Nov 5, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, The Good Word
I don’t know, dear reader, how close you are with your family. I would love to be closer with mine, in the metaphorical sense, but my distance from them, in the literal sense, sort of makes it difficult. I moved to Scotland in 2005, and then here to South Africa earlier this year, and though absence does make the heart grow fonder, the 7,000 odd miles I find myself away from home are quite a chasm when it comes to staying close. Thankfully we can still speak regularly through email and Facebook and on Skype, but ya know, it just ain’t the same sometimes!
Because of the distance I’ve made it a major priority to get home when possible…usually it worked out once in the summer when I could also meet with ministry partners and raise additional support, and again at Christmas, because it’s Christmas, and there’s no place in the world I’d rather be! After Mark and I married we decided we should alternate where we would be each year for Christmas. So our first Christmas was back in NC, and then the next year, for the first time in my life, I was not home in Washington, North Carolina at the same house I’d spent every Christmas since the day I was born. It was nice to be with Mark’s family in South Africa, but I really really missed my folks, my brother and sister, and the lovely life and light and spirit in the air that you find when you are home for Christmas.
This year, you’ll see if you’re following the narrative, should be a back-in-North-Carolina-for-Christmas year. And I sure do want it to be. Unfortunately, there is a strong possibility it might not be. I have to note here, that we have had the wonderful privilege of being at home a lot this year. Since we weren’t there last Christmas, we planned a trip early in the new year to see family and try to raise additional ministry support. And delightfully, last Christmas my sister got engaged, and we returned to NC in May to celebrate her wedding, which was an absolute joy. When we decided to move to South Africa, that meant we returned to the US a third time to meet with Samaritan’s Feet, discuss us coming on board with their ministry, and as always seems to be the case, to raise support again, while visiting family as well. Clearly, I cannot complain that I haven’t seen the fam a good bit this year.
At present we find ourselves in South Africa, and as you can imagine, the travels and the expenses of moving to a new country are fairly expensive. As a result, headin’ home for da holidays doesn’t seem financially feasible, or like a good stewardship decision. Yeah, we could probably juggle around finances and clear space on a credit card to make it possible, but we both feel like that’s the wrong move to make. There’d been a tiny whisper in the back of my mind telling me Christmas in the Carolinas might not happen this year… I’d been telling it to HUSH! But as we sat down and looked at the price of flights and our financial status at the moment, it became really clear that the right decision would be NOT to buy flights, and to wait and go sometime early next year, like hopefully when Rory and Sarah are getting married, which is also after my sister’s baby will be born so I’ll get to meet him/her too. (Yeah that was fast wasn’t it?) But dern, that is hard!
I cried a little. Okay a lot. But came to my senses and remembered that the Lord is good and that He can bring all these things together for good, even when they don’t look exactly how I would like for them to. I decided to press on to some quiet time with the Lord after a slightly weepy shower, and just continued along in my reading plan, which brought me to Exodus 14. And where might that be, you are wondering? Well, it’s the slice of history where Moses leads the Iraelites out of Egypt, and out of 400 years of slavery. I was hoping for the Lord to meet me in His Word — to give me a sense of His movement in the midst of my circumstances, and I stopped at verses 13 & 14.
“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. […] The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.â€
After reading this I thought — Okay, Lord, what is my deliverance? Should I be praying that something miraculous will happen that will enable us to head home for the holidays? Why doesn’t that feel right? Are you fighting for me? And as my prayer continued I began to realise that the Lord was fighting for me. He was not fighting for me to have my way — He was fighting for my heart, for me to realise that I should asking Him to lead me in His way, because His way is the best way. And I recognised in my heart, when I honestly took a look at it, that going home to see my family had become more important to me than listening to the Lord, and being where He wants me when He wants me.
It’s like the scene in Dumb and Dumber when Harry and Lloyd are going back and forth “Tag! You’re it…†“Tag… you’re it, quitsies!†“Tag, you’re it, stamped it!†“Tag you’re it, double stamped it!†and finally one of them sticks his fingers in his ears and says “Lalalalalala not listening! Lalalalalala†I think I might’ve been the one with my fingers in my ears…sort of sensing for a while the Lord’s desire for me to seek Him and His will, instead of chasing after my own.
What’s amazing is, the Lord orchestrated that tight spot — when the Israelites were facing the Red Sea in front of them, and the Egyptian army rolls up ready to take them by force, approaching faster and faster — to show His desire to be the Lord of His people, to demonstrate clearly that He desired their deliverance, and He would make a way for them. If they had a choice, they might not have chosen to cross the Red Sea. They might have chosen to take a different route, an easier route. But the route God chose for them — crossing the Red Sea — has been a pillar of faith for generations. Their children’s children’s children heard the stories about the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites, by their powerful and loving God.
In the same way, the Lord orchestrated a tight spot for me. I could choose to circumvent His will and get to North Carolina somewaysomehow, but the deliverance God provided for me, which I needed to walk in, was the deliverance from my desire to do what I want, at the expense of disobeying the Lord I’ve committed to serve, who loves me and knows what’s best for me. Our deliverance is often not the deliverance that provides us with everything we ever wanted, it’s the deliverance from the selfish and sinful nature, and the deliverance that helps us realise there is something better than our way — God’s way.
So, I’m hoping I’ve taken my fingers out of my ears, and stopped with my “lalalalalalanotlisteninglalala…†God has been too good to me for me not to trust Him when things aren’t going my way. I’d encourage you to look for God’s deliverance in your life today. I warn you — it may look different from what you expect. But from what I know of the goodness of God, He will work things out for your good, if you can love Him and walk His way.
Oct 31, 2009 | The Good Word
So sorry this is so delayed in its arrival, dear friends and readers!  We have been sick sick sick — and it was a struggle to do more than make sure we all had food to eat the past few days. Please forgive me! We’ve finally made it to the last post of the Cost of Discipleship series from Luke 9! I hope you like the bite-sized portions. I don’t think you would’ve read it all if it wasn’t. I probably wouldn’t have written it either. Let’s press on!
So last, another person showed up and said, “Lord, I’ll follow You. Just let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.†But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.†In some ways similar to the second person, this guy wanted to follow Jesus on his own terms. We might as well say, “Lord I want to follow you, as long as I can keep on beating my wife and getting snockered on the weekends,†or “Lord, I will follow you, but just don’t call me to share my faith with my neighbours. I don’t like that evangelism stuff.†Maybe even, “Lord, I will follow you, as long as it doesn’t involve me doing anything other than going to church on Sunday and cutting back on my cuss words.â€
Horse Drawn Plow, Photo credit to lapstrake @ Flickr
Matthew Henry’s Commentary spells out the issues with this guy’s attitude really well:
First, he looked upon his following Christ as a melancholy, troublesome, dangerous thing; it was to him as if he were going to die and therefore he must take leave of all his friends, never to see them again, or never with any comfort; whereas, in following Christ, he might be more a comfort and blessing to them than if he had continued with them. I never would’ve picked up on this. Thanks, Mr. Henry!
Second, he seemed to have his worldly concerns more upon his heart than he ought to have, and than would consist with a close attendance to his duty as a follower of Christ. You probably picked up on that.
Third — seriously, I never would’ve thought of this — “he was willing to enter into a temptation from his purpose of following Christ. To go and bid them farewell that were at home at his house would be to expose himself to the strongest solicitations imaginable to alter his resolution; for they would all be against it, and would beg and pray that he would not leave them. Now it was presumption in him to thrust himself into such a temptation. Those that resolve to walk with their Maker, and follow their Redeemer, must resolve that they will not so much as parley with their tempter.” Wow. Enough said, methinks.
Jesus’ response to this is quite a rebuke. So what is this putting the hand to the plow and looking back stuff all about? Let’s break it down. Plowing happens before sowing. If you don’t properly plow the soil — for example, if you’re trying to push the plow forward while looking behind you — you can imagine that you’ll make a mess of the field you’re working, and it will not be fit to be sown in. You won’t be fit to receive the ‘seed’ of the kingdom of God, plowing and looking back, if we consider our hearts the field in this analogy. Or, you aren’t fit to scatter the seed, or the Gospel, if (in a different analogy) you are the sower. If your purpose is to ‘be about’ the work of God, you need to ‘be about’ it. I think Henry concludes these considerations very well:
“Those who begin with the work of God must resolve to go on with it, or they will make nothing of it. Looking back inclines to drawing back, and drawing back is to perdition. Those are not fit for heaven who, having set their faces heavenward, face about. But he, and he only, that endures to the end, shall be saved.â€
So if we tie all these lessons together, I think they meet in a pretty nifty conclusion: 1. You have a calling. 2. You should answer it. 3. You should answer the call of God, on His terms, under His conditions, in His timing.
The Cost of Discipleship is great. The path is narrow and there are few who find it. The road probably won’t be easy. (If it is, I have a feeling you’re on the wrong road.) But the reward is well worth it. To God be the Glory. Out of all of this, the Lord has been challenging me in my willingness to follow Him without looking back. That, too, is a story for another post — blessings as you continue your journey in the meantime!
Oct 28, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
When we left off Monday, we were looking at the first of the three interactions described in the Cost of Discipleship section of Luke 9. I hope you’re enjoying it so far — if you missed the first post, you can check it out here. Let’s dig into part deux!
In the second interaction, Jesus does call someone. Real simple. “Follow me.†The hearer of this call replies with, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.†Mmmkay…? As they often are prone to disagreement, scholars have not come to a decisive conclusion about what this meant exactly. It is open to a couple of possibilities. This could mean this guy’s father had just died, or was sick and very close to it and he wanted to attend the services and be there for his family. However, it could also have meant that his father was perfectly well at the time, but he was waiting for his father to die, because he would then be coming into a good inheritance. He wanted to first receive his inheritance, felt like the call of God “came at a bad time†and therefore did not answer the call.
Image by Paul Bowman @ flickr
There’s also a third possibility, that his father was at home, and very sick, and he felt it his duty at that time to take care of him, and once that work was done, he would then set about the business of following the Lord. Whether he was waiting on an inheritance or not, consider this guy similar to any other person who might desire to obey the Lord in some thing the Lord has told him or her to do. The Lord might tell us to forgive someone. By His Spirit He might prompt us to speak to someone some word of encouragement or correction: but we in our own “wisdom” see it fit to wait a while, before doing the thing the Lord tells us to do.
Jesus responded to the guy’s excuse with, “Let the dead bury their own dead…you go and preach the Kingdom of God.†Does anybody else hear this and think, “Gosh, Jesus…a little harsh there.†?? Maybe it’s just me. Why should the dead bury their own dead? Well, we are continually instructed to care for our Mother and Father, to love our neighbours and our own relations. Jesus isn’t contradicting this — we simply are not to care for our relations to the point that it is a duty we place in front of our service to God. Even our service to our family cannot be an excuse for our non-service toward God. Perhaps if the guy followed Jesus, Jesus would’ve led him to his own house, healed his Dad, and they would’ve been on their merry way. Perhaps the guy had six brothers and sisters, also totally able to take care of their Dad on his deathbed. One way or another, we can trust that in the sovereignty of God, the issue was all worked out.
What does this mean for us? Well, it doesn’t sound like there are very many good excuses for not obeying the call of God. If God calls you to do something and you choose not to, perhaps because you care about what people think or you know there will be a cost involved, or because you’re waiting on some finances coming your way, or there’s something else on your plate that you think is more important, you are disobeying a Holy God. Each day has enough trouble of its own — and some new excuse will always be available, which will make us think we have just cause for not obeying. But we should obey God, (and seek His kingdom first) not because He will bless us or there will be a great reward (though the reward is great in heaven and I believe we will see God’s goodness in this lifetime as well). We should obey God because He is God. End of story. He has already shown us how much He loves us, in sending His Son to die for us. Obedience is a reasonable response! And though this potential disciple may have received his inheritance in his lifetime, or just pleased his family by sticking around instead of following Jesus, he missed his eternal reward as a result. Whether or not that was a good decision, I think you know the answer.
Considering the amazing goodness and exceeding mercies of God, and considering the sacrifice He made to give us life in Him — we have no excuse but to respond with thankful hearts, love and obedience. And the old hymn surfaces again! Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…
So we learned from part one, just because the call doesn’t sound the way you think it should doesn’t mean you don’t have a calling from God for your life. And from part deux, there is really no reason that will hold up in the day of judgement, as a suitable excuse for you not following Jesus. Now we can put these lessons together, quite simply:
1. You have a call. 2. You should answer it.
We will dig in to Part Three tomorrow! Feel free to read ahead. 😉
Oct 26, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word, Uncategorized
There’s this really intriguing moment recorded in Luke 9, often titled ‘The Cost of Discipleship.’ In it, Jesus has conversations with three people whom I suppose you could consider potential disciples. At first it all seems a bit cryptic, but with some deeper thought about it, there is so much richness to it! Care to dig in?
In the first conversation, Jesus and the disciples are journeying along the road, the usual, and someone says, “Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.†Jesus responds with “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.†Seems a little out there, but to me I think Jesus is basically saying, “Brother, I don’t think you really have a clue what you’re signing up for. It’s not as glamourous as it looks.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about these conversations in The Cost of Discipleship, and he reads this as a person showing up to follow Jesus without any respect for the call of Jesus. He doesn’t wait for Jesus to call him to follow Him, and he lacks respect and understanding for what it means to follow Christ.
What does this mean for us? I think one lesson we can learn from this is that following Christ may not always look the way you think it should. You may desire to follow Him to teach English in China. He may desire you to be faithful with your work and life in Tennessee. Perhaps the call of God will be for you to go to China next year, but for now, you are called to be faithful where you are. This might mean being faithful to the Lord at a Pawn Shop when you want to be out on the field as a missionary. (For a season, that’s what it meant for me). Some of the people Jesus healed asked to follow him and He told them no. This didn’t mean He didn’t want them to follow Him in the sense of being believers and walking in faith, it simply meant their call was not to leave their village and travel around with Him like His disciples.
There’s a good example of this just one chapter earlier in Luke 8. Jesus heals a demon-possessed man, and the man begs Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sends him away, saying, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.†So this man’s calling was not to follow Jesus in the physical sense — to go with Him to the places where He was teaching and healing, but he still had a calling from God — to go and tell people about what the Lord had done for him. For whoever listened, this guy would be preparing the way for the Gospel, and for the preaching of Jesus’ death and resurrection, in the hearts of those with whom this man shared his testimony.
Back in Scotland, when we went out for fish and chips, instead of getting “take-out” we were going out for a “take-away.” And in all of this I see an incredible take-away. Many of us might say “I’m not called to go and share my faith in Africa. I’m not called to be a pastor or a youth minister or an evangelist.†That may well be true. But that does NOT mean you do not have a calling from God. If you are in Christ, you are still called to tell people about the good things the Lord has done for you.
The Great Commission was not just a suggestion for the people who would step into full time vocational ministry. By God’s grace, you know Him now, and you are still on this earth, so you have work to do! And little doves don’t need to fly out of the sky and deliver this calling to you on a scroll in order for you to know it’s yours. If you are in Christ, He has good works prepared in advance for you to walk in. Whoever you are. Wherever you are. (Ephesians 2:10) You are called to preach the Gospel, make no mistake. And those neighbours of yours, and those coworkers of yours, at the Tax Office, in the Pawn Shop, or wherever you may find yourself, are people who may not hear the Good News unless you share it with them. In the wise words of Gwen Stefani, what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting… for?
You may have noticed, dear reader, I am coming to a close and we’ve only covered the first of the three interactions. Fret not! This post is “to be continued†and we’ll look at the next conversation very soon. Until then, start asking yourself, am I walking in those works Christ prepared in advance for me? And if not, hop to it! He could be back any minute!
Oct 24, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
You may have heard it said, As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. There is an excellent illustration of this principle in Luke 9 that caught my attention this morning. Jesus and His disciples passed through a Samaritan city, but the people there did not receive Him. When James and John saw this, they asked a question that revealed a lot about what was in their hearts: “Lord, how ‘bout if we pray some big ol’ fire down to blow this sorry ol’ village full of unbelievers up, just like how Elijah did that one time?â€
I hope I don’t cause offense, but the suggestion that they ‘blow the place up’ just felt a little good ol’ boy, Dukes of Hazzard style to me — I mean who gets so ticked off at a town they think about blowing the place up when they leave? But seriously, what their statement reveals is the disciples’ inadequate understanding of the kingdom of God. They are still under the impression that Jesus is after world domination. They hope (and think) His kingdom will deliver them from the oppression of the Roman Empire. They are looking forward to ‘ruling the joint’ with Jesus, and they’re all bidding to at least be riding shotgun in the General Lee.
Jesus rebukes them for their suggestion and says, “You don’t have a clue what’s going on in your hearts, guys. I am not here to destroy people — I am here to save people.â€Â We can remember from 2 Peter 3: 8- 9 that God doesn’t desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And we should understand that the Kingdom Jesus came to preach and to live had nothing to do with earthly governance and ‘ruling the joint.’
Our challenge today is to ask God to continually renew our minds. Our generation has a vast amount of information at our fingertips, and some of it is knowledge. Some of it might even include some wisdom. But where knowledge puffs up (and can make us arrogant) love builds up. Without being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and asking God to put His love for others in our hearts, our actions will simply be based on our own reasonings, and will produce fruit contrary to the will of God.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: wrong thinking produces wrong acting. Let God transform you by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12: 2) Hopefully the next time you get ticked off, your prayers won’t head in the direction of blowing stuff up.
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