Stress and College Students - the need for love

Someone asked recently, "Why are college students under so much stress?

Google "stress" and "college students" and a host of recent studies can be accessed.  They provide helpful information about the stress producers in college students' lives.

But it's not rocket-science.  One can readily and accurately think about the stress-producers that crowd the heart of a young adult student, including...

• spending tens of thousands of borrowed dollars on an education that oftimes lacks specific direction
• a nagging lack of clarity about "who I am" and "what should I be doing"
• coming from homes which are increasingly void of solid spiritual grounding and interpersonal, relational health
• an increasing number who near graduation with a degree representing a focus of study that leaves them yet unprepared for the real world in which they are about to step
• a public university culture that largely tells them that apart from the math and sciences, "there is no truth" and "figure it out for yourself"
• relationship trial-and-error episodes with the opposite gender, episodes which often rush into physical intimacy without relational intimacy or genuine, lasting commitment.  The wreckage of these relationships is tragic
• blurred lines which encourage sexual experimentation, resulting in further disorientation
• operating in a culture that is hell-bent on erasing moral standards and boundaries, and replacing them with virtually nothing

Personally, I consistently hear younger people saying, "I could really use a mentor...someone older...someone grounded in God and who has a track-record of wisdom and morals."

THE CRY OF YOUNG PEOPLE

GenerationNext often wants to present itself as confident and ready to take on the future.  Idealism still arises.  "My generation will get it right."

One can hope for this, but without a clear, moral roadmap which is anchored in revealed truth--one which provides true wisdom on accurate self-assessment, a prayerful search for the calling of God upon the life, and submission to Christ and His direction for one's life--more and more will continue to "swing the bat" and strike out.  Often as kids head out of the home, they see their parents separating (and often before), finally giving up on their own vain and immature lunges to make life's core relationship (i.e., marriage) work.   Life's anchors too often give way right at the time when GenerationNext needs them most.

A HEALTHY CHURCH CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

This question arose as our congregation (at Easter) heard again from several college students being baptized.  Testimonies again revealed the personal disorientation several of the students felt from homes that had fallen apart, and personal love relationships that turned out not to be so full of the real thing.  Such disorientations left the heart craving for someone who could make sense out of the mush.

Healthy church families who follow Christ, with constituents who truly love others, can make a huge difference in the lives of stressed out college students.  The anchors can be reset, and the boundary lines rightly redrawn to guide the heart and years of future life.

Will our churches step up to the plate?  More and more I hear young people say, "You're down the road a bit.  Can we meet?  I've got some questions..."   Great loving takes time for important, young lives.

In the area of understanding great loving, may I commend to you Paul Miller, A Loving Life.

Opened Tomb...Opened Scripture...Opened Eyes (Luke 24:13-32)

One week earlier they had first walked the 7 mile journey, together. Two good friends; one from the coast, the other from Emmaus. Seven days ago, their trek coursed uphill, up to Israel’s principle city, the city of Jerusalem. Not to worry; their steps were light, energized by the prospect of celebrating the Passover, even as the city swelled with tens of thousands of worshippers. Laboring under the hard-pressed thumb of Roman rule, it was these festivals which kept their Jewish identity strong, the flagging Messianic hopes alive.

The week passed quickly, and now heading back to Emmaus, the journey sloped downward. Oddly, their steps were heavier, their hearts sluggish. The hopeful Passover days, scripted by the Scriptures for blessing and encouragement, had become oppressive, even bizarre.

“How could that happen?” Cleopas again asked, this time out loud. “I don’t know,” his friend sighed.

Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified. Murdered, really. He had almost quietly taken the city by storm—riding in on an unbroken colt, thousands lining the entryway, waving branches, shouting “Lord, save us!” He really shook things up – cleansing the temple, confounding the Pharisees, embarrassing the High Priest…and yet never actually harming anyone. It all felt right, like God was in it, because His Messiah had finally, clearly, arrived. What better time for Yahweh to save Israel but at Passover!!

And then…it all went south.

They arrested him in the middle of the night. They shuffled him around, secretly, between the Sanhedrin to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod to Pilate – all before the day had barely begun. They beat him mercilessly. They condemned him; they pierced Him, they broke Him.

By 9:00 AM he was hanging, nailed in shame outside the city.

By 3:00 PM, he was dead.

He was so dead, so brutalized. Blood everywhere. When Nicodemus and Joseph took him down, we couldn’t even recognize him. It was so awful.

“How could that happen?”

“I really don’t know.”

Emmaus was still a good hour, or more, away.

Someone suddenly joined them; it seemed from out of nowhere. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “I heard you talking; I hope you won’t mind if I join you.”

“You’re welcome, of course. We were talking about what happened at the Passover in the city.”

“What happened?’” the newcomer asked.

“You’re kidding, right? Are you the ONLY visitor to Jerusalem unaware of the things that took place in the last 4 days?”

“What things?”

“Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

The stranger stopped, and so did the other two.

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

Quite suddenly, the stranger took over the conversation. Cleopas and his friend had trouble taking it all in. Here was a man fully in command of the Sacred Writings, quoting as freely from the Torah, the Writings, and the Prophets as if the scrolls were unrolled right in front of them. Every part of the Scriptures pointed to the Messiah—not just to the Messiah, but to Jesus of Nazareth.

This stranger knew much more than he had let on, and it all made wondrous sense.

“Goodness…we’re home!” Cleopas realized.

“Thank you for your company,” the Stranger offered. “My journey continues.”

“No, no, no…it is way too late. Stay at my home this evening. You can continue by morning’s light.”

When the evening’s meal was arranged, oddly (again) the stranger took the lead. For the first time, they noticed the scarred hands as he reached for the bread, but said nothing. Cleopas’ eyes met his friends with a look that asked, “Who is this?” Scarred hands, yet strong, even as he broke the bread and handed each man a piece.

“It’s Him!” they each knew. “Jesus, it’s YOU!” Cleopas cried.

And then…He was gone.

“Did you feel it too?” his friend asked. “My chest was on fire with every Scripture he quoted…”

“Are you kidding me? With each word He spoke…” Cleopas added.

The run back to Jerusalem took less than an hour.

The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin, and a Call to Vigilance

Years ago, my parents bought me my first serious Bible.  It was a Scofield Reference Bible, King James Version.  Given to me shortly after I had trusted Christ as my Savior (August 6, 1963).   I had bent the knee to the savior two months before I became 10.  Three months before John F. Kennedy, C.S.Lewis, and Aldous Huxley all died on the same day (Nov 22, 1963).  I unwrapped mom and dad's gift, "the Book," on my October 6th birthday.

Today, I often look at that Bible.  When I can't find it, I go on a hunt for it.  I never want to lose it.  I may just spring to get it rebound in a fresh, leather cover.  I anticipate re-studying it some day when my (present) vocation becomes by (future) avocation.

FOOD FOR MY YOUNG HEART

My purpose is not to brag, but that Bible is indeed worn.  Not that it is 51 years old, but rather because as a young Christian I wore it out.  Much underlining of verses from Genesis to Revelation.  Many notes in the margins.  I recall with indescribable but just-as-if-it-happened-yesterday joy how much delight I felt in its pages, how often I heard the Holy Spirit's voice as I pondered the words.

Many discoveries.  Some of them thrilling, others sobering.

I recall one especially sobering verse, found in Paul's letter to the Romans.  Chapter 7, verse 13.  The KJV reads something like "so that sin might be shown to be exceedingly sinful."  That phrase never left me.  In so many places in the Bible, key people found sin attractive.  Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Achan, Samson, David, the prodigal son, Ananias and Saphira.  With all those people, and countless others, sin never truly was or is attractive.  Its bite is irretrievable loss and death.

Here, Paul said that sin in me misused God's law to produce death in me.  The point - sin is so sinful that it produces death from a source of life.  More to the point - sin is exceedingly sinful.

I always believed that the Holy Spirit had spoken to me back then, and continues to speak to me today, about the nasty, ugly, putrid, life-raping nature of sin.  There really is nothing at all attractive about it.

RECENT RE-AFFIRMATIONS OF ROMANS 7:13

Last week, I played 18 with my son Cameron in Austin TX.   We had a rare couple of hours together and alone.  As a policeman in Texas' capitol, he sees plenty of sin's destruction.  Not simply with the people he arrests and jails, but also in the lives of fellow police officers who sometimes find sin alluring (i.e., some choose to have an affair) and then realize it is anything but (i.e., their homes and personal lives fall apart).  I told him how often in my life, when contemplating the attractiveness of sin to me personally, God often put in my viewfinder illustration after illustration of how devastatingly destructive an affair (for example) is to everything you hold dear (reputation, health of family, trust and respect of virtually everyone around you...and so much more).  I urged him to look for those reminders in his life.  I begged Cameron never to do anything which would cause his own son, Dylan, to have to ask the question that has no good answer, "Daddy, how could you do that?"

Sin is too sinful to ever find it attractive.

This week, shockingly to my system, a pastoral colleague took his own life.  He hung himself at home.  Leaving a young wife, and two sweet (now broken) children.  I was coming to know Robert.  We shared ideas at the EFCA K-Club meetings.  He was a bright young leader.  His training had been the best; his pastoral career had enjoyed steady success and blessing from the Lord.  His step of self-destruction is inscrutable...at least as of today.

When I heard of his death, that verse in the Scofield Reference Bible flashed across my mind.  "sin that it might be shown to be exceedingly sinful"   There is no metric to measure the hurt sin is causing in North Carolina these painful days.

DISCIPLES OF JESUS ARE VIGILANT

Os Guiness writes, "Evil is quite simply the most serious problem in human life, the most serious problem in the contemporary world, and the most serious problem for our deepest resort in life -- our trust in God or in the universe that is our planet home."

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who by his life, death, and resurrection, has conquered sin and death, we must never "come to terms" with evil.  There is no truce with it that should be considered, and no friendship with it that can be contemplated.  We must hate it.  Call it what it is.  Understand what it does. And flee to the One who has from it set us free.

"Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord...the law of the (Holy) Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 7:24 and 8:2).

Be vigilant.  God promises that no allure of sin is overpowering (1 Corinthians 10:13).  There's always a readied escape, divinely provided, and the Spirit's coaching to take it.  More positively, revel in the victory of our living Lord.  The damned former master has lost his grip and power in us.  Christ Jesus has emancipated us  from sin and its nagging sister, guilt.  Pray. Sing.  Rejoice.  Choose to life in the full provision of the abiding Spirit, who brings freedom and joy and peace.  Sin need never rob us of that which God has richly supplies each of His children, each moment and every hour.

WHY WE HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT MALAYSIA 370

Why does it matter?

Why must we find the wreckage?  Why the desperate search for the "ping"?  Why the insatiable passion for knowing what happened and where they are?

Who cares?  Why should we care?  Why do we care?

MORE THAN PREVENTION

Some might argue that we must know in order to prevent something like this from happening again.  "If for no other reason, we may be able to change the factors (be they mechanically physical or psychologically personal) that caused the flight to divert from its course and plunge into obscurity."

Really?  Survey human history (though the comprehensiveness of such a survey is virtually impossible) and ask yourself, does history suggest that we human beings can actually prevent such so-called tragic events?   When will the next Fort Hood-type shooting occur?  The next stabbing rampage?  Tomorrow's Fed-Ex-truck-bus-accident?  Do we actually believe we can prevent future tragedy?

Surely, it is good to try to avoid future tragedies, as much as we can.  But let's be frank about the overall prospects of success.  As long as humanity roams the planet, unwanted loss and sorrow will occur via human hands.  One philosopher well noted that "depravity is history's verifiable Biblical doctrine."

But even if we were able to discover all the causes of difficult events, and prevent some, prevention is surely not the main reason for the hunt for Flight 370.

MORE THAN INSTINCT

Others might argue that our humanity has evolved to the stage that it has become humanly instinctual to want to know "why" and "how" when those we relationally love are unexpectedly gone and lost.  To be sure, we don't know why this instinct has arisen in the unguided, billions-of-years-upward-rise from inorganic matter to organic matter to simple life forms to complex life forms (even writing this makes little sense at all…there is no evidence to suggest that this kind of rise actually happened or happens.  Sheer blind faith by those who are anti-intelligent design).

Still, some want to attribute this to instinct which has acquired a sense of bitter loss and causal curiosity.    So we do it because we are driven to, but we have no good reason for doing so.  "They're gone!  Get over it!  Who cares?  Five, ten, 50 years from now, it will be nothing but a long-buried news story in the annals of aviation history."

Atheists should reason this way, but they are not courageous enough to do so.  They know they and their framework will be seen for what their logic demands.  A system which requires that the meaningless machine grinds on without the parts of the machine really knowing anything of a "why."

No, neither future prevention nor not-understood instinct is why we search.

ETERNITY IS THE REASON
HONOR IS THE DESIRE
RESURRECTION IS THE HOPE

"God has made everything beautiful in its time.  Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yes so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Eternity in the heart of humanity, humanity made in the image of God.  The truth for why we search for those we love is because there is an eternal sense within the heart of man that longs for relationships to last forever.  A sense that they should; a sense that they could; a sense that they can.

We want to know where those of the human race--people who were and are loved by particular families and friends--are.  We want to continue to love them, to honor them, and to hope by virtue of the sense God has instilled in us that we can see them again, and they can see us again.

This is why, of course, the life, death, and resurrection of a history-changing man named Jesus is not just important, but essential to one's frame of thinking about life, death, and life again.  Without the hope of resurrection, people are overwhelmed by loss of those loved.  The end of those loved is unthinkable and unacceptable.  There must be more.  There ought to be a resolution, a better finish.

It is because we are made for eternity and relationships that last beyond the present limited of this crippled creation…that we must find #370.  Without God, without His Christ and the resurrection, we are just in a meaningless search that ultimately means nothing.   Our hearts tell us differently because God put an eternal "ping" inside.

THE GREATNESS OF THE (Coming) KINGDOM

I've lost the cover in which BMH press originally cloaked the volume.  Perhaps it's shoved behind other books on the downstairs shelving.  I'd like to find it.  It has a picture of the author, Alva J. McClain on the inside flap.

In it (I recall) McClain looks theologically regal, and certain.  The Grace Seminary administration building is named after him.  Clearly, he set the tone for the fledgling seminary after the Grace Brethren had broken away from the Ashland Brethren.

His volume, to me, is almost priceless.  The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God.  For you, through Amazon.com, it's $21.24 in hardcover.  Write the check.  Read it.

In my first year of seminary, a fellow student urged me.  "Buy it; read it.  It will set the foundation for everything else."  His word was golden.

McClain explains -- "The Kingdom of God is, in a certain and important sense, the grand central theme of all Holy Scripture...in the Biblical doctrine of the kingdom of God, we have the Christian philosophy of history...to see the many-sided nature and vast scope of this Kingdom will not only shed light on the purposes and ways of God, but also give to men a better 'understanding of the times'."

McClain presented much of the material of this volume at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1954, at the W.H. Griffith Memorial Lectures.  He gives open thanks to John Walvoord, the (then) young president of the school who invited McClain down from Indiana.  No doubt, it would have been grand to be in Chafer Chapel.

THE COMING KINGDOM

McClain's inductive study is worth a full and reflective reading.  For me, most exciting is his treatment of the coming kingdom, when The King of Kings will fulfill his longstanding promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to David, and reign in glory on the earth.  McClain deftly ties together the panoply of Scripture from Genesis through Isaiah and Daniel and Matthew through Revelation. 

Chapter XVIII unfolds "the Blessings of the Prophetic Kingdom."  McClain writes, "The establishment of the Mediatorial Kingdom on earth will bring about sweeping and radical changes in every department of human activity, so far reaching that Isaiah speaks of its arena as 'a new earth' (65:17).  Every need of humanity will be anticipated and provided for: 'Before they call,' God says, 'I will answer' (65:24).  The King and His kingdom will come down upon the world 'like rain upopn the mown grass,' healing the arid and devastated areas of human life (Ps. 72:6).  Working through the chosen nation, God will 'fill the face of the world with fruit' (Is 27:6 ).  There will be an 'abundance of salvation' (literally, 'salvations'), so that no legitimate aspect of human life will be left without the regal, saving activity of God (Is. 33:6, ASV)."

Such descriptions are simply the tip of the iceberg, and for those hungry for the return of Jesus, McClain offers a view of the entire 'mass' if you will take the time to look below the waterline with him into the depths of the word of God. 

Human history will not end in a mass of evil and violence; it will culminate in the broad and wide fulfillment of divine promises yet unrealized.  Dr. McClain's work should not be ignored.  We do so to the peril of our thirsting souls.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

READY FOR HIS RETURN? A Pastoral Tribute to Grant Wolf

Few things are as picturesque as a quiet graveyard nestled midst the expansive farmland of rural Iowa.  Headstones stand mummed in the gentle breeze.  Flowers left yet again by family brighten names, dates, history.  Beneath the surface are beloved grandpas and grandmas who have worked the surrounding soil for countless decades.  Younger family members visit with hearts full of memories, and lives rooted in land.

A recent graveside service at the Paton (IA) Cemetery for my friend Grant Wolf (96) was just such a scene.   After toiling for many years on a nearby family farm, Grant and his wife Florence retired and made their way east to live in Ames, Iowa.  The Spirit would lead them to our church, and Grant's big grin and infectious, giggling laughter quickly endeared him to everyone. 

How could so much joy be wrapped up in so small a frame?

Florence would head to heaven soon after they moved to Ames.  Grant pressed on.  The faith that wrapped its trust around Christ when Grant was a teenage boy simply kept getting in him stronger and stronger.  Grant loved the Word, and loved Christian music, both which gave testimony to the Savior he loved. 

And, Grant loved the prospect of the return of Jesus.  He was one of those men who, in Paul's words, "loved His appearing."  I think Grant literally listened for the shout and the trumpet just about every day God gave him breath.

As I write this early on Sunday morning, resurrection day, I am thrilled for my friend.  Absent from a body he wore out through loving his family and so many others, Grant is now present with the Lord.  We planted him yesterday in that Iowa soil.  God promises to bring that "seed" out with a glorious body that will surprise everyone who knew Grant Samuel...an immortal, imperishable, powerful body that will final match Grant's immortal, imperishable, powerful heart for God.

We will miss him.  But we will see him again.  Because Jesus conquered the grave with life for those who trust in Him.

How about you?  Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ?  Would you meet Him like Grant met Him (Wednesday last) because by faith He is your savior?

I hope so.  I pray so.   Don't be unprepared.  There is too much hopelessness in this world, and in the next, without Christ.

Trust in Him.  Believe in Him.  And, listen for the trumpet...(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

GOOD...WHEN SATAN IS ON THE ATTACK?

"For those who love God, for those called according to His purpose, God works all things together for the good" (Romans 8:28).  Someone asks, "Doesn't this deny the reality of Satan's attacks.?"

At first, these two things do not seem to fit together.  God working the good for me, yet allowing Satan to attack me.

ENTER...the perplexing account (and biblical book) of Job.    Have you read this lately?  It will take your breath away.  It almost did for Job.

What an incredible story.  A man who had it all only to lose it all; all because God allowed Satan off the leash.  Satan challenged God to take down the divine hedge of protection, and God agreed.

How could God be working for good as Satan mauls Job's life?  All his children die.  All his possessions are stolen.  His vigorous health transformed into constant pain.  His helpmate urges him to release his will to live.

What good is there in this?  A strong, godly, community-blessing individual now sitting on a heap of ashes with nothing left than his next labored breath.  Nothing good about this grief...and for 30+ chapters, he complains about it.

What good is God working out in this?

A GOOD PURPOSE IN ULTRA-SUFFERING?

What happened to Job often happens to God's children.  Satan mauls and it hurts beyond description, and yet the sons and daughters of hte Almighty are to cling to Him by faith.    To what end?

First, it is clear that God wanted his servant to learn that JOB'S TENACIOUS TRUST IN GOD WAS MORE PRECIOUS TO GOD THAN HE IMAGINED.  His trust was not to be conditioned on whether or not God kept blessing him.  His faith was being refined into an unflinching trust no matter what.    Peter writes of this, "that your faith, more precious than gold, will result in praise and honor at the revelation of Jesus."   God did want to prove Satan wrong.  Job was not trusting in God simply because God was giving him a good life.  Job learned to want God even more through the terrible trials.

Second, clearly God wanted his servant to learn that GOD IS SOVEREIGN and JOB IS NOT.  At the end of the account, God finally answers all of Job's complaining with a flurry of questions which demonstrate the limit of Job's understanding and power, and the limitlessness of God's wisdom and power.  Job is humbled by, and ashamed, of his complaining.   God had the right to do whatever He wanted with Job's life, children, possessions, health.  Job's accusations lacked the perspective of the full wisdom of God.

Third, God also desired to demonstrate through Job that TENACIOUS TRUST WILL BE FULLY REWARDED IN THE FUTURE.  Job's losses were substantial and severe.  The grief of them came close tto be overwhleming.  But God's restoration of His servant's life was truly remarkable and joyful.  As God would demonstrate in history, and will in the future, the "day of The Lord" begins with intense and short-lived judgment, followed by glorious and lont-term blessing.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

There is much for us to learn in Job's experience, and we learn it better when we lay a verse like Romans 8:28 next to the good God in fact did through Satan's attack.

Has God let Satan off the leash into your life?  God will manage the extent of the attack, and He has greater and good purposes He is accomplishing.  Complain, pray, struggle...it's part of the process.  But through it all, trust.