The Great Irony

By Peter Lundell –

I messed up three times in two days in an area of my expertise, that of making and fixing things. I felt foolish, incompetent, and made no excuse for my errors. But rather than sink into self-condemnation, I talked to God about it. And as I did I grew closer to him. My mistakes and weaknesses magnify my human frailty and lack, as yours probably do to you as well. In a positive view, this enforces humility in me. In turn I crave the embrace of my heavenly Father, who loves me anyway.

Then I reach a profound irony, not unlike the Apostle Paul’s “when I am weak I am strong”: When aware of my human failing, I move closer to God and experience a greater measure of His peace, His power, even His pleasure, than when I am outwardly successful or victorious.

Success is great—I want more of it—yet the other side of the irony is that when I focus on my success or victory, I easily become self-confident. Which is fine, but it diminishes my sense of needing God and drawing close to him. I subtly lose intimacy with God.

The irony is capped with the result that I find myself gravitating toward whatever highlights my shortcomings—not that I try to be an incompetent fool, but that I cultivate a heart and mind to affirm my shortcomings. Doing this is truly better than the self-orientation we as humans gravitate toward if our focus is only on our victories and successes.

I think God lets us fail and struggle because he loves us. He has implanted shortcomings in us to draw us near to him and to receive completeness in him. In his eyes, that is the greatest success, the greatest victory.

“[The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV).

“Lord, I am so imperfect. Open my eyes and heart and mind to always embrace my inadequacies that they would draw me closer to You, that I would always find my completeness and my value in You.”

Which Kingdom Is Important?

By Peter Lundell –

As we think back on the past year and look forward in the next, we may or may not be happy with the state of the nation we live in.

We are naturally concerned about a host of issues: social, moral, spiritual, educational, economic, environmental, military, and more. But societies throughout history have gotten both better and worse just as we see today. The Bible also describes how things will change for the worse in the latter days.

Join me in a reminder that if a person is a believer in Christ, he or she is wise to remember who is on the throne. It is not the president, or any prime minister, governor, or congressman. It’s Jesus.

“And He told Pilate—the highest government official around, who thought he had control over Jesus—‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36), then added, ‘If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’”

Jesus’ intent is not a heaven on earth, but an earth permeated by heaven.

For a true follower of Christ, the ultimate concern is not fixing any earthly country—and they all have problems. Rather we are to live and act as channels through which God’s Kingdom invades earthly ones. He is Lord over the nations, Lord over history.

The less we cheer or fret about things on earth and the more we think and act as believers who love and change others, the better we’ll be at “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Imagine the possibilities. What would they look like in your life?

PRAYER: Lord, let me not succumb to those voices that seem to shout, ‘The sky is falling!’ Let me rather look to You, to Your heart, to what You are doing in the world. And may I be always focus on Your kingdom above all others on earth….

“Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
‘Is that your own idea?’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’
‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’
Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’
‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.
Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’” (John 18:33-37, NIV).

Do You Have a Growth Commitment?

By Peter Lundell –

I often ask people how long their New Year’s resolutions last. Typically they seem to crash and burn sometime by the end of January. So life goes on as it did before.

Positive change must be addressed every day. It happens not by achievement but by habit.

I encourage people to chuck resolutions in favor of what I call “growth commitments” that I establish for each year. I’ve done annual growth commitments since 1986 that have led to major growth and changes in my life, which also makes my wife happy.

Think primarily in terms of personal character growth, not just paying off a credit card or losing weight. Those are fine, but if you relate them to deeper issues of character growth, you’ll go much deeper with the whole commitment and attain more overall results than you would otherwise. Go ahead and have other goals. But if you keep the growth commitment to one main thing, simply expressed, you will do well.

Two keys make it work: 1—Keep it simple and short, then write it on a on a small piece of paper (or PDA), and put it where you’ll see it daily, like on a mirror, in a wallet, as a bookmark, or whatever works for you. 2—Pray it, incorporate it into time you (hopefully) spend with God each day. And do it all year long. When you write it down and keep it where you’ll always see it, you enable yourself to consistently pray it.

Doing this accomplishes two other things: You bring God’s response into it, and you reorient your own thinking around the commitment. Change your thinking and you’ll change your behavior—especially if you seek God’s blessing each day.

What would your 2013 growth commitment be?

“Lord, my life is in Your hands. In this coming year mold me into your image and grow me beyond who I am now….”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:11-13, NIV).

Rain on Me!

By Peter Lundell –

The sky finally dumped rain in Southern California—in October. Through all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen more than spit and drizzle this early in the rainy season. Today it came with thunder and torrential downpour. Kim and I thanked God for it and prayed for more. My daughter texted me with a request for an umbrella.

After a terrible drought across the country in 2012, the Bible would say that the land cries out for rain. A lot of people seem to think that water comes from a faucet and that lawn sprinkler systems somehow produce water out of PVC pipes—and they complain when their picnic or soccer game gets rained on. Others know that without rain we’re in trouble—as people in many parts of the world are.

In the rain I also saw God’s Spirit. And I saw that in the midst of busyness, I have too often relied on the equivalent of faucets and PVC pipes for spiritual vitality. I pray and read the Bible, but I want my soul soaked. I’m thirsty for downpour, for the Spirit of God to pour out on me and my church, and on you too.

Isaiah 44:3 parallels the image of rain with the outpouring of God’s Spirit: “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

Ask Him for that Spirit. It’s life-giving.

I must be honest and ask myself, how badly do I want it? How much will I focus my heart on that? What will I sacrifice for it? God does not take lightly the giving of his Spirit. I invite you to be thirsty with me, not for religion but for God himself.

PRAYER: Lord, pour out Your Spirit on me! Forgive me for times I’ve been like Teflon and not received what You would have given me. I thirst for You. Keep me thirsty.”

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD’; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’S,’ and will take the name Israel” (Isaiah 44:3–5 NIV).

What’s in the Heart?

By Peter Lundell –

A couple of years ago I said the invocation at a city council meeting. After me came the County Tax Assessor, who told us how well our city’s property values had held up during the recession. As he spoke I wished I were so handsome, could exude such confidence, be so successful, speak with such resonance, and be so debonair.

Then I accepted myself for who I am.

But I still thought it would be nice to be like him.

On the way out we greeted and complimented each other. It felt good.

Then a scandal unfolded during a yearlong investigation. Now this same man has been arrested on charges of conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, bribery, and perjury. The district attorney describes the case as the biggest corruption scandal involving a county official in decades.

It leaves me in silence.

I had been so impressed with the outside. But what did I not see? What was covered up that I didn’t even think to question? Not that I, or anyone else could have known, but I was speechless at how captivated I’d been by the appearance, while beneath the surface there allegedly thrived darkness and conniving.

Will I learn from this? I hope so.

First Samuel 16:7 stung me: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” After all my Bible knowledge and life experience, I still looked at the outward appearance. How much more my eyes, my mind, my heart need to grow!

And what of my own life? Am I looking at my own appearance? God doesn’t. He looks at my heart.

Every day we’re surrounded by attitudes and advertisements that focus on appearance. Lies. All lies. Let’s be wise and focus on the heart—both our own and others’.

PRAYER: Lord, keep me wise to look at what You look at, beyond appearances and ways humans try to impress. Keep my eyes on the heart—both other people’s and my own.

“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed stands here before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:6-7 NIV).

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