Healed!

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38, 39 NIV

A pastor friend wrote to tell me about a woman he heard about who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her doctors tried everything to defeat the cancer—chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. The congregation prayed earnestly for her. Nothing seemed to eliminate the cancer. Weeks stretched into months, with no signs of healing. Then the woman stood up in church one week and reported that God has healed her. Everyone in the service rejoiced over the unexpected good news.

The woman explained what she meant. She said that although she had not been healed of cancer, God had given her what she called “a healing of acceptance.” She reported that she had surrendered her cancer to the Lord, and that He had given her peace of heart and mind that she had not previously known in this matter. The woman eventually passed away, but her testimony about accepting the reality of her death was remembered by members of the church for many years. Her story would be told over and over again, encouraging others who had been tempted to give up on God to continue to place their trust in Him for their present and future.

My pastor friend concluded, “I have come to understand that whatever life throws at me, the greatest peace comes when I accept God’s will for my life and realize that He always does what is best for me in terms of now and eternity.”

With love,

Mike

Making Shade

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.” Philippians 4:12 NLT

There is an old saying: “Guilt is concerned with the past, and worry is concerned about the future, but contentment enjoys the present.”

Some years ago, I read about the results of a study by a noted psychologist who conducted a survey among several thousand adults. The question he asked was, “What do you live for?” More than 90 percent of respondents said they were enduring the present while they waited for something better to happen tomorrow. Sadly, only 6 percent of those surveyed said that their present relationships were reason for living.

I like the advice in this little poem:

During the years since time began,

Today has been a friend of man;

But in his blindness and his sorrow,

He looks to yesterday and tomorrow.

Forget past trials and your sorrow.

There was, but is, no yesterday.

And there may be no tomorrow.

- Author Unknown

The Apostle Paul got it right. He had learned the secret of contentment. Earlier in his letter to the Christians at Philippi, he laid it out for the folk;

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.” Philippians 4:6-7

With love,

Mike

A Faith Unobscured

At a funeral service in 1742, two giants of the Christian faith stood beside their mother's grave. John Wesley conducted the services; his brother Charles wrote the epitaph for the tombstone. In part, it read:

A Christian here her flesh laid down;

The cross exchanging for a crown.

True daughter of affliction, she,

Inured to pain and misery…

The Father then revealed his Son;

Him in the broken bread made known.

She knew and felt her sins forgiven,

And found the earnest of her heaven.

Susanna Wesley was a woman her husband called "the best of mothers." She reserved a specific day and time each week to sit with each child to discuss matters of God and things on their hearts. The time spent together was cherished by all; so much so that many continued the discussions with their mother well into adulthood through letter writing.

Though her life was marked by a determined pursuit of God, it was also marked with hardship. Nine of the 19 children born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley died in infancy. Two different times their home was destroyed by fire, one time nearly taking John's life. They also lived in severe poverty. Despite all, her determined faith was one she insisted on sharing, and perhaps for this reason there was not a greater force upon eighteenth-century England than her children.

Shortly before she died, Susanna had a long talk with John in which she described her greatest struggle in faith. For years, she admitted, she labored with doubt and confusion in regard to her salvation. She had scarcely heard, and dared not believe, that forgiveness of sins was something actually offered to her in the present. Then she described a moment when she had been suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of peace. It happened as she took communion that her son John administered, the broken bread and the wine spoke to her of God’s love and her salvation.

Charles alludes to his mother's experience with Christ in the last lines of the epitaph marking her grave. Susanna “knew and felt her sins forgiven, and found the earnest of her heaven.” In the cup of faith, the love of God was unobscured. The same body and blood was given for you."

With Love,

Mike

A Costly Sacrifice

No doubt you remember figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. Although she won a sliver medal in the Olympics, she is probably best remembered for her unfortunate experience with Tonya Harding. However, there is another part of Nancy’s life that is far more interesting.

Nancy’s mother, Brenda, experienced severe nerve damage in her eyes when Nancy was one year old. A virus attacked her eyes, and Brenda became legally blind. In order to watch Nancy skate, she had to press her face against her television, and even then the figure of her beautiful daughter was just a blur.

In spite of her blindness, Brenda Kerrigan has always been a wonderful support for her daughter. She demonstrated her love for Nancy by starting her day, every day, at 4:30 a.m. in order that Nancy might practice at the ice rink. This went on for years!

It cost her family over $35,000 a year to provide the best coaches and equipment for her daughter. Her husband, Dan, didn’t make that much in a year!

When Mrs. Kerrigan was asked about the great sacrifice she and her family made for Nancy, she said, "It never made any sense. We just did it."

Sometimes sacrifice doesn't make sense; but it can cost a great deal! Just ask Jesus. He spoke of the great cost of the sacrifice He made for us: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matt. 20:28.

He gave his very life, and yet He tells us that He did it, not because it made sense, but because it was the cost of love. He said to His followers, “13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Truthfully, the enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice doesn’t make sense! The Son of God was willing to become a man, suffer, and die for sins we had committed? It was a sacrifice too great! And yet it is the sacrifice God’s great love demanded.

Like Mrs. Kerrigan, perhaps God would say, "It never made any sense. We just did it." I, for one, am glad they did!

With Love,

Mike

Forgiveness

God’s act of forgiveness toward us is a one-time event. We ask once, he forgives, he forgets, and that’s the end of it. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Our forgiveness of others should be the same, but it’s not always easy. Sometimes forgiveness is a process that has to be repeated again and again.

Maybe as many as ten years ago—or even twenty—someone hurt you. You forgave them and, for all practical purposes, forgot about it…until something happened to re-open the wound. It could be a conversation, a circumstance, a chance event, or any number of other things that causes you to find yourself struggling again with unforgiveness. It’s not that you weren’t sincere in your first (or second, or third) attempt to forgive them, it’s just that the hurt will not go completely away.

Years ago a business associate took advantage of me financially. I forgave him and made an effort to move on. Later I was racing through an airport to make a connecting flight, and I saw him. He saw me, too, I’m sure, but he diverted his eyes and kept moving past me. All of a sudden the resentment from the past came rushing back. As I took my seat on the plane, I realized I would repeat the process of forgiving this person, or it would nag at me for the rest of the day—or maybe even the rest of the month.

I have no doubt I was sincere in my desire to forgive him completely. But sometimes the bonds of bitterness aren’t easily broken. Sometimes we have to forgive someone again and again before it is settled completely in our own mind.

Jesus told Peter that we are to forgive our brother “seventy-times-seven.” I always assumed he was referring to “seventy-times-seven” separate offenses. The fact is he could have been referring to a single event.

Don’t let past hurts hold you back. Reliving the pain from last month, or last year, or your previous church, or from junior high, isn’t worth the price you have to pay. It keeps you from focusing on what God has called you to do today: serve him with joy, and love him with all your heart.

With Love,

Mike

Let's Talk Hermeneutics

Don’t let the title of this devotional frighten you. While the term “hermeneutic” may be unfamiliar to you, it simply refers to the strategy a person uses when reading and interpreting Scripture.

Every good biblical expositor follows a set of rules to guide their study of the Bible. If there are no rules, it is easy to make the Bible say just about anything! So there must be a few basic assumptions and a few rules to follow in order to arrive at conclusions that are logical and God-ordained.

Our assumptions may be things such as the belief that the Bible is an inspired book, having come to us from God through the biblical writers. Then there’s the belief that we should attempt to understand things such as context and author’s intent.

However, there is one more major principle that I believe every Christian must follow when interpreting Scripture. We find this principle in the story of the road to Emmaus. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus when they were joined by a third party who managed to keep his identity hidden from them. This third party was Jesus.

You will remember that the disciples expressed their dismay and confusion over the death of Jesus, the one they had believed to be the Messiah. Jesus’ response to their concern sets the standard for biblical interpretation.

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27

Jesus’ hermeneutic was simply this: the entire Bible is about Jesus! This means that every passage must be seen through the lens of Jesus. What does this passage tell us about Jesus? What does it tell me about God’s plan as revealed through Jesus?

The Bible is ultimately the story of God’s great love, the enemy’s attempt to destroy the object of God’s love, and God’s plan to restore to Himself that which was taken from Him. Jesus is the principle character of this story. Everything revolves around and hinges on Him. Therefore, every proper interpretation of Scripture will be rooted in and grounded upon Jesus.

Jesus is our all! He is our everything! And Jesus is the centerpiece of our understanding of Scripture.

With Love,

Mike

A Leader

I like this description of one man’s quest to become a leader. The article is anonymous.

I went on a search to become a leader.

I searched high and low. I spoke with authority. People listened. But alas, there was one who was wiser than I, and they followed that individual.

I sought to inspire confidence, but the crowd responded, “Why should I trust you?”

I postured, and I assumed the look of leadership with a countenance that flowed with confidence and pride. But many passed me by and never noticed my air of elegance.

I ran ahead of the others, pointed the way to new heights. I demonstrated that I knew the route to greatness. And then I looked back, and I was alone.

“What shall I do?” I queried. “I’ve tried hard and used all that I know.” And I sat down and pondered long.

And then, I listened to the voices around me. And I heard what the group was trying to accomplish. I rolled up my sleeves and joined in the work.

As we worked, I asked, “Are we all together in what we want to do and how to get the job done?”

And we thought together, and we fought together, and we struggled toward our goal.

I found myself encouraging the fainthearted. I sought the ideas of those too shy to speak out. I taught those who had little skill. I praised those who worked hard. When our task was completed, one of the group turned to me and said, “This would not have been done but for your leadership.”

At first, I said, “I didn’t lead. I just worked with the rest.” And then I understood that leadership is not a goal. It’s a way to reaching a goal.

I lead best when I help others to go where we’ve decided to go. I lead best when I help others to use themselves creatively. I lead best when I forget about myself as leader and focus on my group…their needs and their goals.

To lead is to serve…to give…to achieve together.

To this I would add the words of Jesus.

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28

With Love,

Mike

Excellent Christians!

I once heard a sports analyst describe an undefeated college team this way: "They have a tendency to play at the level of their opponents. They seem to do only as much as is necessary to win, and nothing more." He went on to say, "Their mediocrity will catch up them; they won't be serious contenders for the national championship this year." He was right; they lost that weekend.

Mediocrity is a curse. Mediocrity does what it can to avoid a bad showing, but rarely concerns itself with an excellent showing.

We see this all too often in our spiritual lives. We see it in individuals, and even entire congregations, who engage themselves half-heartedly in an experience of worship. What a sad way to approach an experience that has the potential to take us before the very throne of the living God!

Mediocrity also shows in our approach to ministry, in the degree to which we are willing to go out of our way to bless others. From the effort we put into a volunteer position at our local church to the sincerity with which we minister to a lost or hurting person who crosses our path. Do we do just enough to get by, or do we perform with excellence as Christ’s ambassadors? Many Christians are held back only by their commitment to mediocrity.

In talking about his approach to ministry, Paul said, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:24)

He's talking about pursuing excellence in everything: in the way we strive for holiness, in the way we reach out to others, in the way we live for Jesus. His words echo the words of Solomon: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Let's do our best to move in the direction of excellence, running to win the race.

With Love,

Mike

At Risk For You!

Has anyone every put himself at risk for you? What is the greatest sacrifice anyone has ever made on your behalf?

Early in the 20th century, Dr. Claude Barlow was a medical missionary to Shaohsing, China. While he served the Chinese people, a strange disease broke out among the populace, killing many of them. The disease baffled Dr. Barlow. He was frustrated that he couldn’t find a cure for the disease! He felt helpless as he watched so many die.

So Dr. Barlow came up with a daring, dangerous plan. He documented his observations of the disease, creating a notebook for easy reference. Then he filled a vial with the germs that caused the disease and sailed for the United States. He would return to the place he had received his medical training, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, in hopes of finding a cure.

Just prior to his arrival, Dr. Barlow injected himself with some of the germs from the vial, and checked himself in to the hospital. He trusted that his former professors would find the cure!

Dr. Barlow became very sick, but just as he had hoped, a cure was found and his life was saved. He could now return to China with a cure that would save thousands of lives!

Jesus placed himself in a land infected with a deadly virus. The virus was sin, and it was destroying millions. In order to provide the cure, Jesus placed himself on the cross and paid the penalty for the sins of the world.

Describing the moment of Jesus’ death, Luke wrote:

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 22:44-46

His last breath was the guarantee that you can choose to live forever. The cure for sin has been found. Jesus’ sacrifice has saved your life!

Blessings,

Mike

The Slain Lamb Stands

Ralph Wood, professor of theology and literature at Baylor University, once asked a group of seminary students to compare an astute collegian, who tells you insistently that sin and the fall of humanity are fallacies invented by the superstitious, and a young pagan in a remote village, whom you find in the woods sacrificing a chicken on a makeshift altar. "Which man is farther from the truth?" he asked. The students hemmed and hawed, but hesitantly agreed that the pagan boy, however primitively, understood something the other did not. There is a need in our lives for atonement.

Malcolm Muggeridge insisted that the depravity of humankind is at once the most unpopular of the Christian doctrines and yet the most empirically verifiable. We have within us a basic sense of our desperate condition. Something has gone wrong, something we yearn to see made right, but somehow find ourselves incapable of the restoration.

Through the symbolism of the Lamb of God, Scripture reminds us that Jesus has restored that which has gone wrong. Christ is the Lamb whose blood atones my depravity, the Lamb who moves me forever into the presence of God.

When the apostle John described his vision of heaven in the book of Revelation, the Lamb was found in the center of a singing multitude. He writes: "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders" (Revelation 5:6).

But how can a slain lamb stand? The Lamb who bore my sins also forever bears the scars of my atonement, even as He stands.

As the Lamb, Christ has met a need we could not. He has become the sacrifice we could not give. Behold the Lamb of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Cornerstone, the Shepherd, our Advocate who overcomes. The Slain Lamb stands!

With Love,

Mike

To the Music!

Historian Randall Balmer tells a story about the time he and his wife took ballroom dancing lessons. They learned to count out the patterns of steps and tried to coordinate their feet, while at the same time remembering the sequence of steps for each dance. For beginners, learning the form of a dance can be more stressful than relaxing.

After a few weeks of lessons, the Balmers were in a grocery store pushing the cart down an aisle when a song that was particularly meaningful to them began playing over the sound system. Caught up in the emotion, Balmer and his wife began to dance in the aisle. It wasn't a dance that the dance instructor would have recognized; the dance was their own expression of the love they shared.

Skilled dancers can perform a graceful dance without any music. They simply keep count in series of threes and follow the steps. While I imagine that a perfectly executed waltz is a thrill to perform (I wouldn't know), the dance that Balmer and his wife preferred was the one in the supermarket. In their dance class, they had been trying to keep track of the beats. In the shopping aisle, they were following the music.

This illustrates the difference between legalism and faith lived out. The first sees a list of rules and tries its best to conform to those rules, to keep in step, and to avoid mistakes. Legalism is often deeply sincere. It may not spring from a desire for superiority, but from a genuine desire to learn the dance.

The alternative to legalism--I'll call it "living faith"--may produce results that are nearly identical to the fruit of legalism. People who live by faith will conform to many rules and perform all sorts of righteous acts. But while legalism is the imposition of external behaviors, living faith springs from the Spirit.

Does your faith feel like an exhausting effort to keep up with an impossible beat? If so, you might be living with a legalistic mindset, forgetting the love that is meant to be at the heart of the life of your soul. God is not waiting around for us to get our act together; He is wooing us, and He wants us to experience His love. If we don't really know or taste His goodness, our attempts at righteousness will bring us nothing.

The psalmist entreats us: "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music" (Psalm 98:4). God doesn't want outward conformity; He wants us to be so full of his glory and goodness that we can't keep still. If you've learned to dance without music, slow down and listen. Let God’s promises guide your steps, and you will find that a dance will spring to life.

With Love,

Mike

100 Points!

I love this silly little story. The beginning of the story sounds a lot like an old, corny joke, but as the story progresses, an important point is made.

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter say's, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."

“Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same women for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."

That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points."

“Only three points?" He says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."

“Terrific!" say's St. Peter. "That's certainly worth a point."

"One point? Well I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

“Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.

"Two points!" The man cries. "At this rate the only way to get into heaven is by the grace of God!"

St. Peter smiled. "There's your 100 points! Come on in!"

There is only one way to get into heaven. Only the grace of God will allow you to pass through the pearly gates! Trust in that grace today.

With Love,

Mike

The Creator of Light

Scientists refer to the year 1905 as Albert Einstein's "annus mirabilis"--his year of miracles. That year, he completed a whole series of important scientific papers, all within a few months of each other, the least of which included his theory of special relativity and the renowned equation E=mc². In addition to these better-known contributions was also his most revolutionary contribution. Einstein submitted a paper that directly challenged the orthodoxy of physics. The paper described his radical insight into the nature of light as a particle.

In 1905, all physicists explained light as a wave. It was a time-honored, unquestionable fact. For over a century, scientists had grown in their certainty of this, citing experiments that made certain the wave nature of light, while overlooking some of its stranger behaviors. For example, when light strikes certain metals, an electron is lost in the process; but if light were only an electromagnetic wave, this would be impossible. Einstein proposed that light was not only a wave, but consisted of localized particles.

Perhaps the most helpful aspect of his theory was the unassuming attitude with which he presented his far-reaching thoughts. "What I see in nature," he once noted, "is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility."

You and I comprehend the world around us similarly, seeing it as in a mirror faintly. We are awed because it is beyond us and awed that we should discover anything at all. The Apostle Paul echoed our thoughts when he wrote: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" Romans 11:33-34

And to think, this God invites us to know Him personally and to learn directly from Him. How shall we respond to the invitation? "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know'." Jeremiah 33:2-3

Einstein's ideas about light so disturbed the scientific community that his particle theory of light was not accepted for two decades. His theory was and remains a revolutionary concept. It is incredible that we should know light enough to marvel at it. It is altogether unfathomable that God who first commanded light to shine out of darkness calls us by name and invites us to learn of His unsearchable things.

With Love,

Mike

The Seven Wonders

I like the story about the 3rd graders who were asked by their teacher to make a list of the Seven Wonders of the World. They took blank pieces of paper and started writing down what they believed to be the Seven Wonders.

After a while, the teacher collected the papers and began looking at their answers. On their lists were things you would expect, like the Grand Canyon, the pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India -- wonders from all over the world.

But the teacher noticed that one little girl was still busily writing. He asked her, "Aren’t you through? I only asked you to write down seven things -- the Seven Wonders of the World. What are you writing?"

"Well,” the little girl answered, “I don’t know if these are the right ones or not, but I have a whole lot more than seven."

“May I see what you’ve written?" the teacher asked. She handed him the paper, and he began to read the little girl’s list: "To be able to see, hear, think, breathe, touch, run, love, laugh…." And the list went on.

You see, our problem is that we think the great things of life are the big things; the magnificent material things. Maybe we need the eyes of the little girl who realized the great wonder that lies in the gifts and blessings our Heavenly Father is giving to us every single day.

With Love,

Mike

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! YOU ARE LOVED!

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

—1 John 3:1

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

—Romans 8:35,39

Hidden Treasure

Have you ever hunted for treasure? Van Morris is a treasurer hunter of sorts. He started hunting for treasure with a metal detector as a hobby more than 20 years ago, and he has been at it ever since. When Van began treasurer hunting, he received two pieces of valuable advice:

First, he was told, when you dig up something you have found buried in the ground, always scan the hole once again before refilling it. Oftentimes, where there is one coin, there will be others. Van has proven this to be true time and again.

Secondly, never believe that a place has been “hunted out,” meaning that all the treasure has been taken. For the patient hunter, Van was told, there will likely be more treasure waiting. Van has also found this to be true.

On one occasion, Van was given permission to hunt the site of a home built in the late 1700s; a property that he was told had been hunted out. Van started scanning early that morning and hunted for six hours without finding a thing. Just when he was ready to give up, he started getting signals from the metal detector—one right after the other. He dug out so many coins that they were literally running out of both of his pants pockets. One of the coins Van found that day was an 1865 3-cent piece, worth about $70.

In the Christian life, there is a site to which to which we can go to find much bigger treasurers – the treasurers of the universe. That site is the Word of God – the Bible – and you’ll find that the rules for treasure hunting apply:

First, when you find a valuable principle of truth in Scripture, look again before you close the Book, because you will likely find more truths close by;

Second, never believe that the Bible has been “hunted out.” There is always more to learn, and new blessings are available every single time we search. New Christians who are just beginning their search can sweep over the Scriptures and find a host of marvelous treasures. And veteran students of the Bible can be sure that, no matter how much we dig, it will never be hunted out. The treasures of God’s Word will never be exhausted.

I invite you to begin your treasure hunt in Scripture today!

With Love,

Mike

Weeds

Have you ever been responsible for a task you didn’t particularly enjoy? Perhaps you can relate to one homemaker who developed a unique perspective on some of her less enjoyable household duties. She said: I don't do windows because I love birds and don't want one to run into a clean window and get hurt. I don't wax floors because I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt, and then I'll feel terrible. I don't disturb cobwebs because I want every creature to have a home of their own. I don't do Spring Cleaning because I love all the seasons and don't want the others to get jealous. I don't put things away because my husband will never be able to find them again. I don't do gourmet meals when I entertain because I don't want my guests to stress out over what to make when they invite me over for dinner. I don't iron because I choose to believe them when they say "Permanent Press."

Some jobs are just no fun! And we can find a million reasons to avoid them. Outdoor tasks can present their challenges as well.

For the gardener, planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden. It is much more time consuming to weed the garden. As someone has said: "When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it’s the valuable plant."

There is a corollary to that truth: "To distinguish flowers from weeds, simply pull up everything. What grows back are the weeds."

The weary gardener might find an excellent excuse, “I don’t pull weeds because I don’t know the flowers from the weeds.”

Perhaps this is what the farmer in Jesus’ parable was thinking. His servants came to him to tell him of the weeds in his wheat. When they asked if they should pull up the weeds the farmer replied: "'No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.'"

Weeding is hard work, not just in the garden but in the church as well. But the good news is, in the church weeding is not our job. It is work that is best left up to the Master Gardener, Jesus. He’ll take care of the weeding at the end of time. He’s the One who knows the difference between wheat and weeds. We can leave that job to Him.

With Love,

Mike

Which is Your Country?

George Shultz, when serving as Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, kept a large globe in his office. When newly appointed ambassadors had an interview with him, and when ambassadors returning from their posts for their first visit with him were leaving his office, Shultz would test them. He would say, "I want you to go over the globe and prove to me that you can identify your country." They would go over, spin the globe, and put their finger on the country to which they were appointed --unerringly.

When Shultz's old friend and former Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield was appointed ambassador to Japan, even he was put to the test. This time, however, Ambassador Mansfield spun the globe and put his hand on the United States. He said: "That's my country."

On June 27, 1993, Shultz related this experience to Brian Lamb on C-Span's "Booknotes." Said the secretary: "I've told that story, subsequently, to all the ambassadors going out. 'Never forget you're over there in that country, but your country is the United States. You're there to represent us. Take care of our interests and never forget it. And you're representing the best country in the world.' "

As proud as I am of my country, the United States is not my true home. I am a citizen of Heaven! The Apostle Paul tells me that I have been sent as an ambassador to this world. I must be careful to remember that I am here to represent the best place in the entire universe. I am here to represent Jesus Christ, my King! How about you?

With Love,

Mike

Costly Garments

Hans Christian Andersen tells of the emperor who loved new clothes. This emperor so admired modeling new robes that he spent all of his time in his dressing room. In fact, he had little concern for anything else in his kingdom.

One day, two swindlers came to town announcing they were weavers of the finest clothes imaginable. Their royal colors and fabrics, they claimed, were of such quality that they were only visible to the finest few! Those who were unfit for their office or were hopelessly stupid would not be able to see them at all.

The emperor provided the weavers with large amounts of money. He wanted to know those who were unfit for their posts; he also wanted to see the foolish and the clever within his empire. Yet when the emperor went to try on the garments, he was most distraught to realize that it was he who saw nothing at all.

But the king would not admit his stupidity or incompetence; he would not let anyone think him a fool. He announced that the cloth was very beautiful, and all the courtiers rapidly agreed. In a great procession the next day everyone spoke in admiration of the emperor’s new clothes. The garments were like no other, they said. But then from the back of the crowd a child spoke up, observing what the rest would not: The emperor was wearing nothing.

Imagine finding out that the one thing you have desperately attempted to keep veiled in secrecy was not actually veiled at all. Would you feel foolish? Or would you insist the veil was still there?

Andersen ends with a glimpse into the mind of the king: “[The words of the child] made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right. But he thought to himself, ‘Now I must bear up to the end.’”

I believe, however, that there can be another response to the startling realization that we stand unveiled before family, friends, or God Himself. Christ calls us to simply come to Him and give Him everything. Come without costume or pretense. Come ready to be honest with ourselves and honest with him.

Jesus will take from our shoulders our robes of self-importance and false security. Then he will clothe us with garments of salvation and array us in robes of righteousness.

With love,

Mike

Forgiving Your Enemy

Forgiving our enemies unleashes God's power and provision in our lives. Just ask Brandon Biggs.

Several years ago, Brandon’s father, Gregory, was struck by a car. His injured body flew into the windshield of the car and lodged there. He might have survived the accident if the driver, Chante Mallard, hadn't been high on drugs and alcohol. But instead of rendering aid or calling for help, Mallard drove home and parked her car in the garage, leaving Gregory Biggs to die.

After authorities put the pieces of the case together and arrested Mallard, she was given a 50-year sentence. At the end of the trial, she tearfully asked Biggs' family for forgiveness. Brandon then read a statement in which he told Mallard he accepted her apology, "but in return, I hope that you will accept my forgiveness, and I hope you will accept the forgiveness of Jesus Christ."

Biggs’ stirring act of forgiveness caught the attention of Randy Skillicorn, a death row inmate in Missouri, who is also the editor of Compassion, a ministry that awards scholarship money to relatives of murder victims.

"His overwhelming desire to forgive this woman; it's not something that you generally hear from the public," said Mr. Skillicorn in an interview from prison. "The message that he was trying to give was far more valuable than any amount of money we could ever give him."

Shortly afterward, Brandon was contacted by a representative from Compassion and encouraged to apply for the scholarship. In his application essay, Brandon said that, while he had many feelings toward the individual who murdered his father, it was because of the personal forgiveness he had experienced in his own life through his relationship with Jesus Christ that he was able to offer forgiveness to her.

Brandon used his scholarship to attend a Christian university as a ministerial student. One of his goals was to work with incarcerated felons.

Forgiveness is not a simple thing. In fact, it is extremely complex, bringing into play our sense of fairness, our fear of repeated hurt, our own pride, and much more. But forgiveness can be a reality, even in situations so terrible as Brandon’s, through a relationship with Jesus. It is Jesus’ forgiveness that can flow to us and through us, all the way to our enemies.

With Love,

Mike