Looking into the Mirror

      When we look into the mirror each day, what do we see?  A new gray hair?  A new wrinkle where there weren't any before?  Maybe we find a blemish or two.  Most of us are quick to pick out the imperfections we find rather than in rejoicing that the Lord made us just the way we are.  So often, we only see the imperfections in our reflection based on the world's standards or what others have told us.  If our evaluation of ourselves is based on faulty information, then looking into a mirror is like going into a fun house where images are distorted and twisted.  For example, there is a woman who very much wants to look like a "Barbie doll".

     Nanette Hammond (according to a TMZ website) has spent upwards to 500K in visits to a plastic surgeon in order to make her face and body look like a "Barbie Doll".  At 47, she plans to continue having procedures done to keep her looking trim and fit.  She has even had semi-permanent make-up applied to keep the look she so admires.  While this may last for a bit, there will come a time when age will catch up with her as it does with all of us.  Besides, why does she want to imitate the appearance of a doll?  What is wrong with being yourself....the person that God made you to be?

     Allowing people's opinions and the culture around us to be the only reference point for our appearance or self-worth can lead to depression as well as disappointment.  We will never be able to measure up to what others think we should be.  Putting our identity and inner peace into the hands of other flawed human beings ("For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23) is like handing a pack of matches to an arsonist.  We will ride a roller coaster of emotions and ever live to please others by performing in order to feel good about ourselves.  The good news is that we don't have to live like this.

     There is only one perfect mirror into which we need to look every day and that is the Word of God.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from the bondage of people pleasing, sin and death.  We don't have to look perfect or be perfect because we can't!  There has only been one perfect person in all the world and that is our Lord and Savior.  When our lives are committed to Him, God does all the inner working in us so that we might bear fruit for His glory.  He is our significance and our worth.  All the good deeds, all the make-up and plastic surgery in the world will not make us as beautiful as we are in Christ.  He alone makes us complete.  He alone can fill all the desires of our heart for acceptance and love.

     Psalm 139:14a-15 tells us:  "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made....My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth."  God made us just the way He intended for us to appear.  He purposefully knitted us together, and in this, we should rejoice.  In addition to this, God has given to us a new heart in Christ at the moment He brought us to life in Christ.  We are a new creation....no need for surgery.  God has already done the job!  Now we can share the light and life with others who are also trapped in the  people pleasing trap of life.  We are no longer chained to the old mirror on the wall.  Instead, God has give us His Word and the more we look into it on a daily basis, the more He will refine us to look like Jesus.  In addition, there will be a day when we get a new body that will never die, get sick or decay.  We will live forever in His presence.  Let us resolve today to spend less time looking into a mirror on the wall that shows us our flaws and more time looking into His Word/mirror that tells the truth about who we are and who He is.  We will know the truth and it will set us free!  Selah!

The Answer is Not in the Box

     Dogs are very smart creatures that don't get enough credit for their intelligence.  Our Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, for example, always heads for the cool tile floor after coming in from the heat and humidity of Florida.  He gladly positions himself near our air conditioning intake vent as well to maximize his comfort.  He is a smart creature to be certain, and I only wish we, who are made in God's image, could use our intelligence as well.  Instead, we search for answers in the most complicated ways imaginable.

     When going through Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project", the tour guide, Del

Tackett, talked about the various aspects of life:   History, labor, arts and media, science, philosophy, ethics, church, God and man, community. family, state and law.  Each point on the compass is determined by our overall worldview.  Our perspective on man, God, Truth and Social Order will affect how we relate to all these other topics in life.  He rightly points out that there is no where on the compass we can go without God touching every aspect of life.  However, man often wants to find all the answers himself by looking for solutions in "the box"....that is within our world system rather than in God.  This is why I say that dogs are often smarter than we are.  They look for a simple solution.  If they are hot, they simply go lie in a cool spot.  We, on the other hand, complicate matters  thinking the more complex the solution is the smarter we are considered to be in the end.

     God has given us the answers and all we need for life and godliness is in His Word (2 Peter 1:3).  Yet, many of us (and I include myself) get caught up looking for answers in this world or as Del Tackett would say, "inside the box".  We look to government for solutions often hoping our representatives will produce some legislation that might solve a problem.  Others turn to education to improve life thinking that this will eliminate all the inequalities in our world.  Lately, there are those who feel that the philosophy of Karl Marx, or a modified version, will produce the utopia most people long for.  However, without God and a right view of man as defined in the Bible, we will never find the answers that we seek.  

     Each of us has a "god-shaped vacuum" in our lives and unless or until we allow God to fill that void, we will never have the satisfaction or answers we desire.  We want what we lost in the beginning....paradise, but as Paul David Tripp tells us in his devotional book "New Morning Mercies", "This isn't paradise.  You can't make it into paradise.  Paradise is coming, and your place was secured for you on the cross of Jesus Christ" (pg. for September 17th).  What he says is true if we are believers in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Our Lord will come again and establish justice restoring the Paradise that was lost when sin entered the world.  Until that time, we can try as we might to fix things in this broken world, but we will never regain paradise through our own efforts.  This does not mean that we should not apply our best efforts to help others or shine a light for Christ wherever we can.  Christ called us to be salt and light while we are here.  However, we do not have the ability to create a utopia.  Instead, Christ has called us to share the Good News of salvation and make disciples of all nations.

     Our true citizenship is not of this world.  We are called to be in the world but not of it because it is broken by sin.  Instead, ours is a rescue mission.  We are to call the lost into the light and truth found in God's Word.  Yes, while we are here, we are to make the most of our vocation, education, and life with the goal of bringing glory to God and leading others to Christ.  The results of our efforts depend upon the Lord.  Often, though, we get so engulfed in the concerns of this world and its circumstances that we lose hope and focus on what the Lord has called us to do.  This is when we need to step back and remind ourselves that the answers will not be found "in the box" of this world's perspective.  Our answers can be found in the truth of God's Word which will never pass away.  We are promised that there will be a day when we will have the perfect government, justice and peace we so desire.  Paradise will come again when Christ returns.  Until then, God has called us to stand in the armor He has given to us.  Ephesians 6:13 tells us:  "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."  By doing this, we will glorify the Lord and fulfill His purpose for our lives.  Selah!

When Our Minds Get Overwhelmed

     In the course of daily living, we all have a routine that keeps us going every day between work (whether at home or on the job) as well as family.  There is more than enough to occupy our minds, but then, when we add national news, controversies over COVID, to vaccinate or not as well as whether to mask up or stay at home, most of us become overwhelmed in our thinking.  It's easy to allow the circumstances of life to distress us.

 

   As I considered this today, two scriptures came to my mind.  The first is found in Paul's letter to Timothy (I Timothy 1:3-4):  "As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith."  To put it another way, Paul is telling Timothy to keep people from running down endless bunny trails.  Why?  It's so easy to get caught up in foolish controversies that do not produce good fruit.  Paul goes on in the same letter in verses 5-7 to say this:  "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions."  We see this happening today not just about spiritual issues but about other areas as well.  There really is nothing new under the sun as Solomon so wisely said.  

     Endless controversies do not produce any fruit, and when we meditate on them, we feel overwhelmed.  What is the solution?  Who is right?  Who is wrong?  There are some things we may never see resolved in our lifetime, but there is a solution to avoiding an overwhelmed thought process.  We have been instructed to meditate on God's Word day and night according to Deuteronomy 6:6-9.  The benefits to doing so are elaborated on in Psalm 19: 7-11:  "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.  Morever, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."  Just review all those benefits of meditating on the Word of God!  It is true - it revives the soul - it rejoices the heart - it enlightens the eye - it makes the simple wise - it endures forever and God's Word gives us great reward in the end!    Isn't this so much better than thinking of all the day's controversies which will be here today and gone tomorrow?

     What we feed our minds on a daily basis has a lot to do with our spiritual well being.  Just as with the physical body, if we fill up on fast foods constantly, our health will suffer (higher cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, obesity etc.).  However, if we eat a variety of healthy food that we make ourselves, we can reduce our incidence of illness.  Certainly this applies to our diet for the mind as well.  What we put in is what will come out when the pressures of life come at us.  Sitting and meditating on the "what ifs", the "might be's" and the "maybe's" of life will certainly create a feeling a panic, but meditating on the Word of God will produce a peace which passes all understanding no matter what happens around us.  Therefore, lets spend our time being transformed by the renewing of our minds in God's Word that we may be better equipped daily to walk in this fallen world till Jesus comes again!  Selah!

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

     Back in my high school and college days, I loved playing sports:  baseball, tennis, and golf to name a few.  Even now, I can still hear my father remind me to "keep my eye on the ball".  Focus is important no matter what the size of the sphere is that you are trying to hit.  When we get distracted, the only sound we hear is the "whoosh" that comes from missing the target.  I had my fair share of that sound until I learned to concentrate.  The ability to focus comes with practice and time.  Soccer games with small children comes to my mind.

     When our four were growing up, we enrolled them in soccer.  As small children, we would watch as the entire group of players would surround the soccer ball and end up kicking one another rather than the ball.  If the ball moved, both teams would move with it like a group of bees around a hive.  However, as they grew older and understood the game better, they learned to maneuver and focus on the ball.  This took time and practice, but it was a joy to watch them.  In the same way, Christians need to learn how to focus on Christ.

     In Luke's Gospel, we hear our Lord say:  "Jesus replied, 'No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).  He was responding to the request by a follower to let him go back and say good-bye to his parents.  Then, he would return and follow the Master.  Yet the Lord knew that if this fellow returned to his home, he might be drawn away from ever following Him.  Becoming a disciple means leading a life of commitment to Christ.  There are many distractions in the world both in the time that Jesus walked on Earth and now.  It is easy to get caught up following bunny trails that will never produce the fruit in our lives that we long for deep down.  When the Lord calls us, we must put aside all else and follow Him.

Our grandchildren love soccer too.

     Even after we have pledged ourselves to follow Christ, it is easy to allow the cares and concerns to life to keep us from focusing on Him.  The Apostle Paul knew about this struggle that he mentions in his letter to the Philippians (Chapter 3: 13-15a):  "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view...."  Paul is encouraging us as believers to look up for Heaven is our home where we hold eternal citizenship in Christ.   I am reminded of the hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" where the chorus goes:  "Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."  In order to do this, however, there are two things we need to do.

     First, spend more time reading His Word than the newspaper or watching T.V. news programs.  The things we do the most have the greatest impact on our thinking.  If we want our minds to be transformed to conform to that of Christ, it is obvious that we must spend time getting to know Him.  We do that by reading, meditating and praying God's Word back to Him.  He reveals Himself to us if we seek Him through the pages of the Bible.  We neglect it to our peril.  Absorbing all the "bad news" as a daily diet is bound to cause us fear, anxiety and a sense of hopelessness because most of us can do little to change the affairs of this fallen world.  On the other hand, God is in control.  Therefore, we must build our faith and trust in Him by reading the Word for His Word is the truth!

     Secondly, we must be in prayer.  We are admonished to "pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17).  This is key in our walk with the Lord and keeping our focus on Him.  We are encouraged to take everything to God in prayer.  When we praise Him, He lifts us up
.  As we tell Him our troubles, He gives us rest ("Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28).  Jesus is the one who binds up the wounds of the broken hearted and carries us when we are too weak to go on.  I often think of the 23rd Psalm when I think of prayer because Jesus is our Good Shepherd who leads us beside the still waters and restores our souls.  He also walks with us through the "valley of the shadow of death".  Both in our good times and in our bad times, we have a friend in Jesus.  Once again, the key is how much time will we spend with Him as versus the troubles of this world?

     Recently, with spread of COVID, the recent developments in Afghanistan, and the rapid turn of events in our own country, there is a lot of fear and concern.  Nevertheless, this is the time to "keep our eye on the ball" or rather time to keep our focus on Jesus Christ and the goal of our high calling.  The Bible tells us plainly, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee..."  Isaiah 26:3.  A mind fixed on Christ is the way we win the battle for our peace of mind.  As believers, let us fix our eyes upon Jesus rather than on all that is going on around us.  Selah!