Replaying Your Falls - #9492

05/30/23 • -1 min

There's reality TV. And then there's the real reality TV called the Olympics. And, you know, when you watch that, you see the real deal. I mean, you've got the triple axles on the ice, you've got amazing jumps on the ski slopes, you've got those gravity-defying flights of the snowboarders. Oh, yeah, and the falls and the crashes.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Replaying Your Falls."

I'm fine with showing the good stuff again and again. It's the replays of what they did wrong that bother me. Probably because I've been working with young people and their families for so long. And, over and over, I've seen the damage that's done when parents keep replaying their children's mistakes. Sometimes too seldom replaying what their son or daughter did right.

Consequently, there are a lot of young people who know very well what's wrong with them. But they have a hard time thinking what's right with them, so they don't feel like they're worth much. They act like they're not worth much. You can see it in the friends they choose, the music they listen to, the way they retreat into themselves. The things they'll do for attention. For just a few minutes of feeling better about themselves.

Oh, there's a lot that goes into our feelings of value or worthlessness. But we moms and dads, we have life-shaping power like nobody else. Our son or daughter's perception of how much we think they're worth is a huge factor in how much they think they're worth.

Too often, we use the replays of our kids' shortcomings to somehow get them to change, to do better just to vent our frustrations. And yet, how many of us still carry in our head those critical, negative words that our parents said over and over to us? They still hurt. They're still part of our adult struggle to feel right about ourselves. What was constantly replayed by our parents has shaped our life. And so it is with our children. It's part of the legacy we leave them, and it's one that it's never too late to change.

That's why this one statement from the Bible went deep into my soul as a parent. It says in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths" - that would be words that tear them down - "but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs." So you've got construction and you've got demolition. My words to my children are one or the other.

I don't need much help seeing where I've blown it. I'm painfully aware of how I've failed. What saves me, literally, is that my Father, my Heavenly Father, does not replay all the dark episodes of my life. Of all the people who could nail me for my many sins, God has that undisputed right. He gave me this life. So often, I've dissed the One who made me and I've done what I want to do. I've defied this sinless, totally holy God.

I would run from Him, except for one thing. What the Bible tells me about Him. It'sI our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 130:3, "If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness." What a word! Forgiveness. What an expensive word. Not for me, but for the God I've sinned against, because of what His Son did so I would never meet my sins on Judgment Day.

The Bible says, "He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5-6). My sins removed, never again to be replayed, by a God who loved me so much He would do whatever it took not to lose me. And it took His very best. It took His Son.

This full pardon from an all-perfect God is within anyone's reach. It's within your reach if you'll take for yourself what Jesus died to give you. That's what our website's about. I would encourage you to go there. It's ANewStory.com. Today could be the day that all the falls, all the mistakes, all the regrets, all the sins are erased from God's Book forever. And you'll never meet your sins when you stand before God. Because Jesus paid it all for you on the cross.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Replaying Your Falls."

Previous Episode

How to Know Where You're Going When You Can't See a Thing

Hooper Bay, Alaska! It's not the first remote place we went with the outreach teams of Native young people that we go with, but it's a tough one. Each Summer of Hope, it's our privilege to take these teams of Indian and Native Alaskan spiritual warriors to the reservations and the villages where America's most devastated young people live and die too young. The suicide rate among young Native Americans is something like three or four times that of the rest of America's young. And in some places in Alaska, it's twenty times greater. Hooper Bay, Alaska, is one of the hardest places in this country to grow up. We had to take our team there.

But getting there the first time was a real adventure. My wife was on the first plane into this village 400 miles from the nearest road. Sitting in the co-pilot's seat, she should have had a great view as they approached over the Bering Sea. But there was no view. It was like zero visibility. But those missionary pilots - they are amazing! My wife watched him with his flight plan on his knee, constantly comparing it to the readings on his instruments. Looking out the window sure wasn't going to help find this flight, I'll tell you. That ain't going to help you find a landing strip. Ultimately, they were so close to the ocean their propellers were whipping up the ocean around them. A Native Alaskan in the back just kept praying over and over, "Oh, Jesus, Jesus, help us!" Suddenly, right below my wife's window, she saw the landing strip, and they landed right where they were supposed to land!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Know Where You're Going When You Can't See a Thing."

Maybe that's how you feel right now, like, about the flight of your life; you're flying blind. There's no clear path ahead. Visibility is close to zero, and it's scary. It would be easy to make a big mistake right now and you can't afford one.

I'm happy to report there is a flight plan, laid out by the God who says in the Bible, "I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). You don't want to miss that. But your feelings are all over the map, your circumstances are up for grabs, and you could crash if you don't know where you're supposed to go. Take a lesson from the pilot in the fog over that Native Alaskan village. He knew he couldn't trust his feelings. He couldn't trust His surroundings. He could trust only one thing - what His instruments were saying. He kept checking his course by the unfailing accuracy of the one thing that was not affected by the environment - his instruments.

For you, that's the Bible, the unchanging Word of God. Here's His promise in Psalm 119:105, our word for today from the Word of God, His Word is "a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." And that psalm says, "Your Word, O Lord...stands firm in the heavens." It won't change if the earth melts away. And you're going to make it if you risk everything, if you base everything on what God's Word, His unchanging, eternal Word says to you, each new day. No matter what your feelings are saying; no matter what your surroundings are saying to you.

Through His forever trustworthy words, God will keep His promise for the days when you can't see where you're going. You can stake everything on this promise: Isaiah 42:16 - you're going to love this: "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

That, my brother, my sister, is all you need to know to land exactly where you're supposed to land!

Next Episode

Spiritual Veterans, Danger Zone - #9493

I remember speaking at a baseball chapel years ago, and our boys were actually blown away. I mean, it's a while back, but they got to go with me to the Yankees chapel. And they said, "Oh, there's Don Mattingly!" Yeah, we're talking Hall of Fame here. He was a hero around our house since our kids were little. He was a Yankees first baseman. His home runs and batting average and consistent fielding made him possibly one of baseball's all time greats.

Interestingly enough, we were impressed at our house, not just by his baseball ability. But to this day, our guys talk about his attitude, which was a pretty refreshing one. See, he always, even though he was a well paid star, he didn't seem to fall prey to that well paid star attitude. He always seemed to be amazed and appreciative that he was where he was. You'd hear Don Mattingly being interviewed and he would say something like this, "I just love baseball. I still love it like when I was a kid. I feel so lucky to be wearing this uniform." He'd get to spring training early. He'd take extra batting practice. See, there's something really special about a seasoned veteran's ability that is coupled with kind of a positive rookie attitude, but it's hard to have both of those.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spiritual Veterans, Danger Zone."

Our word for today from the Word of God, John 9:16. It's about the man who was blind from birth. He's been healed by Jesus; the Pharisees are more interested though in analyzing the miracle. "Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.'" Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. Verse 24: "A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. 'Give glory to God,' they said. 'We know this man (speaking of Jesus) is a sinner.'"

Well, the conversation continues and they say, "'We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where He comes from.'" The man answered, 'Now that is remarkable! You don't know where He comes from, yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.'"

You know what you've got here? A clash between spiritual veterans - the Pharisees - and a spiritual rookie. The Pharisees are Bible experts - religious professionals. But they are confronted with an amazing supernatural intervention. Are they excited? Are they celebrating? Are they seeking the Lord who did it? No, they're analyzing, debating, they're trying to protect their position. See, that's the danger of being around Jesus for a while, being professional where you used to be passionate in your faith. It happens to athletes. After a while their youthful enthusiasm fades, and they become hard and cynical and calculating sometimes, all about themselves. And they lose the wonder of the rookie.

The blind man here? He's a rookie. He's fresh from being touched by Jesus. He's excited, he's expectant. But the veterans...they just make it all complicated. It's simple for a rookie. "I was changed, and Jesus did it." Sometimes the rookie who has just experienced Christ knows more instinctively than the veterans who are analyzing Christ.

And it could be that for all your years of being around Christian things you've missed Jesus. You've missed Christ, because it's all been a head trip. He's in your head, but He's not in your heart, because you've never moved Him from your head to your heart. Let this be the day He becomes your Savior from your sins.

Now, here's a question: Have you gone from experiencing God's working to just analyzing it? Maybe what used to be the simplicity of a warm give-and-take love with Jesus has become the complexity of rules and organization and politics and theological hairsplitting. A veteran should be the most excited of all. They've had the most years to have it all happen to them. There's something very special about someone who's got that seasoned veteran ability and a positive rookie attitude. Listen, don't ever lose the wonder.