Unnoticed!!

Sitting on the bottom of a lake, tucked in the weeds, camouflaged in the darkness, this Alligator Snapper sits with his mouth open, his tongue like a worm, enticing fish to come and take a nibble so he can take a bite!  These predators are hard to see, even when you are looking right at them.  There are predators in the church that are like that, difficult to see, camouflaged, lurking in the shadows.


Jude talks about them in graphic terms.  His plan, when he took up his quill or stylus, was to write about our common salvation (v.3).  Instead he was motivated by the Holy Spirit and inspired to encourage us to contend earnestly for the faith delivered to the saints.  The word delivered is in the aorist tense, which is why in the translation we have "once for all" added.  It is the past perfect tense, something done that is completed and never needs to be done again!  Hallelujah!


In verse 4 Jude tells us that certain persons have crept in unnoticed.  Camouflaged.  Baiting the unwary.  Who are they, and what are they like?  These are the people Paul described in II Timothy 3:1-9:  Lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.  They turn the grace of God into license to live as they please.


In verses 5 and 6 Jude reminds us just how horrible sin is, contrasting it to the wonderful grace of God.  Remember what happened after He saved Israel out of Egypt.  God opened the ground and swallowed up those who did not believe.  Even after the power of His miraculous rescue of Israel there were those who thought they could live according to their own law.  Even in heaven the ravages of sin is seen!  There are angels so rebellious that they are kept in eternal bonds under darkness until the final judgment!


Following his statement about how bad sin is Jude gives us examples of the devastation of sin.  I can almost hear his thoughts.  "Where is our sense of shame?  Do we really love God enough to be ashamed?  Can't we see how bad sin really is?"


People in my local body of believers can be just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah!  They can defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile angelic majesties!  In contrast to that is Michael, who when arguing about the body of Moses with the devil did not dare to pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."  Men and women such as these have gone the way of Cain, Balaam, and Korah.


Cain was jealous (Genesis 4:5).  He hardened his heart after God's reproof.  Instead of being broken hearted over his sin he was angry that he got caught, that God knew his sin!  (Genesis 4:6-7)  By the time we get to verse 8 he has killed his own brother!  In verse 9 it is obvious that Cain is irreverent and selfish.  Moreover he has no favor with God (Genesis 4:14-16)


Balaam was famous (Numbers 22:5-6).  He was also self-willed (22:12-22), and as a result had to be saved from destruction by his donkey (22:33)!  Balaam was obviously a man of divided allegiance, eloquent in prophecy but presumptuous in trying to alter God's plan (23:24).  Ultimately he failed (24:10) and was considered an evil counselor (31:16).  How did all that happen?  II Peter 2:15 reminds us that Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness!


Korah we read about in Numbers 16.  He stood against God's anointed in 16:3.  Everyone who followed him (and he had a lot of followers) was in danger (16:21).  Ultimately Korah and his followers were consumed (Numbers 16:20-31).  Wow!


The really scary fact is that at times I can be one of these!  If I am not paying attention to my spiritual walk and walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which I have been called I can be a hidden reef in our communion celebration, without fear of God's judgment, caring about myself, a cloud without water carried about by the wind, unanchored!  I can be an autumn tree without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted instead of like a tree planted by water (Psalm 1).  I can be driven and tossed by the wind like the surf of the sea because of my doubts (James 1:6-8) unstable in all my ways, my shame like foam.  Instead of being like Enoch I can be ungodly, harsh, speak against my Savior, grumbling, finding fault, following after my own lust, speaking arrogantly, even flattering people for the sake of gaining some advantage instead of loving people as God intended!


Jude doesn't leave me hanging, I'm glad to say.  In verses 17-25 he reminds us how to avoid this.  I'll break it down, because I did this in my devotions this morning for my own benefit.


1.  Remember that I can be like these men at any time (17-19).
2.  Build myself up in holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep myself in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
3.  Have mercy!  Be the man of Colossians 3:10-17 so that I can help others avoid this as well!
4.  Remember that it is Jesus who will keep me from stumbling, who will make me stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, and that all glory, majesty, dominion and authority is His alone!  Amen!


You really are my very best friend, Lord Jesus!  Strengthen me today to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered!  Amen.

The danger of becoming a vicious predator is very real for all of us.  Sin is horrible!  Keep this monster at bay!

Where I Live

These little guys are really cute, as small as a dime as hatchlings, and they don't grow very large.  This turtle is known as the "Stinkpot."  I'm not making this up!  When disturbed, it secretes a foul-smelling, yellowish fluid from 2 pairs of musk glands under the border of the carapace, hence the name.  Often one will find these fellows camouflaged by a layer of algae.  As they grow older they're not really very nice turtles, the males especially aggressive, biting quickly, with a long neck that can stretch back as far as their hind legs.  Preferring quiet or slow-moving shallow, muddy-bottomed waters this interesting species (sternotherus odoratus) inhabits fresh waters of Southern Ontario, and coastal Maine to Florida, west to Central Texas, north to Southern Wisconsin.


Where this turtle lives tells one a great deal about it.  The coating of algae on its shell makes it look like a rock on the bottom of a muddy place, hiding it effectively from its food source.  Both its color and its distinctive striping provide adequate camouflage for muddy bottoms where it feeds.  Mud, moving slowly along the bottom silt layer obscures it further.


In our world today the waters are often muddied by immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed.  In Colossians 3 Paul talks about that.  What I find interesting is that where I live often determines how I act!  If I choose to live in those muddied waters then my actions will be what he describes in verses 8-9.  Anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech and lies!


No, I'd much rather move into waters that are crystal clear and filled with light.  Paul talks about that in the next 8 verses (10-17), and then describes how that applies to our families and workplace (18-24).  Instead of squirting out some smelly fluid of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, being filled with anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lies, I'd like to be filled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with my fellow believers and forgiving them just like Jesus forgave me.  But I can't do that if I stay in the muddy waters!


Love clears up the water.  I'm talking about real love, the perfect love that casts out all fear, that loves without expecting anything in return.  His love brings peace.  His words, expressed from a thankful heart, can richly dwell within and be used to bless others.  In fact, when I live in the clear water everyone can tell I'm doing what I'm doing for Him, not for me, because all the attention is on Him.  When I do things for me I move right back into those muddy waters.


Where do I live?  Am I a blessing or a stinkpot?  You'll certainly know when we see each other!

The Sum Total

Graptemys geographica • Map Turtle

Growing up on the banks of beautiful Lake Maxinkuckee and spending my boyhood days on the Tippecanoe and Wabash River gave me ample opportunity to study and appreciate these amazing reptiles.  Map turtles have been classified by scientists in the genus Graptemys.  You did pay attention in biology and know how that works, didn't you?  From the top down it would be–Kindom:  Anamalia; Phylum:  Chordata; Class:  Reptilia; Subclass:  Anapsida; Order:  Testudines; Suborder:  Crptodira; Superfamily:  Testudinoidea; Family:  Emydidae; Subfamily:  Deirochelyinae; Genus:  Graptemys.  The review was as much for my benefit as yours, you can be sure.

G. pulchra • Alabama Map Turtle

This distinctive turtle genus ranges through a wide variety of habitats from Florida to Texas, and north to the Dakotas and Quebec.  Unique features set them apart from other semi-aquatic turtles found in the same area.  A diverse group of turtles, with many beautifully marked species, each type possessing distinctive habits, diets and environmental preferences, they are fascinating to study.  They inhabited Grassy Lake, where we maintained a winter vacation house and most of the lakes and waterways I visited in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota.


Most Map turtles have a well-defined keel running down the middle of the upper shell (carapace).  It gets that name from a close resemblance to the keel of a boat if you hold the turtle upside down, which is not advised as they can't breathe in that position.  Scientists, of course, have to identify everything with difficult words that are usually hard to pronounce and almost impossible to remember correct spellings.  I often think they do that so they can feel superior to the rest of us, a means to justify their existence and make them seem more important.  Or, I could just be a bit prejudiced against scientists.

Graptemys barbouri • Barbour's Map Turtle

Those little sections on the upper and lower shell (carapace and plastron) are called scutes.  The most notable difference between Map turtles and other turtles is the distinctive thin lines covering the skin and scutes, making it appear as if it were a contour or road map.  For those of you who are not keeping up, that would explain the name.  Each species has unique markings.  Strangely, despite the claims of scientists that evolution is a valid theory, a female Barbour's map turtle will lay eggs that hatch little Barbour's map turtles, and have done so for centuries, suggesting that such claims lack validity.  Could it be possible!


Boy and girl Map turtles are relatively easy to tell apart.  Males have a longer and thicker tail than the female.  Its vent is posterior to the margin of the carapace.  Some of the species (G. flavimaculata, G. nigrinoda, G. oculifera, G. ouachitensis, and G. pseudogeographica) possess longer claws on their front feet.  Size matters!  In this species world the females are the largest.  Often the smallest female of the species will be as big as the largest male.  My guess is that God created them that way because the females need room for all those eggs they lay.

Graptemys caglei • Cagle's Map Turtle

I was wondering if, when Map turtles meet, one thinks "Wow!  That turtle is better looking than me!" because of the unique stripe patterns.  Does that turtle then get depressed because he or she somehow does not measure up?  Like us, does the Map turtle believe that the sum total of his or her value depends on the opinion of fashion journalists.  Do they hate each other because one has spots and the other has stripes, and therefore one or the other doesn't fit in?


Often I've looked at myself and thought: "How could anyone love that?"  I'm obese, therefore, in the eyes of doctors, fashion journalists, and scientists I am somehow less than I should be.  Am I?  Being bald makes me wonder if I am somehow less because I don't have as much hair as Pastor Joe Silva, or Don Patterson.  Is this true?  How do I determine the sum total of my value?

Graptemys flavinaculata
Yellow-bloched Map Turtle

Jesus died for me.  It's really that simple!  Every time I put myself down I need to remember that there is no way to measure the value of one drop of His blood.  If He died for me, shed His blood for me, my value must be based on that one fact, and that fact alone.  Skin color doesn't matter (we all have the same pigment in our skin anyway, just more or less)!  Education doesn't matter.  Social standing doesn't matter.  Money doesn't matter.  Being fat or thin doesn't matter.  What matters is that Jesus died for me!  Me!

When I take my eyes off of Jesus I forget who I am and lose my sense of value.  Studying nature teaches me that.  An oak tree is not somehow better than an Aspen tree.  The Yellow-bloched Map turtle is not better than the False Map turtle.  Each was uniquely created.  Every one has a beauty and purpose that belongs to it alone!

Graptemys versa • Texas Map Turtle

The sum total of my person is not in what I think about myself, or what others think of me!  My value is not based on how much money I make, or how successful I am in my job, or what kind of car I drive or house I live in!  When I look upon others through the eyes of the Creator, suddenly I can look beyond clothes, hairstyles, skin color, and body dimensions.  I can see a unique creation, a soul that only He can fill, and a person for whom He died.  James asked the question:  Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?  Neither can salt water produce fresh.  He asked those questions after he talked about the tongue.  Remember?  With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  No kidding!

Graptemys nigrinoda
Black-knobbed or Ringed Map Turtle

I may not love my actions, or thoughts, or words, but I can love me.  Your actions, thoughts, and words may be offensive to me, but I can love you in spite of those things.  If we treasure His words in our hearts, bless Him, repeat His words more often than our own, rejoice in the way of His testimonies, the straight and narrow path that leads to His Kingdom, meditate on His words and think about them, we will delight in them and not forget them.  Satan really wants me to see myself as a looser, not as someone for whom Jesus died.  Jesus really wants me to see myself as someone He loves and cares for, someone who is worthy, not a looser, someone for whom He has won the battle.  Wow!  I feel good! 

Empowerment to Incompetence

With the origin of the Internet came the empowerment of the incompetent.  For the first time in over two hundred years of history communication became egalitarian, outside the imprimatur of an editor.  Over time advertisers, poets, rappers, and even religious clerics have depredated language with impunity.  Read a blog, listen to a commentator, enter a chat forum.  There one can find the demise of language exquisitely portrayed in the grammar (or lack thereof) of the near illiterate and incompetent.

Watching comments unfold on forums makes one cringe, even scream in frustration.  One can read the thoughts of chatters regarding silly issues, the effects, of which they do not understand, obviously far outside the trite and naïve (if not entirely illiterate) comments.  Each individual shouts ever louder and louder but none is heard.  Obviously psychology’s “talking cure” is being taken seriously, yet it must turn sufferers even more psychotic when no one listens.  No longer even a modicum of decorum is exercised in forums.

      Mahatma Gandhi said:  “It is the quality of our work which will please God, and not the quantity.”  Mother Teresa said:  “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”  The Apostle Paul said it this way:  “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  It is not so much literacy that we need to save, but excellence.  Let those of us who use the Internet remember this, earnestly contending with our own shortcomings.Observations from the Turtle Pond

Margin

This morning I was contemplating reserves.  Emotional, physical, financial, and time demands all seem overloaded at the moment.  That puts us in a position of surviving, rather than thriving.  Once again I am at that place where I realize that I must restructure my life to provide margin.

You know about margin.  The spaces around the edges of a page, and between columns, so that all the printing doesn't bleed off the edge of the pages and allows for easy reading.  Human lives need margin too.

Richard A. Swenson, M.D. wrote a wonderful book entitled Margin.  As far as I am concerned, it is the best work on this subject I've read.  You should read it.  I'm going back to the book because I need to restructure things so that I can restore emotional, physical, financial, and time reserves.

Reserve is the key word.  Right now I don't have any physical reserves.  Somehow I've grown so busy in life I don't seem to have any time reserves either.  Let's not go to the emotional scene right now.  Our financial situation isn't critical, but it isn't in good health either.  How did I get here?

"That's the rub!"  As they say.  Getting here was easy.  Fortunately, getting out isn't as difficult as it sometimes seems.  Go back to basics.  Structure your life in the Biblical model.

I know one thing for certain.  Life, change, even history is unfolding exponentially.  Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. put it this way:  "Nothing defines our age more than the furious and relentless increase in the rate of change."  Schlesinger was "court historian" and a special adviser to President John F. Kennedy.  That was back in 1961.  Imagine what he might say today!

"But there's so much that needs to be done!"  WRONG!  The only thing I need to do today is simple.  Today I need to love the Lord Jesus so very much that my love for everything else looks like hatred in comparison!  Today I need to put His words in my heart, store them away, so that I can talk about them when I rise up, when I sit down, when I am on the way somewhere, when I am there, and when I lie down.  That is it!  That is my task today.

Oh sure!  But what about your responsibilities as a husband, father, friend, church member, and at Grace Resource Center?

No problem!  If my mind is fixed on Jesus, today I'll get everything done that needs to be done, because I work for Him.  He's my boss.  He decides what I need to do.  And when I allow Him that kind of access to my life, things get a whole lot easier.

What did Solomon say?  "Trust in the Lord with your whole heart.  Don't trust your own understanding and wisdom.  Acknowledge Him in everything (the clogged drain, the busy schedule, the sore feet, are just tests to see if my heart is truly thankful, after all) and He will keep me on the straight path where I won't get lost in the mire and deadly darkness of activity overload, change overload, choice overload, commitment overload, competition overload, debt overload, decision overload, education overload, expectation overload, fatigue overload, hurry overload, information overload, media overload, ministry overload, noise overload, people overload, pollution overload, possession overload, problem overload, technology overload, traffic overload, waste overload and work overload."

Solomon goes on.  "Don't think you know anything in and of yourself, that you can figure things out!  Be in awe of God's amazing knowledge and understanding and make a u-turn every time you are headed for evil!  It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.  Give to God first, everything he puts on your heart to give, and He will provide everything you need."

The psalmist said it this way:  "Cease striving, stop, be still, and understand that I am God."  The Bill Bennet paraphrase of that is fun!  "Dude!  You're running around like a chicken with its head cut off!  Chill!  I'm in charge, nothing catches Me by surprise, and I don't miss any details along the way!  Hey! Focus!  Here!  Look at Me!  Okay, now we can accomplish something!"

I get so caught up in doing things, in "doing" ministry, that I forget about the Author of my ministry.  It's easy.  If people are pleased with what I'm doing I feel like I'm doing okay. What's amazing is that I can be on the downward spiral of absolute destruction and feel like everything is okay because I'm pleasing myself!  Yeesh!  What an idiot I can be some times.

So today is about restoration of that relationship with Jesus.  Once I get that where it needs to be, everything else will fall into line with His plans.  His plans are the only perfect plans.

Cleaning the Turtle Tank

At present I have four turtles, the largest is about six inches in diameter, and the other three ranging between four and a half to five inches.  Even with a large filter in the tank the water gets fouled, brackish, and cloudy.  I like keeping it clean for them, but it's a constant chore.  Recently, as I was cleaning the filter and the tank, I got to thinking about regular maintenance.

My mind needs to be renewed daily.  Why?  My natural tendency is to fill it with things that will turn it cloudy, brackish, fouling it with impurities.  That makes it easy for me to conform to this world's way of thinking.    We're told to avoid that in Romans 12:2.  In Colossians 3:1-17  Paul shows us in detail what being renewed looks like.

Just like filling the tank with clean water after a thorough cleaning, putting the filter back in place to keep it clean for my turtles my mind needs the same treatment for the Lord to have a clean vessel to use.  I set my mind on the things above.  That involves thinking Biblically.  Since we have been given the mind of Christ, you would think that might be easy.  Maybe for you, it is.  For me, it requires discipline; the same kind of discipline required in cleaning my turtle tank on a regular basis.

Learning to think properly about things like immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech and lying refreshes my spirit, and gives the Holy Spirit the tools He needs to convince and convict me.  As I put in clean water in the turtle tank I put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created me, a renewal in which Christ is all, and in all.  Wow!  Jesus gets first place.

Pastor Chris Johnson hit me between the eyes in a sermon he preached recently when he explained the Hebrew idiom of speech "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."  Chris mentioned that Jesus loved Jacob so much, that in comparison, it looked like He hated Esau.  Jesus said that if we are going to follow Him we need to hate our father and mother, brother and sister, wife and life!  What He was saying was that we needed to love Him so much, that our love for everyone else looked like hatred in comparison!  Ouch!  I had to bow my head right there and then and confess to Jesus that I had not given Him the place He deserved in my life.

My turtle's health is improved when I keep the water in the tank clean.  Their environment is pleasant, and they react to that in positive ways.  In the same manner, when I keep my mind clean through this renewal, everyone I love is healthier and much more positive.  Here is the reality:  I can't love my wife, children, grandchildren, church family, friends, and the people I serve at Grace Resource Center without a proper love for Jesus.  Sure!  You know that!  Do you live it?

My heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, and my ability to bear with one another, forgive others and myself, and become a vessel of love is dependent on that renewed mind, that cleansing that has to happen on a regular basis.  But how do I know things are like they should be in my mind?

Peace rules in my heart and I am able to be thankful.  The Word of Christ seems to come to mind easily and I find myself singing in thankfulness to God.  Everything I do I do for Him, giving thanks for the opportunity to serve!  Hey!  Could thankfulness be the key to determine if things are like they should be in my mind?  I think it is.

Turtle tanks require a lot of work on a regular basis.  How much more my own mind?  Daily?  Hourly?  Better yet, moment by moment.  Give it some thought!  

Snapping Turtles

Snapping Turtles

Two species of snapping turtles are found in America.  Best known and is the Snapping Turtle.  This turtle has a rough ridged shell that is black and is not at all attractive, like the painted or spotted turtle.  Yet these unusual turtles are amazing.  Sitting on the bottom of lakes and ponds it opens its mouth, showing a tongue that is very much like a worm, waiting for unwary fish to swim in for a closer look and perhaps an exploratory nibble.

Alligator Snapping Turtles are a little different.  Looking alike these huge reptiles can weigh up to one hundred and fifty pounds!  Equipped with a beak that can snap a 2x4 in half these mighty turtles are dangerous.  Like their smaller cousins they are bad-tempered and snap at just about anything.

Once a snapping turtle latches on it won't let go.  Some people have cut off the head, which is a mistake, because the jaws don't unclench when one does that!  I remember when I was a boy on Lake Maxinkuckee, jewel of Northern Indiana, a family came to me (because I was the local turtle expert) because one of the kids had a snapping turtle attached to his toe!  Ouch!  I explained that all they had to do was light a match and put it under the turtle's chin and it would let go immediately and duck its head into its shell.  They were successful.

This memory triggered another memory in James 1:13-15.  In the New American Standard Bible it is recorded this way:  Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

My own lust is like that snapping turtle's tongue, luring me in, and like the snapping turtle, once sin gets a grip on me it doesn't let go!  One can't nibble and take a little taste!  That lure may look interesting, but it is attached to something big, ugly, and dangerous!  And when I am caught, I am devoured.

In Psalm 119 the psalmist asks a rhetorical question:  How can a young man keep his way pure?  The answer is obvious, and falls in the next line.  By living according to Your decrees.  Later on the psalmist says, "I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You!"  Sin may look interesting and tasty, but its jaws are horrible and powerful.  With the psalmist I cry out "oh that my ways were steadfast in keeping Your decrees.  Then I would not be ashamed when I look into Your law!"