Author: Jon Gauger

While babysitting Ava and Emma recently, Emma trotted into the living room bearing two dolls—and an announcement: “This is Anna and Elsa—but they lost their legs.”

It was hard not to giggle at how this four-year-old crammed facts and fate into one tragic sentence. However, upon further examination, Emma's assessment proved reliable. The lead characters of Disney's Frozen franchise were decked out in their movie finest—but lacked legs. All of them.

The sight of the dolls’ (plastic) smiles, despite their mangled condition, felt odd. At my wife Diana’s encouragement, the girls dug through their dolly collection and found some of the missing limbs, which Diana lovingly restored. Alas, one doll is still missing a leg. Yet there’s something profound—even divine—about restoration, even when it’s just a doll getting her leg back.

When Jesus came to earth, His signature was restoration: healing the lame, the blind, and the deaf. But His mission was more sweeping and grander than that.

Christ came to restore our souls by offering forgiveness of our wrongdoing through His death on the cross. He gave us a lifetime Coach in the Holy Spirit who counsels, corrects, and—when needed—convicts us. But more than that, He promises us eternal life with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. The ultimate restoration.

Have you let Jesus restore you?

It's His Christmas gift to you—so what are you waiting for?

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool."  -Isaiah 1:18

 

 

 

At the age of 99, Chuck Christensen is one of the best listeners you could ever meet. After every sentence you utter, he offers an affirming response.

When you talk, he makes unfailing eye contact. He nods in empathy, asks clarifying questions, and leans forward—as if to support you. He's the only human being I've ever met whose "Hmm…" feels like a comforting hand on your sagging shoulders.

Were your conversation recorded, stop-watched, and displayed as a pie chart, your half of that talk would invariably be larger than his. Always.

Like me, you’re probably guilty of “listening” while daydreaming, staring at the TV screen, or sneaking a peak at your phone or smartwatch. But could there be anything more Christ-like than giving someone the gift of listening—really listening to them?

This is the ultimate evidence of others-first living. It’s the lifestyle Philippians 2:4 calls us to: “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

When it comes to Christmas, it’s easy to buy stuff.

But it’s costly to give time and attention.  

This season, why not treat those you love to that rarest of luxuries—listening? 

 

“How did your church’s outreach event go?” I asked my friend Jack.

“Went well—once it got started. The guy who rented us the equipment showed up 30 minutes late and took another 20 minutes to set up. So we had fifty people roaming the halls at church waiting for an event that started almost an hour late.”

“Not cool.”

“Not at all. I felt sick—like instead of hosting our guests, we’d given them a black eye.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh, Jack?”

“Maybe. But inside, I was seething—and I was blunt with the installation guy. Not over the top, but not exactly Jesus-like, either.”

“Ouch. I’ve been there.”

"Well, we talked further—the rental guy and me. He talked all about his business—how demand has been shrinking year after year. Yet, he worked hard. And honestly, he seemed to enjoy creating a happy experience for us.”

“How did it all end?” I had to know.

Jack admitted, “I…apologized to him for being gruff—and he was super nice about it. Still, I felt like a jerk. I was in charge of an outreach event designed to share Christ, but I sure didn't reach out to that installer guy at first! Ironic, eh?"

 

Have you ever been guilty of behaving like Jack (who gave me permission to share his story—warts and all)?

I think of my unkind conversations with arrogant tech support people. Or the un-Christlike ways I’ve conducted myself in traffic jams.

But for the Christian, there’s no on/off switch when it comes to outreach. We're to show Christ, preach Christ, and image Christ all day, every day. No room for tantrums of any sort.

Christmas is coming. And things are bound to go wrong at your church program or extended family dinner. Or whatever function you've invited non-believers to attend.

How can we sing Joy to the World and pray that our unsaved guests will have hearts that “prepare Him room”—when we’ve practically elbowed Jesus out of the room with our poor conduct?

 

Lord, as we gather with those outside the Kingdom over the holidays, help us not lose sight of the Kingdom—or the King! Let us image Christ well—even when things fall apart. Amen!

The lights are on, but nobody’s home.

Okay, it’s not exactly a house—it’s a restaurant. Or at least it was.

A while back, a team with a dream took a long look at a cavernous bar with a concrete floor. In its place, they envisioned a killer French restaurant. It would be the crown jewel of eateries in Chicago’s River North community.

But the dream would take a significant investment. For about a year, I watched truckloads of contractors pouring in and out of the old bar. They cored through the cement, reworked the electricity, curved the drywall, hung new lights, and laid terrazzo floors. Talk about investment!

In January, the place finally opened led by a chef celebrated in Paris and New York. But you know what that restaurant is serving today? A whole lot of nothin’. It closed in just ten months.

Think of all the financial backers who bought into this idea. Instead of a return on their investment, they’re getting a whole lot of nothing. Not so much as a forkful of bœuf bourguignon or the flake of a croissant.

The lights were on in the begrudging gray of an early morning, so I peered in at the restaurant that wasn't. The beautiful booths are still there, but given the restaurant's ghost town status, the floors might as well be tumbleweeds as terrazzo. As I snapped a picture, a thought arrested me.

What about the people who have invested in you and me spiritually? What kind of a return are they getting? Did your parents help lead you to Christ? Perhaps a Sunday School teacher or Awana leader poured into your life. Or was it a pastor who counseled you and prayed for you? What are they getting for their investment?

They've spent time, energy, and money on you, dreaming that someday you might nurture others in Christ. Is your soul a banquet of life-giving nourishment for others? Or are you—like that defunct restaurant—serving a whole lot of nothing?

"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”  -John 15:8

 

If you are a little child visiting our home, you can expect a warm welcome and a horsey ride. We will gladly sit down and play your favorite game or laugh at your favorite joke. Truthfully, you can probably even expect a yes to your snack request.

As I often explain to friends, it's not that we never say no, it's just that we work real hard to say yes! But there are a few things we will not tolerate: children who refuse to say please and thank you.

We demand it. Insist on it. In our experience, unless you do, you end up with ungrateful brats. Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s true.

Thankfulness doesn’t just happen. It’s not like the flu—some get it, and some don’t. Honestly, thankfulness is a choice, a discipline.

No one becomes thankful by accident. It takes training. It's a commitment.

Thankfulness is not a mystical cloud that settles over us once enough good things come our way. It's a decision we make a hundred times a day, a learned skill that comes only with practice!

So, if you ask for a piece of pumpkin pie while seated at our table, your request had better come wrapped up in a "please."  Otherwise, you'll be told, "I don't think I heard you." And when someone passes you the whipped cream, we'll wait to hear a thank you. Or remind you if you forget.

Why the tough-guy approach to thankfulness? Because it’s that important to God. He commands it no less than 44 times in Scripture.

Enough said, I hope. But since it’s Thanksgiving, could I please ask you to pass the pumpkin pie—and the whipped cream? Thank you!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

On November 21, 1948, a tall preacher with a North Carolina drawl stood in the pulpit at the Van Orin Gospel church. It’s a small chapel in a small town surrounded by other small Illinois towns like Green Oak, Kasbeer, and Zearing.

The preacher could never have known that just one year later, he would speak to 350,000 people in his Los Angeles crusade. If you visit the Van Orin Gospel church, as we did this week, you’ll see the plaque and pulpit that recall Billy Graham’s appearance. But they bring a question to mind.

Before Billy Graham was Billy Graham—world-famous evangelist—what was he like? Answer: humble enough to speak at a small church in a small town.

I think that's why God could and did use him. Though a fine preacher, I'm sure we've heard better. Though a compelling evangelist, God could have selected someone else. Yet God chose Dr. Graham over thousands of others. Of course, nothing in the Bible says that if we serve in small spaces, that leads to large places.

Faithfulness is the goal, not famousness.

Faithfulness, not bigness, is what God values.

Exactly 75 years ago this week, Billy Graham stood in that rural church in that unknown town and preached the gospel. Today, there are still small towns and small churches and small spaces looking for someone small enough to serve.

Are you small enough?

Humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 15:33

 

Sauntering off the plane in Colorado Springs, I paused to reassemble the contents of my backpack and then left the airport for lunch with a friend. Only later did I realize what I’d left behind at the airport: my iPad.

Response? I started trashing myself for stupid irresponsibility. How could I have been so careless, so foolish? A nasty net of anxiety strangled my soul.

For me, the iPad is much more than a tablet for surfing the web, checking email, or playing a game. I practically live on it. It's my laptop. I've written entire books on it! Tons of articles, blogs, sermons, and book chapters (still unfinished) had vanished. The thought of that loss made me nauseous.

Ironically, just 24 hours previously, I'd preached a sermon based on David's Psalm 25:15, which testifies: My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will rescue my feet from the net.

Time to heed my sermon—to talk like David. Know what I did? I prayed with a friend, quoting that verse. Next, we called the airport, filled out a form online, and waited.

All afternoon, I fought off repeated blasts of anxiety with the same indestructible weapon—the Word of God: My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will rescue my feet from the net. While I still felt concern (and guilt), the verse brought sanity and structure to a thought life under siege.

At dinner that evening, my phone rang—the airport. Remarkably, some honest soul had turned in the iPad, and we could pick it up at the baggage counter.

I'm not suggesting that God will always step in and bail us out when we do foolish things. But I am saying His Word can enable us to walk through trouble in a God-honoring way—without bashing ourselves in the process.

Even if God had chosen not to reunite me with that iPad, I could look back at the day and know that instead of being immobilized by a net of anxiety, I had chosen to turn my eyes toward the Lord continually. With God's enablement, I really did talk like David.

Consider. To talk like David is to talk biblically. To talk biblically is to honor God. To honor God is to be blessed by God—in this life and the life to come.

So, let’s start talking—like David!

 

P.S. Can I email you a colorful PDF graphic containing the text of this Psalm that you can print out in several sizes? Email me at Jon.gauger@moody.edu and say, “Send me that verse—I want to talk like David!”  

 

 

 

Are you more intrigued with earth than heaven?

Let me rephrase the question: How fascinated are you with heaven?

The temptation is to answer this question with what we know to be the correct Sunday School answer: "Well, of course, I'm looking forward to heaven."

But there’s a foolproof way to know the truth.

Your praying (and mine) tells the real story.

Attend your church's prayer meeting, and what are most of the requests you hear? We pray for physical healing, well-being, jobs, houses—that sort of thing. Most of it is temporary in nature.

But look at all the prayers in the New Testament. Overwhelmingly, they are not about temporal problems—the stuff we tend to focus on.

• In Ephesians 1:18, Paul prays “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
• In Philippians 1:9, the request is ‘that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.”
• In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul prays “that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it was also with you.”

Hear me clearly—you won't hear me or Scripture suggesting you should never pray for sick people—quite the contrary. We should!

I’m simply pointing out that our prayers are generally too focused on temporal things. How often do we pray for:

• The revival of the church in America
• The persecuted Church around the globe
• The salvation of our leaders, family members, and friends.

When was the last time your small group prayed for perseverance or endurance? When was the last time you prayed for your state's governor by name—asking for their salvation?

When our fascination is heaven, we’ll pray mostly about eternal things.

When our fascination is earth, we’ll pray mostly about earthly things.

What fascinates YOU?

Your prayers say everything.

As the war drags on and the death toll goes up, the media is making a predictable turn. Their sympathy is shifting from Israel toward the Palestinians. Increasingly, we'll be shown tragic images of Palestinian children and women injured or killed. The not-so-subtle message will be, "If only those mean Israelis would stop attacking innocent people, stop occupying others' land, and start living in peace."

Every death, every tear, every life matters—on both sides. But what you will probably not see online or on television is a clear presentation of the facts. With the kind permission of Middle East expert Dr. Charlie Dyer, I offer his summary of the facts:

Fact #1

In 1947, the U.N. voted on a partition plan for the land. The Jewish people reluctantly accepted the proposal, but the Arabs did not (meaning they refused any plan that permitted a Jewish state). When the British Mandate ended in 1948, Israel declared itself a state. The Palestinians and the Arab countries on all sides immediately attacked it. When the conflict was over, Israel controlled more land than originally promised. However, no formal borders were determined–only "green lines" to mark where the different parties were when the armistice was announced.

 

Fact #2

The final borders were still to be determined, but no Arab countries would agree to make peace with Israel. Jordan had taken over the central part of the land and annexed it as their own. They called it the “West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” which was popularly shortened to the “West Bank.” But it was never turned into a country of Palestine by the Jordanians.

 

Fact #3

In 1967, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan vowed to push the Jews into the Sea. In six days, Israel defeated all three and captured the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel offered to negotiate the return of most (though not all) land in exchange for peace. The Arabs met in Khartoum and announced their three no’s: No peace with Israel. No negotiations with Israel. No recognition of Israel.

 

Fact #4

In the next few years, Israel began expanding into the areas it had captured. Most of the changes in the West Bank area were designed to help provide more defensible borders and additional housing for the country as its population expanded. About a half million Israelis are now living in the West Bank area. Most of those are in bedroom communities within 5 miles of the Knesset, Israel's capital in Jerusalem, though some are scattered throughout.

 

Fact #5

In the late 1990s, President Clinton tried to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn, but the process quickly stalled out. Israel never agreed to give back all the West Bank because they felt the 1967 borders were indefensible in light of modern weapons. (For example, terrorists would be able to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles to within six miles of Israel's international airport.) And Arafat rejected a proposal that would have given the Palestinians most of the land.

 

Fact #6

In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. Two years later, Hamas took control and began using the area as a launch pad for their attacks on Israel. Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate that extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. That’s the basis for what’s happening now.

 

There you have it—a factual history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But for the believer, knowing is just the beginning.

• We need compassion—for people on both sides of this war.
• We need to counter the lies we hear with the truth.
• We need to pray for peace.

What we can’t do—is nothing.

 

P.S. Listen to Moody Radio's one-hour special, After the Attack on Israel, when you go to: https://www.moodyradio.org/specials

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question: Do you keep your valuables in a safe? If so, how safe is your safe? An old story offers a fresh perspective.

The man was not just rich—he was extremely rich. And he had a question for Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus simply replied, "You know the commandments,"—and He listed several. Undaunted, the rich ruler replied, "All these I have kept from my youth." Amazingly, Jesus did not disagree with the man.

“One thing you still lack,” offered the Teacher from Nazareth. At this point, the rich guy leaned forward, not wanting to miss the secret.

“Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me,” invited Jesus.

At that, the man was not just sad. Luke 18 recalls he was “very sad, for he was extremely rich.”

An odd paradox: sad because he was extremely rich. Ponder that! Turns out, the more we have, the less we give. Those who track charitable giving statistics can prove it.

If we're not careful, wealth turns us upside down and shakes out every last coin of grace or goodness, locking it away in an unsafe safe. The one called "Me."

Here’s the thing. By any standard of world measurement, you and I are not just rich. We are extremely rich.

However, we are rich but for a few fleeting years. And every day, we rich folks pass by scenes of sickness, sorrow, or starvation that our wealth could definitely change for the better!

Today, you and I take our place alongside that rich young ruler. Jesus hears the jangle of money in our pockets and bids us invest treasure in heaven. While we can.

O, God—

Keep us from locking away our coins of kindness, our gold of goodness in an unsafe safe. We are stewards, not owners. So let us give—and store up for ourselves treasure in heaven!

Amen!