Make Sure You Are Actually Experiencing God 

My wife and I were sitting in a park watching a Fourth of July fireworks display. As the night sky began to light up with the beautiful illuminations, I found myself momentarily distracted by a small group of pre-teen girls standing a short distance away. What first annoyingly caught my eye was the bright light from their phones. Then I noticed that they weren’t actually watching the fireworks. They were busy posing for pictures with the light display behind them. They had their backs turned to the main event as they took selfies or as their companions snapped their photos. And it turned out not to be a momentary, quick photo session. It seemed to go on for quite some time. As I tried to keep my own attention focused on the wonderful fireworks, it struck me how these individuals were so intent on documenting their presence there that they were missing the actual show.

 Let’s be careful not to be guilty of similar actions when it comes to our encounters with the Lord in our lives. Let’s not get so caught up in just “showing up” or in the appearance of being in the Lord’s presence that we miss out on actually experiencing Him. There is something to be said in favor of just being there, whether it is at a worship service, in a personal prayer time, or opening up our Bibles to read. We need to be present in order to give ourselves an opportunity to be touched by the Lord. However, are we simply putting in our time, fulfilling what is expected of us, putting in an appearance in order to impress others or to try to impress God, or are we actually encountering the Lord in those moments? Are we meeting Him, contemplating His glory, listening for His voice, and fellowshipping with Him? Are we simply in the vicinity of the spiritual fireworks of God’s glory and power, or are we experiencing it for ourselves?

If selfies and photo ops had been available in Jesus’ day, there were some religious leaders who probably would have been experts at its use. Those Pharisees would have been taking selfies to document their pious activities, letting others see how godly they were. They would have posted their location every time they were at the temple or synagogue. They would have taken a selfie whenever they gave an offering or did a good deed. They would have made sure someone was getting it on video as they were praying their long prayers or as they were reciting the scriptures. They would have loved social media. Nevertheless, in the midst of all their appearance of godliness, they were missing out on the actual experience. When the Son of God Himself showed up, they could have “beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). But instead, they turned their backs on Him. “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). They were so busy with their appearance of being close to God that they missed the fireworks when He actually showed up.

It is good to be active in religious activities and busy in church work. However, let’s not allow those things to become a substitute for actually encountering the Lord and experiencing Him working in our lives. Let’s not fall into the modern prevalent trap of focusing more on appearances rather than on the experience itself. Go to church, but be sure you meet God there. Pray, but really talk to and listen to the Lord. Read your Bible, but hear what God wants to say to you and learn about His will for you. Experience God yourself.

 

Watch Out for Distractions 

I know a young driver who recently had what fortunately turned out to be only a minor mishap. I understand that he was reaching over to steady a bag in the passenger seat of his vehicle when he ran off the side of the road, slightly damaging his truck. Such momentary distractions while driving have resulted in much more serious accidents at times, even deadly ones. Many of us had to learn that lesson at some point after we first hit the road as licensed drivers, sometimes having to learn the hard way. No matter how skilled we may be at navigating a car, all it takes is a little distraction to cause us to lose our focus and end up in an accident. These days cell phones are a prominent culprit, but it can also be simply looking away for a moment in order to adjust the radio, correct a child, grab a cup, or talk to a passenger. It doesn’t take much and it doesn’t take long, but the effects can be devastating. Hopefully we have learned to keep our eyes on the road and not to allow anything to draw our attention away from the important task of driving.

We also have to watch out for whatever might distract us as we seek to follow Jesus. It isn’t always the obvious temptations, the moral failings, or the enemy attacks that throw us off track. Sometimes it can simply be something that takes our eyes off Jesus or away from the path on which He is leading us. It may not even be a bad thing. However, it is something or someone that deflects our attention away from our main task and mission as a follower of Jesus and gets us focused elsewhere. Before we realize it, we find ourselves off the narrow road trying to find our way back. Or we may even end up stuck in a ditch or plowed into a tree as we survey the damage and seek a way out.

Jesus seemed to be warning about the possibility and effects of such distractions in the parable of the sower when He referred to how “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” can hinder God’s Word from bearing fruit in our lives (Matthew 13:22). Paul also pointed to such a danger, advocating that we follow His example of keeping focused on the “one thing” while we “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). He also warned Timothy to be “a good soldier of Jesus Christ”, including not getting too entangled in the affairs of this life (II Timothy 2:3-4). We have a Savior to follow, a calling to fulfill, and a mission to accomplish – we dare not let anything distract us from it.

Nevertheless, it can be easy to lose our focus. We get caught up in the necessary routines of life and lose sight of what is most important. We get to looking at the visible, here-and-now and forget about the invisible realities related to eternity. We get busy carrying out our other roles in life and forget that we are soldiers of Christ involved in a battle for souls. We get distracted by politics, jobs, family, or sports. Don’t get me wrong – those aspects of our lives can be important and valid parts of the good road on which Jesus calls us to travel. However, they can also become distractions if we allow them to get out of their proper place. 

Are we letting anything cause us to take our eyes off Jesus and His purposes for us? Keep your eyes on the road. Don’t let anything distract you from “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

 

The Bible Lets Us Know What Is Coming 

One day recently I was surprised to receive my Wednesday local newspaper in the mail on Tuesday. My first thought was that someone had made a mistake, but then I remembered that the following day was a holiday in which the post office would be closed. However, it still was a little eerie to read the news that was dated for the next day. It reminded me of the old TV show in which a man regularly received what was described as “tomorrow’s newspaper today.” He was supernaturally given advanced notice of events and used that knowledge to avert certain disasters, save people from harm, or help prepare for some occurrence. I was a little disappointed when I examined my day-early newspaper and didn’t find any such prognostications that I could use to make a difference, alter the future, or make advance preparations.

While we rightly categorize such a concept as a fantasy, there is a sense in which we actually have received “tomorrow’s newspaper today.” We don’t receive such a supernatural communication on our doorstep or in our mailbox each day. However, God has provided us with some revelation in the Bible about what the future holds. It typically doesn’t provide us with specific dates, but it does give us a clear picture of certain trends we can expect, along with some definite events. Are we paying attention to what it reveals about what is ahead for us? Are we responding appropriately by trying to avoid disasters, warning others, and preparing for what is to come?

One of the most significant events the Bible foretells is the glorious return of Jesus. He will come back to earth to receive His faithful followers to a wonderful destiny of spending eternity with Him while ushering in a time of final judgment on those who have refused to put their trust in Him. If we truly believe that future headline, shouldn’t we be preparing for it? In connection with that truth, the Bible instructs us to watch and be ready. We need to make sure our hearts are right with God and that we are faithfully living for Him. However, it should also motivate us to urgently be warning others, praying for them, and witnessing to them. If we knew in advance that some disaster was going to befall certain people, wouldn’t we make an effort to help them avoid it if we could? Shouldn’t we be doing that in light of our knowledge of Christ’s return?

There are precursors to that main event of which we also need to be aware and be taking appropriate action. The Bible lets us know that leading up to the return of Jesus there will be hardships and persecution for His people. Therefore we need to be getting so grounded in our faith that such tribulation and opposition will be less likely to cause us to stumble. Some of us need to focus less on the hope of escaping such adversities by means of a “rapture” and put more effort into spiritually preparing for the possibility of our having to suffer or even die for our faith before Jesus comes back. The Bible also reveals that many will be deceived by false prophets and their teachings. What are we doing to avoid falling victim to such deception? We need to be spending time in God’s Word, becoming more familiar with the truth, and teaching those truths to others. Between cultural pressures and new technology such as artificial intelligence, along with Satan working to blind people’s hearts and minds, it is getting more difficult to discern truth and will be easier to be deceived.

So let’s study tomorrow’s newspaper. God has given us warning and an opportunity to get ready. Let’s make good use of it.

 

A Word Search for Today’s World 

One of my Father’s Day gifts was one of these word search puzzle books. I am sure you are familiar with how those work, as you examine a page full of rows and columns of letters looking for the ones which spell out certain words, usually words following a particular theme. I don’t know if my daughter gave me that present because she knew I would enjoy it or because she thinks I am getting more elderly and need to work to keep my mind sharp. Either way, I appreciate it.

This gift got me to thinking about some words and concepts which I believe need to be searched for and rediscovered in our day. They seem to be getting more difficult to find not only in today’s world but also within the confines of the Christian church. One such word is “repentance.” As politicians, social activists, media influencers, and Christian ministers talk about the remedy for the woes of our society today, I hear very few make reference to the need for repentance. Of course, in order to do that, you would have to acknowledge the existence of another word that has largely disappeared from view these days, and that is the concept of sin. One of the greatest problems and greatest needs in the world today is that we are embracing sin and refusing to repent. You will find many other words and phrases in that puzzle – love, acceptance, tolerance, inclusion, non-judgmentalism – but sin and repentance are hard to find. However, those concepts are very prominent in the Bible. Jesus began His ministry calling for people to repent (Matthew 4:17). Later He said that He came to call “sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Why aren’t we issuing such a call in our day?

Another word that is missing in our culture and many of our churches today is “holy.” We may find it in reference to God as we sing a praise song or extol His greatness, but I don’t often hear it being applied to His followers. We often focus on our faults, shortcomings, and ungodliness while emphasizing a gracious God who forgives us. And that is a wonderful truth. However, God doesn’t call us to remain ungodly while enjoying the status of being forgiven. He calls us to be holy as He is holy. He wants not only to forgive us but to cleanse us. He intends for us not to remain slaves of sin and sinful living, but to be set free to live for Him and to become more like Jesus. We need to rediscover God’s call to be a holy people – a people devoted to Him who are letting Him purify their hearts and enable them to live godly lives.

Let me mention one other word we seem to have forgotten these days – “character.” A person’s character is important. As we evaluate people, especially our leaders, we tend to emphasize other words and phrases – skill, talents, good policies, fighter, charisma, clever, boldness, getting the job done. However, if a person isn’t of good character, he can’t be trusted to use whatever other qualities he may have for good purposes. He can’t be depended on to do what he says or to stand up for what is right, regardless of what he may have done in the past. Character matters, whether in church leaders or political leaders.

What words would you add to this list? We are living in a puzzling world that is choosing to ignore some important concepts. While we acknowledge their absence in our culture and pray for a turnaround, let’s make sure we aren’t neglecting them in our own lives. Regardless of what others do, let’s confess our sins, repent, and seek to be holy people of good character.

 

Should We Seek a Sign from God? 

I know someone who recently has been apartment hunting. She has been praying and asking others to pray that the Lord would give her guidance about whether to make this move, and, if so, about the specific place to live. As she toured one apartment that she had originally been inclined to favor, several aspects of it made her feel less positive about this option. She declared afterwards that she felt like it was the definitive sign from God not to take it when she saw a bug in the bathtub. Later, she found another apartment that was a little different than what she had first envisioned for herself.  Nevertheless, the more she considered it, the more she was overcome with a sense of peace about it, eventually securing it as her future residence.

 Signs from God can be tricky. Sometimes He graciously gives confirmation about His will for us. Such was the case with Gideon in the Old Testament. It wasn’t just the famous sign of the fleece that Gideon requested (Judges 6:36-40). Later God Himself actually volunteered to give Gideon a sign to calm any fears he may have had about battling the opposing army. He encouraged Gideon to go near the enemy camp and listen to what was being said. When Gideon did so, he heard one of the soldiers recounting a dream about how their camp was defeated. Another soldier interpreted the dream to mean that God had delivered them into the hand of Gideon. This sign from God encouraged Gideon as he went on to fulfill that dream and defeat the enemy.

However, we also know that on at least one occasion Jesus rebuked those who asked Him for a sign. Jesus responded, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign” (Matthew 12:39). One of the problems is that this request didn’t come from sincere seekers of God’s guidance. It was made by scribes and Pharisees who were more intent on testing Jesus and trying to make Him look bad. These religious leaders weren’t open and receptive to the divine revelation that a sign might provide. Jesus had already been giving them plenty of indications as to who He was through His miracles and teachings, yet they were accusing Him of being of the devil rather than of God. 

We don’t need signs from God about matters of which He has already spoken. Too often people ask God for a sign when the guidance they need is very clearly spelled out in the Bible. The real issue may not be that they don’t know God’s will but that they don’t want to accept it. You don’t need a sign from God to tell you whether or not to be faithful to your spouse or if you should refrain from some action that the Bible says is sinful. Neither do we need a sign to inspire us to love our neighbor, to put Jesus first in our lives, to share His Word, and to be a witness for the Lord. God has already directed us to do those things.

It can be helpful when the Lord gives us a sign confirming His will for us. However, let’s be careful about depending too heavily on such a phenomenon. God provides other means through which we can discern His direction in our lives, including the Bible, prayer, the Holy Spirit, the counsel of fellow believers, and that sense of His peace in our hearts.

Don’t insist on a sign when God has already made His will known to you. Be willing to follow His guidance, whatever it may be. Sincerely seek His will, and I believe one way or another He will reveal it to you and will direct your path, even if it is through a bug in a tub.

 

Don’t Abandon the Truth of God’s Word 

I had been noticing a couple of birds building a nest in my wife’s hanging basket on our front porch. They had been working diligently on the project for days. When I took a peek to view their progress, the nest looked almost complete, although no eggs were present yet. However, shortly afterwards I witnessed through the window another slightly larger bird flittering around the porch. As one of the nest-builders was flying back to the basket, this other bird darted toward it, attacked it, and chased it off. I haven’t seen either bird since. It appears that this bully caused the others to abandon their nest.

As followers of Jesus, many of us have built our faith upon the truth of God’s Word. There are those around us who would like to drive us away from the home we have found within the confines of this special revelation from God.  After all, without that objective standard of God’s written revelation, anything could be proclaimed to be true or false, good or evil, right or wrong. As a matter of fact, that is what we are witnessing taking place in our culture today. Truth is looked at as relative and personal rather than being certain and universal. So when some of us still hold to objective truth and believe the Bible is a reliable and authoritative record of messages from God, not just a fallible piece of human literature, we sometimes find ourselves under attack by either individuals or society in general.

This isn’t anything new. Paul alerted Timothy about similar circumstances. He warned of evil individuals who would “resist the truth” and deceive people, while he encouraged Timothy not to abandon what he knew to be true. “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (II Timothy 3:14-16).

Granted, there may be times when we need to rethink our views or change long-held beliefs. However, we should do so because we realize what we had been taught or had previously concluded doesn’t align with God’s Word, not because we have been deceived, pressured, or bullied into forsaking the clear teaching of the Bible. And those attacks don’t just come from an ungodly world. They can also come from within the religious community. Some people who claim to be Christians, even ministers, question our faith if we refuse to conform to the twisted values of our day that run counter to what God says in His Word. They accuse us of being unloving, hateful, intolerant, and not like Jesus if we insist on adhering to the more obvious and orthodox interpretations of the Bible rather than accepting the modern spin they put on certain passages of scripture.

Such attempts to get us to abandon truth may sometimes be as blatant and forceful as that bird attack I witnessed. Other times it simply arises as society increasingly puts pressure on those who don’t adhere to its views. They emphasize their twisted version of truth, celebrate it, and attempt to make those who disagree appear to be foolish, out of step, or even dangerous. It will take courage for people to stand firm on the truth when so many are forsaking it.

 Let’s be committed to being people of the Word and of truth. Don’t let this world bully you into abandoning your confidence in the reliability of the Bible. It is still God’s inspired revelation. Believe it. Live by it. Proclaim it. You will be glad you did.

 

Believers Need Help in Life’s Struggles 

Last weekend the sudden death of a professional golfer was in the news. After he had withdrawn from a tournament on Friday, it was reported on Saturday that he had died. Later the family issued a statement revealing that the young man had tragically taken his own life. Apparently this golfer had been very open about his struggles with alcoholism, anxiety, and depression. However, earlier this year when he was in the spotlight for winning a tournament, I recall some people suggesting that he had seemed to turn his life around recently. After his death, I heard one of his colleagues say that within the past year or so this young man had put his trust in Jesus as His Savior. While the report of his newfound faith can be an encouraging note in the midst of these tragic circumstances, it can also serve as a reminder about the ongoing struggles we can face as believers.

On the one hand, repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Jesus and His death on the cross for our salvation is a life-changing event. Jesus compared it to a new birth. It not only changes our relationship with God but it transforms our hearts and lives. In a very real sense, we become new creations in Christ. We go from being condemned slaves of sin to becoming forgiven children of God. We exit the pathway leading to destruction and enter the road that will take us to heaven. The drastic change due to the Spirit of Christ cleansing us and taking up residence in our hearts would be hard to overstate.

On the other hand, as important as that salvation event is and as momentous a difference it makes for us, it doesn’t automatically resolve all the issues in our lives. Not only may we still have to deal with some of the consequences of our pre-faith lives, but we will also continue to encounter temptations and challenges to our faith. We will find that there are yet tendencies within our own hearts that will seek to pull us in wrong directions at times. We may struggle with some of the same issues we dealt with as an unbeliever, only now we have some greater resources to draw from as we fight those battles. We have the presence of the Lord, the promises of His Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit to assist us. We have a loving Father whom we can talk to in prayer and lean on for support. And hopefully we have other believers on whom we can rely.

We need to remember that the Christian faith isn’t only about a moment of conversion, as significant as that is. It is also a journey. The Bible appropriately describes it numerous times as a “walk.” We must keep moving forward step by step. Our commitment to Christ isn’t just a one-time decision, it is a daily choice. Jesus said that we must daily take up our cross and follow Him. And there will be struggles, temptations, and challenges all along that pathway. Some will come from forces around us, while others will spring up from within us from the remnants of our own fallen nature. Therefore we need to be on guard for both ourselves and for others.

This tragic incident in the golfing community should remind us all to seek the help and support of others when we need it, but also to be the encourager and supporter that someone around us may need. Even as believers we will struggle. Let’s pray for each other and be there for one another. Let’s continue to lean on the Lord every day, every moment. As the old song says, “Lord, we need Thee every hour.”