Reluctant Retiree

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.

I was excited when I got up this morning. For the first time in a while the weather forecast called for the temperature to be in the 30s. I didn’t have to put on my overcoat and ski mask for my morning walk. Then I went outside and was a bit disappointed.

The temperature was indeed in the 30s, but there was a stiff cold wind out of the west. So the wind chill was in the low 20s. Still that was about 20 degrees higher than it has been. Therefore I was grateful and enjoyed my walk.

It’s funny how our attitude about something can change with the season. In the summer, a cool breeze is welcome. In the winter, we don’t enjoy a cold wind.

Psalm 135:7-8 says, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. ” So it is God who brings the cold wind, no matter the season. He does what pleases Himself. Since He is always good, I can trust that He will do good for me, even though the winds come.

What are you afraid to lose? Most people are afraid of death, losing their lives. Most people are also afraid of losing their personal property. They go to great lengths to protect it with security devices, lock boxes, etc. We can be afraid of losing our jobs, especially when the economy is weak or a pandemic threatens our industry.

Is there anything worth losing these things? Soldiers put everything at risk to protect our liberty. First responders put their lives on the line for us. What are you willing to die for or give something precious to you for?

The apostle Paul suffered greatly in order to preach the gospel. He was beaten with rods several times, stoned with rocks, shipwrecked, and jailed repeatedly. Why was he willing to go through all that and more? He explains in Philippians 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. ” After receiving the free gift of eternal salvation from Jesus Christ, Paul was willing to give everything for Christ.

Jim Elliott was a young man and missionary in Ecuador many years ago. He was violently killed there by the people he was trying to reach with the gospel. Before his death, he said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Elliott lost his life so that others could gain salvation. I ask myself what am I willing to give so that others can gain Christ? What am I willing to give so that I know Christ better?

What does it mean to empathize with another person’s struggles or problems? Does it mean that we simply listen and understand? Does it mean that we just agree that they are having difficulties? Can we invest in the other person’s life more than that?

One dictionary defines “empathize” as to understand and share the feelings of another. That definition is too vague to satisfy me. Another dictionary defines “empathy” as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. Even that definition doesn’t go far enough for me. Simply sensing and imagining is not deep enough to truly empathize with someone’s distress.

To empathize you need to be able to put yourself mentally and emotionally in the place of another’s troubles. You’ve got to be able to feel what the other person is feeling and why it is a problem for them.

God empathizes with our struggles and problems. He can do this because Jesus became flesh and suffered all our weaknesses and temptations. He knows what it feels like to be rejected. He knows what it is like to be publicly shamed. He knows how it hurts to be betrayed. In fact, He suffered these things and more to a far greater degree than we ever will. Psalm 56:8 says, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? ” God not only cares about our struggles, but He keeps our tears in a bottle, counts our hurts and records them in His book. Anything that hurts us, gives Him pain. That is an empathetic God that I can trust with my life.

Most of the time I eat healthy. I generally eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I have stayed away from my old habits of eating burgers and fries for years now. However, occasionally the lure of sweets or junk food is just too strong. Then I indulge myself in strawberry sundaes or brownies.

Food treats are not the only things that tempt us to go off the straight and narrow way. The pursuits of money, fame, lust, and selfish desires can pull us away from where we intended to go.

I Peter 3:10-11 gives us instructions for living well. It says, “For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” Whether we give our lives to doing good or to doing evil has a direct impact upon the quality of our lives. We make the choice. What will your choice be?