Reluctant Retiree

We are in the midst of a modified stay at home order. The governor has allowed some businesses to reopen. Under his current plan almost everything will be open by the end of May.

He did leave one significant caveat, however. People over 65 should still stay home. I would complain about age discrimination except I know that he is just trying to protect us. But this also means that we aren’t supposed to go to church even when all our friends return. I miss them already.

So what have I been doing. I believe that God has given us this time to focus on “first things”, the most important things. So I have tried to get to know Him better, seeking His presence. I have spent a lot of time reading His Word and other books that lead me to Him. My prayer and devotional life has improved with the extra time and opportunity.

None of these things would take place, however, if God wasn’t drawing me closer to Him by His Spirit. If left to my own devices I would probably waste time with games or something else.

However, my God loves me with an amazing love. My heart is drawn to that love and I want to know Him better. The only way to do that is to spend time with Him. So I pray, listen and read.

I want to be careful here to say that I don’t just want to know more about God. I want to know Him better. That requires my heart to seek Him by interaction with Him.

So I don’t count this time as lost, by any means. In fact I believe this time has been used for a higher purpose.

“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’.” Psalm 27:8 ESV

Every day several acts of kindness are highlighted on our local and national news. People seem to be doing all manners of nice things for family members, neighbors, friends and even strangers in need. I am sure that you also have done some very nice things for others.

This begs the question, why? Why are people motivated to do these kind things for others? And perhaps why now more than ever?

Obviously the need is greater now than other times. This is expressed by the first responders’ brave and selfless service, disregarding the danger to themselves and maybe their families.

However, the question of why goes deeper. What motivates us to be kind and do things for others?

Perhaps we were just raised this way. Perhaps we too have suffered and we want to help other suffering ones. Some of us just can’t resist the downcast faces of those in need.

All of these are great reasons to help. However, I would suggest that there is always a bit of selfishness involved also. It may be hidden deep within us, but all of us go into these acts of kindness asking what will I get out of this. In our best moments our selfishness is hidden, even to ourselves, but is there nonetheless.

That is why we are not always kind to others. It is why we often burn out when we try to be consistently kind over time. We simply cannot muster selflessness over time.

To consistently show love and kindness we have to constantly be filled up with kindness and love from others. That truth, in and of itself, demonstrates our selfishness. We need to be shown love to be able to give love.

There is only one way to constantly receive love, in order to be able to give love to others. We have to tap into an abundant, never ending supply of love. The only such source of love is God. His love is overflowing, steadfast and eternal.

To tap into this love we have to give ourselves to Him, holding nothing back. We have to confess that we have gone our own way and turn from those ways to follow Him.

If we do that, He gives us His abundant love and enables us to be the kind, loving, selfless people we want to be. We will still have our failures, but we can return to Him and find His love is still available to us.

“See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don’t know God, so they don’t understand that we are his children.”

My wife and I live in large apartment complex at the northern edge of a small city. The complex is sprawling and quite scenic. There are lots of trees, several ponds and fountains.

This complex is a nesting area for ducks and geese. So every year at this time, these birds set up camp and start families. It is fun to watch the new families trek by our patio.

I have noticed a difference between duck families and geese families. Geese families will walk by with one adult in front, leading the way, and another trailing behind to keep track of everyone. Duck families, on the other hand, travel around with only one adult. Male adult geese are far more protective of their families than their duck counterparts. Trust me. You do not want to cross an adult male goose at this time of year.

Along with the ducks and geese, we see many other types of birds frequenting our patio. Robins, wrens, and cardinals like to perch themseves on our patio. I love the color and variety that they display.

I also like the varieties of their songs as I walk around the neighborhood. Each has a distinct musical call.

These discoveries, though simple and obvious to many, lead me to thoughts about the Creator. Oh, I know that it is not popular to speak about our world being created by an omnipotent being. I am sorry if that offends you, but I sincerely believe that God created our universe and I am in awe at the wonder of His creation.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 ESV

I understand that weather reports are vital in the midwest, where I live. But the weather reports on our local stations seem to be overdone.

Not only does the weather person give forecasts 3-4 times per half hour, but they give teasers before each segment and they repeat themselves frequently during the segments.

I know the forecasts are important but what causes such redundancy. Do the viewers have short-term memory or listening problems? Are the reporters paid by the word? Regardless, I become easily tired by the repetition and turn off the news pretty quickly, missing other important information.

At the same time I am amazed at how much I need repetition to learn most things. I try to learn from my life struggles but often find myself having to learn the same lesson over again. I will discover an idea, only to soon forget it until I am reminded again.

I know that I am not alone in this struggle. The Bible tells the stories of how God taught the Israelites the same truths repeatedly. They too seemed to make the same mistakes over and over again. While they suffered the consequences of their sins, God revealed His amazing grace and patience with them.

I know that He shows the same grace and patience with me as I often fall into the same traps repeatedly. I am so grateful for His faithfulness and grace.

“and count the patience of our Lord as salvation” 2 Peter 3:15 ESV

Sand on the beach is free. Sand for playgrounds costs $25 per bag. Sand glued to a piece of paper and sold in hardware stores as sandpaper is priced at about $5 per sheet. Sand formed into silicone for computer chips is much more pricey.

What determines the price of sand, its value? Its value is determined by the owner’s purpose.

Does this same principle apply to you and me? Yes!

God created us in His own image. He has given each of us a purpose for our lives. We are each to display His love in return to Him and to others.

Why don’t we do this very effectively? Because we can only give out what we have received. In other words, if we have not received God’s love into our lives, we cannot give it out. Furthermore, if we believe that God gives us only a little love, then we can only love a little.

What you believe about God’s love for you tells the rest of us all we need to know about you. Your character is completely dependent on your response to God’s love for you. How you will spend eternity is also dependent upon your response to His love.

What wiil you do in response to God’s abundant, steadfast, and eternal love for you?

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV

Most of my blogs are directed to the general public. This one is directed toward Christians specifically.

II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This verse contains a great promise, but it is conditional on the hearts and actions of God’s people. We must full heartedly do four things:

1. We must humble ourselves, after all anything else is sin.
2. We must pray, knowing that we can do nothing on our own, but God can do all things.
3. We must seek His face, depending fully on Him with our very lives.
4. We must turn from our wicked ways. Note that He is telling believers to turn from our wicked ways. Before we can ask God to heal our land, we must put aside all sin from our lives. That’s you and me.

Let’s begin today. Let’s humble ourselves before Almighty God, pray for personal and national healing, sincerely seek God, and repent from all our sins. Then we will see healing and be able to sincerely speak to our neighbors about healing.

I grew up at a time when we had great confidence that we were hearing the truth from our parents, teachers, government officials, and news outlets. Then the late 60’s and the 70’s came and we began to question these information sources.

We were convinced that “they” could not be trusted to tell us things as they really were. All these authorities seemed to have agenda through which their “facts” were filtered and distorted.

It has only gotten worse since then. Every day brings charges of “fake news” and accusations of outright lies. These accusations are made against politicians, news outlets, professors, health leaders, and most anybody.

Who are we to believe? How can we find the truth when everybody seems to distort it?

We need an authority on the truth, who has never been accused of lying or distorting the truth.

Only one person qualifies as the authoritative truth-teller. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is Truth. Those who seek truth must come to Him for it and they will find it. He is forever trustworthy.

Foxnews’ website this morning quotes Greg Laurie as saying, “Never trade what you do know for what you don’t know.” Wise advice from the well known Southern California pastor.

We don’t know why the Covid 19 crisis is happening and we don’t know how long it will last. These things can make us anxious and worried.

For most of us, we do know that we have good relationships to support us, we have food for today, and we have adequate shelter and health. We also know the practices that can help us stay healthy.

For Greg Laurie, myself and millions of others, we also know that God is powerful and loves us. He also tells us that all things will work out for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

I would add one more trade that we shouldn’t make. Don’t trade what you can do for what you can’t do. Okay, so there are a lot of things we can’t do right now. But there are also a lot of things we can do.

We can find ways to brighten the lives of others, like throwing a drive by appreciation parade for medical personnel or students.

We can call and encourage friends, relatives and acquaintances.

We can send an encouraging card to someone.

We can donate to worthy organizations serving those in need right now. Better yet, we can find ways to help them ourselves,

I am trying to say that there are dozens of worthy thoughts and actions we can take, right now, to help others and reduce our own anxiety.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who called according to his purpose.”

When I was working I probably wouldn’t have noticed how strange this day has turned out to be. As I began my morning walk it was sunny and somewhat clear. By the time I finished it was snowing. It is April 15 and it looks a lot like January outside.

But the weather is not the strangest thing about this day. Usually April 15 is tax day, a day to settle accounts with the IRS. Instead I received a check from the IRS today. It is the promised economic stimulus check. Even though receiving the check was anticipated, it is still strange to receive money from the government today.

Because I am retired, I now have more opportunity to contemplate these oddities. Of course there are always greater unusual occurrences to think about.

The greatest of these is the truth that a holy God would send His Son to take on human form, with all our weaknesses. The Son then bore the punishment for our sins and died for rebellious sinners like me. The Father accepted this sacrifice as just payment for my sins. I do not deserve such grace and mercy.

Today I am thinking about God’s amazing grace and thanking Him for all He has done for me. I hope you can join me in thanksgiving.

“For Gos so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV

Sure, some things have changed during shelter in place, but resilience has come to the forefront.

I miss seeing my kids and grandkids, but we still keep in touch via video conferencing, emails, and social media. Not the same but good enough for now.

I miss baseball, but I can still watch classic games on YouTube. Not quite as good, but not bad.

I miss going to the store when I want and without protective gear, but I can still go and I have everything I need.

I still walk several miles a day, but now there is much less traffic. Not the same, but even better and safer.

I miss not being able to go where I want when I want, but I do get out. Not the same but acceptable.

I miss going to church and being with my church family, but we do enjoy church online.

Things have changed temporarily, some for good and some not so good. We have all found ways to get around the inconveniences and enjoy things in a diiferent way. For that I am grateful.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV