Several years ago I ran across the following article and ran it in our church bulletin. Since the real reason we suffer in this life very often involves our own pride and selfishness (at least mine does) I thought it would be a good idea to share these words of wisdom this week. I would like to give credit to the author, but I don't know who wrote it. If any of you do, let me know. Here is what he wrote:
From World War II comes the story of a naval ship on patrol in the Atlantic. The Captain noticed a strange light shining through the fog. It appeared to be headed straight toward his ship.
"Signal that ship to change course ten degrees to the West," he commanded. The reply came back, "Change your course ten degrees to the East."
Indignant, the Captain responded, "I am the Captain; change your course." The reply: "I am a seaman second class; change your course ten degrees."
This time the Captain's message took on the ring of combat: "This is a U.S. Destroyer; change your course now or suffer the consequences." The response was brief: "This is the lighthouse; change your course."
In a world which attempts to say the reverse, it is humbling to realize I am not the standard, the ultimate, the center around which all others revolve. This is the classic sin par excellence: pride. Its opposite (humility) is a challenge precisely because I see myself as the Captain; all other lights must give way to mine.
The Christian sees it differently. Because I am a servant, other lights take priority over mine. Because I am a disciple, the Teacher's light takes priority over all others.
"But I have my rights!" Wrong. Servants don't have rights! Disciples do not worry about rights. True servants think only of serving. True disciples think only of learning from the Master. Talk of "rights" is whistling in the dark when the lighthouse is dead ahead.
Okay, this is me again (djb). When I ran across this old article, I just had to put it in one of the Barnabas' Notes issues. This is exactly what we do, isn't it? We start thinking that things are a certain way (maybe it's that someone is out to get me, or nothing ever goes my way, or this just isn't fair) when in reality, we're headed straight for a lighthouse. I may even get angry with God for not protecting me when all along He had in mind that I endure a test to make me stronger. We forget that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling (Proverbs 16:18).
It's hard to imagine myself telling God that He had better get His act together when it comes to my life, but it's hard to imagine that ship's Captain saying the same thing to a lighthouse. He would only do that ignorantly, but he did it just the same. I would only be so disrespectful of God ignorantly, but that's just what I am (disrespectful, whether ignorantly or not) when I resist His will or act like I'm in charge and not He.
So, this week's encouragement is "change your course." You'll find life a lot easier if you work with God and not against Him. It may not always feel easier, but what you think you suffer now for doing the right thing is far less than what you will suffer in the end, if you choose the easy way now. God wants you to be a slave to Him so you can be truly free because He loves you...and so do I. Have a great week.
Donnie Bates
A peaceful spring on the Macedonian side of Lake Ochrid in the Balkan Mountains
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Seasoned With Salt
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person (Colossians 4:6). I have in the past made reference to the need for us to encourage one another with the right kind of speech. The apostle Paul gives this command in Ephesians 4:29: "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." It is important that we be careful about how we speak to one another and what we say when we do.
This morning, however, I want to make a slightly different point from Colossians 4:6 to help encourage you and get this week off to a great start. My encouragement to you is to encourage you to encourage others. Make a special effort this week to be a blessing in someone else’s life. We read in Romans 15:1-3: Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me."
Everyone should understand that the weak have need to be strengthened and that it is the responsibility of the strong to provide that strength. We should be trying to build up those who need encouraging. This is the example that Jesus left us to follow. Here is the point I want to make. If you will assume this role (the role of encourager or edifier) you will yourself be encouraged and edified in the process. It is a wonderful cycle that God designed for us.
It fits in perfectly with Paul’s assertion that It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). When we focus more on the blessing of giving, in this case, giving encouragement, we make ourselves better able to receive encouragement. Those who are focused on themselves, have a very hard time getting any kind of encouragement, even the genuine and sincere encouragement they receive from those who love them and care for them. No matter how good the encouragement is, it is never enough. Bitterness is often the result of such selfishness. On the other hand, the one who forgets himself and his own needs and focuses on the needs of others very often finds himself (or herself) receiving encouragement from even unexpected quarters. It feels good to make other feel good!
This week I want you to try really hard to season your speech with salt. Speak to those who need your encouragement in such a way that they are built up and not torn down. To season your speech with salt is to speak in such a way as to preserve rather than destroy; it could be to preserve a relationship or it could even be in reference to preserving someone unto salvation, sharing with them the words of life. Even if your life is filled with intense pain, your ministry to others in this way will give you strength and you will be encouraged more than those to whom you minister. Being a blessing to others is a win-win situation for the faithful Christian. Isn’t it great that God made us this way? He did that because He loves you and so do I. Have a great week.
Donnie Bates
This morning, however, I want to make a slightly different point from Colossians 4:6 to help encourage you and get this week off to a great start. My encouragement to you is to encourage you to encourage others. Make a special effort this week to be a blessing in someone else’s life. We read in Romans 15:1-3: Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me."
Everyone should understand that the weak have need to be strengthened and that it is the responsibility of the strong to provide that strength. We should be trying to build up those who need encouraging. This is the example that Jesus left us to follow. Here is the point I want to make. If you will assume this role (the role of encourager or edifier) you will yourself be encouraged and edified in the process. It is a wonderful cycle that God designed for us.
It fits in perfectly with Paul’s assertion that It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). When we focus more on the blessing of giving, in this case, giving encouragement, we make ourselves better able to receive encouragement. Those who are focused on themselves, have a very hard time getting any kind of encouragement, even the genuine and sincere encouragement they receive from those who love them and care for them. No matter how good the encouragement is, it is never enough. Bitterness is often the result of such selfishness. On the other hand, the one who forgets himself and his own needs and focuses on the needs of others very often finds himself (or herself) receiving encouragement from even unexpected quarters. It feels good to make other feel good!
This week I want you to try really hard to season your speech with salt. Speak to those who need your encouragement in such a way that they are built up and not torn down. To season your speech with salt is to speak in such a way as to preserve rather than destroy; it could be to preserve a relationship or it could even be in reference to preserving someone unto salvation, sharing with them the words of life. Even if your life is filled with intense pain, your ministry to others in this way will give you strength and you will be encouraged more than those to whom you minister. Being a blessing to others is a win-win situation for the faithful Christian. Isn’t it great that God made us this way? He did that because He loves you and so do I. Have a great week.
Donnie Bates
My Redeemer Lives
"As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives…" These words were spoken by a man who suffered more than any of us have suffered, I would say. They are the words of Job 19:25. Job is the man in the Bible that should make us ashamed for ever complaining about anything. Just in this chapter (Job 19) listen to the things he had suffered: "Know then that God has wronged me and has closed His net around me. Behold, I cry, 'Violence!' but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths. He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree. He has also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy. His troops come together, and build up their way against me and camp around my tent” (Job 19:6-12). Have you ever felt like that; like God had done all of these things to you or that He had caused you to suffer like you have?
Job also says: "He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, and my intimate friends have forgotten me. Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers. Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. All my associates abhor me, and those I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” (Job 19:13-22). “Pity me, pity me” is a good title for the way we feel sometimes, isn’t it?
Well, not very long after saying all this Job makes the comment that led off this note of encouragement. Yes, Job suffered and suffered terribly. Yes, you and I have suffered and some of us have suffered terribly. Are we still willing to say, along with Job, I know that my Redeemer lives? Job was! Then he said: “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:26,27. Even after all we’ve suffered; even as bad as suffering on this earth can get, there is still the promise that one day we will see Him Who gave His Son to die for us! My heart faints, too!
I hope the realization that one day you can stand before God and be welcomed into the joy of your Master is reason for you to begin this week with a happy heart and not a heavy one. There are many people in this world who begin every day with a heavy heart. No one has to! Every faithful Christian has reason to rejoice this morning. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24). Things may not go just exactly like you would like for them to today or this week. Still, God is in charge and that is reason to rejoice. Just think, He may have something in mind for you this week that is far greater than you could have imagined. So, have a great week and know that the Creator of the universe loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates
Job also says: "He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, and my intimate friends have forgotten me. Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers. Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. All my associates abhor me, and those I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” (Job 19:13-22). “Pity me, pity me” is a good title for the way we feel sometimes, isn’t it?
Well, not very long after saying all this Job makes the comment that led off this note of encouragement. Yes, Job suffered and suffered terribly. Yes, you and I have suffered and some of us have suffered terribly. Are we still willing to say, along with Job, I know that my Redeemer lives? Job was! Then he said: “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:26,27. Even after all we’ve suffered; even as bad as suffering on this earth can get, there is still the promise that one day we will see Him Who gave His Son to die for us! My heart faints, too!
I hope the realization that one day you can stand before God and be welcomed into the joy of your Master is reason for you to begin this week with a happy heart and not a heavy one. There are many people in this world who begin every day with a heavy heart. No one has to! Every faithful Christian has reason to rejoice this morning. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24). Things may not go just exactly like you would like for them to today or this week. Still, God is in charge and that is reason to rejoice. Just think, He may have something in mind for you this week that is far greater than you could have imagined. So, have a great week and know that the Creator of the universe loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates
Fear Not, Stand Still, Be Quiet And Watch!
Sometimes when we are walking down the straight and narrow path, just when it seems things are getting really good in your life, suddenly all the wheels come off at once. You immediately think of James 1:2, 3 and you say, “Lord, I know I’m supposed to be joyful right now, but I just don’t see how this time,” or “I know You said You would provide a way of escape, but I don’t see any way out of this.” It always seems that these things happen at the worst of times. That is because there are no good times for disaster.
A great lesson can be learned by listening to Moses’ words to the children of Israel when they were convinced that the Egyptian army was about to kill them all (Exodus 14:13, 14): But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." When God says, "Fear not!" He usually has something big in mind. Moses knew ahead of time that Og, king of Bashan, would not destroy the Israelites (Numbers 21:33-35). This is how it would be in every battle (Deuteronomy 20:1-3). However, like so much of God's law, this was conditional (Joshua 7:2-5, 8-12). The same is true today. We already know Who is going to win (Romans 8:31-37), but it is still conditional (2 Corinthians 13:5).
When God says, "Stand still!" we had better do things His way. Impatience will get us into trouble every time. Just look at Abraham and Ishmael (Genesis 16). God's priests were to stand patiently and wait on God to stop a flooding Jordan River (Joshua 3:8). Receiving strength from God depends on waiting patiently on Him (Isaiah 40:31). Patience is necessary to receive the promise (Hebrews 10:36).
It is also important not to sound your own horn! He says, "Be quiet!" God says not to worry about our enemies or the things that threaten us; He is the Victor (Isaiah 7:1-6). Moses, who is said to have been more humble than anyone else (Numbers 12:3) was not interested in glory; only in serving his God (Exodus 32:9-14).
Now “Watch!” “Behold the power and majesty of God!!” The goodness of God is visible today (Psalm 27:13); we see answered prayers, the awesome evidence of creation, etc. We are invited to see His works (Psalm 66:5). It has all been plainly visible for quite some time (Romans 1:20).
Read 2 Kings 6:8-18. When we enter into life’s battles they can quite often be pretty scary (2 Chronicles 20:1-7). Whenever we do battle in this world we must make sure whose side we are on. If we find ourselves against the Lord, we need to change sides quickly. If we find ourselves on the Lord’s side, notice what will happen (2 Chronicles 20:14-17, 20-24): Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you." …They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed." When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.
There will be times when you come out the winner and you have no idea how it happened that way. Give thanks to God Almighty and know that He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates
A great lesson can be learned by listening to Moses’ words to the children of Israel when they were convinced that the Egyptian army was about to kill them all (Exodus 14:13, 14): But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." When God says, "Fear not!" He usually has something big in mind. Moses knew ahead of time that Og, king of Bashan, would not destroy the Israelites (Numbers 21:33-35). This is how it would be in every battle (Deuteronomy 20:1-3). However, like so much of God's law, this was conditional (Joshua 7:2-5, 8-12). The same is true today. We already know Who is going to win (Romans 8:31-37), but it is still conditional (2 Corinthians 13:5).
When God says, "Stand still!" we had better do things His way. Impatience will get us into trouble every time. Just look at Abraham and Ishmael (Genesis 16). God's priests were to stand patiently and wait on God to stop a flooding Jordan River (Joshua 3:8). Receiving strength from God depends on waiting patiently on Him (Isaiah 40:31). Patience is necessary to receive the promise (Hebrews 10:36).
It is also important not to sound your own horn! He says, "Be quiet!" God says not to worry about our enemies or the things that threaten us; He is the Victor (Isaiah 7:1-6). Moses, who is said to have been more humble than anyone else (Numbers 12:3) was not interested in glory; only in serving his God (Exodus 32:9-14).
Now “Watch!” “Behold the power and majesty of God!!” The goodness of God is visible today (Psalm 27:13); we see answered prayers, the awesome evidence of creation, etc. We are invited to see His works (Psalm 66:5). It has all been plainly visible for quite some time (Romans 1:20).
Read 2 Kings 6:8-18. When we enter into life’s battles they can quite often be pretty scary (2 Chronicles 20:1-7). Whenever we do battle in this world we must make sure whose side we are on. If we find ourselves against the Lord, we need to change sides quickly. If we find ourselves on the Lord’s side, notice what will happen (2 Chronicles 20:14-17, 20-24): Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you." …They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed." When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.
There will be times when you come out the winner and you have no idea how it happened that way. Give thanks to God Almighty and know that He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates
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