What Do You Doubt About, and Why?

This week I have been reading about one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament, Elijah. What a stud! He challenged hundreds of other prophets, who believed in another god, to a show down. He had himself and the other prophets each build altars to their god. Then who ever could invoke their God to bring down fire upon their altar would be declared the real god. This took a lot of faith.

After taunting these other prophets and making fun of their god's fire-lighting impotence, he then has people completely saturate his altar with water. Then he confidently calls upon his God, Yahweh, and fire comes down from heaven and completely burns up his altar. What a remarkable and spectacular victory! What faith and fearlessness!

However, notice how quickly the faith had turned to fear and how almost instantaneously Elijah defaulted to doubt. When Elijah had returned from this mountain top experience, (it truly occurred on a mountain) he hears that the queen of the land wants to kill him. Eliah's response was one of fear not faith. Elijah doubted that God would save him. Elijah took off to run and hide. What a remarkable transformation! What fear and faithlessness! How did this happen?

There does seem to be a default to doubt in all of us. What contributes to such a tendency to doubt so quickly? Even Peter, who was at one moment walking on water with Jesus began to doubt and subsequently sink. Jesus, was heavy-hearted and asked Peter in Matthew 14:31, "...why did you doubt?"

In one sense Jesus' question is rhetorical, and yet it demands an answer. Why do we so quickly doubt? Are you doubting today? What do you doubt about? More importantly, why do you and I default to doubt so easily and so quickly? I doubt, not because I question God's ability, but because I question God's intention for my life. Is God's intention always for good in my life? I doubt because I question God's goodness. In light of this default to doubt in my own life, I have to ask myself, what would my life be like, if I never doubted God's goodness.

I welcome your thoughts. Beams Away!

Where's the Line to See Jesus

In today's post, I'd like to share with you this inspiring music video. video This music video by Becky Kelley which makes this point, if Christmas is about Christ, then where are the lines to see Jesus? In other words, why don't we see more of Jesus at Christmas? It is a terrific music video and she has an incredible voice. But it seems to me that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

As Christians we can be disheartened by culture's rejection of Christ, and we can continue to make the point that Christmas is about Christ; but we need not be surprised by society's rejection of Christ. There was no line when Christ initially arrived to earth and rarely has there been a receiving line since. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is God, who became flesh and dwelt among us, he was in the world and although the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.


We are subject to various types of lines at Christmas. Lines to see Santa, lines to see movies, lines at the grocery store, lines to purchase gifts, lines to return gifts. We tend to have a disdain for these lines because they make us wait. But may we comprehend that Jesus patiently stands in line for each life to respond to the gift of His redemptive rule over our lives. This gift He gives to all who would receive Him. However too many refuse to respond, as if to stamp upon this gift, "Return to Sender."


Where's the line to see Jesus? It is right in front of us. However, Jesus is the one who stands in line to see us. He stands in line to see if we will respond to his love and grace. Jesus stands in this line to see us, because his creation will never stand in line to see him.


What a an awesome God.

Beams Away!

Will The Real Church Please Stand Up.

To Tell The Truth is a classic game show from the 70's and was one of the first big hits for game show producers Goodson and Todman. The host would introduce three people and told the celebrity panel about them. The panel would ask questions of the three in an attempt to discover which one was the true person. The host would then say, "Would the real (person) please stand up?"

While this was a fun and entertaining show it makes me think of the church today. There are a myriad of different churches all claiming to be the true church of Jesus Christ. While there are some similarities, there are also some profound differences. Numerous people are looking at churches in culture and are asking, "Would the real church of Jesus Christ, please stand up?"

Bill Hull in his book, "Christlike", offers four general categories of churches. I rephrased Bill's categories as "The Easy Believism Church" - where all a person has to do is believe in Jesus, say a prayer for forgiveness and then gets to go to heaven; but no behavior change is required. Next there is the "Liberal Church," where a person is expected behave like Jesus, but does not necessarily need to become a Christian. Then, Hull identifies "The Prosperity Church," that promises health and wealth for those who have faith in Christ. Finally, Hull points out "The Consumer Church," where people approach the church as consumers, more than as Christians.

This last church, "The Consumer Church" is the most insidious in our culture. Hull offers the following characteristics of this type of church, "Their vocabulary is laden with phrases like, 'We are looking for a church where we can be fed...' They are preoccupied with youth programs, types of music, length of services, personalities of clergy. These folks leave churches because they are bored, or don't cry enough, or laugh enough, or tingle when the music plays...Their language rarely reveals any interest in being challenged and accountable for spiritual life and service."

Would the real Church of Jesus Christ please stand up? What are the characteristics of this church? It is one where people realize they need to believe in Christ alone for salvation, and where people live beyond the individualism of our culture by knowing they truly belong to a community of faith. It is also a church were people are challenged and encouraged to move beyond the consumerism of our culture as the people of God, by becoming nothing, so that God can use them for anything.

Who would want to join this church? Would the real followers of Jesus Christ, please stand up?

Beams Away!

What's the Point of Prayer?

If God is all-knowing, all-powerful and already in control of all things already, then why pray? So much of our prayers seem to focus on things we would like God to change in our lives, but if God already knows our needs and has already put a plan in motion for our lives, then what's the point of praying? God bids us to pray by telling us in to "Let our requests be known to God, with prayers and petitions..." But why? If God has put his unstoppable plan into place, why pray for anything else?

This week I will be speaking from 1 Samuel, chapter 8. In this chapter, the Israelite people reject God has their King, and tell their prophet, Samuel, that they want an earthly king. Samuel is quite upset, tells God and conveys God's word of caution to them. Nonetheless, the Israelites do not pay heed to God's word. Verse 21 of chapter 8 records "When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it all (or rehearsed it) before the Lord." In other words, Samuel prayed to God and rehearsed all the words the people said to him. Why did Samuel rehearse all those words? Surely God already knew what they had said. Clearly God already knew what their response would be. Obviously God anticipated this response many years earlier. So why does Samuel pray by repeating everything the people had said?

I think Samuel was having a moment. Samuel was ticked off! Samuel was having a cathartic experience. Samuel was praying to God, who knew everything already, for the same reason we pray to God. Samuel was praying to God, not to change God, but he was praying to God, so that as he was praying, God would change him. Therein lies the answer to the question, "Why pray?" We pray, not to change God, but we pray so that God may change us, as we pray.

There are many times I have gone to God in prayer feeling a certain emotion, but had come away from prayer with an entirely different emotion and perspective. Prayer changes things, namely me.

I wonder if this can be generalized to all things God calls us to do. I wonder if we are to be obedient to God in order to change the world, but the change of the world occurs as each of us allows God to change us. More specifically, I pray so that God changes me. I give money generously, so that God changes me. I share my faith, so that God changes me. I read the Bible, so that God would change me. I go to church, so that God changes me. I sing in church, so that God changes me. I live ethically and morally, so that God changes me. I serve others, so that God changes me. And as each of us lives in obedience to God, God changes each of us and thereby God changes the world.

I need to be increasingly obedient to God so that I may be change by God. This is my ultimate prayer.

Beams Away!

Good Deeds are like Good Deodorant

In junior high school, I was able to draw considerable and favorable attention from cute girls because they believed I smelled really good. My older brothers would have been glad to dispute their claim, but I was happy to live in the luxury of those girl's faulty belief system.

The secret to my successful scent was Dial deodorant. Before going out, I would spray a cloud of Dial deodorant large enough to cover ten square blocks and then allow that smoke to permeate my clothes. You laugh, but the girls weren't laughing. However, I was only taking credit for something unnatural to myself. Left to my own natural resources, I, like you, do not smell very well. In Jr. High, it was not me that smelled good, girls were not drawn to my natural smell, but rather my manufactured smell called dial deodorant. As I graduated from schools I also graduated from dial deodorant to English Leather cologn to Polo to my all time favorite Drakkar. Each improvement in cologn, brought more accolades to myself, yet it was never the real me, only a disguise that was initiated with dial deodorant. When I wake up in the morning, I don't naturally smell like Drakkar Noir or Dial deodorant. My natural smell is a bit less complimentary.

This dynamic of my deodorant is true about my good deeds. My good deeds are like good deodorant. My good deeds may appear to be praiseworthy or admirable. I may even experience certain accolades for being a nice guy. However, at more core, I am selfish. My natural tendency does not warrant remarks that are complimentary. In fact, when I am confronted with who I am at my core, I don't even like myself. But it is very easy to hide behind good deeds in order to try and impress others and try to impress God. However, when attempt to do this, I am only living in denial.

In the Bible, the book of Ruth, , chapter 2 verse 10 a profound question is asked by a woman named Ruth, to a man named Boaz, who is a Christ-like figure. Boaz ownes a field in which Ruth is working seemingly inconspicuously. Ruth is simply trying to gather enough food to eat for the night. However, Boaz shows Ruth some attention and favor by watching out for her. In verse 10, Ruth replies with that profound question that each of us should ask Jesus Christ. Ruth simply replies to Boaz with the question, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me - a foreigner?" Although Boaz points out the admirable goods deeds from her past, Ruth does not rely on her good deeds in the presence of Boaz. Instead, she simply relies on the grace given her from Boaz.

One day I will stand before Jesus Christ. In the presence of Jesus Christ, I can try to rely upon my past good deeds, but it would be equivalent to taking credit for the scent of good deodorant. At my core, I am saturated with the scent of sin that is repugnant and in need of redemption and repentance. However, in this life, I have the opportunity to respond to the favor and incredible grace of Jesus' death for my sin, by asking, "Why have I found such favor in you?" and then living a life of repentance. When I stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, my creator, savior, redeemer, king and judge, I will only be able to thankfully rely on his grace and blood which covers my sin and removes it's stain and scent.

Do you and I try to gain approval with God and others by relying on our good deeds? If so this is like relying on good deodorant to permanently remove our natural smell.

Beams Away!

Life, Filled with Adversity or Opportunity?

The picture above is by famous artist M.C. Escher. His pictures are real mind-benders. By gazing at this picture, it does not take long to realize that one's perspective of what is up or down will change. For instance, imagining oneself in Escher's picture, going up a set of stairs, but suddenly one finds oneself going sideways and then down. Life can come at us in much the same way. We have a perspective that our lives are going in a certain direction, but then suddenly events occur in our lives and our perspective changes, sometimes drastically.

In the book of Ruth in the Bible, we see the power of perspective to prescribe whether or not we live a life of faith or frustration in response to the difficulties of life. At the onset of the book, two women are in a very similar situation. Their lives have been drastically changed and they feel quite vulnerable. One woman named, Naomi, had lost her husband and both her sons, and was living with her daughter in law, Ruth. Naomi characterized life as one of adversity, in which "God's hand had gone out against her."

Ruth, on the other hand, had lost her husband, her brother in law, her father in law, and was facing the prospect of a life as a widow, vulnerable and no where to go. However, Ruth did not characterize her life as one of adversity, but rather one of opportunity. Whereas, Naomi believed God's hand was against her, Ruth saw an opportunity to start believing in this God of Naomi.

What would your's and my perspective have been if we'd been in their situation? Naomi's perspective caused her to become bitter, but Ruth's perspective embraced an opportunity for life to get better. Naomi's perspective was causing her to lose faith in her God. However, Ruth's perspective was causing her to trust God.

In the Escher painting our perspective kept changing and this could cause us to feel frustrated or confused. In life our perspective will determine where we end up, either trusting God for things that are better, or not trusting in God and becoming bitter, frustrated and confused. But it all starts with our perspective on our current situation. When we respond to the difficulties of life with a perspective that is divorced from God's eventual goodness and faithfulness, we will wander aimlessly as though walking in an Escher painting. However, when we by faith, choose to trust in God's goodness and faithfulness, despite our challenges in life, we discover a straighter path and understand more fully what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.

Often times our problems are not external, but rather internal. Our problems are internal because of how we choose to perceive our circumstances. How do you perceive your current struggles in life, as adversity or as an opportunity to trust God?

Beams Away!

Adversity and Opportunity Come Knocking Simultaneously

"When opportunity knocks..." We've heard all of the quotes related to when opportunity knocks. One I heard recently goes like this, "When opportunity knocks, you still have to answer the door." How true it is, but how often it seems that when opportunity knocks, it seems more like adversity than opportunity.

Take the example of the prostitute Rahab in the book of Joshua. She is living in Jericho just trying to get by in life and then gets a knock at the door and it turns out to be some spies from Israel. She probably thought is was the run-of-the-mill client, but instead she finds these spies are from Israel, whom she had heard much about the awesome power of their God. Is this opportunity or adversity? What would become of her, her town and family now that this awesome God is coming to destroy them just as He did the powerful Egyptians?

Rahab chooses to hide these spies, but then soon hears another knock on the door. This time the King of Jercho has sent a message to "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house..." Things seem to have gone from bad to worse. Was this knock at the door a knock of opportunity or adversity? Rahab could have given up the spies and been in favor with the King of Jericho, or kept them hidden and trust that the God of Israel might protect her.

Rahab chose the latter by faith and found herself protected and provided for by the God of Israel. And so it is with us. Many times, adverstity and opportunity come knocking on our door simultaneously. How do we know what to fear? How do we know which is adversity and which is opportunity? As we continue to trust God, no matter what life experiences come to our door, we can see them as opportunity. Opportunity to trust God more fully and to subsequently realize God's protection, provision and love for us.

What is knocking on your door right now? Do you see it as opportunity or adversity?

Is it a lost job? A health scare? Inability to have children? Financial vulnerability? Emotional instability? Perhaps with the onset of the holidays, your adversity is in the form of family coming knocking on your door. Whatever it is, choose to view it as an opportunity rather than the invasion of adversity. Choose to see it as an opportunity to trust in God and realize God's protection and provision, just as Rahab did. Choose to be thankful this holiday season for the things you once saw as adversity, but now embrace by faith as an opportunity.

Also, to keep perspective, enjoy this hilarious video that captures the stress of the holidays and our continual opportunities that come knocking.

Beams Away!