CIRCUMSTANCES #II: Getting the penny out of your eye!

Recently, a young friend shared a conversation she had with her pastor at her home church in Brazil. She had sought his counsel concerning a difficulty she was having; her pastor suggested it was “a tempest in a teacup.”

She objected to his suggestion and said, “Oh, Pastor, you don’t understand.” His response was perfect for her situation.

He took a penny (actually the Brazilian equivalent of a penny) and told the young woman the penny represented her circumstance. He then asked her to hold the penny up to her right eye her left eye closed. Having done so, he asked her what she could see with her right eye. “Nothing,” she responded, “the penny is in the way.”

“So is your difficulty.” He counseled. “Now, slowly move the penny away from your eye toward the sun, until it’s about a foot from your face, and tell me what do you see?”

“I see the outline of the sun.” She replied, as she squinted from the blinding light of the sun.

Her pastor gently but wisely scolded her. “You see, Kath, the penny is what you are worried over but the sun is the real problem. Get your eyes off your circumstances and look for the real problem.”

How I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve had my eye on my circumstances and not on my problems.

Circumstance is a problem’s playground. No one remedies life’s circumstantial nuisances until they’ve dealt with the cause of their problem; and no one can eliminate the cause until they’ve defined their problem. History’s landscape is littered with the carcasses of lives devastated by this phenomena.

We must discipline ourselves to recognize the difference between symptoms and causes of problems; we must train ourselves in the art of problem definition.

It’s natural for us to focus on symptoms rather than causes because the symptoms are immediate and real. Such things as causes and definitions are more illusionary and intangible. But, all the same, we must get to work on this process.

Christianity, Circumstances,
Illustrations, Religion

PRIORITIES: Carpe Diem!

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ."

Philippians 3:7 [6-17]

Several years ago the movie Dead Poets Society revived an obscure Latin term: carpe diem. It means seize the day. It's an exhortation to live life to the fullest!

If you asked a hundred people, they would all say that’s what they want; no one wants a mediocre life, we want full lives.

Advertisers know this; consider the following advertising slogans: “Who Says You Can't Have It All,” “Just Do It,” “Satisfy Your Thirst,” “Go for the Gusto,” “Life Is A Journey - Enjoy the Ride,” etc.

Unfortunately, we get caught up in our daily living and have convinced ourselves that we lack the time to seize the day! We have deadlines, commitments, emergencies, distractions … we want more fulfillment from life, but it’s not near enough to grasp.

Paul understood - carpe diem! In Philippians 3 he describes it; if you follow his reasoning, you too can seize the day, living life to the fullest, no matter the chaos around you.

carpe diem, Christianity,
Illustrations, Religion

DAY OF REST: Because We want To!

"God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it …"

Genesis 2:3 [see also Exodus 31:12-13]

"on the first day of the week …"

Acts 20:7

"let no one act as your judge in regard to … a Sabbath Day"

Colossians 2:16-17

A museum gardener wants to rest on the seventh day – whether the museum is busy or not.

Muriel Taten, 70, of Old Westbury, NY, has sued Nassau County over a requirement that she work Sundays at a colonial museum, which is busiest on the weekends. She believes she should be in church.

Mrs. Taten’s work schedule of 21 years at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration was changed in June. She said she used vacation days to get Sundays off. And when they ran out, she filed a … lawsuit.

Many, who claim Christ, faithfully observe two key Christian events each year: Christmas and Easter. Yet there are 50 other days each year which they quite easily profane. It seems contemporary believers have become insensitive to the real meaning of the Lord’s Day!

Then again, we must be careful, for our obedience is voluntary. We keep the Lord’s Day as a memorial of the gift of Grace provided by the Father through the Son. To keep it “because God said to” is like being faithful to your wife, “because God said to.” We are faithful to our spouses because we want to, not because we have to!

Recently a church made an agreement with a market to use its parking lot each Sunday. The market had only one condition: park there 51 Sundays per year but set aside one Sunday as a “NO PARKING DAY” in order to remind members who owned the lot.

So too ought we to set aside one day out of seven to remember who gave us the other six.

[“Hey, God did it,” San Gabriel Valley Daily Bulletin, November 2, 1997, A19]

Christianity, Illustrations, Religion

PRIORITIES: When Push Comes to Shove!

THIS PROBLEM WON’T GO AWAY: [Psalm 119:143]

The story is told of a duck hunter who’s black lab, “Phideaux,” had been trained to do exactly the right thing in virtually every instance.

Seems the hunter and a friend were out duck hunting one early spring morning and a sizable flock of birds flew over the lake. Both hunters simultaneously shouldered their weapons and fired. Two birds dropped from the sky and hit the water at the same time. Phideaux leaped from the blind and swam to the two ducks. Sensing one bird was just wounded, he raced toward it an retrieved it for his master. Instantly, he returned to the water and retrieved the dead fowl.

The friend of the dog’s owner said, “How did he know to do that?” The dog’s master said I trained him to know which birds were not going anywhere and to retrieve the others first.

Emergencies in ministry are like that. Those of us in ministry would do well to learn this principle: recognize early which emergencies aren’t going anywhere, then work on the others. You can always return to an emergency (read: opportunity) that’s not going anywhere.

Treasure

The Big Rocks! [Haggai 1:6; other topics – Priorities, Idols, Lusts, Greed, World]

To make a point, a time-management expert gave his highly placed students a pop quiz. Taking a big wide-mouthed jar, he positioned it on the table in front of him. He then took several fist-sized stones and carefully positioned them in the jar until they reached the top. He then asked, "Is the jar full?"

Everyone looked at each other then, shrugging their combined shoulders, said, "Yes!" "Really?" He asked, as he pulled a bag of pea gravel from under the table. Taking the jar he cautiously poured gravel into the open mouth of the jar, regularly shaking it to get the gravel to settle. Again he queried, "Is it full?"

A voice from the back of the room whispered, "Probably not!" "Good," the expert said. This time he pulled out a child’s sand bucket and carefully poured sand into the open mouth of the jar, again shaking it to get the sand to settle. "Is it full?" He challenged.

"No!" A combined class voice responded. "Good," he said as he took the water pitcher from the table and filled the jar to the brim. "Is it full?" He inquired.

"It sure looks like it," replied several members of the group. "Not good," the teacher chided, as he took a sugar bowl from the table and scooped spoon after spoonful of the white crystals into the saturated sand mixture.

When the surface became clogged with sandy sugar, he gently shook the jar until it dissolved. He repeated this until the sugar bowl was empty. "What’s the point?" He prompted.

One zealous young executive blurted out, "No matter how full the schedule, there’s always room for more, if you try!"

"No!" The speaker shot out. "No! This object lesson teaches us two things: 1.) if we don’t put the big rocks in first, we’ll never get them in at all; and 2.) once the big rocks are in, an orderly introduction of everything else accomplishes more than a random introduction."

What are the big rocks of your life? God? Family? Ministry? Charity? Others? Dreams? Country? Education? Health? Or are your big rocks of your life the things of this world? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life?

If you sweat the small stuff you’ll fill your jar too fast, and with low priority things. Where your heart is there your treasure will be also. Where’s your heart?