Sometimes God asks basic, or even mundane, things of you. Other times, though, He’ll challenge you to do something you might only get a chance to do a few times during your life.
Here’s a pretty unremarkable example, but I hope it helps illustrate my point. About 49 times out of 50, whenever I post something new on this blog, the post goes live on a Thursday (the exception is during the week of Thanksgiving). Today is Thursday, but this is a special Thursday.
Today is Thursday, February 29th. It’s Leap Day. It will be four years before we get another Leap Day, but it won’t be until February 29th, 2052, that Leap Day falls on Thursday again. That’s 28 years from now. At this point I’m unwilling to commit to this website for that long. (Any guest authors out there?) That means today’s post may be the only daregreatlynow.com post that ever gets posted on February 29th.
God many times moves in your heart to do “ordinary” things. There’s nothing wrong with that; in fact, the consistent and reliable service of committed saints is what makes many ministries possible. Volunteering in the church’s nursery, helping out an elderly neighbor after a snowstorm, or visiting with someone who finds it difficult to leave the house are all things that serve God’s kingdom by being the hands and feet of Christ. Every now and then, though, He challenges you with something extraordinary.
There are limitless possibilities, and they often tie in with your unique circumstances, means, and interests. I can’t do the things you can, you can’t do the things I can, and that’s why God put you and I exactly where we are. Whatever that big thing is, the thing that scares you even though you know God’s whispering in your ear, I just want to encourage you to press on. It could be making a very large financial donation to something God-honoring, reaching out to someone you wouldn’t ordinarily engage in a meaningful way, or filling a gap somewhere where you seem to be the only one who notices. There is literally no end to the options that are out there.
I believe that if God led you to serve in those consistent and predictable ways, you should follow through on them. But like Queen Esther, sometimes God weaves the circumstances of our lives into opportunities for us to step into water that’s over our heads and be part of something extraordinary. Don’t pass those up, because they don’t come along very often.
Yet who knows–maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen! –Esther 4:14b (Good News Translation)
(If you’ve got an extra minute or two, have a read over the diary entry below. If not, feel free to skip it.)
We’ve all got quirks. They start when we’re young, but they don’t always resolve themselves as we get older (sometimes they become magnified). I think this becomes most evident in long-term relationships.
My wife and I have been married for over 17 years now. We definitely have quirks of our own. Some of them are stereotypical for men and women, others are maybe more specific to us as individuals. By way of example, if I’m looking for something specific in the refrigerator, I can open the door and turn the fridge upside down trying to find it, even looking right at it multiple times, and still not see it. Then my wife comes along and with a “seriously?!” expression, homes in on it in under a second and a half. At the same time, she can have a song in mind, and it sounds just like the real thing inside her head, but when she tries to hum it, no matter what it is, it always comes out sounding like Smooth Criminal.
I’m blessed to have a spouse that’s pretty easy for me to be married to. Even so, we have to deal with differences of opinion, different perspectives, and quirks in general. She’s very patient and polite when I hear a random voice inflection or odd combination of words or music notes that somehow reminds me of a movie scene from my childhood, or some bizarre scenario reminds me of a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, and then I take an unreasonable amount of time to provide the context and summary of that scene or comic, which ends up being pretty unremarkable.
While not true in all cases, by and large, men tend to have a more compartmentalized mental arrangement as they go about their day. If you could peek inside our brains, you might see our conscious focus addressing only one thing at a time. There’s the wakeup routine. Then comes the commute. Then he’s at work, thinking about work stuff. Afterwards he has to run errands on the way home. All of those things tend to stay within their respective zones without much bleedover unless some sort of unusual circumstance affects things. My mind works this way most of the time, and is very helpful when it’s time to put certain things on hold. When I leave work, it’s time to stop thinking about work. When it’s time to sleep, I stop thinking about stuff and I’m usually out within two minutes of closing my eyes.
Women, on the other hand (again, not in every case, but more often than not), have “spaghetti brains.” There are no different sections of the brain that conscious thought is split into. It is literally everything, everywhere, all at the same time. There are individual lines of thought that touch on wildly vacillating topics. One may lead to the next, but they may just as easily have nothing to do with each other. All of the following thoughts can occur within the same minute: “Where did I put that thingy I don’t need anymore?” “I can’t believe Charlotte thought I took her yellow sweater in 7th grade; I should look her up and see if she’s sorry.” “Puppies!” “Don’t forget to pick up snacks for the kids’ soccer team.” “LAUNDRY.” “I’d eat a bug if they let me sleep in tomorrow.” “My bra hates me.” “Lose weight, lose wei…CANDY!” “Children are a gift of joy wrapped in toil.” “Organize 1,087,017 pictures into a slide show.” “The check engine light came on.” It’s a constant barrage of swirling and churning thoughts that would bring me to my knees. My wife and I can go to bed at the same time, but she’ll be awake much longer than I am because a lot of those thoughts need to fizzle out before sleep comes.
You can imagine that the communication styles of these two vastly different brain structures also require some give and take. I can do some multitasking, but I prefer to focus on one thing at a time. If I have an idea about something else while I’m working on my main task, I write down the other thing or email it to myself, so that I can focus harder on it when I have an opportunity. In conversations, I look for transitions to help prompt me that we’re moving on from one topic to a different one. I find that sometimes I’m ill-equipped to handle my wife’s communication needs. She can unleash a conversational stream of consciousness that I can’t possibly follow along with, covering a myriad of topics in a single breath. I struggle to see the connection between the different topics we’re zooming through. If I had a video of myself trying to keep up, I think I’d see myself listening with one eye squinted shut tight and the other bugging out of my head as I try to hang on just a little bit longer. Yet this conversational style is effortless when she’s among her sisters or close friends, while us brothers-in-law/husbands use about a fifth of the words they do (on a good day) and just kind of nod periodically.
These are some fun examples, but they’re meant to help illustrate the following point. We are different, and while sometimes those differences are great, other times those differences drive us nuts. Humans in general are hard to get along with, much less live with. Even so, God put a whole bunch of us here. A lot of the Bible is about how to get along with other people. Marriages are the basics for family life. I understand that not everyone is blessed to have two parents married to one another, but that’s what God intended. Those marriages require work, and they often require grace.
Our culture today says that you should be you-focused. “Do what makes you happy! You deserve it!” In reality, marriages are “we-focused.” You’re a team, and teams need to work together to move forward. You’re not perfect, and your spouse isn’t perfect. That’s why you both need to extend some grace and flexibility. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
About a month ago I mentioned that I’d do something of a “year in review” for this blog. At the time I was discussing the importance of following through with the remaining opportunities the Lord gives you to do His work in this life. During lengthier endeavors I think it’s good now and then to stop and reflect on how far you’ve come, recognizing that God is heavily involved and deserves credit for any success.
A little over five years ago God laid on my heart an absurd task: start a blog that honors Him. I say “absurd” because: 1. I don’t really use social media anymore, which seems like it would be kind of an important element of trying to gain attention for a website; 2. I’m an introvert and don’t relish the idea of trying to connect with nameless, faceless people out there in the electronic ether; 3. I’ve had little or no classroom writing training, so a writing-centric effort doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. Despite those misgivings, I decided to obey and let God do whatever He wanted with this whole endeavor.
I can’t claim that I’m some kind of massive Christian influencer. In fact, some of my posts here don’t even mention God or religion. What I can say, though, is that my blog’s reach has extended beyond what I initially expected it to. The intent behind this post is not to say “look at me and how cool I am” or anything like that at all. By sharing this information what I’m really hoping to do is drive home to you the importance of taking small steps of obedience to Christ, because over time they add up and serve as opportunities God can use to work in other peoples’ lives. Even more than that, I’d like to show how a pattern of faithful consistency builds into a cumulative body of something larger. You don’t have to do one huge, mind-blowing thing, it’s probably more beneficial to do a lot of smaller things regularly. To help prove my point, here are a few interesting 2023 stats for the blog and what I take away from them.
During the year the blog hosted 51 new posts, once a week for almost the whole year. While it’s no surprise that IP addresses from the United States score the most number of hits on the blog, the U.S. is far from the only country that had someone stop in for a visit. Besides the U.S., DareGreatlyNow.com had hits from over 50 countries during 2023. Most of those countries accounted for only one, two, or three hits during the whole year. Of course, it’s impossible to claim any of those hits resulted in bringing anyone to Christ, and I have no actual insight into what people do with the posts they read on the blog. Many times God uses conversations, songs, articles, and myriad other things to speak into a person’s life, and I hope God uses my work here to do that very thing in others’ lives. For now I have to trust that God brings the right posts to the right person at the right time, and I have to be okay with knowing that I won’t get filled in on just about any of the details until after Jesus comes back or calls me home.
Of the website’s top 10 visiting countries from 2023, it’s not a shock that most of them are either English-speaking or have large percentages of English-speakers in their populations. Aside from the U.S., the rest of the website’s top 10 patron nations are, in descending order, Canada, China, Ireland, Germany, Norway, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.
Broken down by region, I see seven countries/islands from North America and the Caribbean, three from Central and South America, 20 from Europe, 14 from Asia, seven from Africa, two in Australia (Australia and New Zealand), and four in the Middle East.
Few or none of these stats are a result of my own personal work to promote the blog. I simply don’t have the time to work on drawing more attention to it. I write and post stuff, and God guides people to the site to bring them to see whatever He wants them to see. I have no idea what individual concepts He’s guiding them to. Sure I would love more people to come and read, but if I’m honest, that’s the flesh talking. I’d say that all these posts were worth it if one person decided to trust in Christ as a result of reading one of them. I believe that’s true, but I also know that the blog isn’t really geared toward non-believers, it’s geared more toward Christians that aren’t fully stepping out in what they’ve been called to do for the Lord. What truly needs to happen is that the right person sees the right post at the right time. While some posts are very time-sensitive and lose relevance quickly (current events, especially), many posts on the site age pretty well, and hold true from year to year. In fact, of the five most-viewed posts in 2023, three of them were posted prior to the start of 2023. I sit here reviewing some of these stats and get confused about why posts from 2019 or 2020 are doing so well, but just accept that God’s still using some of my older submissions to work in people.
Often you are the determining factor in whether or not a post has reach. Facebook is the top referrer of people to the site, and that’s not me doing that, that’s because of readers like you liking and sharing individual posts, which then sometimes take on a life of their own (that wouldn’t happen without you, so thank you!). After Facebook, search engines are the next-highest referrers bringing people to posts. Then there are a handful of other blogs that link directly to portions of the website, so thanks to other bloggers out there!
There are other insights to glean from last year’s numbers, but it’s time to wrap this up. If I had waited these last five years to follow God’s lead, these kinds of stats would probably still be five years away. Please keep this perspective in mind when God calls you to pursue different “absurd” tasks in your life. I want this post to serve as encouragement to take up the challenge He’s extending to you, and to do it without delay. Your tasks on their own, whatever they are, may not move mountains or get your name in history books, but if God’s placing the assignment in your path, it will add to the collective effort of other saints He’s got working on various projects and could very well lead to you someday hearing the wonderful words “well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” Zechariah 4:10
I have a daughter that looks forward to Christmas all year round. Sometimes we catch her humming Christmas carols in the summer. Once Halloween passes, she starts to crank it up into full gear. You can imagine how full of the Christmas spirit she is right now.
In a lot of Christmas carols, as well as certain Bible verses that are more prominent in December, “Peace” gets a lot of attention this time of year. There are a lot of Christmas carols out there that mention the word “Peace” somehow (sleep in heavenly peace, Peace on earth and mercy mild, his law is love and his gospel is peace). A lot of Bible verses point to it, too (…and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. Isaiah 9:6). It’s as though the very presence of Jesus is somehow synonymous with Peace.
Yet despite all this mention of Peace, there’s a verse in Matthew chapter 10 that seemingly contradicts this concept of Christ bringing peace to the earth:
Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. –Matt 10:34
Now what does that mean? This doesn’t sound the least bit peaceful.
It’s actually a warning from Christ himself that His arrival did not bring peace to the world. In fact, wars have been fought in the name of Jesus. People have been disowned by their families for converting to Christianity. Though it’s not directly related to Christ, the world is currently in the greatest state of unrest in recent memory. Where’s the peace?
In Old Testament times, the fall of man severely damaged the relationship between God and humanity. God’s wrath and pure holiness prevent the relationship from continuing in the same way it previously did. The chasm between the two could only be temporarily bridged by animal sacrifices and priestly intercessors. Now Christ has changed the game and permanently bridged the gap on our behalf. This wasn’t possible before His birth. Christ didn’t come to bring peace; He came to make peace. There’s now an enduring pathway back to a restored relationship with God that could only have come from someone that fulfilled all the requirements of the law.
May you enjoy the Christmas season, knowing that despite all the imperfection present in the world, there’s a way back to a relationship with the Prince of Peace.
I’ve written previously about God placing certain ideas or desires on people’s hearts. It’s usually manifested as a sort of supernatural notion, it’s an unexplainable sense of “I can’t explain it, but I’m supposed to do this thing.” Anything from “I’m supposed to stop and talk to that stranger” to “I’m supposed to give that person some money” to “I think God wants me to start a new business,” or any number of other possibilities. I’ve referred to it in the past as “God’s nudge.”
I can remember one time as a kid, I received one of these nudges. It was probably my first one. I can’t remember what it was, but I clearly remember that I ignored it. Whatever I felt like I was being prompted to do, I thought “No, that doesn’t make sense. Why would I do that? That’s ridiculous.” I wish I could remember what it was, but whatever it ended up being, the action that was supposed to be taken…didn’t get taken (at least by me).
I’ve also written before that God doesn’t need us to be a part of fulfilling His plan, but He invites us to be a part of it. This is one case where I refused the invitation. As a result, I missed out on something, and this side of Heaven I won’t ever know what it was. It may have been something limited to that day, right then and there, or it might have been on a grander scale, setting back a lifestyle of “saying yes to God” (and the corresponding level of positively impacting the world) by a period of years. I essentially told the Holy Spirit to buzz off. As you might imagine, that has its downsides; I couldn’t tell you how long it was after that before I received the next nudge.
This probably isn’t a commonly discussed concept, but every Christ-follower has a certain number of these nudges they’ll receive between the time they accept Christ and the time He calls them home. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, I imagine there’s quite a bit of variation from believer to believer. Like me, I’m sure many people have declined to accept a nudge at least once. It’s impossible to know what we’re forfeiting by not taking part. Here’s how I see it though. One of your goals as a believer, from here on out, should be to respond positively to 100% of the remaining “nudges” you get from God. I don’t have any idea how many that means; you could be shooting for one out of one, 50 out of 50, or 1021 out of 1021. The goal is 100%.
Think of that 100% fraction, whatever the size of the denominator, as being “full.” Then, looking through that lens, see if the two parts in the second half of this verse hit you any differently:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. –John 10:10
Instead of “full,” many translations say “abundantly.” Not only does Christ come so we can have life, but so that we can have it abundantly. I believe the abundance, the fullness, discussed here goes hand-in-hand with those nudges and our response to them.
I started this blog as a result of a nudge God gave me. I’ll be the first to admit not every post is great. Some of them are just plain mediocre. As I look back over time, though, I see how God can use simple persistence and faithfulness in a fallen human to build something bigger than I once thought I would. I started posting in the Fall of 2018. It’s now been a little over five years, and this is my 300th post.
I don’t have a massive readership. Most of the people that subscribe are family, friends, or friends of family. I can tell you this, though. People from all over the world somehow stumble across the blog. I don’t see any details about who they are, all I see is that someone from country X clicked on post Y. The part about that that’s really cool for me, as an introvert who gets drained talking to people, is that I’m advancing ideas that come from God, not only to people I’ll never meet in person, but it’s happening while I’m sleeping, while I’m at work, while I’m on vacation, and when my thoughts are far away from blogging. When God gives a nudge, don’t worry about outcome. Worry about obedience. Obedience is your responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. There are now 300 different posts that God can lead people to, and He can bring them to just the right one, exactly when they need to find it.
Probably in the early part of next month, I’ll fill you in on some of the insights about the blog’s readership for the year 2023. My intent is not to brag, but to show how a guy with no particularly relevant credentials, demonstrating only faithful obedience to God’s calling using the talents God’s entrusted to him, creates opportunities to reach and encourage people that he would have never had a chance of influencing before. I want to help give you the confidence to follow the nudges YOU receive. God has invited me to take part in His story, and it’s humbling to start to see how, years later, He uses my acceptance of His invitation to enable me to live my own life more abundantly. My intent is to show you for the sake of encouraging you, too, to accept His invitation. He doesn’t need us on the journey, but He wants us to come along. What better way to live our lives than in a way that brings Him glory?
Thanksgiving is this week! We’re moving into the time of year where a lot of people have mixed emotions. Brokenness, loss of loved ones, and relationships that simply didn’t work out as hoped all contribute to some people having a difficult time during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
Then there are those whose hearts are overflowing with joy during this time of year. For some this serves as an opportunity to count their blessings, reunite with those they’ve been separated from, and catch up on things that have happened since they were last together.
Whether you’re one extreme, the other, or somewhere in between, may these words from 1 Thessalonians shape your outlook to be more like what Christ wants it to be:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Christians are citizens of two worlds. We know in our minds that we’ll one day enter into eternity in Heaven, but there’s so much happening in the here and now that Heaven can sometimes seem very far off.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were downright terrible at keeping their end of the covenant God made with them. Time and again they failed to live up to their responsibilities, and God showed enormous patience with them on many different occasions. When punishment finally did come, it was only after He provided plenty of warning.
In the book of Jeremiah, false prophets ran around proclaiming peace and security when in reality God was planning to hold the Israelites accountable. Jeremiah came along and preached repentance, but to no avail. After generations of not paying God the proper respect, He used the Babylonians as a means of chastising them, carrying the Israelites away into exile.
As far as exiles go, this one was pretty relaxed. Sometimes captives are made into slaves, or split up and distributed across the nation to ensure they can’t band together and rise up. Instead, the Babylonians allowed them to continue practicing their customs and allowed them to preserve their corporate identity. Even in this punishment, God took it a lot easier on them than He needed to.
In this new land the false prophets resumed their habit of proclaiming messages that people wanted to hear, rather than what God was actually saying. They claimed that it would only be a matter of days or weeks before God rescued them from captivity the way He brought them out of Egypt. Jeremiah came and set them straight. Can you imagine how crestfallen you’d be if, caught up in the excitement of orators confidently claiming an imminent return home, a man of God comes along and tells you “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” –Jer 29:5-7
That’d be a hard pill to swallow. It sounds like at least a generation or two! Then comes the part that makes you weak in the knees. Remember, these false prophets are in the middle of proclaiming an imminent return when Jeremiah hits them with This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” –Jer 29:10-14
Seventy years! That all but guarantees that, if Jeremiah’s right, you’re not making it back home. We know that Jeremiah’s words ended up being true and the Israelites remained in Babylon for that length of time.
You can see the similarities between them and us. The Lord could snatch us away today, but we have to plan for the long haul. Settle in, you’re probably going to be here awhile.
In the meantime, use the opportunities you have to serve the Lord. Do His will where you are, in the circumstances in which you find yourself. Life doesn’t have to go the way you planned it in order to be faithful to the Lord.
We’ll have a permanent place in Heaven someday, but for now this rental’s our home. Do a good job taking care of the things God’s charged you with doing, but don’t get too comfy here, because one day we’re all headed to our “forever” home.
Lord, thank You for being faithful even when we’re not. Please help each of us to heed your call, trust Your timing and plan, and contribute to the work You’re doing. Amen.
The world is generally out of control right now. We’ve got wars in Ukraine and Israel, mass looting in cities, economic uncertainty in lots of countries, the breakdown of law and order, dissolution of America’s southern border, and general unrest all over the place. It’s natural to wonder if we’re in the period the Bible refers to as the Tribulation.
Well, the short answer is that unless a ton of people have already up and vanished without a trace, the answer is “no.” If you’re not one to do a lot of Bible reading, or even to connect certain parts of the Bible, it’s easy to jumble together a lot of the events related to the natural end of time (the part where God decides He’s had enough and shows up in a big way).
There are two major cataclysmic events at the end that will stop people in their tracks. The first is the Rapture. This is where Christ comes back from Heaven to pull His people (the Church) out of the world. This is a removal of the faithful, sparing them from the turmoil that’s about to take place. If some major fraction of humanity has up and vanished and that fraction doesn’t include you…no matter what sort of explanation is provided (I’m guessing aliens and UFOs), take a closer look at who’s disappeared. There’s sure to be a lot of confusion initially, but when the dust starts to settle and a clearer picture emerges, you’ll see that they’re all Christians. I’d guess that this linkage will try to be hidden, so you may have to go looking for evidence to connect the dots on your own. Yes, there will be church-going people, even clergy members, that did not disappear, and they’ll be hit with a hard truth: they did not have a saving relationship with Christ as Lord of their lives. People of other religions, along with other people of fine morals, good people, will also remain. The Christians’ disappearance will hasten the downward spiral of humanity. The churchgoers are the ones slowing humanity’s decay right now (October 2023), but once they’re gone, it’s a whole new chapter in the progression of unspeakable evil. It’s as though God says “I’ve been telling you for millennia how to live, and you rejected me this whole time. You know what? Fine. Have it your way. See how that goes for you.” The good news here is that there’s still time to embrace Christ.
The second event is Christ’s Second Coming. Moments after the Rapture all the Christians will have disappeared, but by the time of the Second Coming, seven years after the Rapture, more people will have become Christians. They’ll still have to endure some very difficult circumstances, but they’ll have the hope of Christ. For everyone else still on the planet, they’ll face a reckoning. At this point everybody starts to realize the jig is up, that there’s no getting out of this one, and that they should have paid more attention to what they heard earlier about Christ forgiving sins. Now it’s too late to change their minds.
There’s no question that these two events are easy to get blended together, but here’s a list put together by the late Dr. Norman Geisler to help separate them out. They give the reader a better picture of some of history’s final events. I have to warn you that some of these are a little tricky and don’t say much at first glance, but a study bible helps see beyond the face value, the deeper meaning, of the verse in question.
If the rapture hasn’t happened yet, study these verses and the ones near them so you can better understand what’s happening as events unfold. If the rapture already took place and you’re still around to read this, it’s even more important to get your hands on a bible (preferably a study bible that has additional notes and context on what the verses mean). If you believe the entire bible, you believe that Satan and his fallen angels exist. Well, they can read it too, and they know what’s coming. In my mind, I believe that’s why UFO activity has been ramping up in the past few years. These fallen angels are setting the stage to have a plausible explanation for the mass disappearance of a significant percentage of humanity. “They were abducted! They had to have been abducted, there’s simply no other explanation!” It’ll be quite the coincidence that a lot of those abducted people loved Jesus. Once that common thread gets out, don’t be surprised if you also hear things like “see what happens to people that follow Jesus? Let’s round up all the bibles and other commentaries about it and destroy them before this happens again!”
Anyway, we’re not in the Tribulation yet, but it increasingly seems like it’s not too far away. Think of this as an opportunity to focus your studies of God’s word on what’s coming.
Lord, if this blog is still around after the Rapture has occurred, I pray for those reading this. They’re dealing with mass fear, confusion, and many types of hardship that are turning or will turn their lives upside down. I pray that this post will help point them to You and the truth, that they would embrace You as Lord. As they approach the end of history, may You be glorified, God. I pray these things in Your name, Amen.
I know a married couple that has two dogs. One of the dogs, Maggie, is on the older side at this point and was rescued from the streets earlier in her life. She lives in a safe environment now, but you can still see echoes of that dark phase (she doesn’t do well with loud noises, she’s quick to bare her teeth when she feels even the slightest bit insecure, etc.).
For the other one, “massive” is the best way to describe him. Murphy is a bull mastiff. He’s so big he doesn’t even realize how much room he takes up and how his size affects others. He’s lived in a safe place his whole life, and between his secure upbringing and his sheer mass, there’s not much he’s afraid of. He’s a confident dog.
Murphy’s size dictates what others in his life can do nearby.
The two are an odd pair, but from a security perspective, they do a great job. If Maggie even thinks she hears something outside, she starts barking away, hanging back from whatever’s happening but alerting everyone else to it. Murphy, curious to see what Maggie’s barking about, silently gets up and walks to investigate, moving directly toward the potential danger. I’ve personally seen a distracted delivery driver recoil in surprise as he dropped off a package near the door, only to look up and see a 175+ lb monster looking back at him with a cocked head through the storm door.
Maggie starts barking because she’s afraid. Murphy walks toward the danger because he’s not afraid. Imagine having that kind of confidence.
For most of us, I’d say we’re probably not often afraid of physical dangers. We’re more afraid of things that might happen. Particularly in our spiritual walks, it’s easy to be distracted by things that simply aren’t true. “What if God stops loving me?” “What if I lose my salvation because I can’t stop sinning?”
I don’t really believe it would be in our best interest to impersonate a bull mastiff, but we can take a lesson from the traits he displays. Our confidence and assurance are not to come from ourselves, but from one we can depend on even more than ourselves. Here are some Bible verses to help remind you about the confidence you’re entitled to as a Christian:
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. -Hebrews 4:16
But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. -1Thessalonians 5:8
so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”-Hebrews 13:6
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. –Proverbs 14:26
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. -1 John 4:17
For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. –Psalm 71:5
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. -1 John 5:14
For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught. –Proverbs 3:26
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. –Hebrews 10:35
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. –Philippians 1:6
I’m sure it irritates folks that are hostile toward religion, but there are still some things in our culture that stem from Judeo-Christian beliefs. I like that we still have “In God We Trust” on our money, but at this point I think we’re probably kidding ourselves about its accuracy for the nation. Maybe the one that will stick around the longest is a seven-day week. Those aren’t the only examples though.
Strangely enough, it appears some of our corporate culture is modeled after Jesus Christ’s example.
If you’ve ever spent time in a work role that involves giving or getting formal feedback, you’ve probably seen this firsthand.
If you’ve ever been a supervisor, you’ve probably had to have some uneasy or unpleasant conversations. When I was in the Air Force, practicing this very thing in a class, all of us got to do a hard one. I think I had to sit down with a fake subordinate and let them know that they needed to shower more frequently or something like that. Not such a fun task.
Usually giving feedback isn’t quite so drastic, but there are times when hard conversations need to happen. If you’re dealing with a stellar performer, you want to let them know you see how great a job they’re doing, but you always want to give them some kind of constructive criticism. If you’re dealing with someone that’s barely avoiding a pink slip, the conversation is harder. The model typically followed is:
Start with something positive about their performance.
Call out the ugly.
Chart a path forward for getting back on track.
End on a positive note.
You may ask “this model is in the Bible?” Why yes it is.
The book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible, most famous for its cataclysmic account of history’s culmination. Less flashy is the part early in the book where Christ provides feedback for seven kinds of churches (chapters 2 and 3). These seven churches were actual churches in named cities in the first century, but I imagine most churches that profess Christ as Lord today fall into one of these categories. They are the loveless church, the persecuted church, the church that compromises, the corrupt church, the dead church, the faithful church, and the lukewarm church.
All seven of the churches are initially commended for their works, suggesting that pretty much all churches do stuff that’s looked upon positively. Some of the churches in these two chapters are commended more robustly than others. “I know your works.” “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty.” “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.”
Five of the seven (not the persecuted or the faithful church), however, have some kind of flaw that needs to be addressed. “Nevertheless I have this against you.” “Nevertheless I have a few things against you.” “But I have a few things against you.”
Then Christ gives instructions for correcting the flaws. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.” “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” Repenting is a common theme. In the modern workplace, it’s akin to the person receiving feedback acknowledging that yes, there is a shortcoming of some sort and a correction needs to take place. This blog post isn’t that long, so it seems like I’m glossing over the whole “hey, get your act together and start performing like you know you should” thing. This is obviously where the hard work begins and where the bulk of the feedback actually occurs.
After that, though, it’s very possible, or even likely, that someone’s on the defensive (or if they’re humble and acknowledge the discrepancy, are saddened) and needs a little encouragement. Finally, the Lord ends each session on a positive note. Listen to the emphasis that’s placed on ‘overcoming’ the challenges of life in these seven passages. It’s as if Christ understood that the Christian life, as hopeful as it is, is a hard thing to lead. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations…” “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.” “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
So in all circumstances, you’re facing a charge to correct your actions/thought processes, you’re a little bit broken by the realization of your shortcoming, or you’re gearing up for some challenges ahead. God would have assigned someone else to the task if you couldn’t remain faithful to what you know you’re supposed to do. Don’t be disheartened. Be an overcomer.
