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I'm like many busy moms out there. I need to squeak every bit of productivity out of most of the day so I can a) be present and available after school and b) have a few minutes at the end of the day to wind down before bed. Unfortunately, when you pair that with my terrible time management, it’s a recipe for disaster.
One sunny afternoon during the fall of 4th grade, I completely lost track of the afternoon. I was engrossed in some project at work and left too late to get through traffic and make it to after school pick up on time. Thank the Lord for the gift of technology! I’ll just call the school, let them know I was running late, and ask them to convey the message to my kiddo. Bam! Momming win… Well, all of that happened just as I had hoped, and when I arrived at our usual pick up spot, there was no kiddo waiting for me. In the distance, I see a terrified, sobbing little person running toward my car. I missed the mark. I betrayed trust and confidence that I would be reliable, dependable, and on time. “A little late” wasn’t specific enough, and when all the other kids were picked up and only mine remained, panic ensued. I. Felt. Terrible. I sincerely hope that you have not had a similar experience, but I suspect you have. Maybe not the exact same situation, but we’ve all missed the mark – we’ve all sinned. It’s part of being human. So, when our iniquities impact those around us, and we impact trust in a relationship, what do we do? James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt you.” Apologizing humbles us by reminding us that we are not perfect and we need forgiveness from God and from other people. When we know we have wronged God or someone else, God expects us to make it right. We make things right with God by repenting of that sin, confessing it to Him, and receiving His forgiveness (1 John 1:9). We make things right with others by apologizing—admitting our wrong, asking for forgiveness, and offering to make restitution (see the example of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:8). When we have wronged someone else, we should do whatever we can to make it right. Here are a few practical application tips to put the rubber to the road when it’s time to apologize. Remember, being faithful in making things right will both grow your intimacy with the Lord and with your people:
An example of this for the late pick up scenario: Lots of hugs to console the scared kiddo> I left work too late today. I’m so sorry that you were the last one waiting to be picked up. You were scared that you were alone and you didn’t know where I was because I was so late getting here today. I’m SO sorry. <More hugs> Can you forgive me? Thank you. I don’t want this to happen again, so I am going to set a timer on my phone to go off when I am at work so I make sure I leave in plenty of time to pick you up, and IF something happens that I will ever be this late again, I will ask that you wait for me in the office so you aren’t by yourself. Ok? Mother-child intimacy deepened. Trust repaired. Modeling of humility, apology, and reconciliation. Thank you Jesus! These principles can be used any time you have messed up, with God and anyone in your life. You will find that the sooner you apologize the better and easier it will be for everyone involved. If you feel like you need some guidance or practice; Or you’ve been in a sin pattern for a while without trying to right your wrong and you need support in making a change, schedule an appointment! We would be honored to walk with you as you practice glorifying the Lord with your words and actions. The Redeemed Team I like to think that God causes all the circumstances of our life to work together for our good and for His glory. This confidence is based on the familiar Romans 8:28 which says in part, “All things work together for good, for those who love God.”
There are some who mistakenly understand that to mean only good things will happen to them. However, that is not what the passage is saying. In fact, later on in that very chapter the Apostle Paul speaks of “tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword.” Then in his other writings, Paul tells of suffering through a shipwreck, of being imprisoned, beaten, and of his pending death. These are the kinds of things that he faced as a Christian. Yet, Paul says, God makes the bad turn to our good. Notice how this works. Before Marilyn and I moved to Janesville, we lived in and pastored in Willmar, Minnesota. We owned a nice house on a golf course in a quiet and rather new subdivision. One summer alone, I collected better than 600 golf balls that had been hit into our back yard. We felt that we needed to wear a hard hat when we ventured into that area of our property. We sold golf balls; we gave golf balls away. We ate golf balls for breakfast instead of eggs. (Not really.) You get the idea; they were everywhere! The area around our house was growing with new houses going up from time to time. Two of those new homes stand out in my mind. One was directly across the street from where we lived while the other one was almost directly behind our house across one of the fairways. Today both houses are finished, beautiful and occupied. It is the process though, that the two houses went through, that forms the basis for this illustration. I remember going across the street several times and looking at the large hole that was to become a basement. It was nothing more than an empty void. Frogs used it for choir practice and mosquitoes used it as a maternity ward. In time though, the hole was covered as new walls went up, floors were put in place, pieces of lumber revealed where the various rooms were to go, roof thrushes were hoisted to the top and eventually, bricks and shingles were assigned their spots. Grass was planted and scrubs were put out. Finished. Beautiful. A couple from Iran bought the house and moved in. Interestingly, they became our friends and we actually enjoyed an ethnic dinner at their table in their new home. The other house had a more difficult time getting to the finish line. One night Marilyn and I were awakened by the sound of sirens and to flashing lights reflecting off of our ceiling. The new but yet unoccupied house was totally engulfed in flames. It could not be saved. The only things that were left were a few charred reminders of what might have been. All was lost, or so it seemed. Almost immediately the workmen went back to work on the project. They patiently cleared away the debris, put in new floors, walls and the roof. And while late, they did finish the project. In my years of ministry, I have known people whose lives in many ways remind me of the first house in my story. They speak of feeling empty. Confused. Piles of meaningless "stuff" seems to clutter everything. Pieces of where? When? What? Why? and how seem to be all over the place. John 4 captures the story of the so-called woman at the well. When Jesus encountered her, her life was a mess.
How in the world could Jesus put that jumbled mess of a life back together and make something good come out of it? And yet, Jesus did exactly that. The woman at the well was to become one of the most successful proclaimers of Jesus found anywhere in Scripture. Her mixed up life was turned completely around in an instant! Then too, I have known those who remind me of the second house. Life is good. Everything seems to be coming together -- and then seemingly out of no-where, maybe in the middle of the night, the fire hits. That fire can be cancer. A job loss. A pandemic. A mental health crisis. Everything appears to be lost. Take Joseph of the Old Testament as an example. He was sold into slavery by his brothers and dragged off to Egypt. Joseph gained some prominence there, but due to the unfair and false accusations of his boss’s wife, he spent years in an Egyptian prison. While in prison, a friend who had promised to help him, forgot all about the fellow. To many, it may have appeared that God had forsaken Joseph. Rejected by family, enslaved, and imprisoned, what hope could he possibly have? To the unknowing eye, his was a useless, wasted life. Only embers of what might have been remained. But God looked on Joseph and saw someone who stayed faithful despite the trials. And when the time was right, God turned everything around for our friend by promoting him to the second highest office in Egypt, second in command only to Pharaoh himself. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph testified to his brothers, “You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people….” I want you keep this important truth in mind. Jesus, the master builder, never forgets His master plan. At the same time, we must never confuse the process with the finished product. The big void in the ground of that first house was not the home, it was just a step in that direction. The fire was a sad set back, but it didn't stop the dedicated builders from reaching their goals. The piles of lumber, bricks, and soil were unsightly for a while, but today all of the parts have come together like the pieces of a giant puzzle. The beginning or even the middle of something is not the end. Speaking of the end, I want to remind you, today those two houses in my story are houses that anyone would be proud to own. And if you were to look at the two houses now, you could not tell which one went through the fire, and which one didn't. They both look equally beautiful. The bad eventually did turn out to be good. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that we are God’s habitation. Other passages liken the saint to a tent as well as a temple. Regardless, the master builder is at work building His habitation in each of you too. He has a master plan for your life. And, believe me when I say, all of this that you are presently going through will in time make sense and God will work it for your good and for His glory. And the end product is going to be beautiful — and good. Just wait and see. The Redeemed Team I read some time back of a man who bought a parcel of ground for practically next to nothing. The brother then held on to the property for years. Finally, he sold the tract of land for a half million dollars. The point is, the fellow made hundreds of thousands of dollars by just waiting!
Many people though just can’t seem to wait. They sell out; they panic! They are like the sister who prayed, “Lord give me patience, RIGHT NOW!” The country-western musical group Alabama once sang: “I’m always in a hurry to get things done; I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and I don’t know why.” David Roper notes in his excellent book, Psalm 23: The Song of the Passionate Heart, “The world intensifies our restlessness. Advertisements entice us to buy this, spend that, and to borrow against tomorrow SO WE CAN HAVE WHAT WE WANT TODAY. Generous incentives, rebates, mark-downs, sales packages, and good deals urge us on, creating desires that we never knew we had.” That, “I’ve got to have it all, and I’ve got to have it now” drive is nearly everywhere. Fighting it is tough with a capital “T”. My great-grandmother used to have a cute little plaque on her wall that said, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” That’s me! But that’s not God.
God has spoken. His Word is to be trusted. Things will work out. God is working and at the right time, the Lord’s time, the answer will come. Just wait. You’ll see! Philippians 1:6 promises, “... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Someone wrote: “We must wait for God, long, meekly, in the wind and wet, in the thunder and lightning, in the cold and the dark. Wait, and He will come.” The poet penned: I know that I am impatient, Lord, I want to run ahead; Speak to my heart and make me Willing to be led. Your clock is always right, Lord It never does run late; Your schedule can’t be hurried So teach me, Lord, to wait. Your time is never my time-- Oh, make this plain to me And give me patience so to wait And Thy fulfillment see. I see through a glass darkly And in this earthly state I only know impatience, So teach me, Lord, to wait. I pray for Thy anointing, I need Thy holy touch; Oh, send me a full measure-- I need it, oh, so much. Please keep me calm and trusting In this world of strife and hate; And ‘mid the hurrying, worrying throng Oh, teach me, Lord, to wait. You can be confident! Just wait, dear friends, and you will see “the Salvation of our Lord.” The Redeemed Team It’s been said, “It’s not what happens to a man, but what he does after it happens that really counts.” You can take difficulties, tragedies, failures, and view them as obstacles, OR you can use them…
Jesus proved this. He took the worst thing that could happen seemingly to a man--the cruel, tortuous death on a cross--and turned it into the best possible thing for mankind--REDEMPTION! The Bible tells us that “He learned obedience by the things He suffered.” The truth is, we learn obedience the same way. I used to occasionally play golf. Having said that, I can’t possibly imagine a golfer who would insist that all the difficulties on the course be removed:
It is a proven fact that rivers become crooked by dodging difficulties; the same is true with us.
Would these men have been any better off in the long run by dodging their difficulties? Surely NOT! Their difficulties made them better; greater. Just look at what the fellows accomplished. Without their difficulties, no one would have ever heard of any of these people. Hear me please. Our great and wonderful God has promised…
What do the following five verses of Scripture have in common?
For instance, Hebrews 13:5, (The Amplified Bible) has it: “He God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake nor let you down, relax My hold on you. Assuredly not! I find it interesting that in the original language, the writer actually uses five negatives to stress the positive that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. Then, as you can see, the promise is repeated five different times in five different places in Scripture! One gets the idea that the Lord means what He says and says what He means! Joshua 1:9 (New King James Version) therefore adds: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong, and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” This phrase, “Be strong” is found some 312 times in the Bible. It means to be courageous, valiant, manly, strengthened, established, firm, fortified, as well as mighty. Notice here:
God does not always help us by removing the tests, rather He helps us by making the tests work for us. Satan wants to use the trials to tear us down, but God uses them to build us up! He uses them to reveal His faithfulness to us. The Redeemed Team The year was 1809 and the attention of the world was riveted on Austria and the various invasions of Napoleon. At the time of the invasions, babies were being born. But who in the world could have possibly been interested in babies at a time like that?
To be honest, 1809 was a very good year for babies. Tennyson, the famous poet, was born that year as was Gladstone, the great Prime Minister of England. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Darwin, all were born that year. Oh, there was one more. Did I mention Abraham Lincoln? Famous names, all. Only a handful of people today can name even one of the Austrian campaigns --- but who can measure the impact of:
I find an interesting parallel. The year was 4 BC. Rome was what was happening then. Who could have possibly cared about Joseph and his pregnant wife making an 80-mile trip south from Nazareth? Who cared about another Jewish baby being born in the small village of Bethlehem? Seemingly no one. Even the Holiday Inn had hung out a "no vacancy" sign. Only heaven appeared to take notice at all. Sadly, everyone missed it. The biggest thing that happened in the world in 4 BC was the birth of that baby in Bethlehem. You see, that baby was Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus the long-awaited Messiah. And again, they missed it. Now to today. It is said that it was the evening before Christmas and the night watchman was making his usual rounds after a large department store had closed for the holiday. Floor after floor presented piles of boxes and cartons of all shapes and sizes. It looked as if a small hurricane had blown through there. But a bigger shock awaited the watchman when, under one of the counters, he found a man who had apparently been pushed aside and trampled on in the mad rush to get in that last moment of shopping before the store closed. The man was an absolute stranger. He carried no id. When His body was examined for tell-tale markings, the only thing that could be found were some nail prints in His hands and feet. What is the moral of the story? Let me put it this way. Jesus came into the world as the greatest expression of God's love. He truly was God come down to earth. He was mercy with a robe, He was grace wearing sandals. And yet He has somehow been lost somewhere in the shuffle. Once again, as at Calvary, He is rejected. Once again, as at Bethlehem, there is no room for Him in the Inn. Once again, as with the shoppers at the department store. They simply missed the meaning of it all. Have you missed the meaning of Christmas? Do you celebrate the birth of that babe that was born to us some 2000 years ago? The Redeemed Team Hosea 4:16 (King James Version) gives us one of the shortest histories of the nation of Israel found anywhere. It says: “For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer….” That’s it. The Hebrews always seemed to be heading backwards, downhill, away from God.
Psalm 78:40-42 gives us the reasons for this as it lists five great sins of Israel, two being:
We do this when we try to measure God by our own standards. We drag Him down to our level, whittle Him down to our own size and thus, we end up with a God as SMALL, as LIMITED, and as HELPLESS as we are. It has often been said, “God is only as big as you’ll let him be.” I would like to correct that error. GOD IS GOD!
Some of His names are:
GOD IS GOD! He never has been nor will He ever be found to be left at the mercy of circumstances! Instead, He rules them; He orders them! Whether the need is making a walkway through the Red Sea, turning a rock into a drinking fountain, or giving a blind man 20-20 vision. The impossible becomes possible before Him. God is God! Psalm 37:5 (The New Living Translation) promises: “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.” That’s His Word! You can believe it! Genesis 18:14 (The Amplified Bible) asks, “Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord?” “But I feel as if I’ve lost everything. I’m down to goose eggs, blanks, nada, the big zero!” I hear you, nonetheless please remember--God can begin with nothing, He can begin with zilch and produce! Man can invent--but God can create! What do you do when you are faced with some daunting circumstance such as a health crisis, a financial setback, a relational issue, or some other like situation? Do you compare the situation to our all-powerful God, or do you compare the situation to yourself? Your perspective can make all the difference in the world. I need your help here. Please hold out your hand. Now I simply want you to create something out of nothing; anything. How about a blade of grass? A June bug? How about a drop of water? Come on. I’m waiting. I am being silly. Both you and I know that we can’t create diddly. God and God alone is the great creator. Philip Keller confirms in his classic, A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm: “Our view of God is often too small--too cramped--too provincial--too human. He it is who is directly responsible for the creation of all things, both natural and supernatural.” I read where the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta once told her superiors: “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” “Mother Teresa,” they chided gently, “you know you cannot build an orphanage with just three pennies. Why, you can’t do anything with just three pennies.” “I know,” she answered, “but with God and my three pennies I can do anything!” As you know, Mother Teresa and her orphanage eventually became a worldwide symbol of success. A friend once defined faith as “Believing God is who He says that He is and that He will do what He says that He will do.” Not only is that faith, it is also smart. Since God is God, turn Him loose on your problems. Don’t limit Him; let God be God over your circumstances. The Redeemed Team Christian friend, who has given you permission to give up hope? Does God no longer hear your prayers? Does He no longer care? Has He given up on His people? Oh, I speak as one who has gone crazy! Of course:
David therefore wrote in Psalms 42:11: “Why are you downcast, O my soul?Why (are you) so disturbed within me? PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD....”
In recounting his experiences as a political prisoner in Russia, the late Alexander Solzhenitsyn told of a moment when he was on the verge of giving up all hope. He was forced to work 12 hours a day at hard labor while existing on a starvation diet, and he had become gravely ill. The doctors were predicting his death. One afternoon, while shoveling sand under a blazing sun, he simply stopped working. He did so even though he knew the guards would beat him severely -- perhaps to death. But he felt that he just couldn't go on. Then he saw another prisoner, a fellow Christian, moving toward him cautiously. With his cane the man quickly drew a cross in the sand and erased it. In that brief moment, Solzhenitsyn felt all of the hope of the gospel flood through his soul. It gave him courage to endure that difficult day and the months of imprisonment that followed.
Yes, we have hope because our hope is in Christ! Whenever you are tempted to quit; to give up hope:
Then too, please remember these words found in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Don’t quit -- hope! The Redeemed Team Do you have hope today?
An eminent American cardiologist noted that “hope is the medicine I use more than any other. Hope can cure nearly anything.” A noted minister wrote: “The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” So, again, do you have hope? Many of you would say, in answer, “yes, I have a great hope in a great God.” Good. And yet there are others who aren’t so sure. I know. I have seen the despair. I have heard the dread. The spark is no longer in the eyes. It is as if such people have a secret little room somewhere hidden in their heart. That area in now reserved for matters of discarded faith.
On the outside of the door of that secret little room hangs a sign that declares, “In this room are stored all of the things that are just too hard for God.” Sad! Tragic! What, if anything, have you tossed into your private little room? What, if anything, have you given up on? Well, today, I believe that I have a Word for you:
1 Thessalonians 2:16-17 declares: “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and GOOD HOPE, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” The God of Hope wants to give you GOOD HOPE today! Romans 15:4 declares that: “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE.” Furthermore, Romans 15:13 adds: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Who is the Scripture speaking of here? The GOD OF HOPE! Our God is not the god of doubt, He is not the god of despair, nor is He the god of gloom and doom. No, who is He? He is “THE GOD OF HOPE” -- Good hope -- and He wants you to “OVERFLOW IN HOPE BY THE POWER OF His HOLY SPIRIT.” The Redeemed Team Notice with me the emphasis found in these verses of Scripture:
Many people have the misguided idea that:
Back in 1997 I went to Romania to minister. One of the many things that stands out in my mind from the trip is the number of street children that I saw in Bucharest. I under- stand that there are literally thousands of these kids on the streets at any one time. I particularly remember seeing two of them, probably seven or eight years old, begging from a busy sidewalk in the heart of the business district. They were very dirty. They were begging with one hand and each one eating an equally dirty apple with the other hand. It is therefore no wonder that such kids are diseased, and lice ridden. It is a proven fact that they have been abused both physically and sexually, even by the local police. They are looked on as being worthless; as being nothing more than human trash. What would one of those children be worth? Interestingly enough, God paid the same price to purchase one of those street children in Romania as He paid for you and me; as He paid for Billy Graham. Have you ever wondered if anyone cares if you live or die; if anyone really gives a rip?
The Redeemed Team The biblical word for the love of God is agape. It frequently appears in the context of giving such as, “For God so loved the world that HE GAVE…” or Galatians 2:20 where Paul speaks of the Son of God “who loved me AND GAVE himself for me.” Interestingly, there are 290 references to the love of God in just the New Testament; 290 times when God declares His love for us!
God's love is not some isolated and veiled truth hidden away in Scripture. NO, it is the theme and the heartbeat of the Word of God! It is written into every line, every verse, every chapter, every book as well as each of the two testaments. 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 declares, “God is love.” However, that love is costly. Paul writes to the Roman Christians, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). There were easier ways to show love than to die for someone:
Someone once observed, “Jesus loved us in the greatest possible way to the greatest possible extent!” And, I remind you, He did all of this “while we were yet sinners.” Speaking of sinners, think with me of the people that Jesus ministered to during His time here on earth. Does anything strike you about those folks? With but few exceptions, they were people who would not be accepted in many of our churches across America today:
These were the very ones that society and even the religious circles turned away and yet like iron shavings are drawn to a magnet, so it was that those people were drawn to Jesus. They were drawn by His love. They felt His acceptance. When they were around Him, they felt new worth. I was raised in terrible poverty. I know what it is like to be homeless. I know what it is like not to have enough to eat. When I accepted Jesus, I was not all that moved by His miracles, His great healings or even His wonderful teachings. The thing that struck me was that…
I was one of those who was drawn by His love; drawn by His mercy! Friends, the love of Jesus Christ...
The Redeemed Team |