The Only "Economy" That Matters

I had a thought the other day. It was, "What if I only got in Heaven (or for eternal enjoyment) what I freely gave or used in this life on or toward others?" I'm not saying that is theologically correct (or that it isn't), but there is no denying in an honest reading of the New Testament that there is a significant emphasis on investing now for eternity.

God's economy is much different than ours. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where we put our treasures not only affects our future life past this earth, but it defines where our heart will be on this earth. Considering God is more concerned about our heart than any outward appearance, this makes where we store up our treasures a weighty issue—a heart defining issue.

In my Bible reading this week I've been struck by the emphasis on this that Jesus makes from different angles in Luke 16. There is the confusing parable of the dishonest manager. Setting aside all the different thoughts on who the people represent, etc., there seems to be a clear rebuke by Jesus in there of "the sons of light." While not saying dishonesty is good, there seems to be in His words a pointing out that the unrighteous are often more careful about securing benefits for their future (albeit worldly future) than the children of the Kingdom of God are about their future (eternal). He also, in the parable of Abraham, the rich man, and the poor man Lazarus in their interaction beyond the grave, says of the rich one who neglected the poor at his door, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish" (Luke 16:25).

When Paul writes to the believers in Corinth he reminds them, ". . . For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). When we combine verses like these, with the multitude of other similar verses, it would seem that followers of Jesus are faced with two very different paths. We can invest in our now, and receive our reward in this life, or we can invest in eternity, and enjoy our reward for eternity. When we realize this economy, it is no wonder that Jim Elliot, a missionary killed in the 1950s in Ecuador, wrote in his journal this now famous quote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

What are we investing in. Do the words of J.C. Ryle, about the parable of the dishonest manager, apply to us? These words are, "The diligence of worldly men about the things of time, should put to shame the coldness of professing Christians about the things of eternity. The zeal and pertinacity of men of business in compassing sea and land to get earthly treasures, may well reprove the slackness and indolence of believers about treasures in heaven."

It is a question worth asking. When we face that moment when we cross the line, and if we are able to see our life and priorities and "treasures" in perspective, will we be pleased with the choices we made, or will we wish we could do it over? If you could write your obituary, what would you want it to say? And what are you and I doing to bring that to pass?

She Considered Him Faithful . . .

I know faith has been used, at times, like a club that beats someone up further who hasn't been healed or seen a prayer answered and heard the words, "You don't have enough faith." That is sad. Faith is a beautiful word when used in the context of our confidence and trust in God, His Word, His character, His goodness, His promises. And, yes, faith does, often, play a role in God moving—the Bible is filled with stories of people whose faith caused something to happen—and it also records God moving in other times when it seems no faith was involved.

I have been teaching recently on the amazing, divine invitation we have from God as Christians to surrender our will and "kingdom" to His will and "kingdom" and to let His will be done where we have a realm of influence. It is amazing and awe inspiring and exciting that God invites us to colabor with Him and to be a part of His will and work—that He dwells in us, leads us, and offers Himself to us to partner in plans eternal, and to be a part of His kingdom driving back darkness. How could we ever buy the lie that we can somehow, on our own, make decisions for our life that will give us more happiness, meaning, purpose, joy, security, etc. then partnering with our Creator in the very plans and works He created us for?! Yet, how often each day we decide we can better secure our happiness or security or meaning than He can. It is so foolish . . . and yet, a lie we fall for far too often.

These last few Sundays I've been talking about some of the reasons we don't surrender to His will. Sometimes we don't want to give up control—our lives are already so regulated and to give up even more control of them seems to diminish us. Or, maybe we don't trust God—I know we'd never admit that, but it is true at some level for most of us. Maybe we don't trust Him to make us happy, or to speak to us, or to take care of us. Maybe we are afraid that what we think we need isn't what He thinks we need when He promises to take care of our needs. Maybe we are offended or angry at God because of something that happened to us once, or a prayer that wasn't answered, and it makes it hard for us to trust Him. There are so many reasons we might resist His will and choose our own in any given moment of our life.

One of the most powerful and revealing verses in the Bible to me is Hebrews 11:11. It says, "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised." Sarah, who mocked and didn't believe, had a promise from God for a child. At some point, after her mocking, it seems she stopped and took her unbelief captive to something and that gave her faith. Her faith brought out the life and power that was dormant in God's promise, waiting, and it came to pass. So, what did she take her unbelief captive to? To God Himself. To His character. Somewhere in there she stopped, recognized the lie and the error of her thinking, and realized just who it was that promised her. It was God! The God who created the Heavens! And, by taking her doubts and, maybe, fears, captive to the person of God Himself they melted away and were replaced by a faith that brought life to God's promise and she received the power to conceive. Her faith brought power, and life.

When we look at ourselves, we find, I believe, one of two things. If we are arrogant and proud we find a false confidence built on frail and temporal bodies and minds. If we are self-critical and even honest with ourselves we find little confidence because we realize how limited we are and how fragile we are. But, when we look at God we find something else, altogether! We find an all powerful God who loves us beyond measure and who never leaves us or forsakes us. We find a God who invites us to colabor with Him and to partake in the Kingdom's resources to bring His will and plans together. We find a Creator who created us for special works and leads us in fulfilling them, hence fulfilling the very purpose we were created for. We find a God who breathes out stars and yet says to us, "I want to spend eternity with you!" Suddenly, when we consider Him and not ourselves, His capability and not ours, His wisdom and not ours, His power and not ours, our faith is increased and the impossible becomes possible when it is Him leading us.

Sarah was bound by the world and her experience and her limitation. If formed the basis of her expectation, and in those boundaries she had no expectation of a child. But then she considered Him, and who He is, and His character and nature and power, and she realized that, while she is frail, He is faithful, and He has promised, and she was filled with faith and believed. And the power to conceive came upon her.

What has God invited you to colabor in? Are you considering yourself, or Him, in your assessing of it. When our own capability and resources form the outer boundary of our expectations the boundaries are small . . . but when He leads and we surrender and His capability and resources form the outer boundaries of our expectations, we find there are, in fact, no boundaries that exceed His capacity. He is faithful, even when we are not. Let us consider Him . . .

Another Thought on Unanswered Prayer

In June I wrote a post involving Steinbeck and my dad called "Unanswered" Prayer in which I shared that maybe, sometimes, when we feel like God isn't answering our prayers, it is because the answer involves so many people and/or situations that aren't yet in place in our lives that we might not even recognize His answer as from Him if He told us what we wanted to know. Last night we had a young man from our youth group over for dinner to talk with him and spend some time together and we got talking about the future. He has a tremendous heart for God's will in His life, but experiences the uncertainty of not knowing what that is (something we all, often, experience, I would imagine). Mary Ann shared a thought with him that I believe is another reason God may not always share with us the information about the future we are requesting (seemingly not answering our prayer). She reminded him of Abraham and Sarah and the mess that came out of God telling them their future . . . and then them trying to "help God out" and make that future happen (the birth of a baby to them being the situation I am talking about). We have the whole situation with Hagar and the two sons when there was only supposed to be one and all the problems today that spring back to that moment. So, maybe, sometimes God doesn't give us an answer to a request for His will or plan for the future because He knows that we'll try and "help" it happen instead of letting Him bring it about in His timing through our surrender to His leading . . . and rather than help, we'll just mess it up. Just a thought, and one I felt was a good one. Interestingly, it was this same Abraham who earlier in his life left his homeland at God's command and traveled, not knowing where he was going, until God said stop. He is a man who should have been familiar with God leading every moment and orchestrating the timing of everything. I wonder . . . how many times do we learn a lesson and then forget it or blow it off?

God bless you all, and thanks for sharing in my life and this little blog world. We have a truly mighty and wonderful God!
Erick

Lesson from a Shotgun . . .

I shared the following example recently with the fellowship I pastor in a series I am currently teaching on faith as our antidote to fear. I wanted to share it here as well . . .

When I was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army I was a platoon leader of a Cavalry reconnaissance platoon. Shortly after the invasion of Panama in 1989 we shipped down there to do peacekeeping in the country (it was in need of it as we had dismantled much of their police and military, and criminal elements and remnants of Noriega's forces were running rampant in areas).

As an officer of a mounted unit (we had Humvees with machine guns on top) the only sidearm we were issued were 9mm pistols. This was the pre-Christian part of my life, and when another Lieutenant and I were uncomfortable with having only a pistol we got 12-Gauge shotguns to carry with us. The young men in my platoon would have fun teasing me about the shotgun, but when we went to a live fire training before deploying they watched it shred a hallway of cardboard targets. They still teased me about it . . . but it was funny because whenever we got in to a tight, dismounted situation in Panama I would look around and they were all hugging in close to the shotgun! In fact, in those situations, the shotgun became the weapon on point (in the lead), and everyone came in close behind it with their M16 rifles. (Today I thank God that I never had to use the shotgun on anything other than fake targets.)

I share this story for a reason. While the guys had fun teasing me about my shotgun—when things got scary and real they pulled in close to that shotgun because they had seen how awesome and powerful it was, and they had greater faith in it to take care of them than they did in their rifles. Prior to the live fire training we did, they probably wouldn't have had such faith in the shotgun—but after seeing what it did up close against the cardboard targets, they gave it the credit it was due, and as a result had great faith in it.

Romans 4:20-21 says of Abraham: No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Abraham grew strong in his faith AS he gave glory to God. I believe this means that as he glorified God, as he exalted God, and as he focused on God's greatness and worthiness, it increased his faith to where he had more confidence in God than in physical circumstances around him. Why? I believe because the greater we see the object of our faith, the greater our faith in it will be.

For example, if we stood over the same 200' gorge on either a modern, 4-lane, concrete and steel suspension bridge, or on a 150 year old, frayed, rope bridge, our faith that we would stay safe would probably be dramatically different in the two separate situations. Why—it is the same gorge in both instances? The answer is, because the object our faith is in is different. The steel bridge gives us a lot of reason to have faith in it—the old rope bridge doesn't. Likewise, the men in my platoon had seen my shotgun compared to their rifles in an up close situation and found they had greater faith in the shotgun. You see, faith has an object . . . and the greater our confidence in that object, the greater our faith will be.

So, if Abraham, faced with something God said was going to happen that the world said was physically impossible, grew strong in his faith as he glorified God, might we also grow stronger in our faith as we practice intentionally worshiping and glorifying God—as we habitually exalt and lift Him up to the highest place of awe and power and glory in our life? It is not that God gets any bigger as we do that, we just get reminded at the forefront of our mind about how big and awesome He is. Then, as the object of our faith (God) "increases" (in our perception), our faith increases proportionately.

The more we worship God and His awesome, holy majesty, the more we remind ourselves how great God is, and the greater our confidence in Him will be compared to our confidence in the world, man's wisdom, national forecasts, etc. Go out and stare at the stars and remind yourself there are billions of them in a galaxy, and billions of galaxies, and that He breathes them out and knows them all by name and measures them with the span of His hand. Practice intentionally worshiping and giving glory to God—like Abraham, your faith and peace and confidence in God will increase as you do.

Note: The photo is of me in Panama with one of the local kids who asked if he could polish our boots to earn money. One of my greatest joys down there was getting to know the kids and practicing my Spanish on them while they practiced their English on me. On my days off I would go into the villages and hang out with them. They would often take me to their homes where I got to meet their families and share meals with them (I remember one home with no back door on it—the chickens came in and out and walked around us in the house while we ate!). I truly fell in love with the people of that country, and view my time there as one of the best times in my life.

Perspective Matters: Seeing from God’s Eyes . . .

I have been struck in my study and prayer over these recent years about how important it is for us to be able to rotate around to the back side of an event in the Bible to see it from God’s eyes and not just from our own point, or frame, of reference. I believe that as we practice this in studying events in the Bible we will become better at it in events in our life as well.

I believe that we, by our nature, tend to see events through our eyes, laying over them our feelings and faith and experiences. This is natural—what we would expect—but it doesn’t always give us the full picture we need to grow. Let me list a few examples, stating how we might see them from our perspective in our initial reading of them:

1) Israel at the Jordan the first time: Ten spies have come back with stories of how formidable the enemy is. You are not soldiers, you have been slaves up until recently. It is easy to relate to their fear and doubt and decision to not invade.

2) Abraham sacrificing Isaac: Possibly the most difficult, horrible event in the Bible from a parent’s eyes. How could God ask that or even put Abraham in that position?!? We think that we could never do it, and we struggle tremendously with it.

3) The cross: From the eyes of those watching Jesus die—those who had left everything to follow this man they thought was God and who now was dead—it was possibly the darkest moment of their life.

4) Death of a Christian: We miss them. It is an end. We won’t see them again on earth. We hurt and grieve.

5) Peter on the Water: The waves are big, the wind is strong. I’d be afraid too. I’d feel fear. I’d probably sink also. I am he of little faith as well.

Now, like the earth going around to the back side of the sun, let’s rotate around these five instances and see them as God might see them—and see how seeing them that way can really increase our faith and give us a whole new perspective. Remember, seeing the full picture—the physical and spiritual side of something—is to finally see actual reality and not just our cropped version of it. Only in knowing actual reality can we truly understand and evaluate something.

1) Israel at the Jordan: We get a huge clue how God sees this when He asks Moses, in Numbers 14:11, “How long will this people despise (reject in New King James) me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” What we see, and excuse, as simple and natural fear if we look through our/their eyes is, to God, rejection of Him and unbelief because He has given them His promises to deliver the land to them and to go with them in to it. Wow! Suddenly we see this a whole different way when we realize that what we see as simply fear in face of a promise is, through His eyes, unbelief and, ultimately, a lack of trust in God which He sees as a rejection of Him.

2) Abraham sacrificing Isaac: I know how wonderful I feel when my girls express love and trust in me, so I can’t imagine the joy and pleasure God must have felt when Abraham demonstrated the love and trust and faith in God he did by being willing to immediately do this for Him. From God’s eyes what we consider one of the hardest chapters in the Bible may be one of the most beautiful!

3) The cross: The darkest moment through our eyes, were we there, was the moment God worked His greatest victory and defeated the work of darkness and brought the redemption of His precious Creation in to reality! Though we couldn’t see it, standing at the foot of the cross, it was from a spiritual framework a moment of huge victory!

4) Death of a Christian: From God’s eyes, He has brought home a precious child out of the pain and suffering of this world to His perfect world and place He has prepared for them where they can enjoy His presence without hindrance and He can fellowship with them without the obstacle of sin.

5) Peter on the Water: I wrote about this on May 28, 2009, in my post, “God Rocked My World This Morning . . .” In a nutshell, what we see, and excuse, as natural fear is actually, down deep, I believe, a reflection of what we believe about God’s character. I believe we see this event as, “Who wouldn’t be afraid? I guess I don’t have enough of this thing called faith.” I think, that to Jesus, it was a question, “Peter, who do you think I am and what do you think My character is? Do you really think that I would call you out onto the water and then turn My back and let you drown?”

So often we stop at our natural feelings, and we excuse and justify them and allow ourselves to remain in them, saying, “It’s natural.” But, from God’s eyes, I believe that He looks deeper than our feelings to the core and sees what they really reflect about what we think and believe about Him and His character and Word and trustworthiness and love. The examples I stated above are not to say that our feelings aren’t real, but to bring perspective and alternatives to them so we can begin to take them captive and see our minds transformed into the mind of Christ, that we might see and operate more in His image than in ours. As long as we remain in the place where our feelings and perspective drive us then we won’t grow or be a force for Kingdom work. But, I believe that in some way when we can begin to see, and be led by, the mind of Christ, we will start to move toward that place that Jesus was in where He did what He saw the Father do, and said what He heard the Father say.

Another Blackaby Quote . . .

Here is another passage from Henry Blackaby's book, Created to be God's Friend, about Abraham. I put it out here for your reflection.

He writes (page 126, the previous post's quote was from page 131): When I was just a little boy, God convinced me that He is God, and I was not! This realization shaped the rest of my life. I have never entered His Presence without this strong awareness. So I cannot remember arguing with God, or demanding of God, or doubting God. I cannot remember fussing with God, or debating with God. He is God! And I am not! Therefore, I choose to let Him be God in and through my life. I constantly stand amazed at God's consistent blessing in my life and in my family!

This means that at every point in my life I have only one decision to make---is this clearly God's will? If it is, I confirm it with my wife and children, and then proceed. There are always a hundred details to work out. But I am, and have always been, confident that since I know His will, each and all of these details He will work out or help me to work out in my life.

Many have said to me about their situation, "If these four things work out, I will know it is God's will!" I try gently to suggest that if this is God's will, those four things will work out! The key is God, not circumstances. Abraham was learning this one day and one circumstance at a time.

A Quote from Henry Blackaby . . .

Hello! I have been reading through a book by Henry Blackaby (the author of Experiencing God) called Created to be God's Friend. It is about the life of Abraham and how God built him in to His friend (James says that Abraham was a friend of God---is that an awesome statement or what?!?). Blackaby talks about the part in Genesis 18 when God asks if He should tell Abraham what He is about to do (to Sodom and the region) and then decides to share His heart and plans with Abraham.

Blackaby says this: It is a moment of trembling to realize the Heart of God, but this comes to the one who chooses to let God draw him closer to Himself. Often this will occur in one, while others around him do not know anything at all about the seriousness of the moment with God. But God desires such a relationship, where He can share His heart. This is the “friend” He is looking for. This is the kind of relationship He is shaping in the one He calls. This one will see farther, see clearer, and see more than others around him. This, too, will often separate him from those around him, especially because of the intensity with God this revelation creates. It is sometimes lonely being a “friend of God”!

I found this paragraph really spoke to, and stirred, my heart. I want to be a friend to God. I want to be one whom doesn't just tell Him my heart, but who is available to hear His. One who listens and doesn't just talk. One He can trust with His heart. One who will take seriously the things that make Him rejoice, and the things that cause Him sadness. I know that is sometimes lonely---I imagine at times Moses and Noah and Peter and Paul felt very alone among men---but I want to be willing to trade all of the friendship of man for the friendship of God if it was required. I don't want to be this for more of His praise or to earn anything from Him---I am so, so glad that He loves me just as I am, and that He has such grace for me just as I am---but I want to do this because being a friend of God seems to me to be one of the most amazing things a man (or woman or child) could be . . . and it would mean that I had come to the point where what He had to say to me and share with me had become as important to me as what I want to say to and share with Him. I can say it is, but if I don't position myself to receive it and to be faithful in its trust then it doesn't mean much to me to say it.

How Would You Introduce Yourself?

Hello! I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this posting as it stands very near and dear to my heart, and, unless you have subscribed to this blog by email, I have no way of knowing who is reading it. Please feel free to hit the comment link and let me know if, and how, this speaks to your heart. I’d love to know you’re out there and be blessed by your reflections!

Sunday’s teaching from Genesis 17 really spoke to my heart, and I wanted to share its core with a broader audience (I will try and remember to let you know when I am able to catch the church’s web page up and post an mp3 copy of it). The teaching focused on the point in Abram’s life when God changed his name to Abraham, which means “A Father of Multitudes” (God had previously told him his offspring would be like the stars if he could number them).

Here is the situation: Abram is 99. Sarai is 90. They have already proven they can’t have children together. God changes Abram's name and says their baby is one year away—so they are at least three months from conception and four to five months from even being sure she is pregnant. The question that rings in my heart is this: “If I am Abram, what is my name for myself those first few months, and how do I introduce myself to others?”

This is huge. Don’t dismiss this quickly. Dig deep in your heart and ask that of yourself. God has declared over you something that contradicts everything physical circumstance, logic, anyone else, and even yourself says about you and your life. Do you require anything beyond God’s Word to believe something? If you are Abram, is God’s Word enough for you to proudly declare of yourself, “Hello! I am a father of multitudes!”?

This is really important because God has awesome, wonderful things He has declared over our new life in Him if we have surrendered our lives to His Lordship. Words about our new identity. Words about our destiny. Words about how He sees us. Words about His new role in our life. But, these words so often stand in opposition to our circumstance, previous experiences, how others see us, and how we see ourselves. So often the “voices” that have spoken over our lives for so many years (our own, and others) are so familiar that we assume them to be true and we receive them more readily than God’s. We have to train ourselves to recognize and believe God’s voice, through His written and spoken Word in our life. It is a battle to see and receive ourself as God sees and receives us. To paraphrase Bill Johnson, “We can’t afford to have any thoughts in our head about ourself that aren’t in His (about us).”

So, sit back, pour some coffee (or whatever it is you sip while you reflect), and ask yourself, “If I were Abram could I have begun to introduce myself to others (and see myself as) a father of multitudes, simply on what God has said over my life that is still in the future and that I can’t see any evidence of?” Then ask yourself, “So, what HAS God said about me and MY life . . . and have I received it?”

The logical extension to this then becomes, “Do we see others the way God sees them, despite how they act or seem?” And that is an entirely different battle we face.

I'm More Afraid of . . .

As I was talking with Mary Ann about Sunday's teaching on Genesis 16 (in which Sarai gave her maidservant Hagar to Sarai's husband Abram to try and get the son God promised them Abram would have) I was struck with a thought: I am more afraid of my good intentions than my bad. What I mean by this is that I don't set out to deliberately disobey God or do "evil" things and I can pretty easily recognize those things and say "no" to them. I usually know and recognize when my intentions are bad, and it is really then a simple question of choosing to obey God or my flesh. Whichever decision I make it is clear and I usually am aware I am making it.

It is my "good intentions" that are really, for me, the most dangerous. I believe that Sarai and Abram had really good intentions. Think about the depth of Sarai's good intentions and desire to do for God that she would give another woman to her husband. But, those good intentions---decieving in how dangerous they are because they are "good"---caused tremendous hurt and pain for those involved and have caused ripples of unrest and war to this day.

So often we step out of that place of pure faith, of trusting God completely, and don't even realize it because we are "good intentioned". But, really, our good intentions can easily be a substitute for faith and standing on God as we seek to take some level of control back, or at least to feel like we are "doing something." This isn't to say that faith doesn't require action. Not at all. But it must be God-directed action. Peter's intent to save Jesus from Jesus' fate was met with, "Get behind Me Satan" because Peter was not mindful of the things of God but of the things of man.

The life of faith sometimes seems like a scary free-fall because we are living totally in a realm of trust, but it is really the only place we are securely in the center of God's palm. I need to make really, really sure that my "good intentions" are not really a running ahead of God, or a substitute for trust and faith. The last thing I want is to be in a place where I am not in God's will, and I am finding I get that way more often acting on my "good intentions" than my "bad" ones. Thoughts? Comments? Or did this even make any sense at all?