Lessons from golf…

I tend to see negatives more than positives (pessimistic). I like being by myself, tune out small talk and carry burdens that belong to God. Every now and then, world news or sad news closer to home can become too heavy and I want to escape into humor, or into the marvels of God. 

At the same time, sincere and serious spiritual discussions are enjoyed and helpful. If a prayer warrior prays with me, deep joy comes along with it, particularly if that prayer puts a strong focus on the goodness and power of God. To combat negatives, I occasionally open a devotional written by Phil Callaway, a Christian comedian who uses golf experiences as his illustrations. He is funny but serious, knows Jesus and that the Lord can use anything to instruct him. For instance, he uses this quote to begin today’s reading:

“We learn so many things from golf — how to suffer, for instance.” — Bruce Lansky

Callaway goes on to describe a tough course that is like golfing in a fog. He tells of one hole over a hill where the hole could not be seen from the tee box and his father had to lift him up so he could see the flagstick.

He describes that with humor, then likens it to how the people in the downtown area of New York navigated by the trade towers. One man told him,  “Everything is located in relationship to them. We can’t believe they’re gone. We’re simply disoriented.”

His point is that few things in this life remain constant, certain, unchanging. I can relate. Friends move, or die, or their health declines. Callaway says he sometimes longs for those days when his father would put him on his shoulders and show him the direction to take. 

I can relate to that too, and thankful that we have a Father who lifts us up to see what to do next. I remember having lunch at the same table as author and missionary widow, Elizabeth Elliot. Someone asked how she accomplished so much and how did she structure her life. She replied, “It is easy. I just do the next thing — and I always know what it is.”

I no longer golf and Callaway didn’t say this, but walking with the Lord is like golf. Hit the ball, go where it lands, and hit it again. Persist. Take the next shot. I usually know what it is.

Procrastination is easy though. The hill hides that flagstaff. What iron do I use? How many times will I need to hit this? Yada, yada. But as God says, persistence pays off. The part that is easy to resist is the way endurance is learned:

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:2–5)

Temptation to quit comes often, especially if prayers go unanswered and labor seems to produce no harvest. As for the temptation, the Father lifts me up to see this:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

And another thing, developing persistence is not for me, but for others. When I want to quit, it is usually for selfish reasons. Again, the Father shows me where to aim:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, (2 Timothy 2:24) 
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:10)
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16)

These instructions do not totally forget my needs though. God wants me to “hit the target” stay out of the traps, and be encouraged to keep trying:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

PRAY: Lord, when I feel like quitting, Your Spirit and promises lift me up. You remind me this is not a game like golf, but it does have objectives. You want me to have the same things that I pray others will have. So I will persist in praying that all Your people will be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of You, fully pleasing to You and bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You, and giving thanks. (Colossians 1:9–10) So be it!


 

Finding Joy in God

The husband of a quilting friend dropped into our gathering with their first grandchild. She is four months old and quickly became the delight of the day. She didn’t perform or do anything for us but just be herself and we enjoyed her.

This is the kind of joy that yesterday’s post described, a joy in God simply for who He is, whether He is doing anything for us or not. But unlike the baby, we cannot see Him. We can see what He does and when that seems right or feels good, it is easy to be joyful for that reason, yet when life is full of rotten apples and we know He is sovereign, then what? How can the glory of God be my source of joy when the evidence is not there?

Faith says it. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 1:11) but if this is missing, then Jesus is that evidence. He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6–7)

The Holy Spirit is the source of ‘knowing’ what God is like, but also the source of the joy that goes with this knowledge:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9–10)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

I see in the Colossians verses that knowing must result in obedience and in the fruit bearing of the Galatians verses. Putting this together, seeking the will of God and doing what He says is a big part of ‘increasing in the knowledge of Him’ so that I can find my joy in who He is, along with what He does.

Obedience is important. It is like walking a dark path with a flashlight; the only way to see what is ahead is to take the next step, and the next, and the next. His Word outlines this:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3–8)

If I add to my faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection and love, then my knowledge of God increases too, just as John says:

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (1 John 2:3–4)

The bottom line is this: if I want to know God better so that my joy is in Him and not just in what He does for me, then I need to do as He says. This involves spiritual growth and focus, not ever doing ‘my thing’ but obeying Him.

PRAY: So simple, Jesus, yet that ‘my’ stuff can be hard to shake. Only You can save me from myself and the peril of ignoring, neglecting, or not even knowing what You want from me. I hear You saying, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) Increase that desire in my heart.

Walking with God specifically means . . .

 

Last night I dreamed of helping another Christian who had taken in several refugee families. She was overwhelmed so for the day I took one of those families who had a rambunctious child. It was a long dream as we drove all over the city and did several things.

This morning, the little prayer book that my son gave me last Christmas was about the longing to help needy people. It gave several specific examples of doing that, such as giving my sandwich to a homeless person or visiting someone who is sick or in prison.

This set me up for today’s devotional entitled, “Walking with God includes reconciliation, obedience from the heart, and ongoing faith” and based on the verse, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24)

MacArthur generalized walking with God to being a reference for my manner of life. He quotes as an example:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9–10)

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17)

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2)

These are great verses, yet they are general, basic descriptions of attitudes helpful to discern actions yet not specific. My mind is continually full of good ideas. I even dream them, and that little prayer book adds more suggestions. No day is long enough to do all that comes to mind.

Even MacArthur’s examples implied from Enoch’s walk are general, such as reconciliation from: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” (Amos 3:3) From this, Enoch was obviously reconciled with God through faith.

The second example is: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” (2 John 6) MacArthur says walking with God is obedience, again a broad term and too general to help with deciding what specific actions God wants from me.

The third example is the same: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving . . . . for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 2:6-7; 5:7)

While these describe attitudes and are helpful, they do not tell me if walking with God on any given day means visiting DD in the hospital, or staying home and finishing a quilt for SW, a needy refugee. Do I invite the neighbors for dessert or call on a lonely widow?

For me, walking with God is about an intimate relationship where I hear His whispers directing me, feel the tug of His hand in specific directions, and just know that He wants me to do this or that. Of course, the right attitude needs to be in place but there is a subjective side to all this and it cannot be given in a sermon or defined by a devotional.

PRAY: Jesus, I am so thankful that You reconciled me to yourself and gave me faith to take hold of Your hand. I praise You also for helping me love others as You love them. Most of all, I’m thankful that You speak to me by Your Spirit so that I can know exactly what my minutes, hours, days should look like and the insight to realize when I have let go of Your hand and taken another path. Also, I’m glad that when I do stray, Your voice calls me back beside You, again holding Your hand and walking with You.

PONDER: Paul wrote “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) This means recognizing the flesh and the motivations of my heart. The best and perhaps the only way to do that is through a constant habit of reading and studying. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) which is another gift from Him!

 

 

God makes wise the simple . . .

 

God’s ways are not our ways. I used to look down on people with low IQ (this is a polite way to say it) and God had to show me how wrong I was. He started with these verses:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)

At first this felt like a slap in the face, however He kept verifying this truth:

Behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:14)

Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25)

I began to realize that what I knew about God was solely due to His revelation of Himself and had nothing to do with my so-called IQ. He says:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple . . .  (Psalm 19:7)

Even the disciples who experienced Jesus and walked with Him realized that His Word to them was more powerful and confirming that what they had experienced of Him!

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:16–21, italics mine)

This truth was also presented to two disciples on the Emmaus Road. Jesus prevented them from recognizing Him, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27) showing how their faith and ministry needed to be based on Scripture, not merely on their firsthand experiences, no matter how profound those experiences may have been.

God’s Word makes the simple wise. It teaches undiscerning, ignorant, and gullible people profound truth from God applies to their lives and gives skill in godly living. As the psalmist wrote and as the Apostle Paul and others prayed:

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. (Psalm 119:98–100)

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9–10)

PRAY: Jesus, You tell us to humble ourselves. These truths are humbling and help me “not to think of myself more highly than I ought to think, but to think with sober judgment” and every gift and ability I have is from You. Each day calls for wisdom and I’m glad that when I lack wisdom, I can ask You and You “give generously to all without reproach, and it will be given” to me — through Your Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit. (James 1:5) I’m very thankful.

PONDER Luke 24:13–35, noting the difference between how the disciples’ ‘wisdom’ interpreted things and how Jesus showed them the truth of what had happened.