The Opposite of Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is a common weakness in this world.  It happens to me regularly, though it's often as harmless as a brief search for my misplaced car keys.  But forgetfulness can also take on dimensions of greater seriousness when we fail to remember a shift at work or carelessly miss a spouse's birthday.  And I was recently reminded of how much more serious it is when my forgetfulness creeps into my life with God.  In this regard, forgetfulness can be as serious as sin. And I was surprised by what the antidote appeared to be.

The Bible warns us of many expressions of sin, but God got my attention the other day as I was reading Psalm 50, and He appeared to refer to forgetfulness as a sin.  The writer of Psalm 50 is King David, and in verses 16-21, he quotes God listing many of the sins of the "wicked".  Near the end of the quote, God says, "Mark this, then, you who forget God..." (v. 22).  Who?  Who's "you"? Verse 16 had begun that quote of God with the words: "But to the wicked God says..."  In other words, those who forget God are the wicked!  And before I had a chance to think that I don't forget God, but think of Him quite often, the very next verse showed me how I could be certain that I haven't forgotten God: "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me" (v. 23).

That suggests that if I want to avoid forgetfulness, I need to practice gratitude -- deliberate, daily, conscious expressions of gratitude to God.  Gratitude is the opposite of forgetfulness.  It's a sure way to remember how much favour God has shown us, and to remember how much we need Him.  Thanking God all the time keeps us from forgetting God in our everyday lives.  And when we "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), it's how we can remember God in all circumstances.  By doing so, we are not only acknowledging God in every area of our life, but also glorifying Him with the wonderful "sacrifice of thanksgiving" (Psalm 50:14).

© 2010 by Ken Peters

A great name not found in most baby books!

There are times when I really need to hear it again. Times like when I've yelled at my kids over nothing. Or like when I've behaved like a selfish jerk with Fiona. Things said that I can't take back, an example set that makes my kids look more well-adjusted than me, and I'm left feeling like a loser that even God couldn't love.  It's times like that when I really need to hear the simple truth of what God chose to name His people despite their previous rebellion and how much He knew they'd rebel in the future: "you shall be called My Delight Is In Her" (Isaiah 62:4).  And it's times like that when I need to remember who the God of this far flung universe truly is to me: "You, O Lord, are our Father" (Isaiah 63:16).

However I've failed lately -- whatever my blunders -- however disappointed I may be with myself, I can be encouraged that because of the faith I've been given in the saving power of Jesus' death and resurrection, I am now adopted as God's beloved son and have been given the wonderful name of My Delight Is In You. Wow.  These are simple truths I need to be reminded of now and then. Reminders that God delights in me and that His love is a perfect Father's love. What an encouragement it is when I focus on Him instead of me.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

A lesson from Rocky

Here's a clip from a movie that I was initially quite skeptical about, but once I watched it, liked it so much that I soon bought it.  It seemed such a ridiculous premise: A beaten up old boxer who had retired long ago coming back to fight the reigning heavyweight champion (much like George Foreman's career when he won an improbable championship fight at 45 years of age!).  And yet the screenplay is so well-written that it comes across as both believable and inspiring.  Most film critics loved it, and it did better than expected at the box office.

But one scene in particular caught my attention.  So much so that I played it over and over until I had a significant part of it transcribed into my journal.  It's a conversation between Rocky and his grown son.  And for a Hollywood movie dialog, it provides a fair bit to reflect on for those of us who are sometimes afraid of what others may think of us, or who can sometimes be discouraged by adversity.

Check it out... and "keep moving forward!"



© 2010 by Ken Peters

A Good Wait

I think my wife and I have probably learned a few things about waiting in the last 20-plus years.  And I'm sure I could learn more (just ask me next time I'm in a hurry in busy traffic). But as I've read my Bible over the years, one thing I know I've learned is that there's a good kind of waiting that God seems to like.  It's not the frustrated kind, or the passive kind.  It's the hopeful and the prayerful kind.  It's the hungry kind that eagerly endures.

I'm coming to grips with the fact that waiting is an inevitable part of a life with God.  Jesus taught us that "at all times [we] ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1) even though we may need to "cry to Him day and night" (Luke 18:7) for an answer.  In Isaiah 64:4, it says that God "acts for those who wait for Him."  Though I can find such waiting to be difficult, I believe that if I do it without resentment or offense, persisting in prayer for what I'm waiting for, it can become a beautiful expression of trust that would never bloom so fully if everything in life came quick and easy.  Waiting for the Lord teaches me to focus more on God than on the things I'm asking Him for.  And waiting for the Lord makes it obvious that He is in charge rather than me.

Isaiah 64:5 then shows me what else I can be doing while I wait.  It says that God will "meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways."  That means getting on with doing God's work even as I wait for something that feels so show-stoppingly important!  Put verses four and five together and it looks like they're saying that as I joyfully get busy doing the many good deeds God has prepared for me to do, I'm expressing a trust that God will do the good deeds that I'm waiting for Him to do for me.  My wife Fiona has been amazing at putting this into practice as she has energetically and unflinchingly poured her heart out for the many kids in our church's Children's Ministry, all the while prayerfully waiting for God to do what only He can do to heal her kidneys. She's a wonderful example to me.

And if you can believe it, as I've studied this theme in God's Word, I found a gem of a definition in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (ed. R. Laird Harris)!  Check it out (the italic emphases are mine)...  "Wait [qavah]:  wait, look for, hope:  This root means to wait or to look for with eager anticipation.  Waiting with steadfast endurance is a great expression of faith.  It means enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act for the salvation of His people.  Those who wait in true faith are renewed in strength so that they can continue to serve the Lord while looking for His saving work."

Wow.  No wonder those "who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength" and "mount up with wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31)!  That's the good kind of waiting I want to be doing, no matter how long I need to wait.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

My first job

I was walking home from Mark Hock's house, who lived just three houses down my street.  I think we were about five or six years old, and in those days, Mark and I spent many sunny summer days on our driveways racing Hot Wheels around imaginary cities.  Those Michigan summers of the late sixties/early seventies were all about having fun for us, and whether we were climbing trees, riding bikes, splashing in a pool or playing with toy dinosaurs on a porch, we had a lotta fun.

But as I headed home that day (could've been for lunch, I don't recall), I was distracted before I even got past the first house between Mark's and mine.  I could see a man I didn't recognize banging a hammer in the Mills' backyard, so I went to investigate.  I watched him for a bit before he acknowledged me.  He seemed friendly enough as he greeted me, and after about as much chit chat as any man-on-the-job would care to have with an unexpected little neighbourhood kid, he asked me to fetch him a bag of nails from the back of his truck out on the street.  I recall feeling both eager to help and flattered to be asked by this important workman, and ran with my little boy legs down that long driveway to his truck.  I stared at all the stuff in it, scanning, scanning for the desired nails.  I grabbed a small brown paper bag that seemed to match the description he had given me and ran back, hoping it was the right nails.

They seemed to be, for he received them happily.  And then something amazing happened.  He told me to stretch out my hand, and he placed one thin dime onto my palm.  I'm quite certain that my mouth must have been hanging open.  A whole ten cents!  Aside from my allowance from my parents, this was the first money I had ever received working for someone.  I don't even recall if I thanked him.  I hope I did!  I just remember my wide-eyed excitement at being given a dime for a job well done.  I clutched it in my fist as I ran home to show my mom and tell her the news:  I had just earned ten cents for fetching nails for a workman!

It was a great feeling.  That little dime made a lasting impression on me, and I'm quite sure that that carpenter had no idea how much his kindness impacted a little boy.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Two words to set me straight

There are still times when I find myself struggling to keep an accurate idea in my head of what God truly thinks of me.  All it takes is a few failures -- or a few not-good-enoughs -- whether in my actions or my attitudes, and I can wonder if God is frowning at me.  But there are two words in Hebrews 10:17 that do a good job of getting my mind back on track with the truth: "no more".  There's something very final and complete about those two words.  But the writer to the Hebrews doesn't use those words in the way we typically do, focused on ourselves in a vain attempt at absolute self-control to get God to like us again.  His focus is on God's thoughts as he quotes God's promise: "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."  No more.  Never again.

So what does that mean if I sin?  Harsh words said in an outburst of anger -- selfishly insisting on getting my way -- a flash of pride in an unkind remark -- the lust of the eyes on a hot summer day.  Should I assume God doesn't care? That He'll turn a blind eye and pretend it didn't happen?  No.  This isn't talking about an ignoring of sin.  It's talking about not counting our sins against us.  When God looks at Ken Peters, with all my hang-ups, the sins He sees in me are something that He no longer keeps in mind in regards to who He considers me to be!

This sounds astounding -- even ridiculous when one stops to consider how much we blow it in life.  But it's possible because of the blood of Jesus that was shed for us (Hebrews 10:19).  Hebrews 10:22 says that our hearts have been "sprinkled clean" and that our bodies have been "washed with pure water."  Why would God focus on our mistakes and blunders and foul-ups in light of the amazing and eternal cleansing we have received.by His own Son's blood?

Remember:  He remembers our sins "no - more."  That is why I can be encouraged and boldly draw near -- no matter how distracted I may be by sins that God doesn't even consider a factor in His opinion of me -- with "full assurance of faith" in the One who died in my place so that I could be forgiven forever!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

No stretching required

If I want "the things above" (or heavenly things) mentioned in Colossians 3 (verses 1 and 2), it's good to remember that I don't need to stretch very far to reach them.  It's not a stretch because they're as close to me as Christ Himself! When it says, "If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1), I need to remember that being "raised up with Christ" means that I am already right there "where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God".

Many people reading this verse may imagine a picture of us down here on earth straining to reach up to Jesus and "the things above" way up there in heaven. But that's not a true picture of reality for a Christian.  When we consider this verse, we need to remember Ephesians 2:6 which tells us that God "raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus".  So all those "things above" are actually right at our fingertips!  Easily within reach.  And if we're prepared to "keep seeking" them, we should find that they are quite easy to grasp and that as we do so, our lives will better reflect the fact that we're living "in the heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6) as ones who are "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3).

These verses in Colossians also urge us to "set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth" (Col. 3:2).  That means setting my mind on where I'm seated, and especially on who I'm seated with, as well as on all the abundant life-giving blessings that come with being in Christ.  That's a daily choice to set our minds on such things.  In fact, it's often a moment-by-moment choice that helps us to live in the wonderful reality of being united with Christ. And it helps me to remember that it's not such a stretch to lay hold of "the things above" that I so eagerly set my mind on!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Growing in faith

How on earth did Abraham keep believing God for promises that took 25 years to be fulfilled?  Abraham had no written Scriptures to read and be encouraged by.  There were no biographies written about saints who had gone before him to read and be inspired by. He was surrounded by a pagan culture with no faith community to support him through those 25 years of waiting (Genesis 12:1-4; 21:1-5).  And the longer things took, the more impossible it must have seemed that that promise would ever come to pass.  In fact, all those years of waiting would have given Abraham plenty of opportunities to second-guess God and to wonder, "Did God really say...?"

And yet, Romans 4:20 says "with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief" (NASB) or "no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God" (ESV).  How did he do that?!  Or perhaps I should be asking about how -- with the myriad of spiritual supports and encouragements that I'm surrounded by -- can I so easily fall prey to struggles with unbelief or a lack of trust in God?  Obviously I have something to learn from Abraham.

Paul tells us in Romans 4:20 how Abraham kept believing amidst so many obstacles:  "he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God" (ESV).  It was glorifying God that cultivated his convictions and strengthened his faith.  In other words, he firmly focused more on God than on the obstacles.

This means I've got to be ready to praise God amidst any circumstances, thereby declaring that I don't believe any circumstances can trump God.  Praise is the language of faith.  This means exalting and worshiping God regardless of delays or disappointments. And as I do all that from a sincere heart, this verse is proof to me that God will then grow in my perceptions and my faith in Him will rise.  That is the way to grow in faith so that no distrust will make me waver concerning the promise of God!  Praise and worship of God regardless of what's going on around me. That's a choice we face daily, and it's a choice with a certain outcome: increased faith.  Not to mention, wonderful promises fulfilled!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

What a scene!

There are times when I need to re-examine my expectations of Jesus.  And recently, as I read Matthew 15:30-31, I felt the need to do so again.  It's quite an amazing scene.  And I don't think I've ever actually paused long enough at these two brief verses to consider what it would've been like to be there.  It says that "the crowd marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking and the blind seeing" (Matthew 15:31).

Imagine the excitement! The exclamations being shouted and the joy and amazement of all the people!  Over there is a woman excitedly speaking for the first time in years -- people crowding around her, grinning and laughing at the wonderful sound of her voice.  And over there is an old man who'd been maimed for years, surrounded by his awe-struck family, joyfully demonstrating all the ways he can freely move about, and how he can lift his giggling grandchildren high in the air without pain.  And there is a man who'd previously been paralyzed, running around a bunch of laughing people, chasing children, everyone overjoyed to see him on his feet for the first time since a childhood accident. And closer to Jesus, who is smiling happily, is a young woman who is crying with joy as she sees the smiling tear-stained face of her father for the very first time.  And there are others celebrating additional miracles before a crowd who is glorifying God at the sight of so many laughing, cheering, crying, hysterical people!

It's a stunning snapshot of Jesus' ministry.  Heaven invading earth.  So do I believe God calls us to create such scenes?  Or am I a cessationist at heart when faced with the idea of seeing miracles on such a grand scale as this?  I'm challenged by it, to be sure.  But more so, I'm excited by it!  Because there's no reason to believe that God wouldn't want to create the same scene today as His children take up their delegated authority to "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons." (Matthew 10:8).  Through our obedience to such commands, heaven can continue to invade this world!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

A Divine Appointment amidst the Sewage (church bulletin cover)

Eighty out of 100 of the units at a Manitoba Housing complex had recently had their basements flooded with at least 12 inches of sewage-polluted water.  As I checked the basement of a single-mom whose social worker had called Gateway Church asking if we could help get the sewage-soaked stuff out of her basement, the smell was unbearable.  I quickly got back up the stairs and told her I'd let her know.

Once I'd confirmed enough volunteers to do the job, I called to tell her that we would do it.  When we arrived the next evening, I found a sign on her door saying she was at the complex's community centre, so I went to look for her.  The centre was full of life and conversation as people crowded into a room to enjoy a dinner graciously provided by ladies from Calvary Temple.  And there she was with a plate of food in hand, grinning when she saw we'd arrived.  She quickly stepped out to open up her house to us.  But as I followed behind her, another lady called out to ask, "Could you clean up my basement to?"  I had no idea how long the first basement would take, so I simply asked for her name and address and said I'd let her know.

It was clear from the start that we had a big job on our hands as we donned our face masks, rubber gloves and gumboots and headed downstairs.  The smell was overpowering, but as we picked away at the dripping clothes, the soggy boxes and the crumbling particle board, we encouraged one another in the work!  Occasionally Ron would shout something like, "This is what we were made for!"  The camaraderie grew as the work progressed, and after about an hour, the job was done.  There were smiles all around as the masks came off, and the biggest smile was that of the mom we had just helped as she thanked us.

But what of the other basement we'd been asked about?  We checked it out before deciding, but of course, we agreed to do it and went back at it!  And it was soon clear that this resident was finding the losses from this flood very hard.  It became apparent why as we began carrying up items that reminded the mother living there of a 25-year old daughter who had died of cancer only two years earlier.  There were pictures on hard drives that may have been damaged, and tears were welling up in the eyes of both the mom and her other daughter at the thought of losing those memories, as well as other special items that had to be thrown away.

Once that second basement was finished, we asked if we could pray for the mom and daughter.  And as Mary prayed, the mom broke down and sobbed as the pain of what she'd been through came to the surface.  But the gratitude she expressed to us, as she hugged each of us, her eyes still wet with tears, clearly revelaed how much Mary's prayer had comforted and touched her heart.  And to think of the "chance" way we met her while looking for the first lady in that noisy, crowded hall.

You could think of this as a pretty smelly and messy way to love Winnipeg.  But amidst all the sewage and the losses, the Lord had singled out a broken-hearted mom who needed His love, led us to her, and helped us to express His love and comfort to her and her daughter.  God is good.  And He loves Winnipeg -- each and every one of us.  And the smell of sewage won't even keep Him away!

© 2010 by Ken Peters