Ash-heap Christians

“The fire will test the quality of each man’s work” 1 Corinthians 3:13

A few years ago, a series of fires raged through parts of southern California, fanned by the notorious Santa Ana winds. Laguna Hills, a posh, picture-perfect community set inland from the ocean, was hit especially hard. Flames jumped from house to house, fueled by cedar roof shingles. The fire consumed everything in its path—with one exception. The home of building contractor to Bui stood tall. The contractor wanted his home to last, so he constructed his roof with concrete and tile. The fire tested the roof, found it inflammable, and skipped over it to more combustible structures.

We can learn a lesson from To Bui’s careful planning. Since God’s Word tells us that everything we do will be tested by fire, we should live in such a way that we bring to the fire of God’s testing things that will pass the heat test. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Paul warns us about the danger of living lives made of things like wood, hay, and straw—things that have no impact on eternity. Temporary things, whether wrong or right, that are of no spiritual consequence. Francis Schaeffer calls people who are rich in temporary things “ash-heap Christians” who, at the end of their lives, will be standing before God with nothing of lasting value to bring to Him.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in showing up before God knee-deep in ashes. That’s a really scary thought! But, I also know how easy it is to lose sight of our accountability in the last days and to easily squander our time, money, and relationships on the “here and now.” On what Jesus says are things that moths eat up and that thieves break in and steal (Luke 12:33).

The alternative is to live for the things built on Jesus’ foundation. Paul contrasts these works to wood, hay, and straw by calling them “gold, silver, and costly stones”—commodities that are not only fireproof but purified by fire.

So what would a life full of noncombustible works look like? What does it mean to live for the things Jesus was committed to?

First and foremost, Jesus was passionately addicted to one commodity on this planet: people. He knew that everything else is getting checked at the border! Prioritizing people and their needs is where noncombustible living starts. From the poor and the losers in life to the wealthy and influential, no one escapes the swath of God’s love and mercy. Even our enemies are worthy of the grace of God’s forgiveness through us. Colleagues at work, lost people needing a Savior, to say nothing of those closest to us—spouses, parents, kids, grandkids—all are in need of a loving touch from us in the name of Jesus.

Then there is the capacity to fireproof our lives by using our time, talents, and gifts for things that are eternally important to Jesus. Serving His cause with our abilities—even in the most menial tasks—puts a little gold and silver in the backpack we are carrying home. Generously supporting God’s work with our financial resources and being willing to send our sons and daughters into ministry when they are called all load us up with things that pass the heat test!

The choice is ours: Ash heaps? Or gold, silver, and costly stones? I’ll take the precious commodities route. How about you?

YOUR JOURNEY…

• Take a piece of paper and divide it into three columns. Write “people” at the top of one column, “finances” in the second column, and “time” in the third. Jot down the specific resources God has given you and how you can use them for Him.
• Are you living the life of an “ash-heap Christian”? Rate yourself on a scale of one to ten. A lower rating means you are living a combustible life. What can you do to improve?
• Consider rededicating your life to the things Jesus is committed to. Pray and renew your promise to live for Him in all that you do, asking Him to help you use your relationships, finances, and time for His glory.
• http://getmorestrength.org/daily/ash-heap-christians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GetMoreStrength+%28Strength+For+The+Journey%29

Gracious Uncertainty

Gracious Uncertainty.

The Poverty of Man

“But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.” — Psalm 70:5

Psalm 70 presents many familiar themes that can be found throughout the book of Psalms. David begins by cursing his enemies who seek his death, then prays and praises those who take refuge in God, finally ending with a personal plea for God’s salvation.

What then makes this psalm unique? Though the theme and flow of the poem mimics other psalms, the style — one of extreme terseness — makes it unique.

In five short poetic sentences, David manages to capture his range of emotions:  his despair, his faith, his hope, his sadness, and his ultimate need for the intimacy with God. And yet, despite his poetic agility, David, as seen in verse 5, ends with a feeling of inadequacy before God.

He views himself as completely poor and needy, desperate that God not waste one more second in coming to his salvation. David displays a tension between his poetic abilities and his ultimate knowledge of his unworthiness before God. I think this provides a valuable insight into the heart of the poet, whose words resonate for us all.

Sometimes it is in the moments of poverty or neediness, whether spiritual, economic, or health, in which we realize our greatest connection to God. It is in the moments when we feel so overwhelmed by life, beat up, let down, going from one struggle to the next that we feel winded, at a loss for words that we just sigh, or groan, and that groan speaks volumes.

It is the groan of the weary, the tired, the suffering, but also the groan of someone who realizes that something is missing in their life. It is the groan for God — please do not delay for I am poor and destitute without you! It is David’s groan, “Come quickly to me, O God.”

Everyone, at some point in our lives, feels a type of poverty. When we find ourselves in those destitute moments, those moments where words cannot capture our absolute need, we must remember to call out to God and use those moments to grow even closer to the Ultimate Source of goodness in our lives.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/the-poverty-of-man

“Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.” Lamentations 3:39, 40

I believe in my conscience there are thousands of professors who have never known in the whole course of their religious profession what it is to have “searched and tried their ways;” to have been put into the balances and weighed in the scales of divine justice; or to have stood cast and condemned in their own feelings before God as the heart-searching Jehovah. From such a trying test, from such an unerring touchstone they have ever shrunk. And why? Because they have an inward consciousness that their religion will not bear a strict and scrutinizing examination. Like the deceitful tradesman, who allures his customers into a dark corner of his shop, in order to elude detection when he spreads his flimsy, made-up goods before them, so those who have an inward consciousness that their religion is not of heavenly origin, shun the light. As the Lord says, “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.” Now if you know nothing of having from time to time your ways searched and tried by God’s word, or if you rise up with bitterness against an experimental, heart-searching ministry that would try them for you, it shews that there is some rotten spot in you–something that you dare not bring to the light. The candle of the Lord has not searched the hidden secrets of your heart; nor have you cried with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/j-c-philpot-daily-portions.shtml

 

A Long And Winding Path

Sometimes the path of life seems impossibly steep and lengthy. I have no strength and no will for the journey. Then I remember God knew this path long before I was called to walk it. He has always known the difficulties I would experience, the pain that I could never explain to another. He knows and offers His presence.

Perhaps you’re overwhelmed with sadness today. It may be the weight of a difficult ministry; the worry of a hard marriage; the sorrow of a struggling child; the care of an aging parent; other troubles that come with life. “Surely,” you say, “God would not have me walk this way. There must be another, easier path for me to travel.”

But are any of us wise enough to know that some other way would make us into better and wiser children? No, our Father in heaven knows the best path, out of all possible paths, to bring us to completion (Ps. 142:3).

His ways are higher than our ways; His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). We can humbly take the path He has marked out for us today, and do so in absolute trust in His infinite wisdom and love. He is wiser and more loving than we can ever know. He who sees has foreseen and will not lead us astray.

Be still and know that He is God For pathways steep and rough; Not what He brings, but what He is Will always be enough. —Anon.

God will never lead you down a wrong path.

http://odb.org/2012/04/29/a-long-and-winding-path/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29

Our Heavenly Help by Mark D. Roberts

Psalm 124:1-8

Our help is from the LORD,      who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 124:8

Psalm 124 offers a stirring word of encouragement. It begins by asking a rhetorical question: “What if the LORD had not been on our side?” (124:1). The simple answer is: We’d be a complete mess, utterly without hope. But, because God is on our side, “the trap is broken, and we are free!” (124:7).

The last verse of this psalm reminds us of the glorious power of the Lord who is there for us: “Our help is from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (124:8). We’re not talking about some regional god, some deity that has limited power. Rather, the one who helps us is the only true God, the LORD who revealed himself to Israel, the creator who made heaven and earth.

Honestly, my mind has a hard time grasping this amazing truth, that the God who created all things is there to help me. As you probably know, I work for Foundations for Laity Renewal, the parent organization of Laity Lodge. This marvelous retreat center in the Texas Hill Country lies about 75 miles from San Antonio. The nearest town, Leakey (pronounced LAKE-ee), has a population of 387 people. Thus, the night skies at Laity Lodge are some of the most awe-inspiring I have ever seen, because there is so little ambient light. On a clear night, one can see thousands of stars, not to mention the vast gauziness of the Milky Way.

Sometimes, as I gaze up in the heavens at Laity Lodge, I remember the words of Psalm 8:3-4: “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” Psalm 124:8 adds to the wonder by underscoring the fact that God not only thinks about us and cares for us, but also helps us. What a wonder!

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: What helps to expand your vision of God’s greatness? Where do you need God’s help today?

PRAYER:

Christ, whose glory fills the skies, Christ, the true, the only Light, Sun of Righteousness, arise, Triumph o’er the shades of night; Dayspring from on high, be near; Day-star, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn Unaccompanied by Thee; Joyless is the day’s return Till Thy mercy’s beams I see; Till they inward light impart, Glad my eyes, and warm my heart

Visit then this soul of mine, Pierce the gloom of sin and grief; Fill me, Radiancy divine, Scatter all my unbelief; More and more Thyself display, Shining to the perfect day. Amen.

John Wesley, “Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies,” 1740.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/our-heavenly-help

Tozer Devotional-Using Both Wings

Using Both Wings

Truth is like a bird; it cannot fly on one wing. Yet we are forever trying to take off with one wing flapping furiously and the other tucked neatly out of sight. Many of the doctrinal divisions among the churches are the result of a blind and stubborn insistence that truth has but one wing. Each side holds tenaciously to one text, refusing grimly to acknowledge the validity of the other. This error is an evil among churches, but it is a real tragedy when it gets into the hearts of individual Christians and begins to affect their devotional lives. One thing hidden in such teachings as have been mentioned above is unconscious spiritual pride. The Christian who refuses to confess sin on the ground that it is already forgiven is setting himself above prophet and psalmist and all the saints who have left anything on record about themselves from Paul to the present time. These did not hide their sins behind a syllogism, but eagerly and fully confessed them. Perhaps that is why they were such great souls and those who claim to have found a better way are so small. And one has but to note the smug smile of superiority on the face of the one-prayer Christian to sense that there is a lot of pride behind the smile. While other Christians wrestle with God in an agony of intercession they sit back in humble pride waiting it out. They do not pray because they have already prayed. The devil has no fear of such Christians. He has already won over them, and his technique has been false logic. Let’s use both wings. We’ll get further that way.

http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=534

God is for You · Max Lucado

God is for You · Max Lucado.

Courage (2)

“Rise up; this matter is in your hands…take courage and do it.” Ezr 10:4 NIV

Pastor Andy Stanley writes: “I keep a little card in my desk that reads: ‘Dream no small dreams, for they stir not the hearts of men.’ More than once that simple statement has kept me from retreating from my dreams. I know from experience that it’s impossible to lead without a dream. When leaders are no longer willing to dream, it’s only a short time before followers are unwilling to follow. So dream! Dream big. Dream often. Somewhere in those random ideas that flood your mind, is one that will capture your heart and imagination. And that seemingly random idea may very well evolve into a vision for your life.” Every great accomplishment begins as a dream in someone’s heart. All things are created twice: first in your mind, and then in your life. Dreamers allow their minds to wander outside the boundaries of what is, creating a mental picture of what can be. They are not always the most talented or best educated—just the ones who refuse to put brackets around their thinking or limit themselves to what others have done. Doing this requires courage, lots of it! On the heels of every dream there’s a demon of doubt. No sooner is your dream conceived than your mind is suddenly filled with all the reasons why it may not work. And there will be folks around you who‘ll be quick to confirm those fears. In spite of that, you must forge ahead and dream; otherwise you’ll spend the rest of your life fulfilling the dreams of others. “Rise up; this matter is in your hands…take courage and do it.”

http://theencouragingword.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/courage-2/