Look Beyond the World You See

Tag: Faith

  • The Sign of the Cross

    The Sign of the Cross

    It said, Ride On, Rest in Peace.  A simple wooden cross, stuck in the dirt on the side of the road marked the passing of a life from this world to the next.  What a modest way to say this person has taken the next step in their journey through eternity.  It is a journey so many have taken but so few are willing to consider.

    The Passing of Life is Holy Ground

    We look at a cross and see it as a symbol of death. The cemetery is a grim reminder of our view of the cross.  It is a sign that someone’s life is over.  Our immediate thought is about how they died and the family and friends they left behind.  It doesn’t take long to start thinking about our own mortality and what we would leave behind.  If you are like me, you may even wonder about the life to death process.

    Almost 150,000 people die per day worldwide.  The impact of a loss reflects the depth of our relationship.  You may read the obituaries and not be moved at all by a person’s passing.  You didn’t know them, so why should you be touched?  But what if you see the obituary of a friend on the paper before you?  How would that make you feel?  It is generally accepted that our parents will die before us, so composing their obituary may be very moving.  And God forbid, what if your child passes before you?  Then you would know the depth of pain that is shared by those who live outside the normal order of things.  The pain of death connects those who have shared it.

    When death touches us, we are reminded that the passing of a loved one is a special event.  Relationships captured in photos, videos and untold memories of days gone by flood our minds and fill our hearts.  It is a time to reflect on the best of our relationship and sometimes the worst of the one we lost.  It is a time to consider whether the worst was really that bad.

    Death is one of the few times we are closest to seeing past the veil of this life.  The closer you get to death, the more you realize what is important.

    Just as the well of love that God has given us has no earthly bottom, so too can our grief be.  A child mourns the passing of a parent for years.  A man marks the death of a best friend on each anniversary of his death and on his birthday.  A parent suffers the pain of losing a child and carries that wound like they are holding their baby child.  The passing of life is holy ground.

    Symbol of Life

    While we see a cross as a symbol of death, God sees it as a symbol of life.  We cling to life as if there is no tomorrow, but God has made a way for us to live forever with Him.  God has a way of turning our perspective of death around and forcing us to see it from a different angle.  He took our symbol of death and made it a symbol of life.

    You know Jesus Christ and His story.  It is the story that rises above the rest.  It is the story of His birth, life, death and resurrection.  Every December 25th, you celebrate His birth and every Easter you celebrate His resurrection.  His is the story of true life.  It is a reminder of the love that God has for you and the life He has waiting for you by simply believing in Him.

    The apostle, Paul, was a sinner and violent aggressor, yet the Lord used him to demonstrate His perfect patience towards sinners so that they might be saved.  Taken from 1 Timothy 13-16.   In the same way, the Lord uses each one of us to demonstrate His patience towards sinners, because He desires ALL Men to be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth.  He wants to save everyone from eternal destruction and separation from Him.  In Heaven, He will wipe away every tear.  There will be no more sorrow and no more pain because the former things will have passed away.  We will live forever in joy, peace and inexpressible happiness on the day our veil is removed, if we have made a choice to believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is.  He is, the Great Redeemer, Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace.  Don’t let disbelief cloud your choice.

    We are the Family of Man

    This life connects us and weaves our stories together.  Death finalizes our story and passes it on to the next generation, but death does not need to end that connection.  God made us Eternal Beings and meant for us to keep our relationships forever.  And we can, in Heaven.  We will know each other forever, but in that place those relationships will be drenched in peace and harmony.  It will be the best of times.

    Are there people that have made a difference in your life?  Perhaps someone in your childhood who shared a special bond with you?  If their journey took them from this world before you, then know that they aren’t gone forever.  They are simply waiting on the other side for you.

    There is an hour for each of us to die.  Do not be afraid of that hour, because it is what you have been created for.  Not to dwell here on this world forever, but to learn, to grow, to build family, friendships and earthly connections that will continue into eternity.  You were born to be eternal.  You were made an eternal being.  You are eternal.  The sign of the Cross says it is so.

  • A Servant of God Among Men

    A Servant of God Among Men

    He would be called the greatest evangelist of the 19th century.  Presidents would honor him.  A ship would even be named after him.  But as a boy, no one of his family, friends or acquaintances would have predicted a life that was accorded these honors.  In fact, there was nothing in his young life that could have revealed the impact he would have on the world.  Unless it was the struggles he would endure in those first years of life.

    Born February 5th, 1837, in Northfield, Massachusetts, Dwight was the 6th of 9 nine children.  His father passed away when he was four and his pregnant mother would deliver twins a month later.

    With the family heavily in debt, “creditors came and took everything, including the firewood and kindling”1.  Refusing to break up the family, Dwight’s mother told the kids to stay in bed until they went to school, so they could try to stay warm.  An uncle cut and split more firewood for the family.  A young Dwight would remember it as the “biggest pile of wood he had ever seen”2.

    Every Penny Counted

    Days after giving birth to her twins, the landlord would berate and curse Dwight’s mother for not having the mortgage payment ready.  With her husband’s recent death, she had not the money for it.  Although family members came to her aid and paid the mortgage for the year, she would “cry herself to sleep at night”3.

    In Dwight’s family, every penny counted and that is just what little Dwight earned.  Having to work before he was 10 years old, Dwight earned one cent a week tending cows.  At 10 years old, he walked 13 miles with his older brother to another town to work.  Dwight felt as if he had “walked around the world”4.  Supporting the family was a habit he kept into adulthood, regularly sending money home.

    Dwight did go to school but paid little attention.  As a result, he was barely literate and spelled words the way they sounded.  His atrocious spelling endured for more than half his life.

    Although Dwight was baptized at the same time as his siblings, he had little desire to pursue a faith in Christ.  He preferred instead to cause trouble and have fun at other people’s expense.

    Nothing is Wasted

    Is it ironic that God uses the circumstances of one life to reach others?  Nothing is wasted when God works. 

    After accepting the truth of a living and loving God, Dwight’s ministry began with the children on the streets of Chicago.  Precisely because of the circumstances of his own childhood, Dwight was able to speak with the children of Chicago’s streets.  Those children in turn, found someone they could trust.  Dwight understood them.

    Beginning a Sunday school in an abandoned saloon, Dwight’s kids grew to 1500 strong.  The work among these children was becoming known.  President-elect, Abraham Lincoln, even visited the school.

    Dwight worked hard at serving.  He spent long hours every day doing what he thought God wanted.  It wasn’t until the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 that Dwight stopped working in his own power.

    After the fire, Dwight and his family were destitute.  Their home and belongings were gone.  They barely escaped with the clothes on their back and what little they could carry.

    His Inner Man Was Suffering

    For months, Dwight was lost.  While he helped where he could, he had no strength in him for ministry.  He went about his business but it was the ordeal his inner man was suffering that consumed him.  It was during this time that the Lord showed Dwight about himself.  He realized that he had been serving himself and not Jesus Christ.  Upon the realization that his heart had been in the wrong place, Dwight’s true anointing began.

    Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as, D.L. Moody, would go on to become a famed evangelist and leave a legacy that continues today.  He applied himself to be a servant of men, but instead became a servant of God.

    You May Be the Bolt of Lightening

    We could speak more of Dwight, but what about you?  While your own life may not resemble what Dwight endured, you have a story all your own.  You may think the circumstances of your life aren’t useful for anything, but God is the Master Artist.  He will take what you have and do miracles in others that you never thought possible.

    You may be the bolt of lightning that Jesus Christ uses to illuminate the darkness or penetrate another’s soul.  But as Dwight learned, it is God’s power, light, direction and penetration that so masterfully changes the lives around you.

    I would like to leave you with three verses that sum up what Dwight learned.

    • “’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” Zechariah 4:6 NIV. 
    • As the apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV.
    • Jesus said it best.  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NKJV.

    Are you happy?  Are you living a fulfilled life?  Do you feel like you make a difference?  Or are you filled with regret at squandering so much of the life God has given?  Turn to Jesus Christ in prayer.  There is still time.  Even the ministry of Jesus Christ was only 3 years long and look what came of it; eternal life for all who believe in Him and what He did.

    References

    1.  Kevin Belmonte “D.L. Moody, A Life”, pg. 21.
    2. Ibid., 21-22.
    3. Ibid., 22.
    4. Ibid., 26.
    5. Ibid.

  • Not as the World, Do I Love You

    Not as the World, Do I Love You

    I almost always, only see men at the corner asking for money, so I was surprised to see a woman sitting there.  As she approached my open window and outstretched arm, I could see her makeup was applied too generously.  I wanted to scoff at her attempt to look pretty, until I spotted it.  The telltale sign of a black bruise under her right eye that the makeup couldn’t hide.

    The sadness in this young woman’s eyes wounded my heart.  As our eyes met and she took the bill from my hand, I felt empty.  I knew that would be the only interaction we would ever have.  I also knew that the pain of her struggle would not be so easily comforted by my contribution.

    When My Heart Cries Out

    As I drove on, I became angry.  I wanted to gather armies to deliver this unknown fellow traveler of life.  I wanted to charge into her life and rescue her from all who would abuse and harm her.  No one deserves that abuse under any circumstance.

    After our meeting, I couldn’t stop thinking about this roadside soul.  Part of me wanted to shut the thought of her off so that I could forget her pain and mine.  To have the knowledge of another’s suffering and be unable to heal it is devastating.  I was tormented by the circumstances of a person I interacted with for only a few minutes.  I wanted to heal this person’s hurt and comfort her affliction.  I wanted to give her hope for a better future.  I wanted her to have peace and joy.  The merciless truth is that I have no wand to magically transform her life and it makes me feel helpless.  Our brief exchange left me broken.

    In the end, when my heart cries out, all I have for her are tears.  And my prayers.  But the God I know is the One who has captured my tears in His bottle.  He treasures each one.  And I know that my prayers, shrouded in my heart for a storm-battered soul, will not be forgotten before Him.  He remembers and will not forget.

    He sees her shattered life and cares for her.  He knows how the world has risen against her.  This world is not what He intended, so He has made a new one.  It is a place of peace, love and friendship.  It is a world where each person cares for the other and no one will be harmed ever again.

    Not of This World

    You see, He is not of this world.  The world didn’t make Him.  He made the world.  You will stand in His presence and He will dry the tears from your eyes.  He will comfort you and give you hope.

    Do you not know Him?  He has many names.  Some are, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and Jesus Christ.

    Have you suffered extreme pain?  It may be difficult to suffer and believe in a living and loving God.  Whatever path brought you to the point of suffering in your life, know that what you have suffered is a taste of the death of this world.  Every act of violence, every word that is designed to wound and every intention of the heart that purposely takes from another human soul are forms of death that we experience and endure in this world.  But it is not that way with Jesus Christ.

    Peace, Hope, Faith and Love

    Jesus Christ wants you to have peace, hope, faith and love.  He is waiting to lead you to still waters where you can be encouraged and rest in Him and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is real and He has prepared, Forever, for you so that you will never again have to endure the pain of this world.

    Do you already believe in Jesus Christ?  Then may He rise up to scatter your enemies and strengthen you to endure so that you may stand before Him on the day He calls you home.

    Maybe you don’t know who Jesus Christ is.  Let me introduce you to Him.  He is the One who encourages you to care.  He is the One who has taught you to love.  I don’t mean giving yourself to another human being during the brevity of intimacy.  I mean, He is the One who has taught you to express love in the forms of caring and nurturing for all beings great and small.

    Have you ever held a little baby in your arms?  If so, know then, that holding an infant is one of the Universe’s greatest, beautiful things in life.  True love is made of beautiful things.  When you nurture and protect that eternal being in the form of a helpless baby, you are expressing true love.  That love, is God in you.  God is love and He created you with that love inside you.

    This world of death will try to steal that love from you.  It will lie to you and tell you that type of love isn’t real, but you were born to love.  The world can’t stop that love in you.  Love is always waiting to flow from your heart, to your lips and feet and arms.  It was put there by God.  No one and nothing can take it away from you.  You were hard-wired, so to speak, with love from the very beginning of your first spark of life.

    Be Not Unbelieving, but Believing

    You don’t believe me?  I find that hard to accept.  Perhaps you have expressed love and didn’t realize it.  Here are some examples.  As a child, did you ever make a drawing for your mother?  Did you ever kiss your father and tell him “I love you, daddy”?  Have you ever hugged your sister?  Did you ever forgive a friend?  How about lending a helping hand to someone in need?

    I believe you know these deeds because you have expressed them countless times throughout your life.  In fact, you have done these so often, they have become commonplace and almost forgotten that you do them or have done them in the past.  You were made to love.  You have simply forgotten who you are.

    Jesus Christ has not forgotten you or who you are.  He is calling you today.  He knows the path you have walked and He wants to guide you into a new path.  It is the path of life.  It is the path that leads home to Him. Can you honestly say the path you are on is filled with love, hope, faith and joy?  Does your path give you peace that surpasses all understanding?  I know, there are many great and difficult struggles in this life.  There is no way around them, but God wants to lead you through them.  You will see His hand at work in your life when you turn to Him.  When you give your life to Him, you will be able to hear the words He has been saying to you since you were born; “Not as the world, do I love you”.