Goodbye 2020

 

It is almost time to say goodbye to the year 2020. This has been a year for the books, hasn’t it? When 2019 was winding down you might have had some big plans for the new year. As you watched the ball drop and sang  Auld Lang Syne, you might have been excited about a clean slate and a new decade. Perhaps you made some resolutions about what you were going to do better. “2020 is going to be my year,” you might have said. 

 

And maybe it was. But I’d be willing to bet this wasn’t the year you hoped it would be. When I was a kid I decided to run for President in 2020 because I would turn 35 this year. Obviously I didn’t. Think about all that we endured this year: we are still in a global pandemic; we were quarantined; our record-high economy came to a screeching halt; people have worked from home; school abruptly ended, and many are doing virtual school; churches closed or went online or into parking lots; businesses closed for good; we have gone through extended periods without being able to visit loved ones, and we have lost too many; we have endured record setting highs, lows, and wetness; we had an earthquake and murder hornets; we had civil unrest all summer, preceded by acts of hatred and violence. And then there was the election. 

 

Did I leave anything out?

 

We use the expression that we are having “one of those days.” 2020 has been one of those years. As we prepare to close the book on this year and ring in 2021, many are jokingly saying they hope it is a better year than 2020 (“Hey, it can’t be any worse!”). And in all seriousness, I hope that 2021 is a great year for everyone reading this. 

 

This year has been a reminder that things do not always go according to plan. I am not suggesting that we should not have plans; I love the old adage that says, “to fail to plan is to plan to fail.” Having a plan is a good thing, but sometimes life happens and our plans fall through. As Robert Burns famously wrote, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” We should make plans, but we do so understanding they may just go awry. It might be God that is spoiling our plans. 

 

Paul planned to go to Asia to preach the gospel—a noble plan indeed. But then, in an event commonly referred to as the Macedonian Call, Luke wrote, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us (Acts 16:9).’” Paul’s plan went awry, but it was God shutting the door. Because God spoiled Paul’s plan, he went instead to places like Corinth and Philippi, and we have some great books of the Bible because of it. 

 

If 2020 hasn’t been you’re year, it may be tempting to try to erase it from your memory and just chalk it up tp being one of those years. Or, like Paul going to Macedonia, we can try to look for something good that came from it. Did you spend more time with your kids than normal? Did you reevaluate your priorities? Did you learn to make do with a little less? Did you watch more church services online? Did you cry out to God like you didn’t do when your job was safe and the economy was booming? Did you get to share the message of hope through Jesus with someone who was desperate? 

 

Hindsight is always 20/20, and soon 2020 will be hindsight. It is easy to join the chorus of complainers, but lets always look for blessings instead. As long as Jesus is on the throne, there is plenty of bright side to see.

 

 

Doubt, Think, or Believe

Rene Descartes was a famous mathematician and philosopher of the 1600s. He was a rationalists, a man who believed he could only believe something that he could experience with the five senses. As a mathematician, he knew that two plus two is always precisely four. As a philosopher, how could he prove he existed, let alone with as much certainty as could prove the sum of adding a pair of twos? 

 

This caused Descartes to become filled with doubt, even about his own existence. But alas, doubt was a good thing for him, for it proved he was rational. Only a thinking person can doubt. Descarte concluded dubito, ergo cogito— I doubt, therefore I think. More importantly, he realized cogito, ergo sum—I think, therefore I am. It was his doubt that helped him conclude he existed. That seems like a miserable life to me, only knowing we live because we doubt. 

 

Is there a better way? Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury until his death in 1109, was a philosopher that Descarte should have studied. Instead of cogito, ergo sum, Anselm said, credo ut intelligam—I believe in order to understand. Belief is of great importance, and what one believes is even greater. We now live in a humanistic world with almost no beliefs. Everything is in flux, so much so that some call themselves “gender fluid,” a man one day, and a woman the next. Absolute truth is a relic of the past. I contend that if we would believe, then we would understand. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).” Far from wondering whether or not we even exist (and what our gender may be), we can be set free simply by embracing God’s truth.

 

We all may have some doubts on occasions, and I am all for thinking. But I would put a premium on believing. When we develop convictions about God’s Words—things we would be willing to die for—then we will certainly know what to live for. Some today, including many inside the church, will call it arrogant to claim we know the truth, but Jesus didn’t hide the truth from us; He gave us the Holy Spirit, who He said would “lead us into truth (John 16:13).” He even gave us a book called Revelation, which means “to reveal,” not conceal. This whole notion that we cannot know truth is absurd. 

 

God does not want us to doubt, but to believe. That is why the creeds are important (creed comes from the Latin credo, “I believe”). Do you know what you believe, or are you a person of doubt? I would encourage you, whether you call yourself a believer or not, to study the church creeds, to study doctrine, and most importantly, to study the Bible. Develop a belief system that you can articulate to others. There is no reason to doubt; if you really want to understand, then simply believe.     

Work While You Wait

 

Most of us probably remember the song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that said, “whistle while you work.” That song was sung by a group of woodland creatures that helped Snow White clean. Working isn’t fun, but when we are idle the time seems to move even more slowly. If we keep busy the clock seems to move with a little extra pep in its step. 

 

For those of us who believe that Jesus will return to rapture the church, we too find ourselves waiting. The animals whistled while they worked to help pass the time, but the Apostle Paul told us to work while we wait to help pass the time. In I Corinthians 1:7 Paul said the Corinthian Christians were “eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The phrase eagerly waiting translates a Greek verb that implies activity while waiting. 

 

Sometimes while we wait for something we just sit back and let others do the work. When we fly on an airplane we open a book, put on our headphones, or take a nap; while we are waiting someone is moving us to our final destination. Sometimes we wait while nothing is happening. When we sit in the doctor’s office waiting room, we flip through a magazine or scroll through our phones, but we are just killing time. Nothing productive is taking place. While we are waiting for the return of Christ Jesus, we need to be productive. The best use of our time while waiting is to worship and witness. 

 

Worship is so much more than just singing songs. When we worship we make a big deal out of God—we lift Him up with our words and actions. Witnessing will be the natural result because we will find ourselves constantly telling people about our great God. All the other good things we should do, from charitable giving, to serving, to using our spiritual gifts to minister, all flow from a heart that is engaged in worship. 

 

Waiting can be hard, but if we stay busy, it doesn’t seem like we are just waiting. Since Jesus is going to come back, we need to try to bring as many people with us as we can before we punch the clock and run out of time. We aren’t killing time, we are redeeming it.  

 

So whistle while you work, and work while you wait. The world might think it is dopey, and they might even get grumpy, but it will make God happy.   

Wide Ranging Emotions

 

Humans are emotional beings. We can experience emotional highs and emotional lows, often times close together. There may be no better example of that than in the song writing of Hank Williams. In 1948 he wrote a fun song titled “I Saw the Light” that boasts of “no more darkness, no more night,” and goes on to say “Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight.” It is an upbeat song that demonstrates the good feelings that Williams was experiencing. 

 

Just one year later, however, Williams came out with another song titled “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry.” That tune says in part, “Did you ever seen a robin weep when leaves begin to die? Like me, he’s lost the will to live. I’m so lonesome I could cry.”

 

How did Williams go in one year from “I’m so happy” to “I’m so lonesome”? I realize they are only songs, but Williams has explained that he wrote both songs based on things he was feeling at the time. He went from an emotional high to an emotional low in a very short time. We probably all have a little Hank Williams in us. We have probably been there, feeling happy and on top of the world, then feeling sad and at the bottom of a valley. That is part and parcel to living in this world; we are going to have good days and bad ones. 

 

But because of the sacrifice of Jesus our souls can be in a settled state. Before coming to Christ we were all in a low place. Things might have been going well in life, but in our soul we were separated from our Maker. At salvation everything changes, and our souls become elevated to a place that transcends our circumstances. Things might not be going well in life, but in our soul we are united with our Maker, and that brings a joy that the world cannot take from us. 

 

In a rather understated verse, the anonymous writer of Psalm 126 said, “You have done great things for us; we are glad (v.3).” It sounds simple; it certainly lacks the poetic flavor of much of the psalms, but how else can it be stated? God has done great things, and we are glad. God sent His Son, and we are glad. Jesus bore our sins, and we are glad. Jesus died for us and rose again, and we are glad. God has forgiven us, and we are glad. If you have experienced these great things, you can say along with psalm writer, “We are glad.” 

 

That is a gladness that cannot be lost because the results of our salvation are forever settled in heaven. Hank Williams went from very high to very low, but we have the opposite experience. At salvation we go from very low to very high, and we can truly say “no more darkness, no more night.”