Godly Correction

I have recently been training a horse in my free time. We have a few older “finished” horses, but I have one that needs a little tune up. He is gentle and willing to learn. I have learned over the years that horses need to know when they do something right. They need rewards when they do the correct thing. This usually means a break or allowing them to stand still and catch their breath. I also try to scratch their neck or hindquarters to let them know they made the right choice. I want my horses to like me and not resent me. You could say that I want them to know that I am their friend, not their enemy. If I only correct them harshly, never offer breaks, and deal with them in frustration, they’ll lose that willingness to learn. They’ll begin to resent everything I do while riding them. Then when I do actually need to fix a problem, they’ll be less inclined to respond to the correction.

The same thing is true for people. Often we need correction and discipline in our spiritual lives. Correction can be a good thing. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that one of the uses for God’s word is to correct. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Godly correction should lead to repentance and life change. Often the Lord will use fellow believers in our lives to show us where we need correction. It’s not always fun, but it can be fruitful. If you are a follower of Jesus, then you must be in the daily habit of listening to correction; correction from God’s word, from the Holy Spirit, and even from Christians in your life. 

However, it is important to remember that Godly correction is received best from people who actually care about you. Just like horses, if someone only offers you negative, biting criticism all the time, you will eventually stop listening to that person. Even though criticism and correction can sting, we are more likely to receive it well when coming from a trusted friend. Proverbs 27:6 tells us “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” A true spiritual friend wants to correct you (wound you) so that you can change and grow to be more like Jesus. A critical person often corrects only to tear you down. This is one of the things I’ve had to learn in my spiritual life. There are people you should listen to, because they care about your spiritual well-being, and there are people whose criticism you should ignore, because they only care about themselves. This can be an especially hard thing for people who want to make others happy, but this realization can give you freedom. 

These principles also apply when you are the person offering correction. What is your motivation? Do you genuinely care about this person's spiritual well-being and maturity? Is this correction coming from a spirit of godly friendship? My prayer is that I would receive correction well and that I would offer correction as a true friend. Remember, horses that only know a harsh hand will instinctively react in distrust, but a horse that knows a gentle hand will respond well to firm correction. 

Calluses

I’m a guitar player. I learned how to play acoustic guitar in college from one of my old roommates. I can remember one of the worst parts of the process was developing calluses on my fingers. If you’ve never tried to play guitar you may not be aware of this, but pushing down the strings in order to fret a chord or a note hurts your fingers. Sometimes, it can take several weeks to get your fingers used to this. Eventually you will develop calluses on the tips of your fingers and once that happens it will become exponentially easier to play. I can recall sitting on the couch trying to switch from a G chord to a D chord all while my fingers felt like they were on fire. It was unpleasant, but like my roommate assured me, the friction of the string against my fingertip eventually made the skin rough and tough. The pain I once felt slowly went away. 

It is possible to develop spiritual calluses as well. While physical calluses on your fingertips can help you play guitar better, spiritual calluses in your heart can cause you to ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. If you are a follower of Jesus then the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and will guide and direct your life. You are to be led by the Spirit in your daily life. Often the bible refers to daily living as “walking.” Galatians 5:16-17 tell us;

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”

When you walk by the Spirit, the spirit will prompt you to do the things that you once rebelled against. The Spirit will produce certain “fruit” in your life. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us;

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

This is the amazing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person who has been transformed by Jesus. Unfortunately, it is entirely possible to ignore the Spirit’s prompting. You can refuse to listen and even refuse to do the things that the Spirit is leading you to do. When you do this, you ignore that deep urging of the Spirit. It can make you feel horrible. Over time if you can say “no” to the Spirit over and over again, you will develop a spiritual callousness in your heart. This is a very dangerous place to find yourself. If the Spirit’s guidance no longer pricks your conscience, stop what you are doing, repent, and pray that God would soften your heart. Let the words of King David in Psalm 51:10-12 be your prayer;

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Every Time I Think of You

I recently enjoyed celebrating another birthday. I was overwhelmed with all of the cards, texts, messages, e-mails, Facebook posts, etc. from family and friends. I even had a voicemail from a mother and daughter singing a happy birthday duet. It was priceless! I’ll be glad to let you listen to the voicemail if you like. Not to mention the homemade pecan cake and the belated strawberry cheesecake. I even got a free sopapilla from a local restaurant a couple of weeks after my birthday! I cannot wait until next year.

Recently, our pastor of twenty four plus years, felt God’s calling to another church in his hometown. For the past several years he had a ministry of sending cards to our church congregation. Every Thursday he would handwrite a card to everyone in our church that had an upcoming birthday or anniversary.

Naturally, after he moved, our church secretary asked me if I wanted to continue this ministry. Honestly, my first thought was, “I am much too busy to handwrite a dozen or more cards every week.” However, for the sake of continuity I decided to continue this ministry. When our secretary handed me the first stack of cards they lay on my desk for a several hours. Finally, I got around to writing well wishes in the card. Initially, I began to write in a very mechanical, impersonal, manner. I didn’t really want to take time out of my day to continue, but I was committed to the task.

As I began to read the names on the envelopes, it struck me that these were not just names on a card they were all brothers and sisters in Christ. Friends that I knew personally. Immediately, my thoughts went to this this scripture that Paul wrote to his beloved brethren in Philippi.

“I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:1-2 (NKJ)

Wow, talk about feeling convicted. Afterwards, instead of looking at this ministry as a burden I began to pray with joy, thanking God for the privilege of praying for the good work that God has begun in the life of believers. These were my friends and family in the body of Christ.

As I read further, I came across Paul’s specific prayer for his friends in Philippi. Paul wrote, “And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11 (NKJ)

That is a wonderful prayer for us to use as a guide when we pray for others. It doesn’t have to be a birthday or anniversary, but anytime you think about the ones you love, pray for them with a joyful heart and thank God for the privilege.

Death?

Last week we had to have one of our horses put down. It was a very unexpected thing. The horse was older, but had been in good health. It was just one of those rare accidents that no one could predict. This horse was also my son’s horse. He joined me at the vet’s office and waited patiently to see if she would be ok or not. He was heartbroken when I had to tell him the bad news. We had only had this mare for a short time, but she was a great horse. She was easy to ride, gentle, and even affectionate. I was heartbroken too, but more because of the pain my son had to experience. 

After the horse’s death we had the opportunity to talk about death in general. Death is complicated and it can be difficult for children to grasp. It’s hard for adults too. I found myself saying the same sorts of things to my son that you always hear. “Death is just a part of life.” “Death is a natural thing…” But the reality is that death isn’t natural and death was never meant to be a part of life. Let me explain what I mean.

The existence of death is one of the results of the fall of man in the garden of Eden. Our sons have been learning catechism questions and answers. One of the questions says this; in what condition did God make Adam and Eve? Answer: He made them holy and happy. Our first parents were created without sin. There was perfection in the garden. Unfortunately they chose to disobey God, thereby introducing sin into the universe. The curse of sin affected not just Adam and Eve, but all of their descendants. That means every single human being has been infected with this curse. This curse also brought death into the world. Sin is the ultimate reason why anything or anyone dies. Man was intended to live forever.

This is why death is natural…and not natural at the same time. Death exists because of the curse of sin and so we accept that it is a part of life, but it wasn’t always meant to be this way. There is something in all of us that feels this truth. Death stings, death causes grief, death often surprises us…but something about it doesn’t seem quite right.

Romans 5:12 tells us that “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

This is the sad reality of life on earth. We will all die. Our animals will die. Death exists and will continue to exist until Christ returns. However, the gospel of Jesus promises that for those who place their faith in Him, death has been defeated.

Romans 5:17 promises this; “For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Let the existence of death push you towards the one who has conquered death. 

Whobody?

If you are a parent or grandparent, you know that sometimes it seems like your child speaks his/her own language. They come up with silly phrases or funny derivations of words that they hear adults say. It can be very entertaining as is the case with our great grandchild. She combined the words, who and body. She will say, “whobody did that.” That could be either a statement, a question, or “It wasn’t me; it must have been whobody.” We have a lot of fun with whobody. 

So, I got to thinking, is whobody actually a word? I didn’t find it in the Webster’s dictionary but, I found this definition in Urban dictionary.com: “whobody” logically aligns itself with "nobody", "somebody" and "anybody"… Someone you don’t associate with, or whom you don’t rate. Occasionally synonymous with ‘haters’.

Wow! There are a lot of folks that are viewed as whobodies. Who hasn’t felt that way at one time or another? Sometimes we treat others as whobodies and at times we have felt like whobodies. I find that scary, sad, and contrary to how God feels about His children.

28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” Matthew 10:38-31(NLT)

So, for all the whobodies, somebodies, and nobodies, we can take heart that God places a high value on those whom He loves. We don’t need to be fear the bullies of the world, but rather trust and revere God alone. God’s Word says this, 

“6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Hebrews 13:6 (NLT)

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8 (NLT)

He knows everything about us and still loves us, so there is no need to fear people. Somebody knows you and loves you so much He was willing to give His life for you. His name is Jesus and He died for all the whobodies in the world so we can be with Him forevermore. Thank you, Jesus.