Losing All To Gain One

Years ago, I descended deep into a private zinc and lead mine, and had the privilege of collecting golden calcite crystals...beautiful keepsake specimens. I filled my bag with them, always looking for that one crystal, more perfect than the others.

Berry pickers rejoice in the rich fruit, but they keep reaching past the thorns for the bigger, juicier ones just beyond their reach.

Can you visualize a collector of gems? Before him is a pile of glittering stones. He rejoices in them, but suddenly he is confronted with a stone, so precious, so desirable, so valuable, that he would gladly give up his entire collection, to obtain that one perfect gem.

The apostle Paul had everything that the good Jew might have wanted: he came from a noble family, educated by the best of scholars, he was a Pharisee, and by all standards of "legal righteousness", he possessed everything!

But there came a time when he said, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ...For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things,...in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him." (Phil. 3:7 9) And he continues, "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own....I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:l2,l4)

Sometimes we say, "this one thing I do", but in reality we are saying: "these many things I dabble in". Aiming for greatness, financial success, earthly power, or any of these goals, can only be considered "baubles and trinkets", when held next to the goal of "living for Christ and his Kingdom".

Have we really focused in on "the Pearl of great price"? Sometimes, there is value in losing all things, in order to gain that one thing that is beyond earthly values. Paul discovered that in Jesus Christ, there was a power that not only "rolled away stones", (a resurrection power), but a power to live life at its fullest.

Don't be a collector of baubles. Find the ultimate treasure!

After 2 1/2 years of daily notes being
added to this BLOG, it now comes to an
end. My thanks to readers from all parts
of the world. It has been exciting and
rewarding to experience your interest
and comments. And thanks to my son, Peter
for setting up my BLOG and getting me
started. Now I will sleep a bit later
and work on some other projects. Thanks
again.

How To Turn Yourself Inside Out

In the process of creation, God developed many different kinds of life. Some were formed with hard shells and armor on the outside, like the oyster, the crayfish, and the turtle. Some of the great pre historic monsters had massive armor plates.

These had great protection, but they were also slow, stupid creatures, doing little that was more brilliant than eating and fighting. Some of them lost out entirely in the drama of life.

In developing the higher forms, however, God did a very daring thing! Human beings were literally turned inside out. The bony structure, with its protection and armor, was situated deep in the middle, leaving the raw, exposed nerve endings and flesh exposed.

As a result, people cannot pull themselves into their shells (although some try). We have no protection from the elements around us. Thorns will tear the flesh, fire will burn us, we are bruised by a bump, and stunned by a blow. Humans are much more exposed to danger this way; but on the other hand, they are also more sensitive to the world around them. They are better able to adjust to it.

In the Chinese language, words are made up of several characters. The Chinese word for "crisis", for example, is made up of two characters, one which means "danger", and the other which means "opportunity". Put them together, and you have the word "crisis".

As humans appeared on the face of the earth, they literally moved into a crisis. Exposed on every hand to danger, they also were able to appreciate great music, enjoy fine art, and feel the tender touch of love and caring.

When we are not sensitive to human needs, we are much like the turtle. People who build walls around themselves, who have "chips on their shoulders" are doomed to oyster and turtle development. Unlike the oyster, we can be hurt very easily.
There is a difference between the hand of the human and the hoof of the ox. The hand can be mangled, but it can also handle a scalpel. If we had the choice, who would trade a human hand, however, for an ox's hoof? Hands can hold you, help and protect you. The hand, the body is vulnerable, but feelings, with all that is good and bad, make it worthwhile.

Jesus said our job as Christians was to turn tenderness out upon the world...to look, even if the view is bad; to feel, even though it hurts; to have compassion, even though it disturbs our composure. While the world is dying, let us not complain about sore toes. With our fat tummies, we must never argue that we are too poor to give or care. These are the privileges given us when God turned us inside out.

Scared To Die?

Although some people are afraid to die, there are perhaps even more persons who are literally afraid to live.

Life is scary at times. It has problems and nobody promised that it would be easy. But sometimes we discover that struggle and personal tragedy do add a whole new dimension to life. Without the struggle, there would be no victory.

Imagine, if you can, two unborn babies in the mother's womb. Each of them is talking about the uncertain prospects of what is just ahead.

The one twin says: "Leaving this womb can mean nothing but death. We are absolutely dependent upon this womb, which sustains and feeds us."

The other baby replies: "But nature has been developing us for 9 months. Nature is not utterly irrational. She is preparing us for something."

"But", the unbelieving twin answers: "Describe if you can, the kind of a world into which we are going to be born. What is it like?"

And that, of course, completely stumps the believing child. "I can't describe it," he replies, "I have no idea what it is like, but I am sure that nature would never do what she has been doing all these months, with no meaning or purpose in the process."

To which the unbelieving baby replies, "But that is just blind faith!"

Of course, the believing child is right. Unknown to us, there is a reason and purpose behind this life of toil and sorrow. Life is going someplace, and it is not just blind faith.

When these two children are born, they will discover that life is both good and bad. There is evil and there is good. There is struggle and there can be victory. There is sadness, but there is also joy.

And the same thing may be said when we approach the end of our lives here. To die may seem scary, but to be born is equally so. Some may say that it is just "blind faith" that causes us as Christians to believe that God has planned something more just ahead. But we say we believe we have spent these three score years and ten as part of God's great training program for what has been prepared, but is as yet unseen.

To be born, and to die are both fearful experiences, until we recognize the ongoing Presence of One who hasn't stopped loving us yet, and has promised that He will love and care for us, even to eternity.

Still Evolving?

What does it mean to be human? Does it mean that we are thinking beings? Does it mean that we make decisions? Does it mean that we have a conscience, a soul, a spirit that continues after the physical body dies?

We are more than animals, though we are listed as being of the animal kingdom. The Bible says that we were made "in the image of God". Surely this makes us "human" in the best sense of the word.

But some reject the "image". Daily news reports indicate that we are breeding crueler versions of "beasts". We are selfish and that's not the "image of God". Many are filled with hatred, and that's not the image. We have learned how to destroy and kill and maim our fellows. And surely this is not the "image of God".

Are we fooling ourselves? The potential for humanness is there. The possibilities of "soul" are there. But it happens only when the Lord "breathes into us of His Spirit." Only then, do we become truly human.

Look at the record of our inhumanity: Destruction of the Jews in the Christian crusades; Death to the American Indians as we settled and over ran this land; Destruction of thousands of Russians inside the U.S.S.R. during the last 50 years; Decimation of the Vietnamese by Pol Pot just a generation ago; Gassing and extermination of thousands and thousands of Jews by the Germans; Massacre of his own people in Sadaam Hussein's civil strife, and destruction of the Kurds; plus the enslavement of blacks in our country, and in South Africa, and the bloodshed of World and local wars all throughout history.

Where is the "humanity" in all of this? Are we not still animals? Maybe animal intelligence would rate higher than our own!

Although Adam was given the "image of God", did he not reject it along with so many of the rest who followed in his footsteps? But a second Adam (Jesus Christ) came, and people became new creatures in Him. Perhaps for the very first time, we began to experience real "humanity" as God meant it to be. We were designed to be like Jesus. His image is to be within us. His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy.

Our world is still evolving out of the swampy mists of bestiality, but thank God, there is a new life style coming through. The evolution of the flesh is going at a slow pace. We can build better, taller, and smarter beings than before. But the evolution of the spirit is creating an exciting new kind of person. Thank God, the news isn't all bad. There is still hope for humanity.

Rainbow Over Calvary

The Niagara River is only a few miles long, but what makes it of significance is that at Niagara Falls, there is a tragedy in the channel, a break in the even flow of the stream, so that the waters make a stupendous leap into the gorge below. As they are shattered and bruised on the rocks beneath the falls, however, there is cast up into the sunlight the exquisite rainbow of the Niagara, which even kings and queens come from the ends of the earth to see." (Wm. Ellis)

Here is a parable of life. There are tragic moments, when the earth shudders and the rocks split, and this little stream called life is convulsed.

The Old Testament is filled with the tragic record of Hebrew history...a convulsing of hopes and dreams, and a seeming frustration of everything for which they had looked. But it is not difficult to carry some of these illustrations over into our own lives. How often, we have said, "Lord, why?" Again and again, we have felt the pins being knocked out from under us. Our health, our business, our family situations seem to sicken and bring heartache.

Even our faith looks a bit bleak at times when we behold Christ upon the cross, the obvious victim of evil persons intent upon subverting goodness. Isaiah said of just such a person yet to come, "He was despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." His own people spurned such a Messiah, but Jesus said, "That's it! Only when life is poured out in love, can the dream be fulfilled. Here, let me demonstrate it for you, and he took bread, and broke it, and took the cup and said, 'this is my blood, poured out for many.'" And then he died.

Many saw it only as tragedy. But others saw it as fulfillment. Life is filled with many costly interruptions. Some people see them as cataclysmic. Others are able to see the rainbow over Calvary, and learn to walk on, and find peace.

Gabriel's Horn And Hell's Bells

In the delightful Negro production, "Green Pastures", Gabriel just can't wait to blow his horn. He keeps saying, "Is it time now, Lord? Can I blow my horn now, Lord?" And one of these times, I suppose the Lord is going to say: "Blow, Gabriel, blow".

Of course, none of us knows under just what circumstances this might take place. There is a day of judgment, and we are accountable.

Someone once said: We have a choice of ending the world in three different ways: "If the bomb doesn't get us, pollution will. And if pollution doesn't do it fast enough, the population explosion will." Suddenly the global squeeze is upon us.
In the days of Jesus, there were only 250 million people on the entire globe. It took 1850 years to get the 1st billion people. It took 100 years more to get to 2 l/2 billion. In 40 years more (1990), we reached 5 billion. All of this in spite of wars and plagues and famine. Scientists now predict that in another 40 years, we will double it again to 10 billion.

One authority says that 8 billion people is the absolute maximum the world can possibly support with food, water, air, and the means of life. Are we then talking about the "end of the world" for mankind in about 20 25 years?

The Biblical idea of the "end of the world" is probably one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the church. Someone once asked me if I was post millenialist or pre millenialist or a millenialist, and I said, "None of the above. I was just a humble Christian, trying to do my job. And if the Lord came for me in death tomorrow, I planned to be 'ready'."

Years ago, I cut my spiritual eye teeth on the book of Revelation and Daniel, and learned the vocabulary of the "mark of the Beast" and the "Rapture", and all those other strange and seemingly indecipherable calculations found in apocalyptic literature. As a child, I was fearful of the strange predictions of those who seemed so sure of the future.

I would lay awake at night, wondering if the Lord had already come, and left poor sinful me behind. And then a wonderful Christian said to me, "Francis, the Second Coming of the Lord has already taken place in your life, if you have accepted him into your heart." He is always coming, coming, coming, if we open our lives and hearts to Him.

The scientists' "end of the world" and the Biblical "end of the world" have one great thing in common: someone is going to be held responsible for our sins and grievous failures with this old world, and this short life. Since it could be me, I'm going to try hard to be part of the answer, rather than part of the problem.

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And Lazarus Laughed

Life is always bigger than we thought. We look at the starry heavens, and field glasses reveal what the naked eye cannot see. A powerful telescope shows us more than the field glasses. And then the scientists come up with more wonders: there are stars in the gaps. And then wonder of wonders, there are myriads of additional stars in the gaps beyond the gaps!

In the play, Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, a girl and a boy are talking about a letter addressed to "Grover's Corners, Sutton County, New Hampshire, the United States of America, Continent of North America, Western Hemisphere, the Earth, the Solar System, the Universe, the Mind of God..."And the boy whispers in awe, "Well what do you know...what do you know?"

Again and again in our world, we fail to realize how big life is and the greatness of the God who made it. Death comes to a friend, or a neighbor, or to thousands of tragic victims of war or plague, and we say to ourselves, "Why can't God stop the sorrow, the hurting, the tragedies?" "Isn't God big enough to stop it?"

Bad people seem to go around as they please, killing and hurting, and doing evil. They look for thorny crowns and purple robes. And they hurl a ghastly contradiction such as a cross in the face of God, and go around acting as though they had won.

But they have not won, because God says a thunderous "No" at every gleeful crucifixion. People reject God, they poke fun at His people, and His work in the world, and think they have the last word.

There is an interesting story by Eugene O'Neill called "Lazarus Laughed", and it says that the brother of Mary and Martha came forth bound hand and foot with the grave cloths. And as they unbound him, they heard him laughing softly, as out of a vision, a man in love with God, who knew that there was no death. And then the story goes on to say that when he heard about the death of Jesus upon the cross that he began to laugh a low musical laugh. Martha and Mary cursed him. They thought he was possessed.

You see, the world with all its pygmy people could not understand this Jesus. Indeed, they could not tolerate Him, and so they put him to death. And Lazarus laughed, because he had caught a glimpse of how God's ways are different than man's ways. And he saw how death was not victorious, and that the grave had no sting. Lazarus laughed at the absurdity of trying to box God and real "life" into an earthen grave.

People scoffed and mocked. They said, "If you are the Christ, come down from the cross." And today, people say: "If you are God, then stop the wars, stop the anguish. Lord, can't you see we are hurting? Can't you see that the end of the world is coming?"

But our end, seems to be His beginning. We see through a glass darkly. There is so much more, and Lazarus just laughs!