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My Willing And His Will

August 11, 2024

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…” (Luke 4:1)

I get the “W’s” confused. In this later part of my life, when I have the potential for large blocks of unscheduled time, I’m often approached with requests to help, be hired, or develop a new idea. The danger is confusing my willingness with God’s will—or, to put it another way, assuming that if an opportunity comes my way, it must be the will of God.

It seems that if we enjoy doing something, if it sounds intriguing enough, or if it is profitable, we decide God must be involved in it. Like the young man who approached an attractive young woman from the church and told her that God had revealed to him that they were to get married. Her classic response was, “Great! When God reveals the same thing to me, we’ll do it.”

However, the will of God is not always a positive, uplifting experience…in the short term. Jesus was led into the wilderness. It wasn’t like going away to church camp for a week or beginning a scenic vacation amongst the Redwoods. He was led by the Spirit to face the temptations of the Deceiver, who has a talent for making bad decisions look like opportunities.

In the same way, the journey to the Cross was following God’s will. It was a passage that was punctuated with pain, suffering, death, and heartache in order to open the way for eternal benefits.

I’ve had to wrestle with the truth that God’s will does not always look like a stock market opportunity. Discerning its authorship is not always clear, which is often an indication in itself. The Deceiver is a great fabricator. There are clarifying questions that help me figure out whether the originator is the Almighty or the Impostor.

  1. Does the opportunity match my skill set? I’m good with words but have a hard time figuring out math (Dad Pun!). That talent and weakness is a guiding factor.
  2. Will I be able to have a positive impact on those I’m working with?
  3. Are my trusted friends shaking their heads or encouraging me?
  4. How will it affect my closest relationships (spouse, kids, etc.)?
  5. Will it affect me in detrimental ways, such as health, spiritual, and mental fatigue?
  6. Will God be glorified by it?
  7. If I was able to look back on it ten years from now, would I smile or cringe?
  8. Am I sensing God saying yes, no, or not yet?
  9. Am I being asked to do this because I’m a warm body or because others see me as the solution?

There are probably other questions that you would add to the list, but those are most of mine. Some days, I remind myself that I’m supposed to be retired, but more often than not, I think about all the experiences I now have that God could be leading me to use.

Besides the moans and groans in the joints, growing older is not a negative. In many ways, like a picked peach, I’m just ripening.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Fears and Forts

April 28, 2024

 “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:19-20)

When I was a kid, wet snowstorms were a gift from God. Give us six or more inches of the heavy, wet stuff, and we’d be outside building a snowman with a huge lower rolled-up body and diminishing features as you sculpted up from there. Snowstorms also meant at least two snow forts, separated by the imaginary Ohio River or a battle-scarred front yard. We packed the snow together to create firm foundations, solid and resembling medieval castles, and then we’d go higher and higher. Our purpose: to protect us from the snowballs that would be seeking unprotected targets. Getting hit by a snowball meant someone was losing, so we built our walls solid and imposing. It wasn’t uncommon for all the snow in the front yard to be gathered into the snow forts, leaving behind shivering blades of grass.

And then we would hide behind the wall, unwilling to stick our heads up and take a look. Our fear about what was outside our fort was greater than our desire to look beyond our wall. And yet, if we didn’t risk looking, we’d never know what was actually happening. Even worse, if neither snow fort person was willing to risk, we’d sit behind our walls, protected from the outside but not fulfilling our purpose.

That was a playful time for us. A more serious experience from the Bible comes with Jesus’s disciples after he has been crucified. They gather together in a room, some say the Upper Room, and lock the door. They’re afraid of what could be outside. They fear that those who were behind the crucifixion of Jesus are hunting for them. We’ll never know how long they would have been willing to stay locked up behind those walls since Jesus came and stood with them. If He had not come, the story would have been written in a depressing sort of way. Fear would have won, and faith would have been trivialized.

But he did come, and come into their midst! His presence resulted in the disciples risking their lives, laughing in the face of danger, and engaging with the culture of the times. Faith melts the walls away and guides us into areas that faith-less people fear. It allows us to enter into conversations with those who we have been told are different than us, not hide behind the walls of our close-mindedness.

How often does it seem that followers of Jesus are looking for victory instead of dialogue? Victory means I’ve hidden behind my wall until the exact moment my perceived enemy becomes vulnerable. It’s the direct punch that causes me to feel superior.

The thing is, being a follower of Jesus means He has already claimed the ultimate victory. Being a follower doesn’t mean I need to throw another punch. Being a follower simply means I’m to be faithful. Being faithful means my fears can be cast upon Him, and I no longer need to hide.

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Making Up Words

April 7, 2024


“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

My wife says I make up words. I hate to admit it, but she’s right. For example, I’ll say “I’m as hungry as a bukie!” “What’s a bukie?” she asks. I don’t know. I don’t even know how to spell bukie, which is why my spellcheck is going inbercitous right now.

Sometimes, I can’t think of a word and I kinda estimate what it might be, like “agritentious” or “predentible.” They just flow from the tongue as authentic as organic peanut butter. I must admit that playing “Words With Friends” on my cell phone has caused me to create pseudo-words that would give me mega-points if they were real…but they aren’t. Like a contestant on “Let’s Make A Deal!” about to see what’s behind Door #3, I bite my lip as I move the last letter into place, hoping that “Z-N-A-X-Q-U-A” has found its place in Webster’s Dictionary.

But then I see one of those commercials for a new drug that is being introduced and ask myself, “How did the drug company come up with a name that only National Spelling Bee contestants can correctly pronounce and spell?”

Teaching English Language Arts in middle school the last few years has made me realize some things about words. One, more kids than not can’t spell worth beans. Two, they don’t use spellcheck. And three, they make up nonsensical words. I could write a buk…I mean, a book about it!

I find that a lot of that happens with Scripture, too. Biblical illiteracy is evident, so people make up things that sound good, words that sound like they belong. It’s the other side of the coin of the tendency to cut out from the Bible the words that aren’t liked and sound too harsh for modern man. After all, doesn’t the Word say “God helps those who help themselves?”

No, it doesn’t. I think that was Ben Franklin. But it sounds logical. It sounds like wisdom that many people have adopted for their lives.

Other folk remember half the words and then make up the rest. They know the Bible says something about getting hit in the jaw, so they finish the verse with “turn the other way before you hit again.” Or they combine verses: “If someone hits you in the cheek, do unto him as he has done unto you.”

It brings to mind Marcion, a theologian from the second century who disliked the Old Testament. He rewrote the New Testament but removed all of the Old Testament references. In essence, he made up his own version of the Bible.

There are parts of the Bible that I don’t fully understand, but they are there for a reason. For example, unclear parts of the building instructions for the new bicycle only make sense after the whole bike has been assembled. I read the Word as it is and trust in God’s sovereignty and grace. It makes more sense than the inbercitousness of “buk.”

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Artificial Fear

March 3, 2024

“But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18)

Just like my parents were, I’m a sugar-and-cream coffee guy. I learned it from them. Recently, at my neighborhood Starbucks (where I’m writing this on the last stool on the right), I decided to switch from my raw sugar and try one of the artificial sweeteners. One of the baristas, who I always banter back and forth with, said, “Bill, that stuff will give you brain cancer.”

I responded with, “It’s only one time. I don’t think I’ll get brain cancer from having one packet of sweetener.

“Just saying,” she said, a smile on her face. “They’ve done studies, you know.”

Another barista, with a somber tone, added, “Pretty much everything will give you cancer.”

I took my mug back to my stool and sipped on death for a few minutes. But it just didn’t taste right. It was more bitter than bitter and seemed to lay in my mouth like a spoonful of Castor Oil. After a few minutes, I gave in to my fear and went back for a fresh cup…with my usual raw sugar. The barista smiled at me and chuckled. It was as if she had triumphed over my insecurities and fears.

Someone once said, “Fear asks ‘what if.’ Faith says ‘even if.'” Those are great words, encouraging words. So often we allow a fear to grow from a seed to a full blown weed patch. A thought takes root and takes hold of our mind, our actions and inactions and faith gets defeated. We get mixed up on what the Book of Wisdom tells us and become convinced that we walk by sight and not by faith.

Three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faced death because of their faith in God. The penalty for their unwavering commitment was to be cast into a fiery furnace and burned up. Despite what was ahead, they said the words “…even if…”

Getting to the “even ifs” in the midst of our challenges is hard to do. It’s like convincing a child who is learning how to swim that he can float on his back if he trusts in what the swimming instructor is saying. Until he can be convinced to surrender, he will splash and thrash in the water, afraid to try what will keep him afloat.

To clarify, God also inserted common sense and wisdom into our DNA. Having faith does not mean being stupid. Having faith does not mean I should jump out of a plane without a parachute because I believe God will take on the responsibility of being my parachute. Faith and wisdom are not oil and water that don’t mix well together.

I’m back on my stool this morning, finishing these thoughts. I thought about conquering my fear of artificial sweeteners and having a packet mixed into my Pike Place but decided against it, not because of my fear of brain cancer but because I simply don’t like it. I figured out that it was a decision that didn’t depend on faith. It’s just what my taste buds communicated to me.

Maybe I should pray, “Lord, give me the ability to drink my coffee black.” However, that might be stepping into the land of the ludicrous.

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