Monthly Archives: September 2015

Bargain Hunting I Found a Treasure: Look at This

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Come with me.

I’m looking for a bargain.

Have you hunted for treasure?

 

swap meet 1

I’m walking up and down the rows of someone else’s trash is another someone else’s treasure. I’m looking for something I need, but don’t need, something that will be useful.

If I spot it I will pretend I don’t really want it. I’ll pick up something else. I’ll put that down. I’ll pick up the thing I really want. Then set it back down in its place. I’ll make a move like I’m going to walk away. The haggling begins. I walk away with my bargain.

At home, in my workshop, I admire my bargain. I notice as I noted at the Swap Meet, it’s a little dinged up, but still it’s in reasonably good shape. I pat myself on the back, “You did well.”

Do you appreciate the treasure you found?

When I buy something for less than I think it’s worth I think I’ve bought a bargain. I think I got a deal. Has this happened to you?

It may never occur to me to ask myself, Do I appreciate what I bought if it didn’t cost me much?

Here’s what I know about myself: Later I might think, I don’t appreciate this. It was a bargain and it doesn’t have much value to me. I could take it or leave it. Is this my attitude? Maybe it’s just some degree of buyer’s remorse.

Jump with me.

Did you later question the treasure’s value?

I may assume that Jesus is a bargain of questionable value. Something I found cheap at the Swap Meet.

What did it cost me to receive God’s free gift of salvation? Nothing.

Just now I’m thinking, that’s a good deal…I got something for nothing.

Then later, in a less ecstatic moment, I think, perhaps I need to view this gift from another angle?

I began asking myself questions and trying out answers. What has this gift done for me? I don’t know. I mean I know what I’ve been told. I was dead and now I’m alive. But I don’t know what that actually means.

Does Jesus have anything to do with my job? Does Jesus have anything to do with the way I talk? Does Jesus have anything to do with the way I treat others? Does Jesus have anything to do with how I spend money? Does Jesus affect or influence my behavior in any way?

Jump with me.

How has your treasure affected and influenced you?

Maybe Jesus does affect and influence my actions and I haven’t been aware of it.

Pick this up. Is the Holy Spirit gently tugging me toward recognizing the wealth that is mine in Christ?

I wonder. While I’ve been clueless, what has God been busy doing in my life? I wonder, did I give the Lord permission when I received his free gift to restructure who I am? To make me something I wasn’t? I wonder.

I think this might be so. What if there is a remodeling project being done inside me?

“Bring in the wrecking crew.”

“Tear this down!”

“Put this up.”

“Get rid of this trash.”

“Clean up this mess!”

“Use diamonds here, I don’t want plastic.”

What if God is changing me?

Jump with me.

When will your treasure improve your life?

Actually, I did give God permission. Yesterday I wasn’t aware, but today I must be aware because I’m writing about it.

What will Jesus reconstructing my life look like in the next few hours?

Jump with me.

Jesus is a bargain of inestimable value.

Now, when someone asks me how are you? I say, “Better than I deserve. I discovered treasure.”

And, I wasn’t even at the Swap Meet.

Thanks for coming with me.

Did you find anything of value?

 

Two songs from Casting Crowns

If We’ve Ever Needed You.

Just Be Held

3 Promising Reasons Why Temptation Is An Opportunity

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At 7:15 Ernie and I stood in my driveway waiting for our carpool partner Ivy. It was day 39 of the Tucson bus strike. While we were waiting for Ivy, I did some morning stretches. I reached high. I twisted to the left, then to the right. I bent over and tried to touch my toes (I couldn’t) … that’s when Ernie said, “Are you ever tempted?’

Temptation“Say what? … Everybody’s tempted.”

“Well, help me work this out … Do you think temptation could ever be an opportunity?”

I completed a set of seven goblet squats to loosen my knee joints. “I’m not tracking you, tell me more.”

“Okay.” Ernie squinched up his eyebrows in concentration. “There are two types of temptation, right?”

“Two types of temptation?” I reached high to touch the sky.

“Yes, bad temptation and good temptation.”

“Got it, bad and good temptation.

“Hear me out, both bad and good temptation have something to do with opportunity.”

As I looked down the street I saw Ivy turn the corner. In five seconds, she would pull up to my driveway. “Define good and bad temptation opportunity.”

Ivy stopped her car so we could get in.

Ivy is a smoker who abstains from smoking in her vehicle.

Ernie and I grabbed our work stuff from the ground, opened the car door, and slid into our seats.

After we mumbled our good morning’s and how are you’s, Ernie said from his shotgun seat, “Bad temptations prevent opportunity. Good temptation allows opportunity.”

From the back seat, I filled Ivy in. “Ernie’s talking about how temptation’s an opportunity.”

Ivy grunted, turned down the NPR newscast, and we listened to Ernie.

“I’m thinking when temptation comes along we have a choice,” Ernie explained. “We can choose to surrender to temptation … this is bad, or we can choose to resist the temptation, this is good.”

Ivy caught up with the conversation. We both said at the same time, “Bad and good temptation.” I saw Ivy glance at me in the rear-view mirror. I said, “I always thought temptation was bad.”

“No, no, I’m thinking it isn’t. The temptation, in a good sense, is an opportunity.” Ernie gestured with his right hand and arm, punctuating his point.

Ivy said, “Well wait, how is temptation a good opportunity?”

Ernie said, “Okay let me say more.” Ivy peeked at me in the rear-view mirror, again. “When temptation comes, it seems to me that I have a choice to cooperate with a temptation and do whatever the temptation suggests … or I am able to choose to reject the temptation, thus not do what it suggests.”

“All right, I follow that,” Ivy said.

I agreed with Ivy and thought about the choice conflict. I noticed the traffic seemed heavier this morning.

“With the bad temptation, I’m thinking, I can give up control to a temptation or I can keep control when the temptation comes.”

From my seat I asked, “Are you proposing will-power … positive thinking … positive action?” Ivy listened.

Ernie said, “I think to make bad temptation good, a person has to start with making a decision to not give in to the temptation. Perhaps the process of moving toward good temptation requires positive action or positive choice.”

“You’re saying a person has to actively resist the bad temptation,” Ivy said.

“Exactly.”

I wondered how rejecting temptation looked in real-time. “So the conflict is making the right choice … doing the right thing?” I noted we were almost at work.

Ernie swung his arms wide. “Yes, we control our choice. First, a good choice creates a chance to watch God work. Consequently, second, as we allow God to use the temptation for good, and third, we live inside victory. Therefore temptation becomes an opportunity to get closer to God. Temptation can be good for us.”

Ivy parked in a numbered slot in a downtown garage, a block and a half from our workplace.

Our eyes touched in the mirror and we connected. We both said to Ernie, “That’s interesting … I’ll have to think more about that.”

We got out of the car. Ernie and I grabbed our stuff. Ivy lit a cigarette as we headed to the job.

Ernie said, “Please do. It’s a new thought for me, too.”

 

Bonus Music:

Big Daddy Weave: My Story

 

Book: Getting Stuck: 7 Steps to Freedom

Getting Unstuck blog

Exploiting the Top Unsurpassed Skill of a Warrior: Kindness

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I know, I know … is there anything new left to be said about the value of kindness?

Of course there is.

act-of-kindnessWhat You Probably Already Know:

First, The Father gives us opportunities to serve Him through others. But just because I know this it doesn’t mean I’m doing anything about it. People thirst, but do I hand them a bottle of water? People are hungry, but do I offer them twenty dollars for lunch? Or better yet, take them out for a meal and get to know them?

Be on watch for these opportunities. They come at unsuspecting times. And they bring joy and wonder to faith in Christ.

Second, Jesus taught kindness by example. Of course the first thing I’m thinking is, “Yeah, but that was Jesus!” But then I’m reminded that Jesus did these kind things and then said fascinating word such as, “You feed them.”

I think this might mean, let Jesus live His life in me and through me today and tomorrow. And moreover, make Jesus’ kindness my future.

Third, the Holy Spirit isn’t a bully. You and I don’t have to be kind. But who’s impressed with intimidation and manipulation? Does anyone enjoy being threatened? Not to my knowledge. Kindness is preferred. Bullies are avoided.

Other Stuff You Probably Already Know:

  • Air to breathe is evidence of God’s kindness.
  • Losing your temper isn’t evidence of kindness.
  • Practicing kindness improves the skill of kindness.
  • A spiritual warrior is skilled in using the weapon of kindness.
  • Choosing kindness offers personal growth and freedom.
  • Kindness unleashes God’s power into circumstance. (Are you ready for that?)
  • Acting and responding with kindness is a challenge.
  • Kindness isn’t for the weak-willed-wimp.

What You May Not Know:

  1. Kindness belongs on your things to do list.
  2. It’s okay to surprise someone with kindness.
  3. When you’re kind, you have a chance to experience the living Christ.
  4. Kindness leads you to prosperity
  5. There is always a demand for immediate kindness.

What You Do Not Know:

  • How the Lord will use an act of kindness to change someone’s life forever.

A Brain-Dead Simple But Practically Effective Way To Fortify Your Day:

Go forth and be kind.

Jesus is ready to work through your kindness.

Are you ready to become kindness for the sake of Christ and the common good?

 

Getting Unstuck blogGetting Unstuck:

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