When a pothole appears on the road of our lives...

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

This verse is often quoted as well as misquoted. The wrong way to quote it is to just say "God works everything for good." I call that a missed quote because it is void the last half of the verse. In other words, God works everything for good for those who are his children. Its just like a father, he might provide everything to his kids but that doesn't mean he will provide for the other kids in the neighborhood.

But the essence of this verse for me is a message that God is trying to tell us how we should look at the problems and circumstances in our lives. They exist for our benefit even if we don't feel that. And sometimes, in the face of these problems and circumstances we desire change. We want to get away from these issues of life and potentially miss the blessing that is often cloaked in circumstance.

I remember a long time ago, my mother was on a business trip back in the Dominican Republic. She called my father and I to tell us that she had missed her plane but come to find out, that flight had trouble right after take off and plunged into the Caribbean Ocean where all passengers and crew perished.

So here is the deal. We live in a world that thrives on dramatic change. Our attitudes are "if it ain't broke, break it." Today we focus on what we don't have rather than what we have. We are primarily driven by unsatisfaction rather than contentment.

When a pothole appears on the road of our lives, we often swerve at all cost to avoid the pothole. We do this because at the end of the day, we really don't trust the integrity of the vehicle God gave us to enjoy life. We fail to understand the blessings we have in the potholes and often run into bigger problems.

So grab the steering wheel firmly and go straight through for God intends to make the best of it so you can enjoy life.

Mind your own business

Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

John 21:22

It is important to know the context of this verse. This is at the end of the Book of John when it tells the story of Jesus asking Peter three times "do you love me?" A frustrated Peter asserted his love three times and then when Jesus said, "follow me" Peter responded like "what about him?" referring to John. That's when Jesus practically said to him, "mind your own business and worry about yourself, follow me."

It's a quite familiar scene with kids. The teacher tells a student to do something and the child says, "but why doesn't Mary have to do that?"

We know what we need to do, we know what God wants us to do, yet we are always looking for a way out. When we see someone take the easy route we wonder why we have to take the challenging path.

Think of how much trouble humanity gets into with this issue. Whether its keeping up with the Joneses or postponing action on account that someone else hasn't taken action, its all a recipe for bad things to come.

While we are called to help one another, we still have to mind our own business and make sure our actions in our paths are focused on following God and nobody else. He never plans for our destruction, his path for us is the optimal path to victory. Consider Psalm 119:105 which says "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." He will always light OUR path, let's follow it.

Joy v.s. Self-pity

Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

Psalm 89:15

Our nature is not to be joyful. We humans love to complain and wallow in the pit of self-pity.

It's much like a blue bug light. Don't the bugs see that their friends got fried by the blue light? Even as they are flying towards the light and their friend just in front of them gets friend, they march on towards the light despite the fatal danger. Likewise, we march on towards the pit of self-pity despite the fact that we have NEVER seen self-pity work for anyone.

In contrast, how much better is life when you can tune your ear to hear God's synphony of grace? When you can walk in awareness of the pit of self-pity and keep your distance from it, you can experience joy!

So how do we tune our ears to Him rather than the sound of the blue light zapping our friends? We do this by fixing our eyes on Him, by praising God for what he has done for us despite ourselves.

Praising him yields joy whereas self-pity yields destruction.

A simple twist, startling consequence.

If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5

I believe that this verse along with many in the Book of James can be misunderstood. For example, as you read the verse one could easily focus on the words "without finding fault".

You see, I think the devil could easily re-write this verse to sound the same but completely hinder you from it's blessing. Read what I think the devil's version would be: "If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously to all that are without fault, and it will be given to him."

See how a simple alteration changes the complete meaning of a graceful statement into a condemning statement? The devil would want you to think that this blessing is only available to you if you have no faults! Think of all the time we waste seeking perfection. So these types of lies become the beliefs that shape our lives and our actions.

So back to the verse... As I read it, my interpretation of it is that if I lack wisdom and I ask God, he will give it to me freely without holding my actions for ransom. In my opinion, this one of the keys to true Christian living. A life free of condemnation, free of religious requirements, a life of relationship with the God who treats you as if you had no fault because of your trust in what he does for you every day.

So as you can see, a simple twist of the word and you find yourself in startling consequences. Think about it, if salvation and grace was up to us, we would be finished!

We get through our troubles...

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

At the beginning of a new year, I think that just about everyone is rejoicing. Either you are rejoicing that a bad year is final over and you get a new start, or you are rejoicing because you just had a great year and looking forward to the coming one.

But in this passage, the Apostle Paul is talking about rejoicing no matter the circumstance, no matter the time of year. So the big question is, can we rejoice every month of this coming year? Will we rejoice when we encounter the first setback this year? Will we rejoice when one of our resolutions fall through?

My mother recently passed away and given this verse, how am I supposed to rejoice? If you have lost a loved one, you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you can only imagine. However, I do rejoice because I can think of a million positive things having to do with her. So it is a choice to rejoice. No matter the circumstance, divorce, death, attacks, adversity, will you take a look at the positive aspects of your circumstance and decide to rejoice.

Sure, it is easier said than done but you can always imagine a worse alternative. I think of Psalm 88 when the sons of Korah were obviously faced with extreme adversity, "I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death." That's a dark place to be but I'm sure that most of us have thought this one time or another. But my final point is that you got through it, didn't you?

So rejoice, we get through our troubles, just remember that.