went into a tunnel and the car became pitch black.

Immediately two sounds were heard: the “smack” of a kiss, and the “whack” of a slap across the face. The grandmother thought “I can’t believe he kissed my granddaughter, but I’m glad she gave him the slap he deserved.”

The commanding officer thought, “I don’t blame the boy for kissing the girl, but it’s a shame that she missed his face and hit me instead.”

The young girl thought, “I’m glad he kissed me, but I wish my grandmother hadn’t slapped him for doing it.”

And as the train broke into the sunlight, the soldier could not wipe the smile off his face. He had just seized the opportunity to kiss a pretty girl, slap his commanding officer and had gotten away with both!

i wouldn’t suggest anyone do what the young man did in that story, but the point is … he seized the moment, and i believe the Lord presents us with many Holy Spirit-charged moments if we’re interested and have eyes to see. O.S. Marden wrote: “There’s no greater sight in the world than that of a person fired with a great purpose, dominated by one unwavering aim.”

In Philippians 3:12-16, Paul is speaking of gaining Christ and the power of His resurrection, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” Gaining ground and keeping the ground we’ve attained are two different things. He’s saying, “i have not arrived, but i can assure you i have left.”

All men will pass away, but the real question is “did you really live?” Are you living well where you are in the fullness of your space, or merely surviving? Are you seeing the God-inspired moments which are in front of you every day, or are you walking past them, completely preoccupied with the dazzle of this world? Let me also add, there is not space to even begin to address those who feel they don’t deserve to have a full life, which is ludicrousness thriving in the shadows of doubt and self-condemnation.

What do you think?

A leap of faith, according to the dictionary is an act of believing in or attempting something whose existence or outcome cannot be proved. It is when we take action believing in something outside our boundaries of reason. Like the fellow i met in 1981 who told me about when he and his family drove 386 miles on an empty tank of gas. The reason they stopped wasn’t that they ran out of gas but because the Lord told them to pull up at a gas station and He would provide gas for the car. Sure enough, when they pulled up to the pumps, the man in the next aisle asked if they would like a fill-up. It was beyond all reason, beyond anything they thought. When the gauge on the dash said the tank was empty, empty, empty, the Lord told each of them, starting with the kids in the back seat, to keep going, going, going. So, they did. At first, they inwardly prepared themselves for their faith to be dashed, but the further they went, the more amazing things got. At the 50-mile mark, they stopped holding their breath in trepidation and trembling. At the 150-mile mark, they were laughing and giggling with joy, and at 300 miles and beyond, they were singing so loud, hands in the air, it was all they could do to hold themselves together.

Now you may say that story is a bit over the top, but it happened. The car wasn’t a little 50 miles to the gallon vehicle. It was an old, gas guzzler. It was all they had. That was a leap of faith … it was beyond reason and far past their ability to comprehend, outside of the fact that God had done it.

The Lord asks us many, many times in the course of our lives to believe Him, beyond our work-a-day world, and enter into the realm of possibilities according to Him. For many, believing past what we can see seems insurmountable, yet for others it appears to come easier.

Sundar Singh was leading a group of people in the wilderness in India, carrying the gospel to remote villages. They came to a raging river with no way to cross. In front of everyone, within everybody’s hearing, he told a tree to fall across the river in order that they would cross. The tree cracked, popped, and fell exactly as was necessary. It was a leap of faith beyond what the people could imagine. God testifies to us who have eyes to see and ears to hear, He abundantly, openly testifies that He is able to do more than we imagine, better than we hope, ready and able that nothing is impossible for Him.

i had a dream recently where myself and some others were being chased by an army taking over the country. We came to a large green field and began crossing all that expanse of green. i could see the army in hot pursuit, coming down a dirt road. Suddenly, to my left walking near me in the field, a man leaped up, grabbing at something i couldn’t see. Instantly, in his hands was a cord, and above him was a glowing green parachute. In the dream i could feel my mind trying to reason through it, yes no yes no… but from my heart rose the idea to try, just try. Why not? So i too jumped as high as i could and pretended to grab a cord which, by all reason, was not there. Instantly a cord was in my hand and a large glowing, sparkling green parachute was above me, carrying me upwards. Suddenly, i could see others jumping also, having been inspired by what they saw in the other fellow and myself, and instantly, in their leap of faith, they all  held cords in their hands, which previously was not there, and at the top of each cord was a saving parachute. The wind began to blow and we all rose up out of harm’s way and were swept into the distance, over the tree tops and mountains to safety.

We all have leap of faith-type occasions in our life, at one time or another, and if you say you don’t, i’d bet you do except you simply didn’t see it. To me, the question isn’t “do you have leap a leap of faith” testimony, but maybe, more importantly, do you notice? For some, a leap of faith might be to quit your job and become a volunteer with a ministry in another country, after all, if you don’t go, it’s just not going to happen. For others, it may seem a leap of faith to believe God can change the heart of a spouse, child, or friend. It’s easy to doubt ourselves in the middle of our leap, but in that action, regardless of doubt, faith overcomes and the miraculous follows. It is putting your trust in God instead of yourself and then acting on that belief. Faith equals trust training.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that faith triggers a response of pleasure in God’s heart. As we demonstrate our trust in Him, He is not apathetic or indifferent but actually delights in our belief in Him. Don’t you know, in Matthew 14, when Peter stepped out onto the water, it was a total leap of faith. By all reason, the water would not support his weight. BUT, he had a call on him from Jesus who said, “Come to me”. In John 9, it was a total leap of faith when the blind man allowed Jesus to put clay on his eyes and suddenly he could see. What in the world does clay have to do with sight? i don’t know, but Jesus was obedient to the Father, and that’s what He did. Do you think the blind man was thinking to himself, “i doubt this will work, but it can’t hurt to try.” He allowed Jesus to exercise faith on his behalf, and the blind man exercised faith by allowing the situation to proceed.

i know, whoever you are, that you’re likely facing circumstances so out of the realm of possibilities, and everything in you is screaming, no way out. But God will make a way where there was no way. It’s a leap of faith but you’ll never know where the path will lead if you don’t try.

It is subtle, but our preferences speak volumes of our character. 

         Matthew 4:18-22, “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” 

         As i understand the scripture, Peter and Andrew made a decision in the moment. Maybe prior to Jesus coming around, they were thinking of going back to school or were bouncing around the idea of doing something other than fishing. i don’t know. But, when Jesus walked up and said, “Follow me”, there were no sales tactics presented to them, they didn’t have to be sold on the idea. They weren’t promised a big salary, a corner office, nor widespread influence with the use of the local Synagogue marketing committee.

         They were choosing, they preferred to follow Jesus over staying with their day job. Before that, evidently, they had a preference for fishing, after all, they had invested in nets, boats, and made connections to market their fish, but in that exact moment Jesus walked up, their preferences changed. What was going on that caused them to make such a change, seeming to turn on a dime like that?

         In the last 20 years, God has changed my preferences. There was a time in my life when i thought i didn’t care one way or another which restaurant i ate at, which mystery show we would watch, whether i had lasagna, a hamburger, or a salad for lunch. It didn’t matter which restaurant because i like a huge variety of foods, and my goal was to eat food, however that came about. i really believed it didn’t matter. i was very indifferent to many things, with indifferent being the key word there. i didn’t really care what i drove as long as it started, stopped, had lights, and got me from point A to B and back, consistently. i thought i didn’t care whether i wore a collared shirt or a t-shirt, because in my mind it only mattered that i cover my body. Solid color, large print, small print, old shirt, new shirt, i was very utilitarian in many of my views of life. i believed those choices weren’t all too important, or at least i thought. Well, let me tell you, God had another plan. He began to pose me questions, drawing out my preferences that were buried underneath a world of thinking which hinged on the idea that i didn’t want to offend anyone. i didn’t want to appear persnickety and opinionated, i just wanted to go along to get along with as little conflict as possible. Do you realize how utterly impossible it is to live a life with no conflict, on any front? All that indifference affected the expression of my preferences. But was it really, actually indifference though? The truth was, as He revealed to me, i did, indeed, have preferences and it was OK to have them. Today, i can say i prefer collared shirts and leather shoes, i prefer blue jeans over dress slacks, i prefer to stay at home over going out at night, i prefer the truth over hearing sweet things. i prefer peace over contention which starts with me not being a contentious, combative person. My list goes on for a while, but you get the idea. Friends, it’s ok to be you.

         When Peter met Jesus, i believe the presence of God was so persuasive, that Peter was willing to change from owning his preferences to preferring God’s preferences. And wouldn’t you know, God has preferences, which i believe, we need to know about. If we’re going to be like Jesus then it seems to me we need to know what He prefers.

         i’d say, the Lord has a personal preference for mercy over judgment. He prefers honor and grace over dishonor and disgrace, and truth over lies. 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 

         i would say the Lord has a personal preference to be patient, and He would far prefer to fulfill His promises. He has a preference that none should perish and that everyone would experience forgiveness and eternal life. From the beginning, the Lord had a choice, He could either kill them all or give His life so that we would be saved. Kill them or save them, and He preferred to save us. He preferred Abel’s sacrifice over what Cain brought. He has a personal preference that a man and woman comprise a marriage, and the list of God’s preferences goes on and on beyond the edge of the universe. 

         His preferences are a standard for us and were built into everything He created. God’s preferences have set the stage for the end, from the beginning..

         It seems to me we know well the preferences of our children and friends, but how is it that we call Him Lord, God, Savior, All-in-all, Adonai, and friend, yet we seem to know so little about even what His personal preferences are. On a basic level, a friend knows their friend’s personal preferences, doesn’t God deserve much more than all of them? i think it would behoove us to know. 

         What are your preferences? Be honest. Not only are we defined by our preferences, we are revealed by our preferences. For example, what we like and don’t like can be seen by how we spend our money. Most people totally don’t want you to know where their money goes … it is very revealing. How well do you know your family’s liking for one alternative over another? Would you say God’s commandments are representative of His personal preferences? Isn’t the Lord eternally more important than today’s political figures, yet we know more about the preferences of famous people than we do the Lord, and i’d like to do something about that. What do you think?

These days, oh boy, these days, have you ever heard someone say, “Don’t judge me!”, which is often said with anger? 

         A thin, famished-looking young man, dressed in plaid pants which were too short, wearing a poke-a-dot collared shirt, large sunglasses, and a black derby hat, before anyone could say anything, he said, “Walk a mile in my shoes, see what i see, hear what i hear, feel what i feel, THEN maybe you’ll understand why i do what i do, ‘till then don’t judge me.” He said all that to no one in particular, all said with a sneer on his face and condescension in his voice. No one had said anything, no one made a face or rolled their eyes at him, yet there he was throwing his defense out. What in the world was going on with him that he was absolutely compelled to say all that to no one in particular. When he said it all, no one replied, no one did anything but continue on with what they were doing. His comment made no difference, did nothing and changed nothing.

         These days, we hear it all the time, especially on college campuses. It’s almost as if when the words are spoken, “don’t judge me”, they feel it lets them out of being liable, magically winning immediate unanimous approval from everyone around. All the person has to do is say the magic words, “Don’t judge me” and suddenly they’re untouchable.

         i was at a coffee shop waiting for a friend. A slightly overweight young woman, who may have been on a diet, got a cookie with her morning coffee. i noticed with a glance and thought to myself that the cookie looked pretty good, still, i said nothing, just sat there with my coffee. But, she saw me looking at the cookie. She glared at me and out her mouth came, “Don’t judge me”. And i wondered, judge her about what?

         To me, i puzzled within myself, what do these people mean when they say those three magic words that suddenly make them home free? “Don’t judge me!” They use the words as if it’s a Harry Potter magic spell. Truly though, i believe what they’re really saying is more the unspoken agenda of “don’t think less of me”, “don’t think i’m a bad person”, and “don’t even think you’re better than me”. Honestly, it all just looks like fear to me. But fear of what? Public opinion? Looking as fat as is actually the truth? Appearing as silly as we truly are?

         Some even go so far as to pull scripture out of context, declaring “Even Jesus said judge not lest you be judged.”

“Don’t judge me!”

         Do any of those folks have any idea how completely impossible it is for any one of us to not have an opinion of right and wrong? We may not want to admit it, and it may be buried underneath layers and layers of politically correct thinking, but we all, absolutely all, have preferences and personal opinions. We can’t hide in the “no judgment zone” forever, that’s not life, nor does life work that way. Exercising our ability to judge, deciding right and wrong, is how we decide to be moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, principled or unprincipled. Hiding in the “don’t judge me” phrase makes us morally, ethically, and principally stupid. Yes, i said stupid, and my definition of stupid is ignorance that has been told and refuses to listen.

         As C.S. Lewis said, “God is our one and only, sole ally in the universe, and we have alienated him from ourselves.” i say, It is an absolute necessity for us to make God’s preferences and standards to be our standards, and if He didn’t set the standard there would only be darkness, chaos, dying, and death.

         “Don’t judge me” seems to be a way of someone telling us they want what they want, and they take no responsibility for any standards. In 1st Corinthians, however, the Greek word is different than in other places where the word “judge” is concerned. In this case, Paul uses the Greek word, anakrino, which is also translated as “scrutinize,” “investigate,” “discern,” or “examine.” So while Jesus forbids us from “judging” others in the sense of condemning them, we are still called to “judge all things,” using our power of intellect to investigate the world and discern the truth. Ahh, the truth, is that what is ultimately being avoided? “Don’t judge me”, “talk to the hand ‘cause the ears don’t wanna hear.” Think my friend, use your brain and think.

         Here is a beautiful catechism: Having a moral conscience being present at the heart of the person, instructs and urges them at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to Ultimate Goodness to whom we are drawn, and it welcomes God’s standards and preferences. When we listen to our moral compass, a man who lives with concern and has thoughts for the future can hear God speaking.

         i am confident that for those who hide in “Don’t judge me”, their moral compass is, by degrees, becoming blinded through the habit of rebellion and purposeful wrongness. They seem to think their ignorance is somehow invincible.

         Many think saying “Don’t judge me” seems to let them out of having a conscience, the very feedback loop which enables them to assume responsibility for their actions. i’m astounded that they think just saying magic words like, “Don’t judge me”, somehow relieves them of any culpability for their actions.

         i have thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with someone who invokes the “Don’t judge me” phrase, asking them, in their opinion, just what, exactly, do they believe they’re being judged about, and what do they mean by their use of the word “judge”? Somehow, i just don’t think the conversation would go well. Maybe some of us are so afraid of offending anyone or being accused of being intolerant, we’re forgetting how to tell right from wrong. i figure, anyone who claims, “Don’t judge me” has already judged themselves and has, on some level, already realized the wrongness of their actions. What do you think?