Receiving the Moment (even when it does not make sense)

This post is dealing with one of the most difficult aspects of contentment.  There are times in life that we are presented with seemingly contradictory information when looking at intrinsic truth and experiential truth.  Intrinsic truth are things that are true in themselves.  that is to say they are based in some value or moral that is contained within the truth itself.  Some examples of intrinsic truth is God, ethics, morality, and goodness.  On the other hand experiential truth is based on what can be observed, described, measured, tested, and/or experienced.  Some examples of experiential truths are empirical knowledge, heuristics (rules of thumb),  constructs,  and Common sense.  Unfortunately there are times when these two classes of truth present a dilemma in our lives when they appear contradictory.  If I have lost you that is OK I will attempt to give an example from the Bible that should clear up what I am saying.

"Take your son," He said, "your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."  Gen 22:2 (HCSB)

This is quite possibly one of the most bizarre commands of God recorded in the Bible.  We tend to overlook it when we read it because we know the end of the story.  Abraham did not know the end!  In fact if we have never read the story before we are only held in this uncomfortable state for as long as it takes to read 10 verses (It took me 42 seconds to read the whole story).  Abraham on the other hand wrestled with this command for 3 days (Side note:  for those interested in symbolic numbers Jesus was in the grave for 3 days) .  By the way my interest in this dilemma was influenced by S�ren Kierkegaard's book "Fear and Trembling."   

I am not being irreverent when I say it is a bizarre command.  I am basing my opinion on experiential truth.  And my guess is that you would draw the same conclusion as well as well.  Considering it empirically (ie science of mind/brain) a man that hears the voice of God tell him to sacrifice his son is by definition psychotic.  In this case the command hallucination would be considered a bizarre hallucination.  Considering the rule of thumb it would be unwise to hang out with a person that would kill his son to please a deity.  God in my understanding loathes child sacrifice.  So hearing a command from him stating otherwise does not fit within my construct of who God is.  Therefore the command is absurd.  Common sense would say "God would not want you to do that!"  I am guessing the Sarah had it in this couple which is why he probably did not share what he was doing with with her.  Truly the command is beyond experiential truth and reason.  That makes the command bizarre.

'We must never tolerate an instant's unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same' (C. H. Spurgeon).

Intrinsic truth on the other hand indicates that God knows what he is doing (Omniscient).  What He does is good.  He can do and accomplish whatever he wants (Omnipotent).  Often times it is pointed out that God Abraham was trusting in the promise of:

I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly. Gen 17:2 (HCSB)

Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring. Gen 17:19 (HCSB)

This is usually based on:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and he was offering his unique son,  the one it had been said about, Your seed will be traced through Isaac.  He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back. Heb 11:17-19 (HCSB)

This fine for us who only have to be discomforted for the minute or so that we are uncomfortable while we read the story, but we did not walk in Abraham's shoes for those three days.  He is a hero of faith to be sure, but there is no way that anyone could walk in his shoes and feel heroic going through to do what he was going to do!

It is then reasonable to conclude that Abraham struggled with this very dilemma that I have put forward.  It is not possible in my estimation that a person of commendable reputation and character could be resigned to carry out such a task without this struggle.  If I were him I would have said something like, "My experiential knowledge is in conflict with my knowledge of God!"  I think if we are honest there are times (though not to this degree) that we to enter into a similar dilemma.  The dilemma usually starts with the word "why" and questions why God does or does not do something (usually the latter). 

This is a long introduction to my main point which is, We can only be content when we receive the moment exactly as God has given it to us.  I have already talked about how fighting reality in relationships is unmindful and invites suffering.  We can do the same in our circumstances.  Spiritually speaking when we choose our experiential knowledge over the knowledge of God we invite spiritual suffering.  This dissonance is no more greater than when our circumstances seem to contradict what we know about God.  At that moment we have a Crisis of Faith.  The difficulty with this crisis is that it gets to the root of whether we trust in God.  Do we accept what we have been given with the faith that God will work it out for His Glory and our good?

Abraham is a hero of faith because he chose the absurd and bizarre to be obedient that he might glorify God.  Frankly there are not many people like that in this world, but when it is put into context our minor discomforts seem trivial compared to what Abraham had to go through on those three days.  If we accept Abraham as a hero of faith then we ought to at least model his behavior in our own circumstances even when God does not make sense. 

So what did he do?  First he was listening.  Second, He received the instruction and the moment without objection or fighting.  There are times when we have to do just this.  We have to accept even though it does not make sense.  Third he put his faith into preparations.  It is quite easy to say that you believe something, but it is quite another to act on that belief.  Your actions are evidence of what you believe.  Don't get me wrong, it is easy thing to fall into doubt, but prolonged doubt is the catalyst of spiritual suffering. 

Fourth he moved forward without a clear picture of how God was going to work this out, only with the knowledge that he would.  This part strains the very core of our being.  Humans like to see the end before setting out on a journey.  Unfortunately if we are able to see the end in our mind and like the outcome, then choosing it is nor more faith than picking your favorite meal off a menu.  "I think I will take the Spaghetti Marinara."  Accepting God's will and taking the next step requires great faith when the outcome is unknown especially when the circumstances make it look hopeless. 

Fifth he placed his trust in the Lord's provision.  God is faithful.  Finally he endured great pain.  I think of sheer agony of binding his son in order to offer him up to God.  I would have been an emotional wreck.  Just thinking about it right now brings tears to my eyes and I was not there! 

Enduring pain and agony is the stuff that heroes are made of. I do not aspire to be a hero.  Most heroes don't either.  They are thrust into this role by their circumstances.  They become heroes because they are willing to enter into the absurdity of their circumstances and act in faith without the possibility of knowing if it will turn out good or bad, yet acting anyway! This is at its core is the greatest example of "recieving the moment" that I can think of.  In our own lives we fail to receive the moment when we 1) reject the reality of the situation, 2) fail to act, 3) fail to trust God, 4) try to find some way of escape.

In summary then we have to willing to "receive the moment" as it is.  This is done without fighting, yet not being resigned as a victim of fate.  But rather with great trust in this: 

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. Heb 11:6 (HCSB)

And this:

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (HCSB)

With this kind of faith we can move through what ever circumstances this life might give us.  My hope is that when the trial comes my way that I would be found worthy of such honor and put my whole trust in God that He might see me through.

God bless you all!

The usefulness of Happiness:

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This is another sermon I preached a little over a year ago. It is a follow up to the usefulness of sorrow.

God has a mysterious way about Him. Amen. I cannot quite tell you why, but He has put it on my heart to preach about Happiness. It is unusual, because the last few weeks for me have been some of the most stressful that I have had. Maybe you could relate to this. I have over extended myself and have more to do than it humanly possible in one day. I have been grumpy, sorry babe, worried, stressed, depressed, and frustrated. My stress level has been so high that I have forgot about important things that I need to do. I would consider you fortunate to even have me here this evening, because the way that the last few weeks have gone it would not have surprised me to forget about this evening. Yet through it all God has put it on my heart to share with you about Happiness. I am certain that He wants to share this message with me as much as he does with you.

For those of you who were present the last time I was here you will recall I shared on the “usefulness of sorrow.” We contrasted Godly and worldly sorrow. We learned that worldly sorrow leads to death. That is contracted with Godly Sorrow leading to repentance and life. This evening I would like to share the “usefulness of happiness.”
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt 5:3-12 (HCSB)
Jesus was establishing the kingdom life. He shares that there is blessing, gladness, and rejoicing. Often in this life it is so easy to get caught up in the circumstances of life that we are robbed of the Joy that God wants us to have. I am guilty of this as I have just shared with you. In Matt 6:25 Jesus asks a very hard question, 25 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

It is so easy to become so consumed with the worries of this life that we lose sight of the fact that God desires for us to have a Joyful happy life. What blessing we miss when we lose sight of this great truth.

There are other situations that rob us of our happiness. When we pursue happiness according to the world we trade the abundant happiness that God offers for hollow happiness. There are two examples given to us in the scriptures that I would like to share with you.
16 Then He told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? 18 I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ Luke 12:16-20 (HCSB)

This man’s life was successful. By the worlds standards he was rich and productive. His life was a huge success. Why did Jesus call him a “fool?” This man had a focus on building a bigger worldly kingdom for himself. He was prepared to build bigger barns, store his wealth, and live the good life. Yet he was not aware that his life was going to be over that night. Think about this man no doubt had spent many hours amassing such a wealth and tonight his life was going to be taken from him.

We can be guilty of building worldly kingdoms for ourselves. We may never be as wealthy as this man, but when we seek after material gain, when we look for happiness in the world, when we pursue the “good life,” then we are not really any different than this man. This is not a proclamation against building wealth or being rich. However, a person that is rich according to the world, but bankrupt in the heavenly kingdom is a fool. Let’s look at another example:

19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate. 21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
This man like the other example had the “good life.” He had the finest clothes and dined on the finest food. If he were alive today no doubt he would have had a fancy sports car and a fancy luxury car, boats, and a nice house. This is contrasted with Lazarus who had nothing. He sat at the Gate every day longing for someone to give him food.

The fact that Lazarus is sitting at the gate leads me to believe that the rich man would have seen him every day when he walked in and out. He passed him seeing his broken down condition and did what? Nothing. He was more interested in fine clothes and fine food than he was in helping others. Both of the men die. Lazarus because of his faith and trust in God is taken to Abraham’s side. The rich man was taken to a place called Hades. This is a place of holding for those that are separated from God. In Luke 6:31 it says, “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ” This is a very clear reference of the New and Old covenants of God. You see this man had the opportunity to come to God and apparently had access to or heard the Old Testament law and prophets. He heard God’s word and yet failed to respond. The evidence is in his lack of compassion for the situation of Lazarus. When we hear the Word of God and fail to act we become like this man and fail to enter into God’s rest and happiness.

Perhaps you are sitting here this evening and you have never heard or understood that Jesus God’s son died so that you can enter into God’s rest. If that describes you then I ask that you do not leave tonight before asking God to come into your life and share that decision with someone else before you leave.

One more thing before moving on: The Bible is filled with examples of men who where wealthy and righteous. I would like to share a few with you: Abraham was very wealthy, Noah must have had some wealth to take on such a huge building project on his own, Jacob was wealthy and became the father of all the Israelite tribes. Job was wealthy and was consider righteous by God. Boaz from the story of Ruth was wealthy and because of his faithfulness God used him in his redemption plan for all of humanity. My point is this. It is not money that is the problem. It is the love of money that leads people astray. Let’s face it we live in a time where the main message being sold to us is that happiness comes from building up wealth. If you only build wealth and are not rich toward God then you are bankrupt. If you are dirt poor and are not rich toward God, you are still bankrupt. So how do we become rich and happy according to the kingdom of God? Let’s turn back to Matthew 5.

I am going to go through these in very quick order. The reality is that there is a lifetime of blessing in these verses and the truth that they contain must be discovered and rediscovered over the course of our lifetime.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Happiness in God’s kingdom begins with “poverty of spirit” we must think less about ourselves than others. We must decrease that God may increase. We have to humble ourselves before God. If we do then the “kingdom of heaven” is ours according to Jesus.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.
Mourning is blessed. That may be a hard one to swallow. Interestingly I had to take a nap when I got to this point. What can possibly be blessed about mourning? And what does mourning have to do with happiness. Typically we think of mourning about the loss of a loved one. I believe that we can all agree that there is time of extreme loss that God has comforted us. His presence has uplifted our spirit in a time that we were down. Could you imagine how gloomy life would be if he never gave that comfort. It would be robed of joy and happiness.

We can also mourn bad things that have happened or bad things that we have done. When we mourn over the circumstances of other people it draws us into a more intimate relationship with them. Those close relationships can be a blessing. We also can be come a ministry of comfort, that is to say that God can use us to comfort others. When we mourn over the sin of others we encourage them to repentance. We also watch out for ourselves so that we do not fall into the same sin. James chapter four teaches us to mourn over our own sin, which leads to restoration with God. He is saying that we should be grieved over our sin. This is an important step to spiritual freedom.

Let me just say spiritual freedom is a blessing and happiness. So mourning leads to happiness.

Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth.
Jesus is a perfect power through gentleness. Through his submission he conquered sin and death!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.
This verse is very important. The greatest path of fulfillment and happiness lies in the hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Here is the great truth in that verse. If I will, He will; If you will, he will; If we will, He will.

A Slice of Infinity: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries;

Not long ago I was in a store standing in a line that snaked its way through rows of candy. A young couple waited behind me with their daughter. The little girl seized upon some candy and asked excitedly, “Ooh, can I get this?” She was holding a tube of goo that had been colored fluorescent green. The candy makers had thoughtfully designed it so that kids could squeeze the goo right into their mouths. I have to say it was one of the least appetizing things I have ever seen. Her mother quickly responded, “No way, all that is, is sugar.”

There was a time that the sugar in a tube would have appealed to me. As children we quickly learn that sugar satisfies an appetite immediately and provides a burst of energy, not to mention a pleasing taste. We learn to recognize that sweet things are brightly colored and cleverly packaged. When we are hungry, we want whatever will satisfy us right now. It may confuse a child to hear, “That will spoil your appetite for supper,” because isn't the point of eating to satisfy your appetite? Why not just eat candy and forego supper? Anyone who has done this knows that the quick satisfaction of candy wears off just as quickly, leaving one even more hungry and weak. It is only after we learn the more lasting satisfaction of a healthy meal that we may find candy less appetizing.

But children in a checkout line rarely want to hear this and are likely to accuse their parents of being mean or stingy. I know it is tempting for us to accuse God of the same things when he denies us what we want.

It may be that there is something that you know — absolutely know — would bring you happiness. It may be hard to understand why God is denying you what you want. It may be that although God knows it would bring you a rush of happiness, he also knows the happiness it would bring is not the lasting kind. Ravi Zacharias has said, “The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced what you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has let you down.” (1)

Sometimes God refuses to satisfy our hungers because if we live from sugar fix to sugar fix, we will never learn to hunger for food that satisfies. If a child is allowed to live off of candy, she will never learn to appreciate a steak dinner. That tube of goo would have been as sweet as the little girl expected it to be, but it would probably have left her sick to her stomach. If you are gazing longingly at something out of your reach, it may be that it would only spoil your appetite for the very best that God wants to offer you.i

Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy.
Recall the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In that story the rich man I said likely passed Lazarus as he sat at the city gate. This man missed the opportunity to minister to this man’s needs. When we see a need and fail to reach out to meet that ministry need then we miss the blessing God has for use. Whether it is because of business or lack of compassion we miss God plan for happiness.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God
“Give us clean hand, give us pure hearts, let us not kneel down before another.” We know that purity comes from the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ. That pure heart is maintained through living a life that is honoring to God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.
Do you want to pursue happiness in God’s kingdom? Then pursue peace with others. Happy are the Peace Makers.


Do you believe that we are in a spiritual battle? Well it is clear to me that we are locked in a battle of good versus evil. There is one thing that you can be certain of and that is if you start to pursue wealth and happiness in God’s kingdom you will be attacked. This list of blessings in God’s kingdom is followed by a dose of reality. Jesus says:
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I was talking with a friend once after we had just helped out another member of our church. He said “BJ I am not sure that I can keep ministering. Every time I do something good it seems as if there is someone there to kick my teeth in.” Well it does feel like that sometimes. I think that Jesus knew that if we started living for him then the world and the spiritual forces of darkness would try to lead us away. He does this by either by making us miserable in a worldly sense or drawing us in to sin in the disguise of happiness. Either way the result is the same lost fellowship with God and loss of true happiness that comes only from Christ. The cure: Focus on the prize. Someday those that follow Christ will be with him in heaven. We will receive a heavenly reward that is beyond anything we can possibly comprehend. It is better than anything that this world has to offer. And is worth every hardship that we face a hundred times over. When we reflect on the greatness of the reward that awaits us in heaven then we can maintain our joy, happiness, and blessing in the midst of any circumstance this life throws our way.

God’s 8-point plan for lasting happiness is simply this:

1. Poverty of spirit
2. Mourning over losses and evil or sin
3. Gentleness
4. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness
5. Mercy on those longing to meet our savior
6. Living a life of Purity
7. Pursuing peace with others
8. Enduring the spiritual attacks for the sake of the kingdom and the heavenly reward.


Are you living out this plan? If you are then press on for great is your reward in heaven. If not, why not? Are you ready for this life altering happiness that God has in store for you? Make the commitment to live out this life tonight and you will be blessed. Lets pray.