by Matt Philleo | Nov 24, 2015 | Christianity & Culture, Encouraging Thoughts, New Artwork
It’s that time of year again.
The trees have shed their leaves, the cold and frost have settled down on our lawns, the hunters are busy. The cooks in the kitchen are getting their turkeys thawed out, the sweet potatoes ready, the pumpkins prepared for a lavish meal fit for a king.
I love it.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the food, I love the family get-togethers and great conversation. I love the fact that it’s a time of year especially set aside to give thanks.
If you can get past the constant barrage of Black Friday ads, you’ll hear people right now urging us to stop and be thankful for all the things we have.
That’s great; we should.
But the question is not so much what are we giving thanks for, but rather…
Who are we giving thanks to?
Let’s face it: God is not popular in our popular culture today. We’ve become self-sufficient, we say we don’t need Him, He doesn’t exist, and pushed Him off the side. Or, we’ve reinvented Him, despite the fact that He already tells us who He is, right out of the pages of His word, the Bible.
But the tradition of Thanksgiving, founded centuries ago in this country remains. And we like our traditions. So, if we slow down enough to reflect on our lives, we pause and give thanks, because, well…it’s Thanksgiving…it’s what you do.
Let me ask you a question: Fast-foward a few weeks and let’s say it’s Christmas. You give me a nicely wrapped, meaningful gift. What would you expect me to say?
“Thank you,” of course.
Now imagine this: You give me the same gift. This time, I take the gift, without one word of appreciation to you.
Then, later on, I unwrap the gift. It turns out to be a really nice scroll-saw. I use the saw, create an elaborate piece of woodwork, and boast to my friends about how much time and skill it took to create this masterpiece.
And then one day out of the year, because it was the popular thing to do, I tell my friends, “I thank my lucky stars I was able to create this masterpiece.”
How would you feel?
It would be completely insulting to you.
But, as a culture, this is what we do with God. We have received everything from Him: life, health, resources–the stuff we use to create a comfortable living.
Instead of thanking him for those things, acknowledging that they came from Him, we congratulate ourselves for being clever enough to use the substance He made, again failing to recognize that He gave us the strength and intelligence in the first place to manipulate those raw materials into beautiful, functional amenities.
Thanksgiving must be directed first to the person who should receive the thanks, or it’s pointless.
In the past, I’ve written out thank you cards to people and forgotten to send them out.
Wasted time.
Until I put the address on the envelope, stamp it, and put in the box, it does no good to the recipient.
Sure, having an overall thankful, positive attitude is beneficial psychologically and physiologically; I won’t argue that. But, can I say this? That attitude is selfish. Thanksgiving really isn’t true thanksgiving until it is actually given to one who should receive it.
However, true thanksgiving does us good too. And on the flip side, failing to do it, does us bad. The apostle Paul wrote in his book to the Romans and he said this about the culture at large, “who, although they knew God, did not glorify Him as God, neither were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Every wrong and wicked thing in this world can be traced back to a lack of thanks to God. A lack of appreciation, a lack of contentedness causes us to wither inside and say and do things that we later come to regret.
Having too much and not being thankful for it can cause us a world of hurt. When we’re comfortable and all our physical needs are met, a spirit of complacency can take hold. We take our blessings for granted. That’s when, if we’re not careful, those blessings can be taken away from us, or even worse, our hearts can grow cold.
Surprisingly, it’s often in the low, dark places that thanksgiving rises up.
Yesterday, at church, I listened to a sound clip from a radio talk show commentating on the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquakes. The talk show host interviewed several doctors that were there in middle of the calamity trying their best to provide some measure of relief. They described feeling worthless as physicians, working over 30 hours straight to help in any way they could. Over 250,000 were dead and over 300,000 wounded. The smell of dying bodies, urine, bloody bandages, and filth assaulted their noses. The picture of mass human suffering was almost intolerable.
Then, during the despair, one lone person grabbed his guitar and started singing a song.
Soon, a few joined him, and then more. It caught like fire, and soon the whole crowd joined in the chorus. It was a song of joy, a song of exuberance.
“What were they singing?” the doctors wondered. “We found out,” they recounted, “it was a song about Jesus. They were singing, ‘Thank You, Jesus, for loving us!'”
I could hardly hold back the tears as I listened. The song was so celebratory, so joyful. And to think, in the midst of this incredible suffering, people were thanking and praising God–for Jesus loving them!
Now, that’s Thanksgiving!
When you can thank God in the midst of a tremendous trial, that’s a true heart of worship. It’s beautiful.
“God is the Strength of My Heart”, a concept sketch by pencil artist Matt Philleo.
The image shown here is a sketch I did that will be used for a future painting. The man is reaching out to God, in the middle of suffering, and offering thanks and praise to God. The idea is: “My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)
I love that verse.
You want a good portion of turkey and stuffing this year? I know I do! But even better than that is a good portion of God.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good! says the Psalmist (Psalm 34:8). When you experience the presence of God through a thankful, joyful heart–there is nothing better than that. All the gold in the world seems like the dust you wipe off your shoe by comparison.
So this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks…to God. And then to each other.
It all starts with God.
Every breath, every heartbeat, every morsel of food, every sip of water, and ten-thousand blessings in addition to that, culminating with His greatest gift–the Lord Jesus Christ who came to bear our sins on the cross and restore our broken relationship with God–all have come from Him as a gift.
God has been so good to us!
All He wants, is the same thing we want when we give. Acknowledgment that it came from Him, and a genuine “Thank You.”
This is something we can do. It will touch God’s heart and enlarge ours. Let’s do it!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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by Matt Philleo | Sep 15, 2015 | Christianity & Culture, Encouraging Thoughts, New Artwork
From the day we are old enough to crawl and grab for something, it’s obvious we have a constant desire for more. Our older brother has a toy and we want it, just because he has it. We grow up and go to the mall. Then we want the toy on Black Friday that everyone else is pushing and shoving to get.
Our neighbor has a new car. We were happy with our car a moment ago until we saw what she has. Now we want it. it is hard to be content today in this world. We have TV, newspaper, billboard and internet ads telling us we’re missing out and have a major problem unless we have the latest product they’re selling.
And when we buy something new, it captures our attention. We feel great with our new purchase, we can’t wait to try it out–or on–and then after a couple weeks or even less, the newness wears off. And off we go to something else that glitters and captures our interest once again. This cycle of discontent–acquiring–fascination–apathy–discontent continues on and on for our whole life, consuming everything good, ravaging relationships, until we look back in regret on the wreckage of our lives. By that time, it’s often far too late to do anything about it.
How can we be content?
All of us–unless we have major issues–want to better ourselves. We want to provide a decent living for ourselves and our family. We want to have something to share with others. We want to contribute value to our society. There is a struggle in working to provide those things. We see others who have succeeded and often feel jealous.
That’s the problem. It’s when we want what others have–that’s where we go astray. Instead, we should want what the God who created us wants us to have. He knows what is best for us. It may be that He wants us to be incredibly, coin-dropping wealthy. But He may also want us to be poor–at least if only for a season. And when I say poor–I’m not talking about being impoverished where you are homeless, starving, in danger of dying in the cold. I mean just living a clean, humble, hard-working, honorable life where perhaps your accommodations and possessions are less than what you’d like.
The Bible says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” We also learn from the Bible that we didn’t bring anything into this world and we definitely aren’t going take anything out of it either. So let’s be content with what we have, because God has promised to provide for us.
Maybe you’re thinking, “that sounds all well and good, but how can I be content when I live paycheck to paycheck and just barely get by?
Let’s put our lives into perspective.
If you live in America, as I do, even if you are dirt poor, you have a higher standard of living than over 90% of the world’s population. Consider this:
If you are homeless, there are shelters in nearly every major city.
If you have a home but struggle with putting food on the table, there are welfare programs and food pantries to help.
You have access to sanitary drinking water and have indoor plumbing where you can daily take a bath, wash your clothes, and remove your waste far from your home.
You have electricity to power a myriad of equipment, conveniently taking care of many household tasks that would have been the envy of the richest of us 100 years ago.
When it is steaming hot in the summertime, you have an air conditioning unit or at least a fan or two to cool off.
When it’s cold in the winter, you have heat and some sweaters or jackets to put on if it’s a little chilly.
You can get in your SUV and brave the roads, of course, after you neatly cleared off your driveway with a snowblower.
I don’t need to go into all the other gadgets we have to entertain and make our lives easier, such as laptops, smartphones, video game systems, etc. We have what we need for subsistence living and stuff on top of that to boot.
So here’s the deal. If we have food and clothing, we ought to be content with that.
Anything more than that is bonus. But still–why is it so hard to be content?
Being content starts on the inside. People can find something close to it when they get rid of their stuff and live a simpler, minimalized life. But true contentment only comes from the God who created us. When we believe in His word– the Bible–His peace that passes all understanding guards our hearts and minds (from the worries, cares, and competitiveness of this world) in Jesus Christ. First, we have a peace or contentment that comes from having a right relationship with God. That is accomplished through recognizing our sinfulness and trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ (His death on the cross, burial, and resurrection) to make our consciences clean before God. Secondly, this contentment continues as we grow in our relationship with God and our perspective on life changes.
“The Boy in a Tree,” pages 11-12
To be content, you have to be happy being who you’re created to be, without comparing yourself to another.
This state of contentment comes from knowing God loves you, and He has everything you need within Himself to make you happy. Your world may be crumbling all around you. But you don’t bury your head in the sand and ignore reality. You instead reach out and into God, drawing strength from the fact that He loves you and won’t give you more than you can handle. You stand on the truth that He is more than capable to guide you through the storm and get you to safety. When you get a vision of the glory, the awesomeness of God, your problems dwindle in size by comparison. Now you’ve got the right perspective. Your problems may not have changed. But your attitude toward them has. This allows you then to come up with a better solution.
Oh, and guess what? Now when you get a hold of God, not only has your attitude towards your problem changed–He can work on your behalf. He often will do something amazing to help you out in your problems. I’m saying you will see something more than you doing something to get yourself out of a pickle, and humbly saying “God helped me.” You will actually witness a miracle apart from yourself that you can only attribute to God.
At other times, in the sovereignty of God, you may remain in a difficult situation for months or even years. That’s okay. As hard as that situation is, when you feast on the goodness of God, that trial seems like an annoying mosquito you can swat away. Your trust in God grows accordingly, and that in itself is a blessing.
Here are a few more pages of the children’s book by Pam Boodle I illustrated, “The Boy in a Tree.” Nick, a child cognitive disabilities, is a boy who grows up yet his mind remains as a young child’s. In many ways, this is his greatest asset. Being content comes naturally to him.
“The Boy in a Tree,” pages 17-18.
You can stir up a spirit of contentment by choosing to be thankful. Sometimes thanksgiving will rise up within you like bubbles to the top of champagne when you receive an unexpected blessing, but most of the time you have to actually take stock of all the good things you have and thank God for them. If you remember that old hymn “Count your blessings, name them one by one…”
“The Boy in a Tree,” pages 19-20.
I have a habit of praying for my food, but I have to admit, a lot of times it becomes a lifeless ritual. I’m not actually thinking about how good God has been to me when I mumble the words. I just want to dig into that juicy burger! But sometimes, I’ve just dropped to my knees (when I was eating alone) and realized how blessed I am to eat the kind of food I have access to when others in the world have gone days without anything.
A life lived in contentment is a life without regret.
If we are content, we will pursue the right things–relationships for the benefit of helping others. If we are discontent, we will pursue the wrong things–relationships for the benefit of acquiring things: money, possessions, power, and fame. We are so blessed in this nation, even now, with a shaky economy. Let’s stop and give God thanks for all He has done for us. Let’s be happy being us, and watch God make us better as we live in a spirit of contentment.
“The Boy in a Tree” pages 21-22.
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by Matt Philleo | Sep 10, 2015 | Christianity & Culture, Encouraging Thoughts
The recent malaise in Rowan County, Kentucky with the defiant County clerk Kim Davis is a signpost signaling a new era in the culture of America. Biblical, traditional family values are out; unorthodox, non-traditional values are the new normal.
I’ve been following the news on Kim Davis very closely. (Maybe a little too closely!) If you aren’t aware by now, she is the Kentucky county clerk who dared to defy the recent ruling by the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage, and then was jailed for it. She has put a name and a face to the incendiary cultural clash of traditional Judeo-Christian values and post-modern secular atheism. Never before in America has a government worker been jailed for simply following their Christian belief.
After the Court’s ruling in June, I felt like I was watching a football game and my team lost. And when Kim Davis was jailed, that was the dagger! But now, she has been released and it remains to be seen if she will continue in her courageous rejection of an unjust law (which is really no law at all).
I and many Christians around the nation prayed for her to be set free, and that she would strand strong in the face of severe opposition. I’m glad she didn’t give in to the pressure to conform. Somehow though, her release from jail seems like a hollow victory, especially with the strict warnings the judge imposed on her to no longer interfere with the signing of certificates. It feels like we just scored a touchdown, but we’re down 41-10 with 2:00 minutes remaining in the game.
The whole Kim Davis scenario has set a precedent of what will happen if anyone dares to oppose this new intolerant regime by standing up for traditional marriage. And not only the government is caustic towards people like Kim Davis, but if you look at the comments after the news articles and tirades in social media you get the idea that a good majority of Americans would hang her if they could.
In the wake of all of this, many Christians wonder, how should we then live?
Of course, we’ve been hurtling down this path for quite some time now. It has not been a seismic shift. Instead, it has been a gradual decline in morality. But for those of us who hold fast to what the Bible teaches and are old enough to remember an America that upheld traditional common-sense definitions of what constitutes marriage and family, this incident is like a mile-marker delineating how far we have come. How far we have gone off-track. This story burns in our mind as a daunting image of the New Anti-Christian America.
Since America is now clearly opposed to Biblical Christianity, how then shall Christians live? I see four options:
1. If we can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
We can begin to agree with the increasingly immoral culture and accommodate our Christian beliefs to the rapidly changing social norms around us.
We can interpret the Bible according to 21st century American society and make it more relevant to our hearers. After all, we want to be able to fit in enough to share Jesus with those around us, don’t we? Jesus didn’t get mad at anyone or judge anyone, did He?
When we actually read our Bibles, we discover a Jesus who was indignant at sin, although He showed amazing mercy to those trapped in it.
I am amazed at how many Christians (perhaps self-professing) defend the homosexual lifestyle and equate their demand for rights with the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, homosexuality is a behavior, not an inherent characteristic such as skin color or gender. While homosexuals are often vilified, treated by many Christians as if they were the only sinners worthy of judgment, the behavior is still a sin, because it is a perversion of God’s original design for men and women. But it is also a sin that can be forgiven and a behavior that can be changed by the grace of God.
2. If we can’t join ’em, beat ’em.
We can become militant ourselves, waging a counter-offensive in the culture war and demand that America returns to its Judeo-Christian cultural roots by aggressive political efforts, picketing, petitions, lobbying, calling representatives, even preparing militarily to fight against a possible government subjugation of its citizens. Now I am not saying that we shouldn’t vote or contact our representatives. We are fortunate enough to live in a Constitutional Republic, where we have many rights that are still the envy of the world. With those rights come the responsibility to be involved in the political process of electing leaders that most closely represent our values. However, we are do not wage war as the world does. As the Bible says, our weapons are spiritual.
“Victory in Surrender” 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas, by Matt Philleo.
I don’t think fighting the culture war politically is the way to go.
3. If we can’t join ’em or beat ’em, forget ’em.
We can bury our head in the sand and believe things are not that bad, or will get better with time.
Maybe if we get a Republican president, things will turn around. Not a chance. Remember Roe vs. Wade? Over 40 years later, all we have managed to do–even with several Republican administrations–is enact a few slight restrictions on abortion. But for the most part, that industry is going full steam ahead. We’ve gotten a few hits, but we have definitely not tackled the issue.
4. If we can’t beat ’em, join ’em, or forget ’em, we can…help them!
We can do what Paul the Apostle did: reach out to others in a wicked and pagan culture with the pure, unadulterated, transformative message of the Gospel, one person at a time.
We are not trying to save the culture.
The culture in America is clearly pagan.
President Obama was right: this is not a Christian nation.
In fact, it never was. Rather, in its inception, it was a secular nation that highly esteemed a Judeo-Christian worldview, and accordingly, governmental laws and policies reflected that. But now, America’s worldview, at large, is no longer Christian. That is why the laws and policies passed no longer favor Christians, but instead threaten us. It is easy then, to become reactionary and want to steer our culture back to its godly heritage. It would be good if this happens, but only if indirectly, as a byproduct of reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Many postmodernists, especially generation Xers and millenials, believe fundamentalist Christians want to take over the government and I don’t think they are completely off the mark in feeling that way. However, Jesus said: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Our goal should not be to establish a theocracy.
Instead, let’s aspire to do what Paul did. He preached the gospel and people got saved. How many? Probably a relatively small percentage of the Western world’s population. But the fact is, souls were saved. In the same way, Peter the Apostle urged his fellow Jewish countrymen, “Be saved out of this wicked and perverse generation.” Recently, the associate pastor at my church wisely remarked in one of his sermons that “we should not curse the darkness but rather light a candle in it.” I wholeheartedly agree. And the darker the darkness, the brighter the light shines by contrast. The thrust of our efforts should not be trying to save the culture, but to save people out of the culture.
So, do we stand up for the traditional view of marriage? Yes, absolutely! The best way we can do that as Christians is to live in such a way that we are above reproach. In other words, we want the world to see that we are different, and the difference maker is Jesus. Our marriages and families should be rock solid, a visible testimony of the solid Rock, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then when we speak to others about Christ, we will actually have something to say, not just the usual Christian rhetoric that only confirms the world’s perception of us as hypocrites.
Ben and Amber Portrait 11 x 14, acrylic on canvas
Should we give up on the idea of America turning around? No, of course not! This is a nation of people. And people can repent and turn to God. So if Christians got serious about their faith, repented of their sins and many unbelievers were born again, certainly we’d have a revival on our hands. It has happened before in our nation’s history in the late 1700’s and it could happen again. In fact, we should be praying that it will. God does not want anyone to perish, but wants all to repent.
The illustration shown at the top of the post is a painting I did for a baby gate manufacturer. They wanted an illustration that shows a happy family from 1950’s era. The beaming young parents joyfully watch their baby playing on the carpet in front of them, the perfect image of domestic happiness. While I understand that there may be more myth than reality to this “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” generation, there certainly was a more positive view of the traditional family during that time. A family consisting of two loving parents, husband and wife, is no longer the norm. Broken homes, fractured marriages, and strange relationships now called marriages is the new reality.
This culture war will not be won with clenched fists, loud mouths, and fast feet. It will be won with open hands, listening ears, and bent knees. Let us serve others with our hands, so everyone will see the love of Christ in us. Let us listen to others’ stories, truly care about them so that we can share the gospel with a receptive heart. And most importantly, let us pray that God would be glorified by what we say and do as He uses us to rescue lost and dying people out of a wicked culture.
by Matt Philleo | Aug 29, 2015 | Christianity & Culture, Encouraging Thoughts, New Artwork, Personal Inspiring Stories
“Quit your crying!”
From the time we were little children, most of our parents told us not to cry when we were hurt. Even if our moms and dads were of the more nurturing nature, the message that is crying is for wimps was reinforced by our classmates, heroes on TV, and society’s expectation in general.
Of course, there is a time to stop crying, deal with your problem and move on, just as my wife and I tell our children.
But how many of us are holding back tears during a time when we should let them flow? We may experience an extreme trial such as a job loss, the severing of a close relationship, abuse toward us or those we love, accidents, bad news of a serious illness, or even a death–and because we were taught to hold back the tears, buck up, and save face–we stuff the feelings of grief and emotional trauma deep down where we think it’s hidden for good.
But it has a way of coming back.
In anger, frustration, bitterness, despondency–we often lash out toward those who are closest to us and could console us.
We hide behind a wall, a veneer of togetherness, when inside we are falling apart.
In this post, I am showing pages 7-10 of the children’s book I recently illustrated, “The Boy in a Tree,” by Pamela Boodle. (If you missed my first post introducing this book, you can check it out right here.)
In the book, Nick, a cognitively impaired child, sees the world in a different way than most of us. Although he may not be able to do many of the things we take for granted… …His slower pace naturally allows him to notice the more important things in life that really matter.
And because he is not socially adept enough to hide behind a facade of respectability, he goes around living life by…just being himself. He doesn’t care how he looks to others. When he’s happy, he’s not too “cool” to show it. When he’s hurt, he doesn’t hold back the tears. And because of this, he is more emotionally healthy than many “typical” people.
“The Boy in a Tree,” pages 7 & 8
“The Boy in a Tree,” pages 9 & 10
My dad died from brain cancer in 2010 at the age of 64. He and my mother divorced 11 years prior to that and I hadn’t been very close to him up until that point, especially since he moved to another state. But after learning of the tumor, my family and I visited him several times.
We saw the progression of the disease and how it reduced him from a confident, articulate, intellectual man to a blind, nearly helpless child, who needed assistance going to the bathroom. Unlike many people who are suffering from cancer, he was not bitter or despondent. He was very thankful whenever anybody did anything for him. All he wanted to do at the end was snuggle with his children. So, putting pride and awkwardness aside, I snuggled up next to my dad, and after a while he began to rub my belly. This seemed strange at first, but then I thought that this was maybe what he might have done when I was a young boy, and that somehow this might have brought him comfort, a feeling of closeness to his son.
I cried.
I prayed for him that God would heal him. I wanted him to stay alive so he could see and hold his grandchildren, and watch them grow up.
But about a month later, he died. When I got the news on the phone from his wife (who took care of him so selflessly, by the way) I didn’t feel anything. I expected to feel grief and wondered if something was wrong with me. Then I remembered how I cried so deeply during our last visit and, although I didn’t know it at the time, I realized I already grieved his death. I didn’t feel remorse. I was glad we drew close at the end and had no regrets.
About a year later, an older man in our church died. He was the head usher, a kind and gentle man that everybody seemed to love. At his funeral I grieved his death with many tears. Although I knew he was in heaven with the Lord, I missed his fellowship.
In Christian circles, we often chide people for grieving at a funeral.
Because we have such a great hope of seeing our departed loved ones in heaven, we religiously expect a stoic response–hypocritically renamed as “joy”–during a time when we should be the most vulnerable and open with our feelings.
But in the Bible, you will see a completely different response.
For example, when Lazarus died, what did Jesus do? He wept. (John 11:35) When Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church died, what did people do? “Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.” (Acts 8:2) When Tabitha died, what did the Christian church do? Did they say, “Hallelujah, Tabby’s risen to glory!” No! “All the widows stood around him (Peter), crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas (Tabitha) had made while she was still with them.” (Acts 9:39)
Do you remember Samuel? Even if you don’t know the Bible very well, the name is so well known today because of a famous Jewish prophet who lived 3,000 years ago. I don’t think it is stretching the truth to say that there would be no Samuel unless a woman wasn’t afraid to cry. His mother, Hannah, couldn’t have any children. And in the Jewish culture, a woman being unable to have a child was the worst possible shame to endure. So what did Hannah do?
She cried out to God. Literally.
In the first book of Samuel, we read in verses 10-11:
“In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life…”
And then in verse 20, it tells us God answered her prayer.
“So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” Samuel turned out to be a God-following man, the prophet who would anoint King Saul and King David, one of Israel’s greatest prophets of all time. But his life came as a result of a broken person who wasn’t afraid to show her brokenness.
Hannah didn’t pretend to be happy or, on the flip side, resign herself to misery. She owned her pain, and cried out for relief.
And that’s exactly what she got.
When we grieve, it’s like showing our wound to someone who can help us, instead of letting it fester and get infected. If we are real with God, others, and ourself, and say “This is my pain, I’m not hiding it. God please help me through this! Deliver me!” Our loving Lord will come and salve our wound, and healing will come. In time, we will experience true joy–not a forced smile that looks like Joker’s face–but a true, abiding, pervasive joy that comes straight from God, settles down into the deepest part of our being, and then bubbles up and flows out of us like a fresh spring of water!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
1. Is there any pain from the past that you have hidden and could deal with now?
2. How can you show compassion to someone who is hurting and help ease their pain?
3. Do you know what it is like to feel true joy in during incredible sorrow or difficulties?
Share your thoughts!
by Matt Philleo | May 14, 2015 | Bible Devotionals, Christianity & Culture
Artwork: “Greatest Commandment,” Acrylic on Panel, Copyright 2009, by Matt Philleo.
Did you know that it is possible to be perfect?
It’s true, but we can’t be perfect–at least in the sense most people understand–in this life. As born-again believers in Jesus Christ we will be perfect, but only once we reach our heavenly home.
For those of us who have recognized our depravity–our sinful state before God–and received His free gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we often see positive, instant, sweeping change in our lives. But before long, we soon discover sinful tendencies in our life that are deep-seated and much harder to uproot.
If you have any true desire to follow Christ, and yet hit the glass ceiling of unyielding, stubborn sin, it’s not long before you can get really discouraged.
I know I have.
Here’s the deal: Jesus said, “Be ye perfect, as my Father in heaven is perfect.” Easier said than done, right?
Of course, the Lord’s words are entirely true and should be obeyed. We should be perfect. However, we need to look at this verse properly.
In a sense, we are already perfect if we have accepted Jesus and His gift of righteousness to us. He takes our sin and imperfection, and trades it for His perfect record of obedience and perfection. We are clothed in His perfection and righteousness.
And yet, in another sense, we are not yet perfect. Our actual day-to-day performance is anything but perfect. Any honest person, Christian or not, knows this. We all struggle with sin. Though it amazes me that, throughout the history of Christianity, there have always been some that say they have achieved a state of sinless perfection. I don’t buy it. Our society and our churches prove it’s not true.
What’s vitally important is that we are in the process of being made perfect.
That, I believe, is the message being conveyed by Jesus’ saying.
I have wondered, why can’t we have complete victory over sin in every area of our lives? Shouldn’t sin be completely obliterated once we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior? Isn’t salvation great enough to do that for us?
God showed me something recently while I was doing the dishes (I seem to get more ideas when I do the dishes than at any other time–don’t tell my wife!) I was wrestling with this idea of perfection, and yet why we still struggle with sin.
I thought of the ancient Israelites, and how after 40 years of wandering in the desert, they finally entered into the land of Canaan, the promised land. God promised them that He would drive out the inhabitants of the land. They would be moving into a land with cities and homes already built, water wells already dug, roads and pathways already paved–in other words a land with an entire infrastructure already intact.
But God also said He would not drive the inhabitants out all at once, lest the wild animals become too strong for the Israelites and overpower them. This is key.
While praying and thinking of this, it dawned on me that, today as Christians, our lives–our minds, souls, and bodies–are like this land. God goes ahead of us and drives out the inhabitants (sin) by His grace–the effective cleansing of the blood of Christ, brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, He doesn’t do this all at once. Why? I asked the Lord. The answer?
Because of pride.
Aha! So those wild animals, then, are like pride. If we had complete, immediate victory over sin, pride would just as quickly fill in the vacancy. The only difference, we would be even worse off than we were before. Because now, the ravaging beast of pride causes us to look down at others, feel superior to them, and be incited to attack them with our “holier-than-thou” attitude. Not only that, but if we are “perfect” why would we feel like we even need God?
It is our constant struggle against sin that alerts us to the fact that we need a Savior. And we need Him every day.
If we feel we don’t need God, we close the door to His mercy and help for us. Jesus used this illustration to drive the point home. I will retell the story in my own words:
There once were two men. One was a deacon in his local Full-Gospel church located in the “good part” of town and the other was skid-row bum. One night, the derelict wandered around town after finishing off a bottle of brandy, and ended up sleeping on a park bench in the deacon’s neighborhood.
That next morning, the deacon was going out for his usual jog in the neighborhood park. The derelict was just waking up–his head throbbing–and he could see through his glazed, bloodshot eyes, the cleanly dressed deacon approaching. Instantly, he began to loathe himself, remembering how, not too long ago, he used to go to church and was a respectable member of society, but through many bad decisions ended up a homeless man with an insatiable dependence on alcohol.
By this time, the deacon was close enough to catch several sickening whiffs of the bum’s booze-drenched body odor. Glancing at him quickly as to avoid eye-contact, he thought to himself, “What a shame, somebody living like that. Hopeless drunk–it’s in his own fault. I thank you, God, that I grew up in the church, and my parents raised me to be respectable and not like that man. He probably has never even been to church once in his whole life.”
The down-and-outer could only look down. Waves of humiliation and shame cascaded over him.
He cried out in desperation, in half-formed mumbling words, “God, I hate what I am. Help me God! I remember how someone at church once told me about Jesus, that He is a friend of sinners. God, I’m just a no-good drunk. Please God, have mercy on me and help me out of this mess!”
It is this second man, by the way–not the first–that was made right with God. We often don’t like that. Instead, we give honor to the accomplished, respectable, even braggadocious people in our society.
God is different than us. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
So, who is better off–the deacon or the derelict? Who would you rather be? When I give my kids a choice they don’t like, they say, “nothing!” While I’m not advocating living like a person on the streets, I am saying, like the derelict, we should look at our hearts and see ourselves as we really are–sinners in need of a Savior. That is the root of humility. And we should act like we believe it, in the way we relate to God and people.
As for being perfect, we will reach that goal–when we get to heaven. For now, let’s be content with getting to the finish line, inviting others on the sidelines to get in the race, and offering help to those who trip along the way. There are a lot of lost, lonely, hurting people out there. Let’s reach them and invite them to share the joy of fellowship with God through Jesus Christ!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
- If you are a Christian, how has God changed your life after you believed? How has seeing sin in your life drawn you closer to the Lord?
- If you are not a Christian, what do you think of “Christians” who look down at others? How do you think Jesus treated the “down-and-outers” around Him?
Share your thoughts!
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