My spammed identity crisis

I hate SPAM.  I really do.  And as much as I despise that nasty concoction sealed in tin cans and sold in the grocery store…I’m not talking about that today.  The SPAM that I really hate is the one that shows up in my email inbox. 

Although I use the SPAM-filters on all my personal and work email accounts, there is always some junk emails that get through.  “Buy my stuff”, “Click this link” – makes me just roll my eyes.  Sometimes, the topic of the email is relative to something I’ve searched for or shopped for recently.  I bought some cordless power tools this past summer, and ever since I keep getting emails that I’m the “lucky winner” of a new tool set.  Other times, I can tell that my email address was sold to some list of random ads, clickbait, and phishing scams…often profiled to whatever demographic they believe I fit in: “Your Paypal account is locked”, “Life insurance – cheap quotes”, “Free phone – please respond”, “Find singles in your area” and on and on and on…

Looking at my SPAM file now…if my identity was defined by how these entities view me…here’s who I would be, based on just the SPAM I’ve received today:

The lucky winner of gift cards to both Kohl’s and Delta Airlines, a Milwaulkee Power Drill set, a Yeti backpack, as well as sweet deals for Canvas Prints, Gutter Guards, and a compression knee sleeve. 

Going back a couple more days, the SPAM companies’ picture of my identity includes:

Someone who is in need life insurance, a sloth Christmas t-shirt (twice), a sexy message from “Sofia”, a pizza oven, another power drill set, an American Airlines gift card, dementia information, and a warning that my McAfee account will be removed today!

It would be absurd for me to look at these junk emails and believe that they define what I should buy, where my interests are focused, or who I am as a person.  These strangers and their algorithms use scraps of data about me to construct a common-denominator profile, firing off anything a guy my age(ish) might be interested in.

But how often do we allow others to define our spending habits, our interests, or our value as a person?  It is very easy to allow the opinions of coworkers, fellow students, or celebrities to change our focus.  How much of our inner dialogue is shaped by what we see in commercials or on what the algorithms show us on social media?  How many of our wants, fears, and racing thoughts are driven by others and their view of what our identity should be?

We look for external affirmation because we know our internal thoughts can be biased.  The good news is that we can choose who is (and who isn’t) allowed to speak into our lives about who we are. 

Ever wonder what God says about our identity?

Once we believe in Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16), we automatically become children of God (John 1:12).  Here are a few more characteristics that God declares about His kids:

·       We’re rescued out of our old life and have a new home – one of love:

Colossians 1:13
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

·       We find forgiveness:

Colossians 1:14
In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

·       We have been brought near into God’s family.  God is no longer relationally distant from us:

Ephesians 2:13
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

·       We have a home, a place where we belong:

Philippians 3:20
Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

These verses are a small sampling of what God has to say about our identity.  We can find many more identity descriptions throughout the New Testament books.  I suggest reading the letters I quoted above – Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians – as these books talk a great deal about who we are in God’s family.  They are quick reads that will have great insight into who God says we are.

So don’t allow SPAM emails, social media algorithms, or other imperfect humans to determine your identity.  Instead, look to the one who gave you eternal life and made you a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  If we trust Him with our eternal destiny, then we should be able to trust Him with our identity.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

He believed in me

From 2006 to 2009, I was in a musical production put on by my church.  It was an annual play performance which focused on Jesus’ last week, leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection.  It was simply called “The Passion”, and it had been performed for many years.  For the years I was involved, I had the part of Judas.  I had a few speaking lines, and (thankfully) no singing parts.

By the time 2009 came, I was an established cast member, and I looked forward to the start of “Passion Season” which began with rehearsals in mid-January and ended with the last performance on Palm Sunday.  However, unbeknownst to me, this year was going to be different…and much harder.

About a week before our first rehearsal, I was playing a pickup game of basketball.  I had a step on my defender as I cut across the lane – but I felt a sudden pop in my right calf, almost as if part of the muscle had “unplugged” for a moment and went back in.  I went down like someone had shot me.  I got back up, but soon realized that I couldn’t put any weight on my right leg, with the pain and nausea quickly increasing.  A trip to a Quick Care facility and a visit with a Sports Doc a few days later revealed that I had three partial tears in my right Achilles and a small tear in my calf.  If my calf hadn’t torn, it’s likely that I would have had a complete Achilles tear.

Since all three tears were less than 50% across the tendon, surgery was not required.  Instead, I had to use crutches and a walking boot while attending a lot of physical therapy.  When I told “The Passion” director about my injury, he asked if I would be ready to go by performance week.  I assured him that I would be able to perform my part as I had in years past.

As the months went on, I hobbled around the stage in my walking boot, trying my best to work out the blocking and timing of the performance along with my fellow actors.  Physical therapy was exhausting, but I was making progress.  My therapists knew the importance of my part in the play and did everything they could to get me ready, including special pre-performance PT sessions that were akin to an athlete getting specialized treatment before a big game.  All of the showings went very well that year – with over 10,000 people attending altogether.  I still had a little tightness in my right leg, but I was able to manage it in a way that no one would have suspected that I had sustained a serious injury just a few months prior.

During the cast party, I asked the director: “Hey Dave.  I’m just curious, but what was your Plan B if I wasn’t able to rehab in time?”  We had never discussed me having an understudy, so I was trying to figure out who he would have tapped at the last minute if I had a setback or a reinjury.  His answer shocked me:

“I didn’t have a Plan B.  I believed you when you told me that you’d be ready.”

You could have knocked me out of the chair with a feather.  He took the word of a guy on crutches that in three-ish months, I would show up and play a principle character’s part for 10,000+ people to see the most important story ever told.  And he did so without a net.  No understudy.  No backup plan.  Think about the risk he took!  Think about the trust he had in me to fulfill my word!

Dave believed in me. 

This is a perfect example of what Jesus expects from us in order to join His family.  Jesus promises eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.  There are no other conditions.  Not repentance, not turning from sin, not confession, not promising to “do good deeds” or “go to church” or “give money to the needy”.  Over and over again, we see Jesus offering eternal life to those who would believe in Him.  Here are a few examples:

Luke 8:11-12
This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name

John 3:16
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.

John 6:40, 47
For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day…Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life.

Here are some additional examples with the apostles reiterating this same message:

Acts 11:17
[Peter speaking about the Gentiles:] If, then, God gave them the same gift that He also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?

Romans 3:22
The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction [between Jews and Gentiles].

1 Timothy 1:16
But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate His extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

1 John 5:11-13
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  The one who has the Son has life.  The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

There are so many more examples I could have shared, but I think you can see the recurring theme: If we believe in Jesus for the eternal life He offers, He gives it to us.

Jesus is good for His promise.  We don’t need a “Plan B”.  There is no backup plan.  We can trust Him to fulfill His word.

Eternal life is available, all we have to do is believe in Jesus for it.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - Finding our purpose

Whose story are we telling with our lives, and who’s responsible for holding everything together?

I often need this kind of reminder:

Finding our purpose
Originally posted on August 14, 2015

A few years ago, I was having a “parental discussion” with one of my sons.  As he was struggling with the situation at hand, I pointed him toward what God had to say about the subject…to which he snapped in frustration, “Does everything have to be about God?”

I honestly can’t blame him for asking.  In fact, he verbalized something we all struggle with, but are typically too scared to say out-loud.  We don’t want to think about the bigger, God-sized perspective when we’re angry about our current circumstances.  We secretly don’t want to admit that we are not the main character in our life’s story.  We’re afraid that if we’re not in control of the situation, everything will fall apart…or at least not turn out the way we think would be best for us.

These kinds of questions and struggles are not new.  It is part of the sanctification process, part of us growing closer to God after we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior.  Even believers in the first century dealt with the same struggles we face.  In his letter to the believers in Colossae, Paul’s solution to these kinds of doubts is to have an accurate view of who Jesus truly is.

Speaking about Jesus, Paul states:

Colossians 1:15-16
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation;
because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities –
all things have been created through Him and for Him.

The fact that Jesus is the One who created everything is explored in these verses.  The last line says it clearly – all things have been created through Him.  However, I don’t think that any of us believers have a problem accepting that.  We look at the magnificent world around us, and understand that it was created.  The design and detail we find as we explore creation points us toward an intelligent purpose rather than suggesting the world “happened” by some “random chance”.

However, it’s the last two words of the sentence that give us pause:

all things have been created…for Him

Did anything inside you bristle or pull back, even just a little bit?
With that slight recoil, we’re internally asking, “Does everything have to be about God?”

Because if those two words are true, if all things have really been created for Him, then our perspective on all things will have to change, won’t it?  When I’m honest with myself, I worry that I won’t have any say over what happens next if I’m not the most important person in my life-story.   I’m not sure of where this new understanding of life will take me.  In a word, accepting that all of creation – including my life – was created for Jesus…it scares me.

But let’s take a breath and think through this a moment…

The one who creates is the one who knows the full purpose of his or her creation.  Ask any artist, architect, or teacher, and they will tell you how both the design and purpose of their music, their building, or their lessons are intertwined.  Each one of them knows the detailed reasons for their creation.  Each of them has a specific design and purpose for their creation to fulfill. 

Likewise, since we know that we have been created by Jesus – we should also recognize that He knows our purpose.

So don’t bristle, don’t pull back.  Even though we may not fully understand, even if the future looks murky…the One who designed us is with us, and He perfectly knows what to do with us.  And we can take comfort in the very next verse:

Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

We don’t have to be the one to hold all things together, that’s not our job.  Instead, we just need to trust the One who created us, the One who created our purpose.

Are we willing to let go and trust that we were created for Him?

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

Flashback Favorite - Walk this way

We desire practical application. Learning new things is great…but our new knowledge isn’t useful until it is put into practice. Long-term investments are good…but only if there is a payout in the end. We also see this desire for practical application as we raise our children…we hope and pray that our parenting efforts produce healthy adults.

But when the “win” is achieved, who gets the credit?

Walk this way
originally posted on July 17, 2015

Spiritual gifts are meant to have physical impact.  God doesn’t give us grace, peace, wisdom, etc so that we can sit back and be comfortable.  Paul demonstrates this as he describes to the Colossians his prayer requests about them.  Look at the verses below and notice what Paul is requesting from God, but also look for why Paul wants God to give them these things:

Colossians 1:9-10
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you.  We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

Paul requested that God would fill the Colossians to the brim with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.  As comforting as that sounds, Paul expected that there would be a practical, physical result of these believers growing closer to God – namely, that their lives would begin to reflect their relationship with God.  To walk worthy of the Lord means that the believers in Colossae would conduct their lives in a way that would point to God and bring honor to Him. 

Shortly after my oldest son started his first job, I received an Instant Message from a co-worker I had never met.  Her message was both short and striking:

Good afternoon, I wanted to let you know that I met your oldest son today on my lunch break.  You should be very proud – he is a great young man.

After interacting with my son, she was so impressed with his conduct and helpfulness that she felt the need to seek out his father.  When our children follow through on the instruction we’ve given them, they bring recognition and a good reputation to our family name.  When we hear back from others – whether it is from people we know well, or from complete strangers – that our kids are making wise choices and are conducting themselves in this way, we receive honor as their parents.

The spiritual parallel is obvious.  Our walk and our fruit in every good work need to point others back toward our Heavenly Father.  Paul knows this, and as such, he prays that the Colossians may be filled with the knowledge of His will.  When we know God well, we know how to represent Him well – and those around us will take notice and seek the God we serve.

Paul’s desire for the believers in Colossae to walk worthy of the Lord mirrors what Jesus said during His sermon on the mount:

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Do others see our Father in heaven based upon how we walk through each day?  If not, what are we being filled with…the knowledge of His will or something else?

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

I hate the Happy Birthday song

Is there anything more deflating at a birthday party than the actual singing of the Happy Birthday song? 

I don’t remember the last time I heard someone actually sing the song and sing it well.  Most of the time, “Happy Birthday” is performed as a group, completely off-key, with all the enthusiasm of a funeral dirge.  Go ahead and add your cha-cha-cha’s or silly second verse…but you won’t catch me singing along. 

But Ken…it’s TRADITION!
Well, sure…but that doesn’t mean it’s a GOOD tradition.

Before you call me too much of a party-pooper, here’s something that really takes the cake (…yes, pun intended): according to the CDC, singing “Happy Birthday” can be good for you.  Not because the song itself has any healthy, healing powers – but because the CDC wants you to wash your hands properly.

The CDC says you need to wash your hands with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds.  Don’t want to count to 20?  Their suggestion is to sing “Happy Birthday”.  Twice.

For me, that’s just not going to happen.  I can barely tolerate the tune in its proper context, but to sing that song – TWICE – every time I wash my hands?  Nope, not happening.  Not a chance.

But if we’re going to make sure our hands are properly washed, we’ll need to come up with something better.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

Because I grew up in church, I’ve had multiple kids church songs burned into my brain.  One particular song was 1 John 4:7-8 set to music.  It takes about 25 seconds for me to sing through.  Now, I happened to learn it using the King James translation, so this is how it goes:

Beloved, let us love one another (love one another)
for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love (God is love)
Beloved, let us love one another. 1 John 4:7-8

Pretty good 25 second reminder that God is love, He loves us, and because of that, we should love each other.  If I remind myself of this every time I wash my hands, that’s several mental resets I’ve suddenly placed into my day – before I put my contacts in, when I use the restroom before my next meeting, when I wash my hands before a meal…when I sing this tune, God can use each one of those transition moments to reframe my thinking.

Don’t know a verse set to music?  No problem – just recite verses that you know.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
(repeat 3x to get the full 20 seconds)

John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life.  For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that so the world may be saved through Him.
(repeat 2x to get the full 20 seconds)

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not give up.  Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.  For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.  So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
(repeat 1x to get the full 20 seconds)

Maybe you don’t know these verses from memory in order to say them while you wash your hands.  No worries!  Just recite what you can, and do it several times.  Trust me, a few days of you washing your hands and you’ll be surprised at how many verses you suddenly have memorized!

Lastly, feel free to take 20 seconds and talk to God.  Use your handwashing as a reminder of when you believed in Jesus for eternal life, He washed you clean from the eternal penalty of your sin (John 3:16).  Remember that as a child of God, He forgives us and cleans us from all wrong-doing when we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:7, 9).  Ask Him to help you speak kindly during your next meeting.  Thank Him for available soap and running water.

There are many ways to fill 20 seconds of hand washing that are infinitely better than singing a tune that few people actually like.  It all depends on what you choose to fill the time with.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Help! I married my opposite.

At one point, I was very interested in personality traits and tendencies.  I read up on different personality assessments and took a number of assessment quizzes.  The results of one particular Myers-Briggs assessment included pairing of your personality type with others, so that you would know what type of person would be your “best friend”, “marriage material”, or “likely competition”.  Curious, I convinced my wife to take the test.

Three of her four traits were opposite mine…and I couldn’t find our pairing in any of their categories.  Not friend, not foe, not hiking buddy, not marriage partner, not even preferred acquaintance.  Finally, after bouncing around multiple pages on their website, I found their one-word description of a relationship between my set of four traits and her set of four traits: novelty.

According to the personality typing, she thinks I’m oddly intriguing.  I see her the same way.  “Opposites attract” – it’s a culturally accepted norm that all of us have plenty of experience with.  We certainly came from different families, and we’ve had our share of differences to work through over the years.  When you boil it all down…she’s an artist and I’m a nerd…and a prime example of our differences is in how we express and receive love. 

If you’re familiar with the Five Love Languages (Gift Giving, Acts of Service, Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, and Physical Touch), you’ll probably empathize with what I’m about to say.  My love language is not the same as my wife’s love language…in fact, hers is probably my lowest ranking choice and mine is probably her lowest ranking choice.

I think I’m quite simple to love…after all, as an Acts of Service lover, just do something for me and I feel loved by you.  A clean home, laundry done, and dinner on the table makes me the happiest person on the planet.  Whereas my wife desires Physical Touch – hand held lovingly, hugs, cuddles, closeness.  Problem is…I’m not a touchy-feely person.  If you initiate a hug, I’ll reciprocate, but don’t expect me to go seeking one out.  On the flip-side, my wife’s clue that dishes are today’s priority is when we’ve run out of cups or skillets.

So we run into the constant problem: if I’m not reaching for her hand, giving hugs, etc. then she’s even less inclined to do something for me.  And if she’s not helping me out, I’m even less inclined to initiate loving contact with her.  It’s a vicious cycle, really.  It doesn’t start spiraling down out of spite or meanness…just the normal everyday busyness pulls us away from actively thinking about how the other person receives love.  When we’re distracted, we default to acting out in the way we want love to look like…I keep busy doing things around the house “for her” and she reaches for my hand “for him”…and those actions are easily misinterpreted. 

So, the question is…Who gives in first?  Who makes the first “loving move”?

When writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul spent the first two-thirds of the letter describing the relationship between Jesus and the church.  This relationship was previously a mystery (Ephesians 3:3-4), there is unity (4:4-6), there is diversity of gifts (4:11-13), and it results in a new way of living (4:17-5:21).  Paul wraps up his main discussion by giving the highest earthly example of the relationship between Jesus and the church – marriage. 

Ephesians 5:21-22, 25
Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.  Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

To answer our question, it would be easy to quote the above verses and say “See!  We both should swallow our pride and selfishness.  We need to think of the other person first.”  And I understand that sentiment.  I see the verses above.  Who should make the first move?  Whichever of us is more mature and humble in the moment.

However…I can’t help but notice two things.

1.       When I read the entire marriage section in Paul’s letter (5:22-33), he talks a lot more about how us men need to love our wives than he does about wives loving their husbands.  Paul places the burden on us to love our wife just as much as we love and care for ourselves.

2.       If I look at the timeline of when the church loved Jesus vs when Jesus loved the church – I find that Jesus loved first.  And if I’m to love my wife just as Christ loved the church…again, Paul is placing the first-step responsibility on me.

Then, I am reminded of other verses like these:

1 John 4:19
We love because He first loved us.

Romans 5:8
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus loved us before we could do anything to deserve it.  He loved us when we thought ourselves unlovable.  He continues to love us, even when we are unlovely. 

So, fellas…I have to break it to you: we are the ones who should move first and show our wife the love she needs in the way she needs it.  Even if you don’t understand why she likes the kind of love communication that she does.  Get her a little gift, run the vacuum, block out your schedule to do something with her, compliment her, or – as I need to do – take her hand and give her a hug without being asked to.

It’s not wrong if she beats you to the punch and speaks your love language first – just speak hers back.  Opposites do attract, but they stay together only when we’re intentional with how we show our love.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Funny, I don't feel loved

Had an odd experience this last week.  In the mail sent to our house was a small envelope addressed to “Clouser family”, but it had no return address.  The post office stamp was from Greensboro, which is a neighboring city to the town we live in.  The envelope was about the size of a “thank you” card.  When I opened it, there was a card with a hand written message that said “Just a quick note to let you know you are loved…” and a gospel track.  The track was from a recognizable Christian website, and it did an “ok” job of presenting the gospel.

What felt weird was that the sender had not signed the card.  No name, no church, no organization…nothing.  I have no idea who this letter was from or what they are about.  I’m assuming good intentions – that prior to the pandemic, they would have come to my door to talk with me in person.  Maybe the sender is bed-ridden or confined to their home for some reason, and they feel like this is their only opportunity to “minister” to others in their community.

But even after assuming all the possible “good” scenarios that could have brought this anonymous card to my mailbox, I had several emotions…but none of them were a sense of “feeling loved”.

We can all agree that the world is a messed up, broken place.  We can also agree that no one is perfect, and that we’ve all contributed to the mess we find ourselves living in.  However, let’s be black-and-white honest here, there is no middle ground when it comes to Christianity – either the gospel message is true or it’s not.

Christianity claims:
The God and Creator of the Universe came to earth 2,000 years ago to once and for all fix the relationship between God and humanity.  Jesus made the outlandish claim that He would guarantee Eternal Life to anyone who believed in Him for it.  When He died on a cross, He took the punishment for all of humanity’s mess and imperfections…He paid the price for our sin.  With justice served, sin was no longer a barrier for an individual’s relationship with God.  Then, three days later, He came back to life – which proves He can follow through on His offer of Eternal Life for anyone who believes in Him for it.

Or:
Some guy named Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, got blamed for insurrection against the Roman empire, was executed, and people made up a story about him being alive again.

My point is that either Christianity has the most important message in history to share with humanity, or it’s worth bupkis.  There is no middle ground.  And…IF you believe the first, IF you have believed in Jesus for the Eternal Life that He alone can offer: Why not sign your name (or your church’s name) to the card you took the time to mail to my house?

I have no issue with Christians reaching out to those who don’t know them personally.  Did you know that the apostle Paul once wrote to a group of believers that he hadn’t met before?  Here’s what he told them:

Colossians 2:1-3
For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.  I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery – Christ.  In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul wrote for their encouragement and love…and he was willing to sign his name on it.  Since I have already believed in Jesus for Eternal Life, I can empathize with the person who sent me the anonymous card…but if I didn’t know anything about Jesus or if the Christian church had burned me at some point in my past – how “loved” would I feel by an anonymous card with a gospel track stuffed inside?  Why would I believe something that another person wasn’t willing to identify themselves with?

Christians, as ambassadors for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20) we should be willing to put our name on everything we do.  Our message won’t be believed otherwise.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Prosper

Much like the word happy, the word prosper can be surprisingly divisive in Christian circles.  Some believers go so far as to say that if you’re not wealthy, you’re not doing “God’s Will” for your life.  Other believers, at the opposite end of the spectrum seem to begrudge those who are “too successful”.  Typically, we define success in monetary terms…but maybe God has a different definition.

For context:

Psalm 1:1-2
How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked or
stand in the pathway with sinners or
sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.

Notice when the psalmist inserts prosperity into the picture:

Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Whatever he does prospers…that is a huge promise!  But is that what it really means?  Whatever he does prospers…literally anything?

In context, this would be as he follows the way of the righteous…remember, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, so his endeavors and goals will be in accordance with that.  This doesn’t mean there is just one linear path for us to follow (i.e. – God wants me to have this specific job and marry this specific person and attend this specific school, and if I don’t…then I’m not in “God’s will”).  Instead, God’s instructions are principles for us to apply as we travel through life.  As we continue to apply His teachings, we are walking the path of the righteous and are rewarded with prosperity.

The Hebrew word for prospers (tsaleach) shows up 65 times in the Old Testament, so this is something God brought up regularly to the Israelites.  The word means to succeed, generally expressing the idea of a successful venture, as contrasted with failure.  The source of such success is God.

The same word is rendered as success in 2 Chronicles 26:5, when describing the best part of King Uzziah’s reign:

2 Chronicles 26:5
He sought God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear of God.  During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

The same word also appeared as prosper in God’s direction to Joshua, as he was receiving instructions from God just prior to leading the Israelites into the Promised Land:

Joshua 1:8
This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it.  For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

Do you see the pattern showing up in each of the texts?

meditate on God’s word then do the work given then be prosperous

A godly, prosperous person isn’t a sinless person, they are not someone who does everything right.  Instead, it’s someone who is walking in the counsel of God…and that involves a variety of appropriate actions at appropriate times: confessing sins, serving, learning under sound teaching, putting into action the lessons we learn from God, loving others as we have been loved, and looking at life through God’s perspective.

So far in Psalm 1, we’re finding that the difference between a godly man and a wicked man is the constant input from the Word of God.  Time in God’s Word is their delight and focus – I’m not talking about a 5 minute devotional here – but a primary focus…soaking in the Word, allowing it to permeate his mind and change his actions (take a look at Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 for more examples)

So what is prosperity and success, then?  While the world defines those terms mainly in finances, in contrast, God is telling us that prosperity is something much greater.

The psalmist’s tree analogy defines success as well-timed fruitfulness: your life is producing good things for the people around you, you are achieving your true potential.  A fruit tree was made to produce fruit, because that is what it is designed to do – and if it’s not producing fruit, then it is missing out on what it was made to do.  And it’s the same with us, but as we have seen, fruitfulness only happens when the Word transforms us. (This is similar to the abiding theme we find in John 15 and the apostle’s discussion throughout 1 John)

In Psalm 1:3, we have a promise to claim: That God’s Word will sustain/grow me and there is happiness, delight, and prosperity in doing so.  However, our look at other Scriptures confirmed what we’ve seen in Psalm 1, that there is also a condition to meet in order to have this God-defined prosperity: Intentionally spend time in God’s Word, purposely meditate on it, and delight to do so…knowing that God can/will develop me in the way I was created to grow and mature.  And then I will find happiness and prosperity.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

How to see the good

There’s a lot of negative vying for our attention.  Election ads have been in our face for months.  Constant worries about the rapid swings in the stock market, the jobless claims reports, and individual company earnings.  Closer to home, we’ve all seen small businesses in our communities decide to close permanently – perhaps you’re one of them that had to make that painful choice.  And then there’s a pandemic to deal with.  2020 just seems to bring one hit after another.  No one has been left unaffected.  Families are struggling, churches are struggling, communities are struggling…leaders, governments, and nations – struggle, struggle, and struggle.

I’d say it feels a little overwhelming at times, but that wouldn’t be an honest statement.  Truthfully, it feels INCREDIBLY overwhelming A LOT of the time.  There’s so much negative and so much muck to wade through…where’s God while we’re in the midst of all this?

My church recently reopened for in-person services (with COVID protocols in place), and I was able to teach in the large group meeting for the elementary-age kids.  I’ve been doing it for years, and it was so good to be back with them again.  And it was in their lesson that I found the answer to our problem question of Where’s God in all this mess?

The verse their lesson focused on was one that most of us Christians would be familiar with.  Prepare yourself to not be shocked by which verse I’m about to quote.  It’s not taken from some obscure Old Testament passage.  There’s no deep-dive into the Greek words needed to figure out what Paul was saying.  God made this one easy for us…so easy, a child can apply it:

Philippians 4:8
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is lovely, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy – dwell on these things.

Yep, that’s it.  Class dismissed.

Well, not quite.

I couldn’t just leave them with a simple thought of you know, you should just think about the good stuff even when bad stuff is happening…so after I talked about this verse, I gave them a very simple way to apply it:

I pointed out how every month, our elementary kids program focuses on a memory verse.  I explained to them that if they want to apply what Paul is saying in Philippians 4:8, then they need to learn their memory verse.  I told them how when I was their age, because of my mom, I memorized verses too.  And many of the verses I learned when I was their size are still burned into my brain.

If I need a verse that reminds me of how much God loves me, I have that (John 3:16-17).  If I need to be reminded that God’s path is best, then I know that, too (Proverbs 3:5-6).  When the Holy Spirit needs to kick me in the rear and remind me that I’m supposed to intentionally love others, He brings to mind 1 John 4:7-8.

However, memorizing Scripture isn’t just a kid’s activity.  I’ve continued it well into my adult life.  I’ve added verses like Genesis 1:1, Proverbs 22:29, and 2 Corinthians 5:10.  I’ve also learned to quote several verses together so I can grab hold of a complete God-thought on a subject – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 and I’m currently working a chunk of verses found in Philippians 1:20-30.  Right now, I’ve made through verse 27 and will add 28 soon.  I’ve also memorized Titus.  Not just a verse or passage, but all of it. 

Before you put me on a pedestal of any level, hear me out.  Titus isn’t very long, just 46 verses.  At the time I was working on it, I was driving over an hour, one-way, to work each day.  My radio was lousy.  Satellite radio and streaming music wasn’t a thing back then.  So spending time during each drive memorizing Scripture broke up the monotony of driving the same roads for 3+ years.  It took many months to get the entire book down, but it was time well spent.  Over the years, God has honored that investment in more ways that I can recount in this post.

Again, I do not admit these things to build myself up or to look good in your eyes.  Instead, I want you to realize that Scripture memorization is both possible and beneficial…just like I was conveying to the elementary-age kids (for the record, I didn’t tell them about Titus, just the first 3 verses I listed above).

Having Scripture at the front of our brain and the tip of our tongue will help us keep perspective in a world that constantly feels like everything is upside-down and spinning sideways.  Having Scripture handy helps us dwell on the good things that God has all around us.  And lastly, having Scripture memorized fulfills what Paul wrote to another group of believers:

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Memorizing Scripture will renew your mind and transform your thinking…only then, with clear thoughts, can we discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Yeah, it’s easier to memorize when you’re younger, but that’s no excuse not to start now.  Better yet, help a child memorize a verse and you’ll end up learning it, too.  Maybe you’ll be the one that inspires them to have God’s Word burned into their brain for the rest of their life.

Keep Pressing,
Ken  

Flashback Favorite - How God sees us

Sometimes we get a little wrapped up in our skewed mental picture of ourselves. Other times, were prone to believe the words that others use label us. We often try to project “the best image of ourselves” at work, online, or to our friends and family. It’s all too easy to forget what God sees when He looks at us…

How God sees us
originally posted on November 13, 2015

As Paul is wrapping up the transition point in his letter to the believers in Colossae, he makes an incredible statement that reveals how God views believers.  Previously, Paul urged them to kill off their old sinful habits because they

Colossians 3:9-10
…have put off the old man with his practices and have put on the new man

For the rest of the letter, Paul is going to describe what the life and practices of the new man will look like.  Reading ahead, you’ll find that Paul describes a life of freedom, love, and thankfulness.  However, the beginning of this new section says something we need to pause and consider.

Colossians 3:12
Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on…

These three descriptions – chosen, holy, and loved – come before Paul lists out the qualities that he wants the Colossian believers to put on and practice.  This means that God views us by these descriptions – regardless of how well we live life wearing the practices of the new man.

So what, exactly, do these descriptions mean?

Although some people assume that the word chosen means that Paul is talking about God choosing people out of the world to be believers, the context doesn’t allow for that interpretation.

Keep in mind that Paul wrote to those who already trusted Jesus as their Savior.  Also remember that in the previous sentence, Paul described the family of God, saying

Colossians 3:11
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

From this context, we see that all believers are chosen ones.  In fact, this entire section is only dealing with internal, family matters.  After Paul refers to the Colossian believers as chosen ones, the rest of sentence talks about the qualities of a maturing believer’s life.  Therefore, it is clear that God is choosing all believers to mature and become more Christ-like.  Not just some of us.  Not just the “good kids.”  God chooses all of us for maturity.

The word holy conveys the idea of being set apart for a special purpose.  A word that also embodies this idea is the word sacred.  Whenever we refer to something as sacred, we imply that it is in a category all to its own.  Sacred things are handled reverently and carefully…not because of weakness, but because holy and sacred things are considered to have a priceless value.  Notice that God sees us as holy, set apart, and He considers our relationship with Him to be a sacred one.

Lastly, Paul says that God sees us as loved.  We’ve heard that God loves us so many times that we can have trouble remembering the depth of His love.  Here, however, the tense of the verb loved helps to remind us.  Loved is a perfect passive verb in this sentence.  The perfect tense in Greek describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated.  A passive voice means that the subject is the recipient of the verb’s action.  Taken together, when Paul says that we are loved by God – it means that we are the recipient of His love, and His love for us was firmly established a long time ago.

God sees us as chosen ones, holy and loved.  Think about that.  Smile about that.  No matter what happens today, or how well you handle it, those things do not change.

God sees you as His chosen one, holy and loved.

Keep Pressing,
Ken