Learning about temptation from a fish

This may sound a little silly at first but follow me on this:

Imagine that you are a fish (see I TOLD you this would sound silly). You are swimming in a beautiful, clear mountain river. The cloudless blue sky above is vibrant with color. The sun’s rays are penetrating the water and enliven every muscle in your body.

You don’t have a care in the world as you swim around in that river. You dart here and there gathering little tidbits of food. Much of your time is simply spent enjoying the experience of moving effortlessly through the water.

You feel so alive!

Then, your eyes observe the moment a worm drops into the water in the distance. It looks delicious and the first fish there will enjoy the meal. Rather than lose such a prized possession, you race toward your prey. "Oh, what an incredible day is this!"

As you near the worm, you open your mouth wide already savoring it in your imagination. You bite down … and immediately feel a piercing pain. Your mouth feels like it is on fire. A moment later, the pain becomes unfathomable as a hook penetrates your flesh and your body is yanked through the water.

In fear, you try to swim the other way. A thoroughly peaceful moment has now turned to sheer terror as you fight for your life. But, it’s too late. The inevitable is happening and you will be someone’s dinner within a few hours. The one who put the hook in your mouth will be filled with joy as they savor every last bite.

That word picture is what we must keep in mind every time we toy with sin and temptation. Satan, the fisherman loves to bait his hooks so that we are tempted to go against God’s law - which are intended for our good. But, in so doing, we throw caution to the wind and are free to experience the consequences whatever they are and whenever they come.

The best thing we could do is to see Satan and sin for what they are. His desire is to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10) and sin accomplishes that purpose. Don't take his bait! Ask God for strength to say "No!" to temptation. If you take the bait and violate God's instructions, you are doing so to your own harm.

1 Corinthians 10:13
“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.”

What does it mean to live by faith?

Following Jesus means that we will live by faith. Our spiritual journey begins with faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and continues with faith (Romans 1:17). In fact, it is entirely impossible to please God unless we are living by faith (Hebrews 11:6).

But what does that mean? What does it mean to live by faith?

The answer to that question is simple and yet extremely complex. It can be answered in a sentence or two and yet doing so runs the risk of over-simplifying and trivializing it.

Having said that let's run the risks of being brief.

Faith simply means that we are trusting in who God is and what God has said and done. In fact, we are RESTING in who God is and what He has said and done.

I am sitting in a chair as I type this. So, you could easily and accurately say that I have faith that this chair will continue to hold me up. But, I'm not stressed over having faith in this chair. Actually, it's a "resting" faith. I've got so much confidence (faith) that this chair will hold me up that I'm able to relax in that truth. My faith in this chair is a resting faith.

At the moment that I became a follower of Jesus, I knew that God loved me and that Jesus had died on the cross to pay my sin debt to a holy Judge. I knew that if I turned my back on sin and self (repentance) and trusted in Jesus to forgive me and fit me for Heaven that I would become a child of God. I didn't have to conjure up that faith. I simply rested in what God had said and continue to rest in that truth.

As I continue in my journey of faith (with all of my inner struggles and set-backs along the way), my task is simply to rest in who God is and what God has said and done. I read His Word and simply trust that what He has said is true.

When I am going through trials, I look for a precious promise of God in His Word to rest my faith upon. When I need comfort, I find a relevant passage of Scripture and rest in it's truth. When life doesn't make sense, I trust that God loves me and is working all things for my good and His glory.

Quite often I get this wrong. I don't trust. And because of that I have inner turmoil. I have doubts. I have questions.

But God has called us to faith. It's resting. It is resting in who God is and what He has said and done.

And God loves it when we trust in Him. In fact, He will often act in accordance to our trust in Him.

Matthew 9:27-30
"And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David.' When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to him, 'Yes, Lord.' Then he touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith be it done to you.' And their eyes were opened."

 What do you need to trust God for today? Why not live by faith today? Trust Him even when things don't make sense. And watch to see what God does. Maybe you won't see or understand God's activity today so write it down. Almost certainly from the vantage point of the future you will be able to look back and see how God worked in response to your trust in Him.

On dogs, Hell and the Gospel

I was finishing up the final mile of my run this morning when I felt the urge to instantly turn around and head the other direction. Why? There was a dog on the loose up ahead and I didn't want to run the risk of encountering a dog that woke up in a bad mood.

After doing the u-turn, I saw a lady on her morning walk with a beagle on a leash. As I approached, I said: "I don't know if he's friendly but there is a loose dog up ahead at the end of this road." She wound the leash tighter around her arm drawing her dog closer as she said, "Thank you!" She kept walking in the direction of the loose dog.

I ran for about a quarter of a mile when a beagle's frantic barking broke the morning's stillness.

What came so natural to me in that moment is exactly what Jesus has called us to do. He has called us to warn others of the day of judgment and to call them to repent (do a u-turn). Some will heed our call but others will reject it. That's not our concern. We are simply to tell others about Him. If they hear Him say, "Depart from Me ..." let it not be our fault!

 Be open to who God may bring across your path each day.

Alcatraz, escapees, and living by faith

Yesterday, Joseph's 5th grade teacher was talking about Alcatraz and the fact that a few men actually managed to escape. Joseph raised his hand and told her that his great grandpa was part of the reason those men no longer robbed banks and were put in Alcatraz in the first place. As he recounted to us the conversation that took place, we were surprised that he remembered so much about Kim's grandpa (George Little, who was the Wolfe County Sheriff at the time) whose memory is still legendary to many older folks in eastern Kentucky. Upon his teacher's request, he is taking more information with him to school today about that incident.

Kim's grandpa, George Little, was the Sheriff of Wolfe County at the time. He was playing cards on January 7, 1957 with a couple of guys when he got the call that the local bank was being robbed. He jumped into his car and raced to the scene. When we stepped around the corner, one of the robbers who had a Thompson machine gun, mowed him down at the knees. He exchanged fire and the men took off. But, they didn't get far. It was frigid and snowy. One of the robbers hid out in a bus overnight but a church bus driver, upon entering the bus in the morning, found the robber, The rest, as they say, is history. (Click here for a newspaper article written the day after the event - details were still sketchy.)

What makes things like this so fascinating? Because we like stories. No, we LOVE stories! That's why movies are a mega-billion dollar industry. We love to get wrapped up in a story that is filled with elements like suspense, drama, love, conflict and so much more. One of my favorite movies/books is "Lord of the Rings." It's fun to get wrapped up in that story and take off to another place and time. God made us to enjoy stories! (That's also one reason Jesus told parables [a.k.a. stories].)

Which brings me to my final point: Your life is a story. So is mine. When we breathe our last breath and enter eternity, our story of life on planet earth will be over.

So, how is your story going? Is it as boring as watching the grass grow or is God taking you on an adventure, whatever that is, that will enable you to celebrate the life God gave you for the rest of eternity? God has called us to live by faith (Romans 1:17; Hebrews 11:6). Faith is where we rest in our God and step out into an adventure when we don't know for sure how it will end. But, that is the kind of life that ends up being a great story!

Don't let your life story be boring. Trust God. Venture out. Live by faith. And in so doing set an example for others and create a story that may be told for generations to come.

The Gospel, prison, and what it means to the rest of us

In my Bible reading this morning, I couldn't help but notice the last verse of Colossians.

"I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you." (Colossians 4:18)

As I read that, it seemed as if the words "Remember my chains" lifted off the page and demanded my attention. 

"Remember my chains." Honestly, I can't relate. I've never been in chains. I've never been in prison. I've never been handcuffed. I've never been a suspect in a criminal proceeding. 

So, when I think of someone in chains, I'm on the outside looking in. I suspect that most of the Christians in Colossae were, too.

Then what does Paul mean when he asks them to "remember his chains?" As I reflected on the answer to that question, I couldn't help but realize that God was speaking to me as well. 

Here are four responses that came to mind:

It creates sympathy
As we read of Paul's chains, we are reminded that He was in prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel. He was a man with a passion to travel the known world and a mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all who would listen. Yet, he wrote this letter wasting away in a prison cell in Rome. Our hearts go out to him.

When we think of Christians such as Saeed Abedini who is has been a prisoner in Iran for over 3 years, we can't help but be broken-hearted. Our hearts are moved with compassion for a fellow brother-in-Christ who is being detained, almost certainly tortured in the infamous Evin Prison and kept from his family for the Gospel.

But sympathy, on it's own, is not of much use unless ...

It motivates prayer
When we think of men and women in prison for the Gospel, follows of Jesus are moved to pray. What can we pray for?

For continued doors of opportunity to share the Gospel in prison (Colossians 4:3-4).
For safety in prison.
For patience, courage, wisdom, strength and other attributes that will enable them to continue standing for Christ.

But, if we truly care and are praying for a fellow Christian in prison, we won't be able to sit idly by and do nothing...

It calls for action
Simply put, if we have the ability to help then we are obligated to help. 

Whether that means providing assistance or visiting them in prison or petitioning the government to release our fellow Christian from prison, we cannot simply sit idly by. Words without action are useless (James 2:15-16). 

If there is absolutely nothing that we can do, then we must still continue to lift them up in prayer.

Focuses priorities

When I read Paul's words, "remember my chains," it did something else in me. It caused me to reflect on some serious questions:

• Is my allegiance to Jesus so obvious that an anti-Jesus culture would see to it that I'm thrown into prison?
• Is my proclamation of the Gospel so loud that others would desire to shut me up?
• If I were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?
• Would I willingly embrace prison as my plight or would I deny Jesus and/or quit proclaiming the Gospel if the heat got turned up?

Paul's words cause me to reflect upon my own walk with Jesus. Am I really taking it seriously enough?

By God's grace, I am and will.