Enjoy: More than just a word

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.”  Bill Watterson

Following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987, a Disney commercial starred New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, in which he was asked “Now that you’ve won the Super Bowl, Phil Simms, what are you going to do?” Simms, who replied “I’m going to Disney World,” was paid $75,000. FYI: John Elway was paid the same amount just in case the Denver Broncos had won. Disney later aired three more ads that year with other famous athletes following major sports championships. In subsequent years, Disney reportedly has offered $30,000 to athletes and other stars for participating in the ads and appearing at one of its theme parks.

  The word enjoy stems from the Old French word enjoir. It means “to give joy, rejoice, take delight in.” True enjoyment doesn’t have to be big, i.e. like going to Disney World. Enjoyment comes from learning to enjoy the seemingly “little things,” that which is often overlooked.  

  1 Timothy 6:17 has a thought-provoking warning, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” God has filled this world and our lives with “everything for our enjoyment.” In other words, you don’t have to go to Disney to have enjoyment. You can just step out your back door or in your own backyard. It doesn’t have to be big, extensive, or expensive. God wants us to enjoy the good things all around us. As we learn to do that, life becomes so much richer and so much more enjoyable.

  This year Jane and I had planned to go to Taiwan to spend a few weeks with our son, Aaron, and his wife, Jiayu. We were greatly looking forward to it, yet with the pandemic, it’s no longer an option. It was something that we knew that we would enjoy. Yet, we’d be foolish and miss out on our Heavenly Father’s many good gifts all around us if we only thought enjoyment was thousands of miles away. Or, if we chose to become miserable about what we’d missed, yet fail to enjoy what we have.

  God has filled our lives with enjoyment. It’s all around us if we’ll simply stop and take the time to look. Too often we miss the many things that our Heavenly Father has given us to enjoy because we erroneously believe that enjoyment is a destination or something extraordinary, expensive, exotic, special, novel, or new. We wrongly conclude that enjoyment must be extra special for it to be enjoyable, yet true enjoyment is just so “normal.”

  Learning to live in enjoyment usually starts with a change in our perspective. It requires slowing down or even coming to a complete stop. It means turning down the noise or putting it all on mute.

  Enjoyment is found in God’s creation. The other day I watched a cardinal out my window hopping from the top of the fence slat to the next top of a fence slat. It was like he had little springs on his feet. I love watching doves gather in our front lawn. As I was sitting on our front bench, a rabbit hopped within a few feet of me as I sat ever so still.

  Did you see the rainbow the other evening? Last Saturday I watched as a sheet of rain came rolling towards me. When was the last time that you looked up at the white billowy clouds, guessing what the shape looked like? Do you periodically stop to gaze up at the stars or a moon filled sky?    

  Enjoyment is found in God’s gift of our homes. Our spouses and children are a gift. God wants us to enjoy them. Enjoying your spouse doesn’t necessitate going away for a getaway or a big date. It’s in the everyday. It’s a light kiss or a gentle hug. It’s thoughtfulness and gratitude.

  If you feel that you must have a getaway to enjoy your spouse, is it truly your spouse you enjoy or the change in the environment? Enjoyment in marriage comes from sharing normal life and day to day adventures.

  Enjoyment is a child’s laughter or hearing them squeal with delight. Enjoyment is watching a teen transition from a child to an adult. Enjoyment is the aroma of a home-cooked meal. It’s doing a project together with your mate. Enjoyment is a family excursion to a local ice cream shop. If the children are young (or if the grandkids are over), there’s something particularly thrilling about a pajama run after everyone is ready for bed to a local drive-thru for ice cream. Enjoyment is in the seemingly mundane of washing dishes, taking out the garbage, or picking up toys for the 1000^th time. Someday there will be few dishes, little garbage, and no toys…other than maybe the dogs’ toys.

  Enjoyment is found in relationships. In western civilization we too highly value accomplishments. While there should be enjoyment in a job well done or a project completed, God designed us to be relational.

  Most of us place a low value on relationships, especially outside of our biological family. Yet, then we wonder why we have so little enjoyment in our lives. Our friendships tend to be wide, but rarely deep. And we jettison them very quickly over differences, dissonance, or disagreements.

  As you read the Bible, you’ll discover mature believers had a circle of friends. Moses had Aaron and Joshua. David had an inner circle. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego had each other’s backs amidst the evil of Babylon. The Apostle Paul consistently traveled with a team.

  Even the Lord Jesus had a group of followers, both men and women, that He shared life with. I’d encourage you to do a study of not only Jesus’ 12 disciples but that group of followers that He continually interacted with.

  With the birth of the Church it’s very apparent from those early chapters in the book of Acts that they derived great joy from being in each other’s company and sharing spiritual life and everyday life together. Church was not a once a week event for them. They were a community and a family. To be sure, there were problems that they had to overcome, even persecution. That was part of the source of their enjoyment; a growing love for the Lord and each other in the midst of cultural and ethnic diversity.

  Life today is increasingly complicated. The enjoyment of life will rarely come from adding, but from subtracting. Famed basketball coach John Wooden was right, “it’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” Enjoyment comes by returning to the simple, to that which was already there but simply overlooked.

  This week determine to not just “do” life, decide to enjoy it. Thank your Heavenly Father for the simple and then bathe your heart in the pleasures that you may have overlooked or taken for granted. Tell yourself, “I’m enjoying this.” Most of us consistently rehearse in our minds what we don’t enjoy. And we’d enjoy so much more if we were thankful for the small things and habitually reminded ourselves that we were enjoying them. Most of us need to pull some noxious weeds of negative focus and cultivate an inner soul garden of enjoyment.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Conspiracy Theories

“People love conspiracy theories.”  Neil Armstrong

Just recently a Reddit user posted an unsubstantiated theory that the furniture company, Wayfair is involved in child sex trafficking, suggesting certain products on its website may actually be representing children for sale. The conspiracy theory went viral.

  The user posted a screengrab of Wayfair’s website showing armoires that cost five figures with human names for the products, which led them to speculate that the pricey cabinets were, in fact, people for sale. But there was no truth to the accusation. The products in question are industrial grade cabinets accurately priced. Still Wayfair temporarily removed the products from their site to rename them and provide more in-depth descriptions and photos that accurately depict them, clarifying the price point.

  Horribly, Adolph Hitler was right, ““If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” I wonder how much time and money Wayfair has had to spend to kill that lie. But Wayfair is not alone. Most companies and leaders know what it is to be slandered and lies about them to be accepted without question. 

  With the easy access to social media and the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current crisis is ripe for conspiracy theories. Roughly one-third of Americans believe that the COVID-19 outbreak was intentionally planned by people in power. 71% say they’ve heard at least “a little” about a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus outbreak was intentionally planned by powerful people, including 19% who say they have heard “a lot” about this. Most conspiracy theories share a common premise: A powerful group of elite individuals are withholding or distorting the truth. Only the elites know the truth and everyone else believes a lie.

  It hasn’t helped that the virus is new and medical responses are continually changing and developing. As a result, there have been contradictory approaches and information (and misinformation). Then, it originated in a repressive country without any freedom of information or freedom of the press. It’s a recipe ripe for paranoia and wild speculation.

  Yet, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Ephesians 4:25 commands us, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21 admonishes us to “test everything; hold fast what is good.”

  So, do I believe that there are conspiracies or plots? It’s possible BUT I don’t know and neither do you. We don’t have proof, nor are most of us in a place where we’ll ever be able to confirm a conspiracy. And if it is actually taking place, what will we be able to do about it other than build a cabin in the north woods and hide out for the remainder of our days?

  What is unequivocally true is that Christians are to be people of truth, who live in truth, think on truth, and share the truth! Too often the people of truth are the most susceptible to being consumed by conspiracy theories. As the people of truth, we seem to easily slip into a bottomless rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Yet, it hurts us and it hinders what God has called us to do – share His truth. Sharing unsubstantiated rumors undermine our message of absolute truth that determines one’s eternal destiny.

  Isn’t it also possible that many sincere people who may differ in their worldview from us are being slandered? Scripture teaches that slander is a serious sin and that God hates slander (Prov. 6:16, 19). James calls it demonic behavior (James 3:15-16). Engaging in slander is scandalous.

  Yet, many Christians share hearsay. You can hardly glance at social media without seeing a Christian (often a pastor or Christian leader) posting claims that they can’t possibly know to be true. They’re not Washington insiders or international authorities. They’re merely spreading what they learned from what is too often not a credible source.

  We must remember that our Enemy is the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44). Soon after Satan entered the Garden (Genesis 3), he spread the first conspiracy theory, convincing Eve that the most powerful of “conspirators”—the Creator God was secretly trying to keep the first humans from having their eyes opened in a way that would make them “like God, knowing good and evil.” Eve became the first in a long line to believe powerful forces were secretly conspiring and withholding secret information.

  Instead of thinking about what we’re unsure of, Scripture commands us: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8). There are serious consequences when we ruminate on conspiracy theories instead of what we know is true.

  We soak our souls in fear. COVID-19 is a serious virus. When we focus on what’s rumor and can’t substantiate those claims, we increase our own anxiety and that of those who listen to us. One of the most repeated commands in Scripture is that we are not to live in fear (2 Tim. 1:7).

  We open ourselves up to anger and rage. When we feel helpless and that we have little control, we easily succumb to a very dangerous emotion – rage. Fear can quickly morph into anger because it provides an object: they are to blame, they caused this, they deserve retribution. There is nearly always some target that we can use as a scapegoat.

  We drown in doubt. The darkest day this world has ever known was when our Lord was crucified. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. But for those three days His disciples were drowning in doubt. Like that first Easter God confronts our fears with His presence. God is “with us” (Ps. 23:4). He has “called you by name” (Isa. 43:1), and nothing can separate us from our Heavenly Father and His great love for us” (Rom. 8:35-39).

  We hurt our witness. The gospel already seems too wonderful to be true. That God loved us and sacrificed His Son to pay for our sin, that salvation is a free gift and we can be forgiven by accepting God’s gift of salvation. It’s unbelievable! When we spread theories we can’t substantiate, it hurts our gospel witness. Not only that, but we’re distracted. We become “conspiracy theory evangelists” when God has called us to share His message of hope and forgiveness.

  This world is terrified and has great difficulty with truth, yet we’re called to be God’s people of truth. During this season of isolation, fear, and uncertainty, let’s determine to be intentional about leaning into God, His truth, and engaging others. It’s a real remedy for hurting hearts. Our world needs God’s truth. Let’s determine to share that!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Joy is a Decision

“Joy is a decision, a really brave one, about how you are going to respond to life.”  Wess Stafford

There’s an old joke about psychiatry. “How many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer: “Only one,  but the lightbulb has to want to be changed. It may be a joke but the reality that happiness is a choice is not. All the psychiatrists, therapists and pastors in the world can’t change a person who doesn’t desire to be changed. 

  For the most part, we are as happy as we choose to be. As B.A. Baracus of A-Team fame would say, “I pity the fool.” I truly pity the spouse or parent or pastor or…who foolishly attempts to make an unhappy person happy.

  We’re halfway through our series, Philippians: Joy No Matter What. It’s easy in a study of a book of the Bible to lose the big picture. This week, please take the time to re-read those four short chapters. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, gives us the key to having joy.

  The Greek that our New Testament is written in is one of the most expressive and definitive of all time. Eutuches was one of their words for happiness. It meant “fleeting earthly happiness.” It was the kind of happiness which was mostly on the outside. It was dependent on the right circumstances, being around the right people or having the right things. The obvious problem is that no one can control their circumstances or being around the right people or even having the right things.

  Makarios was another ancient Greek word for happiness. This word was used when referring to inner happiness which is independent of circumstances, people, or things. It’s a deep-down inner happiness that doesn’t depend on externals. Simply put, it’s happiness from the inside out.

  Interestingly, it’s the same word that Greek religion used for the happiness of their gods. It was a happiness free from care, work, even death. The word came to mean heavenly “godlike life on earth.” It’s the kind of happiness that we truly long for.

  Mature individuals know that situational, relational, and material happiness is very fleeting. You may be able to go to Disney World for vacation but no one can live there, very soon you must return to reality.

  Interestingly, the Bible (much of which was written in Greek), never uses the word eutuches. Every biblical reference to happiness is makarios. What’s even better is that the Bible repeatedly talks in terms of offering and even expecting us to pursue and achieve this heavenly happiness while here on earth…yet there are two requirements.  

  First, you will never have heavenly happiness (or what Scripture calls joy) without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit. Salvation is the key to having this kind of happiness. Heavenly happiness begins with having our sins forgiven as a result of personal faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from our sin.

  Second, to live in this happiness of heaven on earth requires doing it heaven’s way. That way is spelled out quite clearly in the Bible which is sort of a handbook to heaven.  

  In his book, Making Happiness Happen, pastor and author, Leith C. Anderson shares this account:  

  “A Southern Baptist preacher tells about two hospital patients early in his ministry. The first was a middle-age woman about to be released after successful treatment. As soon as the pastor entered her room, she started to complain. She criticized him for not coming to visit much sooner. She complained about the hospital food, the nursing staff, and the lack of visits by members of her family. It was an awful experience and she was glad to be going home.

  The preacher’s next stop was another middle-aged woman on the same floor of the hospital. Even the best of experienced pastors have trouble getting psyched up for two such visits in a row—but he went to see her anyway. This lady’s circumstances were quite different. She was suffering from terminal cancer and would never be going home from the hospital, yet her spirits were high. He could sense her warmth and enthusiasm as soon as he stepped into the room. She thanked him for coming but assured him that she always had plenty of company and he might better use his time visiting those with greater needs. Next, she raved about the nursing staff and their fabulous care. They met her every need without being asked. Even the food was outstanding and there was plenty of it. Finally, she gave a big grin while explaining that she only had two teeth left but, “Thank the Lord, they meet in the middle!”

  The greatest difference between these two patients was not their circumstances but their perspectives. Ironically, the woman with more had chosen a negative perspective and the woman with less had chosen a positive perspective. Each had the option of going either way and each chose the perspective for seeing her circumstances.”

  Happiness is a choice, yet we need the Spirit working in us from the inside out to have it. One of my favorite passages is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Those verses have been an anchor for my soul nearly fifty years: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

  Satan loves it when the people of God lose heart and give in to anger, fear, depression, and countless other joy killing emotions. Yet, for the believer, for the one who has committed their life to Christ, this world is as bad as it gets. Everything, no matter how terrible, even if like that woman in the hospital we have terminal cancer, is temporary. It’s also momentary whereas what awaits us is eternal. We have something that those who do not know our Savior do not have. We know that we’re all going to get Home before dark! And that my friend is something to give us constant joy even in the midst of a crumbling world. We’re not Home yet!   

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Sanitizing History

“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely

because it does not fit the present.” Golda Meir

  Oliver Cromwell, the great English statesman who led the Parliament of England’s armies against abusive King Charles I during the English Civil War, was not a handsome man and was disfigured by warts upon his face. A court painter who was painting his portrait and thinking to please the great man omitted his disfiguring warts. When Cromwell saw the picture, he said, “Take it away, and paint me warts and all.”

  “Painting warts and all” is one of the major differences between a Christian/biblical worldview and other religions or worldviews. It’s an evidence too of the veracity and inerrancy of the Bible. Throughout the Bible, the heroes and heroines are “painted” with shocking transparency.  Currently, I’m reading 2 Chronicles in my personal devotions. The candor with which God’s Word shares failings of the “good kings” is astonishing.  

  Years ago I remember being warned to have a jaundiced eye when reading an autobiography or a biography written by a relative of the main character. For example, we’d be very surprised if Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy wrote a tell-all about her famous father. Although Kennedy carefully cultivated the image of the devoted family man, he was possibly the most prolific philanderer ever to grace the Oval Office. Islam hides the perversity of Muhammad. He married his bride Aisha, at age six, though he reportedly waited until she was nine to be intimate with her. Though as many as 3,000 were massacred by the Red Army at Tiananmen Square protest in 1989 and countless others arrested and imprisoned, there is no monument remembering that horrid loss of life or the cry for freedom that inspired it. Both Hitler and Stalin were outdone in deaths by Mao whose policies led to the deaths of up to 45 million, easily making him the worst mass murderer in history, yet the Chairman is still heroized and his abominable policies still enforced in China.

  It’s why we must value Scripture. Only God’s Word transparently paints its heroes, “warts and all.” Abraham, the friend of God, is reported to be a habitual liar. King David, the man after God’s own heart, was an adulterer and murderer. Other than Jesus Christ, only the prophet Daniel, has no exposed “skeletons in his closet.” The transparency of the Bible demonstrates the validity of Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words, we’re all one huge evil mess, even our heroes, and we all have a desperate need for Savior.

  Currently in America we’re watching the purging of our history because leaders from the past don’t fit a contemporary narrative. Attempting to erase those who are not acceptable in contemporary culture is very uneducated. If this anti-intellectual trend continues, in a not too distant future, those who purport it will find themselves purged from our collective historical memory.

  Sanitizing history opens up the infectious potential for repetition. Nazi Holocaust Museums, slave quarters, the bombing of the World Trade Center, all of those and countless other historical accounts, for the future protection of humanity, must be told with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

  Because much of the current historical sanitizing centers on Confederate history, it’s my opinion that it’s a wrong needing to be corrected. Yet, not with the kneejerk reaction of mobs toppling statues, but as a reasoned argument that educates and reminds us of the horrors of slavery and racism.

  The South rebelled against the Union to protect slavery. Confederate leaders should not be heroized or memorialized. For those defending them, I’d ask what they’d think if an American military base in Germany was named the “Rommel Base” after the Nazi military genius. It’d heroize someone who was part of the most abominable culture in modern history.

  Wiping clean our history is inerudite. It’s imperative that we know our history.

  We need our history to educate and instruct us. “To know nothing of what happened before you were born,” warned the ancient philosopher Cicero, “is to forever remain a child.” Learning history roots us in reality—in what actually happened as opposed to what we assume must have happened or wish had happened. America’s history is both awe-inspiring and checkered. It’s awe-inspiring that our forefathers and mothers were willing and often made incredible sacrifices so that we could enjoy the liberty that much of the world still does not have. It’s checkered by horrible acts like slavery or the massacre of native peoples. The study of history has an instructive and protective purpose.

  We need our history to inspire and exhilarate us. Every nation needs heroes. Our children need heroes. Yet, no hero or heroine is untainted. As we learn of those in the past who did the best that they could or knew in the midst of the culture of their day, it should inspire us to take heroic risks, to live and invest in what has true value for the present and future. It can be a journey of discovery to learn of people we’ll never meet and visit places we can never go. They should inspire us to do what we might never do because they did what they also thought that they could never do.

  We need our history to give us perspective. History broadens our horizons and helps us to see beyond the present and often overwhelming demands of the urgent. One historian noted, history “must be our deliverer not only from the undue influence of other times but from the undue influence of our own—from the tyranny of environment and the pressures of the air we breathe.” Excessive focus on the present results in historical myopia. We need history to expand our horizons.

  We need our history to inspire and humble us. Learning of great leaders should be a powerful source of inspiration. The persistence of an Abraham Lincoln to preserve the Union or the vision of a John F. Kennedy should give us a sense of gratitude and motivate us to reach beyond ourselves. The determination of a George Washington against incredible odds should motivate us to persevere.

  Yet, our heroes' blindness and failures must humble and convict us. While Thomas Jefferson’s genius is astounding, his moral insensitivity is tragic.

  For the Bible-believer, it gives us great hope. The failures of even our best leaders remind us why we all need the cross. Their best attempts yet failure to eradicate inequity and injustice remind us that our hope is not in human government but only in our perfectly just God. While we must do the best that we can in this sin contaminated world, we know that human effort will often cause as many ills as it hopes to solve. Our only hope is in a Kingdom not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1). Until then we do the best we can with the “mud pies” of human frailty and fallibility.  

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.