Monday, August 30, 2010
The Sign of Jonah
When the Jewish people asked for a sign, Jesus referred them to Jonah: “As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” Luke 11:29-30
What is this sign of Jonah? We tend to gravitate toward the idea that just as Jonah was three days inside the whale and then was returned to land, Jesus would be three days inside the tomb and then returned to life bringing salvation to all who repent. It is easy to go there and stay at the three days because from little on up, we are taught the story of Jonah as the miracle of his surviving three days in the belly of a great fish or whale. We tend to skim over the rest of the story. But I wonder if Jesus had more in mind than the three days comparison.
First, it is helpful to understand that the Ninevites were the worst of the worst people in the minds of the Jews. In Jonah’s day, they were a very threatening power to be reckoned with. Later, they gained even more power over the Jews which the Jews in Jesus’ time would have experienced as their history. After the time of Jonah, Assyria attacked and took captive Israel. Then they threatened Hezekiah and the kingdom of Judah. But God came to their rescue and sent and angel to kill the army of Sennacherib and freed Jerusalem from his siege. “So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.” II Kings 19:36
Jonah was asked to go to the people of Ninevah and preach against their wickedness. It is no wonder that he refused. He tells God why after God changes his mind when the people of Ninevah repent. “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’” Jonah 4:1-2
Is it possible, then, that the sign of Jonah is that God is a compassionate and gracious God, forgiving even his enemies when they repent? Just as it was a hard pill for Jonah to swallow, it also was a hard pill for the Jews in Jesus’ day to swallow. If Jesus was their Messiah, surely he would get rid of their oppressors and their enemies and return the splendor of David’s and Solomon’s kingdoms to them. For Jesus to say that even their enemies were included in God’s compassion was unthinkable!
Yet, Jesus instructed them and us to, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Luke 6:35
Since I am not oppressed by a foreign government, it is easy to say I have no enemies. So this seems to either be an easy instruction to follow or it doesn’t apply to me. But if I open myself to God’s scrutiny on this one, he begins to point out to me people that I don’t like to be around. We might not shoot guns at each other or even throw punches, but we may shoot comments, tell others how terrible each other is, and avoid each other. Those may be the very people God is calling me to ‘love’ and ‘do good to’. I find that when I become willing, God softens my heart toward those people in my life. Sometimes it is a whole group of people that I classify as undesirable. And God graciously helps me to get to know individuals that fall into that class and softens my heart toward them. As I spend more and more time with my Father, he teaches me how much he loves others and teaches me to love them and have compassion for them as well.
So for me today then, the Sign of Jonah is that God is love, that he is a compassionate God who loves even the wicked, and that he forgives all those who repent. And he wants me to learn to be like him – to love my enemies, be compassionate to even the wicked, and forgive just as he forgave me.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Lessons from the Hummingbirds
As I sit in my quiet place watching hummingbirds come to the feeder and the plants nearby, God speaks to me. “Consider the hummingbirds…” And as I consider them, I see that the feeder has three feeding stations and that there are three hummingbirds all wanting to eat. But instead of each sitting at a station and eating, they fight. One hummingbird thinks the food is hers and no one else is to have any. The problem is that even as she chases the others away, she has to be on her guard all the time. She can’t enjoy the food because she is either chasing others away or she is worried they will come again.
I sit here and say, “Silly hummingbirds! There is way more food where that came from and I will keep the feeder filled. Please, all of you, share! Sit, eat and enjoy. There is plenty to go around for all.”
And there, with the quite hum of their wings interjected periodically with a loud buzz and chirping as they fight, God speaks to me. “Yes, it is like that for me as well. I can provide for you everything you need, and yet you hoard things and worry about retirement accounts. Relax! Share! Enjoy the life I have given you. I have blessed you so that you can share, not so that you can hoard.”
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… how much more valuable are you than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:22-34
I wonder how far I am to take this… Should I own nothing? Jesus once said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Luke 12:33 Are we all supposed to do that?
I wonder if it is a matter more of the heart… how tightly do I hold on to things. The tighter I hold things, the more ‘stuff’ I have to manage and keep track of. If I travel lighter, I have more time to give to others because I am not spending so much time managing so much. If I need less, I have more to give to those in need.
I wonder if it is a matter more of the soul… how free am I to share the knowledge and wisdom and experience I have regarding God’s mercy, love and grace? Do I hoard it for myself and bask in my blessings? Or do I find needy souls around me and let God’s goodness flow through me and feed hungry souls? That would mean letting go of my precious time and listening to others – maybe even seeking them out when I know they are hurting or in need of my Master’s mercy. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48
“God is kind [even] to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Luke 6:35 If I am truly a follower of Christ, can I do any less? And if I am expected to be kind to the ungrateful and wicked, how much more so to those I call my friends and neighbors. And when I give, I am promised rewards both now and in eternity. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
Silly hummingbirds… Share! Silly humans… Share!
I sit here and say, “Silly hummingbirds! There is way more food where that came from and I will keep the feeder filled. Please, all of you, share! Sit, eat and enjoy. There is plenty to go around for all.”
And there, with the quite hum of their wings interjected periodically with a loud buzz and chirping as they fight, God speaks to me. “Yes, it is like that for me as well. I can provide for you everything you need, and yet you hoard things and worry about retirement accounts. Relax! Share! Enjoy the life I have given you. I have blessed you so that you can share, not so that you can hoard.”
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… how much more valuable are you than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:22-34
I wonder how far I am to take this… Should I own nothing? Jesus once said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Luke 12:33 Are we all supposed to do that?
I wonder if it is a matter more of the heart… how tightly do I hold on to things. The tighter I hold things, the more ‘stuff’ I have to manage and keep track of. If I travel lighter, I have more time to give to others because I am not spending so much time managing so much. If I need less, I have more to give to those in need.
I wonder if it is a matter more of the soul… how free am I to share the knowledge and wisdom and experience I have regarding God’s mercy, love and grace? Do I hoard it for myself and bask in my blessings? Or do I find needy souls around me and let God’s goodness flow through me and feed hungry souls? That would mean letting go of my precious time and listening to others – maybe even seeking them out when I know they are hurting or in need of my Master’s mercy. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48
“God is kind [even] to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Luke 6:35 If I am truly a follower of Christ, can I do any less? And if I am expected to be kind to the ungrateful and wicked, how much more so to those I call my friends and neighbors. And when I give, I am promised rewards both now and in eternity. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
Silly hummingbirds… Share! Silly humans… Share!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Lessons from History
God warned Israel from the moment they left captivity in Egypt right up to the end. He had over 300 years of patience with Israel and over 450 years of patience with Judah, giving them every opportunity to turn back to him. He provided prophets to speak to them and warn them. But they continued in their destructive paths until Assyria put Israel back into captivity and Babylon put Judah back into captivity.
Where did they go wrong? “The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right… They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, ‘You shall not do this… They would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God… They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do… They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols… They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshipped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in fire.” II Kings 17:9-17
It is so easy to look at that and say, “What were they thinking? How terrible they were to turn their hearts away from God! They even sacrificed their children!” But I wonder, if I am willing to look more closely at the character of these people and the character of people today, myself included, if there might be more in common than I would like to admit.
The church as a whole is not as separate as it once was from the world. Our structures have gone from being spirit led to being modeled after corporations. Rather than praying and carefully appointing leadership, we apply and hire. Rather than appointing based on prayer and expressed gifts of the spirit, we appoint based on wealth and power. We choose comfort over anything. We have become a consumer oriented church entertaining with programs rather than seeking what God might be saying to us. We get ourselves so busy with all the ‘things’ our churches are ‘doing’ that we fail to take time to study his Word and use it as our life guide. We fail to pray because we don’t understand the power of prayer. We don’t know the God we are supposedly talking to. If we do pray, we try to get him to line up with our plans rather than moving our hearts to line up with his.
As individuals, we choose our heroes from TV and movies, from performers of music and arts or sports and from those who make political splashes in the world – good or bad. We continue to search for the elusive ‘Fountain of Youth’ rather than enjoying the wisdom that comes with age. We go to doctors and expect them to be able to make us live forever and without pain rather than saying with Paul, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” (Philippians 1:21) or we become like King Asa and look only to doctors for healing and not to God (II Chronicles 16:12). We fail to see that it is God who gives us life and every day is a gift from him.
We make idols out of power and prestige. We shop at the finest of stores and parade in our latest fashions. We take only positions that come with high regard and monetary rewards. We will serve on the church board, but not clean the toilets or visit the sick or imprisoned. No one wants to teach the youth because that would take too much time and energy to keep them entertained. So we pay charismatic youth leaders to take them to concerts and entertainment parks. We avoid positions in ministry because they usually come with lower salaries or no salaries and ministry people don’t often get invited to the prestigious parties and ‘happening’ events.
We may not burn our children in fires, but we sacrifice them nevertheless. We sacrifice them to our own careers and entertainment or recreation plans. We leave them with day care workers, babysitters, neighbors, or even by themselves so we can work our prestigious, high-income jobs in order to have more ‘big toys’ to play with like high cost cars, vacation homes in exotic places, yachts, etc. We selfishly make our plans for retirement while our children jump up and down trying to get our attention about today’s needs to be loved and nurtured and to have a role model they can respect.
While the things done by the Israelites back in those days may have been more primitive to our way of thinking, their hearts were really not so different than ours – still in need of transformation by a loving and patient God. Of course, not all of our churches and/or Christians fall into all the trappings described above, but many do. And the ‘success’ of a church is often seen in how many people we have coming to our programs rather than what God is doing and how many lives have been transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder that the world looks at us and calls us hypocrites and says we have nothing to offer them? We often look so much like them that they can’t tell us apart.
A friend recently found that transforming power of Christ and is now looking for a church that understands it and will nurture spiritual growth. This person has been going to a fairly large church in a metropolitan area for a number of years. Suddenly, they see how void of Christ, his authority and power to change lives this particular church really is. It had provided a place to find friendship with basically ‘good’ people. But finding a place to be nurtured and discipled in this new found faith has become a challenge though there are thousands of churches all around.
Paul frequently talks about ‘freedom in Christ,’ yet we so blindly walk into captivity. I would that our hearts would be set free to follow Christ. “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 God, please help me to keep my eyes and ears tuned in to you so that I will not become “ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving,” as the people in Isaiah 6:9. Help me to avoid the trappings of this world and to follow whole-heartedly after you.
Where did they go wrong? “The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right… They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, ‘You shall not do this… They would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God… They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do… They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols… They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshipped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in fire.” II Kings 17:9-17
It is so easy to look at that and say, “What were they thinking? How terrible they were to turn their hearts away from God! They even sacrificed their children!” But I wonder, if I am willing to look more closely at the character of these people and the character of people today, myself included, if there might be more in common than I would like to admit.
The church as a whole is not as separate as it once was from the world. Our structures have gone from being spirit led to being modeled after corporations. Rather than praying and carefully appointing leadership, we apply and hire. Rather than appointing based on prayer and expressed gifts of the spirit, we appoint based on wealth and power. We choose comfort over anything. We have become a consumer oriented church entertaining with programs rather than seeking what God might be saying to us. We get ourselves so busy with all the ‘things’ our churches are ‘doing’ that we fail to take time to study his Word and use it as our life guide. We fail to pray because we don’t understand the power of prayer. We don’t know the God we are supposedly talking to. If we do pray, we try to get him to line up with our plans rather than moving our hearts to line up with his.
As individuals, we choose our heroes from TV and movies, from performers of music and arts or sports and from those who make political splashes in the world – good or bad. We continue to search for the elusive ‘Fountain of Youth’ rather than enjoying the wisdom that comes with age. We go to doctors and expect them to be able to make us live forever and without pain rather than saying with Paul, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” (Philippians 1:21) or we become like King Asa and look only to doctors for healing and not to God (II Chronicles 16:12). We fail to see that it is God who gives us life and every day is a gift from him.
We make idols out of power and prestige. We shop at the finest of stores and parade in our latest fashions. We take only positions that come with high regard and monetary rewards. We will serve on the church board, but not clean the toilets or visit the sick or imprisoned. No one wants to teach the youth because that would take too much time and energy to keep them entertained. So we pay charismatic youth leaders to take them to concerts and entertainment parks. We avoid positions in ministry because they usually come with lower salaries or no salaries and ministry people don’t often get invited to the prestigious parties and ‘happening’ events.
We may not burn our children in fires, but we sacrifice them nevertheless. We sacrifice them to our own careers and entertainment or recreation plans. We leave them with day care workers, babysitters, neighbors, or even by themselves so we can work our prestigious, high-income jobs in order to have more ‘big toys’ to play with like high cost cars, vacation homes in exotic places, yachts, etc. We selfishly make our plans for retirement while our children jump up and down trying to get our attention about today’s needs to be loved and nurtured and to have a role model they can respect.
While the things done by the Israelites back in those days may have been more primitive to our way of thinking, their hearts were really not so different than ours – still in need of transformation by a loving and patient God. Of course, not all of our churches and/or Christians fall into all the trappings described above, but many do. And the ‘success’ of a church is often seen in how many people we have coming to our programs rather than what God is doing and how many lives have been transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder that the world looks at us and calls us hypocrites and says we have nothing to offer them? We often look so much like them that they can’t tell us apart.
A friend recently found that transforming power of Christ and is now looking for a church that understands it and will nurture spiritual growth. This person has been going to a fairly large church in a metropolitan area for a number of years. Suddenly, they see how void of Christ, his authority and power to change lives this particular church really is. It had provided a place to find friendship with basically ‘good’ people. But finding a place to be nurtured and discipled in this new found faith has become a challenge though there are thousands of churches all around.
Paul frequently talks about ‘freedom in Christ,’ yet we so blindly walk into captivity. I would that our hearts would be set free to follow Christ. “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 God, please help me to keep my eyes and ears tuned in to you so that I will not become “ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving,” as the people in Isaiah 6:9. Help me to avoid the trappings of this world and to follow whole-heartedly after you.
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Great Unveiling
Why is it that even those who are free keep returning to bondage? Over the last 250 years, our nation that fought for freedom and uses the word freedom in any definition of who we are has continually moved back toward bondage. We create more and more laws to govern our society and hire more and more lawyers to defend our right to freedom and we send our children to war to fight for our freedom. And in the process we find ourselves getting more and more entangled in the web of our governing laws. We have so many laws that we have to appoint lawyers to study the laws and determine if we are abiding by them or not. I don’t think this is what our founding fathers had in mind when they set out to design a free nation.
Why is it, then, that our churches also find themselves bogging down in our own set of laws? Why do we try so hard to be like the world when Christ came to set us free from the bondage that the world is tied up in? We make laws for our denominations and then we appoint people to determine if people are living under the laws or not. We ‘kick people out’ if they don’t abide by our laws. And we study the laws and make more laws if we think people need to change.
What actually does a law do? It defines the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a society and unacceptable behavior is punished. The Law of Moses set out before the people what God expected of them in terms of behavior. The law points out when we are failing. It condemns us when we fail.
But even as the Law was being written, the Spirit of God brought a righteousness with it and it was apparent on Moses’ face. When Moses spent time with God, his face became so radiant that the people couldn’t stand it. So he put a veil over his face to hide the radiance from them because they couldn’t handle it.
Paul picked up on this and in his second letter to the Corinthians he encouraged them to move into the freedom Christ provided for them and to not let themselves get tied up in the bondage again. “If the ministry that condemns men [the law] is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness [salvation through Christ]!” II Corinthians 3:9
Paul goes on to talk about the veil that covers the hearts of people and keeps them from seeing the radiance of God. “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” II Corinthians 3:16-18
As I spend time with Christ (reading his Word, meditating, praying), I am being transformed into his likeness. And since his likeness is radiant with glory, I begin to become radiant. And as I become radiant, others have to determine if they will put up the veil that blocks that radiance or if they will become transformed by that radiance. Those who prefer the law over freedom will put up the veil. They will make even more laws to try to veil the radiance of my freedom in Christ. And so we have a tangled web of denominational structures trying to maintain the laws and making more laws to define the laws already in place. We kick out people who don’t abide by the laws we maintain and we invite people in only after they have studied our laws and agree to abide by them.
I wonder what our churches would look like if we lowered the veil and let Christ’s true radiance shine. If each of us took seriously our continuing transformation and allowed Christ’s radiance to shine in us, could we do with less structured laws and regain the freedom that Christ gave to us in the first place? Could we become a radiant church that shines so brightly in a community that people have to take notice of it and have to decide whether they want to become part of the brightness or put up veils to hide it?
I want to reflect God’s glory that lights up the world and exposes the darkness. Lord, let your radiance shine through me!
Why is it, then, that our churches also find themselves bogging down in our own set of laws? Why do we try so hard to be like the world when Christ came to set us free from the bondage that the world is tied up in? We make laws for our denominations and then we appoint people to determine if people are living under the laws or not. We ‘kick people out’ if they don’t abide by our laws. And we study the laws and make more laws if we think people need to change.
What actually does a law do? It defines the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior in a society and unacceptable behavior is punished. The Law of Moses set out before the people what God expected of them in terms of behavior. The law points out when we are failing. It condemns us when we fail.
But even as the Law was being written, the Spirit of God brought a righteousness with it and it was apparent on Moses’ face. When Moses spent time with God, his face became so radiant that the people couldn’t stand it. So he put a veil over his face to hide the radiance from them because they couldn’t handle it.
Paul picked up on this and in his second letter to the Corinthians he encouraged them to move into the freedom Christ provided for them and to not let themselves get tied up in the bondage again. “If the ministry that condemns men [the law] is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness [salvation through Christ]!” II Corinthians 3:9
Paul goes on to talk about the veil that covers the hearts of people and keeps them from seeing the radiance of God. “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” II Corinthians 3:16-18
As I spend time with Christ (reading his Word, meditating, praying), I am being transformed into his likeness. And since his likeness is radiant with glory, I begin to become radiant. And as I become radiant, others have to determine if they will put up the veil that blocks that radiance or if they will become transformed by that radiance. Those who prefer the law over freedom will put up the veil. They will make even more laws to try to veil the radiance of my freedom in Christ. And so we have a tangled web of denominational structures trying to maintain the laws and making more laws to define the laws already in place. We kick out people who don’t abide by the laws we maintain and we invite people in only after they have studied our laws and agree to abide by them.
I wonder what our churches would look like if we lowered the veil and let Christ’s true radiance shine. If each of us took seriously our continuing transformation and allowed Christ’s radiance to shine in us, could we do with less structured laws and regain the freedom that Christ gave to us in the first place? Could we become a radiant church that shines so brightly in a community that people have to take notice of it and have to decide whether they want to become part of the brightness or put up veils to hide it?
I want to reflect God’s glory that lights up the world and exposes the darkness. Lord, let your radiance shine through me!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Finishing Well
As we read through the history of the Kings of Israel and Judah, we are told that they either were a good king and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, or that they were not a good king and did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. What strikes me as interesting is how many of the kings that were good kings did not finish well or still had a couple areas of weakness in their following the Lord.
Asa was one of those kings. He cleaned up Judah and got rid of the shrine prostitutes and idols. He got rid of the Asherah pole of his grandmother and removed her from her position as queen mother. Then he stopped short of getting rid of the high places. “Although he did not remove the high places, his heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.” I Kings 15:14
Asa got tired fighting with Israel and took all the temple treasures of gold and silver and paid Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, to quit siding with Israel and side with Judah. Instead of turning to God for help, he went to an earthly kingdom to fight his battles for him. Later in life, we learn that King Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. “Though the disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.” II Chronicles 16:12
“At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: ‘Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.’" II Chronicles 16:7-9
Somewhere along the line, Asa quit fully relying on God and began to rely on the armies of men. He quite trusting God to care for him and began to rely on physicians. How could someone who started so strong end up so weak?
When athletes line up for a race, there are three parts to the race: the start, the middle, and the finish. Some athletes begin strong but fizzle out quickly, some run strong through the race but don’t finish well, and some start strong, run strong and finish strong. What is the difference in these athletes? An athlete that starts strong but fizzles out is generally one who hasn’t thought through the race in his head. He is someone who is not disciplined but rather ‘wings it’. He may not have conditioned his body for the race. He doesn’t understand how to pace himself. Even a strong, conditioned athlete can run a strong race all along but not reserve anything for the finish. To have a strong finish, the athlete needs to prepare himself totally for the race – physically and mentally. He needs to condition himself with winning in mind. He needs to know himself and know his opponents.
Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” I Corinthians 9:24-25
My life is made up of many smaller races that add up to the big race. Each day I run a race. When I get to the end of the day, can I say with confidence, “I started well, I ran a good race, and I finished well?” As I look at a week of my life, can I say, “I started well, I ran a good race, and I finished well?” How about the last year? Or the last ten years? When I get to my death bed, will I look back over my life and be able to say I ran a good race?
It seems that when the kings failed to finish well, it was because they took their eyes off of God and looked to foreign kings to save them from their enemies or to fight a battle for them. Or sometimes it was because they took stock of all that God had given them and thought they had in some way earned it and their pride in their own accomplishments kept them from finishing well.
What do I need to finish well? I think I need to begin each day with time set apart for God. This is a time when I seek his face and submit my will to his. It is a time when I draw my strength from his. It is a time when I learn to not rely on myself but to rather rely on him. It is a time when he prepares me for the race. Then, throughout the day, I need to persevere and draw on that strength and wisdom that he filled me with at the beginning of the day. Sometimes, I can get recharged throughout the day as well. The end of the day is the hardest part. When I am tired and battered, rather than forging ahead, I want to retreat. Sometimes I take my eyes off of the finish line and off of the Provider of Life and whine that I have nothing left. I forget to look back at all the things he has done for me and be encouraged to forge ahead to the finish line with the knowledge that he will continue to provide for me the strength and wisdom I need if I rely totally on him, not myself, not my circumstances and not others to hold me up.
I want to finish well – moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. That means I need to always keep my eyes on the Lord, the One who sustains me and not rely on anyone or anything else that comes along.
Asa was one of those kings. He cleaned up Judah and got rid of the shrine prostitutes and idols. He got rid of the Asherah pole of his grandmother and removed her from her position as queen mother. Then he stopped short of getting rid of the high places. “Although he did not remove the high places, his heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.” I Kings 15:14
Asa got tired fighting with Israel and took all the temple treasures of gold and silver and paid Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, to quit siding with Israel and side with Judah. Instead of turning to God for help, he went to an earthly kingdom to fight his battles for him. Later in life, we learn that King Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. “Though the disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.” II Chronicles 16:12
“At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: ‘Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.’" II Chronicles 16:7-9
Somewhere along the line, Asa quit fully relying on God and began to rely on the armies of men. He quite trusting God to care for him and began to rely on physicians. How could someone who started so strong end up so weak?
When athletes line up for a race, there are three parts to the race: the start, the middle, and the finish. Some athletes begin strong but fizzle out quickly, some run strong through the race but don’t finish well, and some start strong, run strong and finish strong. What is the difference in these athletes? An athlete that starts strong but fizzles out is generally one who hasn’t thought through the race in his head. He is someone who is not disciplined but rather ‘wings it’. He may not have conditioned his body for the race. He doesn’t understand how to pace himself. Even a strong, conditioned athlete can run a strong race all along but not reserve anything for the finish. To have a strong finish, the athlete needs to prepare himself totally for the race – physically and mentally. He needs to condition himself with winning in mind. He needs to know himself and know his opponents.
Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” I Corinthians 9:24-25
My life is made up of many smaller races that add up to the big race. Each day I run a race. When I get to the end of the day, can I say with confidence, “I started well, I ran a good race, and I finished well?” As I look at a week of my life, can I say, “I started well, I ran a good race, and I finished well?” How about the last year? Or the last ten years? When I get to my death bed, will I look back over my life and be able to say I ran a good race?
It seems that when the kings failed to finish well, it was because they took their eyes off of God and looked to foreign kings to save them from their enemies or to fight a battle for them. Or sometimes it was because they took stock of all that God had given them and thought they had in some way earned it and their pride in their own accomplishments kept them from finishing well.
What do I need to finish well? I think I need to begin each day with time set apart for God. This is a time when I seek his face and submit my will to his. It is a time when I draw my strength from his. It is a time when I learn to not rely on myself but to rather rely on him. It is a time when he prepares me for the race. Then, throughout the day, I need to persevere and draw on that strength and wisdom that he filled me with at the beginning of the day. Sometimes, I can get recharged throughout the day as well. The end of the day is the hardest part. When I am tired and battered, rather than forging ahead, I want to retreat. Sometimes I take my eyes off of the finish line and off of the Provider of Life and whine that I have nothing left. I forget to look back at all the things he has done for me and be encouraged to forge ahead to the finish line with the knowledge that he will continue to provide for me the strength and wisdom I need if I rely totally on him, not myself, not my circumstances and not others to hold me up.
I want to finish well – moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. That means I need to always keep my eyes on the Lord, the One who sustains me and not rely on anyone or anything else that comes along.
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