Counting the Cost
So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.
Luke 14:33
Telling it like it is is generally regarded as a rugged masculine trait. No beating about the bush, just straight talk, man to man. That is what men say they want to hear, and that is exactly what Jesus gave them. But when push came to shove, not everybody wanted to listen!
Jesus undoubtedly had ma.s.s appeal. There was something magnetic about his personality, his teaching, and particularly his miracles. His popularity served to get his message out to vast numbers of people, and his presence among the people promised blessing previously unknown. But the pathway to blessing led through the valley of submission to his lordship, and the people didnat all want to follow it. As Jesus spelled out the ramifications of his lordship, the people began to realize the far-reaching consequences of following him.
Jesus used no slick sales techniques that promised the earth at bargain prices. Instead he offered abundant life on the basis of acknowledging that he is the Lord and Savior. aNo one can become my disciple without giving up everything for mea (14:33). In response to Jesusa love, which knows no bounds, his people should love him unequivocally. And if he, in his capacity as Lord of their lives, requires his people to release what had been exclusively their own, they should gladly relinquish their rights and acknowledge his right to direct what is in fact his own.
It is precisely because Jesusa words are so uncompromising that some people feel uncomfortable actually telling people what Jesus said. Our culture specializes in the asoft sell,a the presentation that minimizes the productas drawbacks. The soft sell trumpets words like, afree,a ano obligation,a areturn if for any reason it does not meet your needs,a and ano payment until 2010.a Such techniques are the norm, so some people believe that no one would respond to the Masteras tough-love approach. But in this they are quite wrong. There are innumerable people who rejoice in a challenge and thrill to the possibility that they could actually be different and make a difference. Jesus was not only interested in saving people from a wasted eternitya"he was committed to making their wasted lives count. He had come to change the world, and the words he spoke would resonate with potential world changers.
Salty talk, this! But Jesus knew that sugarcoated talk never made salty saints.
September 17
TO READ: Psalm 10
G.o.d and the Rat Race
Why do the wicked get away with cursing G.o.d? How can they think, aG.o.d will never call us to accounta?
Psalm 10:13
Life is a rat racea"and the rats are winning!a Many of our contemporaries think this way, and sometimes it seems they are right. The psalmist would probably not have thought of his world as a rat race, nor would he have called its inhabitants rats. But that description would certainly fit his perception of what was going on around him.
Functional atheists are the rats who populate the rat race. Functional atheists are not theoretical atheistsa"people who argue philosophically that G.o.d does not exist. Rather, they are people who live and function as though G.o.d does not exist (10:4, 11-13). He is for them a nonfactor, a total irrelevance. Functional atheists disdain utterly any concept that there is a G.o.d who rules the universe, who determines the way we should live, and who holds us accountable. They casually trample underfoot any thought of divine rule, divine order, or divine retribution. And they seem to get away with it! Life for them is sweet.
For the psalmist, life was bitter. While the rats were coming up roses, the psalmist was picking thistles. It was seeing that the rats seemed to be winning that stuck in the psalmistas craw. It was bad enough that they lived as if G.o.d were dead, or at least incapacitated. But it was infinitely worse that G.o.d seemed to be a.s.sisting their conclusions by being conspicuously absent. Glibly they said, aNothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!a (10:6). Happily they insisted, aG.o.d isnat watching! He will never notice!a (10:11). And G.o.d seemed to be letting them get away with it. It seemed the rats were winning and the referee wasnat even watching!
But the psalmist clung to two things. He believed with all his heart that aThe Lord is king forever and ever!a (10:16) and that the Lord awill bring justicea (10:18). If those things are true, there is hope that righteousness will ultimately triumph. We may not see it in our lifetime because the Lord operates in the forever and ever. We may not experience it the way we want, but we can bear in mind that the Lord knows athe hopes of the helplessa and awill listen to their cries and comfort thema (10:17). He will make sure that justice is ultimately done (see Luke 16:19-31).
We can face the rat race and know that G.o.d winsa"not the rats! We can run the race G.o.das way, not theirs. And we can concentrate on the G.o.d standing at the finishing line rather than on the rats nipping our heels.
September 18
TO READ: Genesis 4:1-16
Choices and Consequences
You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it.
Genesis 4:7
Man would like very much to be free to make his own choices and to be exempt from the consequences of his decisions. For instance, he likes s.e.xual freedom but dislikes s.e.xually transmitted diseases. So he seeks ways to engineer asafe s.e.x.a Man wants freedom without consequences.
Adam, the first man, was free to obey or disobey G.o.d, but he was not free from the consequences of his decision. G.o.d had given him a lot of freedom in the gardena"Adam could eat from any tree at all except for one. And he had been told that if he disobeyed, he would surely die (2:17). Instead of listening to G.o.d and staying within the limits of his G.o.d-given freedom, Adam listened to the voice of evil, embraced sin, and went ahead in disobeying G.o.d. Perhaps he a.s.sumed that G.o.d would not do what he said he would do. Or, maybe he thought that enjoying his afreedoma would be worth whatever sanctions came. He was wrong, though, because the consequence of his decision was deatha"spiritual death in his relationship with G.o.d and the death of his body. But the consequences did not end there.
In the next generation Adamas son Cain also became alienated from G.o.d. He, too, ignored G.o.das warning, listened to the voice of evil, and embraced sin. Then he complained, aYou have banished me from my land and from your presence; you have made me a wandering fugitivea (4:14). But why was he in this state and why was he complaining? Simply because he, too, had rebelled against G.o.das command and had chosen the pathway of afreedom.a Cain had been informed by G.o.d, aYou will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue ita (4:7). He chose not to awatch outa but rather to plunge ahead. Committed as he was to his freedom of choice, Cain still had difficulty accepting that his sin had consequences. His complaint shows that he wanted not only the right to sin freely, but also the right to be free from responsibility and exempt from the fallout.
Manas freedom to choose his actions is one side of the equation, and G.o.das freedom to choose the consequences is the other. We may be free to choose, but we are not free from the consequences. The sin may be over in a moment, but the consequences may last a lifetimea"or even forever.
September 19
TO READ: Genesis 17:1-14
Whatas in a Name?
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, aI am G.o.d Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. . . . Whatas more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.a Genesis 17:1, 5
Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him and introduced himself as aG.o.d Almightyaa"El Shaddai in Hebrew. That G.o.d disclosed himself by name meant not only that he wanted Abram to know who he is, but also that he was inviting Abram to experience intimacy with him. In effect, G.o.d was saying, aYou can call me El Shaddai, Abram.a Abram discovered that G.o.d Almighty was eager to be known on an intimate basis.
When El Shaddai, G.o.d Almighty, invited Abram into an intimate covenant relationship, he gave him a new namea"a name that contained G.o.das covenant promise in its meaning. El Shaddai wanted his new friend to understand what was going to happen in the future. He had decided that Abram should be the means whereby all the nations of the world would be blessed, with a family numbering in the millions from among his descendants. To reinforce the message, Abram underwent a name change from Abram, meaning aexalted father,a to Abraham, meaning afather of many.a Along with a new name, G.o.d Almighty gave Abraham and his family a new ident.i.ty as a people set apart for relationship with him. The token of this relationship was that Abraham and his descendants would be circ.u.mcised. The name and the token both indicated the same ident.i.ty as G.o.das people.
G.o.d may not give us a new name now, but he does give a new name in heaven to everyone who has a covenant relationship with him (Rev. 2:17). That name represents the new ident.i.ty of a person changed by Christ. And a changed man who engages in careful study of G.o.das word gains a deeper knowledge of the Lord and a clearer understanding of himself. (It is only as we see ourselves as G.o.d sees us and know ourselves in relation to G.o.d that our self-understanding is accurate.) This deepening of insight and excitement of discovery in turn create a freshness of message and a sharpening of focus, and the man who lives in the power of El Shaddai becomes like a father to many.
Names matter. They express who we are and whose we are. So when it comes to naming our own children, itas a good idea to give them names that will remind them of our aspirations for them. Their names can help them understand their ident.i.ty. A lot can be expressed in a name.
September 20
TO READ: Genesis 28:10-22
G.o.das Presence
Then Jacob woke up and said, aSurely the LORD is in this place, and I wasnat even aware of it.a He was afraid and said, aWhat an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of G.o.da"the gateway to heaven!a Genesis 28:16-17
Jacob, on the run from his brother, alone in inhospitable territory, settled down for the night with a rock for a pillowa"hardly the most comfortable set of circ.u.mstances! But he had brought this situation on himself. We have no knowledge of his thoughts as he settled down for the night, but we do know that he could not have antic.i.p.ated what happened. In a dream he was given a pictorial reminder that G.o.d and his angels are actively involved in the affairs of men on earth. The Lord told him in that dream that he could count on the Lordas presence at all times and that the Lord had great plans for him that he was committed to bringing to pa.s.s.
On waking, Jacob exclaimed, aSurely the Lord is in this place, and I wasnat even aware of ita (28:16). It is not surprising that he was unaware of the Lordas presence, because no doubt he was absorbed with his own schemes and anxieties. It took a dramatic dream when he was all alone to arrest his attention and focus his mind on the presence of G.o.d.
Amazing, isnat it, that we men who think we know so much donat even know the presence of the Lord at times? In our world there are so many distractionsa"far more than in Jacobas day. The man who spends all his time amid the tensions and clamors of life may not be conscious of the Lordas presence, particularly if he is carrying the cares and consequences of past actions. The man whose conscience is weighed down with his actions and whose life is burdened with the consequences is not usually super conscious of the Lord. But the Lord is present nevertheless.
We men need to find a quiet place where the Lord can speak the truth to us in love. If the only time he can arrest our attention is while we are sleeping, then we are probably too busy and our minds are too full of athe cares and riches and pleasures of this lifea (Luke 8:14). But if he does arrest our attention, we will be struck with the awesomeness of the Lord. And then no doubt we will, like Jacob, respond with a refreshed commitment of service and allegiance to the G.o.d who was there all the time but we didnat know it.
September 21
TO READ: Genesis 39:1-23
Secrets of Josephas Success
The LORD was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.
Genesis 39:2-3
Josephas early life could be described as, aFrom the pedestal to the pit to the penthouse to the prison.a Talk about a roller-coaster ride! After being sold into slavery by his brothers, he arrived in the household of a man of influence. Instead of bemoaning his fate, Joseph set to work utilizing the obvious gifts G.o.d had entrusted to him. The result was recognition and advancement. Unfortunately, the recognition factor worked in more than one direction. The bossas wife noticed Joseph and made advances to him, which Joseph rebuffed rather than dishonor his master and sin against his G.o.d. As we know, ah.e.l.l hath no fury like a woman scorned,a so Joseph ended up in prison, guilty of being honorable. But even there he conducted himself with great integrity and industry. Very soon Joseph was not only running the prison, he was also counseling some of Pharaohas out-of-favor men.
There are a number of principles of success to be learned from Josephas success story. First of all, as he languished in prison he embraced the moment. Second, he never allowed the vision of success to cloud his vision of what was ethically right. Third, he adapted himself to his changing situations rather than exerting his energies in fighting them. Fourth, he saw in every problem a possibility. Fifth, he knew how to s.n.a.t.c.h victory from the jaws of defeat. Sixth, he knew there was no subst.i.tute for hard work. And seventh, long before Paul told the slaves of his day, aWork hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for peoplea (Col. 3:23), Joseph did it.
All of Josephas asecrets of successa were rooted in his relationship to the Lord. It was the Lord who was with him in the pit, and it was the Lord who was the source of all his gifts. It was the Lord who said what was right, it was the Lord who was working out his eternal purposes, and it was the Lord to whom Joseph would one day give an account. When life is lived with G.o.d as the Lord, the location is of secondary importancea"whether it be the pedestal or the pit, the prison or the penthouse. What really matters is that life is lived in and through, and before and because of, the Lord. That is the way to success. For it takes the Lord to make a man successful, wherever he may be.