Groping for God

Changes

2010-11-04T20:37:00.002-04:00

The only thing constant in life is change. Just at the moment we become comfortable with our surroundings change happens and usually happens quickly. I have had several changes happen over the last year spiritually, professionaly and even some physically.

Change is difficult for some but I have found in life that change can be as good as we choose to make it. Change gives us time for reflection on the past and time to ponder the future that awaits us. Change gives us opportunity for a new and better start to see the mistakes and/or challenges that have got us down and find new ways to overcome them.

As I have begun several changes in life this blog will change some (hopefully for the better) and I challenge you to look at your life and find things to change for a better, deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.

The Purpose of The Perfect Law of Liberty

2010-04-10T13:06:00.003-04:00

What is the purpose of the law?

I posed this question the other night in Bible class wondering what most would say. Some said the purpose of the law is for order or to prevent chaos. Some said the purpose of the law is to demonstrate the authority of God. Some said the purpose of the law is to condemn sinners. Ultimately though I am persuaded that the purpose of the law is so that we can see just how much we need Jesus.

The law is called the "law of liberty". Liberty is freedom. What are we then free from? and further how can a law bring us freedom? What about rules or regulations allows someone to be free? Doesn't the very essence of rules bind instead of free? The law brings freedom from the vary things it condemns. The law is meant to point out the areas of our life where we fall short. To be sort of a magnifying glass to see each crack and each flaw.

To see each flaw is not to bring about guilt and depression but rather to see that no matter how many flaws each of us have that Jesus can fill in the cracks and smooth out the flaws. The purpose of the law then is two-fold. To expose but also to fill in. As we see just how broken we are we can also see just how much we need Jesus to put us back together. The reason then that we need to law is to open our eyes to what sin is and how that sin separates us from God. To see that we are lost without Him and how terrible that would be.

We sometimes like to use that magnifying glass to expose others faults so that we can stand to condemn them. The same way when you focus intently the magnifying glass through the sun it burns and devours rather than magnifies. When we are trying to help others see the faults we need not burn them up. It is not our place to condemn but rather to use the law to help rehabilitate. It's easy to show someone their sins and show them the wages of sin is death-Rom 6:23 but it's harder to show them the second half of Rom 6:23- "the free gift of God is eternal life" The things in life that appear to be free never really are. By the free gift of God we mean that if you can leave everything else behind and allow God to change you to be truly converted you can have eternal life.

I say all that I have said above to say this- We need to be more about rehabilitation than condemnation. You can condemn from afar but to rehabilitate you need to get up close and personal. You need to care and to love and to worry the way Paul did as he wrote letters to those brethren he helped convert that were still struggling. Condemning is easy and can be done without getting involved but people don't need condemned they need to be saved.
MPE

The Right Way is Usually the Easiest

2010-01-20T17:34:00.003-05:00

My father use to tell me all the time that it is just easier to do the right thing. His reasoning went something like this- if you steal then you have to lie to cover it up, then you have to tell another lie for that lie and the web grows thicker and thicker. As a child growing up I always liked to challenge this theory to see what I could get away with when my idea of right didn't add up to his. Pretty soon I found out that I ended up working twice as hard as I needed to in order to "get by with something".

When I take this basic philosophy that Dad had to the scriptures I find that God also said similar things. "There is a way that seems right to a man but it's end is death" (Prov 14:12), "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Cor 5:6) and others I could point to that shows when we try and change or go around God's way we end up in a mess that could and should have been avoided had we just done things the right way.

I am mindful of marriages that haven't been "taken care of" over the years that come to an end with bitterness and divorce. People who once took a vow to love one another and support one another: "in sickness and in health for richer or poorer", that now 25 years later don't know each other and don't really like who they or the other person has become.

I am mindful of congregations who still have no leadership because men don't take care of what they should throughout the years. Groups that have a median age of 60+ and no men qualified to serve as one of the Lord's elders. When we are young we believe we are invincible and lie to ourselves saying: "I'll settle down when I get older", or "what I do now has no effect on my family or our future". Sure we don't see the problems that we create when we skip worshipping with the saints for vacation or ball games or the Superbowl or just because we don't see Sunday nights, Wednesday nights or gospel meetings as "mandatory". What message do we send our children and our families when we lead them this way? Is it any wonder why many after their children are grown and leave the nest wonder why they aren't faithful. Wonder what could have gone wrong- I still come why don't they?

It is easier to fix our marriages and our worship services when we "work as we go" instead of trying to play "catch up" years later. I always tell those that work for me to get me involved when it's a problem before it becomes a mess. Problems can be fixed-messes need to be cleaned up. I challenge all those that are reading this to devote time now to working on your marriage and to preparing yourself for service in the kingdom. Don't look back on your life and try to fix it or wonder what if. Today is the day for us to work- tomorrow may never come and yesterday is already gone.

We can choose to do things God's way-The right way or we can choose to go our way-the hard way. I hope that we can heed the warning my father gave me- The right way is the easiest.
MPE

And the Song Remembers When

2010-01-03T00:08:00.002-05:00

It's amazing to me how much we can connect through music. Our Heavenly Father told us to "speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spirtual songs teaching and encouraging one another" (Eph 5:17; Col 3:16) Is it any wonder that when certain songs we hear envoke emotion, cause us to reflect or take us back in time? Our creator and designer knows how our minds and hearts work. He understands that there is something inate within our minds that connects songs to events and memories.

A little while back a good friend of mine who sings barbershop invited me to a performance they were having nearby. My wife and I went to support him and have a good time hanging out with friends. They sang the song "Homeward bound" by Marta Keen. The song is based on a soldier writing home to comfort his family that he would find a way to come home again. Today while going over my lesson on Grace that I will be preaching in the morning that song has been stuck in my head and on my mind. Maybe it's because we had a singing tonight in Harrodsburg and I have been thinking of what songs I would lead. Maybe it's that often I think of songs that line up with my lesson to have our song leaders lead for us prior to the sermon. For whatever reason it continues to resonate within me.

The lyrics are as follows:
In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing and the sky is clear and red.
When the summer’s ceased its gleaming,
When the corn is past its prime,
When adventure’s lost its meaning,
I’ll be homeward bound in time.

Bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I’ll return to you somehow.

If you find it’s me you're missing, if you’re hoping I’ll return.
To your thoughts I’ll soon be list’ning, and in the road I’ll stop and turn.
Then the wind will set me racing as my journey nears its end.
And the path I’ll be retracing when I’m homeward bound again.

Bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I’ll return to you somehow.

In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing,
I’ll be homeward bound again.

-Music and Lyrics by Marta Keen
You can put it into youtube and find several videos that will give you the a true feeling for the song and maybe a better understanding of why it resonates within me.

I am not military-never been don't think I could do it but very thankful for those who can. This song doesn't bring me the feelings that many may have about soldiers going home. The feelings I have are about going home to heaven. It's a difficult life here on earth. A quick look around will give you plenty evidence of sorry, pain and woe that make me long to go to Jesus as Paul said "Is far better" Phil 1. To think about this life coming to an end for things to get better not worse a longing to be with my Lord and Savior a longing to be homeward bound.

I think of the lyrics "Bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I’ll return to you somehow" makes me think of letting go of our inhibitions in order to find our place in the kingdom. Find our what our "calling" is and how we can be useful in service to the Master. Our friends and family that we may have to leave behind while we pursue service to our God can be united again with us when they are obedient to the gospel call. If our lives are lost here they can be united with us in the home forever more.

A beautiful song with a great message. Please let me know what songs take you back to a place and time or ones that help you to refocus.
MPE

Back in the Saddle

2009-07-09T09:46:00.006-04:00

As you have read from the previous Blog posts a lot has been going on around here. I am please to announce that my father is doing well back up and on His feet and so is my mother recovering from her fall. Now that I have mom and dad back together and we have gotten through our VBS as well as my work with a few other here in Central KY I can focus some attention back to the Blog.

For those of you who continue to hang on I greatly thank you and appreciate your prayers. With all the obligations that I have in life the Blog is the first to suffer a cutback. I hope to have enough time now in the foreseeable future to keep this current at least weekly if not more often, well at least until the phone rings =).

The thought for this week is around spiritual Independence. We just celebrated on Saturday our independence day here in the US. This is a day we celebrate the signing of the declaration of independence and our beginning of becoming a free nation. I want to quote the first paragraph from the declaration of independence for those who need a brush up on their history

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation"

In reading through this I would like to make the same declaration about our spiritual bondage.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the spiritual bonds which have enslaved and entangled them with this world. To assume among the powers of the creator of the earth and the creator of man that we should declare the causes which impel us to separate"

While I don't claim to be as eloquent as the men who penned these words I do know that we should all desire to separate from the things of this world-Romans 12:1-2. All who sin are separated from God and enslaved to sin Jn 8:34. Unless we find separation from sin we will die in it and apart from God-Rom 6:23.

In Galatians 4 we read about the redemptive work of Christ. We begin enslaved to the elementary principals of this world but when the fullness of time had come God sent His son to free us from sin and bring us into Him. We are no longer slaves but sons and if sons then heirs-heirs according to the promise that God made to Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed with Spiritual freedom. Blessed we are that through Jesus Christ we can separate from the sins of this world and be connected to God.

Free at last from the dominion of sin and free at last to look forward to dwelling with God. Will you continue as a slave or will you give everything you have to be FREE.
MPE

Questions from the hospital

2009-05-23T17:28:00.002-04:00

Question 2- When can I go home/What do I have to do to go home?

This seems like a very innocent question and one that comes to most every mind when they enter the hospital. This I think may be the most profound of all questions that one can ask. This also has the most far reaching of consequences. Immediately when this question is asked it implies two things: 1) you will go home and 2) there is a time frame for going home. When this question is asked no one expects to hear the words you may not get to go home. Most docs even in terminal cases try to keep the hope of going home alive and well. The very hope of being able to go home will allow the patient to strive and fight through difficulties and force themselves to work through pain, fatigue and ailments to do what it takes to recover. Looking around the hospital I see people in pain and anguish force themselves to get up and walk trying to get the body flowing and working right in order that they can just go home.

Doctors will ask that they walk so much or do so many things and when they can perform these tasks then you can go home but not until then. It is ironic to me that many of these requests go without question. Many just blindly do whatever the doctor wants whether they agree or not. Many will even say "I will do anything to go home if this crazy doctor wants me to do ______ then I will." Sadly some of the patients will never be able to perform these tasks and thus will never leave the hospital to go back home.

When I think about the pain and fatigue of this world and how much many of us just want to go home eternally. Jesus says in John 14 that He went to prepare us all a place to come home to. There are many things that God asks us to do in order to go home. Many people want to argue and fuss to say why should I have to do this or that. "My God would make me do anything"- I have heard some tell me. Jesus says in John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." Many people quote John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life." When they quote verse 16 they say see all I have to do is believe I don't have to do anything but say I believe in Jesus. If you keep reading from verse 16 to verse 36 (Jesus is still talking here) you would easily see that belief=obedience. We have to believe in Jesus but not just believe in Him but believe and trust and obey Him.

If you really want to go home-Belief and obedience is the only way your gonna get out of here. Is this a time for questioning why or just doing "Whatever it takes to attain the Resurrection of the dead"-Phil 3:11

MPE

Notes from the hospital

2009-05-15T06:54:00.006-04:00

On Wednesday morning of this week my father had some emergency surgery-please continue to pray for him-which prompted me to spend several days by his side in the hospital. The funny thing about life is no matter where you find yourself lessons abound. From the inside of a hospital many of life's questions are asked. A close friend of mine reduced them all to the single question-"what does God look like". While in a future post we may explore that overriding question for now I am going to ask and answer some of these basic questions. Over the next few days and weeks please stay tuned as we take this newly appointed road.

1) Why did this happen to me?- In the egocentric world that we live in for many people this is the first question and the one they initially assign the most value to. Many people want a direct answer for their plight in the midst of a revolving world. They expect God directly had something to do with why they are sick-Have a committed sin? Does God hate me? Why would God let this happen to me?- all these questions sometimes aimed and sometimes leveled at God as the one to blame. This on some levels is a legitimate question-if your looking for the right answer. If you ask this question for medical purposes such as: What can I do to prevent it in the future?, What can I change about my life so this doesn't happen to me? This is, however, an unprofitable question to ask if your looking to assign blame to God. The wise man writes "The rain falls on the just and the unjust" or to put it another way- things just happen. Without rhyme and reason sometimes things just happen. It can drive all of us crazy trying to find a point in a completely random event-things just happen. People have accidents and fall, sometimes hearts fail in the midst of life, sometimes those who are the strongest physically have the weakest hearts and minds. The other answer to this question is maybe the event has nothing to do with you. Your misfortune could be the consequence of an other'ssin. God will forgive sin but will not bypass the consequences of sin. For example if a drunk driver crosses the line and causes a head on collision leaving someone dead or handicapped for the rest of their lives it is entirely the result of sin and not the Innocent party that is to blame. I have had the unfortunate experience of talking with those who have had life altering events that are entirely the result of an other's sin. Some grow from it and use there brush with death to refocus their lives. Others blame God, themselves, society and anyone else they can to delay their own emotional and psychological recovery-"this is vanity".

My friends the only thing in this life we can truly control is our disposition. We can control how we react to the things of life. We can look for good and opportunities to grow. We can find perspective and further understand the brevity of life and look forward to a "city not built with hands whose builder and maker is God". We can choose to be happy. I am going to say that again we can choose to be happy. If we want to be positive and happy we have to choose that course. If we want to look at the bad, assign blame and ponder the never profitable question "why did this have to happen to me" we will be miserable, downtrodden and lonely people who have chosen a life of misery over a life filled with hope.

MPE

Time, Time, Time

2009-01-17T18:11:00.003-05:00

All of us ask for more time. If I only had more time I would do this, or if I only had another hour I would do that. The truth is we would just fill that time with more stuff and ask or want more of it. I would love to have the time to do all of the things that I want- and actually I do. You see when we make decisions with the time we have we do end up doing the things we want to do otherwise we would make different decisions. We say with our lips that we want to do other things but I have found that actually or decisions are far more indicative of our desires than our lips.

With my lips (or keyboard) I tell those of you following this blog that I want to be better at it. Unfortunately with my actions I end up spending the time I would normally use for the blog to study, spend time with the family or just decompress from the wonders of my day as a financial planner and manager of other planners.

I ask in this thought that you consider what your actions state about how you really feel and how really dedicated you are to following God. Do you say with your lips that you want to follow Him or are your actions indicative of a deep and meaningful relationship with Him. Do you consider as you make your decisions of the impact it has on your relationship with God? Do you consider that the longer you go without talking to Him the farther you move away? Do you consider that even though nothing can seperate us from the love of God (Rom 8) we are the ones who always end the relationship?

I can honestly tell you that I have not considered the feelings of those who read this blog as I infrequently post. I can tell you however God considers what you choose to fill your time with when you could spend it with Him.

Suffering

2008-11-26T17:57:00.002-05:00

At times in our lives when we suffer we are forced to come to grips with the reality that we cannot control everything. This happens whether we bring the suffering upon ourselves and we cannot control the punishment or if suffering comes to us and we cannot control the cause. Suffering causes many to blame God for their ills or pains as if He is somehow personally responsible for all the bad that happens in the world. Stop me if you have heard this: "how could God allow this to happen..." Many things happen in our lives that God allows.

Why is it that only when we are negatively impacted do we ask why God let this event happen? How bout these questions- Why does God let man sin? Why does God help man when man sins? Why does God care about me? Why does God take care of all my needs? Why does every good and perfect thing come from God?

God allows us to be free moral agents- to make our own decisions. The problem with that is He also allows us to have our own consequences. When we sin there are consequences to our actions. If we shoot someone they may die. God allows us a choice. Suffering is in this world by and large because of choice. People kill, hurt, and destroy lives everyday. The suffering that comes upon each of us may not be linked to anything we have done but very well may be linked to the sins of others.

Thanks be to God that there is a place we can look forward to where suffering is gone once and for all. In Revelation 21:4- "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Let us all look forward to that day realizing that we are just sojouners here in this world and there is a better day that awaits the faithful of God.

Trying to do Better

2008-11-15T22:12:00.003-05:00

For those of you who are still checking in on this blog- thank you. I want to apologize for my inconsistancy in posting to this blog with a message of trying to do better. I have often thought of this phrase and how some dislike it. Often when we have made mistakes people want from us an assurance that we will never ever do that again. I never do that. I am persuaded that it is dishonest and misleading. There are things that sometimes we just mess up and do again. All we can ever do is try to do better the next time and try to be better going forward.

Children of God need to face this same message. When we make mistakes we need not try to hold ourselves to standards that may be impossible to keep that instead of helping us actually hinder our spiritual growth and development.

Let me give you an example. Let's say that you have a problem with bad language and you make the statement I am never going to say those words again. You begin doing very well with your new found statement and purpose to follow God and put away vile language. Then you hit your hand with a hammer and out slips a bad word. You also find that when your very frustrated that you tend to let these words come out. After a while you begin down the path of logic that "they are just words" and "everyone makes mistakes", "don't judge me" and so on because you have been trying so hard but cannot keep the high bar that you set for yourself when you said never again. Instead of drawing closer to God with your desire to be pure and undefiled from bad language you have instead become disheartened and begin to make distance between yourself and God.

A more realistic approach for us is to say I am going to try to put these behind me and everyday that I do I will thank God for His help and His patience with me. When you slip or make a mistake 1 John 1 says that if we are faithful to confess our mistakes God is faithful to forgive us. Now without this enormous burden you instead have freedom in Christ from your sins and the strength that God supplies to fight each battle one at a time and allow your personality and vocabulary to change over time to get to a point when those words you always struggled with don't seem to come to mind.

As I said I will try and be better. With God's help we all should

MPE

Finding Motivation

2008-08-19T21:44:00.000-04:00

One of the most difficult things in life is finding motivation. We usually have it for a short time then lose it again. As I look throughout Scripture I find over and over only 1 source that keeps being brought to reminder as motivation and that is the Cross. Over and over in Paul's Epistles he points back to the cross as a memory point. If we can focus on the sacrifice of Jesus- what He endured, how He endured it and why He endured it we can find confidence and reason to have obedient faith. Paul doesn't appeal to Bible authority- he rather appeals to the cross as a reason for Bible authority. He appeals to the sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour for us to find focus and do what is right-not just b/c it's right but in order to do what is pleasing for one who was willing to do so much for us. When we consciously understand that from the beginning God has always loved man and desired a relationship with him providing at every turn a way for man to come back. When we can see that we will no longer ask questions such as what do I have to do but will begin asking what can I do.

Title of the Blog

2008-08-12T21:55:00.000-04:00

OK so I have to first admit that I never thought I would get into blogging. Then my brother in law talked me into it. After that he gave me an idea for what I wanted to do. I owe a lot of this to him- so thank you Jimmy.

The title of the Blog comes from Acts 17:27. The wonders of the world around us continue daily to amaze me. God put all of this in motion "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us..." In every aspect of life I hope and pray that we continue groping for God knowing that we can find Him and knowing that He is not far from any of us.