Ignoring the Unpleasant

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

1Now the famine was severe in the land. 2So when Israel’s children had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father told them, “Go back again! Buy a little food for us!” 3But Judah said, “The main firmly warned us, ‘You shall not see my face unless you bring your brother with you.’” — Genesis 43:1-3

(This is Henry again—it’s one of those weeks! Apologies for sending it late.)

Do you ever just forget about something that has an unpleasant element to it? I know that I do. There are things that need to be done, but I kind of let them slide because they are either unpleasant in themselves, or they involve me doing something else that’s unpleasant.

For example, I have a really hard time getting motivated to gather the paperwork to do my income taxes. I know the forms now for my business quite well, and can fill them out quickly. It’s not fun, but it’s not hard. But gathering the paperwork together and the reports from my accounting software? Not so much! I’m even getting fairly good at keeping the accounts up to date so all I have to do is get the right folders together and select the right reports, but I hate it.

Then there are phone calls to someone I don’t want to talk to, or someone to whom I need to convey a less than pleasant message. I’m likely to think suddenly that Jody is really good at making that sort of calls, and perhaps she’ll do it for me. Unfortunately, she will probably not forget the unpleasant side of it, so she’ll say, “I think that’s your call to make.”

So here’s Jacob, acting pretty much the same way. The brothers have already told him what the ruler in Egypt had said. He knew what was required, but he just couldn’t help asking the brothers to go back to Egypt. Maybe they would forget about the need to take their brother. Maybe they’d risk themselves.

I notice in the story that Joseph seems to become reconciled to his brothers, and they to him, but Jacob himself never quite gets it. He’s still willing to sacrifice 10 brothers for the sake of one. He hopes they won’t notice and will do it “somehow.”

It reminds me of what I call the “Star Trek” style of command. Those of you who know the older Star Trek series, you know, the one with Kirk and Spock, not Picard and Data, will remember how Scotty would be down in the engine room fighting fires and collapsing parts. Kirk needs Warp 7 or whatever, but the engines aren’t up to it. “It will take at least two hours to fix,” says Scotty. “That’s not good enough, I need it in one,” says Kirk. And because this is fiction, Scotty “somehow” manages to get it all done.

It’s easy to fall into this style of leadership in our homes, businesses, or churches. A leader announces a goal, and then expects others to figure out how to do it, whether the resources are available or not. We ask our children to accomplish great things, but then don’t provide the atmosphere and support that are necessary. We may ask employees or coworkers to “solve it” but we don’t provide the means or consider their gifts.

There has to be a careful balance here, because many times someone is not doing all they could or should, and note that those may be two different things! But at other times unreasonable demands may just be creating unnecessary failure and discouragement. We need to recognize this also in our bosses at work and our leaders. When is someone simply making a demand because they don’t have any better idea, or have decided to forget the unpleasant?

Are you a Jacob? Do you ask people to take risks you wouldn’t take? Do you expect things of others that you have no idea how you would manage yourself? Do you let others do it to you?

Make sure the burdens you accept are the proper ones.

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Well-Placed Faith

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

(This is Henry, writing for Jody again. She is having a busy week!)

Do you watch or listen to ads on TV or radio? I do. Most of the time I criticize them. I know how words are put together, and I can tell what I’m supposed to take away from the ad and how they tried to get me to see that.

Ads don’t have much effect on me, other than the enjoyment of some linguistic criticism, but they do work. They rarely change anyone’s knowledge of facts. What they try to do is change your attitude toward them. Generally the more subtly they can do that, the better. They want you to reach for their product the next time you’re in the grocery store, and it’s best if you don’t even realize why you did so.

This morning as I was driving home after taking Jody to work I heard two things in succession. The first was part of the morning talk show. The speaker talked about Michael Phelps and how he got started swimming because he was diagnosed as ADHD, and swimming was something to occupy him and use up energy. A hardship, one that has caused great hardship in many families, was turned into a catalyst for great things. (If you want to know more, check this site, which is run by Michael Phelps’ mother.)

That reminded me of my own nephew. His mother, my sister, was told that he would never graduate from high school. Today he has a Master of Education degree, is a certified teacher, and teaches special education. What would have happened if my sister had believed what she was told?

Recently, former Texas Senator Phil Gramm was criticized bitterly for referring to our current economic difficulties as a “psychological recession.” I don’t fully agree with him. There are causes other than psychology for the economic downturn. But he does have a point. Our psychology acts as an amplifier to make small problems into big ones, and big ones into giant ones. The media plays along, because we’re going to respond better to people who tell us what we already know is true.

Right after the Michael Phelps story there was an ad about optimism and pessimism in Pensacola. There was a line in it that stuck with me: “Well-placed faith can bring great rewards.”

Often critics of Christianity like to use the definition of faith as “believing in something for which there is no evidence.” I do believe faith goes well beyond evidence, but Biblically there are multiple definitions of faith.

1Now faith is the substantial nature of things we hope for, the clear conviction of things we don’t see. — Hebrews 11:1

And I bet you thought I was not going to use any scripture today, when you didn’t see a text at the top! That one looks a great deal like the critics’ definition of faith, though I would point out that it is the header to a chapter on faith in action, a well-placed faith, if you please.

11For it is clear that nobody is made right with God by the law. “The righteous shall live by faith.” — Galatians 3:11

It’s pretty clear hear that faith is something more than believing something for which you have no evidence, or as the young boy in Sunday School said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so!” Rather, faith is almost a way of life—if it is well-placed, that is.

25So as the body without the spirit (breath) is dead, so also faith without works is dead. — James 2:25

Often James is taken to mean that we need to add works to our faith, but I believe it would be much more accurate to say that James is speaking, not of adding something to faith, but rather of the type or quality of faith we are to have.

Faith is not just believing. Faith is not agreeing that certain things are true. Faith does involve those things, but Christian faith is more—it’s an attitude, a commitment, and yes, a risk. It’s putting our trust in a person because we see that person as trustworthy.

I publish books. I’ve been working on building the company for a long time. It’s still very hard. I could make more money by using my time otherwise. I spend about 10% of my time doing computer related work, designing or maintaining web sites and managing networks, but make well over half of my income in that way. Two things keep me going. First, I believe God has called me to what I am doing. Second, however, I believe that greater success is coming, and I’m not planning to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by quitting now. It’s a matter of attitude and commitment.

In your Christian life are you going to take hardship as a sign that it’s time to get out, or are you going to check that commitment, ask yourself if your faith is well-placed, and assuming it is, move forward? The difference between success and failure may not be in your circumstances, but in the attitude with which you face them.

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How to Be a Critic

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

28And all those who were in the synagogue were filled with rage when they heard these things, 29and they took him outside the city to the edge of the hill on which the city was built so as to throw him off. 30But he went through their midst and moved on. — Luke 4:28-30

(This is Henry writing for Jody.)

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve spent some time studying Amateur Radio. My brother urged me to do this, and for various reasons I finally got around to it. For a few days my head was filled with antennas, radiation patterns, regulations, and circuits.

Now many circuits, especially amplifier circuits will have something called “bias.” A bias is a certain voltage that is constant in a circuit, and you will measure everything else from that point. Stronger means “stronger than the bias.” Weaker means “weaker than the bias.” (OK, all you electronic buffs, don’t jump all over me for that. It’s pretty loose, but it will work for my purposes!) If you were to judge voltage levels in such a circuit based on a different bias than what was actually there, you would get some pretty bizarre results.

Now I could talk about how our biases tend to shape the way we understand things in general. We often see or hear what we expect to see or hear. But what I want to look at is the bias of our attitude.

Jody and I have discussed this issue in our relationship. If one or the other (or, heaven help us, both!) has had a tense working day, we’re already near the edge. The meter is reading 9 out of 10 possible, and an explosion comes at 10! So just a little push results in a disproportionate reaction.

What do we do about that? Don’t imagine that we have a perfect solution, but we do try to recognize the reality that one can be pushed nearly to one’s limit, biased almost to the point of overload, so to speak, so that something small is just too much! We try to recognize when the other is at that point, and then try to help one another bear the burdens involved.

We can have a similar type of bias regarding other people’s churches, ministries, or even personal theologies. If you start from a “let’s see” type of bias, then you might look at positive or negative characteristics, and come up with a sort of balance sheet. If you do so, you’ll probably find something positive about many groups even though you may still find that, on balance, you cannot be fully in support.

On the other hand you can have a bias that is set to “explode,” by which I mean that you’re just looking for the first thing you can criticize. In this case, that other church or ministry is judged guilty unless you can find enough positive things, while even one negative thing will cause you to strike them off the list.

I’m not suggesting here that you don’t use good judgment. There are false teachings. There are things to avoid. There are ministries that work in the name of Jesus but do little or nothing to reflect his character and mission. But there are also critics who have the same problem. They are so busy looking for the flaws in someone else’s theology that they barely have time to move forward.

Jesus encountered a negatively biased crowd in Nazareth. They were amazed at all the good things, but when it came right down to it they found a flaw—he didn’t have the right credentials. How many times have I heard that one! But it can be just about any flaw that people spot that lets them dismiss someone without further consideration.

Let me suggest an approach here. Start from zero—no bias in any direction—when looking at other people and their work. I suspect that the bulk of problems or errors will turn out to be simply part of being human. There’s a need to correct them, but not to dismiss the people that hold them. When something needs correcting, do it by positively presenting the truth as you understand it, not by making negative lists about others.

There’s a need to look critically at teachings to find truth and error. The trick is to do it in such a way that you don’t get stuck being a critic. Pass through the crowd and move on to the next thing God has called you to.

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Forgetting Why

Posted on August 17, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

1After these things there was a Jewish feast and he went up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is call Bethzatha in Hebrew, which has 5 porches. 3In these were lying a crowd of sick people, blind, lame and withered. 4 5And there was a certain man there who had been sick for 38 years. 6Jesus saw him lying there and he knew that he’d already been there for a long time. He said to him, “Do you want to be healthy?” 7The sick man answered, “Sir, I don’t have anybody who can throw me into the pool when the waters are troubled. When I get there, someone else has always gone in before me.” — John 5:1-7 (TFBV)

(This is Henry, writing for Jody.)

Today I visited a Sunday School class and the teacher (Ken Autrey, minister of Evangelism at First United Methodist Church, Pensacola) taught on this passage and asked a question: Do you think this man had forgotten why he was there?

Now I’ve heard this passage discussed before with the question of whether one wants to be healed. When that healing is from our sins, our bad habits, or even something we have gotten used to, that’s an excellent question. But I had never thought of the question in quite those terms before. (I’m just stealing the question from Ken. Don’t blame him for anything weird I might say from here on!)

Now you may think that the man obviously hadn’t forgotten. Obviously he wanted to get into the water, and the only reason to do that was to get healed, wasn’t it? But look at the way he answers Jesus’ question. He doesn’t! He talks about getting into the water. Based on his answer, it looks very much like over the preceding 38 years his purpose had become getting into the water. He may truly have forgotten, or lost sight of why he was there! He was going through the ritual, not because he expected or hoped for healing, but because that was what one did!

One of the things Ken applied this to was to church. We can certainly attend church just because that is what one does, or we were taught it was a good thing, but forget about meeting God there, getting recharged, and going out to be carriers of God’s grace.

I’ve found in going to churches that I can quickly tell whether I’m at a live church or a dead one. At the live churches you find a pastor, staff, and membership who are aware of the mission of that church. I don’t mean the generic one we like to repeat. “We’re here to learn to love Jesus more”, or “We’re here to carry out the gospel commission.” Of course you’re there to carry out the gospel commission! Every church is supposed to be there to do that. The question is what is your particular church charged with in carrying out the gospel commission. And if you’re there to learn to love Jesus better, he’s sure to send you off to carry his love to some other people—who are they?

Today, however, I took this a step further. What about my life? Do I know the mission statement of my life? Again, I could answer generically. Love Jesus more. Fulfill the gospel commission. But the same comments apply. Obviously I’m supposed to be carrying out the gospel commission. I’m a Christian! (If you don’t agree, I’d suggest a long conversation with God.) But what specifically am I to do?

More particularly, at my time of life, have I forgotten what it is that I’m supposed to be accomplishing? Am I doing “stuff” because I understood it was good at some time in the past and now it has just become a habit? If Jesus came up to me and asked me if I wanted to accomplish my goal, you know, whatever goal I had years ago that was prayerfully chosen, would I say, “Yes! Help me do it”? Or would I ask him to help me carry out the rituals of my day, the ones I do because I have always done them?

If the great physician was standing by me, asking me what I want, would I ask for his healing, or would I ask him to help me get into the water?

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Rending and Trembling

Posted on August 15, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!…

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever.

Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people. Isaiah 64:1, 8-9 (NIV)

Yesterday was a good day and a difficult day. I woke up yesterday morning asking God to encourage me that day to stay the course that He has given me. He did that. BIG! I praised Him throughout the day. It was good! No, it was great!

Then I went to a meeting … and got caught in the church bureaucracy! Came out a bit battered and hurt! Had some quiet time in the car alone while Henry took a test…and God faithfully showed up through this chapter in Isaiah.

God will come in power and “rend” and cause some serious trembling! When God shows Himself, we rejoice as with great joy as a child sees his loving Father. But if the child has been disobedient of rebellious, the joy may quickly turn to trembling as she awaits the consequences of her actions!

I want to be like clay in the hands of the potter as God molds and shapes me into the child He desires. Like a potter who sees the beauty inside the lump of clay and recognizes what can be long before it is! God sees me through the eyes of Jesus and comes closer. I fall to my knees asking forgiveness for my sins. God is gracious as He sifts through my heart and my actions…separating the sin from the obedience. When I ask, “Please, Father, forgive me and restore me!” He does. He wipes my slate clean and remembers my sin no more. The ‘old Jody’ is chiseled off like offending clay that is marring God’s beautiful creation. God does look upon me and sees me as His child…truly loved.

And so I rested last night. I rested with peace because of God. I rested and healed because He is faithful and He will do it!

Take some time today to tell God exactly what you want. Pour out your heart to God and allow Him to give you the best of what He has in mind for you. Watch God come near with rending and trembling!

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1 (NIV)

Go ahead…read all of Psalm 91.

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Failing to Understand

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

5And the two of them had dreams. They each had a dream in the same night. Each dream had its own meaning, the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and his baker, while they were bound in prison.

6And Joseph came to them in the morning and looked at them. They were downcast.

7So Joseph asked Pharaoh’s two servants who were with him in jail, in his Lord’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?

8And they said to him, “We have had a dream and there is nobody to interpret it.

And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me!” — Genesis 40:5-8

One of our problems in reading the Bible is that we rush, trying to get to the answer to our current question or looking for “just the facts.” We often miss the story, while we’re looking for the facts. You might want to do a slow, meditative read of Genesis 40 before you read this devotional. It might help you get the picture.

Pharaoh’s birthday is coming up. We aren’t told that until after the dreams have been interpreted, but it surely would have been know, and I doubt that Pharaoh suddenly decided on a feast three days before his birthday. Further, if you think about it a bit, I suspect you’d get the idea that the cupbearer’s dream is positive and the baker’s dream is negative. A little more thinking and you might start to guess that the symbol for three comes out so much and it’s three days until the party.

I think our narrator is trying to hint to us here that these two servants of Pharaoh are not all that bright, or better, that they’re not seeing things that are right in front of them. Now I’m not trying to take away from the miraculous aspect. They would have to guess, while Joseph would know. The related dreams are clearly a sign. As he said, interpretations belong to God.

God is going to use the blindness of these two servants to advance Joseph’s career. Note that poor Joseph gets to predict a resolution in three days for these servants while he has to wait two more years for a resolution to his own difficulties.

But I want to take this story in a different direction. How many times do we fail to discover what God wants us to do because we aren’t listening, aren’t watching, or even because we know what to do but we don’t want to do it? One of the most common prayer requests is for guidance. I’ve never done a survey, but I’m guessing it comes right up there with healing and financial needs. What does God want me to do?

I think we ask sincerely, but we often deceive ourselves. I was riding once with a pastor, a great evangelist, who suddenly said to me, “You know Henry, you can hear God’s voice more often. You just have to obey what you hear. If you obey, God will speak to you more.”

Interesting, no? I think I’d add to that, if you have an attitude of obedience, one that says, “I’m going to do whatever God wants me to do whether I really like it or not,” then you’re more likely to hear when God does speak to you. We complain about God not speaking to us, but I think the problem is much more often that we aren’t really listening, or we aren’t listening for what God actually says.

God may be saying to work out your marital problems, while you’re hoping that God will release you to ditch your spouse.

God may be saying to keep working in an obscure place without recognition, but you want to hear him calling you to great things that impact millions. (Or the reverse! I fear large crowds. Would I even hear it if God told me to go speak to one?)

God may be saying to keep working when you can’t see the fruit right now, but you’d rather change direction. (Or the reverse. You may be comfortable in the rut, and hope God doesn’t want you to change.)

The key here is not that you need to find the uncomfortable thing and assume God is calling you to that. It may be that you don’t want to do certain things because those are not your gifts. But it may also be that you can’t hear what God is saying, because you know he can’t possibly be saying that.

It may be that the “Pharaoh’s” birthday moment of your life is three days away and God is laying out “threes” to you in your dreams, but you’re thinking God needs to fix things today, or maybe you had in mind a month or a year from now.

If God lays it out to you, will you be listening? Will you be watching? Will you be open to the message? Or will you be downcast?

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Minister in the Night

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.

May the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. Psalm 134 (NIV)

Do you know someone who ministers at night? I know a few that do that. They are those awesome warriors who watch and listen for God when many of us are ‘busy with stuff’ or we are ‘sleeping’. It is not about a specific time of day that these warriors minister although I can think of two right now that do get up before daylight or stay up ‘way past sundown and pray. And listen. And pray some more. And listen much, much more.

Jesus encouraged us to pray in our closets. (Matthew 6:6) He wanted us to focus on the One to Whom we speak and listen and not care about who watches us do it! I had a prayer closet once. Literally. It was under the stairs in our home. It was big enough for me to sit, not stand. I had some wonderful conversations with God in there.

God’s house is where He lives. His sanctuary is a holy refuge where He lives and I can come. God’s house has no doors or walls or windows. It is not decorated by specific, fancy furniture. It is where God lives and it should be with me at all times!

To ‘minister’ is to first serve God. I think that if I am not serving God then whatever I do for others will be…of little worth. So if I first seek God as I ‘minister’ then I will be on His plan and I will follow His lead! His Spirit will go before me and prepare the way.

To ‘minister’ is also to submit to God. Whether it is in prayer or doing a specific task, when I bow to God and know that He is the all and all; He gets all the glory! Have you ever tried to do something that you thought was a great idea? And it was! BUT it may not have been God’s idea! OR I may have walked into all the light and grabbed the applause with all that I am – never turning to God.

The psalmist says to lift my hands and praise God! I can literally lift my hands all day and not give God any praise. It is not about where my hands are physically. It is where my heart is and the praise that comes from heart.

God will bless us from Zion. He will bless us from the Holy of Holies. He will bless us from heaven. I believe He blesses extravagantly those who minister by night. He, who never sleeps, (Psalm 121:4) sees the ministers who serve at night when others slumber – and He blesses extravagantly.

Let us give thanks.

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My Ministry

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV)

As ministers, we are all called to serve in God’s Kingdom. God’s Spirit has given each of us gifts that may be called ‘talents’ and it is in using these gifts that we are filled with joy and peace. No other time or place or person in our lives will give us that ‘God-something’ that fills the longing and we know that we are in the middle of God’s plan for us. I have been thinking lately on some of the characteristics that describe this ministry that God has chosen for me.

Humility – from the moment I answer God’s beckoning to ‘come’ and ‘serve’ using the gifts He has given me, I know that it is ALL about God and Him being glorified. If those I serve, see God more clearly and live their lives closer to Him – then I am on His path and plan.

Multiplication – My plans can never illustrate the magnitude of God’s plans. In fact, I suspect that many times I am ignorant of how HUGE the plan is that I am a part. If I knew – I would certainly cancel the first characteristic of ‘humility’! God takes a mustard seed and grows it into a tree! He takes my ‘little obedience’ and makes it into a Kingdom Battle Won!

Priorities – God has given me His priorities: 1) Love Him 2) Love my neighbor 3) Love myself. God has given me a call and purpose for my life. In my case, it includes a family so He will provide the time for that also. He will show me the balance in serving Him does include serving Him through my family. If I am not pouring out His love on them but only on others, then I am not in His plan. When God gave me a family, He did not intend that I sacrifice them. He shows me how He does ‘multiplication’!

Unity – Unity does not mean homogenizing. God calls us to unity as we worship and serve only Him. When we accept His perfect love as the perfect atonement of our sinful selves, we come together to make the Body of Jesus Christ. There is much we can agree upon and work together to build His Kingdom. We can live in peace as brothers and sisters, uniting under His love and living as His children so that those who do not follow this Shepherd will envy us and want what we have.

I suspect that you have some characteristics of your own and I would love to hear from you. Please send me an email! Let us live a life of joyful duty to our Father that comes from love.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)

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There but for God’s grace…

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Jody Neufeld

“There but for the grace of God, go I.” I have thought and said that so often. Did you ever wonder about the origin of that saying? George Whitefield, an 18th-century evangelist, was heard to say this as he watched a man walking to the gallows. Forgiving a sinner is remembering that I, too, am a sinner.

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:7-14

God is gracious and good to me. He sets His commandments before me and teaches me His way. He desires that I obey out of love for Him. He has forgiven me of SO MUCH.

It is His Holy Spirit that softens my heart and causes me to bow my head in adoration. It is His Holy Spirit that touches my spirit, making mercy and grace real to me. Then I know, just a little, about God’s great love and forgiveness. As that mercy and grace flows in me, there is an opportunity for it to just continue to flow out of me and bathe others with its life-giving power. Forgiveness, the chain-breaking freedom of forgiveness, is revealed.

Mercy is forgiveness without criticism or contempt. It is an understanding that truly except for God’s grace there I would be. God looks at sin and sees something disgusting and too gross to be near! He looks at the sinner as someone who is ‘save-able’ and a child that needs discipline but not be kicked to the curb with the trash!

God’s laws, precepts, commands, ordinances are sign posts in my life to direct me in God’s path and avoid all the not-God detours and potholes that can hurt, even destroy, me. As I chafe under God’s bridle of care, I can call to my mind the alternative road and remember how I longed for Him to pull me, even yank me back to His way!

Take some time today and read the whole of Psalm 19. Consider God’s ways in your life. Ask God for His mercy to forgive you. Ask God for His grace to strengthen and heal you. Praise God for His enormous, never-ending love that He just keeps on giving.

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Not Neglecting Meeting

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Henry Neufeld

…not neglecting our meetings, as is the practice of some, but encouraging, and doing this even more as we see the day approaching. — Hebrews 10:25

(This is Henry, filling in for Jody again. She is headed out today to south Florida where she will attend some training. Please be in prayer.)

I’m not a great salesman, but I have often been in the position of selling things. I remember one sales meeting when I was a computer specialist for Radio Shack (don’t ask me when!) in which we were told that you don’t talk about features of the product, but about the benefits for the user.

For example, when selling a camcorder, we should find out about the customer and then talk about how the camcorder would record family events, sports activities, or whatever the customer was interested in. You didn’t tell people you had an 8x zoom, but mentioned how you’d be able to focus in more closely on your child in the band marching in the parade.

The reason for all this is that people buy things in order to satisfy their needs and desires, and unless you connect their needs or desires with your product, they don’t respond. Of course you can connect a product with someone’s need that doesn’t actually fulfill that need. That happens quite frequently in sales. It’s called false advertising.

Many of us Christians treat church congregations much like products, and our congregations act very much like salespeople. I’m not saying we’re always good salespeople. Many times we are not. But the basic idea of our membership committees is to convince people that our church is the one that is going to fulfill their needs and desires, and that they are going to feel good when they become members of our church.

But consider this. The one we claim to be following told his disciples that he was offering them the opportunity to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him (Matthew 16:24). Ouch! Remember that “take up your cross” doesn’t refer to hanging a cross on a light chain around your neck. The cross at that time was a frightful thing, evoking the worst kind of death in people’s minds.

I talked about church attendance as a spiritual discipline yesterday. I would like to suggest that our selection of a church and our participation in church should be judged by “taking up our cross” and not by “fulfilling our needs and desires.” That is, we should be looking for an opportunity for discipleship, not a vacation spot. We should be seeking to serve, not to be served.

Now don’t get me wrong here. Your church does need to serve your needs. Do I contradict myself? I don’t think so. I need to serve and my church should fulfill that need. In order to serve I need to be fed on God’s word, to be empowered to use my gifts, to have fellowship and prayer support. If my church doesn’t fulfill those needs, I won’t be able to serve.

Elsewhere Jesus also told us to take his yoke on us, and he said that his burden is light. It’s easy to take this to the opposite extreme and assume that if we’re in a church where we have to work hard and where we receive no reward or support, we are doing something spiritually superior. In fact, if you are in a church that doesn’t feed you with God’s word, doesn’t use your gifts, doesn’t pray for you and support you, and that expects you to carry many burdens while others snooze, you’re probably not being a true disciple; you’re just enabling others to shirk their duties.

On the other hand, if you’re one of the snoozing ones, expecting the church to bring the spoon to your mouth before you feed on the word, or avoiding the areas of service to which God has called you, it’s time to wake up. You may be at church, but you’re still neglecting the meeting!

Some people claim that they can have as great a spiritual experience at the beach as they have in church. Doubtless with reference to some churches and some beaches, they are right. If church is defined as the place where I have a great spiritual experience that makes me feel good, then we church people have little argument to make. Let people go to the beach if they think it will work.

But if we realize that church is the body of Christ we do have a call to be disciples—cross carriers—then we know that lounging on the beach won’t do it, no matter how close to God, or how spiritually elevated we feel.

Is your congregation a body of cross carriers? Would you remain a member if it was?

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