Billy Graham's advice to Christians

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Billy Graham seldom leaves his home in the mountains of North Carolina these days.

At age 92, the legendary evangelist struggles with multiple physical ailments. He makes no secret of how deeply he feels the absence of Ruth, his wife of nearly 64 years, who died in 2007. He misses many lifelong friends who have departed this world.

“We’ve come to look on old age as something to be dreaded, and it’s true that it isn’t easy,” Graham admitted in a recent interview with Christianity Today magazine. “I can’t honestly say that I like being old — not being able to do most of the things I used to do, for example, and being more dependent on others, and facing physical challenges that I know will only get worse. Old age can be a lonely time also — children scattered, spouse and friends gone.”

But long life is a gift of God, Graham added. He advises learning the secret of daily contentment in the Lord — and of looking toward heaven. “I know it won't be long before I’ll be going there, and I look forward to that day,” he said. “Heaven gives us hope and makes our present burdens easier to bear.”

What would he change about his own life if he could do it again? He would spend more time with family and less time on the road. He would study the Word of God more and speak less. He also would “steer clear of politics,” though he doesn’t regret the opportunities God has given him to “minister to people in high places.”

One thing Graham wouldn’t change is his life’s mission: to preach the Gospel to all nations. The most urgent challenges of our time aren’t political or economic, he stressed. They are moral and spiritual.

Evangelical Christianity has experienced huge global growth since World War II. However, “we need to be alert and avoid becoming the victims of our own success,” warned Graham. “Will we influence the world for Christ, or will the world influence us?”

Success doesn’t just tempt us to the sins of pride, arrogance and complacency. It pressures us to conform, to be quiet about uncomfortable truth — such as the truth that Christ is the only way to reconciliation with God. It makes us forget (or reject) the truth ourselves, if we ever learn it. Numerous surveys reveal that American evangelicals are increasingly ignorant of the Bible’s basic teachings, increasingly self-centered, increasingly reluctant to say anything that might offend others in a pluralistic society.

The Christian Gospel is guaranteed to offend. Read the New Testament and see how it went over in the pagan Roman and Greek worlds. The blood of believers flowed freely. But that didn’t stop them from boldly preaching the Good News.

The tenor of our time, on the other hand, is perfectly captured by columnist Kathleen Parker: “Pray there’s a heaven, but do pray quietly. It can’t be a mystery any longer that the God urge has a disquieting effect on certain members of the human tribe. I share the urge, but have found ways of communing that don’t require converting others, invading countries or shedding infidels of their heads.”

Got it? You can love God inside your head and inside your church walls, but keep your mouth shut in public. If you try to “convert others,” better-mannered folks will put you into the same category as religious terrorists. A disturbing number of self-professed Christians quietly or openly agree with Parker’s smug dismissal of both the Bible’s command to evangelize and the American ideal of free religious expression.

Billy Graham, who has never shied away from respectfully but unashamedly declaring the simple Gospel anytime, anywhere, begs to disagree.

“The most important issue we face today is the same the church has faced in every century: Will we reach our world for Christ?” he told Christianity Today. “In other words, will we give priority to Christ’s command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel? Or will we turn increasingly inward, caught up in our own internal affairs or controversies, or simply becoming more and more comfortable with the status quo? …

“[O]ur calling is to declare Christ’s forgiveness and hope and transforming power to a world that does not know Him or follow Him. May we never forget this.”

The modern church needs to come to grips with this reality: A faith that isn’t worth sharing with the world isn’t worth having.

(Read Christianity Today’s interview with Billy Graham at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/januaryweb-only/qabillygraham.html)

Resolved: Make better resolutions

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A week into the new year, I’ve already failed to make it to the gym five days out of five.

Hey, at least I’m consistent.

Why do so many people struggle with keeping New Year’s resolutions? Too often, the whole exercise depressingly highlights our lack of discipline and commitment, not our desire to improve or achieve new goals.

You’re setting yourself up for failure every year, resolution scoffers say. They’ve got a point. You pick a date on the calendar — in the dead of winter, no less, for folks in the Northern Hemisphere — to become a better person and do better things. Not gonna happen. Spring, nature’s time for new beginnings, gives you a better shot at success — unless you have allergies.

More than 90 million American adults planned to make New Year’s resolutions for 2011, according to the Barna Group, a Christian research organization. Their aspirations fall into predictable categories: weight loss, financial advance, quitting various addictions, self-improvement.

But only 23 percent of Americans who made resolutions last year reported any “significant, long-term change” in their daily lives — and some of them are probably fibbing. More than 70 percent said they experienced “minor change” or “no change.”

“Americans maintain a love-hate relationship with New Year’s resolutions: Millions of people make them, but they rarely report success as a result,” said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president. “Maybe most problematic, Americans hinge their efforts at personal change by focusing on themselves, rather than realizing that lasting change often comes by serving and sacrificing for others.”

But there’s a bright spot in the Barna survey results:

“Perhaps less affected by past failed resolutions, younger adults emerged as far more likely than older adults to make personal commitments for the new year.”

Thank God for youth! Hope springs eternal for those unfazed by the ravages of time and regret. Regardless of your age or track record, however, I challenge you to make at least one new commitment (or recommitment) in 2011. One thing is certain: If you aim at nothing, you will accomplish just that.

A few tips:

* Set a goal to serve God and others, not yourself.

* Involve others — to serve with you and to keep you accountable. Kinnaman: “Churches and faith communities have a significant opportunity to help people identify what makes for transformational change and how to best achieve those objectives — especially by relying on goals and resources beyond their individualism.”

* Above all, ask God for guidance and inspiration. He is the Lord of new beginnings:

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24, NASB)

His mercies are new every morning, not just every year. He is a far better “life coach” than all the self-improvement gurus trying to sell you their can’t-miss programs.

Great resolutions respond to God’s purposes, not our narrow priorities. Jesus got to the heart of the matter when He summarized the Law and the Prophets: “‘… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39, NASB).

In John 21:22, Jesus told Peter, “Follow Me!” He told His followers to make disciples among all peoples (Matthew 28:19).

Do your goals relate in vital ways to those commands? If not, are they really worth pursuing?

What Christmas is all about

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As night follows day, the annual blitzkrieg of Christmas advertising is followed by lots of hand-wringing about how we’ve lost the “true meaning of Christmas.”

This year even the hand-wringers are probably praying (quietly) for huge holiday sales to jump-start the economy. Still, we hear Charlie Brown’s poignant cry cutting through the commercialization: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Sure, Charlie Brown. They may be getting harder to find in America, but you can locate people all over the world who know what Christmas is all about. They’re in some surprising places, as these recent reports from missionaries illustrate:

-- A young woman in a communist country began tutoring the children of Christian workers. When the mother of the children presented her with a Bible, she expressed tearful thanks. As the tutor left their home and started down the road, the mother watched her from a window. She saw the tutor pull out the Bible, hold it to her heart and kiss it.

-- A woman in Taiwan joined 90 people participating in a Thanksgiving meal at a local church. But she wasn’t there primarily for the turkey and trimmings. Rather, she had a pressing question: “Why has no one ever told me about God before?” Stunned by the question, a missionary led her to salvation in Christ on the spot.

-- A Christian worker among Muslims in Eastern Europe sent this request: “Please be in prayer for our Christmas outreach. We will be assembling Christmas gift bags and distributing them to all the students of a local school. Thank God with us that the school administrator, once very skeptical of us and our work, has once again given us the ‘green light’ to present these gift bags any way we choose and to put on a program that includes Christmas hymns and other evangelism. Pray [that] the whole village will be radically transformed by the Lord.”

-- Many Tibetans live in high-altitude areas where snow has been falling since November. In December, people come down to the cities to stay with friends and extended family members until the snow clears in March — enabling Christ followers to talk to Tibetan Buddhists about Christmas and the Gospel. Pray they will have opportunities to share with Tibetans who have come from distant and hard-to-reach places.

-- Believers are partnering in a Christmas distribution project that has the potential to reach tens of thousands of people in a major Asian city. Pray that each person who receives a Gospel packet will read the literature and watch the corresponding video. Ask the Holy Spirit to open hearts, and pray that many will make decisions this year to follow Jesus.

And in South Asia, a Muslim-background follower of Jesus recently posed this question to a Christian worker who serves as his spiritual mentor: “If a brother or sister is having a problem with something in their lives, would this be a good time to fast and pray?”

“Definitely!” the mentor answered quickly, a little impatient with the simplicity of the question.

“Should fasting always be done individually or can it be done in a group?” the believer asked.

Either way, the mentor responded, as long as it is a time of humble submission and drawing close to God.

The believer — who leads a fast-growing, house-based movement of Muslim-background Christ followers — became excited.

“We have already been talking about fasting and praying on Dec. 24th, especially for the [evangelistic] outreach this year,” he announced. “Then we will break the fast on the 25th and have a celebration and meal together.”

No Christmas tree, no candlelight service, no presents or lights, the mentor thought to himself. Just brothers and sisters coming together to fast and pray for the lost — and then to rejoice together on Christmas Day, confident that their prayers will be heard by their Savior, Jesus Christ.

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Still answering "the call"

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A friend from high school days contacted me last week with some exciting news — and a question.

“My 14-year-old daughter believes God is calling her to be a missionary,” he said. “Where does she need to go to learn about what she needs to do to prepare for this calling?”

This young woman doesn’t just have some vague sense of leading toward mission work. She feels specifically called to go to a large country in Asia where millions of people have yet to hear the Gospel of Christ.

With all the ways churches, volunteers and Christian groups can now do international missions in a globalized world, you might think the old-fashioned, individual “call” to missionary service has gone out of style. Some folks have even said as much.

Maybe God didn’t get that e-mail. He still seems to call certain people to follow Him into the world — not for a week, a month or a year, but for life.

“A 13-year-old called me earlier this week” with that kind of aspiration, says Joye Russell, who counsels potential future missionaries contacting the International Mission Board for the first time. She hears from three or four teens a month, sometimes more. You can call her or her colleague, Pat Thorpe, toll free at (888) 422-6461.

“We talk to people from ages 8 to 80,” adds Russell, herself a former missionary to Africa. But guiding young people, she says, “is especially close to my heart because I felt the call to missions at age 12 and my pastor didn’t help me at all.” She loves helping kids, teens and young adults seek their place in God’s purpose. The IMB Student Mobilization Team helps many more (visit thetask.org).

Missionary calling is a mysterious thing. Some people can tell you about a single, life-changing moment when God spoke to them clearly. Others talk about a growing sense of leading and purpose over many years. Despite the subjective nature of “the call,” few evangelical mission agencies will send someone as a long-term missionary who lacks a clear sense that God is telling them to go. And when the going gets tough overseas, few missionaries will make it without such a sense of call.

An IMB guide for prospective missionaries describes it this way:

“Those who are called to a special task [have] a specific sense of God’s leadership in their lives. That may come in a dramatic spiritual experience or in reflecting on how God has led you through a series of circumstances. Many experience this personal leadership to overseas missions service when they are involved in a short-term missions project. God may affirm that they are doing exactly what He has called them to do. Everyone experiences this call in a different way. How has God spoken to your heart?”

Regarding preparation for a young person sensing “the call” to eventual missionary service, here are some suggestions I gave to my friend’s daughter:

-- Pray. Love the Lord. Worship Him. Spend time alone with Him just as Jesus did. Seek Him, not for any of His gifts, but for Himself alone. Learn His Word. Worship is the purpose of missions because God wants all peoples to worship Him.

-- Pray for the area of the world toward which you feel called. Learn about the peoples, history and current events there, as well as other places in the world where God is working.

-- Read the biographies of great missionaries through the ages. And learn about some of today’s mission heroes.

-- Become a pen pal or Facebook friend with a young missionary on the field. Learn about how his or her life is being used for God, about the victories, defeats and realities of living in another culture.

-- Get to know the world at your doorstep. Make friends with and minister to immigrants, international students and refugees. Learn a second language and use it in ministry.

-- Go on a mission trip overseas. This is the great opportunity today’s Christians have that previous generations didn’t. Most current long-term missionaries started as volunteers or short-term workers.

-- Pray about a gap year between high school and college when you could serve in missions in the United States or abroad. Serving after college is great, too. But in the meantime, don’t become so committed to a relationship, a career, a mortgage or other obligations that they make you less available to God.

Russell also shares these essentials with young people she counsels:

-- Develop your God-given gifts and skills through vital involvement in your church and your community.

-- Become an active Gospel sharer (if you aren’t one already). Get evangelism training if you need it.

-- Stay healthy. Take care of yourself.

-- Stay as debt-free as possible. Debt keeps people off the mission field.

I’m praying for my friend’s daughter — and for all the other young people still being called by God to missionary service.

Thank it forward

(Volunteer Tim Dortch, center, carries relief supplies to survivors of the devastating January earthquake in Haiti.)

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Gratitude is the memory of the heart, says a proverb.

If that is true, my heart will gratefully remember some of God’s servants as Thanksgiving 2010 approaches:

-- The Christian workers and volunteers who ministered — and continue to minister — to the survivors of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the flooding in Pakistan and other disasters this year. Volunteers like Tim Dortch, a bivocational pastor from Mississippi. He contacted the International Mission Board the morning after the devastating Haiti quake and offered his help. He was on the ground there within days, helping distribute water, food and medicine. “God’s given me a heart for Haiti,” Dortch said.

-- The Southern Baptists who dug deep in tough economic times to give nearly $149 million to the 2009 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions — and who will faithfully give again this year.

-- Student missionary Jeremiah Johnson, 21, and mission volunteer Bob Finck, 51, who gave their lives in God’s service this year. Johnson, from Arizona, was killed April 12 in a motorcycle accident in Mozambique while devoting a college semester to work in the African nation. “We’re very proud of Jeremiah,” said his pastor. “He was serving the Lord to reach people who were unreached with the Gospel.” Finck, from Virginia, died Aug. 9 in a car accident during his third trip to Zambia, where he was working with other volunteers to lead a Bible conference and minister to young people. “He was very passionate about Zambia,” said the director of missions at Finck’s church.

-- The 60 retiring IMB missionaries honored in May for 1,730 combined years of mission service. Don and Edith Kennedy, for example, worked among university students in Mexico for 31 years. Hundreds of young Christians they mentored now serve as church leaders in Mexico and missionaries around the world. “Change the university and you change the world,” Don said.

-- The more than 200 new IMB missionaries appointed this year, including Michael Kim,* who grew up in South Korea. As the eldest son, he held the role of family priest, responsible for leading ancestor worship rituals. But he became a Christian believer at age 16, the first in 38 generations of his family. His enraged parents beat him, threatened to disown him and threw his Bibles into the fire. Kim eventually smuggled a Bible into his bedroom and read it while hiding under the sheets. Now an American, he plans to return to Asia to tell other hungry souls about Christ. “In order for me to hear the Gospel, there was a long flow of blood, sweat and tears of Western missionaries to Korea,” Kim said when he was appointed earlier this year. “As a debtor of the Gospel, I am … heading to Southeast Asia to share the Good News of Jesus.”

-- Doris Kelley, colleague, friend and substitute mom to IMB communication staff members for the past 48 — count ’em, 48 — years. In the days before personal computers and e-mail, she typed our edited news and feature stories into a hulking teletype machine to send to Baptist Press in Nashville. Many reporters got to know her during her more than 25 years of service in the newsrooms of annual Southern Baptist Convention meetings. She rarely missed a day of work, always greeted people with a smile, watched over her co-workers with love and took care of business without complaint. She retires in December. Without servants like Doris, many churches and ministries would quickly collapse. I hope we can make it without her; I’m not looking forward to trying.

Someone reminded me recently that God’s grace is His unmerited favor toward us. We sinners deserve judgment, but we receive the riches of His goodness and mercy at Christ’s expense. We also receive the great gift of people who model for us what it means to live in gratitude to God by loving and serving Him. Examples are all around us.

We, too, can live in gratitude to Him — by modeling that kind of love for others.

* (Name changed)

Tyranny of the "to do" list

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I love “to do” lists.

I’ve got a pocket calendar for home and personal reminders, a desk calendar for work-related tasks and several notebooks for longer-range stuff. I employ the prehistoric pen-to-paper variety, but I’m sure all the digital gizmos on the market help their forgetful users, too.

To be honest, I’d get little accomplished without “to do” lists. My brain no longer seems to retain or organize practical information, although I can recite the roster of the 1982-83 Los Angeles Lakers on command. They had the greatest fast break ever, by the way: Magic Johnson racing down the middle, whipping no-look passes to James Worthy or Michael Cooper, who levitated to the hoop for vicious dunks over the hated Celtics. If the break wasn’t available, Magic tossed the ball to the big guy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who casually launched his unblockable “skyhook” from almost anywhere on the court.

Wait … I’m getting off task again. Got to focus. That’s why I need “to do” lists. They bring order to the chaos of life — or at least create the illusion of doing so.

But “to do” lists have a dark side. Getting things done doesn’t mean you are living a productive life. Marking items off the list feels great. Failing to mark them off, however, induces frustration, guilt, a sense of failure — almost as if you are still living under the law.

The list grants no grace, no mercy. If you allow it to take over, it becomes a little tyrant, taking the joy and spontaneity out of your life. It can even become an idol, taking the place of God’s daily direction.

I imagine the priest who hurried by the wounded man on the side of the road (Luke 10:30-37) had an early version of the “to do” list. The Good Samaritan might have had one, too, but he didn’t let it keep him from stopping to minister to an injured stranger.

The digital zombies who walk down the street these days, slavishly reading their text messages, wouldn’t notice the stranger if they tripped over him.

The challenge of daily life for a follower of Christ is balancing the legitimate demands of your “to do” list — written or mental — with His divine “to do” list. If you don’t pay spiritual attention, you won’t even notice His list, much less make yourself available to respond to it.

I find it comforting that a wiser servant encounters the same struggle I do with conflicting lists.

“The past two weeks have been frustrating,” writes Guy Muse, a Southern Baptist missionary to Ecuador for more than 20 years, in his Oct. 17 blog post (see http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2010/10/interruptions-are-my-ministry.html).

“For every item I am able to cross off on my ‘to do’ list, two or three more are added. Calls needing to be made, reports overdue, projects waiting attention, documents needing translation, individuals needing counseling … . Why am I getting so little accomplished these days? One word. Interruptions! People dropping by the house, calls, meetings, requests from individuals … . Night and day, it never lets up. …

“But what if God also has ‘to do’ lists? What if God has on His list for Juan to call me and see about our getting together for coffee at 2:15 today and talk about his problems? When I seriously pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done ...’ am I not in effect saying, ‘Lord, your list has priority. Your agenda is more important than my own’? …

“(P)eople often hide behind the excuse of thinking, ‘I am too busy with real ministry. I simply do not have time for unplanned, spontaneous ministry from people interrupting my busy schedule.’ … Was that Christ’s attitude, who left the crowds and made time to go eat at Zacchaeus’ house (Luke 19:1-10)? To heal blind beggar Bartimaeus (Luke 18:35-43)? Stopping in His tracks … when an unknown woman touched the hem of His robe (Luke 8:43-48)? Taking time for children while leaving the crowds to wait?

“Ninety percent of ministry happens when we seize those spontaneous opportunities that come disguised as detours or interruptions.”

Missionary surgeon Martha Myers, who died at the hands of a disturbed gunman in Yemen in 2002, had a similar perspective. Her motto: “Things don't matter, people do.”

For Myers, “things” included not only possessions but schedules — the stuff, in other words, on her “to do” list (if she had one). She alternated marathon days and nights treating patients with unscheduled “house calls,” extended excursions into far-flung mountain villages to visit Yemeni families no one else cared about. The long talks around teacups, the love she expressed, were even more important than the medical care she provided or the new surgical procedures she pioneered.

If Jesus had the time, we have the time. Don’t submit to the tyranny of your “to do” list. He has a more important one.

Miriam's story

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“Leave!” her father shouted.

Just like that. Thrown out of her house, out of her family, out of her world as she had known it. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to find shelter, no immediate way to survive.

Miriam* is 20, but that’s more like 17 in the Muslim country of her birth, where most girls and women depend on their fathers or husbands for everything — even their identity.

What angered her father enough to cast his own daughter out?
Miriam had always been intrigued by stories about Jesus Christ. A certain TV channel occasionally featured programs about Jesus’ life. She would sit and watch for hours as a young girl. Her father noticed her fascination with the programs and canceled the channel.

Sometimes Miriam would wonder, “Could I be a Christian? No, no, of course not. I’m a Muslim. But maybe ... .”

She tried to put the idea out of her mind. But she couldn’t forget about Jesus. There was something about Him, something pure and loving, something she wanted.

About two years ago, Miriam’s mother met an American woman where she worked. The American visited their home for a few meals and soon became a family friend. Miriam asked the woman if she believed in Christ. Yes, she replied. Miriam was doubtful; she had heard a lot about Americans who claim to be Christians but live immoral lives. With time, however, she saw the woman was a true follower of Christ. One day, the woman gave Miriam a Bible in her own language.

Miriam drank in the Word like a parched wanderer in the desert. About a year ago, she befriended another believer from her own country. Under her guidance, Miriam decided to follow Christ as her Lord.

Eager to share the truth she had discovered, she began to tell her classmates about what she had read in the Bible. One day she received a letter threatening her because of her new beliefs and her connection with Christians. Scared, she hid at home for a time — and started doubting her faith.

The doubts lasted for a few months. Then Miriam’s mother was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Her Christian friends heard little from Miriam during her mother’s illness. They began to wonder if she had abandoned her faith. When they arrived at her home to join other mourners the day her mother died, Miriam calmly told them, “God is with me. I’ll be OK.”

Her mother’s death marked a major turning point for Miriam.

“I’m not sure what was going on inside of her, but after her mom passed, she got very serious about studying the Word, serious about wanting her family to know and serious about being in fellowship with other national believers,” says a Christian friend.

Miriam pored over the New Testament Book of Acts, which recounts the rapid growth of the early church in a hostile environment.

“She was interested and eager about the idea of multiplication,” says her friend. “She noted one of the major themes of Acts is that the people didn’t just hear God’s Word; they did it. She wanted to do it.”

That’s when her father discovered the many hours she spent reading the Bible. He demanded to know if she had become a Christian. She told him the truth, almost relieved she no longer had to hide her faith from him.
“Leave!” he said. It could have been worse; at least he didn’t kill her for the “shame” she had brought upon the family.

Homeless and alone, Miriam sought out local believers who had lived through similar circumstances. She moved in with another female friend.
“As far as I know, she’s still living with her,” says her Christian friend. “Apparently, her father now lets her back into his house so she can have contact with her younger sister. They are the only two children, so you can guess how incredibly traumatic this last year has been for her.

“It has been difficult for me to get in touch with her recently. I think she is afraid to show me when she’s not doing well. Perhaps she’s doubting things as she counts the cost in a new way and she’s ashamed. I’m not sure.”

Miriam’s story doesn’t necessarily have a “happy” ending. It’s still unfolding. Will she stay faithful to Christ, no matter the cost? Will her father relent and allow her to come home? Will she renounce Jesus in order to win back her father’s approval and protection?

These wrenching choices are common for young Muslims who decide to follow Christ. Pray for Miriam — and many others facing similar challenges — to be strong in faith. Pray that the reality that they are blessed when they are “persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (Matthew 5:10, NASB) will lift their hearts and comfort them in difficulties.

Pray for the many Muslims who, like Miriam, want to know more about Jesus but fear the consequences if they act on their desire. They need to know that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5: 6) are also blessed — and will be satisfied.

* (Name changed)