It Is Well With My Soul

Greetings All,

     My daughter Bekah sent me the link to this devotional by Tori Kelly the other day, because she knows Horatio Spafford's hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" is one of my favorites. I opened it, read it, felt there was much honest transparency and biblical truth in it, and therefore thought I would pass it along to you. I trust it will encourage and speak to you as well.  Enjoy.

SOUL’S ANTHEM (IT IS WELL)

     Suffering is guaranteed in this life. The devil is always throwing fiery darts at us. Right now in this moment he’s trying to attack my family, my health, my relationships, and my peace. He’ll do anything to take my eyes off of Jesus.  He wants to take everything away from me, and most importantly, he wants to take my faith.

     Our faith is not grounded in our circumstances.  Neither can our joy in Christ be.  Recently, my grandfather passed away in the time I felt I needed him most.  I felt like I had lost my best friend. It was so painful to go through and I cried so much -- until my eyes had nothing left.  But through every tear, God was with me in those hard moments. I could still be in a dark and lonely place, and even be mourning, but my joy could not be stolen because it is secured in Jesus.  No matter what happens, no matter what arrows are thrown my way, no matter how dark it gets, I know I will be okay.  It’s not always easy to believe, but I know that when I remind myself that God is in control I find rest and am able to sing, “it is well with my soul.”

     Most importantly, I can always sing “it is well” because God spoiled the movie for us and we get to know how this story ends. “It is well with my soul” because there is a place called heaven where death will be no more, every tear will be wiped away, and any tears shed in this life will be redeemed (he has bottled each one).

     Maybe your suffering is different than losing a grandfather. Maybe it’s worse. Maybe it’s as bad as the writer of “It is Well” who lost his entire family in the days prior to when he penned this hymn.  Even still, God says all of it is not even worthy to be compared to the glory to come to us.  Like an adult reflecting on his experience in kindergarten, so believers in heaven will remember their suffering in this life, saying, “Oh yeah... I think I vaguely remember...”

     Suffering comes to each of us in a different way - broken relationships, physical illness, economic hardships, loss, crime, slander, betrayal, depression, humiliation, you name it. Scripture assures us of this. Jesus assures his disciples of this. "In this world you WILL have trouble (tribulations). But take heart!  I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  Jesus never promises us a trouble-free life in this world. His promised overcoming of the world means, as Tori Kelly rightly points out, we already know how the story ends!  Jesus is the Victor!  It's already a done deal!  God has won!  The world loses!  And we get to be over-comers with him in the victory he's already won!

     John 16:33 was spoken prior to the cross and resurrection.  Yet it is spoken in the past tense - "I have overcome..."  It is spoken before the cross an resurrection, but with as much confidence and assurance in the promise as if those those things had already taken place!  (If only they had truly "heard" him!)  In fact, in a very real sense the cross had already taken place, as John assures us in Revelation 13:8, where it speaks of Jesus as, "the Lamb slain from the creation of the world."   Jesus' ultimate victory of overcoming the world had already been decreed and determined and worked out in the providence of God before God ever created the world!  And we get to rejoice and participate in many of the benefits of that victory in this life (not all of them just yet), remembering as Paul assures us,  "Our light and momentary trials are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (I Corinthians 4:17).

     Resting in the victory of God until the promise becomes our experienced reality in eternity, Pastor Jeff

Modern Day Slavery

Greetings All! 

     I don't often urge people with great earnestness to read my posts. This one I will.  Please, read it!  It has to do with modern day slavery.  Most people believe slavery was done away with after the Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863) was put into effect in.  Sadly, this is not true.  In fact, slavery is on the rise.  According to the latest figures compiled by various organizations, there are more people in slavery today than ever before. "Estimates range from 25 to 27,000,000 people.

     Some pertinent facts include: Globally, the average cost of a slave is $90.  According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation. Traffickers primarily force their victims into: 1.) Prostitution  2.) Involuntary servitude and 3.) Compel them to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography.  80% of the victims are women or girls, while the other 20% are men or boys.  Half are children.  The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children.  According to the U.S State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, and the tally of victims brought into the U.S. by traffickers each year might be as high as 17,500 people." 

     This week's "thought" speaks out about this continuing and horrible injustice.  It is titled "Divine Interruptions."  It is written by Christine Caine (who runs shelters or safe houses for trafficked women).  It is found in the book, "Passion" which is edited by Louie Giglio.  After visiting Auschwitz, Christine was profoundly saddened by the thought that 6,000,000 people lost their lives while many (not all) idly sat by.  She left that place vowing: "If there is ever anything like this in my generation, I will not be silent."   She did not realize that just nine months later God would interrupt her life again, not with gross injustices from the past, but the present.  I sent it out early in 2016.  I send it out again as a way of asking,"When you read it, were you moved to do something about it?"  Will you now?  The problem is not going away.

     "I found myself speaking at a conference in Greece around the time that a little girl named Madeline went missing in Portugal.  Her picture was plastered across the TV, in airports and in magazines. Interpol was searching for this little girl, but I didn't know her.  I hadn't met her.  My sympathies were aroused, but what could I do?...  Then I saw a second poster for another girl that was missing. This child was named Sophia -- the same name as my second daughter.  Suddenly these missing children weren't simply numbers. They were real -- someone's daughters.  Someone's sisters and classmates.  I stopped and began to wonder what I would do if that were my Sophia on the poster.  What wouldn't I do to find her?  What wouldn't I give up to see her safe?...

     I found out later that these children were the alleged victims of human trafficking, something that at that time I didn't even know existed.  I assumed that the slave trade was abolished with William Wilberforce, but I was wrong.  On my watch, in my generation, the current state of slavery has been flourishing in the dark rooms of the world.  With all our great Christian gatherings, our tremendous churches, our wealth of worship songs and resources, right now in the 21st century, there are more slaves on earth than ever before. It was incomprehensible to me.  How could this be true?  How could this happen in our day?  How could the gospel have spread and flourished in so many areas, and yet not made a massive dent in something as simple and insidious as slavery?  Yet it is true. During our day, more people are being trafficked and sold for labor or sex than ever before in human history. This is unacceptable not merely from the standpoint of human rights; it's unacceptable from the standpoint of the teaching of Jesus. [The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-37 is a primary example, where we are shown that we should want to act on behalf of those who are hurt and wounded and victims of injustice, because compassion isn't compassion until it inspires action. It was the action of the Samaritan that separated him from the rest.]... 

     That being the case, here's the poignant question for all of us: What are you going to do?  Are you going to walk past on the other side, hurrying to your next event, or are you going to cross the street and actually get involved?  This was my moment to decide if these people, scattered throughout the world, were going to be people with names and faces, or if they were going to turn into just another pair of empty shoes (like the thousands I'd seen at Auschwitz).  With knowledge comes responsibility.  We know the slave trade is alive and well right now. We KNOW this, and because we do, we are responsible to do something about it.  In our choice about whether to cross the road, we must begin by realizing that at one point or another, we were the one lying in the ditch and Jesus crossed the road for us. I am a rescued person.

     I did not discover that I was adopted until I was thirty-three years old. Though our parents never told us the truth, on a single day we discovered this family secret and the truth was jarring to say the least. Suddenly I didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't know whether I was conceived in an adulterous affair or a one night stand. I didn't know if I was the result of a rape or an underage pregnancy.  As the panic started to set in though, the Lord reminded me that I didn't have to know those specific facts to know who I am. Because I encountered Jesus, I know something larger and more important than those circumstantial details. The Word of God tells me that I am not the result of a rape or the product of an affair, it tells me I am the workmanship of God, reborn in Christ Jesus, specifically for the good work he prepared for me beforehand to walk in (Ephesians 2:8-10). I may not know who I was, but I know who I am. I have been rescued by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus crossed the road between heaven and earth so that I might cross the road for the sake of others. I was saved by grace that I might walk in the way Jesus did in the world. This is the plan of God -- to use rescued people to rescue people... Jesus has set us free so that we might set others free.  He rescued us so that we might rise up, reach back, and rescue others...

     If I was not born in Australia, but had instead been born in Greece, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Nepal, or any one of countless other countries, I could have been one of those girls. In fact, if you could see my birth certificate right now, all you would see is a number. I was number 2508 in 1966. That's it. It's just another number, just another statistic. I could be any one of the 27,000,000 slaves in the world right now.  But that 27,000,000 must cease to be a number. Just like you and me, these people are living, breathing human beings, created in the image of Almighty God -- full of God-given destiny and God-given promise. The same Jesus who set me free can set them free. But how will they hear those words if we do not go?  How will they ever know the truth if we, together, don't raise our voices and declare that we will not allow this injustice to prevail?  The Apostle Paul said that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free -- and we must take that declaration to the world

     Not long ago, I was sitting at one of our shelters with Sonia, one of fourteen rescued victims.  One of these young women, one that wasn't a statistic anymore began telling me about how she was shipped to Istanbul in a container with sixty other girls. During the trip the oxygen tank broke, and when the crate was actually opened, thirty of the sixty girls were dead. The ones left alive had no passports because the traffickers had taken them. They were locked in an apartment and then raped several times a day by men wearing law-enforcement uniforms so the girls would not trust the police. Then they were put in a little rubber dingy to be taken from Istanbul to Athens through the Greek Islands. While en route, the traffickers were spotted by a coast guard patrol, and so they threw the girls overboard. (Keep in mind these girls were from villages and had barely seen running water, let alone been in a body of water to swim. Only five survived.)  Sonia was one of them. She was eventually brought to our shelter when the police raided a brothel in Athens. 

     It was about this time in this unbelievable story that a Russian girl sitting near us, who had also been rescued only a day before Sonia, began to yell at me in broken Greek: "Why did you come?"  As best I could, I began to tell her about how Jesus had rescued me and so I wanted to help. I told her that God has a plan, a purpose, and a destiny for her life. That it didn't matter what she had gone through, God was big enough to redeem her past.  But it's what she said next that I'll never forget. As I was telling her this good news she yelled back at me, "If what you are telling me about your God is true, then why didn't you come sooner?" 

     Why hadn't I come sooner? Those are haunting words. What is so important in our temporal lives that it will distract us from the eternal purpose God put us on earth for?  What deserves more attention than the very people Jesus died for?  Safety, comfort, and security are not the goal of Christianity; freedom is. Because it is, we must rise together to declare that this will not happen on our watch.  Not today, not ever again."

     Hearing such facts and stories is unsettling I know. At least it should be to anyone with an ounce of love in their heart.

     Yet the question is not, "Did I feel a twinge of compassion when reading this?"  The two men who walked by the wounded, beaten and discarded man in Jesus parable -- the priest and the Levite -- surely felt a twinge of compassion for the man.  But as Christine points out, compassion isn't truly compassion until it inspires action.  The question we must ask in light of the Good Samaritan story, is will those feelings of compassion move me to some type of action on behalf of the suffering and exploited.  Is my faith all about me, or all about God and what He would have me do to bring the good news of my faith in Jesus to others?  Will it move me to action.  All who know their Bible's well know the answer.  If compassion (fed by the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit) doesn't move us to any type of response, it is not true godly compassion but mere sentimentality -- and sentimentality (though possibly better than nothing) is not what God calls for from His people.  Those who have experienced His love are called to show that same type of love to others.

May God gracious move on our hearts (mine included) to do what we can, where we can, however we can,  Pastor Jeff

Tortured for Christ

Greetings All,

     This week’s “thought” comes from a man whose faith and commitment to Jesus I have admired for years.  Shortly after I came to Christ 38 years ago, I headed to the Dominican Republic as a short-term missionary.  At one point I came across a book in the mission’s library.  It was Richard Wurmbrand’s autobiographical sketch of the 14 years he spent in a Communist prison camp in Romania for being a Christian - “Tortured for Christ.” 

     It was the first Christian book I ever read cover to cover in one sitting, and I have given out many copies to friends ever since! The two stories I share today were related by Wurmbrand to a friend, and are samples of what you will find in that book.  They come from the most recent “Voice of the Martyr’s” magazine.   Enjoy.

     Story #1:

     “Richard once overheard a conversation between a pastor named Simeon and a thief named Cunia.  Every day Cunia stole Simeon’s eyeglasses and then offered to return them in exchange for the pastor’s supply of sugar. Pastor Simeon never complained, and then one day he said to the thief, “I will give you the sugar gladly. You don’t need to blackmail me by taking my glasses.”  “Why don’t you get angry with me and report me?” Cunia asked.  “Because I want you to become a better man,” Simeon replied, “I love you.”

     “Nobody loves me,” Cunia said.  “I am a thief.”  “It is Christmas -- Jesus’ birth,” Simeon continued.  “He loved thieves so much that He likened Himself to a thief who comes in the night.  I too have learned much from thieves.  You are passionate in your trade. You go to great lengths to get money. You suffer repeatedly, but, once freed, you revert to stealing. You are a model of perseverance.  Like you, I too like gold. I have chosen as my eternal abode a city where even the streets are paved with gold. Jesus came from there to enrich us. There is no need to steal anymore.”  He went on to tell Cunia about the Son of God who was born in a stable to save us...

     Wurmbrand said of Pastor Simeon, “On Christmas the Son of God was made a man that we might become children of God. His aim has been fulfilled. There are real children of God.”

     Story #2:

     “On Christmas Eve, while Richard lay in bed, an abbot named Iscu lay in another bed on his right, awaiting death from the tortures he received. The abbot was serene knowing he would soon be with Jesus in heaven…  On Richard’s left was another prisoner – the man who had tortured Iscu.  His comrades had turned on him and he too had been imprisoned and tortured.  Distraught by his deeds, this man woke Richard during the night.  “I have committed horrible crimes,” he confessed. “I can find no rest. Help me,” he pleaded.

     Just then, Iscu called two other prisoners to his side to help him. Leaning on them, he slowly walked to his former torturer and sat down on his bedside. “You were young and did not know what you were doing,” he said, caressing the man’s head. “I forgive you and love you, as do all the other Christians you have mistreated. And if we sinners who have been saved by Jesus can love like this, how much more is He ready to erase all the evil you have done, to cleanse you fully. Only repent.”

     In that common cell in which there was no privacy, Richard heard the torturer confessing his crimes to the one he had tortured…  Both men died that night, on Christmas Eve.  It was not simply a commemoration of the event in Bethlehem. It was Jesus being born in the heart of a criminal.”

     Such a degree of love really is amazing.  Who could explain it except as the fruit of a very real and true faith in Jesus Christ.  And what a blessing it is for those who have messed up so badly to discover that salvation is by the grace of Jesus, and therefore no one is too far gone to be beyond the reach of God’s power to redeem. Not even a man who had tortured and brought great pain and suffering to many.

     It is a matter for great praise that forgiveness is not earned, but as the Gospel proclaims, is a free gift of grace to those who cast themselves upon the mercy of Jesus and take eternal refuge in the blood that was shed to satisfy God’s just wrath against sin.  A Gospel promise that is to all who will turn in faith to Jesus and leave their life of sin behind -- regardless of how terrible that past life of sin may have been.

     Blessing the Name of him who came and took on flesh that first Christmas, Pastor Jeff

Our True Identity in Christ Jesus

Greetings All!

     This week's thought has to do with who we are in Christ.  It underscores our true identity in Christ Jesus and can help us when we "feel" otherwise. We often have a heavy (even sad) sense of who we feel we are, or how we "think" God must view us, so it's good every so often to be reminded what God says about us, and how He views us in Jesus.

     The list below itemizes in "first-person language" who you really are and what you enjoy in Christ.  You can’t earn these qualities. They are a gift of God's grace to you as His blood-purchased and Spirit-born child. These traits are yours simply because you were born again into life with Christ. There is nothing you can do to make these characteristics more true of you, though you can make them more meaningful and productive in your life by simply choosing to believe they are true of you (After all, to believe them is to believe the Gospel).

     One of the best ways to grow and mature as a believer is to continually remind yourself who you are in Christ and what things are yours by virtue of being His child.  The more you understand and affirm who you are in Christ, the more your life and behavior will reflect the reality of your true identity in Him.  So, believer, take a moment to see if how you view you lines up with how God views you!  Enjoy!

I am a child of God (John 1:12).

I am a branch of the true Vine through whom the life of Jesus flows (John 15:1, 5).

I am a friend of Jesus (John 15:15).

I am justified (pardoned and counted totally righteous in God sight) because of Christ (Romans 3:24)

I am no longer a slave to sin, God has broken it's dominion or oppressive rule over my life (Romans 6:6, Galatians 5:1).

 I am free from any and all divine condemnation (Romans 8:1).

I am a fellow heir with Christ, loved as fully by God as Jesus Himself (Romans 8:17).

I am entirely accepted and acceptable in God’s sight because of all Jesus did for me (Romans 15:7, Ephesians 1:6).

I am a saint, washed and set apart for God (1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, and Colossians 1:2.)

I am righteous, sanctified and redeemed, because Christ Himself has become for me my righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

I am a temple of the Holy Spirit who has come to dwell in me (1 Corinthians 6:19).

I am joined to the Lord Jesus and one with Him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17).

 I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I am the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

I am one with all who are in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

I am no longer a slave, but a child and an heir who's soul cries out, "Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6-7).

I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3)

I am one chosen before the creation of the world to be holy, and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:4).

I am redeemed and forgiven for all my sins by the grace of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13).

I am one who God predestined in love to be a grace-adopted child in His family (Ephesians 1:11).

I am sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13).

I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5, Colossians 2:13).

I am God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).

I am a member of Christ’s body and a partaker of His promise of love, care, provision and salvation (Ephesians 3:6, Ephesians 5:30.)

I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20).

I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).

 I am chosen of God, holy and dearly beloved (Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4).

     Should you struggle to accept these things are true of you, pause and remember: These are not earned rights, privileges, or positions, they are yours as a gracious and free gift through Jesus.  Read and re-read them if you must, and if you struggle, pray that God might so impress and imprint them upon your soul that they become a given and accepted part of your self-awareness and identity in Jesus.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Every Good Endeavor - Connecting Your Work to God's Work

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" comes to you from Tim Keller's book "Every Good Endeavor - Connecting Your Work to God's Work."   I have not finished it yet (just over half way through), but what I have read is enlightening, inspiring, well-thought-through (as is typical for Keller) and so helpful for those seeking to find meaning and purpose in their jobs or work.  Better yet (as the title suggests), it is helpful for those who would like to connect their work to God's work in this world, and bring redemptive change into their workplace.  In my humble opinion, this book really is a must read.

     We all function according to some type of underlying worldview -- a worldview that guides our choices, priorities and pursuits. "Our worldview," says Keller, "places our work in the context of a history, a cause, a quest... and in so doing it frames the strategy of our work at a high level."  My challenge to you today is to see if your worldview is Christian, non-Christian, or a mixture of competing worldviews spliced together?  Read below and find out...  Enjoy.

The Gospel and Other Worldviews

     "Any worldview consists of posing and answering three questions:  1. How are things supposed to be?  2. What is the main problem with things as they are?  3. What is the solution and how can it be realized?  Leslie Steven's book (Seven Theories of Human Nature) includes Christianity among its "theories," but the author points out how different Christianity is from the alternatives. He observes that "if God has made man for fellowship with Himself, and if man has turned away and broken his relationship to God, then only God can forgive man and restore the relationship." In other words, the biblical worldview uniquely understands the nature, problem, and salvation of humankind as fundamentally relational.  We were made for a relationship with God, we lost our relationship with God through sin against him, and we can be brought back into that relationship through his salvation and grace.

     Plato, Marx, and Freud all identify some part of the created world as the main problem and some other part of the created world as the main solution. The protagonists and antagonists of their respective world-stories are played by finite things.  Thus, Marxism assumes that our problems come from greedy capitalists who won't share the means of economic production with the people. The solution is a totalitarian state.  Freud, on the other hand, believed that our problems come from repression of deep desires for pleasure. The villains are played by the repressive moral "gatekeepers" in society, like the church. The solution is the unrepressed freedom of the individual.  Many people have a worldview that to some degree is indebted to the Greeks or Plato. They think the problem with the world rests in undisciplined and selfish people who won't submit to traditional moral values and responsibilities. The solution is a "revival" of religion, morality, and a virtue in society.  Philosopher Al Wolters writes: "The great danger is to always single out some aspect of God's good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain. Such an error conceives of the good-evil dichotomy as intrinsic to the creation itself...  Something in the good creation itself is identified as the source of evil.  In the course of history this "something" has been variously identified as the body and it's passions (Plato and much of Greek philosophy), as culture in distinction from nature (Rousseau and Romanticism), as authority figures in society and family (psycho-dynamic psychology), as economic forces (Marx), as technology and management (Heidegger and existentialists)...  As far as I can tell the Bible is unique in its rejection of all attempts to either demonize some part of creation as the root of our problems, or to idolize some part of creation as the solution. All other religions, philosophies, and worldviews in one way or another fall into the trap of idolatry -- of failing to keep creation and fall distinct.  And this trap is an ever-present danger for Christians [as well]."

     Look again at the uniqueness of Christianity. Only the Christian worldview locates the problem with the world NOT in any part of the world, or any particular group of people, but in sin itself (our loss of relationship with God). And it locates the solution in God's grace (our restoration of a relationship with God through the work of Christ).  Sin infects us all, and so we cannot simply divide the world into the heroes and the villains. (And if we did we would certainly have to include ourselves among the latter as well as the former.) Without an understanding of the Gospel, we will be either naively Utopian or cynically disillusioned We will be demonizing something that isn't bad enough to explain the mess we are in, and we will be idolizing something that isn't powerful enough to get us out of it. This is, in the end, what all other worldviews do... The Christian story line, or worldview, is: Creation (plan), Fall (problem), Redemption and Restoration (solution): 

     1.  The whole world is good.  God made the world and everything in it was good. There are no intrinsically evil parts of the world.  Nothing is evil in its origin... You can find this "creational good" in everything. 

     2. The whole world is fallen.   There is no aspect of the world affected by sin more or less than any other. For example, are emotion and passions untrustworthy and reason infallible?  Is the physical bad and the spiritual good?  Is the day-to-day world profane but religious observances good? None of these is true. But non-Christian story lines must adopt some variations of these in order to villainize and even demonize some created thing instead of sin.

     3. The whole world is going to be redeemed. Jesus is going to redeem spirit and body, reason and emotion, people and nature. There is no part of reality for which there is no hope.

     The Gospel is the true story that God made a good world that was marred by sin and evil, but through Jesus Christ he redeemed it at infinite cost to himself, so that someday he will return to renew all creation; end all suffering and death; and restore absolute peace, justice, and joy in the world forever. The vast implications of this gospel worldview -- about the character of God, the goodness of the material creation, the value of the human person, the fallenness of all people and all things, the primacy of love and grace, the importance of justice and truth, the hope of redemption -- affect everything, and especially our work." 

     That's obviously a bit to chew on!  But I hope it helps you see how the worldview one chooses to adopt will have great effect on how they view their work, carry out their work, and choose to live. My question is:  Do you have a Christian worldview?  Or, like many, have you adopted elements of a Marxist, Greek, Capitalist, or Freudian worldview?  Everyone has a worldview that under-girds their life choices and endeavors. Is your a Gospel worldview, or a syncritistic mix of many others with a small element of Christian lingo or references to Jesus added in?

     And I must stress that it is NOT irrelevant.  Since God commands us: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all you soul and all your mind and all your strength," it would seem to lay upon us as believers an unavoidable responsibility to think things like this through as best we possibly can.  For whatever worldview we have has a profound effect on influencing the choices we make, why we make them, and what we will pursue. It will impact how we treat people, why we love and value the things we do, live as we do, and view work the way we do. 

     So my prayer for everyone is this:  If you have come to Christ, yet retained a non-Christian worldview (or elements from various ones), you will seek (by the grace God gives) to root those elements out and replace them with distinctly Christian or Gospel elements -- something Keller's book distinctly aims at helping us with! 

In His Service, Pastor Jeff 

Advent Devotional Thoughts

Greetings All!

This week's "thought" comes as one selection from a series of Advent Devotional Thoughts sent out by an organization called CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) which seeks to place people for Gospel outreach purposes on college campuses. One of the things it focuses on in its discipleship of students is to help them see that their career (in whatever field it may be in) can be their "calling from the Lord" just as much as some full-time work in the local church or missions. One does not have to go into the ministry, or some exclusively "Christian" service, to be "serving the Lord full time."  This is nothing new, as Martin Luther stressed it 500 years ago as one of the many insights of the Reformation.  Yet it does continue to get overlooked (even to this day) in some Christian circles. The author is Gene S. Twilley who serves as CCO Campus Ministry Staff at Delaware County Community College in Media, PA. Enjoy.

Attitude Adjustment 

     Eight months after finishing my undergraduate studies, I started working as an auto liability claims adjuster for a very large insurance company. There were ample benefits with the job—from day one, I was vested in a matched 401k; I had a pension, nearly a month of vacation per year, and great health benefits.  I loved the people I worked with. An older African American woman called me her newly adopted son. We worked in collaborative cubicles—four to a large cube—and laughed a lot.  But I hated the work. In a claims environment, every call is a complaint. The workload is heavy. I was threatened with physical violence over the phone, bullied with potential lawsuits, and accused of all sorts of character flaws.  There were and are far worse places to be employed. But in the moment of any sort of seemingly bad circumstance, we don’t usually think about what could be worse. We long for something better.

     Then my wife and I attended a wedding for one of her coworkers, and I was making small talk with a woman I didn’t know, and who I probably wouldn’t recognize if I saw her today.  In the midst of conveying to her what I did, before I had the opportunity to complain about my job, she exclaimed, “How exciting! You have the opportunity to help put people’s lives back together every day.

Sobering.
Clarifying.
Convicting.

     I was willing to approach my work as a Christian who had hope in Jesus, but not as a Christian who had hope that my work actually mattered.  I don’t know where this woman was in terms of faith, but she pointed out something that I was completely missing.  Isaiah 61 is a messianic prophetic utterance. Jesus took up this section, read it in a synagogue in Nazareth, and explained, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

    He was anointed to preach good news to the poor.
    He was sent to proclaim liberty to captives.
    He was sent to give sight to the blind.
    He came to release the oppressed.

     In all of that, Jesus was announcing the “year of the Lord’s favor.” In the broader context of Isaiah 61, we see other really good things too! There is comfort for those who mourn. Those who sit in shame and in repentance are made beautiful. They are planted deeply into God’s grace, that they might praise rather than mourn. The people of God are called by the Servant of God to be re-creators of things that are broken… All that hope, that expectation, that rebuilding of the things that have been broken—it’s in Isaiah 61.  It all finds its beginning, current, and end in Jesus.

     And this is the kind of hope that can lift me out of myself and all my meandering thoughts about greener pastures. I start to ask different questions.  After all, aren’t we called to care about the situations that God has placed us in, the broken places already in our midst? How can we make the most of our God-given opportunities today? How might we redeem the time that he’s given into our possession?

     As a claims adjuster, I was occupied with my work—getting through the day, looking for the next best thing. It was a job, not a calling.  Or was it?  What if every opportunity to serve others is a calling from the Lord? Tim Keller explains, “our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.”  Calling is found at the sweet spot where my vertical and horizontal relationships meet—where I love the Lord and where I love my neighbor. Too often, maybe we’re disappointed with where we are because we simply don’t see the potential of the work ahead of us. But what if some of us are so concerned with our own emptiness that we don’t see the joy set before us?  Isaiah 61 tells a bigger story, and in this story, work becomes service, pain becomes joy, and despair becomes hope.

Come, Lord Jesus. 

Give us eyes to see."

     One of the blessings of understanding the biblical concept of "the priesthood of all believers" is to grasp that all believers are called to minister Gods grace in all is various forms to others, but not all are called to do it in the same way or in the setting of being on staff at a church, parachurch organization or a mission.  People can live out their divine calling while being an engineer, nurse, teacher, athlete, lawyer, accountant, construction worker, farmer, technician, programmer, and so forth and so on!  Their "prayer room" is their office.  Their "congregation" consists of their co-workers. Their "pulpit" is their position. And their "testimony" is their honesty, approachability, and integrity -- all done for the glory of God -- which paves the way for opportunities to share the Gospel over a cup of coffee in the break room, or as they frame a house together with others.  God forbid that the only place "ministry" happens is through the pastor in the church! That's NOT how God ever intended it!

     As Gene Twilley reminds us, any job, profession or occupation can become exciting when we see it as a way to be "re-creators of things that are broken."   A simple "job" can become a calling from the Lord when we come to see it as "an opportunity to serve others."   Or as Tim Keller reminds us: “our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.”

     So, as Christmas approaches give yourself a present.  Re-envision your job as a ministry.  God has placed you there.  Opportunities for service and outreach abound.  In many places of employment, you will rub shoulders every day with people who have never heard the Gospel.  Redeem the time.  Work well and with integrity.  And as the opportunity arises, "be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" ( I Peter 3:15).  God may have strategically placed you where you are for the very purpose of reaching out to that one person who would never darken the doors of a church, but may come to Christ because you -- outside the doors of the church -- cared enough to reach out to them in love.

In The Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff