The Answer Is in Your Hands

There is an story about a wise old man in a village that always seemed to have the right answer to every situation, and to every question. One day, a young man decided to challenge the old man, and prove that the wise man was not so wise. He held a songbird behind his back, and asked the old man to say whether the bird was alive or dead. The plan was, that if the old man answered dead, then he could produce the live bird, and prove the old man wrong; but if the old man answered alive, then he could wring the bird's neck, and produce a dead bird, again proving the old man wrong. The old man looked the young man in the eye, and said, "The answer is in your hands."
Many times we fret about what we don't have, and don't pay nearly enough attention to what we do have. In 2 Kings 4, there is a story about a widow woman, the survivor of a man that was faithful, who has two sons, and a great deal of debt. She asks Elijah to help her, and he asks her what she has. She tells him that all she has is a pot of oil. He tells her to go and borrow vessels from her neighbors, as many as she can get, and pour the oil into the vessels. She filled all of these vessels, and still had oil in her pot. She sold the oil, paid the debt, and then returned the borrowed vessels. God has a way of making the things that we have stretch to meet the need.
In 1 Kings 17, there is a similar story with Elijah the prophet and a widow woman who had a little bit of meal in the bottom of barrel and a small portion of oil in a cruse. Because she was faithful, and prepared food for the man of God before feeding her son or herself, God blessed the barrel and the cruse, and they didn't give out until after the draught ended.
Let me add a cautionary note. I know that there are "ministries" out there that will implore you to trust God, and give to their cause more than you can really afford. I would implore you to trust God, and follow His leading. If He leads you to overextend yourself to support a ministry that you believe in, that's one thing; if a ministry pressures you to overextend yourself to support them, that's a very different thing. If you follow God, you can't go wrong, but there are an awful lot of people that claim to represent God, and are trusting that they will never have to give an account for what they have asked of you. Not only are they putting their trust in the wrong things, they are asking you to, as well. If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch, but you don't have to be blind. The book of James says that if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. If it comes down to a choice between paying your light bill or giving to a ministry, well, if it's of God, then God will find a way to pay your light bill, but if it's not of God, then you're going to be sitting in the dark, wondering how God could let this happen to you (but if you had sought God about it, He would have warned you not to give that money to those people). Don't sign your light bill money over to some preacher unless you know with absolute certainty that it's what God wants you to do (It’s okay to fleece the Lord, Gideon did it).
God can do a lot with a little, and sometimes we feel that we just don't have enough. If we let God have His way, though, a little can be plenty. Just as Jesus said that if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains, so can you do a great deal with just a little time, or a little effort, or a little bit of money. Remember the widow with the two mites? It didn’t seem like much to the disciples, but God saw how much it was to her—it was all she had. Pray for God's direction, and the leading of His Holy Ghost, and He can make a lot out of whatever little you have, too, provided that you are willing to use it for His glory.

Character

I was reading about Coach Mike Pressler this past weekend. For those of you that don't recognize the name, he used to be the coach of the Duke Lacrosse team, before the scandal. Interesting that he was forced to resign amidst the controversy, even though, ultimately, his players were exonerated (and, even if they hadn't been, how could he have been held responsible for what his players were accused of?). Maybe exonerated isn’t the right word. There is a chance that three of the players may still face serious charges, but less serious than what we were led to believe at the outset. Coach Pressler made an interesting comment, though, he said that sometimes adversity doesn't build character as much as reveal character.
There have been a number of books written about why bad things happen to good people. To be honest, I haven't read them, but it's my understanding that they generally talk more about building character than revealing it.
I have blogged before about Abraham and Isaac, that God led Abraham to take his son up to the mountain to sacrifice him as a test; not that God had any doubt what Abraham would do, but so that Abraham would know what he would do. Sometimes God tests us in very much the same way, to reveal our character. Sometimes we need to know what kind of character we have, and sometimes other people need to know. For people outside the faith to see how we deal with adversity can tell them a lot about our character, and give them a better idea of whether we, as individuals, are really the type of people that they want listen to. Of course, really, they shouldn't be putting their trust in us, but in the One that we serve.
My pastor, before he went full time into ministry, used to work for a company that sold and serviced restaurant equipment. There was one night that he was working on some plumbing in a restaurant kitchen, and he thought he was alone in the building. He was attempting to loosen a pipe under a sink, and the pipe was stuck. He pushed against the pipe wrench as hard as he could, and suddenly the joint came free, and he banged his hand against something else. He got out from under, and started washing his hand (in a different sink, of course), and was looking around for something to bandage his hand with, and the restaurant janitor rushed in. The janitor looked at his hand, and his eyes kind of bugged out, and he said, "Are you a Christian?" "Well, yes, but why do you ask?" Well, I heard the thud, out in the dining area, and I see how badly your hand is hurt, but all I heard you say was, 'Ouch!'"
This is what is known as testimony. This is what James called showing out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. Character isn’t what you do when you know everyone is watching; character is what you do when you think no one else knows. God always knows, though, so you should always act as though you are being watched. At the same time, you should do what you do because it’s what you want to do, not because you’re afraid of what will happen to you if you don’t.
Some time ago, I was at work, and I found myself wondering whether I was really making a difference; whether anybody even noticed what kind of person I was. It bothered me enough that I stopped and prayed about it. Just then, I heard my name mentioned around the corner. Two people were talking, and one of them was trying to explain something that I had explained to him earlier, but his language was considerably spicier than mine was. The other person said, "Well, now I know you're lying, because he don't talk like that." That at least told me that some people had noticed my character, and that gave me a good feeling.

Faith Without Works

'Christianity Today' magazine has an interesting article in it about a 'new perspective' on the writings of Apostle Paul. A lot of this revolves around references in Galatians chapter 2 (and elsewhere) to 'the works of the law.' The 'new perspective' is that, perhaps Paul was only referring to the core aspects of Judaism: Sabbath, circumcision, and food laws; and that he didn't mean that we, as Christians, were absolved of responsibility in doing good works. This has long been a tight-rope act of Christian thinkers. If salvation is a free gift, then can we simply do nothing except mouth the words, 'Jesus is Lord!' and be saved? On the other hand, if works are required, then why does Paul say that 'by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified?' I think you have to look at some of the other things that Paul wrote (and even some other things in the Bible).

For starters, let's look down to verse 21 (still in Galatians chapter 2): "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." The point here is that Mosaic law tends to be a list of do's and don't's: Do this, don't do that, if you do, then sacrifice two turtledoves... In the next chapter (Galatians 3), in verses 24 and 25, Paul also tells us that the law was a 'schoolmaster' to bring us to Christ--to prepare us for the Messiah--but we are no longer under that schoolmaster. Jesus said that He was here to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). Further on in Galatians (chapter 5), Paul chides the Galatians for trying to live under Mosaic law, and yet live a Christian life. It isn't a matter of measuring oneself against an ancient checklist, it's a matter of walking in the spirit.

But isn't it faith that saves us? Absolutely. But, at the same time, James challenges us to demonstrate faith without works, and even goes on to say that faith without works is dead. Still later in the chapter, he compares faith without works to a body without a spirit. Do you think James meant what he said? Does this disagree with what Paul wrote? Take a look at Hebrews chapter 11. Notice that all through the chapter, faith is linked to works. I want to particularly point out that in verse 17 it makes reference to what many consider to be the ultimate test of faith--Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. As Christians, we can see that this foreshadowed Christ's crucifixion, but my point is that, for Abraham, it was a test of faith. Did God doubt Abraham's faith? Of course not, God formed Abraham--God knew Abraham's heart better than Abraham himself did. The test was for Abraham; God wanted Abraham to know how much faith he had.

Likewise God tests our faith on a regular basis; not so that He can see how much faith we have, but so that we can see how much faith we, as individuals, have. Many of us fail these tests, and then excuse ourselves by saying, 'Not of works, lest any man should boast,' missing the next verse, which tells us that we are created unto good works. We have become completely oblivious to the fact that while we trust that our faith will save us, we continually fail test after test of our faith. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus told His disciples--the men who would later become known as the Apostles--that they had too much unbelief, and that if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed, they could move mountains. Now, a mustard seed is pretty small, and a mountain is pretty big, and, obviously, if you're trying to move a mountain that God doesn't want moved, you're not going to accomplish much. But my question (and this question is as much to myself as it is to anyone else) is this: What have you done lately, that proves that you believe--even if it only proves it to yourself?