God’s Gifts
Blog 8.30.2021
God’s Gifts
“Depression And Anxiety Doubled in Youth, Compared to Pre-Pandemic”
“Mental Health Cases Continue to Increase”
“Mental Health Crises in Developed Countries”
These headlines are so commonplace in our culture today. Few people even bat an eye on the decline of the mental state of our society. It is almost as if this is normal for most of our population; everyone should be battling anxiety and depression. It breaks my heart to think that people silently engage in so many false assumptions that it eventually pulls them into such a dark space that they struggle to see the good in life.
As I was preparing for my lesson this week, I stumbled on a theme that I had not thoroughly investigated before. Finding joy in life was highlighted in four passages within the sermon communicated by the “Preacher,” known as the book of Ecclesiastes. While this book espouses a fatalist view of life, the Preacher wrote some truth within these passages. The book’s writer seems to be fighting their confrontation with depression, and interestingly enough, a common theme emerges throughout the book. Here is the tidbit that I discovered.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,”
Ecclesiastes 3:13 “That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil–this is the gift of God.”
Ecclesiastes 5:18 “This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them–for this is their lot.”
Ecclesiastes 8:15 “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.”
If you follow the thread found in this passage, there is a joy to be found in the everyday occurrences of life. However, these passages are not the “cure” for mental health issues. Think of this more as a foray into the cognitive-behavioral exercise of addressing false thinking. There are three things I think we need to consider as we read this passage.
Each aspect of these verses is a gift from God. Every day is a gift from God. Including the food and beverages, we consume. I pause and reflect on how often I take these sources of life for granted. If I become upset because I miss a meal or squabble about where I should eat, doesn’t this reflect a sense of entitlement about the source of my daily sustenance? Have I not appropriated this gift as a ‘right’ and not as a gracious blessing? Instead, let us enjoy every bite and sip as a benevolent offering from a God who loves us dearly.
Find satisfaction in our toil. We have an incredibly skewed concept of work. We view work as drudgery and obligation. When we have such a negative view of work, the work can never appreciate it. The capitalist says, “I work to provide for my way of living.” The socialist comments, “I work to better society.” The Theist states, “I work because it is a gift from God.” If you fall under the two former lines of thinking, you will never have joy, the capitalist will never have enough, and the socialist can never better society by their efforts. Regardless of what you do, from surgeon to sanitation, frame it with this thought, “it is a gift to work,” then you will have satisfaction in your efforts.
My final thought is that if you find yourself “out of sorts,” it is probable that you are out of alignment with one of these areas. For example, perhaps you have become a slave to your stomach (either too much or too little). Your obsession with drink is unhealthy and damaging spiritually. Your work consumes everything about your life (time, energy, thinking). If you find this true in your own life, find the balance and make a change.
If you lack joy in your life, start in these areas and appreciate the gifts from God. Simply reframing how you look at the world can have a tremendous effect on your stress and anxiety levels, and to think the fatalist writer of Ecclesiastes had the answers all along.
Not Lacking Anything
Richland Blog 6.28.2021
Not Lacking Anything
I don’t know how anyone does it. I can imagine there is a false assumption that anyone can live life alone. I’ll admit that when I was about 12 years old, I thought life would be simpler spent living as a hermit in the Colorado mountains. In those unrealistic moments, I imagined that all people create problems and that if you eliminate “people” from the equation, life will become less complicated. That is an entirely naïve and crude way to look at life and people. As I have grown older and hopefully wiser, I have realized that people are the only things that benefit our lives. A lot of this wisdom comes from the fact that I now understand Jesus’ sacrifice more fully. Jesus was crucified for people, not a place or an idea; He offered himself up for people. More specifically, He offered up His life for the church.
(Ephesians 5:23-26 ESV)
“For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”
Numerous passages point out why the church is important; namely, it is the manifestation of Christ’s body. In this passage, Paul quickly points out that Jesus is the Savior of His body, the church, and that He “gave Himself up for her” wash and cleanse His people. This passage alone should make us reflect on the importance of those who are members of His body. It should help us realize that we are unique and that Christ’s sacrifice was purposed.
(Romans 12:4-8 ESV)
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Each one of us fulfills these different roles within our community of the called out. We have been built and fitted together to give glory to God and take care of each other. Each of these roles is designed to lead us closer to God and Christ and take care of our physical needs.
All of these thoughts take me back to the first sentence, “I don’t know how anyone else does it.” I need the church, the collection of God’s people, working together in unison and carrying each other’s burdens. I have lost track of the kindness that has been given to my family since we moved to the Tri-Cities. People have given us: furniture, meals, helped us move the donated furniture, gifted us lawn equipment, given toys to our boys, invited us over for meals, watched our boys, painted walls, installed flooring, donated tools… and the list goes on and on. And most importantly, people have prayed for us and have cared for us in ways we can’t even begin to be thankful for or mention.
This is the church. I have benefited so greatly from being a part of God’s family; I can’t imagine living any other way. Life is too hard to try to accomplish it solo, we need a family, and I am thankful that I have God’s family surrounding me. Thank you to everyone who has made our lives better and helped us out during a stressful but blessed transition.
Steadfast & Sure
Steadfast and Sure
Hope can be both the most wonderful thing and also dangerous. Hope can be extremely dangerous when the thing or event you are hoping for is uncertain or unattainable. When you place your hopes in something that is unlikely or that is continually removed from you it completely demoralizes you and tears up your character from the inside out. However, when you place your hope in something steadfast and sound it can pull you through the most difficult and challenging of times. The hard part is discovering something that is unwavering.
This last Monday I called the moving company. This is my normal routine, I typically call them twice a week, once on Monday the other on Thursday. You all are aware of the predictable run-around we get on the phone. But this week, the conversation was different, when I called this week they informed me it was loaded on a truck. In disbelief I corrected the dispatcher, “You mean it will be loaded this week?” They insisted it was already loaded and that it would be arriving in 10 days. It seemed incredible, too good to be true, after all of this time there was progress. But hope in something unsure is dangerous. These ne’er-do-wells have wronged us before and have practiced dishonest measures, how much can we believe them? Yet, we can’t help but get our hopes up, there is a glimmer of a possibility that our furniture and personal treasures might one day be reunited.
This is all in sharp contrast to the hope we all have as Christians. The writer/preacher of Hebrews explains it this way:
Hebrews 6:17-20
“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
We are told that our hope is different. Our hope is first attached to God’s promise and oath, these two entities are constant because of the character of God (He cannot lie). The author of Hebrews goes one step further to illustrate this point, he draws the analogy of a ship at sea. Anchors would have been a well-known implement; and most individuals would have understood that an anchor is only as good as the ground it is secured to. The analogy can be explained in this way: imagine you are a ship tossed at sea and you need something to cling to, we know the most immovable and steadfast reality is rooted in God. The writer goes on to say that being in Christ is as if Jesus picked up your anchor walked back behind the curtain to where God resides and firmly attached your anchor to Him. There is now no wavering or shifting of your hope. It is securely affixed to the most stable personage, God.
Steadfast and sure.
Planted By Living Water
Planted by living water.
Last month in the Tri-Cities, there was a dazzling light show. It was caused by the fire that was contained in the Columbia delta by Richland. It was stunning to see the red-orange glow late into the night, and we prayed for the safety of the first responders and anyone caught up in the inferno. Theo still believes it was some volcano that erupted lava in the area regardless of how many times I tell him it was only fire. Thankfully the fire only consumed brush and some groves of Russian Olive trees, and the river contained the more dangerous elements of fire to some islands dotted throughout the water. Based on the intensity of the flames, I would have imagined that the fire would have consumed all vegetation on the island, but it only affected the smaller brush. The proximity to the water is responsible for the durability of the other plants and trees on the islands. It reminds me of this passage from the writings of the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 17:7-13
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the LORD search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is he who gets riches but not by justice;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
and at his end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
The person described in this passage is the person I want to be. I want to be known as a person that trusts in God. Observe how Jeremiah describes this person; they stay alive, vibrant, and do not become anxious even in difficult times. This passage comes from the greater narrative regarding the narrative of Judah’s failings. This interior passage contrasts the behavior of Judah, choosing to trust human abilities, and ultimately trusting God. If we rely on only our skills or the people around us, we will fail, and they will let us down. There is only one way to acquire our outcome, and that is by trusting in God.
People have remarked how impressed they are that our family can stay positive without receiving our household goods. I suppose it is remarkable, but I don’t see this as an opportunity to live begrudgingly but to realize that this is an opportunity to trust in God. Even if we never see our “stuff” again, God has taken care of us. Not only are we blessed spiritually speaking, but the worldwide church (even people we have never met) have blessed us financially and have showered us with so many things; it is hard not to be anything but grateful. And so, even in a difficult time, my attitude is not resentful or bothered but thankful.
Having an attitude like this is what it means to be planted by a stream, placing our trust in God. We know that whatever happens, God is still sitting on His throne. He is the fountain of living water; in Him, we will trust.