Birthday musings

Today, November 5th, is my birthday.  I have now made it 48 trips around the sun, and it has been a rather incredible ride so far.  This upcoming spring will also mark 40 years since I first believed in Jesus.  It feels a little weird to say that I’ve been walking this “Christian life” for nearly four decades now…but it has me thinking…

If 25 years represents a season of life, then I’m in late summer right now.  Through the investment of His Word and the people of His Family, God has grown me through my Spring and matured me through my Summer.  My Autumn will begin soon.  In nature, Autumn has a two-fold aim: it is the season which transitions all life to Winter and it is also the time when the environment intentionally gives from its current life to foster new life in the coming spring.  I expect nothing different for my upcoming Autumn season.

With that in mind, I thought I would share a few of my favorite verses.  Some of these have shaped me since my spring-time youth, some have been significantly impactful as recently as this year. 

John 3:16-17
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

This is where it all begins.  When we believe in Jesus as our Savior – the one who gives us the free gift of eternal life – we are saved from the punishment we deserve because of what God calls “sin”: our failures, our selfishness, our self-centeredness, and the wrongs we do to each other.

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.

This verse reminds me that I don’t have to control my circumstances to feel peace.  Instead, I can choose to rest the torrent of my mind on God.  As I make that choice, I find something better than “my peace”; instead, I find God’s perfect peace.  Sometimes in glimpses, sometimes in full seasons – but I need this reminder to be a “trusting son”.

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Everyone who has believed in Jesus and received His free gift of eternal life is permanently in God’s family.  If that is not true, then “eternal life” is poorly named and it is not truly “eternal”!  However, even as members of God’s family, we are still going to be held accountable for how well we represented Our Father and His family values.  The judgment in this verse isn’t a determination of “Heaven vs. Hell”; instead, God will assess our lives for how much we partnered with Him now – and then He will give or withhold eternal rewards based on His evaluation.  This is a sobering thought.  I don’t want to stand before God full of regret for time I’ve wasted in this life.

1 Peter 4:10
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

Each believer has been given a gift – a talent or ability – by God to be used in service of others.  I believe mine is along the lines of the ancient teachers of the law, the Levites:

Nehemiah 8:8
They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.

I see my role as a Bible teacher, someone to help you understand God’s meaning so that you can go out into the world, confidently applying God’s truth.  As you use your gifts to serve others, you earn eternal rewards.  Knowing Scripture will remind you to keep your mind dependent upon God, relying on His peace despite your struggles and the world’s darkness.  Ultimately, your life is what points others to the God who loved them enough to send Jesus to rescue us.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve you in this way.  God willing, I have many more trips around the sun to continue doing so.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

How to have a peaceful mind

I have a lot on my mind. 

Not just today.  Not just recently.  For pretty much all of my life – I’ve had a lot on my mind.  I’m blessed (cursed?) with the ability to think over and through multiple things at once.  And while that means my mind is never a dull place, it often means that internal peace and quiet are hard to come by.

Our minds get cluttered so easily, don’t they?  The pace of life makes it feel like everything needs our attention and must be immediately considered, like

What should we have for dinner?
How are my kids doing?
Am I teaching them the right things?
Am I in good standing with my job?
Is this what I want to do with my career?
How’s our money situation?
Can we handle this unexpected expense, or are we going to be in trouble?
How long until we have to replace a vehicle?
Why do I feel like this?
Should I get this checked out by a doctor?

And on and on and on goes the list…with news items, political topics, social media fights, and the onslaught of advertisements only adding fuel to the fire.

Maybe your mind doesn’t swim with questions…instead your struggle might be with negative thoughts or anxious worries or negative thoughts about having anxious worries (I’m not kidding here, either). 

I think it’s safe to say that we all have a lot on our minds.  And I don’t think we can fix that.  At least, not entirely on our own.

Near the beginning of a song found in the book of Isaiah, we find this hope-filled line:

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

Go back and read that again, but slowly this time.  Try saying it out loud as you do.

Perfect peace sounds, well…perfect, doesn’t it?  But it gets better.

The phrase perfect peace is actually a paraphrase of the original Hebrew text.  The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and in this case it is stated twice:

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in shalom shalom, for it is trusting in you.

In Hebrew, if you want to emphasize something, you repeat yourself.  So what Isaiah is really saying here is that the mind dependent on God will have complete peace, a safe peace, a prosperous peace, a content peace.  The words complete, safe, prosperous, and content are all potential translations of the word shalom.  The language translators for the Christian Standard Bible did a good job by paraphrasing shalom shalom as perfect peace.

In order for us to have our mind in perfect peace, Isaiah tells us that our thoughts must be dependent upon God.  Whatever question, worry, or accusing thought comes across our brainwaves needs to be examined in light of our dependence on God.

When we’re trying to make it all work, when we believe that “I am the one who must shoulder this alone.”, we’re focusing on ourselves and also giving up on our reliance on God to see us through…and by doing so we give up the way to perfect peace.  

But what does it mean to be dependent on God?  I’ve heard many Christians say they just “give it to God” or “let go and let God” – and while they sound very spiritual when they say those kinds of things, there’s not a lot of substance or guidance there for us to work with.  Thankfully, Isaiah gave us a better explanation.

Notice that in Isaiah 26:3, he equated being dependent on God with trusting in Him.  Practically speaking this means:

I trust Him when I’m feeling indecisive.
I believe that He wants a relationship with my kids, just like He does with me.
I trust Him when I’m worried I’m not a good enough parent.
I do my work for Him and trust Him with the outcome.
I include Him in decisions I make as to where my career goes.
I trust Him in my finances by spending to His priorities.
I trust that He knew the crisis was coming and will show us a way through.
I trust that He knows how to provide as we manage what He’s blessed us with.
I tell Him how I feel.
I trust that my good and His glory is more important, even if the doctor gives news I don’t want to hear.

Trust God like this, and we’ll have perfect peace – even if life around us isn’t perfect.

This holds true for our anxious thoughts, our scared thoughts, our lustful thoughts, our depressing thoughts, and any other type of thinking that tries to consume us.  We must run them all through the lens of our dependence upon God.  Get help to process as you need to, we’re certainly not expected to do all this alone.  A trusted friend or counselor can be a tremendous help, but after processing with them, we must still make the choice to trust God with life in the here-and-now. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken