Why is life so hard?

The one question I hear a lot is “why is life so hard?”

Well, why is it hard? Why is that it that no matter how hard we try, how much we do, easy seems further away than when we started?

My answer is I don’t know. I don’t know why you lost your job, why you were diagnosed with cancer, why you can’t have children or why your spouse left.

What I can point to is the Bible. Not as some book that answers those questions, but as God-breathed words that gives us assurance that He knows our troubles, our pains and our questions.

The most frustrating thing I see going on in the church is this prosperity gospel. I will not judge those preachers, but to see someone like Joel Osteen stand in front of millions of people and say you aren’t experiencing Christ fully if you accept sickness, poverty and relational strife.
Jesus never once uttered that you wouldn’t be poor, wouldn’t be sick or wouldn’t have relationship issues.

His promise is that one day, in heaven, those things will pass away for those who trust in him as the one who put the sins of the world on his shoulders and died on the cross for us all so that we can have a true, personal relationship with God.

When life is hard, and it will be, the question shouldn’t be why. Rather, it should be what is God trying to teach me? How will God be glorified through this? How can I go through this in a way that shows other people that I love Jesus?

There’s a song by Jars of Clay called “Work.” I love the chorus, which says, “I have no fear of drowning. It’s the breathing that’s taking all this work.”

For those of us in Christ, the fear of death is gone because our true home is in heaven. But life is going to be tough.

Hebrews 10:22 says “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

Do you believe that today? Do you believe that God is faithful? And if you do, do you know what that means?

I want you to know that God’s faithfulness has nothing to do with making our lives easier and everything to do with his own glory. God has created us to make much of him. Not because he needs the attention, but because he loves us.

Perfect joy is found in his son, Jesus, but we let the difficult circumstances of life to drown that joy out.

I love in the movie, Facing the Giants, when the real coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, Mike Richt, says “Well, in God’s word, he said 365 different times ‘Do not fear.’ Now if he says it that many times, you know he’s serious about it.”

That means each day of the year, we have a different piece of scripture that tells us not to fear.

Today, take heart in 1 Peter 3:14, which says, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, do not be frightened.”

I pray that God would comfort your hearts today, because I know that someone reading this is going through something they don’t understand. I’m right there with you, wondering the very same things you are.

And I’m praying for you to have the same peace I’m asking God to cover me with.

I leave you with Psalm 18:2-6, and pray your heart is comforted in his love.

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

“I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

“In my distress, I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple, he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”

America’s God

I want to give you the biggest insight into America’s current economic problems: money has become our god.

Greed has become the sin of choice, though it is masked as capitalism and financial achievement.

Last Friday, protesters set up an Occupy Huntington movement, similar to what is happening across the country. It’s been a week and they are still there.

They say it’s not about money, but at the heart, it is. It’s about wanting a fair and balanced system. But that’s not likely to happen because the sin of greed is as powerful as a drug addiction.

Case in point, the CEO of Gannett (newspaper chain) recently retired, taking with him a roughly $20 million retirement package – at the same time that the company is laying off reporters and issuing furloughs.

But Gannett’s story is more the norm than the exception.

What about the banks who were signing foreclosure notices so fast and incompetently, they signed notices for people who either weren’t behind in payments or had already paid off their homes.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 that “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

America has stopped serving God and is clearly serving money.

Josh Perry, pastor at Crew Church in Huntington, once said there isn’t a worldwide food shortage. The problem is distribution.

Our first problem is money has become our god. Our second problem is distribution. Each Saturday, Bikers for Christ and volunteers from several area churches meet at Harris Riverfront Park – rain or shine, warm or cold – and serve breakfast to the homeless. At least 100 come through the line each week. People also donate clothing for the homeless to pick through. The most important thing they do is pray for and with them.

I don’t know all those people, but I can almost guarantee they all don’t have the financial means to buy all the food that is served. But when they pool together, they are able to accomplish a mission that Lord calls important throughout the Bible.

Consider these verses from scripture:

Proverbs 19:17 When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord--and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!

Proverbs 14:31 Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God who made them. To help the poor is to honor God.

1 John 3:17-19 But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won't help him--how can God's love be within him ? Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God's side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.

1 Tim. 6:17-19 Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven--it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.

Can we fix the economy? Sure, but not by government bailouts, not by bank reform and not by who is in the White House.

The only way to help America is by trusting in the one and true living God, who in his ‘wealth’ made a great sacrifice by sending his son, Jesus, to live a perfect life among us, then die on the cross an innocent man. Jesus became our bailout from our sinful and unrighteous hearts. He is our savior that gave it all so that one day we may share eternity with him in heaven.

To store up treasures in anything but that is to place a higher value on the things only a fallen world could give. Things that will not last.

This isn’t a call to sell all you have and give it away or quit your job to avoid being greedy. God has given you talents to be used to provide for your family and to help those who are less fortunate.

This is a call to glorify the creator and not the creation and to focus on Jesus, who lives and reigns forever.

Step it up, fathers

I recently saw the movie “Courageous,” the latest film by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga.

This movie challenges fathers to be the husbands and dads that God called them to be.

This really got me thinking about the job I’m doing, and I left the theater realizing that being a good enough father is not acceptable. I can do better. I must do better.

So how do we, as dads, do that? First, I think we need to realize what’s at stake. I recently attended a forum on the truancy problems here in West Virginia – although it’s a problem nationwide.

Two things I found out. One, truants aren’t high school kids who miss a half a year then drop out. Truancy often starts in elementary school because parents aren’t doing their jobs.

Second thing I learned is that in WV, 8 out of 10 prison inmates were truant at some point during their educational years.

Guess what? That 80 percent prison rate is about the same for those who grew up without a father either in the home or in their lives.

Let me be the first to say that I’m among the 20 percent. Parents divorced when I was 16, didn’t have much depth to the relationship with my dad until years later. Thankfully, our relationship is good now.

Most of you reading this aren’t a father who has bolted, although you may have had a dad like that. But just because we’re there, it begs the question of how well are we doing it. I think the quality and quantity balance is out of whack in some homes.

Jesus reminds us in the book of Matthew that our father in heaven knows our needs and not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear.

God promised to provide our basic needs. Beyond that, his promise is that he’ll be with us each day of our lives.

It is best summed up in Deuteronomy 6 not only how to lead our families but the fruits of leading our families if we do it God's way.

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

"Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

"Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Why aren’t many of us dads fathering like that? We are working careers and often asking our wives to work careers to provide food and clothing… and vacations, and video game systems and cell phones and cars for our children. We sure are providing a lot, but we’re working such long, hard hours that the quality of time in the evenings and weekends may be suffering.

In “Don’t Waste Your Life” by author and pastor John Piper, he makes a specific point about how we are spending our time at home. If we define spending quality time with our children as everyone sitting around the television eating dinner and watching a movie – as happens in my home way too often – we are wasting precious time as dads.

Not that we have to spend our evenings reading the Bible for 4 hours with our kids. But is there time dedicated to prayer and scripture? Do we help our children, especially the young ones, understand who God the father is and who Jesus the savior is?

Do we dance with our daughters, play baseball in the backyard with our sons or pack a lunch and eat at the park with our families?

Do we engage our middle and high school children in conversations about their lives and the issues they are facing?

Do we sacrifice our children’s dance recitals, concerts and art exhibits to work overtime or extra shifts we don’t financially need?

We know that children of absentee fathers are more likely to become addicted to drugs and alcohol, skip school, drop out, commit a crime, join a gang and end up in prison.

I love my children and am committed to them and my wife. But if I don’t father and husband like God demonstrates and commands in scripture, then I’m taking a risk that my son and daughter will learn to grow up by the world’s standards and not by God’s standards.

That’s a risk I’m not willing to take.

We Need a Savior, part 1

I can already hear the mouse buttons that will click off this blog post after I write what I’m about to write. But if you’ll stay with me, I hope to show you why you and I need a savior.

Paul writes in Romans 1:28-32 how truly sinful and vile mankind, you and me, are. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

That’s us. We are sinful. You say, ‘wait a minute, I’ve never murdered anyone and I’m not evil. I’m a good person.’

Let me ask you then, by whose standards? Your own, your roommate, your mom? Here’s the problem with that. And I’ll give you the C.S. Lewis explanation he makes in “Mere Christianity.”

“…We have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people.”

If we live by our own moral standard, as the world seems to say you can, then you can say to yourself, it’s OK to cheat on my income taxes because it’s my money anyways. But when someone cheats you out of money, you want revenge.

That’s what C.S. Lewis is talking about. He goes on to say that we “believe in decency so much, we feel the rule of law pressing on us so, that we cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking it, and consequently, we try to shift the responsibility.”

So we cheat the IRS and say it’s OK because the government’s corrupt. We get cheated at the flea market and pay too much (when we should have known better anyways) and we blame them for not being honest.

To really get at the heart of this argument – please stay with me – I have to paraphrase Lewis once again. Early in the first chapter, he makes the strong argument that if mankind evolved from apes, then we, in our inner core, would still be in the survival of the fittest mode.

Yet, somewhere inside – not taught to us at school or by mom and dad – is an instinct of right and wrong. Male lions will fight to the death to become the new leader of the pack. They don’t see that as wrong.

When a job in management opens at your work, you and your coworkers don’t fight to the death to see who gets promoted. Just not right.

Yes, there were and maybe still are cultures that practice such barbaric rights of passage or rituals.

But the main point is, somewhere in our heart is a moral compass for which we cannot explain. Even those who commit crimes know it is wrong. As Paul states three times in chapter 1 of Romans, when we keep exchanging God for the world, he will give us over to the world.

The only explanation is that there is a God who created us with some sort of knowledge of right and wrong.

“We know that men find themselves under a moral law which they did not make and cannot quite forget even when they try and which they know they ought to obey,” Lewis writes in chapter 4 of “Mere Christianity.”

So, we know two things: First, there is some sort of moral law within us. And second, as much as we try, we can’t keep even the basics of the right and wrong that is somehow placed in our heart.

Some of you who are still reading might look back at list of sinfulness that makes a pretty wretched rap sheet and think to yourself, ‘I haven’t done that.’

If you’ve watched pornography or had sex out of marriage, there’s sexual immorality; if you’ve ever been jealous of someone else’s success or possessions, there’s greed and envy; are you gossiper, because that’s on the list; has pride made you think yourself great; would your friends and relatives say you’ve ever been untrustworthy or unloving; have you forgiven those who have wronged you?

There are some things listed in that early section of Romans 1 that sound like big words, but when you look them up, you realize it’s the very attitude and actions we profess each day.

Soak this in. Pray about. Ask God to open your heart and reveal if this is really who you are.

If God reveals your sinfulness to you, don’t wait for the next blog. Open a Bible or go to www.biblegateway.com and read through Romans or simply turn to John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten son (Jesus, to die on the cross), that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”