Pull the Emergency Brake!

Driving home from vacation this past weekend gave me quite a bit of "windshield time," as a friend once identified it.  This time simply involved staring into the vast sky and admiring its beauty, while at the same time, continually pumping the brakes because of the tumultuous holiday traffic overwhelming the interstate.  I found my mind consumed with the reality of heading back into "reality."  The full calendar of events December brings.  The battle against materialism that ensues.  The constant reminder to "Keep Christ in Christmas."

And that is where I camped out in the perplexing array of my thoughts - what does it even mean to "Keep Christ in Christmas?"  Don't use an X and write out Christ in Christmas?  Make sure to have a nativity set on display during the season?  Say "Merry Christmas" instead of the more general appeal of "Happy Holidays?"

I tend to believe that at least preachers mean it to remind us that it would be easy to lose our focus on the One for Whom the celebration of the season revolves.  The One Who left the glory of Heaven to become a helpless babe, born in the most humble of circumstances to one day grow and die the most humble of deaths as the Shepherd laying His life down for His sheep.  How does He remain a focus for us?  

Some attempt to tell us that we need to "slow down."  I admire the sentiment and understand the suggestion.  However, if you are like me, my calendar doesn't get extra days added to slow down the pace at which I run in the holidays.  There is always another event that one feels obligated to attend.  Another run to the grocery.  Another family gathering.  Another gift to buy.  Another text to make.  Another call to take.  The same amount of hours in a day to accomplish more in this time of year than potentially any other.  And it's supposed to be "jolly?!"  So, how?  How do we slow down?

I think the suggestion should shift from "slowing down" to simply making an attempt to STOP at times.  Diligently scheduling blocks of time where we can protect a time to keep Christ as focus.  To engage with the Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords in fellowship with His Word and Spirit.  To plead with Him to aid us in focusing less on ourselves and more on Him and others.  To insist that continued devotion expressed to Him actually brings JOY in the midst of the season.  To enjoy Him.  

Wow.  

What a concept.  To ENJOY our Maker.  To bask in His character. To relish in HIs Truth.  To rest in His sovereign grace and purposes.

So, STOP instead of slow down.  Intentional times of pause.  I think about how often we use our brakes to slow us down while driving forward through the terrain of life.  Yet, how often do we use our emergency brake?  Whenever we need to park and protect our vehicles from back-sliding.  Perhaps this is the word picture we need to help us this time of year.  That we schedule a break, pull over in the hustle of life, and utilize the emergency brake to help us ensure a COMPLETE stop - instead of sliding back into the attitude we despise, rest to obtain an attitude we desire.  Perhaps then we can honor the words spoken by the Psalmist in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Friend, I feel the need to declare that I LOVE this time of year.  I LOVE honoring the birth of my Savior.  I LOVE the Christmas cheer of carols and colors.  I LOVE the enjoying of family and the giving of gifts.  But to survive it in a way that truly honors God, I believe its not just about slowing down, it is about taking time to completely BE STILL and KNOW He is God.

May you be able to "deck the halls with boughs of holly" as your heart stays steadfastly focused on the Giver of Life, God Almighty, Lover of your soul.

Merry Christmas.  Truly.  Merry.  CHRISTmas.

4Hisfame.

Crammed, Cluttered, and Crowded

While sitting this afternoon in the parking lot about to pull out of my coffee run, I observed a car in front of me that was literally filled to capacity in both the back and passenger seats with what appeared to be belongings from home being moved.  The lamp shade was smashed against the front window.  The boxes were being crushed in the back.  Bags and bags were filling any open space (at least from where I was able to see).  The scene was overwhelming.  And I sat and wondered in that brief moment, as the Lord impressed upon my heart, what do I carry around that clutters my life? What past failures do I allow to crowd my present?  What baggage that I should have surrendered to Christ still crams my heart and mind today?

And I said to the person next to me, how is there space for anything else?  Anything new?  Anything fresh?  As Scripture promises, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).  If our lives are so full of yesterday's baggage and mistakes, of yesterday's hurts and sins, then how do we have room to embrace the newness of His mercy today?!  The car drove off carrying all of the heavy load being moved from one place to the next, and I was grateful of the reminder that in the faithfulness of the Lord, He has taken my sin from me and cast it as far as the east is from the west.  Now I move on in the freedom of Christ...still aware of the past, but not bound by it in my present.  He has poured out His steadfast love to ensure that my heart would be His home.  And that the clutter of sin would be trumped with the washing and renewal of His Word.

Friend, let the baggage go.  Christ can handle it.  Then embrace His mercy.  Embrace His love.  Perhaps even better, feel His mercy and love embrace you.  Pray for Him to clean up your heart, so that it is fresh and ready for what today holds.

4Hisglory.

Kingdom Moments

(Adapted from an email I shared with the faculty and administration of the school of which I am employed...)

Question: How many things can you remember from yesterday?  Think about it.  How many details?  Restart your day in your mind.  Try to walk through as many conversations, distractions, meetings, tasks, to-do list items checked off, etc.  Try to make it all the way to bed time last night.

How much do you remember?  I bet you remember some of the highs of your day...like the taste of your home-cooked lasagna or maybe the breeze blowing while you took a walk around the block.  I bet even more you remember some of your difficulties of the day.  Maybe your plans didn't go through as you expected.  Maybe you received a hard phone call or email.  Perhaps you ended the day on a sad note, only to wake today revisiting the stinging emotions.

But amidst what you recall...let me ask another question.  How many kingdom moments do you remember?  How many times do you remember focusing your attention upon the Lord?  Whether while driving or walking from class to class?  How about the times you helped someone yesterday see Jesus in a new way or a real way amidst their circumstances?  When did you acknowledge His glory in creation as you saw the beautiful sunset or the smiles in the precious children we have the privilege to teach?  The reason I want you to remember those moments...is because those moments could potentially matter for eternity.  Far beyond the memory of yesterday...Christ's impact through you could have eternal ramifications for someone else around you.  

As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

I pray that if yesterday was not showered with those kind of Kingdom moments...then may TODAY be different.  May today be a day filled with moments that matter for eternity.  That when this day is done, we will look back and remember God's handiwork amidst the craziness of our day.

May today matter for tomorrow.  For eternity.

4Hisfame.

Joy in the Moment

While driving the family van the other day, I had a beautiful experience with my middle and oldest sons.  My mind was preoccupied with a thousand to-do's, concerns, and prayer needs.  Selfish wants.  Praises here and there.  Thoughts on my Maker were rare in this particular outing.  I felt a heaviness in my spirit.  How to accomplish it all?  How to remember to pray for this and that?  And so forth.  My mind was going way faster than the van.

But then the Holy Spirit worked.  Many people say God doesn't force Himself upon us.  I tend to disagree.  I believe the Maker has the right to invade the lives of those He has made when and how He chooses.  As was this moment.  The Spirit had me look up into my rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of something special.

Joy.  Fantastic joy.  

Where?

On the faces of my two boys.  They were smiling and radiating with something that was very foreign to my thought processes during that drive.  The view was so stunning that it forced me to stop focusing on me (because essentially that was what was happening) and to take in the moment.

Out of the speakers blared a song from the movie the boys were watching - whereby an animal was being saved.  People were happy and emotional in the movie (I wasn't watching it - I have just seen it before - I do try to be a safe driver :).

And it was contagious.  And my boys were expressing that reality of joy that life was precious.  That great things are taking place.  That life is not all bad (although we live in a fallen world - God is still working redemption through the fabric of history).

They didn't see me watching, but I just stared.  In awe.  They were tapping into something at the ages of five and seven that I was choosing to ignore at thirty-six.  And because of their smiles, I experienced joy also.

It was contagious.  These two precious gifts that God had given me are a source of expressing joy by the Spirit within me.  I mean, as Paul wrote in Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."  And man, does God give us reason after reason to abound in hope by the overwhelming joy and peace we have in believing in Christ!
 
And then...the thought came rushing in:

Do others experience joy when they look at me?  Am I a contagious source of joy for others to experience Jesus?

Conviction.  Yet, comforting.  I get to play a part in my Maker's plan to display the reason for joy, the source for joy.  Jesus Himself.  No matter the to-do's.  The wants.  The busy thoughts.  I get to express the ONE worth experiencing - and this holds such eternal ramifications.  I want JOY Himself to be displayed in me.  And when others see, may they too sense the contagiousness of His joy in my life. Through my life.  In spite of my life.

And with that, I looked back to the road ahead.  Still driving.  Still thinking.  But now...smiling.

Friendship - thoughts to consider...

In teaching, I have often instructed students and learners that I believe the three most abused words in our English language are:

Love

Hate

Friend

I love Taco Bell.  I love God.  Love just cannot have the same magnitude of meaning in the first sentence as compared to the latter.  This week, the subject of friendship has been put before my face repeatedly. I have even been asked, "Lance, do you consider [insert names] to all be friends of yours?" Intimate question. Relevant question. Eye-opening question.

As I have pondered each of those names, praying through them intentionally, I believe He has given me several insights to share on the subject of friendship, especially as I have praised God for the friends He has placed in my life.

1.  "I don't need friends.  I'm perfectly fine on my own."  FALSE.  Friendship is an invaluable part of our walk through our time on this earth.  Community (even at different levels of intimacy and significance) is also essential for the growth and sanctification of the believer.  We need others.  Now, I'm not saying that we have to have a ton of friends or even a lot of them; unfortunately, Facebook has added to the distortion of the meaning of "friend."  But it is worth asking, if the Lord Jesus needed friends - good friends - how much more do we?

Mary, Martha, Lazarus.  Three siblings that were close to the heart of the Lord Jesus (see John 11:5).  Obviously then, it was the will of the Father for Jesus to have those relationships with them, for as we know, He did nothing more and nothing less than God's will.  Who are the people meant to be in my life?  In your life?

2.  The will of God must always come before the desires of friendships.  This is one of the hardest things with which I think Christians struggle.  I know that I put the "needs" of my friends before what I know the Lord desires me to do.  His will MUST trump what we think is best.  For example, when Lazarus, His friend, died, how would one suspect that Jesus would respond?  Immediate departure to be with grieving loved ones.  However, the Scriptures state that He waited four days for His arrival on the scene (see John 11:17).  Why?  Real friends would drop everything to care for their friends.  But, as the story unfolds, we learn that Jesus responded this way so that they "would see the glory of God" (John 11:40).  Do we put the will and glory of God before the will and desires of our friends?  May we always check to make sure God is the ultimate priority in our friendships.    

3.  True friends are willing to speak truth to one another no matter the cost.  Many times I have told my wife that I strongly dislike having to "always" share hard truth with people I love, or brothers I disciple, or friends in my life. Yet she is faithful to remind me that this part of my life is an extension of the ministry of Jesus Himself, who did share hard truth with others whenever necessary, whether friend or enemy.  As in the case again with Jesus and one of the before-mentioned siblings, Martha, Jesus rebuked her for being busy with many things.  As she prepared to serve Jesus, Martha missed the main point of sitting at the feet of Jesus as her sister, Mary, did; she listened and worshiped as He taught  (see Luke 10:38-42). Martha expected him to stand by her side and rebuke Mary for "laziness," but He stood by Mary.  For Mary did what was most profitable at that moment; Martha let anxiety consume.  Jesus spoke what was hard to build up and refine His friend.  Do we?

4.  On the other hand, true friends affirm and encourage when one is right or obedient.  As in the previous instance, not only did Jesus correct Martha, but He also affirmed Mary.   She was busy doing the right thing.  I think this is huge.  Affirming with what is right in the Lord's eyes, not necessarily what we think is right in our opinion or feelings.  We must encourage friends to know God's voice and walk accordingly, only then to offer words of affirmation after they follow through with His desires.  

5.  True attitude of friendship, as in the attitude of Christ, is not "Will you be my  friend?" but instead, "I will be your friend."  As Paul quoted Jesus in Acts, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).   True friendships involve a giving of oneself for the betterment of another - it is not for the sole benefit of the betterment of self.  This is perhaps the one point that is tumbling most in the caverns of my thoughts and emotions.  In analyzing those that are or aren't to be in the inner circles of my friendships, this fact causes me to further consider how I am treating and loving others as a friend to them.  At the end of the day, am I really more concerned with who are my friends, or instead, what kind of friend am I?

I'm sure most of this is common sense Christianity for those experiencing genuine friendships.  However, I have just observed so much recently in my life and in the lives of others that would cause one to question the existence of authentic, truly selfless friendships.  

May Jesus do this work in me.  Make me a friend to others that honors His character.  May He do this work in us - so that He is MOST glorified through the display our Christian friendships present for the world.