It's hard to believe. I've lived 39 years, 364 days of my life, and in just a couple of minutes that will officially change over to 40 years, 0 days. Wow! I can't figure out if the time has flown by or dragged like a snail on crutches.
Age 40 is supposed to be a dangerous time for a man, mainly because of the typical mid-life crisis. We buy motorcycles and other "youthful" but expensive toys, make stupid decisions (And all the women say: "At what age do you men NOT make stupid decisions??"), try things we couldn't even do when we were 20, and generally become depressed over our fleeting youthfulness.
I don't want to be like that. Okay, so the reality is I'm too poor in the American sense of the word to buy the expensive toys. But I can still make the stupid decisions and get depressed. Hey! Those are free of charge!
But why? Why get depressed? Why be sad? Yes, my body is headed in a direction that I don't want it to go but my spirit is a completely different story. I, the true David Hicks, not the body you see designed to interact with this world, but the man inside, am headed toward God. I am following Jesus.
No, I'm not perfect!! Yes, I struggle! But my struggles are serving to make me a better person, a better servant. My spiritual strength is growing even as my physical strength weakens.
Frankly I'm tired of the thirties. I'm looking forward to the forties. I want to grow - in faith, in love, in hope, in peace, in joy, in wisdom, in shoe size (oh, wait.... that one is too big as it is), in boldness. I want God to use me in His kingdom's service in ways and on levels greater than ever before. That can only happen by going forward, not while looking back.
I shared a made-up proverb of mine with my wife this morning on Facebook: "Focus on your outer beauty and the best you can do over time is 'They look great for their age.' Focus on your inner beauty and you can be drop-dead gorgeous at age 90." I want to focus on that inner beauty,...well,...handsomeness, if you will.
I'm forty now. The thirties are gone forever now. But with God in my life, that is just fine with me.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Phrases and Proverbs
That Help Me Follow Jesus
That Help Me Follow Jesus
Having been under the fire of temptation for oh, 39 or so years now, I've learned a thing or two about fighting it. Sometimes it helps to have a quick phrase, a great one-liner, a modern-day proverb if you will at your mind's disposal. Obviously it's best if they come straight from the Word. Afterall, the supreme black-belt of temptation-fighting Jesus, fired the Scriptures back at Satan every time the king of evil tried to trick Him into doing something wrong. Still, as long as the phrases are Biblically-based, they can help as well. Here are a few that help me, followed by a collection that I have been teaching to my own son and other youth.
· Eternal rest for the weary.
· What would Jesus watch?
· What would Jesus listen to?
· What would the man I want to be for God do?
· Can’t teach about a Jesus that I don’t serve (or obey).
· “Make me a servant”, mentally sung to myself in a kind of mocking, opera style when I realize I’m getting upset for having to serve.
· Don’t love the world.
· Abhor evil (it helps to pick a specific evil).
· Keep your head in the ball game.
· Okay. What could I do to just really hack Satan off right now?
· There’s no treasure in heaven for storing stuff in the attic.
· Calmness is strength. Getting upset is weakness (Tried to keep telling myself that the year I taught middle school. I probably couldn't have bench-pressed two pounds based on that saying).
· Recognize the hazard. Understand the defense. Act accordingly in a timely fashion.
· I can’t become strong, but I can become wise.
· The best time to fight temptation is when you are not being tempted.
· Realistic expectations.
Phrases that I have been teaching my son and other youth:
1. God made us to be like Him.
2. The Bible is a treasure and a treasure map.
3. Focus on Jesus. / Focus on God.
4. Choose today the narrow way.
5. When you wake up, get up and say, “What can I do for Jesus today?”
6. Just like air, God is there.
7. If things like shelves did not make themselves, it had to be that God made me.
8. God knows anything He wants to know, any time He wants to know it.
9. Everybody misses the target sometimes, everybody but Jesus.
10. Because Jesus paid the price for me, in heaven with God I can be.
11. When I’m selfish, I think only of me. Thinking of others God wants me to be.
12. Don’t worry about what others can do. Just use what God has given YOU.
13. With Jesus in me, I can handle the heat.
14. It’s easiest to say “no” to something you’ve never tried.
15. When we’re divided everything’s wrong, but when we’re united, then we are strong.
16. God rewards those who truly want to find Him.
17. Know where your path goes / Know where you are going.
18. Know how to get to where you want to go.
19. Learn the ways of the one who loves you, reject the ways of the one who hates you.
20. Night or day, take time to pray.
21. If you want to follow Jesus, don’t be afraid. Jesus will not turn you away.
22. When I’m mad or sad about what life brings, look at things differently or look at different things.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thoughts About Attitude
Sunday I taught the 5th and 6th graders at church. This month they are doing a series on “Attitude” and, as it so happened, I was asked to teach the first lesson: “Does your attitude need adjusting?” And yes, as recently as Friday, mine needed a major overhaul, not just an adjustment.
Well, as I was preparing for this lesson, I picked up a new treasure. I saw in God’s Word something that I hadn’t noticed before. What I discovered I summed up for the 5th and 6th graders this way: “When I’m mad or sad about what life brings, look at things differently or look at different things.”
God gives us an amazing set of tools that we can use to cope with the trials and hardships of life. So often though we stand there trying to chop down our own problem tree with the small, dull axe we bought at Satan-Mart, while God’s super-sharp power saw just sits there by our feet. If we would ever take a moment to step back and look at our own silliness, we would have to think “Why am I not using that??”
Let me give you some examples of what I am talking about. First, let’s examine how we can see things differently.
This is James chapter 1, verses 1 to 4:
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Here I am facing some sort of trial and James wants me to do what?? Count it pure joy!?! How in the world can we do that? By remembering that this test of our faith will lead to perseverance! This pain will lead to gain! There is genuine good that can come from our trial, good that we can actually be excited about!
Believe me when I say James didn’t write this so that we would read it and think “Oh, how cute!” He truly wants us to practice looking at our trials in a joyful way, by remembering the strength, the endurance we will gain from it.
I’ll give you some other passages you can look at in a minute, but for now let’s move to the next coping tool - looking at different things.
In John 16, verse 33, Jesus told His closest followers, the apostles, this: “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation [i.e., troubles, hard times]. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
What was Jesus desire for His followers? Peace and joy! How were they to obtain it? Through a problem-free life? No! But by remembering that Jesus overcame the world! We, too, can overcome this world with its tribulations by trusting Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-3 is just as good. There, after giving an awe-inspiring list of people who kept their faith in the face of hardships, the Hebrew writer says
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
How did Jesus endure the pain and agony of the cross? He focused on “the joy set before Him”!
Remember how Jesus said during His arrest “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) Well, how did He find the emotional and spiritual strength not to call them? Again, instead of focusing on the cross, He focused on the coming joy.
So what does the writer say to us? Fix your eyes on Jesus! Consider what He did! If we follow His example, we too can find the inner strength we need by focusing on the joy set before us.
Now how and when we apply this to the problems and hardships of others is another blog for another day. Suffice it to say we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). When one member suffers, we suffer with them. If they are honored, we rejoice with them (1 Cor 12:26).
But when it comes to facing our own struggles, when we are mad or sad about what life brings, let us look at things differently or look at different things.
For further reading – looking at things differently
2 Cor 12:7-10 God’s strength is perfected in our weakness.
Acts 5:40-42, 1 Peter 4:12-16 It’s a blessing and an honor to suffer for Jesus.
Hebrews 12:4-11 God disciplines those whom He loves.
1 Peter 2:18-25 It is commendable before God to endure suffering when you did no wrong.
1 Timothy 6:6-9 We can find contentment in knowing that we can’t take the stuff of this world with us.
For further reading – looking at different things
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in our hope.
Matthew 5:11-12, James 1:12 Remember the rewards.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Did God Turn His Face On Jesus?
When Jesus was dying on the cross, one of the things He said, when interpreted into English, was "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" Seeing as how "forsaken" isn't exactly in the top ten list of most commonly used words nowadays, for a long time I struggled to grasp what Jesus was saying. The funny thing is all that changed when I read the verse in French - "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, pourquoi m'as-tu abandonee?" In other words, "My God, why have You abandoned me?" Here Jesus was, at the darkest hour of his life, and as much as I hate to write it, God had abandoned Him.
But what did Jesus mean in saying he had been forsaken or abandoned? I heard it proclaimed by a preacher many years ago that in that moment God could no longer bear seeing the suffering of His Son, so He literally turned His face away from Jesus. Indeed, we sing a song at our church, an otherwise beautiful song, which makes that very claim – “The Father turns His face away.”
So did He do it? Did God turn His face on His own beloved Son? The answer is in Psalm 22.
I love this Psalm (literally “song”) of King David. Written about 1,000 years before Jesus’ coming, it is a prophetic song about the death of Jesus. Of all the Scriptures I’ve read, nothing brings me closer to the raw emotions that Jesus felt during those last hours of His pre-resurrection life. While this is not all of Psalm 22, here is a major portion of it:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
Look at verse 24 again. Who are the Hes and the Hims? Seeing that this is a psalm about Jesus’ death, there is only one explanation. “For God has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has God hidden His face from Jesus; But when Jesus cried to God, God heard.”
God did not hide His face from Jesus during Jesus’ most difficult hours!! Does that change the fact that Jesus’ felt abandoned when dying on the cross? No. Does that mean that God intervened and spared Jesus from the extreme trial He was having to bear? No. So what does it matter whether or not God turned His face? Let me explain.
I remember going to see the movie “Passion of the Christ” for the first time. I told myself that no matter what happened, I was not going to turn away from what I was seeing on the screen. Yet there were two scenes that I found to be so horrifying that I broke down and turned my head.
Now what was I doing in that moment? I was protecting myself from pain! Not from physical pain, but from the emotional shock that was being played out before my very eyes. So when we say that “God turned His face on Jesus”, we are saying that God was protecting His own self from pain at the very moment that Jesus was trying to endure what was undoubtedly the most painful experience of His existence. But my God did not turn His face!! He did not protect Himself from emotional pain! And I am proud of my God for that!
Remember that Jesus was dying for us! He was taking the punishment for our sins. His suffering appeased God’s wrath and freed God to forgive all who would put their faith in His Son. But if Jesus didn’t die for us, then justice would have demanded that we ourselves bear the punishment for our evil doings.
So when Jesus was dying, for God it was like having the highest degree of black belt in some martial art, then walking by an alley and seeing people beating your own son or daughter to death. You know you could take out the ones beating your child in a heartbeat, but you refrain. Instead you watch every gut-wrenching moment as tears stream down your face.
It is no wonder than that God has exalted Jesus and given Him the name above every name. It is no wonder that Jesus is the only name by which we can be saved. God is extremely passionate about what Jesus did for us having seen all that Jesus endured. So as far as God is concerned, if we reject Jesus, we reject Him. If we believe and love Jesus, we believe and love Him.
So what are the implications for us? We may be going through the darkest hours of our own lives and just like Jesus, we may feel abandoned by God. And in fact, God may have abandoned us to the trial. He may not be doing anything at that moment to intervene in what we are experiencing.
But our God is not unaware of our pain and suffering!! His heart and mind is with all those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart! He does not spare Himself from His own pain while we endure ours! He will save us! He will reward us! He will not allow the trial to last forever! Just trust God. Trust His ways and you can endure anything the devil may be allowed to throw your way in this life.
But what did Jesus mean in saying he had been forsaken or abandoned? I heard it proclaimed by a preacher many years ago that in that moment God could no longer bear seeing the suffering of His Son, so He literally turned His face away from Jesus. Indeed, we sing a song at our church, an otherwise beautiful song, which makes that very claim – “The Father turns His face away.”
So did He do it? Did God turn His face on His own beloved Son? The answer is in Psalm 22.
I love this Psalm (literally “song”) of King David. Written about 1,000 years before Jesus’ coming, it is a prophetic song about the death of Jesus. Of all the Scriptures I’ve read, nothing brings me closer to the raw emotions that Jesus felt during those last hours of His pre-resurrection life. While this is not all of Psalm 22, here is a major portion of it:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
Look at verse 24 again. Who are the Hes and the Hims? Seeing that this is a psalm about Jesus’ death, there is only one explanation. “For God has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has God hidden His face from Jesus; But when Jesus cried to God, God heard.”
God did not hide His face from Jesus during Jesus’ most difficult hours!! Does that change the fact that Jesus’ felt abandoned when dying on the cross? No. Does that mean that God intervened and spared Jesus from the extreme trial He was having to bear? No. So what does it matter whether or not God turned His face? Let me explain.
I remember going to see the movie “Passion of the Christ” for the first time. I told myself that no matter what happened, I was not going to turn away from what I was seeing on the screen. Yet there were two scenes that I found to be so horrifying that I broke down and turned my head.
Now what was I doing in that moment? I was protecting myself from pain! Not from physical pain, but from the emotional shock that was being played out before my very eyes. So when we say that “God turned His face on Jesus”, we are saying that God was protecting His own self from pain at the very moment that Jesus was trying to endure what was undoubtedly the most painful experience of His existence. But my God did not turn His face!! He did not protect Himself from emotional pain! And I am proud of my God for that!
Remember that Jesus was dying for us! He was taking the punishment for our sins. His suffering appeased God’s wrath and freed God to forgive all who would put their faith in His Son. But if Jesus didn’t die for us, then justice would have demanded that we ourselves bear the punishment for our evil doings.
So when Jesus was dying, for God it was like having the highest degree of black belt in some martial art, then walking by an alley and seeing people beating your own son or daughter to death. You know you could take out the ones beating your child in a heartbeat, but you refrain. Instead you watch every gut-wrenching moment as tears stream down your face.
It is no wonder than that God has exalted Jesus and given Him the name above every name. It is no wonder that Jesus is the only name by which we can be saved. God is extremely passionate about what Jesus did for us having seen all that Jesus endured. So as far as God is concerned, if we reject Jesus, we reject Him. If we believe and love Jesus, we believe and love Him.
So what are the implications for us? We may be going through the darkest hours of our own lives and just like Jesus, we may feel abandoned by God. And in fact, God may have abandoned us to the trial. He may not be doing anything at that moment to intervene in what we are experiencing.
But our God is not unaware of our pain and suffering!! His heart and mind is with all those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart! He does not spare Himself from His own pain while we endure ours! He will save us! He will reward us! He will not allow the trial to last forever! Just trust God. Trust His ways and you can endure anything the devil may be allowed to throw your way in this life.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
What God Means To Me
For those of you who do not know me, my name is David Hicks. I was adopted and raised by a Christian family in the small town of Rockwood, Tennessee. I was raised to love God and put Him first in everything I do. In my mind I have been blessed as much as a man can be blessed considering when I was born.
Needless to say I haven't always (always? More like rarely.) lived up to the way I was raised. I've had times of rebellion, times of laziness, times of cowardice, times of worldliness; I've had failures as a husband (that "AMEN!!!" you just heard was my wife), as a father, as a friend, as an employee; to this day I still find myself one temptation away from a spiritual trainwreck.
Yet through it all God has loved me, forgiven me, listened to me, taught me, talked to me, adopted me. I love Him with all my heart, and in response to His love for me I wrote the following some years ago. I share it with you now in the hope that it can be a help and encouragement to you.
Needless to say I haven't always (always? More like rarely.) lived up to the way I was raised. I've had times of rebellion, times of laziness, times of cowardice, times of worldliness; I've had failures as a husband (that "AMEN!!!" you just heard was my wife), as a father, as a friend, as an employee; to this day I still find myself one temptation away from a spiritual trainwreck.
Yet through it all God has loved me, forgiven me, listened to me, taught me, talked to me, adopted me. I love Him with all my heart, and in response to His love for me I wrote the following some years ago. I share it with you now in the hope that it can be a help and encouragement to you.
What You Mean to Me
I want to try and tell You, God, what it is You mean to me.
I’m just a man, one in billions, just a grain of sand by the sea.
But because You’ve touched so much of my life, You’ve been in every part,
I want to try and put in words, the things I feel in my heart.
You loved me before I was ever born, before I could even breathe.
You arranged a home where I could live, loved by a family.
Through them You taught me to put You first in all I ever do.
The church taught me to love Your Word, to seek to know You through and through.
I’ve been given everything a man could need, to know the way of life –
the Bible, Christian parents and teachers, a loving Christian wife.
Why have You loved me so? To You what could I possibly be?
At times I’ve lived like I was a beast, sin was master to me.
Yet You saved me, You loved me, You plucked me out of the mire.
You’ve molded me and shaped me, and refined me through life’s fire.
In the fire, that’s where I was, but You still held on to me.
You could have easily just let me fall, and let the flames devour me.
You loved me first. There is no doubt. No words were ever more true.
And that’s the reason that now I say, my Lord, my God, I love You.
I’ve never even seen You, never even shook Your hand,
But it’s You I love and long to see, it’s by You I want to stand.
I want to thank You from my heart, to say it to Your face,
I want to hug You and feel Your love, a father’s tender embrace.
You’re the reason I’m sane, the reason I’ve survived, the reason I’m here today.
You’re the reason I can look in the mirror and know by You I’ve been saved.
You’re my all in all, You’re my everything, all that I long to be.
What other dream could I have than You, to see You eternally.
Please save me now, wash away my sins, cover me by Your grace.
Please lead me home, save my soul, in Your kingdom give me a place.
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