Is There a Piece Missing In Your Life?

Jack Harris, an 86-year-old retired man in England, spent nearly eight years working on a five-foot long, 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It took up his dining room table all that time. When he thought the painstaking process was complete, he stood back to admire his work - only to find one piece missing.

He searched his home for the missing piece, but has not found it. He contacted the puzzle’s manufacturer to see if they could provide the missing piece, but they no longer make that jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle would never be completed.

As our church has looked at the life of Joseph this summer as an example of a person who lived with integrity and forgiveness, there is an interesting counterpoint to his story — Joseph’s brothers. They had a missing piece in their lives. In the last half of Joseph’s story, he attempted to help them recover that missing piece.

In order to understand the piece missing from his brothers’ lives, we need to know what motivated Joseph’s life. We first find this key to Joseph’s life after he is tempted by Potiphar’s wife and says he cannot “do such a wicked thing and sin against God.” Then Joseph is given the opportunity to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker and then of Pharaoh himself. In each case, he attributes God as the one who can interpret dreams. When he reveals himself to his brothers after years of separation, he tells them everything that happened to him was so God could save their lives. After their father, Jacob, dies, he reinforces that to his brothers. Joseph put God at the center of everything in his life.

In contrast, his brothers first think of God when they are in trouble. Returning home from buying food in Egypt, they find their money for buying the food is still in their sacks. Their response is to ask, “What is this that God has done to us?” For the first time, as far as we know, they acknowledge God because he had been missing in their lives for all those years.

So here is my question to you in this brief piece: Is God missing in your life? Or, do you put him in the center of everything that you do? Is he at the center of every decision you make? Do you talk about him to people you know? I am not asking whether you are a Christian, but whether you integrate God into every corner of your life. If not, he is the missing piece in your life — and an important one at that!

A Good Summer Trip

I enjoyed a wonderful trip to South Bend, IN, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Nashville from July 4 through July 12. My first stop was in South Bend, IN on July 4 to spend an evening with Christine. She is at the University of Notre Dame for six weeks as she continues pursuing a Masters degree in Theology. Her classes are going well. When I was there she was at the end of her first two weeks of a three-week class. Now she is near the end of her first week of two more three-week classes, with just over two weeks to go.

On July 5, I traveled to Indianapolis to attend the North American Christian Convention where I also exhibited for WCMA, the church planting organization that I also work with and which Westwood supports. The theme of the convention was Beyond, as the convention program and speakers challenged everyone to go further in their faith than they have ever gone before. One exciting feature of the program was a performance for the entire family of the musical The Rock and the Rabbi, the story of Peter and his relationship with Jesus. I visited with many friends from across the country and a good number of people from Wisconsin’s Christian churches.

After the convention ended on Friday, July 9, I traveled to Cincinnati to meet our daughter, Nancy, and we traveled to Nashville, TN, to spend the weekend with my nephew, his wife, and daughter who live in Mississippi. We spent some great time together seeing some of the sights of Nashville, but mostly just visiting and catching up with one another. This weekend has a long story behind it, and the time was very well spent.

While I missed being at Westwood on July 11, we all attended the Harpeth Community Church in Franklin, TN, on Sunday before we all left the Nashville area. This is a relatively new church where I had attended a seminar two and a half years ago when their first building was under construction. I enjoyed worshiping there, seeing the completed building, and getting a taste for their ministry. I also pick up some new ideas any time I attend another congregation.

When we left Nashville, Nancy and I drove to her home in Cincinnati. I drove back to Madison on Monday, July 12, stopping to see Roger Wisegarver in his rehab facility in Champaign, IL on the way. I had not seen Roger since late January. He continues to make slow, but positive progress in his recovery.

RESISTING TEMPTATION AND HELPING OTHERS TO RESIST TEMPTATION

Many years ago on the island of Cape Hatteras, off the shore of North Carolina, there were men whose business it was to get ships to run aground on the shoals just off the island. These men were "wreckers" who made their living gathering up the parts and cargo of such ships. These men would walk back and forth along the shore with lighted lanterns at night. The ships’ captains would mistake that bobbing light for the stern light of a ship they supposed had found safe passage. They would turn inland and run aground. In the morning the wreckers would come and gather the timber for new houses, utensils for their kitchens, and money for their purses. It was a thriving business.

Followers of Christ have always been faced with “spiritual wreckers” who are far more dangerous than the wreckers on Cape Hatteras. These spiritual wreckers can ruin our lives and “run us aground” on the false values of the world. Traditionally the church has spoken of three types of wreckers: the world; the flesh, and the devil. They combine together to offer temptation to everyone, but especially to Christians, those who seek to live moral lives.

We need to help each other in the church to face these spiritual wreckers. Those who need the most help are our young people who go off to college. They face the most difficult years of their lives in regard to their moral choices. They can either have their faith affirmed while they are away from home or they can “run aground” in light of the moral choices they will have to make.

Such temptations are not new to today’s college-age population. One of the oldest records of a young adult who resisted temptation was Joseph, whose story of temptation is told in Genesis 39. I do not have room here to recount his story; I urge you to read it for yourself, especially if you are a young adult leaving home for college or work. However, in a recent study of Joseph’s temptation, I came across a list by James Montgomery Boice of six factors that make a temptation like Joseph’s so dangerous.

(1) The temptation was a natural temptation – that is, it appealed to a right and normal appetite. Some temptations, for instance a temptation to murder or steal, are not normal. A temptation to sexual sin, however, appeals to a right and proper and even God-given appetite or desire. Today sexual temptation comes at us from every direction in images and messages that suggest nothing can be wrong if it feels good.

(2) The temptation came away from home. A good home is a restraining influence on the behavior of children as they grow older. Thus the destruction of families in America goes hand-in-hand with the decline in moral values. This is what makes it so possible for good Christian young people to go away to college and fall into sin and away from God.

(3) The temptation came from an important woman. If Joseph pleased Potiphar’s wife, it would secure his advancement, but if he crossed her, Joseph would make her his foe and ruin his hopes. All kinds of people who are in positions of authority, including college officials, can tempt us and thus put us in the kind of bind Joseph faced.

(4) The temptation came after an important promotion. Joseph had been put in charge of running Potiphar’s household. Moments of success and advancement in college and business can make you vulnerable to those who would take advantage of you.

(5) The temptation came repeatedly. Genesis 39 tells us that Potiphar’s wife kept on trying to seduce Joseph. Sometimes Satan can wear down even the strongest believer by coming at us time and time again until our resistance is worn down by the repeated attacks.

(6) The temptation seized the perfect opportunity. Potiphar’s wife was very careful. She caught him when no one else was in the house. Satan often whispers to us, “No one will know…”

We will face temptation that we need to resist. As Boice suggests they will come in ways that make us the most vulnerable. Put yourself in a position to resist. Don’t let yourself fall to a temptation that can follow you for the rest of your life. Set up relationships in your life and in the church that will help you and others resist and thus maintain a positive witness for our Lord and keep us faithful to him.