Fruit of the Spirit - Part 8 SELF-CONTROL

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Thursday, May 30, 2019

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Galatians 5:22-23

I have learned to pay attention to Grandma.  Now, that certainly applies to the Grandma I live with, but it also reveres the tons of wisdom that flow from Grandma’s hearts everywhere.  My Mother’s Mom, Grandma Carrie, had a favorite expression that Solomon would’ve loved:  Enough is too much!

Over the years I have learned to decode this piece of wisdom that corresponds so well to the Godly advice of Scripture.  Now, it seems a contradiction that having enough isn’t right, but Grandma said it was too much.  The arguable point here is that our natural appetites for anything we like will always take us over the top if we get what we want. 

Consider Solomon’s advice on the matter:

Do you like honey?  Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!  

Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

Proverbs 25:16-17

Does that sound like Grandma to you?  Who can argue against those warnings?  My Dad would shout a loud “amen” here, especially to that honey thing.  During the Great Depression my Dad was a teenager.  His parent’s home was an apartment in New York, on the second floor, right over a neighborhood delicatessen.  The owner took a liking to my Dad, and every day handed him several samples of cheeses when he was coming or going. 

It was great, free cheese!  But after six months of the fabulous cheese giveaways enough became too much!  To the day he died my dad couldn’t be comfortable in the same room with cheese!

This brings us to the spiritual warning of too much cheese or anything else for which we would sacrifice moderation:

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Proverbs 25:28

The obvious reference here is a city or nation that lets its guard down becoming easy prey for the enemy.  If you’re going to remain free, the cost is to remain vigilant.  That means more than being tough to keep the bad guys out of your business, it also means taking care to guard your appetite for too much of any good thing, because it will make you easy prey for the chief enemy:

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

This advice from Grandma Carrie (by way of Solomon) about enough being too much is proved out in Scripture, even in Satan’s life.  Ultimately, his over-the-top appetite for “devouring” the spiritual life of God’s children will be his enough undoing.  That war against God that he loves so much will be his too much!

For You Today

Like a city without walls is hard to defend, so is your spirit without self-control.  So, pay careful attention to developing moderation and self-denial; you either rule your spirit or lose it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com  
             Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

View From the Balcony

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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

“Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that.  But I’ll tell you whom to fear.  Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell.  Yes, he’s the one to fear.  Luke 12:4-5

Getting something right is important; it’s usually not everything, but nonetheless an important consideration.  If you’re an astronaut, you’re very concerned that the folks back at NASA calculated your re-entry angle correctly; otherwise at the critical moment the shuttle in which you’re riding will skip-off earth’s atmosphere and you’ll spend the next millennia bouncing off moons and asteroids!  If you’re a politician, you can’t get anything done for your constituents if you don’t get the election thing right.  And in relationships there are times to speak, and there are times to zip your mouth under lock and key!  Some things just need to be right!

In the interest of getting it right about respect (what and to whom respect is due), I want to suggest that something this important requires a balcony view.  That is to say, if you don’t understand your place and how you got there, you’ll never understand how to respect the meaning of, or purpose in your life.

Jesus made it very plain about respect to the Pharisee who asked:

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:36-40

So, everyone is due respect.  But, who is at the head of that list?  The answer to that is really very simple; it is the one who holds the most power.  If we ever expect to get it right in life about to whom we give our most serious attention, it will be when we finally come to this most important understanding:

God is God, and we are not!

For You Today

There are plenty of people calling your name; One is a special voice, and He is the one you should fear.  Step back from life’s stage; get up on the balcony and look at it all.  Keep quiet for as long as it takes to hear that still, small voice. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Seeing Clearly

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Thursday, December 6, 2018

And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.  For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.  And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.  It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry.  But others preach about Christ with pure motives.  They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News.  Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.  But that doesn’t matter.  Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.  And I will continue to rejoice.  Philippians 1:12-18(NLT)

The first time I suspected glasses might be a good thing was in high school.  I was playing third base.  The runner from second, and the baseball, thrown from the other side of the field to get the runner out, were headed my way…both at top speed!  Clearly, something was wrong, because, instead of hitting my glove so I could tag the runner out, the ball whizzed past me, between my glove and left ear; I never saw it – but I did hear it!  A bit closer and we might not be having this conversation.

When Saul had his name changed to Paul, and his occupation from persecutor of the church to preacher of the Gospel there was a brief period of complete blindness.  Jesus had blinded the soon-to-be Apostle to get his attention.  That stuck better than my attempt to catch a baseball! 

Saul’s eyes were closed, but Paul had his opened on a brand-new view from the balcony.  For the first time he saw the big picture, and God continued opening his view all along the way from simple Gospel proclaimer, to church planter, missionary, defender of, and prisoner for the faith, and, finally, martyr. 

It takes seeing clearly to live a life of faith like that!

That old saying about being too close to the forest to see the trees applies here.  Saul was hip-deep in the alligators of persecuting the church, imprisoning believers, and even having some put to death[2], so he never had a clear view of God’s purposes.  When knocked to his knees with the blinding light of Christ’s presence, everything changed.

As a high schooler I had my eyes opened (literally) by a whizzing baseball too close for comfort, and later accepting the plain fact that I needed an assist with my vision.  Later, like Saul/Paul (but with a lot less drama) I had my eyes opened to a larger purpose for my life, of preaching and teaching God’s Word.

Fast forward about 30 years; he who was the newly-ordained Apostle Paul, surrounded by miracles, messenger of the Gospel, is now a diminutive, vision-impaired and battle-worn, chained prisoner of an old man in a cold Roman jail cell, awaiting execution.  And the dead-man walking is sitting, writing letters to his friends at Philippi, Ephesus, and around the world.  And he’s REJOICING!  What is up with that? 

Pretty simple answer:  God’s clear vision had given Paul a view from the balcony.  He was able to step back from the forest of his life’s pain, and see the trees clearly, how God was in everything that happened to him.  In Paul’s heart there was a stirring, motivation to see the Gospel of salvation proclaimed to the world.  He had a purpose, and it had gripped him so securely little else mattered.  Even when people couldn’t stand him and preached the Gospel just to stir-up the Roman authorities to make Paul’s life more miserable than it already was, Paul rejoiced. 

Paul wasn’t a pain-junkie, or a suicide bomber for the faith; he had hopes and dreams for the future, friends that were more like family, and relationships that made life worth living.  But he was ready to give everything up for the success of the Gospel which had been entrusted to him that day on the Damascus Road when the fastball of blindness whizzed past Saul’s ear and awakened Paul to new life.

For me it was a close call with a baseball that awakened a need for clearer physical vision.  And some other close-calls awakened my need for deeper spiritual vision, the kind that helps shape a greater purpose in life, a Godly purpose. 

For You Today

Have you had a Damascus Road, or a whizzing fastball moment where you finally recognized there really is a higher purpose than just going to work, school, or cutting the grass?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Acts 9

When Your Dog Just Won't Hunt Anymore

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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel.  As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs.  I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.  And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.  The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so.  For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.  “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.  I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’  “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.  “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’  The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.  “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’  “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’  “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.  A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.  He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’  And that very moment I could see him!  “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.  For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.  What are you waiting for?  Get up and be baptized.  Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’  Acts 22:3-16^(NLT)

Saul thought he had it all going in the right direction; he was wrong.  As the chief persecutor of Jesus’ followers he was simply following the established tradition of two thousand years of Abraham’s tribe.  Outsiders were only welcome if they worshipped like Saul had learned to do at the feet of Gamaliel.  You have to follow the rules!

But then Jesus appeared in a blinding light on the Damascus Road and sent Saul’s life spinning and crashing in a completely different direction.  Meeting God face to face will do that!  Saul got up from that meeting with a new name (Paul), and a new direction; the chief persecutor of Jesus became His most ardent and effective missionary.  Paul went from being a go-along, up-and-coming star in the ranks of the system, to a thorn in the side of the establishment.  In a few years Paul’s resume’ included turning the theological world on its ear:

Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.  Acts 17:6b^(NLT)

It’s a somewhat easy life if you simply bow to tradition.  All the thinking has been done by smart people, and it’s in writing…all you have to do is follow that yellow brick road, and you’ll be safe.  The problem with that is God does not call us to live a safe, easy life; God calls for disciples who will be courageous, willing to die to self so the world will always be confronted with the difference between dying in a worldly established system and living victoriously in God’s Kingdom of Christ. 

And that’s the rub for me; I hate confrontation with a passion.  But that is exactly what Christ calls us to be for him, confronters of sin, hatred, greed, and wherever the oppression of evil rears its head.  To paraphrase Kermit the Frog who said it isn’t easy being green…frankly, it ain’t easy being His sometimes.

For You Today

If you hate confrontation as much as I do, but you love Christ and want to serve Him, buckle-up; it’s going to be a long, bumpy ride, because learning to serve a God who confronts evil will never happen in the schoolhouse of your comfort zone!  That dog never did hunt!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com

The Straight and Narrow Road

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Tuesday, July 19, 2016

But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.   Matthew 7:14^(NLT)

Continuing with our journal from a short mission trip to South Africa:

Zimbabwe Journal, Sunday, October 7, 2007

“The ride into Victoria Falls was uneventful.  Our Driver, Rob, is a free-lance tour guide who is going to ferry us back & forth.  He is from England, but now makes his home in Harare.

The uneventful drive was not without impact on me.  The road, paved but narrow (by U.S. standards) was called the wide hard road.  It was cut through a forest of bare-limbed trees.  There was little underbrush and you could see clearly through to crudely constructed huts.  The shanty-kind of homes widely spaced-out, were made of small, rough-cut branches and small tree trunks.

The impact on my heart, however, was not because of the landscape, but the many people walking along the road.  In America we drive everywhere and struggle to heave our bloated, unexercised bodies into a luxury SUV.  Here they walk everywhere and carry all their worldly goods on strong, but undernourished arms and shoulders.

As we passed many hundreds of these African people I began to sense a foreboding of what the week will offer – heartbreak!

It was particularly difficult to see the children with a stick and tumble-weed kind of ball as their entertainment.  They had smiles on their faces; they were laughing and running.  How different from many American youth who rarely run, and whose laughter is reserved for winning a video game or getting an updated electronic toy.

Certainly our cultural differences are going to be a vivid reminder to me of how materialism has distorted a sense of proportion in me – I felt a sense of guilt and shame for how much I possess compared to these people.

It seems theirs is such a bare life – as bare as most of the trees – dull, dusty, and hot.  Yet the interaction of these people is vibrant and engaged with each other. 

Even now on Sunday morning as I sit outside in the cool dampness, I hear our host, Gertie, barking out orders to the two young men who work for her in the lodge.  She barks; they respond.  And the talk is animated and anything but dull!

And I sit here wondering why I miss watching the news on CNN.

There are some times when a harsh dose of reality is a good thing.  It was that way for me on this short term mission trip.  I saw their lives, uncomplicated and unprotected, fragile at the points at which I never worry – today’s food, a repressive government that is corrupt, and primitive conditions that made me want to help, but, in the recesses of my mind, never out of reach the coming trip home in a few days to a life of abundance, of which most of these people, God’s children, my brothers and sisters in the human race, can only dream.

The difficult and narrow road isn’t an African bush kind of road, with little luxury or meager food provisions; rather it is a life of obedience and self-denial in the face of abundance.

For You Today

The road gets a lot easier for those with much; is that the way God planned it?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Title Images: Russell Brownworth (own work)

Follow Me

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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

For VIDEO of this devotion go HERE

As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival.  But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem.  When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them.  So they went on to another village.  As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”  He said to another person, “Come, follow me.”  The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”  But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead!  Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.”  Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”  But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”  Luke 9:51-62 (NLT)

Did you ever notice how easy it is to get on somebody’s list….and how agonizingly-hard it can be to get off?  Jesus said follow me to lots of folk; but he didn’t make it easy to join the band; he wanted them to have their eyes wide-open about the cost of following.

There are three primary costs of following Jesus in this text:

      

      1.     Sometimes you must forbear

James and John wanted to call down judgment on the rude Samaritans.  Jesus rebuked them; it wasn’t their job to judge, even in the face of injustice and unfair evil attacks.

We watched “Selma” last week; Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to non-violent resistance of oppression was the epitome of what Jesus wanted in disciples.  James and John had a long way to go.

      2.     Sometimes you must forego

One person offered to follow Jesus in whatever direction, and to whatever length the journey took him.  Jesus said, really?  Then he laid-out the retirement plan – zero!  There would be no assurance of even a place to lie down and rest. 

Are you sure you want to follow?

      3.     Sometimes you must forge-on

The last two people in our text wanted to take care of family responsibilities first – then follow Jesus anywhere.  Jesus said, if that’s how you organize your priorities you’re not ready to follow ME.

The point is not that Jesus doesn’t value family – there’s too much Scriptural evidence otherwise.  The point is that sometimes family expectations and tradition will make it hard to keep your eye on the goal of serving the Kingdom.  And sometimes your family will just, plain, not understand.

At such times you’ve got to know that when all else is weighed – family responsibilities, cultural expectations, injustice and the cries of whatever crowd the crowd is following these days – at the end of the day, if you’re following Jesus, you’re going to have to follow Jesus.  You must forge-on.

For You Today

Is there anything that wants to take Jesus’ place?

Let the dead bury the dead…follow Christ; but do it with eyes wide-open.  It won’t be easy, and you will get tired, hungry, overstressed and underappreciated. 

Sounds like there are crosses in your future!

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[1] Title image:  By Keven Law from Los Angeles, USA, via Wikimedia Commons