Prayer to Do Good (F.B. Meyer [England, 1847-1929])
Forgive me, most gracious Lord and Father, if this day I have done or said anything to increase the pain of the world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where I had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable me so to live that I may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness.
“Lean on me.” God makes this invitation to you and me in every moment of our lives. We can choose to respond, “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me.” But as for me, my focus often remains stuck on myself. I become caught up either in all that I accomplish or in all that I have left undone. I believe circumstances are either the result of my own abilities or the fault of my own limitations. When life is all about me, I am blinded from the reality of my complete dependence upon my Creator. The noise of arrogance and anxiety deafens the call to lean on the everlasting arms.
We are designed by God to be dependent. It is a twofold dependence – first, directly upon God, and second, indirectly upon God through those people God brings into our lives. Our existence is to be one of interconnection, not isolation.
As Jesus lived his life on earth as both God and human being, he lived the ultimate life of continual dependence upon his Father; yet he also depended upon the provision from his Father through other human beings. God provided for Jesus’ human life through Mary. Mary first carried Jesus inside her body and then in her arms. The nourishment Mary took in was the first nourishment he received. She prepared his daily bread and mothered him with all her heart – satisfying one of the deepest needs of the human soul.
In adulthood, Jesus depended upon a large community to accomplish the work he was called to do. A young boy provided the five loaves and two fish that would feed five thousand. Jesus asked a woman for water at a well – and depended upon her word to evangelize her entire Samaritan town, leading many to believe in him. Overwhelmed with sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sought solace in the company of Peter, James, and John, even as they fell asleep just when the Lord needed them most. When Jesus died on the cross, Mary was there with the other women and John, perhaps ready to hold his body one final time. Jesus called upon his disciple to do one more thing for him – take care of his mother (John 19:26-27). Even his tomb was a gift from one of his followers (Matthew 27:59-60).
Yet Jesus did not stay in this tomb beyond three days. For the One he depended on before all others raised him from death to life.
There is freedom in dependence. It enables each of us to accept our vulnerability. We no longer have to hide in shame or self-sufficiency. You and I can choose to lean on our Father amid a full range of disastrous and delightful events, praying, “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me” (Psalm 70:1).
We lean in dependence on the Lord, we depend on those closest to us, and we lean also upon the saints who have gone before us in the faith. Sixteen hundred years ago, a European Christian leader named John Cassian published an account of his conversations with monks living in a Middle Eastern desert. One older monk, Isaac, had shared this prayer from Psalm 70 with the young John on his visit to their monastery. John’s book – and Isaac’s prayer – had such an influence that even today many Christians around the globe begin times of prayer with the Scripture verse Isaac commended to John Cassian. And on days when I am still enough to hear the call, Lean on me, I, too, join in this prayer practice, thanks in part to John Cassian, Isaac, and his fellow monks.
Today I ran and finished a half marathon, it wasn’t my first, but it is the first race I have run since the LA Marathon in March. I finished with my best time, but it most likely did not live up to the potential of my previous training. The excuses I fought were blaming it on running in rain, blaming the course, and blaming the other runners. However, these are nothing but excuses, and the reason I didn’t run the time I desired was due to the fact that I wasn’t prepared well enough to run the race I could have run.
For other races I have made sure to get a good mix of road running coupled with treadmill runs. This prepares your body for running on pavement. For this race I didn’t fit even a single road run into my training. I didn’t prepare my body for the rigors and pounding it would take over the 13.1 miles of steps on the pavement. For this reason, around mile marker 9, when I began a descent the muscles in my legs began to seize and I could not will them to move any faster. Not that running on the road could have prevented this sensation, but I definitely could have known what my body was telling me and adapt the way I ran to minimize the effects. Additionally, the value to a run on the road as opposed to a treadmill, because a treadmill keeps you at a constant pace, while you have to pace yourself when you are running on the road.
Another training element that was absent from the training for this race was the lack of a significantly long run. I believe my longest run in preparation for this race was 7 miles, which is only slightly more than 1/2 the total distance of the half marathon. Previously, I have run at least one 10+ mile run. This obviously prepares not only your body for the distance, but also your mind to understand the distance and helps you learn how to pace your run.
This is how I live too often. In the life of this blog, I have already talked about my procrastination, and it is significant that I thought about my lack of prep work as my first thought as I crossed the finish line and saw my time. Even though I recently saw the Lion King, I didn’t learn my lesson from the song, “Be Prepared”. I walk through too many things choosing procrastination, or ignoring them until I don’t have a choice, but to address them. In some cases this has led to undesirable circumstances, and consequences. Thankfully, my lack of preparation for this race only led to missing my time goal and some soreness in my muscles and knees. However, I hope I can learn to prepare, so that in the future I don’t have worse consequences to my poor preparation.
Throughout my life I have tried to be viewed as a person that tries to give his all to God. Clearly I have fallen short through the process and I have given in to the things that this world deems as good. This is evident as I think about the fact that I am writing this blog post on the iPad I was given as a gift, but couldn’t settle for just an iPad, but I also needed the matching bluetooth keyboard. I am a technophile, and this mere fact shows that I give in to the latest and greatest the world has to offer. (I certainly am not claiming that owning an iPad is a sin, but my obsession certainly crosses into the idolatry side of things.)
However, in preparation for a sermon I recently gave I was reminded that as much as I want to be viewed as a devout follower of God, it IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! I get this confused far too often. In Acts 13, Paul recounts the history of Israel, and throughout this history the main thrust is not about what Israel has done, it wasn’t about how well the law of Moses was followed, but rather it is about how FAITHFUL God was and is, and how much GRACE is poured upon us time and time again. I will fail, but God has taken care of that sin, and God will continue to take care of me.
This bashed in my skull again as I sat reading Romans 12, as I worship I have thought that I was bringing something to God, but in fact, God brings the goodness, the grace, and the fulfillment. So again I am told loud and clear that IT IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! So I realize that it takes a lot more humility to simply accept the grace that God pours upon me, and to even go further to ask for serving after serving of this grace.
We are called to respond to this grace, but our response is not the source of the grace, nor is it the reason the grace was given in the first place. God gave us grace because He LOVES US ABUNDANTLY, and that is why CHRIST DIED, that is why our JUSTIFICATION can only be found through the power of God expressed in Christ dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. That happened. Whether or not we respond by living our lives as worship-filled as we can, God still LOVES us!
SO don’t get it confused, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! (or any of us.)
Being outside has always been my son’s preference, and I will give him the credit at pulling me out of the house, and getting me active once again. He loves going down the slide, climbing anything he can climb, and pretending he is on a boat/spaceship/ school bus, etc. I enjoy watching him do all of this, and even more when he invites me in his fantasy. This is supposed to be a safe place where energy can be dissipated in a safe environment so that kids can play. However, at our favorite park, there have been more “older kids” just sitting and waiting for something to happen. While they are waiting, they usually have stuck to sitting on benches away from the playground, but as the weather has warmed up there are more people and “those waiting for something to happen” have moved closer and closer to the playground, until they are actually sitting on the equipment, moving to this spot as children are playing. Bad enough, right? It gets worse. While on the equipment they were smoking, loudly arguing using unimaginative language, and fighting. Our boat/spaceship/ school bus has been infiltrated by pirates.
Before we found ourselves asked to walk the plank, we decided to take a break from that park, and use our imagination more.
The other day we went to a wilderness park, where we were able to use the original playground equipment, trees, ponds, hills, and open space. Much like the playground, there are still the dangers of falling down and skinned knees, but we did not encounter any pirates, and we were able to have fun enjoying nature. While the playground was always the safe choice for fun, we found a great blessing in just playing around and exploring. The important thing about play is not the specific equipment, but in the fact that children are incredibly inquisitive and have the ability to make the most out of their environment. As a parent I have looked and searched for the “best” playground with the most equipment , but I am reminded that a child’s mind is the best piece of equipment.
As a father I have sought to give my son all the tools and toys to foster his imagination. I don’t buy him every toy, but, as we sit in his room playing looking around at all the toys we aren’t playing with, I recognize that I have purchased too many toys. I have thought this is cool, or that will be fun to play, I forgot that the key to play is not the toy, but the child playing. The Almighty created my son with a mind and a body made for play. I need to remember that there is nothing and no place that will ever be anything more than the thing or place is seen to be in the eyes and mind of my son.
As an adult I am just like that, I find myself bored, and that life will just be better if I get a new this or that. Maybe an iPad will do the trick? Nope. Not even the iPad2 is better than the Creator’s natural gifting. We have become old, and our equipment might be rusty, but if we shake off the dust, we will find the best tools and toys occur naturally.
Perfect is not found in places or things, because just like The Boss says, “Baby we were born to run,” and climb, and play. So whatever your preferred play, use the natural tools we have been given, and stop relying upon all our toys and equipment.
Clearly I have been dancing around and having a good ol’ time. With all of the fun I haven’t made time for you all, and I apologize. Although my reader pool is small I appreciate anybody that takes time to read my rambling thoughts and perspective. I hope to put forward a few thoughts this month, so that you can peek into my mind.
I wanted to send out thoughts and prayers to all of those that have been affected by the tumultuous tornado season, and I pray that all will have time to mourn and rebuild lives. If you would like to help please follow the following link at the end of this post , or simply offer aid in whatever form you can.
Love you all!
So I have been out of the game for far too long. It seems like Ash Wednesday was yesterday, Lent was this morning, Palm Sunday was lunch, and Easter finished five minutes ago. But in our congregation, similar to many congregations, we spoke about the journey toward the cross and the road we take toward a deeper relationship with God through the process of going without during Lent. But that is all done now, because all of the eggs have been found and we can move past that stage in our faith walk for another year. Or can we?
For many of us the journey toward the cross is filled with the reminder of our failures, marks showing us how we have fallen short of the glory of God. But that pain doesn’t tell the whole story, because the story doesn’t end on Friday; but rather death, pain, and our failure are overshadowed and redeemed through God’s victory and the Resurrection of Christ Jesus!
We spend much of our lives alternating between living our lives flaunting our failures and trying to redeem ourselves because we are not worthy.
When we flaunt our failures and are living in the world of “cheap” grace we are of the mindset that the Easter Egg of Grace should be brightly colored and three-feet in diameter. We know the egg is there and we can turn around and get it at any time, but we are going to do our own thing until it is more convenient.
However, when we view ourselves as not worthy, we are of the mindset that the Easter Egg of Grace should be camouflaged and the size of a pea. The quest is going to be arduous, and we don’t think it is possible to find the egg because we are so blind from our sinfulness.
Most of the time we are actually in the middle, and see the Easter Egg of Grace as the pink egg above.
But the story tacked on to the end of John is how the Lord reaches out to us, especially after we have finished celebrating the Resurrection.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
The Almighty is calling us to follow. We failed, and we continue to fail, just like Simon Peter, but the Lord calls out to each one of us to do the Kingdom work each day. We have chores we need to get done, the sheep need to be taken care of and fed, the lambs need to be fed, and we need to learn to follow better. The eggs are not hard to find, but we need to follow Jesus to their hiding place, and once we get there we find abundant grace.
I wanted to republish this article from Relevant written by Ed Gungor about LENT.
RELEVANT Magazine – Lent Is Good Religion.
Using the 40 days leading up to Easter to practice unnecessary devotion.
Today is the kick-off day for the 40-day journey to Resurrection traditionally called Lent. Christian communities all over the world use this time to intentionally make room for God in their lives through fasting, praying and special gatherings. It constitutes what I think can be good religion.
As an evangelical, I get that there is a bad kind of religion—the human-centered kind that tries to act in certain ways in order to earn brownie points or merit badges from God (truth is, none of us wants what we have earned from God!). Connecting with God does not happen through our performance of religious practices—connecting is all about a relationship with God and what God “performed” in Christ for us. If that is not understood, religious actions can actually kill living faith. That’s the negative side of religion—the side that sullies the innocence of faith. James called it “worthless” religion (James 1:26).
But there is another side of religion that is not bad. In the same place James spoke of “worthless” religion, he says there was a “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless.” This is religion born from God’s initiative, and it is undefiled, innocent, and powerful.
The word, “religion,” comes from the Latin religare, which means “to tie fast” or “to bind to.” Bad religion is about binding yourself to actions that you think earn you favor from God. Good religion is about binding or tying yourself to practices because you have experienced God’s favor. It is a way for us to love God back, as well as a way for us to move deeper into His grace.
In this context, James mentions binding ourselves to “good works” (i.e. caring for those less privileged than ourselves), as well as binding ourselves to things that keep us from “being polluted by the world.” That could be anything from prayer to fasting to engaging more deeply within the Christian community. Here’s the question: What helps you stay clean in this fallen world? Bind yourself to that—that is good religion.
Scripture encourages all believers to “devote” themselves “to doing what is good” (Titus 3:8), as well as to “devote” themselves to prayer (Col. 4:2) and the reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). The word “devote” is derived from the word “vow.” There are oodles of texts that call the Christian to consider deepening his/her commitment within the context of faith. Why? To make God love us more? Absolutely not.
We should never be nervous about how God feels about us. At the very core of faith is the assurance that God loves each one of us incautiously and recklessly. We should find great comfort in the fact that He knows every stupid, silly, mean, ill-motived and outright sinful thing about you and me and, yet, He still pursues and loves us. But on some level, we can’t just think about that; we should respond to that.
I want to love God more than I do. Jesus’ words haunt me here: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).
I’m not sure I love Him with all that.
Oh, I have my moments when my faith is white-hot (an occasion of worship at church or at the apex of a morning devotional), but those moments don’t seem to last. I want to love God more than I do. I want to love God enough to be willing to do what saints who have gone before us have done.
I’m not talking about ordinary faith here. Nor am I talking about something that is required. I’m talking about loving in God in unnecessary, unrequired ways. That’s good religion.
There is a required love. We’re supposed to love God enough to receive what he has freely given us in Christ. We’re supposed to love God enough to face the cross in order to ensure what Jesus did isn’t ignored by us. Salvation is found there. And that is where our journey of faith begins. This is really all that is necessary or required by God as far as loving Him is concerned.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more.
There is plenty of room for believers to love God more—room for us to be caught up in an infatuation with the Holy. Seasons like Lent provide space for us to intentionally do so. I’m not saying we should try to love Him extra in order to make Him love us more—He loves us period, not in response to what we do or don’t do. But loving God back is a natural thing for those who have been deeply touched by Him.
It’s sad to me that American Christianity often takes such pride in being religionless. We put so much emphasis on belief; to be sure, believing is where it all starts—I’m just not sure that believing is enough to make us world-changing, kingdom people. Richard Foster wrote, “In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered people. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely gathered, martyr people who know in this life the life and power of the kingdom of God. It has happened before. It can happen again …”
Maybe getting a little religion this Lenten season can help get us there.
Last week I prepared a sermon about Joseph (OT) and I have always been intrigued about this man. Was he perfect? No he wasn’t. However, most of the characters in the Old Testament had some flaw. With certainty though, Joseph was GIFTED, God had given him something, but he didn’t exactly know how to use the gifting at first.
God spoke to Joseph through his dreams, and probably understanding full and well what it meant, sought to blab it to his brothers. This dream essentially rubbed it in his brothers face that they would bow down to him, and he would rule over them. He was the arrogant kid that essentially rubbed in the face of his brothers that he knew he was better than them. His brothers were already upset with him because they saw him as a tattle tale, and as daddy’s favorite, which was thrown into their face every time they looked at his coat. So they looked at their arrogant brother and sought to break him, so they eventually sold him, and removed him from their sight. Joseph’s arrogance had betrayed him, and he lost all that he had which fed his pride.
Humbled, Joseph went around and was a good servant. He did all that he could to be successful, giving his work into the hands of God, and God blessed him. Not that this went straight to his head, but the success caused Joseph to let his guard down, and he fell into the trap set by his master’s wife. Feelings of invincibility probably caused him to enter into a circumstance that ultimately got him thrown into prison. Lesser arrogance than what he threw into the face of his brothers, but still a lack of humility.
God stayed with him, and continued to offer him gifts and blessings, even in the outward appearance of no gifts, no reason for pride, as he was locked up. God had a plan for his life, one that he probably had no clue, and his thoughts were far from those dreams that he had told his brothers, another life ago.
So Joseph used the gift God had given him even while in prison. This time he interpreted two men’s dreams, but this time the reward was not instant, for as soon as the man that benefitted from Joseph’s interpretation, did not help Joseph. This caused a deep humility to dwell within Joseph, so much so that he would remember that God is the source, and Joseph is merely the vessel.
Thus the time came when Pharaoh needed some dreams interpreted. Here Joseph supplied the information that allowed Egypt to be saved from the effects of a Great Famine. For this act Joseph, was rewarded with great power and prestige. At this point his brothers enter the scene again because the famine reached Canaan and his family. They came looking for assistance from Egypt. Instead of treating them with the wrath they probably deserved, Joseph helps them out, and actually saves his whole family, because through the power of the Holy Spirit, Joseph offers forgiveness and salvation to those who started his downward spiral.
He even wanted to offer them the assurance that they were forgiven because he knew that God blessed him throughout the midst of his humbling, by telling them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” His brothers needed to be humbled, but Joseph did this through the love of God, not the wrath.
Elpis and Shalom 