Sent

Sent
By John Fischer

Sometimes I act as if I’m just muddling through life. I’m lucky if I make it through a day. People ask me how I’m doing and I hear myself say—even to fellow Christians—“Oh, I’m hanging in there, just barely.” Then I remember Christ praying to the Father: “As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world,” and I have to ask myself: Do I sound like someone who has been “sent?”

If I have been sent, then I am on a mission, and if I am on a mission, how can I just be muddling through life? Somehow I don’t think muddling is in my mission statement.

I’m thinking of Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 where he says that he is always being lead in a public display and is manifesting, wherever he goes, something real about the nature of his faith in Christ, and it is always having an effect on people, and I realize God can accomplish this mission in spite of what is currently happening in my life. Paul even makes this statement right after he has confessed his anxiety over plans not going as expected (verses 12-13). Even then, he could still say he was being lead on a mission.

That means nothing can stop us because nothing can stop God’s work in our lives. It would be great today if when people ask how I am, I could say, even if it’s just to myself, “I’m on a mission,” because I am. I’m on a mission to love God today with all my heart, and let that love reflect in all I do. I’m on a mission to look for opportunities to give a reason for the hope I have in Christ. I’m on a mission to tell my story to anyone who wants to hear it. I’m on a mission to manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ wherever I go. All this can happen regardless of the circumstances in my life. I don’t get to muddle through anything.

In the movie “Saving Private Ryan,” a platoon of men in World War II are on a mission to find Private Ryan and bring him home. Sometimes they struggle with their mission. Some of them almost abandon it, but as long as they are moving with the mission of the group, they are all on it. They were sent.

How about you today? Have you been sent? Then you aren’t just hanging in there; you are on a mission. Be aware of it today, and look for what God has for you.

Keeping On

Keeping On
By John Fischer

Life is difficult. Nothing worth anything is easy to come by.

I’ll never forget my first backpacking experience. I was 21 years old and hiking with a group of experienced high school students. I had never heard of this sport. We climbed over 3,000 feet the first day to get over a pass at 11,000 feet. Of course I had no idea how elated I was going to be reaching the top of the mountain and descending down the other side to a pristine High Sierra lake in the wilderness untouched by anyone other than backpackers on foot. All I could think of for the excruciating last two hours of that first ascent was what on earth was I doing this for? Barely managing one foot in front of the other, focused only on the pack of the kid in front of me, we slowly made our way up above the timberline through gravel and shale that made you slip back every few steps ‘til it felt like you were taking two steps back for every one step forward. I knew nothing of the reward; I knew only to keep going—keep pushing through the pain of adding 35 pounds to my weight, and testing the muscles in my back, legs and lungs that had not been used to this kind of demand. But how all that changed when we reached the top!

A lot of our spiritual journey is the same way. Obedience sometimes seems like nothing but hard work. We keep on moving forward—keep on believing—even when we have no clue how much farther we have to go or what’s on the other side. But I have noticed one encouraging thing about this. My subsequent experiences of backpacking were easier to endure once I knew what was waiting for me on the other side of the mountain. A few rewards of faith under your belt will go a long way towards giving you the courage to believe again, even in testing times.

Once you have believed God and found his faith to be real and full of actual substance in the midst of demanding circumstances, it makes it easier to believe him again when a new trail challenges us. So whether you are on this trail for the first time or the umpteenth time, keep your eyes fixed on the goal and your feet moving one in front of the other, even if you slip back from time to time. It will all be worth it (and much of the pain forgotten) on the other side.

“Job is an example of a man who endured patiently. From his experience we see how the Lord’s plan finally ended in good” (James 5:11).

Extended Family

Extended Family
By John Fischer

“When I think of the wisdom and scope of his plan I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God—some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth. (Ephesians 3:14 & 15 LB)

Wow, that’s a pretty big family. What’s it like to be related to such a big group? It means you’re not alone. You can go just about anywhere in the world and find people that you belong to—brothers and sisters that will welcome you—kindred that will invite you in. Virtually anywhere in the world you can find people who may speak a different language, but possess the same Spirit. There’s a common bond that binds all believers together among all races and all nations. It’s an invisible knowing—a unified common belief: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, because there is only one God and Father of us all, and he in us, and living through us.

It means lots of privileges. You have a great Father in heaven who promises to supply you with all you need according to his riches in glory. You have access at any time directly into his office. His door is always open; you don’t have to knock. You don’t have to go through a secretary or a bodyguard to get to him. You can walk right in and sit on his lap and tell him what you need, or just be there, and enjoy his embrace. He loves that too.

It means you are important. Someone wanted you to exist. Someone knows you by name. Someone called you before you even knew it, to be his child, and someone paid a huge price to make it possible for you to be adopted into this family. You are wanted, desired, and looked after. A way has been prepared for you, even for your future that you do not know yet. You are no accident.

Most of all it means you are loved, not only by God, but by all those in his family. And if it seems that some of your brothers and sisters aren’t too loving, it’s just because, well, we’re all growing up, and we all have a ways to go, but the power to love is there, nonetheless. Just like our earthly families, we have a hard time getting along sometimes, but in the end we stick together because we’re blood. Well, we’re blood in God’s family, too, precious blood—shed on a cross that we might all live eternally together.

According to whom?

According to whom?
By John Fischer

Life is hard. How often we forget that this is the way it is supposed to be. We push against the difficult circumstances in our lives instead of allowing them to work God’s character in us. We act as if the good life is what we deserve. Even the good life we will enjoy in heaven is not what we deserve, so what business do we have assuming everything will be easy down here?

Everything we are going through is for a purpose. God does not waste any experiences on us; he uses everything. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28). There are no qualifiers on this. It doesn’t say everything except the stupid things we do, or everything except when we blow it, or everything except for our sin; it just says “everything.” No exceptions.

The only reason this isn’t always tremendously good news for us is the little clause: “according to his purpose for us.” We forget that it is his purpose that is being worked out in our lives, and the only time this would be a problem is when his purpose is not necessarily ours. At issue here is who defines the success, fulfillment and purpose we are seeking—our culture or the Lord?

We get into a lot of trouble when we use our culture’s definition of fulfillment and apply it to our understanding of God’s purpose for our lives. We often assume God is blessing us when things are going great, and God is cursing us when things are going poorly when the opposite could very well be the case. God’s hand and his love are hidden in the difficult things. We should actually be wary when things are “easy,” for this world is not our home nor is it a place to seek the comforts of life. These are culturally defined, not spiritual.

The spiritual things in our lives have to do with what builds character in us, and these are most often the more difficult things. “We can rejoice, too,” says Paul in Romans 5:3&4, “when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.”

So when things are going well for you or things are going poorly, the first things you should ask is “According to whom?”

The Way God Works

The Way God Works

For the past month, my high school students have been reading the book, "To Kill a Mockingbird". The book is set in the 1930's and the plot revolves around a black man that has been falsely accused of raping a young white woman. Atticus Finch (The Lawyer) decided to take on the case of defending this man, even though he knew it meant that he would be looked down upon and would receive insult after insult by the white community. Even though he was consistenly put down by others, he continued to treat those people with respect and dignity.

The main lesson that Atticus was trying to teach his two young children through this case and his actions towards others, is that you can't make assumptions about people until you have walked a mile in their shoes. This theme is all throughout the book. As my students have been reading this novel, we have been talking a lot about how often we tend to think certain things about people without even knowing who they truly are.

Well, the Lord has been teaching me this lesson this week. For the past week, my husband and I have had a 19-year old staying at our house. He came to Clermont from Wisconsin because he wanted to help our church (we are a new church plant) out in different areas. Well, "John" is a free spirit. He's all about adventure and he's all about developing relationships with others. He's also a college age student. One who doesn't always clean up his room or his mess in the kitchen. If you know me, you know that I tend to be a clean freak! So, it has taken some adjusting on my part. At one point, I was allowing myself to really get mad about all of this. At one point, I was getting annoyed by the smallest things. Then it happened. The Lord really spoke to me. He reminded me of what I was just teaching my students this past week. He reminded me of who it is that we are called to love. He reminded me of those people that he reached out to. All I have to do is think of the 12 Disciples. Talk about a crazy group of men. I'm sure they were not always the easiest men to get along with. But you know what, the Lord loved them, believed in them, and helped them in any way possible. And guess what-The Lord has told me that this is what I need to do with "John"-love him, encourage him, and help him in any way possible even if I get "annoyed" at times.

So, who in your life is the Lord calling you to love, encourage, and help? Who are those people in your life that tend to annoy you?

When you start to get annoyed with someone, remember how patient the Lord is with us. His love for us never fails. He continues to believe in us, encourage us, and help us-if we will allow Him to.

Dysfunctional families

Dysfunctional families
By John Fischer

I once saw a cartoon of a huge convention hall full of empty seats except for one kind of wimpy guy sitting on the front row all by himself. Over him was a banner: “Welcome to the First Annual Children of Non-Dysfunctional Families Conference.” It’s somewhat comforting to know we all have this “family” problem.

I wonder how much of this tendency towards the dysfunctional carries over to our spiritual family in Christ? Actually, in my experience, it’s not much different. Not because we aren’t Christians, but because we aren’t finished yet. We are all in process and as such we have just as many things to work out in our spiritual family as we do in our human ones. The difference is that at least we are all on the same page as to recognizing it, wanting to do something about it, and having plenty of resources to help us, not the least of these being the Holy Spirit who lives in us all.

John Fischer is an author, speaker, and songwriter based in Southern California. His latest book, Love Him in the Morning, is being released this month by Revell Publishing.

In the early ‘70s, I was a singer/songwriter of what was then called, Jesus music, and because of very conservative views of music in the church, our guitar strumming, drum banging music was not welcomed in many Christian settings. Once I played my music in the chapel of a Christian college amidst much controversy among the faculty and administration. Later, someone sent me a letter that was published in the school newspaper written by the Dean of the college, decrying my music as “garbage” and not fit for the kingdom of God.

My first inclination was to carry the letter around for a while and speak unkindly about a man who could do such a thing. Then I realized I was doing the same thing to him, and it made no difference that he was the perpetrator. I was now an accomplice in the same crime. So I made an appointment to go talk to the man and apologize for what I did—half wanting to seek forgiveness, and half wanting to test the presence of the Holy Spirit in us both. Could people with such strong disagreements come together in the Lord?

The answer to my question was a resounding YES. The man responded to my confession with humility and began to share with me what a tough year he was going through culminating in the slow and painful taking of his wife by cancer. We prayed, cried and embraced, and never once talked about music.

We cannot point out the wrongs of others, but we can point out our own and that can open the way to a spiritual bond in spite of our dysfunctions. Is there someone in your spiritual family you have wronged and maybe they don’t even know about it? Make a commitment to go talk with them as soon as possible and get ready to be surprised by the Holy Spirit.

Bug letters to God

Bug letters to God
By Jon Walker

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NAS)

There’s a story of a business executive who, at the end of a long day of travel, climbs into bed at a hotel. As he begins to nod off, he feels something crawling up his legs.

Leaping up and fumbling with the light, he throws back the bedsheets to discover the bed is full of bugs.

Changing rooms was not enough to satisfy the man’s disgust. Upon arriving home, he wrote a complaint letter to the hotel’s corporate headquarters.

Weeks later he received a reply directly from the president of the company:

“We are absolutely appalled that a man of your position and reputation should have had such an experience in one of our hotels. We are deeply embarrassed, and we assure you we are working diligently to correct this problem, and it will never happen again.”

After reading the reply, the businessman - feeling quite good about himself - went to file the letter. But a small post-it note slipped out of the hotel’s envelope. Picking it up, he saw the words, “Send this man the bug letter.”

Have you been sending bug letters to God? Have you been saying you’re sorry when, in fact, you have no real intention to change?

It’s easy to say you need to be a more supportive husband and a more attentive father. Do you mean it, or have you sent a bug letter to God?

It’s easy to say you need to be a more loving mother and a more encouraging wife. Do you mean it, or have you sent a bug letter to God.”

God knows the intent of your heart and the truth of your priorities. Today, why not tear up your form letters and speak to him from the depths of your heart?

Point to ponder: Telling God you’re sorry doesn’t mean anything if you don’t intend to change.

Verse: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NAS)

What will you do about it: Be genuine. Make the decision to truly repent – which means turning 180 degrees – and take whatever steps you must to change your behavior.

Prayer: Apologize to God for your bug letters and ask him to keep you honest in your prayers.