Tough days part 1... James 1:2-4

James 1:2–4

You've heard them. Those all-too-familiar cries of exasperation. Maybe a couple have crossed your mind today sometime between the too-early clang of the alarm and the too-late racket of the neighbors next door.

Going from bad to worse.

Jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Between a rock and a hard place.

He said, "Cheer up, things could get worse." So I cheered up—and sure enough, things got worse!

My mother told me there would be days like these, but she never said they would run in packs.

Tough days. We all have them. Some are worse than others. Like the one the hard-hat employee reported when he tried to be helpful. Maybe you heard about it too; the account actually appeared on a company accident form. Bruised and bandaged, the workman related this experience:

When I got to the building I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the damaged area, there were a lot of bricks left over. Then I went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was much heavier than I was—and before I knew what was happening the barrel started coming down, jerking me up.

I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by then to jump, and halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom, allowing the bricks to spill out.

I was now heavier than the barrel. So I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up fast and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the pile of spilled bricks, getting several painful cuts and deep bruises. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of my grip on the line. The barrel came down fast—giving me another blow on my head and putting me in the hospital.

I respectfully request sick leave.

Yeah! I would imagine! Some days you honestly wonder why you ever crawled out from under the covers that morning . . . and later, if you will ever make it back to bed that night. Most of us have little difficulty fielding a couple or three problems during the day, but when they start coming down like hail, with no relief, rhyme, or reason, we get jumpy. More often than not we also get grumpy. Invariably there are those who love us and really want to help. But try all they like, tough days are usually solo flights.

Think about your most recent tough day. How did you handle it? What could you have done differently, according to God's Word? We'll talk about that tomorrow.

The Lord is Great...Psalm 135:5

Psalm 135:5

For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

Brooke had tried everything. She had started in business, done quite well, then the bottom dropped out. Broke and disillusioned, she moved home with her parents. There she began attending church and studying the Word. Then she was offered a job with a large corporation, and she jumped at the chance. It didn't work out the way she expected, nor did the relationship she got involved in with one of her co-workers. Disillusioned once more, she returned to her hometown. Once more she involved herself with the church, and she was amazed to realize how much she had missed it. The problems she'd been having didn't seem so great anymore. Without even realizing it, Brooke had been developing a faith that helped her through. While everything else in her life changed, mostly for the worse, God stayed the same, and He was waiting to embrace His prodigal daughter the minute she returned.

Our Lord is great, and His love is far beyond our comprehension. No earthly temptation that we try to elevate to the status of a god can ever compare with the one true God. He alone can make our lives worthwhile.

Prayer: You have changed my life for the better, Father, and I will never again turn from the blessings You alone can supply. Please let nothing ever come between me and Your love. Amen.

Determination...1 Corinthians 16:13

1 Corinthians 16:13

Years ago a certain issue of Sports Illustrated featured a lengthy article on Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Those who know me won't be surprised to hear that I read every word of it.

I was living in Dallas when the Cowboys were formed into a team and Tom Landry was first introduced as the head mentor of that original, rag-tag bag of unknown athletes. The first few years were bleak, to say the least. The crowds were sparse and instead of cheers there were groans. One losing season led to another, and as you can imagine, the public soon made Landry the target of their savage verbal assaults. Sportswriters added insult to injury in their vicious criticisms, as did the broadcasters who implied and stated that the team needed a coach with more outward enthusiasm, more flair, and more creativity. Landry quietly plugged on. Maligned and plagued with misunderstanding, he hung in there with bulldog determination, refusing to succumb to public pressure. Quit wasn't in Landry's vocabulary. The idea of ditching when the going got rough was never a consideration. His disciplined determination paid off—again and again—as his Cowboys rode into pro football legend.

Later they called Landry a legend . . . but he hadn't changed within. With the same inner tenacity of undaunted, untiring determination, Tom Landry gave God the glory and claimed that the life of the apostle Paul is an example we all should follow. How true.

Our day, unfortunately, has made quitting fashionable.

After all, if you can quit a job or a team when the road gets bumpy, why not apply that philosophy to everything. Like a diet or a class or a church or a marriage or parenthood. The fog of failure clouds the issues and the cramp of criticism sucks away the motivation. Conviction is now being viewed as a neurotic tendency. Discipline is considered somewhat sadistic. Determination is, in the minds of the mesmerized masses, that which characterizes a stubborn fool . . . a quality not needed and not wanted by those who seek public approval.

Ah, but what then are we left with?

Take away conviction, discipline, and determination and you have cut the heart out of real living. You have eliminated the challenge that keeps the game of life exciting and rewarding. You have settled for nothing better than a tie with the opponent. You have erased the very things that made the Pattons, the MacArthurs, the Pullers, the Kellers, the Churchills, the Beethovens, the Lombardis, and the Landrys giants amidst dwarfs.

I can assure you that the gospel was laid in the lap of Europe because Paul was ablaze with sufficient determination to proclaim it—no matter the sacrifice or cost. When he wrote to the Corinthians, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13) . . . he knew whereof he spoke! In case you question that, you've not read his autobiography recently . . . written in blood (2 Corinthians 11:22–33). His final words reflect the same heart-throbbing determination:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

Show me a company that is efficient, progressive, dynamic, and organized—and I'll be willing to guarantee that behind the scenes, somewhere near or at the top of that company is a well-disciplined, determined leader. The same applies to a Christian organization or a school, a hospital, a home, a ball team, a city, a military outfit, a bank, or any other enterprise.

Let me close by making this personal . . . to you. Are you lagging behind in areas of determination? Are you becoming negligent, for example, in your financial obligations . . . or in some personal discipline . . . or in the quality of work you do . . . or in your study habits . . . or in your correspondence . . . in your promptness . . . or in finishing the tasks you begin? Believe me, this is a rebuke to me as much as anyone . . . and not an easy thing for any of us to fulfill—but it is essential!

The history of man is strewn with the litter of nameless people who faced calamity and hardship, suffering and criticism—and gave up. Or—in the words of Psalm 78:9—"They turned back."

To you who are tempted to turn back . . . I urge you instead to "stand firm . . . act like men, be strong"! The benefits of determination far outweigh the alternate course.

 Take away conviction and determination and you’ve cut the heart out of living.

Trenches...2 Kings 3:16-17

You Make the Trenches

"And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts"   (2 Kings 3:16-17)

Three armies were perishing of thirst, and the LORD interposed. Although He sent neither cloud nor rain, yet He supplied an abundance of water. He is not dependent upon ordinary methods but can surprise His people with novelties of wisdom and power. Thus are we made to see more of God than ordinary processes could have revealed. Although the LORD may not appear for us in the way we expect, or desire, or suppose, yet He will in some way or other provide for us. It is a great blessing for us to be raised above looking to secondary causes so that we may gaze into the face of the great First Cause. Have we this day grace enough to make trenches into which the divine blessing may flow? Alas! We too often fail in the exhibition of true and practical faith. Let us this day be on the outlook for answers to prayer. As the child who went to a meeting to pray for rain took an umbrella with her, so let us truly and practically expect the LORD to bless us. Let us make the valley full of ditches and expect to see them

Jealousy...1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Corinthians 13:4–7

Like an anger-blind, half-starved rat prowling in the foul-smelling sewers below street level, so is the person caged within the suffocating radius of selfish jealousy. Trapped by resentment and diseased by rage, he feeds on the filth of his own imagination.

"Jealousy," says Proverbs 6:34, "enrages a man."

The Hebrews used only one word for jealousy as the Old Testament was being written: qua-nah, which meant "to be intensely red." The term was descriptive of one whose face flushed as a sudden flow of blood announced the surge of emotion. To demonstrate the grim irony of language, "zeal" and "ardor" come from the same word as "jealousy."

Here is the way it works. I love something very much, indeed, too much. I pursue it with zeal. I desire, in fact, to possess it completely. But the thing I love slips out of my hands and passes into another's. I begin to experience the gnawing pangs of jealousy. Strangely, the feelings of zeal and love begin to change. By the dark, transforming power of sin, my love turns to hate. I was open, happy, filled to the brim with exquisite delight, but no longer! Now I am closed within a narrow compass of inner rage, intensely and insanely angry.

Jealousy and envy are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. Envy begins with empty hands, mourning for what it doesn't have. Jealousy is not quite the same. It begins with full hands but is threatened by the loss of its plenty. It is the pain of losing what I have to someone else, in spite of all my efforts to keep it. Hence, the tortured cry of Othello when he fears that he is losing Desdemona:

I had rather be a toad

And live upon the vapor of a dungeon,

Than keep a corner in the thing I love

For other's uses. (Othello III, iii. 270)

This was Cain's sin. He was jealous of Abel. He resented God's acceptance of his brother. No doubt his face was red with emotion and his eyes filled with rage as God smiled on Abel's sacrifice. Not until Abel's warm blood poured over Cain's cruel hands did jealousy subside. Solomon might well have written the epitaph for Abel's tombstone:

Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;

Its flashes are flashes of fire.

(Song of Solomon 8:6)

Anyone who has experienced deliverance from this damnable parasite knows only too well the extent of its damage. Jealousy will decimate a friendship, dissolve a romance, and destroy a marriage. It will shoot tension through the ranks of professionals. It will nullify unity on a team . . . it will ruin a church . . . it will separate preachers . . . it will foster competition in a choir, bringing bitterness and finger-pointing among talented instrumentalists and capable singers. With squint eyes, jealousy will question motives and deplore another's success. It will become severe, suspicious, narrow, and negative.

I know what I'm saying. I lived many of my earlier years in the dismal, gaseous subterranean pipelines of jealousy, breathing its fumes and obeying its commands. It was gross agony.

But finally, by the grace of Jesus Christ, I realized that I didn't have to live in darkness. I crawled out . . . and the releasing sunlight of freedom captured my heart. The air was so fresh and clean. Oh, the difference it has made! It is utter delight.

Ask my wife.

 Jealousy will question motives suspiciously and deplore another's success.

Source unknown

Pushed Aside...Psalm 132:4,5

Psalm 132:4, 5

I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find a place for the Lord, and habitation for the migh ty God of Jacob.

Rachel closed the door and hung her head. Three o'clock in the morning. She wondered whether the project was ever going to get done. All she wanted to do was collapse in bed, but first there was something she had to do. She dressed for bed, then took the Bible from her dresser and went to the kitchen table to read and to pray. In all of her adult life, she had never gone to sleep without first spending time with God. She was determined that nothing would ever come between her and this special time. It made no difference how tired she was, God came before sleep.

When days become hectic and full, it is easy to allow God to be pushed aside. We need to protect our time with the Lord and give it top priority. If we will keep the Lord close to us, he will sustain us and give us strength in tough times. Without Him, we can never hope to be our best.

Prayer: Convict my heart with the determination to spend time with You. Let nothing come between us, Lord. When other things demand my time, remind me that I gave myself to You first. Amen.

Workaholics...Psalm 90:12

Psalm 90:12

Strange creatures roam the land these days. Being efficient, diligent, and productive, they are remarkably impressive . . . but beneath the surface they are suffering from a miserable malady. Compulsively driven with an obsessive desire to achieve, these creatures give themselves to labor like alcoholics give themselves to booze.

Workaholics. You will find them in every imaginable occupation, and unfortunately, they are usually successful. I say "unfortunately" because success only increases their drive. In sales, they are always at the top. In school, they are always in the books. In sports, they are always in the lead. In subjects, they are always in the know. To these creatures there is one and only one reason for existence—WORK.

This applies even to vacations! Give a workaholic an opportunity to get away for a few days and he will find a dozen logical reasons why it isn't possible. Force him to do so and he will wear himself down planning out each day, each mile, each step of the trip. Once there, he will begin to feel anxious after ten minutes of quiet relaxation. To the workaholic, unplanned moments are lethal . . . rest is senseless . . . enjoyable fun times are "irresponsible activities for children!" With a long, stinging whip, guilt—the inner taskmaster of the workaholic—pounds him into daily submission, whether he is at work, at home, at church, or at school.

This creature finally begins to show the cracks of his stress-ridden conscience. He becomes increasingly more demanding of himself and others—especially those nearest him. This neurotic intolerance slowly begins to isolate him. Muscular tics appear. His smile erodes into a frown. Performance and greater achievement become his security . . . and any setback or failure fractures his equilibrium.

As I write this I think of the need for balance. A measure of efficiency and discipline in life is absolutely healthy and necessary. Being faithful and dedicated to our work is commendable. "Redeeming the time" is biblical. But there is a point where we no longer enjoy ourselves. We can go to strange extremes—extremes that create inner functional disorders which turn us into slaves. We find ourselves blinded to other areas of life which are just as significant as our work—sometimes more! Harold R. Nelson, director of the Department of Pastoral Care at the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, describes this tendency that gives birth to workaholics:

All of us have our own ways of hating or degrading ourselves. You may do it by being a hard-working perfectionist, and I may do it by being a disorganized, lazy nonconformist. If all you know is "work and achieve," you may be consciously or unconsciously trying to prove your worth to yourself and others.

Well, let's discover if you are one of these strange creatures, okay? The following chart should help you determine the answer. Numbers one and two pretty well describe a workaholic. Number three is fairly well balanced. Numbers four and five—you've got other problems, but you are definitely not a workaholic.

Quality of Work

1) Leaps tall buildings with a single bound.

2) Must take a running start to leap over buildings.

3) Can leap over only short buildings.

4) Crashes into building when attempting to leap.

5) Cannot recognize buildings at all.

Timeliness

1) Is faster than a speeding bullet.

2) Is as fast as a speeding bullet.

3) Not quite as fast as a speeding bullet.

4) Would you believe a slow bullet?

5) Wounds self with bullet when attempting to fire.

Initiative

1) Is stronger than a locomotive.

2) Is stronger than a bull elephant.

3) Is strong as a bull.

4) Shoots the bull.

5) Smells like a bull.

Communication

1) Talks with God directly.

2) Talks with angels.

3) Talks to himself.

4) Argues with himself.

5) Loses those arguments