Quick Thought: Problems

The quality of a person’s life cannot be seen until it is confronted with problems. That’s when growth can be seen and not just assumed. Problems, therefore, are not to be despised. Though painful they can provide the critical blessing of encouragement.

Quick Thoughts: Happiness

I think that it's worth noting that we are all trying to be happy. What we really want - maybe more than anything else - is to feel the emotional satisfaction that being happy produces. And that's fine since we were created to be happy.

What many are finding, however, is that those times of happiness are really quite limited. For one thing, they are limited in duration. Happy times always come to an end and are replaced with something that is less than happiness. These times of happiness are also limited in quality. There is always something that isn't quite right, something that detracts from the full sense of happiness, the full experience of satisfaction. Dealing with these limitations is frustrating.

What some are finding is that the deep and lasting happiness that our souls so desire will not be found here. Tastes of it, yes. A lifetime of it, no.

And so much depends on what you do with that.

Quick Thoughts: How to Respond When Life Is Awful

There are those times when life is just going great. Everything is falling into place, and you're having a great time of it. Life feels so good.

But then, there are all the other times.

And some of those other times are when life is just awful. You've just dealt with some issue that has drained you. And as you anticipate a little time to catch your breath, something else comes up. You have a new problem to deal with, but you don't have the wherewithal to deal with it.

So, what  do you do when life gets to be too much? You rejoice.

And doesn't that sound like a Christiany way of trying to ignore problems? It does - unless you really do understand what Christian rejoicing is about. It's not about slapping on a smile and telling yourself to feel happy. It's about trusting Jesus. We rejoice in the face of problems by clinging - desperately, if necessary - to this thought: Jesus knows what He's doing with my life (even as He presents me with  another problem to deal with), and what He's working toward will be very good - for me and especially for His kingdom. Rejoicing is an act of faith in the goodness of Jesus.

Rejoicing won't make the problem go away. It won't make it easier to handle. It will still be there, as ugly as it was. But Jesus will see your rejoicing by faith (and lots of times through tears), and He will act to give you what you need to deal with it well.

Isn't this what Paul was getting at when he wrote,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

The key is understanding that the peace of God is not a promise that the problem will disappear. It is, rather, a promise of the calmness that we need to be able to deal well with the problem.

Quick Thoughts: The Trials of Prophets and Disciples

I was reading in Jeremiah the other day and I came upon this:

The word of the Lord came to me: 'You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.' Jeremiah 16:1-2

So, Jeremiah was forbidden the pleasures of married life. But he wasn't alone in being deprived. Jeremiah's situation made me think of what happened to Ezekiel.

The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.' So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. Ezekiel 24:15-18 

Ezekiel was married. But then, the God whom he served faithfully killed his wife as an object lesson to the people Ezekiel was ministering to.

Then, of course, there is Hosea.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.' 

And the Lord said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.' So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. Hosea 1:2; 3:1-2

Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute. And then, after she left him and slept around with other men, he was commanded to buy her back (Had she become a slave?) to love her[!] as his wife.

These men suffered at God's command. And they suffered as those who were being faithful. How would we react if God were to do to us what He did to those men? Should we expect that God might call us to such hardship?

Actually, He just might.

Jesus said,

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:23-24

Quick Thoughts: Holidays

Having special days, holidays, is really good. The celebration of these days is a part of the glue that helps to keep a people, a culture, together. It is part of what makes them one.

However, simply celebrating these special days in some way or other will not have that desired result of unity. They will bring about that needed result only if the people doing the celebrating understand what the special days are about and they celebrated them as such.

So, how many Americans understand what July 4 is about and celebrate what it stands for? Or Memorial Day? Or even Labor Day? Why are these days special? What are we celebrating? And how should we celebrate them?

My guess is that for far too many, these "holidays" are simply another day to take off from work so you can have a picnic and maybe even see a parade. But that will not keep a culture glued together.

Quick Thoughts: Knowing the God Who Does Stuff

There are many items that will properly make the list of things you really need to know. I think that at the top of that list is to know God, to understand Him, at least to some extent.

Now, it's no big revelation to say that most people these days don't know God. They don't even believe He exists. But it's another thing to say that far too many Christians don't really understand God. In an attempt to change that (a little) I'm going to mention one thing that we all need to know about God: He does stuff.

In the thinking of too many Christians God doesn't really do much. He's up there, somewhere, dealing with large issues, talking to angels or whatever. But He really doesn't do anything that really touches us, day to day. Oh, there are exceptions, and they surprise us. But not too many exceptions.

Here are two things that God does: He blesses. He curses.

When God curses, bad things happen. Some of the bits and pieces of life go wrong. Sometimes God strikes people with some disease. Sometimes people go mad. Sometimes there's a famine and people die. And sometimes people die by drowning. When God curses, He sends evil that makes a mess of a person's life.

But it's good to know that God also blesses. He makes people prosper. They enjoy a deep sense of peace. They gain rest from their burdens. When God blesses He sends good that makes life work better.

God acts. He curses those who ignore His warnings. He blesses those who take His words to heart. And remember, I'm only talking about Christians.

Knowing God affects how you live now. Understanding that He will curse or bless you makes you take both His warnings and His promises very seriously.

Jeremiah 9.23-24; Deuteronomy 28; Numbers 12; 1 Samuel 16; Psalm 105.16; Genesis 6; Psalm 1.3; Philippians 4.7; Matthew 11.28

Quick Thoughts: Loneliness

I think that it's fair to say that one of the big problems in the slice of the culture that I am familiar with is loneliness. There is something in us that wants to connect - really connect - with someone else. It wants to know that we are known and loved, warts and all. But for so many of us, it just isn't happening. This problem isn't limited to people who live alone. There are plenty of people who are married, who have lots of acquaintences, who are always a part of some crowd who are lonely. This deep yearning just isn't being met. And the soul feels it.

The obvious solution to loneliness is community. But this is more than being with a bunch of people. You can be lonely in a crowd. In fact, that can be a time when the loneliness comes on the strongest. Community, real community, is about people connecting. It's about some dear people meeting that yearning deep within you. The you that lives behind the walls is known - really understood to some extent - and loved. And at the same time you are meeting the same yearning in them. And when that happens the soul is at peace.

This being connected isn't about always being in the presence of the people you connect with. You don't have to be with the community all the time. It's just that even when you're alone you know that you're not really alone. There are others with whom you are connected. And life works that much better.