Joel Stiff's Adventure

In Isaiah chapter five, Isaiah lists six woes to people who behave wickedly.

Each verse ends with an exclamation point for emphasis.

In chapter six, Isaiah finds himself in the presence of God.

His seventh and final woe is “woe is me.”

When the Bible is used as a magnifying glass to scrutinize the behavior of others, we walk away with a judgmental and condescending attitude decrying their wickedness.

When the Bible is used as a mirror, we cannot help but see our own.

If Christians determine to make a difference in the world, we must return to viewing our own shortcomings in the mirror of the word of God rather than the microscope to pick apart others.

Once you find yourself in the presence of God, no one else comes up in the conversation.

I saw a television program on my onscreen guide by this name.

It is one of many of the decluttering shows. It is truly tragic to see the conditions that these individuals showcased have conditioned themselves to live in. Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight. It is the slow accumulation of one thing after another as well as the attachment to those things. They have come to believe that thousands of empty egg cartons covered in mold and rat droppings are essential to their well being or happiness.

It’s not just stuff. We are all susceptible to this kind of attachment. It may be to people or solitude, food or fitness, shopping or saving. Anything taken to such an extreme causes an imbalance in our lives.

Sometimes, we have to condition ourselves in the other direction. Making slow, but deliberate steps to ensure that we don’t end up surrounded by a mountain of a mess of our own creating.

Our happiness is directly tied to our wants.

When we want things that are out of our control, we are unhappy.

The key then is to limit ourselves to wanting things that are in our control to have.

I cannot control what people give me, but I can control my giving to others.

I cannot control whether or not people will be my friend, but I can control whether or not I am a friend to others.

I cannot control whether or not I am loved, but I can decide to love others.

I cannot control whether or not people serve me, but I can decide to serve others.

So instead of seeking happiness in receiving, being loved, being served and having friends, I will find happiness in giving, serving, loving and being a friend.

Now, I control my happiness because I am getting what I want.

You can eat it or you can cut it in half or you can give it away.

Always give it away.

As a kid, I was really excited by “cool” stuff – a cool bike, a cool jacket, a cool pair of shoes, etc.

Other things never received my attention – the smile of my grandmother, a witty retort, a red leaf on the grass.

As I get older I’d trade a bike to see my grandmother smile one more time. I understand that fashion sense has nothing to do with common sense and I’d rather walk barefoot on the fallen leaves than walk through a mall in a pair of Fila’s.

I love living in Michigan. We are able to enjoy all four distinct seasons. Whenever I’m enjoying the outdoors, I consider that the beauty around me is the result of a cursed creation. The next thought then is, what was it like before? If this is a sunrise after the curse, what was a pre curse sunrise like? The same goes for sunsets, lakes, mountains, rivers and woods.

We are past peak color for the changing of the leaves and they are beginning to fall rapidly. As I was considering their loveliness I realized that without the curse, we would possibly have no such color change. The curse actually brought us something unique to enjoy.

Of course this tells us something wonderful about God.

Even in the midst of judgment and brokenness, God is able to make something beautiful from it.

Everywhere we go, there are signs telling us what to do.
Some of them we obey and others we ignore.
“Wet Paint” we touch to verify.
“Dry Clean Only” we would never disobey.
The only difference seems to be whether or not we have an investment.
Shouldn’t we be as interested in our neighbor as ourselves?

We live in houses, on streets, in towns and cities, in counties, in states, in regions, in countries, in continents, in hemispheres, on a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy, in a universe.

When we start looking at how insignificant we are compared to the vastness of the universe, we may think that our contribution doesn’t matter.

But it does.

It matters first in your house. Then it will matter on your street. It will start to matter in your town or city. It may make a difference in your county. You may affect your state and region. It may receive national publicity. You might make a difference on your continent and spill into the hemisphere. If you’re not careful, you may just change the world.

Lasting influence is going to start in your house.

Right now, go make a difference to someone in your house.

Naaman is off.

Here is this self-important leader in Syria with leprosy. His little Israelite maid gives him news that will change his life. She tells him to go to Samaria to see the prophet Elisha and he will find healing.

He goes into action, not by going to see Elisha, but by sending a letter to the king of Israel and packing up a fortune in silver, gold and fancy clothes. This backfires and causes the king to be quite skeptical of Naaman and the Syrians.

Elisha finds out and calls for him. He travels to Elisha’s home and Elisha’s servant comes to tell him how to be healed – dip in the Jordan River seven times.

This infuriates Naaman. He is angry because Elisha didn’t show up personally and perform some majestic ceremony to heal him. On top of it, if the river truly is the way to be healed, couldn’t he have chosen a nicer body of water?

Naaman represents a lot of people today.

They have very deep seeded, troubling concerns, but are more interested in how it all looks on the outside.

When God begins to work on the heart, He isn’t interested in how it appears to the onlookers. He’s interested in bringing about healing.

I don’t think He cares if we are impressed with His methods or not.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

If I eat a meal, but don’t post a picture of it, did I really get nourished?

If I buy my wife flowers, but do not tweet a picture, does it bless her just the same?

If my children do well on their report card, but I don’t brag about them online, did they really learn anything?

If it’s my birthday but only 27% of my facebook friends wish me a happy birthday, am I allowed to enjoy it?

Life on a stage. Does anything really matter if it’s not on a stage?