2010 Men’s Retreat – 3

Thoughts from the 2010 BV men’s retreat. Saturday morning – Austin Krokos talking.

Nobody said it was easy…fix your eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles and then to fix our eyes on Jesus. Each of those helps us to do the other.

Another key is Hebrews 11:13. The righteous who are mentioned in that chapter acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. That will make a big difference in how we live. Are our eyes on earthly things and pursuits or do we live like we are longing for another place?

Hebrews 12:1 goes on to tell us to run the race with endurance. Because of hope we bear up. We are patient under things and circumstances. This quality of character does not allow us to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. Boy do I need that!

It is in focusing on Jesus that this is possible. It’s not my willpower or strength but His that gives me victory. I need to let Jesus live through me. The Helper has been sent (Jn 16:7) and God has given us Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the Scripture has been given for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness. As a result I will be competent and equipped for every good work.

It seems that if I take advantage of the resources that God has given I will be ready for what comes my way even if it is not an easy path.

Philip

2010 Men’s Retreat – 2

Thoughts from the 2010 BV men’s retreat. Saturday morning – Chuck Fallon talking.

Born to be Wild

What makes us roar? Prodigal child, freedom, pain, joy?

What is the righteous form of wildness?

Galatians 5:1 says it is for freedom that Christ set us free. Verse 13 says that we shouldn’t use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but to serve one another in love. Could it be in that passionate freedom that we find what we were really meant to be?

Am I the same man internally as externally? Is my life consistent? Am I the same at church, at home and at work?

How is pain used in my life? I have found that many times I don’t make lasting changes apart from some kind of pain. Back pain has taught me to be very careful of what I do. The pain of broken relationships and marital strife causes me to want to change so I can avoid that same pain in the future.

Sometimes instead of going to the source of pain, we seek to numb it through various forms of “medication.” Alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, adrenalin, and escape are some of the ways.

Sometimes it’s hard to understand the pain. It seems too severe or unnecessary. Do we trust God that He does all things for our good? And of course there is some pain that is the result of our own doing but that too can be used for good.

When God raises the temperature in our life it’s always exactly right. It will not be so high that it destroys us but high enough to burn away or cleanse us from the thing that left alone will harm us.

The following quote from Sir Winston Churchill came to mind:

When you feel you cannot continue in your position for another minute, and all that is in human power has been done, that is the moment when the enemy is most exhausted, and when one step forward will give you the fruits of the struggle you have borne.

Take one step more and hang on a little longer. There are things going on in the background and the hope in a good God gives us endurance.

Philip

2010 Men’s Retreat – 1

Thoughts from the 2010 BV men’s retreat. Friday night – Chris Little talking.

Attention, Direction, Destination

What gets out attention determines our direction and our direction determine our destination.

Am I giving my attention to the right things; to the things that will set me in the right direction so I will end up at the destination I desire? Am I making wrong turns and being distracted?

Proverbs 27:12 – The prudent sees danger and hides himself but the simple go on and suffer for it. Both see the danger but the outcome is vastly different. The wise person stops and thinks. They are not deceived by and avoid the pitfall. They respond differently.

Sometimes we live a disconnected life. We think that today’s small choices have no impact on the future. A small deviation today results in a multiplied error later.

Are we on a happiness quest or a truth quest? A happiness quest will lead to justification and rationalizations – “whatever makes you happy.” Smart people end up doing very stupid things.

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12

I am thankful to be here and looking forward to the work that God will do.

Philip

Somebody Else

Thoughts from my reading in Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy by Paul David Tripp. The devotional is indented.

. . . so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Psalm 51:4

I really wish I could blame somebody else.
I wish I could place the responsibility on somebody else.
I would love to point the finger at somebody else.
I wish I could convince myself that it was somebody else.

Isn’t that how we are? Our tendency is to try to blame someone else or something else for the bad things we do. “You made me mad.” “I’m sorry but….” “I was tired.”

But in the darkness of bedtime the logic melts out of my heart.
In the moments before sleep the pain begins to squeeze away my breath.
As my mind replays the day's moments the conclusion is like a slap.
There is no monster to hide from.
There is no excuse that holds.
My war is not external, the enemy is not outside.

What caught my attention in the above section was the passage of time. Sometimes that’s what it takes. We don’t see it right away. Sometimes we look back with a different perspective and sometimes, when we are all alone and it is quiet, the voice of God can be heard. He gently and persuasively speaks: I was wrong, what I said was not right or I said it in the wrong way. I see it and grace appears to help me change and to do the right thing.

I see this in my kids too. Sometime later they appear expressing repentance and sorrow but not when I pressed them to do so. I have to realize that I am not a very good Holy Spirit. I can teach them truth and right principles but I can’t touch their heart the way God can.

The struggle rages within me, nowhere to point or run.
No independent righteousness, no reason for smugness or rest.
I am my greatest enemy and rescue my only hope.
In the quiet I face it
I cannot blame somebody else.
One more time I close my eyes admitting my only hope is found in
Somebody else.

I love how that ends. There is somebody else. I can’t blame him but he takes the blame. The only finger pointing is toward the cross. Hope comes; I don’t have to hide, I can be changed and things can be different.

Here is a question from the meditation:

Are there places where you have been tempted to blame inside (heart) struggles on outside pressures? ("He makes me so jealous!" "This traffic makes me so angry!" "I wasn't this irritable until I got this job.")

There is no denying that outside things to have an effect on us. What I want to take away from this is the hope that I will recognize that the outside pressure is helping me realize what is really going on in my heart.

I once heard singer Barry McGuire say this: “If somebody’s got your goat, then you got a goat to get.” That really makes it clear. Somebody may be doing something on the outside but I need to deal with the inside.

Philip
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