The Lord's Supper – Experiencing Ambivalence

By Matt Hennecke

Ambivalence is defined as "the state of having mixed feelings about something."  It's when we simultaneously have contradictory strong feelings about a situation or event.  Many people confuse ambivalence with indifference.  They're not the same.  To be indifferent is to show little or no concern about something.  To be ambivalent is to care deeply – to have strong feelings about two conflicting things.

Ambivalence is what parents feel when their child climbs aboard a bus for their first day of public school.  They feel both happiness as their child embarks on a journey of learning and education but sadness that those precious "toddler" days have ended.  It's what parents feel when their daughter is joined to another in matrimony.  Joy at the blessed union, but sadness as their child enters a new chapter of life and transfers her greatest earthly affection to another.  It's what many of us feel when at a funeral of a faithful Christian.  Joy that the child of God has been freed from a life of pain and trials and welcomed into a much-deserved reward, but anguish to be left behind to carry on without their wisdom and insight.

Indeed, all who have lost faithful loved ones – faithful husbands – faithful wives – faithful parents – simultaneously feel both sadness and joy.  Heartache at the loss of the loved one, but bliss that their loved one now lives with God in eternity.

Paul expressed ambivalence in Philippians 1: 21-24 when he wrote: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.  I am hard pressed between the two.  My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.  But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account."

Even Jesus felt the tug of two opposing feelings as he prayed in the Garden.  Note his mixed feelings – the conflict between desire and duty – expressed in Matt. 26:36-39: "Then Jesus went...to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.'  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and became anguished and distressed.  Then he said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death.  Remain here and stay awake with me.'  Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.'"  Ambivalence often manifests itself in the mixed emotions we feel when our duty and our desire are at odds with one another.

Whenever I partake of the Lord's Supper, I feel ambivalence – two strong, mixed feelings: I feel great sadness and great joy.  I feel sadness because of the evil men who nailed the Son of God to the cross and because my sins contributed to that necessity.  I also rejoice, for it was Jesus' amazing, sacrificial act of love – his horrible death on the cross – that made salvation not only available to those vile men who nailed him there, but to me as well.

Think about it: whenever we partake of the Lord's Supper, we participate in a sorrowful celebration – a time of both heartache and happiness.  As we partake, we are simultaneously reminded of the horror and the hope of the cross.

One Day at a Time

By Mike Pence

In one of the Rocky movies, Rocky was training a younger fighter and he told him “One step at a time.  One punch at a time.  One round at a time.”

What he meant was, don't think too far ahead.  Stay in the present.  If you focus too much on the future you will lose focus of what it takes to get there.

Several years ago, I worked at Spectrum, but I only stayed there for about three months.  I dreaded going to work every day.  It was a good job, good company, good benefits.  My job was to take phone calls and help customers get their internet working.  Basically, I was paid to talk to mad people all day.  If you want to really make someone mad, take away their internet or their TV.  I stressed every day when I went to work.  I had to focus on each day, one day at a time.  Each call, one call at a time.

Perhaps that’s what we need to do in our spiritual lives.  Take things one day at a time.

PRAYER

Start the day with a prayer.  Every day before I’d clock in and start taking calls, I’d say a prayer.  It helped me take my worries and give them to God.  This is one of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in my life.  Some things are out of my control.  When you are confronted with those things, say a prayer and give your worries to Him.

Philippians 4:6-7 - "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

DO NOT WORRY

Focus on today.  Don’t worry about tomorrow.

Several years ago, Jonathan and I were into bird photography.  It was a way for me to get out and forget about things I was worried about.  A way to be reminded that God will take care of me.  One of my favorite photographs I took was a simple little sparrow.  God provides for him, and He loves me even more.  That’s what Matthew 6:25-34 tells us.  Matthew 6:34 - "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

The text in Matthew 6 gives several reasons not to worry.  Is not life and body more important than food and clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, are you not more valuable than they?  Can you grow simply by worrying?  Consider the lilies, won't God provide for you also?

Psalms 68:19 - "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits.  The God of our salvation!"

Let’s go out this week, take things “one step at a time, one punch at a time, one round at a time.”  Pray to God every day and give your worries to Him.

What Are You Pursuing?

By Victor Osorio

Samuel Truett Cathy, the founder of Chic-Fil-A, passed away in 2014 at the age of 93.  At the time, I told my wife, Terra, that Cathy’s longevity is proof that a Chic-Fil-A diet will not kill me prematurely.

Of course, S. Truett Cathy was known for his company and its awesome chicken sandwiches.  But more importantly, he was known for his character, morals, love of family, and for being religious.

A Wall Street Journal advertisement in memorial to him had Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”  How true.  And how nice in a business world that often uses “Greed is good” as a motto.

Mr. Cathy was also an author.  One of his books was “Wealth: Is it Worth It?”  In it, Cathy concluded that wealth is only worth it if you earn it honestly, spend it wisely, save it reasonably, and give generously.  That is wise counsel, but I will add that wealth is only worth it if it doesn’t keep you from God.

In Matthew 6:19-20 we read, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Luke 12:15-21 adds “Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.  The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

These passages remind me of recently when I was cleaning out the garage.  I came across trophies and awards I had collected over the years.  They were broken, tattered, faded, and scratched.  They didn’t fare well being stored in attics and garages through our family’s various moves.

As I threw most of them away, I remembered back in elementary school wanting a trophy so bad.  I used to draw them in art class.  I remembered in junior high and high school seeking to win district championships and MVP awards.  It drove me constantly.  And there the fruits lay…meaningless.

So, I ask, especially our young people, what are you pursuing?  But adults too, what are we pursuing?

Wealth is okay.  Seeking to be your best at a sport or instrument, or any other talent, is okay, perhaps even noble.  After all, Proverbs 10:4 says, “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”  And Proverbs 22:2 says, “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”  But what are we pursuing?

Parents, what are you allowing, even enabling your children to pursue more - their soul or scholarship?  Spirituality or sports?  It’s an important question.

Let’s let our attitude be that of Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Because in the end, as Proverbs 11:4 warns, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”

Serving God - Part 2

By Gary Watson

Part 1 of this blog closed with the following questions.  When we forget God, who do we put our trust in?  When we forget God, what do we replace him with?  Part 2 will help us understand that forgetting God is the same as trusting self or allowing our trust in self to overcome our trust in God and will lead us to the conclusion that trusting in God is far superior to trusting in self.

Consider what God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 6:10-12: “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

From where we sit, it is hard to imagine how the Israelites would somehow forget God after 40 years of seeing miracle after miracle (Exodus chapters 7-17).  Yet God was compelled to caution them about forgetting.  In the desert, the Israelites had been dependent on God for their existence, including food and protection from the elements and their enemies.  There was a daily awareness of their need for God.

In Deuteronomy 6, God is about to fulfill his promise to bring them into a land where many of their needs will already be provided for.  This is a blessing from God, a fulfillment of a promise that carried with it the risk they would no longer see a daily need for God and would forget him.  It is certainly possible to believe in God yet forget about him.  Consider the times during the day God is absent from our hearts and minds.  Other times, amid difficulty, we give in to fear, distrust, and unbelief as if God were neither willing nor able to help us, leaving us with no option but to trust ourselves.  These are godless moments.  One need only look at the daily news cycle to understand that the disturbing, unsettling, disunifying, chaotic, and unjust world we live in is godless.  The world is often subject to life-altering events we cannot control.

The daily battle against godlessness is waged in the choice we make for who is in control of our life – God or self.  The minute I forget that God has a plan for my life and is in control, I want to toss God out of the picture and fight desperately to take control to avoid pain, uncertainty, stress, and anxiety.   

To paraphrase Psalm 37:6-9, the psalmist states: “God will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day.  He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun.  Quiet your heart in His presence and pray; keep hope alive as you long for God to come through for you.  And don’t think for a moment that the wicked in their prosperity are better off than you.  Stay away from anger and revenge.  Keep envy far from you, for it only leads you into lies.  For one day the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will live safe and sound with blessings overflowing.”

Where do you go when life begins to feel out of control?  Do you try to take matters into your own hands such as:

• turn inward by coming up with a plan or a strategy to avoid the flow of information or emotions that are creating stress or anxiety.
• turn outward to control your schedule, conversations, relationships, information, and responsibilities to avoid stress or anxiety.
• ignore, deny or harden to whatever is causing stress, uncertainty, pain, or anxiety thinking it’s better to be able to function even if you have to do it with a hard heart or numb emotions.

Or do you talk to God, talk to godly friends, share your thoughts/feelings/emotions, seek input, and read scriptures for guidance on how to think and feel.  Remember “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” Psalm 46:1.

Serving God - Part 1

By Gary Watson

“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, His laws, His decrees that I am giving you this day.” Deuteronomy 8:11

Being careful - We must be sure that we do not begin to think that all our blessings came to us on their own.  Moses warned Israel not to forget God when they received their blessings.  He knew they would be tempted to become complacent when they lived in their new homes and enjoyed the riches and comforts of Canaan.  He reminds them of God’s faithfulness and how important it is to remain obedient.  Moses further warned them in the phrase, “when you have eaten and are full,” that they would need to remember God and not live with pride and disobedience.

Several Bible verses reminded Israel to remember God’s goodness even in times of abundance when they might be tempted to forget it.  Some examples are:

• “They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt.” Psalm 106:21
• “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them:” Proverbs 1:32
• “Lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Proverbs 30:9

It’s tough to get someone who has faith in God to consider the possibility they might also be godless since it seems like a contradiction.  It might help to know we are not talking about a total renunciation of the existence of God.  We are talking about the moments we think, act, respond and make decisions as if God were not real and present in our lives.  Moments where our thoughts or focus on God are replaced by people, circumstances, outcomes, or personal desires.  

Godlessness is a constant challenge due to how easily we can seek the approval of men over God or want to be important in the eyes of men rather than God.  Many times, I’ve made decisions driven primarily by the desire to be liked by people or my peers over pleasing God.  Unfortunately, these challenges also have consequences.

Seeking the approval of men produces hiddenness and deceit.  The desire to be important leads to fear and insecurity, while the desire to be liked can lead to compromise.  These are common challenges for us, that meet the definition of godlessness we are addressing here.  Don’t forget it was the religious leaders Jesus was talking about when he said: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”  (Matthew 15:8-9)

Though these leaders believed in God, their actions were consistent with someone who did not believe in God.  They worshiped God in vain, meaning it was futile or ineffectual with no real value and to no end.  We all can believe in God and still forget God.

When we do forget God, who do we put our trust in?  When we forget God, what do we replace him with?

(Part 2 next week)