Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
6 6 2023
In the reply portion of our new website, I receive a reply yesterday from a dear friend of mine. He brought up an issue we all battle with and I would like to answer my friend this morning. Let’s begin with his note to me.
Dennis, Thank you for the morning devotionals. They uplift and encourage me every day. I miss the church, more importantly, the fellowship. I am struggling balancing work & home, kids & sports/school/ travel volleyball, money/finances, and then finding time for church/fellowship? Most of the weekends are filled with trips away from home, where do I find consistency? We still believe more than ever, but deep down I know that I am not sharpening my sword or living with a purpose for Christ. Please pray for my family and I, to be drawn closer to the spirit and that we can find more time for the lord as a family instead of individually. Help me become the leader in Christ wherever the Lord puts me. Thank you Dennis for these morning devotionals, they fill up my soul with the Lord every morning.
Thank you for your transparency and courage to speak about this. You are not alone, all of us struggle with the balance of faith and our important duties of family and work. I agree it is hard but what comes to mind is the flight attendant who instructs the passengers to place the oxygen mask over their mouths before their children. Because should you pass out, who will be there to help them even though they are breathing now? Who will help them navigate the fear when they see you lose consciousness? Who will keep them calm, comfort them, assure them, direct them, teach them, and pray with them? That is truly a hard situation.
I don’t think it is so different from our daily schedules. We work so that we provide!
I get that, but I am also a firm believer that we end up with what we put up with.
That goes for the boundary lines that are encroached upon by spouses, children, our jobs, and extra-curricular activities. What is the Godly order…Who am I trusting? …
Who is in charge? Who are my counselors?
We shudder with our response in saying…I am, but we don’t like the areas of our life that are clearly out of balance…or even dictating. Inside we struggle with this voice that says, this has gone too far. But, I am just trying to be there for my kids, satisfy my spouse, and appease my boss and I am under so much stress. And this inner voice says I have given up my fellowship at church, with other people who helped keep me grounded, but more importantly, setting boundaries that my relationship with Christ is not the part that always gets squeezed out. Yet I know that is the glue to my life and my joy and peace. I even know I am not setting the right example for my children and spouse. I have become this puppet on a string, caught doing the things that I feel compelled to do but know that I have crossed the line of Godly parameters and Spirit lead leadership for those I’m entrusted to teach and instruct how to navigate life and not succumb to the travesty at Nazareth. There is no room at the Inn.
I realize this is a bottom-line response. It is a hard situation that has changed my friends life and the composite of his family. The answer, in my eyes, is just as stark. Repent.
Why is that viewed as such a cruel word or response? It simply means to tell God your sorry and then turn away from it! Stop it! Don’t continue on the same path.
Reset your boundaries. It begins with you.
My dear friends, I have been there…too many times.
But God’s word is unwavering in its direction to navigate those waters.
In Matt 13: 44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
I think number one we have lost sight of our true treasure…and along with it our Joy of living for Christ. Jesus is that treasure…
Ps 119: 105 – Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It shows me the way wherein I should go, both night and day”. Sure we know he is the light, but we are not holding it up anymore… instead of selling everything for the treasure, we put it on a shelf and bought another treasure of work, other commitments, and even family duties. Yes, they are all important but they are not the true treasure…they are not the foundation of our joy and our strength of living for Christ. We have ceased to fill our bucket with the fruit of the Spirit and started filling it with our own version of worldly treasures because other people need us and that has changed our filter…stolen our joy, which is our strength, and changed our path because we aren’t walking by his light anymore, but ours…and truly the best we can do is
1 Cor 13:12 “see through a glass, darkly; because we only know in part”.
Peter tried to figure it out alone and failed. Do you remember the two disciples walking along the road in Luke 24: 13 to 35? A stranger, Jesus, walked up to Cleopas and his unnamed friend and asked. “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They explained about Jesus.
When we stop our fellowship we lose our accountability, encouragement, and the helping hand of a friend when we have fallen or wandered off. That friend of Celopas is unnamed…but he could be you or me… but a stranger on the road asked them questions that became a “burning heart experience” for them. That stranger became a friend, that they invited to eat with them without knowing it was Jesus. It wasn’t until they broke bread together that their eyes were opened. They rushed back to tell the others, and… “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (v. 36).
Don’t lose the challenge of breaking bread together. Trust God for a few missed hours of overtime to put God first and then put on YOUR oxygen mask of time with other men each week, to walk together and grow together…to put God first.
I promise everything else will fall into place. Be Obedient…Just Do It!
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
