The Ramblings of a Crusty Old Sailor - Honoring Army Sgt. Drew M. Scobie

Honoring Army Sgt. Drew M. Scobie who selflessly sacrificed his life seven years ago in Afghanistan for our great Country. Please help me honor him so that he is not forgotten.

Rev. Dan Polecheck - Universal Life Church Ministries - Is Jesus Enough?

Is Jesus enough?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for the last year.

John 21:15-17 gives us a clear example of the times that we may battle with what is worth it. What is satisfying. Ultimately, what is enough.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Jesus is straight-up asking Peter, do you love me? In other words: Am I enough?

Peter do you love me more than your job? Do you love me more than yourself? Do you love me more than your comfort? Am I enough to satisfy you? Am I enough when you’re seen as a failure in the eyes of men? Am I enough to give you purpose? Am I enough to restore you?

How relevant are these verses as many of us are currently at home, fearful, bored, and anxious?

Not fully sure what the future looks like at our jobs. Not sure when we’ll be able to fill up the pantry. Not sure when we’ll go back to school or what graduation will look like for our seniors. Not sure when we’ll be around people. Not sure if we’ll catch the virus or someone that we love will.

Peter is getting this question (besides the fact that Jesus is publicly restoring Peter after his three denials) because Jesus knows that genuine obedience is a reflection of genuine love.

Obedience in what? In the times where you don’t have a clue how you’re going to pay the bills, is Jesus enough? When you can’t interact with people the way that you’re used to, is Jesus enough? When you get the news that your job is cutting your hours, is Jesus enough?

When we love something or someone, what we are communicating to them is that you are enough. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are saying that He is enough.

If we have fully committed to believing that Jesus is enough then our lives will reflect that. Our interactions with people will. The way we plan. The opportunities we pursue because we know that no matter what relationship changes, what job we may lose, what opportunity we miss out on, at the end of the day, or how people perceive us. Jesus is sufficient. Jesus is enough.

Too often we intellectually can answer this and truly convince ourselves that we have fully committed to the fact that Jesus is enough, but then spiritually we are holding on to the falsely created idea that Jesus is enough. Why is it so hard at times to connect our hearts to our brains? Peter shows us this human struggle earlier as he tells Jesus that he would lay down his life for Jesus and never fail to see his sufficiency. “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away” (Matthew 26:33)

Peter believes this in his mind but fails to connect to it to his heart.

In order for us to fully experience the freedom that Jesus wants us to, we must lay down our self-reliance, and depend on Jesus. When we do, there is freedom. Freedom from the pressures you may put on yourself to have all the answers or have it all together. The pressure of succeeding or being popular. The pressure to be seen as significant or valuable.

When Jesus is enough, we don’t have to be.

In conclusion: We should be consistently asking ourselves the question, is Jesus enough? If we claim to be followers of Jesus and have faith in Him, our faith should lead to faithful obedience. This means that we ask ourselves, whenever our comforts, privileges, and successes are taken away, is Jesus still enough? When you’re betrayed by that friend or family member and you can’t bring yourself to trust again, even in your pain, is Jesus enough. It’s not that whenever we fully embrace this truth that Jesus is enough that we won’t be sad, hurt, or emotional, it simply means that in the midst of walking on water, like Peter did when we fall, lose faith or get distracted, we trust that Jesus will reach out his hand and be enough.

Rev. Dan Polecheck - Universal Life Church Ministries - Older Blog Posts - Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Before I started this blog I was writing for a blog on the Family Worship Center - Algoma Campus website. This is a copy of one of those posts with links to the original blog.

Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Originally Posted Jun 25, 2020
Original Blog Post

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34)

We can hear the anguish in Christ’s cry from the cross.

I have felt that kind of despair in my own life. Though God will never literally forsake me, I have felt forsaken, abandoned, betrayed by those I loved. I have questioned where God was in my pain. And I have wondered what good could ever come from my suffering.

Because of the cross, we who have felt that pain, who live with unanswered questions and sleepless nights, can unreservedly rejoice. Out of the worst evil imaginable, the sinless Son of God on the cross, God brought about the greatest good ever known.

Genesis 50:20 is a stunning reminder, that what man means for evil, God means for good.

Out of the worst evil imaginable, God brought about the greatest good ever known.

In my own life, through the lens of Scripture, I can see that God has brought the greatest good out of the hardest events. But I say that in retrospect. At the time, none of my suffering felt even vaguely positive.

Sobbing by my mother’s casket, after a horrible car crash, was devastating. Hearing the doctor say that my body was deteriorating, and then watching it happen, was agonizing.

None of those trials felt redemptive. None of them could be celebrated. None of them even made sense. I never could have imagined that God would bring something beautiful out of my pain. I felt that my pain was deforming me. That I would forever be marred by it.

I was sure my best years were behind me — before “this” happened. When I laughed easily and often. When I wasn’t burdened with the memories of all that had gone before.

And yet somehow, even in those horrifying trials, God was doing something. Something extraordinary. Something I could have not have planned or foreseen. He was doing something in me that could not have happened any other way. It was strange and beautiful — wonderful and unexpected — the handiwork of God.

Out of the most crushing pain and terrible despair, God was bringing glorious triumph.

Instead of deforming me, my pain strangely deepened me. It increased my capacity for God. And for joy. It made me see the world through different eyes. Eyes of faith and not eyes of hopelessness. It helped me recognize that what I was going through was just a snapshot in time. One day my life will be totally transformed.

While my circumstances will undoubtedly change one day, what changes most profoundly in my suffering is me. The very struggles that I thought would break me are what God used to purposefully shape me.

That shaping did not happen instantaneously. It took time and trust. At first it seemed like nothing was happening — nothing but disillusionment and defeat. It honestly felt like Satan was wrecking my life.

Similarly, to the disciples on that terrifying Friday, it must have seemed like Satan was victorious. Their Savior was crucified. Their dreams were dead. Their hopes had unraveled. Maybe evil really had won.

And then everything was silent for two long days. It may have seemed like nothing was happening — nothing but disillusionment and defeat.

But in the wisdom of God, when life looked darkest, it gave way to the dawning of the purest, most brilliant light.

The Crucifixion reminds me that God’s perspective is infinitely greater than mine. Much of what is really happening is unseen. While it may look otherwise in the moment, Satan will never be victorious and evil cannot win. God always has the last word.

What Satan means for evil, God means for good. Always.

So if you feel forsaken and have no idea where to turn or what to do, trust that God is using that very struggle. If life looks like a hopeless mess and every day is a fight to survive, trust that God will one day gloriously prevail. And when he has, when you are on the other side, trust that God will have done an incomparable work in your soul.

Then you will have learned how to rely, truly rely, on God who brings beauty from ashes.

Your life and walk with him will be more beautiful than you ever imagined. And somehow, through your pain, you will be transformed. And when you are, when you see how God has changed you, you will never want to go back to the way you were before.

You will understand that nothing can thwart God’s plans for you. What now appears to be evil will result in your eternal joy. And the staggering triumph of Resurrection will fall afresh on you.