Peace Be Still!

     After a long walk on the oceanfront trail, we decided to stop for yogurt on the way home. That’s when my friend discovered her wallet was missing and that she'd probably left it in the taxi on the way to our apartment. Since there are hundreds of different taxis swarming Busan, she couldn’t remember the details about the cab, but she did know that she had several credit cards, her ID and a lot of cash in the wallet. Our hearts sank as we realistically assessed the possibility of ever getting it back.
     After praying, shock slowly gave way to wisdom as God showed us clearly what steps to take: Contact the security guard at the gate with the information and her number in case the taxi returned, call a friend to get the number for the bank, go get her bank book so we could run an update and be sure no one was using the card. While this was happening, God sent one of my best students down the hill. After explaining the situation to him, he joined us in the car as we went back to my friend’s apartment so that she could get the details about her credit cards. As she was upstairs getting information, a police car drove up and two smiling officers got out holding up a wallet and saying my her name. (Earlier Mark had received a call from one of them, since he’d given my friend his business card months ago. But we couldn’t understand him.)
     Thankfully, all her cards were intact, with only the money missing. Though it was a stressful two hours, God was doing so much in each of our lives to teach us incredible lessons and remind us of his faithfulness. I started thinking about how I use the cut and paste option so often in dealing with computer documents and wondered, “What if I were to cut and paste this situation and God’s faithfulness and love demonstrated in it to other situations that were more challenging and lasted longer than two hours, maybe for months and years. And what if in doing so I pasted the anxiety that overtook me for the first hour as we wondered if she’d ever get the wallet and her credit cards back? How much joy and peace could I lose? What if instead I chose at the beginning to praise and thank God for the victory he was going to provide, though I couldn’t be sure what it would entail, so that when he did give an answer I hadn’t lost so much time fretting?”
     Since God showed up in the recovery of her wallet, it’s only logical that he’s here with us in the larger problems like disease, death, loss of a job or home, a rebellious child, loneliness and depression. It’s natural to grieve and to feel fear and even to experience waves of anxiety (something that unfortunately happens to me often in trials). But we do make a choice about whether we’re going to live or remain in the fear. Feeling these emotions is something we can’t control; embracing them and letting them define us is. God commands and exhorts us not to be afraid or terrified (365 times “fear not” is mentioned in the Bible), because he doesn’t want us walking around living like we’re scared to death about anything, even the Goliath’s in our lives. Why? Because he’s absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, going to intervene on our behalf. It’s not something we can only hope for, but a promise he’s made that he will rescue and deliver us, that he takes delight in caring for his children (Ps 50:15, Ps 91:14, Zeph 3:17, 2 Tim 4:18, 2 Cor 1:10).
     One of my favorite reminders of this is in Psalm 18 where David uses a metaphor to describe God’s zealous passion to protect and rescue his children. God mounts his chariot, riding through the clouds with flames coming out of his nostrils. He shoots arrows, scatters the enemies and then achieves his ultimate goal from the start: “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me” (Ps 18:16-19.
     This is sometimes hard for us to wrap our minds around isn't it -- that God delights in rescuing, protecting and providing for us. But he says it persistently in his Word. In fact, the Bible paints a continual picture of God reaching down, a zillion times it seems, and lifting his beloved out of pits, restoring their hope, healing them, giving them comfort and repeatedly exhorting them not to fear because he’s with them.
     Yahweh, the great I AM, the God who parted waters, knocked down strongholds, defeated powerful armies, healed diseases and raised his Son from the dead, is with us, living inside us by his Spirit and even taking hold of our right hand (Is 41:13). He says in Isaiah 41:14, “I myself will help you.” He’s not too important to snatch three men from a fire or to deliver one of his children from the lion’s den. He’s never too preoccupied to take care of a lonely woman at a well or to meet a worn out prophet in the wilderness and encourage him. His compassion toward us is so immense that it surpasses knowledge (Ep 3:19). We look at our children when they suffer and do everything we can to alleviate their trials. God looks at our suffering and in wisdom does what is necessary to not only comfort and help us but to allow us to learn and grow from the difficulty.
     God’s call to us today is to remember his unfathomable love and faithfulness in the past, to cut and paste the reality of it onto our present situations so that we can relax and know he’s God (Ps 46:10). The waves may try to overtake us and the fire may threaten our destruction, but God says, “Peace be still” (Mk 4:30). By standing on his promises, we can enter his rest, even in the most troubling times.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go" (Jos 1:9).

Love Never Fails!

      In class we’ve been talking about different scenarios and how we’d respond to them. One of our questions was, “What would you do if you hit someone’s car in a parking lot and no one was there to see it happen?” The responses of the students included everything from taking responsibility for the accident and leaving a note on the car to driving off quickly so no one could catch them. One student, a leader in our class, overheard some joking about it and said out loud, “I would not just drive off. If I did, I’d be trash.” In his mind, trash meant someone who had no code of ethics, someone who wasn’t committed to honoring Christ’s values over the world's.
     I know in the states we often use the word trash in a somewhat different context, but I appreciated his remark and it stuck with me as we were talking later that week about loving our enemies. Jesus said that if we love those who love us we’re no better than the tax collectors (Matt 5:46). Most of my students haven’t heard of a tax collector, so they just stared back at me with blank faces. Because I don’t know the Korean word for tax collector, I decided to use Jason’s word as a substitute and said, “If we only love those who love us, we’re no better than trash.” They immediately made the connection, and started nodding their heads.
     We started talking about what it means to love our enemies, to pray for those who abuse and misuse us and do all kinds of evil toward us. Jesus says we’re to bless them; not curse them. We’re to do good to them; not return evil for evil (Matt 5:44). The students and I know, without even having to say a word, that this kind of love is impossible apart from the grace and mercy of God. Our natural inclination is to get people back, put them in their place when they hurt us, demand retribution and make them suffer for any harm they’ve caused us. We often get revenge by passive and active aggression, which includes everything from ignoring the person to telling lies about them to destroy their reputation. Because it comes so naturally, it often feels good – at first. But after the dust settles, and the Spirit of God begins to work in our hearts, conviction sets in and we feel grieved. We lose the joy and peace of God and begin to live a fruitless, angry, bitter existence. Until we repent and walk in love, our lives lose their fragrance and vitality.
     On the other hand, if we dare to believe God that loving and blessing our enemies is the way to grow in grace, honor him, advance his Kingdom and even, many times, win the hearts of those who despise us, then we’ll be amazed at what happens. We may not see the results for weeks or even years. In fact, initially, we’ll often feel like we’re the big loser since we’re giving up the right to fight back with anger. But as we step out in faith through each interaction taking thoughts of evil and revenge captive to the obedience of Christ and refusing, by his grace, to retaliate, we’ll experience an ever increasing joy and peace and even love for those who we have absolutely no human reason to love. We begin to see the miracle of God’s grace unfolding as he opens more doors for us to share this truth with others, to encourage them to love, and we’re given a new spiritual freedom beyond our understanding to live abundant lives for the glory of God.
     Love never fails (1 Cor 13:12)! God always has and always will bless faith and obedience to his Word. He says in Psalm 23 that he “prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.” He says also that he knows how to rescue the righteous from trials and from the wicked (2 Pet 2:9). It’s his job to avenge, not ours (Rom 12:19). It’s his great joy to lift up those who are oppressed and downtrodden, to anoint our heads with oil so that our cup of joy overflows. He’s our fortress, our deliverer, our refuge and our Lord. As he goes before us, he guarantees that “no weapon formed against us will prevail” and that he will fight our battles for us (Is 54:17, 2 Chr 20:17). We can relax and know that he means what he says, that as we pray for and bless our enemies and praise him for his faithfulness to his Word we’re already overcoming evil and taking part in the most incredible work on earth – being living vessels of his supernatural love. With this, our heart cry becomes, “May your Kingdom (of love and righteousness and peace) come. May your will be done.”

 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Jn 13:35

Fully Alive

     Life is one of the most valuable gifts we’ve been given. God masterfully created each of us in his own image with unique talents, personalities and purpose. His greatest desire is that we find meaning in him so that we’re able to radiate his glory and experience fullness of life. As we daily abide in Christ, we become passionate about investing our lives and using our gifts in a important way that has eternal significance. We’re no longer content to live each day according to the world’s standards or simply for ourselves. Instead, our heart longs for significance and purpose – that God will use us to have an impact on the world.
     While we’re born with little understanding about God’s plans for us, as we mature we develop an increasing sense that we were created for a specific reason to fulfill a calling we’ve been given. God puts this longing within our hearts to do something beyond ourselves for his kingdom. Though sometimes we lose sight of this vision through setbacks and disappointments, deep inside we know we were made for something far greater than mere existence. We may or may not possess what others consider extraordinary talents, but we’ve each been given gifts. As we enter into a personal relationship with God through Christ, he helps us discover and develop these gifts and shows us how we can use them in life transforming ways.
     Imagine that we’re standing before two closed doors and can’t see what lies beyond them. One door has a sign that says, “Your plans and future the way you want it.” The other door reads, “God’s plans and his future for you.” Which one will we choose? The promise of the first door is tempting, because by entering it we think we’ll become the master of our lives and be given the power to make our dreams come true. It offers us the chance to design our lives the way we envision them.  The second door requires a leap of faith, because by entering it we agree to surrender our right to determine our future.  We give our lives over to God in trust and confidence that he’ll guide us down the right path to pursue the dreams and goals he has gifted us to fulfill. He guarantees that though we will have trials, our lives will overflow with a deep sense of purpose, power and love.
     When we choose the first door we become lord of our lives with a focus on how we can control and direct everything. We chase after things we believe will bring satisfaction and happiness, whether it’s money, relationships, power or position. In order accomplish what we want, we devise short and long term goals and pursue them with relentless passion, since attaining these goals is the core of our hope and future. However, the promises of this lifestyle are deceptive. When we reach our dreams apart from a relationship with God, we discover that it’s impossible for them to ever satisfy the deep longing of our hearts. In fact, the more we achieve the more dissatisfied and even miserable we become, because with each success we develop the insatiable desire for more. Life becomes an endless cycle of setting goals, striving to accomplish them and then pursing something bigger and better. On the other hand, when our plans don’t work out like we expected we are often struck with disappointment, frustration and even anger. Whether we succeed or fail at receiving what we think we want, we’re left with emptiness in our soul that magnifies the fact that we were created for something far greater, something much more significant.
     This emptiness often leads us to the second door, where we discover that there is an awesomely good, loving and powerful God who wants to free us from this vicious cycle of self destruction and striving after idols that can never satisfy. He daily calls out to us to put our trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, and stop depending on our own understanding. He says that if we’ll acknowledge him in all our ways, he will direct our paths and fulfill the deep desires of our heart (Prov 3:5-6). But following him comes with a cost. We have to release the plans we’ve so tenaciously held on to in the past and trust him to give us all that’s good for our lives – blessings that will benefit us holistically and bring him glory.
     God says in Jeremiah 29:11 that he knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. This is not a promise for financial prosperity or an easy life but instead a guarantee that God is always working everything (even the small details) for our ultimate good and his glory. As our loving Father, he genuinely cares about us, so much so that he’s numbered the hairs on our head and stores our tears in a bottle. He knows every desire we have, and as a father has compassion on his children so God has compassion on us. Because his love is perfect, he knows exactly what gifts to give us and how to take care of all our needs.
     In a world where we’re told to pursue power, possessions and prestige, we’re faced with challenging decisions about how we’ll invest our lives. Will we follow the dictates of the world, or will we follow God? Will we seek to live life our way, or will we live it God’s way according to his plans? There are two doors, two roads, and two completely different ways of life. The first door often seems like the right one, but the Bible says it ends in misery and eventually death.  The other door leads to life, peace and a future filled with purpose, along with many tests and trials to prove our faith. When we enter this door through trust in Jesus Christ and a surrendered heart, we begin to experience the abundant and eternal life we were created to have. We become fully alive!