More gravy than grave in that spirit.

I was writing a sermon on Mark 14:37-41 and the disciples falling asleep and realized something I hadn't thought about when reading this scripture.

Consider this: Our humanity will pull us down spiritually and can hinder our spiritual impact.

You can't expect to serve God faithfully if you don’t do what you can to keep your body in the proper shape. 

Do we give ourselves margin, space in our lives?

Do we overdo it? 

I’ve been guilty of this?

We also need to realize it isn’t easy to fix. A few weeks back  I was hoping to get a bit of a spiritual retreat and woke up with a migraine. I looked around, once I was able to get up, and found I didn’t have anything to take for the pain. I called over to the people who watch over the retreat and they brought me Tylenol and Advil. I took it immediately and by the end of the day, I was doing fine.

Years ago, I would have refused to take anything saying needed to be tough. I ended up with migraines that would last a month. It wasn’t until a doctor asked me when was the best time to stop an avalanche? The answer was at the top. To stop the one boulder that would roll down, gaining speed and dislodging other boulders until at the bottom there would be no stopping it. She said that was the way it was with my headaches. I needed to take something immediately because if I did I would stop it from becoming an avalanche of pain. She was right and though I have had headaches and migraines since then they have never lasted that long.

The lesson for us in this message is our bodies can affect what we can do spiritually. They affect our moods and our ability to minister. We don’t often realize that taking care of our bodies is a spiritual act. I’m not saying we need to put a gym in the church and put everyone on a diet. However, I believe there is a time in our lives when God will say, You need to deal with this if you are going to grow more.

Let’s be careful also about how we judge how healthy we are. I had a boss once who exercised regularly, followed a strict diet, and was not at all healthy. The blood test that the doctors ran showed all kinds of problems. What kind of irritated them was that my numbers were perfect. I didn’t watch my diet and I have never been thin. The problems were not a result of diet but stress.

So let’s be careful and not judge people spiritually by their outside appearance. Also, we don’t know what God is working at them with and perhaps what you see isn’t the problem God thinks is critical.

This being said we need to realize and sometimes give others grace when they struggle because it may be that there is to steal a line from A Christmas Carol, there may be more "gravy than grave" about their spiritual problems. 

There might be more going on in us because of our body so we need to treat it well.

Just Drop It

I got an encouragement text from Author and Speaker Jon Acuff. He sends them out every week or so to everyone who signs up, so no I don't get personal texts from New York Times Best-selling authors. I'm open for a call though it would be cool. 

Anyhow, the message said, "“Jon Acuff here with some micro motivation! If you picked up any bitterness this year, don't miss your chance to put it down this week. Don't carry last year's rocks into next year's garden. Don't paint next year's canvas with last year's colors. Don't write next year's story with last year's words. You might need to choose to drop it 100 times, but leaving bitterness behind is always worth it”. Text sent 12-28-21

 I can’t help but agree with Jon here. If you find yourself picking up bitterness and it happens. You need to drop it again. Life is too short to hold on to this stuff and it will steal from you. Don't take up a guilt trip for picking it up, just drop it. Your life will be the better for it. 

HOWEVER, (there's always a qualifier) sometimes you don’t pick the issue up but you look and see you're holding the ball. How did this happen? It is then you remember someone else threw it to you. You grabbed it on reflex. The problem remains you are still holding the ball. 

I have on occasion had people throw me something and I caught it. What I found I got was holding something covered with goo. I dropped it. Okay, I might have thrown it back, but they were smart enough not to catch it. It was disgusting and even though I wasn't holding the disgusting thing I was contaminated by it. Yuk. 

I was forced to find a way to clean off the mess. Often it was to wipe my hands on my dirty work clothes, but at other times I had to find a bathroom because I couldn't afford to get the stuff on my clothes. Let me tell you some of that stuff I never what to know what it was.  

Emotionally it's the same. You didn't mean to hold on to the issue, bitterness, anger, whatever it was, but now you're holding it. So drop it, holding it doesn't help you. And if it’s really messy like a muddy football you will probably need to wash your hands and maybe even change. It will take time, but it’s worth it. 

One final piece of advice, don't feel guilty if you find the issue in your hands, just drop it, clean up and go on. You will find life is better when you do.  

Photo by John Torcasio on Unsplash

Where should I Give?

I have heard some people say that it doesn't matter who you give to it's your attitude is all that matters. That might be partly true but if you give an obviously deranged person (they are murmuring about killing people) money and they buy a gun and they shoot up a place, I'm not so sure. No, I am sure it was wrong of you. 

This being said there are times that we do give to what seems legitimate causes and the money is misused. In this case, it is absolutely not you. 

Scripture teaches us that we need to be wise (and generous) with our resources. In the above examples, there is a case in which a person is being not the following scripture and a person was trying to. Perhaps in the second case, they should have done some research, but let's assume they did so aren't responsible. 

However, the bigger problem I see is there are so many great causes to give to. 

We are stuck with the question do I give to missions (this gains eternal rewards) but then the Bible (James) teaches that if we only give prayer and not tangible help then we fail. Should I give to those in my community which if you're in the USA means you're giving to the richest people in the world but they are our neighbors and we are to be good to our neighbors. What about starving children, dying patients, curing diseases, environmental causes (this is the only planet we have), and then there is that uncle, child, grandchild, or friend that needs money.   

AHHH!!!

It's enough to lay an eternal guilt trip on you (and some want to) or cause you to quit caring. Both of these are bad and neither are what God wants. So what do we do?

Give wisely.

I could probably write a small book on the subject but to make it simple. 

Do a budget (you will get in a mess if you don't)

1. pay your tithe 

2. pay your bills (you aren't representing Jesus well if you aren't)

3. Decide to give to a cause you believe in (one or two) remember there are others with different passions and they will take care of the rest.

4. set aside an amount to give to things that pull on your heart (impulse giving) don't give more than this.

5. Refuse to feel guilty but don't become jaded.

As stated in #3, there are lots of people in this world and if all do their part the needs will be met. If you try to do everyone else's part you will fail and then no one will be helped. Understand this, you can only control yourself. Don't focus on other people's giving if you do you will be miserable. 

I could say more but I've given enough here. 

God Bless.

Looking back

 I am writing this blog on Christmas morning 2021 and it will go out the first week of March. It is a reminder to look back and remember what was happening and to ask myself and you to look back and ask yourself did it happen?

What are the positives that you knew were going to take place? Did they?

What was the doom that seemed to overshadow the holidays and make 2022 seem like another 2020?

Take a moment. I'm putting (pulling) mine in a File named Christmas March 2022, I'm writing it because I might forget. It's been two months you know. or will be (Okay, what is the right way to write about what you are going to do but will have done when this comes out?)

SO? Were they as bad or as good as you expected? (for some reason I doubt it)

Finally, what surprise happened in the last two months that you never saw coming?

This last one is interesting for me because I naturally am a planner and look to see all possible outcomes. 

I will post in the responses the answers to these questions and you can too. We will celebrate, laugh at the doubt disasters that never came to be, or weep because they did. I'm most interested in the surprises. 

My hope is that this time will be a gift.

Got to hurry, Christmas time will be starting soon (as I'm writing not when you're reading).