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Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose

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By Brian Waple

I was reminded recently of a TV show from the mid-2000s called Friday Night Lights. The show chronicles the stories of several high school students in the small, football-crazy town of Dillon, Texas. One of the touchstone phrases heard throughout the show, as spoken by the head football coach, is “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.” That mantra touches on the passion the boys feel for football and is a clarion call for them to stretch to levels beyond themselves. When he says it among a throng of enthusiastic players, it’s meant to inspire them before the upcoming game.

Honestly, I must admit it’s hard to feel inspired during this current age of Coronavirus. And I think in light of everything going on, it’s easy for us to forget that God is still on His throne. I do believe that God is using this time to transform His people, but that message can get lost in the fog as I watch the steady deterioration of normalcy as we know it. It’s hard to have eyes that clearly focus on Him as I see on the periphery what this crisis is doing to our economy and the change it is bringing to our day-to-day lives. And it’s hard to have a heart filled with passion for Him as I sense the desperation, helplessness, and isolation that is running rampant. It can seem that in this challenge, we’re on the losing side.

But throughout Scripture, I find assurance that God cares for His people, especially when we have to go through these intense seasons of struggle and everything seems so out of control. For example, the psalmist tells us, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, NLT) Or rather than focusing on the fear and anxiety of their own struggles, Paul tells the Philippians, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT). These words help me see that God is still in control of all of this.

As we continue to journey further into this new normal that we find ourselves, I pray that we will all take time to rest in God’s peace, assurance, and comfort through prayer. God is calling us to keep our eyes clearby focusing on him and our hearts full with His truth. In doing so, we won’t lose, for God is still, and will always be, on His throne and in control over all. And I ask that we continue to connect safely with each other, especially those who are particularly vulnerable during this time.

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RIGHT NOW!

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Jeff Foerster

Hazard! Warning! Attention! These words demand a response. So, too, does the present moment demand a response. Some have begun by giving in to fear—engaging in panic buying (or selling) and similar activity. But this is not the way of Jesus.

This time is a gift. By way of governmental authority, we have been given a “time-out.” However, many of our service workers, especially health care professionals, are working overtime in an environment of exposure. These are our “soldiers” in this fight on the front lines, risking themselves to protect many. They and their families need our support, including prayer.

For the rest of us, we’ve been enlisted to participate by not participating. We’ve been asked to stay home. Restaurants are closed for dining, movie theaters and sports arenas are shuttered, and travel has been inhibited. Some of us are more vulnerable and have isolated from nearly all physical social contact to avoid infection. For most, this leads to more time at home. What to do?

You may have read an article or watched a video describing options to pass the time away. “Stay busy,” they say. Tackle your to-do list, binge watch a whole season, try out a new recipe, give in to anxiety. Okay, so I added last one. Instead, I’d like to offer you a couple of different options:

  • Look out!
  • Do nothing.

Look out for the needs of others. Pray for our nation and our leaders in each area and level of government. They need God’s help. They need His salvation. Also, find others to connect with digitally or virtually, by web or by phone. Use this time even as an excuse to call someone that you haven’t before. Be proactive in asking what needs others have, and seek to be generous. Look for opportunity outside our church body as well. Share what you find with others and remember that your words and actions contain power. Watch diligently for opportunity and share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

Do nothing. Snatch time from the thief that says, “Stay busy.” Don’t give in to the temptation of passing your time away or filling it with second-best things. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The translation I linked says, “cease striving.” Stop. Turn as an individual, or as a family, to our Everlasting Father. Sit in silence, pray, read Scripture, sing, walk, and talk. Ask Him what work He is doing within you as you experience this situation. Cast all your fear upon Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Shower Him with praise and adoration, as He rightly deserves. Laugh with Him. Cry with Him. Talk with Him. Wonder with Him. Enjoy Him, right now and forever!

Don’t miss this historic opportunity—this time when God can be seen and experienced with greater clarity because many things such as money and security and routine have been stripped away. A vacuum is created, and I don’t wish for you to fill it just for it to be filled. Don’t long or settle for “blessings” from the Master’s table and neglect the Master himself. This is a time to enter into joy and thanksgiving because of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! He is the same yesterday, and today, and forevermore. Hallelujah!

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Snake Oil and the Serpent

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By Jason Comerford

I learned something fascinating the other day about snake oil.

Most of us have heard that phrase, right? Snake oil is kind of a catchall term in our culture for flimflam and false cures. It’s come to symbolize someone selling you something that doesn’t live up to what it promises.

Long before it received its reputation, snake oil was actually an old Chinese treatment for minor aches and pain. It was first brought to the West when Chinese laborers came over to work on the transcontinental railroad. It was a topical treatment rubbed on joints to help bring some relief. It was (allegedly) reasonably effective.

The reputation it’s since garnered comes from what happened after some crafty Western businessmen got a hold of the idea. I’ll spare you the details, but a slew of dubious products were made and sold as “snake oil.” They promised everything from curing headaches to solving kidney problems, something they clearly couldn’t deliver on. And they usually weren’t made with snake of any kind. So now, the idea of snake oil persists as a symbol for impossible promises fed to us by con artists.

Impossible promises from a con artist sounds like an apt description for a certain serpent we know.

Remember Satan’s early trick from Genesis? He offered humanity something that he claimed was even better than the real thing (fulfilling desires apart from God). He downplayed the goodness of God and suggested finding an alternative. He still convinces us that God’s gifts and commands aren’t good for us, and that maybe He’s withholding what we really need. He offers an alternative that, on the surface, sounds like it’s even better than the original thing that God offers—but it’s just snake oil. It’s a simple idea once you know to look for it.

The hard part of this is identifying snake oil in our own lives. We don’t always realize it, but we’re almost always being sold something, promised something. Maybe a new job can give you that sense of purpose you’re longing for, or maybe a new relationship will finally make you feel fulfilled. Or it could be something less obvious—just one more cookie to cover over your anxiety and need for comfort. Maybe it’s one more hour of Netflix despite work in the morning, as though just a little more entertainment will finally be the thing that satisfies you.

Satan doesn’t really care what it is, as long as you’re investing those hopes and needs in something other than God—God, who is literally the source of all pleasure, the God of all hope, and the God who supplies everything we need.

What about you? What has Satan tried to sell you on? What are you looking to for joy and hope that’s not trust and obedience to your Heavenly Father?

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The Heart of Sin

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By Kendrick & Janna Gilli

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” Proverbs 14:34 (NIV)

 Pastor Steve was right when he said that Americans hate the word sin. We are fiercely independent and do not like being told what to do or what we are, and so when it comes to being called sinful, Americans bristle at it. Americans also like to believe that people are basically good—maybe a few bad mistakes in life, maybe a few bad apples in the bunch. This, of course, starts as a baby and a toddler, because they are so cute and angelic.

And we wonder why so many people feel hurt by Christians! We tell people that they are sinful from birth. Often the familiar response is, “What! My cute little angelic baby is sinful?” We tell people that only the Holy Spirit can help us realize our sin and work on it and we get, “I don’t need no stinkin’ help; you can’t tell me what to do!” We tell people that only Jesus can wash away our sin so that we can be with Him in heaven. The response is often, “What do you mean? What are talking about? I am a good person and those anger issues are because it is overcast here so much. It is not really my fault.”Job said it best: “I have concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt in my heart” (Job 31:33).

People equate the idea of sin as gigantic and associated with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. No, that baby is not Hitler. No, just because you get mad doesn’t mean that you are Stalin. Why can’t people realize that we don’t have to be Stalin to be sinful? People tell others all the time that they do not have to be perfect. If this is true, then they must recognize on some level that everybody has faults (i.e., sins).

 A favorite story in my family goes back to when I was a few months old and my sister was one year older. She liked to pick up a doll and hit me with it. What was in her heart that made her want to hit her baby brother? What about when my daughter would throw temper tantrums when she was two to four years old? Sin is in our hearts even as children, and we need help from our parents to recognize it and deal with it. Even the world agrees that parents need to teach their children right from wrong. However, the world also believes that once we have grown up, we magically stop doing things wrong. In fact, the “wrong things” as an adult are just considered “choices,” that we are just being whom we choose to be. Sin has become a bad word or politically incorrect.

It is also interesting how, as Americans, we persist in thinking we do not need any help. We love to help others but are too proud to ask for any help ourselves. What would you do if your car broke down in the middle of the intersection and four guys came to help you push it out of the way? Would you refuse? Of course not! Then why do we refuse help with correcting mistakes we make? Why are we not willing to accept help from God? He just wants to help us be better and when we do things wrong, He wants to forgive us. Yet, we believe that we can solve our problems ourselves or we are too proud to ask God to help us change.

 As a nation, we seem to have gone to the extreme with our pride and denial. In fact, Satan is doing a darn good job pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. So as Christians, how do we deal with this? The first part of this answer is recognizing the truth and asking God to convict us and to show us our sin; then, we must be willing to ask Him to change us from the inside out. The second part of this answer is LOVE. Being Christ to the world and living with love will open up doorways to conversations about sin and God’s solution for it. And finally, the last part of the answer is prayer; we need to be prayer warriors and to ask God for grace and opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers. We need to fight against the lies that Satan is spreading, lies that make us complacent and okay with our sin. An unseen war is raging all around us, and we need to put on our armor daily and pray that God opens our eyes to it.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:10–12)

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