Staying on the Path

This week it finally happened. After months of waiting for an extended warming trend, the ice on our driveway melted enough for us to use the correct driveway path for the first time all winter. To understand this strange statement, you need to know that our driveway is about 300 feet long and has a pretty healthy bend in the middle of it. Without even knowing it, we spent the better part of the winter missing the bend and driving over a portion of ground that doesn't even have gravel underneath it. How would that happen? Why would we find ourselves making ruts in the snow over an area that is not even part of our proper driveway? Simple. The plow that came through after the first big snowstorm in December missed. And since the snow just kept on coming, we never recognized the mistake until the ground started to thaw in earnest these past few weeks and a few huge mudholes threatened to swallow our car.

While many Christians would admit that they have their share of struggles, few believe that they are really vulnerable to getting "off track" or "losing their way". But when Jesus instructed his disciples about the last days, he repeatedly mentioned deception as being a primary danger (4 times in 20 verses of Matthew 24). And He seemed to focus his warning on one particular danger: false Christs (v. 24).

Is it possible that in raising such a concern, Jesus was quietly warning us that the end times will be characterized by teachers who present a "Jesus" who doesn't clearly match the one revealed in the Scriptures? What if the Biblical Jesus here was warning about the teachers of our day who subtly give us a "Jesus" who winks at sin, and acts as if compromise is just part of what it means to walk in "grace" (and not of the true Jesus who speaks of grace as something that leads us to confront and overcome sin, not excuse it - Titus 2:11-12). What if He was asking that we beware of today's Christian books which present a "Jesus" who might enjoy sitting down and "dialoguing" about the morality of cohabitation, or casual drug and alcohol use (saying nothing of the Biblical Jesus who, while He didn't condemn the woman caught in adultery, He did lovingly and firmly instruct her to "Go and sin no more")? What if He was wanting us to watch out for teaching about a "Christ" who just asks for us to obey a certain set of religious rules and then allows us to continue to indulge in a few "heart" sins (Never really telling us of the true Christ who earnestly desires that we enter into a love relationship with Him that involves ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength)? Or what if the real Jesus in Matthew 24 was warning of the very insidious tendency of his followers to create a personal "Christ" which suits their own fancies — one that excuses pride, selfishness, or resentment; a "Christ" that accepts a small and insignificant place in their day-to-day life and minimizes their particular patterns of sin as being "not all that bad"?

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus clearly taught that the gate that leads to life is very narrow. The well trampled paths, even within orthodox Christianity, may have been blazed by someone who missed the truth! If there is not a hunger in our souls to know the true Jesus, whatever this knowledge costs us, perhaps we don't have Him at all. And this is a sinkhole that we cannot afford to fall into.

So how can we avoid being deceived in such confusing times? Our only hope is to cling to the True Shepherd who promises to lead "in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (Psalm 23:3) and cling to His word which promises to be "a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." ( Psalm 119:105)

Wrong Turns

In the early years of our marriage. Tim and I were agonizing over a decision to relocate. Moving would mean advancing toward our goal of going overseas as missionaries; remaining where we were meant putting our dreams on hold. We prayed, read Scripture and even put out a fleece. Finally, Tim made the decision that we should indeed relocate. In spite of several hesitations, we followed the light that we seemed to have and went ahead in faith. For the next three years things seemed to fall into place for us, at least outwardly. Within a few months of our move we had an income, a church and circle of godly Christian friends. In a short time, Tim was serving on the elder board and was even asked to consider coming on staff of our church, one of the largest, growing churches in the area. However, in spite of outward appearances, it became increasingly apparent that our decision to move had been a wrong turn. For all of our efforts to try to push the door open, it seemed that we simply could not move ahead toward the mission field.

In the months and even years that followed we have wrestled with the question as to where we went wrong. We were seeking God's will. We were reading the Scriptures. What happened? Why were we so misguided?

When Christians are faced with such circumstances, it is easy to just wallow in unbelief, to point the blame at everyone else including God, rather than look at ourselves. We come by it honestly--even a cursory look at Adam and Eve in the garden reminds us of that. However, if we are to move beyond our impulse to blame God for our own mistakes in decision making, we must take His Word in one hand and a mirror and the other and begin to look at both. As we have struggled personally with our own confusing experiences, we have come to some conclusions that are helpful in evaluating the past and navigating the future.

1. Anyone can be deceived, even me.
This might be the most humbling step in the whole process--actually admitting that we were mistaken about God's will-- but it is also perhaps the most important. As long as we are denying our part in the mess, we cannot correct our thinking and learn from the experience. The same Scripture passage that tells us that our hearts are wicked also tells us that they are "deceitful above all things" Jeremiah 17:9

2. Mixed motives muddy the waters regarding God's will.
We learned the hard way that it is possible to think that you want God's will while still putting limits on what you will or won't do. In our case, God was asking us to lay aside our desire to serve Him overseas. A career in missions sounds so spiritual and worthwhile but even such a desire can hide all kinds of selfish motives. For both of us, our pure motives were so entangled with selfish motives that it was difficult to discern the" less than godly" ones. We have since learned to ask God to purify our hearts -- to bring us to the place where we have no personal will in the matter. We need hearts that are open to whatever God has for us and desire His glory above any personal benefit . Anything less, and we are opening ourselves up to self-deception.

3. Pride fogs our thinking.
In Obediah 1:3 God told the people of Edom that the pride of their heart had deceived them. Pride is like an iceberg. Far more lurks below the surface than we can imagine. Dislodging it is a slow, painful process. It requires that we repent every time God exposes another facet of our self-centeredness and that we ask Him again to change us. In spite of the difficulty of this fight, it is one of our most significant battles as God warns us in James 4:6-10 that He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. When we have a proud heart, we don't seek Him or his help the way we should and often find ourselves wandering off.

4. Knowing God and His Word are a tremendous safeguard.
It is possible to think that you are doing the right thing but be mistaken because you lack the knowledge of God and His Word that you need. The Scripture has numerous examples of this. One of the most striking occurred when Uzzah was struck down by God for trying to steady the ark with his hand (1 Chronicles 13:7-10). This priest was trying to do a seemingly spiritual thing but died in the process. What went wrong? The truth was that Uzzah and Ahio were handling the ark in the wrong manner. If they had been carrying the ark using poles as God had instructed, the disaster would never have happened. Perhaps these men thought that God would wink at their methods because their objectives were noble. God's punishment may seem severe to us, but we need to consider who they were.These men were priests. They were the ones who were to bring the Word of God to the people. They should have known and valued God's instructions on how to transport one of the most holy things that God had entrusted to the nation of Israel. - How well do you know what the Word of God has to say about the issues of your life? Are you concerned that you might be ignorant of commands or not really understand God and the things that are on His heart?The Holy Spirit promises to teach us all things but He cannot do it in a vacuum.

5. Oftentimes, the way back is the way forward.
God is a God of second chances, but He is also a God who calls us to deal with past failures honestly and thoroughly. The word "repent" always preceded the word "believe" when Jesus was preaching about the kingdom of God. In order to move forward after a misstep, God would have us go back, acknowledge our failures with all the humility and honesty that we can muster, and then "get back on where we got off". Sweeping such things under the rug (our strong tendency) only sets us up to repeat the mistakes instead of learning from them.

It is reassuring to remember that even with the worst of mistakes, we need not despair. God still is able to work all things together for good and use even our foibles to bring blessing. Whether our wandering is from willfulness or ignorance (or some combination of the two), God's ultimate desire is that the bumps and bruises that we experience along the way will lead us to a closer relationship to Him. He wants us to learn through our mistakes that the safest place to be is as close to Him as we can get.

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalm 32:8

– Kristen and Tim Martin

Feed My Sheep

" Feed my sheep" were the words that Jesus spoke to Peter that early morning on the beach. Surprising, since there were no sheep around and Peter's livelihood was fishing. None the less astounding was the fact that these words were spoken just weeks after Peter had denied that he even knew Jesus. Certainly they were not the words Peter would have expected to hear, especially since they were preceded by the probing question, "Do you love me?" The Bible only records Peter's words, but one can imagine the pain and remorse Peter must have felt when he humbly answered, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you." Gone was the swagger and bravado of earlier days. (Mk. 14:29) No longer was he boldly boasting of what he would do for Christ. What remained was a new humility and a simple love for Christ. "Feed my sheep," Jesus repeated.

"Feed my sheep" are the same words, Jesus would say to us as parents today. Just three simple words yet they are filled with volumes of meaning. It is so easy as our children grow to let the demands of life and busyness of ordinary days crowd out the eternal. The starting place is the little word "my". Do we really understand whose sheep they are? God loans us these precious little treasures and within weeks our hearts are so deeply bonded that we forget whose sheep they ultimately are... God's . Do I feel the weight of all that means? Am I really willing to acknowledge that they belong to Him? It is only by standing in the light of that truth that I am willing to adequately embrace the responsibility to feed his sheep.

However, even if I have accepted the truth that my children really belong to God, I can still fail to feed the sheep has entrusted into my (and my husband's) care. In my efforts to teach my children math and reading, and get them to piano and basketball lessons, am I adequately weighing the responsibility to nurture their souls? Have I really embraced the fact that it doesn't it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul? While I need to provide my children with skills to function in this world, developing those skills must not be my top priority. I must hear the words of Jesus, "Feed my sheep".

In this era of prepackaged food, whether it be animal feed or macaroni and cheese, food preparation is incredibly easy but in the time of Christ' earthly ministry, there was nothing easy about it. Every kitchen task was done by hand and every meal was painstakingly prepared. Today we have so many devotional books at our fingertips, it is easy to just eat "fast food" every day and feed the same to our family. But God promises his richest blessing on the reading of one book, the Bible. The smallest child can learn to be still while listening to the Scriptures and there are things we can do to help them along. I remember when my children were very young, I salvaged some extra Bible reading time with them by reading to them while they were eating. I would serve all their food, quickly grab my Bible and read between spilled glasses of milk and second helpings. This is not to say that other Christian books cannot be helpful but even these should be carefully selected. When we find one of those rare books that encourage us to faith and a deeper walk with God, they too can feed our children's souls and spur them on to God. Missionary biographies have been a wonderful help because many of those dear saints from long ago demonstrated a life given to God and spilled out for others.

As our children grow and their minds develop, our discussions about the Word of God can also deepen and widen. Walking through life, their disappointments, fears, and sorrows can be met with truths of the Bible and promises from God's Word. And gently applying God's Word to those sinful responses that we see in their lives rounds out the spiritual meal preparation that we owe to God's little sheep.

Just considering the challenge of the task of nurturing our children while carrying out all the responsibilities we have as home schooling mothers can overwhelm us. The last thing we want is one more ball that we have to keep in the air. Perhaps you used to challenge your children more spiritually but lately it has gone on the back burner. Looking at the time you have lost can be very discouraging. We had intended to do better but where have the years gone? As uncomfortable as it is this humble, helpless posture is really a very healthy one. Like Peter we find ourselves broken and needy, stripped of all our great plans of what we wanted to do for God. Instead we are left with only the confidence that the living God loves us, sinful as we often are, and that we love Him. From what better place to feed His sheep than from this humble, lowly place? It is exactly in this place that God can guide and lead us as we come to believe that He knows even more than we do how our children's souls are to be well fed and tenderly cared for.

Isaiah 55:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

By Kristen Martin