Reluctant Retiree

I have found myself in a lot of bad places in my life. I have been on the wrong side of town late at night. I have been surrounded by evil many times. Sometimes I have been lost with no idea how to make it to my destination. At times I have been face to face with some scary people.

Worse than all these geographical bad places, are the bad places my heart has gone to. I have been depressed to the point of needing professional assistance. Anger has overtaken me so that I could not see reality. Confusion has affected my ability to assimilate my thoughts.

Both geographical and emotional bad places are difficult places to be and to pull yourself out of. In Psalm 84, the writer describes the only safe place sure to bring hope and joy. He writes, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! ”

When I draw near to God, He gives me joy, hope, and a true safe place, home. Trust God and come home.

Pride and selfishness lead to conflict. When I strive to serve my own desires, inevitably I will anger or hurt someone. However, when I honor and serve others, I live in harmony with them,

In our culture we seem to have things backwards a lot. We respect celebrities and denigrate the down and out. Many celebrities do good things for which they deserve honors, but many just build big homes and egos. We should find ways to benefit the lowly to make our community better and more unified.

Romans 12 gives us a laundry list of things we should do to bring harmony and build up our communities.

* “be devoted to one another in brotherly love

* give preference to one another in honor

* not lagging behind in diligence

* fervent in spirit

* serving the Lord

* rejoicing in hope

* persevering in tribulation

* devoted to prayer

* contributing to needs

* practicing hospitality

* bless those who persecute you

* bless and do not curse

* rejoice with those who rejoice

* weep with those who weep

* be of the same mind with one another

* do not be haughty

* associate with the lowly

* do not be wise in your own eyes.”

You may not agree with all these things, but they will lead to harmony and better communities.

We went to Costco today, along with a hundred of our closest friends. I am not usually tempted to buy things that I don’t need right away. That’s not the problem. The problem is that things that I do buy there seemingly last forever. We have to buy the bulk sizes and there are just two of us in our household.

However, I would like to obtain bulk sizes of many nonmaterial items. How does a super-sized box of love sound? Maybe you could use a 500 pack of patience today. What about a 100 gallon container of forgiveness for the mistakes we made this week or will make in the week to come? I have a list of dozens of nonmaterial items that I need to fill the cabinets of my life.

Jesus gave us a great promise concerning these nonmaterial items. In John 10:10, He says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ” Who is the “they ” that He is talking about? In the preceeding verses He is talking about His sheep. They are the ones who know Him and follow Him. To these sheep Jesus promises to give abundant life, or to my way of thinking, He promises super-sized love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, mercy and grace. All I have to do is follow Him.

What determines the level of commitment that we have to some project or cause? I may serve a cause for a short time with minimal effort. Or I can give considerable work over an extended time for another project. What accounts for the difference?

In my case, and maybe yours, the degree of passion I have for the cause determines how involved I will be. I may serve a project at the request of a friend, but not be particularly moved by the project scope. On the other hand, my heart may feel called to another project that falls in line with my passions and interests. I think that most service projects are looking for volunteers with a passion for their cause.

God feels the same way about those who say that they serve and follow Him. Psalm 78:35-37 says, “They remembered that God was their rock; the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. ” The Israelites had a form of religion. But they had not fully given their hearts to God. God prefers that we give Him our hearts and not just our words.

I am not a polished public speaker. The words that I use are often incorrect. I speak in a monotone. I don’t have any particular flair or charisma. Yet, I have spoken to audiences in China, Vietnam, Nepal, Thailand, India, Australia and the United States.

Despite my obvious weaknesses, audiences seem to appreciate the messages that I have given. I attribute the positive reception to effective translation, making my words bear fruit in the audiences. Sometimes the translator was the person next to me, but all the time the effective translator was God imparting the message into hearts. The message is far more important than the delivery or the speaker.

Even when I pray, I need a translator. Fortunately, God promises to help translate my prayers. Romans 8:26-27 says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. And he who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ” Not only does the Spirit pray as I ought, but He prays based on my deepest needs.

We lived in Nepal for eight years. Friends would come all the way there from time to time. Most people wanted to see the Himalayas. So we would take them up to the roof and they would look to the north. Many were initially disappointed that they couldn’t see the mountains. However, we would tell them that they were not looking high enough. They had to look above the clouds to see mountains. Sure enough, when they looked above the clouds, the Himalayas were as beautiful as they had thought that they would be.

I often have a similar problem when faced with difficulties. I keep looking at the trouble and can’t find my way out. As I look at the problem, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The Bible gives me the solution when it says, “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ” (Psalm 121:1-2) When I have difficulties, I need to look higher. I need to look to the Lord for my help.

It is pretty sad that I consider as a sacrifice some of the things I do. I can give the smallest effort and be minimumly inconvenienced and still think that I have done something wonderful. Yesterday I spent less than an hour serving lunch to some teenagers. I walked away thinking how gracious I am. I didn’t consider the man who bought the food and cooked it. My sacrifices are puny. I should not be puffed up about these small things.

Of course, the Bible tells us about a real sacrifice, in fact, the greatest sacrificial act ever performed. Romans 5:6-10 says, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. “

While we were God’s enemies and sinners, God sacrificed His Son so that we could be saved. We can be justified before Him and that is only made possible by His sacrifice. Now we have a choice. We can believe in Jesus and the gift of salvation or we can remain in our sins and reject God’s sacrifice. I pray that you will choose to believe and be saved.

It used to be said that a handshake was as good as your word. And your word was as good as any contract. We could depend on what a person said and that they would fulfill their promises.

I remember a time when I was a child that my father had promised to take me to a professional football game. When the time came, he was drunk. My mother wouldn’t let him take me. But I raised such a fuss that she relented. It was a bad decision on everybody’s part, but the promise was kept. We made it to the game and back, but not without some scary moments.

Should we believe the promises that are made today? Will merchants back up their products and services? Do parents still fulfill the promises they give to their children? Do our leaders make good on their promises?

Maybe the answer to these questions is most of the time, or perhaps some of the time. We have a place where we can go and find promises that will be fulfilled all the time. God is faithful to every one of His promises. He cannot deny His own character. The great thing is that we know that He is good and He is able to fulfill His promises.

So what should be our response to His promises? Romans 4:20-21 speaks about Abraham when it says, “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” Not only should we believe that God will do what He promised, but we should act on these promises by faith in His faithfulness and power.

I am generally a good listener. I am a man of few words, so I don’t feel the need to talk a lot. That allows me to be engaged with what the other person is saying in a conversation. I am not constantly thinking about what I will say next. I am really just trying to understand what is said. However, if the discussion drifts or goes on too long, my attention may fade. I am a good listener, not a perfect listener.

As a society, however, I don’t think that we are good listeners. We would rather be heard than to hear. That creates a lot of noise but not much community and understanding. The need to be heard is why social media is so popular. In this venue we can make our thoughts, opinions, and ideas known. That doesn’t mean that we are heard, however.

God is the perfect listener. He is eager to hear from us. He understands everything we have to say. He knows our thoughts, even before we speak them. There’s nothing that we cannot bring to Him. However, there is one thing that will keep Him from listening. Psalm 66:18 says,”If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. ” If we love our sin and hold onto it, God will not listen to us. If we confess our sins and trust in His forgiveness, He will hear and answer us.

Actually, I know what I smell like most of the time. I smell like perspiration, unfortunately. I shower daily and use deodorant. But my body runs hot and I sweat profusely. That is not good. Other people are generally not attracted to that odor. In fact that smell repels people.

Most people, including me, take great care to insure they smell good. We shower, use deodorant, add a little cologne or perfume, and put on fresh clothes.

All that is good and proper. However the Bible says that we emit another aroma. II Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? “

God says that we will give the aroma of life if we are saved. But we will give the odor of death if we are not saved. That is because God, Himself, spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him through those who believe in Him. Which of these aromas are you giving to others? I invite you to give your life to Jesus and to carry the fragrance of life.