Monthly Archives: June 2012

The Blessings of Struggles

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No one like struggles. No one likes trials. We just don’t. They aren’t run. They aren’t a joy. They aren’t things that we like.

Whether it be tragedy, whether it be a an issue in family or relationships, whether it be something in your job, something in your church, none of like what CS Lewis called “the problem of pain.”

But, there are blessings in struggles. There are blessings in trials. There are. We may not see them at the time of these struggles. But there are things that can bless us, no matter what the trial may be.

What? What could that be?

Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 today:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

The blessings of struggles are this. First, when we struggle, when we are low, when we are beaten down, God comforts us.

At our lowest moment, God’s grace is the greatest in our lives. At our weakest time and place, God is most there. When we are most downcast, heartbroken, distraught, depresses, ashamed, angry, embarrassed, whatever.

It is that moment that God most wants to give you comfort.

Today, God longs to comfort you. No matter what you are going through, God longs to give you comfort. He longs to console you. He longs to wrap you in His arms.

Let Him. He is there. Even if you can’t feel it. He is there. He will not leave you. No matter what is going on in your life today. He will not leave you.

Paul tell us though, that are are other blessing in our struggles. Because of our struggles, we can console others. We can tell those that are hurting that we have been there. They are not alone. We understand. We know.

God will you use the pain in your life right now, to be a blessing to someone else.

He will. That’s what He does.

If we can give that pain to Him, allow Him to have it, allow Him to give us grace, He will use that pain to help others.

That’s what He does. He redeems everything.

Today, no matter what you are going through, in time, God will use it for a blessing. Today, hold on. Hold fast. Cling to Him.

And know that in His time, He use it. Allow Him to comfort you today. And in time, you will be able to comfort others.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

The Way Grace Works

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Grace is being given something that we haven’t earned, or don’t deserve.

It is a true gift. Grace is God’s true gift to us. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. It’s not something that we can make God give us. It’s something, that is we are good enough, God will give us.

It’s simply His undeserved gift to us.

We all love it when we get grace. We when we get God’s undeserved mercy for ourselves. But what about then “they” get it? Whoever “they” are, when “they” get grace. And we all have a “they.”

Listen to what Jesus says today in Matthew 20:10-15:

Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’

Is He not able to give grace to whoever He wants to?

There are no levels of degrees of grace. None of us deserve it. Not me, not you, not “them.” None of us.

All of us are offered it. Me. You. And “them.” We just have to receive it.

That’s how grace works. It’s God’s free gift to the world.

That means that God loves you more than you’ll ever know. And He loves “them” more than you’ll ever know.

So, the way that grace works is this. We are called to love “them” as well.

I know, I know. I don’t want to do it either. It’s hard. It’s tough. It’s something that none of us want to do. But, as long as we allow ourselves to be consumed with unforgiveness towards others. Or contempt for others. Or even hate for others, we lock ourselves in a cage.

We are trapped. We are not free.

Do they deserve our love and forgiveness?

No.

Do we deserve God’s love and forgiveness?

No. It’s a gift. That’s the way that grace works.

Today, may we live in God’s grace and love. And may we give that to others.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Don’t Settle for Crumbs

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Today, we ready the story of Jesus feeding the 4000. Jesus actually feeds a lot people in ministry. Here, He feeds the 4000. Elsewhere in Scripture, He feeds that 5000. There are lots of folks that get fed by Jesus in the Bible.

And, when we look at this story, we could look at it in so many different ways. We can see so many different things. That’s the beauty of the Bible, to me, we can read the same passage over and over again, and have the Holy Spirit reveal something different every time.  Listen to what we hear in Matthew 15:34-38:

And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

Today, as I was reading this passage what struck me was the amount of food that was left over.

This meal started with 7 loaves and some fish. That’s not much. And look what is left. Seven baskets.

So, 7 loaves (and fish) turns into 7 baskets. Wow. that’s amazing.

And that’s what God does for you. And for me. He gives us more than enough.

He takes care of our needs, in ways that we don’t even this is possible.

Even if it doesn’t look like it. When they were hungry and waiting, the people probably just would have settle for crumbs.

Instead, Jesus wanted to give them a feast. He wanted them to have not just enough. He wanted them to have an abundance. So does He for you today.

Maybe it’s not an abundance of possessions (and it’s probably not!) but an abundance of grace. Of love. Of mercy. Of forgiveness. Of service.

Of life.

Today, God wants the best for you. He wants you to really and truly live.

But, just like in the text, that life flows only from Jesus. Today, feast on His goodness and mercy.

Don’t settle for crumbs. Seize His life. And life in abundance He has for you!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Worthy

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There is nothing better, after a long day of work, or a hard day of a play, than to take a good, long bath. Nothing like the feeling of going from being just filthy, to being clean.

That’s one of the things that God wants to do for us. He wants to make us clean. In our lives, we have a way of getting dirty. Some it comes from our own choices. Some of it comes from the stuff of life. Some it comes from just life.

And when we are dirty, we don’t fill worthy. We feel like we can’t come into the presence of God. We feel like we just can’t do it.

Listen to what God says today through Malachi 3:2-4:

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

The Lord will be like a refiner’s fire. He will be like a fuller’s soap. He will make us clean. He will purify us.

He will make us worthy. He will.

You won’t. You will never “make” yourself worthy of God. You will never be “good” enough. It’s not something you can do.

God will do it. He will purify you. He will clean you. Now, yes, this may be tough at time.

A refiner’s fire may be really hot. It may even hurt. A fuller’s soap may be a little painful at times. Yeah, bath time might not be a lot of fun.

But, it’s worth it. This test you are facing, this trial, whatever ever it is, it will give you two choices.

Run to God, or run away from God. If you cause whatever you are facing to make you run to God, He will use it.

He will use this time to purify you. Clean you. Make you better. Make you holy.

Make you worthy.

Today, God’s desire, His hope, His plan, is to refine you. Make you better. Make you like He created you to be.

Today, may we find our life, our hope, our purity, our worth, in the goodness of God.

May He wash us clean today!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Doing our Part

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I sometimes think of what Dr. Bryson, one of my professors at Mississippi College, used to say about Paul. He said, sort of jokingly, that we as preachers would rather preach on Paul than Jesus. He said Paul was hard understand, so we could preach for hours about Him.

He said Jesus wasn’t hard to understand. He was just hard to follow. It’s not hard to understand loving your enemy. It’s really, really hard to do.

Today in Philippians 2:12-13, we have one of those Paul passages that can be hard to understand at first.

Listen to what it says:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Is Paul telling us that we have to earn our salvation? That our salvation is up to us? That its something that we have to “do?” He says to work it out.

But then, notice what he says right after, it’s God that works through you. For His will and good pleasure.

So, well then. Which is it? Do we work it out, or is it God that is at work?

Yes!

We do our part. We are faithful. We put ourselves in a position to hear God speak and move in us.

One of my mentors used to always say – pray, read your bible, and go to church. That won’t make everything easy or perfect, but it will put you in a position to hear God.

So, we do our part. We put ourselves in a position to hear God and know God.

And God moves. God speaks. God changes us. God saves us. God works on us.

So, we’ve done our part. And God does His. We don’t earn it. It’s not about anything we can do. It’s about all that He has done and is doing.

And, the very fact that we have the desire to know Him, to follow Him, to love Him, to put ourselves in that position?

That desire comes from Him. He is at work. Even in the acts of faithfulness. He is at work, calling us to be faithful.

So, today, let’s do our part. And let’s know that in that, God is at work. And He will be working on us for His good pleasure.

Let’s be faithful. And let’s see what God will do in our lives!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

How Do You Walk?

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In our lives, we have two choices for how we can walk. We can walk by the spirit, doing what God wants us to do.

Or we can walk by the flesh, doing what we want to do.

Walking by the flesh, doing it our way, it looks easy and looks like it might be the best way to go. We get what we want, when we want, how we want. Doing it our way seems like life.

Doing it God’s way, walking by the spirit, that doesn’t seem like much fun. That doesn’t seem like what we’d want to do. That doesn’t seem like life.

But it is.

Listen to what Paul says today in Galatians 5:19-23:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Walking by the flesh, doing it our way, will in the end give death. Walking by God’s way, walking by the spirit, that gives life.

Today, we have choices to make. How do you walk? What do you do? What road will you walk down?

Today, and each day, may we walk by the spirit. And may we find life.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

It’s Worth It

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Sometimes, being a Christian is very hard. Jesus never promised us a rose garden. He promised in fact, just the opposite. He said that there would be tough times. He said that there would be trails. He said that we would face tests and worries and strife.

He never said that it would be easy.

He never promised us that.

We see today, though, what he does promise us.  Listen to Luke 18:28-30:

And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

The disciples say – we’ve left everything to follow you. It’s cost us everything. Sometimes, following Jesus may cost us something. It could cost us friends. It could cost us status. We could be mocked. We could be laughed at. We could become the butt of jokes.

Yeah, it could happen. And, to speak the truth, it probably will happen. After I became a Christian, I lost some friends. It’s tough.

Then, why? Why do it? Why should we endure this?

Because it’s worth it. Listen to what He says. To those that have given up such things, there is a reward in heaven.

God sees what you are going through. He sees your challenges. He sees your hurts. He sees your tears.

He honors it. And trust me. It is worth it. There is a something better coming. There is a home better than this home. There is a land where there are no more tears, hurt, and pain. There is a better place, our true home. Our home where we actually made for.

I though of this quote by CS Lewis today – “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought the most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

The pain of this life does not compare with the joy of the next. There is something better coming.

It’s worth it. Be faithful. In the face of scorn, mockery, and hatred, love. Care. Forgive. It’s hard, yet.

But it’s worth it.

Something better is coming.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Good Will Win

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I just got back from the Mississippi Annual Conference this past weekend. It’s the yearly gathering of pastors from all around the state. There are times of worship, times of business, times of reflection.

And in the state of the current United Methodist Church, times of sadness. We closed more churches in Mississippi last year than we started. We had more pastors retire than were commissioned for ministry. Our budget remains very, very tight, and we are only meeting 80% of it.

Not to mention all controversies that swirl around the national/international church.

But it’s not just the Methodists that struggle. Every denomination has plateaued. The largest growing religions group in our nation is “those not affiliated,” meaning they aren’t part of a church.

We see these things locally with many churches in our hometowns struggling to grow, to meet their financial obligations, to be relevant in their communities.

So, with all that in mind, listen to what Jesus says to Peter today in Matthew 16:17-18:

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

To those of you in a panic today about your church, your larger tradition, all of these things, listen to Jesus.

The gates of hell will not triumph against His church. God will win. Good will win. The Body of Christ will be victorious in the end.

The church is His body and His bride, and He will return for Her one day. So, yes, in 2012, it may look like things are bad, but, His word tells us that He will win.

Evil will not. Death will not. Pain will not.

Good will win. In life. In the church. In the universe.

In your life.

So, hold on, hold fast. Help is on the way. Don’t lose sight of that. Don’t forget.

God will win.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Lord Make Us One?

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We live in a world of differences. We all have our side. Sports, politics, music, hobbies, churches, we all have different likes and dislikes, different things that really are significant, but that separate us.

And we live in an age we are told and encouraged to put our differences aside and work together.

And you know what? That’s hard. It’s hard to be one. It’s hard to be united. It’s hard to be on the same page.

Even with someone you like. It’s hard to always agree and work together.

And so, when the church and when our faith calls us to be one, the question is how?

Lord, make us one. How?

Listen to what Paul says this morning in Ephesians 2:16-19:

and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Paul says that we are reconciled into one body, through the cross and through Jesus. Through Him, we are no longer strangers, through Him, we are fellow citizens, through Him, we have the same father.

Through Him. Through Jesus. Through ourselves, we will tear each other apart. We will fuss and fight. We will find our problems, and find the things that we disagree on and that separate us.

When we focus on ourselves, we find division. When we focus on Jesus, we find unity. He is our unity. He is our peace. He is our hope. He is our life.

When we place the focus on ourselves, our stuff, and our opinions, we will find and have more division.

When we take our eyes off ourselves, and put them on Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection, we find unity, hope and peace.

Lord, today, please make us one. Let us each focus on Jesus with all that we are. And in that, we can find that unity.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Wait

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I’ve said it a million times, but it’s a true as it was the last time, every time I say it.

I have no patience. I don’t like to wait. I despise waiting.

I’m a hurry up, get it done, stop lolly-gagging, get to it, and do it, type of guy.

I can’t stand waiting. I’ve got a schedule that I’m sticking too, and waiting just drives me up the wall!

So, then, listen to the words of Psalm 62: 5-8. They are really good for me to hear this morning, and every morning:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

Wait. Wait on God. Wait in silence. Trust in Him. Rest in Him. Rely on Him.

Ok, sounds good. But why? Why do we have to wait? Why do we have to do this? Well, here’s my feeling?

Waiting reminds us that we aren’t in control. That it’s not up us. That we are not the end all and be all of creation and life.

God is in control. We are not. We are not God. Really. We aren’t. There are plans and powers higher than us. There are things that are going on that we can’t understand and won’t understand.

And so, we have to trust. And wait.

And know that God is good. God is love. God has this.

So today, you may have to wait. I’m sorry about that. Believe me, I am.

But God will bring something good out of this. That’s what He does. Today, trust, and wait.

Because God is good.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.