Why aren't you giving your all?

2 Peter 3:10-11 (NIV)

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

Here the apostle poses a statement and then asks a question. If you knew everything in the world would be destroyed at a point in time and laid bare would you change your ways to live a holy and godly life?

Australia is moving. This isn't so surprising—all the continents are on the move, and Australia drifts 70 millimeters to the northeast every year. Australia was once connected to both India and Antarctica, finally breaking away from the former 100 million years ago and the latter 45 million years ago. The continent still drifts away at a rate far too slow for humans to notice. But that journey is now starting to mess with systems that rely on pinpoint accuracy, specifically GPS.

Australian GPS was last updated in 1994, and the entire country has moved a little more than five feet since then. Much of our current technology relies on accurate GPS coordinates. For instance, driverless tractors that help with farm work will start having problems because the information about the farm won't line up with the co-ordinates coming out of the navigation system there will be problems. For Australians using driverless cars or shipping drones, accurate map information is fundamental.

Everything on earth changes, including the mighty continents. But for believers there are three crucial foundational things that will never change: God doesn't change, His Word doesn't change, and His promises do not change. These are settled forever in the heavens.

[David Finch, Elk Grove, California; source: David Grossman, "Australia's GPS Was Off Because the Whole Country Moved," PopularMechanics.Com (7-29-16); Chris Foxx, "Australia Plans New Co-Ordinates To Fix Sat-Nav Gap," BBC.com (7-29-16)]

God doesn’t change, but the world around us does. As I scrolled through a list of those I went to school with, I noticed those who were no longer with us. They had died from accidents, disease and in some cases by their own hands. God asks us, you know there will be an end to life, so why aren’t you using your life to the best of your ability to live a holy and godly life?

Giving Thanks

Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV)

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

The psalmist reminds us to enter our area of life with praise, always praising and giving thanks to the Holy God. We should put aside other worries, other fears, other doubts, and other concerns. For the Lord is good towards us with a love that endures through all generations.

The Minnesota storyteller Kevin Kling was born with a birth defect—his left arm was disabled and much shorter than his right. Then, in his early 40s, a motorcycle accident nearly killed him and paralyzed his healthy right arm. While he was in the hospital recovering from the accident, Kling learned a life-changing lesson about "the three phases of prayer."

In the first phase of prayer, we pray to get things from God. In the second phase, we pray to get out of things. While he was in rehab for his accident, Kling learned the third phase of prayer—giving thanks to God. Kling says:

I'd been through many surgeries during my six week stay in the hospital. And each day, I would ride the elevator to the ground floor and try and take a walk. That was my job. 9/11 had happened the week before. And as our country was entering trauma, I was living one. After my walk, my wife Mary and I went into the gift shop, and she asked if I wanted an apple. She said they looked really good. Now, I hadn't tasted food in over a month … I lost a lot of weight because food had no appeal. So I said no, but she persisted. Come on. Try it. So finally, I said all right. And I took a bite. And for some reason, that was the day flavor returned, and that powerful sweetness rushed from that apple. Oh, it was incredible.

I started to cry, cry for the first time in years. The tears flowed and as the anesthesia and antibiotics flushed through my tears, it burned my eyes. And between the sweetness of that apple and the burning for my tears, it felt so good to be alive. I blurted out, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for this life." And that's when my prayers shifted, again, to giving thanks.

[Kevin Kling, "Prayer, Once a Last Resort, Now a Habit," NPR (1-10-07); On Being, "The Losses and Laughter We Grow Into," American Public Media (3-7-13);]

Rejoicing for others

Colossians 3:15 (NIV)

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Here the Apostle tells us to let the same peace that ruled in Christ’s life to also rule in their hearts. We make up a single body and that is the body of Christ, so be thankful in all that happens even when you can’t be thankful still let your heart rejoice so that others know how thankful you are for what you have.

A young Christian named Anne Snyder spent her first three years after college trying to break into the world of journalism while trying to serve Christ through her career. Then she landed a dream job. David Brooks, a nationally known columnist with The New York Times, hired Anne to be his research assistant. She acted as his sounding board, reading early drafts of his columns and offering story ideas.

Anne is exceedingly intelligent and articulate, so it wasn't a surprise. But it was surprising that this young, professionally green evangelical Christian was working so closely with Brooks, an influential public voice, prominent journalist, thought leader, and non-Christian.

Fast-forward to mid-2015. The same David Brooks released a critically acclaimed book, The Road to Character. In the beginning of Brooks' acknowledgement page he offered this glowing honor to his new research assistant, Anne Snyder:

Anne C. Snyder was there when this book was born and walked with me through the first three years of its writing. This was first conceived as a book about cognition and decision making. Under Anne's influence, it became a book about morality and inner life. She led dozens of discussions about the material, assigned me reading from her own bank of knowledge, challenged the superficiality of my thinking in memo after memo and transformed the project … I have certainly stolen many of her ideas and admired the gracious and morally rigorous way she lives her life. If there are any important points in this book, they probably come from Anne.

Of course there's a story behind this acknowledgement: Anne's vibrant faith—and her God-given brilliance, uncompromising work ethic, and extensive reading list—had influenced Mr. Brooks in a profound, and relevant, way. Her faithful presence made a difference. In good faith, Anne made Christianity a little more relevant to one person, who happens to write bestselling books and a regular column for The New York Times.

[Adapted from David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Good Faith (Baker Books, 2016), pages 35-27]

Appreciation

1 Corinthians 1:4-5

4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—

The Apostle here gives thanks to God for the grace given through Christ Jesus; for that grace has enriched the person in the way they act and in the way they speak, which is to be used for the good of others.

Business researchers call it "the missing ingredient" or "the hidden accelerator." Most managers could transform their workplaces with this missing ingredient: showing appreciation. That's the focus of a recent book entitled The Carrot Principle by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. Based on a ten-year study that interviewed 200,000 people, Gostick and Elton conclude that appreciation tops the list of things employees say they want from their bosses. Some of the statistics to back up this claim include:

Of the people who report high morale at work, 94.4 percent agree that their managers show appreciation.

79 percent of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as the key reason for leaving.

56 percent of employees who report low morale also give their managers low marks for showing appreciation.

Of course these statistics tap into a fundamental need in all of our relationships: the need to give and receive affirmation and blessing. The authors of The Carrot Principle conclude, "The simple … act of a leader [or a spouse, parent, coach, mentor, or friend] expressing appreciation to a person in a meaningful … way is the missing accelerator that can do so much but is used so sparingly."

[Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, The Carrot Principle (Free Press, 2007), pp. 7-14.}

Everyone wants to be appreciates and we can do that through encouraging words that lack unjust criticism and instead motivate the person to good works.

Light of the world

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

When we walk in the dark we are subject to trip and to fall. However when we have a light with us we are able to see and walk without fault. The same goes for our life, when we follow God’s word it is like a light leading us through the darkness of sin.

In February 1954, a navy pilot set out on a night-training mission from a carrier off the coast of Japan. While he was taking off in stormy weather, his directional finder malfunctioned, and he mistakenly headed in the wrong direction. To make matters worse, his instrument panel suddenly short-circuited, burning out all the lights in the cockpit.

The pilot "looked around … and could see absolutely nothing; the blackness outside the plane had suddenly come inside." Nearing despair, he looked down and thought he saw a faint blue-green glow trailing along in the ocean's ebony depths. His training had prepared him for this moment, and he knew in an instant what he was seeing: a cloud of phosphorescent algae glowing in the sea that had been stirred up by the engines of his ship. It was the "least reliable and most desperate method" of piloting a plane back onto a ship safely, but the pilot—future Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell—knew that was precisely what he needed to do. And so he did.

While he did not articulate it this way, Jim's life was saved because of light. Not just any light, but "bioluminescent dinoflagellates," which are tiny creatures that contain luciferin, a generic term for the light-emitting compound. Bioluminescent organisms live throughout the ocean, from the surface to the seafloor, from near the coast to the open ocean.

John 8:12 tells us, When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The delight from God's word

Psalm 119:143 (NIV)

143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight.

Here King David means, "Lord, let the word of truth be always in my mouth; let me have the wisdom and courage which are necessary to enable me both to use my knowledge for the instruction of others, and, like the good householder, to bring out of my treasury things new and old, and to make profession of my faith whenever I am called to it.” [Matthew Henry]

Prolific children's author George Koshy spent three years writing a children's Bible, the first of its kind to be originated in any Indian language. When a local publisher rejected it, Koshy filed the manuscript in his cupboard.

Two years later, the same publisher decided to publish it. George opened the cupboard and discovered only shreds—mice had eaten his manuscript! For the next two years, he worked day and night to recreate the manuscript.

[For Christmas in 2009], Samaritan's Purse distributed 58,000 copies of this Bible in Kerala, India. Recently, George learned that two Hindu children became Christians and now attend church after reading a copy. "This is a product of much pain," Koshy says, trusting God for additional eternal results.

[Used by permission from Media Associates International (MAI), a missions organization that "equips and nurtures talented men and women with a passion for producing Christian literature for their own people."]

Thee commands or words of God are powerful and they can bring comfort and knowledge when a person is in distress. Sometimes we see so little the work that goes into ministering to others, but the results that come from that work are exponentially greater.  

God is in control

Job 37:5-6 (NIV)

5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. 6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’

God’s voice is in control of all things. He speaks into action events that happen around us. It is beyond our understanding, but it is marvelous and grand.

Poll Asks, "Is God in Control of Natural Disasters?"

A March 2011 poll surveyed Americans regarding their beliefs about God's involvement in natural disasters. The following are some of the results of this research:

•  56 percent of the Americans surveyed believe that God is in control of the earth
• 38 percent believe that God employs events in nature to dispense judgment
• 29 percent believe that God punishes entire nations for the sins of a few
• Nearly 60 percent of evangelical Christians agreed that God can use natural disasters to send messages
• 44 percent of Americans say that the increased severity of recent natural disasters is evidence that we are in the end times
• 61 percent of Christians from racial and ethnic minorities believe that natural disasters are God's way of testing our faith—and according to the article, that idea "resonates with African-American's history of surviving through slavery and racial discrimination."

The article concluded: "After one of these disasters [like the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami], people turn to their clergy and theologians and they look for answers, and there are no great answers …. But almost every group believes you have to help people who are suffering." [Nicole Neroulias, "Poll: Most in U.S., except evangelicals, see no divine sign in disasters," USA Today (3-24-11)]

God often works His wonders to bring about changes in people. When people are faced with a crisis such as the tsunami listed above, people will join together to help one another. The day before they may not have even noticed their fellow man and now they are helping one another.

I will serve The Lord

Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We have a choice what religion and what god we wish to follow. Here Joshua states that he will follow the Lord, the God of his ancestors and the only God he has known and loved.

When the prayer made in faith is not answered, and the healing for which many have sought does not come, we are not to look for someone to accuse of failure in faith. Rather we are to remember that besides faith there is hope. Hope has to do with God's promises that are still future and hidden, just as faith has to do with God's promises that are here and now. To the person who has believed for today but has not seen the answer come today, there comes the call to hope. Hope says, "Tomorrow also is God's. Enough has happened already to assure you that the rest is on the way." [—Thomas Smail, quoted in Ken Blue's Authority to Heal]

Who will you serve? The God of Hope or whatever you fancy? God lets us see faith in action. God also allows us to see hope that comes in the future with the richness and fullness of God.

Understanding God's Hope

Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

Those who have their eyes opened, and have some understanding in the things of God, have need to be more and more enlightened, and to have their knowledge more clear, and distinct, and experimental. Christians should not think it enough to have warm affections, but they should labour to have clear understandings; they should be ambitious of being knowing Christians, and judicious Christians.

The popular novelist Andrew Klavan was raised in a non-practicing Jewish home. For about the first 45 years of his life, he lived as a "philosophical agnostic and a practical atheist." Klavan explains some of the steps along his journey that eventually led him to faith in Christ:

Jesus never appeared to me while I lay drunk in the gutter. And yet, looking back on my life, I see that Christ was beckoning to me at every turn. When I was a child, he was there in the kindness of a Christian babysitter and the magic of a Christmas Eve spent at her house. When I was a troubled young man contemplating suicide, he was in the voice of a Christian baseball player who gave a radio interview that inspired me to go on. And always, he was in the day-to-day miracle of my marriage, a lifelong romance that taught me the reality of love and slowly led me to contemplate the greater love that was its source and inspiration.

But perhaps most important for a novelist who insisted that ideas should make sense, Christ came to me in stories. Slowly, I came to understand that his life, words, sacrifice, and resurrection formed the hidden logic behind every novel, movie, or play that touched my deepest mind.

I was reading a story when that logic finally kicked in. I was in my forties, lying in bed with one of Patrick O'Brian's great seafaring adventure novels. One of the characters, whom I admired, said a prayer before going to sleep, and I thought to myself, Well, if he can pray, so can I. I laid the book aside and whispered a three-word prayer in gratitude for the contentment I'd found, and for the work and people I loved: "Thank you, God."

It was a small and even prideful prayer: a self-impressed intellectual's hesitant experiment with faith. God's response was an act of extravagant grace. I woke the next morning and everything had changed. There was a sudden clarity and brightness to familiar faces and objects; they were alive with meaning and with my own delight in them. I called this experience "the joy of my joy," and it came to me again whenever I prayed. Naturally I began to pray every day.

This would lead to a full acceptance of Christ as Lord. Later, Klavan was baptized and wrote a book about his spiritual journey titled The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ.

[Andrew Klavan, "How a Man of the Coasts and Cities Found Christ," Christianity Today (8-22-16)]