The Forgotten Cross

It sits there in the little balcony overlooking our hill. It should have been lighted all Christmas season long. All it asked of me was to plug it in. Its warm, yellow glow should have been cast across our home like a comfortable, familiar blanket you'd wrap around yourself to keep out the cold. Instead, the gloom of these short winter days crowd in relentlessly.

It waits for me still, but now I will come only to take it down. I'll fold down its short arms. Lower it to the ground. Store it away in the crawl space below our house to keep it safe for next year. It's my cross I made--A couple different lengths of black PVC roped with bright lights to shine the symbol of the Good News of Christ.

It's the cross I forgot about all Christmas season long.

It's true. It helped that for the first time in a while, my dad was the main Christmas light setter-upper this year. But still, I had time to haul the cross up there to our balcony . . . I just never remembered to plug it in.

I can't help but feel a similar parallel to my faith the past month. It's there--steady, never in doubt of falling. And yet, it isn't shining. It feels almost forgotten even, or at least neglected. My devotions have been almost non-existent. Men's Bible Study and Church have been like little islands of light and hope I robotically swim to, walk across, and plunge into a sea of apathy on the other side. I've let all the distractions this season offers deaden my faith.

The analogy holds: like the cross, I haven't been plugged into my power source. I haven't been consistently abiding with Christ, and the witness my life should be as a Christ follower has been very dim. In this dark, desperate world, I've slipped into a pattern of selfish distractions that has kept my light from shining. My faith is there, yes, but it hasn't been alive for others to see and benefit from.

Thank goodness, I am committed to a God who will never wander from me and loves me more than I can even fathom. Who but Jesus would stay in a relationship so one-sided? Would you, if you were barely acknowledged day in and day out? Would you love someone who hurts you day after day in so many ways through his sin?

I am so humbled by that thought alone, and it awakens my love and desire for the Lord. It's more than that, though. My Sovereign God aligned several things to strike me all at once on Sunday. The first was a timely message from one of our visiting missionaries, reminding me that every Christian life consists of peaks and valleys. The valleys aren't abnormal, but they can be escaped through praise, prayer, and consistent time in God's word.

The second was a devotion I read by Ray Comfort. I was challenged to consider how my life was showing how thankful I was for Jesus's sacrifice for me at the cross. Not much currently, I had to admit. At the bottom of the page there was a prayer to pray, thanking Jesus and committing to live in gratitude. I prayed that prayer full-heartedly, which led to a longer prayer pouring out my heart.

It was as if this sip of everlasting water showed me just how thirsty I really was. I couldn't drink fast enough.

The third hit me as I rolled into bed after midnight. A new year--an oft-realized chance for a fresh start. I committed then and there that priority 1# for the New Year was reviving my spiritual walk. No more apathy. No more spiritual dehydration. It feels so nasty when you start coming out of it, really. Like the Steven Curtis Chapman song says so fittingly: "I'm playing GameBoy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon/ I'm eating candy sitting at a gourmet feast/ I'm wading in a puddle when I could be swimming in the ocean/ Tell me what's the deal with me/ wake up and see the glory."

So, here's my prayer for all of us in the New Year: May we take this time to recommit our lives to Jesus, that we will wake up and see His glory and live every moment for it. Let's not forget the cross. The distractions we can get wrapped up in are a pathetic, life-sucking trade-off in comparison. May we all make resolutions that will trim out these distractions and maximize our potential for Christ. He's given us each different gifts and desires to use in service of Him; let's not waste them! 

It's truly the only way to really live. 

How Will You Sleep Through the Storm?

Two men sleep in the belly of their respective boats. They both are sleeping soundly, as if the hard wood planks under their bodies are a Sleep Number Bed (never actually laid in one by the way, but according to all the radio ads, they’re comfortable). It’s as if the continual rocking of their boats has lulled them to sleep—except the boats aren’t just rocking. They’re pitching wildly on the waves, and sheets of rain pummel the deck. These two men are sleeping in the middle of an intense storm.

It would be an almost absurd picture if it weren’t true. What could possibly allow these men to be sleeping in the middle of such a gale? They must be bone-weary! And indeed, if you were to study their faces, you could see the wrinkle lines of concern that have been worn into the corners of their eyes. There is a sense of sorrow in the curve of their pursed together lips. It looks like they haven’t slept in a long, long time, and that the reason they are sleeping now is because it would be physically impossible for their bodies not to be.

But yet, as you study their faces closer, you realize there is fear frozen in the features of the first man. It’s not fear at the storm, because the sleeper as far as you can tell is completely unconscious to the peril of wind and weather. He’s been running from something or someone, running and running. His flight has been what has made Him weary.

In the face of the second man, however, there is peace frozen in his features, not fear. He has been running a lot too, you think—not from anyone or anything, though, but to them. He’s emptied Himself in some grand service, and he’s fully content. You almost envy such serenity. How can a man be so weary and yet so fulfilled by his life that he could sleep so peacefully in the storm?

The first man is Jonah, and he is selfishly fleeing God.

The second man is Jesus, and he is willfully surrendered to God.

Yes, they’re both sleeping in the storm, but for vastly different reasons. As I thought about the differences between their two stories, it brought to mind the question, how will we sleep through our storms? Now, I doubt many of us will live through a storm on the high seas, but we all go through storms just the same in our lives. Health issues, the loss of a loved one, broken friendships. We all go through lots of hurt; we all are tossed in tumultuous seas of conflict and pain.   

Will we run from God, even in the storm? Will we refuse to wake up and surrender our lives back to him? To flee from God, Jonah went down. He went down to Jopa to find a boat. He went down into the belly of the ship. He was cast down into the sea. He was swallowed down the belly of the big fish, and he was carried down into the depths of the sea. Without God, his storm consumed him.

Not so for Jesus. At all times, he fulfilled God’s will. There was not once where he said “not your will, but mine be done, God”. So, that night when he was going through his own storm, Jesus was wearied in a good way—not from fleeing God, but from serving God! He could sleep through his storm, content, because God was using him. In fact, he conquered his storm.

Which scenario sounds better to you? Wouldn’t we rather conquer our storms then be consumed by them? Let’s always let God’s will be done in our lives. When we abide in Him, we can be absolutely secure in any storm. It reminds me of Paul when he went through his own storm in Acts 27. He faced it with unshakeable courage and wisdom, because he was fully trusting in God. We may be wearied from our service to the Lord at times if we truly commit our all to him, but that will just make sleeping through the storm that much easier.

Fruits of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Faithfulness

I can think of no better Biblical analogy of the faithfulness described as the seventh fruit of the Spirit than the story of David and Jonathan. Their story is one of breathtaking loyalty and trustworthiness, even in the face of brutal circumstances (an awesome storyline for a future novel, perhaps?). Both were young men of great courage. Jonathan and his armor bearer single-handedly took on a whole garrison of Philistines; David killed a giant no one else dared face with only a sling and five stones.

These two valiant men became fast friends after David defeated Goliath. As it says in 1 Samuel 18:1:

Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

It is no doubt that they were kindred spirits. Jonathan saw in David a young man on fire for Yahweh, an obedient servant who was so confident in the Lord that he would face down a giant and still be sure of victory. This attitude was something Jonathan himself possessed, so it is no wonder that he was attracted to David so deeply. Right then and there the two young men made a covenant with each other, and Jonathan even freely surrendered his princely robe, armor, and weapons to David, recognizing, no doubt, that David would one day be king of Israel.

The covenant they made that fateful day would be tested soon after. You know the history. Saul, Jonathan’s own father, the king of Israel, burned with envy toward David. You see, the tale of this young youth’s bravery quickly spread among the people of Israel, and he almost instantly became a national hero. Saul, who obviously had a big problem with pride, couldn’t stand the attention David was receiving, and eventually his envy drove him to try and kill David. He first tried to pin David to the wall with a spear, twice. Thankfully, he missed both times, and David escaped with his life. His rage only growing stronger, Saul then set up a deadly snare for David with his daughter Michal as the bait and 100 Philistines as the steel jaws of the trap. David survived that, too.

Saul must have been pulling his hair out in frustration at this point. He was now openly David’s enemy, and clearly desperate to vanquish him, Saul recruited his son Jonathan and all his servants to put David to death. Jonathan now had a choice: break his covenant with David by literally stabbing him in the back, or disobey his father’s outrageous demand and help David stay alive. He chose the latter.

In a stunning picture of faithfulness, Jonathan risked his relationship with his father and even his life to remain faithful to David. He saved David at least twice from death, remaining loyal to him even in very dangerous circumstances. And there were serious repercussions. In an ultimate example of a father-son relationship gone wrong, he too was almost pinned to the wall by the spear of his father because of his loyalty to David. Jonathan was one faithful dude.

It should be our desire to have this kind of (using teenager lingo again) “epic” faithfulness. First and foremost, we should have this kind of faithfulness for our Lord God. We should never waver in being faithful to the One who deserves all our devotion. After all, He Himself is faithful--the absolutely perfect picture of it:

"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Secondly, we should be faithful to our sisters and brothers in Christ. Paul clearly had a great respect for the servants of Christ who were faithful to God and to each other (he describes Timothy, Onesimus, Tychicus, and Epaphras as such, for example). We should love and care for one another wholeheartedly.

Now for some practical application to live out this “epic” faithfulness.

Practical Application

Faithful to God

One practical way to be faithful to God is to take the responsibility He has given us seriously. This idea is found in Jesus’s parable of the talents in Mathew 25:14-30. In this parable, a man gathers his servants together and entrusts them with different amounts of talents to keep safe before he went on a journey. One servant was given five talents, another two, and the last servant was given one. A talent was a specific weight of gold or silver that was worth a considerable amount of money, and it was implied that the servants would not only be faithful in keeping the money safe but also in using it to increase their master’s wealth while he was gone.

The first two servants did just that. While their master was gone, they wisely traded the talents entrusted to them and doubled their master’s wealth. The servant entrusted with five talents had ten at hand when his master returned, and the servant with two talents had four ready to give back to his master at his arrival. The last servant, however, did not do the same.

Instead of increasing his master’s wealth, this third servant buried the one talent given him and did nothing to increase it. He convinced himself that his master was a “hard man, reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he scattered no seed (v24).” Apparently, this servant was afraid that his master would “steal” any profit he, the servant, made with the one talent given him, failing to realize that the talent belonged to his master anyway and that any profit made from it belonged to him. In short, this servant did not fulfil his responsibility to his master, and he paid the price for it. This slave, worthless to his master, was thrown in the outer darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (v30).

The master in this parable is Jesus Christ; we are the servants. The talents represent the different levels of responsibility we have been entrusted with (at least according to John Macarthur, they are not the “gifts” we have been given). Jesus only desires for us to be faithful with our responsibilities, as seen in that the master rewarded both the faithful servants the same, even though the first servant gained more talents than the second. This is further brought out in the fact that though the third servant did not lose the one talent he was given, he was not faithful in fulfilling his responsibility to make profit with it. Jesus cares less about the end result of our faithfulness, but He cares deeply for our faithfulness to Him.

In whatever responsibilities God has given us, whether it be small like walking the neighbor’s dog, or big like pastoring a church, let us be faithful in fulfilling them and giving God all the glory!

Faithful to each other

There are many ways we should be faithful to human beings like other Christians, our parents, our spouse (ahem, if you are married yet), exc., but simply put, it all comes down to love (yep, the love that is the first fruit of the spirit). As Jesus commanded:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)

This commandment came after a touching passage where Jesus washed the disciples feet in an act of humble service. After He had washed the disciples feet, He said this:

"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:14-17)

As Christians, it is our duty to humbly serve one another. I will not even begin to try and explain what this service should look like, for it looks like many things. However, here is what our attitude should look like as we do serve:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:1-5)

Okay, so you may never have the chance to show the epic faithfulness of Jonathan to another human being, but still it is our job to faithfully serve one another, selflessly and without conceit, regarding one another as more important than ourselves. Let us all be faithful to fulfill our calling, and may it be said of us as it was to the faithful slave in Mathew 25:

“Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”