ARE YOU A VIP?

VIP's--Very Important Persons. A couple of days ago I went to a minor league baseball game. Those who invited us to go with them told us we would be in a skybox, a suite, and that we would have VIP parking. This was very close in to the park--it was privileged parking--reserved for the rich--the "haves"--the ones honored or blessed by others.

I was reminded that God sees every person on earth as a VIP. "For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son that whoever ..." (John 3:16)

Sometimes a person earns a VIP status for their community service and/or their hard work. Sometimes VIP status is purchased by having lots of money--either earned or inherited. Sometimes though, it is all of grace, mercy, the gift of another to us--the goodness of another with power who wants to honor you.

The latter is God. Out of His love for everyone He created--out of His wish to be united--to live with everyone--He declares us a VIP through His Son. This is an offer of freedom--an offer of mercy--an offer of friendship--an offer of restoration. In the eyes of God--whether you know it or not--you are a VIP.

This was so important to God that He sacrificed the life, the position (Philippians 2:1-11), the comfort of His Son, for you and me!

VIP's indeed--of grace, mercy, love, grace--not merit--not service--all of His plan and His doing.

Do YOU feel important today? Do you feel of value and worth? Do you feel loved and cherished?

You should! You are a VIP--at least in God's eyes. Ponder that today, and then live that way.

Reminds me of the words of an old hymn: "Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do, if with His love He befriend thee (you)."

God's VIP--you--you--you! Give thanks for that love and acceptance and special privilege that He offers and gives.

QUIT READING--WRITE!

Quit reading and write! What does that mean?

For much of my life, I've tried to be who I'm not; not who I am. It is so easy to live life by comparison to others. But that is a bad thing. I have read book after book, and so many of the books were written by people unlike me. And then I have thought, "I should be like them; I wish I was more that way." Not a good thing!

I am reminded that God made us all differently. Read Ephesians 4:11-13 for that thought. Read the verses on spiritual gifts in Romans 8 and 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, and you find several different spiritual gifts, given by God, to make His world (and ours) better. And those may only be representative of many, many other gifts or gift-mixes. Add one gift with another gift and you find many different mixes along with the differing personalities and tendencies and preferences that we have, age groups, etc.

Be who you are--not who you aren't!

I was in a meeting a while ago. And one person asked why I was there, because it seemed that I did not "fit" with others there--at least in his mind. I was different from the others. And I allowed that to bother me--to cause much of the remainder of my day to be affected. I compared myself to what others were (as he had done). I compared myself to what he thought I should be like to be with the others, instead of being who I was and who I was created to be. Rough day.

I have lived much of my life feeling unsuccessful--that things were going badly--that I have failed--because of living by the standards and successes of others--instead of the standards of God and myself. So often, someone would ask me how the job was going, and I would quietly say, "Not good," when maybe it was better than I thought, or it was as God intended it to be, but I lived by the success of the other person or what I had read rather than who I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do.

There is an old saying that I reject, but have nevertheless had to live with. It is, "Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach." So if you are a doer, then you do, but if you cannot perform, then you are only allowed to teach others. Not true! Totally does away with the belief that God wired us all differently, with differing gifts and talents and personalities and inclinations.

I am a teacher--an academic--a student of books and life and school. I am also an equipper--so often more that than a practioner or doer. I have to work at doing, but I don't have to work so hard at studying and learning and understanding and teaching. I am a very good facilitator of small groups especially when it comes to discussion. I am a questioner--one who can ask some very good questions (and sometimes, some very hard questions). I have never led a large group of folk--never led hundreds or thousands to Christ--never seen great miracles occur through my life and service. And yet, there have been miracles, just on a smaller scale. And I need to be more content with those circumstances and who I was made to be with the gifting and talents I was created to have and utilize.

Don't read--write--don't try to live others' stories--live your own story--who you were made to be--made by God--live your uniqueness!

And also, don't project other's gifts on yourself or let others project their gifts on you. Be God's you! Live your story. Write your own book--your own life--God's life for you.

Success--finding God's purpose for YOU--living God's purpose for YOU.

Where are your gifts and talents needed? Wherever God leads you--where He plants you--where He calls you--that is where they are needed. That may be a very large setting--but that also may be a very small setting. Live His story for you.

Quit reading (and projecting the lives of others to yourself)--write (your own story--God's story for you)! Discover where His story and your story are meant to match up. Then don't read--write!

SILLY NEWLYWEDS!

Silly newlyweds! At least that's what I thought when I first heard them say it. In fact, I believe they may have said it when they were engaged. "I love you most; I win!" Was it a statement for "one-upmanship'--to gain the advantage over the other? Well, probably in some silly way.

But then I got to thinking about how this applies to marriage or relationships. What if each person in a love relationship attempted to love the other most--not in a competition--but in a way of expressing genuine love for the person, "with no strings attached." Sounds like Jesus' way of loving--sacrificing, giving, giving His very life for people. That is real agape' (Greek) love. (Want to know more about this, see 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in the Bible, and see if that is your love for others).

What if, each person tried to love others and love others more than they loved you? Radical? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. We do have to be careful that we are not abused and used by others.

But on the other hand, how would love relationships be different if EACH person in the relationship would do this? Not one--but both! Radical? Yes. God's plan? Yes. Choosing to love. Choosing to do the best thing for the one loved. Choosing to sacrifice for the other.

Better marriages? Of course. Better love relationships? Yes. Better world? Without saying.

By the way, those silly newlyweds have now been married 5 years. And they seem more in love with one another than when they married. They still say it. But I think they also attempt to do it. And they look to the Lord who knows more about sacrificial love than any of us, to lead them and lead their relationship. And as they get closer to Him, they get closer to one another.

"I love you most; I win." If each of us would "love you most," we would both win. And our world would too! Try it--try to outgive one another in genuine, sacrificial loving actions and words. And see if you win too!

ENRICHING MARRIAGE--AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Years ago now, for my parent's 60 wedding anniversary, my siblings and I had a reception for them. Married in 1930, with little money, they went to a justice of the peace and got married. On their 50th anniversary, they decided instead of us having some party for them to travel to see all of their kids. So they went to South Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Washington D.C. to see all of us. Now with this big event--60 years of marriage--siblings decided to treat them.

My wife and I thought it would be nice to sing a couple of songs about marriage for them. One of the songs we came across was a song called, "After All These Years." And it talked about love still being there, after all the many years of marriage, when the children were gone and on their own. This seemed so true of my parents.

How does this happen? How do people stay married 60 years? In fact, many ask, "how do people stay married for 10 or 20 or 30 years--even for 5?" Divorce rate today is about 35% for first-time marriages. One in three does not make it.

My wife and I have been married almost 34 years. After attending a Gary Chapman marriage workshop, we brought back with us a tool to help us discover more about one another. It is called "Love Talks for Couples." One secret of staying married is continuing to discover more about the person you are married to. You continue to discover more of who they are and what makes them tick. I remember a person I know who divorced after about 25 years of marriage, and the person said of their former spouse, "I never really knew them after all these years." The person never really shared who they were and what they were about, even with their marital partner of 25 years. How sad! In fact, how tragic!

Using the tool my wife and I got, we ask questions of one another such as, "Who was your best friend in high school, and what did you do together?" or "In retrospect, what did you parents do in raising you that was very wise?" (See "Love Talks for Couples," by Gary Chapman)

What are we doing with this? We are uncovering more of the "story" of one another, learning who the other person was and is, and why they are who they are. We are discovering the person behind the looks, the emotions, the day to day person with whom we live. And even after 33 years, there is more to discover and learn and come to appreciate.

It also makes us take time to "connect" with one another--to discuss things that really matter--about the person we married. It is better than the romance novels that she may read (I hope) and the sports that I watch on tv. It is worth the time to do one or two or three of these questions to learn more and learn to love more the person I married. It allows our oneness to grow, and that was God's intent for marriage in the first place (See Genesis 2).

Can marriage be enriched--after all these years? Not unless you are willing to take the time to talk and listen and make it better. Even good marriages can be better. Yes, even yours.

I was challenged at the Chapman workshop by what he said about a couple that were married over 60 years--maybe it was 70 years. They were in their 90's, I believe, and he said they attended a workshop that he led. He got the chance to talk with them and ask them, "Why do you attend this after all these years of marriage and at your age?" They told him, "We have gone to some marriage enrichment event for the past 30 plus years (maybe it was 50--my thinker doesn't always remember after a few months--this is my [Sam's] comment, not theirs), and we have found that you are never too old to learn something more about marriage."

Are you too old to learn? Could your marriage be better, even after all these years? As the 60's song said, "It takes two baby--me and you--it just takes two." Two willing to keep growing together--two still discovering more about one another and more about why they married in the first place. Two willing to look at one another as they also look up (to God) for help.

After all these years ...

FOR NOW!

Recently I have been reading Total Church, by Timmis and Chester, and rereading Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard. Today it really hit me that I have been seeing salvation too much only for the life to come and not for this life now. For a while now, I have been frustrated with salvation efforts, thinking that was all there was to it, for the life to come--to get people saved before they meet their God. (By the way, this is a very, very important thing!)

But it really hit me today, in the midst of all my reading and study of Real Life Discipleship, by Putman and others, and all the study of discipleship in other things, that Jesus wants to save us to give us a better life NOW. Not just pie in the sky, by and by, but NOW. I've read it and taught it and been hitting pretty hard lately on living the Christian life, but somehow it had just not gotten through to me.

Jesus doesn't just want to save us for heaven. He wants to make us better people now, here on this earth, so we will live better lives. (Could that be what He meant by "abundant life" in John 10:10?)

That living life better is good for me. I give my life to things that are worthwhile and make a difference in both me and others whose lives I touch. I give my life to people in ways that make them better people also. Is it more than doing better materially? But of course it is! Much, much more!

If I learn to control my anger, I am better off and so are others around me. If I learn to control my appetites--be more Spirit-controlled, rather than "out of controlled," I and all those around me are better off. Also it will help others to look for the way THEY TOO can control their lives, their appetites, their power and money and influence.

So giving one's life to Jesus, letting Him be Lord and Master and Ruler, is something that begins now. And I am in training now to get better and better by living among others here, many of whom do not share my values and beliefs (or His values and beliefs).

Why is this such a stark reminder for me today that my salvation is for NOW, not just for heaven later? I am not sure. But I am glad that today, at least, I got it. Maybe it will be a reminder for you too, or maybe a challenge to investigate Jesus for yourself, not for heaven later (a very good thing), but for life now. So you can become a better person now by imitating the life of Jesus, and allowing Him control of your life and appetites and words and actions through the Holy Spirit who comes to live inside the one who gives his or her life to Jesus.

Now just for later (heaven)--but for NOW! Maybe that will give me more motivation to let Him have His way in my life. Could it help you too?

TRUST IN THE GOVERNMENT WITH ALL YOUR HEART

Trust in the government with all your heart. Is that how it goes? Not with a 14 trillion dollar deficit. Trust in the state with all your heart. Yeah, the state of Illinois, unable to pay its bills on time is much better, right? Trust in your employer with all your heart. With job layoffs, and reduction in force, and downsizing and recessions (we don't have depressions anymore). Right. And with employers allowing employees to pay more of their health insurance and more of their retirement contributions.

Trust in your relationships with all your heart. With parents killing their kids and people not being committed to their marital vows or marriage partners--leaving at the drop of the hat. And with marriage, that once had some "stability" to it--now we don't even marry in our relationships. And that is cause for more stability, right?

Trust in your church--with so many churches struggling just to survive and with aging populations unable to support the church like they once could and did. And with the commitment level down among the churched in areas of morality and "living for Jesus."

Trust in yourself--like you have the ability to take care of your own self in this world of turmoil and hardship and aging and unhealth.

Trust in retirement--with possible cuts in Medicare and such. With companies looking to cut their retirement benefits, even among the already retired. Recently, a friend said he felt he could afford to retire. But many working people, even ministers and teachers, (helping professions) can't even afford to work, let alone retire. And that is many, many working people today in many, many other jobs and professions.

A guy could really get down and give up--unless, there is more.

Do I know the answers? No, I too struggle with living life and struggling, not to get ahead, just to survive and get along.

That is why I have to keep coming back to the biblical proverb which says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart." (Prov. 3:5-6)

I have to believe there is some hope. I have to believe there is some help. I have to believe for myself, but also to give hope and trust and help to others. As one in a helping profession, that is what I am all about. And as a believer in a God who loves everyone, helps everyone, and wants the best for everyone, I have to believe that or give up.

Yes, I pay the same amount for gas in America that you do. And we too have spiraling costs in our part of healthcare costs (18% up for the coming year for our part). And we too pay taxes and phones and house payments and on and on and on.

But I just have to believe there is something worth trusting--something worth seeking--someone who will not let me down and who is worth serving. I choose God. I choose to give my life for Someone that I have to believe will make a difference somewhere.

I can't do it alone--I have found that out from experience, even with hard work, education, jobs that matter, friends, living in America, and many other benefits.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart"--that is what I choose. It is a daily choice. It is a choice when bad news comes just as good news comes. It is a choice--because even that belief and trust never comes easily.

Trust in the __________________. You fill in the blank. But for me (and I hope, my house), we will choose the LORD. Proverbs 3:5-6; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 27:1, 13-14.

I choose God! Everything else I have tried has been found wanting. So I choose God!