Category Archives: Parables

The Valley of Decision

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The Valley of Decision

Modern Christianity has a serious problem. It has been hijacked by a consumer culture dedicated to proclaiming what is popular, doing what is fun, and devoted to what makes us feel “ok” about everything. At some point down the road of authentic Christianity, each of us will discover why Jesus said that only those who took up their cross and hated their lives in this world could follow Him.

What we see in our culture today is not true Christianity. It is a hybrid of Christianity and political correctness designed to offend no one. When challenged by the claims of Jesus Christ it will not accept Him or anyone else who insists that He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life.

In looking at the life of Christ we see one which ended in a lonely, painful death. To the multitudes who followed him, the Jewish leaders, and the Roman authorities this is where His story ended. Only those who were empowered by His Holy Spirit ever learned of His resurrected life and The Rest of the Story. As it was then, so it is today. Why should we expect that the world would treat us as His followers any better than they treated Him and His disciples over 2000 years ago?

So – the question becomes this: why follow Him at all? Taken within the context of this world and an earthy life it makes no sense at all. However, Christ teaches us that this world is not our home. His Kingdom, our true Home, begins when this world ends. This is why Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourself riches that rust, get stolen or corrupted. Instead lay up for yourselves true riches that are safe from these things.” The problem is this: there is a big part of us that still wants much of what this world has to offer. We want its acceptance, its love, its opportunities. When we find ourselves in a place where these two worlds collide we come to the valley of decision.

The Christian Life and Tree Rings

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The Christian Life and Tree Rings

I remember being taught about the rings inside of trees as a child in elementary school. I learned that you can tell a lot about the life of a tree by studying the pattern of the rings. A tree can contain both thick and thin rings. The patterns in which they are arranged may vary. We can discern various things that occurred in time by observing these things. This year a very dry season. That year, unusually cold or wet. What becomes evident is that conditions unknown and unmade by the tree caused various rates of growth. In the end, however, all that’s evident when we examine the towering tree is its strength and beauty. The internal arrangement of the rings is not seen or understood by the outside observer.

So it is with the ways of God. Days, weeks, months. Worship, studies, conversations, prayers, all in irregular spurts and lulls. Times of peace, times of conflict. Times when we are focused and attentive to our growth. Other times when we seem to be in a dry season. But God, the master gardner, holds the source of water, weather and nutrients in His hands. What matters is not that the tree of our lives grows in any predictable way, but rather that in the end, we become a towering tree of strength in Him. May each believer in Christ grow into the towering tree of faith and strength that He desires each of us to be. Amen!

When the Bottom Drops Out

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When the Bottom Drops Out.

Psalm 130 is essentially a cry for help when the bottom has dropped out from beneath us. How often we may feel this way! When we do it may be tempting to think that the thing the “bottom” was resting on has shifted or moved. As Christians that thing is our faith in a Holy God. Has He moved? Has He changed? Has He left us? Of course not! Perhaps the real issue is that of a false bottom.

Too often we rest in a false sense of security in “things”. Our families. Our homes. Our careers. Our bank accounts or retirement plans. All of this ” life stuff” does not really provide a stable foundation. They perhaps bring some relative stability. They can make us feel safe and comfortable for awhile. But life is full of storms and tempests. It is easy for any one of these things to fall away. When it does, we are left feeling like the bottom has just dropped out from beneath us. In our desperation to find equilibrium, we may frantically try to recover the shattered pieces of our lives and entrust them once again to the wrong thing.

The wise psalmist knows where to turn. He cries out to God. He acknowledges his sin. He begins to wait upon the Lord. Herein lies the tricky part. The waiting part. For when we are in distress we want immediate action. We despise living in uncertainty. We long for the stability of what has been lost. The temptation is to pick up the pieces and start plowing forward under our own steam. True redemption occurs when we wait for a solution in God’s time. ” Waiting and watching till morning. Waiting and watching till morning”. This is so very difficult to do. And yet, so necessary. Amen.

What Is Faith?

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What is Faith?

What is faith? One dictionary definition describes it as a belief in something not proven. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith in some ways reminds me of gravity. We know it exists, we know it keeps us anchored to the earth, yet we can’t see it or feel it. We know much about it, much has been written on the subject, and yet we don’t fully comprehend it. Faith and trust are what hold our relationship with God together in much the same way that gravity holds matter together. As gravity is to the physical world, so faith is to the spiritual world.

It would be a very foolish thing indeed, if we tried to live our lives as if gravity did not exist. Along the same lines, it is equally foolish to live our lives without faith. As we have learned to experience gravity in the physical world by seeing things fall, experiencing weight and weightlessness, we can learn to navigate in the world of the spirit by faith. But how do we learn about the way faith operates in our lives? First of all we can examine scripture and see the many wonderful examples of faith and how it impacted God’s people. We can examine our own lives for times when we acted upon faith and God acted in response. Conversely, we can see examples of times in which we lacked faith and the results of this. Like gravity, faith needs to be so deeply ingrained into our sprits that we operate in the world without even giving it much conscious thought. It is just always there. Unseen, but ever present, impacting all that we do in our daily lives. Amen