Archives for March 2020

We use many words loosely without really considering what they mean or what the terms are saying. I want you to consider the word ‘needs’ with me and shine a light into your heart and life that might help direct you to better thoughts and better living.

Over the years I have heard many people talk about what they ‘need’. I have heard people say they need a new car or a new job. I have heard people say, “I need this mess cleaned up right now!” I was once approached by a man who told me his friend desperately needed a ‘woman’.

What are our true needs? How can we differentiate a real need from something we just want?

Children often use the word ‘need’ in place of ‘want’. It’s their way of justifying their selfishness. “I need the same one he has.” “I need cordial not water.” “I need you to stop playing with my toys.”

Sadly, as adults we carry over that childish abuse of the word ‘need’ and think we can justify our wants by calling them needs. So when someone says, “I need to get out of this job”, they may be saying a number of things. They may be saying, “I can’t stand being around those people”, or “I feel demeaned by not having a more impressive title”, or “I want to own more material goods so I need to earn more money”, or “I can’t handle being told what to do so I want a more easy-going boss”. In each case the changed job is not a ‘need’ but a ‘want’.

So, what are true needs? The answer given in the Bible comes from Jesus, when He taught that God has all our needs under control.

“I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:25,26

By limiting our ‘needs’ to just food and clothing Jesus appears to be defining our needs into two broad categories: Provision and Protection.
Food is the essential Provision needed in life. We do ‘need’ food, or we will starve and die, or be undernourished, weak and sickly. We actually ‘need’ food.

Clothing is another essential provision in life, for Protection. It protects us from heat and cold and the burning sun, but it also protects our modesty, since nakedness is sacred and not to be seen by others. (See my post on Sacred Nakedness at http://chrisfieldblog.com/2009/07/03/sacred-nakedness-video)

So we could limit our ‘needs’ to food and clothing or we could allow ourselves to expand that a little to those things needed for sustenance of life (food) and those things needed for protection of life (clothing). But from there all manner of wants become attached and we deceive ourselves that we have ‘needs’ that are not needs at all.

Let’s look at Provision. What needs to be provided to you to sustain your life? Obviously sufficient food to nourish you. But you probably can think of other things you consider you really ‘need’.
I have heard people say, “I need a coffee!” or “I need a stiff drink right now!” Neither coffee or alcohol are essential needs, but they medicate our mental-emotional state. We may feel the need for a sugar hit, or something soothing, or something that provides diversion. At that point we have moved from essential needs, such as the birds of the air have, and added something which we long for, are greedy for or lust for. 

This is where we want things we don’t ‘need’ but we feel a need for them.
This is Provision out of order.

At the same time the issue of Protection gets out of order when we stop trusting God and living our lives in confidence in Him, and become driven by fears. When we are fearful of losing out in some way, especially once we have lusts active in our life, we will feel we ‘need’ a range of things added to our lives to give us security.

Many people feel the need for a good bank balance, or a reliable car, or a weapon under their pillow. People feel the ‘need’ for an ordered society, peace with those around them, a good reputation, spare clothes, spare money, food in the cupboard, and so on. The ‘need’ is actually for a desire for security.

Protection out of order becomes Fear leading to obsessive pursuit of protections and provisions that are not in fact needed. They are ‘wanted’ in order to replace reliance on God and to placate fearful thoughts oppressing the life of those who feel the ‘need’.

We find ourselves back at the old chestnuts of Greed and Fear. These are common human factors, such as the motivation behind movements in the stock market. Worldly people are driven by desires and fears. I say ‘worldly people’ even though most Christians are just as dominated by fear and greed as the world, because Christians should be free from both fear and greed, and be content with what they have, trusting their problems to God.

With those reflections in mind, consider a number of ‘need’ statements and see if you can spot fear or greed in them.
“I need to know the kitchen is clean before I retire at night.”
“I need to know you won’t get drunk.”
“I need that new phone.”
“I need to see that movie.”

“I need you to stop giving me trouble.”
“I need to get one of those new bikes I saw on TV.”
“I need some peace and quiet around here.”
“I need you to be more considerate.”

Let the Lord look into your heart and reveal areas of your life where you are not trusting Him and living by confidence in His Provision and Protection. One way to do that is to stop from time to time and check your values with the question What Do You Need?

I had the privilege many years ago to interview motivational speaker Joel Weldon in Melbourne shortly after he won the USA National Speaker’s Association Top Speaker Award for the second year running. One of his keynote messages back then, and he has shared it a great deal since, is “Elephants Don’t Bite: It’s the Little Things That Get You.”

Joel shared about ‘Doing the Little Things that Get you Huge Results’.

For those who like to avoid detail and such things as routine maintenance Joel’s message might not sit so well. However, let me put it to you from the Bible and see how you deal with that.

The wisest man that ever lived wrote three books in his illustrious career, thousands of years ago. In his love song poem, King Solomon referred to little foxes that spoil the vine.

“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” Song of Solomon 2:15

Note that Solomon wasn’t worried about a tsunami, or meteor from space. While those things are possible, the more practical thing to do is deal with the smaller problems we can manage. In the case of the vineyard the problem was small foxes that spoil the vine.

In Solomon’s Book of Proverbs he gives direct instruction about attending to things regularly, like routine maintenance.

“Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds; for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to every generation.” Proverbs 27:23,24

I wasn’t well trained to keep on top of things. The garden I dug as a child was soon overgrown. The strawberry plants I was given died before I planted them. The projects I started were left as piles of scraps my mother wanted me to put in the bin.
I was called to wash the car, clean my shoes and do other chores spasmodically but I never caught the value of doing routine chores happily. It was only in later life that I discovered, uncomfortably, the cost of not keeping on top of small things.

Decades ago in Australia there was a prime example of the need to keep an eye on things. A river system came under new management which could not see the value of paying a man to drive around the various resources each week. The corporation had to pay his wages and provide him a car, so the new management decided to get rid of this superfluous employee.

Within a year heavy rain flooded the river system causing various catchments to overflow. Ultimately it led to major flooding and the interstate highway was cut for days and a couple of towns inundated. What the sacked employee did by driving around the water system each week was keep an eye on levels and imbalances. He didn’t do much, but he was keeping watch and able to prompt action when needed. Without this man driving around the place things got out of balance and the rain event turned sour and expensive for the corporation. They lost much more in damages and penalties than a decade of that man’s wages.

So, you might think things are going fine and pay next to no attention to anything but the squeaky wheel. Yet the next ‘event’ might reveal the poor state of your property and your life.

It’s proverbial that a man or woman whose marriage or family has fallen apart will say, “I had no idea things were so bad”.
Many a business has gone under because management had their eye on part of the business, but missed key issues elsewhere.

Solomon might call those small problems ‘little foxes’. A fox doesn’t stand up and advertise his arrival, but is likely to sneak in at night or unobserved. The unobserved issues in your life and your family may be destroying the fruitfulness of your life.

When Tom Peters gave us his focus on ‘Management By Walking Around’ I immediately thought of Solomon’s advice thousands of years earlier, about knowing the state of your flocks. A shepherd would walk around his flock, not only looking outward for possible threats, like lions or bears, but checking each lamb and sheep, to note their condition and any signs of problems he might need to fix.
A shepherd would check the quality of the pasture and the water. He would consider the expectant ewes and even carry some sheep on his shoulder if that was needed.

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11

You are very likely to be distracted by your big problems or by your successes and dreams. Routine maintenance, checking and double checking things, being around to keep an eye on the general feel of the place, and similar giving of yourself to your business, family, community and so on, is not as much fun as chasing a new venture.

Let me warn you, whether you want to believe me or not, there are little foxes right now looking for opportunity to spoil your life in some way. They may impact your inner self, or your marriage, or family, or business, but be sure there are small, seemingly insignificant things happening around you that could have serious negative effect.

Wonderfully, God knows about all the things that affect us, from the fires of hell, to the fiery darts of the enemy, through to the idle words we have spoken that cause a festering sore in those who heard them.

Take time to consider what looking for Little Foxes might mean in your life and your circumstances, but also take time to ask God to train you to do what Solomon’s wisdom advises, getting you into the routine of keeping an eye on things. And may God bless you such that your life is never spoiled by those Little Foxes.

Years ago I ran an afternoon children’s program for non-churched Children. I wanted them to have a lasting reference point for God in their minds so I created a Pledge which we recited each week. It was about faith in God, but it was anchored on the Grace of God.

It went like this …
“By the Grace of God I will walk before Him, confessing my sin, doing His will and making Him Lord, all the days of my life.”

What struck me at the time is our terrible human weakness. No matter how much we might want to promise the world to God, we are disabled when it comes to doing right things.  The Apostle Paul testified to that when he admitted he doesn’t do the things he wants to do and the things he swears off doing end up being the things he does.

“I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15

That’s why we need Christ’s sacrifice to pay for our sins and set us free from our weaknesses.

Even the great Apostle Peter shows how far our reality is from our zeal. Peter was sure he would stand up for Christ and even die for Him, but Jesus forewarned Peter he would deny Jesus. Peter rejected that warning. The other disciples joined Peter in their confidence they would stand by Jesus to the end.

History records that Peter and the disciples deserted Jesus and Peter did deny Jesus three times, as Jesus foretold. So Peter’s own experience points to human weakness, even when we are sure we will be strong.

So, to be true and humble, even when we make a promise to God we need to say, “If God enables me” I will do this or that. That’s why the Pledge started with the words “By the Grace of God I will ….”. That’s not a cop-out, or excuse to ignore the pledge, but humble admission that if we are ever going to do things right it won’t be because we are holy and noble, but because God gives us the strength to do it.

The amazing and wonderful thing is that when we cry to God for grace we find we can do things we could never achieve in our own strength. I have been aware of issues in my life at times and initially decided to change myself. I would find I had completely forgotten my decision, or that despite all my efforts I was still in the same rut. Then I would take my uselessness to God and ask Him to change me. That’s when things would happen and I would be able to change.

Even the faith we need to claim God’s grace comes to us as a gift from God, so we can’t even brag about that. See how Paul explains that.

“By grace you are saved, through faith, and even that is not from yourself, it is a gift from God. It is not from human endeavour, or people would boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

Our part is to choose to live for God, and claim His salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and became human to pay for our sins, was crucified and raised to eternal existence with God.

There is no other power in us but to use our will to choose to believe in Jesus and to cry for God’s salvation. All the rest of the power we need comes from the Love of God, the Blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Truth, God’s Word and Jesus’ victory over the enemy.

We don’t have to do anything to save ourself, and that’s wonderful, since we can’t do anything to save us anyway. We are totally reliant on the grace of God. God will see us through. God will save us, even from ourself. God will present us faultless in His presence in eternity.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, both now and forever.” Jude 1:24,25

All the promises and blessings of God do not come to you because you earn them. God doesn’t give special favours to His pets. God has promised all the blessings of eternity to you as much as to anyone else. And you can’t get them by going to Bible College, serving God diligently or looking like a better Christian than anyone else.

The blessings are not up to you. They come to you as gifts of God’s grace. You can’t earn them, otherwise it wouldn’t be grace; rather it would be payment for your performance. Since you can’t earn them or qualify for them, all you can do is receive them, by trusting God for them. That’s faith. Grace comes to you by faith. When you rely on God, trusting Him to bring you through the trials and to bless you and save you, then God can release His grace to you.

So, whoever you are and whatever your situation, there is a fountain for you to drink from. It is God’s grace. I call you to stop trying to make things happen and stop trying to save yourself or to bless yourself, but humble yourself before God and start seeing wonderful things ‘By the Grace of God’.

The World, that realm controlled by Satan, is violently antagonistic to God. The devil is in direct competition with God, wanting people to worship him and his ways, and to be kept from knowing God and the power of eternal salvation.

How can I say that the world is controlled by Satan? I say it on the authority of the Bible, where Satan is called the prince of this world, and where we are told that all that is in the world is against our Heavenly Father.

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out.” John 12:31

“Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me.” John 14:30

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father but from the world.” 1John 2:15,16

The devil displayed the nature of his world right at the outset, when he met with Eve in the Garden. Firstly the devil came in disguise; in the body of a snake, not as a fallen angel thrown out of heaven.

Secondly the devil used lies, accusing God of wanting to keep Eve from special knowledge that would do wonderful things for her. Those lies tempted Eve to use her own will to violate God’s commands. The devil didn’t take her will from her, but deceived her into using her will against God.

So, in this world we can expect that evil is disguised in many forms and that the world is full of deceiving ideas meant to lead us away from God and relationship with Him. We should expect our world to be full of counterfeits.

A counterfeit is something passed off as the real thing, but fake. It doesn’t have any value, but looks like it should be valuable. The devil has filled our world with counterfeit things and you have very likely been fooled by those counterfeits.

Let me suggest a couple that spring to mind. The world values intellect and brainy-ness. During my high school years there seemed to be great focus on IQ. Those who were better students were upheld as better than others. We were led to think being “brainy” is a ticket to success.

We have higher education qualifications and groups such as Mensa devoted to the idea that intellect is very special and important. The Bible doesn’t decry intellect, but it basically ignores it completely. The Bible puts no particular value on being more intelligent. Instead the Bible focuses on Wisdom.

Wisdom is the principle thing, not a head full of knowledge or a high IQ. Wisdom is shown to be extremely valuable and worthy of our life-long pursuit.

“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you. Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. If it costs all you have to acquire, gain understanding.” Proverbs 4:4-7

Speaking of Wisdom, we also have Counterfeit Wisdom that comes from this world. True wisdom comes from God and looks at things from God’s point of view. Worldly wisdom is concerned with human feelings and is laced with devilish deception and enticement.

“This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” James 3:15

The world has a counterfeit value to life based around possessions. Many people consume their whole life trying to pile up possessions. People evaluate how successful their life has been based on accumulated possessions, such as house and car.

We even talk these days of ‘retail therapy’ where by buying things, adding to their collection of possessions, people hope to get a good feeling.

Possessions do not bring true happiness, security or contentment. Wealthy people commit suicide. Wealthy people can have sleepless nights in fear of losing their wealth, or upset someone has upstaged them. Wealthy people go to psychologists hoping to find resolution to their unresolved unhappiness.

The Bible tells of God giving wonderful and great possessions to people, such as Abraham, Solomon and Job. But the Bible celebrates and extols the value of ‘contentment’ rather than possessions.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1Timothy 6:6

“Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with turmoil.” Proverbs 15:16

“I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances” Philippians 4:11

In our Social Media addicted world we also find the deception of connections and networking over relationship. When social media platforms began to spawn I heard older people scoffing at those having a hundred or more ‘friends’. True friends are few and far between and can often be counted on our fingers. For all the connectivity social media provides it can’t cause more people to be true friends with us. We might know more about their favourite food but that is a false sense of friendship.

For many people social media has taken them away from friendships and relationship and distracted them with a bunch of activity with a wide sweep of contacts with whom they actually have fairly superficial relationships.

Jesus reinforced the Old Testament command to love our neighbour. That kind of relationship involves care, connection and time, that are not able to be replaced with a technological link. God is not against technology, but God wants us to see things for what they are, not get caught in the hype of popular culture, at the expense of things that are important.

There are many other areas to investigate as counterfeit, so this is just a teaser to get you thinking. The last area I will mention here is that of sensual pleasure displacing morality and the sacredness of marriage.

Many people today think of sexual intimacy as of little value, not a sacred gift to be shared exclusively between husband and wife. The counterfeit of pleasure is leading people to destroy themselves morally and come under multiple negative effects. Those who believe the lie probably think they are blessed by sexual freedom, but that level of relationship is a lie and directly opposed to God’s moral standards.

So give careful attention to what is going on in our world around us, and that which has become the popular mindset and activity pattern. I suggest that you take it for granted such things are deceptive and counterfeit, meant to lead people into some place where they will be kept from relating with God and finding their true life purpose. Look for God’s truth and Beware the Counterfeits.

Today’s entertainment world is as distracted with superheroes as it once was with westerns. A constant stream of movies and shows has featured people with special abilities not known in human experience. That fantasy distraction can mislead us, so I want to speak a practical word about the super powers God has given you.

The fantastical abilities presented on the big screen, complete with the latest computer generated imagery making impossible things look real, can give the impression that super powers would make us successful and happy.

Yet people don’t possess those imagined abilities. And at the same time, for you to become successful, powerful and happy, you would be foolish to daydream about having those kinds of abilities.

The truth is, and it’s a truth that might get lost in the blaze of fantastical heroes, you do have amazing powers, if only you will use them. The Bible points to a number of things you can do and powers you can develop, that will bring you far greater success than you currently enjoy.

Let’s catalogue some of the basic powers you have at hand. First you have life, and you have a mind and the range of capacities that come with being human. Some of those capacities might be impaired in your case, such as loss of sight or hearing, but if you are catching my message right now you have some of those basic faculties still working for you. Those who harness and use their life and basic faculties move ahead of others.

You also have time. You most likely have years and decades of life ahead of you. And each year holds hundreds of days that hold the same amount of time for each of us. Those who harness and use their time wisely move ahead of others.

You also have mentors, teachers, role models, friends, family and various associates, not to mention the local community in which you live and your broader community or country. Those who harness and use their opportunities to learn and be guided, and who connect well with the networks around them move ahead of others.

You have natural wisdom in your world, made up from your own experience and the experience of people around you, recorded in biographies and books, shared among friends, and passed on to benefit others. That wisdom usually takes some energy and discipline to apply in our lives, putting aside our desire to take things easy, and pushing through the process of disciplining our lives. Those who harness and use the wisdom available to them move ahead of others.

Then there’s the wonderful grace of God available to all who will humble themselves and put faith in Christ, becoming a child of God, and then living in faith by the Word of God. Not only does God’s word bring us superior wisdom to the wisdom of this world, but the grace of God actively directs us, and rescues us, while bringing blessing into our lives. Of course, that means we also die to a life of indulgence in this world and find far greater riches and delights by loving and enjoying a life with God. Those who harness and use the blessing of God, by faith and humility, move ahead of others.

Each of these, and this is not an exclusive list, are the Simple Super-Powers. These are the ones that actually exist. These are the ones you need to think about and pursue.

A child whose head is filled with fantasy ideas about getting imagined abilities could day-dream about it all day. Their friends who study, do chores well, spend time with mentors and coaches, practice specific skills until they master them, and build strong relationships with God, family, friends and the community will leave the day-dreamer far behind. Dreaming of the fantastical robs people of the real super-powers in their hand.

The same is true for all areas where people day-dream, such as wishing for a better marriage, dreaming of a better career, wanting to be better at their favoured skill, and so on. The dreamer could achieve so much more by using their Simple Super-Powers, than by wishing for some stroke of luck to change their world.

Let’s hear how God instructs regarding using the Simple Super-Powers we have at hand. The key prompting is to be diligent with what we have and not to waste our time and life.

“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” Proverbs 12:24

“He who deals with a slack hand becomes poor: but the hand of the diligent makes wealth.” Proverbs 10:4

“The soul of the sluggard desires things, yet has nothing: but the soul of the diligent will be made fat.” Proverbs 13:4

Another Bible prompt is to accept discipline and training. Anyone who seeks to excel in sport or other skills knows you have to be pushed beyond your limits and accept that discipline, in order to achieve.

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” Proverbs 12:1

“He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.” Proverbs 15:32

Another prompt is to be self-motivated. That is to take personal responsibility for our progress and provision, rather than being like a child who expects others to think about those things for us. The example given is the ant.

“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without commander, overseer or ruler it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8

A child relies on parents and carers to take care of a host of things and ensure the child’s welfare. However, on stepping into adulthood we need to take personal responsibility for our choices and directions. So the Bible speaks often about us making a personal choice, and it talks of abandoning our childish thinking.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” 1Corinthians 13:11

One of your great Super-Powers is your will. God gave you personal power to determine who you are and what you will do. You will be judged for eternity based on how you use that power. So take stock of where you are, what you are doing, where you are headed, and especially what you are doing to develop and put to use the Simple Super-Powers God has given you.

It’s time to be grown up about your life and who you are and where you stand with God. It is time to put away childish daydreams and get on with the life God has given you, making full use of all your wonderful Simple Super-Powers.