Joel Stiff's Adventure

There is no end to self righteousness.

God gives Adam and Eve one command. They cannot keep it.

He gives Moses ten commandments. Man cannot keep them.

Later, He gives over 600 more to Moses. Man cannot keep them.

Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount giving us an impossible standard to meet. Man cannot keep them.

Jesus tells the rich young ruler he must keep the law. The young man says that he has since his youth. He hadn’t.

Every time God gave man commandments, man approached them as though he could really satisfy God.

Galatians 3:24 tells us that the purpose of the law was to teach us that we couldn’t keep it and had no choice but to turn to God for mercy.

We refuse to admit that we cannot live up to God’s expectations.

We daily make judgments and assessments that we are better or more righteous than others.

God says that our righteousness is as filthy rags. I read in one place that this rag is likened to a long rag tied to a pole in public that lepers would use to wipe the oozing puss from their sores. Most Hebrew scholars will tell you that it is representative of a menstrual rag.

Either way, we get a clear picture of how God perceives our righteousness.

The next time you fail to live up to God’s expectations, instead of screaming in frustration and setting about to do better, fall on your face and thank God for His mercy and grace. 

The whole purpose of these commands is to show you that you need Him. 

They are not to show you how much better you are than everyone else.

Recommended reading: Luke 18:10-14

 

You’ve probably heard this before.

Before you criticize someone make sure you have walked a mile in their shoes. That way you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

In all seriousness, it’s easy to criticize someone when you haven’t been where they are.

I heard missionary Rick Martin tell a story about their winter this year. He lives in the Philippines. The tropical climate comes with high temps and high humidity. One morning he woke up to overcast skies, drizzle and a 74 degree temperature. As his wife ran her route to pick people up for church, every family was found huddling around a fire for warmth. They all informed her that they wouldn’t be coming to church that day because of the cold. That same Sunday it was below zero here in Flint.

It is humorous to think that they needed a fire when it was 74 for warmth. But for them 74 felt like our below zero felt to us. It’s all relative.

The temptation is to mock or belittle them for being so weak when the reality is if we had to deal with their sweltering, humid summers or rainy season, our weakness would be readily seen. 

Any given problem can hit us differently on any given day. Forty degrees in October chills the bones while forty degrees in March has us casting off our jackets.

One man put it this way, “Just be good to everyone, because everyone is having a tough time.”

We don’t have to understand another’s pain to show grace to them.

 

Have you ever seen the guy who tailgates you because you aren’t going fast enough?

He will then get over a lane and race up on someone else. That lane will slow and you end up passing him again. You watch his frustration escalate in the way he handles his car. Sometimes he gets ahead of you but at the next light you pull right up beside him.

We have all seen this guy and sometimes we have been him.

It takes a lot of energy and gas to drive in such a manner. It also rarely gets you where you want to go any faster.

The reality is if we would just slow down and stop fighting the traffic, we will get where we need to go just as quickly. It will also save us a lot of frustration and everything that comes with that frustration.

It all boils down to impatience. 

Slow down, stop pushing so hard and wait on God.

Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

 

This thought is from R.B. Ouellette, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport, Michigan.

We hear a lot of sermons on serving God.

Some of them talk mostly about how we need to get busy and do our part.

Others of them speak of needing the power of God in all our endeavors for Him. After all, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.

So, which is it. Do we accomplish the work of God or does God accomplish it through us.

It’s both.

Dr. Ouellette likens this cooperative effort to a vacuum cleaner.

If you push around a vacuum cleaner that hasn’t been plugged in and turned on, it will not clean the carpet. 

If you plug it in and turn it on, but don’t push it around the room, if will not clean the carpet.

For a vacuum to clean a carpet, it must be plugged in, turned on and pushed around the room.

So for God’s work to be accomplished, we must pray for and seek the power of God in our lives.

Then we need to get busy and find a way to serve Him through our personal effort.

One or the other doesn’t get the job done.

It has to be both.

 

We have as difficult a time praying as we do reading our Bibles.

We believe there is a set of minimums that must be reached before we are successful.

Here are some ideas:

1. Stop worrying about how long you are praying.

I never time any other conversations. Why would I time my conversations with God. There is no minimum for success. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He gave them a model prayer. It was a twenty second prayer (go ahead, time it). Sometimes you will talk to Him for a while. Other times it will be very short. Sometimes it’s a quick, “Lord, help!”

2. Stop using a prayer list like it’s a chore.

A list to help you remember what you want to talk about is great. A list viewed as a group of subjects that must be covered is pointless. You will not pray through it with your heart. You will pray to get it done.

3. God is not our pizza delivery man.

He is not a stranger whose sole purpose is to bring us stuff we call Him up for. Prayer is about strengthening our relationship with God. We talk to Him and He talks to us. The only way to keep a relationship alive is to spend time with someone. The more time you spend with them, the stronger it becomes.

4. Pray where you want.

I love to pray outside while walking. Sometimes I just wander the back yard. I hate praying on my knees in a room, so I hardly ever do that. When I pray lying prostrate, I fall asleep. You don’t have to have a “prayer closet”. The point of Jesus’ teaching there was to not be praying for show. But if you want one, get one. The idea is to do whatever will encourage you to actually pray. You can’t do it wrong. You’re only doing it wrong if you’re not doing it.

I like to ask people which historical figure they would like to have a conversation with, if they could. They always get excited and give me a name or even several. It’s funny how excited we get when we think about talking to someone from history and yet God is available to talk to anytime we want. 

 

Some of my Christian friends start every year trying to read through the entire Bible by December 31st.

This can be accomplished by reading an average of three chapters a day or a total of forty hours.

Most of them fail to do it. When I ask why, they tell me how they got bogged down in Leviticus or Isaiah. Some of the tediousness of these books slows us down or discourages us from reading all together. 

Whenever the mood strikes to read again, the last thing they remember is what they were reading when they quit. That negative memory prohibits them from picking it back up.

Now let me say that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. Everything in the Book was given to us for a purpose and for profit. We don’t always know what the purpose and profit is, however. So some of the areas we do not feel are benefitting us cause us to put it down for extended periods of time.

So what can we do if we are out of the habit of reading?

1. Quit setting a minimum amount to read.

So many times we plan to read thirty minutes or five chapters. We don’t approach any other reading that way. I don’t pick up a book and say, “I will read this for an hour.” I don’t pick up a magazine and plan to read three articles. I start reading and stop when I am ready for something else.

2. Quit reading it in order.

Read what you want. If you like the gospels, read them. If you love the Psalms, stay there. If you enjoy Proverbs, read it. If you’re an Old Testament fanatic, enjoy. I would rather know that someone is in the Bible every day, but not reading it all, than to not read any because they felt they had to do so in some certain order.

3. Get an audio Bible.

Maybe stream it from your computer while you are working. Put it on your ipod or get an app for your smartphone. I remember buying the Bible on cassette tape and later CD for hundreds of dollars. Now there are free audio apps everywhere you look. Listen while you are doing housework or mowing the yard. You’ll be amazed at how much you can listen to in a short period of time. I believe listening to the Bible being read is as good as reading it. You’re welcome.

Human nature seeks what it enjoys and avoids what it doesn’t. Give yourself some freedom to enjoy reading your Bible again and you’ll find yourself seeking it out more.

Appetites that are fed, grow.

Soon you’ll even find yourself jumping into Leviticus.

 

I downloaded and played Candy Crush because of Nicole’s recommendation.

I downloaded and played Flappy Bird because of Winston’s recommendation.

I downloaded and played Hill Climb because it looked fun.

I’m done with all three.

The same thing happened with each game. There is a learning curve where you do terribly. Then you get the hang of it and start knocking out levels. Some are easy and others are challenging. Then you get stuck and no more progress is made. Then it gets to a point where the payoff isn’t worth the effort anymore. Then you quit. You’ve gotten all you’re going to get from the time invested.

We drill it into our children as we had it drilled into us, “Don’t quit”. But the reality is that there is a time for every purpose under heaven and there is a time to quit. I was a boy scout, but am no longer. I trained in Korean Hapkido, but am no longer. There is a time to move from one thing to the next. 

Seth Godin put it this way, “Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.”

 

Cancer diagnosis

Loss of a loved one

Failure of a marriage

Birth of a child

Heartbreak of a child

Miscarriage

Bankruptcy

Life altering accident

Watching your parents suffer

 

Things not worth crying about…

Your favorite basketball team losing

 

Children are amazing.

They know no boundaries. I don’t mean boundaries of right and wrong, but boundaries about what is possible.

But as they grow, people start filling their heads with the idea that not all things are possible.

Then comes high school. High school is a place where the insecure pick on and make fun of others to make themselves feel better. As a result, those picked on feel like they need to conform in order to be accepted. Before you know it, every day becomes about getting the “cool” kids to accept you.

You wake up every day looking for acceptance and permission to exist.

So in just a few years, we take a kid who believes they can become anything in the world to a place where they choose their clothes based on what someone else thinks.

Most adults never leave that high school mentality.

Forget that.

I don’t need anyone in the world to tell me who I can or need to be.

 

I learned this one the hard way.

Never wrestle a pig. You both end up dirty, but the pig likes it. 

The Bible says it this way in Proverbs 26:4 “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”

Once it is realized that someone isn’t sincere in discussing a matter, it is time to walk away. Nothing is owed them and if you continue to argue, it ends up costing you.

Fools abound.

Let them alone.