Hammer on Anvil '

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).



God calls us to uphold two great commandments above all else: Love God and love others. It would not be in His character to ask us to hate anyone. So what does this verse mean?

Matthew 10:37 says something similar: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Barnes' Notes on the Bible explains:

"Christ must be loved supremely, or He is not loved at all. If we are not willing to give up all earthly possessions, and forsake all earthly friends, and if we do not obey Him rather than all others, we have no true attachment to Him."

I have encountered many counseling situations that illuminated the truth of these verses. For example, a young woman who I had mentored briefly in the past contacted me. I hadn't heard from her for months, because she generally didn't like what I had to say about how she was living her life. She looks to men constantly to fill the God-shaped vacuum in her heart. In her early 20s, she has already been divorced and has a child.

In a Facebook message, she informed me she just became engaged, and wants to get together with my husband and me so we can meet her fiance. I did not respond right away; I knew I needed to seek the Lord about what to say to her, and I prayed her heart would be receptive.

I told my friend it would not be a good idea to meet her fiance until she and I had a chance to talk first. I told her I was sorry to hear that she is still running from God and into the arms of men, looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. I said I was willing to meet with her, but would understand if she didn't want to after reading my note.

This is what I think Jesus means by loving Him more than others. It means doing the hard thing. It means not glibly saying, "Congratulations on your engagement!" when you know that's the worst thing that could be happening. It means upholding God's standards, rather than responding the way the rest of the world might respond.

I would have done my friend a grave disservice by pretending to be happy about an impending marriage that -- unless God intervenes in a big way -- is doomed before it begins. Someone has to tell her the truth. Lots of people have tried, most notably her dear parents, but to no avail.

Surprisingly, my friend responded that yes, she would like to meet with me. I am praying for wisdom. I so want her to know how much God loves her, and that she doesn't have to feed on the garbage thrown to the pigs any longer. She can come HOME, and be embraced with open arms by the God who knit her together in her mother's womb.

May we all endeavor to hold out the truth of God's Word, no matter what we face. Anything we do in our flesh will not bring about God's best.

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest (Luke 9:46).


How clueless can you get?!? Jesus had just told the disciples that whoever wanted to follow Him must deny self and take up their cross. Then, in the verse immediately before this one, Jesus predicted His own death for the second time.

This doesn't exactly sound like a prime time to begin jockeying for position and prestige, does it? Oblivious to Jesus and the gravity of what He had been telling them, they totally missed the point.

But don't we all do the same thing? We get prideful about so many things:

• our talents
• our accomplishments
• our jobs
• our education
• our possessions
• our families

We may jockey for position even in spiritual matters, boasting that our spiritual gift is somehow superior (Pentecostals and charismatics seem particularly adept at this), or that the way we worship is how it should be done. We even get prideful about our denominational doctrines, thinking that if people don't believe like us, they are somehow missing an essential part of Christianity. We squabble over what kind of music to play in church, and how loud it should be. We argue about what curriculum should be used in our kids' programs. Tragically, churches have actually split over what color the carpet should be!

What is missing here is humility. We conveniently lose sight of the fact that we are supposed to deny ourselves and that, in God's economy, the LEAST will be the greatest. Consider these Scriptures:

• Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each others' faults because of your love (Ephesians 4:2).
• Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves (Philippians 2:3).
• Serve each other in humility, for "God opposes the proud but favors the humble" (1 Peter 5:5).
• Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Matthew 23:12).

Humility and gentleness go a long way in promoting unity in the Body of Christ. Ask God to examine your heart this week and reveal where you might be lacking in this area.

According to the notes in my study Bible, 2 Timothy is a "bold, clear call for perseverance in the gospel in spite of suffering." Throughout the book, Paul exhorts Timothy to continue steadfastly in the faith, even as Paul approaches the end of his own life.

Paul begins this letter by thanking God for Timothy, and makes mention of Timothy's "sincere faith." Then comes our text for today:

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:6,7).

Note that this passage begins with "For this reason..." For what reason does Paul encourage Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God? We have to look no further than verse 5. Because of Timothy's sincere faith, Paul encourages him to not be lax in using the gifts God has given him.

The Lord has whispered this verse to me on a number of occasions. Perhaps He has whispered it to you, as well. We all need to be reminded that our spiritual gifts will atrophy if they are not exercised.

Maybe you're reading this and wondering if you even have spiritual gifts. I have been there. I have sinned against the Lord so grievously at times that I was sure He could never use me.

Satan does that to us, my friends. We fail, and then he begins his litany of reasons why God could never possibly use you. That's why I'm so grateful that we have the Bible. It is rife with examples of God's people who blew it big-time, yet God used them in remarkable ways to further His kingdom.

David is a classic example. He is chosen over all his brothers to be king, and uses his position of authority to snatch another man's wife. He even has her husband killed, so he won't have to be reminded that she belongs to someone else. God, in His mercy, sends the prophet Nathan to confront David (2 Samuel 12). When David's eyes are opened, he doesn't squawk about how he's a victim of circumstance. He doesn't make any excuses. His only words are, "I have sinned against the Lord." His child died because of his sin. But did God stop using David because he failed? No.

David's life is a portrait of successes and failures. In the Psalms, David opens up about many of his shortcomings, and prays for God to forgive and restore Him (see Psalm 51 for David's prayer after he committed adultery with Bathsheba). How interesting, then, that God calls David a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). God saw beyond David's pride and his fleshly appetites. He saw a man with absolute faith in God, and a man who loved God's law. More importantly, David was truly repentant when he sinned. That's big in God's economy, friends.

Now to the point at hand. Regardless of what you have done, God wants to use you. We are not informed in today's text precisely what gift Timothy was to fan into flame, but that doesn't  matter. First Corinthians 12 tells us that we are all given spiritual gifts, and "to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (verse 7). Together we comprise the Body of Christ, and each of us has a part in making sure the body is healthy.

Maybe you don't know your spiritual gifts. Or maybe you know you have a certain one or two, but have been reticent to use them. Whatever your situation, I encourage you to seek God about how He wants to use you. Educate yourself about spiritual gifts if you are unfamiliar with them. Most importantly, be available to God. He has engineered things such that the Body of Christ works like a well-oiled machine when we all do our part.

In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus exhorts His disciples: "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me." But then, in Matthew 18, He says, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

This dichotomy boggles my mind. Death to self versus becoming like little children?

But be assured there is a method in God's seeming madness. Jesus' admonition to become like children came on the heels of the disciples asking Him who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They were still lobbying for a powerful Messiah; a humble one riding on a donkey wasn't what they had in mind.

I like how Matthew Henry's commentary explains this:

Our Lord set a little child before them, solemnly assuring them, that unless they were converted and made like little children, they could not enter his kingdom. Children, when very young, do not desire authority, do not regard outward distinctions, are free from malice, are teachable, and willingly dependent on their parents. It is true that they soon begin to show other dispositions, and other ideas are taught them at an early age; but these are marks of childhood, and render them proper emblems of the lowly minds of true Christians. Surely we need to be daily renewed in the spirit of our minds, that we may become simple and humble, as little children, and willing to be the least of all. 

Okay, now it's starting to look more like self-denial and taking up one's cross. Being like children doesn't necessarily mean being totally carefree. It means having a teachable spirit. It means not jockeying for position or authority or recognition. It means being dependent on your parents to meet your needs.

Where is the freedom in all that? It's in Jesus. He has made provision not only for our sins to be forgiven, but also for us to walk in newness of life. Many of us eagerly embrace that first provision, but may not be as familiar with the second. Instead of living life simply and joyfully as a child of God, we are burdened down with what we deem our "responsibilities" as Christians. We set out, sometimes by sheer willpower, to please God, only to find that we keep failing Him. So we make new resolutions and set out again, redoubling our efforts. And you got it -- we fail yet again.

The freedom, my friends, comes in realizing that we can't do anything to please God. He already knows that, which is why He sent Jesus. He has set us free from the Law (Romans 8). Yet when we try to do things for God in our own flesh, we enslave ourselves to the Law all over again.

God created the Law to convince us of our weakness and inability to fulfill it, so we would finally put our trust completely in God. Watchman Nee, in The Normal Christian Life, uses a drowning man to illustrate this dynamic:

A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself.

Where are you at this point in your walk with Jesus? Are you striving to please God in your flesh? Many times programs and outreaches and other "church activities" are what keep us away from God. It is easier to DO than to simply BE the child of God He wants you to be.

When we work at being acceptable to God, we deny all that Jesus accomplished on the Cross. Watchman Nee says, "Our every attempt to do His will is a denial of His declaration that we are utterly powerless to do so."

Yes I know -- this flies in the face of much we have been taught. It sounds like deliverance from the Law means we are free from doing what God desires, but of course that is not true. We are free from trying to do His will in our own strength, however. And that, my friends, is true freedom! It means no more striving, no more performing. It means resting in what God has already done for us, once and for all.

The Gospel of Matthew is packed so full of wonderful wisdom that when I journal about my day's reading, it is hard to pin down one verse -- even one chapter -- on which to focus! But it's hard to beat this one, and I love how the New Living Translation puts it: "Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

The NIV says it like this: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

What are "all these things" Jesus makes reference to here? Earlier in the chapter, Jesus exhorts His listeners to not worry about what they will eat or drink, nor what they will wear. He says "pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows you need them" (verse 32). The New Living Translation says, "These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers." The message is clear: if you follow Jesus, your focus should be on Him, not on what you perceive to be your own personal needs.

I'd like to ask you a question that Oswald Chambers poses in My Utmost for His Highest:

Are you so identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Do you continually say with amazement to your common-sense life – why do you want to turn me off here? Don’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?

Remember when Jesus was only 12 years old, and He stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it? They found Him in the temple courts, and basically asked Him how He could do such a thing, worrying them like that! Jesus expressed surprise at their obvious cluelessness, and asked, "Why were you searching for Me? Didn't you know I had to be in My Father's house?" (Luke 2:49).

Being in our Father's house does not mean being in a church building. It refers to our position in Christ, which is laid out pretty succinctly in the first chapter of Ephesians. He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (vs. 3). He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (vs. 4). In Him we have redemption through His blood (vs. 7).

When Jesus died, the veil of the temple -- a thick, heavy curtain which kept sinful men out of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle -- was rent in two from top to bottom. We are no longer forbidden to approach God; in fact, Hebrews 4:16 tells us we are to approach the throne of God boldly! Yet how many of us still wallow in our past sins and feel we are too unworthy to approach Him?

Now back to Matthew 6:33. Because of our position in Christ, we are free to seek God and His righteousness. We are free to have open, constant, unbroken communion with God. We can experience his presence whether we are reading the Bible or at our desk at work or doing a load of laundry. To keep the lines of communication open, though, we must "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). If we spend a lot of time playing video games or watching television, obviously God's presence is not going to seem as real to us, because we are effectively tuning Him out. We are telling Him that our frivolous pursuits are more important to us than spending time with Him.

Many things distract us and pull us away from God's presence in this day and age. It is time for us to decide whom we will serve. Remember Matthew 6:24: "A man cannot serve two masters; either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other."

Christ has provided all we will ever need. Our place is to put Him first, and trust in Him to do the rest.