Say the Words...

How many different people did you see today? Whether you saw a huge crowd gathered at some large event or whether you stayed at home and only saw one or two family members, chances are pretty good that you saw some other human beings besides yourself in the past 24 hours. Of the people you saw, how many of them are important to you? How many have been a part of your life or influenced the person that you are today? How many of them do you love? Perhaps an even better question now that you're thinking about it is this: how many of them have you told that they are special to you or that you love them? If you don't tell them, they may not know.

Here is the reasoning behind this post. I just watched a slideshow of old photos of my family and friends from the past 15 years - talk about nostalgia! It reminded me of the great times we have all had together. It brought to mind the things I have learned. It saddened me to think of the things I have missed in the lives of people who mean so much to me during my time away from home for school. I hate missing piano recitals, weddings, holiday dinners, family outings, and so much more that goes on in my absence. It is saddening to think of people who choose work over family and spend their lives traveling to cool places, making a big paycheck, or gaining notoriety and fame all at the expense of their family. I grieve for the children and the wives who have to learn to live on their own because of their workaholic father or husband. It breaks my heart to see people neglected, mistreated, or ignored by those that they love. I have made mistakes, wasted time, and missed many chances to be at important events, to say a kind word, or to simply spend time with someone that I care about to prove their importance to me. That is unfortunate, but the future isn't always dictated by the past. My failures should only motivate me to not fail in the same way again. As they say, live and learn.

Why are we here on this earth? It has to go beyond ourselves. There must be more to this life than meeting our fleshly desires, catering to our selfishness, and trying to be the person who ends up dying with the most toys. I believe that our purpose is ultimately to bring glory to our Creator, but I think that one of the most important ways to do that is to be a blessing to other people. God created man in his own image, and He cares deeply about all of us. How can we mistreat another human being, and then expect to live a life that glorifies God? It doesn't work that way. There's a song by The Afters that says, "this is what we're here for; to show the world how You love it." If we are to demonstrate the love of God to the world, what better place to start than with your family and friends? It should be fairly easy to love them compared to a complete stranger that you know nothing about and with whom you have never spent any time.

This, then, is my proposal. As my fortune cookie from a few weeks ago said, "Let someone know how special they are to you." I grew up listening to a song by Paul Overstreet that said, "What's going without saying should be said." We may think we've made something evident (like our love) to someone through our actions or hints over the years, but we shouldn't assume such things. It's too important to overlook because of assumptions. Tell your family and friends how much they mean to you. Tell a stranger how much they mean to Jesus. Our lives are full of people. We need to stop letting those people walk through our lives untouched by us. One kind word, one selfless deed and you could make a lifelong impact on somebody. Just do it.

"Say the words, say the words, say 'I love you.' Say the words I long to hear..." -DC Talk

Surrender

I am helpless. Seriously, what can I actually do in my own strength? My very life, breath, and ability to do anything at all comes from God. Without God I am nothing - quite literally. In the end, I can't fight hard enough to win the battle. I can't work hard enough to achieve salvation, to accomplish goals, or to fulfill a calling. I can't think hard enough to come up with all of the answers. Yes, I can still do my best at fighting, working, and thinking but it all eventually comes down to God choosing to make my efforts actually be successful, my circumstances to actually work out, or my brain to actually decipher an acceptable answer. I can do nothing on my own simply because God is in control of everything. I rely wholly on His strength.

Have you ever been worried, scared, or stressed? We all have. Was there anything you could actually do to take away your feelings at that moment and attain peace? For me, whenever I find myself worrying or stressing about something, it is much more effective to simply quit. Quit worrying. Don't give in to fear. Let go of the doubts that are plaguing you and taking you captive. In the words of Jesus to His disciples in the midst of a storm on the Lake of Galilee, "Where is your faith?" I can, should, and must trust God with my life - both the seemingly small details and the overwhelmingly massive situations. He is big and strong. He's got it all under control. As my pastor said in church today, "We worry because we are not resting in the sovereignty and providence of God." We simply need to cease striving and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). 

At the current moment in my life a lot of unknowns exist. I don't know what I'm going to do about this, that, and the other problem that is popping up in front of me. Daily issues and future questions both seem to stare me in the face all of the time and demand answers that I can't give. The who, what, why, and where of life often confuse and baffle our finite minds, but we don't have to worry about them. God is in control. He is the good shepherd and will take care of His sheep. There's a good analogy - sheep. Can a flock of sheep control the food they have around them to eat, the weather they have over their heads, or the animals that try to attack them? No. Will worrying about it help? Again, the answer is clearly no. The shepherd controls what food they have by leading them to green pastures. The shepherd protects them from bad weather by building a place of shelter for them. It is the shepherd who also protects them from the beasts of prey that would love to devour the helpless sheep if they just had a chance. What then is the job of the sheep themselves? Surely they have to do something. The role of the sheep is to seek out the shepherd and learn to hear and recognize his voice. It is to follow and obey the shepherd's lead. It is to trust that the loving shepherd knows what is best for his flock and to surrender any worry, fear, or stress in exchange for trust and faith. 

As the old hymn says so well, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." I choose to lay my burdens at the foot of Jesus. I choose to wait for God to answer my questions in His own time. I choose to surrender my will to the King of kings and The Lord of lords, because I can trust Him. There's no better way to win the battle than to surrender.

"Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's." - 2 Chronicles 20:15

Overhaul

Sometimes our hearts need an overhaul. Like the compressor section on this turbine engine, we need to be taken apart piece by piece and examined carefully for defects, inconsistencies, missing parts, and overall condition. It takes a lot of time and work to remove the outer protective layer that often shields us from deep introspection that can threaten our security. We like who we are enough to be comfortable not digging down deep and looking for the root causes of problems or the motives behind what we're doing in and with our lives. 

Axial Flow Compressor

Sometimes when we initially look at our hearts we think the same sort of things that might have crossed your mind looking at this picture. Questions like How does all of this work? What are all of these little pieces here for and do they really make a difference? What is this supposed to look like when it's in perfect condition? What we have been taught to do in school to answer our questions is look in the manufacturer's manual. In it we can find a description of proper operation, pictures of how it should look, and ways to fix problems that we see during the inspection process. If we keep developing the analogy, the manual we read to find out about our hearts is the Bible. God is our maker, and He knows how we work, how we should be, and what we need to fix our problems. It's all in His book! 

Just like this axial compressor, we were each created on purpose for a purpose. We will each need different components in our makeup to accomplish what it is that God has for us. No heart is quite the same, but that is how it should be. The compressor is only one part of the engine. Each one of us is just a single part of the church as a whole. We are meant to complement each other with our differences and all work together for the greater good and glory of the kingdom of Christ. 

The internal workings of our hearts are what drive us, guide us, and allow us to fulfill our purpose. It's important to keep them in good working order. Is it time for an overhaul?


"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." - Proverbs 4:23

Safe and Easy

Music is a powerful medium. Whether it's the catchy beat or the perfect harmony of a song that gets your attention, nearly everyone likes to hear some good music. It's just enjoyable. Personally, I love songs that are musically catchy but still have powerful lyrics that speak truth. There's a time for songs that worship God by proclaiming His goodness and glory. There's a time for songs that remind us about what's important in life and how much hurt there is in the world. And, there's even a time for songs that are simply for enjoyment and our listening pleasure. Whatever songs we listen to, however, they absolutely do have an effect on us by changing our attitudes, influencing our beliefs, or flooding us with certain emotions.

A song that I heard for the first time a few days ago that really prompted me to think is called "It's Good (Love's Not Safe)" by the Christian music group Sidewalk Prophets. It starts off talking about the fact that love isn't always safe and easy but that it's still good regardless. The bridge says,

     "Anything good in life's gonna take a sacrifice,
     Don't let up when it's tough, don't ever give up the fight,
     Everything you need in life was given by His sacrifice,
     I will give it all to You, I will give it all to Christ"

Then it ends by changing the word love to He, since God is love, and it ends by proclaiming that "He's not safe" and "He's not easy, but He's good." It struck me as odd at first that they would say that God isn't safe or easy. It's so common and popular today to talk about God's goodness and grace that we sometimes forget about the hardships, trials, and persecution that Jesus said would accompany His followers through their lives. Following Christ isn't safe. We have to be completely vulnerable and open before Him. Following Christ isn't easy. We have to die to our selves, take up our crosses, and resist the world and the devil constantly.

In C.S. Lewis's great series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the lion Aslan is used to symbolize God. At one point in the first book of the series one of the characters says this about Aslan the lion: "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." Obviously, we can see how an actual lion wouldn't be considered safe. They are wild at heart and innate killers. While I don't think classifying God as wild is appropriate, He is ferociously against sin by His very nature. It's not safe to be an unrepentant sinner, because God hates sin. His good side comes out, though, when He extends His grace and mercy to us and offers us salvation and forgiveness from our sins. He is kind and forgiving, but He is also just and holy in a perfectly balanced way.

What I believe about all of this, then, is that while it does take sacrifice to follow Jesus and it does take us out of our comfort zone to be Christians, the alternative is much less safe. True, we might have an easier time on earth in some ways if we follow the ways of the world, but that wide path is not safe when it comes to eternity. It's much easier to go through a few storms and a little persecution from man while we're on earth than to spend eternity separated from God and suffering the consequences for our sin. The true safety and security that we have comes from our faith in God's ultimate goodness towards those who have become His children and have received salvation. We're not safe only in the sense that we have to surrender control, and as control freaks, that makes us feel insecure. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, so we are ultimately safe in Christ.

This whole concept applies to human-to-human love as well, not just between us and God. It's not safe for us to love another person. Think about it. If you really love someone, there is a personal attachment to them on at least the most basic of levels. You can love little African children and then be filled with extreme sorrow when you see them hungry, sick, and alone. You can love a close friend enough to open up to them and share who you are as a person, only to have your trust betrayed and to be left with deep hurt from the betrayal. There are different levels to what we generically call love, and the deeper the level of love, the less safe it is. It isn't always easy to love either. When we think of the part of love that involves sacrifice, commitment, and making hard, selfless choices, it's evident that love isn't an easy thing to do in those instances. In the end, though, love is good. It is good to risk for love. It is good to be hurt because you love. It is good to do difficult things out of love. All of this can make the love that much deeper, stronger, and more meaningful. Ultimately, living a safe and easy life is selfish. We were called to more than that. Follow the example of Christ. Love God and love others. It's not easy, but it's good.