PAIN WITH A PURPOSE

 

My oldest brother is eight years my senior. So when he was in high school, I hadn't even made it to junior high yet. But around that time was one of the most memorable for me as a nine-year-old. He had this weight set in our garage. He would bring his friends over and they took turns bench pressing or power clinging or squatting. When they were gone, he would teach me the technique of it all and we worked out together listening to Peter Frampton, Steve Miller or the Eagles.
 

I recall the first time I experienced the soreness that went along with a proper workout. When you're nine there are many first-times and this one kind of took me by surprise. I woke up at the "breakfast call" and walked down the hallway to the kitchen thinking, "What is this strange feeling in my muscles?" I would learn that this was something to expect after workouts. It even became a gauge to determine how much I was developing from these workouts. The "no pain, no gain" mantra became familiar to me as a nine-year-old.
 

But one day, a classmate of my brother's came over to work out with him. This was a guy I'd heard my brother and his friends talk about and almost idolize for his workout discipline and strength. He was a gym guru---not to mention he was "ripped." Of course I wanted to hang around and get a good look at this guy. So when they cranked up the music and started lifting, I sauntered into the garage. My brother said, "Hey, James this is my little brother---he can bench 95 pounds." And almost as if I were a side-show attraction, he loaded the bar with the proper weight and had me show off for him. After I got up, no amount of pain and sore muscles could compare to the accolades I was given by these older guys. They told me how great I'd done and I was grinning ear to ear.
 

There is a payoff one day. Though life is full of unpleasant things we go through from time to time, one day all the pain and suffering we encounter here will be gone and we will glimpse the splendor of heaven and the accolades of the Father He will say, "Well done my child, enter in." At that moment we will know the workout was worth it.

FRUIT

There was a pear tree that stood in the clearing. Half-way around the clump of trees directly behind our house. It was out of the line of sight from our house. We found it quite by accident. Dad was on his way, I think, to go hunting along a creek bed north of our house and discovered it. It was a beautiful thing to Mom and Dad because it was kind of an unexpected treat. They had both grown up raising fruits and vegetables so they knew what to do with pears. We had pear honey, pear cake, pear preserves. What we didn't eat right then, Mom canned and we ate periodically throughout the year.

Spiritual fruit is kind of like that tree. Quiet, solitary---off the beaten path. Our lives seem that way at times---until someone stumbles onto us. And if our lives have been spent grooming the fruit and developing this pleasant taste, people will stop by and be intrigued, first of all, to discover such a gem unexpectedly. When all the world gives them is selfishness, bitterness and turmoil, it is refreshing to encounter someone still giving love, joy and peace. Secondly, someone with such a bitter taste in their mouth from dealing with people can not help but immediately notice the sweetness of your life. But sweet on the lips is no good if it is bitter in the belly. Be genuine. Discover a vulnerability between you and God so that you will have no trouble being real with people.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control---these nine qualities align to provide a sweet life. They are attributes that will turn away argument and anger. They will soften the hardest and warm the coldest. They will be the most welcome of companions when your life encounters the hardships that are bound to visit everyone. They are solid footing in this crazy whirling world around us. So stand solid in the quiet places. Draw deeply from the life-giving source which is Christ. Develop His character. Show His nature. Someone has just entered the clearing.

Deceitful Hearts

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”  Jeremiah 17: 7-10

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.  Psalm 1:1-6

Each of these passages refer to a tree by the water gathering nourishment bring forth fruit when it is time to bear fruit. Each also refers to the judgment of the ungodly. A full and frequent examination of the heart is required to remain in the place of the righteous. But what man can do it? Since the heart is deceitful and unsearchable, it is a comfort to be on terms with a God who does search the heart fully, sees its mischief, yet loves us and corrects us through it.

A PURE HEART

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12

 

A pure heart---what is that? Is it the innocence of days gone by when, as a child, things that now entangle were then only undiscovered? The words to the Bob Seger classic, Against The Wind, come to mind. “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then...” As days of this life go by, we not only learn to sin, we learn how to justify it, rationalize it and live with it. It settles in and becomes a lifestyle that soon sinks its teeth in deep.

To think, as an adult, that all this living---all this sinning---can be undone, is a thought too fantastical for some to believe. But David trusted in God to do just that. David knew the faithfulness and mercy of a God who could restore the joy and innocence of youth. And while we never forget our sin and past mischief, God does and wipes the slate clean. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

It is time to stop beating yourself up from the past---even if it was yesterday or last week. Know that what Christ did on the cross was enough to cover it---ALL of it. Admit it, confess it and believe it. He is faithful. “When you were dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2: 13, 14

ARRIVING

I have not arrived, no sir. My journey seems just as vague to me at times perhaps as when first starting out. My resolve occasionally wavers and my discipline dons the youthful visage of days past. Tripping upon the cobblestones of the dark path ahead, I grope feebly to see again the road clearly. Who will lead me in this bleak estate? Who will guide my spirit, feeble from the flight? The passage from the man I once was to the man I long to become seems unending. Though years have been spent pursuing, the ache and yearning in my spirit tells me I am not there yet.

Groveling and loathsome thoughts do not abandon a man just because his years would suggest to others the contrary. Older men, if they are wise, do learn to temper them in time, however, and redirect those passions, fits of anger and days of melancholy state with a certain amount of composure towards things more suiting, lovely and proper. But the thoughts themselves, come regardless of age or station in life. It is those same thoughts that are the telltale litmus of the unfinished business ahead.

That is the test of a man. Being born with a conqueror’s spirit, he is domineering of most of the challenges laid before him. By his very nature, he needs a sense of completion in any task he sets out to do. So when in the cumulative journey of life, that place of arrival---that place of spiritual completion---is always illusive and seemingly never quite attainable, a man becomes disheartened by the unconquerable. There is no hope there. He sees through a glass darkly and his hope, in all of its entirety, is laid up in a day of completion---whether or not he fully believes that day will ever come.

This is the evidence that eternity is set in the heart of a man. His DNA spells it out loud and clear. He is made for heaven and his soul is longing for this place of completion. When it comes, it will replace---in one fell swoop---all of the striving to attain and all the meager attempts to satisfy his soul.

Man has been told to live life to the fullest and enjoy his existence here because there is nothing else. The deep longing in his heart tells him otherwise---there IS more. Though the reason for that angst may be misdiagnosed by the mainstream, it remains deep in the craw of every man. Most men may not be able to explain it, but it is there. They have heard of heaven, but to actually hope for such a moment in time escapes the rationale of the rational. If you ask me of such a place, such a season, such a final destination---I have to say that, while it will never exist in this mortal shell, it DOES exist. The restlessness in the heart of a man is the proof.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; Ecclesiates 3:11

How Rude Of Me

A thought occurred to me this week. Whether it was an intentional thought, or a random notion which surfaces once every neurochemical cycle, it prompted me to want write it down before, like many ramblings of mine, it became lost in the abyss of the ever synaptic destabilization that is my middle-aged consciousness. I have had more thoughts through the years than I have recorded to be sure. So once again, I pound the keys on this laptop with some sense of purpose and story.

Have you noticed society is getting ruder? At first, I presumed it was just me. After all, the term ‘rude’ is a generalized word subject to the interpretation of the person on the receiving end, right? Whatever culture accepts as the norm becomes the norm over time. The complexities of ‘what is rude’ could be debated by a room full of lawyers until their court fees rivaled the national debt. Like many issues today, there is no right answer. If you like simple answers, the term simply stated is this: being unkind or inconsiderate of other’s around you. If you grew up the way I did, it’s how your mamma taught you NOT to act. Ignoring this code of conduct is why your daddy’s belt came flying through the loops like a gladiator’s saber.

Rude hurt.

 Now to put some cohesion to this thought I mentioned earlier. Rudeness grows among the thorns and thistles where Love is absent. Because love doesn’t mean what it used to, rudeness is a non-indigenous vine left to snake undeterred through the garden of humanity. Nowadays, love means that I get something. Love is fifty-fifty. Love has become, “If you love me, you will do it my way.” We saw it coming, but we did nothing about it. We stopped punishing rude and we are now left with the fruit it has produced. Because a new definition of love rules our land, the Love that produces the good seed is hard to find. The kind of Love that takes its place at the end of the line so that others can go first is a rare breed indeed. This is what it looks like: Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it doesn't boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps not record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... I Corinthians 13: 4-8

I cannot pretend that I haven’t been changed by simply living alongside Rude. There are people in my life that can point you to moments of my own rudeness. You probably remember your darkest moments as well. But we do live here. This is our world. Because of the nature of the fall, we live among the consequence. That doesn’t mean Love no longer has a place here. Just the opposite is true. If rude is gaining a foothold, it stands the more pressing reason that Love cannot be silenced.

Our world dives headlong into challenges of humanity and throws money and resources at societal ills and never gives Love a second thought. Perhaps it doesn’t because Love always requires a sacrifice. The real kind of Love, gives with no mention of return.

Love is a vulnerable place to be. It is uncomfortable. It can be the source of much pain and many tears. But it can also turn the heart of a taker into a giver. It can turn the wrath of a tyrant into the favor of a king. What is given away in the name of Love carries more value than a taker’s mind can ever imagine or comprehend. Stepping over the threshold and loving something or someone with no promise of gain is the mark of a fool by many. If you dare to be branded a fool, that is the first of many sacrifices of this powerful, life-changing, event-altering grace called Love.

Life More Abundantly

 “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:7, 9-10

Jesus said clearly that his sheep know his voice.  Who knows exactly why we are referred to as sheep throughout the scriptures, but one thing is certain. Sheep are not driven but led, and given our human nature to buck stern authority, this analogy comes very close to describing us.  “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”  This reference is continually quoted by preachers in their description of Satan.  And this description IS accurate of that sly ol’ fox.  But in view of Jesus’ constant rebuke of the temple and its spiritual degradation, most certainly He was talking here about the oppressive delusion the religious rulers and leaders of His day used to control people and retain power.  Sadly enough, people in positions of religious authority still employ such devilish schemes today.

 

Klepto – the act of stealing  [Strongs 2813]

Kleptes – an established lifestyle of stealing; thief  [Strongs 2812];

 

Kleptes  is the word Jesus used here.  After a lifestyle is established, it has to be supported.  The Pharisees and religious rulers supported their lifestyle by imposing laws on the people and keeping them in spiritual bondage.  That way of life had no freedom to it.  Jesus spoke of liberty and grace that covered sins.  He fulfilled the law’s requirement of blood sacrifice once and for all by giving His life on the cross.  “No more let sin and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”  Joy To The World v.3

 

So, as far as the curse is found---and sin is spread pretty far and wide in this world---there IS a remedy.  There IS a cure.  The good news is that this gospel is for EVERYONE.  You do not have to have a theological degree to both understand and benefit from it.  God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son---not to one or a few---but to ALL.  And He gave this gift that whosoever would believe, may have this life.  That is not only life in the hereafter, that’s just the insurance policy. It is for life right here.  It is for life right now.  That is the gift of Christmas.