Are You All Alone?

I was deeply saddened over a story reported on cnn.com about Amanda Todd's story, a casualty of blackmail and bullying.  She was a desperate girl who felt all alone.  It seems a regrettable decision led to a spiral of panic, fear, and shame.  Instead of finding support among those Amanda thought were her friends, she was driven away.  I know that Amanda is not alone.  Many people in this world are victims of brutal and malicious bullying.  But they are not as alone as they might think.  There is hope for the hopeless, if we will believe and receive it.

You might be very alone in this world, without a single friend.  Perhaps enemies surround you on every side.  You are judged and misjudged.  You feel forgotten and lost in the darkness.  You have made decisions that you regret and wish you could take them back.  The hurt and pain are so real and raw you are desperate.  So-called friends have betrayed and disowned you.  Maybe you are even hurting yourself because of the pain.  Is there anyone who cares?  Please allow me to offer a handshake and a hug to you.  I'm so sorry you are hurting.  I'm sorry for the things you have suffered.  You might ask, how can I truly love you without knowing you?  I can legitimately love you because Jesus loves me.  He has changed my heart.  Jesus says this in John 15:12:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

How has Jesus loved me?  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes this unfailing love.  "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  God has put this love in my heart.  He even gives us the ability to love our enemies.  Jesus proved His love for me by dying on the cross.  I was once an enemy of God, but His love has transformed me.  Are you desperately hungry for this love?  This is no joke.  This love is real and I offer it freely to you.

Please don't believe the lie that you have nobody in the world.  Jesus will have you if you will have Him.  Proverbs 17:17 reads, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."  I'm not perfect, but I offer you love and my friendship.  I can't be there for everyone in the world, but Jesus can!  I will do my best to respond to any messages.

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Beware of Covetousness

Scripture has many profitable uses.  It can be a healing balm or a harsh warning; a stern correction or an everlasting promise that brings comfort.  Many times the Bible will even say what a particular verse is intended to convey.  I have found sometimes we miss the mark in application.  We may apply a verse to ourselves in a way not intended with the immediate context.  It is true that as we interpret scripture with scripture, a single statement may have many facets of true application.  Yet we must be mindful of the primary purpose of a verse when applying it to our lives.

Case in point, take Hebrews 13:5.  It says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  Now people often take the quotation from Christ and apply it for the purpose of comfort and peace.  It is completely legitimate to do so.  It is true that we receive great comfort from the presence of our loving Saviour.  But that is not the primary application of this passage.  The writer of Hebrews is warning against covetousness and exhorting believers to be content with what they have because Jesus has said "I will never leave you or forsake you."  How often have you seen the verse applied in the way it was intended?  Probably not often.  We must be aware of our tendency to apply scripture in the way we are most comfortable with or even avoid direct application God intends!

How does the presence of Jesus keep us from covetousness?  The writer infers that all we have and need is found in the person of Jesus Christ by grace through faith, One who will never leave or forsake us.  Money grows wings and flies away, but Jesus remains our all in all.  Godliness with contentment is great gain, and the more we value Jesus the less we will treasure and desire things of this world.  That is the intended connection.  Jesus warns in Luke 12:15, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  Because covetousness is an ingrained habit in our flesh - desiring for ourselves what is not ours - we are to be acutely aware of knowingly cultivating this sin in our hearts.  The world tells us the exact opposite of Christ.  The world is always affirming that the quality of my life is directly tied to the material goods I possess.  The better the holidays, more money and things, improvements in my physical appearance and health, and obtaining my hearts desire is the recipe for a better life.  But this is a lie.  Real life is only found in Jesus, who is the Way, Truth, and Life.

If Jesus is always with us and will never forsake us, our focus should be primarily on Him.  He feeds the sparrows and knows when a single one falls.  Instead of setting our hearts on what is not, may we value and treasure Christ above all.  Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-33:  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁸ So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Feeling Overwhelmed?

"Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. ² From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. ³ For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. ⁴ I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah"

 Psalm 61:1-4

Ever had one of those days when you feel totally overwhelmed?  Today has been one of those days for me.  As my "To Do" list seems to grow exponentially, I cannot tick the boxes fast enough.  Tax questions, unresolved credit card charges, immigration papers, heart and sermon preparation, ministry administration, and countless other tasks scream to be recognised.  How do we move forward in vision when stuck in the slough and are barely able to breathe?  Things I have been meaning to do for months have remained undone, and there is no break on the horizon.  Sound familiar?  That's life.  Trouble is, this life of toil on earth can suck the life right out of us.

But all is not lost when Christ is our gain!  The psalmist cried out to God when he was overwhelmed, and God attends to the prayers of the humble in heart that diligently seek Him.  There is a Rock of Salvation for all, even from the stress of this life.  What I love is David's acknowledgement in verse 3:  God had been his shelter and tower in the past, and He would bring him through any difficult and treacherous season.  The proof that God would bring Him through is that God had brought him through.  What a consolation this is for those who are overwhelmed!  No matter how big and impossible obstacles may be, they are never bigger than God.  He is the One who attends to our prayers, leads, and shelters us.  He is indeed the lifter of our heads.

Now back to the grindstone!  The mundane, the daily grind is a touchstone for our faith.  When our faith is placed squarely in God we will endure because great is the LORD and worthy to be praised.  His mercies are new every morning, for great is His faithfulness.  "Que Sera, Sera" means "whatever will be, will be."  It is a resignation to our powerlessness.  Instead of that, may we who are in Christ look to the Great I Am.  He was, is, and will ever be for eternity.

When You Can't Say Goodbye

There is a bitter sweetness in parting.  The hope of being reunited dulls the pain of separation.  Just a week ago I was reunited with my wife and children after their trip to southern California.  When we parted at the airport, there was sadness to be heading separate ways yet a joyful expectancy of their visit with friends and family.  God willing, we would meet again.  At the prescribed time, I met them at the airport!  Like most people, I have endured many different sorts of goodbyes:  leaving home to start a family, at the bedside of a loved one who would soon pass into eternity, and a goodbye to family, friends, and the United States of America when we relocated to Australia.  Sadness in parting, but a joyful expectancy of reunion.

I received word yesterday that one of my friends, Mark Rawn, unexpectedly passed into eternity on Sunday.  I cried for him.  I cried for myself that I could not be there and show support to honour his memory.  Now there was a man!  Raw, powerful, joyful, and genuine.  I remember speaking to him many Sunday mornings at church, him wearing his Washington Redskins hat and hoodie.  Shaking his hand was like being gripped by steel.  Mark looked like someone who played center back in the day, built like Juggernaut.  Quick to smile and laugh, a hearty "Amen!" from Mark was not uncommon in church, or even an occasional snore.  When Mark first trusted in Jesus Christ, he brought a six-pack to a Bible study.  Why not?  This man loved God, his little girl Angelyna, big cars, guns, and the Skins.  I can only see his face with a beaming smile.  I love you Mark!  I never got to tell him, but I immediately thought of Mark when I saw Master Boar at the end of the Gongmen Jail scene in "Kung Fu Panda 2."  "Yeeeaah!"  I'll never forget him.

One of my fondest memories of Mark is when he was a Roman guard in a church play at Calvary Chapel El Cajon.  He brought a real edge to the role.  While everyone else was tiptoeing around with the mocking of Christ during the scourging scene, Mark laid into Jesus with mockery, scorn, and ridicule.  I was so proud of him.  He wanted people to realise the kind of brutal, shocking treatment the Son of God chose to endure for sinful man's sake.  Mark had tasted of the redeeming, reconciling, delivering love of Jesus Christ.  He would have Jesus glorified.  Oh my friend, how I wish I could have been there for you before you met your Saviour face to face.  I'm so sorry I couldn't say goodbye.  The tears keep coming.

David's "Song of the Bow" says it well in 2 Samuel 1:23-25:  "How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan was slain in your high places. ²⁶ I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me; your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women. ²⁷ "How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"  Yet despite the bitterness of this devastating loss, there is sweetness.  There is sweetness knowing that Mark has passed from life on earth in the everlasting arms of His Saviour.  Death on earth is a direct result of sin, but for those who repent and are born again by grace through faith in Christ death is like going to sleep.  The death of the physical body of Christians opens the door to release the soul to eternity in heaven.  Jesus says in John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"  Mark believed this.  I believe it too.  It is not our belief which will reunite us together in heaven, but the power of Jesus Christ according to His own infallible Word.

Mark has fallen, but One mightier than he has raised him to life.  I'm glad Jesus has made room in heaven for guys like Mark and me.  Rest in the Prince of Peace, my brother.  I never had the chance to say goodbye, but I'm looking forward to being reunited.  I don't know God's timing, but our meeting in a life more real and lasting than what we have experienced on earth is a certainty.  That's a "hello" worth waiting for!