GodSprings - 17 June, 2016

Does My God Tempt Me?

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15 (NIV)

A man was on a diet and struggling. He had to go downtown and as he started out, he remembered that his route would take him by the doughnut shop. As he got closer, he thought that a cup of coffee would hit the spot. Then he remembered his diet.

That’s when he prayed, “Lord, if You want me to stop for a doughnut and coffee, let there be a parking place in front of the shop.” He said, “Sure enough, I found a parking place right in front—on my seventh time around the block!” As Robert Orben (best known American professional comedy writer) said, “Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch”

Life is full of temptation, and the pressure to sin is both powerful and persistent. Temptation has existed from the beginning of mankind and will continue to mislead as long as people are born into this world. Yet, as common as temptation is, and for as long as it has been around, very few people have learned how to deal with it successfully and sufficiently. To deal with temptation successfully, we must understand it accurately.

James began his epistle by discussing trials, and in his characteristically rapid-fire approach, he quickly moves to the subject of temptation. Separating the two is important, because trials and temptation are distinctly different. Where trials are designed to bring about growth and blessing, temptation, if not dealt with properly, brings about sin. Where trials work from the outside in, temptation works from the inside out. Where trials come from God, temptation never comes from God: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone”

Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, fallen human nature has been prone to shift the blame for our own evil deeds. When God confronted Adam, he lamely replied (Gen. 3:12), “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” When God confronted Eve, she replied (Gen. 3:13), “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Both statements are technically true, but they dodge personal responsibility for sin. Adam’s answer really blamed God, who gave the woman to Adam. James wants us to see that if we go down that route, we will not overcome temptation, and we impugn the holy character of God.

Where does temptation come from, then? James could not be clearer on the subject: the source of temptation is not God, or even the Devil, but man’s own sinful heart. If not for our own desires, temptation from the Devil or the world would never even be a possibility. Temptation takes place when we are lured toward something that appeals to a desire, want, or craving, and in our excitement we fail to notice the danger of the cleverly camouflaged hook that is ready to ensnare us.

Temptation is a given. No one is exempt; everyone must face temptation. The question is, are we prepared for when temptation tempts? When preparing ourselves to resist the lure of temptation, we need to know that temptation is most powerful when our personal time with God is neglected. When we are at our weakest, temptation is felt the strongest. Conversely, temptation is at its weakest when we are spiritually strong.

This is really serious because, we won’t make it as a Christian if we do not learn to overcome temptation! Recognize its source. It does not come from God, but from our own lusts. Recognize its force. It dwells within and it is powerfully deceptive, with a life of its own. Recognize its course. If we do not abort it, it leads inevitably, not to life, but to death. The Puritan Thomas Manton put it this way, “Either sin must die or the sinner.” The decision is in our hands. Which one do we opt for?

GodSprings - 16 June, 2016

What Should I Do With Interruptions?

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.? 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)

There is no one in this world who has lived a life without any interruptions. For some of you reading this, you have experienced economic interruptions, or interruptions in your academics. For some, your interruptions have come via illness or depression. Whatever it may be, interruptions have a way of impacting life as we know it. Life can go on smoothly for a whole and then all of sudden – things go wrong, not just one thing, but several things at once.

Charlie Brown of the cartoon fame once said, “It always looks darkest just before it gets totally black!” Things don’t always go as planned. The truth is, no one sails through life without interruptions. When interruptions come, it’s easy to gripe and complain and blame. But I think there’s another way we can respond.

Henri Nouwen in his book Reaching Out brings out this observation. He writes these words which I think are full of wisdom and insight: While visiting the University of Notre Dame, where I (Nouwen) had been a teacher for a few years, I met an older experienced professor who had spent most of his life there. And while we strolled over the beautiful campus, he said with a certain melancholy in his voice, “You know…my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.”

When I look at my life I see that it is filled with interruptions, inconveniences, frustrations and unexpected events. I usually handle these interruptions to my life poorly. I react with frustrations and anger. Like a young child, I want to stomp my feet and say, “It’s not fair!” I blame others for inconveniencing me.

But though these interruptions are unexpected and catch us off guard, they do not catch God off guard. They are not random meaningless events. In fact, these interruptions are divinely placed in our path for a reason. God uses these interruptions to change us to be more like Him.

Peter says when trials and interruptions come, it is an occasion for us to reflect on how we can trust god more in it and through it. God refines you. Why? So you can become famous and everybody admires you. No! God uses interruptions and trouble in your life to build authentic faith which God values more than your possessions. It’s these moments where the rubber meets the road – where our faith is stretched and we look down to see whether we are standing on rock or sand.

Do we really believe that God is in control of all the details of our life? These interruptions are acts of God’s grace. They force us to work through these questions. They are God’s way of taking off our blinders and making us see that we need the gospel in every moment of the day.

These interruptions remind us that we don’t have life figured out and that we can’t do it on our own. They are like the Shepherd’s rod pulling us back from our wandering ways, back to our Great Shepherd. These interruptions make us walk away from doing God’s will. But even when God’s will be undone, we can respond according to God’s will. That is why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your will be done..” But is it possible for us to pray this prayer when we are interrupted?

GodSprings - 13 June, 2016

Am I Confident About God’s Power?

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 1 Samuel 17:45(NIV)

We might have never come face-to-face with a nine-foot-six-inch-tall warrior? But many of us have come face-to-face with a giant problem? Probably all of us. If you have ever said to yourself, How am I going to get through this? or What am I going to do? then you have come face-to-face with a giant of a problem.

I doubt if there are any who have not heard the story of David and Goliath and how this “little guy” defeated a real giant, a soldier nearly twice his size, and he did so with a rock and a sling. When something is familiar we may overlook the most important aspect. What we can often overlook is that David’s victory was not because he was a good shot or because he was very courageous, but because of his confidence.

Having confidence sometimes makes all the difference in the world to what you are trying to accomplish. His confidence was not in himself, mind you, but in God. David knew God, and he knew that God could defeat the giant that was in front of him. Everyone else only saw the giant, and he was definitely an intimidating giant, but David saw things differently. David saw a God who was bigger than any giant. David’s faith allowed him to see the problem from God’s perspective.

The battle was not finished simply because David believed that God would give him the victory. David also needed to act! Genuine faith requires action, and David picked up a few rocks and made his way toward the giant. A sling in the hand of a faithful man is mightier than a sword in the hand of a giant. Working together with David’s faith was a pure motive. David’s desire was for God to receive all the glory. From beginning to end, David wanted God’s name to be exalted and not his own.

You can vanquish any villain and defeat any enemy that stands in opposition to God by trusting that God is bigger than any giant you face. What giant are you facing? Exams, Broken Relationships, Sin, setbacks, or selfishness? Fear, finances, or failure? Discouragement, depression, or disappointments?

Faith sees that God is bigger than any giant. Faith sees what God can do. Faith seeks to give God the glory and stands on the promises of God, then steps out, knowing the victory is God’s. With a faith like David’s, you can slay any giant as you see your situation from God’s perspective. Nothing is too big for God to handle.

GodSprings - 12 June, 2016

What Should I Do With Worry?

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Matthew 6:25 (NIV)

One day John Wesley was walking with a troubled man who expressed his doubt as to the goodness of God. He said, “I do not know what I shall do with all this worry and trouble.”

At the same moment Wesley saw a cow looking over a stone wall. “Do you know,” asked Wesley, “why that cow is looking over the wall?”

“No,” said the man who was worried.

Wesley said, “The cow is looking over the wall because she cannot see through it. That is what you must do with your wall of worry and trouble—look over it and avoid it.”

In other words, it’s a better explanation of what faith is all about in times of worry. True faith enables us to look past our circumstances and focus on Christ.

Jesus teaches that worry is sinful and that worry and faith cannot coexist in the Christian life. Therefore, if you are worrying, you are not walking by faith, and if you are walking by faith, then you are not caught in the trap of worry. Worry exchanges the potential of today for the possibility of problems tomorrow. Worry fails to trust in the promises of God and focuses on self rather than on the Savior. Worry chooses to see the impossibilities of mankind and forgets to believe in the God of impossibilities.

The word worry literally means “to strangle” This definition paints a vivid picture of what worry does in the life of any believer who allows worry to wrap hands around the neck of their faith and squeeze. Worry is a killer. Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 13:22: “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s Word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced”. Worry chokes out the Word of God and leads to unfruitfulness in the life of a Christian.

So what are we as Christians to do? How are we to rid ourselves of worrying about our upcoming exams, our bills to pay, our next meal, or the clothes we need? Jesus gives us a few recommendations that are sure to drive worry away, if we adhere steadfastly to them.

First, He directs our attention to His past and present faithfulness. As we look to Creation, we are sure to see all the marvelous ways He has provided for the creatures of the earth. God has been faithful to provide food and shelter for even the smallest sparrow, and He will do the same for you and me.

Next, we are to seek the righteousness of Jesus above all other things. We do this in part by aiming to keep our eyes fixed on Him, by observing the character and nature of Jesus, and by looking at what He did and how He lived.

Worrying paralyzes you, making you too upset to accomplish anything productive. It will seek to do that to you by taking you mentally into tomorrow until you find something to worry about. Refuse to go along for the ride. The Lord says you have enough to deal with today. Apply today's resources to today's needs or you will lose today's joy.

God gives you strength one day at a time. He gives you what you need when you need it and doesn't encumber you with excess baggage.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). That means He will be doing the same thing tomorrow that He was doing yesterday. If you have any question about the future, look at the past. Did He sustain you then? Don't worry—He will sustain you in the future as well.