Loving the Hard to Love

By: Robert Jacobs 

Let’s face it, there are people in our life who, for various reasons, are hard to love. With the holidays upon us, I am sure that many of you have thought about what it will mean to interact with these hard to love people, particularly those in your family. Often, we believe (at least subconsciously anyway) that those who have wounded us deeply deserve to be as miserable as they have made us, supposedly fulfilling our desire for justice. 

But what do you do if that person seeks forgiveness? What do you do when they attempt to restore a broken relationship? What if they yield to Jesus Himself and find the peace and wholeness that He offers? If they abide in Christ, they will have their shame, sin, and reproach washed away by His blood. Will you be happy for them? Will you shout for joy that they have found wholeness, or will you be bitter that they have the peace of Christ that they do not deserve? 

I was the latter. My father and I had a rough relationship which resulted in my receiving substantial emotional wounds. Toward the end of his life, my father became a faithful follower of Christ, abiding in Him and finding the peace and purpose that can only come from His hand. I, however, was bitterly implacable. I literally said to my wife, “Do you know who this man is? He does not deserve the peace of Christ in his life!” I believed that his sin disqualified him from the Grace of Christ and that no one should have anything to do with “that man.”

We see a similar situation in one of the healings that Jesus performs. Upon entering Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by and he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mk 10:47) The crowd following Jesus turned to Bartimaeus and rebuked him, telling him to be quiet (Mk 10:48). In other words, those who were following Jesus did not think Bartimaeus was worthy to talk with Christ. After all, he was blind, a disability that this society believed to be the result of a moral impediment (Jn 9:9).

Are we this crowd? Are we those “following” Jesus only to preclude those who need him the most? Sure, we may say that we want the lost and the hurting to find Christ, but does that include those who have wounded us? 

As the story with Bartimaeus continues, Christ does hear him and calls him to Himself. After this, those following Jesus changed their toon, telling Bartimaeus to “cheer up” because Christ had called him. Strange how their attitude only changes after Jesus rebukes them through His actions. 

There is a lesson here for us. Just as our sin does not preclude us from following Christ, so also does other’s sin not prevent them…even those who have wounded us deeply. If we are honest, none of us deserve to follow Christ. From the moment of our conception, we were all rebels and traitors against the kingdom of God (Ps 51:5). 

By the grace of God, I began to make peace with my father shortly before he died. Yet if I had celebrated his embracing of Christ rather than rejected it, much more healing could have taken place. 

But what about you? Is there someone hard to love in your family—someone who has hurt you badly—that is trying to restore a relationship with you, yet you will not allow them to? It could be that God is calling you to allow that person to tangibly experience the forgiveness of God in their life by you forgiving them. 

This is not to say that we do not need to have healthy boundaries with our family, and by no means do I think you should place yourself in danger. However, I do think that when we correctly remember how much we have been forgiven by Christ, it is much easier to offer forgiveness to others and celebrate a reconciled relationship. If we forget how much we have been forgiven, though, we become hard and bitter, claiming our woundedness as a kind of identity. 

This Christmas love the hard to love. Seek to be a good gift to others rather than looking for others to be a good gift to you. Because with the Spirit in you, you are indeed a good gift to everyone around you. 

Hope for the Holidays

by Bonnie Scasta, Women's Ministry Director

The holidays are said to be the most wonderful time of the year. And for many, there is magic and wonder all around. 

For others that are impacted by sexual and relational brokenness, however, the holidays are filled with pain and loss. This time of year—traditionally filled with merriment and spent with loved ones—is instead lonely and quiet. Because of deep family divisions, unmet expectations, cruel words, and/or being forgotten, the celebration of Our Promised Savior is often over shadowed by sorrow and deep despair.

Though families may be broken, wounds run deep, expectations are repeatedly crushed, and people who should come through continue to fail, there is hope to be found this holiday season! 

As we approach Christmas, keep these three truths close to your heart:

God sees and cares about your pain.

Grief and loss have very little place in our culture. We are often taught through our experiences, in particularly the reactions of those closest to us, that our pain is to be shoved aside and hidden.  We believe the lie that there is no space or time to be sad over the broken things in our life or our family.  

However, over and over again we see in scripture that God sees and hears the cries of his people in pain (Ex 2:23-25).  He is not asking you to shut it down, avoid it, or act like everything is ok.  Instead, God is asking you to bring even the most painful things to him. When we do, we can be confident that just as Jesus wept over the loss of his friend, he will weep with us as well. 

^“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” – Ex. 2:24-25

God is near to the brokenhearted. 

Not only does God care about our pain, he is near to it.  His presence makes all the difference (Ex. 33:3-4).  If you are brokenhearted over the loss of a relationship, over the strife between you and a loved one, at the consequences of your own sin, or for any other reason, God is near.  Ask him to reveal his special nearness through these difficult circumstances and believe that you are not alone, regardless of how alone you may feel.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Ps 34:18

There are no hopeless situations.

Jesus himself was raised from the dead.  He is in the very business of bringing dead things to life.  The disciples thought all was lost after Jesus was crucified and many returned to their old lives or hid scared.  Jesus, however, had other plans and it changed history.  He came to set the captives free, bind those that are brokenhearted, and bring gladness to those who mourn.  Set your hope on Him and see what he does!

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” –  Is 61:1-3

Be encouraged that no matter what ashes you may be mourning, our savior has gladness and beauty to come.   As you take your pain, sorrow, or loneliness to Him and rest in his deep, abiding love that is near, there is great hope regardless of what the days ahead hold. 

The Leper in the Tree

by Robert Jacobs

My 14-month-old daughter loves to dance. Though still fine tuning her balance and coordination, she dances (as the saying goes) like no one is watching. Although she will dance to anything with a rhythm, including my more spirited readings of Hop on Pop, she prefers the upbeat kid’s songs they play at Sunday school. Snagging a few albums on-line for our dancing pleasure at home, I regularly clear the dance floor in our house for jam sessions that include favorites like “Jesus Loves Me,” “Father Abraham,” and “If You’re Saved and You Know It.”

As we listened and danced one afternoon, we came across a song I had not heard in a long time: “Zacchaeus Was A Wee Little Man.” It’s a silly little song from my childhood that tells the story of a minor character in the Gospel of Luke. Appearing in no other gospel account, the interaction between Zacchaeus and Jesus is a brief, 9 verses that is often glossed over. If not passed over like an appendix to the larger narrative of Luke, people simply remember the story as “the one about that short guy,” as the title of the song indicates. Yet as I listened to the song, I realized that there were many profound truths in Zacchaeus’ story. 

Luke records that as Jesus was passing through Jericho, word of His presence in the city came to the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. Desiring to see this Jesus that he had heard so much about, Zacchaeus ran out to the street where Christ was passing by. Unfortunately, “he was short [and] could not see over the crowd” (Lk 19:3). Determined to see this holy man he had heard so much about, he ended up climbing a tree to see over the crowd. When Jesus came to the tree, He called out “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5). This shocked the onlookers, for when “the people saw this [they] began to mutter, ‘He (Jesus) has gone to be the guest of a sinner’” (Lk 19:7). 

As I thought about Zacchaeus sitting up in that tree, I realized that he was content to simply see Jesus rather than interact with Him. Though the text does not say so, I am sure he thought he would never be worthy of actually meeting Jesus and talking with Him. And based upon what I know about human nature, I bet he must have thought he did not deserve such an honor because he knew he was stained with sinful actions (see his reaction to Jesus in verse 8). Like a leper keeping his distance, Zacchaeus sat in the tree, grateful to even get the opportunity to see Christ. Yet Jesus was not satisfied with Zacchaeus simply seeing Him. No. He wanted Zacchaeus to experience Him on a personal level. 

Many of us are sitting in our own trees. We think that because of our sin stained hands, Jesus does not want anything to do with us and that we are lucky that we even get to see Him from a distance. However, this is not how Christ works. He is calling out to us as we sit isolated in our trees. He wants us to not simply see Him or know about Him, but to experience Him, to intimately follow Him as His disciple. It is true humanity has a sin problem, yet we must remember that the solution to our sin problem is in the arms of Jesus and nowhere else. 

As holiday decorations begin to fill our homes and churches, remember that the whole point of Christ’s advent was so that he could be Emanuel, God WITH Us. Whenever you see a Christmas tree this season, think of Zacchaeus—the man who was content to simply watch Jesus walk by but that Jesus desired to know personally, calling to him to Himself by name. 

Hope for the Holidays

by Bonnie Scasta, Women's Ministry Director

The holidays are said to be the most wonderful time of the year. And for many, there is magic and wonder all around. 

For others that are impacted by sexual and relational brokenness, however, the holidays are filled with pain and loss. This time of year—traditionally filled with merriment and spent with loved ones—is instead lonely and quiet. Because of deep family divisions, unmet expectations, cruel words, and/or being forgotten, the celebration of Our Promised Savior is often overshadowed by sorrow and deep despair.

Though families may be broken, wounds run deep, expectations are repeatedly crushed, and people who should come through continue to fail, there is hope to be found this holiday season! 

As we approach Christmas, keep these three truths close to your heart:

God sees and cares about your pain.

Grief and loss have very little place in our culture. We are often taught through our experiences, in particular the reactions of those closest to us, that our pain is to be shoved aside and hidden.  We believe the lie that there is no space or time to be sad over the broken things in our life or our family.  

However, over and over again we see in scripture that God sees and hears the cries of his people in pain (Ex 2:23-25).  He is not asking you to shut it down, avoid it, or act like everything is ok.  Instead, God is asking you to bring even the most painful things to him. When we do, we can be confident that just as Jesus wept over the loss of his friend, he will weep with us as well. 

^“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” – Ex. 2:24-25

God is near to the brokenhearted. 

Not only does God care about our pain, He is near to it. His presence makes all the difference (Ex. 33:3-4).  If you are brokenhearted over the loss of a relationship, over the strife between you and a loved one, at the consequences of your own sin, or for any other reason, God is near.  Ask him to reveal his special nearness through these difficult circumstances and believe that you are not alone, regardless of how alone you may feel.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Ps 34:18

There are no hopeless situations.

Jesus himself was raised from the dead.  He is in the very business of bringing dead things to life. The disciples thought all was lost after Jesus was crucified and many returned to their old lives or hid scared.  Jesus, however, had other plans and it changed history.  He came to set the captives free, bind those that are brokenhearted, and bring gladness to those who mourn.  Set your hope on Him and see what he does!

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” –  Is 61:1-3

Be encouraged that no matter what ashes you may be mourning, our savior has gladness and beauty to come.   As you take your pain, sorrow, or loneliness to Him and rest in his deep, abiding love that is near, there is great hope regardless of what the days ahead hold. 

Mud and Miracles

by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

In our world of antibacterial soaps, germ aversion, and highly advanced medical treatments, we generally don't associate mud and spit as treatments for congenital birth defects. That is, unless you are Jesus.

Not recorded in any of the other gospels, John 9 is a unique account of Jesus performing a miracle. Though the entire chapter is rich in Kingdom significance, His use of mud and spit in verses 6-7 reveals something important about the way Jesus works:

He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva.  Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (Which means Sent).  So he went and washed and came back seeing. (Jn 9:6-7)

Why did Jesus spit on the ground and make a mud pie to heal the man? Is there mud in the middle east that brings sight to the blind? Why did the man have to walk through town and wash in the pool of Siloam? Are there minerals in that pool that bring sight to the blind? Why didn’t Jesus just speak a word and restore the man’s sight? Why command a process before the healing happened? 

As you look at the miracles of Jesus, what you discover is Jesus often asks people to participate in some way in the miracle only He can do. It is not that their performance makes miracles happen; in fact, that is far from the truth.  However, I believe that Jesus knows there is much for us to learn in the process of our healing.  By participating in the process of our healing, we learn to trust the voice of our Savior, discovering the depth of our brokenness and the power of God. 

The blind man only knew himself as the label people placed upon him – a blind beggar.  Sometimes we too hold on to what it is we have always been, not realizing all that God has called us to be. We also sometimes believe that because “this is the way it has always been,” this is the way it will always be. The beauty of the gospel is there is hope for transformation. Change happens. We can become new creations in Christ if we are willing to embrace the words of our Savior and obey them.

The man’s healing was instantaneous in one sense—he washed and then saw (v. 9)—but an even more significant change took place in the man’s heart as he embraced the process of Jesus’ revelation of Himself to the man through the man’s obedience. 

In order for the blind man to experience healing, he had to let go of his former identity as a blind man and embrace his transformed reality – a healed disciple. He could not continue to hold on to old ways of living and believing because now he had sight. He was no longer walking in darkness but had seen the Light, and it forever changed him. 

If we want to walk in freedom, we must let go of ties to the past and embrace our new identity in Christ. We can’t hold on to old ways, old beliefs, or old labels that others placed upon us. 

The man born in darkness becomes the herald of the Light to those still trapped in darkness. What an incredible irony that a blind man—thought to be blind because of his sin or that of his parents—schooled religious leaders who believed they were righteous but weren’t. The gospel indeed uses, in the words of Paul, the “weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27).

Are you willing to go through whatever process God has in store for you in order to fully embrace the transformation of God’s healing in your life? Are you willing to let go of your “plan B” and fully trust in God’s transforming power? Once transformed, are you willing to declare the light, so others may “see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven”? We are all blind in some way. May His light penetrate our darkness and allow us to see our new identity in Him, reflecting His light to a world in darkness.  

Where’s the Power?

I feel terribly inadequate in most areas of my life, but especially when it comes to sharing my faith in the world in which we live.  Don’t you?  

When I write a devotional or prepare for a message, I pour over the words and sentences for hours, contemplating how they will be perceived and received.  I often wonder if my words will sound wise, inspire, convince, or stir the faith of others. But if this is truly my aim, then I will indeed fail. Why? Because I can’t make any of those things take place in another person’s life.  

Far too often you and I are spiritual posers, pretending we have wisdom and power but not genuinely connected to a source beyond ourselves. As a result, we craft lofty words, present well-planned messages, even have pointed and particularly parsed conversations, all in the hopes that our “wisdom” will somehow save someone.  We are mistaken. 

Paul understood that what hindered so many in his culture was not the lack of good rhetoric, teaching, or prose, but people’s desire to create their own wisdom or truth.  Greek and Roman scholars and philosophers would often debate freely and fervently. Paul was able to engage in these activities as he was well educated, a Pharisee among Pharisees, and a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).  Paul knew, however, that his faith did not rest in the wisdom of men, but the power of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:2-5, he states it plainly: 

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God).

As I read newsfeeds and social media post from liberals to conservatives, Christians to atheists, I see lots of the “wisdom of men.”  Our world is hungry for the next great sound bite or turn of phrase. We look for bits of wisdom, but rarely for the source of all that is wise.  As a result, our world is filled with an ever-increasing division between (for lack of better identifiers) “left” or “right;” “conservative” or “liberal.”  

In trying to stake out claims and positions, we overlook the demonstrations of God’s power seen all around us.  We miss God’s power in the transformed lives like those who attend LHM.  We miss the beauty of God’s people giving sacrificially and generously towards those in need. We overlook the kindness of God through the believer who personally feeds the poor, invites others into their home who feel displaced, or who simply sit by the side of one who is hurting or grieving.

Let’s be honest. It’s easy to scream at problems everyone sees and make a name for yourself. It’s not easy to live a life fully surrendered to a Savior who gave His life for your redemption. The former only must be loud in the moment to be heard.  The latter must be submitted every second of the day for a lifetime.  

If we want to change our world, we must do so through our faith consistently demonstrated. We need to worry less about our wisdom or abilities and more about the power of God. We must continue to speak of Jesus and Him crucified and the amazing ways the gospel has radically transformed our lives. We must be like Paul who was eager and willing to risk all to share the power of God he had personally experienced so that others would trust, believe, and follow Jesus and thereby be transformed!

Do you believe God’s power is sufficient for the hurts and needs of your life? Are you sharing what God has done in you and for you with others so they may see the power of God at work? Are you living a life dependent upon your wisdom and cunning, or trusting in the power of God?

The truth is, we are all inadequate to do the God-sized things we are all called to do. I know I am. But I have a God who is more than able, more than capable of taking my inadequacies (and yours) and turning them into trophies of His power and wisdom.  As we submit to Him and follow Him, we will be blessed beyond measure, and God’s power will be on display for all the world to see and believe.

Standing Strong?

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

One of the great joys of ministry is walking with people on the journey of faith and watching them mature in Christ. I enjoy seeing people learn to take their eyes off constant introspection and fix their gaze determinedly on Jesus. I love it when peoples’ lives begin to see more victories than defeats. I get excited when I hear of people purposefully serving others, being actively involved in a community, and seeking to pour out what they have learned into the hearts and lives of others. 

But I have also learned that spiritual growth doesn’t exempt us from temptation and, in some ways, can set us up for failure. You see, difficulty develops dependence while success develops independence.  As much as we all hate the statement, it is particularly true in the realm of spirituality.  

It is difficult to be dependent on God when things are going well. We tend to relax our disciplines, think we know the Word of God well enough, and lower our awareness of sin's pull. Let’s face it. When things are going well, it is easy to think, “Thanks, God!  I got this.” 

Paul understood this human tendency to pull away from discipline and toward self-sufficiency.  He recognized it in his own journey of faith. (Remember his thorn in the flesh to keep him from becoming too proud (2 Cor 12:7)?) But Paul also knew the history of the children of Israel as he writes in 1 Corinthians 10.  There Paul tells of Israel’s great deliverance from the oppression of Egypt. God moved and provided for Israel in mighty ways: from the parting of the sea and being “baptized into Moses in the cloud,” to drinking from the “spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”  The children of Israel were people who should have been deeply devoted to God. Yet in the midst of God’s provision and deliverance, they took up idol worship and left the God they loved.  

Paul warns that though we live on the other side of Jesus’ incarnation, cross, and resurrection, we too have similar inclinations for becoming complacent in our relationship and devotion to God.  He puts it bluntly: “let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12).  

No one is exempt from sin. I am one decision away from disaster every day!  The devil is my adversary, and the fallen world is his playground. He is crouching at the door, at every turn, ready to pounce on me just when I think I am doing well (1 Pet 5:8). And the devil is after you too!

But there is good news for the church in Corinth and for us. Even in our moments of greatest temptation, our God will provide a way of escape. “God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor 10:13).  

This is a rich verse, pregnant with meaning, but note the last line: “able to endure it.” Most of us would like to vanquish all temptation. Sometimes God’s solution is not to remove temptation, but to strengthen us in the midst of it so we can endure. Through that endurance, we are better able to run the race set before us and finish strong. Nothing is proven until it is tested and there is no victory in the test without perseverance.

Are you feeling confident in your relationship with the Lord? I pray you are, but don’t allow that confidence to be posited on your ability rather than your dependence upon the One who is able to keep you from falling. He alone can provide. He alone makes an escape possible. Be vigilant and stand strong!

Failure Isn't Fatal With Jesus

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

I hate to fail. Don’t you? In fact, I hate it so much that it scares me, or at least that is the way it felt when I was young. If there was even a hint that I could not victoriously compete, I often simply did not participate. This isn’t a good trait (just to be clear) and seriously prevented me from trying many things that I might have enjoyed but feared I would fail. 

When I became a Christian in my late teens, I realized that the American ideal of always being number one was not biblical.  However, I soon discovered that there was a new fear of failing, and this one was much more profound — I feared that I would fail as a Christ-follower. 

As I have grown in my Christian faith, I have realized we all fail Jesus. In fact, He was and is the only righteous one. And unlike my perception of failure as a youth, my failures don't have to be the end of the world. 

Peter was like you and me. He failed.  There are few characters in the New Testament that lived more boldly or failed more profoundly than did Peter. I love that scripture doesn’t hide his frailty, his impulsivity, or his sin. 

Peter was the first disciple chosen and the leader of the twelve apostles. This rough-around-the-edges fisherman was passionate in his love for Jesus.  When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, Peter wanted not just his feet to be cleaned, but his whole body! (Jn 13:9)  When Jesus was arrested, it was Peter who drew the sword to defend his master and cut off the ear of the priest's servant (Jn 19:10). Despite this love for Jesus, all four gospels record Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s failure: “This very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” (Mk 14:30; Mt 26:24; Lk 22:34; Jn 13:38). 

Imagine the horror Peter must have felt to hear those words from Jesus? But it gets even worse. At Jesus' arrest, Peter lurks in the crowd and indeed denies Jesus three times. Upon his last denial, Luke records these few words that are pregnant with emotion and meaning: 

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly (Lk 22:61-62).

Have you had a moment like that? You know you did something terribly wrong, and just as it happens, you realize you have sinned against God.  Your heart sinks. Your countenance falls. Your soul aches. You feel as though your failure will forever define you. 

Peter was there, and we have all been there too.

But praise God, that is not the end of the story!  After the resurrection of Jesus, Mary meets the angel at the tomb, and he gives her a message, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you (Mk 16:7).” 

“[A]nd Peter…” The angel specifically singles out Peter from the other disciples. Yes, Peter failed at one of the most crucial moments in Jesus’ ministry, but Jesus did not give up on Peter, and He doesn’t give up on you and me. Jesus saw Peter beyond the moment of failure to the movement of faith Peter would lead. He saw in Peter what Peter could not see in himself. Jesus sees that potential in you too. 

Though we have all fallen short of the glory of God, our past failures do not define our future. Jesus invites us, as he did Peter, to repent of our sins and follow Him. The great hope in scripture is it is filled with people who failed but have a relentless Savior who redeems. 

You may be struggling with the sins from your past that continue to haunt you, bad choices you made this weekend or even last night. Those sins are not who you are, and they don’t have to be how you live your life. Jesus tells us, “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1:15).” 

After the resurrection and his restoration, Peter went on to be a great evangelist. Acts 2 records that Peter’s preaching at Pentecost ushered in some 3,000 new believers. He was a pivotal leader in the church in Jerusalem and was eventually killed for his faith. Allow your failure to fuel your faith. Seek forgiveness and repentance and see the great things God has in store for your future!

Discouraged?

By Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

If you live in Texas, you come to expect hot summers. We are amid yet another summer of 100-degree temperatures and no rain in sight. In this kind of heat, people grow weary quickly. It seems hard to breathe, difficult to stay hydrated, and impossible to maintain any significant energy level for more than a few minutes. The heat is like a blanket of discouragement whose power and presence seems relentless. 

Similarly, we often find spiritual fidelity in the secular world equally draining. At every turn, Christians face a myriad of attacks. TV ads, news feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snap Chat—to name only a few—seem determined to persuade the Christ-follower that our ways are archaic, bigoted, and narrow-minded.  We quickly discover we are known more for what we are against rather than what we are for. In our attempts to stand for Jesus in our culture, we often find we are standing alone.  It is easy to get discouraged in our spiritual journey. The narrative of our world can be like a wet blanket on the fires of our spiritual passion.

David understood the feelings of isolation that often come with following God and going against the crowd. Faced with opposition from his people, as well as the culture in which he lived, David, like us, became discouraged. 

How is a God-fearer to survive in a land filled with spiritual critics, outright unbelievers, and militant foes actively seeking to silence the truth of God's Word?

David had one strategy - he reminded himself of who God is, who he was, and the promises of God for him. As David correctly aligned his life with a proper understanding of God and himself, he was able to see past the momentary difficulty to the eternal glory God would provide for him. In Psalm 3:3-4, we read, 

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

I was crying to the Lord with my voice,

And He answered me from His holy mountain.

Though we are thousands of years removed from David's Psalm 3, opposition to the truth of God is still strong. When you leave your house each day, you will enter a world that is against the things you believe, the way you choose to live, and the positions you take on moral issues. Often, you will be called upon to stand up for the truth. In those moments you will feel as though you are utterly alone, but you are not. God is with you.  

As Christians, we are never alone. God has promised that when we trust in Him, He fills us with His Spirit who empowers us. He promises that He will be with us and will never leave us or forsake us. 

He promises, as He did with David, that he will “be a shield about [you].” Nothing can touch you that has not passed through the protective hands of the Father. He will protect us and keep us from the lies of the evil one if we are trusting in Him. 

He promises that in those moments when we grow weary and feel as though we can go no further, He will be “the One who lifts [our] head.” Though the darkness seems to steal away victory, and our zeal may falter, He will bring renewal and lift our attention from the present trouble to the glory of His presence seen fully in His face. 

He promises that He will be a good father, the kind who listens attentively to his children’s cries and answers them. He is alert, aware, and active even in those moments when we cannot always see immediate evidence of His work. He is faithful.

As I watch the news, read the reports of the cultural pundits, or even overhear the chatter of well-intentioned church-goers on their way in and out of worship, it can be easy to get discouraged. Christians seem afraid to speak out and are doubtful of the goodness of God or His ability to make a difference in our world gone adrift.  We can all get discouraged, but we must be like David and cry out to God. He is faithful. He will listen.  And He will lift our eyes from the present discouragement and focus our attention on the One who He sent to bring liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and salvation to all who would call upon His Name – Jesus the Christ.  He is the lifter of our heads.  Be not discouraged.  He has overcome the World.

The Pain of Rejection, Part 2

by Bruno Borges, Men's Ministry Director

Rejection is painful. And that’s not just a platitude or turn of phrase. A 2003 MRI study revealed that the experience of rejection activates the same portions of the brain used to process physical pain.[1]In other words, we feel rejection as deeply as we would a burned hand or a broken bone. It’s no wonder that people use all kinds of coping mechanisms to assuage the pain associated with rejection. And Leah from the book of Genesis is no exception. 

Last week we talked about the numerous levels of rejection experienced by Leah in Genesis 29. She was labeled as less comparatively beautiful than her sister (v. 17). Her father, rather than protecting her, forced her into a marriage founded upon trickery, sending the message that she would never be actually loved by another (v. 23). Her husband outrightly rejected her, announcing to all her family and friends at their wedding banquet that he loved her sister more than her (v. 30). The level of pain that Leah must have felt from these rejections would have been intense to say the least. 

Whenever we feel intense pain, we attempt to ease that feeling in the most expedient way possible for the particular pain that we feel. We will reach for an aspirin if we have a headache. We will search out porn if we feel alone or stressed. We will hookup if we feel unloved. Yet even if these coping mechanisms succeed in temporarily lessening the pain, they often do not actually resolve the deeper issue. Case in point, Leah’s reaction to rejection. 

According to Judaic primogeniture customs, one of the greatest blessings that a wife could give to a husband was a son. Sons were seen as one of the greatest representations of a man's strength and courage. Genesis 29:31 says that God looked with favor on Leah and gave her a son, something she believed will take away her pain by removing her husband’s rejection. We know she made this assumption based upon her response to the birth of the baby boy: “now my husband will love me” (Gn 29:32). Yet it would seem that Jacob did not remove his rejection from her. We know this because after she gives birth to a second son, she comments, “because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also” (Gn 29:33). But even the birth of the second son did not remove the rejection of her husband because at the birth of her third son she exclaims, “now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons” (Gn 29:34). 

Leah desperately kept believing that she needed an earthly solution to her rejection. But somewhere between the birth of her third and fourth son, she realized that she instead needed to take her attention off her pain and turn it toward God. After she gives birth to her fourth son, she declares, “This time I will praise the Lord” (Gn 29:35). And it was this child that she named Juda, the tribe through which Jesus traced His lineage. Through her act of worship, Leah became a part of the lineage of He who would also be rejected in order to conquer all rejection.

So, what does all this mean for us? We, like Leah, need to stop looking for the solution to our pain among earthly sources. Yes, rejection hurts, but the remedy for that pain can only be found in Christ. Though we are rejected by others, God “will not leave [us] or forsake [us]” (Dt 31:6). Rather than clinging to earthly coping strategies, we must turn our gaze upon Christ and worship Him. For in doing so, we reorient our hearts and minds to look at the eternal rather than the temporal. In doing so, the pain of rejection diminishes in light of his glory and grace for us. 

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[1]Naomi I. Eisenberger and Matthew D. Lieberman, “Why Rejection Hurts: A Common Neural Alarm System for Physical and Social Pain, “Trends in Cognitive ScienceVol.8 No.7 July 2004, 294-300.

the Pain of Rejection - Part 1

by Bruno Borges, Men's Ministry Director

The Pain of Rejection: Part 1

Rejections are the most common emotional wound we sustain in our daily life. We have all experience rejection and have been impacted by its painful influence. Rejection can appear in our lives through minor circumstances, such as lack of interaction on our social media pages or responses to our text messages. We also experience rejection through significant occasions like being fired from a job or being left by a loved one. Regardless if small or big, all rejections hurt and make us feel devalued.

Leah from the book of Genesis understood what it was to be rejected by everyone around her. She was the oldest daughter of a man named Laban, who also had a second, younger daughter named Rachel. While we don’t find much of a physical description of Leah in the Bible, we do know that, “Leah's eyes were weak, but [her sister] Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance” (Gen 29:17). The fact that the description of Leah’s “weak eyes” is followed by compliments regarding her sister makes it hard to believe that she didn't struggle with comparing her looks to her sister's beauty. This perceived rejection must have wounded her deeply.

We can grasp the severity of this rejection even more when we remember that this story was written down about 500 years after the events. Thus, people must have repeatedly commented on and recalled Leah’s physical appearance as the story was passed down orally. Could you imagine what it must have been like for people to constantly compare you to your sister? What it was like to be remembered as the one with “weak eyes” rather than the one who was “beautiful in form and appearance”?

As if the rumors about her supposed lack of beauty were not bad enough, her father, the man who was supposed to love and protect her, felt the need to trick a man into marrying her. In Genesis 29:21-30 we are told that on the night of her sister's wedding to Jacob, Laban made Leah take Rachel’s place in the marriage bed. After the nuptial night, Jacob wakes up to realize that he has been fooled by his father-in-law. He immediately strikes an argument with Laban, telling him and everyone at the wedding festivities that he loves Rachel, not Leah.

Well, this is certainly not what any bride wants to hear from her groom right after being married. But to make matters worse, Laban agrees to give Rachel in marriage to Jacob right after he finishes the honeymoon with Leah. Again, I don’t think any bride wants to spend her honeymoon knowing that the moment it ends, her husband will be married to another woman, let alone a woman you have been compared to your whole life.

Let’s stop and recap the levels of rejection inflicted upon Leah. She is seen as less beautiful than her sister, something that has probably happened for a long time. Her father felt that it was necessary—possibly because of her appearance—for her to gain a husband through trickery, sending the message that she will never actually be wanted or valued by another. Her husband, in front of all of her family and friends, declares that he does not love her and instead loves her sister.

The wounds of rejection run deep for Leah, yet they also run deep for us as well. Many of us have felt the sting of being compared to others only to be found lacking. Others have had parents who have betrayed us rather than protect us. Still, others have felt the rejection of a spouse or other family member. What hope can there be in situations like these?

Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” Even though it would seem impossible for a mother to forget her child, parents can indeed reject their children, as seen in Leah’s story. Yet God says that he will never forget us. He promises us that He will stand by us even when everyone else rejects us.

While we will see how this works for Leah in next week’s devotional, we should all take time to acknowledge the ways that we have been rejected and then think about the ways that God has stepped into those rejections. How has God shown you that He has not forgotten you? Who has God brought into your life to show you that you are loved and valued? Has God been trying to heal your wounds but you have refused to let Him intervene because He is not meeting your needs in the way you want or have envisioned? Pray and think about these questions this week. Allow God to step into the wounded parts of your heart to bring healing, even if that healing is different from what you have imagined.  

Why Am I Alone?

by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

We live in a very connected world. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram all serve as ways to connect people from around the world through a simple, accessible medium that facilitates connection. In theory, it is an incredible way to foster community, a universal desire of all humans.[1]  But as is often the case, our intentions don’t always result in God’s created intent for us.  Social media postings often result in comparisons against realities that are not real at all. In fact, this constant need to “measure up” and acquire “likes” and “shares” can contribute to deep depression, cyberbullying, and even isolation.[2][3]

Although its authors could not have anticipated the ways our digital world connects us, the bible does speak to the importance of community. In fact, despite Jesus’s intentionality in creating community, He too found himself abandoned in His moment of greatest need.

Read Mark 14:32-51. It records an instance in which Jesus asks three of His disciples, His closest and dearest friends, to join Him for prayer. They eagerly agree only to fail to pray.  Later, when Jesus is betrayed by one of the twelve—Judas, the treasurer of His group—those same friends would quickly abandon Jesus to avoid getting arrested. 

Alone and abandoned, Jesus is lead away to an illegitimate court gathering of men who had already purposed to destroy His life and silence His teachings. Appearing before the religious leaders of His day, Jesus was alone and silent.  The loudest cries in the room were not from friends pleading for his life, but from accusers screaming false accusations against the son of God.

Have you ever felt alone and abandoned? Have you ever trusted deeply in someone only to have them disappoint you? Most of us have. But if we are honest, most of us have also acted in that same manner towards others. We are a fickle and hypocritical people. We need others but often don’t want others to need us – at least not when it is inconvenient for us. 

Praise God that Jesus didn’t respond to humanity the way the disciples responded to Him, nor the way you and I often respond to Jesus. Knowing His mission and sustained by His intimate relationship with the Father, Jesus was willing to be alone so we would never be alone. He was willing to risk His very life, abandoned on a cross, for the redemption of man. He is faithful even when we are not (1 Tim 2:13).  And He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us (Deut. 31:6; Heb. 13:5).

A. W. Tozer talked about the dilemma of aloneness we face as Christians this way:  

What we need very badly in these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us, the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will be swept away and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith that is a terrifying thought, but to real faith, it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain.[4]

There will be times in your Christian life when you will be asked to stand firm for God’s truth. These moments will not be easy and may result in being alienated from others, even family and friends.  Are you willing to follow Jesus when others won’t? Are you ready to pursue truth in all aspects of your life even when there is no one to applaud you or encourage you? Are you willing to trust Jesus even when others “unfriend” you, don’t “like” your posts, or choose to stop “following” you?  Is Jesus really enough?

If He is, then we must cling to the truth that, as followers of Jesus, we are never alone. There may be times when others choose not to stand with us, but Jesus will stand with us. God’s presence is as near as our breath (Ps 145:8). Call upon Him in those moments when you feel isolated and alone. If He is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31) 

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[1]Matthew D. Lieberman, Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, Crown: 2013.

[2]Suren Ramasubbu, “Influence of Social Media on Teenagers,” The Huffington Post, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu/influence-of-social-media-on-teenagers_b_7427740.html

[3]Katie Hurley, “Social Media and Teen Mental Health,” Psycom, https://www.psycom.net/social-media-teen-mental-health

[4]A.W. Tozer, On the Almighty God, Complied by Ron Eggert, Moody: 2015, September 30.

He is Worthy

by Robert Jacobs

As some of you may have seen, the theme for the 2018 Living Hope Celebration Banquet is “He is Worthy.” A powerful statement about the worth of Christ, the theme highlights the incomparable praiseworthiness of Jesus and, in turn, the immense cost of His sacrifice.  As I spent time meditating on the worthiness of Christ and the great price of salvation, I could not help but also think about the cost of following Jesus. 

Now, I’m not saying that we must pay for our salvation through good works or the like. Scripture makes it clear that salvation is a “free gift of God” (Rom 6:23). Yet repeatedly throughout the gospels, Jesus shows us that there is a great cost to following Him. In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes following Christ as an endless battle: “When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”

When I was younger in my faith, I would have said that Bonhoeffer was simply exaggerating, that this quote was merely a byproduct of living in the oppressive environment of World War II Germany. However, as I have grown with Christ, I have found that when we truly follow Him we will indeed experience great struggle. Yet in this struggle, we can all resoundingly cry, He is Worthy!

This is precisely what we see in John 9 through the healing of the man born blind. In the first part of the chapter, Jesus heals a man who was “blind from birth” (John 9:1). After he is healed, a great controversy forms around the man. Debating about where the power for such a miracle could come from, the Pharisees question the man over and over about what happened. Each time he is asked, the man testified that Jesus was the one who healed him. 

Frustrated by this response, the Pharisees tracked down the man’s parents to ask if he was indeed born blind and, if so, who healed him. Refusing to testify about what Jesus had done for their son, the parents simply replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself” (John 9:21-22). John tells us that the reason they refused to testify about Jesus was because doing so would come with a great cost, being kicked out of the synagogue. Refusing to deny Jesus himself, the man continued to tell them what Jesus had done for him until he suffered the fate that his parents feared (John 9:34). 

After hearing that the man had been put out of the synagogue for testifying about Him, Jesus sought him out and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” To which the man replied that he did, worshiping Jesus in that very moment. 

The conclusion of this story always moves me when I read it. After losing arguably one of the most important connections in his life—his place in the synagogue—for testifying to all that Jesus had done for him, the man still sees Jesus as completely worthy of worship.  The question for us is do we see Jesus as worthy? 

I know that most of us would be shocked if someone asked us if we thought Jesus was worthy. We might even be a little insulted by the question. But when was the last time you testified to how Jesus transformed your life? Have you spoken about Jesus even when it could have cost you everything? You may say that he is worthy, but do your actions—like those of the man born blind— line up with that statement?

As you read over John 9 yourself (and I would suggest that you do), think about what Jesus has done for you and how you can testify about him. Be forewarned though, following Jesus is a costly endeavor. Yet despite this high cost, He is still immeasurably worthy.