"Refocusing"

 

“Refocusing”

 

Our country has taken a decided turn for the worse this past year. Much if not all of the lawlessness we read about and see on TV has one source: what I want. And I don’t care what you want.

Thank God that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is not like that! It was not selfishness and entitlement that made Jesus leave the glories of heaven to come to earth to be born of a virgin. Or to die on a cross to pay the ultimate price so that each one of us can have our sins forgiven and have an eternal and precious relationship with Him. As God, Jesus knew what He would suffer for us and He did it anyway—not because He was out for Himself but because He was all out for His Father. And for all of us.

Pondering all of this, God gave me the words to this poem on Thanksgiving Day:

This year has sure seen its hardships galore, Things we had never experienced before.

Crime running rampant and God pushed away Has produced in this country a spiritual decay,

 

So we try to refocus our hearts and our minds On what we can praise God for—all different kinds!

As we list them aloud and give praise to our King, We once more declare Him as Lord of all things!

Many of us have had losses during 2020, some of them deep and tragic. But our God is still on the throne. Nothing takes Him by surprise, even if all that has happened this past year took us by surprise. So we can either gripe or choose to be thankful, knowing that we have a God Who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

For us personally, isolation was one of the hardest things, missing family and friends. Zoom, phone calls and texts are not the same but if 2020 had happened in 1950 we would never have been able to “see” each other at all. So we’re thankful. Our small group, which used to meet for Bible study twice a month, has been faithful with group texts, supporting one another, praying for each other and offering each other much needed comic relief. Laughter is good!

An account of Jesus’ healing of a blind man concludes in this way: “…His eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:25). Similarly, may we allow God to refocus our vision in 2021.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Karen McMillan

(Except for the last paragraph this was part of our annual Christmas letter to family and friends.)

"Leftovers"

 

“Leftovers”

 

This past Thanksgiving we had three friends over who, like us, have no family in our immediate area. Each brought a couple of dishes and, as expected, there was enough to feed the Los Angeles Rams. So Karen had our guests bring storage containers and we divided up the leftovers which we’ve enjoyed and will later from the freezer—e.g. turkey soup, sandwiches, schnitzel, etc.

For several years while we were in New Hampshire our church held an annual Yard S.A.L.E. (Service And Love Experience) at which the goal was to give collected items away to those in need. And there’s a “freebie table” in our community’s clubhouse where unneeded articles can be left and repurposed by others. However, in both these efforts things were “donated” which were unusable and had to be disposed of. So “leftovers” became some people’s way of getting rid of trash with a minimum of effort on their part.

The above examples show how leftovers can be a blessing or headache to ourselves and others. But there’s one area in which leftovers are always inappropriate: our giving back to God. In His scathing rebuke of Israel’s 400 BC priests God had this “conversation” with them: “It is you, O priests, who despise my name”…”How have we despised your name?”…”When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor!...Would he accept you?” (Malachi 1:6-8). So God’s people were bringing sheep and goats that weren’t suitable for their own use (aka leftovers) to God and were shocked when they were unacceptable! But before we judge them too severely let’s look at ourselves—how often have I given God the leftovers of my abilities, time and finances after I’ve taken what I want or think I need for myself?

God’s given His best for us in His Son Jesus so He has a right to expect the best from us in return. Solomon put it this way: “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits (not leftovers) of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:9-10, emphasis added). And Paul echoes this theme: “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow.” (Galatians 6:7, NLT, emphasis added).

Jesus said, “God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” (Matthew 6:33, NLT, emphasis added). That’s God’s promise and He’s faithful. Am I?

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan

"Turn on Your Hearing Aids"

 

“Turn on Your Hearing Aids”

 

In our 55+ community many residents wear hearing aids. Reliable statistics are hard to come by but my limited research shows that around 30 million Americans have hearing loss and the number appears to be growing due to an aging population, lack of adequate protection, loudness of music and other factors. So it seems that hearing aids would be a good area for long term investments.

An 80-something-year-old lady in one of the churches we served had significant hearing loss so sat in areas of the auditorium towards which the speakers were aimed with her aids turned up. And since Sunday School rooms weren’t equipped with sound systems she’d set her aids at the highest level. One Sunday she came to me before class (we had one summer class in which the teachers rotated) and asked in her thick accent. “You teach Sunday School today?” When I said yes she responded, “Goot. I leave my hearing aids on.” (I’ve sometimes wondered under whose teaching she’d turn them down but that would be in the TMI file.)

This memory from 35 years ago struck me as I read Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower” in Mark 4. After describing the results of seed being sown in or on various types of ground the Master said, “(The one) who has ears to hear, let (him or her) hear.” (Mark 4:9). This phrase appears seven times in the gospels and (in the singular form) eight times in Revelation, all but one from the lips of Jesus. By using this expression He was emphasizing the importance of His words, much as He did in His “Verily, verily” statements. But there are times when we turn our spiritual hearing aids down or even off when the Word tells us something we don’t want to do. But does doing so negate our responsibility to obey? Hardly!

The Lord’s brother warns us, “Don’t merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, emphasis added). So what we hear is to be put into action (see Jesus’ illustration in Matthew 7:24-27). In addressing each of the seven churches in Asia (present-day Turkey) in Revelation 2 and 3 He said, “Let the listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches….” (Phillips). So might we infer that the Holy Spirit is our “divine hearing aid”? If so, we turn Him off to our own peril. Let’s not run this risk—let’s turn our hearing aids on.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan

"The Kudzu Effect"

 

“The Kudzu Effect”

 

While driving through the south Karen and I have seen patches (and sometimes fields) of beautiful purple flowers. We did some research and found it was called kudzu, an invasive vine native to China, India and Japan. It was introduced to our country in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition as “an ornamental and a forage crop plant” and was promoted by the government for erosion control in the early 1900’s. But it wasn’t long before it covered and choked out trees and other vegetation and became known as “the vine that ate the South”. So what was initially thought of as good had the opposite effect. And it remains a serious problem in certain areas of the southern U.S. today.

God placed Adam and Eve in an idyllic setting in the Garden of Eden. There they could do what they wanted with one restriction: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). It must have been the most beautiful tree in Eden because Satan used its attractiveness and twisting of God’s words to entice them to disobey the divine directive. As a result, “…the entail of sin and death passed on to the whole human race….” (Romans 5:12, Phillips). Only Jesus’ sacrificial death could remedy this problem (“The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”—Romans 5:17, NLT).

Just as kudzu draws us by its colorful array sin can grip us by its allurement (see the story of Achan in Joshua 7) and induce us to tragic consequences (“There is a way that seems right to {a person} but in the end it leads to death, Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.”—Proverbs 14:12-13). How can we avoid this trap? By not evaluating our actions by how they feel but by what the Scripture says (“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”—Psalm 119:11, emphasis added). Do this and we’ll combat the kudzu effect in our lives.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan