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Emotion is no substitute for activity.

Activity is no substitute for production.

 (Production is no substitute for reproduction.)

— Dawson Trotman

The first two phrases above have been well known and applied to a number of situations.  Dawson Trotman, viewing them from a spiritual point of view, added the third phrase.  In his mind, not only emotion and activity; but production also falls short of what Christ desires of us as His followers.

An emotional response is the intended target of the televison and movie industry.  All too often it may be the predominant response to a spiritual message as well.  Whether it be a speaker, a book, a DVD, or a conference, all that may be received is an emotional high.  The message may have been intellectually stimulating, one with which we agreed wholeheartedly and recommended to others.  We leave with a sense of satisfaction, having agreed with and having been stimulated by the words spoken.  The following day, however, we typically struggle to recall the subject matter which had stirred us so greatly the day before.  Emotions come quickly, and leave just as quickly.  I have heard some describe a message as “powerful” and “life-changing,” yet no power or change ever became evident in their lives.  It is apparently all too easy to be satisfied with an emotional experience without a corresponding response in our lives.  Emotion is no substitute for activity.

Leroy Eims describes activity without production in Chapter 5 of his book, “Lost Art of Disciplemaking.”  “Visualize a large manufacturing plant in your town or city that produces shoes.  The management has invested great sums of money and many man-hours into the plant to produce the finest shoes possible.  Money has been spent on salaries for the employees, machinery for shoemaking, and materials from which the shoes are to be made.  The plant is now in operation with hundreds of workers scurrying to and fro.  Machines are running full blast, and activity is at a maximum.

One day the president asks the production manager, “How many shoes have we produced so far?”  “None,” the manager answers.”  “None!”  the president exclaims. “How long have we been in operation?”  “Two years.”  “Two years?  And still no shoes?”  “That’s right,”  the manager says, “no shoes, but we are really busy.  In fact, we have been so busy that we are all nearly tired out.  We’ve been very active at our job.”

Now let’s put a cross on top of that building and transform it into the church on the corner-your church.  Again, there is much activity.  Men and women are working hard.  The budget is higher this year than ever before.   The church is very active. The objective, however, is not to produce shoes but disciples.”

A pastor friend of mine once described what he saw in the church as a large funnel at the top where people, events, committees and programs all entered but with a very small trickle of disciples emerging.  His church had spent several years developing the correct mission statement, but despite all the activity there were few disciples produced. He was describing the fact that activity is no substitute for production.

Many have been productive in their spiritual lives.  Much fewer have led lives that were reproductive.  When Les Spencer brought a man to Dawson Trotman, Dawsons’ reply was “you teach him.”  Dawson had a vision for what the Lord would do in the lives of others, not just his own life.  Many years ago when I initially started the practice of Medicine in Wichita, I had the opportunity to lead a number of people to the Lord.  Although this was production, there was no reproduction.  They were converts, but they were a long way from being disciples.  I did not have the vision of the importance of training people to do for others what I had done for them.  I was attempting to fulfill only a part of the great commission. After my exposure to the Navigators, I saw the importance of the concepts taught in Colossians 1:28-29 and II Timothy 2:2.  I learned that production is no substitute for reproduction.

Why is reproduction seen so seldom?  Production can involve a matter of minutes; reproduction takes years.  Production can be accomplished with a message; reproduction requires your life.  Production can occur when it is convenient; reproduction is costly.  It is one thing to find a lost sheep; it is another to put them on your shoulders and carry them back to the fold.  It is easy to be content when a new convert becomes established in their faith and becomes active in a church.  To continue an investment in that individual until they are equipped for their ministry will take additional years.  In II Timothy 2:2 we see four generations:  Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also.  We can only be assured that we have adequately transmitted our lives when we can see these succeeding generations in a persons’ life.  Our goal should be to continue contact and ministry with individuals until the people they are discipling are actively discipling others.  The Christian message is always just one generation from extinction.  We are perpetually in danger of becoming like the people described in Judges 2:10:  “There arose a generation that knew not the Lord.”  Psalm 78:5-6 describes our task as follows:  “He decreed statues for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.”   It is my conviction that this applies to spiritual children as well as physical children.  It is only generational vision that will assure the fruitfulness of our ministry throughout the coming years.

May the Lord multiply His grace through your lives as you serve Him.

In Christ,

Richard Spann

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith,

so that you will have a full understanding of every

good thing we have in Christ.”

Philemon 6

 

Our Lord’s declared purpose is stated in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  To the measure in which we make this our purpose in life we enter into a fuller understanding of His purpose.  A declared intent to be involved in the lives of others in a redemptive mission with Christ brings us into His fellowship, His presence, His power, and His purpose.  To follow the light we have as we reach out to others with the Good News leads us into further light, enabling us to clearly see others as only Christ sees them, “harassed, and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  We come to understand that there are only two types of people in the world; those who need to know Christ and those who need to know Him better.  We are able in fellowship with His purpose, to view all people with an eye to their redemption.  We understand the words of Paul in Colossians 1:28-29  “So naturally we proclaim Christ, we warn everyone we meet, we teach everyone we can all that we know about Him, so that if possible, we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ.” In fellowship with our Lord’s purpose, we are led into a fuller understanding of Jesus’ words in John 12: 24-26:  “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am there my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me.”  A full understanding of being one with Him in His purpose enables us to anticipate many seeds without counting the cost.

Being identified with Him in His purpose enables us also to come into a fuller understanding of His perseverance.  It is in continuing to be active in sharing our faith that we are stirred by His Spirit to persevere for the lives of others.  For some, this may mean years. For others, it may be decades.  I am currently praying for and occasionally visiting a man whom I met forty years ago.  As we began the relationship, I was a customer in his business.  Later, both he and his entire family were a part of my medical practice.  Twenty five years ago, we asked him to consider meeting with us in a Bible study.  He flatly rejected the idea.  Our relationship grew, however, and we began to spend more time together.  When asked ten years ago about the possibility of looking at the scriptures, he considered it three days before saying  “No.”  Five years ago he was admitted to the hospital and I visited him there.  I gave him a book with some meditations on the Psalms.  When seen a few months later, he remarked that he had thoroughly enjoyed the book, reading it morning and evening.  As John Ridgeway once remarked, “although the mind is closed, the heart may be open.”  We have continued to meet periodically, and he even attended a Prayer Breakfast with me several years ago.  Although he has rejected Christ for forty years, I have learned to persevere with him.  Luke 8:15 reminds us that it is only by persevering that lives are changed.  “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

It is my prayer that in actively sharing your faith you will come into a deeper understanding of His purpose and His perseverance.

In Christ,

Richard Spann

The Need is Not the Call

We live in a needy world.  Every day we are exposed to newspapers, mailings, and other stories of those with physical and spiritual needs.  In our work places, our neighborhoods and our churches we continually come into relationships with those who have needs in their lives.  I have seen a number of individuals who have seemingly responded to every need of which they heard.  Some have done so with the result of failed relationships in their own family.  Those with whom the Lord had given the most responsibility were neglected and in some cases, lost to the Kingdom of God.  How do we discern what the Lord would have us to do?  Even the Lord Himself did not heal every sick person in Israel during His time physically on Earth, injustice still reigned in the land and wrongs were not righted, yet He always perfectly did the Father’s will.  He had a clear sense always of what His Father would have Him to do.  Fortunately for us, the scriptures are not silent regarding the reason for this in His life.  It is found in the following passage in Mark 1: 29-39.

“As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.  So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up.  The fever left her and she began to wait on them.  That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.  He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed:  ‘Everyone is looking for you!‘  Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.‘  So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.”

In this scripture passage we see that to have a priority of knowing the Father’s will, we must make time with the Father a priority.  It will require a costly time, not a convenient time.  It will not be the leftovers of our day, but the best of our day.  It is in the unhurried time, where we have left all our concerns to Him, that we can listen to Him impress upon our hearts what He would have us to do.  We can see His will for us most clearly in the prolonged light of His presence.  Our failure to do this subjects us to being controlled by the needs of others rather than controlled by His call for our lives.

We can see from the example of the Lord’s life in Mark that there are three things that threatened to prevent His retreat from the world to allow time with the Father.  They are the same three things that threaten our lives as well.   The first of these is fatigue.  Jesus had spent the previous morning in the synagogue, driven out an evil spirit and went home to have lunch with his friends, only to find out that the cook was sick!  After healing her, He was soon deluged by the whole town bringing all the sick and demon-possessed to his door for healing.  I have had many busy days in medical practice from early in the morning until late in the evening, but I have never had enough time to treat the whole town!   (Admittedly, Jesus had an advantage here in that He was not required to fill out Medicare forms!)  This was one of the busiest days recorded in His ministry.  If He were ever tempted to sleep in the next day, this would have been the day.

The second threat He experienced to time with the Father was unfinished business.  There were no doubt other needs in the town and community that were not addressed by Jesus the night before.  This was, no doubt, part of the reason for Simon’s comment, “Everyone is looking for you.”  The third, also expressed in Simon’s statement was the expectations of others.  Simon and the other disciples were no doubt encouraged by the response of the town to Jesus and wanted Him to return to help others and perhaps receive more acclaim in the town.  I have found in my own life that these same three things; fatigue, unfinished work, and the expectations of others may threaten my time with the Lord.

In His time with the Father, Jesus clearly distinguished the need from the call.  As a result of that time, He related:  “Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.”  In this statement, He revealed three questions that were answered by the Father.

“Where am I to go?”     “To the nearby villages.”

“What am I to do?”        “Preach there also.”

      “Why?”                          “That is why I have come.”

Have you ever asked yourself, “Where am I to go?”, “What am I to do?”, and “Why?”  I submit for your consideration that all of these questions will be answered by the Father as you spend time in His presence.  As we bring these questions to Him, He will make clear to us what is His call for our lives and direct us to the needs to which he would have us respond.

In Christ, Richard Spann

You will never have a day so bad

that you are beyond the reach

of God’s Grace.

You will never have a day so good

that you are beyond the need

of God’s Grace.

 — Jerry Bridges

 

As the day dawned it found this man in the grip of the icy fingers of fear.  He had doubtless slept little the night before on the cold prison floor.  During that night he would have remembered the past with guilt and shame.  He had no hope for tomorrow.  His trial had been swift; the sentence given from which there could be no appeal.  Early in the morning he was led outside the city, where along with two others, his arms and legs were stretched out and fastened to a rough piece of wood and then dropped into a hole in the earth, suspending him above the ground.  In between gasping efforts to breathe, he began to listen to a voice like none other he had ever heard.  A man, who like himself  on a cross, was yet unlike him in His words to others.  “Father, forgive them.”  “Here is your son.”  “Here is your mother.”  Fastened to his own cross was the charge against him:  “Robber.”  Fastened to this Man’s cross was the charge against Him.  “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  He knew that he was being crucified for what he had done, but that this Man was being crucified for Who He was.  As he watched and listened, the Grace of God began to do its work in his life.  The gospel of Luke tells us that this man acknowledged his guilt; placed his trust in Jesus; and then heard the words, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”  What had been up to that point the worst day in his life now also became the best day of his life as he spent the evening and the rest of eternity with the Lord.  Hebrews 4:16 states, ”Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  The phrase “in time of need” is a Greek expression which may also be translated “in the nick of time.”  We will never have a day so bad that we are beyond the reach of God’s Grace, even if it comes just in the nick of time.

This next man is one about whom we know a great deal.  He was among the most blessed people that we find in all of the scriptures.  He had sought God and God had answered him.  He had learned to trust God in many situations for many years.  Life had been a challenge, but now things were different.  He had achieved a position in life where he did not need to answer to any other human authority.  There was opportunity to rest and let others shoulder some of his responsibilities for a change.  One evening he went for a walk and happened to see his neighbor’s wife taking a bath.  You know the rest of the story.  David’s sin with Bathsheba, the death of their first son, the death of Uriah, the sword never departing from his house (as foretold by Nathan the prophet) all occurred as David did not avail himself of God’s grace in that moment of lustful desire.  All that God had previously done in and through him did not place him beyond the need of God’s grace at that moment.   Titus 2:11-12 states, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”  Ray Stedman once commented on the song entitled, ”I Need Thee Every Hour,” saying that every hour was not often enough.  It should be “I Need Thee Every Second!”

Romans 5:2 relates that we have “access by faith into this grace.”  II Peter 3:18 admonishes us to “grow in grace.”  II Timothy 2:1 tells us to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  Leroy Eims once mentioned that mercy is God not giving us that which we have coming to us, and that grace is God giving us that which we have no right to expect.  To grow in grace is to grow in dependence upon Him.  To be “strong in grace” is to look to the Lord for His moment by moment direction, care and control of our lives.  It is to understand what Paul states in II Corinthians 12:9:  “But he said to me, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

May we, conscious of weakness, continually look to His grace in our lives, which will always be sufficient.  We will never be beyond the reach of God’s Grace or beyond the need of God’s Grace.

In Christ, Richard Spann

Some ask the question:

WWJD?  (What would Jesus do?)

A more important question is:

What Did Jesus do?

Jerry Bridges

 

A number of years ago, the wearing of the bracelet “WWJD” was frequently seen.   It served as a reminder to consider the Lord’s response rather than our own.  Jerry’s words point us instead to a solid foundation of truth that will guide our lives in our relationship to Him.  In his discussion following this comment Jerry mentioned several Bible references.   I have included his comments regarding what Jesus did after the passage listed.

 

Matthew 26:39.  “He did not appease the wrath of God, He endured it.”

“ He exhausted the wrath of God.”

Leviticus 16: 7-10.  “Jesus removed our sin from God’s presence.  These two goats prefigured the grace of God in Christ.  The scapegoat, bearing the sins, is Christ.  The goat slain, its blood on the mercy seat, is Christ.”

Micah 7:19.  “Christ enabled our sins to be hurled into the depths of the seas.”

Colossians 2:13.  “Christ had our sins counted against Him.”

Hebrews 8:10-12.  “Christ earned our forgiveness. By confession, we appropriate what He has earned for us.”

 

Athanasius, along with Alexander successfully argued for the work of Christ in his redemption of mankind at the Nicean Council in 325.  His belief in Christ as fully God and fully man led to one of his five exiles for his beliefs.  Athanasius was one of the first of the church fathers to fight numerous heresies which he did in his work of apologetics entitled “On the Incarnation.”  He, like Jerry Bridges, focused on the question “What Did Jesus Do?”  The following three paragraphs are taken from chapter two of his work, ”On the Incarnation.”

“Man, who was created in God’s image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone.  The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape.  The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting.  It would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon His word and that men, having transgressed, should not die; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption.  ….What-or rather Who was it that was needed for such grace and such recall as we required?  Who, save the Word of God Himself, Who also in the beginning had made all things out of nothing?  His part it was, and His alone, both to bring again the corruptible to incorruption and to maintain for the Father His consistency of character with all.  For He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father.

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world.  In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are.  But now he entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us.  He saw the reasonable race, the race of men that, like Himself, expressed the Fathers’ Mind, wasting out of existence, and death reigning over all in corruption.  He saw that corruption held us all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; He saw, too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled.  He saw how unseemly it was that the very things of which he Himself was the Artificer should be disappearing.   He saw how the surpassing wickedness of men was mounting up against them; He saw also their universal liability to death.   All this He saw and, pitying our race, moved with compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have the mastery, rather than that His creatures should perish and the work of His Father for us men come to nought, He took to Himself a body, a human body even as our own.  Nor did He will merely to become embodied or merely to appear; had that been so, He could have revealed His divine majesty in some other and better way.  No, He took our body, and not only so, but He took it directly from a spotless, stainless virgin, without the agency of human father-a pure body untainted by intercourse with man.  He, the Mighty One, the Artificer of all, Himself prepared this body in the virgin as a temple for Himself, and took it for His very own, as the instrument through which he was known and in which He dwelt.  Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father.  This He did out of sheer love for us, so that in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His body that for which it was appointed, it was thereafter voided of its power for men. This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection.  Thus he would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.

The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father’s Son, was such as could not die.  For this reason, therefore, he assumed a body capable of death in order that it through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remaining incorruptible through his indwelling, might thereafter put an end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection. ….. Thus by His own power He restored the whole nature of man. ….. For by the sacrifice of His own body He did two things; He put an end to the law of death which barred our way; and He made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection.  By man death has gained its power over men;  by the Word made Man death has been destroyed and life raised up anew.”

The comments of Jerry Bridges and Athanasius focus primarily on Christ’s atonement for us.  To fully begin to answer the question “What Did Jesus Do?” it is necessary to paint a much broader picture, one which is impossible for us to do.  I Corinthians 13 reminds us that we all see through a glass darkly.  Isaiah 40:28 tells us that “there is no searching of His understanding.”   This is a question that we may not be able to fully comprehend even in the ages to come.  Ephesians 3:17-19 records Paul’s prayer as follows, “that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.”  What Christ did in His love for us surpasses knowledge, yet it is in that seeking that we are changed into His image and He is glorified (II Corinthians 3:18)  “What Did Jesus Do?”  is not only a question for the ages to come, but one for our daily lives.  As we abandon our lives to Him who abandoned his life for us; His presence, His power, and His purpose will be seen in our lives as well.

In Christ, Richard Spann

 

“People will do with others

what you have done with them,

not what you ask them to do with others.”

Howard Hendricks, retired professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, described it this way.  He related that he had stood before his class and told them that they needed to get involved with others in Bible studies.  The following year he traveled out to where his seminary students were doing pastoral work in local churches.  As he sat in the pew, he heard them tell the congregation that they needed to be involved with others in a Bible study.  The students were not involved in any Bible studies themselves, they were simply telling others what they had been told.  Howard states that he went back to Dallas and began to have Bible studies with the students.  A significant change occurred in this group of students.  Wherever they went in their ministry, they were involved with others in Bible studies.

About forty years ago I recall sitting in a small tea room in downtown Wichita.  An insurance salesman whom I had met a few months earlier was asking questions about the person of Christ.  As I began to explain the gospel to him, I found a pamphlet in my pocket, written by an evangelist in California.  It was a series of questions and statements in which my friend showed interest.  At the conclusion of our discussion, he sat across the table from me and gave his life to Christ.  Over the next several months we met regularly, during which time he became established in Christ and I began the process of equipping him for ministry.  A co-worker of his was interested in spiritual matters and we discussed several ways of presenting the gospel including the Bridge illustration. After several months went by, I asked him how he was progressing in presenting the gospel  He hesitated, and then related that he was unable to do so because he had not been able to find the pamphlet that I had shown him when he trusted Christ.  Remarkable!  He was programmed to do with others what I had done with him.

Years later I was meeting with a man who had asked me to help with his discipleship.   He was more established in his walk with Christ; so I chose to start with some materials more suitable for a mature believer.  He continued to grow in Christ, and in time developed his own ministry.   To my chagrin, he was using the same materials that I had chosen to use with him, but with new believers for whom it was not the best choice.  He was doing with others what I had done with him.

Jim Petersen, author of Living Proof, stated the following in a Navigator staff conference:

          “A ministry develops sort of a genetic code, a DNA, as it progresses.  The choices made, the way things are done and the people who become a part-all contribute to defining the shape of things to come for better or worse.

           Once the code is set, once a ministry takes form, it tends to follow that course.  It will require deliberate conscious effort to make changes.”

Everything we do becomes a pattern for those who follow.  Our initial interaction with those we are leading to faith will govern to a significant degree the manner in which they, in the future, will relate to non-believers.  Not only is this true in a spiritual realm, but our relationships we have with co-workers, our families, our use of money, time and other resources will be an influence not only on those to whom we minister but to succeeding generations as well.  Our lives, for better or worse, are patterned after the examples we have seen and lived with to a significant extent.  I recently read again the story of Samuel.  He was a man dedicated to the Lord, and committed to honoring the Lord.  Yet we read in I Samuel 8:3, ”But his sons did not walk in his ways.  They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.”  What was the reason for this, we might ask?  From whom did Samuel learn his parenting skills?  Eli, unfortunately, was the model to which Samuel was exposed.

I am in the process of learning to view others with a concern, not only as to what they might need, but more importantly, as to what those to whom they minister in the future might need.  This requires looking beyond them to succeeding generations who will need a pattern for their lives and ministry as well.  A young man with whom I meet regularly was quite knowledgeable with the scriptures.  When I first met him, I was tempted to begin with something that I thought would be of more interest to him.  As I considered the options I became convinced that what he needed was to have a pattern of ministry established clearly in his life that would be the DNA for succeeding generations.  Accordingly, we began with Beginning with Christ.  This is where he needs to begin with most of those with whom his life will have an influence.  They in turn, will have this patterned in their lives.

 Paul states the following in Philippians 4:9,  “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you.”   It is my prayer that whatever is learned, received, heard or seen in our lives may be the correct pattern for the succeeding generations of followers of Christ.

In Christ,

Richard Spann

People are often unreasonable, illogical,
and self-centered:
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives:
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies:
Succeed anyway. 

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you:
Be honest and frank anyway. 

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight:
Build anyway. 

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous:
Be happy anyway. 

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow:
Do good anyway. 

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough:
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. 

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God:
It was never between you and them anyway. 

Mother Teresa

Our spiritual walk may be hindered by others in at least three different ways.  It may be through their criticism, their failures, or even their success. 

We have all been subject to the criticism of others.  Even well meaning remarks may divert us from the path to which we are called by the Lord.  I have been advised, for example, that to share the Gospel of Christ with my patients would destroy my medical practice.  Others have questioned the emphasis on individuals and suggested that more could be accomplished by focusing on a group ministry.  Some have been critical of the entire Navigator ministry of disciple-making.  It is well to remember that even David’s friends were so opposed to him at one point that they talked of stoning him!  I Samuel 30:6 states that in this situation David “found his strength in the Lord.”  Although criticism must be evaluated as to its validity, the strength we need to find in these times is in the Lord.  To find strength in the Lord we must spend time with Him, sit at His feet as did Mary, listening to Him.  This process requires simplicity, solitude, silence and surrender. 

The spiritual failures of others have a negative impact on our lives as well.  The Apostle Paul described this when he spoke of Demas in II Timothy 4:10:  “for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”  We can all number those of our friends and acquaintances who no longer are involved in the cause of Christ.  Some of these are because of overt sin, and others because of involvement with worldly pursuits.  Some of these are those with whom we have spent considerable time helping in their faith journey and discipleship.  I Corinthians 15:58 reminds us that all that is done for the Lord is not in vain.  All that His Spirit does through us is ultimately by Him and for Him.  We are called to be faithful in His eyes, not successful in our own eyes. 

Our spiritual walk may also be hindered by comparing our lives with others.  Their ministry may be more successful than what God has called us to do.  It may be more visible, more popular, or receive more acclaim by others.  It is well to remember the Lord’s words to Peter as he compared his calling with that of John.  “Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? Youl must follow me.”  John 21:22

Safety and security in our spiritual walk depend on our stedfast looking unto Him, “the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”  Hebrews 12:2  As Mother Teresa writes:

                                        You see, in the final analysis,

                                         it is between you and God;

                                         It was never between you and them anyway. 

 

In Christ, Richard Spann

So Abraham called the name of

that place Jehovah-jireh.

(The LORD will provide)

Genesis 22:14

One of the names by which our LORD reveals Himself to us and wants to be known is Jehovah-jireh.  The word “jireh” means literally “to see.”  As Kay Arthur relates in her book “To Know Him by Name,” when God sees; he foresees.  It is because He foresees, that He also provides.  On Mount Moriah, Abraham experienced the Lord as the One who will provide.  It was after laying his son, Isaac, on the altar that God provided the ram caught in the thicket for a sacrifice.  God foresaw the need for a sacrifice, and because He foresaw, He also provided. 

Our God foresees every event of our lives.  He has known and has seen them from eternity past.  Having foreseen each need He is faithful to provide for us at our point of need.  The LORD reveals this truth to us about His person in the story of Moses (as He does throughout all the scriptures), but He wants to reveal Himself as Jehovah-jireh in our individual lives as well.  It is at a point of need where God moves miraculously in our lives that we are given an opportunity to possess not only intellectual truth but also experiential truth.  It is this personal interaction with YHWH that holds us, shapes us, and enables us to know him more deeply.  We have all had numerous experiences where the Lord has made marvelous unexpected provisions in our lives.  Each day has instances which we take for granted and for which we sometimes fail to give thanks.  On occasion, however, the LORD wants to underscore a lesson about His faithfulness to His name (Jehovah-jireh) and teaches us lessons which we will never forget.  

I was about ten years old.  My father, older brother and I had attended a revival service at the old Forum building in downtownWichita.   At the end of the service, an offering plate was passed, and I felt that if I had any money, I should give some.  Upon returning home, I remembered the “shoe jar.”  It was a jar in which my parents placed extra money from the week.  As it accumulated, the money would be used to buy shoes for our family.  I knew that I was next in line to have some shoes, and assumed that I had some right to the money in the jar.  The next night when we attended the service, I placed the full amount of money (about ten dollars) into the offering plate.  Upon returning home, my mother asked me where I had found the money to give, and I told her that it was from the shoe jar.  (I realized later that this decision should have been one for which my parents had given permission!)  The next morning, upon leaving the front porch, I immediately saw a group of dollar bills scattered across the yard near the street.  They were distinctive in that the outer edges of the bills had been cut off, but still leaving them negotiable.  I scooped them up and ran to show my mother in the back yard.  As I ran through a dirt path beside our house, I found a pile of loose change containing quarters and half-dollars.  I gathered these up as well and showed all of these to my mother.  The total amount was slightly in excess of the amount that had previously been in the jar!   The Lord could have chosen any method to provide for my shoes, but this one that He selected has made it crystal clear throughout my life that His name is “The LORD will provide.”

Several years ago, my wife and I were planning a trip to visit our daughter, son-in-law and family who were serving as medical missionaries in Benin, West Africa.  Our passports were up to date, and we had received shots for Hepatitis A, B, yellow fever, meningitis, typhoid fever, diphtheria and tetanus. We had our pills ready to use to prevent Malaria.  We had also packed surgical blades and other medical equipment for our daughter to use in her surgical practice inBenin.  Nine days before our departure, my wife awakened early in the morning with the thought that we would need to check about bringing surgical knives into Benin.  To her surprise, she found out that unless we had a Visa, we would not be permitted into the country!  She called the Benin Ambassador’s office in Washington D. C. and was told to send in our passports and fees immediately.  He also told her that they were not open for the next three days, and would be closed the following Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.  He told her that even with the use of overnight mail service, they would not begin to process our request until five days before the departure!  Despite calling daily, we had no assurance of the processing of our request until 36 hours before our flight to Africa.  Thankfully, our Visas did arrive the evening prior to our departure.  “The LORD will provide” had awakened my wife at the last possible moment so that we could take our trip.

In her book ”The Hiding Place,” Corrie Ten Boom related concerns to her father about what would happen to her and to her sister at a certain time in the future.  Her father then asked her a question, “When do I give you the tickets to get on the train when we travel?”  Corrie answered, “When we are on the platform.”  Her father then stated that the Lord did the same. When we are on the platform, ready to embark on the next situation in our lives, the Lord will provide what we need.  Hebrews 4:16 reminds us of the same thought.  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  The phrase “in time of need,” is a Greek colloquialism which may be better understood by the statement, “in the nick of time.”

Each of our tomorrows is filled with fears, uncertainties, and responsibilities.  When we look at our adequacy to meet any one of a number of possibilities, we conclude that we are woefully inadequate.  This, I think, is one of the reasons we are not given a blueprint of the days ahead.  The Lord desires that we look to Him as our adequacy, not to ourselves.  By looking to Him as Jehovah-jireh we in dependence place our trust on His Name that He has given us, in faith resting on His provisions.  We lost much in the Garden of Eden when we declared our independence from Him in perfect surroundings.  We gain much when we declare our dependence upon Him as Jehovah-jireh in imperfect surroundings.  We gain an experiential knowledge of Him as “The LORD will provide.”  We enter into the pursuit of all the ages to come; into the occupation that will expand throughout eternity; namely, the knowledge of God.   (And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. John 17:3)

The Lord provides from eternity past (The lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  Rev 13:8) to eternity future. (That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  Eph 2:7)   Our present lives are likewise embraced by His perfect knowledge and timely provision.  It is my prayer that the eyes of our faith will be enabled to see His faithfulness in daily manifesting His name as “The LORD will provide.” 

In Christ,
Richard Spann

 

 

 “This is my Son, whom I love.

Listen to Him!”

Mark 9:7

Listening does not come naturally for most of us.  Our educational system provides numerous opportunities to attend classes on speaking.  I cannot recall ever hearing about a class designed to teach us to listen.  James recognized this weakness and in his epistle states that we are to be “quick to listen, and slow to speak.”  (James 1:19)  If we are deficient in our ability to listen to others, how much more so does this affect our ability to listen to Christ?

Some years ago, I was exploring the topic of listening to Christ with a small group. For several months we agreed to set apart a certain time each day initially in prayer, then with an open Bible, and wait on the Lord.  Each of us were asking for directions in a specific area of our lives.  Over the period of three months time, everyone had the impression that the Lord had led them to a specific answer.  For some, it was a leading to a specific scripture.  For others, the leading was a thought or impression made on their mind.  As Elijah experienced long ago, it was not in the earthquake, wind or fire, but in a gentle whisper through an idea impressed on their minds or through the scripture. 

Since we are so clearly commanded to listen to our Lord, it is vital that we take the necessary steps in our lives that would enable this to happen.  In his book, “Intimacy with the Almighty,” Charles Swindoll uses four words that illustrate how intimacy occurs. They are as follows:  simplicity, solitude, silence and surrender.  It has been helpful to me to use these words in the context of listening to Christ. 

Listening to our Lord begins with simplicity.  I do not have time to either seek or listen to Him in the midst of a hurried lifestyle.  He will not raise His voice nor will He shout to get my attention.  I must first choose to set aside not just 7 minutes a day, but an extended time if I want His communication. This will require saying “No” to other events and desires in order to have solitude with Him. 

Solitude implies that one is alone with God.  It is also an unhurried time, in which one is not checking the clock periodically to see if it is time for another commitment.  It is in a place without distractions or interruptions.  The focus of our hearts and minds should be on the Lord Himself and His word, not diluted by carrying on any other activity.  It is in this solitude that we can experience silence. 

If I am silent before the Lord, it is because He has calmed my fears, and removed my anxieties.  All my concerns have been brought to Him in prayer.  I have cast all my care upon Him. (I Peter 5:7)  All other thoughts must be quieted, as He will not compete with other voices.  Our attitude must be that of David as he wrote in Psalm 27:4.  “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.”  It is in this silent atmosphere that we can bring our enquiry and listen for His direction in a position of surrender. 

In surrender we place ourselves at His disposal to do His will.  It is the attitude of Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8.  “Here am I, Send me.”  It is in this abandonment to Him that we also proclaim our desire to hear from our Lord.  We want to know what He wants us to do for the express purpose of obedience to His will. 

Several years ago, I was in a situation where I needed clear direction from the Lord.  It involved a ministry need that would require two hours weekly for an indefinite period of time.  With my already busy schedule I was reluctant to make a commitment but realized that I needed to seek the Lord’s will.  In solitude, in silence, and in surrender I placed the situation before Him.  Within the next few minutes I was led to several scriptures that definitely confirmed that I was to make this commitment to serve.  Since that time, it has not been  convenient to make myself available to that ministry. Despite the difficulties, however, I have His peace in my heart as I know assuredly that I am in His will. 

One of my favorite scriptures is the account of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35.  Jesus appeared to them on the way, walking with them and asking them questions.  When their eyes were opened to see Him as their Lord, “they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Verse 32)  It was not when they talked, but when He talked that their hearts were burning.  This same Jesus desires to talk with us as well.  We can experience this same burning of heart when we listen to Him.  It is my prayer that as the disciples of old, your hearts will burn within you as you listen to Him in simplicity, solitude, silence, and surrender. 

In Christ, Richard Spann