Monthly Archives: March 2015

"And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." John 6:21

If you are reading this you are either coming out of a storm, in the middle of a storm, or about to go into a storm sometime in the near future. Storms are simply a part of life. We have sunny days, but they will pass. We also have stormy days, and they too will pass.

The key to surviving storms is to remember God's presence. He is not surprised by any storm. He will never leave you during the storm. The real question that plagues, however, is "what is God doing in this torm?!?!"

The story of Jesus' walking on the water is one of the most amazing and memorable events in the gospels. As children we love the scene of Jesus strolling confidently among the waves. Who among us has not at least given it a try? We also love and long for the stilling of the storm Jesus performed when He got in the boat with His frightened disciples.

The Spirit inspired John to include this story in his gospel, but with a different emphasis. John did not mention a stilling of the storm. Check it out. The full story is in John 6:16-21. No mention of the stilling of the storm! Instead we find the above text that emphasizes the disciples' safe arrival at their destination. Why the difference?

Some storms are not immediately stilled. I believe the first readers of John's gospel were enduring a lengthy persecution. The storm had broken upon them with unrelenting fury. John, an old apostle by this time and facing a future in exile on Patmos, did not want to give the false hope that all storms are stilled. Storms can be of various intensities and durations. They are a fact of life for even the most faithful Christian.

However, you never face a storm alone. Remember the main thrust of this story is that Jesus came to them in the midst of the storm. Your personal storm may rage, but you are not alone. "I will never fail or forsake you" (Heb. 13:5). Now think carefully about this: if you can be sure of Jesus' presence with you, you can also be sure that He will not let you be overwhelmed by the storm you face. Live confidently!

For that reason, you can praise God when He delivers you from the storm (i.e. He stills it) or when He delivers you through the storm (i.e. He makes sure you survive it).

We do have to accept the fact that we don't get to choose! But relinquishing control to God invites us to deeper faith and gentle trust. Either way, from or through, you can trust God in the midst of your storm.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis
March 29, 2015

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

[I wrote the following back in 2010, before GraceWaves. Thought we could all relate.]

I have a confession. Not anything nefarious, more along the lines of embarrassingly dumb. Last Monday I wanted to back my prized Ford Taurus about half-way into my garage, and, for reasons too complicated to explain, I hopped out, leaving the door open, and left the car in reverse. I'll let that sink in for a moment . . . all right, let's proceed. As I realized the car was still rolling, with its front left "wing" heading slowly toward destruction, I jumped in and jammed on the brake.

Too late. That was an awful, slow, crunching sound. The outer brick wall of my house had bent the door back at a precise 90 degree angle. A car door should stop about 60 degrees. I sat there for a moment in stunned stupidity. My dear wife, who had witnessed the entire incident, stood in very gracious silence. I pulled forward, and found that while I was still able to close the door, it made a loud popping, grinding sound that said, "this will cost you."

After a few moments of recovery, I sheepishly called my good friend in the car business to ask about arranging for repairs. Feeling like a moron, I explained the situation and repeatedly bemoaned my foolishness. He assured me that they could take care of it, and then he said, "you're not the first person to do this." He had seen situations like this before, and he had fixed every one. I felt better. That line stayed with me: You're not the first person to do this, spoken by someone who knew how to fix the problem.

Now let's move from something mildly inane to deeply evil. Most people remember David's great sin as his affair with Bathsheba. The worse sin was trying to deceive Uriah, her husband, into believing he was the father. The sin was unspeakably worse when he arranged for Uriah to be left alone in battle. David took advantage of Uriah's faithfulness and courage to murder him. This sin defies comprehension. Such traitors reside in Dante's ninth and lowest circle of hell.

Nathan the prophet confronted David who quickly confessed and repented. That's all very good, but how do you approach God after such evil?

David wrote Psalm 51 after his encounter with Nathan. He had realized painfully the full impact of what he had done. He described his sin in unsparing detail. He realized how bad he was. The pleaded for God to, "create in me a new heart."

The word create (bara in Hebrew) is interesting. The writer of Genesis used it to describe God's activity in the first verse of the Bible. "In the beginning, God created." Theologians say the word describes creatio ex nihilo, creation out of nothing, but that's not quite accurate. The earth was a formless void when God spoke creation into existence. I like that image better. God took a mess and made beauty.

David confessed to God and held nothing back. He asked Him to create something out of the terrible mess he had made of his life. God did not have much to work with in David, but He doesn't need anything. That's the nature of grace. God creates out of little or even nothing. He cleansed, purified, forgave, and accepted David. How? Because David was not the first person to commit an unspeakable evil, and God knows how to fix the problem. He is in the business of forgiving and transforming messy people.

I regularly speak with people whose past haunts them. After 33 years of looking out over congregations I have learned to never underestimate the terrible situations people get themselves into. Some are bearing a crushing guilt and seek to hide from God, certain that if they stood in His presence, openly and honestly, a holy fire would consume them. But that is not true. There is no mess out of which God cannot make beauty.

What keeps you from God? What do you fear about your past? You're not the first person to do this. God knows the very worst about you, but He can create something out of nothing and has been doing this since creation. Let Him start to work on you. Give Him your mess. Be honest. Be open. Be new.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis
March 22, 2015

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise." Ephesians 5:15

Turns out, John Wayne was a prophet as well as an all-American hero. He reportedly said, "Life is hard, but it's harder when you're stupid." As with many aphorisms, I don't know if he actually said this or if it's merely attributed to him, but it certainly suits The Duke. [As a kid, I wanted to be like John Wayne when I grew up, but only made it a little past Don Knotts]

Now I don't recommend going around labeling anyone's behavior as stupid. The word is too crass, but the sentiment certainly is true. Life can beat you up when you're walking the straight and narrow, but you don't need to invite the blows by living unwisely.

That's the constant refrain of the biblical prophets and especially clear in the verse for this week's GraceWaves. Paul often included a section in his letters that addressed practical, daily living, and that is the case in the last two chapters in Ephesians. Based on the deep and sound theology of the first part of his letter, how then should we live? The key is wisdom, literally a right thinking about life and how we should best live it. What does this mean for you this week?

First, we all need a regular reminder to be wise. I have done things in my life I'm not proud of. They hurt me and other people.

I can recall certain episodes from my teenage years when my dad would shake his head and say "I thought you had better sense than that." He could have used the word "stupid," and been right on the money. I was unwise.

I still have that ability and the growing record to prove it! So do you. But our shared stupidity underscores the remarkable nature of God's grace. The fact that we have failed does not invalidate the wise lifestyle, and our shared hypocrisy does not mean we should not strive for the higher life in Christ. God loves us unconditionally, but in His love for us He will not leave us where He found us. He calls us to a higher life. Listen for that call.

Second, understand God's intent for the wise life. God "tuned" us to operate best when we love Him, others, and ourselves. The Christian moral life described in the Bible is always in our spiritual and physical best interest. We have greater peace, bless others, and are generally physically healthier if we walk in the light.

The alignment of joy and moral conduct is the overlooked benefit of Christian life. Too often, people view God as prudish, unsmiling, a spoil-sport, and trying to keep us from having any "fun." The exact opposite is true. God is joy. He is peace. And He is holy. He tries to steer us away from behavior that is harmful, to ourselves and others, as He tries to steer us to Him, and that is truly fun. I've known a great many people who knew how to have "fun" in a lower sense but certainly didn't know how to have peace.

Don't treat the moral life as unsophisticated and obsolete. The Creator understands His creations. Live wisely.

Third, don't ever make the moral life the primary focus of your faith. Read carefully here, please, otherwise I risk being labeled a libertine. The moral life has some definite parameters, some do's and don'ts, but if that is your primary aim then you risk descending into legalism and becoming terribly judgmental. You become "good" in the very worst sense of the word.

Paul is our best illustration. In Philippians he wrote that he was blameless under the law. I don't think this was an idle boast. Paul knew how to obey rules. He was scrupulous, i.e. full of scruples, but he lacked love.

His life in Christ changed him. God brought him deeply into the heart of grace so that Paul still conformed to a higher standard, but for an entirely different reason. It was an expression of gratitude and love. It was a longing to be like God who resided within Him, not a desperate attempt to impress God or other people.

So take a careful look at how you walk this week. Live wisely, pilgrim.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis
March 15, 2015

"For every one of you who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11

I have in my files a story from the New Orleans paper dated December 8, 1986 about a contest held near New Orleans. It was called "The Cutest Kid in the World Contest." More than five hundred children were entered. Prizes included a trip to Disney World. It was botched from the beginning. Delays in starting lengthened. Frazzled families grew increasingly impatient, and finally one mother jumped up on the stage and screamed at one of the officials, "Where are the judges? When does my child get judged?"

The official, who was no doubt frazzled and impatient herself by now, unwisely said, "If you want a trophy why don't you just come up here and grab one?" Scores of parents decided to do exactly that. Some with small children in tow stormed the stage. Some men fought over the larger trophies. One loving father who wanted only the best for his cutest kid tore the largest trophy away from other parents and staggered down the aisle, carrying it like the Stanley Cup. Others scrambled for smaller trophies scattered over the stage.

That was nearly 30 years ago. I wonder about that biggest trophy. Does it sit enshrined on a mantle somewhere in south Louisiana? Does the victorious father point it out to the now grown child and say, "you won the cutest kid the world contest!" I wonder if the kid ever found out the trophy doesn't mean a thing.

What drives this?

We all are seeking significance. We want to be important and respected. We want to know that we are here for a purpose and there is meaning and substance in our lives.

The tragedy of course is that we go about trying to meet these legitimate needs in all the wrong ways. We collect little trophies, scramble for chief seats, crave little tid-bits of recognition and long for fifteen minutes of fame. At some point we discover to our dismay that fifteen minutes of fame is nothing against the back-drop of eternity. None of the scraps mean a thing and they never did. Instead of finding significance, we rush to embrace emptiness.

The self-centered life pushes God to the periphery. Passions reign. Grace is an afterthought. Success in the shallowest sense of the word is ours, but it is fleeting. Life soon breaks the strongest self, and if that is all we relied on then we are dust.

At some point we may learn. All the sexiness we so valued, all the accomplishments we carefully chronicle on our resumes, all the approval of friends, peers and superiors will come to naught when we find ourselves at the bedside of a dying loved one. His body is wracked with pain and ridden with disease. You will take a cold washcloth and wipe her forehead. You will spoon feed him soup or ice. You will hold her shoulders during violent spasms of sickness and clean up afterward. You will hold her hand, kiss her forehead and whisper, "I am here for you, no matter what."

You will have no more important appointments to keep, no meetings, no seminars, no chief seats, no urge to surpass others no matter the cost. Your entire life will be defined by the needs of another person. Perhaps then, for the first time in your life, all the layers will be stripped away. Instead of trying so hard to make something of yourself, you will try only to help and serve someone else.

At that moment, God will have the real you. And you will be exalted.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis
March 7, 2015

"And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' And the blind man said to him, 'Master, let me receive my sight." Mark 10:51

Helen Keller wrote a fascinating article entitled "Three Days to See" for the The Atlantic Monthly. You remember, of course, that Helen Keller was blind and deaf from a very early age, but overcame those barriers and learned to communicate. She learned about the world around her and helped us to see things that we often overlook.

She began by writing, "I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight, silence would teach him the joy of sounds."

She was prompted to write this article when a friend returned from a walk in the woods. "What did you observe?" Keller asked. "Nothing in particular" her friend responded. "How is it possible," she wondered, "to walk in the woods and see nothing worthy of note?" She went on to imagine what the budding trees of spring would look like and the appearance of the different kinds of bark. She then imagined what she would do if she were given three days to see.

She would spend the first day seeing the people whose companionship and kindness had made her life worth living. Keller was accustomed to sensing a person's mood and qualities through the tips of her fingers. What an advantage she imagined she would have if she could see all the subtleties of expression.

On the second day she would rise with the dawn to see the thrilling miracle by which night is transformed into day. She would see as much of the world on that one day as possible. Art and nature and plays would be on her agenda that day.

On the third day she would get out into the city and see the faces of people as they went to work. She would un-focus her eyes for a while to see the kaleidoscope of color from the women's dresses as they moved in the throng. She was certain that it must be a gorgeous spectacle. I had never thought of that before! On and on she goes. She admits that her three day agenda may be different from yours, but she is quite sure that if we knew that we would lose our sight tomorrow then we would cherish everything we saw in those last few hours.

The real purpose of her article she sums up in the last paragraph. "Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to other senses. Hear and smell and feel and taste as well as see the wonders of the world around you."

I began GraceWaves over five years ago because I loved the image of God's washing His grace over us. I believe this deeply even when I don't live like it. My greatest challenge is to be aware of God's grace. To use all the senses of my faith to hear, and see, and feel what God is doing and saying is a constant challenge.

Silencing the clamors of the world and in my head is my greatest challenge. To do this I must find a way to be still and let God's Spirit blow through my life. God whispers to me, so I have to learn to pray quietly and listen to the silence. In these spiritual spaces, I find the beauty of God's grace all around me.

Think of faith as a sense. Believing ushers us into the world of the Spirit, and we see eternal truth and infinite goodness. It is hard, but live today as if this is your last one to sense God's wondrous grace. Start now. What do you see?

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis
March 1, 2015