Beginning the walk

Posted on October 14, 2010 by MarkSonger

You know that old saw about “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”?  Yeah.

So, it’s been about five weeks since I posted anything on here.  A little bit longer than that since I said I would be posting on Tuesdays.  The reason for the delay, and for posting today, a Thursday, might not be what you think, however.

It certainly is not for lack of things to write about.  I have seven or eight things written and notes on a handful more.  The problem is that once I wrote them, I don’t know how else to explain it but to say they just didn’t taste right.  Imagine yourself making a dish or a desert or snack to take to a party or a potluck.  After doing everything you are supposed to do, you complete the final step and go in for a taste test.  But it doesn’t taste like you wanted it to.  The whole time you were preparing it, you could almost sense the flavor of the dish.  But this isn’t it.  And now you don’t want to take it to the party at all.

That’s where I was.  But I couldn’t figure out why.

Then one day, about four weeks ago, mind you, I found myself contemplating how, despite knowing better, I regularly find myself getting bogged down spiritually.  More specifically, I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the feeling that I’m just not measuring up, that I’m constantly letting God down, not doing what I should, not being what I should.  I find myself diligently seeking God’s approval while telling myself at the same time that I am nowhere close.  It’s a very frustrating place to be and due to some deep-seeded, long lasting issues which I will go into another time, I do what I’ve always done.  That is, I convince myself if I cannot ever succeed, what reason is there to try.

That’s when God told me, Write about that, Mark.

“But, I don’t want to write about that, God.  I want to write about my interpretations and suggested application of Bible passages.  I want to write about topical issues and what the Bible says about them.  I want to writ—“

But that’s not why I wanted you to start this blog.

“But that stuff’s too personal.”

You invited people to walk with you.  Do you think others aren’t facing the same problems?

I gave in and agreed to write on this subject.  It wouldn’t be easy.  I would feel weird doing it.  But God, of course, was right.  It’s what I needed to work on.  It’s where my walk was taking me and I invited y’all to come along.

Well, go ahead, Mark.  Write it.

“Yeah, but it’s not Tuesday.  I said I’d be posting on Tuesday so people would know when to expect something and I have homework and all this other stuff…“

I kept putting this off.  God kept telling me to write it.  But even when the next Tuesday came, I still didn’t write.

“Well, it’s already 9 pm.  It’s too late to put anything up now,” I’d argue.  But I knew I needed to.  I knew I eventually would.  Finally, I knew I wouldn’t have any peace about this until I did.

So here I am.  I haven’t even scratched the surface, but I’ve brought it to light (Yes, I love my idioms.  Sue me.)  This is me telling you that for the foreseeable future, the primary theme of this blog is going to be about God working with me and me wrestling with this issue.  I don’t know what days I’ll be posting.  I’ll leave that to God.  Hopefully I’ll be smart enough to listen the first time, this time.

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Fish where the fish are.

Posted on September 8, 2010 by admin

There’s a story in the gospel of Luke where Jesus is sitting in Peter’s boat close to shore teaching.  When He’s done, Jesus tells Peter to put his boat out into deeper water and cast out his net.  I don’t know if this was an intended meaning by Luke, but this story has always spoken to me about evangelizing and mission work.

I’m not a fisherman.  I find it to be pretty boring, standing on the side of a river with a single hook in the water waiting to catch some random fish that happens along and shows the slightest interest in what you have out there for him.  Or to spend hours sitting in a boat with your hook in the water, hoping you’ve put it where fish are and hoping they like what they see.

Evangelism was never meant to be done like this.  Never was the gospel supposed to be spread by hanging an enticing lure out for some hapless person to come along and get drawn in by.  But too many churches and too many people take this approach today.

Any fishermen reading about my lack of enthusiasm for fishing above would say you can’t just go out in the water randomly, you have to go to near the stumps or the underbrush or the channels or locks, depending on what you want to catch.  In other words, you have to fish where the fish are, they would say.

After Peter went where Jesus told him to go and cast out his nets, the nets came back so full they were about to break.  Peter immediately recognized that Jesus was responsible for this amazing haul.

So it is with Jesus’ command for evangelism.  Jesus told us to go out into the world.  In other words, He told us to take our boats out into the deeper waters and cast out our nets.  And when we cast them out, He will make sure they do not return empty.

In the story, it almost seems like the fish were sitting right there all along just waiting to be caught.  In another story (the woman at the well), Jesus uses an agricultural illustration saying that the fields were ripe for the harvest.  Whether fish or crops, Jesus shows that we need not fear rejection, we need not fear failure in bringing in His harvest or His haul.  If we go where He tells us, and if we cast out our nets, He will fill them.  The fish are ready to be caught.  They want to be caught.

Jesus told Peter after this miraculous catch that He would teach Peter how to be a fisher of men.  But sitting in the walls of our safe havens, our sanctuary, not going outside because we’re afraid of where Jesus may tell us to drop our nets is not the lesson Jesus taught.  Sitting on the edge of the water hoping to randomly haul in the “fish” one at a time is not what Jesus taught.

“Go where I tell you to go, go where the fish are that I have prepared for you, cast out my Gospel and it will not return to you empty,” is the message Jesus is telling Peter and the others.  That message still rings true today.

Fish where the fish are.

Posted in Evangelism, Missions | Leave a comment

When the healing doesn’t come

Posted on August 31, 2010 by MarkSonger

Listen to me cry out to you, Lord!  Pay attention to my prayer!
When I feel alone, abandoned, in the hour of my desperation, I cry out to you!
(Psalm 61:1)

Someone I know recently lost a loved one after a battle with cancer.  Grief stricken, they said to me, “I guess I didn’t pray enough,” suggesting that had they been more diligent in their prayer, this loved one might not have died.  I know someone else who lost a brother many years ago, also to cancer.  He has said that he is certain that if he and his family who prayed over their brother had more faith, the brother would have been healed.  Another person in my life is currently fully involved in a battle against cancer and the prayers of thousands are being lifted up to God on behalf of this person but .  But what should these prayers be?

To the first person, I would say that God is not sitting in Heaven with a checklist on a clipboard saying “Well, George, I wish I could help you but you only prayed 28 times and according to my formula, I needed you to pray 35, so, sorry!”  And yet, Jesus tells a parable of a widow who asked persistently and was finally given what she wanted (Luke 18:1-8).

To the second I would ask how can we ever know if we have enough faith, then?  Do we believe God is withholding His blessings from us unless we peg out the Faith-O-Meter?  And yet healings during Jesus’ ministry are often linked (though sometimes not) to the faith the person asking has whether the healing is for them or another.

To the third… well, to the third, I don’t know what to say.

Are we wrong to ask for such things?  Are we wrong to pray for healings?  For miracles?  And if we do pray for such things, what does it say when the things we ask for are not granted?  I am convinced there is no formula, no rite nor ritual we need complete before God grants us healings.  I know that we live in a sin infested world and that all things have been touched and corrupted by sin and such things as cancer are a by product of the sin that is in the world and not necessarily a sin in our lives.

So, why are some people healed and some aren’t?  Is it the condition of the people who are praying?

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their prayer. (Psalm 34:15)

The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. (James 5:15b)

God hears the fervent, heart-felt prayers of the broken hearted.  The Bible tells us of prayers that God hears spoken by people whose only claim to righteousness at that moment is justification by God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  So what is it?

The answer is that I don’t think that there is an answer.  We are all destined to die.  Some earlier than others.  And while we may not like it and we may not agree with it, God is sovereign and we need to remember that in this life that is nothing more than a blink of an eye in light of eternity, the separation from our loved ones is short.  God’s plan is sovereign.  How much good will be done, how many people will be touched, how many lives will be changed by God not answering our pleas to Him begging for a healing?  We may not know until we get there.

Some may be quick to point out that I haven’t lost a child.  I haven’t lost a spouse.  That’s true.  And the thought of that happening scares me to death.  But I have lost a sister recently.  I lost a father fifteen years ago.  I’ve lost a friend.

But I know that Christ is risen.  I know He defeated death so that it would have no hold on us.  Do we miss those who have gone before us?  Yes.  Do we pray for miracles that keep them on Earth a while longer?  Sure.  But God’s will is God’s will and instead of trying to bend His will to ours, we should seek and strive to stay within His perfect will.

God does not work in formulas.  He does not operate by checklists.  He does not promise to answer all our prayers in the way we want Him to.  He does promise us peace, comfort, strength, perseverance and love.

Perhaps that is our answer.  Our faith should lead us to trust in Him, no matter what the outcome of our prayers.  Be ready to receive His blessings, regardless.  Let Him surround us with His love.  And rest in the assurance that if our loved one and we both call Jesus Lord and Savior, it’s all temporary, anyway.

Posted in Prayer | 1 Comment

Walk with me

Posted on August 29, 2010 by MarkSonger

The Bible uses many variations of the theme of walking to illustrate our Christian life.  They are part of our speech as Christians.  We discuss our “daily walk” with Christ.  We ask an accountability partner “How’s your walk?”  We encourage each other to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.  The Bible and we refer to giving in to temptation as “stumbling”.  We are told to learn to walk in the Spirit.  We are exhorted that having faith in the Lord, we will run and not get weary, walk and not get faint.  We must walk in His ways and walk in faith.

I don’t pretend to live a model Christian life.  I fall short in so many areas.  When I felt an urging from within to begin blogging, dealing with Biblical application to issues in life, with understanding and strengthening a deeper relationship with Christ, and even discussing interpretations of Biblical passages, I felt so very unworthy.  I discussed this with my wife and God spoke through her to me.  She said, “You write.  It’s how you work things out in your head.  It’s how your brain processes things.  You should write your blog.  But do it for you.  And if God leads others to your blog and they read it and God lets them take something away from it, then that’s a God thing.  It is not you trying to be superior to anyone.”

So that’s why I’m doing this.  This is about me trying to mature in my walk with Christ.  The church my wife and kids and I attend has a mission statement that reads: “We want to help as many people as possible take their next step toward Christ.”  This is my next step.  Or steps.

You may have heard it said that faith in Christ is not a destination, it’s a journey.  I want to invite you to join me on this journey, if only for a little while.  Let us talk and learn, encourage and support, celebrate our steps and lift each other up when we stumble.  I’m not looking to lead, but to walk along side and let Christ lead.  I don’t know where the journey will take me, but I’d be happy for the company.

Walk with me.

Posted in General | 2 Comments