devo

God doesn’t give us more than we can handle…what a load of crap!

/ youthguysteve / 4 Comments

Screenshot_2015-05-14-21-24-23I have heard it said far too often from well intentioned Christians, “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.” I think this is a load of crap. Sorry for my language.  It makes me angry because as I sit with students this week who are hurting beyond imagination this kind of stuff hurts them and leads to confusion. I want to scream and lets just all agree to stop saying these things to students because they are not true and certainly aren’t biblical.

First, does God cause these bad things to happen so we can deal with them?  Nope! Not even close. The statement above assumes God causes bad things to happen to us.  This is certainly wrong in terms of God’s character.  God is good and God is love.  He does not cause his people harm.  The bad is this world happens because of sin.  Sin has totally corrupted our world.  Sin causes death. Sin causes brokenness.  Our sin, original sin and Satan are the cause of evil in this world.  Jesus has been working since the beginning of the fall to save his people from this sin and brokenness.  Jesus came so we could be whole again.  Through is death and resurrection we get a glimpse of this redemption today.

Second, and probably most troubling about this comment is it assumes we can handle anything with our own strength.  It assumes inside of us is this superhuman power to deal with great tragedy, loss, and brokenness.  This is a load of bunk.  This past week walking with students has brought to the conclusion, sometimes we are hit with such tragedy,  such pain, such brokenness that we cannot hope to get through it on our own.  You see for me when I am faced with the unimaginable pain of loss, and brokenness, I am brought to my knees.  This week of seeing students hurt, seeing students see this broken sin filled world brought me so low I was in tears. I am brought to a point where I am not sure I can even look up to God.  Yet I am reminded of His promises to me to never leave me or forsake me. I am reminded that although in this world I will see trouble I can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world.  I can put my hope and trust in Jesus because in him I know tomorrow will come. One day I will be able to stand again.  When I look to that cross and see my redemption I can watch as he wipes away all my tears. For their will be a day when we will have be no more pain, no more brokenness, and all will be well.

If today you are broken and don’t think you can stand anymore, and are not sure you can handle everything that is going on in your life.  You can join me on my knees this week as we look to Jesus the only one who can rescue us.  My prayer is you see Jesus and let Him pick you up.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Rev 21:3-5

Walking, reading my Bible and a table…the pain on the journey.

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WP_20150318_10_03_14_ProRecently I have tried to be more healthy. I also bought a fitbit about a year ago and have really been trying to walk my 10,000 steps each day. I know it isn’t going to change my life, and all the sudden I will be super buff guy. I do sit a lot and I thought walking would be better for me.

I also decided this year I was going to read more. I am not good at sitting at my desk and staying off the computer so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone. So I started walking around the building and reading at the same time. I have gotten plenty of looks and even a laugh by the principal of the school who thought one day he might just put something in front of me to see if I noticed it. We both laughed because we both think that is funny and we are mean people.

So today it happened. I was walking and reading my daily Bible reading and ran straight into a table in the narthex. I hit it hard. I have a few bruises from the ordeal. The table won. I lost and well I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t see it coming. So why bring this semi embarrassing story to this blog. While I was thinking as I was sitting on the floor quite embarrassed and in some pain, that my walk with Jesus is very similar. You see God tells me he speaks through his word. He also tells me to walk this faith each day. In a sense we are all walking blindly or at least semi blind. Sometimes as we walk, and sometime we run right into the things that cause us pain. We should see it coming.  Often we do not. Jesus never promised we wouldn’t experience pain or trouble. When we walk with Jesus we probably will. In that walk we get stronger when we are in his word. We hear from Jesus his words of life. We are reminded of His walk to the cross for us. His work to make us new and better. The journey will have aches and pain yet in the walk we have Jesus we are able to get up again.  Tomorrow I may hit the same table, or I may miss it.  But I know I will have Jesus on the journey.  I will have Jesus with me even when I don’t always see the trouble coming.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ.  Though you have not seen him, you love him.  Though you don now see him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV

I was hungry did you feed me? Jesus prepared our good works!

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DSC00787Today as I led chapel I was tasked with kicking off our Kids Against Hunger program here at St. Peters Lutheran Church.  I was excited for this as I have been planning for almost 6 months the work we are going to do for this project. I am excited to see God at work through this project with families and our youth.

Today, I also gave the message on Matthew 25:31-40 in chapel.  I was reminded, as I was reading the text about the importance of the Gospel in Matthew 25. It is so easy with these verses to go strait to the law and guilt them into feeding the poor because that is what the Christians do. However when you read text closely I am reminded that even my good deeds are prepared for me by Jesus.  You see I don’t do good because I am a good Christian.  I do good because Christ is working through me.  I do good because Jesus has prepared me to do good and is working through me to do good.

So as we raise funds, pack meals and pray for those in our community and world who are hungry and in need of food I am excited at how God will use me and others.  As we raise funds over the next month and April 23rd pack meals for the hungry children and families in our community and world we are reminded that our work here is about Jesus’ work through us.  It is not about law or our work, but about what Jesus has done for us and through us.

So I am asking those in my community to join us as we follow Jesus in the work he has prepared for us. For those of you in other communities what is Jesus leading you to do today and how can you be a part of it?

Light a candle and take a nap…finding rest is Christ

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I like to tell funny stories. I also have been known to embellish a story or two in order to get a good laugh. This one may be slightly embellished but this is how I remember it. I call it my candle story. When I was going through my DCE (Youth Ministry for my non Lutheran friends) Colloquy program we had a professor talk to us about taking time in our lives for prayer. He was talking about levels or prayer..(By that way I am not even sure what that means) But I do remember the 4th level. It was something about lighting a candle getting comfortable and praying to God through breathing. He talked about how you could get to this great place of rest with God. So being the smart aleck I am I raised my hand and said “So what you are saying is, if I want to take a nap at work, I should light a candle first and tell them I am praying!” He quickly told me I was wrong but the damage was done because I was too far gone in my own humor to really hear what he was saying.

So this last month has been tiring. So tiring in fact I have been exhausted and wanting to put my head down and take a nap. In fact I have been reminded of that story more than once this past couple of weeks, and put it to good use…No I haven’t slept in my office, but I have been trying to be more deliberate about resting in Jesus lately. I have tried something to get some rest. I have been making it a point to go home each day for lunch and while I am home I pray while laying down. I set an alarm so I don’t sleep the day away. I am often refreshed after my time with Jesus in prayer and nap. So my question for you is are you resting?

Jesus came not to make us busy, exhausted and tired. He didn’t come so we could be tired and worn down all the time. He didn’t come so I could work through lunch, and run, run, run all the time. He came to bring us rest in him. As you follow Jesus this week I pray you rest in his arms. If you need to, light a candle.

Matthew 11:27-29 English Standard Version (ESV)

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The daily battle; the daily victory!

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Recently in our high school ministry I asked the question “What battles are you fighting today? What thing in your life is your greatest battle?” Most of my students as said school but I have a feeling it is because most didn’t want to be honest. At least not in the small group setting. When we are thrust into a situation with people we may not know well, we certainly don’t like to talk with them about our battles. We are afraid people will judge us or worse share our battles with others. Battles are something however we all face on a daily basis.
We all have battles, some are very personal like, body issues, family issues, death, some are less so, a job task that is difficult, a future test or project. We all have battles and no matter how little or big it is we have a tendency to feel overwhelmed by them.
In my daily reading I came across a text of scripture I truly love. It comes from 2 Chronicles 20:15-17. The whole story come from 2 Chronicles 20. The story is about a king and the people of Judah who are being surrounded by a great army. They are afraid and they know they can’t win. So they pray. They pray and God answers. God defeats the enemies of Judah and tells them they will not have to fight the battle because He would be fighting it for them. God has the victory and the people of Judah carry off the spoils of the war for three days. I love the story not because it is a great battle narrative but because of 15-17 where God tells them it is his battle. He will have the victory for them.

2 Chronicles 20:15b-17 Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them… You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

This brings us to Jesus. It brings us to the victory we have in Jesus. We have all gone through many battles in this world. We are all probably in one way or another going through one right now. We can’t win on our own. When we look at our life and all that seems wrong we know we can’t win. But we know we have victory in Jesus.
No mater what you are battling today I pray you see Jesus. He has won the battle. He will fight it for you. Savory today’s victory. Today may seem like a lost battle but tomorrow is a new day with Jesus, a new day of victory. Tomorrow will be another battle but Jesus can win that one too.