Manna in the Morning

There is an old church camp chorus that asked, “Are you downhearted?” The reply was to be sung with emphasis, “NO! NO! NO!” When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia he was encouraging them in their walk with Christ. One of the things he wrote was, “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” (Galatians 6:9) There are a great many things that tend to drag our spirits down. This world in which we live is not really conducive to victorious living. Problems and adverse circumstances sometimes overwhelm us. But, when our faith is in the One who is coming, “conquering and to conquer,” we are able to soar as eagles by trusting in God’s power. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 43 which ends with this question and its answer: “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 43:5). Trusting in our Lord can defeat discouragement. Jesus said, “Take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

How are people reading you? I know that’s a weird question. But, it is true that people read us all the time. They read our body language. They read between the lines of what we say. They read the expressions on our face when we talk with them... they’re looking for signals as to whether we are serious or joking. The Apostle Paul once wrote to the church at Corinth and said, “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” (2 Corinthians 3:2) That statement by Paul at least indicates that we are conveyors of a message about what we believe. I know that you’ve heard it said that “what you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you are saying.” In other words, we need to make sure that our message is in agreement with our behavior. Someone has also said that “you are the only sermon some will ever see!” So, as a Christian, realize that others are reading you... make sure that the message that comes through is one that expresses the presence of Jesus in your life!

I was intrigued recently by some comments by John Alexander who approaches things from a little different perspective in what he calls “The Other Side.” He writes, “to deny sin is bad news, indeed. The only good news is sin itself. Sin is the best news there is, the best news there could be in our predicament.

“Because with sin, there’s a way out. There’s the possibility of repentance. You can’t repent of confusion or psychological flaws inflicted by your parents—you’re stuck with them. But you can repent of sin.

“Sin and repentance are the only grounds for hope and joy. The grounds for reconciled relationship. You can be born again.”

John’s approach to our predicament reminds me of something that Billy Sunday said in a revival meeting: “A sinner can repent... but, stupid is forever!” 

So, you see there is wonderful news for me and you and everybody... yes, we are sinners... but through and because of Jesus Christ there is good news... through Him we can be forgiven... we can be born again! Remember Paul’s word in Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

"Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet!” It’s absolutely true... we are all works in progress. None of us has reached the goal yet... not in our commitments, or our prayer life, or our service, or our worship, or our maturity... we are still growing. The Apostle Paul talked about that in his letter to the church at Philippi. He said, “...one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on...” (Phil. 3:13,14) On the specific matter of prayer, Thomas Merton had this to say about not trying so hard in prayer, “How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun. A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, ripe, and juicy. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God’s time. We must wait for God, we must be awake; we must trust in his hidden action within us.” Let God work in your life today.

Jimmy dean once said, “If I could give the world any advice, I’d tell ‘em exactly like my great-granddaddy told me. He said, ‘Jimmy, be yourself. Because if people don’t like you as you are, they’re not going to like you as somebody you’re trying to be.’ Generally, I’ve followed that advice. In the moments I haven’t, I’ve gotten into more trouble than a centipede with fallen arches.” The Apostle Paul spoke in a similar fashion in his letter to the church at Ephesus when he said, “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body...” (Eph. 4:25) In another place we are reminded about being sincere... which literally means true and genuine... without any facade or mask. And yet we are also urged to “imitate or be like God.” Could it be that we are really being our best selves when we are trying to be like the God in whose image we have been created? Could it be that God wants us to yield our individual personalities to Him so that He can shine through for His glory? So, for today and everyday... be yourself... your best self... the self that God can use.

How do you handle problems when they arise? What do you do when a difficult situation demands your attention? I know some who run from problems and then the problems catch up with them and by then they are much more complicated than at first. I know others who are overwhelmed by problems and get depressed... but the problems are still there... they just don’t seem to go away. Elsie Seibel has an interesting approach to the problems of life. She quipped:

If everything turns out backward
That you try so hard to do frontward;
Just turn yourself upside downward,
And laugh from the inside outward.

All of us have problems and difficulties from time to time. God encourages us to bring Him into the process of handling our problems. There is a great statement that the Apostle Paul made when he wrote to the Christians at Philippi. He said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” That’s a good word to begin your day. Problems... big or small will arise today. Remember there is nothing that You and God can’t handle together!

Are you a grateful person? The Bible is very clear that the child of God will be characterized by gratitude. The Apostle Paul wrote, “No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (I Thess. 5:18) We should be thankful to God, of course, for all that He has done and is doing in our lives. We should also be thankful to others... like the checkout lady... the traffic cop... the bug man... the waitress... the receptionist. We should also express our gratitude to those who are closest to us that we sometimes take for granted. Don’t be like the Vermont farmer who was sitting on the porch with his wife. He was beginning to realize how much she meant to him. It was about time... for they had been together for 42 years, and she had been such a help, a very willing worker. One day as they sat together, he said, “Wife, you’ve been such a wonderful woman that there are times that I can hardly keep from telling you.” Let’s be known for our gratitude! Express appreciation to someone today!

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1) Paul wrote those words to Christians who were on the verge of placing themselves under slavery to the Old Covenant Law again. They were forgetting about the promise of freedom they had received through Christ. In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and Hopeful are imprisoned in the Doubting Castle of Giant Despair. All attempts to escape have failed. Finally, just as the two are about to give up, Christian makes an amazing discovery. “What a fool I am,” he declares, “to lie in a stinking dungeon when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom called Promise that will open any lock in Doubting Castle.” The Good News is that the promise of freedom from slavery to sin is readily available through Jesus Christ... He is our Promise... our Gift... our Hope!

There is a very sobering passage of Scripture in Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 5 where he writes, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” In other words, there’s coming a day when we will be face to face with Almighty God... it’s an appointment none of us shall miss and there will be no facades and nothing for us to hide behind. Do you remember when the cosmonauts made that primitive little journey around the earth the first time? They came back with their thumbs under their suspenders bragging, “We have been in the air. We have been around the earth. And we did not see God!” The following Sunday, W.A. Criswell, minister of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, made a classic statement. He said, “Ah, if those cosmonauts had stepped out of their spacesuits, they would have seen God!” There’s a great day coming when we shall all see Him. For the unbeliever that will be an awful day of judgment. But, for the Christian that will be a wonderful day as we begin our eternity with Him in Heaven. Are you ready?

Once again we turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 12 verses 9-13 for what William Barclay calls “the Christian Life in Everyday Action.” It is a very appropriate title for this inspiring section of Scripture because it touches so much of what we face each and everyday. The last exhortation in verse twelve is to be “patient in affliction.” Another translation suggests that we “meet tribulation with triumphant fortitude.” I like that. Encountering troubles and trials is not a matter of “if” but “when.” The way of our journey is not always easy... sometimes there are bumps in the road. The day of our travel is not always sunny... sometimes the storms come. The path that we take in following Jesus is often met with adversity. When trials come we have a choice. We can either be beaten and discouraged or we can face the trial with a sense of victory because of our triumphant faith in Christ. Jesus once said, “In the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) Everything may not go the way we want it to today but with faith in God it can go His way! Today is Friday... that means Sunday’s coming. Be in church with the gathered body of Christ on the Lord’s Day and celebrate the victories that He has won for us!