Faithfulness - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2022 | Day 23: Days

⁸ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3:8 KJV

This verse in Peter’s second letter is interesting because of how it describes God. God does not experience the passage of time the same way that we do. It is been said that God is eternal. So, the very idea of “time” for God is probably nonsensical. But for us, that is a notion that we struggle to make sense of because our experience of time is not like that.

Peter says that one day for God is like “a thousand years” for us. And that a thousand years for us is as “one day” for God. That seems repetitive. And it is to a certain extent. What we must keep in mind is what this is describing. It is describing a relationship between how we perceive things and how God perceives things.

A thousand years ago the world look very different than it does today in the 21st century. The changes that have occurred in the last 100 years are more drastic than what happened in the previous 900 years. And we look back on that time and cannot fathom having to live in those circumstances or conditions. And this is the reality this verse is drawing our attention to.

There are so many times when I’ve had conversations about God’s timing. Why doesn’t God do this? Or why can’t God do that? These are fair questions from our perspective because we recognize that our lives will come to an end. And it’s this finite reality of life that causes us to want for God to act more quickly. What this reveals is a basic misunderstanding about God’s will for the world.

While God cares for us and desires for each of us to experience the fullness of his love and grace, there is a greater purpose for which God is at work. We do not always understand it. In many ways, we feel like we never will. But this does not change the fact that God’s will is God’s primary focus.

So, the feeling of frustration we feel when God seems to delay his activity or intervention is based on a presumption we should challenge. That presumption is that God is obligated to fulfill our requests when we asked them. But this is not the case. We must grow in our humble submission to God’s plan and purposes for the world.

The fact that for God one day is as a thousand years is a reminder that what God is doing he has been doing for a long time. And because God has been at work for far longer than we have existed we should not lose heart when we do not get what we ask for when or how we asked for it. We should remember that what God is doing will be of greater value to the whole of creation and to us individually than anything we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

As each day passes and as we draw closer to Easter morning I pray we would pause and remember God’s faithfulness endures. The fact that God’s timeline follows a longer arc than our own should give us comfort. But many of us have to learn to rest in that. And that takes time. Time is something God has more of than any of us. So he can wait on us to catch up to him.

Lent 2022 | Day 13: Steadfast

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

The prophet Jeremiah said in his great lament that the steadfast love of the Lord and his mercies are new every morning.

This is an amazing thing to consider. What does this mean in light of the fact that God never changes? It certainly cannot mean that there is something different in God. So we must consider that whatever is new, is new for us.

It is a common mistake made by many followers of Jesus to believe they have “a grasp” of who God is. This is truly poor thinking on our part. But what do I mean? Only that when we assume we have an extensive understanding of Jesus or of God we are setting ourselves up to get something wrong.

So Jeremiah said that the love of the Lord and his mercies, they never cease, they never come to an end, and yet they are new every morning. I take this to mean that as we journey with God we discover new aspects of his mercy and love we had not seen or experienced before. Each of these discoveries reminds us of how great and mysterious God is.

When we assume we have an extensive understanding of Jesus or of God we are setting ourselves up to get something wrong.
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As we continue to grow in our understanding of faith, we should always remember what God is doing in us, around us, and through us is going to expand our understanding of who he is. In a sense, we should be perpetually surprised about what God is able to do. Not because we have called into question his ability. But because we marvel at the fact God could do so much with so little.

This is not meant to diminish us in any way. It’s only to acknowledge the difference that exists between who God is and what we are. When we live our lives with a proper perspective of who God is we will not have to fight against our pride as much. We can lean into a posture of humility before God and with others. We won’t be so concerned with our failures or shortcomings. We will just try to trust God more. To get out of his way so that he could have his way.

The fact God is steadfast should be a source of comfort to us. But I think too often we find that discouraging. And I’m not sure why. It could just be we have a hard time accepting there is anything that is actually unchanging in our lives or in the world around us.

As we continue in this season of Lent I am reminded that I can find comfort in God’s steady and persistent character. May that be something we remember more intentionally in the coming days and weeks. Let us be thankful that God does not change.

No shortcuts to a deeper relationship with God

I subscribe to a website that shows you when e-books get discounted. One day, one of the books on sale was related to discipleship and being able to increase the depth of discipleship in a short amount of time. While on the surface this does not appear to be a problem. I found that the more I thought about it, the less I liked what it was saying about the discipleship process.

What do I mean? It makes me uncomfortable to think people are trying to short-circuit the discipleship process in their lives.

The reason for this is there is no shortcut to a deeper level of discipleship. There is no quick way of growing in intimacy with God. And to think that there is we put ourselves on a path toward self-deception. A path that leads to spiritual harm and weakness. Discipleship is a journey. It is a journey that takes time and endurance in order to achieve the ultimate goal.

This raises an interesting question: What is the ultimate goal of discipleship?

I believe the ultimate goal of discipleship is a deep and abiding relationship with God. That’s it. That’s the whole of it.

tThe ultimate goal of discipleship is a deep and abiding relationship with God. That's it. That's the whole of it.

That relationship with God cannot be achieved by taking shortcuts. Now, I know that the book and other books like it are not trying to necessarily give the reader the impression it is possible to have a deep relationship with God in a short amount of time. However, that was the effect it had on me. And I have been maturing in my understanding of discipleship for over 20 years.

The fact that we struggle in our discipleship journey does not mean there is not some redemptive purpose in it. None of us likes to struggle. None of us likes to think there is a measure of suffering we all must endure. But life does not always come wrapped in a tight little bow.

Sometimes life is messy. In other times it can be downright vicious. But in spite of whatever comes at us in this life, we will do all we can to look towards what God has promised and not merely what we hope for him to fulfill at our request.

In my own life discipleship has often been costly. The reason for the cost of true and lasting discipleship is it requires us to sacrifice something we would normally never consider we could sacrifice. And what is that? We are called to sacrifice our very lives.

The reason for the cost of true and lasting discipleship is it requires us to sacrifice something we would normally never consider we could sacrifice.
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This is the very thing Jesus does in his own example to us. Jesus enters into the world and he lives a life among people who do not understand who he truly is. He lives among people who only see someone who can bring them out of their own suffering and into what they believe is a life of abundance. But not the spiritual kind of abundance God desires to give. But the kind of abundance that says we are supposed to be rich in the world’s treasures. But Jesus says he has come to give us life and that life to the fullest.

I think what troubled me the most about books that promise to give us special insights and a quicker route to a deeper relationship with God is it offers something that not even God has promised to us. God calls us into a deeper relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ and invites us to live all eternity with him. Too often we find this invitation to be too far off. And so what we do, we look for ways to help God give us what we desire. But it’s not something we desire according to God’s purposes. It is what we desire according to our own.

I think one of the great challenges of the Christian faith is trusting in God’s timing. Learning to rely upon God to bring us to those moments and places he has determined are for our greatest good.

And so we need to learn to be patient. We need to learn to be more trusting. We need to learn to be more content with what God is giving us rather than looking for a “get holy quick scheme.”

Lent 2021, Day 2 | Psalm 119:5-8

The life of faith is mired with possibilities. It can feel at times that there are too many options for how God may want us to go.

Psalm 119:5-8

⁵Oh that my ways may be steadfast
    in keeping your statutes*!
⁶Then I shall not be put to shame,
    having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
⁷I will praise you with an upright heart,
    when I learn your righteous rules.
⁸I will keep your statutes;
    do not utterly forsake me!

* Through these reflections, those phrases that identify God’s word, revelation, or law will be highlighted in the text in the hopes of accentuating the many and varied ways we can visualize what God has given to us for our good.

Reflection

The life of faith is mired with possibilities. It can feel at times that there are too many options for how God may want us to go. The uncomfortable irony is that there are not as many “options” as we may think.

God is only interested in one thing, that we would live a life that is consistent with his character. In our search to live this out, we find that there are so many ways of expressing that singular reality. Each opportunity as unique as our imaginations can create.

What I have found out in the last few years is that by increasing my focus on becoming more like God, I am able to have a wider impact. Not because I am trying to, but because I am available to. The closer I grow in my relationship with God, the easier it is to hear what he wants of me. The clearer I see the world the way he does.

All of this begins with a commitment to keep our “eyes fixed on all [his] commandments.”

Commentary

Verse 5: The first section of Psalm 119 concludes with a cry for strength in daily obedience. The idea of being “steadfast” points to a firmness of conviction. It carries the implication of resolution and of not being swayed or deterred. The Psalmist calls upon the Lord to fortify them because the tendency will be to not remain steadfast. The precepts of the Lord are contrary to the current of the world around us, therefore it requires an increased commitment to persist in our obedience as God rightly deserves to receive.

Verse 6: How does the Psalmist characterize the effect of remaining steadfast in God’s precepts? We see the answer here in verse 6. When we are steadfast, we are not then “put to shame.” This is not about embarrassment or fear. To be put to shame points more to living according to a lie. To being exposed as frauds and charlatans. The strength of our conviction to obey God’s word, the greater our confidence in God himself. This is an odd relationship. But only when we do not consider God’s commands to be perfect. For God to expect complete obedience, we must believe in the complete and total goodness of God. That he will not call us to an action that will purposely lead us to evil or ruin.

Verse 7: The greater our commitment to learn and apply what God has instructed, the greater its impact on our hearts. We become more like God because we are conforming ourselves to his character. This will inevitably lead to praise. To worship. When we know God better, by living as he lives, we grow in our ability to draw near to him.

Verse 8: The closing verse of the first section is a plea. The Psalmist offers a promise to “keep your statutes”. They then ask for God to remain faithful to them. The sentiment is quite passionate. “Do not utterly forsake me!” (Emphasis added). It is not necessarily that the Psalmist fears being cast off from God, but rather that there is a recognition that in keeping the Lord’s statutes there is a corresponding promise by God to be attentive to their plight.

The Complete Lent 2021 Series

Lent 2020 | Day 11: “Journey”

Our focus for today will be that of “journey.”

Several years ago, I attended a youth retreat. During one of the breakout sessions, a friend of mine was leading a small group discussion on the idea of “packing for the journey.” It was a reference to preparing to take your faith more seriously. To live it our more intentionally.

I don’t remember everything that he said. But I do remember one of the things that he did. In the middle of the room was a huge tent, one that you would take when you went out camping. And around the tent, he had set up what looked like a campsite, minus the fire. The biggest impression that that example left me was with the idea that the Christian faith is a journey. And as with every journey, we must learn to prepare for what is ahead.

One of the key ideas that we talk about at our local congregation almost every week is the idea that we want to normalize the Christian life. What that means is that we desire for every believer to take into consideration what it is going to take to live a life that is pleasing to God and satisfactory to us.

The journey that we are on as believers in Christ, and as sojourners in this world, waiting for our time to be with God forever, requires us to take into account how we live our faith. We have to take inventory of what we must do in order to live a life that consistently reflects what we believe about God, about the gospel, and about ourselves.

The reality is that the journey that we’re on requires us to take into account the many things that will come across our path. We cannot anticipate everything, but we can prepare for almost anything if we would just consider the way that life is lived.

It is true, that the gospel life that we are called to live is one that is very different from the world around us. And yet there are many things that are consistent, even constant. We must seek every day to be prayerful, to read the Scripture. To be mindful of the fact that the call to worship is not something that merely happens one day a week, but happens every single day. We must learn to engage in this journey actively and not allow this journey to happen to us in some passive sense.

In this season of Lent, as we move diligently and intentionally toward Resurrection Sunday, I encourage you to consider the journey that you’re on and to ask yourself, “Am I doing everything that I can to be prepared for what might come.”

Lent 2020 | Day 3: “Command”

The focus for Day 3 will be “command.”

One of my favorite moments that took place in Jesus’s ministry was when he encountered the Centurion (Matthew 8:5-12). The man comes to Jesus and asks him to heal his servant. And as Jesus says that he will, he says that he will go with the centurion to his house, but the centurion stops him and says to Jesus, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

What makes this story so impactful to me and the reason that I love it so much is because, in it, Jesus makes an amazing and bold statement about the faith of this centurion. He looks at the centurion’s faith. And Jesus says that there is no greater demonstration faith in all of Israel except the faith that is seen in this Gentile soldier. In this simple action, faith is both demonstrated and defined.

Why?

Why does Jesus say this about the Centurion’s faith? Because of the way the Centurion defined what it means to believe. The Centurion said to Jesus, if you would just say the word, it will happen. The Centurion was a man under authority. And the example that he gave was that if he commanded one of his servants to go, he would go, and if he commanded him to come, he would come.

It is amazing to me, that in this simple exchange, we see one of the most important aspects of faith. Faith is grounded in our obedience. It is grounded in our willingness to accept that which we have been commanded to do. When we surrender our will to the will of God; when we surrender our desires to the desires of God; when we surrender all that we are to become more and more like Christ; we accept in faith, by faith, through faith, that who we are is who God has designed us to be from the very beginning.

The issue of command can sometimes be a burden because we do not want to submit to the one who has given it. But that is the heart of the problem. We have to recognize that in order for us to receive all that we desire from God, we must first surrender all that we desire in ourselves. This is the challenge of being a disciple of Christ. This is the challenge that we are being asked to confront in this season of Lent.

As we move forward, preparing ourselves to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we must remember that we also like the centurion are those who ought to be under authority. We must submit ourselves to the commands of God, as John tells us in 1 John, that the “commandments [of God] are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). So if they are a burden to us, we should ask ourselves a simple question. Why? what must I do to relieve myself of this burden? The reality is the answer is quite simple. We must obey. And in our obedience, we will see the faithfulness of God manifested as he speaks the word like he did over the servant, he can do that for us even today.

Lent 2019 | Day 32: Steady

On Friday, I rode with my father to visit one of his friends. A pastor he has known for over thirty years. What I did not know was that I was going to meet a giant in the kingdom.

Pastor Tracy Hipps serves as the Executive Director of Christian Service Mission. CSM is an amazing ministry that strives to help the church reach the community in which it lives. It is a para-church ministry that is working to help the Church do the work. It really blew my mind. But, the one aspect of the man who heads this organization that stood out as we ate lunch was his commitment to a steady obedience.

In every story he shared, he spoke of waiting on God and watching God fulfill every need. When he took over, the ministry was $900,000 dollars in debt. In seven years the debt was paid off, and they now have an operational budget over seven figures. All through donations and all a result of a steady obedience. They don’t even do fundraisers. Oh, he also doesn’t take a salary. He raises his own support, missionary style.

If you are in or near Birmingham, AL, I encourage you to go over and see what God is doing through Christian Service Mission. Ask Tracy to tell you a story. You won’t regret it. I didn’t.

Lent 2019 | Day 12: The Power of Obedience

The soldier does not need to know why the given task is important. The soldier is only responsible to doing everything within their power to see it done.

One of my favorite stories in the entire Bible tells about a soldier who came asking Jesus to heal one of his servants. It is found in the seventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel. What is interesting to me is how the Centurion captures in just a few words the essence of faithful obedience. It is one of the most important events in Jesus’ earthly ministry because of how Jesus characterizes the Centurion’s understanding of faith and obedience.

⁶ And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luke 7:6-9 ESV)

The Centurion, as a soldier, had been trained to follow orders. To hear the commands given by his superiors in the chain of command and to follow them. He had also been trained to give orders and expect them to be obeyed. There are several implicit realities here.

The personal cost of the soldier was not a consideration when given a task to complete.
The task to be accomplished was to become the most important reality for the soldier, and nothing else should deter the soldier from completing the objective.
The soldier does not need to know why the given task is important. The soldier is only responsible to doing everything within their power to see it done.

The Centurion was speaking in military terms. He was making a reference to the fact that in the same that he was a soldier who would give and take orders and expect them to be done, he expected Jesus’s words to have the same power over disease! Jesus was a man both under and with authority. And Jesus responds to this by describing a soldiers obedience to commands and faith. It truly is an amazing story.

What makes this exchange even more impressive is that it is, as far as I can remember, the only place where Jesus commends the faith of a Gentile as being greater than all those who were a part of Israel. This is high praise indeed for this man.

What this means is that God is looking for a people who learn and know how to obey. In our obedience there is power because it is one of the simplest and greatest evidences of our faith. Without obedience, any discussion of faith is mere lip service.

In Honor of Dr. Ralph Lightsey: “He Stirred the Gift within Me”

I found out this evening that the father of a friend died yesterday afternoon. It was not unexpected. He had been under hospice care.

The news of Dr. Ralph Lightsey’s passing brought two memories to my mind. The first was hearing him preach in the church I attended and would later serve as associate pastor. I have always been an “educated” listener of sermons and preachers. I love the process of preparing to preach. I enjoy the act of preaching. But, when I am not the one given this task, I am amazed and overjoyed to sit under good preaching. Now let me clarify what I mean by good preaching. Good preaching does not have to be loud, long, perfectly crafted sermons. Good preaching is when I as a listener am convinced that the preacher is so convinced, convicted and constrained by their love of Jesus that I can’t help but go where there are taking me. Dr. Ralph was a good preacher. I don’t remember the subject or text, but I remember that I wanted more of what he had as a servant of God. There was just a clarity to the way he preached. You had to work at misunderstanding him.

I have excerpted a couple of facts about Dr. Lightsey’s life from his obituary that are just mind blowing to me.

Dr. Ralph Lightsey, a minster of 72 years, age 93, died on Sunday, September 2, 2012 at the Ogeechee Area Hospice Inpatient Facility. Born in Appling County in 1918, he moved to Statesboro in 1965, where he lived until his death. … After serving as an active pastor for more than 52 years, he served as a supply speaker at more than 50 churches in Bulloch and surrounding counties. In addition, he was an educator. He served 16 years as Professor of Educational Research at Georgia Southern University and as an assistant to the Vice President. Upon his retirement, the Board of Regents conferred on him the title of Professor Emeritus of Educational Research. … Surviving are his wife of 67 years, [Mrs.] Wavine… [Source]

I share this with you because of the second memory that I have of Dr. Lightsey. It relates something that he did for me as I was leaving that church I was serving. He had on several occasions commended me on my preaching. I was a young man, new in ministry and to hear such kind words from a man I respected and admired was not easy. (I still have a hard time taking a compliment about my preaching!) As I was preparing to go, Dr. Lightsey gave me two gifts. One was a book on preaching and the second was a pen and pencil set that you have on your desk. I still have both. The pen and pencil set no longer works and the book is still in my ever growing library. I keep them because of who gave them to me. They are precious gifts reminders of his concern for me as I developed in ministry.

I never made the time to thank Dr. Lightsey for his words and prayers. I am sad that I will never get to say how much it meant to me for him to take time and offer words of wisdom and encouragement. I do find hope in the fact that we shared a mutual faith in our Savior Jesus and that I will see him again.

I am so thankful for the way that he stirred the gifts that were within me. I will never forget.

You Are A Missionary: Calvin Miller’s “A Letter to the Church”

Dr. Calvin Miller passed away this last week from complications of a surgery. He was a renowned pastor, writer, professor and poet. I remember encountering his thoughts on worship and the devotional life with God as I read Into the Depths of God. I think that book had more highlights per page than any other book I have ever read. I have since loaned it out and have not gotten it back. (It may be time to get another copy!)

Dr. Ed Stetzer has written a wonderful tribute for Dr. Miller and has also shared an essay that Dr. Miller wrote for a study bible. Take a few minutes this morning and be reminded of what God has called us to as the church. Here is a just a sample of what Dr. Miller wrote:

But be not proud! In redeeming the world all arrogance is precluded. There are no good, arrogant missionaries (2Co 12:5). Christ’s ambassadors (2Co 5:20) are men and women made humble by the immense size of the message given to them by Earth’s Lover. They feed on the bread they give away. They remember who they were when they met Christ, and just that little act of memory causes them to weep that that they once stumbled into grace, before they were ever called to dispense it. Now they are driven by the joy of God’s call, they are the cleansed unclean, the forgiven forgivers, the wounded healers.