Monthly Archives: February 2009

Life Purpose

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“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”1

I have read that Bob Russell, in his book, When God Builds a Church, tells about one occasion when he went to The Pancake Factory restaurant and noted that their luncheon special for the day was a grilled chicken sandwich with spicy Mexican sauce. He “kind of” felt that they had lost their focus.

I’m sure that many businesses have lost their main focus—as have some churches which get sidetracked into doing many good things, but miss the main thing. But what concerns me today, however, is how so many Christians have lost their main focus, if in fact they ever had one.

For example, I have asked hundreds of people in various classes I have taught: “How many believe that God has a purpose for your life?” Almost every hand is raised. Then I ask, “How many of you know what your God-given life-purpose is?”

Here’s the shocker—barely a hand is raised!

If we are to be true followers of Christ our focus, first of all, needs to be on him and to be committed to living in harmony with God’s will according to the principles found in his Word, the Bible, so that we glorify God in all that we are and do.

Second, our purpose needs to include our personal and spiritual growth and maturity.

Third, God’s purpose for us is also in how we invest our lives in living for and serving Him. Keep in mind that we serve God by serving others—using the gifts and talents that God has given to each of us.

Fourth, our purpose as Christians is also to be witnesses for Christ—not as a preacher or evangelist (although that will be true for some)—but in all that we are and do so that others seeing Jesus in us will want him for themselves, and to share our Christian faith as the opportunity arises.

It helps to clearly define your God-given life purpose—basing it on you gifts, talents, abilities and interests—by writing it down and getting it into sharp focus. Then memorize it and repeat it every day so that it is programmed into your unconscious mind. This in turn makes it a part of your deep-down belief system and helps you to live it automatically.

Don’t write it in generalities. Be specific. State exactly what you are going to be and do and how you are going to do it. Remember, “Blessed is he who aims at nothing for he shall surely hit it.”

Suggested prayer: “Thank you God that you have a purpose for my life. Please help me to discover what it is and get the training I need to fulfill it to the best of my ability. Please help me to so live that others will see Jesus in me and, in so doing, will want him for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 19:10 (NIV).

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Obstacle Illusions

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“He [Jesus] replied, ‘…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”1

Grant Frazier said, “Life is full of obstacle illusions.” He’s right.

Instead of seeing obstacles as opportunities to grow, negative people see them as obstacle illusions. They see them as mountains too high to climb and use them as excuses to hang on to if they don’t want to act responsibly and grow up and therein become stronger, healthier persons.

It’s all in their attitude of mind—their negative thinking—and they allow their problems to have a crippling effect in their life. They are faith-less!

On the other hand, positive people are faith-full. They see every obstacle, not only as a challenging mountain to climb and conquer, but as an opportunity to grow and become stronger, better, healthier persons. When faced with an obstacle (as another has suggested), they don’t tell God how big their problems are. They tell their problems how big their God is!

Neither do they allow past failures to defeat or depress them. And when the devil comes to remind them of their failures, they remind him of his future! Thus ends their discussion with the devil!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to commit and trust every obstacle in my life to you and give me the faith to ‘climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow until I reach my dream’2—or rather, until I reach your dream for me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 17:20 (NIV).

2. Adapted from the movie, “The Sound of Music.”

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Obstacle Lessons

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“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”1

Years ago there was a song that said: “Into each life some rain must fall, But too much is falling in mine.”

The first line certainly is true. Problems, difficulties, challenges, and obstacles come to us all. That’s life. And without doubt, the more noble our life’s purpose is, the greater the obstacles we will be confronted with and challenged by.

However, the important thing to realize is that it’s not what obstacles we are confronted with that count, but how we respond to and what we do about them.

Obstacles are meant to be object lessons for us—to teach us how to grow, become strong in character and mature—ready for anything. They are meant to challenge us…to stretch us…to show us what potential and possibilities we can see and achieve.

The reality is we can either run from our problems—the obstacles placed in our path—or we can, with God’s help, overcome and learn from them and thereby become more mature persons, and stronger in character. The choice is ours. Remember, character counts—always in all ways!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the obstacles you allow in my life. Help me to see in every one a lesson to learn, an opportunity to grow, and a challenge to become more mature and stronger in character. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:2-4 (NLT).

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More Successful Failures

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“And when He [God] had removed him [King Saul], He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.’”1

I don’t know about you, but I get great encouragement knowing about other people who have experienced setbacks, discouragements, criticism, mistakes and failures, but with faith, hope, persistence and determination have risen above their circumstances to become and do all that they were capable of becoming and doing.

For example, here are some more successful failures:

Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame had his chicken recipe rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.

Zane Grey became a dentist and hated it. He wrote several novels. They failed. He wrote a western novel, The Last of the Plainsmen. It too was rejected. He was told he had no future as a writer and to give it up. He persisted and was 40 before his first book sold. He had 65 books published while he was alive—24 after he died. His books sold more than 50 million copies. Forty-nine of his novels were made into movies. One million of his books still sell every year.2

Decca Recording Company turned down the Beatles in 1962. They said, “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitarists are on the way out.” (Yeah right!)

Van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire lifetime and that one was of his own brother.

Richard Hooker spent 17 years writing a humorous war story which was rejected by 21 publishers before William Morrow bought it. The title of the book? MASH! (And we all know the rest of that story.)3

Wilbur and Orville Wright’s father believed that his sons’ desire to fly was heresy. Walt Disney went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before becoming successful. And Thomas Edison failed more than 6,000 times before making an electric light bulb that worked.

So … if you feel like you’ve ever failed, remember David who blew it big time with God in his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and having Bathsheba’s husband killed. So why did God say David was a man after his own heart? Because David was honest with God, admitted his failure, confessed his sin and God forgave him. He’ll do the same for you and me too. When we fail that’s the time to give God a chance. Surrender your heart and life to him, give him your failures, and in time—with growth—he will make something beautiful out of your life too.

Remember, “Failure is an event—not a person!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I acknowledge my failures and surrender my heart and life to you. Please help me to see every character issue I need to resolve and, with your help, overcome. Please make something beautiful out of my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Acts 13:21-22 (NKJV).

2. Insight, No. 77, p.9.

3. Insight, No. 53, p. 23.

Note: “How to Know God” http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

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Notable Successful Failures

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“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.”1

You have probably read how “Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read. Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school. Beethoven’s music teacher once said of him, ‘As a composer he is hopeless.’ When a boy, Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything. F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his employers wouldn’t let him wait on a customer because he ‘didn’t have enough sense.’ A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had ‘no good ideas.’ Enrico Caruso’s music teacher told him, ‘You can’t sing. You have no voice at all.’ And the director of the Imperial Opera in Vienna told Madame Schumann-Heink that she would never be a singer and advised her to buy a sewing machine.

Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. Werner von Braun flunked ninth-grade algebra. Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the Navy as ‘unfit for service’ until he flew over both Poles. Louis Pasteur was rated as ‘mediocre’ in chemistry when he attended the Royal College. Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a captain and came out as a private. Louisa May Alcott was told by an editor that she could never write anything that had popular appeal. Fred Waring was once rejected for high school chorus. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.”2

Speaking personally, my father wouldn’t allow me to go to high school. I was only 13 when he made me go to work to earn my own way. But through faith in God and sensing his purpose for my life, hard work, and determination I not only graduated from college but also from graduate school. True, I started late, but I made it. You can too.

My advice to one and all is this: Don’t allow your past to determine your future. Discover God’s purpose for your life and, with his help, give it all you’ve got.

Remember, failure is an event—not a person. When you stumble and fall (and you will from time to time), don’t stay down. Get up, learn from your mistakes, and go on! Every day for the rest of your life commit and trust your life and way to God and he will be with you every step of the way.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to know what your plan and purpose for my life is. And give me the faith and insight to learn from my failures and the strength and courage to never give up until I become all that you envisioned for me to be[,] and to do all that you planned for me to do. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV).

2. Dr. Milton E, Larson, “Humbling Cases for Career Counselors,” Phi Delta Kappan, February 1983. Volume LIV, No. 6; 374.

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Truth Decay

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“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”1

I’m sure most readers will be familiar with the concept of selective exposure, selective attention, selective perception, and selective retention. In other words, most of us tend to expose ourselves and give attention only to messages we want to hear. Furthermore, we see things the way we want to see them, and remember only what we want to remember. Everything else we filter out. We turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what we don’t want to see or hear.

The fact is we see and hear things not the way THEY are, but the way WE are. We all see things through our mental filter which has been formed by years of past experiences. The more we were hurt or felt disillusioned in the past (unless these are resolved), the more distorted our view of reality will be—and the more selective we will be in what we unconsciously choose to hear and see.

Plus, the more we are into denial about past hurtful experiences and are not being honest with ourselves, the more TRUTH DECAY sets in causing us to distort all other truth (including God’s truth) to make it match our distorted perception of reality. For instance, why do so many people twist God’s Word to make it say what they want it to say?

On the other hand, the more honest and truthful we are with our inner self (our gut level feelings and motives), the clearer we will see—and the less we will distort—all other truth, including God’s truth. Also, the closer our relationships with others will be. People who wear masks to hide their true self cannot have in-depth relationships with others or with God. Masks may look fine on the outside, but masks cannot relate. All maskers have is a masquerade.

Truth decay is destructive to one’s physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational health. It is a destroyer of societies and opens the door for evil to enter. It is not without very good reason why God desires truth in our innermost being—not for his sake, but much more so for ours.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you are the source of all truth. Please confront me with the truth about me, deliver me from the sin of denial, and help me always to walk and live in the way of truth. Help me to be an honest, open, and authentic person. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 51:6 (NIV).

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What Is Sin Anyhow? Part II

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“But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, TO HIS OWN WAY; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity [sin] of us all.”1

The unanswered question we asked yesterday was, “When did Adam and Eve sin?” Was it when they picked the forbidden fruit from the tree, when they ate it, or just when was it?

Actually they sinned before they took the fruit. Eating the fruit was the result of their decision to elevate themselves above God. They did exactly what Satan did. They set themselves up to be the judge between God and Satan, thus making themselves their own final voice of authority—making themselves as “god” or their own “god.” (This, too, is the essence of the supposed New Age movement, the essence of which is as old as Satan. New Age people speak not of God within, but of “the god” within.)

And that is at the heart of all sin and evil. When we make our own rules and defy those of God’s, we too become our own authority, and exalt ourselves above God, the Creator of us and the entire universe. Instead of being led by the Spirit of God, we are being led by the spirit of, or the example of, Satan, the devil—the original one to defy God, and in so doing he became the creator of evil. For a very poor comparison, making ourselves the final voice of authority by putting ourselves above God would be like an ant telling a man that it, the ant, knows better than the man. Rather absurd to say the least!

What self-proclaimed free-thinkers don’t realize is that it is impossible for any person to be a free-thinker for the simple reason that we all have a sin nature which contaminates our ability to think purely with total honesty and to see the truth as God sees it. Plus we all have prejudices, biases, and mixed motives that contaminate our thinking. And the more dishonest we are with our inner-self, the more we will distort all truth to make it match our perception of reality. The only true freedom we have is the freedom to choose God’s way or our own—to let God be God or make ourselves a “god” unto ourselves.

When you have millions of people setting themselves up above God, becoming their own authority, and deciding what is right and wrong (and justifying what they decide and do), it’s no wonder that evil is running rampant throughout the world. And it will continue to do so unless we quit playing god and let God be God and accept His Word as our final voice of authority, and live in harmony with his will and rules for fully living and fully loving.

Remember, sin is defying God and going our own way. And the fact remains; we cannot defy God and live. He has warned us, the wages of sin is still death … but the gift of God is eternal life. It is our choice which route to take—that of life or that of death.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see clearly what the nature of sin really is and how totally destructive it is of human personality. Thank you with all my heart for providing an escape from sin’s eternal consequences through the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who died in my place to pay the penalty for all my sins. Help me to live in harmony with your will and your Word, so that my life will always bring glory to your holy and eternal name. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Isaiah 53:5-6 (NKJV).

NOTE: To be sure you have received God’s forgiveness read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

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What Is Sin Anyhow? Part I

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“And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”1

A man who calls himself a free thinker wrote to me saying: “Sorry folks, you have to learn a totally new way of seeing if you want to help this earth. According to your teachings your God has sinned. He created everything good and evil. And whoever creates evil is evil. Enough preaching. Enough fairy tales. Santa Claus is OK for children. Jesus Christ was most likely a nice, loving man who tried to help others. He might have even been crazy, with fanatical visions. But he was only a man.”

Quite a judgment—but also very interesting in that it pinpoints that which is at the very core of sin and evil. Note that he has put himself in the position of judging both Jesus and God which means he has put himself above God. Keep this in mind as you read this series.

First, God didn’t create evil. However, he allowed it to happen for the simple reason that he created both angels and mankind not as puppets, but with a free will so they could choose to go God’s way or “create” their own.

Second, keep in mind that the fall of Satan, the instigator of sin and evil, said, “I will become as the most high.” In other words he wanted to dethrone God and set himself up above God and become “god” himself.

Third, God told the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, that they could eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden except for the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.2 This was their free-will test to choose for themselves whether to obey God or go their own way. However, God warned them of the serious consequences should they disregard his warning and eat from the forbidden tree—the consequences would be death—both spiritual and physical.3

Enter Satan, the devil, who, sowing a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind, said to her, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”4 Then came the part-truth-lie: “You will not surely die…. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”5

True, they would know good and evil, but what Satan didn’t tell them was that if they disobeyed God, ate of the forbidden tree, and then ate of the Tree of Life they would be forever confirmed in a state of evil and sin—which, or course, was Satan’s goal.

So when did Adam and Eve sin? Was it before or when they ate the forbidden fruit? Stay “tuned” for we will answer this question tomorrow in Part II.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will be able to see clearly what sin is from your perspective, and why it is so totally destructive of human personality and those whom you love—us! Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV).

2. Ibid.

3. Genesis 2:17 (NIV).

4. Genesis 3:1 (NIV).

5. Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV).

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Envy: A Poison of the Soul

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“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”1

“Aesop had a fable about two eagles, one envious of the other because the other could soar higher and more elegantly than he could. So the envious eagle would pluck his strongest feathers from his own body and shoot them as arrows, trying to wound or kill the other eagle. It was his own undoing, however. He could not hit the high flying eagle, and he was eventually grounded by his lack of feathers. Envy destroyed the eagle.”2

Envy, greed, and jealousy are all related. They are not only destroyers of the soul, but also of our physical well-being. As Proverbs says, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”3

And wasn’t envy the cause of Satan’s downfall? He was envious of God and wanted to be God himself; and look at the unbelievable mess he has gotten us into—or rather, look at the incredible mess we’ve gotten ourselves into because we have followed the ways of Satan instead of the ways of God. And how many of the atrocities that are happening in today’s world are caused by the envy and greed for control by certain men who claim themselves to be leaders when, in fact, they are destroyers!

Envy is a destroyer. It will destroy you and me, too, if we allow it to do so. Like all of God’s instructions, it is not without good reason that his Word tells us to get rid of all envy, malice, jealousy and hatred.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, if there is any envy, malice, jealousy, or hatred in my heart, please reveal it to me, and give me the courage and good sense to face it, to resolve it, and get rid of it. And please forgive me for it. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Peter 2:1 (NIV).

2. Brett Blair, Sermon Illustrations, 1999.

3. Proverbs 14:30 (NIV).

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Touchy Topic: Black and White Music

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“Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.”1

How well I remember when I first came to the U.S.A. how moved I was by the singing in chapel where I attended college and how, when I was fresh out of college, in the little church I attended how we made the rafters ring with our singing. Back then the singing was in rich, full harmony. Also, on one occasion when speaking in a church in Perth, Western Australia, the singing was heavenly. On the fist line of the first song, I said to myself, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” And he was.

There was a Chinese professor in the congregation that day. It was only the first or second time in her life that she had ever been to church. She told us how she was brought up in China under Mao Tse Tung and was taught that there was no God. “But,” she said, “I know now that there is a God. I felt his presence here as never before.”

In today’s church, music is still one of the biggest areas of conflict. The “oldies” like the hymnology of the past while the “youngies” like the more contemporary music. I have two concerns and it has little, if anything, to do with whether the music is hymns or what has come to be known as praise music.

My first concern, with both the old hymns and the new praise songs, is that using modern technology has helped eliminate harmony from both the old and the new music. PowerPoint is wonderful for projecting announcements, the Scriptures, and sermon points, but I have problems with the music only in that it has all but eliminated harmony. The hymn/chorus words may be in full color but our singing is mostly in black and white. Frankly, being somewhat of an amateur musician myself, I find this singing without harmony rather lacking.

Could you imagine what it would sound like if every instrument in an orchestra only ever played the melody? How dreadfully uninspiring that would be.

In days gone by I used to play an electric guitar—but if I only ever played the melody, I’m pretty sure my family would have been “harping” (nagging) at me, especially Joy, my wife, for she plays both a harp and the piano. If she only ever played melody on the piano and on her harp, I’d probably be “harping” at her!

I may very well be wrong, but I cannot in my wildest dreams ever imagine that the singing in heaven will be without harmony. Harmony is a marvelous gift of God. As four-color printing is to color printing let’s bring four-part harmony back into our churches to enrich our worship and praise of God. And, if our schools are no longer teaching our kids music and harmony, let’s do it in our churches. And if our churches aren’t teaching music and harmony, let’s teach our kids at home. Like I said, harmony is a wonderful gift from God. Let’s use it to glorify him and enrich our singing and worship—regardless of whether we sing traditional hymns or contemporary praise songs.

My second concern is to emphasize the fact that the most important thing in our singing is that it is coming from the heart and not just from the head—or the emotions. Authentic music and authentic praise of God only comes from authentic people—regardless of the style of music being sung or played.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for creating color for the world in which we live, for how monotonous it would be if the sky, clouds, trees, birds, flowers, the ocean and everything else were just black and white. And thank you for creating harmony and music so we can lift our voices in glorious harmony to sing praises and words of thanksgiving to you for all you have done for us. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 147:7 (NIV).

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