Month: September 2022

It wasn’t until I took driver’s education that I found out what a blind spot was. A blind spot is an area around your car that you can’t see by checking in your mirrors or looking ahead. You need to turn your head slightly to the left or right to make sure there is nothing in your way. The one thing I remember most from driver’s ed class is to make sure and do a shoulder check. I’m glad I got into the habit because it saved me from an accident last week. Blind spots also apply to other areas in our life. Those hidden things about us that others might see but we can’t. We might think that we are being kind and generous but aren’t aware of how we are really coming across. There are plenty of examples of people who think they can sing but when auditioning on reality television discover they weren’t so gifted. Sometimes we are aware of our blind spots, but we choose to ignore them because it’s just easier than making a change in life. If we want to do a quick ‘shoulder check’ on our hidden weaknesses we have three sources of help. Friends and family. We can ask those closest to us, the ones we feel safe with, if there are areas in our life where we might be lacking self-awareness. This isn’t fun but can be helpful. “Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6) Scripture. When we open our hearts to letting the scriptures really search us, we can be caught off guard by seeing some unpleasant things in our life. God works through his word to help us see more clearly. “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.” (Isaiah 35:5) The Holy Spirit. This is part of the Spirit’s work, to examine our heart. The Psalmist prayed: Search me, God, and know my heart;    test me and know my anxious thoughts.See if there is any offensive way in me,    and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24) I’ve found that God answers those kinds of prayers more regularly than I would like. It usually means I need to confess and make changes. Failure to check your blind spot can be dangerous to you and to others on the road. Failure to examine your life can have similar consequences. Thankfully we don’t have to just take our chances.

A preacher got himself in trouble last week over some comments on social media. His remarks were unwise and drew a lot of attention to him and his ministry. When people started looking at him a little closer, they discovered that his church had an attendance of about fifty people, but he referred to himself as ‘an apostle’ and ‘father to the nations’. There’s nothing wrong with pastoring a small congregation but calling yourself ‘father to the nations’ is a little grandiose.   I have never quite understood people who feel it necessary to go overboard when describing their accomplishments. Confidence and self-awareness are good traits, but humility is often lacking in our world.   The Apostle Paul (a real apostle) had it with self-promoting false teachers and apostles who were influencing the church at Corinth. Their claims to power and greatness were all based on the wrong measurement. Paul refused to play the game of comparison. He knew what God had called him to do. He knew his limits and more than that, he knew when to acknowledge his weaknesses. In powerful words against false teachers, he writes: “Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!  We will not boast about things done outside our area of authority. We will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of the work God has given us, which includes our working with you. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13, NLT) His opponents were commending themselves on how important they were. Boasting about their impact on the world. Yet, Paul says God doesn’t measure one’s ministry based on what is happening somewhere else. God wants us to be faithful in the spot where he has placed us. Are you serving God and being faithful to him, right where you are today? Don’t go looking to compare or measure your spiritual growth or service with other people. That is unhelpful. If you are being faithful and serving in the place where God has put you, then he’ll take care of you. There won’t be any need for empty boasting. Just a great sense of success. 

As con games go, this is one for the books. Criminals set up a fake cricket league to scam gamblers in Russia. The hoax set up a false version of India’s Premier League and filmed bogus games in a farmer’s field in Gujarat.  Local people were paid five dollars a game to masquerade as players and fans. They created several fake teams and used a soundtrack to create the noise of cheering fans. These fake games were then streamed live on YouTube to unsuspecting betting operations in Russia. For all intents and purposes, the Russians believed they were watching legitimate Premier League games. As bets were placed in Russia, accomplices would communicate with the game officials, who would direct players to score a certain number of runs. Several people in India have been arrested and charged but there’s no report on how much money was made off the scheme. It’s another illustration of how just about anything in our world today can be copied and falsified. Increasingly, we wonder how we can tell the real from the fake. Deception like this is not new. We are warned in scripture to pay attention and watch for people who would destroy our faith. Paul routinely warned about false teachers and preachers.  For example: “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) There’s no need to panic, but we do need to be aware that the enemy will always try to confuse. It’s an old game and we need to be on our guard. Praying for discernment should be part of our regular practice. In a world where everything is getting more complex, we need to practice discernment and test the spirits. Thankfully, part of the Holy Spirit’s work is to help us in this area. Meanwhile, I wouldn’t suggest you take any bets on cricket games in Russia.

Years ago, there was a kind village dentist who passed away. As the family was sorting through his belongings, they discovered several bags of old teeth, filled or capped with gold. The man had often paid his patients for their old teeth and then put them away in a box. When someone has a tooth pulled, it is usually because the tooth is bad or rotten. And indeed, there was plenty of evidence for that. They looked awful and ugly. The family wasn’t sure why their father had bothered to keep these teeth. Then one family member suggested that the gold might be valuable. After making some contacts, they found a company to buy the gold. The teeth were broken up and the gold refined with high heat. After the gold was melted down and evaluated, the family received a payment of $4000 (a size-able amount in those days). God has a way of seeing the value in each one of us. Yes, he sees the ugly rottenness that must be chipped away. Then he refines us to make us what he wants us to be. Through the work of Jesus, we are made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) We become children of God with value and beauty. Restored in the image of God, gold as refined by fire.