Worthy Lives

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  

Ephesians 4:1-3

Noah wasn’t the longest-living person mentioned in Scripture, but he came close.  Chapter 9 of Genesis ends with the death of Noah at age 950.  According to Genesis 5 Methuselah lived to be 969.  Compared to those guys, at 76 I’m just barely out of the cradle!  I don’t expect to live as long as either of them…at least not in this body!  When my doctor implanted a pacemaker in my chest a year and a half ago the battery only had a life-expectancy of 7 years.  Batteries can be replaced…and I’m counting on that…but our human body parts are not like the Energizer Bunny…we will not keep going, and going, and going. 

An uncomfortable and worrisome point of that fact is that we’re all marching towards the grave.  And the question turns sullen and weepy if you dwell-on it for more than a passing thought.  I’ve known more than a few undertaker professionals, and they don’t get invited to too many parties.

I’ve written before[1] about old brooms and their worth in serving, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s usesless to attempt measuring the worth of an instrument by the amount of time it lasts.  Merely “lasting” is not why we’re born.  A new broom that is stood in the corner of the closet, and seldom taken-out to sweep the floor, remains unfamiliar with the harder work of getting into the corner places.  It may last for generations under those conditions, but never improve the view of a room.  It may be a good broom to look at, but its measure is thin, compared to the purpose for which it was created.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:

  The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.  We’re talking about sweeping the corners!

The fact about old brooms (as well as old men) is that they look worn out, and they really are worn-out.  But, if they’ve lived a worthy life, they know the corners; they know those tough spots, and uncomfortable truths that tend to shape a life for good or bad.  That suggests an old broom has learned the value of sustainability with usefulness, and wastes little energy and resources on that which is passing.  In a life well-lived…a worthy life of sacrificial serving…there is little time for the news cycle, that 15 minutes of fame and attention which will pass like a wisp of smoke on a foggy morning. 

For You Today 

At any age, any stage of life, you are part of that life which is both passing away and eternal.  Do not waste this moment, this day, or this life (or the next) by anything less than walking worthy of that to which God has called you.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] See:  Worn-Out or Broken-In and Old Brooms & Common Sense

 

Holy Ground

Friday, May 5, 2023

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian.  He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.  Moses stared in amazement.  Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.  “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.  “Why isn’t that bush burning up?  I must go see it.”  When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  “Here I am!” Moses replied.  “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned.  “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.  Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers.  Yes, I am aware of their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land.  It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.  Look!  The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them.  Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”  But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?  Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”  God answered, “I will be with you.  And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”  Exodus 3:1-12

Moses is both a much-revered and enigmatic part of God’s revelation to us.  Born the son of an enslaved Hebrew couple, destined to die in a political power move, his mother put him in a basket made of reeds, and set him adrift near the palace of their oppressor.  The Pharaoh’s daughter rescued the baby and raised him in the palace as her own.  By the time Moses is 40, he discovers his heritage, Jew, not Egyptian.  He gets himself banished from Pharaoh’s good favor when he kills an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Jew.  Forty years later, as a humble shepherd, minding the sheep of his father-in-law in the Midian desert, the back side of nowhere, Moses meets God.  The man whose life could have easily been snuffed-out (more than once) by the king of Egypt, yet bravely defied him to defend the very people Pharaoh had enslaved, is now humbled by a burning bush, and a disembodied voice, claiming to be God. 

Another forty years passes in the miracle of the birth of a newly-freed nation, and the subsequent divine hand of God leading them through crises and victories.  In all, Moses kept his eye on the goal…bringing God’s chosen to a place of worship.  God had made it plain:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.

For You Today 

Moses, the man, the hero, understood his job was not to be a hero, but a tool in the hand of God, to bless the nations of God’s creation.  His earlier quest to know God led to an opportunity to serve God, and Moses surrendered his life in that service to honor the God who inhabits holy ground.

So, here’s a thought to grapple with today:

What would YOUR burning bush look like?

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Is That Enough?  and  Just When...   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Holy Ground

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Monday, February 24, 2020

“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them.  Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’  Acts 7:30-34[1]

“Forty years later…” that sounds about right.  When a story picks up in the middle some background perspective ought not be ignored; otherwise you can miss the point.  Forty years earlier Moses had escaped Egypt with his pinfeathers on fire.  Although his motive had been godly and well-intentioned, he’d overstepped his authority and was guilty of murder.  Banished from the place he’d grown up, Moses wandered into Midian, and became a nobody (instead of the important somebody he’d been). 

Moses was forty when he left Egypt as a convicted felon.  He crossed the desert fighting snakes and scorpions all the way until he arrived at Midian and became a sheep herder just to earn a living.  For the forty years of today’s text, Moses had become a husband, father, and trusted shepherd in the back country of nowhere.

When you’re young and full of dreams, ready to change the world, the dreams sometimes take a detour.  That doesn’t mean God is done with you; it means the dreams you thought were plans were only the beginning of what God’s been up to in your development.  Moses wanted to see his people (the Israelites he’d only recently discovered were his people) experience the freedom their God-given heritage promised.  He wanted to see injustice and hatred cease.  He wanted the bondage gone.  But, by the time the next forty years went by…far from Egypt’s epicenter of world events, Moses figured his day had come and gone. 

Cue the burning bush catching the eye of the adopted son of Pharaoh (now demoted to lowly shepherd) who’s wondering if he’s going crazy in the noonday heat; when does a bush burn, and never run out of branches to fuel the fire?

I can imagine Moses had built quite a comfortable life for himself, and now, at 80 he’s thinking retirement, and letting the kids take over the flocks.  But what was he really thinking…deep, down on the inside of his soul, when that voice spoke his name, telling him to slip off his sandals and get ready for the dream/reality of setting the people free?  We know he offered some excuses…I’m too old…I don’t talk so well…they wouldn’t listen…and probably more.  But what was he really thinking on the inside?  Doubt?  Fear?  Too tired?  Hey…I tried this once before and look what it got me…no…I can’t do this anymore.

Sound familiar?

I believe we humans too-often get gun-shy when it comes to stepping-out.  Particularly with age and the diminishing strength and stamina we feel.  On top of that physical reality looms the culture in which we live, extolling everything about being young, looking young, and how old is something to be avoided; the message is that young is where it’s at, and old is done.

But, is it really?  Over the next 40 years Moses became the mightiest leader the world has ever known.  And even then….

Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.  Deuteronomy 34:7

For You Today

Moses has been described as someone who had been a somebody but had to learn how to be a nobody before he was ready for the dream.  Where are you in that process?

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

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[1] For another post on Moses at the Burning Bush see Battling the Dark 

When Depression Reigns

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Friday, June 28, 2019

I cry out to God; yes, I shout.  Oh, that God would listen to me!  When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord.  All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.  They are constantly in my thoughts.  I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.  O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.    Interlude

When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled!  The sea quaked to its very depths.  The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky.  Your arrows of lightning flashed.  Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world!  The earth trembled and shook.  Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!   You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.  Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

If I sent you an invitation to a party you’d want to know what it’s about.  

If I just came right out and asked you to come to my pity-party you would more than likely have somewhere else to be….anywhere else!  Let’s face it, when depression hits, it hits hard, takes over the playground, and is the guest least likely to get the hint that it’s time to go home. 

Depression stinks!  And I can think of no person on earth more likely to be depressed than the believer who prays and hears a resounding silence from heaven.  In this Psalm Asaph wrote that he prayed all night long.  Most of us will give 5 minutes to prayer…10 if we’re hurting, and even 15 if life is falling apart.  But this guy prayed all night long.  It’s depressing to be in deep trouble; it’s a crisis of faith to be in that deep and have heaven go silent on you.

Now, if you’re there, depressed and wishing, crying out like Dives in Hell for the relief of just a drop of cool water on your tongue, but all the answers to your prayers taste like more hot sand…today’s message is for you.

Re-read this Psalm…see how Asaph’s mind replayed the video of God’s rescue of his ancestor slave nation, Israel in the desert.  Remember with the Psalmist how the Red Sea trembled, and then got out of the way so God’s kids could walk on dry land to safety.  Let your thoughts wander in God for awhile without praying…just remembering…that He is in the business of caring for you as much as He loved them.

In the middle of severe depression Asaph’s heart was not comforted; as he gave-in to thinking of God’s rescuing hand, and the loving care of the Father who never fails, his whole heart became filled with the comfort of faith.

Most pastors I know are pretty good at spotting depressed people.  That’s because many pastors are themselves plagued with that loneliness of soul.  It’s something of an occupational reality; most times of pastoral counseling involve someone who’s troubled and needs an ear.  If you live with other peoples’ difficulties, questions, valleys of despair, and crises of faith, you are going to find that rut sooner or later, the one with the shadow of death hanging over your head.

For You Today

So, again, if this is you, and your name is Asaph today, and maybe for the last number of weeks, months or decades, listen up…seek out a pastor; our ears are used to it, and we are like the beggars who’ve found bread…we’ll share it with you, pray with you, and, if necessary just ride it out with you. 

These times of trouble have a reason; you may not understand it for a good while. But taking a lesson from Asaph can kickstart your journey into discovering God’s answers.  And it’s better than coming to someone else’s pity-party.

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©

Life Under the Sun

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Thursday, January 10, 2019

These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.  “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”  What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?  Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.  The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.  The wind blows south, and then turns north.  Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.  Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full.  Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.  Everything is wearisome beyond description.  No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied.  No matter how much we hear, we are not content.  History merely repeats itself.  It has all been done before.  Nothing under the sun is truly new.  Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!”  But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.  We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.  Ecclesiastes 1:1-11(NLT)

No matter how many times I read Solomon’s words I cannot shake off thinking he had to have spent time on a psychiatric ward due to extreme depression.  These are words for a deep blue Monday.  We are 10 days into a NEW year and the lectionary comes up with the text that says it out-loud and very plain:  THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN! 

Ok…it’s confession time:  Sometimes I just want to close the Bible and go back to bed.  But, just like life, we don’t get to do that; we breathe in and out, we get up, we go on, we keep searching for meaning while we wash the dishes and listen to the old dog snoring over by the treadmill (the one I haven’t used in 3 months).

Part of the meaning for which we’re mining during these 24 hours until the sun hurries back around, is an answer to that question:  why?  Frankly, we get tired of the next sentence, because, at the deep base of our souls we suspect that the only answer we’ll get includes something about God knowing, and we don’t, and can’t.  Yet, we keep on looking.  We look into the bottom of a bottle, drug vial, or the next party.  Solomon did just that, and concluded where he began, that all that searching is meaningless!

And so, (with apologies to Rafiki) the circle of life comes back around again, and we find ourselves once again at the starting line, a bit older, but no closer to having the answers in hand.  

We feel like Bill Murray’s character, Phil Connors in the movie Groundhog Day[2].  Connors, a TV weatherman, arrives in Punxsutawney, PA to cover the day’s events.  Taking a room at the local bed & breakfast, Phil awakens the next morning to the clock/radio belting out Sonny and Cher’s I Got You, Babe.  Everything moves along during the day, and Connors spends another night at the B&B, awakening in the morning to Sonny and Cher, and the day repeats itself…exactly!  Phil is stuck in a loop that goes on for days – groundhog ceremony, breakfast, conversations, bed, sleep, and then Sonny & Cher…over and over again!  No matter how much Phil Connors scrambles, he can’t make anything new or different happen – the wheel turns, and it’s back to Sonny & Cher.

Now, in case you’re already depressed enough by what you’ve heard/read to go join Solomon on the shrink’s couch, hold on just a second; there really is some redeeming purpose in all this treadmill trudging.  Dig into the New Testament with me for just one game-changing word:

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”  Revelation 21:5(NLT)

“New” is translated with several different meanings in Scripture.  This kind of “new” is new in kind, a transformed, changed world, re-formed by the hand of God.  In one sense it is still the world, the earth, the universe God created ages ago.  In another sense it is all new; it is new in purpose, purity, reason, fellowship, relationship.  Everything changes because God’s hand puts everything in a new perspective.

My bride just finished seeing the eye surgeon; both eyes had the cataracts removed, and I hear a new thing in our home:  the colors!  Oh, the colors!  Elizabeth is looking at the same rug we’ve had in front of our couch for 18 years, but now it is defined, brighter, it has been renewed in her mind. 

Like that, but not so trivial and insignificant as an old rug, is the kind of new sight with which we’ll see when God puts meaning into all that is around us.

For You Today

I have heard from many older people, especially in places like Hospice, that I should treasure each moment because it goes quickly in this fleeting thing we call our life.  Now I can add to it:  treasure each moment, experience, relationship, and thought, because not only is time fleeting, but everything and every person is a part of the meaning you will take with you through eternity.  And God will open your understanding to all of it.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

[2] Condensed information & image from Wikimedia Commons

Overcome Evil with Good - Series #2. Be Humble Like a Worm

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Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.  Romans 12:21(NLT)

We found last week that God expects us to submit our bodies to Him.  And it’s evident that doesn’t mean we climb up on an altar and wait for the guy with the knife.  It’s a heart-kind of submission; we become ready to live sacrificially, rejecting the way of this world’s system which puts self-first.  Instead, we put the needs of others (which are the needs of the Kingdom) ahead of our own plans.  In serving this way the Kingdom of God is served, and the bonus is we are transformed into God’s children who have renewed/changed minds.  Paul says we are being made into the image of Christ.

Now, that’s wonderful, but it is just the beginning stages of what God has for us.  It’s like graduating from Middle School; at that point you’re just learning how to learn. 

So, Paul takes us a step farther into becoming true, mature disciples with the word because.  He says:  Because your minds have been transformed it now makes sense to do these other things … and then he gives us the HOW of using those transformed minds to be a bigger blessing than we can imagine. 

He teaches us how to be worms.

Worms?  Really?  Yup!

I.       Paul says BE HUMBLE Worms

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning:  Don’t think you are better than you really are.  Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body.  We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.   Romans 12:3-5(NLT)

The Apostle wants us to keep our heads from swelling.  Like the worms who eat the dust of the earth, we were taken from that dust; so bragging is not an option. 

Honestly evaluating who we are, means simply keeping in mind that God is God, and we are not.  Paul reminds us that we are all part of each other, so we should respect the worm-ness of our fellow dust dwellers! 

Then Paul gives us a vivid picture of what (Who) all the worms in Christ’s church represent:  we are the Body of Christ.  It takes only a little leap to start figuring-out the deep responsibility that covers us when we take that seriously.  It means we look out for more than #1.  The entire body is important.

I had a dear friend named Jerry many years ago who was fond of saying:  When one part of the body hurts, we all bleed; when one part of the body is tickled, we all laugh.

Of course, that’s my friend’s way of quoting a verse we’ll encounter next month in this series:

Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.  Romans 12:15(NLT)

But at the base, what the Apostle is getting at here is that we are a worm-gathering.  And that’s not just the church – it’s all of God’s creation. 

Diversity is a buzz-word used a lot these days.  While I know what the culture means when it is used, my definition goes light years beyond the surface of our culture.  True diversity has very little to do with race, gender, color, ancestry, social status, tolerance, or sexuality preferences; we are ALL worms!  And when it comes to what God has given us to do on this planet, our physiological differences should not determine our worth.  God has made red, black, yellow, and white worms; but He has given us all the task of eating the dust. 

Now, in case you missed the metaphor; eating the dust is what worms do.  They do it naturally because they are worms.  That’s their God-given purpose.  In doing what comes naturally (for worms) they create a soil, packed with the kinds of nutrients that will grow wonderful crops. 

Back on the human side of this metaphor, the soil that God has given us to fertilize is our culture.  We worms are to be about the larger business of creating an atmosphere of Godly soil for the world, so that fruit may come from that ground.

Eastern and Mid-Eastern cultures spend a lot of time bowing to one another.  It is a show of respect and personal humility.  Now, when it is not genuine, just a reflex born of habit, or a formality to get past – then it’s not humility; then it borders on contempt. 

For a Christian disciple of Jesus’ family, we can do the same thing – lots of talk about Christian values, beliefs, convictions and deeds … but if there is no contribution to the life of the body, there is no genuine humility.

Only that which is done in true humility builds the body of Christ, or the world that God loves, and wants us to reach.  So, be humble, worms!

II.   Paul says BE USEFUL Worms

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.  If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.  Romans 12:6-8(NLT)

Paul doesn’t waste a whole lot of time on amenities; he cuts right to the important issues.  He says, if God has gifted you this way … get busy!  Use that gift!  And use it to the very limit.

Notice the adverbs:

·      Prophesy with faith

·      Serve well

·      Teach well

·      Encourage personally (be an encourager)

·      Give generously

·      Lead seriously

·      Show kindness gladly.

Do you get the idea it’s just as important HOW you use your gift, as just the base fact that you do use your gift?

Does it not make sense then, that everything we do to be useful in the Kingdom must be done with excellence and to the utmost of our ability and strength?

This is the working-out of what Jesus called our response to the first commandment to love God with all our strength, all our mind, and all our soul.  Worms know how to do that.  God created them to eat dust and make fertilizer.  They eat, and it passes through their entire body, and they leave behind a wake of fertilized soil.  A Christian disciple should be about the same thing. 

I have many people who encourage me in what I do.  But two, in particular, are masters at it.  One is my brother’s sister-in-law, Anne.  Anne is my Barnabas that lives in Waynesville, near Lake Junaluska.  She reads my devotional every day and the sermons I preach.  With just about every one I send out I can expect an email back from Anne, with encouraging words how it helped in this way or that.  God has used her to lift my spirit and illumine my pathway on so many occasions I can’t begin to list them all.

A second encourager is my bride, Elizabeth.  She sees me at my best, and she knows me at my worst.  And in every moment, whether I’m mowing the yard, digging a hole, making a pastoral visit, preaching, or just paying the bills, she believes in me. 

I can’t tell you all that entails, but I can tell you I’m encouraged when I’m around either of these sisters in Christ.  It’s like they’re eating the dust all around me and leaving a trail of encouragement wherever they go!

If you want to overcome some of the evil of this age, get busy putting the good gift God placed within you to work eating some of the humble dust of those who need your gift of encouragement, or teaching, or serving, or giving … whatever He created you to be, be like a worm – humble and busy; turn the soil around you into a fertile field!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Let the church say “Amen”!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com