Highland Lakes church of Christ

Martin Luther, in Table Talk, said, “If in His gifts and benefits God were more sparing and close-handed, we should learn to be thankful…The greater God’s gifts and works, the less they are regarded.” There is no questioning the fact that our society has a disregard for God and His gracious love and care for His creation. Many today would see God as either uninvolved or unconcerned with our lives, dead, or altogether non-existent. It’s difficult to suggest to a person that struggles to believe God even exists, that the Heavenly Father is infinitely worthy of all our thanks and praise.

In Psalm 95, the psalmist says in the first two verses, “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” As the call is given to come and worship God, the connection is made here, and in other passages, between our giving thanks and our offering praise. In Psalm 100:4 we read, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” Four times in Psalm 107 we are told to “give thanks.” And in verse 31 of that Psalm, the psalmist says, “Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people and praise Him in the council of the elders.” Thanksgiving and praise are undoubtedly associated.

It is so easy for us to take the blessings we have for granted. Our society tells us we need to lookout for number one, that if we simply do our best and exhaust all possibilities we can have all that we ever hope for. What ends up happening is our understanding of the reasoning behind our being blessed tends to shift. We begin thinking that we are solely responsible for all our greatness. We believe that we have earned the great things we have in this life. Now, hard work never hurt anyone. And I believe that we must work diligent-ly in all that we do, as working for the Lord (Col. 3:23). But, we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking we have acquired blessings simply because we exerted a little energy. Sadly, we often overlook the source of our blessings. Steve Shepherd, in For Granted or Gratitude, said, “Our power is shut off, and suddenly we become thankful for electricity. Our garbage is not picked up, and suddenly we become thankful for the garbage collector’s weekly stop. A good friend dies, and suddenly we discover how much he meant to us. Our water becomes too polluted to drink and suddenly we appreciate having good water. Why is it Lord, that we take for granted the uncounted blessings of life until they are re-moved from us?” Let’s always remember that God supplies all our blessings. May we ever praise and glorify His holy name. – Ken Harris, WindSong Notes

Dear Lord and Father of mankind forgive our foolish ways.

Restore us to our rightful minds; In purer lives our service find, In deeper reverence praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard beside the Syrian Sea, the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee, O calm of hills above, where

Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity,

Interpreted by love!

Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.

Words by John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892

Music by Frederick C. Maker, 1844-1927

Once while the great violinist, Fritz Kreisler, had several hours to spend between trains, he went into a music store. He laid his violin case (which had his name on it) on the counter. The storekeeper, seeing the name, thought that the violin had been stolen, so he called the police.

When the police arrived, they started to arrest Kreisler, thinking he was a thief. Kreisler insisted that he was no thief but was the real Fritz Kreisler. Finally, he asked the storekeeper if he had one of Kreisler’s recordings. He did have, and the record was played. After the record finished playing, Kreisler opened the violin case, removed the instrument and played the same piece. Hearing the beautiful music, the storekeeper and the policemen knew that this was, indeed, the real Kreisler. His performance proved his profession!

Similarly, we profess to be Christians…but do we prove it by our performance?

It is not what we eat that makes us strong—it is what we digest. It is not what we earn that makes us rich—but what we save. It is not what we read that makes us wise—but what we remember. And it is not what we say—but what we live—that makes us Christians! Yet often times our Christianity is exhausted in mere profession.

Christian living is that state of being in Christ and Christ being in us. We enter Christ by being baptized into Him (Galatians 3:27). We then are to walk in Him, being rooted and built up in Him (Colossians 2:6-7). Christ abides in us. “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Christian living is also living like Christ—living so that others may be able to see Christ in us. We are to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). We are to follow His example (1 Peter 2:21) By so doing we will be changed into His image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Truly, then, will others be able to see Christ in us. Such is Christian living.

Nothing is as potent in building a better community or church than Christian living (1 Peter 3: 1ff). And on the contrary, nothing is quite so detrimental to the cause of the Lord as a professed Christian not “living up to it.” In such cases, one becomes a stumbling block

To each is given a set of tools,

A shapeless mass and a book of rules,

And each must build, ere life is flown,

A stumbling-block or a stepping stone.

A blind man made it a practice to carry a lighted lantern with him everywhere he went. When someone asked him why he went around with a lighted lantern when he could not see, he replied, “To keep others from stumbling over me.”

What a wonderful attitude! Let us, by our Christian living, be stepping stones—not stumbling blocks.

WOULD I BE CALLED A CHRISTIAN?

Would I be called a Christian if everybody knew

My secret thoughts and feelings and everything I do?

Oh, would they see the likeness of Christ in me each day?

Oh, would they hear Him speaking in every word I say?

Would I be called a Christian if everyone could know

That I am found in places where Jesus would not go?

Oh, would they hear His echo in every song I sing,

In eating, drinking, dressing would they see Christ in me?

Would I be called a Christian if judged by what I read?

By all my recreations and every thought and deed?

Would I be counted Christ-like as I now work and pray?

Unselfish, kind, forgiving to others every day?

The world is cold and cruel in the best of times; on tough days, things only get worse. In this present time, we expect a new age of cynicism and the hardening of hearts. While cutting our own budgets back, or even worrying about the loss of a career, the temptation is to shut out the problems of those who have it worse than we do. Yet this is the very time when the world needs us most of all. What’s the use of a sunny-day Christian? We need devoted followers of Christ who are at their best when the clouds come out.

Someone will say, “That’s all fine and good, but I’m just not feeling it. At this moment, my heart is not abounding and overflowing with love.” That’s to be expected. Don’t worry, the heart of God overflows so magnificently that we need only stand under it and catch the spray…. and a little of that is enough for a miracle. It’s His love the world really needs, after all. “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.” (Psalms 116:5 NIV)

We also read that “His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). Notice by the way, that the latter verse comes from a book of lamentations, of all things. Sad times are good times for realizing God’s goodness.

No matter what we face, the abounding love and compassion of God are more than sufficient for us to enjoy our-selves and to share with someone else. The love of abounding compassion is never found within ourselves but only as we are in Christ. The logic of such behavior is never found in the world but only in the Word. Human nature dictates that we act very differently when things go wrong. The flesh (in the apostle Paul’s terminology) encourages us to go inward and look to self. The Spirit encourages us to go out-ward and become all the more loving and forgiving— including forgiving ourselves.

Therefore, when the men and women of Thessalonica are being treated terribly simply for loving and worshipping the one true God, Paul doesn’t pray that they will be stronger in fighting evil. He doesn’t ask God to strike down the oppressors. His prayer is that the people will be abounding in love and compassion. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13) As Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45a)

The essence of identifying with someone else is the incarnation—God wrapping Himself in flesh and becoming a man, then taking on our sins at the cross. All that we do in the world should be an echo of what Christ has done on the cross. We love. We are compassionate. We identify with others and their problems, and we take up their crosses for them.

Don’t you think the world needs more of that kind of love? What would happen if we replaced the here-today-gone-tomorrow love of contemporary marriage with the ironclad, unconditional love of 1 Corinthians 13?

God and only God can give us this love. Left to ourselves, we would make a hopeless mess of any difficult relationship. This is why we can’t be too upset at our unbelieving friends who don’t love us unconditionally. Just as we wouldn’t be angry with a blind man for stepping on our toes, we should be nothing but compassionate to people who don’t know Christ.

Sometimes I listen to the news, hear the griping, the complaining, and the whining, and have to stop and remember that all these people don’t know the Jesus we know. There is so much anger, so little forgiveness; so many demands, so little service. I think Longfellow had it right when he wrote, “If we could only read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” It takes godly compassion to live with that outlook.

What God wants from us in the midst of this crisis is compassion– broken heart-compassion that sees the hurts of those around us as an invitation to express God’s love in meaningful acts of kindness. What do you think?

Thoughts from reading “Stay Compassionate” by David Jeremiah (Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World) Ken Darnell

He’s waiting for you. God is standing on the porch of heaven, expectantly hoping, and searching the horizon for a glimpse of his child.

You’re the one God is seeking.

God is the waiting Father, the caring Shepherd1 in search of his lamb. His legs are scratched, his feet are sore, and his eyes are burning. He scales the cliffs and traverses the fields. He explores the caves. He cups his hands to his mouth and calls out into the canyons.

And the name he calls is yours.

He is the housewife in search of the lost coin.2 No matter that he has nine others; he won’t rest until he has found the tenth. He searches the house. He moves the furniture. He pulls up rugs. He cleans out the shelves. All other tasks can wait. Only one matters – the coin of great value to him. He owns it. He will not stop until he finds it.

The coin he seeks is you.

God is the Father pacing the porch. His eyes are wide with his quest. His heart is heavy. He seeks his prodigal. 3 He searches the horizon, yearning for the familiar figure, the recognizable gait. His concern is the son who wears his name, the child who bears his image. You.

He wants you home.

God wants you to be free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, and death. These are the mountains he has moved by the power of the cross. These are the prayers he will answer through the gift of his love.

The message is simple: God gave up his son in order to rescue all his sons and daugh-ters.4 To bring his children home. He’s listening for your answer.

What do you think?

Thoughts from reading “Bounteous Grace” (The Gift For All People) by Max Lucado – Ken Darnell

REFERENCES:

1. Parable of the Lost Sheep—Luke 15:4-7;
2. Parable of the Lost Coin—Luke 15:8-10 ;
3. Parable of the Prodigal Son—Luke 15:11-52;
4. John 3:16

The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are rich in history as well as the teachings and anecdotes from the life of Christ. They are also rich in the wisdom given of Christ through his parables. You will recall the stories of the selection of his apostles. We can follow the development of the apostles and, at times, the frustration of the human Jesus as he tries to get them to understand concepts and realities that were, in the beginning, totally be-yond their comprehension. They were being asked to bury the old law that had permeated every aspect of their lives to accept a new covenant which seemed beyond their understanding. The old law was based on things they could see, touch and feel. But this new covenant was based entirely on matters of faith and concepts such as “love your enemies and do good to them that despitefully use you”, sell your possessions and give to the poor, love your neighbor as yourself, etc., that seemed totally out of touch with the real world. Some things were not understood until after His death.

One of the most misunderstood concepts was the coming of the kingdom. The Pharisees asked when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘here it is,’ or ‘there it is’, because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) What an idea! No wonder some of the people frequently thought he was possessed of a demon.

Indeed, it was a time of turmoil and not just because of the Romans. The teachings of Jesus turned the Jewish world upside down.

Christ spent some time trying to comfort his disciples because of the unrest these strange teachings caused within them. For instance, Christ talked of going away to a place they could not follow. (John 13;33-36 NIV) Simon Peter asked “Lord, where are you going…why can’t I follow you now?” Later, Thomas also asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” They were afraid to be without the Jesus they had come to know and love and who had become the center of their lives. John 14 records Jesus’ words of comfort.

And they needed comfort. Luke 12:49 records this telling statement by Jesus: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed.” Not understood by his disciples at the time, Jesus was speaking of the baptism by pain he would eventually undergo…his crucifixion. The human side of Jesus dreaded what must first come before his disciples could have hope of resting with Him for eternity. No wonder the plan of salvation included our baptism and the Lord’s Supper was instituted to remind us of His baptism of pain suffered so long ago. His baptism of pain changed the world for through it we have hope of the resurrection.