Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
-Isaiah 10:15

Tools. A vital mark of the technologically advanced age in which we live. From the ax and screwdriver to the microchip and soldering gun, tools make our lives easier and allow us to improve products and solve problems. Can you imagine building a house without a hammer? How about eating spaghetti without a fork? (No, I don’t want to see you try.) These simple, inexpensive pieces of material make certain tasks much easier to achieve.
Notice that individual types of tools are suited to particular tasks. You’d have a hard time splitting wood with a magnifying glass, and an ax isn’t going to help you inspect that welding job for cracks. Typically, a tool has a range of functions for which it’s commonly used, and outside of that, it’s not all that helpful. On the other hand, sometimes we can match a tool to a job it’s not expected to accomplish. A certain movie came out this year in which a frying pan was effectively used as a lethal weapon. That was obviously played for laughs, but without a doubt, the tools we use sometimes have more capability than we give them credit for.
Ever realized that God has a tool shed? True story. Throughout history, from the formation of the world until the present day, God has used His tools to accomplish His goals. Check out a mirror and you can see one right now. Yep! You are a tool in the hands of an almighty God. You might be a clay jar, a chainsaw, a shovel, a pair of scissors, or a megaphone; whatever your function, you are called to surrender yourself to the Master and allow yourself to be used by Him. Just as a chisel can’t know what it’s being used to carve, you may not be able to see the end product- but believe me, God has been in this business for a long time, and every single one of His works is a masterpiece.
Now, don’t let it go to your head. Look back to the verse in Isaiah. Here, the prophet was speaking of the Assyrians, a nation whom God used to punish His disobedient children (the nation of Israel). However, the Lord knew that the Assyrians would become proud and arrogant after their victory, so He resolved to humble them in due time. Indeed, you can see how that came to pass in 2 Kings 19:35-37. The warning here is not to let yourself become proud or overconfident as God uses you. Always give the glory to Him, for you and I are merely utensils, and we can only be useful when in the hands of the all-knowing Master Craftsman. The beautiful thing is this: as our Father uses us to shape the world, He is also attending to us- His specially designed tools- polishing us and allowing us to reflect His glory. How’s that for an honorable occupation?

Your brother in the faith,
-Jeremy (tddm.org)

Thankful for Who Now?!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now … For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. -Philippians 1:3-5, 8 (NKJV)

How many of us have, at least once, thanked God for our friends and family? I’m sure that anybody who hasn’t done so has at least heard others profess their thankfulness for those around them. It’s common enough in Christian circles- and rightfully so- to thank God for the people who matter to us. However, let’s take this a step further. Are there people in your church for whom you’re perhaps… less than thankful? Are there those within your family for whom you’re not exactly on your knees thanking God? I won’t ask about your friends, since the saying is true: you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. Odds are, most of us interact with people from time to time of whom we’re not entirely fond.

Here we have Paul opening his letter to the church in Philippi by stating how thankful he is for the members of this congregation, and expressing his desire to spend time with them. He speaks here of the entire church body. Anybody who’s been around churches long knows that no church is perfect, and every body of believers contains people who aren’t so easy to get along with. Nevertheless, Paul says, “I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” All of them! Even that guy who just kinda shuffles around in the lobby after the service and doesn’t make eye contact! As surprising as that might be, the key phrase here is “with the affection of Jesus Christ.” I propose to you that when you look at your fellow believers through the eyes of Jesus, you will find it much easier to be thankful for people you may not get all that excited about when making observations on your own. Here’s an example of a conversation you might have with God concerning a certain person in your life, trying to be thankful without the affection of Jesus Christ:

“Dear Lord,
Thank You for Greg. Even though he has that obnoxious laugh and he can be very aloof and insensitive and he’s hard to talk to and I’d much rather hang out with somebody else, I’m sure he’s got his points. Or at least one. Please help him be a better person. Amen.”

Now after putting on your spiritual eyeglasses:

“Dear Lord,
Thank You for Greg. I might not be able to see his value at first glance, but I don’t know the kind of challenges he’s facing or what weighs him down. I know You have a great plan for His life, and I ask that You would help me to get to know him, and to avoid being critical. He and I are both your children, and Your love for us never fails to amaze me. Please make both of us more mindful of Your will for our lives, and thank you for giving up Your Son to save Greg and me. Amen.”

Got anybody in mind yet? Might be a hard pill to swallow, but by putting on the Grace Goggles, your relationships with people around you will improve drastically. And you never know- you just might be the match that lights a fire of true Christian love in the community of believers God has placed you in.

Your brother in the faith,

-Jeremy

For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. -Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I had just done an oil change on my car, and Dad recommended we run a compression test. (You don’t need to know what that is- I didn’t until yesterday.) While running the test, we discovered that the spark plugs were a lot looser than the service manual specified they should be. Once the test was done, we made sure the spark plugs were tightened to specs and fired up the car. It roared to life, sure as anything, but we were greeted by the sight and smell of blue smoke puffing out the exhaust pipe!

Now, for those of us who know about as much about cars as I did before I bought this one, blue smoke coming out the back is not a good sign. It means your car is burning much more oil than it ought to. As it turns out, the loose spark plugs were very likely left that way to cover up a more significant engine problem- the one causing the blue smoke. The car I bought two months ago is suddenly a lot closer to the end of its lifetime than I thought it was.

Sometimes sin problems in our lives can be covered up by cheap fixes like those loose spark plugs. When we find a problem in our attitude or habits and decide it’s not worth the effort needed to fix it, we’ll ignore it and deaden our consciences to it. However, the problem is still there- and often it gets worse when we fail to address it. Sin problems grow, and they affect our relationship with our Father in heaven. As with my engine, sooner or later there’s going to be a breakdown. Fortunately, you and I know the Master Mechanic, and He’s perfectly willing to fix the root problem- at no cost- if you’re willing to swallow your pride and surrender your life to Him.

You know what strikes me as illogical? We often give a lot more attention to problems with our cars, our homes, our toys, or our bodies, than we give to spiritual problems in our own lives. Compared to your life, a car is completely disposable. A car will reach the end of its lifetime and fall apart; it serves its purpose and then we stop caring about it. You, however, will live forever. Shouldn’t you then pay attention to warning signals in your life more so than signs that your car is falling apart? The Bible will let you diagnose any issues in your life; your loving Heavenly Father will help you overcome them. Don’t wait until you’re broken down on the side of the road to consult the manual and repair your engine.

-Jeremy

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)

We are taught that if we are going to be responsible adults, we must handle our business. We have to take care of the things that need to be taken care of. As a Christian, “taking care of business” means praying about our business. It means giving it to God and letting Him guide our actions. We give Him the control, and then we do what He tells us to do.

A couple of days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with my mind racing about things going on at work, in my various ministries, and at home. I spent the next two hours with those thoughts running through my head. I finally fell asleep about 20 minutes before the alarm went off and then spent the next hour trying to wake up. My night had been shot. Why? Because I was trying to figure out the best way to handle these issues myself, instead of giving them to God. Once I woke up and realized what I had done, I prayed about them. God once again proved to be faithful, and He guided me through the things I had to deal with that day.

There is a lot in this world that we are not in control of, but God is. The responsibilities of the world never stop coming in; they never stop hounding us. As Christians, the responsible way of handling them is by giving them to God in prayer, listening for His answer, then following His advice. I want to encourage you to make a habit of praying about the issues you are facing in your life. Learn to cast these concerns on God and learn to listen to His guidance. As we do this, He guards our hearts and minds, which not only has a great effect on the quality of our spiritual and physical life, but also on the quality of our sleep. Be responsible and sleep well, my friends.

-Steve

Succeeding at Failure

It was one of the most mentally and physically draining days of my life. Everything came down to this one night. Years of practice, training, blood, sweat, and tears, hung on this match. A one-game play off for the division title. The year was 2009; the teams were the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins.

This extra-inning marathon would decide which franchise would win the pennant and ultimately have a chance to compete for the World Series. All day I waited for the first pitch. I turned off my cell phone, turned off the computer, put on my jersey and with the click of the TV remote, everything came to a stop. It was game time.

To say I was emotionally drained would be an understatement. I cheered, yelled, screamed, and cried. By the time the twelfth inning began, I finally sat down. Not because I had given up, but because I had given all I had. I was exhausted. My Tigers ended up losing the game and lost were the hopes and dreams of a city as well as this fan.

We have all failed at one point or another, whether it was a test at school or an important game, match, or meet. One thing I can assure you is that it won’t be the last. Failure is one of the few constants in life. What is important to remember is that it is not what you fail at, but what you do after it. Did you know that an all-star baseball player often bats around .300? This means that out of every ten at bats, he will fail seven times. It isn’t the seven failures that make him a star though. It is what he does when he succeeds that puts him in the Hall of Fame.

Stuck in the Mud

Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.” “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.” So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. -Jeremiah 38:4-6 (NIV)

Jeremiah was lowered in to this cistern to die. The men putting him in it weren’t playing around. They weren’t playing a joke on him nor did they intend to leave him there for a couple of days so he would “learn his lesson.” Their intent was to kill him- slowly. He had been speaking God’s truth to them and they didn’t like it. Instead of listening to his words and repenting or changing their ways, they refused to believe what he was saying. In order to stop the conflict, their resolution was to kill him.

The true calling of a Christian is not easy. It’s not all celebration and fun. There is a lot of work, cuts, bruises, scars, hunger, disappointment and rejection. Bringing the truth into a world that does not want it is tough. It’s even harder when the ones rejecting it are the ones you love the most. But it’s vitally important that we push along and never give up, even when we find ourselves stuck in the mud.

Although we don’t have cisterns around today, the evil spirit of the world is on people just the same. They may not be lowering us into real cisterns with mud for a slow death, but thanks to the evil one, being stuck in the mud of emotional scarring and rejection is still very prevalent. That kind of attack can hurt much more and last much longer than a slow death from dehydration or starvation.

On those occasions when you find yourself stuck in the mud, remember that you are joining a great lineage of people who changed the world as we know it. Keep speaking the word of God; keep telling the truth, and you will play a part in changing the world, too. Jeremiah was eventually pulled back out of the cistern and given food. Don’t let a little mud get you down. Trust in the Lord, hold on to Him, and keep speaking the truth in love. It will make a difference. The word of the Lord never returns void.

-Steve