Let's Kill Some Bandits!

     

      Oh! By the way, this is not some sort of a plot or a sequel to some Bollywood classic films where heroes and heroines serves as the protector of the village against frequent raids and robberies from bandits and dacoits. And don't even expect some disco breaks with some hero to heroine and vice-versa lip-syncing songs followed by some strenuous choreography! Well of course, it's about standing guard and keeping off bandits, and killing them in our lives, maybe not the real ones, but perhaps those bandits which controls our minds and actions...like the time bandits!

     

     Well actually, I bought this book a couple of years ago, Time Bandits Written by Stuart Briscoe. The book talks about establishing our priorities; putting first things first. It was hell of an eye-opener for me too. What's our biggest problem today? Time management isn't it? The author recollects himself of a point where he had been forced into a situation where the demands of life exceeds the supply of time. Yes! it the time bandit!

      

     Stealing away all the good hours of the day that goes into days and months and eventually years, totally wasted without having done anything essential during the given opportunity. Each day we are given a set number of hours that could be used, abused, invested, or wasted. Each day, there are things we know that have to be done. Then there are things we really ought to do, plus things we desperately want to do. The question is, But how do we find time for it all? The most important thing to do against all the other so-called important things is, first seek the kingdom of God. and everything will be given to us as well [Matthews 6:33]. It was that simple. Briscoe calls Christians to boldly address any areas of selfishness and to begin to see life through kingdom eyes. When we do, our priorities will change to focus on goodness, righteousness, and truth.

     

     In fact, I was not planning to give a detailed review of the book. I am motivated to share some of the wonderful stories that really inspired me to stand on my feet against the time bandits. So, eventually I shall be sharing them with you.

     

     Since the central theme of the book is about Seeking The Kingdom, I shall share an illustration, not actually a fiction...but perhaps is a real story during the era of the kings and the queens...

     The battle was fierce and bloody at Bosworth on 22 August 1485. The forces of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, had engaged the much larger army of King Richard III of England and had prevailed. Many of Richard's soldiers, sickened by his deceit, treachery, and murder, had deserted him. He had fought bravely, but in close-quarter combat, his horse had been slain beneath him. Horseless in the midst of battle was no place for a king to be. Seeking to make himself heard in the din of war, he shouted above the fray, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" [At least, in Shakespeare's dramatic version this is what he said.]

     Gaining the kingdom had been Richard's inglorious obsession. He had schemed, betrayed, and deceived. He had committed murder - some said he murdered his own wife. He was probably guilty of infanticide - he was widely suspected of being responsible for the deaths of the young princes in the Tower. He had hacked and hewn his way to the throne. And his hands were incredibly stained with the blood of countless innocent victims.

     But now his pursuit of a kingdom glorifying himself was rapidly arriving at a terminus. And suddenly the kingdom was negotiable. At that moment he needed a fiery charger. Failing that, any old hack would do. If anybody would give him a horse so that he could save his own skin, they could have the kingdom. For what good is a kingdom to a corpse? In fact, the kingdom was more than negotiable; it was expendable. The possession of a kingdom that had dominated his adult life and driven him to unspeakable excess was now of no consequence. A horse was all he wanted. To get away and save his skin. He had sought a kingdom and won a kingdom, but now it was utterly valueless.

     By way of contrast, let me share a couple of stories told by that master storyteller-Jesus. We are all aware of the fact that in Jesus' day, before radio, television, newspapers, or paperbacks, a good storyteller was a huge attraction. He not only filled many a long hour in the dark evenings [and I guess they were hot and humid], but also passed on traditions and functioned as a teacher and moral guide. Well, you might be thinking I am giving out a less influential picture of Jesus here, but I am not! Now, Jesus was a master storyteller and delighted in telling parables enlightened the concerned and did little more than entertaining the curious. There was a Sunday school teacher who taught a small group of children that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. After a while, he asked a little boy who was disturbing his friend what is a parable? He replied, "I think it's a heavy story with an earthy meaning." Not quite!

    Anyway, Jesus told lots of stories and parables. And many of his parables-stories started with the same formula, "The kingdom of heaven is like..." As you can see in the Bible, some were quite lengthy and detailed and others remarkably brief and straight to the point. I would like to share two and both are short and unambiguously pointed!

    "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." [Matthew 13: 44-46]

    Taking us back to the scene where king Richard is, stranded without a horse in the middle of a battle, the kingdom of England was worth no more than a horse. But to the two men in Jesus' parables, the kingdom of heaven, rather the kingdom of God, was worth everything.

    The value we place on something will determine the degree of passion we show for that thing. As we see from the first story, something of limited value is readily made negotiable, and once that happens, it becomes quickly expendable under the right circumstances. While on the other hand, from the two short stories we can understand that something of infinite worth is deeply desired and tenaciously held on to through thick and thin.

    The reason why Jesus told those two stories, was because he expects people to see the possession of the kingdom as of such worth that it becomes all-important to them. And that they pursue it with a passion.

   Now, I like this. After all has been said about the kingdom of God, that leads us to the very obvious question-what is it about the kingdom that makes it so valuable that people pursue it with a passion?

    Let me take us to Colossians 1:11-14 "joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in which we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Yes! That's why God is making it a BIG DEAL!

Struggling To Be Liked

There is an interesting aspect of our human personality that longs for us to be liked by everyone.  We struggle to please people so that praise and not criticism flows from their lips.  Most of us cringe at the thought of doing something or saying something that would incur another's wrath.  We will do most anything to be an accepted person, especially in the circle of folk we want to call friends.  It is amazing how much of our time and energy is spent in trying to make people believe we are one of them.  There is a sense in which we act like politicians trying to get elected to the office of "best liked."  We want to be everybody's candidate and number one in the opinion poll.

It's not an easy way to live for several reasons.  For one thing, when we try to be everybody's somebody we lose a bit of our integrity.  In trying to embrace everyone's opinion we compromise our own convictions.  Our need to be loved outweighs our commitment to truth.  We lose our identity by selling our souls in the bargain basement of popularity.  We become so open-minded that our brains fall out.  When this occurs we become only an echo of other people's positions.  We have no platform on which to stand up for what we think.  In essence, we become non-persons.

In our attempt to please everyone we jeopardize friendship.  In trying to be everyone's friend we end up being no one's real friend.  We appear to be wishy-washy and uncommitted to the disciplines of lasting friendships.  People are suspicious if we feel compelled to agree with them on everything.  We provide no challenge to their thought processes and thus have nothing of substance to offer a friendship.  We may have a lot of acquaintances but few real friends.

Jesus said for us to beware when everyone speaks well of us.  Of course He did not mean for us to purposely offend folk.  He was saying there are certain things basic to our Christian person hood which cannot be denied.  We must not compromise who we are in order to be well liked.  When we know the truth about ourselves and God and life and issues we are free to make a courageous commitment regardless of consequences.  Only those who like us for who we are and for what we stand can ever be considered real.

Adapted from a booklet "Another Perspective" by Dr. Calvin Metcalf

WAITING: NOT GIVING UP ON GOD YET!

“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalms 5:3

A speaker posed this question to his audience: “If you could ask God to do one thing for you in the spiritual realm, what would it be?” There is an endless list of possible answers to a question like that:

* Break a bad habit

* Forgive someone who hurt me

* Have my child come back to God

* See my loved one come to Christ

* Change my character

*Know deliverance from discouragement

* Have new zeal for God

* Receive power to overcome temptation

* Be bold for Christ

Whatever it is, it’s not too hard for God.

Each week the pastor of a church would receive prayer requests from his members through his staffs. Every Tuesday as he looked at the list, he’s struck by the many needs of the people. Some of the requests were truly heartbreaking. Yet as he considered the list, he still wanted to write Genesis 18:14 at the top, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No matter how impossible your request may seem to you, it’s not too hard for God.

Somewhere I ran across this provocative statement: “The only thing that hinders God is our unbelief.” You have to stop and think about that for a moment because it doesn’t sound right to say that anything “hinders” God. And in the literal sense, nothing does. He is the Sovereign Lord of the universe. No one can stand against Him. Yet in His wisdom, He has ordained that He will limit His work in the world in accordance with the faith of His people. In that sense, it is perfectly proper to say that out faith or the lack of it either opens the door for the Almighty or “ties His hands,” so to speak.

Billy Graham has remarked that heaven is filled with answers for which no one bothered to ask.

† Are you willing to wait?

† Are you willing to work?

† Are you willing to believe God?

What do you believe deep in your heart? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything in your life so big that He can’t handle it? You already know the answer is no, but I’m asking it in a different way. What problem seems so impossible that part of you doubts that God can take care of it?

† God wants us to believe in Him.

† He begs us to believe in Him.

† He dares us to trust Him.

Is your problem too hard for the Lord? If you answer yes, then there truly is no hope for you. But if you say no, then you have a bright tomorrow!

The choice is yours. Thousands upon thousands of times, many thousands of believers across the centuries have put God to the test. They have trusted Him, and He has come through for them. What about you? Are you willing to trust Him with your problems?

... I AM!

MEEKNESS: YOUR POWER UNDER GOD’S CONTROL

“But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” Psalms 37:11

The word meek does not have a positive connotation in our culture. It suggests many things, none of which are appealing. If you tell someone you think he/she is meek, he/she will probably not take it as a compliment. In fact, he will probably think you are implying something negative about his/her character.

A quick check of the thesaurus bears this out. Here are some listed synonyms for “meek”: humble, docile, mild, calm, gentle, peaceful, tame, submissive, soft, spineless, passive, and broken. Some of those words are positive; others are not. Another source lists the following phrases as illustrative of meekness: “to eat dirt”, “to lick the dust”, “to cringe like a dog”, “to take it on the chin”.

That graphically illustrates the problem. Just try sticking some of those words and phrases in the third beatitude (Matthew 5:5) and see what you get:

“Blessed are the spineless, for they will inherit the earth.” It doesn't sound right, does it?

Or how about, “Blessed are those who cringe like a dog.” It’s hard to imagine Jesus (or anyone else) saying that.

It’s no wonder that we don’t want to be called meek. I wouldn't either, if that’s what the word really means. None of us likes to be bullied. We’d all rather be loved. We tend to value tough, strong, assertive leaders.

The biblical concept of meekness means having your power under God’s control. Once a preacher was asked during a radio interview to explain meekness as it applies to being a Christian man in today’s world. It appeared that it was not the first time he’s been asked that question. He said, “I think many men would not feel complimented if someone called them “meek”. Yet the interviewer pointed out that Jesus used that very word to describe Himself in Matthew 11:29 (KJV). It seems to the preacher that if Jesus felt comfortable calling Himself “meek” (or “gentle” in some translations, including the NIV), we shouldn't have a big problem with it.

And after all, Jesus was no pushover. The same Jesus who embraced the children also took a whip and cleansed out the temple. Say what you will about it, but don’t call Him sissy. When He confronted sin, He was gentle like a tornado is gentle. But when the moment called for it, He could be tender and forgiving.

Gentleness is not weakness. It is our power under God’s control. It is the ability to give ourselves to help the hurting while at the same time confronting evil whenever necessary. That’s tough combination, but our Lord pulled it off without a hitch!