Fortune Cookie Faith

I had finished my egg roll, egg drop soup, and cashew chicken. I poured myself another cup of hot Jasmine tea and opened my fortune cookie. Who knew a blog post would follow?

The little piece of paper hidden inside my cookie held an interesting message. Fortunes usually contain a statement that will be true if the person holding the message makes it come true. I read my fortune that day and wanted to live the message as a truth for my life.

My fortune said: “To think is easy; to act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.”

To think is easy.

According to healthybrains.org, “Your brain is a three pound universe that processes 70,000 thoughts each day using 100 billion neurons that connect at more than 500 trillion points through synapses that travel 300 miles/hour.” It’s a wonder we don’t have a constant headache!

King David praised God saying, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:13–14). 

God created our brains and then caused us to think millions of thoughts each day. Our brains don’t even shut down when we sleep. Thinking is easy because that’s what God created us to do. It’s also why God knew we would need his guidance.

The apostle Paul was mentoring Timothy when he said, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). One of the most helpful things we can do for our lives is to think with God’s guidance. We can gain knowledge as we think, but we gain understanding as God applies his wisdom to our thoughts.

To think is easy . . .

To act is difficult

Forbes Magazine published an article about the twenty-five biggest regrets in life. The list confirmed the message I got in my fortune cookie. All of us have millions of thoughts, but our lives are altered by the actions, or inactions, our thoughts produce in our lives.

Forbes Magazine listed these as people’s greatest regrets:

  • Working too much at the expense of family and friendships.
  • Not standing up to bullies in school or in life.
  • Not maintaining friendships.
  • Losing a true love relationship.
  • Worrying what others think too often.
  • Not having confidence.
  • Living the life a parent wants for us, rather than the life we want for ourselves.
  • Not seeking a dream job. Not pursuing joy. Taking life too seriously.
  • Not disconnecting from technology often enough.
  • Not taking fun trips with family and friends.
  • Not healing a broken marriage or friendship.
  • Not trusting the inner voice and allowing other voices to carry too much influence.

A sin occurs when we choose to do wrong. I used to tell my kids that mistakes were normal and we all make them. I didn’t punish my kids for making a mistake. I did, however, punish them if they chose to do something wrong when they knew to do what was right. That’s the difference between a mistake and a sin.

God will never let us “fall” into sin. He will, however, allow us to choose the path that leads to that fall. Our common sense and God’s Spirit will re-direct and warn us before we fall. God doesn’t want us to fall, doesn’t cause us to fall, but he also doesn’t promise to keep us from falling. God made us with a free will and then gave us a mind that would be able to know how to use our free will. 

It’s easy to think about things. Our problem is we don’t always act on the thoughts God provides.

To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.

There are a LOT of verses that discuss the importance of our actions. The apostle John taught, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). James said, “You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). King Solomon said, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14).

Our three-pound brains create about 70,000 thoughts each day. Many of those thoughts lead to our actions. Our most difficult task begins with our most difficult choice. Paul taught us to, “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). 

If we want to act on our best thoughts we need to remember to think with God. If we want to walk in his ways, we need to obey the voice of Christ, through his Holy Spirit. Godly actions will require us to think with biblical priorities.

None of us will do that often enough. We certainly live in an era of “arguments and lofty opinions.” We also live with constant access to God’s word. We simply have to make the difficult choice to submit every thought to Christ and then obey his direction.

Fortune Cookie Faith

I opened that fortune cookie, read it, and then passed it to my husband. I liked the message and wanted to share it with him. Normally, I would have left that little piece of paper on the table before leaving the restaurant; but that day I took it home.

Sometimes a fortune cookie gives you a message for the moment. Sometimes a fortune cookie becomes a thought, which when submitted to God becomes an action. One of my 70,000 thoughts that day was, “I want to write about this.”

I hope my fortune cookie faith was a blessing to your thoughts today. God wants us to revere his voice and obey his daily direction. It’s our whole duty and it’s our great reward.

That cashew chicken was really good, but God used a fortune cookie to provide his thought that day.

God goes ahead and asks us to follow

It was the summer of 1984 and I had just finished my first year of teaching second grade. My husband was a student at the seminary and worked part-time as a typesetter. We lived carefully each month in order to pay bills and make ends meet. I decided I would work a temporary job during the summer months so that we could “get ahead” and save up the money we needed for his tuition and hopefully a short vacation! 

I worked at a job I really didn’t like. I filed paperwork for an insurance company all summer. The days dragged. The work was monotonous, and I won’t even go into some of the other things I had to deal with. But it was worth it because at the end of the summer I had saved up Jim’s tuition and had about $850 left over. 

I remember that $850 number because I learned an important lesson about God that summer. 

I only had two weeks of my summer job left when my car died. I was told I needed a new transmission and a couple of other things. The mechanic said it would cost about $860. I was utterly discouraged and disappointed in God. All I could think of was all the savings that would be lost. I had spent my “summer months off” from teaching doing a miserable job. 

But it didn’t take long for me to realize that the Lord had “gone ahead” to make sure I would have a working car when the next school year rolled around. There is no way Jim and I would have been able to handle a car payment during those years. 

I remember writing the check to the mechanic, knowing the money was sitting there in the bank to cover it because God had provided. 

A summer off?

Several months ago I finished writing the lessons and taping the lectures for the Bible study which begins this September. We were proud of ourselves for getting it done early. 

Trace, the woman I work with, said, “Won’t it be great to have some extra time off this summer?” 

When she said those words, I remember thinking, maybe even saying, “Yes . . . but there is also something in me that wonders what God is getting me ready for.” 

Summers have always been a busy work time for me. Nevertheless, my husband and I booked a fun Alaskan cruise, talked about a few other things we might do, and waited for the summer to arrive. 

Summer 2022 brought a wonderful week with our grandkids that was interrupted by a phone call from the retirement community where my mom lives. It was a week before my husband was scheduled to have extensive back surgery. I was standing in Chuck E. Cheese, looking at my young grandkids, needing to get Jim to a funeral to preach and me to the hospital—all at the same time. Standing in Chuck E. Cheese, I asked God, “What are you doing right now?” 

Mother Teresa has a great quote I have often repeated this summer. She said, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle, I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” 

My summer off wasn’t. 

But, even though it has been a tough couple of months, I have always known the lesson I learned back in 1984. Just like God provided for Moses and the Israelites in the desert, he goes ahead of us, to prepare our way. 

That said, I’d still rather have taken that Alaskan cruise than move my mom to assisted living in the 109-degree Texas heat. I’d still rather have finished a project at work than help my husband endure a really tough back surgery. We don’t have to enjoy the deserts; we just need to cross them sometimes. 

Today, as I type this first blog “back,” I am grateful that God went ahead to make a way for my mom’s transition and for me to be able to help Jim recover. He is doing well and much better off now because of his surgery. I would not have had the time to prepare a Bible study this summer so God set it up for me to finish it early.  

The Lord goes before you

Moses spent so many years with those Israelites, trying to help them reach the Promised Land. If they had handled the desert times faithfully, they would have entered the “land of milk and honey.” God parted the sea, gave them quail and manna, and went before them as a “pillar of fire,” but the people just wanted the desert to end. I get that, and all of you have probably experienced your own deserts too. 

Sometimes it takes a lot of faith and trust to follow God. I remember how discouraged I was to give all my savings to a mechanic. This summer I knew, even when all the bad news arrived, that God had gone ahead to make the difficult days doable. That knowledge didn’t make the days easy, but it did provide a sense of God’s peace and Presence for that time.  

Many days I realized that trusting God and not leaning on my own ideas was key to the Lord directing our path. We have been blessed this summer, even though it has been a tough one. 

Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised Land, but Joshua did. Moses’ words to Joshua are a message to all of us today. There are desert times of life, but when we follow God, we can know he is leading us to the other side. Moses told Joshua, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lᴏʀᴅ has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lᴏʀᴅ who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:7–8).  

You might be facing a desert, in a desert, or coming out of one. Moses’ words are truth for each of us during those times. God goes ahead of us. We just need to be careful to follow. When we trust his perfection, he can direct our path (Proverbs 3:5–6).  

Joy comes in the morning, but . . .

I’ve told several people this summer that “joy comes in the morning,” but sometimes we wake up in Alaska and realize it was a long night. Regardless, joy comes in the morning, and morning always comes. 

It’s good to be back to blogging. It’s good to be nearing the edge of the desert. It’s good to look forward to some easier days. But it is a blessing to remember that what God taught me in that summer of 1984 provided strength for the summer of 2022. God goes before us. He will not leave or forsake us. We don’t have to like the deserts of life, but neither do we need to feel dismayed.  

Joy comes in the morning—and the morning always comes. Let’s be faithful to follow him until that day our joy will come from the morning that never ends. 

Amen?

When you need a change, God is able

Why do we continue to repeat the same sins we were sure we had “fixed” with the last prayer commitment to God? 

I’ve grown in my faith over the years and know the Lord better now than I did at my salvation. The Lord is in the business of sanctification, making holy, those of us who are saved. 

So why is it we still repeat old sins? 

Are we “changed”?

The apostle Paul taught this about our salvation: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is a joy to listen to a compelling testimony from a person who led one kind of life only to meet Jesus and become a very different person. 

What about you? 

Has God dramatically transformed your life, or did it look pretty much the same the day after your salvation? 

Paul knew what it was to meet Jesus and experience dramatic change because of his salvation. I grew up in a Christian home and, while I knew my future was forever changed, the present remained pretty much the status quo. The “old” didn’t seem to have passed away at all. But, it had. I had received the Holy Spirit and I was no longer on my own. 

One of my favorite passages in Scripture comes from Romans 7. It is comforting to this Bible teacher to hear Paul say, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18–19). 

If Paul battled his common sins, even after those moments on the road to Damascus, we will battle our common sins as well. Why do we “keep doing” the same stuff that drove us to our knees the last time? Is it possible to break those sins and allow God to change us, or should we just expect to keep blowing it on a regular basis? 

My answer to that question comes from experience. 

The only way to break our repetitive, natural sins, is to allow God to do that. We can try to do better, but our human strength is insufficient for the problem. 

When you need a change, only God is able

I memorized Proverbs 3:5–6 at a young age. For me, those are the verses to apply to the weaknesses in our human natures we know we need to change. The Holy Spirit constantly convicts our thoughts when we step toward a sin. The next step is acknowledging that, like Paul, we are unable to fix it ourselves. 

God’s verses for repetitive sin are Proverbs 3:5–6. The proverb begins by reminding us that we need God’s word and direction, constantly. The author says to bind the teaching around our neck and write the commandments on the tablet of our hearts (Proverbs 3:3). That is the way we “find favor and good success in the sight of God and man” (Proverbs 3:4). 

But, the way we do those things is found in verses 5–6: “Trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

When a change in our lives is needed, God is able—if we are willing to live what the proverb teaches. 

Do we trust God?

It seems hard to trust God, especially with our whole heart. 

After all, we know amazing Christians who have experienced significant failures. Or, some who have been diagnosed with something fatal. Others have lived with a vibrant faith and then lost it. 

Do we truly trust God like we should?  

Trusting is difficult, but we do it all the time. We trust the pilot with our lives. We trust that, behind the closed door, he hasn’t fallen asleep. We trust the surgeon and the anesthesiologist when we need surgery. We trust the elevator and the alarm system and we trust the person driving the car behind us. We have to, in order to live in this world. 

Do we apply that same standard to the Lord? 

We know we can’t trust everyone all the time. People make mistakes—but God doesn’t. I have come to believe this is true in life. We trust whom we want to trust. 

Do you want to trust God? 

Don’t lean on what you know

We trust what we google, sometimes. We trust what a smart person says, or at least we trust people we think are smarter than we are. We trust education. We trust experience. We trust faithfulness. We tend to trust what we can confirm. 

You can’t trust God unless you choose not to lean on your own understanding. 

To lean on what we know or what we are able to figure out is sometimes to lean against a mirage. It only looks real. In order to trust God with all your heart, you have to know him as the ever-present brick wall. There is never a time you will lean on him and fall. 

We know we can’t trust our own knowledge. We make mistakes—but God doesn’t. 

How can we trust what we cannot see?

In every way, at all times, trust what you know God has said. In all your ways, know God’s word and will. 

I know God because I know his word. I know God because I’ve seen his work. I know God because his Holy Spirit lives in me. I know God because he speaks. I know God is real the same way I know love is real. I experience God’s presence in this world and in my life. 

We know love, anger, hatred, compassion, trust, fear, courage, and conviction are real. If we believe in those powerful realities, we can believe in God. We can know the One who created all realities. 

Do you need a change?

Is there a sin you want to stop repeating? Think Proverbs 3:5–6. 

When we know and trust God as his word teaches, he is able to “direct, or make straight” our paths.  

Remember when your mom or dad said, “Straighten up”? They got that expression from God. The next time you are about to repeat a sin, think Proverbs 3:5–6. Chances are, you will hear the voice of God saying, “You know what to do. Now, straighten up.” 

We make mistakes. Thankfully, we have a God who doesn’t. 

Trust him with all your heart. 

Submit to him all your thoughts. 

Then you will live his plans, most of the time. 

That’s our only realistic goal until we walk with him all the time. 

If you need a change, God is able.

You’ve Been Upcycled

Football season has come to a close and, chances are, you have a little more free time on Sunday afternoons. Next Sunday, you should check out a show called Flea Market Flip.

People compete by shopping for things at a flea market and then upcycling those items into a new and more relevant table, chair, lamp, or whatever. It’s an interesting show, but I don’t blog to give television advice. (Although it can be a side benefit!)

The point is this: in many ways, Flea Market Flip could serve as a parable for each of our lives.

God’s in the restoration business

A lot of people visit a flea market and only see a bunch of unwanted junk. Maybe that stuff was nice in the beginning, but, over the years, it has been dinged up, broken, rusted, faded, or just used up. Most people look at those piles of discards as useless.

But God visits flea markets and sees the potential.

In one episode, two women bought a couple of rusted patio chairs with dirty cushions. The chairs were sitting off in a field, covered by dirt and only worth a few dollars to the seller. By the end of the program, those chairs had been soldered together to become a brightly painted bench with a fancy new seat cushion. Those two old chairs were upcycled and then priced at a much higher value.

Do you ever feel like those rusted chairs?

Maybe the hard moments of life have made you feel useless or less valued. All of us have to weather our share of storms. But God is in the restoration business.

Israel became a world power under King Solomon’s leadership. They had prominence, power, wealth, and wisdom. But later, after most of the nation had been decimated, Jeremiah wrote these words to the remnant in Judah: “For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast” (Jeremiah 30:17).

Judah would be taken captive by Babylon, and the once beautiful and opulent city of Jerusalem was reduced to ruins. God’s people were enslaved and called outcasts. But God knows how to upcycle what has been cast aside. God restored his people, not to their former glory, but to rebuild something new, with greater potential.

A new creation

I am amazed at the creativity of the people who transform their purchases on Flea Market Flip into things I never could have imagined.

  • Two women took an old ladder and a few old frames and turned those things into a shelving unit to display photos.
  • A husband and wife took an old chicken coop and created a beautiful coffee table.
  • A mom and daughter duo took an old door and two rusty stools and created a kitchen table that could hang on the wall of a small kitchen and then transform into an eating area when needed.
  • And two men turned an old, wooden wheel into a beautiful clock.

Paul was teaching the church in Corinth that Jesus could transform their lives. Corinth was known for their decadent culture and immorality. I’m sure some of the people in that Corinthian church thought they would never belong in a group of “holy” people. But Paul taught them that Jesus had given his life for everyone and could forgive every sin. Jesus is able to upcycle any life into something new and amazing.

Paul wrote: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Do you ever wonder what your life would look like if you had lived it without Jesus? Do you ever imagine what the lives of those outside the Christian faith could look like if they chose to make Jesus their Lord?

Jesus would love the chance to continually upcycle our lives and the lives of those around us.

Jesus turns our junk into treasure

At the end of every episode of Flea Market Flip, one of the competing duos receives $5,000. That prize goes to the people who make the highest profit on their upcycled items. Most of the time it is a close race. On one episode, the difference was just a penny, but, occasionally, the difference is several hundred dollars.

The $5,000 prize is the same, regardless.

Every Christian is a child of God and has been given the same promise. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (John 5:24).

That prize is yours, regardless.

You’ve been upcycled

Maybe it’s time to take a fresh, new look at your life.

Do you notice the battle scars of your life, or do you see yourself as restored? You are a child of God, upcycled to a person of great value to your heavenly Father.

Maybe you haven’t fully recognized your potential. When Jesus came into your life, you were given a new purpose and a new usefulness. You have been upcycled by the Holy Spirit as a gifted disciple of Christ. You are a new creation. Jesus can transform junk into treasure.

And, finally, you are guaranteed to win the final prize.

The apostle John was an elderly man who had developed an amazing ministry in Ephesus. He was captured and exiled to the prison island of Patmos. I imagine he wondered if his life and ministry had been discarded as well.

Instead, he started a church there and began a brand new ministry in his older years. And Jesus appeared to him on that island and said he wanted John to write a few things down!

We call those words the book of Revelation.

Our ultimate purpose

All of us will need to be constantly upcycled on this side of heaven. This life is a journey, and, let’s face it, our witness gets a little dinged up and rusty along the way. But, Jesus told the apostle John that all of us would be winners in the end.

In Revelation 21:1–5, John wrote: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”

In heaven, no upcycling will be needed. There is never anything that looks like junk.

Everything and everyone is eternally made new!