On Presidents and Precedents

It's an important day.

No matter your political affiliation, who you voted for, or what you think is going to happen, today is an important day. Today we get a new president. Take a deep breath. It'll be OK.

It'll be OK because God is still God, we are still under Him, and He will not abandon those who love Him (Deuteronomy 31:6). There are many precedents for our President, but there is no precedent for our God. He stands alone.

Some precedents are good, others--not so much.

Wherever you look, rulers have examples to follow; some are good, others are not. Whether it be a king or queen, a president or prime minister, a dictator or a mayor, there have been good ones and bad ones. Often, people didn't (and don't) know what they've got until they get it, and sometimes not even then. Power can do funny things; it makes some greater, and destroys others. In some it brings out the best, others the worst. Power can corrupt, but it doesn't have to.

The precedents we have of God are not like that. While we may not understand what God does, we know and believe that He works out all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). God is good, all the time. That's the precedent we have to lean on, hold to, and hope in.

I don't know what President Donald Trump will be like. Looking at what we know, there are some promising precedents in his history, and some scary ones as well. I do not, however, put my hope in Donald J. Trump. I put my hope in Almighty God. I know Trump could let me down. I know God never will.

God never has failed me. Not once. He's not always delivered what I wanted, when I wanted, or how I wanted, but He's always done what is best. I believe that. The precedents of men are that they have, and will, fall. The precedent of God is that He has always stood firm in truth, in faith, in love. God's rule is true and eternal. Man's, whoever the man is, is fleeting and limited. Those precedents will never change.

Sometimes we get what we ask for.

And sometimes we don't have because we don't ask, or we ask with the wrong motives (James 4:2-3). That's another precedent, in case you didn't notice. Sometimes God's people don't get what they want because they don't ask God, or ask in the wrong way. Want the President to succeed? Ask God. Ask Him to make Trump a good president, one with strong morals and sure justice, a man after God's heart. Ask not for yourself, but for God. Ask that Trump would do God's work in God's way. It's not us who matter--it's God. Don't forget that.

Sometimes we get what we ask for, and then realize it's not what we really wanted. Are you tempted to pray for the President's failure? Be careful what you ask for. What if God gives it to you? Is it really what you want? Don't kid yourself--prayers are powerful. God answers prayers. That's a precedent we need to be very aware of.

If we are in God's will and pray, He will listen. He will hear us. He will answer. The prayers of a righteous person are powerful (James 5:16). Use that power. Pray for our leaders (I Timothy 2:1-2). How about we set a precedent and pray for our president, whoever it may be? That's a precedent worth setting!

It's an important day.

It may change our country and even the world.

It is also the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it (Psalm 118:24).

That's a precedent that could change our lives.

When God Calls

Has God ever called you?

Wouldn't it be something to get a call from God? Even a text would be pretty cool, and helpful at times. You know, when there's something you really want to know, or an answer to a prayer you've sent God's way. His response would never be, "IDK," or "TMI." It'd be just what we needed, just when we needed it.

God's never texted me, though, and I doubt He's texted any of you either. And a phone call? Not God's style.

That doesn't mean God doesn't communicate. He does--every day. The only question is, are we listening?

The answer to my question above is "yes," whether you know it or not.

First, God has called us to believe in Him. Through His very creation, the universe in which we live, He has left His calling card so that all may know Him, and be without excuse for denying Him (Romans 1:20). He also calls us to believe in His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior (Romans 1:6). He calls us to be Holy (I Peter 1:15), and that we have been called for a purpose (Romans 8:28).

So, are we picking up when God calls? Are we receiving His messages?

Do we even recognize God when He speaks?

Are you listening for God?

If you're waiting for a communication from someone, you have to have an open line. In the old, old days, you checked your mail (not email--snail mail), or stayed at home around the phone--you couldn't always carry your phone with you, believe it or not. Then came email, cell phones, social media, etc. . . None of things work, however, unless you participate. I have a teenage son. I know you can call all day, send a hundred texts, Facebook, Twitter--whatever--unless he looks at his phone, he'll never know what I'm trying to tell him.

So it is with God. God could give each of us the type of Damascus Road experience Paul had, but He doesn't. Frankly, I don't think most of us could deal with it. Besides that, God doesn't chose to communicate that way. He wants us to want to hear from Him. He wants us to participate in the process. I don't want to grab my son by the shoulders and make him stare me in the face every time I need to tell him something. I want him to be attentive to the fact that, at any time, I may need to get in touch with him.

I think God feels the same way.

How does God communicate?

Anyway He wants to, and I think that varies from person to person. Some of us hear God as we get advice from other Christians. Others from reading His Word. God speaks to us through our conscious and unconscious awareness. Some have dreams, others get nudged in ways we can't really explain. God speaks in many ways.

We just have to listen.

If you never crack open a Bible, God cannot speak to you through His Word. If you never have meaningful conversations with other Christians, actually seeking Godly counsel, those lines of communication are down. If you don't listen when you pray, and pay attention after you've asked Him what you should do, how do you expect to know when He answers?

When was the last time God called you?

If you can't answer that question, if you can't say when the last time God spoke to you (or that He has ever spoken to you), there's a problem. It isn't that God's not speaking, it's that you're not listening. And that's a problem.

Today I encourage you to listen. Be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). Hear His voice, through His Word, through prayer, or just sitting quietly and waiting.

You might be amazed at what God has to say.

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

Whether we want to admit it or not . . . 

Everybody needs love. We want love. We crave it. We seek it, and will find it, or at least something to replace it. We were designed by God to love and be loved. That's not a fault or a weakness. It's a strength. It causes us to seek love, true love. Ultimately, if we seek true love, we will find God, because God is love (I John 4:8).

The problems come when we start looking for love in all the wrong places (cue the country music). Sadly, that song hits the nail on the head. If you know the song, or Google it, you'll see the truth. A lost soul wandering around, looking for love in places they'll never find it. Hurt, lost, alone and lonely.

We will find love, or at least something to replace love with. That's because we will find a god, whether it be the One True God, or an idol. That's what we're programmed for--to love and be loved--and we will do anything to accomplish that.

Therein lies the danger.

We are so hardwired for love that we will, no matter the cost, do something, anything, to feel loved. From abusive relationships to the "isms" and "holics" such as alcoholism and workaholic. Anything that gives us a warm feeling, a sense of belonging, a sense of worth that can, at least for a time, meet our desire for love.

None of those, however, are love. As mentioned above, God is love. Anything that does not come from God, then, cannot truly be love. It might feel good. It might feel like love, look like what the world calls love, and even fill that void inside you for a time. It is not, however, love.

Replacing what you really need with something else, even if it seems close enough, isn't going to end well. Put diesel in a gas engine and it won't run. Put gas in a diesel engine and it blows the engine. Try to replace true love from God with something from the world and your life isn't going to go well. Try to replace God with an idol and your world will come crashing down around you.

True love only comes from God.

Read I John Chapter 4. From God is love (v. 8) to This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us (v. 10), and we love because He first loved us (v. 19), it's a chapter that does much to explain this whole concept of love. The most important truth to learn is that God is love, and love comes from God.

That love we all crave, need, and seek is God. Plain and simple. If you seek, you will find, but you have to look in the right place. Love isn't found in the things of this world. Love is found in God, because God is love. I can't say that enough.

If you haven't found love, you haven't found God for who He truly is. If you want to be loved (and we all do), and love in return, raise your eyes upward.

That's where the source of all love is found.

God Loves You

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The truth is, God does love you.

God loves you so much that He gave His Son for you. God thinks so much of you that He wants you to live forever. God thinks you are worth saving.

Do you?

You see, God so loved the world . . . that means you. Yes, you. God made you. He sustains you. He thinks you are worth it. Who are you to disagree with God?

You are worth loving.

Either that, or God is wrong. It's that simple. Either you are worthy of love and being loved, or God doesn't know who you really are. Let me give you a hint--God knows exactly who you are, where you've been, and what you've done.

And He loves you.

God's pretty amazing that way. You see, God doesn't dwell on all the stuff that makes us unlovable the way we do sometimes. God looks past that. God looks at us and sees His Son, who He gave in our place so all that ugly stuff would be taken care of.

When you have Jesus as your Savior and God looks at you, He doesn't see ugly. He doesn't see sin. He sees you through the eyes of love and sees you as worth His time. Worth His love. Worth His Son.

You are worth loving. God says so.

God will always love you.

I can be pretty hard on myself. I know what I've done, or haven't done. I know my failures, my weaknesses, my shortcomings, and it can be hard to get past all that. God knows that stuff, too. It doesn't stop Him from loving me, and it never will.

When we look in the mirror, we need to remember that who we see and what we know about who we see isn't the whole story. The rest of the story is that God sees even more than we do, and loves us. Loves us so much, in fact, that He gave us a clean slate, one that will never hold a mark or a stain. He loves us so much that nothing, absolutely no thing can separate us from that love.

God loved you yesterday, He loves you today, and will love you tomorrow.

If that doesn't start your day off right, I don't know what will.

Washed As White As Snow

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Isaiah 1:18.

I like winter less every year, but I must say, few things look as clean and pure as newly fallen snow.

This is the picture used by God in Isaiah 1:18 to describe the forgiveness of sins. The same imagery is used in Psalm 51:7. In both, the pure and spotless appearance of new fallen snow is contrasted with the ugliness of sin. That's what happens when God takes away our sins. We are washed, cleansed, made pure. We are, on the inside, as white as snow.

But what does that mean, really?

It doesn't mean we are sinless.

When we are saved, our sins are forgiven. All of our sins--past, present and future. We don't have to be saved over and over, every time we sin, just as Christ did not have to die over and over for each of our sins. If that were the case, He'd have to come to earth every day and die again! No, Christ died once for all sins (I Peter 3:18; Hebrews 7:27). We, also, are purified once for all from our sins (Hebrews 10:10). Once washed, we are clean (John 13:10).

This does not mean, however, that we are sinless. Romans 3:23 says that all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Paul himself admitted that he struggled with sin (Romans 7:19, 20). To think that once we are saved we will, or should never sin is unrealistic and contrary to what the Bible says. God's Word tells us we are to strive to be sinless, but also that we will fail. Everyone sins, everyone is a sinner, saved and unsaved alike.

So does it mean to be as white as snow?

It means we are blameless.

Anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior has had their sins forgiven. What that means is that when we die, our sins will not be held against us. When we meet our Maker, God Almighty will not hold us accountable for our sins. We are, and will be in His sight, blameless. Not because we have not sinned, but rather because the penalty for our sins has been paid.

To be blameless is to be without guilt. Because Jesus paid the price for our wrongs, God will not deem us to be guilty, but rather forgiven. When He sees us, He will not see our sins. He will see us, as said in Psalm 51 and Isaiah, washed as white as snow by the blood of the Lamb.

Give thanks to God the next time it snows.

When God's heavenly storehouses open and coats everything with that sparkling blanket of fresh, white snow, give thanks to God that we, though we once were like scarlet, have been washed as white as snow. 



 

Nothing New Under The Sun

A new year does not mean everything starts over.

Some make a big deal out of the beginning of a new year. People make New Year's resolutions, determine to make this year "better" than last, bid a glad farewell to the past and welcome an undoubtedly more prosperous future.

Here is reality: A new calendar doesn't change a thing. Sure, I wrote a couple days ago about this being a good time (the time) to get started doing what needs to be done, and I believe that is true. But that is the only way this week will be any different from last--if we make it different. If you think you woke up Sunday morning and everything was new and fresh, you're wrong.

I don't mean to drag you down, but what makes you think this year is going to do anything but pick up where last year left off? Most of us woke up Sunday with the same jobs, responsibilities, problems, circumstances, and resources we went to bed with Saturday. Our actions will have the same consequences they have always had. We have the same strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and past failures. We live in the same world we always have.

In short, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

It's a new year, but everything looks and feels suspiciously the same to me.

The world isn't going to change on it's own.

 Here's what I'm getting at: We have an opportunity to change with this new year, but it is no more than that. If we do the same things this year as last, and expect different results, we're going to be mightily disappointed. A new year does not a new world make.

I must say here that I understand all things are in God's hands. He is sovereign. What happens happens because He causes it or allows it. Within the framework of God's sovereignty, however, is the matter of our freewill, and that, my friends, is how we can affect change in our lives.

If you want change, then change. Do you want to be closer to God? Get closer to Him. Do something about it. Do you want closer relationships? Then grow closer to people. Want satisfaction in life? Find out what God wants you to do, then do it. Want to know what God wants you to do? Ask Him. Pray. Read His Word. Seek Him.

If you're not going to change, then it's going to be difficult to distinguish this year from last. The world will not change for us. God isn't going to change for us. God can change us, but only if we're willing to be changed. If we want change in the world, we have to be willing to cause and allow change in ourselves. Otherwise, to quote Solomon again, we're just chasing the wind.

Here's the conclusion.

After all his ruminations about nothing in this world being worthwhile, Solomon came to this conclusion at the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes: Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Solomon realized, after a lot of failures, that doing anything other than serving God was simply folly and foolishness--chasing the wind. Seeking knowledge for knowledge's sake, seeking pleasure for pleasure's sake, and even working for work's sake will not accomplish the change we seek. Change, real change, comes from seeking and serving God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Want change in your life? Make this your New Year's resolution: Seek God.

You just might be surprised to wake up one morning and realize that you, and the world, have been made new again after all.

It's Time To Get Started

Day Two.

Yep. It's Day Two of 2017. Only 363 days left in this one after today. Time's flyin', isn't it? It will, quickly enough.

Time is a funny thing. It is said that time flies when you're having fun, and that time goes faster the older you get. You can have too much time on your hands, or it can slip through your fingers. Einstein said, "Time is an illusion," Ben Franklin said, "Lost time is never found again," and Mother Teresa said, "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

It's never too late (or too early!) to get started

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. What is 2017 time for? Is this the year you commit to regular church attendance, or perhaps tithing? Is this the year you decide to read through the Bible? In the next twelve months, do you heal relationships that have been wounded, face habitual sins deeply rooted, or start every day in a time of prayer? It's Day Two. It's time to get started.

Maybe this is the year you join a small group in your church, or invite that certain someone to a group you are already in. Or perhaps this is the year you get an accountability partner, or start a Cord of Three with two of your friends and walk through life together. Maybe this is the year you get serious about your marriage, your kids, your future. There is a time for everything. Maybe this is the time.

2017 will be gone before you know it.

Day to day, time can seem to drag, but a year can pass so quickly. Before you know it, a decade has passed. I was born not only last century, but the last millennium, for crying out loud! I'm probably at least halfway through this life (how many 86 year olds do you know?). It's gone quickly, and I have no delusions that time is going to slow down. I don't have any time to waste!

If there is something you know you should do  this year, do it. Today if you can, tomorrow if you must, but don't put it off. Next week becomes next month becomes next year. Next year becomes never. If it's important, do it. Don't wait. While we don't know who first said it, it is certainly true that time waits for no man.

It's time to change the world

This is the year. Why? Because it is now. Now is the time because now is what we have. We may have tomorrow, but then again, we may not. Even if we do, someone else will not. Our days are numbered; we should use them wisely.

The idea of changing the world may seem far-fetched or intimidating, but the reality is, we all change the world. By being here and doing whatever we do, we affect the world around us. This year, commit to changing it intentionally. Decide how you want to change the world, then do it. A good start might be by changing ourselves.

No extra days this year.

We had an extra day in 2016 (although the presidential campaign made it seem like we had at least an extra month!). Not so in 2017. 365 is all we get. One down, 364 to go.

How are you going to use them?