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Posts Tagged ‘spirituality’

Finding Christmas Values on Black Friday

Posted in Christmas, Comparison, Competition, Grace, tagged , , , on December 2, 2013| 1 Comment »

“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:32-33 (NIV)

“How much did you save on Black Friday?”

This question looms large in households throughout American communities as the run up to Christmas begins now in early December.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is held on the fourth Thursday of November in the US. The day after this national day of feasting has been referred to for some years now as “Black Friday.” It’s a day when many people are off work for the extended weekend and major pre-Christmas sales begin.

This year Black Friday began on Thursday evening. Before their turkey dinner was even digested consumerism tightened its stranglehold over many Americans who gladly participated in the mayhem. Pandemonium was created when consumers shopping in certain locations began to attack each other hoping to be the first to escape with “Christmas blessings” in material form.   

My nephew wasn’t alone when he referred to the day as “Black-Eye Friday” on his Facebook page.    

As a product of a consumer society I now have a better understanding of myself, materialism and the number it does on my own soul. I come directly from a culture of people who constantly measure or quantify everything from bank accounts to beauty secrets. I want desperately to know “how much” of just about everything in my life.

“How much is my house worth?”

“How much do I have in the bank?’

“How much fun did I have at the party?”

“How well are my kids doing?”

“How does my marriage measure up?”

Not only do we have arbitrary measures for our own lives and all we possess in comparison to others, but we judge people based on their purchasing power and then feel satisfied and justified when we beat someone else out of a bargain.

Too often our treasure is in the things of this world of ours that can be measured.

A few years ago it gradually began to sink in that God’s Kingdom cannot be measured. The values that should dominate our lives are not measurable, at least by human standards.

Who can quantify eternity?

Who can find any measurement for the eternal God?

What about qualities such as love, kindness, patience?

If we look for it, we can see evidence of God’s grace all around us, but are never able to contain or quantify it. What are the statistics of heaven? Can we even dare to speak in those terms?

God designed His Kingdom to be just that way and Jesus His Son told us so. Somehow in God’s economy, He is the sole Judge of what’s valuable. We are told to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first and then the material and the measurable will take their rightful place in our lives. 

This presents a problem for a consumer society. It’s been said that the best things in life are free, but perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the best things in life are immeasurable.

When we get focused on the measurements rather than the eternal value of God and people we lose sight of where true life really exists.  The measurements of the world are not the measurements of Heaven.

Next time you start feeling that you, your spouse, your children, your job, your income or your possessions don’t “measure up” to standards start asking yourself, ”Whose standards am I living by?”

The flow of our culture is to gather and compare and consume. The flow of God’s Kingdom, as embodied in Jesus Christ, is to receive gratefully from Heaven and joyfully give to others out of a heart captivated by love.

This year Black Friday’s values really spoke deeply to me. Or perhaps it’s better to say that true Christmas values spoke louder by way of contrast.

In the Christmas season we reflect on the reality that God sent His Son here to bring us through faith into a Kingdom that cannot be measured. How a consumer-driven society handles an immeasurable truth like that one is an issue that only an Eternal God can address. 

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Endurance: Facing Resistance with Attitude!

Posted in Adversity, Endurance, Positive Thinking, tagged , on May 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” James 1:2-3 New Living Translation

I must admit that I don’t take to adversity very well. My normal reaction to the challenges of life that come my way is often, “WHY is this happening to me?” or  “What did I do to deserve this?”

Some adversity in life comes suddenly and without warning. Like an unexpected accident or the sudden death of a close family member. Sometimes we bring adversity on ourselves by making poor choices or even facing a challenge by taking appropriate risk or exercising courage.

Just recently I’ve been taking a weekly half-hour swimming class which is meant to develop a higher level of fitness by swimming vigorous laps around the pool wearing fins. This class in “Fin Fitness” has taught me a lot about facing resistance and developing strength and endurance.

Each week,  before class begins I start wondering why I agreed put myself through the gauntlet. Everyone who has been involved in the class sees the benefits because the exercise is so intense. The small group of my classmates are younger, fitter and better swimmers than yours truly and it’s a huge challenge keeping up with them  – a task I’ve been unable to accomplish so far.

When the class is over and relief sets in I’m joyful that I stuck it out. I then experience the benefits that come from facing the challenge and finding the endurance to persevere.  Hopefully strength, fitness, flexibility and endurance will be physical benefits I will enjoy not to mention the emotional well being that is part of the process.

Whatever the test or trial might be I often wonder if our state of mind is the critical factor in it all. Is there a mindset that will help us on a day to day basis that will carry us through as we courageously face  the challenges that come our way?

In the book of James in the New Testament, the author makes some very startling statements, especially about trials and suffering. One of the better known verses, quoted above, instructs the reader to actually consider trials and tests as joyful opportunities for personal growth.

James does say that if our faith is tested, endurance has a chance to grow. When you consider it, in many areas of life we don’t get very far without meeting resistance head on.

Whatever challenge you may be facing today take a close look at your attitude toward it.  Remember that James is addressing followers of Jesus in the first century. Jesus Christ is the one who faced the adversity of the Cross and all that it entailed, yet came through victorious. Not only is He our Savior but our example of facing adversity courageously and with an eternal perspective.

 Although I don’t like to admit it, in a world full of adversity there’s probably nothing that will build strength and endurance except facing resistance with a positive attitude and an eternal perspective.  

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A Spring Season – Grasping for Fruit or Developing Roots?

Posted in Process, tagged , on March 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” – Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

This Easter weekend is a good time to reflect on the message of Jesus and the life we can have in relationship with Him. As the followers of Jesus celebrate Resurrection Sunday I think this is an important time to focus on the reality that a life worth living is one that is rooted in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

In today’s world we have many voices that capture our attention. I realize more and more that I have been a product of the culture I grew up in. I didn’t recognize until the past few years that many influences on my life shaped me into a person with a strong desire to be productive and successful in life. You might say that results really matter to me in almost every walk of life.

This may be helpful in many respects, but when we come to living the Christian life we can very easily approach too many things with a “results” mentality. Many of us love to see the fruits of our labor and will do almost anything to see it happen.

Particularly as followers of Jesus we just naturally assume that living a fruitful and productive life is something that is pretty much expected of us. The critical thing is what the fruit may look like and the process we undertake that will produce it.

In recent years, I’ve begun to realize that for a season of my life I didn’t focus enough on developing a healthier root system in my life because of an overwhelming desire to see fruit that I wanted put on display perhaps before it ripened.

Jesus, our Master of growth, gave us many lessons from everyday, observable life in God’s creation.  At one point he said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.” Obviously there’s much to observe in the natural world that God has placed there to teach us lessons for spiritual and emotional growth.

The Apostle Paul in his words to the Colossians (above) told them to be rooted in Jesus Christ, to see Him as the source of life, growth and development.

In the natural world what’s the relationship between roots and fruit? Roots are hidden underground and fruit is observable above ground. Roots go deep and anchor a plant while fruit generally falls off the tree and is either consumed or decomposes. Roots are essential to the health and vitality of the entire plant and fruit will not be healthy, or edible, unless there is a healthy root system at the foundation level.

Our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to partner with Him in going through a process of developing our roots and leaving the results (fruit) to Him. I think we start to spin out of control when we start looking for quick results and fixes and neglect our root system. I believe this to be the case because I’ve experienced it and lived to tell about it!

When I look at Jesus Himself, He seemed to be much more focused on the process of life rather than looking for immediate results. For one thing, it is a well known historical fact that Jesus did not begin His public ministry before He was 30 years old. There was a season of development in Jesus’ life that took place before His public ministry. Even when Jesus did choose His disciples, He took them through a process of growth that never really ended but had many layers of ongoing development.

This spring why not begin to examine the root system in your life. Where are you focusing your time and energy? Is it trying to grasp for more fruit or developing your roots under the guidance of Jesus Christ?

A friend that regularly reads the correspondence I send out to my prayer partners noticed something recently. After I redirected my focus onto the roots and the process of growth she unexpectedly told me that she noticed a different and positive tone change coming through my writing. Something had shifted and she noticed it but couldn’t quite describe it.

I have little doubt that when we sink our roots into Jesus those around us will observe a noticeable change in our attitude, direction and behavior.

As in nature, the root systems in our lives are developed in the quiet, unseen life that we live with Jesus when no one else is watching. By sinking our roots deep into Him perhaps we will soon find the fruit bursting forth in ways we never imagined. 

 

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Duty, Discipline and Disappointment

Posted in Disappointment, Gratitude, Process, tagged on March 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.'” Luke 15:29 (NIV)

Disappointment in life normally comes from not getting what we expected.

A friend a few years my senior used to say often with tongue in cheek, “Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he will not be disappointed!” Unfortunately, we in the developed world have many expectations and when they go unmet we are left with disappointment and frustration.

At this stage of my life I have begun to realize that many of my aspirations of where I thought I would be at my age will not materialize, at least  not in the short term.  I often live with more disappointment than I’m willing to admit.

In the classic tale of the prodigal son Jesus told in Luke chapter 15 it is interesting to note the contrast between the two brothers in the story. As we know, the younger son  expected his inheritance early and upon receiving it, squandered it. But in doing so, he found the reality that a better life was to be had back in his father’s house. 

When the younger son returned home he received a very unexpected welcome – his waiting father ran to meet him and threw an extravagant celebration in his honor.

We usually don’t focus on the older brother who stayed home and saw himself as “slaving” for his father.  His life was full of disappointment because he must have felt that his commitment to keeping the rules would reap rewards down the line. Discipline and duty would surely gain him an advantage over his foolish, rebellious younger brother.

It is easy for some of us, yours truly included, to live life that way. We keep to a performance regimen so Dad will be proud of us. Maybe He will notice our exceptional behavior and give us whatever we want – when we want it. Unfortunately, we end up disappointed with that orientation toward life.

In recent years I’m learning much more about the way God designed us to live in relationship with Him by focusing on the process, or the daily walk with Him, rather than living with high expectations of what might result from my peak performance. It’s the difference between learning to enjoy the process as opposed to focusing merely on results.

Think of a skill or hobby that you really enjoy. It could be anything from learning a musical instrument to playing a sport or developing a new skill. It doesn’t take much to motivate you when you enjoy the process of learning even when you don’t see immediate results. The moment you switch over to focusing on the results the process becomes more laborious. Often the harder we try to do something the more ineffective we become.

A better quality of life emerges when we live a life of faith in God and let our expectations rest with Him. Accepting the results that come our way with a grateful heart may reap greater benefits in the long run than anxiously focusing on the results that seem beyond our grasp.

The words of the older brother in the story reveal that he expected  a certain level of attention from his father as a result of his good behavior. When the younger brother expected rejection and was willing to be put on the level of a servant, the father not only ran toward him but reinstated him in the family.

The broader implication is that we can expect our Heavenly Father to rejoice in us, to desire a relationship with us, to demonstrate love and generosity to us, to rejoice whenever we move toward Him.  Maybe, when we experience disappointment it’s because we are focused on the wrong expectations.

Perhaps the lesson that we need to hear is that duty and discipline when launched from the wrong motives will never win any credibility before a loving God who cares deeply for us and desires us to enjoy our relationship with Him. Moving in His direction will always reap unexpected benefits.

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