Lent - growing spiritually taller (Luke 19:3)

SCRIPTURE: Luke 19:3 (TM) – larger reading Luke 19:1-10

He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way - he was a short man and couldn't see over the crowd.

STORY:

From the book of lists:

Alexander Pope, English poet 4'6"


Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast 4'11"


Dolly Parton, U.S. Singer 5'


Victoria, British queen 5'


John Keats, English poet 5'3/4"


Debbie Reynolds, U.S. actress 5'1"


St. Francis of Assisi, Italian saint 5'1"


Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut 5'2"


Margaret Mead, U.S. anthropologist 5'2"


Nikita Khrushechev, Soviet leader 5'3"


Micky Rooney, U.S. actor 5'3"


Voltaire, French writer 5'3"


James Madison, U.S. president 5'4"


Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer 5'4"


Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter 5'4"


Haile Selassie, Ethopian emperor 5'4"


George "Baby Face" Nelson, U.S. gangster 5'4 3/4"


Hirohito, Japanese emperor 5'5"


Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping tycoon 5'5"


Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor 5'6"


Joseph Stalin, Soviet political leader 5'6"


Tutankhamen, Egyptian king 5'6"

OBSERVATION:

I’m 6’3” so I am not always sensitive to those with height issues. I met up with a former youth and his family last year. His son and daughter’s comment about me was, “He is tall!” I am not aware how I appear to others. Sometime ago I was walking next to my nephew Todd Martin, the tennis pro, who is 6’6” – just three inches taller than me, but for the first time in my life I felt small.

When I ran across the list above I was impressed with the list of short people and what they accomplished (positively or negatively) in the world. It is not the stature that makes a person, but their inner strength… their courage… their drive. 

Such was the case with Zacchaeus. My best guess is that you grew up singing the Vacation Bible School song:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man


And a wee little man was he


He climbed up in a sycamore tree


For the Lord he wanted to see


And as the Savior passed that way


He looked up in that tree


And He said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!


For I’m going to your house today


For I’m going to your house to stay”

A fellow clergy preached Sunday on aptitude. It reminded me of the old commencement catch phrase a couple of years ago: It is not aptitude, but attitude that determines altitude. And so it goes with our spiritual walk.

We can have the best of intensions, but lack the proper attitude and we will miss achieving anything. We can allow the negative of our stature – either short or tall – to drag us down the slippery slope of littleness in all things spiritual. Every pastor has witnessed men and women who appear on the surface to have a great faith until certain life issues raise their ugly head and everyone discovers just how small they really are.

Or we can climb the tree. We can try harder. We think positively about all matters. We can reset our attitude and embrace the courage to grow spiritually instead of finding reasons or excuses for the life we are living. One way we grow great in spiritual stature, the other way we continue to diminish in size regardless of how tall we might be.

Let’s go tree climbing with the likes of Zacchaeus!

PRAYER:

Help me to grow not in physical height, but in spiritual stature become the person you have created me to become.

Lent - not a struggle of more faith, but for the courage to act on the faith that I do have. (Psalm 107:42-43)

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 107:42-43 (TM) – larger reading Psalm 107

Good people see this and are glad; bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks. If you are really wise, you'll think this over - it's time you appreciated God's deep love.

STORY:

I used this story in a recent sermon: A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.

OBSERVATION:

Our present spiritual state is not necessarily a lack of faith, but rather a lack of courage to act on the faith we have. At least that is the area of growth for me this Lenten season.

Truthfully, we already have more faith than we know what to do with. Like the gentlemen in scripture who declared: “I believe, help thou my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

The gnawing question that is eating at my soul is this: What would I do if I knew that I would not fail? And corresponding to that is the companion question: What would I attempt to do for the Kingdom of God if I only had the courage to step out in faith?

Two good questions neither of which are easily answered… nor should they be. Anything of deep spiritual benefit should cause us to struggle… I mean really struggle as Jesus did in the Garden where his sweat was like great drops of blood. Painfully, I’ve never gone that far always seeking the path of lease resistance resulting in a weakened spirit.

So this Lent I struggle with this courage issue and my lack of sleep bares testimony to the reality of the struggle. The steps in the right direction are to fully and completely appreciate the love of God which simply prompts me to move deeper into this spiritual arena.

PRAYER:

Help me to come to grips with the truth that it isn’t a faith issue but a courage issue… and then do not allow me to find rest until it is resolved.

Friday's Inspirational Story - The Seasons of Life

The Seasons of Life – author unknown

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no – it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfilment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree’s life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are – and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life – can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfilment of your fall.

Don’t judge a life by one difficult season. Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Lent - learning to trust God and to wait on him (1 Corinthians 13:13)

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 13:13 (TM) – larger reading 1 Corinthians 13

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

STORY:

James Brown shares this personal story: There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.

Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, "There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again." At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, "Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right." 

OBSERVATION:

Well, I don’t know about you, but Mr. Brown’s story parallels my life especially in the area of trust. Do we trust God steadily and without questioning his motives or purpose.

In nearly every situation it was revealed early on what God desired to see happen in the churches that I served. My “take charge” personality then took over. I set my shoulders to the task of making it happen that which God had designed. The results were not always great. Why?... because I didn’t wait for God to make it happen. All God had done earlier was to show me where he was going to take the church. My task was to trust him. In retrospect, at no time did God ask me to get it done or to complete the task. I was under the delusion that it was something that God wanted me to accomplish. WRONG!

This trust thing is hard. We are so caught up in the Protestant Work Ethic, especially in America, that we simply get all mixed up about what it means to really trust him. Aren’t we all a little “getter done” machines moving through life. We don’t trust the instructor. We want to “fly” our plane… and then we wonder why our life is in a steep decline… nothing seems to work.

One of the spiritual disciplines of Lent is to quietly wait on the Lord, to listen for his voice, and then to trust him as to where he is taking us.

PRAYER:

Help me to listen. Help me to wait. Help me to trust.

Lent - having our thirst satisfied. (Isaiah 55:1)

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 55:1 (TM) – larger reading Isaiah 55

"Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway - buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money - everything's free!

STORY:

C.S. Lewis "The Chronicles of Narnia" -
"Are you not thirsty?" said the lion. "I’m dying of thirst," said Jill. "Then drink," said the lion. "May I- could I- would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill. The lion answered this only by a look and very low growl. As Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. "Will you promise not to do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill. "I make no such promise," said the lion. Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer the lion. "Do you eat girls?" she said. "I have swallowed up, consumed girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it. "I daren’t come and drink," said Jill. "Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion. "Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then." The lion said, "There is no other stream."

OBSERVATION:

Lent is a good time to address that inner thirst that consumes our attention. We’ve tried all other means available to quench its presence. Our desire is to do it our way, which we assume is more pleasing. Eventually we cannot ignore that there is only one source of “water” for our soul.

It is there for the taking if we will only … that’s the rub: if we will only. Jill desired the water, but we, like Jill, would much prefer not to do it in the presence of God. Surely there is another way. Another source. Another alternative. Surely – even in the face of the great offering from God that it is free. There has got to be strings attached. Surely there’s a catch. What is God’s angle? But the thirst, the soul draining thirst, is all consuming.

Lent brings us into God’s presence like no other time in our spiritual journey. It is a fearful experience, but our thirst is laid out before us. We cannot ignore it any longer. Eventually it dawns on us that there is only one stream that dispels our deep longing for our thirsty soul.

Easter comes and we drink!

PRAYER:

Our thirst consumes us. Our throats are drier than the desert. Our soul longs for life giving water. Please give us that water.