What Does Your Heart Earnestly Yearn For?

Dear Friends,

     Maybe I should start by asking:  What is it that you really want?   What is it that you really desire?   What does your heart earnestly yearn for?   Do you even know? 
     This week's "thought" addresses that issue: What  your heart truly yearns for.   The answer I offer today comes to you from David Downing, co-director of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. It is taken from an Advent Devotional book called, "The Grand Miracle."  Enjoy.

"I Am the Bread of Life."

John 6:35

     "It is not what God can give us, but God that we want," said George MacDonald.  He was a seasoned old soul, and what was true for him may have been more of an ideal for other pilgrims on the journey. The rest of us may feel more inclined to pray: "Father, forgive us, for we do not know what we want."   We seek a gilded afterlife when we could have Eternal Life.  We seek breadcrumbs of earthly pleasure when we could have a heavenly banquet.  We avoid pain when we could embrace joy.  We plead for words that will give us comfort and light, but our own darkness does not comprehend the Word. 

     Help us, Lord.  We ask for a road-map to heaven when the Way, the Truth and the Life stands right before us.  We want the crown without the cross, and we fix our gaze on the crown more than the King.  We look to Glory, but others do not see the glory when they look at us.  We do not ask too much in prayer, but too little.  We follow the One who multiplied the loaves and do not see the Bread of Life.  We want to quench the thirst of the moment, but do not ask for Living Water, the cup of heaven.

     The Everlasting took human form so that we might lift our eyes from the gifts to the Giver. He emptied Himself so that from His fullness we might receive grace upon grace. The baby lay in a feeding trough so we might not be forever hungry. The child spoke in His Father's house, so we might put away childish things. The man told us that we must die to live, that sorrow would turn to joy, that those who seek will find.  He rose that we might rise. He came to be with us for a time, so that we might be with Him forever.  Lord, teach us to know what we want, to want what you want, and most of all, to want you.  Amen." 

     So many today do not realize that their pursuit of joy, happiness, pleasure, contentment and peace in their souls' is really an inner craving after God.  "God has placed eternity in our hearts," says Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 3:11.  And that "eternity" which God has placed within us has left a hole in our soul that can only be filled, as Pascal put it, "by an infinite and immutable object, that is, by God Himself."

     Yes, most people fail to see that their clamoring after all those things -- even sinful things -- is really a pursuit of God and what He alone can supply when He enters our being, by His Spirit, in the grace of regeneration.  To quote Pascal at greater length, "There was once a true happiness in man, of which there now remains only an empty trace, which he vainly tries to fill with things from his environment. Yet all these efforts are inadequate, because the infinite abyss in the human soul can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is, by God Himself."

     Maybe our prayer should be:  Lord Jesus, forgive us for chasing after things that can never truly satisfy when you have told us time and again in your Word that we can find true and lasting satisfaction only in You; in having You.  So often we clamor after everything but you, even venturing into the pursuit of sinful and forbidden things, before we finally come -- broken, empty and damaged -- to see the error of our ways. Convince us, we pray, that our inner hunger can only be satisfied as we feed on You the Bread of Heaven, and our inner thirst can only be quenched as we drink deeply of You the Living Water -- the only water a person can partake of and thirst no more.  Lord, as Mr. Downing has correctly prayed, "teach us to know what we want, to want what you want, and most of all, to want you."  Amen.

In this time of anticipation and waiting, 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

Training Like Jesus

Greetings All!

     This week I received a magazine called, "Voice" (September/October 2018) which had a very interesting article on, "Training Like Jesus" in which the author -- Paul Seger -- shows the difference between the way Jesus trained people, the way the Church throughout history has done so, and the way we tend to do so today.   I found the differences quite fascinating, not to mention a bit convicting and very challenging.  I trust it might not only be informative and thought-provoking for you as well, but challenging to consider.  It gave me a much greater appreciation and respect for disciplers and pastors from the past.  Enjoy.

Training People Like Jesus Did

     "Life on the mission field has honed my conviction and commitment to discipleship. I have gained an appreciation for the absolute necessity of leadership training.  For years I have done both.  Discipleship of new believers and training men for church leadership became an indispensable part of missions and ministry.  But a visit I took to Israel this past year demonstrated how woefully inadequate my approach has been. As we traversed the Holy Land and rehearsed the life of Christ, it became obvious that His method of discipleship differed greatly from the way we disciple and train...

     The Gospels speak of Jesus moving around the country with little reference to distances he traveled.  In my naivete, I failed to factor walking into the equation. From His base of operations in Capernaum, Jerusalem was at least a five-day trek (approximately 121 miles, walking the whole way)...  What do these distances have to do with the amount of time Jesus spent training His disciples?  It is obvious these long walks would have given inordinate amounts of time to talk and train.  Lengthy hikes with conversations.  Lessons and lectures were enabled by hours on the road.  Add to that the absence of television, internet, phones, movies, electricity, and readily available entertainment, and the hours for teaching and training rapidly stacked up.  Evenings around the campfire allowed for unhurried conversations.  In the 21st Century we might wonder how Jesus could train disciples in 3.5 years. We anticipate four years of undergraduate work and then another three to four years for seminary. Yet in half that time Christ prepared the men who would be the foundation and future of the greatest initiative in history, the Church.

     Most preparation for ministry in the Western world takes place in a classroom and a 15-hour semester load is considered normal. Then, if there is an hour or two a week with a mentor, it is considered an exceptional experience...  But when Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, it was to spend 24 hours a day together for months on end.  They ministered together, ate together, worked together, relaxed together, socialized together and lived life as one.

     We will never replicate the teaching style of Jesus today.  We have neither the will nor the capacity to do this. But there have been phases of church history where something similar happened. In the early years of the United States there were no colleges and seminaries.  Men who wanted to enter the ministry did so by moving into the home of a pastor.  They rose in the morning and had devotions together. Breakfast was shared with opportunity to converse. Study for messages filled their morning hours and were done together (the older instructing the younger). Afternoon visits and evangelism were done together with opportunity to debrief after the event. Evenings were unhurried conversations around the table.  "In eighteenth-century New England, Christian leaders such as Jonathan and Sarah Edwards regularly had one or two pastor-trainees move into their home (alongside their 11 children!) where the budding ministers had opportunity to observe the quality of their marriage, the reality of their spiritual life, and the demands of pastoral duties" (Ted Engstrom, The Fine Art of Mentoring).  How many pastors do you know who have apprentices living in their homes?  Would I be willing to do that?

     Some pastors were better at doing this than others, so it was suggested that these shepherds do this full time.  With these full-time shepherds, Harvard and Princeton were formed to formalize the training and we never looked back. Our jam-packed schedules, programs, and Western approach to education have become the norm and crowded out the potential of training like Jesus.  I'm not sure we will ever go back to the way Jesus did it.  He spent the time... It would take a radical adjustment to ministry for the average pastor to include a couple trainees in their home and schedule... Even though we will not replicate the teaching style of Jesus, many of us could start moving in that direction."

     It is challenging to consider and think that maybe the newest way of doing things isn't the best or most effective.  It's also challenging to consider the depth of commitment it took to be disciples of Jesus. Or to be like a Sarah and Jonathan Edwards and open your house already full of 11 children to the watchful eyes of one or two pastors-in-training who watched (so as to learn) your every move. Imagine someone (or a couple of someones!) watching how you treat your wife and family, keep your house, spend your income, raise and train your children, pray and study the Word, evangelize and train leaders, speak of and interact with everyone in the Body of Christ, and seek to further the work of the Gospel locally and globally.

     Pastors often talk about "living in a fishbowl" where people observe everything you do.  And that's with people looking on from the outside!  Imagine them living in your house 24/7 for a couple years at a time!  Yikes!  For us who need our times of privacy to gather our thoughts and regain strength, it's a daunting thought!  We might all say, "Only by Your grace, O God!  Please give us what we need to begin to disciple more like Jesus did."

With You In Our Habitual Need For Grace, Pastor Jeff

Personal Testimony of Dr. A. C. Dixon (1854-1925)

Greetings All!

     I chose this week's "thought" for the sheer honesty and transparency evidenced in the heart of the pastor who penned it.  It is a personal testimony that comes from, Dr. A. C. Dixon (1854-1925), pastor of the Baptist Church in Chapel Hill North Carolina, and then later pastor at the Ruggles Street Baptist Church in Boston. His testimony speaks for itself. Enjoy.

"The hand of the Lord was upon him." 

Ezekiel 1:3

     "While I was pastor at the Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, the university town of North Carolina, I was made to realize that, as a preacher, I was a dismal failure. 

     Parents all over the state wrote to me and requested that I look after the spiritual welfare of their sons in the university. I prepared sermons with the students in mind and was glad to see that they showed their appreciation by attending our Sunday services in large numbers.  At one point we appointed a week of prayer and preaching with the single purpose of winning them to Christ, and they attended the evening meetings.

     About the middle of the week their interest seemed to turn into opposition. The spirit of mischief possessed them. One night they tried to put out the lights. As I walked through the grove around the university buildings, I sometimes heard my voice coming from behind a tree. A bright student had caught a part of my sermon the night before, and he was mimicking me in thought and tone for the benefit of his fellow students who showed their appreciation by applause and laughter.  As I walked by an open window I heard my voice being mimicked in prayer and floating out.  I felt defeated and seriously considered resigning from the pastorate.  No one had been saved.

     After a restless night I took my Bible and went into the grove and remained there until three o'clock in the afternoon. As I read I asked God to show me what was the matter, and the Word of God searched me through and through giving me a deep sense of sin and helplessness, such as I had never had before...  That evening the students listened reverently, and at the close two pews were filled with those who had responded to the invitation. The revival continued day after day until more than seventy of the students had confessed Christ.

     Now the practical question is: "What did it?"   Certainly not I; I fear it was the "I" that kept God from doing it for a long time. There came to me out of the day's experience a clear-cut distinction between [human] influence and [divine] power.  Influence is made up of many things -- intellect, education, money, social position, personality, organization -- all of which ought to be used for Christ.   But power is God Himself at work unhindered by our unbelief and other sins.

     The word "influence" occurs but once in the Bible, and that in Job, where Jehovah speaks to the old patriarch of the "sweet influences of the Pleiades" (one of the nearest star clusters to the earth) -- a good text for a young minister to preach on in the springtime, but not sufficient in dealing with a group of mocking university students.  The New Testament word "power" holds the secret, and the power from on high was no other than God the Holy Spirit touching the soul through the living Word and giving it birth from above. I had been trusting and testing many other good things, only to fail.  The touch of God did in a minute what all my best efforts could not do." 

     His testimony speaks for itself. People may mock and laugh at and easily resist all our efforts.  But when the power of the Spirit attends what we say, even our feeblest human efforts can be used of God to melt the most hardened heart. We may (by our innate natural gifts) be able to influence people in some small and temporary way (and many pastors have been content with that), but only God (by the working of His mighty power) can change a hard heart permanently for all eternally.  Therefore, it should be our earnest desire to seek the assistance of this power, and not be content until our spirit is bathed in it and our efforts are attended by it.

In The Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

George Mueller's Secret

Greetings All,

      This week's "thought" comes from the well-known man of faith George Mueller of Bristol, England (1805-1898).  The testimony of his life is both amazing and inspiring, with many books being written about him.  For at one point in his life he decided to live entirely by faith, asking God alone, through prayer, to meet his financial needs. It was difficult at first, and with no fixed income he was sometimes down to his last penny before the Lord would supply his need, but God always did.  And soon he was not only able to support himself and his wife Susannah, but eventually build 5 orphan homes which housed over 10,000 orphans from 1834-1898.  And as if that were not enough to occupy his time, would minister in 42 countries (the last at age 87), and preach 3 times a week during this time.  Yet even with so many to take care of, he still stayed true to his conviction not to make his needs known to anyone but God in prayer.

















     
      In the last 68 years of his life (he lived to be 92), he obtained through prayer the equivalent of $7,200,000.00 and never asked anyone directly for any money.  In those last 68 years he never took a salary for his ministry but trusted God to put in people's hearts to send him what he needed. He never took out a loan and never went into debt. And neither he nor the orphans were ever hungry.  Much to his credit, and unlike many today, "George Mueller never prayed for a thing just because he wanted it, or even just because he felt it was greatly needed for God’s work. He would search the Scriptures to find if there was some promise that covered the case. Sometimes he would search the scriptures for days before he presented his petition to God. And then when he found the promise, with his open Bible before him, and his finger upon that promise, he would plead that promise, and so he received what he asked. He always prayed with an open Bible before him" (R. A. Torrey). The story of his life is indeed inspiring, with many accounts of God's miraculous provision and answers to prayer.

     This excerpt is what has been called "George Mueller's Secret," or his personal method of sustaining his inward joy and happiness in Christ amidst the many stresses and responsibilities laid upon him by virtue of overseeing such a large ministry.  I have often reflected back on it and sought to practice his method.  I pray it might be of help to you as well.  Enjoy.

     “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. What is that truth? I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord.  The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord; but how I might get my soul in  a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.  For I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world, and yet not being happy in the Lord, and not being strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in the right spirit.

       Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer after having dressed in the morning. Now, I saw that the most important thing was to give myself to the reading of God's Word, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord. I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words of the Lord's blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching as it were into every verse to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul.

     The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less to prayer. When thus I have been for a while making confession or intercession or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart.

The difference, then, between my former practice and my present on is this: formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer.... But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from my mind wandering for the first ten minutes, or quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then really began to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word. If often now astonishes me that I did not see this point sooner...

     And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man. Now what is food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water passes through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it and applying it to our hearts.  When we pray we speak to God. Now prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season therefore when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us. We may therefore profitably meditate with God's blessing though we are ever so weak spiritually; nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for the strengthening of our inner man.

     Thus, there is far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had time previously for meditation. I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God, I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I have ever had before; and having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it.”

     It is my hope that this "secret" comes to be known far and wide, and that it might be used to encourage and challenge many to follow in his footsteps. Obviously, given all Mueller accomplished in his life, no one can say, "It was easy for him  back then, life wasn't as busy then as we are today."  For when I think of all that he did, I find it hard to comprehend how he managed to do it all!  Of course, the answer surely lies (to some degree) in the secret he shares above.  You may seek to try it and see!

In the Service of Jesus,  Pastor Jeff

The Gospel of Self-Esteem

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" comes to you from Prof. Archibald Hart, PhD.  He is professor of psychology at the Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary.  Hart is the the author 24 books, including: "Thrilled to Death: How the Endless Pursuit of Pleasure is Leaving Us Numb."

     This particular thought deals with the American obsession with self-esteem and offers us some balanced and helpful insights. Many of the things he points out will not come as a surprise to you, since both experience and common sense would affirm the statements and findings he cites. As with many widely embraced cultural trends, they can tend to go to unwise and even counter-intuitive excesses and extremes before people realize the claims of their wonder-working power were grossly exaggerated.

     This article comes from "Faith and Culture," a book that offers a collection of articles on hundreds of topics relating faith to culture.  It is by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington. If you are looking for a book with short and interesting articles across a span of topics, this is a book you may consider purchasing. This particular article is entitled: "The Gospel of Self-Esteem."

The Gospel of Self-Esteem

     "Is high self-esteem all its cracked up to be?  If you suffer from low self-esteem are you doomed to failure?  What new picture of self-esteem is emerging from the science of psychology, and how does it agree with God's Word on the subject?  In the upheaval of the late 60's and early 70's, the concept of self-esteem took off. "If only we can help people to feel better about themselves, we will solve many social problems and mental illnesses" became the driving force that sent teachers, parents, and even the states of California and New York in the 1980's scurrying to set up commissions and task forces on self-esteem. It became a national preoccupation that has now ended as a hopeless quest.  Research now conclusively shows that such efforts do little to improve social problems, academic performance, success in the workplace, or even to enhance our happiness.

     The bottom line is that while everyone intuitively recognizes the reality of "self-esteem," there is no evidence that by boosting these self-feelings one can accomplish more in life.  Research psychologists have now clearly demonstrated that self-esteem is the CONSEQUENCE of accomplishing something significant in life, not the CAUSE of accomplishments or failures.  In his 1994 presidential address to the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, a significant leader in the new "positive psychology" movement, denounced several "sacred cows" of psychotherapy, one being that in order to reduce mental illness we should try to increase the self-esteem of our children.  He stated: "undeniably, depressed people have low self-esteem. But bolstering self-esteem without changing hopelessness... accomplishes nothing."  He received a standing ovation!  His research shows that teens from the ghettos have the highest self-esteem ratings of any group, not the lowest!  The problem is that their self-esteem is "unwarranted."  As we teach and counsel others, we must caution one another to identify and address the myths that have penetrated the whole concept of self-esteem. Sermons abound on how one is to "love oneself," but we need to carefully interpret Matthew 19:19. We must be mindful that our participation in newly emerging worship styles is radically God-centered and not unduly influenced by the self-esteem movements emphasis on my needs and my feelings.

     Perhaps we need to pay more attention to the wisdom that Paul expresses in Romans 12:3 which tells us all we need to know about the self-esteem problem even though its focus is not on low self-esteem, but rather on an inflated and distorted sense of self.

"For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."  Romans 12:3

     Paul outlines the essential ingredients for building a Christian understanding of what I call "authentic self-esteem," an understanding and acceptance of yourself for who you really are. There is nothing wrong with being imperfect. Sometimes feeling bad acts as a stimulus to do better or try something different.  It can prompt confession, change, and courage.  One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a parent is to always protect your children from pain or failure. By cushioning them from feeling bad, the self-esteem movement has made it harder for us to feel good. It has encouraged cheap success. From the words of Paul I deduce that the essence of a healthy self-attitude must be based, first, on an honest and truthful self-understanding and image ("Think... with sober [honest] judgment); then, second, on a willingness to accept that you are who you are, created in God's image ("in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you"). All other self-feelings lead to self-hate. Your attitude to yourself (which is what self-esteem is really all about) must be based plainly and simply on thinking about yourself with complete honesty. You must own your flaws and your strengths.  It must never be dishonest (Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought"), not exaggerated or distorted.

     Many psychologists have pointed out that the struggle often is with an "internal filter system" we develop early in life that tends to deny our successes and hoards the memories of failures. Self-honesty requires one to be diligent in challenging these denials. After all, in God's kingdom there is always forgiveness and restoration.  No matter how inadequate you may feel about yourself, or how insignificant your life may appear to be on the outside, you should always remember that the grace of God covers every shortcoming.  You will always be precious to him, however you feel about yourself.  One can never go beyond the reach of his grace and forgiveness. Here lies the key to how you should feel about yourself: Your self needs to become more and more transparent to itself as you become less and less self-conscious. This is authentic self-esteem. You need to know who you are, how you have been redeemed, and how precious you are to God -- NOT because you are wonderful, but because he has made you his child."

     As I mentioned, experience and common sense would lead us to many of the same conclusions.  I once had a foster daughter who did not do well in school.  All of a sudden, in one marking period, she went from failing to straight A's. She came home ecstatic!  But we wondered how it had happened, since she hadn't studied any harder nor done any more work then she ever had?  It did boost her feelings about herself for a short three or four weeks, but she soon began to realize she got an "A" pretty much no matter what she did, and was allowed to re-take tests as many times as she needed to get it. She even came to feel somewhat betrayed and foolish and resent their manipulative attempt to play with her mind and "boost her self-esteem" by giving her grades she did nothing to deserve. In essence, it back-fired, since like most kids she knew it was all a game.  She knew, and we knew, that despite what studies at that time were saying, there is no evidence that by boosting these self-feelings one can accomplish more in life...  self-esteem is the CONSEQUENCE of accomplishing something significant in life, not the CAUSE of accomplishments or failures."

     Just some wise, insightful, and much needed food for thought, Pastor Jeff