The Wisdom of Faith

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him.

And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Familiar verses.  These are some of the first verses that were ever shared with me when I first began to walk with Christ in earnest.  So many times I have revisited these verses, each time they become clearer, each time the application grows more vivid.  Think of how all encompassing these words are.  The only wise path available to humanity is a trust that is placed in the Lord - His character, plan and provision.  A complete and whole-hearted trust from the seat of the intellect, will and emotion.  The other side is equally challenging.  We spend most of our lives attempting to lean upon our own understanding.  Making our own judgments and drawing our own conclusions.  But this verse is challenging us to have a greater humility.  We are not to try to solve our problems and plan our ways by our own means and resources, but to submit ourselves fully to what His word has revealed to us and submit all of our choices to what He has revealed in His word and by His Spirit.  The last statement is the most terrifying.  Should we choose this life of faith, He will direct our paths.  This may mean that the path He chooses for us may lead away from what we think we want – but it will bring us to the place of having what we really need: a closer walk with Him.

The Sky

Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.  And God called the firmament heaven.  So the evening and the morning were the second day." Genesis 1:6-8

As a child I remember lying on my back and staring up at the sky.  Day or night this practice never failed to amaze me.  Whether looking out into a beautiful deep blue, clouds or out into an endless sea of stars there seems to be something amazing about that expanse that the Lord God spoke into place to divide the waters from the waters.  I wonder what an angel looking on at God's work in Creation week would think.  God had made this gigantic galaxy and in some corner of it He made this tiny ball that He had filled with water.  Then He made some space in between the waters to put things.  I wonder of the angels were curious as to what he would do with that little bit of space.  Could they have imagined that He was clearing a space for plants and birds, elephants and elk?  Could they have dared to think that He was creating an environment to place little creatures that would be both spirit and animal?  Would it be possible to even dream that He would imprint His very own image upon those creatures?  Yet more amazing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God would take on that form and die to restore them to Himself.  After that, that little space of sky that God created on the second day would be the medium through which Christ would be raised up into heaven to sit down at the right hand of God.  That very same sky will one day contain the returning King and hosts of His saints, saved by Grace.  All this is possible only because God cleared a little space between the waters.

Don't Know Fear

The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

Media sells to us based, in large part, on fear. Commercials sell us things by trying to convince us that we will not be able to keep up without this, or we will fall behind our neighbors without that, even something you may want or need will be sold with the threat that "this price won't last!" Fear and anxiety have effects traversing the spiritual, psychological and physical realms of life. The negative effects of fear had been seen by medical science. The world can come up with solution after solution about this, but we find the Psalmist has found a solution outside of himself.

The Psalmist fears no one and no thing because he trusts in the character and nature of God. For light, salvation and protection, David chose to look to the Lord and trust in Him. Notice that there is a resolve throughout this psalm. While David's faith is based on the facts of God's Word and built by God's faithfulness to him in the past each instance is a new opportunity to trust the Lord, and be without fear. When David was again surrounded by His enemies the choice to trust the Lord and not fear had to be made again. That trust is a forceful act of will, choosing faith over fear. Trusting that God really is who He says He is, and loves as the Bible tells us He does. There is a dogged determination to this courage that is rooted in the character of God, making the last verse of this psalm poignant and appropriate:

Wait for the LORD;

Be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

A Relaxed Mental Attitude

Dr. Troy Welch is president at the seminary I did my academic work through. He is a godly teacher and the Lord's love is evident through His life and ministry. One of my favorite phrases of his that I love to borrow is this phrase, "Relaxed Mental Attitude." It is Dr. Welch's contention that the mature believer should possess a "Relaxed Mental Attitude." Why does he believe this?

Our faith is built on Jesus Christ and all that He has done on our behalf. Once we understand this, we can begin to comprehend Grace. What it means that our salvation is totally of Him and not at all of us. Furthermore, our sanctification is totally by His work and our part is resting, relying on Jesus Christ and His finished work at the cross (John 15; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 1:3-14; Hebrews 2-3). Once we understand this reality we are able to trust Him with the major and minor details of our life. It does not mean we are inactive, we actively submit to Him. We actively pursue beholding Him through the Bible. It gives us a peaceful mindset and confidence that knows that there is no room for fear, worry or concern for us who are in Christ Jesus. And that is a great way to go into each and every day.

Love is...

Tonight was beautiful. Tonight we shared a meal with our brothers and sisters at Holly Hills. It's cold here in Denver. It was so very fun to pile into the van and drive through the winter weather listening to the 24 hr Christmas music station and park our car in the church parking lot. We all shuffled in and played a game with the group. The kids played together in the Sunday School rooms and someone was kind enough to bring some folks along who were willing to watch the kids so the parents could have the evening to talk with grown-ups.

One generous family catered the party beautifully. The food was delicious and it was just so quaint. The tables were arranged beautifully and there was nice silverware and linen napkins. Delicious foods and cheesecake for desert. It smelled of family. Laughter and love filled the air. After a game and dinner we had a message from one of the beloved brothers of our congregation. He is such a wonderful teacher and we were so very blessed to be able to behold the Lord through Randy's teaching. Who could think that the "hypostatic union" (the doctrine that teaches Christ's simultaneous deity and humanity) could be so practical, and wonderful. We sang some Christmas songs and had a "white elephant" gift exchange.

Generally, I find gift exchanges to be painful and long. Given the fact that there were more than 60 people there I was concerns. There was so much laughter, so many jokes told. So many great stories shared. Gifts that kept coming back for year after year of "re-gifting" seemed to take on a life of their own. I also never thought I would see so many people so excited over a rubber chicken. But then, that's what makes it so silly and fun. One more song and off we went home. What a blessing.

The kids were pooped so we hustled off home and put them to bed. Cadence needed some extra snuggling and I was happy to give it. Truthfully, I love the long bedtime procedure we have put together and I love rocking and snuggling, cuddling, book reading and seeing her sweet self drift off into a careless sleep. I love doing things and spending time with people that make me want to love my family more. Things that fill, things that replenish, things that bless, things that point us towards Jesus.

Perhaps a meandering account, but even still...a beautiful evening!

My Beautiful and Intelligent Wife

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I do know that I couldn't mention it enough. Aside from having been given the spiritual gift of being able to put up with me, my wife has other supernatural powers. Those of you who know us may know that we are struggling to keep afloat. Working a number of odd jobs to try to make a living and hoping (eventually) to break into full time vocational ministry. This process has been one of endless challenge and difficulty. So it has been incredible for us! This process of breaking, fighting, failure and rejection has been very difficult and has conformed us to Christ's image more than any other phase.

We have, at some level, hung our hopes on the possibility of serving at a church in Ft. Collins and flirted with the opportunity to try to plant a church in Prague. Quite a handful of things to consider and pray for. The Lord has brought us to the point where we feel like something HAS to happen soon or we will be in a heap of trouble that we wouldn't want. This has caused me to look even more despairingly at the small remaining possibilities and hope and pray that one of them may come through. While reason would say not to put all of our eggs in a basket that is by no means a sure thing, it is difficult for me not to.

In a conversation a week ago April had a breakthrough. She realized that it is no good hanging our hopes upon the possibility of this job or that, as if there was a pot of gold at the end of one of those rainbows that we are waiting for. The reality is the Christ is our hope and The Father has already given Him! Why do we need to go hoping on the chance occurrence of this or that when the reality is that our hope is in Heaven with Christ and the things promised to us here is tribulation and difficulty. Furthermore, we are promised that difficulty keeps us more and more pointed towards our real hope and home, and it ensures we will not become too wedded t this earthly prison that we are currently attached to.

It has been said by people much smarter than myself, but it bares repeating. I just need to look at Jesus today. Trust the Lord for the future. Not because "it will surely get better" and not because "there are better days ahead" there is no such promise I've found in Scripture (regarding our earthly walk - there are better days ahead once we are done with this planet and Home with the Lord) but because no matter what happens He will still be with us. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, so I know that I will have the comfort that I need, not the necessarily the situation that I want. Reminds me of the well known verse:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. ~Lemmel

That's good news. Right focus is everything. I was listening to the Screwtape Letters again and was once again struck by the enemies tactics at getting our eyes of Christ and off the present moment in favor of worrying our heads about things that have nothing to do with what we should be about at the present moment.

I have a smart wife. Thankful.