Does God Need to Meet Our Expectations?

Have you ever felt impressed to pray something like, “Lord, You’ve probably noticed, but things aren’t going well in the world these days. Would You please intervene and stop the growing godlessness in our world?” I have. Occasionally I’ve added a suggestion: “Something like a vast, spiritual awakening would be wonderful.”

Could it be that God, in more ways than we could imagine, is in the process of doing just that?

 

I’ve been reading about the spontaneous, student-led revival at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky, near Lexington. It started on Feb. 8 at the biweekly chapel service in the university’s auditorium. More than a week later, students were still there, reading the Bible, singing, weeping, repenting, and praying. By all accounts, it wasn’t staged as an excuse to skip classes and forgo exams.

 

Students from other colleges were being drawn to the Asbury movement and beginning to “export” it to their own campuses. What do you suppose could be the impact if students from coast to coast, stirred by the Spirit of God, experienced similar “revivals” at their institutions of higher learning? 

 

Asbury – then Asbury College – was the site of a revival in 1970 that swept the campus and spread to other parts of the United States. Many lives were forever changed as men and women committed their lives to Jesus Christ and others deepened in their faith. 

 

The most recent Asbury revival might seem an isolated event, but there are other indications of a divine movement surging against the tides of secularism and skepticism.

 

Consider the response to “The Chosen,” a video series about Jesus Christ and His followers. Described by founder and producer Dallas Jenkins as a “TV show,” it’s the most successful crowd-funded production in media history. Its third eight-episode season just completed, “The Chosen” has captured the attention of countless millions of viewers across the U.S. and around the world.

 

An intriguing new theatrical film, “The Jesus Revolution,” has just been released about the so-called Jesus Movement of the 1970s. With the cast including popular actors Kelsey Grammer and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, as well as Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen,” this movie is likely to receive lots of attention. Can anything good come out of Hollywood?

 

In a recent talk, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow recounted the response to the “John 3:16” eye black he wore during his championship days as quarterback at the University of Florida. After seeing the inscription below his eyes during the games, millions of people were prompted to Google what John 3:16 meant. Surely some folks discovered for the first time how much God loved the world.

 

From around the globe come reports of God at work in myriad ways, including dreams and visions. We don’t hear a lot about this because the mainstream media doesn’t care, but in some regions, people are coming to know Jesus Christ in unprecedented numbers – and in very unusual ways.

 

Such developments should thrill every follower of Jesus but alas, not everyone seems happy about it. The Asbury revival has had its skeptics. “The Chosen” not only has avid fans but also vociferous detractors. Tebow’s actions weren’t universally applauded, even within the Christian community. Surprising?

 

Richard Blackaby, son of Henry Blackaby who developed the acclaimed Experiencing God Bible studies, has noted, “Every revival in history has had its critics, usually within the Church, because they disagreed with how God was doing it.”

 

We tend to put God in a box, believing He should work only in certain ways, according to our particular theology, doctrines and proclivity. We’re inclined to oppose or at least question anything that transpires outside those parameters. 

 

The Scriptures, however, assert God doesn’t need our approval for acting in whatever He chooses. It was youthful and impetuous Elihu who said, in response to the travails of Job and judgments by his older but unhelpful “friends,” “Why do you complain against Him, that He does not give an account of all His doings?” (Job 33:13).

 

Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God made clear that He will not be limited by our expectations. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord, ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8).

 

I admit to having my own ideas about what God should do, how and when and why. But He’s never needed to consult with me about His plans. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33).

 

Are all of these seeming movements of God genuine? Only time will tell. But despite mounting evidence of people turning from Him, it’s heartening to learn about ways that God drawing folks to Himself. As Proverbs 21:30 declares, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”

Maintaining Positivity in a World of Negativity

Some people have observed that the best way to wreck a new day is to consult the news first thing in the morning. Hearing or reading about acts of violence and mayhem, traffic fatalities, wars, the troubled economy, and natural disasters before or during breakfast can easily turn even the sunniest day into gloom and doom. 

 

Having cut my journalistic teeth as a newspaper editor, I feel almost obligated to watch the evening news and read the daily newspapers – now online mostly, rather than the paper versions I loved so much. It’s important to be informed about the world around us. But it’s become increasingly difficult with the media’s predominantly negative tone.

 

We can choose to totally ignore the news, as some people have done. After all, isn’t ignorance bliss? But as citizens of our communities, our nation and the world, we should have some idea about what’s happening. The key is to avoid letting bad news shape our moods and attitudes. As an old friend used to say, “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head – but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”

 

Some experts would advise us to cultivate a positive attitude, developing a Pollyanna perspective that sees even the worst of things in an uplifting manner. Some folks can succeed at that, but most of us can’t. As another friend of mine is wont to say, “I’m a very positive person. I’m positive things are going to get worse.”

 

What I’ve found works best is not to expect people and circumstances to put me into a brighter, more optimistic frame of mind. Instead, I turn to the Bible to find refuge from the cloud of negativity we confront every day. Reading and trusting in the principles and promises from the Scriptures have a way of turning one’s thinking from, “Good lord, morning!” to “Good morning, Lord!”

 

For instance, in Philippians 4:8 the apostle Paul offers this advice: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

 

That passage – a single verse – gives us a lot to contemplate. Focusing on the truth, what’s noble and right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy; that’s more than enough to pull us out of our daily doldrums. How often does our culture encourage us to do that?

 

The Old Testament book of Jeremiah offers two verses in particular that many times have helped point my mind in the right direction. The promise God gave the Israelites in Jeremiah 29:11 I believe applies to all of His children, even those of us living thousands of years later: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plants to give you hope and a future.’” For me, it’s like Him saying, “I know things don’t look all that great right now. But no worries. I’ve got this.”

 

Then there’s Jeremiah 33:3 in which God declares, “Call on Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” I’ve experienced this numerous times during my lifetime and I’m looking forward to even more, both in this life and the life to come.

 

When we see or encounter negative behavior over the course of our everyday activities, we’re assured it’s not from the Lord. Because Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law.” Through God’s Holy Spirit, which the Bible says indwells every believer, we can learn to live, think and speak in ways that separate us from the negative environment surrounding us.

 

There are countless other biblical examples I could cite, but perhaps the greatest reason for hoping and thinking positively in a predominantly negative world is Jesus’ promise in John 16:33. He told His followers, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

At times that might not seem to be the case. But as the old preacher often repeated, “God said it. I believe it. And that’s that!” Let me challenge you: When everything seems to be getting darker and darker, as if the sky is falling, dig into the Scriptures. You’ll find more than enough reasons for hope that endures in a seemingly hopeless world. 

Two Fathers, Two Families and Two Fates

Suppose you suffered a severely broken leg and upon arrival at the emergency room, a doctor came up to you with a large bandage and said, “This ought to fix it.” You’d probably either think the physician was out of his mind or you’d grab your smartphone and dial one of those TV lawyers to file a malpractice suit.

And yet, that’s what many of the “experts” seem to be doing in addressing the overarching ills afflicting our society today. We’ve got violence in the streets, chaos in the classrooms, anarchy wherever we look. What’s the answer? Many leaders think it’s just a matter of passing more laws, as if our country doesn’t already have enough laws to which people pay little or no attention.

 

I’m not opposed to laws. We need them, obviously. But if the nature of humankind could have been changed by laws, that would have happened long ago. The ancient Israelites had more than 1,000 laws to which they were expected to abide. That didn’t deter them from committing all manner of illegal, immoral and unethical acts of rebellion and disobedience.

 

What we don’t need are simple-minded solutions. One thing I’ve learned about everyday life is that it’s complicated. But is it unreasonable to think that with gang violence continuing to escalate in cities with the toughest gun laws, and unruly students still disrupting their classes even with the threat of expulsion hanging over their heads, maybe we need to look in a different direction for answers?

 

One place I’d suggest looking is in the home. Years ago, Hillary Clinton coined the phrase, “It takes a village,” but for raising responsible, disciplined and productive young people, history has shown that what’s even more important is a stable, caring home with parents working together.

 

Recently a friend sent out an email called “Two Fathers, Two Families, Two Fates” that showed a startling comparison of families from the same era. Consider:

 

Jonathan Edwards, one of the wisest individuals God has given America, lived in the state of New York. He was a Christian and a strong advocate of Christian training. He married a young woman of like character. From this union, a study was done of 729 of their descendants. Out of this number came 300 preachers, 65 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 authors of good books, three U.S. congressmen, and one vice president of the United States.

 

Max Jukes also lived in New York around the same time. He did not believe in Christian training and married a woman who thought the same way. From their union the lives of 1,026 descendants were traced. Three hundred of them died prematurely. One hundred were sent to prison for an average of 13 years each, and 190 were public prostitutes. There were 100 drunkards. The expense to society for their wayward living was substantial.

 

Could it be that the difference between the two fathers, their families and the fates of their descendants was largely shaped by their disparate values, beliefs and practices? The Bible admonishes, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

 

In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses described the learning environment that fathers and families should establish for their children. He wrote:

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe…so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life…. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:1-7).

 

Does this guarantee that if we surround our children with biblical principles and live consistently as followers of Christ that they will turn out to be model citizens? No. It’s a principle the Bible presents and not an absolute promise. I’m sure that Mr. and Mrs. Edwards’ offspring and descendants had flaws just as everyone does. But they were taught timeless, godly standards for faithful, fruitful living.

 

The Scriptures also show us the contrast. Proverbs 29:18 observes, “Where there is no [prophetic] revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” And the book of Judges concludes with this description of the people of Israel, who had rebelled against God and abandoned His teachings: “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did what seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Maybe the time has come for us to forget about bandages and remedies that are temporary at best, and return to the one sure cure, prescribed by the Great Physician. 

Considering the Timeless, Priceless Value of Integrity

Looking through my blog backlog – am I coining a new phrase? – I noticed one I wrote several years ago about integrity. The essence of what I wrote then holds true today: Integrity is one of the most important tests of character, if not the most crucial of all.

 

Pardon the curious juxtaposition, but I would liken integrity and pregnancy in one way: Just as a woman can’t be a little bit pregnant, a person can’t have a little bit of integrity. It’s either there or it’s not. We can’t take a situation ethics approach to integrity, demonstrating it only when convenient and expedient.

 

But what is integrity, anyway? We could Google the word or consult a dictionary, but I came across a definition that’s spot-on. It was offered centuries ago by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a leader of the first Sunday school movement in America and our nation’s first Bible society. Here’s what he said:

“By integrity I mean…veracity [devotion to the truth], fidelity to promises, and a strict coincidence between thoughts, words and actions.”

 

With a remarkable economy of words, Rush captured what integrity is – devotion to the truth, regardless of the cost; being faithful to keep promises made; and aligning what we think and say with what we do.

 

In His Sermon on the Mount, one of the many things Jesus Christ talked about was integrity. Exhorting His hearers – and each of us 2,000 years later – to place a high premium on being truthful and fulfilling commitments wholeheartedly, He put it in uncomplicated terms: “But let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

 

As I understand it, Jesus was basically saying, “If you’re not willing to keep a commitment, don’t make it in the first place. But if you make a vow or promise, fulfill it, even if a circumstances in which you made that commitment have changed.”

 

Whenever the subject of integrity comes to mind, one of the first groups many of us think of is politicians. We could cite many instances of men and women who have said one thing and then years later made an entirely different assertion or promise. Sometimes the lapse of time isn’t nearly that long; it might be just days or even hours, depending on the audience they’re addressing.

 

However, integrity applies to every area of life, to every segment of society. For instance, when a couple says, “I do,” after agreeing that their union is “for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live,” it’s as much about integrity as it is about love. Maybe that’s one reason those time-honored words are left out of many wedding ceremonies today.

 

Integrity is equally vital for effective parenting. We might admonish our children, “Do as I say, not as I do,” but kids can see through that. As Rush implied, if our actions don’t match our thoughts and words, what we say doesn’t mean much. We can tell a child “I love you” repeatedly, but for them love is often spelled “time.” If they don’t feel worthy of our time and attention, they might be right to question the depth of our love for them.

 

Having worked with business and professional people my entire career, I’ve had many occasions to observe what integrity looks like when it’s present – and how things look when it’s absent. Being a person of integrity can be costly. Doing what we said we’d do, when we said we’d do it, for the price we said we’d do it for, sounds good in theory. Putting it into practice, however, can be difficult when better opportunities come along or when the expense to us increases.

 

Reading the Scriptures, we find God amazingly intolerant of those that compromise their integrity. One example is Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple who paid dearly for their lack of integrity.

 

In the days of the early Church, highly motivated believers showed they were “all in” to the cause of Christ. Acts 4:32 says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” Talk about commitment! Can you imagine pastors trying to persuade members of their congregations to do that?

 

Getting back to Ananias and Sapphira, they apparently got caught up in the excitement of the movement, deciding to do their part by selling a piece of property. Seems they got more for it than they expected, because it states, “With his wife’s full knowledge, [Ananias] kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 5:1-2).

 

God through His Spirit revealed to the apostle Peter that instead of donating the entire proceeds from their sale, Ananias and Sapphira withheld a portion. Maybe they figured they could use it for some new furniture or a vacation they had been considering. 

 

The apostle confronted the couple one at a time. The issue wasn’t that they had determined to keep some of the money, but that they were untruthful about it. He declared, “After it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4). Immediately, Ananias fell down dead, and when Sapphira arrived a few hours later, she did the same. They were big losers in the game of “Truth or Consequences.”

Does this illustration teach that God delights in zapping folks without integrity? No. But as Proverbs 10:9 teaches, “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” Our sins, many of us have discovered, have a way of catching up with us.  

What’s This Thing Called Love Really All About?

With another Valentine’s Day upon us, thoughts of love seem to be swirling everywhere. Which prompts us to wonder, what’s this love thing really all about?  

The old Burt Bacharach tune told us, “What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love.” Aww! The Beatles seconded the motion with their song, “All You Need Is Love.” We had TV shows in days gone by, like “The Love Boat” and “Love: American Style”? The modernized versions are “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette,” and a slew of copycat productions. Everyone desperately in search of love. 

 

Love’s a simple four-letter word, yet so complex, with a broad range of meanings. In fact, the ancient Greeks understood the intricacies of love so well they created a number of words for it. For one, there was “eros,” referring to romantic love or sexual passion. The TV love shows, the Hallmark genre of movies, and theatrical rom-coms are mostly about this form of love – or lust.

But the Greeks understood there’s more to love than just hormones and touchy-feely emotions. “Philia” was used to describe deep friendship – brotherly love. “Storge” referred to love and affection, especially between parents and children. And then there was “agape,” the unconditional, selfless, sacrificial love that is central to the life of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

 

There were other Greek words for other manifestations of love, but suffice it to say, there’s a whole lot more to love than warm fuzzies and physical attraction.

 

I’ve cited it before, but perhaps the best biblical description of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13. After declaring that without love we can seem like a “resounding gong” or “clanging cymbal,” that without love we are nothing and gain nothing, the passage explains what genuine love is:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).

 

As we read this list, we don’t find a love based on what someone can do for us; it’s about what we do on behalf of the person who’s the object of our love – demonstrating patience and kindness, selflessness, protection, trust, hopefulness, perseverance. Things like envy, pride, rudeness, anger, bitterness and holding grudges don’t qualify.

 

Ultimately, this love – agape – is manifested by the God we worship and serve. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Jesus expressed it this way: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Then He proceeded to do just that, willingly giving His life on the cross to become the atoning sacrifice – the “propitiation,” theologians term it – for our sins.

 

When we read “God is love” (1 John 4:16), it embodies a lot more than the image of a grandfather-like deity looking down from on high, loving and accepting us no matter what. Because His love takes into account His holiness and righteousness, as well as all that it cost the Lord to extend His grace and mercy, forgiveness and adoption, to us. And as the passage from 1 Corinthians states, love doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 

This isn’t to say Valentine’s Day and the romantic aspect of love should be discounted. Not at all. Or as the apostle Paul would have phrased it, “May it never be!” Looking at my wife, I still see my girlfriend, the beautiful woman who first caused my heart to flutter and skip beats so many years ago. I’m all about flowers, candy hearts, cute little cupids, and other happy traditions. 

 

However, our decades of marriage have taught us that enduring love, the kind that survives crises and disagreements and adversity in many forms, is more like 1 Corinthians 13 than the closing scenes of your favorite movie romance would have us believe.

 

If we want to know what love is really all about, we need to look to the God of the Bible. May we never forget, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In that simple yet profound sentence, just two dozen words or so, we find the greatest “Valentine” gift ever offered!

The Vanishing Virtues of Patience and Perseverance

Once in a while, it seems, a typo can be more accurate than the word spelled correctly. Case in point: The sign standing alongside a hospital parking lot read, “Impatient Parking Only.” Apparently, someone was too impatient to proofread the sign! But in reality, most people parking there were probably as much “impatients” as they were in-patients. 

How many times have you arrived at a doctor’s office as a patient and as time ticked away in the waiting room, you turned into an frustrated “impatient”? 

 

More and more, impatience is becoming a dominant factor in many areas of life. A popular adage told us, “A watched pot never boils,” but these days it’s more like, “A watched microwave never beeps.” We used to be willing to wait days for correspondence to arrive via postal mail; now we become anxious when an email doesn’t arrive within a few minutes after it was promised. And when we send a text, we expect an immediate response.

“Impatient parking only.” Maybe we all should post this sign by our driveways, our workplaces – and even our recliners. It’s an appropriate sign of our times. 

 

I’m old enough to remember the days when it took at least a couple of minutes for the TV to “warm up” before we could watch our favorite show. Now we become annoyed if the screen doesn’t illuminate the instant we press the remote. Waiting for the red light to turn to green? Or for the driver in front to start moving once it does? Don’t get me started.

 

Our entire existence is littered with time-saving devices, ones that have succeeded in making us ever-less tolerant of anything that delays our intended objectives. Even larger-scope matters, such as attending college or advancing in a career, are afflicted with IV – the Impatience Virus. 

 

Virtues like perseverance seem old-fashioned. Because it requires patience and determination, a resolve to persist even when obstacles and delays emerge. We want what we want – but we must have it now – not tomorrow! 

 

Those of us who’ve had to grind it out in life, however, understand the two steps forward one step back path that progress often takes. Were it not for applying patience and perseverance to the tasks at hand, we’d still be wallowing in the world of “woulda, shoulda, coulda.” 

 

The apostle Paul certainly recognized that. Writing to his protégé Timothy, he said, “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance” (2 Timothy 3:10), going on to recount the persecutions and suffering he endured during his ministry. 

 

How could Paul do this? He relied on the power of Christ at work in him – “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13) – and kept his eyes, mind and heart set on the overarching goal of advancing the Gospel.

 

We don’t have to be apostles or “super-Christians,” however, to manifest these traits. We’re repeatedly reminded that patience and perseverance are intrinsic to the victorious life of faith. The book of James opens with the admonition, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

 

Like it or not, having our faith tested by challenges and adversity is one of the primary ways it grows strong, one day hopefully resulting in our becoming “mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

 

Writing to believers in Rome, Paul expressed a similar view: “…And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us…” (Romans 5:2-4).

 

I’d hate to admit the many times I’ve grown impatient as I prayed to God, asking Him to do a certain thing in a certain way. But what I perceived as His delay actually proved to be one of His means for developing in me the patience and perseverance I desperately needed – qualities I’d need even more later on. The best way to cultivate patience, I learned, is by having no recourse other than to be patient.

 

In retrospect, I also realized that for the Lord to answer specific prayer requests, often a series of other things had to occur first. Kind of like dominoes toppling in succession, one following the other. What I saw as delay was actually His flawless timing. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

As Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time,” even if His time is not the same as our time.

Sometimes We Need to Be Encouraged to Have Courage

When you hear the word “courage,” what comes to mind? I think of a soldier bravely running to the aid of a wounded comrade on a battlefield, ignoring the hail of bullets all around him. I think of a firefighter entering a burning building to rescue someone trapped inside. I think of a parent jumping into a lake to save a drowning child, even though the parent is not a particularly good swimmer.

Perhaps some other images quickly come to your minds. However, demonstrations of courage don’t always involve life-and-death scenarios. We live in a day and time when great courage is needed – and too often lacking – in the face of the culture in which we live. 

 

Recently I read that a study by the respected Barna Research Group determined out of an estimated 155 million men and women in the American workforce, only about eight million live and perform their jobs with a biblical worldview. That’s just over five percent. Do you think it takes courage to hold true to one’s values and convictions – things like honesty, excellence, morality, integrity, compassion, hard work, humility, kindness and fairness – in a working environment when such virtues are often ignored or even discouraged?

 

We find ourselves in environments where the reasonable exchange of ideas and opinions has come under fire. “Dissenters” being “cancelled,” a contemporary equivalent of being shunned, simply for holding views contrary to the prevailing narrative. Do you think it requires courage to stick to one’s guns (perhaps literally as well as figuratively) and not cower in the face of societal pressures?

 

One criterion for being a fruitful and consistent follower of Jesus Christ is courage. His disciples had it 2,000 years ago, and we need it as well. One definition of courage is “mental or moral strength, to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.” Being a person of faith on many settings – college campuses, in the marketplace, the entertainment world, and yes, politics – can pose a severe test of one’s courage.

 

This is hardly a new development. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses was preparing to pass the baton on to his protégé, Joshua, designated to complete the mission of leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land. Many hostile groups of people already inhabited that lush territory, so Moses wanted to be sure Joshua was ready for the assignment.

 

First, he reminded the Israelites of what God had already done in delivering them from Egypt and providing for their needs during 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Moses sought to encourage them with these words: “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

 

Then, knowing God forbade him from personally leading them into the Promised Land, Moses turned and spoke directly to their new leader, Joshua: “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them…. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8).

 

After Moses had died and the Israelites eagerly awaited their marching orders, God made certain Joshua had gotten the message. “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead this people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go…. Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:6-9). 

 

In many parts of the world where Christ’s followers face daily persecution, these words are as crucial as they were when Joshua and the people of Israel heard them thousands of years ago. For our believing brothers and sisters in other lands, courage is indeed a matter of life and death. The potential for becoming martyrs for their faith is an everyday reality.

 

The level of spiritual opposition hasn’t increased to that level in our nation. Not yet. But on many fronts, followers of Christ are being ridiculed, challenged, sued, and even imprisoned because of unwavering commitment to biblical values and standards they hold dear.

 

I suspect that unless God ignites a massive spiritual awakening in America, persecution will escalate dramatically, perhaps sooner than we could imagine. If and when that occurs, we’ll face a choice: One is to compromise or renounce our faith, knowing that Jesus warned, “whoever denied Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). Or we can resolve to remain true to our faith, regardless of the ramifications. Be strong and courageous!

Hearing the Right Voice in a World of Noise

Years ago, I used to watch a very popular TV show called “Name That Tune.” Contestants would be asked to identify a well-known song by as few of its opening notes as possible. They often could guess the correct name of the song after hearing just a handful of notes, even three or two.

 

The trick was that the songs were so distinctive and had been played so often, in some cases for years and years, naming them after just a few notes was almost automatic.

 

I’ve discovered we can do the same with prominent people whose voices have been preserved in history. Recently our pastor gave some examples, using audio recordings of leaders giving some of their best-known messages. We heard Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his declaration after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, “This day shall go down in infamy.” We listened to John F. Kennedy’s inaugural exhortation, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” 

 

And then there was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which included, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” 

 

Interestingly, all three are known not only by their distinctive voices but also by their initials – FDR, JFK and MLK. We hear those letters and almost immediately, we make mental associations with them.

 

Can you think of others whose voices you could identify instantly when you heard them? Jesus said His should be among them.

One day, after having the audacity of healing a blind man on the Sabbath, Jesus was confronted by religious leaders. They were clearly more concerned that a traditional law had seemingly been violated than that a man who’d been blind since birth had miraculously received sight.

 

Jesus used the opportunity to distinguish between His true followers and those who trailed after Him either out of curiosity or annoyance. Using the familiar image of a shepherd and his sheep as an analogy, the Lord declared, 

“The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:2-4).

 

He built on this metaphor, observing that even simple sheep know enough not to follow a false shepherd. “But they will not follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (John 10:5).

 

Then Jesus closed His story by announcing, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).

 

Today we’re living a noisy world filled with a multitude of voices, each of them clamoring for our attention and allegiance. Some of them sound very good, appealing to our egos and fleshly desires. But as the apostle Paul warned his protégé Timothy, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3).

 

This raises an important question: How can we distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit, truth from the words of those whose intent is to “tickle our ears”? The very first entry in the book of Psalms offers some excellent guidance:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).

 

When we spend time in the Scriptures, not reading it as a daily chore but studying it, meditating and dwelling on what it says, the words of our Shepherd become familiar and comforting. Then, when we hear the seductive messages resounding around us that would lure us away from the Lord and His truth, it becomes increasingly easy to disregard them.

Just as light and darkness can’t coexist, God’s truth can’t abide with the lies and deceptions of our culture. The mark of a true follower of Christ, one of His “flock,” is being one who knows Him and responds to His voice. When He calls, we need to be able to “name that tune.”