Doubting and Its Importance in Faith-April 2. 2017

 What can we really be sure of?

As a teacher I face doubts of others every day and sometimes feel the overwhelming burden of doubt in myself when a task seems too large to conquer. Doubting and uncertainty are human traits. Should our walk of faith be any different?

Everyone, if they examine their hearts closely, has experienced doubts in their belief from time to time. Most people of great faith have admitted periods of doubt and uncertainty in their own walk.

Living in a world of darkness and seeing humanity at different levels has led me to doubts from time-to-time. I have weak times and stronger times when it comes to my faith.

Is there a place we are supposed to "reach" where we are sure what we believe and how we believe is the correct way? Or is there a single answer to how God wants us to live and what He wants us to believe?

Being "Christian" is a messy proposition, with many twists and turns. God builds us by helping us through crises like doubt.

Pope Francis recently discussed his own doubts and said, “We do not need to be afraid of questions and doubts because they are the beginning of a path of knowledge and going deeper; one who does not ask questions cannot progress either in knowledge or in faith.”

Billy Graham reached a crossroads in his evangelical career in the late 1940s when he faced questions of his own direction and calling from God.

It was revealed that even Mother Teresa had doubt in God's presence in her life for nearly 50 years. Yet, she still worked faithfully as God's servant tending the poor.

So what can we do? Scripture speaks of many people who had doubts in their faith.

Abraham doubted God in Genesis 17:17, Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”

Jesus chastised Peter in Matthew 14:31, “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

And probably the most well-known doubter from the New Testament, Thomas, from John 20:27; “Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

Will we all leave here today with strong spirit and iron will? I doubt it. In fact, I will continue to doubt many things, as will you. But let's remember that doubt is a part of growing faith. We just can't leave it to grow, we must nurture it with prayer and a conversation with God to allow us to become stronger when we face it!

One more verse I had written down awhile back to finish, Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; It gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

Let hope be the way our faith helps us defeat doubt.

How do You Know God? - February 19, 2017

In meditation, while preparing for this table talk, I researched both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln since the Presidents Day holiday that many of us will observe tomorrow is usually dedicated to these two men. While I learned several things about the holiday itself, including the fact that is observed and identified in many different ways througout the country, but what I mostly took from this process was a question, "What were the religious beliefs of our first and sixteenth presidents?"

Washington was associated with the Episcopalian Church and was a freemason. Both of these affiliations were influential in his life, but he was never a regular church member and it is said that he rarely took communion. He is known to have respected all religions of the many soldiers and statesmen he was involved with.

Lincoln was raised in a Calvinist/Baptist family and questioned these teachings as a young man. It was not until his life was impacted by his son's death and the unfolding of the Civil War that he grew strong in faith and prayer. He was never recorded as being baptized and never joined a church, although he regularly attended a Presbyterian Church while in Washington D.C.

I think the most interesting point is that both of these men led a life that made them revered and respected throughout history. Many people believe they demonstrated tremendous faith in God as they led our nation. But both seemed to struggle in their own understanding and acceptance of God and their education in God took their entire lifetime. The personal struggles and trials are what seemed to build each of their faiths and led them to better understand God. This is something that many of us can relate to today. How do we know God? 

Most of us try to understand God through human eyes and a human perspective. This cannot work, God is not human. God understands us because He made us and He sent Jesus Christ to Earth to live and die as a man. We must spend our time working to grow closer to Him and reach a better understanding of Him with every day and every prayer. Accepting Jesus as our savior is the first step in our understanding, knowing God more completely takes a lifetime.

We read the bible and try to understand it with a human mind and with interpretation of human languages. The bible is God's word, but would it be a simple story that He has given us to merely finish reading and accept with faith? Or is it something much greater that we should read over and over again, discuss with others, pray in conversation to God about, and eventually reach an introspective and personal understanding of?

We are not unlike Washington and Lincoln. We are all struggling to better understand God, that is why we are here today. We will likely never stand the test of history like any of the presidents, but most men never do. We are in our own personal walk with God like all men and women throughout time have been. We will all experience our own trials that are as big to us, as a war and presidency were to Washington and Lincoln.

Jesus allows us the ability to overcome the "language" barrier between us and God. He makes us righteous in God's eyes because He accepted our sin when He was sacrificed on the cross. Yes, we were created in God's image. But to truly understand God we need to look for Him with more than simple human language and human eyes. We need to use prayer and faith as our interpreter and follow His most simple rule, to love and accept each other. 

I Corinthians 13:4-13

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

Remember that everyone is trying to understand our Father in heaven better, even the George Washingtons and Abraham Lincolns of the world!

February 5, 2017 - Brokenness

I attended a family event last month and got a chance to "catch-up" with a few cousins and other family members I hadn't seen for awhile. Everyone, of course, looked older and had changed a bit but as I talked with each one personally, I found that they each had experienced some life challenges since I had seen them last. Isn't that really the case for us all?

Each day offers a new series of challenges and rewards. And...At least in my life...Some days are a bit more challenging than others! Trials are a part of living and growing in Christ. Life in faith is not a promise of no trial or no pain. As Jesus told the disciples at the last supper in John 16:33 when He was preparing them for the challenges they were to soon face, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on Earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

My cousin Chuck had organized this get-together that I attended in January as a celebration of his Mom, my Aunt's 80th birthday. He has always been a positive and cheerful person as long as I can remember and, being 7 years older than me, was often a mentor as we grew up. I saw Chuck enter the party in a motorized wheelchair and I began to wonder what his issues were. His wife was the one who revealed to me that he was suffereing from a degenerative bone condition in his feet. Chuck was outwardly cheerful and talking to everyone in his normal way, hiding his brokenness.

This experience has kept me thinking about this idea that we are all "broken" in some way. Most of us, most of the time keep our broken pieces hidden under our cover that we share with others. The well-known expression, "You can't judge a book by its cover" accurately describes us all. We are all like a book that has unique and personal story hidden beneath our cover. Our facade often hides the pain and trial we are facing. Even those who seem to have a bright, cheerful cover may be hiding something that needs healing. 

How are you broken? Is it physical, emotional, spiritual, something else? Or is it a collection of things? God wants us to be whole. He wants us to come to Him for healing and He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. As Moses told the Isrealites before they were led into the promised land from Deuteronomy 31:6, "So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you or abandon you."

Surrendering our spirit brings us to God, growing our faith allows God to heal our body and our souls. Faith in Him will heal us and make us whole. As the Psalmist in Psalms 51:17 writes, "The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God."

We all need to open our book and let God heal whatever is broken within us. We need to pray for others who may have a cover that we find objectionable, but which hides something broken within them that we cannot see. We need to understand that what we "see" in others may not be what their soul is. We all hide our brokenness to some degree.

God has given us these reminders each Sunday of the sacrifice of Jesus' broken Earthly body that was made for us, to heal us, to fix what is broken within us. All we have to do is faithfully accept His healing grace. As we take these elements let us remember He is always there, waiting to help mend whatever hidden brokenness we might have.

December 18, 2016 - Positivity in a Negative World

With all of the negativity in the world, how do we stay positive?

Negativity is what we see but positive is what we want to be.

Well, in the physical world opposites attract. Where there is one thing, it's opposite is surely nearby! Opposite charges are found together because positive is attracted to negative.

War ends with peace, fatigue ends with rest, and pain ends with relief. Even though these may happen more slowly than we might like or in a different form than we might expect, these opposite things are always found together.

We don't always see one because of the other. What we want is hidden by what we don't want. Sometimes what we desire is right in front of us but we are blinded by what we are trying to avoid.

The birth of Jesus and the hope and salvation He brings to all who accept him is the good news. But even many of His own people, who were waiting for the Savior, did not at first recognize Him.

From Luke 2:10-14 KJV

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

We still search for salvation from our troubles today without instead depending on our faith in Jesus Christ to guide us. Covered in our worry, pain, sin, or whatever blinds us we forget these "good tidings of great joy" for all of the people.

Jesus' life and death for us is that positive in our world filled with negative.

Jesus was born, a light, into a dark world.

He was a celebration brought into a world of woe.

The life Jesus offers us is opposite a life of sin. He offers a peaceful heart and mind instead of worry and fear. All we have to do is accept Him and let Him guide our lives. A positive that can cancel all of the negativity, if we just see Him!

Have a joyful Christmas season and...God bless us, everyone!

October 23, 2016 - A Work in Progress

I am a work in progress, there are things about me that I know must change. Rather than bore you with my list of things, I will simply summarize them by saying they are probably very much like yours. Life can be a messy process but the good news is that we have directions on how to change it!

As people I have known pass on, I look at their life and how I remember them. Gaylard Hadley has given me an example of how to live a life of service. His life was a work in progress too, until this past week when he finally finished his works here on Earth. The memory most of us share of Gaylard is the same, he was willing to try and tackle any service project, community need, or most other worthy task that he was presented with. And even if you weren't blessed to know Gaylard most of us can recall someone like him who has been a part if our life.

We have been given examples to live by.

The bible tells many stories, of many people, but in almost all of the stories the people had issues that they needed to work through. This is a quote from pastor Rick Warren, "You are a work in progress. Your spiritual transformation in developing the character of Jesus will take the rest of your life, and even then it won't be completed here on Earth. It will only be finished when you get to heaven or when Jesus returns." 

Paul says in Ephesians 4:13, "This will continue until we all come into such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ."

And from 1 John 3:2, "He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is."

We have been given scripture to live by.

"Opportunity knocks" is a familiar slogan to us all. This is something we often hear but never really listen to. Opportunity comes in all shapes and sizes, it comes in forms and people that we may not expect. God provides us with opportunities to change our life and also help change the lives of others. We all need to become better at realizing our opportunities. These may come in the forms of prayer, friendship, compassion, service, or more extreme examples like evangelism...but they are there!

We have been given opportunity to live by.

My desk at school often looks like a total mess, but I know where things are. I am confident some of you can relate to that? Many of the things are notes I have written to myself to remember a meeting or to add or change a grade, or to complete some other task on my list. I always seem to have more and more to do, a definite work in progress! God keeps giving us hints of our need for progressing too. They may come in the form of trials, blessings, scripture or some other form but they help remind us that He is there with is in our walk.

We have reminders to live by.

These are but a few things that lead us in our lifetime task of changing into what God wants us to be. Things that make us all a work in progress! As we each walk our walk we find it may involve one step forward and two steps back. But, it is important to move forward at whatever speed we walk because our plan of change takes an entire lifetime. God has given us one more thing to live by, and it is the reminder through the elements at His table of the sacrifices made for us that allow us to finish our spiritual improvement plan. Let us remember these sacrifices as we share communion.

August 28, 2016 - Perfection (Again!)

Perfection is something we all strive for at some point in life, we want to be the perfect  son or daughter, the perfect parent, to play something perfectly. It is human nature to want to be the best at something. 

The summer olympics just ended, and it was filled with many joys and sorrows. Two people I know personally had a good chance to participate in the games so I had more than a normal amount of interest in watching them. A former student of mine was one of the fastest 50 meter freestyle swimmers in the world and a former dance mate of my children was trying to make the U.S. gymnastics team.

To reach the level of competition needed to win a place on the olympic team requires a near-perfect, if not perfect performance. Both came up just short, they weren't good enough even though they were among the best in the world. Perfection is difficult!

I began to think about the average person and our average desires to seek perfection. In which areas of life have I sought to be perfect? 

Have I ever reached perfection?

Is even my faith perfect?

In my youth I was a pitcher in baseball. I always longed to throw that "perfect game" but the best I ever did was to just come close. I just read about a pitcher who came within one out of a no-hitter and lost it. So close, but yet so far away.Again, perfection is difficult!

Before I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior I had the misconception to believe that I must walk the perfect path to be good enough. That, "to be saved" I must already be worthy. Fortunately for me, God opened my eyes. I had been hstriving for perfection when imperfection was the reason Christ died for me and for you. Through Christ, we become perfect and able to enter God's kingdom because our imperfections are washed clean.

God teaches us through life and scripture to seek perfection, but accept His help in reaching it. Kind of like my own situation where I failed to understand the second part of His directive. I thought that I, alone, must reach a perfect state.

In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48. 

And as Paul says to the Phillipians, in Phillipians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."

We should always remember that we live in God's plan, not ours. 

That our sins and shortcomings are things he has already known about us. 

That our failure to live up to the laws of Moses, though we freely choose to sin like all mankind, are a part of His plan.

And that He has provided a path to perfection that we merely need to accept.

Perfection IS difficult...if we try to reach it alone!

The elements of the table are our reminders that Jesus is our guide to perfection and that, with His body and washed in His blood, we are perfect in the eyes of God. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took the loaf and gave thanks for it. Then He broke it, saying "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

July 3, 2016 - Time

Twelve Score ago our fathers brought forth this great nation. A score is a unit of time that is rarely used today, it represents 20 years. That means 240 years ago our nation was formed.
Time is a necessity, we all live by it.

But what is it REALLY?

Time to a giant redwood tree is very different than time to most insects.

The tree has been around for centuries, the insect exists in a lifetime measured in days or weeks.

Time to us is also based on our lives. 

To a child time passes in segments compared to their existence, a year is 1/4 of the time a four year old has lived.

To someone in their 90s, like my Dad, it is but another flash of their many years of living.

For this reason, time DOES, in fact, pass by faster as we get older.

So we should all try to slow down and live at the pace of a child, live through experiences and those things so easily ignored, just like we did when we were younger.

But time itself is just a man-made way to describe change. We base time on the spin of the Earth and the changes from daylight to darkness. And, in a larger scale, on the travel of the Earth around the sun and the seasonal changes which that voyage brings.

What we have to keep reminding ourselves of is that,

God doesn't live by our standards.

This is one way that keeps us from truly understanding God and our relationship with Him.

Abraham is a perfect example of how God's time sometimes doesn't match human time.

Genesis 17:17 NLT

“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?””

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I can relate to his disbelief!

I often wonder what would happen if someone from the past were to suddenly be alive again and experience the world today. Or if I could travel back and live in another time myself. I believe both experiences would be frightening to the traveler in time. We live when God wants us to live, and experience the things God has prepared us to experience.

The bible tells us many stories of trials, doubts, joys, and sadness but the people involved lived in THEIR time. God prepared them for what they were to experience.

It is important to remember this in our own trials, doubts, joys, and sadness. God has prepared us to live in our time, with our experiences. He has put us into the interconnected web of this world precisely at the time we are meant to live, God makes no mistakes.

So, how many of you have experienced moments, like I have, when you question why something has happened in your life? Or, how you will ever be able to make it through the trial you face? Remember, God has no connection to human time, He is beyond the concepts of days or seasons. Yet He speaks to us through scripture in our language, and reminds us of His presence and His plan for us.

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:1-11‬ ‭NLT

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 

A time to be born and a time to die. 

A time to plant and a time to harvest. 

A time to kill and a time to heal. 

A time to tear down and a time to build up. 

A time to cry and a time to laugh. 

A time to grieve and a time to dance. 

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. 

A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 

A time to search and a time to quit searching. 

A time to keep and a time to throw away. 

A time to tear and a time to mend. 

A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 

A time to love and a time to hate. 

A time for war and a time for peace. 

What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”‬

Part of building our faith in God and accepting His sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is to stop trying to see things in our time and have faith that He will guide us in His time. This is the only way to understand His world of eternity with our human minds that live within the boundaries of human time. We will always fail when battling our time in this world, but with God, all things are possible. God makes no mistakes.