I thank God for the children we have in our church, because there is so much we can learn from them. I like this sentiment shared on the internet by Debi Zahn from Sandwich, Illinois. She says:
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. Kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money, and I look away. Kids see someone smiling at them, and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm, so I sit self-consciously and listen. Kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words, and if they don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. Kids close their eyes, spread their arms, and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say "thee" and "thou" and "grant me this" and "give me that." Kids say "Hi, God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to heaven yet. I would miss Mommy and Daddy."
When I see a mud puddle, I step around it. I see muddy shoes and clothes and dirty carpets. Kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children! (Debi Zahn, Sandwich, Illinois; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s all in the attitude! You can look at the challenges ahead and be discouraged, or you can see them as opportunities for growth, and for God to demonstrate His power through you.
The question is: How can you adjust your attitude to experience God’s power in your life? How can you exchange an attitude of defeat for an attitude of victory? How can you approach life with a positive outlook that results in overcoming the enemy? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Joshua 16, Joshua 16, where we can learn from those in Israel who had a poor attitude.
Joshua 16:1-4 The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. Then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites. Then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends at the sea. The people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance. (ESV)
As Joshua divides up the Promise Land, Joseph’s descendants get the best part of the land. As described here, it is the central part of land, and it was the most beautiful and fertile part!
However, Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, so that part of the land needed to be divided between their two tribes. The rest of the chapter goes on to describe Ephraim’s portion, which I won’t take the time to read except for the last verse.
Joshua 16:10 However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor. (ESV)
Instead of driving out the Canaanites, Ephraim’s descendants chose to enslave them in direct contradiction to God’s command. God had made it very clear in Deuteronomy 20: “You shall devote [the inhabitants of the land] to complete destruction” (Deuteronomy 20:16-17). But why destroy them when they can be of use. They can do all the work. They can pay tribute and make Ephraim rich! On commentator said, “They chose tribute over triumph” (Donald Campbell, Bible Knowledge Commentary, p.360).
Their brothers, the descendants of Manasseh, did the same thing. They chose to disobey God. Joshua 17 describes Manasseh’s part of the land, which I won’t take the time to read, except for a couple of verses.
Joshua 17:12-13 Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. (ESV)
At first, Manasseh’s descendants COULD not drive the Canaanites out; but when Manasseh got strong enough, they WOULD not drive the Canaanites out. Like their brothers, they chose to disobey God.
They chose tribute over triumph, and it led to their slavery. They thought they could enslave the Canaanites, but eventually the Canaanites grew strong enough to enslave them according to the book of Judges. Ephraim and Manasseh thought they could compromise with the enemy and end up on top. Instead, their compromise put them in bondage.
Please, don’t you do the same. Don’t compromise with the enemy lest you too end up in bondage. Don’t compromise in your allegiance to the Lord. Instead, choose to…
FOLLOW THE LORD FULLY.
Choose to obey God completely and overcome the enemy in your life.
A 12-year-old girl in New York City is being hailed for her bravery in a recent argument with a male classmate that almost turned violent. The dispute? The boy asked for one of her McDonald's chicken nuggets, but she refused. The boy then followed the girl into a nearby subway station, pulled out a gun, and pointed the weapon at her head. Even at gunpoint, the teen refused to hand over even one nugget, police said. The NYPD told the Daily News she knocked the gun away from the boy and told him to leave her alone and went about the rest of her day. Police later found the boy and charged him with juvenile attempted robbery. “Girl Held at Gunpoint Refuses to Give Up Chicken McNugget, Police Say,” The Huffington Post, 1-14-17; www. PreachingToday.com)
On the one hand, what that girl did was extremely stupid. One chicken nugget is not worth getting shot. But on the other hand, you have to admire her courage in refusing to give in to intimidation. Sure, it was just a chicken nugget, but the girl refused to let a force for evil bully her.
Can a follower of Christ do no less, especially when the Lord is with us? You don’t have to give in to the enemy of your soul. You don’t have to compromise with evil in any way. So don’t do it!
1 John 4:4 says, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome [evil spirits], for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”.
That’s the good news of the Gospel, my friend. Jesus’ death on the cross rendered Satan powerless, and you don’t have to put up with His stuff anymore! Put your trust in Christ, and don’t let the enemy intimidate you one bit. Don’t compromise with evil in any way.
In a recent interview, popular blogger Jen Hatmaker was asked, “Do you think an LGBT relationship can be holy?” Hatmaker replied:
“I do. And my views here are tender. This is a very nuanced conversation, and it's hard to nail down in one sitting. I've seen too much pain and rejection at the intersection of the gay community and the church. Every believer that witnesses that much overwhelming sorrow should be tender enough to do some hard work here.” (Jonathan Merritt, “The Politics of Jen Hatmaker," Religion News Service, 10-25-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
That sounds very compassionate, but it is just the opposite, because it leaves people in bondage to their sin.
Former lesbian, Rosaria Butterfield, reproved Hatmaker for this “tenderness” that leaves people in sin. Butterfield wrote:
“If this were 1999 – the year that I was converted and walked away from the woman and lesbian community I loved -- Jen Hatmaker's words about the holiness of LGBT relationships would have flooded into my world like a balm of Gilead … [I would have thought], Yes, I can have Jesus and my girlfriend. Yes, I can flourish both in my tenured academic discipline (queer theory and English literature and culture) and in my church …
“Maybe I wouldn't need to lose everything to have Jesus. Maybe the gospel wouldn't ruin me while I waited, waited, waited for the Lord to build me back up after he convicted me of my sin, and I suffered the consequences … Today, I hear Jen's words … and a thin trickle of sweat creeps down my back. If I were still in the thick of the battle over the indwelling sin of lesbian desire, Jen's words would have put a millstone around my neck.
“To be clear,” Butterfield says, “I was not converted out of homosexuality. I was converted out of unbelief. I didn't swap out a lifestyle. I died to a life I loved. Conversion to Christ made me face the question squarely: did my lesbianism reflect who I am (which is what I believed in 1999), or did my lesbianism distort who I am through the fall of Adam? I learned through conversion that when something feels right and good and real and necessary—but stands against God's Word—this reveals the particular way Adam's sin marks my life. Our sin natures deceive us. Sin's deception isn't just ‘out there’; it's also deep in the caverns of our hearts.” (Rosaria Butterfield, "Loving Your Neighbor Enough to Speak the Truth," Gospel Coalition blog, 10-31-16; www.PreachingToday.com)
Now, your sin may not be homosexuality; but whatever it is, don’t let it enslave you; don’t be deceived to compromise one bit with sin. If you want to exchange an attitude of defeat for an attitude of victory, then don’t compromise in your allegiance to the Lord. Instead, follow the Lord fully. Obey Him completely. But in order to do that, you must also…
FULLY APPRECIATE ALL THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU.
Be completely thankful for all of God’s blessings in your life, and don’t complain about your allotment from the Lord.
That’s what Joseph’s descendants did. They were given the best part of the land, but all they could do was complain.
Joshua 17:14 Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” (ESV)
“You didn’t give us enough,” they complain, even though they had the best part of the land and even though they had Shiloh, the city where the Tabernacle would remain for 300 years. God had chosen to display His presence right there in their midst, and all they can do is complain?
I love Joseph’s response!
Joshua 17:15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” (ESV)
Joshua says, “If you want more land, clear out the forest. You certainly have enough people to do it.” You see, they had complained that they had too many people for the amount of land they were given. So Joshua says, “Use those people to clear out more land for yourself.” But still they complain.
Joshua 17:16 The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” (ESV)
Now, they’re complaining that the enemy is too powerful. “They have the latest weapons of war, and there is no way we can take them.”
Joshua 17:17-18 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.” (ESV)
Joshua won’t accept their complaints and excuses. He tells them that they have enough people to clear out the forest and drive out the Canaanites. They have what it takes to take possession of the land. It’s just their attitude that keeps them from moving forward.
Please, don’t you have the same attitude. Don’t complain like them because it’s only the attitude of defeat.
Several years ago, Louis C.K. was on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show, where he described today’s entitlement culture. He said in our culture, “Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy.” Take a look (show Louis CK video).
Louis talks about how he was on a plane that offered in-flight Wi-Fi access to the Internet, one of the first planes to do so. But when it broke down in a few minutes, the man sitting next to him swore in disgust. Louis was amazed, and said to O'Brien, “How quickly the world owes him something that he didn't know existed 10 seconds ago.”
Louis then talked about how many of us describe less-than-perfect airline flights as if they were experiences from a horror film: “It was the worst day of my life. First of all, we didn't board for 20 minutes! And then we get on the plane and they made us sit there on the runway for 40 minutes!”
Then he said mockingly, “Oh really? Did you fly through the air incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight? … Everybody on every plane should be going, ‘O … wow!’ … You're sitting in a chair in the sky!” And then he mocks a passenger who, trying to push his seat back, complains, “It doesn't go back a lot!” (Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqkZ1sBDJhg)
I think the humor helps us see how silly our complaints can be. Please, if you want to exchange an attitude of defeat for an attitude of victory, don’t complain about your allotment from the Lord, especially as a believer in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1 says, “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). And 2 Peter 1 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
There is no excuse for failure; there is no reason to complain. So quit it!
Stop complaining and start thanking the Lord for His many blessings in your life. Be grateful for all that He has done for you, for gratitude is the attitude of victory!
Shawn Achor, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard, suggests that we can train our brains to become more grateful by setting aside just five minutes a day for practicing gratitude. He cites a one-week study in which people were asked to take five minutes a day, at the same time every day, to write down three things they were thankful for. They didn’t have to be big things, but they had to be concrete and specific, such as, “I’m thankful for the delicious Thai take-out dinner I had last night.” Or, “I’m thankful that my daughter gave me a hug.” Or, “I’m thankful that my boss complimented my work.” The participants simply expressed thanks for three specific things at the same time every day.
At the end of one month, the researchers followed up and found that those who practiced gratitude—including those who stopped the exercise after one week—were happier and less depressed. Remarkably, after three months, the participants who had been part of the one-week experiment were still more joyful and content. Incredibly, after the six-month mark, they were still happier, less anxious, and less depressed. The researchers hypothesized that the simple practice of writing down three thanksgivings a day over the course of a week primed the participants’ minds to search for the good in their lives. (Ken Shigematsu, Survival Guide for the Soul, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018, Pages 114-115; www.PreachingToday.com)
Instead of complaining, find three things to be thankful for every day! It will brighten your outlook, remove your excuses, and make you and overcomer. I don’t care what condition you’re in, you can always find something for which to be grateful.
The Christian writer and philosopher Dallas Willard died at 6 a.m. on May 8, 2013. In his biography on Willard titled Becoming Dallas Willard, Gary Moon describes Dallas’ last moments:
At 4:30 a.m. a nurse came in to turn Dallas in the bed. Her visit awakened [Dallas’ good friend Gary Black who was in the hospital room with him]. Moving Dallas awakened Dallas too, so Gary took Dallas’s hand. Dallas turned to him and told him to tell his loved ones how much he was blessed by them and how much he appreciated them… Then, as Gary described, “In a voice clearer than I had heard in days, he leaned his head back slightly and with his eyes closed said, ‘Thank you.’” Gary did not feel that Dallas was talking to him, but to another presence that Dallas seemed to sense in the room. And those were the last words of Dallas Willard: “Thank you.” (Gary Moon, Becoming Dallas Willard, IVP, 2018, page 240; www.PreachingToday.com)
Believers in Christ have every reason to be grateful even when they’re dying. That’s because they cannot lose! God is ever present in their trials, and when they die, they get to meet Him face to face.
How about you? Have you trusted Christ with your life? If not, then do so today and get on the winning side with Him! And if you’re already a believer, stop complaining and start thanking the Lord. I like the suggestion from Shawn Achor: Write down three (3) concrete and specific things for which you are thankful every day.
Do you need an attitude adjustment? Do you want to exchange an attitude of defeat for an attitude of victory in your life? Then fully follow the Lord, because you have learned to fully appreciate all that He has given you.
Make our closing song your prayer today:
May the mind of Christ my Savior
Live in me from day to day.
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.
May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour.
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His pow'r.
May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.
