From Lamentations 3:22-23, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…. Simply was amazed when my daughter shouted out in excitement this morning we had a zebra swallowtail in the yard, He shows His steadfast love in new ways every day!
“Is this Kingdom business?” That was the response to a question I had about some decisions we were trying to make on the mission field in Prague from a former professor I had a great deal of respect for. “Is this Kingdom business?” It’s important to note I don’t remember the question – which makes me think whatever the question was, it wasn’t about Kingdom business. But I thought the question was important at the time. Which leads me to some observations….
You see, as children of the King, we are to be about Kingdom business. We are to be about the expansion and glory of the Kingdom. We give our allegiance to God and pledge our lives to Kingdom business. Only problem is, we usually don’t really know what Kingdom business is. We often wrap ourselves up in questions we think are critical to the Kingdom and, sometimes, never come to a realization God really isn’t concerned with the thing we find so fascinatingly important. Let me incriminate myself….
I am passionate about the singing we do in church. My wife used to win vocal competitions, I was in A Capella chorus groups, and my daughters have great voices – one of them was an all-National Choir finalist. We recognize quarter notes from half notes, know what a fermata is, can tell 3/4 time from 4/4 time, understand key signatures, and (gasp) read shaped notes. I am also fascinated by good, well-thought-out lyrics. I’ve read extensively on the importance of song-services and have even led a workshop or two on leading congregational singing. I have also found people to disagree with me about almost everything I believe about singing – from the kinds of songs I believe are most appropriate for worship, to the role of the song-leader, to the proper interpretation of how to sing some of my favorite songs. Getting all worked up about this and imposing my viewpoint is not Kingdom business no matter how much I would like it to be. Now, I’d be happy to share with you any of my views, but the Kingdom does not rise and fall on those.
Kingdom business is bringing as many people as possible to the recognition of and submission to the Lordship of the King. Kingdom business is Kingdom expansion in our own lives and the lives of others. And let’s understand – He will set the parameters for what that looks like for each of His subjects. Consider the rich ruler – Jesus looked at him and loved him – and told him he lacked one thing – he needed to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The point? The ruler had another lord, another master, another king – it was his wealth. He had to give that up, just as we have to give up anything that challenges God for our allegiance. We will run into all sorts as we work toward Kingdom expansion and that’s why Paul speaks so passionately about what is of first importance – death, burial, and resurrection. We bring people to the cross. Do we understand the power here? I think I hardly do! Paul says it this way when talking to the Corinthian church – he was resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:1-5). When we bring people to that cross through our words and actions, when we are resolved to know nothing else, when we consider everything else rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, then we are about Kingdom business. And it is only when we pledge ourselves to that and that alone, allowing ourselves to be transformed by the power of the cross, can we expect others to be so resolved to do likewise. And against that single-minded commitment to Kingdom business the gates of Hell don’t stand a chance….
“I’m not made for this.” Hold that thought….
In my family, we sort of live off movie quotes and songs. Someone says something and it spurs a song, which we’re likely to sing. Or a movie quote seems to fit perfectly into the situation, so out it comes. Some of the most common are these, maybe you know them: “You’d like to think that wouldn’t you?” “Engaged? To be married?” “Once you get past the legs they ain’t too bad.” “I trust I’ve made myself obscure.” “But it’s a talking dog!” “Toula! You should be proud to be Greek!” “We named the monkey Jack.” “So do all who live to see such times.”
Oh. That last one. We use that for any general complaint in the house, no matter what that complaint might be. It works something like this – “Ugh. I hate checking on the chickens in the dark.” (Cue the music….) “So do all who live to see such times.” It’s a very useful and widely applicable quote! And yes, It’s from The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo tells Gandalf he wishes nothing associated with the ring had ever happened. Gandalf simply states it’s a common lament among anyone going through tough times and follows up with “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
I sense a lot of people are going through a lot of rough stuff. The world is so mentally over the pandemic, yet it still clings to us while we are still not getting a break from the other stuff that is more individualized like job, family, money, and other health concerns. Some of these things we sort of bargained for, but others are curveballs from another ballpark. And some seem to go on and on with no real way to get relief. It’s easy to say, “I’m not made for this!”
Except maybe we are! Obviously, I’m not talking about enduring an abusive relationship or passively letting things happen to us. What we are talking about is choosing what we do with the time we have. How can I be an active redeemer in the situation I find myself?
One of my go-to verses in the Bible is Ephesians 5:15-16 that states, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” How am I choosing to interact with those around me? Am I bringing people closer to Christ or leading them away? Who am I having a positive impact on right now? How can I have a bigger one?
And I can’t forget “the days are evil” part. None of us were made to take it easy. But if God has put me where He has put me in the time He has put me, then I’ve got to believe He’s given me everything I need to handle that situation. We were made for this!
If you’ve given up guessing where the movie quotes are from, I’ve got them listed below in order.
The Princess Bride
Pride and Prejudice
Hidalgo
A Man for All Seasons
Up
My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Fellowship of the Ring
Just a short artistic video clip expressing some realities about God’s creation. I first ran across what I learned was an old idea in a book called God For Us by Catherine Mowery LaCugna. but I can highly recommend it. Here is the clip….
It was an interesting question, especially considering the source – “When was the first mention of Heaven in the Bible?” I needed clarification from this young woman getting PT next to me for a whiplash injury. “Do you mean as a place for the afterlife?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied.
Well, the truth is, we don’t get much about Heaven as a place for the faithful until rather late in Israel’s history. A few glimpses from David and a few more from the prophets is about it. But I think some of our non-Christian friends sort of see this as proof that the Bible is inconsistent and therefore irrelevant.
I promise I am not going to get too deep here. But I think to reach people like my PT friend we need to deal with these types of questions with a broad understanding of God. And here it is – God gives His people information on a need-to-know basis. He always has. He has revealed Himself in burning bushes and fiery pillars; with prophets, angels, and talking animals; through scripture, and through His Son, Jesus. But He has revealed Himself and His plans as His people have needed to work out those plans, not before, and Heaven, like a ton of other things, is one of those slow works in progress. But it’s there if we look.* And so, we have Jesus, dealing with the Sadducees, and He makes clear God had revealed Himself as the God of the living, not of the dead (Matthew 22:23-32). No real mention of Heaven to Moses per se, just an understanding something beyond death is. It’s fleshed out more in the New Testament – why not before? Because only through Jesus is eternal life with the Father is finally realized, opening up in ways incomprehensible before how to understand Heaven! He is the firstborn from among the dead (Colossians 1:18)! Again, let’s not lose sight of things – Jesus’ position is one of importance as He was the first to actually conquer physical death outright (John 10:18).
But even with all the descriptions in Revelation, I think God still hasn’t told us everything about Heaven yet. We’re just not ready! What I do know is this – God has given us all the information we need to know up to this point – He’ll reveal all the rest of it when we finally get there!
*By saying what I say here, I think we also need to be aware we sometimes have questions God is completely uninterested in. In those cases, we’ll just have to square with no answer at all – and that is okay.
Taming the Tongue in an Unbridled World, taken from James 3:1-12. The outline is below the video.
Taming the Tongue in an Unbridled World
Warnings for Teachers
The power of the tongue
What we are called to….
Financial people like to talk about returns on investment. People like me want to know what I can expect when I put my money into a retirement account for example. Of course, we all understand “past performance doesn’t guarantee future success,” but how about returns on spiritual investment?
I got on this train of thought because someone asked me recently if my daughter was dating anyone – they were in a different market for their nephew so to speak. Problem was, I knew just a little too much about the nephew in question. Bottom line, he had not made sound spiritual investments. It called to mind an old turn of phrase I heard long ago about how so many young people sow their wild oats and then pray for crop failure. But you reap what you sow and this is just as true if not truer in the spiritual realm. And it got me thinking – it’s never too soon to start your spiritual investment.
What that means for parents is to make sure our young ones are getting spiritually fed. Singing “Jesus Loves Me” and other such songs to our babies, taking them to church, praying with them and teaching them the Bible is laying a sound spiritual foundation we must continue to build on as long as they are in our house. They need to see integrity and fortitude in the face of shifting worldly allegiances and values. This is for the long-term, building a future in eternity.
What this means for young folks is to take responsibility for their future, realizing the earlier they start, the easier time they will have later on. My friend’s nephew had not shown trustworthiness in his commitment to Christ. While he now may be sincere in his desire for a Christian wife to spiritually invest with to build a strong Christian life together, the long-term effects of his earlier sins don’t go away. It’s like the one who starts saving for retirement in his 20’s in comparison to the one who starts in his 40’s. The effects linger.
That’s the hard news – but we need to hear it. We need to know the choices we make in regard to discipleship can set us on a sound path or a very difficult one. We need to know every decision we make is either helping us grow spiritually or stunting that growth. We need to understand that the world’s patterns are attractive and easy to fall into and difficult to get out of. And we need to know the consequences of our sins stay with us long after we’ve given them up…
… but they’re not eternal if we are committed to spiritual investment now. That’s the good news! No matter where we are in life, no matter what we’ve done, the debt stands forgiven when we start investing in eternity, giving ourselves fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ! And here’s the kicker – when we get to heaven, we will find our return on our spiritual investment is the same for us all – I suspect, knowing all our checkered pasts, we will all be grateful!
Texts helping me in these thoughts included Psalm 119:9, Matthew 20:1-16, and Proverbs 22:6.
