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Leader Prayer Support

July 24, 2024

“Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity… Respect the government.” (1 Peter 2:13-15,17, The Message)

My longtime friend in ministry, Chuck Moore, wrote a piece about praying for our leaders. He makes the point that scripture commands us, pleads with us, to pray for those who govern us. He goes back to the Old Testament story of David when he had his chance to slay King Saul, but refused because Saul was God’s anointed. In fact, David felt guilty for even curring off a small piece of Saul’s robe.

“He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 24:6)

Amid heated political rhetoric and an increasingly weird election cycle, my guess is that a small percentage of us have remembered to pray for our leaders and candidates-to-be-leaders. Those leaning left have not been prone to pray for the right, and the right, in like negligent manner, have not been praying for the left. The biblical mandate to pray is not dependent on who a person supports. It’s not even affected by who you DISLIKE! Just as we are told to respect our parents, we are commanded to respect our leaders. It is not dependent upon what their policies are, even if our faith beliefs don’t see them as morally right and unbiblical.

If we believe that prayer makes a difference, shouldn’t we pray for our leaders to be injected with the wisdom of God? And, hard as it is to believe, shouldn’t we pray that our own positions on issues would be scripturally correct, as opposed to, as citizens of this nation, what we think?

The unrest in our country has as much to do with elevating entitlement as it does with patriotism and allegiance. In New Testament times, the apostles and followers prayed for peace. Besides the 23 times Jesus uses the word peace, the other New Testament writings use it 70 times. Most of those are in greetings and goodbyes. “Peace be with you,” and “May the God of peace…” are a couple of those examples. It was a time of unrest and persecution, not a physically safe and secure times for the Jesus-followers. And yet, they prayed for peace. They knew Jesus was the Hope for their time. He is still that Hope who calls us to be peacemakers and prayer warriors. I love those words of Peter:

“It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society.”

No matter who you vote for, God gives you permission to pray for all those who lead us or seek to lead us. He gives you permission to do good even when those around you say it will do no good.

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Tags: Bible, Faith, God, Jesus, leadership, Peace, Politics, Prayer

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Winning The Battle and Losing Respect

July 23, 2024

“But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15)

On July 21, 1925, John Scopes lost his trial and was fined $100. His offense was teaching evolution in school. The trial, taking place in the small Tennessee town of Dayton, attracted national attention, even being broadcast on radio coast-to-coast. William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor. He had run for president in three different elections and served as Secretary of State. Nationally-known attorney Clarence Darrow, was the lead person for the defense. He wanted to force the issue of teaching evolution in order to make a point about the closemindedness of fundamentalist Christians.

The court case known as “The Scopes Monkey Trial” had two effects that were opposite from each other. The fundamentalists won the battle but lost the people’s respect.

Ninety-nine years later, the battles continue. They’re disagreements over issues of conscience and faith. Struggles that take in gender, individual rights, government interference, neglect, how the United States is involved in skirmishes around the world, and the absence of morals at home. Social media and instant communication make them larger in stature than they are. People talk about it not being like it used to, but it really is. We just find out faster. The names of the issues have just been changed.

And just like The Scopes Monkey Trial, Christians sometimes win the battles but look somewhat idiotic as a result of it, like children having temper-tantrums instead of reflections of Jesus.

The words of 1 Peter remind us to be ready to give an answer but to do it with gentleness and respect. Answer without minimizing the intelligence of those who hold a different position. Converse without slamming, discuss without condemning, chat without belittling.

Our tendency is to win at all costs, but at what cost? Although my position on controversial issues may be unpopular with the cultural mainstream, I’m commanded to respond in ways that probably won’t win the argument. That last word, “argument,” should not be the scenario I seek, but it often is. Instead, I’m called to be the reflection of Jesus, my words and demeanor guided by the Holy Spirit. After all, as the scripture says, I have “the reason for the hope.” And yet, many followers of Jesus seem to operate out of a hopelessness that is infected with anger, arrogance, and a lack of empathy.

Honestly, there are a number of disrespectful, angry, cruel, mean-spirited people we, who strive to be reflections of Jesus, have to deal with…and that’s just some of the folk inside the church.

Ouch!

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Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, gentleness, God, hope, Jesus, respect

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What Would Offend Jesus?

July 17, 2024

I’m at church camp this week. A mass of hyper-active, high energy, squirrel-ish kids and youth who are wondering if they can survive for a week without social media, AirPods, and other noises they’re addicted to.

We’ve already experienced a few things that are the norm for the younger culture: Flatulence at that climactic point in the message where Jesus is about to say something eternally important, squished up sickly-looking faces at the creamed broccoli on the dinner plate, and kids jumping and dancing as they sing an “active worship” song.

They discover at camp that there is very little that offends Jesus…at camp. Many wonder why so many things in their home churches are viewed as offensive. For example, why do some old-timers at church get all worked up when a young person wears a hat in worship? What difference does a hat make? After all, they take their hats off at the high school football game when the National Anthem is played but wear it for the rest of the night. Why can’t they wear their hats in church, take them off during a prayer, and then put them back on? Does the absence of a hat make them more attentive during the ten minutes of announcements, twenty minutes of singing, and thirty minutes of the pastor’s message?

So, what exactly does offend Jesus? Jesus was irritated by people who looked pious but were void of spiritual hunger and humility. His words in Matthew 23:27 caused a stir. He said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.“

Woe, doggies!

Right before that, he said, “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

That’s the thing about Jesus. He didn’t mind a little bit of mud, as long as the yearning of a person was for inner cleansing and transformation. In fact, he spit into some dirt, made a couple of mud eye packs, and put them on a blind man’s eyes. Interesting, he used an unsanitary method to heal a man’s inability to see, and wash away the limitations of his life.

What offends Jesus? Our blindness to the dirt in our souls.

The ways we are offended are so often based on culture, how we’ve been raised, and what looks good. Back in the 1900s mostly in Tennessee and Kentucky, many rural Baptist churches had a few holes cut in the floor of the sanctuary (worship room). Men sat on that side of the room, women on the other. The holes were for the tobacco chewers to spit during the service. No one was offended by it. It was a natural part of their culture. I doubt that Jesus was offended, either.

In my years as a pastor, I had people in my congregations who were offended by praise music, MIDI music systems, coffee and/or donuts and/or cookies in the sanctuary, ushers not wearing suits and ties, women ushers, kids not being quiet in worship, moving the fake organ pipes, bulletin mistakes, using the New International Version bible, using The Message paraphrase bible, guitars, drums, new people serving in some capacity, and dried out communion bread.

On the other hand, I’d be hard-pressed to remember people being upset by pride, gluttony, greed, lust, and envy. It’s easy to focus on the outer things we don’t have difficulty with, but others do. That means each one of us has a different shade of whitewash that Jesus sees, and maybe…we’re blind to.

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Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

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Leaning Kinda

July 11, 2024

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

It’s hard for me to lean and not fall over these days. There are dizzy blondes and lightheaded seventy-year-olds. I fall into the last category. (I think that was an unintended pun.)

I can still lean, but leaning too far puts me out of balance and causes me to question my I.Q. I get light-headed when I lean over to tie my shoes. I think I’m about due to make the transition to slip-ons. In other words, for many reasons and in many ways, I’m a “kinda-leaner.”

If I translated that into spiritual terms, I would say that I lean on the Lord but mostly stand firm in my own understanding. The more I lean, the more uncertain my footing becomes. Excessive leaning increases the potential for looking stupid and/or weird.

Most of us, probably all of us, who characterize ourselves as followers of Jesus, have not leaned on the Lord at times…”too many to count” times…in our lives. The same can be said of churches as well. For example, church business meetings are more about the business than the leaning. Just as followers of Jesus are prone to being “kinda leaners”, churches are guilty of kinda seeking the leadings of the Lord.

Granted, there are throngs of people who mistake whims for leadings and would be willing to misinterpret Jesus having the herd of pigs jump off a cliff as a message from the Lord to go ahead and lean out over the edge. Let’s be honest! Sometimes, churches are a nesting place for whackos and fruitcakes.

Most of the time, however, as followers of Jesus, we’re just paranoid about learning. The Proverb says, “…in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” As I read that, it tells me that the Lord will direct me. It reminds me of a vivid picture I have in my way distant past of my dad teaching me to ride a bike without training wheels. Even though I couldn’t see him, he held onto the bottom of his seat cushion. I was as terrified of the downhill slope on the side of our house as a blind man on the edge of a snake pit, but my dad kept telling me that he wouldn’t let go. He told me to keep my hands on the handlebars and trust that he had me. He kept me going on a straight path.

May the Lord remind us to lean ahead as He holds us in His grasp.

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Tags: Bible, Faith, God, Jesus, Prayer

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Scapegoats and Sacrifices

July 7, 2024

“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:20-22)

Scapegoats are biblical. They fulfilled a purpose. Someone or something had to take the blame for the bad judgments of the Israelites. In certain situations, individuals would take the punishment, but there were corporate sins and rebellious attitudes that cast a dark cloud over the whole nation. Enter the scapegoat, a goat that everyone could visibly identify as being “the one.” He took the blame so they didn’t have to. I suppose for a short time, the guilty felt unburdened and free. The scapegoat whio had become the focus of their problems had taken away their problems.

Of course, the problems would re-emerge after a while and the people would have to look for another scapegoat to take the blame.

Our culture has brought back the custom of scapegoats. From Steve Bartram’s interference with a foul ball that could probably given the Chicago Cubs Game 6 in the National League playoff series and taken them into the World Series, to who to blame for high inflation, to who caused the test scores of students to drop, we’re a society that looks for that one person or group of people to take the blame.

Of course, the blame game gets ramped up during political campaign season. In a recent Colorado congressional race, you would have thought each of the candidates from the same political party were the Devil Incarnate.

In Old Testament times, the scapegoat was taken away from the people and into the desert. He was left there, the carrier who took responsibility for the people’s sins.

When Jesus carried his cross to the place of the Skull, our sins were upon Him. He took them to the cross with Him. As Isaiah 53:6 tells us, “…and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” He carried our sins once and for all.

Unlike the scapegoat led out into the desert, Jesus had a choice about being the carrier of our sins, and He chose to take them with Him. As I said at the beginning, scapegoats are biblical. They are also relevant for life today. When something goes wrong, we look for someone to blame.

Jesus, who had no sin, took the blame for my failures. Romans 5:7-8 sum it up:

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

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Tags: Bible, Jesus, mental-health, scapegoat, scapegoating

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The Yellow Squiggly Line

July 2, 2024

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)

Yesterday, I was traveling down Interstate 25 through Colorado Springs, and in the middle lane, a yellow line suddenly appeared. It wasn’t a yellow line that had been carefully painted by a road crew to mark the edge of the road or a no-passing zone. This line appeared to be something that had gradually leaked out of the back of a truck. It had a shakiness to it, like the squiggly graphing line that comes from a lie detector test.

The yellow line continued down the highway for the whole distance of my drive. Six miles later, when I exited the road, it was still snaking its way south. I wondered if the driver would pull into his driveway another few miles away, hitch his pants up, and walk to the back of his pickup to retrieve his five-gallon can of yellow paint, only to discover he now has six ounces left to do the job.

Metaphorically speaking, the yellow squiggly line represents several things. On the downside, it reminds me of the mess of my life, the ways I’ve left chaos in the wake behind me. As Romans 3:23 says, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” In different ways, we have left a trail of trash. We’ve made a mess of things, a mess of opportunities, a mess of relationships, and a mess of situations. Like the yellow squiggly line, people view our transgressions and wonder why we would have done or said something or acted the way we did.

We leave an impression behind us whether we know it or not. The words we speak, our attitudes, the kindness we show, and the characteristics we are known for all leave a trail of significance or disappointment. Sometimes, and for some people, that trail of significance goes on and on for a long time. It’s only for a while for other people, as their connection with us only lasts until the next exit ramp.

The amazing thing about the God we serve is that He comes behind us and wipes up the messes. Like the road cleaning crew, God causes the yellow line of our failures to disappear. As Isaiah 43:25 says, “…he remembers them no more.” Isaiah 44:22 has Him saying to us, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.”

Our lives often look ugly, but God cleans us up, and not just partially, but thoroughly. He takes care of the yellow squiggly lines. There are many days where, at least for me, He’s having to do some major clean up.

Thank you, Lord!

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Tags: Bible, Faith, Life, poetry, writing

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God’s Order

June 28, 2024

“When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.” (Numbers 10:5-6)

My oldest daughter is an organizational guru. In her growing-up years, when we’d plan a vacation, she’d pack a month ahead of time. And then she’d unpack and repack! She’d arrange her clothing in just the right order. Businesses should have hired her to straighten out their messes, but she was only twelve. Now, she has the most organized third-grade classroom in the universe.

I am not that way. Perhaps that’s why I’m so amazed by her. I’m awed by order and structure. Yes, I suppose I have hints of it in my writing. I admire a student who organizes her thoughts in a clear and orderly manner, and the words flow.

I’ve just recently made my way through the Old Testament books of Leviticus and Numbers. One thing I’ve taken from those books is the order of God. For the Israelites, everything had an order to it. Their laws created order. Reading Leviticus can become tedious and repetitious, but it sets in place the system and structure for the people to follow. The Deceiver longs for chaos and confusion, but God desires understanding and consistency.

For instance, the order in which Israel’s twelve tribes marched is spelled out. Everyone had their place, their position. Responsibilities (Today, we call them job descriptions) were spelled out. Numbers 18 gives the duties for priests and Levites, as well as what offerings should go for their support.

Leviticus goes into detail about cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and God desired order and structure in what the people were to do to get back to being clean. For example, if there was a skin rash, it needed to be taken care of. If there was sin, certain sacrifices were required. Sin upset the orderliness of God’s creation.

That order is apparent in the New Testament as well. The Corinthian church had issues in their worship gatherings (1 Corinthians 14), and Paul outlines what is needed to bring order into the midst of what had become chaotic. There was even an organizational structure in the first church that was created to care for widows and orphans, of which there were many. Even God’s concept of sabbath rest has an order and structure to it. Our bodies are wonderfully made in a way that rest (body, mind, and spirit) is an ingredient in a healthy recipe for life. Every sabbath day is a day of recovery and renewal. Not a day every so often, but regularly.

In our culture, chaos is a word that is increasingly used to refer to world situations, family relationships, the weather, and airports the day before Thanksgiving. Chaos is not a pleasant word when we use it in a sentence or a life situation.

On the other hand, many people don’t see the purpose in doing things in order or believe that God has an order for how things should be done. Order…sometimes it sounds so outdated, yet it looks so good in the rearview mirror after we have progressed into the land of troubles.

When we stray or mistrust the plans of God, we open the doors to misery.

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Tags: Bible, chaos, Christianity, God, Jesus, Leviticus, order, structure

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Stumbling In His Hands

June 25, 2024

“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24)

As my basketball-playing days disappear into the rearview horizon, I’ve taken up walking more while listening to music or podcasts. In fact, I walked to Starbucks this morning carrying my backpack like I’m a middle school kid off to school. All I need to complete that picture from yesteryear is my Popeye lunchbox.

Last night, as I was out for a short walk around our neighborhood, it occurred to me that my eyes were surveying the sidewalk in front of me for cracks, pine cones, and stones that might cause me to stumble and fall. I’ve sprained my ankle many times over the years, but at the age of seventy, I have a growing concern about my hips and knees and how a misstep could create a situation that would take a few months to recover from.

It seems that stumbling seventy-year-olds are common. As I stepped off the curb yesterday, I remembered these verses in Psalm 37. The picture of the Lord not letting me fall revealed how loving and caring our God is. I may watch out for pine cones and stones as I’m out for a walk, but the Lord I trust will be close to me as I daily walk with Him. In fact, He promises to be so near me that, as I teeter on the edge of disaster, He will not let me fall.

When shadows conceal the clarity of the way, the One who brings light to dark places gives me peace of mind. Even though I can’t see what lies ahead, he can and upholds me. The Message paraphrase says God “has a grip” on my hand. That reminds me of walks with each of my grandkids in their beginning steps. The unsteadiness of each short stride was evident to anyone watching, but each of them also had an unwavering trust in the one whose hand they grasped.

I thank God that He’s unwavering in His love for me and His watching over and out for me.

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Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

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Taking Christian Sides

April 20, 2024

Recently, a speaker at a church gathering made the statement in his address that a person couldn’t be a Christian and vote Democrat. He was adamant about that position in front of a crowd that was probably very lean in the number of Democrats present.

I cringed when I saw the video clip of it. It was a blanket statement, kinda like saying all public schools are demonic or moms who work outside of the home don’t make their kids a priority. In my growing-up days, people who drank beer were looked upon with suspicion by the teetotalers of our Baptist church. How could they drink Iron City beer on Saturday and come to church on Sunday?

We have a way of taking Christian sides, structuring our understanding of what a Christian looks like, and creating a long list of limitations on what isn’t acceptable. In essence, there’s a tendency to limit “who is in” instead of deferring to God’s grace. Like the private entrance to an exclusive club, it has become more the norm to admit only the sanitized rather than believe in a gospel where the doors are thrust wide open.

When asked to preach at a church that required everyone to use the King James Version of the Bible, seminary professor Dr. Al Bean would bring a bible with him that was in Greek and read the passage in the original Greek language. Consequently, he was never invited back to speak at the KJV congregations. He was viewed as having a rebellious spirit.

There is confusion in the Christian ranks over striving for a “sacred throng” versus creating an impenetrable fortress. We forget that the early followers of Jesus were a hodgepodge of outcasts and uninvited commoners, with a few well-to-do and greatly despised mixed in. The common thread, the unifying glue that brought them all together, was Jesus. His followers were as different as night and day, as different as a New York Democrat and a Texas Republican…as different as a corporate lawyer and a supermarket bagboy, but Jesus was the glue.

There is an increasing tendency these days to pull apart instead of holding together. What so often is held onto with a firm grip are the things and ideas that are way down the list in actual importance, while the most important, the things of eternal significance, get shoved out the door.

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Tags: Bible, Christianity, church, Faith, Jesus

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Back Issues

April 11, 2024

“Even so, the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:14)

I have the mind of an 18-year-old but the back of a 70-year-old. Translated, that means I can do just about anything…run a marathon, climb Pike’s Peak, build a house…in my mind! In reality, I now can only run a marathon or climb Pike’s Peak if there happened to be a video game or a game app that would have features such as those things.

I could never build a house in any universe, regardless of my youthful mind.

Backs are touchy. They affect everything else that’s happening to you. The first thing in the morning, a back is like a wake-up call as you roll out of bed, reminding you that it’s still attached to you like a bad teenager’s pimple. As you bend to pick up a box, it’s whispering to you, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” As you begin to chuckle at something, Barney Fife does in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, it pinches you back to sensibility.

When a back gets out of whack, it’s not a quick fix to return to health. And the thing is, when you favor your back, it begins to take a toll on other parts of your body that are being relied on more than normal.

It’s not a mistake that “back” rhymes with “whack” and “quack.”

Churches with back issues have a long road to recovery. To be clear, I’m not talking about the wooden pews constructed in the 1800s with an extra dose of hardness pounded into the wood. I’m talking about a church with 10% of its members carrying 80% of the load. They are the ones that a church depends upon to the point of unhealthiness. Like the workers on a moving van, after a few years they have to start wearing special back protection braces to help them keep going. In the ministry of a church, the equivalent of a back brace is something that gets them through another week of overwhelming responsibilities, such as an event, thought pattern, or practice that is totally unconnected to the heavy load of ministry.

Many of the “back people” come to a point where they realize people see them as laborers for the church instead of servants of the Lord. The realization is crushing, and causes disillusionment and exit. Instead of seeing a path back towards health, they see a potholed road that is going to continue to jar and bring hurt to their lives.

On the other hand, the church needs “backs” but healthy backs. Backs that can be depended upon but not overtaxed. Backs that can not just sit around but also should have “carry limits.” They should be the lifters, not just laborers. Too many “backs” in the church are expected to take care of things and people but are seldom cared for by the rest of the Body. And so they wear out, rupture a disc, or experience day-by-day pain.

When Paul gave us the picture of the Body of Christ functioning like the human body, it communicated important principles and wise concepts. No part of the Body of Christ is less important than any other part. And… no part should be expected to be all things.

This 70-year-old still thinks young but is now wise enough to know I can’t do “young things.”