Living by Sight - Not a Good Plan

II Corinthians 5: 5-10

"Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

I am a visual person. Show it to me, prove it to me, let me touch it, smell it, taste it. Then I will believe it. But as I am learning now it is not the way that God works. God expects us, as the Apostle Paul states in II Corinthians for us to live by faith, not by sight. Ouch!

How do we become people of faith? How do we learn to follow God regardless of our circumstances?

Faith is not a part of who we are - it must be all of who we are. Sometimes I think I have lost sight of that. I keep thinking I must be doing something – I need to fix things – I need to say something or do something. Yet, as I reflect on those times when I ran ahead of God it was a losing proposition. Maybe not initially, but certainly down the road.

When we think about examples from the Scriptures of people who walked by faith – God also provided what happened when they didn’t. I think about Abraham. When God sent him out of his homeland, he went. He didn’t question. Yet, when confronted with who Sarah was, rather than trust God to get him out of the situation, he lied. He said that Sarah was his sister. Why? Fear! I am so often afraid too. I think how in the world can I live by faith in certain situations? Or how about the promise that God gave to Abraham of a son. Abraham waited for a long time but then because Sarah became more and more anxious about the lack of fulfillment of the promise – Abraham took Hagar and from that came Ishmael. Why? I believe it was lack of trust when God didn’t move in their time frame. Guilty! Wow, am I guilty! I want things when I want it.

I am learning that the only way that I can honestly walk by faith and not by sight is to constantly remind myself of what God has done. Has He been faithful in the past? Has He been faithful to His word? Those questions I know in my head are answered with a resounding “yes”. But, my actions do not send out that same signal. So in order to have my actions become congruent with what I know to be true then I must learn to rest. I must learn to wait. I must learn not to run ahead of God.

Truth be told – I want to be a woman of faith. I want to see God do what He promises to do. I want Him to use me as He would want to use me. This means that I must fight fear, I must fight the desire to be in control, and I must fight the temptation to lie. All of this boils down to being willing to surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ and to see that the Spirit has been given to us as a deposit of what is to come.

Old Roads

Recently, my husband Dave & I have been out riding our Harley's. And the roads have taken us to old haunts of mine. Places that have memories attached to them. It is a true statement that when you are riding a bike you have time to let the fresh air blow the cobwebs out of your head. Life has been a bit hectic of late with a lot of emotional upheaval and some unexpected twists so the open road has been a welcome friend.

Old roads lead to old destinations. Some of those are good and some of those are not so good. I passed by a few places on our jaunt that made me cringe and a few that made me smile. I guess that is why the apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-15
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: 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. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you."

So I got to thinking about some of the destinations. What I discovered is that there are some roads that God does not want me to go back down. There is danger at the destination. He wants me to learn from the experiences of the past. Kind of like the verse above where Paul says that those of us who are mature should take a view of these things and learn as God makes things clear. There are some roads that lead to God's blessing and provision. Those are the roads that should be well traveled. And those roads may be a part of the pressing on to the goal.

There are some of the old roads that are secret places to me. Places where I have had private moments with my God. Places where I have wept for what was and prayed for what would be. These places remind me of the faithfulness of God as He has mended my broken heart and taught me that He is the one that meets my needs. There also are places on those old roads where I have tried to hide from God. Like Adam and Eve I thought that I could hide from Him. Yet, He continued to call me out and beckoned me to walk with Him as we talked together. There have also been places on the old road where the path diverged. I have had to leave some traveling companions on those forks in the road. Those were painful partings and yet needful for my continued growth. Along the way, God has provided new companions or brought others back to the path with me.

I am grateful to God for all of His wonders and grace in my life. Even in these turbulent times we are in, I know that He is faithful to keep me walking on the narrow way. His ways, his old road is the way of the cross. And the way of the cross leads home. Even now, Lord Jesus, lead me home.

Take off the Mask

Life is just one big object lesson. I have come to the conclusion that if you are really seeking to see God - you will find Him.

All of my life I have really liked clowns. In fact, Emit Kelly, pictured above always was one of my favorites. There was something about the sad face that pulled me to him. Or perhaps it was because I felt a kindred spirit with him because I too hid my real self behind a mask. Not very many people really ever knew the real me. I hid behind a mask. Life was easier behind the mask.

So yesterday I went with Claire to a picnic hosted by the local Teamsters union of which she is a member. All around the grounds were clowns. Happy clowns, sad clowns, scary clowns. They were making balloon animals, squirting kids with water, dancing and generally having a good time. This young man that Claire knows from UPS sat down with us and we got to chatting. He was telling me that he hated clowns. I was incredulous. How could you hate clowns? I mean - aren't they fun? To him, he saw them as "evil" always hiding behind a mask. Talk about an open door for discussion.... So I said to him, "Don't you ever wear a mask?" He quickly replied, "no and I don't have many friends! But, I would rather be real than hide behind a mask." Wow! Okay, God I hear you.

As is typical these days after something like this I stop and think about it. What lesson was there for me in this? Obviously, it is not good to wear a mask and to not be genuine. And it also is not good to be unkind. So somewhere in between there must be a happy medium. What keeps me behind the mask? It's fear. Fear of being alone. Fear of being ridiculed. Fear of not being accepted for who I am. As I thought about it I realized that Satan wants me behind the mask. When I am behind the mask then I am not allowing God to be in control. I am attempting to stay in control of my own life. To take off the mask is to totally trust in who God is and who I am in Him.

Taking off the mask cannot be done gradually. It is either off or on. I choose to take the mask off. I choose to allow God to be in total control and be the Lord of my life. No longer hiding behind the lies and deception of the mask. May God continue to reveal His reality to me in these lessons of life.

Focus

This morning Dr. David Dunbar of Biblical Seminary was the guest speaker at our church. The message came from the gospel of John chapter 17. He was talking about the mission that we all have - not missions in the sense of going to a far off land but the actual mission that Christ had prayed about in John 17.

As he worked his way methodically through the high priestly prayer of our Savior prayed just hours before He was crucified Dr. Dunbar spoke of how often we can't see the forest for the trees. We get so caught up in things that we do or don't understand and we miss the bigger picture. As he preached I found myself thinking about this as it pertained to my own life.

When I was in seminary one of the verses that I had to memorize was John 17:17"Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." I had always thought the word sanctify meant to set apart. Today, though a new meaning to this word was given and it really helped me to see this passage a bit more clearly than I ever had before. Sanctify can also mean focus. "Focus them by the truth; your word is truth." Verse 19 "For them I focus myself, that they too may be truly focused." What was Jesus saying?

Jesus was focused on bringing conclusion to the work that God had sent Him to do. He desired to finish well. How sad it would have been if after all the ministry, the miracles, the sermons, the prayers if Jesus would have said "no, I don't think I will finish this, it is too hard." Instead, as He got closer to the end, His prayer became all the more fervent that He would complete the work of the Father. His focus was on God. His focus was on obedience. His focus was on us - His mission.

What am I focused on? Do I see the mission that Jesus has for me to accomplish? Am I bent on finishing well? In the final verses of this chapter, Jesus said, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Our mission, my mission is to present the living Jesus to all that cross my path. Not in a down your throat mentality but in a relational way. People need to know that they are loved and cared for. And the church has failed miserably in this. We have not been loving even amongst ourselves. How then can those who are on the outside be expected to yearn for the peace that only God can give?

But, we do have the answer. "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love." Will they? Do they see us loving one another? Do they see us reaching out of our supply to meet their need? Oh Father, may it be said of me that I finished well. Please work in me to finish the mission that you have laid out for me. In obedience may I seek to share the love of Jesus Christ with all that I come in contact. Help me to hear your voice.

Never Underestimate the Voice of God

In recent months I have been trying to listen more closely to what I now know is the Spirit of God as He speaks to me. It is all about listening prayer. Pray and expect to hear - listen for what God is telling me - obey and trust. So it should not come as any surprise what happened just recently.

My son, Geoff is turning 23 on the 10th of June. Last weekend we were going to celebrate his birthday because he and his wife, Bethany would be gone on vacation over the actual day. Dave and I had decided that we would give him money because of the high cost of gas to help defray the cost of the trip. But, I have never been a big fan of the money or gift certificate kind of gift. It just seems so impersonal.

So, I was getting ready for the party and for some reason I spied the Bible that my mom had given to me right after my dad died. This was his last Bible that he could read before he lost his eyesight. I heard the Spirit say, "Give this to Geoff". I opened the well-worn pages, turning to see places where my dad had written notes or underlined passages that meant something to him. Again, I heard the voice. But, there was a part of me that just didn't want to do it. I wanted to keep it. After all this was my dad's. And I was concerned that if I gave it to Geoff he would just chuck it in a corner and it would have no meaning.

I finished getting dressed and finally, the Spirit said, "Carol, give that to Geoff - it is a part of his heritage." In obedience, I went in and wrote a card out to Geoff and taped it to the front. I told him why I was giving it to him and that it would mean a great deal to his granddad that he had his Bible. I wrapped it up and took it downstairs.

Geoff was so appreciative of the gesture. He came in and personally thanked me for giving it to him and what it meant to have it. But, I thought at that time that would be the last I would hear of it.

Today, Geoff's mother-in-law shared with me that Geoff felt that the Bible made his birthday. He and Bethany are now reading it together. Oh how I praise God that His voice prompted me to give the Bible to Geoff. I have been praying for my son and his sweet wife. I long to see him walk in humility with God just as my dad did. I pray that this will be the beginning of a renewed walk with the Lord Jesus.

How I praise You, Father. There is no other explanation for what brought that gift to mind other than You. I place my trust in You for the ones that I hold dear. Thank You for Your love extended toward my son and the heritage of love for You that my dad extended toward me.

Transparent Wings

Hebrews 13:18 "Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things."

My cousin, Bill sent me an email today that had pictures of butterflies with transparent wings. It was an amazing thing to look at. Each wing was intricately made and you could see through to the flowers or tree that were behind it. As I looked at that I thought about the word transparent. So I decided to look it up. After the more scientific meaning the following definitions were given. "free from pretense or deceit, easily detected or seen through".

So often Christians talk about how important it is for us to be transparent with one another. I looked at this definition and got to thinking about whether or not I really would be or could be transparent with someone else. This would include being totally honest when questions are asked, not thinking more highly of myself than I should and demonstrating that my motivations are pure. That is a lot for any one to ask of another human.

But, if we take the Word of God seriously, we know that God has given us the capability to live a transparent life. Nothing to hide, nothing to fear and everything to gain. The Spirit that lives within each one is very God. And that Spirit provides for us all of the characteristics of Jesus Christ. He was truly a transparent man. There was nothing pretentious or deceitful about Him. His motives were pure and right. He came to honor the Father. Everything that He did was in obedience to God. We are challenged to be holy even as He is holy. That is a transparent life.

The verse that I put at the beginning is a prayer that we all should pray daily. If we pray that we would act and think in an honorable way - our conscience will be clear. And if your conscience is clear then you have nothing to fear by being transparent. People can look right through your actions to see the reality of the One that motivates your thoughts. May they see Christ in me as I seek to live a transparent life.

Honor Your Father and Mother

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Sometimes memories of my dad will come rushing back into my mind and it is like he is still here. Nearly four years ago two weeks shy of his 85th birthday, my dad went home to be with the Lord. Now mom wanders about in the home that they built and misses her mate of 62 years.

There is something to be said for longevity of marriage. There is a certainty about it. You know the other persons strengths and weaknesses. And if you chose to have a marriage that was harmonious you learned how to deal appropriately with each challenge that came along. As the children came, mom and dad struggled to keep the family home financially afloat while still being faithful to the commitment to give to the Lord His tithe.

Hard work was the watchword. Both of them were never given to sitting around. In fact, we learned as kids to chat with mom while she did dishes, cleaned, sewed, gardened or whatever was the task at hand. Dad was more of a moving target. The farm took a lot of his time but he did spend time now and again helping with homework problems that caused us to stumble.

I marvel as I look back at the heritage that they provided to each of us. Oh, there were things that I surely wish had been done differently but I believe that God gave me parents that loved Him first and foremost. They loved their children and gave of all they had to see us achieve more than what they ever expected. They loved us through the stormy years and loved us through the peaceful ones and for that I am thankful.

Honoring your father and mother is not about giving gifts. Although there is nothing wrong with that expression. Honoring your father and mother is about giving thanks for the sacrifices and the love that they provided. It is about teaching your children about what was important to their grandparents. It is about realizing that the very life that God has given to me was an expression of their love. What a miracle. And what a blessing.

I miss you, Dad. And I am doing my best to honor mom in every way I can.