Skeletons in the Closet

Psalms 25:14-18 (NLT)
The LORD is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant.
My eyes are always on the LORD, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.
Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress.
My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all! Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.

Cities are strange places. The are a conglomeration of humanity, a virtual stewing pot of peoples lives. And yet, in our modern interpretation of cities, we all have walls. We drive to work in our own cars, or maybe catch a train with thousands of others – yet never saying a word to anyone. We read our books, fiddle with our phones, listen to our iPods full of teaching, music or something just plain funny to get us through.

We are surrounded by masses of humanity in a city – and yet, there is so little communication we may as well live like a hermit in a desert. It reminds me of the old sailors rhyme – water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink….

So what can you tell about a person just by looking at them? In most cases, not much at all. You might be able to see affluence in their clothing or dress (and yet you could just be seeing credit card debt and slavery to fashion ideals), you may be able to see someone’s general attitude by their expressions or the way they stand or sit (but who knows what hides behind those smiles). At most, you can sometimes tell if someone is tired, though that is no guide with the advent of coffee and energy drinks by the thousand. You used to be able to tell the poor at least by how they dressed, but even not all who appear to be poor are so – just as not all who appear to be rich truly are.

I sometimes wonder as I am walking through a mall, or driving in traffic through masses of suburbia, who are all these people? What are they doing? Do they know God? Have they even heard of Jesus, apart from in blasphemy? What hurts and crimes hide behind their walls? What amazing testimonies are buried under the mass of humanity that surrounds them?

I was reminded of this again when someone I talk with online shared his story with me – you can read it here. Until that time, I had no idea what he had been through in the past – the past was just something inside of him that we can’t see just by being around, or reading, or even talking with him.

But it was there, the whole time. And his story is just one of thousands, millions, even billions of stories out there of people who are hurting, who are in need, who need to find a way out and through the pain of this life.

There are a thousand ‘escapes’ from the pain that many people suffer (drugs, alcohol, and more), but they all lead to deeper depression and more hurt. There is only one place that we can all go to for healing – to the God who created us all. He alone can heal our hurts. And He alone hurts more than we do when He looks upon the fallen and sinful world we live in.

So next time you are driving through suburbia, catching the train with thousands, or milling with hundreds in the city or the mall, take a moment to think – who are these people? What are they really doing here? Behind all the nice clothes and pretty makeup, what true stories hidden behind their masked smiles? What skeletons are hiding in their closets?

I beleive once we come to this point that we start to see and feel the hurts of others that we will develop true compassion for them. We will start to take the time to pray for them, to talk with them, and to share with them – there is a God who cares, and cares more than even they can imagine.

And He is calling.

What are YOU here for?

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What are you here for?

I read a great comment over at Dave Blacks blog today, that got me thinking.

But no matter what happens, our calling is to live in the confidence that God is always in control. Life itself is a lethal disease. Paul called it “the law of sin at work in my members.” From the moment we are born we begin to die. Believing that God can turn anything into good is what makes life bearable.

For context – Dave’s wife has cancer, and is due for another checkup on the progress of the treatment. But despite this, their life and work goes on. Dave teaches New Testament Greek with a passion that is obvious (Sorry, I don’t know a word, but I am encouraged to try – maybe someday I will get the DVD set and give it a go!). On the side Dave and his wife Becky do a lot of work with missions to Ethiopia. Despite the obvious struggles in their life, they get on with what God has called them to do.

So, what has God called me to do? What has God called you to do?

You are still here on this planet reading this post. So, God still has a use for you. God still has a use for me.

Now, I’m sorry, I can’t tell you specifically what God wants for your life, but I did post some guidelines for What is God’s will recently. Maybe you need to quit your job and enter the ministry, or go to full time missions. Maybe you need to work hard to support your family and put your time and prayer to ministry and missions, sharing with those around you. Maybe God has blessed you with an abundance that you can be a generous supporter of those He has called to full time ministry.

Whatever it is, God has a purpose for you until the moment He takes you to be with Him.

So, Go find it!

Capable and Strong? John 10:11-15

John 10:11-15 (ESV)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Here are a couple of interesting facts about sheep. They prefer to be in flocks and they will generally follow a leader. That leader doesn’t need to be a sheep, sheep will ‘learn’ the face of their shepherd and follow them as well. Also, sheep do not like to be separated from their flock – in fact forced separation will often cause stress, which can lead to illness and death.

On a totally different topic, how do you think these words relate to you? Intelligent, smart, capable, strong, self reliant, accomplished, adept, skilful and talented. Now maybe you would take them all for yourself, but I am sure most of us would pick at least one or two of those to apply to areas of our life.

Quite simply, we are none of these things.

We may seem competent, knowledgeable, adept and skilful in many things. But in reality, we are powerless, able to only subsist, to get through this life with the bare minimum. Yes, we can have ‘good’ lives, because we have defined ourselves what is ‘good’. Yes, we can have lots of stuff, and we think that is great, because we have decided that having stuff is good.

But really, we are just like sheep. We were or are completely dead in our sins – with nothing we can do about it. This speck of a life we live, that is here one day and gone the next,  is but a blink of an eye in comparison to all of eternity. And eternity is what is at stake, because God can’t stand sin. Therefore, He will punish all sinners with eternal punishment. And there is nothing we can do about it.

Or at least, there was nothing. Because Jesus came to this world, lived a perfect life and then died a substitutionary death, that our sins would be covered by His blood for all eternity. And since that has happened there is one thing we can do – accept Jesus to cover our sins. We can recognize we are not competent, not capable, not able to do anything – and come to the good shepherd to be saved.

Because He is the good shepherd, and we are the sheep. We can choose to run off and do our own thing – but that will just mean stress, pain and death in the end. Or, we can follow the good shepherd, who will look after us in this life, and the next.

Sometimes I like to think I am capable. I know sometimes I do a good job at work – but that is the best I can do. A good job in a short career. But I know that I am weak and powerless, and it is through the power of God that I can be truly saved and strengthened, and in the end, do all things in Christ who strengthens me.

The good shepherd is calling His sheep, “come home, be safe, be warm, be fed, because I have defeated the enemy.”

Will you respond?

My Precious…

We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us.

As some of you will no doubt know, my favorite series of fiction books is Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. With that in mind, I hope you will forgive the quote below straight from Fellowship of the Ring.

Bilbo flushed, and there was an angry light in his eyes. His kindly face grew hard. “Why not?” he cried. “And what business is it of yours, anyway, to know what I do with my own things? It is my own. I found it. It came to me.”

“Yes, yes,” said Gandalf. “But there is no need to get angry.”

“If I am it is your fault,” said Bilbo. “It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious.”

The wizard’s face remained grave and attentive, and only a flicker in his deep eyes showed that he was startled and indeed alarmed. “It has been called that before,” he said, ‘but not by you.”

“But I say it now. And why not? Even if Gollum said the same once. It’s not his now, but mine. And I shall keep it, I say.”

My Precious! I wonder, in our lives, do we have things that are the same, our very own ‘precious’? I am sure that none of us have magic rings (though if you do, please let me know, I would love to find out I am actually living in Middle Earth), or that most of us don’t have things so dear to us that we would follow someone to the death to retrieve them, biting off someones finger just to get it…

But I know in all of our lives there are things that are close to us – important to us. Take a moment – what are the things in your life? (for the sake of not spending all day, let’s exclude family from this list – just ‘stuff’)

For me? I am a technology person. I’ve been surrounded by technology almost constantly since before I was a teen – back when computers were primitive, but there you have it. I could probably rid myself of most of the things in my house, but my computer and kindle would be the last to leave. Maybe a thing or two else, but not much.

So what is it in your life?

Now, what if God called you to give that thing up? Again, I know many of us would claim ‘no problem’. But look deeper – that is not true is it. I know I would go to many lengths to try and keep hold of at least my kindle, and hopefully my laptop. I am a ‘solutions man’ – my job in life is fixing things, surely I could ‘fix’ it so I didn’t have to give these things up?

I know in the end I could give it up, but it would be a battle.

And it is these things we need to keep an eye out for.

Luke 16:13-15 (ESV)
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.“

If God called me to truly forgo these things for His purposes I would – because I know God’s purpose is better than anything I could conceive, and I hold Him above all of my things.

What things in your life risk becoming more important that God?

Another great Bible study resource

I’ve just come across another great Bible study resource – mystudybible.com. It has web and mobile versions, and even works (if a little slow) on the iPad! It also has a ‘mobile’ version for phones, but I haven’t tried that one.

What is so great you say?

Well, it has a commentary or two fully available, Bible dictionary, but the greatest thing is the original language tools. You can just hover over a word and get the details of what the originial translation said, and details about that word, where it was used elsewhere, how else it is translated and more. If you are serious about ‘digging in’, this is a great tool.

And while it defaults to the HCSB, it also has others versions like the ESV available. I’m not letting go of esvonline.org (as the study notes there are brilliant), but it’s another great tool to work along side. I really like that these tools are online, free, and that anyone can use without spending thousands on ‘full featured’ software. Nothing against that software, but it is out of the financial reach of many people, and sites like this just make study accessible to all.