Enough already!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Margaret

This summer much of our country has been short on rain. Virtually every living thing needs water, and without it, shrivel-and-die is right around the corner.

My daughters and I have been attending a Bible study this summer and have learned up-close what drought looks like, not because of anything Scripture taught us but because of a Bible study friend. Marcia is the wife of a farmer who grows corn and soybeans. Several weeks ago, when we asked how her fields were coping, she shook her head and gave a dismal report. So that evening at the end of Bible study, we prayed for rain.

The next week, after months of drought, rain finally came! We all rejoiced with Marcia, asking if her husband thought their crops would make it. “Time will tell,” she said.

The week after that it rained again… and again! Marcia came to our study with a happy report. “The crops are doing better!” she said, and we excitedly thanked God. Our leader initiated a prayer time that evening by saying, “Let’s continue to pray for rain for Marcia, abundant rain!”

But Marcia interrupted. “How about just adequate rain.”

None of us want too much of a good thing… or do we?

History records that John D. Rockefeller was the richest American who ever lived, richer than Bill Gates, Sam Walton, or Warren Buffet in dollars adjusted for today. Guesstimates set his net worth at $663.4 billion.

The wealthy Mr. Rockefeller was asked, “How much money is enough?”

Without hesitating he said, “A little bit more.”

And that’s how most of us think. If some is good, more must be better. Of course Marcia would shake her head at that. Flooded soil can ruin crops just as effectively as dry. All of us understand the principle, but that doesn’t stop us from making wish lists of things we want more of, tangible and intangible, possible and impossible. Most of what’s on our lists are first-rate items, but sometimes a good thing (like nourishing rain) can morph into something bad (like ruined crops).

Other examples:

Taking on a healthy hobby that ends up robbing time from our loved ones.
Buying a bigger home that moves us into financial imbalance.
Indulging in one passion when God had a different one in mind for us.
Spending more and more time “producing” at work but feeling less and less fulfilled.

So how do we avoid going too far? Scripture gives us a key sentence that can be our check-and-balance system: “Thy will be done.” This should be our recurring prayer, and if God puts his stamp of approval on pursuing more of what’s on our wish lists, then we’re free to do so.

Marcia had the right idea. Pray for what’s adequate, and that will always turn out best.

“I (Paul) ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make… your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do.” (Ephesians 1:17-18)

The Perfect Pair

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Margaret

Some families love to play games and schedule regular “game nights” with their children as soon as they’re able to handle Candy Land. Kids love games: Uno, Checkers, Risk, Sorry, Shoots and Ladders.

One popular game that appeals to all ages is Memory. It includes 50 cardboard pieces, each with a picture on it. These are ordinary items any child would recognize: a cookie, a bird, a truck, a cloud, a flower.

Every card has a duplicate, i.e. 50 cards, 25 different pictures. The idea is to spread them out face down, then take turns peeking at 2 at a time. The goal is to find an identical match, so if the 2 pictures you choose aren’t identical, you turn them back over and surrender your turn to someone else.

The trick is to remember what you’ve seen where, and after a picture has been shown, to remember its position. If you succeed in turning over two matching cards, you get to keep the pieces. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

Memory is one of very few early childhood games based on skill. Being able to re-find a picture you’ve seen earlier by mentally remembering where it’s hiding is difficult. Interestingly, 6 and 7 year olds are better at this than adults. They have an uncanny sense of what-is-where-when.

This idea of finding a good match can also be found in faith matters. Children accept what God says at face value, buying into him and his promises 100%, while we adults feel a need to thoroughly understand him before we can join him. In other words, we need to “match up” logic and probabilities before we can buy into what he says.

When the Lord says, “All things work together for good,” we say, “Well, not in my case.”

When he says, “I’ll never leave you,” we say, “It seems like you have.”

When he says, “I love you with an unfailing love,” we say, “Then why do I feel so alone?”

Children seem to effortlessly match themselves and their needs with what God offers: “You say I’m your child? Great! Then I’ll call you Abba.” (They may not know that word, but they have Abba-Daddy responses to him.) In their naiveté they seem to sense he’s a perfect match for them.

The good news for us older folk is that God isn’t put off by our tendency to doubt what he says. Thankfully he never stops offering himself as a match to us, not that we’re duplicates or equals in any way. But far superior to matching 2 picture cards in a game of Memory is the match he puts forward: our needs, with his sufficiency. Pairing with him is always a win-win match, much better than anything we can win on game night.

“[God’s] Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.” (Romans 8:16-17)

Too big or too small?

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Margaret

Every parent knows that excursions with young children are sometimes more haphazard than happy, and a trip to the beach can be especially intense. Not only do they have to slather everyone with sun cream, they have to pack up food, drinks, toys, towels, and shade.

For the last 10 days we’ve had fun with 3 generations bunking at my house. Daily we trudged across red-hot beach sand to the cool waters of Lake Michigan toting armloads of fun-promising equipment. But along with all the entertainment was one item parents of beach-bound babies don’t want to forget: a sun hat.

Our 4 month old Autumn has very little hair to protect her “dome”, so the safest place for her is under the shade of a hat or an umbrella. But when Linnea and Adam were packing, they couldn’t find the hat that would fit, so they grabbed Skylar’s old one.

But Autumn had issues with “one size fits all.”

At times we all have trouble with that concept, especially when we examine our spiritual lives. The things God has told us don’t always seem to fit right, and we’re tempted to tweak them… just a little. Without making a few modifications, following him seems too big a job. The Bible is too big a book to understand, and God’s list of rules is too long to obey. Faith is too iffy to trust, and grace is too simple to accept.

But God says, “Don’t tweak anything. One-size-fits-all.”

The Gospel of Christ Jesus is a life-plan offered to every one of us, and it’s the same Gospel he has presented to all generations. No individual is excluded, and those who receive salvation as he gives it will end up in heaven. It’s a really good deal, and he designed it to “fit” everyone, just as it is.

Problems come when we begin altering the details for a better fit. Some people say, “I like a point system rather than salvation as a gift, so I’m going to earn my way to heaven. Good deeds are always good.”

Others say, “The whole thing about Jesus dying on the cross is morbid and difficult to accept. I’m holding out for answers to each of my questions. Once I have those, I’ll buy into God’s plan.”

Still others might say, “The idea of heaven sounds good, but being religious now with all the no-no’s and restrictions seems like overkill. When I’m old, I’ll take another look at it.”

These and other approaches are much like a seamstress who over-alters an outfit until it doesn’t fit at all. When God says one-size-fits-all, the only right response is to put salvation on, exactly as he designed it.