Avatar 3:16

If you’ve spent much time around me at all, you’ve heard me say that one of the best things about having a son is that I get to legitimize doing things like hanging out in the toy department.  If you’re my age and standing there alone looking at Star Wars toys, people look at you like you’re a weirdo.  But if you’re there with a 10-year-old, you’re a good dad!   But it also legitimizes watching HIS cartoons.  And let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to just watch cartoons all day again?  There’s one that was on Nickelodeon a few years ago called “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.  It has nothing to do with that 3D “Blue People” movie that James Cameron made a few years ago.  It’s just a fun little cartoon about people who can “Bend” elements.  Basically that means that they can manipulate the elements.  Firebenders manipulate fire.  Earthbenders control rocks.  And then there were air and water benders.  “The Avatar” was the only one on the planet who could bend all four. 

Let me see if I can quickly summarize the 3-year, 60-episode story arc.  There was a mean Prince (that had been banished by his even meaner dad) that was a firebender that chased the Avatar (the last airbender) for two and a half years, and in the end joins the Avatar to help defeat the Evil Firelord (the prince’s father).  OK, followed all that?  Well, while being banished, Prince Zuko (the banished prince) is accompanied by his Uncle Iroh.  During the first season, Iroh is pretty much comic relief being the silly, old uncle.  Starting in the second season, he begins to be the voice of reason (the whisper?).  He tries to help Zuko be his own person and do the right thing, not just what others expect him to do.  Iroh tried to teach Zuko to be the good person he should be…the person that Iroh knows is already inside Zuko.  Then Season 2 ended with a HUGE betrayal, and Zuko turned his back on his Uncle.  Iroh gets thrown in jail.  Zuko gets a hero’s welcome back home with this father the Firelord (who, by the way, is conquering the world and is voiced by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill).

Skipping a LOT and jumping to the last episodes (and you’re thinking to yourself, THIS is skipping a lot?!), after half a season of trying to get (but not getting) advice from his Uncle in prison, Zuko has joined the Avatar.  Iroh (who only spoke a few words to Zuko while he was in prison) has busted out of jail and started his own group of good guys.  And THEN there’s a reunion.  Zuko enters the tent while Iroh is asleep, and waits all night for him to wake up.  When Iroh awakes, his back is to Zuko, and Prince Zuko pours out his heart to him.  “I’m so sorry, Uncle. What I did was awful, and what I wanted isn’t what I thought I wanted…” and Uncle Iroh grabs him unexpectedly in a huge, loving hug.  Zuko is taken aback and says, “Uncle?  I thought you’d be furious at me.”

And Iroh said, “I was never angry with you.  I was only sad because you’d lost your way.”

I know that’s not a parable…but boy, it COULD be!!  And those who have actually seen the show, know the emotion that Uncle Iroh has in his voice.  And I know we hear about the wrath of God and sometimes we think that God’s up there just marking off the days until Jesus comes back to judge the Earth.  “You just wait until Jesus comes back! THEN they’ll get theirs!”  But like Iroh, God doesn’t get angry when we lose our way.  The story of the prodigal son illustrates that He’s ready to run to us with open arms after we’ve lost our way.  Will there be punishment for those that refuse the Gospel of Jesus?  Absolutely.  Did Jesus say, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments” to those of us who call ourselves Christians?  Sure did.  Did Jesus himself while walking on this very Earth say in Matthew 10:4 that each of us will have to give an account for every careless word we’ve spoken?  No, not in Matthew 10:4, good buddy.  He actually said that in Matthew 12:36.  Bonus points and your devotionals next week are free if you caught that one. J  But Jesus DID say that very thing.

So as I sit here today and type this devotional, do I have some ‘splainin’ to do (as Ricky Ricardo said) about the way I talk and act sometimes?  Yeah.  Do I have some forgiveness to ask for because I say I’ve accepted the gift Jesus had to offer.  The one He offered by DYING for me…while I act like I’ve never heard his name at times.  “Jesus who?  Yeah, they mention him at church sometimes, but we have a ‘Jesus check’ right next to the coat check at the office, so it’s ok.”  Really?  NO, not really!  He’s at the office with you, too.

But with repentance comes forgiveness.  And no, God’s not sitting up there in Heaven with an abacus with my name on it, and every time I lose my temper, he slides a bead over.  Tick.  Oops, just said something in traffic, sliding another bead over.  Tick.  Ducked an opportunity to share the Gospel, let’s move another bead over.  Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

He’s not counting down the days until Judgment Day so he can get his revenge against you for acting like we do sometimes even after Jesus died for us.  No, He’s not angry with us…He’s sad because we’ve lost our way.  My man Peter…the one I can identify with most…said in 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  That’s not to say that there won’t be a day when his anger will be poured out on the world.  Scripture is clear that it will.  There will come a day that the unrepentant will pay the bill that’s due.  And many will say to him “Lord, Lord”.  But my point is that he’s NOT up there in Heaven wringing his hands together like a mad scientist waiting for the day that He gets to do it.

So the next time you’ve stumbled, again, on that same stumbling block.  When you’re struggling with your thorn the way Paul struggled with his.  When you’re sobbing at Jesus’ feet saying “I’m so sorry, Jesus. What I did was awful, and what I wanted isn’t what I thought I wanted…”  Listen for the whisper that tells you that God is not angry with you.  And feel the comfort God offers when He pulls you to Him unexpectedly in a great, loving hug and says, “I was never angry with you.  I was sad because you had lost your way.”

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

  

THE CANADIANS ARE COMING!

THE CANADIANS ARE COMING! THE CANADIANS ARE COMING!!  Ok, as a warning cry, that one comes off pretty weak, but bear with me.  I know Paul Revere’s midnight horseback warning cry carried more weight as the British ships were bearing down on the colonies, but you already know how that story ended, and I needed something that was different.  Now, where was I?  Oh, yes!  The Canadians are invading!  And we have the world’s greatest military ready to defend our country.  And the northern border states have well-equipped militias trained to defend their states.  And the Canadians have Dudley Do-Right on his uniformed white horse (named simply “Horse”, by the way) invading the United States.  And Dudley’s charging into Minnesota on horseback yelling in a Canadian accent, “I’m ‘aboot’ to attack you guys! Surrender, eh?”  And I’m here writing an email yelling, “the Canadians are coming!”

And here we sit with our planes and our missiles and our snipers and our troops and our tanks.  And we just let him invade.  And Dudley takes over “Minne-sohh-ta”, eh!  Then he turns east and takes over Wisconsin.  Then he jumps in a boat like George Washington crossing the Delaware and crosses Lake Michigan and conquers Michigan with no opposition!  Then he turns South, and begins a one-man (and his horse) reenactment of Sherman’s march to the sea.  And he’s conquering Illinois, and Missouri, and Arkansas and state-by-state this Canadian Mounty is sacking our country.

And at this point you’re thinking, “yeah, like one Arkansas redneck with a good deer rifle couldn’t put a stop to him AND his goofy horse!”  You’re right…they COULD.  But in my story, not one of them did!  They just sat back and let it happen.  They never asked for help.  They never got their guns.  They just sat back and let Dudley take them over and set up a new set of rules for their lives.  And by now you’re thinking, “this is just stupid…why would somebody let Dudley Do-Right, of all people, take over the country without lifting a finger?!”

And my answer to that is this:  The same reason we let the devil do it.  We see him coming.  We see the temptations.  He doesn’t even really have to hide it very well these days.  2 Corinthians 11:14 says he disguises himself as an angel of light…but these days there are times when he almost doesn’t have to disguise himself as anything.  Just walks right up to us, “hi there, it’s me…c’mon, let’s go sin!”  Sure, Devil, Let’s GO!!  And first he’s conquered your Wisconsin, then that spills over to your Michigan, then he crosses that Great Lake you swore he’d never get across…and he did.  And now he’s conquering more and more of your life.  And controlling more and more of your actions.  And we just laid down and let him do it.  Then it’s me sitting on my couch Sunday morning watching NFL pre-game shows instead of going to meet with my church family and giving my worship to God.  God?  God who?  Is he a back-up on the Vikings?  I think I might have him on my Fantasy Team…drafted him late in the draft just in case something happened and I needed a backup to fall back on.

Not so funny when it’s not Dudley Do-Right anymore, is it?  I look back at the person I used to be…the mouth I used to have…the things I used to say about people…the things that I actually said TO people.  And why?  Because I let the devil walk right in…”Here!  Have some anger, Dwayne.  It’s better than heroine!  The world still frowns on heroine…but if you’re funny when you get angry and insult people, then other people will LOVE you!!  You’ll be hilarious when you insult this guy, then that guy, then make fun of that professor.  OH!  OH!  And do funny voices and make fun of how they talk!!  People love it when you do funny voices when you mock someone!!”  And I said, “Yeah, I like doing voices.  I like when people think I’m funny!  AND I’m quick-witted!  I can insult people like nobody’s business!”

And he conquered my Michigan, then my Wisconsin…because I let him.  EVEN THOUGH I had someone even MORE powerful than the US Military taking on Dudley Do-Right on my side!  He was sitting there the whole time…watching…whispering to me “ask me for help…just ask me for help…I’ll be there…just ask…”  1 John 4:4 “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world!”  He can win the fight for you.  Ephesians 6:12 says our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  And I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that when you’re fighting ghosts, you can’t win.  But seriously, you think you can beat the devil on your own?  Not a chance.  Call out for help!  If there were 6 big dudes pounding on your head in a parking lot…I’d bet you’d be yelling for help! 

One of the funniest things I remember from high school was a friend of mine getting beaten up by a guy twice his size.  (and you’re thinking, “THAT was funny?”)  It was sort of a sucker punch deal, but still.  Big dude walked up to us, and said, “maaaan” then POW!  He threw a punch right over Andrea’s head and socked him right in the face.  Then commenced to beating on his head while my friend ran to the high school office yelling for help!  Yelling for help, squawking like an injured chicken…something like that.  And yeah, that guy chased him right into the office while punching him in the head the whole way.  I was a good, loyal friend…I didn’t get involved at all…I went on to my class and heard all the other details later! HA!  But this illustration still works.  He was in a fight he had no chance to win.  The big guy was a guy we both knew, and we also knew that even together, that guy would have killed us both.  So what happened?  He RAN toward help!  He didn’t just cry out for help!  He cried out for help while running as fast as could TOWARD that help with his hands over his head while he was doing it.  Duck and cover…stop, drop and roll…he was trying it all.  (man, that story still makes me laugh as I remember that scene while I type it).

But we should be the same way.  Because the devil disguises himself sometimes, and it may be something that we’ve known for a long time and had no concern when you saw it coming.  THEN BAM!!  You’re punched in the face!  So do you stand there and let the devil beat you down?  No way!  You cry out to God for help!  And then you RUN to Him!  Jeremiah 16:19 “Lord, you give me strength and protect me.  You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble.“  Psalm 143:9 “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!  I run to you for protection.”  Psalm 27:5 “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!

I run to you for protection.”  Psalm 12:7 “You, O Lord, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.”  Are you starting to get the picture?  Probably a picture you already knew, right?

So why don’t we?  Is it because we don’t have trust in God to help us?  Probably not the reason.  I think the more likely reason is that we place FAR too much trust in our own abilities.  And honestly, our own abilities could be enough…if we were wearing the full armor of God.  If we were to put on the Belt of Truth, and the Breastplate of Righteousness, and had our feet fitted with the peace that comes from the Gospel of Peace!  And we would stand a good chance if we also grabbed the Shield of Faith (with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one), and put on the helmet of salvation and stood ready to fight with the Sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God.  That’s how Jesus fought the devil.  When tempted in the wilderness, the devil used scriptures to attack, and Jesus used his knowledge of the Word to recognize how it was being twisted, and fought back with his own scriptures.

But we don’t always wear the Armor of God.  We wear the armor of ME!!  And I grab my Belt of Half-Truths, and the Breastplate of Self-Righteousness, and my feet are fitted with the worries of this world because my worries outweigh His Peace.  And I stand behind a Shield of Weak Faith (that sometimes falters when it’s tested), and I don’t need a Helmet of Salvation because My Big Dumb Hard Head is helmet enough for me!  And lastly I use a dull, rusty sword.  And my sword is rusty and dull because I never sharpen it.  My sword (which is the Word of God) lays in my back seat all week long until I get it out to carry it in on Sunday morning.  Then I carry it back out (having never opened it) when church is over, and when I finally need my Sword of the Spirit, it’s mostly useless to me…because I don’t know how to use it, because I never have.

Like the Boy Scouts, we need to be prepared.  Like the United States military, we need to constantly train so that when evil strikes, we’re ready.  Like firefighters with their gear ready to go, we need to have our Armor regularly maintained, so that it’s flawless and perfect.  Our swords need to be sharpened, and we need to be training with our weapon daily.  Wear your armor like a football player practicing in full pads, so that when you need it, you’re comfortable in it.  Not trying to fight the devil in unfamiliar armor with a sword we don’t know how to use. 

When you get a minute at work, don’t immediately whip out your phone for Angry Birds or Facebook updates about how bored you are at work.  Pull up a Bible App, or jump online for a quick online devotional.  Andrea got me one that I keep in my desk drawer.  It’s a daily Razorback devotional.  It tells an interesting little Razorback story from back when, then uses that story as an anecdote to illustrate a biblical concept.  That sounds familiar.  Listen for the Whisper that tells you that you can’t do it alone.  Stand ready to defend yourselves against the devil and his army, and don’t be too proud to call out for help.  If we wouldn’t try to fight 6 guys in a parking lot – or one guy in a high school hallway – alone, why would we try and fight the devil alone?  Maybe we need to take off  our “My Big Dumb Hard Head” helmet…and let God help us fight.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Roadmap

 In March, we plan to take a spring break trip to Mount Airy, NC.  The Any Griffith Show fans among you will recognize that name as the basis for the fictional town of Mayberry. There’s not really a Mayberry, but just over from Mount Airy there really is a Mount Pilot…go figure.  When asked to point out Mount Airy on a map, I could point you to North Carolina, but past that I couldn’t even really point you to the correct corner of the state.  Given the “Mount” in the name, I can probably safely assume it’s not near the coast, but that leaves quite a bit of state left over to try and find this “Podunk” of a town.  And what makes it worse than finding a needle in a haystack is because it doesn’t cost me nearly $4 a gallon to search blindly through a haystack.

So as we made plans to go on our trip, I pulled up Google Maps and punched in West Memphis, AR to Mount Airy, NC.  It told me how far it is from here to there and showed me a line that stretched the

E-N-T-I-R-E length of Tennessee.  (Ugh!)  But I zoomed in really close and looked to see where we crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina, which highways we took, and where each exit was.  I studied that map as closely as I could to figure out where this Mount Airy place was and how exactly I was going to get there.  Oh sure, my little Escape has a GPS built right in the dash.  And I can punch in an address, and it will kind of give me a decent idea of how to get there. So long as I don’t mind a lot of wasted time taking extra turns or new roads that haven’t been updated and being constantly told to “make a legal u-turn” (which I do mind being constantly told, thank you..I mind that A LOT, GPS lady!).  It can point me generally in the right way, and tell me when I’ve gone wrong, but to know with certainty that I can leave my house and get to where I’m going, I’m going to study my map.  I’m going to study it before we go, and will most likely print it off and take it with me just in case.  And as I approach every turn (which thanks to the very cool Roadview on Google maps, I’ll recognize those when I see them), I’ll check my map to make sure that I’m going the right way.

All of this preparation just to get to some hicktown (pardon the pun). So why don’t I put this much preparation as I get ready to go to Heaven?  I mean, I can generally tell you where Heaven is in terms of “it’s where Jesus went” and offer some descriptions we’re given in Revelation.  I might even pull an NFL post-touchdown gesture a point to the sky and tell you “it’s up there.”  But left to my own devices, I have no better chance of getting to Heaven on my own, than I do of getting to Mount Airy, North Carolina.

But I have a map!  We call it the Bible.  It will tell me which path to take every step of the way. Sure, I have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and like my GPS it can tell me I’m about to take a wrong turn, and can convict me and tell me to make a legal u-turn to get back on the straight and narrow path. And without the Holy Spirit, make no mistake, it would be impossible to understand the map at all. But regardless of the huge stretches I’m making to compare the Holy Spirit to a GPS, the best way to make sure I get to Heaven is to really get in and study my map. It tells me where I came from. It tells me where I’m headed. It will show me that there will be twists and turns, and mountains and valleys in my path and the best way to get around through each them…and like the roadview, will help me to recognize the temptation fork in the road. Do I take the Temptation Trail or stay on the Heavenly Highway? My map will show me what these intersections look like before I’ve ever gotten to them. That way when I reach those crossroads, I can immediately recognize it for what it is and know how to stay on the road to Heaven.  Like Joseph running from Potiphar’s house as he was being trapped by Potiphar’s wife!  “I gotta get outta here, and I gotta get out RIGHT NOW!!”

We’ve all been chosen by God to receive His gifts of mercy and grace. John 3:16 is simple – for God so love the WORLD that He gave His only Son.  He wants us to get to Heaven with Him.  The whole point of the Law was to show us how we CAN’T do it that on our own.  So He’s given us the map to get us there. The map is the Bible. It’s the word of God that tells how to get from where we were to where we’re going.  Every single day we need to be getting out that map.  Zooming in closer and closer, and studying it more today than we did yesterday. Too often, we’re content knowing that we can see the purple route marked on the computer screen. “I was over here in sin. But now I’ve been saved and my destination is this little dot over here marked Heaven.” And zoomed that far out, we miss the twists and turns, and it’s easy to get off course.  Sometimes without our map, we can get so far off course, that we don’t think we’ll ever be found again.  Hopelessly lost like a hiker in the Montana mountains…when you thought you were in Georgia.  Yeah, sometimes we’re THAT lost.  Listen for the whisper that tells you that you need to study your Bible.  You need to study your map if you don’t want to get lost.  Only then can you find your way back to the main road and stay on the course that leads to the Father’s house.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

More Than Words

OK, I’ll admit on the front end (right here in the first sentence, even) that quite a few readers won’t know the band “Extreme” or the song “More Than Words”.  So I’ll provide some back story for those that don’t.  Those that do, please hold *click* 

Extreme is a mediocre hair band from the late 80s.  One of their most popular songs – if not their most popular song – was a song without most of the band even playing in it (which should give some clue about the quality of the band, right).  The singer (Gary Charone, who was later in Van Halen for about 27 minutes) and the guitar player simply sang and played a song all about the girl he loved.  And if he took away the words “I love you” how would she show him that she loved him.  He sings about how easy it would be, by doing simple little things, to show him that she loved him without ever having to say the words.  How would she make it right, if she’d broken his heart and had to do something other than saying “I love you” to try and fix it?  And if she’d been living it all along, then she wouldn’t need those words anyway.  That’s all he wants her to do, not repeat some simple over-used phrase (more on that in another email), but just reach out and hold him close and never let him go.  And then she’d never have to say “I love you”, because he’d already know.  OK, now fess up.  How of you that know that song and were reading this part anyway sang that last line in your head when you read it?  It is, however, a pretty song, and if you’ve never heard it, you could do worse than to look it up on youtube, or the video/song hosting site of your choice, and give it a listen.

*click* Those that already knew all of that, thank you for holding…we appreciate your patience.

But what if, instead of some mediocre, marginally-successful hair band ballad, we were talking about Christianity.  How often do we say with our mouths that we believe in Jesus, but then yell at the guy in front of us on the interstate for going 15 miles per hour slower than the limit?  You want some self-reflection?  Try getting on someone’s bumper – you know, that someone that’s driving 20 in a 45 – and saying in a deep, overly dramatic voice, “WHY are you going so SLOOOOW?” and you hear that voice from the back seat say, “Because he’s an idiot?”  And right after you hear your 10-year-old finish your rhetorical question with your normal I’ll-answer-for-them answer, you hear James 3:8-10:

⁸ but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
And you realize, that if a 10-year-old kid notices that my habit is to insult people I don’t even know, then surely God notices.  And in John 14:15 when Jesus says, “if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments”, I don’t remember finding “in all matters, insult people you don’t know” in the list as being one of them.  (Or insulting those you DO know, either, for that matter).
Either way, simply saying “I believe in Jesus” over and over and over isn’t enough.  You have to live your life like Christ wants you to.  Read James 2 if you want it said better than I ever could.  But if we truly loved Jesus, then it would be obvious to everyone around us.  We wouldn’t have to answer the question “do you believe in Jesus” because it wouldn’t need to be asked.  And by saying it over and over and over, who are we really trying to convince, God or ourselves?
I mentioned James 2, and that’s the passage that talks about “faith without works is dead”, and that’s often debated about what all that means.  It’s not about earning salvation – it’s about John 14:15.  And John 14:15 is about me showing Jesus how much I love Him by not acting like the jerk that insults slow drivers in front of me…or the jerk that takes walked-away-from baskets in Walmart and moves them two aisles over because you left it in my way to go get your hot dogs 3 aisles away (and yeah, I’ve really done that in my past – more than once, actually)…or the guy that tries to justify the reasons he DIDN’T share the gospel of Jesus all those times he had the chance…or the guy that never talks to God or studies his Bible or visits the sick or helps his neighbors or smiles and says a kind word to an elderly person on the bench at Walmart or…should I go on?  John 14:15 is about being the Good Samaritan.  John 14:15 is about Jesus already knowing how much you love Him based on how you act.  “Whatever you’ve done for the least of these, you’ve done for me”  Wait, ummmm…Hey, Jesus, does that mean that I actually called you an idiot for driving too slowly in front of me?  Yes, yes it does.
This wasn’t an easy devotional for me to write.  Because anyone who knows me, knows that I have a VERY sarcastic side to me.  A sarcasm that I’ve tried very hard to tame.  And the story about Cameron saying “because he’s an idiot” actually happened.  In fact, it happened less than a week prior to my writing this.  And that’s a hard thing to hear.  Your own insults coming from your son.  Way to go, dad!  Way to raise him up right!

We’ve all heard the verses about “when did we see you hungry…”, “even the wicked love those that love them…” but I heard John MacArthur make a point one time.  He asked “does ‘love those that persecute you and pray for your enemies’ mean that I only love Jesus as much as I love the person I hate the most?”  That’s one of those twisty sentences, so I’ll repeat it:  Do I only love Jesus as much as I love the person I hate the most?  Wow.  That’s a meditation thought right there.

It’s not about who can put others down the quickest or be the meanest when someone’s done something to us or who can come up with the best insults.  It’s about love.  God is love – 1 John 4:8.  And we’re supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength – Mark 12:30 (Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6,).  And love our neighbors as ourselves – Mark 12:31 (Jesus quoting Leviticus 19 – he quotes the Old Testament a lot, but that’s another show).  It’s about 1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  It’s about listening for the whisper.  And sometimes the whisper that God uses to convict us comes from the back seat from our own children.

Loving Jesus is more than words.  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.  1 John 3:18,19.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Pirates of the Caribible

 In the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Jack Sparrow has a compass that points to whatever you want most in this world...well, not you specifically.  Jack’s compass won’t point toward a pay raise at work, or a shorter line in Walmart, but whatever it is that whoever happens to be holding the compass at the time wants most.  J  In the movies, several people use this compass to find treasure, secret hideaways, and even the Fountain of Youth in a poorly-conceived fourth movie. They think about the thing they want most, and the compass points the direction they should go, and off they go on their merry adventure.

As Christians, we have our own compass. It points the way we should go to get the thing we want most…that, of course, hopefully being salvation, sanctification, and the security of knowing our names are written in Heaven. Any questions we have on how we should get to Heaven, or how we are expected to mature in our Faith can be answered by reading God’s Holy Word. By taking time to read and study our Bibles, we take the time to listen to God and what His Will is for each of us and all of us. Much like talking to an eight-year-old jacked up on Mountain Dew – it’s really hard to understand what you’re being told if you don’t stop and take the time and the effort to listen.  A preacher citing a few verses a week, regardless of how amazing that preacher might be, is no substitute for daily reading, cross-referencing and just good, old-fashioned studying.

But back to the Pirates movies, there’s a scene at the end of the second movie where the Kraken is attacking Jack’s ship. As the camera zooms past the ship, we see Jack in the distance rowing away from the carnage and toward the temporary safety of land – because the Kraken is chasing him, not the ship. As he hears the gunshots and screams aboard the ship, he pulls out his trusty compass and gives it a look.  He’s torn, and the question is clear: Which is it that he wants most? Does he want more to be safe on land or to go back and help his friends? The movie never shows which direction the compass actually points, though. We see Jack make a grimacing face, and he goes back to the ship and saves the day (well, right up until the Kraken ate him).  Whether he was grimacing because what he wanted most was to go back and face life-threatening danger to help his friends or grimacing because he really wanted to run away, but knew he should go back anyway is left up to the viewer to decide.

And the same comes from reading and studying our Bible. There are times that what we really want for our own selfish reasons is going to come into direct conflict with what the Bible tells us we should do.  Of course, without the afore-mentioned Bible study, you might not even know it.  The Bible’s not exactly like a compass, and it takes more than a quick glance to see the right direction.  But those times will come just the same…what I want to do, or what I should do?  And when those times come, which voice are we going to listen to?  Are we listening for the whisper?  Do we listen to our own voice, or do we listen to God’s voice?  One of those two voices created the universe. The other is yours. And so is the choice.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com