Serving

Ray Stedman alludes to a thesis of an old book, The Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life; in it, a group of psychologists -- decades ago -- proposed that television was at the root of Americans forgetting how to serve. Stedman says: “perhaps in a Christian congregation this is not nearly as evident as it is in the world at large, but we face it also in the body of Christ.”

Jesus said that He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give Himself as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:28) Stedaman wrote, the source of true richness and fulfillment is in serving, not being served. When we demand to be served, always have something titillating our senses; “the end is loneliness, emptiness and ultimately despair”. The proof of that is visible everywhere today.

Imagine the influence if a group of Christians simply determined to connect what Jesus connected in that statement: serving and reconciliation. I wonder how a people who've forgotten what serving looks like would react if they saw it lived like He lived it?

The rare value of a good sidekick!

Reading a great book by Neil Cole (Search and Rescue, Becoming a Disciple Who Makes a Difference) I was reminded of a scene in Lord of the Rings. Describing the futility of being lone ranger Christians, and needing "sidekicks" Cole paints the picture of Frodo and his faithful companion, Samwise, collapsed on the side of Mt. Doom in their attempt to destroy the dark and evil ring of power. Alone in a dark place, surrounded by evil and hiding from the ever watchful eye of the dark lord, it was Frodo's task to get the ring to the end of the journey where it would be destroyed. Sam tries to encourage Frodo by describing the beauties of home in the Shire. But there was nothing Frodo could see but the dark lord's evil eye. Finally, faithful sidekick Sam spits out, "Then let's be done with it! I may not be able to carry it [the ring] for you, but I can carry you!" And Sam lifts Frodo up onto his shoulders and proceeds one step after the next up the steep climb of loose rocks, with his friend on his shoulders.

Sidekicks in life and ministry are exceptionally rare, therefore of highest value -- imagine the kingdom impact if everyone had one, and was one. (cf. Exodus 17:12)

He's willing to forgive

Ernest Hemingway told the story: there was a father and his teenage son, whose relationship got so strained, the boy ran away from home. His father began then the journey -- searching for his rebellious son. Finally in Madrid, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father placed an ad in the newspaper. It simply read: "Dear Paco, Meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father."

When the father arrived the next day he saw the staggering sight: eight hundred sons named Paco were there in front of the newspaper office -- all wanting forgiveness and all hungering for the love of their father.

We pardon to the degree that we love. And so does our Father. (Luke 15)

Contented too long?

Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress.

The contented soul is the stagnant soul.

A.W. Tozer

I wish you were mine

In her story, The Whisper Test, Mary Ann Bird writes: "I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech. When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I'd tell them I'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored. Her name was Mrs. Leonard. She was a short, round, happy, sparkling lady. Every year we had a hearing test. Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and one year I went last. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back--things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" I waited there and listened and heard words that God must have put into her mouth, seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."

The Face of the Father

Working on 3 messages on Luke 15, I've been struck again how we've consistently misnamed the story of "the Prodigal".

After all, Jesus' reason for the 3-part parable was to answer the murmuring Pharisees who clearly were possessed of a twisted view of God. The shepherd and his lost sheep, the woman and her coin and the father with his missing son are Jesus' clear Word, to them and to the rest of us (we've also got twisted views!) about God.

He's a Father with a great heart for lost people.

Psalm 103 says it: the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from Him. As a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. (vv. 8-13)

Hot or Cold

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis