Month: January 2017

Last year saw several significant deaths of well-known individuals in America… entertainers, politicians and musicians. Among that number was a beloved member of the Christian community, George Beverly Shea. “Bev,” as Billy Graham and his closest associates referred to him, had walked with Billy as a classmate, accountability partner, friend, advisor and worship leader.

His voice through the years literally enthralled stadiums worldwide as he sang his signature “How Great Thou Art” and slightly lesser known, a song titled, “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” Though Shea did not write the words to the song, he sang it as though he had.

It’s an awesome thing to see a man so greatly used by God come to the end of his race and end well. Shea lived the words of this song that has been used to bring many to tears and a renewed commitment to knowing, serving and following Jesus.

And though his voice has been silenced for a season on earth, I am confident it still resonates among the angels in the courts of Heaven and before the throne of God.

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

Today, I am more confident than ever that Bev Shea is glad he lived his life on earth with a clear and singular purpose:

To seek Jesus most of all.

For Meditation: What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.   Philippians 3:8

For Reflection: As you inventory your life, what is more important to you than Jesus?

Do you master your money or does your money master you? That’s an important question for us to consider at the start of a new year. Do you live your life using money as a tool or does your money use you? Money or “mammon,” as Jesus referred to it, is a competing god for your loyalty and worship.

The word “mammon” that sometimes is translated “wealth, greed or riches,” is basically a competing material system of acquisition that can attach itself to us and pull our loyalty away from more noble, spiritual pursuits. Mammon is a god in many ancient writings. So when Jesus used the termed, it meant that in the culture of the day in which He spoke.

Wealth itself is a neutral reality. It can be something that can benefit many, and much of the education, health care, orphanages and care-giving institutions of our day are driven by wealth. Wealthy people contribute and share and much good is done for many as a result. But wealth can become deceptive and soul-stealing. It can convince us that “we are rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” (Rev 3:17)

There is no guarantee of contentment that comes with wealth. There is no assurance that those who temporarily have control of it are going to do good with it. As many as have done good with wealth, many others have used it for evil purposes. And possessing things can become a slippery slope to idolatry.

The sure way to make certain we are mastering money and not the other way around is to be generous in our use of it. The question we must always ask, whether we are raking in millions in the stock market or living on fixed incomes, is not “how much should I give” but “how much should I keep?”

Legacies are built not on how much net worth is accumulated, but what is done with that acquisition of material goods. Our ultimate judgment will be based not on how much we made but how much we released for the purposes of the Kingdom.

Generosity is an atmosphere in which mammon cannot breathe. If you want to live in the fullness and freedom of the Kingdom of God, there can be no competing god. You must choose which god to follow.

And mammon must not be allowed to rule us.

FOR MEDITATION: But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

FOR REFLECTION: As you think about how you live your life and how you discharge your stewardship of resources, which god is truly your master?

When young Bill Borden’s body was returned to the United States following his tragic death in Egypt, he only had one possession: a worn Bible. Upon opening it, his mother saw his name written on the inside cover, and a memoir of three statements that captured his life’s passion.

The first statement: “No remorse.” The date told her that her son had written this when he was told by his father, the founder of Borden Milk, that he would be disowned and cut off from the family’s fortune if he pursued his course of going as a missionary to Muslims in Egypt.

The second statement was dated on the day of his departure from America. It simply said, “No return.” Eerie in its prophecy, Borden looked out of the small plane’s window for the last time at American soil. He flew to his destiny in Cairo, Egypt on that day.

His final two-word summary of his life was written in shaky lettering, his hand trembling with fever from the meningitis he had contracted shortly after arriving for his mission in Egypt. It said, “No regrets.” A few days later he died.

All of us, I believe on some level, want to be able to look at our life’s run through the same lens as Bill Borden. We want to live a life where, as we look back when it’s time for our run to be over, we can say “no regrets.”

Run for the finish line. Know where the line is! Make sure that you are not simply running in the “rat race,” where only the rats win! Run so as “to win the prize” which is the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Make it your aim to know Him most of all.

And if you run like that, there will be “no regrets!”

FOR MEDITATION: Run in such a way so as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24b

FOR REFLECTION: As you take inventory of your life running in to a new year, are there things you are now invested in that will bring regret later? Is it time to let that go?

Running a race well is contingent on a number of things.  Most important of course, is the mentality of the runner.  As with any form of athletics, the attitude and perseverance of the runner is ultimately what wins the race.  They can have the most intricately engineered shoes, the most ergonomically correct clothing and the greatest coach.  But at the end of the day, the runner’s mindset wins or loses.

Part of that mindset is what they are willing to abandon to get ready for the race.  For some, it’s abandoning sleep… for others, it’s certain foods.  For professional competitors, it may mean moving to another place to get ready for a race, and they abandon the familiar and even, for a time, their family and friends.

But “to win the prize,” it’s worth it to them.  They will radically cut off anything from their lifestyle that “hinders” them from running well.

I wonder, as we enter these first few days of 2017, how willing we are to get rid of those things that hinder us in our spiritual race?  Are we willing to pay the price of radically abandoning comforts and conveniences, and focus on “running to win?”  Peter Drucker, world-renown management theorist, speaks of “planned abandonment” in his seminars.  The key to success, he believes, is in what we are willing to leave behind to reach the goal.

Now I am not processing this as a success strategy for your career goal.  I am advocating a spiritual discipline of radically taking away from our lives anything that hinders us in running our race to win… of running “for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  Is the goal worth it?  Are we willing to adopt a mindset that says, “whatever it takes I will run to win.”

This may involve physical appetites as well as faulty thinking.  The question we must apply to every dimension of our life is, “will this activity, this decision, this relationship hinder or help my race?”  In Hebrews 12:1-2 we are encouraged to “lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us” and run as Christ ran.  What is the weight for you?   What is there in your life that, time after time, you allow to “easily entangle you?”

Whatever that is, make an important decision.  Plan to abandon it this year.  Let go of the weight, the distraction, the hindrance.

And run to win.

FOR MEDITATION: You did run well; who has hindered you?   Galatians 5:7

FOR REFLECTION: Take a hard look and inventory activities, decisions, attitudes and even relationships and friendships in your life that may be spiritually holding you back in 2017.  Pray specifically that God will help you to plan to abandon these things.