The Successful Soul

One thing I love after worshiping God with song is how a particular tune or lyric later will reverberate through my mind.  I often find myself unwittingly singing the song long after the service has ended.  Hailing from Southern California, it seems fitting to call this effect a "worship aftershock."  Experiencing communion and fellowship in the presence of God is a blessing beyond words.

I have found when I am impacted by something it tends to be rehearsed in my mind.  For example, these memories could be a scene from a movie, a statement a person makes during a conversation, or a quote from a book I am reading.  If I can watch a movie without later reflecting on it or after reading a book no specifics high points come to mind, it obviously had little impact on me.

There was a quote of J.C. Ryle in Zeal Without Burnout by Christopher Ash which did stick with me.  Ryle said concerning "successful" Christian ministry as it appears in Zeal Without Burnout:

"Success is what all faithful labourers in the gospel field desire...All long to see Satan's kingdom pulled down, and souls converted to God...The desire is right and good...Let it...never be forgotten that the time of success is a time of danger to the Christian's soul.  The very hearts that are depressed when all things seem against them, are often unduly exalted in the day of prosperity.  Few men are like Samson, and can kill a lion without telling others of it (Judges 14:6)...Most of Christ's labourers probably have as much success as their souls can bear." (Ash, Christopher. Zeal without Burnout. Good Book, 2016. 104-05. Print.)

It is the last line which hits home.  God is gracious and blesses us with great successes, but few of them are known or easily quantifiable.  God does miraculous wonders behind the scenes and in the hearts and minds of people continually, and because they escape notice our pride is not stirred which lurks within each one of us.  How good God is to allow success to open our eyes to our tendency to boast and pride, and yet restrains us in His grace to keep us from grave harm.  Our souls can handle only so much success, and the hard times are often the forging, strengthening times so we will be able to endure success without shipwreck upon a deadly reef of pride.

It is God who brings success.  This "success" is not the quantifiable increase or profitability others will appreciate or applaud, but denotes sure success in all God has ordained us to do in due time.  It is obedience to God's Word which brings this success, as God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:8:  "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."  When we meditate on God's Word and obey Him, we will be successful.  Many successful men and women of God were deemed utter wastes and complete failures by their contemporaries, yet they had good success and were prosperous in God's view.  God's definition of success is the one which counts for eternity!

Goodwill To Men

In my high school days, many perfect Saturday mornings were spent searching for lost treasures in thrift stores.  My mate Evan and I would troll El Cajon op shops looking for quality vinyl records and sweet polyester shirts.  It was the early 90's but we loved the music and clothes of the 70's!  We would always hit the Salvation Army, then head over to AMVETS, and finally Goodwill.  Goodwill Thrift Stores have an interesting history, dating back to 1902.  Founded by Reverend Edgar J. Helms, the organisation helped people through donations and provided opportunities for people to work.

With the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ rapidly approaching, I was reminded today of what the heavenly host proclaimed to shepherds who tended their flocks that night long ago in Luke 2:14:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"  It is one thing for a man to have "goodwill" to his fellow man, but how wondrous and lovely it is for the Almighty God to proclaim peace and goodwill toward men.  How utterly undeserving we are of such favour from God, that He will send His own Son to be the Saviour of the world.  God is holy, and for Him to show mercy and kindness to us really is phenomenal.  There is no good thing in man, but Jesus came to change that forever.  When people have offended us we don't want to visit or have anything to do with them, but God demonstrated love in the profound act by becoming a man and walking among us sinners.  God has His messengers, but He would deliver this message of love, grace, and salvation Himself.

How can we respond to so great a love, to such "peace, goodwill toward men?"  It is reasonable for us each to acknowledge and receive it.  Unless we acknowledge a gift is intended for us, we will not open or appropriate it.  Having goodwill towards God and towards others is another fitting response.  We can show gratitude to God with generosity towards others, being gracious and longsuffering to all.  Jesus came with goodwill toward all people, not just a select few.  The motto for the Goodwill Thrift Stores became, "Not a Charity - But a Chance."  God's charity (love) is the only chance we sinners have for salvation, for it is impossible for us to earn the righteous standing before God required.  Jesus came to this earth with His future death in mind, for it is written in Romans 5:8:  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  In dying for sin Jesus gave sinners a chance to obtain eternal life.  There is no chance of salvation apart from Christ, for He is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Glory to God in the highest for bringing peace and goodwill toward men!

Matter Of Faith

Do you ever imagine ideal conditions required for others to believe in God and the truth of the Bible?  Some have gone to great lengths to find ancient artifacts, thinking that if they presented hard evidence - Noah's ark, the gilded Ark of the Covenant, the tablets of stone upon which the 10 Commandments were written, or the original menorah - people would have to believe in light of the overwhelming evidence.  It sounds novel, but I do not believe miracles or relics make believers.  When Jesus told the story of the rich man in Sheol, he begged Abraham to send Lazarus to speak to his 5 brothers of the torment which awaited them so they might repent.  Luke 16:29-31 says, "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰ And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"

Jesus has risen from the dead, and still people do not believe He is the Messiah sent to be the Saviour of the world.  We have fulfilled prophesy and eye-witness accounts in the Bible and do not need the actual nails or cross upon which Jesus Christ hung to know the truth.  God could have preserved the site of Christ's death and burial without question as well as the manger in which He was laid, the broken alabaster flask which held the precious ointment poured upon him, the shackles which bound Jesus in prison when He awaited crucifixion, and the seamless tunic Roman guards cast lots for.  God was wise to allow these relics to be destroyed lest men worship them instead of Christ!  Having visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem this year, I have witnessed this folly firsthand:  people paying homage to rocks rather than the Rock of our salvation.  It is ironic the children of Israel worshiped the bronze serpent made by Moses, yet many refuse to worship the Lamb of God who was lifted up to draw all men unto Himself.

What do you suppose is a better witness of the reality of God's existence and power:  stone tablets upon which are written the 10 Commandments by the finger of God, or a living, breathing person who has been born again whose heart of stone has been exchanged for a heart of flesh upon which God has written His law?  Isn't the testimony of an eye witness who has personally been born again better than all the inanimate, silent relics of the past?  We think, "If by the power of the Holy Spirit I was able to heal that person physically, what an opportunity it would be for them to see God's power firsthand."  I agree!  And there were many people who experienced healing firsthand by the hand of Christ, and still they did not believe Him.  People saw Jesus after He rose from the dead and still doubted (Matthew 28:7)!  Man's problems with faith do not have to do with the lack of physical evidence or facts, but pride and folly in his own heart.

We who believe, let us be those who boldly testify of what we have seen, heard, and experienced.  We have the Law, the prophets, and all the scriptures which testify of Jesus.  We have the Holy Spirit who has filled us and empowered us to do God's will.  Let us believe in the power of God's Word and the Gospel to bring sinners out of darkness and into the light.  In faith bring the light of scripture into the darkest places, to hearts hardened and resistant to the truth, and see the dynamic saving power of Jesus in action.

Receive God's Comfort

God calls Himself "...the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation" in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.  There is no question for God's faithful followers He is able and willing to supply comfort and abundant consolation.  The amazing and perplexing truth is Christians can refuse to be comforted.  Job inferred it would be foolish to receive good from God and not evil, and it is also foolish to do the opposite.  Why punish ourselves by denying comfort God graciously offers?

There are instances in scripture when people suffered loss and received comfort by God.  There are others who experienced such a depth of grief they were inconsolable.  When Jacob saw Joseph's blood-stained coat of many colours, he imagined his son had been killed by wild beasts.  Genesis 37:35 says, "And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, "For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning." Thus his father wept for him."  Jacob's grief over the loss of one son for a while overwhelmed the comfort of others he loved in his family.  Strong negative emotions can overwhelm us and hinder us from receiving comfort intends for us.  When the male babies were slaughtered in Bethlehem by Herod comfort seemed beyond belief (Jer. 31:15).

It does not take immense personal tragedy to feel cut off from the comfort of God.  We are not told the circumstances, but the psalmist Asaph candidly wrote in Psalm 77:1-3, "I cried out to God with my voice-- to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me. ² In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah."  In his trouble Asaph remembered and sought the LORD, and knew he had been heard by God.  But like hard-packed soil which water cannot penetrate, Asaph's soul repelled consolation from God and "refused to be comforted."  Asaph looked to the God of comfort for comfort, but found himself able to receive the comfort he was desperate to receive.

The cure for Asaph's condition was not through his circumstances changing but from a change of perspective.  When Asaph looked for comfort he found none, yet when he considered God comfort came.  He admitted his weakness before God and meditated on God rather than his trouble or current feelings.  Psalm 77:10-13 says, "And I said, "This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." ¹¹ I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. ¹² I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. ¹³ Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God?"  Remembering what God said and did in the past was a key to walk in God's comfort moving forward.

In light of your current difficulties, do you find yourself to be like Jacob or Asaph?  We can stubbornly refuse comfort, and other times we are unable to receive it despite seeking God.  Admit your anguish before the LORD, remember the works of the LORD, and talk of God's deeds.  This is not a formula to be followed but a biblical pattern established for our help and comfort.  Only God can pull us from the pit of depression and despair, and the scripture reveals us what we can do to cooperate with God's will in receiving His comfort.  We are greatly aided to receive God's comfort when we cease demanding or suggesting a course of divine action for God to take, humble ourselves before Him, and praise Him because we trust and love Him - in spite of trouble.  This worship prepares our hearts to experience joy, peace, and receive comfort from the "God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation."