Month: February 2019

I wonder how many things it would take to fill up a person’s heart. Is there such a number? Is there a level of things to be had? What would it take for each of us to become happy?

We live in a day of over-consumption. Most of us who don’t live in poverty, live in a state of accumulation. It is in our nature to want to get more and more, as if we can buy our way to contentment.

No one is more guilty of this than I. I have become an expert at tracking down and buying the “collection” of items that are part of a series. I may have started out wanting only one thing but then I become filled with a desire to buy all of the other things that surround it. Even if I don’t really care for the vast majority of those items. Somehow, I can’t envision having the one I really want and enjoying it fully without also obtaining the others.

I believe we have learned much of this desire for acquisition from advertising. I read a book in an English class, once upon a time and a long time ago, that dealt with the age of mass advertising. According to the premise of that book, it started with the World Fairs. The fairs were a way of bringing items to the attention of the masses who attended the fair.

It worked but only in a limited way. While many people attended the fairs, in the large scheme of things, only a few of the vast population were included in that number.

There were magazines, of course, but not everyone bought one. Radio, too, but it was difficult to capture the attention of most without a visual aid. It wasn’t until the advent of television that manufacturers and others could bring their products to the attention of the masses.

Once television showed up and the shows were free, once you paid for your TV and bought an antenna, the advertisers had a way into most homes. Boy, oh boy, did they ever have a field day once that happened.

I was born in an era when most everyone had television though ours was in black and white until I was an adult. I grew up with ads and commercials without realizing that I was being indoctrinated into a consumer mentality.

Children wanted the toys they saw. Housewives wanted the appliances and furniture. Men wanted all the electronics and latest gadgets. In short, everyone started wanting something that they would never have considered relevant for their lives previously.

That’s not to say that the desire to accumulate and get more and more was sparked by ads, merely that it was focused on items and driven forward week to week.

While the ads focus us on what we want to buy, we are already creatures who want to get more and more. The moment we get something new and the novelty wears off, we are back, once again, looking for something else. The things we thought could make us happy, ultimately, do the opposite.

If, on the other hand, we purchase something that we need, like a refrigerator or washer, a baby crib or such, those can bring satisfaction because of their usefulness. Still, not happiness or a fulfillment of our spirits.

It is when we go beyond the actual needs of our lives and look to some “thing” that will bring us joy that we are doomed to failure, remorse, and even deep-seated self-hatred.

We can never buy our way to happiness. There is no item or accumulation of items that fill will our souls and make us feel complete. We can bury ourselves until we are considered a hoarder or a collector. We can spend our whole lives in search of, and even finding all that there is to find. No matter, there is never enough to satisfy our souls.

Pursuing wealth is the same. Money is just another thing. It is even more insidious than mere possessions because the love of money and what it can buy or influence is the root of all kinds of evil.

We are empty and nothing we can do by ourselves is ever going to fix it. There is only one way to become whole and, by doing so, become happy with the life that we have been given. It does take an effort on our part but only as a receiver and a believer.

Jesus came to earth to provide a way for us to have our spirits made whole. Until we accept his gift, with our spirits cracked and broken, anything we try to fill our souls with will never work.

Once we accept his gift of pardon of our sins, our spirit is made new and whole again. It is at that point that we become fitting and whole vessels to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He has been sent to each of us as Christ-followers. Jesus sent him to provide us comfort and guidance until Jesus himself returns for us once again.

The Holy Spirit is there speaking to you if you will listen. To be honest, Christians (including me) can ignore his guidance and go back to trying to purchase and accumulate happiness.

It’s time to acknowledge that that mindset is a sin. It is not what God wants us to do. Rather than getting more and more for ourselves, God wants us to be givers. He wants us to share and help one another. It’s important, though, to offer the proper assistance and not just to give what seems okay. If too much of the wrong items are given, the receiver can become complacent and expectant of being given more and more. They can even become scornful and hateful towards those who are giving.

So, living a life in which generosity is second nature, something that you do without thinking, is the right way to live. Don’t do it blindly but, instead, ask God through the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom in what you are to give. If you are giving the right way, God will reward you and provide what you need to continue your life of generosity. This doesn’t mean riches or prosperity, it means that God will provide what he believe you need.

Some give money, some give time. Others give items that they have made while others teach knowledge. Something we can all do is give our thoughts and prayers for others. We may not have money to give but we can always pray. The ultimate in giving is to spread the good news of the saving power of Christ Jesus.

Finally, if we change from accumulators into givers, we will find much more joy in this journey that we call our lifetime.

Luke 6:38

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

What can we be thinking of when we do some of the things that we do that we should not do at all? Why is that we, as a people, can be so hurtful, mean and petty? We are always looking for faults and for flaws in others. If we come across something admirable in someone, while we may express our admiration, there is some small part of us that is envious and wishes that we were the ones garnering attention.

I’ve had moments where I have put myself above everyone else. At those times, I consider that what I want to do and how I want to do it is more important than what anyone else thinks would be best. It’s as if I believe that I am always right and that everyone else is always wrong.

These episodes rarely end well. It is better to seek the help and advice of others who have more experience than you do than to disregard them. Even when you are considered an “expert” in a field, there is always something new or different to learn from others. There’s much to the saying, old dog, new tricks.

When we stop trying to learn from others and even stop asking for their help on occasion, that is when we, as individuals stop growing. When we stop growing, we then start stagnating and eventually declining.

I’ve been involved with a hobby for more years than I like to think of. I have recently been surprised at innovations that I somehow missed. I have found others who have different ways of working with the hobby that, having learned, now make my life easier. I’m enjoying the hobby more and have found that it is as if I’ve been reawakened from a dark sleep where I only did as I did before without thinking about it.

I wish I could remember this lesson every day and in all situations. I need to admit that I am not the expert that I think I am (by any stretch of the imagination.) However, I do have thoughts and experiences to share along with others. Together we are stronger than we are apart.

That is not to say that every move we make has to be by consensus. Some things are our decision alone to make. It is a matter of learning which decisions and projects are best left to our own selves and which ones can benefit from the experiences of others.

Spiritually, we are also in a state of decline. Our spirits have been broken and are simply no longer alive. This is an area where we must choose on our own and, while others can give valuable insight and experiences, what we do with our spiritual life is ultimately up to each of us.

I remember that my mother began seeking a spiritual life when I was a young teenager. She looked this way and that but studiously avoided any form of true Christianity. She took my younger brother and me along with her as she went from temples to self-realization centers as she looked to find her way.

She had grown up in a “Christian” home. That isn’t to say that anyone there was a Christ-follower (though they may have been.) She just thought she was a Christian because of the holidays they celebrated and the church that she went to. She had never had an encounter with Jesus on a one-to-one basis.

So, when she went looking, she decided Christianity was out of bounds as it had never offered her what she needed. I recall her even trying hypnosis. She became involved, to a degree, with the occult. She had me read her books and articles as she sat in the evenings after work.

I hated it with a passion. While I was not a Christian (though perhaps I was after an encounter with Jesus when I was five years old), I knew in my heart that Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit were the truth. I knew that the things she was following were wrong and broken. When I tried to talk to her and to object to what she was doing, she would silence me and punish me for speaking up.

I’m still glad that I did so. I am also very sorry she made my little brother a part of it, though. I think it may be one reason why he has struggled with Christianity as an adult.

It was her way and she would not accept anyone else’s thoughts or feelings. Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Caycee, yes, I’ve read them all. The Prophet, the Mormon bible and just about anything else you can think of from the 1970s.

My next older sister had become a Christ-follower in her teens. She had lived a wilder life than I at that point and was ready to see that she needed a savior. She would come to our house and tell each of us about Jesus. Even though we would tell her we were not interested, she still persisted when others may have stopped.

In hindsight, I understand that it was because she loved us so much. This was in spite of the fact that we were not very loving back to her. I recall her taking me to a church which I enjoyed but because of all the false teaching and places my mother had taken me, I was reluctant to ever go again. I was afraid something false and strange would happen that would shake my belief that Christianity was true.

When I finally had my emotional and spiritual breakdown, it was my sister’s words about Jesus that made me look to him for his help. I had known him as God but did not know anything real about salvation. She had pointed the way and stepped back. It was her assistance that gave me the information that I needed but it was my own choice and decision to make.

It was a few years later that my mother accepted Jesus. She still had some odd thoughts and beliefs that didn’t ring true. I guess, in the end, we all bring our baggage to God. He is the one that causes us to shift through our thoughts and to discard the false and keep to the truth.

It is an on-going task. It is one that will last my entire life. I still struggle with what I know and think to be true versus what God has stated as truth. When the two don’t match up, even when it is hard, I need to discard my own ways and try to live as he wants me to live.

It isn’t that we are supposed to all be the same. In fact, God states that we are unique. He tells us that he crafted us while we were in our mother’s womb. We are here at a time and place that he has set for us so that we can do the unique thing that we were made to do.

Imagine that, we are so special to God that he knows how many hairs we have on our heads. He knows every thought and feeling that we have. He wants us to find the area in life in which he has especially gifted us and to live our life in a way that is guided by him.

At the same time and as we grow in our unique ways, looking to others who have a solid basis in Christ for advice in spiritual matters, is so helpful. We are here to help one another as well as to love them.

While I’ve found that accepting or asking for help is sometimes difficult and that being admonished is never easy, it is with the help of other Christians that I continue to grow into the person God wants me to be.

Romans 12:3-8

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Some days it seems like it is simply too hard to even get up from my bed. I want to snuggle back down under the covers and sleep the day away. On those days,the effort of living seems to be too much for me to handle.

It isn’t my illness that causes my feelings. This is something that I have struggled with for many years, perhaps my whole life. Most days and times I bounce right up and greet the day happily with a real sense of purpose and even on some days I have a plan of what I want to accomplish.

It is the difficult days that come to my mind more easily. I think that most people suffer with the same sort of issue. I’ve found that, for me, those types of days follow times when I have given up on something in my life. Times when I have felt like a failure. When something I thought I should do, I can either no longer do or don’t have the will to keep going after some sort of setback.

This is definitely true about times when I have had an exercise plan. I recall a period of time when I would run on my treadmill for at least 30 minutes a day. I did this for quite a few months. It was long enough for it to become a habit (30 days) and even subconscious habit (90 days).

I caught a cold and wasn’t up to it for about a week. I tried one day and couldn’t got for more than ten minutes without becoming horribly winded. That was it for me. I stopped and never restarted again. It seems like dialing back and starting over at a lower pace and a smaller amount of time was unacceptable to my mind. It felt like I was a failure and, having failed ,I was ready to move on.

The truth is, I wasn’t a failure. I just needed to start over. When I first started, I probably walked for 15 minutes and gradually built up to a run for a longer time. I simply needed to go back to my beginning and start over again. But I didn’t. I paid the price for not running at all in weakness and weight gain but I still would not start over again.

All I could do is remember the past and, it seemed, the future I expected was somehow beyond my reach. The present was something that I didn’t want think about much less to comprehend. I wanted to be back where I was even though it was impossible to wake up one morning and run for 30 minutes. With each passing day, the effort and time it would take to get stronger again grew harder and longer. I didn’t want to confront where I was. I didn’t want to acknowledge my new normal. I kept thinking that somehow I would magically be back where I started before I caught my cold.

I think we all have problems with seeing the truth of where we are. Sometimes it is because the past was so much better. Other times it is because the present is so difficult and hard because our past was so awful.

It is this feeling of wanting do-overs that has spawned a whole genre of books, movies and television shows. We want time travel to fix the evils of the past so we can have a brighter future. Amusingly enough, even the shows and books generally show that changes to the past result in worse and sometimes, catastrophic, changes to the present and the future.

There is no time machine for us. Whatever it is, the past is the past. It is gone and cannot be regained and done over. We need to learn to leave the past behind us and look to a future.

The problem is that we, as people, are part of the reason that life is so difficult. Whether it was by your own hands or by those around you, the bad or evil feelings of the past are the work of man. On our own, our future will continue to spiral downward. We will start something new and stop at failure over and over again. Because we are doomed to this in a fallen world that is broken beyond repair.

Is there any way to fix this and to have a better and brighter future? There is really only one way. There is God’s way. He is sinless and perfect. He is the brighter future. However, we are broken in spirit and cannot communicate with him as we are.

We need to have our spiritual life repaired and renewed. It is broken and dead because of sin. We are unable to stop sinning and also to atone for the sins that we have already committed. The price of sin is death and we are all guilty.

The only way to reach God is through Jesus. He came and lived a sinless life and died in our place. His blood and death atone for our sins. When you accept him as your savior and as the Son of God, your spirit is renewed and is broken no longer. You can communicate with God the Father directly. You can worship him, talk with him, ask him for help and guidance.

With God’s help, you can look to a brighter future. It won’t necessarily be happy and lovely and wonderful as man judges. However, it will be just the place that God wants you to be. It will be where you can do your work to further his kingdom and show the world that Jesus is its savior.

When that happens, you will begin to find joy in your present circumstances even if they are the same as they were before. Your hope of the future is in heaven and not on this earth. Nothing that the world or man can do to you will ever change that.

Put the past behind you, accept Jesus as your savior. Ask God to set your steps on the path he wants you to tread. Also, ask the Holy Spirit to be the voice in your heart to guide you on your daily walk. You can find your happiness and purpose, the reason to get out of bed every day (though it is okay to sleep in from time to time!) Look to the future with Jesus at your side and stop living in the failures of the past.

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

There is so much bustle in the world, it is hard to take a moment to pause and reflect on what you are doing that day let alone what you will be doing in the future. Each day rushes by and it feels like I accomplish nothing at all of importance.

That’s not to say that I don’t do things; however, some days it feels like there is nothing there that I can look at with a sense of satisfaction. The only exception, for me at least, is when I am doing something that has been directed by God. When that happens, the whole world lights up for me in a different way.

Those times and days are rare when compared to the vast amount of time that I spend just doing what feels like needs to be done or, worse yet, things that I feel like I want to do. At the end of the days I spend doing things on my own, I feel pretty useless. I sometimes wonder why I am here if this is all that I do with my time.

I will admit that it has gotten worse since my illness as I really can’t do what I did before (not yet, that is.) I look back, though, and realize that what I did before are not things that I want to do today. While I was much busier and could show tangible results, those results felt, then and now, to be empty and meaningless.

It seems like I am not alone in how I feel. So many people are searching for a new purpose. They wander here and there trying to find something new with which to fill their minds, hearts and hours. They feel empty and want to feel fulfilled.

While I search for meaningful things to do, I do it with a whole heart. My heart is filled with God. The broken and empty spot that was there for so long is not longer empty or broken. My own issue is trying to find the things that God wants me to do.

I know, from the experience of writing this blog, when I am doing something that God is directing, I am happy. When I do something that he doesn’t direct, in the end, there is little happiness for me in those results. This is probably true for all Christ-followers. We have the answer but need to apply it to our lives and to the work of our hands.

To the lost and dying world, the emptiness in their hearts burns to be filled. That is what their search is for. They are looking for a way to make their lives feel complete, for something real and true to believe in. They look here and there and sometimes, rarely, they look to God and find the true answer and have their broken hearts made whole.

Most of the time, sadly, they don’t look to God. At least, not to the God of the Bible. Let’s face it, Christianity is not trendy. It is the one and real truth in this entire messed up world but it is not hip to say you are a Christian. Look at what happens to public figures who announce that serving Jesus is the most important thing in their lives. They are ridiculed by the press and marginalized by most other people.

The people in this world wants to hear what they want to hear. They don’t want to hear that they are sinners and evil and have no way to save themselves. If you tell them how they can feel good doing this or that, then they reward you with heaps of gratitude… until the this or that proves to be a false trail to happiness. Which will be what happens if God and Jesus are not at the center of the teaching.

I think that is why self-help books and shows do so well. Right now, there is a show that focuses on how to pare down your possessions, which is truly not a bad thing at all. However, to say that this will bring joy and happiness to your life is not true for the long run. It just minimizes your possessions – that’s all. For some, they will stay in a minimal style life while others will simply start acquiring more and more items that spark joy in their lives. Until those items don’t bring the hoped for joy once again.

Possessions or lack of them are will never bring a true sense of joy. Neither will a relationship, a job or anything else you can think of. There is only one true way to find joy.

The world will try to suppress any mention of God. They have taken him out of the classroom, out of the government, out of just about everywhere you can think of. In all cases, without the mention of God, these areas of society are falling into more and more chaos. But if you mention the absence of God as an issue, you will be hounded, scorned and ridiculed.

Why? The answer is simple. The ruler of this world is Satan. He has dominion at this time. He has already been defeated but he is still in charge of the worldly things. He has lost the overall spiritual battle but he is still trying to drag down as much of humanity as he can. If he has to spend eternity in hell, he wants as much company as he can get to suffer along with him.

So he tells lies and people listen. He tells them what they want to hear and not what they need to hear. Their ears strain against what is true and right but tune into the lies that make them seem like they are in control. That sense of control is what makes them feel like they are gods themselves. It is the same sin that Adam and Eve were guilty of. They wanted to be god and so they broke God’s one commandment.

They brought sin in the world but I can’t blame them. Each of us would, and still do, break the same rule. We try to set ourselves above God.

When I became a Christ-follower many years ago, I found the true answer to happiness. Jesus is that answer. He looked at my sin and said he would pay the price that I owed. That by doing so, it would allow me to appear sinless before God. It is his innocent shed blood that covers my sins and makes them disappear as if they never happened.

Like all Christians, I still have problems with the old sin nature. It rears its head all too often. Sometimes I catch it and repent before it goes too far and other times, I see what I am doing but still keep doing it. It always ends poorly and I bring it to God for him to forgive me (once again) and to give me a new spirit to do what he wants me to do.

It is a constant battle. A spiritual battle. There is a spiritual war being raged in the heavens and on earth. No matter who you are, no matter what your relationship is with the Lord, you are involved in that battle. You are on one side of the other. While the battle is massive, it has only one outcome. Jesus has already won. He did so over two thousand years ago when he hung on a cross and died like a common criminal.

He could have called all the angels in heaven to protect him and they would have heeded his call. However, he did not do so. Why? It is because he loved each of us so much. He was mocked and beaten until he barely looked human. He then died in untold physical agony and with spiritual separation from God, his father. But as he hung there on the cross, he looked over the sins of the entire world for all time and was willing to suffer so that even just one of us could be saved. The good news is that his free gift of pardon is not for one. It is there for each and every one of us to accept… or not.

It is there waiting for you if you are not yet a Christ-follower. Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you as your savior. If you are truly seeking him, you will find him. Don’t be like the rest of the world, looking only to hear what they want to hear. Look for that which you need to and should be listening to. Jesus truly is the answer that will fill your heart with Everlasting Joy.

Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.