Just Ahead

I am not sure what it was about her that caught my attention other than the fact that the express check out line was moving slow and she was checking out her stuff.  Almost immediately I was struck by her appearance.  There was nothing out of the ordinary about her attire.  It was her face that caused the second, longer look.  She seemed either incredibly sad, or simply overwhelmed.  Her face gave no expression as she stuck her card in the reader.  Not once did she make eye contact with the clerk.  It was as if her body had come to the place there ahead of me, but left her heart and soul behind.  While it is not always my normal response to such moments, I started praying for her.  "Lord," I prayed, "just give her something to smile about."  But, it never happened.  Maybe later, but not then.

 

I suppose watching people could get you into trouble if it got too obvious, but sometimes it is impossible not to wonder what is going on with troubled looking folks.  It is not too hard to spot them.  Some of us have learned what trouble looks like for we have seen our own share of it and know firsthand what it does to the face which greets us in the mirror.  And, there are times when the moment of seeing is accompanied by an opportunity to say a non-intrusive word of concern all the while hoping that it might lead to an unexpected moment of a mutual sharing of the heart.

 

In our morning prayers it always makes good sense to ask God to lead us into the places where His love and care might be expressed to another hurting human being.  When we dare to enter into those God given moments mindful that we ourselves are a hurting human being, it puts us in a better position to offer encouragement and help to another.  And, of course, if the Holy Spirit is leading, we can offer ourselves knowing that faithfulness requires only a willingness to serve and not a certain set of results.

What No One Knows

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John could not have imagined that the words they were writing would be read with awe and reverence over 2000 years after they wrote them.  The wrote for a specific group of people in a small piece of time.  They were not writing for the world, or the ages.  And, if such is true, then think for a moment about those who wrote the words we know today as the Old Testament writings.  Wow!  None of them could have imagined such a readership!  Yet, here we are all these centuries later still being inspired and renewed and instructed in the ways of God by these saints from so long ago.

It reminds us that what is done for God is not just done for the moment, but for the ages.  Just as we can look back and see the faces and know the names of those faithful folks from our more immediate past, so dare we look ahead with the assurance that our present faith will leave its imprint and influence on those to come.  It may be that our life is such that we can catch a glimpse of what that means as we look at how our children are responding to God's call on their lives, or how some friends are moving in a direction far different from the direction they were moving before our paths intersected.

Our name may not be written on the pages of history as are the Biblical writers or some of the saints who have walked behind them, but ahead of us, yet, God is using each one of us to write a story that does not begin with us, nor will it end with us.  Long after we are gone, the seeds being planted in the present moment will bear fruit not because of who we are, but because the Holy Spirit is working to transform the seed into fruit for the Kingdom of God.  What we cannot know, He does know and forever and always He works to carry what has been started forward. 

Turned Loose

This is the time of the year when those young people who have been cooped up in school for twelve years are turned loose on the world.  It brings back memories of the day long ago when a similar beginning happened in our lives.  These youngest of the adults of our world find themselves confronted with a bunch of tough questions.  Some may be asking, "Where will I go to college?"  Others may be wondering, "Who should I marry?"  "Where will I live?" and "What kind of work should I pursue?" are just a couple of other questions being asked.  The most important question of them all is the one not usually asked and it is, "What does God want to do with my life?"

 

This last and most important question is not necessarily one that applies only to those who will spend a life in some kind of full time ministry.  Actually, it is a core question for all of us.  What we do may not be as important as how we do it.  Allowing the primary values of the Kingdom of God to guide the direction of our lives is far more important than simply being guided by the lure of more money, or bigger houses.   Many people who are far away from the graduation moment live with a restlessness and anxiety because they never got around to settling that basic question about life.

 

The question, "What does God want to do with my life?"  may be answered by entering the ministry as I did, or it may be answered by knowing that whatever the pursuit of work, it is to be done with kindness, generosity, and service.  And while it is true that there are those opportune moments of life when dealing with some of its bigger issues are heavy upon us, it is also true that the question is one that is appropriately asked every day.  So, ask. 

Swimming Upstream

The Old Testament prophets were a bold and determined lot of men.  There was a single mindedness about them which made them seem like they were always going against the flow.  They were men who always seemed to have a sense of what God was doing in the world and not afraid to speak of it.  Tolerating contrary or compromising viewpoints was not in their wheelhouse.  When they spoke it was not as men who said, "Friend, you might want to be open to this possibility," but, "Thus says the Lord."  Quite a bit of difference.

 

Of course, we would say that such people are not going to be popular.  They are not going to be accepted.  This is true.  And while the prophets were just ordinary men who would have preferred the pat on the back instead of disdain, disregard, and being dragged into prison, their overriding issue was not about personal pleasure, but about pleasing God.  As difficult as their faithfulness to God made their lives, they would not be swayed to walk a different road. 

 

Today's folks would call them fanatics who are out of step.  Such would no doubt be declared by some of today's respectable church folks.  Single minded people are generally dismissed as blinded by their pre-occupation with their mission.  A casual look at our culture shows us where this attitude has taken us.  Maybe what the world and the church needs are more people like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, or some of those who stood shoulder to shoulder with them daring to speak for God.  If Israel at the time of Jesus mourned the fact that there were no prophets of God, we should be wearing sack cloth and ashes every day.

A Piece of Land

When Jeremiah bought the field at Anathoth, it was a strange purchase.  Even though the prophet bought the land from his uncle at the Lord's bidding, it was still a strange transaction.  What made it strange was the fact that the Lord had also told the prophet that the city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah was about to be given to the Babylonians who were laying siege to the holy city.  The future was not just about the defeat of a  nation, but about its disappearance.  What was imminent for the Hebrews was destruction and exile.  It was not exactly a great time for buying  a piece of land. 

As is often the case in Biblical stories, more was happening than meets the eye.  When Jeremiah bought the land, he was buying for a future that the people could not envision.  God's judgment against them was sure, but the day of judgment would pass and they would eventually come to that time when once again land would be bought and sold, planted and harvested.  When the prophet bought the land it was God's sign that what was lost would be restored.  It was God's way of declaring that His people would return to the land of promise. "I will bring them back to this place, and I will settle them in safety."  (Jeremiah 32:37)  Anathoth was a visible sign that God was going to restore what had been taken away.

Given the circumstances, what God told Jeremiah to do was beyond the borders of reasonable behavior.  Beyond the borders of what we deem to be reasonable behavior is a place we do not want to go, however, God sees beyond the borders of reasonable behavior to a place where His purposes can be worked out in our life.  Going there with Him is the challenge of faith and trust.  When our reason says, "It is not the right time," it may be exactly the time when He seeks to lead us into a new territory of faith.  We will never know until we dare to say "yes" even though our reason is screaming, "no."

Poor Fitting Clothes

Anger is like poor fitting clothes.  Anger does not wear very well on any of us.  Like tight fitting clothes, anger reveals too much about what is inside of us.  Or, as in the case of clothes that are two sizes too big, anger keeps other folks from knowing who we really are.  The Scripture acknowledges it as an emotion common to humankind, but it also reminds us that it should be put to bed at the end of the day before we climb in ourselves.  If we go to bed with it, guess what is going to be there when we wake up?  Anger.  But, of course, when anger sleeps with us, it wakes up as a companion far more foul than it was when it became our bed mate.

 

Paul makes it clear enough when it tells those who follow Jesus not to let the sun go down on their anger.  When anger is allowed a foothold in our heart, it smolders until some heated words bring it to life in a forceful fire that sometimes even surprises the one who thought it was gone.  Anger is one of those things which does not get better with time, it only gets worse.  The only way to deal with smoldering anger is to recognize its presence in our heart and then root it out through reconciliation and forgiveness.  If we choose to give it a life in our heart, we can be assured that it will not only take life in us, it will take our life away.

 

Even after the heated flush of anger is gone, it is not hard to know when it still remains in us unhandled and unconfessed.  Jesus calls us to love one another.  He calls us to desire good in the lives of others.  Whenever what is inside of us keeps us from that one primary teaching about living rightly in our world of relationships, we can know all the world is looking at us in poor fitting clothes.  Maybe it is time to take off the old and to put on something new.   

When Others is Me

Twice today within the span of a couple of hours two unexpected persons surprised me with words that spoke of their prayers for my family.  One was a doctor and the other was a preacher from a neighborhood church of a different brand than mine.  Both spoke with sincerity.  Both caught me by surprise.  Humbled is what we mostly feel when someone tells us they have been praying for us.  I am certainly not the exception.   Grateful is another emotion felt in such moments.  It is a kind of gratitude which can only be experienced as overwhelming. 

But, today there was something different about the moment.  It reminded me that there is much more praying that I need to be doing.  Sometimes our own stuff feels so heavy to us that it commands all our energy and time in our praying.  Without really being aware of it, we can come to a place where our prayers are too much about me and what concerns me.  Certainly, these prayers are heard by our Father in heaven, but today was a reminder that there needs to be some balance.  Even as my name as been called in the prayers of others, so do I need to be more intentional about my prayers for others.

The Word is clear that we are to intercede for others.  In the prayer Jesus taught the disciples to pray, there are parts which reach out toward the needs of others.  And the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus as we find it in John's gospel is surely a prayer for the disciples which includes people like Peter and John, and, you and me.  I remember a missionary story of a prayer warrior who chastised his wife for interrupting his night time prayers saying something like, "There are a world of people for whom I have not yet prayed."  Too often such is true of me.  It is not that I have finished praying for a host of people in need, but that I have failed to get started.