How, then, do we live?

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

-Jesus of Nazareth

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-Paul (Formerly Saul of Tarsus)

Last year the sports/entertainment industry was rocked by yet another individual who had the doors of his private life opened wide for all to see. After the shocking revelation of multiple mistresses, this sports icon retreated from the public eye to undergo therapy and counseling. A year later he was back in the game doing what he has always done best, and the crowds continue to follow him enthusiastically, his misconduct seemingly forgotten. Four years ago an influential spiritual leader with international acclaim confessed to having visited a gay massage therapist numerous times and engaged in sexual immorality. Amid heartbreak and turmoil, this brother stepped down from his roles as senior pastor of a large mega-church and president of a well-known interdenominational evangelical organization. Today he is in the pastoral ministry once again. He leads a church he began in his barn last spring after admitting publicly to ‘over-confessing’ his behavior of four years ago. From all accounts the church is packed every Sunday and continues to grow. I make no judgment on either of these men. I relate these stories because they – and scores like them – dangerously erode our faith in the law of reaping and sowing. This ‘erosion’ has a profound effect on who we are and how we live as disciples of Jesus Christ and function as His Church.

When we observe those we admire – including religious leaders and organizations – ignoring (and even at times promoting) ungodliness, we are tempted to feel no burden of responsibility to live our lives any differently. Our natural, human tendency is to conclude, ‘if those we trust as leaders fall and still thrive with no apparent consequences, why should we attempt to live any differently?’ This is a dangerous undercurrent in our thoughts we must learn to guard against. Men fail. They always have and always will. Moses, in anger, murdered an Egyptian soldier. King David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba. There are always consequences, even if it appears on the surface to be otherwise.

In Galatians 6, Paul writes, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always reap what you sow. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.” There are five directives in this passage we will explore this week which, if we carry them out, we will reap the benefit, rather than the negative consequences from the law of sowing and reaping; appropriately helping those overcome by sin’, ‘sharing one another’s burdens’, ‘paying careful attention to our own work’, ‘sharing all good things with each other’, and ‘persevering in doing what is good!’

“If another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” Are we at times guilty of the opposite? Do we judge, gossip, criticize and throw stones? Do we compare our own righteousness with that of others and smugly, in our hearts, adopt the very attitude of the Pharisee Jesus warned about, who prayed, “I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery?” There are a number of possible causes for this wholly carnal attitude: another person’s failure elevates our own sense of ‘righteousness’; we don’t want to trouble ourselves with the effort it sometimes takes to restore a brother or sister; we simply don’t know how to approach someone who has fallen into sin, etc. These are poor excuses! Perhaps the biggest reason we often fail to help a struggling brother or sister is that it takes a great investment of time and energy to become involved in the lives of others in a way that directs them to Christ. We are usually so consumed with own affairs, we take little time to give heartfelt, prayerful thought to what others might be going through.

The antidote for our lack of involvement and self-absorption is compassion and mercy. These two words occur over seventy times in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the words of the prophet Micah ring out, “O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus came into this world because of the Father’s love for us. Oswald Chamber’s writes, “When we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16 – ‘For God so loved the world…’” (My Utmost For His Highest) In order to cultivate compassion and mercy, we must turn our gaze from ourselves and focus upward and outward. As Pastor Gordon so often states, “Love God, love others.” Let’s not allow the evil one to keep us from this important part of sowing into the lives of others!

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.” One of the characteristics of unconditional love is the willingness to share someone else’s burden. When we begin to identify with another person’s pain and struggles, we can then be mightily used of the Father to bring encouragement, relief and healing to that individual. In doing so, however, we must never abuse our knowledge of a situation by speaking careless words. Wikipedia defines gossip as, “idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others. It forms one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature, as opposed to normal conversation.” Gossip is perhaps one of the most devastating forces in the Body of Christ. It destroys relationship, distorts truth, distracts from our mission, and brings reproach to the name of Jesus. Gossip elevates our own sense of self-importance and worth, and we inevitably become a stumbling block to the very ones we were trying to ‘help’. When we bear each others burdens, there is only One with Whom we ever need discuss it…in the prayer closet!

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” It’s interesting to me that this directive follows on the heels of “share each others burdens” because it seems contradictory. However, I believe this speaks to another important aspect of the law of sowing and reaping. Two of the evil one’s greatest weapons against us are distraction and enticement. In the Garden, he drew Eve’s attention away from fellowship with her Creator by enticing her to consider something other than what God intended for her. He still works in the same way today. The great ‘failsafe’ in this directive is “For we are responsible for our own conduct.” Oh, that we could remember this simple truth at all times! One of the things I remember my mom saying to my brother and me quite frequently when we were young was “mind your own business!” Thinking back to the opening paragraph of this devotional, if the sports icon and the pastor had stuck to their work and ‘minded their own business’ they might not have gotten sidetracked. They were distracted and enticed. The tragedy of David and Bathsheba began similarly. Pause briefly and read I Samuel 11:1-12:13. While there’s not enough room to recount the whole story here, we can certainly read the outcome: “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.’” Instead of doing what kings were supposed to do (“now spring was the time when kings normally go out to war”), David remained at the palace and was distracted and enticed. What he reaped as a result of his sin was turmoil within his family until the day he died, including the loss of his oldest son, Absalom. “Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always reap what you sow.”

“Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.” I like the paraphrase of this verse found in The Message, “Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.” There is an important principle here which is understood: learning is lifelong – for both the learner and the teacher. This is one of the wonderful benefits of sowing and reaping! Prior to entering the full-time ministry, I was a high school choral director. Over the years I had many students. One of these was a young man who, after graduating college, was hired to my previous position at Southeast High School – where he was once the student and I the teacher. Over the years we have remained close. Tommy also is a worship pastor part-time in a local church. We speak regularly, encouraging each other in the common work we share, work the Lord established for us. I ‘sowed’ into Tommy nearly 20 years ago when he was a rambunctious freshman; he now ‘sows’ into others. He also shares with me what the Lord is teaching him, and we reap the benefit from each other! This scenario is one that should happen frequently within the church. It is one of the ways koinonia (fellowship in the Holy Spirit) is designed to work. If you are not in a mentoring relationship, I encourage you to seek the Lord and allow Him to lead you into one, either as ‘mentor’ or ‘mentored.’ It will yield positive results from the law of sowing and reaping into your life!

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.” This is where our will, partnered with the power of the Holy Spirit, is essential in our day-to-day lives! When we ‘tire of doing what is good’ we are prime candidates for distraction and enticement. In fact, both of these can most certainly lead to ‘weariness in well-doing.’ But we are encouraged to not give up! Imagine what would happen if a farmer, after tilling the soil and sowing the seed, became discouraged after a couple of weeks, gave up, and walked away from his fields. He wouldn’t be much of a farmer! A real farmer understands the ways of his labor: tilling, sowing, fertilizing, and weeding, while all the time watching the progress of the crops until harvest-time. There will be times when doing the right thing simply won’t be easy or feel good. It will require real patience, endurance and even sacrifice on your part. During these times we are encouraged to not give up…the harvest of blessing will come. The Apostle Paul also presents us with an afterthought: do good to everyone whenever you have the opportunity, especially those of the household of faith – brothers and sister in Christ. The church in Thessalonica must have had a good grasp on this directive. Look at what Paul writes to them in I Thessalonians 1: “We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.” What a tribute for a church congregation!

The law of sowing and reaping serves as ‘guardrails’ to keep us ‘on track’ as we pursue Christ. It is a law we should always keep in the forefront of our minds. You will always reap what you sow. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Our ‘sinful nature’ will always seek to influence us. The role of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to empower us to live our lives above the demands of the flesh. The Father delights in empowering His children to sow in such a way that we reap His blessings in our lives!

Choosing the One Best Thing

“By prayer we enter into God’s holy temple, and penetrate at once to the throne of grace. Prayer is not only the shortest distance to God’s mighty throne; it is the only way in…. The veil of sense and space that hides Him within His temple-universe is suddenly removed as we pray…. We enter silently into His temple, and lo, suddenly we are before His throne…. Only there do we discover the wonder of worship, that worship is before work, and that all His works are done in a spirit of worship.”

-Armin Gesswein

Prayer is perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of our relationship with God. One cannot be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and not have a living, active prayer life. Prayer – like any form of communication – takes time and discipline to incorporate it into daily living. Yet it is utterly simple! This week we will take a ‘heart-survey’ that will help us determine our status as disciples of Jesus Christ: are you progressing into spiritual maturity, or are you still a ‘babe’, able to stomach only the ‘milk’ of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Prayer – not intellect – is what brings us to that place where we are able to digest ‘solid food:’ the undiluted Truth of God’s Word which has the power to transform our souls and “transform us into the image of the Creator” (Colossians 3). Each day this week we’ll ask ourselves a question designed to help us evaluate how we live. At the end of the week we’ll reflect on the results.

What consumes my thoughts and my time? Jesus had three good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (siblings), who lived in the little hamlet of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. Luke chapter 10 tells the story: “Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.” A few weeks ago we learned that the Father is seeking those who would worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4). This story sheds some light on what Jesus meant and is a wonderful example of two hearts in contrast. The truth is, Martha’s preparations were not irrelevant or meaningless. She was working to do what was ‘culturally expected;’ that is, when guests come into your home, you provide for them! To the casual observer, it probably does seem somewhat unfair that she was doing all the work while her sister sat idly by. But remember another truth we have learned: man looks at the externals, but God looks at the heart. Mary was entirely focused on Jesus, the Living Word of God, and what He was teaching. It never occurred to her to think of anything else! Martha was focused on all the externals, the things that, from the perspective of Eternity, simply don’t matter. Mary was caught up into Eternity.

In his short booklet, The Seven Wonders of Prayer, Armin Gesswein writes, “All of God’s works are wrought in prayer. Prayer works, ‘changes things,’ because through it God works. By prayer we enter into His works. Prayer not only works, but it is work, real work – both for Him in heaven and for us on earth. If we do not learn how to pray, we shall not amount to a thing for God. For it is the one work where we behold God doing His work. There we become workers together with God. Like Christ, and with Him, it is in prayer that we must put in the real man-hours of labor. All else is easy, when we learn to labor in prayer. Christ labored in prayer to the point of sweat, tears and agony.” In it’s most simple form, prayer is communication with the Father. But the manner of prayer referred to above is a specific type of communication, more resembling a ‘business meeting around the conference table’ than ‘casual conversation around the dinner table.’ Conversation around the conference table is risky. Views and opinions are shared, respect for each other can be lost or gained, action plans are laid, work is evaluated. Walking away from the conference table, a life can be greatly altered. Conversation around the dinner table is usually light, filled with laughter and banter (at least in a healthy home). You walk away full, satisfied, but seldom giving a second thought to the discussion (unless devotions happen to be a part of the meal). Rarely does one’s life change as a result of sitting around the dinner table.

When we pray, does it feel more like the conference table or the dinner table? Do we communicate with God with intimate knowledge of who He is, expecting great, life-changing decisions will be made? Do we see ourselves as a partner with Him, a co-worker? Or is our communication with God more like the list we used to send to Santa when we were children? In Hebrews 11 we find the words, “And those who come to God must believe that He exists, and rewards those who diligently seek Him.”

If one reads enough books on prayer, one discovers a common theme among the writers: prayer changes things; to pray is to change. Throughout my life I have prayed one thing consistently: “Lord, please never let me be satisfied with anything but Your best for my life”. This makes it pretty intense just to be around me, sometimes, as those who know me well will surely testify. But I’ve learned that to expect God’s best for my life, I have to be willing to change, to be continually transformed from the inside out. The transformation process is not an easy one. Many times, just when I think I have made some significant progress, the Lord shows me just how far I have yet to go. And yet there’s hope! Jesus said, “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” (John 14:18-21) Has Jesus revealed Himself to you…lately? Don’t make the mistake of thinking this was a one-time experience that took place when you accepted Him as Savior. That would be like attending a seven-course meal, but getting up and leaving after the appetizer!

“Then only do we engage the enemy – Satan and his forces – when we pray. There it is the battle is fought, and the real victory won. Christian work only succumbs to the enemy, [and] does not engage him or overcome his power unless we pray. It is really only in the place of prayer that we wrestle against powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Unless we learn to pray, we never do battle for God, or become Christ’s soldiers. The entire armor is shaped for prayer. That is the real battleground. Unless we learn to pray and wrestle there, we shall get into the wrong battle and lose – the hot battle of words and clash of personalities.” (Armen Gesswein, The Seven Wonders of Prayer). We face a real enemy whose goal is to destroy all of God’s works – especially mankind, and most especially, the Church of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look back over 2000 years of church history, including our own generation, and realize how fierce the battle rages. What amazes me is how quickly we forget who our enemy is! He uses our sin-nature to his advantage, preying on our weaknesses and our failures. He is a master at drawing our focus everywhere except where it should be: on the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s an easy test to determine who controls our attention: if ours minds and hearts focus on sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these, then the evil one is exerting a strong influence in our life; if, on the other hand, our minds and hearts are drawn to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, Christ is most certainly our center of attention. (Galatians 5)

In his classic book, Teach Us To Pray: Learning A Little About God, Andre Louf writes, “Is Praying Difficult? A fourteenth-century Byzantine monk, who for a short time was Patriarch of Constantinople with the name Callixtus II, answers this question with the illustration of [a] lute-player. ‘The lute player bends over his instrument and listens attentively to the tune, while his fingers manipulate the plectrum (bow) and make the strings vibrate in full-toned harmony. The lute has turned into music; and the man who strums upon it is taken out of himself, for the music is soft and entrancing. Anyone who prays must set about it in the same way. He has a lute and a plectrum (bow) at his disposal. The lute is his heart, the strings of which are the inward senses. To get the strings vibrating and the lute playing he needs a plectrum (bow), in this case: the recollection of God, the Name of Jesus, the Word. Like the lute-player, [we] must listen attentively and vigilantly to [our] heart and pluck its strings (inward senses) with the Name of Jesus; until the senses open up and [our] heart becomes alert. The person who strums incessantly upon his heart with the Name of Jesus sets his heart a-singing, ‘an ineffable happiness flows into his soul, the recollection of Jesus purifies his Spirit and makes it sparkle with Divine Light.” This is powerful imagery! Think of the acquired skill and discipline it takes to learn a musical instrument, the hours of dedication to the craft before music can be truly made. That’s why so many people never get beyond the most rudimentary lessons on the piano! But for the disciple of Jesus Christ, the rigorous discipline of prayer is not an option.

By now you may have noticed that I frequently use the term ‘disciple’ or ‘disciple of Jesus Christ’ instead of the term ‘Christian’. There’s a simple explanation for this. This term ‘Christian,’ which was first used in the early church to describe Christ’s followers, has today become more of a cultural label. Many who consider themselves ‘Christians’ have never made a public profession of faith, much less engaged in a living, vital relationship with the risen Savior! But to use the term ‘disciple’ implies a life that is fully committed to follow the one who is master – in our case, Jesus. In this sense, I write to those who truly consider themselves ‘disciples’. The term ‘discipleship’ we so frequently use is not a program, but a way of life. Disciple…discipline. Both words share the same root. We cannot hope to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ unless we are willing to submit ourselves to the disciplines required of His disciples, obedience to His word, pursuit of knowledge of the Father, denial of selfish desires and ambitions, willingness to display charity – unconditional love – toward others.