Lenten Devotional #2: Self Control

By Pat Russell

This past Sunday morning Larry and I had to pick up my car before the Sunday service. It was parked over in Castle Rock, and as I driving away I faced my usual question, “Should I stop for a hot drink from a well known coffee shop?” My inner conversation usually goes something like this:  “It would be great to have one for the long journey. But should you spend the money?  Do you HAVE to have it, Pat?  No, but I have established a habit in getting one. Is this a spiritual issue for you?  Maybe, but I don’t like to think of it that way…”

You know what I did?  Yes, I drove right over to that shop and purchased a chai tea. I drank it slowly all the way over to church rationalizing my guilty feelings the whole way! So, you can imagine that when I sat down in the second service and Pastor Bruce began his sermon on “self-control” I was prepared to listen.

My struggle with purchasing a chai may not sound like a major issue in my life, but it IS a reflection of my challenge to live into self-control. I am so used to getting what I want when I want it – it’s a habit of life that we rather affluent Americans have developed quite consistently. I did not grow up that way. In fact, it was just the opposite. Since adulthood, parental control is no more, and I find that I must attend to my own habits of self-control. Part of that attention is dealing with feelings of guilt that I can produce rather abundantly. When is my guilt life-giving and when is it death-giving to my life in Christ?

On Sunday I found the sixth and seventh points of the development of self-control to be most helpful. Point 6: “Give the Holy Spirit regular access to your life by taking time to be in God’s Word and in conversation with Jesus Christ.” This is the principle of “indirection” at work.  Richard Foster, in his book Streams of Living Water explains it like this: “Rather than tackle the issues of virtue and vice head-on, we undertake activities of body, mind, and spirit that in time will build spiritual resources with us to act appropriately when the situation demands it.” 

That means that I need to look at the role of eating, as a whole in my life. I don’t wait till I am standing in front of the store to address the issue of self-control in ordering chai drinks. I spend some time thinking about the presence of the Holy Spirit within ME (point 5).  Maybe I will meditate on some scripture about the role food plays in our lives. Maybe I will pray about how I eat during the day when I am home, not on the road. Maybe I will even engage in fasting (starting out small) to develop in me self-control in eating and drinking…maybe.

Point #7: “Discover the freedom of letting your new Christ-like nature express itself fully in your thoughts and feelings, your attitudes and actions, and in all your relationships.”  Richard has two more thoughts on developing a new practice of self-control within our lives that I think tie right in with Pastor Bruce’s final point: 1. “Invite others to share the journey with us.” That is why I am telling you my story.  When we tell our story, and receive kind listening, it encourages us along. 2. “When we stumble and fall, we get up and start again.” He advises us not to spend too much time “lamenting our failures and shortcomings.” Sounds like life-giving thinking. That sounds like freedom to me – an integrated life of psychological health, as Pastor Bruce stated.

A chai tea is not the biggest challenge to self-control that I will ever face, but it is a good place to start.  It’s surprising how “small challenges” can be bigger than we thought and how they can help us develop perseverance –oh, that’s the next sermon.

Lenten Devotional #1: Salvation Is a Life

By Pat Russell

I grew up in a Christian tradition that emphasized “coming to the altar to give your heart to the Lord.”  And so, at the age of eight, I “went forward” to kneel at the altar and pray that “Jesus would come into my heart.”  He came into the very center of my being and gave me a new spirit – His Spirit.  I was a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

After that day, I wanted to live my life just the way I was told that Christians were suppose to live their lives.  That was all well and good, except that I failed.  I thought something had gone wrong; I thought that I was not being a good enough Christian to be able to go to heaven.   I was filled with guilt.  So, the next time an altar call was given, I went forward again.  In fact, I went forward over and over until my teenage years. 

I remember thinking one Sunday while I sat up in the balcony of the church and an altar call was being given that I was not going to do that again.  I declared right then and there that I belonged to the Lord no matter how I felt.  I drove a “stake into the ground” of my life in Christ.  Since that time I have knelt and prayed about different issues in my life, but I have never doubted that I will be going to heaven when I die.  My ticket to heaven was Jesus’ death and what He did for me did not need to be redone!

But still, I do not live a perfect life - hardly.  It has been very important for me to realize that “salvation is a life,” as a Christian theologian Dallas Willard puts it.  Being saved is not just a ticket to heaven, it is so much more.  It is about my life being taken over more and more by that same grace that gives me heaven when I die.  My salvation happens NOW; not only after I die.  The seeds of that new life were planted when I was eight.  The new creation started in my innermost being and must grow to take over my whole being.  That seed will continue to grow and grow until I am the person that He created me to be.  That growth will not quit. 

During this Lenten season as Pastor Bruce speaks to us about “A Ladder to God,” or the journey of faith into the heart of God, I am reminded of that fact.  When God stood beside Jacob at the ladder, God told him, “…for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”(Gen. 28:15)  Paul, many, many years later said the same thing about God, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6)  I am going to grow more and more in the life that is “fitting to what a child of God is like” as Pastor Bruce said.  That is virtue or goodness.

At the Ash Wednesday service, I was reminded of the fact that my “ashes are still showing,” (I am still not perfect – ha!), but Christ is beside me on a daily basis helping me deal with those ashes as I cooperate with God’s grace.  So, how do I cooperate with God’s work in my life?  Here is one idea for this week:  Sit in your favorite chair in the quiet.  Gently ask God one or all of these questions:  What kinds of things have you been saying to me recently?  What themes have I heard? What would it look like to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit today?  Listen.  Maybe write down some of your thoughts.  Twenty-four hours later, review what you wrote or thought about the answers to these questions.  Thank God for how you cooperated, even a little bit.  Be honest with him about where you didn’t cooperate.  Then, ask God one or more of those questions again.  Listen. Write.  Live.  “Salvation is a life!”

Some Thoughts for Ash Wednesday

By Mark Richards

I’ve heard a lot of explanations over the years for why we put ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday during Lent. In general, the explanations have fallen into two categories. Either it has to do with repentance of sin (sitting in ashes: Job 42:6, Matthew 11:21, etc.) or it has to do with a reminder of our own mortality (ashes to ashes, dust to dust: Genesis 13:9).  So which one is it?  It’s certainly possible that the tradition began with one of these as a motivation and the other was added later, but is there a connection between these two seemingly disparate explanations?

Faced with the prospect of the end of our earthly lives (terminal cancer diagnosis, etc.), people often want to use what little time that they have left to help others or otherwise do good things.  We know that abiding in Jesus is essential for bearing good fruit for the Kingdom of God (John 15:10).  We also know that sin creates a barrier between us and God, and makes abiding in Him, in a perfect way, impossible (Isaiah 59:2).  So repentance and forgiveness are essential to being as effective as we can in doing the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  So when we look at our lives and see how little time any of us has to make an impact in this life, it motivates us to repent so that we can do our work while connected to the true vine who is Christ Jesus. 

There is another connection that some might point to between mortality and repentance.  For those who are not in Christ, looking at the end of their lives might motivate them to repent in order to spend eternity in Heaven.  Some would look at this and impugn such a person’s motives and say “he or she is only looking for a ‘get out of Hell free’ card.”  Even if that is the initial motivator, my two cents would be that any motivation, selfish or otherwise, that brings someone into a genuine relationship with Christ is a positive thing.  However, for those who are in Christ, some might look at this and think that they must continuously be in “ashes mode” in order to earn their way into heaven.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Salvation is a free gift for any who believe in Jesus, it cannot be earned (Ephesians 2:8-9).  When the German monk Martin Luther learned this truth, it changed his life and the entire world. 

Finally, in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Paul encourages the church at Corinth to work to build things that will last into eternity.  He says that for believers whose work does not meet that test and their work is consumed by the revealing fire “he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”  By the grace of God, I think we would all rather have the experience described in Matthew 25:21 in which Jesus says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

Whether we are 16 years of age and in perfect health, or the doctor has given us six months to live, the end is coming.  The question is, what will we do with the time that we have?

Heavenly Father, may we all be mindful of how temporary we are.  Pour out your Spirit on us that we may be spurred on to repentance and then to faithful service in your kingdom.  In the strong name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

Renewal Fuel

By Pat Russell

I built a fire in the fireplace today. It is cloudy and snowing now and then. I felt like falling asleep in front of the blazing warmth like I used to do when I was a teenager. On Sundays my dad would build a fire in our living room fireplace, turn on the football game – the Detroit Lions – and I would stretch out on the floor, dozing in and out as I listened to the muted sounds of football, my father’ gentle snoring and the crackling of the flames.  Nothing better to renew the soul after a week at school!

As I built the fire today, I followed my father’s instructions on correct fire building, but I forgot one thing:  I needed to create some space between the logs to allow the oxygen to circulate. You cannot get a fire going with logs so packed together that there is no room for the small flame to be nourished by the oxygen making it capable of setting the larger logs on fire. My fire was a fizzle.  So, I took the fireplace tools, adjusted the logs and poof – a flame leaped into action.

So it is with my life. I cannot expect to burn with the fire of the Lord unless I make some room for the oxygen of His Spirit to circulate around me. When my life is packed together with one thing after another, my soul gets smothered. I leave no room for His Oxygen to the feed His flame.

Jesus faced the same temptation. Talk about being smothered!  Luke tells us that CROWDS of people were looking for Jesus. Perhaps they wanted another healing, or some words of comfort, or another miracle of some kind or even him to lead them in a revolution. Whatever the reason, “when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them.”  That sure sounds like logs being piled on.

But Jesus told the crowd, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” He knew what his priorities were. He understood what his purpose in life was. He knew how to keep the flame burning. So how did he do that? Bottom line – he created space between the logs.

What I didn’t tell you was that “At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place.” That is the key – “departed” (got away from everybody) and “went into a deserted place” (went into solitude and silence). There he could “lie at the feet” of His Father and listen to the sounds of nature and His Father’s living presence – His breathing -- even in the midst of the muted sounds of his active life. That is space around the logs.  That is space for the Heavenly Oxygen to move in and out and around His soul, nourishing the little embers into the flames of warmth and light for the world. And that is why Jesus can tell us that he has come into the world to bring life – more abundant life. He has it and He will show us the way to find it in our lives.

Fire

By Judy Brown

What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed in too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces

in the same way

we have learned

to pile logs,

then we come to see how

it is fuel, and the absence of fuel

together, that makes fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire

grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.

Teaching with Fire:  Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach