Too Soon to Quit

Posted on January 4, 2021 by drgause@agause.com

Forty years ago, in my grad-school chapel, the guest speaker George Sweeting said, “Life is a series of new beginnings.” That may have been the only time he made that statement, but it settled in my heart and had a profound effect on my life then and has been a guiding principle ever since. Most baby boomers like myself were brought up being taught we should work hard, become successful, and settle down. But the reality is life never works that way. Change, either by choice, or through circumstances, or by failure, will happen. The question for us is how do we respond.  

First realize, failure doesn’t mean your life is over. It presents an opportunity to begin again with greater understanding. A reporter asked Thomas Edison how it felt to fail 10,000 times? His response, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” World circumstances are forcing people to make new beginnings, even if they don’t want to. The most important element of a new beginning is letting go of the past. You must break free from defining yourself by your past. Yesterday’s failures and sins can only impair you if you dragged them with you. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” (C. S. Lewis).

We may choose to make a new beginning. Maybe you have arrived at your goal. Maybe your career has reached a dead end. God is about new beginnings and not patching up the broken pieces of yesterday. He wants you to get rid of the old and take hold of the new He creates. Paul instructs us . . . lay aside the old self . . . and put on the new self (Eph 4:22, 24). Saul put off his old life as a legalistic Pharisee and put on his new life as Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, preaching grace and freedom. Our new beginnings can mean a new job, a move to a new location, a new relationship, a new career, or a new phase of life from adulthood to senior citizen.

For me, it was giving up my career as an electronic engineer and fulfilling God’s calling on my life to teach and preach the Gospel around the world. Changing careers in middle-age is difficult because it requires leaving the safety of our comfort zone. Your first step toward a new beginning requires faith and trust in God. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” (Martin Luther King Jr.). I had achieved my parent’s teaching; I was successful and settled but uncomfortable.

I hung up the phone after turning down a high-level job with the state and called my current employer and gave my resignation. That was my first step with no idea of the ending. But I was at peace when I drove away from our home with the last load of furniture headed to a new city three hours away. I have never regretted that act of faith or all the new beginnings that have followed. Did I fail or sin after that? More than you can count, but I asked forgiveness and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I moved on.

An ancient philosopher wrote, “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Too often, we allow the past to enslave us to the point that we never enjoy the Christian life God wants for us. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

“Ok! We’re two days into the new year and nothing has changed—the pandemic, conflicts around the world, persecution of Christians, etc. So what now?” New beginnings start with a change in our hearts and minds. Look at a calendar of 2020, write across it, “HISTORY”. Yesterday is gone with its failures, regrets, sins, hurts, and troubles. You can’t go back and change it. The past has no more power than what you give it. Like Edison, look at it as 10,000 ways, life doesn’t work, and allow the Holy Spirit to begin a new work in you. He may take you into a new career, a new standard of living, or to fulfill His calling on your life. By faith, embrace God’s sovereign ability to show you where to go, what to do, and the ability to do. He will give you a full life in the emptiest of places. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Rom 8:28 MSG). 

The Lord assured Israel He could make new ways where they saw no way. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19 HOL).

Sustaining Word for the Week: It is too soon to quit; you’re just at the beginning.

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Bad Roots and Good Roots

Posted on December 28, 2020 by drgause@agause.com

“I’ve cut it to the ground every year, and all it does is sprout and grow again. Even digging down several inches and cutting the root didn’t help.” My neighbor, a professional landscaper, chuckled and replied, “You need some help. I’ll be right back.”  In a few minutes, he drove up with his backhoe. With a couple of scoops, he dug out a huge root bulb over a foot in the ground. I never had another problem. I learned some weeds have deep roots. It does no good to cut them off, the roots must be dugout. As New Year’s approaches, I remembered this experience and thought about how people will make the same resolutions they made last year because they only cut off the top, leaving a root that sprouted again.

Writers of Scripture used the metaphor of roots throughout the Bible because the recipients lived in an agrarian society. They didn’t think in abstract terms but understood spiritual lessons correlated with agricultural life. Every plant, whether a good plant or a weed has some type of roots. Jesus taught the importance of having roots in the parable of the sower. Some seed fell on rocky soil. They hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away (Luk 8:13, c.c. Mat 13:5, 6). Believers must have roots in themselves. Paul used the analogy or roots in several places. He wrote, be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love (Eph 3:16, 17).

The Bible warns about several types of bad roots—i.e. a root of bitterness and a love of money. We must put away bitterness. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you (Eph 4:31). The verb put away is a one-time action in the passive mood, meaning it is done for us. My neighbor told me I needed help and provided his help. Jesus promised I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever  (Joh 14:16). The Holy Spirit can bring His ‘backhoe’ and dig out the deepest root if we allow Him to work.

Roots are the part of a plant that are hidden below ground. Horticulturists tell us a plant’s root system makes up the major part of the plant body. A study revealed that a single 4-month-old rye plant has a total root length of 387 miles contained within 2 cu ft of soil. If you garden and buy plants in the small cups, remember how many roots were packed in the small container. The major function of roots is to stabilize the plant above ground and bring nutrients and water to the plant. These principles apply to fruit trees as well as weed plants. These visible comparisons are to give us insight into our spiritual lives. If we are rooted in Christ and His Word, we will be fixed and stable, and well-fed. The Holy Spirit will sustain us through any storm and cause us to grow.

However, if we have allowed bad roots to remain buried in our hearts and only chopped off the tops occasionally, our spiritual growth is in great danger. When you make your list of resolutions for the new year, ask yourself, “why do I want to make this change in my life?” Is it for your health, your spiritual growth, or is it peer pressure, the current fad; Why? Then ask the Helper to show you if there is a hidden root in your life like a root of bitterness or a love of money. If He shows you something, let Him bring His ‘backhoe’ and dig it out. Roots of weed can choke out good plants, steal nutrients and water, and destabilize it. Paul warns we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14). We all know Christians who are like tumbleweeds that had only one shallow root. When it breaks, the wind will blow it everywhere. The Red Wood trees have lasted for millennia because of the extensive root system.

A positive application of grounded roots can encourage us. The pandemic, fires, hurricanes, tornados, civil unrest, floods, etc. have cut many people down to the ground. Yet, the same principle for hidden weed roots that sprout again if you only cut the tops. It applies to those who are rooted and grounded in Christ; your life may be cut to the ground, but your spiritual stump is still there and will sprout again. “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail . . . So the Lord restored what Job had . . . and the Lord doubled all that had belonged to Job (Job 14:7, 42:10).

Sustaining Word for the Week: Let the Holy Spirit dig out the bad roots and nourish and grow your roots in Christ.

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Joy Amid Unhappy Times

Posted on December 21, 2020 by drgause@agause.com

Joy to the world! will flow from the lips of worshippers across the world this week. Yet how many are thinking? “Yea, sure! What do I have to be joyful about—we can’t gather as a family, lost my job, must wear this stupid mask, blab, blab, blab?” But don’t stumble on the first half of the stanza before you consider the second line, which gives the reason we can experience joy—the Lord is come. This beloved hymn came from Isaac Watts as a paraphrase of Psalm 98:4-9 & 96:11, 12 in 1719, but he never intended it to become a hymn much less a Christmas carol. However, God’s providence over the next 129 years brought about its ultimate purpose. Two other collaborators, George Frideric Handel, and Lowell Mason from Watt’s words composed the hymn we sing today.

You might say, “I’m not a hypocrite. How can I honestly sing this when I’m so unhappy?” Here lies the problem. Happy and joy aren’t synonymous. It doesn’t say happiness to the world. Happy originally meant ‘lucky’. Through the centuries it evolved to mean a pleasing mental state resulting from something pleasant taking place or happening, caused by good fortune, random occurrences, or worldly pleasures. So, if circumstances are favorable, you are happy; if not, you’re unhappy. Happiness is based on what is happening around us.

Joy, on the other hand, is based on what is happening within us. Happiness is external; joy is internal. The foundation of joy is our relationship with Christ. The Bible nowhere promises believers happiness but repeatedly offers joy. An example of joy amid unhappy circumstances comes from Paul in his letter to the Philippians. He wrote, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phi 4:4). He used the word joy and rejoice 16 times in this letter. But note, where Paul was while writing this epistle. He was in prison in Rome. The church at Philippi was familiar with Paul being in jail. On their first visit, the chief magistrates arrested him and Silas. They beat and placed them in stocks for delivering a girl from demon possession. But even in these miserable unhappy conditions, Paul didn’t allow this to dampen his joy: About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16:25). The word for hymn means to celebrate and praise in song. Neither of these events was lucky circumstances that would bring happiness.

The first promise of joy came to the shepherds from the angel who announced Jesus’ birth. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people (Luk 2:10 NIV). Jesus in His ‘Farewell Discourse’ told the disciples, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full (Joh 15:11). He later tells them His joy is for the world: these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves (17:13). Note a few lessons from these verses. The things Jesus spoke became the Bible. So, knowing the Bible is a foundation of our joy. ‘That you may know’ is a passive verb. That means it is an act done to us and not something we produce.The phrase, ‘Joy made full’ has an application I never noticed before. This indicates we can have incomplete joy.

The devil is a thief and will try to rob you of your joy. He will use people and our circumstances to cloud our joy. But it is always there. Joy is not automatic and something we must choose and embrace. “Joy does not simply happen to us. We must choose joy and keep choosing it every day” (Henri Nouwen). The source of joy is Jesus in us, My joy may be in you. Until people receive Christ as their Savior, they have no joy. They can only experience happiness from world events. Joy comes through the Holy Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. . . (Gal 5:22).

Nehemiah told the people repairing the wall of Jerusalem destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10). Joy sustained Jesus on the cross, not a time of happy conditions. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2). He looked beyond that unhappy moment and fixed His thoughts on the joy He would receive after the resurrection and through eternity with those who repent and accept the gift of His salvation.

My trips into countries where I ministered weren’t always happy experiences. Zambia where we lived for four years was difficult—food shortages, crime, government unrest under a dictator, road checks every six miles carried out by teenagers high on drugs brandishing automatic rifles, just to mention a few. During those unhappy times, we would remind ourselves, “We’re going home soon” and focus on the happiness we would have with our families. As believers, we are only temporary residents on earth, and we are going home soon.

Sustaining Word for the Week: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy (Psa 96:11, 12).

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Is this it?

Posted on December 14, 2020 by drgause@agause.com

What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” asked Jesus’ Apostles. It is reasonable to conclude that Christians around the world with our current circumstances are asking, “Is this it? Are these the signs He gave for His second coming?” For two millennia, people have been pondering this when the world encountered times of trouble. So far, this has not been the time the Father has fixed by His own authority. At Christ’s ascension, the disciples still curious about the future asked again, Lord, is it at this time . . . (Acts 1:6)? Jesus’ response still applies today; It is not for you to know times or epochs (v7). He uses two words concerning time. The word “times”, means the passage of time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. The word “epochs” means a season, an occasion, or a set proper time. In other words, Jesus tells them you don’t get to know the time. The minute, the day, the week, even the season is the Father’s business. Instead of concern about knowing the exact time, He told the disciples to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be witnesses of the Gospel over the entire world.

Regardless of not knowing the time, we are still to Take heed, keep on the alert (Mk 13:32). Jesus illustrated this; It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task (v34). Don’t let the master suddenly return and find you sleeping or neglecting your assignment. But as believers, we don’t have to be in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief (1 Th 5:4). Scripture gives us signs that His return is drawing near. You can find tens of thousands of articles about these signs. My purpose for this SW is to point out some deeper insight into several common scriptures.

One well-known verse is Matthew 24:7; “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom . . .” The word nation was a term for Gentile or anyone outside of the Jewish community. It is the word ethnos from which we get the term ethnic or a group of people who are associated by shared characteristics, whether geographical or familial or tribal. This can include terrorists and gangs. It can be translated, gentile, race, tribe, or cast. Jesus is literally saying, For nation [ethnic group, race, or tribe] will rise against nation [ethnic group, race, or tribe]. The word kingdom has a more formal and political meaning for a territory and people ruled by a specific leader, particularly a king/queen, president, prime minister, dictator, monarch, etc. A Kingdom can have multiple ethnic groups (nations) within its rule.

A second verse giving rich insight is Luke 21:10. There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven. We get seismology from the Bible word for earthquakes which is the study of turmoil in the ground. But its meaning isn’t confined to just a disturbance in the ground. It also means a commotion in the air as a hurricane or a tornado. It can indicate the tempest in the water like a tsunami. Other uses include volcanos, meteorites, avalanches, explosions, etc. Think about all these that have occurred this year.

Plague is a disease, pestilence, epidemic, or pandemic. Beyond COVID-19, other diseases are being reported around the world. Mystery Illness Kills One, Sickens Hundreds in India; in Indonesia, dengue has infected some 40,000 people in 2020. That’s nearly a 16% rise from last year—two examples of many. Jesus adds, there will be terrors and great signs from heaven (Lk 21:11). Terror has become a household word. We must be vigilant for a terrorist attack.  But His last phrase, great signs from heaven, has always intrigued me. What will these be? Will it be something we have never seen? But could this be a phenomenon that has increased in the last few years, i.e. the reported sighting of UFOs? Multiple TV programs nightly explore the increasing reports and search for explanations. Do they contain little gray men planning to take over? I find no scriptural evidence concerning aliens. Yet, with so many seeing something, we must consider if maybe these are the great signs from heaven.

In Revelation 6:8, the rider of the fourth horse was given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. My interest is the phrase by the wild beasts of the earth. Consider that COVID-19 originated from bats, and the bubonic plague came from fleas on rats. This made me think about the invasive species disrupting our eco-system —pythons, feral hogs, Asian carp, snakeheads, nutria, numerous types of lizards, and this a shortlist. Could this be the fulfillment of the above verse?

Jesus encourages us not to be frightened . . . these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs (Mk 13:7,8). The most comforting verse, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:28). 

Sustaining Word for the Week: Is this it? I don’t know. But take heed, keep on the alert, and keep doing your assignment. This may be the time the Father has fixed—only He knows.

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