Tag Encouragement

Stay on Target

Todd R 2 Comments

Every Christian needs some “Gold Five’s” in their life.  Who is Gold Five?  He’s the guy known for saying “stay on target” repeatedly in Star Wars.  If you’re a fan, you know this line, but for those who don’t, here is some background:

In Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, released in 1977, the climax of the story is a space battle between the good rebel forces and the evil Empire.  The Empire built a moon-sized battle station capable of destroying entire planets called the Death Star, which was getting into position to destroy the rebel base.  Fortunately, some rebel spies stole plans for the Death Star and located one fatal weakness: an exhaust port that led to the main reactor, but could only be approached by a long trench in the surface of the Death Star.  After other pilots failed, the hero, Luke Skywalker, was getting into position to fly his X-wing starfighter down the trench.  He’s under constant fire from cannons and enemy fighters and distracted by the intense battle going on everywhere above him.  But in this battle only one thing really mattered: attacking that exhaust port.

Enter Gold Five.  We don’t know Gold Five’s name, but as Luke was flying down the trench and having trouble focusing, Gold Five radios to Luke several times “stay on target!”  Luke refocuses[1] on his mission and succeeds in firing torpedoes down the port and destroying the Death Star.  Just in time, of course.

Every Christian needs to hear from people like Gold Five – people who keep us on target – often.

Luke was distracted by enemy cannons and Tie Fighters, and our enemy seeks to distract us in many, many ways.  There’s a massive spiritual and physical battle constantly raging all around us.  Much of our culture is designed to draw us to every “new” thing.  These are constant messages telling us to pay attention to things we shouldn’t.  To put our politics or other philosophies above our obedience to our Maker.  To fight battles that aren’t ours and that keep us from our own goals.

Temptation to stray from Christ’s specific mission for us is everywhere, and the desire to not give Him our best with everything He’s given us can be strong.  When these distractions bombard us, we need to hear “stay on target.”  Not once and probably not twice, but over and over again.  When the world is screaming loudly in our eyes and ears, we need to hear Gold Five speaking into our headset.  We need someone to encourage us to stay on the path God has laid out for us.

As Jesus is quoted in Matthew 7:13-14 –

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

There are many voices that lead to the wide path of destruction, but who are your Gold Fives?  How can we all be better Gold Fives?  We all need more of them.

Stay on target!

[1] With some help from Obi-Wan as well.

Daily Exhortation

Todd R 1 Comment

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” – Hebrews 3:13

All need regular encouragement to listen to His voice above others.  Knowing our commonality in failure and struggle, as well as in obedience and triumph, gives us strength to stay on the path of faith.

Today is an opportunity to exhort.  As one of the elders at my church says: “How do you know someone needs encouragement?  They’re breathing.”

Eavesdropping for Kindness and Encouragement

Todd R 1 Comment

One of my favorite quotes on kindness is pretty simple: “Be kind.  You never know what someone’s going through.”  In their 1984 book Encouragement: The Key to Caring, Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender write about how much of our interaction with others happens between layers we put on to hide our true selves, rather than between the deepest parts of our selves.  We intentionally don’t let others know what we’re going through.  Although the above quote probably wasn’t common when the book was written in 1984, the authors definitely had the idea in mind when they wrote about how we might imagine eavesdropping on the thoughts of others as we arrive at church on Sunday morning.  Such imagining might help us realize how much people encouragement and kindness everyone really needs.  They wrote that we might hear thoughts like these:

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

“Oh, no! There’s Fred pulling up in his car. If he sees me, he’ll ask me for that committee report I haven’t done yet. I’d better move inside quickly and get seated.”
“I wish my husband weren’t away on that business trip. It’s really uncomfortable coming to church without him. Well, I’ll just sit in the back and leave as soon as the service is over.”
“I sure hope the preaching is better than it’s been the last few weeks.”
“This should be a really good day. No work that needs to be done. I like our church and the football game is on TV at 3 this afternoon.  That gives me time to take the family out to dinner and still be home for the kickoff. I really like being a Christian.”
“I wonder if I should keep coming to this church. I really haven’t made any friends and the sermons don’t do much for me. Well I’ll keep praying about it and see how it goes today”
“Look at that happy young family. It really hurts when I realize my kids are grown, gone, unsaved, and mixed-up. Boy, I wish I could have a few years back. Well I can’t start crying now. Cmon, smile-here comes Nancy to say hello.”
“People think of me as a pretty spiritually together person. I’ll make a point to interact graciously and to respond in a biblical way to whatever happens.”[1]

While we can’t (and shouldn’t) eavesdrop on thoughts, imagining it reminds us that we really don’t know what’s going on behind other people’s layers, and they don’t usually know what’s behind ours.

Therefore, “Be kind.  You never know what someone’s going through.”

[1] Crabb, Larry and Dan Allender.  Encouragement: The Key to Caring (1984).  P. 95-96.

The Crushing Obligation to Keep Doing More and More – Sunday Share from Kevin DeYoung

Todd R 1 Comment

Some days we are able to follow Jesus’ advice in Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Other days we feel overwhelmed by our responsibilities, and on some days, we feel like we’re carrying all the problems of the world.  Whether it’s something in a sermon, on the news, a book we’ve read, the multitude of notifications on our phones and other devices, or something in our own conscience, we feel that the world needs more than we have to give.

In the linked article, author Kevin DeYoung writes that “most Christians hear these urgent calls to do more (or feel them internally already) and learn to live with a low-level guilt that comes from not doing enough. We know we can always pray more and give more and evangelize more, so we get used to living in a state of mild disappointment with ourselves.”  He shares some thoughts on how to relieve this anxiety and focus on what we need to focus on.  After all, even Jesus “did not try to do it all. And yet, he did everything God asked him to do.”

(Estimated reading time 7 minutes)

I discovered this through fellow blogger Barbara Harper, who posts a weekly list of good reads on Saturday.

https://kevindeyoung.org/the-crushing-obligation-to-keep-doing-more-and-more/

Don’t Fear Jezebel’s Algorithm

Todd R 4 Comments

Yesterday I re-posted a story of King Jehoiakim’s attempts to destroy the prophet Jeremiah’s words with fire, as recorded in Jeremiah 36:20-25 (which survived).  I decided to share it again based on two events: 1) a comment I saw on Facebook yesterday lamenting that owning a Bible could be made illegal, and 2) Facebook’s reminder to me in “Memories” that two years ago to the day I had posted this:

“To any religious person who is dismayed at “their side” being shut down by social media: Name one of Gods accomplishments that required Twitter or Facebook.  The Holy Spirit is the original (and best) social network. Listen to Him. Post to Him. Wait for Him. The Answer lies there. He remains online for eternity and He has a plan.”

Resistance to spreading God’s word is as old as time.  Consider the Old Testament story of Elijah, who prophesied during the reign of Israel’s evil king Ahab and his wife Jezebel.  According to Who’s Who in the Bible, “Jezebel devoted herself to bringing the worship of Baal and his consort Asherah to Israel. She employed 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophetesses of Asherah (1 Kings 18:19), and persecuted the prophets of the Lord, including Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-9).”[1]  Many prophets were killed.

Elijah despaired, as written in 1 Kings 19:10 – “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Photo by raquel raclette on Unsplash

Apostles also struggled to stay strong, including Paul.  When he was frustrated at resistance and lack of progress in Corinth, “the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”[2]

When Paul needed an example to encourage others to persist, he used Elijah’s story in Romans 11:2 – “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?  ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.’  But what is God’s reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’”

Therefore, our hope is not in social networks where we can share God’s message, or in the benevolence of the programmers of algorithms that choose who sees what we post, or in the regulators and legislators who monitor the public square, or in the founding political documents that give us rights.  But:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
            and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
            giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
            it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
            and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11

Social networks, algorithms, regulators and government are not our enemy, but our enemy is the one who tries to convince us we need these things more than we need the God who made them and who made us all.  His word will accomplish its purpose, and we have Elijah’s and Paul’s words and actions as evidence.

God’s word withstands the fire.  Always.

[1] Gardner, Paul D., editor.  The Complete Who’s Who in the Bible.  (1995)
[2] Acts 18:9-10