You’ve Got Mail

Back when I was at Fredonia State and had my whole life in front of me, (Actually I still have my whole live in front of me but that’s another story) my friends and I used to sit around after Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and talk about how great it would be if we could receive a registered letter from God outlining how our lives would unfold. Well, truth be told, maybe I was the only one really interested in receiving this letter. Life can be scary and I thought a nice life outline from God would set me more at ease.

But that isn’t how it works. God gives us just enough to take one step, then another step. His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105) Unfortunately, it more akin to a flashlight pointed straight down than to those purplish high-beam headlights on cars that turn nighttime to high noon.

Jumping forward, more years than I’d care to admit, I was recently talking with a friend about this whole registered letter from God concept, and how we used to talk about it in college. After listening to me, she stated, “The Bible would be a pretty good letter don’t you think?” My response, (face/palm) ……….DUH!?

Now I’m fairly certain this answer must have come up while in college, but regardless her answer hit me right between the eyes and got me thinking. My first thought, was of course, “she was right.” The Bible is a letter from God; it contains guidance, encouragement, and wisdom for our days on this earth. My second thought was, “what has God been writing to me?” God has a lot to say to us, the verses below are just a start.

1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. - Proverbs 3:1-3

13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.
- Proverbs 3:13-18

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. –Jeremiah 29:11-14

21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. – Psalm 73:21-26

105 By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
– Psalm 119:105 (MSG)

The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:10-24

So you’ve Got Mail. We are only promised today, and for every today, God gives us His Word to light our Path, and provide direction along with the Holy Spirit. Enjoy your letter, it was written just for you.

Relationships

(I wrote this one a few years ago and it was also a guest blog on Jeff Dickhut's site so I decided to put it up here as a part of my beginnings)

 

I’ve tentatively titled this essay Relationships.  I may change the title, it’s 2 am and I'm getting tired.  The genesis of this essay was a mini discussion that I was having with God earlier tonight 6-15-07, after getting off the phone with a friend.  The enemy was trying to attack me and I wasn’t in the best mood.  OK, I was starting to whine.  The “discussion” went more like this:

 
Me “God, why? why? why?”
God “Who is in charge, me or you.”
Me “you”
God “Do you trust me?”
Me “yes”
God “OK, then shut up and listen to what I am going to show you for the umpteenth time.”

As you can see, it was a one sided discussion. Many of my discussions with the Lord seem to go that way.

As I have said to a friend, I have the social skills of an aardvark. I am not the type of person to walk into a room and immediately make 10 new friends. It takes me a long while to open up to people. Even with those whom I love I sometimes have trouble communicating effectively. I chalk it up to a combination of my upbringing and my natural abilities; I’m more analytical and less touchy, feely.

On the other hand I think I am a hopeless romantic. Ok, I’ll let you in on a little secret, I am pretty sure I am, I watch “The Wedding Singer,” “A Walk to Remember,” and “Ever After” whenever they are on cable. I love the end of “The Wedding singer.” I think they are great movies, but don’t tell any guys or my membership in the guy club may be revoked. For the record, I also get worked up when I watch more manly movies like “Saving Private Ryan,” “Band of Brothers,” and “Rudy,” especially at the end when the team and stands chat Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, etc. You can stop laughing now! As fun as those romantic comedies are, they really are not accurate pictures of relationships.

Real relationships, and I am taking friendships too, not just dating relationships, take time and energy. In order to get to know someone you must spend quality time with him or her. You have to give of yourself putting others ahead of you. That’s sounds obvious, but with today’s fast-paced world it is not easy. I am guilty of spending too much time at my career and losing some friendships along the way. I struggle with this daily. Real relationships are like washing your car. You can spend time washing, drying, waxing, buffing, using Armor-all on the tires, etc and feel a sense of accomplishment, or you can spend $15 on Delta Sonic and be in and out in 10 minutes.

After God told me to shut up and listen, He brought me to a few verses

“A friend loves at all times,” – Proverbs 17:17

What is love?

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

There is nothing in this passage that speaks to being in a rush. In fact patience and perseverance are mentioned, and mean quite the opposite.

Patience is defined: a virtue, is the capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience, emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay. Its opposite is weakness.

Perseverance is defined: a virtue, implies persistence, endurance, hardiness, fortitude, stamina, robustness and tolerance. It is constant persistence in a course of action, purpose, or state, steadfast pursuit of an aim, tenacious assiduity or endeavor.

Both definitions were taken from, http://miriams-well.org/Glossary/

In one sense, we are stuck with our family members. The neat thing about friendships is that we are generally able to choose our friends. We get to get to know people that have similar and different interests, outlooks and goals. Our friends help us along this journey of life. Friends are cool. We need to continuously work at our friendships to keep them vibrant.

Now I am going to say a little regarding dating relationships. I am no expert on the subject so I will be brief. The best advice I can provide is to ignore our American culture. It is totally screwed up. Life isn’t a Hollywood movie. Most of us aren’t going to find a love of a lifetime in 90 minutes like the actors in the romantic comedies mentioned before. It may be true for some, but I believe real relationships take time. I really wish I would have know all this when I was between the age of 16-22, it would have saved much pain. I’ve learned you are better off developing a friendship before jumping into a dating relationship. The opportunity to marry your best friend and spend a lifetime growing old together is priceless. Finally, pray, pray, pray. Ask God for guidance. I do this at least twice a day.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8

That’s all I really have to say on relationships for now.

Got Hope?

(I originally posted this as  a Guest Blog on Jeff Dickhut's "Light and Salty" http://belightandsalty.blogspot.com/?m=1  blog back in 2012 (Yikes) I figured it was a good one to start with here.)

I was driving to work recently and I noticed a car with a "Got Hope?" bumper sticker.   Adjacent to the bumper sticker  was a "Darwin" Fish car emblem, a clear parody of the Christian Ichthys symbol.  I smiled when I noticed the two messages that the car owner was sharing with the world, or at least Western New York commuters. The  Darwin Fish was a statement.  It said I believe in evolution.  I believe we came from goo, and there is no difference between mankind and any other creature.  "Got Hope?" was a question, obviously asking Got Hope?  If your worldview is framed by believe in evolution, hope is an interesting concept. Where do you get your hope from if you believe that we all came from the primordial ooze, a bunch of proteins that magically got together eons ago?  Do you find your hope in man and man's institutions?  Do you believe we are star stuff as Carl Sagan said during the PBS series Cosmos?  Where does the person who believes in evolution get their hope?  To be honest, I do not know.  But seeing the bumper sticker and car emblem on that car caused me to think, our worldview is different.  Where do we get our hope?  What is our hope?

First, what is hope?  Webster's dictionary defines hope as follows:

intransitive verb 1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation <hopes for a promotion>
2 archaic : trust

transitive verb 1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : trust

All these definitions apply to our hope.

Paul in Romans 8:18-27 says: "For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." - Romans 8:24-25 (NIV)

The first part of Romans 8:24 says, "For in this hope we were saved."  what hope is Paul talking about in this verse?  To understand the hope mentioned we need to back the turnip truck up and start at the beginning of the passage.

Future Glory

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that^[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 

 ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. - Romans 8:18-25 (NIV)

Paul is speaking about our future glory of which we are assured by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ our savior. The fact that we will be liberated from our bondage through faith in Jesus in not in doubt. He conquered sin and death on the cross. It is finished!  If we confess with our mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in our heart God raised him from the dead we will be saved.  

Backing up to Romans Chapter 5:1-11  we read.

Peace and Joy 

 ¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 

 ⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

 ⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! ¹⁰For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We see that grace leads to faith, and without faith there can be no hope.  Our hope comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and hope does not disappoint. When we have trouble and suffering we don't have to go moping around like Eeyore saying woe is me! Life is over! No one cares about me!  It's right there in verses 3-5.

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:3-5

And Isaiah 40:30-31

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Hope does not disappoint!  We will have struggles.  There will be suffering.  We will grow tired and weary. Paths may not always be clear. But our future glory is assured if we persevere in faith, and in faith we have hope in the Lord. So now if I see another bumper sticker with "Got Hope?" I will say yes I do, and praise God for grace, strengthened faith, and hope.

As Steve Curtis Chapman sings in Heaven in The Real World (1994)

I saw it again today in the face of a little child
Looking through the eyes of fear and uncertainty
It echoed in a cry for freedom across the street and across the miles
Cries from the heart to find the missing part

CHORUS
Where is the hope, where is the peace?
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy, and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world

To stand in the pouring rain and believe the sun will shine again
To know that the grave is not the end
To feel the embrace of grace and cross the line where real life begins
And know in your heart you've found the missing part

CHORUS
There is a hope, there is a peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy, and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world
Heaven in the real world

BRIDGE
It happened one night with a tiny baby's birth
God heard creation crying and He sent heaven to earth

CHORUS
He is the hope, He is the peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world

(Chorus)

We know the hope. We have the Hope. We need to share the Hope.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13