Calming the Chaos

 

Calming the Chaos

Calming the Chaos - Audio/Visual (@27:15) 

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side."  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"  (Mark 4:35-41)

The ship’s going down and Jesus is sleeping. Waking him, Jesus’ disciples said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Maybe they shook him by the shoulders, poked him in the ribs or even yelled at him at the top of their lungs. Could have been all of the above. But of all the titles they could have used to call him out, they used the word “Teacher.” Not “Master.” Not “Lord.” Teacher. You know, the one who thought it would be a good idea to go out to sea in the middle of the night for a moonlight cruise. “Hey, you, Carpenter boy! Yeah, you! You know, the one who doesn’t know how to sail? We’ve been fishermen all our lives; we grew up as boys on this sea. But we did what you asked us to do because you are the TEACHER! And now we’re all freaking out and the ship’s going down and you’re passed out in the back of the boat? WAKE UP! I love the humanity of the Gospels because it depicts the disciples as real human beings instead of men, in this case, who wore halo’s, hovered six inches off the ground and sang Kumbaya everywhere they went. They’re questioning God.

Have you? Have you ever questioned God? Have you ever thought that God was sleeping? Have you ever felt like God is the one who needs to be yanked out of bed? “Lord, don’t you care that I can’t pay my bills? Don’t you care that I’m losing my mind? Don’t you care that I’m sick – I can’t even get out of bed? How could you let this happen? God, don’t you even care anymore?” Chances are you have. In the lesson from Mark, we see fear overtaking faith. But why were they fearful? They had every reason to walk by faith. They’d been told they’d reach the other side, and the guy who made that pronouncement was in the boat with them. They’d seen Jesus perform countless miracles before, so why not trust him now? But, they didn’t; they doubted. They let fear get the best of them.

So, Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet; be still.” And then it went calm. Notice that Jesus rebukes the wind first. He gets to the root of the problem because the cause is the wind; the effects are the waves. The Creator speaking to his creation. And he does it that way so that the disciples can see, without a doubt, that Jesus is responsible for the miracle. But as great as calming the storm was, at least as far as miracles go, Jesus wasn’t finished because the greatest threat to the disciples was still raging. The threat wasn’t what was happening around them, but what was happening inside them, and Jesus needed to address the storm that was brewing in their hearts.

We’re our own worst enemies sometimes. Fear is something that can be either positive or negative. For instance, when a rattlesnake is a few feet away, it’s probably best to keep your distance. But there’s a negative side to fear as well. That’s when we fear things like rejection, failure and loss. And this is the kind of fear that Jesus was addressing; the fear that overrides our lives because, if you’ve been paying attention, have you ever noticed that the thing you focus on tends to become the thing you get?

When we get caught up in fear and start focusing on the worst-case scenario, the worst-case scenario frequently becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What we really need to do instead is to see what we want to happen, not what’s the worst that could happen. Napoleon Hill once said, What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. “Yeah, well what about those times when it doesn’t happen the way I want it to happen?” Well, then, you’ve got to deal with the consequences. But you still have a choice, don’t you? Either you’re going to add to those problems, or you’re going to give yourself a chance to overcome them by focusing on the positive. Fear and faith cannot coexist. If we have fear, we have no faith. If we have faith, we have no fear. Faith is being certain about things that aren’t so certain, even things and events we cannot see. (Heb. 11:1)

Fear is when you expect the worst. Faith is when you expect the best. 1 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” God doesn’t want you to live a fearful life – a life of paranoia living out a cascading series of worst-case scenarios. God wants you to be like Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, who was on a sailing ship when the captain knocked on his stateroom door and said, “Mr. Taylor, we’re in a bit of a situation. We have no wind and we’re drifting toward an island that we believe is inhabited by cannibals.” Hudson asked the captain, “Well, captain, what would you like me to do?” The captain responded, “Well, you’re a man of God. Could you pray for wind?”

Hudson said, “I’ll pray for wind, but you’ve got to hoist the sails.” The captain, looking a little perplexed said, “You don’t hoist the sales until after the wind comes.” Hudson flatly responded, “Maybe that’s the way man does it, but that’s not the way God does it.” “You hoist the sales by faith, and I’ll pray, and God will fill that sail.” “You’ve got a deal,” the captain said. So, Hudson began to pray and a couple of hours later the captain knocked once again on his stateroom door. “Mr. Taylor, you can stop praying now; we have more than enough wind to get us to where we want to go.” But how many of us would have been sitting in our stateroom and mulling over the worst-case scenario? “Oh, I can just see myself landing on that heathen shore, and then the cannibals coming, and then being tied up, and then … Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!” And faith’s not just for the religious; it’s for everyone.

For instance, when you board an airplane, you do it by faith. Faith that the pilot knows what he or she is doing; faith that the engines won’t flame out; faith that a tire won’t blow; faith that there’s enough gas in the tank; faith that the pilots know where they’re going. Or a bank, maybe even your investments – perhaps a bit more of a concern these days – but faith that when you deposit your money it will be there when you want to withdraw it, or that your investment portfolio won’t lose 40% of its value overnight. And so, Jesus is saying, “Hey, why won’t you believe in me? Why won’t you trust in me? I have the cure for your fears.” But it’s easier to doubt than to believe. It’s easier to be negative than to be positive. So, we sabotage ourselves. We think the worst, and then focus on all the wrong things.

God says that if you don’t learn to walk by faith, you’ll be consumed by your worst fears. Paul, writing to the church in Rome said, “For in it (the Gospel), the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17) The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. It’s kind of like going to church. We go to worship to experience God, not look at the furniture. But even then, we wonder “How will God reveal his righteousness to me?” He does it from faith, to faith, to faith, to faith. Not from fear, to fear, to fear, to fear. You have to walk by faith; you have to trust in the Word of God. You have your problems on the one hand, and the promises of God on the other, and whichever you see first will generally become the largest. In other words, if you see the promises of God, your problems will seem small. But if you see only your problems first, your God will seem small. Which child are you?

Do you tend to see God through your problems, or do you see your problems through God? Most people don’t know how to live by faith. All they know is to look at the circumstances around them and come to some sort of conclusion without ever factoring God into the equation. But if you want to experience God, you’re going to have to learn to walk by faith and see your problems the way God sees them. And then maybe offer a prayer like, “Lord? Yeah, it’s me again. The seas are raging, and the waves are crashing, but what do you see? What do you want to do? What’s your plan, God?”

So, what was the result of Mark’s story? The disciples became even more fearful – which is not exactly the outcome you’d expect. But then God. The disciples’ fear led to an even greater fear because Jesus had cast out all of their petty fears to get to their one, really big fear: the fear of God. But the “fear” that Jesus wanted the disciples to understand was not to be afraid, but to trust. Jesus wanted the disciples to respect God more than anything else in life. If you’re going to be afraid of anything, or if you’re going to let anything run your life, let it be the fear of the Lord. As Proverbs 19:23 plainly states, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction.” (See also, Acts 9:31)

Trials are going to come, and Jesus used this situation as a way to make all of us grow. From life’s challenges comes growth, and God is going to challenge you. He will allow some difficult things to come into your life. It’s all a test of your faith. Just ask Job. In fact, God’s probably testing your faith right now and the question becomes will you operate in fear, or will you operate in faith?

Calm the chaos; choose faith over fear. When something challenges you and you find yourself thinking negatively, make a choice to bring calm to the chaos by operating out of faith rather than fear. God wants us to bring calm to the apparent chaos by seeing things the way God sees them, and that starts by seeing the best in the situation rather than the worst. Faith is a muscle that has to be exercised. So, muscle up and know that Jesus is on deck and will get you to the other side.

Grace,

Randy

Extreme Makeover

 

Extreme Makeover

Extreme Makeover - Audio/Visual (@23:52) 

Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. (2 Cor. 5:16-18; The Message)

I may be dating myself, but do you remember the show, Extreme Makeover? It was an ABC television program where individuals volunteered to receive an extensive makeover – Hollywood style. It first aired in 2002 on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m., and a total of 55 episodes were produced. In fact, in its first season, Extreme Makeover ranked 40^th in the yearly ratings and averaged 11.2 million viewers per episode which was a pretty amazing audience for its time. Unfortunately, viewership dropped over the next three seasons and Extreme Makeover was officially canceled by ABC on May 15, 2007.

The show took people who weren’t very happy with their appearance and, through a series of operations, cosmetic surgeries, dental procedures, liposuction, hair changes and exercise and diet regimens, changed them into the “beautiful people.” There were some pretty unbelievable transformations over the course of the series, hence the word “Extreme,” not to mention the extraordinary costs involved. The bottom line, however, was that the people who participated in the show weren’t happy with themselves because of the way they looked. They had defects they wanted to remove or cover up and were so ashamed of their flaws that they went through some pretty intense pain to correct or hide those very same blemishes.

The fact is that we’re all flawed and blemished and, if given the chance, we’d probably all want to exchange those “defects” for a new look. And the good news is that God is in the business of giving extreme makeovers. Granted, he may not fix your nose, or give you pretty white teeth, or even remove your wrinkles, but the Bible says that “Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! “ (2. Cor. 5:17)

As you watched one of those Makeover shows you’d see the experts transform someone from the old way they looked into a brand-new look. Each episode ended with the contestant’s return to their family and friends, and the camera would pan in such a way to show the reactions of their loved ones who had not been allowed to see the incremental changes that had been taking place during the participant’s absence, which was usually over the course of several months. And, of course, the “Before” and “After” pictures were pretty amazing because it was made-for-television Hollywood. But it’s equally amazing how God can take an “ugly” sinner and change them into a beautiful child of God.

For instance, there was a woman who lived in Samaria who needed an extreme makeover. Her life was a total wreck. She’d lost all respectability among her neighbors. In fact, she was the talk of the town. In the eyes of her little community, she was an outcast. She’d gone through five failed marriages, and the man she was then living with wasn’t even her husband. She was a good candidate for an extreme makeover, and one day the Master of makeovers came by her town and picked her as his “contestant.” (John 4:1-42)

Jesus gave her something called “living water,” and it changed her life forever. In fact, it changed her life so much that she ran into town and began telling everyone about her makeover. I’d like to think that she regained her self-respect, and that Jesus had restored her self-esteem. Maybe she even had a new look on her face and a spring in her step. Whatever it was, she had joy instead of sadness; peace instead of fear. She had forgiveness in the place of condemnation. And it all happened at a well just outside of Samaria. But she isn’t the only one whose life was given an extreme makeover.

There was someone else in the Bible who had a similar experience. His life, like the Samaritan woman, was a total mess. Better stated, his life was in absolute shambles. He’d lost his happiness, he’d lost his peace, he even lost his family and friends because he’d become completely possessed by demons who tore his life to shreds. In fact, he was so deranged that he had to live in the local cemetery outside the city. He didn’t wear any clothes, and he cut himself. He was an animal, and no one could tame him. And when you walked by the cemetery you could hear the screams of this poor guy because he was tormented by his demons day and night. And just like the woman from Samaria, he was a candidate for an extreme makeover, and in the worst kind of way. (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-38)

One day the extreme makeover Master passed by, and it took Jesus only a few seconds to change the man’s life forever. He cast out the demons and restored his mind. The townsfolk could hardly believe their eyes when they saw the guy worshiping at the feet of Jesus. Unlike his previous state, he was now dressed and completely sane. He could even call his old friends and say, “Look at me, I’m not the man I used to be. You don’t have to be afraid of me anymore; I’ve had an extreme makeover. Jesus changed my life! Jesus restored my life! Jesus set me free!” What a difference Jesus makes when he does an extreme makeover in someone’s life.

So, how’s your life? In a shambles? Maybe it’s not that messed up, but do you have this sneaking suspicion that you may be in for a train wreck? The same Jesus who loved the demoniac and the woman at the well is still in the business of doing extreme makeovers. Better yet, we don’t have to stand in line or worry about getting picked for the show. We’re all invited, any time, to let Jesus do a work, an extreme makeover, in our lives. No one is a hard case. God can take the lowest, roughest, meanest, most contemptible, most despicable sinner and change their life in the most positive way. And God can do the same for you, too. Your friends will know it; your neighbors will sense it; your co-workers will see a change in your life because you’re a new person; you’re not the person you used to be.

Maybe at one time you were against God, but now you can become his child. You used to be a slave to sin, which leads to death, but now he’s made you free from sin so that you can blossom like a rose with a beautiful fragrance – a holiness that leads to eternal life. God can do a complete makeover in your life by removing the flaws, zapping the blemishes and removing those ugly sin stains. He can take away the shame and the condemnation.

If you remember the television show, you probably also remember that the contestants who received the makeover had to do something to keep themselves looking good because the makeover was just the beginning. The doctors did what they could do, and the cosmetic surgeons did what they could, but it was up to the individual to maintain their new image. And, if they didn’t continue to work at it, they’d fall back into their old image which, unfortunately, a few of them did. They had to take care of themselves and use whatever means were available to keep looking good.

In Luke 22:45-46, we have this vignette: “He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, "What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won't give in to temptation." And Paul, writing to the church in Corinth said, “I don't know about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.” (1 Cor. 9:26-27) 

Similarly, in 1 Cor. 10:12, Paul said, “These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence.

Is your life stained with sin? Is bitterness eating away at your joy and peace? Do you have things in your life that make you unhappy? Is your life filled with pain, or jealousy or unforgiveness? If so, there’s hope. The Master of extreme makeovers is in the house, and he can change your life forever.

Grace,

Randy

Anxious about Anxiety

 

Anxious about Anxiety

Anxious about Anxiety - Audio/Visual (@25:20) 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Anxiety’s like a toddler. It never stops talking, tells you you’re wrong about everything and wakes you up at 3:00 a.m. It's a low-grade fear. An edginess; a dread. It's not so much a storm as the certainty that one’s coming. Any minute now. You can't relax – can’t let your guard down. You don't sleep well. You don't laugh often. You don't whistle as you walk. And when others do, you give them a look. That "Are you kidding me?" kind of look. You may even give them a word. "Haven't you read the news and heard the reports and seen the studies? Airplanes fall out of the sky. Bull markets go bear. Terrorists terrorize. Good people turn bad. The other shoe’s gonna drop. It's just a matter of time.”

Anxiety is a meteor shower of “what-if’s.” What if I don't close the sale? What if we don't get the bonus? What if we can't afford braces for the kids? What if my kids have crooked teeth? What if crooked teeth keep them from having friends, a career or even a spouse? What if they end up homeless and hungry, holding a cardboard sign that reads, "My parents couldn't afford braces for me"? Anxiety is trepidation. It's a suspicion; an apprehension. You're part Chicken Little and part Eeyore. The sky is falling, and it's falling disproportionately on you. As a result, you’re anxious. A free-floating sense of dread hovers over you; a nebulous hunch about things that just might happen sometime in the future. It begs the question: If you’re anxious about “what-if’s,” what if you stopped being anxious?

Anxiety and fear are cousins, but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one. Fear screams, “Get out!” Anxiety ponders, “What if?” Fear results in fight or flight. Anxiety creates doom and gloom. Fear is the pulse that pounds when you see a coiled rattlesnake in your front yard. Anxiety is the voice that tells you, “Never, ever walk barefoot through the grass. There might be a snake . . . somewhere.” The word anxious defines itself. It’s a hybrid of angst and xious. Angst is a sense of unease; xious is the sound I make on the tenth step of a flight of stairs when my heart beats fast and I run low on oxygen. I can be heard sounding like the second syllable of anxious, which makes me wonder if anxious people aren't just that: people who are out of breath because of the angst of life.

Anxiety takes our breath, for sure. And if only that were all it took. It also takes our sleep. Our energy. Our well-being. "Do not fret," wrote the psalmist, "it only causes harm." (Ps. 37:8) Harm to our necks, jaws, backs and bowels. Anxiety can twist us into emotional pretzels. It can make our eyes twitch, blood pressure rise, heads ache and armpits sweat. To see the consequences of anxiety, all you have to do is read half the ailments in a medical textbook. Anxiety isn’t fun. Chances are that you, or someone you know, struggle with anxiety. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are reaching epidemic proportions. In a given year over forty million Americans will feel the effects of a panic attack, phobia or other anxiety disorder. Our chests tighten. We feel dizzy and light-headed. We fear crowds and avoid people. Anxiety disorders in the United States are the number one mental health problem among women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men.

The United States is now the most anxious nation in the world. The land of the Stars and Stripes has become the country of stress and strife. Stress-related ailments cost our nation $300 billion every year in medical bills and lost productivity, while our use of sedative drugs keeps skyrocketing. In the last seven years, Americans more than doubled their spending on anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium, from $900 million to $2.1 billion. Despite the meds, people of this generation are three times more likely to experience depression than people of the preceding generation.

How can that be? Our cars are safer than ever. We regulate food and water and electricity, and now gas stoves, no less. Yet if worry were an Olympic event, we'd win the gold medal. Ironically, citizens in other countries enjoy more tranquility. They experience one-fifth the anxiety levels of Americans, despite having fewer of life’s necessities. Perhaps they read Proverbs 17:1 – “Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting – and conflict (read: anxiety).” What's more, when these less-anxious developing-world citizens immigrate to the United States, they tend to get just as anxious as Americans. It must be something in our water – despite it being regulated, too.

So, what’s the cause? Change, for one thing. Researchers speculate that the Western world's environment and social order have changed more in the last thirty years than they have in the previous three hundred. Think about what’s changed. Technology, for one. The existence of the Internet. Increased warnings about global warming, nuclear war and new pandemics. Changes and new threats are imported into our lives every few seconds thanks to smart phones, TV’s and computer screens. In our grandparents' generation, news of an earthquake in Nepal would reach around the world some days later. In our parents' day the nightly news communicated the catastrophe. Now it’s a matter of seconds. We've barely processed one crisis, when we hear of another. And then there’s the onslaught of personal challenges. You or someone you know is facing foreclosure, fighting cancer, slugging through a divorce or battling an addiction. You or someone you know is bankrupt, broke or going out of business.

One would think that Christians would be exempt from worry. But we’re not. We have been taught that the Christian life is a life of peace, and when we don't have peace, we assume the problem lies within us. Not only do we feel anxious, but we also feel guilty about our anxiety. The result is a downward spiral of worry, guilt, worry, guilt. It's enough to cause a person to get anxious. It's enough to make us wonder if the apostle Paul was out of his mind when he wrote, "Be anxious for nothing." (Phil. 4:6) "Be anxious for less," would have been a sufficient challenge. Or "Be anxious only on Thursdays," or "Be anxious only in seasons of severe affliction." But Paul doesn't seem to offer any leeway here. Be anxious for nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Is that what he meant? Well, not exactly.

He wrote the phrase in the present active tense, which implies an ongoing state. It's the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul wanted to address. The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. Anxiety is not a sin; it’s an emotion. So don't be anxious about feeling anxious. Anxiety can, however, lead to sinful behavior. When we numb our fears with six-packs or food binges, when we spew anger like Mauna Loa, when we peddle our fears to anyone who will buy them, we are sinning. If toxic anxiety leads you to abandon your spouse, neglect your kids or break your promises, take heed because Jesus gave this word: "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with ... the anxieties of life." (Luke 21:34) Frankly, not everything that weights you down is yours to carry anyway.

Is your heart weighed down with worry? Here are some signals: Are you laughing less than you once did? Do you see problems in every promise? Would those who know you best describe you as increasingly negative and critical? Do you assume that something bad is going to happen? Do you dilute and downplay good news with doses of your own version of reality? Many days would you rather stay in bed than get up? Do you magnify the negative and dismiss the positive? Given the chance, would you avoid any interaction with humanity for the rest of your life? If you answered yes to most of these questions, I have a scripture for you: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8)

Five verses with four admonitions that lead to one wonderful promise: "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds." (v. 7) So, celebrate God's goodness – “Rejoice in the Lord always." (v. 4) Ask God for help – “Let your requests be made known to God." (v. 6) Leave your concerns with him – “With thanksgiving . . ." (v. 6) Meditate on good things – “Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise." (v. 8) Celebrate. Ask. Leave. Meditate. The first letter of each spell, “Calm.”

Could you use some calm? If so, you aren't alone. The Bible is Kindle's most highlighted book, and Philippians 4:6-7 is the most highlighted passage. So, take heart – apparently, we could all use a word of comfort. And God is right there ready to give it. With God as your helper, you’ll sleep better tonight and smile more tomorrow. You'll reframe the way you face your fears. You'll learn how to view bad news through the lens of sovereignty and tell yourself the truth. You’ll discover a life that is characterized by calm and will develop tools for facing the onslaughts of anxiety. Otherwise, anxiety will be just like a rocking chair – it’ll give you something to do but won’t get you anywhere.

It will require some work because I don't want to leave the impression that anxiety can be waved away with a simple pep talk. In fact, for some of you God's healing might include the help of therapy and/or medication. If that’s the case, don’t for a moment think that you’re a second-class citizen of heaven. Ask God to lead you to a qualified counselor or physician who will provide the treatment you need. But this much is sure: It’s not God's will that you lead a life of perpetual anxiety. It’s not his will that you face every day with dread and trepidation. He made you for more than a life of breath-stealing angst, and mind-splitting worry. He has a new chapter for your life. And he’s ready to write it. The question is, are you ready to turn the page?

Grace,

Randy