The Word For Today

James writes: 'Be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything. If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you...But when you ask...you must have faith...Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all' (James 1:2-8 CEV).

Note three things in this Scripture: (1) Your faith grows when it's tested. You'll never know the strength of your anchor until you feel the blast of the storm. (2) God will give you wisdom to handle the test. Now, he won't answer all your 'whys'. So instead of questioning him, you need to pray, 'Lord, how do you want to use this trial to develop me spiritually? How can I co-operate with you to reap the maximum benefit? What changes do you desire to bring about in my life?' Those are questions God will answer. (3) You must be willing to obey. It's possible to ask God for wisdom, then debate, stall or mess around trying to decide whether to obey him. 'If you're that kind of person...don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all.' When God gives you his wisdom, your first response should be: 'Speak, for your servant is listening' (1 Samuel 3:10 NIV).

When your parents grow old and become less capable of taking care of themselves, they need certain things from you, like love, kindness, patience, tenderness, sensitivity and understanding. When you were a child, perhaps your mother picked you up at school because you didn't like to take the bus, and now you're upset with her for being five minutes late. As a teen or a preteen, it's wrong to be more kind, considerate and patient with your friends and your friends' mothers than your own mother. Indeed, if you treated your friends like you treat your mum, you wouldn't have many friends left. And if you treated their mum like you do your own, their mum wouldn't let her child have anything to do with you.

As your mother grows older, it's time to focus more on her care! 'But she's always complaining,' you say. 'But she talks about herself and asks the same questions over and over,' you say. As they get older, our parents experience fears they never had before, and they need you to reassure them that you'll be there for them.

One of the last things Jesus did when he was dying on the cross was to commit the care of his mother, Mary, to his close friend and disciple, John: 'Then he said to the disciple, "She is now your mother." From then on, that disciple took her into his own home' (John 19:27 CEV). So, the word for today is - take good care of your mother.

If you study famous musicians, you'll often find that they learned their craft by playing in a band or orchestra. That's because certain skills - learning to blend with other instruments, keeping tempo, learning to play louder or softer, following the conductor's lead - can only be learned by playing with others. And what's true of a band or orchestra is even truer of a community of believers.

Jesus illustrated this in his parable of the talents (see Matthew 25:14-30). One man was given five talents and ended up with ten. Another man was given two talents and ended up with four. A third man was given one talent, and he buried it. In a sense, Jesus was talking about people playing their parts and how important that is to God's kingdom. Not everyone plays the same instrument, and not everyone has the same part. Some instruments are louder than others, and some parts are bigger than others. It's not how much you have that matters to Jesus; it's what you do with what you have that matters to him.

There are no insignificant talents in God's kingdom. Our talents may differ in number, but they all come from the same source. All Jesus wants you to do is play your part. He does not expect the same results, but he does expect the same effort. He never compares you with anyone else. He compares you only with you. He doesn't look at what you have; he looks at what you do with what you have. So just play your part.

When you face a crisis it's easy to lose perspective. It happened to two of Jesus' disciples on the Emmaus Road. Discouraged about Jesus' death, they 'were talking to each other about everything that had happened. While they were talking, Jesus approached them and began walking with them. Although they saw him, they didn't recognise him' (Luke 24:14-16 GWT). When you take your eyes off Jesus, you start to feel helpless about your situation.

Dr Michael Youssef says: 'Facing a major crisis, I tend to be the kind of person whose vision becomes blurred. My perceptions are shot. My contemplations are one-sided. I often shut out the very people who can deliver me, just like those two disciples...Their vision was blurred about the person who was walking with them and talking to them. The one whose death they were mourning was alive...but they didn't realise it because their focus was on the wrong thing.' But everything changed the minute they recognised Jesus. 'Within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There...the two...told...how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along...and how they had recognised him as he was breaking the bread' (Luke 24:33-35 NLT). Note the words 'within the hour'. In an instant they went from fear to courage, pain to joy and despair to hope.

Paul wrote, 'I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened' (Ephesians 1:18 NIV). When you stop focusing on the problem and fix your eyes on Jesus, you get 20/20 vision and you're filled with hope.

Satan is called 'the accuser of our brethren' (Revelation 12:10 NKJV) because he tries to remind us of everything we've done wrong. Why? So that all our emotional energy is spent on the past, and we've nothing left over to dream God-sized dreams or fulfil our God-given assignment in life. The irony of his accusations is this: he leaves our unconfessed sins alone. Why wake a sleeping dog? He'd rather you don't deal with unconfessed sin at all. His accusations pinpoint confessed sin - sins that have already been forgiven. That is why they are false accusations; the sins have already been acquitted.

Let's make a critical distinction. Condemnation is feeling guilty over confessed sin, whereas conviction is feeling guilty over unconfessed sin. Conviction is the way we get right with God and get on with our lives. Learn to tune in to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit and tune out the condemning voice of the enemy.

The Bible says: 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9 NKJV). If we plead innocent, we're guilty as charged. Even Jesus our advocate can't come to our defence. But if we plead guilty as charged, we're found innocent, and we come under God's protective custody. Our record of wrong is completely expunged. And there is no double jeopardy - you cannot be tried twice for the same sin. Once confessed, your sins are forgiven, full stop. The sinless Son of God made sure of this, once and for all (see 1 John 3:5).

When Moses sent Caleb to spy out the Promised Land, Caleb saw something that troubled him: the town of Hebron. Abraham buried his wife there. He was buried there. So were Isaac and Jacob. Hebron was a sacred site. Now it was inhabited by their enemies, and it bothered Caleb. It was more than he could take, so he asked Moses for Hebron. He didn't ask for Jerusalem, perched on Mount Moriah; or the Valley of Eschol, where grapes grew as large as plums; or Jericho, where the Jordan River flowed. He wanted Hebron, whose soil had known the visitation of angels and whose earth entombed the holiest family. 'Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb' (Joshua 14:13 NKJV). Caleb wanted to do something great for God. He lived with a higher call. Perhaps the reason your problems feel so great is that your call is too small.

Author Max Lucado tells of a doctor friend who makes regular medical trips to a remote jungle clinic to treat the disadvantaged. He's a retired surgeon with ample income. He could spend every day of his life in ease and luxury. But he focuses on supporting the health clinic for his own good: 'I need a cause that is greater than cable TV and Cadillacs,' he said. 'If I focus on my comfort, nothing can satisfy me. But when I focus on the concerns of God, I am a happy man.'

Do you have a holy cause? A faith worth preserving? A mission worth living for? Ask God to give you a 'Hebron' to claim for his glory.