When I think about how I have come to be where I am today, I think about the story of Joshua and Caleb. When the twelve were sent to scout Canaan, only two of the twelve had the courage to go into Canaan. The rest were intimidated by the size of the men and the size of their fortresses. They felt that even though they were commanded to take the land, that they were not strong enough to take it. As punishment, the ten other scouts were slain and the Israelites had to wait 40 years before they could enter Canaan.
I know I paraphrased quite a bit, but the point that I want to make is that the story of Joshua and Caleb resonates with me today. As many of you know, I am at a cross roads right now in my life. I am trying to get a job, but paying ministry jobs are not always available. I have met some great pastors that are apologetic about their financial state and wish that they could give me money, while others expect free labor. That being said, I am looking at other options such as Clinical Pastoral Education (hospital chaplain) and going back to school to buy more time and gain experience while volunteering in the church.
It is tough to judge, because at times the people look too big, and the fortresses too tough to over take. But I generally do my best to give God an opportunity to show me what he wants me to do. I know my marching orders from here on out, but I know that others do not believe in me or believe in what God has told me. Here in lies the problem.
How many of you today feel that you may be a Joshua or Caleb hanging out with the faithless spies? I hear it all the time. "The economy is too weak", "you are too inexperienced", "you aren't pastor material", "Chaplains have an easy life, so make a career out of it", or "do what is easy and safe." Most of these people are ignorant do not really help, they just make you feel worse about trying to have faith when life gets tough. I know that I am not the only one that hears those people.
But God gives us dreams and goals for a reason... not to dash them away when life gets strenuous, but to give you something to shoot for when the pressure cooker gets turned on. It is what makes you get up every morning and fight when you feel that you have nothing left to give. This is because you believe in what God has for you, and you believe in what God can do through you.
Num 13:30 illustrates Caleb telling people that they must go and take possession of the land, and he showed great faith believing that they could conquer the land. The other ten claimed that they saw giants who made them the size of grasshoppers. This was not true, as it is later reported. The ten are struck down by the Lord for their cowardice.
Are you called to do something greater? Are you willing to silence the naysayers and pursue what you feel God gave you to accomplish? Or will you give in thinking that it is better to not do anything than to fail at doing something? Often times, not succeeding at something leads to the birth of another dream or goal. Don't forget that.
The other thing is that if Caleb and Joshua would have never followed through on their mission, Israel may have died. Just like the parable of the talents, God wants us to us what we have rather than sit on it and let it go to waste. The servant that buried his talent was punished because he was afraid of failing. The master probably would not have punished him if he attempted to do something with it, because it was only one talent (more on that another time). And just like the talent that was buried, God gave the task of going into Canaan to a generation that was more faithful with the goal.
So in closing, what is your talent/mission today? When the naysayers come and try to lead you away from that, what are you going to say? My hope is that you would be like Caleb and tell them that you can certainly conquer.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Love those that hate us?
"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." It is possibly one of the most confusing statements that a Christian can face. Jesus asks that God will forgive the men who are killing him. Let me repeat that, THEY WERE KILLING HIM! We have a hard enough time forgiving someone for calling us a name in a moment of distress, how can you expect us to forgive someone who wants us dead?
This is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. I have been betrayed a lot by people that I cared about, and it was not easy letting that go. I do okay with people who accidently do something hurtful, but when people calculate ways to hurt me the most and then do it, I find that very sick and evil. It is a process, but I forgive them.
There are two verses that I think a lot about when I consider trying to love people who hate me. The first is the verse mentioned in the opening. As Jesus was on the cross, he understood that they did not know what they were doing. It is almost as if there is a sense of pity there, as if they cannot control themselves or a sense of the are too dumb to realize what they are doing. Jesus understood that for some reason, they were beyond understanding what they could do.
So how does that relate with us? When you stop seeing the monster of a person who terrorized your life and see them through God's eyes, you can see them as a weak human being who is hopelessly chasing their tail.
For example, I had a boss that was absolutely crazy. He had fun picking on us lower end guys and would publically humiliate us and then hide behind his rank. Most people were terrified of him. Once i was able to get my bearing at the job and figure out what was going on, I got to see who he really was. He was extraordinarily insecure and had to put others down, had a God-complex so he micromanaged, was a perfectionist who feared failure (as most perfectionists are), sexually harassed women because he was unhappy in his marriage, and was a workaholic because he feared the day that he would have to retire.
Thats when I began to pity him. I then began to ask God to bless him and heal him of his hurts. I am sure that they ran deep. I realized, that he does not know what he does. I began doing that in my life, looking at the kids that treated me bad in grade school, the bosses that were jerks, those close to me that knowingly hurt me, and the religious leaders that hurt me. I asked for forgiveness for being resentful, and asked God to heal their hearts and their pasts, because they don't seem very happy.
What you learn about these people are that the Goliaths in our lives are not always so big (The Second verse I think of). You notice, that once David took down Goliath, the taunting stopped. The most advanced army of the time dropped everything and ran. They don't look so tough, now do they? Thats how our Goliaths are. They are weak and scared inside, and they need more. So pray for them. Know that they deserve healing as much as you do, and hope that God can grant them a more pleasent future, because so many of them are tormented inside.
This week, my hope is that you can remember someone who has wronged you, and in your prayer time remember Jesus' words. They do not know what they are doing. Pray for them, and remember that they should be pitied, not feared. That is why we must love them.
This is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. I have been betrayed a lot by people that I cared about, and it was not easy letting that go. I do okay with people who accidently do something hurtful, but when people calculate ways to hurt me the most and then do it, I find that very sick and evil. It is a process, but I forgive them.
There are two verses that I think a lot about when I consider trying to love people who hate me. The first is the verse mentioned in the opening. As Jesus was on the cross, he understood that they did not know what they were doing. It is almost as if there is a sense of pity there, as if they cannot control themselves or a sense of the are too dumb to realize what they are doing. Jesus understood that for some reason, they were beyond understanding what they could do.
So how does that relate with us? When you stop seeing the monster of a person who terrorized your life and see them through God's eyes, you can see them as a weak human being who is hopelessly chasing their tail.
For example, I had a boss that was absolutely crazy. He had fun picking on us lower end guys and would publically humiliate us and then hide behind his rank. Most people were terrified of him. Once i was able to get my bearing at the job and figure out what was going on, I got to see who he really was. He was extraordinarily insecure and had to put others down, had a God-complex so he micromanaged, was a perfectionist who feared failure (as most perfectionists are), sexually harassed women because he was unhappy in his marriage, and was a workaholic because he feared the day that he would have to retire.
Thats when I began to pity him. I then began to ask God to bless him and heal him of his hurts. I am sure that they ran deep. I realized, that he does not know what he does. I began doing that in my life, looking at the kids that treated me bad in grade school, the bosses that were jerks, those close to me that knowingly hurt me, and the religious leaders that hurt me. I asked for forgiveness for being resentful, and asked God to heal their hearts and their pasts, because they don't seem very happy.
What you learn about these people are that the Goliaths in our lives are not always so big (The Second verse I think of). You notice, that once David took down Goliath, the taunting stopped. The most advanced army of the time dropped everything and ran. They don't look so tough, now do they? Thats how our Goliaths are. They are weak and scared inside, and they need more. So pray for them. Know that they deserve healing as much as you do, and hope that God can grant them a more pleasent future, because so many of them are tormented inside.
This week, my hope is that you can remember someone who has wronged you, and in your prayer time remember Jesus' words. They do not know what they are doing. Pray for them, and remember that they should be pitied, not feared. That is why we must love them.
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