What Are You Missing Here?

    Russel Cornwell used to tell the story of a Persian named Ali Hafed. He was a wealthy farmer who had fertile lands with orchards, grain fields and gardens that yielded faithfully year after year. Hafed was a contented man, known throughout his region as having it all. Then a traveler from the east began to talk to him of the value of diamonds. He said, “If you owned a diamond the size of your thumb, you could purchase the whole county. If you owned a diamond mine, you could buy the thrones of nations for your children to rule from.”
    Though Ali Hafed had woken up that morning a rich man, he went to bed that night very poor. He went from satisfied and contented to craving diamonds and dreaming of finding and acquiring property that would produce them. So he sold his very fertile farm and used the money to travel the world in search of diamonds. After many years and having exhausted his resources, he never a achieved his dream, but committed suicide, destitute and depressed.
    Unbeknownst to him, the man who purchased his property one day spied a “rainbow sparkle” among the stones in the brook on the property. Upon close examination, he determined it was a diamond. With further investigation, he learned he was sitting on top of a giant store of large and precious diamonds. Every shovel of rocks from that stream contained diamonds. Every acre of that farm has since produced diamonds. That very property became known as the Diamond Mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond mine in the world.
    Had Mr. Hafed merely appreciated and fully investigated all that he had, he would have lived beyond his wildest dreams. Instead, he went looking for it elsewhere, it alluded him, and he lost all that he had at one time enjoyed.
    Every Christian is sitting atop a storehouse of precious and incredibly valuable resources. But far too many of us hear the whispers of far-away yearnings that cannot be satisfied, and leave behind God’s depository of worth in our lives. Blessing is not found by looking outside of what you’ve been given. That leads to internal poverty and disillusionment. Happiness is not gained by getting what you want, but by wanting what you’ve got. And if you are in Christ, you’ve got far more than anything that this world’s wealthiest people could ever have.
    Don’t leave behind the blessings God has given you. Just look a little closer at where he placed you, the people in your life, what is in your possession, and make the most of all that you’ve been given. You may be sitting on a diamond mine.
    Ephesians 1:3-14 – “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our [sins], according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us… In him we have obtained an inheritance…were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Making Good Decisions...Simplified

    I made a decision almost three decades ago that has taken the difficulty out of a lot of other decisions since. I decided to marry Linda. Since that decision, most of my other decisions in and around the house are pretty well taken care off. I only need to ask myself, what would be better for our marriage?
    So even though my desk is usually pretty cluttered at work, I’m neat, clean, and organized at home. Why? Because Linda doesn’t really care what my desk at work looks like, but she likes it neat and clean at home, so that’s how I like it as well. All week long, dozens of decisions are easy for me because I know what Linda likes and I want her to be happy. When I said, “I do,” that meant spending my life thinking about what she wants more than what I want. And she does the same. Not only has it made for a good marriage, it has simplified my decision-making process. I don’t have to stew over a lot of stuff at home. I made most of those decisions twenty-seven years ago when I made the decision to become Linda’s husband.
    It’s the same with my Christian life. I don’t fret over a lot of decisions I see many other Christians struggling with. I made most of those decisions when I was 17 and Jesus took charge of my life. So now I just ask, “What does Jesus think about this?” “What does the Bible say?” “What does God want?”
    I don’t have to stew over moral dilemmas. I know he doesn’t want me to lie, steal, badmouth others, or have sex outside of marriage, even if it seems like a unique situation and I think I’d be better off by doing those things. No, I already made the decision to do what God wants when I said, “Yes” to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Not that I’m never tempted to do wrong. I’m tempted just like everybody, and I fail sometimes. But I don’t have to fret, “Oh, what should I do?” I know what to do. Whatever God has said or whatever would be pleasing to Him. Those decisions were made when I became a follower of Jesus thirty-four years ago.
    I know, we face a lot of other dilemmas that are not addressed in Scripture. But you know what, it’s not those things that get us into trouble. If you take care of the obvious. If you do what God wants where ii’s addressed in Scripture, the more obscure quandaries take care of themselves. And in those secondary matters, if you do the right things in the primary matters, you’ll be fine even if you make some mistakes in the secondary matters. Wisdom in life starts by living it in light of what is pleasing to the Lord.
    Maybe you are having so much trouble with making decisions because you were not serious about the most important ones. Get serious about what you said in your vows and your marriage will get easier. Ask yourself if Jesus is really Lord of your life...are you really living to please Him? Once you get that taken care of, the right-wrong “what should I do?” questions get settled. When you stop justifying and excusing and just do what you know God wants, the rest of life starts to make sense.
    That’s what Proverbs 16:3-4 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The Lord works out everything to its proper end” (NIV11).

Pimped-Out

    There are times in your life when you come across a need that appears to be so overwhelming, so deep, so devastating, and so pervasive, that you would rather turn a blind eye to it and ignore the enormity of the problem altogether. Sometimes an issue can appear so massive that our meager efforts seem pointless, like aiming a squirt gun at a forest fire.
    27,000,000 slaves being trafficked worldwide. Are my efforts really going to do any good?
    25,000 girls in the Chicago area, under the age of 16, sold as sex slaves by their pimps multiple times every night. Some of these girls are as young as 10 years old. The average starting age for a prostitute in Chicago is 12.
    When it’s a 132 billion dollar industry, second only to illicit drug sales (but gaining rapidly), and when there are so few arrests and prosecutions to impede it’s growth, what could possibly stem the tide? Me? Can I really do anything?
    Yes, you can. One life, one girl at a time.
    William Wilberforce thought that way. Slavery worldwide was at it’s apex and his homeland’s economic system was built on it’s success. But it was morally evil and he could not hold back from speaking out. Despite tons of criticism, much of it from other leaders in his church’s denomination, he poured his life into changing the mindsets of average people, and thereby affecting British law. It was due to Wilberforce’s efforts, which flowed from his commitment to serving Jesus, that led to the end of slavery in the British Empire in the 18th century, and also through his influence in America, that brought it down in the civilized world a generation later.
    But that was then.
    Today, more people are bought and sold than during the height of the African slave trade.
    But yes, there are some things we can do.
    First, we can stop turning a blind eye to it. We can change our perspective on those caught in prostitution, understanding that most of them were sold into it at a very young age and know little of life beyond it. We can see them for who they are, victims of the malicious manipulations of evil people. We can view the pimps differently. They are portrayed in too many movies and TV shows as harmless, often humorous, business people who are out a little over the legal edge. They are not. They are slave masters who use physical violence, drugs, and a multitude of other psychopathic means to control young girls for their own enrichment and the girls’ destruction. I can no longer use the popular idiom, "pimped-out".
    We can turn our legislatures on to the problem. A big hurdle the law enforcement community faces is the legal code, which protects the johns and the pimps, while labeling the victims as perpetrators. One reason human trafficking is increasing so dramatically is because it is so difficult to catch and prosecute with any real deterrent factor, those who are the root cause of the problem, the pimps and the johns. If everyone who is disgusted with this crime were to write state and federal representatives, laws would change and prosecutions would begin to make a difference.
    And we can support ministries that are devoted to helping those caught in the trafficking web to restart their lives with purpose, meaning and hope. We have one such ministry office right down the street from our church. These ministries, such as STOP-IT and PROMISE, need our daily prayer support, financial support, and eager volunteers. You may be able to do all three. I’m sure you can do at least one.
    So it is an enormous problem. But there are also some things we can do. I believe this is possibly the scourge for our generation to do something about. And that starts in our church this weekend. I trust you will be there.

God Has Double Vision

    What to do with this huge block of stone? It took months to cut it out and move it from the quarry to it’s current resting place. Now after two of the finest sculptures in the world attempted to make it look like something meaningful, they gave up. It was now thought to be flawed, useless, and an eyesore in the public square. It sat that way, unused, unfinished, unsightly, for nearly a hundred years.
    Then a young man, still a virtual nobody in the art world, saw something that others were unable to see, and believed in something that others had given up on. So at 26 years old, young Michelangelo set out to reinvigorate the massive project of turning this huge megaton block of stone into a breathtaking 17 foot statue of David, still recognized today by some as the greatest sculpture ever created.
    Michelangelo said this, "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it."
    God sees you in a way that no one else is able, including yourself.
    I like to put it this way, "God has double vision."
    Yes, he sees you where you are. He knows what you are struggling with. He feels your pain, and is fully aware of the damage others have done to you. And he also knows all about your sin, and the self-created havoc that is weighing you down.
    But he sees far more than that. He looks beyond what appears to be an unused, unfinished, maybe even sometimes unsightly partially carved block of rock. He sees beyond all that to what he created you to be. He envisions you for what can be...and will be...if you let him take the hammer and chisel...let him shape you into HIS image. His dreams for you are better than your own. He envisions you to be what he, your designer and creator, intends you to be!
    All of us are flawed. We’ve all suffered wounds and sometimes feel like damaged goods. And the longer we remain in this state, the more settled we become in our view of self. But it didn’t matter to Michelangelo how long the block of marble sat in its unfinished and damaged condition. He saw the David that was inside. As soon as the public officials gave permission, as he said, “I set him free.”
    And that’s what God wants to do for you. Let him set you free! The hammer and chisel may be a bit painful for a time. But the end result is a masterpiece, a you that no one, including you, dreamed you could be.
    But God did. He has been seeing you that way all along. Let him set you free!