Do you feel like the weight of the world is on you? Do you feel under pressure, not sure if you can hold up? Do you feel like the heat is on? Does it feel as if this weight, this pressure, this heat, well, it has gone on for a long time?

What do you think of when you see a diamond? Beauty and value. Its exceptional sparkle naturally attracts your eye. However, diamonds are not naturally beautiful and valuable. They begin as the clear and colorless crystalline form of pure carbon and are formed into precious stones after millions of years of being under extreme pressure and in extreme temperature far below the earth’s surface. A diamond’s beauty and value, its great worth, comes from pressure, heat, time.

While colorless diamonds are considered the most valuable, diamonds exist in a range of colors due to impurities that occur during the formation process. For example, black diamonds come from graphite contamination, yellow diamonds from nitrogen contamination, and green ones from the mineral being exposed to radiation while still in the earth. Not only are diamonds beautiful, they have the highest thermal conductivity and hardness of any natural material, thus they can also be used for cutting and polishing.   

Have you ever felt like one of those crystals? You know, those moments when life is pressing in on you and you wonder if the pressure and the heat is more than you can endure. You cry out to God, asking why, often also begging, pleading, and even trying deal-making. You sense hopelessness and despair. Today, however, I propose this thought. Instead of asking “why,” how about asking, “God, what do you want to build into me through this trial? How are you forming me?”

Contrary to what many of us thought (or hoped) when we began following Jesus, we are not promised a struggle-free life. In fact, he tells us just the quite the opposite. In John 16:33, we find this less than hopeful words – “In this world you will have trouble.” (The Greek word used in this verse for trouble is “thlipsis” which literally means crushed, pressed, or squeezed as from a great weight.) While knowing that we will face many troubles all throughout life does not seem to be very hopeful, the entire verse is really one of great hope. Click here to read the verse in its entirety.

In the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians, the apostle Paul bares his soul regarding his struggles, his pain of being pressed and squeezed, But, in the midst of despair, Paul finds strength in Jesus. In vv. 8-9 we read these hopeful words – “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Those words are hopeful because in your pain Jesus reveals Himself to you. Those words are hopeful because through your pain Jesus is refining you. Those words are hopeful because out of your pain Jesus can bring beauty and value.

The Bible also tells us that it is during trials that we grow and mature. Not an easy thing to digest, but it is true. In James 1:2-4 we read this – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

A few verses later we see this – “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (v.12). The crown of life referred to in this passage is not just referencing to eternal life, but rather, also life here and now, enjoyed abundantly and in greater fullness.

So, just as a diamond gets its beauty and value from pressure, heat, and time, God too can use those same things to form you into someone beautiful, someone of immense value, someone mature and complete, not lacking anything! Will you let him do so?   

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I am not very good at building things. I just don’t have that DNA. But, when I do build stuff, I need to live by the axiom, measure twice and cut once. Too many times have I measured and cut, only to find out that I measured incorrectly. “Close enough” doesn’t usually work too well. I also know the importance of making sure the measuring devices I use are properly calibrated.

When we had our house built a few years ago, imagine what would have happened if the builder didn’t go by the blueprints. What if they just went from memory? The bedroom might have ended up where the kitchen was supposed to be. The improper placement of a load-bearing wall would have jeopardized the structural integrity of the house by not properly distributing the weight down to the foundation. And when cutting a hole for an 8X8 sliding glass door, what if they didn’t actually use a tape measure, but instead just eyeballed the proper length, saying, “That’s close enough.” It would have been very difficult to properly install an 8-foot door in an opening that was six inches too narrow.

Failing to read the blueprints or guessing at board lengths would have had disastrous results. Not only is it important to use the correct blueprints and measuring devices, it is also important to make sure that the equipment used is in good working order. What if the tape measure was missing the first two inches? Or what if the saw blade was dull or the laser level was not properly calibrated. Well, once again, you can imagine the results.

We too are often judged (measured) by others, and often times also judge ourselves, using many measuring sticks, but most, if not all, of those measuring devices have improper calibration. Other people are simply not good tools by which to measure our own attitudes and behaviors. On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to be measured by Scripture, we’ll find we come up short. Romans 3:23 tells us – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

But, in striving to reach that perfect biblical calibration, we will soon find ourselves becoming more like Jesus. Here is what we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him” (TLB).

Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that the Bible is what we are to use to measure, calibrate, and judge our thoughts and attitudes. We read, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”    

Are you allowing the Word of God to judge the intents and thoughts of your heart? It is my prayer that you and I, through the power of the Holy Spirit, allow the “perfectly measured” and “perfectly calibrated” Word of God to be the blueprint and measuring stick from which we build our own lives.    

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In a world that bombards us with options and distractions, it takes real effort, a conscious decision, to stay focused on the primary and important things of life. In the course of any given day, not only do we have to navigate around and through the options and distractions, but we also will have to tackle the urgent, that thing that needs immediate attention. And in doing so, often what we set out to do somehow gets delayed, or worse yet, never done.

In a 1967 booklet titled Tyranny of the Urgent, author Charles Hummel wrote about the constant tension between things that are urgent and things that are important. Years later, building upon the urgent vs. important theme, Stephen Covey created a four-quadrant decision matrix in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Whether it is endless options and distractions, or dealing with the urgencies that pop up, do you find it increasingly more difficult to stay focused on the important things in life? With age and after having faced two serious health issues in recent years, I am getting better at putting my time and energy into what is important, but it will always continue to take a concerted effort on my part. This isn’t to say that I ignore the urgent, because those often need addressed in that moment, but I work hard to not let those drown out the important things. For instance, earlier this week, I had to work through some short-term disability issues that needed my immediate attention, and that could have easily sidetracked ad messes up the entire day, but I did not let those urgencies come at the expense of what was important; doing my therapy exercises and carving out time to allow my injured to rest.

If you are a Jesus-follower, I think you will agree that it also takes real commitment to stay focused on the things God has called us to do. The distractions are numerous. They never stop coming. We get distracted for any number of reasons. Distractions have been around since the original garden. Satan is crafty and deceptive. He loves to throw distractions into our path, to keep us from God and from the things of God. Those distractions, they aren’t always dressed in black and have a putrid smell. Sometimes they come dressed in pretty clothes smelling of sweet fragrance. I wrote a reflection on that very thing last year. You can read that post by clicking here.   

Anything that diverts us from what God has called us to do, even the slightest variation, is not pleasing to him. In 2 Timothy 2:15, we are called to “Do your best to present yourself pleasing to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” The apostle Paul says this, found in 2 Corinthians 5:9 – “So whether we are at home or away (meaning whether at his Second Coming we are still alive or have already died), we make it our aim to please him.”

So, just how do we make it our aim to be pleasing to God? One way, what we have looked at today, is to make a conscious and concerted effort to avoid the distractions that keep us from the things of God. And one way to do that is to always look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), keeping our heart, soul, mind focused on him. Or put like this – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).

What is one thing you will do today to avoid becoming distracted?

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If you drink coffee, do you like it lukewarm or room temperature? Unless you enjoy iced coffee, the answer is no. You want it piping hot. Why else would you pour it into an insulated mug? And even if you drink iced coffee, I am sure you don’t like it lukewarm either. It is called “iced” for a reason; it is best enjoyed ice cold.  

As we begin the craziness that is March Madness, think about how you cheer for your favorite team. Mine is Ohio State, who takes on Loyola University Chicago in a first round game. Even if your favorite team is not in the tournament, you become a fan of the teams you have picked in your bracket pool. You will watch the games on television, possibly dressed from head to toe in your team’s logo gear, your smart phone nearby so you can follow the social media chatter.

If you are really obsessed with the tournament, you might have multiple televisions or computer screens set up in order to catch the various games being played simultaneously. If that is not you, will you, during commercials, timeouts, and halftime, flip from channel to channel to catch up on the other games in progress? And at some point, some of us will even yell at the players or coaches, as it they can hear us, or even care what we have to say. The word fan comes from the word fanatic, which means “excessive enthusiasm or intense devotion.” Doesn’t sound lukewarm, does it?

If you are a follower of Jesus, now think about your relationship with Him. Would you consider that relationship one of piping hot or lukewarmness? Do you sometimes just casually pursue Jesus, or do you regularly go after Him with all that is within you? We don’t like lukewarm or room temperature coffee, nor are we lukewarm about our favorite sports team, yet in the most important relationship we can ever have, we are often only lukewarm.

God does not us to be lukewarm. In fact, in the last book in the Bible, we see these words written to the Church in Laodicea – “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). 

We are called to seek after God with every ounce of energy we have. We see this very thing written in the opening verse of Psalm 63 – “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” In Psalm 42:1, we find a similar message – “As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

So, you see, we are not to be lukewarm followers of Jesus, but instead, we are to be piping hot in our pursuit of Him. And the good news is that if we seek Him in that manner, the Bible over and over again instructs us that we will find Him. Here is just one example. As King David appeals to his son Solomon to seek after God in a piping hot manner, here is what we read in 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 – “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”

Just as your coffee tastes best when hot, your relationship with Jesus “tastes” best when it too is hot. Jesus is not lukewarm about you, and you should not be lukewarm about Him either!

So, today, I ask you, are you only lukewarm for Jesus? If so, right now ask Him to ignite a passion in you that turns your lukewarmness into piping hot!

I wrote a similarly themed reflection earier this week. You can read that post by clicking here.

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We all know that our bodies need adequate water in order to function properly. On average, up to 60% of an adult human body is water. Newborn babies are About 75% water. But did you know that healthy human bones are nearly one-third water? In order to not become brittle, our bones also need proper hydration.

We say something is bone-dry when it is without a trace of moisture. Think of a riverbed during a drought. All we see is parched and cracked land. Not much grows in those conditions. It lacks nutrients. It lacks health. Let me ask you – Do you feel dry?  

Let me ask it again this way – Do you have dry bones? Has life drained you of your joy and your energy? Do you feel as if you are in the desert, with no water or shade anywhere to be found? There is no embarrassment in being dry, having dry bones. Life is hard; it can at times suck you and me dry. We have all been there. I know I have and maybe you are there right now. There are also times when we feel spiritually dry, having spiritual dry bones, the notion of being distant from God.

There are any number of reasons for feeling spiritually dry, but generally speaking, they fall into three categories – unconfessed sin; physical, mental, or emotional pain or trauma; God allowing us to wander in the dry wilderness in order to prepare us for something down the road or before he intervenes in some powerful way. Regardless of the reason, when we feel distant from God, we feel dry, dry all the way to our bones. In those seasons of spiritual dryness, we should follow the wisdom found in Psalm 63:1 – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

What do you do, where do you turn, when you need life breathed back into you? We all have our ways. Some methods we use are healthy, but sadly, others are not so healthy. Some methods help us for days, weeks, maybe even months, while others, they only last a few brief moments. And still others, they just don’t work at all.

The three persons of the Triune God (triune meaning three in one in unity) – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – work hand in hand in all things. They are the perfect trifecta to lead, guide, and direct you in all things. I like to think of the Father as the initiator, Jesus as the implementer, and the Holy Spirit as the energizer.

When Jesus was explaining to His disciples that He would be leaving them, He promised another Helper; the Holy Spirit (see John 14:16, 26). The Greek word for what has been translated in our modern Bibles as Helper, Counselor, Advocate is “Paraclete,” which means “called to one’s side, one’s aid.” Think para-medic, someone who comes to your side to give emergency medical care.

The Spirit has many roles. I want to simply look at one here. One of His roles is to breathe life into you and into me. The Old Testament Hebrew word for God’s Spirit is “ruach” and in the New Testament (Greek) the word is “pneuma,” both meaning wind or breath.

In a vision to Ezekiel in which the prophet sees himself standing in a valley of dry bones, we find these words- Then he (Lord) said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath (ruach) enter you, and you will come to life’” (37:4-5).

Did it work? You be in judge. In v.10 we read- “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

So, today, if you feel spiritually dry, if you have dry bones, continue seeking after God (Psalm 63:1) and ask the Holy Spirit to blow life into you. And keep asking, tomorrow, the next day, and every day after that!

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It is that time of year again. We have already turned our clocks ahead. The snow we had this past weekend is quickly melting as the temperatures rise into the 50s and 60s. The first day of spring is less than a week away. Patio furniture is being cleaned and carried outside. Grills and smokers are being fired up. After a lengthy dispute with the owners, Major League baseball teams are finally in Spring Training. But it is that time of year for something else as well. It is that time of year when we seem to be obsessed with one thing!

Tonight, much of the country will be focused on one thing and one thing only – the start of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, affectionately known as March Madness. This year’s madness features 67 games at 14 venues over the course of 20 days.

The brackets were announced on Sunday and since then sports talk programs have broken down the tournament with the so-called experts ad nauseam. Advertisers will begin using March Madness themed ads to get us to buy their products and services. The tournament even has its own jargon and terminology – The Big Dance, Cinderella, Selection Sunday, Bracketology, First Four, Bracket Buster, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the four teams that just missed out on making the tournament are called the First Four Out.  

As a nation, we are obsessed with this tournament. Millions of people are pouring every ounce of energy into researching the teams and trying to pick the winners and the upsets. Even people who do not regularly follow college basketball often fill out a bracket.

However, sadly, when it comes to our commitment to following Jesus, that pursuit sometimes pales in comparison to the energy and effort we put forth in trying to fill out our brackets. Pursuing Jesus is not a casual, go through the motions, kind of thing. The Bible makes it clear that pursuing Jesus is an all-in activity.

The Bible is full of references to earnestly seeking God. We find these words as the opening verse in Psalm 63, “You God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole body longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” In 1 Chronicles 16:11 we read these words, “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.” And later, in that same book we are told, “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God” (22:19).  

Psalm 119 begins, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart” (vv.1-2). And v.10, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments.”

Not only are we called to earnestly seek after God, but Scripture also tells us that if we do so, we will find Him. The number of verses that give us that promise is lengthy, here are just two. Proverbs 8:17 tells us this, “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.” And in Deuteronomy 4:29 we find these words, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.”

In instructing his disciples not to worry about physical necessities, Jesus says this in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This implies a life in full submission to the rule and reign of God, an uncompromising trust in his providence. It is to pursue the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-10). I encourage you to always read the verses I mention in context; this verse comes near the end of a longer passage (6:19-34).

So, are you pursuing God with the same single-minded obsession and passion as you have when completing your bracket? If you seek after God with an all-in attitude, you will find Him. And that wins every time!  

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