Yoda Theology

My favorite Star Wars character is Yoda.  In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda takes on the task of training young Luke Skywalker in the Jedi way.  When Yoda challenges Luke in his training, Luke responds by saying, “I will try.” Yoda responds, "No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."  In other words, STOP MAKING EXCUSES, GET THE JOB DONE! 

Excuses are one of my MAJOR pet peeves.  Have you ever met the kind of person who had an excuse for everything? There are some people who, whenever you ask them to do anything, can find someone else to blame for their inability to get the job done.  Our culture has conditioned us to blame others and make excuses for our shortcomings.

God’s way, however, is for us to take personal responsibility and stewardship of our lives.  When Nathan confronted David concerning his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, David could have blamed her for her immodesty.  He could have blamed his other wives for their shortcomings.  He could have blamed the pressure he encountered leading a nation.  Instead, David took personal responsibility for his actions. In his prayer of confession we read,

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight… Psalm 51:3-4

In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, Paul instructs us,

…to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you…

I like the way J.B Philips translates those verses

Be busy with your own affairs and do your work yourselves. The result will be a reputation for honesty in the world outside and an honourable independence.

Every activity of our lives falls into one of three categories.  The first category includes those things we cannot control.  We worry excessively about things over which we have no control.  We need to let these things go and turn them over to our Sovereign Lord for Him to accomplish.

The second category includes those things we can actually control but shouldn’t.  Maybe someone else could do them better.  Maybe, we need to clear our calendars and reserve our resources for things that are of more importance.  Maybe, thought the activity may be good and noble, God has not called us to do.  The truth is some things we need to let pass.

The third category, however, are those things over which we have control and should do them.  To ignore these is to shirk responsibility.  Most of Jesus’ teaching found in John 15 compels us to bear fruit.  At some point in our lives, we must stop making excuses, walk with God, yield ourselves to His Spirit, and, as verse 16 describes, bear lasting fruit.

Our excuses do not satisfy God.  Our measly efforts do not exalt God.  Our mediocrity does not impress God.  “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (verse 8)

The time has come to stop blaming others for our procrastination, laziness, or unwillingness.  It is time to “Do or do not.”

86,400 and Counting

86,400. That is an interesting number.  When God created the earth, on the first day, He created light. He then separated the light from the darkness, and the light He called day and the dark He called night. Then the Bible says that cycle of light and dark was the first day. From the very beginning, God created 86,400 seconds in one day for us to utilize. He then gave us the freedom to squander them or use them wisely.

Each day holds the potential for numerous God ordained moments in which we can encounter Him. Sadly, most of us go through the average day giving God lip service or a token few moments of Bible reading followed by a canned prayer asking Him to bless our day.

In Ephesians 5:16, Paul encourages us to “redeem the time...” When Paul wrote Ephesians, Greek was the universal language. In Greek, two words can be translated “time.” One is the word chronos, where we get our English word “chronology.” Chronos refers to time as a sequence, and the measurement of that sequence. “What time is it?” “It is 10:00 in the morning.” That is not the word Paul employs.

Instead, Paul uses the Greek work chairos which refers to specific moments of time – opportunities. He is encouraging us to recognize and seize the divinely appointed opportunities that may be a part of that 86,400 second day. So, how do we miss these divine appointments? Why do we not see the opportunities God places before us each day? I believe the key is found in the verses that surround Ephesians 5:17.

Ephesians 5:15 encourages us to pay attention to how we live, to live as wise people not foolish people. One of the reasons we miss divine appointments is because we simply aren't paying attention. In the Bible wisdom always refers to a Biblical worldview. We fail to see a chairos because we choose to live from a secular perspective rather than training our minds to view life Biblically. Let me encourage you to make Bible reading a part of your daily routine. In the morning, read a small passage of Scripture, ask yourself what it means to you, then watch all day for that very truth you have just learned to arise in your life.

In Ephesians 5:17, Paul challenges us to “understand what is the will of the Lord.” We tend to miss God encounters in our day because we are not on the “look-out” for what God wants out of our life. Maybe we busy ourselves with self-satisfaction, or maybe we seek to satisfy a family member, friend, or boss. We encounter God when we make it our aim to fulfill His desires for our life each day.

Ephesians 5:18 calls us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As a comparison, Paul refers to one under the influence of alcohol. The alcohol influences how a person speaks, walks, acts. In the same manner, we can allow the Holy Spirit to “inebriate” us to the point that He guides our thoughts, actions, and behaviors. Allowing the Holy Spirit to influence us on a daily basis in an actual God encounter in and of itself, and He leads us to experience God each day in increasingly profound and amazing ways.

The key to making the most of those 86,400 moments of each day is to surrender them to God. Read, meditate on, and apply the Bible to your life each day. Ask yourself what God wants in each circumstance of your day. As the Holy Spirit to control your thoughts, words, actions, and emotions. I promise you will be AMAZED at what God can do with just a FEW of those 86,400 seconds in your day. There will NEVER be a dull moment.

Stop the Blame Game, Y'all

I have been amazed at the public backlash against Paula Deen, Y'ALL.  In case Y'ALL have been hiding under a rock this week and missed the story, Paula admitted this week that she has Type 2 Diabetes and that she has known of her diagnosis for several years.  I have heard her called a hypocrite, heard her maligned for the type of cooking she does, and even heard implications that she is in part to blame for the blight of obesity that grips our nation.  I ain’t kiddin’, Y'ALL.  

Let me state unequivocally that I understand the difficulty those who suffer from diabetes endure on a daily basis.  Almost 5 years ago, I received my own Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.  My dad was and my mom is diabetic.  My father-in-law is diabetic. I have many friends who are diabetic.  I have one very brave teenage friend who tenaciously battles Type 1 Diabetes everyday while living what to the uninformed observer appears to be a normal lifestyle.  She fights the fight so well, that she makes it look easy, and I know it is far from it.  So, Y'ALL, I know that diabetes it bad news.

My point today, Y’ALL, is that in our culture we have lost the ability to take personal responsibility for our actions.  My friend didn’t ask for Type 1 Diabetes, but she takes responsibility for her health and doesn’t blame someone else for her condition.  In my case, I can blame genetics in part, but I also have to recognize that my eating habits ensured what genetics predicted.  Now that I know I have diabetes, I don’t expect Paula Deen to stop cooking like she does, I just choose not to eat her stuff, or at least not often.

Y’ALL, the Paula Deen case is just one more example of our fallen nature’s attempts to blame someone else for our troubles.  This trend is as old as creation: it started in the Garden of Eden.  God busted Adam and Eve, Adam blamed her, and she blamed the serpent.  The harsh reality, though, was they owned their sin – they CHOSE it.  We have made an art form out of what Adam and Eve first practiced in the Garden.

True healing – physical and spiritual – can only take place when we take ownership of our trouble and seek a path that leads to restoration.  For our physical woes, that means we listen to our health care professionals who tell us what and how we should eat and live.  On our jobs, we will never improve, grow, and succeed as long as we blame our failures on those around us while refusing to take the responsibility to lead, inspire, and set the example for them. For our spiritual woes, we must admit our sins and bring them to the only One whose blood has already provided the true healing we do desperately need.  We will not see victory over our sins until we quit making excuses and rationalizations for them, and be honest enough to identify them and own our responsibility for them.

So, what are Y’ALL waiting for?  It’s not Paula’s fault or anybody else’s. It’s MY fault . . . and Y'ALL'S.  The sooner we admit that, the sooner the healing begins.

Bible Verses for Meditation:

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,  for each one should carry their own load. – Ephesians 6:4-5

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. – Romans 14:12

 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:8-9

Spiritually Oblivious

In a recent sermon, I read from the passage in Revelation 3 where Jesus described the condition of the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22).  The church generally was characterized as “lukewarm,” meaning that they offered neither the spiritually equivalency of the therapeutic benefit of warm springs nor the spiritual equivalency of a refreshing drink of cool water.

One of the evidences Jesus presented involved their blindness.  That must cut to the core of the proud Laodiceans since their town was famous for its healing eye salve made from the silt of the Lycus River Bed.  How could they enjoy world renown on the one hand yet experience blindness on the other hand?  They may have been able to treat physical blindness, but they suffered an insipid spiritual blindness.

How scary that is to me.  Could I possibly be so busy IN the Lord’s work that I fail to see the Lord AT work around me?  Like the men who unknowingly carried on a conversation with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), could I go about my daily affairs totally oblivious to God at work right beside me?  Unfortunately, such is a distinct possibility and for many, a sad reality.

Over the last few weeks, several things have happened that reminded me that God is always at work around me.  In fact, He is at work around me to will and accomplish His purpose (Philippians 2:13).  How can we be more aware and more spiritually sensitive to God’s activity in and around us?  In Revelation 3:18, Jesus instructs the Laodiceans to stop depending on their own self-achievement and to turn to Him for Spiritual enablement, “I counsel you to buy from me … salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”  

We are easily so caught up in our physical existence that we fail to see things happening in the spiritual realm.  To “walk in the Spirit” as Paul instructs (Galatians 5:16, 25) is in great part to live in such a way that we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit resident within us, guiding us and revealing Christ as work around us.  We cannot heal our own spiritual blindness, but we can ask God to help us see through the lens of the Holy Spirit, to learn to be acutely aware of what is happening around us spiritually.

There is so much more to see than what we see on the surface.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite preachers:

If all you see is what you see, you will never see all that there is to be seen. – Tony Evans

May we by God’s grace and through the power of His Holy Spirit learn to walk in the Spirit so that we see Him at work around us always. May we see beyond the superficial physical events of our day.  May we come to the same result as those men on the road to Emmaus:

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. – Luke 24:31a

Re-sighting Your Scope

Matt Emmons had the gold medal in sight. He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 2004 Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn't even need a bull's-eye to win. His final shot merely needed to be on target.

Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what was described as "an extremely rare mistake in elite competition," Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His score for a good shot at the wrong target? ZERO. Instead of a medal, Emmons ended up in eighth place. It doesn't matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong goal.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. – Colossians 3:1-2

One of our greatest obstacles to Spiritual victory is our proclivity for taking great aim and firing precision shots at the wrong targets. A choice is constantly presented us concerning how we will view life. Will we pursue the pleasures of our earthly existence, or will we devote our live to pursuing a higher call and more eternal reward? Jesus encourages us in this choice:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. – Matthew 6:19-21

So when you look through the scope of your life, what do you see? What kind of life do you have in the crosshairs? Are you living to obtain and attain all this world has to offer, or have you set your sights on a higher, nobler goal? Do you live to fulfill your agenda or have you given yourself over to serve God?

If this life's pursuits are your goal, you may achieve them, but even if you do, you will one day discover they are empty and futile. All that we accomplish and amass here on this earth at best is only temporary. But when we devote our lives to making ETERNAL differences, then we send our treasures on ahead of us.

Makes no difference how good a marksman you are if you are aiming at the wrong target. Is it time to "re-sight" your life's scope?

Say What?

One of the most remarkable of Jesus’ miracles took place early in His ministry as He taught a packed house in Capernaum.  Four men brought a paralytic friend hoping Jesus would heal him.  When they could not get through the crowd to present their friend to Jesus, they climbed up on the roof and tore away enough of the thatch roof to lower their friend right in front of Jesus. Their effort presents an unmistakable example that an active faith will never let us give up until we see the power of God at work.

An interesting twist in the saga, however, involves Jesus’ initial response to the paralytic man and his faithful friends.  The man came to Jesus hoping he would change his circumstances, but first Jesus changed his heart.  Jesus has a way of getting beyond what we deem the most urgent need and delving into our actual need.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

I must confess that all too often in my prayers, I bring to Jesus a “to-do” list of things I would like Him to change.  I want this person healed, that person to find a job, this need of mine filled, and that obstacle of mine removed. I am afraid that many of us approach prayer in a similar way.  We have our prayer lists full of names and needs, and we check off each entry as we ask God to intervene and “fix” things.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with intercession for others nor supplication for our own needs.  The Bible instructs us to pray for those things.  (Philippians 4:6)  If I am to grow spiritually, however, I need to add a much deeper element to my praying. Beyond asking God to change the THINGS around me, I need to beg Him to change ME.  My heart needs changing more than my circumstances.  In fact, some of those circumstances that I want Him to change may be the very divinely ordained tools He brings into my life to shape me into what He wants to make me.  Could it be that by asking Him to remove me from certain circumstances, that I might miss the vehicle God intends to display His glory to me?  

I challenge you to join me this year in adding a new layer of depth to our personal prayers. As we pray for our needs and the needs of others, let us also pray that God would use those circumstances to bring us to a greater awareness of Him and a closer walk with Him.  I believe if we will do just that, then we respond like the witnesses to the healing of the paralytic:

And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:12)

Who's Coming to Church With You

I find it most interesting that of all the demons Jesus encountered – and defeated all of them – that the first one was in church.  Mark 1:21-28 recounts the story of Jesus’ visit to the Capernaum synagogue.  The leaders invited Jesus to expound from a passage of Scripture, and He did so with such anointing that the people were amazed that He “taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” (verse 22)   Something about Jesus’ teaching displayed power that the scribes lacked. 

The anointed teaching of Jesus caused a most remarkable outcome - it stirred up an unclean spirit that had entered the synagogue in the heart of an attender.  Apparently, this unclean spirit and its host attended on a regular basis, but the uninspired teaching of the scribes left him comfortably alone.  The possibility convicts me deeply that week after week, sinful hearts sit under my preaching yet never feel the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  Altars remain empty and hearts leave unaffected as we go through the motions of “church.”  Could it be that my preaching is more like that of the scribes than Jesus?  

I think the secret to Jesus’ anointing is found in a verse later in the chapter, Mark 1:35 tells us that Jesus got up early in the morning, before light, went to a solitary place and prayed. Preachers, we must never forget that there is a difference between a speech and a sermon. A speech is humanly constructed and delivered.  A sermon is a spiritual event - birthed, nurtured, and delivered by the Holy Spirit Himself. The preacher is merely a mouthpiece.  We are ineffective in our pulpits because we are ineffectual in our prayer.  We craft a beautiful sounding speech, but we lack the accompanying anointing to make it a sermon because we worry more about our alliteration than His message.  We would rather have the plaudits of our people as they shake our hands on the way out the door than their brokenness at the altar. 

The preachers cannot bear the entire blame, however.  The demon entered the synagogue in the heart of an attender.  That begs a question, “Who are you bringing to church?”  On any given Sunday, do you bring to the service an “unclean spirit” of pride, unforgiveness, worldliness, or some other unconfessed sin?  Do we think we can enjoy the presence of God without the clean hands and pure heart prescribed in Psalm 24?  Do your pastor a favor; check your heart when you come to church.  Pray Psalm 139:23-24 as you sit and prepare for a worship service:

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
   Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting!

Pastor and congregation can work together to ensure that every Sunday is an anointed Sunday.  Pastors, bathe your sermon prep and delivery in prayer.  Let the Holy Spirit birth and deliver a message from God’s Word through you.  Attenders, clean out your heart as you enter and expect God to speak to you. When He does, don’t just sit there . . . respond.

When we do, we ALL will be just as astonished – maybe even more so – than those who attended the First Baptist Synagogue of Capernaum the day Jesus preached His first sermon.