Have Patience With Yourself

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

I’ve shared this parable with a bunch of people lately.

Jesus was often asked about the kingdom of heaven, and I can imagine Him looking up, hand on his bearded chin, pondering and saying, “What is the kingdom of heaven like, and to what shall I compare it?  Hmmm…”

“It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden, and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

Question:  how long does it take a tree to grow from a seed?  A long time.

How long does it take the kingdom of heaven to grow inside of us?  A long time.

So my message is:  have patience with yourself.  Mighty trees take a long time to grow.

In Luke 17 the Pharisees were asking Jesus about the kingdom, and Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

How is the kingdom of God within you?  Here is a quick breakdown.

We’re all born in sin.  We are all sinners.  Jesus died for our sins.  When we turn to God and receive His forgiveness for our sins, that takes care of the sin problem that separates us from God, and then a glorious thing happens.

He puts His Holy Spirit inside of us.  

That is the kingdom of heaven “mustard seed” being planted in us.

This is God beginning His good work in us, and Philippians 1:6 says that He who began His good work in us will be faithful to complete it.

In other words, that kingdom of heaven “tree” is going to grow.

The kingdom of heaven tree is going to bear fruit, the fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

If you look at your life and say, “Wow, I am lacking in the fruit of the Spirit,” then I say, “Have patience with yourself.”  It takes a long time for a tree to grow.

Back in the day The Hemphills had a powerful little song called, “He’s Still Workin’ on Me.”  It said:

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart,

“Don't judge me yet, there's an unfinished part,”

But I'll be perfect just according to His plan,

Fashioned by the Master's loving hands.

He's still workin’ on me,

To make me what I ought to be,

It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars,

How loving and patient He must be,

He's still workin' on me.

Yes, God is still workin’ on me.  He’s growing that tree of the kingdom of heaven inside of me.  It’s going to bear the good fruit of the Spirit, but trees take time.  They have to grow roots.  They have to grow limbs and leaves.  They have to weather the seasons, but watch.  In time they will bear the good fruit the Creator has designed for them.

And so will you and I and all of God’s people, because His Spirit is inside of us, working on us, growing us, and raising us up to be full grown, fruit-bearing people.

So if you find yourself falling short of where you want to be in your walk with God, just remember that mighty trees take a lot of time to grow, so…

Have patience with yourself, because God’s still workin’ on you.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(Listen to the original version of He's Still Workin' on Me by The Hemphills here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-V5FHvTycg)

Let's Play Two

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“Your boss is taking advantage of you.”

“What?  I’m just walking his dog.”

“Yeah.  That’s not part of your job.  You’re a radio station manager, not a dog walker.”

“Okay, well, call it my senior citizen ministry.  I’m helping the old guy out.”

“Call it what you want.  You’re being taken advantage of.”

“No. What I’m doing is loving my neighbor.  If someone shows you how you can love them, and you can easily do it, just do it.”

“But doing personal favors is not your business.”

“Mankind is my business!”

Okay, so now I’m quoting Marley talking to Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, but mankind is our business.  

Jesus said something oh so powerful in the Sermon on Mount.  In Matthew 5:41 He said, “…whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.”

This is where we get that phrase, “Go the extra mile.”

How it worked back then was, a Roman soldier could legally tell you to carry his gear for a mile.  So Jesus said, “If that soldier makes you carry his gear for one mile, go ahead and carry it for two miles.”

Now that’s next level Christianity!

Serving others should come as naturally to a Christian as playing ball does for a ballplayer.

I’m thinking of Ernie Banks, the hall of fame baseball player for the Chicago Cubs.  In fact his nickname was Mr. Cub.  He also had another nickname, “Mr. Sunshine” because of his positive attitude.

Ernie Banks had a popular catchphrase he was known for.  He would say, “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame…let’s play two!”

Now I imagine a lot of ballplayers probably hate doubleheaders.  It’s twice the work in the same day.  But Ernie, with his go-the-extra-mile positive attitude was like, “Let’s play two!”

Imagine Ernie back in Bible days.  A Roman solder barks at him, “Carry my gear for a mile,” and Ernie cheerfully responds, “Let’s go two!”

I know it seems to go against our rights, and a law like that wouldn’t fly for a hot minute in America today, but listen for a second.

Sometimes clinging so tightly to our rights is actually a burden that keeps us from freely loving and serving others.  

So watch for it.  Suddenly an opportunity to serve someone will appear.  The door will open, and what will we do?  We can ignore it.  We can go ahead and serve them but with a bad attitude.

Or we can cheerfully, with the joy of the Lord as our strength, choose to go the extra mile and say, “Why stop at one?  Let’s go two!”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Set the Bar High...for the Most High

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

Do you see a man skilled in his work?  He will stand in the presence of kings!

That’s what it says in Proverbs 22:29.

Are you skilled in your work?

Are you improving your skills?

It’s a lifelong effort.  We never stop improving.

Jesus’ parable of the talents tells us the value of taking what we have and growing it.

Matthew 25:23 says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You were faithful over a few things.  I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.”

So the question is, are we being faithful with what we’ve been given?  

It’s a requirement.

First Corinthians 4:2 says it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Are we being faithful?  Are we growing what we’ve been given?  Are we improving our skills, taking them to the next level, moving towards mastery?

Ecclesiastes 9:10 says whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

Colossians 3:23 says whatever we do, we should do it with all of our heart, as if we are doing it for the Lord.  

Here are some Bible verses I often apply to my work, taken from Luke chapter 3, “the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth.”

In your work, are there crooked places and rough ways?  It’s time to make them straight for the Lord!

Sometimes I say it this way, “Set the bar high…for the Most High!”

Philippians 4:8 says, “…if anything is excellent or praiseworthy…” 

That should apply to our work!

When people want to think about something excellent or praiseworthy, our work should come to mind.

Show me a man who is skilled in his work and I will show you a man who will stand before kings!

And the most important king is the King of Kings!

So, are we skilled in our work?  How can we become MORE skilled in our work? 

How can we meet the requirement of being a faithful steward of what God has given us?

One way is by locking this mindset into our brains.

Set the bar high…for the Most High!

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

If You Are the Son of God

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“If You are the Son of God…”

That’s what they shouted at Jesus while He was on the cross.

They said, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

He could have.

He could have avoided the cross altogether.

When He was arrested, Peter pulled out a sword to fight, but Jesus told him to put it away.  Then He said, “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?”

He could have avoided the cross, but, He said to Peter, “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”

God had a plan, but Peter didn’t see it.

Even when God announces His plans, people often don’t see it.

In John chapter 2, while Jesus was at the huge temple in Jerusalem, some leaders asked Him for a sign, so He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The leaders were like, “What?  It took 46 years to build this temple, and you’re going to raise it up in three days?”

But Jesus wasn’t talking about that building.  He was talking about His own body being raised up in three days after the crucifixion.

But they didn’t get it.  Even when Jesus did announce the plan, they didn’t get it.

But they did use His words against Him.

When He was on trial, Matthew 26 says, “…two false witnesses came forward and said, ‘This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”

They used these same words against Him while He was on the cross, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

But you know what?  I think we do the same thing today.

We lack understanding.  We don’t see God’s plan, so we say dumb things like, “If You are really God, You’ve got to do thus and so.”

And it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable.  To tell Jesus to come off the cross if He’s the Son of God is not all that unreasonable.  But it is ignorant of God’s plans.

Much of the time we are ignorant of God’s plans, and that’s where this word “trust” comes in.

When Jesus told Peter to put his sword away, He was saying “trust Me.”

When Jesus told Peter to go back in the water and let down the nets, even though Peter had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus was saying “trust Me.”

And Peter did trust Him.  At one point, when a bunch of fair-weather followers left Jesus, He turned and said to His disciples, “Do you want to leave, too?”

Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter didn’t know what all was going on, but he did trust Jesus.  

So what about us?  We also don’t understand what all is going on, but will we trust Jesus?

God has plans, and He’s never been in the habit of revealing them in detail.

But there is something that God is very much in the habit of:  asking us to trust Him.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding…”

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”

I don’t want to be one who says, “IF You are the Son of God, here’s what You have to do…”

Instead, I want to be one who says, “You ARE the Son of God.  And even though I don’t understand what all is going on, I put my full faith and trust in You.”

Amen.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.