Update – Keeping the Faith

I received word back from Pacific Press regarding publication of the second book in the Race trilogy, Keeping the Faith. Seems it cleared their editorial staff but not their sales staff. Translation: No. (A nice no, as nos go, but still a no.)

So I’ll be doing some prayerful research and regrouping — I’m just not sure where to take this book from here. I’ve known for some time that I need to get more savvy about book sales and marketing, because I’m truly terrible at sales. As a kid, I was always the sap that ended up buying everyone else’s candy bars rather than selling my own. It’s generally seemed wiser (and less expensive) for me to stay away from that particular field since then. But since this book has twice been tripped up at the marketing level (rather than from a deficiency in the writing), I’m guessing that’s where I need to look for a solution. I just hope I don’t buy too many candy bars along the way!

 

Handling Hostility

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I’ve never understood politicians. Why would anybody want a job where, no matter what you do, somebody’s sure to complain and call you names? Talk about a hostile work environment!

Apparently running a country was just as tough in David’s time, and it sometimes got him down: “The enemy has pursued me, crushing me to the ground, making me live in darkness like those long dead” (Psalm 143:3, HCSB).

In David’s case, there was probably some literal pursuing, crushing, and darkness involved. Still, we’ve probably all shouldered similar burdens—unjust loads placed on us by other people’s anger, jealousy, or misunderstanding.

Maybe we can learn something from how David handled the problem. He left some clues about his method in the rest of Psalm 143:

Knowing God’s Will

 

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Knowing God’s will is key to living a life that is both blessed and a blessing. But how do we know what His will is? Unlike the characters of The Race, we don’t have electronic devices that make His voice audible to us, so His leading isn’t always as easy to perceive as we’d like.

In “Determining the Will of God,” Pastor Doug Batchelor presents the most complete discussion of this topic that I’ve found to date. In less than an hour, he examines both trustworthy and questionable methods of learning God’s will, as well as some general principles to be aware of. I’ll summarize the trustworthy methods, but you can watch or listen to this talk for yourself here:

Right Sacrifices

In Psalm 4:5, David gives us some good advice: “Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord” (NIV). Among the blessings we’re to reap from this are great joy and peaceful sleep (verses 7 and 8). Sounds great, doesn’t it? In our hectic world, such blessings are priceless.

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Just one question: What are “right sacrifices”? In David’s world, this referred to unblemished lambs or goats offered with a willing, obedient spirit. But when was the last time you sacrificed a lamb? It’s probably been a while. So what does this refer to in our time?

In looking through my Bible, I’ve found a few things associated with the kind of “sacrifice” that pleases God:

Life’s Not Fair!

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This is perhaps the most universally accepted notion in our society. Male or female, young or old, rich or poor, believer or nonbeliever—everyone agrees: Life’s not fair. We learn the truth of it at a young age, probably when a sibling steals our lollipop and gets away with it.

The Bible concurs: “There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve (Eccl. 8:4, NIV).

Yet Psalm 37:1 advises us, “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong” (NIV). A more modern translation might be, “Don’t let jerks get under your skin.”

Book Update

Finished!

It’s been several months since I reported that I’d sent the manuscript for the second book, Keeping the Faith, off to the publisher. A number of you have been kind enough to ask about its status since then. Today I finally have something definitive to tell you, but it’s a good news/bad news situation.

Inspired Housekeeping

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Have you ever wondered who cleaned that big, beautiful architectural wonder we know as Solomon’s temple? Did the high priest’s wife sneak an illegal immigrant across the border to do it? Did she hire a troop of maids for minimum wage and no benefits?

Actually, according to 1 Chronicles 23:28-29, the cooking and cleaning were done by (drum roll, please) the male Levites—a chosen tribe within a chosen people.

And Liberty for All

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Today, on this day when we especially celebrate freedom in the USA, I’d just like to leave this thought with you:

We are called to present liberty of conscience, not liberty of view. If we are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty — the liberty of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ.

Always keep your life measured by the standards of Jesus. Bow your neck to His yoke alone, and to no other yoke whatever; and be careful to see that you never bind a yoke on others that is not placed by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us out of the way of thinking that unless everyone sees as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one liberty, the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient, remember how God dealt with you — with patience and with gentleness, but never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, p. 126)

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, NIV).

 

Would You Miss Jesus?

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To me, the saddest verse in the Bible is Luke 2:43: “After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.” (NIV) Or, as the New Living Translation puts it, they “didn’t miss him.”

Joseph and Mary were good people. They were godly people. Yet they became so absorbed in the stuff of daily life that they weren’t aware of God’s absence from it.

Great Book!

How often do you think about your big toe? Probably not too often. But when I broke mine, I thought about it a lot—how to make it comfortable, how far I could walk before its complaining became unbearable, what areas I could negotiate with the crutches it required. And because I had this broken toe while playing the tourist in Washington, D.C., it even affected my ability to enjoy all the interesting and beautiful sights around me.

In The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, Timothy Keller says that egos are like toes. If they’re healthy, you don’t have to think about them. On the other hand, if you’re always thinking about your ego, that’s because it’s sick.

A sick ego asks questions like: What do people think of me? What do I think of me? How can I become famous/important/powerful? Have I proved my worth as a person yet? In other words, the sick ego has you constantly occupying the defendant’s chair in a courtroom, awaiting the next verdict. (Great! My verdict was “good person” last week … but am I still worthy of that judgment today?) It doesn’t matter how much you feed, pet, and praise a sick ego, it always wants more. (I have a dog like that.)