The Present vs. The Future

“Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes.”

II Samuel 14:22

When it comes to having a right perspective on life, some things are not simply one way or the other. Newspapers almost annually carry reports of incredibly poor people, living in squalid conditions on the most meager of resources, who at their death are found to be multi-millionaires with vast resources. For those people, the balance between living responsibly with the future in mind and enjoying the present place they found themselves in could never be found. The fear of the future crippled them for the joys of the present life.

Before I sell the future short, we have to make sure that we arrive in the future ready and prepared for what God has planned. The musician practicing faithfully on a daily basis is investing in their future, taking the necessary steps to growth and mastery. The pastor studying for an upcoming message is preparing to deliver thoughts and insights that come from the heart of God and, hopefully, will have a life changing impact on his listeners. The policeman undergoing advanced firearm training, the firefighter attending a seminar on the latest firefighting tools available, the CPR refresher course for a first responder and a nurse attending a hospital in service on the latest medicines available for patient care are all right where they should be in preparing for the future. We could make the same arguments when it comes to handling our finances with the future in mind and about being cognizant of the future health implications of decisions we make today and of the diet we choose to adopt.

But researchers have clearly shown that anticipation of the future, and living only based on the expectation of tomorrow, can be the great enemy of present day happiness. We’ve been given today as a gift from God, a day to make the most of, and a time to stop and smell the roses, an opportunity to spend time with family and friends, and a day to learn and grow in some way. We hear so much about not dwelling on the past, and on our past failures and mistakes, and that is all one hundred percent correct. But, in some ways, we can make the same mistake by dwelling on the future and all that we are expecting from it. 

As the saying goes, we’ve only been promised today. Step outside and smell the fresh air. Contact a friend or loved one and get caught up. Start that project that you’ve been putting off. Do the things you resolved to do this year when New Year’s resolutions were so popular. Live in the present, not in the unknown future, and wring every last spark of life, every single bit of joy and purpose out of your today!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The School of Life

“These things happened to them as examples….”

I Corinthians 10:11

When it comes to learning the lessons of life, like many other things, there are the easy ways to learn and the hard ways to learn. Every lesson doesn’t have to be learned through suffering, heartache and failure. And contrary to the popular notion, experience is not always the best teacher. No doubt, life has many lessons to teach all of us, lessons about people and our interactions with them, lessons about the moral choices we face and the accompanying consequences, and lessons about our serving a God whose ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours that faith and trust are essential ingredients to success. But where will we learn them?

Learning in the classroom is far and away the best option; it is the educational equivalent to pain free dentistry, if such a thing really exists. Sitting in my office typing this note, I’m looking at several hundred books in front of me, the products of much research and study, of life experiences recorded in book form that we might benefit from the wisdom they contain. On my desk is my Bible, an inexhaustible source of wisdom and understanding meant to guide us throughout our lives. In it, we can read of those who’ve gone before us; we can learn about a God who is faithful to His promises and whose Word is a sure foundation to guide our lives.

But the classroom environment is not our only source of learning. We can learn from the lives of those around us, as long as we are honest in looking at the end of the matter and not viewing temporary success through rose colored glasses. Ruined lives, lives filled with sadness and disappointment, through choices that can only be classified as “they should have known better,” are invaluable opportunities for us to learn without experiencing the weight of failure in our own lives. And learning from others includes seeing those who have placed their fate in the hands of a loving God and earned the reward of their trust.

The last ways we learn has been mentioned already; we learn through our mistakes and through the pain we experience in life. No doubt about it, we learn lessons through suffering that no classroom is able to teach but those lessons should be the exception, not the norm. Our first order of business is to spend time in God’s Word, the most incredible self-contained classroom ever imagined. Read about the men and women who’ve gone before us and learn from them. And with that as a foundation, we can read books and read people’s lives and be someone who, no matter how old we are, never stops learning in the classroom of life.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

One Another

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

I John 4:11

Excuse me if I find myself battling a case of jealousy this morning but after another night of insomnia, I was hoping for a little sympathy from the Lord, maybe in the form of some reassuring scripture like, “Because you have not slept, I will bless you!” But no such luck. In fact, all God seems to care about these days is some person named One Another. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s Mr. or Mrs. One Anther, or maybe Ms or Miss One Another, not to mention whether they are young or old, Caucasian, Hispanic, African American or Asian. The only thing I know is that God is always talking about One Another and how important they are.

Again, I’m sorry for my frustration but God said that people can judge my Christianity by how I treat this One Another person, saying in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love One Another.” After just coming back from a missions trip, going to church two days in a row including an optional Saturday morning prayer meeting, giving an offering and the litmus test of my Christianity is how I treat One Another? That I can do all that for God and He says that everyone has the right to judge me based on my love for this One Another person – this must be one pretty important person to God!

But is gets worse! I’m not only supposed to find this One Another man or woman but I’m supposed to purposefully encourage them, as Paul wrote, “Therefore encourage One Another and build One Another up.” And I’m to do it every day! Hebrews 3:13 says “But encourage One Another daily as long as it is called today.” And later in the book, “And let us consider how we may spur One Another on toward love and good deeds …. and encourage One Another.”

I’d like to tell you that’s all there is but it goes on and on. I have to open my home to One Another after hearing God say “Be hospitable to One Another without grumbling.” (I Peter 4:9) Not to mention the fact that I have to pray for One Another (James 5:16), greet One Another with a kiss of love (now that’s going too far!) (I Peter 5:14) forgive One Another when they hurt me in any way, and according to Galatians 6:2, “Carry One Another’s burdens.”

Well, if this One Another guy or girl matters that much to God, I guess they should matter that much to me. Let’s just hope, as I go about my day, that I can find them and begin to love them as the Lord loves me, showing this One Another person the fervent love that God asks me to.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Recycling

“As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, 

they make it a well (for others to drink from).”
Psalm 84:6

 

In asking our Korean students what was their most difficult adjustment in coming to America, their response, “we didn’t know where to put the food at lunch” caught me by surprise. A little follow up yielded the fact that recycling in Korea is light years ahead of what we do here in the United States. In our lunchroom, all garbage goes in one receptacle and it taken out to the dumpster. In Korea, the average home or school will have five recycling containers: one for all food products, one for metals, another for plastic, a fourth for paper and cardboard, and, lastly, a catch all for anything that doesn’t belong in one of the others.  And recycling is not hit or miss in Korea as it is here but something fastidiously adhered to.

 

Not only did I learn something about another country and culture from those students, but it has motivated me to issue a general call for far greater recycling in each of our lives starting today. But consider this statement before you jump to conclusions: “if you will allow Him, the Lord will recycle your pain for someone else’s gain.” Now that is recycling! We take the lessons learned, the pain we have experienced and recycle it into consolation in someone else’s life. We take the victories we have earned, and the faith gained as a result, and we recycle that too. No more of this American recycling; we are going South Korean all the way!

 

Scriptures say much about the testimonies of our lives being a means of wisdom and strength in the lives of others. Some lessons are of necessity learned through experiences we go through and learn from. But not all! How often are we given the opportunity to see and hear what has happened in another person’s life in order to avoid the same pitfalls in our own? How often are we privy to the failures of another for the express purpose of saving us from needless sorrow and pain? Out of love for one another, we desperately need a fresh commitment to the recycling of our lives.

 

When I think of how God can recycle our experiences in so many spheres of life, from raising our children to succeeding on the job, from enduring heartbreak to handling victory humbly, to holding on by a thread to getting to our wits end, I see abundant opportunity for each of us to contribute, through personal recycling, to the well-being of others. It will require us being more open about what we’ve gone through, more willing to make our pain a source of gain for a friend, a coworker or fellow believer. But what great value in taking the experiences and lessons that we have paid a dear price for and using them for great profit in the lives of others.

God Bless

Pastor Joe
Gateway Church 

Connect The Dots

“Thus says the Lord, ‘If you will walk in my ways and if you will keep my charge, 

then you will rule my house, have charge of my courts, 

and I will give you places to walk in my presence.’”

Zechariah 3:7

The children’s placemats at area restaurants, like my favorite National Coney Island, are a pretty good attempt to keep the little ones busy and occupied until the food arrives. Four crayons and the kids are off, doing the word search, coloring in the picture, unscrambling the words, and, the subject of this devotion, connecting the dots. Starting at the number one and going number by number, drawing a line between the dots until the picture becomes clear. And, in an ideal world, as the last line is drawn, the large barbecue Hani, fries with cheese on the side, and no pickle is just arriving along with the kids’ hot dogs, fries and chocolate milk.

As Rachel shared in service Sunday, she mentioned connecting the dots between the faith and courage displayed by some of the great men and women in the Bible and the very difficult trials of faith that had occurred earlier in their lives to strengthen their faith and prepare them for what was ahead. And her encouragement was for each of us to realize that, in the same way, we go through trials, storms and difficulties in our lives that are going to be crucial in preparing us for what God has ahead. Paul’s exhortation that “all things work together for good” no doubt had this same thought in mind. Even the enemy’s worst attacks, as Joseph experienced, become a tool for God to use to accomplish good in the lives of those He is at work in.

But as she spoke, my mind wandered to this thought of our connecting the dots. Are we connecting the dots to something God is trying to accomplish in our lives? Are we connecting the dots between our present and our future? Are we connecting the dots between present preparations (prayer and Bible study) and future preparedness? Is something not working out in our lives and we refuse to connect the dots because we know it will lead to a lack of obedience in our lives and will point the finger right back at us? Are we connecting the dots to how God works and to where He is leading, so that we connect the dots to our future, and can then clearly see the picture ahead of us and receive direction and encouragement from it?

Connecting the dots in our lives can be a win-win situation. By that I mean that as each line is drawn, and as the picture becomes clearer and clearer, you have the opportunity to win. For one person, winning might be realizing an area of disobedience and getting back on track so the dots connect to a right picture. For another, winning might mean finding strength as you realize that God is in control and that, in His wisdom, He is preparing you for great things ahead!

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Turning A Blind Eye

]“Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.”

Luke 11:34

 

As the story goes, in the midst of a naval battle, Admiral Horatio Nelson put a telescope up to his eye to look for orders from a commanding officer on another vessel.  The problem was that Nelson didn't put the telescope up to his good eye but to the eye that had been blinded earlier in his career. Having made up his mind on the course of action he intended to pursue, Nelson looked through his blind eye for orders that would supersede his, saw nothing, and continued the battle. And from that action has been coined the commonly used phrase, “turning a blind eye.”

The definitions for the phrase include “to ignore something and pretend that you don’t see it,” to choose to ignore behavior that you know is wrong” and “to close your eyes to something.” It may have been in that light that Jesus spoke of a people whose hearts had become so calloused that they had eyes but didn’t see and ears but couldn’t hear. In his book, The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson references a distinction made by Jewish rabbis between a good eye and a bad eye, attributing differences to a person’s attitude towards others. A bad eye turned a blind eye to the poor and to the needs of others. A good eye referred to a person’s ability to see and to seize every opportunity to be a blessing toward others.

 

Whether we are studying the teachings of scripture or learning from an 1801 naval battle, the practice of turning a blind eye is as relevant today as it was back then. We turn a blind eye to situations where seeing a need and doing something about it will cost us something, much like those religious people in the parable of the Good Samaritan. When they crossed to the other side of the road, they were turning a blind eye to the man who had been beaten and left for dead. We also turn a blind eye to sin and to wrongdoing, because we fear that taking a stand for what is right will cost us in relationships and in possible repercussions with others.

So much is said in scripture about our opening our eyes to see, and about God opening people’s eyes but it wasn't spoken to those naturally blind, like Admiral Nelson, but to those whose eyes were closed by choice.  Turning a blind eye is often the far easier of the choices we face but it leaves problems unaddressed, issues unresolved and the needs of others unmet. Let’s be purposeful in living our lives with our eyes wide open to the world around us and to the opportunities before us.

God Bless

Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Addition By Subtraction

“The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

Proverbs 11:3

With a horrible record after the first 28 games of the season, the Detroit Pistons decided to release one of their best players, despite still having to pay him over $20 million in the coming years. Now, we would all expect that getting rid of a top player would make a team worse but the opposite happened; the Pistons started playing better and actually winning more after that move was made. Many reasons were given for the improvement in basketball terminology but the final commentary always seemed to include this: addition by subtraction.

The principle is not new. Someone is removed from a team at work who causes chemistry problems among the staff and the work environment improves dramatically. A person who constantly complains and finds faults drops out of your circle of friends and a heaviness is lifted and the fun of spending time with friends almost instantly returns to the group. An addictive habit or a destructive attitude is finally conquered in your life and you feel free as a bird, ready to take on life with a new excitement that has been missing for years. In every case, the breakthrough we are experiencing is the result of addition by subtraction.

Hebrews calls us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Progress in life is not always from trying harder and doing more. We will all find ourselves in situations where the next step in our growth is getting rid of something that is hindering us. Letting go of a relationship that is pulling us back toward the world and sin, waking up to a negative attitude that is poisoning our own well and feeding discontent in our lives, or quite simply getting victory over an area of sin in our lives that has gotten control of us and stands in the way of our going on with the Lord. Far too often we come to the point where we are at a standstill, that place where we aren’t going anywhere in life until something goes.

The Detroit Pistons releasing a star player still under contract was unprecedented, a move never before made in the history of the NBA. But did that stop them? No, doing what everyone else has always done is not why you play the game; you play to win! In the same way, you may be a candidate for a spurt of growth and serious breakthrough in your life. But is may require the hard step of addition by subtraction. Figure out who you want to be as a person and as a Christian, and get rid of anything that doesn’t fit with your accomplishing those goals!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church