Olympic Inspired What-Ifs

The Olympics are so inspiring.

Have you ever met young people with such dedication and commitment? These people in their teens and twenties are focussed on one thing alone. They don't go out late with friends, they don't eat junk food, they don't see the newest release from Universal Studios, they don't even get jobs to buy that nice car they saw for sale down the street. They eat, sleep, practice, work out, practice, do some school work-if they're still in school, practice some more, go to sleep then get up and do it again. They give almost every waking hour preparing in some way to be the best in their sport...they hope...the best in the world.

This isn't pie-in-the-sky hope. This is hope with feet. This is the kind of hope that gained people in the ancient world approval, according to Hebrews 11. We might view this kind of approval in the same way we view a gold medal. This is the approval by the world of a job well-done. Hope that moves a human to such effort that the results bring this kind of approval is more than a wish.

This hope is what Hebrews 11 calls faith, or conviction. I think we relate better to the word "conviction."

If I have the conviction that I can be the best in something, it motivates me to action...or does it? That kind of dedication and effort is very rare today. I can honestly say I've never been that dedicated to anything in my life.

The sad part about that confession is that I've never even given that kind of effort to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God interceding.

And all for me.

Those drops of blood he sweated out due to severe emotional stress...those were for me. The crown of thorns pressed down into his forehead and temples...that was for me. The suffocating anguish He endured while hanging on a wooden crossbeam by gigantic nails pierced through his wrists and feet...that was all for me. For me and for you.

There are so many promises I see in scripture, promises of God's kingdom power available to us here and now. Promises I don't see fulfilled.

But what would happen if I dedicated myself to prayer? What if I prayed and kept on praying until I knew how to pray?

What might be possible if I read the Bible and believed those promises were for me today? What if I put feet to faith because of the conviction that nothing is impossible with God?

What if...?

A Desert Monk Speaks to Us Today

"Pay attention to what I tell you: 

whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; 

whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; 

in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it.

Keep these three precepts and you will be saved."

~Desert father, Abba Anthony 

(taken from "Common Prayer/A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals")

The reading from Common Prayer on June 1 offers this prayer to follow up Abba Anthony's advice, "Grow us slowly, persistently, Lord, to be people who watch without distraction, listen without interruption, and stay put without inclination to flee. Amen."

It's the last part of Anthony's advice and of the prayer that strikes me this morning. There is an inclination to flee in me. When I've been someplace for a while, or a situation is not to my liking. But the tendency extends to jobs and projects. I'll work on something for a while, even feel God has called me to it, and then, after a while, I begin to wonder if I should really be doing something else instead. It feels like there must be something else more important that I'm neglecting. 

I've recognized this in myself before, but I haven't had the absolute assurance that the feeling is wrong. And if it is wrong, then which thing do I choose to do and not look back? 

Does this dilema make sense to anyone else?

Abba Anthony says, "Do not easily leave." 

Do not easily leave my house, my church, my state, my job, my calling, my current writing project, etc. 

Yes, Lord, please grow us slowly, persistently, to be people who watch without distraction, listen without interruption, and stay put without inclination to flee. Amen.

When Nature Groans

We're horrified by the multiple, natural disasters that hit Japan yesterday. We can't yet comprehend the devastation, death and long-term effects on that nation and many others as a result. Our minds reel to come up with a reason.

For this and so many natural eruptions in our world recently we want an answer. We want to assure ourselves that we are safe. Often, as Christians, we'd like to say that it's God's judgment on an ungodly nation. But can we say the United States is godly? Hardly.

It reminds me of something Jesus said when asked why certain people died in a tragic accident. They were really asking Jesus what those people did to deserve such a death. Jesus explained that they were asking the wrong question. They should've been asking why the tower hadn't fallen on them.

Today I'm thinking of the natural disasters that have been in the news in the last few years. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes. These have happened all over the globe not missing our own nation.

Today I read a verse written by Daniel centuries ago describing his people and circumstances. See if it doesn't ring true with us today.

". . .all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth."

Daniel 9:13

We are all sinners. We all deserve God's wrath. But God loves all people and is not willing that any perish, according to the Bible (2 Peter 3:9). He is patient toward us, waiting for us to turn to Him in repentance. If we do, He has already made the way to give us forgiveness--Jesus, the One who took our death-sentence and then rose victoriously to life again.

Natural disasters can bring our attention to God. What better time to seek Him in prayer and evaluate our own lives. But it is for all of us. It is not for us to judge another nation or group of people. And it is not for us to expect that we will not suffer similar disasters.

We're told in the Bible that nature (creation) groans. That's what I keep thinking about when I hear the news. The earth is groaning. Here in Romans 8 we see the weight of sin causing man and nature to groan under its curse. But here we also see the hope waiting for us just ahead.

Let us pray for those suffering from the earth's groaning and let us examine ourselves, looking forward to the hope we have in Christ.

Romans 8:18-25:

   ¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

   ¹⁹For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

   ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

   ²¹that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

   ²²For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

   ²³And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

   ²⁴For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

   ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.