15 years And What Do You Get?

Mike Leake 1 Comment

joan

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10

Now there’s a happy thought to start the day! I’d add a sarcasm tag, but I’m never quite sure how that goes.

My husband and I have recently considered selling the house we built fifteen years ago. It was here that we completed raising our four children who have all since been launched to various parts of the country and beyond. Although we were in our 40s then, the house had been our first as we hadn’t had enough income to own a home when the children were young and we lived on one salary.

Fifteen years!

I know you’ve all heard folks my age (read that – grandmas) talk about how time passes so quickly. Blink of an eye stuff and all that. It’s often used to admonish young parents to enjoy their children while they’re little because they grow up so fast. That’s all true, but I hope this is not just one more sentimental piece idealizing the joys of having young children wonderfully complicating our lives.

So back to the proposed selling of our home.

It has occurred to me that fifteen years did indeed go by in a flash. Fifteen is not a very big number, and yet in that amount of time, I have observed tremendous change all about me. Of course, the home that was new a few years ago has begun to show its age and need for attention. Our parents have all died. Our children have gone from being pre-teens and teens (which once afforded us the luxury of resident slave labor) to adults in their upper 20s and early 30s – some with children of their own. Amazingly, my husband and I now both qualify for AARP discounts at participating hotels.

Oh my!

It has also occurred to me that if we stay in our home another fifteen years, it will be a 30 year old home. Who will want to buy it then? How will we take care of it then? What repairs will it require of us then? And that made me think of our lives in fifteen year increments which was quite a shocking and sobering thing (thus the opening scripture).

So let’s consider it.

Birth to age 15. Think of all the incredulous changes that take place in our lives those first fifteen years! Completely dependent on parents for the tiniest things at first, a child at fifteen is a handful of years away from being considered an adult. But who thinks about time then – except to hope it passes quickly to take us to the next big thing that is sure to be better than today’s.

16 to 30. Now we’ve gone from our first driving privileges to who knows. Marriage? Career? Parenthood? Still not too much thought to time although reaching that legendary age of 30 might give one pause.

31 to 45. Busy years. Strong years. Maybe we’re coasting. Or maybe we’re roller coasting as we juggle children, work, finances, dreams. By the end of this epoch, we begin to look over the horizon of time and think. Well maybe.

46 to 60. SIXTY!?! What? When did that happen? Now the horizon feels much closer than it did fifteen years ago, and it’s much easier to project fifteen years into the future and comprehend one’s finitude.

61 to 75. Is 65 really the new 45? Yeah. Time will tell.

76 to 90. If you’ve ever watched a family member travel these years, you’ll know how much change takes place within their bookends. Enough said.

I’ll stop at 90 as it’s well beyond the psalmist’s scope, noting there are but six fifteen year spans of time in a (quite old) person’s life.

I am just past the middle but only a hairsbreadth away from the second to the last in my list. If time continues to march as it has in the past, I expect the tempo will only increase. Truly, God is faithful – the covenant keeping and sustaining Lord of heaven and earth. I am eternally grateful for this truth, and yet I must ask: Where have I been, and where am I going? Am I honoring God in this day he has given me? Am I trusting him?Giving him the glory for things I think I have accomplished? Or am I, like that popular song of my infancy lamented, owing my soul to the company store?

And what of you?

—

Joan Hartley is a wife, mom, and grandmom. She has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

3 Ways to Grow in Faith

Mike Leake

Every believer has dry seasons. There are times when our faith is lively and vigorous. At other times we wonder if prayer is just talking to ourselves. Though our union with Christ is unbreakable our communion with him is variable.

Just as in any relationship our communion is often in direct proportion to our faith and love. If I sin against you our relationship is going to be harmed. Likewise, if I feel slighted by you then it will impact the way we relate to one another. How much worse does a human relationship get if one person loses trust in the other one? In the same way—our lively experience of the Lord is often in proportion to our faith.

So how do we grow in our faith?

In one of his letters, John Newton lays out three ways that believers can grow in their faith. Ultimately, it is up to the Lord but this is the type of climate in which faith will have a tendency to grow.

1. See Christ in the Scriptures

Newton is certainly correct that “all our abatements, declensions, and [sluggishness], arise from a defect of faith”. When we are seeing Christ as He really is in the Scriptures then our faith will be strong. It is when he becomes cloudy to our eyes and we only see him dimly that the sparkle of sin is able to catch our eye.

Seeing Christ is the way to increase in our faith. But where are we to see Christ but in the Scriptures? Therefore, “a careful, frequent perusal of the Scriptures, which testify of him, is a fit and necessary means of improving our faith”. I often challenge folks by asking if they’d still be alive if they ate physical food as much as they ate spiritual food (like the Bible). It is no wonder that our faith weakens when we spend such little time in His Word.

2. Engage in Personal Prayer

Newton believed that the Spirit was “promised and limited to those who ask it”. As such he believed that personal prayer was absolutely necessary. The Scriptures and prayer could sustain you in a dungeon or a desert but “nothing will compensate for the neglect of these”.

I need to hear this word. Nothing can replace Scripture and prayer for growing in the faith. Not blogs. Not Christian books. Not Christian radio. Not lectures. Not podcasts. Not family time. Not television. Not solitude. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing can compensate for a neglect of personal prayer and Scripture reading. “Our souls would grow dry and lean, unless these secret exercises were kept up with some degree of exactness”.

3. Obedience

Let us say that you have a phenomenal time of Scripture reading and prayer. And during your time in the Word the Lord convicts you by His Spirit through His Word that you need to heal a fractured relationship with a brother in Christ, if you willfully refuse to obey the Lord you will “shut up the avenues of comfort, and check the growth of faith”. The next time you come to the Word and to the throne of grace you’ll find a coldness in your communion with the Lord.

This word from Newton is sobering:

The experience of past years has taught me to distinguish between ignorance and disobedience. The Lord is gracious to the weakness of his people; many involuntary mistakes will not interrupt their communion with him; he pities their infirmity, and teaches them to do better. But if they dispute his known will, and act against the dictates of conscience, they will surely suffer for it. This will weaken their hands, and bring distress into their hearts. Willful sin sadly perplexes and retards our progress. May the Lord keep us from it! It raises a dark cloud, and hides the Sun of Righteousness from our view; and until he is pleased freely to shine forth again, we can do nothing; and for this perhaps he will make us wait, and cry out often, “How long, O Lord! how long?” (On Faith, and Communion of Saints)

If you have unrepentant and willful sin between you and the Lord, repent today. There is are few things sweeter than the restoration that happens after repentance. If your relationship with the Lord is cloudy it might be because you’ve balked at the Light.

It seems simple really—read your Bible, engage in prayer, and obey what the Lord tells you. But there really are no more certain ways of growth than these simple (though difficult) means.

—

Photo source: here

Today in Blogworld 07.24.15

Mike Leake

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I appreciate what Joey is saying here.

I Thought Planned Parenthood Protected Family Values

Rosaria Butterfield reflects on her previous worldview and how it relates to Planned Parenthood.

Were Early Churches Ruled by Elders or a Single Bishop?

It’s interesting that a single bishop developed for practical purposes and now many are adopting a plurality also for practical purposes.

What If I Preach a Bad Sermon?

I love this: “Every preacher has preached a bad sermon.  If you think you haven’t, then you probably have preached a bunch of bad sermons.”

I’m sure you’ve seen the surfer dude fight off a shark…if not here you go:

Would You Like a Free Book?

Mike Leake 15 Comments

Can I tell you a secret…that you might already know?

I’m really bad at self-promotion. I mean really bad. I really truly believe in The Seeds Project, but I’m just not sure how to get it off the ground. There isn’t any other children’s devotional like it. We’ve started in Colossians and I’m working on Philippians now. I’m so confident that you’ll like it and tell friends about it that I want to give you a free copy. But you have to meet these very strict qualifications:

  • If you are a blogger and would be willing to write a review. You qualify.
  • If you are a person who can put together a couple sentences on a computer and you know how to get on Amazon and write a brief review. You qualify.
  • If you are a pastor and would consider giving it a look for your congregation. You qualify.
  • If you ask really nicely

If this describes you and you’d like a free eBook of The Seeds Project simply respond with a comment here or message me on social media. If you leave a comment make sure to fill in your address on the comment form so I can send you a copy.

Thanks!