When I Can't Feel a Thing

 I listened to You Say by Lauren Daigle today and I relate to the line that says “You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing.” Repeatedly in the Bible, God tells me he loves me. Repeatedly, He shows me he loves me daily by showering me with protection, bounty and beauty. Repeatedly, I remind myself of this fact.

1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay

Today I can’t feel a thing. Today I struggle. Yet the beautiful thing is that the fact remains, and I believe that God still loves me. That is what keeps me going through the days when I feel nothing. Being a bit of an up and down kind of personality, my belief is so important. Mindfully cultivating that belief is vital. Consistency in the face of emotional fluctuations is purely His Spirit in me. In 1 John 5:13-15 of The Message translation of the Bible, I am reminded of what my faith entails.

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

It is possible to be confident when I can’t feel a thing because my faith is in God and not my own roller coaster emotions.

These Are the Good Old Days

 Social media constantly bombards Boomers and Gen X’ers with reminders of the good old days like playing outside until the street lights came on. And yes, it was a truly magical time to be a kid. Yet somehow these endless reminiscing posts begin to sound like criticism and we move closer to becoming those old grouches that used to yell, “Get off my lawn!” Remember them? They were the ones who refused to get an air conditioner, covered all the furniture in plastic and their house smelled like moth balls. Those folks clung to their old ways even to the point of misery and they seemed to take great pride in it.

So instead of living in the past, how about we remind ourselves of the ways things are better now than they were then? Then maybe we won’t become that old curmudgeon that smells funny. The next time we feel the urge to tell a story of riding our bikes with no helmet in the snow, up a hill, we will remember that 2023 is the good old days for the younger Generation Y, Z and Alphas. (I googled it. Gen Alpha are today’s new babies.)

Following are a few ways things, in my opinion, are better now than then. Maybe it will help plant a seed of gratitude for our present conditions.

• So many more cancers are treatable or curable.

• Men have figured out that they can cook.

• Talking for hours to loved ones who live far away costs absolutely nothing.

• Pictures don’t require film.

• Writing and publishing doesn’t require paper or publishers.

• You can do automatic draft to pay the bills.

• You don’t have to call in to the DJ to hear your favorite song.

• Board games are still popular.

• We don’t have to run all over the house to reset clocks for daylight savings time.

• You can watch your favorite show when you want to and no one has to get up to change the channel.

• Swimming pools are not just for the YMCA and hotels.

• LED lighting allows everyone to economically decorate their house at Christmas.

• You no longer have to struggle folding that map.

• You can fix stuff yourself with the help of a YouTube video.

• You no longer have to drive from store to store, and sometimes town to town, looking for a replacement part.

• You don’t have to purchase a new set of encyclopedias or drive to the library and look through a jam packed card catalog to learn about a topic of interest.

Ok, your list is probably different from mine so please feel free to add a comment for your favorite thing about the days we live in now and maybe we will all become known as the grateful generation.

Are You Clark Kent or Superman?

 The goal is up there, just over the horizon. But in between are dark valleys, massive mountains, and narrow slippery switchback roads. So I crank up the radio, hold the steering wheel with a death grip and maneuver around the beast of a bolder that is right in front of me.

This is how I have approached 99% of my life as a Christian. This is a try-harder style of Christianity; in other words: legalism. Following the rules while juggling elephants. I know legalism is a big issue with Jesus, so maybe I should re-think this route. Maybe I am wasting my time on all these switchbacks and narrow roads. Maybe I should simply use the big paved highway and wait for the get-out-of-hell-free card. But Jesus made it clear that I was not to take the easy way. Far from it!

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the difficulty of our journey. I’m still juggling elephants here. We all are. We need help, Lord! But I must remember, the Father knows what I need. He knows my challenges. He has walked my walk in flesh. That is why he sent power for this difficult road in the form of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus told the disciples multiple times that he was sending help.

John 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever---the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

John 20:21-22 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Good News is we do not have to white knuckle our lives as Christians! What He gave to the disciples, he gives to every follower of Christ. We have been given a beautiful gift from our Father and it is our superpower. Why should we try to conquer our day as Clark Kent when we can simply rely on our God-given superpowers? So where is the phone booth? I’m ready to rely on his superpower. What do I have to do to engage it? Is there a magic word? Where do I begin? It is made quite clear in the Bible that we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe but living by the Holy Spirit does not come naturally to us.

H.

u.

m.

i.

l.

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Engaging the power steering is to humble ourselves and admit to God that we cannot do this on our own. It is an attitude. To that I whine, “Not humility! Anything but that. Are you sure about that? I don’t remember that verse.”

God demanded a humble quiet spirit from the get-go. When I searched, I found so many examples of God’s expectation of humility starting in Genesis going through to Revelation. Look at the life of Jesus. Humility was always in the forefront and in the background. Here are a handful of the many examples that I found in my search.

To Pharaoh God said:

Exodus 10:3 “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?

The Lord said to King Solomon:

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

King David notes this about God.

2 Samuel 22:28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

Psalm 25:9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

The prophet Isaiah notes over and over about being humble.

Isaiah 29:19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Jesus said:

Matthew 23:12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Apostle Paul instructs:

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

And a description Jesus’ life on Earth:

Philippians 2:6-11 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here is instruction from James, the half-brother of Christ:

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

And finally I leave you with the words of the Apostle Peter who probably struggled with pride as much as anyone.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

So I can see that the requirement for humility cannot be denied. It is a prerequisite to living a life pleasing to God. He wants us to step into that phone booth daily, let go of our pride, lay down our elephants, humble ourselves before the him and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to lead our life in his superpower strength. Then tomorrow morning when I wake up as Clark Kent, I will gratefully remember the way that God managed my elephants without my effort and I will step into that phone booth again.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

For encouragement listen to this song. Letting go is step one.

Memorize It, They Said

 Do you remember that scene from Charlie Brown Christmas where Linus stands up and quotes scripture from Luke 2? It is a sweet memory that is probably engraved in your mind as it is in mine. As a Baptist preacher’s kid I have been required to memorize scripture more times than I can recall. One of my first attempts was for a Christmas play. I was required to memorize half of a verse and say it at the right time. The half verse was this: “for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Of course this was King James Version because, back then we didn’t have choices. I balked, declaring that it was poor English and made no sense. I begged my parents to let me change it to make sense. That did not fly. So I said it. And I am sure it was with zero enthusiasm and a lot of prompting and my attempts to memorize after that day never got easier.

I have been required to memorize multiple verses, poems, and even a short story. But here is the rub. I never could successfully quote a single sentence unless I was saying it with a group or it was set to music like the ABC song. I always had to improvise. I could never lead the Lord’s Prayer or even quote John 3:16 without a flub up. Ever. Even with hundreds of repetitions, never could I quote anything from movie lines to the Gettysburg address flawlessly. And it is not that I haven’t tried. More recently I have downloaded an app to help me memorize. I spent time once a day for a couple of years attempting to memorize verses. Even after all those attempts, it never stuck. I often questioned God on why my brain couldn’t memorize. He gave me no direct answer.

I often tell this story of my mom. My mother suffered with dementia in her later years so I would attend church services with her in her nursing home. One Sunday, a pastor in the middle of his sermon quoted John 10:10 leaving the end unfinished for his sleepy, geriatric audience to complete. He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more–.” He stopped and waited. I was thinking, “dude, know your audience,” when much to my surprise, mom lifted her head and boldly filled in “abundantly.” I sat there amazed with tears in my eyes.

Sometimes bits and pieces of those failed memorized passages will come to my mind out of the blue much like mom’s did. Being curious about where in the Bible the random phrase originated or if I made it up, I will type the words into the Google search bar and the scripture address pops right up. And it was always what I need to hear when I need to hear it. My recall and my mom’s recall(and the Google search engine) amaze me. I’m sure all of it can be explained away scientifically but this could never explain how the brain came to be engineered this way. I know Who created my brain. I know Who set the stars in the heavens. And I know Who brings those phrases to mind at just the right time.