A Lesson From Teeth

I have a confession to make.  When I  became a teenager I didn't brush my teeth very often.  In fact, I hated brushing my teeth.  Wow, I feel a lot better now that this is off my chest!  I don't know why I didn't like brushing them.  It was probably a combination of factors - being forced to brush them when I was younger, laziness, busyness, forgetfulness, and just not liking the aftertaste of the toothpaste.  The result was as expected - cavities.

A cavity here and a cavity there.  Then fillings.  Then root canals.  You'd think at this point I would have learned my lesson.  Wrong!  From there it degenerated to pulled teeth.  One here, one there.  Actually, it was more like one-not-here and one-not-there!  Finally, it got to the point where it looked like I was going to be a good candidate for dentures.  I didn't want to go there.  I felt like getting dentures was giving up and I wasn't going to get them if I could help it.  It was at that point that I decided to stand up for the rest of my teeth. By George, I would fight to save the ones I had!

So I made a deliberate attempt to start taking care of my teeth.  I started brushing them each night.  Then I began flossing them as well.  I began to use mouthwash.  I faithfully scheduled 2 cleanings/year.  I also had some 'repair' work done.  I got a partial bridge put in on one side and a couple of implants on the other side (to the tune of several thousand dollars!). 

At this point I would have to say that it looks like I have been successful.  I haven't lost any more teeth.  I haven't had any more root canals.  I haven't had any cavities.  None.  Zilch.  Nada.  My dental hygienist is proud of me!  I have come to the place where I couldn't possibly go to bed without brushing and flossing my teeth.  However, even though I am proud of the fact that I am currently taking good care of my teeth, every time I brush them I am reminded of my years of neglect.  It is right there for me to see.  I will never have the kind of teeth and smile that I could have had.  My bad.

The point is this. Whenever I look at my teeth I see a lesson in sin.  Some sins are relatively small and can be quickly repented of without too much damage.  But other sins are huge, or we commit so many 'small' sins over a period of time, that we suffer some damage in our lives.  If we don't confess these sins and repent, the damage can end up being quite substantial.  Now while sins can be forgiven, sometimes the damage from them remains.  Years later, a person can see this damage in the form of health issues, a divorce, financial instability, children who've wandered far from God, etc.  So the key is to make regular spiritual maintenance (Bible reading, prayer, confession, fellowship, accountability) a part of our lives.  The sooner and the younger that we do this, and the more vigilant we are, the less damage we will sustain.  We won't have to be constantly reminded of our past and what could have been.  We will be able to reap all of the benefits of a life lived for God.

Lord, thank you for second chances, for the forgiveness of sins that you freely give.  Help me not to neglect my spiritual health but to make it a daily priority.  Amen.

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth." - Ecclesiastes 12:1

Smelling Gas

Wow!  Did that title pique your interest or what?  Be honest!  But it's no what you think.

Last summer my daughter-in-law called me late in the evening.  It seems that she thought she could smell natural gas fumes in her house.  Natural gas, in its 'natural' state, is odorless so the gas company puts a scent in it so that in the event of a gas leak, someone will know and avoid either being overcome by the fumes or blowing their house sky-high.  I went over and couldn't smell anything.  She called the gas company anyway - they came over and couldn't detect anything either.  False alarm.

The problem is that sometimes natural gas is hard to detect, even with the odor.  You think you smell it once but then it's like your nose can't detect it anymore.  You almost need to leave the area, let your nose refresh, and come back.  What's the purpose of this story?

The Bible is pretty clear that when we do good deeds we ought to do them for the right reasons, the love of Christ, to help someone in need, etc.  Deeds done for show, for selfish purposes, and other such reasons will not be recognized.  There are days when I am not sure about the motivation for my good deeds.  I hope that they are being done for the right reasons but I honestly don't know.  The more I think about this the more confused I get.  It's just like trying to smell natural gas.  You thought you caught a whiff of it but now that you are trying to confirm it, you can't! This is when I find 1 John 3:20 to be so comforting.  "For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything."

Praise God that He knows my heart.  When I really don't know my true motivation, He does!

Lord, purify my heart so that everything I do is out of love and devotion for You.  Calm my spirit during those times when I stress out about this and can't tell what my motivation is. 

Lincoln's Pockets

When Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865, it was very interesting to find out what he had been carrying in his pockets.  (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm012.html)  The items included two pairs of reading glasses, a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen handkerchief, and a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and nine newspaper clippings.  Outside of the Confederate note, the newspaper clippings were the most interesting.  They consisted of articles that cast the President and his policies in a  favorable light.

If you know much about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, you would know that he suffered a great deal of criticism while in office. Most of the South hated him and thought him to be the very embodiment of evil.  He wasn't treated much better in the North either.  Depending upon the person, he was too radical or not radical enough, his decisions were scrutinized and second-guessed and he was regularly lampooned in cartoons across the country as being some sort of gorilla who didn't know what he was doing.  Now do you understand why Lincoln carried those favorable newspaper clippings around with him?  Because they were a source of encouragement to him! Trying to lead a fickle and often thankless nation, with congressmen and military personnel who were either incompetent or self-serving, was very draining.  Then there were the wounded soldiers whom Lincoln went to see late in the evenings.  He felt their pain, the pain of their families, the pain of the nation.  For as great a man as he was, Abraham Lincoln desperately needed encouragement!

The fact is that we live in a very negative world.  95% of the news we read and hear is negative - natural disasters, crime, war, political intrigue, looming crises.  On a personal level, our conversations at work often revolve around people and situations we don't like.  In our marriages, much of our conversation and attention  revolve around problems and our spouse's short-comings.  Even in the church, there is a great deal of criticism and the pointing out of faults and shortcomings.  More often that not our world is a place where 'seldom is heard an encouraging word'.

What would God have us do?  Well, while not ignoring injustice or situations that need to be addressed, He would have to encourage and bless others!  That's right - to find the positive in a situation, to be quick to praise and thank others, to let them know the good qualities we see in them and the good they are doing.

I love encouraging others.  I believe that it is one of my spiritual gifts.  You might say that it comes 'supernaturally' to me!  If ever there was something that our world desperately needs, it is encouragers.  So, decide to be one!  It's not all that difficult.  Look around.  Who can you encourage today?  A parent, a spouse, a child, a neighbor, a co-worker, a stranger?  Call them, write them, e-mail them, speak to them, send them a card, leave them an encouraging post.  Encourage, encourage, encourage!

"Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up."  I Thessalonians 5:11

A Message I Needed To Hear

Several years ago I received an interesting communication from God.  In the space of about one week both of my part-time secretaries, Debi & Ramona, presented me with the same devotional thought from Roy Lessin.  Roy Lessin is the modern version of Helen Steiner Rice of Christian greeting cards.  His creative words and thoughts are everywhere. One secretary presented his devotional material to me in the form a card while the other presented it to me printed out on a page.  It was a message that I needed to hear from God.  Over the years I have kept both copies in my laptop tote so that I can re-read whenever I want.  I have also shared these words with other pastors whom I felt could benefit from them.  Timely words.  Godly words.  Wise words.  Enjoy!

Pastor, God Has Chosen You

"God was the one who formed you, gave you the breath of life, and brought you into the world. He did this so that His arms could embrace you and His love could keep you - He wanted you to know that your relationship with Him would always be of more value than the things He would have you do for Him. He wanted you to be certain that He loved you completely before you ever did anything in His service, so that your service would never become a way of trying to earn His love or favor.

As you came to know His heart and hear His voice, you heard Him speak a call to your life. This call would mean that He would never ask you to do anything for Him that He expected you to do without Him. He alone would be the source of your sufficiency. His only desire would be that you would daily open your heart to His resources - He wanted you to be sure that you would never have to say, "I can't", without being able to say, "He can!"

You are now in the place He has called you. He has made no mistakes leading you here. Even in the hard places He is working out what is best - not only for you and for others, but also for His Kingdom. He is not looking at your statistics or programs to measure you; He is looking at your heart to see if you are faithful. He wants you to know that the results of your obedience are for Him to determine. Be assured that it is His presence that will keep you and make you strong.

You are in God's place at God's perfect time. Your days are in His hands, and He is your future. He has gifted you, and placed His hand upon you to bless you and make you a blessing. The burden of your ministry is not yours to carry - as you rest, He will work; as you abide, He will bring fruit; as you sow, He will give the increase. He is your shield and your exceeding great reward.

He is your provider. He will take care of you. He will nurture and sustain you. His spirit is the wind to cool you, the water to refresh you, the power to enable you, the oil to anoint you, and the river that flows through you to touch the lives of others. Continue to be God's man, in God's place, doing God's will, and always remember - God has chosen you!

The Paradoxical Commandments

I mentioned these several weeks ago at the end of a sermon.  I thought that I would post them here in case anybody would like them for personal use.  While they are not Scripture there is a lot of truth in them.  Enjoy!

The Paradoxical Commandments

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.


If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.


If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.


The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.


Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.


The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.


People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.


What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.


People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.


Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.


© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Little Things

Today I took the day off - which is rather unusual for my workaholic self!  It was a chance to rest and recuperate a little bit and also to enjoy spending some time with my grandkids which I don't get to do all that often.  So, I watched Batman videos with Brett, played 'shoot the monster' with toy guns made from blocks, ate lunch with them, took each of them for a couple of laps around the yard on the riding lawnmower and made paper airplanes for each of them (which I continuously flew for 45 minutes!).  I really didn't do much but, then again, I did quite a bit.

The truth is that we all live lives that are so busy and hectic that the simple pleasures of life often go unnoticed.  In my own life, I find that I often gulp food down without taking the time to enjoy it, I drive around Kalispell while seldom lifting my eyes to notice the mountains, I don't take time to look at the various cloud formations in the sky nor am I always fully present when I am with people.  This is largely a result of my focus always being elsewhere.  You could very well say that I am busy but not living.

What I need to do is to savor life as I live it each day, to enjoy each moment as it comes to me and not be so consumed with my next project or appointment.

Lord, help me to live life like your Son did, fully present and aware in each moment of life.  Help me to take the time for, and to savor, the little things along the way.

Triumph

The following is a poem that I wrote for Easter 2003.  I think it's been read several times on Easter since then.  On this Easter Sunday, let us remember that "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!"

TRIUMPH

It was a dark & sullen morn, as several women approached the tomb,

With breaking hearts and deepest gloom,

The furthest thing from their minds....was triumph

“Why did He have to die?” they asked, each other on the road that morn,

It made no sense, their hearts were torn,

To them it seemed like anything....but triumph

Arriving at the empty tomb, the women were amazed to find,

The stone removed, and angels kind,

Upon their face they wore the sign....of triumph

“He is not here, He’s risen indeed”, the angels gladly told the women,

Death could not keep the Savior in,

And now He lives, no more to die....in triumph

They fled the scene, their fears were gone, to tell the Good News to the rest,

For from now on, their hearts were blessed,

With the great truth, that they now lived....in triumph

Two thousand years have come and gone, it hardly seems like that much time,

Since Christ arose from death sublime,

And still He leads, all of His saints....in triumph!