Workouts

 September 3, 2022

Occasionally, the schedule conspires against me, keeping me from working out as I need. I’ve found that if I don’t exercise first thing in the morning, the day gets rolling and before I know it, it’s time for bed. This last week has been one of those crazy weeks; I didn’t do a single pushup, squat, or crunch…until this morning. 

I suppose it would be helpful to know that I’ve never been much of an athlete and don’t like working out. I’ve talked with people who speak of “runner’s high,” or how they look forward to going to the gym. I don’t understand people like that. I’m more like a former District Superintendent of mine who years ago wrote a little ditty:

“I watch the joggers as they go by

Mile after weary mile;

Tell me, if jogging is so much fun,

Why don’t they ever smile?”

What I do understand however, is my need for exercise. When I turned fifty, the Lord spoke to me saying, “Your body is my temple, and I don’t like the shape it’s in.” Really. I didn’t hear an audible voice, but whenever I get a notion of something that is totally out of character for me, I can be pretty sure it’s the Lord. So I bought some VHS (that’s how long ago it was) exercise tapes and began a workout routine that I’ve kept more or less since then. 

This week however, it just didn’t happen. So this morning I bit the bullet, turned on YouTube and grunted, groaned, and sweat alongside my workout buddy Funk Roberts for half an hour. In that week that I’ve been away, my pushup ability plummeted. What had been relatively routine was hard. And tonight, sore muscles from my legs to my neck are complaining loudly about their mistreatment. 

I’ll ignore their complaints and do it again because I know I have to keep moving if I don’t want to end up in a chair or bed before my time. Staying in shape is better than getting in shape, but both are necessary if I want to enjoy life. But it gets me thinking…

If we get out of shape spiritually, neglecting the Bible, skimping on prayer, skipping worship, we may not notice it when life runs along normally. But when the crisis hits, we hit the spiritual turbocharge, but nothing happens because we’ve not trained our spiritual muscles to handle anything more than an unchallenged life. 

Getting into shape spiritually isn’t always pleasant at the start. Our spiritual muscles complain; we don’t see our spirits growing like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biceps, so we give up. Prayer can be hard. Putting down the phone and picking up the Bible takes more willpower than we realize. Watching worship from a streaming service in our PJ’s is more convenient than getting dressed and driving to a physical location. Investing in other people takes time and energy.

We had visits from our son in law and several grandchildren this evening. Projects got laid aside as we talked and laughed together. Our hearts are full even as our bodies are tired and sore. We were able to listen, to give attention because over the years we’ve not neglected the spiritual disciplines that fill the soul and feed the spirit. We are blessed beyond measure and thankful tonight for physical and spiritual workouts that enable us to give and to bless others in Jesus’ name.

A Pierced Ear

 September 2, 2022

The first detailed explanation of the Ten Commandments comes in Exodus 21, and deals with the slave/master relationship and the conditions of manumission. After serving six years, the slave must be set free, but if he wants to stay with the master, he is taken to a doorpost where his ear is pierced by an awl. It is a physical demonstration of his loyalty and of the master’s good treatment of him. 

Psalm 40:6-8 offers a subtle commentary on this custom:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.””

At first glance, it is a declaration of God’s work in the psalmist’s life. God doesn’t want sacrifices and offerings as much as he wants people with open ears, ie. people who listen. But when the verse continues, we discover that it is a Messianic prophecy speaking of Jesus (Hebrews 10:7). Jesus willingly served his Father, offering himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Figuratively speaking, he stood at the doorpost while his ear was pierced, being obedient even unto death on the cross.

This is also for you and me. Have I willingly given myself to the Father, opening my ears to his voice, but also placing my ear on the doorpost to say, “I am yours forever?” God is looking for a servant’s heart. My ears he has opened; I’m listening with my ear pressed to the doorpost, ready to serve him forever.

Negativity

 September 1, 2022

I’ve written many times about how God lifted the cloud of melancholy when I learned to give praise and thanksgiving. I’d often read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (“In everything give thanks ; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”), but for years failed to see it as a command which I had been disobeying. No wonder I often felt melancholy! It’s hard to be happy when we’re turning our backs on God’s clear will for us.

This afternoon Linda and I drove an hour to see some old friends. One of three mentors in my spiritual life had died, and we wanted to see his kids who were young as we once were when I was just starting out as pastor. We had a wonderful reunion with friends we hadn’t seen in forty years, and when we left, were able to meet and have dinner with another couple from those years. As we talked about life, our grandkids, and our faith, they shared with us some of what they have been doing as they have led marriage seminars in their church. They put us on to a podcast by Jimmy Evans, someone we hadn’t heard before, and we decided to listen to one of his talks on the way home.

He had a lot of good things to say about marriage, but in the middle of it, he said something that really caught my attention. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3), and in Psalm 100:4, we read, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Here’s what caught my attention: he said, “God never allows negativity in his presence.” 

It’s no wonder there are so many who cannot seem to experience the presence of God; with all the negativity being fomented by the media and even more by our own hearts, we can’t get within shouting distance of God. So much of our thought life and conversation centers around all the things we don’t like. We complain about the weather, about politics, religion, the educational system, healthcare, our aches and pains, people who irritate us…the list goes on and on. Negativity seems to ooze from our very pores. If we can only enter his presence with humble praise and thanksgiving, it’s almost as if there are angels guarding the gates of heaven; when someone negative approaches, they are turned away. 

The surest way into the presence of God is through humble thanksgiving: “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15). If I allow negative thoughts into my head and heart, they will shut and lock the door into the presence of God.

I experienced this reality this morning. I woke up and immediately my mind turned to the news (which is never positive). I drove to the church to meet with other men for our Thursday morning prayer time. They were praising and thanking God for various things. It was clear they were experiencing his presence. I was not…until I repented of my negativity and turned my words to praise. I didn’t feel like it, but that praise unlocked the door to my self-imposed prison, setting me free by ushering me into the presence of God.

God Waiting

 August 31, 2022

Evangelists love the story of the shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep, risking the rest of the flock to bring home the wanderer. They love the image of a God who loves us so much he goes to any length to seek us out and bring us home. 

They also love the story of the Prodigal Son who wasted his inheritance on wild living in a foreign country, ending up feeding pigs and so hungry he wished he could sample the slop he was pouring into the trough. He finally came to his senses and went home, where he found his father waiting for him at the front gate, ready to throw a big celebration party for his son who “was lost and now is found.”

Both stories reveal something about the God we Christians worship. The lesson of the lost sheep, that God loves us enough to seek us out is something we’ve been taught to understand almost from the beginning. The lesson of the Prodigal Son however, is easy to miss or misread.

We often find ourselves in messy and painful situations, sometimes self-inflicted, sometimes not. Either way, at such times, we often wonder why God doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to our prayers. We are desperate, confused, and afraid; if God doesn’t answer, we’re not going to make it. And silence is the only answer we get. “Wait! I thought God loved me! I thought he wanted to bless me!” Silence. “Where is the Good Shepherd who roams the countryside looking for that one lost sheep?” Silence.

At such times, we are living the story of the Lost Son, not the Lost Sheep. He was in such a life-threatening place that this Jewish boy was feeding pigs and wishing for just a taste of slop. Yet no one came looking for him. Why?

The key to this story is found in what Jesus said about him in his desperation: “When he came to himself…” Modern translations miss the point when they have Jesus saying “he came to his senses.” The old versions had it right, and Jesus was paying this boy a compliment. He wasn’t his true self when he was partying, squandering all that he had been given. And he wasn’t his true self when he was feeding the pigs. He was his true self when he realized he had a home and a father. Jesus wants us to know who we really are, but here’s the kicker: had the father come looking for his son, the boy would never have had the opportunity to come to himself. The father waited, and in so doing, gave his son a gift he could not have given any other way: the gift of him realizing who he really was…a beloved son.

Sometimes we have to go through the mess to learn who we really are. Only when we are tested do we discover our strength, and only when God waits patiently are we given the time we need to learn who we really are. God’s rushing to our rescue would short-circuit the process, and he loves us too much to let that happen. Knowing who I really am…a son loved by my Heavenly Father, isn’t something God can just lay on me. It is learned only in the far country—those times when I’m in a mess bad enough for me to remember home.

Starting Over

 August 30, 2022

A sign in front of a local church that closed last year reads, “Behold, I make all things new!” It’s a quote from Revelation 21:5 where the risen Jesus reveals the new heaven and earth. It seems an odd statement to put on the sign of a closed church, but perhaps there is a plan unknown to those of us who drive by on a daily basis.

I got to thinking about that quote. We can read things so often that the language loses much of its meaning. We see the words but miss the point. So I decided that it could use a bit of updating to a more modern translation, but since I’m not a linguist, I’ll offer my paraphrase instead: “Look! I’m starting over!”

I like saying it like this because it means the same thing, but grabs my attention in a new way. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done or left undone, the promise of Jesus is a new start. From right where we are now, in the middle of the mess we created, Jesus says, “I’m starting over. I’m erasing the slate (Colossians2:14) because sometimes there’s no way of fixing the problem.” Things got so convoluted and twisted that the only remedy is to start over. Throw away all the past attempts and start fresh. 

Sometimes Jesus doesn’t try to make something good out of it all; like God did with Noah’s flood, he started fresh. The old self and my old situation is simply wiped clean—erased; Jesus says, “Now let’s start over at the beginning.” It means abandoning all my efforts to fix what I broke, going back to the start and beginning again, leaving the old baggage behind resigning the old habits and reactions to wherever the unclaimed baggage goes. Sometimes it’s best to not try to rescue it. Instead of trying harder, we begin anew. 

“I’m starting over” means leaving guilt behind (it never accomplishes anything good), abandoning my excuses for not changing, repenting (changing how I think). It means to stop judging others and giving Jesus the chance to rearrange and redo those parts of me that have gotten out of joint. It may mean to exercise more, eat better, get my rest, lay down the phone, live in praise and gratitude, and to trust him when all around seems dark and foreboding. Jesus didn’t say “I WILL make all things new;” he said “I MAKE (or am making) all things new.” Today is the day, now is the time…to start over.

Disarming Satan

 August 28, 2022

Guilt. It plagues many, drives much of both the good and the evil in this world. It can be justified, or it may be self-induced and unnecessary. Even those who have been Christ-followers for years can be plagued with the guilt of past sins and present omissions. “I should be doing more,” is not an uncommon refrain playing through our minds.

No one knew this better than St. Paul, who was guilty of persecuting the early Christians, sending them to prison and death. Memories like that seldom disappear; every so often, what we have done rises from the ashes of a “used-to-be” life to bite like a serpent, injecting the venom of guilt into our veins. Perhaps he was speaking as much to himself as to the Colossian Christians when he wrote:

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” —Colossians 2:13-15 

Notice the order of things. It was when we were yet dead in our sins that we were forgiven. The forgiveness doesn’t depend on our repentance. Dead people can’t repent. The forgiveness came first; it is forgiveness that breathes life into us, enabling us to repent. God doesn’t mete out forgiveness in proportion to our ability to repent. It is as complete right now as it will ever be.

We are not only forgiven; God has cancelled the charges against us. Today we call it a pardon. The record is erased, condemnation is gone. This is important. Too many live under this cloud of condemnation which never bears the fingerprints of God. Jesus was very clear about this: “God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). God convicts, never condemns. The difference is stark: Condemnation is a dead end in which there is no hope and from which one cannot escape. Conviction always has as its goal the redemption of the sinner. There is always hope with conviction. Condemnation needs to be rejected, conviction received.

It’s the condemnation that imprisons us in despair. The forgiveness we receive in Christ is what disarms the principalities and powers that hold us in their grip. The Enemy of our souls has no weapon effective against forgiveness. He is disarmed and powerless against those who know they are forgiven. Suddenly, the attacker is empty-handed. His power to hurt has been removed. So whenever I feel the weight of guilt, I know I’m under demonic attack, and I stand in the power of the Holy Spirit against it. If however, I’m feeling conviction, I surrender to the Holy Spirit and receive the benefit of the forgiveness offered way back when Jesus died on the cross in my place.

Small-Town America

 August 21, 2002

Today was filled with highlights. Worship in the park with Bemus Point Methodists joining us, chicken BBQ following, baptisms at our creek, a quiet afternoon reading, the delivery of a quarter cow from pastor Joe, giving some of it to our kids, and Linda joining Amanda Myles up on a lift where Amanda is finishing her family’s tribute to the 911 victims on one of her father’s silos. Except for a few rides in an airplane, It’s the only time in her life that Linda has been “high.”

A friend at worship said it well: “This is the best of small-town America.” I have to agree, and am grateful tonight to be a part of it. There is a lot of terrible things happening in our country right now, but this isn’t one of them.