God's Buffering

"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night" Exodus 13:21

If you are reading this, chances are you have somewhat of a working knowledge of computers. If you've ever watched a video with bad internet connection (it's improved a lot since the old dial-up modem days), you'll know that your computer will usually "buffer" the downloading video, resulting in delay of the video (and usually frustration). 

If you're even more computer-literate, you may know that buffering is your computer creating a temporary storage space, from which it then plays your audio/video file, rather than downloading direct from the internet. By doing this, there is less of a chance that the audio or video will stall or skip when there is network congestion. On most videos you can see the download progress as a colored bar below the video, compared with another bar which shows your viewing progress. If you get impatient and fast forward beyond the actual download, your video will (as mentioned) stall, skip, or may even cause your computer to crash. 

By now most of you probably see where I'm going with the buffering analogy. Yes, God is the grand "Bufferer" of our lives (speaking reverently). We are the computers with a bad internet (Holy Spirit) connection. God wants to impart (download) to us through the Holy Spirit wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17). When we go ahead of God' s "buffer", or leading (cf. Exodus 13:21) on our own initiative, we experience hiccups, stalls, or even crashes in our lives. 

God desires that we wait patiently before Him (cf. Psalm 37:7). He wants us to assimilate the truths of His Word until they are part of our very being and we are "equipped for every good work" ( 2 Timothy 3:17). 

Let us get "synched up" with the Lord and His timetable for our lives, that we may manifest His glory in all we do.

Perfectionism (Pt. 2)

" In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Those of us who have or have had young children are very familiar with the phrase: "enjoy this time because they grow up so fast", usually offered by a wizened parent of older children at a time when our own children have gone completely bonkers. 

Though initially annoyed by this admonition, I've grown to not only completely embrace this outlook (most of the time), but I've been looking to apply it to other areas of my life where things aren't quite the way I want them to be.

As I wrote in Perfectionism (Pt. 1), I have come to the realization (obvious to most) that perfection will not be realized in my lifetime. But just realizing something is wrong and forsaking the idea is not enough: action needs to be taken. (Often, some of us excel at the "don'ts" of the faith, but forget to apply the "dos") 

In this case, the action that I feel the Lord is asking me (and us) to take is to enjoy and appreciate this ride of life through its ups and downs, and learn to exalt God and maintain the joy of the Lord (cf. Nehemiah 8:10) during even the painful times. As Dan Schaffer writes in his book "Spiritual Fathers", during periods of doubt and trials, merely "staying in the battle" in a victory in itself. 

Let us therefore run this race of life with patience (Hebrews 12:1): patience with ourselves and with those surrounding us, rejoicing in the "ride", knowing that God with eventually perfect not only us (1 Peter 5:10), but all of creation (Romans 8:21).

An Attitude of Gratitude Pt. 2

"Freely you have received, freely give" Matthew 10:8b

I recently asked a group of children at my church whether they had ever received a gift they felt like they didn't deserve. Several raised their hands, all of them older. It's a shame to see this happen as a child grows. Although it is good that our children don't take things for granted, it's heartbreaking as a father to see a child struggling to receive a gift.

My yearly Bible reading plan puts me at this time of year in the book of Revelation. You may recall the second and third chapters of this book, in which the risen Lord Jesus both chastises and encourages seven churches in Asia minor, which also happen to represent Christians at various stages in their walk. The first church Jesus addresses is the Ephesians: those who have "lost their first love" (Revelation 2:4). Does this describe you today?

The Lord placed on my heart today a clear reminder of the feeling I had while I was "being saved" (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18).  So grateful and joyful, tears streaming down my face... I could remember it like it was yesterday.

What happened?

As the years go by, some of us just tend to get hardened. Whether it be by sin (cf. Hebrews 3:13), cultivating a Pharisaical spirit (cf. Luke 15:25-30), trying to please God through obeying the "law" (cf. Galatians 5:4), or simply the cares of this life (cf. Matthew 13:22), our heart becomes hardened and we no longer receive the gift of our salvation as a little child (cf. Mark 10:15). 

It's not naturally easy to receive an enormous, un-repayable gift, but eternity rests on whether or not we are able to do so. Some of us need to get back to basics. Jesus goes on to tell the church at Ephesus to "remember from where they had fallen, and repent" (Revelation 2:5)

When we humble and stir ourselves to remember the gift within us (cf. 2 Timothy 1:6b), that gift is kindled afresh, and we will soon find that our once cold hearts will burn again with love for our Savior. Once we "freely receive", we are then able to "freely give",  eager to share God's unspeakable Good News with anyone who will listen.

An Attitude of Gratitude Pt. 1

"While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19

Recently on my drive home from work I was convicted by the Lord about how unthankful I am. I've got a great job, wonderful family, health, wealth, a good place to live, beautiful surroundings, friends... all a man could ask for. But recently I'd been focusing on the negative things in my life. It's something very easily fallen into in this life, unfortunately. Ingratitude is part of our fallen human condition.

I was also convicted in that I'd judged others in how "unthankful" they'd been in response to "ministry" I'd provided. How conceited! As we see from our passage today, even in the face of a full blown healing from the Son of God, nine out of ten people were unthankful. Should we expect any less? Rather we should be grateful that we get to share in our Lord's ministry to others. 

Recently my seven year old asked me which things in life are a "privilege" (he likes to ask deep philosophical questions like that). I had to think hard before responding, "well if you look at it one way, everything in our life is a privilege, down to the air we breathe, because life is a gift from God" (my actual response was a little more mumbling and faltering than that). 

This devotion may be a little late for our national holiday of "Thanksgiving", but it's never too late to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude". It may not be easy to be thankful when things aren't going well, but it is God's will for us: "...in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18.