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A dominant driver in our culture is convenience. The business world is obsessed with finding ways to make it easier for us to buy things. We can barely stand to purchase something if it takes more than 3 clicks. You get the feeling that inconvenience must be purged from society. It’s not just that we hate to be inconvenienced by everyday chores: we are increasingly annoyed by having to do them at all. We want instant gratification without effort or sweat. The danger is that we lose the capacity to develop patience and self-discipline which has always been necessary for the development of character. The Biblical poster-child for instant gratification is Esau.  He was the older twin brother to Jacob. Esau, after a tiring day, gave away his inheritance to Jacob for the price of a bowl of soup. The Message paraphrase puts it like this: “Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.” (Hebrews 12:16-17)Hebrews 12 deals with the subject of discipline and why it’s necessary. We are encouraged to stay the course when things get difficult. We are to “run with endurance”, “struggle against sin” and, “not grow weary or fainthearted.” In other words, spiritual growth takes some effort. Time-saving devices are great, but when it comes to the development of our faith, there is no shortcut. It’s necessary to pass through the dark and challenging days in order to strengthen our character. We carry burdens in prayer to develop the muscles of faith and trust.  In our suffering, we identify with Christ who suffered for us. The discomfort we feel causes us to yearn for something better. None of these things are convenient and yet they are necessary to our Christ-like development. So watch out for the Esau syndrome. Don’t trade away the blessings of God for your short- term appetites. That might leave a bitter taste.

The public transportation company in Aargau is putting out a new safety campaign. The ads show videos of people and cars with near tram mishaps. Some of the videos show a car or van turning onto tracks, unaware of the tram. Others show people with headphones in or focused on their phones wandering into the path of an oncoming train. According to the tram drivers, the biggest problem these days is the way people are distracted with their phones. Their plea to people, “Put down the phone and watch where you are going.”  It’s easy to take a shot at the overuse or overdependence on technology, especially phones. However, being constantly connected or constantly ‘checking’ has an impact on our overall well-being. Researchers are starting to come up with some clear evidence of how this can affect us and most of it is not healthy. Many schools this fall are now requiring students to put their phones away for the day. The negative impact on learning is significant for young minds.  What about adults? Truthfully most of us need to be connected to the internet for work purposes. It is hard to avoid. But are we spending too much time just scrolling or being on social media? Is your weekly screen time increasing or decreasing? Are we developing unhealthy habits?   What about taking a phone Sabbath? Sabbath, as we know from scripture is a day of rest. The principle of a day of rest is important for Christians. We honour God by ceasing from our labour, worshiping him, and enjoying life. I know it might be unrealistic to not check your phone for a whole day but what about giving it up for several hours?   In Deuteronomy, the Israelites were told they could take a day of rest because they were no longer slaves. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” (Deuteronomy 5:15) It was a sign of freedom, and liberation from control. When we recognize that we are being controlled by our need to check the phone, it’s time to put in some boundaries.   So, what would a Sabbath break from technology or your phone look like for you? How long can you go without checking your social media and updates? Start slowly. Can you leave it alone for an hour, or two? What about all of Sunday afternoon so you can read or play or nap? Practicing Sabbath is a spiritual discipline. The benefits of regular practice take time to build up but ultimately set us free.  

Poor Arti Mala went to a lot of trouble and expense to fly from her home in Scotland to attend a friend’s wedding in Washington, DC. How embarrassing then when she discovered she was at the wrong wedding. After a 3,000-mile flight and a taxi ride, she realized her mistake when she read the wedding program and didn’t know who the bride and groom were. Double-checking her invitation, she discovered the correct venue was just six miles away. In her defense, the name of the wedding venues was very similar. But she was a little mortified at crashing a wedding. I admire her commitment to travelling so far for her friends. She’s the opposite kind of person from the ones Jesus talks about in Matthew 22. A king prepared a wedding banquet for his son and sent out invitations. But when the time for the wedding came, the guests refused to come. The king grew agitated and sent his servants to collect the guests. “But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business.” (Matthew 22:5) It’s hard to imagine that people would so carelessly ignore an invitation to the wedding of a royal. And yet, that is exactly Jesus’ point. The king of heaven has invited us into his kingdom, and many people chose to ignore him. In fact, they get angry at the messengers who bring the invitation. It’s hard to share the gospel message with people and see them reject it. So, the king called his servants and said, “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. The servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find…and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” (Matthew 22:9-10) Like the servants in the parable, you will encounter people who are not interested in Jesus or even reject him outright. It can be discouraging. Remember that God’s kingdom will be filled. There are still many more people who need to receive an invitation. Don’t stop inviting people or sharing the message. You just never know who may say ‘yes’.

A Montrealer has been named the ‘Fittest Man on Earth.’ That’s quite the title and I was interested in knowing how or who could determine this kind of distinction. Jeffery Adler won the title at the CrossFit Games, an annual championship for people involved with CrossFit gyms which offer high-intensity workouts. So, the pool of contestants for the title might have been a little limited. To win he says that his daily routine was the same. For three to four hours in the morning, he trains, eats, and then naps. He repeats it in the evening and says he has little time for anything else. This goes to show that if you want to be the fittest man in the world, you need to be focused. Of course, that’s just the title CrossFit gave him. They defined what a fit person looks like. Other gyms and programs might have other ideas. There are other titles to be won, like Miss Universe, the fastest runner in 100 meters, best actress, world billiards champion, and most successful CEO. Even Moses was called the humblest man on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3) To achieve something of note involves natural ability for sure. And hard work. But mostly one needs to be intentional about moving towards a goal. I don’t think there is anything wrong with devoting yourself to pursuing some development goals or achievements. As long as we don’t miss what is really important.  As followers of Christ, what should we be devoting ourselves to? Paul makes a simple and clear proclamation in Colossians 4:2 that is worth noting: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” What a simple reminder about taking events and happenings in our life before God. I’m sure that I will never win the ‘most prayerful man in the World’ award. But I do want to be more intentional about my prayer life. Some things are temporal and will soon be forgotten. Some things are eternal and worth pursuing.

Reading through the gospels on a regular basis should be a consistent part of discipleship. It’s in the gospels where we meet Jesus and get a clearer picture of who he is and what he teaches. All scripture is written for our benefit and there are no verses more important or more inspired than others. But there are some powerful verses that stand out and remind us of the most basic elements of our faith.   I’ve picked ten of Jesus’ sayings that I think are helpful. Meditating on these verses and getting them deep into our spirits builds us stronger spiritually. Take a moment and think these over.   What sayings would you add? 

Here’s a promising lead. You can rent a fake private jet for $49.99 per hour to take pictures for your social media accounts. This way you can pretend to be fabulously wealthy and impress the people who follow you. You can also sign up for one of the many tutorials that teach you how to pretend you are on an elaborate vacation when you’re really just in your bedroom. Thanks to the magic of the modern age, you can create an amazing impression of yourself and have others looking up to you, all at a low cost.  Maybe that’s not to your liking. But it is true that we far too often like to put our best image forward. Not many of us post a picture of ourselves when we first wake up in the morning. We don’t show off the boring and uninteresting parts of our day. Reporting our mistakes, conflicts or failures on social media doesn’t happen much.   Why do we want to impress others? It’s nothing new. Proverbs 13:7 says, “One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” The impulse to project a certain image is an old one. Rooted no doubt in our fleshly nature. It’s never been easier to create an image of ourselves, to blur the line between what is real and what is fake. We want others to have the right impression of us. The problem comes when we start to believe our own posts.  Facing our own reality can be frightening. Not only what we might really look like on the outside, but what’s on the inside. God reminded the Prophet Samuel that he looked at the heart, not the appearance. He knows what is really going on inside of us. He is aware of our motives and desires. There is no fooling God by putting on appearances.   Another Proverb puts it this way, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2) Humility isn’t a popular virtue. Except, it’s one of the most necessary if we want to have an authentic relationship with God. Since he already knows the truth, we might as well face up to it. Confessing our mixed motives and confused desires is the first step.   He doesn’t just see the negative. He also sees the positive and the potential. God is in the business of refining and reframing our lives. Our role is to let him into those places and let him do his work. When real change begins to happen, we don’t need to post about it, people will see it in real life. His work is hard to fake.  

What is it about some people who just can’t help but give you advice, even when you didn’t ask for it? It’s one of my pet peeves. Truthfully, I think we all do it sometimes, it’s a human disorder. I’m going to do it right now. So, if you don’t want to hear my advice, stop reading. When we hear someone share a problem, we often feel it’s an opportunity to dispense our wisdom rather than exercise our listening skills. With limited information about the real situation, we offer advice that can be ill-timed, out of context and usually just wrong. We might be well motivated but that doesn’t mean we have something worth offering. The bigger issue, however, is that we need to listen more than speak. We need to listen to wise counsel. Plenty of proverbs confirm this:Plans are established by seeking advice;    so if you wage war, obtain guidance. Proverbs 20:18Plans fail for lack of counsel,    but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 15:22 Everyone loves giving advice but the big question is, who should your advisers be? Who should you be listening to? Proverbs encourages us to find wisdom and reminds us that finding trustworthy people is important. Not every friend is a good counselor, we must choose wisely. We need friends who love us and speak the truth, not just words of flattery. We need counselors who are patient and willing to ask us deep questions. People who have some gifts of discernment. Above all, people who themselves are listening for the guidance of God’s spirit. The book of Proverbs is careful to identify a fool as someone who thinks they don’t need anybody’s counsel, including God’s. The wise person seeks good counsel. Wisdom often lies in the decision about who we can trust to guard our stories and our pain. My advice is this: don’t go through life without those individuals who can speak real wisdom into your life. It may take time to find them, but it is worth it. I hope and pray you have some of those wise counselors and friends around you. If you don’t, then start to pray that they will show up in your life. You are going to need them.

If you have done any hiking in Switzerland, you are probably grateful for those little yellow signs that are ubiquitous. The signs not only point out the direction of the next town or summit but also give you an estimated amount of time it will take to get there. Even when you have done all your planning, it is helpful to have those signs point you the right way. There are times however when we have gotten a little lost. We have been exploring some of the pathways around our new home. It’s not always clear which is the right way even when the labels are there. And more than once we have found ourselves on the wrong path, which usually means everything takes a little longer. Recently, we took a wrong turn and found the path getting steeper and narrower as we went along. It was a tough climb, but we made it to the top. There we discovered a much wider and easier climb would have been possible if we had paid attention to the signs more closely. The Bible uses this imagery of pathways to talk about our choices in life. There’s a path that God has planned for us. And there’s a path that only leads to more difficulty and estrangement from him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart    and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,    and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 If you read Proverbs 3, you’ll see there are some things we need to do to stay on this path. It’s not always the easiest way. Humbling ourselves and giving thought to the needs of others may not come naturally. But God does want to see you on the straight path. You can trust his directions.

My cell phone rang a week ago as I walked to the church. Although I didn’t recognize the number, I answered. It was a recording from the Basel Police Department saying there had been suspicious activity connected with my Swiss Identity card. We recently moved apartments and I had been showing my card to different authorities, so my first assumption was that it was related to our move. The recording continued. The voice said that a warrant had been issued for my arrest due to this activity. Then I was instructed to press 1 in order to speak with a police officer immediately or I would be arrested today. I hung up. It took me a few seconds to realize this was the beginning of a scam. For one thing, the call was in English. The police department would be using German. Second, I’ve lived in Switzerland long enough to know this isn’t how the police operate. I’m more likely to get a fine in the mail than be arrested for some infraction over my ID card. The call made me angry because I knew these operators would eventually snag someone and demand money from them before the victim discovered it was all a fraud. This is what they call an ‘Imposter Scam’ and versions of this are now among the most popular fraudulent actions. Estimates vary but between 8.8 and 29 billion dollars were lost to these cons last year in the United States. No one really knows how to calculate the worldwide loss. The most frustrating thing about it all is how difficult it is to do anything about it. Authorities can’t seem to shut this stuff down. There are a lot of unjust things in our world. Many of them are far worse than a phone scam. At times, we can despair about the state of our world, the way people behave and whether anyone can help. God’s word assures us that there is justice, and we can expect a proper accounting of these things. Meanwhile, we are to live by honest and righteous standards and not give in to the corruption around us. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,    but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9) There are some issues that will not be rectified in this lifetime. In the end, God’s justice will prevail. We must let him take care of that.

When my son was young, he was active. It was hard to keep him interested in anything for very long. Never one to watch a video or sit quietly in front of the TV made it challenging to keep him busy. But if road construction was happening, he would sit and watch it all day. He loved the ‘diggers’ and ‘rollers’. He got quite good at digging holes in the backyard. Anytime we were near a construction site, he would tune in. He’d just watch what was happening. Mesmerized by all the machinery he loved to watch people building things. I’ve found that to be unusual behaviour. Most people prefer to watch things fall apart rather than be built up. Cars slow down to stare at an accident. TV shows have higher ratings when people are fighting in relationships. Social media gets more traffic if people are being nasty to one another. Watching people build something or watching beauty doesn’t seem so interesting. Why is that? Our attention gets drawn to conflict and drama, yet we want peace and joy in our own lives. What if we focused more on that? What if we looked for the positive rather than the negative? “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)  What we pay attention to has an impact on our mindset and our life. Where we put our thoughts or what we think about matters. That’s not pretending as if there are no problems in life, but we don’t have to put all our energy into our difficulties. Taking time each day to consider the praiseworthy things can give us extra strength to overcome the more negative ones.