CHASING THE WIND

CHASING THE WIND

By Pastor Mark Taylor

“Better is a handful of peace than two hands full of toil and chasing after wind.”  Ecclesiastes 4:6 (paraphrased).

Are we are constantly measuring ourself with others to determine if we are "OK"?  Are we unhappy with who we are or what we have as we look at others?  God wants to give us freedom from comparison.

There is no win in comparison.    “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12

We have a tendency to compare what we have with what others have. We want our children and spouses to be better than others.  We want our houses and cars to be better than others.  It is not really about us wanting something better. It is about us, so we can feel better about who we are.  We all know that there is something wrong in our lives, personality, behavior, thoughts.  We try to fix this by comparing ourselves to others.  We say “Well at least I am not as bad as (fill in the blank).”

The problem with this is that as we look to the left and to the right, we will always find someone better, smarter, richer, prettier, and so on.  So we are putting undue pressure on others and on ourselves to be like someone else. Just be the best you can be.

There is no win in comparison.  What are we using for a reference point to determine if we are ok or if we are alright?  Solomon is saying that if you always are looking to the left are right for approval, you will have both hands chasing after the wind.  Are you looking at your father, your mother, your husband or wife to tell you you are ok? it is important to “love yourself” regardless if others withhold words of approval from you.

If we are comparing ourselves with others to please them or win their approval, affirmation, or friendship you will live your life by the opinions and demands of others instead of seeking to please our Lord.  When we starting comparing ourselves to others we will find difficulty in knowing our own feelings and wishes.  "Am I now trying to win the approval of others or of God?  Or am I trying to please others?  If I were doing either of these things, I would not  be serving Christ like I should." (Galatians 1:10 paraphrased).

In Ecclesiastes 4:5. Solomon says “The fool folds his hand and does nothing.”   He is not saying we are not to be ambitious and have goals in life.  He is not saying that we do not encourage our children and each other to become better.  What he is saying, is that life is meaningless if you can't enjoy what you have in one hand. Take time to smell the roses as you go through life.

Competitive is different than Comparison.   Competitive is when you put your energy into becoming better instead of doing things in seeking someone else's approval.  You do it for you and the team.  You use your gifts and abilities to help others climb up the ladder of success or overcome problems.  You have one hand climbing up and another hand reaching down to help others.  Then you can find the approval from within.   Being competitive is helping you and others.  This is called being a friend or being a family.

What is your mirror that you are looking at to tell you that you are ok? Are you exhausted from trying to keep up with- (fill in the blank)?  Are you broke from trying to keep up with - (fill in the blank)? Are you allowing what others have keep you from enjoying what you have?

Do you enjoy your kids or are you driving them crazy by comparing them to how much other kids have achieved?  Your love and approval should not be based on performance.  Are you comparing your wife or husband to someone else's?   You need to be thankful for the wife or husband God has given you.  Don’t compare them to others.

Who does your Heavenly Father compare you to?  Nobody.  He went to the cross so He could have a personal, one on one, relationship with you.  He does not compare you with His other children. “He demonstrated His love toward you when you were still nobody - someone who didn’t love Him, He died for you.”  Romans 5:8 (paraphrased).

Who’s estimation of you should you use when you evaluate yourself as whether or not you are ok or not?  You should use God's estimation of you above your own estimation of you.  He is going to say "Your fine, because your mine."

He is not done working on you to make you better.  Look to Him for your affirmation and for His approval of you.  He already sees you as His child.  Quite focusing on your weaknesses and focus on your relationship.

Proverbs 14:30 "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."  If you are always looking at others to receive their approval, you will never have peace, but will be "chasing the wind”.  Envy is wanting what others have and not being satisfied with who you are and what God has given you.

Take your cue about you from how God views you. Psalms 139:14. "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  “For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers.” Jeremiah 29:11-12

What you have is less important than what you do with what you have.  The parable of the talents:  Matthew 25:14-30

What are you going to do with what God has entrusted to you?  Celebrate what God has done for others and use what God has given you.  Use what you have in one hand and don’t waste it trying to chase something you will never have.  Live a life of peace enjoying what God has given you and then He will give you more of what you need.

THINGS CHANGE - BUT GOD DOESN'T

THINGS CHANGE - BUT GOD DOESN’T

By Pastor Mark Taylor

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

Today, we live in a world of rapid change. The evidence of change is all around us: Spring becomes summer. Summer becomes fall. Fall becomes winter. Winter becomes spring. The young become aged and the new becomes old and so on and so forth.  Because everything has a season, nothing (at least on earth) lasts forever. God has appointed a "season" for everything. Seasons have beginnings and endings. They last, but not too long. In the life cycle there is a season for conception and growth, a season for childhood and youth, a season for middle age and a season for old age, followed by death. It's all quite natural; it's all ordained by God.

Our lives will be a lot less stressful if we recognize that the omniscient hand of God has appointed a time when things are to be done, and He has a predetermined duration for those things to last. God has appointed the times and seasons, the events of our lives, the happy and the sad, the easy and the difficult.

"He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  The word translated "beautiful" doesn't mean "lovely" or "pretty." It means “mature” "fitting," "appropriate" or "proper." There is a fitting point in time that God has determined something should happen. Accordingly, God will never be late and He'll never be early.

Furthermore, He knows the proper duration for that event. He never holds it over too long or cuts it off too short. He knows exactly the number of days He's given to you, and nobody can shorten those days; nobody can lengthen them either. Our times and seasons are in God's hand. And what we entrust to God's hand, God makes "proper" in its time.  The day of our death is, in His hands, every bit as wonderful as the day of our birth. When you live and die in the knowledge of God's eternal plan, you live and die with this confidence--God makes all things beautiful in its time.

“I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don't you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land.” Isaiah 43:19  For God to fulfill that promise in Isaiah, He has to bring about change. When God does a new thing that means that there are changes about to happen. “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift from God” That's why we call it the "present" Bible says “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”.  (Psalm 118:24)

The Lord did not grant us another day on earth to worry and be anxious about what was going to happen next. He gave it to us to rejoice and be glad in Him and be productive in whatever way we could because each day is a gift from God. 

His promise is that He would never forsake us. God’s grace pours out to all who will trust Him. You don’t have to earn it. You just have to be in relationship with Him to receive His grace.

God Is an Agent of Change - However, God Does not Change

Malachi 3:6 says “For I, the Lord, do not change...” God is the same God as He has always been and always will be. One of the attributes of God is that He is Immutable... meaning that He never changes. God is the only person or thing that is not subject to change. His nature never changes. 

Hebrews 13:8, says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” by yesterday is meant all time past; by today, the time present; and by forever all that is future, from the present time to eternity. 

Becoming a Christian requires change. We must remove old habits and develop new ones. God's word is the best source of guidance for self-help and motivation for self-improvement.  True repentance is necessary for salvation; not merely sorrow that one's sins are known, but total transformation and knowledge that all sin is detested by a pure and holy God; a knowledge that our sins are against God, as well as others.

In Matt. 16:24, Jesus said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Deny himself... not indulge all his earthly desires. Putting aside one's own thoughts, wants, and even needs, to follow Jesus.

Jesus said, "Unless you 'repent' [change your mind and turn around], you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:2) Repent means that you must "change your thinking" and "turn away from your old ways”. "Jesus said, "...blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and do it.” (Luke 11:27, 28). You will be blessed by following the words of Jesus Christ the Lord; to do them.

We come to the Lord in our weakness, in our inability, in our sin and in our failure. We choose to believe His love and ability to change us, as we rest in His grace. The result is that we grow.  “We grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18

Today — He is the same; if we are walking humbly with Him. He will be our God — and we shall be His people! So Let us cultivate . . . intimacy with Him, dependence upon Him, concern to please Him, fear to offend Him, zeal to glorify Him; then it must be well with us in health and sickness, in plenty and poverty, in life and death! For He is the same, and will never turn away from doing us good .