"Wake-Up Call"

"Wake-Up Call"

By:  Pastor Jack Schneider

“The time is coming when people won’t listen to good teaching. Instead, they will look for teachers who will please them by telling them only what they are itching to hear.  They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories.”  [2 Tim.4:3-4, CEV]

I awakened one morning last week at my usual time. It was still dark and, as I rolled over and sat up to get out of bed, I suddenly had the horrifying feeling I was falling face forward and sure to land sprawled painfully on the floor. Arms and legs flailing wildly, trying to gain my balance and catch myself to break the fall, it seemed an eternity before Carolyn’s voice broke through to me, “Are you okay?”  It was then I realized I was still lying in bed, on my back, with my legs hanging over the edge.  My ears were filled with fluid from sinus pressure and my equilibrium was totally shot -- I couldn’t sit up, stand, roll over or anything without being disoriented. It was a miserable feeling, and it has taken days of corrective measures to get over.

If ever there’s an analogy for satan’s mind-games with us, this is it.  He fills our ears with lies and half-truths until our sense of balance and Godliness is so skewed that up is down and we have no idea where we are in relation to Christ. What was so weird about my physical situation was that I had no clue, no symptoms to alert me when I went to bed the night before; I simply awakened the next morning, completely messed up.  And do you think satan is about to give us any warning signs he’s on the way -- something like an e-mail or a text-message with a 12-hour advance notice, “by the way, I’m going to mess you over tomorrow…have a nice night!”

Nope.  Your day will be just like my wake-up call.  I felt like I was falling from a 20-ft. wall and was scrambling like a turtle on its back. Come to think of it, that’s how helpless I have felt at times in the face of his attacks -- until Someone’s calming voice broke through to remind me where I really was: safe in the hands of my Savior. You see, satan wants us stumbling around blindly, crashing into things, hurting ourselves and others. But when we stop, listen for that still, small voice of the Word and regain our direction in Christ, safety and peace are at hand.

Be careful. Someone will always be happy to fill your ears with junk, if you’ll let them. It’s the times we live in. Earlier in 2 Tim., the apostle wrote;

“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” 

That’s the truth, and the truth won’t make your head spin.

- Jack

"Weariness Can Overwhelm"

"Weariness Can Overwhelm"

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

“In [Christ] and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged [weary] because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”  [Eph.3:12-13, NIV]

Talked with a friend the other day and heard of yet another young person who, for some unknown reason, apparently became discouraged enough to end his life.  How sad, not only that such a precious life should come to an untimely end but, also, that such weariness can overwhelm God’s children.

This expression of discouragement is not common in Scripture.  The particular word here in Ephesians appears only once in the New Testament, and in this context actually means “to be wearied, worn out.” Even so, although the NIV translators rendered it “to be discouraged” here, that unique usage appears in a similar form only one other place: Col.3:21 -- “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will be come discouraged.” 

Literally, the Colossians passage means that we are to avoid causing our children to lose their passion for life.  The word is “athumos,” which is to be without fierceness, without imagination, without anything that makes us breathe hard…  No wonder the simplest thing is to call it “passion,” but that doesn’t really do it justice. This is why it’s not the same word the Holy Spirit gave Paul to use in Ephesians 3. We can become weary of the things in life as day-to-day circumstances weigh us down, but a kind word at the right time from others goes a long way to picking us up once again. Once a person becomes embittered, however, it’s far more difficult to regain the imagination and creativity that makes a relationship breathe with fire, whether it’s with a parent, spouse, friend or even God Himself.

Yes, even with God. 

Which is worse: to have such a relationship with your Lord and lose it, or to never have such closeness in the first place?  Both, of course, are tragic. The former, however, can be restored by God’s grace, and once again you will be free to know the joy and passion of loving even as you are loved.  The latter, on the other hand, means never knowing the height and depths to which God has gone and will go to draw you to Himself, simply because of who He is in grace.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” [Mk.12:30]  And breathe, deeply, for you are His.

- Jack