Visibility

By Robin J. Steinweg –

I can not see the road in front of me. I don’t dare stop the car, or I might get hit from behind. Besides, I can’t even find the shoulder of the road if I wanted to pull over. The wind-hurled snow looks like a scene from a sci-fi movie, where the space ship leaps into hyperspace—white lines are coming at me, or maybe emanating from me—who knows anymore?

My visibility is nearly zero.

It’s dangerous not to have vision while on the road. My car might go too far in either direction; I could collide with another car head-on, or end up sideways in the ditch.

It’s also dangerous not to have spiritual vision. Without it, I have no grounding, no focus, no purpose, no moral compass to keep me from destruction. But with it—with spiritual vision, I have Someone to guide and direct me. Someone who has a plan for my life, who knows what is best for me and what I should avoid.

He can keep me safe, no matter the conditions of the road.

PRAYER: Lord, my vision will be perfect if I keep my eyes on You. If I trust in You, You will direct my path.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18a KJV).

Am I Cain?

By Art Fulks –

In the popular movie, ‘Remember the Titans’, a girl recognized that the relational struggles of our culture were as old as that of Cain and Abel in the first century. How about our struggles in relationship to our God? Have they changed? Have the issues really changed?

In Genesis 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel, each coming to worship, bringing offerings with them. Both came to worship the right God the right way, with the fruits of their work as an offering.

But God only accepted Abel’s offering. For most of my life, I thought it was because he offered an animal. That may be true. But the Hebrew text does not necessarily validate this, and the formal requirement of a blood sacrifice had not yet been given. So why did God accept only one of their offerings?

If both came to worship the right God in the right way, what was missing? The answer may be partly found in Hebrew 11:4, which describes Abel as bringing his offering in faith.

But how did Cain bring his offering? Genesis 4:5-15 gives us insight. When confronted that there was something wrong with his offering, Cain responded in pride with anger, resistence, and hostility toward God. That hostility turned into jealousy and violence toward Abel.

Many of us come to worship the right God. Some of us even come the right way, bringing an offering of the fruit of our labors. But how are our hearts? How is my heart? If we accept that sanctification (becoming more holy) is a process for the believer, then we must know that coming into God’s presence and hearing His Word will consistently confront our sin. But how will we respond?

Our response reveals the condition of our heart. God knows we are not sinless, so His expectation is not that we worship in our perfection. But He does expect us to come with a humble spirit revealing a right heart that desires to be molded into His image for His glory.

The lesson I am learning is how to better evaluate my heart in worship. My heart may be best judged in my attitudes toward others in my family and church. I have found that I can be just like Cain. When I resist God, it is reflected in my words. It is a sure sign of my heart.

So now, my new question each week is: “Am I Cain?”

You’ve Got Mail

By Connie Cavanaugh –

My husband Gerry wakes up happy. He discovered long ago, the best way to stay happy is to be with happy people. He eats breakfast at McDonalds.

However, when we have houseguests, I get up early and make breakfast because I don’t want people to know the truth. I stumble around the kitchen trying to say as little as possible because I don’t trust my tongue until after I’ve had two cups of strong tea.

Several years ago, at the dawning of the Internet Age, Pastor Bob, from Winnipeg, was billeted in our home. Bob bounced into my kitchen with a face-splitting grin early the next day; he obviously loved morning. One look at me should have told Bob I did not share that view.

I was slumped against the cupboard in yesterday’s clothes, waiting for the kettle to boil. Suddenly I remembered that three days earlier I had sworn off caffeine. I moaned.

“Connie!” Bob bellowed, thinking I needed cheering up. “Let’s thank God for this beautiful day!” He yanked open the shades, threw back his head and launched into “You are my suuunshine, my ooonly sunshine. You make me haaappeeeee…” He took a breath.

“Bob! Drop dead.”

Bob’s face went slack; his arms hung limp. Entering the room Gerry quickly assessed the situation and gently piloted me back to bed. He kissed me goodbye, grabbed his packed suitcase and tiptoed out.

“Get your things, we’re going to McDonalds,” I heard before pulling the pillow over my head. Gerry took Bob to the airport after their meetings because he was flying out as well.

Hours later when my head had cleared, I was filled with shame at my rudeness to our dear friend and fellow pastor. Without Gerry to comfort (“Bob’s a pastor. He’s accustomed to abuse”) or advise me (“He’ll have to forgive you or he won’t be able to preach on Sunday”) I fretted. I needed to apologize but dreaded making the call.

It came to me in a flash: “Bob has email!” Never mind that Gerry had repeatedly tried to teach me how to do email to no avail. “How hard can it be?”

Thirty minutes of random clicking amid mounting frustration and up popped an email. With Bob’s name on it! “Thank You Jesus!” Remembering Gerry’s instructions to get right to the point, I hurriedly typed:

Dear Bob,
I must apologize for being so cranky this morning. The way I treated you bothered me all day (especially since Gerry is out of town!). I hope you can forgive me. I should have warned you that whenever I go off caffeine it has a bad effect on my mood. I hope you will stay overnight again.
Still friends?
Connie

“How do I make it go?” I continued clicking until suddenly I saw Bob’s name wing it’s way Winnipeg-ward. “Whew!” My relief was short lived. There was a name behind Bob’s. And another behind that. And another. And another. I backed away in horror realizing I had stumbled into Gerry’s boss’s prayer letter for all the pastors in our denomination and pressed, “reply to all”.

I put on my pajamas, knelt by my bed and rasped: “Dear Jesus. You said You’d return. This would be a really good time.”

He tarried.

The phone awakened me early the next day. The first caller was a pastor on the East coast. It rang all day. Each wanted to let me know he was praying for me. Bob called to forgive me. “It was worth it,” he claimed. “That’s the best laugh I’ve had in years!”

Does God Change?

By Warren Mueller –

I have heard some say that the Christian concept of an unchanging God is not compatible with Biblical teachings. God says clearly in Malachi 3:6 that He does not change. However, God determines to destroy the Israelites for worshipping the golden calf, but relents and seems to change his mind after Moses pleads for them (Exodus 32:7-14). Also, Isaiah tells King Hezekiah that his death is imminent but then he shortly thereafter tells the King that God has heard his prayers and has decided to heal him and give him fifteen additional years (2 Kings 20:1-5). Furthermore, doesn’t the birth of Jesus bring about a change in God because prior to this event, God was not human?

If God does change then He can’t be perfect in knowledge and power. This implies that God is somehow limited because He is learning and changing through new experiences. We are left with a God who is not in perfect control of our world and does not know every event that will occur in the future. This is very different from what the Bible says about God knowing all things and having the power to bring about every detail of His plans according to his will (Is 46:10; John 21:17; Hebrews 4:13; Rev 19:6).

So how can these apparent conflicting verses and concepts be reconciled? I believe that those verses where God appears to change his mind in response to something that man does—such as the pleading of Moses or the prayers of Hezekiah—do not represent a true change in God’s plans. If God knows all things, then He knows ultimately what will happen in every situation. In the case of Moses, He knows that He will not destroy the Israelites but tells Moses He intends to in order to reveal His holiness and intolerance to sin. He desires to have a relationship with Moses and so interacts with him to show His love and merciful characteristics.

Humans exist in a linear dimension of time so our understanding of events is sequential. However, God is eternal and His existence is not bound by time. God may exist in a time dimension that is a plane instead of a straight line. If this is true, then He sees the timeline of this world without being bound to it.

Finally, the Bible gives insights into why the birth of Jesus does not equate to a change in the experience and knowledge of God. First, Jesus appeared to various people in the Old Testament as a flesh and bones or pre-incarnate human (Gen 18:1-7; Judges 6:11-22). Also, man is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Therefore, man resembles God in that some of the attributes of God are embodied in mankind. Thus, the birth of Jesus does not represent a change in the attributes or experience of God.

God obviously has many more and perfect attributes than does man. What is amazing is that those who are reconciled to God through Jesus will be given even more of God’s attributes and become even more like him.

“The Lord Jesus Christ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Phil 3:20-21).

Out Of … Into

By Rosemary Flaaten –

Entering the air conditioned building, I left the mugginess of topical humidity. It was a relief to get out of the oppressive heat and go into the refreshing and revitalizing cool environment. When we leave something restrictive and enter something free and life giving, our mind and body breathes a sigh of relief.

In the Old Testament, God brought the Israelites out of the slavery they were enduring in Egypt and brought them into His promised land of bounty and freedom. Moses reminds the people that “God pulled us out of there (Egypt) so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors” (Deuteronomy 6:23 TM). Similarly, God provides this opportunity for each of us by accepting the new life Jesus offers. When we leave our life of sin, we enter the full life He has promised.

In pondering this reality, I started a list of what I have come out of by entering into this relationship with Jesus:
 self-protection that hides
 fear
 sporadic obedience
 independence that hinders relationships with God and others
 a less than truthful existence
 a desire to gratify myself with lesser gods, including excessive food, accomplishments, status
 the tyranny of sin
 and the list goes on…

Whenever we go out of a place, the obvious is that we then enter into something else. So if the previous list represents what I have left behind, here is the companion list of what I have entered into, through Christ:
 absorption of God’s love
 experiencing unexplainable grace
 faithfulness
 an open spacious life
 interdependence on others
 the paradox of a full dependence on God that brings freedom
 and the list goes on…

Those are quite the comparative lists! Why would I desire to stay or return to the first list when I have such a compelling and amazing life offered through Christ? The promised land awaits.

Quote: “Never under-estimate the energy of unholiness in the human heart.” Larry Crabb

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13 -14 NIV).

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