More Than a Feeling

This title is from an old song by the group Boston, and it also communicates how we are to live as believers.

Feelings are unreliable. We are taught by our culture that if it feels good do it. Feelings are given great attention in our society. Everyone focuses on how they feel and if something does not feel good, then we quit. This is a habit that has created a nation and culture of quitting. If you go by feelings and things get difficult it will be time to cut and run. Quitting has become acceptable in our culture, but it is not acceptable to the Lord.

Scripture has much to say about perseverance. In Hebrews chapter 11 we are given a litany of people who did not quit. Were times hard for them? Yes, more than any one of us can imagine. Did they feel like quitting? I am sure more than once. What was it that kept them going? The chapter tells us that it was their faith in God.

Faith vs. feelings. It is a common matchup in the life of a believer. We feel one way, but faith tells us something completely different. Often times to do what God asks us to do in obedience means to go against our feelings. A common phrase and approach in our culture is to “follow your heart.” Doing this has probably led a lot of people out of the path of obedience. Scripture tells us in Proverbs that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death (Proverbs 14:12). Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). Clearly, our hearts cannot be trusted. We must choose to lead our hearts and not allow them to default to their own desires. Faith leads the heart to where God desires it to be.

Sometimes a Christian will feel despair, pain, suffering, devastation and even depression. These feelings are to be countered with faith. Faith says that God is at work and He sees you and cares about you. Faith says that even when we cannot trace God’s hand, that we can trust His heart. I pray that each of us can operate in faith and live out our lives for Christ based on faith, which is so much more than a feeling.

Numbed by the Numbers

Please consider the following:

• Every year 15 million children die of hunger.


• The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed, one-third is starving- Since you've entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.


• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - live on less than $1 per day.


• 3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on US$2/day.


• One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.


• To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year. (Just for a bit of perspective, the U.S. government has dolled out over $100 billion to struggling insurance company AIG, to keep them afloat after their risky investments went bad).

How does a believer deal with such numbers? How does a Christ-follower born into American affluence properly put these statistics into perspective? Where is God in all this suffering and injustice? These are weighty questions that are not easy to answer.

My mind immediately races to Matthew chapter 5, where our Lord basically says that those who will be ultimately blessed are not necessarily hanging at the country club. Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Our Lord has a clear message. Things are not always as they seem. Those who live in luxury and ease in this life will most likely not be truly blessed. Christ taught very plainly that the trappings of wealth and comfort are very ensnaring. This makes it easily understandable why the Church in more "impoverished" parts of the world are thriving while the American church is dying on the vine. We have thumbed our nose at God because all of His great blessings have convinced us that we do not need Him. How terribly tragic.

May we take very seriously Christ's admonition to us to care for the poor. In Matthew 25 Jesus speaks very clearly again about His followers responsibility to care for those less fortunate: "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

In this matter, I have more questions than answers. I pray that the Lord will reveal His heart to each of us as to how we should respond. May we seek to honor Him in all that we do and serve His people with each bit of our time, talent and treasure. May He bless you and yours today!

More than meets the eye.......

We are visual people. Scientist believe that the retina seems to process about ten one-million-point images per second. The human eye is a scientific phenomenon. Interestingly, the eye was the one thing that Charles Darwin truly struggled with as he attempted to explain away the glorious creation with incidental randomness.

Can we trust our eyes though? Should we go by what we see? The old saying goes, "If I can see it, I will believe it." If that is where we stop, with only what we can see, we will miss most of what actual reality is. Faith is not a denial of reality, it allows us to see more of reality.

Scripture defines faith as the "evidence of things not seen." Paul tells the church at Corinth that "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). In the very next chapter he writes, "We walk by faith, not by sight". (2 Cor. 5:7)

Paul is saying if you can touch it, feel it, see it or spend it- it has very temporary value. However, things you cannot see- faith, love, relationships, hope, salvation, heavenly reward- these are the things of true permanent value. My fervent prayer is that I will live for those things. That my eyes will be able to look past this physcial world with all its allure and focus on the Eternal King, Jesus Christ.

I pray that each of us can, as the writer of Hebrews stated, "....fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Life will lie to you, life will leave you hurting and life will leave you confused. Life will disappoint and let down. Life will seem at times out of control and full of despair. The one remedy, the one hope, the one sure fire solution is to have our eyes and hearts focused fully on the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that each of us will look to Him today and each day.

Sustainability.....

No one wants to go into a season of spiritual dryness. No one desires that their walk with the Lord becomes stagnant. No one hopes for spiritual apathy. But it happens. It happens to the very best of Christians. Even the most dedicated of those who follow Christ get lulled to sleep. It happened to me recently, not just for a week, but for a much longer period. The question is why did it happen and how do I prevent it in the future.

Lets begin with the why. It happens because Satan attacks and convinces the believer that the need for spiritual vitality is not that real. The Devil makes one think that they are doing just fine, when they are in fact struggling. In my case, Satan convinced me that if I was in the Word just a little, prayed and went to church that my walk with the Lord was "A Okay." There are a million things that can take our eyes off of Christ: other people, work, money, hobbies and the list goes on and on.

There is one thing however that will bring Him back into sharp focus in our lives and that is to experience just a bit of pain. Introduce an ounce of pain into the life of a believer and spiritual growth will almost certainly follow. Pain is the most sure fire catalyst for growth. Shouldn't we then welcome the pain? Shouldn't we welcome anything that would bring us closer to Him? Afterall, the ultimate point and purpose of life is fellowship with Christ. All things must bow to that purpose. Even good things are not good if they take away from intimacy with Him.

Now for the preventative part. How do we as believers safegaurd against seasons of spiritual futility? Well, I would love to hear your thoughts, but here are just a few of mine. A few steps to sustained spiritual vitality: 1) Be about Him, not about yourself or anyone else. 2) Don't just read the Word, but absorb it and allow enough time for it to change your heart. 3) Give yourself to the Lord fully in uninhibited, absolute, fall on your face, deep, soul shaking worship. Allow God to work in your heart through praising Him and just being fully in His presence.

The cry of my heart is to know the full and complete joy of being His and knowing Him intimately. The Psalmist said it this way, may this be the prayer and hope of my life:
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me (Psalm 51:12).

What I Wish For Me

Most all of my talents in life are mediocre (at best). I pole vaulted 11'6" in high school, a height rarely garnering a medal. I was short, but slow, so 11'6" was all that was happening. So, I tried the 400M dash. 53 seconds is respectable but again will leave you off the medal stand basically every time. I played football and basketball and had tons of fun, but few accolades.

Scholastically, I was pretty much middle of the pack. Place me against any metric and chances are I will you show you the mean. I do not hate being average, it is totally okay by me. Especially when it comes to the things that the world tends to keep score on. Earn an average living, drive an average car, live in an average house- all well above what I feel I need to accomplish.

However, there is one area in my life that I refuse to settle for the norm. I want to love exceptionally well. My heart longs to be known as someone who gave love. Not with bias, precondition or with any expectation of returned love. A person who loves as if there is no tomorrow and who is so in tune with the Holy Spirit that love is the overarching theme of their life.

Scripture says it like this (I Cor 13): Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

By my own efforts, I will never live out any of those attributes. However, with Christ in me, each is not only possible, but the full will of God. I invite you to read that passage and place (Christ in ____- your name). For example, I plan to read it each day like this:

Christ in Lance is patient, Christ in Lance is kind. Christ in Lance does not envy, Christ in Lance does not boast, Christ in Lance is not proud. Christ in Lance is not rude, Christ in Lance is not self-seeking, Christ in Lance is not easily angered, Christ in Lance keeps no record of wrongs. Christ in Lance does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Christ in Lance always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Candidly, right now, not a bit of that is true. I, like many, ebb and flow in my walk. The reality is the condition of my heart has been in free fall for a while. Would you pray for me, that in time, at least parts of the above paragraph could have some reality in my life? May the Lord richly bless you and yours!

No One Hit Wonders

Jimmy Buffett did one thing. One thing that was so incredibly popular that he was able to cash in on it and live the good life for the rest of his life. When Buffett wrote his only hit song, "Margaritaville", he etched his name in the anals of music history. Jimmy then parlayed this success into a whole franchise of merchandise, clothing and even restaurants and bars. Is this really possible? Write and perform one good song and be set for life? In America, yes, it is not only possible, but it happens pretty regularly.

I think sometimes we feel as believers that if we do something meaningful for the Lord or walk close to Him for a season, that we should be able to coast the rest of the way. Being a disciple is totally different than this idea. I have heard discipleship best explained as a "long obedience in the same direction." God is not interested in us loving and serving Him deeply for a bit and then walking away.

Scripture is chalked full of examples of people who walked in obedience for a long time before seeing God's faithfullness come to fruition. Moses spent forty years in the desert, Joseph spent time in a pit and in prison and Abraham and Sarah waited along time to have children. Are you in the waiting room today? Have you been walking with the Lord and do not yet have your desired outcome? Be patient. He knows what we need better than we do. Scripture says it like this, in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

A Singular Focus

I love the Guiness Book of World Records! The feats accomplished are simply astounding and those who hold these records are to be applauded. Some of the categories get pretty creative and make you wonder who would even think of that as a record to be had? For instance, England's John Evans balanced a 352 lb Mini car on his head for 33 seconds at The London Studios, UK on May 24, 1999. Another crazy one is the longest distance to drive a lawnmower. That record is 14,594.5 miles in 260 consecutive days by America's Gary Hatter. Hatter started his drive through Portland, Maine, on May 31, 2000 and passed through all 48 continuous US states as well as Canada and Mexico before arriving in Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 14, 2001.

I am not sure who wakes up and says, "I know i can balance a bigger car than that on my head," or "that lawnmower record is a joke and I am going to make a mockery of it!" However, I am sure that anyone who holds a Guiness record has at least two things going for them: focus and determination. To hold such a record a person has to make it their express purpose in life to accomplish the feat. They cannot dabble in several things and spread their time and energy over many interests. Such a record holder must have a singular focus.

When Christ came to earth He had a singular focus. There was one thing that mattered, there was one mission that must be accomplished. He left the fellowship of His Father and the comfort and bliss of heaven with one thing on His mind. There was no litany of reasons to compel Him to walk the Via Dolorosa. Every step He took, every move He made was towards one end. That end was to save sinners. Paul says it this way, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst."

May we follow Him with that same single mindedness. May our hearts be undivided as we seek Him. May our daily living cry out that He is the one thing that matters. May the entirety of our lives simply state that He is indescribably good, glorious and worthy!