Two Lanes of Freedom

OK, so sometimes I paint pictures, sometimes we go for walks down paths, but today I want to take a drive.  Not necessarily a leisurely, Sunday drive…specifically, I want to take a drive to and through the nearest congested interstate area.  Here at the Interstate 40 & 55 intersection, there has been major construction going on.  Massive projects have taken both directions down to 2 lanes, and at some points on both interstates between the Mississippi River bridges and the 40/55 intersection, it’s dropped to one single lane.  Nearly 100,000 vehicles cross the river at Memphis each day, and construction had traffic to a single lane entering Arkansas on both interstates.  It was frustrating, to say the very least. 

But it doesn’t have to be a construction zone.  Sometimes just general traffic design like the tunnel under Mobile Bay (the George C. Wallace Tunnel, if you’re interested) takes traffic down to a few lanes.  You’re blowing down I-10 headed toward the beaches of the Gulf Shore on four glorious lanes of unhindered speed…right until the tunnel.  Then those four glorious lanes of speed are funneled down to 2 lanes of bumper to bumper slowness.  Sure the tunnel is fun to go under, but it’s the same thing as the construction zones.  And everybody within the sound of my ticking keyboard (since you’re reading this) knows the basic scenario.  Some people get over early and patiently wait in line in the correct lanes to wait their turn to go through.  Meanwhile, others go flying by in the lane that ends and hope to find a hole in traffic just big enough to jump over at the last minute.  Typically I get really mad at those last minute lane jumpers.  They can see the signs and flashing lights – but they ignore it until the last minute.  And it frustrates me!  After all, I’ve waiting patiently and safely in the correct lane all this time to wait my turn to go through the tunnel.  Sometimes they have police officers sitting near the construction zones to encourage getting in the correct lane early, but even with that it’s just a suggestion…not real command to get over.  And you have two basic options.  Get over early, taking the safe route, or blow by in the lane that runs out and try to jump over at the last minute.

But the end result for both is the same.  We both go through the construction.  We both go through the tunnel.  And since I’ve spent quite a bit of time sitting in this construction traffic lately, and have this funny little knack of noticing things like this…I noticed it.  And now I’m passing it along to you.

Listen for the Whisper that tells you the Gospel call is a lot like going through construction on the highway, or going through the tunnel under Mobile Bay in Alabama.  Like the drivers in Matthew 20 where some saw the construction early and got over to be prepared to go through the single lane ahead.  While others decided to wait until the last minute then jump over just before the lane ran out…maybe they didn’t wait until the last minute on purpose.  Maybe someone asks them, “why didn’t you get over sooner?” And the driver replies, “Because nobody would leave a gap for my car for me to be able to get over.”  So the “someone” leaves them a gap to get over at the last minute.  Of course, now that person gets to go through BEFORE the person who’s waiting patiently in line for 20 minutes to get their turn to go through!  But then someone says to them, “didn’t you choose to get over early on your own?  And didn’t you still get to take your turn to get through the construction?”

Ok, so there’s no traffic mentioned in Matthew 20…it’s actually the parable of the workers in the field…the ones that came in the last hour were paid the same as the first.  And what happened?  The Older Brother from the Prodigal Son parable makes a guest-starring role.  And he’s grumbling and complaining that those other people get to go through the tunnel, too!  We want them to get caught in that outside lane!  Karma should make them wait there, unable to get over AT LEAST until we make it by them!  So we can point and laugh on the way by.  I mean, come on, we followed the rules and played it safe from the first sign that said we needed to get over, and then not only do they get the same reward, but they get it BEFORE ME!!

To be honest, this is one of those parables that has always confused me a bit.  I was born and raised in the church, essentially.  I’m the older brother in the prodigal son.  I’m the worker in the field that hired on early in the day.  I know it sounds a little stupid to even say it, but I hear other people tell their conversion stories and feel a little jealous.  They almost all seem as dramatic to me as Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.  Or Moses seeing a burning bush.  Or the Ethiopian Eunuch.  They all get to experience that drastic change of heart…that moment of realization that they’ve FOUND what they’ve been seeking for so long!  And sometimes I get that strange feeling of having “just been here all along”.  I’m the guy that grew up near the Mississippi River and right next to Graceland…so I’ve never gotten that feeling of awe that everyone else gets when they see either for the first time.  And spiritually, it’s the same for me.  I’ve always known the warmth of God’s Love.  I’ve always been a Believer and when I was baptized, it was just sort of the “expected” thing to do.  That’s not to say that I didn’t take it seriously, but much like marrying my wife after we’d dated for nearly 7 years…it was just the next thing that was supposed to happen.  And then this parable tells me that they’ll be rewarded first?  Or is it a metaphor about humbling myself?  Or am I focusing too much on what’s in it for me, and not enough on the fact that it’s offered to all of us.

The trick in it all is to not be jealous of the ones that wait until life’s last minute to jump over to the safe lane.  Be happy for them.  Sometimes they don’t get over in time…they try to get over, and misjudge the gap.  They crash.  They take others with them.  They make it that that much harder for you to get through the construction when you get to it.  So the trick is to rejoice that they were able to get over.  When you hear their conversion story, rejoice in it.  Be happy that they made it to the right lane in time.  And back out of the world of metaphors and into reality for just a minute…be glad for the real drivers on the real roads.  It might frustrate you a little that they got away with it, but at least they didn’t kill themselves or anyone else while trying to jump over at the last minute.  Ephesians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I say Rejoice.”

On the roads, and in Christ, there are Two Lanes of Freedom (to borrow a Tim McGraw song title):  The safe road that starts early and goes long, and the road that flies by quickly and ends with a nick-of-time decision to jump in the right lane.  Both are cause for celebration.  Jesus died for both.  Matthew 20 tells us quite explicitly that the gift of Salvation belongs to Christ, and He may give to whomever He chooses.  The hard part for us “Older Brothers” is to be happy that the lost were found and get to share in our reward.  It’s way too easy for us to judge whether the prodigal sons mean it or not…”no atheists in foxholes” we like to say…and “we know what their life is really about” we like to say.  And to that sentiment, I offer this last simple illustration.

On the day Jesus was crucified…at the exact same time Jesus was on that cross, there were two drivers driving in the lane that runs out.  When it came down to dying with Jesus or dying without Jesus, one thief chose to mock Him and die without Jesus and the other chose to accept the Jesus for who He was.  He jumped over into the safe lane at the last minute.  And Jesus replied to him, “you don’t really mean it…I mean, you just jumped over now because you’re hanging on a cross…and you know what they say about atheists in foxholes.”  Oh wait…that’s what we say.  What actually happened was that the other driver lived his whole life in the fast lane and literally waited until the remainder of his life was measured in minutes to make that jump over to the safe lane called out to Jesus to remember him.  And what Jesus said was, “today you will be with me in paradise.”  The next time you come to some road congestion, find your joy in your Salvation.  Watch the other drivers and be mindful that we each make our choice about when to follow Jesus.  We’ll pick one of two lanes that lead to freedom from sin.  And we’re to rejoice for all who find Salvation.  Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…yeah, even when you’re stuck in insanely bad, stand-still traffic.  Because maybe now when you’re stuck in traffic, it’ll remind you of the path you chose to get to Jesus.  Then take that time to say a thank you prayer. 

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com
 

Take Me To The Pet Shop

We’ve all heard misunderstood lyrics at some point in our lives.  Whether it’s hearing “Big Ol’ Jet Airliner” as “Big Armchair Carolina”, or Pat Benatar singing “take me to the pet shop” as Cameron did when he was little, or in my case hearing The Box Tops singing “Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane” as “I wouldn’t trade it for an aeroplane”, we’ve all done it.  We all have songs where the singer sings one thing, and we hear something completely off-the-wall different.

What’s equally fascinating is when people search for the meanings behind certain songs or lyrics.  I’ve often wondered if the last living Beatle as he’s laying on his deathbed about to become the last “not living” Beatle will announce to those closest to him, “you had us all along…it wasn’t about Lewis Carroll imagery inspired by a painting by young Julian Lennon…Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds…it really was about LSD.”  I mean THAT story was so widely accepted as the TRUE meaning that radio stations refused to play the song despite continual denials about to the contrary.  Another Beatles song that I like hear people espouse their theories on is “Dear Prudence”.  I read one person going on about how it’s about shy, introverted people in the 1960’s.  “The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful and so are you.”  See, that’s an uplifting lyric about how life is beautiful – and so is the shy, embarrassed person.  “Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play” (they claim) is simply the invitation for those poor souls to break free from the shackles of shy insecurities and break free to enjoy life.

You know what it REALLY is about?  Dear Prudence?  Really about?  It’s a note to Prudence…who has literally locked in herself in her room.  The Beatles had gone to learn about meditation and Prudence Farrow (Mia’s sister) was determined to reach enlightenment.  She locked herself in her room…refused to come out.  The people there said, “Hey, we need to get her to come out.”  So John Lennon wrote Dear Prudence – as a literal invitation to Prudence to come out and play.  There’s no metaphorical inference like in “Blackbird”.  It’s as literal as a mother standing a porch yelling at her kid, “Jimmy get out of the street before you get run over.”  Hey, Prudence, it sure is a pretty day…come on out.  But instead people search for all the hidden meanings and symbols and imagery.  All the while, they are completely missing the simple truth that song is simply a child’s imploring for a friend to come outside.  Nothing hidden about it.  “Dear Prudence” is literally a “Dear Prudence” letter.  Sometime digging for deeper meaning misses the simple truth on things that are obvious.  In other words, we find things that aren’t there.

It’s a problem not unique to Beatles songs.  Read the Gospels and you’ll run across the same problems in understanding.  Over here there’s a parable and a crowd wondering what Jesus is talking about.  Over there is a conversation where Jesus lays it flat out there in plain Aramaic (sorry, it wasn’t plain English even if it WAS plain) and folks don’t want to see the blatant truth.  In Luke 8, Jesus tells the crowds the parable of the Sower.  Even the disciples are scratching their heads.  I’m sure when Jesus was telling it, they were all over in the wings, nodding their heads acting like the kids that got the joke.  Then as soon as Jesus was finished, they rush over to ask what He meant.  He told them the secret.  Then over in Luke 10, Jesus tells the story we call “The Good Samaritan”.  And what prompted the whole scene was a religious expert asking “what do I gotta do to get this eternal life that you’re preaching about?”  Jesus answers him simply “Love God above all else.  Love your neighbor as yourself.”  And what is the reply?  “Who is my neighbor?”  Come on, man.  Is this religious expert really Johnny Cochrane?  If the neighbor doesn’t fit, you must acquit?  This isn’t a loophole game – it’s plain Aramaic.  You don’t need elaboration on that.  But Jesus gave him elaboration anyway, to make sure there was no confusion.  Look, dude.  Everyone that you can help…that’s your neighbor.

Listen for the Whisper that plainly tells you when it’s plain or when there’s something deeper.  Then ask yourself, are you really looking for a deeper meaning because you’re looking for the loophole?  Are you looking to justify what you want to do, or what you’d rather do?  Are you looking for deeper meaning because like the apostles in Luke 8, you desperately want to understand what the Master is teaching you, or are the expert from Luke 10 that’s looking for the loophole.  The tougher question is this:  are you the rich man from Mark 10?  When you find the answer…whether it was an obvious answer or one you had to dig to find…can you accept the answer as the truth?  In Mark 10, the rich man demonstrates he knows what he should do, but when Jesus tells him to prove that he gets it, the man goes away sorrowful.  Why?  Because he knows what he’s supposed to do, but is unwilling to commit to it.  “I love the Lord, but I love my stuff more.”  It’s a common malady.  Putting God in the right hierarchy is tough for all of us.  That’s really what all of these and every other devotional ever written is basically about.  At some point, you have to be willing to lay your crowns at Jesus’ feet and walk away from them.  Like Lincoln Brewster sings, “I’m giving it all to You.”

There’s always a reason behind our search for knowledge.  Some learn to simply to know.  Some learn to know how to exploit a weakness.  Some learn to understand.  Why are you learning?  Are you learning so that you can justify what you do.  Searching for the legal arguments on which to base your defense?  Are you learning just so you can sound impressive to folks at church when you reference obscure Bible facts and names – but no purpose at all beyond that?  Or are you learning so that you can truly understand?  Are seeking wisdom?  Are preparing for the test of life, so that when the tests come, you’re prepared because you know what you’re supposed to know?  That’s the true purpose of learning: understanding.  And most questions are as deep as you want them to be.  Just like Dear Prudence explained earlier.  Sure the simple answer is “Dear Prudence is a letter to Prudence”, but then it’s a wondering of why they were writing to Prudence.  “Love your neighbor as yourself” is quite literally a simple call to help everyone you can help.  The learning part is to understand why you’re asked to do it.  And the understanding is when you realize that it’s about keeping God on His rightful place on His throne.  The simple part is following the plain instructions – the harder part is understanding why they were given…and then being able to accept that understanding.  My mom tells the story of a family friend who (way back when) misheard the lyrics to the oldies song “Arizona” as “Hair is Golden.”  Then after he discovered the truth of what he was hearing, didn’t like the song anymore.  Same song and same tune, but now that they were singing about Arizona and not Hair being Golden, he didn’t like it anymore.  Twist that back to the rich man from Mark 10 and we have the same situation.  He liked it when he was walking around singing “Hair is Golden”, but one day he ran into Jesus on the street.  And Jesus said, “the truth is that ‘Arizona’ is the name of the song”, and the rich man went away sad.  He didn’t like the truth.  He liked his misunderstanding of the truth better.  But the truth is the truth whether we like it or not.  We learn so that we can understand it correctly from the beginning.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Prayer Ministry - March Prayer

March, a Prayer for Missions.

Matthew 28:16-20 is the Great Commission.  Matthew’s Gospel ends with a resurrected Christ instructing His disciples to proclaim the Good News to the whole world.  In March we pray for these ongoing efforts.

Holy, compassionate God, we thank You for the gift of Salvation offered to us.  As your children, we have been set apart from the world (Exodus 6:7), and we are called to be an example to the world to show the blessing we have of walking with You (Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 60:3).

We praise You for Your greatness and compassion in giving eternal life to all who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ (John 3:16), and we ask that you help us to understand that it’s a gift never intended to be selfishly hoarded for ourselves (Matthew 28:16-20).  Our call is not only to love You, but also to declare Your love and majesty to the world. (Acts 1:8, Isaiah 40:9)

For those near us, we ask that we let our lights for You shine brightly and unobstructed by the worries that affect us daily (Matthew 5:14-16).  Let us also remember that not even the brightest lights can be seen nor the loudest speakers be heard around the entire world when originating from a single spot.

Loving Father, the Peace of Salvation can only surround us when we believe and accept Christ.  As Paul tells us in the book of Romans, if there is no one to preach, then there is nothing to hear.  If there is nothing to hear, then there’s nothing to believe.  If there’s nothing to believe, then those who never hear are lost (Romans 10:13-15).  Help us be willing to step up to proclaim Your message to all.

Like when You called out to Jonah to go to a foreign land (Jonah 3:1,2), sometimes we let our pride, our prejudice, or our fear keep us from going.  We ask that You replace our stubbornness with the courage of Paul after his encounter on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:14-18).   Whether You call us to walk across the street, or drive across town, or relocate to the farthest corners of the map, give us the strength to step forward to dedicate our lives to spreading Your message. 

Help us to be like Isaiah.  Like a child in a classroom frantically waving a hand in the air to be noticed by the teacher, Isaiah stepped up and said, “Here I am.  Lord, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)  It takes courage to step forward, when we’d rather hide behind our reasons and secretly hope to not get called on by the teacher.  You, Father, offer all of the courage we need and more as we’re told in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Father God, we pray for those who have already heard and answered the call to go preach.  We pray for those that have left their homes and traveled to foreign lands to preach the name of Jesus.  We ask for their protection.  We ask that You lead them to fertile fields where Your message will be eagerly received.  We pray that their harvests are bountiful, and that the fields they plant continue to spread.  We pray that they always rely on You, and that they always give the glory of their efforts to You.

Lastly, Jesus told us in Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  Jesus told us that He won’t return until the gospel has been preached to the whole world.  Help us to realize that if we truly want Jesus to come quickly, then we all need to find someone who doesn’t know Your Son, and introduce them to Him.

And we ask this and all else in Jesus’ name,

Amen

Prayer Ministry - February Prayer

February, the month of love.

Our earthly traditions recognize this time as a time to celebrate love.  This month we thank God for the true love that He showed to us, and pray that we can show that same love to everyone we meet.

Loving, Heavenly Father, the full picture of love is painted for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 which, when stripped to its core, is pure unselfishness.  We pray this month not only a prayer of thanksgiving for Your endless love for us, but we also lift up to You the ones we love here on Earth.

We pray this month for husbands, Father, to help them to treat their wives as princesses.  Their Father is a King, and husbands are to love them as Jesus loved the church (Eph. 5:25).  Jesus was faithful to His church to the point of death (Acts 20:28), and we ask that you give husbands the same loyalty.  Let him see in her the beauty of Christ that shines in her.

We pray also this month for wives.  A gift from God (Proverbs 19:14), we ask that you give them the strength and power to instruct her children in your ways.  We pray that she loves her husband as much as he loves her, and that she helps her husband keep his fire burning for You (Ecclesiastes 4:11).

Loving God, we know that there is no greater gift to husbands and wives than the blessing of children.  During this month of love, we ask your blessings on children and on parents.  We ask that you give parents the wisdom to raise their children in your ways (Proverbs 22:6), and we pray that you open the eyes of the youth to recognize Godly wisdom as their parents teach them (Proverbs 4:1-5).

Even as we’re instructed to leave our parents and cling to our marriage partners (Mark 10:7), we know that we’re still to honor our Father and Mother.  We pray that You open our eyes to see our parents, not only as parents, but to see them as Brothers and Sisters in Christ (Gal. 3:28).  Father, we know that even with their best efforts, they may not always be perfect parents like You are.  If hurts linger, we ask that you allow Christian forgiveness to be found in families in order for all involved to be closer to You.

Holy God, the closest example to Your love that we see on earth may very well be grandparents.  They love as only grandparents can, and if ever there are people that only see the good in others, it would be grandparents’ love for grandchildren.  Yet sometimes we dismiss them as old and confused.  We ask that you help us to accept the wisdom of our elders who have already made the mistakes we’re currently making both in parenting and in life (1 Timothy 5:1).  They have the wisdom of years and can reflect on their own mistakes or things they should have done differently.  We pray that we respect the knowledge and counsel they offer, and, by doing so, give honor to You (Leviticus 19:32).  We also pray that we learn to love others in Your world with the same forgiving love of grandparents.

In 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, You tell us the things that will pass away: prophecies, speaking in tongues, and knowledge.  These will remain: faith, hope and love.  The greatest, of course, is Love.  God, You are Love.  Whoever does not love, does not know You (1 John 4:8).  Grant us love.  Grant us greater love for You.  Bless us with the ability to love not just those in our family, but those in God’s family.  We ask that you help us to see all of mankind as worthy of being in Your family.  As Christians we owe only one debt:  the continual debt to love others (Romans 13:8).  Our bold request to You this month is to please fill our cups with enough love to be able to give it in abundance to all who need it.

And we ask this and all else in Jesus’ name,

Amen

A Mediocre Devotional

Richard Sherman.  Does that name ring a bell?  If you’ve been anywhere near a television covering football this week, then it likely does.  He’s the cornerback for Seattle that had the loud and abrasive interview after the game this past Sunday.  As a quick aside, if you said that Richard Sherman was the guy that co-wrote world-famous songs with his brother you’d also be right.  But I’m not talking today about the guy that helped write songs like “It’s a Small World”, “Bare Necessities” from the Jungle Book movie, or “Chim Chim Cher-ee” for Mary Poppins (for which he won an Oscar).  Yes, that WAS Richard Sherman, but today I want to talk about the one that plays football.

Actually, I don’t really.  What I want to talk about today is specifically the reaction to the Richard Sherman that plays football.  At my house we watched The Interview right after the game.  I said, “I bet the league has a talk with him about representing The Shield” (as they call it), and I read a ton of responses worse than that on social media – up to and including kicking him out of football.  As another quick aside, I have no intention in this devotional of condoning his actions.  But I want to just point out a few quick somethings…then challenge us a Christians to ask ourselves honest questions.  And that being said, let’s get started down this twisty road.  First of all, we’re all upset at Richard Sherman and wanting Peyton Manning to throw 6,000 yards against him specifically in a few weeks.  Why?  Because he called himself the best corner and called another guy mediocre.  Jury, your verdict please.  “GUILTY!”  Really, jury?  But all you know of him is a 25-second rant on television.  “We said he was guilty!”  But he was raised in Compton, California and graduated high school with Straight A’s (including Advanced Placement classes).  “still Guilty!”  But he’s a Stanford graduate.  “So what?! Guilty!”  But he has a charity that helps raise money so that under-privileged kids can have school supplies and clothing.  And he volunteered to help the Special Olympics all the way back in high school.  And when charities came to Stanford and asked for volunteers, his teammates remember him as always the first guy to raise his hand to help.  “We said he was guilty!”  But is that a little wavering I hear in your voice?

As Christians, we’re called to forgive.  That includes everyone.  Not just church friends.  Not just ourselves.  But everyone…regardless of what they’ve done.  I used to be the guy that pounded my chest and proudly announced to anyone that could hear me when talking about the electric chair that “I’d be the guy that pulled the switch” with no reservations.  Now, I’m not so sure.  I used to be the guy that would hear stories of death row conversions and think “yeah, of course they believe in Jesus NOW!  They’re about to meet him!”  But I don’t say things like that anymore.  I mean, you hear some stories, and you think “how could God ever forgive that guy?”  Like this one story I read…it’s something that happened long before I was born.  This guy killed some other dude.  Then he buried the body in a hidden grave.  He thought he’d gotten away with it, until he found out that folks around him knew about somehow.  SO…he ran. Ran and hid and never did a single day in jail for it.  In fact, while on the run for that murder…he was still getting into fights.  But then he had himself his own little “death row conversion” of sorts.  Well, forgive me.  I’m paraphrasing, and I’m not telling it exactly right.  If you want the full story exactly as it happened, it’s Exodus 2:11-22.  You know, when Moses killed the taskmaster, then buried his body in the sand.  Then started telling the two Hebrews to quit fighting, and they asked him, “or what, you’ll kill us, too?”  So then he fled, and then got into a fight at a well protecting the daughters of the priest of Midian.  And then?  Oh, only God Himself came to Moses in the burning bush.  And God Himself told Moses what His plans were to use Moses to deliver Israel from slavery.

And what is Moses?  He’s a hero.  We tell our kids about how great a man Moses was!  Murderer.  We tell our kids how great God was to Moses.  Murderer.  We tell our kids about Moses going up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Murderer.  We tell our kids that only one man, Moses, saw God on Mount Sinai and that his face glowed with radiance after looking directly upon God’s glory.  Murderer.  I’m sorry, I don’t mean to keep throwing that one mistake out there.  But why not?  We do it for simple things like guys playing football.  Richard Sherman didn’t curse.  He didn’t make any rude gestures.  He didn’t even pull a Mike Tyson from 2000 and proclaim “I want your heart! I want to eat your children!”  He just called another guy mediocre…albeit in an extremely inappropriate setting and a completely unprofessional manner.  And I suppose that’s where we’ve come as a society.  As a collection of Christians, too, I suppose.  Because a great deal of the vengeful “I hope for bad things on him” reactions were from good, Christian people.  All of those people that help others, and give to their churches, and pray for sick friends and family, and volunteer for local charity work wanted Instant Karma to get Richard Sherman. (and we all shine on…sorry, I couldn’t help it)  Meanwhile, all the other good things he may have done before then don’t seem to matter.  We don’t want forgiveness for something brash and insensitive.  We want Peyton Manning to light him up.  We want Demaryus Thomas or Eric Decker to knock him out in a couple of weeks.

Did anybody pray for him?  Did anybody pray that he let go of that anger?  Did anybody care that, off the field, he’s a prime example of giving back?  Did anybody act like a Christian about it all?  Or did we all pull out the pitchforks and torches and go chasing him down the street like in the old monster movies.  That’s what I did.  I said that the league would likely talk to him, and, while already rooting for Peyton, I hoped that much harder that Denver wins the game (by 300 points) in a couple of weeks.  Then as the next few days came and went, I heard the rest of Richard Sherman’s story.  Then I reflected on some of the stupid…and I mean absolutely, unequivocally STUPID things that I’ve said in my late teens and early twenties.  Well, late twenties, and all through my thirties. Well, and I guess my forties, now that I’m forty.  And I reflected on how I hope that those are not the things that I’m judged on today.  When we hear the name “Moses”, our immediate word association is not “Murderer”.  When I hear electric chair, I no longer say “I want to pull the switch”.  When I hear of stories like Jeffery Dahmer, I don’t think that sarcastic “yeah, I bet he did” type thoughts anymore.  Like the prodigal son coming home, the Father rejoiced.  When we hear of death row conversions, do we rejoice?  Are we the “other brother” when think of seeing murderers in Heaven?  That’s where the rubber meets the road on Christian forgiveness.

We want justice!  We want fairness!  But only for other people.  OUR sins aren’t as bad as those other people’s sins.  But through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God no longer chooses to remember our sins…or theirs.  He doesn’t look at Moses and think “murderer”.  He sees the man to lead Israel to freedom.  He doesn’t see Saul as the man that killed Christians.  He sees Paul, the man that will sow the seeds for a thousand churches through a handful of epistles.  God doesn’t see us as the one mistake that we won’t let go of, so why is it that that’s how we choose to see others?  Forgiveness is forgiveness.  Jonah sat on a hill beside Nineveh and wished he had died instead of seeing Nineveh forgiven.  The lessons of Jonah and of the prodigal son aren’t just for the Ninevites and the son that left home.  We always spin them that way…repentance, forgiveness, and “come back home” lessons all seem to stem from those.  But I believe that the real lessons are from Jonah and the older brother.  Forgiveness.  Letting go.  Don’t be bitter that they didn’t get their comeuppance.  Rejoice that they found forgiveness from God.  And remember…always remember…and I mean that if you don’t ever listen to another whisper, listen for the whisper that tells you that Jesus plainly told us in Matthew 6:15, that if you don’t forgive others, the Father will not forgive you.  Others.  God didn’t specify which others…just forgive others.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

 

 

 

From Parts Unknown

On the front end, let me say that I hope this devotional will help the people that sit around me at church understand that I’m not constantly whipping out my phone to text my friends right in the middle of a sermon or immediately after a prayer.  Sometimes when someone says something in church, my brain will flash this idea for a perfect illustration for a devotional.  When those brief glimpses of insight happen, I have to Notepad it (yes, I just used that as a verb) immediately or it’s lost forever.  That happened yesterday morning at church – and to show exactly how my brain works – Preacherman had just finished reading the 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 passage that has been the focus of our reconciliation lessons.  Specifically, he had just read 2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  And where did my brain go?  Well, to Memphis Rasslin’, of course.  AND IMMEDIATELY!!  So I whipped out my phone and jotted this note:  “Loser leaves town. Mask. New wrestler. World tries to rip mask off.”  For those that didn’t make that same connection, I’ll elaborate a bit.

Back in the glory days of Memphis Rasslin’, there were these “loser leaves town” matches.  Sometimes the good guy would lose, and then come back the very next week…with a mask and calling himself “the Masked Marshmallow” or whatever.  Despite the fact that he had the same open-heart surgery scar down his chest and the “I love my momma” eagle tattoo hidden in his gross back hair, he claimed to be a NEW wrestler.  With the “loser left town’s” voice, he would pound his chest and claim to NOT be that loser that left town, but a the NEW wrestler come to clean up this town…The Lone Ranger or whatever.  Then the head promoter dude would come out and proclaim that if they could prove that the Masked Menace was really Loser Left Town, then he would be out for good.  So naturally, every wrestler that had a grudge against Loser Left Town would always come running in try to pull off the mask to show who he really was.

Are we tracking yet?  See now why I had the connection?  In Christ we are a new creation!  The old has lost the match and gone, and a new is here!!  But The World doesn’t buy it.  The World doesn’t believe it for one minute.  The World (which, as a personified entity refers to itself in the third person like good bad guy wrestlers do) says, “The World knows that you’re still the loser under that mask!  You’re not some New Creation, so The World is going to pull your mask off of you and expose you to be the fraud you are!”  So you find yourself in the fight of your life trying to keep your mask on.  You struggle against the world and say, “you can’t take off my mask…I’m not the old guy, I’m a new guy!”  But The World calls in its cronies from the back, and The World and its group of henchmen gang up on you.  You’re getting beaten down right in the middle of the ring in front of the whole crowd.  You keep wondering if help is going to come running out to save you – but you’re overwhelmed by the hoards of bad guys kicking you down and pulling at your mask and can’t get a breath to call for help.  Finally, when you’ve fought all you can fight, The World knocks you out…and then finally thinking it’s won, grabs your mask and pulls it off!  The World has pulled off the New Mask of the New Creation.  And the whole arena will see who you really are.

Listen for the Whisper that tells you that it’s not a mask.  It’s a cute story, and a fun little illustration about how we feel sometimes with The World beating on us, attacking us, and trying to question our new identity.  Where the illustration falls apart, though, is that in the story (and in our minds), we’re alone and trying to save our mask, and nobody ever comes running from the back to save us.  But in reality, the fight was won before we ever picked up the mask.  Jesus Christ was slain on Calvary and conquered the world and all the evil in it long before you put on the mask.  The World and all his henchmen don’t stand a chance and never did.  Which brings us to the other flaw in the illustration…true Christianity is not a mask.  When we enter the ring as The New Creation, we really ARE a New Creation!  “Go ahead, The World, pull this mask off…because like in the old Scooby Doo cartoons, sometimes it’s not a mask.”  The World can pull and pull at you for all its worth.  It’ll never get the mask off, because there’s no mask to pull off.  You’re not the Masked Christian. That other loser really left town.  You are the New Creation!  Can I get an Amen?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Operator, Can You Help Me Place This Call?

Andrea and I have a group of friends.  Very good friends, actually.  In the essence of full disclosure (with no offense intended to any church people we know), they are, in fact, some of the very best friends we have.  Each and every one of them was born and raised entire states away from us.  Some of them across the country, even.  We met them through our Tim McGraw concert outings.  What started as basically general acquaintanceships, has turned into deep, honest loving friendships. We only get to see them about twice a year (and that’s on a good year), but through the magic of internet communications and texts and emails, we talk to them almost every day.  And they’re good Christian folks…and it’s truly a “sometimes we laugh together, and sometimes we cry” group of friends like we sing about in the old church hymn “God’s family”. 

So why did I tell you that?  Because we have other really good friends that we take for granted that they’re so close.  They’re not better friends or closer friends – other than the general location sense of being closer.  But since they’re closer, we don’t take the effort we should to stay in touch like we do with our “Tim Friends”.  And when we finally bump into them it’s always the same old stuff…you know the words, because I’ve said some of them to the very people reading this…”Boy, I haven’t talked to you in so long!  We’ve been busy, and dad’s been sick, and homework and big projects and work” – and it’s all the typical reasons we give for why we’ve not made the effort to pick up the phone and call.  And we say things like, “we should get together and go eat during the Christmas break when everyone’s off.”  But we don’t.  But we make plans months in advance for the out-of-state friends.  We schedule weekends specifically to meet them.  But won’t take 10 minutes to call the ones across town on a Friday to meet up.  Not sure why that is…but then we run into them at the store again, and it’s the typical “Boy, I haven’t talked to you in so long!  We’ve been busy, and dad’s been sick, and homework and big projects and work” excuses again.

And those are the exact same excuses we give for not talking to God.

When those are the VERY reasons we should be talking to Him more.  We ought to take more time for our friends, and we ought to make more time for God.  I’ll be honest. I’m not the best giver when it comes to the collection plate.  That’s not to say I’m not generous when it comes to giving when it needs giving, but my general weekly giving…it needs work.  But here’s the thing.  (And it’s principle proven by games like Candy Crush.)  We’ll throw tons of money at a game to keep from waiting 30 minutes.  And why is that?  Because there’s no little joint on the corner called “Time in Flash” – or some rhyming version to make a better analogy to the Cash place.  You can’t offer anything as collateral to bargain more time.  Father Time is undefeated as they do say.  SO while money may be worth a lot, and we may work hard for it, your time is more valuable.  You might give God 50% of all the money you make, but how much of your time do you give Him?  Even if it’s just to talk to Him?

 Is God worth more to you than 10 minutes of sleep?  Is God worth more to you than 30 minutes of a lunch hour?  Is God worth more to you than a reality TV show?  Or even an obnoxious commercial during the goofy reality show?  Well, of course He is!!  So why can’t you spare that time to talk to Him?  Get up 10 minutes early…or step out for 30 minutes of your lunch hour – you know, give up talking to Steve in accounting for 30 minutes to talk to your Creator.  I’m sure Steve’s got juicy gossip, but how about a little Thank You For Being There For Me chat with God?  How many times have you given up an episode of Honey YooHoo to spend that time praying?  Or when Chuck Woolery says he’ll be back in “two and two”, have you ever muted the TV and spent that two minutes and two seconds asking for forgiveness for your shortcomings – or just telling God “Hi, it’s been a good day”?

 Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you were standing there.  Sorta got lost talking to myself.  Although I refuse to ever watch Honey YooHoo…but the shows I watch are just as important.  Maybe say a little prayer during the Duck Dynasty commercials…or pray by yourself when Phil prays at the end of the show.  If you really stop and think about it, there are a hundred different times during the day that you could use to talk to God.  Stopped in traffic.  Sleeping through a boring update meeting at work.  Standing in line at the store…instead of griping about the line, take that time to thank God for allowing you to be alive to talk to Him one more time.  Maybe when you’re on hold on the phone for the doctor’s office, say a little prayer for health…or thank Him for the doctors.  Or when you’re standing there pushing that elevator button over and over again…you pushed it once, it’s coming (but that’s a different devotional)…but instead of hitting the “Going Up” button a hundred times, stop and say a little prayer.  It doesn’t have to be a bowed head, hands folded deal.  There are a lot of prayer positions described in the Bible.  Just clear your mind, take a deep breath, and talk to God for a minute or two.

 Time:  Our most valuable asset.  And the one we waste the most.  God’s told us that our days were numbered before we were born.  We know that and quote that to other people, then we squander it anyway.  When Job’s tests were all over…after the loss of riches and family and health and all that he had lost, God blessed him double what he had before.  But through it all, there’s one thing that Job didn’t get back.  Listen for the Whisper that reminds you that Job didn’t get that time back.  So the time you’ve wasted complaining when you could have been praying is time you’ll not ever see again.  When you pray, you have a chance to talk to the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth.  How awesome is that?  Why would we want to spend our time doing anything else?  So the next time you’re stuck in traffic, or sitting at a restaurant waiting on your food, or taking a day off and waiting for the cable dude to be at your place sometime between Monday at 8:00AM and next March, take that time to do something amazing.  Take the time…no, make the time…to talk to God.  Once you get into the habit of filling in the gaps of your day with little chats, you’ll want to start purposely setting aside larger parts of your day for deeper conversations.  Jesus Christ WAS God, but while He was on Earth He took the time to talk to the Father in Heaven.  So why shouldn’t we?  Like the old hymn says, “Take time to be holy.  Speak oft with the Lord.”

 
~Dwayne
ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

 

January Prayer Theme

We're starting a new prayer ministry at church this month.  Each month will have a focus for prayer for the month.  I'm writing them out (with input from the other members of the team), and I decided to add them here to the Listen For The Whisper devotional page.  I hope it helps you when you pray.

The New Year:  A time for new beginnings.  It is a time to pray for reconciliation, forgiveness and renewal.

Holy God, as we start this new year dedicated to You, we pray that You will help us to offer each other the same forgiveness and reconciliation that You have offered to us.

Our identity is found in Jesus Christ who has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19), and called us to selflessly love others (John 13:13-14).

We realize that we cannot be fully holy in Your presence to stand before You if we hold grudges (Matthew 5:23), and that You have called us to love one another and to forgive the shortcomings of others (Eph. 4:2-3)

The first obligation in our faith, our first ministry outreach is to our families (2 Chronicles 20:13), and that our calling to love and forgive begins there (Proverbs 15:20).  Like the lesson of reconciliation Joseph witnessed as his father and uncle met again (Genesis 33:1-4) was reborn in the reconciliation of brothers in Egypt (Genesis 45), we are teaching and witnessing to our children as we forgive the ones who have wronged us.

If God the Creator is able to forget the sins I’ve committed against Him and remember them no more, then I need to be able to forget what others have done to me (Hebrews 8:12).  The phrase “forgive and forget” does not appear in the Bible, but true forgiveness is found only when the wrong is not the first memory we have of someone.

Help us, God, to understand that our neighbors are not just those who live beside us (Luke 10:29-37).  All of humanity are God’s children and worthy of His love and forgiveness (Jonah 3:10-4:3, 4:11).  Being a follower of Christ means that we must love our enemies just as we love those who love us (Matt 5:43-48), whether our enemies are people from high school or rulers of foreign lands who hate us for our beliefs.

Our Salvation came at a price.  The price paid was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on a cross.  As Stephen was being stoned, his last words were a prayer of forgiveness (Acts 7:60).  As my sins held Jesus on that cross, some of His last words were prayers of forgiveness (Acts 23:34).    As He forgave us, so we must forgive others (Colossians 3:12-13).  Forgiveness of others is not a suggestion or recommendation, it’s a requirement. (Matt 6:14-15)

Lastly, Loving Father, we pray that as the calendar turns from 2013 to 2014, that we will turn a page as well.  We pray that our change will be as dramatic as when You created light in the darkness.  We ask that you forgive our stubbornness and selfishness, and we pray that You help us start over.  May our Christian headstones clearly be marked with 2013 as the year we died to ourselves, and 2014 when were raised to live in Christ (Romans 6:11-14).

And we ask this and all else in Jesus’ name,

Amen

Like a Candle in the Wind

I was going to start this devotional with a reference to the prop comic Carrot Top, but didn’t want make people mad that I had compared God to Carrot Top.  So instead of saying that God is the original Prop Comic, let’s say that He knows we’re a little dense sometimes and relies on visual aids to keep our limited attention.  In Numbers 21 He used bronze snakes on sticks to cure snake bites.  In Exodus 20 He used tablets of stone to represent the unbendable rules of Old Testament Law.  In Numbers 15 God commanded blue tassels on the corners of the prayer shawl to remind them of the Laws of God.  In 1 Samuel 7 Samuel put a rock between Mizpah and Shen to remind them where the Lord helped them.  In Joshua 4 they placed stones in the Jordan as a reminder where the river stopped flowing as the Ark of the Covenant passed across.  At the Passover feast with Jesus in the upper room, He takes the unleavened bread and the wine and says “This is my broken body,” and “this is my blood.”  Throughout the Bible, God has told His people, “Here are things that you will do to remind yourselves that I am God.  Here are things the world will see to know that I am God.”  And now all these years later, God still uses visual aids.  No, I don’t just mean the rainbow to remember His promise to never again destroy the world by flood.  I mean YOU!  And no, I don’t just mean the baptism of water that symbolizes the death and burial of your old self, and the rising from the grave of the new creation that lives for a new calling and purpose (although that is a good one).

I mean that he uses you living your life.  Like in Philippians 2:14 when the Bible says that we are to do everything without grumbling or complaining.  But why are we to do everything without grumbling or complaining?  The answer is in verses 15 and 16.  So that “you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”  Just like Jesus said in Matthew 5…after He’s just given the list of beatitudes of how we’re supposed to behave, treat people, carry ourselves, and live our life… ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Wait, what?  So I’m a visual aid for God?  Well, yeah, I’m supposed to be.  I’m sorry if I’ve let you down from time to time.  I’ll forgive you if you’ll forgive me.  We’re supposed to be different from the world around us – for the explicit purpose of being noticed as standing out different from the world around us in order to bring glory to God.  Are you being noticed by those around you?  Are your actions always pointing out that you’re different from the world and in doing so bringing glory to God?  Let me ask you this (as non-accusatorily as I can):  Are you doing anything at all to bring glory to God?  Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Do you do all that you do in the name of the Lord Jesus?  When you’re with your friends, do you pray?  When you’re with your church friends, do you pray?  When you’re with your friends, do you stand out as different from the world so that they notice your commitment to Jesus Christ?  Or do you conveniently (and silently) just play the Grace Card and count on God forgiving you when you deny Him with your actions in front of other people?  Do you tell dirty jokes in the name of the Lord Jesus?  Do you cuss like a sailor in the name of the Lord Jesus?  Do you do your drinking in the name of the Lord Jesus or maybe hope that people notice that your difference is only having 3 beers while they’re staggering around you? 

Take up your cross and follow Him.  When you accepted Jesus as Master, you accepted Him as Master.  Or else you didn’t.  That’s what it boils down to.  You either decided to let your light shine for Christ so that when you’re in the world you shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.  Or you didn’t…and you still shine your light on you and whatever it is that you want to do.  Are you embarrassed of living for a new purpose in front of other people?  Do you take Matthew 10:32 “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father who is in Heaven.” to mean “only the people at church when I went down front and gave my confession” – or do you believe that Jesus meant “all of mankind throughout the world”?  Are you afraid that people will mock you if you decided to live a life of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control?  Or is that just too hard to worry with doing?  Or is it just too much fun to blend in with the world and tease others and make snide comments.  Or instead of actually trying to make a difference in this world, would you just rather sit on the sidelines and make jokes about people you were called to love?

Listen to the Whisper that asks you “What are you doing to show the world that He is God?”  And if your answer is anything other than “with everything I do I’m trying to do it so that I can show the world that He is God,” then I’m sorry but it’s not enough.  I’m the first to admit that I fall short frequently…a lot…ok, honestly it’s most of the time.  And I’ll never be a good enough person to earn the Salvation that I accepted from Christ.  But when I lay my cards all out on the table to see what I’m holding in my hand, it shows that I’ve been holding on to a couple of jokers that I should have discarded a long time ago.  Temper and Tongue have been my trip-ups for a long time.  “But it’s hard to break the habit,” I say.  “I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just who I am,” I say.  “I just get so frustrated by people that waste my time,” I say.  “I love Jesus with all my heart and believe that He is the Son of God,” I say.  Wait, What?  One of those things doesn’t belong with the others.  And saying one of them means that I need to stop saying the others. 

Which is harder, to stop losing my temper with people or to walk to a hill with a cross on my back…carrying the load until I can’t carry the cross any farther and someone carries it for me…because after I’ve carried the cross of my temper and my tongue until I couldn’t carry it any farther, Jesus carried those for me.  The same way that Simon of Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross when (after being beaten) he no longer had the strength to carry it Himself.  And then Jesus was hung on that cross…with my temper, my tongue, and my whole sinful self…and He died for all of it.  He was nailed to a cross, died a criminal’s death, and did it for me.  And I can’t stop doing the worldly things I do for Him?  He wasn’t lifted up shining like a city on a hill…He was lifted up and hung on a cross between two thieves.  And He did that for me…and you.  And we live in a world today, proclaiming to love Jesus yet we can’t say “no thanks, I don’t drink” or “God has forgiven me, so I forgive you – and will continue to forgive as many times as you offend me” or (the one I struggle with most) “I will not belittle and insult them, because God has been patient with me even as I’ve tried His patience time and time again.”

You want to be different?  Stand quietly in line at the store.  Don’t grumble and complain.  Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Does retelling the dirty joke you heard on the radio lift up others?  Does it set you apart from the world?  Is it a joke you’d tell to Jesus?  Live your life like Jesus has called you to live it.  Live your life the way you know God expects you to live it.  Live your life as a bold proclamation to everyone around you that God is King above all, and you serve Him and Him alone.  Live your life showing that you will not be corrupted by this world and coerced to blend in.  Live your life like a city built on a hill and shine your light for all to see…then people will notice that you are different.  And then you’ll shine among them like stars in the sky.  And when you boldly shine your light, it will shine on others and help show them the path to Life.  And God will look at you and say, “There’s my Bronze Snake, my stone tablets, my blue tassel…there’s the reminder for the world that I am God.”

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com