BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” It sounds good but peacemaking is costly work. A story from Japan illustrates the point.
Most westerners are unaware of it but Asian cultures suffer as much from racism as any conflict between blacks and whites or Jews and Arabs. For fifty years the Japanese and the Koreans hated each other. Japanese atrocities during World War II are still vivid in the Korean conscience. And the Japanese had nothing but disdain for Koreans.
On January 26, 2001 a plasterer working in a Tokyo subway station, fell into the path of an oncoming train. A Korean College student leaped down on the tracks to save him. But he was too late. The train killed both him and the craftsman.
The emotional response to the student’s sacrifice was unprecedented in Japan. The Prime Minister openly confessed his regret for racial bigotry against Koreans. The late radio commentator Paul Harvey said, “In seven seconds that one act of sacrificial love broke down more barriers than 50 years of negotiations.”
Which brings us to the real difficulty in peacemaking: Words are rarely enough, deeds make the difference. It is acts of kindness and love that take time, effort and sacrifice that are the most powerful peacemakers.
Are there some old barriers between you and people of another race that need to come down? Or what about you and members of your own Church? It won’t cost you your life. But it may cost you your pride. That’s a small price to pay. For “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Blessed Are the Pure In Heart
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” But what exactly does it mean to have a pure heart? And how will they see God?
In the Bible the heart is the center of one’s being. It is the intersection of mind, will and emotion, the place where life’s most important decisions are made and carried out. No wonder wise Solomon warns us to “Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow all the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). His warning also tells us that the heart is prone to wantonness. We have to actively engage in managing the heart, taming it and training it to right habits of thought and action lest it run us headlong into hedonism or deceive us into slavery.
Thus, to be pure in heart is to have an attitude of complete sincerity. It is to be the same in the dark as we are in the light, without hypocrisy, free from all deceit. To have a pure heart is also to care more about God and the things of God than we care for this world.
The model for this of course is Jesus, of whom the Bible says “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1Pet. 2:22.) He was the same in the dark as he was in the light.
Yet you and I know people who, as John Stott says, “weave round themselves such a tissue of lies that they can no longer tell which part of them is real and which is make-believe.” You see, sometimes we are so afraid of the truth about ourselves that we pretend to be something other than what we really are. It is a great shame to live like that. We fear the opinion of others more than we fear God. Worse, we expect that if we were to be honest with God he would treat us with the same disdain that the world would treat us with. What a tragic deception!
Jesus is doing more than making a pithy saying about spirituality. He is making a promise: “Get real with God and He will get real with you. He will reveal himself to you in ways you cannot imagine.”
If you have been afraid of letting God see the real you take courage from Isaiah’s prophecy: For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa 57:15 NIV). When that happens, when contrition comes, we go from impurity to purity in a brief moment. Then the promise of Jesus comes true.
Proverbs 3:32 says God “takes the upright into his confidence.” He shares his thoughts with the pure. So blessed are the pure. God talks to them. And they can hear.
In the Bible the heart is the center of one’s being. It is the intersection of mind, will and emotion, the place where life’s most important decisions are made and carried out. No wonder wise Solomon warns us to “Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow all the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). His warning also tells us that the heart is prone to wantonness. We have to actively engage in managing the heart, taming it and training it to right habits of thought and action lest it run us headlong into hedonism or deceive us into slavery.
Thus, to be pure in heart is to have an attitude of complete sincerity. It is to be the same in the dark as we are in the light, without hypocrisy, free from all deceit. To have a pure heart is also to care more about God and the things of God than we care for this world.
The model for this of course is Jesus, of whom the Bible says “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1Pet. 2:22.) He was the same in the dark as he was in the light.
Yet you and I know people who, as John Stott says, “weave round themselves such a tissue of lies that they can no longer tell which part of them is real and which is make-believe.” You see, sometimes we are so afraid of the truth about ourselves that we pretend to be something other than what we really are. It is a great shame to live like that. We fear the opinion of others more than we fear God. Worse, we expect that if we were to be honest with God he would treat us with the same disdain that the world would treat us with. What a tragic deception!
Jesus is doing more than making a pithy saying about spirituality. He is making a promise: “Get real with God and He will get real with you. He will reveal himself to you in ways you cannot imagine.”
If you have been afraid of letting God see the real you take courage from Isaiah’s prophecy: For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa 57:15 NIV). When that happens, when contrition comes, we go from impurity to purity in a brief moment. Then the promise of Jesus comes true.
Proverbs 3:32 says God “takes the upright into his confidence.” He shares his thoughts with the pure. So blessed are the pure. God talks to them. And they can hear.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Ten Secrets of...
What if I told you that you could sharpen your mind, deepen your peace, strengthen your confidence in all things spiritual and enhance your prayers with one simple secret? You’d probably think I was trying to sell you a new herbal supplement! I’m not. No herb can do for you what I’m recommending. In fact, you can’t buy what I’m selling. It will cost you some time and effort. But it is one of the best investments you will ever make.
I’m talking about Scripture memory. I’ve been in a project since February to memorize Matthew chapters five through seven, the three chapters that make up Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. It has done all of what I mentioned above and more (about which I will blog on later).
Memorizing large segments of anything can be difficult. But many years ago I was playing the roll of Luke in a musical called THE APOSTLE produced by our college group at First Baptist Church of Atlanta. The musical was based on the book of Acts, which Luke wrote, so as the narrator I had a lot to memorize. I developed a system for doing it.
Here are my secrets for memorizing large portions of scripture:
1. A Good Translation - Use a readable translation—NIV will work for most, but use the one you are most familiar with.
2. Quiet Space—Make sure you will not be interrupted. Turn off the TV, Radio, Computer, etc.
3. A Fresh Mind - Set aside time—Morning is best, when your mind is fresh, or take a nap before you start so your mind will be sharp. Plan on spending at least fifteen minutes but no more than thirty.
4. Read it Out Loud—the whole chapter, two or three times, like you were reading it to a group of children to get the feel of what the writer emphasized and the flow of his thoughts.
5. Memorize Whole Thoughts - Read the paragraph you plan to memorize—again out loud. Don’t try to remember the verse numbers. They aren’t inspired anyway. The more you say it the better it will stick. Don't try to do one verse at a time. You want the whole thought, the whole paragraph.
6. Use Your Imagination - Focus on the scene. Pick a spot on the wall or close your eyes and see yourself in the scene. Imagine that you are the speaker or writer. You are Jesus on the hillside or Paul at his desk. See what they saw and feel what they felt and their words become yours.
7. Repeat The Last Paragraph Before You Start the Next — This is the real key: Repeat what you memorized last time before you start the next paragraph. That’s how you get your cues from one topic to the next and how you build up a long passage.
8. Listen for Patterns— Jesus and the authors of the New Testament used literary forms and patterns. “You have heard that it was said...But I tell you” repeats six times in the Sermon on the Mount. Watch for them. They save time in the process.
9. Meditate on the Text - Integrate your memory work with your devotions. Talk to God about what you see in the text. As you repeat the thoughts new thoughts come to mind, links with other scriptures emerge, deeper understanding of spiritual things develops. Now you are really cooking!
10. Incentivize — All of us need motivational help. Set a goal and give yourself a reward when you achieve it!
Congratulations! You are now on the way to thinking God's thoughts like never before.
I’m talking about Scripture memory. I’ve been in a project since February to memorize Matthew chapters five through seven, the three chapters that make up Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. It has done all of what I mentioned above and more (about which I will blog on later).
Memorizing large segments of anything can be difficult. But many years ago I was playing the roll of Luke in a musical called THE APOSTLE produced by our college group at First Baptist Church of Atlanta. The musical was based on the book of Acts, which Luke wrote, so as the narrator I had a lot to memorize. I developed a system for doing it.
Here are my secrets for memorizing large portions of scripture:
1. A Good Translation - Use a readable translation—NIV will work for most, but use the one you are most familiar with.
2. Quiet Space—Make sure you will not be interrupted. Turn off the TV, Radio, Computer, etc.
3. A Fresh Mind - Set aside time—Morning is best, when your mind is fresh, or take a nap before you start so your mind will be sharp. Plan on spending at least fifteen minutes but no more than thirty.
4. Read it Out Loud—the whole chapter, two or three times, like you were reading it to a group of children to get the feel of what the writer emphasized and the flow of his thoughts.
5. Memorize Whole Thoughts - Read the paragraph you plan to memorize—again out loud. Don’t try to remember the verse numbers. They aren’t inspired anyway. The more you say it the better it will stick. Don't try to do one verse at a time. You want the whole thought, the whole paragraph.
6. Use Your Imagination - Focus on the scene. Pick a spot on the wall or close your eyes and see yourself in the scene. Imagine that you are the speaker or writer. You are Jesus on the hillside or Paul at his desk. See what they saw and feel what they felt and their words become yours.
7. Repeat The Last Paragraph Before You Start the Next — This is the real key: Repeat what you memorized last time before you start the next paragraph. That’s how you get your cues from one topic to the next and how you build up a long passage.
8. Listen for Patterns— Jesus and the authors of the New Testament used literary forms and patterns. “You have heard that it was said...But I tell you” repeats six times in the Sermon on the Mount. Watch for them. They save time in the process.
9. Meditate on the Text - Integrate your memory work with your devotions. Talk to God about what you see in the text. As you repeat the thoughts new thoughts come to mind, links with other scriptures emerge, deeper understanding of spiritual things develops. Now you are really cooking!
10. Incentivize — All of us need motivational help. Set a goal and give yourself a reward when you achieve it!
Congratulations! You are now on the way to thinking God's thoughts like never before.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
What Are You Hungry For?
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The late Malcolm Muggeridge, a successful writer, had a good grasp of what that meant. Here’s his take on it.
"I may, I suppose, regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets—that's fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue—that's success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions—that's pleasure."
"It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time--that's fulfillment. Yet, I say to you--and I beg you to believe me--multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing--less than nothing, a positive impediment--measured against one draft of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are."
So what are you hungry for? Wealth? Fame? Fulfillment? Love? Respect? Whatever it is, if you happen to find it, I can promise you that it will not satisfy. You will still be hungry. But if you hunger and thirst for righteousness you will be filled. For when you find righteousness, you will have found Christ. This is how the Apostle Paul said it.
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Phil 3:8-9 NIV)
"I may, I suppose, regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets—that's fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue—that's success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions—that's pleasure."
"It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time--that's fulfillment. Yet, I say to you--and I beg you to believe me--multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing--less than nothing, a positive impediment--measured against one draft of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are."
So what are you hungry for? Wealth? Fame? Fulfillment? Love? Respect? Whatever it is, if you happen to find it, I can promise you that it will not satisfy. You will still be hungry. But if you hunger and thirst for righteousness you will be filled. For when you find righteousness, you will have found Christ. This is how the Apostle Paul said it.
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Phil 3:8-9 NIV)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
BLESSED ARE THE MEEK?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” But what exactly is meekness? Does meekness mean I become the world’s doormat? Does it mean I’m to give in to the demands of obnoxious people? No.
Meekness is a humble and gentle attitude toward others. Meekness is strength under control. A well-trained horse is a good example. A horse is a powerful animal. But its power is wasted – even destructive - if it won’t submit to harness and bridle. To submit to control of the rider or farmer is meekness in a horse. To submit to the control of God is meekness in a man.
President Theodore Roosevelt adopted as his pet proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." By that he meant that if the U.S. had a strong military, it could work its will among the nations of the world. In 1901, Roosevelt elaborated on his philosophy: "If a man continually blusters,… a big stick will not save him from trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power."
When Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," he was not speaking of armies and foreign policy, but some principles are the same for people and nations. The meek Christian does not need to bluster, as if his or her personal self-confidence could win the day. Whether we're contesting a point, responding to criticism, or speaking of the hope within, we can do so in meekness, with quiet confidence. For in "back of the softness," within us, lies the strength and power of God.
Meekness does not mean giving in to every demand made by unreasonable people. Meekness has to do with how we say no to unreasonable people.
Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. -- Peter Marshall
Meekness is a humble and gentle attitude toward others. Meekness is strength under control. A well-trained horse is a good example. A horse is a powerful animal. But its power is wasted – even destructive - if it won’t submit to harness and bridle. To submit to control of the rider or farmer is meekness in a horse. To submit to the control of God is meekness in a man.
President Theodore Roosevelt adopted as his pet proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." By that he meant that if the U.S. had a strong military, it could work its will among the nations of the world. In 1901, Roosevelt elaborated on his philosophy: "If a man continually blusters,… a big stick will not save him from trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power."
When Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," he was not speaking of armies and foreign policy, but some principles are the same for people and nations. The meek Christian does not need to bluster, as if his or her personal self-confidence could win the day. Whether we're contesting a point, responding to criticism, or speaking of the hope within, we can do so in meekness, with quiet confidence. For in "back of the softness," within us, lies the strength and power of God.
Meekness does not mean giving in to every demand made by unreasonable people. Meekness has to do with how we say no to unreasonable people.
Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. -- Peter Marshall
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
BLESSED MOURNING
By Dane Skelton
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Doesn’t that sound strange?
In other words, Happy are the Unhappy. This is not the mourning that comes with the loss of a loved one. It is the mourning that comes with the loss of innocence, righteousness, self –respect. It is the sorrow of repentance.
Author and Pastor John Stott writes: “The Christian life, according to Jesus, is not all joy and laughter. Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continuously boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can we become? The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.”
Mourning is something we do when we suffer a great loss. It’s natural and right. When a loved one dies, we mourn. When we lose a job we mourn. When we lose our dreams, we mourn.
God has so wired the soul that we need to mourn when we have lost something. When we sin, we lose something. We lose touch with God. We lose the dignity and nobility that comes from being made in His image. We need to grieve over those things because they hurt us and grieve God. Until that happens, something will be left undone in our souls. Until we have mourned the losses that come from sin they are still with us.
If your soul is disturbed within you and you do not know why, ask the Lord to expose you to the tragedy of sin – what you have lost and what he has lost in you. And do not be afraid to grieve. For when you do, God himself will comfort you.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Doesn’t that sound strange?
In other words, Happy are the Unhappy. This is not the mourning that comes with the loss of a loved one. It is the mourning that comes with the loss of innocence, righteousness, self –respect. It is the sorrow of repentance.
Author and Pastor John Stott writes: “The Christian life, according to Jesus, is not all joy and laughter. Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continuously boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can we become? The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.”
Mourning is something we do when we suffer a great loss. It’s natural and right. When a loved one dies, we mourn. When we lose a job we mourn. When we lose our dreams, we mourn.
God has so wired the soul that we need to mourn when we have lost something. When we sin, we lose something. We lose touch with God. We lose the dignity and nobility that comes from being made in His image. We need to grieve over those things because they hurt us and grieve God. Until that happens, something will be left undone in our souls. Until we have mourned the losses that come from sin they are still with us.
If your soul is disturbed within you and you do not know why, ask the Lord to expose you to the tragedy of sin – what you have lost and what he has lost in you. And do not be afraid to grieve. For when you do, God himself will comfort you.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Mastering Unexpected Change Part 3
Americans are taught, almost from birth, that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. That kind of grit and determination is a good thing. It’s one of the things that make America the greatest country on earth. But it doesn’t prepare us very well for the vagaries of human existence – the things that are completely out of our control. One of the keys to mastering unexpected change is coming to grips with our limitations as human beings and completely trusting ourselves to the will of God.
J. R. Love of Ruston Louisiana reflects on how he learned that when reading some old magazines.
On a vacation in October 2001, I was thumbing through a pile of dated magazines, and in Time magazine I stopped to read the column called Winners & Losers.
In the "Loser" category in an August 2001 issue was Rudy Giuliani, lame duck New York City mayor, suffering from crumbling health, a crumbling marriage, and a crumbling political career. What a loser, Time suggested. Who would want to be this guy?
In the "Winner" category a month earlier was Ted Olson, rising star as Solicitor General of the United States. What a winner, Time proclaimed. Who wouldn't envy this guy?
How things change. Within a matter of weeks of these two issues, Time would refer to Giuliani as the "Mayor of the World" and a "tower of strength" for his leadership in the aftermath of September 11, and a few months later the magazine would name him "2001 Person of the Year."
By contrast, we ached with Ted Olson as we watched him bury his wife, Barbara, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. No one envied him at that moment.
James 4:13-15 says, 13) Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15) Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (NIV)
The great temptation for many of us is the temptation to control. We want to do A and get B and we expect God to cooperate with our plan. We want our kids to be perfect, our colleagues to follow through and our partners to please us – all the time. Funny when you think about it, that “a mist and a vapor” should have such pretensions. But we do and it’s a lousy way to deal with change. Better, much better, to embrace the humility that says, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
J. R. Love of Ruston Louisiana reflects on how he learned that when reading some old magazines.
On a vacation in October 2001, I was thumbing through a pile of dated magazines, and in Time magazine I stopped to read the column called Winners & Losers.
In the "Loser" category in an August 2001 issue was Rudy Giuliani, lame duck New York City mayor, suffering from crumbling health, a crumbling marriage, and a crumbling political career. What a loser, Time suggested. Who would want to be this guy?
In the "Winner" category a month earlier was Ted Olson, rising star as Solicitor General of the United States. What a winner, Time proclaimed. Who wouldn't envy this guy?
How things change. Within a matter of weeks of these two issues, Time would refer to Giuliani as the "Mayor of the World" and a "tower of strength" for his leadership in the aftermath of September 11, and a few months later the magazine would name him "2001 Person of the Year."
By contrast, we ached with Ted Olson as we watched him bury his wife, Barbara, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. No one envied him at that moment.
James 4:13-15 says, 13) Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15) Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (NIV)
The great temptation for many of us is the temptation to control. We want to do A and get B and we expect God to cooperate with our plan. We want our kids to be perfect, our colleagues to follow through and our partners to please us – all the time. Funny when you think about it, that “a mist and a vapor” should have such pretensions. But we do and it’s a lousy way to deal with change. Better, much better, to embrace the humility that says, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
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