Underneath It All

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s I approached my sixteenth birthday, the desire to have a car of my own became the driving (no pun intended) force of my life.  Those of you who have teenagers understand exactly what I’m talking about.  I ate, drank, and slept cars, dreaming about being my own person, going where I wanted, when I wanted, and with whom I wanted.  The only thing stopping me from owning my first car was money and that meant getting a job.  My dad agreed to my working, provided it occurred only on the weekends and my grades didn’t slip.

One of the local hospitals needed someone to work the second shift on Saturday and Sunday evenings.  This met my dad's requirements for a job and it also provided me the opportunity to work in a hospital.  This was very important to me because I was seriously considering pursuing a career in medicine.  Once the initial training was over, I settled in as a clerk and orderly for the x-ray department.  I learned how to use the computer, how to file, how take inventory of the supplies, how to help with patients, and how to develop x-ray film.  It was a very interesting job for a sixteen-year-old boy and I loved it.

Because the x-ray department was adjacent to the emergency room, we stayed busy, especially on the weekends.  There were always fender-benders, or sports injuries, and the occasional scuffle that got out of hand.  However, there were also very serious injuries and other cases that were life-threatening.  But I will always remember the case of a small boy who came to the emergency room with a very tender ankle. 

This young man had been playing football with his neighborhood friends.  The game was going well and his team was winning.  As he ran down the field to score a point, he hit a small hole in the ground and twisted his ankle.  He found it very difficult to walk and his parents decided to bring him to the hospital just to make sure everything was all right.  His ankle was not swollen but it did hurt him to walk on it.  We all thought it was a severe sprain but the doctor decided to x-ray it anyway. 

When the film was developed, the ankle looked normal.  All the bones were in the right places and there was no evidence of torn ligaments or cartilage, and there didn’t seem to be any underlying reason for his pain.  However, when the radiologist looked at the film, he discovered a small hair-line fracture in one of the smaller bones of the ankle.  This fracture would have gone unnoticed and untreated had it not been for the x-ray and the skilled eyes of the radiologist.

Our lives often resemble this young man with a hurt ankle.  Life has away of tripping us up, of causing us to stumble; and in the process, we can suffer damage.  The real danger is that sometimes the damage is more severe than we first believe.  What we need is a good, thorough examination, someone who knows what to look for, where to look, and what to do once any damage is found.  What we need is for God to examine us thoroughly from the inside out.

Hebrews 4:13 is one of the most revealing scriptures in the New Testament.  The writer of this passage understood that when God examines us, he discovers anything and everything that hinders us from living the victorious life in Christ he so desperately wants us to have.  This verse states, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”  

There are two basic truths in this wonderful passage.  First, nothing is hidden from God.  Everything we do, say, believe, feel, and think is open before him.  While this may be bothersome to us at times, it is also a source of encouragement.  It means that God sees deep inside our hearts and he knows everything there is to know about us.  Nothing about us escapes his watchful eye, and his examination is thorough, discovering all the little quirks and hang-ups that life sometimes sends our way.

Second, the scripture teaches that we are accountable to God for our actions and our lives.  We show our accountability to God when we come to him with an open and an honest heart, asking him to examine us and to repair anything that is broken or damaged in our relationship with him.  The outward appearance doesn’t always indicate the true status of our relationship with God.  What lies underneath in our hearts, in the hidden and secret places of our beings is the true barometer of our walk with God. 

That evening in the hospital, the doctors were able to repair that boy’s ankle and to begin the healing process.   The x-ray machine made it possible for them to see through his body and to isolate, diagnose, and repair the cause of his suffering.  God wants to do the same in your life today.  Won’t you let him give you a thorough examination?  Won’t you open your heart and share it with him today?  Only he is qualified to determine the areas of pain and difficulty in your life and only your Heavenly Father can heal and restore you to a right relationship with him.  Remember, it’s what’s underneath that counts!  Have a wonderful day.

An Open Book

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henever I visit a shopping mall, I just naturally gravitate to certain stores.  I don't even realize I'm headed that way and the next thing I know, there I stand in the middle of the store, wondering how I got there.   Have you ever had this happen to you?  I mean, you just can't help it.  Some people go to the shoe store, some visit a particular clothes shop, some go for the food court, a personal favorite of mine, and still others head for the nearest store selling all kinds of nifty gadgets. However, for me, the store I frequent the most is the bookstore.  I simply cannot visit a mall without going into a store and browsing through the available stacks of books.  Books are one of my greatest loves and I love being surrounded by them.

Before coming to seminary, my brother and I owned our own home.  My room had a great feature that was unique.  I installed a study loft, complete with bookshelves, in my bedroom. An iron ladder led to the loft and I would go up there to escape, to read, to nap, and to think.  I placed all my books there and cataloged them on my computer.  I knew which books I had and on what shelf they resided.  If someone borrowed a book, I knew who had it and my room was incomplete until it was returned.  

I can still see those books and their arrangement on the shelves. I took great pride in them and would frequently go to the loft just to be near them.  To ensure the books always remained in my possession, I bought an embosser, personalized with my initials, and embossed all my books, marking each of them as my own, belonging to no one else.

Do you realize that we are to Christ just like those books are to me?  James 1:18 says, "In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession."  Each book on my shelf was there because I wanted it to be and it had its own unique place on the shelf that I had selected for it.  In the same way, we belong to Christ because he wants us.  He knows all there is to know about us and he loves us anyway.  

As James says, we are his precious possessions.  Out of all the things he created, Jesus chose to give his life for us, to save us from our sins and to restore us to a proper relationship with God. To make us his own, he shed his blood on Calvary's cross.  When we accept him as our Lord and Savior, he places his mark on us and we become his.  We belong to no one else.  He is aware of us at all times and he has chosen the place of our service, the exact place where we will bring glory to God.

The books that lined the shelves of my study loft had several things in common.  They all had an outside cover, some soft, some hard, some big, some small, some colorful, some bland.  Likewise, they were all composed of pages on which ink had impressed the words of a story.  Each book was different from all the others, yet each book was an integral part of my personal library because it was marked with my personal seal.  

This is a perfect picture of the body of Christ.  We are unique, with our own stories to tell.  Some of us are hard, some soft, some colorful, some bland, some big, some small. However, if we have accepted Christ, we carry his seal.  We are his precious possession and we make up his body.

If the pages of your life were opened today and your story read, would there be any indication of Christ's stamp upon your life?  Is your life unmistakably marked with blood of Jesus?  Do the people reading your life know to whom you belong? 

Leave The Light On

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hen I think of home and all the wonderful memories I have from my childhood, one image in particular comes back repeatedly.  It is the image of the lights that burned during the night in our house.  My brother and I shared a room and each night before going to bed, we made sure the bathroom light was burning.  There was such a sense of security provided by that light.  As long as it burned, I knew everything would be all right.  I had no fear of the dark, of the things hiding under my bed, or lurking in my closet because I knew the bathroom light would keep me safe.

Some nights, when sleep eluded me, I would lie awake in my bed and look at the soft light coming from our bathroom.  There, in the stillness, the light would assure me that everything was okay. It provided companionship and dispelled the worries and fears I had of the dark.  The light was always faithful, ever vigilant, ever protecting, and ever present.  After a while, perhaps fifteen minutes or as much as an hour, I would drift off into a sound, worry-free sleep, secure in the knowledge the light would always be there to help me, to console me, and to protect me.

Most of us could share similar experiences from our childhood.  We all know what it's like to be afraid of the dark.  We can all identify with the child who fears the monsters under his bed or those hiding in his closet.  Even as adults, there are still monsters that haunt us late at night, and if we are truly honest, we would admit we still find great comfort in night lights.  We want something to take away the dark areas of our lives, those areas that frighten and paralyze us and prevent us from enjoying life to the full.

Would it surprise you to learn that the concept of the night-light can be traced back as far as the Exodus of the Hebrew children from Egypt?  It's true and our scripture today shows us that the children of Israel found great comfort and security in night-lights.  Exodus 13:21-22 says, "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people."

The night-light God provided for his people was none other than his own presence.  There, on the desert floor, having no idea where they were headed, God provided guidance for them.  During the day, a great pillar of cloud went before them and at night, the pillar changed into fire, providing light for their journey.  Can you imagine what it would be like to open the flap of your tent and see the presence of the eternal God? 

On nights when sleep escaped you, or when you were afraid of the monsters in the dark, or when your mind was filled with all kinds of worries, all you had to do was open your tent, and you would see God's night-light.  This light burned all during the dark hours of the night.  It dispelled any fear, any threat, any worry on the part of his children.  There was great security, great peace, and great comfort in knowing the light was always there, always watching, always protecting, always burning.

On the campus of Southwestern seminary, the main classroom building stays lit all night long.  While I was a seminary student, I often imagined myself as one of the Hebrew children during the Exodus.  Whenever I couldn’t sleep, whenever I was lonely, whenever I just needed someone to listen to me, I would go look at that building.  In the soft light, I could hear God say so softly, yet so earnestly, "I am here.  You can sleep because I am awake; you need not be lonely for I am your friend. Come, talk to me, for I am here to listen.  Have no fear of the dark, for my presence is with you and my light can never be put out."

During all the difficult and trying times of my life, when it seems the darkness is all around, the pillar of fire continues on before me.  God never removed that pillar from before the people and I know he will never remove it from before or you me.  When darkness falls, it is wonderful to know that God always leaves the night-light on for us.  As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 21, "He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep."  Today, as you walk with God, you have the confidence of knowing that no matter how dark the way seems, the light is always on. 

The Sound Of Faithfulness

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od is faithful!  This is one of the most fundamental tenets of the Christian life and one we sometimes have trouble remembering.  It is easy for us to speak of God’s faithfulness when the road of life is smooth and straight with no dips, bends, or bumps.  As long as our walk with God is “enjoyable,” we have no problem claiming and testifying to the faithfulness of God. Life, for us, is good!

But when something goes wrong, when we encounter unforeseen difficulties or challenges, when illness comes, when death visits, when we are on the brink of financial ruin, or when God seems a million miles away, then we find ourselves doubting God’s faithfulness.  The thanksgiving and the praise don’t come so easily and we find ourselves walking more in doubt rather than by faith.

Yet, it is in the difficult times of life that we learn most about God’s faithfulness to us.  The Children of Israel learned about God’s faithfulness during their forty years of wondering in the desert.  Noah leaned of God’s faithfulness during the year he spent in the ark after the flood.  Job learned of God’s faithfulness through unimaginable suffering.  Sampson learned about God’s faithfulness through imprisonment and blindness.  David experienced God’s faithfulness in the wilderness as Saul sought to take his life. 

There are so many examples we could cite and each one of them would demonstrate to us that God is indeed faithful to fulfill every promise He makes and to care for us regardless of the situations into which He places us.  That’s right, God places us into every situation and He remains faithful to us no matter the circumstances.

One Sunday morning, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness.  In fact, for the first time I actually heard the sound of his faithfulness!  Now before you stop reading let me tell you that my room was not filled with light, there was no burning bush in the corner, and God’s voice did not boom and shake the rafters in my apartment.  Instead, what woke me at 3 a.m. was the wonderful sound of rain hitting the metal awning over the cars in the parking area outside my apartment.

The sound was deafening and woke me from a sound sleep, something that even Congress can’t do on a good day!  At first I didn’t know what it was, and then it occurred to me what was happening just a few feet outside my door.  The forecasters had predicted rain for Saturday that would continue into Saturday evening.  This time they were right on target and the rains came in torrents.  After not seeing rain for so long, the cool splash of water falling from the sky was a welcomed sight, feel, and sound.

Outside it was completely dark.  The world was sleeping.  God, however, was awake, faithfully caring for His creation.  As I lay there the words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians came to my mind.  In Philippians 1:6 Paul says, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

           

In this passage, we are reminded that it is God, not we, who began the good work and it is God who will see it to completion.  He knows where we are in life, he knows the difficulties we face, and he is aware of every need we have.  Just at the right moment, when we are parched, when it is dark outside, when no one takes notice of what is going on; God sends the rains of his blessing and love into our hearts and lives.  He is faithful to us in every situation every moment of our lives.  When was the last time you heard the sound of God’s faithfulness?  Listen!  Is that the sound of thunder in the distance?  Are you ready for a rainstorm today?

Safely Sleep

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ur home on Main Street was a wonderful place to grow up.  We had great neighbors all around, there were plenty of other kids to play with and it seemed we never lacked for anything to do.  Mom would step out onto our back porch more than once to call us in, especially during the summer months when school was out.  Finally, as the last remnants of sunset gave way to the dark pall of night, we would head home for baths, and bed.

Each night before closing the house for the night, mom or dad would follow the same routine.  All the lights in the house were turned off, the thermostats were checked to make sure we were cool or toasty, mom and dad would stop by our rooms to kiss us good night, and the doors, both front and back, were firmly shut and the security latches fastened.

Peace then reigned in our home and we all settle down for a good night’s sleep. I never felt afraid, nervous, or worried about anything happening to our family.  Mom and dad were there, they had secured the house, and all was well with the world.

Today it is quite different. I go through the same routine each night as my parents did but the last thing I do is to make sure the security system is armed and all the outside lights are on.  Then, I hop into bed and Trixie, my cat, settles into one of her many favorite spots, and we go to sleep.

Isn’t it funny how we place so much confidence in locks and security systems?  David, the shepherd boy who became king, had no such options. Instead, as a shepherd, he looked to God for his safety and security.  He records this for us in Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

There are three great truths tucked neatly away in David’s words.  First, notice his confidence in the Lord.  Despite weather, despite intruders who would harm the sheep or try to steal them, despite the lion and the bear that could easily strike the flock, David says confidently that he will lie down and sleep.

Then notice how David plans to sleep.  He will lie down in peace and sleep in safety.  No cares, no worries, no things going bump in the middle of the night, just deep, peaceful, and restful sleep. David knows full well that God is on watch, that God will protect him and let no harm come to him.

Lastly, let us take notice of why David will sleep in peace.  David categorically states that he can and will sleep in peace and safety because the Lord, and he alone, will make this happen. In fact, David uses the word, dwell, to demonstrate his faith and confidence in God’s provision. To dwell means to remain constantly in that state. In essence David is saying I will lie down and sleep in peace and safety because Lord you, and no one else, constantly stand watch over me, be it day or night.

Tonight, I will make the rounds just as I am sure my mom and dad will make the rounds at their home.  Before I turn out the lights and settle in, I will remind myself that despite the locks, despite the outside lights, and despite the security system, I will sleep in peace and security because God alone will stand watch over me, just as he has every night of my life!  Do you know this security today?

I've Got You Covered

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hen I was sixteen years old, my parents allowed me to get a job and earn my own money.  For the first time, I could buy something I wanted with my own money and it was very exciting.  However, it also proved to be very challenging because I had to decide between what I could afford and what I couldn't.  Furthermore, I had to evaluate all my purchases in terms of needs or wants.  It is so easy to spend someone else's money; but when you go to spend your own, you become very cautious and your approach to owning things takes on a different perspective.

Like most sixteen-year-olds, I had a desire for a car.  Most of my friends had one and, using teenage logic, that justified my having one as well.  My mom and dad got me a car, but told me I would be paying for it.  It was the smartest thing they ever did for me, although at the time I didn't always agree with this idea.  Car ownership was fun so long as I could make the payments and have everything I wanted.  However, when I wanted to purchase something and couldn't because I had a payment due, the car became more of a burden than a joy.  My parents were giving me a good lesson in the reality of life, that you can't have everything you want, and that the privilege of ownership comes with a price.

But it was also a good lesson about having my needs met.  Just before school started, mom and I went shopping at a local store.  I needed clothes in the worst way for school.  Problem was, I couldn't afford to buy them due to the fact my car payment was due for the month.  My job at the local hospital provided me enough cash to pay for the car and the gas to run it.  There was very little left over for entertainment or purchasing necessary items, like clothes.  So, mom and I went shopping, although I had absolutely no idea how I was going to pay for them.

At the store, we picked out several shirts, pants, a new belt, and a new pair of shoes.  As we approached the counter, my mind was filled with questions, well just one question, "How would I pay for it?"  When we got to the register, the clerk ran the total and mom opened her checkbook, wrote a check, and looked at me and said, "Let's go!"  

I remember standing there in disbelief.  Mom had never intended for me to buy my clothes, she just needed me there to try them on. It was always her intent to buy the clothes for me.  She never meant for me to worry about having clothes nor did she mean for me to be concerned with paying for them.  As a parent, providing clothes for me was her and dad's responsibility and when the time came to buy them, she wrote the check, she had me covered.

This is the great truth the Apostle Paul was expressing in Philippians 4:19. The members of the church at Philippi sent Paul a gift, perhaps money or provisions he needed.  Paul accepted the gift with gratitude and used their expression of love as an illustration of a great spiritual truth.  Paul writes, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  The Philippians had met a real need in Paul's life.  Perhaps he was concerned about money for his journey.  It is possible he needed food and clothing.  Whatever the precise need, the gift from the church at Philippi adequately addressed it.

Paul realized that God uses various situations and people to meet our needs.  Paul also knew that we are never able to meet our own needs.  We are spiritually poor, lacking the funding to adequately provide for ourselves.  We consistently fall short of the mark and we find ourselves in constant need.  This is where God meets us.  He knows our needs, even before we do (Matthew 6:8), and he stands ready to meet them.  God never expects us to "pay" him for meeting our needs.  

As our father, God is responsible for providing for our necessities, and he takes that responsibility seriously.  The death of Jesus is proof of God meeting the ultimate need.  We cannot provide our own salvation.  We can never work enough, never attend enough church meetings, never give enough food to needy families, never spend enough money on the new church building, never pray enough, never visit the sick enough, etc.  We simply don't have the necessary funds to cover the cost of salvation.  But God does!!  He opens his checkbook, he takes out his pen, he writes the check, and says to us, "I've got you covered, let's go home."

Today as you spend time with God, thank him for meeting your needs.  God's promise is that he will meet all our needs, and he means all of them.  What we need to do is distinguish between our needs and our wants, which is something we find so very difficult to do.  God is not responsible for our wants; but he is responsible for our needs and he takes that responsibility seriously.  The infinite riches he has in Jesus Christ are more than adequate to provide for any need you have today.  Please don't worry about having your needs met   God understands, he is aware, and he will provide.  Hey, he's got you covered!

Be Still

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iving in a house in close proximity to the members of your family can sometimes be a challenge.  This is especially true as little children grow older and begin to test the limits of mom and dad’s authority.  While they are encouraged to be independent, as they grow older, obedience remains part and parcel of belonging to a family.  Coming under mom and dad’s authority goes hand-in-hand with living under their roof.

Like any other kid, I too tested the limits of the boundaries established by my mom and dad.  Sometimes I would just stick my big toe into the forbidden waters of disobedience and at other times I jumped in whole hog.  I figured getting wet was half the fun and staying to swim for a while was the other half. It was usually about this time that my interests and my parents’ conflicted.  Guess who won?

I can remember so many times when I crossed the line.  My dad would then discipline me and I would just stew, believing I had been unjustly treated.  The more I thought about it the madder I got until I was just ready to explode.  That’s when daddy usually came to talk to me about what had transpired, to tell me why I had been disciplined.     

He would pick me up and hold me, repeating these two words, “Be still!”  That was the last thing I wanted I assure you!  I didn’t feel like being held, I didn’t feel like talking, and I didn’t feel like being calm.  I wanted to run!  Daddy just held me, softly saying, “Be still, Blake. Be still!”

As I look back on it now, I am amazed at the patience and wisdom of my dad.  He knew I was hurting, he knew I wasn’t happy, he knew I didn’t like the discipline, and he knew I didn’t want to be still.  But he held me anyway, rocking me and telling me just to be still.  I can still hear his voice in my ear, reminding me to calm down and be quiet. No matter what my feelings at the time, two things were true: 1) daddy loved me enough to discipline me and 2) he loved me enough to hold on to me even when I was being stubborn.

Is it any different with our Heavenly Father?  How many times do we exert our own independence, putting our agenda ahead of God’s? We never put our big toe into the water just to test it; we always jump in only to find the water is way over our heads.  Not content to admit we were wrong, however, we decide to stay awhile and get the most out of our stubbornness.

 

This is when God steps in to intervene on our behalf, even though we don’t believe it at the time.  God knows that our disobedience, if left unchecked, will only serve to alienate us from Him.  This is something he neither wants nor allows.

The process of bringing us back into a right relationship is sometimes painful but always necessary.  Afterward, we may not feel as if God loves us.  We may not understand why things turn out the way they do nor why God places us in very difficult situations.  We may be angry, confused, and more than a little dismayed.  But that is all right because we serve a God who loves us more than we can even imagine.

Even in the most difficult times, God picks us up, holds us on his lap, wraps his arms around us, and whispers, “Be still.”  This is the message of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”  The purpose of our stillness is to learn that the Lord is God.  He knows what is best for us.  He alone loves us as no other can.  He loves us enough to discipline us and he loves us enough to hold us when life’s way grows hard, even when it is due to our own stubborn disobedience.

I learned so much during the times when my dad held me.  I learned that he loved me, that he wanted to hold me, that he hurt when I hurt, and that he was so much smarter and wiser than I was.  How much more, then, does our Heavenly Father love us?  How much more does He long to hold us and comfort us during the difficult times of life—even when they are the result of our disobedience?  Are you being still today?

The Plane and Simple Truth

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ur house on Main Street grew with our family.  When mom and dad purchased the house in the early ‘60’s, it had only two bed rooms, one bath, a kitchen, a den, and a central hallway. Then, as my brother, my sister and I came along, the necessity to enlarge the home was a foregone conclusion.

We lived through and survived three remodels on that house and with each upgrade several lessons in patience were just waiting to be learned.  One of these lessons stands out in my mind and the older I grow the more I realize its truth.

During the second remodel, mom and dad altered our large den into a new bathroom and a hallway with a pantry, two closets, and a laundry area.  As the construction drew to a close it was time to place the doors on the closets.  The carpenters arrived with the doors, measured the openings, measured the doors and then took them outside.

A large table with vice grips had been set up in our backyard and the lesson began.  The carpenter placed the door into the vice grips so that it could not move.  Then he took a plane and began shaving off thin slivers of the door.  With each pass of the plane, more wood fell to the ground.  It wasn’t long before there were wood chips everywhere. It looked as if we were starting our own mulching business.

Every once in a while, the door was released from the clamps and taken inside.  The carpenter set it in the frame, took more measurements, and returned to the back yard to shave off more wood. I wondered if there was going to be anything left of the door.  Finally, after several trips inside to see if the door fit the opening, and after several more passes of the plane, the carpenter set the door.  It was a perfect fit!  All those measurements and all those passes of the plane to remove the unwanted wood were necessary for the door to fit into its opening.

In Romans 8:28-29, Paul writes, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

We don’t have to look very far into this passage to see the “plane” and simple truth of God’s work in our lives.  In the middle of the verse you will find the word, conform.  The word simply means "with form."  In other words, when we conform something, we cause it to take the form of something else.  In this instance, God says plainly that he works to conform us to the image of Christ and that means we have to undergo the plane.

Every trial, every temptation, every circumstance in life is really God’s plane shaving off unwanted and unnecessary areas of our lives that prevent us form perfectly fitting into the image of Christ.  God puts us on his table, fastens us where we cannot move, and then shaves us down until we conform to the very image of Christ so that our lives and our attitudes reflect him in every way.

Wherever you are today, know that God loves you. He will not remove anymore from your life than is necessary so that you reflect the very image of his son.  If you are on the table today you are there because God is working on you, perfecting your life, removing blemishes and areas that prevent you from being all he knows you can be.  That is the “plane” and simple truth.

In Any Condition

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he drive to and from work has become pretty routine.  I pass the same businesses, the same houses, the same road signs, and sometimes, the same cars on the highway.  The drive has become such a way of life that occasionally I arrive at work or back home and wonder how I got there so quickly.  However, this day’s drive was quite different.  As I made my way back from teaching a French class, I noticed a new billboard on the side of the road sporting an advertisement I hadn’t seen before.  The sign simply indicated that a local company was interested in buying houses in any condition.

I almost stopped my car in the middle of the highway.  It’s not every day that someone, least of all a company, offers to make a purchase sight unseen.  Yet, that is exactly what the advertisement was suggesting.  This company would buy a house no matter what its condition.  They would refurbish it, redecorate it, and completely restore it.  Afterwards, what was once an uninhabitable structure became a home for a newly wed couple or a growing family.

All that afternoon, I found myself thinking about that billboard.  The advertising firm that created the billboard did a wonderful job and achieved their objective.  Long after I saw the ad and read its message, I was still turning it over in my mind.  Only later in the afternoon did I make the connection between the promise made by the advertised company and the promise made by Jesus as he began his ministry.

The opening verses of chapter 4 of the book of Luke record the arrival of Jesus in his hometown.  His custom was to visit the local synagogue where he would preach and teach.  On this particular occasion, Jesus entered the synagogue he knew as a child.  He was given the opportunity to lead the lesson and he took full advantage of the situation to advertise, if you will, his mission and his reason for ministering to those around him.

After receiving the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus located a certain passage and read it.  Luke 4:18-19 records the scripture Jesus read that day. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."    

Jesus says here that he has come to restore and heal people no matter what their condition.  Look at the description of those to whom Jesus has come to minister.  He describes them as poor, imprisoned, blind, and oppressed. Not what you’d expect, huh?  We don’t see Jesus ministering to the wealthy, to the satisfied, or to those in perfect health.  Instead, he spends his time among the outcasts of society, those who are rejected and considered of little or no value.

Jesus, however, is not concerned with the outward condition of a person but he is interested in the persons themselves.  He wants to enter inside the heart, to refurbish it, restore it, redecorate it, and make it as good as new.  His job is to undo all the damage that has been done so that a right relationship with God can be re-established.  This is what he means by “the year of the Lord’s favor” Jesus is saying that all of us, regardless of our condition, can become acceptable to God.  All we need do is accept him as our personal savior and lord.

What a promise this is to us today.  No matter what our backgrounds, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what we feel or believe about ourselves, God stands ready to take us, just as we are, in any condition, and to restore us to a perfect relationship with him.  He does this, not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who he is and his great love for us.  He alone sees beyond what we are to what we can become and he extends his favor to us.  All we need do is accept it by believing on Jesus Christ as our personal savior. 

So remember.  Whatever the condition of your life today, God stands ready to accept you just as you are and he offers to remake you into the person he created you to be.  Won’t you let him have control of your life today?  He is waiting to make you his own, no matter what your condition!

Asking For Directions

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n August 7, 1979 I finally reached that long-awaited age of 16 and that meant one thing—driver’s license!  Yep, all my friends had been driving for months and now it was my turn to join the ranks.  My parents, though, didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the prospect of my climbing behind the wheel of a car as I was.  Go figure!

Despite my assurance that I could now run errands for them, take my brother and sister to wherever they needed to go, and that I would no longer need them to shuttle me everywhere, they simply didn’t seem to be thrilled that I would be driving.  Something about increased insurance premiums, and not being able to relax until I was home, etc. were apparently a few of the reasons for their not-so-enthusiastic acceptance of this important right-of-passage.

Once I received that little piece of plastic giving me the legal right to operate a vehicle, it soon became obvious that I would need some help if I wanted to go beyond the city limit signs.  That help would have to come from my dad, whose sense of direction still puts any GPS to shame!

In order to have a car of my own, I had to get a job.  I worked on the weekends and during the summers to pay for it.  My job was in one of the local hospitals about 30 minutes from our home.  I remember asking my dad to give me directions which he did.  He gave the best directions, telling me how to avoid traffic, and which areas would be the easiest to navigate but also those which could prove troublesome.  As long as I followed his directions, I never had any difficulty going to work or getting home safely.

In 2 Chronicles 26:3-5 we are introduced to King Uzziah, who at the ripe age of 16 wasn’t worried about driving, his concern was in governing a people.  If ever there were a time to ask for directions this would be it.  And that is exactly what Uzziah did.  In this passage we read, “Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.  He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.”

There are three important statements about Uzziah in this brief passage that provide great insight for us.  First, we are told that Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  This is a very telling statement for someone who is only 16 years old.  He didn’t know everything, in fact, he knew nothing about what it meant to be a king.  But he knew that as long as he obeyed the Lord, and did what was right according to him, his reign would be successful.

Second, he sought the Lord.  Before making policy, before entering into agreements, before entering armed conflict, and before making any decision, Uzziah asked God for directions.  He trusted and knew that God would make sure he avoided traffic and difficulty areas and would see that he and his people remained safe and sound.

Third, Uzziah was successful, not because of what he did and not because of what he knew, but because he consulted God in everything.  This is the great secret of walking with God.  We are to seek him daily, even hourly, because the road ahead is filled with all types of dangers we cannot see.  When was the last time you asked God for directions?  Before you start today’s journey, don’t you think you should?

Office Hours

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he sign on my office door simply read J. Blake Carpenter, M-F 8:00– 5:00.  This information also appeared on our website and provided contact information for students in the event they needed to come see me for any reason.  The university required that I provide such information for students and that I made myself readily available during times when were not in class.  In addition, I also advised our language majors and minors so I saw a lot of people in the course of a semester.  The university did not dictate the times or the days for my office hours, it simply required me to have them.

During the course of a semester several of my students came by during the posted hours or made an appointment to see me.  Most of these meetings centered around a particular area of difficulty the student was encountering in class or revolved around questions about graduation, registration, or what courses should be taken next.  It usually took just a few minutes together to identify the problem, isolate the difficulty, and correct the student’s understanding so s/he could get on with his/her studies.

Some students liked to make an appointment, reserving a certain time slot so they knew they could see me.  At such a time, the student consulted his/her day planner, calendar, or smartphone and wrote himself/herself a note about the time and date of the meeting.  Just like clockwork, s/he showed up on time, we held our meeting, and all was right in the world!  Sometimes, students missed their appointments but I usually received a phone call, an e-mail, or an explanation as to why the appointment was missed.

Psalm 121:3-4 is all about appointments.  It may not seem so at first reading but if you take a closer look at these two verses, I believe you will understand that God makes Himself available to us at all times.  Much too often in the Christian life we want to make an appointment, juggling our personal schedules so we can grab just a few minutes here or there with our Heavenly Father.  We promise to get up earlier in order to spend more time with Him but invariable something happens and we find ourselves missing the appointment.  When this happens, feelings of guilt and embarrassment can creep into our lives making us feel uncomfortable because we didn’t keep our appointment with God.

Let’s take a look at this passage today and I think we will find words of great encouragement.  David’s words remind us that “He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” To me, the most beautiful part of this passage is found in the last four words.  In essence, the posted sign for God’s office reads “Sunday-Sunday, 24 hours per day.  No appointment necessary!! I am here all the time!” 

What an uplifting source of strength, what an encouragement for me to drop my day planner.  The God who keeps Israel, the God who spins everything in orbit, and the God who holds everything together is available to talk to me any moment of the day or night.  He is never “out to lunch”, he is never too busy, and he is never tired or on vacation.  God is always in the office.  I can come to him anytime and he encourages me to do just that.  When was the last time you dropped by for an office visit with God?  This might be a good day to do just that.  I have no doubt you will find Hhm in the office, ready to meet with you today!  Drop that appointment book and knock on the door!

The Search Party

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ne day, just after lunch, I stepped out on the west porch of the men’s dorm at Southwestern Seminary and watched a group of squirrels searching for nuts.  They scampered about the yard, feverishly digging, searching for nuts, or anything else that resembled food.  They took no notice of me or the fact that it was raining; the only thing on their agenda was locating and picking up nuts.  Their dedication to this task was total and was evidenced by the way they conducted their search. 

Each squirrel ran along the ground with its nose working overtime.  When they came upon a promising spot, they began feverishly digging, concentrating on the task at hand.  Suddenly, they stopped, pulled an object from the ground, and examined it thoroughly.  If they found a nut, they would scamper off and hide it, then they would return and begin the search over again.  However, if the object they removed was inedible, they tossed it aside and started the process all over again.  Occasionally, they would sit up on their hind legs, shake the rainwater from their fur, shoot me an inquisitive glance, and resume their endless and tireless search for nuts.

As I watched them, I suddenly became enthralled with their dedication to this task.  Here, on a soggy afternoon, in conditions that were anything but favorable, these squirrels methodically and assiduously continued their search for food.  The conditions outside and the presence of strangers did not deter them from the task at hand.  Instead, they gave their full concentration to one single goal, finding pecans.

This, I believe, is the kind of dedication the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of in his writing. Jeremiah 29:13 conveys a promise that God speaks to His people.  The Hebrew people have been held captive in Babylon and now the time for their return has come.  However, God doesn’t want them to be free only in the physical sense; instead, He wants them to experience the freedom that comes only in a loving and personal relationship with him.  Notice his words in this passage of scripture, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

This short statement contains both a promise and a condition.  First, God promises that He can be found.  This does not mean God hides from us, playing a game of hide-and-seek.  He is not running from us, daring us to discover his hideout.  No!  God wants us to enter into a personal relationship with him, to come to a deeper and more extensive knowledge than we have ever had.  However, for us to do this requires a decisive effort on our part. 

This leads to the second portion of the statement, that of the condition.  Notice that finding God requires two things on our part. First, we have to want to find God.  We don’t search for things unless we want to find them, unless we miss them, and unless we know that we are incomplete without them.  When these are the conditions behind our search, we look frantically, refusing to give up until we find what we are looking for.  Second, the search must be complete.  God wants nothing less than our whole person.  He will not be satisfied until he is the sole reason for our search.  Searching for God in this manner means that nothing deters us from this goal.  We pay no attention to the conditions around us nor are we concerned with the presence or the opinions of others.  Nothing is to detract us from finding God.

Like the squirrels that so diligently remained faithful to their search, we too will be rewarded. Our reward, however, will not be something temporary, our reward will be eternal.  God’s promise is that we would find him and when we find him we have all we need and all we desire.  Although the world is damp, soggy, cold, and inhospitable, we must live in it.  We must search diligently and deliberately to find God because the things of this life so often distract us from finding him.  However, when we make the decision, when we exercise our will, when we seek him with all our being, then we find him.  How is your search going today?

In Heavy Syrup

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each cobbler and coffee!  A winning combination by any standards!  One Saturday afternoon while visiting one of the local grocery stores, I came across a nifty little package that just seemed to fit the bill for a quick dessert or late night snack.  Someone came up with the idea of a ready-made mix for peach or cherry cobbler (fortunately for them I love both) and packaged it in a box including the fruit filling.  This is my kind of person!   Open a can, dump a bag of mix on top, pop it in the oven, and in 30 minutes, voilà—peach cobbler!

While I love the convenience of doing things this way, sometimes there is just no substitute for doing it yourself.  So, in addition to purchasing the hocus-pocus-instant-cobbler mix, I also bought the items necessary to do it myself.  As I was rolling the cart down the aisle of canned fruits looking for peaches, something just jumped right out at me.  Not only did I have to choose which brand of peaches to buy, I had to select between light or heavy syrup.  I stood there for a few minutes knowing that the light syrup had fewer calories but that the heavy syrup had more sugar and would probably give a more full-bodied taste to the cobbler.  Armed with this thought, it was a no-brainer.  I bought two cans of peaches in heavy syrup and wheeled myself to the check-out lane.

Once in my kitchen, I hauled out the pots and pans necessary to make my cobbler the old fashioned way, by hand.  I measured out all the ingredients, pre-heated the oven, and cracked open the cans of peaches I had just purchased.  Of course, I sampled them just to make sure they were sweet enough, and they were.  As I poured them into the bowl I took special note of the heavy syrup in which the peaches had been packed. I knew that in just under an hour, that syrup would be transformed along with the other ingredients into a wonderfully sweet dessert ready for me to dig into.  When the timer went off, I was proved right!  The cobbler came out just perfect, hot, thick, and oh so sweet!

King David knew the value of sweet things.  In fact, he understood that what sweets are to the tongue and the mouth, the word of God is to the heart and the soul.  This belief is reflected in Psalm 19:7-11 as David reflects on the goodness and the perfection of God’s word, His promises, His statutes, and His precepts. “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

David had a firm grasp of the power of God’s word in the life of the believer.  Every aspect of God’s promises and commands carries with it a wonderful effect in the life of his children.  By God’s word we are revived, we become wise, our hearts become joyful, and we receive better sight with which we gain understanding. And, if that wasn’t’ enough, David tells us that all of these things are sweeter than honey and purer than gold.  You want to talk about saving the best to last!!!!  What the heavy syrup is to the peaches, the precepts, promises, laws, and commands of God are to the soul!  They are wonderful.  Even in the midst of heated trials and difficult challenges, they remain pure, perfect, and serve as the bedrock of faith for all those who place their trust in the Lord.

Are you experiencing the sweetness of God’s word in your life today?  Do you know the wonderful promises and the peace that God’s commands, precepts, laws, and ordinances bring to the hearts of those who put their trust in him?  Putting your trust in God, however, does not guarantee a life free from difficulty.  In order to get peach cobbler, you have to mix all the ingredients and then put them in a hot oven to bake for a certain amount of time.  But when the dish comes out, it is bubbly, hot, delicious, and oh so sweet!  This is exactly what David meant when he said that God’s word was sweeter than honey.  Are you experiencing the heavy syrup of God’s promises today?