Piling Up Stones

A righteous man will be remembered forever. Psalm 112:6

As we walked through the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, I noticed something very unusual. Rather than flowers, many of the graves were covered with stones and rocks of varying sizes. Our guide told us that the Hebrew people for generations had placed stones on the graves of righteous, godly people. The message they were stating was, “I have built my life upon the foundation you laid.”
Isn’t that a beautiful picture? Peter said, “You, also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” And Paul said, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” Have you ever considered that before? Every one of us has built our lives on a foundation that we did not lay. We depended on someone else to prepare the way…to set the standard…to live the example for us to follow.
When I first saw the stones on the graves, I thought that was a great way to honor someone who had played a vital role in the spiritual life of another. After all, everyone walking through the cemetery would see the multitude of stones on a grave and know that that person had influenced many people in his or her lifetime. Later, I couldn’t help but wonder if those people had ever honored their “mentors” while they were still living.
Then I thought about us today. I had to ask myself when the last time was that I told someone that I appreciated the spiritual truths they shared with me. After a person dies, it’s too late to tell them what they have meant to you. It is good to encourage those who have encouraged you. So, your first challenge this week is to do as Romans says, “Give everyone what you owe him:…if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
The next thing I realized is that others are looking to us to lay a foundation on which they will build their lives. How does the foundation look that you are laying? Is it firm and complete, or is it full of cracks? Can you, like Paul, say, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ?” Teachers everywhere know that students learn best when the teacher models the behaviors and actions he or she desires. As we go through life making disciples, we must model the behaviors and actions God wants his children to have. How do we know what God desires? Peter said, “Christ left you an example that you might follow in his steps.” Therefore, our lives must look like Jesus’ life. We’ve all heard the expression, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” The same is true for us. If we walk like Christ and sound like Christ, then Christ must live in us. So, your second challenge this week is to walk as Jesus walked realizing that you are laying a foundation on which someone else will build their own spiritual life. Let’s be sure to build in such a way that the Lord’s house will stand firm when the storms of life hit.

Get Ready for the Hard Questions

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great. I Tim. 3:16

Several months ago I was in the car with a friend and her young children when her four-year old son asked, “Mom, where was I when you were a baby?” There was a momentary pause in the conversation as his mom scrambled for a true but understandable answer for her preschooler.
Every parent, at one time or another, is asked a question that requires a calculated, yet delicate, response. Generally when those questions arise, the child is not looking for some great philosophical answer; he’s just trying to make sense of his world.
I never heard his mother’s response because his question caused me to stop and think. It made me think about us, God’s children, and the questions we tend to ask our Father. Just like this child, when we ask the difficult questions, it’s because we are trying to make sense of our situations and circumstances. And, just like a small child, we are sometimes not ready, due to our own immaturity, to understand God’s answer.
It is a loving parent who discerns how much a child is ready to understand, and then responds accordingly. God, too, is a loving parent. As we read the scriptures, we see repeatedly that God reveals things “at just the right time.” Jesus continually spoke in parables so that those who were ready to hear the truth would hear it while those who chose to harden their hearts would be “ever hearing but never understanding.”
What about us? Sometimes we are the children asking questions of the Father, trying to understand his thoughts and plans. Other times, we are the “parents.” People may turn to us and ask us the questions they don’t know who else to ask. Be wise and discerning in your answers because each person is at his own level of maturity. Think about the parable of the sower…what is the condition of the soil on which you are about to spread the seed?
Prepare yourself today so that, as a child of God, you will be fully mature and able to understand his answers to your questions; and as a spiritual parent to those less mature than yourself, you will always be ready to give a wise and appropriate answer. And remember, you can’t teach or explain that which you do not know. Therefore, study to show yourself approved.

The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip. Ps. 37:30

Battle of the Wolves

I came across an interesting story the other day. An old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, guilt, and pride. The other is Good. It is love, joy, peace, hope, humility, kindness, truth, empathy, compassion, and faith. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which one wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Think about it. We all know someone who seems to focus all of his or her energy on those negative things. Their thoughts and conversations revolve around their anger, regrets, etc. The more they “feed” those things, or think/talk about them, the bigger they seem to get. In the book of Romans, Paul says that we should think of ourselves with sober judgment. Sober can mean reasonably, sensibly, honestly. And, in 1 Corinthians, he challenges us to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. You may not be able to keep those negatives from popping into your mind, but you do have the power, if you choose to use it, to take them captive. What happens when you make a thought obedient to Christ? You “feed” the good wolf.
Did you notice how similar the old Cherokee’s description of the good wolf is to the fruit of the Spirit? James reminds us that God opposes the proud (evil wolf) but gives grace to the humble (good wolf). He then says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. In other words, feed the good wolf and starve the evil one.
So, how do we actually do this? The scriptures say, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful,” and “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the sinful desires of the flesh.”
It’s not going to happen overnight. You feed your body every day—multiple times a day. Which “wolf” do you feed that often? It’s easier to feed the evil wolf because that takes no effort. The scriptures tell us to study to show ourselves approved. The Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
How are you going to take each thought captive and make it obedient to Christ? Study his word, memorize his word, live according to his word. The more you feed your spirit, the stronger it will grow. Feast on the word of God. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your laws” Psalm 119:103.
Remember the words of the old Cherokee: Which one wins? The one you feed.

The Secret of Being Content

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Phil 4:11

Reread the verse above, and then ask yourself if that statement is true or false in your life. Several years ago, my children were enthralled with a movie entitled An American Tail. It was the story of a family of mice fleeing Russia because they were tired of living in fear of the cats. They were immigrating to America because they had heard that there were “no cats in America.” As the movie progresses, it is revealed that the cats themselves started the rumor as a way to ensnare the mice. Sound familiar?
Many people today are unhappy with their circumstances. When discontentment arises, they are quick to surmise that it must be because they are not where God wants them to be. They begin looking for a different job, another place to live, a better church, or even a new spouse. They believe if they change their environment, they will find peace and happiness. Maybe the truth is they are exactly where God wants them to be, but the problem is they, themselves, don’t want to be there. As a result, their lives are filled with anxiety and turmoil because they are “kicking against the goads.” If everything around you makes you miserable, maybe it’s not what’s around you but what’s inside you that is causing your distress. Just a thought.
Leo Tolstoy once wrote a short story called The Three Questions. In it, a man was trying to find the answer to three questions because he knew those answers would be the secret to always doing what was right. Those three questions were: When is the best time to do something? Who is the most important person? And, what is the right thing to do? I believe the answers to those questions can help us all find a little more peace and contentment in our lives.
When is the best time to do something? “There is only one important time, and that time is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” Who is the most important person? “The most important person is always the one with whom you are, the person who stands right before you. For who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future?” And finally, what is the right thing to do? “The most important thing to do is to do good to and for the person standing before you.”
So, when Paul says in Philippians that he has found the secret to being content, I have to wonder if that might be what he meant. Instead of always looking for some external solution to your restlessness and general dissatisfaction, open your eyes, your spiritual eyes, and ask yourself those three questions. It could be that God has placed you in this particular place, with these people, and with these problems and struggles “for such a time as this.” Live your life one day at a time. Help those in your path today. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Allow God to work through you, in the place he has put you, so that he can perfect you.
May your heart and soul be filled with the perfect peace of God as you submit to his will.

Let's Make a Memory

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Psalm 127:3.

What was the greatest gift you ever received? Was it something so special that you were willing to sacrifice everything else for it? Did you value it so much that you spent every possible moment with it?
When Mari was about seven years old, she asked me, “Mom, do you ever wish you had waited to have kids so you could have been richer?” I told her my kids were my riches.
There were a lot of things that did not get done because I was busy making memories with my children. Some people said I was wasting my life because I had forsaken a career to stay home. I even remember one working mother commenting to me that it must be nice to be able to stay home and do nothing all day.
I didn’t do nothing—I made memories. I danced in the living room to goofy songs with two giggling kids. I made play-doh worms, mudpies, and clover necklaces. I read the same story a thousand times and played Hi Ho Cherri-O at least two thousand times. Above all, I got to spend all day every day with the two most precious gifts my Father ever gave me.
Now that they are grown, I look back on those memories fondly. At the same time, however, I look at the opportunities the Father has given me to continue making memories. What a precious gift God has given us in the form of our memories.
Unfortunately, some people spend so much time “preparing for the future” that they forget to live in the present. There are parents who swamp their children with material things to make up for the absence of their own presence. We’ve all heard the experts say, “Children would rather have your time than your money.” I believe that is true. For those of you whose children have grown up and left home, let me ask you a question. Which would you prefer...an expensive gift from your children or a visit from your children? See, that’s what I mean. We all value time spent together.
So, spend some time with those you love. Make some memories for them and for yourself. There is always time to do the things you have to do, but nobody ever says, “Remember when we vacuumed the living room?” Take some time to do things just for the sheer pleasure they bring. Eat dessert first, catch snowflakes on your tongue, sing with the radio, but whatever you do, do it with someone you love. Begin today living life to the full and making memories as you go along.

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

A Life-Changing Resolution

Okay. You know the routine. It’s the beginning of a new year, and everyone wants to know what your New Year’s resolution is. More and more I hear people comment that they don’t make resolutions anymore because they always break them. I recently found myself in that camp until I discovered the perfect resolution.
There are several problems with the resolutions we usually make. Sometimes we make a resolution that is too general…read the Bible more, watch less tv.What constitutes more or less? If I only read one chapter in the Bible last year, I can read two this year. And, if I fast-forward through the commercials, I have technically watched less tv.
Sometimes they are too specific. If I pledge to lose 20 pounds and only manage 17, I feel like I have failed. And, too often, with resolutions that deal with exercise, diet, or such, we tend to give up the first time we “blow it.” Then, of course, there are those “lofty” resolutions we make knowing deep down we really have no desire or plan to keep. Things like, “I will not gossip;” and “I will not worry.”
So, what is the perfect resolution? It is one that requires a fresh start each day. Lamentations 3:23 says, “His mercies are new every morning.” It takes the focus off of me and my inadequacies and puts it on the author and perfector of my faith. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well.” It doesn’t rely on any one action or thought, it is the sum of all that I do and all that I am. Paul says, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…let us live up to what we have already attained,” Phil. 3:13, 16.
The perfect resolution? My resolution for this year is this: I will not conform to the pattern of this world, instead, I will be transformed by the renewing of my mind then I will be able to test and approve what God’s good and perfect will is, Romans 12:2. How will I do that? I will spend time not just reading God’s word, but actively studying it (Study to show thyself approved). I will, like Jesus, spend intimate time in prayer seeking God’s will and listening to his still, small voice (Jesus went up on a mountainside to pray). And how can I measure success? I will walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2 says, God’s love is made complete in those who obey his commands. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly,” 1 Peter 2:21-23.
My desire is that each day I will be more like Christ than the day before. If I spend the next 365 days actively seeking first his kingdom in my life and allowing God to reign over every area of my life, then I, with an unveiled face, will reflect the Lord’s glory, and be transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18.