The 'wonderful' cross - only wonderful in retrospect.

It's Good Friday and we sang 'the wonderful cross' and my spirit began to react to that thought - was it a wonderful cross then or is it only wonderful now?  And can the concept of something of that magnitude have been an example for us to exercise our faith when we are in the midst of something seemingly not wonderful?

The cross definitely was not wonderful to Jesus, his followers, or the people of His day.  We know Jesus did not look forward to the experience on the cross, but had to go into deep prayer three times before finally being convinced of His prayer, "Not my will, but thine be done." When Jesus was on the cross, His followers could not have been convinced of the wonderfulness of that cross, nor could the casual observer.

So when did the cross become wonderful?  Only AFTER the resurrection and the realization came upon everyone regarding the role of the cross in salvation.  Only after we understand the purpose behind the cross can we view the cross differently.  It truly becomes wonderful to us when we experience salvation and trust Jesus' completed work on that cross to secure our salvation.  Now, it is wonderful to us.  Then, it was not.  We rejoice in it now, but then it was considered a terrible mistake.  Yet at all times the cross was the cross.  It was only the view of it which changed.  

How can this relate to our own experience in terms of the view we have towards our trials and difficulties?  When we are going through an experience which we could define as a 'cross', can we have the faith in God that Jesus had and trustingly say, "Not my will, but thine be done?"   

What is our viewpoint regarding the situation we are in?  Is it going to be the same over time, or will we change our attitude towards our 'cross' when we view it in retrospect like we do the 'wonderful' cross Jesus died on?

If it is true that God knows the plans He has for us, that He works out everything in our life for good, that He has laid out a life of good works for us beforehand; then our 'cross' would be very similar to the wonderful cross of Jesus.  At the present moment, our 'cross' would be difficult to describe as wonderful.  Given the passage of time and God's revelation of his purpose (maybe after we die and it is revealed in heaven) for our 'cross', will that 'cross' also be a wonderful experience in the tapestry of our lives because of the way God used it in our lives or the lives of others?

My conclusion would be this:  As difficult as the cross of Jesus was then, corresponds to how difficult some of our 'crosses' are now (not equating them, just showing their similarity).  Also, the God who purposed the cross and Jesus death on it DOES work through our 'crosses' to bring about His will in our life and the lives of others.  Those 'crosses' will be considered wonderful in retrospect as Jesus' cross is to us now!

Jesus' example of faith and resulting endurance of His cross serves to give us hope when we go through our 'crosses'.  As you go through a difficult situation which you cannot find any purpose or reason for, consider the CROSS and that in retrospect we will all consider your experience to be 'wonderful' as we see how the God of the universe used that 'cross'!

Have faith, have hope, God will take something as terrible as the cross of Jesus and make it wonderful!!!!

Stress - the curse of the 90's

Stress - an almost accepted word in the Christian community when maybe we should consider this word like a four letter one and avoid it!  Thanx to the 1990's, stress has changed from a noun to a verb.  No longer is stress the result of our response to the pressures of life, stress is a state of being verb.  "I am stressed out" should be feedback to the Christian that they are not responding to pressure in a Godly fashion.

Life is full of pressures and many of these we are thankful for.  If you are sitting while reading this, gravity is putting pressure on your butt causing it some discomfort and keeping you in one place.  We need and want this type of pressure.  We need/want pressure in our cardiovascular system and many more examples of positive pressure.  These pressures result in beneficial responses.

As the above indicates, pressure can and does result in good things for us.  However, as Christians, other pressures in life should not bring us to a point of being "stressed out". Change, our economy, family, $, relationships, jobs - these are all pressure inducers in our lives but should not be considered automatically as stress.  I believe this is far more than mere semantics.  Pressure can be responded to by stress accompanied by the many negative things stress does to our bodies and spirits.  BUT it does not have to be this way.

Jesus says to us that one of the gifts he brings to us Christ followers is peace.  'Peace I give to you, not as the world gives.'  Peace and being stressed can be viewed as polar opposites.  What could be some of the results to the above mentioned pressures instead of stress.  How can we as Christians be 'stress free'?

First, I believe we have to not accept stress in our lives and when se feel it/say it, we should be aware that his is not God's plan A for our lives.  Knowing that 'being stressed out' is not the answer, what is?  Various practical responses to pressure would include things like re-prioritizing, learning how to say no, removing the busy clutter from our lives, focusing on the most important things first and giving what we have left over to the rest of our many activities, taking a vacation, increasing our sleep, and so many more.

However, as a Christ follower, the initial response to these pressures is to bring the situation to the Father.  We need to totally trust in God's plan for our lives and realize how much He loves us.  If we really knew how much He loves us, would we think the way we do?  Using Peter's words, we should truly cast/throw/eliminate our cares to Him who knows us better than we know ourselves and loves us even though he does know ALL about us.  We can do some of the other practical responses, but Christ followers should always try to respond to pressure by first bringing the cause of that pressure to our 'Abba Father' and let His peace permeate our lives.  God WILL use whatever is happening in our lives for our ultimate good and His purposes for our lives.  Is there a better way to live than to fulfill our creator's purposes for us even if those purposes seem lost in our present situation?  Thank God in the middle of your pressures and know He WILL act in your life.

There is a lot more to this than these simple words, however, a major beginning point would be to begin to rid the word 'stress' for our vocabulary and when it rears its ugly head, fight it with everything you have starting with turning over your situation to the One who gave His life to prove how much He loves us!

Tithing at 100% is possible - yes one hundred per cent

Are you tithing and want to maximize the impact of your gift?  Would you like to give at a rate of 100% of your income?  This is not a 'virtual' gift.  It is actually a way to effectually give 100% of your income while tithing to God's work.  For example using simple numbers.  If your income is $1,000 and you tithe $1oo, the eventual impact of that $100 can be $1,000 making the impact of your giving 100% of your income!!!

How can this work?  Simply by giving to ministries that operate in an economic environment where $1 of US currency is worth $10 in purchasing power in that country.  I recently talked to a friend of mine ministering in Cambodia.  She put together school supplies/hygiene items/and a type of back pack for students in Cambodia and gives them as part of her ministry.  When I asked her how much that approximately cost her, she replied "$5".  Well, if I were to supply someone in the many areas with a school backpack and the above, it would be about $50.  

The realization suddenly hit me.  By multiplying the actual REAL impact of my 10% tithe by giving that tithe to her ministry, my tithe was now multiplied 10 fold and I was EFFECTIVELY giving 10 times my tithe, therefore, the ACTUAL effect was like giving 100% of my income!!! Wow, to give more has always been a desire of mine, and now I could use all/part of my tithe to multiply its impact for an ongoing ministry to impact the world for Jesus!!!

Many Christians may already be doing this by their tithe support of ministries around the world.  Praise God, you have already been giving the effect of a much greater percentage of your income than you thought!!!!  Some of you may be giving a tithe where the multiplier is even more than 10, and therefore giving the effect of even MORE than you actually make!

For others this is a new concept.  Today's dollars are more precious than ever.  It's time to consider how wise our tithing is, and how God may direct those dollars to have a multiplied impact for his kingdom!!!!  

My encouragement for you is to prayerfully examine the impact of your tithe/giving and investigate where there are existing ministries which will automatically multiply the impact of your gift because of the economics of the area in which they minister.  We can't quantify the impact of our gifts, but we must consider this opportunity to TITHE AT 100%!!!!!

Another random idea - I am going to change how I support short term missionaries.  Rather than give $100 to support someone, I will give them $50 for their support and $50 in cash to use at their spiritual discretion where they are ministering to MAXIMIZE the impact of that $50!  

Where is your money going and can you multiply its impact for Christ?  A question that deserves consideration and possible action.  It is changing my way of giving and looking at the way I give.  How about you?