Three Nuggets of Gold – Managing Life God’s Way

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.
Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:5-10 (NASB)

As you read Proverbs 3:5-10 did you realize it? God just dropped three giant gold nuggets into your hands. You just got the most solid life-management advice of all time. Really? Yes, really. When it comes to building a solid and stable life Jesus, the Son of God, put it this way, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall” Matthew 7:24-27 (NASB).

So, what are you going to do with your three wisdom nuggets of gold God from God’s loving hand?

A good place to start answering that question is by taking a look at what is currently going on in your life. Are you constantly zigzagging? Do you find yourself on one detour after another? Whose life wisdom are you following? Who or what do you fear? Are you always worried and anxious? How are you dealing with evil? What is the first thing you do when you have some money? Are you always broke?

Of course, you can keep on doing what you’re doing, which will come with the guarantee that the results will be the same. You can do what lots of people do with God’s word and wisdom, take those nuggets and toss them into a drawer. That of course is a very foolish thing to do, as Jesus pointed out.

On the other hand, you could use those nuggets of eternal wisdom, cash them in, put them to work in your life, apply them to your everyday life, let them influence how you set your priorities, make your decisions, what you participate in and say no to, and how you manage your possessions and wealth. If you do so, it will have at least four different outcomes:

1. You will be changed. You’ll zigzag less. You’ll feel much better. God’s blessing will be on your life.
2. You will be a blessing to others. Zigzaggers can’t help others walk a straight path, but those who walk straight can. Those with full barns can lend to others, but those with empty barns are always borrowing. Less evil in your life means you will do more good.
3. You will find out just how good, wise, stable, and trustworthy god is. So much so, that you will develop an ever-growing appreciation of Him and His ways, you will constantly sing His praises, and you will want others to experience the same.
4. God will be glorified and honored, and others will be encouraged to follow His wisdom and ways.

Look at them again, those three nuggets of life-changing wisdom God just put into your hands, take their invitation to imagine, to change, to grow.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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My Brother’s Keeper – Cain and Christmas

It was a defiant, don’t bother me, leave me alone, answer. An answer rooted in guilt, in never having liked God speaking to him, in never dealing with his sins, sins that finally had spun completely out of control.

He didn’t see it, neither did he hear it; sin does have a way of rendering us blind, deaf, and foolish. God wasn’t trying to rub his nose in it, He was trying to help him, deliver him from the ever-tightening grip of sin, from his soul surrendering to the darkness reaching for it, from repeating the sin of his parents – the rejection of God.

And so, his mean-sounding answer matched what his mean hands had already done, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain threw back in God’s face when asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Genesis 4:9).

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” has echoed through the ages right down to you and me.

God didn’t ask Cain to get information as to Abel’s whereabouts. God witnessed the murder; He saw where Cain dug a hole in the ground to hide his brother’s body. God’s question was for Cain’s benefit, a chance to be broken, to weep, to confess, to repent, to cry out for mercy, to be delivered from the sin he couldn’t master, the sin that had mastered and enslaved him. Cain didn’t take God’s offer, instead, he lied and hissed the defiant answer across his clenched teeth, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He sure wasn’t, hadn’t been, but he should’ve been. He surely shouldn’t have been his brother’s murderer.

It wasn’t that Cain didn’t know or believe in God, or that he wasn’t religious. God spoke directly with him several times. What Cain didn’t like was God being adamant about holiness and righteousness, God’s rigorous demand that his sin had to be dealt with and that an offering, no matter how fancy, means nothing if the heart and actions don’t match. Cain hated that God had no regard for his offering, that God declared his religious approach empty. Empty religion, Christian or otherwise, is no help with our depravity, is of no assistance with mastering sin, has room for hate, and finds ways to justify most anything, even murder – the plot to kill Jesus, the Son of God, was hatched by the religious leaders.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Abel wasn’t a bad brother, Jesus called him righteous (Matthew 23:35). The only way to be called “righteous” is to do what is right, to do what is right before God. Instead of appreciating his brother’s righteousness Cain was jealous of it, hated it. That’s how sin and righteousness work. One is light and the other is darkness. Your and my sin looks a whole lot dirtier when we stand next to someone who is good, has a heart that beats for God, is Christlike. Cain’s solution was to turn down the light, to not deal with his sin and inner darkness, to not address his own unrighteousness, and instead attack and snuff out the light. According to Jesus, Cain’s lying and murder inform us about who his true spiritual father was “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” John 8:44 (NASB).

“Am I My brother’s keeper?” A similar question is “Who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29. A righteous person answers them very differently than Cain, or how they have been answered most often throughout history. Both questions need to be answered by each one of us if we are going to celebrate a truly meaningful Christmas and live righteous lives. Christmas, when we remember that God sent His only Son into our world filled with big and little Cains, our world sick with empty religions and philosophies, our world overflowing with lies, our world where too much blood cries out, our world lacking brother’s and sister’s keepers, our world in need of more neighbors and fewer enemies, our world needing forgiveness of and deliverance from sin.  

Our world still desperately needs the light of Christ, it needs the Jesus light to shine through you and me. “The people who live in darkness have seen a great light – Jesus, and for those living in the shadowland of Cain, sin, and death, light has dawned” Matthew 4:16 (HCSB, italics mine). Thank you, God.

Have a most meaningful and God-glorifying Advent and Christmas season.

Love you, Pastor Hans

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Trees Undervaluing Good – Overestimating Evil – Underestimating God

Trees – I have admired, photographed, felled, bucked, trimmed, burned, planted, pruned, carved, climbed, and picked fruit off them. Maybe you have as well?

Trees – Have you stopped and paused for their daily, soul-refreshing dance in the low morning and evening sun as they are putting on their annual Autumn Extravaganza, spilling buckets of color over entire forests and landscapes, in backyards and orchards, along trails, city streets, and roadsides.

Trees – Food, fuel, shade, building material, tools, furniture, baskets, toys, … They are an incredible part of God’s good creation and provision. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good…
  Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:11-12, 29-31 (NASB)

Trees – They are mentioned sixteen times trees in the first three chapters of Genesis, the Bible book of Beginnings, eight times about two specific trees, and six of those about the tree “of the knowledge of good and evil.” The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…
 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Genesis 1:8-9, 29-30 2:8-9, 15-17 (NASB)

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the one tree that was off limits. The tree that has terribly affected all of mankind, all of creation, and all human history. The tree by which Adam and Eve sinned, and sin infected all of us.

Why did God plant it in the first place if they couldn’t eat its fruit? Why plant a tree they had to continually say no to? Why did God plant it when He knew satan could and would use it as a source of temptation? Why plant it when the stakes were so high and the consequences so dire and far-reaching?

It was a very good command, “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die,” because knowing evil is overrated, and only God can handle the knowledge of evil without being corrupted by it, we surely can’t. They knew good, that’s all they knew, what could knowing evil possibly add to that? – nothing. I wish I knew less evil, were more like a little child whose sin nature hasn’t blossomed yet. It doesn’t take long for evil that is unleashed in the mind (knowledge) to work itself into our hearts, onto our lips, and take hold of our feet and hands (experiential knowledge), and from there extent itself into the lives of others.

That tree was a daily reminder that some things are better left in the hands of God. We are created in the image of God but not to be God, we are not qualified to occupy His throne, no one is, and when we try it always ends in disaster and death.

That tree asked a daily question, “Do you trust God?” even when He says, “No” or “Don’t.” So, do you? Do trust in God’s wisdom and goodness, and that He both knows what He is talking about and means what He says?

Heeding God’s good command to bypass that tree was a declaration of trust, an act of faith, a choice for good and life. But we know it didn’t take long for Adam and Eve to ignore the command not to eat of that tree (Genesis 3), to be duped into thinking that knowing evil and playing God was worth risking all the good God had blessed and surrounded them with, and to be deceived into thinking that God’s declared consequences to their actions somehow did not apply to them.

You and I are familiar with the knowledge of good and evil. For one, the taste for sin has been an inherited trait ever since Adam and Eve ate off that tree. For another, we are also guilty of continuing to snack and gorge ourselves on the fruit of that tree, falling to the same deception to mistrust and underestimate God, and that there is some way for us to be God.  

The command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil still stands – “Don’t eat from it.”

 To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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God and God’s Order

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” … “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:1&31 (NASB)

You can deny the existence of God, the Creator, but doesn’t change the fact that He is and that He did. Every time you look into a night sky the chorus of the stars testify that they are the handiwork of the Almighty, Eternal, God, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” Psalm 19:1 (NASB). Every time you hold a baby or look into a mirror you are reminded of the fact that every person is a creation of God, “You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well” Psalm 139:13-14 (NASB).

You and I are different from any other creature in God’s good creation in that, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” Genesis 1:27 (NASB). This includes a measure of volition no other creature shares, it forces us to make choices, beginning with how we relate to God and how we live within the order of God’s very good creation.

We are not free to live outside of God’s creation, but we are free to reject both the Creator and rebel against His order, however, never without consequences, because neither our rejection of God nor our rebellion against His order erases their existence.

• God established a cosmic order. Matter, galaxies, stars, solar systems, and the earth function according to God’s design, according to physical laws established by the Creator.

• God established a natural order. All nature and its undergirding laws are of God’s design, imagination, and will. This includes the biological gendering of humankind as “male and female.”

• God established a moral order out of His holy and morally impeccable character. What God declares good is good, what God deems evil and sinful is indeed evil and sinful. God’s moral order extends to all aspects of life, environmentally, culturally, politically, economically, interpersonally, and sexually. God’s moral order encompasses jurisprudence, governance, business, art, entertainment, science, education, and sex and marriage.

• God established a spiritual order, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” John 4:24 (NASB). He is the singular Creator, there is just one God. We do not get to shape Him or His order to our own liking. We are free and able to worship Him, but only as He has revealed Himself and on His terms, everything else is both error and idolatry. Even the outright denial of God is idolatry because it leaves you with nothing else to worship than creation, self, or something else within the human realm and imagination.

Culturally we are at odds with most of the above, which means we are living in an increasing disharmony with our Creator, a growing rejection of God and His order, an adamant promotion and self-justification of our own order, and a shaping of God or gods to our own liking. None of these will make our world or us better, because the rejection of God and His order causes us to misplace our faith, lose our humility, give license to our depravity and impulses, place allegiance and ultimate authority into the wrong hands, and separate us from the God, the true source life, wisdom, love, and goodness. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water” Jeremiah 2:13 (NASB).

We must ask ourselves, “Who or what do I worship?” “Who or what is my guiding voice?” “Whose order am I submitting to?” No one but God should occupy that chair, that throne.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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9-11-2001 A Reflection on Evil

9/11/2001 – A Reflection – Faces of Evil

Evil has many faces, but they are not always easy to spot. Nineteen men had volunteered themselves to execute a plan to highjack four commercial planes filled with passengers and fly them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and possibly the White House. They had their passports checked, were looked at by security, airline personnel, and people who boarded the planes with them, none of whom thought they were looking into faces of evil.

Much later, after they had carried out their evil attack that killed almost 3,000 unsuspecting people who had done them no wrong, we saw their faces lined up in the news. Along with them we saw the faces of those who put them up to it, recruited them, forged the plan, and financed the wicked operation.

The subsequent war on terror has taken over 900,000 lives around the world, and extracted costs counted in trillions of dollars. Over the past 22 years, it has succeeded in preventing another major terrorist attack on American soil.

There are other faces of evil, who at the same time the twenty-two-year war on terror has raged have left a staggering trail of carnage. 20,000,000 aborted babies in the United States alone, opioid deaths more than quadrupled to over 80,000 a year, mass shootings have become the order of the day, and … None of these happen without someone perpetrating the evil, someone with a face, maybe even a smile.

Evil, more often than not, creates evil, and at the very least tempts us to evil ourselves, to strike back in kind, to normalize it, even justify it. It does so because evil causes pain, loss, death, frustration, injustice, anger, and hatred. Knowing this, and because none of us are completely innocent when it comes to evil, God has given us some very clear instructions when it comes to dealing with evil.

• Pray that God will help you and deliver you from evil (our own evil, the evil of others, and the Evil One), “Our Father who is in heaven … do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, …” Matthew 6:9, 13). In the face of evil, the best and first thing to do is to seek God’s help, not revenge.  “O LORD, rescue me from evil people. Protect me from those who are violent, those who plot evil in their hearts and stir up trouble all day long”
  Psalm 140:1-2 (NLT2).

• Do not respond in kind, it will add to the evil. “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men” Romans 12:17 (NASB). “Do not say, “I will repay evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you” Proverbs 20:22 (NASB).  

• Don’t keep evil company, it will affect you, and it won’t benefit you. “Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of evil men” Proverbs 4:14 (NASB). “Don’t envy evil people or desire their company” Proverbs 24:1 (NLT2).

• Draw a line in the sand when it comes to evil, doing evil, regarding all that God calls evil, “Abstain from every form of evil” 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NASB).

• Do good, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
  Romans 12:21 (NASB). That sounds and feels like an oxymoron, but it is most practical. In doing good we fight the temptations evil exposes us to, and we take a stand against it. “See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people” 1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NASB).

Let’s give the Apostle Peter the final word, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 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. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” 1 Peter 3:8-12 (ESV).

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Meet the Holy Spirit – Power Lessons

Although we didn’t even know the word, we were the Kindergarten mafia, especially out in the play yard where fewer eyes were watching us. Playing on premium real estate and with the best toys in the sandbox didn’t happen without our little group giving it the nod, which in turn depended on whether you had anything trade-worthy in your lunchbox or pockets. If you wanted access to the corner around the corner, the blindspot, the tribute went up. The unwritten fine print of any transaction clearly specified that whatever privilege acquired could be revoked for any reason at any time, and often was.

Power, we learn about it early in life, how to yield it and how to yield to it, how to abuse it and be hurt by it. Even before we learned how to walk, we discovered the power of being funny, the giggle, and the smile, as well as the power of the fake cry, whine, sulk, fit, punch, and occasional bite. Add a sibling and you just got enrolled in the graduate school of power and manipulation. But maybe that’s just my crazy experience!

Mankind’s, our experience with power is a broken one, a story of abuse, lies, manipulation, injustice, fear, violence, evil, and death. Our sinfulness, our depravity, has affected the way think about, use, and experience power as deeply as anything, scarring all of human history up to the festering wounds of the present.

The trick is not to be on the bottom rung of the power scale, that’s definitely not where you want to be, and yet where most of us reside. If you dare to climb up, don’t be surprised by fierce competition from all sides, and be aware that the rungs get narrower the higher you climb.

Since you already graduated from the University of Power at age six, why am I telling you things you already know? Because Almighty God invited us into a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit, including a new and different relationship, understanding, and use of power. As Christians, we are not called to perpetuate the power lessons from Kindergarten and be indistinguishable from the world around us.

The most powerful person who ever lived is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who not only created our entire universe but defeated sin, death, and the devil. Speaking of Christ, Isaiah the prophet declared, “He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick; He will faithfully bring justice” Isaiah 42:3 (HCSB). What a different use of power!

Just before His ascension, Christ commanded His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, telling them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” Acts 1:8 (HCSB). According to Jesus, Christians individually and Christians collectively, the church, are called to live out of a completely different source of power. When six weeks later the Holy Spirit descended on this waiting group of nobodies, He didn’t come with loaded Brinks Trucks, didn’t hand them appointments to positions of power throughout the Roman empire. Instead, He did what no earthly power has even considered, He filled all the men and women with Himself, the very presence and power of God. He bridged the greatest power differential of all time. He vested all of Himself and His power in the most ordinary and powerless people.

I haven’t forgotten the power lessons I learned at home, Kindergarten, work, community involvement, and denominational engagements. Far too often I still catch myself relying on and yielding power devoid of the heart of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in me. If I want to get it right, for Christ to be glorified and shine through me, practicing the power lessons of Galatians 5:13-25 is a good starting point:

• Christ did not set me free from sin to use my freedom and power for selfish ends.

• I am always both under some power and yielding power.

• I must continually surrender to and submit myself to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

• My behavior, attitudes, speech, and involvements are clear indicators of what power is in charge.

• If I want to use power properly, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are indispensable. Their presence in my thinking, attitude, and behavior is in direct relationship to my submission to the Holy Spirit and His power.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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Prayer – Essential and Essentials

I want you to think with me about prayer for a minute or two. Prayer is an incredible invitation, one of the great privileges of life. God inviting us into His presence to listen to us and to speak to us, God granting us access to Himself, encouraging us to ask of Him, to draw on His wealth of resources including His knowledge, wisdom, power, goodness, and ability to provide.

Prayer is absolutely essential for anyone serious about living a life with God, anyone who is serious about following Jesus Christ. The most foundational teaching on prayer is given by Jesus Matthew 6:5-14 and Luke 11:1-13.

Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’] Matthew 6:9-13 (NASB)

Entire books have been written on the “Lord’s Prayer,” but I want to highlight three of the most basic things it teaches us about prayer: Who to pray to? Why pray? and, What to ask for?

• Who to pray to?

There is only one true and living God. Praying to anyone or anything else might feel spiritual or religious, but it is futile. The universe, a creation of God, cannot answer a single prayer. Praying to an idol, statue, saint, ancestor, prophet, or angel is not just an empty exercise but also an affront to God. We are not free to decide who God is, we are, however, invited to acknowledge Him as God, our heavenly Father, the singular God of eternity and glory, who has granted us access through God the Son, Jesus Christ, and who helps us in our praying through God the Holy Spirit.

• Why pray?

First of all, to keep God front and center, to make sure we make life about Him, His honor, His glory, His will, and His kingdom. Before we make a single request, prayer is meant to focus us on God, to align ourselves with what is important to Him, and to pursue the knowing and doing of His will. If we are not focused on God and His will but on what we want or think we need, we might end up asking for all the wrong things.

Before asking God for anything we need to hear from Him, have Him speak to us about His kingdom (rule) and His will. So we pray because prayer is stepping into the presence of God, it focuses our eyes, heart, and mind on God, it allows us to hear from God, helps us to know the will of God, and then we are in a good position to make our requests and ask away.

• What to ask for?

There are eight requests in the “Lord’s Prayer”: That God would be glorified/hallowed, for His kingdom to come, for His will to be done on earth, His provision for our daily needs, for Him to forgive us, to aid us in forgiving others, to keep us from and help us with navigating temptations, and for deliverance from evil and the evil one (satan). Talk about comprehensive, a lot more and much broader than our usual asking, which too often is centered on our health, safety, finances, struggles, and comfort. Our asking changes when we first concern ourselves with God’s honor, kingdom, and will.

We are also wise not to forget the very first word, “our.” That’s thinking about others right from the outset. If we want to be good at asking for the right things in prayer our praying needs to be about God, we, and me. Me-centered praying has the wrong center, quickly reduces God to a genie in a bottle or a crisis hotline, lacks concern for others, and forgets that what I think is best might not be what God thinks is best or what is best for others.

One last thing, Jesus, teaching His disciples on praying said, “When you pray” (Luke 11:2a), not “if.” Two things are required if we want to pray well, learning from God’s word (the Bible) what good praying looks like, and actually praying, daily, often, everywhere, anytime, and continually.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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The Sanctity of All Human Life

Sanctity of All Human Life

“God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27 (NLT2).

“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person”
Genesis 2:7 (NLT2).

Sadly, we have to remind ourselves that human life is sacred and that a single soul is worth more than the sum total of the world’s treasure (Mark 8:36). Human history testifies to the exact opposite: Life is cheap, only some are valuable, and too many are deemed expendable.

It is a great evil to consider another human being as a second-class human, or a sub-human, or a non-human, to think that someone else is worth less than you. It is a very small step from worth less to worthless.

Our world is better when we acknowledge the sanctity of human life, when we recognize that others have the same value as me. We are better when women are not treated as second-class. We got better when we no longer called Native Americans, Blacks, Chinese, and others subhuman. We will be better when we no longer deprive the preborn of their humanity. We are always better when we acknowledge the humanity and worth of others, when we turn from evil.

The sanctity, the sacredness of our lives begins with God, the source and creator of all life. Every person, from the moment of conception, gets their life and breath from God. Each one of us is a living creation of God and bears the image of God. This is not true of the fish swimming in Lake Don Pedro, or the bald eagle who landed on the power pole by my house, or of Walter our dog whom everybody loves. But it is true of you and me, of those who don’t like or even hate me, the old woman in the wheelchair staring into space as I walked past her at the convalescent home, the strange souls in front of me in the checkout line at Walmart, the illegal alien who thanked me for a cup of coffee but I couldn’t converse with because I don’t speak Spanish, the pregnant woman and the baby inside of her shopping at Dollar General, our governor whose politics I am not a fan of, the young man behind the counter who moved here from India a year ago handing me my gas receipt, the homeless guy at the entrance of Costco who lives a life I know nothing about. All of them are God’s image bearers, all of them recipients of life from God’s good hands, just like you and me.

If we are serious about the sanctity of human life we have to call evil evil, pray to be delivered from evil Matthew 6:13), and make sure we don’t participate in and contribute to evil. Dehumanizing, devaluing, considering someone dispensable is evil. Two more mass shootings in the last two days – evil. Even considering leaving a baby that survived an abortion to die on a hospital table – evil. Denying someone the justice and care I want for myself – evil. Mistreating, abusing, taking advantage of, defrauding, cheating, maligning, or murdering another human being –  evil. However, the problem with calling evil evil is who gets to define evil. The powerful? The majority? Both of them have terrible track records. The wisest thing is to defer the definition of good and evil, of right and wrong, to God, who alone is untouched by evil and eternally wise (Proverbs 15:3, 24:11-12, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Isaiah 5:20, John 5:28-29, 1 peter 3:8-12, Romans 16:27)

Finally, in the debate on the sanctity of human life, the acknowledgment of God and calling evil evil is not enough. We, individually and collectively, have to actually treat each other right, with the dignity, respect, goodness, and compassion that sacred life deserves and demands, and we have to come to the aid of those who are mistreated. If loving God and hating evil were enough there would not have been a need for God and Christ to command us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), to love each other like Christ loves us (John 13:34-35), and to even love our enemy (Luke 6:35). We can’t get abortion right if don’t love both (not one or the other) the mother and the baby growing in her first. We won’t get immigration right if we don’t love “those” illegal aliens first. We won’t get justice right if we can’t love the poor (Proverbs 29:7), the wronged, and the weak. We won’t get much of anything right if don’t love each other like Jesus. But when we do, evil is defeated, and the world is a better place.

Why put Jesus in the middle of the sanctity of human life? Because that is where God rightfully belongs and no one knows more about life and making right and righteous choices than Jesus, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” John 10:10b (HCSB).

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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When? – Are You Ready for It?

Through observation, the pursuit of wisdom, and computer modeling we might achieve some high probability on some aspects of the future, but no one can speak with certainty about the near and far future, except God.

Everything in our world and lives is fragile. The environment, economy, political structures, peace – all fragile. Our bodies, minds, health, families, achievements, possessions, relationships – all fragile. Our fragility, our mortality, and our ignorance are the main reasons for our interest in the future. We live in the hope that knowing something about the future will lessen our fragility, achieve some kind of stability, and postpone our mortality as long as possible. And yet, despite our best efforts our world and each one of us woke up to the same fragility we went to bed with.

On their way out of the Temple complex Jesus’ disciples looked back and commented on the magnificent structure and beautiful architecture. “It’s all coming down, every last stone,” was Christ’s killjoy answer (Mark 13:1-2). Knowing their Jewish history, they were aware that it couldn’t happen, 600 years earlier Solomon’s temple was leveled by the Babylonians. Knowing this was a troubling prediction of the future, an announcement of war and defeat, an end to national aspirations and existence, they asked, “When?” and, “What are the warning signs before this happens?”

They did ask the right person, Jesus the Son of God. Who do you consult when it comes to the future, both in this life and in eternity? It will make a huge difference in your preparedness. At least five things are certain regarding the future: 1. It will come; 2. You will be in it; 3. It will unfold according to God’s will, plan, and word; 4. You will either be prepared or unprepared. 5. The only way to be prepared is to listen to and believe God.

Instead of having his disciples get out their calendars so they could mark a specific date, Jesus gave them a rather lengthy and confusing answer. He certainly doesn’t clear it all up for them. Christians have puzzled and debated over Mark 13 and Matthew 24-25 (and eschatology, the study of the end times) for the past 2000 years. In his answer, Jesus speaks of both the near future (the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and the Jewish Nation ceased to exist for almost 1900 years), and events reaching far into the future, including His return at the end of the ages.

The one thing Jesus is crystal clear about concerning the near and far future is the importance of preparedness to handle it, live through it, and give final accounting of our entire lives to God. He emphasizes:

• “See to it that no one misleads you” Mark 13:5. There will be lots of prognosticators, Christian or otherwise, with predictions, dates, explanations, interpretations of history, news, and natural events. Some will even claim to be Christ or make Christlike claims. None of them will help you be prepared, but they can derail you. Be discerning.

• “Be on your guard” Mark 13:9. “Pay attention to yourself,” persecution will come. Satan, sinful humankind and evil have no regard for God, Christ, God’s rule, ways, and kingdom. Serious following Christ will bring you into conflict with the religious, governmental, and even familial order of our world. Persevere.

• “Be Alert” Mark 13:33, 34, 35, 37. Don’t let not knowing God’s timing and waiting lure you into becoming careless, slack, sleepy, and self-focused. Live every day in such a way “the master of the house,” the Master of your life, the master over now and forever will be pleased, honored, and glorified. Be faithful.

The when, the future, your and my future, and all God has revealed about the future will come.  Knowing the exact times and dates and having predictive markers, is not near as important as who we listen to today, who we serve today, and how we live today. It is only through believing and serving God/Christ today that gets us ready for tomorrow.

            To God be all glory. Love you Pastor Hans

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Moving Out of the “Why Me?” Neighborhood

He didn’t just feel like he was a target, he was a target, although he didn’t know it, nor did he understand it, especially since had tried long and hard to do everything right. It all had crumbled so fast. First came the economic collapse, his ranching business was raided and destroyed by a wildfire. Then all of his children were killed in a tornado. Next came the collapse of his health, which was followed by his wife giving up on him and his friends accusing him of some underlying transgressions that caused it all. In his pain, anguish, confusion, and grief, Job cried, “Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest” Job 3:11–13 (NLT).

“Why me?” “Why is this happening to me?” “It’s too much to bear.” “It does not feel right or fair?” “I just don’t understand, God!”

We fear what happened to Job: The things beyond our control. Natural and human evil engulfing us. Poverty, a life of humiliation – losing what we worked hard for. Death, a life of grief – losing those we love the most. Pain, a life of dependency – losing our health. Loneliness, having to defend ourselves – those we trust turning on us. Randomness, our doing good not paying off – not being able to figure things out.

“Why me (or us)?” is often accompanied by, “What did I do to deserve this?” Job’s friends thought that question had only one possible answer, “Think Job, you must have done something wrong!” Which must have been quite a big wrong considering the consequences Job was suffering. His friends’ theological calculations of, bad outcomes must have personal sinful causes just didn’t add up. Long before they asked, “What did you do?” Job had already wracked his brain in search of what he might have done wrong to deserve all this, and he couldn’t find anything.

We are more like Job’s friends than we’d like to admit. We live in a culture of “Karma” thinking – doing good or evil is always linked to being rewarded with good or evil. In Christian circles, this same thinking is dressed up in the various formulas of the prosperity gospel and health and wealth preaching. The problem is that joining the theological camp of Job’s friends never adds up to real life. It forgets that we live in a sinful, broken world with real evil and satanic powers, which/who don’t give a hoot about how much you and I have in our doing good or faith account. The reasoning of Job’s friends was as faulty then as it is now, and it is of little value and comfort when we find ourselves in that dark and painful corner of life where we cry, “Why me?”

Before Job’s life and circumstances unraveled, before he asked, “Why me?” God had had a conversation with satan about Job (Job 1:6-12). “Why not him?” God asked.

“You’ve been protecting him,” satan shot back.

True, but have at him,” God permitted, and satan did.

What a difference, Job’s question on earth was, “Why me?” but preceding it, the question in heaven coming from God’s lips was, “Why not him?”

Our, “Why me?” often implies, “It shouldn’t be me, this must be a mistake,” especially when it doesn’t add up, when there is no discernable sin or lack of faith.

“Why not him/her?” “Why me?” “Why not me?” if we are as serious about serving God like Job, about following Christ like Paul, and walking in the footsteps of the saints throughout the ages, we will have to wrestle ourselves through these questions. Begin with looking at Jesus. He is the first in a long line of faithful Why-not-me servants of God. When no one else in all of heaven and eternity was found to save sinners like you and me, by embracing humiliation, sacrifice, suffering, and death, Jesus said, ‘Why not me!” Consider the Apostle Paul, who pleaded with God to heal him but was given a “request denied” three times, and was instead told by Jesus, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NLT). Hearing this Paul was faced with making a major adjustment in his thinking, his theology, his outlook, and the way he processed his circumstances. He needed to move from “Why me?” “This shouldn’t be me!” to “Why not me?” and he did. Here is how he responded, “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

May God grant you and me to never get stuck in the “Why me?” and may He help us to embrace the “Why not me?” by living out of Christ’s sufficient grace and our trust in sovereignty, greatness, goodness, power, and wisdom of God.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

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