For your daughter’s sake

Ok.

There’s a big conflict in the American church over “Should we be separate from the world or involved so we can make an impact?”

The answer is – YES!

(I plan to write more on what Jesus said about this later.)

But if you have a daughter over the age of 4, would you invest a few very lively minutes and simply watch a video?

I love Mark Driscoll.

If you don’t know Mark, he is a hard hitting-Truth speaking-don’t pull any punches on the hard things- pastor and teacher from Seattle.

I highly recommend him to you. But don’t expect him to just cuddle up and tickle your ears with contemporary feel-good blabbering.

Would you just sit back and watch this clip on YouTube? For your daughter’s sake and equipping.

Even if you don’t agree with Mark, I can guarantee you some food for thought!

An insignificant $100,000 part 1 (Series on Endurance part 4)

They grow best in the dark with a cover over them.

The hardwood forest protects them and provides just the right nutrients and environment for them to grow perfectly.

Last year the West Virginia Division of Forestry said the average selling price per pound was $445!

No we’re not a talking about jewels or rare animals but a ginseng plant.

The demand for them continues to rise and so farming ginseng is very profitable.

And a plant can live up to 80 years!

But there’s a catch.

You don’t have a harvest year 1.

Nor year 2 or 4 or 5.

If the plant grows well, you can harvest it after 7 -10 years.

But the wait is worthwhile.

The value of a ½ acre of ginseng root at harvest is worth up to $100,000!

It takes a lot of work and patience to get to that fantastic return.

But most things of value do.

We’ve been talking about the spiritual quality of Endurance and I thought we could learn some from the world of agriculture.

The middle section of Galatians 6 is not only spiritual Truth but farming principles as well.

Verse 7 says: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

If asked, a farmer would laugh at this obvious truth.

“Of course you can’t get corn from a cotton seed!”

And you can’t get spiritual growth from self rule or flesh work either.  But unlike farmers, we keep thinking we can get away with it.

Paul continues his writing using the agricultural picture.

He gets to the goal of the hard work in verse 9.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

An explanation of the Greek words used here may give us a deeper understanding of what Paul meant.

The word “weary” refers to farm workers who might be tempted to back off and quit their hard work because they are exhausted from the long hours and back breaking unending work – with no fruit to show for it.

(Boy, does this describe my wimpy attitude at many times in my life!)

“Doing good” doesn’t mean occasionally or when we feel like it. The word means habitually, as our regular way of life.

The words “give up” actually mean to faint like field workers might do after long sweaty hours in the hot sun doing physically hard work.

So God is saying that just like a farmer (Of ginseng or wheat or tomatoes) we need to keep working hard at what He has called us to do  – and have a habit of doing it – no matter how long or boring or repetitive or challenging it is or unfruitful it appears.

Ahh, then we get to the harvest we have been working and waiting so long for.

But the essential element to a great harvest is timing.

And we’ll talk about that next time.

iPads, cell phones, and Endurance (part 3)

I have 2 more months on my cell phone contract.

The plan we have has’t even existed for years yet if we make no changes we get to keep it.

I have liked our plan. It is a great bargain.

I liked my non-smart phone.

I used to like and highly recommend our service provider. We’ve had them over a decade but now they are on the auction block and spiraling downward.

And last weekend?

My cell phone broke.

So I had to get a cheap replacement phone to last out the contract.
I feel like an indentured servant being held captive.

The cell I got is not cutting edge technology.  It doesn’t give me the names of the caller or texter.

“So Hi, 405 335-8921.”

In sharp contrast, my son just got a new iPad 2.  WOW.

By comparison, my little cell looks like a tin can with twine.

BUT, if I had had this phone just in the 90’s, I would have been the envy of every i-geek in the world.

They didn’t even have texting back then.

We are so spoiled and are becoming increasingly displeased with anything but the newest, fastest gimmick with the most technological bells and whistles.

And it’s worse when it comes to health.
Exercise, eat right and less and reduce my stress level?

Naah, just give me a pill or two or three.

And this impatience for a quick fix invades our spiritual life as well.

Oh yes I want a deep robust intimate life with Jesus that is full of trust. -And I’m sure I can have it through some easy, quick teaching and a few short daily devotionals with only 1 and 2 syllable words, a cool presentation, and catchy titles.

Oh, and my trials? I want them to last about 47 minutes and have immediate, glorious results.

Well, it ain’t gonna happen that way.

We’ve been talking about having endurance in our spiritual lives.

If we clocked the speed of developing endurance like they do track runners and race horses – it would come in dead last behind just about any other spiritual growith.

That is the nature of endurance.

It’s slow.

The Greek word in the Bible means to abide under.

Abide.  (See John 15:5)

That means to stay and not move. Not have your passport or gps ready to move at any moment.

To stay put, as my Dad used to stay.

And if God is going to be allowed to develop endurance in our lives, it will require us to “stay put” where He puts us – whatever the circumstances, icky surroundings, yucky difficult people, or hard stuff that you didn’t expect.

That is why endurance takes so long to develop.

Here is a quote I love from Andrew Murray. It gives us a context for learning to endure.

“First, He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait place; in that fact I will rest.

I am here—BY GOD’S APPOINTMENT

Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child.

I am here—IN HIS KEEPING

Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.

I am here—UNDER HIS TRAINING

Last, in His good time, He can bring me out again—how and when He knows.

I am here—FOR HIS TIME”

God does not simply hand us some mature Spiritual endurance on a faster, easier plate – it doesn’t exist.

There is no iEndurance 4s.

So next let’s learn a lesson from Galatian farmers.

There’s just one way (Endurance part 2)

Last time we began talking about becoming a Thoroughbred instead of a quarterhorse in this race of life with God as our Trainer. (See part 1)

My conclusion was that I simply need to develop ENDURANCE.

So how do we do it?

Why is endurance so important?

Well, I was thinking about this when I was riding my bike last night.

If I had simply stayed on my old but heavy Walmart bike and toodled around the neighborhood, it would have helped some.

But months of riding on a much nicer bike that can challenge me more  has made a BIG difference.

In the midst of riding I may not see it.  I kinda feel – “oh this is not making a difference with all the hard work I have put into it.” Especially when someone with expensive biking clothes and a much more expensive bike goes roaring past me…

But it’s “outside” of biking that I suddenly realize the difference that has happened.

In running up a flight of stairs.

Or walking with my teens.

Or during a particularly taxing day.

I suddenly see that I am NOT like I used to be.  That those miles on my bike HAVE given me – endurance!

But I didn’t improve in a week.  No it took cold days last spring.  And HOT days this summer.  And windy days this fall.

And slowly, slowly, imperceptibly… my heart, muscles, lungs… have gotten stronger.  And also my will to get out there and exercise has been strengthened.

Scripture VERY clearly tells us what the “Bike ride” for endurance is.

It isn’t the glorious finish of the Tour de France.

Now, I could choose to swim, ice skate, jog, crew, cross country ski, Irish dance, even MMA to   develop physical endurance.

But there is one and ONLY one way to develop true spiritual and character endurance.

If you don’t already know what it is , you probably aren’t going to like this.

It’s trials, suffering, hard times, difficulties, adversity, frustrating circumstances, difficult people, human weakness (esp your own!)…

I will just leave you with a few verses that underscore this Truth.  But the entire Word of God AND life all provide 1,000’s of examples that prove this to be true.

Meditate on these examples and next time we’ll talk about what the iPad 2 can teach us about endurance.

Romans 5: 3-5 (ESV)
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

James 1:2-4 (God’s Word Translation)
There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his promises, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.

1 Cor 10:13  (NLT)
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

I’m Done (Endurance part 1)

“I am done.”

Oh I have said that so many times.

It’s when I just feel I have given all I have to give and simply want to quit.

I start looking around for the second team to come off the bench and take my place.

Life is just asking too much; taking too much; or not wrapping up neatly like I thought it was supposed to.

So God showed me that I just want to stay a quarter horse and He wants to help me become a thoroughbred.

You see quarter horses are arguably the fastest horses on earth.

They are superb in the sprint.

In fact they can run about 7-10 miles faster than a thoughbred – at first.

I’m sure, if you were watching these two breeds on the track at the start of the race you would place all your bets on the quarter horse. Those big old t-breds are practically loitering back at the gates by comparison to the smaller quarter horse who is flying like the wind.

However, a quarter horse quickly loses his wings and poops out and falls behind in the long run.

And the great thoroughbreds catch up and simply leave them to eat their dust.

So, like a quarter horse I started out pretty well in this race called my life – Running fairly hard as a mom, a wife, and a believer.

But then rather than getting to the end of the race, I suddenly found there was a turn in the track I didn’t know about.

And there before me lay another LONG distance I had to run.

Well, ok.  I can muster up the strength to finish this.

But to my shock there was ANOTHER turn in the track and instead of being able to quit – I was just supposed to keep ON running – and keep on and keep on.

Like I said before, “I’m done.”

Ok, so how does God turn me into a Thoroughbred for this long race of life I am in?

I found a key word -

The E word -

Endurance.

Oh, I just thought I needed a lot of speed and heart.

NOW I learn I need Endurance in order to finish well.

Guess what?

I turns out that the Word of God knew this all along.

Galations 6:9 speaks so directly to this issue.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

That’s endurance.

Staying to the task.

In fact the Greek meaning of the word “weary” is not just tired or physically exhausted.

It means that you are worn out ( or in my vocabulary, “done”) because of your “inner weariness.”

So the answer to my “being done” is not because of the mounds of laundry, nights with a sick baby, or difficult demanding people.

It’s because I am a wimp inside.

I need to build up the inner strength to finish this long race.

All right, I agree. I do need endurance.  So where do I get it?

Is there a good Bargain on Amazon on Black Friday?

We’ll talk about that next time.