Author name: Tom Stuart

A Thanksgiving Meditation

Communication, Relationship with God, Relationships /

There are dimensions of thanksgiving however, that transcend the plain of human reciprocity and move into the realm of the divine. How do we thank someone for something for which it would be impossible to repay? Perhaps it is a parent or other significant person who have invested their lives in benefiting ours. How do we thank someone for the provision of a critically dependent need which we ourselves could never meet? Maybe it is an opportunity, finances, wise advice or simply the emotional support that lifts you from defeat to victory.

Thanksgiving in such circumstances expresses itself best through a humble and grateful acceptance. In many cases it is appropriate to declare our heartfelt thanksgiving through a public affirmation of honor or esteem for our benefactor.

This realm of thanksgiving is of course most fitting in giving praise to God for all He has provided for us. We can never repay Him for the extravagant grace showered upon us as His undeserving and dependent children. But yet He delights to hear the expressions of our thanksgiving and praise for every thing He has done for us. And so with the psalmist it is worth making a commitment to constantly “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” (Psalm 100:4 NIV)

But there is yet one other dimension of thanksgiving that transcends them all. It might be called the highest form of praise. And that is thanking someone, especially God, for something you trust them yet to do. Saying “thank you” in advance is an expression of faith. That “thank you,” no matter what the circumstances, releases faith. “Thank you” becomes “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) It communicates appreciation more for the person and their trustworthiness, than for the thing given. The Giver becomes the treasure more than the gift. That is the ultimate “thank you” any of us can give.

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A Primer on the Discipleship Process

Growth & Development, Relationship with God /

Problems, everybody hates them, but where would we be without them? From birth we all have had to face problems on a daily basis. In the process we have learned how to progress from flailing helplessly to rolling over to walking.

We can look back nostalgically on our childhood through young adulthood and say that despite the discomfort most of our problems and challenges were ultimately our friends. Without them we would not have developed the character and competencies so necessary for a mature and successful life.

We just wish the day would come when we could finally graduate and move on to a problem free life. But like everyone with a diploma knows, the real world and adulthood are laden with problems and pulling into the driveway at night can be no easier than backing out in the morning.

But the good news is that God uses problems in our lives to work His purposes. In essence, problems form the curriculum of the discipleship process. They are structured to be the stepping stones to spiritual growth.

In fact, if you read the Gospels with this in mind, you will notice that Jesus specifically and frequently engineered problems for His disciples. He was continually challenging them with problems. He sent them out on mission trips with no support or provision. (Luke 10:1-4) He feigned abandonment in a storm. (Mark 6:48-49) He asked them to feed a multitude on the spur of the moment with no resources. (John 6:5-6) He challenged them to try again, even in the face of prolonged and repeated failure. (Luke 5:4-6 & John 21:15-18) They were confronted by people with physical maladies and asked to heal them. (Matthew 17:15-16)

It is no different today. Anyone who wants to be a disciple of Christ must enroll in a curriculum with similar challenges and problems. But as in any apprenticeship process, to endure and even prosper, one must keep focused on the “why.” The ultimate goal of Christ’s discipleship is that we be transformed into His image.

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Dealing with the Stain of Sin

3 Comments / Growth & Development, Overcoming /

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (ESV)

What do you do if you have confessed your sin and received God’s forgiveness but continue to be afflicted with the after effects of your transgression? The after effects are the stain of sin – the residual vexation in your soul over what you have done. The stain of sin often is the shame, embarrassment or feelings of failure that continue to plague you. It can be a self loathing and inability to forgive yourself for the stupid choices that you’ve made. The stain of sin can also be an obsessive preoccupation with reliving your sin, which dangerously can become the tool of the flesh and the devil to subtlety lure you back into sins lair.

The quintessential verse in the Bible promising God’s unmitigated forgiveness process for repentant sin is quoted above from the first epistle of John. As an apostle, John had been privy to Jesus’ many teachings on the forgiveness of sin. He had been a witness at the foot of the cross where Jesus paid its awful price through the shedding of His blood. (see 1 John 1:7) And after the resurrection, he had seen first hand Jesus’ merciful forgiveness completely restore his buddy, the repentant denier, Peter.

It is important to note from John’s verse that forgiveness of sin has two key aspects. They are the forgiveness and the cleansing. In simple terms, the forgiveness part is God forgetting our sin and the cleansing part is God helping us to forget it.

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Spiritual Crabology

Overcoming, Relationships /

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice.” Romans 12:10 & 15 (NIV)

I was introduced to this concept years ago by a Mississippi pastor. Being familiar with the fishing industry in the Gulf he described how those catching crabs did not need to put a lid on the container in which the crabs were kept. Naturally one would think that any crab that wanted to, could simply crawl up over the edge and escape. But the curious nature of the crab is that instinctively those in the group reach up and pull down the ones climbing out, back into the bucket. They will not allow one another to break free which sadly seals their collective fate. He referred to that mentality as crabology.

Crabology of course extends to human behavior. It says in effect that “if I can’t be free, neither can you.” It is the tendency to want to downplay, discourage and even disallow someone else from a breakthrough or succeeding at something that we have not experienced. It may be motivated by envy or jealousy, a competitive attitude or simply ignorance as to what is really happening.

Needless to say crabology also has spiritual applications and implications. Paul the apostle addresses this very thing in his letter to the Romans when he said “rejoice with those who rejoice.” This injunction is set in the context of seven verses in which Paul is giving specific instructions to Christian believers as to how to get along with one another. (Romans 12:9-16) All of it is great advice and very much needed, as evidenced by how frequently it has not been heeded.

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The priority of spiritual habits

Growth & Development, Prayer, Relationship with God /

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.” Luke 4:16 (ESV)

“As was His custom” – four simple words that communicate volumes. What does that phrase, applied to your life tell everyone about you?

In many ways our customs define us because they tell us what things we have decided to give priority to in our lives. The ideal is to establish regular practices and habits that impart energy, provide stability and/or add meaning to life. When we think about daily routine – our dietary habits, ways in which we keep informed and engage with media and our exercise routines or the lack thereof all come to mind. But the most important customs to establish in life are the spiritual ones.

Jesus was a creature of habit when it came to His spiritual life. He made a commitment to habitual daily, weekly and even annual practices that nourished His personal relationship with His Heavenly Father. These practices also became the platform from which He launched a good portion of His ministry. Daily prayer, early in the morning or late at night (Mark 1:35 & 6:46), weekly engagement in worship and the Scriptures each Sabbath at the synagogue and regular attendance at the annual feasts in Jerusalem were the benchmarks of His spiritual life.

If Jesus, fully God, yet fully man, made daily communion with God and weekly engagement in worship the priority in His life, how much more should we? Paul, following in Jesus’ footsteps, began each week in the synagogue as well. “As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people,” (Acts 17:2 NLT)

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