Future From the Past

1 Corinthians 13:10-13 10when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The first year of your life you were a selfish little baby! Instead of just talking about being hungry or disparaging the state of your diaper, like a mature person would, you just screamed your head off until someone else solved all your problems. Thankfully, almost everyone grows out of this phase of life as they gain a little language and life experience.

Growing up is the experience of learning how to be more self-sufficient. When you feel hungry, you don’t start screaming, you go find food. If now-you wrote a letter to much younger-you there is a lot of wisdom you’d want to impart. Most of these would be lessons on how to avoid heartache, make better choices, and maybe sprinkle in a little bit of how to get rich.

You might even want to tell your younger self which childish things they should have put away a little sooner. If you were to make a list of 15 things you would want to tell yourself from 5-10 years ago, what would they be Further how many of them can you apply to your life in the future?

Obviously, some of the advice would be specific: don’t do this, avoid this person, etc. But a lot of it would be strong words for the person you would like to become. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul is talking about loving one another and keeping an eye on the person Jesus is revealing himself to be in your life. 

You don’t get to know what will happen in the future, but you can use your past to help prepare for it. It is only after you fully come out the other side of hard times that you are able to process and take something that felt like evil and turn it for good.

Paul ends this section in verse 13 saying “now faith, hope, and love abide…but the greatest of these is love.” When you make it through the hard times of life you are better able to give love, and have love, and share love. You’ve made it out of the depths of despair; you know how to turn around and help pull other people out.

You can’t know the future, so how will you use your past?

Rebuilding

Ezekiel 36:33-36 33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by.35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

Have you ever seen a building fall into disrepair after it has been abandoned? Maybe you passed by it during your commute and watched as the years took their toll: windows broke, paint peeled, and bricks crumbled. Our usual response it to think that someone should just knock it down. We should clear that space so that something new and clean can replace it. We saw no value in something so run down.

Thankfully, there are people who see past the shabbiness. They look past the dirt and grime and see that this building has good bones. It can be refreshed and renewed, it just takes a little time and effort. After this place that was in ruins has been restored our amazement grows. This is what God wants to do in our lives!

Most of us only look at people the way they are right now. We only see the flaws and the shortcomings and think “that person is a desolate waste.” But we serve a God that saw past that desolation in us. God took someone others had forsaken and turned them from hopeless to hope-filled. We can be amazed at the work that God has done.

God will rebuild the ruined places and turn our wastelands into fortified and inhabited lands.

The Crowd

Jesus taught in many places during his ministry, and when he did The Crowd was drawn in. No matter how long he taught or the number of people he healed The Crowd wanted more. And Jesus wanted to help them, however Jesus knew that after a long time of giving of yourself you need to take time to revitalize yourself.

At the beginning of Matthew 14 Jesus was told about the death of a close friend, John the Baptist. The Crowd either didn’t know or didn’t care that Jesus might be going through some stuff and sought him out anyway. And this is where we find him starting in Matthew 14:14, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Even though Jesus was dealing with the loss of John he still makes time to show compassion. 

There will be times in your life that you just feel done with everyone and everything, and it is in these times that you need to remember who you are called to be. You may need to dig deep but taking a moment for a deep breath and searching for that little spark can give you the push you need to do the right thing. 

The disciples knew what Jesus was going through and tried to get him to send the people away. Matthew 14:15-18,

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 

The disciples were being great friends to Jesus and trying to get him some time away, but Jesus knew the crowd needed one last push of compassion. Jesus fed The Crowd, more than 5000 people, using only the meager supplies they had available. You may not be able to give extravagant gifts or tons of money. You are able to give your time. Jesus wants to use your time and your talents big or small. 

God will put people in your path who will look to you for help. You just need to be available to answer the call through the power of Jesus Christ.

Memorial Day

Isaiah 25:8 – He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day, and for most of us this only signals a three-day weekend and the unofficial start of summer. We make plans for cookouts and vacations, and in all these fun activities it is easy to forget those who mourn. If it wasn’t for the sacrifice of others, we wouldn’t be able to celebrate the way we do at this time of year.

Unfortunately, mourning has never been a one-day thing. When we experience a loss, it comes in waves. It starts as a sharp, sudden shock and the news of the loss is so unconscionable that we almost refuse to believe it. Then the deep sadness sets in as you realize that things will never be the same again. This is the time when you just put one foot in front of the other and try to make it through the day. This walk is slow but over time you are able to pick up the pace. You are able to go on even if it means that you walk with a limp. 

This Memorial Day, let us remember those that we have lost, and the loved ones left behind. As we weep with those who are weeping, I hope we also look forward to the glorious day when Jesus returns, and all is made right. We look forward to a time when death is no longer something to be feared. Isaiah 25:9, “It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”

When you are going through a hard time cling to that still small spark of hope that the next day might be a little better than the last.

Nostalgia

Did you know that nostalgia used to refer to a medical condition faced by soldiers? In modern language, nostalgia refers to the warm feeling we get when we think about “the good old days.” Back in the 17th-19thcentury however, it referred to soldiers that so badly wanted to go home it was driving them into a manic state. They were so distracted by wanting to be somewhere else that they could do little else than think about the past.

While far from a medical diagnosis nostalgia can still be a problem for many people today. When you look back on your life and where you’ve been, your memory is often unreliable. Things that were good become better, and things that were bad become worse. If you need an example, just think of that one uncle’s story about the fish he caught. Each time he tells it the fish gets a little bit bigger and the struggle gets a little bit harder. Our brains are weird. This is why we are called to keep our minds on the things above.

Colossians 3:1-3 says, “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

While it’s easy to remember the landmark moments that make up our lives, it’s easy to lose the little ones. We don’t store what we had for lunch 6 weeks ago on Tuesday in our long-term memory because it will almost never be important. So, when you are choosing the thoughts to hold on to, choose everlasting truths.

Christ came for you. Other people got in on the deal too, but Jesus came that YOU might be saved. There are so many earthly things that we think about things that our mind says, “if everyone just went back to this the world would be better.” 

It can be fun to rest and reminisce in “the good old days,” just don’t get stuck there. There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your memory. Dwell on the everlasting truths.

In A Pickle

The other day I learned that I had a small paper cut on my finger, and I learned this when I reached into pull a pickle out of a jar. It was a small surprise for sure because I didn’t remember buying the pickles that had thorns. It’s the surprise and sudden pains that can sometimes hurt the most. But it can also be that these pains serve as a reminder that there is an issue that needs to be addressed.

This is how it works when we feel convicted by the Holy Spirit. There are times that we have lost our way and find ourselves stuck in some sin. We know the difference between what is right and wrong, and then we choose wrong. This is the nature of being a sinner. Sinning is something we can do effortlessly, and it is the thing we need to try so hard to fight. 

Thankfully this is not a fight we need to take on alone. 1 Corinthians 15:53-56, 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ve all heard that the wages of sin is death, and if all we had is sin, then we would have nothing to look forward to. However, we have a savior who has blotted out our sin through his sacrifice on the cross. This means that we who are weak and perishable are given the gift and the ability to put on the imperishable. 

We are allowed to share in the victory because of Jesus Christ’s revolutionary act of love. As believers, when our time comes, we will be able to say, “’death where is your victory?’ I have been set free through Jesus!”

Sin will always be something with which we struggle. But there will also always be little reminders that you can come home and be welcomed with open arms—even if those reminders might sting from time to time. 

Pollen Season

It is pollen season in New Jersey. Meaning that many of us are suffering. We are suffering with itchy eyes, runny noses, and we constantly needing to reassure those around us that it’s because the trees are attacking and not the Rona. I’m thankful that this is not my lot in life. The worst part about pollen season for me is that it turns my normally red car orange. And while I am always thankful when it rains hard enough to wash my car, I wouldn’t call a dirty car suffering. 

While the pollen is annoying, we know it serves a purpose and heralds a better time to come. It means that we have survived another cold dark winter. The days are lasting longer and because of the pollen the world will go from dull grey to vibrant green. We just need to muddle through the hard times and be patient for the future glory that is to come.

In Romans 8 Paul puts it this way, “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

When we look at our day-to-day lives, it’s easy to feel bogged down in the mundaneness. Wake up, deal with kids, go to work, eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed, and repeat for the rest of your life. Every now and then though, we get to take a break from the routine. We are able to slow down, to relaxed. And in this relax state we can gain a little perspective. Day-to-day life can at times feel like we’re stuck in a rut, but we do it to secure a better future.

As Christians, it’s easy to have a “what have you done for me lately” attitude towards God. But if we can take a break and look forward to what is to come, we will be reminded that we should be waiting with hope and expectation for the glory that is to come. We have hope in a savior who is coming back to set the whole world free.

Pollen season can be painful, thankfully the growth and beauty to follow make it all worth it.

Where to?

Psalm 119:105-106 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.

Do you ever start traveling without knowing where you’re going? I’m not talking about just going for a ride, then traveling is the destination and 99 times out of 100 you end up where you started. No, I’m asking about those times when you are undertaking a journey. It might be trying to get from point A to point B, but this could also mean when you are setting out to plan your career, your life, or your children’s’ future. 

More often than not, we want to have a full plan in place—with strict step-by-step instructions and regular progress reports—a clear path to get us to our goal. Unfortunately, that’s not always available. Sometimes we can only see our next step, and we’re asked to move. We may not be ready. We may not know where this path will lead. We just know that God is calling us to move forward on a path that will ultimately bring us closer to Him.

There’s a quote (that is much older than Frozen II) that says, “when you don’t know what to do next, just do the next right thing.” And how do we know the next right thing? By having the word as a lamp to our feet. By using the word of God to guide our actions. Now in our modern world we have a lot of people claiming to do that, and it reminds me of another old quote, “people too often use the Bible the way a drunkard uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination.”

When we interact with the word of God, we should be looking to receive knowledge, instruction, and illumination. Sadly, many people scour the scripture for vaguely related and out of context verses that support their political opinions. As Christians, we have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep God’s righteous rules. This sounds a lot weightier than it actually is.

One of the earliest instructions God gave to his people was “be Holy for I am Holy.” This is the oath we are agreeing to when we call ourselves Christians. It is an oath we will fail from time to time. Thankfully God only wants us to get up, try again, and let his word that we’ve returned to be the lamp for our feet and the light for our path.

For you today, what is the next right thing you can do?

Maybe Be Nice?

Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

This verse from Matthew is commonly referred to as “the Golden Rule.” Like so many things, Jesus takes a common idea and turns it on its head by pointing out the higher calling we have been given. We usually think of this concept in the negative, “don’t do anything to others that you wouldn’t want them to do to you.” However, Jesus calls us to take it one step further. It is not enough to just be passively kind; we should be actively seeking out ways to serve and love those around us. 

As Christians we love the idea of the Golden Rule. Living it out becomes a different animal. We always want other people to treat us with kindness and respect. When we have a need, we expect someone to be there and to be available to help us. The problem arises when we realize that it’s a lot easier to receive those things than it is to give those things.

Living by the Golden Rule requires us to recognize our own selfishness and push it to the side. Think of life as trying to merge on to a busy highway. We all want to see someone slow slightly to let us in. When they do, we give them a courtesy wave, and when they don’t, we have no shortage of names or gestures to express our frustrations. Now reverse the roles, how easy is it for you to slow down and let someone in? It’s easy to get selfish, we all have places to be, and letting in the wrong person could slow us down. So, what do you do?

Sadly, this isn’t an easy switch to turn on in our brains. Other places in the Bible it says, “don’t murder.” It’s probably one of the easier commands; I’ve made it my whole life and never committed murder. The real challenge comes in passages like the one we are looking at today. We are given a call, a task, a responsibility to live out every day: to treat others the way we would like to be treated.

You know how you want other people to treat you. Now how can you do that for someone else?

Now What?

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

This past Sunday Christians across the world came together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The most important miracle to our faith. We spend a week recalling, in vivid detail, Jesus’s journey starting from his triumphal entry and ending with his death, burial, and resurrection. 

In many traditions, Christians break down his journey into what is called the Stations of the Cross. Each station meant to be a point where we rest and reflect on Jesus’s experience and the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. The crucifixion wasn’t a quick experience for Jesus. A mob of angry people didn’t just grab him and murder him. He had to live through a process of being condemned by the people he came to help and betrayed by some of his closest friends.

However, throughout it all, he did it willingly and out of the love he has for you and for me. And it is because if this love that we are now called to live for others. He showed us the ultimate example of sacrificial love. He died once for all so that we can put an end to living for ourselves.

This past weekend we contemplated the events of Jesus’s sacrifice and return. It’s easy to think of that as the end of the story: Jesus died, came back, and now I’m saved. And while that is true it neglects that, as believers, we have been given a calling to live out. This sacrifice of ultimate love should inspire us to share that love with others. We have been given new life through Jesus. We once were lost but now we are found. We know the way to salvation and can help others see it too.

The celebration of Jesus doesn’t need to end just because the chocolate and eggs are gone. We should spend our lives inspired by the work done by Jesus on the cross. He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him [Jesus] who for their sake died and was raised.

Holy Week

John 1:6-10 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.8 He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

We are in the midst of Holy Week, the days between Palm Sunday with Jesus’s triumphal entry and Good Friday with Jesus’s crucifixion. These seven days are a picture of how quickly people can be swayed by worldly powers. It is the week in which everyone’s opinion of Jesus changed because he didn’t act the way we pictured a savior would act. He didn’t fit into the box we wanted him to live in.

Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. This is something the people who celebrated his arrival had heard about. Here comes Jesus the man who healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, and he came to solve all my problems. These people fell into a trap we can all fall into on occasion. They wanted “vending-machine Jesus”. I gave him my time, my money, and my faith so now he owes me something!

Hopefully, we all bristle at the thought of our faith being so transactional, but therein lies the danger. We would never define it this way to others, but we do sometimes act like we deserve better because of something we’ve done.

We don’t. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Thankfully, we have a savior who came knowing that we were sinners in need of saving and he willingly sacrificed himself on the cross for us anyway. The Romans didn’t kill Jesus. The Jews didn’t kill Jesus. It was my sin and your sin that yelled “CRUCIFY!” louder than the mob that day.

As witness to the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, we have been called to share the good news that we now know with those that don’t know it. We are not the light, but we’ve seen it and we can show it to a world that needs it.

Springtime

As we look out our windows, we see the first signs of spring starting to peek out around us. Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the grass is getting a little greener. After winter snowstorms, we are ready and excited for the ability to walk out our front doors without considering how many layers of protection we might need. We enter this season with the hope that maybe this year will be better than the last. 

In a year where the days felt like they lasted forever, the months have seemed to have flown by. We are not back to where we would prefer to be, but we are closer than ever before. And being close is sometimes harder than being far. We can see the finish line but know that getting there will take just a little longer and that we must continue to be patient. 

As Christians waiting is nothing new. We are reminded of this in James 5:7-9, “7 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”

In our instant gratification-based society we hate being told to wait. As soon as an urge or need hits us we rush to find a way to fulfill it and make the desire go away. Unfortunately, not all our wants or desires can be met quickly. In James’s example of the farmer, we see the kind of patience we are being called to. We can feed and water the seed, but it will only grow if we give it time. 

There are seeds that you are planting every day: with your family, with your career, with your neighbors, and so many others. We don’t always get the instant gratification we want of seeing our desires grow and flourish. Sometimes it takes a really long time, but that’s okay.

Whatever you are waiting for, I know it is hard to be patient. However, we can establish our hearts in knowing that the coming of the Lord is at hand. God is with us in the waiting. There are the things that we want and can get right now, but there are also times when we are called to wait and trust.

Goodbye

Psalm 147:1-3 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 
He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.

This past weekend my grandfather went to be with the Lord. When I think of him, I remember a strong man that could fix anything, I remember the big black boots that were the only shoes I ever saw, and I remember going to hear him preach when we went to visit. I know there is no small connection to seeing that as a kid and me being in ministry now. I hope that you have someone in your life that you can look to as an example of life-long, steadfast faith. For now however, the world feels a little worse off without him in it.

Thankfully as believers we know that this is not the end of his story. Praise the Lord! He is in heaven rejoicing free of the shackles and pain of our earthly form. And though we need to deal with the complicated feelings of grief in the here and now, we can look forward to being reunited one day in the future.

Grieving is hard and so much more complex than just being sad. No matter how imminent or expected a loss may be, it still hits like a ton of bricks when the time comes. Fortunately, we have a God that is ready for anything we are going through. 

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for you—not some cares, not the socially acceptable struggles, not just the ones you’re ready to admit. No, God wants to hear all of what we are going through. We gain nothing by trying to white-knuckle our way through the hard times.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. The pain will eventually dull, even if it never fully goes away. There is more life to live past these sad times. And though it feels like a piece is missing you are surrounded by people that love you and support you. The world lost a great man this weekend, and he will be dearly missed. May we be the ones that use the losses we face to grow closer to God and each other.

Go tell someone how much you love them.

It’s a Livin’

Have you ever needed to search for a job? It is among the worst things you have to go through when you are starting out in your career. There are so many hoops you are required to jump through. You apply, someone looked over your resume, you have a few discussions with the person that would become your boss, they evaluated your past experience / future potential, and ultimately, decide whether or not to take a chance on you.

Even though it’s rarely fun you want to earn your place. And once you’re there you try and show our worth and advance. Living in modern America this all feels like the standardized path that we have been given to follow. It’s just what you do to get ahead. 

However, as followers of Christ we have a God that turns this whole thing on its head. There is no lengthy evaluation process. God never asks about where your see yourself in five years. No, God looks at you, whether you are living in splendor or in squalor, and says, “I love you and I choose you!”

2 Timothy 1:9 tells us, “[God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” Christian, God knew the choices you were going to make and the life you were going to lead before your grandma’s grandma’s grandma was even born. God knew the struggles, the triumphs, and the mistakes and says, “you are mine; I love you; and you are worth sending my one and only son to die on the cross.”

God never asks us to prove our value to the kingdom, He just loves us for being his children. God has called us to live for so much more than just a simple paycheck. He has given us a holy calling. We already in, we just need to start living like it. 

God’s love is a door without a key, a field without a fence, He’s made a holy fool of me and I've thanked Him ever since.

Muddy

Galatians 6:1-2 – Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This is one of those passages that we can all agree is wholesome and important—a verse that we would all love to live out perfectly. However, it usually ends up as a passage that makes us feel convicted because it touches on something we lack. It is hard work putting our egos aside and helping others out of a mess they have made for themselves. It’s a whole lot easier to sit up on our high horse of perfection and look down on them thinking that they got what they deserved.

Yes, there is always a reason a person can find themselves in the mud. Sometimes it’s a small mistake that leads to disaster, sometimes they’ve been pushed, and sometimes they dive in headfirst not realizing how bad it can get. No matter how they got there, they need someone to help them get out. 

It is so easy to forget all the times we have needed someone to help us up after we have fallen into the mud. We put up our blinders to cover all the bad times and try to move on like nothing ever happened. Mud happens. And this is why it is so important that we bear one another’s burdens.

There will be times that you feel like you are sinking and need someone to pull you out. There will be times that the someone close to you is sinking and they need you to pull them out. Life is hard and it’s far too easy to get bogged down when you try to go it on your own. Thankfully, we can share our needs with the people who love us.

Sharing a burden always makes it easier. This is probably one of the easiest things to see objectively. If you’ve ever moved something heavy it is always easier when you have a friend who can help you. The hardest part becomes asking for or offering help. We feel embarrassed when we can’t take on the world, and we fear upsetting someone by implying they might need help. 

At no point were we called to do everything alone. We are called to be the body of Christ. We all have skills and talents that other people don’t, and we are called to use them together in unity so that none of our brothers and sisters fall alone.

We are in this together.

Harvesting

Matthew 9:36-38 – 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

There is a certain satisfaction that you only see at the end of a difficult or tedious task. Personally, I like to try and outsmart monotonous jobs by finding ways to make them easier, more efficient, or maybe even fun. Unfortunately, for some tasks, there’s nothing to it but to do it. I’m sure this is how farmers feel after a long harvest. They planted the seed, nurtured the plant, watched it grow to maturity, and carefully collected the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. Watching that final product pile up must bring such joy.

When it comes to farming around here, unless you filled your backyard with greenhouses and vertical growers, you mostly just go to the store. Most of us like to skip all the hard parts and just have the pile of food. This also takes away our concept of timing the harvest. For most fruits and vegetables, there is a window in which they can be harvested so that the farmer gets the best product. If you miss the window, the food, you worked so hard to produce, dies on the vine.

And this is what Jesus is talking about here. The best way to ensure that you are getting all that you can is to have enough people to harvest the field in time. There are people in your life who would love to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. There just need to be Christians willing to do the hard work and tell them. We need to encourage one another to be bold in our faith—remembering that bold does not mean judgmental or cruel. We can be the ones who point others to the hope that we have.

Jesus sees the people of this world as sheep without a shepherd. However, he doesn’t judge them or call them dumb. Jesus has compassion, the same compassion that we should be showing. There are people whose hearts are opened to hearing the gospel, they just need to meet someone who is willing to tell them.

The harvest is plentiful, get your hands dirty.

No Sunshine

Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Once when I was living in the Pacific Northwest, the sun only came out seven times in the first one hundred days of the year. It was a cold, dark, drizzly winter. The effects of living away from the sunshine are well document. It’s bad for you. Beyond just simple vitamin D, we want to feel the warmth on our skin, see the reflections and shadows of the world around us, and appreciate the beauty of a sunset.

All of this was blocked by overcasting rain clouds, but this didn’t mean that the sun was gone. Since you were about 8 months-old you knew that just because you couldn’t see something doesn’t mean it ceased to exist. The sun still did it’s thing, turning hydrogen into helium. And objectively, you know the sun will be there when the clouds break, but at times it can feel like the sun may never come out again.

This happens in our faith as well; things are going fine and then the clouds roll in. The clouds of work stress, family drama, health stuff, or any of uncountable number of things that can make us feel lost and alone. The book of Joshua reminds us the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This was a stressful time for the nation of Israel Moses, who has been leading them since they left slavery in Egypt, has just died, and God is calling Joshua, his assistant, to take on the leadership role. This situation is filled with stress! Joshua just lost a friend/mentor/leader, and in the midst of dealing with that lost he has people looking to him to make tough decisions and lead.

It is in the times when the clouds feel the darkest that we need to remind ourselves that the sun is still out there. When we feel mired and buried in stress, we can know that God is still out there. God still loves us. God is still with us in the midst of it. It is all too easy these days to just see the clouds that surround us, take a moment to remind yourself of the sun that is there no matter what you face.

The sun may come out tomorrow!

Make Do and Mend

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 – 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

In the early 1940s the UK was under constant threat of attack because of the war. As part of the war effort the UK government came up with, what our modern eyes would see as, an ad campaign. These were slogans that the British citizens could rally behind while trying to live life in the face of an unpredictable hazard. The most famous one, because of its recent renewal (and subsequent abuse) was: “Keep Calm and Carry On,” evoking that classic British stiff-upper lip mentality. All these slogans were to help the citizens see that they were all in this situation together.

My favorite of these rallying phrases is “Make Do and Mend.” I love it because it reminds us that we need to maintain the things that are important to us. Our present day struggles with throw-away culture and planned obsolescence have driven us down a road where mending isn’t really a part of our daily lives anymore. The trouble arises when this thinking worms its way into everything including, our relationships, it’s easier to leave someone behind than to help them along.

Every relationship will have some level of making do—which has the beautiful definition of managing with the limited or inadequate means available—because none of us are perfect. This is easy for us to accept most of the time. It’s the second half of the phrase that makes us uncomfortable. 

Mending is hard, especially mending relationships. Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and apologize first. Sometimes you need to be brave and tell someone they hurt you. Sometimes you need to show love to someone with whom you fundamentally disagree. As the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, we need each other. There will be times when you fall down, and you need someone to help you up. There will be times that you will need to be the forgiver, however, there are also many times that we will need to be forgiven. 

We’ve all known people who live with a “my way or the highway” mindset. Eventually, most people choose the highway. Cultivate a soft heart with the people you are close to. Let us be the ones that are quick to forgive, and even quicker to mend our relationships.

We need each other.

Snowed In

This week tons and tons of snow covered New Jersey. In drifts and valleys, whole neighborhoods were given fresh blankets of cold, soft, quiet. It is a sight to behold in the moonlight, when you’re cozied up with some hot chocolate, in your PJs, or next to a fire. It’s truly beautiful, until you need to get the shovel out. Once you have the shovel in your hand snow stops being fun. It’s heavy and wet, and instead of being beautiful it becomes a responsibility that you need to address.

Snow masks the land; holes and hills get evened out, and all the little imperfections are hidden beneath a veil. We know in our hearts that it won’t be this way for long and no matter how beautiful it is or how hard we try, we can’t keep the snow forever. I think we see the way snow hides imperfections in the land and try to do the same thing with our lives.

We hide the things we don’t like about ourselves with traits we wish we had. Hiding insecurity with over-confidence, fear of not being good enough with perfectionism, loneliness with shallow relationships, and the list could go on and on. Even as Christians we sometimes feel the need to hide that we are sinful people (just like everyone else) by putting our holiness on display. Acting as though seeing our perfect lives is what saves people rather than Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Snow doesn’t last. Keeping up a thin layer of perfectionism / false confidence / saintliness is exhausting; eventually you will slip up and show people the real you. We all have the mark of sin on our lives, we all need a savior. So why not skip all the trouble and just be your authentic self? Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” 

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is what ultimately covers your imperfections. Lean into that salvation and let it bring good news to your heart when you feel the need to put on a show for the world. The snow will melt. Our masks will fall. And just like the hard work of digging ourselves out after a blizzard, we need to be willing to do the hard work of being honest with the world and say, “I am a sinner saved by grace. I am trying to do better; failing just means I need to try again.”

No Natural Talent

Have you ever known someone who was expertly skilled at something? Maybe they could play an instrument beautifully, fix a car easily, build things well, or solve a puzzle quickly. We look at what they can do and think, “I could never do something like that.” The trouble is that we are seeing those skilled people at the end of a journey that started in the same place we are right now.

No one sees a guitar for the first time and immediately starts shredding. It takes time, and patience, and practice. You need to be willing to overcome the struggle with being a blank slate as you learn the basics. When you get those down, you stretch yourself a little more to learn something new. And this is the great thing, there is rarely a ceiling on how much you can learn about something as long as you just keep practicing.

This is why doctors “practice” medicine or lawyers “practice” the law. In medicine bloodletting used to be cutting edge technology, “You have a cold? It’s probably because you have too much dang blood in you!” In New Jersey it is illegal to slurp soup in public, so let’s go to court. Neither of these things are top of mind for either of these groups because the fields are always growing to use the best knowledge we have.

This is how our faith should be, ever-growing. We all start at the basics; God loved me so much that He sent his only Son to die on the cross for my sins. With this knowledge we are supposed to share that love with the people around us. We can learn more about the history of our faith. We can find new ways to apply our faith. The first readers of the scriptures probably never thought about people studying them over the internet or listening to someone read it anytime anywhere. But here we are reiterating and remixing the old and the new in wonderful and interesting ways.

We just need to keep practicing, using the scripture we learn to grow in our faith. James in 1:22-24 writes “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, they are like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”

We have a limitless potential to grow in our faith. We just need to put in a little bit of practice. We don’t need to look at other people and think, “I wish I could be like them.” We just need to decide to start.