Guard the Good Deposit

We guard things that are important.  When you read that sentence you may have thought about a guard at a bank, or perhaps the Secret Service detail, or guards outside Buckingham Palace.  We guard people and possessions deemed to be of great value.  Celebrities often have bodyguards to protect them from ardent fans and paparazzi.  The guards in any of these situations are constantly on alert, ever aware of their duty to protect the person or thing they are charged with guarding. 

The Apostle Paul, when writing to his protege Timothy, reminded Timothy to “guard the deposit” that had been entrusted to him (2 Tim 1:14).  The deposit, the thing of value in this case, was the gospel message entrusted to him by Paul.  This Good News is precious, and truth in all its purity must be protected.  “Love rejoices in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). If we truly love others,  we will speak the truth.  As the Body of Christ, we must continue to guard the deposit of the whole gospel that has been entrusted to us. 

We must watch over it, think about it, take care of it.  Regard it as precious.  I pray we will.

“If the foundations are destroyed, what will the righteous do?”
Psalm 11:3

Eternal Life is Now

Something I learned recently and have been pondering is the deeper meaning of the phrase “eternal life.”   I had always interpreted it as pertaining to life after death, life continuing on in Heaven after the death of our physical bodies.  Maybe you have done the same. 

In John 3:16, (“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”) the Hebrew words for “eternal life” are meant to convey a life that begins now, in the present, in some measure, and continues without end.  It implies a quality of life, an abundant life, as well as a life that has no end. 

If someone has a deathbed conversion – just like the thief on the cross – Jesus accepts them and their confession, but they have missed the abundant life that they could have experienced during their time on earth, in the here and now.  They have missed the peace, the joy, the comfort, the purpose that could have been theirs.  They have missed living life on a solid foundation, with the satisfaction that comes from surrendering all to his will.  The criminal on the cross was there because of his wrongdoing; he had no time to do good works, to prove the sincerity of his faith, or to demonstrate that he had turned from the wrongdoing that had characterized a part of his life to that point.  But after professing his belief in Jesus, Jesus tells him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”   Accepted.  Saved and safe forever, but sadly having missed the good life during his time on planet earth. 

Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Don’t wait to start walking with the Savior.  Don’t wait to surrender. Don’t wait to worship.  Don’t wait to begin this good, good life.  Don’t wait.  Eternal life is now. 

All Becomes Sacred

Whenever we do something in keeping with God’s character, he is pleased.  We need to meditate and think on that.  From the commonplace to the sublime – from the meal that we prepare for our families, to the songs we sing to Him, to volunteering at a soup kitchen.   Anything done as unto to the Lord, and for his glory, he looks on with pleasure.  Not that we earn our salvation by doing things that please him, because salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9). That inheritance is ours – once we are adopted, we are his.  But just like parents are delighted when their child does what is right and honors them, the Lord is pleased when we do the same. 

So the next time you are doing a task that to you seems of little importance, try saying “God is pleased with me.”  If we have the mindset of doing all for God’s glory, then all becomes sacred. 

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving Lord Christ” Colossians 3:23-24.

“You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways” (Isaiah 64:5).

In the Basket

I ran across a dog tag that was made for our dog, Lucy, as I was rummaging in a basket of odds and ends.  I had a pang of guilt that it was not attached to her collar.  But then I remembered the history.  We did try at times to attach a tag with her name and information, but she always appeared bothered by it, and it caused her to attempt to chew her collar.  But the fact remains that if she were lost, the tag in the basket would do her no good.  The information would be there, on the tag, but unless it was attached to her, it could not save her. 

The good news of the Gospel is similar – we can have the right information to share, but how often do we keep it tucked away “in the basket” of things seldom talked about? What good does having the right information do, the information that could save someone, if it is not shared? 

This Gospel message, this life, is too good to keep “in the basket,” too good not to give away.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14)

Every Joint

     

Did I catch your attention with the title? Good! Now that I have you, think with me about a Scripture.  The Apostle Paul is encouraging the Ephesians to whom he is writing.  He is describing how God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for ministry, and to build up the Body of Christ.  He says in this way they would attain unity and the knowledge to move onto maturity in their thinking and faith. He admonishes them to no longer be like children who are deceived by different messages.  He says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

He uses the analogy of a joint in the human body, comparing it to how the Body of Christ is held together.  My friends, tendons and ligaments that hold joints together are very, very strong.  Take your hand and place it on the back of your ankle and feel that thick cord-like structure that is your Achilles tendon.  It is almost unbreakable – almost, but not quite.  That’s why when it does tear, it is excruciating.  It is strong and it is meant to hold together.  But when something tears it, it is one of the most painful injuries.  This is the way it is in the Body of Christ – we are meant to hold together – to stay together in unity.  When someone or something tears that bond, the pain can be severe.  Some people have said “church hurt” is some of the worst kind of hurt.  As believers in Christ, we should, as much as it depends on us, never be a part of something that causes division in the Body, of which Christ is the Head (Romans 12:18). “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-4).

The Mundane Middle

I want you to think about two extremes.  First, think about the best day of your life.  Take a moment to savor the feelings and bask in the memory.  Now, conversely, I want you to think about the worst day of your life.  Don’t stay there too long, but think back to the strong emotion you undoubtedly felt on that day as well.  The feelings on the best day and the worst day are the extremes – one where you think your heart will burst, and one where despair could sink you if you stayed there.  If we had to live in either one of those for long, we could not sustain it. 

The reality is, most of life is not lived in these extremes, but in the middle.  And sometimes it feels like the mundane middle, filled with tasks like fixing meals, and changing diapers, and cleaning house, and getting dressed for the day, and doing your makeup, and driving from one thing to the next, and paying bills, and grocery shopping, and feeding the pets, and doing laundry, and the hundreds of little tasks you do in a day.  And all that besides doing work you might get paid to do. 

My question is this – how can we find God in the mundane middle?  How can we see the divine spark in the day-to-day ordinariness of our lives?  How can we find inspiration in the commonness of our daily routines? Like everything else worthwhile, it requires time and practice.  You have to be intentional if you want something to change.

In my work as an occupational therapist, I can attest to the fact that change most often occurs incrementally.  Small changes lead to big results over time.  Think about a child learning to walk.  Over the course of the first year of life, the child changes and works toward skills day by day.  First the baby learns to hold his head up.  When he has more stability and awareness of his body, he learns to roll.  Then he sits up and gets more stable and can reach outside his base of support while sitting.  Then he will begin to do some sort of “army crawl” and then get on all fours to reciprocal crawl.  Then he begins to pull up on furniture and sidestep along it.  Finally, he takes that first step forward!  A lot of growth, stability, and learning has taken place in the tiny baby first learning to hold his head up, and yet the changes have taken place almost imperceptibly.  When we want to make changes or grow in our own lives, we should make small changes we can live with and can follow through on. 

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says that the commands God gives are to be on our hearts.  “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”  At all points throughout the day, we are to be talking about the blessings of the Lord as naturally as we breathe in and breathe out. 

Here are a few practical suggestions:

  1.  Take the time.  Make a time for Bible reading and prayer.  For me, the best time for this is in the morning.  But if you have better focus at night, go with that!

The point is, start with 10 minutes.  Everyone has 10 minutes – either get up 10 minutes earlier or stay up 10 minutes later. 

You will be surprised at how much you will begin to crave that time and gradually it will increase.  The Bible is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).  As you begin to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), you will see things you have not seen before, as your Teacher, the Holy Spirit, leads you into all truth. 

  •  Pick a verse to meditate on for the day, or for the week.  Work on memorizing the verse.
  •  Speak prayers of thankfulness for the things you see around you. 
  • Take note of the beauty in others and the love you have for them.
  • Ask God to give you a deep love for people you interact with, including those you work with and even strangers you will interact with that day.
  • Practice hospitality – create or look for opportunities for fellowship.
  • Talk about the Lord with your children as you go about your daily activities.  When you are outside, talk about the beauty of the sky, or the gentleness of the breeze, or your thankfulness for food or a warm house.

For most of us, it is natural to seek God in the hard times, and be thankful in the very good times, but sometimes harder to seek him in the mundane middle.  But he is there, and he is the God who sees, El Roi, who knows your sacrifices and your vulnerabilities, and who walks with you in good times, in bad times, and in ordinary times.  He is with you in the middle.

“Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Walk On

I asked for, and received, a “Fitbit” for Christmas.  I wanted it primarily for tracking my daily steps.  I know there are apps on the phone that will do it, but I don’t always have my phone on me, so I thought this would be a more practical way of tracking.  What has amazed me is how many steps I take even before I walk out the door to begin visits for the day.  Does anyone else experience this? 

Tracking steps made me think back to times I had a twisted ankle or was recovering from something and had to limit my steps.  You realize how much walking is involved in almost every aspect of life.  You have to be strategic about your steps when you have some sort of limitation.  Walking is so ordinary, yet so vital to our functioning.

I also began to think about how many Scriptures talk about walking:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15).

“…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 1:10).

“…we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more” (1 Thess. 4:1).

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

“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.

In the ordinariness of every day, as we go, as we work, as we walk, may we be in step and walk with Him.

Plow Ahead

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14-15).

As believers in Christ, we are each called to fulfill our purposes on the earth, but many times we become “weary in well doing.”  The familiar can become mundane, and “burnout” can happen to even the most committed people in any given field or situation.  But it’s often in these ordinary situations that we find we are called to something more.  I’m reminded of times in Scripture when those called out for a great purpose were going about their lives, doing the work they’d been assigned.

David, for instance, was a shepherd tending his sheep, and was just a teenager, when Samuel anointed him king of Israel.  He was the least likely to be chosen from among his older brothers.

Elisha, when anointed a prophet by Elijah, was in the fields plowing with his oxen (1 Kings 18).  He then burned the plow and the oxen before joining Elijah – a sacrifice, and a sign that he was embarking on something new, leaving the old behind. 

In both these cases, the men were faithfully carrying out their tasks, serving their families and focusing on knowing God and his will for their lives, when the greater assignment came.  They did not look back.

Perhaps you are familiar with the well-known story of Cortez, the Spanish conquistador who landed on the shores of Mexico with many ships full of disgruntled and complaining crews who longed to return to their homeland.  Cortez, wanting to plant his stake in the ground, and make known his commitment to stay and settle in the new land, gave the now famous command, “Burn the ships!”  He wanted to leave no doubt and no other option but to stay, to move forward, and to succeed in the new endeavor.   

Burn the ships – we are not going back.  This is the same kind of devotion Jesus wants from us.  When he calls us to follow, he will countenance no excuses.  In Luke 9, when those who wanted to follow him asked to take care of practical matters at home first, Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (v.62).  When he calls, our response should be immediate obedience.

What might he be calling you to do?  Listen for his voice, and be ready to follow.

Plow ahead.

Written By: Michelle Dowdy

By Name

“I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

One of the desires of the human heart is to be known.  More specifically, to be known, appreciated for who we are, and loved.  When someone uses your name, it makes things personal.  If someone knows your name, and uses it when addressing you, it creates an intimacy that would not be there had they not called you by name.

Have you ever had the experience of someone calling your name when you did not think they knew you?  This happened to me once as a young teenager, just beginning high school.  We had a “singing” principal who would occasionally sing going up and down the hallways.  He would call out to students by name at times and encourage them as they made their way down the hallways.  One day, he called out to me!  I didn’t even know he knew me. 

Imagine if someone of prominence knew your name, like the Governor, or President.  How special would that be to get a phone call or a shout out where they called you by name? Friends, I want to say to you, we have something much greater by far than any of those experiences.  Our Creator, Love Himself, knows our names.  We have a God who is intimately acquainted with us, who knows our lying down and our rising up, who has the very hairs of our head all numbered, as well as our days. 

Before we were formed in the womb, he knew us.   The one who brings us from dust, who speaks, and things come into being, knows our frames, and has fashioned our hearts.  The one who clothes the flowers of the field in splendor, and takes notice of every little bird that falls, is calling out to each of us by name.

Follow the Pattern

“I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (Psalm 101:2-3).

Patterns are a part of life.  Symmetry, in nature and art, is part of what gives a thing beauty.  I remember the symmetry in my grandmother’s quilts as she stitched a hodgepodge of material, which, because of the pattern she used, created a beautiful menagerie of color.  Our own lives, too, follow some predictable patterns.  The dependability of night and day, and other aspects of daily life, can be relied on in their regularity, bringing a sense of stability to us.

In 2nd Timothy, the Apostle Paul talks about following a particular pattern – a pattern of faith, of “sound words” that Timothy has heard from Paul.  He reminds Timothy of the faith which was first in Timothy’s grandmother Lois, and then in his mother, Eunice.  There had been a pattern of faith and faithfulness in the household which had now been passed to Timothy.  He urges Timothy to “fan into flame” the gift that is in him, and also to “guard the good deposit entrusted to him.” 

In other words, follow the pattern of faith and practice given to you by those who have gone before.  There are precepts- patterns- we can follow which will lead to our flourishing.  There are biblical principles that always lead to peace and joy (Romans 15:13).

When I think about my grandmother, I think about the patterns of life and faith she passed down.  The practice of being able to be relied on and putting the needs of her family above herself.  She was steadfast, dependable, and not fearful in the face of challenges.  “…for God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).  I often observed her reading the well-worn pages of her Bible, its truths no doubt reading her as she read them, leading her well, so she could in turn guide her family in “the way,” the pattern, which her own mother and father had shown her.

As I stitch and sew the patterns of my own life, I am reminded of the faith which dwelt in her, in my own mother, and the lives of many other family members, and I am thankful.

If you have been entrusted with a similar “good deposit” in your life, follow the pattern well.