Why Life Isn’t Fair - Because God Is Merciful

Back in the day when I was playing church league softball there was something called the “Mercy Rule.” If a team got a 10 run lead and held it until the bottom of the 5th inning the game was ended under the “Mercy Rule.” For the team on the losing end though, it felt less like mercy and more like embarrassment. I’ve experienced mercy and know what it feels like and believe me, that wasn’t it.

As I look across the landscape of Christianity, it would sometimes appear that the mercy rule has been put in place. It would seem that we have reached a state of contentment when it comes to reaching out and investing in people to the extent that they come to know Christ and that the kingdom of God increases. What was a natural hunger, only a few decades ago, to reach those around us, has come to look like we are down so many runs that it would seem we will never recover, never get back in the game. I hope that’s not the case and depending on where you are I know it isn’t, but it’s certainly easy to assume that, “People are just too busy,” or “Folks just don’t seem interested anymore,” and that may occasionally be the case.

Could I make a suggestion? If you and I could learn to live like we have been shown great mercy by God, the example, the testimony, and the influence that followed would no doubt be contagious to those around us that don’t know Jesus. There is nothing complacent about an individual that truly understands where their life would be apart from God’s mercy. We’re going to visit that idea this coming Sunday as we discover together the characteristics of a merciful God in the context of a culture that is ever-increasingly consumed with fairness. Or perhaps you are a child of God whose life isn’t working out the way you thought it would and are wondering why the “Mercy Rule” can’t be applied to your life and where the fairness is in that.

Why Life Isn’t Fair - Because God Is Good

I have attended three funerals in the last few weeks, officiated at two of them, and I had similar thoughts going into each one of them. It’s the thoughts I had that had me in conflict with myself. You see the thoughts I had were that these three men were, by the world’s standards, good men and therein lies the conflict. You see, I knew these men. I knew what they believed, what they stood for, what mattered to them. And, on the other hand I know what the Bible says that there is only One who is good. So the conflict I had, and continue to have, is trying to think of other descriptive words to help briefly tell the story of someone’s life, other than good. I used words like character, integrity, and selflessness and those are accurate descriptions in every case. Then it hit me. If it were my life that someone were memorializing, rather than someone referring to me as a “good man,” I would far rather hear them use the term “Christ-like.” Because if I have the choice between trying to be a “good man” or trying to be like Jesus, I’d want to be known for being like him every time. Doing good deeds from a pure heart are admirable and noble things but having the thoughts, attitudes and actions of a perfect, sinless Savior is something altogether different. Why do I say that? Because, while I’m pretty sure I knew the hearts of three men who did their best to walk out their faith in Christ with integrity and humility, I also believe I know the heart of a Good, Good Father.

So, if you come down on the side that Life Isn’t Fair, congratulations, you have a lot of company. But if you arrive at the truth that, regardless of the circumstances of life, God Is Good, you’re going to find yourself in the minority. Why? Because this world always has been, and still is, trying to equate the circumstances of this life with the Goodness of God. You’ve heard the question, I have too, “How can a good and loving God allow ______?” While the answer is indeed simple, it isn’t easy.

Why Life Isn’t Fair - Because God Is Righteous

We are taught during childhood to share our toys, to take turns, to consider others and rightfully so, or if we’ve been raised right that’s the case. Often though as we get into adolescence and beyond, we tend to do that less and less. I’m sure there are varied reasons for that kind of shift in one’s thinking but, at its core, it usually comes back to fairness, which is often wrapped up in a big box of self. It’s unfair if Bobby has a new toy and Billy doesn’t, or unfair if we are having a stay-cation while the Jones’ are heading to Hawaii. Fairness seems to be altogether right though doesn’t it? Shouldn’t everybody get an equal piece of the pie? Aren’t we all entitled to get our “fair share?”

Let me respond by saying that there is nothing evil or wrong about fairness. In fact, the scripture encourages us to be fair with each other. However, when we begin to expect a just and all-knowing God to respond to our calls for fairness, we are going to be in for a surprise or disappointment, or both. You see the concept of fairness only works when the One on the giving end is not only fair and just but also right. And it only works on the receiving end when the recipients are selfless and grateful. So, does that look like any world you have ever lived in? Me neither. Because not only are there not equal outcomes for everybody in our world, there aren’t equal opportunities either. I wish that were the case when it comes to opportunity but God has some say in that, not to mention an individual’s own drive, motivation, and work ethic.

So should we give up on the idea of fairness? Absolutely not, but when it becomes the ultimate decider between success or failure, that’s a recipe for disaster as well. So what else do we need to know? Glad you asked. Don’t miss a single week of Why Life Isn’t Fair and you’ll be equipped with a world-view that isn’t just more realistic and healthy, but Biblical and Godly as well.

A Heavenly Hello - Can You Feel Me?

My younger daughter Kensey and her husband Cody are due to have a baby (it’s a boy) on December 29th, unless he gets ready to come sooner than that. According to the ultrasounds and what her doctor says, everything is looking good and he is growing and positioning himself to enter this world. The bigger he gets the less real estate there is to work with and none of us like to be cramped or constrained so he is constantly moving to try and find a more comfortable position. That’s his way of saying, “Can You Feel Me? It’s getting a little tight in here!” Last Saturday night they were at our house and Kensey and I were sitting on our love seat watching the Tennessee football team win one for a change when she grabbed my hand and put it on her belly. It took a couple of minutes but I could eventually feel Timothy Cole moving a knee or leg side to side, he seems to like music for some reason... I know, it’s a shocker. Anyway, I had the chance in that moment to feel what Kensey gets to (or has to, depending on your perspective) feel many times every day. At this point though both Cole and her are trying to find a place, any place, where they both are more comfortable and a week or two from being born, that’s quite the challenge.

As I have thought about and prayed for my daughter and grandson recently, I have considered Mary and her soon coming delivery of the baby Jesus. I’ve tried to imagine but can’t really about how difficult the journey to Bethlehem must have been. Whether on an animal or walking or both, it had to be excruciating at times especially through the mountainous terrain from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I know every one of you moms can at least somewhat relate to the pain and pressure with every step. All of Mary and Joseph’s journey began with A Heavenly Hello, an angelic announcement. I invite you to join us both Sunday morning and evening as we celebrate the divine work of God through very ordinary people.

A Heavenly Hello - Can You See Me?

Lee Ann and I were happy to see one of our favorite TV shows right now return to its normal place with new episodes in Seal Team. Those guys do incredible missions around the world and are equipped with state of the art gear to execute them. Last night we watched as they rode really sooped-up ATVs up to the top of a mountain in Afghanistan and made them disappear with camouflage netting. Then they are able to blend into the terrain around them themselves with camouflage clothing and equipment. Of course the theory behind anything camo is that if the enemy can’t see you coming, you can be on top of them before they discover you are there.

If you were to poll believers right now I’d bet that many, if not most, would say that they think God must be wearing camo right now in terms of what’s going on in the culture around us. They wish He would make Himself known more clearly in the middle of a nation in the throws of a pandemic and in the middle of a values war. So is He watching this? Is He aware of what’s going on? If so, where is He? Are you ready for the answer? If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, He’s in you and me, and him, and her.... So, if He’s wearing camo it’s because we are. It’s because we are blending in to our surroundings in ways that are keeping His voice silenced.

I invite you to join us this Sunday as we begin A Heavenly Hello and revisit the process of the Magi recognizing the heavenly announcement of the birth of Messiah. We’ll learn that while the pieces were in place for everyone to see what was about to happen, only those who were looking, those who were searching, were the ones to discover the answer to the question that Jesus is still asking today, “Can You See Me?” No camo in use here. He wanted to make it obvious... and still does. The thing is, we have to be looking in the right places.

Attitude Matters - Mercy

“Once there was a holy place,

Evidence of God's embrace;

And I can almost see mercy's face, Pressed against the veil.

Looking down with longing eyes, Mercy must have realized; That once His blood was sacrificed, Freedom would prevail.

And as the sky grew dark, And the earth began to shake; With justice no longer in the way...

Mercy came running, Like a prisoner set free;

Past all my failures, to the point of my need.

When the sin that I carried, Was all I could see;

And when I could not reach mercy, Mercy came running to me.”

We each have a lot to be thankful for here at Thanksgiving, not the least of which is mercy from God. Phillips, Craig and Dean painted an accurate picture of Mercy for us in the song Mercy Came Running, especially in the last line of the chorus. It speaks to the unreachable nature or mercy from a human standpoint and rather than our finding mercy, it instead has a way of finding us. Whether mercy found you at the end of brokenness or was perhaps the cherry on top at a time of great joy, each of us discover that there is nothing quite like mercy. In fact, if God’s mercy has never over-whelmed you, you have yet to experience the power that mercy can have in a person’s life. The power of mercy can humble even the hardest heart.

Attitude Matters - Humility

I’d bet if you were to ask 10 people to tell you some characteristics about the people they most admire that at least 7 out of those ten would mention humility as a trait that they are drawn to in those people. My mom was one of those people, and not just to me but to many others also. She had no formal education, in fact she dropped out of school in the 9th grade to go to work to help support the family just like her older brothers and sisters had done before her. Yet from her early twenties on, she was hungry to discover all she could about the scriptures and bought and read commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books on Bible history, on Bible translation and about anything else she could get her hands on in that vein. When I started in church-related ministry in the mid-eighties I would go by her house at least weekly to eat lunch and ask her opinions on a particular topic or passage of scripture. I did that not because she was my mom (well maybe the lunch part) but because she had such an understanding of God’s Word that was both insightful an inspiring to me. I never attended seminary but felt like I did when I left her table every week. And that never stopped. Her hunger to know more and apply more was a regular part of her life until she graduated to be with Jesus.

Why do I share that story? Because it wasn’t just this pastor who wanted to glean her scriptural wisdom but other pastors and students of the Word as well. When I would talk to her about that, she would shrug it off embarrassingly and change the subject. Why? Because her humility wouldn’t let her think more highly of herself than she thought she should. She would always tell me, “The more you discover, the more you’ll find out how little you know.” Humility is attractive. Pride and arrogance never have been.

Attitude Matters - Suffering

Whether or not you see life as easy or hard or somewhere in between has a lot to do with our expectations. I remember as a 10 or 11 year old kid, edging the grass on either side of our sidewalk with a pair of hand shears that my dad had introduced me to the day before. After a couple of hours of that, I was about three quarters of the way through the job and my dad pulled in our driveway after work, I followed him to the garage. “Dad, can I be done or is there another way to do this?” (You need to understand that this was before the invention of the weedeater) I’ll never forget my dad’s response, “Son... life’s hard, then you die.” Encouraging words for a young guy with blisters on his hands because he was too dumb to put on a pair of gloves! I didn’t wake up every day after that expecting life to be hard but I wasn’t devastated when it was either. You see, my dad lived those words and I knew that because I knew his story. He had experienced his share of hardship and suffering during childhood, as an adolescent, and as an adult, so he didn’t expect life to be easy. He wanted me to learn to have that expectation as well because, although my life was already abundantly easier than his, he knew some hardship and suffering would eventually come my way.

Suffering is something that none of us goes looking for but that each of us will have to eventually deal with in some form or another. It’s simply the by-product of a broken world. But when you inject a Christ-follower attempting to live as Jesus did into that brokenness, you’re going to inevitably run into some suffering. So how do we deal with that? It all depends on our attitude toward suffering and whether or not we are prepared to handle it, and not just handle it but even expect it. Is that the world you live in or are you sent reeling every time suffering shows its face in your life.

Attitude Matters - A New Attitude

In their heyday, motivational speakers and sales gurus Stephen Covey and Zig Ziglar had a lot to say about attitude. One of the quotes attributed to Covey was, “Attitude isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Ziglar was big on attitude as well in terms of how it affects pretty much everything in life and everyone around us saying, “Attitude makes all the difference in the world, not only in how we are perceived but in how much we can get accomplished as well.” Attitude is indeed important. A bad one, or a series of bad ones, can not only negatively affect our outcomes but can ultimately lead to a failure or two in life, or even a series of them. Conversely a positive one can be the catalyst that gets us “over the hump” in a hard place or difficult patch of circumstances. Attitude is what helps us keep things in perspective, helps us keep things within the proper context in terms of how low we allow the low places to take us or how high the good times seem to be both in the moment, and over time. In short, Attitude Matters.

So is attitude just something for the “self-help” crowd or are there spiritual implications as well? Does our attitude affect our walk with Christ, our sense of purpose and direction, our sense of value? Does the scripture have anything to say about attitude? Well, the answers to those questions are a resounding yes. Why is this so important? Here’s a relevant example. Perhaps you’ve heard the recent reports among mental health professionals that suicide rates have risen significantly during the recent Covid pandemic. I wonder if a Christ-follower’s attitude of a resilient faith and an unwavering belief that God’s got this and that none of this has taken Him by surprise could make a difference in the lives of those around us that may have indeed contemplated taking their own life. If you believe attitude is contagious then that’s got to make a difference. The question then is, what kind of attitude are those around us “catching” from us?

Contentment in the Chaos - Gratitude Does

I’m grateful for a lot of things in my life and consider myself an extremely blessed man. But next to my relationship with Jesus, I am most grateful for the wife, partner and friend that God brought into my life when we were in high school. In fact, I was even grateful for her back then. You see I enrolled in a music theory class I had absolutely no business being in just because she had signed up for it and I just wanted to get to know her. I would sit next to her every day in class and was very thankful that she would make the answers to the assignments and tests “available” to me. Otherwise I would have never passed that class or at best would have squeaked by with a D. From those days to these days, she has always had a knack for seeing what I needed even before I did and has done her best to either meet it herself or at least make sure I knew about it and was ready for it. What a rich blessing she has been and still is, and not just to me but to our family and friends also.

What or who are you most grateful for? You need to know that gratitude is the key that unlocks the door to contentment and without it, real contentment will always be just beyond our reach. As we put a bow on this series Contentment in the Chaos, we’ll see the pivotal role that gratitude plays and the things that Gratitude Does in order to cement a lifestyle of contentment in place for us. We also need to understand that our enemy the devil doesn’t want us knowing these things because he wants to keep us at the center of our universe, thinking that everything and everyone revolves around our needs and wants. And that kind of thinking can never occupy the same space with gratitude. So let me ask you, are you content regardless of what’s in your bank account, or what you drive, or where you live or work, or regardless of the outcome of the election next month? Real contentment doesn’t hinge on those things, it runs much in deeper place than that.