S.Y.A.T.P. 2017. Fix Your Eyes

Some of you may not known what SYATP stands for....See You At the Pole is an international student driven movement, which takes place the 4th Wednesday in September.  Students gather around their school flag pole to pray.  When my children were in school they were sometimes the student to initiate it.  Last year we attended in support of those students doing it.
So I wanted to share a few thoughts as I looked at the theme verse for this years SYATP event...which is Hebrews 12:2.
I am going to look at the verse before and the verse after as well.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneerand perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3

The theme video talks about how so connected we are today...when many are so very isolated at the same time. We have the world at our finger tips, but some many are lost.  That a war rages for our attention!
Isn't that so very true!  We have cell phones, and satellite phones (when we want service no matter where we are).  We have computers and tablets and smart TVs.  We can buy and sell to any one anywhere in the world and even see them when we talk to them!  We can have news (or what passes for news) 24/7.

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 

We need to be sure we are not wrapped up in or totally trapped by all the things of this world, the things that can distract us from what is truly important. And not just distract, but draw us into sin.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
We MUST make sure our focus is on Jesus, so that we can stay focused and move forward on the path Christ has for us, because we know what HE has for us is perfect!

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Christ suffered what He did for US...for the joy that not only He would receive, but that we who believe will receive as well.  We are to remember what Christ endured on our behalf so that when things get tough, and they will, we won't get discouraged!

SO today, remove all distractions at some point and focus on Christ, the One who endured the shame, the pain, the cross....for YOU!  GIVE Him your undivided attention sometime today!
And then go run the race!! 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I was at a beautiful park for a lovely wedding this past weekend.  While waiting for the wedding to start I noticed a rowing team practicing on Onondaga Lake.  I enjoy watching rowing teams....I am in awe of the precision, the moving in unison.  And it brought to mind something that I wrote, what I thought was a few years ago.  I searched my computer (thank the Lord for digital libraries!) and it was more than a few years ago....almost exactly 22 years ago!       

           One Boat's Crew

              By Tracey Thompson

                             Nov.  1995

There once was a boat.  Not very large, but it wasn't any dinghy either.  This boat had a crew, they knew the destination they were

headed.  On that they all agreed. They also agreed on who their Captain was.  He couldn't be with them in body, but he was in spirit so to speak.  He had left them with a log book of past voyages and all his rules and regulations. The crew also had an old radio, but you had to listen very quietly to hear anything.  Sometimes there happened to be a little more static than other times.  I'm not sure if anyone ever noticed, but the static always coincided with someone standing in the wrong place.  Depending on where crew members were standing the static would be more or less. Sometimes when the static bothered and they couldn't hear  Captain on the radio, some crew members had to move.  Not always to a totally new spot, but just a little one way or the other and it was easier to hear.  Usually crew members would volunteer other to do the moving.  There was sometimes a problem with the rowing:  They might argue as to who would get what oar, some would row, some wouldn't row without others and some didn't care to row at all. The biggest problem was the direction to row this boat. Remember I had said that they all agreed on their destination, but getting there caused some difficulty. Sometimes discussions would get heated and the boat would rock.  They would hang onto the boat (it was solid and firm), making sure they didn't lose their log book and radio. Now, discussing things, even rocking the boat some, isn't always bad.  Things get figured out that way.  But if they rowed ten feet and rocked for ten days, they weren't going to get very far.  They had to figure out which way would be best for the crew. The crew spent months, years out on the water, rowing a little, rocking a lot; row; rock; row; rock.  They all agreed they wanted more rowing, but couldn't seem to get that accomplished. They were also busy with other duties on the boat.  The crew had to figure out what the Captain would do.  They were a loyal lot and they wanted to make him proud.  They had to listen to the radio, but it was older and didn't seem to be working well.  They studied the log books and realized that all their directions were going to the same place.  Getting to that destination and following Captain's rules was what was most important. Some crew members had to give up going the old, always traveled route and try the new.  Sometimes the crew with the new paths had to concede some old routes were best.  They had to look at it from the Captain's eyes whether or not the route traveled was good for the crew and would be what pleased the Captain best. Sometimes two routes would serve the exact same purpose but be very different.  This is where the crew members had to shine.  For the good of the crew, the boat and the destination, they would have to say "let's try your route".  I always figured in the back of their mind they would be thinking "and if that doesn't work there is always my way".  But regardless, they conceded, with no malice or feelings of being trod upon. They became supportive of one another.  Funny thing about this crew, though some would have liked it different, no two rowed the same.  Every style you could imagine on that boat.  Rather than insisting that all row uniformly, which in the past had caused much boat rocking because some were struggling to do what didn't come naturally for them, they gained an appreciation for each unique  

style of rowing. With each rowing in his own way, but all in the  same direction it made for an interesting boat that left a very diversified and distinct wake. It also gave the crew lots to visit

about while they rowed. The crew realized that going a route that other crew members chose wasn't a bad thing, it wasn't giving in or giving up anything.  It was working together, cooperating with one another to get to the destination that was so important to all of them.  They had to be willing to make it work, whether or not it was the same route they would have personally chosen.  They began to discuss different routes in a way that would make the Captain proud.  The radio was easier to hear. If the static got to be too much there were many volunteers to move themselves not someone else.

Though many routes were tried; old retraveled, new charted, even old and new merged together (a tricky one) the boat rowed along. Loosing crew members and gaining new crew members, but knowing they were going to reach their destination and that their Captain would be pleased with them.  Pleased with the love and compassion each crew member had for each other (there is something to love and admire about everyone), that each member had learned to be more flexible (to help eliminate static), malice had no place on this boat, and their wake would leave a definite and joyful mark for other ships and boats to see.

This originally may have been written with a church body in mind, but as I sat at the wedding I thought maybe it can apply to marriages, families, and groups that you spend much time with....small groups, ladies studies, mens' studies etc. We are to function together, all parts are important, and we have to do our part.  BUT our purpose should be the same....live for, serve and worship the Lord.

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. ⁴ Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, ⁵ in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Romans 12:3-5

Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Romans 12:11

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written:

Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.”   Matthew 4:10

So, spend time with and listen to Your Captain....read His Log Book daily.  AND row to the best of your ability and with all you've got!!

Wet Noodle

I think this will be my biggest stretch in analogies yet ....but again....my brain works in mysterious ways!

I was boiling pasta the other day....got distracted and the result was not a very good one.
and it got me thinking ..isn't that like sin?

We have rules/directions when we cook.  It is the same in our Christian life, but our directions are found in the bible.  The bible gives us what we need to know about sin.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:7-8

 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18

Sin can seem okay...."I got this"..."It is only a little" "a short time"  "just once" etc etc....but then we can get distracted while in the middle of the sin.
The longer we remain in sin...the less effective we will be.  We won't be serving the purpose we were designed for!
The pasta didn't even look the shape it was supposed to be when I put it in, it began to fall apart, it was unable to hold it's integrity.
The longer we remain in sin...thinking it isn't doing any damage....the more it causes changes, in how we look or act to those around us.  We lose our effectiveness, our ability to serve others.

 I can strain and run cold water over the limp noodles  and they will suffice, but they definitely would have  much better if  I had paid closer attention to the directions and not gotten distracted in the first place.

But unlike the pasta we have redemption!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
1 Corinthians 5:17

We can be made new and whole.  Ready to serve our purpose!

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
 as far as the east is from the west,    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

 But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.   1 John 1:7

So if you feel "boiled" beyond usefulness, beyond redemption, take heart! There is hope!

No matter how long we have been "stuck in the boiling water", stuck in our sin...we just need to call out to Him, the One who can save us, forgive us, redeem us and restore us!

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
 who satisfies your desires with good things    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.    Psalm 103:1-5

AMEN!

Labor Day

I started this on actual Labor Day (sorry it took me 2 days to finish!).  I thought I would look at a few of the things about labor in scripture.

It doesn't sound like there was much "labor" before sin entered the garden/world....and then part of their/our consequence of that sin was to labor and till the soil and for women to labor in child birth.
To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are    and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:16-19

From that point on sin was here and we ALL were to labor!


BUT remember we were also called to set forth the Lord's day to be holy...to rest from that labor!
Even God did!
 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3

 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  Exodus 20:10-11

As we go into the new testament I see labor a bit differently....we are called to "work out our salvation"  it reads; faith without "works"  meaning action, is pointless, dead.  We must DO something!
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17

To me that sort of labor should not get old....should not make us weary....working out our salvation...putting action to our faith...working for the LORD!
 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10

 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16 (HCSV)

NOW THAT IS Labor Day!!!  Each day working, doing what we do, to bring glory to the Lord!!


 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

AMEN!!

Do Something. Matthew West