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PASTORS SHAUN & AMY GUSTAFSON
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FROM THE BLOG
Insight and wisdom from High Point Leadership
Is Strife Ever Good?
We have heard it said that a certain amount of strife and fighting is necessary and healthy for a marriage. It’s just like the devil to try to feed the world and the body of Christ a lie like this to get people right where he wants them, having an open door to bring destruction into their life and family. Good communication to help resolve disagreements is necessary and healthy for a marriage, but strife and fighting isn’t good, according to the Word. Let’s look at several references to remind us that strife and fighting are not from God.
He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit (Proverbs 17:27).
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion (Proverbs 18:2, RSV).
The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression (Proverbs 19:11).
Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27).
To understand what strife does to a relationship, picture a horizontal pole with a bucket on each end. The weight of the first bucket represents God’s ability to help us in our marriage and family, while the weight of the second bucket represents Satan’s ability to harm us and bring destruction into our life and family. When we speak loving, respectful, complimentary words to our spouse and children, it fills up God’s bucket to work on our behalf. However, if we speak angry, rude, demanding, or harmful words to our spouse and family, it fills up Satan’s bucket to bring harm and destruction to us.
This is how Satan works on a marriage or relationship. If we give him a place in our marriage or family through strife or unresolved anger, he then has access to steal, kill and destroy (see John 10:10).
It is important to note there is another type of anger that the Bible refers to which is a righteous anger. Jesus became angry at sin, such as when He overturned the moneychangers’ tables in the temple (see Matthew 21:12). This was directed at sinful behavior because God is good and He hates sin. There are times in a believers life when it is right for us to have anger if it is a righteous anger. For example, a believer should get angry about the devil trying to bring destruction into their life. James 4:7 tells us “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
If a person doesn’t have a righteous anger about the works of darkness in their own life or the lives of others, they will probably not pray as fervently as they need to in order to change the situation. This type of anger typically is not directed at a person, but a situation. There were times when Jesus became righteously angry about something, and He occasionally verbalized this anger, particularly with those religious people who claimed to serve God but really didn’t with their hearts. However, most often we find his righteous anger causing Him to more fervently pursue destroying the works of darkness through ministering healing and miracles to those who were bound by Satan.
So today, what are you doing in your relationships? If there were two buckets you could see connected to every person in your life, one to fill with words for God or one for the enemy of our souls, which bucket are you words (and actions) filling? We’d encourage you to ask the Lord today to really help you see how your words are shaping your world.
Your relationships will never go higher than what comes out of your mouth. Starting today, pretend every person has a sign around their neck that says “Please encourage me.” Anyone God has entrusted into your life, He is entrusting you to speak life to!
In love,
Pastors Shaun & Amy
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What About Eternity?
Have you ever considered eternity? Have you tried to wrap your mind around how much time that is? The length of your lifetime is nothing compared to eternity. A minuscule speck. Smaller than the size of the period at the end of this sentence in comparison to the whole page. Or a whole book. Or all the books in the world. Eternity never stops. It’s impossible to wrap your head around.
Eternity is so incomprehensible, in fact, that sometimes we neglect to think about it at all.
Think about how little we consider eternity, even on those long, clear drives when we have some free time on our hands. How much less do we think about it when there’s something right here, right now pleading for our brain space.
When I have a headache, my mind isn’t on eternity. My mind is in my head, trying to figure out how to ease the pain. And if the headache is bad enough—maybe a migraine—my mind isn’t even on what’s happening in the room around me. I’m completely caught up in eradicating the pain, and everything outside of my head is defined by its relationship to the headache. “The lights are too bright, the music is too loud, and the twins are too rambunctious! Someone take the kids! I have to get rid of this headache!”
The same hyper-focus can also happen on a large scale, as many feel the ache of a national or global tragedy. When the “headache” gets too severe, our minds throb with pain and all other thoughts become secondary to suppressing or removing it. My mom couldn’t think when the Twin Towers were hit. I couldn’t think when George Floyd died.
This is when it’s most important to consider eternity.
This week during Bible study I came across an eye-opening albeit challenging text about eternity in John 18 when Jesus has just been turned over to Pontious Pilate for questioning. By the time he stands before Pilate, he has already been bound, betrayed and denied by his disciples, slapped, spat on, and mocked by the Jewish officials—all while anticipating the suffering still to come. Yet when he is brought in front of a man he already knows will hand him over to unrighteous judgment, his mind is on eternity:
“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’” (John 18:36 NIV)
Here is Jesus, the ultimate recipient of not only personal injustice but also the comprehensive sins of the world, and he is focused on eternity. What a challenging lead to follow! To walk through undeserved hatred and abuse yet to hold to his calling so firmly that it couldn’t overwhelm his mind. What focus!
This is where vision meets purpose.
There is plenty of work to do on earth, and preparation can’t be done by simply daydreaming of life in heaven, so let’s talk about “the other hand.”
If I spend every moment of my life on earth focused only on eternity, I will be useless to others. I won’t be able to support my friends, I won’t be able to lead my team, my husband won’t have a helper, and my kids won’t have any of my attention. “Mom, I have a headache!” “Sorry, son, busy thinking about heaven.” What a wasted life on earth!
So instead we need to balance the two—vision (heaven) and purpose (earth)—as Christ did. Our ultimate vision is heaven, and our purpose is to bring people there, to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). It’s not enough to think about eternity if we haven’t made our lives’ work about it.
Right now my question is, how do we lead people if we can’t see them? How can we help if we don’t know what they need or aren’t willing to listen? There’s often a barrier between eternal vision and earthly purpose, and it’s not heaven, and it’s not other people. It’s a wall of personal offense, and it stops us from seeing both simultaneously. Philippians 2:3-8 gives some insight to overcoming this blind spot:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Right here is the bridge between heaven-focus and people-focus: humility, modeled in Christ. Through humility, he was able to cast his own “headaches” aside to focus both on eternity and the value of the people he came to save.
We spend so much time—particularly in the recent heat of national suffering—caught up in offense, anxiety, and division to the point that we forget: this life is not the point. Eternity is the point. But this life is a tool… an opportunity… to prepare ourselves and others for eternity. Not to be the loudest voice in an argument but to demonstrate the most compassion. To zealously care for others. To support fellow believers through sincere fellowship when they are hurting. To win wars through prayer and worship. To draw people in through humility and genuine love. To show what Christ was like not by just talking about him but by being like him. Christ was eternity-focused. Kingdom-focused. People-focused. He was obedient to God’s call for him on earth while looking to God’s future for him in heaven.
If you are spending your brain space caged in anger about what is happening now or anxiety about what happens next, remember the Kingdom. If you are finding yourself unaware or closed off to the struggling lives around you, remember how we prepare ourselves and others for the Kingdom. And if you get lost and don’t know where to start, look to Jesus’ example, the bridge between people and heaven as he walked out his purpose on earth, ever-focused on eternity: “and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 2:2).
Before I leave this blog, I want to give you a foundation to prepare for eternity by living each day fulfilling your purpose. Again, it’s not enough to think about eternity if we haven’t made our lives’ work about it! This is how we lead others into God’s Kingdom:
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- Scripture: Read up on God’s purpose for you. Christ stood firmly in his God-given purpose on earth—the outcome of eyes fixed on God’s Kingdom. We need to do the same. But how did Jesus gain such a sound grasp of his purpose? Scripture and prayer! What has God asked you to do here on earth to lead others to His Kingdom?
- “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” – Proverbs 31:8-9
- “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8
- “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” – Luke 4:18-19. Here, Jesus was reading from Isaiah’s prophecy about his purpose on earth, which we now carry out in our own lives as a reflection of him.
- “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” – Luke 6:27-28
- “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” – Philippians 1:27
- Scripture: Read up on God’s purpose for you. Christ stood firmly in his God-given purpose on earth—the outcome of eyes fixed on God’s Kingdom. We need to do the same. But how did Jesus gain such a sound grasp of his purpose? Scripture and prayer! What has God asked you to do here on earth to lead others to His Kingdom?
- Prayer: Ask God fervently for direction to move.
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- “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” – Jeremiah 33:3
- “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” – 1 John 5:14-15
- Action: Humbly and deeply reflect on where you stand in your faith and then do something about it. Does your vision match your purpose, or does your faith lack action? What can you improve on here on earth to more accurately represent the Kingdom?
- “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22. Really, verses 19-27 are so ripe for this time… I encourage you to read the whole chapter!
- “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18
- “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:15-17
- “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
- Consider your legacy. One day you will be moving fully into eternity, and only your legacy will remain on earth. Have conversations (even the hard ones) with your family to ensure that those in your home are serving the Almighty. Train your children by example to follow godly footsteps.
- “. . . as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15
- “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
In Love,
Catherine Lexvold
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Heart of the Father
As I look out my window and see trees and blue skies it is very easy for me to feel as if this is the world in which we live. My home is peaceful and other than the hustle and bustle of a family living within, there is a tremendous calm.
Let me contrast that to the fear, heartache and misery I see every time I hear the news or see a social media feed. It feels like a hopeless sea of hatred, violence and unrest. We see crisis after crisis and endless tears being shed.
As I sit down to pray and listen, I hear, “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”- Matthew 11:28-30.
The Lord sees the anguish and heartache in the world today. He tells us to come to Him to find our comfort, our peace and our source. He is what we need in this season of so much turmoil. As we watch others go through hurt, we are to be filled with a heart of compassion. The verse above shows us the heart of a father.
Our Lord has a heart of compassion and mercy. John 11 tells us about how Jesus came upon the scene of his friend Mary weeping for her brother. Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and JESUS WEPT. You may wonder, “Why did He weep when he knew he was going to call Lazarus back to life?” Jesus saw the heartache. He was and is still a compassionate Lord. Over and over the Word describes Jesus as truly seeing the broken, hurting and hopeless. Jesus came to heal and restore. These are the people he came for.
In this season of division and pain, we are called to unite as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to ask the Lord to break our hearts for what breaks His heart. Do not stop there. Take another step and ask the Lord how you can best be his hands and feet. We are called to put a guard over our tongues. Speak softly, thoughtfully, and with compassion. If what you are about to say will not lift someone else up, stop.
If you feel helpless to make a difference, start at home! Is your home full of God’s peace? Can you make a difference for a neighbor or someone you run into at the grocery store? Can you reach out to a friend you haven’t checked on in awhile and pray peace over them? The Holy Spirit is always speaking to us, ready to give words of compassion. We just need to listen and obey.
Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God created each of us in His own image. As you look at and respond to others, remember that they also are created in the image of God. We are each created to have a heart of compassion, no matter the circumstances.
Psalm 103:11-13 – For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
People will not know we are Christians by how loud we are but by the love we show, through our words and through our actions.
Our time here on the earth is not long. We have only this time to show the heart and love of the Father to those around us. May God touch your spirit with compassion and love for those around you. If you have this desire, please pray this prayer today:
Dear Jesus,
I pray you give me a heart of love and compassion. To step boldly where you tell me to and step back as you lead. Please let my words be your words and my actions line up with the desires you have for my life. Please help others to see you through me. I give my whole life over to you. Use me as you see fit. In Jesus Mighty Name – Amen.
Philippians 3:20 – But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
In love,
Kathryn Broadwater
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