On a side note, it seems so much of our time is spent on things of lesser importance, sort of like the anxiety about sanctuary carpet color, knowing the 25 little-known Harry Potter facts, or maybe doing a study on the average length of lampshades in America. i must admit i’m pretty surprised and fascinated by the things people seem to think is so important. Like it’s more important to take an online quiz to find out what kind of potato you would be, if you were a potato, than it is to pick up the phone and have a short conversation with someone who needs to hear an encouraging voice today. Things of lesser importance seem to have completely distracted our entire nation…. another example – many seem to be overly concerned about the number of likes they get on Facebook, overly concerned if someone is texting them or not, whether or not they are wearing an acceptable style of clothing, being pre-occupied over if so-and-so saw me would they like my hair, etc, etc till the stomach turns.

We’d all do better by learning to ask ourselves –“what is critically significant in life”- and to recognize the things of lesser importance we are caught up in which cause us to miss out on what is truly important. It seems like it’s easier to watch a silly reality show than it is to spend a little time reading the Bible. i suppose our preferences are a pretty strong indicator concerning our relationship with God, wouldn’t you say?

Over time, the Lord has given me some little, hard-won wisdoms, and this evening i’d like to cover a few of what i’ve gathered.

1. The first little wisdoms on my list of “notes to myself” is the idea that “God comes TO us before He goes THROUGH us.”

To me that means we must become possessors and not simply professors – we must actually possess Christ, not just proclaim or maintain that He lives within our hearts while remaining clueless as to who He is and what He means when He says what He says. It also means we can know all about Hebrew and Greek and the Bible, yet rarely if ever do we connect with God. One of the saddest things i’ve ever seen is a man graduating seminary with a master of divinity, but he’s more lost today than he was when he started. Lately, i’ve been using a phrase to describe the response of many believers to deeper discussions of our faith…. that phrase is “white noise”. You may ask… maybe…what is white noise?

White noise is like tuning your radio to a place where there’s no station and nothing but the hiss of the radio…. no signal…. no music…. no nothing, just the sound of soft, consistent static. It can also mean, “random talk without meaningful content”. When we possess Christ, within ourselves we have a response. When we merely profess Christ and come to times of necessary response, we either give no response, or we only offer cheap, shallow talk with no meaningful content. i consider it a great disappointment when other believers have the opportunity to enter into a deeper conversation about God, but instead of being inquisitive, asking questions, and searching out answers, they bow up in pride, act all huffy, as if someone told them they were stupid, and either storm off, or just stare at you in silence.

1 Peter 3:15-16, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”

He comes TO us before He goes thru us so our answers aren’t merely academic, but truly Spirit-driven.

2. Another little wisdom is that “we seem to often confuse character with accomplishment”.

True, our conduct influences our character, and our character most definitely influences our conduct, but so often…. it seems…i find myself believing that if i could just do such-n-such, then i must be a good person, or, i might say to myself that i do good therefore i should get good. You know, even the worst people can do good things, and just because we do good things from time to time doesn’t mean we are people of Godly character. God’s idea of good works, isn’t about the good thing that was done but about the righteous heart behind the works. Even the worst sinners can do good things, but only the righteous are considered to have good works.

Matt 7:11 says that even those with a corrupt conscience know how to give good things to their children. In Christ alone is my character built, not just in doing some good things. i say it is always the right time to do the right thing….believe me, doing the right thing, even when it’s to our own hurt, takes Godly character. Testify. Let us reveal to the world our Godly character and not stop short of that unveiling by only declaring to them our accomplishments.

3. The next little wisdom is about forgiveness, which seems to be a repetitive and difficult lesson for many of us. “Forgiveness is not so much about the other person but about us as individuals.”

For as long as we don’t forgive, we stay chained to the other person, or persons, in the offense of the circumstances. Forgiveness restores the standard and good boundaries maintain that same standard of righteousness.

In 2 Timothy4, we read about how Paul, who was publicly confronted by Alexander the coppersmith, was called upon to give his self-defense at a preliminary trial. But when he stood to testify, no one stood with him as a friend. No-show friends seem pretty common these days, which means we must resolve to follow Christ, regardless of who clicks like on our Facebook page, or gives us verbal cudo’s when we need propping up. Then Paul says, “May it not be put to their account.” Even though all his friends were a no-show, he asked the Lord to not lay it to their charge. So what standard was restored by his forgiveness, even though scripture is silent as to anyone even asking for forgiveness?

i believe it was the standard of mercy and grace. His feelings were hurt by the no-show friends, but he chose to exercise grace and prayed that the Lord would not count it against them. Friends, there will be times in your life when support doesn’t show up – it’s not IF it will happen, it’s when it happens…. in light of that, how will you react? i like to think Paul knew they didn’t show up because they were afraid, and by his employing mercy and grace… he let it go. When friends don’t do what they say, let’s have grace for them and allow their offense to slide off our backs, knowing that God is faithful to address their issues in His time. Consider….the Lord was and is merciful and exercises grace toward us when we are unresponsive towards Him. God is generous, let us be generous also.

4. Here’s a little wisdom: “Silence can speak volumes if we’re willing to listen.”

Now i’ll be the first to admit, silence from any corner can be trying, but rather than object loudly to the silence, how about we listen to hear what’s underneath? Like “white noise”… rather than only hearing the non-response…. let’s go the extra mile to listen for what’s underneath it…and you KNOW there is a lot going on beneath the surface of silence.

Luke 14:3-4, “And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.” What was underneath their silence?

Ok, now this is just what i think, but i believe they were astounded by the position in which Jesus had placed them, and being unable to discover some means of saving face they simply remained silent, at which point Jesus healed the man, and since the man was evidently not one of the invited guests to dinner, the Lord sent him on his way. i believe their silence was about saving face. i believe their silence was about unbelief, and not knowing how to respond concerning was Jesus really who He said He was. It was about the fact that they couldn’t say it was not lawful, for the law didn’t forbid it. If it had, they surely would have spoken up. Jesus presented the opportunity for protest … and right in front of them was the perfect time to make objections if they had any… right now was the time to object and not after the man was healed. But yet, they were silent. Maybe it wasn’t so much that they objected to someone being healed, but more WHO was doing the healing.

Oftentimes, if we could hear what is in the silence of those around us, quite possibly we would find good reason to exercise great grace. Silence speaks loudly if we are willing to listen. Maybe fear holds people silent more often than we think; maybe most people really don’t know what to say – so they say nothing. We really, really need to learn to listen beyond just the words. i think maybe we’ve been taught to speak and to speak well, but it is rare to meet someone who has been taught to listen.

i’d like to add a twist to the “little wisdom” of “silence speaks loudly if we’re willing to listen”, and that is the side note that silence is not ALWAYS golden. For example, when someone is mad at us and they may give us the silent treatment. This kind of silence, however, usually means they are playing a cruel game of “who can care less, the most, the longest”. And to add further complication to the idea that silence speaks volumes if we’re willing to listen, what do we do with the Silence Of God? Oooo! Profound question there. i have a small amount of wisdom on that…..i’m afraid it’s not much, but here it is: When God is silent, let us wait patiently knowing He will indeed answer, letting strength rise as we wait, learning to live well where we are until the Lord replies. And know this, He is faithful… He WILL reply.

5. “Anytime we “turn on the light of truth, somebody is sure to cry”.

Or, i suppose that could be restated as “You can rest assured that anytime we present the Good News of Jesus Christ, someone will find a reason to object.” Let’s not worry if someone is going to feel hurt when we are truthful about the gospel …..it is necessary that we testify. The gospel of Christ rocks people’s boats, it unbalances their world perspective, it shifts the earth plates in all their agendas, and unclutters chaotic thinking…. in light of that, someone is going to be disturbed and troubled. As preposterous as it sounds, we must realize that there are people who actually thrive in chaos, they Godlessly prosper in a perfect storm. God is not surprised, and when it happens, we need to keep our focus on presenting the gospel, and not be swept into silence because we are afraid of what others will think. i have often found myself being the generator of “white noise”, or non-response – just the noise of nothing but moving air, and oh gosh, haven’t i left a discussion only to repent later for my silence on behalf of the gospel? Truth be told, i was afraid of the potential confrontation and didn’t feel i had a good reply at the moment or maybe i was afraid the people in the discussion wouldn’t like me, which would mean they might not speak to me anymore. Either way, at the core of my non-response, i was afraid.

1 Peter 3:16, “Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” The world often sees the Gospel as scrutinizing, and any time we turn on the light of Christ and the world feels scrutinized, somebody is gonna cry.

Psalm 30:5, “…The Lord’s favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

6. Here is wisdom we should all heed: “An oath is only as good as the person behind it”.

The moment someone says to me, “I swear it’s the truth,” immediately i have red flags of doubt go up. Chances are good that my red flags of doubt go up because so often in the past my experience has been when someone swears something is the truth, loud, long, and often, it has typically not been the truth. As a result, i tend to project into the future what i’ve learned from the past, meaning due to history i tend to doubt someone who makes an oath and swears up and down it’s true. “An oath is only as good as the person behind it” and once someone has proven themselves to be unreliable in keeping their word, i believe it is nearly, if not probably impossible to become expressly and exclusively trustworthy again. It’s like there never fades this little inkling, a little thin shadow of doubt. It’s as if once we violate trust, even if for years we prove ourselves to be of reliable and faithful character, there will often seem to be a little thing in the back of people’s minds that will niggle at them to not be so trusting.

Many people will swear by God….on someone’s grave, or even swear by some false god as to their truth and sincerity, and then they’ll say if they fail to keep their oath they will expect some kind of punishment should they either be lying or fail to live up to their pledge.

Friends, there is no such thing as “personal truth”. There is only one truth, Jesus. Also, i think this is wisdom….if you don’t have to swear and make an oath, then don’t.

Let’s be very careful with all our swearing and declaring, James 5:12 reads, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into hypocrisy.”

And really… above that, the truth is… we should put our trust in no one BUT the Lord for He alone is sovereignly faithful. In fact, the Lord is so confident in His ability to do all that He says, we see God swearing by himself in Genesis 22:16, swearing by his holiness in Psalm 89:35. In Isaiah62:8 the Lord is seen swearing by his right hand (the right hand being the hand of prosperity), and swearing by his great name in Jeremiah 44:26…..all that in order that He might stress the absolute certainty and immutability of His performing that which He swore. The Lord is the most reliable person in the entire universe and if He promises anything, we can stake our lives on it; He does not fail. God is good for His promises and truly, He is as good as His oath.

Think about it.

Let wisdom sink down into your soul, and notice, it is subtle, and most of the time the wisdom the Lord gives us doesn’t first appear as earth-shattering, but as it unfolds in our lives, we see the face of God, His glory rising in our hearts……it is there to help us navigate life, sort of like …..it is wise to learn to make small talk….if we don’t learn the art of small talk, we’ll probably miss seeing the green shoots of grace which grow in people’s back yards.

And to that i’ll say, think about it….amen.

             i fully believe the Lord is talking to us, one way or another, all the time. Sometimes it’s in whispers and dreams, maybe a few resonant words in the middle of a conversation or a song lyric…. other times loud and clear, that is, if we’ve got our ear to the ground and are interested in what He’s got to say.

John 16:13, “But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.”

If we are interested in the Lord, He will guide our way. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

This discussion this evening is concerning another four little wisdoms which the Lord has given to me, wisdom gleaned through blood, sweat, and tears…

Without wisdom, we are dead in the water, just wild beasts standing in the wind and rain, knowing we are wet and cold, but not knowing what to do about it. i had some cattle many years ago, and i can remember looking out the kitchen window one morning through a downpour of snow and sleet and seeing some of the cattle standing up on a hillside, their backs to the wind, with what looked to me like misery on their faces, and snow and ice stuck to their backs. Don’t worry, cattle are usually pretty good outside down to about -30 below zero, and that morning it was 10 degrees above, nevertheless, cold and wet is cold and wet no matter how you cut it. While watching them in the moment i had to chuckle to myself thinking how they looked like people without wisdom or understanding, in that the look on their faces seemed to say they were cold, wet, and miserable, but really had no idea what to do about it. i imagined one looking at the other and remarking, “Boy it sure is cold and wet!” and the other saying back, “Yea, it sure is…i’m very unhappy, but i don’t know what to do….gosh, it’s really cold and wet.” …then letting out a pitiful moan or two with the conversation just going round and round as they rolled their large soft, wet eyes at each other, lost in their circular thinking. Similarly, without wisdom and understanding, we too, tend to just sit in our unhappy places, wonder how we got there, but don’t know what to do about it. Sounds like it’s prime time to ask the Lord for wisdom and understanding wouldn’t you say?

1. “Never contend with a contentious man. Let him go his way.”

The first little wisdom of this evening was born out of a few long-running difficult situations of my own, similar to what the New Testament Christians found themselves in during the time of Roman occupation when the religious people of the world were being confronted by the presence of the Savior of mankind.

Jesus was active in His ministry and it was obvious just by His presence in the room, He tended to make the room feel pressed to choose if they were on God’s side, or their own side. Many loved Him, many just liked Him, and many hated Him with unfounded and profound anger that they couldn’t seem to explain other than He prevented them from making a profit or breaking their traditions. The old church paradigm was shifting, a Savior had been born, and as can be read throughout the four gospels, people were hungry for what Jesus had but yet they were very uncomfortable with what He represented.

Matt 26 gives an account where Jesus has been dragged before the chief priests, elders, and all the council was just looking for something to accuse Him of, even if it wasn’t true so they could justify putting Him to death. In all their searching, they found no one at first who would say lies about the Lord. Eventually, two came forward to testify against Jesus, and it was all the chief priest needed. The leadership invented stuff when they could find no fault. They were a contentious lot….how dare anyone disrupt their personal agendas and religious system!

When they questioned Jesus, the Lord answered not a word, even when the high priest demanded an answer, declaring Jesus was under oath by the living God, spitting and raging. When Jesus did speak, it was all the high priest needed and the council declared Jesus deserving of death. Then they spat in His face and beat Him, striking Him with their open hands, taunting and ridiculing Him, yet He answered not a word.

In Matt 17, when Pilate, a contentious man in his own right, was troubled in his heart about Jesus, made his own inquiry. Matthew 27:13-14, “Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word so that the governor marveled greatly.”

When in the middle of my own dealings with difficult people, the Lord has spoken to me, “Do not go to the mat and wrestle with this person. Do not contend with a contentious man, just let him go his way.” And you’ve gotta understand, this doesn’t mean someone who merely challenges our thinking or doctrine, but someone who is consistently contrary, always has a beef about something, and spares no efforts to make sure you know they’re contrary. Someone who controls the conversation and even when what you’re saying makes sense, they naturally take the counterpoint. Contrary i tell ya, just contrary, as if they just neeeeed the conflict.

When we are accused, it is hard to not reply, but remember, just because we are accused doesn’t mean we must defend ourselves. Jesus did not have a defense because He did not carry an offense, He held no toxic waste in His heart towards anyone. For me, when i have employed this wisdom of the Lord, it was a hard-won wisdom…i carried many offenses so it was hard to not make a reply. Proverbs 26:21, “As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.” Friends, do not contend with a contentious man…let him go his way.

 2.    “We want a foreseeable, calculated outcome and a predictable crisis, but that’s not the nature of faith.”

Most of life is not lived in crisis, which is a good thing….but crisis does have something to say for itself: In a time of crisis, everything, absolutely everything is important and significant. Every little word has impact, every raindrop, every short breath, every anxious moment…. it all is important and significant. i don’t believe anyone, anywhere, anytime looks forward to, nor asks for a crisis of faith in their lives, but i have an observation about that… it seems to me, a crisis in our lives, as navigated by the Lord only serves to refine us and make us better. But as for the world…at this very moment in time, they are in crisis with no clue how to curb it all.

i worked for a large manufacturing company in the late 1980s and 90s. During those years i saw many ideas rise and fall, but one thing stood out among others, management was always and forever working to predict profit, loss, and failure….it’s called risk management, which is calculated in an effort to try to prevent financial ruin. Nevertheless, those on the manufacturing floor were continually driven, by management, as if there was a constant crisis and jobs were at stake.

But faith simply doesn’t work like that. Within myself, i find i am more than willing to take a chance on God when i can somewhat see the possibilities of what might go wrong, but exercising confidence and hope in Jesus doesn’t work that way. i find that if i could accurately gauge what my losses would be, the more willing i am to step out on the water like Peter did in Matt 14:29. i believe most people, who would rather “play it safe”, are so worried they might get it wrong, might be seen as foolish or stupid, or judged harshly by others, so much so that they never move out into God’s destiny for them. Always playing it safe is a fear-filled lifestyle.

Most believers really do have something to say, but very few of them actually get around to saying it. It is safe to remain quiet, and risky to voice what’s on your heart. Faith rarely, if ever, provides an avenue to calculate the outcome in order to measure the failure potential. With God in your picture, all bets are off as to a predictable outcome, other than He will accomplish His purposes, and we don’t necessarily know them. i think what we find so difficult to believe is that with the Lord, even if you get it wrong or sound foolish, He is with you and makes all things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. With the Lord, there is no percentage of failure to calculate, and we must be willing to trust God and take a chance which, somehow, usually looks like a longshot. Yet, if we don’t take a chance and step out on the water, the longer we “play it safe” waiting for a calculatable outcome and a predictable crisis, the more we increase towards becoming despondent and disheartened, which is what Dr. Martin Luther King called the “fatigue of despair”.

Faith does not work within the box of a worldly business model where we play it safe and minimize our crisis potential. A crisis of faith is necessary for making faith a surety for us. 2Cor12:9″My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most, especially when we are not allowed a measurable outcome, nor a predictable crisis, believe that in God’s strength, we are more than conquerors, for God has a way of wringing good out of our most uncomfortable circumstances. It’s time to walk on water friends!

3.     “Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good, but convenience never produces character.” Dealing with our internal conflicts may seem inconvenient and uncomfortable, but not dealing with them solves a grand total of zero challenges and it is increasingly hard on our mental and physical health.

Convenience is about saving someone time, effort, resources, frustration, or maybe even responsibility…it also short-circuits obedience and spiritual growth too.

Having heated with wood for years, i’ll be the first to say going out, cutting wood, splitting wood, stacking wood, bringing it into the house as needed, only to have the heat level spike and then taper, over time, back to being chilly again, is really inconvenient, especially if you’re like me and you can always think of something else you’d rather do. Having an armload of firewood, walking in the snow to only fall down and get snow all down your boots is very inconvenient, especially when you’re thinking of all the other places you’d rather be. Or having to go get wood from the woodshed when the wind chill is below zero and the wind is howling, is very inconvenient, especially if you’ve got a heart full of “don’t want to”….and maybe all that hard work it’s pretty fun when you’re young, but i’m here to tell you, when you get older, i’ve become addicted to having a little thermostat on the wall that raises and lowers the temperature with just the smallest movement of a lever, i see that as a wonderful convenience.

It is also important to point out that in all those years of cutting and splitting firewood, i learned some very Godly character traits. i learned responsibility, endurance, and how to persevere. The Lord spoke to me a great deal in the deep woods when my muscles ached from strain, and sweat was running off my nose. When a tree would fall down the hill, i would have to cut and carry it back up the hill, armload at a time, stack it on the trailer, then go back down the hill to carry more up….. over and over. i learned sheer persistence in the face of exhaustion, and soon approaching cold, and bad weather.

Without learning to persevere, which is a Godly character-building exercise, i would never have made it through college or had the character to pursue resolve in any conflicts. On a larger scale of today’s world, sure, it would be convenient to say the government will resolve our conflicts with the wrongdoing of others, but it takes character and courage to not let the convenience of “letting someone else take care of the problem” sidetrack us from dealing with our own personal difficulties.

A man told me recently the reason he had a DUI on his record was because the breathalyzer failed….and he was serious. Maybe i shouldn’t have, but i had to laugh a little at his belief that it wasn’t his fault that he was driving drunk, it was the breathalyzer that lied. It was convenient to blame the device, and very inconvenient to be responsible for his actions. Convenience was looking to short-circuit his character. It is inconvenient to stand your ground when being wrongfully accused….it’s scary and uncomfortable. Convenience says to just say, “Whatever” and walk away, which may seem good in the moment, but tomorrow the bias has been set and we have to live with our not being firm…all because we avoided the conflict in the moment. Justice isn’t convenient…oh let me tell you, it is SOOO inconvenient. Doing justice on behalf of someone else is very costly and uncomfortable. It may be convenient to avoid getting involved, but where is the courage, where is the strength, where is the heart it takes to chase after the poor and support the beaten down?

i was having trouble writing a script and for several days the Lord would wake me up in the middle of the night and tell me, “If you’ll get up now, I’ll give you the whole thing in one sitting.” i put it off because it was inconvenient to get up. i was convicted by the third day and asked the Lord to forgive me and to try me again. In the middle of that same afternoon, when i was in the middle of a rare break in the day, the Lord came to me again saying, “If you’ll come away with me now, right now, I’ll give you the entire script in one sitting.” Wouldn’t you know it, on the instant, i momentarily found myself reasoning that … i was in the middle of a break and that i’d come aside with Him in a minute… Suddenly i started laughing at myself, thinking, “Yea, as long as it’s convenient for me, i’m willing to be inconvenienced.” i got up, went aside with the Lord, and in fact, He gave me the entire script in one sitting. Amazing! i almost talked myself out of it because it was inconvenient.

Conflict plus commitment equals change….. and to avoid it all because “we don’t want to get involved” is not the heart of the Lord. There is a conflict between a wax floor and the buffing pad of a floor polisher, but as the polisher does its job, the floor is made bright. Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good maybe, but convenience never produces Godly character.

 4.     Here is wisdom: “A one-way street only runs just so far.”

And yes, i’m talking about the self-centered, self-focused, individualism-focused church…where it’s all about me…. yes, me, me, me.

When people become believers they don’t, at the same moment, become nice. For many, i think this comes as a surprise. Coming to Christ doesn’t automatically provide someone with good manners and suitable morals. The people of Corinth, evidently, had a reputation for being unruly, hard-drinking, and promiscuous. Paul spent a year and a half going over the “good news” in detail. Sometime later Paul got a report that things had somewhat fallen apart, with morals in disrepair, and worship had degenerated into, what i call, a selfish grabbing for the supernatural. Paul knew that if they continued in their self-absorbed behavior, the church would hit a dead-end street…because…. a one-way street only runs just so far before it either ends or becomes a two-way street.

Galatians5:19-20, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,”, etc, etc. Selfishness, or a “one-way street” is listed among those things considered as “works of the flesh”.

The world and all it entails is destined to come to an end, so i suppose you could say, the way of the world and the flesh, will come to nothing in the end.

Romans 11:7-8, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she did not succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result, received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this: Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God allowed their eyes to become dim, their ears to be dulled, and allowed them to shut themselves away in a room full of mirrors…i believe they’re there to this day.” You know….in a room full of mirrors, all you can see is yourself.

Let us serve the Lord with eyes to see beyond ourselves, to hear more than our own voices, and to live for more than just our own self-promotion. If we think we are the absolute only ones who can do what God has called us to do, and if we don’t do it, it simply won’t get done, friends, think again. If the Lord wants something accomplished, we can rest assured He will make it so, and if we refuse or fail, the Lord will find a way to bring about His purposes for His glory. Pride and arrogance will close our eyes to see only what we want to see, will deafen our ears to hear only what we want to hear, and will turn the song in our mouth into the braying of a donkey. i have heard the bray of a jackass from my own mouth on more than a few occasions. Hear this wisdom: A one-way street only runs just so far. Think about it.

i love this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, “Life has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.”

Aren’t those beautiful words? i have read them often and pondered Dr. King’s use of contrasts like drought and flood, soothing warm and piercing chill, and fatigue of despair and buoyancy of hope. i find the Lord uses contrasts to help us understand what He is saying, and it’s not that He isn’t speaking, it’s us who aren’t hearing, it’s not that God isn’t giving us a vision, it’s us who aren’t seeing. Believe me, if the Lord wants you to know something, He is entirely capable of getting your attention and making Himself very plain, but i believe He wants us to be interested enough in what He’s got to say that we pursue Him. You know, God loves to be wanted just like we do… He is the beautiful lover of our souls.

i’m Social Porter and this program has sprung to life near the cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Four little wisdoms: Never contend with a contentious man, let him go his way; We want a foreseeable, calculated outcome, and a predictable crisis, but that’s not the nature of faith; Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good, but convenience never produces character; And the last one i gleaned from a life of being on my knees with bleeding knuckles …. a one-way street only runs just so far.

Consider these four wisdoms as you go your way this week. Let yourself  laugh and sing….it will serve to lift your heart to redefine joy for you. Be strong and courageous, and i’ll hopefully, talk to you next time. Amen!

In 2013, the Lord gave me some insight into what He had built into the morning, why daybreak was so valuable, and sunrise speaks of His glory, it became Outposts #92: “The Song Of The Morning”. i wondered at the time, that if the break of day had all this God-stuff built into it then what does the evening contain”?  It is a mystery. The wonders which our God built into the beginning and end of the day are indeed a secret. There are some very interesting hidden things of the Lord that highly affect every human being every day, and they both, daybreak and the setting sun, speak to the general call of God for man to return….. repent and come home.  God is very specific… It’s not just “A” morning, or “AN” evening…. it is “THE” morning and “THE” evening.

Nevertheless, both time frames contain the published truth of God and the concealed truth of God, or, just so i can sound really bright, it would be Deus Revelatus/Deus Abscontitus, God revealed, God concealed. BUT! i believe when it comes to all hidden mysteries of the Lord, He is like a proud father who’s just come in the house and His children climb up and eagerly pull on Him to know what treats He has brought them … oh, and don’t you know, our  Heavenly Father has pockets full of incredible things. When we chase after Him, climbing on Him, hugging and hanging on Him like little kids who just loooovvveee their daddy, the Lord laughs and plays, wrestles, and carries on with us… I believe He’ll reveal to us the contents of His pockets if we are interested enough to chase it.

Morning is mostly a  revealed mystery of God, i mean what the Lord has hidden in sunrise, with a little effort on my part,  He helped me find it. Yes, it took several months to get a little understanding, and if God had not given me understanding, i would not have it. So tonight brings us  not a  song of  the  rising sun, but a poem about the setting sun, the “Poem  Of The  Evening.”  Honestly, i don’t know if i can do it justice, but this is what i’ve got.

When summer evening fades and wanders toward the night, cats sit at the edges of driveways and bushes looking bored, waiting for something to happen. In the evening, if we walk down the street we can look into houses where we see people eating, watching television, … hear people talking … some loud, some soft, some laughing…or not…sometimes their voices echo a little in the street. There are boys planning their next game or challenge of battle… a girl is swinging on the swings, and others ride their bikes up and down in the last slivers of daylight.

The summer evening seems like a conclusion to something somehow…the air is thick over the pavement and steadily cooling under the trees…there are car washers, hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, plan makers, and lawn rakers, twittering birds in trees settling in for the coming night… occasionally there are echoes of laughing children as moms urge them toward their evening chores. The day is done and evening has come … it’s time to rest and rethink tomorrow. We all started the day with mercies new, living and breathing a new beginning,  but evening, ahhh…evening … it poses refreshing and return, coming home again to find consolation in the sanctuary.

The Lord has built many mysteries into so many parts of our lives which occur daily, and yet, many of us don’t see or hear most of them… just breezing past His treasures, preoccupied with ourselves, without even a noticing glance for the most part. Jesus wants us to chase after Him as He chases after us … He wants us to discover His gems and beauties, His treasures and character for us to marvel at and wonder about, all designed for us to fall more deliriously in love with Him. Due to love, God chased us, his beloved, all the way to the cross, that we could also love because He first loved us. Let’s not be too lazy to dig up our Father’s treasures… after all, do we r-e-a-1-1-y want to know what God says and means, or do we just want to be settled in our beliefs and be right? Tough questions, if we’re honest about ourselves and our motivations.

The evening recites poetry to us, God-poetry concerning the “cause of all

causes”. The close of the day is the ending of daily afflictions in the sense that in Leviticus 14 and 15, there were many situations where someone would become unclean, but in the evening their uncleanness ended. The evening is a time to re-gather ourselves, refresh our hearts before the Lord, rest our bodies, and lay our burdens down. Psalm 103:12, “And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.” We should take note, the day starts in the east like a rising wave in the first of the day, but comes to a close in the west, like the ocean surf roars to a close on the beach.

Day and night, morning and evening are specific time frames the entire world can relate to….all creatures, large and small, all things wide and narrow, all motes, jots, and tittles nearly weightless and less than weightless… participate … like it or not, they are all in.

From the beginning, God divided out time on the earth into day and night, but he also divided out two other very specific time frames called morning and evening. Genesis 1:5, “And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning was the first day.”

 Now, i’m not a professor, nor am i fluent in Hebrew … at best i’m just an “armchair theologian”… but i believe Gen1:5 is a good translation. The Hebrew word for day, “yome” (long “o”), is a different word than morning, “bo-ker” (long “o”), indicative of distinctive and separate time periods, as is the Hebrew for night, “lay-il” (lie-il) is different from evening, which is “eh-reb” (air-reb).

Our word, “day”, that little three-letter word, is said to be the “most important concept of time in the OT by which a point of time, as well as a range of time, can be expressed.” In that verse, Gen 1:5, if we’re willing to believe that not only did God use precise words, but His order of those words were and are very important … it was first light and then it was day. The light was first and set the precedence of… “toward the light”, which should be our leaning toward God for our day, “toward the light” The light leans towards the day, and darkness leans towards the night. The two transition periods were the rising light, called “morning” and the fading light, which is called evening. When we combine morning, day, evening, and night, Gen 1:5 calls that a “day”. What was pondered upon of the Lord yesterday evening… flows into our day like a trickle of water from the subterranean chambers of our mind and heart to be employed in the action of living.

From the “rising light”, or morning, comes the revealed power of the infinite, and rising mercy… Lam 3:22-23, “Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is His faithfulness.” The evening brings flashes of insight and the process of gaining clarification of what was and is truly important, as seen in the idea of “in the evening we consider the events of the day”, meaning we roll them around like a baker kneads dough. Matthew 26:20, “When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.” Evening was a time to, rest and recover, but also a specific time for interpreting, simplifying, refection, and resolving. During the meal Jesus gave the disciples clarification… and there is a real thing called “The Art of Clarification”, which is, for example, when someone makes a statement, and then, if we didn’t quite grasp what they meant, we ask for further insight by way of facts, restating their words a different way, or asking for more context, so we understand, or we expand on our verbal presentation so as to give a clearer picture of meaning and intent. This is what the Lord has hidden in His creation of a thing called “the evening”.

Go with me, and let yourself dream as you imagine the following:

In the evening, a summer evening after a rain shower, the color of the sky is a  brilliant image in the occasional puddles of water at the curb. The sky has darkened to a deep blue and the few clouds are profound rose and radiant flame. The sun is the exclusive bright light behind the edge of the horizon and the moon is only a faint image…. way up high in the evening, the world we see is half-lit and is becoming still with only the distant dog worried by a faraway alarm somewhere. A neighbor is in her kitchen washing a glass, illuminated by the light over the sink, a little breeze kicks up as the thermal currents change the air in preparation for night. There is time, a little time left between the last light and the bridge to night, night being a twist away from the light before morning.

In the evening, a summer evening, color gets lost and the world where we are, submerges in greyscale, in the evening God’s wisdom lurks in our minds as we ponder the day, reviewing our thoughts, the words of others, and tomorrow’s possibilities. Selah.

 In the morning, light breaks through the darkness… we plan for the day, and in the evening we all have the inclination to reflect on the day’s events, taking time to review the impact of where our feet have carried us, hopefully, looking to gather ideas about the next day. Within both the words for morning and evening, the Lord built into them a call for man to return, a subtle but persistent call for fallen mankind to come home. Though the morning is busy converting the past into the future, in the evening, the drawing to a close the curtain of the day, the Lord has hidden poetry to soothe weary minds and hearts….it’s a specific time frame of living poetry where we gather our wits and look to rest…. a time to share and revelate. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, there is also consolation designed into the evening, experiencing God’s support toward those who breathe strongly for sorrow, reconnecting to the faithful and righteous One.

The morning is pregnant with life, with new beginnings, and motivation for a renewed search for the “fallen sparks”, so to speak. Nevertheless, in all those tidbits, what is it that’s hidden in the idea of evening, veiled as a mystery to be discovered? As the morning is pregnant with beginnings, the evening is pregnant with endings…. pregnant with hindsight and insight,  pregnant with re-examination and retrospection. i believe God built into the heart of man the need to discuss and consider his ways in the evening, remembering recent things in comparison to events and conceptions of long ago.

With the evening, comes the power of change. When we review the day, we have before us the opportunity to hear the wisdom of the Lord and make course changes for tomorrow. It might be something as simple as going to work a different way,  or maybe as serious as changing a personal habit toward a  more  Christ-centered end,  becoming like the refracted light of His presence forming the color palate of the Heavens.

The Lord has built into the evening, eyes to see, for we can see in our time of repose at the end of the day, often with the greatest clarity, the events of the day. As to remembering things well, evening is best …. as time goes by, the sun comes up and goes down many times in a row… after many days we attempt to remember a specific event, but time has a way of eroding memory, and many times…. our present life seems to shade or color the memory of the past. But in the evening, in the hours following when those events happened is the best time to consider carefully what our hands have found to do during the day. i strongly suspect one secret to be revealed is that the evening was designed for man to re-find his fading sense of purpose and direction.

The poem of the evening is the subtle call of the Lord for men to consider their ways,  to review their works and come to Him in simple faith, so those who return can become heirs with Christ in the Kingdom of God. Evening’s prose speaks of an end of the day, like morning’s melody sings of the day’s beginning. When the drapes are pulled shut in anticipation of the evening hours, God built into man’s heart the need to reconvene at home, in his sanctuary to review and discuss, reflecting to understand for right perception, like someone searching for water and essential good.

The highest form of charity is when the giver is completely concealed from the receiver, possibly in order not to embarrass the person, as is said, “the concealed gift subdues anger.” The evening was a present to men, a secret gift … a mysterious gift. There is wisdom built into the evening for those who will chase after it, but it’s hidden, as part of the Lord is hidden… Deus Abscontitus God concealed. Wisdom promises godliness to those who hear and hide it away in their hearts.

Hidden wisdom is better than gold. Proverbs 2:1-5.

The evening has a drawing effect … it draws all of us toward the very essence of God Himself, who has concealed a mystery at the close of the day. Mankind naturally tends to want to go home as the day comes to an end, to go home and conclude and ponder. i believe little do people know, but the evening inspires all people to end their work in preparation of beginning again tomorrow.

In Judges 20:26 it says, “Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening;…” Where the Lord uses the word “evening” where it ends in a Hebrew letter, hei, which colors the preceding word … “evening”. In this case, that letter colors the idea of what to do in the “evening”, meaning it was a time to think, to discuss, to exercise choice, and plan their action.

Let us use our evenings well. We get one per day. Use it wisely. Evening is a gift from God for our rest, consolation, and consideration of where we are and what we’re doing. Evening is divine rhyme and verse from our beloved to us … let us catch His God-poetry and join Him in it, taking up anew “the cause of all causes.”

Every place has its own cadence. Every new home, every neighborhood, and every town all have their own tempo and beat. We may have to be there for a time to recognize it… a week, a month, a year….but their evening accent and flow are there … take note of the rhythm of people around you and how they are investing their time in the hours before dark.

When evening comes, the eyes of men are, typically, reflecting on the events of today and puzzling over what will come tomorrow. Matthew 16:2-3, “He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is

red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” They were using the evening to benefit tomorrow’s agenda, but they weren’t using it to consider their position between themselves and the Lord, which was a much more important consideration.

Evening is a specific period of time to meditate on our affairs and our place in the works of the Lord, as in Matthew 14:23, “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” God gave man evening for rest, Zephaniah 2:7, “… In the houses of Ashkelon, they shall lie down at evening. For the LORD their God will intervene for them, And return their captives.”

What do you do with your evenings? How do you use this specific time period?

Not just “A day” as in this time resembling another time, but “THE evening” which particularizes or specializes a precise time frame. It is a  specific designation of the Lord.  How do you spend your evenings? … consider carefully and spend them wisely.

As this evening comes to a close, consider your position before the Lord. Take care and pay attention to the small things, and make an effort to learn the art of small talk. You know, as Eugene Peterson said, “If we don’t learn how to make small talk, we’ll never see the green shoots of grace growing in people’s backyards.”  Drive carefully, pray for your neighbor, and be at peace. Amen.

i think servants make great leaders! If we are sitting at home studying our scripture, not moving out to where we can give away what we’ve got, what good is the work God does in our heart? What good are our doctrines of faith if we aren’t exercising those doctrines we’ve secured from scripture beyond the church, our safe place to operate? Jesus made Himself of no reputation, He was and is the ultimate servant-leader.

Robert Greenleaf wrote, “The servant-leader is servant first… Becoming a servant-leader begins with the choice to serve and to serve first. Then conscious choice brings us to aspire to lead. The servant-leader is sharply different from the one who is the leader first… The difference becomes apparent in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and the most difficult to administer, is this: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more independent and self-sufficient, more likely themselves to become servants?”

It seems so many either want to stand at the top of the leadership pyramid or want nothing to do with leadership. So many want to be the leader but rarely does anyone want to be the servant…. and i don’t mean “servant” in the sense of being a slave, bowing and scraping, bound and miserable in a dark hole somewhere, carrying a load which causes him to faint, but a servant, as in one who makes provision for others… like ministers, ambassadors, and in the military, a lieutenant.

i believe more servants should come forward as leaders, and that we should be more inclined to prefer servant-leaders… that is probably not a very popular view, especially when so many in the church believe they should be the leader, but have never really given themselves to understanding the concept of being a servant. Since society seems so corrupt, many believe the best thing is to disappear into some secluded place looking to avoid being in the center of things, avoiding leadership altogether. Often, we want to just dispose of any old societies which don’t seem to work and plant seeds for new ones. But, it doesn’t appear much thought has been given to the problem of where the new seed will come from or who the gardener will be to tend it all.

i believe it a trying business for the everyday servant to become a leader, frighteningly vulnerable for the leader to be a servant first, and quite challenging to others that a follower insists on being led by a servant. Hear that and hear again – “frighteningly vulnerable for the leader to be a servant first, and quite challenging to others that a follower insists on being led by a servant.”

How does anyone in leadership understand the needs of the people if that person has never personally known the needs of the people? There is a legitimate need for righteous leadership, and i don’t mean people who simply exercise power and tell people what to do. God has a better idea. i believe, for many, their use of power is to get power, but a true, God-inspired leader uses power to serve the followers, and serves with clear and honest intent.

1 Corinthians 14:7-8, “Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?”

There are some in the Church who say we don’t really need leaders…but just because i’ve been hurt by poor leadership doesn’t negate the need for leadership. Even animals have leaders, and in scripture, the only ones without leadership, were locusts, and they were a curse. The few i have met who say we don’t need leaders, i’ve dubbed, “The NLL’s”, for “non-leader leaders”. They want people to gather but yet they themselves avoid the leadership role although they subtly direct without actually directing…it’s not that they aren’t qualified because they are. There is just something in them which prevents their devotion to consistently showing up and having something prepared, something which prevents them from a consistent and repeatable responsibility to build up people who are healthy, wise, freer, more independent of the world, and more dependent on God… the kind who are inspired to go out, motivating and encouraging others to be servant-leaders also.

i do also ask myself the question though, what’s worse, no leadership or poor leadership? One is an off-key, blaring instrument, and the other is just wind in the tree tops.

In Acts 9, a guy named Barnabas had the nerve to endorse Saul, who was renamed Paul, and from that time on Paul was accepted among the church. In Acts 11, Barnabas, who was servant to the church in Jerusalem, was sent out to, i suppose, validate the happenings in Antioch, which was an 18-day walk from Jerusalem. Barnabas, a servant-leader, found the news to be true of the conversion of many to the gospel of Christ. Acts 11:23-24, “When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” Barnabas promoted health, wisdom, freedom, independence from the world and dependence on God. He was a “good man”, and not in the sense of just doing good things, but “a good man” because of the character of God which was living and active in his heart. He was full of the Holy Spirit and faith, qualities servant-leaders must possess.

We, as followers and servant-leaders need to respect and be loyal only to authority deserving of our allegiance… devotion, and voluntary true-heartedness, are purposely given to followers by leaders in response to the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Did you get that? Hear it again – “devotion, and voluntary true-heartedness, are purposely given to followers by leaders in response to the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.”

To whom and what, exactly, are most of us pledging our allegiance? Consider carefully and honestly please. That concept is important and precedent-setting in how we, as the church, gel together and act as a coherent group, and these are the days when we really, really, actually, actually need to get this and know to whom or what we pledge our allegiances.

i believe the church needs individuals who are servant-leaders, not because they are smart and have many degrees, not because they are charismatic and can bring in lots of people with lots of money, not because they preach good sermons, make great music, sing great worship songs, or because they have a sense of personal power, but because they are proven and trusted as servants.

In Mark 10, James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus and basically said, “We want you to do whatever we ask.”… Jesus took a servant’s position and asked them what they wanted Him to do for them rather than be incensed that they would have the nerve to make such a demand. I consider it to be greatly presumptuous of James and John to do such a thing, b-u-t then, i believe Jesus taught them to be audacious in their prayers, and He did say, “… whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” in John 14:13… Anyway… then Jesus, being the servant-leader that He was, responded saying, “You guys have no idea what you’re asking.” In verses 43 and 44 He goes on to give them wisdom and some prophecy, saying,” … whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the leader of leaders, shall be servant of all.”

Jesus was telling them that they shouldn’t be making their way to the top of the mountain to become the greatest among men, but they should be making their way to the bottom of the mountain to be servant-leaders, supporting and encouraging others… leading from the bottom up, not the top down. Those who lead from the top down stand in sharp contrast to the servant-leader who leads from the bottom up.

Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Many today claim to “further the gospel”… and yet all they seem to do is make a reputation for themselves. Could it be that their idea of “further the gospel” is different from God’s idea of “further the gospel”? What does “further the gospel” look like to you?

It seems, at the core of all the controversy in the world around us, many people seem to only want attention, fame, fortune, and influence. And yes, incredible as it sounds, there are people who see themselves as “influencers”. Many people feel small, minimized, and unimportant, so to have a moment of fame, attention, and recognition is very attractive… but to me, this is not the mind of a true servant. i believe, and this is just what i think, a servant holds in low regard that someone would know their name, a servant does not desire to have others bow down before them … a righteous servant finds joy in service alone. I never said it was easy, but it can be done thru the transforming power of the blood of Jesus. Oh yes it can!

Many years ago, much to my disappointment, the Lord, very plainly, told me to lose my name, to stop putting my name on works, writings, or music… just stop telling everyone who you are, and stop hoping for recognition and validation from other people. He said to tell them who He was, what He was doing, and where He was going, and if i would do that, i would see huge results from the work of my hands.

In Matthew 8 a leper came to Jesus and said that if the Lord was willing, he (the leper) was confident Jesus could make him clean. Jesus, basically said, “Yep! i am willing,” and immediately the leper was made whole. Then Jesus did something so contrary to what others may advise… in verse 4 He told the man, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

In John 7, the brothers of Jesus figured if they were Jesus, they’d be out declaring themselves, making a name for themselves, getting money and glory for all they were worth, so they encouraged Jesus to do the same thing, saying, “no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” Sort of like saying, “You should get some publicity for yourself… don’t you want people to know who you are and be famous?”

From this, i gather, by the example of the Lord, the servant-leader doesn’t chase after fame or fortune. To me, it is enough that the King of the Universe knows my name and counts me as His own. For me, that was not easy to come to, but, to a degree, it is enough that He’s spoken to me. Of course i still struggle because all of the social constructs of today are geared towards getting fame and fortune, and i can’t help but live in the world which i live in. But slowly, i’m losing the need to be recognized. Most times it’s joyful, but occasionally, only occasionally anymore, i feel chaffed to blood a little. It doesn’t mean that we, the servant-leaders, don’t occasionally sit at home alone and bemoan our sad selves because we feel as though no one is listening and no one cares… the fact is… if God has asked you to give of yourself, as He assuredly has, then our approval and endorsement comes from the Lord, not men, and it is sufficient. Not an easy lesson to learn friends, but it can be done.

Let’s get our precedence in the right order as servant-leaders. If people come to your meeting, it’s not because you’ve got something amazing that has been generated of yourself, but because the Lord drew them there. You didn’t go get them, God brought them. Like Tommy Tenny said, “If the Kingdom of God came because we have great buildings, excellent teaching, first-class preaching, rocking-good music, or amazing song choruses…we would have long ago entered into Heaven’s gates.”

If the Lord has given you something to do, do it because He asked you to, not because anyone will recognize or validate you.

Do the numbers. i recently got these statistics from an advertising media expert, so let’s look at the statistics from Face Book… for example… less than 1% of the people we, quote-unquote, “friend” will actually look at what has been published there…. and less than 1% of that 1% will even respond…so IF we’re waiting on someone to give us kudos, unless God brings those kudos around, it’s highly unlikely anyone will endorse us….we must learn that our personal relationship with Christ is truly sufficient to supply all our needs according to His riches in Glory, and that includes emotional and mental needs too. IF we are waiting for the endorsement of men for us to be “OK”, if we are waiting for the approval and affirmation of some “higher authority” to be “OK”, to do what God has already asked us to do, odds are good that we’ll NEVER be “OK”. What more do we need than God’s endorsement? … if He asked us to do something, we HAVE His endorsement. Why do we need another man to endorse us in order to be validated anyway? Think about it. Church, let us be brutally honest with ourselves and get to the root of that.  Stop telling everyone your title or gifting, go and DO it. Stop telling us all God has called you and you are a prophet, or pastor, or teacher and go out into the world and DO it; leave your safe place…and go out to BE and DO what the Lord has asked of you … let go of your name and title and BE the servant-leader the Lord has called you to be. You can do this!

Personally, i’ll testify that i have indeed cried to the Lord, and i do mean with tears, crying that no one was hearing what He gave me… many times it seemed no one cared if they ever heard my name again… that for all the talents He had given me, the whole lot seemed to go nowhere and do nothing. i have cried a river of tears over my sad, victimized self… oh, poor me, huh? … sitting with my feet in the window, weeping, wishing God would do something other than what He was doing.

And why was i weeping? Because somewhere within me was a need to be known and recognized, a need for people i admired, to admire me too. Shortly, i came to a crossroads though, one where i realized that my name never set anyone free, my name never healed anyone, had never parted an ocean, or caused the weather to obey… nor had my name ever liberated anyone from sin. There at the crossroads of reality, i made a choice to be a servant, to lose my name, and promote the welfare, health, and well being of others, and above all, to live out God’s values and standards above my own, promoting, exclusively, Jesus as the Name above all names. If, indeed, there is only one name under Heaven (Acts 4:12), then who am i to tag my name in there in hopes of getting a little credit? Yes, it is a serious struggle, and even, to this day, from time to time, sometimes, i still experience those feelings a little, though only occasionally and with greatly reduced intensity. But what is real here?

My feelings, or the word of God? If we are to be servant-leaders we should not n-e-e-d people to make us feel like a King or Queen, but to make ourselves of no reputation, giving our lives as a ransom for those we serve. (Philippians 2:7)

Now….right there is an interesting word … “ransom”. i have read that the word “ransom” precisely translates from its origin as “To loose from bonds” – which transliterates into English as “to liberate many from misery” and  “giving a gift to secure favor”, and isn’t that what the servant-leader does? Servant-leaders are meant to pick up the work given to them and accomplish their task, without complaint, without fear, and without anger. Seems an impossible task you say? But it can be done. By the blood and resurrection of Jesus we have the power and authority to BE the people of God, rightly representing our King to a dying world.

Jesus is our example: Matthew 12:18-21, “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.  He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally, he will cause justice to be victorious. And His name will be the hope of all the world.”

In the Old Testament, the prophets spoke of Jesus as a servant. Zechariah 3:8, ‘”Hear, 0 Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.”

Please, bear in mind, again, i’m not talking about a servant as in someone who is some servile, spineless, groveling person, doing all that bowing and scraping stuff. Being a servant doesn’t mean you cannot also have a position of authority, name, or even fame… The true Kings and Judges of God in the Old Testament were also called Servants. However, servants do not and shall not (present and future, a statement and a promise) follow after selfish gain, servant-leaders instead follow after peace, compassion, love, long-suffering, self-control, and courage (to name a few) … these are not only attributes every servant-leader follows after, but also the character properties we give to those who follow. God bestowed the title of “servant” on those who were Godly people, ambassadors of the Lord, called and sent to accomplish some service….it was a title that was meant as honorable, endearing, and as an intimate friend. Our faith in Christ as servant-leaders is not a system or a structure gleaned from a book on “How To Be A Servant-Leader in 10 Easy Steps”, no. It’s a relationship of rising fountains of the Lord’s continuous good intent flowing in us who believe.

Every one of God’s chosen were called his servants…if we look at each one’s character, they were all servant-leaders. Genesis 26:24, “I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” Jeremiah 46:27 “But do not fear, 0 My servant Jacob; In Joshua 1:2 God called his man, “…Moses my servant”; 1 Kings l1:38  says,  “….as  David  My servant did…”;        Isaiah 49:3, “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant,0         Israel…”; even Jesus is referred to as  “servant”  in  Isaiah  42:1 and Matthew 12:18, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.” They were all servants in the sense of “those as meant to serve.”

Job, God’s servant, never cursed God. Joseph, the servant always kept his eye on the prize and never let his circumstances dictate his mood. The disciples sang praises in jail. There is not time to write about every servant of God who faced hardship before accomplishing the task at hand, but all were servant-leaders, as servants who served those within their sphere of influence.

Philippians 2:4-8, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

An attribute of a servant-leader is that they automatically respond by listening first… they know that true listening builds strength in other people and is essential in resolving conflict.

Another true mark is if a conflict arises and needs to be resolved, the servant­ leader understands that the process of change starts inside themselves, not out there in everyone else. We start with a “fearless moral inventory” of ourselves, not our neighbor. Our problem with other people is not other people but with ourselves… it is not a problem of trouble, but how i react to trouble.

Do you have a heart to serve? Read your Bible. If we want to know Jesus, the servant-leader of all servant-leaders, we can start by studying Him in scripture. “Et vobis amicis meis? ubi es?” And you my friends? Where are you?

Let us become not just leaders, serving from the top down, but servant-leaders, serving from the bottom up, encouraging others to become healthier, wiser, freer, more independent and self-sufficient, and more likely to become servants. We may likely have to learn to lead from the back, you know. Stand up church, it’s time to get to your feet.

 God has given Jesus a crown of glory and honor and a good name, and having put everything under the feet of the Son, Jesus has dominion over all the works of His hands, including all animals, creatures, all birds and insects, all things which travel the pathways of the sea, in the earth, under the earth, and all the Heavens above. The name of Jesus is excellent in all the universe! i read once that the Father loves to hear us saying the name of His son… Jesus. His Name in my mouth is like tasting something delicious and sweet. i consider all of the Lord’s doctrines, values, instructions, and requirements … to be right and righteous and no one can bend them to become something other than what they are.

 All things point to Jesus…resonating and vibrating down to the molecular level at the righteous speaking of the Name of the Son, Jesus, the Christ of God. Indeed the Line of Choosing is becoming more evident as the Lord gradually blows away the clouds, which have concealed, until now, the most definitive line that has ever been drawn….the Line Of Choosing…. drawn with the finger of God, etched in eternity.

Eugene Peterson says “I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. 4 Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

5 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with the dawn of Eden’s light.”

 Jesus is the Lord and God, never merely A lord, or some diminished, minimized version some would call “a God”. We are never God in any capacity and Jesus is always God in ALL capacities. There is never a time He is me, and never a time when i am Him. He is always God, i am never God.

John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made.”

Jesus IS The Name, Ha’Shem, Yeshua-Moshe and everything points to Jesus,  as Lord and God, and will not be diminished by the opinions of men.

Today we are each where we are, and some of us may not have much but what we do have we’ve got a lot of it.

 The value of a good name, according to God and scripture, is something worth being ambitious about. A good name commends us to God… and in His eyes, a good name is highly valuable and preferable above money and good deeds. Being wealthy doesn’t get anyone a good name … sure, it may appear a wealthy person is loved and needed, and may even win favor and peace with those who oppose, but in the end, if things don’t go well and all that money goes away, what are the wealthy left with but their name. Wealth does not get us favor with God. Luke 12:15, “And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things possessed.”

As we’ve seen concerning other topics, if we speak of a good name…. in order to see the contrast, we must also, briefly, address the contrary of a good name. If we’ve lived a life and gained a name that speaks of corruption and malice, if the government is oppressive and tyrannical, if a lawyer is known to be deceitful, if church leadership is shown to be corrupt in doctrine or in life, insufficient in scholarly studies, or possibly even downright profane, then people will be afraid to even deal with them.

In 1 Kings 12 there was a guy named Jeroboam who had become king. According to 1 Kings 14: 16, it says that the Lord, “… shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.”

Jeroboam made a name for himself all right, one which no one wanted. Can you imagine that it is written down for all time, forever, that almost every time your name is mentioned, it is followed by, “… who made others to sin”? Obviously, that’s the wrong sort of name any of us want for ourselves, and neither do we want to follow after any leadership like that.

How many kings, queens, or military leaders, how many captains, or government leaders, have been left and deserted to stand alone in their time of great need because they had been too sharp and unmerciful….and even to those who don’t personally know them, their name went before them and set the precedence? That would be terrible!

For those who have gotten an evil name for themselves, it would seem when they die, no one will regret their departure, no one will be sad, and that is truly sad.

Though many in leadership have done a lot of great stuff, even if that person is successful and has many things, if they don’t have a good name, i don’t believe there comes much lasting good with their gifts. Proverbs 22:1 1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.

So, you and i as believers, and i think it’s safe to assume, we all truly want a good name…. it probably shouldn’t be a name that’s either mispronounced, or one people make fun of, and definitely not a name like Adolph, Jeroboam, Jezebel, or Saddam. The underlying truth is that when we talk about having a good name or losing a good name, in reality, we’re talking about the impressions that people associate with that name – which would be our reputation. i am supposing it’s true that you do want a good name, don’t you?

Proverbs 8:18, “Wealth and Glory accompany me – also substantial Honor and a Good Name.”

 Not only is Jesus a good name, but it is also the Best name. In the Name of Jesus, we live and move and have our being….not in our name, not in the name of Paul, Peter, or John, not in the name of a famous person somewhere or the name of a star or constellation, and neither in the name of the wind or the universe …. but in the Name of Jesus. In His Name we have life and have it more abundantly. His Name alone accomplishes righteousness, His Name, unaccompanied by any other name, changes governments and shifts the Heavens. His Name alone heals the afflicted, the lame, and the blind, in solely His Name is our salvation….it sets things straight beyond the atomic level.

When we speak to mountains and they move, it’s not because we are so great, it is His voice in ours that does the moving, and if they don’t move it’s due to a lack of His voice in ours. Friends, the mountains only respond to the speaking of the Son.

In the Name of Jesus… in His Name…. there is repair for broken minds, cracked emotions, and barren hearts. If we break the Name of the Son of God down to the letters, and then to the letters in the letters, there are endless libraries of wisdom and understanding available to anyone who would know him. Moreover, not just the letters but the “white letter”, which is the part surrounding the letters, there is endless beauty even between the letters of His Name.

 In His Name there are patterns for us to live by:  patterns of prayer, hope, and the pursuit of righteous things; there are patterns of honesty, truth, action,  and devotion. If people need those things in their lives, in the Name of… The One… change to possess those fruits is available. In Jesus, The Name, there is the pattern of the Tabernacle and even the candlestick pattern points to the Son of God.

The Name of Jesus alone shatters discord and confusion from the east, like the rising sun breaking the grip of night,  He is purity incarnate,  manifested in silence and in the rising song of the morning. The universe has no independent power to do anything other than His will…..from His Name flows clear knowledge, wisdom,  and peace.

 In The Name of the One, the EverLord and One King, the Lord will establish the standard on the walls of Babylon; Ha’Shem will make the guard strong and will set up the watchmen.

There is more than a passive vision in His Name, more than just casually gazing at something, more than a casual observation, more than just noticing some detail or watching from a distance. In Jesus’ Name there is clear, sharp vision for whomsoever will see, in His Name is our faculty, vision, and perception.

Acts 4:12 is the truth, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 In the  Name… that is “THE” Name…Jesus, Yeshua-Moshe, there is divine grace and life, in Him is the door of light and life. John  14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Did you catch what  He said there?  He’s saying it wasn’t that  He knew A way, but that He, Himself IS the way,  and that  He didn’t just know  A  truth,  that  He, Himself IS the truth, and He isn’t only knowing how to get A life,  but that He,  Himself  IS the life. That means the path that we should follow is alive,  there is life in the path God has laid out for us, because “THE  NAME” IS  the path. That means the truth we live by is alive, He is the living, breathing, thinking,  action-taking truth….more than just something we know, the truth is a person. Life is more than just breathing and choosing… “the life”, not just A life, but THE  LIFE is a  person and our lives are vibrant and alive because He is vibrant and alive and without Him we would have no vibrancy or livingness. By His Name we move from being inanimate to becoming animated, alive in Him. We live and breathe in THE NAME of Jesus.

 In the Name of Jesus, God dressed the naked…..in His mercy, THE NAME clothed Adam and Eve. In His Name is the whole house, inside and out and there will never come a time when we feel like the walls are closing in on us. Scripture begins and ends with an act of kindness because kindness is at the root of God’s heart… in His very name is spelled out Mercy and  Grace beyond the vanishing point. without God’s mercy the universe would not exist. His name is like a wave rolling out into the universe, the action of beginning, and the wisdom of nourishing us till we are complete. His Name brings all things to completion and maturity.

His Name brings out the songbird in each of us, which is like a bird that is just crazy happy with melody and shines in each of us. There is joy in Heaven for everyone who returns and comes home.

 In His Name we find our righteous attitude, how we lean in our heart toward God, the pitch and yaw of our being. His Name is kindness overflowing and loyalty, Ch’esed, we are redeemed in His Name. In the Name of Jesus we have our pathway and door, His Name affords us the right to choose and there is fresh, every day, the opportunity to return as a penitent who’s come home; In His Name we breathe more than air, we breath divine breath and we find our connection between the world and Heaven procured by the nails through the extremities of Jesus when He was nailed to the cross – behold the nails which act as the link between the finite and the infinite, His Name is the bridge across the asymptote. Let us catch the vision of WHY the Name above all names is a name we should be related to, and why God says a good name is above diamonds and rubies.

 The Name of Jesus is our sustenance and armament, it is the armor we wear day and night which deflects the darts of hell; alone His Name is life and divine grace which satisfies all the law that we would be found alive, clothed, and in our right mind; In His Name we possess our sword and become a container for His goodness which we pour out on the world.

 The Name, Jesus, is the name through which we work and worship, it is our hands, feet and effort, in His Name we have a safe place to be, Jesus is our sanctuary. Isaiah 56:5, “Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters;  I will give them an  everlasting name That shall not be cut off.”

 In The Name, Jesus, there is actualized potential, the tendency for us…each as individuals …. to make reality of what we potentially are ….or… by the power of His Name we are not who we were but who we will be in Christ; in His Name the courage to go forward is there with an inclination to teach others about Jesus, whois revealed to be loved, yet not revealed as a mystery to be discovered; it is a seed, it is fruitful and continues on into forever,  bearing the fruit of the  Spirit in all those who accept the seed of His Name, Jesus the Son, and because of The  Name which is alive in us,  He has poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:6-7.

 In His Name and BY His Name is support from God who is our shelter, it is a pillar for the weary to rest against, shade from the heat of the sun of this life and refreshment while in the battle against evil.  His  Name is  a  shield,  Ephesians 6:16 “… the shield of faith with which you will be  able  to quench  all the  fiery darts of  the wicked one.” With His Name comes our prophetic sight, insight,  hindsight, and words of knowledge which are available to all believers who live in His Name.

In His Name is expression, or “a voice” so to speak….the power to vocalize God’s heart… His Name empowers us to breathe definition and explanation…. our voice is joined with His voice to even speak across continents. Colossians 3:16-17, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

 His Name represents the relentless pursuit of the lost and a door to come home again for those who have wandered away….they have a choice between having strength in Him or being degraded by the world. His Name affords us the option to return….it is first….. top…..the champion which crowns the glorious pillars of the altar of redemption. By the Name of Jesus, who is the Word and the standard, in His Name alone is the divine revelation which is tied to the divine, bottom-line character of God.

John 14:7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

His Name IS the mark and sign, the monument of all monuments,  a  cross on which the Son of God was crucified for our sins…..the very monument,  whose character was worked in the heart of God from the foundations of the world. His Name possesses all the Aleph-Bet. And, above all and through all, The NAME is the face, embodiment, and personification of love … He IS love and in Him, by Him, and in His Name is love everlasting,  which reveals the  Greatness of our  God and  King Jesus, The Name above all names.

 Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the  LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Psalm 34:3, “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 66:2, “Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.” Psalm 68:4, “…sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name YAH, And rejoice before Him.” Psalm 72:17, “His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun.” Colossians 1:17-20, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18  And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

 i read somewhere that what we do or say usually burns an impression in someone’s mind of who they think we are and what they think of us and our character. It is an impression that is difficult to change or erase from their memory. The value others put on our name often dictates how we will be treated by them. It is possible your name may even affect job placement; i can even testify that my name seemed to dictate how i was treated in school…. it even navigates who will agree to marry us. Others’ opinions and thoughts, when our name is mentioned,  have a  lot to do with who we are, and who we will be. Your name may be very important, but above your name and all names is The Name, Jesus, Son of God, Yeshua-Moshe, YAH. No one may remember my name, but God remembers me and will never forget for my name is written on the palms of His Hands. And you? How is your character reflected in your name to others and even before the Lord?

This has been Outposts, a little cool jazz and some contemplative conversation. This evening’s topic, “The Name” may have been a little metaphoric at times, and i do realize i said the words, “The Name” a lot, but after all, it is a name i never get tired of saying…Jesus, my Jesus.

 Consider His Name …. THE Name….ponder on it, roll it around in your head, say His Name out loud so your ears can hear what your mouth is saying. Not just “Him”, not “the man upstairs”, not just “God”, but Jesus. Psalm 148:13, “Let them praise the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.”

Let yourself take a rest this week, find your composure, be careful what you eat lest it steals your health….sometimes we have to give ourselves what we need, not just what we want……think, “what can i do to help myself?”, and take action.

i don’t know about you, but sometimes…sometimes i am just so very tired of struggling. Oh and how often it just seems my days are filled with one little struggle after another….. just tedious …. so many things in a row are “almost but not quite” and it’s so very irritating. It’s like whenever i’m in a hurry the world around me goes into slow motion….. maybe i’ve got to duck into a store to quickly get something, and it feels like everyone is taking forever to decide even the smallest decisions…. if they are going to get this brand or that brand all the while their cart is blocking the isle and you’re thinking to yourself, “They are all virtually the SAME! Just pick one!” But we can’t do that, so we smile and just practice our virtue of patience, all the while we are broiling inside.

We are “the strugglers”. i fully believe where there is no struggle, there is no progress, and there is no strength; where there is no struggle there is no maturity, no learning to endure and persist which are two very important functions if we plan on continuing to breathe air. i believe most people who never have to struggle with life and everything is handed to them are typically very immature ….without struggle in life there would be no empathy, we couldn’t relate to other people’s trials, their rejection, abandonment, or not being loved.

i hope you will all take to heart some of what is shared … sometimes all we need is a little place to set our feet against in order to make course adjustments for important changes over the long run.

The topic is struggling and those in the Kingdom of God who struggle forward, whom i’ve dubbed “The Strugglers” for their valiance and passion to find some way to wrap their fingers and hands in the robes of God Himself. We struggle to get up a hill and not fall backward, and then we struggle to get down the same hill trying to not fall forward. Even so, the value of struggle is immeasurable and valuable.

Psalm 95:8, “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,” …..a more literal translation of the words  “harden your hearts” is a picture of a yoke with teeth that is heavy and oppressive biting into the very core of Israel’s heart… there was an argument between them and the Lord….it was a struggle of epic proportions while wandering in the wilderness. To harden your heart would mean to refuse to hear and see…. and if you did hear and see, you would refuse to do the wisdom….all born out of the poison of bitterness and iniquity while resenting God for the struggle.

Having wisdom and doing wisdom are often very, very different things. i think to myself sometimes about how often the Lord extends me wisdom and i don’t listen…i have no idea why i don’t listen…i really don’t know …. even so, my unbelief that God is speaking to me or my rejection of His wisdom always complicates my daily struggle. HA! You’d think i’d know better by now, you know?  God extends us wisdom to relive some of our struggles, not only that but He often simply clears the path in front of us providing us times of easy progress for a bit. In fact, for all we do NOT see and hear, there is no telling the obstacles the Lord removes from our path which we don’t know about. In His kindness, He helps us through our struggles.

The Bible is chock full of strugglers…. those who made, in one fashion or another, forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction. It would be easy to point out general things like war because everyone in every war is obviously struggling over something. But i’d like to be a bit more focused on significant individuals whose struggles made an eternal impact on our lives today.

Elijah always struck me as this incredible tower of courage, exercising such confidence in God. In 1 Kings 18, he acted with such certainty…..it’s as if he knew exactly what to do, where to do it, and with whom…..he seemed to have such assurance as to how everything was going to work out, going forward like a man who was so sure of his steps….it was downright majestic.

In 1 Kings 18, he did that whole thing with the prophets of Baal….it was like, no problem, he was the perfect God’s-man in the moment. But, when the prophets of Baal were all dead, and he heard that Jezebel had decreed that he would be dead by the next day, it says in 1 Kings 19:3-4, “….Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4  Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life…”

There was a terrific struggle going on inside him. On one hand, he was determined to accomplish the intent of God’s heart, but on the other hand, he was gripped by fear and ran away to the wilderness and lay crying under a tree for God to kill him. Elijah was one of the strugglers, just like you and me.

By and by, the Lord sent an angel to get him up and give him food…. in his struggle, the Lord made a way. Elijah was strengthened and found the courage to rise again and continue on. “Continue on” is the key phrase.

Douglas MacArthur said, “The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It’s the age-old struggle: the roar of the crowd on the one side, and the voice of your conscience on the other.”

The path of least resistance is one of the greatest lies we will ever believe. We live in a world that makes so many things easy for us, that we begin to live as though the easy way is the best….always. If i’m sitting in a coffee shop with a cup of caffeine, a computer, and a cell phone, and can access any information or contacts I need without moving, i think i’m happy. I can listen to any music in the world that I want to with just a few clicks, see what any person or organization is up to with just a few more, order anything I might need online, or watch whatever I want to watch.

In a world where so much is so easy, the deciding factor in what I do becomes what I WANT. And let’s be honest if given the choice between doing what I want and what I don’t want, I’m always going to lean towards what I want.

What I have come to realize though (sometimes quite painfully), is that what I WANT is usually not the same as what i NEED. In fact way too often, what i NEED is exactly what I do NOT WANT. So what becomes one of the most regular and life-defining choices is the choice between taking the easy path to what I want versus the difficult path to what I need. Struggle becomes an active choice rather than a life necessity. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes disaster hits and we are thrown into struggle without any say in the matter, but day-to-day, struggle is usually something we have to choose.

i realize that you, like myself, get so, so tired of struggling with everything it seems. For example, i have to go to Walmart, and i have to park so very far away, and it’s so hot and my feet hurt and i’ve got a headache, and, and, and…. just choosing to get up and walk to the store is a struggle. Once i get inside it seems it’s a day of all days when everyone seemed to need to return stuff, get their prescription filled, or had to bring the entire family to the store….as if the entire city came to THAT store at THAT moment….just incredible; some people stand in the aisles as though they are the only people shopping on the planet, their kids are screaming, and it seems everyone has a bad attitude, not to mention the old guy on a little go-cart who is running into people on purpose because they are in his way. It is nothing short of a struggle just to be there. Sometimes i think it would be easier to go deer hunting with nothing but a short rope than to struggle with people.

BUT!  Without struggle, it is impossible to grow. Muscles do not grow or strengthen without stress and without being pushed to their limits, and neither do people. We need struggle … as bad as we don’t want it, we neeeeeed struggle in order to become stronger … without it, we slowly deteriorate….we literally have dystrophy.

i think to myself occasionally, “But Lord why oh why do i have to struggle THIS much and for so long it seems?” In the middle of struggle, it seems time slows down to a torturous tick for someone’s delicious thrill of watching us struggle. Of course that isn’t true, but when in the middle of struggle, our conflicts just seem amplified.

Mark 4:36-38, “Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “We are going to die here! Don’t you even care?”

Those guys were in such a struggle, trying to be considerate and not to wake the Lord up while simultaneously trying not to die at sea. And don’t you know they struggled against their thoughts of asking for help or not. Obviously, they believed Jesus could rectify the situation, but the panic in them…” Don’t you even care?” indicates a terrific internal struggle. The Lord is aware of our struggles and just because we don’t necessarily see or hear it, He is moving mountains and shifting the Heavens on our behalf.

i believe Herman Melville was correct when he said, “Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, demonstrating its everlastingness.” Jesus was the real deal. He was, is, and will be the standard of authenticity, and everyone who met Jesus met with their own incredible internal struggle, thinking, “Who IS this guy?”, “When He’s around it just upsets my little world.”, or “Why is He here? Who does He think He is?” John 7:11-12, “Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” They were people who struggled with who Jesus was and what He represented. His straight-up honesty and authenticity was unnerving to those who lived an inauthentic life, spoke non-credible words, and were unconvincing in their actions. He was authentic, real, honest, trustworthy, and lived with His entire heart committed to the purposes and values of the Father.

i read somewhere that authenticity has a high price. It could cost your career. It definitely costs you the path of least resistance. Authenticity dooms you to a life of struggle; to a life of risk; to a life of uncertainty, rejection, and danger. It takes the spoon full of sugar away from the medicine so that you have to taste the bitterness of what you need when it goes down. It takes the disguises away so that you see the monsters in the darkness around you as well as the ones in your own mind. It feels the sting of trial and the bloody sweat of conflict rather than the comfort of the cushioned facade, and it makes you stare failure in the face rather than avoid it.

So as painful as it is, being authentic and real brings struggle, and struggle brings growth. When life is easy, growth is a struggle, but when life is a struggle, growth is easy. You may be in a place where life is smooth sailing, or you may be in a place where life is incredibly difficult for reasons outside of your control.

Yet, even so, we the people, are the strugglers. We struggle to be convincing in a very unconvincing world. We struggle to be credible in a very non-credible world with a very non-credible government, doing very non-credible business. We struggle with illness and go to doctors who often see us as dollars rather than people who are ill. We go to schools where the entire facility is often no more than a business and when they tell us they care, we struggle, because we, so often, find them very not believable.

i can assure you, the Lord is the most authentic and genuine person in the universe. He is trustable, believable, and faithful light years above anyone or anything on this mud ball we call Earth. Where there was no way, God has made a way. When we were bound, slaves to sin, chained in darkness, Jesus made a way. Without struggle, the little chicken would never live past the breaking out of its shell, without struggle we would have no heroes or champions. Without struggle, we would just be cruisers and posers with no character content. Friends, God has given us the courage to struggle and win. We, the strugglers, who believe in Christ as Savior, are more than conquerors, and to be a conqueror requires struggle.

Listen for the struggle in this scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, “But in all things, we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

Do you hear the struggle places, the places of conflict and the victory? How often do we, like Paul, find ourselves in situations where we are pressed to have patience? Constantly. When Paul was in heartache, in grief, in desperation for food and shelter, when he was beaten and incarcerated he struggled with life and people, yet he was more than a conqueror. Through God’s gift to us of strength, wisdom, and perseverance, instead of responding like a spoiled little kid who had never faced adversity, Paul exhibited not bitterness and wrongness of character but as it says in Galatians 5:22-23, he lived out the life of a righteous example, “….the fruit of the Spirit….love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

2 Cor 12:7-10, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Then Paul writes, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong”

Friends, we are the strugglers, living through a life that sometimes is so very trying. And oh isn’t it easy to say that if we didn’t struggle we wouldn’t be strong, but then how much more difficult it is to actually get strong because we struggle. We all have days where everything seems just tedious.

Enduring and persisting in the face of struggle are crucial to learning, because learning is a hard and messy business.

Consider the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, wow, now that’s got to be one of the most heroic survival stories of all time.

Have we wept over our sin? Do we cry over the sinner? Where am i willing to go if God requests it of me? Am i willing to yield my self-indulgence to God in order to gain Christ? Those are all points of choosing and struggle. A man assured me, vehemently, not too long  ago that it is not God’s desire that i be poor, and in fact, God wanted me to be wealthy and if i was poor it was my miserable lack of faith that made it so. Oh my, what a lie! What a struggle because, often, most of us don’t find ourselves being filthy rich and are living regular lives. We are not the focus. God’s point is HIS SON and that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering….and this  bloodsucking, vampiristic doctrine of prosperity breeds listless complacency born on the wings of fatness to take up an issue against God when our agenda doesn’t happen…even to the point that a pastor of a large church told me, “you can’t go to church if you don’t have any money, and if you don’t have any money, you might as well just not go.” and he was serious, all jesting aside. What a struggle in us those words can cause. This is not good! i have been witness to hearing another pastor stand up and rebuke the spirit of indebtedness on his congregation, city, state, and nation and then 10 minutes later inform everyone that the church was “now able to put your tithes and offerings on your credit card if you’d like.” What??!! This is incredible! i was thinking “am i really hearing this?!” While people were struggling against being slaves to debt, they were being called back to enter into debt. Even so, we struggle against all odds to be the people of God, never-the-less.

There were men of God many years ago who left their homes to go with God where ever He would lead. Many got on a ship to a destination in April of one year only to arrive at their destination in May of the next year… and that was only just getting there. (would i do that? Probably not. Am i even willing to hear it?)  They didn’t have any books written, no support base of people pledging money, no tape or CD ministry, no booking agent, no advertisements no posters or schedule of meetings for when the “great man of God who holds many titles” would arrive. They didn’t have a marketing committee to promote them. Many were rejected by the local board of deacons, many had no “mission board” endorsements, no one knew them in the place of their destination most of the time, many times they didn’t even speak the language, and they suffered cannibals, disease, insect hordes, bad and poison water, repetitive rejection, slavery, imprisonment for no reason that made sense many times, they were burned out, burned down, beaten, whipped, and even thrown into holes under the city which were then closed up and they were forgotten, and that’s just a start. But yet these early examples of the carriers of the gospel message pressed on with the call of God on their  lives. They struggled forward and today we call them heroes of the faith…and for me, they truly were. Yet, standing out as THE reason among many reasons, they considered that Jesus Christ was more important than they were…they knew we don’t deserve Christ but He deserves us, and they went forward that the Lamb who was slain from the foundations of the world would have the reward of His suffering. Amen.

i am proud of my struggle for the Gospel to go forward with the call of God on my life. And you? Where are you in this? Stand up church, it’s time to stop feeling sorry about your struggles and stand up in the name of Jesus. Be strong and courageous!

Friends, In the middle of all our struggles let us not lose heart. i’ve said before that i believe that one of the biggest difficulties in America is loss of heart.

2 Corinthians 4:15-18, “For all things are for your benefit, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary struggles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

We are the strugglers, those who endure and persist in the Lord regardless of the struggles and conflicts. Don’t lose heart, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and remember, strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord. Wanna be strong?… then you’ll have to learn to wait, but while you’re waiting you’re getting stronger and stronger.

Breathe man, breathe, after all, you are in the grip of His grace. Drive carefully and watch out for your neighbor. i’ll talk to you next time. Amen.

A few years ago, in our home fellowship, a continuing topic of discussion for a while was about the attributes of God, why we need them, and how they are a life-giving imperative in the lives of all Christians everywhere – all day, all night, all the time.  One man occasionally commented that we needed to spend our time only in intercession and prayer.  He eventually just came straight out and asked, “Why are we spending our time talking about this?!”

i suppose he didn’t exactly see the value of knowing God’s qualities nor did he seem to have an interest in understanding the value of the Lord from another facet besides intercession and prayer.  Either way, due to his comments, i was motivated to not only discover as many of God’s attributes as i could, but to also make a list of what was under God’s banner of intimacy, and what our King imparts to us if we’ll take the time to be involved with Him.  The Lord shares Himself with us so that we can come into the likeness of the Son.  According to Romans 8:29, those who believe in Christ are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, and being conformed to that image means we take on His attributes.  Incidentally, the word “conformed” means to be “pressed and squeezed into shape” … meaning coming into the likeness of the Son of God is not always moonbeams, merry-go-rounds, and candy canes.

One of the things God gives to us of Himself is, what i would call, modeling.  God models for us how to act, when and how to have grace, what is His idea of kindness, courtesy, obedience, sacrifice, timing, integrity and privilege to name a few.  Also, in the Bible is a host of other characters who model how we should NOT act, what we should NOT do, attitudes we should NOT have, and even some subtle discussions of detrimental intent which opposes righteousness.

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          God’s view of things is radically different than ours!  Instead of using Christ as our model, i believe a large part of our country listens more to the bland and shallow “beautiful people” which our culture promotes in order to sell us on ourselves.  More often than taking advice from God Himself and His written word, many seem to listen more to any and every celebrity who might appear on a television or radio talk show.  Ahhh yea, the media seems to have become, what i call, the great “discipler”.

But if we’ll listen to and follow after the Lord, being diligent to study the Bible, God has indeed extended us all sorts of models: role models for example.  The Lord gave Paul as a role model.  Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”  Paul urges us to take note of those whose lives imitate Christ as is pointed out in Hebrews 6:12 – “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Above that, though, Jesus is the ultimate role model.  He modeled how to surrender to being obedient to every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. He is THE model whom we should ultimately fashion ourselves and lives after.  He is the self-emptying, humble, and obedient Christ of God.  Jesus modeled right relationship with God all the way to the cross.

Most of us have parents whom our lives have been modeled after to one degree or another.  How many of us have said, myself included, “I’ll never be like” her or him?  Regardless of our declaring who we won’t be like, whoever raised us has imprinted on us their life habits, thinking patterns, goodness and badness, for better or for worse.  i think to not have any of our parents’ attributes is probably inescapable, short of God doing a mighty work in us.

Let me also add, that in following Jesus, getting to know Jesus, listening and being obedient to Jesus, using the life of Christ as our pattern for living, we slowly come into the likeness of the Son.  And let me certify, the change that comes with following after the Lord can be radical.

Speaking for myself, i’ve even had people ask me if i am actually related to my brother or sister because they say i am nothing at all like them.  At that, all i can say is God has made me different and my likeness is more of my Savior, and not after my biological family … and for me, i don’t know about you, but i do know about me … i consider that miraculous and a wonderful thing.

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In the entire New Testament, Jesus modeled unity for the Body of Christ.  i heard a man say once, “Unity in Christ was the absolute necessary evidence of the gospel at work.  Redemption that does not redeem, that does not cause a Philemon to accept the runaway slave Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, is merely soft, ugly mush.  Redemption that does not actively practice forgiveness, that does not crush ‘complaining’ against and ‘arguing’ with one another in the Christian community, mocks the word of the Lord.”  Philippians 2:14-15, “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

God extends to us a model of how we should behave ourselves.  Jesus modeled the importance of forgiveness by forgiving us who believe; then He takes it further by saying in Matthew 6:14 – “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”  The Bible also extends to us models of how we should not act.  Like in Luke 20:20, there were those whom are shown to be of disrepute, where it says, “they who pretended to be honest.”  Friends, i’m absolutely worn out on pretend honesty and the facade of genuine sincerity where there is no genuineness to it.  Jesus modeled honesty and it wasn’t for nothing.  If we want to live in a culture of honor, it would seem honesty is absolutely a main ingredient.  Not only did Jesus model grace and honesty for us, He also was the perfect example of good boundaries.  Good boundaries make for solid relationships, in fact a distinct lack of boundaries is usually what destroys friendships, and inspires criminal thinking.

In Luke 10, Jesus tells a story with six different character types.  All are examples of people of today as well as at that time in history. Which one are you, the victim in the ditch, the exploiting thieves, the priest and Levite who were concerned some of the victim’s bad ju-ju would get on them, the Samaritan who extended himself to help the victim, or the inn keeper who would help the man, but only for a fee?  Which one are you?  Can you be honest about that?  Which one have you modeled your life after?  In the overview of the entire parable, Jesus was also one of the characters, doing more than just helping, but literally giving His life for us.  Be honest now … which one of those characters do you think your life is modeled after?  After all, the idea is to come into the likeness of the Son.

One of the most significant models God has given us is the model of marriage.  This model starts at Genesis, “In the beginning,” and concludes in Revelation with, “The grace of Christ be upon all God’s people, AMEN.”

God gave us the model for those who get married in Mark 10:6-9.  He gave us a model of what NOT to do once we ARE married as shown in the decline of Solomon in 1 Kings 11:1-13.  Jesus modeled commitment, love, and devotion … God’s love and commitment are most amazingly revealed in the four gospels, in the stars, in all the earth, and from cover to cover in the Bible.  God knows the end from the beginning.  The character of the cross was worked in the heart of the Son from before the foundations of the world was laid, so from the beginning to the end God models for us marriage as seen in His actions toward us whom He loves.

The Lord gave men a model to draw from on how to treat their wives in Eph 5:25, in fact all of Eph 5:25-30 IS the model.  “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”  Now, let me add the unspoken rest of the story.  The wife ought not to take advantage and manipulate her husband while he’s busy laying down his life.

1 Timothy 3:2-3 gives men the model on how they should conduct themselves within the marriage and outside the household.  Prov 12:4 models for women a vision of God’s intent on who she should be to her husband and where it all goes if she is a disgrace.  And, of course, we can’t leave out the model woman of Proverbs 31.  The story of Ruth is a wonderful study of how women should model themselves.  In fact, the same word Boaz used of Ruth’s character – calling her “worthy” or “noble” in Ruth 3:11 – is the same used in reference to the Proverbs 31:10 woman, naming her character as someone of great virtue, strength, and courage.

James 1:27 gives us a model of how to act towards widows and orphans, and that we should help the helpless, the orphans and widows.  The Lord is generous and we should be as He is.  Instead, we often model ourselves after other people instead of the Lord, who modeled a standard for us that we should act like Him.  Eph 5:1,“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.”  Jesus revealed to us how children should treat their parents in Luke 2:51-52.  We see it outlined again in Eph 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”  A poetic model of how to treat our parents is also seen in Prov 1:8-9, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; Wear their counsel like flowers in your hair, like rings on your fingers.”

Oh my, do you see it all?!  God has so amazingly laid out for us the models of how we should conduct ourselves in business, in marriage, in righteousness and holiness.  The Lord God Almighty did not commission the book called the Bible to be written just so we could ignore His models for our conduct, character, and conversation.

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Above the models of modesty spoken of in 1 Corinthians, or of wisdom in Proverbs and in Matthew … above Paul’s model of stewardship in Colossians, and above multitudes of scriptural models of persistence, diligence, righteous justice, mercy, creativity, faith, and fairness … Above all of these and hundreds of others God has given us so we would know what to do and how to act … above all that, the Lord has called us to be models ourselves; models after Jesus.  We are to be image AND reflection, meaning not only how we look, but also in how we act.  Not that anyone can become Jesus, but we can certainly set our eyes on being like Him.  He calls us to become role models for the world.

Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Letting your light shine before men doesn’t mean we go around slamming people with the gospel.  It means, and hear this:  it means to live a life which has a constant upward pointing to the sovereignty of God.

N.T. Wright wrote:  “the path to  God himself is seen in Jesus Christ!  That of giving yourself away, of generous love which constantly refuses to take center stage.”  You’d be surprised how far your work in the Kingdom will go if you’ll stop putting your name all over it.

God has also revealed to us other models – models of those whom we should NOT act like:  think Balaam, Ahab, Jeroboam who made Israel to sin, or Korah, or Cain.  It is very important that we know who NOT to model after, but i believe more importantly, we need to know to whom we SHOULD.

God gave to us His only Son, who was, in the flesh, the reflection of the Father in Heaven.  Jesus said in John 14:9 – “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”  And John 8:19 – “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”   In other words, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen Him, and if you know me, you know Him.

Who are your heroes?  Who have you modeled your life after?  Do most of us even know?  If we don’t, what can we do to help ourselves become all that God has called us to be?  And right there is a big AMEN.  Think about it…

John 13:14-15, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”  Washing feet is more than a towel, pan of water, and scooping the water across someone’s feet.  That’s too small and falls far short of what the Lord intended.  Go over and mow their lawn, bring your wife coffee in the morning, do the dishes, go clean someone’s house or weed their garden, be consistently kind and graceful to your parents.  Tell others about the goodness of God instead of the badness of men. That kind of stuff is washing feet.  That is modeling the character of the Lord.  Condemnation never liberated anyone from immorality or depression.

Jesus is our model and frame, the singing light who lived and died on our behalf.  He gave Himself for us and asks us to give ourselves to Him, to model His heart and life, accomplishing the Heart of the Father that all those who believe in Christ, would come into the likeness of His dear Son, Jesus.

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Thank you for taking a few moments in time and space to consider with me the possibilities of God’s infiniteness living in us.

Be strong and courageous, pray for your neighbors, drive carefully, and step into the model of righteousness God has given you the power and authority to do.  Be blessed my friends, be blessed.