“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!                                Luke 12:48 (The Message)

I recently looked at some statistics on charitable giving. Statistics can be interpreted in many different ways, so keep that in mind as I make some sweeping generalizations. I looked at giving in the United States, and I would encourage my international readers to check on giving patterns in your country. By the way, thank you again for my readers in Ireland, Canada, Germany Sweden, South Africa, Belgium, China, and India- as well as several other countries. I appreciate you!

The Bible states that to whom much is given, much is required. So true! Yet consistently, people in lower income brackets tend to give disproportionately more than their wealthy counterparts. Why is that? Probably a lot of reasons. People who attend churches which encourage a tithe may give a high proportion of their income- perhaps 10%.

Another possible explanation is that people with limited means understand the value of helping others who struggle with fewer resources. Those making less than $50,000 a year give more in relation to total income than those in all other income ranges except the highest earners.

Whatever the explanation, know that America is a generous country. Despite political and cultural diversions that tend to divide us, the American people give consistently to charitable causes that move them.

So, my dear friends, keep giving like somebody’s life depends on it.

That may well be the case.

Prayer: Lord, help us to continue to care for your people, Amen

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.  A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”                                                                                                                                        Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.                                                                     Luke 8:1-3

The rules were clear in the Torah. If a clean person touched one who was unclean, the clean person was tainted- he became unclean. These legal interpretations of Hebrew scripture were meant to safeguard the Chosen People of God. Thus the need to expel lepers from the community, lest they touch clean members and render them unclean.

Of course, these hygienic laws did serve a purpose, but they eventually became burdensome and even deadly to some of the community. Jesus came to explain fully what was clean and what was unclean. Jesus explained that clean was not about external hygiene, but rather a matter of cleanness of heart. Yes, cleanliness is important, but it should not be exclusionary to others. Their strict interpretations had caused them to miss the bigger picture. You know, sort of a “forest and trees” kind of problem.

Jesus demonstrated this very tenderly when he saw a leper, and touched him. All of a sudden, the law was turned upside down. The clean one, Jesus, touched the unclean one, the leper, and the unclean became clean.  Jesus was not tainted, but the leper was healed, and became whole again.

The Pharisees were just doing their job, adhering strictly to the letter of the law. But Jesus had said, “I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. The Pharisees had missed the Spirit of the law by strictly adhering to the letter.

Jesus had come to explain a law of grace.

Some still miss that today.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your law of love, mercy and forgiveness, Amen

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this illustration: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would shout up to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I’ve nothing to give him to eat.’ ⁷ He would call down from his bedroom, ‘Please don’t ask me to get up. The door is locked for the night and we are all in bed. I just can’t help you this time.’                                                                 

 “But I’ll tell you this—though he won’t do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you everything you want—just because of your persistence.  And so it is with prayer—keep on asking and you will keep on getting; keep on looking and you will keep on finding; knock and the door will be opened.  Everyone who asks, receives; all who seek, find; and the door is opened to everyone who knocks

Luke 11:5-10 (Living)

I always wondered about the need for persistence in prayer. We often approach God in desperation, pleading for His positive answer to our requests. God seems to be saying that we must be persistent in our prayers, but is that to change His mind or ours?  

I believe that persistence in prayer is not about changing God’s mind somehow. I think that might be the height of hubris- that this mere mortal, by his persistence, can change the mind of God.  I trust that God wants what is best for me regardless of my selfish requests. Prayer is about changing, or challenging, my mind on whatever I am requesting.

I think rather, that the discipline of talking with God hones our own spirit to be more in line with His Spirit. That prayer, because it is communication, is a way to get closer to God.

I think that is the point of prayer.

Prayer: Thank you for the access to you in simple prayer, Amen

And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong                                                                                      James 3:4

I recently saw some clients in marriage counseling, and I asked them, “What is one little thing you would like to change in your relationship?” I emphasized “little thing” because I meant, a little thing- some small behavior that one of the partners would like to change in her/himself, or in the partner.

After some thought, each partner came up with a little request. They did a great job in naming a small behavior that they would like to be different. I encouraged them with this tried-and-true counseling statement – change one thing, change everything.  

What that means is, changing one small behavior has a cascading effect on the relationship. One small change means that the person is committed to a different way of connecting. One small change means that larger change is possible. One small, consistent behavior change means that everything can actually improve.

So, to change one thing, one very small thing, has big implications for growth and change!

Prayer: Lord, give us trust in small changes to make big differences, Amen

“You men who are fathers—if your boy asks for bread, do you give him a stone? If he asks for fish, do you give him a snake?  If he asks for an egg, do you give him a scorpion? Of course not!                                                                                                                                                               Luke 11:11-12 (Living)

I recently had a discussion with a client about his anxiety, which can play out as irritability and anger toward his children when they misbehave. Every parent can relate to responses to children who have displayed defiant or disrespectful behavior.

We are NOT happy!

However, this client has been deeply concerned about how his anger and his raised voice affects his children, and will affect them in the future. These are good and thoughtful questions. As we explored his interactions with his kids, he admits that he is hard on them because he is worried about their future. Will they grow up to be reckless and disrespectful adults? Will they get into trouble as adults?

As we discussed this, I pointed out that his anxiety lets his mind “run away” with irrational fears about his children’s future. As he thought about it, he realized that he was thinking of very unlikely catastrophes. His kids are being raised well by he and his wife, but it is a struggle, especially with some special needs kids. He worries about their future.

His anxiety stems from a place of care and concern. He is a good dad, and he wants the best for his children. His discipline measures are for their best future and even current interests, but he has let anxiety run away with his joy.

Anxiety has a way of being a joy robber for all of us. Taking time to breathe, and recognize that our motives are good helps to put anxiety into a little better perspective some times.

Prayer: Lord, help us to take time to breathe to gain perspective on our anxieties, Amen       

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

Psalm 103:8-13

One of the homework assignments that I often give to clients is to read Psalm 103. This Psalm is so reassuring of God’s love for us, and it is especially important for people who grew up with an idea of God as an angry, distant, judging father.

My favorite passage in this Psalm is about God being the father who has “compassion on his children”. The King James version has a lovely translation- “he pities us like little children”. The picture given to me by a friend years ago is that of a father beckoning his toddler, just learning to walk, to come to him. The father knows that the child will probably fail time and again, but he continues to be on his knee, encouraging the child and beckoning her forward. The father does not chastise the child for falling, indeed, he knows that the child is just that, a learning child who will fail time and again in order to learn to walk.

So, our heavenly father is that. A loving father who would have us learn to walk to him, knowing that we will fail often, but that our ultimate destination is the father.

That, I think is the intent of this Psalm. Like I tell my clients, read this often, and learn the nature and character of the father who loves you.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your patience and loving kindness with us, Amen.

For I will show you lessons from our history, stories handed down to us from former generations  

Psalm 78:2-3 (Living Bible)

“But don’t the trees seem nice and full?!”

Andy Taylor 

The words above are from the final line of an old Andy Griffith Show titled, Opie the Bird Man

The plot was a simple story about a young boy, Opie Taylor, who had accidentally shot and killed a bird with his slingshot. His father, Sheriff Andy Taylor, talked to Opie about how his careless act had sentenced the baby birds in the nest to likely die of starvation because he had killed their mama. Opie felt terrible.

Opie decided to raise the chicks, and eventually, had to set them free when they were able to fly. Opie had grown fond of the birds, and had learned a big life lesson about responsibility and consequences of his actions. Opie did not want to part with the birds, but he eventually set them free, and as they settled into the tree after a successful flight, Opie said, “The cage sure seems empty now”. But Andy responded, “But don’t the trees seem nice and full?!”

I was thinking of that the other day as I watched a tree in my back yard bursting with the sound of chirping birds. They were taking turns flying toward my feeder, then heading back to their nests in that tree.

Simple stories can teach large life truths. The Andy Griffith Show specialized in such stories, as did many shows in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Those days are gone, but the concept remains.  Wholesome little stories can give powerful lessons.

We need more of them…

Prayer: Lord, help us to cling to encouraging stories, Amen

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”                                                  II Corinthians 12:7-9 (NIV)

I recently spoke with a client who has a chronic physical problem, and she has been frustrated for years regarding its effects on her life. It is not a life- threatening problem, but it is certainly a “life-limiting” one.

We discussed her frustrations about living with this condition, and then she asked me, “Will I ever get over these feelings of anger and resentment? Will I ever get to the place of acceptance?”

It made me think about what acceptance really is. Paul in the Bible struggled with a “thorn in the flesh”, a phrase that has worked itself into our culture as an example of chronic suffering for which there may never be a complete remedy.   

Paul took the occasions of such reminders of suffering not to curse the condition, but to have it be a reminder to him of God’s ability to be sufficient even in our suffering- that God’s power is displayed when we are at our weakest.

I told my client that acceptance is “honest ownership of what we are feeling”. The question is not  “Will I ever stop feeling this way”, but rather, “what will I do when I recognize that I am feeling this way?”

My client has the tendency to condemn herself when she gets angry or frustrated about her situation. I suggested to her that frustration is a pretty normal response to her suffering, but honest appraisal of the unwanted feeling is the freedom she needs. Acceptance is not becoming complacent with how we feel, or ignoring how we feel, or even liking what we feel. Acceptance is honest ownership of that feeling. It is only then that we can be aware of the power that God can give us to transform the suffering into something that can enhance our human experience.

No one likes pain, and we try very hard to avoid it, naturally. But when we respond honestly to our feelings about it, we can start to redeem the pain into something of benefit to ourselves or to others.  

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength to honestly look at our responses to suffering, and to look to you for redemption of it, Amen

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.                                                                                                         Matthew 5:8

So, what does it mean to be “pure in heart”? It does not mean a “perfect heart”- that is not possible. It does mean that we have looked into our heart and we have seen it for what it is. It is selfish and pleasure seeking, if left to its own devices. Our job is to cut down on how often it is “left to its own devices”. In other words, we are to be stewards of an inherently selfish nature.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet asserts “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be. Jeremiah 17:9-10

We are clear that we are not perfect in heart, but we can be pure of heart. We can do that by agreeing with God on it. He knows our frailties, and he detests the practice of trying to cover it up, pretending we are something that we are not.

The counseling principle of ownership of our innermost being frees us to become who we are truly meant to be. Truth in agreeing that we are sinners in need of a Savior is the step of freedom and change. It is the “moment of clarity” for those in addiction who now see the need for help in overcoming the addiction. It is the moment of salvation for those who see that they cannot solve the sin problem alone.

I have been fond of writing about the relationship of faith and science. Science can explain and solve many world problems. It cannot solve the sin problem. That is the work for faith.

Prayer: Thank you Father for the solution to our heart problems, your son, Jesus, Amen

For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!                 II Peter 1:3

What is your “Good Life”? Tony Bennett, a singer I always admired, recorded a song called “The Good Life” in 1963. That song came to mind this weekend as my daughter from Kansas City came to stay with us for her 30^th High School reunion. My son also came up, from the  Dayton area, and we visited far into the night.

Just today, we were sitting on our deck on a beautiful summer day, visiting, telling stories, enjoying the company of one another.

The Good Life.   

A perfect summer day, with family, leisurely talking about life. Yes, to me, that is the Good Life!

What is your “Good Life?”

Prayer: What a blessing it is to be with family in the middle of summer’s splendor. Thank you Lord, Amen